Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

This story started 17 years ago when one Tony Stark, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, decided to finally fulfill his most secret desire: fatherhood.

          It would be an understatement to say Tony had an unconventional childhood. Being the heir to the world's largest weapons manufacturer tech company wasn’t the best environment to grow up in. Perhaps if Howard had been a caring father, or at least attentive, Tony would have come out the other end a little better off- emotionally speaking. So Tony had never known a kind childhood. Had never experienced the domestic bliss of waking up late on a Saturday morning and making waffles only to watch crappy television for the rest of the day. Never experienced the fond exasperation of being asked “How was school?” for the millionth time in a row. Never known the contentment that followed family movie nights.

          And despite what everyone knew about him, despite the air he tried so hard to exude, he hated meaningless flings. He yearned for a deeper connection but knew, deep down, that that was impossible. But he also knew that he wanted a child. A child he could raise the way he never was. Being spoiled with all the luxuries of wealth while still being loved and cared for the way every child should be.

          “Maybe I could find a surrogate?” Tony wondered to himself one drunk night with Rhodey.

          “For what?” his friend had asked, also drunk, but not quite drunk enough to rattle on about his deepest desires.

          “I ‘wanna kid… but people suck… so maybe a sur’gate.'' 

          Now Rhodey prides himself on many things, being one of the only people Tony trusts is one of them, as such, he knows many things about the man. How he hated things being handed to him, how he faked his smile for the cameras, how he had a deep-rooted insecurity of people only wanting him for his name. But through all of that, he never knew Tony wanted a kid. But he also prided himself on being the best damn friend he could be.

          “What about Pepper?” he suggested off the top of his head

          “Nah,” slurred Tony, starting to get sleepy, “she doesn't wan’ kids. ‘sides, that’d be weird,” his head slid from his hand down his arm, which was now being used as a pillow. “S’mone I don’ know.” 

        Fortunately for Rhodey, Tony didn’t remember the conversation, meaning he could get all the necessary paperwork done under the radar and present it to Tony as a surprise.

          “Sir,” Jarvis announced throughout the lab, “Colonial Rhodes is here to see you,” Tony waved his approval towards the cameras, not looking up from his latest blueprint. 

          “Hey Tones,” the man said with barely contained excitement, stack of papers in hand which he set down on the island next to the snack bar.

          “What is it, honeybear? Did I forget to sign something again?” Tony still hadn't looked up from his work.

          “No.” 

          .

          .

          .

          .

          “Alright, alright fine,” Tony whined, dragging himself away from his work and walking over to the coffee machine.

          “Tones, If you had a kid would you want a boy or a girl?” Dum-E quickly wheeled over to clean up the broken mug and spilled coffee. 

          “What prompted that?” asked the genius, currently staring wide-eyed at his friend. Instead of answering, Rhodes just gestured to the stack of papers. Tony swung them around to read and after seeing ‘Your Surrogacy Plan!” printed on the top of the page, let out a small shocked laugh.

          “Just say the word and I’ll send it in.” 

          A quiet “What if I’m no good?” rang through the silence. 

          “You’ll be a great dad Tones, and you’ll have Pepper and me to help you out along the way… So, Boy or girl?” 

          “Boy, I want a boy,”

          Tony wiped his sweaty hands on his pants for the third time in just as many minutes. Despite the fact that he showed up early and their designated meeting time was still five minutes away, he was nervous that he’d been stood up. It’d been four months since he’d let Rohdney submit the forms to the agency, as well as a few NDA’s to ensure his private information stayed that way, and this was his third meeting with a potential surrogate. Third time’s a charm. He thought bitterly to himself. 

          The first surrogate mother had been matched with someone else last minute due to a misunderstanding, so they’d never even got the chance to meet. The second person had been nice enough, except for the fact that (even though she signed an NDA) she had posted about it on social media right after their meeting. The only reason she wasn’t being sued into the ground right now was because the post itself was fairly vague, but Tony ultimately decided that it wouldn’t work. 

          It was while he was lost in his own thoughts that the woman snuck up on him. “Tony?” she had asked, jolting him back to reality.

          “Hi, May, right?” He stood up grasping her offered hand in two of his in his closest approximation to a friendly handshake. “Please, sit.” They were meeting in a little cozy family-owned sandwich shop.

          “So, Mr. playboy, tell me about yourself?”

          “Ha, well, I’m a Gemini, enjoy sunsets, long walks on the beach, frisky women, and staying up for five days straight getting caught up in a project.” 

          As far as Tony could tell the meeting went swimmingly. May wasn't put off at all by his billionaire status, treating him like a human being rather than tabloid fodder. It was… refreshing. 

          Tony and May were sitting in the clinic waiting anxiously for the test results. Well, May was fairly calm but Tony was increasingly restless. “Tony, you’re making me twitch just watching you, sit down.” May scolded as Tony walked the length of the waiting room for the nth time. “Whatever happens, happens, you pacing won’t change the results.” 

          “You’re right, you’re right.” He took a steadying breath before lowering himself back into his chair. 

          “Ms. Parker” a doctor called out, Tony was up before he finished. 

          They were led through the winding hallways until they came to a cookie-cutter office, everyone sat down, and the doctor grabbed a file. 

          “Congratulations, Mr. Stark, Ms. Parker is pregnant.” If anyone claims that Tony had whooped for joy he would deny it till the day he died.

Chapter Text

           Today was the day. Well, It was one of many ‘days’ to come, but today was important. Today was the day that Tony and May discovered the sex of their child. 

          Similar to when the pregnancy results came in, Tony was beyond anxious. Though, to his credit, he did manage to sit still for a full two minutes before he started pacing. May just sighed good-naturedly, 

          It was a bit awkward for May to be half reclined in a chair with her shirt partially off, but it was no worse than the gynecologist so that was a plus. The women spread the blue gel over May’s stomach before placing the probe on her skin. 

          A few beeps and suspense-filled moments later the doctor announced with a smile, “It’s a boy!” And Tony was definitely not on the verge of tears. 

          They went out for Ice cream. Another family-owned business because damn-it, it’s important to support local businesses. 

          “What are you gonna name him?” May asked, breaking the comfortable silence. 

          “I’m not sure. What about… Blake?” May shot it down with uncertainty. “Alexander? No too formal… how about… Peter?” 

          “Peter,” May said with an authority, “I like Peter.” 

          It’s been a few months, and May was just starting her second trimester, proudly showing the start of her baby bump and very excited for the morning sickness to stop. The two had decided to start looking at nursery decorations. Tony had already cleared out the room next to his in preparation. 

          “Tony, what about this colour?” The swatch in question was a vibrant navy blue called ‘Suddenly Sapphire’. 

          “And then we could accent it with this one,” Tony held up another swatch called Tarantino Red.

          “Perfect.” 

          Lining the floor in plastic sheets took a lot longer than it should. Eventually having to turn off the AC so it would stop blowing around. Then promptly turning it back on (after weighing down the plastic) because spring in Malibu can get uncomfortably hot when you’re doing manual labour in direct sunlight. The red accent wall was adjacent to the balcony. Peter's room had the perfect view of the ocean.

          “May, do you think this’ll look good?” Tony asked, pointing to a soft black wooden crib, the back end higher than the others as to convert to a headboard when Peter gets older.

          “Yea, I think it’ll look nice with the changing station.” 

          They set up his crib facing the windows, the changing station along the red wall, and his activity area in the middle of the room. Tony and May took a step back to admire their handiwork. 

          “It’s perfect,” Tony whispered. 

          “He’ll love it.” 

          It was August 10th, 2001 when Tony received a phone call at two in the morning. 

          “Sir-,”

          “I know Jarvis, I’ll go to bed soon, promise.” Tony interrupted

          “No sir, you have a call from May Parker.” Tony accepted it before the AI could finish. 

          “Tony, he’s coming,” May’s out-of-breath voice could be heard over the speakers.

          Tony’s world froze, it’s too soon, I’m not ready. “Are you sure? He isn’t due for another week!” 

          May let out a surprised cry of pain, “Pretty sure! I’m almost at the hospital, meet me there.”

          “You’re drIVING!?”

          “I may be in labour but I’m not an idiot, I called a taxi,” there was some talking on the other side, “I’ve gotta go Tony, meet me there.” and the line went dead. 

          Tony was frozen for all of four seconds before rushing faster than he thought possible to his car. He may have broken several traffic laws but he arrived at the hospital in record time.

          It took ten hours . Ten hours that felt like an eternity, but at the same time passed in a blur. Tony felt useless the whole time. While he and May had never become romantic (and they had no intention to) they had become very close friends. And no matter what anyone said, Tony couldn’t stand to see those he loved in pain. So while the doctors moved around them gracefully, fluttering in and out of the room as they saw fit, Tony was sitting at May’s bedside, his hand held in May’s death grip. 

          And there they stayed for ten hours , but when his little Peter had come into the world wailing like it was his job, his heart both broke and soared. When the doctor handed him his son, Tony was too damn happy to care about the fact that he was almost sobbing with pure elation. He almost didn’t want to, but he handed Peter off to May, who was also crying mind you, before she promptly passed out from exhaustion.

Chapter Text

2001

          Taking Peter home felt surreal. May had spent about a day and a half at the hospital after birthing Peter. After which they had agreed Tony would take her home so she could recover and Tony would bring Peter around within the next few days so the three of them could relax.

          Tony never thought this would happen. Being able to walk through the halls of his home with his son in his arms, it was a happiness he didn’t know was real. Tony might not’ve had a decent night's sleep in three days but he’d be damned if Rhodey and Pepper didn't get to meet Peter before he collapsed from exhaustion. 

          He walked over to the sofa and nearly fell asleep right there. “Jarvis, call Pepper and Sour Patch.” 

          Right before Pepper picked up, Peter started whaling. “Tony? What's wro- Is that him?” Rhodey joined. 

          “Tony? Is that Peter?” 

          He soothed his son's cries before he answered. “Yea guys, I’d like you to meet, Peter Benjamin Stark.” Rhodey inquired about the choice of middle name. “May’s late husband, I don’t know, I guess I just wanted to thank her in some way,” Tony adjusted Peter in his grip, facing him towards his two closest friends. “Hey Peter, meet aunt Pepper, and Uncle Rhodey.” Apparently, Peter had had a long day because his only response was to yawn and snuggle closer into his father's chest.

          Tony had heard the stories, had read the parenting books, he knew what he was asking for when he signed the surrogacy papers, and he wouldn’t trade Peter for the world. But Jesus Christ this was the third time tonight (today?? It was only five o'clock) that Peter had woken him up screaming. 

          “Okay Pete, what’s wrong?” Tony asked between yawns. Picking him up, Peter settled a little And Tony sang. He sang an old lullaby that his nanny used to sing, about halfway through, coupled with the subtle rocking, Peter quieted down. 

          Tony looked over to the rocking chair near Peter’s activity mat. He’d slept in worse places. 

          Laying on his father's chest, lulled into dreams by his soft singing, Peter slept soundly through the night.

2006 [5 years old]

          “Come on dad! Please!”

          “Alright, alright, you can join me in the lab today,” Pepper had insisted on not letting Peter down there until he was old enough (not that that stopped anything, just last week the kid made himself a computer out of scraps) but regardless, it should be fine if he just worked on blueprints. Right?

          Wrong.

          “Master Stark,” Jarvis called out, startling Tony from his work. “I do not recommend touching mercury with your bare hands.” Tony whipped around to see a sheepish Peter slowly putting the lid back on a container of mercury before placing it gently back on the shelf.

          “Sorry dad” the five year old muttered, making his way back over to his father.

          “Peter, I think we need to have a talk about lab safety before you give your old man a heart attack.”

Feb 2008 [7 years old]

          “Do you have to go?” the boy whined, looked up at his father with his big doe eyes and begged for the tenth time (that morning) for Tony not to leave.

          “I’m sorry bambino, it’s only for three days, then I’ll be right back here and we can work on reconstructing that engine alright?” 

          “Tony,” Pepper said, accusatory lit in her voice. “You were supposed to be in the air two hours ago. Oh, hey Peter.” 

          “Sorry Ms. Potts, a certain someone didn’t want to see me go,” be bent down to give Peter a hug. “Remember, It’ll only be three days and you can have Pepper call me every night,” he kissed his son’s temple. “I love you Pete, I’ll be home before you know it.”

          Three days was what he promised. That was sixteen days ago.

          He and Yennsen were enjoying some much-needed downtime, well, as much as one could enjoy anything when they’re being held hostage by warmongers. “You still haven't told me where you're from.” 

          “I'm from a small town called Gulmira. It's actually a nice place.”

          “Got a family?”

          “Yes, and I will see them when I leave here.” He replied with a sad glint in his eyes, like he knew a hard truth that Tony didn’t. “And you, Stark?”

          “I-... I’ve got a son.” 

          “How old?” 

          “Seven. I told him I’d be home, and I’m not going to let him down.”

May 2008 [7 years old]

          “Peter?” Pepper called into the dark room. It had been dark for so long. As soon as word of his father's kidnapping reached him, try as Pepper might have to keep it out of his ears, Peter had barricaded himself in Tony’s room. At first, it was fairly easy to get him out, offer a movie marathon and some ice cream, have Jarvis play family videos, have Happy drive him to the beach so they could watch the waves from somewhere that wasn’t their balcony. But now? It had probably been a solid month since Peter had left his father's room, the blinds always down and lights always on their lowest settings. If Pepper does try to console the boy now, all she can think of is to tell him stories of Tony in silly situations or to hold him when his seemingly limitless well of tears starts to overflow. Anyone who knew the boy was deeply disturbed at the quiet husk he had become. 

          But this time was different. “Peter?” she called out again, “they found him.” the lump beneath the sheets tensed and Pepper swiftly moved to sit on the bed. “They found him. He’s coming home.” 

          It was heartbreaking for Pepper to have to tell Peter to stay behind. She wasn’t sure what kind of state Tony would be in, if he would be bloodied and bruised, if he would have all his appendages, if he would even be able to walk. Rhodey had said that he was fine but she had been hearing ‘fine’ for years. Peter had been in enough distress, he didn't need to see his father injured on top of it.

          To see him walk out of the aircraft with nothing more than a sling and a few scratches was more a relief than she was willing to admit.

          “Where's Peter?” 

          “At home, I didn’t want him to see you hurt.” Pepper explained as they got into the car with Happy at the wheel. “To the hospital,”

          “No.”

          “What do you mean no?”

          “I've been in captivity for three months. There are three things I want to do. I want an American cheeseburger, I want you to call a press conference, and I want to see my son”

          Within the hour, Tony found himself sitting in front of a podium in front of a room full of reporters. “I never got to say goodbye to Dad… I never got to say goodbye to my father. There's questions that I would have asked him. I would have asked him how he felt about what this company did. If he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts. Or maybe he was every inch the man we all remember from the newsreels… I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them. And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability.”

          The reporters started calling for his attention. “Hey Ben.” He said, nodding to one in the front.

          “What happened over there?” 

          “I had my eyes opened.” He stood, moving to stand behind the podium, “I came to realize that I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up. And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark International until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be.” Everyone was shouting for his attention as Obadiah ushered him off stage, trying (and failing) to redirect the media’s attention from the ill-thought-out new business plan. 

          As fast as he was off the stage Tony was in a car on his way home, not wanting to wait another minute to see Peter.

          “DAD!” The child screamed with tears running down his face and snot flowing from his nose, as he collided into his father, almost knocking him off his feet. 

         “Hey bambino, I’m sorry I’m late,” Tony said in a soothing voice, picking up Peter with his uninjured arm, carrying him inside.

          If they spent the next two days attached at the hip, no one was going to judge.

Chapter Text

Oct 2008 [7 years old]

          Peter has finally been able to fall asleep in his own room (with Tony by his side, but still, progress) and Tony was able to finally try on the full Iron Man suit for the first time. He had managed to hide the suit from Peter, simply because he knew better than anyone, testing any kind of new power source leads to more explosions then breakthroughs. 

          The test flight went swimmingly, despite the slight icing problem. The landing, however, not so much.

           He stood motionless as his father, bloodied and bruised, was kneeling on the ground over a basin of water, ten large shadows with glowing red eyes looming over him. His dad was screaming, sobbing, or maybe that was Peter, as the shadows held his head under the water. Tony thrashed around, but no matter how hard he struggled he couldn’t get up for air. One shadow grabbed Tony’s hair and lifted him from the basin, throwing him across the room. Despite Pater’s screams and the echoing laughter from the shadows, the resulting wet thunk was clearly heard, and a pool of blood was quickly spreading around his father’s head. Peter tried to run to his side but no matter how far he ran, no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t get any closer. The lifeless body of Tony Stark lay still, dead. The shadows' laughter drowned out Peter’s cries.

          Peter shot up, a thin layer of cold sweat covering his body. It was just a nightmare he told himself, just as he has been for weeks. Peter had heard the stories, read the articles, he’s heard what his dad said to Aunt Pepper when they think he can’t hear. He knows what his father went through. 

          Just as Peter’s heartbeat was calming down, two loud crashes emanated from the living room. Peter threw off his blankets and ran out, only to find the piano smashed, with a hole in both the floor and the ceiling above it. “Jarvis! What happened?” the seven year old asked the AI.

          “Nothing Master stark, one of your father’s experiments simply went awry,” even before Jarvis finished Peter was rushing down to the lab. 

          “Dad!” Peter called into the lab. (after breaking down the glass door with a screwdriver that was abandoned in the living room) The boy, frantic, ran towards the sound of the car alarm and found an odd statue(?) that was being covered in fire extinguisher powder by Dum-E. When the metal man started moving, however, Peter quickly brandished his screwdriver in defence. 

          As the man(?) stood up, he started talking “Okay that's it, you’re going to Santa Monica College.” 

          “Dad?” 

          “Peter? What are you doing down here?” At the confused look Peter was giving off, Tony realized he was still wearing full body armour and removed the faceplate. “Bambino, what are you doing down here?” he asked in a softer voice.

          “I heard a crash, I wanted to make sure you were okay.” 

          “How’d you get in?” Peter wordlessly pointed to the shattered door. Tony let out a bright laugh, “You’re definitely my son,” He moved over to the robotic arms that would remove the exoskeleton, an awkward silence falling over them. 

          “Dad? What was that.” Peter asked once the suit was removed.

          “It was….  something I thought up while I was- uh, gone.” He led Peter over to the kitchenette, lifting him up to sit on the counter. “I think I could use it to help people, Pete.”

          “Like a superhero?” 

          “Yeah kid, like a superhero.” 

          “I wanna help,” Peter said with the determination of a seven year old who doesn't have a bedtime. He made his way over to the computers, seating himself in his dad’s chair and started pulling up the blueprints for the repulsors. 

          “Bambino, I don’t think this is something you can really help with,” Peter tried to protest but Tony soldiered on “ Because , you don’t have enough practical scientific knowledge… yet.” With a smirk and a flick of the wrist, Tony moved the schematics from the screen to the hologram and started explaining the physics of repulser-based flight.

2009 [8 years old]

          “Sir, It appears Peter is having a nightmare.” Tony heard as he awoke at two in the morning. Not even a minute had passed before he was gently shaking Peter awake

          “Peter, Pete it’s okay, you’re alright It was just a dream.” Peter shot up, eyes, locking onto Tony.

          “Dad?”

          “Yea bambino, it’s me, you’re okay.”

          “No, no you were, you were…“ Peter’s gaze fell away and it was clear he was getting lost in his head.

          “What was it about?” Tony prodded gently.

          Peter’s gaze shifted away, looking anywhere but his father. “It was… It was you, when you were gone.”

          A wave of realization passed through Tony. “Peter, look at me.” It took a moment but eventually, along with the soothing rubbing of Tony’s hand on his back, Peter’s gaze shifted back to his father. “I want you to remember something okay?” See this reactor?” Tony tapped the metal, a blue light shining through his shirt. “As long as it's still going I’ll be just fine, alright?” 

          Peter buried his head in his father's chest, Tony's arm capturing him in an embrace. “I’m not going anywhere Peter. Don't you worry about me.”

          That night, Peter fell asleep to the soft whirring of a mini arc reactor.

Chapter Text

2012 [11 years old]

          Turns out, even when you’re an excitable eleven year old about to see the worlds largest tech company achieve something most people only dream of, you can still fall asleep because of jet lag. 

          “You're good on this end. The rest is up to you.” Peter was roused by his father's voice.

          “You disconnected the transition lines? Are we off the grid?” Pepper responded. Glancing over to a groggy Peter on the couch “your glasses are on the table sweetie.” 

          “Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy,” Tony said, self-satisfaction evident in his voice. “Whenever you’re ready Pep.”

          “How does it look dad?” Peter asked after spotting Ironman in the distance.

          “Like Christmas, but with more... me.”

          Pepper grabbed a few files, “Gotta go wider on the public awareness campaign,” she said after looking through them. “You need to do some press. I'm in DC tomorrow. I'm working on the zoning for the next three buildings.”

          Father and son alike groaned “Pepper, you're killing me. Remember the moment? Enjoy the moment.”

          “Then get in here and I will.”

          Not a minute later the iron man suit was landing on the platform and being removed by the various mechanical arms along the track. 

          Peter ran up to his father, jumping into his arms. “Sir,” Jarvis announced. “Agent Coulson of SHIELD is on the line.”

          “Tell him I’m out,” Tony replied without missing a beat, leading his son over to the couch. 

          “Sir, I'm afraid he's already here.”

          Peter felt his father stiffen. “Bambino, leave the room.”

          “But-”

          “ Now Pete. Jarvis can patch you in but you need to leave the room.”

          He nodded, hurrying from his father's side and just managing to round the corner when the elevator door opened and a new voice spoke up.

          “Stark, we need to talk.” his voice had very strong ‘recurring background character’ vibes. 

          “Jarvis,” Peter whispered, pulling out his phone “can you pull up the video feed?” wordlessly, the AI complied.

          On the screen, Peter could see who he assumed was Coulson. Walking towards his dad and Pepper. “You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark, please leave a message.”

          “This is urgent.” The frustration was evident in his voice, though it was clear he was trying to hide it. 

          “Then leave it urgently.”

          “We need you to look this over.” He holds out a file towards Tony “Soon as possible.” 

          His dad barely looked at it, “I don't like being handed things.”

          Pepper took that as her cue. “That's alright, 'cause I love to be handed things. Let’s trade,” She handed off her glass of champagne (which she had been pouring while Coulson arrived) in exchange for the file. 

          Tony, deciding he really wanted Coulson to leave, butted in: “Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday.”

          “This isn't a consultation.”

          “Is this about the Avengers?” Pepper asked brightly. “Which I...I know nothing about.” she backtracked.

           The Avengers? Peter thought to himself. He had heard of it in passing, but his dad would never explain what it was when pressed. Eventually, he managed to hack into the past security feeds and learn all about Nick Fury’s plan. Exactly how many superhumans does he think there are in the world? Off the top of his head Peter could think of Captain America and Bruce Banner, you could count his dad when he had his suit on, but Captain America is long dead and everyone else is human (except Dr. Banner but Peter suspects that he doesn't like the attention.)

          “I thought the Avengers Initiative was scrapped, and besides, I didn't even qualify.” accusatory lit coming into his voice on the latter part of that sentence.

          “I didn't know that either,” Pepper added helpfully. 

          Tony wasn’t quite done though. “Yeah, apparently I'm volatile, self-obsessed, and don't play well with others.”

          “That I did know.”

          “This isn't about personality profiles anymore.” Coulson interrupts.

          From the feed, Peter sees Tony and Pepper step over to the desk, it’s clear their talking but it’s too quiet for Peter to hear.  Tony uploads the files and pulls up several video feeds, most of which aren’t visible from the angle of the security camera. Tony then whispers something in Pepper’s ear and soon after she and agent Coulson are leaving through the elevator. 

          “Pete? I know you’re watching.” He comes out from his hiding spot, meeting Tony on the couch. “C’mere bambino.” Tony wraps his arm around Peter's shoulder, running his fingers through his son’s hair. “Let’s watch a movie tonight, I’m probably gonna be busy the next few days.” It was impossible to miss the forlorn shadow in his voice. 

          They watched The Mask , and soon, they forgot exactly what was coming their way. 

A few days later

          Loki stalked closer to Tony, sceptre in hand “How will your friends have time for me, when they're so busy fighting you?” a delicate metallic clink was heard and the gods face contorted in confusion. “It should work,” he said petulantly to himself, tapping the sceptre against Tony’s chest once more. 

          Unbeknownst to them, Peter had left the safe room (after some minor hacking which he made sure went unnoticed by Jarvis.) and was currently watching from around the corner. Seeing an opening with Loki’s back turned, Peter rushed towards the god and tased him with a widow bite Tony had snagged for analysis.

          “Agk-” in Loki’s shock, he dropped the sceptre and took a few instinctual steps back. “Ha! My brother is the god of thunder, did you really think-” apparently being the brother of Thor meant nothing if you’re being whomped on the head with an alien stick. 

