This is going to be a three-part story! Part two was highly requested so I figured, why not give an extra?
Recap
"I think you all deserve an explanation on what happened to Peter. My name is Tony Stark for those of you who are unaware. Peter was very dear to me and most of you as well. For those of you who didn't know him... I'm sorry. He was a light in even the darkest days. He never hurt, judged, or betrayed anyone. He made us all smile even when we were depressed and hopeless, but there was a huge secret he had to hide from everyone. Peter was Spiderman. He was the person keeping New York safe and in the end, he was the one who had to wear the Infinity Gauntlet for the last time. He saved not just Earth, but the entire universe. But I can't help but wish that it hadn't been him. It could have been anyone else but instead, it had to be Peter Parker. I doubt there was another person who was strong enough to do what he did." It was silent for a moment as the room tried to absorb all of the information that had just been thrown on them.
"What are you talking about? I saw Peter a few days ago."
End of Recap
Tony stared blankly at the girl's eyes for a moment after she said that. A silence had covered the room like a net and it was almost suffocating. No dared to even breathe.
"We've met before, yes?" MJ nodded.
"Just once."
"You're going to have to come with me."
"We're coming too." Tony was surprised to hear that and looked to see a group of three more of Peter's friends approaching from the back. Tony saw their red-rimmed eyes and slumped shoulders and thought it was best not to argue.
~
It had been silent up until the moment the car door closed. Tony turned to them as he pulled out his laptop.
"I need anything you can tell me about when you saw him, and I need to know if I can access the camera footage for confirmation." MJ's eyes clouded over for a minute as she tried to recall that day.
"I went to the cafe we used to visit together for study sessions. I've been keeping an eye out for him since I came back from the snap and I figured that was a good place to look. It was one of the only places still open since before the snap." Tony nodded as he typed the information into a report on his computer.
"What was the name of the cafe and which location?" MJ rattled off the location and name as she unlocked her phone to pull up a picture she'd previously taken.
"I took a picture while I was at the cafe that has him in it. Look at the time stamp." Tony inspected the picture carefully. He felt his heart stop as he saw the familiar face that he'd been missing so dearly.
"How?" His voice cracked and his eyes watered. There was no mistaking that it was Peter in the picture. He could recognize the distinctive puppy dog eyes anywhere. "What did he say to you?" He tried to pull himself together long enough to get through the rest of this conversation. He could cry when Peter was back at home where he belonged.
"That's the thing. I tried to talk to him and he got super panicked and he ran away. I tried to stop him and talk to him but he started saying things."
"What kind of things?" This time it was Ned who spoke up. The group of teens were leant forward and they took mental notes as they listened intently to the whole story.
"He was muttering something about how everything was different now and about how dangerous it was. I tried to run after him but he was gone before I could even try. It's like he just disappeared."
"I think I should check the cameras from around the cafe and see if I can locate where he went from there. I'll start with a five-mile radius and expand from there."
"We'll do some research of our own and we can share information in about an hour."
~
The teens were discouraged. It seemed as if their research had gotten them nowhere. They had searched through medical and financial records from the last few months to see if his name showed up anywhere but he was too far off the grid. He had to be using an alias but none of them could figure it out.
Tony, on the other hand, had some luck. He'd managed to find Peter on a camera down on Bleecker Street in New York City's Greenwich Village. Tony had an odd sense of deja vu but played it off as exhaustion.
"So do we go down there and knock on the door?"
"There's not much else we can do. To Bleecker Street, let's go children."
They loaded into the car once more but this time carried more hope than the last. The car ride was filled with laughter and memes and Tony found himself smiling and laughing along with the four teens.
As they pulled up to the house, that seemed oddly familiar to Tony, they all went silent once more.
"He's gonna be there guys. Don't worry. We won't stop looking until he's found." As they approached the front door Tony realized something about the house was a little strange.
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I GOT FREAKING ATTACKED BY A DOG. I was going on a jog (#skinnylegend2021) and this huge boxer (not MMA) comes out of nowhere. It starts going around me in circles and was growling at me while trying to snap at my feet and calves. This guy nearby heard me screaming and managed to chase it off. I was hysterical (pretty sure I cried for over half an hour). I think that was the universe telling me not to exercise.