Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

On Monday afternoon, Peter sat in his Chemistry class, his last class of the day, and also his favorite. The teacher, Mr. Harrington, was one of his favorite teachers. In part because of the class he taught, but also because of how much faith the man had in him for the Academic Decathlon and that he generally seemed to be a good guy and to care about his students. Of all his teachers, he was the one who’s attitude hadn’t changed much after Uncle Ben died. Most of the teachers started treating him with kid gloves, but not Harrington. He’d been incredibly understanding, but he’d still treated Peter as a capable teenager.

A few minutes before the final bell rang, Harrington called the class to attention. “I know you’re all excited to get out of here. But I have an announcement. We’re going on a class field trip. This is specifically for the senior class, so you’ll be with all of your classmates. We’ll be going this Friday and it will last past school hours, until about 5 pm,” he held up a stack of papers. “I need these permission slips back by Wednesday because security needs a complete tally, including names, of every student who’ll be there.” He started down the aisles between the lab tables, passing out the permission slips. Being a specialized school instead of a regular one, their senior class was only about 60 students.

Peter looked down at the permission slip that was laid on his desk as excited whispering broke out around him. The words STARK INDUSTRIES/AVENGERS TOWER in large black letters at the top of the page seemed to mock him.

“The second page of the permission slip is a rundown of all the rules you need to follow while we’re there. Make sure you’re here on time on Friday. If you miss the bus when we leave, you won’t be able to catch up at Avengers Tower.” The bell rang and Harrington dismissed them. “Mr. Parker, stay behind please.”

Peter stayed at his lab table, wishing he had MJ or Ned in this class with him, but thankful that Flash wasn’t in this class. The other students filtered out, talking excitedly to each other. Once the room was empty, Principal Morita and one of the guidance counselors, Ms. O’Reilly, entered. The three adults sat around Peter’s lab table.

“We need to talk about the field trip on Friday, Peter,” Ms. O’Reilly began. “We know you’ve been spreading this rumor about your Stark internship….”

“It’s not a rumor,” he quickly interrupted. “It’s a real internship.” Well, real in that he worked with Tony at the Tower. But it was more than a normal internship.

“Peter, we know that Stark Industries doesn’t have high school interns,” Mr. Harrington said.

“I turned in paperwork for it. Aunt May and Mr. Stark signed it,” he looked to Principal Morita.

The principal sighed. “I let the paperwork slide, Mr. Parker. I know it’s forged.” Shocked, he stared around at the three adults. “Which brings us to what we want to talk to you about. It doesn’t reflect well on the school to have a student lie about something like a Stark internship.”

“When you are in college, and able to actually get an internship, this lie could reflect poorly on you as well and stop you from getting real opportunities.” Ms. O’Reilly’s understanding look grated on Peter’s nerves. “We understand wanting to seem cool to your classmates, Peter. We’ve all been there. But it’s time to end the lie. We need you to admit to us that you don’t have an internship with Stark Industries and stop spreading this rumor.”

“What?”

“Look, you don’t have to announce to your classmates that you were lying, but you can’t talk about it anymore,” Morita grimaced.

“Mr. Harrington? I thought you knew I was telling the truth?”

“Peter, no. It’s an outrageous lie, and I honestly thought you would have outgrown it by now.” Some of the betrayal he felt must have shown on his face because Harrington looked away from him.

Looking over at the other two, Peter made a decision. He wasn’t going to lie to these people, just because they didn’t believe the truth. “I’m not going to lie to you,” he sighed. “The internship is real. I’m not a regular intern at SI, I intern for Mr. Stark personally.”

“Enough, Mr. Parker. If that is how you want to handle this, you’re suspended. For the rest of the week,” Morita stood up. “You’re a smart kid, and I think there are plenty of real opportunities that would benefit you. But we can’t have you telling these kinds of lies anymore. It reflects poorly on all of us.”

“Suspended?” Peter asked in shock.

“Yes. Unless you confess to your lie right now.” Peter remained silent. “Very well. You’re dismissed, Mr. Parker. Go home and consider the ramifications of your lies.”

Peter trudged to the subway entrance. He sat on the train, lost in swirling thoughts about betrayal from Harrington and anger at O’Reilly, Morita, and Harrington. He was so lost in his thoughts, that he didn’t realize he’d been on the train for two hours. The next time the train came to his stop, he got off and trudged to his and May’s apartment.

