Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Peter’s day had started out great. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. His day had started out slightly better than average. He woke up late, as usual, and grabbed breakfast on the run. Thankfully, there hadn’t been much traffic driving in from upstate that morning, and he had time to grab a sandwich from Delmar’s for lunch. Since he had started living at the compound nearly full-time, Peter had less opportunities to visit the shop.

He had first started sleeping over at the compound in the aftermath of the events on Titan. It helped both his and Mr. Stark’s PTSD if the other was nearby. It also was greatly beneficial for Peter as he could train in the compound’s immense gym, or with the rest of the Avengers, who had all been pardoned in the wake of Thanos. Over time, what was supposed to be a month at the compound turned to two and then three and now it had been eight and Tony and Pepper had legal custody of him. At first, Peter had felt guilty about about abandoning May, and May had felt guilty about not being able to be there for Peter, but as time went on Peter realized that May was able to work less and take more time for herself without having to worry about him (she even got a boyfriend!), and May realized Peter could cope better and get more access to what he needed. They both still were there for each other, and every Sunday Peter would either visit her or she would come to him. This arrangement was also safer for May. In the event that people found out he was Spiderman, she would be less of a target.  

Peter still attended Midtown, despite the long commute, which was the very reason that his day had turned from better than average to horrible. School in itself wasn’t so bad, despite Flash’s best attempts to ruin it for him. No, it was the fact that his school had been granted an exclusive trip to the Avenger’s Compound for being the top high school in New York. Every year, the Avenger’s Compound was opened to twenty lucky students from the top high school, and this year it was Midtown. And since only twenty students were allowed on the trip, the twenty highest scoring students on the test that placed Midtown as the number one high school were awarded the spots on the trip. Peter, who had placed first, was one of those students.

Enter the reason his life was ending. He was going on a field trip to his house. The place he lived and worked and trained and ate and slept and where the Avengers, his weird super family, lived and worked and trained and ate and slept. The same family who would try to embarrass him at any given opportunity and who were fiercely protective of him. Which brought him to the next reason this was a disaster on all accounts, Flash had been the twentieth student to qualify for the field trip. The same Flash who tried to belittle Peter at every possible opportunity would be in the same building as Peter’s crazy protective super family. There was no way this field trip was going to end well for anyone involved.

After school ended, Peter patrolled around Queens for a good couple of hours. Just because he didn’t live there anymore didn’t mean he could just abandon it. Queens was still where he was from and he was still going to be the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Moving upstate hadn’t changed that. He stayed out a little longer than usual because he was trying to avoid going home. The sooner he went home, the sooner his family was going to find out about the trip, and the more time they’d have to work out their plan to embarrass him. He didn’t want that to happen, so he stayed out as long as he could. It was a Friday, so he usually was allowed out later anyways.

After receiving a phone call from Tony telling him that if he didn’t come home soon, he wasn’t going to get to eat dinner, Peter jumped in his car. Well, calling it his car might be a bit of a stretch. It was technically Tony’s car, but Tony had specialized it for him. Karen, Peter’s AI, could drive the car and also act as his companion and assistant. It was nice to have Karen there for the somewhat long commute to school and back Peter had to do every day. Peter having an automated car also made Happy a lot happier, as he no longer had to drop Peter off and then pick him up again. It saved the man a fair amount of driving. It also gave Peter a lot more freedom. Basically, it was a situation where everyone won.

The car pulled around to the front of the compound, and Peter jumped out. On Fridays and Wednesdays he took the employee entrance. That had been Pepper’s idea after Peter had been spotted by a Stark Industries employee. She had quickly taken control of the situation and said that Peter was Tony’s personal intern, which was more or less the original lie Mr. Stark had come up with. To solidify the lie, Peter now took the employee entrance twice a week. That way, in case anyone else saw Peter they would already know why he was there and not bother him. It also gave Peter the freedom to roam around the compound a bit more, and he had become friendly with the few privileged scientists who worked there.

So now when he entered the compound the receptionist knew him. She gave him a friendly smile and asked him if he was staying over again. At Peter’s nod, she shook her head and let him pass. He scanned his employee badge and FRIDAY read out Underoos and his clearance as level 10 and resident. Then, he went to the elevator to the residential levels, meeting in three different codes and going through the typical body scan. When the doors opened to the common room, Peter was greeted with the familiar sight of Clint and Sam playing Mario Kart.

“Hey Pete!” Clint greeted.

“Hey guys,” Peter paused briefly to look at the score. Sam was winning.

Peter shook his head and continued on his way to the kitchen.

When he opened the door, he was immediately concerned. Tony and Pepper were side by side, both glaring at something on Pepper’s Starkpad. Bucky was stress baking, and Steve was pacing. It was an altogether tense atmosphere and Peter immediately forgot all about the field trip. As he entered the room, everyone stopped what they were doing briefly. Pepper gave him a tired smile and beckoned him over.

“This came out just about ten minutes ago,” she showed him what she and Tony had been looking at. It was an article by the Daily Bugle. The cover photo was Tony with an arm slung over Peter’s shoulders. It seemed as though Peter had been in the process of turning his head, as his face was blurred. The title of the article read: Does Tony Stark Have a Teenage Son?

“Oh that’s not good,” Peter said.

Pepper glared at the article once more, “no, it’s not. We can’t have anyone looking too closely at you, Peter. They might start making the connections to your alter ego.”

“What are we going to do?” he asked.

“Well we already know who leaked the picture, and if they aren’t already in jail, they’re on their way. Funnily enough, it was the same man who wrote the article and he was just too stupid to not use an alias.” Tony smirked as he revealed the last bit.

“He was a reporter at a press conference I was giving. He had left the conference to snoop for information, and stumbled upon some. He didn’t trip FRIDAY’s security because he remained on a level he had access to and the picture wasn’t blocked because he had photograph privileges for the press conference,” Pepper explained.

“We’re amazingly lucky you happened to turn your head at just the right moment, kid,” Steve said.

“It’s probably because of my spidey sense,” Peter theorized.

“Whatever the case, they don’t know what you look like, so at least right now we are on top of the situation. Tony, Steve, and I will be holding a press conference in an hour.”

“All of you!?!?” Peter was astonished.

Pepper rolled her eyes lovingly at Tony, “it was just going to be Tony, but Rhodey pointed out that Tony on his own in a press conference is almost never a good idea. He never sticks to what I tell him to say, so I said I’d do it with him.”

“Uncle Rhodey is here?” Peter asked, excited.

“No, he just called in when he heard the news to get Pepper to stop me from doing something stupid.”

“I believe his exact words were “Pepper, you can’t let him hold a press conference on his own. By the end he’ll have told all he reporters that Peter is his biological child,”” Pepper rolled her eyes at Tony again.

Tony shrugged, “I can’t be trusted.”

Steve interjected, “I walked in while they were talking with Colonel Rhodes and volunteered to stand off to the side and be intimidating.”

Peter smiled at all of them, “thanks guys.”

“Also, we ordered dinner. I hope pizza night one night early is okay with you,” Tony said.

Peter didn’t get a chance to say whether it was or not before FRIDAY announced that a pizza delivery boy had just arrived at the compound. Peter pressed a button on his watch and his spider suit formed around him. Tony sent him an amused smirk, but Peter ignored him. Instead, he turned to Sam and Clint, who had just come barreling into the room. Clint was shooting Sam with a nerf bow, and Sam was running away and screaming. Peter deftly jumped onto the ceiling to avoid Sam. Pepper sighed deeply and grabbed the bow from Clint. It was at this moment that FRIDAY announced that the pizza delivery boy had entered the compound. Tony stood and went to go fetch the pizza. Peter scrambled after him on the ceiling.

“Ah finally,” Tony pulled out his wallet, “you can just set all of that on that table there. How much is it? Like three hundred bucks? Between the Capsicicle and Spider-Kid up there, it won’t be long before I’m no longer a billionaire. They’re going to eat their way through my money.”

“Actually, sir the pizza is only-“ the delivery boy began, but he was cut off by Tony shoving some bills in his hands.

“There you go, keep the change.”

“Thanks dude,” Peter said, still on the ceiling. His voice was deeper than usual, thanks to the voice disguising feature of the suit.

Peter jumped down from the ceiling and extracted the box he knew to be the deep dish pepperoni and cheese. Deep dish pepperoni was Clint’s pizza of choice, and Peter had yet to get back at Clint for putting cucumbers in his lemonade a few days ago. Peter despised cucumbers. As payback he planned on dumping hot sauce all over Clint’s pizza. He had made some clear hot sauce in the lab the other day, so he wouldn’t suspect a thing. Peter activated stealth mode on his suit and got back in the elevator and then crawled carefully across the ceiling of the kitchen to where he had hidden the hot sauce. He carefully dumped the sauce on all but one of the pieces, deactivated stealth mode and his suit and held up the slice of pizza that didn’t have the hot sauce.

