Chapter 11
“Wow…”
Tony smiled at the very familiar word, even as he pulled the SUV into a parking space in front of the main building. It was much busier today than it had been the day he and Pepper had driven up to check the place out. There were several cars along the far end of the lot – next to a building that Tony now knew was where the staff stayed. Pretty much like a single-storied hotel with each room holding a main room and a bathroom but not much more.
Better than staying in a tent, he supposed.
He turned to look back at Peter just as he saw Eric pull the van into the space next to them.
“I don’t want you running off, okay? Let’s see if they have a place they want you guys to be, and then if they don’t we’ll go take a look around.”
The boy nodded.
“Okay.”
He opened his door and got out, waving at Ned who was also opening his door. They’d left home later than Peter had hoped to, but it wasn’t too late, really. Peter had been talking to Ned while getting his last-minute things together and putting them into his backpack. He wasn’t taking any of his important things to camp. That was in the safe in his room and he knew it would still be there when he came home.
They hadn’t actually planned on arriving with Eric and Nancy and their boys, but Ned had been excited to leave early – just like Peter – and Peter and Ned were talking nonstop on their cell phones as the two families drove north. When Tony stopped the car at a rest stop only ten miles or so from the camp, Eric had driven in before they’d left, and they’d waited to allow the Tatros to leave with them, getting cookies from the nonprofit that had set up a coffee station in exchange for donations and munched on them while Eric rounded up all of the teenagers who had accompanied them.
“How was the drive?” Eric asked with a smile when he got out of the car and stretched, mightily.
“Noisy.”
Peter smiled, too, and only the fact that Tony had told him not to run was keeping him from running off to try and look at everything at once. He knew that he hadn’t been that noisy. Sort of. Of course, he knew that Tony and Pepper had been to the camp and because of that he’d asked them a ton of questions about the place on the way.
“This is great,” Ned said, walking over to stand by Eric, positively dwarfed by the large man, but looking over at the main building and then trying to look at the lake, which could just be seen to one side of the main building and down the slight slope that led to the beach that surrounded it. “Can we go look around?”
“Not yet,” Eric said, putting his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Let’s go get you guys checked in, first. Then we can put your stuff in your cabin and see where they want you, next.”
This wasn’t his first time dealing with getting a kid to camp – and he was going to do it with the rest of the boys in another week – so he was relaxed and able to enjoy how excited and happy Ned was, just then.
There was a banner welcoming campers to camp and a smaller sign inviting people to come inside and register, and since they were the first to arrive to check in there wasn’t a line. There were a few people standing on the porch, though, leaning on the rail. These people were all looking their way and Peter knew it wasn’t him they were watching. Tony wasn’t ready to be the center of attention, though, and he caught Peter’s left hand while Pepper took his right and the two of them walked their son up the stairs and inside.
Eric and Nancy followed with Ned, but Eric told the gaggle of teenaged boys to wait by the cars and not wander off.
Peter smiled, cheerfully, the moment he walked into the cafeteria, happy to see someone familiar – even though he’d known he was going to be there.
“Hi, Bucky!”
Barnes’ smile wasn’t even forced. He had been leaning against a wall, talking to a younger guy with blonde hair and a full beard, but when he saw them walking in he’d straightened a little.
“Hey, Peter. Ready for camp?”
It was utterly rhetorical, of course, but Peter nodded. He let go of Tony and Pepper and ran over to him.
“Yeah! What are we going to do, first?”
Bucky put his hand on the boy’s head, amused, and nodded a greeting to Tony and Pepper when they walked over, as well, with Eric’s group coming right behind them.
“First, you and Ned need to get checked in. Then we’ll show you and your parents where you’re going to be living this upcoming week.”
“Neat.” He looked at the man who was standing there. A man who was – not surprisingly – looking at Tony. “I’m Peter.”
An experienced counselor. The man smiled down at the boy and offered him his hand to shake.
“Hi, Peter. I’m Ross. It’s nice to meet you.”
“You, too. This is my friend, Ned. He’s staying here, too.”
Ross smiled.
“I know.” He shook Ned’s hand, too. “I’m going to be your counselor.”
“Really? Wow.”
“And Bucky, too, right?” Ned asked, looking at Barnes.
“Right.” He looked at the others and then visibly decided it was time to step into the role he was playing. Which was something so far out of his character that he knew no one would ever believe it if they’d known him only a year ago. Except Steve, of course, who knew him best. The Winter Soldier grabbed Peter, bodily, and draped him over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry, eliciting an excited giggle. “Come on, Ned, let’s go get the boring stuff done so we can start the fun stuff.”
“Yay!” Ned caught Bucky’s hand and allowed him to lead him off to the registration table where Nor was seated with Doctor Strange, who was there to take all medications any of the campers took so he could be in charge of dispensing them as needed. “Jamie said we’re going to be in cabins. Is that right?”
“It is. We’re going to be in Alaska.”
“Cool.”
Tony, Pepper, Eric, and Nancy all stayed where they were for a moment, mainly because all of them wanted to meet the counselor and get a better idea of what kind of person he was.
The billionaire put out a hand.
“Tony Stark.”
The other man smiled, broadly and was clearly excited, but luckily didn’t squeal as he shook Tony’s hand.
“I know. It’s an honor. I’m Ross Kindle.”
They both already knew his name, of course. You could only learn so much from reading a background check and listening to a briefing from SHIELD.
“My wife, Pepper. And Ned’s parents, Eric and Nancy.”
Kindle shook hands all around. He was tall and lean with blue eyes and a deep tan and wrinkle lines that proved his smile wasn’t just because he was meeting Tony Stark.
“Nice to meet you all. Any concerns about this week?”
“Plenty of them,” Tony admitted.
“We want him to have fun,” Pepper said. “But we’ve never sent him to camp, before.”
“And he can be a little reckless, sometimes,” Tony added. “Especially when he’s with Ned. They’re bright little guys and can get into a fair amount of trouble if you aren’t paying attention to what they’re doing.”
“We’ll keep a close eye on them, I promise. Most of the activities scheduled for this week are meant to be done as a cabin group, so there won’t be much opportunity for them to get into anything we aren’t all getting into, together.”
“And Peter’s allergic to horses.”
They’d already pointed that out in the camp registration – and had discussed it with Doctor Brown and the camp director when they’d come up, earlier, but it was something that bore repeating.
“James already let me know,” Kindle assured them. He looked at Eric and Nancy. “And Ned?”
“No allergies,” Eric replied. “Not that we’re aware of, anyway. But Tony’s right; Ned and Peter can come up with some crazy ideas – and then make you think it’s perfectly normal when you catch them trying them out. Keep an eye on that.”
Despite Eric being a huge, mountain of a man who could probably break him into two rather easily, the counselor chuckled.
“I will.”