Chapter 1
Field-trip. Usually reason for a rather happy mood – except for today. At least from Peter's side, since the destination was the famous Stark-Tower. Half a year ago it would have been awesome for him, too, but now, that he was actually living in the Tower, it would probably get slightly – read: extremely – embarrassing.
Ned found this circumstance incredibly amusing, thus naturally he kept reminding his friend of the upcoming journey.
So did Flash. As soon as all the students had entered the bus, he sat down behind the two best friends and immediately snickered: “So, you scared already, Penis?”
Peter rolled his eyes in annoyance. “Shut up, Flash.”
“Why, because you have to concentrate on coming up with a believable excuse why you can't join the tour?”
“No, because I don't want to listen to your stupid comments for the whole drive!” It had gotten worse over the course of the past week; Flash had made it to his very own obsession to remind the other boy of the upcoming field-trip and had made it very clear that he'd make it to living hell until then, and afterwards of course, as well. By now, everybody believed that Peter would be exposed as a liar and they were looking forward to some nice drama, even though Ned kept telling them that they had been there when Stark had called. In the beginning it had worked, but now they had constructed the wildest theories as to why it must have been a hoax.
The only thing that made this day a little bit less terrible, was that for once he hadn't forgotten his badge. He had taken to storing it with the rest of his Spiderman stuff at school underneath those lockers, because his backpacks had the tendency to disappear. That had led to a lot of times where Tony had had to come down to let Peter in, which had been rather embarrassing. That wouldn't happen today, so that was good.
Probably.
Peter was sure the Avengers would find ways to 'coincidentally' be on the same floor as his class anyway.
Finally, after a drive that had felt like an eternity, they reached the tower. For now the other students ignored Peter; the gigantic building was more interesting. They walked into a huge lobby and were greeted by a young man, whom Peter recognized as Dean, an actual intern.
Dean nodded at the younger boy. “Hey Peter, didn't know this was your class.”
“I hope the others didn't, either.”, he grumbled.
The guide laughed and playfully boxed Peter in the shoulder. Then he turned to the other students who had been watching with growing interest. “Hi, I'm Dean. I'll be your tour-guide for today. Before we start, I'll have to explain a few ground rules to you.” He tapped on a black badge that was pinned to his shirt. “Everyone of you will get a badge like this, which will allow you access to certain parts of the tower. You will only be able to get around in my company though, or with somebody else whose clearance level his above Charlie-2.”
Immediately hands shot up, and Flash didn't even wait to get picked: “What different clearance levels are there?”
Peter rolled his eyes; Dean, who was probably used to this, explained: “There is Alpha, Beta and Charlie. Each of them have a clearance level from one to three. Alpha-1 is the highest level, only Tony Stark and two other persons have that. The lowest one is Charlie-3, that's you. I'm a level Charlie-1 and therefore have access to all the less important stuff. Though maybe we'll get lucky and one of the Avengers will come down and show us a few of the more interesting things.”
Excited mumbling went through the class at that. Most of them hoped it would be Captain America or Tony Stark, Peter prayed it would be Bruce.
“Before we get to that part, however, each of you will get a badge.” He started handing out white pieces of plastic, which the students eagerly pinned to their shirts. “They must be visible at all times; our head of security gets grumpy if he can't see them.” He paused at Peter and Ned, who were trying to look inconspicuous. He smiled at them. “You two have yours I hope?” They nodded and pinned them to their chests. Peter's was red and gold, Ned's was green. Flash squinted at them, but didn't say anything. He was probably waiting for a better chance. “Well then, let's go. You'll have to go through that thing over there” He pointed at to scanners. “And scan your badges. It will announce your name and your clearance level.”
Dean went through first, and Jarvis' voice spoke up, although it was without its usual warmth. “Dean Winchester, Charlie-1, Intern. Welcome, Mr. Winchester.”
“This is Jarvis, by the way”, the young man explained with an amused grin when he saw the surprise on the children's faces. “He's Mr. Stark's AI and much nicer to people with Alpha clearances.”
Now, one by one, the students walked through the scanner, each one smiling proudly when Jarvis announced: “Name, Charlie-3, Visitor. Welcome, Name.” Even the teacher, Mr. Brown looked delighted at the greeting. Only MJ gave the scanner a bored glance.
Flash wasn't an exception; he looked like he'd start floating any moment, the way he had put his shoulders back and was pushing out his chest. Peter found that rather funny, right until he had to scan his badge, too.
“Peter Parker, Level Alpha-1, Status classified.” Jarvis' voice changed into something much warmer and occasionally sassier. “Hello, Peter. I didn't expect you back so soon. Do you wish to alert Mr. Stark?”
“It's fine, thanks Jarvis.”, Peter hurriedly said, and avoided looking at the others. He could still feel their stares and Ned's grin.
At last it was Ned's turn and the AI announced: “Ned Leeds, Alpha-3, Friend. Welcome Ned. How was your day?”
