Chapter Text
Peter barely made it to school before the bell rang. He slid into his classroom, taking the crumpled field-trip form out of his front pocket and passing it up. Mr. Harrington gave the boy a disappointed but relieved look, reading over to make sure he signed everything. The words Edward Parker shone in messy script, the teacher having no idea that a celerity signed it over coffee hours prior.
"Dude, are you excited?" Ned asked, leaning his head slightly. "I have never been this excited in like, forever."
"Why? It's just another field trip," Peter shrugged.
Ned stared, open-mouthed.
"Dude," he emphasized.
Peter blinked. "What?"
"For a terrible actor, you sure know how to look convincing." MJ said this with a smirk, giving her friend an astonished look.
"Guys," the boy interjected, throwing his hands up, "I don't even know where we're going. I never even checked."
"Oh," Ned breathed, "that explains it."
"Yeah, there's no way he would've been able to lie like that," Michelle agreed.
"Seriously, what is going on?" Peter whined, "where could we be going to cause this kind of reaction? Last time I checked, field trips are boring."
"Not if we're going to Stark Industries," Ned giggled.
Peter swore he stopped breathing.
"The place is more sacred than NASA or working in government," MJ continued, oblivious to how the other boy's body shut down. "Landing an internship there, or hell, even seeing inside..." she whistled, low and sharp, and Mr. Harrington gave her a weird stare. Then he shrugged to himself and went back to taking attendance.
"Were you not paying attention all week?" Ned asked, flabbergasted. Yeah, because if I was, I would've lost the paper, Peter thought with a scowl. Ned plowed on, not noticing Peter's expression. "That's all anyone could talk about! Mr. Harrington wasn't sure we'd get in, because only rich schools get to go there, and we don't exactly classify as that... but by some miracle, we got selected!"
More like Peter Luck, Spider-man thought.
"Speaking of which, don't you work there?" MJ questioned.
Peter stilled, going over the practiced answer in his head.
"Yeah, I'm an intern," he responded. "The paperwork is official with the school and everything."
Nobody knew that Tony Stark adopted him. At first, Peter wasn't sure how to bring up the topic, because Aunt May's loss was still fresh and extremely painful. Then there was the lull where he couldn't tell anyone, because of security reasons and technicalities... but then he could, and he didn't. Peter kept waiting for the right opportunity, but every time he tried, his words would get stuck in his mouth. Now, the gap felt too large.
It wasn't that he didn't trust Ned; his friend knew about his alter ego for crying out loud!
But the adoption felt personal on a whole other level, and Peter wanted to keep that private. Just until it felt more natural, until he was ready. His friend never pushed, and the boys always slept over at Ned's house. Tony would wonder aloud when he would get to meet this 'Ned character' Peter would always talk about, and the kid would respond someday, someday.
"That's so cool," Ned gushed dreamily, unknowing of Peter's internal tangent. "Do you see Iron Man?"
"To-Mr. Stark never goes down to the lower intern levels," the boy responded, not lying. Just... withholding the truth. Tony never went down to the lower intern labs. Peter only went on occasion.
"Still, that's amazing." After a pause, Ned added, "I was scared that Edward wouldn't let you go for a minute. When I would ask you about the form, you gave me a vague answer."
Peter froze. "Who?"
"Edward...?" Ned repeated slowly. "Your uncle? Sorry, do you not call him Edward?"
"Oh--" Peter wanted to slap himself in the face. "No, I--listen, Ned, there's something I need to--"
"Hey, quiet!" Mr. Harrington snapped, clapping his hands a few times. "We've wasted enough time already." Their teacher strutted over to the whiteboard, silencing the class. Ned and MJ both gave Peter an inquiring look, before turning to face the front.
Peter was breathing hard. The thought of revealing the adoption scared him more than fighting criminals... and he didn't know why. Why was the thought of his friends knowing Tony Stark was his dad... fucking terrifying?
Mr. Harrington droned about what they had worked on in class the day prior, but it was obvious all the students had their minds elsewhere.
"Are any of you listening to a word of what I'm saying?" the teacher asked at last, glancing around dejectedly.
"Sorry, sir," Abe said, "it's just that... well..."
"Stark Industries!" Cindy squealed.
That caused an explosion of conversation once more, and Mr. Harrington waved his hands around, trying to get them back under his control.
"I know it's exciting," he said when everyone fell silent again, "but that's not until Monday, so please try and behave yourselves."
"Yes Mr. Harrington," everyone chorused back in unison. The AP physics class went smoothly after that, only getting loud two minutes before the bell rang.
"What were you going to say, Peter?" Ned asked, shuffling towards the door.