He tossed his backpack down by the door and toed off his shoes then made his way over to the couch where Aunt May was sitting with her legs tucked up under herself and a concerned look aimed at her nephew. Peter curled up on the couch and leaned against his aunt. She’d clearly had a long day and he didn’t want to add to her stress, but it was better she heard it from him.

“I got suspended today,” he muttered.

“What? Why?” She tried not to jostle him, mostly because she could tell how upset he was about the suspension. As concisely as possible, he told her about the field trip and the subsequent meeting with Mr. Harrington, the principal, and guidance counselor. “So, you’re suspended for lying about something that’s true?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I’m proud of you for sticking to the truth even though the lie would’ve been easier.”

“Thanks, Aunt May.”

May ran her fingers through his curls for a few minutes, then reached for her phone. Peter would be able to hear the whole conversation anyway, so she dialed on speakerphone. “Hey, May. What’s up? Underoos okay?”

“No, Peter is not okay. No, it’s not dangerous. Yes, it’s something you can help with. I’m going to send him to the Tower in the morning. You guys can keep him there for the next few days.”

“Seriously? I thought you didn’t want him spending more than one school night a week here?”

“I got suspended, Dad.” He’d accidentally called the man ‘Dad’ a few months ago when he was injured, and it hadn’t taken long for them both to admit that they liked it and that they felt they had a father-son relationship.

“What? Why?”

“For being honest. He’ll explain more when he gets there. I think he could use the distraction of being in the Tower though. Particularly considering this is a long week for me and I won’t be home much.”

“Yeah, alright. I guess I’ll see you in the morning, Underoos. What time should Happy come by?”

“Is 10 okay?”

“Works for us.”

Peter and May sat in the living room for a while longer, watching tv. He was thrilled that she wasn’t upset that he’d been suspended and that she was proud of the decision he’d made in the meeting, but he was still hurt over what had actually happened in the meeting. That night, he didn’t go patrolling, too distracted by his hurt feelings and tired.

He texted Ned and MJ to tell them both about his suspension and they commiserated with him about how stupid it was.

The next morning, Peter hurried down the steps at just before 10 am. Happy pulled up moments later in the black car he usually drove to pick him up in. Almost before the car stopped, the back door opened, and Harley Keener stepped out.

“Keener! Dammit, wait until I stop!” Happy shouted from the front seat.

“Hey Harls,” Peter grinned, stepping into his boyfriend’s embrace.

“Come on, lovebirds! There’s science to be doing!” Tony called from inside the car. The two of them grinned and got into the car. “So, how exactly does one get suspended for telling the truth, Pete?”

“By telling a truth that sounds like a lie and refusing to back down about it. My class has a field trip coming up this Friday to the Tower, did you know that?”

“I did. Approved it myself.”

“With plans to embarrass me, I’m sure.” When Tony just smirked in response, he continued. “Well, Mr. Harrington asked me to stay after class after the permission slips were passed out. Then our principal and one of the guidance counselors joined him and they told me that I needed to admit that I was lying about my internship because that kind of lie reflected poorly on the school and could ruin actual opportunities for me when I’m older. When I told them that I’m your personal intern, I got suspended,” he shrugged. He was still really upset about Harrington but had decided to not dwell on it too much. After all, he knew the truth and so did the most important people to him.

“Wait, Harrington? Your favorite teacher?”

“That’s the one,” he nodded at Harley.

“What about the paperwork I gave you to hand in?”

“Forged it. Which, I guess wouldn’t be too hard. There are photos of your autograph all over the internet,” he shrugged a shoulder. “So now, the rest of the school is going to continue to think I’m lying and I don’t even have a teacher who believes me even though I thought I did.”

“Do you wanna help lead the tour on Friday?”

Peter laughed, imagining the faces of his classmates if he showed up to give them the tour. “No, I’m good thanks.”

“Alright. Well, how about next Monday I take you to school and sort this out with your principal?”

“Yeah, alright. What are we working on today?” As Tony launched into his plans for the day, Peter smiled. The majority of his classmates had never believed him, he knew that. They all thought like Flash did, that he was making it up for attention. This wouldn’t change any of their opinions. But he had May, Ned, MJ, Harley, Tony, and the rest of the Avengers all on his side. He figured he was doing alright.

