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Of all the people who deserve a break in life, Peter Parker is at the front of that line. When he was four, his parents died in a plane crash. A plane crash that he, by some twisted miracle, survived. When he was fourteen, Peter went on a field trip to Oscorp, got bitten by a radioactive spider, and woke up the next day with abs, heightened senses, and the ability to stick to walls. A week after that field trip, Peter watched his Uncle Ben bleed out on a sidewalk. With the wise words of his uncle echoing inside his head Peter made the choice to become Spider-Man.
“With great power comes great responsibility”.
Peter spent weeks building web shooters and trying to perfect his web fluid.
Days turned into weeks, and the weeks turned into months and Peter didn’t think he could be happier as he got the hang of being Spider-Man. He really loved looking out for the little guy.
Then he came home from school one day to find Tony Stark sitting in his living room talking about an Internship through the September Foundation.
Now, we all know how that whole shebang worked out. He went to Germany, stole Captain America’s shield, got knocked out of the sky by Ant Man, the accords got amended and the rouges were pardoned, blah blah blah.
Next The Vulture had to come along, almost drown him in a lake, drop a building on him, and be the reason Peter Parker has now survived two plane crashes.
After Aunt May found out he’s Spider-Man, Tony Stark became a lot more involved in Peter's life. Not so much by choice, but because May went to Stark Industries and demanded to speak to Pepper Potts. An hour later Tony found himself sitting across from the two most terrifying women he has ever met. Out of all the things Tony has had to endure, that is the one thing he wishes he will never have to do again. He’d take flying another nuclear missile into a black hole over being on the receiving end of May and Pepper’s combined anger.
While Pepper had known someone named Peter Parker was Spider-Man, she was under the impression that he was at least 18. So to find out that Tony had recruited a 15 year old child behind the back of said child’s legal guardian, really REALLY pissed Pepper off.
While May and Pepper (and Tony at this point) wanted Peter to stop being Spider-Man, they knew they wouldn’t be able to stop Peter from helping people. So, they all came to a compromise:
1) Peter had a weekday curfew of 11pm and a weekend curfew of 1am.
2) School came first. Any and all homework had to be done before he could go out on patrol. And if his grades started to suffer, he would be grounded from Spider-Manning until he brought them back up.
3) At least one night a week Tony, Pepper, May, and Peter had to have dinner together so that everyone was in the loop on all things Spider-Man.
4) Tony wasn’t allowed to sell the tower anymore because he needed to be close to Peter incase he got injured.
5) Every night after patrol Peter had to go to the tower to give Tony a rundown of what happened that night, as well as, to be checked for any injuries (major or minor).
6) Peter had to spend every other weekend at the compound in upstate New York for suit updates and training.
After working on the Spider-Man suit together, Tony realised just how smart Peter was and offered him a real internship at SI. And while Peter did help out in the normal intern labs, he spent most of his time with Tony in his lab.
May eventually got over her anger at Tony and started to see all the good he did for Peter. Tony was like a father figure in Peter's life and she couldn’t envision anyone caring for him more.
All in all, everything was going well. That is, until May got sick.
May’s passing didn’t come as a surprise to anyone. Pancreatic cancer is a real bitch.
What did surprise Peter was the fact that Tony and Pepper didn’t even hesitate to take over guardianship of him, and eventually adopt him.
The months following May’s death were difficult to say the least. It took a week for Peter to even talk to anyone. Another for him to finally let himself feel the pent up emotions of grief and anger. And a third for him to accept that May was gone. She was never coming back. He would never hear her laugh, feel her arms around him as she gave him a comforting hug, or have to try to stomach one of her cooking-gone-wrong meals again.
It was difficult (and still is sometimes), but Peter found peace and was able to find a new happiness with Tony and Pepper.
A new school year started and Peter’s life went back to a comforting sort of normal. Well, as normal as you can get having a billionaire as your dad, a hardcore kick ass CEO as your mom and a plethora of superhero’s as your aunts and uncles. Not that anybody knew about Peter’s living situation besides his best friend, Ned.
So Peter went to school, then to his internship for a few hours, had dinner with his crazy family, and then went out as your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man until curfew. This was the new normal for one Peter Benjamin Parker.
Of course, the universe doesn’t like it when Peter’s life is normal. It is for that reason, and that reason alone, why Mr. Harrington just announced that the Academic Decathlon team will be going on a field trip to the Avengers tower.
The team erupted in cheers and began to excitedly chatter about whether or not they’d see any Avengers while there.
Peter had to physically stop himself from repeatedly slamming his head into his desk, because who the hell thought it would be a good idea to let his AcaDec team tour his home?
“Peter, Peter, Peter, Peter, Pet-“, Ned excitedly gushed, until Peter shot him a very clear ‘shut up, I’m in the middle of a mid life crisis’ look.
Peter’s spidey tingle started to buzz a little, a familiar sort of buzz that only happened when Flash was about to be a dick.
Sure enough, not two seconds later Flash slapped his hands down on Peter’s desk as a demand for attention.
Peter looked up and noticed Mr.Harrington had left the room for a minute. So he silently sighed to himself and sat back in his chair to look up at a smirking Flash above him.
“Penis, I guess now would be the time to fess up and tell us that you don’t really have an internship with Tony Stark.” Flash said time in a fake casual sort of tone.
By now you would think Peter would know better than to roll his eyes at Flash, but at this point he just didn’t care. The kick to his shin hurt quite a bit, but nothing Peter couldn’t handle.
“Hey, I expect and answer when I talk to you Penis”, Flash sneered.
“Flash leave him alone”, Ned said
Flash just laughed, “How pathetic, the little orphan needs Jumbo the Elephant to stand up for him. No wonder your parents and Aunt and Uncle killed themselves. Nobody in their right mind would want to stay living with you being stuck as their burden.”
Peter stood up, (faster than what a normal teenager would probably be able to do, but he couldn’t bring himself to care at that moment), clenching his fists, trying to decide if he would be able to control his strength enough to punch Flash without breaking his face.
