Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Fuck.

A long string of curses weaved its way into every thought that ran through his head, his mind going 80 miles an hour.

Fuck. Fuck fucking shitnuggets. Why in the entire goddamn fucking universe did whatever god that's up there decide to punish me like this. Of all fucking places, why. The fucking bastard. Cunt, shit. Fuck.

Peter stared down at the permission slip with disdain. His distaste towards the trip’s location must have been evident in his expression because not a moment after he seemed to notice, Flash spoke up.

”Scared we’re finally gonna find out you lied about your intership, Penis?” he sneered.

Groaning, Peter put his head in his hands. It was going to be a long week.

Perhaps he could persuade May to let him not go? As long as the other Avengers don’t find out and force him to go, he should be good. May would understand. She would know that the other Avengers would be out to embarrass him the whole trip.

”I dunno man. Maybe just ask them to, y’know, not embarrass you? It shouldn’t be too hard.” Ned stated as if it was the most obvious thing. “They’re the Avengers, man, they’ll realise that you’re actually stressed about this and lay off it for a bit. They’re nice people and, not to mention, they care about you.”

Peter just looked at him with wide, disbelieving eyes as he took a bite of his sandwich. Ned caught on.

”Okay, maybe they’ll embarrass you a little. But come on! I’m sure they’ll tone it down a bit if you just ask. They’re practically your family.” he added.

Ignoring the last part, Peter sighed and fiddled with his lunch.

”Maybe. But I know that some of them won’t. Clint for sure. Probably Mr. Stark, too. If I’m lucky, Scott won’t be there. However; if he is? He’ll tease me endlessly. Not to mention, if I go, there’s a very low chance of me leaving with my secret identity intact.” He paused while Ned took a moment to process that statement before continuing. “I mean, come on. Aside from Nat, they’re about as bad at keeping secrets as you and I are. All of us in the same room is sure to out me, no doubts about it.”

”Dude, come on! It’ll be fun.” Ned whined.

”For you, maybe. For me, definitely not.” Peter grumbled and went on with his day.

Peter swung open the door to his apartment, and was immediately swept into a hug which he did not hesitate to return.

“How was school today, sweetie?” May said, pulling away and shutting the door behind Peter.

“It was alright, for the most part.” he replied. Upon seeing her joyous expression morph into one of concern, he quickly added, “I’m just a little worried about a field trip that’s been planned.”

“To where? Why are you worried??” May went into full mother hen mode. Peter didn’t notice the way the edges of her lips twitched upward slightly.

“The Stark Tower...” Peter whispered. “I’m worried that either I’ll be outed as Spider-Man or completely embarrassed by the Avengers, or both.”

May made one of those pouts that mothers do when they see their child worry about something (you know the one). It drips with exaggerated sympathy. Peter doesn’t notice the fakeness of her voice. Putting her fingers through his hair, she asked to see the form.

“Is it alright if you say I can’t go? I know I’m probably overreacting, Aunt May, but I really don’t want to go. Ned tried to talk to me earlier, but I just don’t think they’d listen.” Peter let out a defeated sigh. If he couldn’t get May to agree with him, then there was no way he was getting out of the trip. 

“Well...” The suddenness of May’s voice shattered the silence into a million pieces. “Tony said you’d try to get out of this, and that I should insist you go before inevitably signing the form anyway. Normally, I’d have said no, but Pepper was with him and assured me that it would be fine.” May grinned, and something not unlike mischief flashed behind her eyes.

Peter let out an exasperated groan. “Betrayed by my last living family member. May, how could you?” He dramatically raised his hand to his head, “Woe is me!”.

May laughed, glad that Peter wasn’t too upset. She loved messing with him and embarrassing him, but she still cared more about his wellbeing than anything. She handed him the signed form.

“Make sure that gets in, okay? I don’t have time to confirm over the phone that you can go, with all these extra shifts I’m taking.”

“Of course!” Peter looked down at the piece of paper in his hands and grimaced. 

After May had assured Peter he’d be okay, he felt a little bit better, but... 

Well, life had a tendency to go downhill.

Chapter Text

“Excited for the trip, Parker? Maybe you can introduce us to your friend Tony Stark. That is, of course, assuming you were telling the truth.” Flash scoffed.

Peter was just about the opposite of excited. He hadn’t been this not excited since May found out he was Spider-Man. And boy, that was quite a level of not-excited. He begrudgingly handed over the signed form. Ned saw him give it in, and was immediately happier.

“Dude! I’m so glad you’re coming. MJ’s cool and all, but it’d be a lot less fun without you.” Ned reached over and side-hugged him.

“Yeah, May talked me down a bit. I’m still nervous, though.” Peter replied.

“About what, us finding out you lied? Like we ever believed you in the first place!” Flash butted in.

“Honestly, I wish, Thompson.” Peter muttered; however, Flash heard it.

“The fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, Flash, drop it.” Ned refuted.

“Fine. But only because I’m hella happy right now ‘cause Penis Parker is going to be exposed as the liar he is!” Flash got up as the bell rang and lined up with the rest of the class.

Ned and Peter began to walk to join them, when a voice from behind them jolted them from their thoughts.

“‘Sup, losers.” Michelle walked past them, shoulder checking Peter on her way past. Without context, one might find her actions to be hostile. However; the term ‘loser’ was used endearingly, and any physical contact whatsoever meant she cared.

Ned and Peter smiled at each other and carried on behind her.

Mrs. Warren stopped Peter at the door.

“Hey, Mr. Parker, can I speak with you for a moment?”

Peter nodded hesitantly, and signaled for Ned (and MJ) to go on without him.

”So, I get it. You’ve dug yourself into a pretty deep hole. It’s alright. Happens to the best of us. Just know it’ll be alright when you’re proven wrong, okay? It’s not the end of the world. It’s okay.” The teacher paused. Teaching was her forte, not this. “Look, Mr. Parker. I know I sound like a Captain America PSA at the moment, but you’re one of the brightest students I’ve ever had. Don’t let these things get you down. You’ll be fine”

Peter nearly started choking on his own spit. Mrs. Warren thought that he didn’t have the intership, and that he was nevous over the revealing of his apparent lie? Peter partially wanted that to be why he was nervous. However; continuing to argue about the fact he did intern there? Probably wouldn’t help. So, Peter just smiled.

“I’m gonna go catch up? Thank you, though!” Peter dashed off to rejoin Ned and MJ on the bus. Man, today was going to be so fun.

Arriving at the tower, Peter’s stomach was tying itself into multiple different, complicated knots. He was terrified. The tour guide gretted them as the exited the bus. 

“Hello, students of Midtown High! I’m Marie, and I’m going to be your tour guide today!” She began handing out red passes to each of the students. The confused looks she received sparked the explanation. After giving a brief sigh, she continued. “These passes are what’ll allow you into the building; however, in order for them to work, you need a person with at least a Beta pass to get anywhere.” She brandished her yellow badge.

“Beta? What??” multiple kids were muttering puzzled remarks. 

”There are 4 different levels of badges. Different levels allow different clearance. There is Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and the badge with the most clearance, Delta. Alpha is mostly for visitors of any sort. Beta is for low-level employees. Gamma is for interns and higher level employees, and Delta is for the Avengers and their close family. Delta passes are supposed to be all-access, but Tony Stark specifically banned some of the Avengers from labs and such, due to how they’re very... accident prone.” She took a deep breath in.

Peter was sweating profusely. SHIT. Fuck!! Just fan-fucking-tastic. Great. Fuck. Bastard. How am I supposed to explain my Delta-level card?? What, “oh hey guys im spider-man, technically an avenger so yeah”? No. Fuck. 

(He made a side note that if Steve heard any of what went on in his head, he’d probably be forced to have a very long lecture from him about manners and not swearing so much.)

Maybe I can ask for one of the guest cards!! Maybe. No. They’ll have seen my name and not gotten one for me. Happy is very serious about these things. Shit.

He took out his blue badge, and walked towards the scanner with Marie and the rest of the students.

This was going to be great.

Chapter Text

Marie went first (obviously), and Flash insisted he went next. Cocky as usual, he scanned his pass.

Friday’s unemotional voice echoed through the speakers. “Alpha pass- guest.” Flash jumped in shock, causing scattered laughter throughout the group. Scowling, he took his place by Marie.

Everyone scanned their passes after Marie, and it soon came to MJ, Ned, and Peter.

MJ and Ned went through, without problem, Friday greeting them as she did the others.

Peter stood in front of the scanner. He held his breath and scanned his badge.

”Delta pass- Peter Parker. Welcome back. Would you like me to alert boss of your arrival?” Friday’s voice suddenly acquired a human-like lilt.

”Nope! No. Not at all necessary. No need to tell Mr. Stark. Don’t tell him.” Peter spluttered out. He was honestly sweating enough to fill a river. 

”As you wish, Mr. Parker. Enjoy your field trip.” If Friday could have, she would have smiled along with the statement.

Everyone’s gaze was locked on Peter. Flash was the first to speak up.

”Why do you have a Delta pass? Marie said interns have Gamma passes. Did you steal it, Penis?” Flash accused, venom dripping off of his words. Silence erupted, and thickened until a sudden sharp voice pierced through it.

