Thirteen
October 30th, 2016 – Meet My Intern!
"Hello everyone, welcome back! Today's a very special day and I finally got my intern to agree to be on camera. Very exciting stuff!" Tony paused. "Wait, forgot my tagline. I'm Tony Stark and above all else, I am an engineer. And before we begin, I wanted to talk about why I chose this individual once I met him. He's a great kid, he's made of moral fiber, he's got a good head on his shoulders and he's so insanely smart and intuitive. We work together twice a week and one day on the weekend. We work on SI projects and Iron Man projects together and is therefore granted extremely high clearance. He is not allowed to bring any visitors without my express approval so no taking advantage of him!"
"Come on!" Tony called across the room. A reluctant brunette boy begrudgingly went in front of the camera. "C'mon Pete. You agreed to this."
"Yeah, yeah, I know." He groused.
"Introduce yourself."
"My name is Peter Parker and I am Mr. Stark's intern."
"Personal intern."
"Personal intern." Peter dutifully repeated.
"And!" Tony pointed at the camera. "That means that I am the only one allowed to use his knowledge and help – not anything gross so get your mind out of the gutter!"
"Oh gross!" Peter cried out. "He's old!"
"Excuse me, you little maggot, no, I am not!"
"You so are. Do you even meme?"
"What the hell is a meme." Tony demanded.
"See. You don't. Old." He crossed his arms.
"I am so having a discussion with your Aunt about this."
"Go ahead. She memes."
"What the hell." Tony moaned to himself as he rubs his forehead. "Tell the internet what you like."
"Oh! Um, I like LEGO's, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Disney, Superheroes…"
"And Iron Man is your favorite, go on."
"Um."
"What do you mean, um."
"Well…"
"I'm waiting."
"DoctorBannerIsSortOfMyFavoriteI' ."
"Banner!? Betrayed by my own intern."
"You're second."
"Well, at least I am in the top ten."
"Definitely are!"
"Sarcasm, kid."
"Oh."
"Okay, so we aren't releasing any information about where he lives or what school so we will keep it very general. What is your favorite class?"
"Chemistry." He replied.
"Least favorite?"
"English."
"What is something that you struggle with?"
"I'm sensitive to noises, so blocking out sounds in New York so I can sleep is something I often struggle with. I spend a lot of time on the internet when I can't sleep."
"Do you have a girlfriend?"
"Um, no." He flushed.
"Why not?"
"Mr. Stark! I'm busy!" He cried out, embarrassed.
"Yeah, yeah, I do spend a significant amount of time lecturing you."
"Exactly."
"What is your favorite video game?"
"I play a lot of Overwatch."
"Peter just introduced me."
"Yes. And I regret it immensely."
"Rude."
"What college would you like to attend?"
"I am not sure yet. I would like to stay relatively close."
"What is your favorite animal?"
"I like dogs."
"What is your favorite food?"
"Pizza, duh."
"What is your favorite drink?"
"I like unsweetened iced tea."
"Ew. No sugar?"
"I don't really consume sugar. Or caffeine."
"I couldn't live that life." Peter shrugged.
"Not many can."
"Well, that's enough Q&A – let's move on. Let's show what you've been working on lately, Pete." Peter moved away from Tony to his workbench. Tony picked up the camera and followed Peter. "Wait a minute." Peter froze and turned around. "Is that my MIT sweatshirt?" Peter looked down and smiled sheepishly.
"Um, yes?"
"Why?"
"Because it was in the living room and I was cold."
"Its only October, Pete."
"I run cold."
"Well, I'll have to keep it warm in here for you. I usually keep it on the cooler side. Gotta keep your aunt off my back."
"Thank you, Mr. Stark." Peter said warmly.
"Did you eat?" He demanded. "Your aunt texted me earlier."
"Ugh!" Peter groaned. "Yess! You're both such helicopter parents!"
"Excuse you! I am not a parent."
"Yeah, yeah. Well, I did eat but I am still hungry so if you have food, I'd appreciate it."
"Okay, I'll whip something up after we wrap this up. Show us what you've been working on."
Peter continued the walk over to the bench and picked up a gauntlet.
"This is one of Mr. Stark's." He started before he was interrupted.
"Tony."
"What?" Peter looked confused.
"Call me Tony, kid."
"Um, okay, Mr. St-Tony." Peter looked uncomfortable. "This is one of the Iron gauntlets. It was damaged in a fight and I am trying to dismantle it and put it back together in order to figure out how it works. It's the best way to become acquainted with a piece of technology. I almost have it figured out. Mr. Stark is a technological genius, the way that he seamlessly melded state of the art technology with aesthetics is so neat. I haven't seen that from anyone else."
"Okay, kid. You don't have to suck up, you're already my intern."
"It's true!" He cried out.
"Well, thank you, kid." Peter's stomach growled. He looked embarrassed and his cheeks pinked. "Let's get some food, kid." The screen blanked out and turned back on and Tony and Peter were in front of the camera.
"We're going to make a recipe I learned from my mother, Maria. We're going to make angolotti. Which is a stuffed pasta. Peter and I are each going to make it and see if he can keep up." He smirked at Peter who mocked bit at him. "First, we make the pasta."
