Peter woke abruptly at the sound of his phone alarm, he quickly grabbed his phone to glance at the time and shot up from the lab desk he mistakenly fell asleep at the night before “crap!” In a flurry of panic Peter gathered his belongings and silently hoped that Aunt May wouldn’t be mad about the accidental sleepover.
“Mr.Stark?! I need a ride to school!!” He shoved his laptop into his backpack and fumbled with the zipper “Friday? Is Tony here?” Friday chirped from the ceiling “boss is in a meeting, Happy is heading to the garage to provide safe transportation.”
Peter sagged with relief “thanks fri!” Peter quickly boarded the private elevator and soon greeted happy in the garage “morning happy! Sorry for the last minute, uh, ride and stuff” he piled into the front seat and stuck his bag at his feet
Happy shot Peter an unimpressed look “you know the rules, kid. Backseat.” Peter pouted “aw c’mon! I’m gonna be late! Please?” Happy sighed and rolled his eyes “you’re lucky cumstances played out this way” he grumbled and took off to midtown.
—-
Fifth block soon crept up on Peter and he flopped down into his assigned seat next to Ned “dude.. how long do we get to finish our essays today?” Ned looked panicked “I forgot to work on it”
Peter opened his notebook to check “uh.. Mx.Tomz said it’s due end of today I think..” Peter wasn’t too concerned, he had already finished the essay the day before and had it saved onto his laptop ready to turn in.
Ned sunk into his seat “darn.. I’m doomed” Peter shook his head “you should’ve just done it earlier” he scolded fondly “maybe you can rush one today during class? Pick an easy topic maybe?” he supplied the best advice he could for such a crisis “or maybe ask for an extension?”
Ned rolled his eyes “as if they would ever grant me one of those.. that’s a rarity in Mx.tomz class.” He pouted solemnly. Peter sighed “sorry dude-“ the bell rang and ultimately cut their discussion short as Mx. Tomz began speaking to their class “okay! Today is a final work day to make your final touches on your essays. I expect them to be turned in at the dismissal bell before you leave today, I will not be granting extensions at this time.”
Ned's look of impending doom was quickly sketched into a sketchbook in the corner of the room by a very amused MJ “take out your laptops and begin silently” Mx. Tomz finished addressing the class.
It is at this moment that MJ begins to sketch Peter’s face next to Ned’s. Peter reached into his bag and pulled out a laptop that was definitely not the school assigned ones he was used to. In his bag was none other than Tony Stark’s personal laptop. A custom stark industries laptop to make matters worse. There’s no way Peter can explain the presence of such a device to his peers.
Peter’s heart raced as he slowly set it on his desk and hoped nobody looked too hard at his laptop. This was not ideal. His essay was definitely not saved onto the personal laptop of his mentor, and his essay certainly would not be granted an extension before the end of class over this monumental error. Peter had no other choice but to make do with what he had.
Peter sighed defeatedly and quickly entered the password (that he swore he didn’t know off the top of his head) and opened a new document. He was determined to write that essay from memory and save his grade, his grades depended on him.
—-
Tony scrambled around his lap in a flurry, coffee in hand and clothes a bit disheveled, he truly didn’t have time for this. He had important things to do. He didn't have the patience for rushing around his lab searching for something that should've been much easier to find by now.
His laptop was missing.
His laptop with the notes he had saved for his very important, very boring, board of directors meeting that Pepper insisted he MUST attend “or else” and he was determined not to find out what “or else” would entail.
Tony is a genius, but that didn’t stop him from searching for 30 minutes before realizing something he should’ve deduced the first time he glanced at it on the labs work bench.
Peter left his laptop behind.
Tony’s frantic search instantly paused as he stared at it and everything came to an abrupt halt, If Peter’s laptop was here and his was not then there’s an obvious assumption to be made.
Peter took his laptop.
Tony sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he processed how he could possibly resolve this unfortunately time sensitive issue with as quickly as he could. “Friday when does Peter’s school let out?” He stressed “Peter’s school lets out st 3:45 excluding Peter’s extracurricular activities, boss” Friday urged “Peter leaves school at 5:25 on average when including his extracurriculars”
“Remind me what time my meeting is?” Maybe he got lucky? Maybe just this once things lined up well for him. “Your meeting is scheduled at 3:30, boss” Tony sighed and pinched his nose. that just won’t do.
“How fast is the quickest route to midtown?” He paced across the lab to grab his sunglasses and blazer “the quickest route is an average of 17 minutes” Tony grinned “how fast if I speed?” Friday chirped “12 minutes, boss” Tony smiled “tell pepper I’m going out for a quick lunch and will be back before the meeting.”
