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It was pure luck that Peter’s University of Greenwich seminar group were the ones selected for an educational outreach trip to Stark Tower. He had hesitated to confirm his attendance at first, reluctant to spend hours at the tower, pretending that it wasn’t like a second home to him. Outside of visiting Aunt May, there wasn’t a location he frequented more both for business as Spider-Man, or leisure as Peter Parker.
He had been an Avenger for almost a year when he and Tony had begun their relationship. Fresh out of his second year at university and a fresh-faced 20-year old, the pair had tried to begin their relationship slowly. Within a few weeks however, Peter had multiple changes of clothes, a toothbrush and a spare spandex costume tucked away in Tony’s penthouse bedroom. Their relationship hadn’t progressed much slower after that, and at this point, mid-way through his 3rd year, Peter could safely say that he and Tony were firmly in the ‘old married couple’ category.
Beside his relationship, Stark Tower wasn’t just the home of his boyfriend but also some of his closest friends. Sure, some of his best friends were definitely not associated with the Avengers – namely MJ, Harry, Ned, Johnny, Matt, and Wade – but the people he worked with at Stark Tower were almost like a second family now.
So, when he was informed about the trip by a way to pleased MJ and a curious Harry Osborne, Peter had seriously considered just faking a debilitating illness that day. His two closest university friends did know about his and Tony’s relationship, under the guise of an internship rather than his double life as Spider-Man, but that didn’t mean that Peter was ready to reveal his second life to them and everyone in his seminar group.
The trip was arranged for a Thursday at 11 am, thankfully a time far too early for Tony to be doing anything other than sleeping or working in his private lab- which a group of students would definitely never be allowed inside of.
The group of 20 or so students had been warned in advance that the trip was essentially tour-guided and that there would be little room for individual exploration due to safety concerns and security risks. Thankfully, they had been informed that many of the Avengers weren’t even in the building and that they shouldn’t get their hopes up for a chance encounter.
Thank God for small miracles.
The group met their professor Dr Pym outside of the tower and were discreetly given their own guest ID badges. Peter fiddled with his nervously, itching to ignore it entirely and just walk through the door. Favoring subtly instead, he joined MJ and Harry at the back of the group and allowed Dr Pym to lead them inside.
It was all going well until, approximately 10 seconds into the building, Friday decided to pipe up.
“Welcome back, Peter”, she greeted warmly. “Would you like me to alert Tony of your arrival; he has missed you. Also, Steve was wondering where you were, and if you were available for a training session? Shall I tell him you are occupied?”
Peter shifted uncomfortably under his classmates’ gazes and decided to act as though nothing had happened. Friday didn’t appreciate the ignorance however, and spoke up once more.
“Have I embarrassed you, Peter? My apologies.”
Peter cringed violently, looking up at the ceiling despite the fact that Friday was an AI and didn’t have a set location. “Err... that’s-its fine, Friday. Please tell Steve I’m busy.”
“Peter?” Dr Hank Pym enquired quietly from the front of the group. “Have you… been here before?”
MJ snorted, to which Peter shoved her gently. “Um, yes sir. I intern here a few days a week.”
Dr Pym seemed content with that answer and nodded with a gentle smile. “You should have said; we wouldn’t have needed to request a tour guide had we known.”
“Oh no”, Peter laughed nervously. “I don’t know the place that well, sir. I’m restricted to the intern lab floors.”
“Of course,”, Hank sighed. “Still, congratulations. Let’s continue, shall we, everyone?”
The group seemed reluctant, as though they wanted to ask Peter more, but were interrupted by the arrival of their tour guide.
She was a young woman that Peter had seen once or twice around the reception desk, and once even in Tony’s office delivering coffee. When she spotted Peter, she straightened up immediately.
“Mr Parker”, she said, pleasantly surprised. “I apologize, are you here to see Mr-”
“-No!” Peter interrupted, panicked. “I’m with this group. It’s… It’s fine.”
She seemed to understand and smiled warmly at him but thankfully didn’t say anything further, instead opting to lead them to the elevators while explaining the restrictions of their visit.
“The upper floors are for the Avengers and Mr Stark only. As a result, floors 34 to 50 are off-limits entirely and instead we’ll focus today looking at the intern labs and the public labs of the lead scientists here at Stark Industries. The only labs you won’t be able to see today are Mr Stark’s personal lab, Bruce Banner’s personal lab and Pe- and Spider-Man’s lab.”
