Tony waited just outside the office on his first day. His hands gripped the hem of his new t-shirt firmly as he waited for the door to open and for Dr. Banner to instruct him on what to do. The other intern was there as well, lightly tapping his foot as he casually glanced up at the clock.
"I hope we don't end up filing papers or running to get coffee all day. I'm looking forward to seeing nuclear physics in action." He said, leaning over to Tony.
"Maybe we'll get superpowers like in the movies." He muttered. Tony liked those movies, the old black and white ones where a mad scientist has a lab accident and becomes part cockroach or starts moving things with their minds. "Not sure I can handle the responsibility though. I mess everything up."
"That's okay. We're teenagers, we're allowed to mess up." He said.
Tony frowned, shaking his head slightly. That was wrong, so very wrong. Messing up was failing and he didn't know what punishment he would receive if he failed at this. A sense of dread crawled into the pit of his stomach, clenching tight and making him want to throw up. It was entirely possible that everything after this moment could go the exact opposite of how he wanted and then he would have to go back in shame and fear.
The worst punishment he remembered happening was when he was nine. Most of the time when company was over he was never allowed to leave his room but he would get curious. He could hear them laughing loudly from the dining room, muffled voices discussing conversation he had no business listening in on and yet he crept silently towards the stairs. He sat down on the steps, just low enough where he could hear the conversation more clearly but not see directly into the dining room.
He didn't understand most of it, just conversations about politics and trade. Tony was just happy to hear other people talk, to just be near someone else after so long alone in that house. Lotte walked out of the dining room though, heading straight for the bathroom. They both froze when they saw each other. She didn't say anything as she grabbed him by the arm and dragged him up to his room and he didn't utter a word.
Mesman came by several hours after that. They had to change the locks on his door again, hoping it would stop him from getting out, and Tony still had the scars running up his back from just how angry he had been that night and sometimes he still rubbed at his ankles long after the ache had passed. He liked knowing what the rules were and he liked knowing what was going to happen when he broke them. It gave him something to expect. Needless to say he never really felt like breaking that rule again, but at least he knew what would happen.
"I'm James, by the way." The other intern said, holding his hand out and catching Tony's attention. "James Rhodes."
"Tony." He shook the kid's hand and smiled. "So, how much are we allowed to screw up before we're fired?"
"I don't know, probably a lot. Banner's pretty laid back and he spends most of his time out in his lab with Dr. Ross anyway." James said.
The door to Bruce's office opened abruptly and he waved them both in, smiling at them. The room seemed to have gotten messier since Tony was there the week before for his interview and he glanced around at all the stacks of books, papers, and folders with curiosity.
"Thank you for coming and I hope you guys have a happy first day on the job. I picked you guys because you are both not only funny and I like you but because you both are doing pretty good in your classes and passed the background checks so I know you aren't serial killers or anything else that would be bad." Bruce said quickly, glancing down at his watch. "Today I just need you guys to go through all those folders and label them by content. There should be a header at the top of the page saying what it's about and what to label them by. Then just file them all in that cabinet over there."
Bruce waved over at the various stacks of folders and papers. Tony could do this, it didn't seem that difficult at all. He smiled as he sat down at the largest piles of folders. Not only was he given a job for the guy he was supposed to be spying on but his first order was to go through all of his stuff. James just sighed as he went for the smallest pile.
Tony was careful to scan the folder as quickly as he could, mumbling the words under his breath as he tried to read. Luckily it was all mostly numbers and graphs. None of it seemed important though, nothing to do with anything that Mesman told him to look for. He quickly labeled the folder and put it in a separate pile to be filed later.
"What are you doing later?" James asked. Tony shrugged.
"If you're going to hold out the branch of companionship I have to tell you I'm not friendly." He said. "Why does everyone want to be my friend?" James just smiled looked back down at the folders around his feet.
"I don't care what you guys do just as long as there are no drugs, weapons, or serial killers and you do your jobs." Bruce said as he tapped quickly on his computer.
"So being a regular killer is fine? Okay." James said calmly. Tony shook his head and continued filing. "Anyway, there's a big movie night going on in my building and since we're going to be working together it could be a great opportunity to get to know each other. Maybe get some studying done and talk about how much we love our new jobs."
Bruce gave a soft chuckle. Tony sighed, still going through his stack of folders. It might be easier to get this all done if he was on everyone's good side. He might even like the movie. But he didn't know how many people were going and he would be completely alone with everyone there.
