Everything Happens

Peter had known it was coming before either of his parents did.

There had been spats before, but usually they ended with apologies and lots of love. Sometime when the Superhero Registration Act started being talked about was the first time Peter could think of where his dads didn't sleep in the same bed. Pops had left in the middle of dinner, not showing up again until the next morning.

The fighting escalated from there. Peter ended up going out on runs as Spiderman a lot more often, or sometimes he would meet up with Gwen. She seemed to understand better than anyone what Peter would need when things got bad. It felt like things were falling apart, being taken away from Peter.

Pretty soon Gwen got taken away from Peter, too.

He was so torn up over her death. He had killed her, and nothing Pops or Dad said could change it. None of the Avengers could make him feel better. He had killed her. It had been his fault. He knew that. One night when he was upstairs, skipping dinner, he could hear his parents fighting.

"This wouldn't have happened, Steve, if Peter had gone through training. It didn't have to happen. If he had known what he was doing, he could have saved her! He wouldn't have-"

"Tony, this happened because the Green Goblin discovered who Peter was. That's why he took Gwen. That's why she died. Nothing could have stopped the Green Goblin once he figured out Spiderman's secret identity. And this will happen again. The Registration Act will make it happen again, and again!"

Pops wasn't there when Peter woke up.

He didn't come back. Peter didn't see him again for a long, long time.

Occasionally, Peter would try to ask Dad about it. Where Pops was. But he saw on the news, that Captain America was in hiding, that there were all kinds of supers joining him, protesting the Registration Act. It was the only way Peter could figure out anything; Tony simply didn't open up. One time, after the both of them had been fighting some criminals –and some non-registered superheroes?- Peter tried to ask again.

"Dad, please, have you heard anything from Pops? I really mis-"

"Peter, just stop, okay? He's not your Pops anymore. He's gone. I don't know where he is, but I know he's breaking the law. And my heart. He didn't say goodbye, he just fled."

Peter made sure to check the house often to be sure there was no alcohol. Dad didn't exactly have a great track record when it came to highly emotional events.

A few weeks after that, Peter woke up to yelling. It sounded familiar. He rushed downstairs, hoping to see something good, for once. By the time he made it downstairs, all he got was a flash of blonde hair and a door slamming. Tony was standing there, staring at the wall. "Go back to bed, Peter. I love you. Please, please know that. I love you."

"… Love you too, Dad."

Peter stayed mostly neutral, when he could. He had taken a break from being Spiderman after Gwen's death, and he hadn't come out publicly on either side of the superhero civil war. He just couldn't. It was all he could do to get out of bed every morning and function like a normal teenager. And he was glad. Glad he didn't have to see his parents fighting each other, seeing the rest of his funny superhero family fight each other. Glad he didn't have to see Pops get arrested.

Peter was glad he didn't see Pops get shot. Get killed. Die.

Peter didn't go to the funeral; he just couldn't. He went to the ice burial, where he was less ashamed to cry and hold onto his dad. It was all wrong. It was all wrong.

He should have stopped it. It shouldn't have happened. There had been far, far too much death. Gwen, Bill, the kids in Stamford, Steve…

But Peter moved on. He pulled his Dad up, helped them both get over the horrible events that happened. They had to. They had to for the good of everyone. Spiderman re-emerged, wiser, more cautious. Peter remembered something his pops had told him, when he was little.

"Everything happens, Peter. Sometimes you wish you could go back and erase the past, redo things. But you can't. Things change. You just have to be strong enough to change, too. Always stand for what you believe in, but don't ever be so unwilling to bend that you break."

Oh, Pops. Why didn't you take your own advice?