Chapter Text
Tony had been the first Avenger to fall for the ‘Peter Factor’ as it came to be known and it happened purely by accident. Sure, Tony’s intentions on first meeting Peter had been purely self-indulgent but as he got to know the kid, that changed. Sooner than expected, Peter’s happiness became Tony’s ultimate goal.
At first, Peter had been an asset. Spiderman would be useful in the fight against Cap and his team. From the videos Tony had seen, this new player on the hero scene was as strong, if not stronger than Cap. That would help to even the teams out since Cap had himself and Barnes as the muscle. So, Tony flew the Spider-Kid to Germany, revamped his suit and pointed him in the direction of the fight.
After the whole Zemo situation was sorted and the Accords were updated appropriately (that took months in itself – Secretary Ross was a supreme asshole and it had taken the collective efforts of both Pepper and Rhodey to keep Tony from blasting him with his gauntlets), the ‘Rogue’ Avengers returned to the newly repurchased Stark Tower. Tony was still not on speaking terms with Barnes or Rogers, was only slightly frosty towards Wanda and had little resentment for Scott and Clint (if only because he knew those two were involved to protect their families). Tony was even able to forgive Natasha (only because she cornered him one night and forced him to hash everything out with her). He was burying himself in work, anything to keep him occupied and away from the common areas where the others would occupy.
This hadn’t escaped the notice of those closest to him and soon Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy were having secret meetings behind Tony’s back to try and strategise a way to get Tony out of his lab.
“I’ve got it!” Happy finally announced during one of their meetings. Pepper and Rhodey looked over at the now smiling Asset Manager as he pulled out his phone. “The Kid.”
“What kid?” Pepper asked but after a moment, Rhodey let out a noise of agreement. “What kid? Tony hasn’t got some mystery child I need to be worried about does he. Please tell me I don’t have a PR nightmare on my hands.”
“No nothing like that Boss,” Happy said. “The Spider-Kid. The one he took to Germany.”
“How can he help?” Rhodey had asked.
“Tony has me monitoring all of the things he does. I can just give it back to him and tell him I’m getting too busy. We encourage Tony to work with Peter, maybe make him a proper intern or something. That will give him something to focus on. And, I swear I’ll deny this if either of you say anything, that kid could bring anyone out of their shell. He’s like an overexcited puppy. It would be perfect for Tony,” Happy said. Once Pepper and Rhodey mulled this idea over, they both nodded in agreement.
The next day, Happy had walked into Tony’s room and had grabbed the man’s phone from the table beside him.
“Happy? What the hell are you doing?” Tony asked. Happy looked over at his friend and shook his head. His face was sunken, and his usually immaculately groomed face was shaggy. He had dark circles under his eyes, indicating to all who saw that he had not slept properly in a while.
“Giving you your Spider-Kid back,” Tony said. He programmed Peter’s number and email into the phone and saved the details. “Boss lady has increased my asset work and so I can’t keep monitoring him. Your turn.”
“But Happy!” Tony attempted to protest, and the other man simply glared. “I don’t know how to deal with a kid!”
“Tony, he’s a teenager. They are pretty self-sufficient,” Happy replied and Tony scoffed. “Look, all you have to do is reply to his messages every so often. He’s pretty smart if the ramblings I keep getting are anything to go by. Maybe you could invite him over to the Tower.”
“Why? Does he need some tech or something?” Tony asked. Happy let out an inaudible growl. His friend genuinely thought that people only wanted him for what he could give them. Happy wanted to deck anyone who had ever made Tony feel like his worth was based on what he could give them.
“Nah. I don’t think so. Honestly, I think he’s bored at school. Probably why I get so many damn messages from him,” Happy said, borderline fondly. “Just shoot him a message and tell him to swing by. Make it a lab day or something. Have him build something if you really need proof that the kid who made his own web fluid and hacked your suit is smart enough to be here.”
