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Peter had been having a day.
His senses had been bugging him more than usual today, not to mention his “Peter Tingle” as May called it, alerting him on and off all day over things that could barely be considered threats, like the fly buzzing near the window on his left side or when his classmate's pencil fell on the floor. To top it all off he was sure he had been wearing his binder way longer than recommended because he may have forgotten to take it off after patrol last night and slept in it. Sue him! It's not like he could've gone all day without it, he's sure that would've made him feel worse than the aching pain in his chest, or the heavy weight in his lungs making it burn to breathe in.
Tony would kill him. It's not like he wants to be in pain all day; he just doesn't want to deal with the consequences of not wearing it today, he would never hear the end of it from Flash who loves to make his life as difficult as possible, reminding everyone how different he is constantly. Plus who wants to feel wrong and self conscious all day on top of already being overstimulated to hell and back. Absolutely nobody, that's who.
A sudden roar of excitement shook him from his thoughts, looking around trying not to wince at the abundance of noise around him. “What happened?” he asked, turning to Ned who seemed equally, if not more excited than their classmates. “Did you not hear dude?? We get to go on a field trip to Stark towers next week!!” Ned said, not being able to sit still in his chair from excitement. Peter looked at Ned in shock for a minute, trying to process what his best friend just said, getting closer to Ned so he could whisper to him “like Stark Towers, my part time home stark towers?? Where i live??” he asked, whisper shouting so only Ned could hear but he could still get the point across. “Yeah dude aren't you excited?! There has to be parts of the tower you haven't seen yet, isn't that exciting! Oh my god, do you think any of the avengers will be there??” Ned said, rather loudly, buzzing in his seat again, causing Peter to wince again from the loud noise, upsetting his steadily growing migraine.
Ned threw a quick apology his way as he laid his head back down, trying to block out as much noise and sound as possible, waiting out the rest of decathlon practice till he got to go back to the tower and hopefully take a nap.
*
Peter walked out to the black Audi, expecting to see happy but instead looking up to see His pseudo- dad, dressed in the usual 3 piece suit he wears for the public, leaning on the side of the expensive car. “Mr stark? What are you doing here?” He asks, walking up to Tony before getting pulled into a hug by the man “ Hey kiddo, how's school been?” he asks, squeezing Peter tight. Peter mumbles a quick “awful” while melting into his mentors hug, needing a nice tight hug all day, seeing as tony wasn't home when he got up this morning, having had to leave for a early morning meeting, regarding something that frankly neither of them cared much about but he went in peppers place because she accidentally double booked.
“Awe bambino I'm sorry to hear that, why don't we go back to the tower and relax for a while yeah? I can have Friday order a pizza for me,you and pep and you can tell me all about this awful day you've been having." Tony says in a softer voice, pretty much assuming that Peter may be having sensory issues today with how tight his grip on Tony is, and not wanting to upset the probably there headache further. Peter nodded as he let go of Mr Stark and crossed the front of the car to climb into the passenger side door and buckle in, mentally preparing himself for the 20 minute drive to the tower that will inevitably make him nauseous. When they both got in the car and headed out towards the tower Tony spoke up, “So, what's been bugging you underoos? You don't have to go into full detail now but I just wanna know basic conscientious so i can warn Fri ahead of time in case i need her to dim the lights or something” he asked looking at peter and throwing a small smile at him before focusing back on the road.
“My senses have been dialed up to like 100 today Mr Stark, it's been awful. It's like I can't pay attention to anything besides the constant pain in my head and the feeling of wanting to pull off my skin. I also may have forgotten to take off my binder last night, and kind of have been over binding” Peter responded, quieting a little bit at the last part, hoping Tony hadn't heard all of it. Tony sent Peter a surprised expression, about to dig into him about how important it is to bind safely, before seeing his kid's pained face and deciding to take it easy on him.
