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Peter was with Tony when he got the email containing his results. They were just sat in the lab in Avengers Tower but Tony could see the kid was still scared to open it. He had his heart set on Cornell to stay closer to his aunt and mysterious brother. He was going for early entry at sixteen he was that clever but still doubted he could do it. Everyone knew he would get in, they would be crazy not to let the genius that was Peter Parker into their school. “Just open it kid!” Tony exclaimed with exasperation as Peter picked up his phone and put it back down again.
“But what if I didn’t do well enough. I don’t want to leave New York, Matty is so busy and Aunt May is really protective,” he ranted, picking up his phone to look at it once again.
“You are a star, just look at it and then you’ll know,” Tony encourage him again and Peter finally opened the email.
“I did it! I’m in!” Peter practically squealed, knocking the stool over as he jumped to his feet. Tony couldn’t help but be proud of the teen he had taken under his wing. Superhero training was one thing but holding up a normal life with normal relationships was harder.
“And now you are studying in the city, you can become a proper Avenger,” Tony beamed but Peter stopped in his tracks.
“Actually,” he murmured and Tony’s smile turned into his frown.
“Actually what Peter?” he asked, stepping closer. The teen had never shown any signs of not wanting to be an actual Avenger before, Tony had just always said he had to be going to college and be an adult, no matter what age he went to college, before he could step up and become a real Avenger not an Avenger-In-Training, or Avengelings as Tony had taken to calling them.
“My brother says I can’t be a full time Avenger until I leave college,” Peter murmured quickly looking away from Tony.
“What?” Tony exclaimed, there were not many people in the world who would dare stand up against Tony Stark and not give him what he wants. And he wanted Peter Parker, Spiderman, to be an Avenger. “Well you tell your mysterious brother that I decide who gets to be an Avenger and if you want to be an Avenger you can be an Avenger,” Tony replied and was taken back when Peter chuckled.
“Matt, well when he gets something into his head there’s no stopping him,” Peter explained, and Tony did not like this.
“Why haven’t I ever met this brother of yours?” Tony continued to moan as Peter packed up his bag to head home.
“He likes to keep to himself, a lone ranger,” Peter chuckled again and Tony could not understand what was so funny.
“I’ll see you tomorrow alright?” Peter waved but Tony was in his head again. Something about Peter’s brother just didn’t feel right.
“Mr Stark,” Friday alerted Tony pulling him out of his mind. “There is a man here to see you. A Mr Matthew Murdock,” she explained and Tony rolled out from under the car he was tinkering with.
“Why is he here?” Tony asked, rubbing the oil off his hands and getting to his feet.
“He says he is here to talk to you about a mutual acquaintance Mr Parker,” Friday relayed and Tony headed towards the higher levels of the tower.
“Send him to the conference room,” he sighed, picking up his StarkPad on the way past. It didn’t take long to find information about Matthew Murdock. When he was a child he was blinded pushing an old man out of the way of an overturned chemical lorry; the eight year old was hailed as a local hero in Hell’s Kitchen. His father was murdered shortly after but left the boy a considerable amount of money from boxing bets; the young Murdock was sent to an orphanage and not much more was heard from him until his firm, Nelson and Murdock, hit the news with the Fisk fiasco. “Mr Murdock,” Tony planted a fake smile on his face as he opened the conference room door. Matthew was stood, hand on the back of a chair and his cane in the other hand. Red glasses rested up on his nose and his head just tilted towards Tony as he entered.
“Mr Stark,” Matthew nodded as Tony put down his StarkPad and settled into a chair.
“Please take a seat. My assistant says you wish to discuss Mr Parker, the winner of the Stark Scholarship,” Tony continued, he couldn’t imagine that Peter would have got into any trouble with the law and not told him.
“I’ll stand, I do have to talk to you about Peter. He has recently told me that you want him to become a full time Avenger when he leaves for college. I am just here to tell you that it is not happening,” Matthew stated, his face remained stoic but posture casual.
“What? Peter is fully qualified to become an Avenger and I don’t need permission to offer him the place. Why have lawyers been dragged into this?” Tony exclaimed, his posture instantly changing from relaxed to leaning forward in his chair.
“Lawyers have not been dragged into this, yet, Mr Stark. I’m Peter’s brother and I will not have my brother sacrificing his future, his chance of a real life to be a worldwide superhero,” Matthew huffed, and Tony’s jaw actually dropped.
“You’re Peter’s brother. But you’re blind!” Tony exclaimed before he could stop himself.
“I’m not a different species Mr Stark, blind people can have families too,” Matt stated and Tony knew if he could he would be rolling his eyes.
“You know I didn’t mean that. I meant that I have researched you and you were an orphan in Hell’s Kitchen,” Tony elaborated.
“I was adopted by the Parkers, should I be honoured you researched me in the few minutes between me announcing my arrival and you getting up here?” Matt asked with a smirked and Tony glared.
“That is not the point of this. Do you really want Peter not to use his abilities? He is talented and has grown as a hero much faster than I could anticipate. He takes to it naturally and even knows things I don’t know who taught him,” Tony tried to reason with the lawyer, who chuckled in the exact same manner Peter had done the night before. It was like they knew something he didn’t; Tony did not like not knowing.
“Peter will still continue to train, he has been going to the gym and has been trained by many friends of his outside the Avengers. But he will not be jetting off around the world at the tip of a hat to deal with crises that are not world threatening. He will get his degree and then we will discuss this again Mr Stark,” Matt was definitely a lawyer, Tony could tell in the way he was reasoning with the Avenger.
“I do not mean to offend you but what do you know about being a superhero?” Tony exclaimed, Matt’s eyebrows arched probably in shock; the lawyer was very hard to read which was a perk in his profession but very irritating for Tony Stark.
“Of course I know nothing about being a superhero but I do know Peter and he will regret not taking the opportunities presented to him in the future. I will not move from this Mr Stark and if I have to I will tell Peter’s Aunt May what has been happening here under the front of a scholarship. I can imagine the Stark attorneys would not be impressed with have charges along the lines of grooming a minor to deal with,” Matt replied with a confident ease, stunning Tony yet again.
“Well played Murdock,” Tony nodded his head respectfully, forgetting his opponent couldn’t see him. Tony knew the charges would never stick but at first glance that was what offering a fake scholarship and spending a lot of time with a child would look like to outsiders. “I will not force his decision but it will be his decision,” he added and Matt nodded.
“Now we have reached an agreement I should be getting back to work,” Matt unfolded his cane and flicked it into his hand from his wrist.
“Anything important I should know about?” Tony asked, offering his arm to the lawyer.
“Nothing that would grace your circles. A kid, paralysed by illegal chemicals used by a manufacturing company. We’ve just taken the case and are working on a settlement,” Matt shrugged and Tony escorted him to the elevator.
Tony was still thinking about Peter and his brother as he sat in the lounge. Natasha was away on a mission with Vision, Rhodey had gone to see his family while he was recovering. He was alone in the tower while Peter was busy being a teenager and all that lead to was thinking. Picking up his StarkPad, Tony set his mind to finding something to distract him. A news alert had popped up on his screen while he had been musing; his system was programmed to alert him whenever the Avengers, Iron Man or Spiderman was mentioned. This time it was Spiderman and it seemed that last night he had teamed up with Daredevil to take down some smugglers at the pier. It was good that he was going out and getting more experience without it being potential international incidents. Why had Daredevil taken an interest though?