Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Peter was slumped as far down as he could possibly go in the bus seat, his latest backpack sliding up above his head.

“Dude, get up.” MJ rolled her eyes and continued relentlessly poking him.

“Hey!” He grumbled. “How about I faint? Or play dead?”

“They’d just send you home.” Ned stated matter-of-factly.

The bus carefully pulled in towards the curb and came to a stop. “Tada, you’re home.” His girlfriend deadpanned, and Peter groaned. The towering sight of Stark Industries was all too familiar.

Returning their focus to the front of the bus, they caught the tail end of Mr Harrington’s little speech. “… you all signed them, so don’t touch anything without explicit permission unless you want to be paying off a debt until you’re 200 years old.”

Even Peter had had to have the NDAs and forms signed. Tony had really wanted to sign them just for the drama factor, but Peter had talked him down. He already got too much attention for ‘lying’, he didn’t want to be in trouble for ‘forgery’ too.

Happy had been listed on his school file as his guardian for reasons such as this. Living with his deceased aunt’s ex-?boyfriend?/fling was shockingly more believable than the truth. Anything was more believable than the truth. No one would believe it that theTony Stark or Pepper Potts actually signed his permission slip.

The kids started filing off the vehicle. No one had seemed to question why a complementary bus had been provided to the team for the day. The bus was luxurious compared to their regular school buses, not to mention massive. It had enough space to fit the decathlon team 10 times over.

Despite the excessive amount of space, there was still a lot of pushing and shoving. Peter luckily caught him in time before he tripped over Flash’s foot that was oh-so ‘accidentally’ outstretched into the aisle.

“Oh Penis, I can’t wait to meet all your intern friends at your internship. I mean, you have friends, right?” Flash mocked.

He knew Ned was deeply apologetic for his slip up years ago. At least he’d had the forethought to not mention that the internship was actually called ‘being Spider-Man’. Everyone already thought Peter was lying, and to make it even worse, somehow rumours had circulated that Peter was claiming he was Tony Stark’s personal intern. The attention and ridicule was excruciating. He had learned to only address the matter when absolutely necessary.

Flash continued his tirade. “Maybe Tony Stark himself will even swing by to say hi! After all, he’s your mentor.”

“I hope to God that he doesn’t.” Peter sighed under his breath.

Fake concern discarded, Flash laughed. “Oh, I can’t wait to see you knocked off that pedestal and fall on your ass when the truth comes out.”

At this point, MJ joined in. She stood up to the bully, folding her arms. “I cannot wait either! I can’t wait to see your face when the truth comes out, Eugene. Ugh, idiot.” She scoffed before nodding to Peter and Ned, gesturing for them to hurry up.

As they walked up to the gate, Flash wasn’t giving up. “Why do we even need a guide? Can’t Penis just take us around?”

Mr Harrington had finally had enough. “Flash, don’t forget the very large section in the forms about bullying. Do you want to be sent home early?”

The bully gave a noncommittal grunt and continued walking. Peter hung back from the group. While his spidey-senses weren’t flaring, everything in his mind was telling him to just run.

Mr Harrington waited for him to catch up, counting the kids as they walked, and leaned over to Peter. “Look, I’m not defending Flash, but could you please leave talk about the internship to a minimum? You represent the school when we’re out in public, and it’s a serious offence to fake employment. Staff could overhear and it would just be an embarrassment all around.”

He said all of this like he hadn’t warned Peter every single time the trip had been mentioned. Peter fought the urge to roll his eyes and instead managed to give the slightest nod.

“Thank you.” The teacher sighed, looking relieved. “Now, hurry up to the front desk.”

Peter hurried up to Ned and MJ, who were waiting for him and looking concerned. “I really don’t think it’s too late to come down with pneumonia or tuberculosis or… oh no…” Peter’s voice trailed off as he finally looked at their starting destination and spotted Marjorie running the front desk.

Every aspect of this trip was anxiety inducing. Just the unknown of what would happen was enough to send his stomach dropping. But one thing that had slipped his mind was all the employees he regularly saw in a day. Interns weren’t meant to know everyone – they were meant to be nobodies who were worked into the ground.

Peter saw Marjorie practically every morning. She’d ask him about school and he’d ask about her 3 cats. This woman didn’t just know him in passing, she knew him. He braced for impact as he neared the desk.

She peered at him over the top of her glasses. “And you are?”

What? Excuse me?

“Um, Peter Parker.”

“Peter Parker…” She made a big display over struggling to find his name in the list. “Ah, yes, found you. Here’s your security pass.”

Marjorie handed him his usual security pass that he had purposefully left at home this morning. Except, this time, the outer casing was not the usual black, but instead was light blue – intern. He smiled at the small detail that someone, most likely Pepper, had thought of.

“Oh, you’re an intern here! I knew you looked familiar.” Mr Harrington’s head whipped around at her words, but Marjorie just carried on as usual and held out a large plastic box. “And please place your phone in here. It’ll be safely locked until you get it back at the end. There’s no photography or recording of any kind to be taken on the tour. Your bag will also be searched by security if you just head further down the line. Standard procedure.”

He wordlessly nodded and continued down to the next station. Peter had a second of hesitation passing his backpack over to the sturdy-looking security guard before remembering his suit was now part of his watch.

Back at Marjorie’s desk, Flash whined. “Where’s my pass?”

“I’m sorry, I still can’t find you in the system. You’re not on this list. Are you absolutely sure you got your forms in on time?” Marjorie was being very kind about the whole matter, but Peter could see the sympathetic smile cracking a little.

“Yes! For the hundredth time, yes, I filled in the forms on time.” He slammed his hands on the desk. “Have you heard of Thompson & Thompson? Well, I’m that Thompson, and once my father hears about this…”

“Flash, stop it! She’s just doing her job!” Peter was quick to Marjorie’s defence.

“Peter, honey.” She gave him a small smile of thanks before turning back to Flash, all sympathy gone. “I can tell you with the utmost certainty that Stark Industries doesn’t take kindly to threats and is not afraid of any Thompson & Thompson’s.”

Flash looked flabbergasted as she returned to her computer. He stood there tapping his foot with impatience.

After a couple minutes of rifling through folders and typing away, Marjorie finally got up and went to the printer. “I can give you a guest pass for you on this one occasion. But you’ll be on a stricter leash for this trip than the rest of your classmates. We take security very seriously here. Your classmates’ badges have been encoded with access for everything along the designated route for this tour.”

Each security badge was customised for the specific person and only allowed them to go to the places relevant for their job. If needed, passes could be controlled down to the specific rooms on a floor (which is usually what happened for reporters).

Surprise, surprise, Flash didn’t care. “What? No! You have to make up a new pass! Now!”

The whole system was really complex and surprisingly streamlined. It was actually very straightforward to make up the security clearance. Marjorie, however, had had enough of Flash.