“Oh pete.., why didn't you say anything? I could've come and picked you up if you had been feeling like this all day buddy” he said, lifting his hand up to give peter a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder, before pulling into the car park next to the tower. “Let's get you upstairs and comfy yeah? You can take off your binder, put on nice comfortable clothes and then we can put on a movie and order pizza, sound good?” Tony said, parking the car and pulling it to a stop. “Yeah that sounds nice” Peter said softly as he got out of the car to walk up to the elevator with his mentor.
*
When Peter walked into his bedroom, a relieved feeling immediately washed over him. He was finally home, in his bedroom and not in some stuffy class with people he didn't particularly like. He turned to the desk chair in the corner of the room and grabbed the hoodie that was laying on the back of it. A gray worn down MIT hoodie of Tonys, The same one he wore when he needed just a little bit more comfort. The hoodie he wore on the worst days. The ones where Tony would be gone for days or weeks at a time on SI business and wasn't able to be here with peter. Or the ones like today where Peter was so exhausted from the pains in his chest and head, the ones where, even if he had his father figure with him, it didn't feel like enough. The days where it felt like, even with Tony right beside him, the man could float away, could be gone forever and leave peter. On days like that he needed the small bit of extra comfort he got from his mentor/father figure's favorite hoodie.
*
Peter walked out of his bedroom in Tony's cozy MIT hoodie and the hello kitty pajama pants Tony had gotten him after the ferry incident a year or so ago. Tony smiled up at his kid as he patted the space next to him. Peter walked over to the large couch and plopped down next to His father figure. “Is pepper home right now?” he asked as he turned to tony. “Unfortunately not kiddo, she got caught up in a couple more meetings today then planned and just decided to rent a hotel room in brooklyn tonight, im sorry” tony explained to peter as he wrapped his arm around his kid and asked Friday to play “The Empire Strikes Back” For what has to be the millionth time by now but who was he to deny his kid of watching his favorite movie when he feels like crap. Peter muttered a quick and quiet “oh okay” as he settled into Tony's side getting comfortable. Tony pulled the kid into his side as he placed a quick kiss to the side of peters head and got himself comfortable.
Now instead of his 3 piece suit, he was wearing a “Number 1 Dad” shirt Peter got him for christmas and a pair of black sweats. Right as they had both gotten comfortable Peter spoke up “Oh hey Mr stark, I need you to sign a permission slip for a field trip”. “Oh yeah, I can do that. Where are you going?” Tony responded. “Funny story actually, we're coming here” Peter explained trying to hold back a small chuckle. “Really??” Tony asked as he turned towards his kid “you're coming to your own house for a field trip??” Tony continued. “Yeah, Weird right?? I dont know its kind of dumb but i promised Ned id go so” Peter admitted, a little embarrassed. “No No it's not dumb kid, i'll sign it tomorrow okay?” Tony said, squeezing Peter from where he had his arm around him. “Okay thanks Mr stark” Peter said, content, as he snuggled closer and closed his eyes, drifting off.
*
A couple days passed and, it was officially what may be either the best or worst day of his life, Peter concluded as they pulled into a bus lane in front of the building he knew so well. “Can't wait to get called out on your lies penis?” Flash remarked from behind him. Peter groaned as he slumped down into his seat, wanting to get off the bus. “What parker, cant talk? I bet they're gonna kick you out the second we get in the building” Flash laughed with his friends as they got off the bus and headed towards the door to the tower.
As they approached the building a short chubby women peter knew to be Lily, A sweet new intern at SI, walked up and introduced herself “Hello Midtown high, it's my pleasure to be your tour guide this morning, my name is lily and i'll be the one to show you around Stark industries today!” She exclaimed, happily. “Now before you head in we will be handing out visitor badges for you to wear all day, if you take them off at all, we will be alerted and you may be escorted out. These are only day passes meaning you can take them home for souvenirs!! Do not however leave the tower at all during our tour or you will not be let back in.” Lily explained as she handed out the badges to the individual students, Stopping as she saw peter. “Ahh mini boss i didn't know this was your school??” Lily exclaimed excitedly as he hugged peter. “Yeah, I'm kind of excited. I never see anywhere besides the lab usually so this will be fun!” Peter said forgetting his classmates were in the room for a moment before he heard someone- His teacher, Mr Harrington, clear his throat. He turned back to the class and noticed the angry expression on Flash's face before turning to his teacher. “Sorry sir” Peter said as he waved at Lily and got back into his spot in line.
