Chapter Text

Field Trip - Part 1

“Did you really meet Iron Man?” 

Eva internally sighed. It had been nearly four months since the world found out about Eva Moore, former homeless thief, manipulated by supervillain Cole Graves who was caught trying to frame the Avengers. By now she had gotten her story straight and most people were over her fifteen minutes of fame, but there were still a couple kids who mustered up enough courage to come and ask her about that night. 

“Only for a second,” she told them. “It’s not as exciting as it sounds.”

This usually deterred them, but this freshman was particularly curious. “But you worked with Spider-Man to get the bad guy to confess.” His eyes lit up at the idea of working with Spider-Man, and Eva saw Peter blush out of the corner of her eye. 

She continued with her usual story. “Spider-Man had been dealing with one of his lackeys and came to find the man running the operation. He found me, and I just played the part in his plan.” Eva couldn’t help adding a little more as Peter pretended not to listen. “Spider-Man was really cool, though.”

“Of course he was!” the freshman exclaimed, losing the last bit of restraint. “How fast did he web that guy up? Was he upside down on the ceiling the whole time? What was his–”

He stopped talking abruptly. MJ had lowered her book and was now staring daggers into this kid. Eva managed to muster up a little pity for this Spider-Man fan and told him. “You should get going, but maybe if you’re lucky you’ll see Spider-Man at Stark Industries when the freshmen go tomorrow.”

“You think?” the kid asked excitedly, suddenly forgetting MJ’s deathly glare. 

MJ slammed the book on the table and the kid scurried away. She turned her frown toward Eva. “Aren’t you supposed to be trying to get the attention off yourself?” she chided. “Not encouraging these freaks?”

Eva shrugged with a glance at Peter. “Sorry, it was too tempting.”

“Especially today,” MJ continued. “I don’t trust that Stark won’t pop out of nowhere just to see how far he can push you. Or send in one of his minions to do something.”

Eva snorted. “Don’t let any of them hear you call them Tony’s minions.”

It was at that moment that the school buses started to pull up to the side of the school and teachers began to herd the sophomores away from the rest of the school’s population that was heading into the building to start a normal day. “None of the Avengers even know we’ll be there and they’ll be upstate. I made Tony swear on DUM-E’s life that he will not interfere,” Eva promised as they followed the crowd. “Plus, we’ve all heard from the seniors and juniors that we’re just touring the lower floors. I don’t think Tony knows what’s on the lower floors.”

“MJ, I thought you’d be excited,” Ned spoke up. “You’ve never been to the lower floors either. Don’t you want to see what Ms. Potts has built?”

MJ hesitated, unwilling to admit her excitement. “Yeah, I guess it’ll be cool.”

Eva grinned at her and wiggled her eyebrows. “You probably know more than us. Maybe you should take over for whatever poor tour guide is assigned to us.”

Just as they started to line up for the buses and go through attendance with the teachers, Eva heard a grating voice behind them. “Hey Parker! I guess we’ll finally see if you’re a Stark intern.” They turned to see Flash with a couple of his friends lined up behind them. “Do you think they’ll arrest him for impersonating a Stark Industries employee?”

“Leave him alone, Flash,” Eva told him sternly and took Peter’s hand when he started to look ashamed, which effectively shut Flash up.

They turned back around and started to file onto the bus when Peter ducked his head down and whispered to Eva, “Do you think we’ll run into anyone from R&D?”

Eva’s eyes widened. She hadn’t thought of that possibility, but as she thought about it, her anxiety cooled. “We’ll be on the lower floors, so we shouldn’t, right?”

“Right,” Peter agreed but looked a little disappointed. 

Eva frowned. “Did you want to run into someone?” she asked. 

“No,” Peter said too quickly. 

“If you want Flash to know about it, I could see if I could get someone to come down,” Eva offered, trying to think of a way to do that without involving Tony who would take it too far. “Or just solve some hard equation for anyone we come across using your login.”

Peter squeezed her hand and gave her a more believable smile. “Really, Eva, it’s okay. I don’t need anyone to know. I’m happy that it’s something I share just with you.” Eva smiled back at him, slipping her fingers in between his as they found a seat.  