As soon as they arrived at the Tower, Steve was waiting at the elevator doors. He turned his full attention to Peter. “Everything alright, Pete?”

“Eh,” he shrugged. “Yes and no. Everyone at school thinks I’m a liar, but then they always have. But I have Aunt May, MJ, Ned, and all of you guys, so I figure I’m doing ok. And Aunt May’s proud of me for sticking to the truth when the lie would’ve been easier.”

“Well, I’m proud of you for sticking to the truth too,” Steve smiled, giving Peter’s shoulder a quick squeeze. Peter grinned back up at him. He wasn’t as close to Steve, or any of the Avengers, as he was to Tony, but he thought of them all as family and he knew they treated him the same way.

The three of them got off the elevator at the floor that housed their labs while Steve continued up to the living floors. When Peter started to get hungry, he sent GRAN-E to the SI cafeteria to pick up lunch for the three of them. The robot had been created by him and Harley for the express purpose of getting them food when they didn’t want to leave the lab. Steve often said that the robot was the sole reason he didn’t drag the three of them out of the lab more often than he did. The three of them worked, updating the most recent Iron Man suit, until long after dark. They were so in the zone of their work that it took Steve coming up behind them, and scaring Peter when he did, for them to finally realize how late it was and that they needed to go to bed.

Peter unstuck himself from the ceiling, where he’d landed when Steve scared him, and made his way upstairs with the others. He and Harley had rooms beside each other, but most often stayed in one room when Peter was spending the night. They weren’t technically allowed to, but they also weren’t outright forbidden from doing so. They curled up together in Peter’s bed and were both asleep in moments.

The next morning, Peter woke up to the smells of bacon and pancakes which usually meant either Sam or Bucky was making breakfast. He rolled out of bed, being careful to not wake Harley, and hurried down the hall to the kitchen. He slid into a seat beside Natasha who leaned over and gave him a quick, one-armed hug. It was barely a hug, only her hand and part of her forearm touched him and it was over almost before it began. Sometimes, displays of affection were still difficult for Nat. She’d spent so long with the Red Room, and afterward, believing that love was for children, that she still had difficulty with making her affection known. Clint saw her hug him and gave Peter a quick smile. It had evidently been a difficult night for the two of them and, judging from past experience, Peter figured Nat had had another nightmare and it was one she hadn’t felt comfortable sharing with her partner. He scooted his chair a little closer to Nat, just enough that she knew she could reach out to him if she wanted but not close enough that she felt crowded.

Steve strolled in next, wide awake and freshly showered after his morning run, and Tony followed, barely conscious. Steve walked up to Bucky, kissed the edge of his jaw just below his ear, and used the distraction to grab some bacon off the plate that sat beside the stove. Peter grinned at the indignant squawk from Bucky. Tony shuffled over to the coffee pot but, before he could get there, Bucky, who had used his past experience as a world-class assassin to memorize the way the others liked their food and drinks, handed him a large, steaming cup of coffee, already doctored the way he liked it. Tony took his first swallow of morning coffee, and smiled, then made his way over to the table to sit on Peter’s other side. He dropped a still-sleepy kiss on Peter’s forehead then sat hunched over his coffee.

As Bruce and Harley finally joined them, Peter sat back in his chair and observed the usual semi-chaos that was breakfast time in the Avengers Tower. Yeah, everyone at school thought he was a liar, his favorite teacher thought it was outrageous that he’d have an internship at SI, and his guidance counselor thought he was lying to seem cool to his classmates. But, absolutely none of that could dampen his joy at being surrounded by these people who loved him and treated him like family.

Toward the end of the meal, Pepper strode in from the elevator. Very probably, the woman had been up since about the same time Steve and Sam left to go on their run and had started her day’s work. She and Tony had split up not long after the Battle of New York, figuring out that they were much better off as best friends than lovers. She still had her own apartment in the Tower. They shared the running of SI now, though Pepper still did the majority of the administrative work, as well as took care of most of the meetings herself.

“Tony.”

He ducked under the table and grabbed Peter’s legs. “Tell her I’m not here. You haven’t seen me in days,” he whispered.