“Wow this really looks like some delicious pizza,” Peter smirked over at where Clint was still trying to get the nerf bow back from Pepper.

“HEY!” Clint yelled and began chasing Peter around the kitchen. Peter had the advantage of both being younger and being able to climb on the ceiling and walls, so Clint really didn’t stand a chance.

“OKAY!” Pepper yelled, “EVERYONE SIT DOWN NOW.” Everyone quickly took a seat. “Peter, give Clint back his pizza, you have your own two boxes right here. Clint, you can have your bow back after we finish eating. FRIDAY, call Bruce up from his lab. Tell him dinner is ready and if he doesn’t come, shut off all power to the lab.”

Peter meekly handed Clint his pizza, and took his own two boxes of New York Style cheese.

“Now I think we should talk a little more about this press conference,” Pepper began.

Peter nodded thoughtfully, “Yeah, I have a question about that. Why are you holding one anyways?”

“We are going to give the people what they want, information about you,” Tony explained.

“Um, wasn’t that what we wanted to avoid?” Peter asked.

“Well, obviously we are  not going to tell them anything about you, only that you are Tony’s intern, and maybe show off a couple of projects you’ve helped out on so they see what you can do,” Pepper said patiently.

“Also, I’m going to threaten them all,” Tony added.

“And I’ll mention what a great kid you are and how all of the Avengers will not hesitate to protect you,” Steve chimed in.

Peter blushed, “you guys really don’t need to do all of this.”

“Sure we do, after all, I can’t have people going around thinking I have an illegitimate child,” Tony made a face, but everyone knew he was kidding.

Bruce came in and took a seat, grabbing a slice of pizza from one of Peter’s boxes. Peter and Bruce liked the same kind of pizza and since he had two whole boxes, he didn’t mind sharing. Peter began happily chowing down on his own slice of pizza, disappointed to see Clint was not even halfway done with the one normal slice of pizza. He would have to make sure to get a picture of the man’s face when he took the first bite if the special slices. That gave him an idea, “hey Pepper,” she looked up at him, “do you think it maybe might be a good idea if I made like a Stark Intern Twitter? I could post photos of like hanging out with you guys and lab work and stuff and it would be giving the people what they want, like you said, but without revealing my face.”

Pepper turned to look at Tony, and they had a silent conversation, “that’s actually a great idea kiddo,” Tony praised.

Pepper nodded, “go for it.”

Peter smiled at his two parental figures, and was about to say something else when Clint jumped out of his chair, screaming.

“WHAT IS ON THAT PIZZA?!?”

Steve frowned at him, “are you alright?”

Clint gagged, “oh my god. Someone get me some water.”

Nobody moved.

Sam hesitantly looked over Clint’s pizza, “there does seem to be some sort of strange liquid on this. I wonder if the pizza parlor tried to poison you?”

At that, Peter couldn’t hold it in any longer, he started laughing, “he isn’t being poisoned I just put hot sauce on his pizza.”

Tony laughed at Clint then, “aren’t you supposed to be a secret spy? Shouldn’t you be more aware of those kinds of things?”

Clint just grumbled.

“Speaking of spies, where’s Nat? She was here this morning, Wanda and Vision too.”

Steve looked over to Peter to answer his question, “Nat left this morning, some mission.”

Tony added on, “and Wanda and Vision are on some date weekend thingy,” he made a face.

Pepper slapped him gently, “it would be nice if you ever did that for me.”

Tony looked over at her in shock, “you barely agreed to go on a honeymoon because you were worried about work.”

“Oh really? I seem to remember it was you who didn’t want to go on a honeymoon because…”

And just like that, a familiar banter filled the kitchen. Peter pressed the button for his suit once more and whispered lowly, “hey, Fri, could you snap some pics and make it look like a person took them? I want a photo for the twitter I’m gonna make.”

FRIDAY didn’t respond, but Peter knew it was just so that no one else would be prepared for the photo. Once Peter was sure she had had enough time to get some good photos, he took off the suit again. No one had seemed to notice his clothing changes, proving once again that the Avengers were really not all that observant when Nat wasn’t around.

Peter pulled out his phone, “What do you think I should put in as my name for my new twitter?”

Clint shrugged, “personally I’m a huge fan of peter prankster.”

Peter rolled his eyes, “that’s already my personal and you know that.” None of the Avengers followed his personal account in the spirit of keeping a secret identity, but all of them “followed” him to some degree. Tony the most diligently, as any time Peter posted anything on any of his social media accounts, FRIDAY notified Tony so he could look at it.

“I know!” Peter had hit a stroke of genius, “it’s gonna be Science Dude!”

Tony nodded in approval.

“And the username is gonna be starkintern. You can all follow it after the press conference.”

Tony raised an eyebrow, “can we now?”

Peter stuck his tongue out, “everyone but you.”

“Speaking of the press conference, we have to get going,” Pepper prodded Tony in the back, “come on, you’ll need to get changed first.”

Tony rolled his eyes, “frankly, Pep, if I’m less than an hour late it’ll be on time for me.”

Pepper gave him an exasperated look and led the way from the room.

“Mario Kart rematch?” Sam asked.

“You’re on!”

Bruce and Peter both turned to the other, and then followed the two bird-theme heros to the common room. Bucky trailed after them, bringing the cookies he had made earlier. He silently offered them to each of the team members who were in the room, each who accepted and praised Bucky’s exceptional baking skill. Unfortunately, not even Bucky’s cookies could keep Sam from once more defeating Clint in Mario Kart, and another chase ensued. Bruce took the opportunity to put on the press conference. It had not started yet, as Tony had probably never been on time for a single event in his life. To pass the time until the conference would begin, Peter and Bruce began debugging a little robot that Peter had made last week.

Peter wasn’t sure how much time had passed when he heard Clint’s yell of, “it’s starting!” The hero then proceeded to jump onto the couch with a bowl of popcorn.

“Popcorn?” Bruce asked.

“You do know this isn’t a movie, right?” Peter confirmed.

Clint snorted, “it’s the next best thing. Press conferences with Tony are a wild ride.”

That being said, everyone directed their attention to the TV.

“Hello, everyone! You all already know who I am! And that’s going to make this so much easier! There’s a nasty rumor someone started about me having a teenage son, and while I can assure you that is absolutely false, I’d like to touch on the topic of the young boy whose picture started this. You see, Stark Industries has never had interns before, but I am happy to report that the boy in the photo is our very first! This young man had been my personal intern for a good while now, and that’s that. No son.”

Pepper gave the audience a winning smile, and picked on a girl near the back to ask a question.

“Stark Industries has never before had any interns in company history. Why this boy?”

Pepper nods to Tony subtly, giving him permission to answer.

“Well, the kid honestly impressed me. I saw some videos online of stuff he was doing, and I was like, I need to find this guy and hire him. I did track him down, but much to my shock he wasn’t even legally allowed to drink. Stark Industries has never really hired anyone who doesn’t have a college diploma before, and I couldn’t ask the kid to just...not go to school anymore and take a full time day job. But I also knew that he had unexplored potential. He was making things from parts salvaged from dumpsters that some of the engineers couldn’t hold a candle to. Insert the brilliant solution: I make the kid my intern. He has access to tech his peers would kill for, I get the credit for his inventions,” Tony laughed, “I’m totally kidding. Kid deserves all the credit. In fact, I brought along some of the things he’s helped to create. Since the world know about him now, might as well brag on him.”

Two assistants bring forward some tech Peter had created, a small robot with a camera and what looked like a little pen.

“So those two little inventions you’re looking at are actually only copies of the original designs my intern created. The robot is designed to help children in the foster system. It’s small so it can be easily transported and concealed. The idea is that the kids can have this little friend to take with them everywhere they go, while it also looks for signs that the foster parent may be abusive.” Tony took a brief swing of water, “and that other little pen thing is going to hopefully one day prevent heart attacks. Now, that guy I can’t let my intern take all the credit for as he actually has  had a lot of help from Bruce Banner and myself actually making it work, but the idea was all his and we all want it to become a reality.”

Pepper picked another person to ask a question.

“You mentioned that your intern made a robot to help foster kids, was he ever in the foster system?”

“No, but that doesn’t make him want to help those kids any less.”

Pepper gave Tony an approving glance, and started speaking for the first time, “that’s actually a great segway into what else we wanted to say. This kid does not want the spotlight on him. He prefers to remain anonymous and we fully support his decision. His existence becoming known at all was not intentional, and there will be no more unintentional leaks of information from us at Stark Industries.”

“I would like to remind everyone watching this that I am Tony Stark and that I have never hesitated in using my resources to my advantage, and this situation is no different. Anyone who leaks information about him without his consent will be severely punished.”

Steve then stepped forward, “I too, would like to remind the people watching of something. Tony’s intern is a wonderful young man who I have had the great pleasure of spending a good amount of time with. I will not hesitate to protect him and his identity, and neither will the rest of the Avengers.”

