Ashes

Memories

~You'll rise again, in this I'll trust~

Y/N's Sixteenth Birthday party, three months before Thanos 

Y/N sat under the old oak tree, watching the stars shine above her as she wiped away the few tears that had made their way to her cheeks.

The birthday party itself was perfect. It had everything the perfect party needed. 

Perfect guests, perfect music, perfect flowers, perfect food, perfect cake, a perfect night sky and a perfect, joyful atmosphere. 

But Y/N knew something was missing. It had been missing for the last eight birthdays she had celebrated. It would always be missing. 

Her parents. 

The memory Y/N had of them always came back on her birthday. 

The Avengers were her new family, a family she was eternally grateful for. But they weren't her parents. And no matter how much they meant to her, they couldn't fill that void. Not completely. 

Y/N remembered her mother walking down towards her with the beautiful cake she had spent the morning baking. And her old school friends from Toronto singing and laughing. Her father out with the camera, capturing the moment he imagined he'd be showing his grandchildren.

They were gone now. It had been a while.

Tony had tried to hide the exact reason behind their deaths. 

Y/N was already sure that it hadn't been a car accident. She had been certain since the day she found out they were both working as agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Suddenly, something landed beside her, startling Y/N out of her thoughts as she yelped.

"Hey," Peter grinned over at her, securing his web shooter on his wrist.

"Jesus, Peter!" Y/N exclaimed, putting her hand to her heart "you scared the shit out of me."

"I figured the birthday girl shouldn't be sitting outside all alone at her own birthday party," Peter chuckled, taking a seat beside her. He took off his mask and gave her a comforting smile, sighing at the view of the starry night sky.

Y/N gave a smile, her heart dropping as he looked over at her with those beautiful brown eyes.

She had tried to think nothing of it. But recently, the fluttery feeling in her stomach and her quick heartbeat had become too strong to ignore. 

Y/N had always known that Peter meant the world to her and that she loved him more than any of her other friends. Not that she had had that many friends since she had moved into the Avengers base.

A year ago, when they had first met, she would have simply described it as the love best friends would share. The casual, chill kind of love. 

Now she wasn't quite sure what it was. 

It seemed to be the only thing she couldn't quite figure out. A part of her always wished love could somehow be defined by an equation. One with several different answers and outcomes. But one that would give her an answer to the unknown.

"You okay?" Peter's question shook the girl out of her thought again.

"I've been better," Y/N admitted, clearing her throat as she watched the starry sky. She could hear the music blaring from inside the base. She was certain she heard Steve's booming laugh and Tony offer a toast.

"You want to talk about it?"

"Not really," Y/N sniffed, looking down at her lap and biting down on her lip.