"Yes I understand that the body is being released to Mr. Parker and that I can't act as a proxy, you've really emphasized that. If you would just listen to me for one moment then I could help you understand what I'm trying to say. Are you going to listen to me? Okay great. Both Mr. Parker and I are coming to the morgue, where I will speak for his interests, but Mr. Parker will sign all the necessary documents. Are we in agreement? Thank you."
Pete had his head leaned against the window, idly scrolling through Instagram on his phone. It was littered with pictures of the boys, each one of them having snagged a photo with the state trophy. He commented a cowboy face on a picture of Quill and TC hugging that'd been taken just after the game. He sent Scott a bizarre meme. He liked a picture of Loki and his new piece of the week. And he did it all without emotion.
"Hey Pete, sorry about that, just remember once we get these few forms signed, you can let Pepper basically take over the funeral arrangements. You want anything before we get there? Food?" Happy asked and Pete just shook his head.
Tony was still in New York. He'd wanted to drop everything and be with Pete, but Peter could tell that Tony was really busy, and he didn't want the man potentially hurting his job. He'd been able to talk Tony down to flying him to Virginia and having Happy chauffeur him around/handle all the legal stuff involved.
Pete was thankful for that, he'd had no idea what happened when somebody dies, and he didn't want to go through it alone- even Happy was better than no one. Honestly, Happy was probably better than some others simply because he was so abrasive and actually got the job done, and Pete didn't really have a preference for funeral arrangements and the like. He had an idea of what dress aunt May should be buried in, and what cemetery of course, but other than that? He had no idea, he hadn't even been to a funeral since his parents died and it wasn't like he'd been paying attention to the finer details.
"I'm fine, thank Happy." Peter said in response, and went back to looking at his phone.
Received: T'Challa 10:15 am.
Hey Pete, it's TC. The boys and I are all wondering where you are, and of course I'm also worried about you after last night. I don't want to pry in case something happened, so if you don't want to tell me the details no worries, we just wanted to make sure you're safe. Also, I didn't tell the boys about what happened last night, didn't really feel like it was mine to tell.
Sent: T'Challa 10:20 am.
can u just tell everyone i had a family emergency? i'm back home right now.
Received: T'Challa 10:22 am.
Yeah, sure thing Pete. Let us know if you need anything.
"You didn't even get to meet her." Peter emphasized in between shaky breaths that were starting to escalate to full blown sobs.
"I know Petey, I know." Tony combed his hands through his hair gently, and Peter felt a bit like a 'shushed' dog. "She sounded like a great lady, I wish I could have."
"She was." Peter cried, his voice quiet and lamenting. "She would have really liked you. I even told her about you." Peter was trying to keep it together, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to speak full sentences in just a few moments. This would be his second big cry, the first one having happened with Ms. Romanov. Peter'd been able to keep it together for the day after that, but once Tony had finally shown up at the apartment, Peter had started to lose it. Pepper was in the back room talking to the landlord and Happy was helping to pack up some things in the kitchen. It was daunting for Peter to think that they'd need to get everything packed up and out of the apartment. Most of it would have to be donated, it wasn't like Peter could afford to keep the apartment around, and there wasn't really a point.
"It was before we started dating." Peter hiccuped. "She guessed that things with Erik weren't going well, and then I told her all about you, and she told me to go for it." Peter's eyes watered with fresh tears.
Tony pressed a kiss to the top of Peter's head. "Smart woman." He commented and let Peter simply curl up into a ball on the sofa next to him.
A few moments later there was a knock at the front door of the apartment, Peter didn't move, just let Happy get it. It was probably his landlord or one of his neighbors or something, Peter didn't have the energy.
"Who are you?" Came the very familiar voice of Scott Lang from the doorway. Peter perked up a little bit.
"I think that would be, who are you?" Happy retorted and before things could escalate between the two bull-headed men, Peter called out.
