The Field Trip
So Peter blabbing to Tony that they were getting a field trip as a reward for getting to Nationals completely backfired because what did the man do? Well, he rang Midtown and talked to Morita and offered an exclusive all-access tour of Stark Industries for both the Academic Decathlon team and Peter’s whole class. They snapped his hand off at the offer, of course, and now Peter’s classmates were just thrilled to get to go to Stark Tower. Thrilled.
You know what Peter wasn’t? Thrilled.
Peter was not thrilled at all.
As if he didn’t get enough schtick from people at school not believing him about his Stark Industries internship, now they were going on a field trip there. The teasing from Flash would be endless. Peter prayed for death.
The only ones that currently believed him about everything were Ned and MJ, obviously because they knew everything, and Mr Harrington, who now believed every goddamn thing Peter said ever since he’d been called out about the permission slip.
He’d endured the teasing, the endless ribs of “hey Parker, it’s your last chance to admit this is all bullshit” from Flash. And today was finally the day. The only solace was that he wouldn’t have to go through the bus ride to the Tower. Since Mr Harrington knew that he lived at the Tower, he allowed Peter to meet the group there, which was of course, incredibly gracious of him (did you hear that eye roll?).
So there he was, in the reception area of Stark Tower, waiting for them to show up. He’d been given an all-access badge when they moved in just in case, and he used it to open the private entrance that the Avengers used too.
The bus finally arrived and his classmates walked into the building, chatting loudly about what they might get to see on their tour. He got up and joined them, greeting Ned and MJ. Their tour guide was one of the interns and Peter sighed as soon as he said his rank.
“You hear that, Parker? He’s actually an intern here, I wonder if he knows who you are?” Flash teased and Peter shook his head.
“None of the interns know who I am, Flash. I intern for Tony Stark, I’m not involved with the others.” Peter mumbled loud enough for him to hear and Flash rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, yeah. Like Stark would ever want you as his personal intern.”
“I can’t believe you live here, dude, you are literally living my dream.” Ned whispered to Peter, who nudged him in his side.
“Dude! Keep quiet, people can’t find out.”
“Right, sorry, sorry.”
“Right everyone, when I call your name out, step forward and I’ll give you your badge, and then our AI system, FRIDAY will let you into the foyer. Like this,” Thomas, the intern, scanned his badge against the sliding glass doors and there was a beep.
Thomas Stevenson. Level 4 clearance. Access granted.
The doors slid open and Thomas turned around to everyone.
“See? I’m an intern from MIT, I’m here for the next few weeks working on a project. Level 4 clearance means that I can access the tour that you guys are gonna do today and I can also access the labs and the lounge area for MIT interns, areas like our cafeteria and our nap rooms, without being accompanied. You guys all have level 1 clearance, meaning that I can go wherever you can go, but you can’t go anywhere without me. So, first person on my list here is Eugene Thompson.” Flash stepped forward and she gave him a badge, he scanned it.
Eugene Thompson. Level 1 clearance. Access granted.
Flash stepped through the open doors. It carried on the same until Peter was the only one left. He knew exactly what FRIDAY would say when he walked through, and he sighed, just wanting either the day to be over already or for someone to hit him over the head with a rock.
Peter Parker. All-access clearance. Access granted.
“I told you, Flash. I intern for Mr Stark, which means I need higher clearance,” Peter provided with a sigh, not interested in having another argument with his bully. Flash didn’t seem to have anything snarky to say in response, so he shut his mouth.
They all stepped into the elevator and Thomas told FRIDAY a floor number. The doors dinged open and they all filed out into an open space.
“Right, here we are. Welcome to the start of your tour, we’re gonna begin with the history of Stark Industries, from its founding in the early 20th century by Howard Stark, to how the company changed and evolved to become what it is today under the influence of Tony Stark and Pepper Potts.” Thomas explained as he led them to the first of the displays.
Peter figured he might actually pay attention to this bit. Sure, he’d been to the tower before Mr Stark had sold it and got the full thing before, but this was a new exhibit, and he was interested.
Everyone was pretty much silent, they were all taking everything in. That was until there were a lot of gasps and squeals coming from the back of the group. Peter and Ned turned around to see Steve, Natasha, Bucky and Sam all dressed up in their Avengers gear. Peter sighed, great, this was gonna be embarrassing.
