Disclaimer: I do not own the Marvel Cinematic Universe or any of its characters found in this story. What is written here is for entertainment purposes only. No infringement is intended and this story is not for profit.
Pepper
"But Mr. Stark!" protested Peter, rushing to catch up to his mentor.
"It's the mission of a lifetime," said Mr. Stark, barely slowing his pace.
"Exactly! I could help!"
Mr. Stark looked back at Peter. "Wasn't talking 'bout my mission. I was talking bout yours."
Peter gave his mentor a dry stare. "You want me to stay here and keep a fully capable adult company. How is that a mission of a lifetime?"
"Don't give me that look. There are a few people that I trust to keep an eye on Pepper. Your ungrateful ass is one them." Mr. Stark turned his back on Peter and continued walking. "I don't know why you're complaining. This is a huge honor."
Peter highly doubted that. A huge honor was fighting alongside the Avengers. A huge honor was at least getting invited to a battle. But babysitting an adult? More like a step down the bottom of the superhero food chain.
If Peter didn't know any better, he would argue that Mr. Stark was doing this to him on purpose.
"Hang on." Peter paused. "Is this a test?"
Mr. Stark sighed. "No, it's not a test."
"But you'd say that if it was." Peter studied his mentor. He seemed to have found what he was looking for because he folded his arms, having convinced himself of something.
"Yup. It's a test," Peter said smugly. "You want to see if I'll follow orders or disobey you like I did last time. It's part of your unconventional teaching style."
"No, it's not part of my uncon—ugh." Mr. Stark pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fine. If you want, yes, it's a test."
"Listen," said Mr. Stark, his face growing serious. "The mission I'll be doing is particularly sensitive and Pepper's a bit jittery and paranoid because of it. I need you to stay here and distract her. Use that energy of yours that never runs out to keep her happy." He cocked his head. "Don't think of it as a test. Think of it as being an assistant to the CEO of a tech conglomerate."
Mr. Stark clapped Peter on the back. "I'm even giving you permission to put that on your resume."
Peter nodded with newfound determination. He wasn't going to let Mr. Stark down this time.
Mr. Stark stepped into his suit, looking at Peter with unease. But there was no backing out now. He wondered if he'll regret this when he returns.
…
Peter poked his head in Miss Potts' office. "Hey, Miss Potts." He stepped inside the room, balancing a tray in one hand.
Miss Potts looked up from her work and curiously glanced at what Peter brought—a sandwich, a plate of cookies, a mug of steaming hot water, and a selection of tea bags.
"Did you know you have like a hundred tea flavors in the kitchen, Miss Potts? I just grabbed the familiar ones." Peter set the tray down on the coffee table and started suggesting tea flavors. "There's this flavor that I can't pronounce. I googled it and apparently, it helps you focus on your work. And it doesn't have caffeine. Also, I know it's not Delmar's but the kitchen's pretty well-stocked on some cold cuts, so I made you a sandwich. "
Miss Potts rounded her desk, a small amused smile played on her lips. "Peter, what are you doing?"
Peter glanced down at the tray stacked with food and then back at Miss Potts. "Feeding you?"
"No, I mean, what are you doing spending your weekend in my office? You're fifteen. You're young. There's bound to be something else you'd rather do." Miss Potts took a seat on the couch, a thought occurring to her. "Did Tony ask you to do this?
"I—no—because—" the look Pepper directed at him was so much like May's that Peter couldn't bring himself to lie. He sat down beside Miss Potts. "Yeah, he did."
"Figures he'd ask you to babysit me."
"The word he used was 'assist.'"
"Thank you, Peter. But I'm not in need of an assistant right now." Miss Potts cleared her throat and said, "I officially relieve you of your duties and give you free reign to go and raid Tony's workshop."
Peter almost jumped out of his chair because he just had been given permission to basically go around and take souvenirs! But Mr. Stark's face suddenly flashed in his head and he settled back into the couch. He wasn't gonna let the man down.
Miss Potts understood at once what the resolve on Peter's face meant. "You're not leaving this alone, are you?"
Peter nodded sheepishly. "I'm sorry. But I'm trying really hard to prove to Mr. Stark that he can trust me with stuff. He told me to be your assistant, so I'm gonna be your assistant."
Miss Potts studied the teenager beside her. She knew loyalty when she saw it. There was no changing Peter's mind.
"Alright," said Miss Potts. "Well, if you're gonna work for me, you might as well be useful."
…
Peter has never been to the lobby of Stark Industries before, much less its R&D Department! He usually hang out with Mr. Stark in the facility but never in Stark Industries.
Peter's breath caught in his throat, eyes darting all over the massive floor filled with machines and equipment. Engineers walked past him and Peter's eyes widened at the small robot rolling alongside them.
"I feel like I'm in Disneyland," he gushed to Miss Potts.
Peter raised his phone and started a new video.
"Stark Industries," he narrated, "Research and Development department, where magic happens, where the future is made." He began humming the tune of the Stark Expo.
"Is he doing that thing again?" Peter turned and focused his camera on a blank faced Happy Hogan. He zoomed in on the security badge hanging in the man's front pocket.
"Did you tell him it's useless seeing as he can't show his movie to anyone?" Happy asked Miss Potts.
