A Second Chance (Fix-its/One-shots)

The Oath: 1. So Long

'Yeah, that's gonna leave a mark.' He winced as he felt the fresh scar on his brow bone. Peter had just came back from work, like any other day. He reached for his keys and entered his apartment. Just as he closed the door, his senses went haywire.

There was someone in his house.

In an instant, his gun was out. He tried to use his advanced hearing to locate the intruder. 'The bedroom.' He realized. He cautiously shuffled his way through the corridor, until he was in front of the bedroom door. He put his ear to the door, and made out faint footsteps.

Peter prepared himself to kick the door open, his gun trained on where he heard the footsteps.

'Okay, on three.' He whispered to himself.

'One.'

'Two.'

'Three!' He swung the door open, and his grip on the gun only got tighter. The room was dark, but the moonlight shone through it. Eyes wide and fully alert, he moved forward.

'Movement on your six!' Warned his senses. He whipped around so fast, black spots danced around his vision. There stood a hooded figure, male, not that tall. The person seemed oddly familiar, but there was no telling with that hood.

"Hands where I can see 'em." He said harshly. The figure obliged, hands shaking, body almost trembling.

They both stood there for a few moments, locked in a trance.

"Take off the hood." Peter ordered.

And oh boy was he not prepared to see the face that hid beneath it.

It was no stranger.

It was a face he hadn't seen in nearly ten years.

It was someone he was certain he'd never see again.

There stood Tony Stark, eyes wide, nearly bloodshot. Hands still raised in defence, and mouth agape as he struggled to find words.

"What?" Peter asked in disbelief. "You're... You're not real."

"I... I'm pretty sure I am." Tony furrowed his eyebrows trying to figure out who the person in front of him was. Something about that face reminded him of sweet memories of his past, but it was older, worn out. And the haunted look on it didn't help either.

Then all of a sudden it came back in a flood.

"Peter?" It came out a whimper. Peter, taken aback, turned the safety back on and stowed away the gun.

'It could easily be an imposter, or, or I could have finally reached the point where I can see ghosts now.' His thoughts were cut short when Tony took a step forward and reached out.

"Stay back!" He warned. He tried to sound intimidating but the scared tone of his voice gave it away.

Tony saw something beneath these eyes. Not just fear, or anger or sadness. He saw a glint of hope.

"I swear, I'm real. I can prove it." He said desperately.

When Peter did nothing but clench his fists, he continued.

"I remember. Everything. When Thanos turned to dust, you were there. You apologized. Again, for absolutely no reason. But I didn't die. I was trapped inside of this... Pocket dimension, I had to work my way out. It took me a year. But here I am. I swear to you." He was rambling by the time he finished, and he could clearly see the tears glistening in his mentee's eyes.

"Tony." He said in all seriousness, his voice breaking.

"It's been ten years. Ten." It was now his turn to be taken aback. Before he could think how to react to this information, the younger man was suddenly merely inches away from him, the tears now free falling. He cupped Tony's face with his hands. He then let out a hysterical laugh, which only came out a relieved cry.

Strong arms wrapped him in a tight hug, a head resting on his shoulder. Oh how familiar this felt, so similar to a hug ten years ago.

His brain couldn't process it. It couldn't have been ten years...

Could it?

The young man was still sniffling, so he held him closer.

"Easy there, it's alright, I promise." He murmured, patting his back.

They stood there for a couple minutes. Peter pulled back, wiping a few stray tears from his face. A goofy grin from ear to ear.

"I- I have to tell Morgan." He frantically looked around, as if looking for something. He pulled out his phone, quickly typing on it. He felt a hand on his wrist. He looked up to meet the hesitant look in Tony's eyes.

"I don't know, Peter."

"Why?" He was so confused and it clearly showed through the way he narrowed his eyes and tilted his head.

"I... I'm scared."

"Of what?" He asked earnestly. He then understood. He looked fondly at his sorta-father-figure. "She misses you. She really does. She's still your Little Miss, Tony." Peter let his hand rest on Tony's shoulder, gripping him tight, still not completely believing he was real. "I'm just gonna tell her to come over." His fingers hovered over the number.

"How's Pepper?"

"Still as Pepper as ever. She is currently doing press in Japan." He said, then his tone got awfully quiet. "She was in a bad place after...After your.." He motioned awkwardly at Tony. "Quote Unquote 'Death'." He chuckled nervously. "You have no idea what we were like when you died. What the world was like." He closed his phone and shoved it in his pocket, then went on, eyes downcast.

"There was a funeral that we held, two days after the whole debacle. Everyone was there. From Hank Pym to Carol Danvers, to Peter Quill, to Harley Keener." Peter caught Tony's mildly surprised look at the mention of Harley's name. "Nick Fury was also there, lurking in the porch." He snorted. "It hit me really hard, I'm not gonna lie. Add that to the fact that I was dead for five years...It was.. It was bad. I'm pretty sure I couldn't sleep for a few months.. But way back when, you know what got me through? Morgan did. She reminded me so much of you, sometimes it felt like you never left. But then I'd remind myself that you did. And don't get me started on the team. God, the team. The literal definition of broken into pieces. They each went their own ways, except for Steve. He kept his position on the Avengers, still does. Along with everyone that was fighting Thanos all those years ago. We rebuilt the compound, but we kept the old design. We built a 'In Memoriam' for uh.." He fought the urge to break down. "For you and Widow."

He cleared his throat, stared out the window for a moment, then back down at his hands. "As cheesy as it sounds, every year, we'd sit around a campfire next to it, and tell stories. Whether it was about our personal lives, or our 'Avenging'" He said with air quotes. "Lives. It was so beautiful yet so heart-wrenching. But it helped us cope, in a sense. I just... Yeah.." He let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding.

"I'm sorry, that must've been a rough few years."

"Okay, you should not be apologizing. Like, at all. Or I'm sending you back to that damn pocket dimension." Peter snickered incredulously. Tony smiled warmly and engulfed his protégé in another hug, sighing happily.

"I still need to call Morgan though." Peter shrugged, an amused look on his face.

"By all means." He said, any hint of hesitancy in his voice now gone.

Suddenly, Peter looks up, looking wary of something.

"Something's wrong." As if on cue, a red light shines in the room, an alarm blaring. "Yep, there it is." He cringes as he covers his ears. "Jeez, I should really lower that volume."

"Okay, we get it, someone's in trouble." Peter shouted over the obnoxiously loud alarm. The sound quieted down and a feminine, robotic Irish voice took its place.

"There's a distress signal, boss." A voice that Tony had grown used to hearing.

"Oh actually, he's still the boss." Peter points at his mentor happily. He then goes back to being completely serious.

"Who sent it?"

"Captain Steve Rogers."

Tony could've sworn he'd never seen Peter look so panicky as he did in that moment.