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After Peter got away from the kidnappers, he was fortunately spared being asked too many questions in favor of movie night, but the next day he wasn’t so lucky. Steve had ambushed him during breakfast, and his abrupt and not-at-all subtle question of “so how did your dad find out about Spider-man?” almost made him choke on his pancake.
He’d gotten out of that by saying he would tell him later but he needed to get ready for school.
Then on the elevator Clint was the one who found him, asking him about how Tony felt about his vigilante activities. “He must be pretty accepting considering he took you to Germany.”
“Well,” Peter shrugged, “he’s told me I’m the reason he has gray hairs, but if you ask me, I’d say he had them long before I ever became Spider-man.”
Clint snorted and let him go to school without much fuss.
Peter was actively avoiding the rest of the Rogues until he could work out more things with his dad about their cover, but he’s honestly debating if they should just tell them about their fake biological relation. Natasha must have already figured it out, and maybe even Clint did too considering he was also a trained spy.
Despite his efforts, he was still found by Natasha and Sam.
Needless to say, Peter wasn’t having the best of days when he got to school.
“Peter! Man, did you say you got kidnapped?!” Ned finds him instantly, his face both worried and excited. “Dude, that must have been insane. ”
“Good to see you too, Ned. And, eh, it was pretty anti-climatic after the first time. Did you say you got the new Lego set this weekend?”
“ Anti-climatic? Your life is so weird. And I did! It’s so cool, you’ve gotta come over—”
Suddenly, Peter’s spidey-sense goes off, and it takes everything in him not to jump over the foot now sticking out in front of him. Gritting his teeth, Peter lets himself stumble over Flash’s leg.
“Woah! Watch where you’re going, Penis. You’re going to love the field trip we’re going on soon.” Flash taunts, and Peter just rolls his eyes, prepared to keep going. “I chose the place myself. That’s the kind of power you have when you have parents that help fund the school.”
That causes Peter to tense up, and Ned looks over at him worriedly. I do have parents, he wanted to snap. And they own the biggest tech company on Earth. But May had always told him not to let bullies get what they want, so Peter squared his shoulders and kept walking.
“Eugene, keep up the attitude and we’ll see how much money mommy and daddy have to pay to keep you on the Decathlon team.” MJ says disinterestedly, walking over to him and Ned. Peter lets a small smile form on his face at Flash’s sputtering.
“MJ, you’re like. The coolest.” Ned fawns.
“I know.”
“What field trip was Flash talking about?” Peter questions. He didn’t remember anything about it.
The three walk into their Literature class together, placing their things down before MJ answers him. “AcaDeca was allowed a field trip wherever we wanted because of our win at Nationals, so long as it was within nearby states. Flash is exaggerating; the location was chosen by Mr. Harrington, Flash just happened to want to go there too.”
Before Peter could ask exactly where the location was, the teacher began the lesson. Well, we have a meeting later today, I’ll just find out then.
The rest of the day went by in a blur, and by the end of it he had a headache. Too many noises, too many lights. He just wanted to go home and curl up with his dad, already missing how Tony’s fingers would card through his hair whenever he had a bad day. Peter had almost completely forgotten about the Decathlon meeting until MJ reminded him.
The shrill ringing of the school bell made Peter want to smash his head into a wall, but even the thought of moving his head made his brain ache. He was ready to get the permission slip for the field trip and go, and sat eagerly in the meeting room while Mr. Harrington tried to get everyone’s attention.
Peter honestly couldn’t think his day could get any worse—he had already been accosted by the other Avengers about how he’d gotten powers, how long he’d been Spider-man, how his dad has reacted—but it did.
“Good news everyone! We’ve managed to get a field trip to Stark Industries!”
Oh. My. God.
Many heads turn towards him, and Peter wants to sink down into his seat when he catches Flash’s smug smirk. Peter’s internship was well-known in the team, and so was Flash’s belief that Peter was just lying. Peter wasn’t even sure if Mr. Harrington himself believed Peter at this point, but props to him for pretending if he didn’t.
“Peter, do you still intern for Stark Industries?” Mr. Harrington asks.