"It's okay Happy, let him in." He shifted away from Tony a little bit, confused by Scott's sudden presence, but everything Scott did was unexpected. Even more unexpected was that Paul was in tow, and both of them carried large shopping totes, that looked to be absolutely filled with things.
"Pete! We came as soon as we could!" Scott explained quickly, and took a seat directly in between him and Tony, squishing the both of them, and leaving Paul to take a seat on the other side. "We brought like seven different kinds of ice cream, we didn't know which kind was your favorite. Paul said vanilla, but nobody actually likes vanilla, so we got all the Ben & Jerry's flavors available. Oh and also we went grocery shopping because there's never any good food in this apartment, and you always forget to eat when you're depressed, so I got you that macaroni that you like, and also a bunch of frozen meals that you just have to put in the microwave. Also we got you a copy of Diehard because-"
Paul cut him off. "Scott, rambling." He quipped and Scott nodded, shutting up. "We just wanted to make sure you were okay."
"Yeah you always text us, and you haven't said anything!"
"So you drove three hours to come and see me? On a school night?" Peter questioned.
"Yeah! We piled in the bug and headed out, didn't even tell anyone we were leaving."
"You took the bug? Scott you're going to blow the damn engine on that thing." Peter fretted, momentarily forgetting himself, letting himself enjoy his two goofy friends.
"This was a code 11 Pete, we had to get here by any means necessary." Scott insisted as Tony scooted down the couch away from Scott a bit so the two weren't pressed right up next to each other.
"I can't believe you guys came all this way and didn't even know what was going on." Pete leaned back into the couch and looked between the two of them, one side of his mouth curling up slightly.
"If you don't tell us what's going on, we're always going to suspect the worst." Paul supplied and Peter let a grimace take over his face.
"It is the worse. May passed away last night." Pete finally said, and though he felt the immediately rush of sadness that the words would probably always bring, he was immediately consoled by the two with a pint of icecream in his lap and a spoon that Scott had conjured out of somewhere.
"That... Yeah that's really shitty Pete. I'm pretty sure May thought that I was your stupid friend who you were just taking pity on, but honestly I probably never would have done my summer homework if she hadn't scolded me so much." Scott recalled the two weeks he'd spent at the apartment this past summer and the memory made Pete smile.
"Eh, I think she just thought you were a little spoiled." Pete explained and Scott feigned insult.
"Me? Spoiled? My Gucci pants beg to differ!" Which made both Pete and Paul laugh.
"Sorry to only be able to stay a minute, but we do have to get back to school." Paul said with remorse in his voice.
"Don't be sorry! It's crazy that you guys would even come all this way." Pete remarked and glanced at the time on his phone. It was nearing ten, and they had a three hour drive ahead of them.
"Alright Pete, for your homework, you gotta eat all this icecream by tomorrow, oh and also get eight hours of sleep, or more. Why settle for eight? And also-"
Instead of having to listen to Scott's rambling list, Pete just enveloped him in a hug. Scott was taken off guard for a moment before returning the hug. They didn't share a lot of tender moments like this, but Pete wanted Scott to know that he was appreciated. He gave Paul a hug next and then got up off the couch with the both of them, grabbing the totes full of food to put in the fridge.
On the way out the door, Scott made sure to add even more things. "Mr. Stark, don't forget to make him eat because he'll forget! Also if he goes on a stress run, action movies and macaroni calm him down. Oh and he'll probably take like ten showers a day, just his thing when he's sad, and-"
"Not a dog Scott! Human." Pete motioned to himself and Scott grinned.
"I got it Scott, thanks." Tony finally spoke up and Scott flashed him a thumbs up before Paul herded him out of the apartment.
Pepper and Happy had left at some point, and there was a note on the fridge about how they were going to pick up some takeout and be back soon. Pete began to unpack the bags, noticing that Scott had picked out his favorite foods and Pete felt a swell of happiness that Scott would remember things like that.
He felt a presence behind him, and then Tony's arms were wrapping around him from behind. "You have good friends." He remarked and Pete let himself sink back against Tony's chest.
