Chapter Text
“Did you just say personal intern?”
Mr Harrington’s expression couldn’t be described as anything other than shocked. His mouth was partly open, his gaze unable to decide where to settle. Peter was almost glad that Tony had shown up, not for embarrassing him in front of all his classmates, but just to prove to Mr Harrington that he wasn’t a liar.
“Pretty sure I did,” Tony continued, his arm remaining around Peter’s shoulder as he guided him closer to the supervising teacher. “Now, you must be Mr Harrington? I’m Tony Stark, if you didn’t notice.” He removed his arm from around Peter to extend his hand towards Mr Harrington. “Welcome to Stark Industries.”
Mr Harrington didn’t take his hand. “And how long has this internship been going on, exactly?”
Tony dropped his hand awkwardly, giving Peter a look before answering. “A year.”
“Eight months,” Peter corrected quietly.
Mr Harrington’s shock morphed into what could only be considered alarm, and Peter, for a very horrible second, wondered whether his teacher was going to apologise to him in front of the entire class. That would only be humiliating for the both of them. Instead, Mr Harrington said, “Have you been filling in the paperwork, Mr Stark?”
Tony’s grin fell. “Paperwork?”
“For the internship,” Mr Harrington answered easily, raising his eyebrow. “Every student on an internship needs paperwork and monthly evaluations.” He paused, now looking directly at Tony. “Otherwise it gets really serious. We would need to get the principal involved.”
Tony huffed a laugh. “Yeah, well, I’m not really a paperwork guy,” he joked, his smile growing as if that could cover the seriousness of the conversation. “You should talk to my wife, Pepper, I believe you know her as Pepper Potts? She loves paperwork, seriously, she can’t seem to put it down.”
“Mr Stark,” Mr Harrington said, and Peter tensed at the seriousness in his tone. Many adults called Tony ‘Mr Stark’, but it was often a sign of respect, not as a challenge. “Do you realise the importance of paperwork? This is serious for Peter’s safety. Not to mention the school could’ve helped support him with his internship.”
For perhaps the first time since Peter met him, Tony fell silent.
His sheepish grin fully fell away, and Tony was left looking no like the cool, confident billionaire he often radiated to the public, but more like a student being scolded by their favourite teacher. Peter could hear murmurs from his classmates and interns alike, and desperately wanted to bury himself in the hole, preferably with Tony so the genius couldn’t continue to embarrass him further.
“I’ll be emailing your assistant once the field trip has ended to organise a meeting with Principal Morita and yourself to discuss Peter’s internship further,” Mr Harrington continued as though he wasn’t confronting the world’s most famous superhero. “Peter, I hope you can be there too. Please make sure you’re there, Mr Stark, otherwise this will have to go further.”
Tony nodded once. “Alright, fine.” The stupid grin returned to his face as he scanned the room, his eyes landing on the table that Ned and M.J had taken. “Oh hey, Ted and Michelle, right? You guys wanna see the actual fun parts of Stark Industries? Get away from this snooze fest?” He resecured his arm around Peter’s shoulder, already guiding the teenager towards the elevator. “C’mon kid. I know you’re just eager to leave.”
“Mr Stark,” Mr Harrington’s voice interrupted their escape attempt.
Tony sighed deeply through his lips as he looked over his shoulder at the teacher. “Yeah, teach?”
“I understand that this is your company, but I can’t really allow you to leave with three of my students,” Mr Harrington said, giving Ned and M.J a stern look to ‘stay exactly where you are’. “Unless this is an activity that involves the entire Decathlon team?”
Several of their classmates perked up, and Flash looked almost eager for the first time since Peter had known him. They still remained in a world where hanging out with the Tony Stark was some distant fantasy, a world that Peter had only left approximately four months ago, when he had learned that Tony Stark in fact did not know everything.
Tony, however, didn’t seem to notice the anticipation that had been built within the lab. “Y’know, I might accept that offer another time,” he said, finally removing his arm from around Peter, stepping back towards the elevator. “Alright, see you later, Pete.”
He flashed his sunglasses again, stepping into the elevator gracefully as he waved towards some stunned interns and classmates, an easy grin appearing on his face once again like he hadn’t been humiliated, and partook in humiliating Peter, in front of the entire lab.
One thing, Peter thought. I asked him to not do one thing.
