Chapter Text
“Peter, oh my gosh, isn’t this so exciting! We get to go to Avenger’s Tower!” Ned practically squealed like a giddy school-girl, the overstatement of the century.
Well. A pre-spider-bite Peter Parker would have been just as ecstatic, spewing all sorts of fun-facts about the tower: the Avengers, Tony Stark, the science there, the history, Tony Stark, the architecture, the experience and Tony Stark.
But now, Peter absolutely just knew his time there would be… awkward, to say the least. He didn’t want to make such a big deal out of him being Tony Fucking Stark’s personal intern- he’d tried brushing it off as just an intern at SI- but even then did almost none of his classmates believe him.
When they inevitably find out about his true identity there (except his superhero persona, heavens forbid), chaos would assume and Peter’d be the talk of the town- well, school- and he just simply didn’t want that attention. Sort of the point of keeping his secret identity on the DL.
And no, an intern for the world’s brightest mind and being a globally loved superhero were on much different scales… but both still extreme and attracting way too much attention.
To make matters worse, the Avengers had practically adopted Peter- treating him as their, quote on quote “spider-baby”.
Peter had no doubt in their mind they might pull something- he only had to pray they were too busy to mingle with simple high-schoolers.
“No, Ned,” Peter hissed, “It’s not exciting because I’m going to be humiliated.”
“Awh, c’mon, Peter! You never take me there, no matter how much I ask, even when you practically live there!”
“Actually, I only stay on weekends and when May has late shifts, or when she’s out of state,” Peter corrected, though it didn’t help his case very much.
“Okay, Tony Jr.,” Ned scoffed with a smirk and Peter immediately turned red.
“Don’t say that! ‘M not! Mr. Stark doesn’t even see me that way, anyways,” he added, tone noticeably more disappointed towards the end, making Ned frown, not knowing what to say.
When Ned didn’t speak up again, Peter knew he’d made things awkward as the silence between them began to feel nearly palpable. “Sorry,” he muttered, shaking off his bitchy-attitude.
“Yeah, this’ll be fine! Not like anyone’s gonna find out me living there half the week- or about me being Mr. Stark’s private intern,” he continued, resorting back to his forced optimism. “At least everyone else will have fun,” he then shrugged, feeling a bit more realistic.
“Naw, don’t worry about it,” Ned smiled, accepting his apology and punching his best friend gently in the shoulder (not like a full force blow would hurt him, though- he’d thrown a full building off his back once). “But yeah!”
Peter had to desperately hold onto that optimism, nodding along with Ned and offering a lopsided smile, but his Parker Luck was cooking up schemes of its own yet again.
A week prior, at an Academic Decathlon championship hosted by Stark Industries, they’d won (no surprise there), winning a field trip to tour the Avenger’s Tower, all for free.
Peter had answered the winning question, beating Flash to the buzzer (his answer was going to have been the square root of pi), carrying the team and even being lifted up by all of them. That feeling was like being on top of the world and floating, as his team smiled just for him, not Spider-Man; the adored friendly neighborhood vigilante hero, him, the geeky nerd Peter Parker at Midtown Tech.
Peter rarely got moments like that, and the feeling of literally flying across the city, slinging his webs, had nothing on that triumphant moment.
It’d felt awesome until he realized just what he’d done- and the secrets he might unravel. The way his heart had sunk so fast nearly made Peter want to throw up (Thanks a lot, anxiety!).
We wouldn’t have not answered the question correctly, anyways, but maybe he could have ditched, not like he hadn’t done that before, and not had to win everyone a tour to his living space.
And now? He really wished he’d let Flash answer that question for them.
At the next Aca Deca meeting, Mr. Harrington passed out the permission slips for the upcoming field trip their team just wouldn’t stop talking about. Before Peter could make up some excuse about how he couldn’t go, Mr. Harrington spoke up:
“And, Peter? I’ve already reached out to your aunt and she says you can go- I’ll still need that form filled out, though.”
