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Peter groaned as the sunlight spilled through his bedroom window at the penthouse. He cracked one eye open, blinked at the golden light filling the space, and buried his head back in between his pillows with a muffled, “Ugh.”
“Good morning, Peter,” Friday chimed from the ceiling speakers. “It’s currently 6:45 a.m. Would you like me to inform Mr. Stark that you’re awake?”
“God, no,” Peter muttered into his pillow. “Just tell him I’m dead from exhaustion and that I’ll be in the kitchen in a minute.”
“Noted,” Friday replied
Dragging himself out of bed, Peter stumbled towards his closet, grabbing a T-shirt and a pair of jeans. He headed towards the bathroom and jumped in for a quick shower, emerging 15 minutes later, slightly more human and significantly hungrier.
The smell of coffee led Peter towards the kitchen, where he found Tony buttering a bagel with extreme intensity. At the same time, Pepper stood at the counter, already dressed in business attire and pouring what had to be her second cup of coffee.
“Morning, kid,” Tony muttered, not looking up as he focused on even butter distribution.
Peter slumped onto one of the bar stools, giving a hum of acknowledgment. Without hesitation, Peter reached over and snagged the other half of Tony’s bagel off his plate.
“Hey!” Tony shot him a look of betrayal. “Do you have any idea how evenly I spread that butter?”
“Yeah,” Peter smiled through a mouthful. “It tastes great.”
Pepper chucked and crossed the room, leaning down to press a kiss to the top of Peter’s head. “Morning, sweetheart. You sleep okay?”
“Define okay,” Peter mumbled. “I had a dream that I was late for a meeting and Tony replaced me with a Roomba.”
“Maybe a Roomba wouldn’t steal my breakfast,” Tony angrily muttered, taking a sip of his coffee.
Pepper rolled her eyes. “Let the kid eat, Tony, he has a long day ahead of him.”
Tony raised an eyebrow, “Oh yes, a field trip to his own home, how exhausting.”
Peter groaned, dropping his head to the counter, “I still don’t see why I have to leave the tower just to ride the bus with the rest of my class when I could meet them in the lobby.”
Tony patted the kid on the shoulder, “All part of the facade underoos, the facade.”
“Peter, you are due to arrive at Midtown High School in 23 minutes, your bus is set to arrive in 25 minutes and counting.” Friday chimed in from the ceiling.
With a deep sigh, Peter pushed away from the counter, getting a hug from Tony and a kiss on the head from Pepper before making his way down to Happy, who was waiting in the car.
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As the bus hissed to a stop, Peter let out a groan, seeing the glass entrance of Stark Industries. Even after giving in to the fact that he would be attending the field trip at all, Peter still thought it was stupid that he had to leave his home and go to school only to return an hour later.
“Everyone, stand up and single-file off the bus. Remember, we must conduct ourselves with the utmost respect. You are not only representing yourself but Midtown as well.” Mr. Harrington stepped off the bus first, pulling out his roster to make sure no one had gotten left behind already.
Peter stood up only to be quickly pushed back down by Flash. “Looks like we’re here Penis, ready to find out that you are just as much of a nobody here as you are at school huh?” Flash laughed to himself before getting a shove from MJ.
Ned and MJ each gave Peter a hand up, and they quickly made their way off the bus. The class made their way inside and were pretty quickly approached by an intern whom Peter recognized.
“Welcome, Midtown to Stark Industries! My name is Jane, and I will be your tour guide today. As you are all well aware, we have already had your access to the building updated, so as we make our way through Friday’s scanners, don’t be afraid when she reads your name and clearance out loud." A few students in the group looked a little nervous about being scanned by the most intelligent AI in the world, but if anyone had strong enough feelings about the matter, no one spoke up. “Any questions?”
Naturally, nearly every hand raised, including Neds which Peter quickly pulled down. Not waiting to be called on, Flash blurted out, “So hypothetically we would learn if someone was an intern here or not, right?”
Jane's face showed a bit of confusion, “Uhm, I suppose so, you'll be able to hear my intern level when walking through.” Flash whipped his head around, staring daggers into Peter’s head.
Jane led them over to the scanner as the class formed a single-file line.
