Chapter Text
Peter is completely in the zone, head bowed, body contorted like a circus act, his hand aching from the constant back and forth. But he’s so close to being done, and this piece is so good, and if he can just-
He yelps as a piercing ring cuts through his haze. He groans, knowing the only person who can get through his do-not-disturb settings is the last person he wants to talk to right now. Forcing his body to straighten out, he reaches for the phone he cast aside hours earlier.
“What do you want, Nat?”
“Well, well, excuse me for having the job of a lifetime,”
“I was in the zone,” he complains.
“Shit. Sorry. But it really can’t wait. I’ve got a serious project for you,”
He perks up, slightly interested. “I’m listening,”
“An author wants to put out illustrated versions of their series. Five books, at least ten illustrations per book,”
“Holy shit!” he yelps.
“You’ve worked on the books before,”
He gets a sinking feeling in his gut. “No. Oh no, come on Nat, no-“
“It’s Tony,”
He groans and thunks his head back against the couch. Tony Stark was simultaneously his best and worst client. The man was a genius, literally, and that’s what made his sci-fi fantasy novels so incredible. He could actually invent his own brand of science and physics that made sense. Peter never understood why he was an author and not some sort of engineer.
He had worked with him before—several times. Peter did the maps and graphic assists for his novels, though never the cover, which he was only slightly bitter about. He was picky, unbelievably so, but Peter could work with picky.
No, the problem was Peter. Peter, who was the biggest fanboy of all fanboys, could barely keep a cool head around Tony. He constantly felt flustered and was sure he embarrassed himself every time he opened his mouth. He just loved Tony’s writing, and the fact that the author himself was the most gorgeous man on the planet didn’t help at all.
“Nat! You know how I am around him. Why is he asking for me specifically?”
“Because he likes your work, you weirdo. Loves it even and knows your aesthetic will match the world and the art already done. You’ll get a bonus, and it’s guaranteed commission for at least the year we expect it to take,”
“That’s fifty illustrations, Nat,” he groans. “Minimum!”
“And covers. Your name will be on the cover as well. Peter, this will change your life. I know you hate the guy-“
That startles him. “What the hell are you talking about? I don’t hate Tony. I just get all awkward around him,”
There’s a weird silence from Nat. “Huh. Look, you're taking the job. As your manager and also your friend, you’d be stupid not to,”
He sighs in defeat. “Yeah, I know,”
“Also, he wants to have in-person meetings,”
“NO!”
“One a month… at least,”
“Fine. Fine! Fine. Take it. Negotiate it. Do your thing. I trust you,”
“I’ll shoot over the numbers after I talk to his people. Seriously, Peter, this is good. This is life-changing. It’s gonna be worth it,”
He rolls his eyes and hangs up. It’s rude, but Nat is one of the few people he can be rude to. Or rather, he’s on the very short list of people who are allowed to be rude to her. The woman is a shark and his business manager for a reason.
He casts a forlorn look at the piece he was working on… and then cringes. It’s like the universe is out to get him. He loved the Iron Man books. So much so that he often did fan art in his own time. He never shared them, they were just a personal project to help him stay in touch with his creativity. Illustrating the books wouldn’t be hard for him at all, assuming he pictured things the way Tony did.
Life changing. He reminds himself. Having his name displayed as the illustrator on the cover next to Tony’s would be the career boost of all career boosts. Nat was right. It would be worth it.
He hoped.
★★★★★
He stares up at the fancy apartment building before him, bouncing on his feet nervously. Despite having worked with him for several years and living in the same city, Peter hadn’t met Tony in person more than a handful of times. Not that he was complaining since it meant fewer chances for him to embarrass himself. They usually communicated via email or video call and never met somewhere so personal. Tony had invited him to his penthouse.
Life changing. He reminds himself. Life changing.
He takes another deep breath of bravery before entering the lobby. It only takes a few minutes to get his visitor pass from the receptionist as instructed. And then he’s in the elevator, vibrating with nervous energy as he ascends. When they open, he’s not the least bit surprised with who he sees.
“Hey Pepper,” he says with great relief, glad he won’t have to deal with Tony alone at first.
“Peter!” she says warmly. She wraps her arms around him tightly. “How are you, honey? Gosh, I miss you,”
Pepper Potts was the reason he had started working for Tony in the first place. As a good friend of his Aunt May and Tony’s personal assistant/agent/general person who keeps his life together, she had recommended him when the need for a map artist came up with the first Iron Man book. He had been in his final year of art school and couldn’t believe his luck.
“I’m alright,” he says shakily. “Nervous,”
“Nervous? Don’t be nervous! This is going to be amazing. Tony’s so excited,”
He smiles weakly. Pepper was under the impression that he and Tony were great friends, and he hadn’t been inclined to correct her. They were nice to each other, sure, but Peter went to painful efforts to keep their relationship professional. Mostly to hide his giant crush.
“Come in! Sit down,” she says, wrapping her arm around him and leading him over to the large dining table. “Figured you’d like to spread out. Do you want a drink? I’ve got Dr. Pepper. Tony will be out in a minute,”
“Yeah, I’ll take one thanks,” he says. He sits down at the table and starts to unpack. His iPad, his sketchbook and pencils, and his actual notebook for notes. This was the big meeting where he’d have to process the information overload he knew Tony would give him.
“Here you are, honey,” Pepper says, placing a fancy glass next to him. “Need anything else?”
“No, I’m alright,”
“Well, if it isn’t Peter Peter pumpkin eater!”
