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Peter gets an ominous text from Ned in sixth period. He doesn’t think much of it until after school. Ned doesn’t fanboy about his life, doesn’t talk about his day, instead, he just smiles and sends Peter off to Happy’s car with a wave. It’s suspicious to say the least.
Since it’s Wednesday, Happy drops him off at the tower with a tray stacked high with cups of coffee. Peter balances them with one hand, maneuvering through the security of SI’s lobby with ease. He greets the security guards, complimenting Sally’s new haircut as he goes. Friday takes him up to his regular Wednesday lab. He steps into the chaos with a sigh. He missed these guys.
“Thank you,” Ryan quickly says as he jogs past, grabbing his coffee from the top of the stack. He almost trips over one of the team’s robots, but he swerves at the last second.
Maya smiles as Ryan regains his balance. She gestures to the comm in her ear, indicating she’s on a call. and takes her own cup. Peter almost laughs as her face goes from friendly to serious. She steps off to the side, arguing furiously into her comm.
He does laugh when Ryan runs into a wall.
Bella calls him over from her hunched position over her desk. She holds out a hand, trusting him to give her the correct cup. He thinks about giving her Max’s for a second, but ultimately decides against it. Last time Bella didn’t get her coffee, things didn’t end well. She takes a sip, not taking her eyes off the experiment in front of her.
Peter snickers. Luke grabs his shoulder, pulling him towards his own desk, littered with papers and scraps of metal. Luke takes the tray from him and grins.
“You will never believe what I found,” he says, a slightly manic tone to his voice. There are bags under his eyes, and Peter wants to scold him.
“When’s the last time you slept?” he cuts Luke’s next sentence off with a frown.
“That doesn’t matter. You know that material we’ve been looking for? I found the formula. Isn’t that great? We can just make it ourselves.”
Peter levels him with a glare. Luke shrinks under the gaze. “When was the last time you slept?” he repeats.
“Yesterday morning,” Luke admits.
Peter sighs. He looks around the lab, searching for something. “Misael,” he calls out, “can you take Luke down to the bunks? Minimum of six hours. And, while you’re at it, you should stay. I can look at your equations while you’re gone.”
Misael looks up from his work, blinking sleepily. He muffles a yawn and nods. Luke sends a pleading look in Maya’s direction, receiving only a smirk in response. Misael grabs Luke’s arm and drags him into the elevator. As the doors close, Peter sees him lean heavily against Luke’s shoulder.
He sighs again. They really are messes.
His attention is pulled to Ryan as a boom sounds through the lab. Everybody stops, looks at Ryan, and continues on with their business. Ryan gives Peter an uneasy grin, shrugging. His desk is on fire.
It will be a long day.
When Peter finally stumbles into the elevator near midnight, he’s sporting a wide smile. His face is covered in dirt and grease, but he’s happy. He collapses onto the couch in the living room. Friday will wake him up before school.
“Underoos? That you?”
Peter blinks slowly at the blue light approaching him. He covers his giggles with a cough, thinking about what Tony would be like as a wisp. His mind conjures the image of a floating blue ball of energy, bells chiming angrily around it when Peter does something stupid. He’s not sure if he’s successful with his cover up.
“Come on, kid. Let’s get you to your room. Geez, did you take a bath in oil? Why do you smell like a car shop?”
“Saahir,” he mumbles into the crook of Tony’s neck. His hands stick to Tony’s shirt, holding him up effortlessly.
“I should have known. That man brings trouble wherever he goes. What was it this time?”
Peter detaches himself from the shirt and smiles up at Tony. “New robot idea. This one flies.” He ignores Tony’s heavy breath out through his nose, instead focusing on not falling as he washes his face in his bathroom sink.
He yawns once more, pushing the door shut after Tony hands him clean clothes. He changes into them, only missing the arm hole of his shirt twice. He hears Tony laugh as he steps out, almost falling asleep where he stands. Peter yawns again. He closes his eyes and feels himself start to fall, but then it goes black.
