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Peter drummed his fingers against his leg, anxiously looking up at the clock every couple of minutes. Or, well, it felt like minutes to him but was likely only seconds. While he loved AcaDec, it always seemed to drag on forever and ever on Fridays. The school day already felt so long, but then the hour, sometimes hour and a half, practice that came after was just painful. He looked back up at the clock. Only ten minutes left. His tapping quickened.
Fridays were a busy day for Peter, and they had been ever since the Vulture incident. He, of course, had his regular school day, and then the hour or so AcaDec practice after that. Then he made a habit of patrolling for at least 30 minutes, but he preferred longer. The most exciting part came after though when he got to go to Mr. Stark’s lab and work with him. They usually aimed to start around five or six, so that they could eat dinner while working, but it always depended on how Peter’s patrol went. So, the faster Peter could get out onto patrol, just to see how the streets of Queens was doing, the faster he got to work with Mr. Stark. Which meant, he always wanted to get out of AcaDec practice as soon as possible.
He was barely paying attention to what Mr. Harrington was saying at this point, only catching a few words every now and then. It wasn’t until Mr. Harrington cleared his throat loudly, before pausing, evidently waiting for the rest of the team to pay attention, that Peter turned back to the man.
“As I was saying,” Mr. Harrington began, sounding more exasperated than he did at the beginning of the period, “We’ve been invited for a tour of Stark Industries, not this upcoming Monday, but the next one. I’ll be handing out the permission slips momentarily. These must be handed in by next Friday. If it is not handed into me, signed, by then, you are not able to join.”
Peter’s eyebrows raised slightly. He’d heard of SI offering tours before, but it was rare. But their team had just won the statewide championship and were on their way to finals, so it wasn’t unheard of.
The rest of the team began chattering excitedly. Ned nudged him, giving him wide eyes and a look that definitely didn’t give away any secrets whatsoever. No sir, Ned was the definition of subtle. “Dude, did you know about this?” he not so quietly whispered.
With a pointed look and a light laugh, Peter shook his head, “Nah. Mr. Stark doesn’t have anything to do with field trips, I doubt he even knows it's happening”
“Do you think he’ll show up? Come say hi? You should ask him, it would be so totally cool if the Tony Stark showed up on our field trip”
“What? No, absolutely not. First, he always says he hates teens. Second, he’ll either embarrass me, kill flash, expose the other guy , or all of the above.”
Peter was absolutely not going to even tell Mr. Stark about the field trip, the less he knew the better. The two had been getting closer ever since the Vulture Incident, after Mr. Stark had, in his words, “realized where he went wrong”. Something about keeping Peter at arms distance as a safety measure, or whatnot. Truth be told, Peter hadn’t really listened, or cared, because in the end, it led to a proper mentor-mentee relationship. Or even a friendship at this point. Besides their weekly lab sessions, they had begun to have occasional movie nights, and Mr. Stark was completely content texting Peter at all hours of the day it seemed. They even had the occasional dinner with Aunt May and Pepper. Which was all good and well, but it also meant that Mr. Stark was beginning to get a bit overbearing. He treated Peter and Aunt May like family, which meant he was just as protective over them as he was with Pepper and Rhodey, and Peter knew that if Mr. Stark caught Flash being, well, being Flash, it would be the end of the other boy.
“You’re coming though right? Like I know you go there all the time now, but like, this is a tour , and I wanna be there with you,” Ned continued to ramble on.
“Ya, dude, of course, I’m gonna go! I’m excited!”
Despite working with Mr. Stark for the last couple of months, Peter only ever worked in Mr. Stark’s lab. Which wasn’t a bad thing at all! He wasn’t complaining. He got his own desk in the larger than life lab, got access to everything he needed, and got to talk to Mr. Stark through it all. But, Peter was still a nerd through and through, and it was always his dream to at least walk through the labs in SI. Sure, he could probably ask Mr. Stark to show them to him, but he didn’t want to make the man go out of his way. It wasn’t that important. This trip, however, was the perfect opportunity.
“Anyways, I want to see the R&D floor. I hear about it all the time and it always sounds so exciti-”
“What’s that Penis? I thought you were an Intern at Stark Industries, but you’ve never been to their labs? How does that work?” Flash sneered at him, “Or are you just too embarrassed to admit that you’ve never actually stepped foot in Stark Towers?”
“Shut up Flash,” MJ walked over to the three boys slowly, her arms folded against her chest with one eyebrow raised, “Play nice, or else you won’t get to go. All of you.”
Flash opened his mouth as if he was about to say something else, but a quick glare from MJ was enough to shut him up. He quickly walked away, muttering something along the lines of “exposing Penis Parker”.
Peter looked over at MJ, willing the blush he felt rising to his cheeks to go away. “Thanks,” he mumbled. He felt her eyes bore into him slightly, her one eyebrow still raised as she stared at him. He had a feeling she knew something, whether that something was his closeness to Mr. Stark or his identity was still up for debate. Either way, she said nothing else before handing him and Ned the permission slips and turning and walking away.
“Dude, I can’t wait to see Flash’s face when he realizes you actually work with Mr. Stark!” Ned nudged him again, stars practically floating in his eyes.
“He won’t find out, probably. I don’t even know any other interns. I don’t know how he’ll find out,” Peter sighed, his shoulders slumping. As much as he didn’t particularly want attention from him, it sucked that he was still thought of as a liar. But, he also didn’t really want his teammates to find out how close he was to Mr. Stark. That was only a few conclusions away from figuring out that he is Spider-Man.
Ned looked equally disappointed but dropped it. “Well… it’ll still be fun, right?”
“Right!”
..
Patrol went swiftly. There was never much crime midday in Queens, at most just a small robbery. But it gave Peter time to work on the little stuff, like helping old ladies cross the streets, helping kids find their parents, or getting cats out of trees. Today had been slow, but he had gotten to be out for roughly an hour before heading over to the Tower. Entering through one of the windows, which Mr. Stark made a habit of leaving unlocked just for Peter, he ripped his mask off, taking in a breath of fresh air. The mask was necessary for his identity, but it was sometimes a bit suffocating.
“Mr. Stark! I’m here!” he called out, looking every which way to see where the man was. Usually, he met Peter in the kitchen so that they could get snacks or dinner before heading to the lab, but it wasn’t always the case.
