Chapter Text
Dr Otto Octavius was a man that Peter Parker had looked up to for years. A genius that was one of, if not the, world's leading experts in fusion technology. Peter had to have read all of the man's recent papers on and leading up to his current project of creating a stable deuterium-tritium fusion reaction-based protostar. Peter was hyped, if a little nervous, for the experiment.
So when his school had given him the assignment to write a paper on a famous scientist, Peter chose Dr Octavious. After all, he couldn't exactly ask Mr Stark... or Dr Banner. That would be weird...
Then Mr Stark found out about his paper. Peter had been terrified of his reaction, avoiding eye contact with burning cheeks, spitting out a rambled explanation. Mr Stark may be rather friendly and easy-going, but Dr Octavius was a competitor to Mr Stark in the clean energy business and Peter didn't want Mr Stark to think that Peter thought Dr Octavious was better than Mr Stark.
But Mr Stark had only laughed of Peter's embarrassing rambling, instead offering to introduce Peter to Dr Octavious. Turns out the two scientists actually had a friendly rivalry going, rather than anything tense. Peter gratefully accepted the offer, just glad that Mr Stark didn't hate him for it.
Half a week later after school, Mr Stark dropped Peter off at Dr Octavious' lab.
At first, the man had been rather annoyed that Mr Stark had just handed over some random intern that he would have to babysit, but it didn't take long for the man to warm up. Peter's warm and excited energy was infectious, and the man was genuinely happy to explain his upcoming project to someone that would understand it better than the corporate higher-ups who only cared how it would earn them money and recognition.
A quick interview became a couple of hours and somehow Peter found himself sitting in Dr Octavious' lab while the scientist's family were visiting with dinner. He had learned a bit about the family from Dr Octavius' tangents, often spoken of with a warm smile. Where Dr Octavius was a scientist, his wife, Rosie, was an artist and a poet, and now he could see first hand how the two of them teased each other warmly. Their daughter, Danica, had flinched behind her mother the first time she saw Peter had scurried to a disk to work behind a computer as soon as she could.
"My dear girl, you can put that away. We have a guest, your mother will understand if you haven't finished your work." Dr Octavius tried gently, well-meaning but oblivious. Danica was homeschooled mostly by her mother, so Peter guessed that was what he meant by 'work'.
"Dad..." The girl leaned against the wall, cheeks red.
"Leave Dani alone, Otto," Rosie chided Dr Octavius, before turning to Peter, "sorry about that dear, Dani doesn't get to see many kids her age, so she can be quite shy. Otto's always trying to get her to talk to people."
"It's okay Mrs Octavius, I did show up unannounced" Peter was quick to brush off the apology. In all honesty, he could understand why a 14-year-old girl would be a little bit freaked out by the sudden appearance of a random 16-year old boy at her (kind off) dinner table.
"Nonsense dear boy!" Dr Octavius said warmly as he pats Peter on the back, "We have guests all the time! Usually nowhere near as friendly..." The last part was said under the doctor's breath.
Peter was confused for a moment before he realized the doctor must have been referring to upper management. Dr Banner had told Peter many times before about the hazards that came with not being able to fund your own projects, and the strings that may come attached from the support of wealthy companies and investors. Peter knew that Mr Stark would never do such a thing to him, but he knew Dr Octavius might not be so lucky. No, from the look in the man's eye and the way his daughter had flinched at the sight of a stranger, he knew that Dr Octavius was being treated poorly.
"Sorry, Dr Octavius, if I'm... If I'm allowed to ask, why do you homeschool Danica?" It had been mentioned once, when Peter had spotted a child's pencil case in the lab, that Danica had to occasionally spend time in the lab. Peter couldn't see how a man like Dr Octavius, who clearly cared about his family a lot, would subject his daughter to seeing such people on the regular.
Dr Octavius looked down as his mood soured. "She went to school when she was younger before she got sick, but now..." Dr Octavius went quiet as his eyes softened and became glassy.
"Since I work from home, it's easier to take care of her like this." Rosie explained for her husband, resting her hand on his shoulder in a comforting gesture. Danica had looked up from her computer towards her parents with a guilty frown.
Peter felt suddenly uncomfortable intruding on what was clearly a vulnerable topic, and quickly rushed to change the topic.
"So, Dr Octavius, how are you planning to contain the magnetic field of the fusion core? Isn't that dangerous? Not that I think you're reckless or anything! I'm just-"
"Dad going to manipulate the Ion particles to create an electromagnetic field." Danica answered, seemingly grateful for the change in topic, the question and Peter just stared at her in surprise. A second passed and her cheeks reddened under the attention and she directed her gaze back at her computer, "Dad likes to rant about his project all the time, and I... I just listen sometimes."
A warm laugh filled the room as Dr Octavius smiled wide, "My daughter can be rather meek at times, truth is my girl is rather intelligent, and is always asking questions-"
"She's quite like her father on that front," Rosie teased her husband.
"Maybe in two years, it will be the other way around and she'll be the one interviewing Tony about one of his projects."
Danica made a sound in protest as she curled in on herself.
"Come on, my dear, it's not too hard to see, you're quite bright, and Tony would be more than happy to show off." Peter had to admit Mr Stark did like to show off.
Danica hid her face in her hands as she shook her head even more.
"I'm really not that interested in science anyway... I just... I ask you a lot of questions about your project because I like spending time with you."
Dr Octavius ruffled Danica's hair and even though she looked absolutely mortified, Peter couldn't help but smile at the two of them. It was genuinely heartwarming to see the display of affection between father and child. Peter's parent's had died a long time ago, and uncle Ben had been gone for a year now... Mr Stark... Peter was always too scared of rejection to cross that boundary.
From the interaction, Peter realized that Danica might not actually be all that shy, to speak so openly like that, but rather just unused to the attention of strangers. He felt bad for her. He wanted to give her the chance to meet some nicer people and get her out of her shell. He kind off wanted to invite her to hang out with Ned and MJ, they were nice.
"So, Peter," Dr Octavius' voice caught Peter's attention again, "Danica will be watching the experiment next week, would you like to keep her company?"
It was technically a babysitting request, but Peter really didn't mind. It was honestly a two birds with one stone kind of deal; he gets a chance to get this poor kid out of her shell, and see an experiment he had been eagerly waiting to hear about for years.
"I'd love to."