“All that being said, my intern is excited to see what the world thinks of him, and is watching this press conference right now. There is a good chance that he will share a little more about what he does as my intern at some point in the future, and you may all look forward to that.”

Pepper, Tony, and Steve then all left the press conference room.

The moment Tony entered the common room, Peter tackled him in a hug, “you were amazing!”

Tony chuckled, “thanks, kiddo.”

“I do think that was one of your most successful press conferences to date,” Pepper praised.

“Movie night?” Peter asked.

It was Sunday before Peter got around to actually posting any of the photos from dinner on Friday night. While in the car on his way to visit May, Peter had Karen download the photos FRIDAY had taken from pizza night. He then looked through them all and picked out what he thought was the best one. Pepper was yelling at Tony, and he was in turn looking at her like she had hung the moon. Clint was staring at his pizza in disgust. Bucky was next to Steve, arms crossed over his chest in what Peter knew to be his relaxed position, but he looked intimidating to anyone who didn’t know that. Steve was lecturing Sam on something, probably the fact that he was eating two slices of pizza at once. Bruce was looking at something on a Stark Tablet and Peter, in his Spiderman suit had a piece of pizza in one hand, and in the other, he had thrown up a peace sign. Peter had done that intentionally, hoping FRIDAY would capture it so it looked more like someone had taken the photo.

Science Dude @starkintern

I think one of the most FAQs about the Avengers is how they act when they are at home...the answer is pretty much the same. @cptamerica gives daily PSA’s, @hawkeye is a failure, and @pepperpotts doesn’t take crap from anyone.

(img)

Almost instantly, Peter’s phone lit up with a notification.

Tony Stark @iamironman

Replying to @starkintern

What’s this about Cap and PSA’s?

Science Dude @starkintern

Replying to @starkintern @iamironman

He did a bunch of PSA’s about like health and sex ed and other stuff. They show them in schools all over New York, I think.

Tony Stark @iamironman

Replying to @starkintern @iamironman

We’re watching these for movie night tonight @cptamerica get ready

Captain America @cptamerica

Replying to @starkintern @iamironman

@starkintern you traitor! You said you wouldn’t tell Tony!

Science Dude @starkintern

Replying to @starkintern @iamironman @cptamerica

Whoops.

Peter smiled to himself and turned off his phone. Almost immediately, it began exploding with notifications. It seemed as though people had noticed that Tony and Steve had been interacting with him. Peter glanced out the window and saw he still had some time before he would be at May’s apartment. He decided to reply to a few of the people who had tweeted at him.

Taylor Shane @tayshay

Replying to @starkintern

Hawkeye’s face is hilarious. I’m dying.

Science Dude @starkintern

Replying to @starkintern @tayshay

I put hot sauce on his pizza ;)

Spider-Fan @spidermanNYC_

Replying to @starkintern

SPIDER-MAN IS IN THAT PHOTO. DOES HE HAVE A TWITTER?!?!?!?!

Science Dude @starkintern

Replying to @starkintern @spidermanNYC_

I don’t think so. If he does I don’t know what it is, but I’ll ask him next time he drops by the compound when I’m there.

Spider-Fan @spidermanNYC_

Replying to @starkintern @spidermanNYC_

OHMYGOD Tony Stark’s intern REPLIED TO ME. AND HE FINALLY ANSWERED THE QUESTION I’VE BEEN ASKING THE AVENGERS FOR MONTHS. AND HE SAID HE’D ASK FOR SPIDER-MAN’S TWITTER!!!

Peter smiled at the enthusiasm from his fan and shut off his phone once more. Responding to two comments was probably good enough. His phone continued to have a heart attack on his lap, though, and that was really getting annoying. He opened back up his twitter and messed with his notification settings so that he would only get notified when people he followed interacted with his account. He then proceeded to follow all of the Avengers.

Peter jumped out of the car as it approached May’s apartment, and it drove off without him to park itself somewhere. He then bounded up the steps three at a time, and knocked on May’s door, excited to see his aunt again.

Chapter Text

Peter woke to the sound of his alarm beeping.

“Ugh. Karen turn that off,” he mumbled.

“Peter, I suggest you wake up now instead of falling back asleep as you usually do,” his AI advised.

He groaned, and as he went to fall back asleep, his alarm began blaring. “KAREN!” he complained.

“In my latest update, several new features were added. This is the “Get Spider-Baby out of Bed” protocol. It is designed to help you reach school in a timely fashion.”

Peter sighed and sat up, “Karen, put FRIDAY through to my room.”

“Hello, Peter,” FRIDAY greeted.

“Hi, Fri. Can you please tell Tony he is the absolute worst mentor in the entire universe.”

“That seems unusually harsh for you Peter, are you sure?”

“Yes.”

And with that, Peter started to get ready for his day. He picked out a science pun T-Shirt, threw it on and headed out to the kitchen. Usually only Nat was awake at this time of day, but since she was gone, Peter was on his own. He threw in a couple of pop tarts from his stash (every Avenger liked a different flavor and none of them ever made breakfast). While he waited for them to pop up, he finished a math sheet he hadn’t done over the weekend. As he went to put it back in his bag, he noticed the permission slip. Which was due today. Yikes.

“Fri wake Tony up, tell him I need him to sign something for school.”

“Right away, Peter.”

By the time Peter had finished his pop tarts, both Tony and Pepper had stumbled into the kitchen, bleary eyed. Peter had quickly explained the situation to them both, and Tony signed the slip under the false name that they had given to the school with the promise to discuss the field trip when Peter got back from school. He then hugged the both of them goodbye and went to hop into the private elevator. Instead, he crashed right into Bucky, who had been walking right in front of the elevator. Peter apologized profusely before getting in, not dwelling on the oddness of the situation. The elevator swiftly descended to the private entrance, which was much more secure than the normal entrance. As he exited, his car pulled up. He put his hand on the handle and paused while the car did its security checks. The door then popped open, and he slid into the backseat.

Seeing as he didn’t have any homework, Peter decided to take a quick nap on the way to school. He asked Karen to put the car into sleep mode, laid back and shut his eyes.

When Karen woke him up, Peter was twenty minutes late for school, and he wasn’t even quite there yet. It really was some sort of miracle that Chemistry, his best subject, was also his first hour class. Since he was so late, Karen dropped him off at the front entrance. As he got out of the car, a slip of paper printed. He grabbed it quickly and rushed to the front office. He skidded to the attendance office, and handed the attendance lady the slip.

She read the note, “Peter, this is the third time this month you’ve been tardy. And by 30 minutes?”

He winced, “traffic is really bad.”

“Yes I can see here that you were held up by a large accident. This note is very detailed, by the way. I don’t understand how your guardian can have time to write these notes, but not to sign you in.”

Peter gave her a polite smile, “my da-Tony writes as he drives. He’s perfected the art of writing without looking. It kind of scares me to be honest.” Peter inwardly smacked himself for almost calling Tony his dad. His traitorous brain has been thinking that all too often lately, what with the extra hugs and just general bonding time.

“Maybe you should start leaving earlier?” The office lady suggested, freeing Peter from his thoughts.

Peter sighed, “I already leave an hour and a half early.”

She raised an eyebrow at him, “right. How far upstate are you supposed to live again?”

“Um...not like super far but anyways I better get to class unless I want to miss the whole lesson.”

Peter then scurried down the hallway and slipped into his chemistry classroom.

“Mr. Parker, how nice of you to join us,” his teacher intoned drily.

“I thought he wasn’t going to show his face after the news,” Flash taunted.

“What news?” Peter asked. Had something happened while he was napping?

Flash laughed mockingly, “why, the news that Tony Stark does actually have an intern. He has a Twitter and everything. He actually responded to me on it,” Flash bragged.

Peter knew for a fact that he had not, in fact, responded to Flash. He hadn’t seen any comments from his classmates, and even if he had, he wouldn’t have responded in the sake of keeping his identity secret. Unless… Unless by some crazy twist of fate Flash had owned the Spider-Man fan account. Of course. As if his life wasn’t screwed up enough as it was.

“Hey, Parker! I’m still talking to you! I asked what excuse you’re gonna come up with when you decide you don’t want some responsibility now. You gonna play the dead parent card? Or maybe the card you played when you missed that month of school? What was that again? Oh, yeah, that you were having ‘anxiety attacks’.”

Several kids laughed.

“Flash, that is quite enough,” the teacher reprimanded.

Peter simply quietly sat down and opened his notebook. He didn’t really need to take notes, as he had known most of the material since he was twelve, but Peter liked to pretend for his teacher’s sake. Ned flashed him a sympathetic smile. Peter smiled back at his best friend. Yeah, high school sucked, but at least he had Ned. Barely ten minutes had passed before they were all packing up again. MJ stepped into stride with Ned and Peter as the students spilled into the hallway.

“You’re late again,” MJ commented, “third time this month.”

Peter blushed and made up a lie about oversleeping.

