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Don't ask him how it happened, honestly Peter didn't fully remember. All he knew was one minute Doctor Strange, Tony, Doctor Banner, Seve, Thor and he were testing some theories regarding Dr. Strange's magic, and the next he was laying flat on his back with a ringing in his ears.
Peter sat up but something felt off. His body felt different, bigger and.. his chest felt weird.
He groaned, then stopped because his voice wasn't right either. Something had happened, that's for sure.
“Mister Stark.?” Peter asked slowly. That was most certainly not his voice.
The workshop where they'd been gathered was quiet, no reply. Peter looked around and saw the others, Dr Strange and Dr Banner, Steve, Thor and… And Peter.
It felt like an out of body experience but Peter knew it wasn't that simple, it never was. Peter stared at himself for a solid minute, laying there unconscious on the floor. Then he looked down at his hands, or rather, the hands he was controlling. Because they weren't his.
He saw the familiar slightly calloused palms, the faded ac/dc t-shirt.. the arc reactor… oh fuck. Oh fuck, oh shit this was going to get complicated.
Just as Peter was trying, and failing, to stay calm another person began waking up. Peter began waking up.
Peter watched his body sit up and groan.
“Ugh what the hell was that?”
This was definitely in Peter's top five weirdest experience list.
Peter-not-Peter seemed to have realised what was going on, at least a bit of it.
“Kid, why are you.. me?” he asked
Oh this must be Mr.Stark.
“Um yeah, about that,” Peter began, “I have no idea.”
It was quiet for a moment Mr.Stark seemed to be processing the situation. He was looking around, frowning like something was wrong.
He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by the others beginning to stir.
It took a few seconds for everybody to complain and get to their feet but eventually the group was back to how this started. Now they could begin fixing whatever the hell had happened.
“That was far from marvellous,” not Dr. Banner exclaimed, “wha– why am I short? What is going on?”
“I don–” Dr. Banner stopped, clearly realising he was not himself and probably not being used to sounding like the god of thunder. “And I'm not that short, you're just tall.” He grumbled.
“I must have created some kind of body swap spell… that is actually quite interesting.” Dr. Strange mused. Well, Peter assumed it Dr. Strange in Steve's body.
Peter had been uncharacteristically quiet, he'd not said anything in a good few minutes. He was trying to get used to the sensation of the Arc Reactor, a heavy dull presence in his chest. It wasn't quite uncomfortable but it was hard to ignore. He wondered if Mr. Stark found it annoying.
“Maybe,” Peter –Tony– began, “we should write this down, or make name tags. It's getting confusing.”
Nobody protested the idea. After a couple of minutes of Tony looking around, and Peter watching himself walk around which he still found unnerving, he found a roll of labels.
“I have to say, I'm liking not feeling old.” Tony noted.
Peter laughed “Haha you admitted you're old. But actually yeah you're back is fucked man.”
“Be quiet underoos.”
Peter was quiet.
Name tags were written and handed out. Afterwards everybody was a little subdued, just adjusting to being zapped into a different body.
Dr. Banner was the first to speak. Thor was tapping at the inhibitor on this wrist curiously, Bruce noticed and cleared his throat.
“Why don't I explain how that works?” He asked, then turned to the group, “you all don't mind if we leave for a while?”
“No,” Dr. Strange replied, “no I should be able to reverse the spell by myself… although, I'll need you to do the actual magic.” He said to Steve.
“Right.” Steve agreed.
Mr. Stark caught Peter by the sleeve. “Come on kid, I have a few questions for you.” And with that the two headed for a quieter area of the workshop.
Peter actually agreed, the initial shock had worn off and now he was just interested in the difference between himself and his mentor.
“Did you know you have amazing vision Pete?” Tony asked. Oh that must have been why he was looking around so much.
Peter smiled, it wasn't exactly a compliment but it felt like one. “Oh, yeah it's pretty good, I didn't think it was anything crazy though. I mean I'm kind of used to it. You never said anything about how annoying this thing is either,” he gestured at the Arc Reactor.
“Huh, I guess not. Well just make sure not to knock it on anything, it feels very weird.”
“Okay,” Peter agreed, “so when do I get to try on the suit?”
Tony laughed, short and sarcastic. “You are not wearing any of the Iron Man suits, kid.”
“What! Why? It looks so fun!” Peter protested.
“No.”
“Well fine then you don't get to use my web shooters.”
The two stared at each other for a moment, each waiting to see if the other would give in first.
From behind them the sound of the workshop's heavy metal door echoed through the relatively quiet room.
Steve called out, “I'm going to blow off some steam, this is… I need a break.”
“Bye!” Peter called out.
“I'm gonna go too kid,” Tony said “I want to see what you're actually capable of, since you insist you're holding back.”
Peter did a double take. “Wait! Mister Stark come back!” he shouted, running after the man.
He caught up with him in the hall outside and grabbed his arm. Normally he wouldn't grab the most important billionaire in New York but this could be an exception. Plus he was technically that billionaire.
“Mister Stark you can't spar with anybody, please!” He was too proud to say he was begging but… yeah he was begging. Even if it wasn't him it was still him and if somebody got hurt because of his power, he didn't want to think about that.
Mr. Stark paused, clearly hearing the desperation in Peter's voice.
“Okay, okay. If you think it's that important fine. What about a punching bag?”
That felt okay, he could live with a bit of property damage on his conscious. He already did actually. So he nodded. “Deal.”
And the two set off again for the gym.
—
Meanwhile Thor and Bruce had found their way to one of the lounge areas. Bruce had just finished explaining the mechanics of the inhibitor.
“So yeah,” he concluded, “just make sure you don't mess with it or– well you know.”
“I do.” Thor nodded “I must say I am not used to feeling so.. weak.”
“Uh, yes, thats fair enough.” Banner agreed.
—
Tony and Peter arrivedat the gym. It was a bit weird watching Dr. Strange beating up a punching bag whilst Steve sat againt a wall reading a very thick, bery old looking book. They didn't comment though, the whole day was weird.
They picked a spot on the other side of the large room. A punching bag hung from a thick metal support bar above them.
“This good?” Tony asked.
“Mhm,” Peter nodded, taking a couple of steps back. “Don't forget to stretch.”
Tony gave him a look.
“Hey it's good for you!” Peter defended.
Tony streched, took a deep breath, pulled his fist back and– boom.
The bag flew back and hit the wall thirty feet away, throwing up a cloud of sand.
Tony was about to speak, “that wasn't t–”
Peter cut him off and pointed up at the bar It'd been hanging on.
Tony looked up and saw the rest of the damage. The metal bar that had been about as thick as his wrist was now warped and bent. There was a crack in the wall where it'd been secured too.
“I told you I hold back Mr.Stark.” Peter said in –what Tony considered– a teasing tone.
“I–” Tony was cut off by Dr. Strange shouting from the other side of the room.
“Good news! I should be able to reverse the spell, it'll only take around a day or two.”
“Good,” Tony said, then quieter so that only Peter could hear, “I want to do a few more tests and then we're designing you a new suit.”
Peter sighed, knowing he wasn't getting out of this.