st_arkintern | (no subject)

"The faster we strike a vein, the fast we explode this place with the full throttle of our collective genius." Tony's dark eyes were alight with possibility, his shoulder mounts popping up to carve the pine into thin sheets via laserwork. California wasn't starved for natural resources, and even just enough bauxite ore could open up a world of possibilities for building. All of Tony's manufacturing had come from scavenging, but he was only content with that for so long (which was not at all.)

Peter feels like he's two steps behind Tony, but it doesn't bother him as much as it might have when he felt a constant urge to impress him; as their relationship settled into something more comfortable, it seemed less important to him that he convince Tony that he was somehow worthy.

Besides, he's pretty sure now that most people feel like they're two steps behind Tony.

"What do you mean?"

"Catapulting this joint into the Industrial Age." Though he hadn't consciously willed it, his armor was now coating his hands once more, his fingers twitching anxiously as they caught strips of veneer. "The only part we can't manufacture out of wood is the engine. And the tires." Tony waved off any concerns with making either before Peter could even think it.

"California's a leader in mining. Gold, gypsum, iron, aluminum, oil--you know it's the sole producer of boron, to boot. You know what that means? Fuel, pyrex, neutron detecting." Tony was beginning to ramble, and quickly, out of pure excitement. He almost added nuclear reactor regulating, but he was getting far ahead of himself. That lab was close enough to taste.

"Yeah," Peter agrees. He assumed that they'd find those things the next time a portal opened... provided a portal did open and there were useful things there. It'd been over a half-year since the last time it opened. May? Or was it June?

"Have you ever mined before?" That wasn't exactly something they taught at Midtown.

"Sure haven't." Tony processed another few kilos of lumber, a third arm emerging from his back to catch and gather veneer as his hands laid it out on the table he'd dragged out.

Peter watches Tony carefully, committing everything to memory. If he's going to be of use, he should probably start paying attention.

"I bet there's probably books on it in the library." Maybe, anyway. "I brought a lot of books back from this other world we went to." The library had definitely grown since his first days at the inn.

"I go down, you spot up top." Before long, strips of veneer had been piled into a pyramid twice the length of Tony's body atop the table. He stepped back, clapping his hands to dust them off.

"Yeah, sure," Peter says, nodding. He moves into position, trying his best to follow his instructions to a T.

"My dad and I didn't do anything like this," he says. "He wasn't really into making things. Just cooking."

Tony motioned for Peter to make his move--the tower of stripped wood would have to be webbed up and stored in the shed Tony constructed near their workstation. "The best skill in dorm life. He who cooks reigns king."

Webbing is something familiar -- and it's something that Peter knows he can do. Peter starts moving and webbing the woods into more easily carriable stacks. Sure, he could probably carry a lot of it at once (strength was, after all, one of his superpowers), but it was also super awkward to carry because of its length.

"Yeah, we used to do it together sometimes," he says. "Uncle Ben and I made a pinewood derby car once. I used to help with his models too."

"For your troop?" Recalling that Peter was a scout at some point, anyway. As the table got cleared, Tony pulled a rolled sheet of graph paper, 34"x 44", and laid it out on the surface.

Edited 2019-01-27 22:02 (UTC)

"Yeah," he says, continuing to wrap and bundle things up. "I stopped before I got to Webelos, though."

"What'd you do in those, anyway? How many badges on that cute little vest?" Civilian life was largely a mystery to Tony and his military-industrial background.

"Went camping, earned badges," Peter explains, still working. "Uncle Ben was my assistant den master until I left."

A beat, and then: "You weren't in cub scouts?"

"Boarding school until I transferred to MIT when I was thirteen." Tony clipped both ends of the paper to secure it from rolling back.

Peter looks up from his work and over at Tony.

"It doesn't really sound like you had much of a fun childhood."

"You make your own fun as you go." Tony winked over his shoulder, straightening out the creases. "That's all life is."

"Did you have fun at boarding school?" Peter can't imagine it'd be fun being away from his parents. Or May or Ben. He knew firsthand what it was like to be without most of them.

"Had fun. Loved and hated it, depending on the day." Understatement--he cried almost every day he'd gotten sent off as child, but children were adaptable. Though after he'd acclimated, it wasn't as if he got homesick--though just as often he was ready to return once he was actually back home. "Became a seasoned traveler early."

"Yeah?" he asks. "I didn't really get to go on many trips until you took me to Berlin. May and Ben took me to Jersey Shore twice I think. After mom and dad died."

An internal sigh. "Berlin didn't count. We'll go back without an agenda." As Peter finished his work storing wood, Tony nodded for him to approach.

"It kinda did," he says, just as he wraps things up. Tony might not think it was, but he did. He had at least a little time to explore the city before he went home. He just wish he could have done it with Tony.

When Tony gestures for him to join him, Peter does, his head tilted ever-so-slightly to one side.

Glancing sideways, Tony hesitated. No. It wasn't time to bring that up right now. He gave a thin let's move on smile. "Check this out." He gestured at the detailed schematics illustrating the ins and outs of the sleek 1958 Plymouth Fury they would recreate with wood and little else.

"Whoa..." Peter has a hard time containing his awe. The car was vintage, like the kind of stuff he saw in old movies.

He's pretty sure he's seen this model in a particular movie, and he strains his brain to remember it. And then suddenly, it hits him.

Peter looks over at Tony. "That's the same car as the one in that old movie Christine, right?" He's not sure if Tony's seen it, but Tony at least knew Star Wars and Aliens. Maybe he knew Footloose too, but he wasn't really sure on that. Tony looked pretty annoyed the whole time he was with the Guardians.

"Sharp." Tony elbowed Peter with a smirk. "Promise this one won't be cursed."