Chapter Text
Peter/Aiden’s P.O.V:
I was walking through the halls like a zombie. I’d stayed out late patrolling and got home even later, so like usual I was dead on my feet. The only thing motivating me to keep going was that Mr Harrington was announcing our Academic Decathlon field trip for this year. Now, typically, I wasn’t a huge fan of field trips, I mean c’mon how could I be. First there was Savannah, then Oscorp, then Washington, and don’t even get me started about the one to MoMA. Though granted Oscorp wasn’t that bad in the grand scheme of things I still think it was pretty bad that I had to stay in bed for like two weeks!
Anyways, I digress. The reason I’m looking forward to this field trip is because, one, Mr Harrington seems excited and he’s never excited for a field trip, especially not a week long trip where we sleep over at the dam place. And two, because I have quite literally nothing left to lose. Ok so maybe I have some things left to lose but seriously not that many and besides I’m sure if anything goes wrong I can call Mr Sta- dad for help.
Yeah, I’m still getting used to the whole Mr Stark being my ‘dad’ thing. He insists that I don’t have to call him ‘dad’ and Mrs Potts insists I don’t have to call her ‘mom’ but they both insist I call them by their first names. Which I still don’t do…
“Dude,” I startle at Ned’s voice. “You good? You’ve been staring at the inside of your locker for, like, ten minutes now.” I sigh.
“Yeah, I’m fine, I was up late,” I glance around discreetly. “Doing ‘internship’ things.” I say quietly since MJ was on her way towards us. Ned nods in understanding.
“Hey, losers.” MJ grins lazily at us.
“Hey, MJ!” Ned replies, as enthusiastic as ever.
“Hey,” I smile. It’s nice that MJ and I have started hanging out again recently, I missed her if I’m being completely honest. It took a while to get used to calling her ‘MJ’ but I guess she would have felt the same about calling me ‘Peter’.
I grab my school bag and we all head off to the class room where the Academic Decathlon meeting was happening. I was still walking like the undead and kept zoning out but at least I was walking. When we arrive it’s chaos in the room, which is honestly a huge feat cause there's less then ten of us. Everyone's making guesses to where the field trip could be just like they were doing last night on the group chat. Sometimes I regret joining that group.
“Alright everyone settle down so I can tell you where we’re actually going.” At Mr Harrington’s words everyone sits down and shuts up in record time which surprises me just as much as it surprises him. “Oh wow, that was quick ok.” He nods, clearly surprised but happy he doesn’t have to spend too long getting our attention. “Now since we all know why we’re here I’ll get straight to the point. Our Academic Decathlon trip this year is too… Stark Industries!!”
It’s quiet for a few seconds as everyone stares at Mr Harrington, waiting for him to say something else, and then… Everyone erupts. Excited screams fill the room and I have to cover my ears as discreetly as I can. “Woah dude!” I turn to Ned who I can hear perfectly fine even with my hands covering my ears. “This is awesome!” I nod and offer Ned a weak smile. He seems to realise my issue and tries to shush some of our classmates which I’m grateful for.
“Wow, this ought to be interesting.” I turn to MJ, she’s smirking at me. I sigh and shake my head at her.
I did not want to take a field trip to my home, that would be so awkward! I groan and drop my head on my table with my ears still covered. I really hope no one brings up my internship. While it was fake before the… blip… it did become real after that, sort of. I started doing some work in the R&D labs and Mr Stark even gave me my own personal lab on the same level as his!
“Alright everyone calm down!” Mr Harrington shouts, loud enough for his voice to ring louder than everyone else's making me flinch and press my hands harder against my ears. “I still need to give you a lot of information before you can be permitted on the premises of the tower!” I close my eyes tight like that will help the noise go away. The good thing about Mr Harrington getting everyone's attention is that now they all slowly, much slower than usual, start getting settled.
“Alright,” Mr Harrington starts again ten minutes later when everyone is quiet. “You will all need one of these,” And then he holds up a thick folder. “These are the NDA’s you need to sign before going, and one of these,” He holds up a single sheet of paper. “Your usual school permission slips. Without either of these returned on time you will not be allowed to go to the tower and since this is a once in a lifetime opportunity I don’t think anyone wants to miss this.” Then he looks around as if sending a serious message. “We will be staying there for a whole week. We will arrive on Monday morning at 9 a.m. and you all need to be at school by 8 sharp! We will return to school on Sunday at 5 p.m. The NDA’s and permission slips need to be handed in by the end of next month and our trip is the month after. Any questions?” Surprisingly no one had any questions so Mr Harrington starts handing out the thick folders and permission slips.
Everyone starts rifling through the NDA’s almost immediately. I know how thorough those can be, I’ve seen Mrs Potts herself deal with people who break them and it is not a pretty sight. Well Mrs Potts is a sight to behold, she’s super badass, but not the person facing her wrath.
Once Mr Harrington hands out everything to everyone we’re technically free to leave since we don’t usually have meetings on Fridays and were just here for this announcement but no one leaves. Everyone stays to discuss the NDA’s and how excited they are. But I decide to leave since my head’s starting to hurt from all the noise and Ned and MJ follow me out the door.
“I’m so excited!” Ned squeals, MJ and I exchange smirks. “I mean, I know I’ve been there and had the tour and slept over and…” He trails off. “Holy shit I’ve already done all this…” He frowns but then grins again. “Oh well, still cool!” I laugh softly and shake my head at my best friend.
“You guys wanna come over?” I ask when we approach the car, already waiting for me, like always.
“Nah, I’ve got homework.” MJ’s remark reminds me of the same words I’d said to Mr Stark so many years ago.
“I’d love to but my Lola needs my help with cleaning the basement.” He shudders. “I hate it in there but I have no choice.” He flinches slightly and I pat his shoulder.
“Alright, I’ll see you on Monday then.” Ned and I do our handshake and I wave goodbye to MJ before climbing into the car. “Hey Happy.”
“Hey kid.” Happy and I have grown a lot closer since I came back from the blip, I know he’s mostly so attached to me because of aunt May. Apparently the two of them dated for a while but then aunt May… died…
I shake my head to get the thoughts out and pull out my textbooks and start my homework. The trip to Stark Towers during rush hour is around an hour long and I can get almost all of my homework done in that time. I usually try to finish it early so I have time to hang out with the Avengers, which is still so cool, and work in the R&D labs before I go on patrol.
“Kid, we’re here.” I look up an hour later at Happy’s voice and see that we are in fact parked in the underground parking that leads straight to the private entrance.
“Thanks, Happy!” I call as I slip out the car. “Bye, Happy!” I run to the elevator and it opens automatically for me and I step in. FRIDAY greets me like usual.
“Welcome home, Peter.”