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Sitting calmly at his desk, Peter glanced about the room. Their teacher had held the AcaDeca team back for some reason and he was starting to grow nervous. If the look on the others face was anything to go by, he had good reason to be.
“As you all know, we have an annual field-trip coming up soon.” Repressing a groan, he let his head fall onto the desk. It’s not that he hated fields trips! It’s just, after Oscorp and dc and-yeah no, he hated field trips. “We’ve been given express permission to get a tour to, drum roll please, Stark Towers!” Eyes widening against the soft fabric of his coat, Peter’s head slowly raised itself from the hard surface to stare at Mr. Harrington as the groups cheers rang around him.
“Finally! I’ll be able to prove your internship is bull!” Bitting the inside of his cheek, Peter winced and shrunk in on himself.
“Back off Flash.” Shooting a thankful smile to Mj, she sparred a second to nod in his direction before re-burying her nose further into her book. Peter could start and say this had started three months ago, when he technically started school again after being out for two months, he could go back even further for five months when his aunt May died due to lung cancer and he officially moved in with Tony Stark, a.k.a. the man who owned Stark Towers. Hell, he could go back over two years ago when Peter first received that forsaken bite from a radioactive spider, forcefully ripping his atoms apart and putting them back together again, only this time with a little extra oomph. Or, as he so lovingly refer to the incident as, the Radioactive incident, or the birth of Spider-Man. After the... events of what the media liked to dub, ‘Civil War,’ and the whole homecoming incident, Peter had been integrated into the family of Tony Stark. Or as he liked to call them, the bringers of embarrassment.
When May found out, it was hell on earth for him. Not about Spider-Man, no, she already knew about that. It was supposed to be treatable, it was supposed to be taken care of. In the end though, Peter was left homeless and aunt-less. Until Tony told them that he could move in with him. Apparently, before her death, the two had gotten the forms and passed legal guardianship to Tony and Pepper and Peter was made to move in. After that, the only hiccup was, well, meeting Harley, but that’s a story for another time.
Today though, well today might just be more than a simple hiccup. Mr. Harrington was still droning on, no doubt about the rules of the trip but Peter had long since stopped listening. He only tuned into the world again after he started waving around permission slips and NDA’s while telling the group to get them signed. Right as he dismissed them, Peter snatched one and sped his way out of the room, Ned on his heels.
“Dude, how crazy is your life.”
“I know,” he gritted out through clenched teeth, staring down at the words in the form. Already he had come up with three separate plans to get this to work, though in the back of his mind Peter desperately tried to ignore the panic setting into his bones.
“It’s so your luck to get to go on a tour of your own house.”
“I know.” He repeated, stuffing the sheet of paper into his bag.
“Seriously, how wild is this! Do you think your dad will be there? Or Captain America? What about Black widow. Man, your life is so cool.”
“I get it, Ned.” He hissed at the other, stopping in the middle of the hallways and rubbing at his temple. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap, it’s just-“
“It’s okay dude, I get it. It’s a lot, and me talking constantly probably isn’t helping.”
“Still, I shouldn’t have snapped at you. I’m sorry.”
“You know,” jumping at the sudden third voice, the two boys whirled around to stare at Mj, “if you two wanted to have a private conversation, you should be quieter. And maybe don’t stop in the middle of the hallway.” Stuttering their apologies, the trio quickly said their separate goodbyes (or at least he and Ned did, Mj just grunted and walked away) and went about their own ways of getting home. The walk home was morose, more so than usual. Normally he’d just change into the suit and take off, swinging to the tower, but today he wanted to give himself more time. Happy was set to start picking him up after school tomorrow again, after needing to take the week off to help and accompany Pepper on a trip to Europe.
The towers doors came into sight soon and Peter sighed, pushing his way through them. Upon spotting Maria, a kindhearted middle-aged woman who manned the front desks most days, Peter raised his hand in a wave and smiled in her direction. As he went on the situation repeated, he’d see people he knew he’d wave smile and continue along his way. Even when he walked through the security check in.
“Welcome back Mini Boss,” Friday’s voice called out above his head, a calming presence in his otherwise clouded mind.
