Welcome to the jungle ?
It was right about now that Tony was regretting all life choices. 9am with a group of teenagers, little to no sleep, and little to no plan. yea, it was gonna be a blast all right.
Pepper had previously put him in charge of planning the events for this field trip because in her words "that's not my job Tony, I just approve things, remember you wanted this !"
Boy was he starting to regret it. The main part of his plan was done and now he had two whole days with unruly kids? He didn't earn his title as a genius for nothing. maybe he could let them roam? have some fun, promise not to break anything, the standard stuff... although pepper would probably have his head if she found out. Okay, maybe not his
best idea.
Oh my god? Why hadn't he thought of it before? The genius was suddenly struck with a.... 'genius' idea, if he did say so himself (and he did) , why should he have to suffer with the kids himself? He owned the place. He had plenty of pull.
He momentarily pawned the class back off on Harley , promising to be back as soon as possible and that he'd buy Harley all of the rocky road ice cream in the world. He made his way to Pepper's office and let himself in, popping down in a chair in front of her desk.
"What is it tony?" Pepper didn't even bother to glance at him from her computer as she spoke, she had work to do and it was never good when he was there. Sure, she loved him but god did he know how to cause problems.
Tony signed dramatically and feigned heartbreak. "Can't even look at me, pep? I just wanted to see how my wonderful, wonderful wife was doing. Is that really so bad?"
Pepper sighed and paused what she was doing, finally looking over at tony. she looked at him like she already knew what was bouncing around his head, she didn't get paid enough for this. "Out with it tony. what do you want?"
"Okay, you got me. I have the oh so brilliant idea to host a major Q&A for the students today. The Avengers love talking about themselves and the kids love the Avengers so what better way to spend the day than by talking. What do you think?”
Honestly it wasn't one of his worst ideas but Pepper sighed anyway. Her voice had a clear exasperated tone as she spoke “one, you are gonna do it no matter what i say so why come ask? two, you were supposed to have planned this ages ago Tony. You do know I can't keep up with literally everything, right?”
She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, not only was it too early for this but she still absolutely did not get paid enough. She could have all the money in the world and she would still rather not have to deal with Tony when he was like this, she would though. She would always be there for him no matter how erratic he was being, and if she was being honest he was relatively calm. This was just another normal weekend.
“I know, I know and I'm sorry honestly pep I am, I swear. But I just thought of it and thought it would be a good idea that wouldn't cause anyone too many problems. There shouldn't be any PR problems because of the previously signed NDAs so that's covered and you won't have to worry about anything! Less work for you and the kids are entertained. Win win right!?”
His hands waved animatedly as he spoke hoping to get his point across. Pepper was right, he did do a lot of things without asking her, and without her approval. Asking was the least he could do after the day that was yesterday, he knew she needed a break. They all did if he was being honest. So, what better than a silly heart to heart? He only hoped she saw it that way too and not like the world's dumbest idea.
Luckily, she did. See it his way that is. “Alright, I'm trusting you with this Tony, I swear to every god ever if I have to hold some elaborate press conference because you let something slip I'm divorcing you.”
Was she bluffing? Yes. Did Tony know that? Also yes. Was Tony going to risk it ? no way in hell. Tony nodded and said a quick “yes ma'am” before darting out the door to call everyone to a meeting room. He sent out a quick mass text to the avengers telling them where to meet and why before running to the room himself.
Once everyone was there and settled he stood in front of them just as he had before when planning the gym meeting. “I know you all are probably tired of me spontaneously calling you into a room to make a plan but…. I have another plan. I think we should have a Q&A with Peter's class, maybe it can be a mutual thing. They ask us questions and we ask some back to feel like we are getting to know them, and feel more included you know ? i know there are some students that had to have felt left out yesterday with the training exercises, which i didn't think of till right now. Anyway, what do you guys think?”
With everyone pretty much agreeing to do it they agreed to go clean up and meet back in 30 minutes at most, those kids were restless he was sure of it.
He ran downstairs to the room the kids were staying in and pulled Harley and Peter outside. He honestly hadn't thought much about how peter would react to this, not that he had much time now as both Harley and peter stared at him wide eyed and confused. He shook his head, clearing his thoughts and cleared his throat.
“So, I know this is going to seem abrupt but I decided that the plan for today is a Q&A with the Avengers. You both don't have to participate if you don't want to. I can bring another tour guide and Pete. You can sit it out or you can join the class, or if you want you can join the Avengers as Spider-Man. It's 100% up to you baby. Harley, you can join too if you want either way is okay, I'm sure this has been stressful enough for the both of you,”
Peter stared at his dad for a few minutes before nodding, he wasn't sure how it would go but a silly Q&A couldn't be that bad right? What's the harm in having some fun? So, he looked at Harley and then back at his dad before nodding again.
“I'll sit in with that class if that's okay? I don't feel like answering questions as Spider-Man and running the risk of them recognizing my voice. As long as I get to ask questions too of course.”
Harley looked at Peter and Tony and nodded in agreement. He would do anything if Peter was by his side, if he was being honest and he sure as hell wasn't gonna let the other boy do it by himself. Hell, it would probably be fun anyway. “I'm in , I'll sit in with the class, definitely gonna ask questions too. So, Be prepared old man.”
Tony let out a sigh of relief and laughed, roughing up Harley's hair a bit before speaking “yeah, yeah you guys can ask questions i guess. S’not like i could stop you anyway, you brats.”
They talked for a few moments more before Tony gathered the very excited class and led them to another room. They didn't know what was happening , but that didn't seem to even slightly affect their abilities to talk. In fact, he thought it made them talk even more, but Tony managed and so did they. Once they were in the new room everyone took their respective seats and Tony sat on the very convenient stage in front of them. Peter, Harley, Ned, and MJ all sat in the front , waiting patiently as everyone began to quiet down.
Harley grabbed Peter's hand and squeezed, looking over at him with a soft smile. Silently letting him know he would be there if anything got to be too much.
“Now, I know you guys are probably wondering what's going on once again ,’nd i have some good news.” he whistled, signifying for the avengers to come out and take their seats.
“We're doing an actual Q&A!!”
The avengers took their seats and the class erupted in cheers once again, as they seem to always do. Sam, Bucky, and Steve sat on one side, Tony sat in the middle and Rhodey, Nat, Wanda and Clint sat on the other side of him. Bruce decided to sit this one out since he already had his own personal one and Thor was just being Thor somewhere who knows. Once everyone was settled, Tony cleared his throat and began speaking again.
“I hope you guys are ready because this is gonna be a long one.”