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“But Pepper,” Tony whined after her retreating form.
“No,” Pepper said firmly. “Tony, we went over this several times already.”
“But I don’t wanna!”
“Look,” she held up her hand, “we had people looking through the applications. They weeded out all of the unsuitable candidates. There are twenty applications left. You need to make the final call.” Pepper pointed to the Starkpad and a stack of papers on Tony’s table. “So, look through them and pick one intern and sign one of those papers.”
“Why? Why are we even doing this? Besides, I don’t like kids. They’re messy and annoying and I don’t want them near my lab. I don’t want to play a babysitter. And I bet that most of those brats just have rich parents that can afford to pay someone to make the project instead of their little angels. Ugh.”
Pepper sighed. “They’re teenagers, Tony, not toddlers. And most of them are almost adults anyway.” She looked Tony in the eyes. He was tired of the conversation. “It’s a good publicity stunt. It’s only for two weeks, you can do that.”
“Don’t we already have enough of good publicity?” Tony tried to bargain. He really didn’t want to do this. “I mean, with all of the clean energy, zero waste and you as the most powerful and influential CEO…” He knew he failed when Pepper shot him her famous I-see-through-your-bullshit smile.
“Compliments won’t get you out of this. Now, I’m going to catch the plane for the meeting in Europe while you go sit on your ass right in that chair and look through those applications. You have a week until I get back, plenty of time to make that decision.”
Tony closed the distance. “And if I won’t, Ms. Potts?” he whispered seductively while he placed his arms on Pepper’s shoulders, leaning in for a kiss. He heard Pepper hum, then felt fingers on his lips, stopping him not even an inch from Pepper’s.
“If you won’t,” Pepper copied his tone, “there will be no fun time for you when I get back. And won’t be for a long time after that.” She gave him pointed smile that told she wasn’t kidding. She broke from the man’s hold, pushing him away and holding back a laugh at the way Tony’s pursed lips remained frozen. “You’ve got a week.”
“I won’t even get a goodbye kiss?” he called after her, throwing his arms up in exasperation.
“No.” And the door closed behind her, leaving Tony standing there, all alone.
“Great,” he grumbled to himself like a little child. Tony shot offending look to the stack of papers, still sitting innocently on the table, as if mocking him. “Stupid papers. Stupid publicity stunt.”
He still didn’t understand why they had to do it. Pepper decided it would be good idea to show that Stark Industries cared about young bright minds, so she came up with this. As if funding some of those programs wasn’t enough. Any high school student could apply to the two-week long internship, interning right under him. It would definitely look good on college applications.
Still.
He was Tony Stark. Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. He was all of those things. But there was one more thing no one knew about him. No one knew his alter ego.
He was Iron Man. The supervillain terrorizing New York. Well, he wouldn’t exactly say terrorizing, more like a… uhm. Simply put, he had reasons. Didn’t take from the supervillain part, though.
Which reminded him… Tony shot another look at his desk. He had the whole week to look through the papers, right? That was plenty of time. And Pepper would have no idea when he made the decision. In case she asked, Tony could simply have Jarvis lie to her, tell her that he eliminated, like, five of those already or something.
“Welp,” Tony clapped his hands, rubbing them eagerly, “time to wreak some havoc in the city.”
Cheerfully abandoning his responsibilities, he made his way to his workshop. The one only he had access to. It was connected to a private medical room in case he needed to patch himself up after run-in with those annoying Avengers. But that wasn’t the only thing to it.
Tony had a precaution in case someone somehow managed to get in here. After all, you can’t have an incriminating suit of armor – and small army of remotely controlled suits – standing on display in plain sight. That’s where his love for secret doors came into play.
The wall moved, allowing Tony to enter his secret laboratory. He walked on a platform and spread his arms.
“All right, let’s get this party started!”
The armor behind him opened, allowing the man to step in. The armor encased him and Tony was immediately greeted by various sensors coming to life, showing him the readings. The thrusters lifted him in the air, the cloaking mechanism automatically turning on as he flew out of the tower through the secret exit.
