Having had communication, however small, with her brother, made Mae more comfortable keeping her phone on, with JARVIS running active scramble to keep Tony off her location. So she did, occasionally texting back and forth with Peter and Pepper, getting baby pictures a few dozen times a day- not that she minded that in the least. It wasn't until she left the phone laying on the counter while working with Bruce in the supply room, they day before her departure was due. The two doctors had planned a massive vaccination clinic for her last day working with him, to prevent as much sickness as possible for the locals.
The phone had buzzed a few times, but as Madeline had ignored the first call with her hands full, it rang again after a few seconds. Then a third time. Bruce huffed annoyed and laid the vile of vaccine he was loading for the clinic they were set to have that day aside, and loudly cleared his throat.
"Maybe its important?" He suggested, nodding to the face down cell phone. Madeline looked up, raised an eyebrow and snorted.
"A hundred dollars its just Tony." She said, filling another syringe and snapping the needle cap on. She continued to ignore the phone as it rang yet again. Bruce loudly clattered his supplies to the side, crossed the small distance between where he'd been working and where she was set up, and flipped the phone over, sliding to answer without even reading the screen.
"Dr. Madeline Stark's phone, how may I assist you?" He said with blatant sarcasm dripping from each word.
"Ah- Uh-" the voice on the other end of the phone seemed to be caught off guard.
"Oh- This is not Dr. Stark. How may I, Dr. Bruce Banner, assist you?" Bruce said, a grin on his face as Madeline charged him, attempting now to take the device back. "Madeline is busy at the moment, what shall I tell her this is in reference to?" Bruce ask, running around the table from her reach.
"JARVIS, who is on the call?" She demanded, listening for her connection in her ear to reply.
"Dr. Stephen Strange is on the phone, ma'am." JARVIS replied.
"Kill the call." She commanded, and the AI did as he was told, disconnecting her cellphone. Dr. Banner looked amused and slightly disappointed as he laid the cellphone back in her hand.
"I'm sorry, that was mean." Bruce said, still grinning. Maddie narrowed her eyes at the man, and snorted.
"Sure, whatever." She said, pocketing the phone.
"Who is Strange? That's a hell of a name." He said, going back to his own work station.
"He's- He's a neurosurgeon I know." She said shortly, setting back to work.
"I can't say I've ever been so eager to hang up on a colleague, if I'm completely honest." Bruce said, watching Madeline carefully. "He seemed very eager to speak to you, almost worried... Sure he isn't like, a boyfri-"
"We don't know each other this well, Dr. Banner." Madeline snapped, her eyes and hands both glowing lightly. Bruce shrugged and nodded.
"Fair." He said. "Again, I shouldn't have taken your phone, I'm sorry. The buzzing was just getting on my nerves."
"Yeah, sorry- and you're forgiven." She sighed, her eyes and fingertips fading to normal.
A few moments of silence passed, the Bruce started to chuckle, then laugh fully. Madeline growled and slammed her supply box shut.
"WHAT?!" she demanded, trying to act aggravated at his guffawing, but inwardly cursing how cute she found him to be, especially when laughing and smiling. It took all the worry he so frequently wore off his face. She found herself starting to laugh as well, even before he told her what as so funny.
"You owe me... Seven thousand, four hundred and twenty-five rupees." He said at last. "You said a hundred bucks, but we're in India, so American currency does me no good here."
"What are you- Oh. I said I bet it was Tony, and it wasn't. That- That is fair." She laughed, too. "You've got me there."
"Tell you what, you let me take you to the best food in all of India after the clinic tonight, you know, to celebrate you're going home... and we can call it even." Bruce suggested, glancing up over his glasses at her. Madeline swallowed thickly, cursing herself again for being caught so off guard by the charm she now new Dr. Banner had when he began to be comfortable around someone.
"That doesn't sound like 'even', honestly. You'd make a terrible gambler." Maddie laughed.
"That's not a 'no'." Bruce said.
"You're right, it's not a 'no'." Madeline smiled.
Peter trudged sleepily down the stairs and flopped into the kitchen chair across from his father, who was eating a bowl of apple cinnamon oatmeal in his underwear. Pops, however, who was fully dressed for the day, slid a bowl for Peter over to him from the stove before opening the fridge.
"Apple, orange, or... Crangrape?" Steve ask his son, peeking from behind the door.
