#sorry say bye bye to your mentor you gotta face the endgame without him

[videogamelover99]

Peronally I think both "Dazai has an out for Chuuya" and "Dazai has to sacrifice Chuuya" can be narratively appealing, but have little to do with Chuuya's odds of survival. I could see the second play out, only to bring in Chehov's "He was undead (vampire) already, so it doesn't count". Or it being the same method but Dazai knows about it.

If anyone's actually dying in this arc, it'd probably be Fukuzawa, lets be real.

[avenging-criminal-bones]

New Beginning

Irondad & Spiderson 

Word Count: 1600

Summary: Peter and Tony both have struggles after the events of Endgame, but they’re always there to help each other through them. 

Warning: nightmares, anxiety (not detailed), and sort of fluff

THIS NOTE HAS ENDGAME SPOILERS: Tony doesn’t- you know- instead, his arm gets badly damaged and weakened, so he created a prosthetic to wear instead

* * * * *

Tony is working in the lab at the compound when his phone rings. His AI alerts him of it.

Um, Boss? You have an incoming call from 'Aunt Hottie'. Would you like me to-

"Answer it!" Tony always gets anxious when he gets calls from May.

Answering call.

"Hello, Spider-Aunt." Tony goes back to tinkering with Peter's web-shooters. He has been trying to find a way to keep the supply of fluid constant for weeks. "To what do I owe this great pleasure?"

There's a bit of rustling on the other end, sounding like clothes dropping to to floor. Tony couldn't help but let his mind wander... just a little bit...

"Tony? Did you even hear what I said?" May's exasperated tone yanked him out of his daydream. "Tony!"

"What?! Oh- Um. No?" He puts the tools down and actually pays attention when she starts speaking again.

A loud sigh can be heard from the other end and a soft -beep- as the phones comes off speaker. "I said that I have to work a graveyard shift. Peter has been acting weird ever since- Well since you almost- Since Thanos..." She takes a second and adds, "Oh my God. I'm so sorry, that was so insens-"

"May?"

"-itive. I should-"

"May!" Tony spoke louder this time, effectively cutting her off. "It's alright. Did you want me to come get him early and keep him till Sunday night?" He had taken calls from Peter's Aunt like this before, her needing something from Tony, Tony already knowing what it was.

"Tony, it's a Thursday night though. You don't have to keep him overnight." She says the words fast and then speaks again. This time it's not for him to hear though.

"Hey, Peter. I'm off to the hospital. I love you, I should be home around eleven tomorrow. So text me before you go to the compound, yeah?" Her words are still rushed and Tony can't hear Peter's reply.

There's more rustling and the slam of a door, "Hey! Sorry about that, I'm kind of pressed for time."

Grabbing his screw driver again, Tony chuckles a little, "Go to work Mama Spider. I'll take the kid to school tomorrow. Have fun." He quickly has FRIDAY hang up the phone and tightens a few loose screws.

"FRIDAY, send 'Spiderling' a message. Tell him that I will be there to pick him up in thirty-six minutes." Tony doesn't look up or flinch at all as he finishes the mini project he'd been working on. He hadn't managed to make the web-fluid inexhaustible, but he made the capacity larger by 3 grams.

Yes, Boss. 'Spiderling' has responded with a string of emojis. Would you like me to name them?

"No, that's fine FRIDAY. Thank you." He drops the shooters and grabs a jacket as he heads to the garage.

Exactly thirty-five minutes later, Tony is pulling up in front of Peter's Queens apartment building. Today he has chosen to take the white Audi.

Okay. So now I wait exactly one minute. Gotta keep this kid on his feet somehow.

A minute later, Tony is knocking on Peter's door. "Kid, come on! I gave you a highly specific time, did you not-"

He is cut of by the door swinging open with Peter all but falling out while he tries to shut off his phone, which is playing 'Iron Man' by Black Sabbath. "-Set an alarm?" Tony finishes with an amused smile as the music finally turns off.

Peter closes and locks the door before sending Tony a sheepish smile. "Um... That was very... punctual of you?" He drops his keys in his backpack and fiddles with the end of his sleeves when he feels his mentor watching him.

"Pete, did you set an alarm for when I'd get here, using 'Iron Man'?"

"Would you believe me if I said no?" He asks, his voice not holding any hope whatsoever.

Tony shakes his head, "Not even for a second." When he watches Peter grabbing for his phone that he haphazardly shoved in his pocket, Tony says, "Hey, give me that."