“Boss is currently in a meeting that is set to end in about twenty minutes. Would you like me to inform him that you have arrived?” the AI’s voice rang out, seemingly echoing in the empty room.
“Ya, sure. Tell him I’ll just wait in the kitchen for him,” Peter nodded, despite knowing that the AI couldn’t really see the action.
“Of course, young sir.”
Before doing anything else, Peter ran to his room, because ya, that happened, to change out of his suit and into his regular clothes, stuffing the suit into his backpack. The room was really a glorified guest room, but it was slowly becoming more Peter, starting with a couple of Star Wars posters hanging on the wall. Mr. Stark had set it up for him about a month or two ago when one of their lab nights went on until nearly 2 AM. The two hadn’t even noticed until Aunt May called Mr. Stark in a panic when Peter hadn’t gotten home. She was worried sick that he had gotten hurt during patrol. After that Mr. Stark assured her that Peter would have a room in the tower so that when they worked late he wouldn’t have to swing home or be driven home, in the early hours of the morning. Once it hit midnight they were expected to call Aunt May to let her know that Peter was in fact alive and well, and that he’d be sleeping over at the tower. That allowed her to go to bed at a reasonable time without worrying about the life of her nephew. Plus, it gave Peter much more time to work in the lab. It was a win-win, really.
Once he was in comfier clothes Peter sauntered back into the kitchen, grabbing an apple and a juice box to snack on while he waited. Patrol always burned more calories than a regular workout, then add on Peter’s enhanced metabolism, and, well, it was a recipe for disaster. In his first few months of being Spider-Man, he didn’t know about how much he needed to eat, and he had gotten so extremely skinny. He finally figured that he needed to eat more, a lot more. A Captain America amount of food. Once he did that he was in much better shape.
His ears picked up the workings of the elevator, and the mumblings of a certain old man in it. When the doors opened Peter was already on his feet.
“Pete! Hey! Fri told me you were here,” Mr. Stark smiled brightly, his hands in his pockets as he walked towards the teen. “I forgot to text you that I’d be in a meetin-”
“That ends in another 10 minutes?”
“Ya, well, it's my company. What are they going to do? Fire me?”
“I’m pretty sure Apple did just that to Steve Jobs at one point, Mr. Stark. I’d be careful, Ms. Potts and I might just plan a coup,” Peter laughed.
“A coup! My own protege? Against me? Oh, how will I survive,” Mr. Stark rolled his eyes, planting a hand on Peter’s shoulder, “Now come on, I’ve got stuff to show you.”
“Stuff? What kind of stuff? Spider-Man stuff?” Peter asked, practically jumping. After looking at Mr. Stark’s face, he continued guessing, “ Iron Man stuff?” No, he hadn’t gotten it just yet. “Wait. Avengers stuff ?”
“Yep, thought you might want to take a look at Nat’s Widow Bites. They need an update, and well, you’re smart enough, I guess. Definitely the fourth smartest person in the building,” Mr. Stark guided him towards the lab.
“Fourth? Why only fourth? I thought I was your protege,”
“Come on kid, we both know that Pepper, Friday, and I are all above you. For now. Give it five? Ten years, maybe, and you’ll be better than at least Friday,” Mr. Stark smiled teasingly.
..
The rest of the week passed without much trouble. Peter patrolled, did his homework, patrolled some more, went to school, and patrolled some more. School had been difficult, to say the least. Ned wouldn’t stop bugging him about what the tour was going to be like, despite Peter’s constant answers that he didn’t know . And then Flash. God, Flash. The boy wouldn’t get off his ass about how he was “lying” about his internship. Sure, at first it had been a ruse for Spider-Man, but it was real now! He even handed paperwork into the school for it!
He didn’t really care that Flash didn’t believe him if he was being honest. Flash was Flash, and Peter had learned to just expect some mild bullying from the boy. But at this point Flash was starting to make others believe that Peter was lying, and while he tried not to care it was hard, especially when he caught not-so-secret glances his way. Plus, with his hearing, he was able to catch a lot of things that were whispered about him.
He knew the whole thing would be solved if he did like Ned asked, and just told Mr. Stark about the trip. But, well, he couldn’t help but be nervous that it would somehow lead to Spider-Man being revealed. What if Mr. Stark said something? It wasn’t like he was exactly secretive, what with the whole ‘I am Iron Man’ thing. And Peter’s secret identity mattered more than his hurt pride.
Nonetheless, Peter was excited about the trip. On Friday he handed in his permission slip to Mr. Harrington, which had been signed by a laughing Aunt May. She seemed to enjoy the fact that Peter was both excited and nervous about the trip, telling him that he had no reason to worry about Mr. Stark doing anything. He didn’t believe her and made her promise to not say a word about the trip to the man.
Flash had continued mocking Peter, not giving up even when MJ stepped in and threatened his removal from the trip. Apparently, now that the permission slip was handed in and his father knew about it, nothing was going to stop Flash from going. Well, that, and he probably figured out that MJ didn’t have the power nor authority to stop Flash from going. Why he believed it in the first place was beyond Peter.
“Penis!” Flashed called out minutes after the end of practice when Mr. Harrington had already left, “Can you tell us what the tour is going to be like on Monday? Since you work there and all, of course.”
The rest of the team muttered about, glancing between the two boys. Peter knew he had Ned, MJ, and even Abe on his side. But the rest of the team seemed to be with Flash. Which, ok, fair enough. It wasn’t like he had proof of him working at SI, other than the paperwork that was with the school. But that was confidential, so it wasn’t like any of his teammates would be able to see it. But still, it hurt. It sucked knowing that most of his teammates didn’t trust him, or thought he was just seeking attention.
“I don’t do tours, Flash. So, no, I don’t know what they’ll show us,” Peter rolled his eyes, ignoring the way his heart squeezed painfully. He focused his attention back on packing his bag. He wanted to get out as fast as he could to go on patrol. Plus, he just wanted to leave the scrutiny he was facing.
“But you work there right? Surely you’ve seen tour groups go by, right? I know for a fact the tours always stop and say hi to interns,” Flash continued, his smirk growing.