About a month ago, it was announced at the school that they had been given a very rare and unprecedented opportunity to do a field trip to Stark Industries. While the entire school lost it, Eva nearly had a heart attack. She remembered Pepper saying something last year when signing her permission slip for Oscorp that she would put something together, but Eva figured that she would forget. It would be the last time Eva would underestimate Pepper’s memory and determination. 

That morning, she made Tony promise for the hundredth time to not show up or interfere. Even with his hundred promises and Pepper’s assurance that none of the Avengers knew about her trip, Eva was still on edge. There were so many things that could go wrong and expose her secret today. She lived in the penthouse at the top of the Tower that her entire school would be visiting, but if she just kept her head down, no one would suspect a thing.

The ride to the Tower went way too quickly. Before she knew it, Eva was standing in front of her home with a couple hundred of her peers. She felt someone squeeze her hand and looked over to find Peter giving her an encouraging smile. “It’ll be okay,” he promised. “We’re going to have fun.”

Eva felt her shoulders relax a little as they got sorted into groups outside of the building, still holding onto Peter’s hand. They were put in a group with the other students on the Engineering track, which fortunately meant Eva was with Peter, but unfortunately meant that MJ and Ned weren’t with them and Flash was. 

Pulling Peter with her, Eva made her way to the back of the line when their group was called into the foyer away from Flash who was pushing his way to the front. Everyone in their group was ogling the high ceilings and sleek design of the room, but Eva and Peter entered through this room every week. It was the one thing Eva knew about the lower floors. 

“Engineering track, this way!” A young woman in business casual attire and the signature Stark Industries name tag called for their group to gather in the side of the large foyer. Once they were close enough, she introduced herself. “Hello, Midtown School of Science and Technology Engineering sophomores! Welcome to Stark Industries. My name is Jamila Ahmad and I’ll be showing you around today.” There were a few shy hellos in return. “I fought all the other tour guides for your group because the engineering group gets to do all the fun stuff.” Eva and Peter shared a questioning look. “Let’s get started then! Boring stuff first.” She pulled up a StarkTab that she had been holding. “I’ll be calling you up one by one to get your visitor badges and once you get them, you can head through security and wait for the rest of us. As you can see,” she directed their attention to security, “we don’t use the traditional security measures like metal detectors or bag searches as other places do. Tony Stark’s personal AI, FRIDAY, helps with our security. She keeps an eye on everything at all times. Just make sure you stick with me and we’ll all have a great time.” Eva had to bite the inside of her cheek. Jamila made threats sound so fun. 

Eva’s name was called in the middle of the pack and she went up to Jamila. “Oh.” Eva’s heart dropped as Jamila frowned and scrolled through her tablet. “You’re already in the system as an intern.”

Luckily Mrs. Warren, who was acting as their group’s chaperone, was the only one close enough to hear. “An intern at Stark Industries?” she asked in disbelief. 

As Eva internally screamed, Jamila was busy confirming. “The system is never wrong.” She looked up at Eva with a smile. “Do you have your badge with you?”

“Yes,” Eva said as she dug into her bag. Mrs. Warren was still staring in disbelief. “Um, Peter and I got an offer over the summer after our science fair project last year,” Eva explained as she showed her badge to Jamila. “I’m sorry. We won’t cause any more disruptions.”

“Not a problem,” Jamila said cheerily. “Just happy to have another intern along. That science fair project must have been something incredible for you to get an internship here in high school.” Eva tried to shrug it off as Jamila handed her badge back. “Did you say there was someone else that is an intern?”

“Yes, Peter. Peter Parker,” Eva added as Jamila began to scroll through the names. 

“Yup, he is,” Jamila confirmed. “Okay, Evangeline, you can head through and we’ll see you on the other side.”

“Thanks,” Eva said quickly, heading through security. Luckily because Jamila already knew, Peter got through without issue a few minutes later. 

“Okay, everyone has a badge.” Their class was looking at their shiny silver badges that clearly said ‘VISITOR’ under the Stark Industries logo. “You’re welcome to keep these as a memento, but don’t expect to get back in with them. FRIDAY has only given you clearance for today.” 

