Nothing happened.

Peter dropped the rock in disappointment. That's all it was, a rock. But at least he knew what he was looking for now, why it was so important to OsCorp. Literally the only reason he semi-believed this thing existed in the first place was because of the effort OsCorp had put in to save these rocks.

Speaking of which, if Peter didn't want his class to be screened by OsCorp, then he should probably return the rock now, before they track their tour group. It shouldn't be too difficult to plant the rock on the curb or behind a post, seeing as it was close to 5 pm and would be New York's busiest foot traffic time by the time he got there.

He put the not-wishing-rock back in his backpack and left the apartment, taking his time. He used these not-so-important "missions" as his mental breaks, seeing as he didn't leave much other time for himself.

Leaving his apartment and entering the crowded street, he turned left towards the subway, only to be stopped by a stranger from behind.

The man grabbed his arm. "Peter?" He asked. Peter looked up at him. He didn't recognize him, and he suddenly feared that OsCorp had found him out already.

He quickly backed out of the stranger's grip. "Uh, sorry sir, I've got somewhere to be."

The man just shook his head, "no," he said, "it's me." Peter raised an eyebrow.

"What do you want?" He asked.

"I don't understand," the man replied, "how am I here?"

Oh. So he was a crazy guy.

The man seemed to see Peter's face change to dismissal, as he stepped forward again defensively. "I mean, it's me— Tony; don't you recognize me, kid? It can't have been that long, just from looking at you; I mean hell, you seem smaller than I remember, if that's even possible."

Peter's initial reaction was anger. Who did this guy think he was? Well, he obviously knew who, but... how could he? And more importantly, Why??

Peter rolled his eyes, using his mental strength to stay calm instead. "Sorry, I can't help you. I have to go," he said, turning.

The man called out. "Underoos!"

Peter froze. He turned.

Somehow, Tony Stark was standing there. Like, actually there. In front of him. On the sidewalk. It was the same guy, but the guy was Tony, looked like him, sounded like him... how had Peter not recognized him before?

Dizziness hit him like a brick. Maybe more so than he'd like to admit, because the next thing he knew was Mr. Stark had a grip on both of his shoulders, keeping him upright. "How...?" Peter asked. He couldn't take his eyes off his mentor's face. His very much alive mentor's face, that is.

Mr. Stark shrugged. "I- I don't know. I'm sure I was somewhere... else; but all I remember now since the battlefield is now, appearing here."

Peter's legs nearly gave out as he fell into Tony's arms, crying. He even smelled like himself. Tony held him for a moment silently before suggesting they go into the apartment. Peter nodded into Tony's chest before taking out his key and opening back up the apartment's door.

Back in his living room, Peter sat across from Tony at the kitchen table. Tony had looked at him a little weirdly at first, but Peter just got them both a glass of water and sat down.

"Sorry to ask this," Peter said, "but you still need to tell me something only you- Tony, would know. Please."

Tony's head tilted. "What do you mean?"

"So I know it's really you," Peter said, with a hint of sadness- or was it desperation -in his voice, "tell me something the real Tony would know, and something only him and I know."

Tony thought for a moment. "Okay," he started pointedly, "In your room when I first met you, you webbed my hand to the door handle when I threatened to tell May, and you miraculously didn't cut me when you cut it loose. Before you saved everyone on the ferry, we talked on the phone and you said you were at band practice. When I first saw you again on the battlefield, I did one of the things I most regretted never having done before: I hugged you. And you said it was nice. And I suddenly felt so guilty that it took all that for me to realize it was okay to show you how I felt, even though it was too late, and I didn't have time to say anything. That one moment I did have with you, I couldn't say anything. I just froze. Hearing you talk like that for real after only hearing it in nightmares for five years- I died knowing that even in saving you, I had still failed you."

Tony looked up. Peter was crying. "So," Tony shifted uncomfortably, "did I pass?"

Peter nodded with a laugh, and Tony stood up, opening his arms to which Peter gladly met in a hug.

They talked, then, Peter rambling on about random topics. Not about his personal life, but Tony didn't care; he was perfectly content sitting there and listening to the kid, although sometimes he found himself zoning out and getting lost in his thoughts.

The stress that had been on Peter's face lightened a little as he spoke, and Tony couldn't help but feel it had been a while since the kid had laughed. The boy's face hardened again, when he got back to the present. Peter went over the day's events, and it wasn't difficult for them to form their hypothesis about the rock.

