"Who's that?"

She asks the question so innocently, Tony almost doesn't even realize what she's referring to until she points insistently to his phone's background. It's a picture of Peter and Aero, a selfie scavenged from the iCloud after the Snap happend. They're both grinning at the camera, and Aero's eyes are full of life. Peter's arm is around Aero's shoulders, and Aero's face is red. He'd probably blamed it on the heat, but Tony knows. He's always known, ever since Aero came out as gay. Because, suddenly, Aero and Peter's closeness made sense, why they spent so much time together, why Aero became so close to a boy he had met because of meddling.

Tony sucked in a sharp breath, but stayed silent. Morgan looked up at him, brows furrowed. Tony's phone turned off on its own, but she didn't lose interest like he thought she would. "Who were they? Those boys?" she asked, but she stumbled over her words, and she has a lisp, so the question almost makes Tony smile. He caught himself and looked to Pepper, who's at the kitchen counter. Morgan had just wanted to play a game on Tony's phone. She wasn't supposed to find out about Aero and Peter. He'd been careless. He'd always been careless.

Pepper caught his gaze. She nods to him, permission to tell Morgan about Peter and Aero. They were going to hold off for a few more years, but Morgan was smart, and she already knew what the Snap was, so it's not like it would be difficult to explain. Plus, what if she got bitter when she was older, thinking that Tony and Pepper were never going to tell her? It would be better to face the music now, just to avoid the pain later down the line.

Tony sighed, turning to face her. "Well, you know how the bad man Thanos snapped his fingers and used the Infinity Stones to make half of everything disappeared?" Morgan nodded, perking up in interest. It wasn't often that Tony talked about the Snap, but he figured it must have been fascinating to her, being born into a world where something so bad had happened, but she hadn't experienced it. He wondered how she would react in her history classes when she got older. "Well, here's the thing—he made half of all the people on Earth disappear, too, remember?" She nodded quickly.

"Including those two boys?" Tony nodded. "So who are they?"

"Well," Tony says, picking up his phone. He switched it on and showed her. "This is Peter Parker. He's . . . he was a superhero, but no one knew, not even S.H.I.E.L.D," he explained. Did she even remember who S.H.I.E.L.D was? Tony supposed it didn't matter. "He was a very smart kid. I kind of taught him some things, but he taught me a lot, too. Do you remember the stories about Spider-Man?" She nodded quickly, always happy at the mention of her favorite superhero, who was just a work of fiction to her. "And . . . he was Aero's best friend."

"And that's Era?" she asked, pointing to Aero. Tony's heart melted at the nickname, but he pushed on, nodding.

"Yes, that's Aero. He was my son. Your older brother," he stated.

Her eyes went wide. "I have a brother?" she whispered loudly, smiling brightly. Tony nodded, feeling himself get choked up. "Can we bring him back?"

Tony tensed, frowning. "Uh, well, uh," he stammered, not knowing what to say.

"Hey, Morgan? Why don't you play outside while I finish lunch?" Pepper asked. Morgan looked at her mom and nodded, getting off the chair and heading outside. Tony exhaled heavily, sinking down in his chair. "She's going to keep asking questions," Pepper told him, almost too quietly for him to catch.

"And we're not going to have any answers."

"We can't keep avoiding the topic of Aero, Tony." She looked up at him, then. "He would want her to know."

"And he would understand how painful it is to talk about him," Tony shot back. They both sighed, and Tony leaned back in his chair, running his hands over his face. "She'll understand when she's older. Bringing anyone back could mess up everything . . . and I don't think he would want us to mess anything up." It would always difficult, saying his name. He didn't want to do it. He hadn't referred to his son by name since he found out Aero had been a victim of the Snap. He knew Aero would understand. He just wished other people would, too.

Pepper remained silent. He knew that she didn't agree with him. Fuck, he didn't, either. He was just saying whatever he could to make himself feel better, and in the process was completely disregarding her feelings. Aero was her son, too. He shouldn't push his own grievances onto her. Or Morgan. Or anyone else for that matter. But before he could voice this realization, Morgan ran back inside the house, looking like she had something important to say.

