Now You're in the Stars (And Six-Feet's Never Felt So Far)

Chapter 2: I Don't Wanna Say Goodbye Because This One Means Forever

The funeral was to be held at the Stark's lake house. A place Peter had never been. After the battle, those who needed medical attention either received it on site or were hospitalized at a secure facility that had been set up specifically for the Avengers.

Pepper was nowhere to be seen, Peter thought maybe she had already left, and everyone else pretty much left Peter on his own. He stayed out of the way, in a small corner for most of the night. When Dr. Strange finally got around to him, he told him off for not coming forward to have his injuries treated. He continued to grumble the whole time he patched Peter up, but he didn't notice. Honestly, he hadn't even felt the pain. That's part of the reason he had hidden himself in the corner. Once Dr. Strange was done, he continued to sit on a bed and stare into space long after the doctor had retreated. He's sure he looked a mess, but Peter couldn't be bothered to care. It could have been minutes or hours later when he felt Happy enter the room and walk up to him.

"Hey kid, Dr. Strange told me you were here and that he fixed you up. You're good to go. I'll take you home." Even Happy, who had warmed to Peter significantly since Germany, sounded tired and somewhat hollow.

"Home?" Peter croaked. It's the first thing he had said since he told Mr. Stark they had done it, they had won. As far as he knew, he didn't have a home. He didn't even know if May had dusted or not.

"Yeah kid. Tony kept up with your apartment. You and May both dusted, but he always hoped... he figured you'd want a place to live when you came back so..." Happy trailed off.

"Oh" was all Peter could manage in response. Happy seemed to understand far more than just what Peter had managed to choke out. The way he looked at Peter, like he had seen this same grief before, told him so.

Together, slowly, they made their way out of the medical ward and to the car Happy had brought to drive Peter home. On the car ride Happy told Peter about Morgan and the cabin, about all of the things that had happened to them in the 5 years he had been gone. When they got to his building, Happy turned the car off and sat for a few minutes before he started talking quietly.

"God kid. I'm sorry. When you and Tony disappeared five years ago, we all thought you had died. Maybe both of you had dusted, maybe space killed you - we didn't know. But we had started to accept that we'd never see you again. And then, out of nowhere, Captain Marvel brought a spaceship home and for the first time since we lost to Thanos, we had hope we were wrong. Tony looked like shit when he stumbled off of the spaceship but he was alive. I remember Steve running to meet him and there being a palpable relief that he was alive. But then I noticed that Tony was alone. And everything was so quiet. I knew."

Here Happy had stopped talking. Peter still didn't say anything, but Happy seemed to know he was listening.

"I knew. God I knew. And then I saw Tony's face. The grief, the pain, I saw was exactly what I saw on your face tonight kid. I thought, I hoped, I'd never have to see that again. Tony managed to tell Steve "I lost the kid," but he didn't understand. Steve never understood. But I did kid. I physically felt ill, and watching what that same pain did to Tony hurt."

Again, Happy stopped talking, but this time it seemed to Peter that he was waiting on something. So he turned his head away from the window, where he had been staring into space as he listened, to look at Happy's face. He was crying.

"Tony lost a lot of people in his life kid. And there were very few he truly cared about. But that day, hearing him barely able to whisper that he had lost you, that's something I will never forget. He was a wreck Peter. And he was angry. So angry at himself, at the world, at Steve. He lost his kid. I know Tony didn't do heart-to-hearts and I know he didn't always express himself well, but he loved you kid. He saw you as his kid, in every way that mattered. Losing you just about destroyed him. The Tony Stark that came back from Titan was not the one I had known our whole lives. He was different."