I did not plan this story. I had a vague idea that I wanted to do a Stark Industries Gala or something, but instead I saw the Flufftober prompt for Game Day (Sports) for tomorrow (but posting today, since I'm busy tomorrow) and somehow I started writing, and the Gala turned into a company picnic. And then somehow Daren got put in charge, and it just built and went from there, and a couple hours later here we are. I can't get over how surprising it is (being a new writer in the last couple months) when characters and stories do things I had no idea they'd do. It is the weirdest phenomenon. Anyway, this one is mostly just fluff and for fun, and I don't know how much it adds to Tony and Peter's relationship, but here it is anyway.


Daren Anderson was in his element. Ms. Potts had been so impressed with his ability to keep Mr. Stark on track while she was gone several weeks ago that she'd let him take point on coordinating Stark Industries' Summer Company Picnic. Which, yes, it was a huge outdoor picnic, and all employees and their families were invited, but it was also one of the main fundraisers they did for the Stark Relief Fund every year. There were dozens of events to keep running smoothly, and hundreds of guests to feed. Everything needed to be upscale, but seem low-key, like a real picnic.

Thankfully, the organizers and designers had done their job well. But it was up to Daren to make sure everything flowed well and that things started and ended on time. The theme was "Alice in Wonderland," and the giant croquet game, lawn scrabble tournament, and Mad Tea Party (lunch) had gone off without a hitch. "No Surprises" was his goal for the day, and two hours in, everything had been going perfectly.

Unfortunately, his boss didn't get the memo. Well, not his boss, but the boss. Because right now Tony Stark was doing what he did best: causing a spectacle and creating chaos. Mr. Stark had taken the stage (and he was not on the schedule until later this afternoon, close to the end) and was shushing everyone in earshot for an announcement.

"Hey, friends! And all you politicians, too." (The audience laughed politely.) "Who's having a good time?" (Cheers and applause.) We'd like to turn up the excitement a little bit after this, so I asked my R&D heads to hide twelve of these little flags all over the playing field." He held up a 12x12 yellow bandana. What was Mr. Stark trying to do to Daren's event? Why hadn't anyone briefed him about this? He would not have a complete nervous breakdown right now.

Mr. Stark continued, "You have one hour to assemble "Capture the Flag" teams of 5 people each." Now he was reading off a small card. "If you do not want to play, but still want to participate, you can sponsor the team of your choice. Registration is $500 per team, but we encourage you to collect that, and more, through sponsors. And if you're not willing to play, I hope you're willing to sponsor and cheer for a team!" A quiet murmur scattered through the masses. "There's an invitation to download an app going to each of your phones…now," (a whole flurry of alert noises sang out) "that will help you either play or participate in some other way: finding a team, sponsorship, following your favorite team, etc. designed by one of my interns. It is completely safe, and self-deleting at the conclusion of the event."

He smiled proudly to the side and Daren saw his look land on… that same kid from Family Day! Peter, right? The one who was weirdly connected to Mr. Stark, but Daren wasn't sure how…

The man continued, "Whichever team delivers the most flags to the judges' table by the end of thirty minutes, at exactly 3 PM sharp, will receive $5,000, which they may choose to keep, or to donate to the Stark Relief Fund." He squinted, as if trying to read some fine print. "Also, free donuts for a year at any Donuts-R-Us location. Any questions?"

About 50 hands went up, and people started shouting for clarification. "Ask your app. It has all the deets."

As Mr. Stark sauntered off the stage, his "intern" falling into step with him, Daren took a deep breath and approached. "Uh, excuse me? Mr. Stark?"

"Ah, yes. Jaren!" Daren sighed and opened his mouth to correct him. Again. "Just kidding. What can I do for you, Daren?"

The assistant blinked in surprise. Focus. "Um, sir, why didn't anyone tell me about this event? I can't find it anywhere in my notes, and I'm supposed to be the coordinator, so…"

"Oh, cause the kid and I just came up with it last night."

Daren's gaze jumped to the uncomfortable-looking teenager, who gave him a sheepish smile and a little wave. He still hadn't figured out who he was .

"I told him if he could have the app ready by this afternoon, we'd roll with it, if not, no disappointment. But he totally pulled it off." Mr. Stark reached over and tried to tousle the kid's carefully gelled hair, but the boy yelped and ducked out of the way. "Mr. Stark, stop. You promised." The boy glared at the older man and touched his hair to make sure it was still in place. Intern, schmintern.

Daren just stood there, his mouth slightly open. He had no idea what to say to Mr. Stark's revelation. What kind of heathen announced huge last-minute events at a fundraiser of this caliber? "Um…he checked his clipboard. What about the Teddy Bear Picnic? That's supposed to happen in an hour, too."

Mr. Stark waved casually. "That can still go on. It's mostly for the kiddies, right? And you have to be 14 to be part of a "Capture the Flags" team."

"Oh, I didn't hear you say that."

