Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Peter sat in his chemistry class, wide awake for once. It was the last class of the year. In just an hour and a half, the entire school would be released for summer break, and the excitement was palpable. Mr. Harrington sat behind his desk, very aware that he had no control of his students.

Peter chatted excitedly to Ned about the video games coming out during the summer and the lego models they wanted to build. MJ had her nose buried in Anne of Green Gables, a supposedly feminist novel that Peter knew was MJ’s guilty pleasure. It was turning into a perfect day. Suddenly, MJ spoke.

“Incoming, bird brains.”

Mr. Harrington had gotten up and was walking toward them. Peter tried to remember if he’d done anything bad recently. He didn’t think so.

Mr. Harrington arrived at the back of the classroom and leaned against the wall. “Any plans for this summer, Parker?”

“None, sir.” Other than Spider-Man duties, of course

“You’re too smart to be doing nothing.” That was unexpected.

“Well, I’m sure I’ll tinker around with some computers.” MJ rolled her eyes. He had built her a computer just last week. He’s such a dweeb.

Mr. Harrington paused. He had come over here for a reason, but he had expected Peter to have an internship or something. Time for plan B. “I have connections at Stark Industries. Would you be interested in an internship?”

“Yes.” Peter didn’t even think. He had connections at Stark industries too, but somehow he didn’t think they would ever lead to a real internship.

“Good. It’s 25 hours a week, 5 hours a day. You work at the tower 9am to 2pm week days. You’ll get an email today.” Mr. Harrington actually looked happy as he walked back to his desk.

Ned stared at Peter. “Did that just happen?”

MJ put her book down and picked up her notepad. She started sketching Peter. “Everybody who’s anybody knows that Mr. Harrington knows Bruce Banner from college.”

“You’re the only one that knows that.” Peter was about to have a heart attack.

“Obviously,” Sometimes MJ was annoyingly good at setting him up.

“Well apparently I am somebody,” Peter said in awe as he watched Mr. Harrington pick up his phone.

Mr. Harrington whispered into the receiver so that no one could hear him. Peter took out the small ear plugs that he usually used in the loud school. Sometimes super hearing was super inconvenient, but at times like these, he felt lucky to have it.

“Bruce, I found one for you. He’s on your level. Just give him some training, and he’ll be perfect. Thanks.”

Peter was about to be in for the summer of his life.

Chapter Text

When Peter got home from school, he collapsed on the couch with a bag of chips and his laptop. It would be another few hours until Aunt May got home, so he figured that he better at least get started reading Mr. Banners latest published articles. He hadn’t been keeping up with them during the last few months, but if anything was going to motivate him, it was trying not to embarrass himself during the internship. Soon he had pulled his phone out to do background research and the minutes were speeding by.

“Peter, honey, have you gotten yourself any dinner?” Aunt May questioned as she swung open the door to their small apartment.

Peter jolted out of his science fueled stupor. “Not yet. Hey, can we eat together at the table? I want to talk.”

May looked a little frazzled. They usually ate in front of the TV. “Sure. Is it Spider-Man related?”

“Not exactly.”

Leftovers were pulled out of the fridge and heated. By the time they were both sitting, Aunt May had run through the possibilities in her head: dating, early college courses, a summer trip? Better to just listen.

“I’ve gotten an internship with Stark Industries.”

“Peter, that sounds Spider-Man related. You know our rules. I don’t want it to take over your life. You deserve a normal summer.”

“Not that type of internship! Mr. Harrington applied for me. And it’s only from 9am to 2pm. Besides, it’s an amazing scientific opportunity!” Peter avoided mentioning that he might be working with The Hulk. They wouldn’t even be in the same room, he convinced himself. It would be fine.

“Well then, I want an official letter. And make sure that your secret doesn’t get out. It is enough that Tony knows. I don’t need it to become common knowledge.”

“Thank you so much! I’ll send you the email when I get it!” Peter headed to his room, dumping his plate in the sink as he went.

As he walked away, Aunt May called after him, “I’m proud of you!” For now, that was enough. He was loved and he had science. Sitting down, he opened his computer to check his email.

To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]

Thank you for your interest in interning at Stark Industries. As you know by now, obtaining an internship is an extremely difficult and competitive endeavor. Each of you have earned your place. We hope to cultivate an environment in which you can make connections with each other and grow together. For now, please read the following and prepare yourself to start Monday.

Enter through the West entrance on the ground floor of Stark tower. Please leave enough time to find the security leader who will be holding a sign labeled “Internship students” From there, you will be assigned your supervisors and given more extensive instructions.

There are a few rules that you must follow in the Tower:

1. No cellular devices or recording. If you need to be reached, the front office will direct the call to you.

2. Always keep your lanyard and security card on display. They will be given out the first day.

3. Do not speak of the projects that you work on with anyone not authorized to work on the project. Nondisclosure agreements will be signed on the first day.

Thank you for your patience in this application process. We look forward to seeing you Monday. Do not respond to this message unless you are unable to attend.

Sincerely,
Kylie Andrews
Internship Coordinator

Peter forwarded the message to May. He was definitely in over his head. An extensive interview process? He hadn’t even applied. But he knew he would regret not going. It was his dream.

So, Peter closed his computer and found the subway route to the tower on his phone. He lay down and waited for Monday to come.

Chapter Text

The weekend went by quickly. On Monday, Peter woke up early. There was no way that he was going to be late on his first day. Despite his anxiety, he remembered to leave his phone at home. Picking up the money that May had left on the counter for his lunch, he left for the tower.

Thirty minutes later, he entered the West lobby of Stark Tower. He was early. Very early. The lobby was empty of people. But shouldn’t someone be here at eight A.M.?

Peter decided to investigate his surroundings. The ceiling was a few stories high. The floor was finished marble. The walls were a light blue, and glass windows showed him the outside from where he entered. There were couches and coffee tables. A reception desk sat in between rows of elevators, but it too was empty. Above it, screens read off stock prices to the empty lobby: IN-$52 RN-$16 H-$53 P-$16 T-$92 DEN-$117.

Something felt off to Peter. He sat down at one of the couches. Watching the stocks repeat over and over, something felt wrong. The numbers were integers and the companies were not ones he had heard of. He smiled and walked up to the board. He passed behind the reception desk and spoke directly to the screens.

“Hello there, where might I find my superior?”

The board spoke in a booming voice. “Take an elevator on the left to floor 86 for orientation”

“You know, it was a cheap shot to say you would be holding the sign.”

“I did not invent this task, I only facilitate it. The name is F.R.I.D.A.Y.. I am the designated security leader. Nice to meet you, Peter.”

Peter took the elevator, grinning all the way up. He was glad that he had taken the time to memorize the atomic numbers of the elements. Perhaps it would be possible to decode the message without them, but they sure made it a lot easier. IN Te RN S H I P S T U DEN Ts, the sign had read. And he still had 45 minutes to spare. Not too shabby if he did say so himself.

A woman stood right outside the elevator doors as they opened. She was older and had a no nonsense face. Her graying hair had been pulled into a bun but she wore the dirty jeans and t-shirt of a mechanic.

Smiling, she spoke, “Mr. Parker, allow me to escort you to a room to wait for the other interns to arrive. My name is Mrs. Andrews. I am the internship coordinator.” She led him to a small room that contained a couch, coffee table, and an assortment of science magazines. “Wait here for now. If you need something, just peek out of the room and someone will come over. Thank you for your patience.” She closed the door behind him.

As Peter sat and opened a magazine to read, his hearing picked up words from outside of the room. God it was helpful.

“Denise, you told me that I had thirty minutes.”

“In my defense, he was early and that was the fastest anyone ever solved it. You’ll have plenty of time before the others arrive.”

“I’ve got to say, I like the kid, but still, stall him next time. I’m taking the elevator to the showers. See you in an hour.”

“That little faith in the others?”

“Call it years of experience. Last year, one of them took the elevator and tried to stop at every floor. Effective, but it took forever.”

“Ah, young minds. See you later.”

Peter went back to reading the magazine. He might as well soak up some knowledge as he waited.

Chapter Text

An hour later, like clockwork, a small blond woman, presumably Denise, led Peter to a larger conference room filled with college students in business suits. Peter looked down at his “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the precipitate” T-shirt and dark jeans. Shit.

Scattered throughout the suits, though, he saw a what looked like graduate students. They wore tired faces and old T-shirts. Perfect. Maybe he would stick out less next to one of them. He sat next to a brown haired girl with a shirt that said, “Beekeeper: If I run, you run” She smiled at him. Her face was sweet if a bit annoyed at the business suit wearing boys across from her.

“I bet Tony Stark will notice me within the first week.”

“Yeah right, I graduated high school three years early. You just took a bunch of APs.”

“Excuse you, it was IB courses. I am well rounded as hell.”

The girl rolled her eyes and turned to Peter.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Liz, and I manage the bees used for flight simulations. What’s your name?”

“Peter.” He was glad that someone was being welcoming. Where was Mrs. Andrews?

“What are your qualifications, Peter?” she said motioning for the business suit guys to be quiet.

“I like science.” He felt it would be rude to list classes and competitions that he had won.

“That is the best qualification of them all.” She leaned back in her chair, and Peter felt as if he had passed a test that he hadn’t known that he had been taking.

The other guys went back to chatting about the colleges they attended. MIT, Princeton, Yale, and more. Peter zoned out.

Eventually, Mrs. Andrews walked in and even the older interns snapped to attention. It was odd how few of them there were. Maybe one graduate student for every ten of the younger ones. Peter estimated 55 people in total. He let that thought go as NDAs were handed out. He read it like the geek he was. All of the normal stuff was there, but in the bottom in bold there was one line that stood out: Disclosing the reason for termination is forbidden unless authorized by Mrs. Andrews.

Everyone signed. Once all the papers were checked, Mrs. Andrews called attention to herself.

“Hello everyone. Thank you for coming here today. Unfortunately, some of you did not make the cut. If you are tapped by a graduate student, please take your things and leave.”

Liz tapped the backs of nine people in their surrounding area.

“You have been terminated during the final part of the interview portion for attitudes unbecoming of Stark interns. You may not disclose the reason for your termination to anyone outside of this room. Good luck in future endeavors.”

There were looks of horror on the faces of those who had been terminated. Peter almost felt bad for them. That is, those who walked out immediately. A few tries to argue.

“My father will hear about this!” A blond frat boy exclaimed.

Damn Draco, Peter thought.

Mrs. Andrews just laughed, “for the sake of your future, I sure hope not. I forwarded the NDA to your email. Have a great summer.”

Five graduate students and four college students were left. Peter still stuck out, but he felt that those left could care less.

“Introduce yourselves,” Liz urged. The five who were left grinned at each other. Peter knew they were his kind of people.

Chapter Text

Mrs. Andrews spoke to those who remained. “I’ll call out your assignments and the older interns who chose you will take you to the department where you are assigned. This is not your exclusive job, but it’s a good place for you to start.”

“Zara, biological research” A very pretty girl with deep brown skin and waist length black hair nodded.

“Emanuel, engineering,” A playful looking young man who had draped himself over the edge of his chair raised his hand to thank her.

“Vanessa, chemistry.” The girl almost got out of her chair but stopped herself. Nervously she copied Emanuel by waving her hand.

“Kyle, renewable energies.” A frat boy who exerted very unfratboy vibes nodded. He was the type that could deck anyone and definitely used his powers for good. Peter liked him.

“Peter, lab B,” this elicited odd looks from the older interns, but Peter just said thanks. It was no big surprise that any work Mr. Banner was doing would be confidential.

“Good luck, everyone. And tomorrow, dress to match me,” she said, motioning to her jeans and old shirt. “We get to be the scientists. Leave the suits to the higher ups. Of course, if you get too high up, they start dressing like us again,” she laughed. “Have a good first day! You’ll get lunch at your departments today because we’re running so late, but tomorrow, I’ll show you around the intern areas,”

Everyone filed out of the conference room in pairs. Liz took Peter over to the elevators. She was looking at him differently now. There had never looked down on him, but curiosity and he supposed respect were written on her face now.

“How’d you get assigned to lab B? No one knows what’s in there. They request research but never produce anything.” She looked up at the ceiling, a bit unsure of herself. “FRIDAY lab B please.”

“Of course,” the AI responded. The elevator jerked downward.

“I don’t know,” said Peter. He knew that Mr. Harrison had helped him out, but what would have happened if he hadn’t made the selection? Was Mr. Harrison that confident in Peter’s abilities? Liz looked incredulous at his response.

The elevator numbers ticked down to one and then became letters. A, B, the elevator stopped.

“People always assume the cool stuff is up top, but I’ve always wanted to come down here,” Liz commented as the doors open.

There was a small white room with a metal door in front of them. It was empty and reminiscent of a walk in closet. FRIDAY spoke, “Thank you, Liz, I’ve got it from here. You may return to the upper floors.” Disappointed but resigned, she motioned Peter out of the elevator and waved goodbye. That boy must be something to be down there.

Peter stepped walked toward the door, but as he did, it opened. Bruce Banner peeked out. Eyes widening, Peter took a step back. He had promised himself that he wouldn’t geek out. Of course, then he had convinced himself the Mr. Banner wouldn’t be there.

The older man held up his hands, “it’s fine. It’s fine! I haven’t been the Hulk in years.” Sadness filled his eyes. Another intern gone. So much for Roger’s promises.

