"Peter? Can you hear me?"

Quill? Can you hear me? This isn't love...this isn't love. Quill? I love you, Quill. Did you do it? Quill, I'm sorry...I love you. What did it cost? This isn't love...

"I can feel you, kiddo. Can you hear me?"

I'm sorry. Vision...mind stone. I only feel you. We both made promises...I'm sorry. I don't want to...please don't make me. Vis, please...

"Peter, please come back. Peter?"

Steve? Another war...Wakanda? White wolf. Steve Rogers. Bucky...I'm Bucky. For the end of the world...my arm. Metal arm. Hydra...no, Steve. Please, no.

Mr Stark? Tony? I'm sorry...it hurts, it hurts. I don't feel so good...save me, save me. I don't want to go, please, help me...Mr Stark? Aunt May, she's the only one...I don't wanna go.

"Kid? Please, I need you here. Come back."

Gamora! I won't shoot...kill you? I can't...I love you. Gamora, please...no! Where is she? Mom...I'm sorry. I've finally found my father...! My family.

Please, please please...it hurts! Mr Stark...I don't wanna go, save me...I'm done, I'm done. That was a test...right...? Tony, no...pain pain pain...please, Mr Stark, NO-

I am groot? I am groot!

"Where is he?"

It was the only way...Stark, endgame. Time stone...hands? Doctor...oh Ancient One...dark realm.

Aunt May? Field trip...I can hear something...I'll catch you! You gotta let go...I'm scared, Tony. I'm sorry, I'm sorry...that's an urban myth. Surprised...? I can see a light...

"Where's Peter? Strange!"

Is that...? Nice work, kid...Mr Stark? Is everyone...okay? I'm scared-it hurts! I can see a light...are you...? You have to tell me what's going on...there? I can feel you...

It's quiet...it's so quiet...

"NO! No, Peter. Come back, kiddie."

Are you...calling for me? Tony...I lost the Stark Internship...help! I'm down here, help! Mr Stark, I can...see light. Can I hear you...?

Silence...so much silence.

"I'm sorry...this wasn't supposed to happen."

Thanos...Mr Stark? There's a light...it's bigger. I'm sorry...you don't deserve this...he's Liz's dad! You saved me...save me, please...Tony, please...hello?

Hello? Mr Stark, I can almost...

"C'mon, buddy. I love you, ya gotta come back."

Hello? Hello? Tony?

You're right there...save me, save me...the light. I can hear you...none of this would've happened if you'd...just...listened to me!

I can reach you...I can almost...

"Peter? Peter!"

Hope...hope...

I'm nearly there...Mr Stark? I can feel you...hear you. Light light light...

Mr Stark...? Tony-

Mr Stark? Please, save me save me...

Tony? Tony?

Mr Stark...?

"Mr Stark?"

His feet—

His feet were on solid ground!

He was blinking up at the first orange hued rays of sunrise, kissing the still dust laden rubble with the same loving care as the undertaker with the recently departed. These soft rays that should have brought warmth to a new day only acted to solidify the reality of the terror the day before. Or was it a week? A month? In the dark, they had only the smell of the dust and the fires to contend with, but under the radiating glow of the clouded sky, there was no hiding. Peter wished with all his might that it would sink back down below the horizon, so they could have more time to believe and process their abrupt change in fortune, but you can't argue with the sun.

And before him stood the very people who had disappeared before his own eyes mere...years or minutes ago? He had been stuck in that endless loop of cries and whispers and darkness and nothing but the dead's pleas to escape the living hell they were stuck in for what felt like years and years. But now, standing here, alive and solid and here – he might've only been there for a moment. Time was a strange thing.

And to stand here now and be able to breathe in fresh air...he wanted to savour every particle, every moment that here stood here on solid earth alive and safe. He didn't want to go. Not again. The cool air stung his eyes, but he didn't care. It pricked his skin through his metallic suit, but he didn't care. The dust was thick in the air and the smoke from a fire somewhere, somehow, hung low on the rising horizon, but he didn't care. Because he was right here, right now, and he wouldn't change a damn thing.

And he could remember, in clear detail, what had happened. He had remembered being on the school bus, going to a harmless field trip. It was supposed to be fun. But then that alien-craft appeared, and he went and tried to help the fight. But then he'd gone and gotten himself stuck. And before he knew it, he was too high up and unable to breathe. He'd thought, then, that he was going to die. But as he fell, the iron spider suit enveloped him, and he was saved.

But he'd stupidly decided to hang onto the craft and help find that Strange guy. And they did. But they were in space by then and there was no turning back. Something about some dude called Thanos trying to wipe out half the population? They weren't clear on the details. But they'd run into the Guardians of the Galaxy, or at least some of them, then went to Titan – Thanos' home planet. They'd fought Thanos. They'd lost, because Strange gave up the Time Stone, for reasons only known to himself.

Then they waited. They'd waited until the air shifted and Mantis disappeared. By then, everyone knew that Thanos had succeeded. No matter the cost, he was always going to succeed. Then Drax went, then Quill and then Strange.

And then, Peter remembered falling into his arms for the first real hug. He remembered the terror and the trepidation. He knew he was going to die, and despite his pleadings, he knew he there was no way to stop his inevitable fate. So, he'd let it happen, only realising in his last moments that his aunt would still be at home, waiting for Peter to return from his field trip. Realising in his last moments that he's never going to see Ned, MJ or that man from two floors down who always says hi to him as Peter leaves for school each morning. He'll never get that again.

