Instead of the usual slow wake up that came with Peter staying over, the sound of my own blaring ringtone was what cut through my blissful sleep. Turning over to look at the figure next to me, it was obvious that Peter was still asleep, chest rising and falling in time with his breathing. My lips formed a smile as my eyes ran over his features, pressing a kiss to his temple before I reached over and answered the ringing phone without checking the caller ID.
"Hello?" My voice came out groggy, brain still trying to catch up to the early wake up call.
"Hey, Y/N."
"Wanda? Why are you calling?"
"Just wanted to talk, and ask a favor of you."
I'd officially met Wanda a few days after Tony's funeral, trying my best to catch up with all of the heroes I fought alongside during the final battle. Wanda had been the one I'd fallen into a friendship with the most easily, the two of us keeping in contact regularly to check on each other.
"Yeah, what's up?"
"When do you leave for your trip?"
"Not until tomorrow, why?"
"I wanted to put something together to remember all of the people we lost. Those that didn't get...what Tony did."
It didn't take a genius to figure out that she was talking about Vision. With a little coaxing I'd convinced her to tell me about him, reassuring her that talking about the good memories was more helpful than dwelling on the bad ones. Even then, it'd taken me telling her about my mother's death and how I dealt with Peter and my father's disappearance to get her to finally tell me.
I knew she was upset that nobody was really talking about Vision's death. He was only ever mentioned in passing in new reports and documentaries, same thing as Natasha. Most of the focus was on Tony, completely shutting out the lives of the others who gave up the only thing they could. If Wanda wanted to put something together, it was the least I could do to help.
"I'll be there. What can I do to help?"
"Just showing up is enough, but if you want to put something together it wouldn't hurt. Whether it's a speech or a song, it doesn't matter, just something to say goodbye." I could feel the other side of the small bed shift, an obvious indication that Peter was now awake. One of his arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me closer to him, changing my position from propped on one arm to lying on my back.
"Yeah, I've got something I can share. When are you planning on having it?"
"Tonight, at sunset, down at the flower garden. Everyone should be there, if you're wondering whose coming. Are you planning to bring Peter with you?"
"Probably, I'll have to see what he says."
"Thanks again for this, Y/N. I really appreciate it."
"Of course. See you tonight, Wanda."
"See you."
I hung up my phone and turned on my side to face Peter, my eyes being met with a dorky, half-lidded, dreary eyed smile.
"Morning."
"Morning." He pressed a soft kiss to my lips, not lingering as long as our usual embraces did. "What was that all about?"
"Wanda's putting together a memorial for everyone who lost their loved ones in the final battle against Thanos and was asking if I wanted to come. You're welcome to come too, actually."
"When is it?" Peter rolled onto his back and rubbed his eyes like a little kid, making me let out a small chuckle.
"Tonight at sunset, down at the old flower garden by Central Park. I figured since we don't leave until tomorrow, it wouldn't hurt to stop by."
"Gives me something to do. As much as I love patrolling everyday with you, it's getting just a little too tiring for me."
"Well then, what do you suggest we do today?"
"Oh, I have a plan for that, buttttt it's a secret."
The arm he had wrapped around my waist pulled me until my body hovered over his own, legs tangled together while his hands rested on my lower back. His fingers traveled along the curve of my spine in a comforting gesture, one I had learned to get used to these past couple of months. My own hands found themselves playing with Peter's hair, desperately trying to fix the unruly mop that was his bedhead.
"Alright, keep your secrets mystery man, but one of these days I will learn all of them." His hands now moved further up my back, pushing my body closer to his. Before I knew it our lips crashed together, slowly at first, but eventually ended up with much more fervor and haste than before. Just as his fingers began to wrap up in my hair, a loud set of three knocks busted us apart and sent Peter to hide under the sheets.
"Come in!" I hid my own bruised body under the duvet; even with my dad knowing about my other life, he still didn't like seeing me come home with cuts and bruises allover. I knew that if it continued, he'd push for me to stop patrolling.
