As days went, it wasn't bad, at all.

Tony was surprised, but assumed that it was just the universe making it up to him for all the crap that he'd had to put up with for the last four days. The kids were all very interested in what they were being shown; from the simple office floors, to the executive rooms, the dining areas, the recreational areas, all the way up to the helipad, the lounge area (where they stopped for refreshments) and the R&D labs.

To make the labs that much more interesting, a few chemists had been recruited to make some experiments up to allow the students a chance to interact with them, and Tony saw one lift Peter Parker up to sit on the edge of the table so he could get a better look. Thus far, the boy hadn't even looked at him funny, much less come up to try and talk to him.

It was a little confusing, really. He had him right where he wanted him, after all – didn't he?

"This is going well…"

Pepper had moved over to stand beside him to watch from a distance.

"Yeah."

"Has your stalker said anything to you?"

"No." He frowned when a flame shot up out of the vial that the chemist was holding with a pair of tongs. The kids all made approving noises, and no one looked panicked, so it must have been on purpose, but the fire had been pretty close to Peter. The scientists should be more careful, Stark thought. "I haven't given him a chance."

"He's too young to file a restraining order against him."

Tony rolled his eyes at her amused glance.

"You're having way too much fun with this."

"I'm just saying…"

"Whatever."

"We're almost done. You did well. Thank you."

He huffed. Like she'd given him a choice?

"You're welcome. What do we have left?"

"We'll do a final presentation, give them a chance to mingle in the lounge over a late lunch. Then it's hand out the swag bags and have Happy take them home."

"Good."

He was exhausted.

OOOOOOOO

"Did you have a good time?"

Peter nodded, smiling at Eric, who had met him at the car, and waving at the driver before he turned to go into the house.

"It was great. They have all kinds of experiments going on there, and businesses are operating out of some of the floors – they're owned by Mr. Stark, though, or one of his companies he owns. He told one of the kids that no one else is allowed to do business there."

"That's interesting. We just finished dinner. Are you hungry?"

"No. They fed us in the dining room. Thank you, though." He walked in and saw the other boys sitting around the table doing homework. They all looked up with varying degrees of welcome. Peter pulled his backpack off, and set it on the table at the spot that had traditionally become his. "They gave us a swag bag," he told the others.

"What's that?" Ned asked.

"It's a bunch if stuff with their product on it," said Eric's son. "Usually shirts, keychains, water bottles. That kind of thing."

"Wow."

Peter smiled, excitedly, and nodded, ignoring the jealous looks that a couple tossed his direction.

"Yeah, there's a shirt and a keychain and some cups." He handed the coffee cup to Eric's wife, since she collected them. And the keychain went to Ned, for the same reason. "Look at this, though."

He held up a small plastic card.

"What is it?" one of the boys asked, reaching for it, automatically.

Peter pulled it back before he could. He was smaller than all of them, but he was much, much, faster.

"It's a gift card," he told them. "All of the kids got one."

"To where?" Eric asked, curiously.

"Best Buy. Ms. Potts said we should buy ourselves something nice to commemorate our visit – and I got to keep my ID badge," he added, holding it up.

"Nice."

"How much?" Ned asked.

"A thousand dollars."

They all looked stunned, and Peter smiled.

"I thought we could divide it up," he said into the silence. "And we could all get something we wanted. There are eight of us; we could each spend up to $120 and that would still leave money for taxes."

It wasn't exact, but while he had the math down, immediately, he didn't bother to be too precise, since the boys wouldn't care.

"Wow."

That was met with immediate excitement, and suddenly they were all clamoring to go, then and there, and looking imploringly at Eric and his wife. Gone were the jealous looks, but Peter hadn't worried too much about them, anyway.

The two smiled at Peter, but she shook her head.

"That's for you. You should save it for something you want."

"I want to share it, though." He'd included them in the division, because why wouldn't he? "I could get something pretty great for a hundred dollars."

It took a bit of convincing, but the boys were – obviously – all in agreement and ganged up on the adults, using all of their best wheedling and begging. Finally, Eric shrugged and gave in.

"Alright, guys. Let's go for a drive."

With a whoop and a lot of slapping of Peter's back, they all grabbed their jackets and ran for the van.

OOOOOOOOOO

"I see you survived the last day…"

Tony gave a tired sigh and sank into the fine leather of his office chair, swiveling it around so he could look out the window at the city below.

"Yeah, JARVIS. Barely."

"You're scheduled for a show and an after party, tonight."

"Cancel it. I'm tired – and not in the mood."

"Why not?"

"Because now that the week is over, Pepper is making me pick one of these kids to mentor – or be big brother to. It's ridiculous."

"It's good for your public appearances."

Stark scowled.

"That's what Pepper said, too." He pressed a button and a display came on beside the window so he didn't need to turn back from the view. Photos of all of the students from the day's field trip came up. "I have to pick one, tonight, so everything can start being put into place by Monday."

"What will it entail?" JARVIS asked as Tony immediately discarded the girls.

They had all been brilliant, and polite, but they were girls and he didn't want to deal with that – especially if they wanted to become bosom buddies and start telling him about their periods or something awful like that.

"Depends on who I choose. Helping with homework, making sure they are staying active in their schools? She didn't exactly say. Only that it's going to vary kid by kid." He snorted, looking at the image of the youngest one of the group, and discarding him, as well. "She suggested I choose Peter. Can you believe that?"

"He would be the best choice for you."

Tony scowled.

"What? Why?"

"Think about it. A high school student probably has a curfew of midnight. An eight year old? Six or seven – at the most. He probably has a nine o'clock bedtime. You won't be forced to spend a lot of time with him. He can come here after school, you help him with his homework, or do something interesting with him once a week – or whatever miss Potts is insisting on – and you're finished before your dinner reservations are ready."

"Huh." He hadn't thought of that. The little guy might be his best choice, at that. The least amount of effort, anyway. The image of Peter Parker came back onto the display. "She said I have to do something with him every other weekend – to soften my image." Tony thought she was just trying to make him do something with a kid to settle him down, a little. "What do eight year olds do?"

"I'd suggest you ask him."