Without waiting for an answer, Happy left Tony’s lab. He instructed FRIDAY to forward all voicemails, messages, and emails from Peter to Tony’s phone and he walked back up to Pepper’s office with a smile and a spring in his step.
“How did he take it?” Pepper asked as Happy entered.
“Didn’t give him much of a choice. Operation Spider is a go ma’am,” Happy said and both of them laughed.
Meanwhile, Tony’s phone had blown up with the messages that Happy had forwarded.
“FRIDAY, what do I do with a teenager?” Tony asked his AI helplessly. “I’m going to completely ruin him.”
“I don’t think that’s possible Boss,” FRIDAY’s comforting voice echoed around the lab. “Peter seems to be a smart child. Perhaps treat him like an adult and go from there.”
“Thanks Baby Girl,” Tony said as he picked up his phone. He moved away from the bench and sat down on the couch in the corner of the lab. He then spent the next two hours listening to all of Peter’s voicemails and reading all the emails and messages. Most of them were just updates about patrols he had done but some of the emails and massages were more scientific. Some of them were ideas for improvements to his web fluid while others were potential upgrades for the suit.
“Boss?” FRIDAY’s voice broke Tony out of his reverie. He looked up at one of the cameras and nodded for FRIDAY to continue. “Platypus is requesting you join him for lunch. He says he will meet you on your private floor in 15 minutes time. I have been ordered to play ‘bubblegum pop’ until you leave your lab, just so you know.”
“Thanks for letting me know sweetheart,” Tony said. He then finally listened to the cues of his body and realised he was starving. “Hope he’s ordered something good.”
Tony stood and shut down his tablet. After giving an affectionate pat to Dum-E, U, and Butterfingers, he walked out of his lab and into the elevator. He ordered FRI to take him to his floor while his fingers ghosted over the phone before finally opening a message to Peter.
Hey kid. It’s Tony. Happy gave me your number. Give me a call on your lunch break, nothing urgent. I’ve got something to float past you – T.S.
Tony sent the message before he could regret typing it and slipped the phone back into the pocket of his trackpants. He entered his and Pepper’s private floor and walked into the kitchen. He turned the coffee pot on and asked FRIDAY to put a movie on as background noise.
10 minutes later, Rhodey arrived at the penthouse, expecting to need to enact his threat to get Tony out of his lab. Instead, he was stunned to see Tony sitting on the lounge casually sipping a cup of coffee.
“I thought I’d have to drag you up here,” Rhodey said as he sat the Chinese food, he’d brought down on the coffee table. “Colour me surprised.”
“Well I think if I’m going to have an impressionable teenager around, I should start to set a better example,” Tony replied and Rhodey smiled conspiratorially. “I know you had something to do with this so tell me, how does one keep a super smart teenager occupied?”
Tony and Rhodey spent their lunch tossing ideas back and forth about what to do with peter. They were just finishing up when Tony’s phone began to ring. A nervous smile crossed the billionaire’s face as he answered the call.
“Hey Kid,” Tony said happily down the line.
“Hey Mr Stark. I got your message. Sorry it took me a while to call. I was in chemistry when your message came through and it felt like the class would drag on forever,” Peter’s excited voice echoed down the line and Rhodey watched as the nervousness left Tony’s smile and the smile became more sincere. “So, how can I help Mr Stark? Is there a mission or something that you need backup for?”
“No, nothing like that,” Tony said with a small chuckle. Rhodey stood to start clearing their trash while trying not to be too obvious in his eavesdropping. “I was actually calling to see if you wanted to swing by the Tower this afternoon. I was thinking that maybe we could work together on something.”
“Seriously?” Peter’s voice was oozing excitement that was palpable. Rhodey had to supress a laugh at the confused face Tony was making. “I would absolutely love that Mr Stark. OH MY GOD! This is going to be awesome!”
“Great. I’ll send Happy to pick you up. What time does school let out?” Tony asked.
