**Request for galaxy_404. Post FFH (Yeah, Infinity War and Endgame will be canon in these). I didn't see any of those 3 movies, so it might be a little off, but I know what went down in all of them, so I think I have it pretty much covered. It's SUPER long but I didn't break it up because I couldn't find a spot to break it without feeling like it was choppy, but its the same length as a 3 parter. Hope you enjoy, I cried, it was a good time!**

Peter didn't know what to do. He felt completely lost, without direction or... or help. He needed someone to tell him what to do, how to deal with all of this.

The young teen paced in his hotel room, desperately hoping for something to spring to mind. Literally anything at this point would be helpful, but all he could think of was what if's and worse case scenarios.

It was times like these when the boy struggled worse. When his anxiety and panic attacks seemed to drown out any common sense he had left, leaving Peter reduced to a shell of who he knew he could be.

Call May, he thought suddenly, a moment of clarity during his spiraling worry. As soon as he thought it, though, he quickly shook the thought out of his head. May was on vacation with Happy, he couldn't just... ugh, he couldn't just call and interrupt the first vacation May had taken in years. Decades, probably. He couldn't remember the last time May had left for longer than the weekend (for work training), and he couldn't remember any storied from before... before Uncle Ben.

Just thinking about the man, Ben, made Peter's head spin even more, guilt now resurfacing and adding to the pain he was already feeling. Before he knew it, he was crying. Hot tears rolled down his cheeks, and his breathing grew ragged and quick.

Peter sat on his bed heavily, struggling to catch his breath and relax. Short nails dug into his palms as he clenched his hands into fists.

Calm down, he coached silently. Calm down, it's fine. But it wasn't fine. It wasn't fine at all, and he was scared out of his mind. Nothing about this situation was easy, and Peter had no one to go to.

Calm... calm down. His mind raced with fear and panic, despite his mantra. He curled onto his side, wishing with every fiber in his being that he could go back 8 years, to the day he lost his uncle. He'd do everything differently from that point on. Save Ben, miss that  field trip to Oscorp, get a job to help May out, never become Spiderman, never get dusted, never meet T-

His name was enough for the teen to start crying and hyperventilating worse, his hands balling up the blankets beneath his face as he cried.

His watch beeped a few times, a warning to Peter that his vitals were erratic enough to cause an emergency alarm to be sent to FRIDAY. Any second now, he knew Pepper would be calling in a panic.

Sure enough, his phone vibrated several times, making the teen jump. Peter ignored the phone, waiting for it to ring out while he desperately tried to regain composure. If he could just convince Pepper that he was okay...

"Peter, Pepper is inputting an override code. I must answer the call." Karen's voice pulled the teen out of his spiral.

"Peter?" Pepper's voice was laced with heavy worry. "Honey, FRIDAY said your vitals were getting erratic, are you okay?"

Peter opened his mouth to reply, but all he could do was lightly squeak as another sob choked his breath. He nervously hummed, trying to force his voice to come out clean.

"Hi, Pep," he managed to say after a moment or two. "I'm f-fine. It's late th-there, and I d-don't- don't want to wake- wake up- you know, Morgan."

Pepper knew Peter too well to believe him. "You've been crying." There was the sound of something shuffling over the phone, then a door closing softly. "There, I stepped outside so Morgan wouldn't wake up. Tell me what's going on."

Peter shook his head violently. "No, no, I'm really fine. I just need some sleep."

"Peter," Pepper warned. "You  either tell me what's going on or I call May and Happy."

Peter bit back another cry as he thought of his aunt being interrupted on her nice vacation. "Don't call them!"

Pepper was silent.

"Can, uhm, can we talk tomorrow? Maybe over Skype or-"

"Of course," the older woman assured softly, cutting off the teen. She could tell he was starting to cry again, and didn't want to push it. "Go take a hot shower, get some sleep. We'll talk tomorrow morning."

Peter said a quick good night, then got off the phone. He knew a shower would make him feel better, but the bathroom was so far away, just thinking about it was making him tired. Instead, he stripped off his jeans and slightly tear-soaked tee shirt, then collapsed into his bed.

Sleep came almost instantaneously, but it was sweaty and fitful. The teen tossed and turned, tangling his arms and legs in blankets and sheets.

Which is why, when he heard a sharp and hard knock at the door the next morning, he shot up and promptly fell to the floor. "Coming," he called, his voice raw from crying the night before.

The night before. Suddenly the whole night came back to him, and the teen blinked back new tears. There was another knock at the door, and it was enough of a distraction to knock him out of his spiral.

Peter opened the door, his eyes trained to the floor. There was a pair of sneakers. Nike's.

"Peter!" As suddenly as the knocks had come at the door, the teen was pulled into a hug, his face being pressed into soft, red hair. The smell of Channel No. 5 filled his nose, and he smiled involuntarily.

Pepper felt the teen relax into her body and readjusted slightly to hold more of his weight. "Peter?"

