imaginatus | endgame open post

Tony had known that using the stones would be, in a way, a ‘one way trip.’ Bruce had said it himself - no one could survive the effects of the stones other than the Hulk. Still, it hadn’t stopped him from trying because it had been their shot. One in fourteen million, as Strange had said. Five years ago Tony had known that he had saved him for a reason, and while at first he hadn’t understood it, it had all clicked when he saw the gauntlet and Thanos trying to reach for it.

It had been on him. He had to do it.

What comes after is all a blur; a painful blur that leaves him unable to even speak. His whole body feels like it’s burning, weighed down as if the suit weighs a few tons, but it all fades away as he finally loses consciousness.

The last thing he expects after that is to actually wake up. There are sounds, and voices that filter through, but it all feels like it’s too distant to be real. It’s muffled. He tries to make sense of it, but before he can figure it out he usually finds himself losing the battle with lucidity all over again.

Suddenly it all changes, though. It feels like another burst of white light floods him as he opens his eyes, and for a moment it’s hard to figure out if he’s still out on the field. If he still has the gauntlet in his hand. His right side still feels like it’s burning, and—

Where is he? What is this? Did he die? Is this—

“Mr. Stark?”

Peter’s voice is like an anchor, grounding him before his thoughts can get further away from him, and he turns slightly in his direction. It’s not much, everything hurts, but it’s something. He’s moving. He’s breathing, even if he can hardly believe it.

“Pete?” His voice sounds dry, rough from sleep and everything that has been happening since the snap. “Wh—... Where am I?”

Peter all but jumps to his feet when he hears Mr. Stark's voice, dry and cracked, but still very much Mr. Stark.

"Miss Potts!" Peter squeaks out, wide-eyed as he looks over his shoulder. "Miss Potts! Happy! He's awake! He's aw—" Peter stops abruptly and looks over at Mr. Stark again. "Holy crap, Mr. Stark, are you okay? Are you okay?"

He sits back down and drags his chair closer. "Try not to move too much, okay? Just...I don't know, we're...I don't know. Dr. Strange did the thing and then somebody pulled me through and then I was here and I thought this was your lab but you don't seem to recognize it, so I'm guessing it's not, but there's so much stuff here and it's like being in a sci-fi movie or something."

Peter stops again because he has to take a deep breath. "Sorry. Sorry, sorry. Oh man, I thought you were... We all kind of thought..." He can't make himself say it. Saying it will make it real.

The last thing he feels is okay, but force of habit makes him nod faintly in response anyway. Especially with Peter.

Without moving, he lets his eyes trail along the room for a moment. It’s a lab, alright, but it’s not his own. He wonders if this had also been part of Strange’s plan, and for a moment the wizard doesn’t seem too bad if it’s giving him another chance even if he feels like shit.

When Peter speaks again, he turns back to him and shakes his head slightly. “It’s okay. I’m breathing, that’s...more than I thought I’d be doing.”

He’s a little afraid to know how bad the damage is from the gauntlet, but for now he has to remind himself that this has to be enough. He’s talking to Peter. Peter is alive. That’s enough.

God, Peter is alive. The thought alone makes him almost breathless all over again.

“...I still can’t believe you’re here.”

Peter huffs out a soft laugh, shrugging his shoulders awkwardly. "Yeah, well, I guess that makes two of us," he replies with a lopsided grin.

That's putting it lightly. Peter was sure. He was sure he'd lost Mr. Stark. He's sure that he wasn't the only one who thought that very same thing.

"Mr. Stark, I...how long was it? Did my aunt...was she...? I mean, did she know I was gone?" he asks before he can stop himself. He hopes the answer is that no, she hadn't known Peter was gone. That it hadn't been that long. He thinks someone might've said something already but he's not sure and everything was happening so fast that if they did, he hardly processed it.

Peter has a point, and Tony concedes with a small quirk at the lips. “Guess I can’t argue with you there.”

The question makes him pause for a moment. He doesn’t know how Peter is going to take the news, and it’s not like he can just get up to comfort him right now.

But, he deserves to know. And considering Tony’s level of guilt with all this, it needs to be him that tells him.

“Five years.” His throat feels even drier still, but he doesn’t stop talking. “I... Yeah. Your aunt knew. I went to see her a few days after I made it back from space. I would have gone sooner, but I couldn’t. It...the trip back was longer and harder than anticipated.”

With his good hand, he reaches for Peter’s as if to offer some comfort. It’s not much, but it’s all he can do right now.

“What do you remember?”

It feels like the world stops at Mr. Stark's words. At first, he isn't sure he heard the man correctly. Five years? But May would've been crushed. He's all she has left. They're all each other have left and she thinks he's, what, been dead for five years?

"I..."

Peter hesitates, not because he doesn't want to answer — although he sort of doesn't — but because he's still trying to process what May must've been feeling and how that's his fault. To buy himself a little time, he takes the older man's hand and pauses thoughtfully.

"We were on Titan. Everybody started turning into dust. ...and I didn't feel very good. And then it was like a passed out. I woke up again and everybody was fighting again," he explains.

Tony wishes there could be something he could do or say to soften the blow, but he knows it's impossible to. He can't even imagine how Peter must feel, knowing he lost all this time. Maybe he should have just re-set the timeline, bring everyone back to the past right after the first snap, but selfishly Tony hadn't been able to agree to that. How could he, when that would have meant erasing his daughter? It's just hard to know that the kid that he sees almost like a son now has to deal with these consequences.

"I'm sorry, Peter," he says sincerely, brow furrowing slightly. "The team tried to get the stones back as soon as they could so that they could undo what Thanos did, but...he destroyed them all before they could get to it. If it wouldn't have been for Scott bringing forth the whole idea of time travel, and part of the equipment that could actually do it, I don't know if we would have been able to fix it. It just...took a lot longer than any of us would have liked."

God knows that Tony often stayed awake agonizing about what he could do to fix things. It doesn't matter, though; it's not like any of that was able to bring him back, or helped him find a solution any faster.

After a moment, "Have you gone home yet?"

Peter shakes his head. It answers both Mr. Stark's apology and then the subsequent question, but Peter starts with the apology because he doesn't need it.

"It's not your fault. You guys did your best. That's all anybody can ask for. And yeah it sucks now I'll have to figure out how to make May feel better about all that time she probably thought I was dead, but that's my problem. If not for you guys, I wouldn't be here to worry about it, would I?"

His eyes shift down. May still thinks he's dead, for the moment because, "no. Not yet," he answers honestly even though he has a feeling that that's not the answer Mr. Stark is hoping to hear. "But it's okay. I mean, we'll get me back as soon as we can, right? I couldn't really ask for more than that. I'm just glad you're okay. I thought...I mean, you know..." he says, deflating a little and looking ashamed for bringing up the fact that he was almost certain Mr. Stark was about to meet an untimely end a little while back, there.

A look crosses his face that clearly says that he disagrees with Peter, because he's wrong. It definitely feels like it had been their fault. Yes, they had looked through all the alternatives, the team had even gone after Thanos, but it hadn't been enough. Nothing had been enough, and it always felt like they kept falling short.

"I, uh. talked with her, after I got home. We've been looking after her - Pepper, Happy, and I. As much as she'll let us, of course. I think she'll just be glad that you're okay."

When Peter says he hasn't gone home, his brow furrows slightly in concern. And then it dawns on him as to why he hasn't gone home, and he gives his hand a small squeeze.

"Thanks, Peter. But yeah, we'll get you back. Who knows, maybe I can hitch a ride with you back to New York."

If they let him. He somehow doesn't think it'll be that easy, but still. He can hope.

endgame open post

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