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When Mr Harrington announced to the Decathlon team that they would be going on a field trip, Peter was struck with a sudden sense of dread. Something deep in his bones, akin to a sixth sense, alerted him to the fact that it would probably be to—
“Stark Industries!”
Whilst the group cheered, Peter groaned, burying his face in his arms. This sucked. It wasn’t that he didn’t like visiting SI—on the contrary, he tended to spend many evenings there, either tinkering in the lab or watching movies with his mentor, Tony Stark. Okay, mentor was a bit of a clinical term, seeing how the two of them had bonded over the months since May had discovered him wearing the Spider-Man suit. He looked forward to the days where Happy would pick him up from school and take him to Stark Tower. He could reminisce easily on the feeling that would flutter in his heart when he jumped out of the elevator and into the lab, spotting Tony at once. A feeling that was warm and huddled around him like a fluffy protective blanket. The same feeling that only intensified when they would finish up in the lab and go up to the Penthouse, eating snacks on the long couch whilst watching a movie. The feeling that reached its pique when Tony would card his hand through his soft curls of hair as he inevitably drifted off to sleep, the quiet hum of the TV playing in the background. Maybe he did see the man as his dad, even if an inkling of hero worship still stayed in—
“This is so awesome, dude!” Ned interrupted his internal monologue of thoughts, bumping his arm. He lifted his head from his arms, blinking rapidly and taking in the teenagers celebrating all around them. As his best friend continued to ramble in excitement, he scanned over all of the faces, and unfortunately found his way to Flash.
For a moment, their eyes met, and the boy almost looked… Scared? Sad? But with a shake of his head, the expression seemed to melt away from Flash’s face and was replaced with his usual sneer.
“Ready to get your lies exposed, Parker? I’m sure Tony Stark doesn’t like it when people pretend to be in his company.”
Peter rolled his eyes. It had been a while since Flash had taken to teasing him through testing the validity of his internship, but it still stung all the same. From his other side, he could’ve sworn he felt MJ tense up. However, before she could go head to head with Flash in what would have been a series of petty insults and comebacks, their teacher clapped his hands and the room fell into silence.
“Flash, don’t antagonise Peter.” Mr Harrington pointed a finger towards the offending student, before continuing on to explain about the permission slips and when they would need to be handed in. In a hopeful moment, Peter thought that, maybe, their teacher would leave the issue at that. His hopes were crushed when, as the Decathlon team began to file out of the room, the man added, “And Peter? Stay back for a moment. I need to talk to you.”
He gathered up his bags purposefully slowly, wondering if he took so long to get ready, then perhaps Mr Harrington might get bored of waiting. With his Parker luck, he’d already assumed that what his teacher had to say would probably be a more professional version of what Flash had already taunted.
It seemed that Ned and MJ had thought the same thing, as they stayed back with him as he put his pens and pencils back into his pencil case, one by one (a task which would’ve taken a longer time, had he not only owned two short HB pencils and a black biro for a pen).
“It’s alright, dude—he’ll see when we go on the field trip.”
“You know, if he doesn’t believe you, then maybe I could put a piece about this in the school newspaper. Also, his face when he finds out the truth would be a perfect addition to my crisis sketchbook.”
Peter smiled at his friends and nodded slowly. “Yeah—no. It’s fine. I don’t mind, really. I know that it’s true and… and so do you guys. That’s all that matters.”
After a hug from Ned and a fumbling handshake that was about to be a hug but failed at the last moment (gosh, that was awkward), with MJ, Peter walked towards his teacher, feeling as if he were about to do something much more dramatic than talk to his science teacher about a field trip.
“Peter.” The man began, and then added, as he noticed the boy wringing his hands together nervously, “Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble. I’ve been hearing what Eugene says to you, and I know that some of the teachers cast doubt on your internship—but I know some people there. I believe you, okay?” Peter blinked owlishly up at him. “Just try to keep your head down. Whilst I know it might seem extremely satisfying to see your classmate realise his errors in thinking—I’d hate for there to be trouble on this field trip, especially after how hard it was to get places there… and it’d be nice to have a field trip for the Decathlon team where no one nearly dies, right?” The man laughed, with a hint of hysteria laced in his tone.
“Uh, yeah.”
“Good talk, Peter.” The man nodded, before abruptly turning away.
Skipping out of the school with an air of anti-climax around him, he couldn’t help but feel as if things had gone too well. But, with a few texts to his friends and a chat with Aunt May, he wondered if, maybe, things were just going really well in his life, for once.
*****
The universe laughed in his face.
On the morning of the field trip to SI, Peter woke up and the nagging tiredness in the back of his skull didn’t leave, even when he’d eaten the big (and slightly burnt) breakfast that Aunt May had prepared for him. Of course, he had stayed up too late patrolling the last night. To be fair, he had managed to stop a bank robbery, and those were roughly on the second tier of his list of dangerous crimes, so he couldn’t regret his decision. He could feel grumpy about it, though, and look forward to staying at the Tower that evening and watching movies with his ment-dad the whole time, instead of working in the lab.
