Chapter Text
There was nothing normal about living in New York City.
If it wasn’t aliens pouring through a giant wormhole in the sky, it was genetically enhanced rhino-men charging through the city. On this occasion it was something similar to the latter that caused Peter Parker to miss his train. When he saw the police cordon around the subway station he knew something unusual was happening.
It wasn’t until he noticed the giant scorpion tail emerge from the entrance that he realised just how crazy a situation he was in. The next thing he saw was a surge of screaming people fleeing the area, almost dragging him along with them. He stood his ground, craning his neck to scan the subway entrance for any sign of the battle he knew was playing out. There was a telltale flick of a stinger before it again disappeared behind the swarm of people, though Peter knew it hadn’t gone far based on the sounds of crashing and grinding metal.
He pushed his way through the crowd, desperate to see a glimpse of the action, but had to grab onto a nearby lamppost when he almost fell down a Peter-sized hole in the concrete. He stared into the abyss beyond the crater, trying to listen past his adrenaline fuelled heartbeat. All of a sudden the crashing and scraping stopped. Peter leaned over the hole, while maintaining his grip on the lamppost and listened.
A brief moment of silence.
A small whirring sound.
Peter grinned and threw himself back as a massive beam of blue energy streamed into the sky from beneath him. Seconds later a streak of red, gold and green flew out of the dark depths and sent a rush of cool air washing over an excited Peter.
It was who Peter had been waiting for; Iron Man. The shining red suit flew high into the air before slamming its squirming green bundle back into the ground. There were a few creaks and groans escaping from the scorpion suit and its occupant before both fell silent. Nearby crowds began to cheer and applaud while Iron Man gently came to rest on the ground. He checked that his opponent really was down for the count, then turned his attention towards the people gathering around him.
His eyes finally settled on a young teenager, sitting next to a newly created sinkhole, with a slight smirk on his face. The Iron Man suit gave a quick half-hearted salute, which Peter barely had time to reciprocate, before it rocketed into the sky.
Peter picked himself up, straightened his glasses and brushed off the rubble before calmly crossing the road and heading towards the nearest subway station that hadn’t been completely destroyed by a crazy man in a Scorpion costume.
A few villain-free moments later and Peter arrived at the tall office that had become his second home. He chuckled to himself as he entered the elevator and pressed the button to take him to one of the top floors. As he did a woman’s voice echoed above him.
“Welcome back Peter, I trust your journey was uneventful.”
Peter snorted a laugh, “He told you to say that didn’t he?”
The robotic voice answered in an almost amused tone, “The boss may have asked me to say something humorous when you entered, yes.”
Peter stepped out of the elevator and into the corridor. “He’s already back then? Where is he?”
The lights on one side of the corridor dimmed and Peter automatically started walking towards the brightly lit end. “He’s in the workshop”, the voice responded, “he wants you there as soon as possible.”
Peter picked up his pace slightly, not wanting to be rude, but knowing his boss wasn’t likely to be particularly angry at his lateness. Especially since it was his fault. He rounded the final corner and opened the glass door into, what would appear to anyone else as, a technology graveyard. From somewhere among the scrap heap, a sarcastic voice emerged.
“What kind of time do you call this Parker? I was starting to worry you weren’t coming.”
“Oh sure”, Peter teased, “sorry, I got held up by some vigilante in the city.”
At this, Tony Stark’s head shot up in mock surprise. “How dare you, I’m sure whatever happened, a lot of people were saved by that brave, dashing vigilante.”
Peter laughed and shook his head, “You looked great out there today, although your repulsors sounded like they took longer than normal to boot up.”
“And you looked like you almost had your head blown off, what were you doing kid?”
Peter felt a wave of embarrassment wash over him, he knew he had been too close but he couldn’t resist seeing the suit in action. “Sorry Mr Stark I just wanted to see you in action up close, I love working on the suit but I never get to see the fruits of our labour!”
“Fruits of our labour? You’ve been reading too much Jane Eyre.” Tony rolled his eyes.
“Funny you should say that, we’re reading it for a study at school.” Peter replied excitedly.
Tony wiped his hand across his forehead, “And just like that you’ve reminded me how old I am. Slow repulsors you think? I couldn’t agree more, let’s fix that.”
Peter wanted to ask more about the morning’s events but quickly settled into his calculations while Tony began taking the two suit arms apart.
A few hours later, both satisfied with their progress, they made their way to Stark’s office for lunch. Peter considered himself the luckiest kid in the world. Not only had he landed an apprenticeship at Stark industries, but he’d quickly caught the eye of the great Tony Stark. Only six months in and he was having lunch every Monday with the man himself.
Tony could hardly believe it either. He had heard of the kid through his company’s talent scouts, who had in turn discovered Peter through an online exam. The kid hadn’t just achieved the best score, he was the only entrant to attain a perfect score. After that he was offered a part time internship at Stark industries in the tech department.
He had been tasked with basic programming and menial tasks but managed to find his way into some classified drives containing specs for the Iron Man suit. When the department head found out, he had dragged Peter to Stark himself for reprimand. Tony however was more shocked that a teenager had managed to get into some of his most classified drives. So he instead asked Peter to help him improve security. He then moved on to hardware development and eventually they were working on the suit together. Tony found he quite enjoyed having Peter around. He talked incessantly and had more energy than Tony thought possible for one person but it made the work less gruelling and helped pass the time much faster.
They had grown a bond in that short time, close to that of two friends who had known each other for years. In fact neither could remember a time when they hadn’t known the other. It came naturally to them.
Tony tossed Peter a peanut butter sandwich that the kid scrambled to catch, while he tucked in to his own BLT. Through mouthfuls of food they discussed their progress and plans for the following weeks.
“I was hoping you could come by tomorrow actually, I know you don’t typically come in on a Tuesday but I think we’re on the verge of cracking the repulsor problem and you’re the least annoying intern I’ve got.” Tony didn’t want to inflate the kid’s ego too much and he wasn’t kidding. The other Stark interns were all straight-nosed and serious, he much prefered Peter’s energy.
Peter’s eyes lit up at the praise but quickly dropped to the floor.
“I would love to Mr Stark but my school’s taking a trip to Oscorp and I’ve been looking forward to it for weeks.”
Tony scoffed, “Oscorp? Why on earth would they send you there, I thought Midtown was for geniuses?” Just saying the name left a bitter taste in Tony’s mouth.
“I thought it would be educational to see the competition”, Peter said defensively, “they also do far more biological studies than Stark industries.” Peter suddenly stopped and looked at Tony, eyes wide. “Sorry Mr Stark I didn’t mean… it’s just… there’s nothing wrong…”
“Don’t worry kid”, Tony cut across, amused, “I know what you meant it’s ok. I’ll just see you when you finish for the day? I’ll get Happy to drive you home.”
Peter beamed at Tony, brimming with excitement. “That sounds awesome Mr Stark!”
Tony rolled his eyes, “for the hundredth time kid please call me Tony, you make me feel like a school teacher.”
Peter finished the last bite of his sandwich and jumped off his chair, smirking. “Whatever you say, Mr Stark ”.
Tony laughed, the cheek of that kid. He loved it.
A few hours later Peter noticed how late it was and hurried out the door, heading back to his home in Queens. Tony wrapped up for the day too, exhausted from the morning’s antics and the energy it took to keep up with the bounciest teenager in New York.