"So…"
Pete smiled. Ned hadn't waited long; they were barely out of the lounge and walking down the corridor.
"Yeah?"
"Are we friends in your reality?"
"Best friends," Pete confirmed. "Ever since we were little kids."
"Awesome. Are you Spiderman, there?"
"Yeah."
Peter came trotting up from behind them.
"What did Tony say?" Ned asked, knowing that Peter had held back to talk to his parents.
"Wanted to make sure to remind me – us – that if someone calls and it's a video call to keep Pete out of the screen."
"Pete?"
Pete tapped his chest.
"That's what we're calling me," he said. "To keep it from getting any more confusing than it already is."
"Do they call you Pete where you're from?"
"Nope. Peter. Ever since I can remember." He looked at Peter. "You?"
"Always Peter, yeah. Not Pete, or Petey, or anything like that."
"Cool." He gave Pete a sidelong glance. "Do you have a girlfriend?"
"He's dating MJ."
"Yeah?" Ned didn't look surprised. "Peter dated her, too. But it didn't work out very well."
Pete already knew that – and didn't need to ask.
"That's what he said."
"So your MJ doesn't mind you being Spiderman?" Ned asked, curiously, as they rounded one of the corners toward the shop. "Or does she even know your Spiderman?"
"She knows," Pete confirmed.
"Everyone knows in his reality," Peter added.
Ned was surprised that time.
"They do?"
Pete nodded.
"Yeah."
"Wow. Did you guys compare?" he asked. "I mean, did you compare what's different here from there?"
"There's a lot," Peter told him.
"Like what?"
"I've never met Tony Stark or any of the Avengers," Pete replied before Peter could.
"Seriously?"
"Yes."
"How have you not?" Ned asked. "If everyone knows you're Spiderman? No one came from SHIELD or the Avengers to try and recruit you, or something?"
"Not that I know of…" Pete said.
"Maybe they went to May, first," Peter said. "Since you're a minor."
"May?" Ned echoed.
"She's alive in Pete's reality," Peter explained.
"Wow. I'm glad."
"So am I," Peter agreed. "It's definitely the biggest difference between the two places as far as we've figured. We should still figure out a way for Pete to meet the Tony Stark in his reality. It'd be good for his Stephen and Tony to know each other – in case something came up."
"Yeah."
Pete shrugged, though, as they entered the shop.
"I don't know how it could happen," he said. "It's not like I can walk up and introduce myself and tell him that the alternate reality me said we should meet."
"He'd toss you out on your ear," Ned concurred.
"He wouldn't be that bad," Peter decided. "But yeah. That wouldn't work."
"You should definitely figure out a way to meet Shuri, too," Ned said. "Not to date her," he added, quickly. "But Wakanda is awesome and vibranium is incredible. Even if you can't figure out how to meet Tony and the Avengers, Wakanda is a pretty impressive ally."
"He's right. You should definitely reach out to her…"
"How?" Pete made a face that Peter knew well. He used it all the time, after all. "I don't have any reason to know her, right?"
"Let me think about it," Peter said. He knew her best, after all. "If nothing else, you can always stalk her secret social media account."
"She has a secret social media account?" Ned asked, surprised.
"Of course. She's a princess," he pointed out. "She can't be slumming with the commoners all day."
Ned snorted.
"I can't wait to tell her what you just said."
"I'll deny it."
The boys were all smiling as they returned to Peter's prototype, which was almost completed. Ned, Pete, and Tony all had their s finished, and all would be taken to the garage, eventually, to be loaded into the back of a truck – or onto a trailer, if needed – for the trip to the farm later the next week.
OOOOOOOOO
"Well, the cat's out of the bag."
Natasha smiled.
"I heard. You don't seem too annoyed."
Tony shook his head.
"Ned knows Peter better than anyone. We should have expected it – especially once we said he could come out for the night."
She didn't mention that she'd pretty much expected it.
