Chapter 3
Ever since Tony had met the spider kid on that rooftop, he hadn't been able to stop thinking about him. The kid - kid - was sixteen, swinging all over Queens with some high tech stuff that he had made himself.
Tony had been visiting all the top high schools, presenting information about Stark Industries, trying to figure out which kid it was. He figured that he would live in Queens, since that was where his crime-fighting was focused, which helped narrow down his search. But with only a few schools left on his list, he was running out of options.
He straightened his tie ever-so-slightly, getting ready for his tenth presentation. He could hear the excited tittering of the kids on the other side of the wall. Tony had talked with the principals, wanting the presentation to be a surprise in case the spider kid caught wind of Tony's visit and decided to not show up.
"Are you ready, Mr. Stark?" the principal asked, starling him out of his thoughts.
"Always," he said with a charming smile. Adjusting his glasses one last time, he spun on his heel. "How do I look?"
"Uh..." she stuttered, not expecting the question.
"Alright, good enough. Lead the way." He followed her as she directed him towards the stage.
"If you'll wait here, I'll introduce you."
"Oh, don't worry about that. Everyone knows me, right?"
"Oh, um, alright."
Tony flashed her a smile before stepping out onto the stage, only to be blinded by the lights. "Whoa," he tapped the mic clipped to his shirt, hearing the thump in response, "could we get the lights lowered up here? I like to be able to see who I'm talking to."
"Sorry!" a young sounding voice exclaimed over the chatter of the students from he back. The lights dimmed significantly, and Tony gave the room of kids a wide grin.
"Hey, everybody. You guys all know who I am, right? Of course you do. Anyways, I'm here to-" A door at the back of the auditorium opened, letting in a flood of natural light.
"Sorry I'm la-te ohmygodisthatTonyStark?" the student said.
"Yes, Flash. Go have a seat by Ned. And you have detention after school, and you'd better show up this time," a teacher instructed.
Tony paused at the name Ned, watching the kid - Flash - go take a seat by a large Asian kid, who was sitting next to another boy with brown, curly hair who looked slightly less excited to be there than the other students. Vaguely, he wondered if Flash was the spider kid, then remembered that the vigilante used sign language.
"As I was saying before I was interrupted , I'm here to give a presentation on what's going on at Stark Industries. We most definitely don't accept lateness, Flash. Please try and be better," he began.
"Flash, you just got called out by Tony Stark himself," the Asian kid, Ned, said loudly.
Flash blushed, before retorting, "Why don't you go make out with your boyfriend, Leeds."
“Peter’s not my boyfriend, Flash, we've been over this.”
“Also, at Stark Industries, we don’t tolerate hate of any kind,” Tony interjected, with a pointed look at the obvious bully in the room. “Now, onto the presentation.”
Afterwards, Tony walked through the school’s hallways, talking with the principal about possible opportunities for students. “I’ve actually been looking for someone to be a personal intern for me. Someone quiet, out of the way, but does their work well.”
“I’m sure any number of our students would be willing to do that for you. However, a lot of them tend to be...rambunctious with their work. We encourage a lot of collaboration and hands-on practice here, so finding someone quiet might be difficult.”
Tony looked around at all the faces in the hallway. So much opportunity. He needed to figure out who this kid was. That onesie? Not safe at all. “What about your top students?”
“The top student is Cindy Moon, but she has so many extracurriculars, I’m not sure if she’d be able to make it work. There's also Michelle Jones, but she has the same problem. Um, there’s Paige Parker, I mean, Peter. He’s, well, he’s definitely quiet. Peter hasn’t talked for three years.”
He hummed in thought. “How does he communicate? I mean, in a school at this level, he can’t just not talk.”
“Peter uses sign language, but sometimes he writes responses.” That got Tony’s attention.
“Do you mind pointing him out? He seems like a good option.” They looked down the hallway of excited teenagers. Tony spotted Ned, walking with the same boy from the auditorium.
“He’s the curly haired boy with the grey shirt and jeans,” the principal said, pointing out Ned’s friend.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to go talk to him.”
“Of course,” she said.
Tony made his way over to the pair, pulling a pen out of his jacket. “Think fast,” he said, launching the pen at Ned. Without hesitating, his friend, Peter, reached out and caught the pen before it hit the boy’s face.
“Thanks, dude,” Ned said, not noticing Peter’s frozen expression of shock. Tony gave him a smile, internally laughing at the kid. He had just told him all that he needed to know.
“Your name is Ned, right? Do you mind if I talk to Peter here for a moment?”
“OhmygodTonyStarkknowsmyname!” he exclaimed. “I mean, yeah, of course, that’s no problem Mr. Stark sir.”
“Call me Tony,” he called after the retreating boy.
He looked at Peter. “Is there somewhere more private where we could talk? I have some questions for you.” Peter nodded stiffly, looking like he wanted to be anywhere but there. He led them down to a quieter hallway.
Tony pulled out his phone, showing videos of the spider swinging around the city. “That’s you, right?”
No, what do you mean? Peter signed, his hands shaking slightly, clearly nervous. The next clip showed the spider kid stopping a car before it hit a bus.
“Look at you go. Wow, nice catch, 3,000 pounds, 40 miles per hour, that’s not easy. A lot easier than that pen.” Tony smirked, putting his phone away. “You’ve got mad skills, kid.”
I- that’s not me , he gestured.
“Mhmm, then what’s that sticking out of your backpack?” Peter slung his bag off of his shoulder to see his suit (if it could even be called that) hanging out of the main pocket.
“So, you’re this spider...ling, crime-fighting spider. You’re Spiderboy?”
I’m...Spiderman.
“Not in that onesie, you’re not.”
It’s not a onesie, Peter signed, slightly offended.
“Oh, it’s definitely a onesie. Look, kid, I want you to be safe. And if your idea of safety is swinging around in that thing you call a suit, I see it as my duty to make sure you’re better protected than that, especially when I know you got stabbed just a week ago,” Tony told the boy.
Okay, so what do you want me to do? And I’m fine. I heal quick, like I said.
“Come intern for me. You can build a suit yourself, but with better materials. It’ll keep you safer.”
Can I have some time to think about it? he motioned, shifting slightly, uncomfortable with the situation.
“Of course. Here, I’ll give you my number. Let me know when you change your mind,” Tony told Peter, taking the pen back from him and scribbling on the back of a business card. He handed the boy the card, before walking back towards where the principal was waiting.
When Tony got back to the compound, he went straight to his lab. “FRIDAY, bring up all records on Paige Parker in Queens,” he said, remembering the principal’s name slip up. He’d have to ask the kid about that later.
“On it, Boss.” Newspaper pages, report cards, and other documents on the boy came up. One page in particular caught his eye. The headline of the newspaper read, “Two dead, one injured in fiery collision,” and showed a picture of a car, crushed nearly to pieces. He skimmed the paper, looking for information about Peter. His heart dropped when he read that Peter had lost his last family to a speeding driver.
Underneath the article, a smaller image of a younger Peter stared back at him. Tony could see the hauntedness in his eyes through the graininess of the picture.
“Dismiss all, FRIDAY.” He rubbed his hands down his face, moving over to the couch in his lab that he all but collapsed on, trying not to worry about the kid he had just met.
A few days later, Tony received a text from an unknown number.
I’ll do the internship.
He smiled.