Black Star: The Legend Begins

Ŧเ︎Ｖ︎𝓔︎

HAPPY (who insisted on driving the two of you here) pulls up in front of the apartment building. After convincing him to wait outside by promising you would call him the second you suspected any trouble, you and Tony head up to Floor 7, Apartment 10. Tony knocks on the door, and it’s opened by a woman with long brown hair. Her smile is quickly replaced by a look of shock when she realizes who you are.

“Hi, does Peter Parker live here?” Tony asks. “I’d like to speak with him about the Stark Internship.”

“S– Stark Internship?” the woman asks, obviously confused. “He… didn’t tell me he applied for one.”

“Huh,” Tony says lightly. “Well, he did apply for one, and I need to talk to him about it.”

“Oh, well, um, Peter’s at school right now. He’ll probably be home in half an hour.”

“We can wait that long,” Tony responds.

May nods. “Well, please, come in.”

She steps aside so you and Tony can come inside, then you all sit down in the living room.

“So, tell me a bit about your son. I’d like to know what kind of person he is before I let him into Avengers Tower to work with some of the most brilliant minds alive today.”

The woman shakes her head. “Oh, no, I’m not Peter’s mom. I’m his aunt, May. But I am the one that takes care of him.”

May brings out a loaf of walnut-date bread, which is actually pretty good. She tells the two of you about Peter, and you realize he’s a lot younger than you thought. You expected he would be around Natasha’s age, or college-age since May mentioned he’s at school, but you didn’t expect that he would only be a few days younger than you (5 days, to be exact). Tony doesn’t seem surprised at this news, so either he’s suddenly become a really good actor (unlikely), or he already knew. You wonder why he didn’t tell you, but then you remember Tony told Natasha you’d have fun on the recruitment, and you suspect Tony wanted to surprise you.

Eventually, the door opens, and a boy who looks like he might be Peter’s younger brother walks in. A backpack is dangling in the crook of his right elbow, there’s a pair of shiny, silver keys in his right hand, and he’s holding a flat black box in his left hand. He has a pair of white corded earbuds in, and doesn’t notice you or Tony.

“Hey, May,” he says, putting the backpack on the floor and the black box — that you now recognize as a DVD player — on the dining room table.

“Hey, Peter!” May responds cheerfully. “How was school today?”

Woah, wait. That’s Peter? He looks way more than 5 days younger than you.

The-Boy-Who-Is-Apparently-Peter walks into the kitchen, fidgeting with the keys. “It was okay,” he tells her. “There’s this crazy car parked outside…” he trails off as he finally notices you and Tony.

“Oh, Mr. Parker,” Tony says casually, looking up from the piece of walnut-date bread he’s been studying intently for at least half a minute now.

“Um…” Peter begins. He pulls out his earbuds, and you can hear the faint buzzing of “Left Hand Free” by alt-J coming out of them. He’s smiling nervously, and it’s clear he doesn’t know what to say. “What– what are you… hey, um, I’m– I’m– I’m Peter.”

Tony smiles. “Tony.”

You’re pretty sure Peter knows who both of you are, but you introduce yourself regardless.

“What are you– what are you doing here?” Peter asks.

“It’s about time we met. You’ve been getting my emails, right?” Tony discreetly winks, signaling to Peter to agree with him.