“Hey Friday, where’s Harley?” He called out, stepping into Tony’s personal elevator, it’s use extending to him as well as Pepper and Harley along with the avengers plus Happy.
“Small Stark is on floor one hundred in the kitchen.” Smiling he nodded.
“Take me to ‘em.” The doors were closed for less than ten seconds before the doors were being opened to the top floor, floor one-hundred. The penthouse was magnificent as ever, marble-like floors spreading throughout the place and a small bar in the corner where Harley currently stood fiddling with some kind of electronic.
Dropping his bag by the door, Peter groaned and dragged his feet over to him.
Hearing Peter’s arrival, Harley set whatever he was messing with down and opened his arms wide. Crashing into the others body, he shoved his face into the others shoulder.
“You doing okay, Darlin’? I mean, I get want’n to hug me, I have that effect on people, but you seem a little distressed, and Peter Parker distressed is not good news.” Grumbling, Peter curled back away from the others warmth to glare at the other.
“Just an off day. I still have to go out on patrol tonight too.” Nodding, they went back to hugging until Harley was called down to the labs to help with a problem they had run into.
“I’ve got to think of something.” He muttered to himself while staring down at the kitchen counter. He came up with seven ways to do it now, each just slightly more outlandish than the last. He was trying to decide whether to go with burning the form or forgery when a thought struck him. With a new plan in mind he went down to the lab in an attempt to work on his web slingers for a time.
By the time he had been called up for dinner, Peter had already forgetter about the trip, until he spotted his bag sitting innocently on the floor that is. Scooping it up in one swift motion, he took out the paper and threw the rest of the bag onto the couch. He’d do the homework later, for now the focus was getting out of the wretched field trip freely. In the kitchen Natasha and Clint stood side by side cooking something on the stove while Steve Harley and Tony sat at the bar stools while Pepper stood behind Tony with her arms around his shoulders. Sam and Bucky were off to the side having a heated conversation about goodness knows what, Bruce messing with something in Bucky’s arm while he talked to Sam. Smiling, Peter took a moment to survey the scene, warmth flooding his stomach as he watched the people he called family interact peacefully with one another. Sadly, the moment must be broken and Peter called out to Tony, walking purposely towards the other man. Tony hummed from where he sat staring down at a stack of papers, raising his head the moment he heard Peter’s voice.
“I need a guardian to sign my permission slip for school to go on a field trip.” Nat laughed as she dumped a pot of noodles into a strainer, not once looking up.
“Where are you guys going?” Pepper asked, smiling kindly at him. This was it, the end of everything for him. Either this would make or break this whole thing for him. Putting on his best smug smirk while leaning on the counter. He watched as Tony signed the paper without reading over it and mentally cheered.
“Here.” He answered simply and crossed his fingers. Instead of laughing, or plotting how to end Peter’s life, the adults in the room shot unimpressed looks to Peter and let him take the signed paper away. A year ago, this wouldn’t be the case, either with Tony or.. May, but times changed. It started a few months ago when he had needed permission for a science trip and when asked where they were going, he told them he was going to study dead sharks. They hadn’t believed him and Peter had been so peeved that the next time he needed permission he just pulled an answer from the top of his head.
He had, for months, been trolling them.
Last time he needed permission to get out of school, he’d said a shark attack was going to happen. When he had tried to surprise Tony and he caught on and asked what Peter was doing, he’d said building a submarine. Walking away with the paper tucked between his fingers, Peter huffed out a breath of air he had been holding the whole time. His brilliant plan had worked and now-well now he were off the hook.
Why would he be worried about a school trip where the Avengers could embarrass him if the Avengers didn’t even know in the first place?
After successfully securing the paper in his bag, he sat through diner and pretended not to notice the odd looks the others kept sending him when he would go too long without participating in any conversation he felt the need to, a habit he never skipped participating in. Not even Harley seemed to know what was going on in Peter’s head. Turning in early, he laid in bed staring at the ceiling.
“Can I really pull this off?” He asked of the empty room, receiving no reply but plowing through as if someone had spoken back to him.
“Honestly? I have no idea. There’s always an extra variable that I can’t prepare for; But we’ll see.” Nodding to the empty room once more, he turned over and actually attempted to sleep this time.
