Work Text:
“Can you believe it’s time for our quarterly review already.”
Peter Parker looked up as his fellow intern, Daisy, slumped down into the open seat beside him. The Stark Industry cafeteria was quiet, the lunch rush over. The R&D department had been working over time lately as SI’s latest product was about to drop. The interns had been apart of it and with the work load increasing as they got closer to the release date, the later their lunches seemed to be.
Peter was excited to be apart of the new launch, but even more excited just to have an internship at SI. When Tony Stark had found him as Spiderman, Peter hadn’t thought that their relationship would extend to outside Superhero business. After Germany, Peter didn’t hear from the man, or from Happy. Not until the ferry boat incident and then the whole debacle with the plane. After that, communication with Tony peaked. He even came by the apartment when his Aunt May had found out about Peter being Spiderman and helped sooth the anger that had flared (rightfully) in May.
Tony had assured his Aunt that he would be there to help guide and protect Peter, and was even going to give him a real internship at SI to avoid any questions if they were seen together.
“Huh?” Peter had blinked stupidly from his couch while May had nodded approvingly.
“You’re a brilliant kid. I would be an idiot not to have SI hire you,” Tony had said casually, like he hadn’t just given Peter the greatest compliment of his life.
“And you were always going to apply,” May added. “You’ve still got the application you’ve been working on, right?”
Peter had ignored the gleeful glint Tony had gotten in his eyes, his mind still reeling at the sudden change of his life’s direction.
It had been a whirlwind, but Peter had submitted his application as Tony had instructed him to -
“Hey, you can say no. I don’t want to pressure you into this,” Tony had paused Peter just before he had submitted. “I’m still going to be here to guide you and teach you.”
“You heard Aunt May,” Peter had said, blushing hard. “I’ve been waiting to apply.”
Tony had smirked but hadn’t teased Peter like he was expecting. “If your sure, then hit submit.”
Peter had hit the button maybe a little too hard, leaving a dint in his computer’s track pad. Tony had been kind enough to leave the room before he had started laughing (he had also given Peter a new laptop much to his horror and embarrassment).
Time at SI was slipping by quickly but Peter loved every second of his time there.
“Already?” Peter blinked.
“Yep,” Willam said, dropping down next to Daisy. They were also joined by Tim and Savanna and a stressed looking Kono.
“I’m not prepared,” Kono whimpered. “I haven’t finished writing up my results or my goals for next quarter.”
“We still have time,” Savanna assured Kono. “And we are always gives us dedicated time to work on it in our schedules.”
“But with the launch!” Kono protested.
“We will make sure you all have the time to prepare for your quarterly,” came a familiar voice.
They all paused, necks snapping around to find Tony Stark standing at the end of their table. He held a coffee in one hand, a smirk on his lips and his signature sunglasses perched on his face.
Seeing Tony in the lab was a regular occurrence as he oversaw their projects along with some other R&D department heads. Each was assigned their own R&D leader and Peter had the privilege of working with Tony himself. Seeing outside of a lab was different and always made the interns straighten their spines when they saw him.
“Oh,” Kono said weakly.
“Is it really that bad?” Peter asked, nerves swirling around his stomach as he looked up at Tony.
Understanding filtered over Tony’s face and he placed a hand on Peter’s shoulder, giving it a little squeeze. “This is your first internship. You would’t have experienced a quarterly before.”
“Uh, not my first,” Peter said. “But, we didn’t have a quarterly review.”
“You’ve interned before?” Tim asked, looking incredulous.
“Oscorp,” Peter said with a nod.
The table went silent and a tension thickened the air. Peter realised his mistake a beat to late. He had forgotten that he had never told Tony that he had interned for the competitor once before, through Midtown High School of Science and Technology. It was through the field trip they had attended (and where Peter had come home with a little something extra he hadn’t planned) and the Oscorp team had offered a four week internship to those who had attended and were interested.
Peter had immediately signed up in hopes to learn more about the spider that had bitten him. It hadn’t led to much, to Peter’s disappointment, and he had left without drawing attention to the fact he was Spiderman.
Peter glanced up at Tony, the man’s expression carefully blank.
“We’ll just…” Daisy trailed off.
Peter shot her a pleading look as the others all stood up from the table, quickly leaving.
Daisy patted Peter on the shoulder. “Nice knowing you.” And then she fled.
Peter swallowed as Tony took a seat next to him, and his curled his shoulder inwards. “Don’t be mad.”
“You interned at Oscorp?” Tony asked, eyebrows raised.
“It was undercover work,” Peter blurted out. “Research. Getting in on the inside! I needed information about the,” Peter mimed a spider crawling over his hand and biting him. “And I thought this was the perfect opportunity! And it worked! Sort of, I mean. I got the internship. So did a few others and really the work wasn’t all that interesting. Not nearly as exciting as the stuff we get to do here! This place is, like, the coolest place ever.”
Peter drew in a deep breath, powering on as the words spilled out of him.
“And and didn’t even get to meet the CEO but I’m glad of glad I didn’t because I was trying not to draw attention to myself and I was just looking for information on the spider but I didn’t find anything, which was a bummer because I was hoping it could tell me about my powers but I just discovered them through trial and error -“
At this, Tony slowly took off his sunglasses.
“But it worked out fine and there was only a few bruises,” Peter rushed to continue. “And I left after the four weeks and never went back and I’m sorry I forgot to tell you please don’t kick me out.”
Tony blinked slowly. “I’m not kicking you out.”
Peter let out a small breath of relief.
“I can’t believe you became a corporate spy and didn’t tell me,” Tony said, shaking his head.
“I wasn’t a corporate spy! Not really…I don’t think - oh my god Mr. Stark was I corporate spy?” Peter panicked.
Tony chuckled, slinging an arm around Peter shoulder and hugged him to his side. “Oh kid.”
“Sorry I didn’t tell you,” Peter sighed.
“I’m not mad,” Tony said. “Concerned, but not mad. I’m glad you didn’t get onto Norman’s radar. That could have been bad. I do want you to promise me you won’t go back there though.”
Peter took in Tony’s serious expression and could see the concern there too. “I promise. I have no desire to go back there again.”
“Good,” Tony said. “We’ll find out everything about your powers together.” He gave Peter a stern look. “Not through trial and error.”
Peter gave Tony a sheepish look. “Sorry.”
Tony sighed and grumbled good-naturedly. “Can’t believe you interned at Oscorp when you working on an application to apply here.’
Peter laughed. “Don’t worry. You are way cooler.”
“Of course I am,” Tony sniffed. “I’m Iron Man.”
Peter laughed and relished the grin that Tony gave him in return. “Thanks. For everything, Mr. Stark.”
“Anything for you, kid,” Tony said. “Any time and I mean that. You are one of a kind and we are really lucky to have you here.”
Peter felt his cheeks go hot and he ducked his head. He was the lucky one and he while it may have been Oscorp that led Tony into his life, but it was Tony who was there for him. Peter never thought his life would turn out this way, but he wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.