”I do believe his name is Peter, although you Midgardians seem to have strange... ‘nicknames’, or so they’re called.” Everyone whipped around to see the owner of the voice. “Why do you look at me so? I am simply here to say hello to my friend Peter, who, by the way, would actually kill himself before stealing something or committing any crime, really.” The green-clad god turned to Peter.

Taking a breath, he continued. “It seems now is not the best time to talk. I’m at a 7, it’s not urgent, but... Shall I see you later?”

”Y-yeah... Yeah! Yeah, haha! Totally.” Peter’s eyes darted around as soon as he vanished. Everyone just... stared at him with complete and utter disbelief. Whispers of “wasn’t that guy the guy who tried to destroy earth or something?”, “he’s friends with Loki??”, and the likes washed over the crowd of students.

Quickly, as soon as the excuse flitted through his head and checked out as a good reason for why he had a Delta pass and his current Loki Problem™️, he blurted, “I’m Mr. Stark’s personal intern!” Peter bit his lip.

”Yeah. And I need access to everything, so I can be wherever he is. And, by extension, I’m also... acquainted with some of the Avengers and their friends and families.

It was clear by their looks that most of them didn’t believe him, but after the previous display, none of them bothered to protest.

Marie had them follow her to an elevator. Flash pushed past her and into the lift. Rolling her eyes, she and the rest of the class followed suit. Ned looked at Peter with a worried expression, most likely at the fact he was a living waterfall.

”Dude, you alright?” Ned put his hand on Peter’s shoulder. “You could always back out, you know. You know the Avengers, they’d probs let you crash in the Avengers living room or something. Oh my god, is there an Avengers living room? That would be so cool. Just imagine, all the Avengers in casual wear, sitting on the couch, watching a movie. Do you guys have movie nights???” Ned’s gentle reassurances turned into frantic fangirling. 

Peter smiled. Ned freaking out over the Avengers was calming him down a lot.

”Oi, dipshits. We’re walking.” MJ shouted.

Peter and Ned ran to catch up. They were going to see the R&D labs.

They entered the labs.

”Okay, do not touch anything unless instructed to do so or permission is given.” Marie looked at the sea of high schoolers. “I understand that you all probably know this already, but it’s standard protocol. No touching.” Marie smiled and walked over to where some interns seemed to be working.

She took a breath before continuing. ”Here, in the R&D department, is where the majority of Stark technology is made. The process is long, and when a new prototype is out, it takes quite a while to-“ A large explosion cut her off. Three figures stumbled out of the room (or what was left of it), covered in ash and hacking up their lungs.

From one of the three came a very thick, exasperated Wakandan accent.

”I tried to tell you that wouldn’t help! You can’t just shove things in places and expect it to work!”

Chapter Text

"You are all imbeciles. I cannot believe you. How did you even manage to mess up air conditioning?!" The woman shouted, groaning. She turned around and stared at the tour group. Some of them were giggling, but most were shocked at just exactly who she was. Her eyes scanned over the sea of children, and her gaze met with Peter's. She smirked and waved at the group, winking at Peter. He knew what was about to happen.

And, honestly, he was all over it.

Making sure to make her accent even more obviously foreign, she spoke. "Hello; Midtown Tech, right? It is a pleasure to meet you all." She nodded at Peter. Peter nodded back.

"I like your accent, where you from?" Peter said, loud enough for everyone to hear. Most of the students turned to face him, looking at him like he was an idiot and silently willing him to take back his words because idiot that's the PRINCESS of WAKANDA. Shuri bit back a laugh.

"I'm Liberian." She replied.

"Oh, my bad." Peter paused. "I like your accent, where you from?" he whispered. Shuri and Peter started giggling, and the students who had caught on also joined in. After it died down a little, Shuri gave a soft smile.

"I have to get back to work and make sure these goons don't mess up another air conditioner." Shuri gestured at the interns behind her. "Smell ya later, punk."

Shuri started walking back in, the interns quickly following suit. They were quick to defend themselves.

"Your stuff is confusing!"

"Yeah, it's not our fault we don't know how your Wakandan shit works!"

"It's not Wakandan shit. I'm Wakandan shit!" Shuri refuted. The interns just groaned, and soon they were out of sight and back to working. 

Peter smiled genuinely for the first time that day. Shuri was honestly great. The shot of happiness, however, ended almost as quickly as it began. Flash trudged up to Peter as the class started to move again, and immediately grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

"How much did you pay her to get her to pretend to know her, Penis? No, you don't have a lot of money, there's no way you could have paid her. Just who did you have sex with, whose dick did you suck?" Flash accused. He released his shirt and stood there with his arms crossed. "Well, Parker?" Peter's entire face was red. Did Flash really think that he'd... done that to have people 'pretend to know him'? Jesus Christ on a bicycle. Peter flashed a disgusted look at him, shook his head, and walked back to Ned and MJ.

"Hey, loser. You didn't tell me you knew the princess of Wakanda. You know about the paper I'm writing, right? It would be cool if I could interview her." Michelle deadpanned, although the slight hurt behind her eyes did not go unnoticed. 

"What?" Peter looked at MJ innocently.

"That means, please get me an interview with her, dork." MJ rolled her eyes.

"Ah, uh, sure thing! I can- I can do that." he stammered.

The group continued around the labs, the interns working there explaining what each of them were doing. The class oohed and aahed as they went around.

Suddenly, his spidey sense alerted that there was someone behind him. Turning around, Peter almost screeched when he saw Loki.

"I'm feeling a bit of an 8, Peter. I'm sorry. If you really so desire, I'll be fine, but... Feeling this way isn't exactly the nicest." Loki looked at the ground. Peter looked at his tour group as they turned around the corner, and took Loki's hand.

"It's cool. Come on, let's go get a sandwich." Peter led Loki into the elevator and clicked the ground floor. Loki technically could teleport them, but the walk is usually quite calming and so are the soft conversations they make along the way.

Before exiting the building, Peter looked behind him.

His class wouldn't miss him. He wouldn't be gone long.

Chapter Text

Peter and Loki strode down the pathway, calm washing over the two of them like a blanket. Peter had bought a sandwich and was handing the cucumber slices to Loki to eat. He didn't like the cursed vegetable, claiming that they were, in fact, "the literal spawn of satan", but the god simply munched on the insignificant food item without a care in the world. Peter never did understand how Loki could stomach the floppy green discs of hell, but after finding out that Loki liked them, he never bothered to ask for his lunchtime meals without them. Although he'd never admit it to anyone else, the god appreciated the gesture.

Loki retold of one of his many childhood memories with Thor, recounting with nostalgia one of the many times he had stabbed him- the one with the snake.

"So I turned myself into a snake, because I know he loves those, and as he bent down to inspect the curious-looking reptile, I turned back into myself, stabbed him, and said, 'Ohohohohoh! Lokied! Whohohohoho! I am the bad guy! I can't believe you fell for that; you're such an idiot! Hohohoho, whoohohohohoo! This is my escape plan. Goodbye!' and then I ran off into the sunset. It was what you earthlings call, 'iconic'."

Snickering at the thought, Peter nodded. "I agree. It must have been amazing. Danger noodle."

Loki looked at the sky. "It happened so many times. You'd think he'd learn, but, no, he never did. My brother is truly obtuse."

"You love him though." Peter added.

"No? Where did you get that ridiculous thought?" Loki scrunched up his nose.

"You're lying. You love him." Peter playfully teased.

"I do not! I hate him. He's awful." Loki replied, biting back a smile.

"You're the god of lies. That means you're lying about hating him. You love him." He smirked.

"Okay then, I love him." 

"There you go! I told you, you do love him!" Peter threw his hands up in the air victoriously.

"What? I didn't- hnnnnrgh." Loki broke off as Peter laughed. After a few moments, Loki chuckled a little too. 

A pause. "I'm feeling more of a 1 or a 2, right now. Thank you, young Peter. Our conversations have been nice." Loki flashed Peter a genuine, happy smile.

The two turned and started to head back to the tower.

Yeah, things were going to be alright.

Chapter Text

Loki waved at Peter and disappeared.

Peter was planning on quietly rejoining his class, but, apparently his Parker Luck was out for him, because an upset Tony Stark rushed up to him.

"What on earth were you doing? Nat got extremely upset that you weren't there for her presentation. Do you understand just how scary that woman can be, kid??" Tony shook Peter. "You better have a good explanation as to why you forced me to deal with that because it was terrifying."

Peter looked at the man with confusion and quickly-growing concern.

"I was out with Loki? I ate a sandwich? What happened, Mr. Stark? What presentation?" Peter watched as Tony's face morphed into one of exasperation.

"You were out with Reindeer Games? Eating a sandwich with that dickwad was worth me getting my ass beat by the Black Widow, a deadly assassin??" Tony yelled, drawing the attention of a few of the interns that were in the lobby.

"Steve Rogers says to watch your language, Boss." Friday's voice spoke, a hint of humour in her voice.

"Tell him to fuck off." Tony deadpanned, flipping the bird at the ceiling. Steve had asked Friday to tell him that every time he swore around Peter. It oftentimes ended with a confused Cap who didn't know/ remember why Tony was cussing him out.