Even so, tiredness didn’t seem so bad a fate to suffer the day of the field trip, seeing as though he’d been expecting much worse that day when Mr Harrington had announced where they were going.
So, he sneakily bought a couple of sodas from Mr Delmar’s that morning and stowed them in his bag in case he needed to perk himself up a bit. He had been eyeing the energy drinks but knew that they would just mess up his speedy metabolism and hinder more than help him.
Reaching the bus, the morning air and walk to the school had left him feeling a little more human and he was happy to sit by his friends in the back, slipping on his headphones and beginning his ‘roadtrip playlist.’
And then, their teacher arrived.
When the man walked onto the bus, Peter’s first thought was, man, Mr Harrington really looks different today. Then, as he took in the man’s grey hair and sharp jaw and light blue eyes, he realised, dang, that isn’t Mr Harrington.
Slipping off his headphones, the first thing Peter heard out of the man’s mouth was:
“Mr Harrington won’t be here today.”
And if that wasn’t sinister, Peter wasn’t sure what was. Did he kill the guy? What did Mr Harrington do? Did he have some crazy debt and couldn’t pay it and this guy was gonna—
“He’s caught a bad sickness bug that’s been going around, so I’m going cover for him today. I’m Mr Williams. I’m sure some of you know me from History… some of you don’t. There are some of you that I don’t know, who I’ll need to be talking to. Now, let’s get going.”
With that, the man stopped talking. Well, Peter mused, putting his headphones back on, that guy was kinda weird, but maybe he was just one of those people who sounded like they were a serial killer, but actually were just a bit awkward. Peter could relate.
However, as his music began to start back up, a shadow cast over him and one look up showed him Mr Williams, standing right over him. The sudden appearance and glower on his face began to make Peter wonder if this man had killed Mr Harrington or not.
“Uh, hello—”
“Mr Parker, right?”
“Yeah, I’m—”
“Okay. Mr Harrington warned me about you. I… need to talk to you.”
“Okay.”
Peter tapped his fingers against the window of the bus. This was definitely awkward. A lot more awkward than the time last week when he’d tried to hug MJ but had settled for a weird handshake. More awkward for sure than when he’d thought Mr Stark was going in for a hug, but he’d actually just been brushing a bug off his cheek. Wow, he was definitely a hug-gy guy.
“It’s about this field trip. Look. Whilst I understand that some people may have endorsed your lie…. Whilst you may be going through a tough time right now—I won’t stand for it. This trip is a big deal for Midtown, and I won’t have you ruining it.”
“That’s fine. It’s not a lie.”
Peter withered under the man’s gaze. Why weren’t Ned or MJ stepping in? Oh, yeah, because the man was whispering this to him.
“It’s not a lie that I’ll get you kicked off this field trip if you don’t start acting professionally, Mr Parker.” Same to you, Peter thought. “This is your final chance. You haven’t got an internship with Tony Stark. Because high school kids don’t get jobs with Stark Industries.”
With that, the man turned away. Peter blinked, looking a little like a rabbit in the headlights. He’d met a lot of supervillains and criminals, but this guy really took the biscuit. He clenched his fists, deciding not to come back with a retort. He’d see.
He slipped back on his headphones, switching to his ‘roadtrip playlist 2’, which consisted of slightly more metal and rock songs, composed with the help of Mr Stark—which the man had dubbed his ‘teenage angst playlist’.
****
When Peter arrived at SI, the tiredness that had set in was partially rectified by the brief nap he’d taken on the bus. The angst had not been healed, however, as Mr Williams hadn’t disappeared or magically transfigured into Mr Harrington during the ride over, which was a big shame. The man kept giving him salty looks, and, he noted, seemed quite fond of Flash.
At this point, Peter wasn’t so happy that he’d gotten Mr Stark to allow the group not to have badges, and instead have FRIDAY scan them in. It had seemed a great idea when Mr Harrington was going to be their group leader and had advised him not to make too big of a deal about his internship. Now, with Mr Williams in charge, he wished that he could just smack on a badge reading ‘Tony Stark’s Personal Intern’ in big bold letters on his chest.
Happy didn’t seem so happy about not having badges either.
But, whatever, Peter thought. The trip wouldn’t last too long, and time would pass by so quickly that it would only feel like an hour until he could go up to the Penthouse.
When their tour guide showed them to the first exhibit, Peter’s eyes lit up for the first time on the trip. They were at the hall of Avengers, where each Avenger had a section and model replica of their suit, giving information on the heroes and their accomplishments.
“Peter—there’s a Spider-Man exhibit!”