"Is there any way it can be traced back to you?" Tony asked, when he was all caught up.

Peter thought about it again. "I mean, the most they might do is come question my class."

Tony scoffed. "Some faith you have in their security. Stark Industries would never."

"Well technically," Peter said, surprising a grin, "it's Parker Industries now."

Tony raised an eyebrow but laughed at the joke. "And you said it's only been a few months since the battle!"

Peter grinned, "I would never."

"I know. But why would you believe OsCorp, of all places, would or even could have a magical rock? Don't they usually focus on… less cool things?"

Peter shrugged, and looked down at the floor. "They've had weird things before."

"Like what?"

"They took in some giant monster thing yesterday, for example, after I was done fighting it in the streets."

"Was it their creation though?"

Peter shrugged. He honestly hadn't cared to find out. "They do have a- a secret history of -of working w-with radioactive spiders."

Tony froze. "You're kidding me."

Peter gave his head a small shake.

"That was them?"

Peter nodded, still not looking up.

"Thus your lack of faith in their security measures."

Peter laughed.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Tony's thoughts wandering through all this information until it landed back on the rock, and Peter just taking in his mentor's presence. Studying him. Refreshing his mind's picture on details that didn't match or exist in his memory of Tony. Of course, they had photos, videos, 3D holograms even. Everything but Tony himself, and looking at him now, Peter was painfully reminded of how those representations weren't... him.

"Stop."

Peter was pulled from his thoughts.

"Don't do that to yourself, kiddo." Peter blinked in confusion.

Tony explained. "We don't know how long I have, so don't overthink things that we can't fix."

Peter nodded, wiping his teary eyes. He sniffed away the lingering emotion. "What do you mean we don't know how long you have? You're here!"

"Yes, but, how."

"Because I... I asked for it."

"Yes, that answers the 'why,' though. 'How' is what I'm more concerned about. Do we have access to my lab?" Well, technically it was Peter's lab now. Or at least Tony hoped it was Peter's. It should be.

Peter smiled. "Yes."

Something like relief flashed across Tony's face upon hearing that Peter, not only had access to, but was actually using the lab.

"Perfect, Pete, let's go."

Peter frowned. "But won't they recognize you?"

Tony shrugged. "You didn't."

Peter hesitated. That was true. He didn't even believe it was Tony until there was no possible way that it couldn't have been. And after Mysterio, Peter wasn't one to believe just anybody. He nodded in thought. "Okay. This should work. We go, but don't tell anyone that it's you, unless we have to."

"I like what you've done with the place," Tony said, taking in the changes in the lab.

Peter eyes him warily, as if seeing if the compliment was genuine. Apparently it was okay, because he replied with a quiet, "thanks," before turning back to the table where he was unlocking different plans.

Tony used this opportunity to look around the room and sort of check up on Peter. In the months since the battle, Peter had changed a lot. There was a futon in the corner with a pillow and some blankets on it. There was a fridge, and shelves stocked with food. It honestly looked like Peter lived here.

Peter must have turned something on, because the wall next to them turned into multiple panels of televisions, composed of news stations from around the world. Four panels in the middle created a large image of the world, and from what Tony could tell, it was displaying the amount of data and information that came from cities globally. He couldn't tell what the information was, though.

There was also a small desk kept near a corner of the room, where Tony could see Peter's open backpack and books still shoved inside. Peter had a Stark model laptop open on the table but turned off, or maybe the battery was drained dead. He recognized Peter's phone on the desk, that was odd, considering he'd seen Peter use a cell phone to look things up more than once since Tony had been with him.

The phone screen lit up, meaning he'd gotten a message, and Tony saw Peter had hundreds of unopened notifications. Which was suspicious, considering he wasn't all that popular — not in a bad way, but Peter was more of one to have only a few close friends rather than a wide range of shallow ones.

Tony looked back at Peter, who indeed had an extremely upgraded phone in one hand, syncing it with the holograms that were now displayed on the table before him. Tony noticed the date, confirming the time span it had been, and saw it was a Friday.

His heart dropped. Had Peter dropped out of school?

He then saw a folder on the desk next to him, a plain yellow folder that read, in Peter's scribbled handwriting, "Peter Parker Only." Tony opened it, of course.

Peter Parker's mugshot met him on the front page; Tony had to hold back from making a noise, or he knew he wouldn't get further in the folder. He scanned the sheet quickly, and kept going.

