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It was Thursday afternoon and Peter was sitting in the Stark-Potts’ penthouse kitchen. He arrived at the tower after school, got himself a snack out and immediately pulled out his homework. He had plenty to do, which was good because the entire Stark-Potts household seemed to be busy with other things. Mrs. Potts was down stairs conducting some sort of last minute meeting. Mr. Stark was pacing around his home office while arguing on the phone and Morgan was locked in her room. The crayon note taped to the door indicated she was working on ‘a super secret project.’ It was fine. It meant he didn’t have to confine himself to the desk in his room. He had the entire kitchen table to sufficiently spread out his things.
He alternated between burying his head in the nineteenth-century literature he was being forced to read and the essay he was being forced to write. Nearly an hour later, Morgan came charging out of her room. By the time he looked up, the five year old was already standing beside with a stack of papers and several colorful writing utensils tucked in her hands. “What’ve you got there, Mo?”
Morgan stood up tall. A look of determination that matched her mother’s crossed her face as she hugged the stationary to her chest. “I have a business proposal for you.”
“Right.” Peter’s brows bunched together as he nodded his head. “What kind of business?”
“My teacher read a book about a boy who sold lemonade to make money. But he sold it for twenty-five cents a cup!” Morgan dramatically flourished her one free hand as she spoke. The movement was reminiscent of the way her father gesticulated when he was giving a particularly passionate speech. It was extra comical given her small stature. “At the end of the story, he only made seven dollars. But he bought a whole skateboard with it. I told my teacher that wasn’t a good reflection of the current economy because skateboards don’t cost seven dollars.”
“Oh yeah?” Peter grinned widely. He was thoroughly amused by the theatrics. “And what did your teacher say?”
With her head tipped back, Morgan released an audible sigh. “She said it was just a story and that the point was the boy worked hard to buy the skateboard himself.”
Peter bit his lip to prevent himself from laughing and forced a serious expression. “I see.”
“Anyway,” Morgan replied. She paused to swipe some loose hair off of her forehead. “I’m going to start my own lemonade business, and I need your help.”
Deciding to play along, Peter closed his school book and nodded seriously. “Okay. What do you need me to do?”
Morgan straightened up. She squared her shoulders into a confident posture and pursed her lips. “Let's have a meeting, so I can go over these reports with you.”
Peter followed her into the living room. They sat across from each other on the floor with the coffee table between them. Morgan set down her stack of papers and began to flip through them. She set aside one that had the Stark industries logo printed across it. Around it she’d colored a bright yellow oval. Peter assumed it was supposed to be a lemon. Vaguely, he wondered if he should bring something up about copyright infringement. He didn’t have time to decide whether or not that was necessary before Morgan was excessively tapping a completely different sheet of paper. On it was a poorly drawn pie chart. It wasn’t quite a circle and none of the colorful sections were labeled.
“After analyzing the competition, I decided there’s a market for better stuff,” Morgan explained, to which Peter raised a single brow.
To be such a popular hustle in books and on television, he wasn’t convinced he’d ever actually seen a little kid running a lemonade stand. He was having a hard time believing there was a lot of competition to be had. "What competition?”
Morgan’s arms crossed over her chest and her lips turned downward into a pout. “Sarah J’s mom said she could sell lemonade too.”
“Right.” Peter nodded again, because sometimes it was easier just to agree. “Of course. Sarah J.”
“Uh huh. But she said she's going to use a powder mix.” Morgan paused to flip through her papers until she found one that had a drawing of lemons, water, sugar and cups on it. At the top she’d written what he thought might be the word recipe. Between her handwriting and reliance on phonetics, it was hard to tell. Abruptly, she thrust the paper into his hands. “I think we could get ahead of the game by making ours with fresh ingredients. That’s where you come in. We need a lot of lemons at a bargain price. You’re big, so you can cut a deal with a local supplier. We have to stay within our budget to keep up a good profit margarine.”
Confused, Peter echoed her words. “Profit margarine?”
