AN: Short chapter, I know. Sorry about that. This is a fun thing, though, for me. Writing two Peters like I am. Too bad we can't keep him!

OOOOOOOOO

At seven the next morning there was a light knock on the door to Peter's room. When there wasn't a response, it opened, and Natasha Romanoff peeked in – and then walked in. She smiled at the sleeping form bundled in a blanket on the sofa with Nutmeg sleeping on him, the kitten rising and falling with each breath the boy took. A video game controller on the coffee table was an indicator of the last thing he'd been doing.

The fact that there were two controllers told the assassin that he hadn't been doing it alone.

"Karen? Is Peter in his room?"

"Yes. He's asleep, as well," she added.

"Tell Friday to tell Tony I'll wake them up and send them his way."

"Will do."

She started with Pete, since he was the closest – although her conversation with the AI had already made him open his eyes. He sat up, wincing when Nutmeg showed his disapproval at the motion with a hold of sharp little claws into the t-shirt he was wearing, and Natasha smiled at him. He was just as adorable as Peter (no surprise) when he looked sleepy.

"Good morning, sunshine."

"Hey, Agent Romanoff…" he looked around. "It's morning?"

"It is," she confirmed. "And since you're still here, it's a certain bet that your wizards – and ours – haven't figured out how to get you back where you belong. Which means we get to keep you for at least a little while longer."

It was calculated to make sure that he understood they were happy to have him, and to keep him from fretting, too much, about the fact that he still wasn't home where he belonged.

"It must be something complicated," Pete said, rubbing his eyes. "If it's taking so long."

"If it was something easy then I imagine people would be popping in and out of alternate realities all the time," she pointed out. "So it's probably better this way."

"Yeah." He looked at her. "You're really dating Doctor Strange here?"

The super spy nodded, not surprised that that particular tidbit of information had been shared.

"I am. He's pretty cute, you know…"

"I hadn't noticed," Pete said, making her smile widen. "He's not my type."

"Well, he is mine," she turned at the motion at the door to Peter's bedroom and saw that Peter was standing there, wearing sweats but nothing more, but still looking as sleep rumpled as his counterpart. "Your dad suspected that you two might not be awake – something about Friday telling him that the network was on until four in the morning streaming video games – and asked me if I would swing by and wake you up."

Peter smiled.

"We didn't play anything with explosions," he pointed out.

"And I appreciate it. Are you awake, then? Or do I send in the cavalry?"

"We're awake."

"Tony said breakfast at 7:30."

"Okay. Thanks."

She reached down and picked up Nutmeg and left, closing the door behind her.

"Man, she's hot…" Pete said, shaking his head. Then he turned and his eyes widened. "Holy shit. You have a tattoo?"

Peter grinned, looking down at his bare chest.

"Yeah."

"Wow. Mr. Stark let you have it?"

"Yeah. Kind of." Not that he had a lot of choice, did he? "I'll let you in on a secret," he added. "MJ has one, too – and Ned."

"What? Really?"

The phone came out, again, and he showed Ned proudly showing off his tattoo, as well – and then MJ showing hers, which was a little less flamboyant.

"We got them all done, at the same time."

"How did Ned talk his mom into that?"

"It took a lot of fast-talking, and he might have mentioned needing therapy if he was the only kid that wasn't allowed to get one."

"Damn."

"I'm not allowed to get another one for the rest of my life," Peter told him. "And neither is Ned."

"It's a good one, though," Pete said, taking a closer look at Peter's. "Makes sense, with you being Spiderman and hanging out with the Avengers."

"Yeah." He looked down at himself. "I'm going to go change. Do you just want some clothes? Or do you want to go to your rooms?"

"No. Just give me some clothes."

He didn't have anything in the room that he didn't have back in the VIP room. He and Peter had played video games all night, and it had been fun. It was also a good way for him to distract himself from his worry for May, who had to be freaking out, by now. There was no way that Wong and Doctor Strange hadn't told her what had happened. If Peter hadn't suggested the video games, chances were Pete would have been pacing all night, and there really wasn't anything that he could do, no was there?

"You look worried, all of a sudden," Peter said. "Are you okay?"

"Just thinking about May," he admitted, hoping it wasn't a sore spot with the other. His being alive and the one here not. "I'm sure she's worried sick, by now, you know?"

"Yeah. She would be. She knows Stephen's a sorcerer, though, right? So she knows that he's good at solving problems. Him and Wong, both. They'll be making sure to keep her spirits up, I imagine."

"True."

"Peter?"

Both boys heard Tony's voice coming from the boy's watch. Peter touched the communications button.

"Yeah?"

"Mom says if you don't get a move on, you're walking to the tower."

The boy rolled his eyes and Pete smiled at the teasing.

"We're on our way." He ended the call and led Pete into his bedroom, opening the dresser and tossing the other boy a shirt. "I have school and then academic practice," he told him as he pulled out a pair of jeans for himself. Pete had all day to change into clean jeans. "Pepper works until five or so and will come get me, and we'll be back at six, or six thirty."

"Why do you live out here?" Pete asked, changing shirts while Peter changed into the jeans. "You could sleep later if you lived in the city."

"Because I sleepwalk," Peter replied. "And it's a lot more dangerous for me to do it in the city living at the tower than out here where there aren't any buildings to fall off."

"Oh. I used to sleepwalk when I was little."

"I know. I did, too. It started, again, when we lost May, and since that was when Tony took me in, it was safer out here. Besides," he added, smiling. "This is where the avengers are. Why would I want to live closer?"

"Good point." He watched as Peter took a small black object from the stand next to his bed and pressed it against his hip before putting his shirt on. "What is that?"

"Housing for my suit."

"What?"

Peter smiled, and slapped the housing, and the other boy gasped when the vibranium suit activated, swarming all over him. He let the mask activate, too, but then deactivated the mask, leaving the rest intact for a minute so Pete could check it out. He knew that he would want to, if the situation was reversed.

"My suit."

"That's incredible," Pete said, reaching out and touching the arm. "What is this stuff? Nanotech?"

"It's a mixture of nanotech – like what Tony has in his Ironman suit – and vibranium."

"What's vibranium?"

"A really rare metal found in Africa."

"Mr. Stark made this for you?"

"Shuri did."

"Wow… all MJ ever made me was a shirt in home ec."

Peter grinned.

"It's more than she ever made me," he pointed out. He deactivated the suit and lifted his shirt so Pete could watch it all return to the housing. "I haven't taken home ec, yet. I'll have to make it up, next year, since I missed a couple classes."

"Don't let her make you anything," Pete said as the two boys headed for the door. "It's ugly and scratchy."

"I'll keep that in mind."