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Chapter Text

The aftermath of the Civil War wasn't pretty. The public's opinions of the Avengers had reached an all-time low. That, coupled with the fiasco with the vulture, meant that the reputation of the 'Rogues' and Stark Industries were in the dirt. Lowest of the low. Rock hard bottom kind of dirt.

Then, a month after the Vulture fiasco, the video of Tony Stark fighting Steve Rogers and James Barnes aired on nearly every platform on social media. FRIDAY, after looking into it, found that Zemo had a back-up program set to release the CCTV footage after a certain amount of time. Suddenly, the public did a complete 180. Completely supporting Tony and condemning the Rogues even more. Flowers popped up everywhere. SI and Tony Stark started trending. This meant that Stark Industries had to publicly release some information on the subject.

The whole world watched as Stark Industries released a pre-recorded video of Pepper Potts holding a press conference to a select number of invited press. She formally announced that SI and Iron Man were officially distancing themselves from SHIELD and the Avengers. Instead, Tony Stark, together with Professor Charles Xavier, a wealthy researcher and teacher of mutants, and Hope van Dyne, known publicly as the Wasp, was going to work closely with the UN to create the New Avengers Initiative under the Sokovia Accords. 

Furthermore, Stark Industries was launching a line of affordable medical equipment such as the leg braces, establishing an internship program for high school interns interested in their R&D, PR, IT and Marketing departments as well as committing to a series of research on alternative energy and water pollution. They were investing a lot of money into it.

This, of course, was met with immense support from the public. After seeing the CCTV footage of the fight between Iron Man and Captain America, the public unanimously supported Tony Stark and condemned Steve Rogers. Though, they also agreed that James Barnes was innocent because of HYDRA’s control.

Add to that, Stark Industries was releasing a line of medical equipment and prosthetics that was both affordable and accessible to the public and helping high school interns get experience and scholarships. It was going to improve lives around the world! Needless to say, their reputation and stocks increased dramatically. Iron Man, who was often found working with Spider-man on patrols around Queens and, on occasion, other vigilantes and heroes around the city, became a well-loved hero of New York.

Tony Stark had a lot of time to think about the Avengers' Initiative and SHIELD in general. After distancing himself from the SHIELD and Avengers, Tony was able to piece himself back together, piece by piece, for his girlfriend, Pepper, and Peter.

Being able to spend time with Peter Parker meant that Tony had someone to take care of and mentor. Though it had just been a few months, he felt like he's known Peter for forever. At this point, Peter was practically his son. So, by extension, May Parker was family. They made a small makeshift family. Tony, Pepper and May worked together to co-parent Peter, and, in return, Peter became the glue that held everyone together. Monthly family dinners with Happy, Rhodey, Pepper, May, Helen, Bruce, Thor, Loki, Peter and, later on, the New Avengers became a common occurrence.

For the first time since he woke up in a cave in Afghanistan, Tony Stark felt content.

When Tony Stark found one Peter Parker, who arrived late then promptly got lost, in the R&D Department solving complicated equations as if it were as easy as talking about the weather, he quickly hired him to be his personal intern, for real this time.

At first, he worked exclusively with Tony Stark but as time went on, Peter wandered around the company. Eventually, he got roped into helping other interns and employees. Always eager, Peter quickly became one of the most knowledgeable interns in the company, often wandering from one department to another, learning as much as he can.

By the end of his first three weeks, Peter had established himself as Tony Stark's personal intern and, therefore, anything the employees or interns needed to get to Tony Stark went through him. He had a certain 'take no bullshit' type of attitude when it came to things about SI that quickly made him a respected figure in the company. The interns and employees would hand him the documents at the start of every week and Peter would then, without fail, sort through each and every request, ranking them by importance as he went, and send the most urgent to his boss and the less urgent such as requests for consultations about their research were dealt with Peter visiting and providing input himself.

At first, seeing a kid, who was probably no older than 14, walk into the labs and immediately start asking questions like an excited puppy was a surprising sight but the interns and employees in the R&D department quickly became used to his presence. After about one and  a half weeks, Tony Stark no longer received any requests for consultations. Instead, Peter Parker became high in demand.

The kid was, after all, a certified genius. Rumored to be just as smart, if not even smarter, than Tony Stark, he could easily spot the discrepancies in financial statements, solve equations for the R&D department, code for the IT department and even make AIs for the Operations and Security department. The Single Ladies, the robots that just sang "DON’T! treat me to the things of the world. I'm not that kinda girl!" when someone was about to do something that was classified as a potential hazard, was one of the most popular AIs in the company.

Everyone in the company knew that Peter Parker was the future of Stark Industries.

Tony Stark was tired. Normally, pulling all-nighters was easy. He was a scientist, after all. Losing himself in the schematics and work was part of the job description.

But today was different.

He spent hours in a meeting with the UN. Even after everything, they were still going in circles. It was frustrating to listen to them drone on and on and nitpick every possible word on the amendments he was proposing. They literally screamed at each other when they were debating the use of the word 'the' instead of 'a'. Seriously?! The or a? God?! They live for evil. Tony swears that they live to see his pain. They probably laugh in some underground cellar, drinking blood while gossiping to their fellow demons. He hoped they'd all leave and never return.

When that was over, he had to go over some paperwork for the R&D department which he had put off for a while. Tony never told Peter that he was sometimes too busy to look at the documents he dutifully sent every week. At first, one would think it was easy; flip a page and sign on the line but when you have to sign what must have been hundreds of documents, it suddenly isn’t so fun after all.

After that, he got called out to fight some weird glob or something with the bastard doctor, Strange. So, he arrived home, drenched in liquids he'd rather not name and smelling to high heaven. Needless to say, his day was not going well.