When the first student, a kid named Abel, walked through the metal detector and scanned his badge, Friday's voice rang out “Abel Smith, Access level 1, Visitor”. Peter and Lily both silently giggled at the students' reactions as they jumped, obviously not expecting the sudden voice from the ceiling. “Oh I'm so sorry, I forgot to warn you all about Friday! She is Mr starks personal AI and controls about everything in this building, so watch out, any breaking of our rules and she will spot it and you may be asked to leave, now without any further questions, the next student may pass through” Lily explained, stepping aside to let another student, one of flashes friends named Dylan through the detector.
Peter nervously walked up to the machine, as he slid his obvious red and gold key card up to the scanner as Friday called out, “Peter Parker access level 10, Intern, hello Peter shall I let Boss know you’re here?” Friday stated. Peter let in a deep breath relieved he had Friday change his status from “resident” to “intern” earlier that week to not raise suspicions. “No no FRI, I’m here on a field trip, thank you though,” Peter said as he walked through, taking in the look on Flash's face as he walked by.
“Ms Lily, what do the different Levels mean and why is peters so much higher than ours?” Betty questioned from the middle of the group. “Great question, so where you work in the building dictates what level you will be. Level 1 is for visitors such as yourselves who will get one time only badges for as long as they are in the building, meaning after they leave the badge will be useless. Levels 2-3 are for clients, reporters or basically anyone who has meetings with Mr Stark and Ms Potts, they have basically the same access as level 1s but they can go to more floors without supervision like the cafeteria or break rooms. Levels 4-6 are interns for SI, they have access to the intern levels and can request higher levels if they need to go for business reasons. Levels 7-8 are for the avengers, they can go almost anywhere in the tower besides Mr Starks personal Lab, where they will have to have permission but they have their own rooms on the commons floor. And finally levels 9-10 these levels are for the Starks or their personal friends, level 10 doesn’t require a badge scan in the lobby and can just head on up to whatever floor they want because these ones are usually residents, level 9 are close friends of the Starks like colonel rhodes or happy hogan. Now, are there any other questions or can we start our tour??” Lily finished off as she led the class to the elevator.
“Now this is a new addition to the towers, this is the avengers museum, we will be looking around here for about 20 minutes before we head up to the cafeteria for lunch, so enjoy it!” Lily said cheerfully as she clapped her hands and sent the class on its own to view the museum. “Woah Parker, this is sick don’t you think?” Mj commented as they walked around the many statues of the people he’s come to view as family. “Yeah it’s awesome! I mean come on, is that really Steve’s first outfit? How did he get that?!” Peter exclaimed excitedly as he pointed to the Captain America exhibit. “Hey penny how did you hack into this system and get that robot to pretend to know you?? Because there’s no way she ACTUALLY knew you” Flash laughed with his group of bully’s as they walked over to The Falcon exhibit. Peter was frozen, sure it wasn’t uncommon that somebody used his dead name but ‘now? Here? Why?’ Peter asked himself in his head as he stood frozen.
A loud ding rang out, catching Peter's attention, turning to see who was walking out of the elevator as a voice called out, “Hello ma’am, would Peter Parker be in this tour group by any chance?” The man said. Peter stretched out his neck, standing on his toes to try to look over the crowd of students when he spotted his 2 Pseudo- Uncles standing, talking to his teacher and Lily. “Yes Mr Rogers, Mr Parker is in this tour group, however as his teacher i do have to ask, did he do something wrong? Because I sincerely apologize for whatever it was he may have caused” Mr Harrington said, voice wavering slightly because he was talking to ‘Captain America' right now. “Oh no sir, he's no trouble at all we just wanted to talk to him for a second, is that alright?” Steve said, in his normal polite manner. “Yes of course Mr Rogers sir” Mr Harringon said as he turned towards the group of teens, all staring in his direction now, “Mr Parker, come see us up here please, Mr Rogers and Mr Barnes would like to speak to you for a minute.” Mr Harrington called, trying to sound as normal as one can when 2 Super soldiers are talking to you. Peter walked towards the front of the room nervously, trying not to acknowledge the watchful eyes of his classmates as he passed by.
