Chapter Text
Daren Anderson wasn’t looking forward to this particular Saturday. He appreciated a predictable schedule, and was a creature of habit, as much as that was possible as an executive assistant at Stark Industries. He didn’t work every Saturday, but enough of them that it was part of his normal schedule. But he wasn’t sure what to expect today, and that bothered him. And his sister had been a little annoyed he was working at all, since she had wanted help setting up for her holiday party. Daren had been almost sincere when he sent his regrets to that particular invite. They always clashed horribly on design opinions, and working together in that way was best avoided, in his opinion.
Teenagers in general weren’t really his thing, either, as much as a certain super-powered high school senior had grown on him, and as used as Daren had gotten to having Peter Parker’s two best friends around the Tower as well. But they were still maybe better than playing "family decorating committee."
Speaking of Peter, he was there in the conference room, looking much more nervous than Daren.
“Hey!” the boy said, half standing up from where he’d been working on his laptop. “I’m glad you’re here! I mean,” Peter said, visibly taking a steadying breath, “not like you’re late or anything. No one else is even here yet. Why are you so early, actually?”
“I might ask you the same thing at 8 AM on a Saturday morning,” Daren said, unruffled. His relationship with the teen was comfortable enough that he didn’t stress Daren. Well, as long as he was here, relatively safe in the Tower, instead of using himself as bait for human trafficking rings or throwing himself off buildings, that was.
“Tony was going to do the intro and get everything started, but he’s running a fever this morning,” Peter said, sighing unhappily.
“And Ms. Potts is in Malibu,” Daren said, suddenly understanding. Why hadn’t anyone notified him that Mr. Stark was ill? Though, with Pepper on the west coast and probably not even up yet, this was probably Daren’s “notification.”
“And the intern director?”
Peter shook his head. “This isn’t really her project. It’s mine. And it’s just people from my school for this beta test. It’s not a big deal,” he said lightly, his anxious expression at odds with his offhand tone.
Daren pursed his lips at Peter’s back as he turned away. The teen rearranged a few things on the refreshment table which some of the floor assistants had set up. His hand paused over the selection of danishes, then passed over the juice to grab a Dr. Pepper. Daren was just about to speak up as Peter moved to open it when FRIDAY beat him to it.
“Peter, you consuming those amounts of caffeine and sugar at this hour is on the “Do Not Fly” list,” she said primly.
“Additionally,” JARVIS said, “your heart rate is already such that any caffeine is inadvisable.”
Peter set the soft drink down with a sigh. “Who gave you access to the conference room, J?” he asked. “I definitely don’t need two AI’s keeping tabs on me.”
Daren raised a sardonic eyebrow at Peter, and the teen gave him an innocent look, which was far too practiced.
Daren pulled his tablet up into ready position. “What can I do to assist?”
Peter did an almost comical double take. “Assist… me ?”
“I have nothing pressing, I am one of SI’s executive assistants, and at the moment you are acting in place of Mr. Stark. So I think it’s completely appropriate that I assist you this morning with the orientation.”
“Oh! Um, okay, I guess so? I need to run through the presentation with FRIDAY. Could you... could you possibly check in with the different mentors we have set up to make sure they’re good to go?”
“Of course. What else?”
Peter looked a little startled again and seemed to consider. “Could you go down to the lobby in about twenty minutes to meet the students who are coming in? I was going to do that part, but I think I’ll feel more ready for the presentation if I can stay up here and go through it one more time.” Peter seemed a little uncertain, as if it was a big ask. Please. Daren had been an EA at Stark Industries for several years now. The things he’d been asked to handle? This didn’t even scratch the surface.
“Of course, Mr. Parker.”
Peter side-eyed him. “Mr. Parker?” His mouth sampled the words as if they were a new, strange food.
“If you’re acting as an executive today, you’ll be treated as such. Think about that before the student interns get here. This morning they’re not your friends; you’re here to set them up for success in their internships,” Daren reminded him.
“Oh, yeah. I guess you’re right?” Peter said, still unsure. Then more confidently, “Okay, yes. I can do that.” As Daren turned to head to his office, he saw the teenager's posture had improved, and he had a determined look on his face. Good.
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Fifteen minutes later Daren was waiting in the lobby as the teenagers trickled in. They were expecting ten, and seven were already present. They had four more minutes before Daren would judge their time management skills.