"From scratch?" His eyes were wide.
"Of course. You're not a proper Italian if you don't. It's going to be an egg pasta. Now, take about a pound of flour." He poured out a pound and Peter did the same. Then he grabbed the egg carton, passing one to Peter, followed by a bowl. "The eggs we need are four whole eggs and five egg yolks. We make a well in the pasta and slowly fold in the eggs." Tony demonstrated, followed by Peter repeating the action. "We want the dough to be buttery and smooth. Once it is fully incorporated, wrap it in clear wrap and set it to the side and let it rest. Twenty minutes. Always knead it by hand, it's the best way." Peter wrapped his pasta and put the bowls in the sink.
"Now, we make the filling. I have enough for both of us. We are going to make chicken, spinach and mushroom Agnolotti. First, we take four cups of baby spinach and wilt it on the stove, add 2 tablespoons of water and then strain it and let cool and squeeze dry." Tony instructed as he and Peter stood at the stove and did it together. "Then we take some butter and put it in a skillet – I have already cut up the onions, mushrooms and garlic – first we cook the onions until they're translucent and then add the chicken pieces." The sizzling of the chicken filled the kitchen, Peter eagerly matching Tony's actions. "Then we add the mushrooms and garlic. Let that cook for about three minutes. Pete, watch mine." Tony went and plugged in two food processors in front of the camera. He walked back over to his and turned off the heat on both. "Now we add it to the food processor along with the spinach, some nutmeg, lemon juice, zest, salt, pepper and the most important Italian ingredient – parmesan cheese." He grabbed a hunk of it and grated it into the food processor, passing it to Peter. He turned the food processor on puree.
"Now, we take the mixture and form little balls and put them on a baking sheet." He formed balls with his hands and placed them on a baking sheet. "We freeze these until firm. It will be easier to form the pasta if the filling is solid." They worked quietly until that was done. They rinsed their hands and Tony put it in the freezer to firm them up.
"Now, we get to make the pasta." Tony grabbed two hand cranks and attached them to the counter. "We take the pasta and run it through on the lowest setting, making it thinner and thinner – it should be a lovely sheet of pasta when we're done cranking it. Put flour down so it doesn't stick." Tony grabbed the baking sheet from the oven and put it in front of them. "Now, we place the filling, folding the pasta around it and using a pasta cutter, cut in between the filling, making lovely little envelopes." He held up one to the camera. "Then we put in the boiling water." He dropped his into the water. "While that's working, we make the butter sauce. It should be a brown butter sauce, that's all a good dish like this needs. Fresh pasta only needs a couple minutes to cook so it should be fast." Tony was browning his butter and then scooped the pasta out and put it on the plate and poured the sauce over it and grated some parmesan cheese and some sprigs of basil. "Ta da!" He showed the camera. He set it down and Peter set his down. "Now, let's see." He looked over both of the dishes. "I have to say, Pete, it's a tie. Good job!" Peter smiled happily at him. "Let's eat." He handed a fork to Peter and Peter dove in.
"It's so good!" He exclaimed.
"Yes…yes, it is." Tony looked sad for a moment, remembering his mom but smiled at Peter. "We're going to finish this, but Peter will be back on the channel soon! Toodles!" Peter waved happily at the camera.
BrassKnuckles: Remember when Tony said he didn't have any kids? I CALL BULLSHIT
PrettyUgly: Peter is the sweetest kid OMG
BORNDIVA: Man, where's my agnolotti? I'm hungry. Also, Peter is adorable!
FlashThompson: WTF! Peter is an actual intern?
Peter walked into school the next day and sat with his friends as usual.
Maya, a popular girl at school, came skipping over and draped herself next to him, batting her eyelashes.
"Hi Peter. Do you want to hangout sometime?" She cooed.
"Um, no?" He tried to turn her down.
"Why not?" She pouted.
"Uh, maybe because he's not into skanks?" MJ glared at her.
"Excuse me?" She even stamped her foot on the ground, even from her sitting position.
"It's obvious you want to meet Tony Stark. Peter knows who his real friends are. You barely acknowledge he exists. Get lost, sis." She put a book in front of her face and ignored her.
"Peter! Tell her she cant talk to me like that!" Maya demanded.
"Uh, no." Peter replied.
"What?!" She exclaimed.
"Can you leave us alone? Your decibel is hurting my ears." Peter firmly stated in a calm voice.
"Ugh!" She growled and flounced away.
"Thanks, MJ."
"I did it for me, loser, not you."
Peter was stopped before going into his class by Flash.
"Hey, Peter!" He sounded friendly but Peter knew better.
"No, I won't get you into the Stark building to meet Mr. Stark."
"What?" He tried to act offended.
"People have been asking me all day. The answer is no. Especially for you."
"Listen, Penis! I should be his intern! Once he meets me, he'll ditch you!"
"Well, lucky for me, you won't and I highly doubt Mr. Stark would want a B+ average person over me with a A+ average." He shrugged and went to his seat
"This isn't over!" Flash cried out.
"Yeah, it is. I'm an intern and you're not." Peter replied and Flash didn't have anything to say to that.
But he knew that wouldn't last.