Heartbeat

               “Parker.”

               Peter cringed at the booming voice. Damn, did he have to be so loud?

               “Parker. Wake up, Parker. We have to move now, and I will leave you on this planet if you don’t get off your ass in the next minute.”

               Wait. He knew that voice. The world came into focus with a horrifyingly bright quality as his senses readjusted to the light of Titan’s sky. Dread bottled up in his stomach as his brain finally started working and the pain of resurrecting from the dead hit him full force.

               “Shit.” He hissed, grabbing his stomach. Oh, god, this was worse than the week after his spider bite. “What happened?”

               Dr. Strange helped him to his feet, his grip surprisingly gentle after his less than kind words. “We have to get moving. You were the last one to return and we have to get moving. Tony’s going to need us. It’s been five years and-”

               “Mr. Stark?” please sir, I don’t want to go. “Where is he?”

               Peter began to look around wildly. He had to protect Mr. Stark. He had seen him not two minutes ago when he was … dying. The Guardians of the Universe or whatever they were called all stood around, clapping each other on the back. He had seen each of them die. “Wait… I-,”

               “We don’t have time to address that whole ordeal, kid.” Strange grabbed his shoulders and met his concerned gaze. “We have to help save the world.”

                Peter sobered and nodded resolutely, pushing his worries down into his gut. He could deal with them later when the world was safe. “Okay.”

                The sorcerer offered a small smile and turned to the guardians. “Let’s go. They’ll be needing as much help as they can get.”

                And then the portal opened.

                Peter let the others run in first, opting to swing through Titan’s crumbling landscape and land in front of them. He didn’t know what he was expecting, but it wasn’t that.

                A wave of nasty was in front of them, across a battlefield of fire and destruction. Above the aliens were warships, ready to rain chaos down on the heroes. There was an expanse of no man’s land, quiet and bloodless.

               There was Steve Rogers. And he had his shield.

               All around him, portals were opening. Heroes of all shapes and sizes, from earth or not, emerged from each one. Some flew, some ran. Many were wielding rings like Dr. Strange, there was Mr. Black Panther and was that the Winter Solider-?

              Dr. Strange looked to the left. “Is that all of them?”

              Another wizard looked at him like he was insane. “What, you wanted more?”

              The sound of crumbling concrete had Peter’s head whirling around. A building that looked like the compound – oh my god it was – fell away as Giant Man grew to the size of, well, a giant. With each new hero that he saw, Peter’s heart grew. They could do this. They could beat Thanos.

              Across the expanse, the purple grape sneered, but for the first time since laying eyes on him, Peter wasn’t afraid.

              Captain America’s voice rang out over the throng. “Avengers!”

              A hush, but Peter’s superhearing wasn’t about to let him down now.

              “Assemble.”

              And then? Then they charged.

              Peter grinned behind his mask and jumped.

              Immediately, he was in the fray. Aliens and monsters that looked like deranged versions of the monsters under his bed as a kid fought like ravenous beasts. Wizards and ninjas and flying robots were everywhere, the world’s greatest united force against the evil that Thanos had brought, and Peter was among them! He saw Thor throw an axe (?) at a big scaley dude. Captain America was going toe-to-toe with Thanos. Hulk was to his right beating up some relative of his – tall and green and angry. And above him, in the skies, was Iron Man.

             Relief flooded him. “Mr. Stark!” he yelled as he dodged a punch, quickly replying with his own. The alien dropped. The hero hadn’t heard him but instead lurched to the side to fight another beast. Peter followed, taking down as many enemies as he could along the way.

             It was selfish, he knew that, but he had to see him.

             It’s been five years and-

            Antman was right next to him as he webbed the alien attacking Tony. The giant stepped on him and Peter swung into view, mask dissolving as he helped his hero to stand. “Hey! Holy cow. You will not believe what’s been going on.” Now that Tony was there and Peter was looking into his eyes and he was alive and okay, Peter couldn’t seem to stop talking. “Do you remember when we were in space? And I got all dusty? And I must have passed out because when I woke up you were gone-”

           Man, Mr. Stark was looking at him weirdly.