"Can I have a coffee with-"
"Two sugars and a splash of milk." Steve finished rolling his eyes. He grabbed the milk and allowed the refrigerator door to fall shut. "You were supposed to be asleep by twenty-two hundred hours, young man. Why are you so exhausted? How late were you up?" He finished putting the coffee together, identical to the one he'd just made Tony not ten minutes before, and handed it to the young boy.
"I was reading." Peter replied honestly.
"Can't fault him for that." Tony said with a mouthful.
"Watch me." Steve said, leaning on the counter. "Reading about what? You told me your homework was all done, and I understand getting into a good book but you can't sacrifice school and rest for-"
"That's what I was reading for, Pops. I swear! I was reading up on Oscorp. Our field trip to their genetics lab is today."
"Woah. Woah woah woah. Wait. I didn't sign a slip for Oscorp. What the hell, Rogers? That's the competition." Tony blurted, sitting up, now looking more awake.
"No, they really aren't." Steve rolled his eyes, "And even if they were- Peter going to look with his class isn't going to hurt anything. It'll be good for Peter to see other applications of science outside technology and engineering."
"Yeah, Dad. I read all about them and a lot of their studies last night. Pop's is right, the company is much smaller than Stark Industries, and they focus on biological and chemical studies, which I guess I could see maybe being slightly overlapping with Aunt Mae's work, but not a lot, not really. Honestly, it wouldn't be the worst idea to maybe consider a partnership, or even absorbing them sometime in the future."
Tony and Steve exchanged glances, and Tony blinked a few times, cleared his throat and looked back at his son.
"You... You stayed up reading about a company and thought to yourself, 'gee, maybe we should take this over. It looks useful.'..." Tony said, pride and surprise hanging in his voice.
"Well... Yeah?" Peter shrugged. "You didn't think about what you'd do with Stark Industries when you were a kid?"
Tony laughed, a long, deep belly laugh.
"I didn't care about this company until the day it was laid in my lap... and maybe even not for a bit after. If I'd been an only child, I probably would've sank it, or signed it over to Obadiah, and we see how well that would've gone. Be thankful to your aunt Mae there is even a company for you to inherent." Tony finished off the rest of his coffee and clanked the mug onto the table. "I'm proud of you... and a little freaked out... that you stayed up researching a company you may want to stage a hostile take over of... in middle school."
"Whatever, brainiacs... you need to get dressed so I can get you to school on time if you want to make the bus for the trip, young man. Head on upstairs." Steve instructed. Peter did as he was told and darted off from the table after swallowing down the rest of his coffee. Steve looked over at Tony and shook his head.
"What?" Tony ask, looking confused.
"Do we let him around too much of the business?" Steve ask, seeming genuinely concerned. Tony snorted.
"Most kids with family businesses grow up in the business." Tony defended.
"That may be true for families who own... like diners and suit shops... but Stark International is a lot. And he just confessed he was thinking of absorbing another company... Tony..." Steve sighed. "We need to make sure he gets to be a normal kid, too."
"Peter is not a normal kid, babe." Tony said, his voice showing his offense at the statement from his husband.
"You know what I mean." Steve retorted, annoyed.
"He goes with friends, he plays video games, baseball, rides his bike around the city and eats sandwiches from street vendors. Feeds stray cats and plays huge games of hide and seek with dozens of other kids in the park... What are we missing? He's a genius, he can't help how his mind works. I didn't even know he had a trip today, much less that it was to Oscorp. I didn't teach him to look for other companies to go after. If anything, we can blame his Aunt Pepper for that one..." Tony stood and crossed the kitchen, placed his bowl, spoon and mug into the dish washer before kissing Steve on the cheek.
"Yeah, I guess when you put it like that..." Steve confessed. "I just worry about him, you know?" he shook his head. "You know what scares me the most?"
"What's that, hon?" Tony ask, as he headed for the stairs to go get dressed for the day.
"That he'll tell us one day he wants a suit. Or to train with Nat and Clint... That he wants into the hero business." Steve confessed.
"Doubt it. As much as he worries after us... plus he's never mentioned wanting to be an Avenger. Just an engineer." Tony reminded his spouse with a comforting smile.
"Yeah, I hope it stays that way..." Steve mumbled as Tony left him alone in the kitchen. "I really hope it does."
I'm baaaaack! I think you know what is about to happen to our young Peter... please review and follow for more!
Thank you for reading!