He wakes to a slight beeping. He groans, flailing out his arm to hit the alarm clock. It tumbles to the ground, but he can’t find it in him to care. It’s time for school.
The smell of pancakes greets him as he steps into the kitchen. He takes a deep breath in, savoring the smell of syrup so early in the morning.
“Look who’s finally up,” Tony chuckles. “Sit down, Happy’s running a little late this morning, so we have some time. Want pancakes?”
Peter smiles. He loves his life.
Happy drops him off at the front steps, early enough that nobody questions it. The only students outside give him a wave as he steps happily up into the school. He sees them every morning. At first, the early arrivals were curious, but Peter explained his internship, and they forgot about it.
He meets Ned and MJ in the library. MJ, headphones in, gives him a slight nod. He returns it with a wide grin. Ned greets him, but it seems off. Peter brushes it off, putting the information aside for later use.
Ned fills the time before class with a rant about one of their teachers, and everything is back to normal. Or so Peter thinks.
Then, at lunch, Ned gives him a specific smile, one he only uses when he’s hiding something. Peter knows something is wrong. The last time Ned smiled like that was when he was planning Peter’s surprise party.
He decides to ask MJ about it, because MJ knows all.
“If he’s not telling you, what makes you think I’ll tell you?” she says with an unimpressed scoff. “Focus on your work, loser.”
Peter shrugs it off. If it’s important, Ned will tell him. Right?
Friday arrives, and Ned still hasn’t told him what he’s hiding. Peter feels off about the whole situation. It doesn’t help when Flash increases his taunts, even going so far as to push him harshly into the lockers after lunch.
Happy picks him up after the last bell ends. Peter frowns, lost in thought, not noticing Happy eyeing him from the front seat. Finally, Happy sighs, getting his attention.
“Alright, kid. What’s wrong?”
That’s all it takes. “Ned’s keeping something from me, and it’s making me uncomfortable. I know it’s not bad, because he would tell me if it is, right? He’s been acting like this since Wednesday, and at first I thought it was just a minor thing, but now I’m not so sure. What should I do, Happy?”
“Have you tried asking him?”
Oh, shit. That’s a great idea. He searches through his bag for his phone, tapping at the screen and finding Ned’s contact. He decides to text him.
“Hey-” he starts, but he stops when he looks up. Happy has rolled up the visor. Oh, well.
Peter - Hey, dude. Is there any specific reason that my Spidey Senses think you’re keeping something from me?
He thinks that’s the best way to ask. If he involves his powers, Ned will probably fixate on that, gushing over how cool it is he can detect stuff like that. He waits, fingers tapping out a quick rhythm on his thigh.
Ned - How did you know???
Peter - I told you, Spidey Sense. It knows all.
Ned - Amazing. I promise I’m not hiding something huge!! It’s just a secret, well, kind of.
Ned texts like he talks, all emphasis and run-on sentences.
Ned - My Math class is going on a field trip tomorrow, is all. It’s not that important, but I figured you’d be jealous that your class doesn’t get to go. You know, since you guys lost the competition!
Of course he would hold that over his head. Peter makes a note to get back at him for that.
Peter - It’s cool. I didn’t want to go anyway. :(
He tucks his phone into his pocket as Happy opens his door. He does his usual routine, greeting the guards and the workers in line for security. The elevator, empty except for Peter, speeds up to the communal floor, doors opening with a slight ding.
Clint waves from the couch, eyes fixed on the television displaying his character beating Sam’s in a racing game. Peter rolls his eyes. He throws his backpack into the corner and perches on the back of the couch, watching the game from behind the players. They trade positions as the day goes on, the sun eventually setting behind the buildings on the horizon.
Eventually, Steve calls everybody to the communal kitchen. He hands out plates stacked high with glorious smelling foods. Peter gets the biggest plate; he takes it with a grin.