Laughing, Peter did as he was told. “Sorry, Pepper, he’s not here. I haven’t seen him in days.” Everyone up and down the table grinned or chuckled.

“Anthony Stark! We have the Board of Directors meeting today and you have to be there.”

“But Pepper,” he whined, still holding on to Peter’s legs. “Peter needs me today, he got suspended the day before yesterday.”

“May called me. Are you handling it alright, Peter?” She rested a hand on his shoulder as she asked. He shrugged, as long as he avoided thinking about the coming Monday when he’d have to face his entire school again, he was doing good.

“Don’t worry about Pete, Tony. He needs some sparing practice anyway, so the three of us will take care of him while you’re in your meeting,” Natasha smiled a little over at him.

“And we all know Harley’s going to follow them to watch Peter.” Harley flushed but didn’t deny it. “So, you’re coming to the meeting, Tony.” Tony groaned, finally let go of Peter’s legs, and sat back in his chair.

“Fine, I’ll go, but I won’t enjoy it.”

“No one enjoys Board meetings, Tony. Not even the Board.” Pepper stayed with them while they finished breakfast. Peter and Harley loaded the dishwasher then Peter changed into his workout gear and made his way to the gym, Harley following behind him.

Rhodey came by for dinner that night and decided to stay at the Tower as well since he would be in New York for a few days anyway. Peter was delighted. He didn’t get to spend as much time with Rhodey since the man was still in the military and therefore had a more strict schedule than the others did. So, since he was in town for a couple of days, Peter decided to spend as much time with him as he could while still spending time with Harley and in the lab.

After dinner, Peter wandered out onto one of the balconies. It was one of the highest and meant that he could see far out into the city. Normally, it was a view that he thoroughly enjoyed, but not tonight. He knew he shouldn’t still be upset over his teachers’ reactions, but he was. He’d been trying not to be, after all, he knew they were wrong and he was spending the entire week at the Tower with people who cared about him and knew he wasn’t a liar. But, particularly during quiet moments, he couldn’t let it go.

Having heard the door slid open and the footsteps approaching, Peter didn’t jump when Harley stood beside him and leaned his head on his shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothin’.”

“You’re sitting on the railing again. You only do that up this high when you’re not doing okay because it helps you even though it gives me and Tony heart attacks. What’s wrong?” Peter smiled a little. His boyfriend was right. Once, Tony had seen him sitting on the railing of one of the lower balconies and nearly had an actual heart attack. He’d had to remind the man that, being Spider-Man, he was stuck to the railing and wouldn’t fall off. Still, it made Tony and then Harley freak out so they’d reached a deal that he would confine his rail-sitting to closer to the ground or times when he really wasn’t doing ok and needed the wind and view of the city.

Peter shrugged a shoulder. “I shouldn’t still be upset at my teachers and I am.”

“Why shouldn’t you be upset? Because you know the truth and so do all the important people in your life?” Peter nodded. “Consider this – every member of that staff, particularly Mr. Harrington, allowed you to believe that they believed you.” Harley paused.

“And they waited until the last possible moment to tell me they didn’t. They waited until, unknown to them, I was worrying about what sort of embarrassing stuff Dad had planned for this trip. Is that why it feels like a betrayal even though none of them were my friends? I mean, it’s not like I was close to any of my teachers, not even Harrington. But it still very much feels like a betrayal.”

“It is a betrayal, Pete. You trusted them, they proved they weren’t worthy of that trust. But remember, Tony’s going to the school on Monday to set everything right. Or, if you want to, you can be homeschooled with me for the rest of the year. You know we learn more from the people here than you could learn in school.”

Peter chuckled a little. “Most people don’t learn how to execute Black Widow’s signature legs-around-the-throat-takedown,” he agreed. She’d taught it to him earlier that day and, by the end of the training session, she seemed to be back to her usual self instead of closing herself off from everyone again like she had been at breakfast. “I’ll think about it. Probably depends on how the meeting goes on Monday.”

For dinner the second night he was there, Rhodey had agreed to give Peter another cooking lesson. He was the only Avenger that both knew how to cook and had the patience necessary to teach Peter how to do it. Peter was a disaster in the kitchen, but he wanted to learn so Rhodey’d agreed to help him.

