After the excitement of getting back into a lab, everything else seemed so boring to Peter. Before, anything could be entertaining, when you have nothing everything is interesting. But the time between Peter leaving SI on Wednesday night and getting ready to go back on Friday seemed to drag on for a millennium.
Everything clumped together into one mush of boringness. Well, not completely boring. He didn't have work on Wednesday night, something about the bar being used for a meeting between mercenaries, or something of the like—honestly Peter didn't want to know details. The less he knew about the goings on of those in the bar, the better he would sleep at night.
But when he worked again on Thursday night, after a day of buying food and aimlessly walking around Central Park, he saw Wade again. So that was fun.
Peter was confused by the man, to say the least. From the whispers around the bar he knew he was a feared, merciless assassin. And yet he was so… funny. And not what Peter expected from a mercenary. There were some people Peter noticed around the bar that he would have known were trouble, even if he just saw them at a park or around the city. Some surprised him, looking completely average until they came in to collect a bounty for some high-class politician they just killed.
Peter was still trying to get used to it if he was honest. And Wade was just another curve ball.
Oh well, Peter's life had already be fucked within the last few days, what was a complete flip of philosophical views going to do but add more flavour to life. Right?
It's not like he had a choice in the matter. The world was finally starting to seem less black and white, and more like a painting in grayscale. With every realisation about the world Peter longed to learn more. Sue him, he loved to know things.
Perhaps he truly had been sheltered in a way. He believed people were good or evil, the bully or the bullied but that wasn't that case. Maybe his life as a superhero only made those views more cemented. It was about time he upgraded them.
But when hands of time finally ticked over to 2:30, Peter began to make his way back to Stark Industries.
He was a little early when he arrived, on purpose though. Peter had hoped Dr. Miller had told the truth and the cafeteria was open to them all the time. His stomach was still rumbling after the small lunch he was able to afford and any food he could get was better than none. It was just a bonus if the food was actually good and served warm.
But he didn't have much time before the internship started, so he had to be fast.
Quickly saying hello to the receptionist sitting at their desk and signing in, Peter all but dashed up to the cafeteria area. He quickly grabbed a toastie, smiling as he remembered when Steve had bought him one mere days ago, and ate it as he got in the elevator and up to the Intern Floor.
When he entered the lab, Peter found that the other interns had also just arrived and were putting down their bags to continue on their projects. It looked as though most people had an idea, but no plan. Roy was throwing around pieces of paper as he scribbled different design ideas. Gwen looked like she was doing research on… something? Peter wasn't quite sure, she kept switching search screens so he couldn't get a good look. Rachel and Oliver were discussing their ideas and giving each other suggestions.
Among the chaos of the working lab, Peter went back to the desk he set up yesterday. He pulled out his finished plan and began to go over it.
In his time yesterday, he had decided on creating a portable heater. But not just any, he would create one using cheaper materials that still worked well together to make it able to be produced for less money, meaning it will be able to be sold at an affordable price. He wanted it to run off of energy it created itself, so that those who buy it didn't have to spend their money on new power sources every now and then. Because this heater would be for people with unstable home situations—people like him.
The power source itself was based off of the arc reactor. But instead of having to top up the hydrogen isotopes, it absorbs them from the world around it to keep it running almost indefinitely. But that would require some testing.
Peter got to work straight away. He started to collect the materials he would need. To others, Peter looked like he was in a storm of chaos and frantic working. But in truth, Peter knew exactly what he was doing. He was precise and careful with every wire and material he used. He knew he looked chaotic sometimes when he worked, Tony always used to joke that he was a growing storm of information and that every time he worked he rained on everything around him. Which wasn't completely false.
Trapped in his cloud of chaos, Peter didn't notice someone enter the lab and began talking to Dr. Williamson. None of the other interns seemed to notice at the beginning either, all caught up in their own work.
But, one by one, the interns seemed to notice. Rachel first, whose eyes turned wide when they saw them, immediately lightly hitting Oliver to turn and look at who was here. Who, in turn, hit Roy to get him to look up. At the quietness of the lab from the other 3 looking at the new person, Gwen also looked up.
When she saw that Peter had yet to notice, she walked over to his desk near the back of the room and whispered to him:
"Look who's here."
Peter finally looked up, only to catch the eyes of the CEO of Stark Industries, Pepper Potts. Someone Peter had not seen since Tony Stark's funeral. The woman smiled at Peter, to which Peter smiled awkwardly back, before she turned back to Dr. Williamson and continued speaking. A few moments later Dr. Williamson called out:
"Okay everyone, please gather around. I'm sure you have noticed we have someone special in today. I would like to introduce you all to the CEO of SI, Ms. Pepper Potts."
The interns clapped for her, which she simply smiled at in return. When they stopped, she began to speak.