"Look, Mr. Stark, Loki isn't that bad of a guy! He doesn't do things with bad intentions, not really. He just... does whatever he feels like doing. Chaotic neutral, yanno? So whenever he feels like doing something that is considered morally wrong, we do a little walk and talk. He's getting better, I promise. It doesn't happen quite as often nowadays." Peter shifted uncomfortably. "I just want him to be happy? He knows that when he feels like putting a wasp's nest inside of Clint's bedroom it's going to result in bad times for everyone, including him. He doesn't like that. He seeks others' approval, just in a very weird way."

Tony just looked at Peter as sighed. This kid... "Alright. Okay. You win. Stop it with the puppy-dog eyes." he paused. "And quit calling me Mr. Stark while your at it, too. It's bullshit and makes me feel old."

A "Language!" from Friday and a "Sure thing, Mr. Stark" from Peter resonated simultaneously throughout the area. It is unknown which one Tony was responding to when he said "fuck you..." after.

According to Friday, his class was currently on its way to the training room. If he hurried, he could sneak back into the group without anyone noticing.

Using his all-access Delta pass, he got there extremely fast. He caught up to Ned.

"Hey dude." Peter whisper-shouted to him and tapped his shoulder.

"Holy fu-frickity frack on a stick! Peter?!" Ned held a hand to his heart, and then proceeded to slap him. "Don't do that, man!" Peter giggled.

"So, what'd I miss?" Peter inquired. 

"Oh, you missed everything. Flash got his ass handed to by Captain America- and it wasn't even intentional! Flash was just all like 'hey Cap, what was high school like for you?' And Cap was all like 'very similar to how it is now, really. You guys still have bullies right? There was tons of those when I was a kid. And being the scrawny, weak kid who was almost always looking for a fight, I got bullied a lot.' and he and the Black Widow went into this big speech about them and how it affects the victims and Flash's face just turned really pale as he eye'd me and where you should've been. Where even were you?" Ned flailed his arms around for emphasis, and forced his voice lower for the Captain America parts. 

"I was talking to Loki. I also ate lunch." Peter said, nonchalant. 

"You what‽" Ned's eyes bulged. "You were talking to Thor's recently-reformed-but-not-quite brother? How do you two even know each other??"

"Internship perks, I guess. Da- Mr. Stark left to go talk to the rest of the Avengers and because he was in very casual wear, I didn't know that Loki was, in fact, Loki, so I had no clouded preconceptions getting in the way and now we're good friends." Peter stated, as if it was the most obvious thing.

"Good friends with who, the garbage?" Flash butted in after realising Peter was back. "Where even were you, Penis? I think- no, I'm sure you were off sucking more people's dicks to get them to pretend to know you to keep this lie up and running?"

"Hmmm, I can't seem to find it." MJ interjected. The three boys turned to her and questioned, "What?".

"Where we asked for your fucking opinion. Get out of here, Eugene." Michelle looked back down at her book. Peter was 99% you could end every single one of Michelle's statements with the action *mic drop* and it'd fit perfectly.

Flash, unable to respond, huffed and strutted off. 

"Thanks, MJ." Peter smiled.

"Don't mention it." Michelle glared back.

The group entered the training area, and a loud voice boomed through the room.

"Welcome, Midgardian children! Do come in! The Black Widow, the Eye of Hawk, and I have much prepared for you today!"

Chapter Text

"Do come in! We have much to do with very little time to do so!" Thor's loud voice echoed. He smiled and gestured for the group to enter.

Many whispers erupted, and thanks to his enhanced senses, Peter could hear all of them. He rolled his eyes at all the statements of how hot Thor was, and how they'd let him fuck them anyday, from girls and boys alike.

As soon as the whole group was in the room, Marie took a seat in the corner and let the three Avengers do their thing.

"Hello! As Thor has previously announced, welcome. This here is where all of the Avengers train. Today we'll be letting you train a little with us, and Thor's even going to let you guys try and pick up his hammer. Let's get started, shall we?" Natasha looked over the crowd. Peter was hiding behind Ned, albeit not very well. "I'm going to need a volunteer. Anyone?" Almost everyone's hands went up (besides Peter's, of course). She scanned the group of children, and eventually caught sight of Peter in his very bad hiding place. Natasha smiled, mischief lacing her expression. She winked. Peter was ready for death.

"Okay, you, in the red. Yes, you." Natasha called Flash up. "Okay, now. Ready?" Flash nodded.

"Duh, how could I not? I doubt you'll hit very hard." Peter swallowed, knowing full well that Flash just signed his life away.

"Is that so?" Nat glared, roundhouse kicked him in the face (she wasn't wearing shoes, but it still hurt), and pinned him to the floor, twisting his arm. "If I 'don't hit very hard', you must be extremely weak, then." She let Flash go and shooed him away.

A couple more students went up, not getting hurt like Flash did, but having fun as she taught them basic self-defense. She inevitably got them on the floor. She let the previous student get back to their friends, and looked straight at Peter.

"Oh, Peter, you're here! Why don't you go now, then?" Nat asked, grinning.

"Ah, oh no, no, no. You don't need to do that. Let someone else have a go. I'm good." Peter shook his head.

"Oh, I insist. You were seemingly absent for my presentation earlier, so I want to make up for it." Peter took a deep breath and stepped up, understanding that there was no winning the argument.

"Alright now, маленький паук, no pulling your punches." Peter hissed a "you know I can't do that" under his breath at her, and got into the stance she'd just been teaching everyone.

Their 'fight' was more of a strange dance, graceful and planned, and seemed almost choreographed. Peter avoided Natasha, and she went right in there. He ducked under her punches and dodged her every move. Of course, Nat was not going completely all-out, but if any over her moves had connected, they would have hurt. They continued this for a minute or two, the students and teachers watching in awe, before Nat stopped and glowered at Peter.

"Fight back, bug boy. I'm not here to dance. I want you to pin me, I know you can." she spat, growing impatient.

And he did. He didn't hit her, but he had her down in a few seconds. 

"Good job. You got me." Natasha announced. "That's how it's done, everyone. I hope you were taking notes."

"You let me." he whispered, raising an eyebrow.

"I know. Now go join your buddies, маленький паук." She whispered back.

Once everyone got over Peter 'defeating' Natasha, Clint and Thor directed the students to where the latter's hammer lay.

"Behold, everyone! The mighty Mjolnir!" Clint shouted, imitating Thor.

Student after student tried to lift the hammer. All of the failed.

Seeing this, Flash cracked his knuckles and walked up to the weapon. He snickered, and winked at the crowd.

"Hey, everybody, watch this! Especially you, Penis Parker! The Black Widow may have let you win, but you can't fake being able to lift Thor's hammer!"

Did he just call me 'Penis'? In front of Nat, Clint, and Thor? Well shit, Flash. Now I've gotta tell everyone why it's not okay to murder teenagers- or anyone, for that matter- in cold blood.

Chapter Text

"Excuse me?" Clint seethed, and the room went silent. Nat kept her cool demeanour, but waves of anger radiated from the expression that currently resided on her face. Thor seemed confused, as always. "Please tell me you did not just say that."

Oh shit. If I don't step in, they're gonna kill him, fuck.

"WoAH, hold up! It's just a joke! He didn't mean anything by it, I swear. Right, Flash?" Peter looked at Flash with pleading eyes. Flash must've caught on to the current situation, as his usual cocky expression morphed to one of fear and he rushed to back Peter up.

"Uh, yeah, just a joke! Me and Pete are actually friends! Yeah. Please don't... hurt me!" Flash plastered a big, fake smile on his face.

Natasha escorted Clint out of the room, as there'd be reports of a murder if she didn't. Thor took initiative.

"Okay! I do not understand what just happened, but who wants to see some lightning! And my hammer!!" Thor bounced slightly on his feet, not unlike an excited kid. Everyone rushed up to him, all to grab the hammer's handle and talk to actual Thor himself, ohmygod. Peter gave a small smile, turned, and rushed to catch up to Clint and Natasha. 

"Hey, guys!" He called out, once he had exited the training area. The two avengers turned to him.

"Peter? Okay, you're here, who the fuck was that prick? And don't tell me he's your 'friend', or whatever, I know that's not true. Spill, and give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill him." Natasha muttered a "don't let Steve hear you" under her breath at Clint's words, so only Peter and his enhanced senses could pick up on it. He stifled a laugh, and got on to explaining to Clint that no, he couldn't kill the teen.

"Yeah, he's not the nicest, but he doesn't deserve to die. No one does. It's fine, anyways. Better me than someone who doesn't know not to listen to him, right?"

"Oh, cut it with the self-sacrificing bullshit, that's Tony's job. Your feelings matter, and I don't care if 'you can take it', or 'it doesn't bother you', it's still not okay and someone should really put him into his place. I get that you don't want us to do that, but tell someone if it gets physical, alright? I know your nice ass won't fight back." Clint put a hand on Peter's shoulder. "We all care about you, deeply. You've a great personality, you're unbelievably kind, and we love having you around. Don't forget that, Pete, okay? See ya later. I'm going to surprise you class, if you know what I mean." He winked.