Miss Potts nodded. "I made him sign an NDA and told him that we're acquiring the video as soon as he's done filming."
Peter wasn't stupid. He knew he couldn't breathe a word to Ned about what he saw in here. Everything was top secret. But that's okay.
Filming a movie just sort of helped him calm down and focus. He's pretty sure his hand would be shaking in barely controlled excitement if it wasn't holding on to a phone.
Peter turned his camera to Miss Potts. "So, what are we gonna do today, boss? Run tests? Experiment on ourselves?"
It turned out that that was exactly what Miss Potts wanted Peter to do. Apparently, Mr. Stark's been busy with the Accords to take a look at the product line and check everything out for kinks and final approval. And given that Peter was the above-average intelligent teenager who could speak more engineering than Miss Potts could, she needed him to translate and paraphrase the technical jargon the employees are gonna throw at her.
"So, I am Miss Potts' mouth and ears. I will listen for her and speak for her—whoa." Peter lowered his phone and stared.
A man was walking using a clearly more advanced version of the exoskeleton legs that Mr. Rhodes was wearing.
"Cool!" He glanced at Miss Potts who knew what Peter was gonna ask before he did. "Can I try it on?"
Peter did try on the legs and even made some suggestions to the surprise of the lead engineer.
After that, the lead engineer had enthusiastically whisked Peter away from Miss Potts and showed him various other pieces, asking Peter for his input.
Miss Potts found him an hour later.
Peter was slipping the engineer a dollar in an attempt to bribe the guy to build a real lightsaber.
"We don't build weapons anymore, Mr. Parker," the head engineer was saying, lips quirked up in enjoyment.
"I'm not saying sell it to the public! But imagine Iron Man using a lightsaber while fighting aliens! That'd be so cool!"
Miss Potts pried Peter and his dollar away from her employee before he could say anything more.
"Do you think he would have done it for 5 dollars?" Peter asked Miss Potts.
…
"I have to admit, Miss Potts, I didn't think being your assistant could be this fun!" said Peter. He and Miss Potts were taking a snack break in the cafeteria.
"Peter, I think it's time you called me Pepper."
Peter choked on his drink. He looked around warily. "But you're my boss right now," he whispered. "We can't let people think you're playing favorites."
Miss Potts giggled. "Right. Okay. Well, why don't you call me 'Miss Potts' here and 'Pepper' in the facility."
Peter mulled it over. Was it okay to call the CEO of Stark Industries by her first name? He didn't even call Mr. Stark by his first name.
"Pepper," Peter said the name slowly, testing it out. He nodded, saying it once more.
"See? Wasn't so bad," grinned Miss Potts.
Peter found that he agreed. It helped that Miss Potts reminded him of May. Come to think of it, he never called May "Aunt May" either.
Both CEO and her assistant finished eating before going back to work.
...
"Don't think I've forgiven you for having Peter babysit me," Miss Potts said to Mr. Stark before giving him a chaste kiss in greeting. "Welcome back."
"Assist," Mr. Stark corrected. "Assist, not babysit. And speaking of assisting, how'd he do? He wasn't too weird, was he?"
"More… enthusiastic than weird." Before Miss Potts could expound, Peter walked up to her, a tablet in his hand.
"Miss Potts, Roger's confirmed that we can start streamlining production for phase 2," stated Peter, tapping something on the screen of the tab.
Mr. Stark found the sight disconcerting. Where was the drooling, bouncing ball of energy that he left behind?
"What happened to you? Wait—Roger? You're on a first name basis with my head engineer?"
"He tried bribing him to build a lightsaber," explained Miss Potts.
"I was gone for a day," muttered Mr. Stark, shaking his head.
He knew it. He knew the minute he left Peter this morning that he was gonna regret making him Pepper's assistant. Now, the teenager had shifted loyalties.
He turned to Peter and asked enticingly, "Hey, kid. What do you say to going on a few spins with War Machine and the Vision?"
"I… uh… erm," Peter fidgeted with the tablet, trying to find a way to let Mr. Stark down easy. "I'll have to get back to you on that, Mr. Stark. You see, I managed to convince Roger to at least hear me out on a BB8 space rover."
Tony started. He looked at Peter and then at Miss Potts. "Did he just—oh, hell. You turned him," he accused the CEO. "You hijacked my intern and turned him into a… a… a real intern! He's compromised! This is betrayal in the highest order, Potts."
Miss Potts rolled her eyes. "Relax. His tenure lasts until 6 PM tonight."
"What?" cried Peter, dismay flitting across his face. "No! I really like it here! I like being your assistant, Pepper! I get to work with the toys, er, I mean, the prototypes."
Mr. Stark did a double take. "Whoa, 'Pepper?' First Roger and then Pepper? You spend months with me and you persist with that 'Mr. Stark' crap and you spend a day at SI and suddenly you're chums with everyone? That's it. You're leaving with me right now. Work's over."
Mr. Stark clasped Peter on the shoulder and nudged him out the door. "You don't need Roger. You got me: Iron Man. Remember him?"
"That depends. Are we gonna make a lightsaber?"
Mr. Stark made a noncommittal grunt that Peter took to be a yes anyway.