How hard was it to understand?
The lab remained in silence for several seconds, nobody daring to speak after what they had just witnessed. Peter could feel several gazes landing on his back, his cheeks heating up at just the thought. This was completely terrible, and Tony had essentially abandoned him to deal with it by himself.
Their tour guide finally stepped forward, looking just as shocked as the rest of them. “Alright, I guess we should be moving on with the tour,” she said, motioning for the decathlon team to accompany her to the elevator.
As they followed her into the elevator, Ned leaned into Peter’s shoulder, in a volume that could absolutely not be described as whispering, “That was the coolest thing ever.”
Peter wanted to bury himself in a six feet deep hole.
—
The meeting was scheduled for after school the next day.
May had been called the previous night, during dinner, asking if she would like to attend, and she had explained that she would be working a shift and unfortunately couldn’t make it. That didn’t stop her from laughing at Peter as he explained the predicament he had found himself in, even though she agreed that Tony Stark was a highly irresponsible man.
It was fine she wasn’t coming, the tired receptionist had explained on the other end of the phone. Stark Industries was planning to send two representatives.
Peter’s stomach dropped as he guessed who the second representative could be. He had a horrible feeling that it would be an Avenger, or Happy, or somebody who would be there only to entertain Tony whilst Mr Harrington tried to get the man to understand the importance of paperwork.
Peter was sitting, alone, outside the principal’s office, wishing to be anywhere else. Tony had requested the meeting be held at 4, which was annoying because it was such an awkward time. There was no time to go anywhere after school, but also too much time for the nothingness Peter had to fill it. If the meeting had been immediately after school, Peter would be already done with it. He could be patrolling as Spider-man, or getting the living room ready for the sleepover with Ned.
But instead he was sitting on a cold, hard bench, waiting for the billionaire, who was currently late. It was only by a few minutes, but it was enough for Peter. He wasn’t entirely sure where Tony belonged in his head anymore. Tony was everything Peter had hoped he would be, caring, kind, incredible, funny. But he had also embarrassed Peter in front of the entire Decathlon team yesterday, and didn’t seem at all apologetic.
Peter rubbed his hands together, leaning forward to stare at his feet. A year ago, the idea of Tony appearing at Midtown High School for a meeting that involved Peter was a fantasy, one that Peter had imagined more times than he liked to admit. And maybe the idea of Tony revealing himself to be Peter’s mentor in front of a lab full of people was also a wishful idea that would’ve been cool a year ago. But in Peter’s fantasy, Tony was also a competent adult who understood paperwork, and would’ve at least spoken to Peter about it afterwards.
Peter hadn’t seen Tony since yesterday. Thursday wasn’t a lab day, but still.
Peter glanced up as footsteps echoed down the empty corridor, Mr Harrington walking towards him. He also hadn’t seen his teacher since the previous day, but that wasn’t because Mr Harrington didn’t bother to find him. Peter had been avoiding him.
“Peter,” the Decathlon teacher said as he approached, a sad smile passing on his lips. He stopped just short of the bench, gesturing to the bench. “Can I sit?” Peter nodded, because he couldn’t exactly ask his AP Physics teacher to leave. Peter didn’t even entirely hate Mr Harrington, he technically hadn’t done anything wrong. It didn’t stop the sour taste in his mouth, though.
“I wanted to talk to you about the internship,” Mr Harrington said.
Peter bristled. “I wasn’t lying.”
Mr Harrington nodded. “I know,” he said simply, his gaze focused on the wall opposite them. “I wanted to apologise. I should’ve.. I should’ve listened to you from the start, Peter.” He turned, looking directly at Peter, holding his gaze. Peter gulped. He wasn’t used to adults actually talking to him like he wasn’t stupid.
“Just, when you started going on about the internship last year, and then there wasn’t any paperwork or any notice from Stark Industries about them taking in a student from our school. It didn’t look the most believable,” Mr Harrington continued. “I was concerned, for you. You’re a kid who’s gone through so much, but still you keep going.” Peter turned his gaze downwards. “I really admire you for that.”
There was a moment of silence, as Peter considered what had just been said. “Thanks, Mr Harrington.”
