"How's it going?"
Romanoff wasn't surprised to get the call from Tony. She was only surprised that he'd waited a while longer than she'd expected before he'd called to check on things.
"So far we're looking good, Tony," she told him. "The kids are on their floor and the mob is on the penthouse floor and no one seems the wiser that the other is there."
"That's good." He glanced to the side and Natasha knew that meant that he was looking at Pepper to see if she had any questions. "How's Peter doing?"
Romanoff smiled.
"I'm not in the room with him," she reminded the anxious father. She was fairly certain the question wasn't in relation to the fact that there were mobsters one floor away from him. More like how was he doing in the competition. It was adorable. "Last report I got, they were just finishing the first round of the day and were ahead."
"That's good to hear."
"But it won't be the end of the world if they don't win," she heard Pepper remind him.
"But we're not going to ground him if he loses," Tony added, dutifully.
"They're doing well enough that they can't come in last place," she pointed out. "So that's a plus."
"No concerns about the mob guys?"
"At the moment, no." They were going to be concerned about the mob guys until the mob guys were gone, but there wasn't anything they needed to do, just then. "We've got a guy posing as a waiter on the floor, but he's not going to be able to get close enough to hear anything that's really going on."
"But you're not really interested in what they're doing, right?" Pepper asked, loud enough for her to hear.
"Right. We don't care, really – as long as it doesn't put the kids in any danger while they're there. Our guy can give us warning if there's any activity we need to be aware of – and that's all we really can do with them."
"Well, if anything happens let me know, will you?"
"You know I will," she assured them both. She smiled, ready to lighten Stark's concerned expression a little. "Tired of living at the tower, yet?"
Tony smiled.
"The company's good, here," he replied, cheerfully, and Romanoff thought she might have heard a pleased response from Pepper at the compliment. "We'll be glad to have Peter back, though."
"So will I," Natasha told them, honestly. "He seems to be having a good time, though, so this is probably good for him."
And – although she didn't say it – it was probably good for them to all have a chance to let him spread his wings a little bit, too. Not too much, though. Romanoff wasn't ready for that any more than Tony was, after all.
"Well, if you see him before I call him, tell him to call and check in with us, later."
"I'll do that."
She wasn't going to see Peter for a while, though, since she was purposely staying away from the convention center and he didn't have any reason to go to the hotel, as far as she knew.
OOOOOOOOOOOO
"What are you doing?"
Peter frowned, turning his attention from rummaging through his backpack as quietly as he could to look at Ned, instead.
"I can't find my study notebook."
They were in the back of the room, watching as the next round was going on. They didn't all compete for the team at once, after all, but when they weren't actively answering questions they were still in the room lending support from the seats in the back with the rest of the team that wasn't competing, just then.
"Did you lose it?"
There weren't any real secrets in it, so no big deal if someone from another team found it, but it did hold plenty of hard earned tips about what might come up in the rounds to come.
"I thought it was in here…" Peter frowned, looking around the room but knowing full well that it wasn't going to be laying around somewhere. He wasn't that disorganized. "I might have left it in the room, this morning."
"You're going to need it," Ned whispered, looking toward the front of the room when the bell rang and MJ answered a question correctly. "We're up in the next round."
"I know." He looked around and then got up, bending over a little to try and avoid disturbing the others. He made his way to where Mr. Harriman was seated watching everything going on from the other side of the room – but still the back, luckily. "I forgot my notebook in the room," he whispered to their teacher.
The man frowned.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. Sorry. I'll go get it before the next round starts."
"We're supposed to stay on this floor, Peter."
"I won't go roaming around," the boy assured him. "Just to the hotel and straight back here."
There was a slight hesitation, but Peter had never given him any reason to doubt his word.
"Alright. There and back."
"Yeah."
"And stay out of trouble."
"Right."
Peter didn't stop to tell Ned where he was going; he just slipped out of the room, closing the door behind him. The hallway was empty, except for a cleaning person who was dusting the arrangements of flowers that were lined up along the walls of the floor and in front of every door. He smiled, cheerfully, to her as he headed for the elevators, and she smiled a greeting but didn't stop what she was doing. He hit the button to call for the elevator and saw a motion out of the corner of his eye, turning to see a very casually dressed SHIELD agent coming around a corner down the hall.