“Uh, yeah. I do, sorta.” Peter mumbles. Does he still intern there? He practically lives there at this point. Flash snorts.
“Oh, alright.” And with that, Mr. Harrington continues on about how he was so proud of them, and about the terms and information about the trip. Ned whispers ‘we’re going on a field trip to your house lmao’ to him at one point, and Peter wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry.
Tony was sure to embarrass him if he ever knew, so Peter has to make sure Tony never found out. Maybe he could get Pepper to put him in meetings all day… But then he’d have to tell Pepper, and while he was sure his mom wouldn’t embarrass him, he also knew that his parents shared practically everything with each other. Not to mention he needed to tell May about this so she could sign it, and she and Pepper talked a lot too. There was no way for Peter to get out of this one.
After grabbing a slip, Peter tries to leave as quickly as possible, the headache only growing worse with Flash’s hushed words. “Get ready to have your lie exposed, Penis. Maybe Stark’ll hire me once he finds out that I’m the one who helped get rid of your lies.”
Peter ignores him. His internship was real; he even had a badge and everything, and met with some interns from R&D before. He wasn't too worried about that, but if Flash was found bullying Peter at the Tower, with FRIDAY watching everything, he knew it wouldn’t end well.
Ned and MJ accompany him to the front where Happy was waiting. “See you losers later. Parker, you better have that slip signed by tomorrow or I’ll kill you.”
“Bye, MJ.” “Later, MJ!”
“You have to show me to your lab when we go.” Ned squeals. “Ohmygod, can I meet the Avengers? Will your dad be there? What about Ms. Potts?”
“Calm down, Ned. They probably don’t have time to see a group of highschoolers on a field trip.” He lies. If he asked him to, Tony would probably lead the tour. God, he had a great dad. “I gotta go, see you tomorrow, Ned!”
“Bye!”
He hops into Happy’s car with his usual ‘hey Happy!’ before shoving his earphones into his ears. Listening to music was always better than being able to hear all 32 conversations happening around him. Sensory overload sucked. The migraine wasn’t getting any better, so Peter closed his eyes and hoped a quick nap would fix it.
The nap helped. When Happy woke Peter up, his brain felt less like it was being jackhammered and more like it was melting. Which, to be honest, didn’t sound much better but trust him, it was.
“Hey, kid. How was school?” Tony greeted him from the kitchen as he stepped off the elevator to their floor. “May’s staying over tonight, by the way, but she’s being held back a bit at work.”
Peter mumbled out a response, sluggishly walking towards his dad with his eyes half-closed. Tony just stood there, bemused, as he watched his sleepy kid stumble towards him like he had one-too-many drinks before collapsing in his arms.
They settle into their default position: Peter’s arm around his waist, face buried into his father’s neck; Tony’s head leaning on the side of Peter’s, one hand running up and down his back while the other played with his son’s hair.
“Not that I don’t love our hugs, but what’s the occasion? Did something happen at school?” Peter sighs, energy already coming back just from being in the comfort of his own home. The walls were thick, and Tony made sure sound rarely came in from the outside so Peter wouldn’t have to worry about overloading.
“Nothing much, just a headache.” It was partially true, so he didn’t feel too bad for lying to Tony. He was glad his face was hidden, because his dad would’ve figured something else was bothering him immediately.
Tony sighed in sympathy. “Yeah, those suck, huh? You want to go rest in your room?”
He shook his head. “It’s not that bad anymore, I’ll just do my homework.”
“Alright, but don’t overdo it.”
“You overdo it all the time.” Peter pointed out, earning himself a soft smack in the back of the head.
“Do as I say, not as I do.” Tony states before shooing a laughing Peter away.
“Hey, sweetie. How’s your head feeling?” May walked into his bedroom, where Peter was scrolling through his phone. He sat up when he heard her approaching, and waited patiently as May set the back of her hand against his forehead. She did this every time Peter felt under the weather, if only to make sure he wasn’t actually burning up and covering it up (which he has done before… multiple times). “Tony told me you weren’t feeling too great when you got back.”
“I’m all better, May, don’t worry,” he smiled at her, “it was only a little thing. How was work?”
