Tony Stark's "Pizza"

Queens' Community Square was covered by temporary white tents, like a floating cloud. Stark Industries charity-event banners rustled in the wind, printed with a huge photo of Tony Stark—wearing his signature Iron Man armor, a cigar clenched between his lips, his eyes as unruly as a proud lion's. His voice came through the loudspeakers, carrying a hint of casual mockery. "...So I told the military, instead of spending a billion dollars building tanks, they should buy my pizza machine. At least it won't blow its barrel."

The crowd burst into laughter, camera flashes sparkling like stars. Lin Mo stood at the edge of the crowd, carrying the reusable bag Aunt May had stuffed into his hands. A crooked little cat was embroidered on its opening. He had originally wanted to stay at the repair shop and fix that server S.H.I.E.L.D. had discarded, but the old lady had planted herself at the doorway with her hands on her hips. "Free pizza! Limited-edition Stark Industries custom-made pizza! If you don't eat it, it's a waste. Go too late, and there won't even be crust left!"

"This line is longer than Carlos' temper." Ted squeezed up beside him, craning his neck like a goose and holding a crumpled autograph book. "Do you think I can get Stark to sign it? Just write, 'To Ted, the future master magician.'" Flour still clung to his hair from that morning's experiment, a failed "smoke bomb" Peter had invented.

Lin Mo looked along the line. It wound from the entrance of the square all the way to the side of the stage, with at least two hundred people in it. Most were elderly people and children, holding Stark Industries brochures printed with various charity projects—free renovations for the Community Library, donations of smart medical equipment, and shelters for stray animals. "He has done some real good," Lin Mo murmured. The playboy who always cracked jokes at press conferences in the news did not quite match these very real donations before him.

"That's because Miss Pepper keeps him on a tight leash." Peter suddenly popped up beside them, holding a copy of Stark Industries Technology Yearbook with curled page edges. "My cousin said Mr. Tony used to know only how to spend money on sports cars and parties. Miss Pepper forced him to do charity work." Dust speckled the boy's glasses, but it could not hide the light in his eyes. "Look at that drone. It's from the newest Mark series. It can deliver pizza automatically with an error margin of less than three centimeters!"

Lin Mo looked where he pointed. A silver-gray drone hovered above the tents, its mechanical arms deftly placing pizza onto paper plates. The scent of cheese drifted over on the wind, making everyone's stomachs growl. A tiny letter "P" was printed on the drone's body, probably Pepper Potts' initials.

The line slowly crept forward like a writhing serpent. Lin Mo could hear people around him talking—some said Tony Stark's armor could stay in space for seventy-two hours, some said he had been involved in another scandal with a model last month, and a girl in a school uniform held up her phone, its screen showing a photo of him without the armor, and squealed softly, "He'd still be handsome even if he went bald!"

"He isn't bald," Peter corrected seriously. "That was a holographic projection meant to mislead reporters. The real Mr. Tony has hair. Just... not much of it." He opened the yearbook and pointed at a blurry photograph. "Look, this was taken when he gave a speech at MIT. He had three more hairs than he does now."

Lin Mo laughed and ruffled his hair. "How do you know everything?"

"I made a database." Peter scratched his head awkwardly. "I collected all the news and papers about him and analyzed them with an algorithm." He pulled out a USB drive from his backpack. "It also has some of his unpublished patent blueprints. I cracked three encrypted files."

Ted's eyes lit up. "Can it make my magic box automatically turn into doves?"

"In theory, yes, but it would need miniature mechanical arms and voice recognition..." Before Peter could finish, an even bigger commotion interrupted him. Like iron filings drawn to a magnet, the crowd surged toward the stage—Tony Stark had come down.

He was not wearing his armor. He had on a black leather jacket over a white T-shirt printed with "I Invented the Internet." His jeans were torn at the knees, making him look no different from an ordinary street punk, aside from his astonishingly shiny black leather shoes and the priceless smartwatch on his wrist. Several bodyguards followed close behind, but he impatiently waved them away. "Quit swarming around me like flies. I just want a cup of coffee."

