AN: Tumblr prompt: Danny gets knocked through a portal, and somehow winds up in a position where he becomes Spider-Man's Uncle Ben in a grandfather paradox sort of thing?

Drabble 88-Uncle Danny

For years Danny had known that Peter Parker was Spider-Man. When you actually stopped to think about it it wasn't hard to put two and two together. He would show up with bruises, just like Danny, and suddenly have to go to the bathroom so he could fight crime that was happening right outside the window. You never saw them in the same place at the same time. So when he confronted Peter about it, he had also spilled his ghost secret. And best friends they did become. In fact, when they were now well into their forties, they still had a bond as strong as the day they swapped secrets.

But now that friendship might get a little complicated.

He didn't know when he was, just that it was some time in the past. Maybe the 90s? He had never seen New York in the 90s, so it was a but difficult to tell. But he would just have to make do. All he had to do was just get back to his time, right? It couldn't have been that hard.

Oh, he had been so wrong about that.

—–

It was soon that he found out that when he fought Vlad, he had gotten his powers taken away or short circuited or something. Either way, he wasn't going to the Zone anytime soon.

He sighed as eh wandered around the city, wondering what the hell 1993 New York had to offer him (He had looked at a news paper-something that was still popular, apparently). It felt strange walking around in clothes that didn't fit the decade and a thin, high tech pocket computer that literally nobody else had. No, instead they had the giant brick sized phone with antennas and land lines. It was definitely a weird transition to make, that's for sure.

As he walked by a hot dog vendor he heard scuffling from the alley a few more feet away.

He didn't waste any time charging into that alley, eyes blazing.

He walked right up to the punk mugger trying to steal some lady's purse and punched him right in the nose. He went down like a sack of potatoes. The lady clutched her purse to her chest, heaving slightly as she looked Danny up and down. She had beautiful brown hair that had gained a few gray strands, and crows feet surrounding her big brown eyes. Danny smiled and held out his hand to shake.

"Hi, I'm Danny."

"May."

Danny had been 44 when that happened.

—–

When Danny was 46, he found that he was still trapped in the 90s, but it wasn't all bad because he had May with him. May Parker was a firecracker of a woman who had lost her husband, Ben, just a few months before she had met Danny. Upon finding out that he didn't have a place to stay, she had offered her guest room to him, and he never left. From that day on, they were something special. Danny hadn't even realized who he had fallen for until he was 48, and these two young parents-scientists as well-dropped off May's grandson and told them to keep him safe.

That kid's name was Peter, and that was when Danny realized he had fucked up by falling in love with May.

—–

When Peter was eight Danny showed him how to ride a bike. He had told him that it takes patience and practice. Danny was pretty sure he accidentally turned it into some sort of weird spiritual lesson that Peter would remember later on. He told Peter one day he would need patience and practice to do everything. Like solving a problem or befriending someone new. All he needed was patience and practice.

Danny had been 56 years old, and he was just now getting grey hairs.

—

Danny supposed he had only himself to blame when Peter, age 14, came home with a science fair poster. He had run home so fast that his overshirt was at his elbows and his big round glasses crooked on his nose. Danny would have loved for him to stay that excited about science for the rest of his life, but ultimately he knew it would be science that would change Peter's life for the weirder.

They stayed up later for two weeks trying to get it to work properly, and Peter took home second place. It had been one of Danny's proudest moments.

Danny was 62 that year.

—

Danny sighed as he sifted through his old boxes, and almost cried when he found his old cell phone. The one he had originally had before he had been transported to this time. He had made a modified charger years ago, before Peter had even been born. He plugged it into his phone and turned it on.

Now that there was internet and wifi it would connect again, and he still had all of his old contacts like his parents and his sister and Tucker and Sam and Dani. He was thankful for that, just in case he ever needed it, but then he looked at all of the pictures he had.

It was bittersweet seeing pictures of him and Peter, best friends since their senior year of high school, gradually aging until they were both in their forties. He sighed, wiping away a small tear that had built up in his eye before putting the phone and charger back and stuffing the box away for good. Just as he was done with that, Peter burst through the door. It was the same as it had been when he was 14, excited and ruffled up about science. He was 18 now, showing Danny his acceptance letter.

Danny was 66.

—-

It wasn't until Danny was 78 that he was able to make his own ghost portal and go through. He had no idea why it took so long, but he didn't care. Time had caught back up with him again, his hair was half grey, and Aunt May was in her last few weeks. He needed to come clean to Peter about who he was and what he did. Or at least what he used to do.

Peter was 28 when Danny told him everything, and his scrawny friend from Illinois had been confused thoroughly.

Because that scrawny kid was Danny Fenton, now 28 and Peter's best friend/

—–

He told Peter, when he was 80, that he was going to go back to his own time. Aunt May had long since passed, and Danny had promised to return. he just needed to say goodbye to his friends first. Because when Peter was eight and learning how to ride a bike, he had promised to always be there for him.

He would follow through with that promise until the day he died.

—-

Peter was 81 when Danny, also finely aged, had walked through a green, swirling portal. And though it had been forty years, Danny hadn't really changed too much. Not beyond being able to recognize, anyway.

"You're alive," Peter said, standing up from the couch.

"Well, sort of," Danny replied, giving his old friend a small chuckle as they hugged. It had always been their little inside joke that nobody but them understood.

"I have so much to tell you, dude."

—-

Peter, Peter, Danny, and the rest of the remaining original Avengers all stood before the grave as the original Danny Fenton was lowered down. They all told funny stories involving the beloved half ghost, and Peter talked about his friendship with him, while the other talked about how his Uncle Danny had taught him some amazing life lessons.

He was buried next to Aunt May.

Danny had been 102.