"Uh, I'll--I'll tell you later," he responded, noticing Mr. Harrington gesturing to come over.
Ned furrowed his brow. "'Kay."
"What's up?" Peter said to his teacher, shifting one of the backpack straps to the other shoulder.
"Pete, hi," the adult said in a hesitant voice. "Flash told me that you've been going around and saying you have an internship at Stark industries?"
"Yeah, um, I do," Peter responded, grimacing at the uncertainly laced in his words. "I mean, I am. Like, I do have an internship, so I am going around... and talking... about it..."
"Okay, well, I believe you, but..." Mr. Harrington looked very uncomfortable. "Everyone knows that Stark Industries only accepts college-aged students enrolled in a four-year program, and that hundreds of thousands of kids submit from all over the world."
"So, you don't believe me," the boy mumbled.
"No! It's just--" the teacher stumbled over his words, fidgeting with his fingers. "It's not my place to question whether or not you have an internship, but if you don't--could you not... please don't lie while we're there, Pete. I'm going to be blunt. What you go around saying is none of my business, but we're very lucky to have gotten this field-trip, and Stark is extremely touchy when it comes to people claiming to work there."
Peter felt tears sparking in the tips of his eyes, but he refused to let them fall. He knew Mr. Harrington didn't mean any actual malicious intent with this talk, and he also knew that Tony was pretty high-strung when it came to posers.
"Yes, sir, I understand," Peter muttered, sniffing quietly. "I really do have an internship. It's registered with the school and everything."
"I'm not saying I don't believe you," Mr. Harrington said again, although his tone suggested otherwise. "I'm just... asking that if you don't, please just stay quiet while we're there."
The kid didn't know how to convince his teacher without making a fool out of himself. So he responded with the words he knew he wanted to hear. "Yes, sir."
Peter walked out out class fuming, and Ned quickly caught on.
”Man, what did he say to you?”
”He doesn’t believe I have an internship at SI,” Peter said, trying to sound indifferent. “Flash told him I’ve been going around and lying about it.”
”’Cause you are, Penis,” interjected Flash’s haughty voice. “My dad told me that only the best of the best of the best get chosen to work there, and they have a strict no-teenagers policy. So forgive me for thinking you’re bullshitting us, Parker.”
“I’m not lying, Flash,” Peter said, jerking his chin up.
”Whatever, Penis,” the bully responded with a quick eye roll. “I’m guess on Monday, we’ll get to see exactly how full of shit you are.” Flash--for dramatic effect--opened his phone and googled Stark Industry internship requirements. In bold lettering, harsh against the search results, was a quote directly from the SI website.
"Applicants must be enrolled in a four year degree, and cannot be younger than eighteen."
Peter laughed internally, because he remembered when Tony wrote that. It was about fourth months ago, and the pair had been tinkering in the lab until 2am. In a delirious state, Stark remembered he had to set a standard for all intern-applicants. Before, they had just not been accepting anyone who didn't meet the requirements, but Pepper gave him a deadline to actually put it in writing.
"There," Tony had stated, taking a swig of coffee. "Does that look official enough? Short and sweet, yeah? No loopholes?"
"None that I can see," Peter had responded, looking over his dad(!)'s shoulder. "Although, I think you need to spell eighteen right. 'aiteen' doesn't really scream I'm a professional company!" He paused, before adding, “you should probably un-conjoin can’t and just make it cannot; it sounds better.”
"Gah! What would I do without you, underoos?” Tony had muttered, backspacing and fixing his grammar. Peter grinned a dopey smile.
"Also, what happens if there's a child prodigy who applies, and he's only like, sixteen but in college?"
Tony had mulled it over, fingers hovering the keys. At last, he shrugged. "Only child prodigy I need is you, kid. Everyone else can wait their turn."
Peter had laughed, feeling something warm in his chest. The duo had worked on a project for ten more minutes, before retiring upstairs and falling asleep on the couch whilst watching The Empire Strikes Back.
"Penis? Are you even listening?" Flash demanded, waving a hand in front of his face, snapping Peter out of nostolgia.
"No," Peter deadpanned, "because you're an asshole and I don't care. Believe what you want, Flash, and leave me alone." The he stalked away, memory still vibrant in his mind.
"Whew, you went off there," Ned grinned, jogging up beside his friend.
"I'm just so sick of it," Peter sighed.
"I bet."
The boys walked towards their second period in silence.
"How did you, you know, get the internship?" Ned asked at last, as the two minute bell thrummed in warning. "I mean, if you don't have one, it's chill and I don't care like, in the slightest." He said it fast, Flash's taunting obviously getting to him.
