st_arkintern | (no subject)

(no subject)

It is a clear, windless day when Peter Parker steps outside the Madonna Inn, a backpack slung over his shoulder. Peter is grateful for the good weather. It's still a little nippy out (his nose tickles from the cold), but it's nothing that Peter can handle after fifteen New York winters.

Peter quickens his pace afterwards and jogs over to where Tony Stark is already standing on the Madonna Inn's mostly-empty parking lot. "Hey! Ready to get started?"

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Shit.

The words are halfway out of his mouth when the Tony AI projection flickers on:

"You shouldn't bother him."

When the Tony AI issues his protest, Peter's head spins to Face Tony.

"See? He's already comfortable."

"I don't need to dignify that sentiment." Tony rolled his eyes where they couldn't be seen, gesturing impatiently at the projection.

"Mmm...what was the question?" He yawned, mussing his loose, dark waves. "Oh, right, Pete and his AI privileges. Why not? There's virtually no downside unless you're worried about me going maliciously rogue like some bronze-age comic cliche."

Peter chokes back a laugh.

"Am I getting ganged up on? Is that what's happening?" Tony cocked his hip out as his mirror image shrugged innocently.

"What can I say? Pete likes me. Of course he does--it's me." Clearly gunning for posturing points, the AI smoothed his hair back in one clean sweep. "But hey, this isn't all altruistic on my end--if I handle well, maybe you can upgrade me into a physical body as handsome and classy as any Tony Stark deserves, you dig?"

"That'll get confusing real quick."

"You could make him look younger," Peter offers. "He is kinda your little brother."

"I don't think the residents are ready for two of me." Tony sighed, scratching his chin where the skin met the metal.

"Probably not. But an intelligence program can hope for acceptance, can't he?" Blinking out, he re-appeared by the table instantaneously, then by the wood pile. "Not having to deal with excess bodily fluids is nice, but the debauchery is pretty fun."

"You say that like you aren't backed up with my memories every microsecond."

"True, but--it's not the same."

Whether or not this AI was expressing something deeper or simply whinging was a question Tony didn't have the wherewithal to mull over just yet. "You'll live." Then, his mirror image had vanished once more, and Tony's face was revealed to regard Peter skeptically. "...I wouldn't call that well-adjusted but I won't say no to a bit of frolicking."

"What do you mean by frolicking?" Peter asks. "Are you going to let us hang out?"

Suddenly, Peter feels like a kid asking their parent for permission to hang out with a friend.

Maybe a friend he wasn't sure his dad would approve of mlm

"Yeah." A beat. "As long as that's all you get up to."

"Well, he's you. He wouldn't let me do anything you wouldn't let me do, right?"

"In theory." Tony let his look linger before turning back to the schematics. "You do know what ask you're making, right? If literally anyone else asked for my arc reactor for an extended period I'd tell them to jog on."

"So you're gonna loan it to me?" Peter's eyes dont leave Tony's face, his eyes bright with hopefulness.

"I am entrusting it to you." Unzipping his jacket slowly, Tony reached in and pulled it from his chest with a sharp click!

"Are you sure?" He doesn't want Tony to second-guess himself, but he's so surprised at how easy it was that he couldn't help but vocalize it.

"I get it back by tomorrow evening." Clear but firm, Tony extended the precious artifact to the boy. "Lucky you, I was spending the night in."

"I promise, I'll take good care of it, sir," Peter says with the utmost of sincerity. He understands well exactly what he means, He isn't going to mess this up.

"'Number One Dad' will do, thank you." Tony roughed up Peter's hair again once the object was passed on.

Peter takes the object in hand, gauging the weight of it. It felt lighter than he expected.

"Thanks, Dad. I promise I'll be careful with it."

"I know you will. Now put it somewhere safe and let's get back to brass tacks, yeah?" Nudging him with the pen in his ribs, Tony half-smiled.

"Yeah," Peter says, nodding. He looks down at the arc reactor. It somehow doesn't feel right to stick it in a place as common as his pocket, but eventually he tucks it there anyway.

"So what are you going to show me now?"

“Some auto mechanic basics, Sport.” Tony patted the table for Peter to approach once more. “Making up for lost time.”

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