“Oh. Thank you,” Peter managed to grit out, grabbing the paper and forcing it into his opened folder before closing it and slipping it into his new backpack (the fifth one he’d gotten this semester).
Ned snickered quietly beside Peter, muttering “Must’ve known you’d try and ditch out,” which received an elbow to the ribs.
“Shut up,” he muttered once more, and not for the last time.
Mr. Harrington interrupted their short conversation. “Alright- let’s get started. Nice job, everyone on championship, I’m keeping the trophy out for this meeting- for a bit of motivation. Permission slips are due by the end of the week and the trip is going to be on the 21st, Monday.”
Their meeting continued on, in the library as usual and after school, everyone donned in their yellow Midtown Tech coats.
Flash, of course, had to be a dick and mention Peter’s internship. “So, Penis Parker, you can give us all a tour of the tower, right? Since you rub elbows with the Avengers, right?”
Mr. Harrington sighed and gave Flash a pointed look and seemed as though he was about to say something, but Peter spoke up first.
“No,” Peter exhaled, exasperated, “There’s going to be a tour guide, I'll assume.”
“Assume? So you don’t know what’s going on?”
“That- That’s not what I said,” Peter interjected, frowning.
Mr. Harrington intervened. “Alright, that’s enough, you two. Let’s move on with the lesson, yeah?”
Begrudgingly, Flash dropped it and went back to his papers, to Peter’s relief.
—————
“May, please, I really don’t want to go,” Peter pleaded with his aunt in hopes she would have mercy.
“No, Peter, c’mon, you can’t just back out of every single thing you don’t want to do. I know I've been really lenient lately, but you can’t do that every time. I’m gonna need a better excuse than ‘it’ll be awkward’.”
Peter sighed and ran a hand through his hair anxiously, the slip of paper resting on the table in front of him. He sat at the kitchen table, leg bouncing profusely while May stood off to the side, arms crossed as she frowned at him.
Any other person would look at her and think that her decision was final, but Peter saw the flicker of sympathy behind her eyes and knew there was hope.
He pulled out his ultimate weapon, his big ol’ bambi puppy eyes that Mr. Stark gave into all the time. “It would make me really happy..?” he tried, offering a smile to help seal the deal.
“Peter,” May sighed, dropping her head and brown hair spilling over her shoulder in chocolate locks. She raised her head to meet his eyes, and he knew she was so close to giving in. The sympathy behind her eyes rose and Peter straightened hopefully.
“No- I said no,” May said quickly, reinforcing her judgement. “No,” she repeated with more emphasis. “You have to learn how to do hard things- and I know things have been hard for you lately, I do, but you need to learn to suck it up.”
Peter’s face fell immediately. First into shock, then disappointment- jaw going slack and smile being erased from existence. He had not expected that.
May looked him over worriedly then grabbed the permission-slip, signing it quickly before she could change her mind. “There,” she said, though Peter couldn’t tell if she was talking more to herself or him.
She dropped the pen then slid the paper over the table back to Peter, facing it towards him and tapping it with one finger. “Put that away- and my decision is final,” May resolved, giving him the famous “mom” look.
Peter groaned and pulled up his backpack with exaggerated effort, grabbing the slip and shoving it into his pack.
“Quit with the attitude,” May warned, tone more dangerous, frowning immediately.
“Sorry,” Peter muttered, though completely genuine.
May walked over to ruffle her nephew’s hair and hug his head. “It’s alright. Sorry I’m hard on you- I’m just tryna do this parenting thing right,” She sighed, still massaging at his hair. They both knew she’d never intended to become a parent, but she still loved Peter like he was her very own- and she did a great job too.
Peter felt a twinge of guilt, not wanting her to think anything other. “No- you’re right. Sorry for trying to always go the easy way. Thanks, actually,” he corrected, knowing May always preferred gratitude versus an apology.
May looked down at him and smiled a bit sadly. “You know I’m proud of you?”
Peter nodded quickly. “Yeah, of course,” he said, wondering why there was a sudden lump in his throat.