For the rest of the week, Peter managed to forget about why he was staying at the Tower. He knew, of course, but he was so focused on experimenting in the lab with Tony, Harley, and sometimes Bruce; or sparing with Bucky, Steve, and Natasha; or playing video games with Clint, Sam, and Harley; or getting cooking lessons from Rhodey, that he just didn’t think about it. He called Aunt May every night, video chatted with MJ and Ned nearly every night, and still went out as Spider-Man too. His week was full and fun and he stopped caring so much about what anyone at his school would think of him.

Chapter Text

Over the rest of the week leading up to their field trip, Flash was almost unbearable to Ned. Unless MJ was around, he was still a little intimidated by her. Since Peter wasn’t there and clearly wasn’t going on the field trip, Flash took that as an admission that the internship was fake. He used that to needle Ned about his best friend being an attention-seeking liar. And he never let up, no matter where they were unless MJ put a stop to it. Which, being Ned and Peter’s friend, and knowing the truth, she always did.

Whenever Harrington heard Flash, guilt would flash across his face. He knew that he’d had to say something, but he knew now how much worse it was going to be for Peter when he got back. Only MJ noticed the guilt on their teacher’s face, and she made sure to capture it in her crisis sketchbook a few times. She knew why Harrington felt guilty and would enjoy showing Peter the sketches.

Finally, Friday morning came and the seniors of Midtown School for Science and Technology loaded onto the buses that would take them across town to Avengers Tower. Their tour guide, Emily, took them first to the Avengers museum, which housed old uniforms and old weapons of the Avengers as well as non-functional replicas of their current uniforms and weapons.

“Bet you’ve been here before, huh Leeds? Since your buddy works here,” Flash laughed, walking up behind Ned and shoving his shoulder.

“Fuck off, Eugene,” MJ said, from her position in front of the Black Widow display case. She glared at Flash through her reflection in the glass until he walked away from Ned. None of them noticed that they’d been joined by the actual Black Widow, casually leaning behind the case. As the students left the room, she looked up to one of the vents where Clint was hiding. She heard the soft shuffling sounds that indicated he’d seen her and was following the class.

Throughout the rest of the morning, Clint and Natasha followed Peter’s class around the lower levels of the Tower. They made note of every time Eugene made a snide comment to Ned. They had only met the kid once, but they knew he and the girl defending him were Peter’s best friends. Once, in one of the intern labs, MJ caught sight of Natasha. She was sketching one of the interns who was having some kind of difficulty with whatever they were working on and Natasha happened to be standing behind them. So, when MJ looked up, she briefly made eye contact with the spy. Natasha, having wanted to be seen by the girl, smiled at her, pressed a finger to her lips, and gestured to Flash. MJ grinned and went back to her sketching, she couldn’t wait to see how this would turn out.

Just before the class started up to some of the higher labs, Natasha and Clint broke away from them and headed up the private elevator to find Steve. “What are the odds that this has only started this week?”

“Non-existent,” Natasha said.

“Hm, that’s what I thought. And clearly, Ned isn’t his usual target.”

“And we all know how Steve feels about bullies.”

“And about Peter.” While it was true that Tony was a father-figure to the young man, it was also true that he had webbed his way into all of their hearts. They all cared very much for the young superhero and now, they had proof that he’d been bullied.

“Steve, we have a problem,” Natasha and Clint confronted him in the main living room and told him everything they’d overheard Eugene say to Ned, then told him their conclusions that this kid had been bullying Peter. Steve’s expression got stormier and more hostile the longer they talked. Sam and Wanda, who were standing nearby, took off find Bucky and Rhodey.

Down in the lab, Peter was bent over the metal rings he was arc welding together. There was no real reason for him to be doing so except that both Tony and Harley said he needed the practice while they supervised. Peter didn’t know why – they were the engineers here, not him. But whatever, he was enjoying himself.

He was enjoying himself so much, in fact, that he didn’t hear when the doors to the lab opened. He noticed Tony straighten up but didn’t think anything of it. Then he felt Tony tap his shoulder. “Yeah?” he asked without moving from his task.

“We have company, don’t be rude.”

“Right,” he stood and removed the welding visor at the same time, only then noticing who their ‘company’ was. He turned to Tony. “I have the sudden, intense, urge to weld you to the desk,” he brandished the stick he held in Tony’s general direction.