“Um 2:45. But I still need to check with Aunt May. I mean, I REALLY want to come and surely she’ll say yes but I should ask,” Peter said rapidly, and Tony laughed again, louder this time.
“I’ll call her and get approval kid. So, I’ll tell Happy to be out the front of your school at 2:45,” Tony replied. “And kid, I’m really looking forward to this.”
“Me too Mr Stark. See you later,” Peter chirped happily before hanging up the phone. Rhodey smiled brightly – Operation Spider was progressing nicely.
After Tony had called May Parker and received her approval, he messaged Peter and told him the news. When Rhodey returned from the kitchen and was getting ready to leave, Tony was stroking his chin.
“I need to shave. Can’t have the kid thinking I’m a mess,” Tony said absentmindedly.
“Well Tones, I’m off,” Rhodey said fondly. Tony stood and surprised Rhodey by pulling him into a tight hug.
“Thanks for lunch,” Tony said softly. “If you have time, I mean, if you aren’t too busy, we should do this again tomorrow. Or even Friday if you had the time.”
“Sure Tones. I can do tomorrow. How about we do Mexican this time?” Rhodey asked and Tony nodded. Rhodey gave his friend one final squeeze before saying his goodbyes.
Once the other man had left, Tony sent a message to Happy advising him of what he needed to do before entering his bathroom and setting about his grooming routine. Once his face was freshly groomed, Tony walked down to his lab.
“Dum-E, we need to clean this up,” Tony said as the little bot chirped and approached him. “We’ve got a visitor coming today and he shouldn’t have to deal with our mess.”
For the rest of the afternoon, Tony and the bots cleaned and organised the lab. They even set up a bench solely for Peter to work at. Just as Dum-E and U were putting the final things away, there was a knock at the lab door. Turning, a wide smile crossed Tony’s face as Peter waved animatedly and Happy smirked.
“Hey kid,” Tony said once the doors opened. Peter raced in and skidded to a stop in front of Tony.
“Hey Mr Stark,” Peter said excitedly. “This place is awesome! FRIDAY is so cool!”
“I’ll leave you to it. Call me when you want to head home squirt,” Happy said, almost fondly.
“Bye Happy! Thanks for the lift,” Peter called back and Happy waved before he left. Peter turned back to face Tony, but Dum-E caught his gaze when he let out a soft chirp. “Oh, hey buddy. Who is this Mr Stark?”
Peter dropped his bag down off his shoulder and instantly gave the bot a pat on the claw. Dum-E let out an excited chirp and spun his claw in what could only be perceived as happiness.
“That’s Dum-E. He’s the first bot I ever made,” Tony said proudly. Peter continued patting Dum-E and the noises the bot was making soon attracted U and Butterfingers. “This is U and Butterfingers. They help me around the lab.”
“Hey guys,” Peter said. His tone reminded Tony of how people talk to either pets or children. Peter gave all three bots pats and all three began chirping excitedly. “They are simply awesome.”
“Yeah but don’t drink anything Dum-E gives you. He tries to make smoothies, but they always seem to have motor oil in them,” Tony said, and Peter laughed. Dum-E let out a soft, dejected sound and Peter instantly started cooing at him.
“Oh, don’t be sad buddy,” Peter said as he patted Dum-E’s claw again. “You don’t mean too. Motor oil is good for you but not for us. That’s alright. I’ll try whatever smoothie you make me; I promise.”
The three bots let out happy chirps before zooming away, Dum-E grabbing Peter’s backpack as he went.
“So, what are we working on?” Peter asked as he turned back to Tony.
“Whatever you want. I had nothing particular in mind,” Tony answered, and Peter looked around the lab like a kid in a candy store. “We could build and code you your own bot if you’d like.”
“Awesome!” Peter exclaimed excitedly. Tony led Peter own to the empty bench and Peter looked at it in slight confusion. “What’s this?”
