So, brief note: this chapter is a monster of almost five thousand words because once I got started with it I just couldn't find a good place to stop. Even where I eventually did end it may feel kind of abrupt, but it would have been at least another two thousand if I had kept going to where I had intended to, so yeah. Speaking for myself, I like longer chapters, but you also need more time to read them, so yeah, sorry.
Once more, big thank you to everyone reading, following, favoriting, etc, and I hope you all enjoy! 3
Tony had a hard time falling asleep that night.
He didn't know why. His thoughts were just all over the place. Pepper, what to tell her, how to tell her, if she was still angry, the kid in the room down the hall, the fact that he genuinely had no idea how to be a mentor or what he was going to do with him, whatever the hell was going on in California that Rhodey refused to tell him over the phone… He felt like things had suddenly just spiralled way out of control again, and he had no idea why.
Everyone and everything that mattered was still in this building with him right now. He just had to stay calm and make sure he protected it.
Still, it was a long time before he slept.
He woke up later than he intended to. He wasn't late, exactly; he still had an hour and some left before they had to leave for the plane, but he'd wanted to get up early enough to find Pepper and Happy and tell them what he'd done. He wanted to do it before the kid got up and gave either of them a shock or Happy did something crazy since he didn't know he was supposed to be here.
Those plans were foiled almost immediately. He'd taken just enough time to get dressed - casually, for now, in jeans and a Metallica shirt - and do all the morning essentials before heading out to the kitchen for coffee. Then he realized it was too late.
Peter and Pepper were both sitting at the breakfast bar, eating. He noticed Peter chatting away happily with his PA and suddenly was struck by the thought that he either must be really comfortable around Pepper, or just really uncomfortable around him.
Pepper noticed him first, since she was sitting on the side her back wasn't to the door. She glanced up and stopped mid sentence, her eyes widening slightly as she stood up. And… was she blushing? He could swear she was blushing.
"Ah… what's going on here?"
Peter had woken up bright and early.
He always did, with or without an alarm. Since being bitten, it was like his body could run forever with only a few hours every night. That wasn't the least of the changes; he slept less, had freakish-level senses, was insanely strong, quick, and flexible, healed at a crazy rate, and he could sense danger coming the instant it seemed to fix itself on him.
There was only one catch to all this that he'd discovered.
He needed to eat. Like, a lot. All the time. Most teenagers ate a lot, but he took it to a whole new level. If one normal teenager could eat some an insane amount, Peter could probably ate that much times at least four. And still be hungry.
It was a bit of a struggle, honestly. Since he'd been bitten, he could honestly say from the moment he'd discovered his newfound powers and started using them, he'd never felt full once. It was less of a thing where he was, say, constantly starving and uncomfortable, and more of a thing where he had yet to eat so much that he reached that truly full feeling, where he was so stuffed he couldn't eat another bite. He could still eat a normal amount of food and be fine; but the more he ate, the better he felt. It was like his body absorbed everything he put into it.
So, of course, his first thought when he woke up was for food. But, it was five in the morning, and he wasn't even sure he was supposed to be up and about without Mr. Stark, so he decided it was better if he waited a bit, and decided to take the opportunity to shower and get ready for the day instead.
Even as long as he managed to take showering and making himself presentable (and he really did try to kill time doing so), he was done and ready for the day by six. Sighing a little, he decided to brave going back out to the kitchen and seeing what he could find.
Using every bit of stealth training he'd had - self taught, mostly, but it was still training - he crept from his room out to the kitchen, his bag over his shoulder, remembering the path easily. When he got there, though, he stopped dead in his tracks.
Somehow, Miss Potts was already there, sipping a cup of what he assumed was coffee and looking at something on a tablet in front of her. Geez. Did she ever sleep?
He was sure he hadn't made a sound when he stopped, but she must have sensed his eyes on her, because she looked up suddenly and froze with the coffee cup halfway back to her mouth.
Peter ran a hand through his hair, feeling a bit sheepish. "Uh… hi."
"Mr. Parker." She stared at him for a moment as if not quite believing what she was seeing. "What are you doing here?"
