Chapter 8
An hour later.
Ding-dong.
The doorbell rang.
Opening the door, a middle-aged, handsome man in a suit stood at the entrance.
"Hello, Mr. Parker," Tony Stark greeted with a smile, appearing friendly, not at all as lofty as imagined, nor
showing the aggressive or sinister traits of the capitalists in the Shadow Spider-Man's impressions.
"Hello, Mr. Stark," Peter, after a brief pause, nodded, stepped aside, and gestured for Tony Stark to come in.
Tony Stark glanced at Peter with a hint of surprise.
He had been keeping tabs on Peter for more than a day or two. He noticed him when Peter gained his powers and started wearing his homemade baby pajamas to act as a street hero, Spider-Boy.
It didn't take much effort to uncover the true identity behind Spider-Boy's mask.
After collecting Peter's identity information and determining that his actions were just a teenager's superhero roleplay out of admiration for superheroes, he didn't pay much further attention.
He even helped Peter erase some traces to prevent him from being targeted and getting into unnecessary trouble.
Because of this, while he didn't specifically focus on Peter, he still kept collecting information about him.
The impression he got from all this information about Peter didn't include "calmness."
In fact, Tony Stark's adjective for Peter was: childish.
Not even immature.
"How have you been lately?" Tony Stark scrutinized Peter and asked out of the blue.
"Uh, pretty good, Mr. Stark," Peter replied. "My name's Peter. You can just call me Peter."
"Okay, Peter. I'm Tony," Tony Stark said, patting Peter's shoulder. "Wow, quite a sturdy young man."
"Mr. Stark, please come in and have a seat," Aunt May interjected at the right moment.
Peter made another inviting gesture.
Tony Stark walked into the house, glanced around the living room, and sat on the sofa.
Aunt May went to make tea, and Peter sat down next to Tony Stark.
"Mr. Stark—"
"Call me Tony."
"Okay, Tony. So, may I ask why you're here to see me?" Peter asked quietly.
Tony scrutinized Peter closely. "Looks like you already have some guesses."
Peter nodded slightly. "The Sokovia Accords?"
He didn't bother asking silly questions like why the accords would involve him or how Iron Man knew his identity.
In his earlier speculations, as long as Iron Man showed up in person, it was already based on the fact that he knew Peter's identity.
"Yes, but not entirely," Tony said, looking at Peter with some surprise, speaking quietly. "I hope you'll sign the accords, but this time, I mainly need your help."
"Need me?" Peter was stunned. Had he really guessed it right? Because of Captain America's rebellion, Iron Man needed help to deal with them?
"Ahem," before Peter could ask further, Tony cleared his throat, raising his voice. "The September Foundation matter—I've approved it. So, Peter, when can you be ready? We can talk about cooperation."
"September Foundation? Cooperation?" Aunt May came out of the kitchen with tea and pre-prepared snacks.
"Uh, sorry, Aunt May, I was just..." Peter knew this was Iron Man's cover story and played along, stammering.
Tony looked at Aunt May, stood up to take some things from her hands, and smiled. "Peter is a very talented young man. I look forward to working with him."
"I'm actually looking forward to working with you too, Mr. Stark," Peter said solemnly, even changing his address.
From Aunt May's perspective, it sounded like it was about the September Foundation and funding—probably that her nephew Peter had applied for some funds, and the provider was Stark Industries or something.
But in reality, for Peter and Tony, Peter's words meant he agreed to sign the Sokovia Accords.
"Mr. Stark, can we discuss the details of the cooperation?" Peter said.
Tony smiled slightly. "Of course, Mr. Parker."
"Aunt May..." Peter looked at Aunt May.
Aunt May gave him a fist-pump for encouragement, mouthing, "Go for it!"
"Yeah!"
Peter and Tony stood up and headed to Peter's room.
"What's this, retro tech?" As soon as they entered, Tony was drawn to a bulky desktop computer on the desk.
Peter glanced at it. It was indeed a computer, assembled from parts he scavenged from a junkyard, mainly used for tweaking his web-shooters, so he'd added a lot of ports to it, making it look a bit clunky.
"Well, it is pretty retro," Peter admitted, feeling a bit embarrassed that his idol saw this stuff.
Tony smirked, finally finding a hint of the age-appropriate expression on this kid pretending to be mature.
That's right, after thinking it over, he decided Peter was just pretending to be mature.
After all, before coming today, all his intel described Peter as that childish kid.
How could someone grow up overnight?
Even if they did, it would require some major life-altering event.
But Peter's life was calm and uneventful, no different from before. Where was the "maturing" condition?
"Although you seem to have admitted it, I still want to confirm. The guy swinging around the streets in baby pajamas—it's you, right, Peter?" Tony pulled out his phone and played a video.
"...Yeah, that's me, but it's not baby pajamas. That's my... suit, like your Iron Man armor!"
"You call that thing a suit? Hahaha!" Tony slapped his thigh, laughing.
Peter looked at him, a bit annoyed.
"Ahem, I didn't mean to laugh at you," Tony said, straightening up and apologizing. "Haha, but I can't help it."
"..." Peter said helplessly, "Tony, can we stop talking about the baby paj—ugh, the suit—and talk about the Sokovia Accords and what you need my help with? I think that's the real reason you're here."
"Yeah, right. The Sokovia Accords are..." Tony explained the general contents of the Sokovia Accords to Peter, as it was a prerequisite for him joining.
Peter also wanted to understand the full scope of the accords.
While he agreed that people with superpowers needed some oversight, he couldn't accept it if the restrictions were too severe.
Moreover, influenced by the Shadow Spider-Man's experiences, he didn't have much faith in the integrity of those in power.
He didn't want to unknowingly become a tool for others' profit.