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Peter didn’t really know precisely how time was flowing after the Snap, but he imagined it was.
One second he was fading in Mr. Stark’s arms, and it felt like by the next he was floating. He wasn’t sure where he was, exactly, but he could almost feel the pressure from 14,000,605 scenarios as they flowed around him like water. He waded through the streams of possibilities, losing count of the ways the team lost.
After a while, Peter grew more experienced with navigating through the streams. So far, he had not encountered anyone who could see him. He somehow knew that he was only walking through possibilities. Peter tired of watching the same scene, over and over again. So he tried to find another stream of time, one that didn’t involve battles and loss. Peter found more resistance with this tack, but he was determined.
And with a *POP*, Peter found himself in a new reality. Well, a reality he mostly recognized, but there had been a change of scenery, as well as a new character. Where am I? Peter wondered as he wandered the halls. He found himself in a….cabin? It looked very homey, but he was certain he had never been there before.
Peter climbed the stairs, noticing photos of those he knew along the way. Heck, there were even a few of him in there. Tony, Pepper, Rhodey….and who was that? There were several photos of a young girl scattered in amongst the rest. She was darling, but who was she? Peter then saw some photos of this girl with Tony and Pepper. Ohhhhh….Good for them. Peter knew he should be happy for the couple, but it didn’t entirely set right with him. It was like he had been replaced.
Peter took a deep breath as he reached the top of the stairs. There was a slightly ajar white door with prettily painted letters spelling out “Morgan”. Peter pushed the door the rest of the way open and found a sleeping toddler. It was the girl from the photos. “Morgan,” Peter murmured, putting the name with the face.
The girl sighed and rolled over in her sleep. Peter smiled, and was about to leave the room and explore the rest of the house when Tony came through the door. Peter’s breath caught in his throat at the sight of his mentor, but he knew from experience that Tony wouldn’t be able to see him. Tony looked…older. There were more grey hairs in the mechanic’s hair, but more laugh lines, too. He looked happy. Peter was glad that in this reality Tony had been able to gather up some joy. He deserved it.
Tony picked up the sleeping toddler. “Come on, miss, let’s go get some snack.” Her little arms encircled Tony’s neck as he turned to go downstairs. She let out a little yawn and opened her eyes. They met Peter’s, and he could swear she wasn’t looking through him, but at him. Peter cocked his head to the side and gave the girl a wave. And to his utter shock, she waved back.
Peter spent the next few…years? watching Morgan grow up. He honestly didn’t know if he was outside time at this point, all he knew is the girl kept getting older every time her saw her. He couldn’t spend all his time with her, unfortunately, though he wished he could. The pull of the streams was too strong for him to remain rooted to the timeline where she was, but Peter always managed to fight his way back.
They had tea parties, watched movies, and made up a few of their own games. Peter knew that it was somewhat distressing to Tony and Pepper that their daughter’s “imaginary” friend was based off of their (presumed) dead son, but overall didn’t see too much harm from Morgan continuing the practice. They figured she would grow out of it eventually. Peter had heard them discussing the subject in hushed, but passionate tones after Morgan had gone to bed.
Peter couldn’t be heard by Morgan, though the girl could see him. They came up with their own form of communication, though. And he couldn’t always interact with the objects around them. He definitely avoided doing so if Tony or Pepper were playing with Morgan. He didn’t want to freak them out.
Peter traded his time between the Starks, opting to watch Tony work in his lab or Pepper garden as well as hanging with his favorite four-year-old. He knew he had missed something, because Tony was suddenly working on….time travel? Peter didn’t know why, other than the fact that time travel was freaking AWESOME. He was so caught up watching Tony work through models that neither of them noticed Morgan sneaking down the stairs.
“And don’t worry if it doesn’t pan out. I’m just kinda - “ Tony trailed off, then “Shit” in answer to the AI’s “Model rendered”.
Tony and Peter turned as a pair to a sweetly uttered “Shit?” from the stairs. Tony whispers back to the girl, “What are you doing up, little miss?” The girl smiles before stating her previous phrase. “Shit!”
Peter chuckles as Tony admonishes Morgan, “No, we don’t say that. Only Mommy says that word. She coined it, it belongs to her.“
“Why you up?” inquires the four-year-old.
Tony replies with a wry smile, “ Cause I got some important shit going on here.” At an incredulous look from Morgan, he continues, “What do you think? No, I got something on my mind.”
Morgan thinks for a second, then with a smile of her own, asks, “Was it juice pops?” Peter shakes his head with a grin.
“Sure was. That’s extortion. Great minds think alike. Juice Pops, exactly was on…” Tony trails off, turning to look at the model, then back to Morgan, “my mind.”
