Back to the Future

1995-

Peter worked with the equipment in a similar way to Tony. When working, it was hard to communicate with the other as his head would be too consumed with his work. Tony did try to sneak a peak at his blueprints, secretly, but somehow the kid caught him each time. He wasn’t suspicious of the kid (intrigued would be a better word to use) but, he felt like something was wrong.

“I can’t believe that I’m about to say this but, shouldn’t you take a break?” Tony said, walking into the lab to see Peter still working away at one of the desks.

Peter held a pen between his lips, his eyes focused down at the piece of paper laid over the table. He glanced over at Tony, noticed the suit and frowned. “Why do you look all fancy?” He asked, ignoring the man’s question.

“Pepper’s forcing me to go to a gala, pr and all. I’m sure you understand,” Tony adjusted his blazer, groaning. “She hasn’t even been working for the company for a long time but, everyone seems to agree with what she says.”

“Pepper?”

“It’s a nickna-,”

“I know who Pepper Potts is, Mr Stark. She’s an icon.” Peter rolled his eyes. He couldn’t risk not going to see a young Miss Potts (he might find leverage on his Tony and Pepper about his crush on MJ) so, he decided that he wanted to come to this fancy gala too. “Can I come?”

Tony felt a weird feeling in his stomach. How on earth did the kid know who his assistant was? More and more evidence was suggesting that this kid was actually a stalker. He decided to brush the comment off, telling himself that they’d talk about it later (or he’d just dwell over it by himself). “Do you own a suit?”

“Nope, course not. Do you remember that I’m homeless?” Peter said, pulling himself up from the desk and pocketing his work. “I could borrow one of your cheap ones? I mean, please? Please may I borrow one? Oh, to see how the other half live, Mr Stark! I’d just love to go!” He put on a voice, trying to convince Tony that it was a good idea.

“Hmmm, fine,” Tony said, crossing his arms. “Although... we need to set some ground rules.”

“I know the ground rules,” Peter said. He had gone to many of these galas before with his Tony, after all. “Stay close to you, no alcohol and no talking to random strangers.”

“Uh, no,” Tony said, “You don’t have to be near me. In fact, wonder off! The world is your oyster, remember that. I don’t want some reporters thinking I’ve got with a minor. So, we’ll take separate cars. But, yeah, no alcohol. It’s a maybe for the random strangers. If they offer you anything... it’s a big no.”

Peter nodded. Sometimes it was like nothing changed at all. It was like it was his Tony with him, not some young playboy. It was hard to remember that at times. “Okay, uh, sure!”

“Come on then, lets get you dressed.”

2018-

Ned Leeds sat in his bedroom, his eyes lingering on the closed lego box. Peter, his best friend in the world, had promised that they’d make the set up last week but, he’d heard nothing. His friend had been radio silent ever since the Avengers fought that (admittedly cool) evil sorcerer. He knew his friend’s secret, he knew that Peter was Spiderman and Spiderman was spotted underneath the wizard’s grasp.

He met Peter on a quiet day. Their first day of third grade, to be precise. The both of them were only eight years old. Peter sat alone, staring down at the concrete surrounding the floor of the playground. He was closed off, his arms at his back as other children stood around and laughed with each other. Ned’s mother always told him to be kind to others so, he decided to walk up to the boy. In that moment, he met his best friend.

Throughout their life, Peter and Ned were the only duo that mattered. Peter became Ned’s mother’s second son, Ned became May’s. Whenever Ned was bullied, or in pain, Peter would be the one standing beside him. Ned wasn’t going to give up on him now.

Ned walked up to Avengers tower. The sight of it was always marvellous. It was tall and magnificent, something out of a book. It didn’t seem right. It was out of place, almost. Stepping inside the door, Ned felt out of his depth. He’d never been here without Peter showing him around. Looking down at his pass, the pass Tony gifted him after their sleepovers, he walked confidently through security to try and find Tony to get answers about where his friend was.

Tony Stark was sat in his lab, again, when FRIDAY let him know about who was in the building. Ned normally came with Peter so, he made the alert for Ned too (incase Peter disabled his). Tony had limited experiences with Ned. He hadn’t talked to him much, only around Peter. The kid’s hero worship rivalled Peter’s (only when the kid first met him, he was way more confident now). He stayed still. He had no motivation to talk to anyone right now, especially a kid that reminded him of what he lost.

Luckily for Ned, Steve Rogers happened to be walking around the same floor he was. Ned noticed the big, muscular, blonde man out of the crowd, it would’ve been hard not to. He ran up to the man, tapping him on the arm.