“Oh, look here, Penis is gonna try to fight.” Flash grinned before punching Peter in the stomach and whispering, “If you knew how to fight maybe you would have been able to stop your Uncle from dying.”
As Peter tried to catch his breath Mr. Harrington walked back in the room, completely oblivious to what just took place, “Alright everyone settle down, sit back in your seats. I have here the permission slips for you to take home and have one of your parents sign. This field trip is an overnight field trip so make sure you pay attention to the list of things for you to bring. Also, attached are NDAs that must be signed. Make sure to have these back to me by Wednesday at the latest or else you will not be able to come. No exceptions. Alright, you all are good to go!”
Peter quietly packed up his bag, trying to blink back the tears that were starting to sting his eyes. He knew he shouldn’t let Flash’s comments get to him but something about what he said today really stung. They were after all, things Peter already told himself. That nobody could ever love him. That he was just a burden on everyone. That Tony and Pepper only took him in because he’s Spider-Man. Again, Peter knew those were untrue thoughts, but a small part of him still had those doubts.
“Peter”, Mr.Harrington called pulling Peter from his thoughts, “Come talk to me for a second”.
Everyone but Peter, Ned, and Mr.Harrington had left already so Peter told Ned he’d catch up with him later and walked up to Mr. Harrington.
Mr. Harrington had always been one of Peter’s favorite teachers. He knew how smart Peter was and tried to push him to be better and not to settle. When his Uncle died Mr. Harrington offered to be someone Peter could talk to if he needed extra help and Peter had found himself crying in his classroom a couple of times during lunch when he had an especially hard day. Mr. Harrington had been a support for Peter at school when no one else was. So he really came to respect the man.
“Yes sir?”, Peter asked
Taking a deep breath, Mr. Harrington looked at Peter like this was the last thing he wanted to talk to him about. “Peter, I don’t want you to take this the wrong way and I need you to know that I won’t think any less of you if the answer is no, but do you really have an Internship with Tony Stark? Because, while I know that you are smart enough to one, looking at the facts of everything, somethings just aren’t lining up. According to the Stark Industries website, you have to at least be in your third year of college. You also have to put in a minimum of forty hours per week into the internship, which with you being in high school, neither of those things are possible. I get that high school can be hard and that you just want to fit in, but lying isn’t the way to do that. Do you understand where I’m coming from with this?”
Peter was speechless. Did Mr. Harrington really not believe him? “I-I-I do ha-have an internship, Mr. Harrington.” Peter stuttered out.
“I want to believe you, Peter, I do but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have my doubts.”
“I understand. It does seem impossible looking at those facts but the internship is real.” Peter pleaded hoping his teacher would believe him. “And if I was using the internship to fit in then I’m doing a terrible job at it, because nobody believes me, and the last thing it’s doing is making me popular.”
“I still have my doubts, but you’ve never given me a reason not to trust you. You can go, just don’t forget to bring your permission slip on Wednesday”, Mr. Harrington said after a moment of thinking.
Peter left feeling worse than he had in a long time. First Flash and then Mr. Harrington, he was just grateful it was the end of the day so he could go home and sleep. He didn’t feel like doing anything else for the day.
When he walked out of the school he didn’t see Happy anywhere so he pulled out his phone to see if he missed any messages, which of course, he had.
Happy - hey kid, got caught up at SI, Nats coming to get you, but she’s running a bit late.
Peter sent Happy the thumbs up emoji and then sat on the steps outside of the school to wait for Nat.
He was about to text Ned about his meeting with Mr. Harrington, when his spidey tingle flared. Looking up he saw Flash and a couple of his goons standing above him. Without any preamble one of them picked Peter up by the back of his neck. Flash then landed a couple punches to Peters stomach. Peter was then thrown on the ground where Flash stomped on his side. After watching them walk away, he slowly lifted himself up to a sitting position. By the sharp pain radiating from his left side, Peter knew Flash had broken a rib or two.
‘Thank goodness for super healing’, Peter thought.
When Nat pulled up on her bike, Peter had to fight back the groan that wanted to escape. This was not going to be a fun ride with his injury.
He slowly stood up trying to keep the smile on his face. The last thing he needed right now was a his Aunt asking questions.
“Hey Auntie Nat”, Peter greeted as he walked up to her.
“Hey kid. You good?”, Nat asked as she handed him a helmet.
“Yup,'' Peter lied as he slipped the helmet on quickly so his face didn’t give him away. “Just ready you get home”.
Getting onto the bike hurt more than Peter thought it would but that was nothing compared to actually riding on it. All the quick turns and bumps in the road jostled Peter around and he had to resort to biting his bottom lip to keep from making any sounds.
It wasn’t until Nat said something that Peter opened his eyes to find them in the garage, his arms wrapped tightly around her. He quickly let go and hopped off the bike, forgetting about his broken rib until he felt the pain shooting up his side again, unable to stop the gasp that came with it.
“What’s wrong?”, Nat questioned, getting off the bike herself.
“What? Oh, uh nothing. It’s no big deal.” Peter tried to reassure her as he took his helmet off.
“Peter”, she warned.
Peter just bit his lip and avoided making eye contact hoping that a genius excuse would come to him any second now. But before anything could come Nat asked FRIDAY.
“No! Wait!” Peter called out at the same time FRIDAY said, “It appears Peter has two fractured ribs and major internal and external abdominal bruising.”
“No big deal, huh?”, Nat asked, “What happened?”
“I-I fell?” Peter tried, not even sounding slightly convincing.
Nat just shook her head and rolled her eyes and started walking toward the elevator. Peter stood there confused unsure of what was happening.
“You coming?” She called back to him.
He hurried to the elevator where she was waiting, still confused on what was going on.
“Auntie Nat? Where are we going”, Peter asked as the elevator started to move.
“Well since you refuse to tell me how you broke two ribs, we’re gonna go talk to your parents and hope they get more out of you.” She replies simply.
“What? No, Nat, we can’t tell my parents. They’ll just freak out and it’s nothing really. I’ll be fine by dinner”, Peter tried to argue.
Nat just looked at him with an unimpressed look before turning back to face the now opening elevator doors.