Clint walked off. Natasha looked down at Peter, and smiled. "What he said, bug boy. Now, time to get back to the training area before someone notices you're gone."

Everyone was oohing and ahhing at Thor.

And who wouldn't? Everyone loved Thor. Flash was currently trying to lift the hammer.

"Come... on!" He released it, clearly giving up. He looked at Thor. "Do you need super strength to lift this thing? 'Cause if so, why'd you let us try to lift it?" 

"No!" Thor replied happily. "It can only be lifted by those deemed worthy! Even I could not lift it for quite a while. Captain America only just moved it slightly, and... the Vision lifted it without a problem, shockingly (ha). It was quite intriguing. But, who does know! I clearly do not, as I expected that none of you would be able to lift it. No worries! You all had fun, did you not?" The group of children nodded.

Enter Peter and Nat.

The two just walk in on this sea of silent children, nodding simultaneously. It was weird. Peter rejoined the group, and Nat walked straight up to Thor.

"Want to go show them the Captain America-proof punching bags?" Natasha pointed at them on the other side of the room, past an extremely complicated ropes course and a couple treadmills. Thor nodded enthusiastically. 

"Yes! Let us go, children! To the other side of the room!" Everyone smiled and started to follow them. Thor was obviously very happy. He was like an excitable puppy, at times, and it seemed that Thor was thoroughly enjoying the positive attention (Peter made a note to remember that one later).

Peter noticed a glint of metal in the corner of his eye, one that was usually always by a certain someone's side or in a safe place. Peter called out.

"Oh, Mr. Thor! You left your hammer!" He reached forward and picked it up, rushing to go give it back to Thor.

Everyone was looking at him, staring. The silence was so thick, you could cut it with a knife. Flash looked like he was ready to explode.

Did... did I do something wrong??

Chapter Text

The weight of everyone's gazes was beginning to crush Peter.

"What... why are you guys looking at me like that? Was I not supposed to touch it? I heard Thor say it was okay earlier, and that the students could lift it if they wanted to. Did I hear wrong?  Ohmygodohmygodohmygod, that's it, isn't it?? I'm so sorry! I didn't know!" Peter shoved the hammer into a hand belonging to a very stunned-looking Thor. Peter heard Thor mumble under his breath.

"What the frick frack diddly dack patty wack snick snack crack pack slack mack quarterback crackerjack biofeedback backtrack thumbtack sidetrack tic-tac." Thor looked down at the hammer that was now in his hands, and to the boy who had previously been holding it. A wide grin spread across his face. Grabbing Peter's wrist, he put both their hands in the air and let out a powerful cheer.

"The boy is worthy!" The students simply kept staring, although a few began to speak up again, murmuring to each other. Nat smiled.

"Course you'd be more worthy than literal Captain America. You're the most pure person to ever exist." The students moved to face her. Flash, who was red in the face, opened his mouth to speak, but Natasha turned to him.

"Think very hard about what you're about to say, young man." she said, glaring. And, trust anyone who'd ever witnessed it, her stare was like literal daggers. Flash felt a shiver run down his spine, and immediately shut his mouth. Peter was relieved.

"Onwards! To the horses with wheels!" Thor's clamor was heard throughout the whole room, voice bouncing off of the walls. The children all cheered uncertainly and followed him.

Upon entering the smaller side-room and seeing it was filled with those training bicycles made specifically for staying in place, someone spoke up.

"Uhm, Mr. Odinson? I do believe those are called bicycles."

"Do not be ridiculous, young one! They are quite clearly one of those special horses, but with wheels, that do not go anywhere! They are my favourite." Thor looked like he was about to shed a happy-tear, so no one else bothered to speak up as he just sniffed and smiled at the exercise machines. Peter giggled. 

"Dude, have any of you tried telling him that they're called bicycles before?" Ned asked, suspicion written on his face. 

"No, everyone just went with it. We've even started compiling a dictionary of all the weird names that Thor calls things. I'll have to show it to you some time." Peter replied. Ned started rambling about how cool Peter's life was, and MJ just rolled her eyes and continued reading in the background. Something in the hallway caught Peter's eye, and the tour group followed Marie around the corner. Ned waited a bit for Peter, but he told him to go on and he'd catch up in a moment. Ned hesitantly listened, telling Peter to not do anything stupid.

As soon as everyone had rounded the corner, and Peter started getting a good look at the thing that'd caught his eye, something tingled at the back of his neck, telling him to move.

Flash gripped Peter's shoulder. Hard. It didn't hurt too much, but Peter had to deliberately ignore his spidey-sense and stay put.

"Penis. How the fuck did you pull this off? I know you're not actually friends with the Avengers. You're just Puny Parker, a loser that no one wants to be associated with. So, how'd you do it? What shit did you pull? I fucking bet you hired a fucking super-powered hitman to hold them at gunpoint while you threatened them, or threatened to do something to all their files if they didn't comply. Oh, fuck, maybe you mind-controlled them. I wouldn't put it past you, Parker. And that hammer trick you pulled earlier? Pathetic. Any person with common sense could see it was fake. Now. Confess. Because, hate to break it to you, Penis, but no one would willing hang around such a worthless piece of shit without being one themselves. So. Fucking. Tell m-" Flash was cut off by a figure that Peter's spidey senses told him was standing behind him.

"Care to run that by me again? 'Cause I could've sworn you were calling my kid worthless and a liar. Not to mention the awful nickname I'm certain you just said." Peter knew that voice anywhere.

Oh.

Turning around, Peter swallowed and bit his lip, and opened his mouth to speak.

"H-hey, D- Mr. Stark. Wha-what's up?"

Chapter Text

"What's up? Oh, I'll tell you 'what's up'. How long has this been going on, Peter?" Tony looked at Peter, his hard, angry expression softening in lieu of immediately shouting at Flash.

However; before Peter could reply, Flash cut in.

"Your kid?? The hell does that mean?" he snarled.

"What it means is, Mr. Parker here is my personal intern, and one of the smartest people I've ever met. And trust me, I'm Tony fucking Stark, I've met some pretty smart people. He is possibly the worst liar I have ever met, so let me speak for everyone when I say there's no way the events that have occurred today could have been faked. He's the most selfless-"

"Mr. Stark, you don't have to do this-" Peter attempted to interject.

"Person I've ever had the pleasure of meeting, he's an-"

"Mr. Stark." he hissed.

"Absolute gem, and, on top of that, he's-"

"Tony!"

"A complete and utter genius. Not to mention the fact he's just a wonderful person to be around in general." Tony paused, taking in the high school bully that stood in front of him. Peter sighed, know there was no stopping the line of threats coming Flash's way. "So, Eugene, let me drill this into your tiny, narrow-minded head. Peter is ten times the person you'll ever be, and if I ever hear or catch wind of you bullying him again, I will have Cap on your ass and destroy any and all chances for you to get into a good college. Do I make. Myself. Clear."

Flash gave a weak nod, cowering. 

"Now, scram, and catch up to your class before I have security show you the nearest exit." Tony spat. Flash ran as fast as he physically could, whipping around the corner and out of sight. Tony turned to Peter.

"Seriously, kid, how long has that asshole been bothering you?" Friday muttered a faint "Language" in the background. Peter was sweating bullets.

"Well, Mr. Stark, I, uhm, you see... he's really not that bad! I promise. I usually just ignore him. It- it's fine." he stuttered out.

"Okay, first off, cut the 'Mr. Stark' BS, I heard you call me Tony back there! And, secondly, I don't care how 'not that bad' it was, you were being bullied and I want to know for how long. We'll go into more detail later." Tony looked down at Peter warmly, and added, "I promise I won't do anything or get mad at you. Cross my heart and hope to die, blow a shrapnel in my eye."

"Since high school started. I promise though, it's fine! He rarely got physical..." Peter trailed off after seeing Tony's face grow angry. He shrunk a little. Tony noticed.

"No, I'm not mad at you, kid, I'm mad at this shi-" Tony eyed Friday, "stickhead. I honestly think it's really strong of you to have put up with this for so long. I mean, you could've just fought back? But you don't want people getting hurt. Keep up the no self-preservation act, and you'll end up like me."

"Really?" Peter's eyes glowed, hopeful.

"Yeah, kid- and no, the self-preservation thing was definitely not supposed to be compliment, you little shit."   

"ᴀʷᴡₕ" Peter pouted.

"Language", came Friday's theatrical whisper. The two burst out laughing.

"Alright, kid, let's get you back to your tour group. I think Marie's with Bruce right now, and they're giving a nice, big, looong demonstration. It's going to be great." Tony stated, clapping his hands together.

"Alright Mr. Krabs!"

 Peter found Ned.

"Dude?! Where were you?? You said you were right behind me? Did Flash get you? I saw him sprint to his little gang of friends, looking very red and fairly terrified. What happened?" Ned attacked Peter with a barrage of questions.

"Woah, man, slow down. One question at a time-" Peter was cut off by Bruce announcing something.

"And the one and only Tony Stark is here!" he yelled, glad to get some of the pressure off of his back. The students cheered, muffling Rhodey's reply. The ones who heard him will swear left and right that he said "the great Tony Stank", although no one can confirm it.