“I should’ve never brought up your Uncle Ben.” Peter froze. The death of Uncle Ben had been following him ever since the fateful day, it was always tied to his poor attendance and lack of enthusiasm in the classroom. It had always been a byproduct that was just to be expected. “It was stupid of me, I know. I should’ve never come to that conclusion, and I’m really sorry.”
He chuckled. “You’re perhaps one of the strongest kids I’ve ever known, Peter.,” he said. “Smartest too. I never doubted you could get the internship. You’re exactly the type of kid a company like Stark looks for.” Peter shook his head silently. Mr Harrington didn’t know half of it. But still, Peter couldn’t stop the warm glow enveloping him as he listened to his teacher. “God, Stark’s personal intern. You really made your way up the company, didn’t you?”
“I suppose,” Peter hummed. He wasn’t even sure if he counted himself as part of the company. Tony certainly didn’t.
“So, Peter, how did you get your internship?” Mr Harrington asked, sitting up straighter. There was no way he didn’t notice the way Peter froze, his mind suddenly blank as he searched for a reason. ‘Spider-man’ wasn’t exactly a viable answer, but he didn’t particularly like burying himself further in his lie.
He could continue Ned’s lie, that he just had a really impressive application, or create a new one, one that would be more easily accepted by Mr Harrington. Maybe he could claim to be a nepobaby, build on the rumours already circulating school that Peter was the long lost love-child of Tony Stark that was being hidden from the media. He didn’t know if that sounded too outlandish, though.
They were interrupted by the doors slamming open, and there stood Tony Stark, still wearing his sunglasses.
And stood beside him, was Pepper Potts.
Peter had met Pepper a handful of times, whenever she came into the lab to talk to Tony and remind him to sleep or eat or to drag him to an important meeting that Tony had been planning to skip. Or occasionally when Peter was hanging around the penthouse, finishing homework or watching a movie on their colossal television screen, she would be standing around.
Pepper was nice, Peter had decided almost eight months ago. She was organised and considerate in ways that Tony was not. Peter had a memory he often kept close to his heart, from a few months into the weird mentorship, when he, Tony and Pepper had all had dinner together, and they had almost felt like a family.
Peter hadn’t had a complete family since Uncle Ben died.
Pepper smiled when she saw Peter. “Hello Peter,” she greeted, her eyes crinkling with happiness before turning to Mr Harrington, and extending her hand. “You must be Peter’s teacher, Mr Harrington? Nice to meet you, I’m Pepper Potts.”
Mr Harrington stood and took the hand, shaking it firmly. “It’s nice to meet you Pepper Potts, your work with Stark Industries is highly impressive. I didn’t realise this meeting would be attended by you?”
“Technically Peter is Tony’s responsibility,” Pepper responded easily, nudging Tony with her shoulder. “But with his recent track record, I decided it would be better if I also attended.”
“My recent track record isn’t that bad,” Tony instantly argued, his arms crossed loosely against his chest. “Paperwork is like, minuscule. I like to think of myself as a very successful mentor. Right Pete?”
“I think you need to get out of the lab occasionally,” Pepper instantly bit back. Tony groaned dramatically, and for a horrible second Peter thought he was going to drastically continue the argument and embarrass him further, when the door to the principal’s office swung open.
“Principal Morita is ready to see you now.”
The energy immediately diminished, Pepper shooting Tony a hard glare before guiding him into the office, Mr Harrington offering a sympathetic look that Peter now much appreciated, before following them in.
Peter had only been to Principal Morita’s office a handful of times, he tried to keep himself out of trouble where possible, but it hadn’t changed much since his last visit. The nice couch had been dragged towards Morita’s desk, with pillows that Peter didn’t recognise, and was where Morita was currently suggesting for Tony and Pepper to sit.
Peter went to stand behind the couch, when Tony pat the
space between himself and Pepper. “C’mon kid,” he called, without even looking in Peter’s direction. “You’re not really planning to stand the entire time, are you?”
Peter didn’t respond because, yes, he had been planning to stand the entire time, but he shuffled to sit between the two most powerful people in the room, so now he was facing Principal Morita directly.
“Thank you, Mr Stark, Miss Potts, for taking time out of your day to attend this meeting,” Principal Morita greeted, a pleasant smile on his face that was rarely there when he was addressing his students. “And thank you, Mr Parker. I’ve been hearing about your internship for several months now, it’s nice to find out it’s real. Not many high schools can say one of their students got an internship at Stark Industries.”