“Tony!” She yelled as she pushed Peter out with an arm on his shoulder, “Pepper!”
Tony came out of his office at the same time Pepper turned the corner from the bedroom. Both had questioning looks on their faces as they saw Nat looking angry pushing Peter to the couch while he looked down at the floor.
“Nat? What’s going on?”, Tony said trying to make it sound lighthearted, but the concern in his voice still poked through.
“FRIDAY, why don’t you tell them about Peter's injuries.”, Nat spoke with a deadly calm voice.
“Peter has two fractured ribs and major internal and external abdominal bruising.”FRIDAY stated matter of factly with way too much emotion behind it then an A.I. should be able to.
“What?”, Pepper squealed as she and Tony rushed to where Peter was sitting.
Tony wasted no time in lifting Peters shirt to reveal the horde of bruises cover Peter's stomach. “What the hell happened Peter?” Tony growled.
“It’s nothing, please. It doesn’t matter.`` Peter pleaded. After what Flash had said to him Peter was feeling like a major burden on them right now. They didn’t need to worry about him. He could take care of himself.
“Nothing my ass, Peter. You have two fractured ribs!” Tony yelled.
Peter couldn’t help but shrink in on himself at that moment. He tried so hard to blink back the tears that were threatening to fall. This day had been so bad and Peter just wanted to go to sleep so the day would end.
“Peter, sweetie, we’re not mad at you, but we need to know why you’re hurt.” Pepper reassured him.
“You’re gonna be mad and it’s stupid. I can handle it.” Peter whispered.
“No one is going to get mad, we promise.” Pepper said while giving the other two stern looks that said don’t make me a liar.
Peter took a big breath in before letting it out and quickly saying, “It was just some kid at my school who tripped me, but it’s no big deal because I can handle it and if he moves on to someone else they might not be able to handle it and then I would feel like it was my fault that they got hurt. So I need you to promise that you’re not going to do anything about it because it’s just a stupid kid making stupid choices and while he may be a jerk he doesn’t deserve to have the full force of my family raining down on him.”
Pepper reached out to wipe a few tears off of Peter’s cheeks. He hadn’t even realized he’d started to cry and now he felt like a child, crying because some bully was picking on him.
“Oh honey, I’m sorry you’re having to deal with this. Why didn’t you say something sooner? We could have helped before you got hurt.”, Pepper all asked gently, hand still held against Peter’s cheek.
“I just knew you all would get mad and I can handle it. Seriously, I’m Spider-Man, I can handle a stupid bully.” Peter replied softly.
When he finally looked up to meet Peppers eyes he noticed that Natasha had left the room and Tony looked like he was about to punch something.
“Who?” Tony asked.
Peter looked at Tony and then slowly shook his head. Tony looked like he wanted to kill someone. Peter wasn’t about to give him a name.
“Peter”, Tony warned.
“No,'' Peter snapped. “You said you wouldn’t get mad, but now you’re mad and I’m not gonna tell you his name because then you’ll do something that I don’t want you to do. I told you, I can handle this.”
Before anyone could ask anymore questions Peter got up and walked away, going to his room. He was so over today. Why couldn’t people just leave him alone?
Once he sat on his bed and had a moment to himself, he instantly felt guilty for snapping at his parents. They were just trying to help. Grabbing one of his pillows he held it to his chest as he curled in on himself and let the flood of emotions wash over him.
A quiet knock was all the warning Peter had before Tony opened the door. Seeing the red rim of his eyes and how Peter was curled up in himself broke Tony’s heart. He quickly walked over to the bed and pulled Peter’s head onto his lap, fingers gently carding through his hair.
“I’m sorry”, Peter whispered.
“I’m sorry too kiddo”, Tony replied. “I promise I wasn’t mad at you. I just can’t stand the thought of anyone hurting my kid.”
They sat like that for a few minutes before Tony continued, “Pete, are you really not gonna tell me who’s picking on you?”
Peter shook his head again.
Tony sighed, “Alright, but you should maybe go talk to Nat because it takes a lot to make her as angry as she currently is.”
That night after Peter had apologized to Pepper for snapping and talked with Nat to calm her down, they had declared that night to be a movie night. They ordered more pizza than what was probably necessary, but with all the enhanced metabolisms around, it would be gone soon enough. It took a while to decide on a movie, but eventually they settled in to watch (to nobody’s surprise) Star Wars.
As Peter headed to bed that night, all thoughts of his field trip were completely forgotten.
The next day, Tuesday, Peter found himself dreading coming home because he knew he had to bring up the field trip in order to have his permission slip signed.
Peter grumbled a lousy “hello” to Happy as he climbed in the car. Happy just looked at him curiously in the rear view mirror before pulling out into traffic to start their drive home.
He walked into the kitchen where his mom, dad, and Uncle Steve were sitting around the island.
“Hey Pete, how was school?” Tony asked while Pepper got up to pull him into a hug.
“School was good. I got a 100 on my chemistry test, 96 on my Spanish quiz, and it was Taco Tuesday for lunch.” Peter answered
“Sounds like a busy day,” said Steve, “you still good for a little training tonight?”
Peter had forgotten about training with Steve. They usually saved the training for weekends, but Steve was going to be gone for the weekend.
“Oh shoot, I completely forgot” Peter sighed “and I still have to go to SI to work in the labs for a bit.”
“No worries, I figured you’d forget. You’ll just train with Bucky this weekend then instead.” Steve said with a shrug before walking out of the kitchen.
Peter and Bucky had gotten along as soon as the rouges moved back into the tower. Tony had been wary of the guy (Peter really couldn’t blame him) but he saw the gentle look that crossed Bucky’s face whenever Pete was around so he got over his reservations pretty quickly.
Like everyone, Bucky has bad days, but unlike everyone, Bucky’s bad days usually come with flashbacks, panic attacks, and memory lapses where the Winter Soldier side of him takes over. (While he doesn’t have trigger words that activate the violent side of the Winter Soldier anymore, he still very rarely will switch personalities and can be, if not dealt with properly, be dangerous.) The Winter Soldier only trusts a few people, namely Steve, Natasha, and Peter. Meaning only those three people can talk him down enough for the Bucky personality to take over. The best way to describe it is like Bruce Banner and the Hulk, but without the body morphing or the intense anger the Hulk always has.