Turns out, he need not have worried about anything to do with the field trip as the night before he would have gone, Spider-Man was stabbed. Six time. Simultaneously.
“Alright, what made you think it was a good idea to stay out past curfew and get stabbed.” Glancing around the room, Peter shrunk in on himself and fell further into the cushions beneath him before wincing at the spark of pain it sent through his body. He may have super fast healing, but that didn’t make it hurt any less.
The man stood over him not three feet away, hands on his hips as he stared at Peter, eye twitching. Peter had just been protecting a child from a psychopath who was abusing them. Of course, everyone in the tower had been freaked out when Peter showed up out of nowhere bleeding from everywhere and seemingly out of it. He laid on the couch, trying to decide whether it was truly worth it to attempt to bolt for the door and risk opening a wound, or just listen to Dad-Tony lecture him. Harley has been standing off to the side trying not to burst out in laughter until this moment.
“Come on, Tony, can’t you yell at Peter tomorrow? I think he’s had enough pain for the night.”
“Fine, but you aren’t going to school tomorrow.”
“I don’t think he wanted to anyways.” Sighing deeply through his nose, Tony glared at him for another second before nodding and spinning on his heels, stomping away with his arms crossed. Harley grinned at the others back before diving into the couch, shoving his way to lay besides Peter almost succeeding in falling off the edge.
“You know, the one good thing about you getting stabbed? More time to snuggle.” Giggling, the pair curled in closer and watched sappy movies until they fell asleep in a pile on the couch.
Off in another room, Tony stared down at the phone in his hand, wondering why it always fell onto him to call the school with news like the fact his kid wasn’t going to make it in tomorrow. Speed healing be damned, he was going to make sure the kid stayed safe and at home where there was no such chance of any little asshole trying to shove him around and possibly open any sort of wound. Dialing the number, Tony sighed and dragged a hand down his face.
At least Peter’s not going on this field trip or being even near it should prevent another... field trip-incident that Peter just seemed to attract to him. Maybe he could even talk Clint down from going to terrorize the poor tour group that was supposed to come in tomorrow.
Ned was ecstatic. Sure, his best friend wouldn’t be there and yeah, that probably meant the chances of any of them seeing an Avenger went down to zero, but it was still cool! He knew that Peter lived there but that didn’t mean he’d been there since it happened. It was too bad too, as he had even managed to hand in his slip on time, unlike every other time where he’d always managed to do it at the last possible minute.
The yellow bus pulled up to the curb in front of him and Ned glanced around excitedly. It didn’t seem Mj shared his sentiment and just continued to read the book even while climbing aboard. Behind him, Flash bragged to whoever was gullible enough to listen how he had successfully exposed Peter’s lies and how he would finally proved it on this trip.
Rolling his eyes, Ned sat next to Mj who silently moved her bag from the seat next to her to the floor. Shooting her a thankful smile, Ned pulled out his phone and went to shoot a text to Peter when someone started breathing on his neck. Switching his phone off, he glared at the face that sat not even half a foot away from his own.
“Can I help you?” Flash’s face split in half to form a wide Cheshire grin while he flicked Ned in the forehead.
“You mad that I’m going to expose Penis’s lies?”
“Flash, the only one here who cares whether Peter actually has an internship is you.” At Mj’s glare, he grumbled quietly and skunk back down in his seat. Sighing, Ned leaned back against the seat. This whole thing would be a lot more fun if Peter were here. The ride went by in the blink of an eye and before he knew it, they were standing in a group staring up at the imposing building in various degrees of awe.
“Alright class, you know the rules so let’s get moving.” Nodding numbly, the group followed mr. Harrington through the front doors into a lobby filled with people milling about either talking to one another or stomping off towards their intentioned destination. Smiling, Ned happily walked along with the rest of them.
“May I help you all?” He heard the receptionist ask upon mr. Harrington approaching her desk.
“Ah yes, we’re the group from Midtown? We’re supposed to get a tour here today?”
“Ah yes! It does say that in my book here let me just see who is supposed to lead it...” he stopped listening after that, focusing now on shooting off a quick text to Peter warning him if their arrival. He received no reply. Pocketing his phone he watched a man skirt through the security checkpoint whilst sending the security guard finger guns. Even though he wore a simple jacket and ball cap while carrying a small bin filled with cards, Ned would recognize that guy anywhere.