And he realises in his last moments, that he'll lose Mr Stark and—

Tony—

Right there.

Right there in front of him.

Standing there, shock and fear and relief and love illustrating his every movement—

His dad.

...

"Peter!" Tony whispered, heart staggering to a halt.

His kid. His kid, his kid, his kid...he's here. Peter's here.

After those all those weeks of trying to bring him back, nearly failing over and over and over again...he's back and he's here right in front of him and-

Tony didn't know what to do. Run to him and squeeze the fricking life out of the kid in a hug? Run to him and strangle him, because of how much he scared Tony? Run away, just because?

But the way Peter's brown eyes, wide as saucers, searched the planet with such emotion and awe, blinking at the pure splendour of the sunset – or the way he scanned his hands, mouth turning upward in delight because he was alive...Tony's heart kick-started.

Ker-thump—

(It lives, but it hurts.)

And as Tony called his name, Peter's eyes found his, and he ran.

He ran, and he flung his arms around his boy, nearly making the two tip over with the force of the hug. He buried his neck in Peter's shoulder, sobbing uncontrollably as Peter's arms wrapped around him, squeezing with the exact same intensity. God, the kid had grown so much. He was nearly as tall as Tony. He wasn't a baby anymore.

Sure, he was still sixteen, but he had been through too many things that no teenager should have to endure. His parents, his uncle, himself. All gone. Only one came back, and Tony knew that the one who came back was the one who would've traded their life for someone else to come back. A bit like Tony. Maybe that's why he avoided loving his kid for so long. Maybe it was because he reminded Tony of himself, and he didn't want that. But then, the more he thought about it, the more he realised that he wouldn't (and couldn't) change one damn thing about Peter Parker.

"Mr Stark? Tony, Tony, Tony..." The kid was mumbling over and over – repeating it like a mantra into Tony's neck – and the older man could feel the tears on the boy's cheeks. He gripped Peter even tighter, never wanting to let go.

"I hate you, kid," Tony replied, half-laughing with relief and half-crying with relief (and a bit of love? Wait, no-). "I really, really hate you." He repeated, shaking his head.

Peter pulled away first, but kept his hand curled around Tony's suit – which, of course, he was wearing underneath his armour. He blinked slowly up at Tony, with such tender and pale hope in his eyes. Tony grinned, unable to control the muscles in his mouth (damn you, damn you-).

"Mr Stark?" Peter asked innocently, as if he was still uncertain if Tony was really there. That hurt, Tony must admit. His chest burnt slightly.

"Kid...kid, Peter—oh my God," he stumbled over his words. Taking a deep breath, he tried again;

"Yeah, kiddo." Tony nodded quietly, smile softening and eyes watering against his will. "Yeah, it's me. You're okay now." And he was. Tony could say that, now.

"Y-you're here." Peter whispered, twitching his nose slightly, in the most adorable bunny-rabbit way. Tony's heart melted, as he nodded again, probably for longer than he had to.

Peter flopped back into Tony's arms, nuzzling his head into Tony's chest. It was such a childish thing to do, but Tony didn't mind. Not at all. The kid deserved to be a child for just a moment. He deserved to feel that carelessness of being a kid and not having to worry about things that 'adults' do. He deserved it, and he needed it. Tony wished he could, too, but maybe being a fifty-year-old (or so) and acting like a twelve-year-old would end up with an insane asylum.

"Is it just me, or do you smell like a new car?" Peter mumbled sleepily into Tony's shoulder.

His mentor laughed. "Is it just me, or do you smell like toddler?"

"That was rude."

"I know."

Peter let out a small snicker, shoving Tony away from him in mock offence. "Well, that's the last hug you're ever getting from me." Peter exclaimed, raising his eyebrows.

"Wow, nothing can take the mouth outta you kids, can they?" Tony replied sarcastically, although part of him knew it was true. But he loved sassy Peter. Sassy Peter should be an ice-cream flavour. Although, it could never beat 'Stark Raving Mad'. Nothing could. "If I said something rude when I was younger, I would've had—"

"My mouth washed out with soap, blah blah blah." Peter drawled, rolling his eyes and throwing out his hands in playful annoyance. "Yeah, I've heard a million times." He added, when Tony looked ever so slightly confused.

Tony ruffled a calloused hand over Peter's mess of curly hair lovingly, and couldn't help but notice how his kid leaned into the touch, closing his eyes momentarily.

And right now? At this very moment? Tony couldn't have been happier. He had his kid, he'd saved the world, the purple grape was dead, he had his kid and he had his kid. Nothing could've been more perfect.

"C'mon, let's get you home, kiddo." Tony smiled down at Peter, who could only nod as another wave of emotion passed through his eyes at the mention of home.

To be honest, no matter how cliche it sounded, home was right here, for Tony. Where Peter was. But May would be worried sick, so he'd best get them reunited. After all, he wasn't Peter's only parent.

Paperwork and the press could wait for the next few days, maybe even weeks.

All that mattered now, was being the father he'd never had for Peter.

God, he loved his son.

--

i just made myself emotional, someone send help.

so, as you've probably guessed, i haven't updated these one-shots in AgEs, so here ya go! Peter and Tony's reunion after the Avengers fixed the snap.

hope you cried, because that was literally what i was aiming for. i know i did, just by writing it, but i'm super soft. i cry during the voice, for laughing out loud.

anyway, thanks for reading! i'm not sure if i'll do another one, but if you have any requests of infinity war and irondad + spiderson, i'll be more than happy to do them!

love youse all :)

LuvForStydia xx