He surveyed the children who were present so far. MJ and Ned were the only two who appeared at ease, and MJ was just in her nice street clothes. Ned was tugging at a particularly ugly tie, which was paired with a light blue button-up. Daren made a mental note for Peter to let his friend know that there was no need for that. A few of the other boys wore dress clothes as well, and the girls were a mix of pantsuits and business casual outfits, accessorized with anxious-but-excited expressions. They mostly looked like they were trying a little too hard, but that was to be expected in their position.
One boy with caramel-colored skin and tightly slicked back dark hair was on a phone call and he looked frustrated. Since a large part of his job included reading the room and being aware of issues before they came up, Daren casually moved over a little closer and it seemed like the kid was talking to a parent. There were a lot of “I am!”s and “I will!”s and even a “I am not gonna screw this up, okay?” Daren frowned. Someone needed to take all of this a little less seriously. These were high school kids. Of course they were going to screw up here and there. The boy noticed Daren paying attention to him, glared a little bit, and quickly ended the call. Hmm.
Finally the last three students hurried in the door and they were ready to begin.
“Hello, beta testers for the Stark Industries High School Intern program. My name is Daren Anderson, and I’ll be escorting you to your orientation this morning. Mr. Stark was hoping to be here to welcome you personally, but he is indisposed this morning and has left Mr. Parker and myself in charge of getting you squared away.
Several of the students glanced up in surprise, accompanied by a few whispers.
Daren noticed Michelle rolling her eyes at whatever was being said next to her, while Ned was just grinning proudly, though he looked surprised, too. Had Peter not told them he’d be at least nominally in charge?
“All of your paperwork is in order, so if you’ll just please step up to this desk over here with your photo id’s, we’ll get your security cards. These are to be worn in clear view at all times in the building, and they’ll automatically admit you to areas you’re allowed in. You’ll also use them in the upstairs food court for one meal per shift.”
More whispering commenced, this time with some excitement. Daren supposed that teenagers were pretty easy to please, with free food high on the list. Each teenager presented some kind of id at the security desk and was issued their badge, at which point Daren led them to one of the larger elevators. He noticed the tense-conversation kid sizing him up at one point, then glancing away dismissively. Daren was used to much worse, and he had to suppress a smile. This kid wasn’t the first to think of Daren as “the help” with “assistant” in his title. It was too bad Happy wasn’t here to glare at them all indiscriminately, but he was in California with Pepper. That would have been entertaining.
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Daren stood in the back of the room, keeping an eye on everything and carefully maintaining a pleasantly professional expression. But he had a funny feeling inside as he watched Peter going through the presentation while his schoolmates snacked happily on the snacks they’d set out. His voice (and maybe his hand that he was gesturing with) shook a little at the very beginning of his spiel, but just a few minutes into it, he was steady and engaging, getting the information out in an efficient manner while still being interesting enough for a group of his peers. It kind of felt like this when he’d watched his nephew finally figure out how to stand up on his own after weeks of trying. Was that… pride that Daren was feeling?
He had known this particular teen for less than two years, but the amount of growth Peter had gone through in that time was quite amazing. He’d been awkward but brilliant in their first meeting, surprising Daren with his sass towards Mr. Stark and leaving the EA reeling trying to figure out where his boss had acquired a kid. At this point Daren had spent countless hours with Peter Parker, in so many circumstances, that few things surprised him anymore. (That happened pretty quickly once he realized his boss’s young protégé was also a superhero, and an enhanced superhuman at that) But today he was a little surprised. Peter was right on the edge of being not a kid, but a young adult, and Pepper or Tony would both be beaming if they could hear him handling this group of teens. Would be, when FRIDAY sent them the footage. A group of kids his age, from his own school, was arguably a scarier audience than the board, which Peter had also spoken in front of several months ago.
Peter was finishing up. “Okay,” he said, breathing out deeply in apparent relief, “any questions before you go meet with your project mentors?”
A hand shot up.
“Yes, Jason?”
“Can we really get anything at all for lunch?”
Peter tilted his head, pursing his lips. “Um, yeah. I mean, if the food court has it. Lunch will be varied times though, depending on who you’re working with. Anything else?”
The kids all just kind of stared at him. Peter looked at Ned, and his friend shrugged minutely. “Okay, then. If you’ll head out the same door you came in, FRIDAY, the building’s AI, will direct you further.”