Honestly, Peter didn’t even know if that was true or not. He had no knowledge about what the rest of SI did, only what Mr. Stark did.
So, Peter just shrugged, a frown settling in on his face as he slung his bag over his shoulder. Flash took this as an admittance of defeat and began to laugh, turning to the others to talk about how “Penis Parker is just a pathetic liar”. The group only quieted down when MJ gave them a stern look, “Guys, we’re a team, and I expect us to act like one on Monday. Now shut up,” she rolled her eyes.
He could never tell if she really believed him, if she pitied him, or if she just wanted the group to act like a proper team, but either way, Peter appreciated her attempts to control the bullying. He shot her a small smile, which he swore she returned.
“Come on dude, let's go. Just ignored them,” Ned came up beside Peter, hooking arms with him as they left the practice room.
“You should like, take a picture with Mr. Stark or something. Do something to show you actually work there,” Ned continued as they walked out of the school.
“Ya, I guess. I just don’t know if it’ll help at this point. Everyone seems convinced that I’m lying, y’know?” Peter sighed.
He didn’t mean to let it get to him, but it was frustrating and disheartening. He really wasn’t a liar, and he didn’t like people thinking he was. He took another deep breath, allowing himself to feel dejected for just another few seconds, before shaking his head. “Anyways, I gotta swing,” he said, allowing himself to give a small smile to his best friend.
Ned laughed, “Kay! I’ll see you Monday, right?”
“Of course!” Peter shouted as he hopped over the fence. Time to get a move on.
..
That evening Peter entered the Tower the same way he always did; through the window. Unlike last week, this time Mr. Stark was sitting at the kitchen counter waiting for Peter. He grinned when he saw Peter, tossing a juice box up in the air, high enough that Peter had to jump to catch it.
“Hey! If I didn’t catch that it would’ve exploded all over your floor,” Peter took his mask off to send a teasing glare over to his mentor.
“If you didn’t catch it then I’d know your Peter tingle was broken,” Mr. Stark retorted with a grin when Peter narrowed his eyes further.
“Just for that, I’m not gonna catch time, just so Ms. Potts will yell at you,” he said as he made his way to his room to change.
“This is my tower you know, I run it,” Mr. Stark scoffed.
“Ms. Potts says it's 12% hers, so she gets to yell at you,” Peter shouted before closing the door to his room.
He heard Mr. Stark grumbling but chose not to listen. He’d been told countless times at this point that it was rude to use his super hearing when others didn’t know he could hear him. In his defense, it really wasn’t his fault that Mr. Stark, Pepper, or Aunt May forget how good his hearing is, plus he can’t just turn it off! But, he understood their concern over it, so he tried to at least not listen sometimes.
After changing into comfy clothes once more, this time choosing to wear one of Mr. Stark’s old MIT sweaters that he totally did not steal, Peter went back to the kitchen.
“First you turn against me and now you’re stealing my clothes? Friday, change Peter’s code name to ‘Traitor’ please,” he smirked, ignoring the way Peter watched him with wide eyes.
“Right away Boss,” and Peter swore he could hear a laugh in the AIs voice.
“Good, now let's go to the lab. I want your opinion on some things,” Mr. Stark nodded mostly to himself.
Peter rolled his eyes but followed his mentor to the lab anyway. The hours ticked away as the two worked. Mr. Stark had shown Peter the finished version of the Widow Bites they had worked on last week and had asked Peter’s opinions on any other updates. He has suggested finding a way to convert them into something other than bracelets, that way if she ever lost the bracelets she’d still have the weapon on her. So, now they were bouncing ideas off each other to see if they could make the bites fit in a pocket, or something similar.
At around 11 PM Peter began feeling tired. He’d been up since earlier that morning just to get some extra schoolwork finished, so it had been a long day. Mr. Stark shot him a look when he yawned for what must have been the fifth time in the last ten minutes.
“You tired Underoos?” he asked, not waiting for a reply, “You want Happy to drive you home? Or wanna stay over for the night?”
“Uh, I’ll just, well… I guess I’ll stay over if that ok, Mr. Stark?” Peter answered, stifling another yawn.
“It’s not ok, actually. That's why I offered, and why I made that room for you. I clearly don’t want your stinky teenager butt in my Tower,” Mr. Stark rolled his eyes, “Come on, let's clean up and head in for the night.”
Peter smiled, cleaning his desk off haphazardly while stashing different papers away. It wasn’t until they were heading out of the lab that he suddenly remembered what Ned had said earlier that day.
“Hey, uh, Mr. Stark?” he spoke up, just as they were leaving. Mr. Stark’s head turned, looking mildly surprised, but said nothing. “Do you think we could, like, take a picture together? With my uh, internship certificate? If it's not too much trouble? I mean, like, if you don’t want to that's fine too. It’s just, you know, even with paperwork and stuff sometimes people don’t always believe the internship, because like, that stuff can be faked. I mean, I got to a STEM school, we all know how to use photoshop convincingly. So I just thought that, like, a picture? Together? Might, uh, well it might help? You know? But it's also totally not a big dea-”
“Whoah, Pete, breathe kiddo. It’s just a picture,” Mr. Stark laughed, “I’ll gladly take one with you. Do you have the certificate with you?”
“Ya, uh, I got it in my bag, lemme just run up and get it,” he said, already on his way to his room.
When he got back to the kitchen Mr. Stark was leaning his phone up against a wall, telling Friday to take the photo when he said “Cheese.”
“Well? Let's do this thing,” Mr. Stark raised an eyebrow, motioning Peter over.
“Ya, ya, of course. And, uh, thank you, Mr. Stark.”
He went over to Mr. Stark, the man placed a hand on Peter’s shoulder as Peter held up the certificate.
“Ready? One, two… three” on three, Peter made the split-second decision to bunny ears on his mentor, who apparently had the same idea for Peter. The camera clicked a couple of times, and Peter couldn’t help but smile and let out a laugh.
“I’ll get those printed and send them to you kid. But if anyone gives you a hard time, you know you can-” Mr. Stark spoke as he went to get his phone.
“No, no! Really it’s fine Mr. Stark, you don’t need to do anything, I promise. The picture is enough,” Peter’s hands shot up, willing the man to not do anything.
