The Strings of the Universe
The reader has been living with Tony Stark for the past couple of years. She attends school with her best friend Peter Parker, and while he does not need much help balancing his Spidey duties and school, she needs serious help with their History class and being “just another regular teenager” and keep her secret safe.
A/N: WOW. This took me A LOT of time to write. So I’ve been working in this imagine for a while. Mostly I wanted to be sure that it made sense and that it did not had discrepancy's and that I could capture as much as I could the characters, as well to have good grammar.
Any-who I hope you enjoy it! Not sure how many parts it will take. Feel free to comment and request!
A.I: Artificial Intelligene
P.E. : Physical Education
At the wheel: Person driving; In control of the vehicle.
It started as another regular day, you finally woke up after snoozing your alarm five times, you always put your alarm before 6:00am so instead of snoozing your alarm and being late, you would actually wake up on time and had the “5 more minutes” of sleep. You quickly went to the bathroom, washed your face, put some makeup so you didn’t look like a zombie, put on some clothes and went downstairs where you found Tony and Pepper already eating some breakfast.
“Morning y/n” Said Pepper with a warm smile “There are more waffles in the kitchen”
“Morning” You replied “Ah, thank you”
“And there’s plenty of coffee” Tony added
You picked up a plate and put some waffles, fruit, and of course bacon, served some coffee and went back to the table.
“So any big plans for today?” Tony said
“Well, I’ll go to school, then Peter and I will go to get something to eat after, then we’ll come back to the tower, he’ll do whatever he needs to and I’ll be in the lab as always” You said
“Alright” He smiled “Just don’t forget to do homework”
“Yeah, yeah” You finished breakfast, put the dished in the sink, grab two flasks and filled them with coffee, ran to your room to brush your teeth, pick up your backpack and go to school.
“See you later!” You yelled as you ran out of the department and head to the elevator.
Once you were down, you saw Happy already waiting for you, you smiled.
“Morning Happy” You said as you gave him one of the flasks “Here you go”
“Thanks, y/n” He said as he took a sip “Ready?”
“Yup” You said as you head to the car, it wasn’t a long drive, you could easily take the metro but you weren’t used to of being surrounded by a lot of people and you felt uneasy in really closed and cramped spaces. So you’re glad that Tony insisted on Happy taking you to school.
Once you arrived you waved your goodbye and thanked Happy, “See you tomorrow”
“Are you sure you don’t need me after school?” He said
“Yes, I’m trying harder to “push my limits and fit in more”” You said imitating Tony Stark “Plus, I’ll be with Peter, and that helps” You smiled
“Alright, if you need anything...” He said
“Yes, I’ll call you” You reassured as you waved and went into the school.
For your surprise Peter wasn’t there yet, so that meant to things, one he overslept for being out at night or two he was out right now doing more spidey things. Either way, he was late, you went to your locker and put in the books you didn't need for the first period and took some things out.
“Don’t you even think about it...” You said putting in the last book as you turned
“Ah” Peter complained “How do you always do that?” He says surprised
“Well...” The bell rang “I just know you Parker” You giggled and smile “Now, ready for some really important class of history?” You said sarcastically and walked to your history classroom.
The class was a total nightmare, you could understand math, chemistry, physics, but history, oh boy, it was your living nightmare, so many horrible things that had happened not only in the past century but recently, from World Wars to Wars with aliens and artificial intelligence robots. “Thank you Tony” you thought. So many dates, different Revolutions, more Wars between countries and that was only in the past century, how did the teachers and Tony expect you to learn more from the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, you name it, it was too much.
“Class, I will hand you the result of your past test, if you happen to fail, then you’ll have a make up test next Wednesday, so you’ll have this week to study” He finished and handled the tests, once you got yours you saw the beautiful red “F” on top of the page.
Once the class was over, you walked out with Peter.
“So how did you do on the test?” You asked
“I passed, and you?” He replied
“Well, I failed, and now I will have to torture myself studying for the next test” You complained
“Well, I can tutor you” He said smiling
“Would you do that?” You said happily
“Yes, of course, that's what friends are, right?” He smiled “But you will have to pay...”
“Well... does pizza and snacks sound good?” You offer
“Perfect” He replied as the next bell rang “Ready for math?
“Yes, please” You said as you walked to your next class.
