"So why are we here?"

Steve looked around the lobby of the hotel. It was a weekday so it wasn't as busy as it would be on the weekend, but it was still a bustling place, due to being right next to the convention center.

"Because this is where the competition is going to be."

Barnes looked around, as well.

"Yeah, but it's an international thing, right? Why wouldn't the feds handle it? It isn't a SHIELD thing, right?"

He hadn't been around all that long, but he was pretty sure that he'd never seen SHIELD – or the Avengers – handle anything like this, before.

"Normally," Steve conceded. "But Peter's going to be here, too," he reminded his friend. "That makes it a SHIELD thing."

Bucky didn't smirk, but he nodded. He already knew that SHIELD and the Avengers all had a soft spot for Peter Parker. He liked to think that he was above those kind of sentimentalities, but he knew that he owed the kid for helping him reconcile with Steve so he wasn't quite as immune as he wanted to be, really.

"So what are we looking for?"

He wasn't going to argue, obviously. And not just because he liked Peter and wanted to make sure he was safe. The boy had been away from the compound a few times since Bucky had begun living there, and SHIELD was always a presence wherever the team was competing. But nothing like they were going to be for this international thing. It was still more than a week out, but this wasn't the first time that someone had checked the venue. The closer they got to the day the other kids would arrive (or more importantly, the day Peter was going to leave the compound for an entire week) the more scrutiny was brought to bear.

"We're just going to take a look around."

"Looking for…?"

"Anything that looks off."

Barnes didn't need to ask him what he meant. Before he could say anything, though, Romanoff and Carol walked up to them, followed by the hotel manager who looked like he was torn between nervous and excited. Excited about the upcoming good exposure for his hotel since they were hosting the competition (which wasn't all that high profile, of course, but was still an international event) and nervousness that something could possibly happen that might put his hotel in a bad light with the public. As such, he and those above him in the corporation were more than willing to cooperate in any way necessary to make sure that things went smoothly.

He knew what had happened in Syracuse – even though it had been the convention center and not the hotels in the area that had been involved – and wanted nothing like that hanging over his head.

"Are you set, here?" Romanoff asked Steve and Barnes.

"Yeah." Steve looked at the manager. "We're going to take a look around, if that's alright?"

"Of course." He glanced around the lobby. "Will there be more of you?"

Wondering if the man was hoping to see Ironman, or if he was just concerned with his hotel being overrun by SHIELD agents, Steve simply shook his head.

"For now, it's just us. We'll want to coordinate with your onsite security folks, of course, but we won't do that until the weekend."

The competition was going to start the next Monday, but people would start arriving the Saturday before.

"Of course."

One of the people at the desk politely called the manager's name, and he excused himself, leaving the four of them alone, once more.

"You heard Ned broke his wrist?" Steve asked Romanoff.

"Nick told me, yes. He hit his head, too."

"It won't stop him from doing the competition, right?" Carols asked.

"Nope." A slightly amused glance at Natasha. "He's looking forward to seeing the French girls," he added. "He told me and Peter that he figures one might be a future BFF."

Barnes smiled at that and also glanced at Natasha.

"You're not worried, are you?"

It was a measure of how much she'd thawed toward him that she smiled, too.

"Stephen might be relieved to have less competition."

An amused snort, and Steve spoke, next.

"Buck and I will check this place out," he told her. "We'll meet you over at the convention center."

"Sounds good."

The convention center wasn't going to only be holding the competition, of course; the place was huge and a popular location for conventions (obviously) and reunions, and all sorts of endeavors. SHIELD had already gathered all the information about the various activities that were also being held there during the week of the competition and would cross reference any that came up on their radar. Right now, though, Steve, Barnes, Romanoff, and Carol were looking to gain some familiarity with the two places where Peter would be. They wanted to know the exits and the fields of fire (if the need came up) where rooms adjoined and who could be put where for security purposes.

It was a lot of work, of course, but it was important.

Peter had saved the universe, after all. It was the least that they could do to make sure he had a good time.

OOOOOOOOOOO

When Peter walked into the classroom where team practice was being held, he wasn't surprised to find himself met with the others on the team – all looking at him with some concern of varying degree.

"Did Ned really break his neck?" Abe asked, eyes wide.

"No." He'd returned to school from the emergency room just as lunch had finished, so no one had a chance to ask him about the rumors of the accident in the school hallway. His next class had been one that had a guest lecturer, and as such, there hadn't been a chance to talk with the few people in it that were on the academic decathlon team. And after that was math (where there was a test) and then PE. It was hard to get good gossip when trying to avoid being clobbered with a dodgeball. "He fell, yeah, but he only broke his wrist. And bumped his head."

"Is he alright?" MJ asked.

She hadn't joined the press around Peter but was clearly concerned. Not surprisingly since she was captain of the team and Ned's friend.

"Yeah. He wanted to come back to school today but his mom said he had to go home and take it easy. He'll be back tomorrow."

"That's a relief," one of the others said. "He's our best physics person."

Flash made a face and shrugged.

"I could cover for him."

"Not if we want to win," Abe told him.

The older boy scowled at that, but MJ brought the room to order, and the kids gathered around to see what she wanted to work on that day. Soon the sound of them quizzing each other was filling the room. Not surprisingly, Peter found himself sitting next to Flash. Thompson had kept Peter's secret as he'd promised he would, but had had trouble hiding the fact that he was impressed by the younger boy. Not that he told anyone why, but there was a definite change in his attitude toward Peter, and when someone called him out on it he'd scowl at them and make a sarcastic comment that would usually send them away – or at least shut them up for the time being.

Peter was a little uncomfortable with the situation since he was far more used to Flash mocking him than hanging out with him, but he had to admit it was a nice change to not have to worry about sniping.

"What were you guys doing?" Flash asked, curiously.

"Nothing interesting," Peter told him, honestly. "Just going to Ned's locker for some homework I left in his stuff."

"Boring…"

It was clear Flash had been hoping for something related to the Avengers – or maybe Spider-Man. Peter shrugged, flashing an apologetic look at MJ when she scowled at their chit-chatting instead of quizzing each other.

"Sorry. I suppose you could spread a rumor that I pushed him down the stairs to get you a better position on the team…"

Thompson hesitated, but then shrugged.

"No one would believe that."

"Nope."