"Thank you, I wanted to come down and properly congratulate all of you on making it into our new Internship program. I'm excited to see what you guys are capable of. Mr. Stark wanted to be here, but he is currently in Japan for a big meeting," Peter wondered how on earth Pepper had convinced Tony to go all the way for a meeting. It was no secret Tony would rather do training with the team than go to a meeting. "Perhaps he will drop by another time. I just wanted to come around to say congratulations and see what you were working on."
The group suddenly looked nervous, most had not even a complete plan to show. They didn't want to disappoint her or make it look like they had picked the wrong person to be interns.
"Of course, go back to working on your projects everyone, Ms. Potts will come around one by one to have a look."
The group of interns nervously made their way back to the desks as Pepper approached Oliver first.
Oliver described how he was planning on making a food storage container that didn't run on electricity that could be used to store food for longer to allow more easy transport of food to rural areas and developing countries. Pepper smiled and nodded along as he explained, even encouraging him and asking thoughtful questions when he started to get nervous and stumbling over his words. When he finished, she thanked him for explaining and said that she "looked forward to seeing how it all turned out." Oliver didn't stop smiling for the rest of the day.
She then went over to Roy and Rachel, who incidentally were both working on ways to recycle used materials from phones and technology. However Roy was looking at it from a larger scale, while Rachel was interested in finding a way to make her project a household appliance. Once again Pepper listened carefully, her smile never wavering.
Eventually she made her way over to Gwen. Her desk was closer to Peter's, so he could hear conversation more clearly.
"You must be Ms. Stacy, might I ask what you are working on," Pepper asked. Gwen looked up from her computer and smiled.
"I'm doing some research currently, into old people who live alone. I want to create a watch that will send a message out if they are hurt, in danger, or something of the sort that will call a hospital or family member if they need help." Gwen explained.
"That's an interesting idea, may I ask why you chose it?" Pepper questioned, leaning over to look at the beginnings of the watch's design.
"A friend of mine's grandpa passed away. He was very old but lived by himself. He had a fall one day and couldn't get back up, he couldn't call anyone to come help him and he passed away. I want to make something to help people like that. I know there are versions of this that exist but I want to create a more advanced version," Gwen professionally explained, her voice sounded like she was answering an interviewer's question for a newspaper article.
Pepper seemed to really listen to her response, taking in each word and carefully considering what she was saying. The two continued to talk for a bit and so Peter went back to building his heater. When Peter heard the sound of high heels clicking against the tiles of the lab, he realised Pepper was walking over to him. He quickly wiped the oil off his hands with a towel and turned to greet her.
"And you must be Mr. Parker, Dr. Miller has told me many things about you. She was very impressed with your test scores," she said. Peter smiled and pushed a stand of hair away from his face.
"Thank you, it's a pleasure to meet you Ms. Potts," Peter responded, remembering his manners.
"Please, the pleasure is mine to see so many talented minds at work. Might I ask what you are working on?" Pepper questioned, looking down at the beginnings of his heater.
"Ah, well. I'm trying to create a portable heater that could be used by those who are sleeping rogue and don't have homes. I know there are a lot of portable heaters out there but I wanted to create one with inexpensive materials so it could be sold for less—then more people who actually need it could buy it," Peter explained, gesturing to different parts of his plan as he spoke.
"Interesting, how do you plan to power it?" Pepper asked. Peter lit up at the question and easily responded:
"Well I wanted it to work as some type of sustainable or renewable energy. Because power sources are expensive and not on the table for most homeless people, and power outlets are few and far between, so they can't really plug it in somewhere. I thought for a while and the power source is based off of the arc reactor, with some changes of course."
Normally, Peter would be stuttering through his words. Whenever he had to present a history or english presentation at school his nerves would always get the better of him. But never with science, it was the one thing he was confident in his knowledge about. It was one of the only things that calmed him and he found solace in.
As the two continued to talk about his project, Peter noticed that Pepper seemed mildly impressed by what he was saying and was taking special interest in his project.
"I'm impressed Mr. Parker, I look forward to seeing what becomes of this project of yours," Pepper concludes, shaking Peter's hand.
"Thank you, Ms Potts," Peter thanked waving her off as she left.
That had been kind of insane. He hadn't expected to see Pepper, well, ever again. The universe just kept pushing people he once knew toward him. He knew he was sent back to fix things, but he couldn't just throw himself back into everyone's life. That would be selfish.
He has to fix things, but he has to do it on his terms. That doesn't mean storming in all guns blazing and forcing problems that haven't happened yet to be resolved. It meant doing what he did best, making a plan. It meant taking care of himself first. Then helping the world.
For the first time in ages, Peter was going to put himself first.
An uncomfortable change to say the least.