"Um… Mr. Stark came and picked me up last night. He said the internship was mine if I wanted it but I had to come with him right then because we had to leave this morning." He bit his lip. "He, uh, wanted to tell you last night, but you were asleep when we got here."
She said nothing for a long moment, her brow furrowing while she tried to make sense of what he was saying. Suddenly she set down her cup of coffee and shook her head. "Oh, Tony. Of course you would…" She sighed, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. "Well, I apologize for the abruptness and however abrasive he probably was with you last night. That's my fault. But I am glad your here." She offered him a small smile, standing up. "Please, come sit. Can I make you anything to eat?"
He realized he was still standing in the entrance to the hallway, having stopped in place. "Oh, uh…" He moved up to the bar, setting his bag down on a seat at the end. "You don't have to do that, Miss Potts. Just cereal is fine with me."
"Okay. What kind of cereal do you want? We have…" She walked up to a cabinet and opened it. "Frosted Flakes, Lucky Charms, Raisin Brain, Coco Puffs, Cheerios…"
"Cheerios are good." He liked them all, but he did make a conscious effort to gorge himself with semi-healthy food, at least. Lord only knew where it all went in him, and too much unhealthy food was enough to make anyone sick. He didn't necessarily turn down anything unhealthy, but he did try to at least make sure one meal a day was supposed to be good for him.
"Good choice. I prefer the more plain cereal myself." She pulled out the box and slid it across the table to him, then grabbed a bowl and spoon and set it in front of him. "I'll grab the milk. Do you want anything else to drink? Water, juice, coffee, anything?"
"Orange juice would be great, Miss Potts." He took the box, opening it and filling up the bowl. "Thank you." He took the milk when she set it in front of him, filling it almost to the brim and setting it down again.
"Of course." She set the glass in front of him and sat back down across from him. "I half-expected you to say coffee, admittedly."
"Oh, no. I don't do coffee. Only in dire circumstances, and even then, I only drink decaf." He'd tried it once since becoming Spider-Man, and the experience could only be described as being akin to having too many energy drinks. It hadn't been a good feeling, and he hadn't slept for two days afterward.
"Smart boy." Miss Potts smiled at him, taking a drink of her own and picking up her tablet again. "Well, I drink a lot of it, but I need the caffeine. There are days I don't think I could do this job without it."
Despite himself, Peter had to smile. "I can see why working for Mr. Stark would be a lot to handle. He has a lot going on, doesn't he?" He took a bite of his cereal.
"He certainly does. And he'd never accomplish any of it if I didn't follow him around and tell him to." He made a poor attempt at covering a laugh, and she looked up and smiled. "Which is why working with him is almost harder than working for him."
Peter wasn't sure if it was safe to reply to that, so he took a slight change of direction. "What is it exactly you do for him, again? I know you do a lot. You don't have to tell me, I'm just… curious," he added at the end, wondering if prying for details was overstepping.
"It's alright. I'm his personal assistant, so I basically do whatever he needs me to. Tony being how he is, that means everything from micromanaging his business and schedule to things like cooking and occasionally taking out the trash."
Peter stopped inhaling his cereal long enough to take a drink, looking at her. "That sounds like a lot. Why do you do it?"
She glanced up at him. "Somebody has to, and he has a tendency to let things slip through the cracks if I leave him to doing it himself."
"No, I know, but still. Really, why do you do it? Is it just because it pays good, or…?" He stopped, not wanting to directly ask if there was something between her and her boss. It seemed kind of rude to imply, and he wasn't sure if she'd take offense.
She seemed to sense was he was thinking, though, and she just smiled a little. "It does pay good, yes, but you have to understand, I've been working for Mr. Stark since before he was the man you see today, before he was ready to take over his father's company and all the responsibility that comes with it. And I knew coming in I would have to share that responsibility, and help him a lot, and I am fine with that."
"So… it's because you care about him?" Peter blurted, then put a hand over his mouth. "Sorry, was that rude?" He hadn't meant to sound so surprised.
