they won (but at what cost?)

Peter was walking toward his mentor, brows furrowed as his gaze drifted over their new allies. The Guardians, as they called themselves, were all talking quietly, and Mr. Stark was bickering with Doctor Strange. 

Quietly, he helped the man up. Tony nodded thankfully, frowning. Suddenly, Mantis, the alien lady, looked around in confusion. “Something. . . is. . . happening. . .” She said, only to disintegrate into dust. 

Peter’s mouth fell open in badly concealed horror. “Quill?” The other alien dude, Drax spoke, only to turn to ash. Peter was blinking in shock. What was happening?

“Steady Quill.” Mr. Stark said, sounding panicked. Peter’s gaze shot to his mentor, then back to Quill. 

“Aw man. . .” He disappeared.

“Tony, there was no other way.” Doctor Strange said, before he too turned to dust. 

Peter’s spider senses suddenly flared painfully, and his eyes shot to his hands, where he expected to be turning to dust. He wasn’t. With absolute terror, he looked to his mentor, whose eyes were wide. 

“Mr. Stark?” His voice broke. 

The billionaire stumbled forward, no feet left to hold him up. Peter cried out, lowering the man to the ground as his vision blurred with tears. “Mr. Stark it’s gonna be okay.” He choked out.

“Tell Pep I love her, okay?” Mr. Stark said, face contorted in devastation. 

“N-no, no, you can tell her yourself. You’ll be fine.” Peter sobbed, tears dripping down his face. 

“I’m so. . .” He was gone. 

Peter fell back, fists clenched with his father-figure’s remains in his palms. “Oh my god. Oh my god.” He breathed, heart tightening painfully. 

He had that feeling  in the pit of his stomach, that one you got when something absolutely shocking and terrible happened. He didn’t know what to do. The blue lady looked to him, a sad frown on her face. 

He stood on shaky legs, breaths stuttering and cracking, and slowly opened his hands. What was left of Mr. Stark floated away. He was really and truly gone. 

He and Nebula, the blue lady, fixed up the Guardians’ ship and started for Earth. He taught her silly games. They worked. He didn’t cry, couldn’t. He felt. . . empty. 

How was he supposed to tell Miss Potts that Mr. Stark was dead? He didn’t know if he could.

Peter was a little relieved that he was dying. The air would run out the next day, and it felt fitting that he died in space, just like Mr. Stark, like Tony. Peter let out a shuddering breath, closing his eyes. 

The man had always wanted him to call him by his name. Tony. He fell unconscious, guilty to feel relieved that he didn’t have to tell Miss Potts, relieved he didn’t have to watch her break down. 

He woke up sitting in a chair with a glowing woman on the other side of the glass. 

Peter breathed weakly as the ship shuddered, landing in front of the compound. Nebula came over and helped him to stand, leading him outside. He was met with what was left of the Avengers coming to greet him. 

Steve helped hold his weight, frowning. Peter broke when Miss Potts ran up. “I lost Tony. I’m sorry.” His voice broke on the last word and Miss Potts’ face crumpled. 

She pulled the teen into her chest and cried. 

Aunt May was gone.

A few days later, the team returned from space, telling him Thanos was dead and the stones were gone. 

“Tony had an agreement with May,” Pepper said softly one day, “that if anything were to happen to her, Tony would take you in. I agreed wholeheartedly. You’re going to stay with me, okay, Peter?”

The teen could only nod. “Yeah. O-of course. Thank you, Miss Potts.” He whispered. 

Miss Potts smiled sadly. “It’s Pepper, kid.” 

They moved out to a nice house on the lake. 

Pepper found out she was pregnant and cried so hard she woke Peter, who had been tossing and turning from a nightmare. He found her sitting in the bathroom with her hand pressed firmly over her mouth. 

Peter had taken her in silently and pulled her into a hug.

“Tony want a kid.” She said once she’d finally managed to stop sobbing. 

Peter’s heart broke. 

“Another kid.” Pepper corrected, wiping her face. “He loved you like a son, you know.”

It was Peter’s turn to cry, loud, ugly sobs. They held each and they cried, not saying another word the entire night.

A few months before he turned eighteen, Pepper presented adoption papers to him, and he tearfully became Peter Benjamin Parker Stark.

On Peter’s eighteenth birthday, he imagined Ned and MJ by his side, joking about how he’d lived another year. He imagined his aunt there to make the small, terrible cupcakes they used to make. He imagined Tony there to do. . . something. Anything.

Natasha and Steve came by to wish him a Happy Birthday and Pepper spent the entire day with him, gifting him a set of keys to one of Tony’s old cars. They took a drive together and reminisced. 