Peter always loves training with Bucky, because while Steve teaches him how to defend himself, Bucky teaches him how to over power your opponent (without hurting them of course).
With the promise of a good training session in his mind Peter doesn’t even think when he pulls out his permission slip and hands it over to his mom.
Pepper quickly reads over it and has to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing as she passes it over to Tony who reads it and unlike Pepper, because he has no self control, barks out a loud laugh that breaks Peter out of his thought process and back into the present.
As his mind catches up with what Peter did, he feels his stomach drop. “Shit” he whispers.
“Language”, Tony hiccups between laughs. “Oh this is gold. This is pure gold! Thank you Pepper for allowing me this pleasure.” He continues as he reaches over to kiss Pepper on the forehead.
Peter groans and drops his head onto the table.
“Peter sweetie, it won’t be that bad.” Pepper tries to reassure, but the amusement in her voice seeps through leaving Peter more sure of his imminent death.
Peter tries to grab the slip from Tony but he swiftly moved it out of reach before grabbing a pen and with as much flourish as is humanly possible, signs Peters permission slip and then hands it back over to him.
Accepting his fate Peter sighs while slipping the form back in his backpack, “Please, please I am begging you don’t do anything embarrassing or that could expose my secret identity.” And with that he walks to his room to get ready to head down to intern labs.
The next two days pass by faster than Peter would have liked. He turned in his permission slip on Wednesday that sealed his fate of death by his dysfunctional family.
Friday morning Peter found himself waiting outside the school with a bag packed and ready to go have an overnight field trip at his own home.
When Ned showed up Peter instantly felt better. “Dude, why did you pack a bag? You’re literally just going back to your house.” Ned questioned.
“Shhh”, Peter quickly looked around to make sure no one, especially Flash, heard what Ned said. “Dude, I don’t want people to know I live there. It just part of the act.”
“Oh, smart” Ned mused quietly.
“Alright Everyone! Let’s get onto the bus!” Called out Mr. Lamont, another one of the teachers at Midtown. Apparently twelve students to one teacher was an appropriate ratio so they had to get another teacher to chaperone.
Unlike Mr. Harrington who seemed to like Peter, Mr. Lamont made it very clear that he did not like Peter, at all.
As everyone waited to load onto the bus, Mr. Lamont pulled Peter aside. “Parker, did you really think us stupid enough to think that Tony Stark would sign your permission slip? Or did you think that we just wouldn’t check and you could get away with it? Either way, you’re not coming on the trip and you can expect at least two weeks detention for forgery.” He said before he turned on his heel and hopped onto the bus.
Peter stood there unable to defend himself, hurt, and embarrassed as his teacher called him out in front of everyone. He looked at Ned who seemed just as confused as Peter was and then to Mr. Harrington who just gave him a pity look and shrug of his shoulders.
Flash and his friends just laughed openly while others tried, and failed, to whisper about how pathetic Peter was for thinking he could get away with it.
There was no way in hell Peter was going to stay at school so he just grabbed his bag and started to walk home. He could hear Mr. Harrington and Mr. Lamont calling after him to come back, but he just walked faster. As soon as he turned the corner Peter broke out into a sprint as he ran home, uncaring of how unnaturally fast he was going.
Thanks to New York traffic (and his enhanced speed), Peter got to the tower before his class did and instantly went up to the penthouse. When he walked out of the elevator he was greeted by Tony, Nat, Clint, and Bucky, all of whom gave him confused looks.
Peter dropped his bags and went straight to his Dad, tears already rolling down his face.
“Hey, bud what’s going on?” Tony asked softly, a voice he only used with Pepper and Peter. “I thought you had your field trip today”.
“I did but they thought I forged your signature and my teacher yelled at me in front of my whole class and then said I couldn’t go and that I now have detention for the next two weeks.” Peter cried as he hung onto his dad tighter.
“What? That’s ridiculous.” Nat growled.
“I’m gonna kill him” Bucky whispered
“Please can I terrorize his class now?” Clint asked.
“No, Bucky you can’t kill anyone and maybe, Clint on the whole terrorizing thing” Tony sighed, earning a grumble from the first and an excited “yes!” from the second before turning his attention back to Peter. “I’m sorry about what happened to you Pete. We’ll have to call your school to clarify.”
Peter quickly pulled his head away shaking it adamantly. “No, I don’t want them to know, because then everyone will treat me differently”
Tony sighed because he was right. “We need at least to talk to your principal so he’s aware of your living situation. That way nobody else questions why Tony Stark or Pepper Potts, or any of the Avengers for that matter, are signing school documents. We can make him sign an NDA so he can’t tell anyone, not even the teachers.”
Peter let his shoulder drop as he sighed and nodded his head, giving his dad permission to tell his principal.
“Okay!” Tony said with a sudden burst of energy, “I declare a capture the flag/paintball tournament, after I go talk with Pepper to let her know why you’re here. So figure out teams and I’ll be back.”
Pepper was a little taken aback when Tony marched into her office, but the look on his face and the way his hands were shaking, had immediately sent her into her Mama Bear Mode™. “What happened? Is Peter alright?” She asked.
As Tony explained to Pepper everything Peter had told him, she had a hard time not marching down to the lobby where the AcaDec team had just arrived to give them a piece of her mind (or kick them out, either option would have suited her just fine). Instead she and Tony had called the school to request a meeting with the principal.
By the time Tony came back to the common room, the teams had been set. It would be Tony, Wanda, Bucky, and Peter against Nat, Clint, Vision, and Sam.
The only rules being the flag had to be hidden in a place where normal people could get to it without the use of enhancements or suits. And if hit by a paintball, the player has to start over at their teams base. FRIDAY was given a new protocol called Snitches get stitches, which required voice approval from all eight players to override, the protocol basically ensured that no one could cheat by asking FRIDAY where the other teams flag was hidden.
