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

The Oath: 4. Family.

Tony found himself retracing his steps to the medical ward, expecting to see Peter still there. He wasn't.

"FRIDAY, where's Peter?"

"Mr. Parker is currently in his room. Should I show you the way?"

"No, no. I think I'm good." He let his instinct guide him to where he remembered the living quarters were. And sure enough, he was soon standing in front of a light grey door, with a small red spider logo on it. He knocked.

After waiting for a couple of seconds, Tony assumed he had gone to bed. And just as he started to walk away, a quiet voice emerged from the room.

"Uh, come in." Tony opened the door, and walked into the dark room. In which the only light came from the tablet laying in the other man's hands.

"I sedated Steve. He's either gonna be out for the next few minutes, or well into next week. There really is no telling with him." Tony squinted dramatically at him. "I'm just kidding, it'll be a couple of hours. He's going to be back to his normal frisky self in no time."

Tony was standing in front of Peter, who was sitting cross-legged on his bed. He seemed fascinated by his mentor's mere existence. 'I mean, to be fair, I was assumed dead for a decade.' Tony mused to himself.

"So, what have you been up to, these last few years?" He sat next to the younger man. The latter seemed deep in thought, carefully picking his choice of words.

"Well, for starters, New York was swarmed by alien armies like three times. Defeated some idiot from another dimension, saved Europe a bunch. Took a few jobs from S.H.I.E.L.D." He motioned to the shield logo on his leather jacket. "What else? Graduated aerospace engineering from NYU." He scratches the back of his head trying to recall any important details. Nothing worth mentioning comes up. The pair lapse in a comfortable silence.

"It's good to have you back." Pure light brown eyes contemplated his, the emotion radiating from them truly sincere and unfeigned.

"Good to be back." He returned the sentiment, giving a warm smile and studying the twenty-something year old in front of him. Peter seemed to be lost in thought, like he was mustering up the courage to say something.

"You know, in two weeks' time, it would have been the tenth... anniversary, of your death." Tony winced, because sooner or later, the rest of the team -and the world, for that matter- would know he was still alive. It was going to be a little bit hard to celebrate his death when he was, for lack of better explanation, not dead.

The younger man sat next to him seemed to have the same thoughts swarming his head, and smirked at him.

"Maybe we'll do things a little differently this time."

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April 26, 2033 Avengers Facility, Upstate New York. 12:OOAM

The lake was still, and the wind was rustling between the trees. The moon was full, and it shone directly on a life-sized statue of Tony Stark and Natasha Romanoff, smiling. Under the statue it wrote:

"In Loving Memory of Those Who Fell, So That The Fallen Could Rise."

It had taken a week of persuasion and convincing, but eventually, Tony Stark came out to the public and declared his 'un-death', once again, for lack of better explanation. After being almost tackled to death by his wife in a shower of kisses, engulfed in bone-crushing hugs by his teammates and being the reason for a lifetime supply of happy tears, the world slipped back into normal life, if there ever was such a thing.