“Fine so far.”, the boy said, while he turned a nice shade of red. “Thanks.” Neither of them were used to this much attention, and it didn't help that it wasn't only their class who were watching them, but also basically the whole lobby.
The two boys had barely made it back to their group, when Flash popped up behind them. “Why the hell is your status classified?!”, he whisper-shouted angrily and pointed an accusing finger at Peter. Then he turned to Ned: “And you? 'Alpha-3, Friend'?? What's that supposed to mean?!”
Peter sighed. “Listen, Flash, I know you don't like it and all, but I do have an internship here and sometimes I have to go to classified floors.” Suddenly he heard a slight shuffling-noise from the vents above their heads. He nervously shot a look at the ceiling. “So please stop bugging me about it!”
It was only seconds after, that Clint jumped from the vents above their heads. He grinned proudly at the shocked faces of the students and Mr. Brown. He turned to Peter: “Heya Pete, didn't know you'd be coming with your class today.”
“Yeah you did, you try this kinda crap every single time I enter the building and sometimes even twice when I bring somebody new.” The teen rolled his eyes. He didn't like to admit it, but his heart was racing. Not because Clint had actually taken him by surprise, but because he didn't want to face the others. There'd be so many questions as to why he talked to an Avenger like that. “Do the others know that I'm coming, too?”
“Ts, you're such a smartass.” The archer pouted. “And yes, they know. I think Bucky is gonna want to have some fun. Also Loki is kinda grumpy today.”
“Did he say a number?”
“No.”
“I'll go to him later.”
Before much else could happen, Dean called them to the elevator. “Follow me, guys. I know Mr. Barton is an Avenger and all the way interesting, but we only have a limited amount of time.” He waited for them to follow his orders, slowly prying their eyes off the archer. Him and Peter fist-bumped. “Our first destination is floor 68.” The group of students did their best to cram together so that they'd all fit into one elevator, while at the same time trying not to stand too closely together. “Floor 68 has normal business, but also philanthropic research areas.” Dean smiled brightly. “That's where I work, too.”
For the next two hours, Peter tuned out everything and just followed the group without paying attention. He'd been in every room a thousand times, had worked there, had befriended other people and sometimes he'd cause a little trouble when he'd been bored.
Also he was looking for signs of an Avenger who might want to 'say hello'.
It went surprisingly smooth in the beginning. Then, however, Dean approached him, together with Mr. Brown.
“Hey Pete.” The intern spoke quietly, as not to catch the attention of the other kids, who were currently listening to a scientist who was talking about robotics. “I called Ms. Potts because of the whole clearance thing and she said that we'd be allowed into the gym. But because the Avengers refused to come down and bring us up, she said that you could do it.”
Peter swore under his breath. Then he looked up. “Of course.” He shook his head. Earth's mightiest heroes, too lazy to take a small group of students up a few floors. “Fine, I'll do it.”
“Peter, maybe you shouldn't.”, Mr. Brown then said, worry in his eyes. “I know you have this internship, but perhaps it's a bit over the top with the whole Alpha-1-thing? You probably wanted to impress your classmates, but it's better to tell the truth now than to be embarrassed later.”
“Thanks for your concern, but I promise you, it'll work.” Great, not even his teacher believed him. Not enough, anyway. To his relief, the man didn't ask any more questions, even though his raised brow was enough of an expression. Maybe he wanted to see how Peter embarrassed himself, as well.
Ten minutes later and they were on their way again. Peter thought that maybe the gym might actually be interesting, since it was always fascinating to watch the Avengers fight. Maybe even enough to be worth the stares he got, when he scanned his badge in the elevator, was once again greeted by Jarvis and then said: “Floor 86.”
“Shakespeare in the park.”, started the AI.
“Doth mother know you weareth her drapes.”, replied Peter without hesitation. It was a standard procedure to use codes whenever somebody brought a larger group of people to a secure floor. The only flaw was, that they had to change those codes every few weeks and Clint had complained that he kept forgetting them, to which Tony had called him Birdbrain and Natasha had pointed out that the archer never brought home any groups, anyway.
The teacher looked more than surprised, but he didn't say anything. Flash squinted at Peter; something about the nerd's calmness threw him off. Of course the internship couldn't be real, there was no doubt about that, but there was no denying, that at least something was going on. Something regarding Tony Stark.
The doors of the elevator opened and the class entered a hallway. There were four doors on the left side and four doors on the right. At the end of the hall, there was a door with a window in it.
“Um … Peter, since you know these floors better than I do, would you mind explaining the doors to us?”, Dean asked with an apologetic smile. Even though he tried to hide it, it was clear as day how excited he was.
“... okay.” The teen sighed. He could already see the stupid comments and unnecessary questions coming. He stepped forward and gestured around as he said: “The doors on the sides are the changing rooms of the Avengers. The door at the end is the actual gym.”
“Which door is for which Avenger?”, a girl from the back asked.