Peter startled. “No. It’s just you’re so cool. Like your papers have probably done more for the world than the rest of this building. Like I didn’t even think I would ever meet you. I did a paper on you for science class. Did you know that you average 14 scientific papers a year? That’s ridiculously many. Your radiation research prevented like thousands of kids from dying. I just...” he looked at the man’s stunned face, “I didn’t mean anything by that. I just talk a lot, sorry.”

Tears remained in the edges of Bruce’s eyes. “Come on in, kid” His face creased with a small but welcoming smile.

Chapter Text

As Peter walked through the doorway, he noticed how thick it was. Easily two feet of steel. The walls were thick too.

Inside, the room was large with many other doors and hallways branching off of it. Each was labeled with its purpose but for now, Peter just stared at the room in which he stood.

Machines dominated it. There were large ones and small ones, ones with buttons and ones with levers, those that were sunk into the floor and others that scraped the tall ceiling. Interspersed throughout the room were reading nooks, desks, and sitting areas with TVs.

Dr. Banner looked a bit sheepish. “I’ve never been very good at separating my personal life from my work. Sorry about the mess. I’ll show you your desk and then maybe we can go get some lunch. I’ve been told that you haven’t eaten yet.”

“Thanks, sir,” Peter said, temporarily distracted from Mr. Banner by the room around him.

Peter couldn’t stop staring as he was led to a corner of the room. Only his spidey sense kept him from tripping over the wires that wound around the floor like the roots of a giant tree.

In the corner, a square the size of a large classroom had been sectioned off with work benches. There were several high tech computers at a banged up wooden desk. The work benches held neatly stacked parts and equipment that Peter recognized from the papers Mr. Banner had published. Some shot electrons at high speeds others tested how much radiation a reaction produced. Cool.

“It’s not much, but this is your area. I figure you can help me run some experiments or do some of your own stuff. How much do you know about radiation?”

All of this was his? Peter was in awe. “I know quite a bit, but I’ve got no practical experience,” Unless you count being bit by a radioactive spider, of course.

That was what had started Peter’s obsession with radiation and later his interest in Dr. Banner. At first he had poured over the research. Everything about the spider experiment was classified, but he had hoped to figure it out himself. With no such luck, Peter now only occasionally read about it. Still, the hundreds of hours that he had sunk into research made him well versed in basically anything radioactive.

Banner raised an eyebrow, “Well I’ll have you read a couple textbooks and all my papers before asking you to do anything.” He motioned to a stack of papers several feet high. “My research from the past three years.” Sure he wanted the kid to have a good time, but this was an internship after all.

Peter looked at his feet. Very quickly, he said, “I’ve read them.”

“What was that?”

“I’ve read your papers. All of them.”

Bruce was starting to think Mr. Harrison had underestimated the boy. Who reads shit like that in their free time? “Did you have a favorite?”

Peter glanced up at Dr. Banner. “The transmission of radiation between organisms through various means.” It was the first paper of Dr. Banners that he had ever read. It was his origin as a hero, but that was too much to say for now.

Bruce stared at Peter for a moment. “An old one, interesting. Well, I’ll find something else for you to read. For now, let’s head up to the dining hall for lunch.”

They made their way back to the only unlabeled door on the floor. Bruce put on a hat and some sunglasses that lay on a table next to it and swung open the steel door. They stepped into the elevator and went up. Peter grinned.

Chapter Text

The elevator finally reached the staff dining floor. It was more of a food hall because Stark Tower housed several thousand employees. There were about twenty different restaurants surrounding stainless steel tables and chairs.

As soon as the doors opened, Peter was overwhelmed with the sounds of people. Chairs scraped along the floors as they were moved, people laughed and talked, shoes tapped along the linoleum floor. Even with his earplugs, it was painful.

Peter flinched, but quickly stood back up. He could do this. Tomorrow he could eat with the interns. Just one day. No big deal. A headache crept along the back of his head.

Bruce took one look at the boy and knew this wasn’t going to work. “Follow me, Peter”

They walked along the edge of the edge of the cafeteria toward a restaurant that was sunk into the wall. Bruce waved to the waiter and went to the farthest table away from the noise. The restaurant was Bar-B-Q and country themed, but the music that had been playing when they entered had been turned off. It was almost quiet.

“So, Peter, you don’t like crowds much. I’m the same.”

“Well, it’s really just the noise. I like people, I really do, they are just so loud.”

“Hmm”

A young waiter approached them. “What do y’all want to eat? I assume the regular for Dr. B, but do you want some time to think?” She asked Peter.

“I’ll just have a brisket sandwich and some tea, thanks”

“You got it!” The waiter left.

Bruce looked at Peter for a second. He finally grasped his thought. “How old are you?”

Peter had assumed this question would come up eventually. “Fourteen,” he said a bit curtly.

But Bruce didn’t seem bothered by it. He just stared a bit more intently, “I’m sure you must be wondering why you are in my lab. I’m friends with one of your teachers, Mr. Harrison.”

“My friend told me that,” Peter responded.

“Must be some friend to know about my past like that,” Dr. Banner looked a bit uncomfortable

“She is, some friend I mean.” Peter didn’t like making Dr. Banner feel bad.

Luckily, their food arrived. A large steak sat on Mr. Banner’s plate. Peter was surprised. “I thought you were vegan,” he couldn’t help himself.

Bruce just laughed. “Cultured meat has its advantages. No animals died in the making of my meat.”

Peter’s eyes lit up. “That’s so cool! I can’t believe they’re actually serving it! Is it made in the building? I didn’t know it had hit the market. Does it taste the same? My friend Ned is going to love hearing about this. MJ too. She loves cruelty free foods and this is the best of the best.”

“They only sell it in the building, unfortunately. Yours is cultured too. Try it and write some feedback as we leave. It’s a project from some of the lower floors. I’m sure it will be available in stores soon, though. It’s gotten much better from a few months ago.” Bruce was looking a lot happier.

Peter bit into his sandwich. Yum.

“So, do you want to try to recreate my experiments on radiation transmission? I figure it would be a good way for you to get your feet under you before we go on to anything else.”

“Yes, please! That would be so cool! How are we going to bring in the rats?” Peter’s eyes sparkled.

“Oh, that was before my anti animal testing phase. I don’t mind if others do it for to help people, but I’ve kind of made a pledge to myself not to harm any mammals. But I’m sure you can find an insect or something to experiment with.”

“Spiders,” Peter knew it was a mistake to say, but he was just so curious. When else would he have access to a lab like this?

“I’m sure that can be arranged. Are you going to use similar procedures as Oscorp?”

Shit. Well, he was too far in now. “Probably, but I’d use a double containment room and everything.” The press had never found out that spiders had escaped at Oscorp. The cover up had been perfect. Peter was going to have to be more careful than they had been.

“Okay. But if you do this, it remains unpublished. We don’t tell people how to genetically alter others. I only publish about a quarter of the papers I write.”

Peter was stunned. “Then I didn’t read all of your papers. Sorry!” Did that man ever sleep?

“Oh, I didn’t expect you to. Better for you not to know. Maybe in a few years if you’re interested, but they’re a bit sensitive.”

Peter understood. Some secrets weren’t worth sharing. Bruce’s old project hadn’t yielded any genetic changes of mammals, but spiders were different. They had changed him. It was better not to overstep.

“I heard that spiders could change genes. Are you still okay with me experimenting with them?”

“As long as you don’t mess with any mammals, it will be fine. Just find out how much potential they have in their venom and we can go from there. Oscorp never released their findings. I figure you’d be able to do it without me, so I don’t feel that I’m putting anything dangerous in your head that wouldn’t already be there.”

“Okay”

“You’ll of course have other projects too. You’ll spend some time in other departments and helping me with my work. The spiders can be a side project,”

Peter was satisfied with this answer.

Once they were done eating, they headed back down to Bruce’s lab. Lunch had gone long, so once Peter had been shown what was in his office, he headed back up to the intern labs to clock out.

What a weird day, he thought on the subway home. It was barely 3pm and he had a lot to ponder. Leaning against the glass of the train, he stared off into space, content to imagine what the rest of his summer would be like. Decisions about the ethicalities of genetic research could wait until tomorrow.

Chapter Text

That night, Peter was exhausted. He chatted with May a bit over dinner, but he didn’t mention Bruce Banner to her. Maybe he was afraid of what she would think. Maybe he didn’t quite believe it himself. There was something so viscerally different about interacting with an avenger as Peter.

He just wasn’t some guy they recruited because he had been dumb enough to get bitten by a radioactive spider. He was being recognized for his intelligence and who we was, not just the mask he put on and the facade of jokes that he operated under. He didn’t want to lose that. So, he decided that May could wait to know. Besides, the non disclosure agreement forbid him telling anyone. It was the wrong choice, perhaps, but It didn’t seem that way to him.

Peter pulled out his burner phone. It was made by Oscorp, which Peter didn’t like, but he at least knew it wasn’t hacked by Mr. Stark. The suit was enough. He didn’t need more babying than that.

Peter
I met him. Protocol S rules apply to this conversation.

Ned
One day your entire existence isn’t going to be able to be discussed. I’m already confused. Who?

MJ
You know who, Ned. The internship. Good for you, Peter! Don’t die.

Ned
OH MY GOD. That is so cool. Do you think you can introduce me? Have you met any other interns?

Peter
Of course I can’t introduce you. I would if I could, though, Ned. Yes I’ve met other interns. They seem sooo nice. There are only four other first years but they’re in college. The NDA didn’t say anything about not talking about them.

MJ
Did you do anything dumb to embarrass yourself... let me rephrase... What did you do to embarrass yourself?

Peter
MJ, I’m hurt. I may have showed up in jeans and a T-shirt on my first day of a prestigious internship. It was fine, though!!!

MJ
God, each time it’s new levels of stupid. I still might like you even if you’re a dumbass.

Peter
Hell yes!

Ned
Y’all have a private chat for that. Do you want to come over next Saturday? We can marathon Supernatural or something.

MJ
I just finished rewatching it, but I will tolerate it if we watch episodes with Charlie. You nerds can build something while I bask in the beauty of the best female character ever tm.

Peter
Fine with me! I thought Annabeth Chase was your favorite.

MJ
Don’t make me choose. I’ll kill you.

Peter
Lol. I’m scared

Ned
See you then! I’ll bring a lego camp half-blood to appease MJ.

MJ
You think I can be bought? You’re right. See you Saturday. I expect a full report on the internship and “him”

Peter
You got it!

Peter put down his phone and plugged it in. His friends were the best. MJ had gotten a job at a bookstore and Ned was trying to do some online college classes, but they still wanted to meet up. He couldn’t wait to see them, but he’d have to survive the week first. It couldn’t be that hard, could it?

Chapter Text

Peter was wrong, very wrong.

Tuesday, he had to navigate finding common interests with college students. Though nice, they were in a completely different stage of life. Eventually they settled into a routine of discussing pop culture, vague problems with their projects, and their career ambitions.

Wednesday, his key card stopped working. He had to email Mrs. Andrews and was half an hour late to the lab. Apparently lab B was confidential and once Peter had been put into the system, his access had also become confidential. A new key card had fixed the problem, but his name and position were “classified” to all Stark systems. Overkill much?

Thursday, just when Peter felt that he had gotten into the groove of going to Dr. Banners lab to research and help out, he was pulled for another project. He liked Liz, but her idea of a good time was counting mites that fell off of bees.

When Friday finally came around, Peter was so ready for the weekend that he didn’t even stay a bit late like usual. Bruce clapped him on the back as he left, “Good work, kid. See ya Monday.” They worked well together. Peter had come up with a solid plan for his spiders and Dr. Banner had gotten a lot of help finding a chemical that blocked gamma rays and was thin enough to wear.

As Peter left through the thick steel door, he realized something. Steel wasn’t best for blocking gamma rays, lead was. He’d assumed that was why the door was so thick. No, this steel was made to stop something else. He peered back into the lab to see Bruce Banner tinkering carefully with one of his machines. His heart ached for a moment. What would have been different if that spider had been another species or had bitten him somewhere else? He didn’t like to think about that. At least he would always have science.

That night, Peter went out as Spider-Man for the first time in a week. He swung wildly, enjoying his freedom. Three muggers were stopped. An older lady was walked home. It was a busy night.

Around midnight, Peter started heading home. Just as he got within a few blocks of his house, he spotted Iron Man on a roof. This was not what he needed right now, but he knew there was no avoiding it.

Peter slowed his swing and landed next to Tony Stark who was somehow looking smug through his suit.

“Whatcha up to, kid.” He emphasized the kid. Dr. Banner always used it like an afterthought, but Mr. Stark made a point of adding it to everything.

“Looking up for the little guy, Mr. Stark,” Peter said, trying to end the conversation.

“Where have you been this week? I haven’t seen any stories on you since last Thursday.”

“Busy”

“Too busy to help the little guy?”

“Busy helping the little guy in other ways.” Peter did not like where this was going.

“Do you want to go on a mission?” Always missions with Mr. Stark. Of course that was why he showed up.

Honestly, Peter just wanted a weekend with his friends, but he should probably see what the mission was about before turning it down. “What is it?”

“We’ve got to get someone out of Wakanda”

Yeah, this didn’t sound like a we problem or a little guy problem. “No, thanks.”

The Ironman suit opened up to reveal Tony’s face. “What do you mean no thanks? You were all excited about Germany.” He actually looked disappointed.

