Strong hands pulled him to his feet before he could do it, himself, and he was immediately pulled into May's embrace.

"I was so worried about you," she said, her voice choked up and tears already beginning to soak her cheeks – and his neck. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." He held her as tightly as he could, mindful not to hurt her even as he shifted his grip and hugged her, harder. He closed his eyes, savoring the fact that he was back where he belonged, and so relieved that it really had worked that he almost felt weak in the knees. "Really."

He felt a hand on the back of his head that wasn't hers, and someone rescued the flowers that he was holding.

"Where were you, Peter?" he heard Doctor Strange ask.

Turning to look at him, he smiled.

"I was in another reality," he told them, finally able to pull himself away from May to look at them. "The figurine that I touched sent me to a different sanctum, and a different reality."

"Were you hurt?" she asked, running her hands along his cheeks and face but looking him over for any sign of injury.

Peter smiled.

"No. I'm fine, May. Really." He looked at the two magicians. "Really."

"You brought me flowers?" Wong asked, ready to break May from her tears, and using the absurd question to do it.

Sure enough, it worked.

Peter shook his head and took them from him, handing them to May.

"Tony thought I should bring you something," he told her. "To make up for being dumb and scaring you."

"Tony?" Strange echoed.

The boy nodded, grinning, excitedly, now.

"Tony Stark," he said.

"The Tony Stark?" May asked, frowning. "Ironman Tony Stark…?"

"Yeah. In the reality I was in, the Peter Parker there lives with the Avengers at their compound."

"The Avengers? Really?"

"Yes." He looked at the flowers. "It's a long story," he said. "Let's sit down."

"Agreed," Wong said, already walking toward the table and the comfortable chairs around it. "I can't wait to hear this."

OOOOOOOOOO

"Are you alright?"

Peter nodded, smiling at the immediate question. Tony automatically worried about him, and he supposed it only made sense with his track record for getting into trouble. This time, though, he didn't do anything.

"You did," Alec disagreed. "You're the one who made sure Pete ended up where he's supposed to be. It just didn't take anything out of you to do it."

"Did it work?" Peter asked the ancient sorcerer.

"I don't know, Peter," he admitted. "I'm not close enough to be in his head, now, obviously, to get the answer from him, and I don't have the connection to the stones that you do. They would know, but we won't ever know without them letting us in on it."

"Oh."

"Peter?"

The hesitation had made Tony worry.

"I'm okay," he assured him.

"What did Alec say?" Stephen asked, understanding the pause, and sitting down at the table. "Did it work?"

"He wouldn't know," Wong pointed out, also sitting down. The spell that they'd cast had been a powerful one, but not mind-numbingly so. Still, it was nice to sit down afterward. "In an alternate reality Pete would be too far away to feel – even for Alec."

"He really is brilliant, Alec told Peter, approvingly.

"I know." He nodded. "That's what Alec said," he told them. "He can't feel Pete from so far away, and that only the stones could let us know."

"Are they?"

Peter started to say no, but then he had a sudden image of himself – but it was really Pete – sitting at the exact same table. Only he wasn't talking to Tony, Stephen, and Wong. He was talking to May, Stephen, and Wong, and they were all smiling. Even more, there was an arrangement of flowers in May's hand.

"I saw that," Wong said, impressed and not bothering to hide it. Who wouldn't be impressed by the power and intuition of the mind stone? "I guess that answers that question."

Tony and Strange both nodded, too, and since his father looked pleased, Peter assumed that he'd seen the same image.

"He did," Alec confirmed.

"Yeah."

Stark slapped Peter on the back and then stood up.

"We'd better get home and make our report," he told Stephen. "The others are going to want to know what happened."

"Of course."

The cloak swept over to the sorcerer supreme's shoulders, settling cheerfully as Peter stood as well.

"Are you coming?" the boy asked.

"We have a few things to catch up on, here," Strange told them. "We might stop by, later."

"You're coming for dinner, tomorrow, though, right?" Tony asked.

"Thanksgiving with the Avengers?" Wong asked with a slight smile. "Wouldn't miss it for the world."

And who would have even thought that it was something that they ever would have considered, before? Unheard of!

"Are we bringing anything?" Strange asked.

"Bring some pies," the billionaire suggested. "We'll have plenty, but Peter likes a good pie – and so do I."

"We'll do that."

A portal opened and the two saw that it exited in Peter's bedroom.

"Thanks for the help," the boy told them, smiling.

"You're welcome."

"Besides," Wong added. "We had a chance to meet someone from an alternate reality and interact with him for several days. That's worth writing down, somewhere."

They went through the portal, which closed behind them.

"Welcome back, Peter."

"Thanks, Karen."

"What am I?" Tony asked, pretending to be offended at the lack of greeting. "Chopped liver?"

"Friday has been informed of your return," Karen assured him.

"Where's Pepper?" he asked, cheerfully, as Nutmeg wandered into the bedroom, not at all surprised by their sudden appearance in Peter's quarters.

"In the lounge."

"And the others?" Peter asked, knowing that he didn't have to specify like he would have when the AI initially came online.

"In the lounge."

"Thanks."

"Let's go tell them what happened," Tony told his son.

"Yeah."

This would be fun, really. Good news was always well received, after all.

OOOOO

"Wait…" May frowned. "You really were with the Avengers?"

Pete nodded, grinning.

"Yeah. They have special quarters for me – I mean, for their Peter Parker – in their compound." His eyes were cheerful. "Complete with an AI. The same one that's in his suit."

"So he was Spider-Man, too?"

"Yes. But no one knows about him in his reality. It's still a secret."

"And the Avengers know about us?" Strange asked.

"They hang out with you guys all the time," Pete confirmed, enjoying the disbelief the magicians were showing. "Natasha Romanoff sent you a present, too."

Strange frowned.

"What?"

The boy reached for his backpack and unzipped it, still grinning, and pulled out the bag of Avengers swag that Peter had stuffed into it when he'd brought Pete his stuff before they'd left for the sanctum. He opened that bag and pulled out the t-shirt, handing it over to the sorcerer, who snorted when he read it.

"That's great," Wong said, also looking at it. "Why would Natasha Romanoff send it, though?"

Peter smirked, glancing at May.

"I kind of got the impression she and Doctor Strange were an item…"

"Really?"

"Yeah." He shrugged. "I could be wrong."

He wasn't, though, he knew.