“You wouldn’t dare.” Though he was grinning, he stepped away from both the desk and Peter, while Harley laughed at him. He then turned to Peter’s classmates and teacher. “Let that be a lesson, students. Welding equipment is dangerous, and you shouldn’t brandish it at people.”

“No, he’s right,” Peter sighed, setting the tool down and removing the rest of his protective gear. He smiled to himself, this was already happening to him. May as well go big. He braced his hands on the lab table and vaulted over it to the big red phone that looked exactly like every big, red, emergency phone in the movies that he had installed for just such emergencies.

“Peter! Don’t!” Tony ran around the table, but Peter kept himself out of his mentor’s reach.

“Tony’s being mean to me again,” he whined into the phone.

By the time Tony grabbed it out of his hands, seconds later, it was too late. “He’s not there. Peter!”

Peter giggled and dashed out of reach again, before ducking behind the man he’d called, who had just dropped in through the nearby window. “Hi Steve.”

“Tony,” he crossed his arms over his chest, and gave Tony his patented, Captain America, ‘I’m disappointed in you’ glare.

“Oh, come on, Stevie! Not the eyes! Besides, I wasn’t really being mean to him! I just made sure his classmates got to come up and see his lab.”

“Your lab?” Abe, one of the kids on the Acadec team with him, was the first to find his voice.

“Well, mine and Harley’s,” he stuck his head around Steve and gestured to Harley, who waved at the class. “When we’re not working in Tony’s lab, this is where we work on our personal projects.” He caught sight of Flash’s dumbfounded face, staring at him where he was hiding behind Captain America. He grinned and stepped out from behind Steve while he looked for Harrington. Harrington looked like he was sucking on a particularly sour lemon and refused to meet Peter’s eye.

“Personal projects like what?” One of the others in his class asked.

Harley grinned at the girl. “Mostly robots, just for fun. We’ve got one that will go down to the vending machine and bring back whatever we tell it to. A bigger one that’ll go to the cafeteria and order our lunches.”

“Which has kept you all fed,” Steve interjected.

“And Peter’s got one project in particular that, if he feels like showing you, will interest ya’ll a great deal.”

Everyone turned to Peter, who stared at Harley for a minute. “It’s not classified, right? I can show them?” He looked to Tony. When he nodded, Peter turned to the holo-table in the center of the room. Tapping out a few commands, he pulled up the holographic version of the Spider-Man suit. He grinned at the gasps coming from his classmates. “Come on, circle around the table.” Everyone rushed to comply, Ned and MJ coming to stand on either side of him. The holo-table was large and his class was small, but they were still crammed close together to fit everyone. “The real one is with Spider-Man, of course.” Upstairs in his room, hanging in his closet more specifically. “But this is the one I use to test any repairs and upgrades before I actually apply that to the suit.” Ned, in his excitement, had grabbed onto Peter’s arm and was shaking him. Ned had seen the real suit, and seen him in it, plenty of times before. But he’d never really gotten to see the holo-version that he tested things on.

None of them noticed Steve whispering in Tony’s ear or that Natasha had joined them again.

“You work on Spider-Man’s suit?” Cindy stared across the table at him.

“Peter is responsible for all of Spider-Man’s tech, including his web fluid,” Tony said proudly, coming to stand behind Peter and putting a hand on his shoulder. “He gets help when he needs it, but mostly it’s his work flying around Queens.”

“That’s a bit unfair, Stark.” Everyone’s attention turned to Natasha as she spoke up. “He’s also responsible for my new Widow’s Bites. And most of Barton’s arrows. And -”

“Alright, alright, so Pete’s got his fingers in everybody’s tech. Harley does too. I’m just saying that Spider-Man is an exclusively-Peter project.”

Ned, who had gone still in shock when Tony walked up behind him, was back to almost-violently shaking Peter in his excitement. The other students started asking him questions after that. Most of it about Spider-Man, some about the rest of the tech he worked on. Then Emily announced it was time to break for lunch down in the cafeteria.

Mr. Harrington looked in Peter’s general direction. He couldn’t bring himself to look directly at Peter, so he was looking at a spot just over his left shoulder. “Will you be joining us for lunch, Peter?”