“Uh on the left side from the front to the back are The Falcon, Black Widow, Captain America and the White Wolf, on the right side are War-Machine, Hawkeye, Mr. Stark and Spiderman.”
“Who the hell is White Wolf??”, Tom asked.
“... also known as the Winter Soldier, but he doesn't like that name very much, for obvious reasons.” Peter shook his head, a few of the other giggled. “Honestly man, do you never watch the news or something?” He shot a look at Ned, who was having the time of his life and suppressed a grin. “Anyway. I don't know who's in the gym right now, just be careful because sometimes they throw things through the room that are not usually meant to be thrown through a room.”
Flash seemed ready to drop one of his legendary comments at that, probably to express his doubt about Peter's expertise on this subject, but the other teen was already walking towards the entrance of the gym. He entered and ducked, just in time to avoid being hit by the heavy weight-disk of a bench press, which left a dent in the wall behind his head. He picked it up and threw into the direction where it had come from.
A metal-armed assassin with man-bun caught it and gave the teen a bewildered look. Then he caught sight of the students behind Peter, otherwise he might have challenged him to a fight.
Dean didn't seem to want to say anything to the situation, so Peter grumbled something under his breath and then said: “As you can see, Steve and Bucket are currently training.” In a sudden surge of annoyance, he added: “Considering the intensity with which they're going at it, I'd say they're having trouble in their relationship.” With a shit-eating grin he continued: “What's it this time? Did Steve leave his socks on the floor again? Or did Bucky make another self-depreciating comment?”
“Dude, are you crazy??” Surprisingly, that's when Dean decided that he hadn't disappeared yet. “You can't just talk to them like that! You can't call him Bucket!!”
“Buck wouldn't even harm me if he went into Winter Soldier mode.” Peter grinned. “And he's way too shy to make a scene in front of strangers.”
“I suppose you'd know.”, Flash growled. He looked more than pissed by now. Why did two Avengers let a nerd talk to them like that??
“I do actually, yes.”, Peter snapped. This whole trip was beginning to fall on his nerves. He'd had to endure Flash's stupid comments, the stares of his classmates and the gentle but irritating reminder of Mr. Brown, that nobody believed his internship was real.
That's when Steve came over. He wiped over his face with a towel. “Everything okay over here?”, he asked.
Peter nodded shortly, but didn't honour the soldier with words. Flash remained silent in some form of shocked awe. Ned answered instead of Peter: “Hey, Mr. Steve. I think Peter's just a little tired.”
“Yeah and I know why.” The soldier clicked with his tongue disapprovingly; the teen had stayed up until two am. Him, Bucky and Peter walked a few steps away from the group, so they could talk a little more in private.
Bucky looked at the teen with something like warm concern. He knew there was something off, since the usually so polite and bright teen was now salty and snapped at people. He didn't normally behave like this, even when he really was tired after a long night out. He didn't like it when there was something wrong with his little brother.
“It's not just that. This whole trip is just exhausting me.” Once again Peter ignored the persistent stares and whispers. “I'm not used to all this attention.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”, Bucky softly asked and gently squeezed his shoulder.
“Maybe later.” Peter gave him a thankful smile. “Right now it's fine. Just … give them something so they forget I'm here.”
“Are they bothering you?!” Steve snapped his head around and scanned the group, but the teen jerked him back with surprising strength. It didn't go unnoticed by Flash.
“Not now, Steve!”, Peter whisper-yelled. “It's fine!”
“Mhm.” Bucky raised a brow. “We'll talk about this later.”
“Fine. Just show them something.”
'Something' turned out to be a fight with Captain America for everybody who wanted. Naturally, Flash was the first to try – and five seconds later he was laying on the floor. Of course now everyone had to show that they could do better than that and, without exception, they hit the mat within seconds. The only one who lasted longer than one hit, was MJ, because she managed to stare Steve down for several moments while he shifted uncomfortably, before dodging his first attack. Students respectfully retreated when she returned to them with her usual bored expression, although her eyes were glowing.
“What about you?”, Bucky then asked, and grinned at Peter, who was hiding behind his class. Steve stepped aside and pretended to wipe his face with a towel.
The teen cursed the older man internally and gave him a dirty look. “What about me?”
“Don't you want to take a turn, too?” His grin slowly transformed into a devilish smirk.
“Not really, no.”, Peter snapped.
Ned gave him a push from behind and addressed the soldier: “Of course he does, Mr. Barnes, Sir!” He gave his best friend an encouraging – read: threatening – smile.
“Traitor!”, the other teen whispered, but he accepted his fate and stepped onto the mat. He squinted at Bucky and quietly asked: “What are you planning?”
“You missed our training yesterday.”, came back the reply.
“You know as well as I do, that Ned was here and I couldn't just let him sit on the side like a lonely puppy!”
“Doesn't change the fact that you missed it. Besides, you look like you could use a small fight.”
“Then at least make it look harder than it is.” No need to reveal his identity today, no thanks! Maybe some other time.
