Welcome To Stark Industries
Ned entered the school cheerfully, practically skipping down the hallway. MJ stared at him as he approached her. "What's got you so giddy?" She asked.
Ned grinned. "You'll never believe what came in the mail today."
MJ raised an eyebrow. "You didn't answer my question."
Ned quickly took his backpack off and opened up the frontmost pocket. MJ watched carefully, seeming intrigued. Ned pulled out a small envelope and practically shoved in the astute girl's face. She pulled back, somewhat startled by the almost violent gesture. She gave the boy a bemused look. "An envelope came in the mail. What a wonderful world this is." She replied sarcastically.
Ned rolled his eyes dramatically and let out an exasperated sigh. "Read who it's from and who it's for!"
MJ raised an eyebrow once again. "I can't when the return address is faced towards you."
Ned looked confused for a moment, before looking at the envelope, and realizing that it was faced towards him. He turned it around and showed her. She stared at the letter for a moment, her face remaining emotionless. "Hm. Stark Industries huh? Bet this is an acceptance letter."
Ned nodded vigorously. "That's what I was thinking! Wait until Peter sees this, he's gonna freak! He might have a job at Stark Industries! Of all places! What if he meets Tony Stark!?" He squeaked.
MJ gave him a look. "First of all, it may not even be an acceptance letter. Second of all, not a job, an internship. Third of all, just because he hangs around at Stark Industries doesn't mean he'll meet Tony Stark." She replied coolly.
"Still. That would totally be badass." Ned rebutted.
"What would?" A third voice interrupted.
The group looked up to see a crisp and clean looking Harley Parker. "You're looking awfully clean today," MJ replied.
"Yeah, I woke up early to hit a FEAST shelter and take a quick shower since I haven't had one in at least a week. I tried to get Peter to come with but he barely slept so..." Harley answered through a yawn.
"You tired?" Ned asked, looking amused.
"Yeah. Did he say we woke up early? He meant we didn't really sleep at all." Peter cut in, stepping beside his brother and just looking exhausted. "Not to mention I've been nursing this friggen migraine for at least two hours and I'm pretty sure I'm about to collapse dead within the next twenty minutes." He added with an exhausted sigh.
"I'll go get some Pop-Tarts for us from the vending machine. I snatched a few bucks from a guy on the way here. You go nap in first period." Harley said gently, as he nudged his brother along.
Peter walked off wordlessly. "Oh jeez, you know it's bad when he doesn't scold you for stealing," Ned mumbled.
"Yeah." Harley agreed quietly.
Ned looked down at the letter in his hand, then up at the boy who was limping towards the staircase, before sighing and putting it back in his backpack. It can wait for tomorrow.
* * *
Peter slid down the railing, looking tired, as his brother skipped steps to catch up with him. "Oh- Peter! Peter! Wait up!"
Peter turned around to see Principal Morita running after him. "Uhh- hi Mr. Morita. What're you doing?"
"You've... got someone... to pick you up." He spoke between gasps.
Peter raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Yeah- his names Happy Hogan. He's here because of some raffle or something."
Peter exchanged looks with his brother, who stood beside him. "Umm, okay?"
"I'll head home and buy supplies. You uh, you take your time I guess." Harley replied, looking confused.
"Alright, if I'm... Check with Mr. Delmar. I'll call him within the hour, if I haven't checked in then, do something... Tell Mr. Li something happened I guess." Peter replied.
"Alright." Harley nodded in agreement, looking anxious.
"Okay.." Peter replied.
The brothers hugged for a moment, worried for the safety of the other. Peter would be going with a stranger. Harley would be off on his own. Principal Morita glanced between the two. The twins finally separated, giving each other a long look, before Peter turned to the patient principal. Harley turned and began walking away.
"So the guys' name was Harry?" Peter began.
"No, Happy. Happy Hogan."
"Tch. Who names their kid Happy? What is this, a Rudolph's Shiny New Year?" Peter snorted.
"Yeah, I think it's a nickname." Morita sighed.
"I hope so if not, his parents must've hated him," Peter grumbled.
Morita gave Peter a look. "That's a little rude." He chided gently.
Peter gave Morita a short glance, before turning ahead. "Yeah, I guess it was..."
The rest of the walk down the hallway to the front door was awkwardly silent. Peter didn't mind it, but Morita kept looking around as if trying to avoid looking at the boy.
When the two finally did make it to the front door, Morita was quick to wave the boy off. "Bye," Peter muttered sarcastically under his breath, as he left the building.
The first thing Peter noticed, was the insanely expensive looking car. It was black, with gold looking trims. "Holy crap." He yelped through laughter, as he stepped over towards the beautiful thing.
Peter stared at it in amazement, not knowing what to think. The window rolled down, catching him off guard. "Well, kid? Get in." The man grunted.
Peter stared in disbelief. "What the hell?" He said instantly.
"You are Peter Parker right?" The man sighed, seeming frustrated.
"Uh, yeah. Who're you?"