“I was actually going to say that you can stick Aunt Hottie on them, but you know? Iron Man is probably scarier,” Mr. Stark smirked, “Now let's get the Spider baby up to bed”
Peter huffed at the nickname but smiled all the same.
..
Peter spent the weekend the way he spent most of his weekends: doing homework and patrolling. He swore it felt like his life was a never-ending cycle of repeats. Saturday’s patrol went swiftly. There really had been less crime on the streets lately, and he’d like to think that it was partly because of Spider-Man. He had even taken a few selfies with fans that day.
Sunday, though, was a different story. It had started off as a normal patrol. He stopped to help old ladies, even helped a young kid carry groceries home. Around ten at night, he had been talking to the hot dog guy, who had been giving him free hot dogs for the last month or so. “You do so much for Queens, this is the least I can do for you,” he had once said. And, well, Peter usually got hungry during patrol, so he never turned him down. But then, in the middle of his sentence, Peter heard a loud scream. “Duty calls,” he had said simply, before flipping onto the light post and swinging away.
His heart thrummed in his chest as he got closer to the scream. It was the type of scream that was panicked and scared, one that meant something bad was happening. He was worried that if he didn’t find the screamer soon, it would be too late. Luckily, it didn’t take him long to find the source.
In a dark alley maybe two blocks away from the hot dog guy, there was a lady and a man with a mask covering half his face. Peter sat up on the rooftop, watching to see what was going on, and waiting for an opening. “Come on bitch, just give me the fucking purse and we’ll be done here,” the man growled.
The woman, a tiny, blonde thing, was crying. She couldn’t have been older than eighteen and looked like she was on her way home from work if the diner uniform said anything.
“P-Please, this is all I have, please,” she clutched her purse like a lifeline.
“Fuck,” the man spit out, running a hand through his hair. It was then, that Peter saw the knife in the man’s right hand. The man made a move, lunging forward, and Peter’s Spidey Sense blared. He swung down, kicking the man’s hand as he did.
“Hey man, if you’re in need of a new purse I know Target's got some nice ones. No need to go around scaring young ladies,” Spider-Man said, his eyes narrowing as he stood in front of the woman.
“Fuck off Spider-Man, this has nothing to do with you,” the man lunged again. Apparently, Peter hadn’t kicked hard enough to get the knife out of his hand.
His Spidey sense screamed at him, telling him to move his body out of the way. Which, ya, thanks, Peter could see the knife coming at him with his own eyes, he didn’t need a sixth sense for that. But if he moved, even just an inch, the knife would hit the young woman behind him. And he bet that she didn’t have a healing factor. And it was too close to web the man up, he’d still get either Peter or the girl. So, Peter stayed still, twisting only enough so that the knife would, hopefully, miss all important organs.
He grunted when it entered his stomach, hissing in pain. But this was a chance, so he grabbed the man’s hand, feeling at least one finger break under his grip, as he pushed the man back against the opposite wall. “Fuck, sorry, didn’t mean to break anything, just you know, pain, makes you forget to control things,” Peter muttered.
The man went to say something but Peter quickly put a web over his mouth. “Ya, sorry, I’m tired of talking to you, you’re annoying. And mean. I mean, who stabs people? It’s 2020, learn some manners,” Peter huffed, as he webbed the man to the wall.
He turned around to the young girl who was staring at him with wide eyes. “Spider-Man you’re… you’re… bleeding,” she stuttered, tears still streaming down her face. Peter could practically feel her shaking.
“Don’t worry about it ma’am, I heal fast. Better me than you. Speaking of, are you ok?”
She nodded quickly, still clutching her purse to her.
“Good, I’m glad to hear that. Do you mind calling the police for me?”
She nodded again, and Peter smiled.
“Stay safe then!” he waved, as he climbed the walk back up to the roof.
“Thank you Spider-Man!” she shouted up at him before he disappeared onto the roof.
Once he knew he was safe, Peter sat down, looking down at his bleeding stomach. It wasn’t the worst stab wound he’d gotten, but it sure hurt.
“Peter, it appears you have been stabbed. I would suggest immediate medical attention. Would you like me to contact Mr. Stark for you?” Karen spoke to him.
Peter shook his head, holding in a groan, “No Karen, it’s not that deep. It’ll heal probably by tomorrow night.”
The AI was quiet for a moment, and Peter added, “I’ll clean it when I go home, I promise.”
“Alright, Peter. However, if it does not improve by tomorrow night I will contact Mr. Stark”
“Fair enough,” he mumbled before standing up. “Well, then, I better get home.”
..
Monday morning came too soon in Peter’s opinion. He hadn’t even been up all that late last night, but the stab wound in his stomach was taking up a lot of energy. His healing factor was definitely a blessing, but it also meant that his body worked overtime just to heal him. Which meant that while he was healing he was fatigued and super hungry. Hungrier than normal.
“Peter! You better get up now or else you’ll be late!” Aunt May called out to him, causing him to groan. She opened the door, and even though Peter’s back was to it he could feel the stare she was sending him. “Up you get lazy butt,” she said before turning and going back to the kitchen.
With a sigh, Peter sat up and looked down at his stomach again. It wasn’t bleeding anymore, but it wasn’t pretty. He had made sure to clean it well when he got home so he wasn’t worried about an infection, but stab wounds always looked gross the day after they happened.
He quickly got dressed, grabbing his backpack, and went into the kitchen where Aunt May sat at the table clearly waiting for him. “I made you some toast, and a tuna sandwich for later. Eat on your way to school,” she said with a slight smile. “Honestly, I don’t know who you got your lateness from. You’ve got to learn to leave on time for things,” she rolled her eyes as she handed him his food.
Peter laughed and placed a kiss on her cheek, “Ya, ya, I will Aunt May. Love you!”
“Love you too!” she called back to him as he left.
Peter ran down the streets, determined to make the subway on time. Normally when he was running this late he would just swing to school, but he didn’t want to irritate his healing stab wound any further.
Luckily, Peter caught the subway just in time. It was crowded, and smelly, and loud, and it made all of his senses scream at him, but hey. He caught it. By the time he got to school, Peter was battling the pain in his stomach and a headache from the train. But he made it, that was all that mattered.
