Chapter Text
The air was cool, fog lifting as the sun enveloped the sky in shining rays. Summer was drifting into autumn, leaves fading into shades of dusk as they danced from trees. On this Monday morning in particular, a one Peter Parker was running out of the subway station in a desperate rush. His backpack was slung over a shoulder, the zipper sagging open-- its contents threatening to spill out as he leapt across the subway stairs, taking three at a time. He exited the station and jogged the remaining distance to Midtown High School.
After what felt like a mini-marathon, Peter burst through the door, face red and damp curls clinging to his forehead. Several students startled, earning him bewildered expressions in the multiple. “Ah, Mr. Parker!” Mr. Harrington nodded to Peter from the front of the room. “So glad you decided to join us today.” Mr. Harrington gestured to a stack of thick plastic-wrapped forms on his desk, “Please, take one of these packets and take your seat. Don’t open it just yet, I was just about to make an important announcement.”.
Peter flopped into his chair, flanked on either side by Ned and M.J.. He swept the hair from his forehead and puffed out his cheeks. “Dude, late again?” Ned leaned over to say in a hushed tone, “What was it this time-- bank robbery? Or some kind of alien invasion over the subway?” His voice grew louder with excitement, garnering curious stares from nearby classmates. “Ooh did Tony Stark need you for another Avengers--” Peter cut him off with a panicked expression, eyes wide and head shaking, “Ned!”
While Peter was running late this morning because of a Tony-related obstacle, it wasn’t because he had been doing some cool, extravagant Avengers mission. At least, not exactly. No, the pair of geniuses had spent the entire night holed up in Tony’s 56th floor lab, the one specially set aside for wacky-spur-of-the-moment inventions. Peter had been working with Tony for several years now, gaining expertise in engineering and science. Tony had decided to grant his young apprentice permission to create his very own line of gadgets to be produced by Stark Industries, with minimal supervision of course. Can’t make new inventions without blowing up a few labs! Peter’s project has been trying to configure a new software that could remotely control a set of microscopic and self-aware spy drones, aptly named ‘Spi-Derones’.
While it was supposed to be a quick project, over and done in a few days, the pair had gotten carried away over the weekend. Adding various special features, voice commands, and even tiny barbs that were deployed in case of enemy capture. Suffice to say, the Saturday project had turned into staying for dinner… which evolved into staying at the tower there until Aunt May’s graveyard shift ended. Eventually, Tony and Aunt May decided that Peter could stay at the tower all weekend, and go straight to school come Monday. But it was well past sun-up on Monday morning when the pair realised they had passed out at the work bench. DUM-E anxiously hovering over them, beeping with worry.
Peter had woken up with a start, bleary eyed and yesterday’s clothes crumpled over his form. He rushed off to school with papers shoved haphazardly back into his backpack and a slice of densely buttered whole-wheat clamped between his teeth. He hadn’t had time to even look in the mirror before he left, evidenced by the oil streak smeared across his chin and pencil shavings in his hair.
“Ned, I’ll thank you to keep the chit-chat for lunch.” Ned flushed and settled back into his chair, a pencil eraser finding its way to his mouth. Mr. Harrington rolled his shoulders and stepped forward. “More importantly, I have some very exciting news.”
At this, several students perked their heads up. M.J. even paused mid pencil-stroke and nudged Peter, “You think he’s going to start talking about his ex-wife having another wedding?” She rubbed some stray ink stains on her fingers, “I wouldn’t mind a new subject, it's a bore drawing the same faces of despair every day.”
The brunet tilted his head and huffed out a laugh. It was still a little awkward between them after the decathlon trip… He never really got the chance to confess to her other than sneaking the shattered necklace into her bag on the plane ride home. But she must’ve known it was from him, right? She wore the necklace often, so she must have some clue about his feelings. Even today, the half-black dahlia dangled from a silver chain, catching the sunlight as it sparkled. Peter chewed his lip God, he was so bad at this.
He looked back to the blackboard and twiddled with scrap metal from his pocket. What could the announcement possibly be? Surely they weren’t updating the annual fees again… Peter dug into the hard ridges of the metal into his fingertips, His scholarship only covered so much and Aunt May already had to take extra shifts to pay for the backpack he lost last month…
“I’m sure this news will be extra exciting for everyone,” Mr. Harrington puffed out his chest with a giddy grin, “particularly those interested in opportunities to work at a certain billionaire’s company.” At this, whispers began floating through the room, Mr. Harrington raised a finger and they dampened down. “Yes! As I’m sure you have guessed, it is a field trip to Stark Industries!”
The class broke out into cacophony, “When do we get to go?” came from Brad Davis. “Will we get to meet Tony Stark? Or any of the Avengers?? I’d love to meet Widow, she’s a total feminist icon!” Betty Brant piped up.
Flash Thompson half-leapt out of his seat, mouth hanging open for a moment before composing himself. “We’re going to Stark Industries for real?” He shot a smug grin in Peter’s direction and pointed a stubby finger. “Well I guess we’re going to see that Peter has really been lying all this time! No way that loser managed to score some bullcrap interview with The Tony Stark.”