MJ raised an eyebrow at him, “right. Or maybe you were coming from upstate and got caught behind that massive crash.”

“Whaaaat. Why would I be coming from upstate?”

“Whatever, loser,” and with that, she turned and went down the hallway to the right, flipping them off as she went.

Ned and Peter looked at each other, shrugged, and each went to their next classes.

After school, MJ had scheduled a decathlon practice, so Peter sent a quick text to Tony letting him know that he was coming home after it ended. He then made his way to the room quickly, MJ was a bit of a taskmaster and she always started exactly on time. Peter was one of the first people there, no Flash or Ned yet. He slipped into a seat next to MJ. He was one of the only people who could do that without facing severe repercussions. He and Ned had recently started inviting MJ to their movie marathons, and she in turn had sat with them at lunch and showed them some of her drawings. She had quite the collection of drawings of Peter in distress, which Peter was slightly concerned about as it meant he was frequently in distress.

“You managed to be on time,” she quipped.

“Don’t get used to it,” Flash joked as he enters the room.

No one laughed. The decathlon team had long since stopped thinking Flash’s quips about Peter funny. Flash must have forgotten about that after a successful day of taunting Peter, though. He had made many jabs about Peter having a fake internship, all the while boasting about how Tony Stark’s intern had replied to his comment and how he was in line to be the next intern because of that. Peter mostly just rolled his eyes and brushed it off. After all, he was the one with Tony Stark as his legal guardian, right? Right. No need to let Flash bother him, he already had more than he could have ever hoped for, his life couldn’t be perfect.

Ned arrived last to practice, with thirty seconds to spare. MJ gave him a disapproving glare as he sank into his seat next to Peter, and then began drilling them all. They had already gone through all the political science questions by the time Mr. Harrington arrived. He was now well used to the team already being productive before he arrived. Liz was a great captain, but she wasn’t as fear-inspiring as MJ. One glare from the girl and the team did pretty much whatever she said.

This was why there was no talk of the upcoming field trip during practice time. All of the decathlon kids had qualified for the trip, to no one’s surprise, so it really would be more like a decathlon trip with a few other random kids thrown in. Assuming they could still go on the field trip, that was. Tony tended to be a little overprotective and Peter wouldn’t put it past him to simply cancel the whole trip. The decathlon team did not know that though, and after practice all anyone could talk about was the upcoming trip.

“Hey Parker! You have your newest fake internship lined up for when we all prove once and for all that you’re a liar?” Flash taunted.

“And what makes you think that Peter isn’t telling the truth?” MJ asked.

“Because that press conference was the first time that Iron Man and Captain America had been seen on camera together for years. Whoever the intern is, he’s someone special, and you’re anything but.”

“I am afraid that after the recent media storm, the school is going to need more than the few documents you provided as proof of your internship. The school was not aware that Stark Industries did not take interns,” Mr. Harrington seemed sympathetic.

“Ohhhhh-Okay sir,” Peter mumbled.

“I should also warn you that if you don’t provide the proof the school wants, they will have grounds for expulsion, and as much as I don’t want that to happen, I’m afraid there isn’t much I can do.”

Peter merely nodded and ducked out of the room.

Both Ned and Flash followed him out of the room and down the hallway, but Peter ignored them both and headed outside, intending to find his car and just go home. The moment he opened the door, however, he knew his day was going to be much more complicated. His car was parked in the pick-up circle, and Steve was a few feet away, talking on the phone. Luckily, he was disguised. He was wearing a long black trench coat, a black fedora, and dark sunglasses. On the plus side, no one was going to know he was Captain America, but he’d probably cause just as large of a commotion dressed like that. Steve raised a hand in greeting and then ended his phone call saying, “Tony, the kid’s here, we will deal with this as soon as we get back.”

Peter was only half aware of Flash and Ned behind him as he rushed down the steps.

“What are you doing here?” Peter asked urgently.

“Isn’t it obvious? They’re here to collect you for claiming to be someone you aren’t,” came Flash’s obnoxious voice.

“Would you like me to kill him?” came Bucky’s voice, “he does not get to speak to you like that and get away with it.”

“No! No killing today! Killing children is illegal! We’ve talked about this!” Peter yelped.

Ned’s eyes had gone wide with awe as he likely guessed who was in front of him, and was of no use to Peter, simply standing star struck.  

“Maiming?” Bucky asked hopefully, pulling out three knives and a gun.

“No!” Peter exclaimed, “that’s also illegal!”

Flash at least had the decency to look terrified, but managed to squeak out a sentence anyway. “Right. So how much did Peter pay you? Oh wait, he doesn’t have any money, what kind of slave labor did he do for you?”

Bucky growled and Peter jumped in front of him, “it’s fine. He really doesn’t bother me. Please can we just go?”

Steve nodded, then turned to Ned, “you must be Ned, Peter’s spoken very highly of you.”

“Y-y-yes yessir, that’s me,” Ned mumbled out in awe.

With that, Steve, Bucky, and Peter all clambered into the car and sped off.

“What was that?” Peter asked, not quite angry.

“Tony was worried about you, and wanted to pick you up just in case anyone had worked out your identity, but Pepper told him he had an absolutely mandatory meeting, so he enlisted us.”

“And the disguises?”

“Clint’s idea. He said we’d both scare off any potential snoopers and also keep our identities secret.”

“No! No! No! This is why you never listen to Clint! No one who isn’t in the movies actually wears stuff like that. It just attracts more attention,” Peter sighed then added under his breath, “honestly.”

Steve just chuckled, and took off the ridiculous outfit, Bucky following his lead. Peter simply shook his head and sat back into the seat.

“Karen, what’s on my to-do list?”

“Tony has requested to see you as soon as you get home. You have 5 unread text messages from Ned, one unread text message from “Decathlon Group Chat”, three homework assignments determined “critical”, five homework assignments determined “non-critical”, 1 unmuted twitter notification, and 999+ muted Twitter notifications.”

Peter had already typed out a reply to Ned when Steve asked, “did you just...talk to the car?”

“Um kinda. This car and pretty much all my stuff is run by my A.I., Karen. Say hi to Steve, Karen.”

“Hello Steve,” she greeted smoothly.

“Tony made her for me to like watch over me in my suit and like help me out, but now she is also on my phone, in my room, in my car, and on all my other Stark tech stuff. Oh, and obviously on my watch, too, since my suit kinda can come from there. She used to like report everything I did back to Tony, but I finally got him to agree to drop that feature, so now he only gets updates if I say he can or if Karen decides I’m in danger.”

“And he claims he doesn’t have a favorite,” Bucky said sardonically.

Peter blushed, and changed the topic quickly, “Karen, mark 999+ muted Twitter notifications as seen.”

“Done. May I suggest you make another post? Your last one seemed to go over very well.”

“Um, okay. Steve, Bucky, mind if I take a picture of you guys?” Peter asked.

Bucky and Steve exchanged a look, “go ahead Peter,” Steve agreed.

Both Steve and Bucky agreed to pretend like they had no idea Peter was taking the photo as he explained to them that he wanted it to seem natural. When they got in position, Peter pulled out his phone and grabbed a quick shot. You couldn’t see either of Steve or Bucky’s faces super clearly, as Steve was attempting to look like he was driving, and Bucky was staring out the window, but Peter was reasonably sure that everyone would recognize the two Avengers all the same. It was a good photo, and it really did look candid, which was the effect Peter had been going for. Steve and Bucky both then relaxed again, and Peter opened up his Twitter.

Science Dude @starkintern

Sometimes, life is crazy. Today @cptamerica and @winterjbb showed up to shuttle me to @iamironman’s lab!

(img)

Tony Stark @iamironman

Replying to @starkintern

Aww shucks, kiddo. And I thought we’d gotten past the hero worship.

Science Dude @starkintern

Replying to @starkintern @iamironman

I don’t think we’re ever going to get past that stage, you’re always going to be my hero.

Tony Stark @iamironman

Replying to @starkintern @iamironman

Even if one day Iron Man gets so old he can’t fly around anymore?

Science Dude @starkintern

Replying to @starkintern @iamironman

1. That day is never going to happen.
2. Yes, of course. Even then.

Pepper Stark-Potts @pepperpotts

Replying to @starkintern @iamironman

While seeing Tony crying tears of joy on the ground is both frightening and heartwarming, @starkintern you have work to do, and so do you @iamironman

Science Dude @starkintern

Replying to @starkintern @iamironman @pepperpotts

Getting right on it!

Tony Stark @iamironman

Replying to @starkintern @iamironman @pepperpotts

Just for the record, @pepperpotts is exaggerating. I was not crying on the ground. I dropped a wrench and had to find it.

Pepper Stark-Potts @pepperpotts

Replying to @starkintern @iamironman @pepperpotts

Sure.

Peter then turned back to Steve and Bucky, who were both expressing befuddlement at how bad New York Traffic had gotten since they were young. That left Peter to wonder, not for the first time, how hard it must be for them to have come back to an entirely alien time period. All things considered, Peter thought they were doing pretty well.

