Peter tidied up his red tie while looking at the mirror, his black suit over his costume, which made him unbearably warm. He walked out and sat down on the chair waiting for Miss Potts and Stark to get ready.
"All done. You ready to head to the funeral?" asked Stark, walking down the stairs with Miss Potts, both dressed in black.
"Yeah," replied Peter, getting up and pulling his mask to try and get some air to cool himself.
"Let's get a move on then," said Stark before they all entered a black limo opened by his chauffeur.
The ride was mostly quiet with only a little small talk at the beginning. Peter spent most of his time looking out the window thinking about everything: the battle, Aunt May, Elaine, Harry, and what the future holds now that he's actually an Avenger. Even now he was still surprised.
"Kid! We're here," exclaimed Tony.
Peter got out of his thoughts and left the limo, bombarded with flashing camera lights and questions muffled by more questions from paparazzi. They stayed quiet and walked towards the venue while bodyguards blocked everyone from rushing in.
Right behind them was Quicksilver in his suit, still stuck in his wheelchair, being pushed by Capt.
Through the security slipped a small child who rushed towards Quicksilver. The bodyguards tried to capture before Quicksilver signalled it was ok.
"Quicksilver!" gleamed the child excitedly.
"Hello," replied Quicksilver, realising who the child was. "Wait, you're the малышка," he added.
"Can I have your autograph?" she asked, holding out a photo of Quicksilver from his Instagram.
"Me?" he replied, confused.
"You're my favourite superhero," replied the girl.
Quicksilver was taken aback and unable to speak, a small tear in his eye. He quickly grinned, overjoyed, "No problem," he took the photo.
"Are you okay?" questioned the girl, worried because she noticed the tear.
"I'm okay; just a fly got in my eye," joked Quicksilver, searching his pockets. "Do you have a pen?" he asked Capt.
Capt smiled and handed him a pen from his pocket. Quicksilver signed the photo, making sure it was flawless before giving it back to the girl. The girl celebrated, making Capt and Quicksilver laugh before she rushed back to her mother.
"You no longer need to dream about becoming a hero; you're one of us now," said Capt, handing Quicksilver a tissue with a smile.
"Thank you. For everything," replied Quicksilver, wiping away the tear.
The rest of the funeral went without issue, with family and main Avengers members giving a speech. After that, the memorial was revealed with a large gravestone with their names and large statues behind it of all of the fallen heroes standing proud.
Until the after party, Peter couldn't keep his eyes off the statue of 3D-Man, flashbacks to his death. Peter started to hyperventilate, and the sounds around him muffled. He started to tremble and sweat, holding his chest as it started to hurt while his head spun around. He started to fear death and that it was imminent, followed by a ringing in his head.
"Peter!" yelled Stark.
All the ringing stopped, clearing Peter's mind. The strange trance he was in was broken, and he looked towards Stark.
"You ok, kid?" questioned Stark, worried.
"Yeah... yeah, I'm ok. Just a little hot under all of this," replied Peter, getting up from his seat.
Peter followed Tony to the memorial and saw the start of a commotion.
"You said she'll be safe!" yelled a women full of tears towards Hawkeye, who's check was bright red.
"I'm sorry," replied Hawkeye, full of guilt, looking down at the ground ashamed.
"Miranda! Let's not do this here," said the man, gently pushing his wife back, looking at all the onlookers.
"You told us you would protect her; now we're watching our daughter get buried!" cried the woman.
"I should've done better, and I know no matter what I do it won't stop the pain, but I'll do anything I can to relieve it," replied Hawkeye as the husband held his wife close.
"It's alright; we knew the risks; now we must lay with our choices. We just can't believe it happened; we thought it would all come together in a happy ending. We saw her on TV less than a month ago, smiling," replied the man, starting to tear up.
Hawkeye couldn't think of a way to respond. The confrontation came to an end, and Peter walked up to the waiter taking a drink from his table, realising he couldn't drink through his mask. He saw one person sitting in front of Black Bolt's grave, separated from everything else. Peter walked up to him, now stuck with a drink in his hand.
"How did you know him?" asked Peter, curious.
The man looked up towards Peter. "Ah, you're that new superhero," said the man, clicking his fingers. "What's your name again? Spider-Man, that's it," he added.
"Yeah, that's me!" replied Peter.
"To answer your question, I hardly knew him; at most we were friendly acquaintances," answered the man.
"Then why are you here?" wondered Peter.
"Sadly, I think I'm the one he was closest to. He had no family, and I can say for certain he definitely had zero friends. No one deserves to die forgotten or alone, especially when you died so thousands could live," replied the man, downing his drink.
"That's very kind," mentioned Peter.
"As soon as work was over, he would rush all the way home and continue his project. He named it Black Bolt. It seemed he always wanted to be a hero and save people, even if it came at the cost of solitude. His time with the Avengers was probably the best time of his life, for once he wasn't alone, at least for a little while," added the man.
Peter could just stare at his grave. He hardly knew the guy, but now he seemed so familiar, almost like himself. Peter thought of his friends, his aunt, Elaine, hell, even Flash. Could he throw all of them away, and if he did, would it be worth it?