Chapter Text
Peter was not doing well. He got evicted from his apartment a while ago because he couldn't pay his rent. It was hard to find a job when there were no records of a Peter Parker. This was how he found himself staying in an abandoned building. It wasn't much, but it gave him shelter.
As much as he didn't want to he took advantage of the offers of free food he got from vendors as Spider-Man. He could barely keep up with his metabolism enough to not starve. His healing had slowed but it was still faster than a normal person's.
So Peter was alone, with no friends, no family, no money, and no home. This was fine. He just went harder into being Spider-man. Spider-Man could actually do some good, Peter Parker just caused problems. It probably wasn't healthy, but Peter didn't have anyone to stop him. So he kept self destructing. If he spent all of his time as Spider-Man he wouldn't have to look himself in the mirror. And if sometimes he waited just a split second too long before catching himself with his webs that was his buisness.
He laid in a hammock he had created in the upper corner of the room to sleep in when his senses went off. Someone was here. Peter stuck to the wall tucking himself into the corner. He scanned the room for the intruder and sighed dropping from the ceiling, "Stephen? What are you doing here?"
Dr. Strange raised his brows, "Spider-Man is just a homeless kid from Queens?"
Peter bristled, "Hard to keep a place down when you don't exist. Now why are you here?"
Dr. Strange blinked, "What do you mean you don't exist?"
Peter sighed, "It's a long story. I messed something up, the multiverse got all fucked and the only way to fix it was for you... I had to be forgotten."
Strange's eyes blew wide, "You used the Runes of Kof-Kol to try and fix a multiversal problem?"
Peter looked at him, "No, you used them. My life was just the collateral. Thanks for that by the way."
Dr. Strange rubbed his face, "You can't fix a multiverse fracture with a memory spell."
Peter's heart dropped, "What?"
"It might have stopped a total collapse but now there's an entirely new problem."
"Well what is it? How do we fix it?"
Dr. Strange sighed and spoke softly, "There is now a temporal anomaly. The universe is trying to mend itself but it can't because something that isn't supposed to exist in this universe is still here. In other words, you don't belong in this universe anymore, and that's going to start causing problems."
Peter breathed heavily, "So what? You have to kill me? If that's the case then do it. Just kill me now and fix it all."
Strange had an empathetic look on his face, "I'm afraid it's not that simple. Your body would still be in this universe. I need to send you away completely. To a different universe."
Peter's voice broke, "I- what? So your sending me away to another universe? And I can never come back?"
"Would you have anything to come back to?" Dr. Strange said simply.
Peter stared at the floor, "I... no."
"The universe I'm sending you to is nearly identical this one aside from a few minor things. Stand there."
Peter stood where Dr. Strange told him to. A portal opened below him. Strange said one last thing to Peter before he fell into this new dimension, "Good luck kid."
___________________________________________
Peter was dropped face first into a snowy woods. It was the middle of February. It was cold and Peter was tired so he let his face flop back into the freezing snow. He didn't care at this point. He could just die here and not have to deal with it all anymore.
Peter was interrupted from his musings by a foot nudging him. Peter groaned and rolled over. He was met with a guy that looked to be around his age. The guy towered over him with a smile, "Wow, if I had a nickel. Can you get up on your own or do I need to drag you?"
Peter huffed and stayed laying in the snow. He didn't feel like moving anywhere. Trying to move his body felt like swimming in molasses. The guy shrugged and picked Peter up.
"Wow, you're surprisingly light."
Peter was carried to a shed and dropped on a sofa in the room. The guy threw a blanket over Peter. The warmth helped him feel more awake and aware. Once he had enough energy he sat up to sitting with the blanket still wrapped around him, "So what's your name?"
The mystery person stopped his tinkering and turned to Peter, "Harley Keener. And who might you be?"
Peter looked away, "Nobody you'd know."
Harley crossed his arms, "Obviously not, were strangers. I don't want to be strangers but in order to know you I have to know your name."
Peter sighed and took Harley's hand, "Peter Parker."
Harley shook his hand, "Now was that so hard Peter?"
Peter grumbled. Harley laughed at Peter's disgruntlement, "Oh, hold on I've got to take this."
Harley picked up a call on his phone, "Hey Tony! You'll never believe this, you remember how we met? No I distinctly remember you crash landing into my yard and having a panic attack. Keep telling yourself that, but it happened again. Well the person falling out of the sky part. I don't know, I haven't asked him yet."
Harley leaned away from the phone turning to Peter, "Hey Peter, how did you end up here anyways?"
Peter's throat constricted at the memory, "Long story."
Harley shrugged and turned back to the phone, "He said it's a long story. Yeah, his name is Peter. I think Parker? Yeah, Peter Parker. Tony?"
Harley set down his phone with a small frown, "He hung up." Turning back to Peter he asked, "So, where you from?"
"Um, Queens?"
"Wow, you're a long way from home then. This is rural Tennessee."
Peter nodded, "Yeah that's one way to put it."
They were interrupted by a noise outside. Harley went out to check on it. There was some talking before the person barged in, Harley close behind.
"Kid!"
Peter couldn't believe it. Standing right in front of him was Tony Stark, alive and seemingly well. This couldn't be real. Peter scrambled away from the fake Tony. ending up in a corner of the ceiling.
Harley's eyes widened, "Woah! I did not know he could do that."
Peter squeezed his eyes shut, his breaths came short, "Stop it! Stop it! This isn't real it can't be real!"
Peter felt for the hum of his spidey sense to tell him where the drones were creating this illusion, or anything to tell him where the threat was but there was nothing. His senses were silent. He knew it was wrong though, there was not way this could be real.
Peter's chest felt tight, his mind and body were screaming at him that there was danger but his spidey senses were quiet. The Not Tony reached a hand towards him, "Peter-"
Peter's eyes snapped open. He looked wild, "Don't! No no no, just- stay back."
Peter pulled at his hair enough to ground himself to think. This was another dimension. In this dimension Tony Stark was alive, he knew who Peter was. Mr. Stark looked distraught when he arrived, there couldn't exist two Peter Parkers at once. So the only conclusion was... Peter opened his eyes, breath finally slowing, "I'm dead."
Peter slowly crawled down from the ceiling, "Strange said some things would be different, two Peter Parkers can't exist in a stable universe but I still needed to go where Peter Parker exists. So I'm dead, but you're alive so that probably means..."
Peter stopped his pacing to look at Tony, "Did I die instead of you?"
Tony's face was full of regret. He nodded silently. Peter nodded, "Okay."
Peter's reality was starting to set in. He looked at Tony again. Where he was expecting to feel some sort of relief or happiness he was alive there was a hot anger that surprised even Peter.
Peter spoke quietly, "This was your fault."
Tony's voice broke, "What?"
Peter gritted his teeth, "You- you left and- and then everything went to shit! My life got destroyed because you weren't there."
Tony's expression was heartbroken, "Oh, oh kid."
Tony took the kid in his arms. Peter sobbed into Tony's shoulder, "I've been alone for s-so long. I couldn't- I can't."
Tony rubbed Peter's back as he let the kid cry. He could process this himself later, right now his kid needed him.