Rift (Spider-Man fanfic)

Chapter 13: Ping-Pong

    I get out of Peter's car and walk into the building. I don't want to talk to anyone, just go straight to bed. I get into the elevator and ask Friday to tell Tony that I'm home and going to bed. I'm not sure why, but the thought reminds me of how I would always reassure my dad when I get home safe. Tony is starting to remind me of my dad. 

    Friday never responds to me. "Friday?" No response, weird. I brush it off. The elevator doors open, and I'm in Tony and Pepper's bedroom. The elevator doesn't even go here. I step out and greet Tony, who is sitting in bed looking at his phone. "Hey, I just got home. Friday isn't responding to me though, we should probably check on her and see if everything is working right." He doesn't acknowledge me at all. "Tony?"

    He looks up from his phone, but not at me. A groan of pain comes from the bathroom, and he shoots up out of bed and knocks on the door. It swings open, revealing a very pregnant Pepper. "It's getting worse, I think need to go right now." 

    "Okay, let me grab the go-bag. Friday, let everyone know that I'm taking Pepper to the hospital." 

    "Yes sir." 

    Tony grabs a backpack, and Pepper screams at the top of her lungs as she drops to the ground, closing her eyes.  "Pepper!" He drops the bag to the ground and rushes over to her side. "Can you stand up?" She shakes her head, and screams again. Steve and Natasha come in, paying no attention to me. 

    "Pepper!" Natasha yells. It sounds so loud, but also so far away. 

    "I'm so tired. I'm so tired." Pepper whispers, and I can barely hear her. The world around us crumbles, and the room is gone, opening into a black abyss. Everyone else fades away, but Pepper is still with me, lying on the floor. "So tired, so tired." She repeats, still whispering, but it's louder and echoes since it's the only sound. Her eyes open and lock onto me. "Who are you? Where are we?" I rush up to hold her, but the second my skin touches her she passes out and the world around us materializes again, but this time its in the middle of the street instead of in the Tower. 

    People walk past us, paying no attention. "Someone help us!" I yell, and a few people look in our direction. So they can hear me now. Some people come over and help her up, bringing her to the hospital. Wait, I know this street. I used to walk this way all the time after school.

    "What is her name?"

    "She looks just like Gwyneth Paltrow."

    "Where did she come from? She wasn't there a second ago." 

    Everyone is bombarding me with questions. Why would they say she looks like Gwyneth Paltrow? They should only know her as Pepper Potts in their world. Unless...

    We get to the hospital and she gets a room. The nurses were asking all kinds of questions, but I didn't know how to answer them. I mean, I do for some, but they don't know who she is or where she's from. I just don't reply. I still don't understand why she's suddenly pregnant. 

    I've been waiting for what feels like hours but has probably only been a few minutes. I don't know why I'm here, but I can't just leave her. A nurse opens the door for her room, and she isn't there. Only her newborn baby. 

    I slowly walk into the room. "Pepper?" She's just disappeared. I look at the crying baby. I slowly walk up to her, and no one is stopping me. The nurses aren't paying any attention, and no one else is around. I bring my hand up to touch her cheek.

    Before I can, I hear Strange's voice shout in my head. "Stop!"

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    I shoot up in my bed, hyperventilating, trying to grasp reality. "Hey, hey, Diana." 

    The lamp turns on, and I see Tony sitting next to me on my bed, petting my hair. "Relax, it was just a nightmare." I take deep breath. It was just a nightmare. "Friday told me that you're heart rate was increasing dangerously. I'm glad you're okay."

    "I'm sorry if I woke you up." I tell him, still trying to understand my dream.

    "It's alright, I was just worried since I didn't see you when you came home. You went straight to bed." 

    Right. Peter dropped me off and I went right to bed after telling Friday to let Tony know that I'm home. "It was just so terrifying, and so real. It was such a weird dream too, Pepper was pregnant." I laugh to myself at how silly it was to be a nightmare, but Tony's face drops. "What?"

    "It's nothing." He looks away. "Goodnight Diana." He turns off the light and leaves. I'm trying not to overthink it, but that was weird. I lay back down on my bed, and hope for more peaceful dreams.

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     I wake up early in the morning, knowing I won't be able to fall asleep again. I head downstairs to one of the many kitchens to get a drink. I run through the events of yesterday in my head, feeling sick about the whole thing. I should do something for Peter to make it up to him. 

    I take a glass cup out of the cupboard and start to fill it with water from a faucet. I turn off the water, and right then a ping-pong came flying into my glass, making me jump. "Score!" I look to the side to see Tony standing by a ping-pong table I didn't know we had. 

    "Jeez, you scared me." I take the ping-pong ball out of my drink, then dump the water before getting a fresh cup. Who knows where that ball has been, especially with the Avengers using it.

   Tony laughs as I throw the ball back over to him and take a sip of my drink. "Hey, I can't change the fact that I'm a ping-pong god." 

    "With me in the building, the closest you can be to a god is if you stand next to Thor." I smirk.

    "Are you challenging my rule?" 

    "You've already lost. Not to brag, but I'm somewhat of a legend back at home." I walk over to the ping-pong table and grab  paddle, and Tony does the same.

    "Well prepare to be beaten by Tony Stark." He boasts about himself. He serves, and we bounce the ball back and forth between us for a while before I start to get bored and spike it, sending it flying past him. "Oh, so we're playing dirty?"

    I serve the ball, and he spikes it immediately. This goes on back and forth for a while, and we're 9-9. He spikes it, but I'm able to save it and hit the ball. He doesn't expect it, and misses the ball. 10-9, now I just need one more point to win. I serve again, and spike it for the win. He hits the ball, but it goes out of bounds. 

    "HA!" I point at him, and he just glares at me. I lean back, stick my arm straight out, and drop the paddle like a mic.

    He puts his own paddle down, gets on his knees, and leans down with his arms straight in front of him. "All hail the legendary ping-pong goddess!" I laugh at his behavior, then play along.

    "What on earth are you guys doing?" Pepper says, watching us as she stands in the kitchen right next to us. I can't believe we didn't notice her before.

    Tony stands up immediately. "Hey Pep, whatcha doing up? We were just playing a friendly game of ping-pong. Diana beat me, but I clearly let her." I scoff.

    "Sorry if we woke you, we'll try to be quieter." I say.

    "It's easy to beat Tony," She says. "He's terrible at ping-pong." Tony gives her an offended look. "The real test is if you can beat me."

    "Oh, you're on."

A/n: The next few chapters follow part of Spider-Man: Homecoming, but it's a bit off for the sake of the story. Thank you for reading!