“So,” Tony said to his AI, “what target did we choose for today?”
“Sir,” Jarvis replied, displaying several targets to pick from, “these targets have been selected, but I believe there won’t be enough time to destroy them all. I advise you to pick two targets, as Avengers are currently located in the city and their response time will be faster.”
Tony let out harsh sigh. Yeah, of course they were in the city. Oh well, he’ll simply have to make do with two targets. He’ll make up for it once the group of “heroes” gets called to some Shield mission. Though… he could call other suits. Tony shot that idea down. He preferred to do things himself. The army of suits mostly served as distraction for the Avengers while he did his own thing, or as spare parts if his own suit got damaged.
Seriously, the corruption within the organization was unbearable to look at, and Tony was the bad guy! How come Fury didn’t see it was beyond him. Well, he had only one eye. Or maybe he chose not to see it. But, come on! Even if the director was unaware, there was no way the Avengers didn’t see it!
“Uh-huh, okay. Hmm.” Tony looked through his options. “Let’s do this Oscorp building and surrounding area and… this one SI building. Looks like there’s little traffic, not many people around.”
Now, he couldn’t have people getting suspicious that his buildings remained intact, especially when other people’s property was being destroyed. But it was profitable to him – after the damage on the surrounding area is done, SI will step up, buy the place and repair the damage. Others had tried to get their hands on the property too, but they lacked one thing. Money. And even if they managed, Tony would wait a little, then make another run on the place. And then succeed in buying it.
Besides, a little insurance fraud never killed anyone.
But he did kill. From time to time, there was a person that simply had to disappear from earth’s surface. But he never purposely killed civilians. And just like that, he was slowly taking over New York.
“We’ve reached the Oscorp building,” Jarvis informed. “Scanning the surrounding area for life forms and deploying distraction bombs.”
“Have at it, Jar.”
It was quick process after that. The distraction bombs went off, setting the civilians in motion in search for safety. Not a minute later, he disabled the cloaking device, revealing his villain persona to the world. And then the Oscorp building was blown to pieces. Satisfied, Tony took off in the next target’s location, leaving behind the sound of approaching sirens.
Tony let a bit loose with the SI building. He was planning to renovate this one. Now he’ll simply rebuild it. His repulsors were shattering the glass as running civilians screamed on the street behind him. When he deemed the damage was enough and the explosives were planted, he went for the finishing blow…
…only for a web to latch onto his armor and the next thing Tony knew, he was being flung backwards into another building.
“And here he is,” Tony muttered to himself. While the suit stabilized, he watched Spider-Man webbing up any rubble that could fall off the building.
“Dude!” Spider-Man called out, sticking to the wall. “That’s SI building you’re destroying. I don’t think they appreciate it. I bet there’s some pretty cool and important research in there.”
There wasn’t, but the vigilante didn’t need to know that. “Spider-Man!” Tony said like greeting an old friend, his voice altered by the mask. He couldn’t have people recognize it, could he? “I was wondering when my favorite insect was going to show up.”
Three. Two. One.
“Arachnid,” he said in frustration, “come on, we’ve been through this so many times already. Spiders are arachnids, not insect.”
Of course, Tony knew that, he was reminded often enough. He just loved to get a reaction out of his opponent. “My bad. I’ll try to remember that next time we meet.”
“You’ve said that the last time too!”
Tony chuckled to himself. Ah, this was never going to get old. Should this be anyone else, Tony would have blasted him to kingdom come, and he was heavily considering it the first few times they had an encounter. But… there was just something about the hero that prevented him from doing so.
If Tony wanted, he could find anything about anyone in matter of seconds. But what he didn’t know was Spider-Man’s identity. Following him through city cameras and then figuring out where he lives would be so easy, yet he hasn’t done that.