Peter winced at the slipup but thankfully no one seemed to notice. Instead, for the next 30 minutes or so the group peacefully passed through the lower levels of the tower. They passed through the office spaces of the first few floors and had begun to progress to the intern lab levels.
That was really where the trouble started.
Upon entering one of the intern labs, it became obvious that several of the interns weren’t exactly occupied with work. There was a small group stood gossiping in the corner.
When they saw guests arriving, they shifted uncomfortably but didn’t move to entertain or greet the group.
Surprised and far from impressed, Peter stepped around to see who the interns were- maybe he should mention the encounter to Tony, or Pepper?
Evidently, one of the interns spotted him and suddenly buckled. He flailed about in panic for a moment before he stood back up with a nervous cough.
“Mr-Mr Parker! Err, we were just… We were just taking our break, s-sir!”
Peter looked away from his classmate’s stares. He nodded slowly at the interns. “Okay.”
“Yeah, sir”, another added nervously. “It was just a break! We- please don’t tell the boss”, he finished pathetically.
Peter shifted uncomfortably. “No, it’s- it’s fine.” He paused, wincing when his morality won out and he realized that he had a certain duty to Tony and the company he was so integrated in. “Just… get back to work”, he eventually said, not wanting to be too authoritarian but not wanting to completely ignore the responsibility he had to Tony.
Being Tony’s partner, and a staff member at the tower with considerably more clearance than the interns, made Peter a figure that they saw as having considerable authority. It was awkward, considering they were only a couple of years younger than him, but with the number of eyes on him in the building he couldn’t afford to skirt the responsibility of being a role model to his boyfriend’s staff. That and if he didn’t gain their respect now, he knew he would never be seen at Tony’s equal further down the line.
His classmates chattered quietly, clearly unsure how to proceed. Their guide, Allison if Peter remembered correctly, seemed nervous, but quickly drew the groups attention and guided them to the next floor.
A floor or two above, Friday decided to speak.
“Peter, there is a situation that requires your immediate attention.”
Allison seemed as startled as the group. “Oh, that’s just Mr Stark’s AI system. She runs the entire building.” She seemed at a loss for words, looking back at Peter.
Peter grimaced. “Is it urgent, Friday?”
“If you consider the boss having an attack urgent, yes Peter.”
Peter tensed immediately. “Which floor?”
“Penthouse”, she informed him simply.
Peter ignored the looks of his classmates, instead choosing to run to the closest serviceable elevator. He ignored the calls of Dr Pym and MJ, quickly sending the lift to the top floor. “Friday, full speed please.”
“Of course.”
He arrived at the penthouse in less than 20 seconds, the speed a little disorientating. As the doors opened, Peter immediately spotted Tony on the couch struggling to breathe, and Bucky stood at his side attempting to calm him down.
Bucky looked up at his entrance, and a look of relief passed across his face before he stepped back and allowed Peter to take his place.
Peter immediately bent down, meeting Tony’s gaze. “Hey”, he said breathlessly.
Tony seemed simultaneously pleased and even more agitated by his arrival. His lips quirked into a tense smile. “Hey, gorgeous.”
“Tony”, Peter sighed. “Breath for me, yeah? Beats of 5, okay?”
Tony nodded reluctantly, clearly unhappy at the attention. He stared at Peter, watching as the younger man slowly breathed in and out in increments of 5 seconds. He attempted to copy him, his grip on Peter’s hand so tight the skin around his fingertips turned white.
After a minute or two, Tony was breathing normally again, and the beads of sweat on his forehead were wiped away by Peter’s frantic hands. “You okay?” Peter asked nervously, running his hands as calmly as possible over the older man’s face.
Tony nodded, coughing awkwardly as he attempted to sit up straight again. “Fine”, he assured, straightening out his tie. “W-what are you doing here?”
Peter shrugged. “Field trip.”
“Field trip?” Bucky asked from behind them.
Peter spun to face him, feeling almost guilty that he had forgotten the other man was there. “Yeah, it's designed to help build contacts for jobs and internships I think?”
Tony brushed a stray hair from his forehead. “Really paying attention then, huh?”
Peter rolled his eyes playfully. “Do I need to, when I basically live here already?”
“Probably not”, Tony agreed, his smile becoming less strained. “You didn’t tell me you had a field trip.”
“I was hoping you’d be busy- It would be a little hard to explain to my classmates why Tony Stark and I are so close.”
Tony nodded slowly, clearly working the words over in his head. “Makes sense. But you know that now I know… it’s my moral duty to embarrass the hell out of you. Right?”
“If you do, you’ll sleep on the couch.”