She just laughed, looking a little awkward as she looked back down at her tablet. "I do care about him, Peter. Believe it or not, he's as shallow as he may come across on the surface once you get to know him better. But that doesn't mean I'm pining after him, either, if that's what you're trying to ask." She looked down at her tablet again. "It wouldn't really matter if I was, anyway. He makes jokes, of course, but it's fairly obvious he has no serious interest in me, so I've never even gone done that path."
"What makes you think that?" Peter took the box, refilling his bowl of cereal.
"Let's just say it's not the first time I've woken up to someone else being here that I didn't know about." She glanced at him, waiting for the comment to sink in.
Peter stopped, frowning. Then he understood, and his eyes widened a little before he went back to his cereal. "Oh."
"Yes, oh. Anyway-" She looked up, opening her mouth to say something else and stopping abruptly. Peter was about to ask what she was going to say when he felt his sixth sense tingle and knew someone else had entered the room. Based on the flush coloring her cheeks, he could guess who it was before he even spoke.
"Ah… what's going on here?" Stark had appeared in the doorway behind them.
Miss Potts was on her feet in an instant. "We were just having breakfast. Apparently Peter here is also an early riser."
Tony waved her off, silently telling her to sit down and he'd get his own coffee as he made his way over to the pot. "Apparently." He poured himself a cup, turning around and looking at the two of them. He was still mildly suspicious as to what was being said - he was completely sure that Pepper had blushed when he'd entered the room - but it was too early and he hadn't had enough caffeine to start prying into it already. "I had intended to tell you he was here, but apparently he beat me to the punch." He raised an eyebrow, taking a drink.
Peter looked down at his cereal, unable to hold eye contact with him for very long. He wasn't quite sure if he was being scolded or not, and then there was what had happened with Jarvis last night… He quickly took another bite, willing himself not to think about it. Only time would tell if the AI would give him away or not.
Pepper shrugged, her eyes back on her tablet and whatever she was working on. "It doesn't matter. I'm just glad he's here."
Tony exhaled a small breath. By her tone, he could tell he was forgiven - or at least she wasn't furious with him anymore. That was all he could have hoped for. "Me too," he murmured absentmindedly, taking another drink of his coffee.
Peter looked up at that, surprised, but quickly wiped the look off his face and went back to his food. It took little time for him to finish his second bowl, and he decided it was best to stop there. He was fine, and he used to having to control how much he ate. If he ate as much as he was capable of, May would have to go grocery shopping every other day. He had a feeling even the billionaire's fridges weren't full enough to keep the same thing from happening, even if it wouldn't draw more attention to his abnormalities.
He drank the milk from his bowl, then finished his orange juice, getting up to put them in the sink. He could feel Tony's eyes on him, but he wasn't prepared for the elder man to stop him as he went passed.
He felt his hand on his arm and froze, looking up at him slowly. Shit. Did Jarvis actually tell him? The thought occurred to him suddenly that maybe the AI could lie, just not to Tony, and it was entirely possible he was supposed to report if something like what had occurred last night happened.
In truth, Tony was just watching him and Pepper and noticed the kid eyeing the box of cereal like he was thinking of eating another bowl before giving a slight shake of the head, almost to himself, and getting up to put it away. He didn't like the idea of him not eating enough, especially when there was no reason for it. Maybe that was why he was the size of a wheat stalk.
He'd reached out and grabbed his arm without thinking, and he felt the kid stiffen in his grasp. It suddenly occurred to him that maybe he wasn't talking as much to him because he was scared of him. But that was ridiculous… right? He was a superhero. Why would he be afraid of him?
The kid's voice called him back to reality. "Mr. Stark?" His voice was quiet.
Tony blinked, refocusing on him. "I… you can eat until you're full, you know." He met his eyes, raising an eyebrow. "You're a growing boy. I knew that when I offered you the internship. So don't be shy."
"Oh." Peter flushed a little, surprised he'd noticed. Of course, the man was a genius; he was bound to be more observant. He'd have to be more careful. "Thanks, Mr. Stark. But I'm good, I promise."
