This was inspired by another one shot I read. I can't remember who wrote it but if you wrote it, please message me so I can give you credit. This one is pretty short but I'm feeling sad and decide to write this.
He had gotten a letter in the mail. This wasn't the strangest thing to happen. After all, people sent him letters all the time. Some cursing him out, some thanking him, and some just bills. But this letter was different.
This letter held the thoughts of a sixteen year old kid.
At first, he didn't have any clue where he would have known the kid from. And then he read a little bit and remembered the little boy with the helmet and gauntlets from the expo, and he remembered.
He remembered saving the kid, even among the hundreds that he met. He remembered how the kid and his uncle went to the lobby of his tower every afternoon for three months until they saw him and got to thank him with a burnt apple pie for saving the boy.
He remembered the kid again when he went to a local high school to do a speech and the boy cornered him and thanked him for saving him so he could go to high school and meet his best friend and build legos and watch Star Wars with him. He remembers how he sent the kid a lego set the next day.
God, how could he forget that kid? The kid always sent a burnt pie every year on the date of the expo in thanks.
The letter however, was something other then a thanks. It was, but thanks for something else.
Dear Mr. Stark,
Thank you. You saved my life when I was six. Back then, I was just a stupid kid who thought they could be a hero. I didn't have anything that would make it possible back then but I do now. I don't know if you know the new hero Spider-Man. I wouldn't expect you to, I'm just a small times crime stopper. But it was everything to me. If you are reading this, I am dead. Kind of stupid to send a letter to a genius billionaire, let alone a super hero, when I'm dead. But I need to say this at least one last time. Thank you. You saved my life and changed it through out. You were my inspiration to become a hero. I thought being a hero was all fun a games, you stop the bad guy, you win. But that's not how it works, is it? You can't always win. There will always be a time that you wearn't fast enough to stop the bullet or didn't get there in time to stop someone from jumping. You arn't always fine. You get shot, stabbed, beat, and shot again. You get knocked down and have to fight your way back up. When I felt like giving up, you were there, marching on yourself. If you could do it without powers, I could do it with powers, right?
You don't know this, but my uncle died and he also became part of the driving force for me to become something more. You and uncle Ben became the things that made me want to save everyone I could. I guess I can't save anyone anymore. But I'm glad I saved as many as I could while I was alive. I know it's foolish of me to ask you, but do you think you could maybe fly over queens every now and then? Make sure it's still standing? It was my job to protect them but I can't do that anymore. I just want to make sure that they will be ok. It was the best part of my day to get a cat out of a tree or stop a bank robbery, and I just want to see if you would be willing to maybe look after the little guys every once in a while. I got off track of what this letter was really about, sorry about that. You probably don't want to read my rambling. I tend to do that a lot, even when I'm not actually talking. My teachers say its a fault of mine, my friends say its funny.
Anyway, thank you so much. Thank you for saving me, thank you for being you. Thank you for eating all the stupid burnt pies. Thank you for caring, not a lot of people seemed to do that for me. Thank you for letting me into your lab that one time. Thank you.
Thank You.
Sincerely,
Peter Parker
Tears dripped down onto the letter. He didn't even know why he was crying so much. He didn't really know the kid. Maybe it was the fact he was so young and had to face what it was really was like to be a hero. Maybe it was because he was so young in the first place. Maybe it was because Peter had always been a little presence in his life, pies on April 7th, a christmas card every year, and a little trinket on everyone of his birthdays.
"Boss, do you need me to contact The Boss?" FRIDAY says and he lets out a slight laugh.
"Yeah, and could you order ingredients for burnt apple pie?" He asks and leans back in his chair.
*A few hours later
"Tony, why are we eating burnt apple pie and watching Star Wars?" Pepper asks and he hands over the letter.
"Did you know him?" She asks and he thinks.
"Not as well as I should have," He says.
The room returns to silence except for the sound of the TV. The husband and wife eating burnt apple pie while watching the TV, just being there for each other.