The teen stepped back quickly, rubbing the back of his hand over his eyes quickly. "Hey, Pepper, why are you here?"

"I dropped Morgan off with Clint and Laura last night and came right on over. You needed a mom, and May is out of town, Carol is off planet, and Wanda was taking too long to get packed up."

Peter finally took in Pepper's appearance. She had a small backpack on her back, and was dressed in yoga pants, a sweat shirt, and a pair of beat up Nike's.

"You didn't have to come." Peter turned and went back into his room, throwing a couple things around to make it at least a little presentable.

"Yes, I did."

The two stared at one another, neither one backing down. Finally, Peter gave in and slumped onto his bed. Pepper took this as an opportunity to come and sit next to the teen, pulling him into her torso and hugging him close.

"What happened last night?"

Peter didn't answer, just pulled out his phone, typed in a couple things, and shoved the screen into his surrogate mother's hands.

Pepper's eyes scanned the screen quickly, taking in the information.

"So someone leaked your identity?"

"Someone Fury told me I could trust, actually," Peter said, his voice cracking slightly.

"And that's all of this? Or...?"

"Not exactly," Peter chocked, his throat closing up again. Tears came just as quickly as they had the night before, and he buried his head into the woman to his right's shoulder.

"Can you tell me about it?"

"I just feel so lost. May and Happy are out of town, and I don't mind that, because she needs to be happy! She deserves to be happy. I can't call every time something goes wrong, or I want help, or I can't take a bit of stress. She's always stressed." The words came much easier now, when he was pressed against someone who loved him. Someone who cared and listened. Pepper nodded along, trying to keep up with the scattered rant and wondering how Tony had done it all those years.

"I just feel like everything keeps piling up, and I just always make the wrong choices. I made the wrong choice when I went to Oscorp and wandered off, and when I let Ben die. That was on me. That was on me! And then, then I go try to play superhero, but I keep calling for Tony, and I get attached, and I never even... I never even got to tell him that a-all this time. All this time he was the last dad I ever had and I loved him. And now, I trust Fury, even after I knew where it would get me, and I go and mess up again and I don't know what to do because the only person I ever knew who was in my position is gone and it was my dad."

Pepper nodded along, squeezing the teen's shoulders and planting little kisses to his temple. She didn't know how to help. She couldn't help.

"Baby, I need you to calm down, take some deep breaths. Please." Pepper tried to coach the teen through his sobbing, and choppy words, but he wasn't slowing down. The woman slid off the bed, crouching in front of the distraught boy and putting her hands on his knees.

"Breath with me. In. Out." Peter watched her, mirroring his breathing to hers and letting himself focus there. After a couple minutes, he was calmer, and he could think again.

Pepper got up and returned to her boy's side, pulling him back in for another hug.

"It still hurts to think about him. To say his name." Peter's words were barely audible, his whisper muffled by hair and clothing.

"I know," Pepper said with a sad smile. "Morgan keeps asking for storied about him for bedtime, and its everything in me to not breakdown each time."

Peter didn't know what to say to that, so he just kept quiet. After a few moments of silence, and a whispered assurance it would all be okay, Peter looked Pepper in the eyes, and she nearly cried herself. Dark circles sat beneath normally bright eyes, which were dull and red from hours of crying. Sweat stuck the teen's bangs to his forehead, and he looked almost as if he were looking beyond Pepper, rather than at her.

"What do I do?"

The red head gave a small, sad smile, tears welling in her eyes. "I don't know."

Peter looked down at his hands, which had started shaking again.

"But," Pepper continued, biting back a lump in her throat. "I'm going to figure out something. You need someone who got used to the press, the name, the ego, the-"

Pepper cut herself off, her eyes moving around the room as a thought crossed her mind. "You need Stephan."

"But Steve went back to-"

"Not Steve," she said quickly. "Stephan. Doctor Strange, to you."

Peter cocked his head slightly, reminding Pepper of the first time she'd met the boy, so many years ago.

-8 years ago-

"Tony?" The red head came down the stairs, looking for her then boyfriend. He was late for a meeting. Again.

"Tony?" Pepper pushed her way into the lab, spotting a mop of messy brown hair. "Babe, you were supposed to be up at-"

She cut herself off when she saw that it wasn't Tony, but rather a teenager. "Hello."

"Hi, Ms. P-Potts! Wow, it is- is such an honor!" The teen stammered, excitement clear in his voice. "My friend, MJ, she says- says you're the smartest business woman in the States, possibly the world! She said that- said that you make capitalist America acceptable for consumption by a civilized palate."

Pepper laughed, throwing her head back in pleasure. "She sounds like a riot, but if you're in Tony's lab, you have to be the best of the best."

"I'm not- not- not really- I'm just Peter. Peter Parker."

Pepper smiled, then seemed to remember why she was there and her face changed. "Have you seen Tony lately? He was supposed to be at a meeting 15 minutes ago."