"It's in the app, Anderson. Did you download it yet?" Daren fumbled with his phone.

Just then, Ms. Potts walked over, looking absolutely relaxed and beautiful in her white pantsuit. How had she kept that so immaculate all day? She was amazing.

As she got close, she said, "Hi, sweetheart," and gave not Mr. Stark, but the boy at his side a hug, then turned to Daren and Mr. Stark. Wait, what? Was he Ms. Pott's relative instead of Mr. Stark's?

"Tony, darling . I think you probably gave Daren here a migraine. Didn't I ask you to give him a heads up?"

"Oh, I knew I forgot something. But to be fair, I didn't really think the kids were going to pull off such a complicated app in half a day. Pete just finished it right before lunch, with some help from Fred."

"Fred?" asked Ms. Potts with a small frown.

"He means Ned, Ms. Potts," said Peter with an unimpressed look at the man.

Would he address her that formally if he was a relative? Because Daren was sure he'd heard the boy call Mr. Stark, "Tony," at least once at Family Day. He was so confused.

"Pep, do you have anyone who can spell Daren here for an hour or so from all his planning duties?" He's gonna be on our team."

"I'm sorry, what?"

Mr. Stark clapped him on the back. "Yeah, I think you'll do great. Your attention to detail might help us find more flags."

"You're playing?"

"Yep, me, Peter, you, Pepper said no," he glanced hopefully at his fiancée anyway, but she shook her head firmly. "So we just need to find two others."

Peter looked surprised, too. "Mr. Stark, can…uh, Avengers play?" he almost squeaked. "Is that even fair?"

"You built the app, but you didn't read the rules?" Mr. Stark asked, pretending to be aghast. "There's a limit of one enhanced per team." He winked at the kid, who frowned at him. "And I'm not even going to use my suit, so I wouldn't count. Who else should we recruit? You think May would be up for it?"

Peter pursed his lips and tilted his head to the side. "Maybe if Pepper lets her borrow some sneakers or something," he muttered, considering. "I think she's wearing heels."

Daren's eyes widened at his seemingly-accidental use of Ms. Potts first name. Well, not even her first name, but her nickname, really. That migraine Pepper…er, Ms. Potts had mentioned was starting to manifest.

"Kid, is your scary girlfriend here?"

"Mr. Stark, she's not my girlfriend. And yes, MJ is here. She actually supports the Stark Relief Fund."

"See if she and May want to join our team," Mr. Stark said. "Those two will intimidate all the competition for us."

Daren wasn't sure how, but an hour later he found himself standing at the "starting line" with a dozen other groups. His team was all sporting matching red shirts with "Team Iron Man" emblazoned across the front that Tony just happened to have on hand. His new teammates were one very amused lady who, apparently, was Peter's aunt, and a stoic-faced teenage girl who absolutely did intimidate Daren. Her name was Michelle. She did not look thrilled to be here either, but frowned less when Peter talked to her.

They had just a few minutes left, and Mr. Stark was laying down strategy. "You can use your app to find out where the boundaries are. Parker, I want you to get out just a little bit in front of everyone else," he looked at the teenager meaningfully for some reason, "and get into the trees. See what you can find that's higher than most people can easily reach. You're also on flag return duty. If anyone marks one 'found' in their app, unless you're about to grab another one, get to them and they'll hand it off. You get it back to the judge's table without another team stealing it."

Daren's eyes widened. "Is that allowed?"

"You still didn't read the rules?" Mr. Stark shook his head in mock disappointment.

"Other Parker-the pretty one- (Peter and his aunt both rolled their eyes) you and Michelle think outside the box like the bunch of tricksy hobbitses that head my R&D, and figure out where you would hide the flags if that was your job. Daren, use that eye for detail to spot the things others might not notice."

"What about you, Tony?" Mrs. Parker asked.

He waved his hand casually. "Oh, I'll supervise and coordinate from somewhere in the middle."

"Sounds about right," Michelle said with a raised eyebrow. Mr. Stark smiled nervously at her, then gestured to the starting line. The giant digital clock the man had produced from somewhere said it was almost time to start.

"On your mark! Get set! Go!" shouted Mr. Hogan, who was also heading up the judges' table with Mr. Stark's friend, Colonel Rhodes.

Half the field took off for the designated playing area, while some were taking the strategic route as well (or didn't want to run), and moved more slowly. Peter had taken off like a shot, and was just a few lengths ahead of the front runners. He disappeared up into the trees pretty quickly. How had he climbed that easily? Daren shook off his questions and started looking around carefully as he walked quickly, watching for splashes of yellow.

After about ten minutes, his careful attention paid off. There was a small dirty-looking apple bucket over in one far corner of the orchard, but its main color was yellow. He wondered if…

Yes, there, right under it, was a scrap of yellow fabric. Only a portion of the flag had to be visible. He had at least read that part in the rules. But there were some really competitive people out here, and he was quite nervous about someone just grabbing the flag from him and running with it once he'd found it. What had Mr. Stark said? Mark it 'found' in the app?