Stepping into the shower, he turned on the heater and let the water rinse his body. He needed to do something to get his mind off everything so that he'd be in a good mood when Peter arrived later that evening. Today was his last day of school before the break starts so he was set to spend the weekend.

Tony was never more thankful for the time with his kid than now. Peter, together with Thor, May, Helen, Pepper, Happy, Bruce, Rhodey, and, on occasion (though he'd never admit it,) Loki were people he considered family and gave him something to look forward to when the days got really bad. The Civil War fiasco gave him so many issues that he could practically write a book or two about it. So their presence helped Tony more than he would care to admit.

Honestly, he'd probably end up working on Underoos' suit again. Recently, Tony found that sleeping was an impossible task. He'd always wake up drenched in sweat with the images of a shield coming down on him lingering behind his eyes.

Thus, his current solution was to ignore the predicament entirely and work on something to get his mind off of it. Tony spent hours working on the Spider-man suit because his kid had to be safe, dammit. He was getting more and more gray hairs every night just thinking about Peter Parker running around stopping crime. What if he got stabbed? Or shot? Or fall? Honestly, Peter Parker, for all of his grace as Spider-man, was a clumsy kid. He'd probably trip on nothing.

So, he figured that the next best thing was to make absolutely sure that his kid's suit had everything he could possibly need. It did wonders for his peace of mind and sanity.

Stepping out of the bathroom fully dressed and smelling good as new, Tony moved towards the elevator. "Take me to the lab, Fri."

The lab was his safe space.

No matter how many things he'd see lying around the building that would inevitably remind him of his ex-team (and betrayals and shields slamming, slamming, slamming), there were never any in his lab. The team never really liked science the way he did, instead preferring to leave him to work on their upgrades alone. Though, on occasion, Bruce would come to visit and help out but that doesn’t really matter because he was currently in Norway helping Thor and Loki out in settling the remaining refugees.

Bringing up the schematics for another upgrade on Pepper's rescue suit as well as Peter's iron spider, he went to work.

That's how Peter Parker, after walking in huffing and puffing from the jog (read: sprint) from the station, found him. Tony was sleeping on the table, obviously trying to get some upgrades in for their suits, looking especially tired and worn.

Peter smiled ruefully; he was aware that his mentor wasn't getting enough rest in. According to Karen, he spent the past few days in meetings with the UN on the Accords amendments for the New Avengers initiative that they were launching. Obviously, he was working himself to the bone.

Carrying his mentor to the master bedroom, Peter carefully placed him on the bed and began preparing dinner.

Looking out of the window thoughtfully, He needed to do something about this. Nowadays, his mentor always looked stressed or sleep deprived. He probably needed a break.

Pepper Potts was tired. Of course, normally, she'd power through it just like always. After all, being a CEO of a fortune 500 company meant that she'd have to deal with all-nighters looking at financial statements and other Stark Industries related things.

But today was different.

She had spent hours in a meeting with the board of directors arguing on whether they wanted to put more resources into the R&D department's medical research or on toy manufacturing while sitting on a uncomfortable chair. Apparently, both were so beneficial. Honestly, Pepper thought that they should just invest in both and be done with it. Alas, she had an image to maintain.

Thus, she dutifully shook hands and smiled at the appropriate people for the next few hours.

Once she was done with those, she had to run down to legal because of an incident that she'd rather not think about. Now, that was a disaster in itself.

Then, she had to read through document after document after document to make sure she was signing the right deals and finalize the internship paperwork that she had to resend to Midtown High for Peter. Honestly, one of the only bright spots in recent days were the weekends that Peter Parker came to visit (not counting her rant sessions with May, of course. They had to cope with having superhero family members, somehow.)

Peter was Tony's son. Not by blood, obviously, but in every other way that counts. Somehow, her fiancé had picked up a kid turned personal intern turned mentee turned son in the months following the whole civil war debacle. It was possibly the only good thing to come out of it. Well, that and Tony leaving the Avengers behind.

So, because Tony looked at Peter the same way a father would look at a son, Pepper did so too. Somehow, the little superhero wormed his way into her little family and made a whole nest to fit himself in. They even ironed out a co-parenting schtick with May, legal documents and everything.

Turning back to her paperwork, she told herself to finish as fast as she could. Her son would be at the tower, after all. She needed to hug her kid. It was the closest form of destressing she had as of late.

Walking into the penthouse to the smell of Peter's cooking, Pepper felt herself relax for the first time today. Opting to observe by the doorway, she takes in the sight of Peter Parker, humming to a song he was listening to and doing little shimmies as he finished preparing the food. "That smells really good, Pete."

With a yelp, Peter nearly lets go of the plate he was holding but manages to save it in the nick of time. "Pepper! You surprised me! Were you there the whole time?"

Giggling, Pepper said. "Just for a few minutes. All my meetings ran long today, and I spent the afternoon staring at documents. Think we can do a movie night tonight?"

"Sure, Pep. We can watch the Princess Diaries. We have been planning to for a bit, haven't we?"

Setting the food on the table, Peter asks "How was work today?"

That sets her off. Ranting about her day to her son, Pepper felt herself relax.

(As Pepper talks about her numerous complaints about the board of directors, Peter watches her shoulders lose tension with a smile. She was really stressed nowadays. He heard rumors of the Board of Directors acting like assholes as of late.)

It is only when Peter returns to his room after a Princess Diaries movie marathon with Pepper falling asleep halfway through that he allows himself to frown thoughtfully. Pepper, Peter thinks, really needs a break. They both do.

