Its been about three days since the funeral. Peter Parker had lost count of the amount of panic and anxiety attacks he'd had. He was currently sitting on his bed, staring down at his phone. It was dark, but the light from his phone was bright enough to light up the entire bedroom, but he didn't care. Tears clouded his vision completely. Despite that, he could still make out the words on the screen.

Contact: Mr. Stark

His finger was hovering over the delete button, but he just couldn't bring himself to click it. Mr. Stark is... was... one of the most important people in his life. He didn't think the pain of losing him would ever go away. Peter felt more tears show up as he started to think about when he turned to dust five years prior. Did Mr. Stark feel the same pain that he was feeling now? Without thinking, Peter clicked the call button, knowing it would go to voicemail. Perhaps he was simply trying to hear his voice again. He couldn't be sure. The line rang, which was expected. Mr. Stark wouldn't pick up. No one would. Not ever. Because Mr. Stark was gone. So it would make sense for Peter to jump and drop his phone when someone picked up the other line.

Peter scrambled to pick his phone back up. Maybe they were wrong this whole time... maybe Mr. Stark wasn't gone after all. He held the phone up again his ear and listened as Tony's voice came through as an automated message. Peter let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding. Of course it wasn't Mr. Stark. He listened to the voice anyway, thankful to hear the voice of the man he'd come to think of as a father.

"-imagine what you must be going through. I'm not sure if Ill ever get the chance to change this message back to what it was but I figured at least now I'll have something personal to say to anyone who cares in case of..." he trailed off, but Peter knew how that sentence ended. In case of an untimely death. He'd heard Mr. Stark talk about that possibility too many times to count. He'd just never thought that Mr. Stark would be the one to go. Peter couldn't help but think that it should have been him. The world needed an Iron Man. He heard Mr. Stark clear his throat. Peter shook the thoughts away and waited for him to continue.

"Yeah so... I'm confident that this time travel thing could work. I let my title of genius get to my head and impress myself on a day to day basis-" Peter chuckled through the tears at Mr. Stark's arrogance. He couldn't help it. "-but this time I outdid myself. I've created time travel. I made it possible. Now I know that this is an experiment, so I'm aware of the risks, but we have to do it. Natasha and I put our hearts and souls into this project. I've got to bring them back. I have to. I failed 5 years ago. I can't afford to fail again. I've got to bring them all back.

"If you're listening to this in a few days, then I'm gone. I've personalized this message. If I did it right, it'll take specific calls from specific people, so if you get this message, huzzah. I consider you important. Okay that's not how I meant for that to come out... You know what I meant." Peter almost answered him, but when he remembered what was going on, all that came out was a strangled sob as he choked down another wave of tears. If Peter was hearing the message that could only mean that Mr. Stark had hoped that he would bring him back. He had made the message before he knew he would succeed. Peter almost smiled at the thought of a hopeful Tony Stark creating the time machine. It was a quivering half smile that got completely demolished as the vision of a hopeful Tony was replaced with the vision of him lying against a large hunk of metal, not able to completely open his eyes because of the blood.

"So.. I made a message for each of you. Hopefully you won't have to hear this. If all goes as planned, I can change this back and you won't have to hear any of this. It'll only take effect in a few days, so no accidental freak outs. But if you are listening, I don't care who you are, I'm so sorry. I hope... I hope we won," Peter took a shaky breath. This would be Mr. Stark's automated message forever. He would never be able to change it back. He'd never be able to do anything again. He'd never be able to listen to the Captain's voice as he would, no doubt, confirm that they had, in fact, won.

All of a sudden, there was a click, and Mr. Stark's voice was replaced with the voice of someone that sounded eerily like Karen.

"Please say your name."

Peter opened his mouth to obey the request, but not before his throat constricted, warning him of yet another dam of tears about to fall. He moved the phone away from his face, trying to get his breathing back in check. He heard the request again, and assumed it would continue until he answered. He slowly brought the phone back up.

"Peter Parker."

Another click. He was almost immediately transferred back to a giddy sounding Mr. Stark.

"Kid.. If you get this... I can't believe you're back.. I did it. I helped save you. I'm so... I'm so awesome! We did it!" Peter chuckled through the tears. As weird as it was to think about, he missed Mr. Stark's arrogance. He trailed off, though, and when he started speaking again his tone had shifted from giddy to almost guilty. "If you're listening to this... only one of us made it, huh...? I'm sorry. I can't believe I left you alone to pick up the pieces. I'm so sorry. You know, going into it, the last thing I wanted to do was die -" there was an audible shudder as the thought processed in Mr. Stark's brain. He took a shaky breath before he continued. "- but I probably did what I had to do to save you. And if all goes well... or.. not well.. but successfully, maybe you'll be listening to this in your bedroom with May in the kitchen.

"Now, look Kid, there's something you should know. I want to tell you this in person, but I don't think I'll ever get the chance. When you left.. or.. when Thanos took you-" the statement was threaded with a poison Peter had never heard before. It was so deadly, he almost missed the rest of Mr. Stark's sentence. "-I almost couldn't do it. It was hard to live. Pepper was the only one who got me through it... not counting that blue meanie. She actually kept me alive. She's pretty cool. I hope you meet her sometime. Okay I'm getting off track. When that woman with the glowing suit showed up, I was dying from lack of oxygen and I wasn't sure if I truly cared. There wasn't a point in caring. I'd failed you. I couldn't protect you when you needed me to. I couldn't protect anyone. When Steve carried me from the ship, the first words I said were about how I failed you. Hopefully I saved you this time around. I'm sorry I couldn't do it the first time. If you're listening to this, don't be sad because I'm gone. You don't deserve that. I did what I did because I couldn't live with the fact that you and all those people died because I couldn't save them. And don't get all teenagery on me either with the whole 'it should've been me' because no. It shouldn't have. You don't deserve that. No one does. I'm just happy that whatever I did got you back."

Peter couldn't feel the tears anymore but he knew they were there. The dam had broken and it was showing as the tears streamed down his face.

"Goodbye Mr. Stark," he croaked out, turning off his phone and putting it down on the bedside table. Peter wiped his face, a seemingly meaningless movement considering he was still crying, but he didn't care. He smiled a small smile. He finally got closure. He got to hear from his idol, the man who had become the closest he had to a father, about how he mattered to him. But the smile disappeared when he realized what Mr. Stark has said. He died for him. He died to save the people that disappeared five years ago. Peter looked up to the ceiling, tears falling to his hands as he spoke out to Mr. Stark.

"You did it sir. You saved us. You saved us all."