Let's Begin

Ch. 3

The first day of school had just started and Peter already hated his new school. He'd forgotten that teachers always seemed to pause when reading his name on their attendance list. After years of attending the same primary school, all the teachers had gotten used to the last name 'Stark' being on the list and no longer looked twice. A new school meant new teachers, however, and that meant having to endure a month of teachers treating him special and dancing around the fact his dad was Tony Stark.

"Peter Stark?" his homeroom teacher, Mr. Patrick, called out.

Peter shyly raised his hand, trying to ignore the stares from kids that hadn't gone to school with him before. Mr. Patrick looked around the room and when his eyes landed on Peter's hand, he stopped.

"You're Peter Stark?" he asked. Peter nodded, wishing he didn't blush so easily. His blush quickly changed to a frown when Mr. Patrick nonchalantly said, "You've sure grown, haven't you?"

"What?"

Mr. Patrick marked his clipboard then smiled at Peter.

"Nothing, Peter," Mr. Patrick said. He glanced at his roll call then back up at his students, calling out, "Oliver Stern?"

"Here," Oliver replied.

Peter kept his eyes on his new homeroom teacher for a few more seconds before going back to his doodling. That was weird.

* * * * *

After school, Peter found Dum-E in his dad's lab, beeping happily and holding what appeared to be a smoothie. Peter grinned and took the smoothie, patting Dum-E affectionately then looking around for his dad. He wasn't anywhere in sight.

"FRIDAY?" Peter asked, setting the smoothie from Dum-E on his dad's desk. "Where's Dad?"

"Boss is in a board meeting at the moment."

Peter frowned slightly.

"Oh," he said to himself.

Dum-E rubbed against Peter's leg, claw going towards the smoothie then back to Peter.

"Is this safe to drink?" Peter asked, picking up the smoothie and smelling it hesitantly. It smelled fine, but he couldn't be sure.

"Yes," FRIDAY replied. "Mrs. Stark brought it down five minutes before you arrived."

In that case, Peter figured he'd drink it. He thanked both FRIDAY and Dum-E before taking a sip and sitting down on the couch. Pulling out his phone, Peter somehow came across a Buzzfeed quiz to discover which Avenger you were. With a small grin, Peter decided to try it. It was only 15 questions long and at the end, the message 'You are Iron Man!' flashed across the page. He grinned widely, sending the results to his mom and dad.

Peter-bug: Look, Dad! I'm you!! I got Iron Man!!! I could be Iron Man 2.0!!!! Can I??

He saved the results to his photo library then hopped off the couch. As he walked into his own lab, Dum-E followed him. U hurried after them, beeping menacingly at Dum-E and ramming into his brother. Although Peter scolded him, U didn't seem sorry.

"Let's get to work, boys!" Peter exclaimed, logging into his desk.

He pulled up the files his dad had shared with him on the Iron Man suit. Of course, FRIDAY had strict instructions to monitor Peter closely whenever he looked at those files. As much as Tony trusted his son, he didn't want him accidentally creating a weapon from the suit and blowing himself up when Tony wasn't there to stop him. As if he knew his son had opened the Iron Man files, Tony responded to Peter's text.

At the text tone, Peter lunged for his phone and opened up the message.

IronDad: Sorry, Iron Man's already been taken. Besides, Mom would kill me if I let you.

Peter grinned and was going to reply, but Pepper's text message stopped him as soon as it appeared.

Momma: I'll kill you if you don't put your phone away. Talk later. Board meeting now.

Peter slid his phone to the edge of his desk and pulled up the holographic diagram for his dad's suit. Maybe he wasn't allowed to be Iron Man, but he could at least create his own suit save for the weaponry. Or maybe he could create his own update for his dad's suit. That was sure to convince his parents he could be Iron Man 2.0. If not, well, he could become his own superhero. His dad wasn't the only Stark that wanted to be a hero.