Not looking up, the kid answers. "Yeah, sure thing Mr. Stark. In a second though. I have to text May and- Hey!"

Peter's phone was in Tony's pocket now.

"Aunt Hottie knows I'm taking you for the weekend early. She actually called and asked me to." Tony and Peter started walking down the stairs and Tony continued. "Yeah when she was on the phone when she said good bye to you? She was on the phone with me."

"Wait, why? Why did she want yo to come get me?" Peter glanced up at his mentor, confusion all over his face.

"She didn't want you to be alone."

"No, that doesn't make sense." Peter is quiet for a second before he thinks and adds, "Is she okay? Did something happen?" His voice is gradually panicking.

"Hey! Pet- Kid. She's fine. I promise." Tony offers a small smile and squeezes Peter's shoulder before sitting into the pristine car. Peter follows, buckling up as Tony starts the thirty minute drive back to the tower.

"Well then I don't get it. I'm hold alone all the time." He pushes the 'on' button in the console and flips to a music station playing old rock.

Tony hesitates, but replies cautiously, "Not since... Thanos." He says the name quietly, but doesn't miss how Peter tenses when he does. Tony takes Peter's lack of reply as a cue to turn the radio up a few notches. He looks at the kid and asks, "Hey, is that too loud for your ears?"

Peter shakes his head and looks out the window. The rest of the ride after that is pretty quiet, aside from Tony's occasional yell at an idiotic driver. The silence gave Peter the chance to really think about the last few weeks. Tony was right. Either him, or May, sometimes even Happy, would always be home with him.

The Who song that had been playing ended and the station switched to a commercial break. This break was filled with news broadcasts.

"Tony Stark, multi-billionaire. Two weeks ago during the battle against Thanos, he saved the world. But not without a price. His right arm was-"

"Hey Pete, can you turn that?" When he didn't get a response after a few seconds, he tried again. "Peter? Kid." Tony looked over at the boy and let out a soft sigh.

Peter was staring blankly at the radio, and his hands were shaking as he continued to listen.

"-the Infinity Gauntlet. Tony Stark is not the only hero that suffered though. Natasha Romanov, or Black Widow-" The radio cut out then and nothing took it's place. Peter looked up at his mentor with unshed tears in his eyes and saw Tony retracting his hand from the console.

"Sorry, Mr. Stark." Peter looked back down at his lap. Tony reached over and placed a hand on the kid's knee.

"You're okay Pete. And I'm okay too." Peter wants to believe him. Really he does, but everything just seems so not fine lately. Tony pulls into the compound after what only feels like minutes of driving.

Peter walks inside and lets out a yawn. "Mr. Stark? Can we watch a movie tonight?"

And that's how Tony found himself on the couch, dozing off next to his kid, who had school in the morning, to a Star Wars movie. Peter was already asleep, and Tony noticed how the kid was burrowing awfully close to him. Peter had managed to snake his arm around Tony's and was grabbing his hand. Tony didn't want to bother him, because he knew that the kid was probably just grounding himself.

Tony finally drifted off to sleep, his head resting against Peter's. They didn't stay like that for long though.

Peter woke with Tony jerking his hands a little bit. The younger boy looked around in the dark, grateful for his heightened senses for once. He saw that Tony's eyes were closed and sighed a bit. He started to let himself relax again, but then he heard speaking.

"No! Not him...  No, no, no." Tony was twitching a little and his face was scrunched up in phantom terror. That's when Peter sprung into action.

Gently he shook the older man's arm, not wanting to startle him even more. "Um... Mr. Stark? Wake up, sir. It's just a bad dream. You're okay." Peter shakes his head slightly and tries again when he notices that Tony had stopped jerking and his words were getting softer. "Dad- I mean. Tony? Hey, you're okay." Peter places his arm pack on his mentor's and shakes it again.

Tony stirs a bit before jack-knifing up to sit normally on the couch. "Oh my- What?"

"You, um- I think- Nightmare..." Peter looks down and sits back on the couch where he had been sleeping just a few minutes ago.

"Oh." Tony rubs at his eyes and nods, "Okay. Well, uh. Thanks, I guess." He grumbles a little and the two of them go back to their positions to try and sleep. Tony already knows he won't get anymore shuteye, but he doesn't bring it up. Neither does Peter. It's sort of an unspoken law to not bring those things up unless the other does first.

Absently, Tony ran his fingers through Peter's hair. He's about to stop, but the kid lets out a soft hum of approval before sinking further down into Tony's side. The older man smiles slightly to himself and lets his hand lull Peter back to sleep.