“Can Peter have one?” inquires the girl. Peter begins vehemently shaking his head, causing Morgan to start laughing.
“No, I don’t think he needs one. Thanks for asking, though!” Tony replies, then when he sees her attention is directed over his shoulder and not at him, asks in a hushed whisper, “Is he here now?” Morgan nods, shifting her gaze to Tony’s. He grabs juice pops and the pair (plus Peter) makes their way back upstairs.
The father-daughter duo worked through their popsicles, making little conversation whilst doing so as they consumed the cold, sugary things. “ You done? Yeah, now you are,” Tony takes the juice pop from Morgan and finishes it. He wipes her mouth with the edge of his sleeve. “That face goes there,” he admonishes, pushing her head onto her pillow.
Morgan complies, but asks the inventor, “Tell me a story!”
Tony lets out a sigh, “A story…. Once upon a time, a girl went to bed. The end.“
Morgan giggles. “That’s a horrible story!”
“Come on, that’s your favorite story. I love you tons.” Tony bends over and kisses Morgan on the forehead.
“I love you 3000.” the girl says earnestly.
“Wow,” the mechanic responds, “3000. That’s crazy.” Tony reaches for the door and begins to close it. Peter makes sure he is in the hallway so he won’t get shut in, or reveal his presence by opening the door. “Go to bed. Or I’ll sell all your toys. Night, night.”
Peter follows Tony downstairs to the living room, where they find Pepper sitting on the couch, reading a book. Tony begins pacing in front of the fireplace. He stops for a moment. “Not that it’s a competition, but she loves me 3000. You were somewhere on the low 6 to 900 range.” Pepper scoffs with a smile and a shake of her head. “What are you reading?”
“Oh, it’s just a book on composting she replied, watching her husband wear a new tread in the carpet with his pacing.
“What’s new with composting?” Tony murmured as he continued his repetitive movements.
“Just–” Pepper began but was quickly cut off by Tony.
He stopped pacing and turned to face her. “I figured it out, by the way.”
Pepper nodded, a smile on her face as she saw the sparkle in the billionaire’s eyes that meant he was excited. She took a breath. “You know, just so we’re talking about the same thing–”
“Time travel,” Tony supplied, and Peter heard Pepper’s sharp intake of breath from where he stood.
“What? Wow… That’s amazing, and… terrifying.” Pepper closed her book and set it aside.
Tony sat beside her on the couch. “That’s right.”
Pepper shifted position slightly as she said, “We got really lucky.”
Pepper and Peter watched the mechanic’s eyes lose focus as he glanced away from Pepper. “Yeah I know.”
Pepper’s eyes sought the former playboy’s. “A lot of people didn’t.”
Tony’s gaze met his wife’s once more, and Peter could see the brown orbs were glistening with unshed tears. The mechanic set his jaw before muttering, “No, I can’t help everybody.”
Pepper leaned in, eyes earnest and pleading. “It sorta seems like you can.”
Tony studied his fidgeting hands in his lap. “Not if I stop,” he raised his gaze once more to Pepper, “I can put a pin in it right now, and stop.” His voice faltered a bit.
Pepper leaned even closer to her husband. With a soft smile, she stated, “Tony, trying to get you to stop has been one of the few failures in my life,” the couple each let out a wry chuckle at her words.
Tony took a deep breath and took one of Pepper’s hands in his own. “I sometimes feel I should put it in a–” he glanced behind the pair and Peter felt like Tony was looking at him, though he knew the billionaire could only be looking through him, “locked box and” Tony’s gaze met Pepper’s once more as he continued, “drop it at the bottom of a lake.” He looked down once more, and when his gaze was drawn upwards once more his eyes were filled with even more moisture than before. “Go to bed.”
Pepper gave the man a sad smile. “But would you be able to rest?”
Peter didn’t know how much time was passing, or where Tony and the team were testing the genius’ theory. The only places he seemed to be able to find were the battlefield and the Starks’ cabin. But occasionally he would pop in on Tony continuing to work through theories in the lab, or the couple discussing the process.
Most of his time, though, was spent in tea parties and other such activities with his favorite Little Miss. On one such occasion, Morgan turned to him in the midst of pouring their “tea”. “Mommy says her and Daddy are gonna fight the mons’er.” Peter nodded, and did his best to communicate to the girl that she shouldn’t worry. He smiled and raised his “tea” cup, when suddenly, he felt the strongest pulling sensation through every fiber of his being. He gasped and dropped the cup with a clatter. Morgan cocked her head and gave him a puzzled expression. Peter gritted his teeth and did his utmost to stay with her long enough to sign “I’m sorry” and wave goodbye before he was pulled away from her.
