Peter Parker... Stark?

Ice Cream

"Boss, Peter Parker is on his way up."

Tony pulled himself out from under one of his suits. "Um, just tell him to let himself in."

"Right away, sir."

A few minutes later, Peter poked his head in the door. Tony had already gone back to his task.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Stark! I promise I won't be late again!"

"Kid, relax," Tony said, his words a little muffled, "you and I both know that late is kind of my thing."

"Yeah, okay," Peter chuckled nervously.

"And what did I tell you about calling me Mr. Stark?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot. Sorry Mr. Tony, sir." Tony couldn't stop the grin from spreading across his face at the kid's spunk.

"What do you want me to do?" Peter asked.

Tony frowned as he twisted a wire into the correct position. "Umm... how about you go take a look on that equation on the board over there? I fell asleep working on it last night, never got the chance to finish."

"Okay," Peter chirped before going to stand in front of the whiteboard.

Several minutes passed, and Tony nearly forgot that he wasn't alone in his lab, when suddenly Peter spoke up again.

"Mr. S--I mean, Mr. Tony sir? Am I allowed to erase and add stuff to the equation?"

"Sure," Tony said with a smirk. He'd stayed up all night staring at the equation with no luck. He was curious to see what the kid tried.

As Tony worked, he occasionally heard the squeak of a dry erase marker scooting across the surface of the whiteboard. An hour passed before the kid said anything else.

"Mr. Tony? I think I got it."

Tony nearly banged his head on the suit. "Okay, let me come see." He clambered out from underneath his project and strolled over to where the kid was standing, staring at the whiteboard.

For several minutes, the lab was silent outside of the white noise it consistently generated. Peter swallowed heavily as he waited for Mr. Stark to say something.

"Kid... how?" Confused, Peter turned his gaze away from the equation and looked at Mr. Stark. The billionaire was staring at him in a calculating way.

"Did I do something wrong?" Peter asked.

"No, kid. The equation checks out." Tony ran the numbers through his mind again, double and then triple checking every part. "This is exactly what I was missing," Tony said, pointing at a specific number Peter had added in. "How do you know that number?"

Peter shrugged as a blush steadily formed on his cheeks and neck. "Dr. Banner writes about it in his books. I thought, given the circumstances of the equation, it was worth a try."

"You've read Bruce Banner's work?"

"Yeah."

"And you understood everything?"

Peter rubbed his neck awkwardly. "I mean, your guys' section on time travel is a little confusing."

Tony barked out a laugh. "Kid, I don't even understand those theories, and I helped write them." He clapped Peter on the back. "Let's get some ice cream to celebrate, yes?"

Peter's eyes lit up. "Really?"

Tony grinned. "I've got all the best kinds."

~~~