"Well…?"
Tony frowned, looking at Pepper, and then at Peter and Pete before turning back to Ned, who was watching him, expectantly. The boy had just finished asking him what it turned out was the same thing he'd asked Pepper, and Tony had a similar reaction.
"Well…" He looked at Pepper, again, uncertainly, and was a little annoyed when she smiled, slightly. She looked more amused than anything, and didn't look at all contrite at the look he gave her. "It isn't funny, Pep."
"He knows Peter better than anyone," she pointed out. "If anyone was going to figure it out, it'd be Ned, right?"
"Figure what out?" Ned asked, curiously. He looked at Pete/Benjamin. "Is he a space alien android replica of Peter?" he asked, voice getting higher with excitement. "But why doesn't he look like him? He acts like him, and he-"
"I'm not an android," Pete interrupted.
"Then what?"
Pete looked at Tony, who hesitated for a moment and then sighed, and shrugged.
"Go ahead and show him."
"Show me what?" Ned asked. "I don't – holy shit." He winced at Pepper's immediate disapproval of the curse, but then looked back at Benjamin, whose face had suddenly dissolved and melted until it was Peter's face looking at him. Only, Peter was already sitting in the chair beside him. "I don't understand. How are there two of you? Did you clone him?" Ned asked, looking at Tony. "So you can protect him by having more than one around… spread out the targets? Does he-"
"He isn't a clone, Ned," Tony interrupted. "Pete is from a different reality."
"Really?" Ned looked at Pete. "Which one?"
"I don't know," the boy replied, shrugging. "The one where I'm a magician apprentice."
"What?"
Peter smiled, despite his concern over Ned knowing the truth about Pete's identity.
"In his reality he works with Stephen."
"Are you Spiderman?"
"Yeah."
"So you're going to be a sorcerer and be Spiderman?"
Ned sounded impressed. And not at all skeptical of what he'd been told. It was the Avengers, after all, and he already knew that magic was real. He'd spent enough time around Strange and Wong. More than almost anyone, really, since Peter spent time at the sanctum and Ned was often invited.
Pete nodded.
"Eventually."
"Wow."
"You can't tell anyone," Peter told his friend. "Not even MJ."
"Does Shuri know?"
"No."
"Wow." He stared at Pete. "That's nuts."
"Yeah."
Ned was quiet for a moment – even he could be shocked into silence if the circumstances were odd enough – and this definitely was. The odd Peter had shorter hair than his Peter did but that was about it. Peter was – maybe – a little thinner than the other one, but they looked like identical twins – even to Ned.
The others were silent, uncertain what to say and knowing that questions would soon be coming.
"How…" Ned frowned. "What happened?"
"Stephen's trying to figure it out," Tony told the boy. "Something at the sanctum went screwy and Pete, here, was apparently caught in the middle of it. He ended up at the sanctum in our reality and Stephen and Wong are trying to figure out how to get him home and asked us to keep him safe while they do it."
"Yeah… that makes sense." Ned was still staring at Pete, but his expression clouded. "How long have you been here?" he asked. "What about Entropic Cascade Failure," he said, worriedly. "You guys-"
"It's not a real thing," Tony told him, wondering absently how many nerds could fit at one small table. "Stephen has assured us that Pete and Peter are safe being in the same reality."
"You're sure?"
"He's been here several days, now," Pepper told him. "And no harm, yet."
Ned looked at both Peters, and Peter nodded.
"We're okay."
"Yeah."
"How did you change your appearance?" Ned asked Pete. "Magic?"
"It's SHIELD tech," Peter told him before Pete could reply. "I don't know how it works – yet – but it's cool."
"Did it hurt?"
Pete shook his head.
"No."
"Okay…" Tony drew their attention back to himself and folded his hands and put them on the table in front of him. Pretty much his most serious pose – although he never realized it. Peter and Pepper both did. "The cat's out of the bag, now, so you can keep the disguise off," he told Pete. "While you're here, anyway."
"But keep it close," Pepper added. "Just in case someone comes in, unexpectedly."
"Alright." Pete was relieved not to have to wear it. Not because it wasn't comfortable, but because it wasn't him.
"How long are you staying here?" Ned asked.
"We don't know," Tony told him before Pete could do more than just shrug. "Stephen and Wong are working on it. It might be days, and it might be longer. We're hoping it won't be too long. He has people back in his own reality who are probably worried – and getting more and more worried as time passes."
"We might wake up, tomorrow, and find that the alternate Stephen Strange solved the problem overnight and Pete is gone without a chance to say goodbye," Pepper pointed out. She smiled at the boy – who looked so much like her own but was different because they didn't share the common difficulties that she and Peter had been through. "Although I hope we get some warning."
Pete returned the smile.
"I'll try."
"So now what?" Ned asked. "You guys aren't going to do a Men in Black thing and zap my memory, right?"
Tony smirked at that.
"We don't have that kind of tech, Ned." Unfortunately. "What happens next is that you finish your visit with Peter and Pete, and then we'll take you home. Where you won't tell anyone – especially anyone on social media what you know. Or any of your friends."
"Of course not," Ned assured him. "I wouldn't say anything. You know that."
He'd kept Peter's secret, hadn't he? And it was the best secret in the world. Well, maybe not the world, but definitely the best in the city. Probably.
"I know." Stark trusted the boy more than he trusted most of the population. "If I was too worried, I'd figure out a reason to keep you here, instead."
Ned's eyes lit up.
"We could do that."
"No." Now it was Pepper who replied. "I happen to know that your mother needs you, tonight."
"It's not that big a deal," the boy replied. "It's a family portrait thing. Nothing like this…"
Nothing was like this, he decided, still casting side-long glances at Peter and the other Peter.
"Go help Peter finish his pumpkin tosser," Tony said, shooing all three boys away. "And ask them all the questions I know you're burning to ask. You guys have about an hour until dinner."
All three stood up, and Tony looked at Peter, who held back at the look he was given, while Ned and Pete headed for the entrance to the lounge.
"Yeah…?"
"Are you alright?" Tony asked, looking for any sign of a panic attack in the making.
"I'm okay. Just surprised that he knows."
"He's a smart kid," his father reminded him. "And he knows you pretty well. I'm not surprised at all. We should have known it would happen if he was allowed to spend any time with you and Pete together."
"You're alright?" Peter asked both of them.
"We're fine, son," came the reply.
"Ned won't tell."
"I know. But make sure that if Shuri – or someone else calls – while Pete's out of the closet so to speak that you don't do video calls unless he's off screen."
"Yeah. I will." He hesitated. "If he's still around on Friday, does he get to come to Jack's to try out the pumpkin throwers?"
There wasn't any hesitation in Tony's demeanor.
"Of course. It's only fair, since he built one. But we'll have him back in disguise. Shuri and MJ both know you pretty well, too, and they're more observant than Ned."
"Yeah."
"Go on," Tony told him, shooing him away as well but smiling. "If you need anything call. I'll be here with mom."
Peter nodded and left at a trot to catch up with the others.
"Well…" Pepper said with a shrug. "That could have gone better."
Tony shrugged.
"Could have been worse, too."
"You're not going to go join them?"
He shook his head.
"Are you kidding? Ned's going to have a million questions for them. They're done building, for now. I'm better off right here."
She smiled at that.
"You could bring me a fresh cup of coffee, then…"
"Yes, dear."
He stopped long enough to brush a kiss against her cheek, and then headed for the bar.