Daren leaned casually against a tree, not looking at the hiding place, and marked that he'd found one. About ninety seconds later, Peter skidded to a stop next to him.

"You found one?" he asked quietly, reading Daren's body language, and matching its nonchalance.

"Pretty sure that's one under that bucket over there," Daren said, still not looking quite at it. Peter zeroed in on it. "Yep, I think so," he said. "I've got two more under my shirt."

"Two?" Daren's eyes widened. "Wow!"

"If that's another one, I'm going to take all three and make a run for it," the kid said, a sparkle in his eye. "But I see a few people who look like they were football players in a previous life, and their strategy seems to be to overrun and steal the flag from people. They've already done it once. Can you cause a distraction for me?"

A distraction? "Um… maybe? Yes."

"Are you ready?"

"I don't know what to… um, yeah, I guess so."

"Do it!"

Daren pulled some kind of courage from deep inside and started running in the opposite direction, towards the center of the orchard, yelling, "Mr. Stark! Mr. St-a-a-ark! I see one!"

Once he got to the center, and had attracted at least half the players' attention with all his screaming and waving, he started pointing up into one of the taller trees, like he saw a yellow banner up there. Other people were looking, trying to see too, so he thought he'd better sell it. He looked down at his second-best suit in dismay and started to carefully climb the tree, keeping his gaze on a fictitious spot the whole time. Other people started climbing the tree (more skillfully) as well, determined to get to the supposed flag before Daren did. One teenage girl slipped a little, and grabbed onto the branch he was standing on to steady herself, which made his branch sway wildly.

The next thing Daren knew, he was staring up into concerned brown eyes, backed by lots of far-away treetops. Because, apparently, Daren was flat on his back on the ground. And his head was spinning. And his whole body felt like it had been hit by a tour bus full of screaming children.

"Daren? You with us?" Mr. Stark asked, his hands gently checking his head for bumps.

"Everything hurts… and I'm dying," Daren finally managed to whisper.

The man's eyes crinkled with sympathetic amusement. "Underoos, get over here."

A matching pair of wide brown eyes, also concerned, joined Tony's in Daren's vision.

"Didja hear him? He got hurt, so he's telling us that he got hurt, so we can help him. Take a page out of the smart guy's book, genius." He glared mildly at the kid, who was giving him a flat look back.

"Okay, I GIVE UP. What in the world is the relationship between you two?" Daren pleaded loudly. Then he groaned at the volume of his own voice and brought his hands gingerly up to touch the sides of his head.

"Sorry, Anderson. FRIDAY scanned you, and nothing's broken. Not even a concussion, according to her, but we'll have medbay check you out anyway. I'm not so sure. You just hit really hard, and it knocked you out briefly. And you'll probably have quite the headache. They're bringing a stretcher as a precaution."

"I really am just his intern," said Peter quietly. "We're not, like… related or anything."

Mr. Stark looked up at him skeptically. "True. Sort of. Yes, you're my intern, but not just my intern." He looked back down at Daren. "The kid and I have known each other for almost a year now, and we spend a lot of extra-internship time hanging out doing non-intern things, too. So that's probably what you're picking up on. Sorry to stress you out." He said the last part with a soft smile in the teen's direction. Peter smiled as well, and ducked his head.

Just then the paramedics showed up, with two stretchers. They carefully helped Daren onto one, and then he saw Mr. Stark turned to Peter with a determined look on his face.

The teenager's eyes widened, and he blurted out, "You have got to be kidding me. There is no way, sir, that I am-"

"Zip it, kiddo. You fell out of a tree and sprained your ankle before you ran three flags across to the judges, and then jogged back on it. Look at it, Pete, it's twice the size of your other ankle. Stop being an idiot and get on that stretcher, or so help me, you will be benched for a week." Benched? Was he an athlete? Daren still felt like he was missing something.

"Tonyyyyy," the kid whined. But he stomped (one-footed, somehow ) over to the stretcher and sat down on it with a huff, glaring at his mentor.

Daren was done. He was so tired. Not as confused as before, but so very out of his element. And everything really did hurt.

"Wait," he said, almost sitting up, but thinking better of it. "Who won?"

Tony smiled triumphantly. "We did, of course. May and Michelle each found a flag, too, so added to the three you and Peter brought in, we had the most flags. Several teams brought in one, and one other team got three, but it was us by a mile. Good work, Johnny Appleseed."

Daren lay his head back and finally closed his eyes, as he listened to Peter's aunt and his friend-girl also berating him. Poor kid.

Daren never could have imagined that working for such high profile people would also be so confusing, or so dangerous. But it was way more interesting than that position at Capitol One that he'd turned down. There was something to be said for variety in the workplace. Oh. He really needed to find someone to ask how the Teddy Bear Picnic had turned out. Maybe a nap first, though.