Peter comes to with a terrified and pained sob and strong arms pull him up against another body and pushes his face into the other's collarbone. The teen almost pushed the person away until he got a whiff of tea leaves and incense, and instead pulled himself closer.
He was with Stephen. He didn't know how that was possible, he saw the man turn to dust before his very eyes, but then Peter had turned to dust in Tony's arms (that thought renewed his sobs) so maybe there was an afterlife. Maybe he was lucky enough to stay by the sorcerer's side.
Maybe he could see his parents again. Uncle Ben...Aunt May...
Peter sobs again for a completely different reason. How messed up was he to be thinking about them right now when Stephen was the one holding and soothing him? If this was the afterlife, Stephen was the one that came to him first. In a twisted way, he was more a mother than his actual biological mother that he barely remembered the face of and that was only because of the photo album Aunt May had gifted to him through Tony.
The photo album. He would never get a chance to fill it up with pictures of his little sister.
Peter's eyes widen and he pulls away from the comforting warmth just enough to look up at the sorcerer. "D-Diana. Do you think-?"
Stephen pulls him close again. "I really hope not."
"Are we dead?" The teens voice trembles.
"In a manner of speaking." The doctor admits. "We're in the soul stone."
Peter nuzzles Stephen's collarbone again and inhales deeply. The sorcerer's natural scent immediately soothing the arachnid's anxiety. He wasn't alone. In what he saw briefly of their surroundings, there was a vast expanse with nothing but orange as far as the eye could see, and a lone building in ruins. It would have been incredibly lonely and would have made him crazy from the emptiness.
"...turning into dust hurt." Peter mumbles.
Stephen frowns. "It didn't..." Blue eyes widen. "Your healing factor. Oh cub..."
"It's okay. I'm okay now."
"That's good to hear. Hey Strange, you don't happen to have a pack of cards or something do you?" Quill asks from behind the doctor.
Stephen turns his head and glares at Starlord. "Oh yes, I always carry a deck on my person." Stephen says. His words dripping heavily with sarcasm.
"Wow...you are the nicer asshole." Quill says as he walks away to rejoin his teammates and Stephen returns his attention to the teen who tiredly rests his head against the sorcerer's chest.
"Is it normal to be tired?" Peter mumbles.
"It's to be expected. We may not need food and water but we will still need rest."
Stephen moves to his feet and Peter sluggishly stumbles to his own so the doctor can lead him and the space team toward the ruins. Once there, Stephen pulls Levi off of his shoulders and folds up the cloak to place under Peter's head when the boy lays back down again. With a sleepy thanks, the teen falls asleep and Stephen leans against the wall next to him.
Levi was heavier than usual on his shoulders, and he came to the conclusion that magic didn't work in the soul realm. He tested it out just in case and nothing had happened. Not a single spark. The all powerful Sorcerer Supreme was powerless and even though that frightened him, he wouldn't let it show. He still knew martial arts and he would use that in the small chance there was danger in the soul realm. Peter may be able to fend for himself, but that wouldn't stop Stephen from protecting him.
"Please don't touch him." The sorcerer says when Drax crouches down.
Of course Drax ignored the sorcerer so Stephen gave him a more physical warning by sending him backwards with a kick to his bare chest. When the buffer man stands and fixes the doctor with a glare, Stephen returns it tenfold with a Mama Bear glare and the entirety of the space team back away to another part of the ruins, leaving the Sorcerer to sit down beside the slumbering teen. He gently strokes brown curls as he loses himself in his thoughts, and is only briefly interrupted when Peter wakes long enough to lay his head in Stephen's lap and use the cloak as a blanket. He dropped back off to sleep once he got comfortable again and it made Stephen smile down at him fondly. When Peter asked if Diana had been snapped as well, Stephen really had no idea. All of those futures he saw never showed him his daughter and he had to assume it was because he never looked past the moment they would win the battle against Thanos. Granted, it probably should have shown if Tony was alone or not but it never did.
He really hoped she survived. For all he knew, she was somewhere here in the soul realm, all alone, scared and crying-no. No. Stephen shakes his head and pushes down his Mama Bear side. It wouldn't help to stress himself out about something he had no evidence of. She could be alive and well, but Peter was here with him right now. Right now, Peter was more important.
"You think Dia will take over the photo album?" Peter asks quietly.
Stephen blinks at the unexpected words. "I thought you were sleeping?"
"Ground isn't very comfortable. I'm not tired enough not to care yet." Peter sits up and frowns when the cloak pools around his waist, and Stephen crosses his legs.
"Need something to do?"
"I spy something orange." Peter says blandly and the sorcerer chuckles before showing the boy a pack of cards he seemingly pulled from nowhere. "You actually have cards?!"
Peter takes the deck with both excitement and amusement and essentially lays across Stephen's lap to play a game of solitaire on the ground while the sorcerer meditated. It didn't take long for Quill and his two friends to notice Peter's new entertainment though so he resorted to relaxing when the other three joined Peter for card games. After berating the sorcerer for lying of course, but Stephen ignored him. Stephen knew they wouldn't be there for long, but he couldn't say anything for fear of messing up their winning timeline.