“How was school, Pete?” Clint asks, mouth already full of food as they settle down at the table.
“You spent four hours playing video games with him, but you didn’t ask about his day?” Natasha asks, eyebrow raised. Clint pointedly ignores her.
“It was pretty good. I aced my chem test, got the highest grade in my class. Oh, and at lunch, MJ gave me this sketch of my face when I got my test back. It was pretty cool. She’s a good artist when she wants to be. I’m still convinced she transferred out of art because she didn’t want the attention. She claims it’s because she’s not good at it.”
Clint nods along, but Peter can tell he’s not paying attention. He looks to Natasha and finds her staring at Steve, face blank.
Steve seems to be arguing with Thor about politics, so Peter turns to his food. One time hearing that conversation is enough. They basically repeat it every time.
The next morning, Peter wakes up feeling refreshed.
He heads down to the labs after breakfast, skipping over to Saahir’s station. Their robot buzzes overhead, and Peter can hear each part moving as it spins its rotors. It sounds good, but it looks even better. Peter had convinced Saahir to paint it in Spider-Man colors, red and blue with a black spider emblem on the bottom. Peter loves it.
“The question is,” Peter says as he dramatically lowers himself into his chair, “what do we name it?”
They bounce names off of each other, but they get distracted by Maya pretty quickly. She causes a small explosion with the chemicals she’s pouring. Peter rushes over. He gets Friday to switch the smoke fans on, his voice a little bit panicked.
The elevator dings, which is the least of Peter’s worries, but he still registers the small noise. He’s too busy trying to convince Saahir’s drone away from the fire to hear the dozen or so heartbeats that enter the room. He jumps from his spot on top of Maya’s desk, grabs the robot from midair, and lands with a roll to save his bones from the tile floor. He’s still a little beat up from patrol on Thursday.
He stands, brushing off his jeans, and it’s then that he hears the silence. The lab is never silent, so he knows something’s wrong. He turns around slowly.
The sixth period AP math class of Midtown High stands in the elevator, eyes wide and jaws hanging. Ava, the tour guide, looks unamused, but Ms. Warren regards him with an awed expression.
The lab goes back to normal, back to the organized chaos that it is. Saahir gently pries his robot from Peter’s hands and backs away slowly. Maya puts out the fire with a fire blanket handed to her by Luke. Ryan runs past them, always rushing off somewhere.
“So, Ned, you didn’t tell me the field trip was to Stark Tower.”
The class erupts into questions. Ned looks ecstatic. He waves towards Luke with a wide grin. Betty and Abe are the loudest, asking why there was a fire on a lab floor and why Peter was taking care of it. Flash looks angry. Oh no. Ava steps in, clearing her throat for the class’ attention.
“As you can see, the lab floors take safety very seriously. We have precautions in place to stop accidents like this, but it might be too early in the morning for a bunch of scientists to use their brains .” She aims that last part at Maya. Maya looks unapologetic, eyebrows raised as she sips stale coffee from the crappy coffee maker in the corner.
“Is Peter an intern here?” Cindy asks, her hand slightly raised.
“Yes, he is. Well, maybe not an intern anymore, more like a younger scientist. He is Mr. Stark’s protege, but Stark lends him out to the labs sometimes.” Ava ignores the gawking looks. She leads the class around the lab, introducing each scientist and what they’re working on.
Peter pulls Ned away from the group.
“Ned! What the hell were you thinking? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Oops? I know this isn’t the best situation, but, hey, now they know for sure that you have an internship! Flash won’t bother you anymore.”
Peter almost growls. Instead, he looks up to the ceiling and prays to Thor, which probably isn’t the best idea, considering the god is in the tower. Whatever, he decides, Thor doesn’t hear his prayers anyway.
Ava moves the class back into the elevator, deflecting any questions about Peter and the fire.
The doors close, leaving Peter to collapse in a chair, provided helpfully by Misael. He groans into his hands.
