"Hey, Pete, I've got a meeting soon, so I've gotta skedaddle," Tony said from across the room, standing up from his seat and stretching. There were a couple of pops and cracks, and Tony let out a satisfied groan. He turned to Peter. "You need anything before I head out?"
Peter shook his head, flipping up his face shield and grinning. "No, thanks, Mr. Stark - I've got DUM-E and U to keep me company," he replied.
Tony rolled his eyes, making his way over to Peter's table. "Because they're great company," he deadpanned, squinting at Peter, who smiled back innocently. "And I said it's Tony, kid. C'mon, you were getting better at this," he complained, prodding at Peter's shoulder.
Peter shrugged, smile remaining firmly in place. "I know, I know… Mr. Stark." He grinned impishly.
Tony poked at his shoulder again, frowning but clearly pushing back a smile of his own. He reached up and tousled Peter's hair from behind the raised mask.
"Hey!" Peter cried out indignantly, darting his own hands up and trying to smooth it back into place with little success. Tony smirked before turning and promenading away. "That wasn't very nice," Peter called out after him.
"I'm nice to people who call me Tony," the man smoothly replied, the double doors opening for him without preamble. Peter huffed good naturedly, flicking his mask back down as Tony turned the corner and out of sight.
He slipped his phone out of his back pocket, pulling off one of his gloves to flick through a couple of playlists before settling on one of his wordless albums and letting the beat thrum around him. He tugged the glove back on, setting his phone to the side and picking up the blowtorch. His neck craned forward, shoulders hunching and brows scrunching up as he let himself get reabsorbed into his current task. The blowtorch let out a soft hshhh as he clicked down on the dial, a concentrated flame hitting the metal workings in his latest project. He was trying to melt the outer frame onto the steel piece below it, but it wasn't working. Probably because it was tungsten. Which wasn't going to melt anytime soon with just a little fire hitting it. He exhaled sharply, turning the fire off and setting the blowtorch to his side. He lifted his face shield off and squinted down at his work. It was turning out pretty well up until this point, the wirings on the inside and the coding for it mostly complete, but his plots to make it sturdier weren't panning out. He was too stubborn to just give up or switch now, though. He eyed the finicky metal, then his thick, Kevlar and cotton gloves, and shrugged. He placed his thumb along the edge of one of the panels and pressed, hard. After a moment, the metal gave under the pressure and conformed to the shape of the steel beneath it. Perks of having super strength. Peter grinned victoriously, repeating the process along the rest of the edges until it was completely stuck on.
"Huh."
Peter whirled around, knocking a screwdriver to the floor with a loud clatter in his haste to see the man who'd crept up behind him and was now standing at his shoulder. Sam looked back, eyebrows raised. Peter's breath stuttered in his chest, and he placed a hand over his rapidly palpitating heart. He shakily reached out his other hand to turn off his phone, cutting the music off. "Mr. Wilson," he gasped out, wide eyed.
Sam wrinkled his nose. "Makes me sound like an old guy - Sam's fine."
Peter nodded, still staring at the man and leaning back slightly in his seat so that he could see up to him properly. Sam gestured to the robot Peter was currently working on.
"Is that how they actually do it?" he asked, bending forwards to inspect it. Peter tilted his head questioningly, taking deep, quiet breaths to calm himself. Sam pointed a finger at what Peter had just been focusing on - the tungsten/steel meshing. Peter's heart rate picked back up, sending blood rushing to his head and making him woozy.
"Ha-haha…" he chuckled out nervously, pulling at the tips of his gloves. He shrugged jerkily. "Probably not," he admitted, barely managing to keep his voice steady.
"What'd you do, exactly?" Sam asked, motioning at the clearly thumb shaped divots in the metal workings.
Peter waved his hand to the side like he could wave off the doubt, turning back to his project so that Sam couldn't pick up anything from his face. "I heated it up first with the blowtorch, so from there" - he shrugged - "well, it wasn't hard to just push it down since it was already softened."
Sam made a noise of acknowledgement, taking a step back and gazing around the lab. "So Stark lets you in here unsupervised?" he questioned, switching topics.
Peter hid his sigh of relief, nodding and giving a small smile. "Yeah, it's pretty awesome."
Sam hummed agreeably, prodding at DUM-E, who'd made his way over. "And who's this?"
"DUM-E," Peter replied with a brighter smile, hopping off his seat and crouching down next to the robot. When Sam didn't reply, he looked over his shoulder to see him looking at him with a raised eyebrow and faint traces of amusement and disbelief. Peter flushed, fluttering his hands around in front of his face. "Th-that's the robot's name: D. U. M. E. - DUM-E," Peter hurriedly explained, blush strengthening when Sam grinned down at him.
"I've heard of him," Sam said, teeth showing behind his blatant smirk.
"You-" Peter started, cutting himself off and shaking his head. He turned back to Dum-E.
"I didn't know if he was DUM-E or U, though," Sam defended, grin still clear in his voice.
"Yeah, yeah," Peter muttered, a small smile slipping through onto his own lips. He tapped against DUM-E, receiving a little chirping beep in response. The robot's arm swiveled around from behind his frame, revealing a glass of suspiciously normal looking contents and extending it towards Sam, who took it hesitantly.
"Is this a smoothie?" he asked, raising the glass.
"Wait!" Peter nearly shouted, shooting up and stopping Sam from taking a sip. He huffed out a laugh at Sam's flabbergasted expression. "That's probably not safe to drink," he said, gently removing the cup from Sam's loose hold.
"And why's that?" Sam questioned, crossing his arms.
Peter laughed again, placing the glass on a nearby table. "DUM-E likes to add his own special ingredients to drinks… usually motor oil," he admitted, snorting at the look on Sam's face. Peter turned to DUM-E, taking on a chiding tone. "Mr. Stark said no more smoothies," he reprimanded, wagging his finger. DUM-E's arm lowered, letting out a sad beep. Peter shook his head firmly. "No means no." The robot's hand clasp clicked together a couple of times before the whole machine slowly twirled around 180 degrees, letting out one more begrudging chirp before wheeling away.
Peter looked back at Sam. The man was staring at him incredulously, and Peter's neck flushed. He reached up to rub at it, fingers digging into the roots at the base of his skull. He shrugged awkwardly.
Sam huffed, mouth forming a disbelieving smile. "Now I see why Tony keeps you around. You're like a nicer, mini-me version of him," he decided, chuckling at Peter's now cherry red face.
Peter stuttered over his words before finally managing to get out a "th-thank you?" that was pitched up as more of a question than anything else.
Sam grinned. "No problem, little man" - he glanced at his watch - "I've gotta head out, but it was nice seeing you," he saluted, heading back towards the entrance to the lab.
"You too!" Peter called behind him. Sam waved his hand, but didn't turn around, opening the doors and strolling out.
Peter stood there for a few minutes longer, staring at the long empty glass doorway. U beeped from somewhere nearby, snapping Peter out of his reverie. "Thanks U," he said faintly, turning back to his table and practically collapsing into his seat. His eyes were still wide and somewhat vacant as he marveled blankly at his half-formed robot. He let out a manic giggle, tugging at his hair. Thank God Sam doesn't know anything about soldering, he thought, only slightly hysterical.