“Mr. Parker! Finally decided to join us,” Mr. Harrington called to him, motioning him onto the bus with a look that was decidedly not pleased.
“Sorry sir, I slept in,” Peter mumbled.
“Dude I totally thought you were going to abandon me!” Ned whisper-yelled at him when he sat down.
“Nah, I just had a rough night last night, and I slept in,” Peter mumbled, leaning his head against the window.
“And I thought Penis Parker had bailed because he was scared of getting caught in his lie,” Flash sneered from a few seats ahead.
“And I thought you had learned to mind your own business Flash,” MJ looked over, her face as bored as usual. But there was a certain fire behind her eyes, and this time Peter knew she was sticking up for him. He smiled at her again.
“Alright kids, that’s enough,” Mr. Harrington spoke up, standing at the front of the bus and holding onto the seats so he wouldn’t fall over as the bus moved. “Now I’m going to go over some basic rules for the tour. I’m sure you all know that it is a privilege to be invited to SI for a tour, and I expect you all to be on your best behaviour during the tour. We are representing Midtown High, don’t forget that. That means no talking during the tour, be polite and respectful to the guide, don’t bother any of the employees, and” he gave Peter a pointed look, “No wandering off, Please.” And if Peter didn’t know any better he would have sword he heard Mr. Harrington say, “I can’t lose another kid, not again.”
The team all mumbled responses, all saying they would behave well. Peter didn’t say anything, except a little grunt of affirmation, as he closed his eyes. Ned nudged Peter, leaning over to whisper, “Dude you look like hell, are you ok?”
“Ya, just got hurt, and the train gave me a headache. I’m just gonna sleep till we get there” he mumbled.
If Ned said anything in response, Peter didn’t hear him.
..
Peter awoke to Ned shaking his shoulders, “ Dude , wake up, we’re here.”
Peter opened his eyes, rubbing them slightly to get his sight to focus. He looked out the window, and lo and behold, Stark Towers was in front of him.
“I’m awake,” he mumbled, shaking himself to wake up.
The two boys stood and slowly lined up to pile out of the bus. The team all chatted excitedly, with a few taking pictures of the Tower, and in front of the Tower. Peter just stuffed his hands in his pockets, willing his headache to go away. It had gotten better, and he was sure it would continue to get better throughout the day. It wasn’t like SI was a necessarily noisy place. It wasn’t quiet either, but it was a workplace after all.
“Alright everyone, that's enough. Let’s head inside to meet our guide,” Mr. Harrington said, smiling at the group of kids. It was clear he was just as excited as the rest of them.
Peter made a move towards the front door just as his Spidey sense tingled. He knew exactly what was coming, but he couldn’t do anything about it. He couldn’t before, so he shouldn’t now.
Flash’s foot stuck out, and Peter tripped over it, falling face-first into the ground. He did make sure to brace himself at least a little bit if just to avoid landing on his poor stomach which was already beaten up and to avoid breaking his nose on the concrete ground of New York City.
“Flash! What the fuck!” he heard Ned shout, before kneeling beside Peter, who just let out another groan.
“Mr. Thompson! Seriously? We’re not even through the doors yet,” Mr. Harrington marched over, “Peter, are you ok?”
“Yes sir, just a little tumble” he sniffed as he sat up.
“ Peter ! You’re bleeding !” Ned shouted.
Peter’s eyes widened and he was sure that his soul left his body. He felt all the blood drain out of his face. Fuck. Did he reopen his wound? How the fuck was he going to explain that? How does a fall lead to a bleeding stomach? God, he was so worried about Mr. Stark exposing his identity he never even worried about himself. Stupid Parker Luck.
“Tilt your head back,” Ned ordered. And for a moment, Peter just looked at him confused. Why should he tilt his head back if he was bleedi- oh. He raised a hand to his face and realized he was bleeding, but not from his stomach. The stupid ground gave him a nose bleed.
Spider-Man, taken out by a nose bleed. He couldn’t believe it.
“Does anyone have a tissue?” Mr. Harrington called out. There was a slight pause before he mumbled, “Ok we’ll just ask for one when we’re inside. Just hold your hand under your nose Peter.”
Peter nodded, holding a hand under his nose as Mr. Harrington helped him up. He was sure it would stop bleeding soon. Honestly, he hadn’t gotten a nose bleed in ages, and at this point, he was sure it was just the universe making sure that Peter never had a normal field trip. Sure, not much tops being bitten by a radioactive spider, or saving his teammates from impending death, but he supposed a stab wound, a tired body, a headache, and a nose bleed was enough. Add on the fact that he was visiting Mr. Stark’s Tower, and the fact that nobody believed he worked here, and ya. The field trip was going to be great.
Mr. Harrington sent a look to Flash, “You’ll be staying beside me the whole time Mr. Thompson, and if you so much as say anything wrong I’ll be sending you to wait on the bus. Am I understood?”
“Yes sir,” Flash squeaked.
And Peter supposed he should be happy that something good came from this. He allowed Mr. Harrington to guide him into the lobby, ignoring the feeling of his own blood pooling in his hand, because, gross.
Once they entered the lobby Mr. Harrington went to the front desk, presumably to ask for a tissue and to check the team in. Ned stood beside Peter, fretting way more than he should considering he knew about the other guy.
“I can’t believe Flash, like doesn’t he ever give up?” Ned grumbled, “What was the point of that even?”
“Dude it's fine, it’ll stop bleeding soon. He didn’t mean to hurt me,” Peter mumbled, his voice slightly muffled.
“You’re too nice Pete.”
“Alright everyone, gather around please,” Mr. Harrington called out, “and Peter here's some tissue for you. Please just make sure to throw it in a bin when you’re done with it.”
Peter nodded and gratefully accepted the tissue, using the first bit of it to wipe his hands, and the rest to hold against his nose. Honestly, this was more embarrassing than anything else right now.
“Alright, now I’m going to be passing out some badges for everyone. I’ve been told that you have to keep it pinned on you the entire time so that the security guards and cameras know that you are meant to be here. Ok?”
“Okay,” the team answered, clearly excited to get their badges.
Mr. Harrington called them up one by one, each badge apparently had a name written on it. Peter was sure it was just for show, he couldn’t imagine that SI had registered each of their names into the system. That was way too much work for a little tour. Plus, Mr. Stark liked to show off whenever he could.