Tony enjoyed the challenge of figuring out Spider-Man’s identity without using any tech. It was like a game to him, putting the puzzle pieces together like this. From what he gathered, Spidey was obviously male and judging from his voice, he was on the younger side. That was confirmed when Tony planned his attacks during various times of the day. On workdays, the hero never once made an appearance if the attack took place before two in the afternoon.
So, Spider-Man was a student, most likely in his early twenties and in college. Though, for his age he was quite short. From what Tony observed during their fights, the boy was smart. He kept asking about how the repulsors and thrusters worked, so it was safe to assume he was in some technical field. He also never kept his mouth closed for too long.
From YouTube videos Tony learned that the hero operated mostly in Queens and his patrols consisted of getting cats out of the trees, giving people directions and occasionally stopping a robbery or two.
Just a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
Though, underestimating the vigilante would be great mistake. Even if he was basically wearing a glorified onesie, Tony couldn’t help but be impressed when he was the footage of Spider-Man stopping a bus going at full speed. He also experienced the boy’s strength firsthand, when he wasn’t paying attention and got kicked in the chest with enough force to send Tony flying backwards. It was massive pain to open the dented armor when he returned to the tower.
But Spider-Man never used lethal force on anybody. Not even on supervillain. He had a heart, which set him apart from the Avengers.
“Okay,” Tony got into position. “Let’s dance,” he said and the fight was on. The boy easily avoided every shot aimed at him, as if he knew they were coming even if his back was turned. In return, Tony had to avoid sticky webs that were shot at him.
He hoped he could snatch some of it and have a closer look. It was fascinating to say the least. The chemical composition was nothing like he’s seen before. Last time he managed to snatch a bit, the web dissolved before he could properly examine it.
“You know, it’s not cool to destroy things that aren’t yours,” Spider-Man said and Tony had to suppress the biggest eyeroll, because this was his building.
“It’s not? Wow, I’ve lived my entire life in lie.”
“Look Mr. Iron Man, sir, just turn yourself in. Please?”
“Tempting, but no.” Tony’s sensors alerted him of rapidly approaching object. He moved out of the way and a second later, a tricolored shield flew by. The Avengers have arrived. Which was his cue to leave.
“Iron Man!” came angry shout from below. Captain America, surrounded by his team, was shielding his eyes from the dust caused by their fight, yet still managed to look up.
“As much as I would love to stay for a playdate, I’ve already overstayed. So long, suckers!” Tony turned to Spider-Man that was sticking to the SI building. “Today was fun,” he said, no longer yelling, “I’m looking forward to our next meeting. And I would get away from that building if I were you.” He shot into the sky, not looking back.
“What?” was all the boy managed to say before the first explosion went off on the lowest floor, followed by second, third… he didn’t need more prompting.
The building was reduced to rubble. Tony’s job was done.
“Jarvis, show me what’s happening back there,” Tony instructed once the cloaking mechanism activated when a skyscraper that shielded him.
As if he was never there.
A footage from one of undamaged security cameras showed up. His eyes immediately began to search for red and blue clad figure. Almost undetectable breath escaped Tony when he found the Spiderling standing on the roof of the opposite building, looking over the destruction left behind.
He was safe. Good.
Though Tony would never admit it out loud, he actually came to… like the vigilante. Care about him even. He made sure not to injure the boy fatally during the fights. Because that’s what he was – barely a man. Just a boy.
The rest of the way to the tower passed in a blur. Tony kept watching as the vigilante had a short conversation with the Avengers, most likely retelling what had occurred before they arrived. Just as Tony’s armor landed, Spidey shot off, leaving the scene for others to deal with. And that was also Tony’s cue to stop spying on him.
Humming in satisfaction, Tony’s eyes sparkled. “Well, hello there,” he said to the tiny piece of web stuck to the armor. Today was his lucky day. “Better get to work before it dissolves again. Jarvis, update me on our favorite spider if something big comes up.”
The pile of papers in his office remained untouched.