“Well, someone delivered triplets today and the father was crying because, and I quote, ‘why wasn’t I born an octopus? How can I carry so many babies?’ The mother was laughing so hard it made the process of closing her back up very difficult.”
After catching up on missed days, Peter managed to bring up the dreaded field trip. “Can you sign it? Or better yet, say I’m sick and can’t make it?”
May rolled her eyes and swatted at him. “Give me the damn paper, Stark Jr. You’re going on this trip.”
Her support over the Tony-is-Peter’s-biological-dad situation always made Peter surprised. She was the one who spent a decade taking care of him ever since he was a child, and he was worried she’d feel left out or jealous that Tony was now assumed to have been the one who did it. But he should’ve known better; May was awesome, and the May-Tony co-parenting duo was top-notch. Between her and Pepper, they managed to keep both Tony and Peter alive and safe (mostly).
“But Auntie Maaaay,” he whined, knowing that reverting back to the way he used to call her when he was young would soften her up. “I come here like every day now, I don’t need to go on the tour. I could just stay home, and it would be the same thing.”
“And miss out on your father embarrassing you? Not a chance. FRIDAY, make sure to video it.” Peter gasped in mock betrayal. “Don’t be dramatic, it’s only a day.”
Yeah, only a day. It wouldn’t be so bad. Right?
Wrong.
Flash was being the most annoying he’d ever been, mocking him all throughout the week until the Friday of the trip. Now after barely sleeping the night before, they were on the bus, and he could feel the kicks Flash kept aiming at the back of his chair. For someone who hated him, Flash was always next to him.
“Ignore him, Peter. You’re going to prove him so wrong once you walk through those doors.” Ned whispers to him, attempting to cheer him up. “FRIDAY’s gonna be all, ‘welcome home Peter!’ and Flash will be all ‘gasp! I was wrong! What a surprise!’ ”
“Why does Flash sound like Moaning Myrtle?”
“Shh, I reject this reality and substitute my own.” Ned waves a hand in the air, as if fanning away the negative thoughts. That makes Peter laugh.
Peter knew that if Flash wasn’t there, he’d have a genuinely fun time. He’d only been on the tour once, and that was just the one Tony had given him, so this would be a first time for him. Pepper and Tony were eventually informed about the field trip, and while Tony wanted to come see him, some begging and a ‘Mom, Dad, please…’ bent them to his will pretty quickly.
Pepper did make sure the interns and staff relating to the tour were informed about Peter though. To everyone else, he was still Tony’s personal intern, and that was why he had such a high clearance level for his badge (which he rarely used, much to Happy’s dismay).
“Attention everyone! We’ve arrived, but we need to go over the rules first. No, and I mean NO, wandering off. Got that?” Mr. Harrington looks at Peter, and he gives a nod back. He wasn’t planning on going anywhere this time. “Great, we also have to be very respectful, and keep the badges on us at all times. Follow me.”
They scamper off the bus, and after a final jab from Flash, they enter Stark Tower. Or, Avengers Tower. He’s not really sure what it is anymore, it’s always just the Tower to him.
Looking around at his peers, he notices everyone is looking around in awe; even MJ, who was known to be emotionless.
“Hello, Midtown School of Science and Technology!” A cheerful woman greets them, her brown ponytail swishing as she turns her head. Peter recognizes her as the lady who comes and checks through the intern labs every once in a while. “I’ll be your tour guide today. I’m Emma, from R&D. You’ve all won a special tour of the Tower, and I’m under instructions by Mr. Stark himself to make this as fun as possible! Please, come forward when I call out your name so you can take your badge.”
There’s immediate whispers of excitement, because Tony Stark knew they were here? Wow.
Peter smiles a bit; his dad really did want to come join him, but he was respecting Peter’s wishes of being less noticeable. The smile falls off his face when he feels Flash come next to him, hissing. “I bet you Tony Stark told them to make it fun because he saw I was on the list. You know, my dad’s met Tony before… Bet you’ve never even been in the same building as him, dickwad.”
Peter really, really wants to roll his eyes. My dad IS Tony Stark you troublesome goddamn elbow.
