Peter didn't know where he planned to go. He just had to get far away. He couldn't believe this was happening. Beck was supposed to be dead and how dare he make it look like Tony was alive. Make it look like Morgan and everyone was here.

Peter ran for a long time but eventually he stopped and just walked. Apparently, he really was in Wakanda since it didn't vanish. It was insanely hot too since it was still technically summer.

But he didn't care. He didn't care how hot it was. He just had to go… somewhere. Back to Queens. Though he wasn't sure how he would do that.

Wait! Yes, he did. He had EDITH. He could get it to buy him tickets back home. His passport was in his suitcase back at the place fake Tony Stark was staying, but he'd figure it out.

He put the sunglasses on and was about to ask about the tickets when he was stopped.

There was a snapping sound behind him like a branch breaking. Peter spun around. It was fake Tony. Why wouldn't this nightmare end?

Fake Tony put his hands in front of him as if Peter was some kind of wild animal. "Listen, I know what you're thinking, kiddo. That this is something to do with that asshole Quentin Beck." Apparently fake Happy had given fake Tony some information. "But I swear I'm real and I can explain everything."

"I… no you can't," Peter said. His voice broke. "I saw you die."

Just saying that made him feel the same way he had during that battle. Hopeless. He had wanted to do something to help Mr. Stark but there was nothing he could do. He had died just like Peter's parents and Uncle Ben. Gone forever.

Like almost everyone Peter loved.

"And I can explain that, kiddo. I can explain everything."

"I… tell me something that only the two of us would know."

Fake Mr. Stark stared at him. "Really, kid?"

"So I know this isn't one of Beck's illusions."

He thought he had beaten Beck. Why had he failed so badly?

Mr. Stark paused but then sighed. "Remember when we were watching that mediocre movie "Solo?"

"It was good, not mediocre." But it hadn't been the best Star Wars movie.

"Well apparently I was calling Han Solo "Hans Solo" for years and you thought that was funny and kept calling him Hans for the rest of the movie," Mr. Stark said. At least this story wasn't as embarrassing as Happy's Germany one. "Is that good enough?"

"It's—"

"I know another. Remember when we were watching some of your fights and then I accidentally pulled up the footage of you pretending to be Thor. That—"

Peter hurried over and hugged him. Soon Peter was sobbing but he didn't care. He thought Mr. Stark was too even though if he asked he'd probably say something about how Stark men were made of iron and didn't cry. It wasn't even true since he was softer than he acted like.

It was okay. Everything was. Mr. Stark was somehow alive and that was all that mattered.


For awhile the two of them just talked outside even though it was sweltering hot. Mr. Stark explained what happened and how he had lived. It had to do with Wakanda's technology, and apparently, he had been in a coma for many months. It had been a miracle. When Tony had been taken off the battle field, everything had thought that he was dead. Even for the next few days they had. Then they had checked again and well…

Still no one thought he would live.

But he had.

It really was just a miracle.

"I couldn't even tell Pepper for weeks after I woke up," Tony complained. He had lost his arm but they had made him a replacement here, kind of like Bucky's. "And then they made me wait to tell anyone else too."

Peter nodded. He was just glad that he was alive.

"And no one would tell me anything that was going on." He reached out and ruffled Peter's hair. Before he would have pretended to be annoyed but now he didn't. "That's why I didn't know about that asshole Beck and what he did. I'll make sure we find his people and—"

"No, it's… it's all over now, Mr. Stark."

"It's better to be careful. At least when it comes to you," Mr. Stark said standing up. Peter did as well. "And enough of that stupid Mr. Stark thing. It makes me feel old."

Before he might have made a snarky comment, but this time he didn't.

"You can just call me "Tony" like I've told you to."

"Fine, Tony…"

"Now that sounds much better," Tony said, but it sounded weird to Peter. Still it was the least that he could do for Mr. Stark. After everything.

"It's… okay." He still half expected Tony to disappear. That this would be a dream and he would wake up in his twin bed at his and May's apartment.

"We should go back to the car. You ran far away kid. You're fast. I'm tired of being out in this hot weather. AC is a beautiful thing."

Peter just nodded and followed Tony back to the car. An Audi just like the car he had back in New York. Tony blasted the AC as soon as they got in.

"I don't know how you could have stood being out in this weather so long," Tony complained more. Was it really that bad?

"I just… wasn't thinking about that." He had been scared and freaked out. He couldn't go through that with Beck again.

He couldn't have him keep messing with his mind.

"I'm sorry, Pete. This is my fault."

"Your fault?" Peter asked, not sure how he could even say something like that.

"I… I remember Beck." Tony sighed. "Maybe if I had realized how fucking insane he was then I could have done something when he worked for me so he wouldn't put you through hell."