Thinking of a plan, Peter calls out to Friday. "Hey, Fri?"

"Yes, Peter?"

"Think you can help me out?"

"How may I be of assistance?"

"Pepper and Tony have been tired recently. They need a break, don’t you think?"

"I agree. Boss hasn’t eaten for 34 hours before your visit."

Tony didn’t eat for 34 hours? That’s bad. That’s really bad. He hasn’t had an episode like that in a few months now. Normally, he’d go 10 hours at most without eating.

Hearing this, Peter resolves to make sure both Pepper and Tony go out and take a break. No matter what it takes.

"Ok, Fri. I have a plan."

After a long night of brainstorming and doing some light research, Peter was ready.

"You ready, Fri?"

"Yes, Peter."

"Ok, just follow my lead. Do you have the list ready?"

"Yes, Peter. The lists are all ready to go."

"One more thing.”

“Yes?”

“Be my sound effects, would you?"

Nearing the kitchen, he spots Pepper and Tony preparing the table for breakfast, both looking significantly less exhausted as compared to yesterday but still a little worse for wear. Despite the long hours of sleep, they both clocked in, they still looked more stressed than normal.

Digging into the food, Peter thinks about how he should approach this. He had to be delicate but blunt. Lord knew Tony and Pepper were both like skittish animals when you tell them to rest. They had a tendency to run away and ignore you. 

Clearing his throat, Peter nervously looks at them. "Guys, we need to talk."

Exchanging a look, Pepper and Tony sensed Peter's seriousness on the topic. Putting down his utensils, Tony asks. "What's up, Pete?"

Just get it over with, Peter. Get it over with. Bluntly, Peter said "Both of you need to take a break."

"…what?"

"A break. Both of you are getting severely overworked and you need a vacation."

"Peter, you know we can’t just leave Stark Industries. We have meetings and the UN still has a lot to say on the Accords. We can't just take a va-"

"Don’t you literally have an entire building of employees to do their jobs? You could postpone the meetings with the UN, and you could ask your personal intern - Emily, right? - to cover for you. It'd be a win-win! You guys get to go on a vacation, and you'll be able to observe how SI does without you present! Think of it as a performance check, you know?"

Sighing, Tony tries to use a different angle. "Even if we somehow move everything, we don’t have plans! We don’t have the time to look into places for vacation."

Peter smirks, Tony wouldn’t be able to get out of this. "That's okay, Tony! Friday and I compiled a list of places for you to go to! Isn’t that nice? Friday?"

"According to our research, Disneyland has good reviews and seems to be a favorite of a number of Americans."

"Wow! Isn’t that nice? I'm sure Mickey Mouse would be glad to see you visit. Aren't you tempted? You could ride - what was it-"

"Space Mountain"

"Space Mountain! It would be great!"

“Don’t forget Bali.”

Gasping dramatically, Peter said. “Oh, how could I forget Bali?! How were the reviews, Fri?”

“Good.”

“Five Stars!”

“ten out of ten.”

"…Peter, did you seriously make Friday tag team us into resting?"

"Why, yes. Yes, I did."

Tony tries to reason with the kid. "Peter, you know that I'm already used to all-nighters. Sleep is for the weak anyway. I'll be fine, kid. You don't have to worry your pretty little genius spider brain."

Ohoho. He played the I'm used to it card. Time to pull out the big guns.

Dramatically, Peter sighs. "Well, I guess since rest isn't important, I should probably go out to patrol instead of sleeping. I did pull an all-nighter last night trying to finish my homework."

On cue, Friday replies. "Peter, you haven't slept in 28 hours. You need to replenish your energy from yesterday's patrol."

Waving a hand dismissively, Peter locks eyes with Tony. "No, no. Its fine, Fri. I don’t feel like sleeping. Besides, rest isn’t that important anyway. Isn’t that right, Fri?"

Panicking, Tony tries to backtrack. "Wait. That is not what I meant-"

"That is correct, Peter. According to boss, rest is not worth your time." Betrayed, Tony glares at the ceiling. Friday sounded a little too smug. Was it possible for an AI to sound smug?

"That's right. Sleep is for the weak. It is probably an illusion crafted by mattress companies to make money, those bastards. Have the movers throw out the bed, won’t you, Fri? We don't need it anyway. After all, I am used to all-nighters here and there."

"Right away, Peter."

“Oh, and can yo-“

“I’ll get your suit ready right away, Peter.”

“Thanks, fri. You’re the best.

Looking between the ceiling and the kid, Tony admitted defeat. With a resigned look on his face, he said "Fine, Peter. You win."

Triumphant, Peter starts, "Thank you!" In the background, FRIDAY starts to play 'We are the champions'. She really was a little shit sometimes.

"But, I have one condition." Both men look at Pepper who had been mostly silent throughout the conversation and currently had a mischievous look in her eyes. "You have to act as the CEO of Stark Industries."

Abruptly, the music stops. Sputtering, Peter starts. "Wha-"

Tony smirks. This was gonna be good. Oh, this was going to be very very good. "Think of it like a performance check, right kiddo?"

Shit. This was not what Peter's intended outcome was. This is definitely not it. He can’t head SI! He's a kid, dammit. How could he head the biggest company in the world? He can't. He doesn’t have the cre-

"I can hear your genius brain thinking from here, kid. You already coordinate the interns at R&D and you're the point person for literally everything that I need to know about. This wouldn’t be too different. It's just a larger scale than you're used to, that’s all. You'll do fine."

Pepper adds, "I'll help you learn the ropes and prepare. How does that sound?"

Then, Tony adds the final kick. "Don’t you want us to have a break, kid? We'd just stress over the company if we don’t entrust it to you. You know this."