“So how long were you waiting outside the school?” Peter asked. His sleek black car wasn’t exactly inconspicuous.

“Not very long,” Steve replied, “Tony informed us of your practice after school, so we came maybe ten minutes before you were supposed to get out.”

Peter nodded, “well that’s a relief.”

Bucky turned back to him, “we will need to talk about that boy, though.”

Peter sighed, “It’s really not that big of a deal. His insults aren’t even that creative.”

Steve shook his head, “that doesn’t mean they’re not hurtful.”

“It’s really fine,” Peter reassured him.

“If you say so,” said Steve.

Peter opened back up his twitter, seeing that already a lot of people had replied to him.

Elizabeth @flowergirl3847

Replying to @starkintern

He got picked up by CAPTAIN AMERICA! I’m so jealous I can’t even. I wonder who else he’s met?

Science Dude @starkintern

Replying to @starkintern @flowergirl3847

I’ve met all the Avengers, but so far the only other person to pick me up from school is Tony.

Science Dude @starkinterning

Replying to @starkintern

What’s the best part of being Tony’s intern? Follow me please!

Science Dude @starkintern

Replying to @starkintern @starkinterning

The best part about being Mr. Stark’s intern is all the cool tech I get to use. Also, I admire your dedication, not even a week into the public knowing I exist and I already have fan accounts. That’s nuts!

Jaaaaack Woods @jjwoodsyjj

Replying to @starkintern

How’d you even become an intern in the first place? How old are you?

Science Dude @starkintern

Replying to @starkintern @jjwoodsyjj

Like Mr. Stark said in the press conference, he found me on YouTube. I still don’t know how he tracked me down, cuz none of the videos had my name!

Having answered what he deemed to be a sufficient number of replies, Peter turned to his school work. He had figured out long ago that nights at the compound were rarely distraction free, and it was best to do as much work as possible before arriving there. Besides, it wasn’t as though his work was particularly hard. After all, he worked alongside some of the greatest minds of the century in his free time, and high school calculus wasn’t really a match for what Tony, Bruce, or Shuri could drop on you in a normal conversation.

Before Peter had even realized, Karen was pulling the car around to what Peter affectionately called the “secret back entrance” of the compound. The normal person simply saw a back wall, but anyone with high enough clearance to do so knew there was a special spot that when their hand was placed upon it, would open a door to yet even more security checks. Peter did the honors of opening the door, and the three of them stepped through, walking through the scanners on their way to the elevator.

When the elevator doors open to the common room, Peter is greeted by an odd sight. All of the Avengers who are not currently away on business, plus Pepper and Happy are sitting on the couches, looking varying degrees of angry. Pepper is the first to see them, and she rushes over to Peter and hugs him, clearly emotional. The first thing Peter thinks is that May is dead. But no, this must be something else, or they wouldn’t have let him stay at school all day.

“What’s going on?” Peter asks, lest he jump to any more conclusions.

Steve puts a hand on Peter’s shoulder, “this morning, as you left for school, Bucky bugged you.”

“Bugged me? As in like he put a listening device on me?” Peter asked, remembering the odd collision with abrupt clarity.

Tony shrugged, “technically it was a video device, made by yours truly, but yeah.”

“Why?” Peter was confused, but he was staring to understand what was happening and why all the Avengers looked like they were out for blood.

“In case someone found out,” Pepper explained.

Tony sighed, “kiddo, how long has this been going on?”

“The bullying or the fact that people think I’m a liar?” Peter asks jokingly. His joke is met with exactly zero laughs.

He sighs, “Flash has always been pretty crappy. He doesn’t like the fact that I need a scholarship to go the school. But honestly, it’s not that bad, and I’d rather it was me than some other kid, “ Peter tries to reassure his makeshift family.

“And the thing with the lying?” Sam asks.

Peter sighs again, “since pretty much the first time I ever had to miss something for Spiderman and I told them the excuse story of the internship.”

Tony looks downright murderous.

“But really, it’s not even like it’s their fault! I mean, it is pretty unbelievable, especially now.”

Pepper steps in, “well, here’s what we’re going to do. I have legal working on some exhaustingly thorough NDA’s. Your classmates are going to sign them all before your trip on Friday, and then they’re going to have the most interesting tour of the Avengers Tower ever.”

“Really-” Peter began, but Pepper cut him off, “they also are making a nice fat stack to give to your teachers, whom we are going to tell exactly who you are. If anyone EVER, and I mean EVER says or even implies that you are not an intern here after Friday and the school takes no action, they will be closed down and none of them will ever get another respectable job.”

“Guys-” Peter begins, but he is once more cut off.

“Nope, nope, nope,” Tony says, “I will not tolerate anyone saying anything like that to you again. Threatening expulsion?” Tony is livid, “no way. No one gets to harm my kid.”

“Or my brother,” Wanda adds, coming over and threading her fingers through Peter’s hair.

“Or my nephew,” Rhodey adds.

A chorus of agreements rings out, and Peter doesn’t think he’s ever been this happy in his life. And then, “or my fiancé.”

Peter whips around to Shuri cackling madly, and he groans, “when are you ever going to drop that.”

“Never,” is her response. He tackles her in a hug anyways.

“When did you even get here?”

“Wanda called me when they first started seeing what the people at your school were saying. I jumped on a jet and got here shortly after.”

Peter sighed.

“We already ordered Chinese, and it’s on the table,” Tony informed Peter, “so if you’re done with your feeble attempts to stop us, can we eat?”

Peter sighed and acquiesced.

Everyone filed into the kitchen, taking their usual spaces except for Shuri who took over Nat’s spot while she was out of town. Not for the first time, Peter wondered what the restaurants thought while making all of this food. Tony ordered enough to feed a small army as Peter and Steve could eat at least three or four times what a normal human could, and Wanda had an unusual affinity for Chinese and would eat nearly as much, especially on days when she had been using her powers.

Once everyone had settled in, Shuri turned to Peter, “so have you seen all the conspiracy theories out there about you?”

“No?”

“Well I have, and let me say, they’re great.”

“What are they?” Peter asked.

“Well the first is that you’re Stark’s illegitimate son, obviously. But there’s also one that Stark’s intern and Spiderman are one and the same.”

Pepper looked up at that, “We will have to deal with that one. But first, let’s get through this field trip.”

General noises of agreement were made.

“Another is that you are just some PR ploy. And then things get interesting. People have said you’re being held against your will by the Avengers and are not allowed to leave the tower. Yet another says you’re Natasha’s secret love child with Bucky. And finally, we have the rumor that you’re actually an AI gone wrong that Stark Industries is frantically trying to cover up. And those are just the most normal ones.”

Peter shook his head softly, amazed at what people could believe.

“Well, kiddies. Who wants to do some lab work?” Tony’s question was met with enthusiasm from both Peter and Shuri.

Even though Wakanda had far superior tech, Tony’s lab was still pretty advanced. Shuri had graciously told him that his lab was the most advanced non-Wakandan lab. Peter and Shuri mostly messed around, doing stupid things like creating bots to recreate specific vines. Tony often said it was a waste of genius, which fundamentally was probably true, but Shuri and Peter enjoyed it anyway. They did also create some other more significantly beneficial tech, so it was fine.

They passed the rest of the night drafting plans for a robot that Peter was going to give to Ned as a birthday present.

Chapter Text

The rest of the week passed in the same fashion, Flash being Flash at school, thankfully no Avengers picking him up, patrol, and then dinner and lab time with Shuri.

Finally, it was Friday morning. Peter left even more time than usual before school, because he knew he HAD to be on this field trip, no matter how much he was dreading whatever the Avengers had planned. It was a good thing he’d added the extra time too, as he skidded into line right as the teacher, Mr. Dyxt, called his name. He yelled out a “here” and boarded the bus. Ned had already boarded, and saved him a spot. MJ was just in front of them. No one had dared sit next to her.

“You trying to ditch, loser?” MJ asked.

“I wish,” Peter murmured.

“It’s cuz of the internship, right?”

Peter sighed, “you don’t believe me either?”

MJ smirked, “on the contrary, I have no doubt you’re telling the truth, and brought my notebook to draw Flash’s face when he realizes you were telling the truth the whole time.”

Ned snickers.

MJ turns back around, and the bus jolts into motion.

Peter puts in earbuds and settles back to take a nap. Before he knows it, Ned is shaking him awake. Ned’s been to the compound twice, so the look of awe on his face really shouldn’t be there at this point. There is a big white tent outside the compound, and Peter isn’t even surprised at how extra Tony can be. They are all herded off the bus by security, and led into the tent. Happy sticks close to Peter’s side, mumbling about what a terrible idea this is. Happy pretends to do all the security checks all the other kids are getting, then waves Peter through a scanner that’s been disabled. As soon as Peter passes through, Happy re-enables the scanner.