Eva thought they were in the clear until Flash noticed that their badges were different. “Why do they have different badges?” he asked loudly, pointing at her and Peter. His shit-eating grin indicated that he thought they were in trouble or on some kind of list, but that expression fell almost immediately. 

“They have different clearance with their internship badges,” Jamila told him and Eva just tried to focus on her breathing, trying to anticipate any way that anyone could figure out any of her secrets from this. “It’s the protocol that they wear those when they’re here, even for a field trip.” Jamila either didn’t notice Eva’s panic and Peter’s embarrassment or decided to ignore it. “You should thank them because I bet it’s their project that got your school a field trip here. There haven’t been any other high schools allowed to visit that I know of.”

Their entire class just gaped at them. “You actually have an internship here, Peter?” Jason asked. “And you too, Eva?”

“Yeah, from our science fair project last year… like Jamila said,” Peter admitted, while Eva stood stock still next to him. 

“We just get coffees for people and try to stay out of the way,” Eva said quickly. Eva’s heart rate skyrocketed as she carefully studied her classmates’ expressions, trying to gauge if someone was reading too far into two high schoolers getting the most sought after internship in the country. 

Jamila apparently finally took pity on them and took the attention back. “Alright! Let’s get to our tour. We’re going to start off with learning about the famous Arc Reactor, which as engineering students I’m sure you’ll have plenty of amazing questions. After that, we’ll check out the museum where we will learn more about Stark Industries’ history. Then after lunch there’s a special surprise just for the engineering students.” Everyone started talking excitedly about the surprise, thankfully moving on from the news about Eva and Peter’s internship, and allowing Eva to let out a long breath. However, Flash was still staring daggers at them. 

“Is it so bad that people at school know about it?” Peter asked her quietly as they followed Jamila to the elevators. “You made sure Mr. Stark saw our project and liked it fair and square. He even used it in discussions with the UN.” 

“I know,” Eva agreed in a hushed whisper as they followed their group into the elevator, avoiding Flash as best as they could. “I’m just nervous to have any connection to this place. I just… I just really want to keep these secrets for as long as I can.” 

Peter stepped closer to her, using the crowded elevator as an excuse, and subtly wrapped an arm around her. “I understand, but I think you’re overestimating how smart Flash is.” 

The elevator doors swished open and Eva turned her face upward to smile at Peter. “I guess you’re right.” She felt much better as they entered a room with two arc reactors that were much larger than the ones Eva was used to seeing.

Jamila lit up in excitement. “I have to admit that this is my favorite part because the arc reactors are what I have the privilege to work on here at Stark Industries,” she told them. “So you’ll forgive me if we take a little extra time to focus on it, but I figured the engineering students wouldn’t mind.” She led them forward onto a platform that suspended over one of the arc reactors so they could get a better view. “These arc reactors power the entire building,” Jamila told them, her voice echoing around the cavernous room. “Actually only one does, but we have two so that if one goes down or needs repair, the other will pick up the slack.”

“There’s no way these need to be this big,” Eva whispered to Peter in the back of the group. “Tony has built some just as powerful at a third the size.”

“Probably doesn’t want them to be stolen,” Peter smartly pointed out. 

“Ah, yeah, you’re probably right.” Jamila began to show them some of the intricacies of the design, and Eva noticed something else. “Also, this is an old design by at least three generations. He’s actually been working on a new one that’s completely triangular with three levels of vibranium to power the new nano suit.”

“That’s so cool,” Peter gasped. “And a genius idea. It makes complete sense.”

“Of course it makes sense to you,” Eva told him. “I have no doubt you’ll make something even better before we graduate.”

“There’s no way,” Peter objected. 

Eva nudged him affectionately. “There’s no way you won’t.”

Once Jamila had answered their questions, including a few from Peter about the mechanics and Eva about how the company was integrating the technology around the world, they went back up the elevator to the third floor that was entirely used as a museum. Eva had no idea that something like this existed in the Tower. 

