Chapter Text
Peter Parker was known to be a lot of things.
A loving nephew and friend, member of his high school’s academic decathlon team, on track of being the next valedictorian of his class, and an intern for the world’s richest billionaire (though there was still quite a lot of skepticism about that one).
Oh, and New York’s newest vigilante superhero, Spider-Man.
There wasn’t much that the boy couldn’t do, considering his intellect and enhanced senses. He could practically solve a math equation within a few minutes while catching an arrow being thrown at him.
Which he has.
Not that anyone knew, but still.
It was something.
There was just one thing that Peter Parker couldn’t do. And that was waking up and getting to school on time.
Technically two things, but the point still stands.
“Peter, wake up! You’re gonna be late again!” A woman called, sighing as she glanced at the time. She loved her nephew with all her being, but the boy was going to give her gray hairs one day.
The boy groaned softly, his eyes immediately shutting again when he saw the bright sun through his window.
How many hours did he get tonight? Three? Two? Peter forced himself to open his eyes, looking over at his alarm clock, which read 7:43. Approximately three hours of sleep, with less than twenty minutes to get to school before he was late. Again.
Being Spider-Man and doing nightly patrols were going to be the cause of his death. Or expulsion.
Nonetheless, he pulled himself out of his bed, plucking a random sweatshirt and jeans from his closet before heading to the bathroom. Anyone within three feet of Peter could notice the tiredness in his eyes, the noticeable bags starting to darken underneath his brown eyes.
It wasn’t his fault really; he insisted on doing patrol and just ended up losing track of time, per usual.
Okay, maybe it was his fault. But he didn’t pick crime in New York.
After quickly brushing his teeth and running a hand through his hand to smooth out his curls, Peter emerged from the bathroom, greeting his aunt with a chirpy “Morning, May!”
“Hey, sweetheart.” May chuckled, pouring some cereal into a bowl for him and adding some milk. “Eat up, you don’t want to be late.”
Peter quickly started to stuff his face, his metabolism working overtime to process it.
“Tanfs.” He said around a mouthful of Fruit Loops.
“Are you going to the Tower after school?” May asked. “If not, you can order a pizza, cause I’ll be working late tonight.”
The teenage boy nodded, knowing exactly what he was supposed to do. May often wanted to work extra shifts, even going on the company business trips in order to provide for the boy’s schooling and activities. Peter hated that his aunt worked so much for his sake, but at least she enjoyed her job. On nights where May wasn’t home, Peter would usually head over to Stark Industries, tinkering in a lab with Mr. Stark himself or Dr. Banner, or simply spending time with the rest of the Avengers.
He still couldn’t believe he was able to say that, Peter thought to himself, drinking the rest of the milk before plopping the bowl in the sink.
“I’ll see you tomorrow after school then?” She asked, kissing him on the forehead. Peter nodded, giving her a half smile as he went to grab his rather heavy backpack.
“Bye, May! Love you!” He called, waving to the woman as he left the apartment.
“Love you too!” May called, chuckling softly at her nephew’s antics.
~
“Parker!” A taunting voice called out to the boy, a vicious smirk undoubtedly plastered on the popular boy’s face. Flash pulled his backpack over his shoulder, spotting his victim at his locker, who was doing his best to tune out the boy’s voice. “Yo, Parker!”
The boy groaned in annoyance, quickly switching out his history textbook for his chemistry and physics textbooks respectively, preparing for his next two periods before lunch. His best friend sent him an encouraging smile, making an effort to step in front of Flash’s view of Peter.
“Do you want to come to my house after practice today? My cousin got me the LEGO Mos Eisley Cantina set for my birthday!” Ned asked, nudging his best friend in an effort to distract him from Flash’s comments.
Peter’s brown eyes widened with surprise and shock, a smile forming on his face as he shut his locker quickly, turning to Ned. “No way! Are you serious? How many pieces?”
“Three thousand eighty-seven!” He announced proudly, a smile crossing his face when he saw Peter brighten up. “So you in?”
“Of course! May’s gone tonight anyways. I was supposed to go to the tower, but I can just tell Mr. Stark I’m staying with you.” Peter shrugged, excitement rising in his stomach.
He couldn’t wait to finally just spend some quality time with his best friend; ever since his ‘internship’ started to get more hectic as Mr. Stark gave him more privileges, the only time he really saw Ned was at school and the occasional sleepover.
“Orrr...you could ask him if I can come over..?” Ned asked, a gleam in his eye at the possibility of even entering Stark Industries, looking at all the gadgets and technology that probably wouldn’t be out yet until Thor knows when. Peter automatically shook his head at the suggestion, the idea of it too crazy to hear.
“No, no, nope. No. Absolutely not.”
