Mission P.S.
Chapter 4
"No? what do mean by the word no?" Tony asked while trying to keep up with Pepper, who was walking down the hallways of Stark Tower, toward her office. Seeing how she was wearing high heels, Tony was impressed with the pace was going at, and he found himself jogging ever so slightly to keep up with her.
"I mean just that. No," Pepper repeated, her tablet as ever in her arms while they both marched briskly.
To ensure Tony held a decent talk at Tech City, Pepper had chosen to come along, and on the way home Tony had broached the subject, but it had been too soon. Or at least he hadn't done it right.
"But… why would you say no to that?" Tony asked in confusion. He had after all faked Peter Parker's internship application himself, sneaked it into the system, and so it was offensive if Pepper turned the application down before even taking a single glance at it.
"Tony," Pepper said with a sigh, making him feel like she was talking to a child. "I already handpicked all of the candidates myself, and every single available position has been claimed by another student. I have no available projects or mentors from the company left, so no. Just no." she said in a sharp strict voice, making it clear this topic wasn't up for argument. "I love you are getting involved in the September foundation, because you have been somewhat lacking in that department, but it's a little too late. Most of them start in two days anyway," she added while stepping into her office with Tony close behind because this time he was going to win their competition of being the most stubborn.
"But you haven't even seen this kid's application! How can you just say no?" He continued to press, while Pepper sat down behind her desk, looking at Tony with a tired stare. She clearly had other things on her schedule, but Tony simply wasn't leaving this time, as he had couldn't afford to fail.
He knew this would be the closest he ever had gotten to the kid, and that thought alone scared him, but it was necessary to keep him off his patrols. Tony had no plans of physically interacting with the kid himself, but he would keep an eye on him, and perhaps bribe whoever was his mentor to keep for longer hours than agreed upon. He knew none of what he did was legal, but this wasn't the first time he broke the law, and he would break every single law to keep his child safe. And make sure his secret remained a secret.
"Tony I truly doubt he has higher potentials than all those who have been picked," Pepper tried to reason with him, wondering just what she would need to say to make him leave. "Come to think of it, why do you even care all of the sudden?" she suddenly asked, changing the subject ever so slightly. "Yesterday I could barely force you to go to sleep, and you tried to convince me it would be best to cancel the talk," she reminded him. What Pepper didn't know was Tony had been dealing with bigger issues at the time, but now he had managed to combine the September Foundation and Peter, meaning he was fully devoted.
"Well, I woke up with a fresh mind, and realized just how important education and opportunities are for all those young minds out there! And Stark Industries does need some fresh blood as well… not that I am old, I am just not that young anymore either," Tony rambled, knowing this was a sad excuse of an answer, but telling Pepper the truth wasn't an option.
"Well I am glad you have come to your senses, but I can't take another intern in Tony. There is simply no available spot left, and I want every single intern to have a memorable time, so the kid you are talking about simply has to apply next year," She said with s a smile. Deep down Tony knew she found it sweet he was caring, but his timing was as often misplaced and tended to complicate things.
"Could you at the very least look at the application?" Tony pleaded and chose to sit down in a chair in front of Peppers's desk. It wasn't because his legs felt tired, but because it signaled to Pepper he wasn't done and would stay for as long as it took.
"Tony, I have personally read all suitable applications…" Pepper began to protest.
"But you need to read this one again," Tony insisted, interrupting her with pleading eyes.
"I have already read all suitable applications…" Pepper tried to repeat herself, but Tony was not going to let her finish, because if she did she would never change her mind.
"Friday! Pull up the application on Miss Potts screen!" Tony ordered loudly, while Pepper glared at him with a sigh.
"Is this what it's going to take for you to leave my office?" she finally asked, and despite her annoyed expression, Tony knew she wasn't truly mad at him. He had seen that, and it involved far more yelling than this.
"I mean, if you get that kid an internship, sure," Tony agreed while leaning back in his chair.
"Oh no no, that's not how we play it!" Pepper immediately protested. "I read it, for your sake and your sake only, and if he truly is the genius above all you claim him to be, I will consider an internship," she tried to bargain.
