my guardian angel | peter parker x gn!reader

t e n

preparations

By the next morning, you'd forgotten about Tony's promise to talk about it. He never said a word, not even about a different subject. He was obviously contemplating whether or not he should help, and neither you nor Pepper wished to stop him. That was until after lunch.

"Y/N, get in the car."

"Hm?"

"We're going to the compound. Get in the car."

"Wait, you- Wh- You're- Ah-"

"Come on, we haven't got all day." You shared a rather large grin with Pepper before following Tony out the door. He seemed to be in quite a rush as if he didn't want to risk changing his mind before getting there.

You climbed into the passenger seat and before you could even shut the door he was already speeding off toward the compound. "So, what made you change your mind?" you asked, trying to make conversation during the ten-minute drive.

"Well, I realized that there are people relying on me-" He turned to you with a small smile on his face. "-and I can't let them down." He turned back to the road, allowing you a couple seconds to process this information. "Plus," he began again, reaching toward the glovebox and pulling it open, "I saw this," revealing a picture frame of him holding up a 'Stark internship' with Peter Parker. You'd spotted Tony gazing at this picture countless times, but you'd never been close enough to take a good look at it.

"Have I told you much about Peter?" he pondered, glancing back and forth between the photograph and the road ahead.

You took a moment to examine the photo. Tony looked so young, so healthy, so... happy. Part of you wondered if you'd ever get the honor of seeing him like that again. He was wearing a clean black suit, much unlike the casual sleepwear you so often saw him in nowadays. You couldn't help but feel as though Peter had known a very different Tony Stark than the one you had grown attached to. You wondered how much he'd changed, and whether or not it was because of you.

"No, you haven't," you answered.

Peter was a great contrast, dressed in a science pun t-shirt and a hoodie. He looked youthful, innocent. Your heart ached knowing where his fate had led him. It was quite unusual seeing him in normal clothes; every memory you had of him he was wearing his iron Spider-suit. It was a pleasant change. He looked like the ordinary teenage boy he was.

"He was a good kid. Much better than you," Tony started, making you laugh.

You wondered what you would be doing now if Peter was still alive. You'd barely known him for a day but the two of you had taken a great liking to each other. He was the first Terran teenager you felt you could call your friend, and the only one to this day.

"He was smart, again somewhere the two of you differ. But something you had in common: an overbearing urge to prove yourself."

You wondered if you would be in school together, perhaps going to the same college. You'd done a bit of research on colleges when Pepper and Tony asked if you wanted to apply to any when you turned eighteen. You'd refused, too focused on your role with the Avengers, yet you wondered if your answer would have changed if Peter was around. What college would you have gone to? What course would you have taken? Would you still even know the Avengers at all?

"He hardly ever listened to me - I don't know why I even tried sometimes. He was always pushing him to be the great Spider-Man, the newest Avenger. Like you with the Guardians." You'd told him your own stories several times. Of Ronan, of Ego, of Thanos. When it came to you, he liked to listen. "I guess he was like my son in that way."