Bucky walked with Peter as he went from the convention center lobby to the hotel. It wasn't that the kid couldn't find the place; the hotel was maybe a block from the convention center, after all, and Peter had managed to traverse the distance several times already, Bucky knew. He was always just a little leery of just how out in the open Peter was when he was out. Barnes was aware that he wasn't used to being responsible for anyone – much less a teenager – and that maybe his own suspicious nature was looking for trouble where it wasn't really skulking, but as he and Peter walked, he found himself watching everything around him – the people, especially – looking for a threat to his charge. A charge that he genuinely liked and that he was just a little awed by the fact that Romanoff was willing to trust him into Bucky's care.

Nothing showed itself, of course, as they walked. SHIELD was very good at what they did and they'd already made sure the area was secure – and would remain so for the duration of the competition – but Bucky had been on his own for a long time, now, and wasn't as good at trusting those who were his teammates. Old habits died hard – especially the ones that he'd relied on to keep himself alive for so long. He was learning, of course. Steve was helping him more than anyone of course.

It took time, though, and it wasn't surprising – at least to him – that he was constantly watching over his shoulder and Peter's as they walked, and he felt a little of the usual tension loosen when they walked into the lobby of the hotel.

"Sure you don't want to take the stairs?" he asked Peter with a slight smirk as they walked to the elevator.

The boy grinned.

"Twice in one day would be pushing it," he replied, pressing the button for his floor. "Even for me. I'm probably good for a week or so – and by then, I won't be anywhere there are elevators."

They didn't have them at the compound and as far as he knew, he wasn't going to be at the tower for anything in the near future.

Barnes gave him a rare smile of his own and he shrugged.

"Good luck."

He made sure the elevator was empty and watched Peter get on.

"You're not coming?"

"Nope. I'll walk with you back to the convention center when you're done, but you don't need me to escort you to your room. Right?"

Peter shook his head.

"Yeah. I'm good. Thanks."

The door closed and he couldn't help that he did tense just for a moment when the car started to ascend. There was a silent snort of amusement from the sorcerer in his head, and he gave a wry grin that no one saw but himself in the reflection in the mirrored wall of the elevator.

"Hush."

OOOOOOOOO

The door to Peter and Ned's room was closed and locked, since it automatically locked when it was closed, but when he let himself in, he found that the room itself was occupied.

"What are you doing here?"

Tony rolled his eyes, looking at Pepper before he looked back to Peter.

"You're our son," he reminded the boy, amused. "We're supposed to check on you when you're stuck in an elevator for five hours – with mobsters," he added, unnecessarily.

Peter looked at Pepper, but noticed that she didn't look worried, or anything. Just amused and relieved. He was amused and relieved, too.

"I'm okay," he said, quick to reassure. Natasha and Steve were also in the room, looking relieved, too. "They didn't do anything mobbish…"

"Mobbish?" Natasha echoed.

The boy smiled.

"You know; they didn't make calls about hits, or drug deals, or clandestine meetings where they're going to put someone in cement shoes at the docks."

Tony wasn't the only one to roll his eyes.

"You're grounded."

"What?" Peter lost his smile. "Why?"

"From any more mob movies…" Stark finished. "I don't know what you're learning watching them, but your mom and I aren't-"

"Tony…" Pepper was amused, but wanted to make sure that Peter understood he wasn't serious. Tony used off the wall comments like that to diffuse his own fears and concerns – and she knew he was almost giddy with relief that their boy had managed to get out of such a volatile situation unharmed. Peter might not understand it, though, and she didn't want there to be any irritations between the two men in her life. Especially since Peter was still going to be away from home for a few more days and they wouldn't have a chance to clear the air. Better to avoid it, altogether. "He's fine."

Stark was brought up short, but he didn't mind – and his expression told her that he understood. He hugged Peter, quickly – just to make sure he hadn't taken any harm, even though he'd watched the elevator feed nonstop and knew he was alright.

"Fine. You're not grounded."

Peter hugged him back, then pulled away to smile at the others.

"Thanks. Did I miss anything interesting?"

"More interesting than watching you play trivia quiz with some of the most dangerous men in the country?" Natasha asked, cheerfully. "No."

Peter hugged Pepper but was looking at Romanoff.

"Alec warned me to make sure they didn't know who I was. I expected someone to call me, but-"

"We were warned not to give your identity away, either," Tony told him, leaning on the desk in the room. "Otherwise I'd have been down here and fixed the stupid thing myself and you'd have been out in ten minutes."

"And the Russian mafia would have wondered what was so important about the kid in the elevator with them that Tony Stark came to rescue him…" Steve said.

"Yeah. Yeah." He looked at Peter. "You're sure you're okay?"

"Yeah."

"And these guys don't know who you are?" he asked. "Alec checked?"

"Mr. King knows," Peter reminded him - them. "But none of the others do. They just think I'm the dumb kid that managed to get himself stuck in the elevator just in time to miss the fancy lunch…"

"They know you aren't dumb," Natasha said, smirking. "I wish I could post the footage of you asking them the sample questions from your competition. They looked like you were speaking Latin, or Klingon. It was priceless."

He smiled.

"It was a good distraction."

"No harm, no foul," Tony agreed. "Need anything?"

Peter shook his head.

"I'm good. I'm going to go check in and see how we did in the round that I missed.'

"You guys won," Natasha assured him. "The others are in one of the little conference rooms – still on the competition floor. I don't have to remind you that you and your team should stay there, right? And come straight back here once the activities are done for the night?"

"Yeah," Peter assured her. "I mean, no. We know. They're having a pool party, this evening, so that'll be here and will keep everyone out of the way."

"The mob isn't staying in this hotel, are they?" Pepper asked, suddenly.

"Not that we know," Steve replied. "Varsto's jet hasn't filed a flight plan, yet, but we don't expect them to stay any longer than they have to, really."

Proving that they were keeping track above and beyond.

"If he's away from his power base any longer than necessary, he risks the possibility that someone might think about a takeover," Romanoff agreed. "Their jet is probably at least as nice as yours are," she added. "They can sleep on their way home."

"You'll let me know if that changes?" Tony asked her.

Natasha raised an eyebrow.

"Because you're going to go talk to him and tell him to go home?" she asked, pointedly.

"Of course not. I just want to know what's going on."

"I'm fine, guys," Peter said, aware of the reason for the concern. "None of them did anything threatening to me, or anything."

"I know," Tony replied, reluctantly. He decided it was better to keep Peter from worrying that they were worrying. He didn't need the distraction. "What are you going to do, now?"

"After you and mom leave, you mean?" he asked, smiling, since Alec assure him that none of them were too worried about the mob. They were just too used to worrying about him to not. "Find something to eat and then go hook up with the team and see what I can do to make it up to MJ that she had to deal with Flash instead of me, last round. What are you going to do?"

Pepper smiled, too.

"Maybe we'll go back to the tower and watch mobster movies…"

Tony wasn't the only one to roll his eyes at that, but everyone was smiling and looked far less concerned, now.

"Stay out of trouble."

"I will."

"And call if you need anything."

Peter nodded.

"I will."