Peter shifted from foot to foot, nervous about what Friday was about to reveal to the class. No one in his class (save for Michelle and Ned) even believed he was an Intern, much less one of the few people in the world with total clearance to the SI tower. No one would ever expect Puny Parker to be even partially running the biggest tech company in the world.
Peter shook his head, getting himself out of his negative thoughts, to see that he was next in line. Peter took a step forward, entering the scanner, waiting for Friday to give the green light, god forbid he make Happy come down here before noon.
“Peter Parker-[redacted] - Level 10 - Welcome back, Peter, would you like for me to inform Boss you have arrived?”
Peter shook his head before realizing he should probably give an audible response, “No need Friday, thanks.”
The class stood in shock, gaping at Peter as all of their thoughts raced through what this could mean. Not only was Peter not lying about having an internship at Stark Industries, but whatever he did stretched way beyond standard internship responsibilities, considering he had level 10 clearance.
Jane shook herself out of her shock, mainly from not realizing the heir of the company was in the crowd she would be touring today. “Right, well, we can now begin our tour, starting with the intern engineering labs. Remember not to touch anything, as anything you see in any lab today could be extremely dangerous.”
The class was led through multiple labs, each one showing off new ideas that interns were preparing to pitch. As the rest of the class focused on the presentations, Peter snuck over to check in with the head of the lab.
“How’s it going, Mike? It looks great in here,” Peter smiled.
“Oh, well, it would go better if we could go a week without an explosion, but what do you expect?” Mike laughed, and the two continued to chat about upcoming projects and events.
They didn’t get far into the labs before one of the interns asked Peter for a moment of his time. Peter was about to respond when he was cut off by a voice— “Why do you need help from Parker of all people? The loser couldn’t even tie his shoelaces, much less help you with anything.”
Peter clenched his jaw, shoving the hand that Flash had put on his shoulder off. “Flash, can you just leave it alone? Not everyone needs your blabbering.” Flash only scoffed in response before everyone’s attention had been drawn back to Jane, who announced they would now be heading towards the food hall.
The food hall took up a whole floor of SI, filled with bigger chains and small businesses surrounding the edges with tables and booths filling the middle. The class quickly split off, with some beelining for shawarma while others split off in multiple directions.
Peter looked around before spotting exactly what his stomach had been grumbling for since he woke up this morning. Peter approached the counter, not even stating his order before it was placed on a tray and handed to him. Packed with three sandwiches and two bags of chips, Peter murmured his thanks to the owner, Mrs. Brown, before heading to the table he had seen Ned grab.
Unfortunately, Peter only got halfway through his lunch with Ned stealing chips before he was interrupted by a tap on his shoulder. “Pete, we have an issue.” Peter looked over to see Happy looking a little more red and irritated than normal, and that was saying something.
“Hey, Happy! What’s going on?”
“Listen, as you know, Pepper flew out this morning to the European site, and Tony was supposed to take over any meetings during that time.
Peter nodded, remembering Tony’s complaints for the last several nights.
“Well, not too long ago, Tony got pulled into an Avengers mission.” Peter looked at Happy, alarmed, before Happy quickly shut Peter down. “Very low stakes, don't worry. It was more of a formality that Tony needed to be there, and he told me not to let you worry about it. But that means that the tower is operating without an on-ground CEO, which I think you know what that means.”
Peter groaned. Out of all times for the emergency protocol to be enacted, it had to be now.
Happy let out a chuckle, “Only you, kid, only you.”
Peter nodded and wrapped up one of his sandwiches to go, “Alright, transfer Tony’s schedule to mine and I'll change into something more appropriate and then get to the first meeting.”
Peter and Happy began walking towards the elevators when they were stopped by Mr. Harrington.
Mr. Harrington reached forward and grabbed Peter’s arm. “Peter, where do you think you are going? I thought we talked about this, You can’t just leave the group.”
Almost immediately after he finished his sentence, Happy removed the man’s grip from Peter’s arm and stood between the two. All the employees paused, horrified that someone had tried to grab the heir while the students stared at the scene, confused.
“Peter will be dealing with something bigger than a field trip today, sir. I am sorry to interrupt your field trip, you should have an email that Peter has been signed out to my custody for today, starting now.” Happy didn’t even wait for a response as the elevator arrived, stepping inside and motioning for Peter to follow him.