“Friday?”
“Yes, Peter.”
“Tell Bucky to meet me in the gym.”
“He is on his way.”
Peter lets himself fall into a fighting stance. It comes easy to him now. His shoulders roll, his heartbeat slowing to a steady rhythm. He dodges Bucky’s punches and kicks. His body bends unnaturally to avoid the hits, something almost inhuman.
He’s completely at ease. Maybe that’s why he doesn’t hear them enter.
“Is Peter fighting an Avenger?”
“Is that actually Peter?”
“He’s fighting the Winter Soldier!”
“No way can Parker fight an Avenger.”
Peter freezes, a bad move when Bucky is throwing punches at him. He ducks under a right hook, twisting his body to see the class huddled in the corner of the gym. Bucky uses this, but Peter flips out of the way. He calls the fight, making a ‘T’ with his hands.
“Bucky,” he whispers. His eyes dart to the group gawking at them.
Bucky straightens, shoulders set and jaw tense. He steps in front of Peter, shielding him with his body. He clears his throat.
“Hello,” he says, “Ned, what’s going on?”
Ned knows all of them, and Peter can hear bucky’s heart calm when he meets his eyes. Ned has a calming presence.
“Our class is on a field trip! Ava said we could visit the lower gym, but we didn’t expect anybody to be in here. It’s nice to see you again, Bucky!”
“You as well,” he says, his lips twitching with the hint of a smile.
Peter catches Flash’s glare, and he shrinks back. Bucky doesn’t notice.
“I’m going to go clean up, Bucky. That okay?”
“Of course.”
Peter passes him, slightly freezing in front of the crowd before pushing through them. They follow him out, asking questions and shouting at him. He fixates on Ned’s heartbeat, the steady thumping keeping him level through the noise.
Flash’s voice cuts through the shouting. “What did you do to get this job, Penis?” He doesn’t say it loudly, but everybody around him quiets, leaving only silence around his words. “Did you beg? We all know you don’t have the money to pay them off. Do you get on your knees? Did they use you?”
Peter spins on his feet, face flushed with anger as he eyes down Flash.
“You don’t get to speak that way about my family.” His voice is low, but there’s a fire in his eyes. “I earned my place. You’re disgusting, Flash, and I hope you realise that some day. But for now, I’ll be here to remind you.” Peter steps back, and the crowd parts like a wave.
“Well,” a new voice cuts in, “that was a fun display. We rarely get to see angry Peter these days.”
Peter smiles. He turns to Tony and gives him an unimpressed scoff. “You see me angry enough.”
“Yeah, I guess I do. Too bad this beautiful moment is about to be ruined. A certain someone heard a prayer earlier and wants to help.”
Shit, he thinks. Thor.
“Tonyson!” Thor shouts. He steps through the door and opens his arms. Peter doesn’t hesitate to jump into a tight hug. “I have missed you!”
“You saw him last night, Sparky.”
“Shut up, Tony,” Peter mumbles into Thor’s shoulder.
“Um, excuse me,” Abe says softly, his voice wavering, “what’s going on?”
“Friday told us there was something going on down here, and Thor wanted to see Pete, so we came. Now, Eugene Thompson, my lawyers will be talking to Principal Morita on Monday. I recommend you tell your parents you’ve been bullying my kid. Any questions?”
Peter moves to stand beside Tony.
Cindy hesitantly raises her hand. “Peter, how did you fight like that?”
“Um, I practice? It’s all training, really.”
The class nods, pleased with the answer.
“Now, if we’re done here, Peter and I have nanites to attend to in my private lab.” He guides him away with a gentle hand on his shoulder. As the three board the elevator, Peter gives one last wave to the group. They disappear from view.
Betty leans over to Cindy. She whispers behind her hand, “When do you think Peter will realise we know he’s Spider-Man?”
Cindy shrugs. “I don’t know, but as long as Flash doesn’t know, we have free entertainment.”