When Morgan Hope Stark was born, Peter was an absolute mess, driving her to the hospital faster than probably legal. When she requested he be there during the birth, he was more than a little surprised. 

When Pepper squeezed his hand so hard he heard something break, he only smiled, his face hurting from the pure happiness of it. And when he saw Morgan’s face for the first time, scrunched up and red, he cried. 

Morgan opened her eyes to reveal Tony’s chocolate brown eyes, and they both cried. “Want to hold your baby sister, Pete?” Pepper had asked. 

Peter had gratefully held her, staring down at the baby with watery eyes. “I love you, Mom.” He whispered. She smiled at him sadly. 

A few weeks after Morgan was born and they were back at the lake house, Pepper approached her son with a resigned look and asked him how he felt about becoming the CEO of Stark Industries. 

He’d been shocked at first, clamming up and asking why him, but she quickly told him that Tony would have chosen him, that Tony was going to choose him.

She told him that she had to take care of a little girl and she just didn’t have time to be CEO anymore. 

Peter agreed.

A few weeks later he became the youngest ever CEO.

At nineteen, he announced to the world that he was Spider-Man, his press conference painfully similar to Tony’s, and he signed the accords, becoming an official member of the Avengers.

He became as popular, if not more, than Iron Man. It hurt.

At twenty, people were still mourning, but they were moving on. Peter, though, he couldn’t move on. He couldn’t forget about the lab nights and the movie nights. 

He couldn’t forget about about the inside jokes and the teasing. He couldn’t forget about the hugs and the hair ruffles he used to pretend to hate. He couldnt forget him.

When he was twenty one, as he was tucking his little sister into bed, Morgan asked him about their Dad. 

He froze at first, before he smiled at the three year old and set on her bed, brushing her hair out of her face softly. 

“Your Dad was the most amazing superhero there was. Even better than Uncle Steve.” He paused as she giggled, “Tony was. . . Dad was the best man I ever knew. He would have loved you, Maguna.” He said softly, lips trembling. 

Morgan sighed softly. “Why’d he have to go, Petey?” She asked innocently. 

Tell Pep I love her, okay?

Peter’s breath stuttered. “I don’t know, Mo, I really don’t know.” He answered softly. 

“Well, where is he now?” Morgan questioned, blinking sleepily. 

It was a question that Peter had wondered countless times himself. “He’s up in the stars, Mo, chasing all your bad dreams away.”

Morgan frowned. “Does he chase away your bad dreams too?”

Peter’s vision blurred with unshed tears. “Yeah,” he choked out, “he does.”

Morgan reached up tiredly and wiped her brothers tears away. “Don’t be sad, Petey! We’ll see him again when we grow old and go to the stars too.”

Peter laughed shakily. “Yeah, Mo. We will.” Except, he didn’t want to wait that long. 

“Get some sleep, baby girl. I love you.” He said, standing. 

“Love you a million.” She murmured. 

“That sure is a lot.” He teased. 

“Yep! It’s the biggest number ever.”

He didn’t have the heart to correct her, whispering a goodnight and turning off the light.

Everything changed on the fifth year. The fifth year since the snap, or the Blip, as the media had coined it. “Hey Pete, can you go get Morgan? Food’s ready.” Pepper asked gently. 

“Sure thing, Mom. What’d you make?” He asked, trying to peek around her into the kitchen. She tutted him. 

“Get the girl and find out, Spider-boy.” Pepper teased, laughing. 

Peter rolled his eyes good naturally and pushed the door open, stepping outside. 

“Chow time!” He called, clapping his hands. Peter winced then. He seemed like an old person. He shuddered at the thought.

“Maguna? Morgan H. Stark. You want some lunch?” He called, coming up to the tent she was in.

“Define lunch or be disintegrated.” Morgan said playfully, stepping out of the tent with toy gauntlets raised and a familiar blue helmet on her head. 

Peter frowned, crouching down. He lifted the helmet off her head, saying, “Okay, you should not be playing with that. It’s part of a birthday gift I’m making for Mom.” He scolded gently. 

“Okay.” Morgan said, slightly disappointed.

“There you go. Are you thinking about lunch? I can give you a handful of crickets on a bed of lettuce.” He teased her. 

“No!” She giggled. Peter grinned. 

“I’m sure it’s what you want.” He joked, then gestured to the helmet, “How’d you find this, Mo?”

“Garage.” Morgan answered innocently.

“Really? We’re you looking for it?”

“No. I found it, though.” She said sweetly. 

Peter huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, I bet you did. You like going in the garage? I do too. So did Dad. You’re a mini Tony Stark in the making.”

Morgan beamed. Peter waved it off. “It’s fine actually, Mom never wears anything I make her anyway. Something about me being ‘exactly like Tony’ and ‘making extremely extravagant things nobody will wear’.”