"Ned." Peter stopped and held a hand out. "Tony recruited me because I'm Spider-man, then kept me around because he liked me. It's real, I promise.." Then it became something so much more. But Peter clammed up before he could add that part. "I wouldn't lie to you like that."
Ned nodded, looking a lot more convinced than Mr. Harrington. "I do trust you, man. A hundred percent."
They made it to Spanish right as the bell rang, and their teacher--a short Hispanic lady with half-moon glasses and lips perpetually turned down in a frown--shook her head but gave them an amused look.
The rest of the day flew by in a daze. The pair was walking out of the lunchroom, just bidding goodbye to Mj, when Flash came up behind them.
"I can't wait to see where you work, Penis!" he sang, and a group of girls nearby burst out laughing. Peter lowered his gaze to the floor, cheeks reddening.
"Go to hell, flash!" Ned shouted loudly, dragging Peter away before he could get in his head. "Ignore them, dude. We know you have that internship."
"Yeah," Parker responded, even though it wasn't okay, even though he was so pissed off it was making his hands shake.
"Don't worry Pete, I have your back," Ned said, and it made Peter feel more like shit for lying about his adoption. Just tell him, Spider-man thought to himself. Before the lie gets more in-depth.
"Ned, I have something I need to share with you." He said it before he could change his mind.
"Go ahead," the boy smiled. "Is this what you wanted to tell me earlier?"
"Mm-hm." Peter took a deep breath in, lowering his voice so no one would overhear. "So, you know how Aunt May died and E-Edward took me in?"
"Yup!" Ned said. "I have still yet to see your place, by the way."
Peter nodded. "I know, man, and I'm really sorry. But that's because..." dear god, he was sweating. He had half the mind to lie and say Edward just didn't like people over. But no, Peter needed to get this off his chest, it was Ned Leeds, his closest friend. "That's because Edward didn't take me in."
Ned froze. "What?"
"There is no Edward," Peter continued in a rush. "Like, Edward Parker doesn't exist. He's a ruse."
"Um," Ned replied, "respectfully Pete, what the fuck?"
"I know," Spider-man winced. "It's only because I wasn't allowed to tell people. And when I tell you, you really, really have to keep it to yourself. Promise?"
"Fine, sure," Ned said off-handedly. "Now what the hell do you mean there is no Edward Parker?!"
"Because Uncle Ben only had one brother, and that's my dad," Peter answered. "We just thought it would be easier for me socially if we put Edward Parker on school forms and stuff."
"So, who adopted you?" Ned asked. "Jesus, Peter, please tell me you're not on the streets somewhere."
"No," Peter said sharply. "Kinda the opposite, actually?"
"Spit it out," Ned whined. "Who adopted you then, if not 'Edward Parker.'" He put air-quotes around the name, looking sullen.
"Well," Peter chuckled awkwardly, "we're kinda going on a field-trip to his company."
Ned stared.
And stared.
And stared some more.
"Dude," he whispered at last. "Dude."
"I know," Peter said.
"You're telling me that--" Ned's voice dropped to barely above a hiss--"that Tony fucking Stark is your dad?"
Peter smiled weakly. "Uh, yes?"
"Oh my god." Ned leaned up against the wall for support.
"I know it's crazy,” Peter said quickly.
Ned looked at him, looking pale. "Oh, my god."
"Just breathe, man." Peter mimicked taking in deep breaths. "I need you to calm down."
"How could I possibly calm down when my best friend is Iron Man's son?" Ned demanded in a harsh whisper, gripping his chest like he was having a heart attack.
Peter shrugged. "It's a lot to take in."
"A lot to take in?" Ned echoed, "I don't think my life will ever be the same again."
"Well, we still have to go to AP PreCalc, so let's have our entire-life crisis while walking, sound good?"
"Yeah, yeah," Ned squeaked. Then they were marching down the hallway, one boy having a seizure, and the other watching with a bemused sort of gleam in his eyes.
"Dude, I gotta come over to your place," the kid said finally.
Peter laughed and nodded. "Come over any time you'd like, man."
Ned started jumping up and down, words spouting out of his mouth at a rapid pace. Really? Ohmygoshohmygoshonmygosh! Peter let him ramble, glad for one less thing to be off his chest. People gave the two weird looks, but neither one cared.
"Do you see the Avengers a lot?" Now that the initial shock had worn off, Ned was radiating excitement.
"Yes... well, all the ones who live at the tower. The whole Avengers initiative moved upstate, but most of the actual team stayed in NYC. Not that you can go around telling people that." Peter glanced around nervously. "It's kinda a secret."
Ned pressed a hand on his forehead, his brain moving too slow to process everything.
"The Tony Stark. Mr. Iron Man himself! Peter, this is the greatest day of my life!"
Peter smiled.
"Happy to help."