“Good,” May whispered, crouching down to press a kiss into his hair, ruffling it one last time before stepping back. “Okay, what do you want to do for dinner? I can go to the store and buy some ingredients, or we can go out and get something? Thai, maybe?” she offered, and Peter was thankful for the topic change because he was pretty sure he would have started bawling if they continued.
“Anything sounds good to me,” Peter shrugged truthfully.
—————
Even though he’d reluctantly agreed to go, that didn’t help at all with his growing anxiety, especially when they loaded up the bus, its rumbling starting.
When he was anxious like this, his enhanced senses got quirky, so he sat on an isolated spot on the bus in the back with his headphones over his ears to help with his current overstimulation.
He didn’t want to risk texting Tony to ask something so stupid like “hEy DiD yOu OrGaNiZe ThIs WhOlE tRiP jUsT sO yOu CoUlD eMbArRaSs Me?” and risk the answer being “No? I didn’t realize you ever went to this school,” which would absolutely crush Peter knowing his idol didn’t even care about him enough to know where his mentee goes for high school.
Peter was like that- never reaching out in fear of failure. That was probably his biggest fear: being a disappointment or letting others down. Which was why he was extra cautious with Mr. Stark, especially after he’d gotten his suit taken away.
So he stayed in the back the whole ride, holding his knees while Ned and MJ occasionally told him something, though both quickly caught on he wasn’t in the mood to talk.
When they were near arrival, Flash tossed something at Peter and commented on his inhumane skin complexion: “You’re turning green, Penis! Gonna throw up when we discover you’re a big liar?”
“Leave him alone, Flash,” Ned grumbled for Peter, who was grimacing.
No matter how many times Peter saw Avengers Tower and visited on a daily-basis, it was never less awe-inspiring. The building was built expertly and beautifully, glass glinting under the New York sky.
The very top grazed the clouds, jutting out as a landing zone for helicopters, and other flying aircraft- such as Iron Man when he decided to be dramatic and refuse to take the stairs.
There had been a number of times where Peter used the landing site to leap off, the thrill of free-falling and catching himself at the last moment with a web exhilarating.
The first time Tony saw him do this, he nearly screamed and dove after him, commanding his suit to lift them up.
“What the hell, Mr. Stark?” Peter remembered yelling.
“Kid, you what the hell?! Life’s worth living, please- why would you—”
Peter had cut him off with the most incredulous look he could manage, though his mask sort of ruined it, so he hoped his eye lenses would convey the expression. “I am not trying to kill myself, Mr. Stark! I do this all the time, seriously! Have you never seen me sling across the city??”
Tony had turned red and blinked at Peter. After carrying them back up to the tower, Peter continued to explain it was easier to start off at a high distance, but that didn’t stop Tony from giving the high-schooler a huge lecture. “I have a heart condition, y’know?” he’d scoffed.
After that huge misunderstanding, the same thing had happened with Dr. Banner, even when the rest of the Avengers already knew. He’d called Tony immediately, rambling on about how Peter jumped off the tower and he was about to hit the ground, but Tony only started laughing, much to Bruce’s disarray, telling the worried scientist to watch him further.
Sure enough, Banner leaned over the edge and watched Peter spin mid-air and attach a web to another building, slinging off.
“That’s horrifying,” he’d diagnosed over phone, Tony still wheezing through the speaker.
Peter grinned at the memory, though it quickly faded as the bus lurched to a stop, making Peter wince. He pulled his headphones off and rested them around his neck.
They left the bus single-file before generally clumping together once off their transport vehicle, dumping them on the porch of the building of the pinnacle of technology, and the living quarters for most of the universe’s greatest heroes.
Everyone’s eyes were sparkling- staring up, forward, left, right and down- everywhere was a sight to behold, Peter had to admit. He felt a bit of pride grow in his chest, knowing he was welcome here everyday. If he’d been a bit more like Flash, he’d proudly declare he came here almost every day.