The soldier gave him an offended look. “We'll see about that!”
Without any warning, he attacked the boy. It wasn't harmless play like Steve had done with the class, but full on Avenger-Mode. He even used the small knife he liked so much.
Peter's brain shut down, his senses took over. There was no room left for worrying about the other students who were watching him, since there was the very real possibility that he might get stabbed if he didn't pay attention. This whole surreal situation just went to the back of his mind and took a nap, while reflexes and muscle-memory worked together with his Spider-Senses and turned the teen into a skilled fighter.
Bucky jumped forward and faked a punch with his metal-arm, and immediately followed with the other hand with the knife. Peter managed to dodge it by ducking and when he got back up with a backflip, he rammed his knee into the soldier's stomach.
Barnes didn't even wince. He went for another attack with his weapon and Peter had to catch the metal-arm, so he wouldn't end up with a cut. He pried open the fingers around the blade so that it dropped to the floor and grinned when he remembered their fight at the airport. “Dude, you have a metal-arm??”, he exclaimed, just like then. “That is so cool!” He snickered and happily dodged a kick that was aimed for his head.
About then, Steve stepped in. “Alright, time's up.”, he announced and clapped his hands.
Peter grinned at him, turned around – and froze. His whole class was standing there, staring with their mouths wide open. Flash seemed a little green in the face, Ned looked slightly horrified, but mostly excited. MJ was unimpressed as always, but Mr. Brown appeared to be slightly in shock. The young Avenger glanced at Steve. “Did they see all that?”, he asked, trying to keep his voice quiet. He was faintly aware that it didn't work that well, but it didn't really make any difference. There was no use in pretending that this fight hadn't happened.
“Dude!”, a classmate suddenly called with an excited grin. “That was awesome!!”
“... thanks, Tom.”, Peter sighed. He had a feeling that his day could only get worse from here. There'd be so many questions; questions he couldn't answer. Although maybe he could just say that he had trained with Bucky a few times during his internship. For that to work, the others had to really believe the internship-story first. However, that shouldn't be too hard. He had access to everywhere, after all, also sooner or later the others would notice the familiarity with which he treated the Avengers. He cleared his throat. “He made it look easier than it was.”, he added.
“I did not.” Bucky grinned at him proudly. “Nat just trained you too well.”
“What, Nat as in Natasha Romanov??”, Flash gasped. He seemed to be constantly losing the colour of his face as he remained in a state of shock. Peter had to suppress a grin. He wasn't supposed to enjoy this, but he had to admit that it was extremely satisfying to watch his bully getting put into place for once in his life.
“Yep.” The soldier turned to Steve. “Now, Cap, how about some lunch?”
“Sounds great, Buck.” The man turned towards Mr. Brown. “Sir, if it's okay with you, we would like to take your class to our private common room. A few of the other Avengers should be there, too.”
“Uuh I mean yeah, but um may I ask why?”, the teacher stammered with wide eyes. “I mean I'm honoured but uh … why?”
“Oh, because it's Peter's class.”, Steve said like it was the most normal thing in the world.
“...right.”
“Pete, we'll follow you in a minute, but we have to clean up first. Can you take your class up to the common room?”
The teen nodded. If he was going to go down, he wouldn't fight it. There was no use in it anyway, since the Avengers would take that as another opportunity to embarrass him. “Which one? 93rd or Loki's?”
“93rd. I don't think he's in the mood for visitors today. He threatened to turn Clint into an actual hawk twice already and he snapped at Nat.”
“Oh wow she's going to hurt him for that.”, Peter snorted. “Please tell Clint to get out of the vents, though. I don't want anybody to have a heart attack and I can hear him anyway. Besides, he's already had his fun in the lobby.”
Steve gave him a doubting look. “I can try.”, he finally said. “But I can't promise anything.”
In the time it took to get everybody back into the elevator and go up seven floors, the other students used the opportunity to stare at Peter with fascinated curiosity, although nobody really talked. Even Flash remained silent, though the reason for that might be that he was so shocked that he had lost his voice. Peter hoped it would stay that way for some time longer
The elevator dinged. The students stepped into a large room and were instantly presented with a certain redhead on the couch, playing absently with her favourite knife while reading in a book.
It was dead silent in the room. Or at least the students were; the TV was running and Sam and Rhodey, who were sitting at the kitchen-island behind the couch, were eagerly following and discussing the news. While eating cereal out of Clint's purple bowls and drinking coffee. Peter groaned internally, but put on a brave smile when Rhodey spotted him, grinned, and walked towards the group, still holding his mug in one hand.
“Hey Rhodes.”, the teen greeted, and once again ignored the other's stares. “How's things?”
“Oh you know, alright.” The older man smirked. “May tried to make pancakes this morning but it didn't work.”
“Did she manage to set the oven on fire yet?” It was only a matter of time, really.
