It was mid morning when Peter and Ned headed down to the restaurant in the hotel to have their final breakfast before their time at the competition ended. Almost everyone else was already gone; the Chinese team had left the night before – as had the team from Great Britain. The team from Australia and the French teams were both staying longer, but the French were going to DC and the Australians were spending their day sightseeing but had left the hotel first thing that morning.

Peter knew all of this because he'd said all his goodbyes the evening before – which was why he and Ned were surprised to see that most of the Japanese team were all gathered at one of the larger tables, eating their breakfast and looking a little glum. Ned slapped Peter's back (as if he needed help noticing the large group) and made a motion with his chin toward them. Peter nodded and the two boys walked over, waving greetings to the kids who greeted them and then sitting across from Nico and one of the few girls on the team.

"What are you guys doing here?" Ned asked. "I thought you were going to hit the subways before your play…"

Several of the kids scowled at that, and Nico shook his head.

"We are not going to be allowed to go on the subway."

"What? Why not?"

"Because a crane fell on one of them, yesterday, during our competition and my mother saw it and told my father, who called our coaches and told them. Now they say it is too dangerous."

He pulled out a tablet and brought up a YouTube video showing the damaged crane and track – and footage of the train and just how close it had come to falling off the track.

Ned knew about the crane, too, of course. Peter had told him everything once they'd gone to their room for the night – although the video was off limits until they were away from such a public place. Even if it was just a hotel room.

"That was a freak accident," Ned told them. "It's not like it happens all the time. Peter and I ride the train every day, pretty much, and nothing has ever happened to us."

"My parents say I have bad luck," the girl told them. "They think if something can happen once then it will happen again, and I am their only child so they will not risk it."

"My father is the same," Nico added, nodding. "We're to stay in the hotel until our play, this evening. No subway, it is too dangerous."

"That sucks," Ned said, looking glum in shared commiseration. But then his face lit up and he looked at Peter, slyly, before looking back at the others. "What if you guys had someone there to keep you safe?" he asked.

"From a falling crane?" one of them asked – although all of them were listening. "No one could keep us safe like that."

"Well, that Spider-man could," Nico said, looking at the tablet in time to see a black-clad figure swinging away from the wreckage. It was clear none of them had heard of the fledgling superhero – not surprisingly – but they were all interested in him, now. "But he isn't going to be willing to take a bunch of foreign kids on a subway ride," he added.

"Even if he had some kind of bat signal to tell him that we needed to get in touch with him," the girl added.

"You guys don't need Spider-Man," Ned told them with a grin, making Peter roll his eyes despite himself, amused at how much his friend was enjoying that. "You need a real super hero. One your folks will recognize. One that's already saved New York, practically single-handedly, and who happens to be on Peter's speed dial…"

They all looked dumbfounded – and then a little hopeful.

"You're talking about Tony Stark…"

"Duh."

Nico's hopeful expression faded.

"Tony Stark has better things to do than spend the day shepherding us just so we can go ride the subway…"

Which was true, of course. But that didn't mean Tony wouldn't be willing, Peter knew.

"Especially if you asked him," Alec agreed.

"It's Saturday," Peter told them. "He doesn't work on Saturday." Technically, Tony officially worked at the tower as little as he could. Not because he was lazy, of course, but because he preferred to spend his attention on technology rather than administration. Which worked well for Pepper, who enjoyed (and was better at) the administrative side of things. "I could ask him…"

"The worst he could do is say no," Ned pointed out.

"No, don't," Nico said, automatically speaking for the rest of the team. He was their captain, after all, and appalled at the idea of Peter asking Tony Stark to do that. "It's okay."

Peter smiled, already holding up his phone. He didn't need Alec to tell him that they were all hoping that he'd ignore Nico and make that call – and were hoping Tony would say yes. Their parents and chaperones would surely accept Ironman as a good enough guardian that they'd be allowed to ride the subway, after all. Peter was willing and he was sure that Tony would be, as well – unless he had something important going on, that day.

"Too late," he said, pressing his screen, lightly.

The kids at the table all watched, their breakfasts ignored for the moment, as Peter's phone rang out.

OOOOOOOOOO

"This was really nice of you…"

Tony smiled, looking along the subway car at the small group of high school kids (and their teachers, chaperones, and a couple of SHIELD agents) who were scattered along the length of it. He was sitting by Peter, lounging back, easily, in the poorly padded seat. He and Pepper were at the tower debating what they wanted to do that day while waiting to hear from Peter to go pick him up at the hotel, more than ready to take him back to the compound where they didn't have to share him, any longer, when Peter's call had come in, and the boy had explained what was going on with the Japanese team.

The billionaire had looked at Pepper, silently asking if she minded – and telling her without words that he didn't mind spending a little more time helping with the international competition. Or a specific team, in this case. She'd simply shrugged, smiling and amused that Tony was doing it because Peter wanted him to do it. Tony had told Peter to have the Japanese students ask their teachers if he was a good enough safeguard and to call and let him know when they needed him.

An hour later, he was pulling up in the limo with Happy driving, and an excited group that was formed by the Japanese students, their teachers, chaperones – and Peter and Ned – all piled in, talking and laughing as they were driven to the nearest station where they could pay for their ride on the subway. Joined on the car by SHIELD agents – because that was what SHIELD did, really – they were now riding the 1 line from the beginning of the route and would end with a ride on the Stanton Island Ferry. From there, the Japanese team would go on to their play and Peter and Tony would head back to the tower, meet up with Pepper and Ned's mom, who was going to meet them there to collect her son, and then go home to the compound.

"I'm enjoying myself," he assured the boy, meaning it. "Besides, there's no sense in letting them be disappointed, right?"

"Yeah." Peter was watching the other people on the train, like he enjoyed doing, but he was also very much aware of the fact that SHIELD wasn't going to allow any of the people that they didn't know to get beyond their carefully formed protective phalanx to ask Tony for an autograph. Most of the riders didn't even notice Tony who was sitting in the back, focusing, instead, on the obvious touristy actions of the younger riders, who were pointing out anything of interest and taking pictures of everything. "It's fun to watch them get so excited about doing something I've done all my life, pretty much."

A smile.

"I know." Tony slapped his son's shoulder, cheerfully happy to have him back. "Don't make any plans for next weekend," he told him.

"Why not?"

"Can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"Because I've been sworn to secrecy."

"By who?"

"Whom."

Peter rolled his eyes.

"Whom?"

"Can't tell you that, either."

Ugh.