"What are you doing here?" Tony asked.

"You know him?" Rhodey asked, surprised.

The boy looked at James.

"I'm Peter."

"He doesn't care," Tony told him. "Answer my question. What are you doing here?"

"Eating." He gestured with the hand holding the pizza toward a large table in the corner. There was a woman with blonde hair, sitting with a giant of a man and six boys ranging from 12 or so to sixteen or seventeen. To judge from their various complexions, they weren't related by blood – which told Tony they were probably the people that were fostering Peter, and the other boys living in the home. "We come here every third Tuesday. As a treat."

"Well go back and sit with them. You shouldn't be bothering people – and you shouldn't be by yourself in here. Someone might try to kidnap you, or something."

Peter nodded, but he didn't leave. His expressive brown eyes were watching Tony, almost hungrily.

"I wanted to talk to you," he said, hesitantly. "I-"

"Seriously?" Tony scowled. "I'm busy."

"Tony…" Rhodes frowned at the way his friend was acting. "He's just a little guy. Don't be a dick."

"He's stalking me, Rhodey. The kid's a menace."

"He can hear you, you know?" Rhodes smiled at Peter. "What kind of pizza are you eating?"

"Cheese."

"I like cheese pizza, too."

"He broke into my apartment last week," Stark said, interrupting, annoyed.

"What?" He looked at Peter, surprised. "Really?"

The boy nodded.

"Yeah."

"Why? How?"

"It was easy," he replied. "I-"

"Peter!" The boy was interrupted by an arm coming around him from behind, and the men saw one of the older teens had come over to get him. "What are you doing?"

"I was talking to-"

"They're strangers, you dumb fuck," the teen snapped, looking at the two, suspiciously. It was a measure of just how out of place Tony Stark would be in the pizza restaurant that the teen didn't even recognize him. "You don't just go walking up to strangers and start conversations. You know better than that."

"But-"

"Come on. Mom's ready to go, and you need to finish eating."

He pulled the still protesting boy away and practically dragged him back to the table, and Rhodes and Stark both watched until he was out of sight, blocked by the bulk of the man.

"What was that all about?"

"Beats the shit out of me," Tony told him, honestly. "All I know is he's a persistent little guy."

"But what does he want?"

"Who cares? He's eight. Probably an autograph, or something. Finish telling me about the suit."

He listened as Rhodey told him about the various tests that he'd run on the suit, and then scanned some data that JARVIS downloaded into his network for him. When the big guy walked by with all the boys and the woman, he looked up and watched them go, catching the eye of the littlest of them as he walked by. Those brown eyes looked almost desperate, but Tony turned away, to finish what he was doing and take a bite of his pizza.

Rhodey was watching, too.

"What are the odds we're eating the same place he is?" he asked, well aware that in a city the size of New York, they were astronomical.

"Crazy stupid."

He'd have to buy a lottery ticket, or something.

OOOOOOOOO

It was much later that same evening. Peter was in front of the computer, again, and the house was silent, since everyone had finished their homework and gone to bed. He pulled up the program that he had hidden on the hard drive, and was excited when his query had an immediate response.

"Hello, Peter."

"Hi, JARVIS."

"Your plan didn't work?"

"No. I froze. And then, before I could say anything, Kyle came and got me."

"We can try again," he was assured. "Tony Stark has a very fluid schedule, and I always know where he's going to be."

"I appreciate that."

"May I ask you what you are hoping to ask him?"

Peter hesitated.

"It's kind of a secret…"

"I wouldn't tell him." As if the AI understood his reluctance – and Peter knew that was probably just his imagination – there was a pause. "Perhaps if I knew what it was regarding, I'd be able to help you more."

With quick keystrokes, Peter filled in the AI on his last few years, trying not to sound too pathetic – although he knew that the story was a terrible one. How many people had said that to him the last two years? JARVIS 'listened' patiently, asking a few questions to prove that he was there and paying attention.

"When I moved in here," Peter typed. "Eric already knew I was pretty smart. I go to a private school on a scholarship that I've had since before my parents died. And before May went to jail."

"Do they treat you well?"

Peter smiled, feeling a little teary-eyed at the question. It meant someone cared about him outside the small confides of the group home. Someone knew about him. Even if it was just a computer on the other side of their conversation.

"Yes. I mean, we're not rolling in money; the Tatros only get $140 a week for taking care of me, and the same for the others. It sounds like a lot, but we eat a lot and they always need new clothes, and rent, power bill, cable, and everything. They're kind, though."

"So you aren't being abused and don't need Tony Stark to come rescue you?"

"No." Another hesitation. "You really wouldn't tell?"

"Not if you didn't want me to."

"Two months ago my class went on a field trip. To a science lab where they were working with radiation and all kinds of different kinds of bugs and insects. Something happened," he typed. "I don't know exactly what, but I think maybe I got bitten by something. I got home, fine, but later that night I got really sick."

"But you recovered."

"Yeah. But now I can do things that I couldn't do before. Weird things. And I am stronger, and I can see in the dark, pretty much."

"What does this have to do with Tony Stark?"

"He's a superhero, right?"

"He's Ironman," JARVIS agreed.

"I was hoping that he might be able to tell me what to do, next. Or what I'm supposed to do. Now that I have these abilities, I mean."

There was a short pause.

"I understand."

Peter didn't see how he could, since Peter didn't really understand it, himself. But he felt relieved to have told his secret to someone else.

"I keep telling myself that when I see him I'll tell him what I can do. But then I freeze up and nothing comes out like it's supposed to."

Mainly because Tony Stark obviously didn't like him.

"Then we will have to give you the opportunity to see him," JARVIS replied. "I make his schedule, so I'll tell you each evening where he's going to be, and you figure out a way to be there."

"You'd do that?"

"Not normally, I wouldn't. However, in your case I could make an exception."

"Why?"

"Because perhaps while he is helping you, you might be able to help him."

Peter frowned, wondering what a rich guy who had everything and knew everyone could possibly need from an eight-year-old.

"I'd help him. If I could. It's worth a try, right?"

"Indeed." There was another pause on the other side of the conversation. "Tell me more about yourself, Peter."

Relieved to have someone to talk to that he didn't need to share with 5 other boys, Peter did.