"I'm pretty sure I remember telling you two to go to bed at a decent hour…"

Peter grinned, noticing that Pete wasn't so comfortable with Tony that he was ready to believe that the man wasn't really annoyed with them.

"We did," he said, gesturing for the other boy to sit beside Pepper and taking the spot across from them.

"Four in the morning," Stark said, winking at Pete, cheerfully, but turning his attention back to his son. "That's when Karen told Friday you guys finished playing your video games."

"What?" Peter allowed his eyes to get wide and innocent. "We wouldn't stay up that late after being told specifically not to… Karen must be on daylight savings, or something."

Pepper smiled at that, and reached out, automatically, to push Pete's bangs away from his forehead – and only managing to stop herself at the last minute to touch his arm, instead.

"How did you sleep?" she asked. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah. I mean… I'm okay. Worried about May."

"I'm sure she's worried sick," Pepper agreed. She looked at Tony who was smirking at Peter. "We haven't heard from Stephen?"

"Nothing, yet." He looked at Pete. "You're good hanging with me, today?" he asked. "We could keep Peter home from school if you'd be more comfortable with him around."

"No. I'm okay. You're not a cannibal, right?"

Tony rolled his eyes.

"You're pretty scrawny, kid. If I were a cannibal, I'd have to fatten you up a bit, first." Both boys grinned at that. "Go get breakfast, guys," the billionaire told them, shooing them away. "We need to get Pepper and Peter fed before they leave."

Peter got up and Pete followed, both boys walking over to the bar where Dena met them, smiling a greeting.

"He seems alright," Pepper noted, watching as the two were loaded up with platters of eggs, pancakes, and sausages."

"He's good," Tony agreed. "I'll keep him busy, today, and keep his mind off the craziness going on. Keep Peter close, too, alright? In case Stephen or Wong decide they need him – or the Mind stone – for something."

"We don't have anything planned," Pepper assured him. "If you need something, call. His practice is at 3:30."

She knew that he knew that, but it never hurt to remind him.

"Right. Do you want me to come get him, after?"

Meaning, if she had a meeting, or something, he didn't mind driving in.

"No, I'm free." She smiled a thank you when the boys returned, settling their plates in the middle of the table and then taking their seats back.

"What do you have planned, today?" she asked Tony, curiously.

He smiled, and looked at Pete.

"I have a special project I'm working on. Pete can help me."

The boy looked interested. Both of them did, really, but it was Pete who spoke up.

"What are we going to be doing?"

"It's a secret," came the reply, which made Pepper and Peter roll their eyes. "I'll tell you when they're gone."

"Cool."

OOOOOOOOO

"You drive yourself?" Pete asked, surprised, a half hour later as he and Peter walked into the garage and over to the sedan that Pepper drove.

After breakfast he'd gone with Peter to his rooms so the other guy could get his backpack – although he admitted that he really didn't need to take much with him. Pete already knew that Peter was being homeschooled from the tower that quarter and would be restarting back at school after the holiday. He'd explained that the same injury done to his hand had been the reason he'd missed enough school that he'd had to pull out to make sure he kept up for his return, and Pete wondered just how bad the injury had been – and what had caused it.

He didn't get hurt too often, and when he did, it was usually just bruising that healed fairly quickly. He'd never had to miss school because of it.

Pepper smiled, taking her bag from Tony, who kissed her, lightly, and then moved over to lean against Peter's Pontiac.

"Usually," she confirmed. "I enjoy driving, and it's a good way to spend time with Peter."

"Me and mommy time," Peter said, smiling.

Pepper smiled at that, too, but she addressed Pete's question.

"If I don't feel like driving, Happy can drive us – or Tony can."

"If there's something going on at the tower and I need to be there, too, I'll go in the morning with them. If I don't have to stay the entire day, I can always go ironman and fly myself home."

"Or he can goof around in his workroom until Pepper is ready to go," Peter added.

"I don't goof around," Tony corrected, primly. "I tinker."

"That's crazy…" Pete said, shaking his head.

"What is?" Pepper asked.