As it was, Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, was walking towards their group with intent. Eye brows disappearing into his hairline, Ned watched with an open mouth as The Hawkeye walked up and stood next to mr. Harrington to greet the group as one.
“Good morning all. I am Clint and will be your tour guide today. If you all could come up when I call your name and receive your security pass for the trip that would be awesome.” With that he started rattling off names and one by one, each of the awestruck teens collected their cards.
“Alright, these guys will let people know you’re a tour group and, while you can’t go anywhere without someone of higher security, it will let them know not to throw you out. If anyone needs to use the bathroom or has a question just tell me. Let’s begin shall we?” Walking slightly ahead of the rest of them, Ned caught up to Clint and leaned in a bit.
“How’s Peter? Is he doing okay?” Clint laughed and ruffled Ned’s hair. Though Ned hadn’t actually been over to Stark towers before, he had seen when the Black Widow or Hawkeye or even Captain America would pick Peter up from Ned’s place, sometimes staying for a coffee.
“Don’t worry, our Mini Boss is doing just fine. He’s laid up on his floor with Small Stark.” Nodding, he fell back into the crowd as Clint began addressing them. “Alright, we’ll start this tour on the fourth floor, the intern science lab. It’s used more for the lower interns of the building or those who have something too dangerous for the upper levels which ultimately hold more people. First things first though, you’ll have to leave your bags and phones here at the front checkpoint. There’s confidential stuff up there that we aren’t supposed to know about yet, so...” placing a finger again this lips, Cling winked at them and turned around, letting the group make their way through the checkpoint until they all stood on the other side.
Clint waved at them from where he stood by an elevator and swiped his card when they came close enough. Clamoring into the elevator, Ned ended up squished against the wall with Mj next to him. Only when the elevator started its trip up did Flash open his mouth saying just what Ned feared he would do the entire time.
“Mr. Hawkeye sir?” Humming, Clint turned away from the wall to search the crowd for whoever spoke. Flash raised his hand when Clint couldn’t find him, leading to the other smiling and nodding for the other to continue. “Can High school students apply for an internship here?” Eyes widening, Ned tried to gesture for Clint’s attention, almost succeeding in smacking Mj upside the head which would not have ended well for him. Clint didn’t even notice his warnings, that or he chose to ignore it.
“Well, I don’t believe high schoolers can get an internship here.” Even without looking, he already knew that Flash’s face was split once more in a creepy smile as he fist pumped. Finally he had a way to shove Peter down the drain for good.
“Unless,” Clint continued, making Flash pause his victory dance to stare wide eyed and wide mouthed at the other man, “of course, they’ve been approached by Tony or Pepper and offered the position.”
“B-but the site says no high school interns. Are there any high school interns here?” He could hear the strain in the others voice, finally forcing Ned to look at the other kid.
“Ah, two! Yes, they were both personally selected by Tony to be personal intern.”
“Who?” He demanded, raising himself onto the balls of his feet to stare down Clint. Too bad the adult still had a good three inches on him. Instead of answering, the elevator door opened behind him and Clint lead the way out.
“Can’t give that information away. Personal safety and all that. Now if you’ll follow me through here.” Clint walked on, unaware of the confusion he’d left the group in. Ned smirked as he followed along with the others directions. Though he wasn’t actually expecting it and Ned was sure Clint was mostly doing this to mess with them, the other man was a surprisingly good tour guide. Pointing out odd tidbits along the way, introducing them to various interns and employees of the floor.
After one particularly terrible joke about atoms, Clint chuckled to himself and whipped away a fake tear. “Ah, good times. Gonna have to tell Peter that I used that one.”
“Wait, Peter? As in Parker? He actually works here?” Clint realized what he said the second Abe called him out.
“Er, did I say Peter? I meant geezer. A-a different intern here. Hehe...” raising an eye brow, Ned stared at Clint who rubbed at the back of his neck and pointedly did not look at any of them. For a secretive assassin, he wasn’t very good at keeping a secret. The group shared collective glances but moved on. Surely he couldn’t be talking about their Peter, right?