"I'm… I'm fine…" Peter said. He doubted that Mr. Stark would be as eager to help him if he knew that he had given Beck EDITH for awhile. That Beck had tricked him.

"You're not fine. You thought this was all an illusion and you were afraid."

"I wasn't afraid," Peter said.

Tony just looked at him.

"I just… I didn't want to go through that again," Peter said. And he hadn't wanted to get excited about Tony being alive just to get it torn away from him.

"It's okay and don't worry you won't have to go through that again. That's why I'm going to make sure all Beck's people are caught."

"You shouldn't do—"

"I'm not going to do it myself. I'm not allowed to do anything now. I swear I feel like I'm in jail sometimes."

"Don't say that, Mr…" Tony gave him a look. "Don't say that, Tony." Peter corrected himself. It was going to take some time getting used to this.

"Well, it's going to be nice when I can head home. I feel fine. Pepper and my doctors should realize that," Tony said. "It'll be nice when I'm back near you, won't it?"

Peter tried to answer but a lump formed in his throat. He would never be able to express how nice it was. Tony being alive was more than he could have ever hoped for. Never would have imagined that he was alive.

"I can go to some of your decathlon competitions," Tony said.

Peter could only stare at him. "Really?" It was just hard to imagine Tony being there. He could only imagine what Flash would say. Tony already knew a lot about Flash and well… he didn't like him. Peter doubted that had changed.

"Yeah, obviously. I'm different now," Tony said. He ruffled Peter's hair, which caused Peter to give him a look, even though he really didn't mind. "Maybe I can get a big sign with your name on it. Oh, and a shirt with your face."

"What?" Peter asked.

"You're like a son to me, Pete," Tony said, looking at him and grinning. "And so it's my job to embarrass you."

Before maybe the comment about it being his job to embarrass him would have annoyed Peter, but now he didn't care. And hearing Tony say that he was like a son to him… he had wanted that for so long, but never thought Tony would feel that way about him.

After all, he was a random orphan who happened to be bitten by a radioactive spider.

Not to mention his Parker luck kept causing people he loved to die. Maybe he was cursed.

"Please don't wear the shirts," Peter said.

"We have to."

"We?" Peter asked.

"Yes, I'm going to make Pepper, Morgan, and probably your aunt do it too. Maybe I can convince the other Avengers to come and wear them too."

Peter gave him a look.

"Sorry, kiddo. No way to stop it," Tony said, grinning at him. "As soon as the doctors give me permission to go back to the states that's going to happen. It's only a matter of time. Soon they'll admit I'm perfectly healthy."

Perfectly healthy. He did seem like he was doing pretty good, but he had been in a coma until recently. There was no way he could be entirely normal.

And then something came to Peter.

"Oh my god!" Peter said, horrified.

"What?" Tony asked.

"I… I shoved you. You're healing and I shoved you."

"Underoos, that's not a big deal at all," Tony said actually chuckling, but he was wrong. It was a big deal. The doctors obviously weren't sure that he was completely healthy yet, and Peter had powers. "I've gone through worse than that."

"But I could have hurt you!"

Tony rolled his eyes. "I'm seriously fine, Pete, and it was Happy and my fault that you freaked out. Well mostly Happy and the idiots who wouldn't let him tell you why he was bringing you here. I didn't know about the whole Beck thing."

"But I still-"

"I'm fine," Tony said. "Seriously. I'm better than fine."

Peter nodded, but he wasn't sure. He would never have been able to forgive himself if he had hurt Tony. Sure he was Iron Man, but right now he was recovering and he hadn't been wearing his Iron Man suit.

The drive didn't take much longer. Only a few minutes. Still Peter was surprised that he had ran that far, but he had just been reacting. As soon as he stepped out of the car, Happy hurried over to him.

"I'm so sorry, kid," Happy said. "I should have known that you would think it wasn't real. I feel like such an idiot."

"It's okay, Happy," Peter said. "I'm fine. I should have known that it was real."

Maybe he should have but what happened to Beck… It still affected him even now. He wished that it didn't, but sometimes he couldn't help about thinking of it.

What Beck had said about it being his fault Tony was gone.

Peter shuddered.

"Kid's going to be okay," Tony said, putting his hand on his shoulder. "I'll make sure of it."

"Yeah… Yeah, I'm going to be fine. It's not your fault, Happy," Peter said, shifting from one foot to another, but not moving enough that Tony had to move his hand.

"Well, it's not my fault," Tony said, grinning at Peter as he moved his hand away. "But Happy should have told me what happened. Then I would have… handled it differently."