“We do not have the time to make a personalised pass for you. Yours will be a generic pass that will have most of the same access as your classmates, but not all of it. An alert will go off if you are more than 20 feet away from the tour guide or your teacher and you may be unable to access some areas”

“What? No! I-“

“It’s up to you. I can have security escort you out instead…”

But she was interrupted by a very anxious Mr Harrington. “Thank you very much. That’s most kind. He would love the guest pass. Right, Flash?.”

Ned was fully cracking up at this interaction and Peter wasn’t doing much better at holding his amusement in.

Now that the Flash-situation was dealt with, Marjorie spoke to the whole class. “Everyone, please pin your security badge to the front of your chest. They need to be visible at all times as our security system is enhanced by Mr Stark’s very own AI system.” There were a few oohs and aahs.

“Sally Avril, customised access, guest.”

Shit. Only he, Tony, and Pepper had top level clearance. Happy and Rhodey were pretty close, and Morgan, for obvious reasons, did not have full access yet. The trip was already bad enough, Peter didn’t want any extra attention drawn to him. While the class wouldn’t know the specifics of his clearance, his status of customised access, resident would definitely stand out…

“Abraham Brown, customised access, guest.”

The rest of the class slowly went through the electronic gates in alphabetical order, scanning their respective cards. His concern about his own high clearance meant he hadn’t been rehearsing an excuse for Ned and MJ.

“Michelle Jones, customised access, visitor. Welcome back, MJ.”

“What?!” The whole team gasped in shock and looked at MJ.

She froze. “Uhhh…” MJ did her best to always seem nonchalant, but Peter could see the slight panic in her eyes. She really didn’t know what to say in this situation.

“Edward Leeds, customised access, visitor. Welcome back, Ned.”

Peter just wanted to turn back time and have made Tony cancel the whole trip. His heart was pounding in his chest, so much so that Karen started talking to him via the tiny device in his ear. “Heart Warning 1: Your heart rate and blood pressure are elevated. Pay attention to your breathing and monitor for worsening symptoms.”

He started stuttering out the first words that came to him. “They visit me at work sometimes. SI employees are allowed visitors. For visiting reasons and all that…” Nailed it.

The class looked unconvinced but Marjorie interjected and urged them to continue scanning. Flash was too busy sulking about his reduced clearance to poke holes in the lame excuse.

“Peter, you’re next.” Mr Harrington’s words made him jump back into reality.

“Sorry.” He muttered and shuffled towards the gates. Maybe if he just ripped off the bandaid then his misery would be over quicker.

“Peter Parker, c-”

Before his status could be completely read, a familiar voice overpowered FRIDAY on the loudspeaker. “Wishing a warm welcome to the Academic Decathlon team of Midtown High! We hope you enjoy your tour.”

Pepper. Peter loved that woman so damn much. No one heard Peter’s pass information over the volume of the loudspeaker. Thank God. He looked up at the nearest camera, not knowing for sure that she was watching, and mouthed, ‘thank you’.

The relief of this announcement had Peter so distracted that he couldn’t even take pleasure in Flash’s entrance being announced as, “Unspecified, supervised assess, guest.”

“Okay, now that you’re all through, I should introduce myself!” A young woman in a maroon hijab and SI-branded jacket beckoned them over. “I’m Rebekah, one of the tour guides here at Stark Industries, but you can call me Bek. And it’s my absolute pleasure to be showing you around today!”

Slipping her hand into his, MJ gave it a little squeeze of reassurance. Peter took a deep breath and they started their journey into the building they knew all too well.

The tour started out mostly very uneventful, much to Peter’s relief. Their first stop was the 57th floor for a special interview with some of the top medical biochemists at SI, followed by a look into the biology labs.

SI tours weren’t uncommon, but usually had an Avengers-focus. Scientific-based tours were rarer and quite coveted. Given their particular interest in science, Midtown High was getting a deeper view into the inner workings of Stark Industries. It was fascinating to see how the labs were presented to the public compared to the insider-view Peter usually had.

As Bek spoke up the front about all the new medical diagnostic pathways that SI was frontiering, Peter felt like he was being watched. He glanced over his shoulder to see an intern, James, winking at him. Peter gave a small wave back, frowning a little as he was unsure of the context of that wink, before redirecting his focus back to the tour guide. Maybe he was just being friendly.

Everyone had seemed to get whatever memo had been sent around about ignoring Peter because it was like he was invisible to most of the other employees. While he spent most of his time in Tony’s personal lab, he did stop by the others and had become friendly with most of the staff.

While the lack of recognition was doing wonders for his social anxiety, it did have one downside.

“No one recognises you, Penis Parker.” Flash whispered into Peter’s ear before casually leaning against one of the unoccupied benches that had various materials spread out over it.

Peter tensed up at the words, his heart rate went up by about 10 beats. There was only so much a guy could take before he burst, and he was struggling. Luckily, the universe seemed to be listening. And by the universe, he meant a genius, billionaire, (retired) playboy, philanthropist.

“That concludes the biochem labs! Can everyone thank our wonderful interns? Onto the next… agh!”

A collective shriek sounded and everyone jumped back. Just next to Flash, an unattended workstation exploded and started up in flames. The actual blaze was very small and contained, but there was a lot of smoke nonetheless.

Unharmed, but dramatic, Flash started shouting in ‘pain’ and clutched his very unharmed hand.

An alarm sounded and soon FRIDAY was navigating the sprinkler system and fire extinguishers just towards the area of the room needed. It was over just as quickly as it had begun.

While the previous interferences had been helpful and non-explosive, this event was neither. Peter glared up at the security cameras, knowing Tony was somewhere behind them, smirking. He wouldn’t lie and say he wasn’t enjoying the show, but he also couldn’t support the man’s potentially traumatising attack on a minor. However, after getting over the initial shock, Ned also understood what had just happened and shot a sly thumbs up to the camera. Peter whacked his arm down.

When the crisis was clearly averted, Bek regained her composure and addressed the group. “Sorry for that, folks. You were warned of such things being a possibility in the waivers, but it is still frightening to witness.” Peter knew for a fact that that clause had been added specifically for this tour. He had assumed the reason Tony had added it was because some of this group were underage and SI rarely accepted high school tours, but now he knew why… “I will say, you do very quickly become desensitised to things blowing up when you work here.”

As the tour continued, Peter noticed his fidgeting was getting bad and that was a reminder of how bad his anxiety was today. And so, he was trying to remember the breathing exercises his therapist had recommended.

“Are you doing okay?” Ned asked, noticing the movement. He was concerned, knowing that this trip (even just the anticipation of it) had been causing his best friend a lot of grief.

“I’m fine.” Peter said, mostly to reassure himself. “It’s honestly gone a lot better than I had expected so far. I really thought something would have gone wrong by now.”

