"Hey, Petey.  How are you today?  I'm feeling okay.  It would be better if you were here."

Wade sat in front of a grave, staring at Peter's name, engraved in the stone.  It had been a year since it happened, and Wade still couldn't believe it.

"Happy birthday.  18, right?"  Wade sighed.  "Y'know, I go back and watch that video again and again.  The video you made?  I wish I had known sooner."

"Pete, you didn't deserve this.  You didn't deserve any of this.  I'm not just talking about dying, you didn't deserve any of the Ultron stuff.  All the crap you got about it.  You had your whole life ahead of you.  You were going to graduate.  I was going to take you to get your first drink.  Oh that would have been fun."

Wade shook his head.  "You deserved to have a life.  A life free of villains attacking you whatever you do.  I want to have been part of that life.  But it's too late now."

Wade leaned against the grave, setting the flowers down. His eyes drifted over to the grave nearby. McKenna Young, 2001 - 2018. He sighed and closed his eyes.

His eyes shot back open what must have been a few minutes later as he heard footsteps approaching.  What were the odds that the Avengers would come right as he was there?  Pretty high, apparently.

He stood up.  He was ready to run off when he saw Tony looking at him.

There was a poignant silence before Tony finally spoke up.

"Wilson.  I know you want to leave because we are here, but..." he sighed.  "You have the right to be here on his birthday, just like us.  Will you... please... stay?"

Wade was shocked, if he was being honest.  Tony Stark had just asked him to stay?  And he said please?  Dang.  Might as well.

"I- Alright."  Wade stayed there, looking back at the grave.

The rest of the Avengers filed in behind him.  Steve took Tony's hand and together they took a spot by Wade.

Right behind them was Bruce and Vision, followed by Wanda, Clint and Natasha.   At the back of group was a certain God of Thunder with Sasha on his shoulders.  She held onto his hair to stay on his shoulders and he led them to the grave.  Behind them was the one and only Loki Laufeyson.  He had been dragged along by Thor.

When everyone arrived, Thor set Sasha down.  This was the first time he had been to the grave.  He had only arrived back a short while ago.  He had been heartbroken upon hearing the news. There had been a terrible thunderstorm that day.

"How terrible. How could this happen?" Thor shook his head.  "I swear I will find the man who did this-"

"He's already dead," Steve and Wade said at the same time.  Wade looked down.  He had been the one to make sure of that.  He knew that Steve and Tony probably assumed that had been the case. 

"Ah.  Wade Wilson, I presume?"  Loki spoke up in the back.  Thor said he wasn't evil at the moment, so everyone had agreed that Thor could drag him along if he made sure that Loki didn't kill anyone.

"The one and only."  Wade looked back up at the god of mischief.  "Wow, you're much greasier in person."  Loki smiled faintly at the remark.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there."  Thor turned to Tony.  "Perhaps if I had been, things would have been different."

"It's okay.  You didn't know this would happen.  None of us did."

Tony turned to Wade.  "Did he- Did Peter ever tell you about... about the men?"  Wade and the Avengers never really got a chance to talk in the past year.  Wade had almost always ran away.   They had gotten him to stay and talk a few times, but not a lot.  Not about this yet.

"Er, yes." He bit his lip. "The day before he... the day he ran away, I saw him. We talked and I invited him to my place. I had been off on a... business trip, so I hadn't been able to answer his calls and messages." Steve and Tony shared a look. That explained Peter's behavior at missing the call in the med bay the day before he ran away.   They had rested that week in their heads for a long time.

"When we got there, he told me what was going on. I told him he should go back and tell you guys, but he was stubborn and then..." he thought back to the argument.

Do you have any idea of what it is like to have someone you care for leave and for you to not know where they've gone?!

Yes! Yes I do, Wilson!

Wade did his best to shake the thought away as he continued.  "I got him to stay, but he left during the night, leaving a note saying that he was heading home, and I had no idea what happened afterwords."

Steve rested a hand on Wade's shoulder, shocking the mercenary. He looked at Steve. "Thank you for trying to get him to come home. Neither of you had any idea about what happened. You couldn't have known."