Tony began to talk about his suit and such, before he was (quite rudely) interrupted by a loud banging noise from the ceiling. A moment of silence erupted throughout the room, no one daring to make a sound.

Then, with a loud "CAW CAW MOTHERFUCKERS", Clint dropped from the vents and onto Tony.

Chapter Text

Tony dropped the microphone and groaned under Clint's weight. The entire room was filled with held-back laughter. Some of the students, however, heard a soft yet rapid thump thump thump thump that gradually became louder as whatever was causing it neared the room. As more and more people noticed, people stopped laughing.

Peter recognised those footsteps, and his face fell in realisation. Clint had been very close to the vents when he yelled, meaning his lovely entrance had probably travelled quite far through the tower for everyone to experience. This, meaning it was highly likely a certain someone had heard what had been said...

The end is nigh, Peter thought, a single tear trailing down his cheek as he hastily prayed to whatever god was out there.

The deep rumbling echoed through the halls as Bruce, Nat, Rhodey, Sam and Bucky hit the deck. Peter covered his ears, bracing for the coming impact. The door slammed open.

"L A N G U A G E !!!!1!1!!" Steve screamed. 

After the fiasco that followed, Vision and Wanda joined the rest of the Avengers (minus Scott and T'Challa) that were gathered together on the stage. Pepper rolled her eyes in the corner.

"Sorry about that. But it was necessary. Using such foul language, especially around children, is unprofessional and, quite frankly, incredibly rude." Steve explained. "You'd think, with Hawkeye having children himself, he'd know better," he glared at Clint, "but it seems he doesn't."

"Well excuse me, you clearly don't understand just how committed I am to my name. Who says I am not bird-like? With both my grace and my sounds, I am one with the hawk." An unidentifiable student yelled 'furry'. If Clint heard, he chose to ignore it. "I mean, Sam here flies like a falcon, but so do I! Did you not notice the serious air I made coming out of that vent? Beautiful."

"Even so, we're continuing on the Q&A portion of your tour." Tony butted in. "Ask away!"

Flash, along with literally everyone else, raised his hand. Thanks to some unknown force that seemed to hate Peter, Sam called on him.

"How does one apply for an internship here at SI?" Flash yelled, sending a pointed look at Peter. Pepper noticed the heated glares the kid seemed to be receiving, and walked up to the mic. She pushed an angry Tony Stark out of the way.

"You don't. We don't take highschool students," Flash almost yelled out a 'HA' at Peter, but Pepper continued, "unless they are truly something special. Such as our one and only Peter Parker, who I do believe is here, correct?" Everyone looked at him. He gave a tiny wave. 

"He caught Tony's eye, and Tony actually offered the position to him, Peter never actually applied for anything!" Pepper smiled, and moved on to the next question. She called on some kid with glasses.

"For a while, people thought you were gonna fight over the accords. How did you guys resolve it?" The glasses-kid asked.

"We talked it over, like civilised human beings. Next?" Tony responded, and every nodded in silent agreement.

More and more questions were asked, and it seemed as if there was no end to them. Peter tuned them out and opted to play on his phone instead.

Peter had been busying himself with looking at tumblr until the topic of his alter-ego came up.

"Do you know what Spider-Man's real identity is?" A random child had asked. Peter's head snapped up immediately, staring straight into the eyes of a certain evil-looking Tony Stark. He sighed.

"Yes. We do know." Tony smiled. "You, yes you, in the yellow shirt!"

"Who is Spider-Man?" Yellow-shirt asked the question everyone was dying to know.

"We can't say. It's called a secret identity for a reason, and we have to respect that. Confidentiality, and the likes." Rhodey replied for Tony, and Tony looked straight at Peter and winked. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Pepper, Marie, and the Avengers that were onstage all agreed with Rhodey's response.

Rhodey was about to call on Flash (again, ugh), and, although Tony, Nat, and Clint all glared at him, that is not why he paused. No, he paused because a familiar voice had just exploded through the halls.

"Loki, wait! You cannot do that, brother! Killing people is not okay, we've been over this!"

Chapter Text

Loki stormed in the room and yelled back at Thor, "Don't tell me what to do, brother!" Peter got up immediately, much to his teacher's dismay, and ran over to Loki, grabbing his wrist. Whatever happened, an angry Loki was never good. It was really difficult to talk him down, and Peter was one of the few people he actually listened to.

Loki looked down at Peter and said with an eerie, deadpan voice, "It is a 10, child." 

Peter began to panic. Loki has never been a 10 before. They happened to reach a 9 once, but that was a long time ago and Loki has gotten much better. Also, he had been at a 2 earlier, meaning something must've happened for him to be feeling this now. So, Peter froze in sudden realisation. Word of what his nickname meant and all of the other things Flash has done to him must have gotten around. Perhaps Loki was angry.

If it had been anyone else, Loki would have ripped his hand from Peter's grasp and continued. However, it was Peter, so Loki's cold expression just turned sad.

"Please let go of me, Peter. I haven't the patience to deal with this as of right now." Loki tugged lightly at Peter's grip.

"No, you don't need to! C'mon, we can go get a drink or something! There's absolutely no need to act on-" Peter was interrupted by a loud pounding on the door. Loki must have locked it.

"Let me in, Loki! Don't hurt anyone! You don't want to do this!" Thor was beginning to dent the metal.

Suddenly, with a loud "YEET", Mjolnir burst through the door, landing on the ground beside Peter. Thor sprinted to Loki and instantly embraced him. Peter let go of Loki's wrist.

"Come on, brother. All is fine. I'm sure young Peter can handle himself just fine." Thor smiled, and pulled out of the hug. Loki just looked over at Flash and glared. Thor led Loki out of the room, but not before Loki could fully flip Flash off, using both of his hands.

"Well that was certainly... unexpected." Pepper, along with everyone, was staring at the now-broken door. Peter was beginning to become uncomfortable out in the open and subject to everyone's gazes, but before he could get back to his seat, Sam's voice rang out.

"Hey, Pete, why don't you come up here and answer some questions, too?" He motioned for Peter to come onto the stage. Peter, getting a thumbs up from Ned, a smirk and a middle finger from MJ, and being generally unable to come up with any valid excuse, joined the Avengers on the stage.

Questions overlapped each other. Everyone had forgotten about the whole 'one at a time' thing they'd had going on. Peter couldn't hear himself think, just the overwhelming buzz of speech, each voice louder than the last. He covered his ears in an attempt to block it all out. Pepper, the wonderful woman she is, noticed, and immediately called out a "Quiet, please!". The gaggle of children all quieted down. Peter, slowly uncovered his ears.

"One at a time, please. We are unable to understand anything you're saying if you all speak at once!" Pepper scolded. "You're high schoolers. You should be better at this. Now, raise your hands."

Literally everyone raised their hands. Pepper called on one.

"How close is Peter to you guys?" she asked.

Pepper sighed. "Okay, put your hands down if your question is about Peter." Half of the kids put their hands down. She called on MJ.

"Do you think it is possible for me to talk to you privately at some point? I'm writing a paper for one of my classes, and it's supposed to be about great and amazing people from far back in the past, but, the thing is, they're all men and they all suck, so I'm trying to get interviews with as many strong, powerful, present-day women as I can as a middle finger to the assignment and the teacher for not knowing better." Pepper gave a little chuckle and smiled.

"Of course. You're Michelle, right? Peter's told me about you. It would be pleasure." Sam picked another student.

"Okay, so we've all heard how you met Captain America and then became friends with him and helped hide him when everyone was trying to like, kill him, right? So, like, how does it feel to be an actual Avenger just because you happened to become running partners?"

"It's kind of surreal, really, when I think about it. Sometimes I lay in bed and think about how different my life would be if it had been different. If we hadn't met. But hey, I'm glad it happened." Sam shot a couple of finger guns at the kid.

The Avengers took individual turns answering questions, although Bruce stayed at the back and didn't really say much. Most of his questions were about the other guy anyway. Although, Midtown being a STEM school and all, there were a few questions for Dr. Banner. It made him feel really happy, knowing that he was appreciated too. However, his contentedness was nothing against the sudden surge of anger that coursed through his body. 

He had called on Flash, not understanding who this specific kid was. He'd noticed the slightly scared expression Peter had made, but he didn't acknowledge it. I hindsight, he really should have.

"Okay, so, I know you said no questions about Peter, but what about him made him fit to be Tony Stark's personal intern? There's a whole school full of kids who are just as smart as, if not smarter than him. And, that's not to mention all of the older, more experienced and generally smarter people you could have chosen for the job. What makes him so special? Why not, for example, me? Of all the people you could have picked, why'd you choose Peni--Peter?" Flash had caught himself a little too late with the nickname, and that seemed to be the last straw.

Bruce's breathing became laboured as he attempted to control the unbridled rage that kindled inside of him.

They had managed to stop Loki, but...

Well, this was going to be a bit more interesting, for lack of a better word.

Chapter Text

Rhodey was the first to notice Bruce's struggle, and immediately shouted "Code green!". Nat instantly took Bruce's hand and led him out of the room to calm him down. Tony looked ready to scream at Flash, but Cap took over.