"Can I bring someone?" Tony asked. James nodded. That was good, Peter probably likes movies. "What are we all watching?"
"Alien. It's an American classic. Everyone on Earth should see it." He said quickly, putting the last of his folders in the larger pile and dragging them over to the filing cabinet.
"I haven't." Tony muttered, scanning another folder.
He stopped, staring at the words in front of him. He read them over and over against to make sure he was reading them correctly. Government contracts to recreate Project Rebirth from the 1940s. That was what Bruce was doing with his experimentations with gamma radiation, trying to make the super soldier serum.
Tony closed the folder quickly and just labeled it 'contracts' before tossing it to the side. James had apparently decided that since he hadn't seen Alien then he would have to describe every single detail of the plot. He had missed most of it as he focused on reading through the folders and filing them correctly in alphabetical order as instructed but nodded along whenever there was a pause.
Eventually the filing was all done and Bruce's office looked a great deal tidier and he let them go. James gave Tony the time and address for when the movie was supposed to start and he texted Peter, who happily agreed to go.
Tony went home. He still had a few hours and wanted to write down everything so he could remember it for later. He knew about Project Rebirth and supersoldiers and if gamma radiation was the answer then Mesman might have big plans for it and Tony wasn't going to ask too many questions.
He scribbled down the information, the names of the military generals who hired him, what they were trying to do, how they were doing it, and anything else that seemed important. Now he just had to get his hands on the actual research and he would be one step closer to getting home.
'I can't believe you've never seen Alien. Ready to go when you are.' The message read. Tony sighed, the movie must have been a big deal for these guys. When he watched movies and tv it was always something Lotte picked so he never thought much about what he wasn't watching.
"So, what's his name?" Peter asked. Tony met up with him just a few blocks away from the building to walk the rest of the way.
"James Rhodes. I work with him and he invited me. You guys might like each other, seems friendly enough." Tony said. Peter shrugged.
"James is such a weirdly professional name though. Does he have a nickname? What do we call people named James? Jamie?" He said.
"Why can't we just call him by his name?" Tony asked.
"I am on a mission to make as many friends as possible and nicknames derived from an actual name is an amazing method I learned from the internet." Peter said. "I call you Tony because that's probably already short for something. Unless you have Tony on your birth certificate. That would be weird."
"It's not on my birth certificate." Tony said quickly. He doubted he had one. He had never seen it. "Why don't you just call him Rhodes?"
"I'm not calling him by his last name, that's cold and emotionless. Unlike you, I'm trying to make friends." Peter shook his head.
"Well, we could always just ask him."
Tony walked right into the building and up the stairs, looking for the room number that had been given to him. It was a large room, filling up fast with people as they sat down in front of the projector screen or in the back getting drinks or snacks.
He saw James standing back by the table full of chips and walked up to him, Peter falling quietly behind. He seemed happy to see them. Tony didn't understand why people liked him so much but he was beyond questioning it at this point. If people wanted to be friends then he could do that.
"Hey, Tony. Glad to see you could make it." He said, smiling at the two of them as they walked up.
"Yeah. This is Peter Parker. The two of you are both pretty insistent that I see this movie." Tony said.
"Of course, it's literally about an alien who kills people and pops out of their chest." Peter said, looking over the snacks closely. He grabbed a plate and started filling it with a different assortment of chips and dips. "What's not to love?"
Tony shrugged and passed over all the food completely, heading straight for the drinks. There was a significant supply of alcohol and a smaller yet still large stock of soda. He wasn't much of a soda drinker and he had never had alcohol a day in his life.
Everyone was either eating or drinking something, getting ready for the movie as the people by the projector said it was almost time. He didn't care for soda, too much sugar and the carbonation sometimes upset his stomach so he just grabbed a random bottle and filled up a plastic cup.
"What about Jim? I can call me Jim." Tony heard Peter say when he walked back up to him and James.
"No. Jim makes me sound like an old man." He said.
"You guys are actually talking about this?" Tony asked.
"He makes an excellent point. My name is a bit pretentious. But Jamie makes me sound like a little kid." He said.
"And I'm not going to call you Rhodes." Peter replied, getting another handful of chips and a few cookies.
"Why not Rhodey?" Tony said, sighing. He didn't see the point of this conversation, never heard of anyone argue about a name before. Tony just always thought to address people the names they introduced themselves with. He did sometimes make up silly little names for Mesman since he was never supposed to call him by his first name but he would never dare say them to his face.