"You will give him one, not consider," Tony pressed, and Pepper groaned with a sigh. She truly wasn't in a mood for this, but Tony wasn't going to give up and he was not nearly tired enough to be manipulated.
"Fine," she groaned. "Now give me a moment to read," she administered him.
"With pleasure," Tony smiled in triumph, while he nearly fixed his tie and looked calm as ever.
While Pepper began to read he looked around her office, wondering whether it was due for another upgrade tech-wise. Pepper hated whether he did that, but Tony could not allow the CEO of his company to get behind in the gadget race, and so he began to ponder whether the large oval table that was her desk could be transformed into a computer itself. That would surely be something, but he knew Pepper would hate it.
"I really don't see what's so special about this kid," Pepper finally said, and interrupted Tony in his thoughts.
"What? Did you not read about his ideas regarding sustainable energy?" Tony gasped, truly surprised, seeing how he had written that application himself. "Or… or, his easy on a future ideology regarding allocation of scarce resources?" he pressed.
He did spend rather long writing all of that bullshit, and if Stark Industry was a representation of his ideal and spirit, then this application should go right through the system. Although it technically hadn't been sent before the submission deadline, but Pepper didn't need to know that.
"I read it, and to be fair, those I have picked wrote something better than this," Pepper told him in a strict serious voice, while Tony had to stop his jaw from dropping. Considering this was his work, he found those words rather offensive, but he would never be able to tell her.
"You… you can't be serious right now?" Tony said offensively, wondering whether Pepper had turned insane, or the world truly had moved past him, meaning he wasn't a genius anymore. "This kid is brilliant!" he insisted, and couldn't believe Pepper was about to ruin his whole plan of keeping Peter safe.
"Oh I am dead serious," Pepper insisted. "Tony I have already read through every single application, and I would have picked him, had I thought he was worth it. Come to think of it, I can't recall ever seeing this application," she admitted. "Friday, please show me his grade," she ordered, while Tony felt himself pale.
"I don't think that's necessary!" he just managed to exclaim, but at the same time, the said grades appeared on Pepper's screen, something Tony hadn't been able to manipulate.
"Here they are Miss Potts," Friday said pleasantly, while Tony cursed the AI. Something he missed Jarvis terribly.
"Well I think this explains it just fine, don't you?" Pepper asked as she pulled the grades up on a larger display for Tony to see.
And Tony was painfully aware just how Peter was doing in school. He had always known, seeing how easy it was to get past his school's firewall. Through his whole childhood and youth, Peter had been on top of his class, attending all sorts of extra credit classes like band practice, different kinds of labs and Tony had been damn proud, seeing how smart his kid was. But as of late his grades had dropped drastically, and several of those extra credit classes had been skipped as well. Tony could only assume it had something to do with his Spiderman patrols, and it frustrated him to no end, mostly because he doubted his aunt May knew about it.
"Are we really the kind of company that defines young minds on such a useless piece of paper?" Tony protested while cursing spiderman and all evil that followed with that hobby.
"Well his interest in the STEM subjects has clearly dropped recently, so I believe an internship at our company would be better suited for everyone when he finds that interest again," Pepper smiled, and chose to ignore the comments about grades completely.
"Well, maybe it's our responsibility to re-ignite that passion!" Tony tried to insist, not willing to give up. This was his only plan at this point, and so he couldn't afford to lose. If he didn't get Peter under control soon, the Avengers would start searching, and Tony feared it wouldn't take long for them to find him.
"Tony, what's going on? Like seriously, why do you care so much about one kid?" Pepper asked with a sigh and looked about ready to call security and kick her fiance out of the building, his building.
"Nothing is going on! I just… I think the September Foundation has moved off tracks," Tony argued, knowing he was on deep water at this point. He had even agreed grades should have a certain value, and Peter's were close to failing. If it hadn't been his kid, he would never have cared for a second, but now he had to care. "I mean, grades shouldn't define who the great thinkers of the future are! And this kid is great… I can feel it!" he insisted. He was running out of time and arguments at the same time, and it was stressing him out.