“This is a holo-table,” Tony said. He waved his hand over it and Peter let out an excited noise as hologram blueprints appeared. “So, lets brainstorm. Tell me about your ideal bot.”
For the next 2 hours, Tony and Peter set about designing a bot for Peter. At the end of their brainstorming session, they had decided to create something like BB-8 from the Star Wars movies.
“So, tell me about BB-8. What does it do?” Tony asked as Peter sketched out a rough design.
“Have you seen the new Star Wars?” Peter asked and when Tony shook his head, the teen gasped. “You need to get on that! BB-8 is the best. He’s the most sassy, helpful droid ever.”
“Mr Parker, would you like me to project some of the Star Wars scenes including BB-8 onto the wall so that Boss can get an idea of what you mean?” FRIDAY’s voice echoed around the lab and Peter jumped, having forgotten she was there.
“If you can Miss FRIDAY. But don’t go to too much trouble on my account,” Peter said with a blush and Tony could practically feel his heart expanding. This kid was adorable. Not only had he won Tony’s bots over, but he was speaking respectfully to FRIDAY as though she were human.
“It’s no trouble at all,” FRIDAY said and if Tony didn’t know better, he’d say his AI was growing fond of the teen. Within seconds, scenes from the new Star Wars movie was being projected and Tony began to get an idea as to what kind of bot Peter wanted.
“This is going to be a fun build,” Tony said once the scenes had finished. Peter looked at him with eyes shining full of excitement. “Let’s get started.”
Another 3 hours passed before Peter looked up from where he and Tony were starting to put pieces together. Tony looked over to where Peter was looking and noticed Rhodey standing in the doorway.
“Platypus, come in,” Tony said. Rhodey rolled his eyes before walking over to the bench. Peter was staring up at Rhodey with wide eyes and Tony laughed. “Platypus, this is Peter. Peter, this is Rhodey. I know you pair met briefly in Germany, but this is a better introduction.”
“Hi there Lieutenant Colonel Mr War Machine Rhodes Sir,” Peter said as he dropped the tool he had been using and shook Rhodey’s hand. Rhodey let out a choked sound at the use of all those titles while Tony let out a bark of laughter.
“How about just Rhodey kid? That’s way too long,” Rhodey said as he let Peter’s hand go.
“Sure Mr Rhodey,” Peter replied, and Tony supressed a laugh at Rhodey’s face.
“We’ll work on that,” Rhodey said before turning to Tony. “Tones, Pepper sent me down to retrieve you for dinner.”
‘It can’t be that time already?” Tony said before looking at his watch. Sure enough, the time was 8:30pm already. He hadn’t even realised how fast time was moving. “Well damn.”
“I should probably get going. Aunt May will be wondering where I am,” Peter said although he shot a dejected look at the pieces of bot that littered the bench.
“Why don’t you come back tomorrow after school and we can keep working?” Tony offered and Peter smiled brightly. “I’ll have Happy pick you up at the same time as today.”
“Thank you so much Mr Stark,” Peter replied. Dum-E rolled over with Peter’s backpack between his claw and when Peter took it from him, Dum-E lifted its arm and patted Peter on the head. “I’ll see you tomorrow buddy. Maybe you can make me a smoothie then.”
Dum-E let out a serious of excited chirps before Happy arrived at the lab. Peter said his final goodbyes to Tony and Rhodey before following Happy out of the lab, talking animatedly the whole time.
The next afternoon, Tony was actually excited to have someone in his space. He had spent the whole day eagerly anticipating Peter’s arrival. At 3:30, FRIDAY announced that Peter and Happy were making their way up to the lab.
“FRI remind me to organise a badge for Peter. No need for Hap to keep bringing him up,” Tony said, and FRIDAY responded affirmatively just as the elevator doors opened and Peter entered the lab.