“Then I had to fight Captain America. I’m not fighting the Black Panther for you now too,” and it was true. Peter was not a minion that you could use when you needed. He was done being a pet. There were good people on both sides of this. The bad people were below him in the streets of his neighborhood.

Tony Stark looked hurt. He turned around and flew off without a word. Which one of us is really immature, Peter wondered.

That night, Peter went to bed with chemical formulas floating around his mind. The gamma ray blockers that he and Dr. Banner had made were going to help so many people. He could see them in hospitals, as thin as the gowns, protecting people from radiation and helping target tumors. He had helped the little guy, and even Iron Man couldn’t take that away from him.

Chapter Text

Saturday, Peter got up late and made himself a bowl of cereal. The nice thing about doing an internship rather than school was there wasn’t any homework. He could work on some stuff that wasn’t sensitive at home, but if he didn’t want to, he didn’t have to. Today was one of those days.

Aunt May came and sat at their small dining table with him. She was gone a lot, but she made sure to chat with him in case he had anything to tell her. This was one of those times.

“Hey, Peter, how’d your first week of the internship go?” She started eating her own cereal and looked at him expectantly.

“Really well. My supervisor and I designed something that will help a lot of people.” Peter had to be careful, but he really did want to tell her about how much fun he was having.

“Really? You’re not just doing paperwork?”

“Nope. I help with graduate student projects sometimes, but usually I can do my own thing and make stuff.”

“I should text Tony thank you,” May said, pulling out her phone.

“Don’t,” Peter responded, panic on the edge of his voice.

May took a harder look at the boy. “Why?”

“It’s just that I don’t think he knows and I don’t want him to. He’d just treat me like a kid or pull me out for Spidey duties. I have a good thing going, May. I don’t want to ruin that.”

May put down the phone, but she didn’t respond. Peter sometimes thought she had a supernatural sense to. She knew that there was more to this. Peter gave in.

“He wanted me to go to Wakanda to help him get someone out.”

“Absolutely not, Peter.”

“I know. That’s what I told him,” Peter kept talking despite May’s raised eyebrows. “He doesn’t get to take me to random other countries to fight for him. I don’t think anyone was even in danger. Please just let me have this internship without him knowing.”

“You know that he’ll find out anyway, don’t you Peter? It’s his company.”

Peter thought back to the keycard fiasco. “He won’t”

“He will, and you’ll handle that yourself”

“Okay.”

The tension dropped out of May’s voice as she put the dishes away. “Go play with your friends, honey. If I know you, you’re already late.”

“Shit,” Peter grabbed his bag and ran out of the door. He was already fifteen minutes late.

MJ and Ned were settled into the couch in Ned’s living room when he got there. It was a fairly small apartment, but it was empty for the day, so they had jumped on the opportunity to meet up here.

MJ stuck her tongue out at him as he entered and motioned toward a fully formed lego Athena cabin. “You’re late.”

“You knew that I would be.”

“That’s why I was ten minutes late.”

“Sorry.” Peter sat in between his friends, grabbing some pieces to fiddle with.

Ned responded instead of MJ. “It’s fine, man, so what happened this week?”

“I met Dr. Banner and we built some really cool stuff and then I met other interns and then Mr. Stark tried to take me to Wakanda...” as the friends chatted about the whole week that they were separated, the TV remote lay forgotten on the floor.

At some point, a new lego set had to be pulled out, but it barely interrupted the flow of their talking. MJ talked about idiotic customers, Ned talked about college professors, and Peter, well, he talked about Dr. Banner. He talked about a hand on his shoulder and a stack of papers left on his desk. He talked about a brisket sandwich and a clean work space. His words flowed between those of the others in a way that his Spider-Man stories never had.

By the time Peter left, he felt better than he had in a long time. Sure, high school had been fine, but he’d never been excited for Monday. Now, he was. He said goodbye to Ned and kissed MJ on the cheek. Life was good.

Chapter Text

Peter entered Stark Tower the same way he had the previous week. He scanned his key card, waved at Denise, the intern receptionist, and went to clock in at the intern offices. There may only have been five interns per year, but that still came out to a pretty large number when graduate students were included. They had a little kitchen, a few conference rooms, and a log in system with science cartoons hanging on a cork board above it. Peter didn’t spend much time there other than lunch, but many interns hung around in between projects.

As Peter approached the kitchen to heat up his morning pop tarts, he heard them chatting. It seemed to be all his year’s interns and Liz.

“In two weeks, we’re all going out to lunch together! It’s going to be covered by the company, and supervisors are coming! Do you know how much of a opportunity this is to make connections?,” said Zara.

“Dude, I cannot wait,” Kyle said, mixing a monster energy and a Gatorade into a large cup.

Peter walked in and put his pop tarts in the toaster.

“Peter, here’s your invitation. Your supervisors can come if they even exist,” she joked. Of course his supervisor would come, this wasn’t something you could get out of.

Peter took the sheet of paper, and grinned. “I’ll ask him, but no promises.”

“Very funny, Peter,” commented Vanessa, “mine sent an email to Mrs. Andrews because they have a deadline Friday. Apparently “team bonding is top priority in this company,” so we still have to go”

“We’ll see,” said Peter noncommittally. He took his pop tarts to the small table at the edge of the kitchen. “How are y’all’s projects going?”

That distracted them all until Peter was done eating. He hurried down to lab B. Despite an almost definite no from Dr. Banner, he was excited.

When Peter opened the door to lab B, he saw Dr. Banner on a couch in the middle of the room asleep. He supposed that the man deserved the rest, so he took a blanket off of an armchair and draped it over him. Very quietly, Peter went to type on his computer. Asking about lunch could wait. One of them had obviously not taken off the weekend.

Later that morning, he heard a loud knock on the door. Dr. Banner didn’t even stir.

Peter whispered to FRIDAY, “Who’s at the door,”

In an equally quiet voice, FRIDAY responded, “Mr. Harrington, should I open the door?”

“Yes”

Peter ran quietly over to the door, using his spider sense not to trip. He popped his head out of the door just as it opened.

Mr. Harrington looked surprised, “Peter?”

“Hi, Mr. Harrington. You’ve got to be quiet, he’s asleep. Do you want to come in and wait?”

“You haven’t woken him up? It’s almost noon.”

“He deserves the sleep.”

“You’re a smart boy. Yes. I’ve been in here before. I’ll wait by the library.”

Peter glanced over his back. There was no library. Mr. Harrington obviously had clearance, though, so he let the man in.

Mr. Harrington made his way over to Peter’s station and startled. “What happened to the library?”

“It’s my office. I didn’t know it used to be a library.”

“I’ll just sit here, then, how’s your summer going”

They chatted so long that Peter had to text the other interns that he was having lunch at his office. It was technically true.

Around 1:30 Dr. Bruce Banner began to wake up. Neither Peter nor Mr. Harrington noticed as they went over one of Peter’s drafts of a paper and how to improve the experiment. Dr. Banner chose to dose until they were done.

Chapter Text

Dr. Banner finally stretched made his way over to Peter and Mr. Harrington were.

“Morning, Peter.”

“It’s almost two pm,” Peter laughed

“Time is relative. Roger, how’s your summer going?”

“Better than yours it seems. When is the last time you left this place?”

“As I told the boy, time is relative.”

“That’s not an answer. Some our college buddies and I are going out tonight. I came to invite you. It’s very low key.”

“Not my cup of tea.”

“I’ll help you program something in exchange.”

“It was easier when I could just pay you with pizza”

“We’re long past those days, my friend. Take it or leave it.”

“You’re a waste as a teacher,” Dr. Banner joked.

Peter watched them. They seemed to be good friends. It was a wonder that Dr. Banner had any good friends with how much he worked. Still, that comment rubbed Peter the wrong way. “No he isn’t, Dr. Banner.”

Bruce smiled, still sleepy, “I suppose not, he sent me you, didn’t he? Fine. I’ll come out of my lair, but I need help with a program next week.”

“That reminds me! All the interns and their supervisors are going out to lunch in a couple weeks. Will you come? It’s fine if you can’t, but everyone is going to be there” Peter slid the invitation toward Dr. Banner.

“Sorry kid. No can do,” said Bruce. Peter put the invitation back in his bag.

Mr. Harrington glared at Bruce, “come on man, Peter is excited. I thought you had a special place in your heart for orphans and misfits.”

Peter rolled his eyes, but Bruce looked like he had just woken up. “He never told me.”

Peter mimed a bow, “penny-less orphan at your service. And how exactly does that get brought up in conversation? Besides, I’ve got my aunt.”

“And he helped you with your projects,” Mr. Harrington chimed in.

“God damn it, fine, but I’m going to have to get used to people again.”

“That was always the goal,” Mr. Harrington laughed

Peter couldn’t believe his good fortune. Dr. Banner was actually going to come with him to the intern event. He wouldn’t be alone!

Dr. Banner didn’t actually look too upset to be forced to go to an event. Peter smiled at his teacher and mentor. “I’ve got to get home. Don’t party too crazily, yeah?”

“Hah. Tell MJ and Ned to study for next year’s academic decathlon.”

“Will do!” Peter shouted as he left.

Bruce looked at his friend. “I can see why you chose him. He’s a good kid. I still feel like you sent me an emotional support animal, though.”

“He’s a smart emotional support animal at least, yeah?”

“Too smart for his own good if you ask me. He’s looking into the Oscorp spider experiments.”

“And you’re letting him?”

“I’m curious and I don’t think I could stop it. Besides, if we know what can change people, we can hide it.”

“You’re still on that theory about Spider-Man?”

“Yes. I think Peter is too. Roger, we aren’t going to get another chance with a good guy getting those powers. We need to know what we are up against and contain the tech. I trust Peter not to tell.”

“Don’t get him killed.”

“Never,”

“Don’t let Tony Stark find out about it,”

“Roger, I’m not stupid. I know what would happen if it got into the wrong hands.”

“I know you’re not stupid. Now, let’s go get something to eat before we meet up with the guys. You look hungry.”

“Sounds good,”

Bruce left his sunglasses by the door but took his hat.

Chapter Text

A few days of work and internship duties later, Dr. Banner looked over at Peter and spoke. “I need a break.”

They were fiddling with the spider cages. Somehow in the Oscorp experiments a supervisor had decided to use custom cages built by interns. Consequently, Bruce and Peter were building several cages by hand. It wasn’t exactly fun.

“What do you want to do, Dr. Banner?”

“Go outside?” As much as Bruce hated to admit it, outings tended to make him want more outings. Curse Roger and his forced night out.

“My friend works at a book store and another one of my friends takes his breaks between classes there. We could go. It’s only a few blocks.” Peter knew it was a long shot, but Ned would never forgive him if he didn’t try.

“Are these the ones that know about me?” Bruce tried to sound grumpy but miserably failed.

“To be fair, I didn’t tell them.”

“Alright, let’s go.”

And so, at one pm in the afternoon, Peter and Dr. Banner walked into The Book Worm, a little hole in the wall with a small cafe and walls filled with classics. Instantly, cries of Peter! rang out in the store. Luckily, no one else was in the store, not that they would fit.

Ned sat at the only table sipping a frap while MJ stocked books.

“Come over here! Who’s that with you?” MJ asked.

“Dr. Banner,” Peter answered as they sat down. Dr. Banner waved his hand in a slight answer.

“Awesome!” said Ned, and much to Peter’s surprise and relief, he moved on. MJ must have prepped him weeks ago. Peter loved her. “Did you know that there is a new Star Wars movie coming out?” And there were the cracks in his facade. Peter didn’t mind.

“Ned, there is always a new Star Wars movie coming out. When are we going to see it?”

“The release date hasn’t come out yet.” Ned looked to MJ for some help. His brain was having trouble functioning near Dr. Banner.

“I’ve got a book that you might like, Peter. It’s about Tesla and Edison. Not my favorite, but you might like it.” MJ said.

“I’ll take a copy too,” spoke Dr. Banner.

MJ smiled. She had no idea how this place was still going, but two sales would definitely help it limp along.

They chatted for a while about novels and movies once Ned emerged from his stupor. Dr. Banner found that he kind of liked it. The sun filtered in through the front windows pleasantly, and the older wood was such a nice contrast from Stark Tower.

At two, Bruce headed back to the tower, and Peter went home. Ned went to class while MJ found a good book to get her through the end of her shift. They all separated, but as Peter and Bruce walked out of the shop, Bruce couldn’t help but say, “We should do this again.” Everyone agreed.

Chapter Text

By Friday, Peter and Dr. Banner had set up everything needed to bring in the spiders. While Peter was taking charge on the project, it was going much faster than he thought it would because Bruce kept coming over to help. Any time something was not working the way it should, the frustrated party would go over to the other person’s work station and help them until they figured their problem out. The result was work spaces that inched ever closer to each other.

Today, Peter was staring over Dr. Banner’s shoulder after reading a particularly wordy article that it seemed the writer didn’t even understand. He watched as the man reworked a machine to allow for an emergency power shut off. He did it with every thing he bought, but Peter still enjoyed watching the process. When asked about it, Bruce just said, “Better safe than sorry.” Peter figured that he was right.

Half way through the process, Peter’s computer dinged. Just a slide in his rolling chair away at this point, Peter went to read it as Bruce finished the machine.

“I’ve got to go Dr. B, Mrs. Andrews says the chemistry team has requested an intern for the day.”

“One day I’m going to rewire that computer to send those emails somewhere else,” Bruce joked.

“That’s not even how that works! You need code.”
Peter said as he walked towards the door.