The only way Peter would have known he was SHIELD was because he recognized him from the compound. Since the man didn't wave him down or anything, Peter didn't stop. The elevator dinged to advise him the car was there, and the door opened, revealing an empty car – not a big shock since he was going down and there was only one floor above him. Humming to himself the same tune that the cloak tended to hum to him, he rode the elevator down to the lobby of the convention center, picking up a few riders as they went – including several of the little kid dancers, who were clearly excited about getting into the next round of their competition. He watched them, but didn't speak to anyone, certain that Natasha would prefer that if he left the convention center he went to the hotel and right back without talking to any strangers.
He saw Bucky in the lobby but again, the man didn't acknowledge him so Peter decided there was a reason for it and didn't press the issue. He did make sure to allow himself to be seen as he walked across the convention center lobby and out the main entrance and then headed to the hotel.
Not surprisingly, he was met at the entrance by Natasha, who fell into step beside him as he walked.
"Is everything alright?" she asked, not breaking stride as they walked across the hotel lobby and to the bank of elevators.
"Yeah. I left my study notebook in my room, and I need it for the next round. Mr. Harriman knows where I am," he added, so she wouldn't think (and maybe tell Tony or Pepper) that he'd just wandered off.
She nodded her approval of that and hit the button for his floor when the car reached them and they got in.
"How's your day going?"
"We're up," Peter told her, cheerfully. "If we win the other two rounds, today, we qualify for the finals." He saw SHIELD agents when the elevator door opened, and these were dressed in their normal black suits. Which made it all the odder that the ones in the convention center weren't. "Why is everyone acting weird?"
She knew immediately what he was asking, but decided to keep it that way.
"What's Alec telling you?"
"Nothing, He says you don't want to tell me to keep me from acting weird, too."
Natasha smiled.
"He's right."
"I wouldn't act weird."
"You might," she told him, slipping her arm around his waist, cheerfully. "I'll tell you all about it, later, I promise."
"Is it dangerous?"
"Are your spider senses going crazy?"
"No."
"It isn't dangerous," she confirmed. "At least, it shouldn't be, as long as you and your friends keep to the floors you're supposed to be on. I don't need to tell you to go exploring unless you're given the all clear to do so…"
"No."
She squeezed him, a little, just happy to have him to herself for the moment. Maybe she was a little addicted to him?
"Good." She walked him to his room and the fact that she was so relaxed that she didn't follow him into the room to make sure he was safe told him that she really didn't think he was in any danger. He found his notebook right next to where his backpack had been, and joined her in the hallway once more. "Are you having fun?"
"Yeah."
"Tony and Pepper miss you," she told him as they headed back to the elevator, with his notebook in his hand, now. "He wants you to call him when you get a chance, later."
"Okay. I will." Peter smiled. "Do you miss me?"
Romanoff rolled her eyes.
"Who are you, again?"
Peter laughed and the elevator ride back to the hotel lobby was quiet but not at all awkward. She didn't follow him out of the lobby, but did tell him that she'd see him and the others, later, before veering off as he walked out the door. Peter flipped through his notebook as he walked over to the convention center, once more, and into the lobby. He had great peripheral vision and wasn't worried about running into anything – or anyone – as he walked, trying to decide which Mr. Harriman and MJ would want him to focus on for the next round.
He felt Bucky – and maybe someone else? – watching him as he went to the elevator, and it opened, immediately, when he hit the button. Peter got in and hit the floor for the competition, and the door started to close.
"Hold the elevator!"
A hand caught between the doors before they closed and Peter hit the door open button to keep that person from losing any fingers, and moved back to allow whoever was coming to get onto the elevator, too. He turned his attention from his notebook and saw several men piling into the car. All dressed in business suits and varying ages and coloring. They were tough-looking, and a couple of the younger ones looked at him, carefully, as they entered, before moving aside so others could join them. Peter was shocked when he realized that he recognized one of them, but before he could do more than register that, Alec was quick to speak up.
"Don't say anything," he warned his young friend. "And don't look at him any more than you would any of the others."
"Okay…"
Joel King glanced at Peter Parker as the door closed behind them and one of his bodyguards hit the penthouse button, but if the Russian mobster recognized the boy, his expression didn't show it any more than Peter's did.
