Oh hey there, Peter Parker

Chapter One

Ch. 1

"Excuse me, sorry. Coming through!" She pushed past the various people on the crowded subway of New York. Only five minutes left until she would be officially late for her brand new job. Well, more like internship, but still, being late was a bad thing. She needed to make a good first impression on her new boss, Ms. Potts. You know, only the highest paid and most powerful female in the city. A huge deal.

"Hey, watch it!" she had almost run into a hot dog stand, full-on.

"Sorry!" she called over her shoulder, not breaking her pace. Turning the corner, there it was - Avengers Tower. Home to not only the world's greatest heroes, but also some of the world's smartest engineers and scientists. One day, she would be working in that tower for real, right alongside Ms. Potts.

Slowing her pace to a brisk walk, she made sure she looked less like someone who ran three blocks from the subway and more like a girl ready for her first day of changing the world.

She stopped in front of the chrome double-doors, taking a deep breath, trying to take in the sheer vastness of the structure. Here's to the first day of the rest of her life. Someone bumped into her shoulder, bringing her back to reality.

"You gonna go in or not, kid?" A grumpy delivery man pushed past her carrying a large package.

"Oh right, sorry," she stepped forward, walking into the lobby.

The lobby was, well to put it bluntly, cool. It was one of those modern, millennial type of work spaces. The red and gold decor all around was reminiscent of a certain billionaire superhero. Various men and women in suits milling around. They all looked like very important people. But, no one looked as important as one Ms. Pepper Potts.

The female CEO was standing next to the reception desk, talking into a small earpiece, seemingly on a business call. She inched closer to the powerful woman, feeling more and more insecure about her appearance, her simple black dress pants and button-up shirt paired with a blue cardigan seemed insufficient compared to Ms. Potts' fierce two-piece suit. Yet, once Ms. Potts caught sight of her, she ended her phone call and beamed brightly.

"Kennedy Quick?" Kennedy nodded. "Fantastic! I'm so glad you made it. You didn't have to rush here did you? I know traffic is awful this time of day." Kennedy shook her head, lying to impress her boss.

"Oh no, the subway wasn't too bad, ma'am."

"Great," Ms. Potts smiled. "Okay, well since you're..." she checked her watch, which probably cost more than what Kennedy had in her entire bank account, "five minutes early, we can get started with the tour right now." She took Kennedy by the shoulder and started steering her towards the elevator, speaking the entire time. "Now, this is the general employee elevator, the one you can use. The other one across the lobby," she pointed to an elevator closer to the entrance, flanked by two security guards and had a keypad next to the floor buttons, "is for higher-level personnel."

"Like the Avengers?" Kennedy asked eagerly. Ms. Potts chuckled and said nothing, but her small smile said much.

"Continuing on," she said, "you will have unrestricted access to the 58th floor. My office is on the 86th floor, so you will have access to that as well. Now, your official title is 'Junior Administration Executive Assistant', but that just means that you're my intern." The elevator dinged open, and they both stepped out on to the 58th floor, which was a large room that was filled with various file cabinets and copy machines. "Everything sound okay so far?"

"Uh, what? Oh! Yeah! It all sounds good! Thank you so much for this opportunity, Ms. Potts. I really appreciate it."

Ms. Potts looked at her fondly, then said "Come along, let's go up to my office. I need to introduce you to one more person." Kennedy perked up.

"Is it Iron Man? Or wait, no... Thor?" She gasped, "I'd love to meet Thor! Or Spider-Man – he's like the coolest superhero ever!" Pepper smiled again at her enthusiasm.

"No... no superheroes," Kennedy deflated, "yet." She looked less disappointed. "I'm going to introduce you to another intern. You'll most likely work with him on a few projects during your employment here." They walked into her office. Kennedy took a seat in one of the cushy chairs in front of Ms. Potts' desk, while Ms. Potts pushed a button on the earpiece in her ear. "Will you please send Peter to my office? Thanks." They waited for a few minutes until a knock sounded on the office door. "Come in!" Ms. Potts called. A boy walked in.

'Oh no,' Kennedy groaned internally, 'he's cute.'

"Hiya Pep, Mr. Stark said you needed me? I was just in the middle of developing a new-" Ms. Potts cleared her throat and nodded towards Kennedy. The boy stopped mid-step. "Oh, um, hi," he waved, "I'm Parker Peter. I mean! Um, Peter Parker." Kennedy smiled and went to shake his hand.

"Hi Peter Parker, I'm Kennedy. Ms. Potts said that we may be working together in the future." She smiled nervously at him, he was so freaking good-looking. For the second time of the day, she felt very self-conscious of her appearance.

"So, uh, Kennedy, where do you go to school?" Peter asked curiously. He wanted to know if she'd heard of his "Penis Parker" reputation, or if he finally had a chance to try to talk to a girl without her knowing of his phallic nickname.

"I'm taking online classes for Queen's college while working here, I'm wanting my bachelor's in business" she said almost sheepishly. "I graduated from Queens High School for the Sciences last spring, though."

"Oh, cool, cool. That's very... cool." That's very cool, really Peter? "I'm in my last year at Midtown."

Oh wow, Midtown? He's basically a genius! Thought Kennedy, 'he probably thinks I'm stupid.' Just then, Ms. Potts interrupted, listening to her earpiece.

"Excuse me, Peter, Tony needs you back in Lab Three," Peter nodded and started walking out.

"Wait, Tony? As in Tony Stark? You know Iron Man? That's so cool! Do you know Thor? Or Spider-Man? Those guys are the coolest!" Kennedy quickly got over her nervousness when Ms. Potts mentioned basically the coolest man in the world. Peter seemed to swell with excitement.

"Yeah, I know those guys!" He said, turning around and missing a sharp look from Ms. Potts. "They're basically my best friends. I hang out with them every day! I can introduce you to them if you'd like." This time he did not miss Ms. Potts' glare and he withered under it. "But, um, only if Pep says it, uh, okay." He backed towards the door again. "Mr. Stark needs me, so I'll see you around Kennedy." And he snapped the door shut.

"Okay," Kennedy started, turning towards Ms. Potts sharply, "you could've warned me!"

"What do you mean?" Ms. Potts asked not-so-innocently.

"I didn't know that you'd be making me meet, like, the cutest boy I've ever seen!" Ms. Potts laughed.

"Oh, Kennedy, you are so funny." She wiped an imaginary tear. "Come along dear, we have lots of work to get started on." She pulled out multiple folders and started reviewing the various policies and procedures of Stark Industries.