"Happy Hogan. You did get the letter, didn't you? It should've arrived this morning."
Peter's mind swam as he glanced between the man and the expensive car he sat in. "Well yeah but I don't check the mail in the morning." He lied hesitantly.
"Check your email?"
"Not today, no."
Happy grunted. "Well, congrats kid. You got into Stark Industries. Now get in before I leave."
Without a second thought, Peter climbed into the back seat. He glanced around the inside of the car as he buckled up. The inside was crisp and clean, unlike Peter. He hadn't had the chance to shower in the past two days, and was relying on a beanie to hide his greasy hair. He'd washed his face, and put on an ungodly amount of cologne to hide the growing scent of BO. He knew the girls at school didn't appreciate it, he didn't quite like how the scent burnt his nose either, but it was that or the smell of sweat mixed with blood, dirt, sewer water, and unwashed cotton. Which was not a nice smell by the way. He didn't like the way unwashed hair felt, but living the type of life he lived, there really wasn't much of a choice. A small part of him regretted not having gone with Harley to take a shower at 4:30 in the morning. But the larger part of him appreciated the thirty minutes of sleep he managed to catch.
Happy made a noise a few moments into the car ride. "Jesus, was that much cologne really necessary kid?" He interrogated.
"Well it's that or the smell of blood and both are pretty nasty but cologne is less suspicious."
Happy glanced in the rearview, looking concerned. "Why do you smell like blood?" He asked.
Peter looked up, realizing his mistake after the fact. "I cut my side in Woods class. They ran out of extra shirts so I'm stuck with a bloodstained one." He lied.
It wasn't necessarily a lie. He had cut his side in woods, that was how the shirt got stained and cut. Granted, that was two weeks ago. And they did have an extra shirt to wear. He'd just stolen it. Happy glanced in the rearview once more, before looking to the road. "Alright, just don't bleed out in the car. It's more expensive than both of us combined." He grunted.
Peter stared at the man. "Okay... So why do they call you Happy? You seem like, ya know, the opposite of happy." He began, hoping to get small talk going.
The man just grunted and closed the window. Peter frowned, and leaned back. "Fine, be that way. Days like this I wish I had homework." He said to himself.
For the rest of the forty-minute ride, Peter let his mind wander. It went from the idea that he was actually just getting kidnapped and he was going to die as soon as the car stopped, to that his identity was found out, to him getting a reward and everything in between.
When the car finally pulled to a stop, the two hopped out. "Follow me, and don't ask questions. Put this on." He sighed.
Happy gave him a lanyard with a badge that read 'Intern'. Peter stared at it for a moment, before taking it and putting it on. He followed Happy, scanning his badge at a station, before entering an elevator. Happy hit the button that read 63. "You're gonna meet the boss, then you'll get orientation, then you'll start." Happy answered firmly.
"Umm, can I use your phone for a second?" He asked quickly.
Happy stared at him. "Why?"
"I need to make a call, it's important."
Happy made an irritated noise. "Fine." He handed the boy his phone.
Peter took the phone and called Mr. Delmar. "Hello, this is Delmar's Deli, how can I help you?"
"Hey, Mr. Delmar. I just wanted to call for something real quick."
"Oh, hey Peter! Your brother just showed up, what're you up to kid?"
"Oh, tell Harley that I'm okay. I had a thing that I wasn't prepared for today so I kinda had to ditch him."
"Alright. Give me a moment." Delmar replied.
There was a moment of silence, and the elevator opened. Peter stiffened as Happy lead the boy out of the elevator. He gaped, as The Tony Fucking Stark stood there. "Okay, your brother wants to talk to you. I tried chasing him off, he's taking my phone- okay, bye."
Before Peter could say goodbye to Delmar, a voice blew up in his ear. "Where are you? What's happened? Are you safe? Do I need to call in a favor? Do you need Stefan? The Maggia? I've got them under my thumb, I swear to god I will call the cops on your ass Parker." Peter winced.
If only I knew what was happening dear brother.
* * *
Tony glanced up to a strange sight. Happy led a young boy out of the elevator. The boy looked like crap, to be honest, but stranger still, the boy was using Happy's phone. He gaped at Tony for a moment, looking like he had no idea what to do right then. Suddenly, he winced sharply and looked uncomfortable. "No- Harley. I'm fine- no- don't call- no! No police- I'm fine. I swear to god, wait, what? Slow down- no- no! No Maggia. Don't call Mr. Li! I'm fine. Har- Harle- HARLEY!" He paused for a moment. "Harley, I'm fine. I'm at Stark Industries. Yeah, I don't know what's happening either. No, everything's fine. Okay, I'll be back by, um, probably 8? I guess? I don't know. They'll probably give me a ride, I hope. Yeah, okay. Be safe. Love you too. Bye." Finally, the boy hung up.
He handed Happy his phone. "Sorry, the family's overprotective."
Happy just made a disgruntled noise as he pocketed his phone. "Nice to meet you. You're young to have passed my test, what's your name?" Tony asked curtly, but not unkindly.
