"This is amazing…"

Ned preened, trying to look modest, watching as Peter and Benjamin looked at the screen on his laptop. It was filled with the plans for Ned's own pumpkin tosser. He'd already shown them the prototype which he'd pulled from his backpack and set on Peter's desk, but it wasn't that impressive since it was made out of popsicle sticks. Or maybe more impressive because it was just made out of them – and a few rubber bands – and Ned was telling them that he'd managed to fling a few tennis balls with it in his bedroom the evening before.

"Well, it'll be cooler when Tony helps me get the materials that I need to build the real thing," he told them. "It's easy enough to-"

"Why are Pepper and I sitting alone in the lounge listening to our stomachs growling…?"

The plaintive question came through both Peter's and Ned's communication watches, and all three boys smiled.

"We're on our way," Peter assured his dad. "We-"

"Got distracted?" Tony interrupted, and Peter and Ned could hear the amusement in his tone.

Pete/Benjamin didn't know him well enough to be sure that was what it was.

"What?" Peter's eyes grew wide and innocent. "Not us."

"He can't see you," Ned reminded him, smirking.

"Good point." Peter touched his comm unit, again. "We're on our way."

"Really? Because Friday doesn't see you in the corridors…"

"We're leaving now," Ned replied, grinning at being messed with by – and messing with – Tony Stark. It never got old, really. "I was just getting settled in…"

Peter rolled his eyes at that, and the boys heard an amused snort from Peter's watch.

"Come eat, boys," Tony told them. "You have all night – and tomorrow to goof off, and Pepper's getting hangry and it's making me nervous."

"We're coming," Peter replied, grinning.

All three headed for the door to Peter's room.

OOOOOOO

They didn't take long, and despite the complaint about their stomachs growling Peter saw that there was a bowl of bread rolls on the table and Tony and Pepper were both snacking on one when the boys arrived at the lounge.

"About time," Tony said, feigning annoyance that even Pete knew wasn't real. "Peter? Ned? Go get dinner, will you?"

"Yeah."

The two turned and headed for the bar while Pete went to sit across from Tony and Pepper.

"How's it going?" Tony asked. "The tech holding up, alright?"

Understanding that the billionaire meant the identity technology and not Ned's pumpkin thrower, Pet nodded.

"Doing good, so far," he said. "And I'm being careful to not respond when Ned says Peter."

Pepper smiled at that.

"Smart."

"If you need a break or anything, just tell Peter that you need to go check on Ironpig for me, or something."

"Yeah. I will. Thanks." He smiled, and shrugged. "It isn't uncomfortable, or anything. I can hardly even feel that it's there."

"Well, we don't want you stressing it."

"I appreciate that."

They might have said more, but Ned and Peter returned carrying bowls of pasta and sauce, setting it down on the table and walking back to gather salad, meatballs and all other ingredients needed for a fine pasta meal. Maybe not as fine as if they were in a fancy restaurant, or something, but Tony and Pepper didn't do the fancy restaurants like they used to – and they didn't miss it. A casual sit-down meal with Peter (and ofttimes the others) was just as good as far as they were concerned, and much more enjoyable.

"Plans for tonight?" Pepper asked the boys as they started eating.

"Can we work on the pumpkin throwers?" Ned asked, looking from her to Tony, hopefully.

"We're going to do that, tomorrow," Stark said. "I want to see your design tonight, so I know what you're going to need to build it. I'll order it this evening and have it delivered if we don't already have it here." Tony looked at Peter. "You need to finish your design, too, if you can."

His son grinned.

"II finished it today, after I was done with my school stuff."

"You did?"

"Mostly. I went to my room and worked on it a bit. I didn't build a prototype, though."

"I thought you were playing pinball," Pepper told him, smiling at how pleased he looked.

Peter shrugged, smiling.

"That, too."

"So tonight we'll get that started," Tony told them. "But I want to hold off on the building until tomorrow when we have more time – and we can go outside for testing."

"Nick probably wouldn't care for us flinging vegetables around the gym," Ned agreed before Peter could.

"Right."

"Can we go on the Quinjet simulator?" Ned asked.

"Sure."

