I Am Not Overreacting! (He totally is)
"What type of electromagnetic radiation is likely used in rotational spectroscopy?" MJ asked, cards in front of her.
Peter pressed down on the bell, the small shrill echoing in the gymnasium. "Microwave radiation."
The corner of MJ's lips quirked, which was as much as a smile that Peter was going to get. "Correct, Peter."
Peter returned the smile, biting the inside of his cheek to stop himself from full-on grinning. What? He liked getting praise from MJ.
"Final question, what occurs when a molecule absorbs a photon of infrared radiation?" MJ asked, setting the notecards down.
Abe rang the bell before Peter and answered, "It's excited to a higher rotational energy level."
Peter furrowed his eyebrows and rang the bell. "Uh, it actually gets excited to a higher vibrational energy level."
MJ raised an eyebrow. "Correct again, Peter. Decathalon practice is now over."
Before anyone could get up from the uncomfortable chairs, Mr. Harrison sprung up, clapping his hands to get everyone's attention. "Wait! Before you go, I have a special announcement. A few colleagues of mine have told me that Stark Industries are planning on reopening the SI tours. There is a chance that our school will get to debut the tour reopening. I'll notify you by Friday, and if we don't get chosen, we still have many opportunities afterward, so don't fret. All right, now, you're dismissed."
"Hey, Parker!" Flash called out. "You better pray we don't get chosen, or else everyone will see how much of a fake you are." Flash's face contorted as he was thinking. "Actually. It'll be more fun for me if that does happen, but either way, I know you're lying."
"Don't you have to be somewhere else, Flash? Or does your life revolve around annoying everyone near you?" MJ stared Flash down until he rolled his eyes and left.
"Peter? Are you okay?" Ned placed a hand on Peter's shoulder, but Peter barely felt it.
Peter swallowed. "No, I'm not. We are getting that field trip."
"How do you know?" MJ asked, approaching the duo with her backpack shrugged on and a book in her hand.
"Pepper is the one who overlooks those kinds of things," Peter answered, slowly coming out of his panicked trance, "and if she talks to Tony, he'll definitely get her to choose Midtown simply to embarrass me." Peter gathered his stuff, silently thanking Ned and MJ for waiting for him.
They walked out into the hallways and made their way to the front.
MJ rolled her eyes. "You're overreacting."
Peter chose not to correct her. He wasn't overreacting. "I'm going to talk Pepper when I get home before Tony can have a chance to corrupt her with his schemes to embarrass me." He isn't overreacting.
MJ pushed the doors open. "Whatever, just don't forget that we have our study session tonight at 7."
Peter nodded, not telling her that their Wednesday study sessions had absolutely slipped his mind. Every week, he forgets, despite it always being on the same day. "Yeah, yeah, of course." He leaned in to hug her, smiling when her arms wrapped around him. He pressed a kiss to her forehead before pulling away. "Text me when you get home, yeah?"
MJ rolled her eyes. "Whatever, loser."
Peter knew that she would text him the second she stepped into her home, but she still played the tough card whenever Peter got protective. He gets worried because she refuses to ride with them and Happy and chooses to walk the seven blocks to her apartment. She says she enjoys watching people in distress over meetings and missed taxis. A loud horn rang through the lot, making Peter jump and glare in the direction of the black Sedan. Happy was one impatient man.
"See you later, losers," MJ said, already walking away.
Ned and Peter shared a quick look before heading to the car.
"It's 4:37," Happy said in greeting. "I expect you two in the car by 4:35."
"Hello to you, too, Happy," Peter grumbled, settling on the middle, leaving room for Ned to climb in.
"Sorry, Happy," Ned said, closing the door. "Mr. Harrison was telling us-"
Peter slapped Ned's arm and shook his head, eyes wide. If Happy found out about the field trip, it would be a matter of time before it got to Tony.
"Uh, he was telling us about this really cool experiment he has planned for our next meeting."
Peter sighed, satisfied with Ned's lie, and relaxed against the leather seats. He ignored Happy's eyes, talking to Ned about the new Star Wars Lego set that will come out in a month.
