Raising Hybrid Puppies [a Starker coffee shop AU]

Chapter 3

"Tony Stark came into your shop?!" Ned all but shouts.

Peter ducks his head as if that would keep his schoolmates in he cafeteria from staring.

"I didn't know Tony Stark did charity, Parker!" is Flash's immediate reply. Sometimes Peter thinks Flash plans his entire day, including when to get his lunch, around humiliating Peter in front of a maximum number of people.

Peter pouts at Ned who's already looking at him with big, apologetic eyes. He can't stay angry with his best friend, even on a horrible day like this.

"Does he actually have an AI? Did he use it? Did he have the StarkGlasses Five E or, oh, oh, oh – was it a new model? Did he use his phone? Please tell me he used his phone."

Peter huffs a laugh despite his mood.

"No; I guess; and yes. His phone... It..." Peter bites his lips. "It looked completely different. Like there's a miniature arc reactor in there."

"I knew it!" Ned cheers, then launches into a five minute speech on the rumors of Stark having commercialized his horrendously expensive arc tech which so far only powers Stark Tower, four of his plants, one research facility upstate, and, well, ensures that Mr. Stark doesn't die from shrapnel. To think that he built the prototype in a cave in Afghanistan, while being tortured by terrorists for weapon specs, and to have met such a genius face-to-face...

It takes several moments of silence for Peter to notice Ned has stopped gushing and started grinning.

Oh-oh.

Peter shakes his head. Ned's grin widens as he keeps nodding.

"Tell me, young padawan," he teases, "is the real-life Tony Stark as handsome as you say he looks on television?"

Peter rolls his head back with a groan.

"So that's a yes," Ned concludes.

Peter aims for a nonchalant shrug. He probably misses by a mile.

"Could also be your dad, though."

"Well, my Dad's dead."

"That was low, dude."

Peter heaves a sigh. "Sorry. But it wasn't like... He ruined it the moment he opened his mouth! He was, you know, he was mean! And childish! And, and when I said the coffee's from Queens his face did this thing, like he'd just stepped in poop!"

"Puppy poop?" Ned offers.

"I don't think he likes puppies," Peter grumbles. Ned, bless him, almost manages to stifle his chuckle at how petulant he probably sounds.

"Oh! That reminds me – check this out." Ned pulls up the Arc, SI's web browser, and a few clicks later Ned hands over the device. "I finished it! It's been live since midnight."

"Dude, I thought you were asleep! I could've used some help with Spanish..."

Peter takes the phone, an older StarkPhone model that's still working despite how much Ned and Peter have been tinkering with it. Peter's still saving for one of his own but the dishwasher breaking last month really set him back. Like, to zero.

"Woah, this looks good," Peter says honestly.

It's a website for their initiative called the Neighborhood Avengers, the friendly next-door heroes who help the elderly with groceries or protect stalking victims. It originated in Brooklyn but it has spread to all parts of New York. The Hybrid Puppy has sort of become the local group's headquarters since its founders are regulars.