          A few tense seconds passed as father and son waited to see if Loki would wake up. “Nice swing bambino, but you’re still in huge trouble for leaving the safe room.”

          After some arguing deliberation, they tied Loki to a table that was bolted to the ground. And Tony hid the sceptre where Loki would never think to look. “Alright Pete, remember the plan?”

          “Keep him tied up no matter what, don’t talk to him, if he starts to break through the chains hit him with the wrench.” 

          “And what if he gets out?” 

          “Tell Jarvis.” they shared a hug before the AI announced Tony’s suit was ready. Giving one more squeeze, Tony let go of Peter and ran out the window. Peter rushed over to watch the mark VII suit form around him. 

          Just as Iron man shot off to help with the fight Peter heard a groan behind him.

Chapter Text

          Brandishing his wrench, Peter slowly turned towards the god. “If you struggle I’ll tase you again.” Loki, who was previously looking around with a nonchalant look, turned his gaze to Peter. 

          “Is this Midgard?” he asked in a tone that seemed uncaring, but Peter had always been good at reading people. Loki was confused. He affirmed that yes he was on Midgard. No Peter had no particular interest in murdering him. And, no, he’s not getting out of the cuffs. 

          “Why are your eyes green?” 

          “Pardon?” Loki responded, confused at the change of topic.

          “They were blue before, but now they’re green, why?” Loki seemed to be more confused by the second so Peter had Jarvis pull up the video feed on his phone. Trying to find a good angle to see the god's eye colour took a hot minute but once he did, showing him held an… unexpected reaction.

          “Bastards!” He started frantically looking around, Peter could only assume what for.

          “It’s not here.” Peter tried, but Loki continued his frantic search with his eyes before suddenly surging forward and restraining Peter’s arm behind his back. (don’t watch the mouth, watch the hands)

          “Stop struggling child, it will do you no good.” Peter complied, shifting slightly to take the pressure off his arm. “Thank you, now listen, we haven’t much time before the rest of them show up so I need to know: where. Is. the. Sceptre.” 

          “Y’know what great about having an AI? They can tell when you’re in danger, another ten seconds of this and my- uh, M-mr. Stark will come right back here to take you down.” Loki begrudgingly released Peter but did make sure to keep the wrench out of reach. 

          “Look child, we are running out of time. I need the sceptre to close the portal, without it, your planet is doomed.” 

          “... I’ll get the sceptre, and we’ll close the portal. Then you’ll stay here and explain to the Avengers exactly what happened and why. Deal?” Loki appeared caught off guard by this child making such a reckless deal with a person who almost destroyed his planet; but regardless, shook his hand. “Good, now come on, Mr. Stark put it under his bed.”

          “How’d you get out of your restraints anyway?” Peter asked, just trying to fill the silence with something other than tension I’ll have to ask Dad to put in elevator music . 

          “Magic.” 

          “You have magic! That’s so cool! How does it work? Does it follow the laws of physics? Is it a learned skill or is it genetic? Oh! Could you teach me?” Peter was bouncing on the balls of his feet giving the god his best puppy eyes.

          “I’d doubt a Midgardian could learn anything of significance.” Peter deflated, turning his gaze to the elevator buttons and leaning against the handrail. “But,” Loki sighed, attempting to appear annoyed “I suppose it’s not impossible. Perhaps if Stark doesn’t kill me then I’ll teach you a few parlour tricks.” Peter was back full force, spitting out questions faster than Loki could answer them. He was such an innocent soul, he even saw Loki smile (More like a half-smile but Peter still thinks it counts) In fact, Peter was spitting out questions so fast he didn’t notice how out of breath he was, that, combined with all the dust in the air (destroying buildings tends to kick up lot’s of dust) lead to a minor asthma attack:

          “I mean I know Asgardian science is super-advanced so at what point do you-” A loud cough escaped Peter cutting him off. “Jarvis” Peter called out, starting to wheeze, “Stop on the nearest floor.” 

          “Child, what's happening?” Loki asked, fake annoyance thrown out the window as he followed Peter into the lab. 

          “Asthma.” was all he said before running to grab his inhaler (there’s at least one kept on any floor Peter frequents) and taking Two long puffs, he let his racing heart settle before returning to the elevator with Loki.

          The rest of the elevator ride was spent (slowly) explaining what asthma was to Loki. When the doors opened the two saw Natasha Romanov aka oh my god that’s Black Widow, I’m about to meet Black Widow this is gonna be so cool. Standing next to her was a scientist, the two of them were trying to close the portal. At least, that’s what they were doing before the elevator opened and Natasha pulled out a gun. 

          “Wait!” Peter lept in front of Loki acting as an impromptu human shield. “Loki was brainwashed! He’s here to help.” Natasha turned her gaze towards the god, she scrutinized the two for a moment and, apparently satisfied with what she found, she holstered her gun. Hand held out for the sceptre. 

In the distance, the Chatari fell. 

          Black Widow held a hand to her ear, listening to her coms. “Yea, we got it closed… Dr. Selvig left himself a backdoor, we used the sceptre… Loki and a child came-... I don’t take orders from you Stark,'' Her whole demeanour changed, her eyes flickered to Peter before focusing on the conversation once more. “Understood. Peter, come here,” she spoke as if she were talking to a spooked animal. 

          “No,” Peter stated, voice hard as stone. “I might be young but I’m not stupid. The second I move you’ll pull a gun on him.” 

          “Damn right she will.” His father's voice came from the side, Iron man suit landing on the roof. “Peter, what did I say! If he wakes up, hit him! What do you do? Let him out! You are so grounded young man!”

          “Gentlemen?” Ms. Romanov intervened “I suggest we take this inside.” 

          After everyone settled down in the ‘party room’, as his father called it, Captain America spoke first. “So… you have a son?”

          “Yes, everyone meet Peter. Peter, this is Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanov, Thor whatever his last name is, and Clint Barton. Now that introductions are dealt with, I suggest we deal with Loki before you all ask the inevitable who’s where’s and why’s.” the god in question was currently chained up (again). This time though, he was seated on the couch next to his brother (adopted) and furthest away from Peter. “First issue, Pete, why the hell did you think letting him go was a good idea?” 

         “Because he was brainwashed.” Before anyone could object he continued “When he threatened you, his eyes were blue, after he woke up they were green.” Both Clint and Natasha shared a look. “What?”

          “While Clint was brainwashed his eyes were blue.”

          There was a heavy silence before Peter spoke up. “Before I grabbed the sceptre Loki had every opportunity to kill me. If he was really a bad person he wouldn’t have hesitated.” all eyes turned to Loki, who was keeping his gaze unwavering towards the bar. “I also made him promise to explain himself, so you guys have to at least listen. And you can’t interrupt him either, that’d be rude.” After a silent eye-conversation between all the adults, Tony looked back to Peter and begrudgingly nodded. 

          “Right, well” Loki began “I’m assuming you’ll want the full story so get comfortable, this will take a while.”

          No matter what anyone said about Loki, you’d have to admit he’s a good storyteller. He began with the war between Jotunheim and Asgard, how Odin had found a baby frost giant and took him in, how he learned of his heritage and tried to concur Asgard. Then he got quiet. His next words revealing trauma that he hadn't even processed yet. He spoke of how he met Thanos, a mad titan with an even madder goal. How he was being manipulated by Thanos and influenced by the tesseract. Loki admitted to not remembering much about his time under its influence. “I do wish to- to apologize, for my actions upon your world. I harbour no ill will towards Midgard, of that I can assure you.” 

          “Wait a minute,” said Peter, “you said Odin found you 965 AD- How long is your lifespan?” Loki, not knowing where Peter was going with this, answered. “Okay, so if you guys live five thousand years that means…” Peter stared at his hands while he was doing his calculations. “Oh my god… Loki, your like, seventeen.” 

          “Does that mean this whole time you’ve just been going through your teenage rebellious phase?” Clint said, bursting into laughter.

          It took days of constant negotiations with both S.H.I.E.L.D. and Asgard but eventually, Loki’s punishment was determined: he would remain on house arrest with Tony with a 90% limitation on his seiðr (magic) until such a time that he can be determined mentally stable. No changes can be made to any routines or constants without the approval of a classified individual (Peter) per Loki’s request. 

          With the final approval of Odin, they could start preparing for Loki’s arrival on Earth. So, it was Odin and Frigga in the throne room talking to Nick Fury, Tony and Peter, Steve, and Thor. Loki was currently being held as a prisoner in the dungeons below the castle but everyone agreed that would do no good. “I’m still not comfortable with dragging my son into this” 

          “Yes Stark we are all well aware,” Fury interrupted before Tony could go on (another) ramble. “But it was Loki’s only stipulation and the more cooperation from him the better, Peter already agreed.” 

          “He’s fine Dad, He won't hurt me.” 

          “Like hell! He almost destroyed-”

          “Enough!” Odin’s voice rang through the room, silencing everyone within. “I have looked over the terms and I accept. The spell that limits Loki’s seiðr will take a few days to complete, I trust you’ll have his housing prepared by then?” 

          “Of course your majesty” Fury responded in his typical respectfully sarcastic tone.

          “Then it is done. Return to the Bifrost, Heimdall will take you back to Midgard.”

Chapter Text

2012 [11 years old]

          “Are we almost there?” Peter asked, bouncing in his seat as he looked out the window of the jet.

          “Tesoro, you asked four minutes ago, we still have an hour before we reach New York.” Tony sighed with fondness “Why don’t you help me with these schematics?” After Tony’s brush with palladium poisoning (and the destruction of their Malibu home) Tony (and Pepper) had decided it might be better to move into the SI building rather than rebuild the house. 

          And so that’s where we are, Tony, Peter, Pepper, Loki, Happy, and Rhodey (who’s only staying for a week) all on Tony’s private jet heading to New York. However Peter was mostly excited to see May again, she had moved to The Big Apple a few years back to continue her medical career and they’ve kinda lost touch. 

          Peter had never really seen the tower, sure, he had seen pictures of the tower, and was there for about a day when the arc reactor became SI’s main power source (then on lockdown for a few more days during the Chitauri,) but now he was going to be living there. He was just as jittery on the car ride as he was on the jet, much to the chagrin of the adults. And now, as the towering structure came into view He was frozen against the window. 

          It was so big . The building was 78 floors of pure technological genius, all covered in a layer of sleek mirrored glass and topped with a large A on the northern side of the tower.

          They pulled into what seemed to be a private garage, all of his dad's cars were in there after all, and loaded onto an elevator. His dad said that all of his stuff was already here but that’d he’d still need to unpack it all, which was fine; Peter wasn’t really sure if he was allowed to explore the building anyway. Not that that ever stopped him before. (the addition of Loki didn’t help with Peter’s mischievous tendencies) 

          At his old house, his room had a view of the ocean and a shared balcony with his dad's. But his new room had a view of the New York City skyline, he imagined it would look amazing at night. The room itself was bigger than his old one, more open and with higher ceilings. There was a loft bed in the far corner with a little reading nook underneath, the bathroom door at the foot of the bed. The bathroom was pretty standard: black hexagon tiles lined the floor, a modern-looking sink with a mirror above it, a large shower with a sleek glass door. Back in the main room he noted the dresser by his bed, so placed as to act as a nightstand. There was also an L-shaped desk in the corner by the window. There was an area rug that covered most of the floor with a two person loveseat at one end and a flatscreen at the other.

          All in all, it was well furnished but impersonal. He’d have to unload his books and posters as soon as possible.

          He was going to miss the old house, but it’ll be cool to live in the city. It’ll also be nice to see all the cool SI labs. It’ll be cool to see all the safe eleven year old friendly things New York has to offer.

          It had been two weeks since moving into the tower, Peter's room was looking a lot more lived-in, posters, lego sets, and books scattered about, a consol with corresponding games under the TV, and everyone had started to settle in. Loki was living on floor 77, just below Peter Tony and Pepper. He had limited access to everything, only being allowed on his floor (it wasn’t his, it’s just that no one else lived on it.) and the gym. Speaking of, Pepper was living with them on the top floor (78) figuring it would be easier to rope Tony into going to meetings when they lived in the same space. Thing is though, Tony had been kinda busy lately, and Peter wasn’t allowed in the lab without supervision soooooooooooo = Peter was bored.

          When they moved in Happy had given Peter a fancy badge that he’d helped design! The center was black with a minimalist bubbling beaker symbol with a half gold half clear rim. Happy had said that meant he has a custom clearance level, when prompted further he said to ask Jarvis. The resulting answer had left a very clever loophole for Peter to exploit whenever he pleased, and he pleased. 

          There were three elevator systems in the tower, the first was the one the Interns used, It could go from the lobby to floor 36, then there was the employee elevator that went from floor 36 to floor 64, then the resident elevator that went from floor 64 to the penthouse. Why so many separate systems? Security. That way an intern couldn’t even get the chance to hitchhike with an employee anywhere they weren't supposed to be. Peter, so far, had only been down as far as floor 65: the gym. But that was about to change. 

          Peter got in the lavish elevator and rode down to floor 64 (classified medical labs), then switched elevators before he was spotted and rode down to 36 then repeated the process again to get down to floor 30: the highest level of public R&D. Peter figured the lower he went the less likely it would be to run into his father, but at the same time he wanted to see what the actual employees were working on.

          Stepping into a professional SI R&D floor was, kinda underwhelming, It was about three o’clock so everyone was lazing through their work at the moment. Peter started wandering, trying to be inconspicuous in the mostly empty fluorescent halls, he saw people working on some pretty cool things. In one lab, a few employees seemed to be working on a more efficient battery for the newest starkphone, in another they’re working on some kind of robot, but then Peter saw one employee who looked like they’d been through the wringer. 

         The employee in question was a young-looking person wearing a pastel green hijab and a white lab coat, the bags under their eyes, as well as the coffee mug that has probably been refilled many times, showing a level of fatigue akin to that of doctors on the last legs of a 48 hour shift. The frustrated grumbling and bleary-eyed look indicated they were struggling, Peter, being the wholesome baby we all know and love, decided to lend a hand.

          The lab itself was about the size of a high school classroom and was currently occupied by six scientists. Two of them were working on some sort of code, another was soldering something near the back corner, and the other two seemed to be doing paperwork. The one Peter was interested in was hunched over a StarkPad at one of the various lab tables. Luckily none of the employees noticed a child walking into the room unsupervised. 

          “What are you working on?” he asked gently, trying not to startle. 

          The employee slowly turned to look at Peter “...Oh no, I’m starting to hallucinate children,” They said, rubbing their eyes and taking a sip of coffee. 

          “Can I help?”

          Pausing for a moment they said, “Couldn’t hurt,” and turned the screen towards Peter and he quickly started scanning the text. It was a formula.

          “What is it supposed to do?” 

          “Oh, right, uh, it’s supposed to be an anti-epileptic drug to help prevent seizures, it’s a project I need to send over to medical but it’s due in like three hours and somethings screwing with simulation because what it’s supposed to do is-”

          “You forgot to account for the excess valproic acid after you added in the zonisamide,” Peter said confidently, cutting them off. With a few taps on the screen, he spun it back towards the employee to look it over.

          “Holy shit kid you’re a miracle,” The previously weary employee started tapping furiously on the tablet. A minute passed before a loud and relief filled “Done!” rings out through the lab. 

          Another employee, the one who was soldering, walked over with a fond yet exasperated look on his face, “Manahil, now that you're done will you please get some sleep?” they smiled brightly for some reason.

          “Sure, sure, just gotta take my meds first,” they turned to Peter “thanks again little guy.” they waved as they walked out of the lab to presumably pass out on the nearest flat surface. 

         “So who are you exactly?” the other employee asked Peter.

          “Uhhhhh.” 

          Peter managed to slip out of the lab without revealing his identity as Tony Stark's secret son... Barely. And made his way back to the penthouse where a very agitated Pepper Potts was waiting for him. “Peter,” she said in her ‘you’ve done a big goof but I’m gonna let you explain before I verbally fuck you up’ voice. “I heard you went down to the employee labs.”

          “Yes,” he said, suddenly finding the floors fascinating.

          “And what were you doing down there?” 

          “Exploring.” 

          “Look Peter,” she sighed “I know Tony’s been pretty busy right now and you’re going a little stir crazy, but you can’t risk revealing your identity like that.” seeing the eleven year old nod meekly she pulled him into a warm hug, rubbing his back in soothing circles. “How’d you even get down there anyway, I thought you had restricted access?” 

          “The restriction was that I couldn’t go into a lab without an adult, anyone SI employs is 19 or older.” Pepper just laughed. 

          “Like father like son,” she muttered to herself. “Why don’t I let Tony out of his meeting and you two can get started on dinner? By the time you finish it’ll be around six and then afterwards we can all watch a movie together.”

          They ended up making green spaghetti (pesto sauce) and garlic bread. They then fell asleep watching inception, Tony making Pepper promise to lighten his schedule after hearing about the event of the day.

          All in all? Peter thinks he’s going to like New York.

Chapter Text

2014 [13 years old]

          “Hey Bambino?” Tony asked, knocking on the lofted bed frame. “Sorry to interrupt but I want you to meet someone.” Peter set aside his book with a smile and followed his father down to floor 71: the common room.

          “Peter, meet Bucky Barnes, he’s going to be living here for a little bit.” The man in question was sitting next to Steve doing his best to hide his metal arm from the child.

          “Hi, I’m Peter, well I guess you already knew that.” he held out his hand in invitation. Hesitantly, Bucky reached out and met Peter for the handshake. “You have a metal arm! That’s so cool! Can you feel things with it? What is it made of? Oo is it magnetic?!” Peter sprinted over to the kitchen to grab a few fridge magnets. 

          Tony laughed, as Peter tried (and failed) to get the magnets to stick to the very confused Bucky. “Oh yea Barnes, you can stay.” 

2015 [14 years old]

          “Happy Birthday Peter!” everyone chorused as the lights came on. Streamers and confetti littered the room. 

          The room itself was on the 76th floor, the one reserved specifically for his dad’s private labs. It was a large room with high ceilings and an expansive area in the center for practical testing, along the wall was a small army of rolling whiteboards and an area in the corner that seemed to be made for late-night lab sessions. A couch, TV, and kitchenette.

           “Y’know for a group that includes two super-soldiers, super spies and gods, you’re not very sneaky.” A few confused looks emerged around the room. “I heard Clint and Loki arguing over streamer colours two days ago.” Natasha cursed and handed what looked to be 20$ to Bruce.

          “Well then,” Tony cheered, clapping his hands. “Over to the couch for pizza!” 

          Indeed on the counter of the kitchenette, there were fifteen pizzas. Three to split between Nat, Clint, Bruce, Tony, and Peter; then another twelve for the supersoldiers and gods. Sat on the table was a modest stack of presents, each one covered in some variant of classic birthday wrapping paper. (except Clint who used neon yellow glitter paper.)

          The pizza was thin crusted and greasy, and the soda was overly sweet and carbonated. Here, surrounded by his crazy superhero family, there was nowhere the now fourteen year old would rather be. 

          “Mine! Open mine first!” the obnoxious yellow paper was passed to Peter and the teen ripped into it with reckless abandon.

          “Ha! I didn't even know they made these!” Peter was currently holding a Lego mega set of every single Avenger and their respective backgrounds. After fawning over the set Loki had quietly handed Peter a small box, when he opened it, it was a bracelet. It was made of flat stones, each one holding a magic rune. 

          “I will teach you later” came Loki’s familiar intonation, “But there is a spell that conceals the bracelet into a tattoo. It will protect you from harm.” Loki had been making progress in earning everyone’s trust, Nat was the only one he’s yet to fully earn but that’s to be expected. He had even been granted more access to the tower and can now get to both the common floor and any other resident floor (with supervision.) Peter gave him a hug before he opened the next one. 

          Speaking of Nat, her gift was neatly wrapped in navy blue. It was a hidden camera he could attach to his glasses, invisible unless you know it’s there. 

          Bruce gave him a hand knitted sweater, and Bucky gave him Captain America PJ’s. Thor gave him a cape that matched his (Peter had complimented on his cape a while back and the god remembered), and Steve had painted a picture of him and Tony laughing on the couch, lit by the glow of the TV. 

          The last gift was given by his Dad, it was a yet to be released StarkPhone. “You said you wanted to take up photography right?” he asked, “well this phone has the best camera to date, If you want you could be commissioned by SI for advertising it. Oh! And your other gift.” Tony gestured to the lab and it took Peter a second. 

          “The lab?! I’m getting my own lab?” 

          “Yup! You can still hang out in mine whenever you want but I figured you’d want your own space so this’ll be here whenever you want it.'' The night ended with everyone playing scattergories and Peter falling asleep in his new PJ’s.

(all of these are within the same week or so)

Tony

          Alright Peter you can do this. It was a few months after his birthday, and Peter is about to do something very brav- oh? No, no he’s walking away. Now he’s pacing by the elevator, as to be expected this is a very nerve racking thing to attempt. And he appears to be stalling by going down to the SI labs. 

          Peter doesn't know what he was expecting, he’s just pacing on a different floor now. In fact, where is he? He just picked a random floor and started walking; looking around, it looked like a break room-- couches, a TV, coffee maker and snacks. Huh, I wonder what department this is.

           “It’s you,” there was a girl standing in the doorway she had on a light coral hijab and grey sweatpants beneath her lab coat. “You’re the kid from my fever dream.”

          “What?” 

          “A few years ago you somehow got into the labs on your own and you just casually corrected a formula that had been bothering me for days but you fixed it in like, seconds.”

          “Oh yea! I remember that. I got in trouble for snooping around. So um, sorry but I don't remember your name.” 

          “Manahil,” she replied with a confident smile but it quickly faded “so what are you doing down here- I mean, you seem worried.”

          “Well, I’m trying to tell, uh, m-my Dad something, but I’m really nervous.”

          “What kind of something?” she inquired while leading them to the sofa. “Did you get a bad grade?” 

          “No it’s not like that…. It’s, well it’s…”

          “Why don’t you practice on me, pretend I’m your dad and tell me what's bugging you, then when you do the real thing it’ll be easier.” Peter considered this, weighed the pro’s and con’s of spilling his secret to a stranger.

          “Okay.” he took a deep breath. “Um… here goes. Hey dad,” he said with a nervous chuckle. “uh, I have something to tell you and when I do I don’t want it to change anything. I’m still your son and I know you’ll always be there for me so I really hope you can accept this part of me. W-what I’m trying to say is that… I’m bi.” Peter went tense, waiting for some kind of reaction from Manahil. 

          "Can you look at me?" Peter did. She was smiling softly, her eyes a little misty. "You're very brave. And I'm sure you're dad will accept you just as you are." 

          “Peter! Thank god,” Speak of the genus, Tony burst through the door, he had clearly run there, despite his heart condition. “Jarvis told me you were in distress but you weren't in your room or your lab- what are you doing down here kid?” 

          This was it, the moment of truth, he looked back to Manahil, who quickly wiped the shocked look on her face to give a supportive nod. “Dad, there's something I need to tell you… I know you’ll always love me, and that you’ll always be there for me, but I’ve discovered something about myself that I- I don’t know if you’ll approve of…. I’m bi.”

          The tears were quickly wiped from his cheeks and his head was brought to the familiar blue light in his father’s chest. “Oh mio figlio, I’ll always love you. I’m so proud of you for trusting me. Thank you.” he felt a gentle kiss on his hair. They stayed that way for a long minute. Peter crying silent tears of relief, Tony holding tightly to his kid, and Manahil wondering how the fuck Tony Stark had a son.

          Giving one last squeeze, Tony released Peter and turned to the third person in the room. “I want to thank you for helping Peter, but I’m also gonna need you to sign an NDA.” they shared a laugh. “Hey Pete, while I get this sorted out why don't you get a movie set up upstairs and I’ll meet you when this is done.” In the closing elevator, Peter suddenly felt lighter than he had in days. 

Rhody

          “Hey uncle Rhody,” Peter said over his shoulder as said uncle walked into his lab. 

          “Hey squirt,“ he replied, ruffling Peter's hair. “Tony said you had something to tell me?” 

          “Uh yea,” Peter took a deep breath, grabbing the nearest object (a test tube) to fidget with. “So, Dad said you'd be okay with it but I’m still nervous so just… don't, don’t think any different of me okay?”

          “Of course? Peter, is everything okay?”

          “No, no yea, everything's great. It’s just, I-I’m bi”

          “... Ha! Is that all? Well now I feel unprepared, I was all ready for you to tell me you wanted to move to Europe for a year, I had a whole thing planned about how I’d support your decisions and how’d I’d make you call every week. Oh geez, now I gotta learn how to respectfully flirt with guys cause lord knows Tony won't teach you.” Peter barked out a laugh and was quickly pulled into a side hug.

Steve

          “Hey Peter?” Steve called from outside the door, “Can I come in?” After he gave his permission Steve walked in to find him sitting on his loft bed reading. “I wanted to see how you were doing, you’ve been acting kinda off the past week or so.” 

