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Even though at first Peter was embarrassed to tell Tony about the bullying he was experiencing at school for his “internship”, in the end, he was glad he did. Tony did not tease or judge him for it as he feared, but instead was very caring and honestly kind of concerned. Peter didn’t really understand how someone like Tony Stark could care about someone like him, some poor kid from Queens, but he really did. Peter told Tony that he didn’t want him to go to the school and talk to anyone, it was his battle to fight. However, on the days that Peter goes to the compound to work with Tony, Tony started occasionally coming as the one to drive him instead of Happy.
After that, Flash and his crew of brutes finally calmed down a bit. However, Flash was odd today in a different way. Whenever Peter and Ned walked past him through the halls, Flash kept giving Peter weird laughs or smiles. While Peter putting final books into his locker, preparing to leave, Flash slammed hard into his shoulder. Peter stumbled slightly but regained his footing and glared as Flash laughed. He grabbed the collar of Peter’s shirt from behind and pulled him close as he whispered closely into his ear, “Hope your enjoying yourself Parker, cause it ain’t gonna last long.” And with one last shove Flash left with a chuckle. Peter took a breath, lightly shook his head in confusion, and closed his locker.
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Tony waited patiently, and yet bored in his office. He had received the information that one of his company’s larger sponsor’s teens had interest in proposing something for the industry. Being fully honest, Tony was slightly intrigued by this, and frankly, a younger Tony probably wouldn’t have even considered doing it. That being said, he wouldn’t do this for just anyone. Harrison Thompson was, again, a very large funder to Stark Industries. Aswell as the fact that Tony’s growing relationship with Peter was reminding him how intelligent kids could be…and Pepper told him he had to.
Slightly lost in thought, Tony heard the door creak open. He looked up and watched as the teen entered his office and sat in the chair opposite from him across the desk. “Welcome Mr. Thompson. From what I hear, you have a bit of a proposition for me.”
“Yes, I do, and personally, I think you’d be stupid not to take it up. And we both know you’re not stupid.” Flash stated with a light chuckle and sharp confidence. A bit taken aback from the slight disrespect embedded in his wording, Tony was silent for a moment. But he swallowed his pride, cleared his throat, and continued.
“Alright. Let me hear what you’ve got.” Flash cracked a smile and leaned forward in his chair.
“You know Pen- err Peter Parker, right?”. Slightly confused as to the direction of the conversation, Tony lightly raised his eyebrow.
“Why, do you?”
“Yeah, we go to the same school.”
“Okay, well, yes I do know Peter.”
“Well, I would like to bring to your attention that I’m available.” Again confused, Tony replied.
“Available for what?” It was Flash who then looked confused. As if a genius plan just went right over Tony’s head. Tony didn’t really like the attitude of this kid.
“I mean, you should fire him and hire me.” Flash said with widened eyes and the look of dumbing down a brilliant concept. Tony tried his best not to burst out laughing right on the spot. As he replied, a quiet chuckle escaped his lips.
“And why would I do that?” Flash again looked shocked.
“Because I’m essentially a much better version of him.” Better version? Tony questioned inwardly, becoming frustrated with the attitude of the teen.
“Explain that to me.” Tony asked, genuinely curious as to the teen’s response.
“Really?” Flash paused. “Okay, well…I get better grades so that makes me smarter. Also! I dominate in P.E. and am on the football team, so I’m clearly more athletic.” Tony started to feel his anger build, but he bit his tongue. “And, I mean, there’s the obvious. I’m rich—” Tony cracked slightly.
“Okay, let me stop you there. What exactly does social status have to do with the job?”
“Well, I mean, I guess it could help me relate to you more, you know, you’re rich, I’m rich. And I mean, you should be a bit more concerned about making me happy than keeping Parker happy.” He said with disgusting confidence, as if he found some twist to guarantee him what he wants. Tony was in pure angered confusion. Who does this kid think he is?
“Really? Is that so. Why is that?” Tony said with an extremely fake smile plastered onto his face. Honestly, he wanted to punch him, but Flash was a kid, so Tony was fairly certain that option wasn’t on the table. He still wanted to though.
“Well, if you don’t choose me, I can’t say my dad will be very happy. And I know how much he helps you out.” Flash said with an exaggerated, and obviously fake, concerned look on his face. “And I mean, is it really worth the risk? I mean, why should someone like you even care about Peter? He’s so weak, pathetic, and honestly, when you round it all together, he’s kind worthless—” That’s it.