"We don't appreciate you insulting our best intern, son. That being said, while we did choose Peter for a specific, confidential reason, I can assure you that he has properly earned his place as SI's top and most valued intern. And as for why not you, it's because Peter is kind, selfless, and just a delight to be around. You've got to be that sort of person if you're going to be someone's personal intern. You have to be someone who can been seen as both a coworker and a friend. Peter fills both of those shoes, and we wouldn't trade him for the world." Cap gave a sickly sweet smile. Anyone who knew him personally could tell that it was fake. 

Obviously unsatisfied with the answer, Flash sat down in a huff.

Peter looked straight at him, uneasy.

You may have book smarts, but you clearly don't have general smarts, hon. Peter, not voicing his thoughts for crystal clear reasons, just gave him a look that conveyed his dread, and the queasy feeling his spidey sense was giving him. Something was clearly not right. And, oh hell, Peter hoped Bruce had calmed down.

A large roar erupted throughout the building.

Fuck.  Are you shitting me.

"Way to go, Paul." Peter said, imitating the vine. Natasha, who was the only avenger (besides Clint) who understood that reference, would have simply looked at him and sighed, shaking her head and mumbling "Now is not the time, Peter."

She would have said that, but she had been busy attempting to calm a certain green big boi™ down, and was now running into the room with a panicked look written on her usually calm face. 

"Evacuate the kids. I couldn't calm him--" Nat shouted at Tony, and was cut off by another roar.

The Hulk came barrelling into the room. Peter, rushed over to him and was immediately pushed aside. But, Peter, the stubborn idiot he is, sprinted back in front of him.

"MOVE! MUST SMASH CHILD!" Hulk roared at Peter, before brushing him away again when Peter inevitably stayed put. Marie was busy leading his classmates and the teachers out of the area. The other Avengers were helping her too, and Nat stood a little way away from Peter and the big guy, creating a backup barrier between him and Flash. The Hulk picked Peter up, and threw him into a wall, giving up on being gentle. However, immediately after sending Peter into said wall, he seemed to regret his decision. Hurrying over to where Peter now lay, he picked him up.

"IS BABY AVENGER OKAY??" The Hulk asked, frantic. He never means to hurt the people he liked, although it seemed to happen quite a bit.

"'M not a baby!" Peter shouted, trying to get out of Hulk's grip despite being severely bruised.

"THE BABY AVENGER SPEAKS!" Hulk, happy with Peter's okay-ness, put him down and continued on towards where the students were hurriedly getting on as many elevators as the could as fast as they could. There was an awful lot of yelling. Flash was pushing through the crowd as fast as he could, terrified.

Peter, despite his whole body screaming in protest, pushed himself up. Nat must've been unable to stop Big Green. Peter was sprinting faster than humanly possible, knowing he couldn't live with himself if anyone died because he'd never stood up to a simple high school bully before, leading to the events occurring currently. He knew it wasn't really his fault. Didn't stop him feeling bad about it, though.

Jumping up, Peter grabbed onto the Hulk's fist. The Hulk attempted to shake him off, but Peter could stick to non-stick pans. This was nothing. Holding on by his mere fingertips (sticky feet don't work when covered in shoes), Peter refused to let go.

"Calm down! Please! Don't hurt anyone!" Peter begged. The Hulk took one look at him and his face fell. This however, didn't stop him. He continued to shake, waving his hand around until Peter was sick to the stomach. Peter didn't even know that his face was wet.

Then, all of a sudden, Hulk was restrained. Opening eyes he hadn't even known he'd shut, Peter spotted who was to thank, and gave a joyous, tear-filled shout.

"Loki!" 

Chapter Text

"PUNY GOD LET GO!!" The Hulk roared. Loki did not let go.

"Sorry, big guy, if I'm not allowed to kill him, neither are you." Loki made a face that was the literal embodiment of the :/ emoticon. Hulk, obviously displeased by the god's answer, started to strain against both the bonds that Loki had (somehow) put him in and Peter, who was now on his back and singing in an attempt to calm him. Bruce was coming back. Bruce was fighting to get back.

Too bad the Hulk was really set on smashing Flash into a tiny, arrogant pulp. Loki struggled to keep hold of the Hulk from the distance he was at, as he was not entirely fond of being thrown around by the big guy again. Peter just sang louder. It was easy to tell that he was internally fighting as well as externally fighting, and was no longer making a beeline for the students (good). However, the students and teachers stilled and weren't evacuating (not good). And, they were staring at Peter who was now singing the most calming lullaby he knows (the goddamn epitome of not good).

Peter stuck to helping Bruce win over the other guy. They usually got on better nowadays, but it was still a complicated relationship. He sweetly drew out the notes that his aunt and uncle used to sing to him whenever he had a nightmare. Peter smiled at the bittersweet memory.

While Peter was distracted, a third figure had entered the room and started to chat with Loki. From what Peter gathered after he realised, Loki was not exactly happy.

"Brother, you complete and utter moron, he's your friend, help me!" Loki spat.

"I think you've got it handled. You're doing a great job. Oh, hello Peter, hello Hulk. How have you been?" Thor smiled up at the two. Peter's brow knotted and he continued to intone the song to the Hulk.

"Thor, you asshole, what the hell?" Glaring at the previously mentioned god of thunder, Loki gave out a grunt.

"Well then. I shall see you all later for tea. Say hello to Banner for me when he comes out, alright?" Thor gave a sickly-sweet grin at Loki and a gentle wave to Peter and walked off. Loki was fuming. 

It took quite a while, but with Loki restraining the Hulk and Peter singing to calm him down (which actually works, believe it or not), Bruce finally returned. Loki was still frustrated about Thor ("Who does that?? My brother, apparently"). Peter was just happy it was over. This was some of the most stress he's had since the Vulture, and he had had a fucking warehouse dropped on him. So, yeah. Pretty dismayed. Luckily, no one died. Yay!! That's always a plus.

Despite this, Peter's distress was not over. Oh, no. He'd just sang, to the Hulk, in front of literally everyone he knows.

And, everyone was still staring. No one dared to even take a breath. Peter heard their heartbeats, all of them elevated. Ned broke the silence as he ran up to Peter.

"Dude, that was awesome! You never told me you could sing! Peter Parker, the guy who keeps all of the cool things he can do a secret from everyone he can. It's gotta be a record of some kind. That was so totally amazing, man!" As Ned fangirled, murmurs were beginning to arise from the crowd. Finally, one of his teammates- Abe- got the courage to speak up.

"...Baby Avenger?"

Chapter Text

Ever since the beginning, Peter has disliked Eugene Thompson.

Now, don't get him wrong; Peter was not the type of person to make misguided preconceptions of someone's personality. But, the day he started high school, the very day he met Flash for the first time, he knew he didn't like him.

Peter knew. Peter knew this was a cocky, arrogant asshole who takes advantage of his higher social status, takes advantage of the fact he's got jock friends to back him up. Peter has met someone just like Flash once before, if not a little more morally corrupted.

He had gone to Midtown Tech on a scholarship, as his family really couldn't afford to pay to send him there, so he had already placed a target on his back. But the simple fact that he was a weak, scrawny nerd whose interests consist of what is considered to be 'kids stuff' added a lovely "kick me!" note to the now seemingly permanent target. 

When he'd first met Flash, he had already accepted his fate. He knew Flash's type; he knew that this was the kind of kid that liked to put people down just to make themselves feel bigger and better.

Peter already knew his high school years were going to be tough.

He had already disliked Flash from the start.

It was a simple routine, really. Get up, eat, brush teeth, say goodbye, ride bus to school, go to classes, eat, go to more classes, do extracurricular(s), come home, do homework, eat, sleep, repeat. Boring, bland, and tasteless. Peter was apathetic. Occasionally he'd hang out with Ned, but other than that? Everything was empty. And, every day it got harder and harder to get out of bed. Every day, he saw less and less purpose in getting up.

Something had to change soon, or one day he wouldn't get up.

So, it was a fast stumble out of an old routine when literally everything changed. From the spider bite to Uncle Ben, everything was different now.

And Peter had no idea what to do. He was grieving, he was sobbing and crying it's my fault. He started dropping extracurriculars. Ned asked if Peter was okay, or at least as okay as he could be after Ben died, and Peter said he was fine.

He was most certainly not fine.

He was strong. He could climb up walls. Everything was loud and bright and so unbelievably pungent.

It was like his old life had been torn into tiny little pieces. The universe had decided to give him, out of all people, superpowers. Him, scrawny, nerdy, weak Peter Parker, who was now neither scrawny nor weak. A kid who'd lost everyone and everything two times over. A kid doomed to have debilitating nightmares for the rest of his life. A kid.

He heard people dying, he heard so, so many calls for help. The sound of sirens drilled into his head.

He had to do something, he had to do something. If not for all those people crying for help, then for Uncle Ben.

He had to do something.

So, something he did.

"Baby Avenger...?"

Oh, how had he ended up here?

Chapter Text

Peter spluttered. Struggling to come up with an excuse, he continued to look at his curious classmates, teachers, and even their tour guide, Marie. Tony, Cap, Rhodey, Bucky, Wanda, Vision, and Clint, who'd all been focusing on evacuating everyone (despite stopping as soon as Peter had begun singing), looked to each other and to Peter. 