“... an explosion doesn’t count as something going wrong?” MJ queried dryly.

“I wouldn’t put injuring teenagers above the guy, but that was never going to hurt Flash.” Peter reasoned. “Tony’s like a knife-throwing stuntman at a circus – showing off how much control he has by going scarily close. Why hurt a minor when you can purposefully not hurt a minor.”

MJ considered that for a minute. “Yeah, that sounds like Tony alright.”

Everyone was very excited to get to the R&D floors. Robotics was the favourite of the science modalities at Midtown, and while the resources back at school were not lacking, they were nothing compared to the absolute playground they walked into.

Peter loved these floors. While he usually hung out in Tony’s labs, working on Avengers’ related prototypes, he was always fascinated by the tech that was being worked on for everybody. Stark Industries provided a decent portion of the up-and-coming tech in so many fields and Peter loved getting an early access view to all of it.

Prototypes were everywhere. The room was already rather cramped with all the workers and robots, and now also because of the AcaDec team.

“We shouldn’t distract the people in this room much. Feel free to observe, but don’t touch anything.” The reminders from Bek were getting repetitive fast. But as Peter watched Flash’s conflicted restraint, he was reminded that the frequency of these warnings was indeed very necessary.

“You’ll see a wide range of things being worked on here. In the last year, Stark Industries has really prioritised… Oh my goodness, Your Highness, I did not know you were here.” Bek almost jumped backwards as she spotted the girl behind the station at the front of the room.

Shuri was deep in thought. Her hands were moving in the air, controlling a hologram of some device, trying to keep up with her mind.

“I think you spoke too soon about nothing going wrong.” MJ gently pointed out. The sympathy in her voice was subtle but there.

Shuri only came to New York occasionally, but her prank battle with Peter was pretty renowned in the tower. When he wasn’t having to focus on his breathing so he actually got an adequate amount of oxygen to his brain, Peter had a lot of fun messing around with the Princess of Wakanda.

They were often the only teenagers in the compound and seemed to bond most when scheming. They had played some epic pranks in their time on the rest of the crew, favourites being replacing certain tech and weapons with malfunctioning or rigged items that the two of them had carefully designed. So far they hadn’t interfered with anyone’s safety in battle with these tricks, but the warnings to stop before it did inevitably happen were frequent. So now, Shuri mostly helped Peter plan sneak attacks on Tony (Nat and Clint often joining the team too), and he repaid her by helping her make T’Challa’s life a living hell.

But, as it so often does when you are close friends, they also took a lot of pleasure in messing with each other. Shuri hadn’t yet spotted Peter in the tour group and he was doing everything in his power to mentally will her to leave him alone just this once.

Unfortunately, Karen could not (yet) read minds and could not communicate that for him. And given Peter’s intention of warning Shuri was so he wouldn’t draw much attention to himself, going straight up to the princess and talking to her would kind of defeat the purpose.

“I can’t believe I’m in the same room as the Princess of Wakanda!” Ned was fangirling. “Best. Day. Ever.”

The Avengers knew that Peter stressed a lot, but they didn’t realise the extent of it. He barely opened up to anyone about it. So while Shuri was a good friend and had no malicious intent behind it, it was extremely unhelpful when she decided to call on the class.

“Ah, we have visitors!” She took out her earbuds. “You must be the school tour from Queens. I have to ask…” Shuri took an unnecessarily long pause, “What do you guys know about Spider-Man?”

“Well, that’s unhelpful…” Ned muttered and shot Peter a sympathetic glance.

Flash started piping up, trying to balance his excitement with still seeming cool. “Spider-Man is the best! He saved our class on a field trip once. He’s so awesome. Do you know him?”

“Do I know him? Yeah, you could say that.” The smirk on Shuri’s face was dangerous. She swiped in the air and her screen magnified and became visible to the whole class. To Peter’s horror, his webshooters were suddenly displayed on the hologram. “I keep trying to convince him to let me revise his tech. If we reworked the materials and incorporated some Vibranium atoms, it would optimise speed and make them a lot lighter.”

Yeah, but then he’d lose out on accuracy and flexibility, Peter almost said aloud. They had discussed this at length in their many hours in the lab together.

“You’ve helped work on Spider-Man’s tech? That’s awesome.” Flash had not been that invested when he had first noticed Shuri’s presence but now that she was talking about Spider-Man, he was paying her respect. Peter did not understand in any world how he was cooler than a literal princess who was also a tech-wizard.

“I’ve tried to work on his tech.” She emphasised her annoyance. “But the loser is a genius who doesn’t listen to me.”

The automatic doors they’d just come through opened up again and Peter turned to see who had come in. As his anxiety worsened, his need to know as much about his surroundings as possible increased.

Rhodey walked in. Peter breathed a sigh of relief as he was one of the few people in the team who actually valued rules and privacy and common human decency. Peter gave him a little wave. They shared a quick glance and small smile before Rhodey winked at Peter and strode off in the direction of the troublemaker, who had also just noticed his presence.

“Go away, Colonel.” Shuri used the title mockingly, shooing him away with her hand. “I don’t need babysitting. You can tell Stark I didn’t say anything.”

“Maybe I was just coming to say hello? Ever considered that?”

She crossed her arms and looked at him expectantly. “Were you?”

“Well, no but…”

“Thought so.” Shuri got a bit of a triumphant smirk on her face. “Why are you even here? I assume Stark is spying on me anyway.” She waved up at one of the security cameras.

The whole class started excitedly whispering at that, many people peering up at the cameras and also waving. Peter even thought he heard Sally scream a little.

“No reason.” And he came to a stop directly next to the princess, firmly planting his feet. Rhodey did not look like he had any intention of moving.

“Are you just gonna stand there?” She was not impressed.

They had a bit of a stand-off, seeing who would break position first. Bek ended up breaking the silence since this confrontation did not seem to be going anywhere soon.

“As entertaining as this is, we really have to stay on schedule and continue on to the next room, where we have a robotics workshop especially designed for this field trip.” Bek put her tablet under her arm to be able to clap. “Let’s all give a big thank you to Princess Shuri and War Machine for gracing us with their presence today.”

“War Machine?” Peter heard Rhodey mutter over the thunderous applause. “It’s Iron Patriot now.”

“I don’t think she’d even know your real name.” Shuri quipped.

Rhodey gave Peter a subtle salute as the class walked out. The door closed and there was a loud thundering sound that no one could really make out.

After the workshop, they finally reached the cafeteria on level 60 for lunch. The class was informed that the food was all complimentary, which was a very dangerous thing to say to a bunch of teenagers.

The cafeteria was filled with employees on their lunch break. There were a group of tables barred off for the kids but they had open access to all the food stalls.

Peter made a beeline for a table off to the side. He needed even just one moment to breathe before even thinking about food.

