I Can't Make You Love Me || Peter Parker x OC

Chapter 37: Heist of the Heart

⚠️Content Warning ⚠️

Infinity War feels: part 1 of many. Mild language

Tony's perspective

The words: "Tony Stark, I'm Doctor Stephen Strange. I need you to come with me." are not amongst those that I was anticipating on hearing when I decided to go on a walk with my wife. It was a quiet morning, I had the day off, and we were both tired of being cooped up for so long. At just around 30 weeks along, Morgan and Avery were getting quite large, so it was increasingly difficult for Pepper to do most things. Today, she was luckily feeling really good, so we decided to make the most of the situation by getting some of the exercise that she had been missing over these past few weeks. The run we had planned on was much more of a leisurely stroll, but it was currently at a complete and awkward stand-still as the two of us looked at the man that had just come out of some weird portal thing and was now demanding that I follow him.

"I'm sorry, are you giving out tickets or something?" I asked snarkily, holding tightly onto Pepper's hand to calm her down. Most of the other people around didn't seem to take too much notice, but we were the recipients of a few passing glares.

His expression didn't change as he stared down the pair of us, the steely determination in his eyes starting to become annoying. "We need your help. Look, it's not over-selling it to say that the fate of the universe is at stake." A gasp left Pepper as she heard the words that functioned as a direct contradiction to the promise of normality and safety that I just made her moments ago.

"And who's we?"

I could barely get the words out before the last person that I would ever expect to see suddenly came out from behind Dr. Strange, a look of uncastrated worry on his face. "Hey Tony," was all that Bruce said, nonchalantly at that.

"Bruce?" I asked breathlessly, feeling Pepper's grip on me tighten even more. We stared at each other for the longest time before he planted his arms around me in a hug, forcing me to let go of Pepper's hand. Now that he was here, I was a tad more sure of the situation, but all of this seemed to be coming out of left field and made absolutely no sense to me.

"What the hell is all of this?" Pepper asked from beside me, vocalizing the words I was too shell-shocked to say.

"There's no time, just trust me, please." Bruce said while taking hold of my arm, that same look of desperation flooding his features.

One one hand, literally, I had the love of my life and my two unborn children. On the other, one of the greatest friends that I've ever had, who needed my help with something supposedly threatening enough to extend to a scale past that of Earth. The decision that I made wasn't easy, but the kiss that I gave Pepper before I stepped into the portal conveyed all the things that I wasn't able to put into words.

"At the dawn of The Universe, there was nothing. Then, boom! The Big Bang sent six elemental crystals hurtling across the virgin universe." The man, Wong, explained to me, the lights splaying all across the vast room that we all now sat in. Had I not been so pissed at the whole ordeal, I might have been more impressed. "These Infinity Stones each control an essential aspect of existence."

As he began to separate the rainbow of Skittles that floated in the air above our heads, Stephen stepped in to narrate further, telling me of the blue Space Stone, red Reality Stone, purple Power Stone, orange Soul Stone, yellow Mind Stone, and green Time Stonethat he pulled out of his cryptic-looking necklace. All of it was so wholly overwhelming that I didn't even know what to focus on. Not only had I just been retaught my colors like a preschooler, I had also just been informed that there was an army of aliens coming to invade the world for a second time.