On the way up to the penthouse to change Peter was given a file marking what the first meeting was supposed to be over. Looking it over, it looked like a simple budget meeting, nothing too difficult, right?
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Mr. Harrington stood staring at the elevator doors a little bit in shock that Peter had brushed him off like that.
“What kind of important bullshit could Penis possibly have to do at Stark Industries? I guarantee that is just some dude he hired to make it seem like he is more important than he is” Flash sputtered out.
“Enough Flash,” Mr Harrington embarrassingly directed Flashback to a table, “What Peter is up to is none of your business”
The other members of the class looked around hesitantly, I mean sure Peter had an internship but Flash had a point, how much could Peter be involved in? After all, he was a high school student just like the rest of them…
“Alright everyone, it was brought to my attention that Peter had to leave for something important, but luckily for you guys, our field trip lives on!” Jane directed them to clean off their tables and gather their belongings as they moved on to the next part of their tour, the Avengers Museum.
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The elevator dinged as Peter arrived on the floor where the board members were waiting for him. Stepping out Peter took a moment to shake off any anxiety he had picked up since being informed about the meeting.
You can do this, Peter thought to himself you’ve been training under Pepper for months, you’ve been in meetings just like this one.
Tony and Pepper had sat him down months ago to discuss the future of SI when they told him he was the heir if he accepted of course. After a brief panic attack and a lot of reassurance that he wouldn’t be taking over immediately, Peter accepted and began his future CEO training.
Peter grabbed the door handle and pushed the door open to the meeting. Inside Peter was met with a very…awkward atmosphere.
“Mr. Parker, I thought Mr. Stark would be joining us today?” Peter smiled at the woman shaking his head.
“Sorry about that and the wait, Mr. Stark got caught up in some unplanned business so I will be taking our meeting today.”
Looking around the table a few older men looked displeased at this news, some muttering to themselves as others rolled their eyes.
Peter straightened his posture trying to mock what he had seen Pepper do in the past. He walked towards the head of the table, each footstep echoing in the uncomfortable room.
One of the board members, an older man with silver hair and a frown leaned forward, “With all your respect Mr. Parker, this is a quarterly budget meeting, we were expecting to see someone in leadership, not their favorite intern.”
Peter sat down pulling out his stark pad and pulling up reports that would be relevant to the meeting before giving the man a carefully calculated smile.
“I understand your concern,” Peter said, nodding. “But, Mrs. Potts and I went over the reports together personally. I have been brought up to date on all current analytics and projections, if you’ll allow me I am sure we can figure out why I was trusted with this meeting”
The board members glanced around making eye contact before everyone gave in pulling out their own Stark pads.
“Great,” Peter began projecting to the TV. “Let’s start with R&D”
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Meanwhile, down in the Avengers Museum, the Midtown students wandered through the exhibits, wide-eyed and whispering as they took in the displays. Groups of students gathered around different attractions, some trying on replica Iron Man gauntlets, others taking selfies with the original Hulkbuster armor. Flash stood over a replica Mjolner display, loudly insisting to anyone who would listen that he could lift the hammer “if it were the real one.”
MJ ignored the crowds, making her way to a quieter section of the museum as Ned followed. She stopped in front of a huge timeline taking up a whole wall dedicated to the history of Stark Industries. It began with Howard Stark, detailing smaller inventions and sketches, then transitioned into Tony’s era, highlighting the press conference where he announced the company would be shifting its manufacturing focus. From there, the timeline expanded, showing milestones, major inventions, and more recently, projects headed by both Tony and Peter, and Peter alone.
“You know if I didn’t know already, I would have grown suspicious here” MJ whispered to Ned. Ned nodded while he stared at just how much his best friend had done during his time here.
“It can be hard to remember that Peter does all this on top of school and his um…extracurricular.” MJ nodded in understanding before they were both pulled back towards the entrance as Jane called their class back together.
As Jane wrapped up their museum tour, she guided them toward the elevator.
“Next stop,” Jane smiled brightly, “we’ll be heading up to the relaxation lounge. Technically it’s off-limits to field trips and non-staff personnel, but because it is currently unoccupied we have been given special permission to visit.”
The students crammed into the elevators and a quick ride brought them to the exact floor needed.