He snorts at the nickname. Tony was always giving him nicknames. Still, he rises from his chair and turns around to be polite. “Hi, Mr. Stark,”
The older man sighs and shakes his head. He’s dressed much more casually than Peter’s ever seen him, which isn’t much considering he’s still wearing a dress shirt and slacks. “I’ve told you, Pete, time and again. Call me Tony,”
He cringes internally. “Right, sorry, Tony. Habit,”
It was a habit. A holdover from working on the first book together, where he was wide-eyed and in awe. Not that had changed much, but he could at least pretend he wasn’t the hopeless fanatic he was.
“Right. I’ll leave you to it. Call me if he misbehaves,” Pepper winks.
Peter swallows nervously. “Yep. Sure will,”
“Hey, I am perfectly well-behaved,” Tony scowls. Pepper laughs as she walks away, and Peter bites back a smile. Tony was anything but.
“So, what made you decide to do this?” Peter asks as he sits back down.
Tony sits in the end chair diagonally from him. “Honestly? Tumblr. I have a stealth account, and the fan art is just incredible, but no one seems to capture things quite how I envision,”
“You have a Tumblr?” he says, eyes widening and cheeks burning. Peter was very active on the Iron Man fandom scene.
“I know,” he snorts. “Trust me, I’ve seen things. But a lot of people seem to complain about the lack of official art, so I thought, why not give them what they want?”
He doesn’t really know how to answer that. Probably because he was one of the people who participated in such complaints, he was completely anonymous, though, so he didn’t think Tony would know. And it’s not like he talked himself up. He genuinely thought the books could use more official art, but he had never dreamed of it being him.
“Right,” he coughs, reaching for his notebook. “Well, I’d like to start by breaking down the moments you want illustrated in each book. That will help me get a list of characters and places to design so I can keep each illustration consistent,”
“You’re the expert,” Tony chuckles. “Whatever you say,”
The innate trust is dizzying. He’s used to Tony being the expert, rattling off facts about distances and landscapes and relevant information. Being told he’s the expert is a flipped script he’s not used to. Peter knows the books intimately enough (more than he’s willing to admit to Tony) that he can easily create shorthand terms for all the scenes he wants. He makes lists on the side as they go through, marking down characters and places and running themes he’ll need to design.
“Right, this is a good starting point,” he finally says, already feeling worn out. “From here, I’ll work on some character sheets since you said that’s the most important thing to you. If I get them right from the get-go, it’ll make everything easier,”
Tony seems to deflate. “No art today, then? I guess that makes sense,”
Peter reels back slightly in surprise. “I mean, I could sketch-“
“No, it’s alright. I don’t want to rush you,”
In a moment of weakness, and really that’s what it must be because their time is up and he should just go home, he reaches for his iPad. “Okay, look. This is… this is totally embarrassing, but I might already have some done,”
“Really?” he asks, peeking up.
He nods, hoping his cheeks aren’t as pink as they feel. He opens his Iron Man folder and taps on one of his favorite pieces. It had taken him hours to get right, every little detail of the mech suit done with painstaking precision. Tony described things in great detail, if not scattered throughout the word building, and Peter scoured every page of the book to find the trace of every nut and bolt. He shakily hands the tablet over, his foot bouncing with anxiety.
Tony takes it from him, and Peter watches in equal parts horror and anticipation as his expression moves from curious to accepting to knowing. He looks up at him with smug glee. “You’re a fan artist,”
He panics, thinking that maybe he’s fucked up. “I don’t post anything. But, um, yeah… yeah, in my downtime, I like drawing things from the books. They inspire me,”
“But you hate my books,”
His jaw drops. “What are you talking about? I love your books,”
Tony looks utterly baffled. “You- you-“ He looks back down at the screen, and his face softens. “You do?”
Suddenly feeling vulnerable, he reaches for the tablet again, but Tony yanks it out of reach, suddenly tapping away, and Peter knows he’s looking at everything. “Tony, come on, they’re dumb just-“
“They’re perfect,”
“What?” he gasps.
“I mean, they’re not quite the scenes I had in mind, but your designs are spot on, Pete. Especially the suit. I mean, these are… it’s like you pulled them out of my brain,”
He starts to panic because some of his designs are… personal. “Can I have it back now?”
“Hold on, just let me- seriously, Pete-“
If he’s going in order, he’s going to see- “Tony, please,”
“One more. I want to see how you draw- there it is!”
He squints his eyes shut, internally panicking. It’s the character sheet. He knows it’s the character sheet, and he knows what it looks like and he knows how he's drawn the two of the characters. How he sort of accidentally drew one of the characters to look like himself because he adores him so much. Tony’s going to laugh at him.
“Oh,” Tony says quietly.
“What?” He hardly dares to ask.
He flips the screen around, and Peter wants to shrivel in embarrassment. It’s not the character sheet. It’s so much worse than the character sheet. It’s the piece he’d been working on when Nat called. It was the kissing scene in the third book between Iron Man and the love interest. Between the Iron Man character, who looked very much like Tony (the self-insert was obvious in his descriptions), and the love interest whom Peter had made look very much like himself.
It had nothing to do with Tony directly. It was his own fault for projecting his own image onto a character in such a position. But it was still deeply humiliating, especially since Peter could tell that Tony knew what he was looking at.
“Right, um, that’s not what it looks like-“ he panics, snatching the tablet away.
“Wait, Peter-“
He’s already gathering his things, doing his best not to ruin his sketchbook as he shoves it into his bag. “No, seriously, I just- god, Tony, I’m so sorry. I totally get it if you want to find somebody else,”
“Somebody else?! Peter just-“
“I’m leaving. I’m going,” he says, fighting the tears pooling in his eyes. He can’t even hear what Tony’s saying as he leaves, ducking into the elevator and slamming the ‘close door’ button. He sinks against the wall and chokes back a sob.
Life changing? More like life-ruining.
God, he’d fucked up.