A/N: I'm baaaaaaccckkkkk. Alright guys, I know it's been forever and a day, but life has been...well life. I haven't been writing much, but! Trying to get back into the fanfic game. So here's a nice little oneshot that is totally a rant about the one bone I have to pick with the Far From Home trailer (besides you know...the certain absence of a character due to the agony that was Endgame.) BE FOREWARNED. HERE THERE BE SPOILERS.
And without further ado, for your reading pleasure…
"Saving the world requires sacrifice. Sometimes people die."
Peter looked up, jaw tightening with anger as his brows lowered. Who did this guy think he was? Who was he to waltz in from whatever universe and lecture Peter on saving the world? Who was he to try to lecture Peter on anything?
"Don't you dare," he whispered.
"Kid, I realize you're new at this, but…"
"Stop. Stop. Just stop." Peter stood, balancing effortlessly on the pinnacle of the roof. He turned his back, staring out at the city. The lights blinking in the dark streets below reminded him of stars, and for a moment he thought he would throw up. He turned around.
"You think I don't know what sacrifice is? You think I don't know that sometimes...sometimes...I climbed out of a school bus and onto a space ship, and I was dead for five years. And when I came back I lost the closest thing I had to a father because the only other people who could have possibly filled that role were already dead, so don't you dare try to tell me what sacrifice looks like. I watched him die. I watched him die in the arms of the woman he loved and I don't even know if he knew I was there! I don't know if he knew he even succeeded at, oh, saving not just the world, but the entire fricking universe, so don't tell me what saving the world requires. I know! I know better than anyone because I watched someone who was ten times a better man than you will ever be do it."
"Peter."
"Don't. Just...just…" Peter clenched his fists, looking down at the ground. "When I go home, I'll go see a little girl whose father is never coming back. Because of what sacrifice required. And I would lay down my life a thousand times over to save the world just so she can live in it, but I refuse to lose any more people I love. I'm not putting any more people in danger over the fate of the world. I'll protect them to my dying day, but I am done losing people I love. I go around...catching bank robbers and saving people's savings accounts and...and...stopping stick ups and getting cats out of trees, but what's the point if the...the...the police officer I save from getting shot just gets shot the next week when I'm not there, what's the point if people lose their savings because a bank got robbed, I'm not...what's the point if half the universe is gone if I can't protect mine?"
"Kid..."
"Don't call me that!"
He was silent, this man from another world. A world without Thanos; without infinity stones; but still without him. Peter turned away, looking back at the city as he spoke.
"I'll help you save the world. But not at the cost of the people I love. Because if I can't protect them…"
Peter looked down at his shoes. He bit his lip, sniffing back tears.
"If I can't protect them, he shouldn't have brought me back at all."
A/N: Not too OOC, I hope? Sorry, it just...the whole sacrifice line really ticked me off, because if there's anyone who understands that, it's Peter fricking Parker.