Chapter Text
It was that time of the year again, field trip season. And to be honest, Peter didn't know how he should be feeling about that. However, his class had been buzzing with excitement all of last week, after all, Mr. Harrington was announcing this year's mystery location today.
His freshman trip had seemingly started a series of weird field trip experiences. He and Ned had been so excited to visit Oscorp together, and he had to admit that it sparked a certain interest in biology. But his Parker Luck couldn't just leave it as some inspiration for a future career, no the universe doesn't allow such simple things for Peter Parker. An actual radioactive spider that escaped earlier that day had bitten him, creating New York's favourite arachnid-themed vigilante.
During his sophomore year last year, his (almost entire) Academic Decathlon team had nearly died in a malfunctioning, thanks to his former, rather unusual field trip he managed to save them. The fact that the elevator had also broken for the same reason was something he didn't like to think about.
So, he felt like he couldn't really be blamed for having some prejudices regarding class trips. However when he arrived at his desk during Monday's last period, he couldn't contain a smile as Ned was theorising to MJ about the trip. Peter sat down next to them, carefully listening and nodding along while Ned explained all his latest theories, which he had been doing for at least a week. MJ smirked at him while Ned rambled on about a trip to the CERN — at that point Peter knew that he had to tone down his encouraging smile for Ned's own good, because there was absolutely no way they were going to Europe, he wouldn't want Ned to be disappointed.
The field trip would probably be something small, the seniors usually got to do the fun stuff and visit the big corporations, which was honestly fair as they would soon qualify as interns when they would start college next year.
That was when Mr. Harrington walked in, and the class became all but immediately silent. Mr.Hharrington seemed to be almost as excited as his peers were, but there was also a hint of nervousness in his face, which Peter thought was pretty weird, this was just a routine field trip, his teacher had been doing this for years, why would he be nervous?
His favourite teacher cleared his throat, making the last whispers subside. "Hello class, as you know, the yearly field trips are coming up, I am personally very excited about this particular one. It's not every year a high school class gets to visit this type of place", Mr Harrington began. "As all of you know, today is usually the day when this year's destination is revealed." The class seemed to collectively hold their breath as Mr. Harrington continued:"Unfortunately, since this trip is not usual, I won't be revealing the mystery location as usual." Peter could hear some confused murmurs around him, he also had to admit that this sounded a little stupid, they were all seventeen years old and were being kept in the dark like they were little kids?
"Class, please calm down, you will all find out when we arrive on Friday. All the necessary information is on the permission slips that I will be handing out shortly. I will need them at my desk by Thursday at latest, otherwise you will not be allowed to go, and I promise you guys it will be an experience not worth missing", Mr Harrington finished eagerly, his nerves seemed to have dissipated while thinking about the exciting (?) trip.
Not bothering to read the slip, Peter shoved it in his backpack between his books and turned his attention to his textbook while his teacher prepared to start the lesson. It seemed like they wouldn't be getting any more information, but what did he care, if he could count on his school trip history, it was going to be a disaster anyway.
Mr. Harrington wrote some tasks on the board and everyone got to work. Peter tried really hard to keep his focus on physics, but it was getting gradually harder as he had to put all his attention toward ignoring Flash's comments. Ever since he had overheard him and Ned talking about his 'internship', Flash had become worse. He constantly accused Peter of lying and was not afraid to announce it to the entire school. Even today, as he mentioned to Ned that he didn't have time to study together, as he had to go to his internship, Flash had something to say about it. He always did.
During class it was just to his friends, but with his enhanced senses Peter couldn't help but overhear. After class though, Flash just insulted him to his face. Peter couldn't decide which one he preferred.
"Hey Penis Parker, you've got to stop lying about that stuff, dude, you do know that nobody believes you, right?" Oh boy, here he goes again, Peter thought. "I asked my father and he said that Stark Industries doesn't even take high schoolers as interns, and if they did I bet they wouldn't even pick you if there was no one else left. What would they do with a loser like you?"
Peter was really getting tired of this, he intervened: "My internship is real Flash, if you believe it or not." Wow Parker, that was powerful, now he'll surely stop bothering you, Peter thought to himself.
If only he could let Spider-Man shine through, then Flash wouldn't even know what was coming at him, but Peter had to stay calm and leave those quips with his alter ego. No one would benefit from him challenging Flash. He knew very well that Flash was just jealous of him, he didn't get a lot of attention at home so he made up for it at home. Peter understood, he had made mistakes too. Uncle Ben's death had changed things for him. Flash would get his chance as well.
Before Flash could comment on his pathetic attempt of a comeback, MJ showed him her middle finger and dragged Peter to the exit. She told Peter to at least try and ignore him, which he agreed was a good idea.
Now that school had ended Peter said his goodbyes to Ned and MJ, and walked a few blocks to his favorite alley. He quickly checked his surroundings, making sure no one was looking, and changed into his Spider-Man suit. It was Monday after all, which meant lab time with Mr. Stark.
He put his backpack back on, securing the straps safely — he had already lost too many backpacks because he didn't tighten them well enough, May was getting a little tired of it — before shooting his first web of the week, and making his way to Stark Industries, often nicknamed the Avengers Tower.
It was true that most of the Avengers had moved in after the battle of New York, but only the top floors served as Avengers living spaces, the rest was still Stark Industries. And considering that the Tower had — according to Peter — way too many floors, that left a lot of space for the company as well.
After some well-needed swinging he landed in his second favourite alley, one that was close to the Tower's entrance. He pulled his civilian clothes back out of his backpack and headed to the tower at a brisk pace.
As he entered the lobby, he waved at the receptionist. Jenny was a friendly middle aged woman and happily greeted him back. He considered stopping by and asking how her kid was, but decided against it. He needed to get some more steam of, because even though he was actually pretty harmless, Flash was still getting on his nerves. Just the consistency of it was enough. He had been bothering Peter since middle school and it seemed practically endless.
Quickly greeting a few fellow interns Peter walked through security, showed his badge and entered the elevator. Mr. Stark had mentioned a while ago that they would be updating security, something with scanning badges or something? It didn't really matter, Peter usually didn't even come through the lobby, he just wasn't sure who would be in the tower today and didn't want to startle anyone by crashing through a window.
The elevator dinged and he entered the top floor. He finally got to see the Avengers again, most of them had been away on missions or training at the compound. But they had practically become family over the last two years. When Mr. Stark and Mr. Rogers' quarrel was finally resolved, they had all moved back into the tower, leaving the compound to serve as more of a training area and mission base.
He entered the living room, greeted everyone with a big grin on his face, and eventually started to make his way to Mr. Stark's personal labs. It was good to be home.