“Alright group,” he announced with the clap of his hands, walking backwards towards the elevator once more, “on towards the avengers museum where you all can wander for an hour before we head up to lunch.” Following along like mindless beings, the class crowded back into the elevator and reveled in the new knowledge they might or might not have gained. When the door opened, the thoughts of if quiet nerdy Peter really worked there left everyone’s brains as they stared on into the dimly lit room. Gasping softly, Ned fumbled his way out and walked solemnly along the pathway, stopping every now and again to look up at one of the Avengers costumes or read the facts plaques beneath them.
Finally, his eyes fell upon a display showing a suit he knew well. Smile lighting his face, he watched a video of Spider-man swinging through the city while reading the facts beneath it. He was ninety percent sure that Peter couldn’t actually control spiders and that Mr. Stark added it to mess with his best friend, but at this point he was too afraid to ask.
“We all start somewhere.” Jumping at the sudden second voice, he glanced left to see Mj reading the same thing he was. When he continued to stare confused at her, she pointed to the part of the sign that read that and he smiled. He remembered when he first found out about Peter’s Spidey thing. One of the coolest moments of his life, finding out his best friend was really a super hero.
As Clint had said, they were able to walk around for another half an hour, desperately attempting to ignore the shouts from Flash at how he was going to have a place here some day.
“As if,” he heard Clint mutter next to him, looking disapprovingly at Flash. Before he could question the other, Clint called them back over and said they were heading to lunch.
“Friday,” he called out as soon as they got into a different elevator than before, confusing those of them who didn’t understand how he was taking to, “take us up to floor forty-eight. It’s where the good food is, and, as your teacher no doubt told you, each tour group has ten dollars free per person. You may buy more than that if you’d like but you’ll have to pay for it with your own money.”
“I’m afraid they do not have the clearance to visit that high.” A woman’s voice came out of nowhere, leading to several people jumping and glancing around nervously.
“Override. That’s Friday by the way. She runs the place.”
“Is she an Ai?” Cindy called out excitedly from across the room. Nodding, Clint went on to explain.
“Tony designed her in case anything ever happened to his old one, Jarvis, and she now runs the building.” Arriving on the lunch floor, they broke off into separate groups to each gain food and sit at different tables. There weren’t many others in the room, those who were there gave the class odd looks until spotting Clint, then they just groaned and either went back to eating or napping. Gaining a BLT he sat across from Mj who had somehow managed to get her hands on a book in the time they had been there.
“Don’t you have to turn stuff like that in?” She shrugged, not bothering to answer him. He ignored the blatant dismissal and ate his burger, pretending not to hear Flash bragging about being ‘right’ about Peter’s internship.
He was just wiping his fingers off when an alarm went off above his head. A high pitch squeal that forced all who heard it to drop whatever they had and shove the palms of their hands over their ears, even across from him Mj clamped her hands over her ears. Even through the noise he heard a chair scrapping against the floor and glanced around to see Clint’s panicked face. Tilting his head he kicked Mj’s ankle lightly, though she still glared at him as if he’d shattered her leg, and gestured to Clint. Any staff that had been mulling about quickly evacuated the room, leaving just the class of confused students, an equally confused teacher, and a panic stricken assassin.
“Friday,” he barked out, running around the room pulling everyone who was still sitting to their feet, “who’s still upstairs.”
“Both Mini Boss and Small Stark are on their floor as of this moment.” He had gotten to them and pulled them both to their feet. They were the last ones and followed blindly behind him as he dragged them over to an elevator they’d yet to notice decorated in gold garnishes.
“Ask then if we can come up.” She didn’t respond while Clint swiped his card and gestured for them to climb in.
“Small Stark says it’s okay but too be careful. If they could also be quiet when they came up he’d appreciate it. He also says he’ll make sure the Mini Boss stays in place should he wake up.” He nodded to her voice and counted the head in the elevator. As far as Ned could see, everyone was there. It seemed Clint had come to the same to the same conclusion as he nodded.
“Bring ‘em up Friday. I’ve got a job to do.” As the elevator doors closed, Ned watched with wide eyes as Clint shrugged the jacket and hat off his head to pull out a hidden bow and several arrows crammed in the hem of his pants. The doors closed as Clint ran off, leaving the group to start at the golden door as it began to take them off. All the class could do was wonder who the hell Small Stark and Mini Boss were.
