"From behind, Parker!" Steve yelled, "we can't let him get away this time, guys!"

Tony kept a close watch on Peter, frowning and stepping backwards to join Steve at the front. "Careful, kid, you see anything you don't like, you step back!" He warned as he stuck side by side with Steve, ready to attack.

Except it didn't go right. Thanos turned, and he wasn't supposed to do that, not according to their plan.

Peter didn't see it coming, he was ready to stick to the back when there was a sudden change. He didn't expect this huge creature to swivel so fast, and he definitely didn't expect it to catch him like a fly.

Tony's eyes widened and he charged to the back. He couldn't see what was happening, and the abruptly cut off "shi-" was nothing good. Steve was close behind, and they could both hear panicked curses and yells in the intercoms from the other team members behind Peter.

Peter was slammed down, the huge purple hand covering his body, lifting him up again as he cried out in pain. Something broke, actually a lot of things broke, including his bones and ribs. He wasn't walking away from this one.

"You think you can beat me? You are small!" The horribly monstrous voice bellowed.

The second time he hit the ground, Tony's heart nearly stopped, and he could see the cracks in the ground disperse from under him. Peter's mask was half-off, and the colossal purple hand disappeared as quickly as it came.

Peter groaned and gasped for air, ripping off the mask and squeezing his eyes shut to block the pain that had overtaken him.

"Peter!" Tony yelled, falling to his knees besides him and examining him over. The dread crept in as soon he saw the red hotspots flashing up on the screen in front of him. "Fri-Friday, what do I do?"

"The injuries are much too severe and, I am afraid, fatal. There is nothing you can do." Friday replied, and Tony could hear the sadness in that robotic voice, or maybe he was imagining it. Yeah, he thought, why would Friday be sad? He was sad because he's human, Friday isn't.

"No. No, no, no, I-" he stopped and placed his left hand under Peter's head, which was wet and bloody.

"Tony, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Peter managed to say, holding back tears, and Tony was out of the suit and beside the boy in seconds.

"No, no, it's not your fault, you're-just wait, okay? I'll-I'll call someone-" he looked up and around for help and then sighed a broken sigh, closing his eyes at the thought of knowing what was coming.

"You have-you have to go," Peter said hoarsely, his head fallen to one side as he stared at Thanos in the distance.

Tony pursed his lips, his heart racing against his chest, "I'd never leave you." He said firmly, glancing at Thanos.

Peter gave him a tired, half-smile, "you can't do anything here," he said, a hot tear escaping his eye. He fidgeted uncomfortably and wheezed. It was getting harder and harder to breathe, and the least he could do was not start crying, because he was sure that, looking at the state of him, Tony would too. "You need to go."

"No, we can…" his nose scrunched and he felt the tears fall, he hadn't felt this pain in his chest for years, since Pepper fell off that building. But she came back, and Peter wouldn't. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Peter, so, so sorry. This wasn't supposed to..."

He lifted up Peter's head and pressed it against his chest, closing his eyes and resting his chin on Peter's hair. "It'll be okay." He whispered, softly rocking him, "you'll be okay. Think about-about that time you tried breaking into my workshop." He let out a defeated laugh in the hopeless situation.

Peter smiled, although Tony couldn't see that. He didn't try, he wanted to say, he did break in. It was a different story that he got caught, but he got in. His vision started to blur, and he closed his tired eyes. The pain was subsiding, and he knew that while it didn't mean anything good, he was finally calm. He moved back and forth in Tony's arms and felt his breaths drag longer and longer.

May. He thought of May. She'd be okay, he convinced himself, Tony would help her. He'd left her a message just in case, but the thought of her listening to it all alone while sitting in their apartment killed him. She'd hate him, then she'd cry, oh she'd cry so much, and this time he couldn't be there to tell her he messed up and wouldn't do it again. He was dragged back to his last moments of reality when someone started talking.

"Tony." A voice said, and Tony looked up to see Steve standing in front of him with his shield lowered in front of him. "I'm sorry, Tony."

Peter unconsciously tightened his grip on Tony's shirt, because Steve said he was sorry. It hit him then that he would actually die here. Die surrounded by people who hardly knew him, people who had fought against him last time.

Tony lowered his gaze back to the ground, listening to Peter's breath hitch and his chest rise slower and slower. Peter would die in his arms, right here, all because Tony decided to enter his life without thinking about the consequences. This young boy wasn't supposed to die today.