With everyone dressed and ready for training action (meaning black workout clothes), they started a ten minute countdown for the teams to hide their flags before the game officially began.
Ned got onto the bus confused and angry. Peter would never forge a signature, surely they knew that? But even if they didn’t, Mr. Lamont had no right to call Peter out in front of everyone like that. Ned wishes MJ didn’t have strep, because if she were here she wouldn’t not have let him get away with it.
It also hurt to have everyone on the bus talking so poorly about his best friend. Flash was the worst, but then again, when isn’t he. Ned was just worried for his friend. He tried texting him but Peter didn’t respond. At this point Ned’s just hoping his friend is alright.
As the bus pulls up in front of the Avengers Tower everyone stares in awe at the glorious building before them. Even though Ned has been here countless times, he still finds it hard not to freak out a little. He’s gotten better though, he doesn’t feel like passing out from pure excitement anymore, so that’s a good thing.
They all shuffle off the bus and line up to head inside. The main lobby is huge. With windows making up one of the walls, the large dark oak wood reception desk contrasting against the white walls and floor, the simple gray leather couches and chairs strategically placed to be the most visually appealing, and the large screen built into the wall behind the reception desk showing off the newest Stark Industry designs. It’s sleek and professional, but still has a welcoming feeling to it.
The students take it all in, some with their mouths gaping, while the two teachers go to sign them all in.
A few short minutes later a college aged woman comes over with a clipboard and bucket of name tags.”Hello! You must be Midtown High, my name is Heidi and I’ll be your tour guide today.” She says cheerfully.
“I’m sorry, you’re our tour guide today? You don’t look like you work here.” Mr. Lamont questions, pointing to her apparel.
Heidi looked down at her outfit, she was wearing black leggings with decorative cutouts along the side and a navy blue tshirt. “While I understand your reservations, here at S.I. there is no standard of dress that is expected. With the long hours we work, we all tend to go for comfort rather than style. Especially when it comes to work in the labs.” She said sweetly, but the undertone of mind your own damn business was very clear.
Soon she was passing out all the badges and going over the rules. Thanks to Happy’s no badge reprint rule, Ned had to use his own. A few people shot him confused looks but no one said anything.
“Miss, what do the different types of passes mean?”, Betty asked looking between her own pass and Heidi’s.
“Great question! It can be a little confusing to those who don’t work here but basically there are five color levels and within each color there are three number levels. The five colors are White, Green, Blue, Red, and Black. White level are single use day passes for tours, press, and guests. Green are for common area workers like security, janitorial staff, and our receptionists. Blue are for Interns. Red for the Avengers and close friends. And only three people have a Black card they are Mr. Stark, Ms. Potts, and one other person whose name I am not allowed to disclose. Within each colored level the numbers are used to determine how much you can access. For example, Green card members who are receptionist have a level 1 access, because they only need to access a small area in order to effectively do their job. Whereas Security personnel have a level 3 access because they need to be able to reach more areas as part of their job. I have a blue card, access 3 because I am a higher level intern. Does that make any sort of sense?” Heidi finished her long speech, which Ned is sure she has given many times before.
When no one asked anything Heidi led them to the security gates. She instructed them to place all belongings on the table to be scanned and then to swipe their badge. The gate opened after she swiped her badge and FRIDAY called out “Heidi Jacobs, Intern, access level three.”
Everyone but Ned and Heidi jumped as FRIDAY spoke. “Oh no worries! That’s just FRIDAY, Mr. Starks A.I., she runs the whole building.” Heidi chuckled.
The class then took turns swiping their badges and waiting for FRIDAY to announce them. Flash of course, had to be first.
“Eugene Thompson, white pass, visitor, access level 1”
After everyone but Ned has made their way through, Ned stepped up and swiped his badge.
“Ned Leeds, red pass, Guy in the chair, access level 1. Welcome back Ned, it’s been a while.”
Ned grinned as FRIDAY read out his information and then personally greeted him. “Thanks FRIDAY” he replied cheerfully.
While his class stared at him in confusion Heidi perked up, “Oh! You’re Ned? Oh my gosh we’ve all heard so much about you!”
Before Ned could respond a loud buzzer sounded followed by FRIDAY saying, “Protocol: Work hard to play hard had been initiated. The timer is up and the game has begun.”
The class looked at Heidi for answers who had just laughed to herself, “It’s nothing to worry about, just the Avengers playing a game. It’s more common than you’d think.” She said before looking at the ceiling and asking “Hey, FRIDAY, what game are they playing this time?”
“It seems they have merged paintball and capture the flag together” FRIDAY answered.
“Oh this will be fun.” Heidi grinned before turning back to the AcaDec team. “Alright, first up we’re gonna go get your things settled in the room we’ve had set up and then onto the tour where we will start by going through the S.I museum.”
Peter loved his super family. Who else got to play a combo game of paintball and capture the flag with the Avengers? He also loved the fact that nobody else in the tower questioned why Tony and Peter were currently arguing over the best place to hide a little green flag. Tony thought It’d be best to hide it high, while Peter said putting it lower is unexpected and therefore the better option.
So that is why Tony, Peter, Bucky, and Wanda were currently looking around the cafeteria looking for any small, unnoticeable crevice to hide their flag in. Eventually they settled on hiding it in a fake floor plant between the leaves, making sure to leave enough sticking out as to avoid accusations of cheating. Lucky for them, the color if the flag was close enough of a match to that of the plant that it didn’t draw any attention to it.
They got their flag hidden and game plan worked out right as FRIDAY sounded the timer and declared the start of the game.
As per the game plan, Peter set off to scour the intern labs, seeing how he spent the most time there and would be able to more easily spot something out of place.
Starting from at higher level labs, he worked his way down. He had already run into Sam and Clint and had been able to shoot them both, sending them back to their home base. He made it to the lowest level intern lab and had decided to climb up onto one of the higher shelving units (something a non enhanced individual would be able to do, he wasn’t about to reveal his identity for a silly game). He was half way up when his spidey tingle buzzed and he heard a group of people gasp.
“What the hell Parker?” He heard Flash say.