My bedroom door opened a few second later, revealing my dad's smiling face, all dressed and ready for work.
"Morning, kiddo. Just wanted to let you know I'm heading out for work. You got any plans today?"
"Just gonna hang out before I go to this memorial thing tonight. I gotta do some last minute things before the trip tomorrow, but other than that I've got nothing to do."
"Well, you have fun. Try not to patrol tonight if you can help it, I don't want you in bad shape for that trip."
"Will do." I shot him a small, one handed salute goodbye, hearing him laugh as he disappeared around the doorway.
Only a few seconds later, his face peered into the room once again, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
"Oh, and Peter?" I felt Peter tense under the blanket, slowly pulling the duvet cover back to reveal his face and shoulders. He offered my dad a small, tight lipped smile.
"Yeah?"
"Try to be a little quieter when you sneak in next time. The neighbors keep asking why they hear banging on their fire escapes at 3 in the morning."
"Sorry, sir."
This time my dad disappeared for good, the sounds of the front door opening and closing my cue to let out the laughter I had been holding in for the past few minutes.
"Oh my god, you should have seen your face!" Peter only glared at me, face turning such a bright red I could of sworn he was still wearing his mask. I could hardly breathe with how hard I was laughing, and Peter just hit me in my stomach to try to get me to stop.
"It's not funny! I thought he was gonna get mad at me and kick me out."
"Come on, my dad loves you." After catching my breath from laughing I was able to sit up, swinging my legs over the edge of the bed and planting my feet on the floor. Peter did the same and tugged on one of his shirts I kept at my house for particularly bad patrol nights. "Plus, he's giving us a little bit of leeway after the last five years. Although, I expect that leeway will be up by the time we get back from the trip."
My closet sat a few steps from the bed, so it only took a few seconds to find my way to the sliding doors. Rummaging through the clothes hanging on each of the hangers, I found myself unable to figure out what to wear.
"So, do I need to dress fancy for these plans of yours?"
"Not particularly, no." Peter came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling my back to his chest. "Hey, I gotta go home and get ready, but I'll be back in no later than an hour."
"I'll hold you to that." He pressed a kiss to my lips, my own holding a mocking scowl. "Uhg, morning breath."
"Hey!"
"I'm kidding! Just go, and don't be late."
"I promise I won't be late." He grabbed his bag and headed for the bedroom door, pecking a soft kiss to my lips in the process.
"And use the stairs this time!"
———————————————
Peter hadn't been late, but it had come with a cost. Within 5 minutes of walking down just a few blocks, we'd already had to stop 2 muggings and 3 drug deals. It was quick work, and the nanotech on both of our suits made things convenient, but it still wasn't the ideal way either of us wanted to spend our last day out as a couple together before we had to keep things under wraps for a week.
The storm finally seemed to clear after a half an hour, and the both of us were back on track for the day Peter had planned. It wasn't hot this early during the summer season, although New York rarely got scorching temperatures even at the peak of summer. Peter had gone for his typical jeans and a t-shirt, although he had forgone the hoodie that was often slipped over his arms. I'd opted for something similar: a nice pair of shorts and a cropped band tee I'd found at a thrift store a few weeks ago, accompanied by the nicest pair of boots I owned.
Peter hadn't been lying when he said he had a whole day planned. After rummaging through my kitchen for what felt like an hour trying to find something to whip together for breakfast, he'd told me he had everything under control and that I didn't need to worry about anything. After the minor detours in our route, he'd taken me to a small cafe that had just opened not far from my apartment, myself finding us a table while he stood in line to order coffee and whatever breakfast he had a craving for.
When he set the giant plate of mini cinnamon rolls in front of me, I almost cried out of pure joy. For weeks my dad had been going into the office early and coming home late, so warm breakfast hadn't been a luxury lately unless I wanted to wake up an hour early to make pancakes or waffles. There were some days where Peter would show up at my door with a bag of fresh pastries, but swinging tended to take away the warmth from the flaky coating.
