Surrogate Son

The Professor's Son

I've decided that in this one-shot, they will be related. Enjoy!

"What are you even talking about?"  Peter asked, walking beside Tony as they entered the main MIT building.  "How to tell lame jokes and blow up labs?"

"No,"  Tony replied, leading him towards the front desk.  "It's a lecture on advanced physics."

"Oh, so it has potential to be interesting,"  Peter said.  Tony rolled his eyes and walked to the front desk to sign in.  The woman in the office printed out a badge with his name on it as well as a visitor badge for Peter.  Apparently he wasn't important enough to have his name on it, but he didn't really care.  He'd probably just be in the back sketching out plans for his next project on the Stark-pad his dad had given him.

"Good luck, Mr. Stark,"  the woman smiled.  Tony nodded at her then turned to find the room he would be having his lecture in.  Peter followed close behind, looking around as they walked down the halls.

When they reached the room Tony would be lecturing in, Peter's eyes widened.  The room was massive.  The ceiling was about two stories high and a whiteboard took up two thirds of the space on the front wall.  A ladder could slide the entire length of the whiteboard and Peter had to resist the urge to climb to the top and start writing equations.  Maybe he could convince his dad to put a large whiteboard in his lab so Peter could write all over it.

"Like it?"  Tony asked, smirking at Peter.  Peter nodded and tore his eyes from the board to Tony.

"Can we put one in the lab?"  he asked.  Tony glanced at the board then shrugged.

"Sure,"  he agreed.  Peter grinned and Tony motioned towards the board.  "Have at it.  We have an hour until students should start arriving, but stay on the ladder."

"Deal,"  Peter said, scaling the ladder all the way to the top with an expo marker.  He immediately began writing out equations to solve while Tony got everything ready for his lecture.  It was almost exactly an hour later when the first few students arrived and stood in the back whispering.  Peter could hear everything they said, but ignored them as he finished the equation Tony had given him earlier.

"Welcome,"  Tony greeted, drawing the students' attention forward.  "Feel free to find a seat.  We'll start in about fifteen minutes once everyone gets here."

"You're really teaching this class?"  a student asked.  Tony nodded and nudged the ladder Peter was on.

"I really am teaching this class,"  he replied.  He looked up as Peter scribbled down his answer then looked down at Tony with a grin.  He was only standing on the second ladder rung as he'd used up all the other space for the two others equations he'd worked out.

"Done,"  he said happily.  Tony looked up at his work as he hoped off the ladder and replaced his expo marker with an eraser.

"Looks good, kid,"  Tony told him.  Peter beamed then scrambled to erase all his work before more kids arrived.  When he hopped off the ladder, there were about three dozen students talking to each other in the seats while Tony typed on his phone.

"Can I have my tablet?"  Peter asked.  Tony set down his phone and dug around in his bag for Peter's tablet.  He pulled it out and handed it to Peter along with a pen then finished his text.

"You want to sit in the office or stay in here?"  Tony asked.  Peter looked around the room and spotted an empty seat near the back that was pretty secluded.

"I'll stay in here,"  he said.  Tony nodded.

"Feel free to participate if you want,"  Tony told him.  Peter nodded and hurried up the middle row of stairs to the seat he'd spotted.  He settled down and unlocked his tablet.  He immediately pulled up his previous draft work and continued it while students continued to pile into the room until they were being turned away with how full the room was.  There were people standing in the back and by the walls and Peter was no longer alone, but he was so engrossed in his own work he didn't mind someone sitting next to him.

* * *

Tony's lecture was long.  Since it was a one night thing, it was scheduled to last three hours, but no one seemed to mind it was long.  The students asked so many questions it was nearing four hours when he officially let them out.  He'd kept an eye on Peter the whole time, but the kid was so enthralled by whatever he was working on with his tablet, he wasn't concerned.  He let the students come up and ask him questions afterwards as long as it was related to their topic and not just about his own personal life.

"Thanks so much, Mr. Stark,"  one boy said.  Tony nodded and waved at him as he left the classroom and another student stepped forward to ask him something.

Peter didn't mind waiting for his dad longer than expected.  MIT was a pretty cool place and he was busy working on his Stark-pad, so he didn't notice it was taking longer than normal.  However, he did notice when the boy next to him tried to swat the tablet out of his hands and onto the floor.  Peter managed not to drop it (it would have been fine even if it had fallen) and turned to look at the kid.

"What's up with you?"  he asked, raising an unimpressed eyebrow at Peter.  "Tony Stark not cool enough to hold your attention at a lecture?"

"No,"  Peter replied bluntly.  He was going to go back to his work, but the student wasn't having it.

"Why bother coming then, huh?"  he demanded.  "There were plenty of other kids that wanted to come and were turned away.  You should have just left and they could have come instead."  Peter ignored him and stood up from his seat.  He tried to step over the student beside him, but he wouldn't let Peter pass.

"Please let me through,"  Peter said.

"Oh, now you're going to leave?"  the boy taunted.  Peter just sighed and stepped over the row in front of him so he could leave.  He walked down to the front of the classroom and over to the desk where his dad had set all his stuff.  He stuffed his tablet in the bag and pulled his phone from his pocket to check for any notifications.  Suddenly, his phone was snatched from his hands and Peter looked up to see the same boy who'd been sitting by him.

"Please leave me alone,"  Peter said, snatching his phone back and shoving it in his pocket.  He'd respond to his mom's text after the boy had left.

"I just want to know who thinks they're too good for Tony Stark,"  the boy replied, crossing his arms and looking down at Peter who was barely shorter than him.  "So who are you, Mr. Perfect?"

"That's Peter,"  Tony said, stepping up behind the student.  The boy spun around wide-eyed to see Tony Stark standing behind him and frowning.  "Why are you bothering him?"

"He wasn't paying attention during your lecture, Mr. Stark,"  the boy told him.  "Thought he was better than you."

"He is,"  Tony said casually.  The boy frowned and Peter fidgeted behind him.  "Get lost before I call campus security."  The boy grumbled about being kicked out but left.  Tony glared at him the entire time, only turning to face Peter once he'd disappeared.

"Good lecture,"  Peter told him.  Tony rolled his eyes.

"Apparently you didn't even listen,"  he replied.  Peter shrugged.  "You ready to go yet?  Has Mom bothered you about dinner?"

"Yes and yes,"  Peter said, pulling his phone out to respond to his mom.  "She says if we're not on the jet home in twenty minutes, we're having salad for dinner and nothing else."

"Then let's go catch a jet,"  Tony said, grabbing his bag and following Peter out of the lecture hall.