Work Text:
Prompt: Avengers prompt!
Peter is going to summer school so he can get ahead for his senior year, but when he tried to explain why he was going to the team, they didn't seem to listen, instead focusing on the fact that Peter is going to summer school.
They start teasing him, joking about how he really couldn't be much of a genius if he was going to summer school and things like that.
But Peter takes them seriously. He starts to think that he's stupid or something like that, despite the fact that he's doing all his easy classes (gym/PE, health, etc) over the summer so that he can do his harder classes (AP Biology, Physics, Spanish 4/AP Spanish, etc) during the year
Tony finds out and he, Bucky, Sam, and/or Rhodey team up to essentially give the team the most extreme dressing down/lecture they've ever had
Love you and all your hard work! - augustwritessometimes
“So,” Clint says as they sit down in the living room, “last summer before senior year, huh?”
“Yep.” Peter kicks the remote over to him. “One more year and then I’m in college!”
“Shit, kid, you’re growing.”
“You know time passes for everyone, right?”
“Yeah, yeah, you don’t have to remind me how old I am.”
“I didn’t say that!”
“’S what you meant, though.” Clint elbows him. “Young whippersnappers think you can get away with everything nowadays, don’t you?”
“You sound like Mr. Stark.”
“I’m not that old.”
“Who’re we calling old?” Natasha walks in and sits next to Peter, ruffling his hair. “Hey, Baby Spider.”
“Mama Spider,” Peter sighs, leaning into it as Clint makes a fake-gagging noise in the background. “Clint was saying that Mr. Stark—“
“Ah, yes, that makes sense.”
“I didn’t even finish!”
“You didn’t have to.” She winks and ruffles his hair again. “So, you’re a senior when you go back in the fall, huh?”
“Yeah.”
Oh, god, he’s gonna be a senior. He’s gonna go off to college. Oh, wow. Time is passing. Rude.
“You gonna go all out this summer, then?” Clint leans against the back of the couch. “Party big time? Get Tony to introduce you to the playboy lifestyle before you’ve gotta settle all down and be serious for the college admissions teams?”
“Wouldn’t it make more sense to do it the summer before he goes to college?”
“Nah. Then they’re already watching you ‘cause you ‘represent them,’ or whatever. Beforehand? You just gotta hide it well enough and you’ll be just fine.”
Silence. Clint looks over to see both Natasha and Peter staring at him.
“What? I didn’t go to college, I physically can’t speak from experience.”
“Uh-huh.”
“What’s that look for?”
“No, no, Mr. Barton, I totally believe you.”
Clint picks up a pillow and whacks him—gently!—in the face with it.
“Hey!”
“No assaulting my Baby Spider,” Natasha says, pulling Peter closer and glaring at Clint, “he didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Why, ‘cause he’s your Precious or whatever?”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t think I’d be compared to the One Ring today,” Peter mumbles half into Natasha’s sleeve, “but here we are.”
Natasha gives him one more squeeze Clint does his very best not to look fond at—seriously, these guys are super spies, you’d think they’d have a little better control of their faces—and lets him go. Peter sits up and tries to get his hair back under control.
“So since you’re not doing whatever the hell it was Barton suggested,” Natasha says, “what are you doing?”
“Well, I—uh—“
“Are we talking about summer plans?”
“Dr. Banner?” Peter turns around, hanging over the back of the couch. “I thought you weren’t getting in ’til tomorrow!”
“Conference wrapped up early, caught a good flight.” He settles into one of the chairs. “You were right, by the way, kid, about the neutrinos. Good catch.”
“Thanks, Dr. Banner, sir.”
He cracks a smile. “You don’t need to do all that, kid.”
“He’s still calling Tony ‘Mr. Stark,’” Clint stage-whispers, “I don’t think this is something you can fight.”
“What’re we fighting?”
“Okay, did all of you just finish right when we were gonna start hanging out?” Clint throws his hands up as Steve comes to join them too. “Where are all of you coming from?”
Steve blinks. “I just went to the bathroom after dinner, Clint. You saw me not ten minutes ago.”
“Wait, really?”
“He’s getting old, Steve,” Peter stage-whispers, “you have to be nice to him.”
“Well, unless I’m very much mistaken, I’m still the oldest around here when Thor’s not in town.”
“But you got the serum and were then cryogenically frozen.”
“Ah, yes, you’re right.”