The thing is? Peter does. Over the months that Peter worked for Tony and, on occasion, Pepper, he found that they liked to be hands on with the company. They wouldn’t be able to stop stressing if they thought the person they left in charge was incompetent. Shit. He wasn’t going to win. But, looking at the faces of his parental figures, Peter could see the stress clearly on their faces. They needed this.

With a resigned sigh, Peter concedes. "Fine. But you teach me what to do before leaving."

"We'll go through everything you need to know for a week then we'll take a two-week long vacation. Deal?"

"Deal."

It's just two weeks. What could go wrong?

Asks | FF.net | Wattpad

Chapter Text

The next few days were hectic for Peter. Getting suddenly thrust into the role of CEO meant he had to at least learn basic meeting etiquette, floor plans, some intimidation tactics, get to know his security detail, find a team he could collaborate with, and match the names and faces of the board of directors in a week. And that was the bare minimum.

....ok, maybe it wasn't the bare minimum.

According to Pepper, all Peter had to do was extend the scope of his current job as intern director (read: dictator) to everywhere else and he was golden.

But Peter figured that if he was going to be Stark Industries' acting CEO, he had to exceed expectation. It was Stark Industries, after all. He had to go beyond. Extra mile and all that jazz.

Peter enjoyed getting to know the people around the company a lot. While he normally had a lot of friends and acquaintances, courtesy of being the point person for all interns in every department, he always felt that there were so many more people he should get to know.

Sure, he knew who to go to if he wanted some advice for his socials (Millie from PR; a goddess among mortals when it comes to photos) or who had the best equipment for clean-up (Sarah from Operations; she saved his life after a failed test where his Terminator-inspired food-fetching AI, Arnold, dropped one too many plates of food on his test runs.

Seeing an Arnold Schwarzenegger cartoon robot look-alike dropping hot plates of food in his lab while saying "I'll be back" in the most ominous voice ever was just a teensy tiny bit traumatizing. Peter didn't know why he coded the AI to have Terminator's weird smile too, but he was sleep-deprived so he probably wouldn’t get the answers anytime soon.

Arnold turned out fine though! He had a mini army called termites. Best. Invention. Ever. You gave them your food order and they'll handle the rest. He was a favorite in the R&D and Operations department. Scientists always forgot to bring food in a research binge and it made the life of the HR department and cafeteria workers easier.)

Still, he didn't know them know them, you know? So getting to know everyone was fun!

Plus, inputting all their favorite toast and breakfast drinks into his French AI, Toast, was fun and he could finally let his CATTO AI army loose. It took a surprising amount of time to program medical AIs that could recognize signs of anxiety and other related health conditions and act like a cat while occasionally letting out a "Don't be sad. That's bad. You know why? Because sad backwards is das and das not good." It put on a little SI-designed band aid on you and meows realistically. Pure genius if you asked Peter. It got a few laughs too so win-win!

Since Pepper and Tony only had a week to train him for his role as temporary CEO, they quickly established a schedule. For the first 3 days, Peter would sit down with Happy and FRIDAY to learn about all the protocols needed as well as shadow Pepper and Tony in meetings with the board and UN, respectively. Then, in the days following that, he'd cycle through the various departments at SI to get a better understanding of how they work. In the evenings, Peter would read up on stock market, PR strategies and get familiarized with the various research around the R&D department that he could possibly help with.

As a result of some late night overthinking, Peter might have also reread all 516 pages of the amended Sokovia Accords, complete with revisions and possible amendment ideas as well as a proper defense for all the sections he agreed with, on top of studying on the various protocols and systems he had to be familiar with.

He might have gone a little overboard. But, it was better to be prepared, right?

Of course, Pepper and Tony told everyone in the company of Peter's upcoming role as temporary CEO. With Peter's reputation as one of the most brilliant and youngest mind SI has had to date as well as his take-no-shit attitude as Tony Stark's personal intern and assistant, the news was met with much enthusiasm from all employees.

After all, it was obvious to everyone except probably Peter that Tony Stark had been preparing him to take over the company since the day Tony found out that Peter had solved an equation the R&D Department had been stumped with as he was passing by, saving millions of dollars in the process.

The boy was a certified genius. Peter Parker, though often looked over at Midtown for being the nerdy kid, was undeniably good at anything that he put his mind to and was the type of person one would instantly be fond of.

Of course, his primary work as a R&D intern director and Tony Stark's personal intern took precedence over the other departments at SI but, he still liked to visit from time to time. He had a creative mind and provided fresh eyes for the marketing, legal and finance departments so he was one of the people most interns and even some employees went to for help.

Settling down in Conference Room Alpha, Peter looked at the schematics of the company determinedly. He had to know as much as possible so that he could do his job as best as he can. To do that, he had to understand how the company worked.

Stark Industries, as a whole, had 93 above ground floors with 5 underground floors.

Divided into six, floors -5 to 23 was collectively called Iron and had the arc reactor, parking, lobby, operations & security department, museums, intern floors & housing as well as the cafeteria. Floors 24 to 48, collectively called Opal, contained the Legal, IT & Logistics, Finance, Marketing, PR and R&D department offices as well as employee overnight housing and CEO office. Floors 49 to 63, collectively called Quartz, was composed of the lower, upper and higher tier R&D labs. Floors 64 to 75, collectively called Topaz, was the meeting sector of the tower. Floors 76 to 90, collectively called Ruby, had the visitor living area, personal labs and training areas. Finally, floors 91 to 94, collectively called Diamond, were exclusive to May, Happy, Peter, Pepper and Tony only. It contained the penthouse and their personal living areas.

