Chapter Text
Tony had been enchanted the first time he saw Peter. The small omega had been sneaking around at a tech conference he was attending to help promote his new company. His father had always been short sighted with family business, and Tony was determined to pull them into the modern era as legal weapons dealers. He had all of the designs they needed and the money to build the manufacturing plants. Now all he needed was contracts, hence the booth.
However, before he could approach the omega properly, the boy’s parent appeared, dragging him away unceremoniously. Part of Tony wanted to go rip the kid away from the asshole, because the clearly beta father wasn’t being kind at all as he chewed out the young omega, but Tony had a booth to run and business to gain.
He saw the omega again later when he finally had Rhodey cover for him so he could scope out the competition. Parker R&D Group was hosting a big booth to boast about their latest innovations in gene therapy and cross species genetics. It wasn’t really Tony’s specialty, and he was planning to ignore it until he spotted the small omega sitting tucked at the back of the booth.
With a grin, Tony ducked in and made his way over.
“Hey kid, you don’t look like you’re having much fun,” Tony said. “Want to bust out and get a bite to eat with me?”
“I’m not a kid,” the omega muttered. “I’m already 18, I’m just small because I’m an omega.”
“Fine, not a kid, you want to get food or no?”
The kid took a minute to look him over carefully, eyes cautious and appraising.
“Not really supposed to go with strange alphas,” the omega muttered.
“My name’s Tony Stark, I’m launching Stark Industries which focuses on military applications of high grade tech, which is why I’m here,” Tony said blandly. “You passed my booth earlier and I was going to say hi but your guardian dragged you off rather rudely. There, now we’re not strangers.”
The omega snorted but slid off his stool.
“I’m Peter, Peter Parker,” the omega said. “I love science and tech but my father thinks omegas are too fragile to be out in the world without a protector so he won’t let me go to college to further my research. I saw you earlier too.”
The last bit is said with a blush, and Tony grinned.
“Well then, Mr. Parker, shall we?” Tony gestured away and Peter nodded, stepping forward and not complaining when Tony put himself a half step behind Peter. It was perhaps a little old fashioned, but it warded off any weird stares as Tony essentially declared himself Peter’s protection.
“I only have another hour and a half before father gets back from his panel,” Peter warned, but that was fine with Tony. An hour and a half was plenty of time to learn more about his omega.
They found a restaurant nearby and started to trade stories. Everything from terrible parents anecdotes to science loves, and by the end, Tony knew Peter was the one for him. Peter seemed just as head over heels, leaning into him as they walked back to his father’s booth and letting Tony spread his scent over him. However, their little bubble of happiness soured as soon as Richard saw them.
The man took one look at Tony, realized he was an alpha, and then decided he was a useless knot head that couldn’t possibly be good enough for his precious fragile omega son. Peter had tried to argue, but Richard just shushed him like a child.
Tony fought down his irritation and instead smiled.
“How about a challenge of sorts?” Tony asked congenially. “It’s traditional after all.”
“As if I would waste my time trying to duke it out with an alpha, even one as short as you,” Richard retorted, but Tony pressed.
“Make it a challenge of the brain then,” Tony said, fighting down his grin. “You accused me of being nothing but a sex crazed alpha after all.”
“Fine,” Richard conceded. “But if you’re wanting to impress me, it’s going to need to be better than something that just goes boom.”
“Something impressive that doesn’t go boom,” Tony said, a project they had recently acquired coming to mind already. “I can do that.”
Tony wished he could have said something more to Peter, but alpha challenges were to be taken seriously even when the challenger was a beta, so he nodded and stalked off, already planning on how to take Maya and Adrian’s little pet project to the next level.