Once the badges had been passed out a tall young man came to stand in front of the group. He was lanky, and wearing a lab coat with the name tag that spelled out “Rowland — Intern, R&D”.
“Hi Midtown!” he spoke, his voice bright and happy.
“My name is Spencer Rowland and I’ll be your tour guide today. I’m an Intern on the R&D floor and a fourth-year Engineering student. Now I’m sure your teacher has gone over basic rules, but I just want to make sure to go over a few more things. Obviously, I’d like it if you all followed me and didn’t wander off. My access card gives you access to the different floors and spaces, and if I’m not with you I’m afraid that the head of security will find you and bring you down to the lobby where you will wait until the end of the tour. I also ask that you don’t bother any of the interns or employees. There will be a period for questions and answers at the end of the tour, where you’ll be able to talk to both interns and employees, so please don’t bother the ones who are doing their jobs. If there are any pressing questions you can ask me at any time Other than that, just have fun! Any questions so far?”
When the team remained silent for a few seconds, Mr. Rowland took that as a no.
“Awesome. So I’ll just get you all to come through these little doors here by scanning the badge you were just given. Just follow my lead,” he said as he approached the sliding doors.
He scanned his card and the doors opened. As he walked through Friday’s voice rang out, “Spencer Rowland, R&D Intern, Level 3”.
The kids all oohed and ahhed, nudging their friends and smiling. Peter knew this was definitely just a way of Mr. Stark showing off. The idea of the AI having to announce everyone’s entrance at all times of the day was… was a bit much. But based on the reaction of his teammates it was worth it.
“Sir! Who was that?” Sally’s hand shot up.
“That’s Friday, Mr. Stark’s AI. She doesn’t really announce everyone, but we let her announce the tour groups. Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts thought it was a good idea,” Spencer explained.
“What does ‘Level 3’ mean?” she asked.
“It’s just the number of years I’ve interned here, nothing special,” he replied before clapping his hands together, “Alright, everyone line-up and come through one by one.”
Flash looked as though he was going to push through everyone just to be able to go first, but Mr. Harrington held a tight grip on his shoulder. “You stay with me Flash,” he said, sounding more tired than he did earlier in the morning.
Betty was the first to go through, “Betty Brant, Visitor. Day Pass”. She turned around after entering the door and smiled back at her team.
“That’s so cool dude, does Friday greet you like this all the time?” Ned whispered.
“Nah, I don’t come in this way ever. Usually, I go to Mr. Stark’s window, or through the back,” Peter whispered back, still holding his nose.
One by one each of their teammates went through, and one by one Friday called out their names. Then, there was just Peter, Mr. Harrington, and Flash left.
Peter twisted his badge in his hand. It wasn’t going to look good for him when Friday called out his name and declared him a visitor. But, well, he didn’t have a badge. He never needed one. But it for sure was going to prove to his teammates once and for all that he was lying. He didn’t even have the picture he and Mr. Stark took together on Friday. Which, sure, that was kind of his fault. He should have asked Mr. Stark to send it to him, but he was too tired and excited at the time.
“Go ahead Peter,” Mr. Harrington ushered him.
Peter sighed, trying not to let his shoulders drop too much. He scanned his badge and walked through the sliding doors, sighing again when Friday said, “Peter Parker, Visitor. Day Pass.”
The whispers he heard from his teammates made him hang his head. “So Flash was right, Peter was lying,” he heard Betty whisper.
“You don’t know that,” Abe whispered back.
“Of course I do! You hear how the AI spoke to Mr. Rowland, versus how he announced Peter!”
He even heard Flash sniggering behind him. This really was ending up to be an awful field trip. And to think he was actually excited about it! Now he just wanted to go home, get under his covers, and go to sleep. Ned clapped his shoulder, “Sorry dude,” he muttered, and Peter shrugged. It really didn’t matter anymore.
At least his headache was starting to clear. Maybe hitting your head and getting a nose bleed just magically gets rid of headaches. Who knew.
He tried to ignore the whispers, and just shoved his hands in his pockets, desperately waiting for Mr. Harrington and Flash to scan and walk through so they could continue the tour.
But then, Friday spoke again. “Good Morning Traitor, you are here unusually early. Would you like me to inform Mr. Stark?”
Peter’s head shot up to the ceiling, even though he knew that Friday wasn’t actually there. Once again, his teammates broke out into whispers. “ Traitor? Who’s that?” Even Mr. Rowland looked confused, with one eyebrow raised, and looking towards the front desk where the lady just shrugged. Of course, no one knew who “Traitor” was. No one except for Peter, who had been quiet for too long, apparently.
“Traitor? My scans are showing signs of an injury, would you like me to inform Mr. Stark?”
“No!” Peter all but shouted, his eyes wide. He looked around at his teammates and teacher, who were all looking at him with equally wide, but confused, eyes. “No,” he said slowly. “I’m fine. Just a nosebleed Friday. No need to, uh, to tell Mr. Stark. Just here for a tour. I’m good, I promise.”
“Understood. Enjoy your tour.”
There was a brief moment of silence where everyone looked at Peter before all Hell broke loose.
“Peter! Why did the AI call you Traitor?”
“Do you actually work here?”
“What did you do to be called Traitor?”
“Did you do something to Tony Stark? Are you like, hated by him or something?”
“Wait, so was Parker telling the truth?”
“Is he really an intern here?”
Peter opened his mouth but closed it again. There was way too much going on. He shot a look to Mr. Harrington, who looked slightly shell shocked and then to Mr. Rowland, who looked simply confused. But at his look, Mr. Rowland seemed to understand, and cleared his throat. Everyone quieted instantly.
“Uhm, alright. That was unexpected, but the show must go on. So, can the last two please scan, and then we’ll start the tour.”
“Dude, you have to tell me about that nickname later,” Ned whispered.
..
The rest of the tour went smoothly, all things considered. They walked around the R&D floors for the most part, but they also checked out the PR floor and the advertising section. But of course, being a STEM school, they all got the most excited when they saw the labs. Peter’s nose even stopped bleeding by the time they had lunch when he was able to throw out the blood-stained tissues and go to the washroom to wash his face. Plus, his headache was almost completely gone. The stab wound still stung a bit, though, but he was sure it would be gone by tomorrow morning.