After dropping Ned off, Happy finally spoke up. "So, what was keeping you in your Decathlon meeting?"
Peter's head snapped up to stare at Happy through the rearview mirror. "What? N-nothing, just the, um, experiment guidelines for next meeting." Happy raised an eyebrow, then returned his gaze to the road and was quiet for the rest of the ride.
*
"Hello, Peter. How was your day?" FRIDAY's voice welcomed him when he stepped into the elevator.
"Oh, it was good. Thanks, Fri. Um, where's Pepper?"
"Miss Potts is working in the penthouse."
Peter's eyes widened. Pepper could be looking over the school list right now. "Take me to the penthouse, Fri."
Instead of answering, the elevator started rising, and Peter watched the surrounding building grow smaller. A few seconds later, the doors opened. Peter walked in, seeing Pepper sitting on the couch, StarkPad in her hands.
Peter dropped his backpack on the other couch, making Pepper look up to see him. "Hey, Pepper. What are you working on?"
"Hi, Peter." Pepper smiled warmly, setting the StarkPad next to her. "I was looking over the meetings that I will have to reschedule around next week."
Peter nodded. "Cool, cool. Um, so I got some news at school, and I-"
"Is this about the reopening of SI tours?" Pepper cut him off, eyebrows raised.
Peter's jaw dropped. "Yes, it is. I know that my school is on the list, but you can't tell Tony."
"Can't tell Tony what?"
Peter sighed, closing his eyes. He turned around, and there was Tony, carrying Morgan.
"I wanted Pepper to make her choice of schools without your mischievous influence," Peter explained.
Tony raised an eyebrow. "Mischievous influence? Choice of schools? What are you talking about?"
"As you know, Stark Industries is planning on offering tours again," Pepper said, standing up to take Morgan, "and Peter's school is on the list of potential choices for debut tours."
Peter slumped, a small groan escaping him when he noticed the sly smirk on Tony's face.
"But not to worry because I've already made my choice."
Peter perked up, smiling at the news and the frown that replaced Tony's smirk. "Really?"
Pepper set a squirming Morgan down, who ran over to climb on Peter's lap. "Yeah, I've already sent Midtown School of Science and Technology the email confirmation. The tour will be on Tuesday."
Peter groaned, slipping down the sofa. "Why? I expected this out of Tony, but you, Pepper? I'm wounded."
"And I love you," Tony said, proudness in his voice as he kissed Pepper.
"Ugh," Peter groaned and threw an arm over his eyes.
"Why are you sad, Petey?" Morgan asked, poking his ribcage.
Peter removed his arm and looked down at Morgan. "Your mom is a traitor and has stabbed me in the back."
"You're overreacting," Tony mused, ruffling Peter's hair. "I won't embarrass you too much."
Peter wished he could skip the whole field trip and skip to next Wednesday. Unfortunately, Peter doesn't think Dr. Strange will let him use the time stone for selfish reasons.
The only highlight was that a few minutes later, his phone vibrated in his pocket. MJ texted him that she got home and saw a man chase down a bird after it pooped on him.
*
Friday came all too soon, and Peter already knew that Pepper picked his school, and by the way Mr. Harrison practically vibrated throughout the class, he knew too.
"I still can't believe Pepper did this to me," Peter mumbled, scribbling down notes.
"Think about the good things, Peter," Ned whispered.
"Oh, yeah? What's that?"
"You can finally prove Flash wrong, and we'll be popular."
Peter sighed. "I would love to prove Flash wrong, Ned, but I just know that Tony will do something to embarrass me."
"You think the Avengers will be there?" Ned asked, completely missing Peter's dilemma.
"I don't think so. Cap, Bucky, and Sam are on a recon mission and aren't supposed to come back until Thursday. I don't know where Wanda or Vision is; they usually disappear for a few days. The only ones
I'm sure will be there is Bruce, Clint, and Nat, which doesn't help the whole 'My family is going to embarrass me' problem."