Meanwhile, Peter exited the board room rolling his shoulders back and sliding off his suit jacket, sighing in relief. “That was brutal,” he muttered to himself as he made his way towards his office and had Friday walk him through any other meetings or check-ins that needed to be done.
Peter made a quick turn around a corner when his phone began to ring in his pocket. Looking down Peter saw “Sgt. Ross” spread across the screen.
Peter let out a huff and pressed answer before bringing the phone to his ear.
“This is Parker speaking”
Deciding to cut through the lounge and get to his office faster, Peter rolled his eyes as the Sergeant began his usual commandment for Stark Industries to supply the military with weapons.
Coming to a stop Peter took a deep breath, “Sergeant Ross, it's unfortunate that we are having this conversation again,” Peter huffed, “I thought I had made it very clear at our last meeting that Stark Industries has zero interest in returning to weapon construction.”
The sweet smiling Peter Parker seemed to be nowhere to be found as his face was stone cold. “I think we would both hate for SI to have to pull ALL manufacturing for the U.S. military, right?”
Muttering was heard on the other side of the phone before Peter ended the conversation abruptly and hung up on the man.
Peter rubbed between his eyes as he felt a minor headache come on.
“Uhm…Peter?” Peter whipped around, faced with his whole class each holding a slack jaw and wide eyes, besides MJ of course.
“P-Penis? What the hell are you doing up here and who was that on the phone??” Flash looked about two seconds away from passing out as his face turned more and more red.
Letting out a groan Peter looked up at the ceiling before asking Friday to send Happy up with some NDA’s and a few lawyers.
Peter checked his schedule quickly before sitting down, “Okay, listen, some lawyers are about to come up and they will have some papers to sign but until then, I guess I will answer a few questions.”
Multiple hands shot up as Peter gave a wince, “Yeah, I should have seen that coming I guess” he motioned for them to put their hands down.
“I’ll start with some basic stuff and, hopefully, answer some questions before they come up. I am currently acting CEO of the New York branch of Stark Industries, this doesn't happen often, but there needed to be someone in charge while Pepper and Tony were busy which falls to me due to protocol.”
This explanation did nothing to placate the state of shock the whole class was in, but at least they weren't blurting out questions to him. Flash had sat down, looking a bit grey and finally quiet for once.
As Peter finished his quick overview Happy came into the room, multiple lawyers following him in.
“We will handle it from here Pete, go ahead with your schedule.” Peter glanced over at MJ and Ned giving them an apologetic shrug before slipping from the room.
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Peter let out a sigh leaning against a wall and checking his schedule. There wasn’t a whole lot left to do besides a small meeting with Happy but seeing as he was currently busy it would have to wait for tomorrow.
Deciding to head up to the penthouse Peter made his way towards the elevator and asked Friday to mute his email for the rest of the day and send an off-hours notification that he would get back to them at the start of work hours tomorrow if anyone did contact him.
As the elevator dinged Peter stepped out and quickly went to his room changing into some pajama bottoms with a faded t-shirt showing some neuron making a pun. He made his way back to the living room and turned on a rerun of friends as he waited for Pepper and Tony to make their way home.
The elevator dings softly. Pepper steps out first, wheeling a small suitcase behind her. Tony follows already having taken off his suit jacket but his sunglasses are still on despite it now reaching 7 pm.
Peter scrambled to sit up and greet them.
“Peter?” Pepper spots him and quickly heads over giving him a big hug. “I'm sorry sweetheart, I didn't mean for you to have to take over today, hopefully nothing went too bad.”
“No no everything was pretty good, a minor hiccup that ended up with a lot of signed NDAs but nothing that Happy couldn't handle.”
Tony chuckled, giving Peter a pat on the back. “I heard about your cover being blown bud, only you.” He shook his head and collapsed on the couch, “you hungry? About some Thai?”
Tony didn’t wait for Peter to say anything before raising his hand, “Friday order our usual from that Thai place” he hummed a second, “Add extra spring rolls”
Peter shook his head a little bit before giving in and sitting back down on the couch next to Tony who wrapped an arm around his shoulder.
If he got to end every day after work like this, Peter didn’t mind dealing with a stuffy meeting and an asshole sergeant.