“Why not?! He knows I helped you at Homecoming, doesn’t he?”
His best friend’s silence was somewhat deafening to his ears.
“Peter, he does know what happened at Homecoming, right?”
Peter shifted his bag on his shoulder, not meeting the boy’s eyes as he mumbled a “no.”
“He doesn’t know?!” Ned hissed, his eyes wide.
Surely, Peter would’ve told him he was crushed by a concrete roof. Or the school buses almost smashing him when he was suitless. Or-
“Nobody knows! If Mr. Stark found out, he’d take away my suit again! And May would freak out!” Peter defended himself, looking around to make sure nobody else heard their hushed argument. “And you know when she freaks out, I freak out.”
Ned sighed in both worry and annoyance, looking over at his friend with a mixed expression. He knew one day Peter would break. I mean, who wouldn’t? Between being Spider-Man, being an actual intern for Tony Stark, studying and doing homework to be on top of his class, dealing with Flash’s bullying, and still having time for extracurriculars (granted, he had to quit some of his activities already but still) and friends, Peter was going to break down sooner or later. But he knew it was how Peter handled everything in his life with kindness that he was friends with him. He knew Peter was more than capable of fighting back against Flash, but he didn’t in fear of hurting the kid back. Of course, he deserved it, but Peter wouldn't dare touch him with his enhanced abilities.
“All right, fine, let’s just go to my house then.” Ned finally relented as the bell rang, giving them an escape from Flash, who was only a few feet away.
“Come on.” Peter gave him a half smile, hurrying away with his friend to chemistry before Flash could call out a snide comment.
~
Peter usually loved physics. It was his favorite class for a reason; everything was just so interesting and made sense, having a correct formula and equation for each problem. But ever since interning with Mr. Stark, he quickly began advancing his knowledge and studies to the point he was unable to focus in class, solely for the reason that he was bored.
“Mr. Parker?” Ms. Warren called, raising a skeptical brow when she noticed the student’s lack of attention. “The answer?”
Peter suddenly sat up, blinking the dreariness out of his eyes as he glanced at the board, seeing an example question over the ionization energy of a hydrogen atom in its fifth excited state.
“0.38 eV, Miss.” he answered smoothly, only hoping that this was the question she had been asking.
Ms. Warren’s eyebrow raised itself again, a look of slight surprise crossing her face before nodding slowly. “Correct, Mr. Parker. I see you're quite the expert on this subject.”
Peter blushed softly at the stares of his classmates, shocked that he was able to answer the question with such ease. Flash shot him a murderous glare, mouthing “you’re dead, Penis” before turning around in his seat. Peter only shifted in his seat, mumbling a weak response to his teacher’s compliment before fiddling with his pencil.
When the lesson was finally over and the students were given a few minutes at the end of the period to work, Peter was pelted with a paper ball. He snapped his head up in annoyance as he caught it, looking over at Flash, who was busy talking with his goonies. He unraveled the ball, which showed him a rough sketch of himself, a shy smile on his face when he answered the question correctly earlier. Peter peered at the drawing, which had a scrawl of “good job, loser :P” underneath the sketch.
Peter knew who threw it.
The boy looked over at the curly haired girl, who looked bored and indifferent to the world as usual. MJ gave him a side glance, the barest hint of a smile on her face as she caught Peter’s eye. The spider vigilante gave the girl a tentative smile, quickly looking forward again with a stupid grin on his face.
There was just something about the way MJ was so interesting to the boy. Like the way her eyes glazed over with boredom whenever they listened to a lecture in class, but brightened when she heard about topics she loved (feminism, abolishing homelessness, different movements for charities, empowering young girls, etc). How everyone in Peter’s life was excited and amicable, but she was just so calm and the same everyday. Nothing to scare him, nothing to jump out at him at one hundred miles an hour.
Not that anything ever did. Regularly. Absolutely not. It’s not like Clint and Steve threw their weapons at him on the daily in order to test his Spidey senses.
That would be ridiculous.
It just was a miracle they hadn’t hit Tony with their weapons yet.
Hopefully that wasn’t a jinx.
~
As the final bell of the day rang, Peter let out a sigh of relief along with the rest of his class. It had definitely been a long day; Flash had cornered him on his way to lunch, managing to get a few jabs and hits on him in the boys’ bathroom before making his way to lunch with his crew. Peter knew some harassment was coming of course, but he didn’t expect Flash to physically do some damage this time. But Flash didn’t take kindly to being one upped in class again (not that Peter was particularly paying attention, but Cobbwell had called on Flash for the answer in physics, who had gotten it wrong).
Thankfully, his enhanced healing factor had blurred over the blue and purple bruises enough for him to move and carry his backpack till the end of the day. But Peter was still exhausted and sore as he traipsed into the gym, where the decathlon meeting was beginning.