His destination was the coffee cart at the corner of the tent, and he had to pass through the pizza line to get there. The crowd instantly went wild. Some shoved forward for autographs, some held up their phones for pictures, and even the security guards maintaining order could not resist pulling out their phones to secretly snap a photo with him.

"Make way, make way!" Ted excitedly dragged Lin Mo forward through the crowd. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance!" Peter was swept along by the tide of people too, and the yearbook in his arms was nearly squeezed away. Lin Mo was pushed around so badly that his Physical Enhancement activated instinctively, keeping him from stumbling. Dynamic Vision caught every one of Tony's movements—he was lowering his head to say something to the assistant beside him, that familiar sarcastic smile hanging at the corner of his mouth.

Just as the two passed each other, an accident happened. A little girl in a red dress suddenly rushed out of the crowd, holding up a drawing and shouting, "Mr. Stark! Please give me an autograph!" Tony instinctively turned aside to avoid her, and his elbow bumped straight into Lin Mo's arm. The coffee cup in his hand dropped to the ground with a smack, brown liquid splashing all over Lin Mo, with several drops even landing in his hair.

"Oh, damn." Tony frowned and bent down to pick up the empty cup. His gaze swept over Lin Mo—there was a large coffee stain spreading across his gray hoodie like an abstract painting, while the boy still carried a reusable bag embroidered with a cat, half a slice of pizza peeking out from inside. He suddenly smiled, pulled out a gold-embossed business card from his jeans pocket, and handed it over. "Sorry, kid. This is my personal assistant's number. Have her get you a new T-shirt. Pick whatever you want, any brand under Stark Industries."

Lin Mo took the card blankly, his fingertips touching its warmth. Pepper Potts' name and a phone number were printed on it, with a tiny Iron Man logo in the lower-right corner. "It's fine," he said instinctively. He raised a hand to wipe the coffee stain, only to find that the hoodie's fabric was highly absorbent and had already darkened with moisture.

"Don't be polite." Tony patted him on the shoulder, not too hard and not too soft. "Consider it... an apology for my terrible balance." His eyes fell on the yearbook in Peter's arms, and he suddenly raised a brow. "Mark IV blueprints? Where did you get those?"

Peter's face instantly turned red. He stammered, "I... I cracked... No, it was my cousin..."

"Relax, kid." Tony smiled and waved a hand without pressing further. He merely pointed to a detail in the blueprint. "The energy conduit design here has a flaw. I improved it last month. Remember to update your database next time." With that, he turned and headed for the coffee cart, leaving Peter standing there frozen.

The people around them were still discussing the incident. Some envied Lin Mo for getting Pepper's business card, while others regretted not getting a photo. Ted poked Lin Mo's arm, his eyes wide and round. "You actually made Iron Man pay for your T-shirt? He's Tony Stark!"

Lin Mo looked down at the business card in his hand, then sniffed the coffee smell on himself—a slightly burnt bitterness, no different from instant coffee bought at an ordinary convenience store. "Iron Man's coffee isn't anything special," he muttered, slipping the card into the reusable bag beside the half slice of pizza.

As they walked back after collecting their pizza, Peter was still buzzing with excitement, muttering nonstop. "He actually saw my blueprint! He even pointed out the flaw! I knew there was something wrong with that conduit!" He suddenly stopped and grabbed Lin Mo's wrist. "Lin Mo, do you think I could work at Stark Industries someday? Be his assistant and help him improve the armor!"

"As long as you work hard, you definitely can," Lin Mo said seriously. He thought of Peter's Web-Shooters design on his draft paper and the anti-radar device blueprints. This boy's talent was no less than that of any top MIT student.

Ted chewed on his pizza and spoke indistinctly. "Don't forget to take me with you when the time comes. I'll perform magic tricks in your lab and liven things up."

When they passed the community park, Martha and Grandma Gretchen were sitting on a bench in the sun. When they saw the coffee stain on Lin Mo's clothes, the old ladies immediately widened their eyes. "What happened? Who bullied you?"

"Tony Stark spilled coffee on me," Lin Mo said helplessly.