"Ah, well, uhm. You see, as, ah, a-as Mr. Stark's personal intern, I'm a v-very important... asset! T-to the team, that is." Peter gave a small shrug. "So, it's like, I'm kind of. Sorta an Avenger, in that sense?" It came out as more of a question than a statement.

"Cut the crap." Mrs. Warren interrupted. Everyone whipped their heads around to look at her, shocked. She stepped forwards from the back of the crowd. "What's going on Peter? You've been acting up this entire trip, and I, for one, would love to know what's going on."

The woman paused to stare at the avengers for a second. Sighing, she continued, "I'm sorry I accused you of lying about your internship earlier today. It was uncalled for, and I now understand that there is more to the situation than I previously thought."

Peter relaxed.

"However," He tensed again, his brief relief disappearing, "there's a lot of other things that aren't adding up, and I'd like to know what gives."

Tony walked over to where Peter was standing. "Well, teach, it's simply the fact that he's somehow managed to win over all of our hearts. He's even got Natasha acting like his mother, which is a difficult feat. The other guy considers Peter to be part of the team, as he's practically family. 'Course, he doesn't quite know how to keep his mouth shut, as he is, well, the Hulk." Tony smiled.

Clapping his hands together, he announced, "Alright! Let's get on with the last part of our tour."

Peter contemplated his own mortality for a small while. He was currently dying of embarrassment, and he didn't know what to do. His classmates kept looking at him weirdly. Mrs. Warren kept eying him, her suspicion writing a "this isn't over, young man" on her expression. Ned and MJ stayed behind with him as the Avengers and Marie led the group to the hall dedicated to the Avengers' pasts and their old suits.

"Dude, it's fine. You sing really well! No one really cares." Ned put a reassuring hand on Peter's shoulder.

"What he said. If anything, they're more confused about your whole family dynamic with the Avengers." MJ stated, not looking up from her book. Peter gave a nod and a small smile at his two friends. It was going to be okay. After all, he had Ned, MJ, and the mother-fucking Avengers behind him.

Peter spotted a familiar profile and the craziest thought popped into his head. He needed to talk. Explain himself. Try to reconcile.

This may be the kid who's bullied him for so very long, but he doesn't deserve to die. Peter knew that, and he needed to make sure previously mentioned bully knew that, too. Whispering a quick, temporary goodbye to Ned and MJ, who promptly told him it was a bad idea, he ran towards Flash.

"Flash!" Peter called out. The boy turned around and looked at Peter, a grimace forming on his face.

"What do you want, Parker? To rub in my face how I was wrong?" He sneered, his usual confidence only slightly dampened.

"No, I just wanted to apologise on behalf of Loki and Dr. Banner's other guy. You... aren't very nice, but, you don't deserve to die. That's just ludicrous. So, uh, sorry." Flash raised an eyebrow at him.

"And I'm 'sorry' for accusing you of lying, I guess. I don't really care. Piss off, Parker." Flash scowled and waved him off.

Peter stood still as he watched the kid walk away from him. Part of him was disappointed. Some part of him had been hoping Flash would fess up and apologise for being a dick to Peter all these years, but... that's ridiculous. Peter guessed that's what he gets for thinking people just change like that. He's clearly read too many books. 

Flash was someone who'd been the bane of Peter's existence for so long. He felt like a fool to think that it would have been different now. Even so, Peter wished that Flash would at least try to be a good person. Everyone could be good, he knew that, they just had to be willing to be.

Peter had thought that, just like in movies and television shows, Flash would look at how he'd been wrong about Peter and rethink his "way of life".

I guess, with how my life has seemingly turned into a page torn straight from a comic book, I forgot that commonly used literary devices and redemption arcs don't really happen in the real world.

Peter sighed and made his way back to Ned and MJ.

Seems that Eugene Thompson just wasn't a good person. Not now, at least.

Chapter Text

Peter had never felt so betrayed in his life. Not even when Ned sided with MJ that one time about him being "too reckless".

He stared down at the plaque in disbelief. How had he even gotten a hold of it?

I cannot fucking believe him.

Peter had caught up to Ned and MJ, the latter addressing the disappointment written on his features with a "I told you so."

Ned patted him on the shoulder. "Some people just don't change Peter. He wasn't bullying you because he thought you were lying. He started way before the whole Stark internship fiasco. He bullies you because he's a jealous asshole." Peter had simply shrugged in response.

"Jealous of what, exactly? My dead parents? My acne covered looks? Face it, Ned. I'm just a loser." Peter had frowned, knowing that he'd already succumb to his low social status.

"No, he's jealous of how hecking smart you are, Peter! You knock him out of the ballpark every single time we have any graded assignment, and because and you don't fight back, and couldn't at the time, he put you beneath him to make himself feel better. There's nothing more you can do." his best friend had assured him.

"Plus, no offense, but you're kind of an easy target, dork. Shy. unbelievably kind, and, at the time, not very physically strong? He's not that big of a person himself, so without his jock friends, he's gotta find someone weak to pick on. Honestly, he's lucky you haven't just turned around one day and decked him." Michelle stated matter-of-factly. When Peter had looked down, Ned and MJ stopped. Ned pulled Peter into a hug, and even MJ gave a small, gentle embrace, too. The group hug had lasted for a few seconds before the trio continued on their way.

Peter had grinned at the two friends walking beside him.

Things were going to be okay.

Things were most certainly not okay. Peter's face heated up as Ned burst out laughing and even Michelle cackled. Peter really had the worst friends.

The shuffling of feet and his spidey sense alerting him of people approaching, Peter turned to see a bunch of his classmates walking towards the exhibit.

Dear lord, what have I ever one to you?

They were already chuckling at the pure hideousness of the thing. But, one by one, as they finished reading the words written underneath the exhibit, they all burst out laughing.

Jesús jode en una bicicleta. He didn't remember learning that in Spanish class.

He had, along with everyone around him, let out a glorious, simultaneous gasp of wonder as soon as they had entered the room. The great displays of armour and weapons were enough to stun the entire group for a moment.

Peter had never been in here before. He's glad he didn't. It would have taken away from the displays because now, with everyone all around him, the collective experience was truly amazing. The light filtered in through the windows perfectly, glinting off of one of Cap's prototype shields, highlighting the specks of dust floating in the room. It was safe to say the whole thing was magical. The shattered pieces of Thor's old hammer, old Chitauri technology, a few of Nat's old widow's bites- it was all so amazing. He loved every second of it.

The moment of pure awe petered out and Marie ushered them in. Everyone went to a different case (most likely the ones they idolised). However, a certain red and blue fabric had caught Ned's eyes, and he'd immediately pulled Peter and MJ over there.

Peter glared at the words engraved in the plaque and the handwritten message.

I'm gonna kill him.

Chapter Text

In front of Peter stood a display case dedicated entirely to him. Under normal circumstances, this would've made him feel joyous and appreciated. This, however, was not a normal circumstance.

After getting over the fact that his best friend had an exhibit, Ned started to giggle. Peter's face flushed. 

In front of them stood Peter's old suit. The onesie-hoodie combination. There was a little plaque underneath it with a note stuck to top written in a very familiar handwriting.

"We all start somewhere"

I cannot fucking believe him.

How had Tony even gotten a hold of it? Peter had never given Mr. Stark his old suit, and made sure to hide the thing so it never saw the light of day again. Although, apparently it was seeing quite a lot of light, given that it was displayed for the whole world to see.

Written in the plaque were a few facts about him.

A little about Spider-man:

• Despite being the kindest person to ever exist, he can kind of be an asshole sometimes.
• He likes baking weird atrocities with gummies and it's ridiculous.
• He's honestly a complete nerd.
• The idiot thought it'd be a good idea to go after the Vulture in this suit.
• The only Avenger he can't beat in a fight is the Black Widow.
• He plays Mario Kart with Hawkeye and the Falcon whilst upside-down on the ceiling. No one touches the controller he uses because everything is always inverted.
• He's absolutely terrified of spiders.

Peter felt completely and utterly betrayed.

Meanwhile, Ned was losing his shit next to him.

"Y-y-yoou- *snrk*- y-you're afraid of sp-spiders?! Oh-ho myyy God!"

Peter wanted to die. All his classmates were laughing at him (technically). Tony was sending him mischievous looks. Sam and Clint were holding back laughter.

At least it'll be all over soon. The trip was to end in about 20 minutes, and Peter's personal circle of hell was coming to a close. He glared at Tony, who'd just started walking over to the group of students.

"I know, right? The kid is petrified by them. Like, literally screams when they come any closer than 5 feet from him. Never would've thought. Not at all like Ant-Man, who's friends with all ants. Oh! He's going to be here with his daughter... now!" Tony looked over at the doorway as a little girl came bursting in. Immediately swept into Natasha's arms, Cassie stared at the crowd of children. 

Oh no...

A very familiar voice called out, "Cassie!".

Oh, for fucks sake.

Scott came barrelling in after his daughter, and immediately noticed how all of the room's eyes were fixed on him. He was wearing the suit, but still cowered slightly under everyone's gazes. Scott gave a small wave.