Healing at rapid speed was great.
The exhaustion it took on his body in order to process it?
Not so great.
“Thought you had to be at your internship with Iron Man, Penis.” Flash smirked from his spot on a chair, dangerously leaning back on it.
“Flash.” Mr. Harrington’s voice clipped, giving the boy a warning look.
The presumptuous boy simply shrugged, not caring much if he got in trouble. It was only an extracurricular after all, and his parents funded half of it already.
“It’s fine, sir.” Peter mumbled, dropping his bag as he sat down next to Ned on the stairs leading up to the stage. They didn’t have a real practice today, considering they had won the national competition for the year in Pennsylvania the previous week. Today was about finally relaxing and getting to know what the school was rewarding them with.
Ned gave his friend a sympathetic smile, holding out a juice box that Mr. Harrington had provided as a snack for the teens. Chuckling softly, Peter took the box, stabbing the straw into the box before turning his attention onto their academic coach.
“Well, good, now that everyone’s here, we can get started. Now, I wanted to start off by saying how proud I am of all of you and how you performed at this year’s-” Flash cut off their teacher, a bit bored already by the monologue.
“Can you just skip to the part where you tell us this year’s prize?”
Mr. Harrington sighed irritably, giving the teen an exasperated look before continuing. “Very well, then, Flash. We have been granted permission to visit the biggest multinational company and largest tech conglomerate in the world, Stark Industries!”
An uproar of cheers flew out of the plethora of students, their excitement clear as day after hearing the name of the most popular company in the country, or really, the world. Flash sent Peter a wicked smile as the teen blanched white at the sudden news. The bully assumed Peter was scared about his ‘internship’ being called out to be fake, which he gladly brought up once more.
“What’s wrong, Parker? Scared that your big buddy Iron Man isn’t gonna know you after all? I mean, why would someone as big as him pick you for an intern?” he sneered, a malicious smirk on his face.
“I wish he didn’t know me.” Peter muttered under his breath, unfortunately letting his friend overhear his thoughts.
“What’s wrong?” Ned whispered, looking around to make sure nobody was paying attention to their conversation. Per usual, the two wallflowers easily blended into the background, the rest of the team too busy chattering away their excitement over the big announcement.
“That’s what's wrong, Ned! I can’t go on a field trip to the tower! I basically live there,” Peter whispered frantically. “All of them are gonna be there, and God knows what they’re gonna do or say!”
“Well, what are you gonna do? You can’t really hide anything from spies, super soldiers, and geniuses in one room. Just toss it if you don’t wanna go.”
“Harrington will call May for permission anyways. And she’ll force me to go,” Peter groaned, leaning back against the wall. “I’m done for…”
“He will?” Ned asked, a bit surprised that their teacher cared that much for a student to go on a field trip.
He nodded numbly, sighing. “Did it last time. I forgot the slip, and he recorded May’s permission for me to go.” Peter grumbled softly, cursing the universe and his Parker Luck.
Out of all the places in the world, his teacher had to pick Stark Industries? Don’t get him wrong, if this would’ve happened a year ago, Peter would have been over the moon crying from happiness by now. But the teenager practically spent half his life there now, ignoring when he was called out on a mission. All the Avengers treated him as their nephew, doting on him as if he were their own, especially Tony (though he refused to admit it).
He made a special new family with them, one he never would trade for the world.
There had to be another way of this, Peter thought, as he took the piece of paper from Mr. Harrington, staring at it as if it were about to ruin his academic career.
~
Update: there was not.
He tried and begged Ned to inject him with potassium (“Peter, I’m not injecting you with
anything. The Avengers would drain my blood.”), break his arm (“Peter, I’m not breaking your arm. Tony Stark would break my face.”), even to the point he hoped Flash would beat him up to the point he couldn’t go (“Peter, stop being dramatic. Maybe it won’t be so bad.”).
Except it was. And he found that out when Mr. Stark called him at the end of the meeting, asking if he was planning on heading over to the Tower.
Peter sighed softly as he grabbed his belongings, throwing away his trash and tucking another drawing from MJ into his bag as he accepted the call, making sure to keep his voice down. Ned was talking with MJ about the upcoming field trip, which was supposed to be at the end of the week, glancing over at Peter as the boy walked a bit away from them.
“Hey, Mr. Stark.” He answered, a smile etching its way onto his face as he imagined his mentor tinkering away on a new gadget.
“Hey, Underoos, you coming today?” The man called out, his phone easily picking up his voice as he worked on a new version of the Spider-Man suit, fit with a better and more protected Training Wheels Protocol.