“You little—“
“Hey,” Peter shrieks as Clint starts roughhousing with him, “hey! No! Not fair!”
“Of course it’s fair, you need to respect your elders!”
“Giving me noogies is not going to make me respect you!”
“No?”
“No!” Peter squirms against Clint’s grip. “It’s just what all the bullies at school do!”
He gasps as the hold suddenly releases and he’s pulled into another protective hug. As his face is smushed into the leather jacket, he can feel the death glare Natasha is giving Clint over his head. He fumbles around and pats clumsily at her elbow.
“’S fine,” he slurs, “it didn’t hurt that much, ‘m good, don’t kill him.”
“Sorry, Peter,” Clint says softly, “are you okay?”
“Yup, yeah, ‘m fine.” He keeps fumbling to try and get Natasha to let go. “We’re all good, Mama Spider, leggo.”
Natasha does but she keeps glaring at Clint even after Peter leans the other way and rests his head on his shoulder.
“Well, when I came in,” Bruce says, trying to break the tension, “we were talking about summer plans.”
“Oh, that’s right.” Steve turns to him. “Your last summer before senior year, right?”
“You guys do know there’s technically only one summer before senior year, right?”
Clint very gently hits his leg. “Don’t be a smartass, kid.”
“He’s Tony’s protege,” Bruce sighs, “don’t think that’s an option.”
“Summer plans,” Steve prompts, “you have any?”
Peter swallows. “Yeah, yeah, I, um, I got some plans.”
Steve perks right up. “Yeah? You and Aunt May gonna go anywhere, do anything? Are MJ and Ned gonna come?”
“Ooh, are MJ and Ned coming?”
Peter lifts his head to look up at Clint. “Why are you so excited about that?”
“You got friends, Pete. That’s exciting.”
“You—do you not also have friends?”
“Them? Nah. We tolerate each other at best.”
At the vague noises of agreement, Peter looks around in confusion until Natasha gives him a wink. He settles back against Clint and shakes his head.
“No, we’re not planning any trips. We, uh, don’t have the funds for that.”
“Kid. You know Tony’d foot the bill for anything you wanted, right?”
“Yeah, but then he’d also try to plan some of it, and May and I don’t really have the same…lifestyle choices that he does.”
Bruce snorts. “That’s one way to put it.”
“So no trips, then,” Natasha says, “but plans?”
“Yeah.”
When he doesn’t say anything else, Clint prods him.
“Hey! What was that for?”
“Quit being so tight-lipped, Pete, just tell us.”
“But they’re boring,” Peter whines, gesturing to the others, “what are you guys gonna do?”
“Right now, I’m gonna listen to what your plans for the summer are.”
“Oh, that sounds like fun.”
“Yeah, I like that idea.”
Peter rolls his eyes. “You guys are the worst.”
“Sure are,” Clint deadpans, “so spill.”
“I’m gonna do summer school.”
Crickets.
Then Steve huffs. “Okay, kid, if you don’t want to tell us, you don’t have to.”
Peter frowns. “I just did. Those are my plans, I’m doing summer school.”
“Why would you need to do summer school?” Bruce leans forward. “You’re one of the smartest kids I know.”
Clint snorts. “Evidently not.”
“Hey!” Peter sits up and pulls away from him. “What does that mean?”
“You’re going to summer school, Pete,” Clint says slowly like he needs to hear what he just said again, “isn’t that for the kids who need more time than the normal school year?”
“Well, yeah, but—“
“Don’t make fun of him, Barton,” Steve says, “if Peter needs a bit more help for his senior year, that’s fine.”
“It’s not that I need help—“
“No, no, it’s okay, Peter.” Bruce shifts in the chair. “I shouldn’t have said it like that. You’re not any less important to us just because you’re doing summer school.”
Peter frowns. “No, that’s not what I—“
“Peter,” Natasha says softly, “it’s fine. We understand.”
No, you don’t, Peter wants to scream, you don’t and now you’re all treating me like a kid but not in the way that you need to ‘cause I’m still squishy, in the bad way where you don’t listen to me and assume you know everything and you need to listen to me and—
“So,” Steve says, turning to Bruce, “what’re your plans for the next few months?”
And they move on.
Peter’s left there, sitting on the couch, trying to figure out how to explain why he’s going to summer school. But every time he tries to say something or figure out how to break into the conversation, there’s this awkward moment in his head where he’s sure they’re just going to give him that condescending or patronizing okay, Peter, and he doesn’t want that either.