           “-But Dr. Strange was there right? And he was like ‘it’s been five years, come on, they need us!’”

           Like, really weird. Like he was going to cry.

           “And then he started doing the yellow sparkly thing that he does all the time-,”

           “Oh yeah.” Tony grabbed him, arms pulling him against his chest.

           “What are you doing?” Peter asked, and somehow the man didn’t need to answer. The young hero knew. He sighed, wrapping his arms around the man in response, letting a little of the worry roll of his shoulders as he sighed into the hug. God, how long had he wanted one of these? He closed his eyes, and for a moment nothing mattered. The battle raged around them and the world’s salvation was at stake, but here in Tony’s arms, he was home.

           “Oh.” He said lamely. “This is nice.”

            Tony held him for a moment longer before turning his head and kissing Peter’s cheek. “Missed you, Pete.”

            Peter didn’t know why tears leapt to his eyes. He simply hugged Mr. Stark back harder before pulling away and ignoring the tears in those matching irises. “I’m still an Avenger, right?”

            The man’s face lit up and Peter wondered if it really had been five years since he’d heard any of Peter’s dismal attempts at humor. “Pfft. Yeah. Yeah, kid, you’re still an Avenger. Now come on. The world’s in need of some Avenging.”

            The young hero nodded and tried to ward off the feeling of dread that was slowly creeping up his spine. He met Tony’s gaze and hoped that he sounded as sincere as he felt. “Be careful, Mr. Stark.”

            Something flashed in his mentor’s eyes and he let out a shaky breath. “You too, kid.”

           And then, both of their helmets reformed and with loud yells of triumph, they launched back into the fight.

           Peter hardly remembered anything that happened next. All he knew was get the gauntlet to the car and keep the gauntlet out of enemy hands. Everything else was a blur of awesome heroes, Captain calling him Queens, a giant team of badass women, and a shockwave.

            He landed on the ground harshly, pain spiking through his body and he yelped. Shaking his head as his ears rang, he stumbled to his feet, eyes searching for his mentor. His eyes landed on Thanos, who was currently battling Thor and Steve. Peter sprinted in that direction, his stomach falling to his feet as both heroes were thrown to the ground. Cap was pummeled, unmoving on the ground. Thor had been thrown to the side. One of the cool ladies from before was trying to wrangle Thanos, but she too was unable to beat him.

            In the chaos, the golden gauntlet that Peter was starting to really hate was yeeted off of Thanos’s hand.

            And landed right at Peter Parker’s feet.

            He looked up in shock. Thanos was staring at him in rage, but beyond him, Dr. Strange was holding back an ocean. His eyes were wide but unyielding.

            He held up a single finger.

           Peter heard the Titan’s feet begin to thunder against the dirt towards him, but he paid him no heed. The purple grape would never win. Not now, not ever.

            He picked up the gauntlet.

            It was too big for his hand, honestly. He lifted it upwards, and a golden glint caught his eye beyond the shining stones.

            Peter stared at him across the battlefield. Thanos was running at him, but the teenager barely saw him. He only saw the pair of brown eyes, oh so similar to his own that he suddenly understood how people thought that Tony was his dad. He saw so many emotions there: regret, terror, anger, disbelief, love – and wasn’t that last one a surprise? Or was it?

            Because of course Tony Stark loved him.

            “I got this, Mr. Stark.” He whispered, but even across the chaos, he knew that his hero – his dad – could hear him.

            “Tony.” He breathed, and he couldn’t help the smile that slipped across his lips. “Tony, it’s going to be okay.”

            Mr. Stark was shaking his head vehemently and struggling to his feet, the broken Iron Man suit making it difficult for him to gain any ground. Thanos was closing in, but Peter just kept looking at his idol, the man he had looked up to since he was a baby it seemed, the man who had grown to be his mentor and then slowly evolved into the man who threw Skittles at his head and picked him up after school. Who held his body as he died and stared at him like his entire world was ending.

