SUMMER JOB || Peter Parker X Reader

Chapter 6: A Project

A week into the internship, you had fallen into a routine. You would arrive at the Stark building around 9:30, scan your pass with one of the robots that wandered the lobby and wait for Theo, who was never more than five minutes behind you. He sometimes brought you a coffee or a little pastry his grandmother had baked, and you two would chat as you walked up to your mentors rooms.

Peter was always already in Professor Thatchers room when you arrived. Melanie would have him be copying papers or organizing her room in the mornings, waiting for you to get there so you could start on the big work of the day. The Professor would only keep you and Peter around for the first half of the day; the time after lunch was for you and him to start planning your project for the open house.

Obviously, you had gotten to know Peter pretty well since you spent most of your day with him. He lived in Queens with his Aunt and had been living with her for most of his life. He went to Midtown Tech, which was apparently a pretty prestigious school, and really liked Legos.

He seemed to genuinely like you too; he laughed at your jokes and complimented your fun socks (he even bought a pair of llama socks to match a pair you had). He ate lunch with you and Theo everyday too, and slotted easily into yours and Theo's existing friendship.

Spending so much time with him really made you notice the details too - like how when he smiled he had little dimples, or the way he tucked his arms up into his armpits when he was nervous or feeling awkward, like he was giving himself a little hug. He was actually kind of cute.

You ate your lunches either in the courtyard of the building or at one of the nearby small restaurants in the area. If Laurie wasn't working she would join you, sometimes bringing Lee along - who was actually really funny when he was in a good mood and already knew Peter from school. Peter had invited his friend Ned a couple times too.

Today, it was just you, Theo and Peter, eating out at a little pizza place Theo had found one night. It was traditional New York pizza - greasy and cheesy and delicious.

"Anyway- Prof. Marty has no clue what he was doing, and then he turns to me like I have the degree in advanced chemistry, like?!" Theo ended, taking another bite of his pizza.

You laughed. "This is, what, the third time?"

"Fifth." Theo grumbled. "Just my luck that I get stuck with the dumb mentor."

"Maybe he'll surprise you." Peter said. "They don't just hand out masters degrees to anyone, he can't be that stupid."

"I bet his dad paid for it." Theo said. "He seems like a trust fund kid."

"Have you tried to switch to someone different?" You asked.

"I don't even know if I can." Theo said. "I'm just hoping I can really wow some of the other guys with this open house project, maybe someone else will take me under their wing."

"Wouldn't it be great if you could come work with Melanie and us?" You said.

"Yeah it would." Theo sighed. "If only."

"Well," Peter started, "We're allowed to work in groups for the project, right? You could just work with us and we could combine our efforts..."

"Wait, that's actually genius." Theo said. "Can I?"

"I mean, yeah, let's do it." You said. Working with Theo and Peter would be great - both of them were super smart and all three of you already knew enough about each other and were friendly enough that working together on a project wouldn't be hard at all.

"Have you guys started anything yet?" Theo asked. "Any ideas for anything?"

"Not really." Peter said. "Y/N was throwing around a couple ideas for some kind of self-cleaning experiment table, but we haven't solidified anything yet."