Peter’s brow furrowed and he pressed his lips together, refusing to even look in his direction. Other students did the same, Flash’s needy taunts had grown old by now and never garnered the reaction he sought. Just another one of his taunts, if you ignore him he’ll eventually stop. At least that’s what Cap says. Hard to believe someone who punches first and asks questions later though…
“Yes, yes I know it’s exciting but I have to brief you all before I can answer any questions.” Mr. Harrington picked up a piece of chalk and began reading out as he wrote.
“Firstly, all knowledge of this trip is to be kept strictly in this classroom and with your guardians. This means that you cannot tell anyone about this field trip until it’s over.” He pointedly looked over at Flash, “Social media usage is banned at S.I., so no Instatok-ing or Snap-gramming unless explicitly approved by the staff there. Which it won’t be, so please don’t try to sneak anything okay?”
He turned back to the blackboard and continued. “The main information is as follows; we leave next Wednesday morning at 7am sharp, we’ll be meeting here at Midtown and take a charter bus there.”
“Secondly, the information packets I’ve given out contain all of the legal requirements and conditions that you must abide by when touring the premises. The final twenty pages must be signed and returned back to me by tomorrow morning in order for you to be eligible for the trip.”
Mr. Harrington droned on in the background, probably talking about more important rules or something but Peter couldn’t help himself. After the scare at the decathlon trip last year, Tony, Pepper, and Aunt May had officially signed co-parenting papers, allowing Peter to live between both families (though he still spent most of his time with Aunt May). So now, alongside being a personal apprentice to Tony Stark himself, Peter had found a second home with the Starks. Now they were going there on a field trip? It was practically his home and now his classmates were going to be probing around in it! It made him feel uneasy at the least.
While Peter was pretty much considered a loser at Midtown, Stark Industries was the one place where he felt like he could truly be himself. Waltzing through the winding hallways with an electronic Stark-Pad, checking in on ongoing research and striking up a conversation with anyone he pleased. Something about the atmosphere just cracked open his nervous exterior and let his sunshine-personality yolk out. Maybe it’s because he wasn’t just ‘Peter Parker: The Orphan who still played with Legos’, he was ‘Peter Parker: Beloved Employee and Tony’s Favorite Apprentice’.
The bell rang, signalling the end of class. Peter jolted in his chair, and let out a huff. Guess I zoned out again. He rubbed his bleary eyes, This happens every time I try and work on a project with Mr. Stark. I thought I would’ve learned my lesson by now, but maybe one day. He hurriedly made to pack up his supplies and the weighty stack of forms.
“Don’t forget everyone, those papers are due back tomorrow sharp!”. Mr. Harrington called out while grabbing a coffee mug from his desk and heading out the door.
Ned sidled up to Peter, “Dude, we gotta hurry if we want to make it to AP Physics, you know how Ms. Warren ge-” Before he could finish his sentence, Flash bounded up to the pair with a smarmy expression. His expensive watch glinted as he ran a hand through his hair, thick with gel and smelling of excessive cologne.
“Hey! Penis Parker, we’ll be seeing all of your lies unravel next week, huh?” Flash leaned forward and dropped his voice low, “Guess it’s just like an orphan to make up pathetic stories to make himself feel better.” he said mockingly. “That’s so hilarious I bet everyone- Hey!”
M.J. set down the textbook she had just smacked against the shorter boy’s shoulder and held a palm up to his face. “Flash, if I were you I’d keep to myself for the next week. Wouldn’t want to get yet another detention for harassment now would we?” Flash held a gobsmacked expression for a second, before rolling his eyes and scoffing as he kicked his heels towards the doorway. “Yeah whatever, M.J.. I’ll see you losers at Decathlon practice or whatever.”.
Peter grinned at M.J., “Thanks for that, I’ve been trying to just ignore him, but it hasn’t really been working.” He placed a hand awkwardly on her shoulder for a second. The brunet gave her a half-squeeze paired with an awkward head-tilt before his weary hands retreated to the safety of his trouser pockets.
“No problem, Peter. I hate that guy anyway. His face is practically frozen in that smug look,there’s only so much artistic liberty I can take without good source material.” She flicked through her sketchpad for a moment before holding up a page to the other two. “See? It just doesn’t feel right, right?.”.
The page had several sketches of Flash as well as the rest of the Decathlon team at one of their competitions earlier that year . The first and last time the team had ever lost so hopelessly. M.J. had sketched the team with matching exhaustion and downturned frowns. But Flash, well he still bore a gloating smirk from his position in the standby seat by Mr. Harrington.
“Oh yeah, I totally see what you mean.” Ned nodded and began toward the door. “I mean like, what is Flash’s problem anyway?” M.J. and Peter followed suit. “Whatever, I’m more intrigued about this freaking field trip! Seriously, I cannot believe it, do you think we’ll meet any Avengers?.” They both turned to Peter, he simply shrugged in response.“I mean, maybe? Mr. Stark doesn’t really like me talking to the Avengers because I’m a civilian and all, y’know?”
Ned gave a sheepish grin before shaking his friend’s shoulder with newfound enthusiasm, not so subtly changing the subject. “You’re totally gonna give us a private tour too, Peter? I need to see where Captain America tests out his shields, ooh! Or where Tony Stark blows up his test suits!” His childlike manners brought a smile to Peter’s face, M.J. shaking her head in amusement. The Flash drama was well forgotten as the trio chattered their way through the halls.