“Yes,” Morgan insisted. She sent Peter a look of utter annoyance and spread her arms out by her sides. “That’s how you make money.”
The simplistic clarification was enough to provide Peter with the accurate term. Margin not margarine. He considered correcting her. Although he wasn’t sure how that would go over at the moment.
Morgan smiled proudly and pulled out yet another piece of paper. “See this? We have to get lots of dollars to stay above this red line.”
Peter gave the new drawing a look. There was a green blob surrounded by green rectangles and a few arbitrary numbers. He could surmise it was meant to be a pile of money. It took up the majority of the page. Through the middle of the image, she had scribbled a thick red line.
It was obvious she had no real understanding of profit margins or red lines. They were merely words she’d heard her parents say around the house. It was amusing more than anything else and he really didn’t want to discourage her. “So, how much do you think you’re going to charge your customers?”
A quiet hum escaped Morgan's lips. Her head tilted to the side and a finger made its way up to her chin. She thought for a few seconds and scribbled a few numbers onto a fresh sheet of paper. “I think five dollars. Or maybe ten.”
Peter pulled a disbelieving face and waved his hand in a so-so manner. “Five dollars might be a bit much.”
Morgan looked up, her big brown eyes shining with confidence. “Daddy says supply and demand drives prices up.”
For some reason that particular statement caught Peter by surprise. He laughed and swayed his head. “Do you even know what supply and demand is?”
Morgan happily hummed in the positive. “It’s when people want your stuff, so you can make more money.”
Peter couldn’t argue with that. So he didn’t. He simply smiled. “Sounds great. When do we start?” he asked, causing Morgan's entire face to light up.
“Does this mean we have a deal Mr. Parker?” Morgan asked, emulating her father’s cadence as she spoke. Her hands were on her hips, and her head was dipped down as she looked him over with scrutiny.
Rather than answer, Peter held out his hand for Morgan to shake. Apparently that wasn’t enough. He had to sign a binding contract as well. The second he scrawled his name at the bottom of the crayon inscribed document, Morgan snatched it up and laughed maniacally.
“You need to start working on product development! I’ll work on marketing materials!” She spun around in a circle and scooped up all of her belongings from the table. “I want to launch this deal by tomorrow afternoon.”
“You’re the boss!” Peter chuckled as she ran back into her bedroom. He looked down at his unfinished homework and shrugged his shoulders. None of it was actually due until Monday. And as much as he would have preferred not to have to work on it over the weekend, he was far more invested in the small business he’d just enlisted himself in. He texted Mr. Stark to see if he could borrow a credit card to purchase a few things from the store and grabbed his jacket.
Thankfully he didn’t have to go far. There was a store just around the corner that had everything he required. Including a ludacris number of lemons.
When he arrived back at the tower, Peter carried several brown paper bags into the quiet kitchen. He located as many pitchers as he could and started squeezing lemons. Dozens of them. It was the most tedious thing he’d ever done in his life. It turned out okay, though. Once he had enough juice, turning it into the desired beverage wasn’t all that difficult. Soon enough, he had the first batch done and was carrying a small sample glass to Morgan’s door. Then, with her approval, he went back to produce several more batches. There were six total. The large pitchers took up at least half of the giant refrigerator.
Oddly enough, that evening when everyone came together for dinner, nothing was mentioned about the stock pile of lemonade in the fridge. Or the two and a half bags of lemons still sitting on the counter.
The next day after school Peter was met at the door by an enthusiast Morgan Stark. She tapped her foot impatiently as he ate his usual after school snack and protested when he said she would require permission to leave the penthouse. The latter being much easier than he’d assumed it would be. Whatever had been taking up so much of Mr. Stark and Mrs. Potts' time the day didn’t appear to have been resolved. When Morgan ran into her father’s office to gain the requested permission, he simply bobbed his head and told them both to stick close to the tower.
That was no problem. Morgan’s business plan didn’t have them going more than two hundred feet past the building's ornate front doors.