“Welcome to the Stark Industries and Avengers official museum,” Jamila told them as they entered. “I’m going to guide you through a few important exhibits that apply to your engineering interests and then I’ll give you an hour to look around on your own.”

They passed by another group from their school that was just leaving the museum. Ned waved to them. “This was so amazing!” he stage-whispered to them, not bothering to lower the volume of his voice at all. “Did you know this was here?”

“Not at all!” Peter responded in the same way, making Eva smile. 

They waved goodbye as Ned was ushered to continue with his group. Unfortunately, Flash had witnessed the entire thing and sidled up next to them with a scowl. “There’s no way you two nerds have even been in this building before. You have to be tricking the system somehow.”

“Tricking Tony Stark’s AI?” Eva asked with skepticism. He opened his mouth to argue but clearly didn’t have a retort. 

They moved ahead with the group, leaving a fuming Flash behind. Peter leaned over as they rounded the corner, “I didn’t realize you were so good at lying.”

Eva gave him an innocent smile. “I didn’t lie. We can’t bypass FRIDAY, but we know someone who can.”

“Don’t sell yourself short. I’ve seen you trick FRIDAY a few times.”

“I have a good relationship with FRIDAY and can sometimes convince her to help me out even if it’s against Tony’s orders,” Eva explained quietly, watching Flash carefully as he joined his friends on the other side of the group. “Ned can actually hack into FRIDAY. There’s a difference.”

Jamila brought them first to a wall of pictures of scary looking weapons. “As most people know, Stark Industries began with Tony Stark’s father, Howard Stark, in 1939 as a weapon manufacturing company to aid the US Government in World War II.” Jamila pointed to a photo of a young Howard Stark speaking to someone in the military. “After his death in 1991, Obadiah Stone took over the company until Tony Stark was ready to become CEO. As we all now know, Obadiah Stone was not an honest business man and was selling weapons to both sides of wars around the world. In 2008, he had an independent terrorist group kidnap Tony Stark.” 

Jamila waved them forward to look at a very familiar object. Their classmates started to push forward to get a better look. Jamila’s very practiced speech fell away into something more genuine. “This is when Tony Stark recreated his father’s arc reactor but in a much smaller form. I wanted you to see how rough this first design is. It’s a bit of an extreme example, but as you work hard to become whatever engineer or scientist you choose, remember that even some of the most important inventions in the world started out rough. A design is never perfect, but that doesn’t mean you should give up. Keep pushing to improve your designs and one day you’ll look up and you’ve changed the world,” she finished as they all stared in reverence at the arc reactor. 

Everyone stared in awe at the series of arc reactors, moved by Jamila’s speech. It was kind of weird for Eva to think of Tony in this way. Of course she knew that he was famous for a reason. There were plenty of reasons, but his work in science and technology was so inspiring to everyone in the field. Sometimes she forgot about that part of him and his life. Usually she just thought of him as Tony, her dad, or Tony Stark, Iron Man, not Tony Stark, innovator genius leading the world of technology. It was another really cool part of his life and legacy.

Jamila straightened and gave them all a big smile. “Go ahead and explore the rest of the museum and we’ll meet back here in an hour,” she told them cheerily.

The group scattered but Eva and Peter stayed to look at the other arc reactors a little closer. “That’s not the real one, right?” Peter asked when they stepped closer to the original arc reactor. 

Eva pointed to one of the plaques that said ‘All arc reactors are detailed models of the originals.’ “I was confused for a second too.”

Peter leaned a little closer and took her hand. “I’ve seen the real one in a much cooler place,” he whispered. 

“Much cooler,” Eva said sarcastically, bumping into his shoulder affectionately. 

Peter didn’t let her get far away and pulled her closer with their interconnected hands. “My girlfriend is much cooler than this museum.” With a quick glance around the darkened room, Peter apparently confirmed that they were the only ones there and ducked his head down until their lips met. Eva was more than okay with it and her unoccupied hand clasped Peter’s shirt and tugged him closer, while he put his hand in her hair the way she liked it.

When they came up for air a few moments later, Eva’s eye caught onto something behind Peter’s shoulder.  “Am I cooler than Captain America’s first costume?”