The boy stumbled over his words for a few seconds, before finally speaking clearly. "Um... P-Peter, sir, Parker Peter. No- Peter Packer. PARKER! Peter Parker sir."
Tony felt a grin tug at his lips and barely managed to force down a smirk. "Well nice to meet you, Mr. Parker." He greeted, putting his hand out.
The boy immediately cringed. "Please don't call me that Sir. Mr. Parker was my father, and I hope I'm nothing like him." The boy sighed, looking slightly unhappy.
Tony raised an eyebrow. "Well, there's something we have in common. We don't wanna be our fathers. Wonder what else we'll find out about each other. Anyway, how'd you do it?"
Peter looked confused. "Do what sir?"
"Pass the test. That was impressive. People in college failed that piece of garbage I spent a week on." Tony snorted.
The young boy blushed, looking down. "It was time-consuming Mr. Stark sir." He murmured.
Tony approached the boy, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe so, but you still passed. With flying colors. You got a future kid, let's see what you can do."
Peter immediately looked up, looking surprised. "What do you mean?"
"I'm putting your skills to the test. I made a few broken circuits over here, let's see what you can do."
The boy grinned, looking eager. "And get you some new clothes while we're at it. God kid, what are you wearing?" Tony sighed.
His tone was stern but joking. "Come on, we're getting you a new outfit. Fri, we got anything here that'll fit him?" He asked the AI.
"Yes boss, at the gift shops on the 7th floor." She replied.
Peter jumped, immediately looking around. "Holy- okay I knew you had an AI but lord shes loud," Peter explained.
"No need to explain why you jumped, she scares people all the time. It's fine. Cm'on, I'll get you a few new outfits." Tony said, walking to the elevator.
The youngster stumbled over words for a few moments, before going quiet and following the man. "Wait- boss- what should I do?" Happy asked, looking confused.
"Go buy yourself some Starbucks, take the day off. I'll call you when the kid needs a ride home." Tony replied curtly.
Happy just stared at the two in disbelief as the elevator closed. "I feel bad for leaving him," Peter replied, shifting anxiously as Tony hit the button that read 7.
"He'll be fine. I ditch him a lot."
Peter stared at him. "That's rude."
Tony shrugged. "It's life."
Peter stared at the older man for a few more moments, before looking away.God, when was the last time this kid had a shower? Tony thought as he caught a whiff of the cheap cologne the boy was wearing.
He quickly shook his head free of the thought when the elevator opened. He stepped out and led Peter to a small Stark Industries gift shop. While the two were there, Tony bought the boy three new shirts, two pairs of pants, a pair of shorts, a baseball cap, another beanie, two sweatshirts, and a backpack since the boy didn't have one. Throughout the entire ordeal, Peter tried to either leave, convince him to buy less stuff, or that he was just wearing a bad outfit that day. Tony replied every single time with 'If you're going to work for me, you're gonna need at least 500 dollars worth of SI merch stuffed in your closet somewhere.' They stuffed the new outfits into the backpack and returned to the floor. "Okay kid, let's see what you've got."
* * *
Tony was impressed by the boys work. The boy definitely knew his way around a circuit board and was easily able to reprogram the small robot that had been created with numerous flaws and even made it more advanced than just wandering around the table and picking up small pens like it was initially built to do. With the materials he had access to, he was able to go as far as making the robot do mini flips and hover in the air with tiny repulsors for a few moments. It was an impressive feat, and Tony was deadset on his decision.
7:30 quickly rolled around, and Peter began to look anxious. "Um, sir? Not to step out of line or anything, but when can I leave?" He asked.
The question had caught Tony off guard, especially the way the boy asked it. When can I leave? "Kid, you could've left any time. You aren't being held captive here."
Peter looked relieved at the words before tensing up again. "Uhh, alright. Um, does this internship come with any-"
"Yes. All of the interns here are paid. Including you too. Usually, the interns are paid around $17 an hour, but it changes depending on your grade, how skilled you are, and really how responsible you are. So you're obviously pretty damn good at this, so let's start you off with, oh I don't know.. $14.50 an hour?"
Peter's eyes bugged at the number. "Uh- yes! Yes, sir, that would be great! Thank you so much! Umm, what's my schedule?" Peter asked, looking excited.
"How 'bout 4 pm to 8 pm, Tuesdays and Thursdays, then 12 pm to 6 pm on Saturday?" Tony offered.
"Yes! That works! That's good." Peter agreed happily, his grin growing wider by the second.
"Alright kid. You'll be paid biweekly, so that like- $200 every two weeks if you show up at the right hours." Tony said, crossing his arms, looking calm and collected.
Peter grinned. "Alright. That's good. That's a good deal."
"Alright. Happy'll pick you up and bring you home. Go on, get." He said playfully.
Peter's grin grew impossibly wider, before turning and waving. "Goodbye, Mr. Stark sir!" Peter shouted, leaving with Happy, and picking up his new backpack.
Tony smiled. "Stay safe kid." He murmured to himself.