“Thompson, Eugene.” Emma calls out, and Flash walks so proudly to grab his blank white badge with his name on it that there are a couple of snickers running through the crowd. Emma herself seems to be holding back a laugh.
“Okay, that should be everyone! Mr. Parker, I’m told you already have a badge.” Emma turns to look at him, and that causes everyone else to turn to him too. He shrinks down a bit, nodding meekly as he pulls the badge out of his bag and clips it to his sweater. “Perfect! If you’ll follow me, we’ll start the tour.”
The team quickly loses interest in Peter with that, and he lets out a sigh of relief. It doesn’t last long as once they’re about to go through the scanner, Flash grabs onto his elbow and sneers at him. “Don’t think you’ve won this, Penis. I’ll find out how you got that fake badge. It’s not even the right color”
He doesn’t respond, choosing to keep quiet and ignores the looks Ned and MJ are giving him. It’s better this way. If they make a scene, Tony was sure to find out and Peter wouldn’t wish an angry Tony Stark on anybody, even Flash.
Emma’s back was turned to them during this interaction, so when she turns back she appears none the wiser, smiling brightly. “Please form a line and walk through this scanner. It’s similar to your regular metal detector, but it will also scan your face and badge to make sure you aren’t using someone else’s badge by accident, and also prevents stolen badge use.”
Flash pushes himself to the front, eager to be the first in everything. “Alrighty then, just step on through and make sure your badge and face is visible.”
The boy steps through confidently, only to trip and fall on his face once FRIDAY speaks. “Thompson, Eugene. Level 1 access.”
There are bursts of laughter throughout the crowd. “Mind your step, Mr. Thompson.” Peter can’t help but snicker; his AI was being unusually snarky to someone she didn’t know, so she must have heard what Flash said to him earlier.
“And that is FRIDAY! She’s the AI that runs all of Stark Industries, coded by Tony Stark. Be careful of what you say or do here in the tower, it’s highly likely that FRIDAY will catch you if you break the rules. It’s why security in the Tower has always been good.” Emma informs them all as more students pass through the detector.
Too quickly, it’s Peter’s turn. He walks through quickly, wanting to get it over with. “Parker, Peter. All-access. Welcome back, Peter.” FRIDAY sounds significantly warmer when talking to him, and the embarrassment is almost worth it when he catches Flash’s disbelieving face.
Emma doesn’t bat an eye at the reveal, walking through the detector herself. “Fern, Emma. Level 6 access.” Quite a high level for someone leading a tour, Peter thinks.
“Follow me, we’ll start moving up the floors!”
Peter wants to fade into the floor, but all his classmates crowd him as they follow their tour guide. “Dude! All-access? I thought you were just an intern here.”
“I am.” Peter stresses. “I intern for Mr. Stark, that’s why I need such a high clearance.” Saying Mr. Stark after calling him Dad for so long is awkward on his tongue.
“Ah.” Abe nods, looking like he’d just been given the answer to the one question that plagued him for years.
Flash scoffs, but even he sounds less confident. “As if Tony Stark would hire a high school student to be his personal intern.”
“He did, actually.” Emma informs them. “It’s most likely because of Mr. Parker that this tour is more interesting than the standard one. You all will be visiting more floors and doing more activities because I have a higher clearance level compared to the normal guides for the academic tours.”
Flash, much to Peter’s appreciation, stays quiet after that.
The trip goes by without a hitch, and without any Avengers hijacking his tour. They were having lunch in one of the small break rooms for now before continuing. Peter made sure to sit as far away from Flash and his friends as possible.
“I still can’t get over Flash’s face when FRIDAY welcomed you back,” Ned laughs, “even MJ caught it on paper.”
“What?” Peter questions, eyebrows drawn together.
MJ flips open her sketchbook, showing a very detailed drawing of Flash’s hilarious reaction. It was uncanny how perfect it was considering MJ only saw it for like 2 seconds. “It’s going on the Wall of Shame at my house. I’ll put it right next to Jackson’s face when he was caught smoking at school.”
“Dope.”
“Dope? Who even says dope anymore, kid? Get with the times.” A terribly familiar voice comes from behind them, causing Peter to groan and turn around.
