Chapter 1
Five years. You’ve been gone for five years but to you it feels like five minutes if that. The Blip. Everyone at school is talking about all of you coming back from it. The ride from MoMa back to MSST hadn’t felt different because all of you on the bus had been, well, gone. “Any word on Peter?” you had asked Ned, knowing that the last time you remembered seeing your boyfriend was him slipping out the window to help with the alien ship in the sky. Ned shakes his head.
“With the Avengers hopefully?” He says quietly. The Avengers, your dad. If Peter was with your dad, then he was in the best place he could be. “What’s going to happen?”
“I don’t know.” And you didn’t. You still don’t. Being back at school, everyone can only talk about the people that have come back. Betty was one of the first people to run into your arms. “Where’s Astrid?” Betty shakes her head.
“She didn’t, uh, Blip?” Betty tries to explain. “I texted her. She’s in college at NYU now.” You had been fifteen, but now that means Astrid is… “She’s twenty now, so it makes sense. I called my mom, she’s coming to pick me up. She can’t believe that I’m back.” Reversing the Blip was something that the Avengers had to be a part of so would your dad be too busy for you? “Plus they have to fix our schedules before we can restart our freshman year all over again, which is totally unfair, but there’s no way they can really keep us here.” You reach for the phone in your back pocket.
“FRI can you call Dad?”
The last thing Tony expected to see pop up on his HUD screen was your picture. “Y/N is calling boss.”
“Pick up.” Tony blasts the aliens coming his way, but can only really only focus on the sound he’s been missing for five years.
“Dad?”
“Y/N. Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, I’m at MSST. Where are you?”
“I’m fighting some aliens.”
“And you picked up?” He hears the surprise in your voice.
“I’ve had five years without you. I couldn’t wait another second to even just hear you kiddo.” He holds his hand up to blast away more aliens. You hear the blast of his gauntlet, knowing he’s not kidding.
“I’ll call Mom.” You say, not wanting to distract him from the battle he’s fighting.
“She’s here too. If you need to be picked up, call Happy. He’ll probably bring Morgan, but that’s probably best right now.” Who’s Morgan? You shake the name from your head.
“I’ll call him. They don’t have space for us at school right now.”
“I love you kiddo. So much.”
“I love you too Dad.” The phone clicks off and FRIDAY already dials Happy, who picks up on the first ring.
“Kid?”
“Hi Happy. I’m back?” You say teasing slightly.
“Have you told your dad?” Happy’s voice is serious, knowing that if your dad hasn’t heard from you, he will literally come searching for you in a moment.
“Called him first. But he said to call you because MSST doesn’t have spaces for us since they weren’t uh expecting us. So there’s not really school today? And he’s off fighting aliens apparently.”
“I’ll come get you. We’re coming from the cabin so it will be like 45 minutes but we’ll be there.” A cabin? Dad and Mom moved?
“Sounds good, Happy. I’ll see you when you get here.”
“It’s good to have you back kid.”
“Thanks Happy.” You hang up the phone and sit back down at the lunch table with Betty, Ned, and MJ. All of you were now waiting for parents to come pick you up, so until they showed up you would be staying in the cafeteria since it was one of the only places big enough for all the Blippers. You pull Queenie off the waistband of your jeans and laugh as you see that you still have enough insulin to get home- or to the cabin.
“What’s funny?” Betty asks.
“I can be Blipped for five years, but my insulin pump still has enough insulin in it.” Betty also lets out a laugh at something that was such a weird sentence to say. Ned and MJ join in a few moments later, just letting everything slip into feeling normal for a moment or two.
“So if Astrid is off at college now, does that mean we get to go to college parties?” Betty asks, trying to make light of the fact that one of your best friends is suddenly five years older than you. And suddenly the thought pops into your head, could Peter be five years older than you now too? Betty notices the way your face drops and tries to correct whatever she said. “I mean, I know your dad is strict, but he can’t tell you you can’t see Astrid. That would be a crime against humanity.”
“That’s not what I was thinking about.” You wave off what she was saying, even if it was true that your dad would probably say no to college parties.
“You’re worried that Peter might be five years older now.” MJ says, following your train of thought. You nod. “Call him. He’ll probably be excited to hear you’re alive.” You can’t blow his cover in front of MJ and Betty so you nod and step away from the group. But you know he’s probably off fighting whatever aliens your dad is fighting. But you’re also dying to hear his voice. So instead of listening to the part of you that says don’t call him during battle, you dial his number.