Peter’s eyes widened, but he still said, “Obviously.”

Eva grinned at him. “I’m pretty sure that’s not a replica. It’s the real one.”

She was being dragged across to the next room before she could say anything else. “Are you serious?” Peter breathed in awe. 

Eva bent down to read the plaque. “Nothing about replicas here. Do you think he had to get it out of here for those school PSAs?”

“I bet he did!” Peter sounded completely awestruck by the idea of Steve putting this cheesy propaganda costume back on. With a silly smile on her face, Eva watched as Peter dove into every fun fact he knew about the original costume. Eva actually learned a couple things and tucked a few tidbits away to ask Steve. 

As Peter animatedly explained the elements of Steve’s original shield, Eva became aware of someone watching them. She ducked down, pretending to get a closer look at the boots Peter was talking about, and covertly glanced behind them. A tall man was sitting on a bench facing the original suit and wall of wartime pictures. He wore a nondescript blue t-shirt and jeans, but the black baseball cap was angled low on his face. She couldn’t make out any features, and Eva guessed that he had done that on purpose. 

Eva slowly rose to a standing position. Now Peter was on alert too but kept talking as Eva rounded to the other side of the costume display to try to get a better angle on the stranger’s face. When she could see him again, he looked up at her, pushed his hat back to reveal his face for a split second, and returned his hat to its former position. Eva’s heartbeat accelerated for a different reason as she quickly closed the space between them and sat on the bench with Peter close on her heels. 

“Steve!” she hissed. “What are you doing here? Did Tony send you?” Peter covered his mouth when a squeak escaped his mouth and sat on the other side of Eva. 

“I’m sorry I was talking about you Mr. Rogers,” Peter gasped and Eva elbowed him in the side, shushing him as some of their classmates moved onto the next exhibit. 

Steve shot him a little smile. “I’m impressed you knew about how my shoe size didn’t change after the serum.”

Eva thought Peter might pass out. “Peter, can you be on lookout for a second?” she asked, giving his hand a quick squeeze. He absently stood and walked back over to the Captain America exhibit.

“Aren’t you supposed to be at school?” Steve asked her, still staring straight ahead.

Eva covertly gauged his expression and decided he really hadn’t expected to see her. “We’re here on a field trip today,” she explained, turning away from him, pulling out her phone to pretend she was talking on it. “Aren’t you supposed to be upstate?” she asked. 

Steve was quiet for a minute, as a few students came in. Peter had recovered enough to jump into his Captain America speech. They briefly waved at Eva but moved on quickly when they saw she was on the phone. Once Eva was sure no one was looking at them, she took the chance to study Steve’s face more. She was alarmed to see that he looked genuinely sad. “Steve, what’s wrong?” she asked. 

He took a breath and noticed she was looking, plastering a fake smile on his face. “You know, it’s been almost five years since I woke up here.” His voice was so quiet that she had to lean toward him to hear. “But it feels like yesterday in some ways. I like to come here sometimes to remember what it was like when things get hard.”

It was so hard not to look at him, but Eva kept her head down. “Are things hard right now for any particular reason?” she asked gently. As far as she knew, things were going smoothly with the public after Graves was exposed, and Steve was focusing most of his efforts with training the newer Avengers recruits. 

Steve let out a long breath. “Not like that,” he assured her. “It’s more of my personal stuff. Nothing you need to worry about.”

“If it’s got you playing hooky from the Avengers’ Campus, then I’m worried.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Eva saw Steve’s hand twitch toward her before he rested it on his knee again. “I don’t want to worry you any more than I already have, Eva.”

Eva kept herself from shrugging. “I worry about everyone. It’s what family does.” He didn’t respond right away, so Eva took a guess. “Is it about Bucky being frozen again?”

Steve quietly chuckled. “I guess you know me more than I thought. That’s a big part of it.” His tone darkened. “It wasn’t easy to see him like that. I’m so angry that I wasn’t there to get him out of HYDRA’s hands for decades.”

“You’re helping him now,” she reminded him.

“Maybe.” Eva was about to list all the ways he’s helpful, when Steve continued. “I’ve been thinking more about you and Tony too.”

