To All Those Brave and Lovely

The Wedding

Nora was grateful for that, too.

Peter stands on a chair to get everyone's attention, but they don't really quiet down until Thor bellows for them to fall silent, that the boys of spiders was going to speak.

"Um."  Peter threw a nervous glance at Nora, who gave him a thumbs up.  "Thanks, Thor."

"When I realized I had to make a speech, I thought it would be easy to find great things to say about Mr. Stark.  About how he's the smartest man in the world and that his inventions shaped history, about how he was a hero, how his family loves him.  But then I realized that everyone in the room, everyone in the world, already knew these things, and I had to do better, so I came up with this instead."

Peter looked down at Mr. Stark, took one deep breath like he was steeling his nerves, and then pressed on.  

"When I was younger, I lost someone really close to me.  My Uncle Ben.  And I remember, right after I was told about it, how I sat in my bed and decided that there would never be someone who could care about me that much again.  How I'd lost not only my real father, but the only person that could come close to filling his shoes, and the universe wouldn't give me a third chance.

"But later, shortly after I became spiderman, I realized I was wrong, becuase then I met Mr. Stark."  Peter swallowed hard, eyes darting around the room.  "He came to me because he said he needed help, but I think that in the end, it was more to help me. Give me someone I can look to, turn towards when I needed help.  At the time, things were going pretty bad.  I didn't know how to handle my powers, and I didn't understand the responsibility that gave me."

"But he made me see it.  Made me understand that it's not all fun and games, when you have these abilities.  That you've got a responsiblity.  And he helped me, steering me down the right path.  It wasn't just with the powers, either- it was with school, with girls, with college searches.  I don't know where I would have ended up without him.  Who I am today, everything I've done and will do- it's all because of him.  I wouldn't have been able to make it this far without it.

"No one can replace my dad, or my uncle.  Tony wasn't trying to fill their shoes and become a surrogate father or anything, all he wanted to do was reach out a helping hand to a kid from queens.  And even though I learned a lot from him about being super and about mechanics, I learned something else."  His hands were shaking.  "The world wasn't done with me yet.  They were going to give me one more chance at finding that person who's there for you and who's going to lead you through the dark times without asking for anything."

Peter climbed down from the chair, and Tony stood to hug him.  "I love you, Mr. Stark.  Don't know what I would have done without you."  He was choking back tears.  "I'm glad you're back."

"I love you too, kid."  Tony was still hugging him, choking back his own tears.  "So much."

There's a father daughter dance instead of a mother son one.

Nora thought she would be nervous about having everyone look at her, but she wasn't.  It was hard to be nervous when you were Tony.

"I am so proud of you."  He said, eyes shining.  She hadn't pegged him to be the kind of person to cry this much.  "You know that, right?"

"I do."  They weren't really dancing, just swaying back and forth.  "And you know I love you, right?  And that I'm really, really glad that you're my father."

"I know."  He spun her around, and her skirt flared out the way it does  in the movies.  This whole thing was picture perfect.  "We're going to be alright, kid.  I can feel it."