"You know, there's a pretty important meeting, tomorrow…"
Pepper smiled, looking across the small table at her husband, who was trying to look innocent and mature.
"I know," she agreed. "I'm the one who set it up."
"You don't think I should be there?"
"I don't think you need to be."
He frowned.
"Of course I need to be there. It's important, right?"
Her expression stayed the same, but she was amused, now.
"What's it about?"
"What?"
"What is my important meeting, tomorrow, about?"
"Things…"
Proof that he didn't really have a clue.
"You don't know?"
"I know."
She raised an eyebrow.
"Well?"
"Important things, Pep."
"If you don't know," she pointed out with a smile that was filled cheer at his blatant attempt to get out of going to the compound the next day (and having the fun of catching him at it) "Then you really don't need to be there for it, do you?"
He rolled his eyes.
"They don't really need me to be at the compound, you know…"
Another eyebrow motion, and she buttered the roll that she was holding.
"You don't think Tony Stark should be at the avenger compound when all of the kids from the international competition come looking for avengers…?"
He shrugged.
"I guess… but there will be plenty of other-"
"Peter's looking forward to seeing you there," she interrupted, well aware that that would end the conversation about whether or not he really needed to go out to the compound the next day to be there when the kids from the competition arrived. "Do you really want to let him down?"
"Of course not." He shrugged, knowing that he wasn't going to disappoint their boy. He hadn't really been too serious about not wanting to go. He enjoyed showing off, after all – although he preferred that it was in front of large crowds of self-important people. Teens who were already fans weren't the same. Although he knew Peter was looking forward to it. "I was just saying… if you needed me, here, Peter would understand."
"The kids will begin arriving at the compound at ten in the morning. You should be there by nine to make sure that you're wherever Nick needs you to be."
Ugh.
"Yes, dear."
Pepper smiled.
"You're going to have a good time."
She would have liked to have gone – if only to see Peter and to watch the kids enjoying themselves. She had the meeting, though, and it was an important one. Tony had already told her that he'd have Friday record everything.
"Yeah."
OOOOOOOOOO
"You have an avenger tattoo?"
Peter nodded – although the question was really rhetorical. It was right there on his chest for all to see, after all. Ned was the one who answered, not surprisingly, since it was one of the girls from Australia who had asked as soon as he and Peter had walked into the pool room and headed to the edge of the water and gotten close enough for some of the others to see it.
"We both do," Ned said, smugly, gesturing to his own.
He was clearly enjoying himself.
"Wow." The girl who had spoken up leaned forward, slightly, on the pretense of getting a better look, and then turned to Flash, who had walked over to join Peter and Ned. "Do you have one, as well?"
There would have been a time when the question would have made the older boy scowl and come up with some kind of sharp comeback that would make (or at least attempt to make) Peter look like an idiot or belittle him, but Thompson was mostly over that. Instead he shook his head, sliding his hand along his chest.
"Not, yet," he replied, just this side of pompously. "I haven't decided what I'm going to get."
Ned rolled his eyes, but before he could say anything, Peter jabbed him in the side with an elbow, telling him to let it slide. He was enjoying the fact that Flash wasn't being a jerk every chance he got and didn't want Ned to spark any kind of change to the new status quo.
"I'm going to go find MJ," he told Ned – and the others.
A couple more girls had walked over, including the French twins. Ned and Flash reacted predictably.
"I'll be here," Ned assured him, already turning to the new arrivals, making sure to stick his chest out a little.
"So will I," Flash said, also turning.
Peter turned toward the water, once more, and jumped into the shallow end. No sense being in swim trunks if he wasn't going to get wet, after all. Besides, he'd spotted MJ in the water on the other side of the pool, talking with a couple of the other captains. Including, he realized, Nico Ito, who was Japan's team captain. All of them watched as he waded through the shallow end and approached. Peter had met all of them (and of course Nico) so he was able to smile without being self-conscious.
"Hey, guys."
"Peter," the captain of the Chinese team was a seventeen year old girl named Xian. She was very small but even from just the prelims, Peter knew there was a lot of brilliance in that tiny body. He hadn't needed Alec to tell him that she was the best one on a team filled with bright youngsters. At the moment, she was sitting up on the edge of the pool, like a queen holding court with her underlings – although without any snootiness that might have turned Peter off, quickly. "Michelle was telling us more about your compound. Is it true there are deer?"
The boy smiled. Everyone was curious about the compound – and all of them were excited about the visit the next day. He could completely understand, of course. If he didn't live there and didn't spend his time with the avengers on a daily basis he would be just as excited and would want to know everything that there was to know about the place before they even left the hotel. Because of that, he was more than willing to answer what questions he could – and all the kids on all of the teams were careful to make sure it didn't sound like they were espionage agents.
With Alec in his head – and in theirs – he knew he didn't need to worry about that.
"There are," he confirmed.
"Will they eat out of your hand?" Nigel asked.
"No. But they don't run away," he replied. "We don't allow trespassing on the compound grounds, so there aren't any hunters allowed – obviously. So they know they're safe. We don't try to make pets of them, though. They come and go as they please."
"You have a cat, though," Nico said. "Michelle told us about him."
Peter glanced at MJ who shrugged.
"They asked if you have any pets."
"Yeah. His name is Nutmeg. I found him when he was a little baby. I couldn't find his owner, so Tony and Pepper said I could keep him."
"Will we see him, tomorrow?"
"Depends on him," Peter told them, honestly. "He might decide to hide or he might decide to come out and follow us around."
"Everyone knows cats do whatever they want," Xian said, nodding. "Mine does."
Peter steered the conversation toward her cat – and any pets the others had. He didn't mind talking about the compound, of course, but he didn't want all the conversations to be about him, really. They stood in the shallow water and talked for a while, and then broke up the chat when some of the adults eventually came to the pool area and started telling their charges that it was time to get back to their rooms so they could be rested for the next day. Peter knew that some – many even – of the adults were also looking forward to seeing the much vaunted avenger compound.
Even if they were trying to be casual about it.
Nico caught his attention before he could pull himself out of the water.
"I was wondering if we could meet in the morning," he said, somewhat shyly. "Before we leave."
"He wants to get the honor thing out of the way as soon as he can," Alec told Peter. "It's important, of course, and he's worried that if he doesn't, it'll hang over his head and distract him from doing his best during the competition."
Peter nodded, thinking. His team didn't have any plans for the next morning. For that matter, they weren't doing anything until the next evening.
"Why don't you come by my room before breakfast?" Peter suggested, knowing from Alec that his initial suggestion of meeting in the restaurant wasn't exactly what the other boy was hoping for. "We would have some time, then…"
"That would be great. Thank you."
"Sure."
Ned walked over as they got out of the pool, looking just as smug as he had when Peter had left him and Flash, earlier. Nico nodded to the other boy but left without a word, and Ned grinned.
"Ready to go back to the room?"
"Yeah. I want to call and check in with Tony and Pepper – and maybe check on Nutmeg."
"Cool. We can tell Natasha good night."
"Sure."
