Tony Stark was an observant person, both in business and in his personal life, but when Peter first slid him a piece of paper and said ‘Hey Mr. Stark, can you sign this?’ with those big brown bambi eyes, Tony didn’t really question it.
He had always known the kid was a huge nerd and a fan boy so he figured it was just a fan thing, or more like, a Peter Parker thing. The kid constantly took photos and videos of every single thing he encountered like he was a tourist and liked to keep things for ‘sentimental’ purposes. Tony would know that because Peter constantly sent him those very photos and videos and used their messages like diary entries which Tony definitely did not keep in a back up file because Peter kept breaking his phones. So he simply said ‘Sure kid’, signed the paper, and that was it.
Until a few days later. They were in the lab, working on whatever grabbed their attention at the time. Peter suddenly slid him a sticky note and asked him to sign it again. Odd, but Peter was like that usually anyways.
Tony signed it. again. A bit surprised.
“What, you’re collecting autographs now?”
“Something like that. Thanks Mr. Stark!” Peter had beamed at him happily again and Tony felt like he had done more than just moving the pen.
Whatever. Tony had heard way worse things teenagers were doing than that. So if Peter wanted a few autographs, he would give him them. God knows he would have given him a lot more than a few written names if the kid just asked for it. Scratch that- if the kid even hinted at it or accepted them. But Peter Parker was weird about money and expensive gifts and thought of everything as a pity thing. It wasn’t. Tony told him that. A few million times. Peter still didn’t like it.
This went on for a few weeks. Tony signed it every time because what was he gonna do? Say no to those weapons Peter called eyes? yeah, like that was possible. He would like to see you try to say no when Peter looked like that.
The 7th and 8th times, he didn’t even ask it anymore. Just signed whatever random junk Peter brought that day, a photo, a book, a notebook, a napkin- a napkin? seriously?- whatever it was, he didn’t even look at them. Peter would just say ‘can you sign this for me?’ and Tony would do it without thinking. No questions, no answers, no big deal. Easy.
Except a month after this whole collection thing, FRIDAY alerted him on a very strange activity involving Spider Man.
“Boss, you might wanna know about this.”
And there it was on the holographic screen. All those weird shit Tony had signed over the week, listed as an eBay sale. With the fricking Spider Man on the cover. ‘TONY STARK AUTOGRAPH ON PIZZA BOX (ON SALE!!) (rare!) -by Spidey’
Tony stared at the screen for a while and had just burst into a laughter back then. So that was why. He didn’t mind it. Hell, he was actually impressed even. But of course, he was still gonna bring it up next time Peter came and embarrass the hell out of him. He HAD to. This was gold.
Of course he was annoyed that the little shit wouldn't even accept lunch money from Tony but apparently was perfectly okay with selling his signature online.
That brilliant little entrepreneur.
“you little thief” Tony greeted him the next time Peter came into his lab.
Look. Peter wasn’t an idiot, he obviously knew Tony would eventually notice his little bussines, he just didn’t think it would be so damn fast! He dropped his bag on the lab table and made his way to Tony.
“hey, technically, i didn’t steal anything! I just sold them for like 20 dollars at most and-“
“I know it’s a lot-” Peter started saying, rubbing the back of his neck. Come on now, Tony couldn’t possibly be THAT mad about it, right?.. right?
“THAT’S IT? You’ve been selling THE Tony Stark aka THE Iron Man signatures and you only made what, a hundred dollars in a week?! Kid, you’re insulting me in ways I didn’t know were possible.” Tony threw his hands up dramatically. Shocked beyond measure.
“I’m Tony Stark, AND Iron Man, I've saved the world at least a dozen times, I've been in every magazine cover imaginable and my authograph sure is worth so much more than 20 dollars! You are decreasing my value!” Tony gestured wildly at the holographic display. Genuinely annoyed and terrified even.
"...THAT’S why you're mad?..." Peter could have laughed if he wasn’t so surprised. Really, he should have known Tony wouldn’t care about the whole thing but wouldn’t be okay with him selling his autograph for burgers and snacks but he genuinely didn’t need more money!
"Of course! Now change those prices to at least 200 or I'm not signing anything again."
"But Mr.Stark! that's too expensive!" Peter whined. He couldn't sell them for so much. That was insane! What was he even gonna do with that much money that he didn’t need?
"Peter. I am a luxury brand. I don't do cheap."
They argued over it for fifteen minutes straight before finally settling on 100 dollars. Tony still thought it was way too cheap. But Peter had laughed and smiled and shook his head like he found the whole thing insane and amusing. so maybe it was fine. He could afford to be a bit cheap for some things.