            “I’ve got this, Tony.” he said.

            I love you.

            Peter didn’t feel any of the pain when he snapped. He only saw the eyes of his hero, filled with a love for him that conquered all of his fears. He was safe.

            There was a blinding flash and he heard himself scream. And then nothing.

            He opened his eyes just as his body gave out. The pain that had disappeared in the face of Tony Stark’s heart appeared in full force when he lost sight of him. He fell back against some structure, his body shaking with the overwhelming ache of death.

            His teeth chattered as he swallowed. All around him, Thanos’s army was becoming dust. Dust in the wind with no power and no sound. His heart wasn’t beating so loudly anymore, and he watched the things that had come to destroy them be destroyed. Monsters flying from the sky disintegrated right before swallowing War Machine. A group of wizards were battling a cave troll one second and then were brandishing sparkling circles against the ash-filled air the next.

            It was over.

            Peter watched Thanos look around in fear. He met Peter’s eyes. Peter held them until he disappeared.

            He sighed, the sound rattling around his lungs. He was tired.

“Hey, Karen?” he croaked. His voice was dust on the wind, but he knew the AI could hear him.

            “Yes, Peter?”

            He hummed happily at her voice, maybe the last voice he ever heard. He had always loved Karen’s voice. She sounded what Peter thought his mom might have sounded like. “Activate the Peter Pan protocol, okay?”

            “Last we spoke of the Peter Pan protocol, I promised not to activate it until your death, Peter. There is still time to-,”

            “Karen.” He rasped, trying to push himself up against the fallen structure and failing. His body wasn’t responding to him anymore. He couldn’t feel his legs. It was like everything was shutting down bit by bit. An icy chill had begun to make its way up his spine. Soon enough it would reach his heart and… “Please.”

            “Alright, Peter.”

            “Thanks, Karen.”

            “Of course, Peter.” And even in her robotic programming, he could hear the little ‘I love you.’ If Peter thought about it just enough, he could see Mr. Stark’s fond smile as he designed such a response.

            “Peter?!”

            Well, that was an awful sound he never wished to hear again. The heart-wrenching scream echoed the battlefield like a gunshot, filling the heavy silence with an even heavier horror. But what was worse was that Peter knew that voice. He would know that voice anywhere.

            “Misser Stark?” his words started slurring together. He could hear the clinks of the Iron Man armor and he cracked open his eyes (when had he closed them?) to the beautiful sight of that golden and red suit, come to save him one last time.

            “Oh my god, Peter.” Tony’s face was contorted into a mixture of terror and torment. Peter wished he could lift his hand to smooth out the creases between his brows, but he could barely feel his shoulders anymore. His hands were useless now. “Fuck, fuck, kiddo. Hey, hey, can you hear me?”

            Peter found the strength to reply. “Yeah.”

            “What the hell were you thinking? Huh?” the words were angry, the tone was harsh, but the hands in his hair were gentle. “I tell you to be careful and you go and pull shit like this? Fuck, kid, what am I going to do with you?”

            He was being held. Tony grabbed his cheeks in his hands and held them like a child. And god, he was, wasn’t he? He was sixteen years old. An hour ago he had been dead, and now he was… he was going to…

            He was going to die again. And they couldn’t reverse this one.

            “Tell May.” He breathed. “Tell May I’m sorry.”

            Tony flinched and shook his head. More heroes were appearing behind him, but Peter only had eyes for the inventor. “You’ll tell her yourself, okay? We’re going to get you back to the compound and when you’re all better she can join us for movie night, okay? Okay, Peter?!”

            “Mr. Stark…”

            “Yeah, kiddie?” oh, it was kiddie now. He liked that.

            “We won, Mr. Stark.”

