never be the same || spider-man

collision course

Peter's eyes slowly grew sore the longer he stared at the work in front of him. Rubbing his eyes, Peter let out a soft groan as he sat up straight to stretch his back. He was nearly finished with the work— a series of wiring programming that needed to be tweaked that Otto sent to his Starkpad that he used for work.

"Peter, I've made a wonderful breakthrough."

Looking up, Peter blinked a minute as the world around him took a moment to focus. He couldn't help but blush a little at the thought he must've been sitting at his desk for longer than he realised. Following Otto and being silently thankful for the excuse to stretch his legs, Peter's curiosity slowly became the best of him. Quirking an eyebrow when he saw two mechanical arms sitting on the table, with an odd-looking helmet sitting on the table next to them, he turned to his boss.

"How do you control them?" he asked, impressed with the sleek look and design Otto had made with the newest update.

"With the mind," Otto answered, tapping his temple.

"Neural interface? I thought all that was still in theories and testing." There was a hint of a smile on Peter's face as he said this. "Would you mind if I took a look at the programming?"

"Go right ahead. Tweak anything if you see fit."

Peter grabbed Otto's tablet and opened up the programming Otto had set up for the mechanical arms. There were a few adjustments that needed to be made to make it faster, but otherwise worked flawlessly. "Doc, this is incredible. How long did this take you?"

"A couple sleepless nights." Otto shrugged. "What's losing some sleep when you can be making medical miracles?"

Otto grabbed the helmet sitting on the table and slipped it onto his head. He flipped some sort of switch on the back of his neck and it lit up in different colored lights. In front of them, the arms moved as if on their own, filling two mugs with coffee before handing them to each man standing in the room.

"That's amazing," Peter said with a wide smile. "You know, my dad would be more than willing to fund this if it proves beneficial. With funding like that, there's so much more we could do."

"Men like Stark aren't good for this city, either, Peter," Otto said, his words firm as he directed them at the nineteen-year-old. "They act like they're better than everyone just because their tech is so successful and well received."

"Um, I don't mean to interrupt, but that is my dad you're talking about, sir. And I'm a Stark as well, in case you've forgotten. I don't appreciate you speaking about my family like that," Peter said, setting the tablet back onto the table.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you," Otto stated truthfully. "Norman's ruined a lot of great names of science for me, I suppose. The two of us used to pour over your grandfather's tech all the time, trying to learn from it." He sighed and turned off the machine for the arms and sat the helmet down. "Like I keep telling you, Peter, I appreciate the offer, but it's unnecessary. You can home for the day, if you'd like. I caught you nodding off earlier. Get some rest."

Peter pursed his lips together and nodded, not wanting to push the subject any further. As he turned to head back, he noticed a green welding suit hanging up on a nearby shelf. "Never thought I'd catch you in green, Doc," he joked, laughing a little as he collected his things from his desk.

~*~

"I don't know if he'll even like this," Peter said, staring at the notepad in front of him. He was trying to plan out something to build to give Tony for Christmas, but most of his ideas fell through. "God, why can't I think of anything?"