After that, SI had eight departments: Operations & Security, Legal, IT & Logistics, Finance, Marketing, HR, PR and R&D.

The Operations and Security department was composed of the staff and security with Happy Hogan as the head of security and asset manager. Legal oversaw all potential lawsuits that SI could have and took care of writing contracts, checking deals, securing copyrights and other necessary documents for the company. IT and Logistics kept the tower and company running. This was composed of computer science interns and employees who mostly focused on the coding aspects of the company including keeping the tower running, and the production of Stark Phones and rudimentary AIs that SI was planning to release in a few months. Finance kept track of all the expenses and profits of SI as well as allocation of funding. Marketing and PR worked in tandem with each other. Both making sure that SI's products and image were well-received by the public. The HR department oversaw the hiring, promoting and overseeing employees and their benefits, salary and wellness.

The R&D department was the department Peter primarily worked for. It had the most funding and the most employees and was divided into a lot of different divisions such as biochemical engineering, applied physics, medical, etc.

The intern director of the R&D Department as well as Tony Stark's point person meant that Peter was aware that every single department was important. They all needed to be working at tip-top shape together so that the company could run as well as it did. As such, Peter wanted to make sure he was aware of the basics of every department at the very least.  

Now, he wasn't naïve. Peter understood that he couldn't possibly become an expert in every department in under a week. So, he requested the help of his friends and fellow intern heads: Misty Langley from Legal, William Graves from R&D, Deanne Norman from IT & Logistics, Harmon Steele from PR & Marketing, Rose Kim from Finance and Mary Royle from HR. Of course, Pepper had allowed him to also hijack her personal assistant, Emily Langdon.

His team for the days he was acting CEO was composed of the 6 intern heads and Emily. Overall, Peter was satisfied with his team. They were all the best of their departments and fields and had a good understanding of their respective departments. Although they all had differing ages, considering some were in college, college graduates and paralegals, they were all able to click into place after getting their assignments and got along like a house on fire. Though it helped that they were all somewhat familiar with each other.

By the time a week flew by, Peter could talk to the board of directors and UN representatives, find his way around the enormous company, sort out documents and handle the employees on his own.

Now, Pepper Potts and Tony Stark were sure in their decision to entrust their company to one Peter Parker. After all, there weren't a lot of people who managed to wrap the SI board of directors around their finger the very moment he met them. Peter had his own unique brand of shy, awkward, lovable teen while still able to put out a 'I'm the boss. You listen to me.' aura. Not to mention, he could hold his own against the UN representatives. He was a complete natural.

That was why Tony and Pepper boarded their plane at ease. They knew that Stark Industries was in good hands, though they both wondered what surprises Peter could show them when they returned.

For now, a vacation was what they needed. Both reclining into their chairs, Pepper and Tony let out matching sighs of relief.

They really lucked out with their kid.

Hopefully, they came back with their company intact. If not, then at least their son got some experience. They'd handle anything thrown at them later.

Compared to Pepper’s firm but guiding style of leading, Peter had a different style entirely. He was strict, no-nonsense and direct. For a normally timid kid, he was quite blunt and had a presence that not many would have.

Peter's work as Spider-man allowed him to meet several intimidating people like Deadpool and Daredevil who took him under their wing and taught him some basic hand-to-hand combat and intimidation tactics when he first started out.

That was why, during his first board of directors meeting alone, he commandeered the attention of the group almost immediately.

Peter, fearing he wouldn't be respected enough due to his age, had decided to intimidate them a little bit by letting out part of his vigilante aura. Sitting down on the farthest and center seat of the table, Peter started to flip through the various documents they would be discussing today. Oblivious to the board of directors who were all shaking like leaves. (How could a child this young have such an intimidating aura? He looked like a puppy! Where was it coming from?!)

Looking through the numbers on the financial statements from HR and Finance, Peter couldn't help but startle. Reading through them again carefully, he noted that there were differences in the financial statements sent from different departments. Why?

Making a confused sound, he caught the attention of the board of directors, all of whom had already settled down. "Are my papers wrong or are there actually two… no, three… five discrepancies on the financial statements of HR and Finance? I think I saw another one in the statements from Management, too."

Turning their documents to the statements, the others on the board found that he was right.

Calculating an approximate summary in his head, one of the directors, Tom Harrison said "Can someone add up the numbers here? The ones I can find add up to somewhere near 200,000 dollars. That seems to be too much for a careless mistake."

Around the room, the board were starting to mutter to themselves. "Could it be a possible embezzlement scheme?"

Skimming through the documents, Peter found that he was right. Why were the discrepancies so high? "Friday, can you please compare the financial statements from the various departments and give me the total amount of money that we're missing?"

"Of course, Miniboss. I have computed the total amount, which is 241, 009.43 dollars. It appears to be from discrepancies in the HR department."

"Can you tell if there were specific people that did it?"

"From what I can tell, there are a number of daughter companies funded by Stark Industries on the west coast. It appears they have been taking some money from the HR department’s funds by requesting funding for vague projects. The sudden influx of requests swamped the HR department last week so they must have been unable to check the requests thoroughly. I am currently scanning through all possible discrepancies."

"Tell me what you find out, Fri. I want to know exactly what happened. Please also note that I should create an AI for finance and logistics. Put it on my schedule. Oh, find out who started it." Starting to grin evilly, he continued. "They should know just who they're dealing with.

"Of course, Peter. I have set the notice to tomorrow during your designated lab time.”

"Thank you, Fri."

Then, he suddenly smiled, giving the people around him whiplash. How could he switch from one personality to another?