Okay.
Okay, maybe that’ll be the end of it. He can just…go to summer school and it’ll be fine and then everything will go back to normal.
Then Clint starts teasing him about it.
“Hey, summer school, when do you start? You got all your notebooks and everything?”
“Don’t worry about it, summer school, you go study.”
“Hey, aren’t you still in school? Don’t you have homework?”
Could it be classified as concern? Yeah. Is it? Hell no.
And then Bruce starts to ask the other interns and scientists for help instead of Peter. Even when Peter knows the answer and he’s the one who’s been developing that prototype and he’s the one who found out that answer in the first place, Bruce will pass him over like he’s not even there and he knows, he knows exactly why.
And the worst part, the worst part is that Steve and Nat don’t do anything.
If Clint makes a joke, Nat either tells him to take it easy on him ‘cause he’s just a kid or she doesn’t say anything. And he can see her hiding a smile behind her coffee mug, he’s not an idiot. Or when Bruce passes him over she just shrugs and doesn’t point out that Peter’s the one who brought that issue to their attention in the first place.
And Steve? Forget it. He barely even reacts. He doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t even look over when Clint teases him, or when Bruce says he doesn’t have to worry about one of his projects, and even when he tries to work up the courage to talk to him, Steve always seems so…busy.
Peter sits on the edge of his bed, staring at his backpack. His first day is tomorrow. He has his notebooks, he has his loose leaf paper, he has his textbooks and his pencil case and everything.
His fists clench on the bedcovers.
Maybe he is stupid.
He…he shouldn’t need summer school. Ned and MJ don’t need summer school. Even Flash doesn’t need summer school. May thought it was a good idea, was she…is she just being nice? Is this her way of telling him that his grades aren’t good enough to get into college?
He grips the sheets harder.
…is that why Ned and MJ are still friends with him? Are they—do they think he needs the help? Is that why they insist on doing homework together, are they—maybe they’re trying to get that they tutored one of their fellow peers to write about for college admissions.
His lip wobbles.
His teachers did say he’d benefit from doing summer school.
Peter buries his face in his hands.
“Mr. Stark is requesting entry to your room,” FRIDAY's quiet voice comes from the ceiling, “should I activate Rainy Day Spider protocol?”
“N-no, he—he can come—come in, FRI.”
“Hey, kid, we just got that new shipment of nanites from the Cali lab, c’mon, we gotta test ‘em out.”
He should ask someone else. Someone more qualified. Someone smarter.
“Pete, come on, we’re wasting daylight here.”
No. He can’t. He’s too dumb. He’ll just break them.
“Pete? Peter?”
Just leave him here. With his stupid summer school backpack and his stupid tears and his stupid, stupid self.
“Oh, shit.”
There’s a blur of movement out of the corner of his eye and then the bed’s dipping beside him.
“Spider-ling,” he hears softly, “hey, hey, Spider-ling, c’mere.”
Peter closes his eyes and bows his head and tries to be as small as he can but then warm hands are turning him to a cotton chest and there are fingers carding through his hair.
“Hey, bambino,” Tony murmurs, “you wanna talk about it?”
Peter wriggles his head into the crook of his neck and sniffles.
“No? Not right now?” When Peter shakes his head, he gives him a squeeze. “That’s okay. Can you cry some of this out for me?”
Peter is a stupid kid and he bawls into his mentor’s shoulder like a fucking baby.
“Shh, shh, there you go,” Tony says softly, rocking him a little bit back and forth, “that’s better. We’re just gonna sit here for a moment, okay, bambino?”
Tony doesn’t call him bambino when he’s upset. He only calls him that when he’s worried. Maybe he won’t be mad if Peter tells him that he’s stupid and he should pick someone else.
When the sniffles finally trail off, Tony pulls back and gives Peter a tissue box.
“Now,” he says, still soft and careful as Peter blows his nose with a desolate honk, “why don’t you tell me what’s wrong?”
Peter sniffles. “‘M stupid.”
“It’s not stupid if it’s making you this upset, baby.”
“No,” Peter says insistently, “I’m stupid. That’s the problem.”
Tony blinks. “You’re not stupid, Peter.”
“I am.”
“Okay,” Tony says slowly, reaching up to cup Peter’s miserable face in his hands, "why don’t you tell me why you think you’re stupid?”