He nodded slowly, letting him go and watching as he put the dishes in the sink and the cereal back in the cabinet before returning to his seat. Now that the thought was in his head, he couldn't get it out. Still, it didn't make any sense to him. Why would the kid have applied for an internship with him if he was afraid of him? And what would he have seen or heard that would make him afraid of him anyway? He'd have to do some research on himself, see if he could discover something that he might have come across to put negative thoughts in his head. He could be mean when he had to be, sure, but mostly he thought of himself more as snarky and sarcastic.
Pepper's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "Ideally, we should leave in ten minutes or so, if you're both ready."
Tony started and checked his watch. Time was going by fast this morning. "Ah. Well, I'm ready whenever."
"For once," Pepper muttered, and he mock-scowled at her, but couldn't keep a small grin off his face.
"Yeah, yeah. It's my plane, it waits for me."
"Unhappily, but it does."
"Still does, doesn't it?"
Pepper just shook her head, not even looking up from her tablet. "You're insufferable."
"But you love me that way." He finished his coffee and put the cup in the sink. He heard a quiet snort, and when he turned back around, he caught a glimpse of Peter trying to hide his smile behind his hand. He smirked and winked at him, to which he offered a small smile back before looking away. Better, but still a weird response.
"I don't know about that. I just know if I don't put up with you, no one else will, and you definitely need somebody to, because you'd forget your head if it wasn't attached." Pepper stood up. "We should get moving."
Tony scoffed, straightening up. He opened his mouth to shoot off a witty retort, but quickly reconsidered, feeling Peter's eyes on him. "I… resent that statement, but am not going to respond, because the kid's aunt might kill me if I said what my immediate thought was right now."
Pepper just shot him a dirty look, tucking her tablet under her arm and heading for the elevator. Tony turned back to Peter, who was still trying to keep from grinning. He just winked at him, then jerked a thumb towards the elevator. "Let's go kid, before she gets really grumpy."
Peter nodded, grabbing his bag off the floor and putting it over his shoulder again before following Miss Potts to the elevator. Tony was close behind, studying his back as he tried to reason out what was going on inside his head. Sometimes he really wished he could design a mind-reading interface. Probably could, if he tried hard enough.
They stepped into the elevator, and Pepper hit the button to close the doors without a word. She glanced at Tony, surprised that he hadn't made some kind of follow-up comment to earlier, and realized he was studying Peter intently. She could almost see the gears turning in his head. Sighing, she nudged him in the ribs with her elbow, making him start and tear his eyes away from the kid to raise an eyebrow at her. She gave him a silent look.
Before either of them could say anything, the elevator started moving. This wouldn't normally have stopped them, except they both caught Peter's sharp intake of breath at the motion. She saw Tony's head snap up, but stepped in before he could speak. "Peter? You alright?"
He seemed to remember there was two other people in there with him all of a sudden. He looked up, nodding slightly and crossing his arms. He knew if he held on to the bar he could grip it too hard. "Yeah, uh, I just… not always the biggest fan of elevators. I almost died in one once, so…"
In actuality, he'd saved an elevator from falling during a power failure when one of the workers had accidentally sent it plummeting by repowering the wrong function. It wasn't a fun experience, especially when his strength failed him and he went plummeting headfirst down the elevator shaft. Thankfully everyone had gotten out first.
"That's awful," Pepper said gently, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder.
Peter shrugged, taking a small breath. "It was a little while ago. I just… sometimes I'm okay, and sometimes the memory hits me really hard." Times like now, when the thought had occurred to him that if something happened right now, suit or no, he couldn't do anything to protect them without giving himself away. Despite the hypothetical situation, he wasn't sure which option scared him more.
Stark's face was drawn together in thought as he tried to recall if he'd heard of what he was talking about. "That was last year, wasn't it? You were there?"
"It was this school year that just ended, technically, but it was last October, yeah." One of his earlier appearances as Spider-Man. Probably why it had come so close to being a disaster. "School field trip," he added.
Stark nodded. "Ah. Makes sense."
