Tony Stark, the man made of iron, is crying-the tears a testament to the teenage boy he's holding in his arms now. This embrace isn't like their last, though. Back then, standing in the middle of a battlefield, the moment had ended just as soon as it began. One second Tony was desperately gripping onto a surprised, and rather perplexed, Peter Parker, and the next he stood aside as the boy swung away to return to the fight. There had been so many words Tony had wanted to say to him. So many long overdue conversations left unspoken. He'd thought he'd have a chance after the fighting was over. Instead, that would be the last time he'd hug Peter Parker for two years.

Now he had his kid back, and all the emotions of that moment returned. Relief that his kid was okay, joy that he'd found him again, and guilt that he'd almost lost him a second time without even knowing it. But unlike the last time, now it is just the two of them-alone and safe, with all the time in the world. So Tony allows the tears to leave tracks along his face. He's lived most of his life with his guard up, but right now, he doesn't even fight as he lets it down.

Peter sobs into his arms, and it breaks Tony's heart. He still doesn't know what happened that night on the Statue of Liberty, but judging by the emotional distress radiating from the kid, he can tell that it left Peter broken. Alone. Gently he rubs his hand up and down Peter's back, trying to do anything he can to calm him. He wants to say something, anything, to make Peter better, but he can't find the words. He won't push him though. If there's one thing Tony has learned throughout his years of bottling up emotions, it's that in order to truly heal, you just have to let them out. So he holds Peter and lets him cry as long as he needs-content with the knowledge that he'd finally got his spider kid back-and this time, he's not going to leave him.

Eventually, Peter's tears subside, the energy drained out of him as his grip on Tony loosens from its desperate grasp.

"Feel better?" Tony asks. He's rewarded with a small, watery laugh as Peter pulls back and stands before him.

"Yeah.. yeah I'm... I'm good," he breathes.

Tony smiles and rolls his eyes slightly at the sight of the kid still fully covered in the suit.

"You know Pete, you can take that mask off. No one is going to see you up here."

Peter tenses for a moment, before hesitantly reaching up to remove the red and blue mask from his head. Tony feels his smile grow at the sight of the kid's face. His kid's face. He's changed since the last time Tony saw him. He looks older, for one, and Tony's heart clenches as he notes the dark bags under his bloodshot eyes. The kid looks like he's been through hell, but, in this moment, all Tony can think about is how much he's missed the sight of his kid's face. Not in a photo, but for real.

"Hey Underoos," Tony says softly and Peter smiles.

"Hey Mr. Stark."

They just stare at each other for a moment, neither one knowing quite what to say. In the end, it's Peter that breaks the silence.

"I can't believe you're here. I... I never thought-" he starts, voice wavering, before dropping his gaze to the concrete floor beneath him.

"You never thought, what?"

"That I'd see you again. Like this I mean. I never thought I'd see you again as Peter Parker," he sniffs.

"Yeah, about that, I think you've got some major explaining to do kiddo."

"You first," he smirks.

Tony shakes his head in amusement as he sits himself down on the concrete rooftop. Once settled, he motions for Peter to join him.

"Alright, me first. Where do you want me to start?" Tony asks.

"I want to know how you remember me? Did it just randomly come back, or did you do something, or did Dr. Strange do something, or-"

"A little bit of everything," Tony says, cutting him off. Peter looks at him curiously and he continues. "Ever since waking up, something felt off. I didn't know what it was, but it was like I was constantly on edge. Like that feeling you get when you've got something to say on the tip of your tongue, but the words escape you anyway. There were memories that didn't line up, pictures in my house that looked like they'd been erased. Lots of little things like that which clued me in that I had a problem, though I didn't fully understand what that problem was until last night, after I talked to you. I had a hunch that the wizard was involved, so I paid him a little visit and he helped me out.

"But how? He doesn't remember who I am either, right?"

"No, he doesn't, but after diagnosing me with magically induced memory loss, we found a loophole."

"Which was?"

"Time travel."

"I'm sorry, what?" he stutters, eyes practically bulging out of his head.

"Turns out it's a nifty little tool for undoing spells."

"But how would that even work?"

"Well it's common sense really. You go back to a time before a spell was cast and, poof, magic goes away."

"I- wha- that's- wow," Peter blubbers.

"My thoughts exactly kid," Tony laughs as he watches the boy try to work through what Tony just told him.

"So does Dr. Strange remember now too?"

"No. It's just me. Strange stayed behind to make sure I was pulled back without any trouble."