It’s not too long before everyone has passed the first security, and they are gathered into a new room, and told to take a seat in the chairs. A hologram of Tony appears on the stage. There are murmurs of excitement throughout the students, excepting Peter and MJ, of course.

“Hello Midtown,” Tony’s hologram greets, “now I have to be honest with you, I was very very tempted to cancel this tour after recent events. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. But the whole reason we even offer this tour is because, frankly, we like to offer smart kids some reward for being stressed out 99% of the time,” there’s laughter, “and so we decided to instead hit you with I think 30 some pages of Non-Disclosure Agreements. I hope you looked over those very well, because there are several classified things you will be seeing on this tour and should you mention those in any shape or form, the whole school will be shut down, and no one from it will ever get into college! Have a great trip!” And with that, the hologram disappeared.

Happy stepped up to the platform, “if anyone sees themselves as a risk to potentially exposing information, you can still leave. If not, please proceed through that door, and welcome to the Avenger’s Compound!”

No one leaves, but they all look distinctly more terrified than before.

The class files into the impressive lobby of the Avengers Compound. The floor to ceiling windows and artful decor steals the attention of all of the students, as well as Mr. Dyxt. Peter does his best to stop from groaning, and takes a few deep breaths to calm his nerves. It’s not like he’s telling his classmates he’s Spider-Man, just that he’s Tony Stark’s intern, which they already knew. He’d be fine.

While Peter was busy getting over his nerves, a girl who’s name Peter knew to be Sammie had come up to them. Sammie was in her late twenties, but she was by far the youngest actual employee at the compound. Despite this, she was still one of the best PR people in the company simply because she was so sweet and nice to everyone, but was masterful at getting her way. It made sense that she would lead the tour.

“Hello Midtown!” Sammie called in a cheery voice, “welcome to the Avengers Compound! I’m Sammie, your tour guide.”

Peter’s classmates cheered.

“Before we get started, I’d like to talk to you all a bit about our security here. This building is one of the most secure in the world, as the Avengers live here and they tend to attract a lot of threats. Since we do have employees who work here, they need to be as safe as possible, hence the intense security. The stuff you went through outside was just for today for you guys because you all don’t have our normal badges that allow clearance,” Sammie flashed hers, “these babies have coding in them that identifies our genetic makeup, and are also fingerprint activated for a clearance level above 5.”

Here she paused for a breath, “We have ten levels of security here, the lowest being 1 and the highest as 10. Level one is what you guys will get when I hand out the badges. Level ones cannot go anywhere unsupervised, and can’t get in to most of the labs. We use these badges for our tours, since you won’t be going anywhere unsupervised anyway. Level two is our badge for the press, as it allows them some photography clearance, level one does not get to take pictures. Level two badges used to have access to press floors, but after the photo leak this weekend, they no longer do. Level three badges are for friends and family of workers. Their badges are tied to the employee who requested it for them, and they can go anywhere that the employee does so long as the room isn’t marked as confidential. Then level four is for general staff. Level four has access to the most basic labs and work spaces as well as the cafeteria. Five is almost the same, except they are allowed in a couple more areas. Six again, nearly the same, only a couple more areas. Seven is allowed into a few confidential rooms, and then eight is the highest employee badge. They are allowed in all the lab and work spaces, even the most confidential. All of the Avengers have a level nine clearance, which allows them into the living quarters. And then 10 is for Tony Stark himself, who doesn’t technically need a badge, but has one for ease should he want to go visit any other Stark Industries buildings around the world. All the level ten and nine people don’t technically need badges, actually, and there is rumor that they use a secret entrance that doesn’t require a badge to get in. The other people with level ten are Pepper Potts, Colonel Rhodes, and Tony Stark’s intern. Any questions?”

No one had any.

“Okay then, thank god that’s over. When I call your name, please come get your badge.”

Sammie made her way through the list and handed out badges to each of his classmates. Peter did not get a badge, but that was part of the plan.

“You see that my badge is a lot different than all of yours. That’s because I have a level seven. It’s the highest badge anyone employed in the PR section can have. Mine is able to be fingerprint activated, and if I ever leave Stark Industries, it will have to be destroyed. When you guys leave, your badges will be held, as we never re-print a badge. If you ever come back, we will simply pull your badge from our archives, and activate it with the level security you need. Okay, now who wants to go through the scanner first?”

Of course, Flash pushed his way to the front. A robotic voice read him out as Eugene Thompson, visitor level one. A few more kids filed through, and then it was Ned’s turn. He scanned his badge, and it identified him as Ned Leeds, visitor level three. The whole class stared at him in shock, and Ned just awkwardly shifted his weight. The rest of the kids filed through, and then it was Peter’s turn. He took a deep breath, pulled out his badge, activated it, and swiped it.

“Underoos, level ten clearance. Resident,” FRIDAY announced, “Mr. Leeds, your badge has been accepted as companion to Peter.”

The whole class turned to Peter, disbelief written on their faces, “I did tell you guys I was Mr. Stark’s intern,” he mumbled weakly.

Betty gaped at him, “you got picked up from school by Captain America???”

Ned nods enthusiastically, “I was there! Captain America and the Winter Soldier were at Midtown, and they were wearing trench coats! It was so awesome!”

Sammie laughs, “and now you know why you were bombarded with NDAs.”

Flash scoffs, “so this is all a dumb PR stunt, Tony Stark mentors poor orphan from Queens?”

Sammie shakes her head, “if it was, we would have made Peter’s existence known to the world when he first started working here. The employees didn’t even know he existed until like 6 months ago, though he’s been working with Tony Stark since he was a sophomore.”

“I told you guys!” Ned exclaims, and several people hand him money.

Peter would laugh at his best friends antics if he wasn’t so busy being stared at.

“Anyway,” Sammie continues, “the tour starts in the exhibition room, if you will follow me into the elevator.”

The elevator climbed swiftly to the exhibition hall, and the doors opened to glass cases dedicated to each of the Avengers. The kids begin flocking to their favorite hero’s display case. MJ heads for the Black Widow exhibit, and Peter and Ned follow dutifully. Hanging out with MJ will discourage people from coming up to ask Peter questions, the girl is scary . Plus, Nat is definitely the most impressive superhero, she’s literally just an incredibly deadly normal person. And, she’s also the only mildly competent Avenger, as far as you know, basic observing skills.

The class spends a good twenty or so minutes in the exhibition hall. They even have a display case dedicated to Spider-Man. Ned and Peter are endlessly excited about this. MJ, not so much. She simply stares at them, eyebrow raised in judgement. The display cases are pretty generic, replicas of each of the Avenger’s costumes, with some replica weapons, and a few blurbs of text on each item, and then one larger blurb on the Avenger themselves.

The next room they see is the press room, and the students are decidedly less entertained by this. Sammie explains how it is more convenient to have a press conference room on site as it is easier to control the narrative, and they can pick which reporters they want.

The class is not really enthralled, and some kid who Peter doesn’t know asks the burning question, “will we meet the Avengers today?”

Sammie shakes her head, “I’ve never led a tour where anyone meets any of the Avengers, except once in a while Tony Stark. I’ve only ever met a few of them at all, but today we have Peter, and I’ve never seen him without seeing an Avenger close by.”

All eyes turn to Peter. “They’re a little protective,” Peter shrugs.

The class then heads out of the press room and down the hall, turning into a meeting room. Sammie has a demonstration set up, and explains a bit about what she does, talking about how she has to try to keep the populace always in favor of the Avengers. She was in the middle of explaining why her job is a full time job when FRIDAY interrupted her.

“Peter, the Spider-Mom protocol is in effect.”

Whispers break out across the class, and someone asks, “what’s the Spider-Mom protocol?”

Sammie looks just as confused, “I have absolutely no idea.”

Peter speaks up, “um, it’s okay. Just ignore it.”

Sammie nods and continues giving her presentation.

She’s just wrapping up and asking if anyone has questions when the door flies open with a bang. The students, a few of whom Peter thought were likely sleeping, jumped out of their seats in shock.

“PETER BENJAMIN PARKER!” came Nat’s angry yell.

Peter stands up, the eyes of his classmates once more glued to him, “um, yeah?” he asks, slightly sheepish.

“What are you doing not in school? And what could be so important that you’d ignore my summons?”

Peter scratches the back of his neck, “um, I’m kinda on a field trip with my school. To, uh, here?”

Nat looks around her, “yes I noticed the teenage aura. I assume this was Tony’s idea, after the footage Barnes saw?”

“How did you know about that, but not the field trip?”

Nat waves a hand, “Spider-Mom protocol. FRIDAY not only summons you for me after I’ve been gone for more than three days, but also tells me any major updates on your well-being. I know about the article, saw that one even undercover overseas, and FRIDAY showed me the highlights from the footage.”

Peter sighs, “тебе не нужно так сильно беспокоиться обо мне. Я в порядке.” ((You don’t need to worry so much about me. I’m fine.))