“Everyone, please follow me and please don’t embarrass our school,” Mr. Harrington told his group of students, and everyone nodded. Their teacher led them to the lobby, walking across pristine floors and approaching the front desk.
“Uh, Hullo,” Mr. Harrington smiled at the lady, who Peter knew as Jessica. “We’re the group from Midtown Tech?”
Jessica looked up and tore her gaze from her computer and smiled at Mr. Harrington. “Yes, of course! Let me just pull you up real quick.”
Mr. Harrington returned the smile and stood back as her eyes returned to her screen. She squinted after she typed something in, scrolling using the mouse, then her eyes lit up in recognition. “The Academic Decathlon winners, yes?”
The teacher nodded in affirmation, and Jessica called over a guide, dialing a number on her office phone. Less than a minute later, a young woman, probably in her mid twenties, walked over to them with a broad smile. “Hello, everyone! My name is Chloe and I'll be showing you around. First things first, let’s get us situated with your passes, yes?”
Chloe had hair so blonde it was nearly white, pulled back in two french braids and falling over her shoulders. She used two different colored bands to tie them off.
Mr. Harrington nodded quickly and told his students to gather in a neat line. Being (generally) good students, they all did. Chloe called out all of their names, reading off a clipboard she had in one hand, then handing them their little key-card with a lanyard as they came up.
“Ned Leeds?” Chloe called the last name, and Flash flashed Peter a triumphant grin before turning to Chloe, putting on his most innocent voice.
“Miss Chloe? What about Peter Parker? Y’know, this guy?” he asked, stepping back and putting the awkward teen on display.
Chloe’s eyes lit up in recognition- nearly everyone in the tower knew him. “Peter! Hey, I didn’t know you went to Midtown.. though, it’s not surprising,” she grinned.
Peter offered a half-hearted grin as she continued, though he felt a bit of satisfaction at seeing Flash’s face fall so quickly.
“I remembered looking at the list and seeing your name but no name tag and thinking ‘huh, there’s more than one Peter Parker in Queens’- plus, I couldn’t even remember if your last name was Peter, and ‘maybe he’s not going on the trip if his tag isn’t here?’ but nope!” She spoke nearly a million words per minute, Peter barely able to catch up.
“Turns out that is you, and the system can’t make a pass for the same person twice, so. I’m assuming you brought yours? If not, I’m sure FRIDAY will recognize you anyways.”
Peter stammered something unintelligible and pulled out his pass from his pocket.
Everyone stared down at their own level one passes, then looked back up at Peter’s, staring at his picture (theirs just had a default pink or blue person based on their gender), and the obvious label that read: ACCESS LEVEL: 10.
“How- how’d you manage that?” Flash wheezed, staring at the digit incredulously. A level ten access was only given to those who lived at the tower or compound, Avengers, and very, very few other people.
Peter swallowed hard, unable to make up some excuse. Chloe stepped up with the demeanor of a proud older sister. “Peter here is Tony Stark’s favorite intern- like seriously, it’s insane. It’s not even a race, honestly, the guy is like a little genius. Tony adores him, and he adores nothing.”
Peter turned bright and fumbled to stuff his keycard away, face burning with embarrassment and a little something else. Mr. Harrington stared at Peter for a long second before blinking- some of the other students on his team seemed just as stunned, but Ned stood there with an excited smile that was miles wide.
“Oh- uhm, no,” Peter managed to spit out, staring at his shoes. “He doesn’t like me that much,” he said, genuinely serious. Why did everyone say stuff like that? Tony rarely talked to him, keeping him at arms length instead of simply having a conversation with him, which would have spared Peter the excruciating pain of being crushed under an entire collapsed warehouse.
Chloe frowned. “Of course he does,” she said, as if she knew. The time to argue, however, was not at that moment and the two had a mutual understanding for that.
“Anyways,” she said, moving on but gave Peter a sort of sympathetic look, which made him frown slightly in return and stand next to Ned.
“Dude, that’s awesome!” Since when is anything not awesome to you? Peter thought with fond exasperation. “Did you see Flash’s face?”