Before Peter could even sit down in his chair, I was already stuffing my face with as much as would fit. I must have looked like a ridiculous chipmunk, because Peter just burst out laughing until I stopped shoveling the food into my mouth.
"You wanna slow down there, sweetheart?"
"Hrmrm." The words came out as no more than a muffled attempt at speaking, making Peter burst out into an even bigger fit of laughter. I just tried to chew and swallow as fast as possible, face turning red from utter embarrassment. "Sorry, I'm just really hungry this morning."
"I can tell. You've already eaten half the plate in less than a minute."
"You should have expected that when you set a plate of 20 mini cinnamon rolls in front of me, knowing full well how I feel about them."
Our breakfast at the cafe was spent talking amongst ourselves, rambling about future plans or how the last school year had been or what we were going to do on the trip. Once we had both finished our breakfast and coffee, we set out on the streets again towards Peter's next destination.
Wherever we were going next required a ride on the subway, yet this morning it didn't seem to be as crowded and unbearable as usual. Most of the students that could usually be seen were nowhere to be found, replaced by mothers on errands or businessmen headed into work late. Once the car stopped, we found ourselves right at the entrance of Times Square, bustling with life even this early in the morning.
Me and Peter had never had enough money to actually buy anything they sold on Times Square, but it had always been nice to walk around and window shop. On the rare occasion where the shops were empty, sometimes the two of us would stop inside just to try on clothes we would never buy.
The shops were packed full today, women and men of various ages, races, and sizes rushing to find some sort of summer wear to beat the impending heat. The two of us simply swerved through the masses of people before ducking into a small vintage shop laying on the corner of the street.
There were very few customers in the shop, only a pair of college age girls and a boy who couldn't have been much younger than Peter and I. Scanning the store, I found myself rummaging through the racks of clothes that decorated the store, realizing that I didn't exactly have any nice clothes to wear on the trip. Most of the clothes in the store were a little more expensive than I wanted to pay, but the discount rack held some inexpensive hidden gems.
I'd found a few items, going through the usual rhythm of trying on the more expensive choices just for the fun of it. There was only one piece that I actually planned on buying, so I put that on last for fear of being disappointed by a poor fit.
The dress was a simple sundress, skirt falling just above my knees. It was sleeveless, thin straps coming down to fall into the sweetheart neckline of the bodice. The fabric was a dark navy blue, small white daisies dotting it in a somewhat linear pattern.
I opened the curtain to the changing room and stepped out.
"Well, what do you think?" I did a small spin, trying to give Peter a look at the whole thing to get his approval. He didn't say anything, just stood there and looked at me. I let out a laugh as I felt his energy signature spike, rocking back and forth on my feet. "Your heartbeat's speeding up."
That seemed to snap him out of whatever trance he was in.
"Sorry, I just, uhm...you look beautiful."
I could feel my cheeks heat up and the redness creep up on my neck, trying desperately to control the rush of emotion that came over me at the comment. He echoed my laugh from earlier.
"Now your heartbeat is speeding up."
"Shut up."
I changed back into my clothes and bought the dress, the two of us setting out on the street again. We stopped for lunch at Delmar's, afterwards passing by an ice cream shop on Broadway, and headed by the music store I worked at so I could finish the last bit of work I needed to do before the trip. There was nobody inside except my co-worker, an eccentric college girl with bright red hair and a few piercings. She greeted me and Peter with a hello and sent me on my way.
My manager hadn't left me much to do before I was off for the week, but had asked if I could cover a few things for her while she left on a vacation of her own. It was mostly stuff that the cashier couldn't work on during their shift because the place tended to get busy; dust the vinyls, make sure the sample record players were working properly, tune any guitars that needed it for the customers that came in to test them out. Peter shadowed me practically the whole time, but he didn't say anything. I was in the middle of restringing one of the basses when he finally spoke.