"H-hey guys? Stark... didn't tell me I'd be meeting a bunch of high schoolers." he muttered, looking around. Sam stood next to Scott and took the liberty of introducing him.

"Hey, kids! This is Tic-Tac! Also known as Ant-man!" he called out. Sam really did know how to introduce someone.

Cassie jumped down from her Aunt's arms, and over to her father.

"Daddy!" she exclaimed, "Show them the big small thing!"

"Sure thing, sweetie." Although no one could see, Scott was smiling. He shrunk down, and Cassie picked him up.

"He's small now!!" The little girl's enthusiasm was infectious. The class watched in child-like curiosity. Peter was glad nothing too bad was happening. He could just fade into the-

"Peter!!" Cassie's eyes lit up and she sprinted over to him.

Shit.

Chapter Text

"Peter Peter Peter Peter!!!!" Cassie tackled the boy in mention, and giggled when he purposely let himself fall down. However, she was disappointed when he didn't say his usual line.

"Say it! Peter, why aren't you saying it? Pleeeeeeeeeeeease?" Cassie pouted, pulling off the puppy dog eyes Peter often used.

"...ᶠᶦⁿᵉ. Oh, woe is me, I've been bested! Et tu, Brute?" Peter mumbled, pointedly ignoring the strange stares he was getting from his classmates.

Cassie cheered in victory, got up off of Peter, and zoomed over to her father again. Peter stood up and dusted himself off. He looked down at his wrist, which now had a small cut on it and was healing right in front of him. It always weirded him out whenever he saw it happening in real time.

When Peter looked up again, Cassie was sprinting around saying hi to every one of his classmates, spurting about her big pet ant, her father, and Peter.

...

Wait, what?

Sure enough, there was Cassie, having a conversation with Flash and his jock friends about how great Peter is. She probably would've kept going on until she revealed who Peter was if Flash hadn't cut her off.

"Man, you really must have some crappy people in your life to think Peter is 'great'. He's got everyone in here fooled, but he's really just a loser who happens to be smart. Pick better people to idolise, kid." Flash sneered, a smug smirk crawling up his face.

Cassie's expression had dropped in anger and confusion.

"You're wrong! Peter's great! He saves lots and lots of people! He's so super talented, and nice, too! He always plays games with me no matter what he's doing, unless he's helping someone else. You're just mean." Cassie crossed her little armed and gave Flash an over-exaggerated huff, much like how she'd seen characters on the television do. "He babysits me tons, and don't tell my daddy, but he always lets me stay up a little past my bedtime if I'm good. He's super funny, too! Like, sometimes he'll sit on the ceili-" 

"wAIT!!" Peter called out, realising he'd almost been outed. Everyone turn to look at him. He hunched over, and twiddled his fingers. He took a deep breath. "Cassie, you're wrong, I'm really not that funny or talented, and it's probably best you don't talk to strangers. Stranger danger, remember?" Peter could feel the burning gazes of his peers searing holes in his skin. This was going to be difficult to explain.

"What?? What are you talking about? You're super duper funny, and you are the only babysitter I've ever had that likes to talk about bugs with me! Except for spiders. You really don't like those. But you said spiders are ar-an-kids, so they don't count. And you can do lots of super cool stuff, just like my dad!" Cassie pouted. "Why is that guy telling me mean stuff about you? He said you're a loser."

"I am a loser, Cassie." Peter deadpanned.

"Yes, but he said it in a mean way! He didn't say loser like em-jay does, or Ned does."

Someone cleared their throat in an attempt to redirect the conversation. The entire room had been silent except for Peter and Cassie. Tony smiled.

"Now that we've got your attention, I would again like to introduce you all to Ant-Man..." Tony continued to speak about Scott, but Peter was too distracted to hear.

With his super hearing, he had kept noticing small mutterings and conversations among his classmates, and Peter had suddenly started to panic.

Because, some of them had started to piece it together.

Some of them were finally connecting him to his alter-ego.

They'd found out he was Spider-Man.

And all Peter could think of was blank static, his mind going to fast to form any coherent thoughts.

And he couldn't even notice his erratic breathing pattern, and the concern-showing adults now towering over him.

It was just his blackening vision, the blank static, and himself.

Chapter Text

Peter couldn't breath. He couldn't think. Everything was closing in around him, and he could hear every single heartbeat. He could hear every breath each person took in, he could hear every side conversation and it just blurred into one big mess of noise. Everything was too bright, too loud, too much. Faintly, Peter realised that with whatever was going on, people were definately staring at him now, and he could feel their burning hot stares singing his skin. He couldn't take it. His hand dug into his hair and his scalp, and he squeezed his eyes shut in a futile attempt to make block everything out and calm down. He zeroed in on everything and nothing all at once. 

He let out a quiet sob, tears tracking down his face.

He was alone but there were people and they were staring at him and oh god please just stop looking at me-

Peter felt two warm, embracing arms wrap around him. He quickly grabbed the fabric on the back of whoever was holding him and held on like his life depended on it. Things were getting quieter, further away. Like people were leaving.

He buried his face further into the crook of the persons neck, and continued to cry. He began to make out quiet, soothing phrases originating from the person's-no, man's- mouth. Gentle reassurances flowed in and out of his ears as Peter took deep breaths, just as the voice was instructing him to do.

He recognised that smell. He knew who was holding him.

Peter held on even tighter than before.

When Peter was feeling a little more daring, he opened his eyes slightly.

There was no one but him and Tony. He let out a shaky breath in relief.

"You okay, Pete?" Tony whispered, pulling away a slowly and looking into Peter's wide, brown eyes.

"A-a little be-etter, thanks-s." His voice shook, but he gave the weak reassurance nonetheless. It was gonna be okay. He was gonna be okay. There was a lot of things that would bring him down, but it was gonna be okay because he had an amazing super-family (which obviously included May) and friends who all cared deeply about him and his welfare. People he could fall back on, people he could find comfort in, and people he could comfort back. Peter had been through so much and lost more than most, still being in the early part of his life, but he was going to be okay.

Peter bunched the fabric of Tony's shirt up in his hands, tears falling freely over his face. He smiled a big, toothy smile and hugged Tony again. Tony was more than happy to return the embrace.

"I'm gonna be okay, we're gonna be okay." Peter murmured into Tony's neck.

"That's right kiddo, that's right. Just keep breathing."

The lobby was overflowing with high school students. Happy looked over the sea of children, and willed Tony to hurry the fuck up. Natasha and Clint had been the first to notice Peter's panic, and were quick to remove everyone from the room. After the fact, though, they let Peter's pseudo-father take over.

A familiar voice echoed over the intercom. 

"Alright! Okay, all of you are going to have to sign NDAs, if that's alright by you. I mean, it doesn't matter if it's alright, because you're going to sign them anyway, but whatever." Tony coughed. "I hope you all had fun today. Also, Eugene Thompson? If I hear you've been bullying my son again, you better be pretty fu-"

"Tony!" came an (Peter's) exclamation in the background.

"-freaking sure I'll do exactly what I mentioned earlier. Cool? Cool. Nothing of what any of you saw today happened."

When Peter exited the room with Tony, every single one of his classmates were filling out sheets of paper. He sent a questioning look at Tony, but decided not to voice his confusion.

"NDAs." Tony said after a minute, looking at his phone.

"What?" Peter had snapped his head up to look at him the second he made any sound, clearly puzzled about the one-word statement.

"Non-disclosure agreements. What they're all signing. NDAs." Tony looked up from his phone. "No one is allowed to discuss anything that happened today."

"Oh." Peter paused. "They know I'm Spider-man, don't they? I heard a few of them talking about it earlier."

"Yeah, sorry kiddo. That's kinda on us. If we hadn't been so adamant about embarrassing you, this wouldn't've happened. So, sorry."

"No, it's kinda my fault anyway. I'm not very good at keeping secrets." Peter looked at his feet, avoiding the fleeting glances his classmates were beginning to flash him.

"No, kid, don't blame yourself. It's literally all our fault. We should have listened and respected your wishes, and now you've gotta deal with the consequences of our actions." Tony put a hand on Peter's back. "You don't deserve to have to put up with this. I'm sorry."

"It-it's okay, Mr. Stark." Peter waved his hands, trying to emphasise the unimportance of Tony's mistake.

"It's not. Just- tell me if you need anything, okay? We've gotta make it up to you somehow." Tony's tone was laced with an underlying sorrow. He really didn't feel good about messing up like this.

"I-alright. I'm, I... thanks, Dad.

Going into school on Monday had been weird, to say the least. People kept sending him strange looks, and glancing briefly over at him constantly. Although he'd never admit to it, it really bothered him.

Flash was the same as ever, albeit less physical now he knew that Peter could probably send him flying into next week if he wanted to. Although Flash's endless taunts were upsetting, he had to admit that it was comforting to know that not everything had changed. Also, a lot of the teachers weren't on the trip, so they were all mildly confused about all of the attention Peter seemed to be getting. A few of them talked to him after class.

In the weeks following, Peter often went home early, when he could not bear the staring anymore. He didn't tell Tony, although Tony knew. Peter would always shakily hug May and spill everything, which would eventually find its way to his mentor.

But, it was all going to be okay.

Things would work out in the end, somehow. He was sure of it.