My first multi-chapter fic :) Enjoy!

The Lucky Four

Peter Parker was just a random teenager from Queens, until the day he got the letter.

Four students from New York high schools were picked to intern at Stark Industries. They'd get to work directly with Tony Stark in the intern lab and explore a future career in science and engineering with a genius in the field. It was every STEM kid's dream.

Peter remembered the day he saw the letter in the mail, dropping the rest of the envelopes while he tore open the one he'd been waiting for for four months.

Congratulations, Mr. Parker. You've been selected for the Stark Industries internship program.

"No way!" he'd screamed.

May had started shouting at him from the kitchen. "You got in?!"

"I got in!"

And then, three weeks later, Peter was meeting the man.

Tony Stark had reached out to shake his hand, and Peter, the last in the line of interns—Emily Walt, Marcus Greenberg, Anni Arya, and him—had reached out his cold, nervous hand and shaken Mr. Stark's like his life was culminating with that moment.

"Mr. Parker, is that right? Glad to have you here. You're a pretty smart kid, huh? And the youngest here, I'm told."

Peter had blushed and started to stutter in true Parker fashion. "Um, I, uh, guess I am. It's nice to meet you, sir."

"Geez, your hands are freezing," Tony joked, and Peter's shoulder twitched in a shrug.

"Yeah, I get cold when I'm nervous," he replied immediately. His cheeks flushed red when he realized he'd given himself away.

Tony played it off smoothly, an amused smile stretching across his lips. "You'll warm up to it all; don't worry." The man had given them their first assignment then, and he stayed to supervised them for the full two hours. Peter noticed he spent pretty even time with each of them, but he seemed to linger near Peter at the end.

"You have a really good idea here, kid. I'm excited to see where you take it."

"Thank you, sir." He'd felt really proud, then. A compliment from Tony Stark was like gold. Better than gold.

For the next few weeks, the man's presence was much spottier. He'd start out with them, assigning them tasks or reviewing current works in progress, and then he'd leave for SI business. The department head, Lucy, would then take over as supervisor. She was nice and very smart and also a graduate from MIT, albeit not Tony. No one had the man's genius or charisma.

On some occasions the interns would even be left alone, only a quiet hum of parts turning or the scratch of pencils on paper heard over their intense concentration. They were here to learn, and to prove themselves.

On one particular snowy Friday, Peter came into the lab shivering, an oversized gray coat on and a blue scarf wrapped around his neck.

"You cold, Peter?" Tony eyed his jittery movements with some amusement.

He nodded, teeth chattering. "It's freezing out there."

"Turn up the heat, Fri," the man directed to his AI. Within minutes Peter had defrosted to a comfortable warm and was able to take off his jacket and get back to work with freer movements.

"You ever get cold, you can tell Friday," Tony told him later when they were working side-by-side, hands busy with the tools in front of them. "She's happy to help."

"Oh. Okay, thanks." Peter smiled. He knew what people thought of Tony Stark, and he'd read all the news articles with varying opinions on him, but he really felt they were wrong. They didn't know him like Peter did. The man had been nothing but patient and personable with them. Not once had he gotten angry or talked down to them. He was a great boss. An amazing mentor. Peter really looked forward to Fridays because he got to learn more from the man and spend time with him.

Weeks turned to months, and Peter couldn't deny his growing attachment to his mentor. It was like their brains just operated on the same level in a way he'd never thought possible. He knew Tony couldn't show much favoritism, and Peter tried not to seem like he was asking for attention, but he honestly wanted to spend as much time as he could with him. "I'll see you all next week," Tony told them once 5:00 came, and Peter packed up his backpack and was on his way out when the man caught him.

"Hey, good work today," he praised. "I'm impressed, and that doesn't happen very often." Peter went pink like he always did getting a compliment from him. "I want you to know I've got a position for you at Stark Industries. It's yours whenever you want it, I'm assuming after you graduate high school or college. Though, between you and me, you don't need college, kid. I can keep mentoring you, and if you keep up this work, you'll go far. Maybe even further than me." He smiled.

"Oh." Peter was speechless. "I...Thank you, Mr. Stark. That's…that's an honor."

"You're smart, Peter, and you're talented. You earned this all on your own."

Peter left the lab grinning that day, a lightness in his chest like nothing he'd felt before. He was set. If he worked at SI he could take care of May, and he wouldn't even have to spend money on college because he'd already have the job of his dreams. And to work one-on-one with Tony Stark...Peter wanted to cry with relief. Suddenly, his whole future was falling into place. Suddenly he felt so sure that this was what he was meant to do. He'd have to tell May the news tonight...celebrate with ice cream.

He walked out of the main entrance to the tower and onto the frozen sidewalk, shivering under his puffy coat as his shoes slid on the icy cement.

Oh, crap—

With a split second of warning, his feet shot out from under him, and Peter tried to catch himself but the ice was too slick. His head was thrown back against the pavement, making his vision see spots, and he groaned as his head spun and his back lanced with pain.

"Oh my gosh," he heard someone say. Peter recognized Lucy as she hovered over him and pulled out her cell phone. She must've been leaving after the interns did. "Hi—it's Lucy," she said into the phone. "Tell Mr. Stark his intern Peter is injured outside the tower. Yeah, I think he slipped and fell." She hung up after a few more words that Peter didn't catch, and she knelt next to him.

"Peter? Are you okay?"

He couldn't move let alone answer her, so he just laid there, blinking up at the clouds. He felt something sticky on the back of his head, and he hoped there wasn't too much blood there. People dressed in white coats came out with a stretcher, and Peter was hauled on top of it and wheeled back into the building and into a different elevator than the one he normally took. He felt like he was going in and out of consciousness, even as they examined him and flashed a light in his face. He was wheeled into a bright white room that he somehow figured out was the MedBay. Didn't they bring Avengers here? He wished he was more coherent so he could enjoy the close-up tour.

He was laid on a white bed while nurses cleaned up his head wound, bandaging it and asking him questions once he started to feel less woozy. "What's your name?"

"Peter Parker." His eyes felt a little weak against the bright lights.

"Do you know why you're here?"

"I got hurt."

The nurse smiled. "I mean why you were at the tower today."

"I'm an intern. I, uh, slipped on ice and hit my head outside." She nodded and typed notes onto the tablet in her hand.

The doctors determined he had a mild concussion and let him rest, but not before drawing his blood to check for signs of a traumatic brain injury. When they were done, Peter texted May a message he knew he'd get flack for later—'I'm in the MedBay at the tower but I'm okay'—and then promptly fell asleep, head heavy and body bruised and sore.