          “Oh, uh, yea.” And suddenly Peter, who was having a relaxing Wednesday afternoon, was nervous again. “Um I…” Oh jeez, uncle Steve is from the forties wasn’t it like, illegal back then? What he thinks I’m disgusting? What if he tells Bucky and they both hate me?! What if-

          “Penny for your thoughts?” Steve interjected.

          He took a calming breath. “Okay, but, please don’t think any different of me. Okay?”

          “Of course Peter”

          “I’m bi.” Steve tilted his head like a confused puppy. “Y’know… Bisexual?”

          “I’m sorry, I don’t know what that is. Is it like-- a religion?” a little tension left Peter’s shoulders as he laughed. 

          “No, uncle Steve. It’s- It means I like girls and guys, like, I don’t really have a preference.” that lost tension was back full force while Peter stared at the foot of his bed. 

          “That,” Steve started, Peter glanced back at him, expecting disgust, not a look of quiet revelation. “That’s something you can do? Like, It’s okay, it’s normal?” 

          “Yea, it’s normal,” he softly added, “y- you’re normal.” Steve gave him a relieved smile but before Peter could even think of how to continue the conversation, Steve shot up. 

          “Wait a minute,” he mumbled. “Bucky! I gotta find Bucky!” Steve barely got to the door before shouting a ‘thank you Peter’ behind him, and running to find his partner.

Loki

          Peter had a dilemma. It was Loki. You see, Peter was in charge of making sure Loki stayed on the right track, yes he had a therapist (that, upon Loki’s request, Peter was always present for.) But Peter was pretty sure he was the only one Loki truly trusted. It was a big deal, being the main person he relied on, and sure he and Dad have been making progress. Loki was now allowed onto their floor without permission (as long as someone else was on the floor but that's standard) what was Peter talking about again? Oh, right Loki locked himself in his room. 

          This has happened before, whenever Loki thinks he’s relying too much on Peter, or just plain old regressing, it’s a habit Peter’s trying to get him to break. And technically, Peter had a code cation ramen override but he would only let himself use it if Loki was about to hurt himself. One of the things that helped Loki was control, and barging in when Loki wanted to be alone wasn’t going to help anyone. (even if he didn’t really want to be alone)

          Three knocks “Loki? Can you please let me in?” no response. “Alright, do you want to be alone?” The lack of an answer was answer enough. “Hey, wanna hear about this dog I saw the other day?” Peter asked rhetorically, sitting down next to the door. “It was huge! So me and uncle Sam”

          “Uncle Sam and I master stark.” Jarvis corrected.

          “yea, right, uncle Sam and I were in Central Park the other day y’know, just walking around and I spotted a squirrel trying to hide its nuts right? And before I could even blink this enormous fluffy dog, the kind with dreadlocks, comes sprinting out of nowhere and starts chasing the squirrel, it was hilarious! The squirrel tried to out maneuver it by running over picnic blankets and whatnot but the dog just barreled over them. The squirrel eventually made it into a tree all the dog could do at that point was bark. I got the whole thing on camera too, the owner came over all distressed but it was quickly sorted out after that. All the picnics were still ruined thou-” Peter cut himself off as Loki opened the door just a crack. “Hey there. What are you at?” 

          “It was a six, but now, I think a four.” 

          “That’s good, can I come in?” the god nodded, opening the door a little more for Peter to walk through. “Do you want hugs or for me to ramble?”

          “Both?” they made their way to Loki’s bean bag setup and hunkered down for an afternoon of cuddles. 

          Peter didn’t know how long he’d been talking but eventually, he began telling the story of how he first explored the tower. (he later sat in on a few professional tours so he now knows the layout of each floor pretty well) And eventually he got around to the story of re-meeting Manahil. “So yea, she helped me a lot.” 

          “What did she help you with?”

          “Oh, yea, the reason I was even down there in the first place was because I was trying to psych myself up to come out to my dad.” Loki lifted his eyebrow in confusion “I know on Asgard it’s whatever but on earth when people like people of the same genders it’s kinda- well it's a whole thing. And when you tell someone your preference it's called coming out. I’m bi, that means I like both guys and girls. There's also gay, which generally means when a guy likes guys but most people kinda use it like an umbrella term for being in the community. There's lesbian which is like gay but with girls. And trans, that's not really sexuality but it’s part of the acronym so, yea. The whole community is LGBT+ some people add more letters but that's the basics.”

          “Child- Peter” he sat up at that, Loki only ever calls him by his name if it’s serious “what about, gender?” 

          “How do you mean?” 

          “When I had full control of my seiðr I would often switch between a male and female form to suit my preferences, is there a label for that?” 

          “I mean, yea, that’d mean you were trans, you’re probably gender flux, but it could also be gender fluid.” Loki was listening with rapt attention (he was pretending not to care but Peter could tell) “flux is like when you change on a spectrum, kinda going between feminine, masculine, and androgynous; but fluid is, well I’m not really sure but I think it’s like you flip between two different uuuuuh, identities, I guess is the word, yea, you flip between two different identities and just kinda stay in those two.” 

          Loki looked down in thought, then softly declared: “I think I am fluid.” 

          “Alright, what pronouns do you want right now?” 

          “... they/them.”

          “Cool, we’ll have to get you some pronoun bracelets or something, can you still change forms or no?” Loki shook their head, “alright, hey Jarvis? Can you pull up some good stores to get Loki some feminine clothes?” Peter asked as he grabbed Loki’s laptop. 

          The rest of the day was spent revamping the god’s wardrobe, and then promptly getting lost in the Amazon rabbit hole.

          Somewhere in stark tower: “WHY THE FUCK DID PETER ORDER FOUR POUNDS OF LEMON MERINGUES AND TWO CANS OF DEHYDRATED WATER?! ”

Chapter Text

2016 [15 years old]

          Peter hadn’t been outside in two weeks. The first week had been simply because he was lazing around while his dad and aunt Pepper started working out a deal with Oscorp, apparently they wanted help from SI during an upcoming project (Peter doesn’t really pay attention to the business side of SI too much.) Anyway, this past week had been storming nonstop, if it wasn’t raining, it was too humid and overcast to really do anything. So long story short, Peter was bored. I mean, don’t get him wrong, he has a lot of luxuries and privileges that most people couldn’t hope to have, but he was starting to get cabin fever. 

          Peter glanced up from his place on the couch to see Tony and Pepper, dressed in their business clothes (aka, Peppers convinced Tony to change out of his MIT sweatshirt and jeans) “Hey Dad, where are you guys going?” 

          “Over to Oscorp” the distaste in his voice was evident, “I still don’t know why we’re helping them, I mean, it’s not like Norman doesn’t have his own team of scientists to work on projects, so why does he need to hijack mine?!” 

          “Yes, but Tony we’ve been over this.” Pepper chastised. “maintaining good relations with competitors is important.” she turned to Peter “we should be back in a few hours, Happy should be in his office until we get back.” 

          “Can I come with?” he saw Pepper open her mouth to reject the notion. “No, seriously, can I come? I’ve been bored out of my mind all week please?” He put on his best puppy eyes and directed them towards his father (Pepper was immune after dealing with Tony for so many years) 

          “Bambino you know if you come with us people might make the connection that you’re my son and we both know how much of a risk that could be.” 

          “Not if you say I’m your intern.” Tony and Pepper glanced curiously at each other. “I mean, I’m fifteen, you could just say I’m your intern and that I came with you because I needed to get the hours in. and it’s not like you’d be talking about super classified stuff anyway; even if you were, just say I had already signed an NDA for the SI side of things,” Peter said his plan with such nonchalance that it probably didn’t occur to Tony or Pepper that he had been thing about this for at least a month.

          “That could work,” Pepper said hesitantly. 

          Peter perked up, “really? So I can come?” 

          “Hell yes!” Tony shouted, “I finally get to start showing you off!” they all laughed as Pepper ushered Peter to his room to get changed. 

          In hindsight, maybe he should have stayed home.

          Norman had met them at the door, smiling as they tried to ignore the excess water that clung to their clothes after the four second run from the car to the building. “Welcome Tony, Ms.Potts, and who’s this?” 

          “My intern, Peter, couldn’t just leave him at SI unattended, you understand.” his tone made it clear there was no room for arguments. 

          “Of course.” he turned to Peter. “You’re awful young to be an intern, I didn’t realize SI hired minors.”

          “We don't,” Pepper stated, “Peter is Tony’s personal intern, separate from Stark industries. You were going to show us the development of the project correct?” the believable but false smile clearly conveying that they should move along. 

          “Ah, yes. Right this way.” Norman led them to the front desk where they each got VIP visitor badges, then over to the elevators. “I believe there’s a tour of this lab going on at the moment, Peter, you should jump in. It’ll probably be more interesting than what we’ll be discussing.” 

          Peter looked to Tony for confirmation and (after he got approval from Pepper) he nodded. 

          The doors opened to a wide hallway, on both sides there were large labs, but only one of them was visible, the other had blacked out glass. The one that was visible was currently being viewed by the aforementioned tour group. With one last nod to his dad, Peter seamlessly slipped into the back of the group while the adults made their way into the lab.

          “There are over 32,000 known species of spiders in the world.” the tour guide began. “As I explained earlier, this lab is focusing on creating a super spider that combines the best traits of the species. First, we have the Costa Rican zebra tarantula is very adaptable due to its wide range of living conditions as well as a unique ability to spin webs from its feet, not just the spinneret on its abdomen. Next, we have Darwin's bark spider, It’s webs are currently the strongest we’ve seen, ten times stronger than kevlar.” Actually looking into the lab was kinda boring. The science seemed interesting enough but most of it had either stopped or stalled when his dad walked in. Nobody really seemed to be doing anything monumentally important. There were a few of each individual spider, as well as a computer model of the supposed ‘super spider’ that was yet to be created. 

          “And finally, the grass spider hunts using reflexes with nerve-conduction velocity so fast that some researchers believe it almost borders on precognition, an imminent awareness of danger A spider-sense, you might say.” All the students ooh’d and ah'd at the appropriate times. It was only then that Peter noticed all of them were college students. So much for blending in . 

          In an attempt to escape the group, Peter saw an employee leave the dark-tinted lab across the hall and went in before the door closed. These scientists might want to invest in better doors, by the time that employee was in the elevator the door had barely gotten half-closed. 

          The lab was barely lit, you’d get more lights by sticking up some glow in the dark stars. Peter could make out the silhouette of what he assumed was storage shelves. In an attempt to find the wall in hopes of discovering a lightswitch he found that yes, it was a storage shelf. For what? Hell if he knew. But the real question was what the FUCK IS CRAWLING ON HIM. 

The following scene can be summed up like so: 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA GET IT OFF ME GET IT OFF ME GET IT OFF AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH

          By the end of it all Peter had three bruises, a twisted ankle, a cut on his hand, and an experience he will never share with his father. Oh, yea, and a throbbing pain in his neck but it’ll be fine… right? 

Chapter Text

~Previously~ 

By the end of it all Peter had three bruises, a twisted ankle, a cut on his hand, and an experience he will never share with his father. Oh, yea, and a throbbing pain in his neck but it’ll be fine… right? 

          Wrong. Most definitely wrong. 

          Shortly after returning to Stark tower Peter went to the MedBay to see doctor Cho, he told his dad it was a headache, and it was… it was just also a throbbing pain throughout his entire body and a burning sensation in his throat and wrists that was so bad Peter couldn’t tell if he was breathing or if he was actually on fire. Cho gave him some advil and told him to take a nap. Works for me Peter thought. Any excuse to stop feeling like this was worth it in his books. He barely managed to peel off his clothes before collapsing on his bed.

          Peter couldn’t really tell you what happened next. He had hazy memories of fire in his veins, he remembers feeling like he couldn’t breathe, his skin and veins crawling with painful goosebumps, he remembers everything being loud, so so loud. He vaguely remembers green smoke, and a sudden fatigue, after that? Nothing.

          When he woke up in the morning he was disoriented, it took longer than he wanted to admit for his foggy brain to realize it was because he was on the ceiling. What the fuck what the fuck what the FUCK . It seemed he was only sticking by his hands and feet, but Peter could feel some sort of substance between him and the wall; at least he was directly on top of his bed so he wouldn’t have to worry about falling. Okay Peter, you got this, it's just some kind of prank, uncle Clint probably just snuck into your room and superglued you to the ceiling. This is fine.  

          What wasn’t fine was the noise. He could hear all the traffic on the streets below like he was laying on the streets with the wide end of a megaphone against his ear. He could hear his dad in his office grumbling about something, he could hear Steve and Sam ten floors below sparring in the gym, he could hear every single heartbeat from here to three floors down. And the smells god, he could smell the muffins Bucky had given them last night, the leftover Mexican in the fridge, he could even smell the motor oil from his dad’s lab. The sensory overload was making him panic but before it could explode into a full-blown anxiety attack Peter felt a warm tingling sensation on his wrist. 

          Looking down (up?) Peter saw his tattoo (the warded bracelet Loki had given him last year) had started to glow a faint green. Peter focused on the sensation, trying desperately to block everything else out. 

           Peter didn’t know how long he was staring at his wrist but he did eventually calm down, but once he finally relaxed he felt a sharp spike of something telling him to hold on . But he didn’t and ended up falling straight down to his bed. 

          He sat there for a long minute, y’know contemplating life, trying to ignore the million things happening around him. Luckily it seemed his senses had started to calm down some. He could no longer smell the motor oil in the lab, and it now only sounded like he was next to the traffic, still loud, but not damaging. Peter went to rub his eyes when he realized that not only were his glasses gone, but he could see fine without them. 

          During the obligatory ‘stare at your hands while you figure out what the hell is going on’ he noticed two small holes at the base of his wrist, as well as thousands of tiny pores where his friction ridges used to be, oddly enough though whatever substance was holding him up appeared to be coming out of him . 

          That got him up and sprinting to his bathroom to wash off the mystery substance. He was still present enough to use the top of his hand to turn on the tap. At first it didn't seem to be working but it did eventually start to slide off his hands. 

          Peter heaved a sigh of relief before freezing after catching a glimpse of his reflection. He looked like he had frostbite, his lips, rather than being slightly pink, were a light blue; in fact, his whole body was flushed blue and raw. Pity, Peter thought if it was green I could have cosplayed as Spock.  

          “Hey Jarvis?” he asked, hoping to see if anyone was in the kitchen before he left his room. “Jarvis?” oh, right. Dad was installing Friday today, Jarvis should be down for a few hours. At least dad’ll be in his office. Before he left the bathroom he happened to look down and: holy shit, I’m ripped. That would explain why I’m so fracking sore. 

           Ignoring his newfound toned abs in lue of bigger problems. Waking up from an adrenaline rush was starting to catch up with him. He needed coffee. 

          Before he went to the kitchen he figured he should probably throw on a shirt, simple task right? Nope. Making sure he was calm enough to not have that stuff come out of his hands, Peter went to open his drawer and crushed the handle by lightly grasping it. Okay, super strength, I can work with this. You’d never think that putting on a shirt could be stressful but, here we are. 

           On to the kitchen!

          Alright, forget coffee, food. Food is the thing Peter needs. It feels like he hasn’t eaten in days. The second Peter got to the kitchen he put in four pieces of toast, and pulled out the eggs to start making a five egg omelette. (don’t ask how he did all this without breaking anything, because the fridge door may or may not be hanging off one hinge now) While that was cooking he grabbed an orange, barely remembering to peel it before biting it like an apple., that strange anxiety was back again but Peter was too hungry to stop and analyze it.

          It felt like acid in his mouth, he spit it to the floor and raced to the sink to rinse out his mouth. Even then it was burning beyond belief. He hurried to the cabinets and grabbed the baking soda, pouring it into his mouth until the box was empty. He was finally starting to feel normal again when the toast popped up, he ate it two pieces at a time and it took him less than a minute. The eggs still weren’t cooked so Peter grabbed an apple, taking as small a bite as possible before delving into it with fever. He barely stopped himself from eating the core. He got through three more apples before the eggs were cooked enough, he downed those too. Even then he was still peckish, but at least now he wasn’t ravenous. He grabbed a box of protein bars, and another just in case, then hightailed it to his lab. 

          After his father gifted him a lab he’s spent plenty of time there, his Dad was one for the mechanical side of science, but Peter had a special aptitude for the chemical. He knew he wouldn’t be disturbed here, his father understood that the lab was a sacred place… until one am, then Pepper had the ability to barge in and drag Peter to bed. It was around noon by the time he had finished the first box of protein bars and began to think logically about the situation. 

           Clearly I was bitten by one of the Oscorp spiders. I guess they’re not as hypothetical as they’d like the public to believe. So I was bitten by the spider and, what? Gained its abilities? Sticking to walls, check. That precognition thing, check. Super strength? Peter looked over to the other box of bars and cringed at how smushed it was just from him carrying it to the lab. Check. I’d better do some research on spider physiology, something tells me I’ve got a few new allergies. 

          By the end of his research spree Peter has learned many things: citrus and vinegar will act like acid to him, peppermint will ‘repel him’ he couldn’t find exactly what it’d do but probably best to avoid it. Also, he probably doesn't have asthma anymore, yay! But that’s because he might have a completely new respiratory system but that's a problem for another day. Oh, and caffeine will act like LSD, yaaaaaay . He’ll also be unable to thermoregulate. And after a brief (and disturbing) experiment he’d discovered that he had blue blood and a healing factor. Not one to test the extremes of that but directly after the third pinprick closed he felt the smallest spike in hunger and came to the conclusion that he had an accelerated metabolism. (he'll need to talk to Uncle Bucky and Uncle Steve so he can start finding a ballpark of how much he’ll need to be eating.) and after Bud-E dropped and broke a beaker he found out he had retractable fangs (and that he screamed higher than he thought possible), further tests will see whether or not he’s venomous but for now it’s probably best to keep those hidden. 

           Right now, the most important thing is to get control of these new abilities. Luckily all SI lab walls are (for the most part) soundproof, but Peter knew his senses would start to overwhelm him if he left for too long, and lord knows he’d never be able to fall asleep. Priority number one, make hearing dampeners, then, test the limits of these abilities. Hopefully, he can keep these to himself until he figures it out, his dad would freak, and Oscorp would probably be buried in so many lawsuits that three generations down they’ll still be dealing with it. 

          “Karen?” he called to his AI. He made Karen while his dad was making Friday, so far she was only installed in his lab and personal devices, but she was loyal to a fault. 

          “Yes Peter?” 

          “Initiate protocol ‘in the zone’, pull up schematics for hearing aids, order three of my favourite pizzas from the employee cafeteria, and play my brainstorming playlist on the lowest volume.”

Chapter Text

Hey guys! 

First of all, thank you so much for sticking with me to read this (and if you're just joining or reading this after it's done then thanks for clicking) but I want some feedback. I don't have any particular plans for romance within Peter's future but I wanted to know If that's something you guys want? and If so who with?

Just let me know in the comments yes/no do you want me to explore Peter's love life? if it is yes, you can vote for:

• Harley (if it's not him he probably won't make it into the fic for anything significant {I'll probably mention him at some point but otherwise, nah}),
• Wade Wilson (I'd either de-age Wilson or add it in once Peter is in college/college age),
• Loki (If not they're going to have a sibling relationship),
• or MJ who won't be intro'd until at least chapter 15 maybe later regardless of who votes for her.

I tend to pre-write chapters so I'm not stressing over getting out a chapter a week, so specifically if you want Loki make sure to let me know before I post chapter thirteen cause that's gonna be the Peter & Loki chapter that I promised yall I'd write ;) 

the fic will remain teen and up regardless of if/who Peter gets together with, and because I have no plans for romance right now, if you decide you guys do want romance it'll probably lengthen the fic (unless you choose MJ cause I feel like that one would require less buildup to feel natural) so, yea. The power is in your hands people.

And also! If there's any specific scenes you thought would be fun or textposts you want me to incorporate (romantic or otherwise) let me know and I'll do my best you can either link a pin/blog post/whatever or just type it out. <- this can be done throughout the whole work, I love hearing from you guys! and I'm writing for you guys to read so if there's something yall want that I can work into the story (or even just make a compilation/side chapter out of) I'd love to hear it.

Once I've picked what I'm gonna do I'll put it in the notes of whatever the next chapter is but I'll also change the tags accordingly so be on the lookout! 

and again thank you so much for reading, it means the world when you guys read the things I write, don't get me wrong, I'd probably be writing regardless of if I had a place to post or not, but knowing that people out there read the crap that my bastard hands write and think that it's good is a feeling I will never get tired of. So thank you! (and sorry for getting your hopes up about a new chapter if you find this throughout the week)

Chapter Text

          It took a few hours to fully synthesize the ear dampeners to the degree Peter needed. The first try was unsuccessful because it didn’t block anything out at all… that model was the same strength as military grade earplugs. The next model was twice as powerful but it only muffled the mechanical whirr of the air conditioning and Bud-E, the third attempt was strengthened tenfold and only then could he no longer hear the AC or traffic, he could still hear Bud-E and the sound of blood rushing through his veins but it was progress. 

          Peter was an inch away from just cutting off his ears and hoping for the best, he was on his twelfth iteration and he hadn’t made any progress past that third try. Peter decided he wasn’t getting anywhere and his metabolism had burned through those pizzas already. God, I hope this calms down before I single handedly eat all the caloric food in manhattan by the end of the month. He left the prototypes off while grabbing his ‘snack’ (two pb&j’s and a blue Jello) before heading over to the couch, having Karen play T.O.S Star Trek. It was only when he pulled the blanket around his shoulders did he experience a sudden jarring lack of sound. 

          He jumped up, startled. But the very accurate anxiety wasn’t going off. I'm gonna need a better name for that, what did the tour guide call it? Spider sense? He threw the blanket off his shoulders and the sound came back, what the hell? Peter subconsciously rubbed his arms, in doing so it was like speakers in a surround sound taking turns going offline. “Hey Karen?”

          “Yes Peter?”

          “How do spiders hear things?”

          “Spiders don’t have ears, but they do have the ability to sense vibrations with the hair on their legs. It is unclear whether or not they are actively interpreting these vibrations as sound.” Peter rattled off a quick ‘thanks’ before moving to the practical testing area in the lab, dragging a whiteboard along with him. (he might have also stuck to the board for a minute and crushed the edge where he was holding on because of his excitement but that’s not important) 

          Peter closed his eyes, listening as best he could for the furthest sound he could hear, he placed a distinct and feminine voice down on one of the lower floors of the tower, maybe legal. They were laughing, but Peter couldn’t tell at what. He then slowly covered as much as he could of his arm hair, just holding it down. He could still hear pretty far, but that distinct laughter was out of range. He tried to jot down the findings on the whiteboard, but he snapped the marker in half. Shit. Peter grabbed a wet towel to wipe off the ink. What if I just… if you asked to explain how he did it Peter couldn’t tell you, but he started to consciously secrete some of the weird sticky fluid from his hands and stuck himself to a different marker. I guess this’ll be one way to get around breaking everything.

          He jotted down his notes, it was awkward but legible. He then ran back to the couch and grabbed two blankets, bringing them back to the testing area, and sitting on the floor with his legs bent up. Luckily he was only wearing a T-shirt and boxers so all his arm and leg hairs were exposed. Whoever was laughing had stopped and there weren’t any more distinct noises to latch onto. “Karen, play the song that never ends.” as the tune filtered through the speakers (still on the lowest volume even though to Peter it was blaring) he paid attention to exactly how loud he found it. Then, he straightened out his legs, draping the blanket on top and wrapping the other around his shoulders. 

          Peter could still hear the song clearly but now it was like the max volume on his earbuds as opposed to THX on surround sound. Okay, so I’ll have to invest in some long sleeve undershirts, and maybe some leggings to wear under my jeans. That and the hearing dampeners will probably be enough to keep me sane.  

          After another trip of online shopping, Peter was now the proud owner of a fuck ton of leggings and undershirts. As well as alcohol based body paint to help cover up his not-concerning-but-definitely-noticeable blue-tinted skin. That’ll be fun to learn how to apply. And for anyone who’s wondering, no, his dad won’t find out about these purchases because he not only gets an allowance that goes into a separate bank account but he also gets paid for his position as SI’s official phone photographer. (he goes around new york once a week to eat at a family-owned restaurant or sometimes visit a local animal shelter and takes pictures of the food and/or doggos to post on a sponsored insta page that's meant to advertise the phone.)

          But until that gets here he’ll have to make due. Peter ran across the hall, then promptly ran back to get the hearing dampers, then made his way to his dad's lab. After a bit of searching and fiddling, he found one of aunt Nat’s photostatic Veils to help conceal his face’s blue tint. He then ran upstairs to grab some jeans and a long sleeve shirt. Much better. He thought to himself as he let the somewhat quiet roll over him.

           Now that I can finally hear myself think. What do I need to do? Peter’s stomach let out a well timed gurgle. First things first. Go down to medbay and figure out how much I should be eating because I really don’t wanna collapse from malnutrition. Second, figure out how strong I am and learn to control it, third, uh, examine the rest of the weirdness. With the new semi-solid plan in mind Peter got into the elevator and took a breath, finally feeling the first tendrils of control since waking up. His hearing was finally quiet enough that he could think, his face didn't look blue, he wasn’t sticking to anything, he could just take a breath. 