It was Friday, almost evening, when Jarvis alerted him. “Sir, there’s an ongoing fight happening near Queens. Spider-Man is present and fighting.”
“Okay, show me.” A holographic screen appeared in front of him, displaying the fight. Everywhere Tony looked, he saw destruction. Hm, more property for him to buy. But who was doing this?
“What the hell?!” he scoffed when his eyes landed on the culprit. “What is this? Some cheap knock-off?” There was dull, dark armor flying around, followed by about fifteen drones, blowing everything in their vicinity up. And Tony knew exactly who was behind it.
Justin Hammer.
It was quite easy to tell by the poor design. He tried to copy Iron Man.
“Okay, I am insulted. Jarvis, prep the suit. We’ll pay him a visit,” he said, already making his way to ther workshop. But in reality, there was worry rising in his chest.
Because Spider-Man was there alone and no matter how you look at it, fifteen to one is not a fair fight, even if it’s one strong and clever hero against fourteen mindless drones and one Iron Man wannabe.
Just in case, Tony took four of his suits with him.
The place was a mess when he arrived. Concrete debris everywhere you looked and injured civilians desperate to get away. Which was another disadvantage for the Spidey – he had to fight and help people at the same time. Where were the Avengers? The fight’s been going on for quite a while.
“Ah, Iron Man!” Yep, that was definitely Justin Hammer. The idiot didn’t even try to change his voice. No wonder Hammer Industries were going bankrupt. “Welcome, welcome. You’re just in time to see the best part of the show. Though, I have to ask – what brings you here?”
Tony rolled his eyes. As if Hammer didn’t know. “I’ve been alerted that there’s some wannabe flying around, causing chaos. I wanted to see for myself.”
“Ah, in that case, you won’t be disappointed that you came here.” Tony practically heard how overjoyed the man sounded. “I’ve been preparing this for a long time. You’ll be impressed.”
“Mind telling me what I’m gonna be impressed with? Because from what I see, this is just mindless destruction.”
Hammer chuckled. “You know,” the armor he was wearing cocked its head to the side, “I’ve been watching you. We’ve got lot in common, you and me. I can tell.”
Tony made disgusted grimace. Yeah, only in Hammer’s dreams.
“So I thought – hey! I’ll get rid of your problem for you. And then we can form an alliance. We’ll rule the whole New York together! Wouldn’t that be wonderful?” he asked, but Tony could tell that he was just trying to get his hands on Iron Man’s armor design. Hammer must be getting desperate to risk this openly.
Something about the statement bothered Tony. “My problem?”
“Him,” Hammer pointed to the vigilante that dropped off another civilian to safety before spinning around, kicking the drone away. “He shows up every time and stops you before you can unleash your whole destructive power. And every time he gets to get away. But not anymore.”
“What do you mean?”
“Watch,” Hammer said, all giddy, pointing to the drone closest to the hero.
Tony swore his heart stopped when the drone exploded, catching the boy in the blast. And then the young hero was falling and falling, his body limp. By some miracle, he shot a web that latched on an abandoned construction site and crashed inside through the window, his usual gracefulness gone. Two drones began to fly to where he fell.
“And the insect is no more,” Hammer hummed.
Tony felt something inside of him snap. He could feel the grin Hammer wore. “That’s an arachnid to you,” Tony hissed.
“Who cares?” Hammer asked, oblivious to Iron Man’s rage.
“I do.” Without hesitation, Tony blasted Hammer’s armor out of the sky. The two drones were nearing the window. A shout from below caught his attention and of course it’s only now that the Avengers decide to show up. Tony could leave Hammer and his hammeroids for them to deal with.
But… they didn’t know where Spidey is, or that he was most likely injured in possible danger. The drones entered the building and Tony made up his mind.
The first thing Tony saw was blood mixed with glass shards. Red drops and smudged formed a trail and he was pretty sure that it will lead him to the source of pained and labored breathing. Tony ignored how it sometimes turned into choked whimper. Or maybe that was what forced him to move.
