Work Text:
“Peter, if you don’t stop lying, you can’t come on the trip...”
Peter stared at his, previously, favourite teacher. He’d thought that Mr. Harrington had believed him. Apparently not.
“Mr. Harrington, I’m not lying. I brought in the proper paperwork and I’m on the list of extra credit for student internships. Mr. Stark is on record as my guardian! What more proof do you want?”
Mr. Harrington brought a hand to the bridge of his nose and massaged the skin there. “You do know lying even more won’t fix this, right?”
Throwing his hands up in exasperation, Peter spoke quietly and purposely, “And you’re obviously not going to believe me so I don’t know why I’m trying. I’m not going on the trip. Have a good evening, sir.” Peter left the room, grabbing his backpack from the floor.
He ignored the angry yelling for him to come back. He just rolled his eyes and slid into the passenger side of the car waiting for him.
Bucky turned to him. “You look annoyed.”
“Oh really?” Peter said sarcastically. He immediately sighed, “I’m sorry, Bucky. The one teacher I thought believed me just called me out for ‘lying’.” Bucky just patted his arm, knowing he’d let it out without needing to be needled into it. He started the car, pulling away from the curb and starting on the way to the tower.
“I sincerely thought he knew! That he’d looked over my paperwork and that it was all in order. I guess he was just biding his time to call me a liar and to keep me from a school-sanctioned trip.”
Bucky glanced over at Peter quickly before refocusing on the road. “That sucks, kid. You’re signed up properly in that program too, aren’t you?” At Peter’s nod, Bucky continued, “And he thought, what, that you forged legal documents and the school was covering for you? Maybe the principal should do some check-ups with the teachers.”
“Check-ups?” Peter asked, confused.
Barely keeping his grin hidden, Bucky replied, “Yeah! You know, to make sure the teachers are teacher-ing properly.”
“Teacher-ing? That’s not a word! Why not just say teaching?”
“Well, anyone can teach but it takes a special person to be a teacher.”
Peter pushed Bucky’s arm lightly, laughing. “That was so cheesy, oh my god.”
They pulled into the underground parking garage, slowly maneuvering into the spot designated to Bucky’s car.
They got out and unanimously decided to race to the elevator. Peter won and he made sure to lord it over Bucky until they reached the common floor. As they exited, Tony came out of the living room to greet them.
“Hey, Pete? Why did your aunt get an email from your teacher saying you’re going to be suspended for your ‘rude remarks’ and ‘disrespect of authority’?”
All at once, all the tension Bucky had felt leave Peter when they were joking around had come back. He reached over and rubbed the kid’s back comfortably.
Peter blew out a breath, replying quietly, “My teacher doesn’t believe me about the internship. I told him that it didn’t matter that he didn’t believe me because I wasn’t going on the trip he threatened to keep me from anyway.”
“Did you tell him about-?”
“The paperwork? Yeah. He said that lying more wouldn’t help me.”
Tony shook his head. “I should’ve told Morita to hold a meeting with your teachers. To brief them about your situation.”
Peter stepped closer to Tony, grabbing his hands. “It’s not your fault. You didn’t know that he would act like that. I’ll take the suspension if I have to.”
“No, you won’t.” Bucky chimed in. “From what you’ve told me, you’re in the right. He refused to look at the documents or ask the principal. He just accused you incorrectly.”
Tony smiled thankfully at Bucky, bringing Peter into a hug. “I have an idea. Since you’re not going on the trip, we can spend the day in the intern labs! You can hang out with your buddies and I can help with some of the projects.”
Squealing, Peter squeezed Tony tightly, thanking him profusely. Peter hugged Bucky as well before leaving to go do his homework. Bucky went to bug Sam and Tony started on an email to May.
-
Walking into the room caused a chorus of “Peter!”s and a group of interns came up to the two of them.
“Hey, Peter! We really need your help. We’re so close to finishing our robot, we just need a fourth set of eyes to check over the coding.” The intern, named Ryan, turned to Tony right after, “and Mr. Stark? Can you check over the design? We feel like there’s some unnecessary parts but we just can’t put our finger on it.”
The pair nodded and followed the trio of interns over to their table. Peter sparked up a conversation with Ryan and Will, swiping over the screen in front of him. Tony chatted with Quinn, explaining exactly which parts weren’t needed and why. Peter looked up for a second at Tony and realized that what Bucky said was true, no matter how cheesy.
The door to the lab opened after a few minutes. Peter glanced up at Tony, who nodded. Peter sighed, resigning himself to what was going to happen.
“That’s your school, isn’t it?” Quinn asked. Peter just shook his head.
“Mr. Parker?!” Peter sighed in acknowledgement, turning around. “I thought I told you you weren’t coming. This is grounds for expulsion!”
The students standing behind the teacher started snickering but Peter stood from his stool. “Mr. Harrington. You are accusing me of, not only, lying but also breaking into a high-security building. I’m sure the staff here would find that fairly offensive...” Peter put a fake expression of concern on his face, “To be told their job was inadequate. Not to speak of the owners! Oh wait! I can ask one of them right now.” Peter spun around, facing Tony. “So, Mr. Stark? How does that feel?”
Tony barely held himself back at the sarcasm practically seeping from Peter. “Oh, it’s pretty hurtful. To be told that my multi-million dollar building and hand-picked staff couldn’t keep out a teenager.”
“Don’t forget about me, boss.”
“And Friday! My highly-advanced AI that knows the goings on of every. Single. Person in this building definitely couldn’t keep out a 16-year-old boy.”
The tour group just stood there gaping, Mr. Harrington started to say something but Peter breezed past him, Tony right at his heels, into the elevator.
When they were finally gone, most of the room glared at the group.
Mr. Harrington couldn’t stand it and so he exclaimed, “What?!”
Ryan, as the unofficial leader of the lab, stepped up, “You just upset the heir of S.I. And lost us the help of both of them for another day. And all of us really care about Peter, you fuck with him, you don’t get our respect.” The rest of the room agreed in varying volumes.
Even the tour guide seemed slightly angry with them and was shorter with her answers than she was before they got to the lab. The group did finish the tour but they weren’t allowed to go to the gift shop at the end of the trip and were rushed out.
-
“Pete? Are you all good with this?” Tony asked, adjusting Peter’s tie for the third time in the twenty minutes they’d been waiting backstage.
Peter huffed out a laugh. “I’m fine, Tony! For the last time, this was my idea. I didn’t plan on it being this soon but what can we do about it?” He shrugged off Tony’s hands, “Besides! Your nervousness is rubbing off on me and I need to be calm for this.”
Tony patted down the front of his own suit, smoothing out non-existent wrinkles. “I know, I know. I-I’m just worried, kid. This is your first press conference and I want it to go well for you... especially considering how many you’re going to have to go to in the future. First impressions are everything!”
“I thought I was supposed to be the anxious teenager and you were supposed to be the calm and collected adult? This is a rip-off!”
Laughing and finally letting go of some of the tension in his shoulders, Tony reached forward and dragged Peter into a hug.
“I love you, kid. I’m so proud of you.”
“I love you, too, Tony”
Hearing their signal from Pepper onstage, they shared one last look and walked on together.