stark, peter parker

xxi. it's going to be okay

a/n: if you want extra pain, i suggest listening to big brother i'm just like you by madds buckley or in case you don't live forever by ben platt <3

thanos' army disappeared one by one. everyone faded away, just as the avengers had before. thanos faded away last, watching as his entire army disintegrated. he accepted defeat, sitting down and silently mourning his own death.

as dakota watched from the distance, she felt the earth shatter from underneath her feet. she had seen the whole thing, and had watched in terror as tony snapped his fingers. tears threatened to make their way out of dakota's eyes as she ran over to where her father knelt. peter was hot on her trail as kodie's armor faded away, leaving her in her black bodysuit. peter carefully helped tony lay on the ground as his daughter knelt next to him, looking into his eyes.

"you did it mr stark. you did it. we won." peter praised from next to her, trying, and failing, to not to cry himself. pepper flew down, sitting in front of tony's body.

tears stained dakota's cheeks as she looked down at the only family she had grown up with. the only person who had been there for her. her father. tony was the only family she'd ever known, and was one of the only people in the world that she loved. the person she admired. the man she had always wanted to be like, who she always wanted to be proud of her.

dakota had always tried not to cry; she didn't want to appear weak. now, crying was all she could think to do. the tears fell down her cheeks slowly, at first, and then an endless cascade of tears rolled off of her face.

she thought back to the battle of new york, where she had seen tony fall out of a portal in the sky. there had been a brief moment, at that time, where she had thought her father was dead. now, as she looked down at him, dakota didn't think there was a time to eat shawarma after.

"it's going to be okay, kodie." tony said softly. "i love you." dakota nodded silently, holding her father's hand with her own.

"i love you, too, dad." she spoke through her tears, looking down at him.

dakota and tony didn't often say that they loved each other. it was something they knew, without speaking it aloud. it was an unspoken fact that they just walked around as if it was nothing. they just didn't say that they loved each other.

tony closed his eyes slightly as dakota silently lay down next to him, her knees pressed to her stomach. she rested her head on his chest as silent tears continued to fall from her eyes. "i'm so proud of you." he said.

this was the other thing that went unspoken in the stark household. tony was never prepared to be a father, especially not when dakota had been left on his doorstep. she was his blood child, he had confirmed after dna testing, and he had felt as if he had no choice other than to take care of her. after every battle she'd face, or every task she'd overcome, tony never once told her how overwhelmed he was with pride of his daughter.

here's the thing about heartbreak; when it truly hits you, it hits you hard. it's like a never-ending void that numbs the body entirely. losing a loved one, they say, is one of the most painful traumas to endure. this was true, dakota assumed, because her heart felt as if it was shattered into pieces. losing peter had hurt her, but this.. this was much worse.

dakota's tears rolled down her cheeks, and she tried to smile sadly as she looked up at tony, but more tears fell from the action. he used the last bit of his strength to rest his chin on her forehead, wrapping his arms around her lightly.

"it's okay tony. we'll be okay. you can rest now." pepper spoke gently, kissing his forehead. after she had finished uttering the words, the heart dakota's ear rested on stopped beating. tony's blue arc reactor's light shut off, and with it, left dakota's heart.

she sat up in shock, looking down at her father. she half expected it to be a joke. an elaborate ruse that everyone had set up just to see how she'd react. but he didn't open his eyes, and his arc reactor didn't light up again.

choking on her own sobs, dakota began to scream. "NO!" she shouted. "NO!" she leaned over her father's body, letting out vocal sobs. "no!" she wailed out a scream, stumbling backwards and into peter's arms. he wrapped his arms around her waist as she melted into his touch.

dakota continued verbally sobbing, her head falling onto peter's shoulder. "no.. no..." she mumbled, pressing her face into his neck.

"it's going to be okay." peter whispered, kissing dakota's forehead as he held her. "it's going to be okay."