The Interns
Tony was benched from missions.
Understandably.
While he was showing May and Ben around, he went to pick something up, and his wrist snapped. There were apparently micro fractures in his wrist that he hadn’t noticed, and with the pressure on it, his wrist snapped.
So he couldn’t quite do lab work either while his wrist was healing. Which was fine, he had a lot of paperwork he had been neglecting for awhile. CEO or not, he still had control over the company, and thus needed to keep an eye on the happening of it.
Since he was stuck resting, he found himself checking on the new interns. They all showed promise when he talked to them, and besides Peter, most of them were college aged. He had expected some rivalry between the interns, as a lot of them had seeker to impress him to get high up jobs when the interns ship ended. Though, when he peaked his head in, he saw something else entirely.
When Tony hired Peter, he hired in four other interns:
Vanessa Lane, aged nineteen, student at Columbia university. She came from a single parent home and had earned a scholarship through Stark industries before, and had repeatedly impressed them. Hiring her was a no brainer.
Oscar Cortez, aged 22, studying at Columbia university. He showed a lot a promise at his previous internship at Hammertech, so snatching him from their clutches felt right. His mother actually worked at Stark Industries already, so he wanted to work their too.
Serena Knight, aged 20, went to Penn State University. She had written many papers on bioengineering throughout high school and into her early college career that showed promise. When she submitted them with her application, it was hard to turn her down.
Andrew Yun, Aged 23, went to MIT. He was a first generation student, and extremely bright. His parents had submitted the application, knowing their son had shown interest. His focus was on stem cells, and his current research caught their eyes. So again, a no brainer to hire him.
The youth of today was brilliant, and well, he questioned his choices at the scene in front of him.
“You- you think we can make it do a flip?” Vanessa asked.
The five of them were looking at a tiny iron man robot they made. It looked exactly like Tony’s suit, just really small.
“No, make it dab!” Andrew suggested.
Peter scoffed. “No, we have to do better than that. It’s gotta hit the woah and then die.”
Oscar and Serena stared at the other three with disappointment. “The brightest in the country, and all we can do is make memes with the robots. What would Stark think?” Serena wondered aloud.
“I think it’s hilarious.”
The five of them startled. Peter jumped and fell into Andrew, the two falling to the ground. Serena tripped into Oscar and Vanessa went pale. All of them staring at Tony in horror.
“Is this what you are all working on? I thought you’d be doing something else. Still funny.”
“Ah, sorry Mr. Stark. I made this last night and brought it in to show everyone!” Peter apologized.
Tony laughed, reaching out to ruffle Peter’s hair. “I’m just messing with you.” The friendly gesture made the others relax. “Besides, you all write reports, I know you don’t build mini-me while you’re working. Still, impressive.” He picked up the replica Peter made, examining it. Peter was plenty intelligent, and he knew that he admired him. Still, it warmed his heart to see Peter make something in his image.
“You are too nice to Peter. What are we, chopped liver?” Oscar whined. Serena smacked him for n the back of the head. “Ow!”
Serena rolled her eyes at him as she turned to Tony. “I apologize for him. We know Peter’s super gifted. Just look at him.” She splayed her arms out towards him, sorta showing him off.
“All of you are brilliant. I wouldn’t hire you if you weren’t. I don’t play favorites.”
Even Peter saw through that bullshit. “You totally do!”
Tony acted betrayed, but a smile worked on his face when the interns started snickering. “How about this, to prove I don’t play favorites, let me invite you all for ice cream. I’ve been craving some recently.”
“Stark Raving hazelnuts?” Andrew pressed.
“Yes, how’s you guess?”
And true to his word, he took the five out for ice cream. It was pretty nice actually. He talked to them about each of their projects, what they hoped to do when their internship was over, that sort of stuff
“My mom’s working on the newest Starkphone, but I wanted to go more into prosthetics. I know it’s always been something Stark Industries wanted to peruse, but haven’t really had the team for,” Oscar admitted. He was the first to finish his ice cream, and was a pushing around his plastic spoon in the little bowl as he talked. “My dad lost his leg while fighting overseas, so it’s been my dream to help.”
“I actually wanted to go into stem for similar reasons,” Andrew admitted. “Cancers are common in my family. In a lot of families. If I can find ways to speed up the healing process, I’m going to do my best.”
Vanessa hummed thoughtfully at that. “You guys are more noble than me. I wanted to create the best of the best. Working on making more impressive technologies is why I’m here.”
Serena laughed, nudging Vanessa teasingly. “Didn’t you want to make hearing aids?”
“Well, y-yeah.”
“Sounds pretty noble to me,” she assured kindly. “I’m also hoping to make prosthetics. And more. Anywhere I’m placed I’ll probably be happy.” Her gaze flickered to Peter. “What about you?Why Stark Industries?”
Peter shrugged, flushing. “My parents talked praises about it. They worked at Oscorp, but never really liked it. They had, but something changed. And they thought Stark Industries would help me flourish,” Peter admitted. “My aunt and uncle too. They saw all that Stark Industries was creating and thought I should apply here. Mr. Stark and Dr. Banner are my scientific heroes, so it made sense. And being here… I think my parents would’ve been proud.”
And the implication behind those words stung. Tony knew about Peter’s parents, and remembered how he told them to let Peter apply when he was older. Still, hearing those sad words, that thread of hope, it stung.
And the other interns realized that Peter’s parents must’ve passed. But no one said anything. What do you say to that?
“Ah, but I’ve met so many cool people like you guys thanks to the internship! It’s like I have a bunch of Conner l older siblings!”
“Oh my god, you are precious,” Vanessa cooed, pulling him into a hug. Peter was a bit startled, but accepted it.
“Is it group hug time?” Oscar joked.
“Group hug!” The five interns hugged each other and Tony sort of looked on in amusement. Though, he was pretty startled when someone in that mass of bodies yanked him into the group hug.
Well, alright. This was now a thing.
Maybe he should take the interns out more. They all seemed so happy connecting with each other and Peter saw them as siblings. He did take out other interns before. Normally it was for job well done, but maybe small things like this would help too.
Encourage their closeness, that bond they were growing.
They all separated, smiling towards Peter. Vanessa being the first to speak again. “You may not be my actual little brother, but you definitely feel like one. If you need a sister, I’ll be here.”
“Thank you.”
Thank you indeed. Bright minds worked better than ever.
“I think I should introduce all of you to one of the other kid geniuses I know. First… how do all of you feel about potatoes?”