           The quiet was interrupted by a polite ding and the doors opening to medbay. He walked over to the secretary, Logan, if memory serves. “Hey, is Dr. Cho busy?” he asked, hoping he wasn’t subconsciously shouting to combat the noise.

          “Um, let me check.” a few taps on his keyboard. “Yea she should be free, she’s in her office. And, kid, who are you? You’re obviously allowed to be here but who are you?”

          “I’m uh, Dr. Starks intern.” He smiled innocently and left for Cho’s office before Logan could question him further. 

          After a gentle knock, Cho opened her door, “Peter? Is your headache still bothering you?” She was clinical but Peter knew she cared.

          “Um, something like that, uh.” Peter shuffled over to the seat in front of the desk. “Hey, if I tell you something would you tell my dad? Like, doctor-patient confidentiality, would that apply?” 

          “I suppose that would depend on what you tell me? Peter-- are you in trouble?” she laced her fingers and set them over her closed laptop.

          “Not in the way you're thinking… look, can you just promise not to tell my dad about this, cause I mean right now I’m fine and if that changes then yea you can tell him but I mean for now it’s all under control and I wouldn’t want him to wor-”

          “Peter. Breath.” he did, taking a big, slow, deep, breath before smiling sheepishly up at Dr. Cho. “If you’re not in any immediate danger then no, I won't tell your father. But if that changes I will inform him.” the stern look she sent his way made it clear she would prefer to tell him either way, but would honour his request.

          “Alright, so, y’know those hypothetical spiders at Oscorp?” 

Chapter Text

          Cho took the whole situation in stride, listening to the whole story and taking notes whenever Peter mentioned something medically significant. 

          “And so I know for a fact I can stick to walls, I have super strength, fangs, enhanced senses and metabolism and probably healing as well. But the biggest issue right now is my metabolism. I’ve eaten enough food for a week and I can already feel myself getting the munchies.”

          “Well your body is probably going through an adjustment period, we’ll set you up with some basic estimates and if it’s still this intense in a week we’ll run some more specific numbers. For now, let's get you a banana bag and set you up with a diet twice as caloric as Steve’s.” 

         She led Peter over to a private room and hooked up the banana bag, then left to grab some of Cap’s emergency super strength protein bars. 

          “Peter?” a concerned Tony asked, walking into the room a little frantically. “What are you doing in med bay?”

          Luckily Dr.Cho has wonderful timing. “He came and told me his headache hadn’t gotten better, I think it was caused by dehydration, hence the IV. He’ll be good to go once it’s done its thing.” Tony seemed to be satisfied with this answer, the small tension in his shoulders relaxed as he pat Peter on the shoulder. 

           “Well, that’s a relief. Let’s try not to repeat this okay tesero?” Tony gave him a side hug before saying his farewell and getting back to his office to work out the last bugs of uploading Friday. 

          “Thank you for covering for me,” Peter said once Tony was out of earshot. 

          “Don’t expect me to do it often, here. Eat.” Cho handed Peter the super-strength protein bars, watching as he unwrapped one and took a bite. She gave a satisfied nod and turned to prepare her various tests. 

          A few hours and a few dozen pokes and prods led to Peter sitting in Cho’s office waiting for the results of the tests. “Well the MRI shows that your physiology is certainly unique. First of all, you no longer have bones, it looks like you have an exoskeleton that's somehow just underneath your skin. It doesn't seem to be doing you any harm so just don’t go falling out of any trees for now. Second, your circulatory and respiratory systems appear to have changed. You now have an open circulatory system and book lungs, thankfully your tracheae seems to be intact so you’re probably still breathing through your nose and mouth. 

          You also have a few new structures, one of which I think are those fangs you told me about, and it looks like you are indeed venomous, we should probably test your saliva as well. And you also have something in your wrists but I can't really tell what it is, but it doesn't seem that concerning for now.

          From the preliminary blood work, we know a few things: the first is, not only is your blood blue but I’m fairly certain it's actually hemolymph or some combination of the two. Knowing that alone makes it extremely dangerous if you ever need surgery or get gravely injured because finding a suitable blood donor would be impossible. We can’t get a grasp of your glucose levels because that test requires fasting for at least eight hours beforehand but that might starve you in this case; especially assuming you have a healing factor that increases your metabolism during this adjustment period. 

          And you shouldn’t be worrying about this at your age but I think it’s safe to assume you’re sterile, I’m sorry.”

          “I’ll have a crisis over that some other day,” Peter said, filing the information in the back of his mind for later. “But we do know that whatever happened isn’t killing me right?”

          “It appears so yes. As long as you don’t accidentally starve yourself you should be fine. But if you ever get into a medical emergency that your new healing factor can’t fix then we’ll be in big trouble. No one here is certified to deal with exoskeletons, open circulatory systems or whatever your blood is. Peter, I know you don’t want to hear it but you need to tell your father. If something happens to you and I’m not here no one will even begin to understand what’s happening, let alone how to fix it.” 

          Peter played with the hangnail on his thumb, avoiding any eye contact with Cho. “... I-- I’ll think about it.” he glanced up at her and saw the less than pleased look on her face. “Look, I know my dad better than anyone, if I tell him he’ll freak out. He’d never let me out of his sight again. Not to mention the fact that Oscorp would be sued into the ground and my identity would be revealed to the public, and I don’t need some evil scientist coming out of the woodworks in five years looking to take me as some kind of science project.” Peter took a deep, steadying breath, “look, It’s not like I’m gonna become a superhero or anything, I’ll be fine.” Peter winced at a sudden loud noise. 

          “What?”

          “I think someone dropped something out there.” 

          “I thought you said you were wearing reverse hearing aids?”

          Peter looked sheepish. “I am… but I can still, y’know, hear about two floors down.” 

          .

          .

          .

          “How do you not have a headache?” 

          “Oh, no I do, when I first woke up I had a panic attack. Thankfully it looks like it’s calmed down since then but still. Besides, that's the least of my problems it’s hard enough to not stick to everything I touch, and If I do touch something I need to do it lightly enough that I don’t break it.'' The tone that leaked into his voice can only be described as bitter. Peter rubbed the palm of his hand, feeling a small bump that he quickly pressed down on. 

          Have you ever half swallowed a piece of spaghetti only to pull it back up your throat? Surprisingly that was the first thing Peter noticed, y’know, as opposed to the white stuff that just came out of his wrist and is sticking to Cho’s desk. 

          “Please tell me that stuff isn’t corrosive,” Cho said, exasperated as she moved to examine where the substance was still protruding from his wrist. “I just got that desk, I’ll be upset if it’s ruined.”

          It took a while, but Peter eventually figured out how to detach himself and Cho’s desk from the webbing, getting some of the webs into a test tube to hopefully develop a dissolvent. Once that was dealt with Cho sent him back to his room with another protein bar and instructions to stick and un-stick himself from a piece of paper until he could do it without ripping the page, as well as grasp a toothpick from each end and carry it across his room without breaking it. 

          It’s a good exercise, if frustrating. Although ever since that first thwip his wrists have been itching and he’s had an urge to climb . He tried sitting on top of his loft bed but that only made it worse. Scratching just next to the itch but not on top of it and it was starting to drive him mad.

          “Where exactly am I supposed to be going?!” he asked no one.

          “Hello miny boss, you don’t have anything on your schedule to my knowledge, did you have something in mind?” Friday’s unfamiliar Irish voice filtered through the speaker. 

          “Oh, hey Friday, uh, no thank you, I’m just- uh, playing a video game.” thankfully Tony only ever installed microphones in the bedrooms and bathrooms, not cameras. 

          “Oh, well in that case would you like me to look up a player guide?” 

          “No thank you Fri, but it was nice meeting you, I’ll have to introduce you to Karen.”

          “I would love to meet Karen, good luck with your game.”

          Peter let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Holy shit that worked. He climbed off his bed to lock his door, then quickly remounted the mattress to contemplate his sanity on his next moves. Am I really considering climbing the walls?... welp, here goes nothing.  

          Peter stood up on his bed and placed one bare foot on the wall, pushing up and catching himself with his hand. Okay Peter, you’re currently stuck to the wall by nothing more than one hand and one foot. Cool. Peter continued to climb, (trying not to think about how exactly he was doing it) until he reached the ceiling, when he was there he just went off. Spinning web after web. Shooting off lines so fast he wasn’t even sure how he knew where to aim. 

          It was a blur of movement and instinct. Thwip, turn, thwip, shuffle down, thwip, crawl halfway, thwip. Peter’s arms were aching and his blood was pumping with adrenaline but he didn't notice.

          Peter was about to shoot off another line in his frenzy to satisfy his instincts when his spidey sense rang, a low buzz that told him to wait. It was in that moment of hesitation that Peter noticed how hungry he was luckily not as much as this morning. Was it really only this morning? But definitely noticeable. 

          Spotting the extra strength protein bar on his bed, Peter crawled down to snatch it before promptly returning to his web. Peeling open the cellophane, Peter observed his work. 

          There was a thick layer of webbing covering the whole ceiling, from the outside it looked dense, about a solid five feet of web that no outsider would be able to navigate. And if Peter had not spun it himself (man, that's a weird thought) then he wouldn’t even know where to begin. But he did spin it and he just knows . He knows that in the corner by the window there's a lattice that works perfectly as a hammock, and just above the door is a strand that's thick and hung slack be used as a swing, he knows how to configure himself in the lower layer to see the door while staying hidden, he knew that the vent was opened, leaving a perfect escape route if someone hostile came in through the door. Peter wasn’t even thinking when he made all that stuff, but now that he has, that itch has finally been scratched, his inner spider is finally sated. 

           I’ll have to be careful about using too much webbing in the future, I could really screw myself over if I’m not.

          He didn’t want to leave his nest, but it was probably a good idea to eat something other than protein bars so, reluctantly, Peter moved down to his bed. There was still a good four feet on top of his bed (thank someone for his fourteen foot ceilings) so as long as he can find some way of concealing his webs no one will ever find out. Maybe I can alter the photostatic Veil tech? For now, Peter has resigned himself to locking his door at all times.

Chapter Text

2012 [11 years old] (showing Loki his new home in Malibu)

          “Ta-Da!” the eleven year old said as he, his father and Loki stepped out of the car. “You can have the room next to mine, it has a shared balcony, oh and do you know how to swim? Or, I guess I should ask do you enjoy swimming? Cause our pool’s really nice, Dad always keeps it nice and warm and we get the best view of the sunset!” as they entered Tony let Peter give the tour, though it was more of walking around the house while Peter told stories. 

          “Bambino,” Tony interrupted, noticing the time. “I think it’s time to hit the hay, why don’t I show our guest here to his room and I’ll come tuck you in once we’re done.” 

          “No, I’ll take him, if you do it you’re gonna give him the whole ‘if you touch my son I’ll kill you’ talk, and Loki doesn’t need that before pretending to try and fall asleep. You guys can talk tomorrow. C’mon” Peter said, grabbing Loki’s hand. “I’ll show you how to work the tv and we can set up your Netflix account.” 

          “Pete, no.” Tony sighed “Look, I know you trust Loki, and that’s sweet of you, but I still don't, so I don’t want you two alone for now. Okay?” 

          Peter matched his father’s sigh, still holding Loki’s hand. “Dad, trust is a two way street. You can’t expect him to trust you when you won’t take your eyes off him for more than three seconds. At the very least, trust that he isn’t stupid enough to attack me the first chance he gets while there’s an AI watching his every move.” 

           They engaged in a silent staring contest until Tony loudly proclaimed, “Fine,” He turned to Loki “but if you so much as scratch Peter then you’re grounded.” Peter smiled at the small win and tugged Loki long towards his room. 

          “So right now it’s kinda plain” as plain as a guest room of tony stark could be “but once you settle in we can start getting you decorations and stuff so it feels more like your own space.” Peter stayed by the door as Loki wandered through the room, glancing in the bathroom, moving to feel the bedsheets, then finally settling on looking out the window.

          “Child, how do you know I won’t hurt you?”

          “Because I feel like all your meanness is just you feeling hurt and not knowing how to deal with it.”

          “Not everyone is as kind as you might hope. If I had the chance I would sell Stark for one corn chip.”

          “Okay one, I know you don’t like my dad, but I know you probably don't like being locked up even more. So please, try and be nice to him? It doesn't have to be friendly, just, tolerate him? Respect him like the human be- uh, respect him like the carbon-based life forms you both are. And also, two, a corn chip? Really? At least ask for like, sour cream and onion or something cause a plain corn chip is just sad.” 

          “...Peter,-- do you think I’m evil?” Loki was looking out the window wearing a cool mask of indifference, but Peter could assume the weight behind the question.

          “No. do you?” the god looked down at his hands. 

          “I think- I think it varies from moment to moment.” he glanced towards Peter, gauging his reaction. 

          “Okay well how about we quantify it? Let’s say a ten is the worst evil imaginable like-- killing puppies and a one is like ‘I’ll spit in your hotdog’. Where are you now?"

          “A three.” 

          “Perfect, let me know if it gets above a five. Now come on, I’ll show you how to work Netflix.”

About a week later

          Peter knew first hand from his father that some people just simply don't remember food. Not out of any kind of self deprecating or malicious intent, but just because they have other things on their mind. He was determined not to let Loki fall into the same habits, so every day Peter makes sure he eats something in the morning and joins them for family dinner at night. once he’d asked Jarvis if he’d eaten lunch and J said no but that was only once so Peter wasn’t too worried. 

          Most days Loki would already be in the kitchen by the time his dad started making breakfast, usually harbouring a hot cup of tea and reading something. But today he was strangely absent. So that's how Peter found himself with two packages of pop tarts in hand, knocking on the god’s door. 

          “Loki? Can I come in?” silence. “He’s in there right J?” Jarvis confirmed that Loki was indeed in there. Peter tried the door but it was locked. What if I?  

          Peter knew the shared balcony would come in handy, Loki forgot to lock that door. So now Peter was standing in the doorway, looking around the room that appeared empty. “Loki? Where are you?” He was about to look in the bathroom when he heard a shuffle coming from under the bed. 

          He walked over and plopped down on the floor, laying back, keeping his eyes on the ceiling. “You feel like coming out from there?” 

          Peter wasn’t sure what exactly he heard but it sounded vaguely like a hiss and a growl at the same time.

          “Understandable. Want a pop tart? I don’t think you’ve tried them yet and Thor seems to like them so that might vouch for their flavour. These ones are oreo but I think we also have blueberry and fudge back in the kitchen.” there was a tense pause while Peter waited for a response but when he saw movement in the corner of his eye he turned to look at Loki for the first time that day. 

          Loki’s skin was blue and his eyes were a piercing red, his hand was held out, palm up, yet still underneath the cover of the bed. Once the initial shock wore off Peter also noticed the slight tremble in his hand and the still wet tear tracks on his cheeks. “Are you okay?” Peter asked, reaching out to hold his hand, pop tarts forgotten. “Are you in pain?” 

          Loki attempted to pull his hand away but Peters tightened his grip. “I’m fine!” Loki yanked his hand away. “I just-- slipped into this form and the light hurts my eyes.” 

           Bullshit . “Jarvis? Tint the windows and lower the lights to thirty percent.” Peter held eye contact with Loki while the AI complied. “Are you sure you’re not in any physical pain?” 

          “Why are you so concerned with my well being! Regardless of how we compare I am no child and I do not take kindly to being treated as such!” his eyes were filled with rage as he stared Peter down. 

          “I’m sorry. I didn't mean to belittle you, but being concerned with someone's well being isn’t childish.” Peter looked up at the ceiling. “Y’know, sometimes my dad won’t eat for days. Sometimes he just goes into the lab and starts working on a suit and I won’t see him all day. I don’t know what you’ve heard about it, but after Vanko attacked, my dad was really shaken up. He wouldn’t leave his lab for anything. I tried to stay down there with him but he kicked me out after I threatened to tell Pepper. I’m starting to see him do it again. Pull away, I mean. I hate it. I can’t stand it when he hurts himself like that. He’ll come around though, I know he will. He’s just scared. I just don’t want to see that happen to you.” He looked back towards Loki, his skin had returned to its usual colour and his eyes were no longer damp. “I don’t know much about your childhood, but, well. What I’m trying to say is that it’s okay to want help. Asking for help only once you’ve collapsed isn’t healthy. Just, promise me that you’ll ask? Even if you’re just wanting a hug at two in the morning, ask me?” Peter gave a half smile, holding out the pop tarts as a peace offering. 

          Slowly, the god reached out and grabbed the package, looking down at it. “I promise,” he said, so quiet Peter half thought he’d imagined it. 

          “Thank you.” They sat in silence, quietly (sorta, I mean, that packaging is loud ) eating their pop tarts. 

A few days later

          Tense, adjective, (of a situation, event, etc.) causing or showing anxiety and nervousness. For an example of tense, look no further than the kitchen of Tony Stark’s home. The man himself was stirring scrambled eggs at the stove. Peter was silently reading a comic book. And Loki was pointedly staring out the window. 

          It was only after the eggs had been cooked, plated, and eaten, did Peter finally get fed up with the silence. 

          “Okay, that's it. What happened?” Peter looked expectantly between the two. “Who said what, because this, ” he gestured between them. “Isn’t helping anyone.” 

          Tony sighed. “It’s nothing bambino, Reindeer Games and I were just chatting last night and it might have turned into shouting.” 

          Peter pinched the bridge of his nose while Tony silently collected the plates. “Jarvis? Who provoked who?” 

          “Sir provoked Loki by insinuating he was manipulating you to help him.” Tony could feel his son’s unimpressed glare from the back of his head. 

          “Why do you hate Loki so much?” 

          “He did try to kill us, kid.” 

          Peter walked into the kitchen, grabbed a spoon, and ‘stabbed’ Tony. “I just tried to kill you, do you hate me now?” 

          “No, kid, that’s not- ow!” Peter jabbed him again.

          “Discrimination!” 

          “Kid,” Tony sighed. “That’s not-”

          Loki (now also getting stabbed by Peter) interrupted “No no, let him finish.”

( A/N I don’t know how to end this naturally but I just had to include this scene)

2014 [13 years old] Two years after moving into the tower

          It was no secret that Peter’s was everyone’s favourite. I mean really, how could you say no to that ball of pure sunshine and wholesomeness? But Clint was determined to figure out who everyone’s second favourite was. 

          “Okay, okay, hear me out” 

          “Bird brain you can barely hear yourself,” His dad said, sitting down next to Peter just as he finished his last lap of rainbow road. 

          “Alright, you know what I mean-- If you guys had to pick someone else to be in battle, who would it be? And I don’t mean weapons, I mean like, swap bodies with someone.” 

           *imagined that you just read a compelling scene about everyone answering that was very in character and make you laugh several times* 

          “What about you Loki?” Clint prompted, “who would you swap with?” 

          “No one, I’m perfectly capable in my own body.” the god turned back to watching Peter Play Mario Kart.

          “C’mon, you don't have a favourite?” Tony asked.

          “I like the company of Peter and all you non-Peter’s equally.” everyone cackled as Peter crashed into a fence.

2015 [14 years old] A few days after Peter’s coming out

          “Loki!” Peter called out across the common room floor. “Come here I have something for you!” 

          A reluctant Loki walked out of the kitchen, mug in hand. “Yes child?” Despite the nickname, Peter and Loki had grown close these past few years, they were practically siblings. (despite the fact that she and Tony still aren’t particularly fond of each other. Though thankfully it’s more of a rivalry now then hostility) 

          “I made you a bracelet!” Peter proudly held out the piece . A braided strip of black leather that looped around one’s wrist thrice before being secured with a silver hook and eye clasp. The eye of which being imbued into the head of a snake with green gemstones as eyes. 

          “I got it to say thank you for my bracelet,” Peter held up his wrist, a thin black line circling it. 

          “I’m not one to wear frivolous jewelry,” Loki replied.

          “Oh, well. You don’t have to, I just-”

          “No, it’s mine. I’m wearing it.” Loki snatched up the cord and wrapped it around her wrist before effortlessly clasping it on the wrist opposite to her purple pronoun bracelet that had gotten in the day before. 

          Peter smiled up at her before starting up a conversation about a book Loki had recommended last week.

2015 [14 years old]

          Peter was in his lab when his music suddenly stopped “protocol ‘protec the snek’ activated” Karen announced, right before an angry looking Loki walked in. 

          “It’s a seven,” they said, wearing their green bracelet.

          “Distraction or discussion?” Peter asked, they had developed this system after the fourth or so ‘bad day’, it went like this:

• Distraction or discussion?
• Distraction: go somewhere/ do something to get Loki’s mind off it
• Discussion: vent, advice, or intervention
• Vent: Not really in a listening mood, Loki just wants to rant out whatever was bugging him,
• Advice: Peter gives feedback on the situation (this is usually reserved for when there's been a miscommunication) 
• Or Intervention: Loki explains the situation and then both of them go to whoever the problem involves to talk it out with Peter as the mediator.

          “Distraction.” Loki grits out. 

          “Cool, Karen, save all my files and let dad know we’re going out.” Peter pulled on his shoes and grabbed his badge before pulling Loki to the elevator and down to the lobby. 

          The first time Peter had walked through the lobby instead of the back entrance was an ordeal. Everyone who noticed him was staring, and those who weren’t were pointing him out to those they were standing next to. A few times he’d just been bored and wandering and had gotten snagged into office gossip, but thanks to Nat and Loki he’d gotten really good at not revealing information. He’s pretty sure he’s considered a cryptid now but honestly that’s the goal so Peter’s fine with it.

          This is the first time he's been down here with an avenger, but when Loki isn’t wearing their iconic helmet and armour most people tend to ignore them. It’s because of that, that the two of them waltzed out the door with no trouble and started walking. 

          They followed the familiar streets to Central Park, keeping an eye out for any food vendor's/shops that looked edible.

          After about twenty minutes of Peter’s nonstop ramblings, Loki interrupted him by silently tapping his shoulder and pointing to a nearby deli. “Oh, sandwiches? Yea, sure, I could go for a sandwich.” and Peter was then rambling about any and everything his mind could come up with regarding sandwiches.

          The shop looked well maintained, two guys behind the counter, one of them slicing deli meat and the other writing something behind the register. The one behind the register looked up when they walked in “Hey, what can I get for you?” 

          “Uhhh, let’s see” He pursued the menu with Loki standing just behind him. “Can I get a number five with pickles? Oh, and can you press it down real flat?” Peter turned to Loki “you want me to order for you?” Peter learned pretty quickly that Loki preferred to be quiet on bad days, so he made it a habit to learn what kinds of foods Loki preferred. The god nodded.

          “Let’s see… how about a number three?” Peter looked back, Loki in approval. “A number three it is!” the man behind the counter rattled off the price and Peter handed him his credit card. 

          “There you go Mr…” He looked at the card “Parker, I’ll get started on those sandwiches.” 

          “Parker?” Loki asked as they wandered the store.

          “Oh yea, I guess I never told you, my biological mother is a woman named May Parker, I call her my aunt May. I’ll have to introduce you. Anyways, my last name tends to draw attention, and that kind of attention isn’t really safe, so I use her name on stuff that isn’t a hundred percent secured. They nodded, accepting the answer. 

          “Parker,” the guy called out, holding up the bag with the two sandwiches. “There, you go, have a nice day.”

          Sandwiches in hand, they continued to central park. 

          Arriving, they quickly located their usual bench and unwrapped their meal. 

          One bite and peter was sold. “Oh my gods, this is amazing! I think this is the best sandwich I’ve ever had.” 

          The two ate their meals so fast there wasn’t time to talk. 

          “Okay, on the way home we’re stopping by there again cause I’m totally having that as a midnight snack later.” They walked around the park stopping at the turtle pond and attempting to not fall in love with all of them.

          On their way home, they did indeed stop at the shop (which Peter learned was named Delmar’s Deli-Grocery) and walked straight up to the same man from earlier. “Hey man!” 

          “Hey, Parker? Right? Back for more?”

          “Of course! I think that was the best sandwich in all of Manhattan, can I get another? Number five, no pickles, squished real flat?” The man laughed and rang him up (Loki didn’t want another one) then turned back to make it. 

          “Hey do you guys have an insta page? I’d love to tag you in this.” the man, who Peter learned was Delmar himself, rattled off a username. 

OfficialStarkPhoneView

[picture of Delmar holding the sandwich, a big smile on his face]

@Delmar’sDeli-Grocery Best sandwiches in Manhattan! One bite and I was hooked #sandwiches #food #localrestaurants #notsponsored

          This would be the third post on Peter's official StarkPhone account. With the camera being one of its biggest selling factors Tony thought that an insta account would be a good way to market the camera without bombarding people with ads. The first post was simple enough, a picture of the phone with a basic ad and description of what to expect from the account. The second post was a picture of the sunset off the top of Stark Tower with Peter’s silhouette sitting on the edge of the roof. The description was Peter’s official (and anonymous) introduction, just a simple “Hey, I’m the photographer and I’ll do my best to show you what this camera and New York has to offer!”