Peter quickly turned back to look at his entire AcaDec team staring at him. “Uhh” is all he could manage to say before Mr. Lamont stepped up.
“Mr. Parker, what the hell are you doing here? First you forge signatures, then you leave school without permission, and now you’ve broken into Stark Industries? And for what? To cover up your lie? For a little popularity? Incase you haven’t noticed, nobody likes you.” He said sharply to Peter before turning to Heidi and saying, “I’m sorry for this interruption but this kid here is a student of ours and he’s been lying about an internship here for a while. I guess he was really desperate for attention after his Uncle died. Anyway, you might want to call security because he should not be here.”
Heidi and Peter have worked together many times in the labs before. She was actually one of Peter’s favorite interns. In the year or so that they have both worked at S.I. Peter has never seen her as anything less than happy and bubbly. The saying ‘If looks could kill ‘ truly applied in this moment as Heidi looked like she was seconds away from popping a vein. “Mr. Lamont, is it?” She asked in a sickly sweet voice. “I will be sure to call security. Hell, I’ll be sure to call the Avengers in on this situation.”
“Well, I don’t know if calling the Avengers would be necessary, but if you feel it is..” Mr. Lamont seemed happy with that answer, oblivious to the rage that was plain in Heidi’s eyes.
Peter felt frozen, he knew Heidi wouldn’t turn him in, he was sure of that. What he was afraid of was her getting the Avengers involved to handle his asshole of a teacher. As he was spiraling internally, he failed to notice Flash had walked over to him and was now pulling on Peter’s ankle to get him down.
Peter knew as soon as he hit the ground that he had broken another rib and if the pain and the feeling of warm liquid running down his face meant anything, probably his nose too.
A few people in his class gasped, while others laughed and Mr. Harrington got after Flash. Mr. Lamont however stepped in to defend Flash, “Peter needed to get down anyway, Flash here just helped us speed up the process.”
Ned rushed over to Peter and helped him sit up. “Dude are you okay?” He asked quietly.
“I’m fine, it’s no big deal,'' Peter sighed. He knew there way no way of keeping this from his family.
Peter slowly got up off the floor, he was grateful that he had set his paintball gun on the shelf. He knew if the others saw it they would freak out. Peter just wanted to get away from his AcaDec team so he started to make his way back towards the elevator.
“No, sir, you are not going anywhere,'' Mr. Lamont pulled hard on Peter’s shoulder to bring him back.
Peter was so sick and tired of his teacher that he didn’t care about how much trouble he could get into when he said, “Get your fucking hands off of me. You don’t get to tell me what to do while I am here at my internship.” Peter pushed his teacher away from him. He quickly went to the elevator and told FRIDAY to take him up to the training room (aka: his teams home base).
As Peter left, Heidi asked FRIDAY to send the video footage to the Avengers and Ms. Potts.
When Tony saw the footage FRIDAY had sent him he saw red. The only reason he didn’t call for a suit right then and there, was the fact that he needed to check on Peter.
Stepping off of the elevator into the training room, Tony found everyone standing around Peter, all looking absolutely livid and looking like they were preparing for battle. Nat was sharpening a few knives. Clint was holding onto his bow so tight it looked like he might snap it. Wanda’s hands were shaking and a faint red glow was coming off of them. Sam was pacing like his life depended on it. Vision was helping Peter clean off his blood stained face. And Bucky was standing in the corner facing away from everyone and pulling at his hair.
Tony made his way over to Peter and pulled him into a big hug. “I’m gonna kill him”, Tony whispered to Peter.
“No, Dad, you can’t do anything please. It’s no big deal, really.” Peter tried to plead.
Tony looked at Peter like he was crazy, “Are you kidding me? The things he said aren’t okay. You can’t just let him say those things. Hell, he defended the kid while pulled you down. Which reminds me, I’m gonna kill him too.”
Peter opened his mouth to respond but a loud crash on the other side of the room drew in all of their attention. Bucky was standing where one of the punching bags used to be hanging, the punching bag itself was across the room with the sand spilling out from where it had burst open.
One look at Bucky told everyone that the Winter Soldier side had taken over. The Winter Soldier walked over to Peter, assessed his broken nose, and then ran out of the training room before anyone could stop him.
“Shit,” Tony sighed “FRIDAY, please activate protocol Frozen in time.”
“Protocol Frozen in time has been activated”, FRIDAY answered “Mr. Barnes is currently in lower intern labs, I advise Peter and Ms. Romanoff getting to him quickly. It seems he has found his target.”
Peter and Nat quickly hopped on the elevator. FRIDAY sent the elevator down faster than Peter thought possible. In a few seconds they were stepping into the lab. They instantly caught sight of the Winter Soldier standing over Mr. Lamont. Heidi and the other interns had moved the the AcaDec team away from the Soldier, knowing how dangerous he could be when angry.
“Winter,” Peter said quickly, like he was trying not to spook a wild animal. “Winter, look at me.”
The Soldier snapped his head in Peter’s direction. “Он сделал тебе больно. Никто не ранит моих друзей“ (He hurt you. Nobody hurts my friends.) He growled in Russian.
Natasha had taught Peter Russian so that they could communicate in secret. It originally was used to annoy Tony, but after they learned that the Winter Soldier responded better when spoken to in Russian, Peter put more effort into becoming fluid in it. It was one of the reasons why only Steve, Nat, and Peter could calm him back down, because they all spoke Russian.
“Я знаю, что он сделал, но посмотри на меня, я в порядке. Я прямо здесь. Если ты делаешь ему больно, они могут забрать тебя у меня, и мне нужен мой друг“ (I know he did, but look at me, I am okay. I am right here. If you hurt him they might take you away from me and I need my friend.) Peter responded gently. He knew the Soldier would do anything to keep Peter happy.
The Soldier looked back at his teacher for a second before looking at Peter nodding his head. He was walking towards Peter when he heard Flash, “God, I knew Penis was a freak. How many dicks do you think he had to suck to get the Winter Soldier to pretend to like he knows him?”
‘Why?’ Peter thought,‘Why can’t Flash keep his mouth shut’. Because now the Winter Soldier has turned his gaze towards Flash and did not look as willing to back off this time around.
