#a4:e

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It was a miracle that Peter hadn’t broken down in tears at this point. He had stared at the lake, barely feeling May’s hand on his shoulder. His hands gripped each other so tight that he was sure that he would have bruises.

After the ceremony, the group shuffled into the Stark house. Pepper, Morgan, and Happy sat on the couch in front of the fireplace. Rhodey was on the armchair next to them. At FRIDAY’s insistence, the Iron Man helmet was put on the table and a hologram of Mr. Stark appeared.

Tony explained how he made this message in case he hadn’t made it out. He was sitting in a chair the day before they had gone back to get the stones.

“I love you 3000.”

He had to leave. Now.

Quietly, he slipped out of the living room and opened the first door he came to. There was a staircase to the basement. All he heard were his steps as he went farther down.

Automatically, the lights turned on when he got to the end of the stairs. There was no other word to describe it than as one of the labs in the compound. It was a smaller scale but it was a lab nonetheless. In the room was a hologram table. He tapped it and folders popped up.

Peter saw a bunch labeled ‘SM’, ‘IL’, ‘RS’, and one labeled ‘family photos’. He opened the ‘SM’ first. There were many, many files labeled from ‘1A’ to ‘52A’. He opened ‘17A’ to see the Iron Spider suit that was still on his person.

He backed out and opened ‘family photos’. The first picture was of Pepper and Tony getting married. The next was a gender reveal. He swiped to the next picture and his hand went to cover his mouth to muffle the sob he let out.

It was the picture Tony and he had taken when his internship became official. His hand was too far up above Tony’s head. He looked so happy in this picture.

He turned away from the screen and slid down the front of the desk. He barely registered the drawer handles dragging down his spine painfully. His breathing became gasps, his throat ached, and his eyes burned as the tears fell. His arms gripped his legs tightly as he buried his head into his knees.

Tony considered Peter as part of his family. After the year he had with the ‘internship’, Tony had become a sort-of father figure to him. He never said it out loud and he wished he did.

His sense alerted him to a person sitting next to him. He still kept his head down.

“I met him in 2012, shortly after the Battle of New York,” the person said. “It was winter in Rose Hill and he broke into my garage. His suit was badly damaged after the Mandarin blew up his mansion. I helped him with the Extremis problem. One of the guys held me hostage but then I used a flash grenade he gave me to escape. Then he left me with new projects to pursue.”

Peter took a few deep breaths. “He showed up in my apartment one day and said that I had applied for an internship. I didn’t apply for an internship.” Peter managed a small chuckle. “I had been in the program for a year before the Decimation took me. When I came back, he died.”

A hand was set on his knee. “He has a habit of showing up, doesn’t he?”

“He does,” Peter agreed, gripping the hand. He lifted his head to wipe at his face with his other hand. “I’m Peter Parker.”

“Harley Keener,” the boy said. Peter had a vague recollection of his name.

“Everyone says that five years passed but it feels like I-I,” he tried to describe it.

“Woke up,” Harley supplied. “I was taken too. I still remember my sister’s scream.”

Harley had tightened his hold; Peter reciprocated it. “Tony was there when I left,” Peter said quietly. “I remember apologizing. I kept apologizing for something I had no control over.”

“I told my sister it would be okay, that I would come back before she knew it.” Harley’s thumb rubbed on Peter’s hand. “I lost five years with her.”

“It was random,” Peter told him. “There was a fifty-fifty chance of disappearing. I can still hear the snap and feel it happening.”

“Snap?” Harley asked.

There was no point in hiding his secret right now. “The reason he said I had an internship was because he figured out that I was Spider-Man and decided to train me. I was there on that planet when Thanos had snapped. I fought him and was so close to getting the glove off. I wasn’t fast enough.”

“You fought him,” Harley said. “That’s enough. The fact that you were able to do something is good.”

“I was there too,” he whispered. “When Tony died. This is what he must have felt when I turned to dust. This emptiness.”

“This is the second father figure I lost,” Harley mused. “My dad skipped out on me when I was four and now Tony.”

“Number three for me. My parents died when I was young, my uncle Ben was killed when I got my powers, and Tony too.” Peter took a shaky breath. “Did you know that he took my suit away?”

“When?”

“Before I fought with the Vulture. I had my old costume,” Peter said, “and I ended up trapped under a building. I lifted the rubble and got out. Immediately, I went to fight him. I won the fight, proving to myself that I didn’t need Tony’s suit to be a hero. At the end of the day, I found the new suit on my bed in a brown bag with a note that said, “This belongs to you”.”

Harley smiled. “That sounds like him. I got a similar note.”

“How is it that one man changed my life so much?”

“Tony Stark does that.” Silence filled the room. Their hands were still clasped but neither let go.

“Was that Captain America I saw outside?” Harley asked, breaking the silence.

“Yeah, it was. I fought him in Germany,” Peter said. “He dropped an airplane tunnel thing on me.”

“You mean a jetbridge?”

“That,” Peter nodded. “I also stole his shield.”

“You stole his shield,” Harley deadpanned.

Peter couldn’t contain his laughter. “I flipped over him and webbed it into my hand.”

“Show off much?”

“What would you do If you saw Captain America?” Peter nudged Harley.

“You got me there,” Harley said. “I never saw so many heroes in one place.”

“Tony helped each one of us.” Somehow, Peter was leaning on the boy more. He was leaning back. Their fingers had intertwined.

“We should head back up soon,” Harley broke the small silence.

“I don’t know if I can.” His hand tightened slightly.

Harley squeezed back. “I’ll be there.”

“Okay,” Peter said softly.

Together they stood up. Still holding hands, Harley led Peter up the stairs. The lights turned off and they stepped into the hall.

Peter didn’t know much about Harley Keener. He didn’t know what happened after the Decimation but he knew that without Tony Stark, the Avengers would be fractured. Five years had passed and he knew that the people had most likely gotten used to half the population disappearing.

Those people would need help. At the moment, Peter Parker couldn’t help but maybe Spider-Man could.

Sooooo, I watched Endgame on Friday and cried my heart out. I was a mess during the funeral and when it panned to the not-so-little asshole from IM3, I legit gasped so loud. I think I was the only one to recognize him in the entire theater. The only reason I did recognize him was that, as of recently, I became Parley trash. I wanted more screen time for Harley and Peter and this was born. I don't know how but I wrote it in one day.

Nebula: ....What?

Tony: ....

They could have went back to like the day before Vision got uninstalled and got him back.

Hopped over to the day before Natasha got deep sixed and been like “get in loser we’re going timeline hopping”

Could have plucked a Tony out of like a month back and had him back too.

They could have done all of that, since Gamora from the past stayed in the future, and they just .... didn’t?

But Steve can go play Captain Husband in the past and it’s all good?

Jane Foster: NO!

Steve: I GOTTA PUT THIS BACK SO JUST STAY STILL