After some searching, Peter found a folding table and two chairs. He transported them outside and set them up near the corner of the building that was closest to the intersection. Morgan was ready to start setting up her decorations the second it was in place. But Peter, unwilling to leave her outside unattended, made her follow him back up to the penthouse to get the cups, ice and lemonade. There was so much he had to use a box to haul them. Morgan was generous enough to carry one of the tubes of cups.
The lemonade stand was starting to draw attention before it was even set up. Passerbys slowed down to watch as Morgan arranged everything on the table. A few stray lemons kept a stack of pink napkins from blowing away and an array of colored markers piled up on one corner. Two of the six pitchers were placed in the middle of the table. Surrounding them were a few cups pre-filled with ice. She finished it off by taping her Stark Industries Lemon logo to the front of the table. Her tongue stuck out to the side of her mouth in concentration as he attempted to center it.
“What do you think, boss?” Peter asked.
Morgan stepped back and twisted her mouth in thought. A second later, her shoulder slumped and she stomped her foot. “Oh! We forgot to get balloons!”
Peter looked both directions down the sidewalk.The location was busy and the stand already stood out the way it was. There were several people standing around as if they were waiting to see what was going to happen at the table. “I think we’ll be okay without balloons.”
Morgan sat down in one of the chairs behind the table. She propped her head up on her hands and sighed. “Mommy says inflation makes everything more expensive.”
Peter looked at her and blinked. “I don’t think that’s what she meant by-” He didn’t get to finish his assessment. Morgan was practically jumping out of her seat as a well dressed businessman approached them.
“Hey look, Pete!” she giddily shouted. “We have a customer!”
Despite the steep price, the man bought a cup of lemonade. More people followed. Some of them came out of the Stark Industries building just to make the purchase. A line formed within minutes and stayed at least ten people deep. Peter couldn’t decide if he was surprised or not that people would line up to buy a cup of over-priced lemonade. And oh boy, was it over priced. What had started as a five dollar per little plastic cup fee quickly jumped to eight and then ten. It didn’t seem to make a difference. People were still buying, and were willing to pay even more to have Morgan draw them a ‘custom design’ on the side of the clear plastic cup. To top it off, the hastily produced tip jar was starting to overflow.
And they still had four pitchers left to distribute.
He was pulled from his thoughts when Morgan started waving a bill a few inches from his nose. “Look Pete! This dollar has Ulysses S. Grant on it.” She was practically vibrating in excitement. “That guy over there said to keep the change. I asked him if we met and exceeded his expectations and he said yes.”
Peter looked at the crisp fifty dollar bill and shook his head. Fifty dollars for a cup of lemonade with some wonky artwork on the side. All he could think was that rich people were wild. “Nice.”
“I’m going to raise the price,” Morgan announced. Peter didn’t even bother to protest. The line was starting to stretch further down the sidewalk and clearly people were willing to pay the big bucks to support Morgan Stark’s little business. -You’re the boss, boss!”
After exiting his weekly Friday afternoon security meeting, Happy noticed an unusual amount of people in the lobby carrying small iced beverages. None of the cups had lids on them. It was an accident waiting to happen. All it took was one dropped cup and chaos would ensure.No matter how quickly the janitorial staff reacted, someone one would inevitably still manage to slip. And given the number of people hustling in and out of the building, they'd likely take at least one person down with them.
He stomped across the glossy tile to the closest person holding a small plastic cup in hand. He tried to keep body language neutral but his arms naturally crossed over his chest, “Where did you get that?” he demanded.
The woman’s eyes followed Happy’s gaze to the cup in her hand. “Uh. Just outside? There’s a couple kids selling lemonade.” She took a sip and hummed contentedly. “It’s actually really good.”
“Kids?” Happy asked. There were only so many kids in the area. Peter and Morgan came to mind first. But, surely, if they were going to start a lemonade stand he would have been notified. Any other kids would require special permission to set up outside the tower. Something like would definitely should have been run by him. “What kids?”
The woman shrugged her shoulders and got in line at the guest counter.