“No, but Clint did, like half an hour later. He tried to make his coffee-pancakes again. I'm not sure whether Tony will ban him from the coffee-maker or the oven for that.”
Peter snorted. “Probably the oven.”
“Yeah, probably.” Rhodey turned to Mr. Brown. “You must be Mr. Brown.”, he said with his official smile and offered his free hand. “Colonel Rhodes.”
“Um … yeah.”, the other man stuttered and tried desperately not to turn red – and to avoid staring at the gigantic head of Hello Kitty on the Colonel's otherwise black cup. He'd never admit it, but meeting five Avengers within half an hour was kinda overwhelming. “Nice to meet you.”
“Have you been told why you're allowed up here yet?”
“Well Mr. Rogers said because Peter is part of this class?”, the teacher answered hesitantly. He didn't seem too sure about the validity of that reason.
“I mean yeah, that's part of the reason, I guess. Otherwise there'd probably no point in you being here.” The Colonel didn't specify whether he meant 'here' as in 'the tower', or as in 'the private common room of the Avengers'. Nobody thought about asking him.
Suddenly there was a call from one of the bedrooms: “Hey Sam, is Peter here already?”
“Yep, he's here.”, the falcon yelled back from the kitchen-island and added with a grin: “Do you need him for Spidey?”
“Yes, he was supposed to bring me his suit like two days ago but didn't, so now I have to fix it within the next five hours or Tony is going to kill me.” It was at that moment, that Peter realized that he'd never live this day down.
“What, Spider-Man's suit??” Flash turned another shade of green. “But why would Parker have it?”
Bruce exited the small library attached to the main common room, a book in his hands. He stopped dead in his tracks when he noticed the pile of strangers. “Who-who's that?” He looked at Peter, who gave him an apologetic smile. He knew how much the scientist hated being close to larger groups of people. It made him nervous. “Are they with you?”
The teen nodded. “Yep. It's my class. I don't know what Tony is planning, but I have a feeling that it's nothing good.”
“Why would Parker have the Spidey-suit??”
“It almost never is. Remember that one time where he had the genius idea to make a coffee machine that only worked at certain times of the day and only let each person have three cups a day?”
Peter grinned. How could he ever forget? “Clint didn't function for the whole week and Tony found ways to cheat.”
“Penis Parker with the suit of a hero???”
Unfortunately for Flash, that's when Bucky and Steve arrived – and Bucky had heard. He really didn't like the nickname his little brother had gotten. Nobody was allowed to call him names! The assassin walked through the group of students, stepped behind the bully and put a hand on his shoulder. He leaned forward, until his lips were next to the boy's ear and quietly announced: “You call him that again and I'll cut off your tongue.”
Steve had followed his lover and now gently lead him towards the kitchen. “Bucky, we talked about this. You can't just threaten people like this.”, he firmly said, a frown on his forehead.
“I can, if it's the bully of Pete!”, came back the grumpy answer, accompanied by a pout. Bucky lifted himself onto the kitchen-island and dangled his legs back and forth.
“... fine.”
Bruce cleared his throat. “Uh Pete, I don't suppose you have it with you?”
“I always have it with me Brucie.”, the teen smiled and walked towards him. “I can give it to you in a minute.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “I have to take it off first, though.”
“Sure. I'll just wait in the library then.” The two turned around and vanished into the smaller room, leaving behind a rather stunned group of students plus one teacher, minus one smug Ned – and MJ. She was drawing into her book of people in crisis.
Suddenly there was a cry from above, and a certain archer fell from the ceiling. He'd probably wanted to wait until Peter came back, but now he came flying down to the floor, missing the couch-table just by a couple of inches, accompanied by a ceiling-tile.
He quickly jumped to his feet, trying to look like the whole stunt had been planned. He squinted at the children in front of him, who looked rather spooked at the sudden intrusion. They didn't make a noise though. Maybe they'd silently agreed that being quiet would be the best strategy here. Just in case the whole situation was some kind of dream and they'd wake up if they spoke. “Is that Pete's class?”, he asked Natasha, who hadn't even flinched.
“Yes.”, the spy answered and raised an eyebrow at the man. “He'll be back in a minute, Bruce needed him.”
“For what??”
“Avengers business.”
“Like Spidey-business?”
“... Clint, how did you manage to get into Shield? You have the intellect of a five-year-old.”
“Well it was either that or having me running around on the streets. Fury was probably worried I'd become a criminal.”
“No, I don't think that's it.” She gave him a thoughtful look. “I think he just wanted your skills.”
The archer raised the back of one hand to his forehead and let out an exaggerated sigh. “Oh my god, the Black Widow admitted I have skills!”
“Mixed with your stupidity it makes a great mix.” Natasha smirked and buried her nose back in her book, ignoring the offended looking archer.
A second later Peter came back into the room, his eyes glowing in the way they always did whenever he'd science-talked with Bruce. He grinned at the sight of Clint, who was covered in dust from the vents. “Were you too heavy for the ceiling?”