“Hey, guys, are you the group from Midtown Tech?” Steve said, a bright smile on his face.
“Yeah, that’s us!” One star-struck kid said.
“Oh, hey, isn’t this Peter’s class?” Bucky asked and Peter tried to hide behind his classmates. “Where is he? Peter?”
“There he is, I see him back there.” Nat saw him and pulled him out of the crowd so that he had to say hello. She opened her arms as usual and he gave her a tight hug. “You weren’t trying to hide from us there, were you, Pete?” Nat raised an eyebrow.
“Not at all, Nat.” Peter muttered under his breath.
“Hey, we’ve been called to the gym to do some training and we were told that we could bring you guys with us to watch if you wanted. Does that sound good to everyone?” Sam asked the crowd and everyone got excited.
“Is it okay if we take them away?” Steve asked Thomas, who was about a second from passing out.
“Yeah sure, you can take these guys with you. We’ll finish the tour afterwards.” Well done, Thomas, you made it.
“Awesome! Right, everybody, follow me!” Steve led the group back to the elevator to go up a few floors to the Avenger’s training gym.
The whole class watched in awe as they were led into the gym. There was every sort of equipment you could think of along with a sky-high obstacle course for Peter to practice on as Spider-Man. He hoped none of his classmates would think to look up and start asking questions about him.
The Academic Decathlon team sat on the benches, enthralled at what was happening in front of them. They watched Steve spar with Nat and lose dramatically. Sam fought Nat and met the same fate. Bucky fought Nat and… well, the outcome was debatable, and the students split into two teams to argue who had actually won. Peter looked on partially in amusement and partially nervously. If only he could tell them that he’d beaten Bucky by wrapping his arm up in a web at an airport in Germany. If only. But the sight of Steve fighting and Bucky fighting just reminded him of what they’d done to Tony together. Sure, they were moving on or whatever that meant, but it was still very real, and Peter hadn’t forgotten any of it.
Tony chose that moment to walk in.
There were immediately three screaming children that Mr Harrington had to calm down. Flash was spluttering in pure shock. Ned looked like he was about to pass out. MJ looked indifferent.
Bet that just stroked his ego.
“Hey, guys! Are you the class from Midtown Tech?” Tony asked, a beaming smile stretched across his face and if Peter’s eyes rolled any further they’d go back into his brain. “I’m so glad you all are here! I think it’s a very well-deserved treat after reaching Nationals!” There was a little round of applause from the Avengers in the ring and Peter just wanted to die right there on the spot.
Flash caught his attention from across the group, sending Peter a look that made him know exactly what was about to happen. He thought about butting in and trying to stop him, wanting to save him the embarrassment. But then he didn’t. Oh well. Whoops.
“Mr Stark! Mr Stark! I thought you’d like to know that one of our team has been lying to us this past year, saying that he’s your personal intern even though I know Stark Industries doesn’t take on high school students as interns! He even managed to hack into your security system so that it recognised him this morning and let him through, Sir!” Flash blurted out all at once and Peter braced himself for the thorough dressing-down he was sure was going to follow.
Tony seemed oddly cool about it. “Oh, and you don’t believe this student is smart enough to earn an internship at Stark Industries?”
Flash shook his head hard. “No, Sir, he’s not.”
“So he’s not smart, but he’s on your school’s Academic Decathlon team? And he managed to somehow hack into my security system and put himself in there? Are you saying my security is weak, Mr Thompson?” Peter grinned behind his hand as Flash’s face dropped when he realised Tony knew his name.
“N-No, Sir, I—I just meant that—that maybe Parker must h-have paid one of your actual interns or something, he—he could never hack into your system, I’m sure it—it’s impossible.” Flash began to stutter and Peter took a seat on the bench, stretching his legs out in front of him. He thought about what they were going to have for dinner tonight. Steve was cooking. Maybe lasagne?
He loved Steve’s lasagne.
“I see,” Tony nodded along with Flash. “And the explanation as to why Mr Parker was recognised by half the team?” He gestured to Steve, Nat, Sam and Bucky who were now joining the group.