Peter nods slowly and directs his attention to his fidgeting hands.

"That's the second time you've used time travel to help me," he says quietly.

"Yeah, and I'd do it a third if I had to. I'd do anything for you kid."

There's silence as Peter faces him. Unshed tears building behind his eyes once more.

"I really missed you Mr. Stark."

"I missed you too Pete. More than you'll ever know."

Peter tenses for a moment before carefully leaning forward to embrace Tony once more. It's gentler this time-less desperate-and Tony feels himself release a breath he didn't know he'd been holding as Peter relaxes against him. In that moment, Tony is reminded of all the times he'd dreamed of this over those long five years. How he'd have given anything to hug the boy one more time. To let him know how much he meant to him.

I'll never take a single moment for granted again. Never.

Slowly Peter pulls away as he wipes the remnants of new tears from his cheeks.

"Alright kid, I think it's your turn now. What's been going on?" Tony presses.

Peter's face falls as he purses his lips into a thin line. A wave of emotions Tony can't decipher pass through his features before he finally takes a shaky breath.

"Mr. Stark I-" he begins before pulling his knees to his chest and bowing his head.

"I screwed up so bad. I thought I could trust him, but I was so stupid and I... I ruined everything!" Peter cries as the tears begin to roll down his face again.

"Whoa, easy there kid. Take a breath okay," Tony says as he places a hand on Peter's back. "What do you mean you ruined everything?"

And so Peter tells him everything. From the trip to Europe to his identity getting revealed to the multiverse crisis. Tony's blood boils when Peter mentions Quentin Beck, and he wishes, not for the first time, that his recklessly heroic act hadn't reduced him to a state of comatose for two freaking years.

"So you've been living alone for an entire year?"

"Yeah," Peter replies weakly.

"God, kiddo... that's... I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault. It was my choice. There was no other way."

"What about your friends? Or May? Have you-" he's brought up short by the sound of Peter's choked sob. His face crumpled as he buries his head in his hands.

"May's... she's... I couldn't save her," Peter cries.

"Oh Pete, I'm so sorry," Tony breathes, wrapping an arm around the kids back and allowing him to lean against his shoulder. He doesn't know what to do, what to say. What could he possibly do that could console someone who's had too loose far too much far too young.

You should have been there.

"It was all my fault," Peter whimpers.

"Peter, no. Nothing that happened was your fault."

"I'm Spider-Man. I'm supposed to save people, but I... I wasn't fast enough."

"Peter-"

"I should have let them die. I should have sent them back when I had the chance, but instead I-"

"Instead you wanted to help them. Because that's who you are, kid. You were trying to do the right thing because your heart is so big," Tony says. "But listen to me, kiddo. This superhero thing isn't pretty. Sometimes people don't make it. Sometimes they die. But that isn't your fault. No matter what we do, we can't save everyone because, despite it all, we're still human. So you can't blame yourself, and I know for a fact that your aunt wouldn't want you to blame yourself either."

Peter sniffs as he leans further into Tony's side.

"After she died, I thought I had no one left. I lost my parents and Ben and May...
And you. They kept saying you'd wake up, but after a year I started to think that you'd- that you'd never-," Peter shudders and Tony tightens his grip around his shoulders.

"Please don't leave again," Peter whispers into his side, his voice so tired and desperate that Tony can feel every shard of his heart being smashed in two.

"I'm not going anywhere, Underoos. You're stuck with me for the long haul."

"Promise?"

"Promise," Tony murmurs as he gently places a kiss on the boy's temple. Rhodey always told him that Morgan had been the one to finally make him go soft, but deep down, Tony knew that there had been another kid that had wormed his way into his heart first, breaking loose all sorts of parental feelings that he'd tried to suppress because they'd scared the shit out of him. But living for five years with the ghost of said kid's death has a way of putting things into perspective, and Tony knows that he's never meant a promise more in his life.

They sit together in silence for a while. Peter's head resting on Tony's good shoulder as the older man's arm presses the boy against his side. Presently, Tony lays his own cheek on Peter's matted curls, sighing in relief at the knowledge that his missing piece has been found. There are many things still needing to be said, but they'll have time. Now that he's got Peter back, he's never going to let him go again.

"So what now?" Peter asks him.

"Now we find a way to fix this. And lucky for us, I've conveniently got a wizard who is already waiting on standby to help."

"And if that doesn't work?"

"Then we'll find another way: together."

"Yeah. Together."