Chapter Text
Grading papers and teaching students wasn’t something Reed particularly enjoyed but here he was, grading papers and teaching students. Honestly, he wasn’t sure how Sue managed to convince him to even apply for this job. The only good thing about teaching students was that he was teaching a particular category of students:
Nerds.
Reed would rather call them intellectuals but Johnny always insists that they are nerds despite being smarter than plenty of them.
This category of students were easier to manage in Reed’s opinion, they are hardworking and they ask appropriate questions. They do their tasks and they listen in lectures. Thankfully, with teaching MIT students Reed had a simple routine of marking assignments and planning presentations.
Theoretical and Experimental Physics is a complex subject and therefore incredibly entertaining. His advanced course is built for students who find the subject equally entertaining, students who are interested in exploring the complexities of physics and are willing to test its limits.
Johnny said that tagline was too long and boring but Reed thinks otherwise. It’s a perfectly accurate description of his class.
“How are your students doing, dear?”
Reed blinked and looked up, Susan’s voice cutting through his thoughts. She was beautiful tonight, as she always was, and she was looking at him with a smile and that curious look she had when she was interested in something.
“They’re fine…they’ve increased the grade boundaries once again.” Reed replied and focussed on his food again, cutting his steak into equal pieces.
His students were brilliant. He quite enjoyed how the MIT course system worked and he enjoyed being surrounded by genuinely curious and hardworking students…even if he got a little annoyed at how by-the-book they were most of the time.
Johnny’s arm came into vision from the corner of his eye, he heard the younger man ask Sue about something related to work. Reed vaguely registered their conversation as he poured his chosen sauce over his steak.
“Have your other students made any progress?”
Reed paused and he looked up at Ben as he asked that question. He set his cutlery down and shook his head.
His other students.
Reed’s separate elite programme. The Program™ as Johnny proclaimed it. It was a programme he had designed to find a possible apprentice to help him with his further studies. Many students applied but Reed was very selective, typically only three or six students were let in but never have any of them passed the whole course in the two years he’d had it.
“No,” Reed murmured and he looked down at his plate again, picking up his fork and going back to eating.
“Maybe you just don’t need an apprentice. Maybe it’s life telling you that you can handle all your physics yourself,” Johnny suggested, looking at Reed over his glass of orange juice.
“I’m sure you’ll find one, babe. This batch may just not be it.” Sue said with a supportive smile, placing her hand above Reed’s on the table.
“If I don’t find one soon, they might cut the funding.” Reed worried, his eyebrows knitting together.
“Don’t say that, Reed.” Ben sighed and he clapped a hand on Reed’s shoulder.
Susan nodded, “Yeah, they’ll let you keep your programme and it’ll still be around by the time you finally find the right kid.”
“I can’t wait to meet this kid,” Johnny admitted and he swallowed his food before speaking again. “I hope he or she is really annoying but they get things done so we bond over bullying Reed while he’s too deep in thought to hear us.”
“Johnny.”
“It’s a joke, come on. It’s funny and you know it.”
Ben chuckled and he turned to Reed. “They won’t cut your programme, pal.”
“We have to cut your funding for the elite programme.”
Ah shit.
Reed expected it really. He’s had this programme for two years with nothing to show for it. Everything he taught in the course was too difficult for most people, especially when it was piled with other courses his students took.
But he couldn’t just make it easier! It was the whole point of his programme to be incredibly difficult so he’d be able to find someone to keep up with him, work with him and help him with his own personal research.
“As of right now?” Reed asked, it would be incredibly abrupt of them to immediately cut his funding.
“Yes, as of right now.”
Oh fucking hell—
“C’mon, give him until the end of the year.”
Reed blinked, he looked up to the direction of the voice and his eyes widened when he saw Victor walking over. Back from his holiday then.
“Professor Von Doom, welcome back.” A member of the board — Reed didn’t care to see which one it was — greeted Victor as he entered the office.
“Thank you…but seriously, give him until the end of the year.” Victor said while waving his hand around in the direction that Reed was.
Someone sighed.
