Irondad & Spiderson Oneshots

Dahlias for Days

Here we are! I'm sure no one is surprised, lol.

No Way Home was an INCREDIBLE movie, and I love it with my whole heart. On that note, though, I found the ending to be really super duper heartbreaking. While I totally respect it's place in the plotline and such, I'm tweaking it a tad, self-indulgently, simply for my own peace of mind. I'm sure there are gazillions of other fics out there like this that are all brilliant, but I haven't read them yet, because I'm still in the denial and bargaining stages of grief, lol. Rest assured I will read them all once I swing around to acceptance.

There are lines from this fic that are taken directly from No Way Home, and they do not belong to me! They belong to the moviemakers.

Additionally, if there's anyone still here who hasn't seen the movie yet, please be warned: this story contains SPOILERS.

Without further ado, onto the story! Enjoy! (And if you wanna talk NWH, drop a comment!)

Hi. My name is Peter Parker.

You don't know me... but, I...

My name is Peter Parker, and you don't know me, but...

Okay. Okay, okay, okay.

Spinning the phrase on repeat in his mind, trying to shake off the nerves, Peter places a cold and twitchy hand on the doorknob.

He's been to the coffee shop a couple of times, actually. Well, scratch that- he's been to the outside of the coffee shop. Peter can recite the menu plastered to the outer window. He can pick out where the awning fades from dark green to light green. But today marks the first day that he's pressing on further- inside .

Peter cracks the door open, just barely.

He sees MJ and Ned immediately.

He always sees them immediately. He's always looking for them. It's an odd feeling, getting so used to your eye hopping to two people every time you enter a room, and then suddenly, they're no longer searching for you . The gravitation toward each other isn't natural anymore.

(Nothing is natural anymore, Peter thinks, trying to ignore the flashing pictures of May, of Happy, and of Stephen on the forefront of his mind.)

The door tinkles gently, drawing Peter out of his thoughts, welcoming him into the small shop like a friendly wave.

"Hi," MJ calls out casually, her voice stopping Peter in his tracks not five steps into the room. It smells viciously of coffee and sweets, and Peter can hear music in the background, a song that sounds like something Ned would play. His Spider-Sense is flaring with the mounds of sensory input and the stress of what he's about to do, and, on top of it all, Peter vaguely registers that he's going to need to make an effort to push away the waterworks before he starts full-on bawling.

A wonderful start to this endeavor.

Peter gets another six hasty steps in before MJ speaks again.

"Can I help you?" she asks.

She's got her hair up, her brown curls accenting the soft pink of her uniform nicely. She looks relaxed, but bored. Unbothered, but unreactive. Peter's gut lurches.

It's okay, we can fix this, we can fix this...

"Hi," Peter finally chokes out. He tries to come off as chilled-out and normal as he can, but he can't help the excited smile that graces his face. We have a chance. We can fix this. "Um... My name is Peter Parker."