Peter has been there the whole time. At first he had sobbed and tried to convince Tony that he was really there but it didn’t take long for him to figure out that Tony couldn’t see him.
He stayed anyway. Peter sat by him when he fixed the guardians ship and when he repaired the blue aliens mechanical arm. Peter saw the tears in his eyes and the man filled with enough energy to power the world look like he had lost it all in a psychological black hole.
He stayed when they left the planet that he had disappeared on and he stayed when Tony could only use his advanced tech to keep him alive. He was there when his mentor realized he very real possibility that he could die. Peter saw Tony record the message for his fiancé and the lost broken look as he looked out among the stars.
Peter was there when the oxygen began to thin and Tony deteriorated. Dread filled Peter as the silent horror overwhelmed his mentor. Only hours away from when the ships oxygen would run out, Tony saw him.
“Peter?” Tony’s voice was hoarse from lack of water, but his eyes were somehow just as alert as ever.
“You can… you can see me?” Peter whispered in desperate hope that Tony could see him and not a hallucination of him caused by the lack of air.
“You-you’re gone… you died in my arms… how are you here…”
“I’ve been here the whole time. You just couldn’t see me.”
“You’re not real… god I knew this would happen… I knew I’d start seeing things but why’d it have to be you… how could the universe break me more…”
“Was I that bad of a kid?” Peter laughed weakly. “You can’t give up now Mr. Stark. Come on, you had less to work with in an Afghan cave.”
“What’s the point.” The hopelessness in the phrase shattered Peters heart.
“The universe- I’m not lost Tony. If I am here talking to you, you can bring me- everyone back. Isn’t that worth living for? Doing what you do best and fixing everything?” Peter shrugged.
“How the hell am I going to do that? I can’t bring people back from the dead!”
“You’re Tony Stark. I’m sure you’ll think of something.” Peter smiles hopefully despite the overwhelming sadness that had taken over his body after he… dusted.
Before Tony could respond, Peter was gone. Tony struggled to stand and felt the first spark of determination to fix everything. To get Peter back.
Peter opened his eyes in a desolate orange atmosphere with a crushing sense of loneliness while Tony desperately sent a distress signal using the alien ships foreign systems and the last bit of power left in his arc reactor.
If he had done nothing, he would’ve been overlooked by the glowing space woman. If Peter has not been there, Tony would’ve given up.
But he didn’t.