Clapping his hands to get the attention of everyone in the room, he said. "In the meantime, let's start the meeting, shall we?"

Walking towards his temporary office, Peter read through the notes he made from the meeting with the board. Surprisingly, Peter was able to secure their respect. It was probably because he handled that situation with finance well. (Note: he did but they were probably more intimidated from Peter's murderous aura.) They even had a relatively productive meeting!

Apparently, some daughter companies of SI thought that they could get away with embezzling money by purposely requesting funding for 'research' that they described vaguely. Needless to say, there were going to be a good number of employees losing their jobs today.

Walking to the elevator, Peter called Emily, He said. "Hey, Em! I just finished the board meeting this morning. It was surprisingly sort of productive!"

'Productive? You sure? I didn't think productive was in their vocabulary. Did you point a gun at them or something?’

"Ok, that was uncalled for. I'll have you know I can be intimidating. I'm a hunk of man! My bulging muscles intimidated them into submission! I handled them just fine!"

'Sure, you could, Pete. How productive is sort of productive?’

"Well, it was as productive as you could get when you're dealing with selfish assholes. Listen, we just uncovered some daughter companies of SI embezzling money. Do you think you could send them some strongly worded emails and send the details over to legal? I want to know exactly what they did and where the money went. Also, start a lawsuit. Or twenty. They lost us some 200,000 dollars, you know?"

' How are we feeling about those lawsuits? Rip-into-them feral or fuck-you-where’s-my-money feral?’

“Rip-into-them feral. Let’s show them why messing with Stark Industries is a very bad idea.”

‘Sure, I'll head over to legal in a bit. Looks like the R&D department is requesting for you. You don't have much going on since we expected the board meeting to last until after lunch. Why don’t you check on the interns and Will for a bit? I'll send you the rest of the itinerary.'

"Sure, I'll head right over. Thanks, Em. Don’t know what I'd do without you."

'Obviously, you'd be dead in a ditch. Now, go do your hand wavey science, miniboss. I'll handle legal with Misty.'

Walking into the familiar intern labs, Peter catches the distinct smell of burning chemicals. Looking around, he noticed there were some Single Ladies bots wandering around. They must have already put the fire out.

Suddenly, a call catches his attention. "Miniboss! Can you check my equations? For some reason, the chemical I'm trying to make isn't reacting like how it’s supposed to. It exploded a few times already." Mike, an intern from the biochem lab called him over to his workstation. His hair did look a bit too scorched for it to be intentional.

"Sure, this is the chemical you're trying to synthesize for Dr. Woods, right?"

Nodding, Mike tried to fix his hair into something that looked halfway decent. "Yeah, we've been trying to synthesize this since last week. It's been having some… reactions that it isn’t meant to have. Will's expertise is more physics than chemistry, so he said to ask you. Think you could see something I can't? Fresh eyes and all that."

Stepping beside him, Peter looked at the equation on the hologram. Oh. They missed a few small things. "Ok, so it looks like you forgot to balance the equation after adding this chemical. If you balance everything then add something basic here… I think you'd be good to go after some calculations."

"Huh?" Mike studied the equation, "Shit, you're right. Thanks, Miniboss! I owe you one. I'll head on over and get this to my team."

Turning away to continue his normal rounds around the R&D department, Peter observed the schematics for the braces that they were planning to release to the public in 6 months. According to the manufacturing team, one of the components took too long to deliver, often getting pushed back by the delivering company.

Enlarging the blueprints, Peter looked over the design. Though it was made to be as efficient as possible, Peter thought that they could probably do something to streamline its process. They could probably even scrap the missing components directly by moving a few things around and using the new circuit designs that Shuri had sent. If he was right, they could use the 3D printing machines they had for manufacturing in the west building instead of ordering from other companies!

Calling the team, Peter explained his reasoning to them. Starting to get excited too, they looked into the possible changes for the rest of the day. With this, they could push forward the release date by 3 months and lower the cost of production since they could produce them in-house!

Peter had never been this busy before. He’s never had this much fun. He was someone who liked to keep busy, often following a set schedule to the tee. 

Working as a CEO was a fresh change of pace for Peter. Sure, he was busy with school, his internship and his side-gig as Spider-man but being CEO of a Fortune 500 company was a huge leap. Now, he'd wake up and start his day earlier at 5:30 AM, eating a modest meal and then start attending meetings. After lunch, he'd do his usual rounds around the company to check on the various projects and start working on his personal projects. By the time dinner with May and Happy rolled by, he would have already burned through a good three quarters of the documents for the day and take a break to swing around Queens, ending his day around 12 in the morning.

With his team aiding him, Peter was seemingly on top of everything, ready to give suggestions and take notes on all the projects happening around the company, whether that be the new social media campaign for the soon-to-be released Stark Phones or the water purification system in R&D. The company was so hopped up on their CEO's enthusiasm that overall efficiency was up by 12%.

By the next board meeting a few days later, Peter increased the company's efficiency to 21% and sped up the production of the medical braces, water purification system and even finished his personal project, converting the webs of Spider-man into something that could be used for rescue operations and construction: WebCon.

Peter's first meeting with the UN went fine.

Ok, it wasn’t fine. He left the meeting with a healthy dislike for people in general and had to go out as Spider-man and just sit on the top of the tallest building he could find to take a breather. Can you blame him though? Rhodey and Peter attended a 3 hour long meeting that didn't even accomplish anything and a schedule for ANOTHER meeting the next day. Seriously?! Didn't they get tired of talking?

Wait. Could they get tired of talking?

Stopping mid-walk in the middle of the hallway, Peter called out to FRIDAY. "Hey, Fri? Do I have anything to do tomorrow aside from the meeting with the UN representatives?"