“I’m sure that I could figure out how to code through the wires. Do you doubt me?”

Peter just stuck out his tongue as he left. Dr. Banner loved to play dumb about computer stuff, but the only reason he hadn’t learned it was that he could call in Mr. Harrington.

Peter fiddled at his shirt as the elevator went up. It was covered in grease from climbing into one of the bigger radiation machines, while the emergency power shut off was engaged, of course. One could barely make out the words, “I make bad science puns periodically.”

He stepped out onto a floor full of people in white lab coats and sterile surfaces. Oops.

“I thought we ordered a chemist, not an engineer!” Yelled a frantic looking scientist in the back corner.

“I can do a bit of everything,” Peter countered

“You’re twelve.”

“Almost fifteen, and I think the base that you’re using has too many electrons to stabilize it”

“Damn. Get over here, kid. Our supervisor is on vacation and she’ll kill me if I mess this up.”

Several hours later, with the help of Vanessa and several other chemists, a new synthetic rubber had been developed almost accidentally. Peter may have made a few mistakes to keep his head down like Dr. Banner told him, but he didn’t want his work to be worthless.

“Not half bad, guys,” exclaimed the chemist in charge, fully aware that this could make all of their careers.

When Peter got down to the lab, Bruce was irradiating a banana. “It’s a pet project for Steve and Bucky,” he explained. “Also, you were gone too long, whose career do I have to watch this time?”

“The whole chemistry floor’s?” Peter said, mocking guilt

“Nothing dangerous?”

“Nothing dangerous. Just expect some awesome shoes.”

“Get over here and help me with this.”

“You got it”

Chapter Text

When Peter stepped outside the tower, a warm summer wind washed over him. The sky scrapers looked awfully appealing write now, and he had a Spider-Man suit in his bag. It was a no tech replica, but ever since his argument with Tony, he felt it better to go under the radar. The problem was, he wasn’t very good at it.

Ten minutes into his swinging, Iron Man landed next to him on a roof. Déjà vu much? A disgruntled looking Tony Stark stepped out of it.

“How am I supposed to save people if you always show up?” Peter quipped.

“How are you supposed to save people getting shot? That doesn’t look like the bullet proof suit that I gave you for a very specific reason.”

“To spy on me?”

“Only an added benefit, really, but the last few weeks, you’ve gotten untraceable, as Peter, at least.” Was that confusion on Mr. Stark’s face?

“You could track anyone.”

“Perhaps if I had a spy on call, but suddenly the whole intelligence community has either become morally upstanding or someone is threatening them.”

“Well, I have no idea what you’re talking about” Peter walked toward the side of the building to leave.

“What does the name Roger Harrington mean to you?”

“Nothing,” Peter answered too quickly, turning to look at Tony.

“He’s your chemistry teacher. You’ve got to do better than that when you lie, kid. He’s also one of the only hackers that might have a chance of getting into my systems. I’m giving you one opportunity to come clean, Peter.”

Peter froze. Could he stand to lose Dr. Banner, his projects, and chance of finding out how he got these powers? No. Besides, he was untraceable as Peter. Tony could come to his home, but he wouldn’t. There were boundaries that even he wouldn’t break.

“Leave it, Tony,” Peter said, jumping off the roof. This man wasn’t his mentor. He was someone in the way.

Somehow, Tony had always thought that his first name would be a graduation from Mr. Stark. Now, it seemed that the boy saw him as an equal, but it was all wrong.

Spider-Man stopped for an ice-cream on the way home. He took it to the top of a skyscraper, and sat there looking at the sky. He wanted to deny the guilt that was bubbling in his chest. He had lied to Mr. Stark. He had kept Dr. Banner a secret from May.

He desperately wanted to hold on to the life he currently had. He wanted to be recognized for the science he did and the thoughts he had. Spider-Man was a fraud. Peter wasn’t.

But, on the way home, he came across a mugging and stopped it automatically, methodically. He felt nothing until he saw a small girl hiding in her mother’s skirts. Pure innocence. It shocked him. No one was innocent, yet so many people were. They needed protecting.

Peter cried himself to sleep that night, his tears staining the Iron Man pillow that he hadn’t gotten rid of yet and his hands holding a scientific paper to distract himself. He had a whole weekend until he could go back to the lab. He couldn’t even be Spider-Man without Tony showing up. The day had been going so well at the start.

Chapter Text

The weekend felt so long. Peter had dragged himself to the bookstore where MJ had called him a “dumbass” with a bit less affection than usual. I guess pissing off one of the most important men in the city and going out without his bulletproof suit hadn’t been the best idea. Still, MJ had listened to him, which felt nice. When Peter had wondered aloud about why he was now untraceable, she had just looked at him like he was stupid... She did that a lot. “Do you think it might relate to the top secret research you’re doing?”

By the time Monday came around, Peter almost had his life together, other than Tony looking into him, of course. He had an idea of why he had suddenly disappeared from all surveillance and a plan for asking Dr. B about it.

After diligently measuring the radiation levels of a hundred and fifty spiders now housed next to his semi work space, Peter brought it up.

“Dr. B, why do all of my papers have the author redacted? And why don’t the cameras on the upper floors turn to follow me?” He’d only noticed the second part after Mr. Stark’s comments.

Bruce turned from what he was working on to look at Peter. A fatherly affection for Peter had taken root in the older man which could be seen in his eyes. “I’d rather not get you killed. Between Mr. Harrington, Natasha, and I, I think that’s going pretty well.”

“Natasha.” That explained the very scared intelligence community.

Bruce looked surprised that he had slipped. “Don’t worry about it, kid. Nothing can get you down here, and now nothing can get you out there. Now, run and get me a connector for this, will you? I don’t know which is best.”

Peter ran off to one of the side rooms, thinking about their conversation.

That was when the steel front door slammed onto the ground, cut to shreds with some sort of laser.

Iron Man stepped through the door, already talking, “You know, Bruce, I liked you. I thought we were friends. I give you free reign to do anything you want in your lab, and you stay out of Cap and my little spat. Except you didn’t! Where the hell is Spider-Man?”

“Tony, you need to leave,” his steely grey eyes glanced to the side room. “I don’t know what you heard, but I don’t know Spider-Man. It’s just me and my intern here.”

“Then why are there RADIOACTIVE SPIDERS on your desk?” the suit spoke, frantically, motioning towards Bruce and Peter’s merged work spaces.

“That’s a controlled experiment,” years of meditating were barely keeping Bruce calm in this moment. Peter was in the other room, His Peter. He must be terrified.

“YOU’RE EXPERIMENTING ON MY KID.”

“I’m not experimenting on anyone. Calm down.” Bruce didn’t look very calm himself.

A crazed Tony Stark stepped out of the suit. “Natasha was in on it. You knew that Harrington programmer. But you didn’t cover it up well enough. In my own building? How dare you. The boy may hate me, but he’s my damn responsibility.” Tony’s eyes were sad, sadder than Bruce had ever seen them.

Suddenly, Peter got to them. He was barely out of breath after running to them, but Bruce didn’t have time to think about that.

“Mr. Stark! He’s not experimenting on me. I’m fine! I’m an intern!” Peter’s pleading face looked up at Tony. He was practically standing between Tony and Bruce. Anxiety bubbled up in his chest.

“Why would he take YOU as an intern other than to use your powers?” It came out wrong. Tony knew it as soon as he said it.

“You would think that, wouldn’t you,” Peter screamed, “that’s all I’m worth to you. He didn’t even know, Tony. He cared about me. Something that you seem incapable of.”

The realization was dawning on Dr. Banner. “Peter?”

“Sorry Dr. B. Secret identities and all that.”

“Peter,” Bruce was stunned.

Tony couldn’t speak. He had just almost attacked Bruce Banner. He just wanted to protect his kid. But was Peter even his kid.

“The door will be repaired tonight.” The Iron Man suit surrounded him, and Tony was gone.

Suddenly, Peter was enveloped in a warm hug. “I care about you, Peter. No matter what.” Bruce smelled like chamomile tea.

“Even if that was completely my fault.”

“Even if, but I expect a full apology from Tony by morning.”

“Even if I’m Spider-Man?”

“Yes.”

“Even if Tony hates me.”

“Of course. Though, I don’t think you have to worry about that. I think he just doesn’t know how to protect you. I’d worry about that too.”

“He’s flown me into war zones”

“Training?” Bruce was back to looking concerned. “I’ll talk to him about it.”

“You didn’t hire me for my powers, right”

“No. I should have realized, but no.”

Peter followed Bruce as he made some tea for them both. They sat on one of the couches that were scattered around the work space, and Peter explained. He explained everything about Tony, and his powers, and even Aunt May. By the time he was done, Bruce could only stare at him.

“You’re a good kid, Peter. We’ll fix this,”

“When?”

“Whenever you’re ready.”

Peter leaned against Bruce. He’d be ready soon, but not now. Now, he just wanted to sit.

Chapter Text

“I’m ready,” Peter said much later.

“Okay. Help me clean up these papers and computers. I need to move them to a back room so the door can be repaired.” Bruce was talking gently, but he wasn’t babying Peter. Peter appreciated that.

“Can anyone open that elevator other than Mr. Stark?”

“I’ll lock it.” Bruce supposed that the boy was tired of seeing people when he locked the elevator, but when he turned around, the Peter was lifting several computers on his shoulders like they were as light as feathers.

“No use in hiding it”

“No. I guess we are past that point.”

Once everything of any significance was locked away, Peter sat down, his eyes expectant.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Peter,” said Bruce, but Peter remained sitting.

“I’m still an intern?”

“I don’t know. You’re still my assistant. Just try to fix things with Tony, will you?”

“Would Mr. Stark really kill someone for research?”

The talk between them was an interesting call and response. It was unnatural and stilted, but the affection in Bruce’s eyes kept it from being uncomfortably so.

“Maybe,” Bruce answered.

“Would he really?”

“No. He wouldn’t. He’s changed a lot in the past few years.”

“Who would?”

“A lot of people.”

“You’ll protect me?”

“You can protect yourself, but yes I will.”

“Are you mad at me?”

“I’m always angry, but never at you.”

“Thank you Dr. Banner.”

“You’re welcome, Peter.”

Bruce stayed up late. He would have claimed that it was to protect his research while the door was being repaired, but he was worrying. He had fixed as much as he could for Peter, but he couldn’t make it better with Tony.

Peter went home and cried in May’s arms. She understood. She cared. She told him that he hadn’t made the best choices, but she held him.

When Peter woke up scared in the night, he could have sworn that he saw Black Widow on his fire escape looking almost motherly waving off a floating figure.

At four am, Peter jerked awake again. He went to his closet and put on the suit that Mr. Stark had gifted him. Jumping from building to building, he finally landed next to the tower. Immediately, Iron Man came down.

“I’m sorry, Peter.” There was no kid or boy or underoos. Tony was sorry.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Stark.” Peter meant it too.

“Bruce sent me all the research you’ve done. It’s good. Better than I would have expected.”

Peter let that last comment slide. “Can I still be an intern?”

“Yes. Do you want to still come on missions?”

“I think I’ll be friendly neighborhood Spider-Man for a while.”

Peter looked at Tony and Tony looked at Peter. Black Widow watched from the ground and Bruce Banner watched from a traffic camera.

“I’m proud of you. Not the hiding stuff from me part, but the research is good. I won’t look at the spider experiments if you don’t want me too. You have to realize that Bruce and Harrington knew me a long time ago. I’m not proud of what I did.”

Peter was shocked. “What did you do?”

“I’d like to say that it was Obadiah, but before I took control of the company, a lot of things happened. People died. On some level, I think I knew. Somewhere in my haze, I knew people were dying for my lifestyle. But Peter, understand that I was just twenty.”

Peter stared at him, “I’m fourteen.”

“We’re different people,” Tony looked away.

“I forgive you, but it was you. It wasn’t some younger version of you.”

“I’m different now!”

“A little bit, but you tried to take me to Wakanda just a few weeks ago.”

“I would have protected you.”

“Tony.”

“I’m sorry,” He sighed. “How did you grow up so fast?”

“Realizing your mistakes does that.”

As the sun started to rise, Peter swung home. He could fix this. Natasha Rominoff and Bruce Banner never found out what they had said. Banner had insisted. Instead, they had a cup of tea together and toasted to the new day. Peter had smiled as he left. It would be okay.

Chapter Text

Peter clocked in to his internship and went to make some pop tarts like every other day. It was surreal coming in to the exact same internship after talking to Iron Man just a few hours earlier.

Liz was standing in the break room reminding everyone about the intern lunch. Was that really today? Time flies when you’re in an existential crisis, I guess.

“Peter, is your supervisor coming?” Liz asked, leaning on the counter.

“He said he would, so probably.”

Veronica slipped Kyle five dollars under the table where they were sitting. Peter overheard her whispering that, “Pepper Potts made a whole lot more sense than Tony Stark before we knew it was a guy.”

Liz shot a look at them. She probably couldn’t hear them like Peter, but it seemed she knew what they were talking about.

“They’ve got some low level bets going on who your supervisor is, Peter. Winner donates it all to a charity of their choice. I’m hoping to help save the bees. Mind helping me out?”

Peter almost laughed. “Who wins if no one gets it right?”

“I’m not sure,” she responded.

“Make sure it’s you.”

Liz smiled as Peter left, even more curious than when he had arrived.

When Peter arrived in the lab, Dr. Banner actually looked put together. His face was clean shaven and his usual frayed cardigan had been replaced by a handmade one that would make any grandmother proud.

