"What?"

"A Flerkin," Natasha said. "Nutmeg's a Flerkin."

"No he isn't." Pete frowned at the kitten in Peter's arms. "I've known him since he was a baby. He isn't some unicorn."

"As rare as a unicorn," Stephen said. "No one said that he's a unicorn. But I understand your confusion. A Flerkin looks like a regular cat – even the adult ones do."

"I don't understand…" the boy admitted. "If he's so dangerous, why hasn't he killed everyone here? Or why hasn't mine killed-"

"Why would he?" Tony asked, reaching over and taking Nutmeg from Peter, and then promptly flipped the kitten on his back and rubbing his furry belly. "He likes us. And presumably, yours likes you. He doesn't have any reason to eat you guys."

Pete still looked skeptical, but those who knew Peter knew that his doppelganger would need a chance to wrap his mind around that – and maybe some cold hard proof of what they were telling him. Strange turned to Peter.

"So we were thinking that if we can get Nutmeg to eat something that we put a tracer spell on, Wong and I might be able to find this pocket dimension and see if the figurine we're looking for is there."

"You don't think it'd be a dangerous place?" Natasha asked, frowning at the idea.

"Or gross…" Tony added. "If Nutmeg ate one of those dog things that Thanos brought with him, then it should be rotting in that pocket dimension, as well."

"Not to mention all of the things that all the other Flerkin have eaten throughout the ages of Flerkindom," Steve said, also frowning. "The place must be full of dead creatures."

"It's a possibility," Stephen conceded. "But it's worth the attempt."

Pete felt a warmth flooding through him at the thought that this man – who didn't even really know him – was so willing to attempt something so crazy for him.

"So what do we have him eat?" Pepper asked, looking concerned.

"And how do we convince him to eat it?" asked Tony.

"Coat it in gravy?" Steve offered, making the others smile, despite the odd conversation.

It wasn't even the weirdest they'd had that week, really, so it wasn't that outlandish.

"Well…" Wong looked at Strange, and then at Peter. "We were thinking maybe Alec could tell him to eat it."

The was an amused snort in the back of Peter's mind.

"We've had that conversation and he knows it," the ancient sorcerer said. "I'm not the kitty whisperer. I can't get into his mind and tell him what to do. I can't even make a suggestion."

"He says he can't," Peter said, smiling at the amusement in Alec's tone. "Not even a suggestion."

"Who?" Pete asked, confused.

Still.

"Don't tell him about me," Alec said to Peter. "He doesn't need to know, and most likely never will need to meet me. No sense throwing more at him when he's already dealing with so much."

"It's complicated," Peter said before anyone else could reply. "I'll tell you, later."

But probably not. He'd hope Pete forgot to ask, later.

"We're aware of that," Stephen said. "But we'd still like to try."

"After dinner," Peter told him – them. Alec was making his own suggestions, and the boy was willing to follow his lead. "It'll give me a chance to think about it a bit…"

Strange wasn't the only one to toss him a slightly confused look, but Tony nodded his agreement before anyone could disagree.

"Sounds like a plan." He handed Nutmeg back to Peter. "Let's eat, guys. I'm hungry."

The boy took the kitten and set him on his cat tree once more. Pete frowned, looking at the young Flerkin but then allowed Natasha to push him toward the table, and the spot beside her – which was always a good distraction.

"Are you sure all of them are Flerkin?" he asked as he seated himself, looking at Stephen. "Maybe this one is a Flerkin, but Frodo back home is just a stray cat that I found at the sanctum doorstep."

"I suppose it's a possibility," Strange acknowledged, although he didn't look to convinced as he sat down on the other side of Natasha. "There really isn't any way to tell, really. Not without him opening his mouth and showing his true nature."

"Blood test, maybe?" Pete suggested.

"I wouldn't advise it," Wong replied with a smirk.

"Huh." Pete accepted the platter of pork chops from Pepper, who had taken them from a server. "I guess we might start reconsidering the idea of having Frodo neutered, then…"

Tony snorted.

"Probably not a good idea."

They definitely had no plans to try it with Nutmeg, that was certain.

OOOOOOOOO

Dinner was filled with conversation. It started with questions about Flerkins – and Nutmeg in particular. Some things the others were willing to tell Pete about his pet kitten, but not everything. Not because of the Flerkin thing, but because Tony and the others (without discussing it with Peter) had decided that the boy didn't need to know about Thanos, or the infinity stones and the damages that they'd done to Peter – or what Thanos had tried to do to the universe.