There in a lab coat, a bucket hat, and reading glasses, his father smirks down at him. “Dad, what are you doing here?”
“What, I can’t come bother my kid with snacks?” Tony replies innocently, holding out a very large paper bag. “Steve and Thor were making sweets and they overshot a little bit.”
“A little bit?” MJ sounds dubious.
“...Well, a lot a bit.”
Peter laughs, and Tony’s smirk turns into a smile. “Here, kid, share with your classmates. Tell them it was made by Captain America and the God of Thunder.”
“As if they’d ever believe me about anything, but thanks anyway, Dad.” Peter reaches for the bag, but before his fingers could touch it, Tony holds it high above his head with a frown on his face.
“Why wouldn’t they believe you? Are they seriously still not believing the internship is real?” Tony knew about that because Peter had told him a long time ago, and when he asked for updates Peter had lied and said the problem was resolved.
Peter freezes. “Uh. They… do. Believe me, I mean, since we got here and all.”
“But?” Tony urges.
“No ‘but’, they do… believe me.” Wow, Peter was really bad at lying.
Tony looks at Ned and MJ, already knowing Peter wouldn’t give him the whole truth. Smart man. “Ted and scary lady—MJ, right?—what’s really going on?”
“Uhhhh…” Ned stutters.
MJ rolls her eyes. “One of the students is being an ignorant asshole, but he’s been knocked down a peg or three since your employees informed him about Peter’s position.”
“Thank you, MJ. Now, which one of the students is that?”
She points in the direction of Flash, who had been watching them since some random man in a lab coat arrived. Tony straightens up and turns around, ready to head over.
“Dad, no!” Peter exclaimed, voice panicked and maybe a little bit too loud. His classmates start whispering all around him, and he cringes. That wasn’t how this was supposed to go. Those sitting closest to him seem to have figured out the weird guy in the lab coat was Tony Stark (there really was no hiding that goatee), but Peter could see Flash squinting at him in confusion.
Tony had fortunately turned back to Peter after he cried out so Flash couldn’t figure it out. Too many of his classmates must have figured it out at this point, and he really did not want any more attention than he already had.
“Dad, it’s fine, please leave?” Peter begged quietly, hand clenched in Tony’s lab coat. It must have been Bruce’s, because Tony never wore them. “Please?”
When his father sighed, Peter inwardly cheered; that meant he’d won the argument. “Fine. Share the cookies with everyone except the asshole. Have fun, Pete.”
Dropping the bag on the table, Tony ruffles his son’s hair before leaving. Peter feels a little bad about sending him away, because he knew his dad just wanted to check on him and help him out. He’ll have to apologize to him later.
Peter ignores the stares of his classmates that bore into the back of his skull as he continues to eat his lunch. The cookies smell heavenly, and when he looks into the bag, he can see sweets of all kinds. There are snickerdoodles, chocolate chip cookies, vanilla cookies, chocolate cookies, weird green looking cookies, and some that look like hybrids. Some are a bit misshapen and squashed, so he assumed those were Thor’s.
He gives into the stares, turning around and facing his team. “Want some?”
After Tony’s impromptu visit, the whispers get worse. With Peter’s enhanced hearing, it’s almost too much after he hears someone say ‘that could not have been Tony Stark, I mean, Peter called him Dad! Peter’s dad isn’t Tony Stark… right?’ for the 22nd time.
“The tour is coming to an end soon, students! We just have a small activity for you to do now: we’ve prepared some spare parts from R&D to let you play around with. There are instructions for you to follow, but if you don’t need them you don’t have to use them. You can keep whatever you’ve made here!” Emma informs them as they walk into one of the labs that Peter visits when he has the chance.
Happy chattering fills the spare lab they’re in, and Peter was finally relaxing again. Then Flash had to ruin it all.
The trio had been minding their own business while making a small Otto bot for fun, when the bully had forcibly knocked into their table, causing the little pieces to shake. However, the tables at the Tower were reinforced so that when things like this happened, the objects on the table wouldn’t fall over for safety reasons. This meant when Flash hip-checked the table, he really just caused himself a lot of pain, stumbling back into his table and knocks his unfinished robot off with his arm.
