(This chapter is sort of a different take on the snap from Infinity War & Endgame. But I wouldn't call it an AU if that makes sense.)

Anyway, on with the story.
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One year, eight months, and three weeks. That's how long it's been since The Avengers brought everyone back from the snap. Peter's life changed the moment he died, technically he could say that, as the pain was something he'd never experienced before. And would never like to again, he never knew what death felt like, until that moment when he was disintegrating in front of Tony. When he came back, the heroes were immediately rushed into a battle and killed Thanos. After that, the young teen was in for a rude awakening.

He ran to Tony, and laid into questioning everything, what happened? Is May okay? What about my friends? Can I go home? Tony could only answer four out the five questions he just shot off. He did only what he should, he called May and told her to get to the cabin, and he'd explain it when she got there. The hour drive was worth it, May got to the cabin and walked into the living room. Seeing Morgan happily drawing, and Pepper waiting for her, the two women walked to the outside deck leading to the backyard. What May saw made her freeze in place, Tony was standing, talking to her nephew, her nephew that was dead for five years.

Tears welled up in her eyes, Peter turned from looking at Tony to seeing May, the older woman rushed towards him, engulfing him in an embrace. Both of them clinging to the other, crying, May couldn't believe this was real. She had her baby back, Peter pulled away asking many questions, May corroborating Tony's explanation. The boy was still so confused, how did he die for five years? Tony had a kid, so time clearly passed. May took Peter back to their apartment, but there was something different about it, it didn't feel like home somehow.

Once they got inside the pit in Peter's stomach didn't go away, everything looked the same, but one person wasn't supposed to be here. He saw Happy in the doorway, who greeted him with a smile, which was rare considering Happy was always grumpy. He walked further into the place certain elements were the same, but he couldn't help but feel that everything was wrong. He couldn't put his finger on it, May led him to a room, he knew it was the spare bedroom. She spoke in a gentle manner, telling him they could redecorate to make the room his own.

He meekly agreed, not wanting to cause a problem, it was getting late, so the three of them ate dinner and went to bed. But Peter couldn't sleep, he tossed and turned endlessly, staring at the ceiling. Now that he knew May was okay, he needed to find Ned and MJ. He didn't have his phone, so there was no way of contacting them. He sighed, he sat up and heard hushed whispers, he recognized the voices to be May and Happy. Peter knew it was rude to eavesdrop, but why were they talking at two in the morning? "We have to tell him at some point, May." He heard Happy say.

He listened to his aunt sigh, "I know, I just don't want to overwhelm him, you know? He's been through too much." Overwhelmed was an understatement, he was overwhelmed when he saw Tony interacting with his own daughter.

"We can't keep our marriage hidden from Peter forever hun. He's going to find out sooner than later. I understand he's back, but we can't lie to him the entire time." Happy replied, that's when Peter tuned the rest of the conversation out, May and Happy got married. They got married, and he wasn't even alive to witness it. The next day came, and Peter woke up, having not really slept at all. He and May were going to go shopping for a couple of things later that day. He walked out to the kitchen to see Happy at the stove cooking eggs and a plate of toast on the counter.

The older man turned to see him standing there watching him, his eyes widening, then calming down. "Hey Pete, want some breakfast?" He asked.

"Sure.. but where's May?" Peter sat down at the island counter, Happy gave him his plate and the boy began eating.

"She went out to grab you some clothes. She'll be back soon." Peter nodded his head in response, turning back to his breakfast. He noted that Happy was acting strange, probably still wrapping his head around the fact his wife's teenage nephew was no longer just a memory.

Peter glanced up from his plate, "You can stop acting weird, Happy. I.. I know about you and May?"

Happy knew what he was talking about, the gig was up he assumed. He muttered a small sorry, but Peter waved him off telling him it was fine, they didn't have to hide their relationship because of him. The day went on and passed, that turned into a week, then two, then three. Peter felt so claustrophobic, like the walls were closing in and he forgot out to breathe. He told May that he was heading to Tony's, to get out of the apartment. She hesitantly agreed, and let him go.

He took a cab and got to the cabin in under thirty minutes. Knocking on the door, he heard small footsteps running towards the door and swinging it open. He then felt a pair of arms wrap around his legs, a tiny and loud, yet joyful voice squealed out to him. "Hi Petey! Mommy and Daddy said you were coming over!"

Peter smiled at the happy girl, returning her hug, "Hey Morgan, how're you doing?" Morgan let go, and began rambling about how today was so much better now that he was there, and how Tony almost set the kitchen on fire. That made Peter chuckle, especially when Tony argued back that he didn't, when all of them knew he was too prideful to admit he did. Pepper greeted Peter with a warm smile, he accepted it and smiled back. Before going to Tony, of course the man knew Peter was worried about something.

He took him downstairs to his lab, cutting straight to the chase, he looked Peter dead in the eye, giving him a look mirrored as; 'tell me what's wrong, don't lie to me.' Peter sighed in reply, getting exactly what Tony was trying to relay. "Could we look up Ned and MJ? I don't know how to get a hold of them. And I want to know if they're okay." He told him.

"Yeah, I can have F.R.I.D.A.Y go through every channel to find them. Don't worry Pete, I'm sure they're okay." Tony said.

Peter nodded his head as Tony gave the command to F.R.I.D.A.Y, then the two went upstairs to eat some lunch. An hour or two passed when F.R.I.D.A.Y informed Tony and Peter that she found Peter's friends. They rushed back down to the lab and began combing through everything F.R.I.D.A.Y came across. She spoke, "From what I found, on Ms. Jones-Watson, she was accepted and is attending MIT, the same goes for Mr. Leeds."

Peter stared blankly at the hologram of both MJ and Ned. The two of them looked like they were in their early twenties, MJ had cut her hair shoulder length, and Ned had lost some weight, looking a little taller. "So... they survived the blip. They're both 21."

Tony glanced at his kid, seeing the hurt expression dancing across his face. But before he could get a word in, Peter continued, but this time, he was angrier. "First, I find out that you and Pepper are married and have a kid. Then May and Happy are married, and now my two best friends have been alive for the past five years and are living their adult lives. While I'm stuck having to go back to school."

"There has been nothing but constant change! And I hate it! Everyone else in my life gets to move on and leave me behind! But I'm the one who has to pick up the pieces of a life that I'll never have!" He shouted.

Hot tears were streaming down his cheeks, Tony couldn't imagine the pain he was feeling, having his life completely uprooted and displaced, having no idea what to do next. "Peter, life was never the same after you were gone. Me, May, and most likely your friends had to go on without you. It was the worst feeling in the world, I wanted you at my wedding, I wanted you to meet Morgan and be her big brother."

Tony walked closer to Peter, "I wanted to watch you grow into the amazing young man I envisioned you to be. I wanted to be able to drop you off at your college orientation. But those things didn't happen, and for months, I couldn't bring myself to visit your grave. Every night I went to sleep, that moment of holding you in my arms as you begged me to save you was all I could see."

He pulled him into a hug, allowing Peter to cry into his chest, "Life sucked without you kid, and I couldn't be more grateful to have you back. We will get through this, I promise." Peter hated all of the emotions he was feeling, but he was thankful that Tony wasn't going to leave him behind. Hopefully, no one else was either.
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The End of Chapter 199