i love intern mcu!peter parker fics as much as the next person, but what i really love are the aus where peter doesn't have any powers. he's not a hero, he doesn't stick to walls, he's just a regular dude who also happens to be the genius of his generation.
in the movies, peter is always shifting in place awkwardly like he isn't used to being... him. which makes sense to me because all his life he'd been teased and made fun of by that one annoying rich kid. now that he has the physical capability to fight back, he's hesitant. like, he technically could pummel flash, but can he really? he still can't quite get used to the way his shirts fit a little tighter or how he knocks things over because he still can't manage his strength.
he still doesn't feel normal.
but for my headcanon, peter without his powers would somewhat change that.
as flash's jibes grow old and repetitive, peter gets so sick of it he just brushes it off now. rolls his eyes maybe even once or twice. because at that point, who really has the time to focus on a bully who spends most of their life coming up with terrible insults?
not peter, whose only living family is his aunt who works double shifts at the hospital.
maybe he's desperate to lift her burden somehow, and finds himself joining the robotics team because the cash prizes in those competitions are absolutely jaw-dropping.
and maybe his creations catch the attention of tony stark who takes one look at his work and goes, "hm. i haven't done that yet. who the hell do i need to hire?"
then tony meets peter for the first time and is like, "wow. he's everything i could have been when i was younger."
so peter starts his internship and maybe finds a weapon lying around randomly in the lab. he tinkers with it and makes it better, leaving it where it was without another thought on the matter.
then the black widow of all people shows up a few days later, dumping all her tools on him so that he can improve them. (she definitely didn't leave that weapon laying around to see what peter would do once he got his hands on SHIELD technology as a test of sorts.) (she also definitely didn't smile when she realised that he added a taser with enough power to down an elephant to it. definitely not.)
the other avengers slowly discover that natasha's weapons have been getting better and better, "it's not fair that the black widow, already arguably the coolest looking mf out of all of them, gets favouritism in gear!" and find out about peter's contributions.
so every once in a while, they'll just drop something off at the labs, still somewhat skeptical that a child could improve cutting edge technology meant to be at the top of its game.
every single time, the gear returns infinitely better. tony is a little salty about that, because why the fuck are the avengers harassing his protege???
peter, on the other hand, is like "...yeah okay." because he literally does not even dream of the possibility that the avengers would notice him out of hundreds of staff at the tower. he literally assumes that the avengers think he's a random technician who just happens to have higher clearance.
(okay, maybe bucky barging into the labs one day with the most murderous expression on his face, staring at him intensely for a few moments before extending his arm in request for a check-up should have been a sign. but peter just assumed that it was tony's instructions because why would a superhero come to him of all people?)
then after many, many rounds of interviews and interrogations, courtesy of SHIELD, peter is finally given clearance to design custom weapons for the heroes. (he already has 20 blueprints shoved inconspicuously in his desk drawer.)
like, i would really like to see peter's human side be explored more in fics!!!!