"I like it." He said, nodding. "No one ever has to call me James again."
The movie started shortly after. It was interesting, he could see why everyone liked it so much. The movie was set in outer space and the crew of this ship as they responded to a distress call. Some alien, probably the one the film is named after, attached itself to one of the crew member's faces. Protocol said he shouldn't be let on board the ship due to quarantine regulations but the Science Officer snuck him on board anyway. That made Tony cringe, people weren't supposed to do stuff like that. It was going to end badly.
He took a quick drink from his cup and almost spit it out. So this was alcohol. It wasn't necessarily bad, it was just hell. It was bitter. A quick glance around didn't show anyone else having any problems so he took another sip. It wasn't so bad once he was prepared for it.
Sure enough, the crew is sitting around and eating when the man collapses and an alien bursts from his chest. It looked painful. Tony's hand went up to rub against his ribs as he watched the creature escape. Tony was starting to feel sick. Everyone was dying, the guy betraying his commanding officer, the people who were actually following orders, it seemed like no matter anyone what a bad thing was going to happen.
It wasn't something Tony wanted to think about. They told him if he did what he was supposed to then he would be alright. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to feel watching a movie about a bunch of people who were doing their best to survive, follow protocols, and obey orders and all end up dead anyway.
The credits started rolling and he was ready to go home. He stood up and the world turned sideways as he hit a soft yet unmoving wall.
"Wow, Tony. You drink enough?" Peter asked. Tony shook his head as he pushed himself off of him and stood up straighter.
"I only had one cup." Tony said, holding up the empty plastic cup in his hand.
"Pretty big cups though. What did you fill it up with?" Rhodey asked. Tony shrugged. "Okay, whatever. I'm not going to ask. Do you need help getting home?"
Tony smiled. He didn't need any help, all he had to do was walk from one place to another. He'd been doing everything by himself since he could walk and he wasn't going to start accepting help now. He wanted to tell them all that but instead he just waved his hand and quietly repeated, "Nee."
"Okay, I'm going to walk him back to his apartment." Peter said, nodding as Tony started muttering in Dutch.
"Okay, just make sure he doesn't pee in an alley or something." Rhodey said. He looked around as everyone started to leave. "I'll stay here and help clean up, call me if you need anything. It was nice meeting you."
"You too, Jamie." Peter said quickly. Rhodey paused, glaring at him for a moment. "Kidding. Alright, I'll take drunk baby here home. Have fun cleaning."
Tony wasn't paying much attention to the conversation, just leaning on Peter. They walked slowly down the stairs and out of the building. He mumbled under his breath about how, even though he didn't like how almost everyone died, it was a good movie.
"Where do you live, buddy?" Peter asked. Tony mumbled and pointed down the street. "Alright. Next time, let's just have some snacks okay."
Tony shook his head, muttering unintelligibly.
"I have no idea what you're saying, but okay." Peter said.
"Sorry. Just tired." He said. "I know what I'm saying but I guess you don't know what I'm saying. Languages are strange."
"Yeah, I'm sure you're just tired." Peter laughed.
It took a while of Tony pointing the way and Peter hoping he knew what he was doing as he led him through the streets before Tony finally said they were there. It was too long of a walk for Peter's liking, he didn't know how Tony didn't it every day without complaint.
It was a small place, single chair in the living room and just a small bed in the bedroom but it looked comfortable enough. Peter dumped Tony in the chair and searched through the kitchen, frowning at the empty cabinets. There was no food, not even any plates.
"You have no food, Tony. Just eat out all the time?" Peter asked. There was nothing, no take out bags, no pizza boxes, not a single sign of any food anywhere.
"Yeah. I definitely eat." Tony said, closing his eyes and leaning back in the chair.
"You haven't eaten all day, have you?" Peter asked, looking over at him. It would make sense, he hadn't seen Tony eat since the first day of classes in that Dunkin Donuts. Tony looked terrible, tired and small. No wonder one plastic cup of alcohol was enough to turn him into a mumbling mess who couldn't stand up straight.
"I eat." Tony said again, curling into the chair.
Peter sighed, he wasn't going to get anywhere with it tonight. He just picked up Tony and dragged him to bed. "Go to sleep, idiot. We're going to have a talk tomorrow."
Tony whined slightly as he hit the covers. "Are you mad?"
"No." Peter sighed. Tony smiled, eyes half closed and nodded.
"Okay. That's good." He said.
