Chapter Text
Maybe Peter would be feeling better about this field trip if his day hadn't already gone to shit. He hadn't gotten much sleep the previous night, still in pain from patrol on Monday. Pain killers wouldn't do anything to help, as he'd learnt a few years back, and even the modified ones made to be stronger for Steve barely helped, given he burned through them too fast. He could ask Bruce to help him work on a version of pain killers that would actually help him lessen the pain, however, he hadn't actually told anyone that the modified pain killers didn't help. Some of the Avengers had probably noticed this, yet refused to say anything, most notably Natasha given the looks she gave him whenever he accepted the pack of pain killers Steve would give him every month. At this point, he had enough of the pain killers that he could probably build a clone of himself with them, one that wouldn't experience the same pain as him and still do everything he could. It was kind of ridiculous, actually, and he kinda just hoped that Tony never ended up inside his room at May's apartment, because he knew it'd be a long lecture conversation he really didn't want to have. From Steve, anyway. Tony would probably just end up teasing him for it.
Anyway, so, when he finally had gotten to sleep, it was only for a few hours before he was jolting awake, reaching over to turn off an alarm that wasn't even ringing. Had he somehow managed to wake up early for once? No. No, of course he hadn't. When he rolls over to check the time, it's way past when he should've been up and, as a matter of fact, he can tell he wouldn't make the bus, not even if he ran out there in his pyjamas (which he wouldn't do, but still). He almost considers not showing up to school today, however, he knows he can't really afford to miss another day unless he was really sick. Plus, if he missed today, the school would end up calling May who'd ask him why he didn't call Happy who would've been perfectly fine with going to pick him up (even if he pretended to be upset by it) and he'd have to explain that he didn't want to be a bother. And suddenly, it would become the worst back and fourth known to man about how he could never be a bother even if he tried to be. And that just wasn't worth the fight this morning. So, reluctantly, he'd dragged himself up and got dressed, not having time to shower or have breakfast. He'd tried to flatten his hair with his hand as he brushed his teeth but no matter what he did it refused to look right, so he'd given up and grabbed his bag before walking out the door. It wasn't even like he could have a dramatic main character moment where he had to run through the rain to chase the bus because, one: the bus was long gone, and two: there was no rain. No, instead, it had to be weirdly humid for a morning which made running to school unpleasant. And even when he'd gotten to school (with enough time to get to first period, mind you!) his day didn't get any better because for some reason, his locker's lock had decided today was a good day to be jammed. So he had to go get someone from the front office to help him fix it and that took forever, so he ended up being late for first period anyway. With a late pass, but still, late.
So no, Peter Parker did not think his day could get worse. But of course, it still managed to, all beginning with when Mr. Harrington walked into the classroom (how Peter had managed to beat the teacher was beyond him, really. His best guess was that Mr. Harrington had been here and then forgotten something and had to go back for it), holding a large stack of paper with far too much excitement. The reaction of the class is instantaneous, a groan of despair, because their teacher carrying a stack of paper with that much excitement? Either they were being observed that day and it was manufactured excitement, or it was a test, neither of which were fun. Mr. Harrington chuckles at the reaction, letting the papers drop on his cluttered desk with a loud thump, effectively shutting up most of the class.
"Settle, settle!" He calls out, waiting for the last of the class to be silent before he goes to speak. "Good morning, seniors!"
Peter begins to tune the teacher out as he begins to speak, assuming he'd just be going through morning announcements Ned would catch him up on later. Mr. Harrington is nice enough, really, so he does feel a tad bit bad for ignoring him, but he's also tired, and this morning has practically sucked him dry of his will to care. So, he could afford to miss a bit of his first period class if it meant he got a nap in. He lets his head fall onto the table to rest on top of his forearms, struggling to stay awake. He's not sure how long his head has been in his arms for, but Peter's head almost seems to snap up as the words 'field trip' and 'Stark Institute' fall from Mr. Harrington's lips.
No. No. He can't be serious, right? Tony would've told him sooner if his school were going on a field trip to what was practically his second home… Right?
Well, that would be if Tony knew he was going, which, knowing Tony? He probably didn't, given the fact that he barely seemed to care about what went on with the company now, mostly just focussed on building things for the Avengers. So, he probably didn't know, now that he thought about it, but still! They can't really be going to S.I, right?
Of course, as a piece of paper embellished with the Stark Institute logo drops onto the table in front of him, his hopes are all but shattered.
