"Dear Peter," The words stare back at me from the otherwise blank page as I twirl my pen around. A thousand thoughts swirl in my head, but none of them seem quite right to say.

It's been over a year since I last saw him. Well, 476 days to be precise. Aside from the memories of being torn from him and the time that's passed between us, it was the best day of my life. Because that day, I was free.

Of course, it didn't seem like it at first, with the blindfolds, interrogations, and secrecy. But everyone quickly realized the truth. I wasn't a threat, just a girl who was never given a choice.

So, they finally offered me one. One where my options weren't expertly designed to back me into a corner. I was offered a new life either way. They gave me a real chance—a new identity, a job (doing something good), and a promise.

It's been an empty promise this far, but both Tony and Peter reassure me it won't be long now. They're getting close to capturing Evan, and with him gone, I'll be 'safe' enough to rejoin society. If I'm lucky, I could actually get a chance at normal.

I abandon the letter for the moment and move to collapse on my bed, where Bosco, my dog, lies waiting for me to give her attention. My head spins from the idea of 'normal' as my fingers brush through his thick fur.

"I just don't know what to say to him, bub." I mumble to Bosco, who rests his head on my stomach to show his support. "He has so many plans—so many dreams, and I've never had the chance to even think about that stuff. What if I get in the way of that? I don't want to hold him back when he's destined to do so much."

Tears stream down my face as I think of him— of Peter Parker. I didn't know him well before we were separated, but after over a year's worth of letters exchanged between us, we slowly got to know the parts of each other even we didn't know existed. And, I'll admit, he's stolen my heart.

I swear, I look forward to Tony's visits too much for the sole reason it means getting another letter. Although, he has no idea that I use the system they have me research on to check up on our mutual friend. It was a way of making sure he was okay in the empty spaces between letters.

"Access request from Tony Stark." The AI's voice chimes through the apartment, and Bosco perks up when he hears the sudden spike in my heart rate. It's not visiting day. My thoughts spiral. Did something go wrong? Is Peter hurt? Did they find Evan? Did the Institute find me?

"Grant access." I hastily reply as I run to the front door as fast as possible with fuzzy socks on wooden floors. Bosco races ahead of me and plants himself in front of the door, ready to attack or greet whoever comes in.

My brain hums. It sends a shiver through me at the return of it after so long. I stop in the hallway before the front door and press the hidden panel. A iron man glove appears and clamps onto my hand. Tony made it for his and my peace of mind. No place is guaranteed to be safe, and we both felt better knowing I had at least a sliver of defense.

I move back around the corner, just out of sight from the door. It quietly creaks on its hinges, and Bosco remains quiet for a second before emitting a low growl. My heart pounds in my chest, and I hate myself for not calling him back.

A second later, it goes quiet. All I can hear is the sound fo my own heartbeat and breath. The room feels like it's spinning as I round the corner with repulser charging. "Stop right there and identify yourself." I shout at the figure.

"Woah," they shout as they lift their hands from petting Bosco and look up towards me. Everything stops as my eyes meet the brown ones I've missed so dearly, "Please, don't shoot me. It wouldn't exactly be how I imagined this going."

My hand drops. Tears threaten to build in my eyes as I take in everything about his appearance. "Peter?" He's changed, but he's still very clearly the boy I met what feels like forever ago.

A soft smile dances across the edge of his lips as he nods. "Yeah, it's me, Y/N."

It's silent for a long moment as neither of us is sure what to do or say. Bosco keeps circling us and yearning for attention, but I can't bring myself to look away from him. I've thought about this moment with every letter I penned, every day that passed, and now that it's here—it doesn't seem real. I half expect to wake up at any second.

As if everything unpauses, I run directly to him without a thought. His arms wrap around my waist as mine loop around his neck. "I missed you." I mumble into his shirt, no longer able to hold back the ridiculous grin on my features. "Gosh, I can't even believe you're here."

"I can't believe it either. Mr. Stark didn't exactly tell me where we were going until I was right outside the door." He laughs, and I feel my heart speed up at the sound. It's so simple. The sound of him—his laughter and his voice—just makes me realize that I really do love him.

He pulls away from me, and I do the same. I take the chance to study every centimeter of his face. All I've seen of him are the pictures he's sent, landscapes of New York, random photography, and the occasional selfie that I treasure far more than I should.

His lips part like he's going to say something, but he doesn't. So I take advantage of the flooding courage in my veins to speak up. "Peter, there's something I need to ask you." I whisper absent-mindedly. I'm far too distracted by the feeling of his eyes staring into mine and the feeling of his breath fanning on my lips.

"Yeah?" He questions with a hint of concern, but clearly as distracted as I am.

