Chapter 2

"You were gone, we lost you-I lost you. You were gone-"

The tears had stopped, thankfully, so had the violent sobs but Peter still clung to his mentor and Tony didn't bother to push him away. Somehow this felt more than some trivial issue or teenage angst, not that Peter had much of that either.

The kid kept repeating himself, sometimes apologizing, sometimes telling him not to go. It was clear that the kid needed the comfort so Tony let him have it, he let Peter wear himself out until it was safe to get him out of whatever headspace he had created for himself. He so wasn't equipped to handle this, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to try his hardest anyway.

"Its okay kid, You're okay. Breathe with me, Pete. Come on, in and out. That's it,"

It was clear that the kid had been on the verge of a panic attack when he came in and Tony tried not to say anything that might push him over the edge.

"Kid I'm not following you, You're gonna have to catch me up," Tony said when Peter seemed to have calmed down a bit, his hand still moved up and down the kid's back in a gentle touch, "Did you have a nightmare? Is that what caused this? " He kept his voice low, ignoring the pain in his back from standing so long.

"You were gone," Peter repeated like a broken toy, pulling away to look at Tony with bloodshot eyes. Tear tracks glinted in the light, Peter didn't wipe them away, too focused on looking at Tony as if Tony would disappear if he so much as blinked.

" . See I'm here now. I'm right here kiddo. Not going anywhere," Tony rested both his hands on Peter's shoulders holding him lightly, grounding him.

"You won't go?" Peter sounded so much younger than his age that it sent a spike of pain through Tony.

Tony shook his head in answer, some of the tension left Peter's shoulders.

"You won't go," Peter said to himself as if trying to make himself believe it, "But you did." He whispered in the end, lowering his head looking down at the ground.

Tony moved his hand to Peter's neck, tilting his head and making him look at Tony.

"I am not going anywhere, Kid. I promise. Whatever you saw, or you think you saw must have been a nightmare. Trust me, I get plenty of them myself."

"A nightmare," Peter breathed out," It didn't feel like it." His eyes ran over Tony's face as if he was trying to memorize it.

Tony's mind flashed back to glowing hands, red haze and desperation. Surely it wasn't-She couldn't be-She wasn't here, no reason for her to go after the kid. There was a moment of silence, then Peter seemed to have pulled himself out of whatever was bothering him. Tony could visibly see him trying to pull himself back together.

"I'm fine ," Peter quickly said, stepping away and wiping his face pretending like it wasn't the last thing he wanted to do at that moment, but his body language betrayed him, "Its nothing,"

Tony stepped forward opening his mouth to tell that kid that it was okay, that he had nothing to apologize for, but the kid was already moving away.

"I am sorry, uh, I shouldn't have bothered you. I shouldn't have come here. I am just gonna...leave." and with that, he ran out of the lab.

Tony stared at the door for a second before snapping out of whatever stupor he was left in,

"FRIDAY, What just happened?"

"Boss, I do believe proceeded to have an emotional breakdown in your lab before running away.

Tony closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Yeah, that's what I thought," He could still feel the wet spot on his chest, the desperation in the kid's eyes. It bothered him more than he thought it would.

"FRIDAY, patch me through to Black kitty will you?"

"Boss?"

"I need to confirm that Ca-Rogers and his gang was nowhere near the kid and while you're at it keep an eye on the kid, make sure he reaches home safely," Going now after the kid would only make him feel trapped, which is the last thing he wanted.

He did make a note to call May tomorrow to have the kid over, he couldn't get over how fragile Pete looked.

"Of course boss,"

Peter left the compound as fast as he could, he kept swinging until he reached home. To May, to a place that still had shadows of the people that lived there in the years both of them were gone.

It was becoming difficult to think, even swinging was different, there were buildings where they shouldn't be (they were most probably destroyed during the second invasion of Newyork) and buildings that he remembered from the past three months were no longer there.

He swallowed down the panic and climbed into his bedroom through the window, stopping the moment he entered. It was just the way he remembered, from before. There were no crayon marks on the walls, his posters were still there, the bunk bed, the books, everything was where it should have been, where it wasn't in the future (or was it the past?). A lot of his stuff had gone missing before rest was put in a storage unit by when he came back from space.

A shiver went down Peter's spine, was all this really happening or was it some sort of cruel convoluted dream? Peter closed the door, sitting down on the bed.

-Pepper had told him everything had done to save everyone, to save him and one thing was clear, if he was in the past he needed to be careful.

He needed to be careful and he-he needed to do whatever it took to make sure things didn't end the same way. To make sure Morgan (when she was born) wouldn't have to lose her father, to make sure that he didn't-lose his mentor that is, not father, mentor.

Peter closed his eyes and curled up on the bed.

Whatever it takes.

I was blown away by the response. Thanks, everyone, hope you enjoy this chapter. It was the same drill as before, posting this right after writing *Shrug* No beta, so if there are any mistakes feel free to point me out,

-Marey