“You’ve gotta eat.” MJ stated matter-of-factly. “You need more food when your body is in this state of hypervigilance. I will force feed you myself if I need to.” Only those who knew her well could tell that these words were said lovingly and completely seriously.

“No, no, it’s fine. I can eat…” Peter’s stomach churned. “...I think.”

“Dude!” Ned shouted, before realising where he was and who he was around and lowering his voice. “That’s Captain America!”

“Please tell me you’re joking.” Peter whipped his head around regardless.

And sure enough, Steve was walking towards the group. What Ned had failed to mention was Bucky trailing behind. Despite being in domestic clothing, their physique alone made them easily identifiable. And they were coming directly towards him.

Peter locked eyes with Bucky. “Hey, bug boy.” He utilised Peter’s enhanced hearing. Now was not the time to correct him to arachnid.

Usually, it would have been the former Winter Soldier that he was more intimidated by. However, Steve seemed to have a bone to pick today. He looked a little disheveled, not the usual put-together, and his eyes glinted with amusement. Peter could hear Cap’s body subtly crackling and frowned as he tried to work it out. It sounded almost electrical.

Oh. The pieces started falling into place.

Peter had completely forgotten about that staff. It had started out very innocently as a replica of Gandalf’s that was powered by science, not magic. It was actually gonna be a present for Bucky. But soon he and Shuri were adding electrical currents that shocked the person holding it. It wasn’t harmful, but it did ruin any styling you’d done on your hair that day.

He’d been holding off on pranks recently so as to not give the other Avengers any more ammunition for today, but he’d left it in the training room before he knew of the trip. It had lain there untouched for weeks. Of course, today had to be the day someone found it.

“Please kill me, I’m not even joking.” Peter slammed his head into his arms on the table, covering his face.

By this point the other students had turned to see the superheroes making their approach. Free food forgotten, there were a few screams and a few, ‘oh I wish I had my phone’s.

“It’s not often we have teenagers visit.” Steve’s body was turned towards the group but he was staring directly at Peter. “I just came down to get some lunch but I guess I could spare a moment to say hello.”

People were shoving to get closer to the men. “Give them space!” Mr Harrington seemed flustered as he tried to get them all to settle down.

While Steve entertained the crowd, Bucky pushed through closer to Peter.

“Buck, I swear to God if you say anything…”

“What could I possibly say?” Bucky said with a borderline evil grin.

“You’re James Buchanan Barnes. You’re a super soldier." Ned was bursting. “I’m a big fan.”

Bucky frowned. “Haven’t we met multiple times before?”

“Yeah!” Ned said back with no-less enthusiasm, just thrilled the Winter Soldier spoke to him.

“Shut up!” Peter hissed, nervous at what the other people would overhear.

Steve was getting comfortable and sitting on one of the tables. He was inundated with questions from the students, and was seemingly choosing to not answer any of them, until…

“Do you know Spider-Man? What’s he like?” Oh no, Peter was about to have one single second of peace, but thank goodness, here’s Flash fucking Thompson to the rescue!

Steve’s grin got even wider. “Yes, I know Spider-Man. I know him very well. What would you like to know?”

“Anything, sir. Everything, sir.” Spider-Man was the one topic that could get Flash to listen, which was extremely ironic.

“Well, he kicks Iron Man’s ass in Mario Kart.” Bucky started off.

Steve interjected. “You cannot get him to shut up about his girlfriend.” There were a couple murmurs after that and MJ smiled slightly. Peter went bright red.

“Oh, and he’s actually deathly terrified of spiders.” Bucky seemed to be enjoying this torture.

“Is that true?” Ned whispered.

“... define ‘deathly terrified’.” Peter had finally given up on praying for the floor to swallow him up when someone finally came to the rescue.

“Steve, Buck, we’re needed.” The Falcon was calling across the room. The chatter and excitement in the room grew even further.

Knowing how serious that message was, or at least could be, the two pranksters wised up very quickly. Peter was simultaneously willing to do whatever Sam wanted until the end of time and also was very concerned about the mission they were obviously starting. Karen hadn’t mentioned any danger to him, and it wasn’t like he could sneak away to help fight even if he wanted to, but he couldn’t switch off that part of his brain.

Searching for reassurance or more information, he met Sam’s eyes. And instead of the seriousness and concern he expected to see, his eyes were completely playful.

And he winked at Peter.

What was with all the fucking winking today?!

“OMG, the Falcon just winked at me.” Ned said in disbelief. Peter didn’t move to correct him.

As they excused themselves and headed off, Abe called after them. “Love your PSAs, Cap!” They could all see his body stiffen as he walked off.

The way Sam threw his head back laughing really did reassure Peter about the lack of any actual danger. It also seemed to make the two super soldiers’ similarly suspicious. Their walking noticeably slowed down. But Sam put an arm around each of them and kept leading them out of the room before they could decide to stay.

MJ was notably unmoved by the superheroes brief appearance. Unlike Ned, she had gotten pretty desensitised to their superness after her first couple introductions. She rolled her eyes and stood up. “Well, I’m gonna get some food. You can starve, see if I care.”

The tour resumed after lunch. While the first half of the tour had been fully science, they had finally gotten to the Avengers portion of the tour. Teenagers who went to Midtown loved science, but they were still teenagers. Everyone was very excited.

They loaded onto the elevator for the hundredth time that day.

“Oh, excuse me.” Bek touched his shoulder. “Your security clearance needs to be completely visible at all times.” Peter looked down to see the strap of his backpack covering half of the badge and started to fix it.

“I do not require it for Peter.” FRIDAY’s voice came through as they entered.

Every muscle in Peter’s body froze. He could feel the eyes of everyone in the car drilling into his head. He had manually remember how to breathe.

“What the fuck? Did you hack the AI system, Penis?”

“Now, now, Flash. That’s enough.” Mr Harrington quieted the boy. “But seriously, did you? Because that’s a serious offence, Peter.”

“I-“ No words were coming to the poor boy’s mouth. He could feel his vision going a bit blurry and he could barely hear his own thoughts over the sound of his heartbeat in his ears.

“Heart Warning 2: Tachycardia and hypertension worsening. Peter, please breathe.” Karen’s warning came in, just for his ears to hear.

“Sooo what you’re saying is that he’s not smart enough for an internship, but he’s smart enough to hack into the AI system designed by the Tony Stark?” MJ questioned the room. “Just checking I understand.”

No one responded to that. Bek quickly input the details to get to the correct level.

“Thanks.” He smiled at his girlfriend.

Ned was always so attentive to his feelings. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Peter took a deep breath. “I’ll manage. Only like,” he glanced at his watch, “3 hours left of this torture. I can handle 3 hours.”

Flash was the last one to exit and as he stepped over the threshold, the elevator car jolted very alarmingly. He jumped as he screamed. “What the fuck, did anyone see that?”