“Dr. B? Any chance you remembered the lunch?”

“Of course, Peter... Natasha may have reminded me.”

“How come she’s always gone when I get here?” Peter said, putting on a fake frown.

“Today I suspect it is because she stayed up all night so that you could get some rest. Tomorrow I’m guessing she might come down when we go to that book store.”

“OMG,” Peter started, sounding like a school girl, “does she know I’m Spider-Man? This is bad. Like really bad.”

Bruce did not look upset. “She’s known since Germany.”

“Oh.” Spies could be really annoying when you were trying to keep a secret identity.

“We’ve got some work to do. Mind helping?

It was nice to get back into the groove of work. By lunch time they had made some progress on both their projects. Peter was finally getting some data out of his spiders and Bruce had made yet another discovery about the cause of cancer.

As Peter and Bruce took the elevator up to the executive lunch floor, Peter remembered something, “they made bets on who you were. They’re great people. Just a little too smart for their own good.”

“Sounds like someone I know.”

As they stepped onto the floor, hundreds of eyes followed them. All of the interns were here. Peter instinctively grabbed Dr. Banner’s sleeve and pulled the stunned man over to where stacks of dollar bills were being passed. Liz smiled up at them.

“Dr. Banner! This is going to save so many bees!” She shoved the bills into a bag labeled Honey Bee Health Coalition. The other interns at the table laughed. Their supervisors looked slightly uncomfortable.

Still holding his sleeve, Peter sat Dr. B down. It looked like it was taking all of his will power for the man not to run. Peter smiled at him. Bruce took a breath and smiled back. For Peter, he could do this.

Chapter Text

The lunch went as expected. Guest speakers spoke for far too long and awards were given out. Bruce patted Peter’s arm when he didn’t get an award, but it didn’t seem that Peter minded at all. The internship was more than enough.

Afterwards, people began standing and mingling. Bruce looked at the elevator, but they were already getting approached by several businessmen. Bruce Banner prepared to explain that the Hulk was in his past.

“Peter Parker! How are you doing? We’ve heard that you helped make that new synthetic rubber,” a large man in a business suit started.

“Any chance you might want to work in the chemistry lab next year? We can pay if that’s an issue,” said another businessman who was smaller. They spoke like it was rehearsed.

Peter looked at Bruce.

Dr. B looked uncomfortable, “of course you can.”

Peter’s face scrunched up. “That’s not what I meant! I’m coming back to your lab next year. How did they know I worked on that?”

“Oh,” said Bruce, much relieved. “No more point in redacting the public projects that won’t harm you if Tony knows now. His NDAs are completely binding and totally internal.”

The businessmen stood looking at Peter, who turned to them. “No thanks. I’ve got an internship.”

They left quickly, but Kyle came up next. “Dude! How are you? I mean since yesterday,” he laughed. “I was betting on Tony Stark, but so were most other people.”

Peter deadpanned, “He doesn’t even take interns”

“Exceptions could be made,” said a voice from behind Peter.

Peter didn’t even have to look, “very funny, Mr. Stark. I’ve got an internship.”

“Can’t I have this one thing?” Bruce said, looking at Tony tiredly

“Not very nice to call Peter a thing,” Stark joked

“What are you doing here?” Peter countered

“Realizing my mistakes. How’s it going?”

“It’s a start”

Suddenly Peter was very aware that all of the eyes in the room were on him. Kyle’s mouth was practically on the floor.

Bruce took one for the team, “well, Mr. Stark,” he said loudly, “it was good of you to come see myself and my intern”

“It’s Dr. Stark. I have a PhD.” Damn it, Tony.

“Then you can call me Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Banner because I have seven.” Peter chuckled at that one.

“Goodbye Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Banner,” said Tony, rolling his eyes. “I’ll see you later, I’m sure.”

Peter found it wildly hilarious that everyone who greeted Dr. B from then on said Dr. seven times. By the fourth time, he couldn’t contain his laughter.

“Worth it to make Tony say it,” whispered Bruce as they left. Peter agreed.

When they got back to the lab, Bruce looked sheepish. He presented Peter with a small, very cheap award that had “#1 intern” written on it in sharpie to cover some other award. Suddenly, Bruce was in a warm hug. It was different than before. It wasn’t Bruce comforting the boy. Peter’s arms were almost crushing him with pure joy.

That award sat on Peter’s shelf when he got home. It was better than any award he had ever seen. His Decathlon trophy had to be pushed back to accommodate the little award that was painted with fake gold, but Peter didn’t hesitate.

Chapter Text

The next few weeks of Peter’s life were normal. Well, normal for him at least. Papers were published. Spiders were experimented on. Trips to the book shop became a weekly event. Life was good.

Then Saturday when he got home, Natasha Romanov was sitting on his couch chatting with Aunt May. He could hear her from down the hall when he got in.

“No Spider-Man. I promise. Bruce just wants to take him to Wakanda to see the technology. I’ll be there the whole time.”

“When Tony Stark wanted to take him...”

“Bruce is not Tony.”

“Technically true”

“I’ll be going too.”

“How is that supposed to be comforting? You’re a spy”

“Well if anything goes sideways, Bruce won’t have to Hulk out and Peter can keep his secret.”

Peter opened the door and came in.

“Natasha? What are you doing here?” he said. He obviously knew why from overhearing, but he was also asking why Dr. Banner wasn’t here. It wasn’t like he even knew Natasha. She’d never even shown up at the book store to chat.

“Bruce is shit at sneaking in places. We can’t exactly give away your location. Email’s out because it can be hacked. Basically, I’m here because the trip is time sensitive and he wants to know if you’ll come.”

“How did you know about the trip,” said May

“He overheard. Got to be careful around those ears of his,” Natasha laughed.

Nodding, Peter sat on the couch across from the Black Widow. MJ would kill to be here, he thought.

“I’ll go”

“Peter! What if something happens?” May said.

“It won’t. And if it does I’ll have two avengers to take care of me.”

“Fine, but I want him back by tomorrow night seven pm.”

“You got it,” said an excited Black Widow. Peter didn’t know she could even make that face.

Thirty minutes later of climbing through vents and going in circles in an unmarked car, Peter was on his way to Wakanda sitting next to Dr. Banner. Of course Natasha was flying the plane. Peter watched the clouds and tried not to get too excited. How much more advanced could Wakanda really be? The skyline of a sprawling futuristic city answered him.

Chapter Text

Shuri rushed to the runway with an excited energy. T’Challa was bringing her a present today. It was supposed to be a secret, but as soon as her tech sensed an incoming plane, she knew it was going to be a smart foreigner.

She was holding out on finding a genius ever since Tony Stark had let her down. His mind was too set in its ways by the time she had met him. All that old age technology had muddied his thoughts, and he hadn’t been willing to relearn everything.

Her brother was already standing to greet the plane when she arrived. He gave her a tired but unsurprised look. You could never keep a secret around her.

Finally, the plane door opened. Black Widow stepped out. Wow she was pretty. Then Bruce Banner. BORING. She could just read his research online. Shuri turned to chastise her brother when a teenager with a boyish face and a mop of brown hair stepped out of the plane. He placed a hand on Bruce’s arm to steady himself. Ooh! Bruce Banner’s secret son. She could work with this!

Young enough to collaborate with and smart enough to learn Wakandan technology. And if he didn’t have a science background, she’d be a rhino’s behind. Bruce better have taught him engineering, she thought as they approached.

“Peter Parker,” the boy introduced himself. Damn. Adopted maybe? Still, if he was here, he was smart and nice enough to be trusted not to start an international incident.

“Shuri,” she responded. “Want to come to my lab?” His eyes lit up. Definitely a nerd, she smiled.

“Don’t break anything!” Exclaimed Bruce and T’Challa at the same time.

“Never,” Shuri replied, rolling her eyes and pulling Peter away while the adults went back to chatting. “So, Peter, do you want to blow some stuff up?”

“Absolutely!”

Chapter Text

“Wow,” Peter marveled when they finally got to Shuri’s lab. It was so different than his. There was a futuristic curvature to the architecture and a sterile but pleasant smell in the air. Peter kind of missed the dilapidated furniture that spotted Bruce’s lab, but he got over it incredibly quickly once he saw what was outside the window.

Vibranium. It was going too fast. It should have a exploded, but as he watched, it just zipped by harmlessly. When Peter looked back at Shuri, he saw her watching him.

“How? I get the magnetic levitation. That makes sense theoretically, but how are we not dead? The vibranium isn’t stable.”

Shuri looked like she approved. “Sonic stabilizers.”

“That explains literally nothing, but judging from your tone, it’s worked before,” Peter laughed. “Really, please tell me. And more than just haha sound waves make vibranium go brrr.”

“Are you a man of memes?!?” Shuri practically shouted

“Does Bernie Sanders wear mittens?”

“Oh my god. I’ll explain everything. Just never leave me again. No one here gets it.” Shuri really milked the last part, practically draping herself over a chair with her hand on her head as if it was all too much.

Just then, an intimidating woman in traditional clothes walked in. “Calm yourself, child,” she said in a beautiful Wakandan accent. “I’ve come to tell you not to get into too much trouble. I believe that I’ve been threatened for the first time in my life. That redhead wants her boy back in one piece.”

“Got it, Okoye. I’d never let harm come to such a cultured individual.”

“Alright, but no blowing things up. I overheard you earlier, and I’ll be keeping an eye on you.”

Shuri turned to Peter, “well, plan A is out. Are you really interested in the sonic stabilization?”

“Absolutely.”

“Then I suppose we have an activity after all.”

When Bruce came to pick Peter up from the lab at the end of the day, the boy was inside of a black sand model of a sonic stabilizer. Shuri had pulled up about six different screens to surround them. Instead of barging in, Banner decided to listen.

“Floppa is twice the size of Bingus. He would win in a fight,” Peter’s voice came out of the sand.

“You forget that Bingus has way more swag.” Responded Shuri.

“Floppa grew up on the streets. He’s a successful rapper. What do you mean Bingus has more swag???”

“Bingus was a president.”

“A dictator!”

Dr. Banner decided this was the best time to interject. “Peter, time to go!”

“Only if you tell Shuri that Floppa would win in a fight,” came a defiant voice from the sand.

How did he get into these situations? “Princess, I believe that Floppa, whoever that is, would win in a fight.”

“You don’t know Floppa!” Shuri exclaimed

“You’re a princess!?” Peter interrupted

“No, I’m some random person who has access to the entire palace. Of course I’m princess. I’m just wondering why you haven’t educated your father on meme culture. My brother at least knows who Floppa is.”

Peter and Bruce glanced at each other. “I’m actually his intern, but I do agree that he should know more about meme culture.”

“Ah, the spy is your mom. That makes an odd amount of sense.”

Peter blushed, “Nope. Just an intern.”

“If it helps, he’s our favorite intern,” Bruce contributed

“Hey! I’m your only intern,” laughed Peter. He extracted himself from the sand to gently shove Bruce on the arm.

“Hmm,” said Shuri, who didn’t look convinced. “Well bring Peter back soon. He’s hopelessly behind on vibranium tech. Besides, someone needs to educate him on meme lore.”

“You’re the one that needs educating! I’ll text you later, Shuri! This conversation isn’t over!”

Peter grinned as they left. It had almost been a normal field trip if he ignored the private jet and superheroes and crazy tech. Okay, so maybe it hadn’t been normal, but it had certainly been fun. Bruce fiddled with some paperwork while Peter played Shuri an online chess match. Somehow the flight home was so much longer than the flight there had been.

Chapter Text

“Darn it,” Peter exclaimed as they touched down. Bruce was too engrossed in his work to respond.

“Language,” Black Widow playfully chided. If only Steve could have been here. “What’s wrong, Little Spider?”

“So I take like all of Shuri’s chess pieces, right? Like everything except her queen and rook! But my king was castled and she put it in checkmate with her queen and rook. I’m mortified!”

“Ah, you focused on the battles instead of the war, interesting.”

“This isn’t philosophical! It’s embarrassing!”

“It’s definitely philosophical,” Bruce chimed in, gathering his papers. “But since Shuri is one of the smartest people alive, I think a loss to her is acceptable.”

“Have you ever lost to her?” Peter asked cheekily

“Perhaps”

“Aaah! I could have beaten you through her! This is so much worse.”

“Let me know if you ever win,” Bruce laughed. “For now, your ride home is here.”

A large black suburban pulled up along the now landed plane. Peter waved and hopped into it. As he left, Natasha turned to Bruce.

“Has anyone ever told you that your intern is a bit hyper?”

“Most people have the sense not to insult the Hulk’s intern.”

“I like him.”

“Me too.”

On the way home, Peter added Shuri to his group chat with her permission. Somehow he could foresee MJ flying to Wakanda without him some time in the future. Those two social justice warriors were going to love each other.

Peter
Meet Shuri, Princess of Wakanda, but I like to call her the queen of incorrect meme opinions. I met her through my internship.

Shuri
What’s up, Peter’s friends? Did you hear about the horrible loss in chess that I inflicted on Peter?

Ned
It was about time somebody beat him! I’m Ned.

MJ
I told him to stop castling his king but not protecting it. Nice to meet you. I’m MJ. What are your incorrect meme opinions?

Shuri
GameStop memes aren’t funny. They are a sign of a broken system created by the bourgeois.

MJ
Girl, we are going to get along just fine.

Ned
THEY ARE FUNNY

Peter
I’m torn. Should I invest?