“Okay, I’m done. Listen to me.” Tony stood from his chair and leaned forward over the desk looking down on Flash. “You requested to visit with me to suggest I hire you to replace a hardworking employee who works directly with me. And as your reasoning, you threaten me with the withdrawal of your father’s money from my company. And when that doesn’t work, you start verbally abusing my intern?” Tony watched as the kid appeared shocked at his reaction and stumbled on his words.
“W-well I th-thought that you’d want—”
“You thought wrong Thompson. I’ll later be calling your father to discuss your failed blackmail attempt. Get out of my office.” Flash broke eye contact with Tony, stood up, and left the room.
Once Flash finally left and closed the door, Tony sat back down, relaxed his tense muscles, took a breath, and began to think over everything.
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Peter was walking into school the next day when Flash came rushing up behind him. He pulled the back of shirt to twist him and pushed him into the wall by punching him firmly in the eye. “DUDE! What is your problem?! Peter cried out as Flash held him in place.
“YOU RUINED MY LIFE!” Flash screamed back.
“How did I—” Peter began to protest but Flash jabbed him the chest with his knee, pushed him to the ground, and started walking away.
“See ya around Penis Parker!” Peter felt a slight drip down his face. He brushed his eyebrow with his finger and felt the blood lightly slipping out.
“Yikes. What did you do this time?” Ned said as he walked up to Peter and offered him a hand up.
“Nothing. As per-usual.” Peter replied coldly as he took his friend’s hand.
“Dude, why don’t you just fight back? I doubt that he’s stronger than like half the guys you fight on a daily basis.”
“I know I could beat him, but it’s hard to dial my strength down. I hate the guy, but I don’t really want to hospitalize him, you know? And I don’t want to treat him the way he treats me. If you fight fire with fire, you both get burned.”
“But you can’t do nothing Peter. You’re not his doormat.”
“I know. I know. Just let me handle it, okay?”
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Tony impatiently waited for Peter to arrive for their weekly Friday meet up. It felt odd to admit it, but he was anxious to see Peter. He felt really disgusted at the way Flash talked about him. It filled him with a need to protect Peter and he just wanted to see him. Tony really wanted to be the one to pick him up today, but he had a stupid meeting that Pepper wouldn’t let him re-schedule for the third time. He was finishing something up on his computer when he heard the door open. “Hey Mr. Stark.” Peter called in a voice that sounded a bit more tired then usual.
“Hey kid. What’s—” Tony looked up from his worked and saw Peter enter with a large red area around his left eye. “What happened.” Tony said as he rushed toward him. Peter weakly put up his hands in protest.
“No, no. Tony, I’m fine really.” Tony, however, still came over to examine his injured kid. Tony carefully lifted Peter’s head up so he could see his eye better. Although Peter often complained about Tony being overprotective, nine times out of ten he kind of enjoyed it, but he’d never admit it. Tony brushed over the area lightly with his thumb. Peter flinched but didn’t pull himself away from his mentor.
“Well, you’re clearly not fine.” Tony said in a slightly sarcastic tone as he went to grab some bandages. As he reaches for the box, he sees Peter’s blood on his fingertips. He could feel the anger rising in his chest toward whoever did this. “So did this happen on patrol?” Tony asked, as calmly and he could be as he was placing a small bandage across an open wound by Peter’s eyebrow.
“No…it was at school.” Tony froze for a second. He wouldn’t Tony thought to himself. “Are you okay?” Peter asked.
“Who did this?” Tony asked as he resumed his task.
“Nobody. I…fell.”
“Yeah, right. What, you slipped into someone’s fist?”
“Basically…” Peter said quietly and almost defeatedly. Tony sighed in frustration, but quickly tried to mask it so Peter wouldn’t think he was mad at him. Which he wasn’t in the slightest.
“This fist didn’t happen to belong to a Flash Thompson, did it?” Tony asked. Peter pulled his head away in shock.
“H-how did you know that?” Peter said, almost sounding scared.
“Hey, it’s alright. I just—he actually stopped by yesterday.” Tony admitted.
“Why?” Peter asked, very skeptically. Tony looked the teen in the eyes. He didn’t want to tell Peter about the disgusting conversation, but even more than that, he didn’t want to lie to the kid.