"Now, unless your guardian tells us in advance that you will be unable to attend, this field trip is mandatory," Mr. Harrington's words are said with a pointed glare directly at Peter, and he feels himself shrink down slightly in his seat. The glare is, very clearly, not missed by Flash and his friends, who all begin snickering from their spot near the back. Mr. Harrington doesn't even bat an eyes at them, which Peter couldn't help but be a little annoyed at. "So I expect you all will have these forms handed back to me or the front office by next Wednesday,"
Peter groans, reluctantly grabbing the permission form and shoving it into his bag. It probably ends up at least a bit crumpled. He doesn't really care. He tunes Mr. Harrington out again as he begins going through rules and expectations he'll no doubt have to listen to again on the field trip itself. It wasn't like he hadn't heard these rules before, he'd been told… well, a shortened version of the rules, probably, given the fact that Tony was the one who had explained it to him. Additionally, the rules were pretty much entirely things that he could've guessed, so it's not like they were that hard to follow. Instead, he chooses to focus on getting out of this trip, an unnecessarily complex task. Would May let him have the day off if he explained the situation? Unlikely. She'd probably laugh a bit before happily signing the papers of his doom. Unless he got sick before the trip. Usually, with his Parker luck, he would get sick right before a field trip so he wouldn't be able to go, however, this time, he was sure he would get sick the day after the trip, just because he didn't want to go. He could ask Tony to let him stay at the Compound that day? He was his emergency contact, after all, so he could technically call or email the school saying he wouldn't be there. Although, he was fairly certain that wouldn't work either. He didn't usually ask Tony to stay home from school, he could probably count on one hand the amount of times he had, actually. But unless he was sick, Tony would no doubt ask why he was asking him and not May, who's house he would've been staying at that morning. And he'd no doubt figure out that it was your typical situation of: 'This parent said no, so I'm gonna go ask the other one in hopes of a different response'. Then he'd be sent off to school with Happy and his effort would've been for nothing. So, really, he didn't have any choice but to go on this field trip.
Stupid Parker luck.
The bell interrupts his thoughts, ringing out through the echoing science lab deafeningly. He almost winces, fighting back the urge to place his hands over his ears as they continue to ring even after the bell stops. Placing his hands over his ears would be stupid. If he was a normal teen, he wouldn't have been bothered by the noise, so he can't act bothered now. Stupid enhanced hearing. Peter pushes himself up to stand, slinging his bag over his shoulder. Ned is already excitedly talking, something about the field trip he's sure. He manages to pick up something about meeting Tony Stark or maybe even seeing the Iron Man suit in real life. Ned's done both of those things, he's pretty sure, so he doesn't understand why he's so excited about this. Regardless, he nods along, hoping it seems that he's listening at least a little. He feels a tingle crawling up the back of his neck, no doubt his spider sense. But he forces himself to stay still as Flash shoves him to the side with his shoulder, his entourage laughing along as they pass. After all, no regular person would've been able to see that coming, so Peter can't have seen it coming either. Or, at least, the Peter at school can't have seen the attack coming. It's weird fighting what would be natural instinct, almost uncomfortable, and something in the back of his mind screeches at him every time he does. But he has to act normal.
His hand instinctively reaches up to rub his shoulder where he'd been shoved, massaging the bruise that was sure to form there. Unluckily for him, that just so happened to be the place he'd been stabbed by some burglar the other night and it still hurt a lot. Even touching it hurts, but he has to make sure none of the stitches came lose, lest blood start tripping down his arm, or something. The stitches, luckily, seem to still be in place from what Peter can tell without rolling up his sleeves.
"Can't wait to see how real your internship is next Friday, Penis!" Flash calls out tauntingly, a smug grin on his face. One of his friends, Jason mumbles a comment he's obviously not meant to hear, but with his enhanced hearing? He hears it in it's entirety.
"Stark Industries take their privacy seriously, you know? He might even getting dragged out by Tony Stark himself for impersonating a worker,"
Ned almost goes to respond, snap something back that, ultimately, wouldn't shut any of Flash's entourage up and would actually just make them worse. However, Peter places a hand on his shoulder, giving him a small shake of the head. They shouldn't say anything, shouldn't react. It's what they want, even if it kills Peter every time he doesn't do anything in response. So Ned sighs, biting his tongue and choosing to keep his mouth shut. Flash and his friends walk out, cackling all the while like a group hyenas circling a dying zebra, eager to feast on it as soon as it tried to fight back. Flash spares one last look over his shoulder at Peter, his grin only seeming to widen as he sees that, once again, Peter isn't fighting back.
"Don't listen to them Peter, you know you have that internship! And they're gonna see it when we go to S.I next Friday. You'll see! It's the perfect chance to prove them wrong!" Ned assures him as they walk out of the classroom, shuffling his books around for a moment so he could put his own permission form away. Peter wishes he could be that positive about the trip, really he does! But he can't, not when practically every other minute he comes up with a new thing that could go wrong on the trip. Even still, he offers a weak smile that he knows Ned sees right through.
He gets to the door of his second period class before he hears an announcement ring out over the speakers. He barely hears the words of the person speaking over the ringing in his ears, but picks up enough to know they're calling him to the front office. Although unlikely, he silently hopes that maybe he's being picked up early for something, a surprise he hadn't been told about, or something. Hell, he'd even take a doctors appointment at this point, but when he glances at his phone's notifications, he sees one that makes all hope of that drop.