Steve turned, expecting to see a fan. He did, just somebody he already knew. “Ned,” He smiled, “it’s good to see you.”

“You remember me?” Ned said, in disbelief. He shook away the shock, needing to get answers for Peter. “Sir, I-I came here for- for, well, uh, I’d rather speak somewhere in secret.” He whispered the last bit. However, Ned was never really good at being quiet so most of the people who passed the two heard what he was saying.

“Come on then, kid. We’ll go upstairs to the Avengers common room.” Steve said, telling Ned to follow him.

Ned gasped. He’d never gone to the common room before. He’d been to Tony’s floor, into Peter’s room, but never to that level. The only avengers he met were Tony, Steve and Natasha. He quickly followed Steve, eyes going wide when the entire team was gathered on a sofa.

“Hi guys,” Steve said, gently pushing Ned to stand in front of him. “This is Pete’s best friend. I thought he should know what is going on.”

“Well we don’t know what that is, do we?” Tony said, stumbling down into the room. He’s not drunk. He wanted to be but, he didn’t want to do that to Peter. Instead, his legs just feel dead. He can’t walk properly. His eye-bags are dark, his hair is messed up and it’s clear that he hasn’t slept in a week. “Because I have no idea how to get him back.”

“How to get him back?” Ned said, his voice quiet and concerned. “W-Where is he?”

Tony sighed. “He’s stuck in the past, Ted.”

“It’s Ned.”

“Listen, kid. I don’t have-,” Tony groaned. He stopped himself. He thought back to when he just met his Spiderling. The boy in front of him managed to hack the multi-million pound suit. Maybe all Tony needed was an intern to be by his side, to find things he might have missed. He needed another little Peter. “Ned. Ned, listen to me. How would you like to come to my lab? You can sit where Pete does and you can look at what I’ve done. Maybe we can work together to try and find a way back to Pete..?”

“Would I ever?” Ned’s jaw dropped. “Of course!”

That’s how Ned, a boy that got bullied at school, found himself in a lab with Tony Stark (the richest man in the world). He sat in the seat that his best friend used to sit in, looking at a hologram of a time machine. His life was crazy.

Ned’s eyes lifted from the screen in front of him to a picture frame on Tony’s desk. Tony’s not looking back at him. He’s staring down at the picture instead. Ned can see a glint of sadness in his eyes. His hands were shaking, biting his lip as he traced a hand over Peter in the photo.

“He’s stronger than you know, Sir. He’s been through a lot. He’s going to be okay. He has to be, I can’t live without him,” Ned said, smiling at Tony as the man slowly tears his gaze away from the photo.

Tony cleared his throat, putting the photo frame onto his desk. “Yeah,” He said, taking a deep breath. “I hope he is too, kid.”

“I know he sees you like a dad, Mr Stark. He really loves you...” Ned reminded him.

Tony chuckled lowly at ‘Mr Stark’. He didn’t know that he would ever miss that nickname. “Thanks, Ned. I love him too.”

1995-

Peter sat in the back of a car. He was sat beside other people, people who were much older than him, who worked beside Tony for his company. He tried to make awkward conversation but, everyone in the whole vehicle seemed reluctant to speak a word. He gave up, looking outside the window instead.

Arriving at the gala, he stepped out with a smile. It really did look like the 90’s. The carpet leading to the fancy building was littered with people dressed in fashion that looked like it was straight out of May’s old photo book. Peter walked down, his blazer wrapped around him as he awkwardly looked out for Tony.

Finding Tony, his heart sank. The man was sat around a group of girls. In both of his hands, he held bottles of beer. He already looked drunk. He mustn’t have been in the room for long, considering Peter’s car didn’t arrive long after the billionaire’s. He tore his eyes away from the scene. There was nothing he could do, really. This wasn’t his Tony. All he could think about is that his Tony was able to change, to do better. He knew that this time’s Tony had that coming. Messing with him, trying to change his mind, would be obsolete. He might change something in the future that couldn’t be fixed. Messing was time seemed dangerous (well, he didn’t want to test that hypothesis).

Instead, he took a walk around the gala and tried to pretend that situation wasn’t happening. He took a walk down the vast room and started to get incredibly bored. Tony really romanticised the ‘good old days’.

He took a walk up one of the staircases. His eyes widened when he saw a very familiar woman talking to a very familiar man. Standing in front of him was Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan, looking very young. Peter hesitated for a second but, he decided to step forward.

“Hello?” He said, quietly. “Um, I-,”

“You lost?” Happy asked. It was nice to know the man was as quick to the point in 1995 as he was in 2018.

“No, uh- I,”

“I think-,” Happy went to say something but was stopped by a glare from Pepper.