“Can’t Mr. Harrington. I’m suspended for lying, remember?”

“For lying?” Steve walked up to stand beside him, looking down at him then back up at Harrington. “About what?”

“This,” Peter spread his arms to indicate his lab. Steve knew already, everyone did, but he was enjoying the opportunity to make Harrington squirm. “Apparently, the school’s tired of me lying about my SI internship.” Steve leveled his Captain-America-glare at Harrington. “They said it reflects badly on the entire school for me to be telling such an outrageous lie.”

“Does it?” Steve asked in a dangerously soft voice. Everyone knew he wouldn’t actually do anything to Mr. Harrington, except of course Mr. Harrington, who looked like he was about 5 seconds from peeing his pants.

Out in the hallway, where most of the students had already filed out behind Emily and the other two teachers chaperoning the trip, Clint stepped up beside Flash. “Hello, Eugene.”

He looked over and stopped dead. The students around him all stopped as well, catching sight of who had joined them. “Hawkeye?”

Clint smiled, and it was not a friendly smile. “We heard you earlier today, Eugene. And every single one of us knows now that you’ve been bullying Peter. The Avengers don’t like bullies, Eugene, and we’re all very fond of Peter. It seems he was protecting you by not telling us, but we know now. Best be careful what you say and do from now on.” Clint gestured with his head to the other side of Flash where Sam was standing beside Rhodey who was in full military uniform. On either side of the elevator stood Bucky and Wanda, seemingly relaxing against the walls and talking to each other, but they both turned to make eye contact with Flash when he turned to look at them, Bucky’s arm glinting under the fluorescent lights and red magic swirling around Wanda’s fingers.

“Well, Midtown, enjoy the rest of your trip.” Seeing Flash look like he was about to pass out, Clint directed a much happier grin at the other students before the five Avengers made their way back up the hall to Peter and Harley’s lab. Clint tapped MJ and Ned’s shoulders as he passed them and gestured that they should follow him. “I brought your friends.”

“Thanks, Clint,” Peter smiled at him then looked very confused as MJ collapsed in a fit of laughter. “MJ?”

She waved a hand, waving off his concern. Once she regained control of herself, she looked up at the five Avengers who’d been in the hallway. “That was the greatest thing I’ve ever seen happen to him.”

“What thing? Happen to who?”

“Were you planning to tell us that you have a school bully, Peter?” Bucky asked.

“Nope. How’d you find out?”

“Clint and I heard him teasing Ned this morning.” Peter turned to his best friend in concern who waved him off.

“What did you guys do?” Peter asked, glancing at MJ who was leaning against one of the legs of the holo-table and sketching Flash’s face.

“We simply made it clear what our policy is on bullies, Pete. Relax.” MJ snorted, glancing up at Sam who winked back at her.

“But no one was hurt, right?”

“Right,” Clint agreed.

“I guess that’s the best I can hope for then. Hey, you guys aren’t gonna get in trouble for being up here with me instead of with the rest, are you?”

“Maybe,” MJ shrugged, very unconcerned.

“Come on, let’s go get lunch,” he rolled his eyes at her. Reaching behind him, he grabbed Harley’s hand and the four of them made their way down to the cafeteria. His classmates turned to look at him when he walked in, but he ignored them. He and Harley got their usual lunch orders, waited for MJ and Ned to decide what they wanted, and then found a table that was a little removed from the others and sat down.

“I brought you something, by the way,” MJ pulled a few pages out of her bag and handed them over. Peter looked down at the sketches of Harrington’s guilty face and raised an eyebrow at his friend. “Figured you might want to know that he’s had that look on his face a lot over the last week.”

“Thanks, MJ,” he smiled at her, tucking the papers in his pocket. After lunch, he and Harley waved MJ and Ned off so they could go back up to the lab while the other two completed the tour.

Once the room emptied out of Midtown students, Harley slung his arm around Peter’s shoulders. “Feeling better about Monday?”

He laughed, “Yeah, I am.”

Peter didn’t really think about his fellow students touring the Tower after that. He figured that was the last time he would see them until Monday. But Tony had learned a thing or two about herding a spider-child without letting him know where you were leading him and took full advantage of it two hours before the tour was supposed to end. When Peter noticed they were outside the open, back door to the press room, he stopped.