Morgan laughed. “Your suit is silly.” She teased, poking his cheek. 

He gasped in mock offense, scooping her into his arms and starting back toward the house. 

He stopped though, spotting a familiar car in the driveway, Steve, Natasha, and. . . Scott Lang getting out of it. 

“Hey guys.” He greeted, sighing. 

“Go on inside, Mo.” He urged, setting her down. She nodded and pranced inside. 

And then they explained about fucking time travel. And he refused. Because while having Tony back was everything he could ever ask for, the man wouldn’t want to risk Morgan, wouldn’t want to risk his own daughter.

That night, though, he thought of all the possibilities, thought about bringing hem to this time, about Morgan getting her Dad back. 

The next day, after talking with Pepper, he was heading to the compound with a fully working Time-Space GPS and an old shield in the trunk.

It worked.

They came back with the stones. Natasha didn’t. 

Bruce snapped and it worked. But then missiles rained down on the compound, blowing it all to pieces. 

Thanos, the one that killed his mentor, his father, was just sitting there, doing nothing, waiting. They attacked. They fought with everything they had. 

But it wasn’t enough. Thanos destroyed Steve’s shield, knocked them all down. Peter was sure he even lost consciousness once, and he woke up just when it all seemed bleak and hopeless. 

He caught sight of Steve pulling himself up and almost collapsed in pure exhaustion, if it weren’t for the sudden voice on comms.

“Hey Cap, you read me?”

Peter grinned as portals began to open all around them, thousands of allies coming through to fight for the sake of all of mankind. 

One portal, though, caught his attention the most, one very familiar person standing there. He didn’t have any time for greetings, as they all gathered. 

“Start me off, Queens.” Steve panted. 

“Avengers!” He yelled.

“Assemble!” 

They fought. 

Peter barely had time to fight off one enemy before another was on him, and the cycle continued. He tore through the aliens relentlessly, body after body falling to his feet as he webbed through the air. 

He stumbled as a familiar figure approached him, blasting a chitauri warrior that almost got the drop on him. 

Peter let the nanotech of his suit reveal his face, gaping. “Tony.” He breathed. 

The man was staring at him with wide eyes. “It’s really been five years.” He breathed. 

Peter grinned so hard his face hurt, rushing forward and hugging the man close. “I missed you so much, Dad.” He croaked.

Tony blinked in shock. “I missed a lot, didn’t I?” He said softly. 

“You did.” Peter looked down, smirking a bit, “I took your company.”

Tony raised a brow. “Yeah? Tell me all about it when this battle is over.” He replied, grinning. 

Peter nodded, pausing before he went off to fight. “I love you, Tony.”

“Love you too, kid.”

They were losing. Thanos had the stones again. He’d blasted Carol away, he was about to snap. 

Strange raised one shaky finger to him, a devastated look on his face. Peter’s heart sank because he knew exactly what he had to do. He nodded firmly. He had to do this, for Morgan. It was all for Morgan.

Peter saw Tony, who saw what Strange did. Peter was suddenly hit with a sense of terror, thinking he’d lose his dad all over again. 

His face hardened. He wouldn’t let it happen. With a yell, he launched himself at Thanos, tearing the stones from the gauntlet as fast as he could, pain searing his entire body. 

The Titan threw him back and he fell to his knees, letting the stones fuse with the nanoparticles of his glove. Tears stung his eyes. 

“I am inevitable.” The Titan thundered, And he snapped. Nothing happened. 

Peter, his face contorted in devastation, panted. “And I. . . am. . . Spider-Man.” 

He snapped. Everything went white. 

He woke merely seconds later, leaning against a pile of rubble, Tony in front of him, his face crumpled. “Kid. . . Kid, why’d you do that? It should have been me.” He cried. 

Peter sucked in a breath weakly, eyes drooping. This was it for him. 

“Not. . . ‘gain. . .” He rasped, panting. 

Tony sobbed. “Kid. Peter.”

Pepper was suddenly there, crying. “Peter.” She crouched in front of him, her hand resting on his face. 

“Mom.” 

Pepper sobbed. “Friday, vitals.”

Peter could barely hear the, “Life functions critical.”

“I love you, kid. I’m so sorry. Oh my god.” Tony croaked. 

Peter smiled sadly. Everything was getting dark. 

“Tell Mo. . . going. . . stars. . .” He breathed. 

Tony had a confused glaze in his eyes, but Pepper nodded, lips pursed as tears streamed down her face. “I’ll tell her, Peter. She’ll know.”

Finally content in a world where Morgan had her father, Peter closed his eyes for the last time, and took his very last breath. 

All around the battlefield, heroes knelt. 

They won, but at what cost?