Aftermath (Peter x Tony)

-3-

The crowd was screaming at him, but Peter couldn't tell if they chanted good things or bad. He'd swung in, literally, to save the day on an armed robbery, just to do some more "neighborhood" work than he'd done lately. He missed being able to work on a small scale, help save someone who needed him rather than the entire world. He flipped through the air and landed on the balcony of a building above the crowd. They were cheering! Mixed shouts of "GO PETER!" And "GO SPIDER-MAN!" rang out through the busy streets.

Peter smiled, feeling lighter on his feet than he had in a long time. He waved a couple times before swinging back to the newly rebuilt Stark Tower. He pulled his mask off as he jumped onto the balcony leading into Tony's penthouse. "I saved a shop today! Two, actually it was one of those two-in-one buildings. A nice old lady owns one of the stores and the other guy was kind of scary but he was nice too! It's Peter, by the way Mr. Stark. Parker. Are you even in there or am I just talking to FRIDAY and Karen? And EDITH! I don't want to leave her out and make her feel bad, you know-"

"I'm here, Peter," Tony appeared in the doorway, a small smile on his face and a drink in his hand. Peter tried not to notice that every time he saw Tony, the guy was drinking something. "Did you get a churro this time?"

Peter shook his head, shooting a web to the ceiling and spinning around the room. He grinned down at Tony who gestured for him to come down. He smiled sheepishly at Tony. "No swinging in the house."

"Okay, okay old man, no fun."

"Who you calling old? You're the one who aged five years," Tony took a sip of his drink and Peter guessed he had enough to make him not think clearly.

"Practically a grandpa," Peter said, pulling out and texting Ned.

Tony chuckled, pointing toward the mass of webs stuck to the ceiling. "That better be gone by the time I'm back."

"Where are you going?"

"Meetings. Have to make a return to my company eventually. Can't just tinker all day as much as some might want me to." He laughed, setting his drink on the counter and adjusting his tie. "Try not to burn the place down while I'm gone, 'kay?"

Peter grinned, "No problem. I'm just gonna mess with my uh, webshooters!"

"WOAH! This place is awesome!" Ned grinned, turning in a circle as he walked into the penthouse.

Peter didn't really pay attention, jumping over Tony's couch and onto the plush carpet of the living room.

"Ned," Peter stared through the lenses of EDITH. "The blip got closer."

Ned put his bag on the floor, pulling out a mess of legos, pieces of his latest Lego set. It's the Batmobile. "We still don't know what it is, it could be like, a military training exercise?"

"EDITH would know if it were and dude, it's never a military training exercise." Peter fiddled around with the glasses, his hands flying through the air as he messed around with a hologram only he could see.

"I just can't figure out what it is!" Peter growled, taking off EDITH with as much anger as he dared with a multi-million dollar pair of glasses.

"How about you put those away and we finish the Batmobile!" Ned help up two legos enthusiastically.

"Ned, I've been living with Tony Stark and there's an unidentified threat on the loose that could take out all of New York and you want to play with legos!"

"I'm trying to embrace the things of my past before I have to move on to face my future," he said matter-of-factly.

Ned had blipped. This meant he still had high school to worry about while Peter was finishing college. They'd somehow kept their friendship going but sometimes it was still hard for Peter to connect with his friend the way to. But still, Ned was the only person he had left. May was gone, MJ was gone, almost every Avenger was gone in the battle with Thanos. Peter found himself staring into the distance, eyes unfocused and head spinning with thoughts he couldn't control. Peter felt himself slipping, sliding off the edge of his bed and onto the floor. Ned waved in his face, looking at him and Peter knew he was there but somehow couldn't see him, not really.

Everything seemed to be underwater, unclear, sounds vague and far away. He could almost hear a fast beeping, ringing out through the void between him and the world around him. But it only lasted a moment before even the pounding of Peter's heart seemed to fade away into the growing darkness.

When Peter opened his eyes, he was met with a very unhappy Tony Stark. "Kid," Tony said when he saw Peter looking at him. His voice sounded raw and strange.

Peter groaned, rubbing his head and sitting up. Tony stared at him, arms folded and eyebrows raised. "You want to tell me what happened back there?"

I've had awful writers block trying to come up with this but here's what I got lol