POV: Peter Parker
I really, truly, am considering letting myself get stabbed right now.
The most severe con of having a doctor for a dad is the inability to fake being sick.
“Dammit.” I mutter to myself as I swing through the window.
I quickly strip from my suit and slide into my sweats, pulling an old t-shirt over my head.
A rap of knuckles at my door sends dread coursing through me again.
“Come in.” I say, flopping onto my bed.
Mr. Stark walks into my room with an exaggerated smile on his face.
“How’re we feeling about the field trip tomorrow?” He asks, sitting on the edge of my bed.
I cover my face with a pillow, groaning.
“C’mon Pete.” He says, gripping my knee. “It’ll be fun!”
“Dad, I am going to die.” I reply without taking the pillow away from my face.
He sighs, and I can just imagine him rolling his eyes.
“What’re you so afraid of?” He asks, squeezing my knee once.
I sigh, lifting the pillow up an inch to peer at him from under it.
Everything.
How could I not be afraid of my entire class coming to Stark Tower?
No one knows that I live here with my dad’s full time now.
Or even that the relationship between me, Tony Stark, and Stephen Strange has gotten to the point of family over the past year.
No one knows that I’m Spider-Man.
And Flash will be here.
In my house.
Great.
I just groan, dropping the pillow back down.
“It’s just embarrassing, dad.” I reply.
Another set of footsteps enters the room.
“Look,” Mr. Stark says, pulling my pillow away from my face and throwing it aside, “we promise to try our best to not embarrass you.”
He looks up at Doctor Strange as he walks to the side of my bed, wrapping his arm around Mr. Stark’s shoulders.
“I’ll tell everyone to keep their mouths shut, and if they slip up just come to me, ‘kay?” He says, looking back at me.
I nod, feeling more at ease now.
“Alright.” He says, standing up. “We’ll leave you alone then, sleep good kid we’ll see you in the morning.”
Mr. Stark reaches down and ruffles my hair before he turns to leave the room.
“Goodnight Peter.” Doctor Strange says, smiling before he turns to leave too.
“Night guys.” I reply, smiling at them as they shut the door.
Three hours.
The tour is only supposed to be three hours.
I can handle that, right?
I groan again as I pull the pillow back over my face.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Hey, Penis Parker!” I hear from the end of the bus.
Gross, my headache is already starting.
I roll my eyes, turning to face Flash.
“Not gonna be so cool once we prove that your Stark Internship is bullshit huh?” He asks, a smirk playing across his face.
I scoff, turning my back to him as I walk down the aisle, flopping into a seat.
“Yeah, whatever Flash.” I reply, putting my headphones in as I wait for MJ and Ned to meet me.
Luckily, Ned is the next person to get on.
“Dude, the Avengers are going to be there today, right?” He asks, sliding into the seat beside me before flooding me with questions about the agenda for the day.
“Are your dads going to be like…your dads while we’re there?” He asks.
I shake my head.
“No—yes—I don’t know!” I exclaim, covering my face with my hands. “It’s complicated, Ned.”
He opens his mouth to ask another question just as MJ walks up to us.
“Hey losers.” She says, sitting in the seat in front of us and leaning over the back to talk to us.
We settle into an easy conversation as we drive to the Tower.
My heart begins to beat quicker as we drive through the first set of security gates.
We get off the bus and step into the main floor as a group, and we’re talked through the safety procedures as we’re searched.
“We will first be headed to the common room where Natasha Romanov, better known as Black Widow, will be our tour guide.” The main security guard, Tom, explains.
I feel my face pale slightly as we walk into the next room.
Nat stands as we walk in, crossing her arms over her chest as she looks at us.
“Alright, first we’ll be going into the training area.” She says, gesturing to the entryway behind her. “I believe Captain Steve Rodgers and Agent Clint Barton are there now.”
She makes brief eye contact with me, winking quickly before looking away.
I hide behind Ned as we enter the training room.
Steve stands with his hands on his hips, saying something to Clint as he shoots an arrow straight into the center of the bullseye.
“Boys!” Nat yells as we walk in. “Students are here.”
I shrink even smaller behind Ned as the two men turn around.
“Wanna tell them a bit of what you do here?” Nat asks as the Steve and Clint walk closer to the group.
Cap smiles at the group, nodding.
