Parker Luck

Chapter 1

Peter Parker has the worst luck. 

He knew it, his Aunt knew it, all of Queens probably knew it by now, which is exactly why he should have known he wouldn't get away with selling upgraded version of Stark Industries technology for long. He felt bad about making money off of tech that wasn't his, but technically the upgrades were his and he needed the extra cash. After a certain spider bite that gave birth to a smart-mouthed vigilante, Peter had a lot of enhanced abilities that required an enhanced bank account that neither him nor his Aunt had. He felt bad asking his Aunt for third and fourth helpings of meals, or extra sweaters because he could no longer thermoregulate.  He would also have to explain to her why he needed food for five or why his body was so keen on letting him freeze to death all of a sudden and that wasn't a conversation Peter was prepared to have just yet. So, he stuck to taking rich kids Stark Industries products and giving them a few fancy new upgrades for some cash. No one was getting hurt, so there was no reason to believe that anyone would come looking for him.

Peter always ran his "business" out of the Starbucks by Midtown Tech after school until 4:30 pm. Kids would show up with their Stark tech and Peter would fix them or give them an upgrade depending on what the person was asking for. Today, Jessica Small was interested in a secondary network that she could access at any time that her parents wouldn't be able to see. They were a bit overbearing, she explained. Peter assured her it wouldn't be a problem and set to work. Right as he was about to finish up, Peter glanced up from Jessica's computer and froze. Standing in line at the same Starbucks that he was in, was Dr. Bruce Banner. Arguably, the greatest scientist of his generation. Peter felt his mouth drop, not even noticing when Jessica returned to his booth. 

"Did you finish it?" She asked.

Peter's head snapped towards her, eyes wide and excited. 

"Um, yeah! Just one more second." 

He typed as fast as his fingers would possibly allow him to as he finished up the code and uploaded it to her computer. Snapping it shut, he handed it out to her.

"There you go! Hope it works out for you." He said with a smile. Jessica smiled back at him warmly.

"Thanks, Peter! You still only take cash right?"

Peter nodded.

Jessica took out her wallet and handed him a couple hundreds before thanking him once more and finally leaving. Peter whipped his head around praying to God that Dr. Banner was still here. Spotting him by the counter waiting on his drink, Peter felt his hands start to shake. This was his chance to go talk to him. Standing up on wobbly legs, he wiped his palms on his jeans and started walking over to him. Unfortunately, in all of his nervousness and excitement, Peter failed to realize the man walking past his booth the same moment he tried to exit it. 

"Shit!" The man exclaimed, hot coffee going all over his shirt. Peter's eyes widened and he grabbed a bunch of napkins off his table to try and get the stain out. 

"Oh my God!" He said, "I am so sorry! I didn't see you coming, I was so distracted by Dr. Banner that I didn't even think. Oh my gosh, I'm sorry, this is so stupid, I always do stuff like this. Crap, crap, crap." Peter rambled as he desperately tried to wipe the coffee stain off of the man's shirt. The man reached his hand out and grabbed Peters arm, stopping him.

"It's fine, kid, but wiping it like that will only make it worse." 

Peter froze as he suddenly recognized the man's voice. Still staring at his shirt, Peter fought to keep his gaze from going upward in hopes that he was wrong.

"Please, please, please tell me that you are not who I think you are." He mumbled. 

"Well gee, kid, most people are actually pretty excited to meet me. Ecstatic, even." 

And then Peter looked up into the eyes of Tony Stark. He almost fainted right then and there. 

"Mr. Stark, I am so sorry." He said desperately.  

"Yeah I heard you the first million times you said it." Said Mr. Stark as he fastened the button of his suit jacket to hid the coffee stain on his t-shirt. "Did I seriously hear you say that you ran into me because you were distracted by Bruce Banner?"

Peter felt a blush take over his face.

"Um, yeah, sorry, he's my favorite scientist and I was going to go say hello and I didn't even think before I stepped out of the booth."

Tony grinned.

"Oh, he's going to love this. Brucie, get over here!"

Mortified, Peter watched as Tony called Bruce Banner over, coffee now in hand, looking at him curiously. Tony clapped Bruce on the shoulder and pointed to Peter. 

"Bruce meet Peter Parker, your number one fan." 

Bruce looked at Peter, still confused, while Peter prayed over and over again for a hole to open up in the ground and swallow him up. 

"Um, hi, Dr. Banner it's so nice to meet you. Your work on thermonuclear physics is groundbreaking and it's such an honor to meet you and- hey, hold on!" Peter felt his face harden as he looked back at Tony, "how did you know my name? I never told you that."

Fear raced through Peter's veins as his mind worked up the worst case scenario. They had found out he was Spider-Man and were here to take him into SHEILD. Maybe they were here to talk him out of the super hero life. Maybe-

"I heard someone's been upgrading my tech on the side for snot nosed kids. I asked a particularly snotty one how his Stark phone was projecting a holographic image while video chatting and he told me he came to see a Peter Parker at the Starbucks on 5th and skated away." 

Peter felt all the color drain from his face. This was way worse than them finding out his identity. He could go to jail for this. Probably. He didn't know much about law except the obvious murder is bad stuff. Was upgrading tech illegal if the tech wasn't his? He guessed he was about to find out. Tony pushed him back into the booth and Dr. Banner slid in awkwardly beside Tony. He's had a slight tinge of red to his cheeks ever since the kid called his work 'groundbreaking'.  

"Don't worry, you're not in trouble. I'm not that heartless. I'm actually pretty impressed. To upgrade my tech you have to understand how it works and not many people can do that. I was expecting to find some hole-in-the-wall hacker, not a genius kid. What school do you go to? NYU? Columbia? Cornell?" Tony said, leaning forward on his elbows, interested. 

"Um, Midtown School of Science and Technology." He mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. 

Tony's eyes widened in shock as he sat back in the booth. 

"You're in high school? Damn." Even Bruce looked impressed. Peter felt oddly proud  of himself. 

"Have you ever thought of applying for Stark Industries? It pays a lot better than a couple hundred every now and then." Asked Tony.

"I thought you only hired people with at least a Bachelors. And all your interns are in college." Said Peter. 

"All but one." Said Tony, "How would you like to intern for me? Be my first ever high school recruit. Maybe I'll test it on you and then make it into like a program or something." 

Peter stared at him. Then he stared at Bruce. Then back to Tony. Then he looked around the coffee shop for cameras. 

"Is this a prank? It's not funny." He said, his voice wavering a bit. 

Bruce and Tony's eyes softened as they gazed upon this sweet kid.

"It's not a prank. And if you say yes, I'll make sure you get to work with Bruce at least once."

"Yes! I mean, um, yes that sounds great, thank you so much Mr. Stark." Peter coughed, trying to cover up the fact that he just yelled as soon as he heard he might get to work with both his idols.

"Great! You can start Monday. I'll email you the details. And, obviously, no more upgrading my tech on the side." 

"Of course! Thank you, Mr. Stark."

Tony just flashed the kid a smile and dragged Bruce out of the coffee shop, leaving a very stunned Peter Parker. Maybe his luck was turning around.