“I—I—” Flash’s words failed him. “I—I just meant that, I mean come on, Penis—Peter can’t be smart enough to have an internship here, Sir. I just don’t believe it.”
Something possessed Flash to keep talking. When was he going to give up?
“A-And I did my research. I know for a fact that Stark Industries has never employed a high school student or given them an internship. It has only been available for those studying at MIT, S-Sir.”
Something clicked in Tony’s brain. “Aha—Thompson, I remember why I recognise that name now. Your father was the one to call me when you were rejected from one of my internship programmes, isn’t that right?” Flash looked to the floor, finding something incredibly interesting on his shoe to stare at. “I do believe your father threatened me and said that I would be making a grave mistake if I went through with my decision to reject you. He then said that he would donate however much money I desired to my company, after which I reminded him that I am a billionaire and any amount of money he had to offer me was irrelevant because you just weren’t what we were looking for, Mr Thompson.” Tony took a step forward and the tension rose. You could hear a pin drop. “And I’m going to clarify a few things for you, Eugene. Peter Parker is one of the smartest people I have ever had the pleasure to encounter. He managed to impress me, and I am not easily impressed, so I gave him an internship. It is a personal internship with me, which is why he is not listed on SI’s web page of interns. It’s also why my AI system has given him an all-access pass, because he needs to be able to go wherever I want him to go. And in fact, when you leave this building after your tour, Mr Parker will be staying behind to continue with his internship, helping me out with one of my Iron Man suits. I sincerely hope that you enjoy the rest of the tour. Appreciate it and take it all in, because you will not be coming back. I will make sure of it.”
Peter had never seen Tony quite like that, so protective and so assertive, even if it was just to a high school bully. Still, it made Peter feel a little better knowing that Flash was finally being put in his place, that maybe things would change now that he’d had a dressing-down in public by the Tony Stark. Everyone thought Tony was finally done. Flash was a spluttering mess, his face bright red. Peter was still over on the bench.
“And if I hear one more report about you bullying my intern, I won’t be as kind as I am being now.” He turned to Mr Harrington. “I trust that this issue will be resolved at school, yes?”
Mr Harrington nodded his head profusely. He obviously knew that Peter was more than Tony’s intern, but was either smart enough to realise that Tony was trying to protect Peter, or scared enough to not want to say a single word. Peter figured it was the latter.
“Alright, now that that’s cleared up, would you guys like to come up and see my personal lab?”
And just like that, Tony was back to the all-smiling celebrity that everyone knew and loved.
There were enthusiastic cheers and gasps from the group as Tony led them back to the elevator and everyone loaded onto it. He came to stand next to Peter, draping his arm around his shoulders as FRIDAY took them up to the private lab.
“You okay, kiddo?” Tony asked and Peter nodded. He leant against the man slightly.
“Thanks,” he mumbled, not wanting anyone else to hear. They were too busy chatting anyway.
“No problem. I’ve been waiting for a chance to tear him down a peg or two anyway. It was fun. You don’t think I went a little far?”
Peter shook his head. “My whole class hates him it’s just nobody says anything. I think they’re all just as relieved as me to finally have someone stand up to Flash.”
Tony grunted. “I want you to do that, you know? I’m already so proud of you but I want you to stand up to him when he does stuff like that. I don’t want you to just let him walk all over you in school just because you know that you could snap his neck with your bare hands. He needs to know that he can’t treat people like that.”
Peter only hummed in response. He still wasn’t sure how he felt about using his powers to put Flash in his place. Pre-bite Peter wouldn’t have dared to do anything of the sort, and didn’t have the brawn to actually back himself. He definitely did now, but he had too much of it. He didn’t want to get too heated during an argument and accidentally smash his face in. As much as he’s sure that would be cathartic, he wasn’t Flash. He wasn’t a bully.
The rest of the tour went smoothly, Tony showing them all around his lab and showing them the prototypes for an upgrade to the Iron Man suit. Everyone geeked out and he was absolutely positive that if Ned had been in there even thirty more seconds than he had been, he’d have passed out on the lab floor. Tony stayed with them for the rest of the tour even when the other Avengers filtered off to do other things. He walked them all back to the entrance of the building, his hand remaining on Peter’s shoulder as he said goodbye to the students.