"No, Peter. Your itinerary has been significantly cleared up after the last meeting with the board of directors."

So he didn't have anything to do, huh? Starting to grin evilly, Peter called Rhodey. "Hey, Mr. Rhodes? Do you think you could let me handle the UN reps alone tomorrow?"

'Huh? Kid. Have you been taken as a hostage? Say pancakes if you are.'

What? Did he seriously think he would try to ditch the meeting? "No. I'm fine, Mr. Rhodes. It's just that I think I found a way to get them to agree to some of my proposals."

'Did you find out one of them had a secret love child and plan to use it for blackmail?'

"You know, it disturbs me that that was your first thought. But, no. I just think that I should give them a taste of their own medicine. Don’t you think?"

(And if the Avengers and agents in the Avengers' compound heard evil cackling from Rhodey's room, well... No one mentioned it.)

Needless to say, Peter walked out of an 18-hour long meeting, smug as can be. In his hands were copies of the approved amendments.

In the days following The UN Meeting, it was relatively uneventful in Stark Industries, that is if you ignored the incident with the military where Peter nearly threw hands. Rhodey saved him though, so all good.

Two weeks pass by in a rush. Stark Industries was flourishing better than ever. Under Peter's watch as CEO, SI was able to streamline over 10 major projects and announce that the medical braces, water purification system and WebCon's release dates would be pushed forward by at least 2 months. This got the internet clamoring. Riding the waves, the PR and Marketing department were able to release a series of advertisement and information relating to it. The stock prices of SI were through the roof.

When Pepper and Tony arrives at the airport, they were presented with multiple glowing reports from FRIDAY, the board of directors, and employees. Scrolling through the multiple reports Peter had left for her on her StarkPad, Pepper's eyes widen in surprise.

Grabbing her fiance and shaking him slightly in her excitement, Pepper said. "Tony, according to the reports, Peter increased the efficiency of the company by 23%. Even we couldn’t do that!"

Shaking his head, Tony smiles wryly. "I don’t know how you expected any less, Pep. We both know our son was meant for the role. It was only a matter of time."

In front, driving the car, Happy Hogan overhears their conversation. He has been friends with Tony Stark and, later on, Pepper Potts for a long time. He saw their growth as individuals, heroes and businessmen. Tony's journey of teenage genius turned orphan and CEO turned superhero was undeniably rough.

He saw Tony's difficulty in trusting because of Obie and the now Rogue Avengers. So being able to bear witness to Tony and Peter's relationship that was reminiscent of a father and son, made him extremely happy for them.

Happy was undeniably fond of Peter Parker. At first, the kid just wouldn't shut up and got on his nerves a lot. But as time passed, Peter became something akin to his annoyingly energetic nephew, especially after he started to date May Parker.

Working as a part of Peter's main team the past 2 weeks gave him a glimpse of SI and the New Avengers' future. Seeing Peter easily handle the board of directors and UN representatives made him so proud of the kid, though he'd never admit it.

So, hearing Pepper and Tony's conversation, Happy couldn’t help but wonder if they lived under a rock in the past weeks. SI had been part of the #1 trending on twitter for the past few days!

Looking at them using the rearview mirror, Happy said. "Have you guys been living under a rock? SI's stocks are through the roof. I think it increased by 30% this week alone. 30… 31? Yeah, something like that."

"What?!"

"Hap, you're kidding right? 30%?!"

Shooting them a look of confusion, Happy answered. "No, I'm definitely not kidding. Unless, of course, Twitter just decided to fuck with me for the week, I'm pretty sure that SI has been trending on almost all social media platforms for a few days now. Where the hell were you? The jungle?!"

"Well, we decided that we wouldn't look at our phones for the week unless it was urgent. FRIDAY didn't notify us, so we didn't bother."

Arriving in the parking lot, Happy parked in their usual spot. "Peter influenced everyone in the company. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought that the employees were hopped up on drugs. Gave them a surprise drug test and everything. Nada. It was just Peter's energy, I guess."

"You gave them a surprise drug test."

"Hey! You would have done the same! You never know."

"No, I don't think we would, Happy.”

"Yeah, yeah. Go on up. You could probably catch Peter in the Finance department. They uncovered an embezzlement scheme last week so they're dealing with that."

"a WHAT?!"

"Relax, Pep. Peter handled it fine. You should have seen it! Peter went full vigilante mode and started firing people and handling legal. It was glorious. I think that was the main reason for the board's seal of approval. That or they were going to shit their pants."

"The board approved?"

"Yeah. Peter got the UN and board wrapped around his finger."

Hearing this, both Pepper and Tony were speechless. They expected Peter to handle the company just fine. He was, after all, one of the strongest people they've ever come across, not to mention Peter's lovable personality. It was only a matter of time. However, they never expected Peter to have the UN and Board of Directors approval in less than a week!

Honestly.

Only Peter. He never ceases to surprise. 

Facing them, Happy said. "He did a really good job. You'd be proud of him."

Reaching for the door, Tony smiled fondly. "Hap, I don’t know which reality you're living in but, there is no possible world or timeline that I'm not proud of Peter Parker."

"Yeah, yeah. You’re the dad, we know. Now, get up there and hug your son. You look like you're both bouncing off the walls and I'm not going to have my car broken.” Making shooing motions, Happy said. Out, out. Leave."

"So, let me get this straight. You managed to uncover an embezzlement scheme during your first meeting, make an AI for the finance department, streamline the designs for the medical braces and water purification system and finish the design for WebCon in the two weeks we were gone?"

"…yes?"

