Before they did anything, though, Tony raised his wrist.

"Peter?"

The reply was instant, and it was from the Peter that was standing in front of him.

"Yes?"

The billionaire smiled at the boy who answered and shook his head.

"Not you, son. Sorry."

"Yeah?"

They all heard the response on the communicator. Tony winked at the newcomer, obviously trying to help keep him calm. He'd be doing that with his own son, too, of course, and like the automatic way he'd called this Peter son, it was natural, by then, to look out for him. No matter which reality he happened to live in.

"Where are you?"

"The lounge."

"We're heading back. Meet us in our quarters, will you?"

"Sure. Is everything okay?"

Tony nodded, even though Peter couldn't see it.

"Yeah. Just an incident at the Sanctum. Wizards touching things that they shouldn't, and Avengers swooping in to rescue them while they figure out how to fix it."

There was a chuckle on the other end of the conversation and another eyeroll from Stephen. Even though he was obviously the wizard in question who had touched something that he shouldn't have, Peter had no trouble catching the easy assurance and good humor from Tony, and he smiled, too, feeling a little less stressed. It was ironman, after all, and he was joking around with him like he did it all of the time.

Of course, he now knew that this was likely the case, even if it wasn't – exactly – him that Stark spent that time with.

"I'll head over there, now," was the reply from the watch, and Tony ended the call.

He looked at Peter, and his expression softened.

"You're okay?"

Peter nodded.

"Yes. I think so."

Tony turned to Strange.

"Do we have any kind of timeline, Stephen?"

"Wong and I imagine that our alternative selves are going to be trying to find the solution as well," the sorcerer told them all. "We have some resources, here, that they may not be able to utilize – although they have Jorgan, who might know more about the artifact that Peter touched. We're going to try and solve this as quickly as possible, obviously." He looked at Peter. "Once they decide they have to tell May, she's going to be anxious, and we want to save her as much distress as possible."

The boy nodded, looking worried.

"Me, too."

Of course he did. Tony smiled, setting his hand on Peter's shoulder. An action he'd done a hundred times, of course, but he had to remind himself that he'd never done it to this boy.

"We'll take Peter, here, home with us and keep him occupied while you're working on it. If you need anything, you know how to reach me – and vicariously – him."

"Yes." Strange moved into an open area of the room. "Your quarters?"

"My workroom," Tony said. "I want to break this to Peter – to our Peter – before I actually introduce them. To cushion the weird factor as much as possible."

"Make sure you have FRIDAY record the meeting, will you?" Stephen requested as he moved his arm to create the portal. "Wong and I will be interested in seeing it."

"Will do."

Strange turned to the boy.

"Do you need anything?"

He was his responsibility, after all, apparently – although the sorcerer appreciated Tony's willingness to step up and help out.

Peter turned to Pepper and Tony. He didn't know if he needed anything.

Pepper rested a hand on the boy's arm.

"We've got him, Stephen."

"Thank you, Pepper."

The portal opened, and Tony led them through, turning to watch it close, before turned his attention back to their guest – and his wife.

"This is my workroom."

Peter was already looking around with interest. Not surprisingly, since there were a few Ironman suits in different stages of creation, as well as a place in the corner where the Rescue suit was standing, waiting to be needed, again.

"Wow."

The billionaire smiled.

"You can look around, later, if you want. I'll give you a tour, myself – or maybe have Peter do it. Speaking of; FRIDAY? Is he close?"

"Coming down the corridor, now."

"Wow," Peter said, again, obviously impressed by the interactive AI.

As he should be, Tony though, amused. Magician's apprentice or not, Peter parker was a tech nerd, and FRIDAY was the ultimate tech, the billionaire knew.

"We'll introduce you to her, later," he promised. "Do you mind hanging out with Pepper while I tell Peter what's going on?"

"What? Oh. No. Of course."

He turned to Pepper, who smiled, hooking her arm through the boy's. Maybe this one wasn't hers, specifically, but he was still Peter Parker.

"We'll be fine," she assured Tony. "I'll show him Rescue while we're waiting."

"Sounds good."

Tony left, closing the door to the workroom just in time to hear the question "Who's Rescue?" behind him.

OOOOOOOOO

Peter was carrying Nutmeg when he walked into their quarters. He didn't need to knock, since FRIDAY told him that Tony was waiting for him. His father was coming out of his workroom when Peter walked into the main living space, and Peter frowned.