Peter’s cheeks burned. Even Principal Morita had heard about his internship? He slumped into his seat, as though he could hide himself between Tony and Pepper’s presences.
“But we need to discuss paperwork,” Morita continued, passing pieces of paper both to Tony and Pepper. “Or rather, the lack thereof.”
“I would like to apologise on the behalf of Stark Industries,” Pepper said. “Usually we are very good at ensuring all the correct paperwork has been completed for all our interns. Peter, however, is a unique case, that I placed in the care of my fiancée.”
“How was I supposed to know that I had to do this?” Tony interrupted, looking over Peter’s head and directly at Pepper.
“Seriously?” Pepper asked. “You want to ask that here?”
“What?” Tony bit and Peter suddenly regretted placing himself between the happily engaged couple. “Am I not allowed to ask-”
“No! Because I’m trying to run this entire company and I gave you the very simple, very easy task of managing just one intern and somehow you’re not even doing that, Tony.”
Tony leaned further over his intern. “Peter is a, what’s the word, complicated intern.” Pepper narrowed her eyes at that remark, and Peter ducked his head further. Why were they bringing Spider-man up here?
“I understand there’s some issues that need to be addressed internally,” Mr Morita interrupted, and Peter had never been so grateful to his principal. “However, we have decided not to go further with Stark Industries considering this matter. We just need the paperwork completed by next week, and monthly evaluations from this month moving forward.”
Peter glanced at the paperwork in Tony’s lap, and felt a certain amount of sympathy for the billionaire. There were sheets upon sheets, asking various questions, certain boxes to tick, and several dotted lines waiting for signatures. Peter knew Tony didn’t like doing paperwork on a good day, and being essentially bullied into it by a high school principal wasn’t going to help.
“That’s perfect, Principal Morita,” Pepper said, her posture straightening as she finally took her focus off of Tony. “I’ll have Tony send you the paperwork by tomorrow morning.”
Tony spluttered. “Tomorrow morning?”
“We will discuss this in the car,” Pepper warned, and the subject was already dropped.
“Thank you so much for having the Decathlon Team for the field trip,” Mr Harrington added. He was sitting further away from the couch, on the old, wooden chair that was often used by students. “They all have very much benefitted from the trip.”
“That’s why we run the field trips,” Pepper said, smiling fondly as she gazed at Peter.
He smiled back.
Tony raised his hand. “I would just like to say I wasn’t even informed that we were doing field trips until Peter brought it up.”
“Car.” Was Pepper’s only response.
The meeting continued for a few more minutes, mostly Mr Harrington and Principal Morita buttering up Tony and Pepper with thank yous and compliments, Pepper apologising profusely about the whole situation like Peter’s internship even matters that much in the grand scheme of things. Mr Harrington had a smile as wide as New York when Pepper agreed to allowing his entire AP Physics class to take a field trip to Stark Industries, and it grew even wider when Tony added that Peter could even be their tour guide. Peter had practically placed his head in his lap at that suggestion.
Fortunately, it concluded shortly after, and Tony once again slung his arm over Peter’s shoulders as they exited the school to the car park, where Peter could spot Happy waiting in their car in the distance.
“Alright, don’t get into any more trouble kid,” Tony said, the door swinging shut behind them as they stepped into the sun. Peter hated winter months, simply for how early the sun set, it was bad for patrolling. But he supposed he didn’t mind it now, not when he was strolling through the car park with Tony Stark and Pepper Potts, the golden sun resting on their faces.
Peter hummed, frowning as he absorbed what Tony said. “Mr Stark,” he snapped. “I didn’t get in trouble. You forgot the paperwork.” He jabbed his index finger at the billionaire’s face.
Tony gasped and pulled Peter into a sort of headlock, so Peter could smell the grease and oil that hid beneath the suit. He could smell the normal Tony.
“How dare you kid,” Tony pushed Peter away just as he got comfortable, turning towards Pepper. “I can’t believe this kid. Can you believe this kid?”
Pepper laughed. “He’s right,” she said, and Tony gasped once more.
“Pepper, you’re supposed to be on my side.”
