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Peter was, for lack of a better word, extremely concerned.
And paranoid, and anxious, and terrified and a whole lot of other things.
In his defence, Tony Stark had only ever had Peter as his personal intern.
Only Peter had been allowed the level of clearance that let him work on nearly anything Tony did too.
And even that had taken time, for his fake-excuse internship to turn into mentoring for Spider-man to turn into the level of trust that they both shared.
But now Tony said he was introducing another person to their personal labs.
To their labs. It wasn't that he thought he was the only one worth that privilege. Or who could have a monopoly over Mr. Stark's mind. But, it's just that, he had thought that their relationship had gotten closer than just that of a mentor and mentee. They had shared jokes, anecdotes, and even movie nights. May had even come over with him for Christmas once. Mr.Stark had, beyond all expectations, become personally important to him. And Peter had thought that they shared that.
Clearly not, if Mr. Stark was completely unruffled by including someone else, and so suddenly.
But, the person Mr. Stark wanted to bring in, he was considerably young, like Peter. He was barely a year older than him, but unlike Peter, who still chose to stay at his high school, this kid was planning to go into college. He was coming here for a gap year, to gain experience, Tony had said, before leaving for college the following year, which would still be a year before Peter did.
And, Peter didn't want to be affected deeply by it, but the way Mr. Stark had talked about the kid? It was unfiltered affection. He had apparently known him since the young prodigy was a kid, and they had their first meet with an incident which included..potatoes?
Peter didn't know the specifics, but he knew that he did not like this kid. No matter how cool he sounded. Not at all.
At the very least, Peter thought, the guy wouldn't be hanging around a lot. He wasn't just gonna be in Tony's lab, he would tail Pepper too, just to see if a management role suited him better. Mr. Stark had just told him to expect him at the lab sometime or the other, few times a week.
Peter, a bit pettily, mused that the kid wouldn't know Mr. Stark on the super level. Not like he did. He hoped. Oh god, what if he was a mutant? A vigilante? With potato-growing powers?
Okay, maybe Peter was losing it. But MJ didn't call him a drama queen for nothing. He was an overthinker, Sue him. Every decision in his life he had pondered till his thought process looked like a very scribbled black mess. Like a ball of yarn that a cat had gotten its hands on. Cats are cute. And fluffy. But they didn't seem to like spiders much. Did spiders usually like cats much? Peter did. Oh he was getting off track.
This was another habit he and Mr Stark shared, especially when they were running low on sleep. Pepper had wanted to drag them by their ears to get tested for ADHD, but Tony had been paranoid it would kill their creativity. Or the roundabout way they found solutions to their problems. Like a Mobius Strip.
Right, the smart boy. What if the mystery guy ruined their flow and they never could invent anything else again? What if.. What if he gelled better with Mr. Stark than Peter ever had and then Peter would be left behind and the new guy will be Iron Spider and Spider-man will be found with a bowl in his hands on the streets because Mr. Stark boycotted him and his other self form every company ever? What if-?
The elevator bell dinged, FRIDAY signalling that someone was on their way to the top floors. Or two someones. Because Pepper was in a meeting and no one else came to these floors except-
The doors opened and Peter's back went ramrod straight. Unlike him. He went into a panic.
Because for a few merciful seconds Tony had shielded the boy, but now as he stepped aside Peter could make eye contact with the kid he had planned was his nemesis.
And.
And he.
And he was so.
Peter froze as he looked at the devil reincarnated who looked so pretty. The devil is beautiful, isn't he? He lull humans into a false sense of security, of reliability. Humans are terribly impressionable and if they see a pretty person, they'll immediately give you a part of themselves without even knowing it, because their first impression is to like you.
Peter wouldn't have believed him if he hadn't seen it, but by God he's beautiful.
As soon as he opened his mouth because- oh god they were both staring at him, expecting him to spit out a greeting, at least- the boy spoke.
"Hey, I s'pose you're Peter?" he. drawled. He drawled in an southern accent.
Peter was not gonna come out of this alive.