Better Days | MCU IronDad AU

Chapter 10 ▬ It Had Been Whispered

Those three days of waiting symbolise the three weeks that have passed. Mwahahahaah. And because you watch Marvel movies, I think it's safe to say that our Third Act starts off with a blast of Peter's POV

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— CHAPTER TEN —
IT HAD BEEN WHISPERED

Peter didn't know how long he'd been here.

He had been walking into his room at the Compound, chatting animatedly with Ned, who looked around his room with wide eyes. May was trailing behind them, this being her first time at the Compound. In her hands she held a book whose title was blurred; nowadays May rarely read anymore, though Peter never knew why she had stopped.

Ned, meanwhile, was flapping his hands as he sunk to his knees on the maroon rug by Peter's bed. He pointed at the Lego set, whisper-shouting, 'Oh my God, when did you get the Millennium Falcon set?'

Peter shrugged; he wasn't entirely sure, to be honest, and only knew that it had been in his room for some time before he realised that he was walking over it. 'Dunno, man,' Peter admitted, 'but it looks so dope.'

'It better be,' a voice said. Peter turned to see Mr. Stark standing by the doorway, his arms folded over his chest. His signature glasses were tucked into the neckline of his shirt. 'I paid good money for it; it better be of acceptable quality or I'll just sue the company.'

While Ned gasped about how Mr. Stark could even think of such things, Peter asked, 'Can you do that?'

'What haven't I done?' Mr. Stark replied casually, grinning. He then waved a hand in dismissal, walking away from the room as he called, 'Have fun, fellas.'

The three them chorused some kind of agreement, and Peter and Ned worked together to pour the Lego pieces onto the ground as May just smiled and sat on the edge of Peter's bed, reading. Ned was halfway through examining the different bricks and pieces of the set when he suddenly frowned and said, 'Huh, that's funny. The Han Solo figurine is missing.'

Peter peeked over Ned's shoulder only to see he was right: no Han Solo figurine whatsoever. 'Weird,' Peter agreed, but nevertheless he bent to crawl onto all fours to help Ned look for it. May yelped when Peter accidentally bumped into her leg. Peter groped around under the bed, hoping with his adhesiveness he would latch onto something. His fingers brushed against a small toy with details on them and Peter pulled his hand back. He was pleased to see it was the Han Solo figurine smiling up at him.

'Found it,' Peter said to Ned, who was probably waiting impatiently. Peter grinned excitedly, expecting to see the look of happiness on his friend's face.

What Peter didn't expect was the empty space beside him. Ned was gone, the only traces of him ever being there was the crinkling of the rug and the wisps of dust in the air; it smelled like ash.

'Where'd he go?' Peter mumbled glancing around his room, then getting up and looking down the hallways to see where Ned might have wandered off to. He turned back to look at May, who glanced at him with wide brown eyes.

'I don't know,' she said, closing the book and placing it in her lap as she leaned back on Peter's bed. Her long brown hair hung around her shoulders. 'I didn't see him get up and go. Just disappeared right under our noses.'

'That's easy for you to say,' Peter replied. 'Your nose was buried in that book.'

May laughed at Peter, her smile wide. 'Wow,' she said, 'look at you go with bite in your tone.'