“No, the ceiling is just a weak ass bitch,” the archer grumbled and avoided the cup aimed for his head. He shot Bucky a filthy look.
The assassin stared him dead in the eye and scolded: “Language.” Steve groaned.
“Um …” Mr Brown cleared his throat. “I have a question.”
Rhodey turned towards him and took a sip from his coffee. “Sure.”
“Why exactly are we here? No offence, but this doesn't seem very … educational.”
Steve raised an eyebrow. He was probably wondering how on earth meeting Captain America wasn't educational. Still, he knew that today wasn't about himself anyway. “None taken.”, he lied. “You know, this whole trip serves only one purpose. It's about Peter.”
“Because of the whole Internship-thing??” Flash's face went back to a more normal shade at the thought that the Avengers only planned this field-trip because they wanted to teach Parker a lesson.
“...no.” Steve frowned. “It's just that we have something to announce. And before we go public with it, we need to make sure he has a safe environment.”
Ned shot Peter a worried glance, while the teen himself looked like he was going to be sick. “Uuh … Steve??”, he croaked, and tucked on the super-soldier's arm. “A word please??!” They stepped aside a little, so they wouldn't be heard by the others and the young hero whisper-yelled: “What the hell is this all about?? What's the announcement?!”
Steve put a hand on the younger one's shoulder, in the hopes of calming him. Peter shook him off. The soldier sighed. “Listen, Tony and us talked about this. We know that you two talked about revealing your identity already.”
“So you decided you'd just do it, without asking me whether I'm okay with that??” He huffed angrily and continued: “Cause I'm really not!”
“That's not the whole story.” He glanced at the curious faces of the other students. “We got notice that somebody knows about you. And they threatened to reveal your identity. He sent us a video where you – not the real you, but it sure looks real – beats up some innocents. We need to make sure that only the right informations go public. You cannot risk your reputation as the friendly neighbourhood Spiderman.”
“Steve, I don't care about things like reputation!”
“You should. What do you think is going to happen if you want to save somebody, but they saw the video and suddenly call for help – from you? The media is going to eat you alive and I can't imagine that that will feel nice.”
Peter bit his lip as he thought about it. Sure, he was scared about revealing his identity. He'd put his loved ones in danger and there'd be a lot more opportunities to harm him. He would become a bigger target. But on the other hand, he finally wouldn't have to make up excuses as to why he looked like he ran into a door and the door had punched back most of the time. Or why he was late to so many lessons – or skipped them altogether. And all the sick-days … he wouldn't have to lie so much any more. Not that he was any good at it, but it still didn't feel nice to have to make so many weak excuses. And Steve was right, it would be the worst thing in the world if he couldn't be Spidey any more.
“Fine,” he finally said, although he still didn't look happy about it. “But please make it believable.”
“Why wouldn't they believe you?”
“They don't even believe I have an internship here. I highly doubt they'll believe I'm Spiderman.”
“Just wait until Tony gets here. And don't let that hear Bucky, he'll make a scene.”
“I know.” The teen pulled a grimace at the thought. Last time Bucky had found out that somebody had been rough towards Peter, he'd gone there and threatened to kill them slowly, should he ever hear about anything like this again. Needless to say that Clint hadn't dropped that for two weeks. “Hold on when does Tony get here?”
Steve looked at his watch. “About … now.”
The elevator dinged and Tony Stark stepped out of it, hesitating slightly at the sight of the students, until his eyes found Peter and he smiled brightly at him. “Hey there, kid,” he greeted. “This your class then?”
“Yep. Steve already told me why we're all here.” The teen squinted at the genius, trying to signal that he wasn't happy about it.
The message seemed to come across, since the mechanic frowned apologetically. “Sorry. I wanted to talk to you about it before, but then I kind of … forgot.”
“I know.” Peter smiled warmly. “You were busy with Loki's suit.”
“He needs protection too, you know.”
“I know.”
The story with Loki was the following: he had once again gotten into trouble and had gotten heavily injured. Thor had been very worried, so he'd taken his brother to the Avengers, so they'd look after him while the God finished whatever business he had. For obvious reasons, it had been rather difficult in the beginning. Nobody trusted the mischievous man, except for Peter, who'd soon become friends with him.
They had even established a system, so that whenever they saw each other, Loki would say a number from one to ten. The higher the number, the more he felt like doing something bad. If it was one of those higher numbers, Peter would watch a movie with him or they'd talk or go outside and do good things.
It worked pretty well and the two had by now an equally close relationship as Peter and Bucky. The teen couldn't be happier, since the assassin and the trickster got along, too. Bucky knew what it felt like to have to do things without having a say in it. He knew what it meant to be tortured. He knew that every man broke under the right kind of pain.
And because Tony was well aware of the closeness of his kid and the god, he made sure that Loki was safe. He didn't want Peter to lose any more members of his family.