Stumbling, it seemed none of them had been prepared for just how fast this elevator would move. The doors opened barley five seconds after closing and the class was let out into a room much different than the hustle and bustle of before. Dim lights illuminated soft blue walls and they stepped out to warm hard wood floors. The soft noise of prerecorded people talking floated to them from the tv playing off to their left. At once their head turned to look at the duo sitting on the couch. A boy Ned knew well laid on the far end of it, his head in the lap of another boy with blond hair he did not know who mindlessly braided small bits of his hair.
Out of the two of them, it looked like the only one who was fully conscious was the kid Ned didn’t know.
He spotted them the second they came in and paused his braiding to place a finger against his lips, gesturing to the sleeping Peter on the couch. Of course, that apparently meant nothing in the eyes of certain in people.
“What the hell, Parker!” Everyone jumped at Flash’s sudden brashness but none of them moved half as fast as those on the couch. Peter sat up and threw himself around the blond kid, effectively shielding him from anything while pointing his wrist at them. His face was scrounged up, desperately attempting to appear more dangerous than he was at the moment. The tank top with little Iron-Man’s currently riding up on his skin wasn’t helping. It didn’t work as well as he wanted, but it turned out it wasn’t needed as a second later Ned stepped out from behind the group and waved at them.
“Hey Peter.”
“Hey Ned,” he mumbled back on habit before pausing at his own words, gaze shifting to where Ned stood.
“Ned?” Peter half yelled, his arm relaxing from pointing at them with the web shooters and him uncurling himself from around Harley. “What are you doing here?”
“An alarm went off and Hawkeye told us to go up here with the, Uh, ‘Mini Boss and Small Stark.’” Cindy air quoted, squinting at the pair. While Peter paused and tilted his head up, Harley squinted at the group.
“Yes and I believe I requested for you all to be quiet.”
“Oh, there is an alarm.” Peter stated, seemingly not hearing a word Harley had spoken and stood up to stand a few feet away from them.
“Answer me, what the hell Penis.”
“Oh he did not just say that.” Harley stood and made to walk over to Flash but Peter threw his arm out, blocking his advancement.
“It’s fine, Harls,” he murmured, not glancing back. He sighed behind them and stepped around Peter’s arm before smiling and throwing his arms out to gesture to their living spaces.
“Welcome y’all to our humble abode. I’m Harley and y’all seem to already know my darlin’ here.” He laid the southern charm on thick, Peter smiling dopily at his back, along with several of his classmates.
“Wait, you mean Peter really does work here?”
“Did you all doubt him? Even you teacher dude trying not to be noticed?” Peter glanced back and saw that Mr. Harrington was indeed there as well and attempting to make himself look smaller than he really was. He mumbled something that his ears managed to pick up, but the rest of their probably couldn’t.
“What was that?”
“It was improbable that he had managed to catch the eye of Tony Stark is all.”
“Well he did, and so did I. Alright, I’ve got a question for all of you, how did you get in that elevator? I know Hawkeye helped you all up but what was he even doing there in the first place?”
“Hawkeye was leading our tour when the alarms went off.” Nodding to themselves, the pair seemed to accept it and moved into a less offensive formation. Peter walked off to get blankets and snacks while Harley stalled. Five minutes later Peter came back with his arms full of both blankets and food, more than any normal person should be able to carry.
“Alright, we’ve got a few movies on hand or we could keep binging the office.” Their class stared at them with wide eyes. Peter and Harley glanced at each other and answered the unspoken question with shrugs.
“We aren’t staying all night.” Mr. Harrington tried, a weak whimper coming out right after.
“These procedures not only take the time to catch the people responsible for doing it but also to floor to floor to insure that no more are hiding in plain sight. We’re on floor ninety-four, it’s going to take them a while to get to us so while you might not be here all night, it will still be late before you can get out. Best we can do now is sit and eat and watch mindless tv. If any of you need to contact your parents your phones should have been sent up via a compartment elevator.” Peter’s calm facade cracked the slightest bit at being met with yells of disbelief and disagreance.
“You all act like you’ve got it worse than us.”