“Y/N, hey. Man have I got the weirdest story to tell you later. There’s wizards and space and I disappeared for five years apparently?” You let out a breath hearing him say he got Blipped too. If Peter had been here while you had been Blipped… you don’t know how you would have handled it. “I’d love to stay and chat but I’m running around with the stones that started all of this and all these angry aliens are after me.”
“I love you.” The words slip out.
“I love you too babe. And as soon as we finish this battle, I’ll come and find you and tell you the whole story.”
“I’d love to hear it. Stay safe.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve got all the Avengers. I’ll be the safest person ever. As soon as I get rid of these stones. I should go. Karen-Activate Instant Kill.”
“Bye Peter.” Instant Kill? You’re going to have to talk to your dad about what he included in Peter’s suit. Ned looks up as you sit back down at the table.
“Is he…” Ned trails off at the thought of losing his best friend.
“He got Blipped. He’s just somewhere else. We’ll see him again soon.” Across the cafeteria, names start getting called as parents have started showing up. Betty’s name is in the first group, along with MJ. Betty gives you a tight hug before running over to where her mom is waiting for her. You give MJ a hug too, happy you haven’t lost all your friends and she gives a tight smile before walking to where her parents are waiting. Once it’s just you and Ned, he looks over at you. “What’s going on?”
“Some sort of alien attack. Something about stones that started it all. I got bits and pieces of the story from my dad and Peter. But they’re also in the middle of a fight so I can’t expect them to tell me everything right now.”
“So who’s coming to get you?”
“Happy. And someone named Morgan.” You shrug. “You?”
“My mom. But she’s coming all the way from the Lower West Side so it will be awhile.” And it seems to take about the same amount of time for Happy and Ned’s mom to get there. You’re both in the same group of students to get called.
“Hey kid.” Happy looks almost the same, if not for the beard on his face.
“You grew a beard?”
“It’s my Blip beard.” You roll your eyes. The biggest thing you don’t expect is the small, warm figure that crashes into your legs. You look down in confusion and see a small brunette child clinging to your legs.
“Hi I’m Morgan.”
“Hi Morgan.” Who’s kid is this? You look up at Happy who looks like he’s about to open his mouth when Morgan says something.
“Daddy told me all about you. You’re my big sister. Can we play together now that you’re back?” You have a little sister? What else did you miss in the last five years?
“You’re my little sister?” You ask looking more at Happy than at this little girl. Happy nods slowly, giving you a soft smile. Morgan nods too, but her nods are at a faster pace.
“Daddy told me that you went away for a bit, but he was going to get you and Peter back so that we could all play together. You took forever to come back. My friend Lydia has a big sister and they play together all the time. Can we play together?” She repeats her question, with slight frustration that you hadn’t answered it. Without thinking, you pick up Morgan and hold her against your hip.
“I’d like to play with you Morgan. What do you like playing with?” Morgan starts rambling on about her favorite toys and you see hints of yourself in her. It’s clear that you two are related. The eyes, the smile, it’s all very Dad. But a lot of her facial expressions are all Mom, so it’s clear who her parents are. Your parents are her parents. Or well, your dad is her dad. Clearly Pepper is her mom. Will she want you now that she has her own kid?
You shake your head slightly, letting the thought slip away, as Morgan talks about everything from Barbies to Disney Princesses to action figures of the Avengers that she loves playing with. As you climb into the backseat of the car, you’re not surprised to see a booster seat since Morgan is still fairly small. “How old are you Morgan?”
“I’m five.” She holds up her hand to show you before buckling into her seat. She’s five? So you disappeared and your parents- Dad and Pepper had another kid? A replacement? Or is Morgan better because she’s at least equal parts them. “How old are you?” Morgan pulls you from your thoughts again.
“I’m…” You hesitate. Are you fifteen? Do you get the years you missed? That doesn’t feel right. “Fifteen,” you decide after a moment.
“Wow. One day I’ll be that age too. Daddy said I have to stop growing because he likes me like this. But I wanna be big like you.” Morgan smiles at you and you can’t help but smile slightly at your little sister. Part of you wants to just love her, but the other part of you wonders if your family was better off with just her. And that thought hurts more than the idea of having lost five years. What if your family didn’t need you in it anymore?