"Auntie Nat is here!" she announced. Tony and Pepper shared a frown. If Nat was visiting, that couldn't mean anything good. They had to invite her. She never showed up on her own.

Tony took one for the team. He stood up and moved toward the door, making sure to ruffle Morgan's hair as he passed before stepping outside.

There were three people—Nat, obviously, with her hair braided over her shoulder; Steve, who looked confused at the space around him, like he hadn't expected Tony to ever live out in the woods; and a man Tony had only met once before, but whose name eluded him. He crossed his arms and stared at them. "Well, this can't be anything good," he said.

Steve glanced at the unknown man. The man stepped forward. "My name is Scott. I think I know how we can get everyone back . . . including your son."

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Everything was . . . bare.

That's the only way Tony could describe it. There was nothing in the endless horizon, which both never ended and yet seemed so close. The world around him was a sunset—literally. Different hues of orange, but one color nonetheless, surrounded him at every angle. If he stared at one place for too long, his eyes began to hurt, which he didn't even think was possible, considering he was, well, dead.

It struck him, then, how clam he felt about his own death. There was something comforting about it. But there was also a strange weight on his heart, something that made him feel weird. He didn't know what it was. All he knows is that he could rest easy. Pepper was alive. Morgan was safe. Peter . . . Peter was okay, too, even if he wouldn't be for a while. Happy, Rhodey, Steve—hell, even Scott. None of them had to suffer because of Tony's choice.

But the real relief was Aero.

It had been brief. And it had hurt. But he'd seen Aero, just for a moment, when the battle was over. Peter had rushed off, then Rhodey, and Tony knew that only meant one thing. And then Aero had appeared, staring at him in horror, and though it had hurt more than Tony could put into words, he knew that Aero was safe, and that's what made everything easier. But it made things so much harder at the same time.

Aero should have been 21. He should be legally able to drink. He should be an adult. But instead he's nearly sixteen, thrown into a world that's changed—for better or for worse, Tony doesn't know. He's going to have hardships. He's going to be angry. He's going to hate everyone and everything, just like Tony did when his parents died. He's going to have a hell of a lot of trauma, too. And Tony wouldn't be able to help him. He'd made his choice.

He only wished it as the right one.

Ah, there it is—that strange feeling. It wasn't just apart of death. It was regret.

Before Tony could reflect on what that meant, someone cleared their throat.

"Are you going to admire the view all day? It's not that interesting."

Tony turned. He smiled, just faintly. This wasn't real. Or maybe it was. It didn't matter. He looked exactly the same, right down to the outfit he had worn when Tony had last seen him. He was grinning, amused with Tony's fascination of where he was. Tony looked around, just to be sure his eyes weren't deceiving him—there was a beach, now. Still the same orange sky, but a beach. And a tiny house behind Aero. And a single tree.

"Aero," he greeted, moving toward his son. Aero lost his smile and immediately went out to meet him, hugging Tony so tightly that Tony lost his breath, which he didn't think was even possible, given his, er, circumstances.

"Hi, Dad," Aero said softly. He pulled out of the hug, smiling sadly.

Tony pulled away further. He stared at Aero, his decision finally catching up with him. He sighed, running a hand over his face as he turned around. "You lived," he said.

"But you didn't." Bitter. Just a hint of it, but Tony could detect it.

"I'm sorry, kiddo," he said, turning to look at him. "I think I— I made the wrong choice."

Aero looked down. He took a deep breath, like he usually did whenever something was hurting him. "Well . . . I don't think you did." He looked up. "It hurts. A lot. But . . . you did what you felt was right. You saved the world. And I am so, so proud of you, Dad. You're my hero."

Tony smiled at him. He lost it just as quick. "Aero . . . a lot of things are going to hurt. But I'll be by your side, watching over you. I promise you that, okay? I told you I would always be there. And I will be, just not physically." Aero nodded. After a moment, Tony added, "And about Nat—"

"I know," Aero said, voice wobbly. Tony nodded. "I'm . . . really going to miss you."

Tony pulled him into another hug. He could feel the world slipping away. "I love you."

Aero clutched him tightly. "I love you, too."

"Take care of them."

"I will."