Peter watched as the Winter Soldier lunged towards Flash. Before he could think better of it, Peter himself was leaping across the room standing between Flash and the Soldier. Peter however, had not seen the knife the Soldier was aiming towards Flash.
The room was silent. Everyone staring at the knife currently sticking out of Peter’s stomach. Peter himself wasn’t focused on that, but instead the look of horror on the Soldiers face as he realized what he had done. Like a light switch had been flipped, the Soldier once again went dormant as Bucky took his place. It was a night and day difference and soon Bucky was in the middle of what looked to be a major panic attack.
FRIDAY had told Tony about the stab wound and soon he was down in the lab, already on the phone giving the medical team a heads up on the situation. Tony walked in to find Nat and Peter kneeling in front of Bucky trying to get him to breathe. On one side of the room was the teacher Tony recognized from the footage and on the other was a group of students and interns huddled in the corner. A small pool of blood was resting at Peter’s knees and a silver handle was sticking out of Peter’s abdomen.
Tony took a step forward in an attempt to get to Peter, but the kid held up a hand and told Tony to say back.
“Nope, nuh-uh, no way am gonna stay back.” Tony said, taking another step closer.
“Dad, I need you to trust me on this. You need to stay back. I’ll be fine. This..” Peter said motioning to the knife, “..is no big deal.”
Tony was about to argue, but a sudden movement from Bucky made him pause for a second.
It seemed Peter’s lack of self preservation was all it took to snap Bucky out of his panic attack. “No big deal? Are you fucking crazy?” Bucky yelled.
“I stabbed you! You are currently bleeding out. I’ve come to the conclusion that you don’t know what a big deal is. Got stabbed? No big deal. Broke a few ribs? No big deal. Had a building fall on you? No big deal. Fell out of the sky on a burn plane? No big fucking deal!” Bucky ranted “For once in your life, will you please stop being so God damn selfless and actual take care of yourself?”
Peter just stared at Bucky for a few seconds before mumbling a quiet “I’m sorry” and then passed out from blood loss.
Tony took no time in getting over to Peter, scooping him up in his arms, and hopping on the elevator to take him down to the medbay with Bucky following closely behind.
As soon as the elevator doors close the class broke out in whispers about what happened.
“Did he really just call a stab wound no big deal?”
“Were those actual things that have happened to him before?”
“Did the Winter Soldier just yell at Peter?”
“Did Peter speak Russian?”
“Did he call Tony Stark Dad?”
Soon the rest of the Avengers and Pepper Potts we’re stepping off of the elevator. As everyone noticed the new comers, the room once again was filled with silence. The only sound heard was the clicking of Peppers heels as she walked up to the group of students and interns who were still huddled in the corner.
“For the interns,” she spoke clearly “if you would all make your way to conference room 52C, someone will be up shortly to explain everything to you all. Except for you Heidi, if you’ll stay with the tour group?”
After receiving a quick head nod from Heidi, Pepper waited as all the interns left, there were only ten of them so it didn’t take long, before turning her attention back to the AcaDec team.
“I understand that you all will have many questions and we do plan to answer the important ones, but before we do, I would like to remind you that you all signed NDAs. Anything that has taken place today is to be kept quiet. We will know if you so much as mention today’s events after you leave and we will spare no expense in legal actions taken against you.” Pepper spoke in such a way that would scare even the toughest person down to their very core.
“Ms. Potts, I thank you for your time today and apologize for the trouble that one of the students from our school has caused. He wasn’t allowed in here in the first place and somehow snuck past security. I can assure you that he will be punished appropriately when we return to school, but we would also understand and support you if you choose to pursue legal actions against him.” Mr. Lamont foolishly spoke ignoring Mr. Harrington beside him trying to stop him.
“While I thank you for your apology of a student causing trouble and for so kindly giving us permission to pursue legal actions, which we plan on taking, I do believe you are thinking of the wrong student. You see, Peter Parker is a loved intern here. Both by the other interns, as well as, by myself and Mr. Stark. I also truly hope that you wouldn’t think so less of this highly advanced technology based company, to think that anyone could possibly sneak past security.” Pepper said almost patronizingly.
Mr, Lamont looked angry to have been called out. “How dare you speak to me that way. I don’t care who you are. Penis Parker is nothing but an attention seeking orphan. He doesn’t deserve your love.” he said taking a couple steps towards Pepper threateningly. Before he could fully get in her face Nat stepped forward in front of her (because he is obviously sexist and needs to be taken down a notch or two by a lady).
“What? Is this supposed to be intimidating? I’m sorry sweetheart, but I don’t think you could stop me.” Mr. Lamont laughed, reaching out and placed a hand on each of Nat’s shoulders to move her aside.
The gleam in Nats eyes as he touched her was one promising a slow and painful death. She smirked at him before gracefully pining him to the floor face first arms bent behind his back. “Was that supposed to be intimidating?” Nat mocked before hopping off his back and letting Clint and Sam take hold of him.
They stood him up so that he was eye level with Pepper. How she managed to look so calm and collected, nobody knew, but then again Pepper was a miracle worker. Her voice was steady but deadly when she spoke again. “Peter Parker is the best of us all. He jumped in front of a knife aimed at his bully and then the knife was still in his stomach and he was bleeding out, he ignored his needs and helped the person who (accidentally) stabbed him down from a panic attack. You should be grateful for him because without him you would probably be strapped to a table somewhere waiting for a long, slow, and extremely painful death. Unfortunately for the rest of us, we will have to settle for pressing charges against you for abuse of a minor in the form of harassment and neglect. There is a police escort waiting in the lobby for you.”
With a wave of her hand she signaled to Clint and Sam to take him down.
Turning on her heel she looked straight at Flash who flinched when they made eye contact.
“Mr. Thompson,” Pepper started, but was interrupted when the elevator opened again the angry voices of a frustrated looking Tony and Peter sounded across the room.
“Dad, I’m fine. Doctor Cho sewed me up and said I was good to go.” Peter argued.
“Yeah, to go back to the penthouse to rest. You should be in bed, not the lab!” Tony yelled.