“About me and Tony?” she repeated in confusion.

Steve leaned back on the bench. “A while ago, Tony told me that he didn’t want to be a hero anymore, that he’d rather just be safe with his family.” 

Eva’s heart swelled. “He said that?” 

“He did,” Steve confirmed. “At first I was confused why he would want that when he’s so good at so many aspects of being a hero, but the more I thought about it and saw how much he loves you and how much you love and respect him, I found myself… jealous.”

Eva’s head involuntarily turned toward Steve. “Jealous? Of me and Tony?” She heard Peter start talking a little louder and noticed Jason was watching her. “Yeah, mom, I promise I left it on the counter,” Eva said quickly, loud enough for them to hear. 

When Jason was fully distracted by Peter’s explanation about Captain America’s shoe size, Steve responded to her. “Are you surprised? You and Tony have a great relationship despite everything that happened.”

“Well, yeah,” Eva agreed. “But I didn’t realize that’s something you want. Do you want to have your own kids? I mean I’m sure Peter would gladly welcome an adoption offer. The Captain America and Spider-Man duo would be pretty amazing.” 

Steve chuckled under his breath watching Peter give the performance of a lifetime to continue to distract everyone. “He’s a good kid for sure, but I think I want my own family.”

Eva nodded slowly. “Then would you give up the Avengers when you find the right person?”

Silence stretched between them and Eva could sense the pain radiating off of Steve, his posture wilting next to her. “The thing is, I already found the right person.”

Steve had told Eva a lot about Peggy Carter. Eva had even gone with him to meet her once before she died. She couldn’t quite wrap her head around how Steve could cope with watching the love of his life die of old age after only spending a few months together decades prior. That had played into some of Steve’s decisions last summer. Apparently, he was still struggling. 

“There’s no one else that you could see yourself with?” she asked tentatively. 

“I’ve tried, but there’s really only one woman for me.” Steve leaned forward. “I’ll let you get back to your field trip.” He stood up and stretched his arms over his head briefly. “Since I’m here, do you want to make dinner together tonight?”

Eva could tell that he was still feeling down, so she agreed quickly. “Of course.”

“Is that Captain America?” Jason cried suddenly, making Eva and Steve jump. Before they could react, Peter and three of her classmates were gathered around him. “It is!” Jason confirmed and turned to Eva. “Eva, did you know you were sitting next to Captain America?”

Eva attempted to put on a shocked expression that didn’t convey how much dread she was feeling. “Oh my god!” Her voice being at least two octaves higher than usual, helped the believability of her performance. “I knew he looked familiar.” She shot up from the bench and threw Steve an apologetic look. 

Steve recovered much faster than she did and plastered the signature Captain America smile on his face. “You caught me. I was here to take a break from my duties, but I didn’t realize I would run into such amazing kids.”

Eva’s classmates squealed. “Did you really stay asleep in ice for decades?” one asked. 

“Where did you hide out over the summer?” Another spoke up.

“Can you really jump out of a plane without a parachute?” Peter asked, earning an exasperated look from Eva. 

“Only into water,” Steve told him, his smile faltering slightly. 

“Are you supposed to be here, sir?” Eva asked pointedly. 

“No, so I’m counting on you brave citizens to keep it a secret for me,” Steve caught on quickly and shot them a wink. “Keep up the good work!” He used those super soldier legs to book it around the corner before anyone else could get another word in.

They all stared after him for a moment before everyone broke out into excited discussion. Eva was able to take a step back from the group to suck in a few deep breaths before her heart rate went down. They talked about Captain America and speculated about why he was in the museum all the way back to the front of the museum where they met up with the rest of the group. Jason immediately broke his promise to Steve and told anyone who would listen that they saw Captain America, which the rest of the group didn’t really believe and kept telling them that they probably saw someone who looked a lot like him. 

Eva was distracted as her class hung onto Jason’s every exaggerated word. She knew Steve had trouble adjusting to the twenty-first century initially, but she thought he’d been doing okay. He’d made new friends and found Bucky, but apparently he was still struggling and she wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it.