"How normal you are. I mean, not you," he said, quickly, to Pepper. "You're normal, already. But this is Tony Stark…" he gestured to the billionaire. "He's not supposed to be normal. He doesn't act normal on TV – or in the news."

"He has a persona to uphold in front of the media and the public" Pepper said, smiling gently. "But no one could be like that all the time. This is who he is when he's allowed to let his guard down and be himself."

"Don't listen to her, Pete," Tony told the boy, pushing Peter toward the car and handing him his backpack as he did. "I never let my guard down."

"We'll be home by six," Pepper reminded him. "And Ned is supposed to be coming out, tomorrow – and we don't have a good reason to change that," she added. "You need to think of an emergency that doesn't include our son's alternate reality duplicate popping in for a visit."

"Yes, dear."

She smirked at his faux meekness.

"I love you."

"Love you, too."

He held her door for her, and then closed it when she was in and buckled. Peter waved and got into the car, as well, and with a honk of the horn, they drove off.

"Peter doesn't drive them?" Pete asked as the garage door closed and the lights in the garage turned up to allow more illumination.

"He can," Tony said, turning and heading toward the entrance. "But he likes to sleep on the way."

"Oh."

"Feeling creative?" the billionaire asked.

"Sure."

"Good. Let's go to my workroom and I'll tell you what I'm working on."

OOOOOOOO

"How are you doing?" Pepper asked as she pulled the car from the service room onto the main highway.

"I'm fine," Peter assured her. "I'm hardly tired, at all."

She smiled.

"I meant with the whole duplicate Peter thing…"

"Oh." He hesitated, knowing that she was asking sincerely and wanting to be able to answer honestly. "It's weird," he admitted. "But I'm not freaked out, or anything. I mean, we already know that magic can do crazy things, after all, and it isn't like he's my evil twin, or something. I like him. He's different than me, but we're a lot alike."

"That makes sense, if you think about it."

"Yeah." He leaned into the seat's fine leather but turned to look at her. "How are you and Tony handling it? Are you freaking out?"

"We've already seen you turned into a toddler," she reminded him. "This isn't even close to as crazy as that. We know that Stephen and Wong are working on it, and we hope that they figure it out quickly – to save May and those who love him in his reality all the anguish that we're sure they're going through – but he's you, and we love you, so vicariously, we pretty much already love him. Although we have to keep from making it weird by wanting to hug him like we would you."

"What if he's still here, tomorrow?" Peter asked. "Are you going to let Ned meet him?"

She frowned.

"I don't know about that. It's-"

"Ned already knows about magic," the boy pointed out, suddenly hoping that he could talk her into it. How fun would that be? Him and Ned and Pete? "He knows that crazy things can happen with it."

She nodded her agreement to that statement and shrugged.

"I'll ask Tony what he thinks – and we'll see what happens between now and then."

"Okay."

He might be gone by then, of course. Who knew?

"Are you going to take a nap?" she asked.

"Maybe."

"We could discuss the Polynesian war assignment that you have due, today."

"Ugh. Maybe I'll nap."

Pepper smiled and turned up the heat in the car – and then turned on the music she preferred to listen to on their morning drive.

"I'll wake you up when we get there."

"Pete has an addendum to his license," Peter told her, closing his eyes and leaning against the window. "It lets him drive in the city."

"Really?"

"Yeah. He showed it to me. He said he was surprised that I didn't have one, because I'm Tony's son – and Spiderman."

"How did he get his?" she asked, curiously.

"I don't know," Peter admitted. "I didn't ask."

"We'll have to look into that."

Of course, she wasn't sure that she wanted him driving in the city. There were so many reckless people out there – and she only had one son, after all.

"Okay."

He closed his eyes, allowing the warmth and the light music – and her comforting presence – to put him to sleep.

Time enough to worry about everything later – and to come up with a way to get a chance to introduce Ned to Pete. Probably not to MJ, though. That might be too weird for her, since she didn't know that Stephen did actual magic.

He'd see what Tony thought when Pepper brought it up.