“Well, his father is a strong funder of my company, and he asked if I’d meet with his son.” Tony paused for a minute and gently placed his hand on Peter’s. Peter looked down in slight surprise, but Tony was grateful that he didn’t pull away. “And please believe me when I say I would have never agreed to it if I had known how he…treats you.” Peter tossed his head back letting out a noise of frustration. He then looked Tony in the eye and for a second, Tony could see the distress and pain in his eyes.
“What did he say?” Peter asked looking at Tony defeatedly. Almost as if he believed that Tony would possibly agree with Flash.
“I don’t need to tell you all the details. The main takeaway was that he’s a stupid bully and I care about you.”
“But what did he want? Why did he come?”
“Kiddo, just drop it.”
“No, Mr. Stark. He was talking about me, I know he was, and I have a feeling that whatever it was had to do with this!” Peter said, gesturing to his eye. “So please, you can tell me.” Tony looked into the pleading, almost frightened eyes of the teen in front of him.
“He…he asked if I would consider working with him…instead of you.” Tony paused to assess how Peter took this new information. The kid seemed tense, but eager to learn more. “Of course, I didn’t consider it, not even for a second. However, in an attempt to keep peace, I had to let him explain why he thought it was a good idea. He was just being a jerk, kid. Can I ask you a question?”
“O-oh, of course. What is it?”
“Why do you seem so worried?”
Peter did feel worried. Why did he feel worried? He knew Tony cared; he knew Flash flat out couldn’t be Spiderman. But he couldn’t say he never thought of the concept of Tony and Flash working together. They were both sarcastic, snarky, smart, strong individuals. Peter often wondered if Tony and Flash would get along better than he and Tony did. If…Tony would like Flash better than he liked him. “Peter?” Tony called him out of his trance. Tony lightly squeezed the kid’s shoulder. Peter’s previously dazed eyes locked with Tony’s. “You good?” Tony asked. “And don’t give me that ‘fine’ nonsense. You can talk to me.”
“I know. I guess I’m just…paranoid? I-I don’t know. It doesn’t matter—” Peter stood from his seat to leave but Tony jumped up and grabbed his wrist.
“Well, even if it doesn’t matter to you, it matters to me.” Peter tilted his head in broken confusion.
“Why?” The question made Tony’s heart ache.
“Because I care about you Peter! When are you going to understand that? You’re kind, you’re loyal, you’re the smartest person I know! Heck, you’re one of the greatest people I know.” Peter felt his eyes burn with tears. He could sense that his disbelief shocked, and maybe hurt Tony.
“I-I’m sorry Mr. Stark. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“Yes, you should have! That’s what I’m trying to say! I never want you to feel nervous to tell me anything. I’m here for you. And if I ever made you feel otherwise, I’m truly sorry.” Peter could feel the tears finally breaking free.
“No, i-it’s not you. I just, I’m not used to this. I don’t like telling people when I’m hurting because I don’t want to come off as annoying or-or, I don’t know.” Peter closed his eyes in embarrassment and fear of how Tony would react to his response. But he didn’t hear anything. He just felt Tony delicately pull him into a hug. Peter accepted the affection and hugged him back. Tony placed his hand gently on Peter’s head and guided him to press it into his chest. Peter followed and melted into the warmth. He breathed in heavily the smell of car oil and cologne. It was comforting in a way. It was very Tony. Tony held the kid strongly, yet not in a restraining way.
“Shhh. You’re okay, I’ve got you.” Tony said softly. “You’re not a burden kid. I like helping you. And not just with Spiderman stuff, I’m here for you Peter.” Tony rested his head on top of Peter’s and tightly closed his eyes. He really wanted Peter to calm down. In that moment, it felt like only that kid mattered. He continued to repeat comforting phrases and rubbed Peter gently on his back until he finally heard the sweet sound of Peter breathing regularly and the tears and sobbing subsided. Tony loosened his grip and he and Peter sat together on the couch. Peter looked up at him, eyes red from crying. Tony couldn’t help but crack a little smile. Even in this state, the kid was just so darn adorable. Tony gently brushed a single tear off of Peter’s cheek.
“Thank you, Mr. Stark.” Peter said with a little smile. A smile that Tony couldn’t help but love. “I-I” Peter stumbled, he thought for a moment, questioning what he was about to say, he decided to say it anyway. “I love you, Tony.” Tony was filled with delightful shock. He leaned close to Peter and lightly kissed him on his forehead.
“I love you too Peter.”