“Для чего еще твоя мама-паук?” ((What else would your Spider-Mom be for?))

Peter gives her a genuine smile and Nat opens her arms. He gives her a hug, hoping it will convey his message well enough, “Я люблю тебя, малыш паук,” she whispers to him. ((I love you, baby spider.))

It’s probably for the best that none of his classmates speak Russian, it would be hard to explain both the Black Widow’s domestic side and his nickname being baby spider.

“Okay, what the heck is going on here?” Mr. Dyxt asks.

Peter turns back to the room. Every single person is frozen in shock, even MJ and Sammie.

“Uh, so Nat was on a mission and we kind of have this thing where when she comes back after a long mission, when I get to the compound, FRIDAY notifies me using the Spider-Mom protocol, and I have to go find Nat so we can watch movies and eat ice cream.”

“Since when do you know Russian?” Ned asks.

Trust his own best friend to betray him, “um, since a while ago? Nat and Bucky talk in it all the time and I just sort of...picked it up?”

Truthfully, Peter suspects his knack for languages comes from the Spider Bite. Since he has enhanced hearing, he and Tony had worked out a theory that his hearing could pick up on people speaking languages while he was sleeping, and he just sort of...figured them out. They had no other explanation, and since Peter pretty much only knew English before the Spider Bite, they assume it’s linked somehow. Of course, it could just be that the Spider Bite has somehow made him able to more easily understand other languages.

“Um anyways, this is The Black Widow,” Peter introduced Nat to his class.

“So does this mean that conspiracy theory was right?” Abe asks, “you’re the love child of the Black Widow and the Winter Soldier?”

“Um, no. Definitely not. For so many reasons. Definitely not. Nope. Not at all.”

Nat smiles a wicked smile, “while the general public is not aware of the Avengers romantic lives, Peter is.”

Peter shivers, “unfortunately.”

Nat smiles wickedly again, “let’s just say there was an unfortunate incident where Peter happened upon two of the Avengers in the living room that led to the creation of the “Sock on the Door” protocol.”

Peter shivers again, “please stop reminding me.” He hadn’t been able to look at Steve or Bucky for weeks afterward, and truly he still wasn’t over it. Nat, the evil person that she was knew this.

“You walked in on two Avengers?!” This time it's Sammie who’s in awe.

Peter groans, “okay so just for background, to get to the living quarters you take an elevator, and the elevator pretty much opens up to the common room. So it was a Friday night, and I sleep here on Friday nights so I took the elevator up and the doors opened up and…” Peter shivers again.

Natasha ruffles his hair gently, “poor ребенок паук.” ((Baby Spider))

Nat then stands up straighter, “right. Well I just dropped by to embarrass Peter a little, but please keep in mind that I could kill all of you while drugged and tied to a chair.” Nat’s face loses all traces of friendliness as she says this, and everyone looks terrified.

Nat then ruffles Peter’s hair once more and leaves. The absolute traitor. She did know he was on a field trip after all. She probably knew about the whole embarrass Peter plan, too.

“Well, it looks like we did get to meet an Avenger!” Sammie says cheerily.

Peter grimaces, “you’re going to meet more than just one. Nat simply went first because she had the perfect opportunity, what with the protocol going off.”

“Anyways,” said Sammie, “our next stop is the labs! Follow me!”

Peter falls in line behind MJ, hoping she will offer some protection from his classmates stares.

She wheels on him the minute he reaches her though, “you have a nickname for the Black Widow??!?!?”

“Uh, yeah I guess. I mean everyone else calls her Nat, so I just kinda started doing it too.”

MJ hums, “I’m going to have to hear more about you calling the Black Widow, “Spider-Mom” later.”

Peter nods, knowing there’s no use in putting up a fight. MJ must be satisfied because she starts glaring at everyone who comes near Peter. It’s moments like this that Peter is grateful for his friends. Flash sends Peter a glare of his own, but Peter is more worried about which Avenger is next on the embarrass Peter/prove his internship is real agenda.

Either luckily or unluckily, he doesn’t have to wait long to find out. Sammie leads them to a lab and swipes her pass and then punches in an override code to override all their passes being declined. Then all the kids have 5 minutes to get in, a tougher task than it should be. Peter and Ned opt to go at the end, since as long as Peter scans his pass before Ned, Ned will have access.

Luckily, all the kids manage to get in before the 5 minute deadline, and Ned scans his pass and enters, followed by Peter.

As usual FRIDAY announces him as Underoos, level 10 clearance and resident. Peter is met by a call of “fiancé!”

He doesn’t even have time to groan in exasperation before he is being tackled by Shuri.

“You too?” Peter asks, “don’t you have like, important things to do? I think Nat wants a new suit if you’re bored.”

Shuri shrugs, slinging an arm over his shoulder, “nothing could be as important as spending time with my dearest fiancé.”

Peter glares at her, “please stop.”

“Are these your classmates, dearest? Do introduce me.”

Peter grits his teeth, “everyone, this is Shuri, Princess of Wakanda. Despite what she says, we’re not engaged.”

Shuri shrugs, “you proposed.”

Peter runs a hand through his hair, exasperated, “no, I didn’t. You know that was simply an innocent mistake.”

All of Peter’s classmates, plus Mr. Dyxt are outright staring at them.

“Which two of you are Ned and MJ?” Shuri asks.

Ned and MJ raise their hands. “You’re invited to our next bad movie marathon.”

“And you’re not,” Peter counters.

“Petey-Pie, bad movie marathons were my idea, of course I’m invited.”

“Yeah, well they happen in my room, and I can get FRIDAY to lock you out.”

“I’ll hack FRIDAY.”

Peter gives her an unimpressed look, “you literally helped us make sure that FRIDAY was unhackable.”

Shuri doesn’t seem to be bothered by this. “I’ll get my bff to get me in.”

“Oh yeah? And who’s that?” Peter challenges.

“Spider-Man. I finished lacing vibranium into his suit today so right about now I’m pretty sure I should be his bff. Do me a favor, and when you’ve got a free moment, call him and let him know.”

“And why would I do that?”

Shuri shrugs, “cuz I’m too lazy to do it myself and he’s been ignoring my calls lately.”

Peter rolls his eyes, “probably because the only reason you call people is to scream vines at them.”

Shuri shrugs, “fair enough. Then tell Karen.”

Shuri then turns back to Peter’s schoolmates, “MJ, Ned, you me Peter and Spider-Man. Bad movie night.”

She gives them finger guns and then leaves.

“Dude,” Ned breathes, “I just got invited to movie night with the Princess of Wakanda and Spider-Man. Have I ever mentioned you’re my best friend ever, Peter?”

Peter scratches the back of his neck, acting embarrassed. It’s nice of Ned to help Peter keep his cover. And in a twisted way, it’s nice of Shuri to make it seem like he’s not Spider-Man, even though he suspects 90% of what she said was for self gain.

“Okay. That’s it. No way are you engaged to the Princess of Wakanda,” Flash sputters.

Peter sighs, “I told you I’m not. Shuri has been teaching me her language , and we were working in the lab together and I asked her, “will you help me?” Only, I’d accidentally said, “will you marry me?” And then she blew it way out of proportion, and bought herself a ring and everything.” Peter rolled his eyes.

“Who’s Karen?” someone asks.

“So I kinda...share an AI with Spider-Man? Like Mr. Stark kind of hired me in the first place because I made Spider-Man his webshooters. I didn’t know who he was at the time or why he needed them, but then when he got recruited by Mr. Stark, and Mr. Stark asked how he made the shooters, Spider-Man mentioned me. Then Mr. Stark looked up a few youtube videos I’d made and hired me. Now I work mainly on Spider-Man tech, and we share an AI because I need to have access to all the information Karen can provide to make the most detailed tech possible. And before any of you ask, no I’m not going to tell you who Spider-Man is, and no, Spider-Man isn’t here today. He’s really only around on the weekends, and he isn’t available during the day, as I’m sure you’re all aware since he’s rarely spotted during the day.”

Cindy raises her hand, and Peter, wondering when this became Q&A with Peter Parker instead of a field trip, calls on her, “so like, Shuri is our age, and you’re our age, since you and Shuri are friends with Spider-Man, is he our age too?”

“Well he is younger than the rest of the Avengers, I’ll tell you that. He hangs out with us because we’re closer to his age than the rest of the Avengers, without counting Wanda, but she’s almost always off with her boyfriend, so yeah. And like I said, I make his tech, and when Shuri is here she helps, so we also kinda bonded through that.”

Sammie seems to come to her senses, “okay guys, Peter has answered enough questions. You guys have thirty minutes to explore the lab, then we will have lunch. Don’t touch anything.”