“Well, as you can see, this is the training room.” He says, looking between different faces of my classmates. “We use this room to train for missions when we aren’t at the main compound.”
I tune them out, fiddling with my wristband as he talks about preparation for missions.
“Alright.” Nat says, clapping her hands together as Steve and Clint step away. “Next stop is one of Tony Stark’s labs, follow me please, and don’t touch anything.”
I groan.
“Kill me now.” I whisper to Ned as we follow behind the group.
He laughs quietly.
“Is Strange going to be in there?” He asks.
I shrug my shoulders in response, genuinely not knowing the answer.
We step into the large elevator, the one typically used for transporting vehicles or cargo.
“Natasha Romanov,” FRIDAY’s voice from the ceiling calls, and I hold my breath as she scans the elevator, hoping they told her to ignore me today, “where will you be going?”
I exhale, she did.
“Lab 3 please.” Nat answers, and the elevator begins to go up.
The class begins to chatter in excitement and look around with wide eyes as we move, and I laugh to myself.
Lab 3 is the boring one.
The elevator doors open, revealing the lab where Mr. Stark and Dr. Strange are having a conversation near a displayed Iron Man suit that I know usually doesn’t sit in this lab.
They both turn to face the group as we exit the elevator, smiling as they step closer.
“Hi, you all know me. Obviously.” Mr. Stark says to the group, opening his hands as he grins. “This here is Doctor Stephen Strange, he’s like, a wizard dude.”
Dr. Strange rolls his eyes, trying to fight a smile.
He makes brief eye contact with me, and quickly looks away.
“I’ve got…twenty minutes.” Mr. Stark says, checking his watch. “So, you can ask me whatever questions you want, and I’ll answer.”
Hands shoot up immediately.
The first few minutes go smoothly, until dad picks Flash to ask a question.
“Is Peter really your intern?” He asks, a huge smirk playing across his face.
Both Mr. Stark and Dr. Strange look at me and then look back at Flash.
“Yes.” He states simply. “He is. Next question.”
The class takes in a collective breath, almost everyone turning to face me with wide eyes.
It’s evident that almost no one believed that I actually was intelligent enough to work here.
Nice.
I feel my cheeks burn red, and I look down at my shoes.
“Bet they only picked Penis ‘cause he’s an orphan.” Flash mutters, loud enough for anyone in the room to hear.
My eyes widen as I snap my head back up, instantly looking to my parents in the front of the room.
“Sorry, what was that?” Mr. Stark says, stepping closer to the group.
Oh shit.
Here we go.
“Uh, it’s just a—a joke.” Flash stammers, taking half a step back.
Mr. Stark stares daggers into him as he takes another step closer.
“Really?” He asks. “Huh. Well, let’s test that theory then, shall we?”
He nods his head, gesturing for Flash to step forward.
He does, the color draining from his face.
Mr. Stark presses a couple buttons on a screen, sending the Iron Man suit up into the rafters as parts of another one come down into its place.
“This is one of my suits, Mark 29.” He tells him, stepping up onto the platform and making sure Flash follows.
The class watches in shocked silence, and Dr. Strange looks at me once with wide eyes.
“What is he doing?” Ned whispers to me.
“I don’t know.” I whisper back frantically.
“This particular suit was hit with a blast from some sort of alien weapon, not really sure what it was, but it took some damage on the blaster.” Mr. Stark continues, showing Flash the broken arm on the table. “Can you fix it?”
Flash puffs out his chest, nodding and stepping forward.
He looks at the arm, picking up a tool and inserting it.
Mr. Stark stands close behind him, watching over his shoulder.
I feel like I might pass out.
What if he does it?
That would only prove that he’s as smart as me, if not smarter.
The minutes tick by, the only sound in the room is the quiet clink of the metal and tools as Flash tries to work.
“There.” He says finally, smirking at the group. “Fixed it.”
Mr. Stark cocks one eyebrow.
“Try it on then.” He replies. “Let’s see.”
Flash swallows hard, slipping his hand into the metal arm.
“Just press forward with your palm to fire it.” Mr. Stark instructs him.
He nods, outstretching his arm.
He pushes forward with his palm, and the blaster fizzles out, quickly sparking and setting itself on fire.
Everyone gasps as Flash screams in pain.
