Request by @endirgirl . Enjoy!
Peter double checked his notebook, then began fusing the wires into the right places. Once he'd finished college, he'd agreed to take over Stark Industries when Pepper retired, on the sole condition that he'd relinquish it immediately to Morgan in a few years when she was old enough to run it herself. He'd continued Mr Stark's campaign for clean energy, and was even working on ways of reducing need for energy altogether. For example, the prototype he was building right now was for a teleportation device. If he could get it working, this could revolutionise world travel. No need for planes and their fumes, transportation could be efficient, immediate, and completely clean.
Peter frowned down at his notes. Something was off... He looked back at the wires he'd just fixed in place, just as they sparked, and exploded.
The world went black.
Peter slowly came around to the lovely sensation of being poked. At first glance, he was still in his lab, the wrecked remains of his teleportation device in front of him, and for a moment he thought he'd managed to get away with it unscathed. Then he saw who was poking him, and sat bolt upright.
"Am I dead?" He asked frantically. "I can't be dead, I promised Pepper I'd visit tonight."
"Pepper?" Tony Stark asked him. "Who are you and how do you know Pepper?"
Peter blinked. His voice... He'd forgotten the way his voice sounded. He closed his eyes to hold back tears as he slowly stood up.
"Answer me!" Tony demanded. "Why would you think that you're dead? Where did you even come from? Did Happy let you in?"
"Happy?" Peter couldn't be dead, because Happy was still alive. Right? He looked around the lab with dawning horror. It was the same room, yes, but it wasn't his lab. Not anymore. Or should he say, not yet? Because there was DUM-E in the corner, and on the desk were the blueprints and a prototype for a miniaturised arc reactor. Those things had been on the market for years. Or at least, they had been a minute ago.
Peter rubbed his head as the truth sank in. "Mr Stark?" He asked quietly.
"That's my name, y- wait. You sound like that kid, what was his name? The spiderling, crime-fighting spider..."
"Spider-Man," Peter sighed. Tony's eyes widened.
"You can't be..."
"I'm Peter Parker, Mr Stark. I know you've probably only just met younger me, but... you were like a father to me."
"Were? Does that mean... oh, kid."
Unable to restrain himself any more, Peter rushed over and hugged Mr Stark. The man was a bit awkward, and it felt different to how it used to as obviously Peter had grown taller over the years, but it was still nice. Peter had to blink to stop the tears from falling.
"Wh...when?" Tony asked hesitantly. He could see that Peter was a lot older, but it could have been ages since he died. Hopefully it wasn't soon, as he still barely knew the kid, in fact he'd only met him a month ago, so they wouldn't have the connection that Peter was talking about for a long while. Hopefully.
"I probably shouldn't tell you," Peter winced. "What year even is it, anyway?"
"Don't you know?" Tony asked, crouching to look at the smoking machine. "Didn't you build this time machine?"
"I built it, but it wasn't supposed to be a time machine," Peter laughed nervously. "One of those already- actually, I probably shouldn't tell you that either. I don't even know if it's taken me back in time, or shunted me to a different reality entirely. I do know that if it is a time machine, it works completely differently to the one you design- uhm."
"Of course I made the time machine," Tony sighed. "Who else could? But different realities? That seems a bit far fetched."
"Really? Where I come from you went to another reality. That was how the time machine worked. Or at least that's how Doctor Strange explained it."
"I went to another reality? And who's... doctor strange?"
"The wizard. No? You probably haven't met him yet, and I probably should have kept my mouth shut. Wait, does Vision even exist yet?"
"Wizards, like I'm supposed to believe that. And if by Vision you mean the self-aware android I helped create, yeah he's been around for a couple months." He paused. "I just talked about self-aware androids and then discredited wizards in the same sentence, of course my life has more crazy coming right up."
"You have no idea," Peter muttered.
"At least I know you'll make it," Tony sighed. "I know I don't really know you yet, but my biggest worry about recruiting a kid was that he...you.. would get hurt, and that would be on me."
Peter softened, the familiar words warming his heart. "What's the date, anyway?"
"Uh, 4th August?"
Peter frowned. That date seemed familiar for some reason... Then he remembered, and glanced at the clock.
"Oh no. Oh, no."
"What? What is it?"
"I have to get out of here," Peter mumbled, but before he could do anything a blur of red and blue came smashing through the window. He winced, remembering the bruises he'd had for weeks afterwards, and ducked behind a workbench before his past self noticed him.
"Owwww," Young Peter moaned, standing up and clutching his side. "that hur- oh. Mr Stark! Um, I'm really sorry about the - ah! - window, sir. Really sorry to bother you, I'll just g-go now."
"Kid, you're bleeding."
"No biggie, Mr Stark. I'll be fine, sorry for getting blood on the suit!" Young Spidey paused. "Who's that?" He asked, tilting his head at where Peter was still crouched under a table. Peter quickly stood, pretending he'd been picking something up, and gave an awkward wave.
"That's my intern, Parker, uh, Parker Peterson."
"Oh. Interesting name."
"Not really," Peter laughed nervously, shooting Tony a glare. "Keep up the good work Spider-Man, I'm a big fan." He gave himself a small smile. He knew from literally every sci fi film ever that he shouldn't be talking to himself, but he knew that his younger self could really do with the morality boost right now.
"Oh, uh, thanks Mr Peterson. That means a lot. Nice meeting you, bye!" And Spidey jumped backwards out of the broken window.
"Oh my- if he doesn't stop doing that, I'm going to die of a heart attack wayyy before we get all buddy-buddy."
"It is a bit terrifying to watch," Peter admitted. "It really doesn't feel that bad when I'm the one doing it. Same with the whole Mr- thing. I forgot how much I did that."
"Annoying, isn't it? Please tell me you grow out of calling me Mr Stark pretty pronto?"
"In your dreams, Mr Stark," Peter smirked. He knew it made him a hypocrite, but he didn't care. He was too busy being amazed at how easily he'd slipped back into the casual banter he'd missed so much.
"So, do you want to fix this not-meant-to-be-a-time-machine or what?" Tony asked.
"If you insist," Peter grinned, and the two descended on the scrap metal.
Several hours and lots of smalltalk later, the machine was back in the state it had been before the explosion, only Peter had rewired it backwards in the hope it would take him back to his own time.
Peter reached for the last wire, but Tony stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.
"Peter... It's been really good to get to know you. I know that we've only just met in several meanings of the phrase, but... I'll miss you."
"Not as much as I've missed you," Peter smiled sadly. "It'll take a while, because we were both oblivious, or well, not you anymore I guess but still me, but you'll get to spend more time with me." But I won't, were the unspoken words.
"I look forward to it," Tony replied warmly.
"You'd better. Might want to step back for this bit."
"And Peter," Tony continued as he went to reach for the wires again. "How... how do I die?
Peter smiled over his shoulder as the wires sparked, memorising the face of his mentor as he felt a huge weight lift off his shoulders.
"You died a hero."