“Professor Richards has had zero passing students since we approved of his programme two years ago. The course is too advanced. A passing student won’t magically appear by the end of the year.”
“You don’t know that though,” Victor said, crossing his arms.
Reed was still too shocked to even speak. Victor was defending him? Or was he just defending the programme? Either way, Victor was actively helping him.
“Just give him until the end of the year, if he doesn’t get at least one passing student then you can cut the programme.”
Heads turned, voices mixed into discussion but Reed just kept staring at Victor— who noticeably was looking anywhere but at Reed.
Finally, their voices quietened down and Reed heard a heavy sigh.
“Alright…but he’s only got until the end of the year.”
Everyone started packing up and leaving, Victor did too. Reed finally got his brain to start working and his legs moved to catch up with his old friend. He held out his hand and jogged over.
“Victor!”
Victor tensed and Reed could sense that he was about to bolt but he managed to grab onto the Latverian’s shoulder before he could do so.
“Victor— I…uhm…”
“Eloquent, as usual.” Victor snarled and he rolled his shoulder so he could escape Reed’s grip. “Now, if you’ll excuse me—”
“Thank you.”
“I’ll be— huh?” Victor whipped his head around and stared at Reed like he was a stranger.
Reed hesitated before clearing his throat and speaking up, “Thank you…for protecting my programme.”
They stood across from each other awkwardly for another moment or two before Victor cleared his throat and nodded with an awkward expression.
“Well, you better start looking through your applications. If you want a passing student, it’s certainly not going to be from your current batch.”
Reed nodded and he thanked Victor once more before he turned around to go back to his office. He’d have to get his laptop and he’d probably be staying up all night looking through new and old applications for any possible miracles that could save his programme. He just needed one kid to pass, it wouldn’t be that difficult to find at least one promising kid.
He packed his laptop into his bag and cleaned his desk up before heading home, he noted that Victor’s car was gone. Odd, hadn’t he just arrived? Did he come to campus just to fight for Reed’s programme and leave?
Reed shook his head free from the confusing thoughts and got into his car, it was early so he was sure he could pick Johnny up from school today. He’d actually prefer having the kid in his car today, his obnoxiousness would actually distract him from overthinking the future of his programme and that was a much needed distraction.
One text to Sue and Ben later and he was on his way to pick up one seventeen year old and then probably take him out for fast food, just to buy him more time to distract himself. Then maybe Ben scolding them for spoiling their appetites would help him out a little too.
He pulled up to Johnny’s school in mere minutes (much too short of a drive than he wanted) and he turned the radio all the way up to silence his thoughts as he waited for the bell to ring. When it did, Johnny took seven more minutes to come out of the front doors and trudge his way over to the car.
Johnny looked at him suspiciously as he entered the car and stared at him, not answering Reed’s typical question of ‘How was school?’ But then again Johnny never answered that question when asked even by Ben or Sue.
“The music’s really loud,” The teenager commented instead and Reed had to suppress a defeated sigh. He’d been had. Johnny was incredibly observant after all.
“I need you to just…talk to me, Johnny.”
“Oh…” Johnny stared at him a little more before he nodded and kicked his feet up onto the dash and began rambling on about school. “Well, robotics club was boring. Everyone took forever just to make a model car and the teacher wouldn’t let me stray away from the instructions…”
“Yours was better, I assume?”
“Obviously, then there was this kid— the one who sits behind him. He’s the kid who stuck gum in my hair back when I was in middle school that Sue told you about. I've kept my hair short ever since.”
“Uh huh,” Reed nodded and he listened to his brother-in-law complain on and on about this specific kid before pulling into the fast food drive thru.
Johnny’s eyes lit up and he whipped his head over to Reed. “I know you’re just doing this because you’re feeling terrible and you don’t want to think about something-that-I-can’t-bring-up-but-know…but you’re the best, Reed.”
“Thanks, Johnny.”
“Any for me?” Ben asked, greeting them in the living and eyeing the paper bags in their arms.