Shuri
NO

MJ
NO

Ned
YES

Peter
Stonks!

The car rolled up to Peter’s apartment. He was home way before when he was told to be, so Aunt May wasn’t home. He made himself some macaroni. When he looked back at his phone, it said 127 unread messages. What had he done? He looked at the most recent messages.

Shuri
Who is his parent, really?

Ned
100% Thor

Shuri
Really?

MJ
No!

Chapter Text

When Peter got down to the lab half way through the week, he heard sniffling. Sick sniffling. When he opened the door, he saw Bruce Banner curled up on one of the many couches scattered around the huge lab. He was pale.

“Do I need to tell the big boss that you’re shirking?” Peter called out jokingly

“He already knows,” came a voice from one of the side rooms. Tony Stark popped out holding a bowl of soup. “And he’s attempting a bribe so that he might take you for the day.”

“Take me where?”

“You’ve got plenty of science background. I thought you might want to come to a meeting or two to see how the company is run. Pepper will be there!”

Peter glanced at Bruce. He did want to see Pepper, and he didn’t want to keep Dr. Banner from sleeping. Bruce nodded his assent to Peter weakly.

“Alright, I’ll come. I’m not dressed for it, though.” Peter had shown up in some well worn jeans and a t-shirt that said “√−1 2³ ∑ 𝛑 and it was delicious”

“Neither am I,” grinned Tony, in an equally silly shirt.

Peter took a few of his favorite books down from the shelf and put them next to Bruce, who had fallen back asleep.

As they left, Tony peered back into the room. His eyes caught on a little name plaque on Bruce’s desk. It had “Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Banner” written neatly on it. That wasn’t Dr. Banner’s scribbling.

Peter glanced up at Tony and caught the end of a jealous look. It was gone in an instant, but Peter had seen it. Now if he could only figure out what Tony was jealous of.

Chapter Text

The elevator took Peter and Tony up to one of the highest floors. They stepped out onto an incredibly open lobby that looked on to the city. Sun filtered in through the windows, casting long lines of light onto the floor. Several glass doors led to various rooms, and Tony started walking toward one.

“What’s the meeting about, Mr. Stark?” Peter asked, trotting along to make up for Tony’s longer stride.

“Budget, maybe. Or renewable energy. Something that Pepper said I needed to come to.”

Of course Mr. Stark didn’t know what the meeting was about. Still, it was nice to get some natural light after working in the basement so much.

The conference room they entered was glass. A expensive looking wooden table was in the center of it with Pepper at the head of it. Chairs for assistants surrounded it, flush with the wall like those seen in governmental buildings. All the seats were filled except for one for Tony at the table and one for Peter on the wall. With a small wave to Pepper, Peter sat.

For the next twenty minutes, the businessmen talked about new renewable energies and technologies. An older man was talking about textile strengths when Peter perked up.

“Currently, we have no way to mass produce an effective polymer to extract the oil spill which happened in the pacific. My apologies,” said an older man.

Pepper started cutting into him about wildlife while Tony leaned back in his chair. Peter stuck a foot under it and tapped out WEB in morse code.

Tony, knowing Peter’s super hearing, tapped under the table lightly SURE?

YES

“I do believe that we can develop a polymer that can resolve the spill. I will get it to you for testing as soon as possible,” Tony interrupted.

“Thank you, Tony,” answered Pepper, too intelligent to ask where this tech had been for all the other oil spills.

Peter smiled to himself. Then, he glanced to his right. A personal assistant was staring at him. Damn it. He forgot they were all nerds here. Quickly, he typed a new message.

NEW. Then he added another message in an original morse code that he came up with on the fly. THE QUICK FOX JUMPED OVER THE LAZY DOG.

GOT IT, came Tony’s response in the new code.

The assistant looked sufficiently confused. BORING

TRUE

“Tony, what are your opinions developing a human genetics lab?” asked a female board member.

NO!, came Peter’s soft tapping.

“I have strong feelings against altering human genetics in any other way than preventing disease. There will be no attempts to develop genetically altered individuals or the studying of already modified people.”

“Thank you, Dr. Stark.”

By the end of the meeting, Peter and Mr. Stark were sending equations back and forth, having taken a few minutes to turn mathematical notations into morse code.

When everyone finally left, Pepper stayed back to walk with Tony and Peter. “At least you didn’t fall asleep this time,” she said to Tony. “Good to see you, Peter. How’s your internship going?”

“Very well! I don’t think that I’m cut out for board meetings, though.”

“You’re just like Tony,” she said, messing Peter’s hair. “Have fun at the lab. I’ll bring some lunch down in a few hours.”

“The lab?” Peter asked excitedly

Tony nodded, “we might as well develop the web now. I’m sure everyone will be on my back about it by tonight. Are you ready to save some penguins?”

“The spill was next to Mexico.”

“And I’m sure there are some penguins there.”

Peter rolled his eyes as they walked back to the elevator, but Tony just chuckled in response.

Chapter Text

Tony’s lab was, of course, stunning. The architecture was all sharp lines and light colors. A wall of windows allowed one to look over the city just like in the conference room. It was large, but each space had a purpose. It looked as if everything had a place as well, but it was hard to tell with several projects drawing all the tools toward them. An Ironman suit that stood at the far end and a few black widow shaped grenades were the largest of the projects currently.

“Are you going to come in or just stand there?” Mr. Stark asked. It seemed that Peter had frozen at the doorway to stare. Oops.

“This is really cool, Mr. Stark!” said Peter as he began walking over to the chemistry area where Tony was waiting.

“Thanks. Pepper had a team design the layout. I must admit that it is helpful when I’m working on one project at a time. Unfortunately, that’s never the case.” Tony smiled fondly, “but let’s get started on that web. Where are the specs for your regular stuff?”

“Oh. It will take me a few minutes to draw it up. I think a good starting point would be the stuff I use when it’s raining.”

“I can get a drone to run and get your notes. Where do you keep them. And, kid, I swear if you say online, we are going to have a serious talk about internet security.”

“Nah. Too dangerous. I keep it all up here,” Peter tapped his head, “I’ll put it down if you think it’s secure, though.”

“Petey, how many formulas do you have for the webs?”

“Forty six bases currently, but I make alterations depending on the mission.”

Tony just stood there for a moment. Yes he knew the kid was smart. He went to that fancy school and he made his web formula, but it was just dawning on him that this wasn’t just MIT smart. Other people didn’t come up with morse code and debate math answers using it.

He felt a little less alone. He knew it was dumb, really, he had access to the smartest of every field with just a phone call. He had an advantage in his intelligence, but that didn’t change the fact that he had tried to drink it away for years. This kid hadn’t gone down that path.

“Mr. Stark? Are you listening? I think I’ll add some saw dust or a similar cheap material to offset the cost. Maybe we can get it as waste from a factory you own.”

“Sounds good, Peter. I’ll go work on my suit while you draw up the original formula. Use paper, and we’ll burn it at the end.”

“You got it!”

Then, Tony did something that he shouldn’t have. He hacked Bruce’s system. It shouldn’t have mattered to him if the spider had boosted Peter’s intelligence, but somehow it did. With Peter in the same room, Tony looked at the results of the experiment with the bugs he had planted the day he had gone down there as Iron Man. Why risk removing them if no one would find out and you weren’t going to use them?

Spider Trials n=500
Background Research
Oscorp Results
Human Trial n=1

He clicked

Chapter Text

Loading Physical Enhancements...

Lift: at least 12.5 tons
Mile time: 2:17
Healing factor: ~4 times normal
Reflexes: 12 times normal
Reflexes to danger: 27 times normal

If trends continue, the subject’s powers should continue to increase exponentially until at least their early 20s.

IQ: 250
Emotional intelligence: Normal???
//Ask Dr. B for measurement technique
//He says to change it but he doesn’t know coding
/* know the basics... I just get confused -Dr. B
You just made everything a comment! You know nothing! I’ll end it for you -P */
Recall: Perfect

There has been no change in intelligence from the spider. Senses are heightened, but processing remains the same.

“Tony! I need help with this!” Peter called.

“Coming!” The kid was normal smart. Well, not normal smart, but he had gotten smart in the normal way. Good. Tony moved on, closing the files as simply as he would have if they were actually suit diagrams.

“Will this work alright?” Peter held up a mass of webs blackened by oil that was dripping onto the diagrams. Tony grabbed them out from under Peter’s hands and wiped up the oil drops.

“Probably! How about we add a bit more of the third compound for stability and run a few tests over lunch. Go wash up.”

“You got it, Mr. Stark.”

Tony took the most recent iteration of the equation and put the rest in the incinerator. He watched them burn. You could never be to careful. He did care about the kid.

Peter was practically skipping when he came back. “Look who I found!”

Pepper, Natasha, and a blanket covered, wheelchair bound Bruce came in. Natasha was pushing Bruce in the chair while Peter handed him spider webs to look at.

“Welcome to my lab, everybody,” Tony answered, slightly disgruntled. Peter didn’t notice.

“And then I thought, what if we added some sawdust, and it helped!” Peter explained to Bruce as the takeout food was distributed. It was so good to see Bruce up and awake.

Tony took a breath and let the chatter wash over him.

Chapter Text

“Tony, can I take Peter for a bit? I figure that I better teach him some hand to hand combat,” Natasha asked when they finished up lunch.

“Please!” chimed in a very excited Peter.

“I guess we are about finished with the oil net. Peter, I’m going to add some random compounds and dyes to make this look less like your web. I’ll also leave you out of the credit line to protect your identity. Sorry about that.”

“Can it be purple?” Peter was already cleaning up the takeout in anticipation.

“Sure, bud.”

Natasha looked at Tony for a moment. “I’ll try to bring him back in one piece. Come on, Peter.”

They left, and Pepper took Bruce back down to the lab.

When Nat finally got Peter into the training room, a large warehouse that looked like a boxer’s dream gym, he had told her absolutely every detail of the Star Wars movies.

“I like the originals better, but...”

“Fight me,” Natasha commanded, as she pulled herself up onto a padded platform. She had pulled her hair into a ponytail.

Peter stopped talking. He was nervous. “Are you sure?”

“You’ll be fine. I promised Tony I wouldn’t hurt you.” Then, when Peter didn’t move, she continued. “I’ve taken hits from Captain America. Pull your punches, and I’ll survive. No other powers, though.”

Still silent, Peter pulled himself up to the platform she was on. She lunged at him, flipping and pinning him with a quick sweep under his knees and a jab to his airway. They were both on the floor in an instant, but she’d seen him flinch before she struck.

“Why didn’t you dodge?” She was on top of him in a hold designed especially for Steve, her limbs pinning all of his.

“No powers.” His breath was too steady for someone who had just taken a punch to the throat.

“Fine. You can use that one. Try to get up.”

Peter flicked his foot from the ankle, and he was standing. Nat looked like a small child clinging to him. She carefully got down.

“That is,” she stopped, usually at this point, she called Steve freaky good. The freak part didn’t sit well with her now. “so cool,” she ended.

“Really?” Peter was ecstatic.

“But you didn’t punch me”

“I don’t punch people. I could kill them. I just web them up and leave.”

Natasha nodded. “Fair. Do you even know how to throw a punch?”

Peter lightly punched her on the shoulder in response.

“So, that’s a no,” Natasha laughed. “Show me your fist.” He held out his closed hand. “The thumb does not go inside your curled fingers unless you want to break it. Surely you YouTubed this?” She adjusted his hand into a perfect fist.

“I don’t punch people.” Peter was looking a bit sheepish.

“Well, you might need to punch a super person at some point. Do you want to learn? Even if no, your stance could definitely use some work.”

“Yeah. Teach me. And my stance is fine. I just stick to the floor to take hits.”

Natasha kicked his legs out from under him. “Looks like I can surprise you if I don’t punch.”

“You’re the worst,” Peter smiled as he got back up.

The rest of the afternoon was filled with broken sand bags and creative almost curses from Nat. At two thirty, Tony knocked on the door. Peter jumped out of a choke hold to open it, leaving an impressed Black Widow splayed out on the floor.

“Peter needs to get home. How’d it go, Nat?” Tony said upon entering.

“Remind me to take some time off to go to a fight club. Superpowers just wound my ego.” Breathing hard, she trotted over to where they were standing. “The boy barely knew how to punch. I’m training him twice a week after his internship until he does.”

“Done,” responded Tony.

“You’ve got to call Aunt May,” interrupted Peter.

“Will do...”

“Got it...”

“Either of you. I don’t care,” Peter giggled as he left. He had to catch his train home.

Natasha looked at Tony and then the ruined sand bags. “Will you get him some of Steve’s old stuff?”

“Yeah. No missions, though. Are we clear?”

“Crystal,” responded Nat, holding her tongue about who exactly had tried to send the kid on missions.

Chapter Text

Peter was deconstructing his spider setup in lab B the next day while Bruce sat and watched. He was still a bit weak from being sick, but Peter had been allowed back in the lab.

“I can’t believe how much data we got, Dr. B. Spiders seem to be one of the best transmitters of radiation ever studied.”

“Yes. They are incredible. You did a great job on the experiment, Peter.”

Peter looked up. Bruce was distracted, which wasn’t unusual, but this was different. There was nothing in his hands, and he was looking at Peter in a facade of attentiveness.

“What’s up? You’ve barely touched your tea. Are you still sick? I can go.”

“No. It’s just,” Bruce paused, breathing out slowly, “Your school starts back up in two weeks.”