The elevator stopped, and Peter stepped out first, taking a breath of relief, glad to have his feet back on solid ground.
They made it all the way to the car and had gotten settled in - Peter in the back, of course, and he had to wince when Stark slid in beside him, letting Miss Potts have the front beside Happy, who had already been waiting for him.
He had just started to relax when Stark asked from beside him, "It was that Spider-character who saved you, right?"
Shit. He'd thought this conversation was over, and he hadn't expected him to even know about it, let alone enough to remember that. He felt himself tense, then forced himself to relax, knowing Stark would notice, especially in this close of quarters. "Spider-Man. Yeah." He didn't even remember his name. Of course. He couldn't decide if that was good or bad. Maybe he didn't even remember-
"I met him once," he continued thoughtfully, shutting down Peter's train of thought immediately. "Nice enough. Incredibly talented. Those webs are something else; I'd love to know how he made them. A little impulsive, though. Too quick to throw himself into unnecessary danger."
Peter was flushing with pride and trying to hide it, right up until the last sentence. "What do you mean?" His tone came out sharper than he intended.
Stark looked over at him and raised an eyebrow. "I mean exactly what I said. From what I've observed - both in the news and from my personal experience - he throws himself into danger without a second thought, whether there's a more logical way to handle the situation or not."
"I don't think putting yourself in danger to save someone else is ever unnecessary, even if there are "better ways" to handle it," Peter argued, putting air quotes around the words. He knew he probably was getting angry and defensive over what would appear to be absolutely nothing to everyone else, but the comment hit home. It was exactly the type of thing he was afraid May would say if she found out. There are people who are paid to do this stuff and put their lives in danger. You're not one of them. Leave it to them. Leave it to the real heroes. You don't know what you're doing. You're not qualified. "And while your first thought in battle may be for your life, Mr. Stark, not everyone thinks that way."
He suddenly realized everyone in the car was staring at him. Even Happy was sneaking glances at him through the rearview mirror. Pepper's eyes were wide as saucers, and Stark was just staring at him like he'd never seen him before, his mouth slightly opened from whatever he had been about to say before being shocked into stopping. Then his mouth snapped closed, and his eyes narrowed. Shit. His heart started pounding immediately, and he knew he was about to get laid into.
"Tony, don't…" Pepper started, but stopped when he shot her a look, holding up a hand to stop her.
When she'd stopped talking completely, he turned back to him, his face impassive. His eyes had turned cold, but if he was truly angry, he knew how to mask it carefully enough for Peter to not be able to tell. "First of all, kid, you shouldn't talk about things you can't begin to understand. Second of all, while no, my first thought in battle is not always myself, you have to make sensible decisions to keep a disastrous scenario from becoming worse. And if I go and put myself in a bad position or get hurt because I wasn't thinking clearly enough to make a sensible decision, many more people will get hurt than the one that I perhaps didn't get to in time because I had to make a smarter decision. And if I do recall correctly, even in your scenario, he reacted too impulsively and got himself hurt. The news was reporting him as presumed dead the week after from disappearing after falling down the elevator shaft." He quirked an eyebrow at him. "If he had the slightest inkling of what he was doing, that wouldn't have happened."
"Yeah, well, maybe he doesn't have a very good teacher," Peter murmured, but he knew the argument was lost. Or no teacher at all. Only the influences of heroes he'd admired from afar, and he was starting to rethink that approach after this talk with Tony.
Stark just scoffed slightly, turning back around in his seat. "Well maybe he needs to find one before he gets himself killed."
He knew he should shut up. Stark had made good points whether he liked it or not, and if he kept talking, he may as well just unzip the bag and show him his suit now. But his mouth didn't quite consult with his brain before speaking, apparently. "You said you met him once. I don't see you offering."
Stark's eyes snapped back to him again, and he swallowed thickly. Shit, Peter, why can't you just shut up? "Well," Stark said slowly, as if he'd never considered it before. "Maybe next time I will." Then he turned to look out the window, and just like that, the conversation was over.
Peter let out a breath of relief, barely audible except to his own ears. Then he suddenly realized what he said. Next time?