“You know, not all teenagers will say that with so much enthusiasm” He laughed
The day went by really fast after history, once school was over you went to your favorite café and had something to eat, then walked around a little and took a bus to the Avengers towers. Taking the bus was easier because you could watch outside the window as you just lost yourself in your thoughts. You arrived at your destination, you walked in as you took your badge out of your backpack and walked in with Peter.
“Alright” you smiled “I’ll see you later” You said as you started walking the opposite way
“Wait!” He said “So, do you want to start today?” He softly smiled
“Does tomorrow sounds good? I want to clear my head and I will be a little busy the whole afternoon and I still have to finish my English paper” You added
“Ok, so tomorrow around six thirty?” He asked looking while he was looking a little calendar in his phone
“Yeah, that sounds good” You smiled
“Miss. Y/n” Said a male voice “Ready?” It was a man wearing a black uniform and was holding a tablet in his hand.
“Yes” You turned to Peter “See you tomorrow” You smiled as you walked towards the man.
After spending nearly six hours in the lab you were exhausted, you felt as if your body was falling apart, you could barely keep your eyes open. You knew that what you were doing was important, not only for you but also for Tony. You wanted to do your best, but how could you keep up trying to live what he called a “Normal teenage life” when you weren't even that close on “Normal” and still do all the tests at school and in the lab. It was madness.
You walked towards the designated elevator that would bring you up to the apartment in exactly 45 seconds.
“Good afternoon Miss. Y/n” F.R.I.D.A.Y said
“Hey, F.R.I.D.A.Y, is Tony and Pepper home?” You asked
“Yes, and they are waiting for you” She replied
“Great” You muttered as the bell announcing your arrival to the top floor rang, once the door opened the nice smell of dinner came in. You walked hoping you could sneak into your room, but of course, as F.R.I.D.A.Y said, they were in the living room in front of the elevator.
“Hey kiddo” Tony said “Dinner is ready”
“Hey, I’ll just drop off this in my room and come back” You smiled. Once you finished you came back and sat for dinner, this night the chef made a stake, sweet potatoes fries, and some salad. “So how was your day?” You asked as always.
“Well, you know keeping track of all hero movement, making sure we don't break most of the laws by saving the world, working on new stuff that won’t destroy also the world” He took another bite of his meal “How about you Potts? He smiled
“The usual, making sure YOU don't get in trouble” She giggled and looked at you “How was school y/n” She softly smiled
“Uhm, well..”You gave a bite to the meat just to make some time “I failed a history test, but Peter is coming tomorrow to tutor me and the make up test is next Wednesday” You said quickly as you quickly ate another bite.
“Y/n” Said Tony in a lecturing voice “You didn’t study for the last test?” He asked
“I did, it’s just history is hard, I can't keep up with all the events, dates and names” You said a little ashamed “I can understand complicated equations in math or physics, and understand the components in chemistry, but history-”
“It’s ok” Pepper said “Don't worry, you’re a good kid, and I know-” She stops and looked at Tony in the eyes and then back at you “WE know that you're doing your best” She smiled as she reached to hold your hand.
“Thanks” you softly smiled you started talking about upcoming events, like Tony was going to travel for business proposes, Pepper had several conferences and you were left with school and the lab. Once you finished you helped pick up the table.
“Y/n, I need to talk to you for a moment” Tony said
“Can it wait? I need to finish some homework” You looked at him and saw he was worried “Is it urgent?” You made a little frown
“No, no, it can wait” He said “Don’t overwork yourself, ok?”
“Yeah” You smiled and went back to your room.
You took out the notebooks and your laptop and start doing what was left for homework, it didn't took you a lot of time until you finished it. It was a little late, but you were ready to go to sleep. Quickly you cleaned your face, and decided to take a shower to relax before going to bed.
The hot water from the shower made your sore body feel better, at the beginning you felt a little sting in your arms and in your back, but after a little it was like it was healing slowly. Once you felt ready, you put on your pajamas, dried a little your hair and braid it so it wouldn’t get tangled and went directly to bed.