Peter glanced around to see that everyone else just looked confused, so he decided to be super helpful. “See what?”

“It almost killed me! I almost died! Did no one see that?”

“What are you even talking about?”

Mr Harrington joined in, but was actually earnest when he asked. “Flash, what are you even talking about?”

“The elevator tried to kill me!”

Bek was quick to come to the defense of the building. “Safety is Stark Industries’ number one priority. The elevator wouldn’t still be open to the public if it were malfunctioning.”

“I- it- ugh- oh never mind.” Flash gave up.

Bek continued her rehearsed speech as they walked into the entrance hallway of the museum. “This is always my favourite stop on the tour. As you are aware, Tony Stark was instrumental in the creation and survival of the Avengers. Stark Industries strives to maintain that legacy and provide history of how that all came to be.

“The museum is also now connected to level 82. That floor used to be one of the main training spaces for the Avengers. A main attraction of the museum used to be the chance they were training above your head at any minute. Gave the guests a thrill.

“And while we don’t have that chance today, you will have the opportunity to explore it. We’ll go upstairs when we finish in the museum. It has a state-of-the-art interactive gym where you can test yourself against simulations of the different Avenger’s strength, speed, and some of their special abilities.”

Peter had never been to the museum floors before, but he was extremely familiar with everything on display, especially the technology. Some he knew because he’d worked on them, some he’d only studied through FRIDAY’s blueprints. And if he had any more questions about a particular thing, Peter could just ask the source. While most no longer used the tower as their main residence, a lot of the Avengers still acted like it and were around more often than not.

The coolest room in the museum, by far, was the one that had all the suits no longer in use on display. They were set up in chronological order, from the first suit to the most recently retired one. The main event was the tens of Iron Man suits, all progressively getting more and more complex. The designs were gorgeous.

“I can’t believe you get to work on these.” Ned whispered.

Peter gazed over the suits with awe. They truly were magnificent. “Me either.”

MJ was (rightfully so) fascinated by Captain Marvel and headed straight to the section on her, while the boys went straight to Tony’s exhibit.

“NO WAY!” Flash was suddenly racing to the end of the room.

“No running!” Both Bek and Mr Harrington rushed to remind him, still having to keep up with him because of his reduced security clearance.

“What-“ Peter turned around to look at the commotion.

His jaw dropped as he noticed what was in the far corner – an array of very distinct blue and red suits that stood alongside a mural filled with painted spiderwebs.

“Duuuude. That’s epic.” Ned was a very supportive best friend.

They got closer, still hanging a distance away from the displays as Flash was hogging the cabinets, Peter looked on in disbelief.

“Wait, is that… oh my god…”

Peter stood in shock as he spotted his very first suit. The one he’d made from just a hoodie and a few other things he’d managed to recycle. He hadn’t even known that Tony had taken it – he honestly couldn’t have even told you where he last put it.

They stood there a couple minutes, waiting for Flash to finish. MJ had spotted the display by this point and came over to appreciate it.

“I can’t believe he kept it.”

His girlfriend could see how much it meant to him, and finally decided enough was enough and essentially shoved Flash out the way. “Oops, sorry, didn’t see you there.” He just muttered bitch and relented, walking away.

Ned walked up first – Peter’s legs were working less than optimally the whole trip.

“Woah.” He gasped. “Peter, look at this.”

“Huh? What am I looking at…”

Each display had multiple plaques on them, giving information about the designers of the suits and background on the superheroes who wore them. Most were gold, but a lot of them had worn down over time and from people touching them.

Underneath the info plaque on his first suit, there was a very small second plaque. It was so new that the gold still sparkled. It was untouched, no dust or fingerprints. The writing was legible but obviously handdrawn. Only Peter recognised the scrawl as Tony’s very own.

‘Iron Man’s favourite Avenger.’

Tony was still not the best at emotions. Defeating Thanos and bringing back the blipped definitely moved him, but it was never gonna be his forte. Peter and Tony both understood that they loved each other.

And this felt like Tony saying it loudly and proudly to anyone who knew.

Tears sprung to Peter’s eyes. He felt so special. MJ and Ned both wrapped an arm around him. They all just stood there for a while, soaking in the comfort.

The intimate moment was interrupted by the ever-prompt tour guide, who was ushering them into the next room. “Okay time to head up to level 82! While it’s no longer used for training, it’s still really cool. You’ll see a lot of prototypes and retired weapons the Avengers have used over the years.”

They went up the stairs and the doors opened for the class.

“OOF.”

No one expected that noise to come from that room. Even Bek was confused, letting out a quiet, “What the-“

The other students raced past her to see what the commotion was about.

“Not again…” Peter lamented, as he spotted the two people he’d been most scared of running into today.

Natasha and Clint were at each other’s throats, rolling around inside one of the sparring rings. Nat had pinned him down and was unrelenting. He was hurriedly slapping the floor in surrender. They finally looked up when they heard the ruckus of the kids.

“I’m so sorry,” Bek started to profusely apologise, “I was under the impression this room was no longer in use. Ever.”

“Not to worry.” Nat said, with a twinkle in her eye. “I don’t mind an audience seeing me kick Clint’s ass.”

“Hey! If this was long distance combat, you’d be fucked.” He retorted.

Mr Harrington let out a very quiet, exhausted, ‘language’. Maybe he and Steve would get along, Peter thought to himself.

“Alright then.” Bek quickly pivoted from her planned speech. “Kids, do you have any questions for Black Widow and Hawkeye?”

“Ooo, we get the fancy titles again.” Nat joked.

“Or as Spider-Man would say, we’re using our made-up names.” Clint then lowered his voice, a whisper that was only for Nat and Peter to hear. “Maybe Spider-Man will come say hello today too.”

Being at the back of the group, Peter could luckily flip him off without worrying about the teacher seeing him. Bek, too, had very conveniently had her back to him at that moment. It would be hard to explain why he was flipping Hawkeye the bird. He didn’t think the species connection would cut it.

Clint just smiled more menacingly. “Hey kids, what sorts of waivers did you sign? Anything about bodily harm and injury?”

You’ve got to be kidding me.

The class mumbled affirmatively in cautious excitement.

“Wonderful. So…” Clint paused for dramatic effect, “Who wants a sparring lesson with us?”

Abe and Sally were raising their hands. Flash looked like he was gonna wet himself with how keen he was.

Clint’s eyes never left Peter’s. “How about you? Black hoodie at the back” His eyes narrowed. “I have one just like it, actually.”

Peter glanced down at what he had thrown on that morning and realised that, indeed, he was wearing Clint’s hoodie. Clothes were a bit of a free-for-all in the tower. Whatever someone forgot or left out was fair game for the rest of the team. And who could blame Pete, it was a really comfy hoodie.