Now, they were nearing the end of the tour. Mr. Rowland led them into an empty lab that had ten or so desks set up, each with a pile of parts on them. “Now this is something we like to do for fun! Sit at a desk with a friend, or two, and build something with the parts we’ve given you. We’ve included a booklet with ideas and instructions for those of you who want it, but feel free to come up with your own design too. The winners get to choose something from the gift shop, anything they want as long as it's less than $50. You have an hour, good luck.”
Ned and Peter shared a look and immediately smiled at each other. They were going to win this. They raced to a desk and quickly began sorting through the parts, only pausing when they saw MJ standing near the table. “You two losers need any help?”
“Ya! Of course, come sit MJ,” Peter spoke up, maybe a bit too fast, while his face flushed.
The three of them began bouncing ideas off each other, glancing at the booklet, and leafing through to get some ideas. In the end, they came up with a little robot with sensors. It would walk to the edge of the desk before sensing the drop, and then immediately turn and walk in a different direction. It wasn’t anything groundbreaking, but it's what they could do in an hour.
They dropped their hands when Mr. Rowland whistled, signaling the end of the hour. Their robot wasn’t the prettiest thing out there, and Peter knew he could do a lot better given more time, but he was pleased with it.
“Alright, now, just drop your robots off at the front here, and I’m going to get a small team of interns and employees to judge. Everyone, please meet Allison, a second-year intern, Mr. Sampson, a researcher in R&D, and Colin, a first-year intern. They’ll be judging your creations, and then they’ll be answering some questions for our Q&A period.”
“I’ll take it up, guys. I don’t want Peter smashing his face again, the blood would be a pain to clean up in here,” MJ smirked, taking the robot into her hands.
“You know, Penis, I don’t know how you got that AI to speak to you this morning, but I know you don’t work here. The interns don’t even recognize you, and you don’t even have a badge!” Flash came up beside their table, his own robot in his hands.
Peter just rolled his eyes, “Whatever you say, Flash.”
With all the creations, which were mostly robots, at the front of the room, the three judges began scrutinizing all of them. Most of them moved, some were clearly supposed to move but didn’t, and some just glitched. Flash’s robot, in particular, began to take a step but sparked, leading Sampson to immediately turn it off. Flash groaned loudly from behind Peter, and Peter couldn’t help but smile.
Peter was at the edge of his seat when they turned on his, Ned’s and MJ’s robot. He hoped it worked. Imagine if he couldn’t build a simple robot in an hour? Mr. Stark would be so disappointed.
The robot began to walk, and Peter smiled. But his smile quickly dropped when the robot kept getting closer to the edge of the front table. Were there too many things on the table? Was it unable to sense the edge of the desk? He watched with sad eyes as the robot took another step, sentencing itself to death via falling, when it swiftly turned and walked along the edge for a few steps, before turning again to go back to the center. Peter sighed in relief, and he felt Ned do the same. MJ just rolled her eyes, “You both need to be more confident, I knew it wouldn’t fall”, but Peter could see the way her hands were tensely clasped.
By the looks on the faces of the judges, they also thought it was going to drop. But the three interns smiled, and Mr. Sampson looked at the robot skeptically. Better than nothing, Peter guessed.
The judges spoke to each other for a minute or two, before turning around with smiles on their faces. “Alright, the winner is…” Mr. Sampson’s hands moved around the table, as though he was preparing to do a magic trick, “This one! Can the team please come forward and collect their robot?”
He held up Ned, Peter and MJ’s robot. “Yes!” Ned exclaimed, doing a mini air pump. Peter smiled to himself, both proud and relieved. Really, if he didn’t win then was he even worthy of being Mr. Stark’s intern? “I’ll go get it,” MJ sighed, “nerds.”
“Please remember to stop by the gift shop when you’re done with the tour. I’ll be letting the cashier know your names so you can pick out your prizes,” Mr. Sampson said, “Now that that’s done. We’re going to be answering some questions. But first, everyone please come collect your creations.”
Everyone slowly went to the front to grab their creations, muttering small “Congratulations” to the trio as they passed.
“Alright, take your seats and please raise your hands if you have any questions,” Allison said with a smile.
Hand’s immediately shot to the sky.
“Alright, you, in the red shirt?” she pointed to Flash.
“Flash, ma’am,” he said, “I was just curious, how old do you need to be to get an internship here? I’d really like the opportunity to apply, but I’m afraid I’m too young.”
“Well, we typically take anyone in their second year of university, to the end of grad school, but occasionally we take first-year students too,” Allison answered, “So you’ll have to wait a couple of years to apply.”
“Really?” Flash questioned, sending Peter a look, “I thought the September Foundation allowed high school students to apply?”
Allison quickly gave a look to Mr. Sampson, clearly, a bit put off, but turned back to Flash with a smile. “While I don’t know about the details of the September Foundation, I haven’t heard of any high schooler interning here, I’m sorry.”
And with that, whispers broke out again.
“So Peter was lying”
“But then how did the AI know him?”
“Well it never said his name, he just answered it. Maybe the AI was just playing along?”
“Or maybe it was just a trick?”
“Ya cause she clearly just said high schoolers don’t intern here, so obviously Peter is lying.”
And with that, Peter buried his head in his hands. Could this tour please just end? It just seemed to be proving him to be a liar, even when he wasn’t. He’d have to deal with the repercussions for weeks, at least. How was his team going to trust him if they thought he was lying about a silly internship? He didn’t listen to the rest of the questions or answers that came after. All he could think about was how he looked like a big fat liar.
“I told you Penis was lying, no way is he smart enough to work in SI,” Flash whispered to one of his friends, “If anyone was going to get an internship it’d be me, obviously.”
“Flash, shut up,” MJ whispered.
“Oh, you shut up Michelle. I can’t believe you’re still taking Penis’ side on all this. You’re dumber than you look,” Flash laughed.
“If Mr. Harrington hears you you’ll be off the rest of the tour,” Ned whispered back, trying to stop the impending fight.
Peter lifted his head out of his hands, to look around. Mr. Harrington was all the way at the front of the room, monitoring. There was no way he could hear them. Even still, Flash rolled his eyes but remained quiet. Peter went back to his hands.