"I don't know if I can go a whole week without being able to be with you like this." He picked at the drum set he sat next to. "I know it's been months but I can't help but feel like we still need to make up for lost time."
"Peter, we'll be fine, I promise. It's not like something like that is ever going to happen again, so we don't need to rush things. We have our whole lives ahead of us."
"I know, but I still can't help this feeling that something bad might happen."
"I know, I feel it too. But we have to take everything in stride. It's not like one day I'll wake up in the morning and not remember who you are." He just laughed and let me return to my work.
By the time I was finished at the music shop, it was almost sundown, meaning in less than an hour, we would have to meet Wanda and the others at the garden. We parted ways once we hit the subway, Peter catching his respective train and me catching mine.
It didn't take me long to get ready, since Wanda had texted me earlier in the day to let me know it wasn't a formal event. I opted for a simple skirt and blouse, pairing it with the beat up Converse sneakers I practically went everywhere with. Me and Peter met up again at the same subway station and headed to the garden.
The garden that had been the only color in New York for five years had long since been abandoned after everyone returned. There was no need for it anymore, and the city didn't bother to take it down and put something in it's place, so they simply let it sit around and whither away. A good portion of the plants were withered and dying, others eaten by woodland animals, but there was a small portion of the garden that had been left somewhat untouched. That's where I found Wanda and the others.
There weren't as many people here as I had been assuming would show, but it was still a good majority of who I expected. Clint was there, presumably to pay some extra respects to Natasha, and his wife was with him. T'Challa had shown to pay respects to the Wakandan troops he had lost, and Scott was there as well as Hope. Sam and Bucky stood off to one corner talking amongst themselves, and Wanda just sat by herself on a bench off to the side.
While I hadn't kept in touch with Sam as much as I had Wanda, we still had the occasional contact. Apparently Steve had asked him to keep an eye on me, which when he told me, I made it very clear that I didn't need someone to keep an eye on me. Ever since then he'd only contacted me once in a while, with the occasional ask to fix something about his wings. During the Flagsmasher incident that had taken place in New York he'd asked if I would be willing to help, but I only told him it was out of my jurisdiction and had nothing to do with me.
I gave Sam a small wave and a smile before heading over to Wanda.
"Hey, Red." She let out a tense breath she must have been holding in, shoulders relaxing at the nickname.
"Hey, Y/N. It's so good to see you." She stood up from the bench and wrapped her arms around me in a strong hug, pulling away after a few seconds.
"How have you been?"
"Well, I'm not changing the fabric of reality anymore so, that's a plus."
Wanda had told me everything about what happened after she returned. I'd reached out to her when I found out about it initially, although they kept most of the issue with Westview under wraps. Thanks to a possibly illegal habit of acquiring government documents to form a supervillain watchlist, I was able to read up on every minute detail about what happened. It had taken a little while to find where she was, but with a little help from Pepper, a long unused Quinjet, and some news reports of a strange woman flying through the sky, it was easy to track her down. She hadn't wanted to talk about it at first, but once I assured her that she could have done far worse, she had started to open up a bit.
"Grief can make us do crazy things." The words may have been more for myself than for her. "It can fog our minds, cloud our judgement, and make us do things we never thought we would. You could have torn yourself apart, wallowed in pity, killed others without remorse thinking it would bring him back. You are not a monster, Wanda. You didn't know."
"It's nice that you put this all together. I'm sure it'll help a lot of people."
"Everybody deserves some kind of goodbye. T'Challa suggested floating lanterns into the sky as a sort of ceremony. Said it's symbolic of both releasing their spirits and letting your grief go."
"I think that's a great idea."
There was mingling around until the sun almost disappeared beyond the horizon, basking the entire garden in a glow of orange, red, and yellow. Wanda stood up, said a few words, and offered the floor to anyone else. Bruce, who had shown up later than everyone, offered his own words, and Sam followed after. When Wanda asked if I had anything prepared, I just nodded, stood up, and cleared my throat.
