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[buildsomething]

You have not reached Tony Stark. Clearly. Leave a message and I'll get back to you if I feel like it.

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[madeupnames]

[He nods, forcing a smile.]

I will.

[He won't. This is gonna eat him up — but Mr. Stark's right that there's nothing much else to do than to try and relax. Relax? How do you relax? Is that a thing people do under duress? No way. He's about to head out the door, maybe sit somewhere so high the vertigo'll clear his head up, but he hesitates and looks back. He thinks about Mantis giving him a friendship bracelet that he still keep under his suit, and Gamora lecturing him on sleep, and Quill buying him ice-cream in exchange for candy—

God, he can't even help himself.]

Are — Are the Guardians okay?

[buildsomething]

[ Tony's expression does something complicated, flicking through a dozen different emotions at once. And that's pretty much an answer, isn't it?

Though if it isn't, the long exhale that Tony gives, and then the too-gentle statement that follows it might as well be. ]

Do you really want to know? Think about it, Peter. There's nothing you can do about it, not here.

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[It is an answer. It's a blinding answer, one that makes him feel a little sick.]

Who did they lose?

[That's answer enough from him, too. There's nothing he can do about it —

but he can't just leave without knowing, now.]

[buildsomething]

[ Well shit. Tony's really regretting his mental promise not to lie. But it would be worse if he did, and Peter found out. People always found out. ]

I only ever saw Peter, Mantis and the big one. Drax.

[ There's the briefest pause before he makes himself spit it out, eyes closing. ]

None of them made it.

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[There's a telltale sign of a working jaw and the gleam of watery eyes — he's not gonna do that in front of Mr. Stark, he's dealing with enough from home and he doesn't need some kid crying in front of him. He forces himself to get through it, voice thready and quiet.]

And Gamora? What about her?

[They were there because she was supposed to be with Thanos.

They were there to save her.]

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[ He shakes his head once. Too far in to back out now.

He is thinking about her. ]

I think...she was gone before any of us got there.

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[He feels that numb static prickle in his hands you get, when something so suddenly vanishes or breaks apart in life; that same kind of stomach drop and pulse you get when you're falling, when you look up to a ceiling coming down on you, when someone you love doesn't return a call — when you're told someone you love doesn't make it (and it's all on you). He breathes out, shakily, color draining from his face. It's hard enough to know someone's gonna die when you go home. But he knows them. He knows them here, and they're his friends, and — and they're — they're so nice to him.

He turns and quickly exits the room, not wanting to let it screw him up right in front of his mentor.

With a thwip and a rush of air, he's gone out the door and into the night in seconds.]