"Ichiro Ito?"

"That's the name he gave – or at least the name that Barnes gave me."

"Huh."

Natasha looked uncertain, but Steve looked almost excited.

"Guadalcanal was in the Pacific theater," he told her and Clint – probably unnecessarily. "I wasn't there, because I was in Europe, but there was a lot of heavy fighting going on – and plenty of pilots being shot down. Did you ever look up Peter's grandfather?"

She shook her head.

"We never had a reason to, really," she admitted. "We know about his parents – Nick knows more than I do, since he has more interest in the files from those days than I do – but I know that we didn't go back another generation researching."

"I'll take a look," Steve said. It'd be a lot more interesting for him to do that than her – and she needed to be free to keep an eye on things at the hotel and convention center. "I'll let you know if I find anything worrisome."

"Thank you."

"Any idea what the kid has for Peter?"

"No," Clint replied. He shrugged. "It won't be a bomb, or something like that, though, so we don't need to worry, too much. Nothing dangerous would have been allowed through the airport security."

"True." Now Natasha shrugged, too. "We'll wait and see."

"What are they doing, now?" Steve asked.

"Mixers until eight and then free time until morning."

"Tony and Pepper are at the tower?"

"They are. For the rest of the week." She smiled. "Tony reminded Stephen that they're at the compound because it's more convenient for Peter, not for them."

"I might stop in and check in with them, then," Steve said. "Make sure they aren't stressing."

"Their baby is away from home for a week. They're going to be stressing."

That made all of them smile, but they also understood that they might be stressing a little if not for the fact that they were in charge of the security for Peter while he was at the event, so they could see him when they needed to see him and reassure themselves that he was doing well and staying out of trouble.

OOOOOOO

By the time they were done with their mixers (which were short games that were designed to break the groups out of their collective shells and make them interact with people on the other teams) it was getting ate in the day. Still light outside, for the most part, since the day had been sunny and bright, but late enough for some of the ones that had been hit hardest by the time difference.

Some left with their chaperones – mainly because they wanted them to be fresh for the beginning of the preliminaries the next morning – but a few, including Peter and Ned, went to one of the smaller rooms because they weren't ready to call it a night, just yet. Part of it was the enjoyment of meeting new people who were just as smart as they were, and another part was that when the competition began then it was going to be a bit harder to relax with the other people who weren't on their team. The next day wasn't going to do more than set up the seeds, but it was still going to be a little more formal.

One of the Australian kids brought a deck of cards and Peter, Ned, Flash, two other Australians and one of the boys from England sat around a large table and played a game that the Australians apparently played all the time but the Americans had never heard of. None of the girls joined them, but it wasn't because they weren't invited. It was fun, and as they played they had a chance to question the others about their countries. Which was the whole point of having an international competition, after all, so none of the chaperones even looked askance at the idea of them mingling beyond the official get-togethers.

Barnes had followed them in, but he was in a corner apparently playing on a tablet, or something, because he never looked at the kids that were playing cards, and eventually most of them pretty much forgot that he was there.

Of course, an hour or so into the card game, they had another reason, entirely, to forget about anything. Peter was just discarding an Ace and hoping to get a three of clubs when his phone rang. The Ironman ringtone made Ned and Flash both grin, but the others looked curious.

"That's Tony Stark," Ned said, smugly. "He's probably calling to check up on Peter, but he'll say hi to me, too. I practically live at the avenger compound on the weekends."

Peter rolled his eyes, but they were all looking interested by then, so he didn't go off to a corner to answer without interrupting their game. Sure enough, it was Tony on the other end of the call – although Pepper was there, as well, just over Tony's shoulder, leaning in to see him.

He smiled.

"Hey."

"Hey, son. Are we interrupting anything?"

"No. We're just playing cards."

"Who's we?" Pepper asked, curiously. "Your team? Or others?"

He wasn't surprised that she wanted to know if he was making new friends or meeting new people.

"Ned, and Flash," Peter replied. "And some of the others. Want to meet them?"

The boys all looked excited, and Tony grinned.

"Sure."

Peter turned his phone so the other kids at the table could see the display.

"Guys, this is Tony Stark."

"Peter calls him dad, though," Ned added.

The boys waved; some more exuberantly, and a couple shyly.

"Hey guys," Tony said, glad he wasn't wearing a boring t-shirt or something. "Are you having a good time?"

There were assorted agreements and confirmations.

"We're playing cards," Ned told him. "They're having a good time because Peter sucks at cards."

Since that was true, the boy could only shrug his agreement.

"You'll have to challenge them to chess, sometime," Pepper said. "Are you boys looking forward to coming out to the Avenger compound?"

The agreements were much more enthusiastic for that question.

"Are you going to wear the ironman suit?" one of the Australians asked.

Tony smiled, whether because he liked the accent, or because he liked being asked so excitedly by someone who was clearly a fan, it didn't matter.

"We'll see. It depends on what the other avengers want to do."

"Ned showed us pictures of him with the incredible hulk," one said. "Will he be there?"

"I'm not sure about that one, guys," Tony told them. "He's a pretty volatile guy. We'll see."

Of course that wasn't – necessarily – true, anymore, but it was a good way to let Nick decide if he wanted Bruce's alter ego to be allowed out into the schedule. And for Banner to decide if he even wanted to be there. You weren't going to force Bruce to do something that he didn't want to do, after all.

"Wow."

It was amusing to hear the phrase coming from someone other than Peter, and Pepper and Tony both smiled.

"We'd better let you get back to your game," Tony said, and Peter turned the phone back so he could look at him and Pepper, alone. "Do you need anything?"

"No. I'm set."

"Don't let them guys win all your money."

The boy grinned, and from the smiles on the others' faces, it was clear that they'd heard, too.

"We're not playing for money. I'm not that dumb."

"Good call. Good night, son."

Another smile; this time a mixture of happiness and cheer at being called that. And being called it in front of the others.

"Night, dad. Night mom."

"Night Ned," Tony added, yelling a little to be heard.

"Night, Tony. Night Pepper."

If he wasn't smug, before, (and he was) Ned definitely was, now.

"Night boys."

They all grinned, too. They couldn't wait to tell the others they'd already spoken to Tony freaking Stark.

"Night, Mr. Stark."

The call ended.

"That was incredible…"

Peter shrugged, trying for a nonchalance that he didn't, quite, feel.

"Right?"

OOOOOOOOO

"Well, I guess he's doing alright…"

"Looks like it," Pepper agreed. "Did I see James in the background?"

"Yes." Tony had seen him, too. "He's going to be trailing Peter a little, since he doesn't look too much like SHIELD and he's something of an unknown to the rest of the secret agent community."

"That's good." She smiled. "I'm going to bed."

"It's early."

"We're kid free, tonight," she reminded him. "He's safe and we don't need to worry about him, so I think we should focus on other things…"

Tony smiled, tilting his head, slightly.

"Naughty things?"

"Maybe. Interested?"

"Duh."