“This is my building.”
Peter grinned, “Friday would side with me.”
“I would, boss”, Friday added. Peter wasn’t sure how, but she sounded almost smug.
Tony sighed, leaning forward on his knees until his nose brushed Peter’s. “Should I be jealous that you two get on so well?”
Peter gently rubbed his nose against Tony’s, smiling. “Only if I need to be jealous that you and Bucky were hanging out together in the penthouse.”
Tony scoffed and Bucky chuckled behind them. “We were discussing Steve’s birthday.”
“Oh! The most patriotic of days”, Peter said cheerfully. “What’s the theme this year? The American Revolution? Again?”
“Old Hollywood”, Bucky said instead.
Peter snorted, “He wasn’t even alive for that.”
“That’s the best bit”, Tony insisted. “He’ll be confused, and a confused Cap is party entertainment for free. I won't even have to hire a DJ.”
Peter laughed, standing up and brushing off his jeans. “Go easy on the guy”, he said softly. “Steve’s a teddy bear.”
“A teddy bear that’s not actually stuffed and is instead entirely capable of ripping you to shreds with its claws”, Tony argued, baring his fingers in a claw. He growled.
Peter raised his eyebrows, nodding. “Terrifying.”
“Very”, Bucky agreed with a chortle. Tony rolled his eyes.
Peter hovered by the couch momentarily, watching the pair laugh, before he sighed. “I should probably get back to the others”, he said solemnly.
“You here tonight?” Tony asked as he rose from the couch and went to retrieve a glass of water from the small kitchen in the corner of the room
Peter nodded, turning back to the elevator. “Definitely. I owe Cap a workout.”
“Kinky”, Tony hummed thoughtfully. “Do I get one too?”
Peter rolled his eyes, more than used to his boyfriend’s antics. “If you’re lucky.”
When he finally managed to find the others, after getting lost 3 floors below them, they were well and truly in the middle of the intern lab tour. Peter attempted to sneak up behind them and join MJ and Harry, but their greeting was enough to draw attention to him.
Allison smiled welcomingly. “Everything okay, Mr Parker?”
“Peachy”, Peter said quietly, nervous with the 40 or so eyes on him.
“Let’s continue on to the dining room floor then. You’re all more than welcome to get a snack, or a drink. We’ll be taking a short 10-minute break, sound okay?”
There was a generally affirmative response before the group followed behind her dutifully up the stairwell to the next floor; a large canteen kitted out with multiple different branded stalls and home-made buffet selections.
Peter’s stomach growled uncontrollably when he spotted the food and within minutes, he, MJ and Harry were in line for food.
When they reached the front of the line, the woman behind the counter perked up.
“Mr Parker, what a surprise. Would you like me to get Mr Stark’s personal chef down here?”
Peter bristled with uncontrollable nerves, and immediately shook his head. “N-no”, he stuttered, aware of his classmates’ eyes on him. “No, this is fine. Thank you.”
“Of course,” the woman said kindly.
A minute later, they had sandwiches and coffees each. They sat on a small table in the corner of the hall, their classmates spreading around them.
“Well, that was kind of crazy. The staff treat you like royalty here”, MJ said quietly as her eyes panned the room.
Peter shrugged, “I am their boss’s boyfriend, I guess.”
“Speaking of, is your boyfriend okay?” MJ teased, taking a large bite of her PB&J.
Harry grinned. “Yeah, what happened?”
Peter sighed, running a nervous hand through his unkempt hair. “Nothing, Tony just gets… attacks sometimes. Anxiety”, he clarified.
MJ nodded sombrely, “Yeah, my mum’s the same. He okay now?”
Peter nodded. “Yeah, Bucky and I helped him calm down.”
“Winter Soldier?” Harry piped up, eyes alight with excitement.
Peter chuckled, “That’s the one.”
“So you, like, know all of the Avengers then?”
“Some of them”, Peter said reluctantly. “Only through spending time with Tony.”
“Sick”, MJ beamed. “What’s Thor like?”
After 10 minutes, Allison gently guided them all to the upper levels; the main labs. She joyfully walked them through all of the many departments of Stark Industries, ranging from the Chemistry labs to the Engineering Labs.
“So, is this what Stark’s lab is like?” one boy asked from the front of the group, gesturing to the space around them.
Allison smiled but shook her head. “I wouldn’t personally know, but Mr Stark’s lab is very extensive. It’s a two-floor laboratory and ranges from his more chemically orientated work to the strictly physics and engineering warehouse. He also has his private Iron Man workspace, where he engineers the suits. So, I guess you could say three floors. Either way, I don’t suspect it’s as… limited as this one.”
