17

November 27, 2016 – Live! With Peter

All the fans of Tony Stark's YouTube channel were waiting patiently for the video to go live. Tony had sent out a tweet that they were going to go live at 3EST and the fans were waiting by the screen.

The screen turned into what looked like a private lab with Peter sitting in front of the camera.

"It's live." A voice spoke to the side. Peter peered at the screen and looked both happy and nervous.

"Oh, thanks Nick."

"Take care, man."

Peter swallowed and looked at the screen and waved awkwardly to the camera.

OMG you're so cute. A viewer wrote quickly.

"Oh, thank you so much!" Peter responded. "So, I am going to go live for a little while and answer some questions, chat, I can't answer anything that has to do with anything that is under NDA's but I am sure I will tell you that as we go on." He looked to the screen. "How old am I? I am 15 years old." He peered at the screen, reading as he went. "Do I have a girlfriend? No, I do not. I am far to busy with my internship, school and I am on a couple school teams so definitely not a lot of time for socializing. I barely have time to hang out with my friends, let alone have dates."

He read a few more off the screen.

"What is a typical day like as an intern? Hm…That's a good question." Peter paused. "Well, I get here after school. So, Mr. Stark makes me eat and make sure I have plenty to drink while we work together. We usually are always in the lab, he's usually showing me how to repair the Iron Man suit and we work on some Spiderman stuff because he's always breaking something, maybe some War Machine repairs too, those are rare as Mr. Rhodes is still recovering but it's really fun. Sometimes, the interns in the other departments ask me for help with what they're doing but Mr. Stark doesn't really like me going to other departments. Only child syndrome. He doesn't like to share."

SHADE!

You know Spiderman?

Spiderman?

Yo Peter kid! How did you take over being Tony's favorite! Because I saved his life!

What!

For real?!

Peter cleared his throat. "Hi, Harley. I assume that is Harley."

Yes, it is.

"Well, I am not replacing you. Mr. Stark talks about you like all the time. He is planning on having you visit real soon."

Fine. As long as you know I was the first one.

"I'm not trying to usurp your role, Harley." Peter rolled his eyes. "Moving on, what is the most bizarre thing I've heard Mr. Stark say?" Peter stroked his chin for a few seconds. "Well, I came back one day and he was asleep on the couch and he yelled out in his sleep: Not the frozen banana! And I asked him about it and he had no idea what I was talking about."

What is a habit that Tony has that not a lot of people know about?

"A habit that he has… Well, he holds his chest a lot. Like presses his hand to the arc reactor, I think to reassure himself that it's there. I've seen him wake up from a nap before and that's the first thing he touches. He also has this obsession lately with smoothies. I swear, I have to get him to eat real food sometimes and not just a protein smoothie."

Do you guys cook a lot together?

"Well, we cook a fair amount together and it is really fun. My aunt that I live with – my parents are dead – she cooks but Tony's food is from the heart so it obviously tastes a little better but my aunt makes nostalgic dishes that I can remember for most of my childhood."

What happened to your parents?

"My parents died when I was about two – they were in a plane crash. My dad's biological brother, Uncle Ben, took me in but he died a year or so ago, he was shot by a robber. New York is a crazy place. So it is just me and my aunt now."

Does she approve of your internship?

"I think she was hesitant at first, she didn't know Mr. Stark that well – other than the media presence and the persona he puts on but I think she's really grateful that someone else is watching me, so she doesn't have to worry about working overtime because Mr. Stark never has any problem with me coming along to whatever he's doing or doing my homework in the lab, while he works on a project. He's very welcoming and I haven't met anyone that was rude to me here at SI."

Do you want to work at SI when you get old enough?

"I think I still have a lot of decisions to make when it comes to my future but I will always think about applying to SI – it has a great atmosphere and I think I could contribute a lot to the R&D department."

Where does Tony take you?

"We go to a lot of fine dining restaurants – not by choice, mind you. But according to Mr. Stark, New York has one of the most varied food scenes and he wants me to have a sophisticated palette, culinary wise – so I've been going to a lot of restaurants and eating lots of good food. I am becoming more adventurous. I went to a restaurant that had a herb-crusted rack of lamb and it was so good. I am becoming more of a fish eater as well – I used to not like seafood that much and I really like it. Mr. Stark has been having me try all sorts of sushi lately and it is actually really good – once you get past the notion of it being raw. I think that we get in our minds that proteins can't be raw for us to eat them but fish and beef aren't like that. Tuna tartare is really good, steak tartare is really good, sashimi is really good… I also attend some meetings with him, pretending to take notes for Mr. Stark – people think I'm paying attention but he told me not to…He wants to test his employees and he memorizes what they say they're going to do and then reams them when they don't. Angry Mr. Stark is kind of scary, so most of SI knows not to cross him."

What do you like to do in your spare time?

"My best friend and I like to build Legos. We are trying to build the Death Star from Star Wars right now and we don't meet up as much as we would like. He's busy with his family commitments and I'm busy with my internship, but we meet up as often as we can. Shoutout!"

Do you like living in New York?

"I was born and raised here, I can't imagine living anywhere else. I love the city and I wouldn't leave it."

Are you sure you aren't Tony Stark's biological son?

"I am supppperrrr sure Mr. Stark isn't my father. My father was actually a geneticist and my mother was a biologist. So, science is in my blood. It just so happens that I am interning for one of the greatest minds alive right now. I've always been smart, reading very quickly, able to grasp science topics very quickly, so becoming an intern at one of the greatest companies around right now…Not to sound cocky, but it's not thattt surprising."

Favorite Disney character?

"Well, I always loved Lilo and Stitch – ohana means family and all that. Stitch is my favorite character, the characters in that movie were so great. Nani, David, Jumba, Pleakley… It's a great movie. And it came out the year after I was born, too! Like perfection!"

Do you like Lucy?

"Of course, I like Lucy. She's actually brushing up against my ankles as we speak." He picked up the cat and held her up to the camera, her face offended. "Sorry, Lucy. The people of YouTube wanted to see you." She sniffed but allowed it. "She's great. She likes to lay on my notebook when I'm trying to finish my homework, but it's an adorable distraction."

Has Tony changed anything since you started interning there?

"Well, he gave me a lab table of my own in the main lab that he uses and he has put a vending machine and soda machine in here that uses StarkCoins, which he gives me when I do a good job. So, a little weird but nice, nonetheless." Peter looked down at the times. "Shoot! I have to go! I was supposed to meet my aunt downstairs like five minutes ago! I'm sorry to anyone who's question I didn't answer and thank you to everyone that tuned in, thank you for the support. I'll be back on the channel soon! Bye!"

The screen went black.

The chat continued.

I was a stan. And now I'm like a stannnn

Idk if I buy the not biological kid thing….

I mean just because they both have brown eyes and hair…

And do science.

There is that.

Idk I still ship the hell out of them together – in a father/son way. Not weird

Tony Stark is a Father Figure!

#DadTony

Omg yes!

#DadTony