Flash yelped. “Ow!”
“Are you alright?” Emma came over. “What happened?”
Peter didn’t say anything, still trying not to smile at Flash’s idiotic actions. The boy in question scowls at Peter, but then it suddenly changes to an expression of realization and it makes Peter’s hair stand on end. “He pushed me! Peter pushed me because he was jealous my robot was better than his.”
“What?” Emma squints at Peter. “He did?”
He sputters. “No! No of course not!”
Emma hums, not sure who to believe. She didn’t know Peter personally, so she couldn’t make a judge of his character. Peter stumbles over himself while explaining what really happened, but Flash spoke loud and proud. “Peter pushed me, ma’am. I swear he did.”
MJ and Ned come to Peter’s defense, but with everyone talking over each other and stories not matching, Emma doesn’t pick a side. “Everyone! Settle down! There’s an easy way to figure out what happened, but first: you two boys, if one of you is lying, please come forward now. We can talk this out and let it go.”
Flash doesn’t flinch, only smiling smugly in Peter’s direction. “I wouldn’t lie about something like this; my parents taught me better than that.” MJ’s frown looks permanent, and Peter’s sure Flash is going to have to practice extra hard once they get back to school. Peter doesn’t say anything.
Emma looks between the two of them again before taking a breath. “FRIDAY? Can you tell us what happened?”
“Of course, Ms. Fern.”
Flash pales so quickly it would have been funny if Peter wasn’t feeling so anxious. There were too many people looking at him, too many whispers, too many arguments. He just wants to leave, maybe go upstairs and find Tony and apologize and give him a hug. He wants to find May and just have her comfort him, he wants to find Pepper and have her support.
“Mr. Thompson had purposefully knocked into Peter’s table, but due to the enforced structure it made him stumble over his own table. Peter is telling the truth.” FRIDAY almost sounded smug.
Their tour guide frowns at Flash, who is red but still stubborn. “How can we trust a robot? They make mistakes all the time. Plus, Pen—Peter’s fake dad or something works here, we saw him earlier. The robot could just be covering for him or something.”
The team cringes in response; they knew that ‘fake dad’ was Tony Stark, and none of them would accuse Iron Man of something like that.
Emma frowns even more, but Peter jumps in. “Really, it’s fine. No harm done.”
“Are you sure, Peter?”
“I’m sure.”
She nods at him before calling everyone to group back near the elevator. Peter prays Flash will leave him alone after this, but of course, the dumbass decided to keep harassing Peter. “As if you even have a dad, Penis. Didn’t picture you to stoop so low. That lab coat guy, he does seem like the type to go after young boys. He’s got a daddy kink or something?”
Peter sees red. How dare he accuse Tony of something like that? But before Peter could do something drastic, like punch him perhaps, or hang him by his shoes off the Empire State, someone else steps into the conversation.
“I don’t appreciate the kind of thing you are insinuating, son.” Captain-fucking-America himself steps into the hallway with them. It was like he materialized out of thin air, summoned by acts of no-good. “That ‘lab coat guy’ is my friend.”
“O-oh my god, Captain America, sir, sorry, I didn’t know you knew the employees.” Flash stutters, and Peter has to appreciate how Flash doesn’t just melt into a puddle right then.
“I mean, I don’t think I’d count as an employee.” Tony joins them, smile sharp and sunglasses on. He’s in one of his most intimidating suits, dressed to the nines. “Didn’t realize my disguise was that good. I felt like a better looking Doc from Back to the Future. ”
“Oh my god.” Flash whispers, horrified, slowly realizing everything. “You’re Peter’s dad? Oh god, I’m so sorry, sir. I didn’t mean—”
“I don’t think it’s Tony you have to apologize to.” Clint’s head sticks out of the vents, his easy smile nowhere to be found, a disapproving frown in its place.
Flash looks like he’s about to faint, and Peter won’t lie and say it doesn’t feel good that his bully is finally being reprimanded, but he is first and foremost someone who has to protect the little guy; in this case, it’s Flash. “Guys, it’s fine, really. He didn’t mean any harm.”