"📢⚠️BREAKING!! ROBBERY AT QUEENS COMMUNITY BANK!! ⚠️📢"
Peter sighs, looking up to see Happy standing by the door, nodding towards the car out front. Of course. Because the bank just so happened to be robbed, like, every other day. Reluctantly, he walks out to the car, dumping his bag inside before letting Happy drive him closer to the bank. He leans his head back, already rummaging through his bag to make sure his Spider-Suit was easy to pull out when it came time to change.
Goddamnit. He really couldn't catch a break, could he?
Ultimately, the permission slip ends up being dumped on the kitchen counter once he returns home to his Aunt's apartment. There was no use hiding it from her, as figured out earlier, and she'd probably end up getting an email about the field trip anyway, so he might as well just let her find it. He tries to focus on his homework. But he can practically hear the siren call of his Spider-Suit begging him to go out on patrol.
"Just for a bit," He assures himself, pulling the mask over his head. "Just to get some air,"
Just 'a bit' turns into four hours. Four hours spent swinging around the city rescuing cats from trees, helping old people cross the road and stopping the few and far between petty robberies that occur on the occasion. It is still Queens, after all.
So now, it's 8pm. Peter finds himself sat on top of an apartment building, leg hung over the edge of the roof. In his hand is a salad sub someone had offered him after he'd saved their cat from a tree. Regardless of how much he'd insisted that really he didn't need the food, the person had refused to leave until he'd accepted the food. And, if his current plans were anything to go off, he probably wouldn't be home soon enough for dinner to still be warm, so he figured he could take the sandwich.
He knows he should've been home hours ago at this point, and that May's probably at least a bit worried. It's not his usual patrol night, after all, and he hadn't left any sort of note. But his bag was at home as was the field trip permission slip, so he hoped it was clear enough that he had at least been home to ease his Aunt's worries a bit. After all, even if he was stressed, he would prefer to do anything but make her more worried about him than she already was.
"Peter, you are receiving a call from Tony Stark. Would you like me to connect you to the call?"
…Huh. Okay. That wasn't who he was expecting it to be. If he was honest, he'd expected it to be May if anyone calling him. And, for as much as it wasn't a night he should've been out, Tony never usually directly calls him out on it. Sure, maybe he gives a few comments about it when he comes over for lab day, but he never directly calls him, not unless there's some sort of emergency. Or, well, scratch that. He does call him. Just never to call him out on being out on patrol. He almost forgets to respond to Karen, but he does remember eventually.
"Oh- uh, yes, thanks Karen," he agrees, leaning back on his hand to be slightly more comfortable. If this was going to be half the conversation he was expecting it to be, he would need it.
"Hey, Pete, why the hell are you still out on patrol? What's it been, like, four hours now? That's more than enough time to get around Queens at least ten times, kid," Tony asks, and Peter can vaguely hear the slight squeak of the man's desk chair moving under him. "Something happen today?" Well, he's not wrong by the assumption. The school trip to S.I had been the reason he had initially gone on patrol, if only to take his mind off it. But, as most patrols did, as more and more things demanded his attention, he gotten lost in the patrol and all thoughts of school had gotten pushed to the side. It was part of why he usually made sure he had all his work done before heading out. "Pete? Underoo, you okay out there? Do I need to head over?"
Oh. Shit. Yeah, he was still on call with Tony. Right…
"Uh- yeah. Sorry Dad. I'm fine," Peter stammered, reaching a hand up to push his hair back like he would usually do. Of course, given the mask over his head, he could not, and his arm fell limply back to his side. "Just had a bit of a rough day and needed some air. I'll be home soon,"
There's a long moment of silence and Peter can almost feel the judgement coming from Tony leaking through the screen. It only serves to make him more anxious, shifting uncomfortably on the rooftop. Eventually though, Tony lets out a sigh, roughly equivalent to him saying "This kid…" before he speaks again. "…Alright. Fine. But if I see that you're still out on patrol in another hour-"
Peter doesn't let him finish, pushing himself up to stand and stretch as he eyes a small group of people he can hear whispering at the back door of a luxury clothing store. "Yeah, yep, I get it. Thanks, I'll see you later, Dad," He says quickly, hanging up the call before the other man can get a word in.
He spends a moment, standing still and waiting for the group to make their move. And as soon as they break the door down? He's already on the move, swinging between buildings to reach the clothing store sooner. Home could wait. Schoolwork could wait. Tony could wait. This couldn't. After all, he had a responsibility to Queens. Spider-Man had a responsibility. Peter Parker did not.
Or, well. Peter Parker did not have responsibilities that couldn't be procrastinated until a late night where he'd stay up and get all his homework done at the expense of his sleep. Yeah. That sounded right.