"Where's Pepper?"

"She's here," Tony told him. "And she's fine," he added, quickly.

"Oh dear…"

Peter's brow furrowed at Alec's sudden comment.

"What?"

"You'll see. It isn't terrible, or anything," the ancient sorcerer added, quickly. "So don't panic. If anything, it's interesting."

"What's up?" Peter asked Tony, trying to gauge just how correct Alec was by how worried Tony looked. "You said something happened at the sanctum?"

"Oh, something happened," Tony agreed. He took the kitten from Peter, wondering if the other Peter had a Flerkin kitten, too. "It didn't actually happen at our sanctum, though."

"The one in China?" Peter asked. "Or London?"

Tony smiled, and walked over and sat on the arm of the sofa.

"No. The one in New York."

Which made Peter frown.

"You just said that it wasn't our sanctum…"

"It isn't. Not the one in our reality, anyway…"

"What?"

"Sit down," he suggested, smiling to make sure the boy knew it really wasn't bad. "I'll explain it the same way Stephen explained it to me."

"Alright."

Peter did as he was told, sitting on the coffee table, and while he caressed Nutmeg's head and listened to the kitten purr, the billionaire explained what Stephen had told him – and the consequences of what had happened. It took about ten minutes, and to his credit, Peter never once asked him if he'd been drinking.

"So," Tony concluded. "Stephen called us over to meet him, and to see if we'd mind keeping him here at the compound while he and Wong try to figure out how to fix it and get him back where he belongs."

"He's really here?" Peter asked.

"Yeah." Tony nodded. "We couldn't have said no, really, even if we'd wanted to. You know the sanctum is a dangerous place, so there was no way Stephen could leave him there."

"No. Of course not." He hesitated. "What's he like?"

That earned a smile.

"He's like you," Tony replied. "There are differences, though, and he's never met me in his time. He lives with May, still, from what he said, and he's Stephen's apprentice."

"May's alive, there?"

"Yeah."

"How?"

"Well, I didn't have a chance to ask Stephen his opinion on it," Stark admitted. "Does Alec have a theory?"

"Of course. Thanos might not be in that reality. Perhaps he died or was killed before he became a threat to the universe, and if Thanos isn't the threat, then there's no need for that Peter to gather the stones – and no need for May to be the sacrifice to claim the soul stone…"

"Huh."

That made sense.

Tony arched a brow.

"Huh?" he echoed. "What did he say?"

"He said that Thanos might not be in this other reality, and so there was no need for May to be sacrificed so I he could get the soul stone."

"Huh." Tony shrugged. "That's interesting, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Peter hesitated. "Is it safe for him to be here?"

"Because of the concern of Entropic Cascade failure?" his father asked, surprising Peter.

"You know the theory?"

The older man hid his smile by pressing his face against Nutmeg's furry body for a moment.

"I'm Ironman, son," he reminded the boy. "I know everything."

Peter smiled at that – and he didn't bother to try and hide it.

"Right. Sorry I forgot."

Tony reached out and ruffled his son's hair.

"Ready to meet him?"

"Yeah."

They got up and headed for the door to the workroom and Tony sent a heads-up through FRIDAY to let Pepper and their guest know they were coming. Pepper was seated on the stool that Tony used when he wasn't restlessly pacing, and the alternate Peter was standing beside her. From the tablet on the worktable, it was clear that they'd been looking at some data, or something, but both were now watching as Peter and Tony walked through the door.

"Wow…"

That was from Tony's Peter, but the other one had an identical expression of amazement on his face.

"That's crazy…"

That was from the other Peter.

"So…" Tony said, amused. "I'm not going to introduce you, obviously. Peter?"

Both looked at him.

"Yeah?"

Pepper snorted, and Tony rolled his eyes.

"Okay, this isn't going to work." He pointed at his son. "You're Peter." Then he pointed at the other boy. "You're going to be Pete. Are you good with that?"

The alternate Peter nodded, still bemused at the company he was keeping. Crazy enough that he was meeting Tony Stark, but also a different version of himself? He could live with being called Pete.

"Yes."

"Okay. We're going to give you a chance to settle in," Tony told Pete. "Peter? We're putting him in VIP A. Loan him some clothes so he has something to wear, will you? Then show him how to get to the lounge, and we'll introduce him to some of the others."

"Okay."

He looked at the other boy, and Pete nodded, too.

"Yeah."