Note: These two broke my damn heart all over again in Endgame, only this time it was about 3000x worse because I knew in Infinity War that Peter would be coming back. Ugh.

Summary: A month after Thanos is defeated and it seems like everyone is moving on, but Peter Parker is struggling and failing to cope with the loss of his mentor. Luckily, Tony thought ahead. (Tony left a message for Peter, too).

Hey, Kid

It was almost like the Snap had never happened. A month after life had been restored to the planet, and classes resumed as usual, his classmates bickered and gossiped, and the teachers assigned homework. Ned, aunt May, even MJ -they'd all disappeared when Thanos has used the Infinity Stones, and like him, none of the them could remember the past five years.

It made Peter want to scream, because nothing would be the same ever again.

Head down and shoulders hunched forward, he stared blindly at his shoes as he walked into his apartment building and up the stairs. Back before everything he would've gone on a patrol right after school, but he hadn't donned his Spiderman outfit since that last battle. He couldn't even look at the Iron Spider without wanting to throw up or cry.

Like every day for the past four weeks, Peter entered his home and dropped his bag carelessly on the floor. Walking down the hallway and towards the quiet voices in the living room, he blinked in mild surprise when he saw both his aunt and Happy sitting on the couch.

"Uh, hi." He muttered towards the man, trying to disguise the involuntary flinch before either of the adults could spot it. All he could see was mister Stark sitting in that exact same spot, on the first day they had met, before Peter's life had changed in the best way imaginable.

"Hey kid." Happy started, and yep, no way Peter could hide the pain twisting his face from the start of that sentence.

Shuffling backwards, Peter kept his eyes firmly on the hardwood floor. "Yeah, uh, not really a good time for me. Lots of homework to do. I'll talk to you later." Ignoring the protests coming from both May and Happy, he hurried into his room and closed the door with a firm snap – locking it for good measure.

His back against the wood, Peter sunk to the floor, running his fingers through his too long hair with his forehead pressed against his knees. He waited for the light knock that would inevitably come from his aunt and was relieved when it never came.

The soft conversation in the living room resumed, and though Peter really didn't want to hear it, his abilities picked up every word.

"You weren't exaggerating, he looks like hell."

"I'm really worried about him; he hasn't been the same. The funeral just made it worse, more final. I don't even think he has gone out as…well you know - since he got back. I'm scared Happy, he barely eats, he isn't sleeping – I…I don't know how to make this better, he's already lost so much."

…And suddenly his aunt was quietly sobbing, as clear as if she was right beside him.

Peter stumbled blindly to his feet, desperate to get away from the awful sound that was all his fault. The teenager flung open his window, only thinking at the last second to shove on the crumpled mask that he had thrown in his wastepaper basket four days ago in a fit of anger. Within seconds, he was climbing up the side of the building.

The moment that Peter reached the privacy of the roof, he flung off the Spiderman mask, shoved his fist into his mouth and let out a muffled scream full of grief and rage. If only he had done something different, gotten the gauntlet far away from mister Stark – put the damn thing on himself. He had superpowers; he might've survived. It wasn't fair, it was all so stupid, Iron Man shouldn't have died.

Peter kicked furiously at whatever his foot could find, reducing an industrial air duct into a pitiful piece of twisted metal. Looking at his handiwork guiltily, Peter dropped to the ground – unable to stop the tears from coming. Curling up into a fetal position, exhaustion took over and Peter dropped off into a fitful doze.

The feel of his phone buzzing in his pocket woke him. Groggy and miserable, Peter rolled up, his back against the ledge of the roof. It had been light when he'd climbed up here, and now he could see the last remnants of the sunset on the skyline. Pulling out his phone, Peter read the text messages from both aunt May and Happy.

AUNT M (received, 7:15pm)

-Peter, that door better be unlocked when I get home from work. Lasagna in the fridge, please eat some of it. I love you.

HAPPY (received, 8:58pm)

-Let me know when you're ready for a visit. Pepper and Morgan want to see you. Chin up.

Wiping at his eyes, Peter answered May quickly, it had been nearly two hours since she had sent the message and he was already worrying her enough. He lingered on the second text for a moment before closing his phone with a shaky sigh, unable to face Happy just yet.

The though of Pepper without her husband only brought on hard memories of what it had been like for his aunt when uncle Ben had been murdered. As for Morgan, he felt acid at the back of his throat, knowing that that sweet little girl would grow up without her dad – something he was far too familiar with. It just wasn't fair.

Unwilling to move just yet, Peter looked around the nondescript roof, running his fingers aimlessly through the gravel that covered its surface. His heart clenched in his chest when his eyes caught something that he hadn't noticed earlier. There was graffiti on the maintenance door, probably left by a worker in the last few weeks.

'LONG LIVE IRON MAN'

Heart pounding, Peter took some deep breaths, trying to stop himself from having another freak out. Jerking his head away from the words, his attention landed on his mask. Snatching the fabric up, Peter stared into the reflective eyes and tried not to think about how mister Stark had made this, made this for him.

He would never get another gift from the man again. He would never watch as the engineer moved around his lab, barking out random questions to Peter, asking what he liked about the suit, what he thought would work better, what might make his patrols a litter safer…

There would be no more of that, no more jokes or lectures, no more guidance...nothing. That was all gone now.

"I don't know what to do." He whispered, staring at the mask as if it could give him the answers he so desperately needed.

"Good evening, Mr. Parker."

The accented female voice that emitted from his mask nearly caused him to drop it in shock. Her voice was faint, meant to be heard from inside his suit, and so he shoved the cloth over his head hurriedly. Peter stared at the interactive HUD that mister Stark had designed, "FRIDAY?" he asked tentatively.

"You remember me."

The AI sounded pleased.