Peter smirked and nodded. “Yeah- it was really satisfying, but it would have been better if I wasn’t super embarrassed.”
Ned shrugged. “Still satisfying though. Think of what he’ll do when an Avenger comes up to you all casually!”
“Uhh, Ned, I think only you want that. I, on the other hand, do not, like we previously discussed. Seriously, the only point in keeping a secret identity is so I’m not super famous.”
“You could be like Bruce Wayne! Super famous with both identities!”
“I’m not cut out for Batman’s life,” Peter laughed. “Plus, he’s just a comic-book character,” he reasoned.
“Oh, I guess.”
Everyone was still somewhat staring at Peter, others taking occasional glances; disbelief still lingering in their eyes, while a few openly stared- like Flash. His mouth was gaping open like a fish would. It was almost enough to make him laugh.
Chloe continued the tour, explaining how the passes would work and what access it would give them. Peter thought oh, hey, maybe this isn’t so bad. I’ve been proved as an intern here and maybe Flash’ll leave me alone.
They got onto an elevator, transporting them to an upper level where some of the interesting labs were. They’d prepared to have students walk through them, so they kept it safe and had interns and workers stationed to explain what was going on.
Peter, actually, had helped work on most the presentations, and he was itching to go work on his unfinished project laying discarded on a nearby table as Chloe showed his class the set-up.
He walked back over to Ned, who was staring at the display with wide eyes and he smirked slightly. “Y’know… I helped build that. Most of it, actually,” he whispered in his best friend’s ear.
Ned’s eyes widened dramatically and his jaw dropped and Peter couldn’t help snorting, shoulders tightening as he was reminded of an earlier, fish-faced Flash.
“No way, Peter, that’s so cool!” Ned worshiped, eyes gleaming and Peter felt a little proud.
Deciding to be humble, he shrugged. “It’s nothing in what Dr. Banner has planned for us in another…” Peter paused to look at his watch (which, when pressed on a specific button would transform into his web-shooters) and check the time. “…five minutes, give or take.”
“We’re going to meet the Dr. Bruce Banner in real life?” Ned said, eyes impossibly wider. Ned made it no secret that the scientist was his favorite Avenger- next to his best friend, of course.
Peter couldn’t blame him- his hero worship had died slowly as he spent more time with the elite group, though he still found himself squeaking occasionally if he ever saw the mastermind do something awesome.
And Bruce was a really good guy, too. They both hadn’t really chosen their abilities and had had little to no choice in the matter, letting them resonate with each other and even trauma-dump (if he ever told that to his past self, little Peter would likely pass out).
“Yup! He’s doing a quick seminar on gamma radiation.”
“So cool,” Ned swooned and Peter had to steady him with a lopsided grin.
“Don’t do that in front of him, alright?”
Ned managed a few vigorous nods.
Peter kept his grin for a few more seconds before it faded when Chloe said his name, and he looked up at the mentioning.
Everyone was staring at him too and he blinked, replaying what he’d been hearing in the back of his mind from Chloe.
Right. She told them he’d help work on the presentation they were all currently gawking at- or at least were gawking at, considering they were now gaping at him.
“Uhh… Yeah, well, I had some help,” Peter shrugged.
Cindy stared at Peter, as though she’d never seen him. Almost everyone in his decathlon team believed he had an internship here, or at least never contradicted him like Flash did, but she just looked at him with wide, unblinking eyes.
Peter felt like squirming under her pinned gaze.
“Whelp, uh…” he said awkwardly in a halfhearted attempt to fill the silence.
Thankfully, Chloe directed everyone’s attention back to the next area, having them walk further in the room as she opened a second too.
The door led to a wide room, with raised seats that looked unfairly comfortable. They were staggered, so there were windows for each person to view the large screen mounting the opposite wall. On the ceiling sat a projector, which seemed old-school, but Peter knew otherwise. It actually created holograms to create amazing 3D visuals.
At the front sat a lectern positioned towards the side of the classroom versus directly in the center, with a microphone piece attached.