“Hello, Mr Rogers, Mr Barnes, what can I do for you?” Peter asked, putting on his best ‘I have never talked to these men in my life and they definitely aren't my uncles’ face, as he walked up to the two tall men. “Hey kiddo, want to step into the hall with us?” Steve said, throwing Peter a small wink as he led the three of them out of the room.
Once there in the hallway, Bucky turns to Peter “hey pete, how's the trip going so far? Need us to bail you out?” he says, pulling Peter into a side hug. “It could, 100% be better but it's not awful I guess. I didn't know we had an avengers museum, i know Mr stark was working on something but he never told me about this!” Peter looked up at the 2 super soldiers excitedly. “Huh, To be honest, i don't think i knew about it either. It's very nice though, i don't know how tony got ahold of my first shield but it's definitely a blast from the past that's for sure” Steve chuckled as he ruffled Peter's hair. “ Yeah I know right! Mr Stark has my first suit on display which is not only embarrassing, but confusing i mean i thought that thing got destroyed after the vulture incident” Peter rambled. “Well, we should probably get back to training, but we thought we should stop by and check how everything was going, FRIDAY said she sensed distress from you but you seem to be doing fine. Call us if you need us though, okay kid?” Bucky said, giving Peter one last squeeze before letting him go. “Got it, thank you guys for coming down here.” peter said as they all walked out of the hall, into the door
When they got back into the room all eyes were on them as flash loudly yelled “See, look! I told you Penny was going to get caught for her lies! Is she expelled Mr harrington?!”. This caught Steve and Bucky's attention, one, because this kid had the nerve to accuse their kid of lying, and two, because the kid had even more nerve to deadname AND misgender Peter right in front of them! Steve spoke up, “Actually kid, Mr Parker here is Mr starks personal intern, we had to come inform him of Mr starks plans for later seeing as he will not be back from a meeting until later tonight” He said, Masking the anger in his voice. Bucky was the one to speak up this time “Mr Harrington, I suggest you control your students, especially those with disrespectful, loud mouths, or else Mr stark may choose to take legal action on the account of bullying and harassment and we would not want that would we?”
“No sir, we would not, I apologize profusely for Mr. Thompson's behavior and we will get this sorted out immediately.” Mr Harrington rushed out. “Good, we will be heading back now but if we hear anymore of this harassment going on, it will not be us you'll have to deal with next time” Steve said, turning to peter “well see you later tonight Mr parker, have a good rest of the tour” he said as he and bucky got back on the elevator and went back up to the training rooms. “Okay students, if we are all ready to go on we can head up to the cafeteria for a short lunch break before touring R&D labs and the Intern Labs.” Lily spoke up sounding incredibly calm for someone who just heard her favorite kid get blatantly disrespected right in front of her. As they all piled into the elevator and walked out into the cafeteria on floor 20 Mj turned to Peter “You okay nerd? Don't let Flashes dumbass get to you okay? He's just jealous because he can't go around saying you're lying anymore after 2 literal avengers just defended you.” She confidently said, bumping her shoulder to peters. “Yeah dude, he probably pissed his pants when Steve Rogers chewed him out!” ned intersected as they went to sit down at a table in the far corner.
*
Once Lunch was over and they had been in R&D labs Peter felt much more at ease, i mean steve said himself they would make sure flash wouldn't say anything else and he's been at mr harrington's side since the incident. For the first time all day he felt relaxed and happy and could just tour the tower with his friends, that is, until he bumped into a intern he knew to be Noah, he was one of the new interns, not particularly watching where he was going as he bumped right into peter, knocking all of the papers he had neatly stacked in his hands just seconds ago, all over the floor. “Oh shoot, I'm so sorry kid!” Noah apologized as he bent down onto the floor to pick up the papers. “No need to apologize, I probably should've been watching where I was going, here let me help you” Peter said, crouching onto the floor with the young intern to help him. “Oh! Peter, I didn't know you were here, shouldn't you be at school right now?” Noah said curiously as he looked up at peter. “I'm here for a field trip with my class actually!” Peter said excitedly.