“Oh, no, I’m good, thanks.” He swallowed uncomfortably. “But I think Flash would like a go.” The bully seemed surprised at Peter’s endorsement. The truth was that Peter just wanted the attention off himself (and to see Flash get his face smashed in by Nat), but Flash didn’t need to know that.

“That’s no fun, I’m sure you’d do great.” Clint started dramatically preparing his quiver.

Flash really didn’t like Clint’s persistence on recruiting Peter for the activity. “I’d do great also, and I’m completely willing. Actually-”

It was like everyone in the room, other than the three avengers, went into a trance. No, it wasn’t like that – it was exactly that. His classmates’ eyes were all glazed over and no one was moving a muscle.

The timing of this witchcraft was extremely convenient for Peter because Clint had fired his bow at that exact moment and it would have been pretty hard to explain how he had caught an arrow mid-air that had been fired at his face by an Avenger.

“Oh, come on!” Clint cursed in exaggerated disappointment.

“Clint? Really?” Nat reprimanded her friend. “You shot at him?”

Once he had checked MJ and Ned were alright, Peter didn’t waste a second of this reprise from his classmates to reprimand the archer. “Dude! What the hell? Do you not grasp the concept of a secret identity???”

Nat, while also obviously scheming, did seem to back Peter up. “I agreed to scare the kid, not out him.”

“Oh, relax. They’re kids, they were never gonna work it out! I have a few, I would know.”

“Dude! No!”

Nat interrupted the boys as she smiled at someone past them. “Nice of you to join us, Wanda.”

Her assessment was right, as Wanda crept out from behind a pillar. She smiled kindly at the boy. “Hi, Peter.”

“Miss Maximoff, I can’t begin to thank you enough for saving me from those two idiots.” He glared at them, putting a lot of emphasis on the last word.

“You make me sound so old. It’s Wanda, please.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll do whatever you want me to do after that.”

“Ma’am?” She just rolled her eyes. “Never mind, that’s not important right now, we will talk about that another time. The reason why I came down here – Tony needs you.”

Wanda was speaking very directly at Nat and Clint, but regardless, Peter went into fight-or-flight at the words. “Tony? First Cap, and now this? Is it an Avengers thing? Does he need me? Because I’m gonna have to get creative about how I explain my absence to Mr Harrington, and I’m really not sure that even if I were dying that he’d let me leave, but I can find a way!”

“No, don’t worry, Peter.” Her voice came out firmly but reassuringly. “No one is in danger – he mentioned something about glitter, bombs, and sunglasses? I didn’t fully understand it.”

The duo didn’t show any signs of recognition but Peter could see Clint’s jaw very slightly clench. “Uh, we don’t know anything about that.” Clint said, as Nat’s face remained indifferent.

“He didn’t trust you to come if FRIDAY relayed the message, hence my presence.” Wanda gestured to herself. “So… are you coming or am I gonna have to get creative?” Red flashes of magic were starting to swirl around her hands.

“We’re coming, we’re coming.” Nat reined in Clint.

“Good.” And as she walked out the door, she looked over shoulder and winked at Peter.

‘What-”

But with a flourish of her hand, she was gone and had released everyone from the spell. Everyone seemed a bit unsettled but none-the-wiser about their little group nap.

Clint announced their leave. “Sorry, folks. We’re gonna have to cut this short. Duty calls.”

“Enjoy the rest of the tour, Midtown High.” The duo brushed past the class to the nearest exit and went on their way. People watched in awe as they left.

Peter could hear Abe talking to Cindy. “I can’t believe we’ve seen 7 avengers today.”

“As I was saying, this area was used for- What did I say about touching things?” The whole room turned to see what Bek was looking at.

Everyone’s eyes were suddenly on Peter’s hand and the arrow he was still holding. Shit.

“Uh… I- um…” Words were not coming to him. The class looked at him expectantly, with Mr Harrington just looking embarrassed and disappointed.

“Didn’t you see? Hawkeye passed him one on the way out.” MJ’s lie rolled easily off her tongue. She could make anything sound believable.

Ned quickly backed her up. “Probably a keepsake since he couldn’t do the fight he promised!”

Bek looked unconvinced but let it slide. “…sure.”

“Do you think they’d notice if I slipped away and went home?” Peter asked Ned earnestly. His best friend didn’t reply, just grimaced and gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.

The day was finally coming to a close and they only had one final stop on the trip.

“Now this next part is a very special, exclusive tour that you are all getting today.” Bek clasped her hands together. “You’ve been given permission to see Dr Banner’s personal lab.” The tour guide looked just as excited as the class, as they all cheered around Peter. “I’ve only ever been inside the lab once before and that was yesterday to familiarise myself in preparation for this tour.”

“Oh, that reminds me.” She plastered on a sympathetic smile. “Unfortunately, Eugene, due to your reduced clearance, you won’t be able to join us in Dr Banner’s lab. His work is very sensitive and we can’t risk a security breach. I’m sure you understand.”

“NO! That’s so unfair! Mr Harrington, do something!” Flash was almost shrieking as he pleaded.

“I’m sorry, Flash.” The teacher didn’t sound sorry at all. “They were very clear on the forms – they could deny us access to anything for any reason at any time.”

He menacingly came up to Peter. “You did this. What did you do? You think you’re oh so clever, but I’m smarter. I know what you’re doing.”

He knew he shouldn’t take the bait but “I wish I could take credit for it” were the words that very unhelpfully came out of Peter’s mouth. The bully just got closer to his face.

“That’s enough, Flash.” Mr Harrington seemed to put more energy in telling off Peter for telling the truth than he did for when a student threatened another student. Make it make sense. “Bek, I can't have any child out of my sight – that’s part of our teacher’s code of conduct for field trips. Just as you do, we value safety.”

“Our head of security is heading up now. Will that suffice?”

“Oh… um…” Mr Harrington looked conflicted. Peter thought he just wanted to make sure he got to see the lab – a science school for nerds tended to employ science nerds. “Yeah, that should be enough.”

“Excellent. Now that that’s all sorted, on to the lab!”

“My father will be hearing about this!”

“Flash, do not continue to embarrass yourself further.” The teacher was stern.

“And remember – no touching.” Bek’s last words were very pointedly directed at Peter.

“Oh my goodness oh my goodness are we gonna meet the Hulk?” Charles cried out.

“His name is Dr Banner, not the Hulk. And I have been assured that he will not be here-“ She swiped her keycard and opened one of the few manual doors left in the building. “I stand corrected …again.” Bek’s voice sounded so resigned.

The lab was massive, with stacks of papers and various coloured liquids on every available surface, but they could still easily make out the fact that there were some occupants at the other end of the room. No one could really identify the figures, and Peter could only faintly hear them talking.

