Spider-Son & Iron Dad two shots

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Spooktober 11: Captured

Tony Stark storms out of an interview! Watch the full interview here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

"Mr. Stark," the man cleared his throat, looking down at his notecards nervously. "I would love to first congratulate you on the rebrand of Stark Industries. I'm sure it must be very exciting to start working on new manufacturing projects like the prosthetic line you're developing..."

Tony nodded, giving the interviewer a camera-fake smile. "Yeah. I can't take all the credit, or really any of it. Mrs. Potts has a huge role in the future of this company, she's doing a fantastic job, some real great work. The success? It's all her doing. Stark Industries would be nothing without her."

"Right, right." The interviewer smiled shakily. "I'm sure everyone is really excited to see where she takes the direction, now that she's in charge. Why don't we start with some questions about the new first steps?"

"Sure."

The interviewer gave a polite nod and looked down at his note cards. "Tell me a little bit about your new line of technology."

"So, the prosthetics are all designed by either myself or a team of Stark Industries interns. It's sort of a beginner project that the interns are working on that is later being refined into genuine products, and with funding from sponsors, we're hoping to extend the line of prosthetics and orthotics towards veterans who need a bit of extra support," Tony explained smoothly. "Mrs. Potts and I have had several ongoing discussions and we both believe this is a good first step to the next stage of the company."

"I have to ask." The interviewer shifted, tilting his head. "What made you want to start manufacturing prosthetics?"

Tony seemed to give another forced smile, and his answer stalled as he thought of something to say. He eventually shrugs. "A personal family friend had an incident that left them paralyzed from the waist down. I..." He cleared his throat. "I believe it's my own personal responsibility with the damage I've caused in my past to help in any way I can. Stark Industries is turning a new page, and I'm always trying to fix my father's mistakes. This is a good middle ground."

"Am I to assume the family friend was Colonel James Rhodes? His injuries occurred during the airport terrorist attack, correct?"

Tony's face twitched. He smiled without his teeth. "Not a terrorist attack. And you're not to assume anything, because I didn't tell you. What's your next question, buddy?"

"Of course, sir." The interviewer flew to the next notecard in his hands. A bead of sweat slid down the side of his greasy face. "Is how you plan to operate your company impacted at all by the experiences you've had in Afghanistan?"

The smile, fake as it had been, falls from Tony's face. He crossed his arms. Through the glasses he wore, Tony's judgemental squint was visible. "Sorry?"

"I said, um, is how you plan to operate Stark Industries impacted at all by the experiences you've had in Afghanistan?" The interviewer repeated. "Back in 2008, when you were— you know."

"That topic is off limits."

Tony shoe tapped on the carpet below him with what looks to be annoyance, but his glasses were blinking red in the lenses with something only he could read, and his breathing picked up its pace— the small microphone on his suit was projecting a faster-paced scratching as it moved against the lapel.

"Oh, I— Afghanistan?"

"Yeah. Quit talking about it. It's off limits," Tony said with a quickness to his tone. "Is that all you have for me?"

"Uh. Uh, I—" The interviewer looked back down at his cards and shuffled to the next one. "Sir, I actually— I have a few more, actually, sir."

"Why are you so nervous?" Tony asked, his expression closed off. "You got somewhere to be? You late for a party? What is it? Stop squirming around, you're making me antsy."

"Sorry, sir." The interviewer cleared his throat. His face was bright red. Sweat continued to pour, soaking the neck of his collar. The man looked like a dreadfully stressed uncapped fire hydrant. "Um— Is the— Do you— Are your— Is your plans to, uh, with the prosthetics, will—"

"Alright," Tony stood up. "That'll be all. That was good. Don't you think? I think it was great."

"I—" The interviewer nodded quickly, shame filling his face. "Yes, Mr. Stark. Thank you for meeting with me today."

"Yeah, it was a real pleasure," Tony said shortly. "You should take a shower. Bye."

The camera followed him as he walked out of the room, and then panned back over to the interviewer, who was giving the camera an uncomfortable smile. The sweat was visibly drenching his dress shirt. "Uh... Mr. Stark will be releasing images of his prototype prosthetic models later this week. Thank you for watching. Um. Cut, please."

Peter frowns and pauses the video. #1 on the trending page, and the video was only posted two hours ago, apparently it had been live-streamed while Peter was at school.

He isn't sure what to do. Mr. Stark wasn't exactly a personal friend, more like... a mentor who was forced into the job. He knew him well enough to know that Mr. Stark didn't "storm out" of the interview, but rather, had a pretty visible panic attack and excused himself as soon as possible from the situation.

Judging by the comments under the video, at least most of them, people seemed more upset at the interviewer for insensitively bringing up something like Afghanistan with an unnecessary question, but Peter had to see one comment that was genuinely as concerned for Mr. Stark as he was.

He nearly sent a message through Happy asking if Tony was okay, but as he went to the contacts in his phone, he sees Tony's in the mix and decides with some ounce of bravery just to text the man himself.

He wants to blame the shakiness of his hands on the subway, but truly, he was just nervous to bring up the incident at all. Surely it was all Mr. Stark was already hearing about. It's not like he needed another person asking him about what had happened today, but the concern won over his nerves.

[hey, i saw you on the news!]

[pretty cool about the prosthetics. can't wait to see the photos come out]

[hope you're doing okay!]

Peter stares at his screen for the next fifty seconds, typing and backspacing responses, and finally just watches for a possible response. It comes sooner than he thought it would've.

It's a series of blueprint photos, specifically the ones that are supposed to come out later that week of the prototype models. Peter holds his phone closer to his face and looks around the subway as if someone would see them and leak it.

[I'm fine. Glad to see your texts, been meaning to check in. What about you, kid? Any more bike thieves messing with you?

Peter rolls his eyes, but smiles as he sends back a response.

[just cats in trees! who knows, maybe one will show up on your doorstep one day mysteriously]

Tony's reply is instantaneous and to the point:

[Don't you dare.]

Peter snickers and sends one more message to his mentor-dad-thing before closing his phone.

[😼]