“A cheeseburger,” Johnny muffled through the burger he was chewing, both adults gave him a disapproving look at his manners and he rolled his eyes but finished chewing.
While Ben and Johnny began their usual banter, Reed took his bag to his office, set up his laptop on his desk and began the long process of reading through hundreds of applications.
The sun was long gone by the time Sue knocked on the door and came in. Reed looked up and blinked, Sue was already dressed in her pyjamas? He looked over at the time in the bottom right corner of his screen and was shocked to find that it was already half past ten.
“Any luck?” She asked, leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed.
Reed shook his head with a heavy sigh, “Uhm…no, not yet. Everyone is just too behaved, if that makes sense?”
Sue walked over, shut his laptop and packed it back into his workbag. She grabbed Reed’s hand and pulled him up.
“Come on, let’s go to bed…maybe if you go to sleep, they'll be a magical application in the morning.”
Reed stared at the ceiling, his mind still running through all the applications he had just gone through.
There had to be someone.
He has hundreds of applications sitting on his laptop and yet somehow none of them were right. It was almost impressive how many intelligent people could be so predictable.
“You’re thinking about it again.”
Reed blinked and looked over at Sue. She was lying beside him, already comfortable under the blankets and looking at him with a knowing expression she always had when she caught him thinking too much.
“I am,” Reed nodded.
Sue smiled a little and moved closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder and traced the silk of his pyjamas.
“You’re allowed to stop thinking about it for one night, you know that?”
Reed bit his lip and looked back up at the ceiling. “I just don’t understand how I’m supposed to find someone if nobody is good enough.”
Sue was quiet for a moment. “Why do you want an apprentice so badly?”
Reed frowned slightly and turned to her again. “I told you. I need someone to help me with my research.”
“You could also just do research on your own, like you usually do.” Sue pointed out and that got Reed thinking again.
“I want someone who…can keep up with me. Or maybe even challenge me, I suppose.”
“That sounds more like it.” Sue smiled at him again, so beautiful and sweet.
Reed moved a hand over to swipe her hair away from her face. “Most people just accept what I tell them, all of my students just accept what I tell them.”
“Johnny doesn’t.”
“Johnny argues with me because he enjoys annoying me.” Reed argued.
Sue laughed and she tilted her lips to Reed’s. “He’s still usually right.”
“Because we argue about mundane life and social things…” Reed frowned. “Which is not my expertise.”
“I’m glad you’re self-aware.” Sue chuckled and went quiet again.
Reed stared at her face, her hair and then her eyes for a few seconds before speaking. “I don’t want a student who just…memorises what I teach them. I want someone bold enough to look at everything I’ve worked on for months and just have the audacity to say I’m wrong.”
“Babe, a kid like that will annoy you greatly.” Sue pointed out, she knew Reed well.
“Well, maybe that’s what I need.”
Sue smiled and nodded, “I’m sure you’ll find someone. MIT students who think for themselves are common.”
She took his hand and Reed looked at them before nodding as well. “I hope so…though, you’re very confident.”
“I married you. Clearly, I have some questionable judgement.” She grinned.
“Unecessary,” Reed murmured before laughing.
He shook his head and kept his gaze on his wife, he was smiling now at least. They spoke until they fell asleep, his thoughts weren’t completely occupied by the programme this time.
A magical application did not appear that morning, two more students applied but they were the same as the others. Well-behaved and too much of a goody-two-shoes for Reed’s approval.
His programme was going to die, it was going to get cut and he was never going to get an apprentice. He will be researching on his own for years and years to come and he’ll die in his lab before even getting to say goodbye to Sue and—
“Why don’t you invite Stark?”
Reed jumped out of his thoughts and looked up, his eyes widening at the man he found standing next to his desk.
“Vi-Victor?”
“Yes hello it’s me. Why don’t you invite Stark?” Victor
Reed blinked at that suggestion and he frowned, invite? Stark? The kid?
Victor seemed to have read his mind because he answered two of Reed’s unspoken questions. “Those who applied don’t seem to be working, so why don’t you be the one to invite someone soooo, Anthony Stark. Stark’s a genius prodigy, take advantage of that.”