"Tony, trust me, grades are not the only way we measure intern applications for the September Foundation. If that was the case no essay or application was necessary, we could just contact the school and pick straight-A students," she tried to assure him. Even Pepper could see how upset he all of the sudden was. "This kid's grades are just a bit too low and has dropped very suddenly. I mean, it looks like he needs to figure out something else first," she tried to convince Tony gently, who in return gritted his teeth.
"Pep he has lost his parents and uncle, perhaps he got reasons," he hissed between his teeth, immediately regretting his own words.
Mostly because Pepper didn't deserve to be treated like that, it simply wasn't fair. But he had also just said something that his fake application said nothing about, and Tony felt like a big fat idiot at the moment he couldn't keep his mouth shut. How was he going to get out of that one?
But before he could say anything Pepper's eyes softened, and any kind of anger vanished.
"Is that why you think he needs an internship? Because you lost your own parents too?" she asked sweetly, her eyes suddenly filled with empathy. Tony couldn't tell her the truth, but he realized he had gone about this the wrong way because at the moment the sharp Pepper Potts was soft like butter.
"Look I didn't want to bring it up, but yes. Now don't get all touchy about this, and start looking like that!" Tony warned, and feared she might try to hug him. He loved whether they kissed or had sex, but he did not like whether she got into that caring state like she was his mom or something. "But yeah, I see a bit of myself in him… and like, I think such an internship would do a lot of good," he tried to convince her, feeling awful about lying like that, but he had no choice. Or at least that was what he told himself because, in the end, he did have a choice, he just preferred not to face any consequences.
"Oh god Tony, I am so sorry. Just know I am really proud of you, and what you would like to do, but I really can't grant that internship," Pepper said in an apologetic tone with a pained expression.
"Like as in no ways? You can't just cancel one of the others, and promise an internship to that person next year?" Tony pressed, begging for this to work because he was damn close.
"I can promise this Parker boy one next year? We could make sure he gets access to therapy first? It might be really good for him before getting into this internship?" Pepper suggested sweetly, and Tony wanted to scream into her face but knew he couldn't.
"I think it needs to be now, he needs it now," Tony disagreed. To be fair he never explained to Pepper when Peter lost his uncle and parents, and he was starting to realize she thought it happened recently. Another lie.
"Look I am really sorry Tony, if there had been an available spot I would have given it to him, but we have no one with the qualifications or time to take an intern," Pepper said sadly, and Tony knew she was already planning to somehow donate money that would get Peter to therapy. That would indeed to awkward to explain. "And this is final, we are not going to discuss it anymore," she added, and the way she looked at Tony made him see just how serious she was. He would not change her mind.
"Well I suppose that's it then," Tony muttered and knew he would have to go back to his plan, trying to come up with some kind of plan. Because this one had been shit.
"Sorry, I know you mean well," Pepper smiled, before looking down at her tablet once more, already moving on to something else. "Oh, and while I remember to say it. Perhaps you should stop looking into people's private life like that," she added, not even looking at Tony, but both of them knew what she was talking about. He had hoped Pepper had forgotten, but even she knew that information about deceased parents and uncles wasn't in the applications.
"I will try," Tony muttered, still frustrated about his whole spiderman situation. But just as he got close to the door, his hand just touching the door handle an idea appeared in front of him, like a message sent from god. "Just so we are completely clear. You would have agreed to his internship, should there have been an available department and person?" Tony questioned, starring intensely at Pepper. "And so this had nothing to do with his grades," he added, fearing she might realize what he was doing if he didn't cover his tracks well.
"Absolutely. I promise you," Pepper smiled, and looked up for a moment.
"Great," Tony smiled, feeling far better as he walked out of her office, things finally coming together. "Friday find Peter Parker's address in Queens," he ordered.
This was not what he had intended, and it certainly wasn't what he wanted. But he had made a promise to protect Peter, and he would do what was necessary.
So I do like whenever Tony and Pepper isn't agreeing completely! Anyway, stay tuned for the next chapter! And thanks to everyone who leaves a review! Uh, and if you have a computer! Take a moment to notice the new cover I made from scratch!
