A/N- Uh so we're just going to follow this dialogue and pretend that Dr. Strange doesn't exist and that the guardians just disappear after the fight so we can have our much needed whump.
000
Tony sighed as he stared into the never-ending void of stars. It had officially been twenty-two days since fighting Thanos on a foreign planet, and now he had no way home.
The food had run out days ago, and he hadn't even had very much because he had given the majority of it to Peter.
Said kid was curled into one of the corners of the ship where he hadn't moved from in hours.
Tony hasn't said it himself, but they both knew oxygen would be running out in a few hours, and then that would be it.
The man stared at his Iron Man helmet, contemplating whether or not he should make a final message to Pepper, should she ever come across it.
He thought back to Peter, curled under a blanket which you could visibly see he was shaking under.
If the boy heard him actually saying goodbye, accepting their fate, Tony wasn't sure how either of them would react. He knew it couldn't be good.
But if he didn't take up that chance to let Pepper know that he had been okay, that he hadn't even gone that badly, he would regret it.
Tony moved from the chair that was looking out over the stars and onto the floor, sitting directly in front of the destroyed helmet.
He clicked the button. He talked.
By the time Tony was done, he felt exhausted. Light headed from the low amount of oxygen, but small sniffles stopped him from falling asleep.
He slowly looked back over to where Peter was sitting. The boy now had his face hidden in his knees, but from the small shakes of his body, Tony could tell he was crying.
The thought broke his heart.
Knowing that Peter Parker, a sweet, innocent kid who had so much to live for had risked his life to save half the universe.
And they had won. Thanos was gone.
But now they were stuck in the middle of space, only running on precious oxygen that would be gone any minute.
With a heavy heart, Tony stood from his spot on the ground, and using the wall for balance, he made his way to the boy.
Tony was nearly panting by the time he crossed the ship. Peter looked up at him with wide eyes, cheekbones sticking out impossibly far from his face.
The lack of food was hitting Peter much harder than it was Tony.
The man lowered himself next to Peter and stretched his legs out, reaching an arm around Peter's shoulder to pull him into his chest.
Tears were still streaming down Peter's face as he was pulled in, and he started gasping on sobs all the while.
As Peter cried into his shirt, Tony wrapped his other arm around Peter's back and tucked him firmly into his side. He slowly started carding his hand through the boy's soft curls, hoping to give him any kind of comfort he could.
Peter seemed to be trying to stop his tears, his gasps and sobs, but eventually Tony couldn't stop his own as they silently dripped into Peter's hair.
They sat like that for a while, trying to receive as much warmth and familiarity as possible.
Eventually they both stopped crying, but didn't make a move to let each other go.
Tony leaned the two of them back so they were in a more comfortable position, and now Peter was fully resting on the man's chest.
"Mr. Stark?" Peter asked, voice no more than a whisper.
"Yeah, Pete," Tony said, but not as a question, more as a reassurance that he was there.
Peter released a shaky breath and fisted Tony's shirt in his hand.
"Is it gonna hurt?" Peter said, and Tony could tell he would be crying again if they hadn't run out of water.
The man sighed and squeezed Peter, pulling him a little bit closer.
"No. It won't hurt buddy. It's just like falling asleep," Tony replied, continuing to run his hand though the boy's hair.
A tremor wracked Peter's body, and Tony pulled the blanket as tight as he could around the kid.
"I'm tired, Mr. Stark."
Tony squeezed his eyes shut in desperation, praying to whatever gods that were out there to save this kid.
"You can go to sleep, kiddo. I'll stay right here."
Peter trusted the man with his life, but right now he was losing it and he needed all of the reassurance he could get.
"Promise?" he asked, finally looking up into his hero's eyes.
Tony lifted his pinky finger and held it out to Peter, who quickly pulled his own out from under the blanket and linked it with Tony's.
"Pinky promise."
Peter rested his head back on the man's chest and shut his eyes, falling asleep with their fingers still stuck together.
After Peter was out, Tony sat and held the boy for a few more minutes until his eyes were starting to droop and his body was feeling fuzzy.
He shut his eyes and waited for sleep to come, but instead was met with a bright light that blinded him even from behind his closed eyelids.
Tony opened his eyes and lifted his unoccupied hand to shield the light. He couldn't make out the source, the light to bright to see anything else.
'This is it,' he thought to himself.
With one last look at Peter's peaceful face, Tony shut his eyes.
000
Steve shaved off the last of his beard, now that the Avengers had been reunited for a universal threat, he no longer needed the disguise.
For the public, nothing had changed. They had no clue that half of them were almost wiped from existence, no clue that the flying donut that had showed up in New York three weeks ago had come to fulfill that plan.
And from the sound of Bruce's voice, he didn't think they had much of a chance of winning.
But then Iron Man and Spider-Man had chased the ship into space. And after they hadn't heard from Thanos or the two missing Avengers for five days, they knew.
They knew that somehow, somewhere, the two had managed to take down the most powerful being in the universe.