A man stood behind it, gathering his papers in one hand and tapping them to the wood to keep them even and organized. He looked up as the group came in, glasses glinting under the dim light of the room and smiled.
“Hello, everyone!” The familiar man (to Peter) said. “I’m Doctor Bruce Banner, but many of you guys might know me as the Hulk.”
Ned made a squealing sound- comparable to a mouse being stepped on, freezing entirely and staring at his idol. Bruce’s eyes flickered to the boy, wondering if he was the one who made the noise or some faulty equipment, but he spotted Peter right next to him and his eyes widened slightly.
“Peter!” Bruce smiled genuinely. “I almost forgot you were with this class.”
Peter returned the smile shyly and offered a wave.
Bruce’s grin softened at the boy’s bashfulness before he moved on to introduce what his presentation would be about. A few of Peter’s classmates had brought notepads, not missing any chances to make a learning experience out of their field trip. They were academic decathlon students at Midtown Tech, what did you expect?
Everyone moved to take a seat per the scientist’s suggested invitation, settling in the comfy cushions that weren’t found anywhere else in foldable seats. The school’s cheap island desks had nothing on these.
Peter fidgeted. Yes, he came here all the time, and yes, he was on a first name basis with the scientist in front of them, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t be excited! Like, seriously, Bruce’s work was one of a kind and he really was a genius.
Once everyone was settled, Bruce turned on the projector, drawing out a few “ooh”s and “ah”s from his audience.
The hologram was 3D and the screen behind it read off information and other things, like molecular models, gamma ray radiation in visible form, etc.
His presentation was impressive to say the least, not leaving one kid’s eyes lacking a wondrous sparkle.
It lasted fifteen minutes, everyone on the edge of their seats and several students facing possible whiplash from how quick their heads were shooting down from their notes and up to the slideshows and models.
Dr. Banner started out slightly… awkward (he wasn’t great with kids out of fear of his counterpart), but he gained his confidence from the smiles of the genius children in front of him and how invested they were and from time itself.
By the time he ended, he even got an applause, making him turn red like Peter had several times this trip.
Chloe escorted everyone out, but Peter lingered in the back so he could have a short conversation with Bruce.
“That was so cool, Dr. B- Bruce!” Peter corrected, still struggling slightly with not calling all the Avengers “sir”, “mr.”, “ma’am”, or whatever formal titles they had. It was a bit easier with Bruce, though. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever get there with Mr. Stark.
“Hey, Peter,” Bruce grinned, setting a hand on the kid’s shoulder. “‘M glad you liked it, y’know I like impressing the youth,” he continued, smirk staying the same as he rolled his eyes partially, “Tony must be rubbing off on me,” he half-joked.
Peter barked a laugh, shoulders drawing in with the motion. “He must be. Anyways, I'll see you later, Bruce, I think they’re moving on without me.”
Bruce nodded then smiled gentler, removing his hand after squeezing Peter’s shoulder once. “Seeya, spiderling.”
“Shh!” Peter hissed urgently but he couldn’t help laughing slightly at Bruce’s expression. “Secret identity, and all,” he said sarcastically then jogged after his group.
Peter left Bruce behind in the room, where the man sighed fondly and took off his glasses to wipe them off with the cloth of his shirt.
It was in moments like these Bruce really felt worth it, like Natasha always said he was, the way those kids looked at him.
Not adoring him for being The Hulk, but for being Dr. Banner. Someone he thought was useless and gone and forgotten brought back by smiles of those who idolized him.
He collected the feelings that brought to his heart and kept them close, storing them with the previous stock of that same emotion. That was kept him going, from putting a bullet in his mouth- which he’d tried before.
He wasn’t just The Hulk, master of all destruction and murderer. He was also Dr. Banner, a scientist others loved and cared about, with no Hulk to add to any bias.
He smiled and organized his papers, sliding his glasses back onto his nose, collecting his stuff and walked out the door with a newfound confidence. He should really try teaching.