“Oh.”

“You really could come back here any time. I don’t think Nat remembered this was a summer thing when she offered to train you, but you could still come around after school a few days a week. If it’s okay with May, of course.”

“Yes!” Bruce was enveloped in a hug... he never had gotten better at predicting those.

“So you’d be alright with that? Continuing your internship,” Bruce asked. Peter pulled back and giggled.

“You’re crazy. Of course I am, but Mr. Stark might have some opinions.”

“Alright. I’ll deal with him while you go up to lunch. Say hi to your little friends for me.” We waved Peter to the elevator while reaching for his rotary phone. It had a sticky note on it that said “I’m not learning how to use this until you learn coding.” After carefully peeling the sticker off, he made the call.

Peter arrived at the intern lunch hall like he always did, uneventfully. He said hello to Zara, Emanuel, Vanessa and Kyle, sitting at their little corner table to eat.

“Dr. B says hello. How’s your research going, Emanuel? I hear you found a new way to reduce the chance of combustion.”

“What he means is, has it exploded again?” Kyle helpfully supplied.

Emanuel’s covered face gave them their answer. He finally squeaked out a defeated, “yes, and not a word from you, Peter. I’ll be in the industry soon enough, and you’ll probably be running it in ten years. I’ve got to prove myself.”

“You got it,” answered Peter.

A personal assistant came up to their table. She held out a crinkled sack lunch. “For Peter Parker,” she said, placing it on the table. Hold up, that was morse code personal assistant.

“Thanks,” Peter waited for her name.

“Brianne”

“Thanks, Brianne.” She scurried off to her next task as Peter opened it.

There were at least two dozen cookies in the package. The other interns, who had long since gotten used to the strangeness surrounding Peter, continued talking. A note was at the bottom of the bag. “Natasha said she’d kill me if you got any skinnier. Pepper agreed. I hope you enjoy my attempt at baking -TS”

“Y’all want some cookies?” They tasted like they were baked by a child, but the group enjoyed them. Peter ate six.

Chapter Text

Natasha was on a couch in the lab when Peter got back. He gave her a quizzical look, and she walked over to his desk.

“It’s time for your weekly outing with Bruce, but he got caught up in a meeting. I figured that I might escort you to that little bookshop,” she started

“A meeting?”

“Yes. With the Wakandan king. I believe they are talking about Vibranium exports.”

“Wait here one second.” If anyone else had told Nat they’d be dead... or at least flipped on the floor. She watched in amusement as Peter ran to pop his head out of the lab door.

“FRIDAY, is Shuri in the building?” He asked, once he was outside of the lab.

“Yes. She is currently getting a tour of the public chemistry labs.” Peter ran back inside.

“Nat, she’s getting a tour meant for the public. She’s probably bored out of her mind. Can we break her out. Please??? We can bring her to the book shop. We’ve got fifteen minutes if we hurry.”

Natasha looked at Peter like he was crazy. She took in his puppy dog eyes and his eager expression. That girl probably was bored. “Fine.”

“What’s the fastest way to the chem labs?”

“Vents.” Months of being told no missions had made Nat eager.

“Can someone non powered realistically use them?”

“Yes,” she said, leaving the lab and pulling a section out of the outdoor wall. “If you get caught, they’ll just think that I brought you along.”

They made quick work of navigating the building with Natasha leading the way. It only took five minutes to get into the ceiling of the chemistry lab. They found a vent in the ceiling, but like all of the ones in the building, it was sound proof and opaque. Nat silently cursed Clint for revealing himself to Tony that one time. It was a lovely prank, but it had revealed many flaws in the system.

Peter popped open the vent and stuck his head out. “Sup, Shuri!”

Six spears were in his face. Bruce Banner stared. Tony Stark started giggling. T’Challa, the Wakandan king put a hand up, stilling the women with weapons. Oops. Shuri was not alone.

“Peter!!!” Shuri grinned ear to ear. “Brother, it is my favorite colonizer. He’s come to save me from this terribly boring tour.”

Black Widow stuck her head down to help explain Peter’s presence in the vents. Tony was still laughing, and Bruce had finally cracked a smile.

“Nat, I told you to take him to the book store.”

“He wanted to pick up a friend.”

Peter looked at Shuri and offered a hand, “Ned and MJ will be there. Come on!” With very unneeded help from Natasha, they hauled her into the vent.

“I’m going too,” commanded one of the armed women. Okoye lifted herself into the vent so that there was no room to argue.

Unable to resist, Shuri stuck her head back down out of the vent. “Have fun, Brother.”

He glared at her affectionately. “Keep your phone on. Enjoy yourself, little sister.”

Chapter Text

Natasha led the group to a vent and helped everyone out. The security guard who saw them just rolled his eyes and said something into his earpiece. Peter looked at Nat to see her reaction, but she just waved hello to the guard and showed everyone the exit.

Peter fell back to talk to Shuri while they walked. It seemed like Okoye and Nat were actually enjoying chatting ahead of them. It sounded like they were debating the fastest way to kill someone.

“So, Shuri, how’ve you been?” Peter asked. The vents hadn’t been conducive to talking, but he was excited to see her.

“Good! I’m so glad I got out of that tour. The guide was great, but he’s not used to doing tours for the literal owner of the company.”

“Did he freak out when he saw Mr. Stark?”

“Absolutely. Took him like ten minutes to calm down. Then he realized who my brother was and freaked out all over again.”

“That’s hilarious. I’ll send some cookies down there or something. The poor dude!”

“And then you popped out of the ceiling with Black Widow and he almost died.”

“Maybe I should deliver those cookies myself, then,” Peter laughed.

When they got within a block of the bookshop, Peter jogged ahead. He wanted to see his friends faces when Shuri walked in.

“Guys! Close your eyes. I’ve got a surprise.”

MJ rolled her eyes before closing them. Ned covered his with his hands.

“Open them!”

“Shuri!!!” It was a testament to MJ’s friendship with Shuri that it took her several seconds to realize that Black Widow was also there. She gave a very uncharacteristic nervous hello.

While the girls were hugging, Peter showed Nat and Okoye to their usual table. Ned waved and soon everyone was sitting with cups of tea in their hands.

“Then, he popped out of the ceiling!”

Ned laughed while MJ gave him that “it’s a wonder so few people know you’re Spider-Man” look.

“What? Natasha said she could take me to you through the vents and it’s not like I knew everyone else would be there!”

“You’re an idiot!”

“I’ve never denied that.”

“So, Shuri, what have you been up to?” Ned finally chimed in. She always had cool stories.

“I found a new way to start repairing the atmosphere! It requires vibranium and arc reactors, so my brother is here for negotiations. Hopefully it works out! What are y’all up to?”

“I’m almost done with my college courses. Just two weeks until school starts up!”

“I’m going to miss this place,” said MJ. “I’ll work on weekends, but it will be nice to get back to school.”

“Nerd,” said Peter. She punched him on the arm.

They chatted about science and philosophy and new movies for a long while. Occasionally Natasha or Okoye would chime in with a comment on the inaccuracy of a movie stunt or an opinion on one of the subjects. They seemed to have a lot in common.

Eventually, the door of the bookshop chimed as people entered. People never came in here. Peter looked up to see Tony, Bruce, T’Challa and the group of well armed women.

“We figured we’d grab a drink before we sent T’Challa on his way. MJ, would you mind getting everyone some tea?” Bruce asked.

She grinned. Yep, she was definitely keeping this place in business.

Everyone sat in the small shop. It was pleasantly loud as they chatted. From the front windows, a strange scene was laid out before passers by if they were to look in.

A king sat with high schoolers and Bruce Banner and while Tony Stark discussed quantum theory with a princess. Black Widow demonstrated a flip combo to the Wakandans in exchange for pointers on fighting super powered individuals. When the time came to go, no one wanted to leave.

Chapter Text

Peter dropped off a bunch of cookies at the tour office, which was now affectionately calling him colonizer before he went up to check in with the intern office. He’d have to thank Shuri for that one later. On the way up he was in the elevator with a few computer programmers.

“The system is fried. I can’t program on something that can’t process what I’m inputting.”

“Just ask chem boy.”

“You mean the kid from engineering?”

“I’m pretty sure he’s in the entomology department with Liz. Regardless, he can solve it.”

The suited men looked at him.

Peter smiled. “The robotics lab is getting rid of their CAD systems for new ones. You could hook them up together and make a low level super computer.”

“See. I told you.”

The elevator stopped. Tony Stark stepped onto it.

“Hey, Pete. Pepper took your suggestion about the personal assistants to heart. They all got the day off. Mind bringing lunch up to us?”

“You’re ridiculous. Yes but only because Dr. B is going out to lunch with Mr. Harrington and my friends are working. What are you even doing on a public elevator?”

“Cornering you. Bye.” Tony stepped out onto one of the upper floors, and Peter realized he had overridden the elevator. They had to go all the way back down to get to their floors.

As Peter stepped out onto his floor, he heard the computer guys whisper behind him. Stark boy, they agreed was a better name.

“Morning, Mrs. Andrews. Morning, Liz. Morning, Kyle.”

Everyone waved as he walked by. He would miss this during the school year, but at least he could come back outside of the internship program.

He took the elevator back down to lab B and started working on a project. Bruce was up and working on something too.

“Peter, how many work days until you go back to school?” Dr. B called out from across the lab.

“Eight.”

“Okay. Anything you want to do before then?”

Peter thought for a second. “Make a set of cool knives for Natasha. I figure it’s so nice of her to train me that I should make her something cool.”

“Your wish is my command! What metal do you want?”

“I’ll just go with titanium. I’m going to etch some designs on it to add some flair. By the way, I’m going to bring Tony and Pepper some lunch while you are out.”

“Okay. Ask for any special equipment you need while you’re up there.”

Peter started coding. He had a pet project. After months of actual work, this was just going to be fun. By the time lunch came, he’d designed four knives of varying sizes and a leather holster for them. He practically had to tear himself away from the computer. He headed up to the dining floor thinking about what other cool stuff he could make before he left.

Chapter Text

Peter swore that the elevators were never this crowded when he had started as an intern. He rode up to the dining floor and chatted with a few of the people he had worked with in the chemistry lab. They gave him some updates on how the polymer was doing and what new projects he might come and see. Despite how cool it was, Peter was relieved to step off onto his floor.

With a tuna sandwich for Pepper, burger for Mr. Stark, and a few slices of pizza for himself, he went to the top of the building. He was starting to see the advantage of private elevators, but as soon as he saw Liz, he couldn’t resist taking the public one.

“How’s your day going, Peter? Do anything fun today?” Liz was the absolute best.

“I saw a cool lizard on my walk here!”

“Nice! I saw a butterfly up on the roof a few days ago. I have no idea how it got up that high. I brought I down on the elevator, but don’t tell Mrs. Andrews.”

“You have my word,” promised Peter as Liz stepped out.

When he finally arrived at the penthouse, Peter was too tired to be amazed at the view. Much to Tony’s amazement, the kid just tossed them their meals and sat down on the couch with them.

“Hi, Pepper! Hi, Mr. Stark!”

“It’s Tony.”

“For every time you correct me, I’ll call you Dr. Stark just to mess with you.”

Pepper grinned at him. Tony needed more sassy people in his life, she thought. Too many sycophants, even unintentional ones, surrounded him.

“I’ll start calling you Mr. Parker, then,” Tony countered.

“Good. I am an intern after all.”

“You two are ridiculous,” Pepper finally interjected. “Thank you for the food, Peter. Brianne was definitely stressed despite my best efforts. I guess I forgot that some people don’t entirely give up their lives to be someone’s assistant,” she threw a fake glare at Tony.

“You’re the CEO,” he protested.

“And before that?”

“You were very undervalued and I’m extremely sorry.”

“Good.”

Peter hadn’t seen this type of play between adults for a long time. It was no one’s fault really, but growing up with just May had meant a lot of nights of TV dinners alone or just them watching a show. This was different. He liked it.

“How’s being a CEO going?” Peter asked.

“I’m forever grateful for those NDAs. Three separate people have asked me who you are today.” She looked at his stunned face, “No, no. It’s because Tony brought you to that meeting. Well, and that every single problem you hear about is resolved within a few hours. Good job on those programmers, by the way.”

“Thanks.”

“Bruce told me you still wanted to intern once school started up. I’ll make sure it happens, but you’re always welcome up here.”

“Thanks.”

They all chatted for a bit about which intern was most likely to run a department eventually (apparently Tony had started keeping tabs on them) and what type of ice-cream was best. By the time it was time to go, Peter felt a bit reluctant to.

He got on the elevator and turned to look back at Tony. Was that guilt on his face? Peter shook his head. Best not to worry. Besides, he had some knives to make for Nat.

Chapter Text

Peter worked on the throwing knives part time for the rest of his week. They had little spiders arranged so each spider’s legs interlocked with the next’s to create an unbroken pattern. Favors had been called in to get assistance in making sure they would fly straight and land correctly.

Bruce clapped Peter on the back when he saw them. “Nat will love those. When are you going to give them to her?”

“When we train today.”

“Well, get on with it, then. I know you’re eager. You can leave a bit early if you want.”

“Thanks Dr. B!” Peter was out of the door before Bruce could say anything else. He just chuckled and got back to work on a new radiation apparatus.

Peter took the elevator to the training floor, realized he still needed to check out from his internship, took the elevator back down to the intern floor, and finally arrived five minutes late totally unaware that everyone who had seen him was wondering why he was carrying a intricate leather satchel labeled “throwing knives”.