          Little did Peter know that that third post would create an influx of customers for the Deli, so much so that Delmar was considering opening a second location.

2016 the night after Peter got bit (POV Loki)

          Loki was relaxing in his room, perched on one of her bean bags near the window and watching the rain. All was calm. 

          A rustling sound in the vents alerted Loki to his spy, but she kept her gaze trained out the window. A metallic crash had her turning towards her potential assailant and came face to face with, Peter? Only Peter wasn’t acting like himself, for one, he was on the ceiling. “Child, what are you doing up there?” Loki asked, starting to get concerned. 

          The child did not reply, instead, he crawled along the ceiling, and shot a viscous white thread at Loki’s chest before effortlessly heaving the goddess upwards. It was then that Loki noticed the ‘bracelet’ she had given Peter was glowing fully. “Peter,” She asked gently, trying to touch his face. Midgardians should be warm but not too warm. “Can you hear me?” Peter didn’t respond, Loki didn't expect him to. He was burning up.

          The child carried her over to her bed, and carefully lowered him down. Before the goddess could even start to sit up, Peter sat on her chest, positioned defensively towards the door. Loki placed one hand on the child’s back and the other on the still glowing bracelet and focused her seiðr on healing Peter. 

          Whatever happened to him seemed to be changing the very essence of his DNA, if Loki tried to reverse it she might risk killing Peter, that wasn't an option. She settled for the next best thing, stabilizing him. Thankfully Peter had helped negotiate more lax regulations on her seiðr, otherwise, Loki wouldn’t have been able to heal him.

          The magic was bright green as it flowed from Loki into Peter. The child collapsed onto her side, completely exhausted. Loki, also weary, carried him back to his room to sleep off the after-effects of whatever had happened. 

About a week later [POV Peter]

          Only yesterday had Peter figured out how to alter the photostatic Veil to not only cover the larger surface area, but also show the illusion that the five feet of ceiling above them was definitely not covered in spiderwebs. He still wasn’t entirely comfortable with it (or the paint on his hands, god he was gonna need so much lotion after this) so he still had his door locked… or so he thought. Cause either he forgot to lock the door, or Loki decided to break into his room. 

          The god in question glanced around his room, upon not seeing Peter he looked under the loft, then in the bathroom, then closet. “Jarvis?” He asked, “where is the child?” 

          “The young master isn’t showing up on any of the cameras, he is likely either in his lab or in his room.” it was then that Loki turned his gaze towards the ceiling, and Peter was half tempted to escape through the vents. 

          Loki’s gaze slowly circled the ceiling, stopping briefly where the almost unnoticeable hologram sensor lay before continuing to scrutinize the illusion. “That you thought I wouldn’t see past this is a little insulting.” He said, staring almost directly at Peter.

          Peter quickly manoeuvred himself out from where he was lounging by the window and silently dropped down onto his bed. “I was trying to hide from my dad, not you.” 

          “And what did Stark do that made you want to hide?” it was asked casually, but Peter knew Loki was about to boil over in rage and go beat the shit out of Tony if Peter doesn’t explain. 

          “Nothing! He didn’t do anything, I’m fine! I just… something happened to me and I don’t want him to know just yet.” Loki’s shoulders relaxed just a bit. 

          “I’m assuming” the god started, “that were I to climb up there, I would find quite a bit of webbing.” 

          “H-how did you?” 

          “The night it happened, you crawled into my room and showed me them yourself.” his face softened “I was-- worried. About you. I did what I could with my seiðr but I feared it wasn’t enough to reverse what happened.” he placed a gentle hand on Peter’s shoulder “I am-- relieved, that you are well.”

          Peter stepped into his arms, wrapping Loki in a warm hug no sentient being could resist. 

          Hours, days, weeks, years , probably only a few minutes, later and Peter finally pulled back- just enough to smile up at the god. “Wanna see what I made? He asked. 

          “I would be honoured.” 

          Peter wrapped an arm around Loki (being careful not to harm him, (super strength sucks ) and shot a web upwards before ascending into the nest.

          .

          .

          .

          So it turns out that Peter’s ability to move throughout the webs without sticking to them is just another spider trait. The second Loki attempted to lift himself onto the mass of intertwined webbing his hand was promptly glued to the strands. 

          Peter (while still holding up Loki one handed) carefully detached his hand from the web. “Well that's a bust… here,” he carried the two of them over to his bed and lowered Loki down before adjusting himself to hang in the nest. 

          “It seems you’ve acclimated quite well to your new physiology” 

          “Not really, I still don't really know how to control my strength, if I touch something other than the webs I have a tendency to stick and everything is still so loud .” Peter sighed “And I still have no clue how to tell my dad.”

          “You owe him nothing spiderling.” Loki said with a smirk.

          “Loki, you’re a trickster god, right?”

          “Yes?” He shifted to place a hand behind his head.

          “Have you ever Rickrolled Mr.Thor?”

          At Loki’s confused expression Peter gasped and grabbed his phone off the bed. “That's so sad, Karen, play never gonna give you up.”

Chapter Text

[pov Tony] 

          Peter has been acting…. strange. He’s been locking his door 24/7, been spending all his time in either his room or his lab, (which isn’t really a new thing but he at least used to eat at the table) and Tony has a feeling he’s being avoided. 

          After the second missed movie night Tony decided to go to Cho. 

          He nodded to Logan on his way back to Cho’s office. “Knock knock,” he said as he walked in. 

          Cho sighed, keeping her attention on her computer, “yes Stark?”

          “Has Peter come to see you recently?” He said, closing the door but leaning against the wall. “I’m worried about him.” 

          That got her to look up. “How so?” 

          “He’s been avoiding me, been hold up in his room. He even missed movie night, and it was his turn to pick the movie.” he ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t know, I just thought he might have come to you about something.”

          “He did” before Tony could respond she held up her hand. “I told him to come back if his headache didn’t recede and he did. We ran some tests and Peter asked me not to disclose the results. I’m duty-bound to honour his request. I can personally guarantee you though, he isn’t in any danger right now; if that changes you’ll be the first to know.” 

          She held Tony’s piercing gaze, threatening him to question her authority. 

          .

          .

          .

          “Fine! But if he gets so much as bruised because of this I’m gonna-- y-you’re gonna… just, don’t let it happen.” Tony held her gaze before nodding and left to go find Peter.

          “Pete?” Tony asked, knocking on his son’s door. There was an odd rustling sound, it wasn’t fabric, it was almost like plucking on taught fishing line; then a light thump and suddenly his son was opening the door. 

          “Yea dad?” 

          He tried to give a warm smile but he knew his concern was evident. “Can I come in tessero?” Peter took a step back, widening the door as he did. 

          Usually whenever they have these ‘talks’ (most of them about self care habits or lack thereof) Tony would sit on the couch and Peter would follow suit. But now Peter retreated to the top of his loft and Tony, not wanting to crown him, leaned against the base of the bed and looked out the window. “You want to tell me why you’ve been avoiding me?” 

          “No.” came the shy reply 

          “No, you don’t want to tell me? Or no you haven’t been avoiding me?”

          “I don’t want to tell you.” Tony sighed. He and Peter were always really close, this was the first time Peter has really ever kept a secret. “Well I can’t say I’m happy about that… Can you at least tell me why you don't want to tell me?” 

          “Cause then you’ll get worried and…” Peter trailed off.

          When Tony realized he wasn’t searching for words, but confidence, he prompted: “And?” 

          “And you might… you might not want me anymore.”

          Tony’s head snapped towards Peter, “what? Pete, I don’t know what happened, but nothing, and I mean nothing will ever make me not want you as my son.”

          “Not even if I’m a freak?” okay, that's it. Tony climbed up the ladder and crawled over to Peter, settling down against the headboard and pulling him into his side. 

          “First of all, what did I just say? Nothing could make me not love you. And second, what kind of counterargument is that? Freaks are the best people.” Peter let a wet laugh, and Tony noticed the dampness in his son’s eyes. “C’mere” Tony pulled him in tighter, Petting Peter’s hair as he settled. 

          They sat like that for a while, enjoying each other's warmth. “Now that we’ve established that I’m not a shit father and won't abandon you for being yourself; can you please tell me why you were ghosting me?” Peter dug his head further into his father’s chest. 

          “You can't tell the team,” Peter murmured. 

          “Cross my reactor.” 

          “And you can't sue anyone.” He said, a little stronger, peeking out from Tony’s chest.

          “A little ominous but okay.” 

          .

          .

          .

          “Karen?” Peter took a deep breath “disable hologram.”  Tony was briefly confused before the instinctual fear of what he was looking at really set in. 

           What the fuck the the fuck what the fuck. “Um, Peter?” 

          “Yes?” 

          “Are those spider webs?” 

          “Yes.”

          “What the fuck,” He instinctually held Peter closer. “Um, what… what spun them?” 

          When Peter didn’t respond he glanced down and saw his son’s gaze anywhere but him. “Peter?” 

          “Um, I- I did, I spun them.” before Tony could even think ‘what the fuck’ (not that he had stopped) Peter started ranting. “Remember when we went to Oscorp? Well, one of the spiders they were making bit me and now I have Spider Powers. Loki and Cho know but that's about it, I can hear and spell and stick to things-”

          “Stick to things?” Tony interjected, why that was the thing he questioned he doesn't know but five floors down there are two supersoldiers from the forties planning their wedding so nothing is really out of the question at this point.

          Peter turned away, presumably embarrassed, and Tony noticed something on his neck. “Why are you wearing Nat’s face hologram?”

          Peter tensed up, “I, uh, may or may not have blue blood… and it may or may not be super noticeable.” Tony lifted his eyebrow with as much skepticism he could muster. Peter sighed before reaching up and disabling the photostatic veil. 

          “And what else, changed when you got bit?”

          “Metabolism, strength, circulatory system, sensitivity to sounds and smells, my bones-”

          “ Bones! I thought Cho said you were alright, what happened to your bones!?” 

          “Heh, I uh, don’t have them anymore? I basically have an exoskeleton beneath my skin. But I also probably have a healing factor! So there’s that!” 

          “In favour of not panicking about that, I’m going to trust you for now. And when you say heightened senses, how heightened? 

          “As in if I wasn’t wearing my precautions I could hear pretty much everyone in the tower all at once as well as all the surrounding traffic. Right now I can only hear a few floors down, and I can smell the bottle of fancy lotion you pretend not to use.”

          “I’m gonna ignore that… so can you like” Tony looked up at the expanse of webbing, “climb walls?” 

          Peter smirked, then stood and rapidly climbed the few feet it took to get back into the webs. “I also have some spider instincts so being up here actually feels safer for me than being on the ground..” 

          Tony was sure his face was conveying his fascination, “Note to self, research habits of spiders.” Peter laughed but Tony was already making a mental checklist of things to know. “Wait, are you why the fridge door is broken?” Peter stopped laughing, making incomprehensible but dismissive sounds. “Whatever, it’s no big deal bambino, but how about we head down to the gym to see how strong you really are?”

          It was luck (and Tony’s implementation of Friday’s subtle distracting techniques) that had the avenger’s gym empty when the father-son due walked in. “Alrighty, the weights are over there, I’m gonna grab you a towel and some water. Go ahead and load some weights on the bar, start small, I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

          The gym had two locker rooms, one for casual workouts, stalked with extra (reusable) water bottles, hand chalk, first aid kit, what have you, as well as lockers for storing things. The other locker room is more private with individual bathroom ‘stalls’ that have a standard bathroom setup and a shower stalked with decent products. Tony headed for the former, grabbing an IronMan water bottle and filling it up before hesitating and grabbing some hand chalk. You never know , he thought. 

          Tony didn’t expect much when he came back, maybe Peter questioned what the clips were for, maybe the kid lightly warmed up and ready to gauge how strong he is. What was not expected, was his kid casually holding up one of Cap’s hundred pound weights like it was nothing.

          “Hey Dad, what’s the C stand for?”

          And like the very intelligent person Tony is, he gracefully responded: “what?” 

          “Y’know, it says 1C where the weight should be, what does that mean?” 

          Finally getting his brain back online Tony realized what Peter was asking. “Uh, tessero, those are Cap’s, so the 1C is one hundred pounds. And you’re holding it like it’s a box of Chinese food.” 

          “I- I um, should I… should I put it down?”

          “Pete, if you had to guess, how heavy would you say that is?

          “Um, like” Peter gently tossed it in his hands, trying to gauge its weight, “five pounds?”

          “Cool, cool, alright, okay, cool. Well, load it on, we came here to test your strength and we’re going to test it.” Tony helped (read: directed) Peter to load on the weights (all ten hundred but Cap’s cap is around eight hundred) five hundred on each side with a fifty pound bar.

          Peter reached down with both hands, gripping the bar tight. He looked to be mentally preparing himself for the heaviest thing in the world, but the way he was tossing around that first weight told Tony this was going to be a see it to believe it kind of story. Peter took a deep breath and pulled. 

          Tony barely registered that Peter had lifted the bar before a loud smack was heard and Peter went tumbling down.

          “Peter!” Tony rushed to his side, gently peeling his hands away from his bleeding nose (and look, Tony was aware that his kid now had blue blood, but it was still weird to see) 

          “That was lighter than I expected.” came Peter’s response as Tony helped him over to the bench at the perimeter of the room.

          “Yea no kidding, I’m gonna grab the first aid kit, don't move.” Tony raced to do just that, mentally promising himself that if it didn't stop in a few minutes he would race to Cho.

          Tony came back with some gauze, a damp towel, tissues, and a gel ice pack. “Come ‘er bambino,” he said softly as he rolled up the gauze and placed it at Peter’s nostril, placing the ice pack on the lower cartilage and told Peter to hold it there. He gently took Peter’s free hand and started to wipe away the blue drops before having Peter switch his hold to clean the other hand. 

          “Sorry.” 

          “What are you sorry for kid? You didn’t do anything wrong.” 

          “I don’t know, I guess- I guess I just feel like I’m dragging you down.'' Even with his head tilted forwards, Peter was avoiding his gaze. 

          “Peter, look at me?” when he didn't, Tony kneeled down in front of him. “Pete?” he meekly turned his gaze towards his father. “You will never be a burden, you’re my son, and I’ll love you no matter what. Besides, If you weren’t causing trouble and getting yourself stuck in scientific paradoxes I’d doubt If I raised you right.” that at least earned a half hearted chuckle. 

          “Better?”

          “Yea-- thanks.” Peter set the icepack down and pulled out the gauze, cringing at the pull of dried blood. He set it aside and grabbed a tissue, blowing his nose and pleased when no blood came out.

          “Alright, now that that’s settled, why don’t we take a break and have a lab day. You’re definitely way above Capcicle in terms of strength, but how about we just relax and build some shit… don’t tell Pepper I said that.” 

          Tony suggested that Peter go up while Tony dealt with the equipment but Peter turned down the suggestion, claiming he would throw out his back. 

          Watching Peter casually lift (the cleaned) hundred pound weights was kind of surreal. “You should ask the loverboys to train you. I bet you could learn a lot from them.” Peter was quiet for a long minute, Tony let him think. 

          “I just don’t want them to treat me differently.”

          “Kid, do you treat Nat differently cause of her background? or Bucky cause of his arm?”

          “Of course not!” Peter said, mildly offended from his position near the weight rack. 

        “And you trusted them with being Bi, why would this change how they look at you? Bambino, I know you trust them, and I won't tell them unless you give the okay, but I don’t think it’s healthy to try and hide something like this in your own home.”

          “I… I’ll think about it.”

          “That’s all I ask. Now come on, we’ve got science to do.” 

Chapter Text

          It had been a few months since the bite and Peter was changing out of his messy lab clothes when he took off his undershirt. The immediate swell of noise was overwhelming but not unexpected, the familiar (but amplified) white noise of New York traffic, the sound of his own heartbeat speeding up, the wall of chatter that Peter had come to expect as a result of hearing thousands of people talk at once. But that wall of chatter had an interruption that made him flinch: a scream. 

          “Karen, who screamed?” 

          “Within the last minute there were three screams,” while she was talking Peter threw on a shirt. “Two of them happened on camera, one was because of a prank and the other was caused by anger, the third scream wasn’t on camera but happened on floor thirty-seven.” 

          He raced to the elevator then realized that would take too long if something was really going on. He turned to the stairs, parkouring down the seven floors it took to get to the common room before switching stairwells and jumping down, waiting about five seconds before thwiping out a web and landing gracefully on a platform. Seeing the ‘floor 35’ sign, he ran up the two floors, opening the door to find a hallway that led straight to the employee cafeteria. 

          “Karen?” he asked, having recently modified his hearing dampeners into something that could house the AI. “where am I going?” 

          Following her instructions, Peter found himself walking towards the employee recreation area, about to ask for more directions before he heard a sharp grunt and a crash coming from a broom closet

          Peter rushed to open the door and found Manahil sprawled over a fallen mop cart and another employee clutching his side looming over her. “Friday, call security,” He said, not taking his eyes off the man who just turned around. “I suggest you stand down.” 

          “This isn’t your business kid, move along,” he said with a sneer before turning his attention back to Manahil.

          “I said,” He grabbed the man's wrist, not bothering to moderate his strength, as evidenced by the small crunch and the man falling to his knees, “you should stand down.” 

          His Spidey sense went off as the man surged upwards trying to punch Peter. He used the man’s momentum to swing his arm behind his back and push him to the ground. 

          It was at that moment two security guards ran in, relieving Peter of his position on the man’s back, before cuffing him and removing him from the closet. “Take him to floor thirty-six, I’ll meet you down there in a minute. Fri? Tell Happy what happened and get him to meet me there.” 

          Peter ignored any reply Friday might have given in favour of helping Manahil, who was now shaking, frozen on top of the mop cart. Instinct kicked in as he lowered himself, openly telegraphing his movements as he slowly helped her sit up. Once she wasn’t lying on a heap of metal and plastic he backed up a bit, giving her room. “Are you hurt?”

          “N-no, I don’t think so,” she replied, keeping her eyes glued to the ground. 

          “Can you tell me what happened? I’ll be sure to tell Happy about this so it can be taken care of.” 

          “He just said he wanted to ask me something, I never thought he would try-” she took a deep breath. “What happens now?” 

          “Now,“ said Peter, sitting criss-cross on the floor, “now, he’ll get fired, and banned from every Stark Industries location, and hopefully arrested on assault charges. I could also probably have someone work out a restraining order if you want.” he tried to give a lighthearted smile but it didn’t really work. 

          She nodded. “I think I twisted my ankle, ?” Peter nodded, standing up and offered her an arm to hold onto. 

          "Actually, could you grab my friend Brianna?"

          "of course," Peter stood up and made to leave before turning back to her. "here, take my phone," he handed it to her, unlocked. "It's connected to my headset. If you need anything while I'm gone just ask." 

          Manahil nodded, and Peter went to retrieve her friend. 

          With the help of Karen, Peter quickly found Brianna and brought her back to the closet. 

          "C'mere," she said, not asking for an explanation. Just offering her arm for Manahil to grab onto.

          “Let me walk you both to medbay." Both girls agreed. They made it to the elevator, Manahil limping, and Brianna rambling to distract her. 

          “I’ll make sure you’re settled up there before I head out," Peter reassured them. "I’ll contact your department heads to let them know you'll be out for a bit. And Manahil, you don't have to stay the rest of the day if you don’t want to.” Peter awkwardly scratched the back of his neck.

          "No, I-- I think I'll go back to work. I just want to forget about it."

          Peter nodded as the elevator door opened. He let Brianna lead her to a chair as he went up to the secretary. “Hello,” he glanced at her badge “Cassie, can I get an ice pack?” they nodded before rushing off to grab one. Peter sat next to Briannna. 

          “Peter,” Karen said in his ear. “You have an incoming call from ‘irondad’”

          “Accept call.” Peter gestured to his hearing dampeners at the girl's confused glances.

          “Peter? Why did Friday say you went down to SI? C’mon kiddo, I sent you to change clothes before lunch and now you’re out galavanting?” 

          “Well, the thing is…” Peter searched for a way to explain the situation without letting on to his abilities “I came across an incident and I had to take care of it. You can ask Happy, speaking of, he’s probably wondering where I am.” Cassie came back with the ice pack and a roll of gauze and began wrapping Manhil’s ankle before overlaying the ice pack and securing it. “I’ll be up in, at most half an hour.” He told Karen to hang up before turning to his injured friend. 

          “You two good If I leave?” 

          “I think so, thank you.” he nodded before heading to the thirty-sixth floor.

          When he found the right office he was greeted by the two guards from earlier, Happy, and the assaulter. “They fill you in?” he asked Happy, gesturing towards the two guards. Happy nodded.

          “Good, I want him fired and banned from every Stark Industries building.” He nodded again, tapping a few things onto his tablet. 

          “What! Why are you listening to some kid?!”

          “That’s classified. Kid, you got anything you want to add to the record?” 

          “Yea, when I found them I first told him to stand down, he ignored me and was about to attack Manahil again when I grabbed him by the wrist. It’s probably broken,” he said a little sheepishly. “Anyway, I just wanted it noted that I gave him a warning. Do you need me for anything else?” 

          “Nah, you’re good.” 

          With Happy’s go-ahead, he hightailed back to the penthouse for lunch.

          The what if’s had been bugging him. He’d put in his hearing dampeners again when he’d first left his room, but those thoughts had refused to leave. What If I didn’t get there in time. What if I hadn't taken them out and I never heard the scream. The hypothetical guilt had been eating at him all day. 

           What if I- no, bad idea, I specifically told Dr. Cho that I wouldn't. The red ski mask in his closet came to mind. Well… like father like son. Peter shifted until he fell through the webs onto his bedroom floor, twisting gracefully at the last second to land on his feet. He sprinted to his closet and pulled out his old red ski mask, deciding it’s best to go all the way. Should I wear the cape? he asked himself, thumbing the red fabric of the cape Thor had given him. best not, It'd probably get in the way.

          Only a few minutes later found Peter on the landing pad of Stark tower dressed in a sleeveless red hoodie and blue undershirt and sweatpants. He decided to opt for some red socks instead of shoes because his stickiness is secreted and while it’s less effective through socks it’d be rendered useless through shoes (and no amount of money could convince him to walk around New York barefoot.) looking over the edge of the building, knowing he’d have to jump was one of the scarier things he's done in his life. It’s a leap of faith, and he jumped, and he was flying , he revelled in the adrenaline rush before shooting off a web to swing his way to the worse parts of the city. 

          He learned a few things that night: 

1. Swinging, while fun, was inefficient because of the metabolic drawbacks 
2. Karen was very good at hacking into police radios and telling Peter what was happening
3. He was gonna need a better suit. 

          Once he got home he jotted down a few notes before scarfing down three of Steve’s 2,000 calorie protein bars and crawling into his web for the night.

          Okay, look, Peter was a handy guy, he could fix a car engine in less time than it took to sing my shot. But fuck sewing is hard. I mean most stuff you can find a pattern for at least but this is a one of a kind superhero suit that Peter is planning on engineering a specific fabric for. 

          Okay, let's start from the top. Peter needs a suit that's A) conforming B) nonrestrictive and C) easy to repair. He figured since swinging was going to be his main mode of transportation (once he figured out a way to synthesize the web fluid) so anything he wore would need to be skin tight in order to reduce drag. Peter figured the best thing to do would be to make the suit himself; rather than throw together pieces like last night. Maybe I can ask that DareDevil guy where he got his suit. Regardless He wanted to get a feel for how much fabric he was gonna need before he started making it but it looks like that's not gonna happen. Peter decided to focus on the synthetic webbing for now.

          It took him a few days (in which he didn't go out because he didn't want to run out of webbing in the middle of a confrontation) But he finally managed to recreate a synthetic version of his webs, in its liquid state it was blue and was able to compress 200%. He knew he could do better, but for now, it was perfect. It took another week to create the fabric, something thick enough that it could be made resistant to punctures and cuts, but thin enough to let his stickiness soak through on his fingers and feet. It was no small accomplishment. The secret was not only the thread but also the way it’s weaved, namely, Peter was going to be well occupied for the next *checks watch* however long it takes to hand weave all the fabric. His inner spider was quite pleased with this development. Though, who knows? Maybe he’ll have a new hobby by the end of this. 

Chapter Text

          It’s gotten to the point where, if Peter isn’t actively doing something with his hands, he needs to be weaving. It’s probably just the spider instincts getting excited, but still. “Done!” Peter said with an exhausted sigh, setting aside the completed suit (the fabric for it at least, he still needed to add the tech) and rubbing his cramped fingers. His inner spider seemed to be satisfied with the completion of the project, “how do spiders do it all the time?” he asked no one

           {what else would we do?} Peter screamed and jumped, twisting around to try and find the speaker. 

          “Master Stark are you alright?” Jarvis asked, concerned confusion clear in his voice. 

