Throwing Caution to the Wind

Chapter 12

Tuesday morning Peter woke up nervous. He had gotten an enitre on Sunday from Pepper Potts telling him to expect an update on the whole internship front on Tuesday. And she was also going to video chat him tonight. Good thing he could still remember his Skype password.

He walked out the door having skipped breakfast due to the nerves. The weather wasn't helping  When he got to school Ned was already waiting for him.

"When are you supposed to get the email" he asked

"Sometime before school ends I think" he responded.

As he grabbed his things from his locker he kept checking his phone, eventually Ned decided that enough was enough.

"Give me your phone" he said holding our his hand.

"I- what"

"Your never gonna be able to focus on anything if you keep his checking your phone every 2 seconds. I promise I'll check your emails for you and answer May's texts. But you'll be a lot calmer if you don't have your phone on you. Out of sight out of mind and all that" he explained.

Peter hesitated for a second before shoving his phone into his waiting hand.

"Thank you, that actually helps a lot. Though you have to promise to check my emails at least between periods" he told him.

"Any time man."

Once he handed Ned his phone, he immersed felt clamer. Especially since he knew that if Ned saw the email before him and it wasn't good that he would let him down gently.

The only time he really noticed it was gone was when he finished his English assignment early, but be ended up just reading the rest of the period.

Finally it was lunch time. He got his food quickly before making his wat to the table. MJ was already there eating her sandwich.

"I don't want to get all down on you Parker, but what if it happens again" she looked him right in the eyes when she said this. And while it looked intimidating, he saw the sincere behind the statement.

"It's from Pepper Potts, I've heard your rants about her, so I'm pretty sure I'm in good hands.

Her entire demeanor changed completely. Her suspicion melted away into happiness. It was weird to see MJ so happy, but he felt his heart warm up at the sight. And seemingly our of no where the sun peaked from behind the clouds, hitting her perfectly.

"Peter!" He was awoken firm his daydreaming by Ned yelling his name from across the cafeteria.

He watched as his friend made his way through he mess of tables and chairs.

When he finally sat down he immediately fished Peter's phone from his bag.

"She emailed you. I haven't read it yet, but based on the preview it looks like it's good news" he said excitedly.

Peter immediate unlocked his phone and opened the Gmail app. He opened the first email. Which was a promotional from his favorite shoe store. He clicked off and found that email he wanted in the first place.

          Dear Peter. It's been a busy few days, but Tony finally gave me his application pages. I have just finished looking through them. Now because of what you experienced with Andrew Boonton, I was able to fast track the approval process, and I must say it's looking very good for you. Now, I completely understand if you can't make it, but please make sure that your aunt had access to the Skype account you gave me, and that she's free tonight at 7:15 so she can take my call.

Pepper Potts
CEO of Stark Industries

Peter officially couldn't wait for the day to be over. He needed to get home.

Thankfully the rest of the day passed by fast after that. And before he knew it, he was getting ready for a few hours of patrol.

"Ready dude" he asked Ned one he had geared up.

"Ready dude" he said. Peter could hear the gentle hum of the different trackers, scanners and whatever other things Ned had running for his patrols.

The next 2 hours were filled with phrases like "Robbery on 5th", "cat stick in a tree on the south side of central" and "bike robber by the corner site 2 blog from you".

It was Peter's favourite time, times like these when they settled into a rhythm and helped a ton of people.

When he got home to dinner, he was practically shaking in his seat from excitement. May was the same way, but a little more put together.

Finally after a soup Pepperell with bits of char (Peter didn't even want to know how May managed to bring soup of all things) they set up his laptop on the coffee table with them on the couch waiting for the call.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity (though it was only a few minutes) the familiar jingle ran through the apartment. He quickly clicked accept. While the video loaded he ran a hand through his hair making sure it didn't look like an absolute disaster.

"Peter, Ms Parker hello" she said pleasently.

"Hello Ms Potts, and please call me May" greeted May.

"Then that's Pepper to you" she said with a smile.

"Pepper then" said May with a small laugh.

"So, in regards to Peter's internship. Me and Tony were reviewing some of the footage from the meetings that Peter attended, and after consulting with some other heads of departments, and even some of his teachers, and we all think that a hands on internship with Tony is best. That and because that's what Tony promised him, and I don't feel like breaking that one. However, it's a lot more dangerous than anywhere else in the tower. He regularly blows it up and starts fires, but there are a lot more safety features and protocols in place because of that also. Are you ok with Peter being in type of environment."

May looked thoughtful for a minute.

"You emailed me earlier saying that you were willing to set up 2 days a week after school from 3-8 or even to 9 of I wanted correct" she asked.

That's the idea, Tony seems particularly exited for Peter to be working with him. I believe his exact words were "Pep, listen to me, I don't even think I could have though about those ideas. I want to be there when he finds a way to save the world." It was nice seeing him so exited" she said chuckling.

"I'm happy that your willing to give Peter this opportunity. But can you give him maybe an hour, hour and a half to get himself some dinner around 6. I know that that's cutting a fair chunk of time from working, but I would like him to be able to eat something before he gets home" May requested.

Pepper looked at her confused for a minute. But then she had a look of understanding on her face.

"Peter can have dinner for us. I know that that's probably weird. But he's never taken a personal intern before and he seems to genuinely like Peter. And asking a few other SI employees that Peter talked with. And they all seemed to love him. And really, it's no problem. We eat dinner too after all.

May considered this for a second before agreeing.

"Thank you, that means a lot to me. I didn't really want him to be finding a reasonably priced restaurant in your area."

One more thing before I go. Did you want to press charges against Andrew Boonton. We could do it on Peter's behalf if you would rather. Thanks to that we've found that he's been doing a lot more than fast passing approval processes"

"Please, I don't want him to be able to do what he did to Peter at a different company" she told her.

The rest of the call was about legistics, a virtual tour of the top floor of the tower where he would be eating dinner. They had a talk about how if he wanted, he could take a half hour for homework. And by the end, Peter was officially interning for Mr Stark every Wednesday and Friday.

Yeah, it was a good day.