"That playboy!" Martha said indignantly. "Does he think he's so great just because he has a little money? When I was young, there were plenty of men more handsome than him, and none of them were as arrogant." She pulled out a handkerchief from her bag and started wiping Lin Mo's hoodie. "Can this hoodie still be saved? If not, throw it away. I'll knit you a new one, better than whatever branded thing he gives you."

"It's fine. It'll wash out." Lin Mo dodged away with a smile. "He gave me a business card too. He said he'd compensate me with a new one."

"Don't take anything from him," Grandma Gretchen said slowly. "There's no such thing as a free lunch. Anything that falls from the sky is a trap. Last time, my nephew accepted a free vacuum cleaner, and they ended up selling him a five-thousand-dollar maintenance plan." She patted the back of Lin Mo's hand. "We don't go chasing small bargains."

Lin Mo nodded and shared the pizza from his reusable bag with the two old ladies. Martha took a bite, and her eyes lit up. "It really does taste good. Better than Aunt May's baking."

"Who are you talking about?" Aunt May's voice suddenly came from behind them. She was carrying an empty pizza box. "Didn't you eat every last bit of the apple pie I baked?"

The setting sun dyed their laughter gold. Looking at the scene before him, Lin Mo suddenly felt that his encounter with Tony Stark had been like a stone thrown into a lake. It had stirred up ripples, but the water had soon returned to calm. The superhero standing beneath the spotlight and the old ladies sunning themselves in the community park seemed to belong to two different worlds, yet a piece of free pizza had created a strange connection between them.

When he returned to the repair shop, Carlos was raging at an old printer, cursing under his breath. "This piece of junk isn't even as useful as a Stark Industries coffee machine!" When he saw the coffee stain on Lin Mo's clothes, the old man paused. "Who spilled that on you? I'll go settle the score with them!"

"Tony Stark." Lin Mo took off his hoodie and tossed it into the washing machine. "He said he'd compensate me with a new one."

Carlos' curses came to an abrupt stop. His eyes widened like bells. "Iron Man? You ran into Iron Man? Was he wearing the armor? Was he even more handsome than on TV?"

"No, he was just wearing ripped jeans." Lin Mo picked up his tools and continued repairing the server. "He looked no different from anyone else. Just had pretty accurate aim when he spilled coffee."

Carlos kept chattering and asking questions, but Lin Mo barely listened. His gaze fell on the washing machine. The coffee-stained hoodie spun inside the drum like a forgotten little episode. The screwdriver in his hand turned lightly over the motherboard, making faint clicking sounds. Together with the laughter in the square, the teasing from the loudspeakers, and Tony Stark's apology, they slowly blended in his heart into a strange song.

When the shop closed that evening, Lin Mo took Pepper Potts' business card from the reusable bag. After hesitating for a moment, he placed it in a drawer beside Hogan's card. He probably would not really call to ask for a new T-shirt, just as he would not go work at Stark Industries—the world there was too dazzling for an ordinary person like him, someone who only wanted to fix computers and deliver packages.

Peter sent him a text saying that, following Tony's advice, he had improved the energy conduit design. He asked if he could come to the repair shop tomorrow to test it. Lin Mo smiled and replied, "Okay," imagining the boy's excited expression as the corners of his mouth lifted.

As night deepened, the three wild daisies on the basement windowsill had wilted, their petals curling slightly. Lin Mo changed their water and watched moonlight pass through the veins of the petals, casting tiny scattered shadows across the table. The wristband vibrated softly on his wrist. There were still 299 days until the next check-in.

He thought of Tony Stark's white T-shirt, Pepper Potts' business card, and the light in Peter's eyes. Suddenly, he felt that the distance between superheroes and ordinary people might not be so great after all. They were all trying to live in their own worlds, making the world a little better in their own ways—some saved the world with Iron Man armor, some fixed computers with a screwdriver, and some warmed a community with a piece of free pizza.

Lin Mo lay in bed, listening to the washing machine's completion chime, the faint scent of coffee still lingering on him. Tomorrow, he would hang up his freshly washed hoodie, help Peter test the new energy conduit, and continue being the community's "volunteer deliveryman." Life was still ordinary, yet because of today's small incident, it carried a slightly different flavor.