“We do!” A voice yelled at them from the back and Peter stared at whoever had said it for a total of three whole seconds before bursting out in laughter. Not the kind of joyous and happy laughter they had all heard from Peter before when he sat with Ned and Mj at lunch, this was different. A heck of a lot more disturbing and disheartening. It had the effect of getting everyone to shut up. The second everyone quieted down, he stopped laughing to look at each of them individually.
“We’re all here, that’s the fact of the matter. Uncle Clint clearly thought you’d all be safest with us so sit down and help us decide if we should continue binging or to switch to a movie. At least it will take my mind off the idea of any of them being killed because I wasn’t there to help.” Everyone remained silent until Mj raised her hand.
“I vote The Office.” Harley, nodded along with her and gestured to where things sat on the couch. Slowly, the whole group went forwards and sat down, all but the original duo, Ned and Mj.
“I’m so sorry, Peter, I tried to text you but you weren’t answering your phone.” Peter shook his head with a smile on his face.
“It’s fine, however, the good news is I can finally introduce you two. This is Harley.” If either of them were surprised at Harley, they hid it well. Though going by the extra look Mj was sending his way, she knew more than she let on.
“The boyfriend I’ve been hearing about? Finally!” With that, he was off, asking Harley question after question, not once pausing his tirade. In his defense, Harley kept up with him with ease, answering each question with the normal level of southern draw and sarcasm with a little fondness mixed in. He must be going soft. Meanwhile, Peter pulled Mj off to the side and nervously glanced around the hall. It was time he let her know about the whole adopted thing. Ned knew, but that was an accident.
“Look, Mj, I’ve been needing to talk to you about this for a while but I think I should tell you because you’ve become my friend and have helped me so much so I decided to tell that I am-“
“Spider-Man.” Staring blankly at the other, his hands nervously started wringing each other out.
“Wh-What? What makes you think that I’m Spider-Man.” Laughing nervously, he glanced around seeing who could possibly be close enough to hear them, despite the fact that he didn’t need to look around and could just listen.
“The whole showing up at the same places as spidey. Washington DC. You call in sick every time he’s mortally wounded. And you live here.” Peter smiled and shook his head. Of course Mj knew, he never should have expected her not to get it.
“How did you even-“
“Sometimes you come in with designer stuff that I know your aunt can’t afford and other times I can hear you and Ned talking about the stupidity the Avengers seemed to have gotten up to recently. Your tone is way too familiar to be someone just keeping up with their lives.” Grinning, he nodded and they soon returned to the group to sit and calmly watch their tv. Harley sat on his left and Peter dropped his head onto the others shoulder while Ned quietly whispered trivia to the group next to him.
“What time is it?” Peter asked after they had watched several episodes of the show in a row. Several people checked their wrists where their watched usually sat only to find them empty.
“Four-thirty,” Mj supplied, not glancing up from the book she was reading. Nodding, Peter along with Harley got up and started in the direction of the kitchen.
“You all will probably be getting hungry soon then.” The pair set out getting the ingredients for pizza, dipping into their extra rations and ending up with twenty well sized pizza with toppings ranging from plain cheese to three meat and even pineapple. Setting them all in at least one of the several ovens they have set in their kitchen (still unsure why Mr. Stark installed so many), they leaned back against the counter and against each other’s side while Peter dropped his head onto Harley’s shoulder. The room was quiet around them, a welcome change Peter enjoyed for the moment, his eyes falling shut as he enjoyed it. Someone cleared their throats and the pairs eyes popped open immediately to stare wide eyed at Flash who stood frozen still in the entrance to their kitchen. There went their silence.
“What do you want,” Harley said, sounding a lot more confident than Peter felt. Sure, he could take this guy without barley lifting a finger, but that didn’t change the fact that year and years of harassment and beatings had worn Peter down. A lot. He awkwardly shuffled into the room, which they barley noticed around the glare he was giving Harley.
“I’m here to talk to him.” They both wanted to say that’s why he should stay, but the look on the others face said this wasn’t negotiable. Nodding to him, Harley unstuck himself from Peter’s side before walked slowly away, making sure to stride purposefully towards Flash so he would jump out of him way. Peter knew Harley was smirking when he left but he also knew he wouldn’t go far, after all, he probably didn’t trust Flash in the slightest after the stories Peter told of him.
