You're my escape- A Peter Parker Love Story

Epilogue

22 days later

Tony sat, defeated and starving, on the floor of the spaceship. Nebula sat across from him, dozing off as the last of their oxygen depleted. He spared his cracked helmet a glance. Even that was on its last leg. The battery was drained. There was only enough juice for one final message home- if anything ever made it home. He stood and grabbed his helmet. He left Nebula asleep as he moved to the front of the ship- the Benatar, as Nebula called it. 

He sat against a metal wall. Pieces of sharp corners poked his back, but he couldn't be concerned with those. He set his helmet on the top step and looked at it. He sighed and tapped the temple. "This thing on?"

The helmet didn't respond with words, but Tony heard a soft hum of a scan. He took that as a good sign. "Hey, Miss Potts... Pep." He looked down at his hands. There were scabs on every knuckle that had begun to heal over. "If you find this recording, don't post it on social media. It's gonna be a real tear-jerker. I don't know if you're ever going to see these. I don't know if you're still- if you're still-" he looked up. "Oh, God, I hope so." He sighed as he tried to collect his thoughts. "Today is day 21, uh 22-" he corrected himself. "You know, if it wasn't for the existential terror of staring into a void of space, I'd say I'm feeling better today. The infection's run its course-" he rubbed unconsciously at the wound in his chest. His fingers edged along the frayed fabric of his shirt. "Thanks to the blue meanie back there. You'd love her," he told his helmet, thinking it was Pepper. "Very practical. Only a tiny bit sadistic. She uh- she actually reminds me a lot of Eliza. Please, uh- please tell me she's right there beside you. Just... just tell me that you two have each other." He licked his lips as he felt an itch behind his eyes. He didn't have enough water to cry, but he still felt the sensation. "Um... some fuel cells were cracked during battle, but we figured out a way to reverse the ion charge to buy ourselves about 48 hours of time, but it's now dead in the water." He pursed his lips and ran his tongue along the front of his teeth to unstick his top lip from them. "We're 1000 light-years from the nearest 7-11. Oxygen will run out tomorrow and that'll be it. And Pep-" he looked at the helmet and imagined it was Pepper's face behind the metal and glass. "I know I said no more surprises, but I was really hoping to pull off one last one. But... it looks like... well you know what it looks like. 

"Don't feel bad about this. I mean, if you grovel for a couple of weeks, and then move on with enormous guilt..." He looked down at his hands again. "Can you put the kid on? There's some stuff I need to say to her." He waited, and as he did he imagined Pepper grabbing Eliza. He thought of her as he always liked to remember her, with wild, unruly curls and her fierce blue eyes that always looked at him with the tiniest bit of disrespect. He sniffled as he met the helmet's gaze once more. "Hey, Kid... Eliza, I know that I'm the light of your life, or whatever, but you'll be okay after this. You know how I know? Because we pulled you from something a hell of a lot worse and you somehow found a way to recover. Listen, about- about Peter... I did everything I could for him. I don't know what I could have done differently to-" The words clumped in his throat. He wished for water but knew they had none left. "I should probably lie down." He nodded at his own idea. "Please know that-" he rubbed his lips together as he tried to find the words. "When I drift off, I will think about our family. You, me, Pepper- even Happy on a good day. Because... it's always you." He leaned forward to click the temple just as he did to turn it on. 

The hum stopped. 

His hand fell to his lap. It took the last of his energy to make the tape. He watched his helmet as his eyes fluttered shut. 

As he drifted to sleep, he thought of Pepper and Eliza, sitting at the dinner table as they waited for him. As he joined them, they teased his tardiness relentlessly but rejoiced when he sat at the table.