Peter flails in the direction of his backpack.
“…did you forget something?”
“No. I gotta go to summer school.”
“And you think that makes you stupid?” When Peter nods, Tony tuts and brings him back in for another hug. “That doesn’t make you stupid, Peter.”
“But I shouldn’t need it!”
Peter wrenches himself away, burying his face in his hands again.
“I should—shouldn’t need it ‘cause Ned—Ned and MJ don’t need it and no one else needs it and I—and I—and I should be able to do it just fine but I—but—but—“
“Shh, easy, bambino,” Tony soothes, tugging his hands away from his face, “you and I both know that being smart or stupid has nothing to do with how you do in school.”
“…it doesn’t?”
“Look, most formalized education is designed to get kids used to the capitalist workforce and how well you fit into that kind of structure.”
Amidst the snot and tears, Peter narrows his eyes at Tony. “You’re a billionaire who runs a company that contributes really heavily to the problems of capitalism, Mr. Stark.”
“…yeah, and as of next quarter, we’re shifting our practice to try and be better about that.”
Peter sniffles. Tony reaches out and rests a hand on his arm.
“But you know that you’re a smart kid. You do,” he says when Peter tries to interrupt him, “you know you’re a smart kid. And part of that is because you’re willing to work hard to do the things you want to do and learn the things you want to learn.”
“B-but if I’m going to summer school—“
“Where’s the kid that flew into an indignant rage when Ned wasn’t going to be allowed to have extra time on his tests? Where’s the kid that fought for subtitles to be added to all the mandatory in-class videos?” Tony nudges him gently. “Huh?”
Peter twists his hands together and looks down guiltily.
Tony sighs and lifts his chin back up. “You’re not stupid, Peter, and your worth isn’t determined by whether you’re taking summer school or not. You’re the smartest kid I know and you’re gonna help me as long as you want to, okay?”
“O-okay, Mr. Stark.”
“That’s my bambino.” He opens his arms. “Now c’mere.”
Peter lets Tony wrap him up in another hug, closing his eyes and breathing in the scent of coffee and grease.
“…you should wash your shirts, Mr. Stark.”
Tony lightly tugs his hair. “Shaddup, kid.”
“You shaddup.”
Voices come from the hall and Peter peeks over Tony’s shoulder just in time to see Sam and Rhodey pause by the door. Their conversation tapers off as Sam waves a little.
“Hey, Pete,” he says, “you guys need a minute?”
Peter shakes his head, sitting up a little. “You can come in if you want.”
Sam nods and they come in, Rhodey leaning against the wall by the door and Sam taking a seat on the bed next to them.
“You doing okay?”
“Mhm.”
Sam glances at Tony. “You want us to help support you or do you want a distraction?”
Peter rubs his nose. “Support would be nice.”
“Okay. Would talking about it help?”
Here goes nothing. Peter sits up and turns to face Sam, his hands clenched in his lap. “I’m going to summer school.”
Sam just nods. “Cool. My nephews are doing the same.”
“Wait, really?”
“Yeah. Sarah called me about it, had me help figure their schedules out and everything.”
“I didn’t know you had nephews.”
“Really?” Peter shakes his head. “I should introduce you. They’re real smart kids too, you guys would get along great.”
Peter nods. “What, um, what are they studying over the summer?”
“They’re doing the core curriculums that they don’t wanna do during the school year.” Sam waves his hand. “Health class, gym requirements, that kind of stuff. Sarah told me they said they wanted to make sure they had enough time to focus on ‘the good stuff’—their words, not mine—during the school year.”
Peter blinks. And blinks again.
“That…that’s what I’m doing too.”
“Oh, really? That’s cool.”
“Yeah,” Peter says, smiling a little, “yeah, that…that’s cool.”
Sam smiles too, gently nudging Peter’s leg with his. “You look a little better, kid.”
“Y-yeah. I, um, I think I feel better too.”
“That’s good.”
Rhodey glances at the backpack. “When do you start?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow? Then we’d better get you to eat. C’mon,” he says, gesturing them out into the hall, “Mama Rhodes said the meal before your first day is the most important dinner of your life.”
“That’s what my titi said too.”
“I can’t cook like my mama can—“
“No, you cannot.”
“Shut up, Tony, you still burn water.”
“Wait, he does what?”