“What do you want Flash.”
“I want to know how you managed to get in.” Blinking, Peter shook his head and stared at the other.
“I don’t-“
“oh I think you do. I have applied to the internship hundreds of times and rarely even got a reply saying no.” Mouth suddenly dry, Peter’s eyes glanced down at the timer on the oven and tried not to growl when it still had ten minutes on it. “Nothing to say?” His eyes snapped back up to Flash. He had honestly forgotten about the other boys presence.
“Honestly Flash? I don’t know what you want me to say. I got here by accident, it was a coincidence that I’ve ended up where I have. That’s all.” The others nostrils flared but he didn’t call Peter out on it, instead choosing to stomp away. Sighing, Peter let his head fall down. He was honestly so tired of dealing with that guy, but he couldn’t just whack him. It went against his morals.
Or at least, that’s what he keeps telling himself.
Once the pizza was done they let it cool and sliced it up before telling the group the good news. It was a good call, making that much food. All that had been left over from it was a measly three pieces which varies people claimed after finding out there was even a little left. Half way through the next episode however, a loud thud on the outside balcony had the original occupants on their feet and sprinting away. As soon as they left, the classmates started speaking up.
“So do you think they’re like.. together?”
“I think so, did you see the way they looked at each other.”
“Never mind that, Peter actually has a job here!”
“Old news. Real question is; when did Peter get so ripped?” Their exited chatter quieted down when they heard metal on metal screen while what sounded like footsteps hit the ground, speed walking closer to them by the second. The good news was when it abruptly stopped to be replaced by running footsteps.
“Uh, is-is someone here to kill us?”
“Nah, Pete and Harley’s job is supposed to be to protect us and they’ll do it... right?” As one they all stood, minus Ned who already knew who was inside, and Mj who plain old didn’t care, and walked towards whatever had crash landed there. When they turned the corner, not even Mr. Harrington was prepared for the sight that met their eyes.
Tony Stark stood a few feet away, carefully inspecting Peter’s face in both his hands before moving on to Harley as The Black Widow and Captain America stood behind them, clearly itching to do the same.
“And you’re absolutely sure the nut job over here didn’t try to get involved?”
“Positive.” Harley answered, accent thick spilling from his lips. Tony stepped back a second later and nodded to them before sniffing the air.
“Do I smell pizza?” Both of them grinned at the others before noticing their audience. Both groups stared blankly at one another until the sudden noise of someone clapping drew their attention.
“Alright group, that concludes our tour and I hope you learned something about Stark Industries, walk with me and I’ll show you out.” Clint had made a reappearance and thankfully knew how to move a group of awestruck teenagers. Or at least, most of them.
“How did Peter get this gig over me.” All eyes snapping to Flash, Tony tilted and shook his head.
“He didn’t ‘get this gig’ I offered it to him and he accepted it. Thank goodness for that as it turns out Pete’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever met, and I’ve met me. Now off with you all. Have enough kids thank you.”
“But I deserve it so much more! Did he have to beg on his knees to get you to pretend to know him?” It seemed he just didn’t know when to quit. His fiends apparently did and grabbed his arms to pull him back. Glancing to his side, Peter felt his eyes widen when he took in Tony’s dark look.
“Let me tell you something kid,” his voice was low but it didn’t matter, they all heard him without a problem. “Peter deserves more than you’ll ever see and, unlike you, will get it one day. If you ever, ever, try to insinuate that Peter did something like that again, or even attempt to say anything to Peter that isn’t encouragement, I will not only block you from every Stark Industries building but blacklist you from every college in the world. Now, like I said before; off with you all.”
Clint once again reappeared at the back of the crowd and made a sweeping motion. They filled out one by one until they stood in the elevator once more. Watching as the gold plated doors slid shut once more, the air was filled with something unusual for a group of teenagers who had just seen the Avengers in full uniform. Silence.
“Well,” Mj began, breaking the silence and turning to the final page in the book she’d been reading since they had gotten there while they sank through the building, “he did tell you all that he had an internship.” One thing was for sure, next Monday was going to be interesting.