"Peter." Tony mumbled against Peter's hair, squinting at the floor as his grip got tighter.

Peter hummed and Tony ruffled the boy's hair, "you're a great kid. You're a-" his voice broke and he shook his head, "you're so brave, the bravest, I love you, kid."

Peter let out a louder breath of air to acknowledge what his mentor had just said, and then he felt all that energy drain, and his hand involuntarily loosen the hold.

Tony felt the last breath, followed by Peter's hand falling to the side. He didn't move after that, he couldn't move. Peter wasn't supposed to die. He was sixteen. He should be looking at what college he wanted to go to next year, not dead in Tony's arms. Any college would have taken him, he is-was so smart. Yeah, he was smart. The smartest.

Tony finally lifted up his head to see Steve, Rhodey, Natasha and Bucky, all looking down with a pained expression on their faces as if they'd also start crying.

"Tony, I know-" Rhodey paused to gather himself, "we have to-"

Something violently pushed Steve a few meters across the ground, and the other three instantly reacted, coordinating each other and attacking the threat.

"Get in your suit, Tony!" Steve ordered, and Tony blinked in confusion, his own breath and pulsing blood being the only sound he could hear.

He gently laid Peter down and stared at his dust and blood-covered hand. Peter's blood. He covered it with his right hand and for a second there, he felt like this racing heart of his was finally going to kill him, that it wouldn't just be an 'anxiety' attack this time.

"Tony!" Steve yelled again, glancing at him as he dodged a hit, "cover him!" He told the others as they formed an arc around him.

"Kick back in four!" A voice commanded through the intercom. Steve looked up and frowned, nodding as they all got ready to attack.

Sure enough, in just four seconds, the attackers were pushed back into a reflecting panel of...something else.

"They're gone, but there are hundreds more and I can't send all of-" Strange stopped at the sight of Tony and Peter, speed-walking to their side and bending down next to the lifeless boy.

He placed a hand on his chest and then exhaled sadly, "he was young." He hadn't seen Spider-Man without the mask yet, and it certainly surprised him.

"He's sixteen." Tony said monotonously, his eyes still on Peter, because that was exactly what Peter would say. He closed his eyes and let out a cry, "he was. He was sixteen." That was what Peter always said. That was his answer to anything and everything regarding his young age, because sixteen meant he 'wasn't a child!'

Strange shook his head and moved his hand to Peter's forehead. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Yeah, great, well that's not gonna bring him back, is it?" Tony asked coldly and sarcastically, sniffling with a deadly look in his eyes.

Stephen hesitated, standing up and stepping back from the scene. "Why did you bring him?" He asked, and even though there was no arrogance or judgement in his tone, he could see how it would seem that way to Tony.

"He asked." Tony replied simply, his voice still shaking. The rest of the Avengers were in the back, quietly standing. Steve held his shield in respect for their fallen team member.

"I said it was…it was dangerous and he just-he never listens and…." He closed his eyes and blinked the tears away, holding the bridge of his nose.

"Tony, we have to go." Steve finally spoke up, but only because no one else would.

Tony shook his head, taking Peter's hand, "I'm not going anywhere."

"You can't do anything for him." Natasha agreed, crouching down next to him. "He wouldn't want you to get yourself killed, that's not what he died for."

"You don't know what he died for!" Tony snapped, and he was ready to start calling every single one of them out if he hadn't felt so upset, so distant from reality.

There were murmurs from the other members in the intercom, with questions like "who died?" being asked over and over by Sam, Wanda and Clint, or those were the ones Tony could make out before he threw out his intercom.

Stephen stepped up, "you won't remember this, b-"

"Look, Strange, you're a cool guy and all but I don't think you understand what's-"

"-but don't let it happen again, Stark." He finished, his hand on the eye of Agamotto.

Wong moved in instantly, "You can bring him back, but someone else could die! You always talk about it being their time, this is his." He warned, placing his hand on Stephen's.

"He's a child, fighting in a war we should've stopped before it even got to this point!" Stephen argued, "He's a child, it's not his time."

Tony's face crinkled up in confusion, "is this a joke to you? You think I wanted him to die?" He shouted louder than he'd ever done before.