"Yeah…I, I mean yeah of course I do." He responded automatically, remembering the AI from his visits to his old mentor's lab. He supposed that for FRIDAY it had been years, but as far as Peter remembered, his last visit to the Compound had been maybe three weeks before Thanos had happened. "Is everything alright? I mean, is this…Avengers stuff?"

He tried not to sag with relief when FRIDAY answered calmly, "No, there are no incidents to report regarding the Avengers at this point in time." He wasn't sure he could face what remained of the team right now, especially after learning that Captain Rogers had deliberately not returned after replacing the Stones back where they'd been taken from.

The thought made him angry, and he knew that that was probably unfair to the man. But one of the best people in the world was dead, he would never get to see his daughter grow up, and it was unfair that Rogers had gotten everything that he wanted while mister Stark was dead and g –

ENOUGH.

Peter stopped that dangerous train of thought and forced himself back to the present. What was done was done, there was no going back now.

"Okay, um – sorry, I guess I don't understand what this is then? Is Karen okay?" Peter pressed, suddenly worried that maybe his own AI was compromised, he hadn't interacted with the suit in so long, could something of happened to her?

"Karen allowed me to take over so that I could speak with you briefly." FRIDAY hesitated, causing the hairs on Peter's arms to stand up, before she continued, "I have a message for you."

Peter didn't need to ask who it was from. "Why now?" He croaked.

"Boss created a link to your suit in preparation; however, I required your voice activation in order to unlock it." FRIDAY explained, and Peter instantly felt guilty. If he had only put the stupid thing on and done some work, instead of wallowing in misery for the last few weeks, he could've had this message from his mentor ages ago.

The AI spoke on, oblivious to his self-recrimination, "When you're ready, take off your mask and set it face up on the ground. It will play automatically."

Swallowing, Peter placed his fingers on the edges of the soft fabric, "Thanks FRIDAY, and I'm sorry – I know that…that this can't be easy for you either. Losing mister Stark, I mean." He stumbled through the condolence, flushing slightly at the silence that followed.

"Thank you, Mr. Parker."

Peter didn't comment on the slight hitch in her response, an undeniable display of grief that an AI shouldn't be capable of. Instead, he took a deep breath and yanked the mask up and off in one firm tug. Setting it on the ground, he waited anxiously for the image of his mentor to appear.

Immediately, the familiar form of Tony Stark materialized. Peter felt his breath stutter at the sight of the older man – just like at the funeral, it almost felt like he was there. The image sat cross-legged in front of him, dark brown eyes focusing on Peter's face, as if he was looking right at him. "Mister Stark." He whispered.

"Hey kid."

The familiar greeting instantly caused a well up of fresh tears, and Peter tried in vain to get them under control before he became a real mess again, he was getting sick of crying all the time.

"If FRI is showing this to you, it means we fixed everything, but that I didn't make it. So, clearly all of this is your fault. You should feel extreme guilt – obviously you could've stopped the untimely demise of your favorite superhero."

Peter blinked, startled by this unexpected start.

Tony cocked an eyebrow, a small smirk on his face as he continued calmly, "See how absolutely ridiculous that sounded? Kid, if I'm dead and you're alive – well, that's all on me. Honestly, I'll be amazed if we pull off this time travel crap – and I swear if you're about to make a cheesy pop culture reference..."

Peter couldn't help but snort at the exasperation in his mentor's voice, it was the first time he'd laughed in ages. He watched as Tony trailed off without finishing the sentence, an unmistakable look of fondness on his face.

"Peter – you should know that I'm going into this, or I guess from your perspective, that I went into this knowing the risks. I should've died that day on Titan, before Thanos ever got that final Stone, but Strange gave me five more years." Tony leaned back, his eyes soft, "I'll die a happy man, knowing that we got you and everyone else back, knowing that I got five years with Pep and Morgan that never should've been."

The image sighed, one hand running through hair shot with silver that hadn't been there when Peter had last seen the man on Titan. "I'm sorry, I know that this probably won't be easy, believe me I've been there. You'll be fine though; I know you will. Kid, you've got the best heart of anyone I know – I mean that, you're a better hero than me, more pure than golden boy Rogers…"

Peter laughed again, but it came out thick, there was a hot ball at the back of his throat.

"You're gonna do great, and I'm so proud of you." Tony smiled, "Also, fair warning, Morgan is pretty much convinced that Spiderman is her big brother, sorry about that. Do me a favour and watch out for her okay? She could use someone like you around."

"I will." Peter answered quietly.

"Shit this is getting pretty angsty – I don't even know if this plan is going to work, and if it does everything might turn out ok. I swear if we all live through this and FRIDAY leaks this to you, I'll reformat her. You hear me FRI?"

Peter's sensitive ears still couldn't pick up on whatever the AI's response was, but it caused Tony to roll his eyes and shrug. "Alright, time to get this show on the road. Kid, I'll be seeing you soon." The older man gave Peter a crooked, reassuring smile, "I'm bringing you home."

And just as quickly as the image appeared, Tony faded away again.

It was a long time before Peter moved. He sat on the roof until the sky was tinged pink, the sun beginning to rise. Idly, he realized that his aunt would be getting home from her shift soon, and that she would freak out if his bedroom door was still locked.

Rising to his feet, Peter felt steadier than he had in months. He stared down at the Spiderman mask and spoke to it quietly, "Thank you, Tony…for everything. I won't let you down." Breathing deeply, he turned towards the edge of the roof and made his way back to his room.

He had a city to protect, and a little girl to go visit.

END.

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Hopefully Peter isn't too OOC, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Writing this really helped me out with all the Endgame feels I have going on right now haha. I did struggle a bit at the end of this story though, I couldn't decide how to end it neatly, hopefully it doesn't feel too abrupt.