“Peter!” Natasha called from their training area.

“I’m here!” Peter called, running in.

“You’re late.”

“And you’re early?” Peter attempted. He hid the bag behind his back.

Natasha made an ineffective grab. Peter scurried up the wall and tucked the package in a brace that held up the ceiling.

“It’s for the end of our lesson,” Peter declared, climbing back down.

“Sure it is. Get down here and fight me, Mr. Spideyboy.”

“Hey!”

“In Russia you have to earn the title of man.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s a lie, and we’re not even in Russia.”

An hour later, Peter was tired in ways he never knew he could be after the transformation. His muscles actually burned from using Captain America’s old equipment. Nat was having trouble hiding that she was impressed.

“Okay, Peter, I’ve got to admit you did okay.”

“I bench pressed an elephant!”

“You did fine. Bring down that package and we’ll talk.”

Peter lost his lethargy. He jumped up to the package and dropped back down in a heartbeat.

“You’ve got to be nice about it. They’re the first set I’ve ever made. I got help from some of the engineering guys and the chemistry team helped me with the etching. But they might not be what you’re used to. I know Mr. Stark makes most of your weapons. And I know you’re used to military issue stuff,” Peter looked up.

Nat was looking at his hands. The bag was still closed. “Peter, I have no idea what you’re talking about, but thank you.”

“Oh! Oops. I mean. It’s fine if you don’t like them. You don’t have to keep them.”

“Peter. The bag. You need to open it.”

Peter sheepishly unclasped the leather bag. Four gorgeous knives stared back at Natasha. They looked stunningly sharp, and the design was stunningly unique. The spiders were not black widows. They were larger with gentler curves. They looked friendly, even set on the edge of a knife.

“For training me,” Peter explained.

Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. “Thank you, Peter, they’re beautiful.”

“Are you alright?”

She wasn’t alright. She wasn’t supposed to get a kid. They said they taken that from her. They said it was a weakness. “Yes.”

“I’ve got to catch the train home. See you later Nat! Don’t do anything with those that I wouldn’t do!”

“Stay safe, Peter!” What a wonderful weakness to have.

Chapter Text

“What do you think I should get Dr. Banner as a thank you present?” Peter asked Aunt May as she made them dinner. She’d grown used to his stories about his internship over the summer.

“Maybe something from those books he likes or some art for his lab. You’ve told me there’s not many decorations there. What did Natasha think about those knives?”

“I think she liked them! She told me they were pretty.” Peter grabbed his laptop to sit on the couch and browse gift ideas with. It had to be something personal but not big enough to make Dr. B uncomfortable. It was a shame that not everyone advertised their interests like Nat.

Dr. B liked books, specifically old paperbacks. He liked puns and jokes too. He listened to classical music and pop together on shuffle which amused Peter to no end. He despised that little rotary phone despite using it every day because it was the only thing that worked in his very secure lab... that was it!

“May, I’m going to build him a cell phone. One that can plug into the wall or work outside. It will be great!”

Aunt May laughed. MJ still complained that he hadn’t added enough features to the computer he’d given her. Mainly she lamented the fact that it didn’t have an off button... it could process more data than all the school computers combined, but you had to pop out the battery to turn it off.

“Stop laughing! I’ll double check it has everything this time!” Peter said as he took his bowl of pasta and ran to his room. Aunt May knew better than to try to get him to eat with her when he was this excited.

The next few nights, he holed up in his room working on it. Ned brought over a few broken phones and MJ wrote several paragraphs of feedback about her computer. Shuri even took a look at it on FaceTime under the promise of complete secrecy. She reminded Peter that it needed a charging port.

When he went to Stark Tower the Thursday before before school started, he brought the phone with him. He didn’t want to forget it Friday, so he stuck it in his desk. Thirty minutes into the day, he got an email from Mr. Stark

Kid,
Do you have time to chat? If so, come to my lab.
-Tony

“Dr. B, Mr. Stark wants to chat. Do you need me for the next hour?”

“Nah. Just be back in time for lunch.”

Peter took the elevator up, and no one else was there. Odd. He stepped up out on the top floor. Tony Stark sat on a couch and pointed for Peter to sit opposite him. Peter didn’t need a spidey sense to see a “talk” coming. He braces himself for a telling off. He readied himself to defend an action he’d forgotten he’d taken or a word he’d forgotten he’d said.

“Peter, I’m an absolute idiot sometimes.” Tony Stark was sitting in front of him admitting he was an idiot. No, not Tony Stark, Mr. Stark. Tony. Tony was admitting he was wrong. What for?

“Yes.” Peter agreed.

“There’s no excuse. You’re a good kid. Bruce has never done anything like this and lord knows he’s traumatized too. I hacked into the computers in lab B to look at what happened to you after the bite. I’m sorry. There’s no excuse.”

How dare he? Boundaries had been set. Peter calmed himself. “Why?”

“I wanted to know if you were smart before the bite. I wanted to know and I didn’t stop myself because I let myself be selfish and egotistical. No need to say anything. I just wanted you to know.”

“At least you told me,” Peter conceded. He looked shaken, but Tony looked even more so. “I’m telling Bruce and Nat. I’m sure they’ll yell at you a bit, but thanks for telling me. When did you do it?”

“The day you came to the meeting.” Tony looked sick.

“When did you hack in?”

“The day I came down to the lab.”

“Fine. I’ll see you later Mr. Stark.” Peter got up to leave.

“You don’t have to. You can stay and have everything you have with Bruce and Nat and even Pepper and never see me again if you want.”

“I’ll think about it.” With that, Peter stepped onto the elevator and went down.

Tony had betrayed him. Tony had admitted it. But this was the second time it had happened. Still, it wasn’t likely to happen again. The elevator ride was long and silent, filled with Peter’s thoughts.

Both Nat and Dr. Banner were sitting in the lab when Peter walked in. Natasha looked up and sense something was wrong.

“What’s up, Peter?”

“Mr. Stark hacked my computer to read about my transformation a few weeks ago and just now told me,” Peter said as he slumped into a chair.

Bruce was sitting next to him in an instant. He looked upset. Nat calmly.

“I could use my new knife set,” she suggested.

“Natasha!” Bruce exclaimed.

“I’m just saying it’s an option.” This got a tiny smile from Peter. “What do you want to do, Peter?”

“I want to go get some ice cream and sit on the roof.” He didn’t look horrible, but he didn’t look good either.

“Done.” Natasha said. She grabbed some pillows and blankets. When Bruce continued to sit, she yanked him up and gently pushed him to the doorway.

“FRIDAY, clear the old Avengers outdoor patio and get someone to leave ice cream on it.” Natasha instructed the IA in the elevator.

“How are you, Peter?” Dr. B finally asked.

“I’ve been better. I’ve been worse. He said I didn’t have to change anything if I didn’t want to see him again, but I like Mr. Stark. He does care.”

“Well you don’t have to think about it now if you don’t want to,” interjected Nat. She led the two of them to the balcony and set up the pillows on an old outdoor couch. Several gallons of ice cream sat beside it. It truly was a pretty day. Even so high up, the air was a breezy sort of warm. “This is where I sat until I was ready to think about things. It worked for me.”

A while later, Peter spoke. He was half way through his gallon of ice cream. “How do I start?”

“What do you want?”

“I want to be Spider-Man,” Peter started. “I want to be a scientist. I want to be friends with Mr. Stark, but I want to be respected,” he looked back at Natasha. She nodded. He looked at Bruce. He smiled reassuringly. “I want to learn to fight. I want to learn how to write better. I want my friends to be safe. I want Aunt May to be happy. I want to keep my identity a secret until I’m ready.”

“It’s alright, Peter,” said Bruce. Natasha gestured for Bruce not to intervene.

“I want to feel normal.” Peter was crying now. His intelligence was always the normal part about him. How many people thought it was enhanced like Mr. Stark did? “I want to be treated like I’m normal.”

“How are you going to do that?” Bruce asked kindly.

“I’m going to go back to school. I’m going to ask Mr. Harrington not to mention the internship. I’m going to train with Natasha and go be Spider-Man when I want to. I’ll work with you on lab stuff, and if I feel like saying hi to Mr. Stark, I will.”

“Good,” said Natasha. She looked at the tired boy. “I’m driving you home. You’ll come back tomorrow for your last day.”

“Okay.” Peter felt like his limbs were trying to drag him down. They were sore from training and he was just so emotionally drained.

Bruce picked Peter up despite knowing Nat could do it. “I’m coming too.” They were an odd trio, but since FRIDAY respectfully overrode the elevator, no one saw.

They put him in bed and explained to Aunt May as he slept. Peter’s tears stained the pillow again, but they were fewer of them this time. Natasha was no longer outside the window, she was in his apartment. Bruce wasn’t miles away. He was there too. Tony wasn’t waiting to apologize. He already had. It was the same and yet so so very different.

Chapter Text

Peter felt solidly okay on Friday. He got up and dressed as always. He went to the tower and took the elevator up to the intern floor. The elevator was empty. Normalcy unless he sought out something else. Good.

The office was decorated with going away banners. Hugs were given and received. Even Mrs. Andrews seemed misty eyed.

“You all stay in touch until next year, alright?” She said to the youngest group. “Everyone else does. I’ll even set you up with a tour for your family if you’re ever back in town during the school year.”

“You got it, Mrs. Andrews,” said Kyle. Everyone else nodded.

Phone numbers were exchanged, and everyone headed for their final day of work.

“Dr. B! What are we working on?” Peter shouted just like every other day.

“Just some straightening up and messing with on dark matter,” said Bruce. He climbed down from one of the larger machines.

“Very funny.”

“Fine, just straightening up, but we will be moving dark matter as we straighten up.”

“Hmm.” Peter started making stacks of papers by subject matter.

“You doing alright?” Bruce asked.

“Yeah.”

They worked with some music in the background. It was soft for Peter’s hearing and classical for Bruce’s tastes. Peter finished picking up papers and started dusting. Bruce used a small vacuum and barely looked up when Peter climbed on the ceiling to dust a few of the taller machines.

Around noon they ate take out and debated whether anti matter was even real. Neither really chose a side, but they debated any way.

“I’ve got something for you,” Peter said when they’d decided the data was too vague to tell. “It’s a present.”

He opened the drawer where his Frankenstein cell phone sat. “It has texting and calling. And most importantly, it can hook up to the one phone line you have in here!” It was silver with a little engraving on the back.

Return to Dr. Bruce Banner

“Thank you, Peter.” Bruce held it gingerly like it might break, but the phone was actually quite sturdy. It was reinforced and had a keyboard that slid out from behind it like an old flip phone.

“You’re welcome, Dr. B.” Peter picked up their takeout containers as Bruce plugged in the phone where the old rotary had been.

“Is this just a trick to avoid learning how to use my old phone?” Bruce joked.

“Absolutely.”

“Well at least I got something out of it. Really, Peter, thank you. I’m going to miss having you around.”

“I’ll still come by after school a few days a week!”

“Well, even if you somehow get too busy, make sure to text Nat and I with updates.”

“Duh. Now, let’s finish up cleaning before I have to go home.”

Peter and Bruce had the lab spotless by two pm. Through their combined efforts, the room was cleaner than it had been in years. Books were still stacked on end tables and tools lay out on work benches, but overall, the place actually looked organized.

“Don’t ruin it over the weekend!” Peter shouted as he left.

“Wouldn’t dream of it!” Said Bruce as he set a third tea mug on his desk.

When Peter got home, he breathed in the comforting smell of clean laundry of his home. He’d had a good summer. It hadn’t been what he expected, but he had Bruce and Nat and Shuri and maybe even Tony now if he decided he wanted that. When he walked into his room, he saw something on his bed. It was a new spider suit with a note attached. Blue and red fabric was bundled up in a neat package.

Sorry about everything. You are always welcome in my lab. -Tony

Peter tucked it under his bed. That could wait for another day. He went over to his desk to set his bag down. He opened his computer.

Oh Shit! He had summer homework. Two days until school started and he hadn’t even looked at it. Three hours into a desperate attempt to finish his homework before the weekend, he got a text.

Dr. B
I figured out how to text. Praise me oh young one.

Nat
I had to teach him.😂😂😂 lol lmao

Peter
I am so sending a screenshot of this to Shuri! You’re both elderly.

Nat
Just wait until you meet Cap. He’s a true old man.

Peter
What???? I’ve met him as Spider-Man thank you very much.

Nat
Well you’ll be meeting him as Peter soon enough. Everyone’s moving into the tower for the accords. Cap, Bucky, Ant Man, Vision, and Wanda will live on site. Clint and everyone else will be there part time.

Peter
Dude! Since when?

Nat
Like an hour ago. There was a press release. What planet have you been on.

Peter
I’ve been doing my summer homework...

Dr. B
Peter!!!

Peter
I know! I’m sorry!

Nat
He can do his homework easy. I’m just worried about the whole secret identity thing. We can talk about it at training next week.

Peter
I’m great with my secret identity!

Dr. B
The vent incident? That time you ate a whole pizza in front of the interns? You not taking a single sick day the entire summer?

Peter
I’m a healthy growing kid who has an awesome spy friend who helps me go through vents...

Nat
Sure... go finish your homework. We love you, kid.

They love him. Peter thought he knew, but it was written down now. Peter was loved. He spun around in his desk chair before getting back to work. What a good summer.