Clint squinted, lowering his bow as he came running to his mortified-looking group of friends who were all standing still. "What the-" he stumbled back when he saw Peter and the blood on the floor next to him. "I-" he felt like throwing up.

Stephen lifted his hand into the air and with that, time froze, and he focused on Peter, twisting his hand anti-clockwise slowly.

Wong pushed through and looked around, "I will go back to where you are supposed to be." He said, "and I understand."

"I didn't need you to." Stephen replied, his eyes fixed steadily on Peter. Wong gently patted his shoulder before disappearing behind him.

Peter was on the floor, then he was in Iron Man's arms as Tony watched him die, then being smashed onto the ground, and finally behind Thanos.

Stephen stopped, zooming towards him and pulling him down from what he was about to stick on to. He landed back on the ground with Peter and threw up his hand to create a boundary between them and Thanos.

Everyone jerked back to reality, starting with Peter falling onto the floor pretty hard. He swore and got back on his feet.

"What the hell!" He screamed, his hand on his neck. Tony and Steve squinted in confusion and watched as Thanos grabbed at the air, his wrinkled hand smashing into a glass-like pane and making him jump backwards.

"I'm guessing that was you." Peter remarked, lifting up his hand in the air for a high-five but his eyes on Thanos.

Stephen stared at the hand and shook his head, about to abandon him.

Peter scoffed, "dude!"

Stephen turned and sighed, high-giving him and frowning.

"Imagine if I'd been there." Peter mumbled without a second though, the eyes on his suit widening.

"Yes, imagine that. You know, you're too young to be here."

"Everyone says that, but I'm awesome at dodging." Peter replied uninterestedly, looking behind Stephen when he heard Tony call his name. "Gotta go, magic guy."

"Take care where you stick." Stephen waved as the teen sprinted past him with a "yeah".

Tony watched as Peter rushed to him and looked him over. "You okay?"

"I am, I'm fine, he got me." Peter said, motioning to Doctor Strange.

Tony grimaced, "I don't know, I have a weird feeling."

Peter's eyes narrowed, "what do you mean?" He adjusted his mask and looked behind Tony at a confused Steve.

"Something's off, I want you on the sidelines." Tony ordered, his tone firm and indicating that he didn't want an argument.

Peter ignored that and grabbed his metal arms as he turned to walk away, "what? Because you had a 'feeling'?" He mocked, because it sounded ridiculous.

Tony took hold of the hand on his arm and opened the suit to reveal his face, "yes, because I had a feeling. You listen to what I say because you agreed you would? Is there a problem?" Tony asked with a menacing glare.

Peter exhaled, avoiding Tony's eyes, "fine." He scowled, shaking his head and walking off like the angry teenager he was.

Stephen walked into him and held his arm firmly. "He's trying to stop you from getting killed. Let him."

Peter pulled away and ran his hand over his mask, "yeah, yeah I guess I know, I just-I know." He stammered, continuing to shake his head and walking off in a strut.

He stepped up into the Milano and took a seat on one of the empty chairs. He was there for less than a minute when he started talking again.

"Tony."

"What? You better not be in the field right-"

"I'm not!" He said defensively, unbelievable, "I was just saying sorry." He said in an annoyed tone.

"You are so cute!" He heard Mantis say excitedly with a giggle, and jumped when he saw her step up into the ship as well.

"We're good, as long as you're not here."

"I'm not, I'm in the spaceship with Mantis."

"It's called the Milano, Spider-Boy." Peter Quill said instantly with a grunt in the middle of his fight.

Peter nearly laughed, "right." He said, kicking a can on the floor and watching from the windows.

"Who?" Tony asked a few seconds later.

"Okay, you know, the resources we're giving you to help, the least you can do is remember our names." Quill said in irritation.

He heard Tony scoff, "well, if the rainbow sisters didn't piss of their dad in the first place, we wouldn't need your resources at all."

That was enough for a whole other argument to start, and Peter sighed, listening to them bicker about whose fault it was, and of course Steve tell them to stop.

"Do you want to see what I can do?" Mantis asked as she took a seat with a smile.

Peter looked at her warily and then shrugged, "sure."

This would be a pretty good idea of what I think is going to happen. This was for TheChosenOne260!

And yes, that trailer was not what I wanted to see!

Lastly, thanks to everyone leaving reviews - I love them! Leave any prompts if you think of any :)