The mechanic turned towards the students, who were still gathered in front of the couch and gave them his best fake-smile. “So. You are Peter's class.” It sounded like an accusation, really. “Let's sit down, then.” He gestured at the couch and the table behind it, from where the kids could get some chairs. Natasha got up from the couch and joined the other Avengers in the kitchen, suspiciously eyeing the group.
It took them several seconds before the teenagers started moving, sitting down on the couch or pulling closer a few stools, hoping they were doing the right thing. A few of them whispered excitedly, but most of them remained silent – including Flash. He had taken on an ashen looking colour while his pale lips were pressed together, his jaw set.
Tony and Peter stayed just in front of the TV, more or less nervously avoiding the other's eyes – Peter – or keeping on a mask consisting of a false smile – Tony. Eventually Steve cleared his throat, reminding the two of their task.
The billionaire glanced at his kid, took a deep breath and finally said: “My name is Tony Stark”, he announced and put a hand on Peter's shoulder “and this is Peter Parker. We made up the story that he has an internship here, only -” He raised a hand to silence the questions already bubbling from the kids in front of him. Peter tried his best not to look like a deer caught in the headlights. “Only so we could cover up something else.”
Flash, who had until now regained a little bit of colour and had opened his mouth to declare that he'd been right all along, froze before a single noise could leave his throat as he heard that last part. And although he could see Peter squirming and avoiding everybody's eyes, the bully knew he wouldn't like it either. Flash looked to the side and saw that the Winter Soldier, Bucky as Peter had called him, had furrowed his brows, eyes dark with concern. Captain America was frowning and even The Black Widow looked slightly worried.
Stark took another deep breath. “Peter Parker is Spider-Man.”
It was dead silent in the room.
Then Flash started laughing. He was laughing until tears streamed down his face, while everybody else was looking at him as if he'd grown a second head. “No he's not,” he finally choked out, shaking his head repeatedly. “He can't be! He's just … he's just Parker, he's a nobody.”
Tony took a few steps towards the teen, moving himself in front of Peter. He squinted at the boy in front of him and was ready to threaten him into next Tuesday, but that's when Loki made an appearance. Nobody knew exactly where he'd come from. One second there was bug and the next second there was Loki, standing only inches away from the bully's face, stabbing a slender finger into his chest; his eyes were glowing green, his free hand was balled into a fist by his side, as he hissed: “You shall take back your offending speech about the Spider-Child! He is worth much more than you, who is but a mewling mortal!”
Flash nearly fell off his chair in fright, convinced he was going to be killed by the Trickster. It was Peter who saved him, which didn't really improve the situation.
“Loki,” the teen softly said and lightly pulled the god back a bit. “Which number?”
Loki huffed and turned around. “An eight,” he admitted and lowered his head, eyes closed as he took a deep breath.
“Is it okay for you if I come to you in like ten minutes? We just have to finish this.” Peter gave him an encouraging smile.
“Of course.”
“Thanks.” The teen watched as the Trickster walked back to the elevator and vanished behind its doors. Then he turned around, facing his class again. Flash once again looked slightly ashen with a hint of green. He'd probably walk out of this tower with his whole world-picture destroyed.
“Is there some kind of proof of that?” Mr. Brown was a little pale himself, but he managed to keep his composure. It was just slightly surprising that it was him of all people, who demanded proof.
“Peter, walk on the ceiling or something.” Tony smiled at his kid, trying very hard to look encouraging. “Maybe you can put back the ceiling-tile Clint broke.”
“...right.” Peter rolled his eyes at the genius, but he did as he was told. He jumped up, turned his body around mid-air and landed with both feet on the ceiling. Then he realized that he'd forgotten the tile on the floor and used his web-shooters to get it. After that, he clicked the cover into its place and jumped back to the floor. When he looked up, he was met with mostly excited and a few slightly horrified faces. Mr. Brown, for example, looked close to fainting, while Tony was glowing with pride.
Well, it was probably quite a shock to find out that this nerdy, scrawny boy, who was too socially awkward to survive school without being bullied a bit, was Spider-Man, a vigilante who beat up thugs, got thrown through walls and always had a snarky comeback on his tongue.
Peter waved and smiled shyly. “Hi. I'm your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.”
“What do you mean they 'just told them'??”, Pepper snapped at her phone. On the other end of the line was Steve, who seemed rather shy, although that was no surprise. A lot of people lost their confidence when confronted with an angry Pepper Potts. “This is a security risk! They should have talked with me about it and not just go and reveal Peter's identity! Who's idea was that? No, don't tell me, I know! It was Tony, wasn't it!?” She took a deep breath to calm herself down. “On which floor are they? Oh on the private common floor?? Great! Great, Tony, well done!” She hung up and pinched her nose with two fingers.
Today had been supposed to be an easy day, make a few phone calls, have a meeting with the staff, maybe get Tony to socialize a bit. Instead, she now had to deal with the identity reveal of a sixteen-year-old teenager, who liked to swing through New York in red spandex, while at the same time trying not to fail Spanish.