“I wasn’t even meant to be here today, but Tony practically pushed me in a minute ago!” Dr Banner sounded annoyed. “What are you even doing here?”

“You wound me so.” That was definitely not one of the voices he had been expecting. Peter hadn’t even known he was on Earth. “I thought we really bonded in Sakaar.”

“Brother,” Thor’s booming voice was almost audible to his classmates. “Someone? Bond with you? Don’t make me laugh.”

Loki faked outrage. “Thor, do you mean to say that over all our years and all our attempts to murder each other that we have not formed a bond?”

“Yes, I do suppose I mean to say exactly that.”

“Hey, guys,” Bruce lightly slapped them on the chest to get their attention. When those brothers got arguing, it took a lot to stop them. “We have visitors.”

Thor’s face lit up. “Ah, yes! Welcome, children.”

“We’ve met 10 avengers? What is life?” Abe was in shock.

“Well, debatably 9, not 10.” Cindy pondered. “I don’t really know where Loki stands.”

“That’s a fair call.” Peter responded absentmindedly before he could stop himself, to which he got a puzzled look.

“I, once again, was misinformed and believed this lab to be empty. Is it okay if the kids still have a look around? We can come back later if you need. I’m sure you’re very busy.” Bek was trying to be professional, although she knew that there would be no ‘coming back later’ if Dr Banner needed them to leave.

“No, no,” Bruce sounded tired, “You’re here now, might as well have a look. I just came to collect… ahh…” He started frantically scanning his main desk before picking up an item, “Umm… This.”

It was a rainbow stress ball. Very obviously a lie, but also a very useful thing for Dr Banner to have on hand given his, uh, radioactive predisposition.

“Can we ask Dr Banner some questions?” A student spoke up.

“Um…” Bek looked at Bruce for reassurance, “Yeah, that’s fine. Go ahead.”

Loki tsked. “They have one legendary god and one debatably-not-downright-detestable-on-a-good-day god here and yet they seek to talk to the green man when he’s not even green.”

“Don’t belittle yourself such, Brother. You can sometimes be debatably-not-that-bad.”

“It’s a science school, of course we’re gonna want to talk to the best scientist of our generation and not you two bickering idiots.” Peter’s tolerance for nonsense had become nonexistent after the emotional toll of this trip. And he also didn’t realise what he had said until it was too late.

Mr Harrington looked positively outraged. “Peter! Apologise at once! You cannot speak to gods like that!”

“Now, listen here, boy – have I ever told you about the time I turned into a snake?” Loki was very obviously, or at least obviously to Peter, not that offended (given the fact he hadn’t started murdering people), but he was making a show of it.

Thor just laughed and addressed Mr Harrington. “Peter’s leader, do not worry. He does not offend me. He is a funny boy.”

Peter started backing into the crowd and towards the closest exit. He bumped into Sally as she muttered, “How did Thor know Peter’s name? Does Peter really know all the Avengers?”

“You two, out!” Bruce was getting kind of annoyed at this point. “Now that I’m here, I’d actually like to do something productive.”

Neither brother made any effort to leave. “But we have barely greeted the students!”

“Don’t make me bring the green guy out.” It was a stupid, empty threat. Bruce would never be that reckless. But Thor seemed to sense the desperation in the request.

“So long, Midguardians.” Thor pondered for a second. “Hey, is that what christened your school’s name? Mid-guardians. Mid-town.” He chuckled.

“What? No, of course that’s not why they called their school that. It’s probably just a school in the middle of the town. Idiot…”

The brothers continued their banter even after the doors shut behind them.

Mr Harrington approached Peter and spoke to him in a harsh, hushed voice. “I cannot believe how disrespectful you were. You have been very out of character today. It is not acceptable.”

Peter cowered a little, shrinking into himself. MJ steadied him.

“Sorry about them.” Bruce said awkwardly. “Uh, okay. Did someone say they had any questions?”

This time, everyone’s hand was in the air, even Peter’s. The teacher seemed completely torn between asking his own questions and reprimanded Peter. In the end, science won. “We will talk about this more later.”

“What are you currently working on?”

“Which PhD have you found most useful in your work as an Avenger?”

“Are you looking for an intern?”

“Woah, one at a time please.” The whole class crowded around his desk. Peter could tell that Bruce was feeling really flattered by the attention – it was rare that he got more attention for his work instead of the Hulk.

The final hour of the tour passed by really quickly. Peter had started to forget the anxiety of the trip because of how engrossed he was in the session. A good nerd-sess was his most reliable strategy for distracting himself from stress.

An alarm went off on Bek’s tablet. “Oh, I’m so sorry! That’s all the time we have for you.” There was a collective “aww” around the room.

“Everyone, thank Dr Banner for how generous he was with his time for us.” Mr Harrington prompted.

A round of applause went out before they were being ushered towards the exit.

Bruce took this moment to lean into Peter’s ear. “Tony told me to wink when I got them out before. My eyes have never been that coordinated – I don’t think I’ve ever winked in my life. So consider this my verbal wink.”

“You too?! What do you mean Tony told you-” Peter started to whisper back.

“Peter! Hurry up!” Mr Harrington’s patience was wearing thin. After all, he had just spent 8 straight hours with many teenagers who were all too smart for their own good.

“But-“

“Now!”

“Bye, kiddo.” The scientist smiled at the boy. “See you at dinner?”

“It’s Bucky’s turn to cook, I might skip tonight.” They shared a grimace. “Okay, I’m coming!”

“I’m so sorry he bothered you.” Mr Harrington waited for Peter to catch up.

“Don’t be.” Bruce reassured him. “He’s a good kid.”

The elevator ride back down was full of chatter, most kids in disbelief about all the excitement they’d had today. Mr Harrington kept frowning at Peter. He was not looking forward to the consequences he’d face for this trip, but he was too excited that it was basically over to care.

They reached the lobby again and the front desk was in view. Marjorie had gone home and the woman who worked the afternoon shift, Stella, was now working.

Flash was sulking while waiting at the desk next to Happy, who looked pretty proud of himself. Peter knew Happy knew at least vaguely how bad Flash was so he was sure Happy relished the chance to keep him in his place.

“Why, hello there. You must be the owners of all these phones.” Stella was always very kind and seemed to love her job. “Once I scan and deactivate your security pass, you will be given your phone back. Feel free to keep the actual badge as a keepsake.”

Bek spoke. “We also wanted to give you each a goodie bag filled with items from the gift shop given our tour ran overtime and it’s now closed.” Everyone cheered and raced forward to check out what merch and cool stuff they had each received.

A large, burly man wearing the SI security guard uniform suddenly approached students.

“Are you Peter Parker?”

Peter glanced nervously at Ned. He knew for a fact that this man didn’t normally work here. Maybe he was helping out with a staff shortage. What did someone want with him this time?

“Yeah, that’s me. Can I help you…” He glanced at the guy’s nametag, “John?”