Peter approached Tony a few days later, a little nervous about the conversation they were about to have. They were in the lab together working on the Iron Man suit. Peter’s Spider-Man suit had remained untouched ever since the accident. It was still in some corner of his closet up in his room.
“M-Mr Stark?” Peter asked and Tony turned to him.
“What’s up, kiddo?”
Peter fiddled with his fingers, not looking at him. “I uh, I was wondering if—what you thought about me maybe going back out as Spider-Man.”
Tony didn’t answer right away and Peter immediately regretted starting the conversation. Clearly the man didn’t want him to. Then he started to worry that Tony would never want Peter to become Spider-Man again.
“Do you feel like you’re ready, Pete?” Tony’s voice was soft.
“I—I don’t feel guilty as such for not—for not being Spider-Man recently, I just feel like I’ve had enough time for myself. I—Queens doesn’t have anybody else and I feel that responsibility again like I did the first time. I think I’m ready to go back.” Peter looked up hesitantly.
Tony wheeled his chair next to Peter and turned him so that they were facing each other, their knees touching.
“Pete, I don’t want you to feel as though you have to do this if you’re not there yet. You don’t have to feel guilty, your entire life was just uprooted, everything’s changed for you. I want you to be sure that you’re okay first. I need you to prioritise yourself over the people of Queens.” Tony rested his hands on Peter’s knees.
“I—Queens needs Spider-Man,” Peter muttered and Tony hooked a finger under his chin so that he looked at him properly.
“And I need you. I need regular old Peter Parker, okay? So you make sure that you’re 100% ready for this before you go off swinging again, alright?”
Peter felt his eyes tear up at Tony’s words. Nobody had ever wanted Peter Parker when they could have Spider-Man. Why would they?
He swallowed. “I—I’m ready. I promise, I’m ready.” He paused for a minute. “But I don’t know about telling the whole team yet, I’m not—I’m not sure about it yet.”
“That’s fine, we don’t have to tell the team. That’s completely your decision.” Tony leant back in his chair, removing his hands from Peter’s knees. “Alright then. You got your suit upstairs?” Peter nodded. “Go ahead and grab it and let’s update it so it’s good to go. And there’s gonna be some rules, okay? I know you didn’t have any with May but that’s because she didn’t know. I do and I need reassurance that you’re gonna be okay.”
“Got it.” Peter had expected something along those lines anyway. He hadn’t expected Tony to just release him to the wild with no instruction or boundaries.
“So we’re clear, right?” Tony asked, handing Peter his mask.
“Yep.”
“You can patrol every night as long as your homework is done and you have to eat dinner with us every night at 6 o’clock.” Tony repeated for the thousandth time.
“Yep, got it.”
“And you have a curfew of 10pm on school nights and midnight on weekends. Remember that.”
“I got it, Mr Stark.”
“And you have to call me immediately if you get hurt. I made sure you can’t disable that feature on this one,” Tony muttered and Peter immediately felt guilty about getting Ned to remove that feature from last time. He wasn’t going to do it again.
“I will, I promise.”
“Oh, one more thing.” Peter looked up at Tony and the man smiled. “Have fun.”
Peter grinned. “I will.” He pulled the mask over his face and the window of his bedroom slid up, the cold New York air filling the room. “I’ll be back by 10, I promise.” He gave Tony a salute and then stepped out of the window, immediately falling.
Tony lurched forward, his heart jumping into his mouth. He saw Peter fling a web at the next building and he swung between the two. Tony rolled onto his back, breathing heavily.
The kid was going to give him a heart attack, he was sure.
For the first time since May died, Peter felt free. Like, properly free. It felt like slipping into an old pair of shoes that you loved and hadn’t worn in a while. It was like sliding into bed hen you had fresh sheets. For a few hours, Peter could push everything back and just be Spider-Man. May wasn’t gone. He hadn’t had to move. The panic attack at school hadn’t happened. The field trip, the rogues coming back, the nightmares. None of it had happened. He could just be Spider-Man.
And he loved it.