The two drones were approaching towards the young hero like predators stalking their prey. They raised their weapons and took aim. Tony was faster. He aimed his own repulsors and fired. The two drones shattering easily. Hammer tech. Pathetic.
Tony watched the sparks sputtering from the remains on the ground before he allowed the armor to land with metallic clang. No sign of the injured vigilante. Luckily for him, the trail was still there. He followed it, his heavy footsteps echoing in the vast, empty space.
Spider-Man managed to drag himself behind a pillar. Tony could hear how he was trying to hold back his groans and whimpers as he began to drag himself backwards with renewed desperation and wow – Tony realized it must be pretty terrifying to see a suit of armor walking towards you. More than once the boy’s feet kicked empty air and he came close to falling flat on his back when he wasn’t fast enough to place his forearms on the ground for support. He began to hyperventilate.
“Hey, hey,” Tony held up his hands in front of him when the boy’s limbs refused to cooperate properly, sluggish moves not getting him anywhere. He tried to go for the gentler tone, but the voice changer didn’t convey that very well. It sounded… flat.
“Stay… stay back,” the hero said between ragged breaths, slurring a little. “Don’t… don’t…” he cut himself off with particularly loud whimper when his head hit the floor.
Tony could hear the fear in his voice. The boy was still weakly trying to get away from the supervillain, to no avail. His injuries must be getting better of him. Tony saw a rip in the mask, blood oozing from the cut underneath. That should be checked.
This was it. He’ll learn the identity of the pain in the ass he came to like.
“No, no, no,” the boy pleaded when Tony’s hand neared his face.
Tony ignored the pleas. He got ahold of the edge of the mask and pulled and pulled- and he froze when the mask was off, revealing a pair of brown eyes staring at him in confusion and fear.
Tony was glad the mask of his suit covered his own face because his own eyes were wide, his mouth hanging open.
A child.
He was fighting a literal child all this time. A child with superpowers. A child that was helping the Avengers from time to time.
The Avengers let a child fight their battles. A sudden wave of rage washed over him. He didn’t realize he let out low growl nor that he clenched his fist around the mask until he heard another whimper, this time caused by fear. The boy’s eyes filled with terror and tears before they rolled in back of his head and closed, his head lolling lifelessly to the side.
“Jarvis?” Tony asked, suppressing the fear that threatened to seep into his voice.
The AI seemed to understand. “The boy is alive, though he sustained numerous superficial injuries, fractures and I also suspect severe concussion caused by the blast. He requires medical attention.”
Medical attention. Okay. He can just… no. By the sound of it, the Avengers were still fighting the drones. Seriously… a child fought more of those at the same time while saving civilians. He couldn’t leave the kid here. But he couldn’t wait until other “heroes” were done playing.
Tony made up his mind. He called over one of the spare suits, instructed it to lie down and open. As carefully as he could, he gathered the limp teen in his arms and went to place him inside the waiting armor.
Jesus, how old was he? Twelve? Thirteen? Didn’t matter right now. Tony needed to get the boy to his medical room. The suit closed, hiding the pale face from sight. At least Jarvis will be able to monitor his vitals.
The cloaking mechanism turned on and the two armors shot into the sky, flying side by side. Absentmindedly, Tony pushed the suit at full speed.
Tony flew past his lab straight into the medical room, all but launching himself out of the armor and made his way to the second armor in quick three strides. The suit opened and a handful of a teenager spilled into Tony’s arms.
“Okay, okay, you’re okay, you’ll be fine,” Tony kept saying mostly to himself as he manhandled the injured Spiderling on the bed. God, that nickname just got real. “Okay. Jarvis, walk me through this. What do I do?”
The thing about his secret hobby was that Tony couldn’t go to normal doctor if he got injured. So, he learned to patch himself up and if the injury was particularly bad, Jarvis was programmed to manage a surgery through the suit. Tony really hoped the kid wouldn’t need a surgery.