"MJ is right," Ned said, flipping a page to continue taking notes. "You're overreacting. I would be excited to be in your place."
"Okay! That's enough notes for today." Mr. Harrison put down the marker and walked over to his desk. "I am excited to tell you that Midtown got selected to be the first to get a tour of SI since the blip!"
The whole class cheered bar Peter, who slammed his head down on his notebook, sending his pencil flying somewhere.
"All right! All right! The permission slips, as well as the NDA's, are up here. Grab them as you go, and make sure you bring them in on Monday, or else you will not be able to come. The trip is on Tuesday."
Peter groaned, bringing his head up and down again on the table again and again until Ned slipped his hand under, and Peter's head hit Ned's hand instead.
"Ned," Peter whined. "Let me concuss myself, so I can guilt trip Tony into letting me skip the trip."
The bell rang, but Peter stayed hunched over, his head resting on Ned's warm hand. A shiver went down Peter's spine, his spidey sense alerting him to the person behind him. It took all of his control to stay still and let the person grab his shoulder.
"I can't wait to expose you, Parker," Flash seethed, pulling Peter up and squeezing his shoulder.
"Get out of here, Flash," Ned scoffed, pushing Flash's hand off Peter.
Peter gathered his things and got up, following Ned to the front of the class. He grabbed two sets of each document since MJ had missed class for a dentist appointment; he'll give it to her during lunch.
*
"The universe is out to get me," Peter mumbled into the couch cushions, his voice coming out slightly muffled.
Sam grabbed Peter's legs and raised them before sitting down. "It's Bucky's fault."
"It is not," Bucky argued. "The guy was a dick, I got the intel we needed, and we got to go home earlier. I say this a win in the playbook."
"A win?" Steve questioned from the kitchen where he was getting dinner ready. "Bucky, one more minute, and he would've died."
"As I said, he was a dick; he deserved to suffer a little more." Bucky shrugged, taking a seat on the other sofa. "Anywho, thanks to me, we're back in time for Peter's little field trip."
Peter raised his head and glared at Bucky. "And as I said, the universe is out to get me. No, no, this is Parker Luck."
Sam patted Peter's calf. "What do you think we're going to do?"
Peter huffed and wiggled around until he laid on his back. "It's not just you. Tony is probably coming up with a list of ways to embarrass me, and I don't doubt that Clint has some ideas, too."
"How does my Irish stew sound?" Steve poked his head out of the kitchen.
"I would be sticking to the ceiling from jumping of excitement, but this field trip just got a whole lot dreadful," Peter deadpanned.
"I'll take that as a yes, then," Steve mumbled, head disappearing into the kitchen.
Bucky got up, saying something about helping Steve with dinner, but Peter was too busy sulking to pay attention.
*
"Thank you, Peter." Mr. Harrison smiled as he took the papers from Peter. "Maybe when we're there, you can show us some of the works you've done there."
Peter's eyebrows shot up as his eyes widened. "Y-you believe me? About the internship?"
"Well, I'll be honest. At first, I thought it was just some ploy to get popular, but the paperwork is legit, so yeah, I believe you now."
Peter huffed out a laugh. "Wish everyone held the same belief." With that, he turned around and went to sit next to his best friend and girlfriend. His smile widened at the thought. Peter still got giddy when he remembered that he was dating MJ, that MJ chose to be with him.
"What's got you smiling?" MJ asked, the tiny quirk to her mouth proved her amusement.
Peter shook his head, knowing that MJ didn't like showing too much PDA at school. "Nothing, just happy that Mr. Harrison believes me about the internship."
MJ raised an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure the only people who don't believe you are Flash and the entire school."
Peter scoffed. "Yeah, only."
*
"Well, kid, I'll see you in a bit," Tony mused over his third cup of coffee. Peter still doesn't understand how Tony can drink so much coffee in the short amount of time from 6 when he wakes up (if he ever went to sleep) and 7:30 when Peter wakes up to eat breakfast. It's not like the coffee affects him since most of his food intake consists of coffee and pizza.