“Can I speak to you and your teacher?”

Now he was officially weirded-out and MJ shot him a concerned glance. “Umm, okay?” And led him over to where Mr Harrington was exploring his own gift bag.

“Peter, who is this?”

“I am part of the security team here.” John’s face was extremely serious. “I was reviewing the tour information and it has come to my attention that Peter’s security pass has him listed as an employee.”

“Well, yes that’s because I-”

“Not only does Stark Industries have a policy against hiring high school students, but his clearance gives him complete access.”

His teacher’s eyes bulged at this revelation. “Excuse me?”

“Actually, I can expla-”

“Your student has been illegally impersonating an employee and has also hacked the clearance of a couple other students.”

“I really haven-.”

“Peter, shut up!” The teacher had lost all his patience.

The tension in the air was palpable. Everyone had gone quiet and was watching the shitshow go down. Thankfully, Happy had noticed what was going on and rushed over, Flash following eagerly behind.

“John, I need to speak with you privately.”

“Absolutely, sir, just after I-”

“No. Now.”

The head of security essentially pulled John away from the group and steered him towards the ground floor employee break room. Peter could only imagine what Happy was subjecting this man to.

“Peter! I cannot believe you would do this.” Mr Harrington was already pulling out his phone. “This is simply unacceptable. I need to alert Mr Morita to this outrageous behaviour.”

“But-”

“I do not want to hear another word. You should expect severe consequences for your bad decisions.”

Peter was a smart kid – a genius even. But even genius minds were no match for the chokehold that is anxiety. He knew he knew a million ways to resolve this matter, but not a single glimpse of an idea was coming to mind. Peter felt paralysed.

Flash’s face was lit up like he had just been told it was Christmas. “You almost had me fooled but I knew you weren’t an intern, Penis. Did you spend all your life savings when you bribed those few low level employees?” He chuckled. “Man, you’re in so much trouble. You’re never gonna be able to show your face at school again.” Flash’s threats were getting pretty old and MJ had had enough.

“I’m surprised you have the confidence to show your face, I mean,” MJ gestured to Flash’s entire face, “given the obvious.”

The bully panicked. “What do you mean? What’s the obvious?”

“Just shut up!” Peter’s brain was exploding trying to handle Flash, while his sensitive hearing heard every word Mr Harrington was saying on the phone to the principal. The words suspension and expulsion were very distinct.

Peter knew he could fight Flash off if he wanted, but keeping his spidey secret meant more to him than his dignity or social standing. Doesn’t mean it wasn’t painfully tempting to completely obliterate Flash’s perfectly punchable face. His heightened senses were going crazy. Plus, he was frozen in place, barely able to breathe.

“Heart Warning 3. Boss has been notified.” Karen’s cheery voice blasted in his ear.

“Wait, no-“

She then started counting out in a breathing exercise. “Activating Stop Freaking The Fuck Out protocol. Okay, now breathe in for 1, 2, 3, 4, and then out for 5, 6, 7, 8…”

Flash grinned, thinking that the fear had been in response to him. “You think you’re soooo smart, but I’m always two steps ahead. You have to lie to seem smart. I don’t. Can’t wait to see you on Monday, dickwad.”

“Hey, Teach.”

Peter had never spun around that fast in his life. No one in the world could mistake that voice.

“M-Mr Stark.” Mr Harrington stuttered out.

The Armani-suited man dramatically pulled off his sunglasses. “That is a common misconception. It’s actually Dr Stark. But yes, it is me. In the flesh. If anyone wants their face signed, I’ll do it, but no paper – that’s boring.”

Even just the familiar presence of Tony had veered him off the brink of the panic attack Peter feared was about to start. It was comforting to have the man around. That didn’t mean he was relaxed though – it was a whole different kind of stress. He never knew what this man would try.

Peter wasn’t the tallest kid by any means but he was now almost crouching to try to vanish from view.

“Parker, don’t think I don’t see you.”

Peter shut his eyes tight, took a deep breath, and stood up straight. “Hey, a man can dream.”

“Man? Pfft. Yeah, keep dreaming, kid.”

“Parker? What?” Flash was hurriedly glancing back and forth between the mentor and mentee. Tony did the thing that would hurt Flash the most – completely ignored his existence.

“So… Teach? Can I steal Parker? The school day is over and I need him.”

“You… you what?” Mr Harrington spluttered out.

“I need him.” Tony repeated. “Didn’t he tell you about his internship? I know he’s the most nauseatingly humble and self-deprecating guy, but surely he told you that.”

“His internship?” The panic spreading across the teacher’s whole body was extremely satisfying to watch. “Uh, yes, yeah he’s mentioned it before.”

“Great, then it’s all settled.” Tony put an arm around Peter. “We’ll be going now.”

“Technically, he’s under my supervision until he gets signed out by a parent or guardian back at campus.” Mr Harrington couldn’t meet the billionaire’s eye.

“Oh, that’s easy.” Tony said calmly and pressed his earpiece. “Hap, need you to write a quick note saying Pete’s allowed to stay here. Teach won’t let him stay without one.”

“Now, while we wait for him to complete that, I wanted to ask you if you’d had a chance to look over our extremely-detailed anti-bullying policy that was covered extensively in the forms you would have signed before you got here.” Mr Harrington cowered a little at the question.

“Ah, yes. I did. It was very good. Um, a good example. V-very well written.”

Tony smiled in an unnerving way. “You did? Oh good. Because I had some questions about how you knowingly let a boy get bullied this whole trip and did nothing about it! Where was that clause in the waiver?”

Mr Harrington just paled. “Mr Stark, I never meant-“

Happy came out of the break room’s open door and walked up to the teacher and handed the scribbled note over. “Happy Hogan, Peter’s guardian, nice to officially meet you.”

“Perfect, now that’s all sorted. I’m gonna take my intern and put him to work now.” Tony looked satisfied. “Peter, say goodbye to your friends and hurry up.”

He rushed over to MJ and Ned, pulling them into a hug. “Love you guys. We still on for a movie tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I suppose so.” MJ played it cool before smiling.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Ned was always so positive.

“Okay, see ya.” Peter waved before catching up to Tony.

As they walked away, Peter could hear Cindy muttering to Abe, “Now you can say you saw 10 avengers.”

Once they reached the private elevator on the side of the building and the doors firmly closed, Tony turned to the kid. “I had really been trying not to come down and interfere. I know you want to deal with it all yourself, but I won’t put your health at risk. We programmed Karen to warn me for a reason. I hope I wasn’t too much.”

Peter finally let himself hug the man, now that they were safely in the elevator, away from the masses.

“No, it wasn’t too much.” He lay his head gently onto the man’s chest, the whirring of the arc reactor such a calming sound. “It was perfect. Thanks, Dad.”