Happy glanced through the tinted lobby windows. There was a table set up and long line people trailing out in front of it. People had to shoulder through it to get to the front door. He squinted his eyes. There was a teenager sitting in a chair leaning against darkened glass. He couldn’t see much of the smaller child. Just a pair of legs swinging where their feet didn’t quite reach the ground. He considered marching right out the door and demanding they produce a permit to sell perishable goods. Ultimately he decided not to. Not yet. Despite being the head of security, it wouldn’t be the first time he’d been left out of the loop. He growled under his breath and aggressively pointed toward several people who were milling around with their lidless cups. “Don’t spill that,” he snapped. “And if you do, clean up before someone breaks a leg.”
None of them argues but he could feel their eyes on his back as he retreated into his office. “FRIDAY? Any chance you could get Tony down here?” A beat passed. “Actually, what about Pepper?” If any one knew what was going on it would be her.
“Mr. Stark and Mrs. Potts are both on their way,” the AI replied.
Happy grunted in acknowledgment and pulled up the security footage from outside the building. He still couldn’t see the kids' faces. The mass of people waiting around to make a purchase were blocking the view. He made a note to add more cameras to the area. Maybe even a few launch-able drones. Being a cutting edge tech company, it seemed completely plausible.
Less than ten minutes passed. Pepper walked into the office first. Tony was just behind her. Happy sat up straight, his arms folded on the top of his semi-cluttered desk. “Did you know anything about this?”
Tony quirked a brow. “About what exactly?”
“About these kids!” Happy exasperatedly replied. He gestured towards the screen, even though the only thing visible was the long winding line of people. Most of them being Stark Industries employees and guests.
“Not following, Hap,” Tony quipped. “What kids are we referring to?”
Happy looked at Pepper who appeared to be equally confused. “Did we give permission for a couple of kids to see lemonade outside the building? Because no one ran it by me and, frankly, it’s a liability. The line is cluttering up the walkway, we have no idea what’s in that lemonade or how it was made and I highly doubt they have an actual permit.” He ended his rant with a deep breath and a low growl. “This better not be some sort of PR stunt.”
Tony opened his mouth to speak. Pepper outstretched her hand to stop him. “I’m not aware of any reason why any department would have invited or encouraged any children to set up a lemonade stand outside the building.”
“In that case, I’ll go run them off. And starting tomorrow there’s going to be a new policy regarding beverages being carried into the building. Everything requires a lid. The last thing we need is a major spill leading to multiple injuries. It's a hazard.” He moved to stand up. Pepper stepped into his path.
“Easy, Happy.” Pepper chuckled and placed her hand on Happy’s chest. “They’re just kids. Let’s not scare them off.”
Happy huffed. He could think of at least six good reasons to run the kids off without hesitation. He narrowed it down to this top three before proceeding. “They don’t have permission to be there. They likely don’t have a permit to sell. They don’t need to be outside this building.”
Pepper shook her head and sighed. “I understand where you’re coming from,” she gently agreed. “But for diplomacy's sake, how about Tony and I go check it out first. If we run into any problems, we’ll let you know.”
With narrowed eyes, Happy looked between Pepper and Tony. “I should come with you,” he bluntly stated. Not because he thought they couldn’t handle themselves, so much as he wasn’t convinced they could actually get the job done. Ever since Peter had come into their lives, they’d both lost some of their edge. Especially when it came to kids. Even more so after Morgan was born. They were definitely not the right people to send outside to deal with the children who had set up camp outside the building. Nothing would be resolved. “You’re too soft. Both of you.”
“Nah, we’ll be fine, Hap,” Tony insisted. He grinned and patted Happy on the shoulder. “Boundaries are good.”
Being the head of security gave Happy a lot of power. Just not enough to override the CEO and majority shareholder. Like it or not he had to give in. But not without shooting Tony one last withering glare. “Fine. But I’m going to be waiting in the lobby, Just in case things go sideways.”
“Sideways?” Tony outright laughed. “Happy, they're kids. How sideways can it go?”
Happy frowned. “You never know, boss.”