Aw, Poptart America was being nice to him. How sweet.  How weird.  "Thanks..." Wade smiled faintly.

"You would have liked him, brother."  Thor looked at Loki, who was reluctantly picking up Sasha and letting her sit on his shoulders and braid his hair.  "He was pretty mischievous and blackmailish."

"And he stabbed me."

Everyone looked at Wade.  Tony's mouth hung open slightly.  "I'm sorry, what-"

"I told him to."  Wade shrugged.  "I'm able to heal easily, regrow limbs, etc, and he said to prove it.  So, I told him to stab me.  And he did."

Loki laughed.  "That does sound like me.  Though, I might just do it without knowing they are able to heal like that."  He glanced at Thor, who cleared his throat.

"I commend you all, especially you, Tony and Steven, for your strength in this hard time. It is not easy to lose someone so close. I wish there was something I could do."

"Thank you, Thor." Tony slapped Thor gently on the back. "We appreciate it."

"Штопать," a voice from in the trees said. "We're late. We're late, aren't we?"

Steve smiled. "Not at all, Buck." He went up and hugged his friend before hooking an arm around his shoulders and leading him to the grave.

James Buchanan Barnes. The Winter Soldier. Bucky.

Steve and Bucky had been friends back in the 40s. Bucky was thought to be dead, but as it turns out, HYDRA had really turned him into The Winter Soldier. In the past year, Steve had been attacked by him. With help from Tony, they had managed to get him to remember everything. He was still on the semi-stable side, but for the most part, he was okay. Him and Sam had gotten close in the past few months.

It had been a huge shock when Tony found out that, on a mission, Bucky was the one who killed his parents. Tony had gotten into a fight with Steve, not talking to him for almost a month. But, after a lot of apologies, Tony had started to be okay with his husbands friend. It hadn't been him. Not really. He didn't know what he was doing.

Man, it had been one heck of a year.

"Bucky!" She jumped down from Loki's shoulders and went to Bucky. "More hair to braid!" Bucky laughed and picked her up.

"Wow. Nice to know you guys care about us, too." Sam walked up with Rhodey. "Really touching."

Tony smiled and walked up to Rhodey, hugging him. Eventually, everyone was gathered around the stone.

"He must've been a great kid." Bucky had never met Peter, but over the past few months, he had heard a lot about him and he knew that he had meant a lot to Steve.

"He was," almost everyone said in unison. There was a soft chuckle that came from the group.

"He would be happy that you're all here, I think," Wade said, causing everyone to look at him.  "All of you being here, being happy..."

"Loki being here..." Clint laughed. He turned and looked over at Loki.  "Seriously, he was obsessed with you. He was really hoping to meet you for such a long time."

"I have that effect on people." Loki winked, causing Thor to elbow him playfully.

"Dang, I don't feel so special now." Wade chuckled. He looked at Loki, who shrugged.

Everyone stood together, laughing and talking. It was nice. It was nice that even after all they had been through, they could still find peace and happiness together. Peter would have liked that. He wouldn't want his birthday to be a day where they would all be upset and tearful. He would want his family to be themselves.

Even in the midst of terror and pain, find time to be yourself. Find peace and happiness with people. Or with yourself.  Whatever works.  For Peter.

Tony stepped forward with Steve, closer to the grave as the others had their own conversations. Steve looked at Tony, a sad smile on his face. "We'll be okay."

Tony nodded. "We will. I think Peter would be happy. He'd be proud."

Tony kissed Steve, pulling his husband closer to him. Steve held Tony close as the world seemed to disappear around them.

"We really should take a vacation," Tony said with a laugh, pulling away from the kiss. "Somewhere with much less crime. Just you and me."

Steve nodded, laughing as well. "Of course." He took Tony's hand.

"You and me."

A/N: That's all folks!  There is What Tangled Webs We Weave!   I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it.  Now, if you're sick of this story, I understand.  If you're not, then look out for my next story in this... series? Trilogy? I have no idea what word to use.  Anyway, look out for the next, shorter story, Stony: You and Me! It will be around 10 vignettes about Steve and Tony before Spider-Man: Unmasked. It should be good, so look out for it!

Signing off until the next story!

- ruesifee ♥️