Straight after the battle is won - or lost, depending on your perspective - Peter tries to convince the Avengers to save Mr. Stark by going back into the Quantum Realm. I wrote this right after Endgame came out and 1 year later I'm still not over how much I hated that movie.

Tony Stark had lost his son when he was only 2 years old, stolen away in broad daylight. Years later, his path crosses with that of a particular vigilante. They are strangers to each other, or so they think. Tony has just made it through the disaster with Ultron. He is trying to keep himself and the team together but relationships are strained and tempers are running high. Peter Parker is on top of the world. After a few shitty years, losing his parents and then losing his Uncle, things are finally looking up. Sure he lives in a crappy little apartment with his Aunt but he might have just found his mission in life. ------ This is an AU story obvious by some of the tags. I'm starting out a few weeks after Age of Ultron took place. Civil War will be a thing. Other than that I'm not too concerned about sticking to every canon detail and storyline.

Through the yelling, Peter doesn't do more than breathe, albeit barely. He breathes out thin wisps of blood that fly past his lips. Everything aches no matter how little he moves, yet nothing compares to the heartbreak. "Think, Peter! What are you going to have when everything else burns away?!" Tony's scream yanks Peter back to the painful awareness of everything. He says the first thing that comes to mind. "You, Dad..." he answers truthfully, missing the way Tony's expression slowly falls with regret. "I'd still have you..."

Peter Parker's known for his entire life that things just don't work out for him. Not with an Uncle prone to violence and his apartment on the wrong side of run-down. He's made peace with that, used Spider-Man as an outlet for the hunger and bruises. But then Tony Stark shows up, dressed in an expensive suit and carrying an internship opportunity. Peter can balance that on top of everything. He can keep a secret, he knows he can. And keeping this from Tony Stark won't be much different. Won't it?

Tony Stark is convinced by his family friend Obadiah Stane to adopt a kid in order to improve the tarnished image of Stark Industries. The media always loves a soft, single dad, so it's perfect to get the PR they need. Pepper is enraged. Rhodey is disappointed. Happy is confused. All of this, Tony expected. What he doesn't expect is to bring home a kind-hearted, intelligent, four-year-old kid named Peter who slowly gets him to come out of his egocentric shell.

Something's wrong. He's certain of that now. The photos, the dreams, and now this. It's too much to be a coincidence. He feels as though his mind has slowly evolved into a puzzle with one piece out of place. One very big piece out of place. And until he can find it, the rest of the picture will be skewed. His memories have been tampered with, he can feel it in his gut, though why or how he cannot say. But, after tonight, he has a sneaking suspicion that it all traces back to Spider-Man. Or: two years after the snap that saved the universe, Tony Stark wakes up to a world in which no one remembers Peter Parker: including himself. But when puzzling memories of Spider-Man come to light, will Tony be able to break the spell and bring his kid home? Disclaimer: this is a work of fanfiction and I don't own the characters featured in this piece. All rights reserved to Marvel.