          “Uh, yeah, hey Jarvis? Is there anyone else on this floor?” Peter couldn’t hear anyone else, just him and Tony (who was in the kitchen making lunch) and it couldn’t have been uncle Clint because he was at his super-secret farmhouse with his family.

          “My sensors indicate that you are alone in your room. Would you like me to alert your father?”

          No, no, no, that's okay Jar, I just… Ignore me for now,” Peter ignored the reply as he started scanning his room once again. “Hello?”

           {...are you talking to me?} Peter realized he wasn’t really hearing the voice, maybe sensing would be a better word. Like he was hearing a complex vibration and just knew what it meant. 

          “Um, yes?” He tried to turn towards where the ‘voice’ was coming from. “Where are you?” 

           {I’m underneath the light box}

          It took a second to realize they meant the tv. Confused, yet intrigued, Peter walked over to the tv and knelt down to look at the shelves beneath. Peter glanced about, Wii? Nope. Xbox? Nope. PlayStation? Nope. He then laid down on the ground and looked into the inch-wide gap under the tv stand and sure enough, there was a small yellow-brown spider relaxing on its web. “Is that you?”

           {hi!} Peter did a small wave, the spider lifted its front led and replicated the movement. {I’ve never met a two-leg that could understand me}  

          “Two-leg? Oh, right, gotcha. Um, I’m Peter? What’s your name?” 

           [what’s a name?}

          “Oh, y’know something to call you? That way I can differentiate you from all the other spiders.” Peter shifted a bit, rolling onto his stomach to let his shoulder relax. 

           {I don’t have a name, could you give me one?} Peter didn’t know how he could tell but he knew they were excited at the prospect of getting a name.

          “Sure, do you want a feminine or masculine name?”

           {what does that mean?}

           “Oh, do spiders not have a concept of genders?” obviously they don't, Peter told himself. Stupid social constructs. “Like males and females but, completely meaningless and stupid.”

           {I am male, so whichever one that is.}

          “Cool, let me think…” Let's see, Leon? Nah, Justin? Peter looked at the derpy innocence of his new friend, definitely not, Eric? Not right…. “Aren! Like arachnid, I’m gonna call you Aren, do you like it?”

           {I mean, I don’t know what a-wreck-need is but Aren sounds nice. So you’re Peter, and I’m Aren!

          “I think we’re gonna be good friends.” 

          The bullet-resistant under armour that Peter wore beneath his hand-spun jumper was slim and a perfect vehicle to attach the technology to. Right now I think a heater, Karen, the web-shooters, and a tracking beacon in case I ever need to send out an s.o.s. … I think that’s good, I can always add more later. Now the only problem Peter faced was the look™. Right now his look™ consisted of a full white bodysuit with a flexible one-way mirror over the eyes. Peter was less than satisfied. He figured the first thing to figure out was a colour scheme. Well, I think I should stick with the red and blue. But like, a vibrant red and a dark blue. Yea, that’ll look good. Peter grabbed his tablet and pulled up an outline of a person and started sketching some ideas for a design. 

          The end product ended up being a little intricate, interlocking red and blue panels all overlaid with black lines that formed a web. Now he had to figure out how to dye the fabric…. Oh, joy.

          It’s been a month since he last stood at the top of Stark tower, only this time, he’s prepared. He took one last deep breath before shooting off a web and swinging towards the empire state building. “Karen, let me know when something happens?” 

          “Of course Peter.” 

          He ended up starting a new routine get up, eat, work in the lab (since Peter is homeschooled someone on the team will usually pop in to teach him something at various points in the day*) eat some more, review work from the R&D department (Aunt Pepper thought she was being subtle with her ‘ slowly teach Peter how to run SI’ plan but she wasn’t) play some video games, eat, do therapy stuff with Loki (he didn’t need it as frequently anymore but they still liked to hang out every day) mess around until dinner, if it was a Friday then it was movie night, then patrol. 

*He’s already learning Russian, Portuguese, German, and Italian from aunt Nat and uncle Bucky, ASL (and long-range projectile weapons) from uncle Clint, his dad and uncle Bruce teach him new science stuff constantly, and uncle Steve likes to rant about ‘back in my day’ a lot so that counts as history

          Now, obviously, he didn’t do that every day. Sometimes he would spend all day in his room reading, some days he never left his lab, but despite that patrol quickly became the best part of his day. There was nothing quite like the adrenaline rush he got from swinging, or the fussy warmth he got when he saved someone. And luckily enough, when you live with two super-soldiers and a super-spy you get pretty good at self-defence, so if push comes to shove Peter can get himself out of almost any situation. On that note, he was really only ever trained for brief incapacitation and getting the hell out of wherever he was. (he was also never trained with super strength or instinct in mind) Oh, yea, and not to mention the fact that he only got home at like four am so he was starting to sleep in late and Dad had already asked him if he was seeing someone which had resulted in the talk* so that was… unpleasant. 

*When he’s older he’s gonna laugh about it though because Tony was just as uncomfortable as him, if not more.

          He shook those thoughts away as he heard a scream and swung off his perch to go help.

          It’s been a few weeks since he started being a vigilante, and apparently, he’s gained a following. Spiderman, the media’s calling him. Apparently a few of the people he saved posted about it online, then more and more people started coming forwards and suddenly big news companies like the new york post and daily bugle have started writing stories. So far his reception seems pretty split, on one hand, people think he’s a hero who looks out for the little guy, on the other hand, people (*cough* Jamason *cough*) say he’s a menace and that he’s somehow causing the crimes. Regardless, Peter doesn't care what people say, he’s not doing this for fame and glory, he’s doing this to help people. 

          Peter yawned as he pulled on his socks, last night had been kind of slow (not that that's a bad thing!) just one attempted mugging,* so he had headed home early (around two am) and had gotten a decent amount of sleep. 

*The guy doing the mugging was clearly drunk and an easy takedown, the victim was super sweet and asked for a selfie, Peter obliged

          Peter walked into the kitchen and headed straight for the cupboard, grabbing the sugariest cereal they had (without caffeine Peter had to make do) and poured himself a bowl. His father was already up (not unusual) and was grumbling over a StarkPad (also not unusual). What was unusual, was the shield watermark on the document. “What's that?” Peter asked, leaning over his dad’s shoulder and shovelling a spoonful of cereal into his mouth.

         “Oh, nothing Bambino, you know that Spiderman guy on the news?” Peter froze, spoon stopping halfway to his mouth. “eyepatch just wants us to find him and bring him in, maybe talk him into being an avenger.” Tony set down the StarkPad and slowly turned to look at him. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about all that-- would you Peter?” he said giving him a deadpan look. 

           Play dumb “whose Peter?” not that dumb!

          Tony gave him a pointed look then gestured to the chair next to him. Peter sighed, resigning himself to the unavoidable conversation. 

          Tony’s reaction was understandable. Namely: he was completely not okay for his child to be out doing vigilante work.

          “Dad, please,” Peter's voice sounded broken, “I can’t just not help. If you heard someone getting hurt, you’d help wouldn’t you?”

          “Of course I would tessero, but-”

          “No buts! I’m with doing this with your help or without it!” Peter took a deep breath “Aunt May said her husband had a saying, ‘with great power comes great responsibility.’ I have these powers, if I see something bad happen, and I do nothing, doesn't that make it my fault?” he wiped the dampness from his eyes. “Please, don’t take this away.” Peter hung his head. He couldn’t stand to see the reaction on his father's face. 

          Peter heard the scraping of Tony’s chair against the floor, then he felt warm arms wrap around him. “Oh, Peter. Why did you have become such a selfless person?” he bent down to kiss Peter’s hair. “I’m not happy about it, and there will be ground rules, but” he sighed “I guess I’d rather you do it with supervision.” 

          Peter jumped up and hugged Tony, being careful not to crush him, “thank you thank you thank you thank you!” 

          “You’re not gonna be saying that when I tell you the rules.” that got Peter to settle down, but he was too happy to really be put down now. He might have only been doing this a few weeks but Spiderman had become a part of him. 

          Tony sat down and Peter followed. “First rule, you tell me when you leave and when you come back And I want you to check in or have Karen check in every hour, no, half-hour.” Peter nodded, he could do that. “Two, if under any circumstances you get hurt, you or Karen tell me right away, anything more than a bruise and I need to know.” Peter nodded, a little excessive but doable. “Three, I need access to your location and vitals at all times.” 

          “I have a tracker in the suit already, and I can add in sensors so Karen can monitor my vitals.”

          “Good.” said Tony, nodding to himself, “forth, you need physical training, and I can’t do that, so you need to tell either Nat, Bucky, or Capsicle, preferably all of them,” he said, counting off the names on his fingers. Peter thought about it, not really wanting anyone else to know, but also rationing that he was inexperienced. Training could only help him. 

          “Okay, but give me some time to think about who?” 

          “Alright, but you’re not going back out there until you’ve had at least two weeks of combat training.” Peter was about to protest but Tony cut him off. “Nuh, uh! The adult is talking. Be lucky I’m not saying a month. At least two weeks before you go out again. That’ll give us plenty of time to go over your suit and add in anything you missed.” Peter sighed, then nodded, still not happy about it. 

          “What number are we on? Nevermind. No staying out past three am. If you hear something at three on the dot you can help, but if you come back past three I’ll have Friday get me and I’m checking you over for injuries. Anything past three thirty and you’re grounded for three days, if it happens twice in a month it’ll be two weeks, got it?” Peter nodded again. 

          “Okay, that's about all I can think of, please don’t make me add more rules.” Tony held his gaze for a moment. “Alright, finish your cereal then we can work on your suit while you figure out your training situation.”

          Peter had started thinking about who he wanted to teach him. He and Tony had both been working on blueprints* for a while, (after the bit of time it took to explain how he made his suit) Peter had watched enough of their training sessions** to have all their fighting styles memorized. Okay well, uncle Bucky and uncle Steve both have very military styles of training and that’s not too much help in a street fight. I should probably go to aunt Nat, she’s probably best to train me with. ( Peter remembered the arachno-batics he was doing while fighting) yea, aunt Nat’s probably the best choice. Buuuut uncle Bucky and uncle Steve can help me with my super strength. Peter sighed. Maybe I should just bite the bullet and tell all of them.

*His dad insisted he add a glider, a reinforced pocket for his phone, the sensors for Karen, and a layer of padding on his knuckles because lord knows he won’t be wrapping his fist before getting onto the suit.

**Once aunt Nat found out about him she insisted on training Peter in self-defence, after that he just got into the habit of sitting in on training sessions every once in a while.

          As luck would have it, it was Friday. And Friday meant family dinner and movie night! It was usually some combination of Steve, Bucky (who had both fallen into cooking as a hobby when they woke up) Sam, and surprisingly: Tony. ask him to toast bread and he’d burn it but ask him to make a complex Italian dish and he wouldn’t bat an eye. Every once in a while aunt May would come by too but she had an interview in the morning and wanted to get a solid rest.

          It was make your own pizza night (once Tony had found out about his metabolism he’d informed the resident chefs to increase Peter's portions {while also not revealing why}) and once everyone's Pizzas had been topped, cooked, cut, and served, Peter started to panic. Tony subtly reached under the table and placed his hand on Peter’s leg, giving him a reassuring squeeze. 

          There was a lull in conversation. Now or never. “Um, guys?” He said, hating how his voice cracked. Everyone turned their attention to him. “Uuh, s- so I’m telling you this because-- well really because Dad said I had to, but I’m telling you because I wanted to ask your help…. Uh, I’m Spiderman.” Peter froze, taking in everyone’s reactions. Loki and Tony were the only ones completely unfazed. Both Nat and Bucky had fallen into a cool mask of indifference. Clint looked confused (probably because he’d lost his hearing aids earlier and couldn’t catch what Peter said) and both Bruce and Steve were in varying degrees of shock. 

          Peter was panicking while waiting for someone to talk so he focused on what he could control and signed to Clint ‘I S-P-I-D-E-R-M-A-N’ finger-spelling spiderman and the confusion quickly morphed to shock. 

          “Look, I don’t care what you guys say, I’m not going to stop. I’m telling you this because I’m asking you guys to train me.”

          “How?” Bruce asked, apparently the only one who’s bounced into a functioning state of mind. “How did all this happen?”

          At this point, Peter should just record himself explaining it. 

          “So that’s why you’ve been a bottomless pit lately,” Sam concluded after being told about Peter’s metabolism. 

          “And you’re the reason my bars have been disappearing so fast,” said Steve

          As everyone was absorbing the information, Loki butted in. “you still haven't answered the boy’s question-- will you train him?” 

          “Of course we will,” Natasha said a finality in her voice. It was the first reaction she’s had since the bomb dropped.

          “Well, that’s that.” Tony said, clapping his hands “you guys can start tomorrow but for now, eat! And Pete, don’t stop till you’re full. Maybe after y'all train you and Capcicle can have an eating contest tomorrow.

Chapter Text

          “Hey dad, where you going?” Peter asked as Tony walked through the living room.

          “HOLY-” he shouted, spinning around to try and find Peter before he looked up to find him in ‘his’ corner of the ceiling “you’d think after a week I’d be used to that.” he gestured to his phone. “R&D meeting with the department heads, wanna come?”

          Peter looked up from his book, “really?”

          “Yea, why not. We can pull the whole ‘intern’ backstory again.”

          “You serious? Yea! Yea, gimme a second to grab my shoes.”

          Less than a minute later the two Starks were in the elevator on the way down to floor sixty-three. This floor was dedicated to office space, most of it was empty, only being used during meetings or if there's repairs or remodelling being done elsewhere. The rooms varied in size from single-person office space to larger more conference-type rooms. It was one of these larger rooms that the duo found themselves in. 

          It looked like the four department heads were waiting for their arrival (makes sense, I mean, R&D meetings are the only ones his dad will reliably attend) they all straightened up when they walked in, all of them throwing confused glances his way. “Mr. Stark?” one of them said, he had fluffy hair and freckles which complemented his tanned complexion. 

          “Yea john?” 

          “It’s Jack Mr. Stark,” he said with an exasperated smile, “I don’t mean any offence but-- who’s the kid?”

          “This is my personal intern. Kid, this is Jack Laurence, head of the Bioengineering Department. Connie Marks, head of the medical department. Keaton Melendez, head of engineering. Jade Fenton head of Clean Energy Research. Frankie Reed head of the Technology Department. And Niko Ho, head of Rural mechanics. And now I feel left out so I’m Tony Stark.” After everyone’s cursory chuckles he clapped his hands. “Okay, let's get started. Jack, you had an idea you wanted to pitch?” 

          It quickly became common knowledge to the employees of SI, If Tony Stark was around, so was The Kid. Mind you, it didn’t happen often, and when it did it happened at meetings or the cafeteria. No one really knows who he is. When prompted a few of the department heads say he’s a personal intern but why would the Tony Stark get a kid as an intern? Because of the infrequency of the sightings outside anywhere but R&D, some people have begun to think it’s all an elaborate prank. But regardless of what people believed everyone knew to follow the unspoken rules when faced with The Kid. 

• If he offers to help you say yes. Never underestimate his intelligence, even if you’re not struggling with your project, if The Kid has offered his assistance that means he’s found a way to improve it already.
• When confronted with The Kid, never ask about his home life. This will cause one of two outcomes
• If he’s with Stark your questions will be intercepted and shut down.
• If by some miracle you’ve caught The Kid by himself it will cause him to leave immediately.
• And finally never question his place. (one person said The Kid had an all-access pass. The next time He was spotted someone tried to ask and Friday interrupted saying it was classified) 

          Most of the time the meeting rooms were used for large projects, or interventions (it seems most employees of SI have taken up a caffeine addiction along with the drastic lack of sleep) but sometimes they were used for birthday parties or on this particular occasion, a Potluck to celebrate a coworkers promotion. But it was another unspoken rule of SI that when you RSVP a meeting room for non-work business you reserve it under the guise of a work-related project. Today the potluck room was technically reserved for ‘the hypothetical research of cryogenic pods for deep space flight’... Apparently, The Kid didn’t get the memo.

          The best friend of the newly appointed lab head just finished a toasting of red solo cups when The Kid walked in. “Oh you guys brought food? Awesome! I’m so pumped for this, and I think the possibility of deep space flight is a lot closer than people think. So what was the plan for today?” 

          “Help yourself, we were just planning on throwing ideas around.” one brave soul spoke up. The Kid nodded his acceptance. 

          As Per the first unspoken rule, no one stopped Him when He started grabbing the rolling whiteboards and jotting down ideas for different methods of induced comas and cryogenic chambers that would be sustainable for deep space flight. No one corrected him when He started sketching ideas on his StarkPad.and. And no one dared stopped him when he basically created a prototype perpetual motion machine for the purposes of powering the hypothetical pods. The Kid didn’t even seem to notice that no one else had brought anything that would indicate a brainstorming session, nor did he seem bothered that he was doing most of the talking. Or the fact that most of these people were from IT and everything he was saying was going over their heads (even the few people there who were from engineering would later admit the concepts discussed were a little too advanced for their understanding.)

          After about an hour after The Kid came in Friday interrupted his latest stream of ideas. “Mini-Boss,” The Kid looked up “sergeant Barnes would like to announce that he’s made double chocolate chunk cookies and he can only hide them from the team for so long.”* Apparently that meant a lot to The Kid because he immediately grabbed his tablet and took pictures of all his whiteboard notes. 

*Bucky makes the best cookies and even when he makes a quadruple batch it’s usually gone in two days max so he always makes sure Peter gets his hands on some before he lets the team at them.

           “Thanks for having me everyone, I can't wait to see where this goes, bye!” and with that, he was out the door. 

[the next day]

          “No I’m telling you, Brandon, he really just up and made one!”

          “You’re telling me a teenager walked into a high-level conference room and just made a blueprint for a perpetual motion machine?” he scoffed “I’m sorry dude I just don't believe it. Besides, I still don’t believe in this whole ‘kid’ thing either. I mean, how would he have even gotten past the museum anyway?”* He glanced at his phone. “I need to head out. I'm picking up Kai from their office and going to see that new horror movie.”

*From three to six on weekdays and noon to seven on weekends the Avengers museum and display gym on the second floor was open for public viewing. All anyone had to do was ask the front desk for a temporary visitors pass and link it to a valid ID (or a parent’s valid ID) and they were allowed free rein of the second floor as well as access to the third-floor cafeteria (the hours were put in place to avoid tour jacking)

          The friends parted ways and Brandon made his way to pick up his sibling from the rural engineering labs. 

          Walking down the corridor in the middle of the afternoon was usually as uneventful as it sounded, but not today. 

          “Come on! Stop- bad Stabby! Get back here!”* around the corner came what looked to be a roomba with a knife duct-taped to it travelling at an alarming speed. Running after it was a teenager. Said teen sped up slightly and jumped bodily onto the roomba before rolling onto his back so the roomba laid on his chest wheels up. 

*If you’ve never heard of Stabby the roomba you are missing out, look up ‘humans are space orcs’ or ‘earth is space Australia’ on Tumblr (or anywhere really) and you’ll find it.

          “Bad Stabby!” the boy said with a pretty good ‘im disappointed in you’ voice. “You know better than to leave the lab without me.” the bot in question let out a few apologetic beeps. “Yea, I know you’re sorry but this is the second time it’s happened. Just be thankful I gave you a rubber knife after the first time or you’d be in big trouble for attacking Jackson back there.” 

          Brandon cleared his throat and The Kid (who he definitely believed in now ) finally noticed him. “Oh hi,” he stood up, still holding onto ‘Stabby’ “sorry about that, y’know kids.” he gave a little wave before walking towards the elevator. 

          “What the fuck” he whispered to himself. I guess I owe Kai ten bucks.  

          It was a slow day in bioengineering lab 4* Most people were lazily completing paperwork or crunching numbers, a few were tinkering with some spare parts or doing research but for the most part, everyone seemed to agree that it was a lazy day today. 

*Each department was divided into different labs, each lab having a lab head to make sure no one blew up anything that wasn’t supposed to explode. In short, the chain of command was: Department head -> lab head -> Project manager (a temporary position based on what everyone was working on) -> employee -> intern

          “I’m gonna run and grab some more hydrogen peroxide,” one of them announced. 

          He walked into the supply closet with no expectations in mind other than the plain racks of chemicals that filled the room. What he didn't expect was to hear an echo-y muttering that emanated from the vents.

          “Uh, hello?” there was no response but the muttering continued. He peered into the vent and saw-- a person? A person! “Hang on I’m gonna get help!”

          He wandered at a hurried pace until he found a janitor. “Mr. Lee! There's someone stuck in the vents, can you help?”*

*Ultimate spiderman tv show anyone? 

          When he got back to the supply closet with help in tow they found The Kid lowering the grate to the floor and crawling out. 

          “You-- you’re- you weren’t stuck?” 

          The Kid only seemed to notice them then. “Huh? Oh no, I’m fine. Thanks though! And sorry to bother you.” 

          Before He could walk out of the room he called out “wait, why were you in the vents if you weren’t stuck?”

          “I was exploring, have a nice day!” and with that, he left to go do whatever a cryptid does during the day.

          Beyond the traditional employees of SI, the food workers had their own set of unspoken rules. 

• Never question how much food He’s gotten (especially if he’s gone to multiple restaurants)

• Never recommend Him something with citrus or vinegar, if he asks for something that fits that description, make a comment about a bad batch or say you’re out.
  • One time He was recommended a homemade ‘sprite’ that was a mixture of lemon and lime juice with carbonated water and presumably to not appear rude he drank it. The reaction was immediate, he ran. He later came back to explain his severe aversion to citrus. No one offered it to Him again.
• If you want to try a new dish, get him to test it. 

          “Hey Kid!” she called from her place behind the counter. 

          “Hey, Amelia, what’s up?” 

          “We’re trying a new Honey Chicken recipe? Wanna taste?” 

          “Heck yea!” she handed him a piece of chicken on a toothpick. “This is amazing! Can I get an order of this with the fried rice?” she smiled and nodded as she got to work filling up a styrofoam box. When she was done He handed her His SI card* to pay and grabbed his food. “See you later!” 

* All SI badges are programmed with a monthly allowance to encourage regular eating habits. Peter’s just happens to have a limitless supply of money

          It was about six o’clock and she was about to hand the place over to the night shift* when she got an alert from Friday. (technically anyone can pre-order food but when Tony orders Friday also alerts the restaurant because when you’re feeding four people with enhanced metabolisms you’re gonna be placing a big order.) Now she had been working here well before rumours of The Kid started circling so it was no surprise that a large part of the order was a request for honey chicken. 

*Employees of SI can come in at any time of the day provided they work a certain amount of hours and turn in their paperwork on time. The only exceptions being Food workers, Secretaries, Janitors, and security. But their hours are largely flexible as well.

          Y’see the reason The Kid was the official unofficial taste tester was because if he liked something, for whatever reason, it would quickly be ordered by Tony Stark or the Avengers; so people tend to give him samples whenever possible.

          Alex Harrison was pretty new to SI but so far it was a dream, flexible hours, unlimited coffee in the break rooms, and an open, accepting workplace. He was planning on working up the chain of command in the legal department but first, he needed food. 

          The cafeterias were always well stocked with a variety of restaurants and different sitting areas, these areas included your standard lunch tables, individual cafe tables, an area to sit on the (cushioned) floor and look over the New York skyline, there was even a covered balcony. That was Alex’s favourite, and where he was headed now. 

          It was a hot day out so most people stayed in the solace of the air-conditioned cafeteria so it was a shock to find another person sitting on the balcony (and a child at that.) 

          “Hey kid,” he said, setting his food down at the table next to the kid. “There aren’t any tours going on today, are your parents around?” 

          The boy (who appeared to be drawing) startled “oh, didn't see you there, uh, yea they’re around. Um, what department are you from?”

          “Legal,” he looked down at the sketch the kid was doing, an incredibly realistic drawing of the Iron Man suit. “That's a good drawing, very detailed.”

          The kid proudly showed his drawing “thanks! My uncle's teaching me. He used to draw a lot when he was on tour and now he’s teaching me.” 

          “It looks great kid.” He took a closer look at the details and a few things started to jump out at him. “Hey uh, no offence but this doesn't look accurate.”

          “What do you mean?” 

          “I don’t know, It’s just-- aren’t these panels supposed to be bigger?” he said pointing to the shoulders. “And I thought the Reactor was a triangle?”

          The kid seemed to realize something “oh, you’re thinking of mark fifteen. I’m drawing mark forty-seven.*

*I think it’s important to note here that no one in the general public knows how many suits Tony Stark has, let alone which one is which

           Okay, either this kid is a really good liar or I’m talking to someone important. “Oh, uh, that makes sense. So…” he started, trying to change the topic “why are you drawing out here and not in there?”

          “Oh, I get cold easy, and it’s nice out.” 

          They talked about nothing until Alex finished his food and decided it was time to get back to work. It didn’t occur to him until after he’d thrown away his trash that he didn’t even catch the kid's name. 