Tony followed the directions, hooking the kid to an IV while Jarvis made all necessary scans to rule out internal injuries. The kid was still unresponsive. Tony ignored how his stomach churned when one of the kid’s pupils was shrunk, the other one dilated. But he could swear that the cut on Spidey’s cheek was bigger when he took of the mask.
“No internal injuries detected. He appears to have some form of healing factor. His body is already patching itself up,” Jarvis informed.
“So, he’ll be fine?” Tony asked.
“If he manages to keep up the current rate of healing, he should make a full recovery,” Jarvis confirmed and Tony let out a sigh of relief.
Good. That was good. “So… now we just wait?” Tony asked.
“Yes sir,” Jarvis replied.
So that gives Tony plenty of time to spend here, as he can’t exactly leave the hero alone in here. He’s got an identity to protect! Which reminded him – he should probably put on one of those surgical masks so the vigilante won’t recognize him in case he woke up early. But first…
Tony filled a bowl with cool water and took one clean rag from the cabinet. The least he can do is to wipe the blood from kid’s face. The boy didn’t stir once.
A child. A child was running around the city in a onesie that provided no protection, doing the adults’ job. With weary sigh, Tony ran his hand through the boy’s brown curls. Now, to the next point.
“Jarvis, find everything you can about him. He had to come from somewhere.” It felt wrong to keep referring to him as kid. He had to have a name.
“Right away, sir. I would also like to inform you that Ms. Potts asked about your progress on picking an intern. I would advise you to look through the applications and choose before her return tomorrow.”
“Ugh, fine,” Tony groaned. The responsibilities caught up with him. Huffing, he plopped into one of the seats and brought up the applications on his Starkpad. He skimmed through first three and yep. He was right. Just kids with rich parents. It was obvious that they were trying to impress him by making glorified copies of his inventions. But Tony didn’t want to see same or similar things. He wanted to see something new!
“All available information gathered,” Jarvis spoke and without needing a cue, a hologram appeared in front of Tony, displaying what he assumed was a school photo and general information. “Peter Benjamin Parker, age fifteen. Attends Midtown School of Science and Technology,” Jarvis listed out loud. “Parents – Richard and Mary Parker, deceased. Guardianship was transferred to Benjamin Parker, deceased, and his wife May Parker, with whom he currently lives.”
Tony glanced at the sleeping boy, at Peter, and sighed. Wow. He was just fifteen and he already lost three parental figures. Kids his age should be hanging out with friends, breaking the law and enjoying life. Instead, he’s running around, helping people and fighting crime.
“Do we have an address?” Tony asked, because he’ll have to drop Peter off somewhere before he wakes up and reveals Tony’s secret. With any luck, the kid won’t remember anything past the blast.
Jarvis complied. “If I may, sir, there’s one more match that could be of interest to you.”
Tony shrugged. “Well, show me.”
Another file was pulled up and it took Tony about five seconds to realize what he was looking at. The internship application. Intrigued, Tony stood up and began to read the submitted project. This was…
“Show me his school reports.” After reading through those as well, Tony’s gaze switched between the hero and the project. “Damn, kid, I knew you were smart, but this exceeded my expectations,” he nodded his head in approval.
Yeah, this was new! He liked this. Tony didn’t feel the need to look through the rest of the applications. He’s about to kill two birds with one stone.
“Keep an eye on him, will you, Jar?” Tony said and walked out of his workshop. He opened the door to his office where an untouched stack of papers was still sitting on his table. He skimmed through them, pulled out three stapled together and dumped the rest into the trash can.
“Sir,” came Jarvis’ voice, “it appears Mr. Parker is waking up and is in increasing state of distress.”
“Shit,” Tony muttered and took off back to the workshop. “I leave you alone for ten minutes and that’s when you decide to wake up?”
