ENDGAME SPOILERS! KIND OF!
It's kind of short but I thought I should publish something like this.
It felt as if I was under that building again. The weight pressing down on my chest, the helplessness. But I knew that it was going to be like this for a long time. He was gone. Mr. Stark died saving the whole universe. He saved trillions but that didn't make it hurt any less.
There was a memorial in Central Park today for all of those who died fighting Thanos and Pepper asked me to speak. At first, I said no. Said that I really didn't know Mr. Stark but Pepper convinced me so now I am standing at the foot of a stage with a pure black suit on with a dark red tie and a red shirt.
"Last off, I asked Peter Parker to come up and talk about how he knew T-Tony," Pepper says and chokes up at the end.
I walk up onto the stage and look out into the sad crowd. There must have been thousands of people watching here and millions of people watching through their TV's but that didn't matter right now.
"Hello. I know most of you don't know me and that's fine. I didn't come to talk about myself. I came to talk about the amazing man named Tony Stark," I start and have to choke back a sob.
"Mr. Stark saved my life when I was seven during the Stark Expo and again during the attack on New York, and again when I was fifteen and just three weeks ago. Mr. Stark would always throw himself into danger to protect anyone," I say and have to take a deep breath.
"He gave his life to save all of us here. You may think he was selfish, a drunk, a disappointment but he was the best goddamn person I knew. He told me that he wanted me to be better than him. I was shocked, be better them him? How could I?" I ask and bite back tears.
"When I was seven, I went to the Stark Expo. Hammer attacked and one of his robots nearly killed me. I was wearing an ironman mask with ironman gauntlets. When Mr. Stark saved me he said good job kid and then took me back to my aunt and uncle. He didn't have to do that and yet he did," I say and there was no point in hiding my tears anymore.
"Most people don't know this but who do you think pays for the damages? Mr. Stark does. He stays afterward and helps clean up because he wants to help," I say and pause.
"He mentored me and was like my father. When we couldn't afford our rent and food he gave me ten thousand dollars. If I had homework to do when I came over, he would help me finish it despite having a deadline for his work. He would invite me over to the tower every weekend for movie nights and he would fix me up when I got into fights," I say and choke on my words.
"I was a poor kid from Queens and yet he took the time to help me and others. When he noticed teens were hanging out in his lobby after school he asked why. They said they didn't have wifi at home and his wifi was free so he decided to turn an old floor into a room where kids after school could come and hang out for free. We worked on it together and that was probably the most fun I had with him," I say and now the crowd was crying along with me.
"He put everything that kids could need, food, drinks, beanbag chairs, computers. He did so much for and asked for nothing back. He flew into a wormhole in space with a nuke. He went onto an alien ship, and he snapped," I say and my legs are going weak.
"He was a lot of things. A father, a husband, a mentor, a friend, a hero, a genius, and most importantly an amazing person. He probably would be scolding us for being all sad and mopy right now. He would say that this should be celebrating his life, not his death. So, let's celebrate. Celebrate the life of Tony Stark because that's what he would have wanted," I finish and step away from the podium.
Pepper sweeps me into a hug and I start crying into her shoulder. Pepper leads me off of the stage and down to where Morgan is. She jumps up into my arms and I hold onto her tightly.
"I saved you," She says and I laugh.
"Yeah, you saved me," I say and hold her to me tightly, she looked so much like Mr. Stark that it almost hurt.
"Come on Peter, we should go home," Pepper says and I nod.
I had started living with them after Mr. Stark died. I had loads of PTSD and May tried but she couldn't help me. When I got pulled into a flashback, I could hurt her so it's safer for everyone if I live mainly at the new compound with her visiting every weekend.
"Yeah," I say adjusting Morgan so she is more on my hip.
The three of us get into the car and head home. It hurt like hell and I don't think it would ever fully stop but it would get better. The world would remember Tony Stark, not for his mistakes, but for his sacrifice.