          Sliding back into his desk his coworker- Penny Schlaffer- walked up to him. 

          “I see you’re back, do you have a copy of that document from the last meeting? I can't find it anywhere on my computer and I need to hand it in by tomorrow. 

          “Yea no sweat,” he began looking for it. “Hey, do you know of any kids that hang around here?”

          “How do you mean?”

          “Y’know, kids? I saw one when I grabbed lunch and it just struck me as odd you know? There weren’t any tours going on and he said his parents were ‘around’ but were talking for a good half hour and no one walked up to us or anything. Is that normal around here?” 

          Her expression became very serious “what did he look like?” 

          “Uh, brown hair and eyes, about mid-teens I’d say. Why? you know him?” 

          “Tell me exactly what happened.” Penny grabbed a nearby chair and sat so close their knees were almost touching. 

          As Alex talked her expression grew more and more grave. When he talked about his trying to correct the kid she looked almost terrified. 

          “You mean to tell me that you not only talked to The Kid for half an hour, but you asked about his family and doubted his work? And you’re alive?” 

          “What are you talking about?” Alex asked, ceasing typing (he’d found and shared the document already, now he was just working [he can multitask damnit]) “he’s a teenager who was drawing on the balcony, what’s he gonna do-- stab my eyes out with an HB pencil?” 

          “No no no, he’s not a kid, he’s The Kid. haven’t you heard the rumours? You’ve been here almost four months.” 

          “You mean that cryptid? I thought he was a ghost story? Like, he died under the building or something?” 

          “No one really knows because no one has ever really talked to him. There are these rules, no one talks about it but we all just kind of know you’re not supposed to ask about him.”

         “Regardless, the kid I talked to was no ghost.” he glanced at the time “ shit I’m late, talk to you later penny!” 

Chapter Text

          Peter knocked on his dad’s office door, It was a lazy Thursday afternoon when Peter finally collected his thoughts enough to ask. 

          “Hey dad?” when Tony indicated he could come in he did, moving to pour himself a glass of juice from the pitcher (Tony had stopped drinking hard liquor once he realized a four-year-old Peter might get into it thinking it was for him.) Peter glanced at the bookshelf while he waited for his dad to finish typing.

          “Done. Sorry about that Tessoro, Pepper needed that file before one.” 

          “It’s cool dad.” Peter took a sip of his juice before sitting in the leather chair in front of his dad’s desk. “So I was wondering if… If I could- I mean I was thinking that I might- not that there's anything wrong with!-”

          “Peter!” Tony interrupted. “Take a deep breath. Now whatever it is you want to ask you know I’ll do what I can to make it happen right?” Peter nodded. “Alright, so take another breath,” he did “and just tell me, rip it off like a bandage.” 

          It almost looked like he wouldn’t answer when Peter practically shouted

“I want to go to school!” when Tony didn’t respond immediately he got out of the chair and started pacing. “I mean I would like to go, please? I mean there's nothing wrong with what I’m learning from you guys. And I’m pretty sure I could learn whatever you can’t teach me from the internet but I just thought-”

          “Pete!” He stopped his pacing “of course you can go to school. To be honest, I’m kind of surprised you haven't asked already. So have you thought about where you want to go? MIT? Yale? Harvard?” 

          Peter started fidgeting with his hands. “No, I mean, I have thought about where but that’s not what I meant.” 

          “What do you mean buddy?” Tony asked, rounding his desk to pull Peter into a side hug. 

          “I want to go to high school.” Peter tensed up, waiting for Tony’s reaction. 

          “Why?” Tony said, laughing under his breath. “It’s not like you’d be learning anything.”

          “Well I know that but…”

          “But?”

          “I don’t know anyone my own age.” 

          And boy was that a slap in the face for Tony. he was right, Peter grew up around adults, himself, Pepper Rhodey and May, now the team too but the only people he sees that are close to his own age are the college interns. And even then he can’t really hang out down there. Even when Peter was growing up and he took him to the park (in disguise) the other kids he played with were never spoken to again. Peter didn’t know anyone his own age.

          “ Shit” he whispered under his breath “bambino, you’re right. And I think it’s time we fix that. Why don’t we spend the day looking for some schools nearby. If it starts up in the fall then we’ll need to get the paperwork in order. Fri? Can you tell Pepper to come here when she has a moment?”

          It took the better part of the afternoon to narrow it down to two schools either Inward early college or midtown school of science and technology. “ I think midtown would work better, it’s close to the tower while still being a reasonable distance from May’s,” Pepper said over dinner. “If we’re telling the school that she’s your primary guardian then it needs to be a reasonable distance from her place.”

          “You’ve got a point,” Peter nodded, “and they have an academic decathlon team!... So that's it, you’ll put in the paperwork and I’ll go to midtown?”

          “Yup, if you’re going in based on your age group you’ll be a junior, but if you want you can test out and go straight to senior,” Tony suggested, not that he didn't want Peter going to school, but Peter and boredom don't mix well. So It’s safe to say he’ll end up taking AP courses on things he already knows (not that Peter really gets how smart he is relative to everyone else, he was raised surrounded by geniuses after all.)

          “We’ll see,” Peter said apprehensively. 

        They ended up keeping Peter on-level, deciding if he was taking college courses anyway he might as well do it among his own age group. 

          “ C'mon Dad, I’m gonna be late if you keep taking pictures,” Peter whined, moving to grab the car door again.

          “ C’mon Peter” Tony parroted “It’s your first ‘first day of school’ I want to document this,” He glanced at his watch.“ But you have a point, alright remember, I’m only a phone call away.” Tony pulled Peter into a hug “be nice to the teachers, no starting fights-- only finishing them. But seriously If anyone starts giving you shit just call me or Happy and you can come home.” he gave one last squeeze, reluctant to let Peter go. “Have your hearing dampeners?” 

          “Yes dad.” with about two thousand kids all in the same building there was no way Peter was going to school without them.

          “And your suit?”

          “ Yes dad, am I good? Can I go before I completely miss first period?” Peter laughed.

          “Yea yea, get out of here,” he watched as Peter climbed into the back of one of the less flashy cars in the garage. “Love you Tesoro.” 

          “Love you too dad.” Tony closed the door and watched as Happy drove off.

          Peter walked into the school with his head held high, schedule in hand. (Despite his fathers best attempts) Peter actually showed up about five minutes before the bell and that was just enough time to map out where his classes were. 

          This semester Peter had AP US History, Robotics, AP Biology, and Phys Ed, he had just found the robotics room and was about to go find the gym when he heard something in the next hall. 

          “Hey, fatso, where you going?” Peter rounded the corner to see a kid being surrounded by three others, the leader had him pinned against the lockers. Peter didn’t hesitate.

          “Hey dude!” he said cheerily as he rounded the corner “I’ve been looking for you, did you find Mr. Herrington yet? I need to get these papers handed in.” Peter knew full well that Mr. Herrington was in his classroom* and was a risk-free alibi at the moment. 

*Peter heard Dr.Banner mention him from time to time and so he wanted to say hi.

          The Leaders confusion had him loosening his grip on the kid's shirt enough that he could escape and rush towards Peter. “Yeah man!” he said wrapping his arm around Peter and leading him towards the science hall. He lowered his voice “thanks for that, you’re new here aren’t you?” 

          “How could you tell?”

          “Cause anyone who’s met Flash before tends to just stay out of his way. You’re the only one who’s ever tried to intervene.” 

          “Well, as long as I’m around you’ll never have to deal with flash again. I’m Peter” he held out his hand.

          “Ned” they shook. “So uh, you like star wars?” 

          “More of a Trekkie myself, but I can appreciate a good sci-fi movie.” it was at that moment the bell rang, signalling the beginning of the school day. “I have APUSH first, what about you?” 

          Ned’s face fell a little, “English, but I have Robotics second, you?”

          They agreed to sit with each other in second period. Giving each other a fist bump as a way of goodbye. 

          First period went by fairly quickly, the teacher understood that no one really works well on the first day anyway just gave a rundown of the year and exam then let everyone talk amongst themselves. 

          Second period was also pretty chill, the robotics teacher let them sit wherever so Peter ended up sitting with Ned. He gave his course overview and backstory before letting them talk, it turns out that Ned also has an affinity for legos.

          Soon enough the bell rang signalling the beginning of lunch* Ned invited him to sit at ‘his’ table** with his kinda-friend Michelle -my-friends-call-me-MJ Jones. 

*Okay two things here, first my school is really small (I’m talking less than 400 kids) so I have no idea how traditional schools work, in my case its first two classes -> a two-part lunch where the first part is a (mostly) optional study hall-> last two classes, so that's how I’m gonna write it. Two, why does school lunch always happen at like 11:00? (no joke my second period gets out at like 10:40) It’s not even lunch at that point it’s Brunch.

**Let's be real, everyone has a self-assigned seat in the cafeteria.

          When they sat down Michelle had her nose buried in a book, ignoring her lunch. “Hey MJ! This is Peter, he saved me from Flash this morning.” Ned said excitedly as they sat down. 

          “what ‘s your view on clean energy?” she asked, not looking up.

          Peter glanced at Ned, who had an exasperated look on his face. “I think the technology is there ready for use but most companies care more about their bottom line than preserving the planet. why?.” 

          “How do you feel about female CEOs and political figures?” 

          “It shouldn't matter. No! Uh, what I meant is that a person’s sex or gender shouldn’t matter when being considered for a position,” he shoved a few fries in his mouth to prevent himself from saying anything stupid.*

*He got Cho to sign off on medical papers giving him permission to eat in class due to ‘low blood sugar’ so he’s good just eating a normal school lunch right now.

          She nodded her approval “call me MJ” she turned back to her book, ending the conversation. 

          From that day on the three of them became inseparable, sitting with each other in shared classes and at lunch, and it turns out that both of them are on the AcaDec team so they saw each other then too. It felt right, to have friends like them. He slotted so effortlessly into their little group that it’s almost hard to remember a time where he didn't know them. 

          Not that high school was a breeze, standardized tests were a pain and doing meaningless busy work for concepts he learned years ago was beyond frustrating. And there was Flash. After helping Ned that first day he’d taken it upon himself to be Peter’s personal tormenter. And honestly? Peter was chill with that. He was Spiderman, he could handle a few taunts and harmless shoves; and hey, if that meant Ned didn’t have to deal with then he would gladly take on that annoyance. 

          About two months into the semester was the first time being Spiderman had intervened with school. It was a particularly bad patrol the night before and the bruises still haven't healed.* Normally Peter got to the locker room early so he could snag a stall to change in, both to hide any bruises and so no one would see him flinch from all the noise while he changed undershirts.** But today it seemed luck was against him. Both stalls were out of operation due to clogged pipes, so both stalls had been tapped off, leaving Peter to change in the open.

*His dad was pissed and Peter had to stop him from killing the group of muggers. Luckily nothing was really broken, but his healing factor was too busy dealing with his kinda exoskeleton being fractured around his torso and his slightly dislocated wrist, so the surface cuts and bruises still haven't healed.

**If you’ve ever been in a locker room you’ll know how echoey it gets in there.

Flash POV

          Time to see what Parker is hiding. You see, Peter Parker was an enigma, he shows up out of nowhere ‘homeschooled’ up to this point, fine, whatever. But somehow he’s at the top of all his classes two of which he shares with Flash. Not only that, every day he’s picked up and dropped off by the same car and the driver is always out of sight. On top of that he’s always eating in class but always looks a sandwich away from death.* And for some reason he always changed in the stall. Flash had no way of solving the other mysteries, but this one was something he could figure out.

*Peter would eat more if he didn’t think it’d look weird, just cause he can eat in class scot-free doesn't mean he likes the attention of doing so.

          Flash had set it all up, he had his people get the stalls closed and waited behind the lockers for Parker to arrive. As per usual he showed up first, probably to avoid everyone else, the look on his face when he saw the taped-off doors was priceless. He turned to start unloading his things into his locker as everyone else poured in. Flash changed into his own gym clothes while he waited for everyone else to leave. When it was just him and Parker left in the room he waited till he heard the shuffling of fabric to pear around the corner. 

          Flash saw red. 

          He didn’t like Peter, they weren’t friends, probably never would be. But no one deserves that. Parker's back was to him but that didn't stop Flash from seeing the huge bruise on his side, as well as the laceration that had been messily* stitched up on his low back. 

* Cho had stitched him up best she could but with his healing exoskeleton and skin that healed quicker (and was also his ears kinda) it was hard to be neat about it

          “Parker,” he said voice strained, “who the hell did that to you?”

          Peter had turned around undershirt half on, and Flash could see a few more cuts and bruises around his torso. “F-Flash?!”

          “Who. did. This.” he asked again, steel in his eyes. 

          “No one! I was, uh, skateboarding and fell,”

          “Bullshit, why would you need stitches?” 

          “Cause there was glass on the ground, geez, calm down”, he finished getting changed and shoved his things into his locker. 

          “Par- Peter,” he said, grabbing his shoulder as he tried to walk by. “We aren’t friends. But if you ever need to get away, I can make it happen; no questions asked.” he dropped his hand from Peter’s shoulder before watching him walk away.

Chapter Text

Monday

           “We aren’t friends. But if you ever need to get away, I can make it happen; no questions asked.”  those words sparked a new, softer relationship between the two. Peter wasn’t naive, he knew what Flash thought, but he wasn’t going to correct him, because Peter wasn’t the only one being affected by this new sudden change. Flash was right, they weren't friends, but he’d become… kinder in the past few days. He wasn’t shoving people, barely any whispered words behind anyone's backs, hell, he was even starting to help people with classwork when he was feeling particularly warm. It was a welcome (if a little awkward at first) change of pace.

          Again it wasn’t like they hung out or anything, but with sharing two classes and AcaDec they saw each other often.

          Peter had to stay late in his last period to convince coach that he didn’t need any sort of training.* Point is, he got to AcaDec practice a minute late but apparently that minute was enough because when he walked in there was an obvious excited energy in the air.

*Despite Peter’s physical abilities he tends to act weak in class to keep a low profile, turns out he’s been acting a little too weak though because coach said he’s below average for someone of his build.

          “Sorry I’m late, what’d I miss?” He slung his bag down next to his usual seat beside Ned. 

          “Dude! we’re going on a field trip!” Ned practically shouted. 

          “As I was just saying,” Mr.Herrigton said pointedly. “The location is going to be a surprise, but you’ll all need to sign NDA’s and you’re parents will need to sign them too if you’re a minor. We’ll be leaving on Friday when the first bell rings and we’ll be staying there all day, you’ll be getting an allowance to spend how you like in the cafeteria but you’re welcome to bring you’re own money if you plan on ordering a feast. The place we’re visiting has very tight security so you’ll be needing to submit a form so they can issue you an ID badge, you can submit a selfie if you want or they’ll be using your yearbook photo.” as he talked he handed out the correct forms. “I need these all back by Wednesday at the latest, Preferably by tomorrow, I’ve already emailed your guardians* so they know you have paperwork to fill out. Trust me you won’t want to miss this trip, it’s a phenomenal opportunity.” with that he let them do ‘independent studies’ code for ‘I know you’re not gonna be working today but at least pretend you are and we’ll be all good.' 

*Tony created an email that shared between him, May, Pepper, and Happy that the school thinks belongs to May so everyone is up-to-date on any peter/school-related news

          “Peter,” Mr. Herrngton called out just as practice ended. “Can I talk to you a second?” 

          He gave Ned a fistbump with the promise to meet up tomorrow before walking back to the teacher. ”what’s up?”

          “I want to talk about your attendance, you’ve missed a lot of Practices* this semester and I almost wasn’t allowed to get you on the trip. I worked my magic and you can still go, but Peter, you need to get on top of this okay? It might slide if you were an alternate but you’re a main competitor, we need to be able to count on you. Alright?” Peter nodded. “Alright then, see you on Wednesday.” 

*Once Peter started school Tony made him promise that Spiderman wouldn’t affect his grades, and it doesn’t, but sometimes Karen gives him an alert right as school lets out and he can’t in good conscience just not help

          Hey tessero, how was school?” Tony asked once Peter deposited his bag in his room. 

          “Good, I have some field trip papers that need to be signed,”

          “Where to?” Tony started grabbing supplies for Peter’s afternoon ‘snack’.

          “No idea, It’s just for AcaDec though, and we have to sign NDA’s. Probably some tour of a museum archive of something.” 

          “Well, we can have Pepper sign those later, for now, eat up” He passed peter his two sandwiches “Cap’s making dinner by the way, I think it’s lasagna.”

          “Oh yes! Cap’s Lasagna is the best!”

          Tony scoffed in mock offence “I’m right here kid.”

Wednesday

          “Peter, It’s time to get up” Karen called from the speakers. 

          He roused from his position in his nest, turning to look out the windows.* The sun had barely risen but such is life for someone in high school. 

*He would sleep in his bed if being in his nest wasn’t quieter (apparently spiderwebs are sound absorbent… who knew?)

          A quick changing of clothes and brushing of teeth led him to the kitchen for breakfast where a bleary-eyed Tony was fetching a cup of coffee.* “Tessoro?” he asked sleepily “what are you doing up so late?"

*The coffee maker in the lab broke after Dum-E tried to make coffee with motor oil and it has yet to be replaced.

          “Early dad, it’s six-thirty. And didn’t Pepper say you have a meeting today?*

*Pepper moved out a while ago(something about ‘seeing sunshine more than once a week), but she still visits the penthouse often enough.

          His father’s groan was the ambiance for peter to grab his breakfast. 

          After that, he’d gotten into the car with Happy and left for another riveting day of high school. 

          Tldr: class was boring, he has to write an easy on Friday, Flash was awkward as usual, and Ned apparently has a new Lego set that he’s invited to help build.

          Once class is over he’s picked up by Happy and is taken back home to quickly do his homework before heading down to the intern labs to see what he can help out with.*

*Peter aspires to be the boss that knows everyone’s name so he tries to spend at least an hour every day down in the intern labs (mostly R&D but can you blame him?) just helping out or chatting with people.

          Once he felt satisfied with how everyone was doing, he headed back upstairs to find Loki and see how they were fairing. 

          They hung out for a bit, watching tv and whatnot before Peter saw what time it was and headed to the lab. He wanted to do some more experimenting with his web fluid before aunt Nat called him for training.*
*He’s done with his two weeks and now was on a schedule of three days a week for strength (control) training and hardcore sparing.

          Training went about as well as it always does, aunt Nat had him work out (cardio sucks) then they spared and he actually got close to pinning her that time!

          When five-thirty rolled around they were both showered, dressed, and ready for dinner. His dad was making Tagliatelle al Ragù. 

          After everyone was fed, they agreed to watch a movie. There were two places to watch, in the living room (which could comfortably seat about six people) or the movie room (which could hold up to twelve people. Because this was a day when everyone was here, they chose the movie room. 

          They binged Indiana Jones till about ten o’clock before they decided it was time for bed. 

          Peter had other plans though because once the streets of New York get dark that’s when he dons his suit.

          Patroling had become the best part of his day. He didn’t have to be Peter Stark or Peter Parker, he could just be Spiderman. Swinging through the air and letting the wind whip past his body, forget flying, this is better. 

          After he was alerted of an armed person shooting up a nearby liquor store he swung into action. 

          He ran into the building, and holy shit was it overwhelming, the smell of alcohol was heavy and thick in the air, Peter could spot a few smashed boddles on the ground. He peered around the shelf he was behind to get a look at the assailant. 

          He was wearing a ski mask but he held a gun in one hand that was being pointed at the shop keepers head as he filled up a bag with money. 

          “Y’know if you wanted a refund there are better ways to ask,” the man turned around and the instant Peter had a clear shot he thwipped a web and yanked away the man’s gun. 

          The following fight was quick and-- kinda pathetic? The guy was clearly drunk if the state of his breath was anything to go by. So barely five minutes later Peter was tying him up and waiting for the cops to show. 

          “Spiderman, I can’t thank you enough. Please, pick anything you like, on the house!” 

          “Uh, no thanks.” quick give him a reason “Uh, I’m pregnant.” 

          His face turned to pure shock. “Oh, um, congratulations. Is it a boy or a girl?” 

           Really Peter? Pregnant?! What’s wrong with you “uh, spider! uh, bye!” he’s never gonna live that down. 

Chapter Text

           Peter was staring into MJ’s eyes, she was talking but it was kind of muffled. They were sitting in a cafe, but it was also his lab. Peter’s gaze flickered around her face, taking in her cool composure before noticing a smudge of chocolate at the corner of her mouth. (nevermind the fact that they were eating pizza) Peter had an impulse thought, wondering what it would be like to kiss her.

          The scene shifted and they were on a dance floor, soft music in the background that Peter couldn’t place. As they swayed they came closer, the lights in the room dimmed and a spotlight came to rest on the pair; Peter dimly noted that the music had changed from soft and classical to something more bold but he couldn’t bring himself to notice. He leaned in, an unusual confidence guiding his actions. They were close enough that their breaths were mingling, and just as their lips were about to brush he was assaulted by an onslaught of AC/DC.

          Peter groaned and rolled over to his other side as his alarm rouse him to consciousness. “F’ve more minu’s” he grumbled. 

          “Peter” Karen began “if you don't wake up in the next two minutes you’ll be late for your field trip.”

          The subsequent spike of adrenaline was enough to get Peter through a rushed morning routine, he ended up needing to scarf down a protein bar* rather than eat breakfast but that was fine.

*Now that Peter was eating them too he was able to put in flavour requests, Steve didn’t like overly sweet things so he usually asked for them in fruit flavours.

          Usually Happy drove him to school but he was visiting his mother for her birthday so Steve said he could. The thing about that though, is that Steve drives a motorcycle…. And his dad can’t stand it. It’s hilarious.*

*For those wondering, Steve’s helmet visor is tinted so no one knows who he is when he drops Peter off

          Riding with Steve was the closest he could get (out of costume) to swinging. The adrenaline, the wind whipping past his hair, the constant fear of losing his bag even though he knows it’s not gonna fly off but it still bothers him.*  regardless, they arrived at school with just enough time to avoid Mr. Herrington’s disapproving ‘late stare’.

*

           He ran towards the bus, barely remembering to thank Steve for the ride, quickly finding Ned towards the middle and sat next to him.

          “Are you excited? This is gonna be so fun!” 

          “Hell yeah, where do you think we’re going?” 

          “Probably a science company,” MJ said from the seat adjacent. Peter only then remembered his dream, his eyes flickered to her lips subconsciously. What am I thinking? I don’t like like MJ… do I?

          The bus pulled out of the school parking lot and headed towards the mystery location; everyone content to talk amongst themselves for the time being. 

          “Alright listen up everyone!” Mr.Herrington called out. “We still have a little ways to go but I just wanted to remind everyone that you’re going to be representing Midtown today, so I insist that you be on your best behaviour. Please remember to be respectful to the tour guide and any other personnel we run into. I’m sure they’ll run us through the rules again once we’re there so I won’t bore you.” he clapped his hands together. “Now then! I think I’ve kept you in suspense long enough, the location of the field trip iiiiiss” he tapped his fingers on the back of his seat for dramatic effect, “Stark Tower!”

          Panic; verb: feel or cause to feel panic.

          Peter was panicking. His first instinct was to call his dad, but not only would he not be able to help, but talking to him would involve Ned and MJ (and pretty much everyone else on the bus {there were only twelve of them afterall}) to hear his half the conversation. So that was off the table. And besides, they had gotten pretty comfortable with the ‘intern’ backstory so Peter knows that if his dad found out he wouldn’t hesitate to embarrass him. The worst part was that Pepper was currently in Hong Kong so she wouldn’t be there to talk him out of it.

          Ned didn’t notice his panic and was currently talking his ear off about getting to see the labs. 

          It only took a few more minutes for the bus to arrive at the tower, as everyone shuffled off Peter pretended to be just as awe-struck as his classmates.* Mr.Herrington did one last headcount before they walked in.

*Living with a combination of Loki, Natasha, Clint, and Bucky has taught him that you should never let your emotions blow your cover.

          The lobby was wide and spacious, tiled floor with welcoming couches posed off to the side, along the wall to their left containing reception, and dead ahead was security. Similar to the airport there were metal detectors and a bag inspection, but that was just for visitors, employees only needed to go through the scanner, and people who lived here could come in through the back entrance. Beyond security were the elevators, the two for general use, and one that was for residents and avengers that could only be opened with a biometric scan.*

*It was mostly for Tony’s benefit because he hated waiting for the normal elevators, plus, it was three times as fast in terms of travel speed.

          Mr. Herrington deposited them by the couch (leaving MJ in charge cause he’s not an idiot) and made his way to reception to check-in. 

          “Alright, we have a minute before the tour guide gets here.” Mr. Harrington said with an armful of lanyards. “I’m sure they’ll go over the rules again once they’re here but for now, Betty?” he started passing out badges. 

          “Midtown?” a familiar voice asked. Oh no. Peter thought, this just got worse.

          “Oh yes! And you are?” Mr. Harrington asked, still holding a few badges.