After finding out the kid had hacked and unlocked the previous suit’s A.I. (and then named it Karen, which was an awful name in his opinion. There wasn’t even a smooth acronym that fit that), Tony was equally pissed and impressed with the boy’s skills, but he ultimately decided that enhanced combat mode and the five hundred and some web shooters would have to wait.
Until perhaps when he actually passed through the training modules.
“Uh, no, actually, I was wondering if it’d be okay if I, uh, went over to Ned’s?” Peter stammered, catching his best friend’s eye.
Ned, hearing his name, looked over at the boy, his eyes widening in excitement when he realized who Peter was talking to. The Asian boy shook his head, automatically cancelling their previous plans to work on the LEGO set. Peter frowned, shaking his head in return at the silent argument, groaning softly when Ned mouthed “field trip” and pointed animatedly at the phone in his hand.
“Sure, kiddo, I don’t care.” Tony chuckled, pausing his work when he heard a small scuffle. “Everything all right?”
“Y-yeah, of course, sir!” the spider hero quickly said, turning away from Ned before he could grab at him again. “But, uh, actually, I think Ned’s parents are busy tonight so I’ll just head over?”
“Yeah, I’ll send Happy over to pick you up then.” he replied, waving a hand in the air to tell F.R.I.D.A.Y. to send the man to pick up his so- intern. Intern.
“Oh, no, no, it’s okay, sir, I can just walk there!” Peter quickly refuted, knowing that if he was still bruised by the time Happy picked him up, he (or Flash) would be toast from Tony’s wrath. “It’s no biggie.”
“Ask him about the field trip!” Ned hissed, tugging on the boy’s arm, making Peter flinch from pain. “Oh, sorry! Forgot!”
“Pete? Everything all right?” the billionaire genius asked again, concern furrowed in his brow. It wasn’t like Peter to be so jumpy, especially what had happened in the past year with them. He thought Peter trusted him. “What’s this about a field trip?”
“I’ll tell you about it later, Mr. Stark, gotta go!” Peter quickly rushed, hanging up before F.R.I.D.A.Y. could hack into his phone and find out the details, allowing Tony the perfect chance to embarrass or scold him for hiding information, or before his best friend could out him even more.
“Wai-”
“Ned!” Peter hissed, shooting a look at his best friend, who was way too giddy for his liking.
“You were on the phone with Tony Stark! You were on the phone with Iron Man!” Ned almost giggled, his face filled with glee. “You’re going to the Tower!”
Peter groaned, burying his face in his hands, knowing that he wasn’t getting out of this one. He walked outside of the school with his traitor of a best friend and MJ, who was following along.
“We’ll work on the Cantina some other time,” Ned promised. “I won’t open it without you.”
“Better not.” He glared at the boy, subconsciously rubbing his side, which was still a bit sore.
“Try some ice on it.” MJ piped up from her book, not bothering to glance up at the boys.
“Oh, uh, thanks.” Peter fumbled, a bit confused on why she seemed to care about his injuries. “I usually just let it heal on its own…”
The brunette looked up at him, shrugging before returning her attention back to her novel. Ned stole a glance at his two best friends, noticing Peter’s pink cheeks as he looked away from MJ, still tenderly holding his side as they walked towards their respective homes.
“So, Peter, you think you can get us inside Avengers Tower?” the boy piped up, smirking as he caught MJ’s attention.
“Ned!” the superhero whined, his cheeks burning from MJ’s glance.
“Can you actually?” she asked, an eyebrow raised.
She didn’t think Peter was lying about his internship (he was the only person who had a higher GPA than she did, for goodness’s sake, it was really no surprise he got the spot), but to casually be invited into a building with the world’s highest security was something else that didn’t happen everyday. No matter how much she despised it and everything it stood for.
“I’ll ask Mr. Stark about it…” Peter half promised, shooting Ned another glare, only getting a cheeky grin and a thumbs up in return.
Traitor.
He knew that Ned wanted to just peek inside of the Tower, and honestly, he would love to show his best friends around, and maybe even show them his lab. But he just didn’t feel right asking Mr. Stark to allow his friends into the Tower so casually. Not yet anyways. He didn’t want Tony to think he was just using him. He wouldn’t break the little trust they had so easily.
“Great. Let us know.” MJ gave the boys a half smile and turned onto her road, raising her middle finger as a goodbye as she kept on walking home.
Peter looked after her as the girl left, chuckling softly at the girl’s form of a goodbye. He turned to Ned, giving him a real smile as they did their handshake, ending it in a hug. Ned was careful not to squeeze him too hard, knowing he was still aching from earlier.
“Feel better okay?” Ned asked, pulling away from him. “Don’t worry too much about the field trip. Everything’ll be okay.”
“If only I could believe that…” Peter sighed softly, waving to the Filipino boy as he turned to walk towards his own house.
He was so screwed.