            Tony’s face crumbled even as he tried to smile. The mask of anger melted away and the tears appeared. “Yeah, kiddie, you did it. You did it, Pete.”

            Peter swallowed again, his chuckle turning into a cough halfway.

            “We’re going to get you help, okay, Pete? Peter?”

            He blinked. The chill was up to his neck. “Mr. Stark?”

            “Tony, kid. Call me Tony. Please.”

            “Tony.” Peter rolled the name across his tongue while he still could. “I love you.”

            His hero sobbed. It was a horrible sound, worse than the sound of the falling warehouse or the screams of the people on the ferry. Worse than the sound of people becoming dust beside him. Worse than the sound of the gun that killed his uncle.

            “Fuck, kid, don’t do this. Don’t you do this to me.”

            “Thank you.” He whispered. “Thank you for everything.”

            “Kid, listen, we’ll get help, alright?” Tony pulled Peter closer and touched their foreheads together. His hands were warm against the teenager’s cold skin and they shook as his thumbs traced circles against his cheeks. “Strange’ll be here any second and he’ll fix you right up. Don’t be scared.”

            Peter smiled. “I’m not.”

            And he wasn’t. He was in the arms of his dad. How could he possibly be scared?

            “It should have been me, Peter.”

            He found himself moving his head slowly, a poor excuse for a shake. “No.”

            “Yes.” Tony hissed.

            “The world needs Tony Stark.” Peter rasped, swallowing down blood and bile. “The world will always need Tony Stark.”

            “What about you?” he snapped. “What about Peter Parker?”

            “The world doesn’t need me.”

            Tony opened his eyes, the tears there making Peter’s heart twist. “But I need you.”

            “We won, Tony.” He said quietly, trying to console the man one last time. “We won.”

            Tony sobbed again, and a tear hit Peter’s nose.

            “’love you.”

            The hero shook his head furiously. “I love you too, baby. Fuck, I love you so much, kid.”

            Baby? oh, he liked that. He liked that more than kiddie. It made him feel like someone’s child again. Like someone loved him.

            And Tony did. Tony loved him so much.

           “Don’t close your eyes, okay, baby? Yeah? Don’t close your eyes.” He kept thumbing circles on his cheeks. He was so warm and safe and Peter didn’t wish to be anywhere else in the world. 

           “Won’t.”

           “Just stay awake, Peter.” Tony whimpered and wasn’t that a weird sound to hear from the great Tony Stark. “Just stay awake. Just stay-.” He choked, hands gripping Peter’s cheeks just a little tighter as if he could keep Peter alive longer just by sheer force of will. “Just stay, baby. Don’t leave me.”

           “Won’t,” Peter repeated. “Always be here.”

           “I’m sorry, Peter. I’m so so sorry.”

           Peter swallowed and found his voice gone. Everything was getting fuzzy. He only had seconds left. He wondered if he was going to see his mom and dad, his uncle. He hoped wherever he was going was as safe as Tony’s arms. He hoped wherever he was going he was as happy as he was right now.

           “Peter?” Tony looked up at him, moving away just an inch to meet his eyes. “Peter? Baby?”

           He forced his vocal cords to work one last time.

           “Dad…?”

           Peter could hear his heartbeat slowing down.

           Ba-bump… ba-bump… ba-bump… ba-bump…

           “Peter? Hey, hey, stay with me, okay?”

           Ba-bump… ba-bump… ba-bump…

           “I’m right here, baby. Yeah? Dad’s right here. I’m never leaving you again, you hear me? I’m sticking to you like glue. I’m moving you to the compound and I’m sleeping in your room and we’ll have joint labs and we’ll- we’ll-,”

            Peter hoped he was smiling. He wanted to smile.

            “Pete?”

            Ba-bump… ba-bump…

            “It’s okay, baby. We’ll be okay.”

            Ba-bump…

            “You can rest now.”

           Silence. Peter Parker's eyes fluttered to a close. 

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            "Hi, Ms. Romonoff! I'm Peter. Peter Parker.”