“What I think he meant to say... hello, sweetheart,” Pepper said.

Peter immediately smiled. It was hard not to be happy around Pepper Potts. It was nice to know that she had been nice all her life. “Hello! I’m Richard Parker,”

“Well, that must be a common name,” Pepper smiled, taking Peter’s hand. She shook it for a second before letting go. “We just met a Richard Parker moments ago. I believe be works for Oscorp.”

“Y-You did?”

“In fact... you look quite like him. You look like a younger him, almost,”

“Excuse me a minute, please,” Peter mumbled, stepping away from the young Happy and Pepper.

Peter started to panic. That could mean his father was in the same room with him. He walked down the stairs, with some speed, and started to look around. He noticed the man he saw in all his old photos books. He stood next to a table, a drink was in his left hand, his right hand around the waist of a woman who looked just like Peter’s mother.

Peter stared for a moment. In only a few seconds, he had gone from excitement to pure panic. His feet took him steps further to the couple, his eyes wide and blinking. His father definitely had his smile. He could see how much love the man had in his eyes for Mary Parker. They looked each other, not noticing anybody else around them.

“Hey, kid?” Somebody said, taking Peter out of his trance.

When Peter realised who said those words, his heart felt like it was about to explode out of his chest. His father was looking right at him.

“You okay?” The real Richard Parker said to him.

“Yeah-,” Peter said, a deep breath escaping his mouth. “Sorry- I, just- you look a lot like someone I lost once.”

“Oh sorry,” Richard said, “Hey, what’s your name? How about you come sit with me and Mary here? It’ll take your mind of everything.”

“Uh-m-my name is Peter Leeds,” Peter said, the first last name he could think of.

“Peter, huh? That’s a family name. It’s the name of my father. That’s the name we’re choosing if we ever have a little boy,” Richard said, a hand moving around Peter’s shoulders.

Peter wanted to cry, to scream out that he was their little boy. He just didn’t want to be forced into a mental hospital. He didn’t want to sound delusional. He bit down on his lip, stopping any words from coming out. He walked with Richard for a few seconds.

He spent most of the night with Richard and Mary, getting to know his parents. He never thought that he’d get to know them. He never thought he’d hear his mothers laugh or her voice. He never thought he’d look his father in the eye and speak to him as an adult. Secretly, when they were not looking, Peter took out his phone and snapped a quick photo of the three of them. He needed something to remind him of this time.

They left a few hours before the gala ended. Peter broke down in the bathroom, crying tears with his back against the stall. He didn’t need this. He thought he had moved on from their death. He thought that he could think of it without sobbing. He didn’t need this all brought back to him.

Before he could think of anything, he left the bathroom and fled out of the gala. He ran back through the Malibu streets, without knowing where he was going. Somehow, he found his way back to the beach house. He opened the door, that Tony left unlocked, and rushed to the guest room. He cried in the covers, shaking harshly. He was still wet from the rain. He didn’t have the support of his Aunt or his Tony. For the first time since he arrived in the past, he felt truly alone. He just wanted to be with the people he loved.

Back at the gala, Tony finally left the party. He chose not to bring a woman back that night, not feeling it. The driver he hired to take ‘Richard’ and some others contacted him to let him know the kid was nowhere to be seen. Tony shrugged, confused. The kid was growing on him, maybe, but his absence wasn’t going to create a hole in his heart.

Getting back into the house, Tony stumbled through the hallway. He stopped outside the guest room door when he heard soft crying inside. He opened the door and noticed the kid. His heart told him to step forward and comfort this crying teenager but, his drunk head and issues told him to run as far as he could. Therefore, he turned around on the spot and walked away (closing the door right behind him). He got into his own bed and hoped that the hangover wouldn’t hurt his head too much the next morning.

2018-

Ned and Tony didn’t make too much progress. Getting a second opinion did work, however, as Ned helped him fix a mistake he made with some calculations. After hours of work, they both decided it was enough. They spoke about Peter for a while and then Tony contacted Happy to take the kid home.

Tony stayed down in the lab. He looked at the headlines of the day. One caught his eye. ‘Where is Spiderman? The hero who abandoned us all.’ Peter had only been missing for five days. He had to stop himself from calling the newspaper, his anger overtaking him.

Walking up the stairs, he took a shower and got changed for the first time in a while. He walked down, his feet taking him without thinking, to the rest of the team. His sad eyes met Steve’s. Before he knew it, he was sat amongst them. They put on Peter’s favourite film. Tony couldn’t help it when a few tears fell from his eyes.

He would do it. He was going to save his kid.