“Actually, I’m sure he meant even more harm.” Natasha shoves Clint out of the vents, dropping down elegantly.
“Can none of you take normal modes of transportation?” Pepper sounds faintly amused as she steps out of the elevator with Bruce. Vision takes that moment to phase through the wall, Wanda floating down the hallway after him after landing outside on the balcony with Thor and Sam, who was in his Falcon gear.
Peter’s Decathlon team is in varying stages of shock and awe. Ned is shaking so much Peter is worried his friend will need to be sent to the MedBay soon. If Bruce was the doctor to help him, Ned was sure to shit himself in excitement. MJ looks very interested with Peter’s mom.
“What’s the fun in that, Pep? Gotta show ‘em we’re still badass.” Tony winks at his soon-to-be wife, causing her to roll her eyes. “Hello, Midtown. Your tour is over, so we thought we’d send you off.”
Peter is sure that wasn’t the reason, that FRIDAY must have informed him or someone was watching him the whole time, but he’s happy the attention has moved away from him and Flash as the Avengers go greet the AcaDeca team. Thor looks especially happy with the attention, beaming at everyone and lets them have a go at lifting Mjolnir. Tony wraps an arm around his shoulders, pressing Peter’s body close to his side.
“So, you’re the guy that’s been giving Pete a hard time at school?”
“N-no, sir, we’re just messing around.”
Tony hums, unimpressed. “Well, it’s only messing around if both people are having fun. Kid, do you have fun when he messes around?”
Flash looks at him desperately, and Peter sighs. “It’s not that bad, Da—Mr. Stark. He doesn’t hurt me or anything.” Sure, he’s annoying, but he didn’t warrant the attention of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
His dad won’t have it. “You sure, Pete? I heard from FRIDAY what he’s been saying. And I, for one, would never do anything of the sort you were implying, Mr. Thompson.” The full force of Tony’s glare hits Flash and he stumbles a bit.
Pepper joins them too. “Hello, you must be Eugene Thompson. I’m sure Tony’s been grilling you, so I’m just here to give you a light warning. We don’t tolerate bullying or harassment at Stark Industries, and you shouldn’t be doing that outside this building either. Please, think before you speak and act.”
Flash nods rapidly, and while Pepper was speaking normally, she had the atmosphere of someone you didn’t want to cross. “Okay, head back to your classmates. Peter, I’ve already talked with your teacher; he says it’s okay for you to stay here, he’ll just need your father to sign you out.”
Peter nods obediently, going to say goodbye to his friends and teammates.
“You bet we’re going to have a lot of questions, bro. Get on the groupchat more!” Abe gives him a friendly punch to the shoulder as the rest of the team voices their agreement. “Also, we’ve all signed NDAs and stuff so your secret is safe with us. Who knew you were so close to the Avengers.”
There are waaay too many secrets at this point. “O-oh, um, thanks. I guess. See you at school.” Peter waves goodbye nervously, and Ned gives him a sympathetic fist bump before walking with everyone else.
As soon as the elevator door closes behind them, Peter lets out a huge sigh of relief. The Avengers laugh at him, and Tony drapes an arm over Peter’s shoulders yet again. “How about let’s go upstairs and relax in the workshop? I’ve been meaning to show you more of the nano-tech.”
“Do you even have to ask?” Peter perks up again, grinning up at his father.
“Hey, what about us? I ditched my Mario Kart for this, and I was winning. On RAINBOW ROAD. ” Clint whines, no heat behind his words as he smiles at the two.
Peter’s head swivels to face the archer. “You were playing Mario Kart?”
Tony cuts in. “Nuh-uh, you can’t steal my kid.”
“It ain’t stealing if he chooses us better looking heroes instead of hanging out with his old man.” Sam shrugs.
“What makes you think he’d hang out with you old geezers instead of Iron Man?”
“Boys! Settle down,” Pepper sighs, rolling her eyes at Natasha as if to say ‘men’ , “let’s all just go upstairs and decide then. The interns are trying to work.”
They get into the private elevator, and FRIDAY takes them up to the common room without prompting.