Tony rushed into the room to see Peter breathing heavily while trying to push himself upwards, face twisted in pain. The kid must be really weak and disoriented if he was trying to get off the bed for several minutes.
Tony walked to the bed, gently placing his hands on Peter’s shoulders, pushing him back down. A pair of unfocused brown eyes was staring at him. Tony realized he wasn’t wearing a mask.
Shit.
“Dad?” Peter asked weakly and Tony’s heart skipped a beat. “Dad, it hurts.” Tears welled in Peter’s eyes. “It hurts,” he repeated, his voice cracking.
Tony felt a pang in his heart. Peter looked so small on the bed, the concussion messing with his head. He thought Tony was his dad. The dad that died when the kid was five. But Tony couldn’t bring himself to tell Peter that.
“Shh,” Tony gently shushed, running his hands through Peter’s hair while quietly instructing Jarvis to up the pain medication dosage going into Peter’s body. “I know. I know. You’ll be okay. I promise.” Tony wiped a stray tear that slid down the kid’s cheek. “Everything will be all right.”
Huh. Where all this gentleness came from?
Peter’s breathing began to even out one more, eyelids slowly falling shut. “It hurts,” he repeated, whispering.
“Close your eyes, kiddo. I promise the pain will go away if you do that.”
Peter looked like he wanted to protest, but the drugs were running their course. And they were winning. “Okay,” Peter whispered, letting his eyes fall shut.
Tony sighed. This kid…
Tomorrow. He’ll bring him home tomorrow so his body will have time to heal. Besides, he was in no condition to be moved right now. So, tomorrow. Tony will keep watch until then.
“Sleep tight.”
Tony put the peacefully sleeping teen down. Some color finally returned to his face. Cuts and bruises were gone. After Jarvis cleared him, Tony flew the boy to his home that according to Jarvis’ scan was currently empty.
Tony looked around the room. He didn’t think they had rooms this small in the tower. Even their supply closets were bigger than this! He stole curious glances at the teen’s table that was cluttered with old electronics in various stages of deconstruction and what looked like some robot built from the missing parts.
He shook his head. As much as he would love to stay here and observe, he knew he couldn’t. God know what would happen if the kid saw Iron Man in his room.
Quickly finding his way to the kitchen, Tony filled a glass with water, read a note from his aunt stuck to the fridge saying that she will be back on Sunday, which was tomorrow. She must have left on Friday before Peter woke up for school.
Tony placed the glass on Peter’s bedside table. He had no idea what came over him, but he tenderly brushed Peter’s hair from his eyes and tucked him in. It was time to leave. Pepper will be home in a few hours.
“See you soon,” he whispered, closed the window behind him and flew into the sunset.
Peter was walking to the principal’s office. He had no idea why he was called there. As far as he knew, he was in no trouble. He turned in all of his assignments on time and he wasn’t late for quite some time either.
He itched to check his emails. It will be announced today who will win the SI internship. Peter didn’t want to apply at first, as he thought he had no chance to win. But after endless prodding by Ned, they both applied.
Peter let his mind wander to this past weekend. He was still a bit sore. The last thing he remembered was fighting some robots, then there was an explosion and then nothing. But he must have somehow swung back home because he woke up in his bed on Sunday morning, still in his costume.
But that didn’t explain the glass of water on his bedside table. May wasn’t home yet when he woke up, so she couldn’t put it there. Did he get it himself before passing out on his bed?
He was pulled out of his musing when a secretary told him to enter the office. Peter knocked and opened the door. “Principal Morita?” he asked when he spotted the man with big smile on his face. There was one more man, his back facing Peter. The man turned around and Peter gaped.
Because that was Tony Stark. Standing in his principal’s office. And he was smiling at Peter.
“Mr. Parker,” Tony took a step towards the starstruck boy. “We usually send these through mail, but I decided to drop this off personally.”
Peter glanced at the papers that were handed to him. His eyes widened in excitement and disbelief.
“My congratulations. You just won the SI internship.”