The students all seemed blown away by that.
“Could we see one of the Iron Man suits?” a short, blonde girl asked, her hand raising nervously.
Allison paused. “It’s unlikely”, she eventually settled on.
“Now, now. Don’t disappoint them”, a voice said suddenly. The group spun to face the entrance, where Sam Wilson and Clint Barton moseyed inside. Peter immediately tensed, his spider-sense sending a chill of warning down his spine.
Clint met his eye and winked. Peter’s stomach rolled.
“Mr Wilson, Mr Barton”, Allison greeted kindly. She was clearly unsure how to proceed, startled at their arrival. “Might I ask what you’re doing in the Physics labs?”
Clint hummed. “Well, myself and Sam were just wondering around when we heard there was a school group touring about.”
“Of course, by school we mean young adult university students”, Sam said coyly, casting his eyes to Peter.
Peter narrowed his eyes, glaring his teammate down.
Sam didn’t seem pleased and with a menacing grin he dramatically did a double-take. “Peter? Well, hi!”
Peter’s eyes widened as he stared at the man pleadingly. Sam grinned.
“Oh Peter!” Clint cheered, coming over to pat his arm fondly. “We did not see you there! How are you?”
Peter grit his teeth, holding back a loud groan. “I- Good. I’m good.”
“Brilliant!” Sam said loudly as he approached. “Y’know”, he looked at the group of students. “Peter here is one of the finest, brightest minds at Stark Industries. He’s really climbing the ladder here.”
“Climbing more than just the company ladder”, Clint added quietly under his breath. Peter turned to him, glaring.
Sam looked between the group of students and his teammate. “We should probably go, Clint. We wouldn’t want to miss out on Tony and Steve sparing. You know how hot and heavy that gets.”
Peter narrowed his eyes in warning, his jealousy rearing its ugly head.
Sam snorted, “Nice to meet you all!”
Clint beamed, jumping away from Peter and heading for the door. “Of course! Let’s go, birdy.”
“You know you’re a bird too, right?” Sam challenged as the pair turned away and left the lab.
“Yeah but I’m a badass, patriotic bird. You’re just a little pet birdy.”
“A fast one”, Sam warned as the pair disappeared around the corner.
Peter slowly turned back to his classmates, aware of their rapt attention. It was obvious they were growing more and more suspicious of Peter’s familiarity with the staff at the tower.
“Shall we?” Peter said desperately, nodding to Allison.
She grinned, returning the nod. “Come along guys, we have many more floors to go!”
The next 20 minutes or so passed peacefully, with the students engages in the demonstrations staff put on for them. It was only when they reached floor 30 that things picked up again.
“Oh, Peter!”
Peter moaned out loud this time, unable to prevent the noise slipping past his lips in exasperation. “Hi, Natasha!” he said tiredly, without turning to look at her.
Not one to be ignored, Natasha walked around to speak to him. “Thor told me to remind you to bring popcorn tomorrow night.”
Peter frowned, “What?”
“You know”, Natasha said slowly. “For the Disney movie night?”
Peter’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion, “What Dis-”
It was only the small quirk of Natasha’s upper lip that made Peter pause. The redhead looked perfectly serious, but her eyes were dripping with amusement.
“Of course, Nat”, Peter relented, giving up attempting to hide his familiarity from his classmates. Natasha seemed pleased at his surrender.
“See you later!” she called pleasantly as she walked away, but the small almost invisible smirk on her face made Peter growl under his breath.
He didn’t bother looking back at his class this time and instead started up the stairs. “Next floor, right?”
He could faintly hear Allison respond positively behind him but looked resolutely ahead to avoid his classmates’ judgemental gazes.
They explored only one more floor before it happened yet again.
“Peter?” Friday said from above them. The group paused, looking at Peter with a mixture of amusement and unshakable surprise.
“Yes, Friday?” he huffed breathlessly, so far beyond hiding his irritation at this point.
“Boss has informed me that you and your class are welcome in the Avenger’s common room and lounge on your tour. He asks that you guide your group upstairs, as he would like to meet them.”
There was an immediate response from the group, chatter starting up and excited squeals sounding from behind him.
“Are- Is he sure, Fri?”
There was a pause before she spoke again, and Peter assumed she was relaying Tony’s messages in real time. “He said that yes, he’s sure. Sorry.”