Daren remembered they had debated having the mentors come down to collect the interns, but in the end, Peter thought it would be good for them to practice having FRIDAY’s help to navigate, and most of the mentors were busy with projects.
“If you need anything else today before your first shift is over at 2:30 or 3, your project mentor is your first point of contact, and if they don’t know the answer, it’s me. You’ll all debrief for fifteen minutes with me when you’re done.”
There was awkward silence, and as a group they started shuffling back towards the door, but then a different hand crept up reluctantly. It was phone-kid, and he still looked like he had a chip on his shoulder. What was his name? Thompson? Daren had looked through the teens photos and stats, but it had been a few days.
“Yes, Flash?” Peter asked, an odd tone in his voice.
Flash? What kind of a name was Flash? Daren didn’t remember seeing that on any of the paperwork.
Oh. He had heard that name before. Sometime last year, and with some frustration from his boss. This is the kid who used to give Peter a hard time, and Daren remembered Pepper’s eyes snapping in annoyance at Tony’s refusal to step in at that point. His gaze narrowed at the back of the boy’s head.
“My orientation packet still says ‘TBA’ for my mentor. Where am I going?” he asked warily.
“Oh.” Peter frowned and looked down at his smartboard. “Um… you’re in Organizational Management, so… with Andrea?” Peter looked up at Daren, a question on his face. Right, Peter hadn’t been there when Andrea had offered to deal with the high school kid. She had her own teen at home, and would have no trouble shepherding one around.
“Actually,” Daren said, "Andrea’s busy this morning. Mr. Thompson will be shadowing me."
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The look of surprise and dismay on Thompson’s face had been entertaining. Peter had looked just as surprised, knowing Daren hadn’t planned to be part of the mentor process, but Daren just smiled tightly.
“Only if that’s acceptable to you, Mr. Parker?”
Thompson seemed to be carefully avoiding a double take at the whole conversation between the two. Good. Nothing wrong with being a little unbalanced.
“Um, yeah, of course,” Peter said. “I need to, uh… oh, FRIDAY? Did you notify the mentors that their interns are incoming?”
“Of course, Mr. Parker,” FRIDAY spoke up, playing into Daren’s intentions seamlessly. “They are all en route.”
“What the…” he heard under the other boy’s breath.
“Okay, then. I guess I’ll just…” Peter looked a little adrift.
“If you have time, sir, Marketing has those new campaigns that Mr. Stark wanted you to give opinions on,” Daren said helpfully.
Peter gave him a strangled look at the “sir,” but nodded. “Oh, right. Yeah, I’ll, uh, do that, unless something comes up. Should I… I mean, I’ll probably hang out in the cafeteria in a couple hours, too, just to help if any of them need anything.”
“I’ll take Mr. Thompson here and get to some of the prep work for next week, unless you find that you need something,” Daren assured. Then, when Peter still stood frozen, and Thompson wasn’t looking his way, the EA gave a meaningful head tilt, eyebrows raised in amusement.
That did it. Peter flashed him a grin, and disappeared quickly out of the other end of the room.
Daren turned and faced “Flash” Thompson (his given name was Eugene, apparently) and assessed what he was working with today. The boy’s eyes seemed uncertain, but his jaw was jutting out with false bravado and he crossed his arms as he shifted his weight to one side.
Daren didn’t say anything.
Thompson uncrossed his arms and leaned backwards slightly, his eyes flashing worriedly towards the door where Peter had left.
Daren smiled tightly. Oh, they were going to be just fine.
“Shall we?” is all he said, turning and leaving the room, not looking behind him to see if “his” intern was following.
The next few hours passed quickly. The “Command Center” (as they jokingly called it) was on the main executive floor, and Daren checked in quickly with the other EA. There were usually three of them, but Corinne had recently been tapped to head a department in their European branch, and Pepper hadn’t found someone for the vacant spot yet.
“Hey, this is the new high school intern, Eugene Thompson,” Daren introduced. “I’m going to have him shadow me for a shift or two, then possibly he’ll work with you.” he said for Thompson’s benefit. He’d already texted Andrea about his decision, and why.
“Nice to meet you Mr. Thompson,” Andrea said pleasantly, reaching out to shake his hand, then immediately returned to her screen.
