Spider-Man: Coming Back Home

Chapter 3

"Morgan!" May exclaims as the little girl and May's nephew walk through the rickety doorway.

"Cookies!" Morgan squeals with joy as she sprints into the old apartment. She sees the Oreo pack as soon as she comes into view of it, and runs faster to open it. Peter laughs as he runs through the hall to help the small girl while smiling at his kind aunt.

The Parkers have been in financial trouble for six years now. After the Snappening, jobs were cut, and people were underpaid. The Parkers were already in trouble before the Snappening, so everything just got worse. Now isn't any better. May had kept the house clean and homey, but it's a little more barren than before the Snap. Peter didn't even have to ask to figure out that she sold half of all they had.

"Are those good, Morgan?" May asks in a way that makes herself smile more than her nephew, who is smiling farther than ear to ear, impossibly.

"Mhm," Morgan gleefully responds, with brown-black, dirt-like crumbs all around her tiny, peach-pink lips.

"That's good," Peter smiles even impossibly bigger than before, watching the descendant of the Stark family happily enjoying a cookie in his kitchen. Every time he looks in Morgan's eyes, Peter sees Tony looking back at him, a content, satisfied gaze. The gaze Tony had when he was proud- or not ashamed. The gaze Tony had the last time Peter saw them open; a satisfied gaze on the world that he had saved and sacrificed everything for time and time again. "That's good, Morgan."

As Morgan happily sits at the table, eating more than her share of Oreos, May turns to Peter. "You look happy, Peter."

Peter smiles slightly less now, remembering everything once more.

"Peter..." May looks unhappy with herself as she continues, "Peter, I need you to get a job."

"What? You said last time I asked if you needed it that it was okay. You promised that I wouldn't..."

"Peter, that was five years ago. I wish I didn't have to do this. I'm so sorry."

"No, no," Peter doesn't mind getting a job. It was one more thing to distract him from all that had happened. How he turned to dust. How he lost a battle. How Tony died next to him- died for him. "May, it's okay. My friends have jobs at McDonald's and stuff. I shouldn't be any different."

May makes the Spider-Man pose. "But you are."

"Peter, do you have any Legos?" Morgan calls from the kitchen. "Saved by a Stark again," Peter thought.

"I do!" Peter responds excitedly. As he turns to give them to Morgan, he mouths to May, "We'll talk later." "As a matter of fact, Miss Stark, I have a friend who would love to build some with you sometime!"

As Morgan steps into Peter's room, she is clearly disappointed. She expected a fancy science lab like the one her father once took her to see, but this was far from that. Peter's room is a small, closet-like room, with one small window. All that's left after the five years he was gone is half his clothes, his bed, sheets and blankets, and his computer. Everything seems gloomy to the little girl, who never knew what it looked like to be struggling. Then again, her father is Tony Stark.

"What's wrong, Morgan?" Peter kneels down to examine his sister's face. "Sister... again?!" Peter thinks to himself, "what the fuck is wrong with me?!"

"Where are your stuffed animals?" Morgan asks with concern in her voice. Her brown eyebrows are scrunched closer to her eyes, looking like an inspector.

"Oh," Peter almost laughs by being caught off guard, "I don't have any, Morgan."

Morgan gasps. "You don't have any?"

"Nope," Peter responds calmly, not knowing what he's getting himself into.

"Well, then, let's get you some!" Morgan's eyes look determined now, wanting Brother Peter to be happy. She always thought of Peter as her brother. Her father had told her about her brother, Peter, when she was younger, and that he was why her second middle name was Petra. She loves Peter as much as she loves her father.

"Where are we going?" Peter asks in confusion as Morgan takes Peter's hand and walks toward the window.

Morgan turns toward her brother and beams from ear to ear. Her face is lit up brighter than the Sun with happiness and excitement. "We're going home!"

Peter is still confused, but he starts grasping onto the concept. "Oh, you want me to swing us to your house."

"Let's go!" Morgan exclaims as she nods animatedly. Peter grins as he puts on his web-shooter and motions for Morgan to get ready for takeoff. He stuffs his phone into his pocket again while positioning for leaving the room from the window, and swings.

Swinging is a lot like flying, but closer to home. As the two swing, they pass the tall, daunting Empire State Building, the Ed Sullivan Theater, and other landmarks. Morgan peels her eyes at the skyscrapers, while Peter swings and smiles sweetly at his sister gawking on his back. The smoggy New York sky may be smokey, but it still feels like an escape from the life Peter has on the ground while he swings. Peter realizes in that moment that this was the thing that kept him going: Morgan, the city and swinging through it, the feel of his hair in the breeze; this was it. This was it. And he knows it as he lets out a sigh while passing the Stark tower. Morgan squeals with joy as she feels her hair blow through the wind, and she feels like a bird.

"Morgan! Peter!" Pepper calls to the duo as they swing down from the trees and Peter gets Morgan off his back. Pepper is clearly hiding something behind her back, but she's hiding it well per usual, Peter noticed. "Where have you been?"

"Peter teached me to be Spider-Man!" Morgan says innocently.

"Taught," Peter thinks, and chuckles at his little sister.

"Did he now?" Pepper smiles as she looks at Peter with kind eyes. "How nice of him."

"Let's go, Peter!" Morgan says with enthusiasm.

"Where are we going?" Peter asks with a smile on his face.

"You'll see!"

Peter gawks at Morgan's room when he sees what's inside. Since the funeral, she's received many gifts from people. Of course, she has her same pink bed and stuffed animal infested room, but now she also has drawings of the Iron Man mask on her wall, and an Iron Man toy sitting ever-so-gently on her comforting toddler bed.

"Here we go!" Morgan exclaims as she runs toward one of the corners of her room. She pulls out a Spider-Man Beanie-Boo that says on the foot "Made for Tony Stark" stitched onto it and skips toward Peter. "This is for you, Peter."

Peter holds the plush carefully, like a baby, and reads the stitching again. "This is very nice of you, Morgan, but this is your father's. I couldn't possibly-"

"He made it for us, just in case you came back, so we could play superhero like we do now. And now you're back! You can take that to your house, and then you'll have a stuffed animal!" Morgan beams as she looks into Peter's eyes, searching for acceptance from her brother.

Peter chokes up for half of a second before coming back to the moment. "Thank you, Morgan. Thank you." Peter laughs quietly at the little doll as he examines it. "This is the best present I've ever gotten." Morgan comes closer to Peter and embraces Peter in a sweet hug that only family can give. Peter crouches down as he says, "Never mind. This is pretty good too."

An hour or so later, Pepper comes into Morgan's room to see her daughter and son playing Avengers on the floor; Morgan as Spider-Man, and Peter as Mr. Evil PuppyDog. "Peter, can we talk?"

"Mommy, I'm just about to beat him up! Give us one more minute?"

Pepper laughs at her sweet girl. "Sorry hun, but kicking villain butt will have to wait for later," Pepper stifles another laugh and motions for Peter to come with her.

"Sorry to do that," Pepper glances to Peter.

"Oh, that's okay. We have time, don't we?"

Pepper laughs. "Yes, we do..." She takes Peter's hand as she takes him to the Memorial room. "I have something I want to show you," she says as she pulls out Tony's Iron Man helmet and starts playing a recording.