Morgan and her tea party faded and Peter’s senses were flooded with the streams as he was ripped through them. He didn’t have time to appreciate the journey. As suddenly as the pulling had started, it ceased. The lack of movement forced the teen to his knees. He gasped and suddenly a hand entered his field of vision and Dr. Strange was bringing the teen to his feet.
“It’s been five years. Come on, they need us.“ stated the sorcerer simply.
“Whaaaa—-Mister Doctor Strange sir! It’s so good to see you! It’s been what?” Peter stumbled over his words, excited to be around someone who could hear him.
Stephen let out a sigh, slightly impatient, but soon a wry smile lit up his features. “Yes, Peter. It’s been five years for them. I know it only feels like a short period of time has passed for you–”
Peter cut him off. “Oh that makes sense, I was wondering how old Morgan was getting.”
Stephen’s piercing blue eyes went wide at this remark, and sought Peter’s soft brown ones. “Morgan? How do you know about Morgan? Peter? What have you been up to?”
Peter gave a halting recount of all that he’d observed. When he’d finished, the sorcerer used his sling ring to open a portal. “Was this the place you saw?”
“Yeah that’s it!” Peter crowed. “Wait, is that where we’re going?” the teen’s face fell. “I don’t want to go back there. I’ve walked that battlefield too many times already.”
Strange put a comforting hand on the boy’s shoulder. “But this time you’ll be able to impact the goings-on. I need your help to ensure the one reality where we defeat Thanos once and for all is the one on the other side of this doorway. Can you help me with that?”
Peter’s eyes lit up with a grim determination, and the sorcerer watched him set his jaw in a stubborn line. “Alright. Let’s do this!” The teen pulled on his mask and bounced on the balls of his feet before swinging through the portal.
Peter lost count of how many enemies he webbed, shocked, punched, or otherwise incapacitated. Soon he saw a familiar figure he never thought he’d get the chance to interact with.
“Mr. Stark!” He cried, ripping his mask off as he ran to his mentor. He gripped Tony’s upper arms, beyond ecstatic to be able to speak to and touch the billionaire. “Hey! Holy cow! You will not believe what’s been going on. Do you remember when we were in space? And I got all dusty? I must’ve passed out, Because I woke up, and you were gone. But Doctor Strange was there, right? He was like, ‘It’s been five years. Come on, they need us.’ And then he started doing the yellow sparkly thing that he does all the time. What are you doing?” During this rambling speech Tony had pulled the kid into a fierce hug that neither of them wanted to leave. “Oh, this is nice,” murmured Peter.
Spiderman and Ironman fought their way across the field together. All the battles blended together for Peter. All he knew was he was back and it felt good. He hadn’t realized how off he felt while in the Stone, but he felt so much better now. And of course being able to interact with one Tony Stark didn’t hurt. At one point they helped carry the gauntlet across the field. Peter saw the bright, shining lady pick it up and with a snap that reverberated across all of time and space, it was over.
After being cleared by medical, and reuniting with May, Peter spent a few weeks just adjusting to being alive again. Tony assured him he was always welcome at the cabin, and had someone he wanted him to meet. Peter had been to the Sanctum a few times and discussed his experiences in the streams of time within the Stone. Neither of them knew exactly why Peter had been able to navigate through the streams, and only to the cabin, but both thought it best not to publicize it.
Soon enough, Peter was on his way to the cabin by the lake. He was excited for the trip. He talked to May and Happy the whole way there (who, apparently, were like a thing now? Peter wasn’t quite sure how he felt about that.), and the time passed quickly.
Tony greeted the teen with warm hug when he stepped out of the car. “Come here, Underoos, it’s been too long,”
“Mr. Staaaaark!” Peter protested with a grin.
The mechanic chuckled and slung an arm around the kid’s shoulders. “Come on, there’s someone I want you to meet.” The pair made their way up the steps to find Pepper with Morgan on her hip. “Morguna, it makes me very happy to introduce you to someone,” Morgan, who had her face buried in Pepper’s shoulder, turned at her father’s words. Her face lit up and she practically leapt from her mother’s arms.
“PETEY!” the girl ran to Peter, who gladly scooped her up in his arms with a smile. “I missed you! Will you play tea party with me?” Tony and Pepper exchanged a look, clearing their throats gently.
Peter gave a soft shake of his head in an attempt to ward off their questions. “Of course I will, Morgy-pie,” he said, setting her down.
“YAY!” she squealed, taking his hand and practically dragging him upstairs.
Tony and Pepper each let out a laugh.
“Well, that went well,” said Pepper, one hand on her hip and the other tucked under her chin. Tony murmured his assent and wrapped her in his embrace. “You don’t think,” she began.
“Anything is possible, Pep. Anything.” He kissed the top of her head and they headed inside, to where both of their children were playing.