Apparently someone code-named Mysterio had outed Peter's identity, somehow making him a wanted criminal in the process.

The page was dated back to a couple months ago. It said Peter had murdered a man, a man whose smiling and heroic photo was displayed in the bottom right corner of the page. The man looked vaguely familiar.

So people knew Peter was Spider-Man? And he was revealed under the guise of being a murder? Yet he still lived in Queens? Tony wondered what else had changed.

Tony didn't believe Peter had murdered anyone, but this was interesting and he was curious, so he turned the page.

This one was somehow worse than the page before; the man's smiling face greeted Tony, and he was wearing Tony's EDITH glasses. The ones he'd designed for Peter and Peter only.

Tony flipped the page.

This was a sheet of lined paper covered in Peter's handwriting. It was a list. Several lists, actually.

"Things only Happy knows," the first one was called. Tony scanned the list, not really reading it. There was a similar list with May, then Pepper even, and then his friends— MJ, Ned, his teacher Mr. Harrington, and someone named Flash.

Tony's own name caught his attention; it was written on the bottom margin of the page, reading only, "Mr. Stark — dead."

He turned the page again, to find a sheet covered in much messier writing, like it had been written in haste. It was about him. He didn't hesitate before he started reading the page.

"Tony is dead." Tony noted the change in name. "Tony is dead, and it is not my fault. It is not my fault. Dr. Strange said there was only one way to beat Thanos, and we beat Thanos, so therefore I could not have done anything to save Tony that would have still resulted in saving everyone. Happy does not think it is my fault. May does not think it is my fault. Tony would not think it is my fault. I do not think it is my fault. It is not my fault. There is nothing I could have done..." it went on in a similar fashion, where Peter was trying to convince himself that Tony's death wasn't his fault, so Tony turned the page.

Apparently it had taken Peter saving the world yet again for people to realize he was actually on their side. And there seemed to be new superheroes popping up, so the heat over Spider-Man must have cooled down enough for Peter to have moved back to Queens and resume his old Friendly-Neighborhood-Spider-Man gig.

Although it suspiciously looked like Peter spent a lot of time here, in the lab.

The next page had clips of news articles in several languages, featuring cutouts with pictures of Spider-Man all over the word.

Tony frowned. So maybe Peter wasn't just swinging around Queens anymore; maybe his idea of a neighborhood had expanded. That would certainly explain the worldwide news and globe.

"Tony," Peter said suddenly from right next to him, causing Tony to jump. Peter stepped forward quickly and took the notebook from Tony's hands, closing it quickly. He frowned at Tony and put the book into a drawer under the desk, which Tony heard lock with a whirring sound when Peter closed it.

Maybe this was invading Peter's privacy, but this was the fastest way for Tony to catch up in Peter's life and see how he was doing. Tony knew it could take a long time for Peter to open up about himself, and he still didn't know how much time he had here to help. Although, Peter seemed to be thinking this was a long-term thing.

Peter had told Tony he was doing good, that work-life, home-life, school-life, and hero-life were all fine and dandy and perfectly balanced, but Tony knew better, even in the short time he's seen Peter.

Peter was thinner, and tired looking. Not just one night of no sleep tired looking, but like he was exhausted, physically and mentally. Probably emotionally, too.

"It literally says 'Peter Parker Only' on the front," the kid says.

"Yeah, but I wanted to know what I've missed and how you were doing."

"You could have asked."

"I did. You weren't entirely honest."

"About what?"

Tony rolled his eyes. "Where should I begin? How about with your first sentence— 'everything's fine, Tony, not much has changed since you've left.' So that was obviously a lie."

Peter shrugged. "Not necessarily— I wasn't here for the last five years of your life, so really it could have been the same, I just wouldn't have known."

"Think about what you just said for a second," Tony said, "and think about the changes I had seen in just the last 20 minutes of my life alone."

Peter crossed his arms. "It doesn't matter if what I said was true or not. I'm fine."

Tony's eyes widened; "are you though? Because you've been through a lot in a short amount of time."

Peter shook his head. "So? It's my responsibility now."

"Are you crazy?"

Peter frowned. "Maybe."

Tony wasn't expecting that answer. He sat in stunned silence for a minute, until Peter spoke again.

"I don't know sometimes. It's just so much. For starters, are you even here at all?"

Tony had a bad flashback to the ferry incident, despite the contrasting differences between the two situations.