“I have to make sure they don’t hurt anyone.” Pleaded Peter.
A small cough turned their attention to the group of people watching them.
“Well, uh, today has been..interesting. I’m sure you all have questions?” Tony said with a big press smile forced on his face.
At this everyone’s hands shot into the air.
Tony called on Betty first. “So Peter actually has an internship here?”
“Yes” Tony simply replied before pointing to Abe.
“Why did the Winter Soldier come down here to hurt Mr. Lamont?”
“Because FRIDAY showed us some video footage that made him angry. Next?” He answered.
After answering a few more questions about the Winter Soldier and one about if Peter had really been stabbed (to which he answered by sighing and mumbled something about the downfall of humanity), Tony called on Flash.
Flash stepped forward, smoothing down his shirt, and extending a hand out with a confident smile. “Mr. Stark, I just want to start by saying that I am a big fan of yours and respect you greatly. My question for you is why, out of anyone else, you picked Pen-, I mean, Peter, as an intern here? Surely you could have found someone better, someone who would better suit the social requirements of working in such a prestigious company?”
Tony looked Flash over for a few long moments, pointedly ignoring his still outstretched hand. “Mr. Thompson, I presume?” Receiving a nod from the bully, Tony continued, “ Let me start by saying that I am not a fan of yours and I have absolutely no respect for someone like you. I chose Peter to be my personal intern because he is the only person I have ever met who is capable of keeping up with me in the lab. I don’t care about some stupid social status. I care about the fact that Peter, at the age of fifteen, is a genius and will, without a doubt, pass me by in a few years. Not only is he smart though, he is kind, caring, funny,compassionate, and completely selfless. So I guess the real question is, why wouldn’t I pick Peter?”
Peter had never heard Tony talk about him like that. He sounded so proud. Peter didn’t care about everyone watching, he just walked up to his dad and hugged him tight. “Thank you”, he whispered so only Tony could hear.
Flash did not like that answer and seeing Peter hug Tony Stark gave him a new idea, “So that’s how he did it?” He sneered, “Living up to his name, Penis here’s got to have some magic mouth to have Tony Stark wrapped around his little finger. One would think a billionaire would pay for someone better than a pathetic orphan to get him off, but I guess it’s probably some pedophile kink he’s got.”
“Listen here you little shit,” Tony started.
“Dad, no.” Peter said trying to push his dad away..
“Peter let me handle this” Tony growled.
“You can’t bully the bully. If you do your just as bad as him. You’re better than to stoop to his level” Tony paused to look at Peter. The pleading look on his face made it hard to say no.
“Fine” Tony huffed.
“Nope, not fine.” Pepper stepped up next to Tony. “While I agree we shouldn’t lower our standards to his, we can’t just let him get away with it either.”
“Now Mr.Thompson, the accusations you are making about my husband and son, are not something we are willing to tolerate. Knowing my son he would ask that we not interfere and then insist that he can handle it, but you’ve crossed a line that not even his goodness can save you from. The same video that we have of Mr. Lamont harassing Peter, shows you physically assaulting him, resulting in you breaking his nose and re-fracturing one of the two already healing ribs, which you also had broken earlier this week outside the school on Monday. The footage from both times you’ve assaulted Peter this week have already been forwarded to the Principal and we are pushing to have you expelled. We will be pressing charges against you for assault and harassment. Now, because I believe in second chances, we will not be using our pull to keep you from having a successful career. But believe me when I say that if I hear of you pulling this kind of stunt on Peter or anyone else ever again, I will not hesitate to ruin your future.”
Flash was trembling where he stood. Who knew Pepper Potts could be so intimidating?
After a minute of silence, Mr. Harrington spoke timidly. “Peter, I owe you an apology. You never gave me any reason to doubt you and yet I still did. I am very sorry for not believing you and got stuck up for you sooner.”
Peter blushed slightly and just shrugged his shoulders while looking at the floor. “I don’t blame you, like you said before, it didn’t make any sense when looking at the facts.”
“Well,” Natasha interrupted with a slight cough, “So, do I get to hurt someone or not?”
“Definitely not,” laughed Pepper, “However, I think it would be wise to cancel the rest of the tour. Maybe we can reschedule another time.”
On that note, Pepper, Nat, and Wanda left. Happy had arrived as they were leaving, to escort the AcaDec team out of the building, and reminding them once again that they had signed NDAs. Tony, Peter, and Heidi were about to go their respective ways when Tony spoke again.
“Ms. Jacobs, I just wanted to thank you for sending us the video footage. We all know Peter wouldn’t have said anything himself.”
Not waiting for a response, Tony clasped a hand on Peter’s shoulder and wheeled him into the elevator for some much needed rest.
Heidi chuckled quietly to herself before going to join the other interns in the conference room. This tour will be one she isn’t likely to forget.
The rest of the day was spent with Tony trying, and failing, to get Peter to rest. Pepper had, as promised, filled in the interns on what had taken place.
Principal Morita had ended the day with a migraine after receiving a phone call from an angry Pepper Potts. Having a teacher arrested for abuse and a student charged with assault left him feeling inadequate in his job. He was supposed to protect these students. So when it had been proposed that SI pay for installation of cameras throughout the school, he was quick to say yes.
The meeting the following Monday between Mr. Morita, Tony, and Pepper had been filled with its own surprises. You know there’s something big going on when you have to sign an NDA before given any information. The proper paperwork was filled out and arrangements were made so that the same mistake of people thinking Peter had forged a signature didn’t happen again.
When Peter returned to school, he had expected people to try and treat his differently. Except for the obvious fact that Flash was no longer there and the curious looks from his AcaDec team, no one said anything to him. That is, until his parents had spotted him in the hall as they left their meeting with his principal and had stopped to talk to him. After that everyone tried to talk to him and ask questions.
While the future was unknown and the universe had an obvious vendetta against Peter, he couldn’t help but be grateful for the people in his life. He has the best friends a high school superhero could ask for and an over protective, loving, and slightly dysfunctional family.
Maybe, Peter Parker, has finally gotten his break in life.