Peter appreciated the sentiment, even from an emotionless bot. “Yeah, thanks”, he said under his breath. With red cheeks, Peter turned to his classmates. He sent Allison a look but she just smiled and shook her head.
“Er, follow me I guess.”
The group all trailed after him to the lift, their chatter both distracting and vexing. MJ and Harry walked beside him, muttering to him about ‘What’s happening?’ and ‘Oh god, will Tony tell everyone or something? How great would that be!’
Peter ignored them, as well as the heat in his cheeks, as he swiped his ID card against the lift’s keypad. The large staff lift lit up, and a confirmatory ‘ding’ was heard as the group were carried to the 45th floor.
Peter itched to get out on the 43rd, wanting nothing more than to throw punches at a punching bag to relieve his stress and embarrassment, but he held off. Instead, when the doors opened to the Avenger’s common room, he took a deep breath and strode out.
It wasn’t as busy as it could have been, but there were certainly enough of his teammates for him to shift nervously.
Steve and Bucky were playing cards on a small coffee table to the right of the room, and in the main area Sam, Clint and Nat were lounging watching the large flatscreen television. Thor, Vision and Wanda were mingling around, looking as though they didn’t have much to do. The way they perked up when Peter arrived made it obvious; they were here for one reason and one reason only.
The bastards.
Peter’s classmates all bubbled with excitement upon seeing so many of the Avengers, but remained relatively quiet, as though waiting for Peter to lead them.
Peter rolled his eyes. “Hey guys.”
The response was immediate and simultaneous, almost planned. Every Avenger spun to face him, all cheering his name excitedly.
The first to act was Thor, who came up to the youngest Avenger with a grin. “It’s amazing to see you Peter”, he said cheerfully as he rubbed his hand on Peter’s head affectionately. It made Peter feel vaguely like a 9-year old.
Clint and Sam followed, acting as though they hadn’t seen him just an hour or two earlier. Natasha sat back thankfully, waving at him teasingly.
Wanda and Vision made a large display of approaching him, Wanda levitating herself across the room and Vision phasing through the students in his path. The pair welcomed him in an awkward three-way hug.
Peter, pressed tightly between them, couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation.
“What’s got everyone so excited?” a voice piped up from down the hall.
Tony sauntered into the common room, oozing all the charm and superiority one would expect from the man. He grinned when his eyes found Peter, all of his earlier discomfort and anxiety entirely absent.
“Peter! What a surprise!”
Peter rolled his eyes. “You told Friday to send us up here”, he said, calling the older man out.
Tony noticed immediately, narrowing his eyes in a way that made Peter’s skin tingle with excitement. “That I did! I wanted to meet your classmates!”
He joined the group, throwing an arm over Peter’s shoulders. He surveyed the group of young adults in front of him, singling out MJ and Harry immediately. “Hello again.”
MJ waved, unphased, while Harry nodded his greeting with a nervous smile.
Tony perked up suddenly. “Hank! Lovely to see you again”, he said kindly as he reached across several student’s heads to shake the professor’s hand. Dr Pym looked uncomfortable but smiled nonetheless.
“Tony”, he greeted simply, returning the handshake.
“So”, Tony said cheerfully, clapping his hands together. “Any of you interested in working for someone like me?”
Several students raised their hands immediately, the others too gobsmacked to even respond. Tony smirked, pleased.
“Well if you have any questions, its best to ask Peter here. He’s one of our best and brightest. He’s…”, he looked down at the younger man with a longing that was hard to disguise, “very talented”, he eventually said.
Peter’s cheeks tinged a very noticeable pink and, in the end, Allison had to cough to relieve the awkward tension in the air. Tony looked up, noticing her. “Nice to see you again, Ali.”
Allison smiled gently.
“Sir, might I inform you that Mr Parker’s heart rate is at an alarmingly accelerated rate right now”, Friday said, her automated voice laced with concern.
Peter stared up at the ceiling in disbelief. Friday too?!
“I don’t doubt it”, Tony said, squeezing Peter’s arm.
“So, Pete” Bucky said as he approached. Steve followed close behind. “When are you free to braid my hair again?”
Peter stared in disbelief, the small grin on Bucky’s face a rare but not unwelcome site.
Steve stepped forward; his eyes pinched as he smiled. “And I was wondering if you needed me to wax your back again, Peter?”
Peter choked this time, bending over to cough. Tony stepped back, snorting.
“I hate you all”, Peter said threateningly.
Tony laughed loudly, throwing his head back and clutching his chest. “Sure, you do, Pete. Sure, you do.”