𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑒: 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝐼'𝑚 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝐼 𝑚𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑓 𝐼 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒. ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑒𝑛𝑗𝑜𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑑𝑣𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒. 

~𝑆𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑏𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑠  

✪ 

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑠𝑡. They rest heavily on the heart and tongue as no one knows the right words to say as if there are any words that could possibly be right to say in a situation like this. A sense of dread begins to fill the room and its occupants as they all think the silent question over and over again: why? Why did they have to die so young? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why? Why? Why? And the questions remain unanswered, but echo inside their minds as the wooden box is lowered into the dark.

And slowly, the reality starts to sink in, as it always does, that they're gone. The young, innocent boy with curious eyes and excited smile is gone. It sinks deeper and deeper into their hearts as they realize he will never smile again, he'll never be able to fill a room with laughter or lighten their hearts. He's gone. The only proof that he'd ever been there in the first place were his few belongings, their memories, and the ominous headstone that would tell anyone who stumbled upon it in a few words who he was:

𝑃𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑟

2001-2016

𝐵𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑛, 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑑, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑜  

As the box slowly disappeared beneath the earth, a quiet sob escaped from the woman who'd desperately been trying to keep herself together the whole service. She covered her mouth as her body shook and a man, wearing an expensive suit, wrapped an arm around her to offer her some comfort. The man wasn't family, not by blood anyway, but he belonged there as much as the boy's aunt.

Many may have wondered why the famed Tony Stark would come to a mere teenager's funeral if they didn't know the place the boy had in his iron heart. Tony took another look at the headstone, rereading the words he'd memorized by now. 𝐵𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑛, he smiled sadly at the two words that meant more to him than he would admit. 𝑆𝑜𝑛, he wasn't the boy's father, but he'd wanted to be.

He'd taken one look at the scrawny kid who'd been dumpster diving and smiled. The kid was brilliant, completely and utterly brilliant. No, Tony may not have been the boy's father, but he'd taken care of him. He took the boy who'd looked at him with admiration and wonder, the boy who wanted to be just like him and helped him become the hero he'd always been. Even though he'd been taken from him way too damn soon, Tony knew the boy had still become a better man than he could ever hope to be.

As tears began to form into his eyes, he realized that even though he hadn't been Peter Parker's father, Peter Parker had always been his kid. 

And his kid was gone.