Im rewatching Tau and every time I watch this movie I have starker thoughts 😭. The movie is about a young rich inventor whose at the forefront of artificial intelligence technology and he’s abducting people installing chips into their heads and using that data in order to feed his ais. Well the main character comes in and destroys where he usually houses his abductees + his lab and so she has to be chained up in his living space. But he’s on a deadline and she’s his only viable test subject so the two strike a deal so she gets basic human amenities like showers clothes and food and she’ll complete puzzles for him so he can still mine her for data. In the movie she becomes friends with his ai and the two manage to kill him and escape before he kills her and if that isn’t the perfect set up for a starker fic idk what is.
Imagine Tony shortly after Jarvis dies doing everything in his power to perfect his AI tech, he has Dum-E and U but that’s not enough, J.A.R.V.I.S. isn’t working, and he’s fucking desperate so he starts kidnapping people and using them for data extraction. It’s still not enough. Enter Peter, poor and living in a shitty apartment being kidnapped by Tony Stark, someone who’s not that much older than him, probably his celebrity crush. And obviously he tries to escape but with Tonys AIs and his basically impenetrable/inescapable house he’s stuck. Agrees to help Tony with data collection in exchange for being given some comforts because he’s not an idiot he knows he won’t be alive for long but at least he’ll be comfortable while he’s still alive. He’s given infuriatingly easy brain teasers at first and he’s almost offended, finishing it all in an hour and then lounging around bored as hell for the rest of the time. Tony gets home to him snoozing or something and is about to freak before J informs him Peter was able to complete all task in an hour. Tasks that would have taken any one else in his shoes all day. So the tasks get harder until he’s basically analyzing work for Stark industries. All the while he’s becoming friends with J.A.R.V.I.S. And Tony thinks all the test are working, J’s beginning to feel more human. Things are going well.
In the movie there are a few scenes that would obviously have to come up like him buying the main character expensive clothes and skimpy lingerie and her pretending to seduce him in order to stab him. And obviously J and Peter friendship is imperative like Jarvis asking Peter what it means to be a human and if he’s a human, this cold machine that could end him in an instant but was created to emulate someone real, and Peter explaining about love and home and hopes and dreams. Tony nearly fucking tripping the first time J makes a witty remark at his expense or admonishes him for being rude to Peter. & Peter thinking he’s about to die for corrupting his AI because JARVIS had to initiate Tony’s calming protocol but really Tony is just in his room sobbing.
Idk how they end up together- probably a little stockholm syndrome but also best starker!Peter is Peter who ignores Tony’s more cruel proclivities but that’s just my opinion. Or alternatively JARVIS marries them in secret because Peter told him his parents were married and in love before they died and if JARVIS is a person then Peter and Tony are obviously his parents and Peter says one day he’d like to get married and have a love like that, so this was just the obvious solution. Tony going to kill Peter before JARVIS very matter of factly informs him there is a rather impressive paper trail tying the two of them together including but not limited to their marriage license and Tony is very betrayed but also so fucking proud.