"I wasn't supposed to," Happy said, shrugging. "I'm glad the kid is okay."

Peter was about to say something else about how they didn't need to worry about him, since after all he was Spider-Man, when Morgan came running out with a super soaker water gun. Pepper followed behind her.

"Morgan, I'm sorry that-" Peter tried to say.

"'S okay, Petey," Morgan said. Her eyes were lit up with determination. "Mommy said a bad person hurt you."

"Morgan…" Pepper said. "Peter is fine now." Pepper even gave Peter a small smile, but then she looked back at her daughter. "He's okay."

"Yeah, I'm better than okay," Peter said and it was true. Tony was okay now. Everything was going good. Beck was dead and wouldn't bother him again.

"You will be because I'll protect you, Petey!" Morgan said. "No one hurts Petey! If they hurt you, Petey then I'll—"

Tony laughed and then went over and tried to hug Morgan, but she sprayed him with the water gun. "Mongoose!"

"I gotta protect Petey."

If anything this made Tony laugh harder. Peter thought it was sweet, but really he was the one who should protect Morgan and not the other way around. She was like the little sister that he had always wanted, but never got.

"And if I can't protect Petey, then I'll get Nebula to help me."

Tony looked… well, horrified… when she said that. Pepper had the same look in her eyes.

"We don't need to get Nebula involved, Morgan," Pepper said with a small laugh, but her eyes were huge.

"Yeah, Mongoose can handle it herself, and if not then I can," Tony said.

"You all know I can take care of myself, right?" Peter said, rolling his eyes, but he didn't mind that they were acting this way. It was sort of nice. "I'm almost an adult."

Tony shuddered. "You being an adult is a scary thought."

"We should all-" Pepper tried to say.

"Have a water balloon war!" Morgan suggested, grinning. All thoughts of murdering the bad man who hurt Peter seemed to have left her head, for now at least. "Petey and I can be on a team."

Peter was glad he would be on Morgan's team. She was brutal when it came to water balloon fights.

"But I'm your dad," Tony said. "Don't you want to be on my team?"

"No! Want Petey!" Morgan spat out.

Peter grinned and laughed, which caused Tony to glare at him, but only for a moment. If anything that made Peter laugh harder.

"Right now, we should have lunch," Pepper said. "But maybe after you can do something like that."

Morgan sighed but nodded. "I want cheeseburgers." And before anyone could tell her if they would have cheeseburgers or something else, she took off sprinting toward the house.

Pepper and Happy went after her. Peter was about to go too, but then Tony put his hand on his shoulder again.

"Underoos, I… I'm sorry I wasn't there for you when this whole Beck thing went down," Tony said with a sigh as he moved his hand. "It's fucked up. I should have done something when that asshole worked for me."

"It's not your fault," Peter said. Obviously, Tony didn't know that he had given Beck EDITH. What would he say when he found out? How much had Happy and Pepper even told Tony? It couldn't be much since he seemed to have only found out when Peter had ran off. "I… I messed up anyway."

Maybe he would have told him right there what he would have done if Tony had asked.

"No, that asshole was twisted, and I doubt you messed up. He was just… God, I hate that man," Tony said, glaring into the distance. "I wish had been awake then and had known what he was doing because then…"

"I handled it. It's over now," Peter said, shifting his weight from one foot to another one. Talking about this wasn't easy. It probably never would be.

Even talking about what happened with the Vulture wasn't easy. He barely ever had to talk about that. May used to try to, but she seemed to have given up. She sometimes asked about what happened in Europe too, and he hoped that she would stop soon.

"Okay, but you know if you ever need to talk about what happened, you can with me," Tony said.

At first, Peter could only stare at him.

"I'm serious," Tony said. "I know what it's like to go through things like that. You should talk to someone if you need to."

"I'm fine," Peter said shortly. "Really, I am."

"Okay, but if you need to later."

Peter gave him a look.

"Hey, I know what you're thinking, but I really have been trying to be different than my old man," Tony said, shrugging. "And I want to be there for you."

"Thanks, Tony, but I'm okay," Peter said.

Still, it was nice in a way that Tony wanted to be there for him.

((AN: Thank you to everyone who has read and commented!

Moorsey23: Aww thank you. I'm especially glad I posted it and that you enjoyed it.

UntamableWyldeRaptor: Yeah, I agree. I think after what happened, he might be worried it was some kind of trick. I'm glad you like the story so far!

Cheshire-sama: You don't suck at reviews. I loved yours. And Morgan is really cute. You have a good day too!

kellentia: I love to have cliffhangers when I can. I hope you liked this chapter as well!

Verinorina: Don't worry. I have no plan of stopping. I love this fiction too and adore that so many people like it so far.))