The next day as any other week, was pretty much the same routine, you would wake up after snoozing your alarm, eat, grab your stuff, grab coffee for happy and Peter, go to school, meet with Peter at the entrance, go to your first class, eat lunch with Peter, sometimes cover for him if he needed to do Spidey stuff, meet him outside school to have something to eat, go back to the Avengers tower, go to the lab, and at last return home once you were done. But the good thing about this Tuesday was that you would get to spend more time with Peter and luckily for you had the perfect chance to get out of the lab earlier than usual.
After living with Tony for almost four years, you already knew the routine and you were surprised every now and then when something changed, at the beginning it was hard, you had to keep up with learning certain status quo’s, social behavior and interaction with other people, as well for the physical tests, every week they would check your blood and studied it, see if something changed, test physical endurance and see how far you could push yourself. One of the most difficult things was to open up with Tony the first couple of months, but Pepper was the one who helped you the most in trying to feel welcome and not threatened.
Now it was different, you looked up to Tony and Peper as a father and mother figure, even though you weren’t related at all. Happy for you was your cool uncle, and you loved how caring he was with you but really indifferent with Peter. The people from the lab used to either fear you or see you as a special project, but now they were used to you and you had a somewhat relationship with them.
Today’s test went by you felt a little different, you weren’t sure if it was because you were tired or your mind was in another place, but something was wrong, and you weren't the only one who noticed.
“Alright, we’re going to stop today,” Marc said through the speaker at the lab.
“What?” You said confused “I’m ok, I can finish today’s practice” You said, taking some air in.
“Y/n, as the Senior Researcher, I am telling you that that's it for today” He said once again.
“Marc-” You started complaining and you saw him coming out of the screening room.
“Y/n, no that's it for today, no more “buts” or “Marc I can do it”, you’re going back upstairs and have some rest, besides don’t you have to meet someone?” He said as he started removing the patches that checked your pulse and register your activity during the test.
“Know?” He finished “Mr. Stark, made sure you were on time for your tutoring class”
“Of course he did...” You said in a low voice
“Alright, all done” He softly smiled “Tomorrow we’ll resume what we left off, so I recommend you to have a good rest and be ready.”
“Yeah, yeah” You leaned forward and picked up your backpack and took some water “See you tomorrow Marc” You waved goodbye as you walked out of the lab.
You walked in the apartment and went directly to your room, you decided to take a quick shower so you looked fresh. Once you were done you decided to leave your hair wet, and put on some comfy sweatpants and a shirt that said “Accio pizza”. You walked out of your room and put all the books you needed for history, your laptop, you served some popcorn.
“Hey, F.R.I.D.A.Y, can you please order a pizza from Joe’s?” You said
“I already ordered something” Tony said, he was wearing a nice suit and Pepper was wearing a beautiful blue dress
“Oh, thanks, and you both look amazing!” You smiled “Is something happening tonight?”
“Just a dinner date, we’ll be out late” Pepper said
“Yes, but don’t think you will be unsupervised, F.R.I.D.A.Y is babysitting you” Tony said
“What?” You asked surprised “The A.I is babysitting me?” You frowned “You know you can trust me, right?” You said “Plus, we’re studying for history, nothing more exciting than some other country fighting a war for who knows what reason”
“Yeah, you do need those classes” Tony said “Still-”
“Honey, how about you make sure the car is ready downstairs, I don't want to be late” Pepper interrupted as she pushed him to the elevator. Once the door was closed she returned to you “F.R.I.D.A.Y, just call us if there is an emergency, nothing else.”
“Yes, Miss Potts” said F.R.I.D.A.Y
“Ok, honey have fun, and I’ll make sure Tony doesn't spy on you” She giggled
“Ok...we’re just going to study, so...no worries? I guess?” You awkwardly smiled.
Pepper went down and met Tony and he was already talking with Peter, “Poor boy” she thought, Peter was holding his backpack and fidgeting one of the laces of his sweater with the other one. “Hello there Peter” She smiled “How is school?” She said making sure to change the subject Tony was talking with him
“Good Miss. Potts, working hard” He said as he smiled
“That’s always good, now we won’t keep you busy” She smiled as she softly padded Peter’s arm “Honey, shall we go?” She smiled as she discreetly pulled him to the entrance so they could leave.
“Yes, yes.” He cleared his throat
Once they were gone, he texted you,
Peter P: “Already here, got stopped by Mr.Stark”
He smiled as he went up to the apartment, and the ding announced his arrival.
