Stark, holding the massive sandwich that Shiller had just finished making, took a big bite and frowned deeply. He started making choking noises until Shiller handed him a glass of water. He lifted the glass and gulped down so water for a while, only then was he able to swallow the bread that was choking him.
Stark breathed out and said, "I can't believe it, the future of humanity was nearly choked to death by a sandwich!"
Thor opened his big mouth and finished a sandwich in two bites. After wiping so salad dressing off his beard, he picked up the salad bowl that was as big as a basin and dumped all the remaining salad into his mouth.
Eddie was sitting on the sofa eating fried eggs on the coffee table. The Venom behind him overtopped the chair, its several tentacles waving in unison, incessantly stuffing chocolate balls into its mouth.
"He's like a worker on an assembly line, right?" Stark said with a laugh, nudging Shiller's shoulder and looking at Venom.
Shiller, who was piling up open-faced sandwiches, glanced at him and said, "You seem to have a lot of free ti today. Normally, you wouldn't stay here a second longer..."
Before Stark could respond, Shiller bit into a piece of crispy toast and continued, "Let guess, in two days, you must have had at least 30 argunts with your dad..."
Stark imdiately bulged his eyes, opened his mouth to rebut, but Shiller just looked at him and said, "And most of them you haven't even argued before."
Stark gave a grim-faced, forced smile, took a big bite out of his sandwich, and said, "Would I lose the argunt if Maria and Obadiah weren't on his side?"
"And, I'm a scientist, he's a businessman, he only cares about how much money a project has made. Even if it loses a single dollar, he has to start from the Industrial Revolution..."
Seemingly trapped in a painful mory, Stark put down his sandwich, looking a bit sick, and said, "Now, I understand Steve better, people from that era always have a sense of urgency to save every penny, even if it's just a part or a screw."
Stark shook his head, gulped down so beer, and said, "The reason Mark 142 is progressing so slowly is because I can't let Howard know that I threw down three quarters of Stark Industries' profits just to test the best ratio for Oscillating Gold Alloy..."
"In his view, the process from 95 to 99 points is unnecessary. It's better to produce several tis more 95 point products with the sa cost."
"Perhaps, he once thought of pursuing 99 points too," Shiller took a bite of lettuce and said, "But he had to consider too many things in those days. If you two were to swap places, now he would be the one being extravagant."
Stark slowly nodded, refraining from further discussion. Shiller glanced again at the incomplete pieces of the battlesuit Stark was wearing and asked, "Since each part of the battlesuit has automatic retrieval function, why did only the face guard return?"
"Uh... The automatic retrieval function isn't exactly perfect," Stark awkwardly replied. "The parts usually fly back through the shortest, unobstructed path. However, so obstacles can't be recognized and might be hit. Later, I need to fly around New York and pick these things up to prevent them from being picked up by ordinary people which could lead to danger..."
"You should let Peter Parker do it," said Eddie scooping up a spoonful of scrambled eggs. He reached out to pull Venom back a bit, preventing him from dragging himself backwards, and continued, "In the past few days, he has been patrolling New York for at least eight hours a day. No one knows the terrain of New York better than him."
"I hope he doesn't get tangled in his web again." Shiller shook his head and said, "Unless he can swallow the shuttle like he does with flies."
Everyone laughed, and they were all interested in discussing the awkward monts of their younger peers. Stark wiped his mouth with a napkin, saying, "Peter is about to graduate. I want to attend his graduation ceremony, but I'm not sure in what capacity I should attend..."
"He definitely wouldn't want to reveal his relationship with you," Eddie shook his head. Looking at Stark, he said, "You better not say you know him either, or Peter will be given the cold shoulder by others."
Stark frowned, ready to argue back, but Eddie cut him off, "I am not referring to your professional level, but rather your personal reputation."
"Listen, Tony, as a forr top reporter, I can tell you responsibly that if you attend Peter Parker's graduation ceremony without concealing your identity, the front page headline of every gossip newspaper in New York the next day will read, 'Genius Researcher Parker and His Sugar Daddy Stark: A Case of Tales Out of School...' "
Stark was temporarily speechless and started coughing violently. He wiped the spittle from the corner of his mouth sowhat disgustingly. Amid Shiller's laughter, he reached out and explained, "First of all, I am a firmly heterosexual. Secondly, Peter's achievents are all due to his own efforts, not mine."
"Peter, by harnessing the resources of Stark Laboratory, has signed revenue-sharing contracts for the inventions he made with Stark Group. The profit he brought was much more than the support I gave him."
"Simply in terms of the shuttle project's invention patent, if converted into cash, it would be enough for him and his family to be worry-free for the rest of their lives. But because Peter was not seeking any returns, I wanted to back him up at the ceremony."
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