As he looked over the red and blue suit, his heart jumped. Mr Stark thought that he was an Avenger now? That was awesome!
Okay, maybe the ‘fun facts’ on the side weren’t quite as awesome, especially the ones that read:
Fun Fact! Spider-Man is scared of spiders.
Fun Fact! Spider-Man is slightly shorter than Iron Man.
Fun Fact! Spider-Man was once dropped in the Hudson by the supervillain named the Vulture, and Iron Man rescued him.
The sarcasm was evident in the typing, however, and Peter couldn’t help but chuckle. This had Tony Stark written all over it. His eyes scanned down to last fact and that warm feeling settled over him once more.
Fun Fact! Spider-Man is Iron Man’s favourite superhero. Whilst seen as his mentor, it is true that Iron Man has learned a lot from our wall-crawling arachnid.
If he cried a little about that later in the comfort of his room, no one was to know.
“Wow, it’s Spider-Man!” Flash sauntered over. “Move out the way, Penis.”
****
By the time the group reached the cafeteria for lunch, Peter was still reeling from the irony that Flash had wrought. He’d never felt such mixed emotions as when the boy had managed to insult and praise him in the same breath.
The food was always great at the SI cafeteria, and luckily, Tony had tipped off the staff about Peter’s metabolism, which left him with a plate extra of food. Some people stared but no one said anything, since that would be pretty rude to comment on how much he was eating.
Well, no one apart from Mr Williams.
“Mr Parker, did you steal that food?”
“Seeing as though we’re getting it for free ‘cause we’re on a field trip here—no, sir.”
“I saw you talking to that employee. I know you think you can get more food out of them because you say you’re Tony Stark’s intern. However, I will not see you lying to people and ruining the integrity of our school.”
With that, the man walked away, mumbling something about ‘watching him’ which was kinda creepy, but Peter just started on his food as he was quite hungry after a long morning of touring the Tower.
“What’s up with him?” Ned asked as he sat down beside his friend, plonking his plate of food onto the table.
Shrugging, Peter swallowed his mouthful before speaking. “I dunno. I think he wanted some of my food or something. Probably just hangry.”
Ned hummed. “He has been pretty cranky today. Do you think he knows that he can just ask for more?”
“Maybe he doesn’t want to. Or maybe he’s just waiting to channel his inner Oliver Twist.”
“Maybe.”
*******
After lunch, the group were due to go to one of the Tower’s many labs. Peter was pretty impressed as they entered the room. He rarely strayed out of Mr Stark’s personal lab whenever he came to visit, so it was interesting to see what happened in the rest of the Tower. He smiled to see that this lab was almost as high-tech as the personal lab.
“Mr Stark would like you all to make something out of the materials placed on one of the desks. He may even come by after to see your inventions.” Their tour guide announced, to which they all gasped in excitement. “Your teacher here will put you in pairs.”
As the tour guide walked away, Mr Williams made quick work of putting them in their groups. He seemed quite eager now that the prospect of Tony Stark coming to see their group was placed on the table, and so didn’t think much as he shoved Peter and Flash together as a pair and sent them off to work.
“This sucks.” Flash groaned, which tipped Peter off to the fact that Flash and Mr Williams weren’t as tight as he’d thought.
“Thanks.” Peter breathed, looking through the scraps of metal and wires on their table, and then to the roll of tools. “Maybe we could make a model arc reactor or—”
“Whatever, Penis. I’m making my own thing; you stay on your side of the table.”
Ah, petty, Peter mused. “That’s kind of impractical, but okay.”
Surprisingly, they managed to work in relative silence. At least for the first half an hour. After that, it appeared that Flash had tried to make something too difficult for the quality of materials they’d been given, and he was slowly shuffling towards Peter and the model arc reactor he was making.
When the boy was practically breathing down his neck, Peter groaned and snapped his head to the side.
“What is it, Flash?”
“I think—let me have a go. I know what to do.” Suddenly, his project was snatched away from him and Flash had scurried off with it.
“Hey!” Peter pushed his stool back, walking over to where Flash had begun to work on his project. His eyes widened at the sputtering sparks coming from the metal, and at the beaker of chemicals dangerously close to tipping over.
“Shove off, Parker, I know what I’m doing. Maybe if you let me do this, we could win this together—”
“Wait, Flash, stop!” Peter cried out, as the beaker began to tip further and further. However, Flash assumed that Peter was trying to get his project back and he swatted his hands away.
“Just let me—”
He didn’t get to finish his sentence. As the beaker finally tipped, and the chemicals dripped down onto the fraying, exposed wires and metal, Peter had no choice but to run at Flash, shoving him roughly to the side. At that moment, there was an explosion, which sent sharp shards of metal flying.
As the smoke settled, the team got the courage to gather around the two figures laying prone on the floor. One of them moved- Flash—and then, there were gasps.
