Hello?

Your Personal Intern?

Tony was genuinely surprised to see Peter again and in his own tower of all places. Although, he really should have realized that "park sleeping" Peter and "perfect score" Peter were one and the same. He had mentioned that he went to Midtown when they first met and that he was working on an AI, so Tony should have easily connected the two from the beginning.

That train of thought quickly vanished after FRIDAY had informed him of Peter's current state.

Tony tried his best to come off as casual and nonchalant as he could, but he had so many questions inside. He knew there had to be something more to it than just skipping lunch as the boy had claimed. Skipping one meal wouldn't cause FRIDAY to say he was malnourished and starving. But why? He wanted to ask the intern for the full story, but he knew that it was not the time. It was more important to keep the kid calm and get him something to eat so he didn't pass out.

So, he led Peter to the elevator and told FRIDAY to take them to the kitchen on the floor of the Avengers' common room. It was a silent walk and Tony could tell that the boy was nervous. He walked with his eyes down and his hands in the pocket of his hoodie. While in the elevator, he kept playing with a rubber band around his wrist, pulling it back away from his wrist and letting it go. A few new questions came to the man's mind after noticing this, but he once again decided to keep them to himself.

Once they had reached the common room, Tony gestured to one of the barstools up against the kitchen counter. "Go ahead and have a seat," he told his intern as he continued on into the kitchen. "What're you in the mood for? We've got some leftover pizza from last night if you want?"

He heard a small "T-that's fine" from the kid as he rummaged through the fridge. He pulled out a ziplock bag with half of a pepperoni pizza stored inside and moved over to the counter. Tony could see that Peter was watching him but immediately turned his gaze to the counter once the older man had started approaching him. After grabbing a plate from the cabinet, he put three slices of pizza on it.

"Do you like your pizza cold, or do you want me to stick it in the microwave?" Tony asked.

The kid just gave him a shrug and said "Either is fine with me." He was still avoiding eye contact.

Tony wanted to get him to just tell him his opinion but decided to just go heat up the pizza instead of possibly making the boy more uncomfortable than he undoubtedly was. 

Once the pizza was warm, he set the plate down in front of his intern. He watched the teen sit there for a bit, just staring at the food in front of him. After a while, he looked up at Tony and asked "You're not gonna have a slice?"

"I already had lunch today. Plus, I'm not the one that's about to pass out from a lack of food," the man chuckled, trying to lighten the mood a bit. "Go ahead and eat as much as you want. If you're still hungry after the pizza I can get you some more, or find something else if you're sick of pizza."

"No no no, this is more than enough. Thank you."

And with that, the kid finally looked at Tony, gave him a small smile of appreciation, and grabbed a slice to start eating. After one bite, Peter seemed to have realized just how hungry he actually was because small, hesitant bites turned into large, desperate ones. Tony wondered how long it had been since this kid has had an actual meal. He really hoped the answer wasn't since their lunch outing about two weeks ago.

"Kid, you should slow down a bit," Tony warned. "You're gonna end up puking that back up at the rate you're going."

Peter stopped eating and looked at his boss. Tony could see red creeping up his cheeks, showing that he was embarrassed. "S-sorry, Mr. Stark," he mumbled quietly before returning to his second slice of pizza, taking smaller, slower bites than before.