“Hey Peter” You said “Come in” You smiled and hugged him “Alright I got some popcorn, pizza should arrive any time soon” You smiled proudly
“Always on point, hey can you remind me where the bathroom is?” He said with an innocent smile
“Yeah, down the hall to the right and it’s the second door on the right” You instructed
“Thanks, be right back” He smiled
“Miss Y/n, pizza has arrived and coming up on the food elevator” F.R.I.D.A.Y announced
“Thank you” You smiled and you went to the kitchen where an elevator with a microwave size,
“I heard the pizza is here” Peter said
“Yup its coming up” You smiled as you waiting
“You know, this is one of the inventions that you never know that you need until you have one”
“What? Pizza?”You said confused
“No, the food elevator” He laughed
“Oh, right” You said as the ding announcing the food was up “Alright, let’s eat!”
Peter grabbed some plates and salsa. you both sat down on the couch.
“So how was your afternoon?” You asked as you grabbed a piece
“Good, you know I patrol a little on the east side, nothing big today” He ate a bite of his piece “How about yours?”
“Good, I guess” You shrugged “You know, helping the scientists doing their research and just being helpful” You smiled as you went for your second piece.
“Nice, so I know you don’t like talking about it, but what do you do?”
“It’s classified” You joked
“Oh, come on y/n” He laughed
“Peter, you know I can’t talk about that” You insisted
“Not even to your best friend?” He raised his eyebrows
“Peter, you know I would love to tell, you…” you paused for a second as you took a deep breath “Hopefully soon I can, ok?” You smiled
“Alright, I won't insist more” He smiled and finished his second piece of pizza
After finishing the pizza and cleaning up you started your lesson, Peter made some notes on the things that were on the past test and things you will be seeing in class. But mostly focused on the Greeks and their influence in other cultures, every now and then he would pop a question to test you. He covered the most important things and as you made more and more notes, things slowly started to fit.
“Alright” you smiled proudly “I think I got it!”
“No, no, I got it” You assured as you smiled
“Good, so tomorrow Romans?” He smiled
“Yup” You smiled as you stood up and walked out Peter “Thank you Pete, really, you’re really a hero”
“Yeah, just your friendly neighborhood Peter Parker” He joked and you both laughed
“Oh boy, go to sleep Parker” You giggled and hugged him
“See you tomorrow” He said “Have a good rest!”
“You too Pete” You smiled and saw the elevator door close. After he left you cleaned up the living room and went to sleep.
On Wednesday after school, as usual you head to the lab, put your hair in a ponytail and started the usual drill, one hour and a half later every muscle started to ache, you ignore it and continued.
“Y/n, everything ok? Your heartbeat is raising” Marc announced through the speaker
“Yeah, all good” You lied and continued but around 15 minutes later Marc decided to end the day. You did not argue or insisted to continue this time, you wanted just to go up and rest before Peter came showed up in the apartment. After an hour of the tutoring, Peter had to leave because an emergency in downtown Manhattan and that's when Tony approached you.
“Y/n, can I have a moment with you?” He said
“Yeah” You softly smiled and walked to his studio
“Is everything ok?” You asked as you sat down on the chair in front of his desk.
“We need to talk, not only me but also Marc has noticed a change in your performance in the lab” He tapped his watch and a couple of screens popped out on the wall “You see, in the past couple months everything has been stable, yes every now and then some things will change, with your blood pressure, or your physical tests will be higher or lower, overall good for what we know” He paused as he looked a new chart dating that day “But this past two weeks things have been going down, I noticed that it wasn’t as the past times, it started going gradually and now its more noticeable, you used endure more as for today your scans were all over the place and that’s why Marc opted to end the session”
“So…what does all of this means?”
“That's the thing, I-“ He stopped and sighed “We don’t know, it can be that you need some rest or it could be something more complicated” He looked at you and noticed the concern in your face “Kid, I know you’re doing your best in every possible way you can, but I can not risk your health and well being, which is why you're having a little break from the lab, but you will have to wear this” He walked to a cabinet and brought out a bracelet “It will monitor how you doing throughout the next couple of days, we’ll recover data and then we’ll know how to proceed” He smiled trying to help you feel more comfortable. “Y/n?”
“Yeah, that sounds reasonable” You let tony adjust the bracelet and set up the system.