“Oh my gosh, is that blood?”
“Jesus Christ!”
“Someone call an ambulance!”
“I think one’s already coming!”
“No, that’s just Ned screaming!”
When Peter began to stir, the voices quieted. He groaned, pushing himself up by his elbows, and felt a flare of pain in his side. Taking stock of the damage, Peter found the metal sticking from his side. Whilst it wasn’t a large piece, it had cut rather deep and thus was causing the alarming stream of blood that was trickling down his side.
Ned and MJ came closer, attempting to help him get up.
“Are you okay, Peter?”
He hummed in response, looking to his two friends to answer, but shortly realised that neither of them had asked the question. Glancing to his side, he saw that it was Flash.
“Uh…I… just a small flesh wound...” He chuckled. “Tis but a scratch.”
With the three’s help, Peter managed to stagger to his feet. As they moved him to settle in a seat to the side, Mr Williams chose that moment to walk over.
“Mr Parker, what was that? I told you not to cause trouble. And look what you did!”
“Sir, he actually saved me—” Flash interjected. Peter almost attributed the surprising sight of Flash sticking up for him to the blood loss.
“But he caused the issue in the first place! Pushing you over. Causing the explosion. I’ve had enough with your trouble—”
There was a loud clunk, all of a sudden, as the elevator doors slid open. Everyone but the teacher, who was facing away from the doors, went silent.
“Silly boy. Ignorant. Now look what you’ve done—bleeding all over the place—I’ll have to—”
Someone cleared their throat. Eventually, the teacher turned around.
“I’m sure I can afford to have it cleaned.”
Peter was sure that Mr Williams looked like he was going to faint, but somehow, it didn’t happen.
“Oh my gosh, it’s Anthony Edward Stark—”
“Yes. Who’s not all that happy with how you’re treating one of your students—”
Unfortunately, Mr Williams wasn’t smart enough to let Tony continue and bring light to the facts at hand. “I can assure you that this is all in due course, Mr Stark, Tony Stark. I’m a big fan, by the way—and, uh, he’s been causing a lot of problems. Lying about an internship. Causing an explosion in your lab.
“Don’t you worry, I’ll make sure that he’s punished. I’ll get him suspended—expelled! This won’t happen again.”
All the while, Tony was nodding along, a gleam in his eyes. “You do that, you do that.” He mumbled, glancing to Peter. There was concern in his eyes over the state of the boy, although he couldn’t help but feel a little smug to be able to sort out this asshole for upsetting his kid.
“I’m in control of the situation, Mr Stark. I’ll contact his guardian and get him sent home.” He pulled out his phone, scrolling through the student’s emergency contacts. “Ms Parker?”
“Oh—she’s busy. She’s, she’s at work, sir.”
The man didn’t listen, dialling the number before standing awkwardly, listening to the dial tone. As May’s voice rung through, instructing him to ‘Leave a message!’ He sighed, going back to the emergency contacts.
“Fine, I’ll call your secondary contact.”
Tony smirked.
“Who’s this ‘mentor’?” Mr Williams asked. Tony and Peter shared a look as the man shrugged, before dialling the number.
It went straight through and a ringing sounded throughout the room. Tony made a show of pulling a confused face, reaching a hand into his pocket, and answering his phone. “What a funny coincidence!” He chuckled, stepping to the side to take the call.
“Hello, this is Peter Parker’s teacher—”
“Oh, this is his mentor. Speaking?” Tony looked across to the teacher and gasped. “Such a twist of fate. It’s funny, seeing how you called his mentor and I answered—or maybe not. I’m the kid’s secondary guardian. And I don’t appreciate the way you’ve been treating my kid. Thinking that he’s been lying about his internship with me…”
Tony stopped in his list as there was a thud. Mr Williams had swooned, caught only by the floor.
“Ahah,” Peter chuckled, “good one, Mr Stark…” And then he, too, promptly passed out.
With a roll of his eyes, Tony quickly sent for security to sort out the teacher, before hurriedly making his way over to Peter. He scooped the boy up into his arms, cradling him gently, careful of the metal sticking from his side. “FRIDAY? Be a dear and ask Brucie Bear to set up the Medbay for one Spiderling, would you?”
‘On it, boss.’
As Tony made his way towards the elevator, he looked down at Peter laying in his arms. “You’re lucky you’re—you, kid.”
And, if this day couldn’t have already been crazy enough, he heard a commotion just as the elevator doors slid shut.
“Spiderling?” A boy shouted, who sounded a lot like this ‘Flash’ guy that Peter had mentioned to him. “Wait—is Peter Parker Spider-Man?”
The elevator doors slid shut. Tony groaned. Today was going to be one massive headache, but he’d sort it out. Right now, he was going to be there for Peter—his kind, big-hearted, self-sacrificial kid.