Peter swung from the tower in Manhattan back to his old neighbourhood in Queens, doing the usual stuff like rescuing cats from trees and helping old ladies cross the road with their shopping. He stopped some guy from taking a car, he stopped a shoplifter, he helped a little kid that had fallen over in the park. The friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man was back, and the people of Queens loved it. Peter had never felt so appreciated before. People were cheering him on from across the street, welcoming him back, telling him that he’d been missed during his time off.
The boost of confidence he felt after saving a girl from being attacked by two drunk ass men was indescribable. He webbed them up and called the police, disarming them and leading the girl to safety. He called her parents and walked her home and made sure that the guys were apprehended. It all went off without a hitch. The girl had hugged him and thanked him for saving her and he’d saluted her before leaping up into the air and swinging onto the next building. He was back.
Tony sent him a few texts throughout the night asking him if everything was going okay and he’d used Karen to text him back, saying everything was great and to stop worrying.
He helped a woman with her groceries when the bottom of the paper bag had gotten wet and broken, catching the fruit before it could tumble to the floor. He’d run back into the store to grab a few more bags and helped her double-up before she went on her way. He even stopped at Delmar’s to see if everything was okay. He didn’t speak to him, but ‘Spider-Man’ just checked everything out to make sure things were running smoothly. He made a mental note to come back at some point and actually talk to Delmar and catch up with him. He hadn’t seen him since the accident.
He thought about swinging to Ned’s house and seeing him but then the time flashed up on his display and he realised he had to set off back to the tower if he was gonna make it home for curfew. The tower was his home now. For a time, it had been wherever Tony was. And it still was. But now, the tower was home too. It was where he went everyday after school, whenever he said he was going home, he was going to the tower. Somehow over the weeks he’d been there, it had slowly become his new normal. Peter was about to swing home to Stark Tower, where he lived with Tony Stark and Pepper Potts and the Avengers. Captain America had made him dinner that night.
And it was normal. When had it become normal?
Peter felt a pang in his heart when he realised he’d never go back to his old apartment again. He wasn’t sure he wanted to, knowing that May wouldn’t be there waiting for him. Maybe it was good that he’d moved out of Queens. It held too many memories for him, something he was realising swinging back through the neighbourhood as he passed his and May’s favourite Thai restaurant where the waiter and constantly hit on them. Maybe living in Manhattan was good for him, it got him out of Queens for a while and it didn’t constantly remind him of May. Not that thinking about May was a bad thing, it just tended to be something that would set him back a few days. He would get better with that. One day he’d manage to think about May and not be filled with sadness and grief and guilt. One day. And until that day, it was probably for the best that he lived in Manhattan, away from all the things that screamed May Parker.
He swung back into his bedroom a couple of minutes before 10pm and found Tony waiting for him, smiling.
“Ten on the dot, kid. Nice one.”
Peter pulled off his mask, panting a little at the exertion.
“So? How was it? Tell me everything.” Tony patted the space on the bed next to him and Peter joined him.
“It was amazing, Mr Stark. I—I felt amazing. I was so happy to go back and help people again. There was nothing too big… I mean, I saved a girl from being attacked by a couple of guys but apart from that it was just little stuff like saving cats from trees and helping old ladies. I felt like me again, Mr Stark. I—I felt useful. And they’ve missed me. They actually said that.” Peter was beaming and he was sure the smile wouldn’t fade from his face for a while. Tony grinned, happy to see Peter so… so normal. It had been a long time since Peter had had a little normal in his life and this seemed to have triggered something.
Tony slung his arm around Peter’s shoulders. “I’m so glad, kiddo. Of course they’ve missed you. How could they not?” Peter ducked his head so it was resting on Tony’s shoulder and Tony tightened his grip around him. “You tired?”
Peter nodded. “A little. I forgot how much it takes it out of you.”
Tony chuckled. “Yeah, it might take you a little while to get back into the swing of things.” Tony paused, waiting for Peter to get the pun he’d thought was absolute genius. Peter let out a huff of a laugh. Tony was very disappointed. “You’ve got school tomorrow, why don’t you get some sleep, kiddo?” He stood up from the bed. “I’m so proud of you, Underoos. And May is too.” He ruffled his hair and said goodnight before leaving.
He hoped May was proud of him. He really did.