Pepper let out a groan and straightened out her jacket. Then she walked to the elevator and told Jarvis to take her to the 93rd floor.
“She's coming.” Steve put away his phone with a face of slight horror, although he tried to conceal it in front of Peter's class. They, of course, saw it anyway and started shifting in their seats, somewhat concerned about this unknown evil woman that was to come and possibly yell at them. “I don't think she's happy about this whole situation.”
“Oh boy, she's probably gonna ban me from the lab for a week.” Tony ran a hand through his hair. He looked over to Peter and had to hold back a smile at his slightly terrified face. “Don't worry, she thinks your an angel. She's not going to be angry with you.”
“Yeah, maybe, but she's going to be angry with you and the last time she banned you from the lab, you snapped at everyone and lived off of alcohol and coffee for three days!”
“That's nothing new, though.”
“It scared me.”
The mechanic gave the teen a soft smile and put both hands on his shoulders, crouching slightly so he could look Peter in the face. “I know that you're afraid that I'll lose control again like the time before Steve came back. And I'm sorry I put you through that, but it'll never happen again. Not like that, anyway. And it's not on you to get me out of these dark pits. You did a good job, and I don't think I could have done it without you, but you don't have to worry about me anymore. You hear me?” Peter nodded and pulled his lips into a small smile. Tony mirrored the expression and stood back up. “Good. Now let's explain a few ground rules to your classmates.”
The genius straightened up to his full height and opened his mouth to start a moving speech about how much he would hurt every single one of the teens if they ever hurt or betrayed Peter, but he was interrupted by the elevator opening and revealing two very angry women. One of them was Pepper Potts. The other one was May Parker.
The nightmare of one Peter Parker were those two women, practically steaming. Of course logically speaking he knew that he had nothing to fear, since a) the whole revealing-thing hadn't been his idea, b) he'd been against it and c) they both loved him and he knew it, yet he was still concerned. They'd probably make a scene in front of his class, and he wasn't exactly looking forward to that. He'd never live this day down, although he'd realized that like three hours ago.
“Anthony Stark, you will move your sorry butt and explain to me, why you thought it to be a good idea to reveal Peter's identity to his class!” She gestured wildly to the group of students, who tried very hard to disappear in their seats. “What did you do that for?!”
“Well, we'll have to reveal his identity very soon anyway, because of reasons and we wanted to make sure that he'd be in a safe environment before the whole world finds out. I thought this through, Pepper.” He smiled at her, hoping it would calm her down a little. It seemed to work, although he couldn't be sure whether it was because of his incredibly diplomatic words, or because of his smile, or because she'd just noticed Peter's puppy-eyes. He was pretty sure his argument had calmed her.
“And you didn't think to tell me??” May stopped right in front of the mechanic and poked a finger into his chest. “I'm his aunt! I have a right to know about these kinda things!”
“To be fair, I didn't tell Pepper either.” Tony took a small step back and hoped that nobody would notice.
To his relief, May had just found a new victim she could yell at: “Rhodey!” She strode over to the kitchen, where he was still sitting and pointed at him. “Did you know about this?!”
“Um … maybe?” He gave her a smile of which he hoped it would calm her. It didn't. He cleared his throat. “Tony knows what he's doing. He thought this through.”
“Oh did he know? Since when??”
“Since it's about Peter.”
May's expression softened a little at that. “Oh. Well, he better has a plan, otherwise this will not end well for him.”
“I think he knows that, honey.”
Peter could feel his cheeks heating up, but he resisted the urge to hide behind Tony, who was now looking way more confident again. “So.” The mechanic clapped his hands and caught the attention of the students. “You now know Peter's other identity. Some of you” He gave Flash an intense stare at that. “some of you may be tempted to sell that information or blackmail him or just use it to gain some fame, but I must disappoint you: we will give a press conference in like a week or two, revealing to the whole world who Spiderman really is. And the reason why I already told you, is that I want him to be safe. I want Peter to be safe from kidnappers and assholes and the press, which is basically the same. I would very much appreciate it, if you were kind enough to help him lay low for a couple weeks, until the whole hype around him has died down a little.” Tony made a small pause, in which he took the time to look at every single student, making sure to put a lot of distaste into his eyes. Then he continued: “I'm sure I don't have to tell you how bad I will fuck up your lives if you try to sabotage Peter's life and security. Comprende?” He smiled now.
The effect was immediate and rather convincing: the whole group had gone a little pale, some of them a little green and all of them were trying to hide in their seats. Well, except for Ned and Mj of course.
When Peter fell into his bed this evening, he couldn't fall asleep for a long time. He just stared at the ceiling and tried not to think about the next day and how awkward it would be to walk into class and have all of them knowing he was Spiderman. He wasn't sure he could deal with all the stares and whispers. He groaned and rolled onto his stomach when he realized that all that would only get worse in eight days, when the press-conference would be held, with him in the center of attention.
What a wonderful life he had.