“Shh, shh, you didn’t hear anything. FRIDAY, let it be known that I do not burn water on the stove.”
“I don’t know, boss, there’s some footage that would stand opposed to that record.”
“FRIDAY, I’m gonna need you to send all of that footage to my phone,” Sam says, “thank you.”
“Sending, sir.”
Peter giggles as Tony and Rhodey keep bickering all the way to the kitchen. But as they get closer, he can hear the voices of the others, and the smile drops.
“Hey,” Rhodey says, elbowing him, “what happened?”
“Nothing.”
Of course, all three of them stop and look at him.
“It’s fine,” he mumbles, squirming a bit under the attention, “it’s just—“
“Hey, where’s the kid? Aren’t kids supposed to eat before they go to school?”
Peter isn’t quite quick enough to disguise his flinch and all three of them see it. Tony’s face darkens and he turns to stomp into the living room when Rhodey catches him and shakes his head.
“Come on,” Sam says, “let’s get you fed. You still up for pasta tonight? I think Steve’s cooking.”
Steve’s pasta is really good. But also…
“Yeah, sure.”
They walk into the kitchen and Clint throws up his hands. “Summer school! You made it!”
“You’re going to summer school?”
Oh great, Thor’s here. “Yeah, I’m going to summer school.”
“Is this unusual?” Thor pats the seat next to him. “You sound like you’re not used to it.”
“I’ve, uh, I haven’t gone before.”
“Ah, I see. Here, have some salad.”
“Thanks.”
“Are you learning new subjects?” Thor sets the salad bowl down and takes the big dish of pasta. “Is that why you’re going for extra schooling?”
“N-no, not really. Oh, here,” he says as Thor makes to put some pasta on his plate too, “thanks. No, I’m, uh, you have to take a certain number of mandatory classes your senior year but I’m gonna go and get them out of the way so I can focus on the fun ones throughout the rest of the year.”
“Ah, a clever solution. I presume the ones you’re getting over with are boring and uninteresting?”
“Yeah. Health class, gym, that one weird music one they make us all take for two weeks.”
Thor nods, passing off the pasta. “But that means you will not be in school all summer, then? It will be shorter?”
“Yeah. Just ‘cause I’m doing the mandatory ones. It’ll be like…three weeks at the most?”
“And you’ll probably finish in less time than that?”
“…it’s likely, yeah.”
“Well, then.” Thor grins at him. “You must come to Asgard after you’ve finished. There are some electives there that I think you would greatly enjoy.”
Peter grins. “Yeah, yeah, that sounds like fun. I mean I’d have to ask Aunt May, of course—“
“Naturally.”
“—and maybe, could Ned and MJ come too? They’re both really smart and they, um—“
“Yes, of course. The more the merrier.” Thor places a roll of bread on his plate. “Now enough talk. Eat! You’ll need your wits about you.”
Peter happily tucks into his plate, oblivious to the glares Tony is giving the rest of the team and the slightly guilty looks on their faces. He’s also oblivious to the fact that Tony lingers behind when Sam, Rhodey, and Thor all take him out for ice cream after dinner.
“So,” he says as he turns to a very shifty Clint Barton, “you wanna explain why you were making fun of Peter?”
“It wasn’t just him,” Bruce admits, “I…was also not very…decent.”
“You, Bruce? I’m surprised. And disappointed.”
“Bruce wasn’t as bad as I was,” Clint says, “I…yeah, I owe the kid an apology.”
“We do too,” Natasha says as Steve nods, “we didn’t exactly stop you too.”
“Nor did we let Peter explain.” Steve scrubs a hand over his face. “Damn.”
“So are you all gonna accept your fates and sit down?”
Clint makes a face but sits. Natasha sits next to him and folds her hands politely in her lap. Bruce sits in the chair and takes his glasses off, folding them and putting them in his pocket. Steve sits too and nods.
Tony claps his hands. “Perfect. Now, let’s talk about how not to be dicks about someone going to summer school.”
When Peter comes back to an apologetic team and one of the best Steve hugs he’s had in a while, Tony nods to himself and discreetly high-fives Thor.
“Thanks, Point Break.”
“Anytime, Stark.”
“Were you serious about the electives on Asgard?”
“Absolutely. The little spider would excel in some of their classes.”
“…and his friends, they can come too?”
“Of course.”
“…what about me?”
“Let’s not get carried away.”