The kids scatter, but most of them still give Peter half terrified, half envious looks 90% of the time. Peter doesn’t bother to explore, instead he sticks to Sammie’s side and watches her explain some of the aspects of the lab to curious students. MJ hangs out by Peter too, sketching constantly. At least one of them is enjoying themselves. Well that’s it entirely fair. Peter loves the Avengers and he knows that they are only trying to protect him, but he just wishes they could do it with a little less embarrassment.

After a while in the lab, Sammie rounds up all the kids and herds them to the cafeteria. Peter had packed a lunch this morning, so he doesn’t bother to stop by the cafeteria, and instead heads to the conference room where Sammie had mentioned they’d be eating. Peter grabs a seat with Ned and MJ, as per usual, and goes to grab his lunch. Only, his lunch isn’t in his bag. He isn’t super bothered by this, and decides to simply buy lunch from the cafeteria. He goes to pull out his wallet, and that’s not there either. And that’s when Peter knows he’s screwed.

About 5 minutes after his little realization, Peter hears a distinct scurrying in the vents. That’s why, when Clint drops down from the ceiling, lunchbox in hand, in full mission wear, he’s the only one not screaming in fear. Clint makes his way over to Peter, handing him one of those metal Iron Man lunch boxes.

“Tony put you up to this,” it’s not even a question.

Clint knocks an arrow, and shoots his bow behind his head. The arrow whizzes by Flash’s face, so close it cuts a row into his hair. “Nah, Tony only told me to give you the lunchbox. Nat stole your stuff, and it was entirely my idea to give that good for nothing a piece of my mind.” With that, he shoots another arrow into the vents, and he goes with it.

Peter shakes his head at Clint’s antics and opens the lunchbox. Clearly Clint didn’t mention the fact that Pepper was in on this as well, because the lunch inside was so well organized it couldn’t have been from anyone else. All Peter’s favorite lunch foods were included, as well as dessert.

“Who made you that?” MJ asks without any real trace of curiosity.

Peter grins, “Pepper.”

“Seriously, Peter, can I please switch lives with you? I want Pepper Potts to make me lunch!” Ned exclaims, a bit envious.

Peter just offers both his friends a smile, and digs in.  

Once everyone has finished up their lunches, Sammie leads them all to the Avengers gym. Sparring inside are Bucky and Steve. All the girls on the trip, with the exception of MJ, let out a collective amorous sigh. Peter was mentally grossed out by the fact that some of his classmates have crushes on people he considers to be his family. Sam is also in the gym, but he is simply scrolling on a tablet. Peter assumes that Sam is today’s supervisor.

Steve and Bucky had started dating just after Peter moved into the compound, after Nat had sat them down and demanded to know why they were acting so oddly. As it turned out, when Bucky reformed from dust, Steve had been so happy to see him that he had kissed Bucky on the lips. He had then promptly fled, and the two had been both feeling like the other didn’t feel the same. Nat had sat them down and set them straight, and they’d been dating ever since. The first month they were kind of adorably awkward, and they still were, but in the last three months they had also tended to sometimes act like teenagers with uncontrollable hormones on a honeymoon. So now, when they were sparring, the team sent one other member to chaperone them as the gym was still technically in an area accessible by level 6 and up passes. If the Avengers wanted privacy, they could always make the walls opaque, which they typically did as they weren’t too fond of being stared at by people while they were trying to train. They still had the chaperones even when the walls were opaqued because the walls weren’t sound-proofed. Peter assumes they were only here today without the opaque walls for Peter’s ‘benefit’.

Today it seemed like Sam’s presence had been necessary more than once. As Peter’s schoolmates lined up against the windows in awe, Bucky flipped Steve, putting them in a situation where Steve was pressed up against Bucky on the floor. Sam stood up, “Peter’s class is here.”

Steve jumped up off Bucky, then offered him a hand. Bucky took the hand, getting off the ground himself. No one else seemed to notice how the contact lasted just a bit longer than strictly necessary. Steve and Bucky went to grab some towels as Sam made his way over to the group.

“Man, Peter, I wish you were here more often. This is my second time this week on gym duty,” Sam complained.

“How many?” Peter asks, referring to how many times Sam had to get Steve and Bucky back on track. Peter wondered how they had ever managed to spar with each other without incident before they started dating.

Sam groans, “three,” he shakes his head, “you’ve got tomorrow for sure.”

Peter is usually given the task of being the monitor because the team figures that he’s the youngest, and they will try to behave in the presence of a minor. They also figure Steve and Bucky still feel guilty about the living room incident, and Peter is also the most in need of learning fight strategy. It’s a win-win situation. Steve and Bucky have finished toweling off, and they come to stand by Sam.

“Hello, Midtown,” Steve greets.

Bucky’s smile turns absolutely lethal, “Eugene.”

Peter pushes his way to the front of the crowd once more, “Bucky! How great to see you!”

“How great indeed,” comes Wanda’s smooth voice, “may I suggest that you and the Captain take a cold shower before we talk with the students? Wash some of the sweat off?” Her suggestion seems innocent enough, but there is a playful edge to it. Steve blushes lightly, but seems to decide to follow her suggestion.

“Well,” Wanda says, “I’m here to tell you that in about 30 minutes you guys are going to have a once in a lifetime opportunity to have a meet and greet with the Avengers!” All the kids cheer.

“See you then!” Wanda chirps happily.

“All right,” says Sammie, “this is by far the strangest tour I’ve ever led. Why don’t I finish up showing you guys the gym, then we can head to the meet and greet?” Her question is met with enthusiasm.

Sammie swipes her badge and does the override again. The students all make their way into the gym one by one, Peter again being last. Sammie is up front explaining what the Avengers do in here and why even the people with super strength need to keep in shape. Peter isn’t really paying attention.

“How’d you do it?” Flash whispers menacingly.

Peter sighs, “I already told you, I made Spider-Man’s web shooters and Tony-“

“Yeah, I listened to that lie. I meant how’d you convince all the Avengers to lie and say they know you?”

“Really,” Peter deadpans, “you still think I’m a liar? Every Avenger we have met today knows me personally and you still don’t believe me?”

Flash grins an angry smile, “I know. They all felt bad for you cuz you don’t have any parents.”

“Untrue,” comes a familiar voice.

Peter and Flash look up to see Tony Stark in all his glory, “Peter may not have his birth parents, but he’s got me, and his got Pepper, and he’s got May, and he’s got all the Avengers as a family. A family who chose him, which is more than I can say for you. You had, what, five nannies when you were a kid? Mom and Dad were always halfway across the country, they didn’t really want a son, did they? And now? Well now you’re too old for a nanny so you just sit in that big old house by yourself, pretending that you’re happy because your family has money. Money they used to buy your spot not only in the school, but also on this field trip, Mr. 21st place.”

Flash is gaping at Tony.

“So yeah, Peter’s parents may not be around anymore, but while they were their son was their pride and joy. You? You’re no one to be proud of. You’re not particularly smart, and you’re a bully to boot. And however much money your parents have, I have more. So do yourself a favor and keep away from Peter. You may leave now.”

“Leave? But-“

“You heard me. Shoo.”

“Mr. Stark, if I may, I’m in charge of all these students, I can’t let one student go off by themselves,” Mr. Dyxt says.

“Oh, you can and you will. And I will be sitting down with the teachers at Midtown on Monday and talking about why exactly the school had the policy to let bullying go unpunished. If I were you, I’d try my very hardest to get on my good side before that conversation.”

Tony then pauses, “oh, you’ll also find that your numbers even out, a freshman by the name of Harper Cohen, a scholarship student, was the 20th person. She will meet you in the meet and greet room.”

The class exits the training room the same way they came in, going to to meet and greet room. Flash is escorted off by two security guards. Once his classmates are gone, Peter turns and gives Tony a big hug.

“Did you mean it?” Peter asks.

“Mean what?” Tony asks, truly confused.

“The part where you said that you chose to be my family?”

“Pepper and I applied for adoption. I know you’re almost eighteen so it won’t really matter anyway, and if you don’t want to do it, that’s totally cool too, but-”

“I'd be honored to have you as my dad,” Peter cuts him off.

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Okay then, that’s settled, let’s go do some meeting and greeting,” Tony’s abrupt changing of the subject doesn’t do anything to hide the few happy tears that have gathered in his eyes, but Peter is kind enough not to mention it.

The Midtown kids spend a while with the Avengers. They’re not allowed to take any pictures with their phone, but Tony has thought ahead and created a photo booth for each Avenger. The kids can line up for their favorites. Peter doesn’t bother lining up for any of the photo lines, instead he hangs out with Shuri, who doesn’t have her own booth. MJ joins them after visiting Black Widow.

Finally, the session is over, and Tony addresses the crowd, “I hope you all enjoyed your trip today, and I hope you all know it was only as unique as it was because of Peter Parker. He’s a selfless little piece of crap and stopped me from cancelling this trip because he didn’t want his classmates to be disappointed,” lies, “he’s also the reason you got to meet the Avengers today. Also, teach, he won’t be returning to school with you. Tonight is family movie night, after all.”

~FIN~