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“Are you sure your trap is gonna work?” Ned asks, swimming in a nervous circle.
“Of course it is,” Peter says. “We spent a whole week developing that formula. It’s gonna work. Look, there’s a shark coming now.” He points one claw out past the edge of the reef, where sure enough, there is a shark approaching.
Ned flips a nervous circle above Peter’s head, swimming back a bit into the safety of the reef. “You’re on your own man. I’m not going near a shark.”
Peter settles down into the sand, burrowing a bit, as he watches in anticipation. The shark circles closer, and closer, and then bam falls right into the trap Peter had set, his tail fin trapped against the rocks by the sticky glue that Peter had developed.
Peter grins and scuttles closer as the shark flops back and forth trying to free himself.
The shark spots him and bares his teeth. They are… very sharp looking. “What the hell is this stuff?” he demands. “And why am I stuck in it?”
“Great question!” Peter says, smiling at him brightly. “I need your help!” He points up, towards the surface, where out a ways from the reef the bottom of a boat is visible. “I need you to scare the humans off.”
“I don’t care about the humans, kid,” the shark says. He’s twisted around, examining the glue pinning his tail. “I do want to know what this stuff is.” He pokes a fin at it. “How’d you make an adhesive?”
“That’s proprietary information,” Peter says. “It isn’t the point.”
“It kind of is.”
“No, the humans are the point.”
The shark eyes him. “What’s your name?”
“Peter.”
“Nice to meet you Pete. I’m Tony. Here’s a deal for you: you give me the formula for your glue, I’ll take care of your little human problem for you.”
Peter frowns. “What are you gonna do with glue?”
“Stick stuff together.”
Peter eyes the boat, then Tony, who smiles at him again, teeth large and sharp and yeah, sure to scare the humans off for good. Which is absolutely necessary for the safety of the reef. Protecting the reef comes ahead of keeping his glue formula a secret.
“It’s made from a base of byssus filaments,” Peter explains. “Mixed with some barnacles, just for extra stickiness.”
Tony’s expression is assessing. “That’s pretty brilliant.”
“Thanks,” Peter says.
Tony gestures to his tail. “Now get me out of this.”
“Oh right, sorry,” Peter says, scuttling forward to clip the glue strands with his claws.
Later, after having scared off the humans, Tony turns to him and holds out a fin, as though to shake. Peter grasps it with his smaller claw, tentative. “Pleasure doing business with you, kid. Keep in touch.”
Peter nods at him. “Sure thing, Mr. Shark.”
(Image description: a piece of fanart depicting Tony Stark as a shark and Peter Parker as a crab; Tony Shark and Spider-Crab. It is animated, and the bubbles coming from a repulsor move, as well as a twinkle on the sharks teeth, the shark's eye blinks, and the crab's claw pinches. There is various fish, seaweed, and coral in shades of blue and purple behind them. End description.)