Tony quickly rushed to midtown. He was determined to make this work.
—
Keyboard clicking and yawns certainly had a way of dragging time along to a slow crawl. Peter had managed to type up half his essay as best he could from memory, however he was struggling a bit to recall his references. He tried hacking into his school database hoping his essay might be there, but was left disappointed when all he found was a very rough draft of his essay introduction.
Absorbed in his project he failed to notice his phone ringing silently in his pocket or the familiar face of his billionaire mentor peeking in the window of his classroom door. It wasn’t until the classroom started gasping that Peter finally looked up from his laptop to see what all the commotion was about.
Tony stared him down like any displeased father would “Peter Benjamin Parker.” The class fell deathly silent “you stole my laptop, I’m offended.”
Peter’s jaw dropped “wha- hey- wait, I didn’t I didn't steal it!” He fumbled over his words defensively “I thought I grabbed mine!” Tony sighed and shook his head “well you didn’t clearly, and you’re gonna have to give it up. I need to have it for my meeting and I’m a little tight on time, kid.”
Peter’s heart sank, there’s no way he could give the laptop back now when he had gotten so far into his essay “no!” The classroom around him gasped in horror as they watched the scene unfold. Peter Parker, resident loser of midtown tech, just refused THE Tony stark his own property back.
Without context the scene admitted was rather absurd.
Tony, having rarely ever been told no by a single soul was left rather speechless “kid, that’s an order not a request?” He couldn’t help but laugh from pure exasperation “I gotta go, give it here-“ he reached for the laptop as was floored by what followed.
“You can have it back if you have mine to replace it!” He declared sternly “Mr. Stark I am at school and I am BUSY. You told me to get into a good school and this is a necessary step toward that. You’re gonna have to wait, sorry..”
Of course Tony didn’t think for a moment to grab the laptop Peter left behind before he left the tower.
Tony was still for a moment as he carefully considered his options, and huffed in defeat “you got ten minutes.” He grabbed an empty chair and sat to wait it out “get to work” Peter grinned and for just a moment he had completely forgotten he was, in fact, at school in front of all of his peers rather than just working in the lab back at the tower.
Murmurs broke out among the students around him. Ned was looking between Peter and Mr. Stark in awe and horror at what just transpired in front of their peers, and more importantly in front of Flash..
Flash glared at Peter from the back of the room in a seething rage. After all the effort he put into debunking his stupid lies about the internship, about knowing Tony Stark personally, just for Stark to walk in like nothing and say Peter full name. To say Peter’s name like it meant something to him.
To speak like a parent to that pathetic little- ugh!
Flash was furious. “How do you even know Peter anyway?! Why aren’t you suing him for stealing your laptop?!” More murmured voices broke out around the room at Flash’s outburst
Tony stared at Flash for an uncomfortably long five seconds “I don’t exactly want to sue my best intern.. that wouldn’t be good for business.” He rolled his eyes “he’s a good kid, now shut up and let him finish I’m kinda in a rush.” He waved Flash off with a quick flick of his hand and turned away to mess around on his phone impatiently waiting for Peter to finish his essay
Mx. Tomz finally broke free from their shocked silence “I didn’t realize Peter had an internship with you” they grinned “his grades certainly reflect great skill-“ Tony sighed “yes, I know he’s brilliant, I don’t need to hear it from you” he waved a hand apathetically “pretend I’m not here or something so Peter can work”
Peter sighed and finished the outro of his essay hastily and turned the screen to Tony “read it over for me?” Peter ordered. Tony quickly got to work skimming the text, occasionally retyping a line before he turned the screen back “looks good kid, turn it in.”
Peter grinned proudly to himself at the approval and made quick work of turning the essay in “can I be excused early? Please?” He begged
Mr. Stark considered it “any big tests later today?” Peter shook his head no “just this essay, can I?”
Tony sighed “fine but you’re sitting in on my boring meeting, Pepper said I have to attend but she didn’t say I couldn’t bring you with.” He stood and grabbed Peter’s bag from the back of his desk chair “I’m taking the kid, come on underoos”
Peter followed close behind him like a duckling and left behind a room of flabbergasted faces. Needless to say MJ got plenty of references for her sketchbook after that.
when the midtown rumor mill came out with some absurd theories the next day, Peter did his best to convince people it never happened at all. The only real proof from that day was the shocked faces in a sketchbook and an essay saved on Mr. Starks laptop.