“What?”

“Nope, not doing it.”

“Come on, Pete, it’ll be fine. Besides, I’m sure they still have tech-related questions for you.”

“Dad! Come on!” Peter heard the gasp from the room that let him know that his classmates were already seated and that at least a few of them had heard him refer to Tony Stark as his dad. He sighed, knowing he had to go in now.

He followed a smirking Tony into the press room and sat at the table between Tony and Natasha. He slouched in his seat, then straightened up when Nat poked him in his ribs. Tony, either to get Peter to relax in front of his classmates or to prolong his torture depending on who you asked, started with students’ questions further in the back of the room. Students who wouldn’t have heard Peter call him Dad.

His classmates, having figured that they’d be able to ask him more questions on Monday, focused on asking the other Avengers questions. After all, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for most of them.

Finally, Tony pointed to the girl who had been wiggling in her seat and was sitting the closest to the door they’d come through. “Peter, why did you call Mr. Stark ‘Dad’, before you came in the room?”

The room went completely silent and, to Peter, it felt like no one was breathing as they waited for him to answer. Which was ridiculous and dramatic, but that’s what he got for hanging out with Tony so much. He sighed and answered, “It started out as a joke. I don’t remember what it was he said, but he was being over-protective as he does and I jokingly called him ‘dad’. It became a thing after that and now I always call him ‘dad’.” It was the best he could come up with considering he couldn’t tell them that he’d been injured as Spider-Man and was a little delirious from the super-soldier level pain killers he’d been given. And besides, Tony was often over-protective of him and all the Avengers knew it.

Early on Monday morning, Peter walked into the principal’s office with Tony and Aunt May. Steve and Bucky, who Peter had insisted come with them, were standing out in the hallway. Aunt May had called on Friday afternoon and requested a meeting with the principal and the guidance counselor.

“Now, it has come to my attention that you think that my personal intern has been lying to you,” Tony began.

“Mr. Stark, I….”

Tony held up a hand to interrupt him. “Off-topic – I’m wondering where you got that photo?” Tony gestured to the one that was hanging on the wall behind his head.

Principal Morita pointed to one of the men. “My grandfather was Jim Morita. I’m sorry, what does that have to…. Mr. Stark?”

Tony had stood, opened the door, and pulled the two super soldiers into the room. Peter didn’t bother to try to hide his grin as Morita’s eyes bugged out of his head. “This is Principal Morita, Jim Morita’s grandson.”

“Mr. Morita, good to meet you,” Steve offered his hand to shake.

“Wish it was under more pleasant circumstances,” Bucky shook his hand from where he stood behind Peter.

Steve caught sight of the photo right after that and made his way behind Morita for a closer look. “Sorry, just ignore me. You can continue with your meeting. Buck, you remember this day?”

Maybe it was petty of him, but Peter thoroughly enjoyed Morita’s discomfort after the meeting the previous Monday. Ms. O’Reilly, meanwhile, sat on Morita’s right side, gaping at the people in the office.

“Now then, you were explaining why you thought Pete was lying to you despite having the necessary paperwork and you having the ability to call at SI and confirm his story with our personnel department, the number for which is provided on that paperwork as well as our website.” Tony calmly redirected the meeting to what it was supposed to be about.

“Mr. Stark, I truly don’t have an answer that sounds good now. Previously we thought he was trying to look cool for his classmates and had made the whole thing up. Since, at the time, it wasn’t doing any damage, we allowed it.”

“I’m sorry, I’m confused. How exactly did you think it would make him look cool? You are aware that none of the students, save his friends MJ and Ned, believed him? And one of them bullied him for his ‘fake’ internship?” Principal Morita’s mouth opened but no words came out. Tony looked to Ms. O’Reilly, who was still gaping at everyone. “Right, well, now that we’ve gotten this sorted out – how do I go about adding myself as one of Peter’s emergency contacts?” Morita paged one of the secretaries and they updated Peter’s paperwork.

“Well, at least now we know why you wanted both of them to come too,” Tony said, nodding his head at Steve and Bucky as they stood out in the hallway after the meeting.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” The mischievous grin on his face said otherwise. The adults chuckled. He hugged them each as they left then turned to find MJ and Ned before the school day started with a little happy bounce in his step.