"He won't tell anyone."
"Nah." The billionaire wasn't concerned. Not too much, anyway. "Have you heard anything from Stephen or Wong?"
The superspy nodded, sitting down at the table across from Pepper. Stephen hadn't hung out around the compound, saying instead that he was going to go find out what Wong had learned at the other sanctums. She'd heard from him, earlier. One of the reasons that she'd come to see Pepper and Tony.
The other was because she enjoyed their company – and that of the boys she knew would nbe joining them.
"They're going to come talk to you, later. And Peter."
"About?"
"Nutmeg."
"The cat or the plant?"
She smiled.
"The cat. Something about Flerkin anatomy and experimenting."
"Peter won't appreciate them experimenting with his baby…" Pepper said.
"Stephen wouldn't hurt Nutmeg." Natasha didn't look concerned about that, either. "That little Flerkin has the sorcerer supreme wrapped around his little paw – and Wong, too, for that matter. They've been all over looking for as much information about Flerkins that they can find, and I guess they decided they needed to check the real thing, now."
"Huh." Tony shrugged. He wasn't too concerned, either. Both magicians knew that Peter was fond of the kitten – and they both knew that the kitten was a formidable creature that could take care of himself if he felt threatened. "They're welcomed whenever, they know that."
"Some time tonight, or tomorrow, is what Stephen told me."
"Sounds good. Are you eating dinner with us?"
Romanoff smirked.
"Three teenaged boys – two of which have a crush on me?" Peter didn't, but she had been around Pete enough to know that he didn't feel the same way about her that Peter did. And Ned made sure Natasha knew that he knew she was just waiting for him to turn eighteen before she was ready to make a commitment to him. "Wouldn't miss it for the world."
"Cards until then?" Tony asked.
"Sounds good."
OOOOOOOO
"This thing is awesome…"
Peter smiled, looking at the device that was on the table. His pumpkin chucker wasn't as tall as Ned's, or quite as sturdy as Pete's, but it was a good design, and it kind of looked like Tony's. Standing about four feet tall it was the last of theirs to be finished, but he was pretty sure it would make a good showing the next weekend.
"Yeah." He wiped his hand on his cheek, brushing off some sawdust from a final cut that had been needed to make the arm of the machine fit, perfectly. "It came out perfect."
"MJ's building one, too?" Pete asked.
"She is," Ned confirmed. "She has the design done."
"Pepper's bringing her here," Peter said. "After school on Tuesday, and Tony and her are going to build it."
"You're not helping?"
"Not allowed to," Peter said with a smile. "She said that since Shuri's is a secret design, she wants hers to be seen in action, first."
"Is Shuri making hers out of vibranium?" Ned asked. "That'd be pretty cool."
"Only wood," his friend replied. "Just like ours."
"Too bad."
Peter shrugged.
"It'll be great no matter what she makes it from," he told them both.
Ned rolled his eyes.
"You don't have to say that just because she's your girlfriend," he said. "She isn't even here."
"You think she's going to build something crappy?" Peter asked.
Ned snorted, grinning.
"Of course not. She's brilliant. I'm just saying that you don't have to-"
"You guys ready to eat, soon?" Tony's voice coming from Peter's watch interrupted.
"Getting there," Peter replied. "My tosser is done."
"Then come on. We need to get Ned fed and then get him home."
Ned rolled his eyes again, making Pete and Peter both smile.
"We'll be there in a minute," Peter promised. "We're just getting everything picked up."
"Natasha's going to eat with us."
The communication ended, but enough had been said. Peter shook his head, smiling, as Pete and Ned both picked up the pace and started gathering all of the discarded wood, and everything else that they'd been using to build the chuckers. Ned caught his friend's amused look, but it was Pete who answered it.
"What?" he asked, trying to look innocent. "I'm hungry."
Uh huh.
Alec snorted in Peter's mind, but the boy and the ancient magician were both silent.
Peter actually was hungry.