But at what cost?
No one knew.
The heroes had gone missing over three weeks ago, and after having no way to track or communicate with them, they had almost lost hope.
When Fury had heard about the potentially fatal attack, he had contacted an old friend that no one had ever seen or heard of before.
It took her twenty days to arrive on earth, and when she did, Fury had sent her back out to find Iron Man and Spider-Man.
"You know the universe is a very large place, the chances of finding them are slim," Carol had said, and for a moment, Steve believed she wouldn't do it.
But then Fury had talked to her, made her believe it was worth the try, and she went looking.
It had been two long days of no return from the woman, and everyone on the team was starting to lose hope.
Although it had been two years since Steve had even spoke to Tony, he had always hoped that at some point in time, this mess would end and they would get back the relationship they once had.
Everyone else on the team seemed to have a similar mindset, disappointed with how things were left off with Tony.
With Spider-Man, no one really knew him. They had fought each other at the airport in Germany, and just from the way he fought and spoke, Steve knew he was a kid with potential.
His identity had never been mentioned, but there were different pictures of Tony and a teenage boy scattered around the compound, and the team took a guess at who he was.
Steve was literally shook from his thoughts as the mirror next to him started to shake. He grabbed it in confusion to stop its movements, but the rest of the walls had started to shake with it.
Steve started to hear the sound of a low rumble, and walked out of the bathroom towards the source. Multiple other people were stepping out of their rooms in confusion as Steve continued to make his way outside.
Pepper was already outside, staring up into the sky where a spaceship was turning around the corner of the compound, Captain Marvel pushing it from underneath.
Steve ran past Pepper with Rhodey and Nat on his heels. A ramp started to lower from the back of the ship, but no one came out. Carol stepped forward with a worried look on her face.
"They're both in there. The boy was asleep and Stark passed out just as I got there. It didn't look good."
Steve nodded and turned towards Natasha.
"Get medics for both of them," he ordered.
Nat nodded and turned away with her phone. The second the ramp hit the ground, Rhodey and Steve were rushing on board.
The ran into the ship and started looking for the pair, the small space getting more and more stuffy the further they went in.
"They're over here!" Rhodey shouted from behind Steve.
The soldier turned to the voice, eyes widening as he spotted a starved looking Tony holding the even more starved looking boy, both equally pale.
Rhodey dropped to his knees and put his fingers on Tony's neck, letting out a breath of air.
"He's got a pulse," he said, and then moved his fingers to Peter's neck.
Steve's heart dropped as Rhodey's eyes widened.
"I don't feel-" Rhodey cut himself off and readjusted his fingers. "Thank god. It's there, but it's weak."
Steve nodded with a sigh just as a team of medics ran onto the ship with two gurneys. Rhodey backed away to let them do their job.
Tony and Peter were separated, Peter being pulled onto one of the gurneys first, and Rhodey ran outside with the unconscious boy knowing he's Tony's first priority.
When the rest of the medics grabbed Tony to pull him onto the other gurney, the man gasped awake and immediately looked down to his lap.
Tony looked back up in horror when he saw Peter wasn't there and shoved the hands off of him, attempting to stand up.
Steve rushed forward to assist him before he fell to the floor.
"Tony, Tony, hey, the kid's fine. Rhodey just went inside with him, he's getting help," Steve reassured, causing Tony to stop struggling.
When the genius finally looked into his eyes, Steve had never seen him look so relieved.
"Oh, thank god," Tony breathed out, and then proceeded to collapse onto the floor.
000
When Peter woke up, he was confused.
He couldn't remember what had happened, but some part of his subconscious was telling him he wasn't supposed to be here.
Peter blinked his eyes open and spotted May asleep in a chair to his right, a blanket wrapped tightly around her form.
"Hey," a familiar voice whispered, and Peter turned to see Mr. Stark hooked up to an IV and sitting on his other side.
And then everything came rushing back.
The field trip, the spaceship, Thanos, and then being stranded in the middle of space with Mr. Stark.
"Hi Mr. Stark," Peter whispered back, trying not to disturb May.
"Hi, kiddo. Are you feeling better?" Tony asked.
"Hmm, I'm not hungry," Peter said with his brow furrowed, and Tony huffed.
"Yeah, that's good Pete. The IV is doing its job. You hurting at all?"
Peter thought about it and shook his head. Tony smiled at the response and squeezed Peter's hand, surprising the boy as he hadn't noticed they were together before.
"Mr. Stark?" Peter asked, looking up from their hands.
"What's up?"
Peter was afraid to ask, a part of him not wanting to hear the answer. But he had to know.
"Is this real?"
Tony's face pinched, and Peter almost felt bad for asking the question.
"One hundred percent, kid."
Peter looked back and forth between the man's eyes, not being able to believe it after being stuck in space for three weeks.
"Really?"
Tony took his hand out of Peter's and held out his pinky, bringing back a memory Peter had forgot about from the ship.
"Pinky promise."
Peter linked their fingers.