"Fo," Peter said through a mouthful of his second stack of pancakes. He finished chewing and swallowed. "No. You are to stay up in the penthouse and not bother me. Pepper's orders."
Tony stared at him, narrowing his eyes. "If I call Pep and ask her, will she tell me the same thing?"
Peter held Tony's gaze but gave in, body deflating. "No, but it was worth a try. Could you please just stay up here? It's five hours; you can hole up in the lab and get started on the updates to Nat's Widow Bites."
Tony set his mug down and clicked his tongue. "That would be a very tempting offer, but lucky for you, I finished the updates early this morning."
"Which means you need to catch up on sleep," Peter fought back after finishing the last bit of his scrambled eggs.
"I've functioned on less than three hours," Tony said smugly.
Peter froze, the glass of orange juice halfway to his lips. A sweet thought prodded his mind, and he smiled, setting the glass down. "It would be a shame if Pepper found out you only slept three hours."
"You've been spending too much time with Nat and Bucky," Tony said, but Peter could see his resolve crumbling. "Fine. I'll stay out of your hair, but I can't speak for the rest."
Peter's smile slipped away. He knew that he couldn't manipulate every Avenger to leave him alone for the day; he doesn't have anything on Sam or Nat. Yet. Peter glared at Tony and finished his juice before getting up, slinging his backpack over his shoulder.
"Good luck, Pete." Tony's amusement made the sentiment fall short.
Peter found it ridiculous that Happy was driving him to school just to get on a bus that would take him right back home. Either way, he smiled and waved goodbye to Happy as he climbed out. Happy doesn't usually drive or pick him up, but Tony put him on chauffeur duty for the month because of something neither man will tell Peter.
Everyone was buzzing with excitement, standing in small circles outside the bus.
"Peter!" Mr. Harrison exclaimed. "Good, now that everybody's here, we can get going."
With that, everyone clambered into the bus, and Peter followed Ned to the very back. They took the last two seats on each row.
"I'm so excited, dude!" Ned exclaimed, face split into a huge smile. "Do you think Dr. Banner will be able to answer some questions?"
"You've been to the tower before, Ned," Peter retorted. "You've had dinner with all of the Avengers."
Ned rolled his eyes, but his smile stayed. "This is different, Peter! I get to see the cool parts of your internship! Like the machines you and Mr. Stark work on, or the work you help Dr. Banner and the other interns with!"
"So living with the Avengers isn't the cool part?"
"It's too early to be happy," MJ grumbled as she neared the back, eyes barely open. She slumped down next to Peter, resting her head on his shoulder. "Or to be awake."
Peter smiled and wrapped an arm around her. He learned the hard way that MJ was not a morning person, but she was very cuddly when she was sleepy, so it evened out.
"I'm surprised you came, Penis." Flash laughed, choosing a seat, but propping a knee up to stare at Peter. "Didn't think you'd want to be around when everyone realizes you're a fake."
Before Peter could tell Flash to shut up, MJ spoke up. "Flash, if you don't shut up and stay that way for the rest of the ride, I'll tell everybody what happened during the summer before freshman year."
Peter's eyes flitted between MJ, whose eyes were still closed, and Flash, whose eyes widened and lowered himself.
"What happened the summer before freshman year?" Peter whispered so only they could hear.
MJ snuggled in closer, her curls tickling the back of his neck. "Tell you later. Wake me up when we get there."
Peter bit back a laugh so he wouldn't disturb her and rubbed small circles on her arm.
*
At the tower, Clint had fallen out of the vents on top of Flash. Nat, not so subtly, threatened anyone who hurt Peter. Tony somehow got away from Pepper and did embarrass him. Steve and Bucky were the good/bad cop as they gave an impromptu speech on bullying when they noticed Flash shoving Peter around. Dr. Banner (bless him) just answered questions and was perfect. But every time Peter would groan at his embarrassing family, he still wouldn't change it for the world. Plus, MJ squeezed his hand every time and rubbed her thumb against his palm, so the trip wasn't a complete disaster.