“Oh! Well awesome! I'll have to catch up with you later, I'm pretty busy right now, later Mini boss! Thank you!” Noah called out as he ran off. Peter waved at the intern, before feeling a push to the chest and falling to the floor. “What is this shit parker?!” flash said, angrily above peter now “What did you do to get all of these people to recognize you?!” He yelled. “Oh I get it you probably had to pay them to do it! But everyone knows you're poor, what, did you pay them in other ways to do it? I bet you did, Tony Stark was a playboy. I bet you saw a chance and took it just to try to convince us of your stupid lie huh? Because nobody would ever want your queer ass to willingly be their intern unless you paid them off huh?” Flash spat out, kicking Peter as hard as he could, before Mr Harrington grabbed flash and held him back “Mr Thompson that is entirely inappropriate, You will be held accountable for your actions when we get back to the school!” Mr Harrington yelled out.
Suddenly the entire class, except Peter who was on the floor crying, saw the elevator doors fly open to see Ironman furiously speed walking out. The class, Flash included, got silent as Tony Stark kneeled down besides Peter, shooting Flash a murderous glare. “You, Punk, I'll deal with you personally in a second!” Tony yelled out as he turned back to Peter “ Hey Caro Mio, Look at me okay baby? You're alright, i'm right here” Tony softly said as he picked up Peter and held him up with his arms. Peter asked, “Dad?” Before falling into tony, letting out sob after sob. Tony shushed him softly “Hey hey bambino all is okay im here now, i won't let you go okay?” Peter nodded and shoved his face into Tony's nice shirt collar, inhaling the familiar, safe smell of motor oil, coffee, and after shave.
“Now” he said, soft face turning stone cold. “Eugene Thompson, I don't know who raised you but as far as I'm aware nobody should ever be as disrespectful and disgusting as you were to anybody. I can let the comments about myself go but insulting my kid? In my home is unacceptable, you as far as i'm concerned will never be allowed anywhere near peter ever again. I'm going to speak with your principal tomorrow morning and you will not be attending Midtown High with my son any longer, you got that?” Tony spoke out voice cold as ice. “Hey Bambi, why don't we go upstairs, yeah?” tony cooed softly to peter, turning to Mr Harrington he said “as one of peter's legal guardians I'm taking him home, don't wait up for him, if you need any to discuss anything more about this situation, contact Ms potts or Mr hogan and they will get it situated,good day,” Tony said as he and peter got up off the floor and headed towards the elevator.
Peter leaned his head on Tony's shoulder the entire way up to the penthouse, Tony was the first to break the silence “are you hurt bambi?”. “No i'm okay dad, it wasn't a hard enough kick to do any real damage, maybe a bruise but that's it,” Peter responded walking out of the elevator with Tony into the all too familiar living room. “Good, now why don't you go get some comfy clothes on and I'll call up Steve, Bucky, Nat and Thor and we can just relax and watch a movie, yeah?” Tony said, rubbing Peter's shoulder for comfort. “That sounds nice” he smiled up at Tony as he left for his bedroom.
*
Later that night Peter was cuddled up on the large L shaped couch with his head on tonys lap, his fathers fingers running through his hair. His legs propped up on bucky's lap, while bucky rubbed peters calf subconsciously in his sleep, curled up into steve. With Nat and Thor knocked out on the opposite side of Tony, Peter finally felt like he would be okay. He was with some of his favorite people in the world and was able to just be Peter Parker. Tomorrow may be a different story. He may have to save a bunch of civilians from a random villain or fight a robber to stop him from mugging a poor woman, or even just help an old lady cross the street. But that was tomorrow, that was for Spiderman, not Peter. For now, he can drift off to sleep knowing he’ll be okay, whatever happens, he'll have his family by his side, who will never leave him as long as they can help it.
La fine