“FRIDAY fire extinguisher.” Mr. Stark says calmly, and a robotic arm quickly douses the arm in thick, white foam.
Mr. Stark clicks his tongue condescendingly.
“Huh.” He says, clapping his hands together. “Weird.”
Flash looks up at him with wide eyes, gripping his arm.
“What?” He asks, anger in his voice.
Mr. Stark shakes his head.
“Nothing.” He answers. “Just that Peter over there,” he points at me, “was able to fix one of my suits on day one. No fire included.”
Hushed snickers echo throughout the group as the class laughs at Flash’s arrogance, and his failure.
I meet Dr. Strange’s gaze, and he smiles at me as he rolls his eyes.
Yeah, I can fix one of his suits, but of course the first time I met him was Spider-Man related, not science related.
“I’m smarter than Parker!” Flash shouts at the group, silencing them effectively.
Mr. Stark grabs his arm, still in the suit, and twists it back.
Flash cries out in pain as Mr. Stark pretends to examine the burns.
“Mhm.” He says. “Doc come check out the geniuses handiwork while I take the rest of the group down to the hangar, will you?”
The group erupts in laughter again as we leave a mortified Flash behind in the care of Dr. Strange, following Natasha and Mr. Stark back into the elevator.
“Dude, your dad is so cool!” Ned whispers as the doors close. “He totally owned Flash in front of everyone!”
I smile, nodding in agreement.
“Hey Peter.” MJ says, joining back up with me and Ned. “I didn’t know you were so involved over here, fixing Iron Man’s suits and all. That’s… pretty cool—or whatever.”
She shrugs off the complement before walking away, and my face fills with heat again.
Thankfully, the rest of the field trip is uneventful, and Mr. Stark convinces my teacher to let me stay behind at the Tower to “work” instead of return to the school to get picked up by May.
I say goodbye to Ned and stand in the doorway as my classmates board the bus.
Flash is unusually silent as he gets on, his arm now wrapped tightly in white gauze.
“So?” He says, stepping into the foyer as the bus drives away. “How’d we do?”
I turn to face him.
His fingers are laced tightly with Dr. Strange’s as they walk closer, both looking at me cautiously.
“Well…” I say, sighing and looking down at my shoes.
I peer up at them quickly, looks of concern cross their features.
“It was awesome!” I exclaim, smiling widely. “Did you see the look on Flash’s face when the arm caught on fire? Or when you called him out like that?”
Both men smile widely, and Mr. Stark reaches forward, wrapping me in a hug.
Doctor Strange’s arm wraps around me on the other side as they both laugh.
“While I don’t necessarily condone bullying 16-year-old’s,” Dr. Strange says, looking down at Mr. Stark, “it did seem well deserved.”
“Right?!” Mr. Stark exclaims. “’Penis Parker’? Like, what the hell is that?”
I laugh now.
We walk in towards the common room, and Natasha meets us inside.
“So, are we just not going to talk about MJ?” She asks, a sly smile pulling at her lips.
My cheeks burn as I look away.
“MJ?” Mr. Stark asks. “Who’s that?”
Nat laughs, walking over to me and putting her hands on my shoulders.
“Peter’s got a crush.” She says in a sing-song voice.
“I do not!” I interject, wriggling out of her grip and backing against the wall.
“Really?” She asks, narrowing her eyes. “Because she sure does seem to have a crush on you so if you—”
“Wait what?” I ask, not thinking before the words stumble out of my mouth.
Everyone in the room bursts into a fit of laughter, and I cover my face with my hands.
“Alright so anyway I’m going to go upstairs and lay on the floor pretending I’m dead now, let me know if you need anything.” I say as I turn, walking towards the stairs.
“Oh come on Pete!” Mr. Stark says, chasing behind me and steering me back into the room. “Nat says she likes you, go for it!”
I just shake my head, turning to leave again.
“Alright, alright, we’ll shut up.” He says, steering me back again. “Just don’t be all angsty teenager, stay down here with us for a while.”
I can’t help but crack a small smile at him as we walk over to the couches.
He sprawls across Doctor Strange’s lap on the couch as I sit in a chair across from Nat and make one last attempt to beat her at chess.
MJ did compliment me earlier… and Nat’s never been wrong before.
Maybe I will go for it.
Or maybe not.
Probably not.
Yeah, definitely not.