“Um, thanks?” the kid said, a confused look on his face at the immediate dismissal. He’d looked like he was gearing up to… charm? her, but it was wasted effort. From the look on Andrea’s face, she was deep in some kind of scheduling puzzle, which meant they were lucky she broke her hyperfocus long enough to even greet them. Those complicated scenarios were common with SI’s influence and sheer size these days, and some had been as hard as any Calculus problem he’d ever encountered.
Daren moved to a workstation nearby and started in on their regular weekend tasks, gesturing for Eugene to take a seat next to him. The boy huffed a little bit, but didn’t actually express anything, so Daren ignored him, and he finally sat down.
He brought up SI’s scheduling software (he was still getting used to the new version FRIDAY and JARVIS had collaborated on, but so far he was loving the changes) and went through Tony’s upcoming week, rescheduling several less-important things in the next couple days in case he didn’t feel better, handling several requests for input or appearances company-wide for the next several months, and setting up some meetings for Pepper when she got back in a few days.
He effectively ignored the sullen teen next to him other than to quietly narrate everything he was doing, and why.
“So here”—he tapped the screen—”Marketing is asking for Mr. Stark to record something to promote the Starktech conference in June, which he will probably do, if they’ll be patient. I’ll tentatively put it in for January 18th. These two requests, however, are not a good use of his time, and I don’t think he’d do them anyway.” He swiped them into a different folder on the schedule.
There was silence and stillness from his left, and Daren glanced at Thompson, but the kid looked like he was trying to make sense of something, and that he was biting back a comment or question.
“Something you’d like to say, Eugene?”
“Why do you get to decide that stuff?”
Daren raised his eyebrows and tilted his head, waiting for clarification.
“Shouldn’t Mr. Stark decide what he’s going to do, not you? Aren’t you just his assistant?” the boy finally asked, obviously feel annoyed and possibly feeling a bit superior to the lowly “assistant.”
Ah. There it was. Daren turned in his chair and pushed back a bit. “And why do you think Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts have executive assistants?”
Thompson looked elsewhere, looking a little cowed at Daren’s stare. “Um, to do stuff for them. Get them coffee, remind them of their appointments, get their dry cleaning. Stuff assistants do. Duh,” he muttered, rolling his eyes at the obviously-pointless question.
Another little lightbulb went off. If that was his opinion of what Daren and Andrea did, no wonder he had an attitude at being assigned to them.
“Let me show you something.” Daren turned back to the screen and brought up the internal job posting (it would also go public in a few days, but SI liked to give their own first view/shot at things like this). “There are usually three of us, but we are down one executive assistant right now. I want you to read that job description and requirements.”
The teenager scooted forward as Daren moved out of the way, and he peered at the screen, looking even more confused. His eyebrows lifted as he went through the executive assistant’s duties, and then shot into his hairline as he started looking through the requirements and qualifications.
“You have an MBA?” he asked incredulously, swiveling his head back to Daren. “How old are you even?”
“I do. And that’s a bit personal, but I’m 27,” Daren replied, rolling his own eyes just a bit.
“But couldn’t you be making way more money somewhere else, and have a better job than this?” Thompson asked, sounding more interested in what Daren had to say now than he had all afternoon.
“I like my job, and I’m good at it. It’s challenging, seldom boring, I get to travel all over the world, and the benefits package is amazing. Also, I probably make quite a bit more than you think. And if I ever did want to move to another department, as long as I was qualified, there wouldn’t be a problem.”
“Oh,” the teenager said, seeming to reevaluate life for a moment. “So, what is one of your favorite parts of your week then? What’s one of the more difficult things you’ve had to do this month, and what is it really like following Tony Stark around?”
Apparently Thompson had gotten over his silence strike. Daren grimaced internally.
“First of all, I’m usually far too busy making things work to just ‘follow anybody around,’ but at certain times I’m not with Ms. Potts, and I do, and it’s always an adventure,” he said dryly.
Thompson seemed to be mulling that over.
Daren carefully read through the message that had just come in on his phone, and quickly stood up. “Now, I need to put my tablet away, and then we’re headed downstairs, because there’s a… situation in R&D.”
The kid followed Daren into his office and stared around at the walls in interest while Daren put a few things away in his desk and wondered (not for the first time) if he should invest in protective gear for things like this.
“Dude! You got your MBA from Harvard ?”