I bite my lip as I wonder if I should actually ask him what's on my mind. "Would you—would you like to go out sometime?" His eyes widen in shock, and suddenly words tumble out of my mouth with the wave of nerves. "I mean, if you don't want it to be a date it doesn't have to be. It's just I thought that since I think I love you all we should probably go on a date or whatever. And that maybe we could go to the sandwich shop you're always—"

My words are cut off as he laughs and does something I never expected. He leans forward with a hand resting on my jaw and kisses me. The action and feeling makes my head spin and knees buckle. It also brings on the usual flashes of images that hasn't happened as often since I learned better control, but well—I was nervous and he took me by surprise.

I see a whole future of possibilities ahead of us. Late nights of worrying, endless days of laughter, stupid fights, and everything in between that I've been secretly dreaming of. All of it is ahead of us. All of it is possible.

Except right at the end of it, there's a split of paths. Peter and I on a crowded bus, and the two possible futures that would occur from a simple decision. I pull away in shock at what I see. Peter looks at me, and I think he can read the distress on my face. "Y/N? What's wrong?"

I look up at him, into those heart-melting brown eyes full of care and affection, and the words get lost on my tongue. There's months ahead of us before this happens. Maybe I'm being selfish, but right now, I just want him—us—to be happy. I don't want to worry about something that may or may not happen.

So I shake my head with a smile. "It's fine. I don't think it was anything to worry about yet." Peter still gives me an unbelieving look, and I go onto my toes to press another soft kiss to his lips. "I promise, if anything happens to make me think otherwise, I'll tell you."

He nods, satisfied with my answer, and a devious grin pulls at the corners of his lips. "So you think you love me, huh?" I know my cheeks are turning about a thousand shades of crimson as I stare at the floor. Peter laughs lightly and lifts my chin. "It's okay, Y/N. 'Cause I think I love you too."

"Alright, if you two lovebirds are finished, we have to help Y/N pack up essentials so we can show her the new place." Tony calls from the doorway, which causes both of us to jump.

Peter nods and moves to help me start packing, but I stop him. "Hey, Pete. Just real quickly, I know it's probably nothing, but about what I saw, if anything weird happens in the future—remember—you can't give up."

He gives me an odd look but nods as he presses a kiss to my forehead. "Don't worry, Y/N. I'm sure it will all be fine. Either way, I promise."

...

That should have been the end of it. I needed that to be the end of it, but it wasn't. He came—Thanos came for the last of his desired infinity stones. Peter left to help Tony fight him, and I somehow was left behind to help the fight in Wakanda.

My gut churns as I watch Shuri work on disconnecting Vision from the Mind Stone. I pace back and forth and chew on my lower lip. Anything to keep myself from dwelling on the images that have been building for months with possible outcomes of this day.

"Y/N," Shuri calls to me, still focused on what she's doing. "I'm asking as your friend to please stop pacing. It's a bit distracting."

"Sorry," I mumble and move to stair out the window to see Thanos's 'children' and army gathering around the border. "I'm just so terrified, Shuri. What if he doesn't come back? What if something happens to them out there."

"Shuri, open a portion of the norther sector." T'Challa's voice resounds through the speakers, and I halfway listen as the siblings argue before Shuri types in a flurry of commands. All the while, I'm helpless to do anything as the enemy pours inside.

Utterly useless as I listen to everyone shouting and fighting over the comms.

Unable to stop Vision as he leaves to join the fight, quickly followed by Shuri in battle armor. "Just stay here, you know how to operate the system if anything happens." She shouts at me before disappearing down the hallway to inevitably join the fray.

My heart hammers out of my ribcage as I do everything I can from the control center to help my friends below, but it all stops when the constant static turns into a shrieking banshee in my skull. "He's here. Thanos is here." I barely hear someone's voice over the noise in my head.

Tears slip down my face as the bitter truth settles in. The outcomes have drastically narrowed if Thanos is here, and I mentally prepare myself for what is coming.

It feels like an eternity of lying on the cold floor, but it still comes. That numb tingle running through my body. I watch with tears slipping from my eyes as the noise in my head finally hushes after a month of constant sound. My fingers and feet turn to ash and trace up my body until there's nothing left.

And I wake up.

There's nothing but silence for a long moment. I push myself up from the ground and look around to find a mass of strangers, all with the same confused look I know I have. Red dust falls from my clothes as I get to my feet.

My mind is scrambling. Of all the things I've seen coming and anticipated, this is not one of them. There are other people here. Strangers everywhere all scrambling to find a familiar face or where they are. I quickly find myself doing the same; my voice mingling with the various shouts.

"Peter!" I scream and frantically search for the one face—the one person who can bring me any ounce of comfort. "Peter Parker!"

"Y/N?!" His familiar voice chimes back, and I want to cry in relief as he comes into view. "Oh my gosh, Y/N! What are—how?"

"I—I don't know." I sigh and allow myself to sink into his arms. "But I'm fairly sure this means Thanos won."

Peter pulls away enough to look at me with teary eyes. "No, it doesn't. Because I made a promise to you, and I'm still going to keep it. We won't give up. We will find a way to fix this and get back home—together."

I pull Peter back into the tight hug and finally allow myself to cry—mostly in relief. Because as disastrous as this is, as Peter said, we're doing this together.