“On that note, how about we get going,” Pepper cheerily suggested and they all started toward the lobby. As they reached the doors, happily reluctantly paused. He made sure he had a good view of the table the kid’s had set up and watched Tony and Pepper left through the front doors.
Tony held the door for Pepper to exit, then stuffed his hands into his pockets “So what’s the plan here?”
“The plan,” Pepper affectionately mocked. “Is to approach the children, ask them about their lemonade stand, then gently request they move to a different location.”
They approached the area where the kids had set up. The line was more impressive in person than it had been on the security screen. There had to have been at least two dozen people crowding around the table, money in hand, ready to make a purchase. Tony raised a brow and nudged Pepper’s side. “They’ve drummed up quite the business. Maybe we should hire them instead.”
Pepper hummed, her eyes still dragging over the enthusiastic crowd. “I think there are laws against employing minors under the age of fifteen.”
Indifferently, Tony shrugged. “If you say so.”
They started to walk a little closer to the table. They weren’t paying much attention to who was behind it just yet. The majority of their focus was winding through the people. They were both taken by surprise when a very familiar high-pitched voice shouted, “Mommy! Daddy!”
At the same time an equally familiar said, “Mr. Stark?”
Suddenly Morgan appeared, tearing through the crowd with Peter hot on her heels. Pepper knelt down to catch her and scooped her up into her arms. “Morgan! What are you doing sweetheart?”
Tony didn’t hear the reply. He met eyes with Peter who was hovering nearby with his arms crossed over his chest.
He wasn’t upset. He knew the kid had taken Morgan outside. Although he’d assumed they had gone to a nearby park or ice cream shop. He probably should have asked. “Where did you two come from, Bud?”
Peter’s lip went between his teeth and his weight shifted. “I, uh- well, we were-” Before he could finish, Morgan squirmed her way out of Pepper’s arms and raised her hands in triumphant manner.
“Petey said I’m an entree-manure!” She shouted. Tony barked a laugh as Peter visibly winced.
Peter’s cheeks turned a touch pinker than usual. He looked at Morgan like she’d betrayed him and whined. “I said entrepreneur, Mo. Not- whatever you just said.”
Undeterred, Morgan bounced on her toes and gestured broadly towards the table. “I made a lemonade business. I’m the C3PO and Pete’s my employee. That means he has to listen to me because I’m the big boss.”
It took a second for Tony’ brain to translate Morgan’s title to CEO. He raised a brow, wondering when his youngest child had ventured into the lemonade Industry. “When did you decide to do this?”
Morgan swiped her hangs off of her forehead and placed one hand on her hip. “Yesterday. Pete and I had a big meeting and came to an agreement.” She spun around and happily pointed to the line of oddly patient adults who were still waiting. “Look at all our customers! At this rate, we’re going to outperform the competition.”
Pepper looked up and down the sidewalk, then passed a glance between Peter and Morgan. “Competition?”
With a solemn look on his face, Peter nodded his head. “Sarah J.”
“Ah. yes. Sarah J,” Pepper replied as if she knew exactly who Peter was speaking of. Tony assumed she did. She was amazing at remembering names. Even the ones that belonged to all of Morgan’s eager little classmates.
Morgan, still facing the line, turned to look over her shoulder. “People are waiting. I have to go make lots more money.”
She didn’t have time to skip off before Tony caught her around the waist. He lifted her onto his hip and furrowed his brows. “Exactly how much money have you made so far?”
“Um.” Morgan twisted her mouth and canted her head to the side. “I think three thousand dollars.”
Both Tony and Pepper looked towards Peter, who shrugged his shoulders and nodded at the same time. “That sounds about right.. She keeps increasing the prices and people keep leaving stupidly large tips.”
“That’s because I'm a good seller,” Morgan piped up.
Pepper lightly swayed her head and smiled in her daughter’s direction. “How much do you have left to sell, Sweetheart?”
“Pete made six pitchers, we only have one left.” She used her fingers to demonstrate the basic math.”Do you want some? It’s super rare now, so it costs seventeen dollars. But I could give you a single-use friends and family discount, if you want.”