“I don’t have to be on anybody’s side,” Pepper retorted, crossing her arms as the mood became tense once more. At least Peter wasn’t between them this time. “I haven’t been on your side since I learnt you weren’t doing Peter’s paperwork! How do you not do your own personal intern’s paperwork, Tony. I left you one job! One job!”
Tony gaped. “In front of the kid?”
“Yes in front of the kid!” Pepper had begun to turn slightly red, and Peter slowed his pace considerably. “I run the entirety of Stark Industries, everyday I wake up early, I attend over a dozen meetings, I sign off on everything, I make sure that all the regular interns all have the proper paperwork. I thought maybe, just maybe, you could handle Peter.”
“I have been handling Peter!” Tony cut back. They were talking as though Peter wasn’t even there, and Peter wondered if he should just leave. They probably wouldn’t notice. “We’ve got our lab days, and I make sure the kid eats and I always keep up with all the Spider-man stuff.”
Peter froze, glancing around for anybody that must’ve overheard. Tony wasn’t exactly being the most quiet person at the moment.
“You need to stop treating this like a game, Tony,” Pepper said, lowering her voice considerably so she just looked tired. “May entrusted you with Peter when the internship started. That includes trusting you to complete the paperwork. Now, I want you to do it as soon as we get to the penthouse. I promised Principal Morita to have it by tomorrow, and I intend to keep that promise.” Pepper gave Tony a hard cold stare before quickening her step towards the car, where Happy was already clambering out to greet her.
Tony sighed, turning towards Peter. “Incredible. I’m going to marry her, y’know?” he muttered, with a dumb grin that Peter didn’t get to see often.
Peter hummed, lazily kicking the pebbles beneath their feet as he walked. He didn’t want to speak. He just wanted to go home now, it’d been a long week.
But Mr Stark didn’t seem to realise that. “Y’know, kid, I could really go for a sweet treat right now,” he continued, as they finally approached the car, where Pepper was already sitting inside and Happy was watching them tiredly with about as much love as a roach. “How does ice cream sound?”
“Tony.”
“What, Pepper!” Tony whined. “Can I not even take the kid out for ice cream?”
“No, you have paperwork. We’re going straight home.”
Happy turned to Tony, lowering his voice considerably. “You should probably just listen to her.”
“Happy! You’re on her side too?” Tony shook his head, his sunglasses falling back onto his nose after he had removed them for the meeting, beginning to slip into the car next to Pepper. “Sorry kid, can’t hang out after all.”
“That’s fine, Mr Stark,” Peter said. “I was just going to go home, anyway. Ned’s coming for a sleepover.”
Tony nodded. “Ted. Good kid, he’s a good kid.” He clearly wasn’t paying attention anymore, leaning down to adjust his seat belt. Pepper leaned forward to look directly at Peter above Tony’s head.
“Have a really nice time, sweetie,” she said, her smile bright and warm. She would be the type of mother to always ask about your school day during dinner, Peter decided, something warm settling in his heart. “And I want to apologise, again. I had no idea Tony wasn’t doing his paperwork.”
“It’s fine, Miss Potts,” Peter responded. “I didn’t really know either.”
Pepper shook her head. “So polite. At least you’re not like Tony.”
“Counterpoint, I am very polite,” Tony exclaimed, finally raising his head to look at Pepper. “You’re lucky to have me.”
“I suppose.” Pepper gently pecked Tony on the lips, before drawing back to focus entirely on Peter again. “Text Tony when you get back, okay sweetie? You’re going to be okay?”
Peter nodded, but not before Happy could interrupt, turning back from the driving seat. “Can we speed this up, we really need to get going? Pepper, you have a meeting in half an hour.”
Tony rested his elbow out of the car window, looking up at Peter. “Don’t die, alright? I don’t want to have to come looking for you before Tuesday, understood?”
Peter nodded sincerely. “I’ll try,” he said, gaining a laugh from Pepper as the car began to slowly pull away.
Pepper waved. “Bye Peter!”
“See you later, kid.”
Peter waved back, ignoring the slight relief that dripped out as he saw the car leave the car park. Tony at his school should’ve been a very cool experience, but instead he had been running on stress since Tuesday. He felt like he could finally breathe.
He pulled his backpack straps closer to his chest, as the car disappeared out of sight, rolling on his toes. He had survived Thursday, at least. Somewhat.