Father!Tony and Hallucination!Peter Parker Reader: Stargazing

Summary: Tony only has five more days before he runs out of water.

Day 1:

There wasn't enough water on board.

The ship was stocked with enough food for twenty days, but the water would only last for another three. If Tony drank only half of what he should drink, it would stretch another five.

The vast emptiness of space filled Tony's vision. His ship was a little pebble in an ocean of nothingness.

Tony felt a wave of despair crash over him, but he shook his head. He had to pull through.

For Peter.

Day 2:

Tony started to make a video diary.

He choked on tears and regrets as he remembered meeting Peter such a young kid, so naive and vulnerable.

Tony found a broken oxygen mask in the belly of the ship but it only reminded him of Starlord.

Day 3:

Tony's throat felt dry as the desert.

"I don't think I'm going to make it," he croaked to the video diary. He could almost hear Peter telling him, "Don't give up now Mr. Stark! You're so close!"

In fact, he could almost see Peter's youthful face grinning up at him.

It was so real, and it invoked a sense of valiant determination in Tony, suppressing the fatalistic despair.

Peter was taken unfairly from the world and Tony would be the one to get him back.

The ghost of Peter drifted in front of his eyes, and Tony pushed the tears away. He couldn't afford to lose much more liquid.

The hope Tony felt was so real.

He could almost believe it.

Day 4:

Peter appeared more often now. He would stay longer, and although it reminded Tony so much of what he had lost, it comforted him in a way.

After all, there's only so long a man can be alone for.

The pale hallucination of Peter sat cross-legged in front of Tony.

"You holding in there Mr. Stark?" he asked.

It was so hard to look at Peter without being swallowed up in sadness, so Tony kept his eyes toward rewiring the oxygen mask.

"Not as well as I hoped," Tony said.

"You know it's not your fault I'm dead," Peter said, "I can see you avoiding me."

"Yeah, well, it hurts to look at you," Tony said.

"So look anyway."

Peter's face drifted in front of Tony's.

"But I'm not real, so it doesn't matter anyway," Peter said and Tony froze.

His coping mechanisms did not work well when confronted with reality.

"I have to go now," Peter said, checking his watch.

"What? Why?" grief edged Tony's voice.

It was hard to look at Peter but it was even worse when he wasn't there.

Peter was already gone.

Day 5:

Tony was delirious.

He'd finished the last of his water in the morning, or what passed for a morning anyway.

There was no day or night on the ship- just dim lights and less-dim lights.

Peter was a constant companion today.

"I think you know the time for grief is past Mr. Stark."

"What are you, my guidance counselor?" Tony wheezed. Apparently oxygen was running out too.

There weren't enough parts to fix the oxygen mask, and Tony was dying anyway. Better to spend time with the person he cared most for in the world anyway.

"Mr. Stark! Look at that nebula!"

And what a nebula it was: swirling purple clouds intertwined with the sparkle of rusty orange dust.

"It's beautiful," Tony breathed.

Peter floated up to be next to him.

"Isn't it," Peter replied, a wistful look on his face.

And that's how Tony Stark, Ironman, and a man of so many other epithets spent his last waking moments- stargazing with his son at the most untouchable beauty our universe can produce.