“And then we’ll go to the lab.” Tony announced, only to change tactics once Peter accidentally lets out a yawn. “Or maybe we’ll just send you to bed.”
“What? Noooo, it’s still light out. I wanna go out and patrol.” Peter protested.
“Queens can live without their resident vigilante for a night.” Pepper said, carding a hand through Peter’s tousled curls, her manicured nails lightly scratching his scalp. After the day (and week) he’s had, Peter practically melts at her touch. “You need to rest. Maybe you and your dad could watch a movie.”
“But… my homework.” He mumbles, and both his parents laugh at him.
“Will still be there tomorrow.” Tony finishes for him, watching the majority of the group exit the elevator. “And I’m sure the team wouldn’t want their local teen grumpy and sleep deprived tomorrow, do they? We have someone coming to visit too.”
Clint shivers exaggeratedly. “Oh no, a sleep deprived teenage boy is not fun to deal with.”
“Your father is right, young Starkson.” Thor lectures, but it’s hard to take him seriously with one of his AcaDeca teammate’s sunglasses on his face and a lollipop in one hand that Betty gave him. “Sleep is vital to have enough energy for battle.”
“Not what I was going for but I appreciate the sentiment. Sleep it is then. Say goodbye to your insane amount of aunties and uncles.” Tony teases, but where he was trying to get annoy them, he instead hits a gold mine. They all perk up considerably, and Sam even whoops. “Lordy, are you really that excited to have him as a nephew?”
“Hell yeah! Been waiting to be promoted since we met the little dude.” Clint pretends to tear up, and reaches out to take Tony’s hand in a handshake. “Thank you, we will do you proud. Peter’s never gonna have uncles as cool as us.”
Tony raises an eyebrow. “You wanna go tell Rhodey that?”
“He can fight us for the title of best uncle.” Clint puffs up his chest, high-fiving Sam.
Thor looks ecstatic. “Then I shall be the worthiest of uncles.” He boasts, puffing out his chest even more than Clint. This makes Clint try and puff out his chest more, but it just makes it look like he’s trying to bend over backwards.
“Clint, you’re going to break your back like that.” Bruce sighs, very Tired of this Shit. “I don’t want to tell your wife the reason you can’t do housework is because you tore a muscle trying to out-do the God of Thunder.”
Steve looks like he’s trying very hard not to burst out laughing, but he gives into the chuckles when Clint traps him and Sam in a bear hug. It looks like they won a 5 star cruise or something. Natasha and Wanda smile at each other, but Peter can see they’re both happy about it too.
“That’s a lot of people to say goodbye to.” Peter blinks.
“Well then, you better get started.” His dad replies, face solemn.
Peter nods firmly, mouth set in grim determination, and eyes the small crowd. Taking a deep breath he starts from one end of the group. “Goodbye Uncle Sam, Uncle Clint, Uncle Steve, Uncle Thor, Uncle Bruce, Aunt..ie?” Peter questions, and receives an affirmative nod. “Goodbye Auntie Nat and Auntie Wanda.”
He gets a chorus of ‘goodnight’s back, and the elevator closes, leaving just the Starks.
“Now, how about you boys go get cleaned up and comfy. I don’t want either of you falling asleep in your day clothes.” Pepper orders them as she pushes them towards their bedrooms. “I’ll bring you some healthy snacks.”
“Sounds great, honey.”
“Thanks, Mom!”
“Hey, why don’t you join us?” Tony pipes up when Pepper walks into their bedroom after they’ve gotten comfortable. “The bed is big enough for three. Actually, it’s big enough for four people and two dogs, but I’m not trying to be specific.”
“Can we get a puppy?” Peter pipes up from where he lies.
“You are the puppy, kid.”
“Hey!”
“Tony, you know I still have work to do.” Pepper rolls her eyes as she sets down the tray of sliced fruit.
“But Mom, you and Dad were just telling me how my work could wait.” Peter pops up from behind Tony and rests his chin on his dad’s shoulder. “You’re always working, you should rest too.”
It takes the power of puppy eyes from both Stark men to get her to relent. “Oh, fine. Just this once.” The cheers and cuddles Pepper gets in response was worth the extra paperwork tomorrow.