Warnings: Swearing, Spoilers for Infinity War

Backstory: A What-If fic for That Scene in Infinity War

"Mr. Stark, I don't feel so good."
Those words made Tony freeze. He turned to see Peter standing there, swaying on his feet.
Just in time, Tony rushed forwards, catching Peter as the young boy collapsed.
He was pleading, having seen the others dissolve only seconds beforehand, and now Peter was about to. Tony felt the tears from Peter soak his shirt, and they clutched at each other in a desperate hug.
"Mr. S-Stark-"
A minute passed.
Then another.
Tony looked down at the teenager. He was crying, hiccuping as he trembled every couple seconds.
"Peter?"
Opening his eyes, Peter gasped for air as he realized that he hadn't turned to ash.
"Kid, breathe, you're gonna be okay, it's okay, just relax," Tony sobbed, pulling Peter close to his chest. They rocked back and forth, refusing to let go.
They were gonna be okay.

As soon as Peter helped Tony limp off of the ship, Nebula tossed him a small walkie-talkie-like object. "Keep in touch, Insect," she called, and the ship doors closed right after. Peter snagged it with a web, simply sticking it to his left hip.
Tony groaned, leaning almost all of his weight on the small hero. The stab wound in his side was slowly seeping blood into the solid five layers of webbing that Peter had loaded over it.
Out of the huge Wakandan palace came a bearded man, an older man in a lab coat, and a crowd of women wielding spears and wearing armour.
Peter stopped, and Tony slumped over. If he didn't have superstrength, the man would have been on the floor. "We need help," Peter begged. "P-please." He couldn't stop his voice from trembling, couldn't stop the desperation in his words.
"Who are you?" The bearded man asked, looking tired and angry at the same time.
"I'm Spiderman," Peter answered, and his suit folded back to reveal his face. "Peter Parker, please, help him, we need help."
The bearded man's eyes widened. "You're..? Is that Tony?!"
Peter managed a nod, biting his lip as tears welled up in his eyes. "P-please," he begged. "He got stabbed by Thanos and I don't know how to fix him."
Lab-coat-guy rushed forward, a floating stretcher sipping next to him. Peter helped move Tony onto the stretcher.
"Alert Shuri that Tony Stark requires immediate emergency surgery," the man spoke into a strange bracelet. He glanced at Peter and offered him a smile. "Tony's gonna be okay, Peter. My name is Doctor Bruce Banner, I'll make sure he's okay."
With that, Tony was rushed into the palace, and Bruce ran after him.
Choking on his sobs, Peter started to stumble after him, but strong arms wrapped themselves around him. "Breathe, kid, it's okay, Wakanda has the best technology in the world," Bearded Man assured Peter.
The nickname only made Peter cry harder. Only Tony called him that, which made him realize how close he had come to losing his mentor.
"I'm going to take you to Tony as soon as his surgery is done, okay?" The man told him. "I'm Steve, remember me from Germany? I know we didn't exactly get along, but you're safe here. You and Tony are going to be okay."
Peter only wailed into Steve's arms.

"You need to call your aunt," Tony said, two days after their arrival in Wakanda. "She's still alive, and so is your friends, Ned, and that girlfriend of yours."
Peter was curled up against Tony, mostly quiet, until now. "MJ isn't my girlfriend," he mumbled. "And how do you know that?"
Chuckling, Tony held up his phone. "Left your phone on the bus. Ned kept texting me from it, and relaying messages from everyone to you."
Nodding, Peter hesitated only a moment before taking Tony's phone and dialing May's number.
She picked up on the first ring. "Tony Stark, I swear if you've lost my kid then-"
"I'm okay, Aunt May," Peter interrupted. "I'm alive, and I'm not hurt."
She began crying, and that made him want to cry too, but he had done that enough over the last couple days. "Peter, where are you?! Where did you go?! Ned said you left the school trip, and he has your phone, and no one I was calling would answer, and then people started turning into dust!"
Tony blinked at him, signalling for him to tell the truth.
"Well, I, uh, went to space and fought the guy who caused people to turn to dust."
"WHAT?!"
"Mr. Stark didn't do that! He told me to go home and I stowed away and I didn't go home when he told me to so don't get mad at him!" Peter quickly explained. "Um, I also almost turned to dust but my super healing beat it so I didn't? Or at least that's what Mr. Stark and Mr. Rogers and Princess Shuri think-"
"WHERE ARE YOU?!"
In a very small voice, Peter said, "I'm in Wakanda."
"YOU'RE IN WAKANDA?!"
"Mr. Stark was bleeding out and this space robot lady took us here because of all the tech and I didn't get hurt otherwise and we were like a million miles away and I was fighting with aliens against another alien!" Peter yelped. "I didn't have any way to contact you so I'm sorry!"
"YOU ARE SO GROUNDED WHEN YOU GET HOME!" May shrieked. "YOU NEED TO TAKE THE NEXT PLANE BACK TO NEW YORK IMMEDIATELY!"
"I don't think I can do that, Aunt May."
"PETER PARKER, I SWEAR IF YOU DON'T GET YOUR BUTT BACK HERE I WILL FLY MYSELF OVER TO AFRICA AND DRAG YOU BACK HERE!"
"I can ask Princess Shuri when I can, but I'm going to wait for Mr. Stark and Mr. Rogers and Dr. Banner and Mr. Thor and Mr. Rocket and General Rhodes and because they're coming back to the compound with me and-"
"WHO?! ARE YOU DEALING WITH SUPERVILLANS NOW?!"
"N-no, Aunt May, um, I'm coming back with Mr. Stark, you know him, and Captain America and Hulk and Thor and War Machine and Mr. Rocket is a genetically engineered racoon from space who's saved the universe a bunch of times and he joined the Avengers because his space Avengers group all got turned to dust."
"YOU'RE WITH ENEMIES OF THE UNITED NATIONS?!"
"W-well, half of the world is dead so I don't think he's considered that anymore-"
"PETER PARKER!"
"Sorry, Aunt May."

Peter trailed after Tony, clutching his newly acquired vibranium-cloth backpack that held his improved Iron Spider suit and his Spiderman suit that he'd gotten in Germany. They descended from the Wakandan ship, having landed at the New York City airport.
Aunt May was waiting for them, along with - Peter blinked. That was, like, half of his high school class. He and Tony walked towards the crowed, having been allowed to skip security and customs thanks to Shuri.
Once they reached May, she threw her arms around Peter, nearly crying. He hugged her back then let go when she drew back.
May suddenly lashed out, slapping Tony across the face. His head jerked to the side, and Peter made a small noise of protest that died when May began to scold the billionaire.
"HOW DARE YOU TAKE MY KID TO SPACE! AND TO WAKANDA! HALF THE WORLD JUST DIED AND YOU DECIDED THAT HE SHOULD GO! YOU BETTER HAVE A GOOD EXCUSE FOR THIS OR I WILL RIP YOUR STUPID SUITS APART WIRE BY WIRE!" May screeched, making Peter shrink back and press himself against Tony's side.
Tony cleared his throat. "I technically didn't tell him to come, he stowed away on an alien ship after I tried to send him back home."
"DON'T GIVE ME THAT EXCUSE!" May roared. "YOU WERE THE ONE TO GIVE HIM THAT INTERNSHIP IN THE FIRST PLACE!"
Ned was laughing, while the rest of Peter's classmates looked both confused and awe-struck.
Yep.

A/N: I think I was going to continue this at some point, but I never got around to it. Sort of a contrast to last chapter.