“I don’t need any, sweetie.” Pepper smiled and leaned forward to kiss the side of Morgan's head. She glanced towards the entrance and laughed quietly. “But why don’t you set aside one special cup for your Uncle Happy.”
Eagerly, Morgan agreed, then tried to wiggle her way out of Tony’s hold. He tightened his grasp to keep her from slipping. “Hold your horses there, cowgirl.” He shifted her more to the front so he could look her in the eyes. “Mommy and I are going to let you finish selling what you have since it’s almost gone,” he said, glancing towards Pepper for support. When she nodded he turned his attention back to his daughter. “But tonight you can bet we’ll be having a little business to business chat about this set up you’ve got going on out here, yeah? You’re stressing your Uncle Happy out,”
Morgan ducked her head slightly and looked up through her ridiculously long lashes. “Sorry, Daddy.”
Tony couldn’t stop the smile that pulled at the corners of his lips. It was no wonder Morgan was as strong willed as she was. She knew how to play her cards. Like a true Stark-Potts offspring. “Yeah well, next time you decide to start a business outside the building, there are going to have to be a few parameters in place. Someone has to keep your Uncle Happy from developing high blood pressure. Capisce?”
“Yep! Can I go now?” Morgan asked. Tony huffed and exaggerated sigh and nodded his head. He set Morgan down, smiling as she immediately grabbed a hold of Pepper’s hand. Come with me Mommy!”
He watched his wife and child disappear into the busy flow of people before turning towards Peter. The poor kid looked like a nervous wreck. He was swaying side to side and hands were tucked deeply into his pockets.
“I’m so sorry, Mr. Stark,” he mumbled. He sucked in a shaky breath and looked up. “It’s just that- Well. You guys were so busy and she was so insistent. I should have told her no or-”
“You’re a great big brother, you know that, Buddy?” Tony interjected. He couldn't imagine there were very many teenagers out there humoring their younger siblings the way Peter had.
“I-” Peter replied, but Tony once again cut him off.
“I mean, don’t get me wrong, it would have been nice to have been a little more informed. But honestly, I”m glad she wasn’t attempting to pull this off on her own. FRIDAY’s great but she can only do so much to keep the little miss reeled in.” He paused, sighing with regret as he realized he too had played a part in the entire business blunder. He’d been right there in the penthouse with them and had no idea what was happening. A-plus parenting on his part, really. “Pepper and I have been unusually busy the last few days. Anything could have happened. But it didn’t because you’re a good big brother. You engaged with her, you encouraged her, and more than anything else, you kept her safe. I’m sorry I wasn’t doing a better job of keeping an eye on things around the house.”
Peter shrugged and smiled ever so slightly. “I like doing those things.”
“That may be,” Tony chuckled. He loved how much his kids loved each other. “But next time she comes to you with any elaborate plans, run them by me or Pepper. This is for your benefit as much as anyone else's. After this rousing success, her next plan may include world domination. And buddy, if I’m being honest, I think she could pull it off. Especially with your help.”
Peter ginned and shook his head, looking far more relaxed than he had a few minutes prior. “No world domination, I promise.”
“Good man.” Tony placed a hand on the kid’s shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze. “Now, how about you help Morgan clean up and make sure Happy get’s a cup of this famous lemonade. Maybe encourage your boss to apologize.”
“I can do that. No problem.”
“Thanks, Kiddo,” Tony said softly. “And just so you know, I absolutely mean it. You’re a great big brother.” He cracked a smile and knuckled the kid on the side of the head. “And an excellent employee. Can I interest you in a job here at Stark Industries?”
“Sorry, Mr. Stark,” Peter grinned. “I’m pretty happy with my current position.”
Tony smirked. “As Morgan’s Yes-man?”
“Nah,” Peter chuckled. “As Morgan’s big brother.”
Warmth spread through Tony’s chest. He smiled softly and wrapped an arm around Peter’s shoulders. “You know what, Bud?” he gently questioned. Although he left no space for an answer. “I'm pretty happy about that too.”