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“If the world was ending, you'd come over, right?” Peter asked his mother once, a long time ago.
“In a heartbeat,” she replied.
His mother's words play in his mind on repeat. Peter was a slightly morbid child growing up. It was a product of surviving the car crash that killed his grandparents. From time to time, he would come up with world-ending scenarios, whether it was a natural disaster or a monster invasion. He would reach out to his mother and tell her all about these apocalyptic situations and ask her questions and more questions that, even though they were worded differently, in the end, were always the same: “You're not going to leave me too, will you?”
Peter's mother always promised again and again that, no matter the circumstances, no matter the never-ending doom and gloom, she would always be with him. Then she fell ill, and Peter was forced to watch slowly as she withered before his eyes without being able to do anything about it because he was just a child. Peter's world, the only world he knew, ended the moment his mother took her last breath.
The world ended and Peter's mother left him.
Now, there's a hole in the skies above New York, and aliens flying through the city wreaking havoc aimlessly.
The world is ending again, and Peter's mother is not with him as she promised. The world is ending, and Peter is watching as Iron Man, Tony Stark — his father — flies towards the said hole in the sky with a missile in hand and a one-way ticket without being able to do anything about it because he still is nothing but a child. The world is ending and Peter is being left behind once again.
“If the world was ending, you'd come over, right?”
Pepper is the first person he calls — not Harley, not the kid, Pepper. The call goes to voicemail. Tony realises that in an end-of-the-world scenario, not everyone pays much attention to something as trivial as a cell phone, but Pepper not answering is still not ideal. He desperately wants to talk to her.
Harley is the second person he calls. Because Tony knows his son and knows he can't take ten steps without checking his phone for a message or a funny video. The call doesn't go through. Tony pushes away all the negative thoughts and the fear that crawls up his spine as he wonders what could have happened for the call not to go through.
With little to no time left, he tries one last shot. Three is the lucky number, right? The call rings. Once, twice, three times. On the fourth ring, the call is complete.
“Tony!”
“Dad!”
Tony doesn't know why he's surprised to hear Harley and Pepper's voices on the other end of the line. Thinking logically, of course, they would be together. If the end of the world isn't the perfect time to be with family, when is it?
“You don't know how happy I am to hear your voices,” Tony bursts into tears. He's going to die in a few seconds, he has that right.
“Dad, you're going to be alright, aren't you?” Harley sounds younger than he is. So small and fragile. Tony hates the fact that he's to blame for making his son sound so broken.
“Hey, Harls. So nice to hear your voice. Really. 10 out of 10.”
“Tony…” Pepper doesn't finish what she wants to say, but she doesn't need to. Tony knows what she means.
“I know. Don't worry, I know.”
“Fa--”
“I'm sorry, I really am,” he rushes up, not realising he is talking over someone. “I wanted to be better. A better father, a better boyfriend. I thought I had time for that, but it seems I was wrong. I just want to say that I love you, alright? Each one of you, please never forget that. Pepper, Harls, I love y--”
Tony goes through the wormhole and the signal is lost. With the connection cut, he can't say what he wanted to say most.
“Kid,” he says to someone who will never listen to it. “You deserved better.”
As he falls to the earth and slowly loses consciousness, all Tony can think about is how he'll never get the chance to apologise.
Peter watches as Tony Stark's chest rises and falls in his sleep.
Tony Stark is lying on the sofa. Harley Stark is curled up next to him. It has been a week since Tony Stark went down a wormhole with a nuke to save the city. One week since Tony Stark almost died. Since Harley Stark decided that he would never let Tony Stark out of his sight again.
“I love you,” Tony said when he thought his final minutes were near.
Peter observes their chests rise and fall peacefully. He stands by as he assures that Tony Stark is alive. While he reaffirms that the world has not ended.
“Pepper, Harls, I love you,” he made a point of emphasising.
Peter closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
“Pepper, Harls, I love you.”
He turns around and goes back to his room, locking the door with a click behind him.
Tony Stark is alive. The world hasn't ended. Peter kind of wishes it had, and he hates himself for that.