It was the weekend and SHIELD wasn't using it. Not to mention, Ned and Peter had used it enough that they didn't need any supervision. Besides, it would keep them occupied and entertained for hours if they let it.

"Ned's here until tomorrow evening," Pepper said. "Plenty of time to play with your engineering project." She didn't say competition, but it really was a competition. A friendly one, of course – despite how competitive Tony could be – but nonetheless with so many geniuses involved, it was going to be judged as such. "You guys can do whatever you want to do, this evening, and tomorrow morning you can build the devices."

"Machines," Tony corrected. "They're mechanical but not electrical."

She rolled her eyes but was amused.

"Machines," she agreed. "Depending on how long it takes, you can swim before lunch."

Ned grinned, clearly looking forward to it. No sense spending all that time learning to swim and not using it, right?

"Great."

"If it goes longer, you can swim after lunch," Pepper told them. "Then just do whatever you want until dinner."

"We'll take Ned home after dinner," Tony told them. "But we'll try to keep things non-structured as much as possible."

Ned was here to have fun, after all, and Pete and Peter needed that, as well. Especially with the stress of having Pete in the wrong dimension.

"It's going to be great," Ned said, smiling when Peter nodded his agreement.

Tony and Pepper both looked at Pete, and the boy nodded, too, his own smile sincere.

"It's going to be fun."

He was the odd man out – it wasn't his world, after all – but the time that he'd spent with Tony had made him more comfortable with the man. Pepper was great, Ned was Ned, and the one in this place was so similar to the one in his own, and of course Peter here had already proven that he wanted to make things as easy for him as he could. He didn't want to stay any longer than he had to, but he was willing to enjoy the time as well as he could while he was there.

"Finish eating," Tony ordered all of them. "I want to see what you guys came up with."

He wasn't above being obsessive with building. Luckily Pepper was used to that (and still loved him) and she didn't show any sign of being annoyed that he was more interested in spending time looking at the boys' projects than spending the evening with her. She knew that she was invited to join them – and she might sneak in to take a look before wandering off to find something else to do – but Pepper wasn't as interested in the building of things as the men in her life were. She'd want to see the finished results but that wouldn't happen until the next day at the earliest.

And at that, she might want to wait until all of them were together. Shuri and MJ included. That would be fun for her.

Being boys – and teenaged boys at that – none of them argued, and dug into the meal with enthusiasm, still discussing their respective days, but making great inroads. Pepper smiled over at her husband, amused and awed as usual when she found herself in such a domestic scene, and she turned her attention to the food, also.

OOOOOOOOO

"How's it going?"

Strange sighed and shook his head. Natasha was at the sanctum, as well, and was now in the library with him and Wong. She'd shown up on their doorstep unannounced, but it was hardly the first time that she'd done it, and he hadn't been surprised when the cloak had swooped into the library and slapped his shoulder to alert him to the visitor. He'd offered her coffee, which she'd declined for now, and had walked with her to the library, knowing that she was going to be interested in hearing an update on what they had figured out, so far, and to see of there was anything that she (or SHIELD or the Avengers) could help them with.

"We're not sure," he told her, holding her chair for her before seating himself next to Wong and across from her. "The figurine is the best bet, but it's apparently out of reach, here."

"Which means we need to figure out an alternate – or a workaround on the figurine…" Wong added. "How is the boy doing?"

"He's holding it together pretty well," she told them both. "Tony and Pepper have a lot to do with that, of course, but I think he's a little steadier than our Peter is, if that makes sense…"

"He didn't lose May," Wong said with a shrug. "And doesn't have the stress of knowing the Avengers and worrying about how the universe is going to steal them from him like it did May. Of course he's steadier."

She smiled.

"He has to deal with you guys more, though, from the sound of it. I'm surprised he doesn't have gray hair."

Both men smirked at that.

"We're going to take the evening off from the problem," Strange told her. "Not only do we need the break, but it'll give us a chance to step back and think about possible solutions."

"That makes sense." Natasha raised an eyebrow. "Do you want me to leave you alone to your stepping back?"

"Of course not." Stephen wasn't the only one to smile when the cloak sidled up against her. "We'll make you dinner."

"An offer I can't refuse."