“Hey Mr Stark,” Peter said. Before Tony could respond, Dum-E let out a loud chirp and raced over to Peter. When he reached the teen, he tugged on his jumper until Peter bent over. Once he had, Dum-E bopped him on the forehead gently. The teen laughed at the bot’s antics and patted his claw. “Hey buddy. Good to see you too.”
Dum-E took Peter’s bag again and raced back over to his corner. Peter smiled at the bot before approaching Mr Stark.
“I think you’re his new favourite person,” Tony teased as Peter rolled up his sleeves.
“Nah. You’ll always be his favourite. I’ll just be the second favourite,” Peter replied, and Tony laughed. “Did you work on BB-8 today? I mean, you probably have way better things to be doing than that but…”
“Kid,” Tony interrupted before Peter could launch into a full-on ramble. “I didn’t work on him but only because that’s our thing. We work on him together. And I think that if we work really hard, we can fully assemble his body today and move onto the coding.”
Peter smiled and rolled up his sleeves. As they worked, Tony took the time to look over at the teen. Peter was slowly but surely worming his way into Tony’s cold heart. Since the Avengers had broken up and the people he had thought of as friends had left him, Tony had found it hard to let people in. He’d always had trust issues (thank you Howard Stark for those) but the fracturing of the Avengers had not only cemented those issues but had dug them deeper into his very soul.
But here Tony sat, working side-by-side with someone who only 24 hours ago had been a stranger to him. But as they worked, Tony was beginning to see Peter as a permanent fixture in his lab and life.
“Hey Pete,” Tony said after they had been working for an hour. Peter turned away from his work and smiled at the older man. Tony took a deep breath before continuing. “I was wondering, and you are more than welcome to reject me, ok?”
“Mr Stark, you’re rambling,” Peter said teasingly, and Tony flicked the teen on the nose.
“I wanted to offer you an internship. With me,” Tony said, and a loud crash was heard as Peter dropped the screwdriver he’d been holding. “Not just to work on Spiderman things, although that would be pretty cool. But a proper, honest to God internship.”
“But,” Peter started but couldn’t seem to find the words. “But. I’m… but.”
“But what Pete?” Tony prompted and Peter took a few deep breaths.
“I’m… nobody. I’m just Peter,” Peter said softly, and Tony’s heart broke at the dejection in Peter’s tone. “I’m sure there are a hundred people more worthy of an internship. I’m just a nobody.”
“You’re right,” Tony said after a minute and Peter’s face fell. “You are just Peter. And that’s what makes you perfect.”
Peter stared up at Tony in confusion. Tony placed his tools down and turned to face the teen properly.
“That’s why I want you as my intern. Because you are ‘just Peter’,” Tony explained softly. “Kid, I have had people all my life telling me who to be, how to act, what to do and a whole bunch of other stuff. I have never been able to be ‘just Tony’. However, with you, I think I can do that. This right here, what we are building, is the most fun I’ve had in years. I want to see what amazing things you are going to do with that brain of yours. You are so intelligent Peter. You are a complete visionary and I want to be a part of your future.”
“Mr Stark,” Peter let out a breathy sigh and Tony smiled.
“Listen close kid. One day, I have no doubt that you will be MY boss. I think that having you as an intern won’t only be beneficial for you but will be beneficial for the world. I can only imagine the things you’ll do one day,” Tony said, and Peter smiled, tears welling up in his eyes. “Beyond Spiderman, there is a brilliant young man in there and I want to see him flourish. So, what do you say? Want to be my intern?”
“Yes. I would love that Mr Stark,” Peter replied. He made an aborted move and Tony raised an eyebrow. “I know we aren’t there, but I really want to hug you. You’ve just made one of my biggest dreams come true.”
Tony surprised himself by opening his arms and he soon had an armful of teenager. As Peter chanted his thanks into Tony’s shirt, Tony silently thanked the teen for what he’d done to help the billionaire in such a short time.
And so, the first Avenger fell victim to “The Peter Factor”.