"Yes, I am," Tony said softly, "thanks to you. You brought me here. Now let's figure out how to keep me here."

Peter nodded. It really bothered Tony how unemotional the boy had been since they'd entered the lab. No tears, no hugs, not even any anger. Whoever Peter had become in this building seemed to shut those thinking's out.

Tony came to a conclusion right then: Peter was broken.

Someone or something had broken Peter Parker. Whether it had been this Mysterious guy, Thanos, Tony's death, or a mixture of all of the above plus a few more on the side, whatever time had thrown at his kid had been too much for him to carry. Tony resolved that regardless of how his whole coming-back-from-the-dead situation turned out, he would fix Peter.

"So tell me," Tony led off, trying to assert some sort of authority and see how far it took him. Surely some of that respect Peter held for him was still inside him somewhere. "What have you been up to since I've been gone?"

Peter's eyes held Tony's. "Helping people, as per usual, like I said before."

"I see the Queen's hometown hero has started branching out."

Peter nodded. "Queens isn't the only place that needs help."

"But doesn't Queens still have enough of the little guys left that need your help?"

Peter's eyes narrowed. "Sure. And I do help them. But there are bigger problems that require, so I sometimes, as you call it, 'branch out.'"

"There are people for that. I made sure of it, before everything went down. Earth has people."

Peter shrugged. "But when they're busy, I can't just stand by and leave people alone. I can't abandon them just because they're not within city limits."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "You expect me to believe all of the Avengers are too busy to help with these disasters you're trying to track?"

Peter smirked, "Yeah. There's been a lot going on. Organizations have been forming, some Avengers have been helping, while others have been, uh, busy dealing with stuff, and there's also been a lot more enhanced and mutated people showing up on the grid, some good and lots more bad."

"And just to clarify, by 'the grid' you mean the entire world."

"Yes." Peter still didn't break eye contact.

Tony did his best to read the boy, based on his experience. He was starting to see that Peter's life was starting to look a lot like Tony's had in his later years, after Afghanistan but before the (semi-) mental stability. Back when Tony felt like he carried the responsibility of saving the world by himself, not because he wanted to, but because he felt like he was truly alone.

Somehow he had passed that burden onto Peter. Onto fifteen year-old, fresh back from the soul stone, sweet, innocent, enhanced, and integrity-filled Peter.

The weight of the world didn't fit Peter's shoulders well, despite how good of a job he'd been doing keeping everyone safe.

He could see the changes now, as Peter glared at him distrustfully. It hurt Tony how he had somehow lost Peter's trust even though he wasn't here to do anything about it.

That might be why, though. He had left Peter, after all. But he had left Peter on a battlefield full of people who would have died for him— they had even put their lives on the line for Peter, Tony had seen that.

So why was Peter alone?

"Where are your friends," Tony asked, "Ned and MJ?"

If Peter was surprised Tony remembered their names, he didn't show it. "I don't know. I don't talk to them as much anymore."

"Not even at your decathlon practice and events?"

"I dropped the club."

Not a good sign.

"Where is May?"

"I don't know that either, I'm not her babysitter."

That was actually a bad sign. Peter loved May.

"Where's Happy?"

Peter shrugged. "Probably with May."

Okay. Interesting.

"Where's Rhodey?"

Peter frowned. "I have no idea. Why would I know that?"

Just a hope. "Where's Pepper?"

Peter shrugged, "Still don't know, sorry."

"She didn't reach out to you?"

Peter's brow furrowed, and Tony thought he saw his eyes twitch to the old phone on the desk behind Tony. The phone Tony knew had who-knows-how many unread and unanswered messages on it. Peter just shrugged, though. "Sorry," he said, quietly.

Tony's shoulders fell. "C'mon, Peter, I just want to know you have people here for you. That you're not as alone as you're making it sound. I care for you, kid. I don't know what's gone on in the last few months, but I care about you."

"Then why did you leave."

Tony blanked at the question that was proclaimed more so as a statement.

"You had the stones. You could have gotten anything. Why did you let them take you?"

"I- that's not how it works. I'm lucky I was able to stay alive holding the stones as long as I did, that I was even able to make a demand and snap in the first place."

Peter shook his head. "If it was so difficult, and impossible to save you, then why was I able to bring you back so easily with this rock? You had the infinity stones. You should have been able to ask to stay."

Could he have? Honestly, Tony hadn't even thought of that when he'd snapped his fingers, despite knowing that he wouldn't make it through alive.