Peter cocked his head to the side, thinking. "Check downstairs, I think he's looking for some blueprints that got moved down tot the interns on accident."

Pepper thanked him, then rushed out of the room to try and wrangle her boyfriend into his meeting.

"How will Stephan help me?"

"He has a lot of wisdom, sweet heart. Why don't we get cleaned up, get packed, and head home?"

Peter nodded, then got up and started gathering his things.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"And how am I supposed to help?" Stephan Strange stood in the living room of Pepper's cabin, his arms crossed as he leaned against the wall.

"I don't know, but you need to talk to him. Usually he's unshakable, but this whole thing has him completely falling apart."

"Unshakable?"

"He laps up stress and just keeps going. He hasn't taken a day off in years, he just keeps going. Unshakable. I once saw him get stabbed in the back, literally, and then wrap it up, go back out and get shot in the shoulder. Unshakable."

Stephan nodded, his lips pursed in thought. "And I'm supposed to find out what's 'shaken' him?"

"Yeah."

"Okay," the man said, pushing himself up and strolling down the hall. He knocked on the second door on the right, the room next to Morgan's, and waited for Peter's reply.

"Come in."

The doctor pushed the door open slowly, peering inside before stepping in all the way. "Peter?"

The teen was wrapped up in a blanket, a book open on his lap. "Hey, Mr. Doctor Strange."

"Please," the older man rolled his eyes. "Stephan. Tony would have killed me if he knew you were calling me 'Mr. Doctor Strange'."

Peter winced when Stephan mentioned his late mentor, and it didn't go unnoticed.

"You know, I still remember him telling me all about you when we first met. He was so excited to tell me about how proud he was, of your tests and something called Academic Decathalon."

Peter smiled, tears welling behind his eyes again. "i wish he were still here," he whispered. "He'd know what to do."

Stephan bit his lip, thinking of what he could do. What he should do.

"Peter."

The teen looked up, dull brown eyes meeting Stephan's.

"I'm going to do something for you that can never happen again. No one else can ever know this happened, and you can never ask me for this again."

Peter cocked his head to the side again, his eyebrows drawn up in confusion. Stephan pulled something from his pocket, a green glow illuminating the room.

"Peter, I can go back for a second, just a second, and freeze things. I can let you see and talk to Tony again, but only once. Would that help you?"

Peter stared at the doctor's clenched fist, taking a breath. He nodded slowly, and then everything flashed white.

The teen's world spun, and before he could say anything else, he was spit out on the battlefield. Everything was red, and off in the distance, Peter could see him- Tony- over the hill. Everything was frozen, adn then Tony took a gasping breath and looked around, his eyes landing on Peter.

"Peter?" The teen wasted no time in rushing into the billionaire's arms, holding the man close.

"Peter, what's going on?" Tony pulled away from the boy, looking at his face intently. There were slow tears dripping down the boy's cheeks, and Tony brushed them away with a thumb. "Stephan?"

Peter nodded, then buried his head back into the man's chest, breathing in his scent. It'd been so long since he felt this at home.

"Why?"

"I messed everything up, even after everything you told me, I trusted Fury, and-" the words came tumbling out, and Tony held the teen closer, whispering reassurance and comforts during pauses.

"Peter Parker, you are the strongest hero I have ever met. You can do this. You can stand up and say 'yes, I am Spiderman'. You should be proud of that! You're freaking Spiderman. You lifted a building! You saved the world! You're my son, and you can do this." Tony enveloped Peter in a hug, letting the teen cry into his shoulder and slowly lowering the boy into his lap as they sat on the ground.

"I never got to tell you that I love you," Peter choked out, the weight of his pain melting away as he said what he had always wanted to. "I love you so much, Tony, you were my dad."

"And I love you," Tony said softly. "My son. Bambino."

The two sat together, just talking about school and missed time and Morgan.

"Peter saw Stephan over the hill, waiting, and he knew his time was up.

"Tony, I-"

The billionaire shot the younger boy a look, and Peter chuckled.

"Dad."

Tony swept Peter into a tight hug, letting every unsaid thing come through that one hug. "I love you, Peter. You're braver than you know and stronger than you can imagine. Go take the world by storm, and watch our girls."

Peter nodded resolutely. "I will, promise. Thank you. I love you."

And then there was another flash of light, and Peter's head spun slowly. He was back in his room, a single tear clinging to his cheek.

"Was I able to help?" Stephan asked, his eyes pleading with the boy.

"You did," Peter said, wiping his cheek and sniffling. "Thank you."

"Anytime, Peter," Stephan said, resting a hand on the teen's shoulder, only to feel arms wrap around his middle. It was new, and felt good. The doctor put his arms around the boy, awkwardly at first, then melting into the hug.

For the first time in nearly a year, Peter felt okay. He felt safe. He felt loved. He felt whole.