While they played cards, Stephen waited. He waited for the moment they would return and it came when he saw a flutter from the corner of his cloak. With a concealed gesture to test his magic again, he gathers all the cards, much to the surprise of the others, and returns them to their box before pocketing the deck. They quickly realized what was going on when Mantis turned to dust again, and Peter jumped to his feet in terror. Stephen stands calmly as the other men turn to dust as well, and gently grabs the teen's shoulders.
"It's okay."
The fear only went away slightly but Stephen understood why. Peter was now afraid of going through the pain again. To the sorcerer's minor relief though, Peter went first, and god he had a glimpse of what Tony must have gone through because it was awful to watch. He knew Peter would be okay, but that was going to be temporary since they were jumping straight into battle.
When Stephen dusted back to reality, he made sure the people with him knew what they were in for before he portaled them to the battlefield. Peter had found Tony first, and of course they ignored everything going on around them so the engineer could pull the boy into a crushing hug. Then, after they parted and returned to the battle, came Stephen's turn. Tony just landed in front of him, grabbed his face and pulled him into a kiss before even thinking of asking if this battle was the win the sorcerer supreme saw.
"If I tell you, it won't happen."
Tony scoffs with a slight grin. "Welcome back anyway asshole."
Then he flew off again and the battle was their main focus. Peter got overwhelmed by Thanos's army, getting beat up until Steve helped him, Stephen focused his energy on keeping the water at bay, and Tony tried to be everywhere at once.
When Carol got hold of the Stark gauntlet, the engineer managed to pilfer the infinity stones off of the titan's gauntlet and get them to her. Then she snapped.
Thanos and his army turned to dust.
The Avengers could finally breathe.
When they were sure that the battle was truly over and they had everyone back, they went home. Battered and beaten, but alive and victorious.
Except Tony stopped Stephen when he started to open a portal to the tower. Instead he showed him a picture of a lake house, and the sorcerer lifts a brow before silently opening a portal to the lake house. All three heroes step through (Tony first) as their suits recede away from their bodies, into their bracelets and arc reactor, and tiredly make their way closer.
At least until a small body came peeling out of the house and jumped straight into Stephen's arms. He only managed to catch the body by instinct because of Peter's past shenanigans. Namely when he told Ned and MJ that Stephen would drop everything to catch him and proceeded to prove it to them
The sorcerer had made him clean up the broken mug and the spilled tea, but Peter grinned and said it was worth it.
When Stephen eventually looked down at his new burden, he was almost positive his eyes had bugged out of his head. A little girl with long brown curls and bright blue eyes smiled up at him and he knew in an instant who was holding. "D-Diana?"
Tony hides a pained wince with a grin when Peter stared at his sister. "Don't tell me you didn't see her in your millions of timelines, Stephanie." When his husband only continues to look at their daughter with his eyes misting over, Tony's smile falls. "You didn't?"
Stephen shakes his head and hugs Diana tightly, reaching out for just a second to pull Peter in and to look up at Tony. The billionaire understands immediately and steps forward into the family hug. They all stood there for a few minutes, basking in their whole family again, even if it was only a couple of days for Stephen and Peter. It was five for Tony, and a literal lifetime for Diana who soon grew restless and moved her head away from Stephen's neck to look at Peter.
"Peter?" She asks carefully.
The teen sniffs and wipes his eyes. "Yeah Dia?"
"Can you make me a web swing? Daddy said you made them for me when I was a baby."
Peter laughs and snatches the little girl from Stephen's arms and carries her like a football over to the nearest sturdy looking tree. "I'll do you one better! We'll make a web trampoline!"
Tony chuckles as the two kids move out of earshot. "So...your turn. You get the next five years."
Stephen chuckles. "Douchebag."
The engineer smiles and pulls the younger into a kiss. "I missed you Mama Bear."
"...who pulled you out of your slump? Don't try to deny it."
Tony groans. "Thumbelina...through a photo album and our princess."
Stephen smiles softly. "Who you raised well by the way."
"Yeah. I think I did ok. She's still alive."
Both men look toward their children when Diana squeals as she jumps on the web trampoline that Peter made between the side of the house and a couple of trees. The teen himself was, to their surprise, not bouncing but sitting in the middle of the web and watching his little sister. It didn't take much examination on their part to realize that Peter was exhausted, but desperately wanted to humor Diana so didn't complain.
Tony figured it was time to step in. "Dia! Let's leave the trampoline for tomorrow! We're all tired from saving the world! Especially Mommy and Peter. They technically haven't slept in five years."
Peter gives his father a grateful look and once Diana nods and gets off the large web with Peter's help, the family goes inside, eats a quick dinner, and all cuddle up in the master bedroom with a Disney movie on. Only this time, Diana clung to Stephen and Peter to Tony. The three males fell asleep within minutes, and Diana quietly finished the movie, asked FRIDAY to turn everything off afterwards, and fell asleep herself.
Comfortably snuggled between Stephen and Peter.