“He— he’s a kid, Victor. He’s like…what? Fourteen?”
“He’s fifteen,” Victor replied and waved his hand like that was supposed to convince him.
“That’s not much of a difference,” Reed deadpanned.
Victor sighed and he pressed on. “A fifteen year old who got into MIT at fourteen, an annoying one at that.”
“He parties along with the rest of them, harder than them even if the gossip I’ve heard is true.” Reed reminded him with a frown.
“I mean, we had a pretty good conversation about mechanical engineering while he was high out of his mind. I’m sure he can still impress you.”
“You— wait, hold on. When have you had the time to even talk to the kid?”
“He’s in my 2.12 Robotics course. He’s brilliant, incredibly annoying but brilliant.”
“That’s not a good way to recommend someone," Reed groaned and he shut his laptop.
Victor frowned. “Why are you so against inviting the kid?”
“He’s…” Reed tried to grasp onto anything that was logical. He was searching for an annoying kid who wasn’t afraid to challenge him.
Anthony Stark was an annoying kid who probably wouldn’t be afraid to challenge him.
“I…I just wasn’t expecting a kid-kid.”
“He’s still a completely valid option,” Victor reasoned and crossed his arms.
“Why are you helping me?”
Victor stayed quiet for a moment and sighed.
“Just invite the kid, Richards.” He insisted before turning on his heel and walking away.
Reed watched him leave and slowly turned back to his laptop. He frowned and lifted the screen again, staring at the hopeful but ultimately disappointing applications in front of him. Maybe Victor was right, maybe he should come to the apprentice instead of letting the apprentice come to him…but did it necessarily have to be Anthony Stark?
Reed knew who Anthony Stark was.
It was difficult not to when everyone knew who Anthony Stark was.
Fifteen years old and already involved in Stark Industries, son of the Howard Stark and apparently one of the most intelligent student to walk through these campus doors. Reed had heard enough about him from other professors to know that the boy was exceptionally gifted.
But he had also heard he was arrogant, difficult and reckless. He had a reputation for ignoring instructions whenever he decided that his own way was better, and Reed wasn’t sure how much patience he had for a student who thought he was above the work…but that was also exactly what Reed was searching for.
Then there was the other part of Anthony Stark's reputation.
The parties.
Reed had heard about those too. Apparently Stark had a habit of attending parties despite being far too young to be doing so, and somehow always managed to get away with it. There were stories about him showing up to events, disappearing before anyone could find him and occasionally turning up to class the next morning as if he hadn't spent the previous night doing anything at all.
Reed frowned…that was not the sort of student he wanted. His programme required dedication. The work was already difficult enough for the typical twenty-something-year-old student without having to compete with parties and whatever else a fifteen-year-old could possibly find more interesting than theoretical physics.
And yet, Reed had to admit that the reports about Stark's academic performance never seemed to suffer which was almost more irritating.
How could someone apparently spend his free time doing whatever he wanted and still maintain grades that most students could only dream of? Reed didn't understand it.
Anthony Stark sounded like an exceptionally intelligent, incredibly arrogant and completely irresponsible child. Not exactly the challenging apprentice that Reed had anticipated.
The thing about reputation was that it was built on a small truth and then piled on by gossip based on what other people thought they knew about someone else. Reed had never actually met him, he had no reason to believe everything he had heard.
Reed had always preferred the facts. What Victor had said before suggested there was some truth to the gossip but he was still able to impress Victor von Doom enough to be called brilliant.
He looked back at the applications, none of them were what he was looking for and maybe Victor had a point. Reed sighed and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his forehead.
Anthony Stark hadn't even applied.
That alone should have been enough reason to dismiss the idea. His programme had an application process for a reason. Students who wanted to be there had to prove that they could handle it. Reed shouldn't have to chase after some fifteen-year-old just because Victor thought he was brilliant.
And yet…
If even half of what Reed had heard about Stark was true, he might actually be capable of passing. That was an irritatingly compelling possibility.