“Alright kids, and we have time for one more question now,” Mr. Sampson announced.
But Peter wasn’t focusing on that. No, he was focused on the very familiar sounding footsteps that were getting closer and closer. Well, it was his tower, right? At least 88% his, according to Ms. Potts. He was probably just walking by, right? No way did he know Peter was here, Friday wasn’t a snitch. There was no way that Mr. Stark was going to walk into—
Someone cleared his throat.
“If you’re all done here, I have some business to get to,” the all too familiar voice said.
Peter resigned himself to living with his face in his hands for the rest of his life.
“Mr. Stark! We didn’t expect you to stop by!”
The rest of the team was all silent, but Peter could practically feel their fidgeting and excitement. Maybe if he just hid his face Mr. Stark wouldn’t see him. If only Ned would stop literally shaking the table. He swore his friend was going to burst a blood vessel.
“Well, it is my company. I stop by when needed,” Mr. Stark sniffed.
“Yes, of course, sir-”
“88% yours,” Peter mumbled.
Well. That came out without thinking. He really needed to start spending less time with Mr. Stark. The snark was good when he was Spider-Man but as Peter? Never good. Snarky Peter never got himself into any good situations.
He raised his head out of his hands, his face flushed just slightly, as he waved to Mr. Stark, who was staring down at him through his sunglasses. He looked like the perfect businessman, Peter was almost convinced. Would have been, if he didn’t know the man better.
“Peter!” Mr. Harrington admonished, but Mr. Stark raised a hand to silence him.
“You!” Mr. Stark all but shouted. And Peter could see Flash chuckling from the corner of his eyes.
“He definitely found out that Peter lied about having an internship here, he’s gonna get it,” Flash sneered.
“Traitor! I’ll never live that down will I?” Mr. Stark sighed, “You’re not allowed around Pepper anymore, she’s a bad influence. Friday, make a note of that would you?”
“Right away Boss.”
The whispers broke out again.
“He just called Peter ‘Traitor’? So he does work here?”
“Does he? But they said they don’t do high school interns?”
“But Mr. Stark clearly knows him!”
“I don’t know! I’m confused!”
“Listen, I’m sorry to interrupt your tour, but Friday told me Peter was hurt. I was in a meeting all day though, across town, and just got here. Figured I’d check it out. Imagine my surprise! You’re only supposed to be here on Friday nights, but instead, my AI tells me you’re in my lobby bleeding on a Monday morning!”
The whispers continued, but Peter didn’t pay them any mind.
“Mr. Stark I’m fine, it was just a nosebleed, and I told Friday not to tell you,” Peter mumbled.
“Good to know my AI is still on my side,” Mr. Stark rolled his eyes, walking over to Peter. “Head, up. Pete, look up at me would you?”
Peter looked up begrudgingly, a frown planted on his face as Mr. Stark looked him over, humming slightly.
“Hm, you look fine,” he said, ignoring Peter’s small ‘I told you so’.
“No matter, it gives me an opportunity to give you this,” he reached into his pocket and handed Peter a small piece of paper.
Peter turned it over, and couldn’t help the smile that spread over his face. It was the picture they had taken Friday night. “Wow, thanks, Mr. Stark!”
“Thank Pepper, she printed. And she’s got a frame for you, just remind me next time you’re up in my lab,” Mr. Stark sniffed, “Anyways, that's all. Just need to check on my little intern here, make sure he wasn’t sneaking around, or God forbid, planning a coup with Pepper. Enjoy the rest of your tour kiddos.”
“Bye Mr. Stark!” the team rang out, before turning to each other and breaking out in excited chatter.
“Oh my god Peter, you’re Tony Stark’s intern?”
“You work in his lab?”
“I’m so sorry I doubted you!”
“I can’t believe Peter works with the Tony Stark!”
“Parker,” MJ looked at him, her eyes showing a glimmer of playfulness, “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you know Pepper Potts.”
“Uh, ya, I’ve uh, spoken with her a couple of times,” he said, not letting out the fact that they literally have had dinner and movie nights together.
“I want to meet her,” was all MJ said.
“Uh, ya. Sure. I guess,” Peter shrugged. He didn’t know if he could make it happen, but it was hard to say no to MJ.
“ Dude! Oh my God! I can’t believe that just happened!” Ned gasped, “Everyone totally believes you now.”
Peter shrugged, “I—ya, that was pretty cool, not gonna lie.” He laughed.
..
The tour ended with Peter, Ned, and MJ heading to the gift shop to pick out their prizes. MJ chose a book that Pepper had written, while Ned and Peter each picked out a lego set, which Peter had a brief feeling had been added to the gift shop after Mr. Stark found out about his love for the stuff.
When they all piled back on the bus Flash sat in front of Peter. There was a tense silence for a few moments before the other boy turned around. “I still don’t like you,” he sent a weak glare, “But I’m sorry for not believing you. And uh, for your nose.”
Peter smiled, and couldn’t help but laugh. “Dude, it's fine. I wouldn’t have believed me either. And my nose stopped bleeding a while ago. It's forgiven and forgotten.”
Flash stared at him for another couple of seconds before scoffing and turning around. Some things never changed, Peter supposed. One thing that did was Peter’s luck with field trips. Despite the rocky start it had, the tour had gone surprisingly well. He’d have to thank Mr. Stark for what he did. He was sure that Friday told him it was just a nosebleed, but Mr. Stark knew that no one believed his internship, and he made sure to make a subtle appearance. Or at least, subtle in Mr. Stark’s terms. Peter smiled to himself. He was lucky to have Mr. Stark.
Right as the bus was leaving Peter’s phone pinged.
Mr.Dork: Swing by right after school. We need to take a look at that stab wound.
Mr.Dork: And I’m changing Karen’s protocols. She’s not allowed to keep injuries from me. Stop hacking into her.
Peter rolled his eyes. He should have known. Of course, Mr. Stark had been notified about the stab wound. That was probably one of the reasons he stopped by. But still, it was nice.
Pete: Thanks :)
Mr.Dork: No problem, kiddo.
…
Mr.Dork: You’re still in trouble though
Peter groaned.