"Yeah." He mumbled and rested his hands over Tony's hands. "And a really great boyfriend." Pete didn't want to move from this position, he would just let Tony hold him forever. "I think I expected this to happen."
"For May to pass away?"
"Yeah, obviously I'm sad, devastated, but she was older and already had a few health scares this year. Each one I had already prepared myself to hear the news that she had died, and now that it's finally happened, I'm not as upset as I would have expected. She gets to be with my Uncle Ben again, yaknow? And she doesn't have to keep working past retirement just to keep this place around. She did a lot and had a fulfilling life."
Tony didn't say anything, just rested his chin on Pete's shoulder and didn't move until Pepper and Happy came back with Chinese food.
In the morning Tony had breakfast waiting for him.
That afternoon after a stressful visit to the funeral home, Pete decided to go on a run, Tony went with him.
And in the Evening Tony ate cheap macaroni with him and held him as he fell asleep.
Pete took an entire week off of school and had to go through a ridiculous amount of paperwork, stupid decisions, and a dreadfully boring court hearing on why he shouldn't be placed into foster care. Thankfully he'd been emancipated without much question since he lived in the dorms at school, and Tony had created a mostly bogus position for him in his company so that he could prove himself to be financially independent enough to live on his own with no living relatives. It was all tedious work.
The funeral had been more joyous than sad. All of May's old friends had come and told, mostly funny, stories about her. Tony had come to the funeral and no one had questioned them.
And the following Monday he'd been back at school, catching up on homework and trying to finish out his last two weeks before graduation.
It was weird not having soccer practices every night, but the team usually took over the common room in the dorm and hung out until all hours of the night. He'd had Paul and Scott break the news to the rest of the team, and he'd gotten condolences on his return, but thankfully everyone kept it short.
Bucky was back at school finally, though he sported a cane that he assured everyone was temporary, and that he'd be without a limp within six months, he wouldn't be on the team next year though.
TC was chosen to be the captain for next year, and he'd already been talking with Loki about what underclassmen were good players.
It was weird for Peter, that his final year in high school was coming to a close, one year earlier than he would have expected. He cherished his last moments with everyone, especially people that he reasoned he might never see again. Steve and Bucky, Quill, Loki, Paul and Scott he of course would remain in touch with, but the others he just wasn't sure about. Thor, Drax, TC, Sam? They just weren't really people that Pete would closely keep in touch with. Just see their Instagram posts every once in a while, and that would be the extent of it.
School was its usual last few weeks of boring nothingness. There were a few end of term tests, but nothing very rigorous, and catching up on the homework that he'd missed had been a walk in the park.
Tony texted him daily, called him most days as well. Pepper sometimes shot him a message just to ask how he was doing. All of his stuff was being housed at the Stark building, and the majority of Aunt May's belongings had been donated, most furniture was simply left at the apartment. Their landlord had been understanding and returned the deposit to Peter. They sold May's car and so Peter had a bit of money to get through the summer with and do with as he pleased.
All too soon he was taking his last morning run around the track, eating his last lunch with the team, watching their last sit-com rerun in the common area, and as they all went to bed the night before graduation, the air in the dorms felt tense, like they were waiting for the ball to drop.
The morning was robotic as everyone met with their families and before the ceremony. Pepper came to see him before hand, as Tony obviously couldn't, but she assured him that he was there.
His name was called in the rotation, followed by a loud chorus of hollers from the team.
They met one last time on the soccer field, the whole team plus Steve and Bucky. Pete wasn't exactly sure what he was expecting, but crying hadn't really been on his mind. It was like one after the other each of them got watery eyes until the whole group of men was standing around, giving each other hugs and cracking jokes about the others being sissies for crying, even as their own eyes were full of tears.
And then as soon as he had walked onto school grounds with Steve telling him some ridiculous Captain America quote, Pete was driving away from the school, all of his things packed into the back of his car and on his way to New York.