"You're not sure?"

"No, no. I’m sure. Uhm. I meant.. Uh.. Yes. I did."

Shifting his feet nervously, Peter said "I-I know my performance was a bit lackluster when compared to Pepper, but I just - I got so pissed and- and got distracted by the military when they barged in earlier this week. Can you believe they tried to get some Iron Man suits for WAR use?! WAR?? Did they not see the - oh, I don't know - MULTIPLE news articles saying Stark Industries WASN'T making any more weapons for war? God. I swear, Tony, those men put the bitch in garbage. I mean, the AUDACITY?! I was this close to ripping them a new one but Rhodey stepped in, thank god."

Confused, Tony wondered why Peter was nervous. And what did he mean the military came an- wait is there a bitch in garbage? bitch... garbitch.... garbage.... How did Peter even think of tha- WAIT! Why was Peter nervous. God, this kid provided him with so many distractions!

Huh? Lackluster? Peter? Doing anything lackluster? Yeah, no. Peter couldn’t possibly think he was disappointed, right? Tony couldn't ever be disappointed in Peter Parker. Ok, maybe if Peter went to work for Oscorp or Hammer Industries. Then, Tony would be disappointed. But that won't happen because Peter was smart and Oscorp or Hammer Industries were for losers.

So, he didn't have anything to worry about. Scrunching his eyebrows, Tony abruptly turned to Peter. Putting his hand on his shoulder, he said. "Peter, you couldn't possibly think I could ever be disappointed in you, right?"

"Uh…"  Peter was turning an unnatural shade of red. Yep, right on the nose. 

"Kid, you did a fantastic job as CEO. I'm proud of you. You understand?"

Twitching nervously, Peter looked away from Tony. He never noticed but SI had really interesting corridors.

"Peter, you somehow managed to increase overall efficiency by 23%! You did good, kid. Just take the win, yeah?”

Smiling at his father figure, Peter said. "Yeah, thanks dad."

Raising an eyebrow, Tony said “Dad?”

Realizing his mistake, Peter reddened even further and hurried to correct himself. “Uh did I say dad? I meant my bad. Haha… I’m… gonna go. Do you… hear… that? Yeah… I think I hear Rose from… finance! Uh… calling me. Yeah. Uhm. Bye.”

Watching as Peter hurried away, Tony laughed to himself. Dad, huh? It didn’t sound too bad.

Later that evening, as he was cuddling with Pepper and Tony, Peter noticed that the stress lines they had accumulated over the last few months were gone. They seemed more relaxed and moved with less tension. The vacation really was good for them.

Suddenly, FRIDAY said. "Boss, the UN would like to set up a meeting about the amendments in the Accords that Peter negotiated last week. Would you like me to schedule them for later this week or the next?"

What. Peter was able to negotiate anything with the UN? UN?! The bane of Tony’s existence?! How?!

“Can you show me the new amendments, Fri?”

Instantly, his StarkPad chimed. Opening the document, Tony read some of the changes. These… these were exactly what he tried to amend last month!

Tony turned to Peter. "You met with the UN and got them to AGREE with your suggestions?! How?!" Skimming through the new amendments, he continued. "Kid, I've been trying to get them to agree for months!"

"Er, I may… or may not have… met with them last week. You know how you were always saying that they were talking for so long that you just gave up and started saying yes? Well, I thought, what if we did that too, you know? I had them in a meeting for like 18 hours last week? Was it 18 or 19? 18. Yeah, 18. Anyways, towards the end, they all looked like zombies and just agreed without thinking. I'm pretty sure they agreed with me just so they could end the meeting. Pretty cool, huh?"

Tony and Pepper shared a look. Why didn't they think of that. Damn. Peter was good.

Oblivious, Peter patted his chest smugly and continued rambling. "I even nitpicked some of their approved amendments. Hah! See how they liked it. It was glorious. Do you know how satisfying it is to argue with old men on the uses of semicolons? Now I understand why they like to fight all the time."

Sharing a look with Tony, Peter smiled evilly. "Pretty good, huh?"

Thinking for a moment, Tony said. "Pete, how would you like to continue your work? You'll start working as Stark Industries' CEO-in-training and the New Avengers’ future head. I know it’s a few years earlier than planned bu-”

"What."

Looking at him weirdly, Tony repeated himself. "CEO-in-training. You'll basically do the same things as before, but you'll probably work as CEO once a week. Pepper could take a day off and you could get more experience. It’s a win-win situa-"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN CEO-IN-TRAINING?!"

Confused, Pepper turned to Peter. Did he seriously not notice? "Peter, are you serious? I thought you knew that we were training you to be our heir?"

"Wha- No! I thought you were just bored and wanted me to sit in a bit?"

"Pete, You're practically our son. You can't be surprised that we're making you the heir of Stark Industries and the New Avengers."

"B-but I'm me! Peter Parker! I'm nobody. Why-"

"Peter, sweetie, listen to me. You are our son. A genius. Spider-man. You are NOT a nobody." Pepper moves to wrap her arms around Peter. "You are the most important thing to us. Do you understand? You're family, Peter. Why wouldn’t we want to leave everything to you?"

Burying his head in the crook of Pepper's neck, Peter starts to cry. Peter had always been unsure about his relationship with Pepper and Tony. Lately, he's been seeing them as his parental figures but he didn't really think they thought that about him too.

"Thanks, mom. Dad."

Hearing Peter call them mom and dad made Pepper and Tony start to tear up too. Damn. They really loved this kid. Fondly, Tony ruffled the kid's hair and moved to join the hug. "What do you say, kid? May and Happy already gave the go signal. You up for it?"

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