Reed stared at his laptop for another few seconds.
He closed his eyes and sighed. He could always invite Anthony Edward Stark. There was no guarantee Stark would accept and if he did accept, there was no guarantee he would pass.
Reed opened his eyes again and looked at the empty search bar that was linked to student records. He supposed there was no harm in looking at his academic record.
Anthony Edward Stark.
Undergraduate student.
Mechanical Engineering.
Reed scrolled.
His academic record was remarkably impressive.
2.002 Mechanics and Materials: A
2.12 Robotics and Mechatronics: A
Ah, Victor’s course.
6.002 Circuits and Electronics: A
6.004 Computation Structures: A
18.06 Linear Algebra: A
He continued down the page, finding a list of advanced credits and examination-based placements. Reed leaned back in his chair. The kid was intelligent, that was never a doubt Reed had. His doubt was more in how well he’d be able to control the boy
Grades were hardly enough to qualify someone for the programme. Reed had taught plenty of brilliant students. Some of them had perfect grades and still struggled when they were given a problem without a clear answer so he kept scrolling.
There were comments from some of Tony's professors.
Exceptional understanding of advanced material.
Reed's eyes moved to the next one.
Frequently proposes alternative solutions to assigned problems.
He stopped…that was what he wanted after all. So far Stark was living up to the image Reed had made of the kid in his head, an annoying image.
Another professor had written:
Brilliant student. Difficult to manage.
Another:
Demonstrates understanding beyond the scope of the course, but has a tendency to disregard assignment parameters when he considers his own approach more efficient.
There were enough comments about his conduct to explain some of his reputation. He was apparently argumentative, occasionally disruptive and had a habit of doing things his own way.
But then there was the topic of the parties which Reed still needed to fully consider.
Victor had even admitted that he had once had a conversation with Stark about mechanical engineering while the boy was completely stoned.
Reed still wasn't sure how that was supposed to make him feel better about inviting him. At least the kid’s academic performance didn't seem to suffer because of it…how could someone apparently spend his free time doing whatever he wanted and still maintain grades like these?
Well, Johnny spends most of his time reading comics and playing video games but he did tinker in Reed’s lab when he felt bored (mostly to annoy Reed with purposefully boring questions and bombard him with a psycho-analysis of his character).
And at least the kid wasn’t partying— he was only two years older than Stark. Reed was quite certain that Johnny wasn’t getting high at Stark’s age…at least not that he and Sue were aware of.
“Maybe the kid simply had too much free time…?” He murmured to himself.
He looked back at Stark’s course list and it was clear that he was interested in engineering. That much made sense considering his essentially confirmed future with Stark Industries.
Reed leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, there wasn’t even a bold declaration of any form of experimental physics in any of his courses. How would Stark fare in something that was pretty different from what he’d recently been studying?
He hadn't expected his preferred apprentice traits to come packaged with a fifteen-year-old who apparently spent his weekends at parties going batshit crazy.
Reed sighed and closed the academic profile and stared at the empty screen. Anthony Stark hadn't applied which still bothered him.
The entire point of the programme was that students came to him because they wanted to be there. Reed selected them based on their applications, their work and their willingness to dedicate themselves to something difficult.
Inviting someone personally felt like cheating his own system. Then again, the system hadn't exactly been working. It had been two years with dozens of students and none of them had passed. Consequently, the university was threatening to take the programme away.
Reed looked back at Stark’s name. Again, there was no guarantee that he would pass or a guarantee that he would even accept. But perhaps that was the point.
Reed didn't need to guarantee anything, he just needed to give Stark the opportunity…as Sue and Ben would be sure to tell him. He was a hundred percent certain they’d be supporting Victor’s suggestion if he asked.
He opened his gmail tab, clicked on the plus sign to compose an email and his fingers hovered over the keyboard.
This was ridiculous now that he was thinking about it. He was seriously considering inviting a fifteen-year-old with a reputation for partying, arguing with professors and ignoring instructions into the most difficult programme he'd ever designed to try and save it..
Dear Mr. Stark,