And Pepper had told him he could rest. Had given him the peace he'd been missing.

Tony frowned. "I don't know, Peter. I don't know. I- I just wanted you to be safe. You're the reason I did it all, you know. I did it for you, not me."

Peter's face twisted into confusion. "What?"

Tony closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "The time machine, the plan, the stones. I wasn't going to. But I did it for you. And don't you dare feel guilty about this too, because I thought about it. I thought and did the math and talked with God and even Pepper about it. I swear when I hugged you on the battlefield, I was good to go then. I had both my kids home safe and sound."

Peter didn't say anything, so Tony looked up.

There were tears running down the kid's face, and he looked deflated- not as defiant as he had been earlier. He looked... well, he looked more like himself. He looked like Peter.

Tony stepped forward and opened his arms up, and Peter fell into them before he'd even gotten them open all the way. Tony cried into Peter's curls as the boy sobbed into his shirt. Tony could feel the stress and guilt Peter was carrying in each of his sobs as they came, stabbing him in the heart.

Tony should have done more. He thought the glasses would be a good guide, but they obviously weren't. Peter didn't need another AI, Peter had needed Tony. Tony felt like even a handwritten note would have helped Peter more than any multi-billion dollar satellite space protection program would have. How could he have gotten it all wrong. He'd sent messages to Pepper, holographic messages to Morgan, yet he had brought Peter back to a world where Tony didn't even finish saying hello before he had left him alone.

"I'm sorry, Peter," he whispered, "I'm sorry. I'm here. I'm here now."

Peter eventually stepped away from Tony, wiping his face on his sleeve. "Okay," he said, nodding. "Okay." Again, it hurt Tony how fast the kid processed these emotions. "Let's get this knock-off magic stone analyzed," Peter said, giving Tony a genuine smile.

Tony and Peter sat across the table from each other, looking at the information on the screen.

"I don't understand," Peter said, "why is it portrayed as a curse in all these stories?"

"Maybe people wish for what they want, and it ends up not being what's good for them."

"But it says they only got one wish. So how is it bad?"

Tony shrugged. "I guess it would have been bad if you hadn't recognized me; because then I would have been back, but you wouldn't have known it."

"True," Peter said thoughtfully.

"Also, if everyone got what they wished for, that would be awful. Have you read The Great Divorce?"

Peter shook his head.

"Well, spoiler alert, everyone gets what they want," Tony supplied, "and it takes place in Hell."

"So as long as everyone can't use the stone, it's not a curse? Or maybe as long as the people who do use it don't wish for the wrong things. Like if the robber had gotten away with his wish of being uncatchable, he could have spent the rest of his life getting away with literally whatever he wanted."

They thought about the danger (and ingenuity) in that.

"Yet he'd be single forever," Tony added, getting a laugh out of Peter.

They made their way to Peter's kitchenette to get a snack, and sat down on the futon. Peter leaned back against Tony, wrapping his arm around Tony's hand like he wanted to make sure Tony didn't leave him.

"Also," Peter said quietly, "it said that the wish doesn't expire."

"Not unless the wish-maker chooses to give up their wish," Tony supplied the second part. Tony had seen that info, too, but it still didn't sit right with him. Why would someone give up their wish? What if Peter got mad at Tony and took it back, that would actually crush Peter. Not that Peter would mean to, but how sensitive was the rock? Would Peter have to hold the rock and say it out loud again, or could Peter just think it in a rush of emotion and cause Tony to disappear again? Really, it was more out of Peter's well-being that Tony didn't want to die, rather than a fear of death itself.

He just had a few things he wanted to right before he left again, whenever that would be. Although with Peter, he was sure he wasn't going to have to rush anywhere.

"What if I die?" Peter asked, "will you die too? Or will you become immortal? Or just grow old?"

Tony looked down at the kid, though he could only see his full head of curly hair. "Let's agree to never find that out," Tony asked, with a sense of urgency in his voice that Peter was able to pick up on.

"Okay, deal," Peter said, squeezing Tony's arm.

Apparently Peter had obtained (or maybe retained?) Tony's complete lack of self-preservation.

But Tony was here now, and he'd add that to his list of Things-to-Fix while he was here.

The two sat on the couch, hidden away in the lab, enjoying each other's company, for the rest of the afternoon. Peter fell asleep against his mentor, and Tony stayed awake just to appreciate the moment. This was something worth living for. Being here with and for Peter, this was worth coming back for.