orbingarrow:

(I woke up meaning to write something else for Tony’s birthday, but then watched scenes from Iron Man 1 and this happened. Takes place before IW.)

——————

Tony figures a birthday gift from Peter is inevitable.  Few people bother to give Tony anything, because let’s face it– he really is the guy who has everything– but some do, and Peter’s going to be one of them. Thoughtfulness is in the kid’s DNA.

There are other gifts throughout the day:

A fantastic new watch from Pepper.  A hideous (Tony loves it so much) Iron Man bobblehead from Rhodey.  A gift card to a restaurant called ‘Burgers as Big as Your Head’ from Happy.  Various cards, gift baskets, and bottles of alcohols from professional acquaintances. Tony appreciates some gifts more than others, but he does appreciate them all.

Then Peter shows up.  He’s bouncing with excitement and all but shoves a manila envelope into Tony’s hands.  

“Happy birthday!”

The slightly beat up envelope’s got HAPPY BIRTHDAY written on it in sharpie and then what looks like a full month’s worth of doodle art all around the sides.

“I hope you like it,” Peter says.  "It’s probably gonna take a little bit of an explanation but just– look at it first? Then I’ll explain, I promise.“

Tony can feel a stack of papers inside as he undoes the clasp and then slides out what amounts to nearly a textbook’s worth of printouts.  The title page gives away the contents and Tony has to lean back against the wall because in a million years, he’d have never guessed what was coming.

YINSEN, HO. PHD.
Control and Manipulation of Magnetic Ultra-cold Neutrons Using Micro-Electromagnets

(And Peter Parker and Ned Leeds) has been written in ink under the typed print.

“What…?” Tony asks.

“He never finished it,” Peter explains.  "You– you mentioned Dr. Yinsen to me that one time and I was curious about his work so I looked him up and this project… he’d been working on it from 1999 until he died.  It was almost done, and it was so incredible and then I remembered that someone else had worked out the specifics on the ultracold neutron problem in 2012 and if he’d had that information while he was alive it just seemed like everything else would slide into place.  And I’m not trying to publish it or anything? Like that’s probably illegal without his permission. I just wanted to finish the paper.  For you.  For him.“

Tony’s eyes sting.  God.  He‘s not going to cry. He just isn’t.

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