"The past five years had been difficult for everyone that hadn't disappeared. Clint, Bruce, and I know that better than anybody. When everyone came back, I was one of the fortunate. Sure, I lost plenty of people close to me, but I also got a few things back." I looked at Peter, who stood in the front row with his hands in his pockets, smiling at me. I smiled back. "A lot of people, good people, gave their lives so that we could have some semblance of normalcy back, and it will always be recognized everything they sacrificed.
"In those five years everyone was gone, I didn't know what to do with myself, so I wrote. Poetry, music, it didn't matter. I just wrote down everything I was thinking, every story I needed to tell, and every story people needed to hear. I don't know if that can help any of you, or bring you some sort of comfort, but I know just simply putting how I feel on paper is like letting go of something I've been gripping onto for far too long. I think it's a good way to honor all those people we lost, just by writing down their stories so future generations can know everything they did. But for now, we just have to settle for whatever we can."
Once everyone gave their speeches, darkness had finally fallen on the garden. Everyone started lighting the lanterns that had been brought out by T'Challa and Shuri, holding them in their hands until we found a spot where the canopy of leaves parted and gave way to the sky. The few of us that were there waited until everyone else made it over, and then T'Challa spoke.
"As you let your lanterns float into the sky, let go of the pain you feel and let it float away with it. Say the name of those you are honoring and let the souls of those you lost float away to find eternal rest, and know that they have found peace in another life."
Once he finished speaking, he released his lantern into the sky, speaking the names of several Wakandans who had been lost in the final battle. Shuri did the same. Bruce let his go next, but didn't say a name, same as Scott and Hope. Wanda was the next to release her lantern.
"Vision." She said it quietly, finding it hard to get her fingers to let go of the bottom. When she finally did, she watched it float upwards and into the sky, smiling a little to herself when it finally disappeared. Bucky went after Wanda.
"Steve Rogers." He let his lantern go quickly and watched it float away.
"Natasha Romanoff." I took one look at the lantern, letting the light from within shine over my face. With a smile, I let the lantern go, watching it continue to move upwards until it veered to the right and disappeared within the trees.
"Tony Stark." I hadn't noticed Peter was holding one until he spoke, staring down at the lantern that remained in his hands. He let the lantern go, watched it float away, and closed his eyes to take a deep breath for a moment. I grabbed his hand and leaned a head on his shoulder, watching it disappear amongst the stars.
Knowing that we would have to wake up early the next morning to get ready to leave for the trip, me and Peter made our way out of the garden to head home. A voice behind the two of us made me stop and turn, smiling at the girl who had called out.
"What, you're gonna leave without saying hello?"
"Hey, Shuri." I came close enough that her arms could reach, sending her hand wrapping around my wrist and pulling me into a hug. I just let out a small laugh and hugged back. "How have you been?"
"Alright. It's a bit hectic back in Wakanda, but thankfully I get to stay in my lab all day. When are you coming to visit again?"
I'd only visited Wakanda once before to share engineering and scientific expertise with Shuri, but ever since then, she'd been begging me to return.
"I promise, I'll come to visit sometime this summer when school isn't getting in the way. I still have to repay you for figuring out how to get the nanotech to work with cloth instead of metal."
"You know I can always use your engineering specialty. Visit soon."
"I will. Thanks again, Shuri."
Me and Peter left after a few more goodbyes, ending up back in the city long after dark. We found ourselves standing atop one of the taller buildings that looked out over all of Queens, letting the warm summer breeze cut through the silence. Once it hit 10:00 pm, I was forced to cut our time short.
"I'd better get going. Don't want to be too tired for the flight tomorrow." Peter was quiet. "Get some sleep, please."
"I'll try."
With a kiss to his cheek as the only goodbye, I flew away to fall asleep for the night.
this chapter was wayyyyy longer than i had planned for oops