The reasoning behind that decision was that with May alive and well in Pete's reality, there was every reason to believe that Thanos wasn't going to be the threat that he had been to them, and why load the boy down with that kind of knowledge if it wasn't necessary? Wong had even commented to tony – earlier that week – that it was very possible that the fact that Pete didn't know Tony might be another indicator that Thanos wasn't going to show himself as a threat in Pete's reality. Clearly the universe had known that the Avengers would need Peter to defeat the mad Titan, here, but didn't seem to be in any kind of hurry to introduce Pete to Tony and the others where he was from.

Natasha eventually steered the conversation in another direction, asking about the pumpkin tossers and what each design was like. That particular conversation took the rest of the meal, since Tony was just as excited about the devices that they'd designed and built as either of the boys were.

"Tell Tony that you're going to go call Shuri," Alec suggested as they were finishing up dessert and the adults were having a final cup of coffee and relaxing a little.

Peter didn't even argue. He stuffed the last bite of pie into his mouth and stood up, starting to gather his dishes, and Pepper's since she was sitting beside him.

"I'm going to go call Shuri," Peter told them all, glancing at Tony as he did, but then looking at the others. "Then I'll be back to see what we can figure out with Nutmeg."

"Tell her I said hi," Natasha said.

"Remind her that we expect her here on Friday morning – our time," Tony added. "Make sure she clears it with T'Challa."

"I will."

He carried the dishes he had gathered to the bar and then headed out of the lounge, well aware that no one (even Pete) would follow and assuming that was the whole idea behind the ruse.

"What's up?" he asked Alec, silently, as he walked down the corridor to his quarters.

Not that he didn't want to call Shuri, but he was pretty sure there had been more to the command than just reminding her about their trip to the farm, Friday.

"I just wanted you separated from the others for a minute."

"Why?"

"Because Strange is going to meet you in your rooms when you get there."

"How do you know that?" he asked. "Did you tell him to?"

"Of course not."

Alec was silent, then, and Peter rolled his eyes, but continued walking to his quarters. If the ancient sorcerer in his head could have patted himself on his back for annoying Peter, the boy knew that he would have. He didn't have many chances to mess with Peter, but he did like the boy and enjoyed it when the opportunity came up.

Peter didn't mind. He was good-natured, and besides, he liked Alec, too. He walked through the door and the conversation and a slight tingling was all the warning that he needed to not be startled to see Stephen appearing out of thin air in the doorway to his bedroom as he did.

"You left your girlfriend alone with Pete?" Peter asked, smiling. "You know you can't trust him with her, right?"

Strange smirked.

"Wong is chaperoning them. I told them I needed to get something from the sanctum," he added, his expression more serious, now. "Which I do," he said. "But I wanted to talk to you, first."

"About Nutmeg eating your thing?"

"Yes."

"Alec said he can't tell Nutmeg to do it."

"So I understand – and I suppose it makes sense. But what does he think about trying to get the mind stone to tell Nutmeg what to do?"

Huh. Peter was surprised, but Alec wasn't, which told the boy that it had already occurred to Alec.

"It's worth a shot," Alec said.

Peter nodded, knowing that Stephen was waiting for them to have their silent conversation.

"He said we could give it a try."

"Great."

"Tonight?"

"Yes. But not right now." Strange shrugged. "Not that I want to keep Pete in the dark, but we don't want him to know any more about the mind stone or the other infinity stones than absolutely necessary. Not because we don't trust him, but ignorance might keep him safe in his own reality."

"What do you mean?" Peter asked, curiously.

"Presumably even in his world, the infinity stones would feel a connection with him if they came in close contact – although they would definitely overwhelm him and kill him without help buffering them. Help he doesn't have, there. If he knows about them, it's entirely possible that that knowledge could make him curious enough to maybe some day go looking for them. Not to rule the universe, but because he'd want to know what they could do. That would – of course – be disastrous."

"Yeah."

"So we'll work around that as much as possible."

"We can still let him see what Nutmeg can do, right?"

"If we get him to do it, you mean?"

"Yeah."

Strange smiled, amused.

"Yes. That we can do."

"There's very little chance that Pete will want to go around the universe gathering Flerkin, after all."

Peter smiled.

True enough.