“Everything will be ok” He was concerned, of course he wouldn’t admit it, he is the adult here, he has to be strong for you, but you knew he was worried.
“Thank you” You hugged him tightly
“It’s ok kid, it’s ok” He repeated and softly padded your back.
Friday finally arrived, you didn’t remember the last time you felt this exhausted, you got ready for school, you picked some books from the locker went to your classes after lunch you had P.E. You would usually enjoy but today wasn’t a good day, the teacher decided that the class was going to have a little rally against each other, it was like an obstacle course, they divided the group in three, you and Michelle ended up in the same group, Peter and Ned in the other two.
The coach indicated the rules, the race would begin with running half of the running track, then jump over some car wheels, next you will proceed to the monkey bars, do ten burpees, climb up a climbing frame in a triangle shape, and then run the other half of the running track to get to the safe point with the rest of your team, after this the game started.
Your group was pretty good, so far your team was in first place, there were two people in front of you and then it was your turn and you hoped to be fast enough just to be done with this part of the day. You saw Peter was next and you knew that he could beat the person on your team easily, but in order to keep his abilities in secret, he went slower in the obstacles and arrive at his safe point in second place. Now the person in front of you went, you felt your heartbeat beating like a drum, you saw your teammate arrive at the safe point and you ran as fast as you could, you passed the first two obstacles without a problem, after the burpees you felt your legs quiver and you ran to the climbing frame, once you were down you started to run to the safe point, you were almost sure you were going to be able to make it, until you felt it. Your breathing was getting harder by the second and you had to slow down; your teammates were yelling you to continue, you pushed yourself harder, but you saw the other teams were getting ahead of you. The track started to look further and further away, and without noticing everything went dark as you hit the ground.
“Y/N!!” Peter yelled as he ran off to get you, the coach approached him and told him to get you to the nurse office. As he took you he saw your watch which was flashing different numbers and a message saying “Tony Stark arrival in: 10 minutes”. Once Peter was at the nurse office his phone started to ring, he laid you down in the bed, and answered the phone.
“Mr.Stark?” He said trying to sound calm
“Peter, are you with Y/n?” He said with urgency
“Yes Sir, I brought her to the nurse office-” He started
“Peter, do not let her out of your sight I am almost at the school.” He said and quickly hung up.
It did not pass more than five minutes when Peter realized how much noise was coming out of the hallway and that's when Tony Stark entered the room with the same scientist he has seen before from the Avengers tower. They both moved quickly towards you, they were both saying different statistics and things Peter couldn't fully understand. Time seemed to pass slowly and you were in the same state.
“Marc put the injection and get ready to transfer her” Tony order the scientist as he turned to Peter “Thank you kid, I will take it from here”
“Peter, go back to class and I will update you once she's better” He assured
“Are you sure you don't need me? I can- “ His hands were shaking and didn’t know what to do,
“Peter...” Tony took a deep breath “Alright, come with us, I will talk with the principal so you can be excused from school this time and I’ll call your Aunt, but you have to let us work, ok?” He talked in a more calm way as more poeple with black uniform came in and out you on a stretcher and took you to the specialized van they had arrived.
“Thank you, and yes Sir.” He took a deep breath as he followed Tony Stark and all the students looked around and whisper or took video of the whole situation. He saw you leave in the van with the man who now Peter knew his name was Marc. Peter went in the car with with Tony Stark and Happy at the wheel.
He realized that they weren’t taking you to a hospital but to the Avengers towers. Tony quickly went out of the car and went to a separate part of the building that Peter never saw before, there was a small waiting room where Tony instructed Peter to wait.
“Now Peter, I have to go in and make sure that everything is going well” He paused “Miss Potts is on her way and she will meet you here, she is going to be ok” He assured one more time before going in to the other room as he left Peter in the waiting room.
The sound of heels took Peter out of the heartbreaking silence as he saw Pepper walking in.
“Hey kid” She said and embraced him in a hug
“I- I- don’t know what happened” He said trying really hard for his voice not to break “She was ok and it happened so fast-”
“It’s ok” Pepper reassured as she comforted Peter “She is in the best hands” They took a step back “In the meantime, how about we get something for all of us to eat? Tony will update me and we will see her soon” She smiled
“Yeah...” Peter took one more look back to the doors hoping for you to be ok.