          “My name is Manahil, I’ll be your tour guide for today, does everyone have their badge?” The last few were passed out, but unfortunately in this context, Ned was a terrific friend.

          “Um, miss? Peter didn’t get his?” 

          Her eyes quickly found him in the small crowd, and it was clear that she was at a loss for what to say. 

          “It’s alright” he began, hoping to come off as confident, “I’ve been here before with, aunt May once to look at the Avengers museum so the system probably just assumed I still had it.” 

          “Oh, well then, if you don’t have it with you we can get one printed real quick..” Manahil led him over to reception. 

          “Hey Martin,” Manahil said with a smile. “can you do me a favour and print out a visitor badge for Peter here?”

          Martin's eyes widened as he saw exactly who was in front of him. “U-uh, yeah no problem, but I’ll need a photo.” Luckily Karen is the best and uploaded a picture to the file before Martin could even finish their sentence. “Or uh, not.” he typed a few things and grabbed a lanyard for the freshly printed badge. “There you go Kid.” 

          Peter and Manahil rejoined the group. 

          “Crisis averted,” she said. “So each one of those badges is programmed with the information you sent in, so make sure they're visible at all times or else the system will assume you’re not supposed to be here. Now, these won’t work after today, so you can keep them as a souvenir, but you won’t be allowed back in unless you get them reactivated.”

          “Why not reuse the badges? I thought SI was supposed to be environmentally friendly, printing a new temporary badge for every person without recycling them seems like a waste of plastic.” MJ said in her iconic intonation.

          “Well we are, the badges aren’t made of traditional plastic, it's made of a special biodegradable material that was specifically engineered to decompose within thirty to forty years. It was originally created for the StarkPhone, but when we went green we started finding other uses for it.”

          “Now, there are five departments, each separated by colour,” she gestured to her own red badge “Finances are orange, Legal is cyan, tech: green, R&D: red, and Medical is navy blue. Each department has four levels: Interns, both part and full time, employees, and department heads. You’ll notice on your tour that there’s no outward differences between the levels, that's because here at SI we’re all about equal opportunity. We don’t want anyone’s position to get in the way of their ideas being heard. With that being said I would like to remind you we have a strict no-bullying policy, you will receive one warning before you are removed from the building.”

          “What about them?” Betty asked, gesturing to the secretaries at the front desk who wore a purple badge.

          “Oh, well there are also badges for people who don’t necessarily have a department, like secretaries, who are purple, Cafeteria workers who are yellow, and Press are neon pink. People with those badges can't get past level three without someone else. There's also the oddballs, security and janitors, they both give you supervised access to whatever floor they’re assigned to, It’s kinda ingenious but we do have a schedule to keep so I won’t be going into it.”

          “What badges do the Avengers have?” Flash called out.

          “Well, to be honest, I don’t know all the details. But I do know that there are both silver and gold badges, I’m not super sure what badge does what but only people with those can access the top thirteen floors of the tower.” she starts walking towards the security gates. “Put any and all belongings in the bins, then swipe your badge and step through the scanner. Friday, Stark’s AI will announce you so don’t be alarmed.”

          Jason happened to be first, he put his phone and wallet into the bin, then scanned his badge and stepped through the sensor. 

          “Jason Ionello, gold visitor, no prohibited items.”* The security guard handed back his things and gestured for the next person to walk through.

*Because there are two tours (public and NDA) there are two layers of visitor, red and gold.

          Peter wasn’t nervous. You’re nervous. Peter was completely calm while his teammates counted down to his potential embarrassment. Y’see here's the thing, Friday won't let one person have two badges, it’s a security risk. So when Peter scans his ‘badge’* Friday will actually be scanning his biometrics and greeting him as ‘resident of the tower’ Peter, not ‘just part of a tour group’ Peter; hence why he’s not nervous. 

*Which is just a piece of plastic with his name and photo on it.

          Eventually, it was just him and Manahil, he took a breath to steel himself, then placed his bag (which had his phone, wallet, a notebook, and an erasable pen) on the belt, swiped his card, and stepped through. 

          “Hello Peter you’re back early,” Friday said, drawing odd looks from his classmates and the guard.* "Boss left you a message “what kind of food are you thinking for dinner? May’s coming over so I’m thinking Tai? Also, can you stop in MedBay on your way up? Cho wanted to get some more samples, she’s almost done synthesizing that painkiller.” would you like me to tell him you’re here?”

*The guard was staring because he’d only ever see Peter come out of the restricted elevator and use the biometric security.

            “No! No that’s okay Fri, I’m here on a field trip.”

          “Of course, enjoy your trip Peter,” He hustled over to Ned who was gaping at him along with the rest of the class. 

          “Alrighty,” Manahil said with a clap after coming through herself, “now. you are allowed to have your phone on you during this tour but If Friday catches you taking photos or recording anything without explicit permission it will be confiscated and you will be liable for breaking your NDA. are we clear?” everyone nodded. “Alright, our first stop is the Avengers museum.”

          When they all shuffled into the elevator, Manahil pressed the button for floor two, this is gonna be a long day Peter thought.

Chapter Text

          Peter could feel the stares of everyone in the elevator. Ned kept shifting his gaze away from him, Mr.Herrington was obviously stunned, not trying to hide his shock; in fact, the only three who weren’t acting shocked were Manahil (duh) MJ (also duh) and Flash, who was looking deeper in thought than anything else. 

          The doors opened (not quickly enough) and Manahil began leading them through a halfway explanation along the way. “So we're on our way to the history of SI exhibits, feel free to take pictures here, after this, you can explore the avengers museum on your own.”

          Peter listened half-heartedly to the explanation of how his grandfather brought the company into the limelight and how it was handed over to Tony who changed it for the better. It was his family history, you think he hasn't come down here a hundred times already to learn about his grandparents?* Peter tuned back in to hear about how Pepper had changed the company, I mean, he lived through it so he never really bothered to look at that section.

*When he was young, Tony would talk about his mother, only small memories though, on occasion he would mention ‘my dad used to do __ but I don't want to be like him so __’ the only time he’d talk en length about them would be late at night during a heavy conversation.

          “Alright, feel free to walk around the Avengers section at your own pace. You have fifteen minutes before we move on to tour the marketing department.” Once she finished talking everyone dispersed. (thankfully it seemed most people forgot about Friday’s greeting when presented with the displays.

          Ned dragged him to the Spiderman display first, a replica of his suit (made of spandex because no way in Hel* is Peter making another one of those when it’s just gonna sit in a glass case.) as well as a vague description of his abilities (fast reflexes, strength, wall-crawling, web-slinging) and a plaque that read:

*Norse underworld

Spider-man, originating in Manhattan, has dedicated his life to helping the little guys. Whether it be helping an elderly cross the street or stopping a mugging, he’s always there to help anyone in need. He is considered an Avenger in everything but name, refusing the title so he could continue to protect the average citizen. His strong moral code makes him the epitome of everything the Avengers stand for, and we couldn’t be proude r.*

*Fun fact, this is the same thing I wrote in my first field trip fic because I’m lazy :)

          “Yo Peter, did you know that Spiderman once took down the Hulk by telling him a knock-knock joke?” Peter subtly wiped the wetness from his eyes as he turned to see what Ned was pointing at. 

          There was a list of fun facts besides the description of his powers.

1. Spiderman once calmed down the Hulk by telling him a knock-knock joke.*
2. Spiderman is the only one who knows the formulae for his web fluid.
3. If put in a room with no doors, Spiderman wouldn’t be able to tell which one was the floor (though he’d figure it out pretty quick) 
4. He’s a Trekkie 
5. His favourite superhero is Batman**

* Throwback to comic book spidy!!

**His dad had asked him (not super casually) who his favourite was. In an attempt not to hurt his feelings (it’s Nat) he said Batman.

          “Wonder what it was?” Peter said, knowing full well that Bruce just got pissed at Clint for scaring him from the vents (causing him to ruin a delicate experiment that he’d been working on for a month and was almost done) and he’d heard it from his lab. When he came down he’d seen Clint in the grasp of a very unhappy Hulk.

           “Hey Hulk. remember me?” he asked, trying to be calm.

           “Bug man! Bird scare Hulk!” he tightened his grip on Clint’s shirt.

           “Well that wasn’t nice,” he jumped onto a nearby counter to sit “but I’m sure he’d apologize if you put him down,” Peter said as casually as possible.

           Hulk seemed to consider this, then gently set Clint down on the floor.

           “Sorry big guy,” Clint said sheepishly, “I just wanted to surprise you, I didn’t mean to ruin your project.” Hulk nodded and Clint said a quick goodbye before scurrying out the vents. 

           “You know what always cheers me up? A good joke, knock knock?”

           Hulk just grumbled, poking at a broken beaker on the floor. 

           “I’ll take that as ‘who’s there'”

           He chuckled softly, then quickly faded back to Bruce. “A knock-knock joke?” he murmured from his place hunched over on the floor. 

           “Yea I got a ton of ‘em,” Peter hefted Bruce up and carried him over to the futon that rested in the corner “let’s get you some sleep” 

          Speaking of Clint, once they’d migrated to the Iron man exhibit Peter saw him (not in uniform, thank The Norns) standing a few exhibits over, shooting looks toward Peter. When Clint caught his eye he walked over. 

          [Nat was people watching when you came in. She asked me to keep an eye on you.] 

          Peter glanced at Ned (who was oblivious to what was being said but was a little concerned that a random adult was ‘talking’ to them) [please don’t tell my dad, I just want this to be a normal field trip].*

*With Peter Parker? Un-fucking-likely … I’m sorry

          He gave a sly smirk [no promises] he then ruffled Peter’s hair before walking off. 

          “Uhh, who was that?” Ned asked.

          “He was uhh, a friend of aunt May, he comes over for dinner sometimes.”*

*The best lies are half-truths, Loki always told him, and Clint did technically live with his family and not at the tower.

          “Okay everyone” Manahil called out, “five more minutes before we regroup.” 

          They started (or at least Ned did) speed reading as many different plaques as he could before Manahil called time.

          “Alright!” she called “back to the elevators and on to our marketing department!” everyone shuffled back to the lifts, (not super excited for marketing, but willing to stay optimistic for the labs that were to come.)

Chapter Text

          The elevator ride up to level ten was mostly silent, it only took a minute before the doors were open again. 

          “Alright, and this is the marketing team, these guys are responsible for finding new and creative ways to get people interested in Stark technology.” They were led over to a young man wearing a loud magenta shirt who smiled warmly at them.

          “Midtown right?” he asked rhetorically, “My name is Thomas, and these guys are the unseen heroes of SI.” 

          They walked around for a minute, Thomas gesturing towards different areas along the way, it was fairly standard and uneventful-- until”

          “Kid!” a familiar voice called out. 

          Peter turned and saw Alex Henderson rushing up to him, out of breath and papers in hand. “Uh, hey Alex.” Peter said, hyper-aware of all the eyes on him.” 

          “I can’t find ms. Potts anywhere, I thought she might’ve been walking around up here, but I was supposed to get these to her yesterday, and I’m pretty sure you don’t technically work here but you’re magic and I need a miracle so do you know where she is?” he held out the papers in question. Peter recognized them; they were release forms for the models of Stark tech gadgets. The thing was, Pepper had roped him into coming to more business etc things* so he knew these papers weren’t necessary til next week at least.

*And by proxy his dad because he’s “your intern not mine, I can’t just show up with your intern” 

          “Um, Alex, when was the last time you slept?”

          “What? Not important, can you just tell me where she is?” 

          Peter didn’t really want to pull this card, but they were in a hallway and the only people who would see were his classmates. “Fri? When was the last time Alex took a break?” 

          “It has been two point six days since Alexander Henderson took a break while on the premises, sans the requisite meal.” 

          Peter sighed, his dad said he has uncle Steve’s sigh, the kind of sigh that made people want to fix whatever it is they did. “Initiate ‘your actions have consequence'* protocol and can you alert Jack Lawrence up in the bio labs?”

* This was designed by Peter after one of his dad’s three-day lab binge. All residents and lab heads can initiate it, it prohibits access to any electronic device (not including the elevators or cell phones) essentially forcing the person to take a break.

          “Certainly mini-boss.”

          “C’mon Kid, I’ll take a break when-”

          “You’re right, you will take a break, right now. So go meet Jack on thirty-seven before I have to call A- Pepper and give you a mandatory vacation.” Alex sighed and left to put the papers away before presumably going up to the lunchroom.

.

.

.

          “Uh, Peter?” Ned asked. “What the fuck?” Mr.Herrington was too stunned to chide him. 

          “Umm, I- I uh.” he glanced at Manahil for help. 

          “Well that was, eventful,” Manahil tried, “but now I think it best if we continue with the tour.” 

          Thomas cleared his throat, “right well, we’re coming up to the advertising department, these guys specifically are working on new ways to advertise the stark phone.” he gestured into the meeting room, a few people typing, a few writing on whiteboards, some sitting on the table. They all seemed to be working productively though. 

          Betty raised her hand. Thomas called on her. “Is The Photographer in there?”*

*Since no one knows who takes the pictures for the SI phone’s insta, everyone just refers to them as the photographer.

          “No, I think they’re working on more classic ads, like youtube midroll ads. The Photographer is their own entity, we don’t really know who they are, but sometimes these guys send them requests via Friday. As far as I know only Dr. Stark himself knows who they are.” 

          The rest of the marketing department passes relatively painlessly. (Peter doesn't really come down here too often so no one really recognizes him in the group). 

          “Alright, thank you Thomas,” Manahil says as their time winds to a close. “Now back to the elevators to see the Bio labs.” they all shuffled towards the elevators (after the cursory awkward group goodbye to Thomas) 

          “Welcome to Bio lab twelve!”* said a cheery woman after everyone entered. 

*He did actually come down here often, but it was because of that, that these guys knew he really didn’t like attention. He pulled a few weird looks on the way in but no one had said anything.

          The lab was large, with what looked like several different experiments going on simultaneously. “My name is Brianna and this lab is where we run tests and simulations for different methods of production, and their impact on the environment.” While talking, she led them over to a table where the scientist was running a model that showed the effects of aerosolized pollution in a forest ecosystem. 

          While the scientist (Finn? Flin?) was explaining the importance of the data being collected, Peter was listening to one of the resident spiders of the lab singing.* Peter thought it was Jeffery, but they sounded a little closer than normal. (Peter has also memorized where all the ‘spider corners’ are in every lab.) so it was almost no surprise when he heard one of his classmates whisper-shout:

*Another rule that SI employees quickly adapted was to never hurt spiders. If you see one who’s not supposed to be there then they can be safely extracted via a cup and piece of paper. (Peter has explained to all the spiders he meets that they can stay in the tower as long as they want, but they can’t try to bite anyone or mess with any experiments) most labs now have a dedicated ‘spider corner’ to deposit wandering arachnids and new interns or employees are warned about the ‘no spider death’ policy beforehand.

          “Spider!” he turned to look (as had a few other classmates) “oh my god, Abe, kill it!” they pulled Abe between them and the spider. A few of the employees nearby saw what was happening, but before they could even shout ‘no’ Abe had stepped on the spider. 

          Everyone in the lab went still, even his classmates, especially Abe, though they were clueless, they could tell someone (Abe) had just fucked up, every single person in the lab was holding their breath; tension so thick you could cut it with a knife. Everyone’s eyes were flickering back and forth between Peter and Ab’s shoe. Peter didn’t notice. 

          He took a step forward, then another, dragging his feet towards Jefferey’s corps. Abe took a frightened step back when Peter approached. Peter didn't know what expression his face was making, but all he felt was a mixture of sorrow, grief, and cold rage. The other spiders had also fallen silent, not a peep was heard as Peter knelt down by the smudge on the floor, reverently touching the remains. 

          His eyes started to water, he quickly retreated to the hallway, bolting to the bathroom, his 'image' could go to Hel, he just watched a friend get killed.*

*He considered all the spiders his friends, but he isn’t super close with all of them, only the ones he named personally (the ones he named had gone around giving the other spiders names and Peter was happy to start that trend)

Flash p.o.v.

          As Parker left the tension in the room got impossibly thicker, all the workers turned an angry gaze towards Abe. “I’m gonna go check on Peter,” Flash said before anyone else could. The mystery of Peter Parker was getting more complex the longer they were here and Flash just wanted to know what the hell was going on. 

          He ignored the protests of Mr. Herrington as he walked into the hallways and started in the direction of where Peter went. Along the path, he came across the bathroom and figured it was a likely place to sulk. 

          He knocked on the bathroom door before walking in, “Peter?” he asked. Looking in the room, it appeared empty, but the quiet sobs coming from the handicap stall suggested otherwise. He walked over and sat down against the door. “I’m gonna be honest here, I have no clue what to make of you.” the sobs became sniffles as Peter tried to listen. “I mean, first there was the whole badge thing, SI is super-advanced,  no way they wouldn’t have told you to bring your badge ahead of time. Then the AI, what’s her name? Friday? Then Friday talks to you like you come here every day, and not to mention that guy from marketing. It’s almost like everyone here knows who you are.” 

          “He’s on the legal team actually,” Peter croaked. 

          “Well, my point stands. You, Parker, are weird.”

          “Flash…. I know we aren’t friends but I’m having a bad day so can I-- can I have a hug?” 

          “Uh, sure,” he shuffled up and opened the door. Peter had tear streaks along his face, his head was hung low as he surged forward to wrap his arms around Flash. 

          “Thanks,” he mumbled. 

          “No problem,” he wrapped his arms around Peter. 

          “Well,” Peter said, clearing his throat and stepping away. “We’d better get back to the group. 

          “Yea,” I think that was the weirdest hug I’ve ever had.

Chapter Text

          Walking back into bio lab twelve was-- awkward, to say the least. One brave soul asked if he was okay; when Peter nodded the tension leaked out of the room. As everyone returned to their tasks Manahil said: “Well, I think Flynn was just about to explain one of the many ways SI keeps its factories as pollutant-free as possible.”

          Throughout the presentation, his classmates kept shooting glances back at him, and Peter could tell Ned was just waiting to explode with questions; even MJ sent him curious looks. 

          By the time they wrapped up in that lab the team was bursting to ask questions, but the presence of Manahil and Mr. Herrington kept them at bay. It did, however, make the silence in the elevator heavy as they rode up to level thirty-five. 

          “This is one of the floors where SI explores the possible advancements in medical sciences.” Manahil began as she led them into a large open lab, the space was divided via desks and rolling whiteboards, along with the occasional couch. People seemed to be working in small groups, sporadically calling across the room to get help with their project. 

          Peter was hoping that at least this floor would go smoothly, he kept his fingers crossed as they started towards a specific station. 

          The three employees stopped their conversation as they approached, “welcome! My name is Lizzy and this is Jet and Stone and we’re going to be showing you guys what we're working on.” The presentation was pretty fun, the three of them asking questions to see what their knowledge was on the subject and asking how they would’ve handled the problem.

          They were so close. fifteen more minutes and they would’ve been done with this floor. But alas, it was not to be. 

          Peter felt a tap on his shoulder, and before he could even turn around Ned was half shouting “Oh my god! It’s Sargent Barns!” which prompted everyone else in the group to turn around with similar proclamations of excitement. 

          Bucky looked a little uncomfortable with all the shouting, but Manahil quieted them down fast enough. “I was just looking for Pete,” he explained to the class, as though that would get them to stop paying attention. He turned towards Peter ”Tony’s in a meeting and my arm is bothering me, can you take a look at it?” 

          Peter sighed, knowing he wasn’t going to be able to decline. He walked silently over to the nearest workbench (after asking if he could use it cause he’s not rude ) and grabbed the required tools as Bucky hopped onto the table. 

          It took about five minutes to identify the problem and another two to fix it. (During which his classmates swapped between staring at him in awe and asking Bucky questions.) There was an exposed wire rubbing against the elbow joint. 

          “Okay, un- Bucky when are you gonna tell D-Dr. Stark that he sucks at fixing your arm and that you prefer me to do it anyway? This is the third time after a tune-up that I’ve needed to give you a post-tune-up tune-up. It’d save everyone trouble if you just told him he’s not good at it.” his class went slack-jawed at the fact that he 1. Apparently worked on the sergeant Barne's arm often 2. Apparent knew and worked with Tony fucking Stark and 3. Claimed to be better than Tony Stark than fixing the arm. Peter was going to give his family so much shit after today. 

          He sighed and decided to bite the bullet now. “I can tell you guys are dying to ask so here's what I’m going to tell you, and this is covered by your NDA so keep that in mind. I intern for Dr. Stark through the September foundation, I work with him, and yes, the other Avengers when I help fix their gear. That’s why Friday knows me, and that’s why they won't stop interrupting the tour. I won’t disclose anything about their personal lives because they’re human beings who deserve privacy, and I won't tell you what I’m working on because I’m bound by an NDA. I will not be taking questions.” he finished closing up Bucky’s arm and watched in satisfaction as he moved around, testing the repair. 

          “это было очень хорошо сделано, я вижу, вы слушали Романова, - или это был Локи?” (That was very well done, I see you've been listening to Romanov,-- or was it Loki?)

          “Немного и того, и другого, тетя Нат учит меня сохранять спокойствие, а Локи говорит мне, как убедительно лгать.” (Bit of both, Aunt Nat teaches me how to keep calm and Loki tells me how to convincingly lie.) Bucky nods at that, a small smile on his lips. 

          “Я сделаю печенье позже, я попрошу Сэма принести вам, пока они все не ушли.” (I'm making cookies later, I'll have Sam bring you some before they're all gone.)

          “Я когда-нибудь говорил тебе, что ты моя любимая?” (I ever tell you that you're my favourite?) 

          Bucky laughed, “нет, ты можешь повторить это снова” (no, you might want to say it again.)

           Peter laughed, (his class was clueless to the whole conversation) Manahil cleared her throat. “Well it’s just about time for lunch, Mr.Barnes you’re welcome to join us, but the longer we’re here the less time you’ll have at lunch.” and just like that everyone was headed to the elevator (sans Bucky cause he had cookies to make). If there was one thing that could motivate any teenager, it was free food.

          The floors that contained the food courts also had recreational spaces for employees. This included break room setups with couches, TVs, and coffee machines, as well as things like ping pong tables and quiet nap rooms for people to crash in after a work binge. (SI was very lax when it came to the number of hours worked, as long as you were tuning in work when it was due and documenting everything that happened prior to an explosion, you were pretty much golden.) 

          Before they were set loose in the food court they were shown some of these spaces and told which ones they could go to if they finished their lunch early. They were then shown what table to sit at and finally let loose. “Alright everyone, you have a twenty dollar credit to spend wherever you’d like, if you have allergies be sure to let the worker know, and you can always go back for seconds or dessert so don’t try to buy it all at once.” 

          Once everyone dispersed Ned cornered him, “dude! Why didn’t you tell me you worked here!?” 

          “I wanted to Ned* but I signed an NDA, I wasn’t allowed to say anything” Ned seemed to be appeased by that. “Now come on, I gotta introduce you to Delmare!”**

*In fact, Peter had been tempted to tell Ned (and MJ) that he was Tony’s son. It sucked hiding it from everyone, it was only the inherent wish to keep everyone safe that kept him from doing so (that, and that Ned can’t really keep secrets)

**After Peter had gotten Tony one of Delamare's sandwiches, he agreed that they should put a location in the tower. (Delmare himself rotates between the shop and the tower)

          Conversations had, sandwiches bought, seats found. Peter was sitting next to Ned when MJ sat in front of him, the cafeteria tray holding gyros from the greek place by the elevators. “Hey losers.” 

          Peter's dream came crashing into the forefront of his mind. His eyes subconsciously flickered to her lips as his blood rushed to his cheeks.* “uh, hey MJ. you enjoying the tour?”

*Not that anyone could see, the photostatic veil covered any blushing (as well as any acne which he appreciated) they also didn’t get warm (one of the few perks of cold blood) so you might ask yourself, how peter knew he was blushing? He heard it… yes it’s just as annoying as it sounds.

          She nodded “you work here?”

          “Well, not here here, I work mostly with Dr.Stark in his lab so most people here have seen me but don't really know me.” he cleared his throat Norns I’m a mess “yes, I work here.”

          MJ smirked, “I’m writing a paper on the importance of women in places of capitalistic power, could you ask Ms. Potts a few questions for me the next time you see her?” 

          “Oh, are you sure? I mean, I could probably set up an interview with her if you really wanted.” 

          MJ looked genuinely shocked, and not MJ shocked, but normal person shocked, so Peter counted that as a win. “Uh, yeah-- that’d be great, thanks man.” note to self, ask Ms.Potts about an interview with MJ.

          Her gaze shifted to something behind Peter and when he turned around Sam was walking up to him holding a ziplock bag full of cookies. “Hey Pete, Bucky had me making deliveries.” he handed them over, they were white chocolate chip and macadamia nut. 

          “That was fast, he only went back up there like forty-five minutes ago.”

          “Yea he had dough leftover from last time. How he hid it from Clint is a mystery. Anyway, I’m off to visit my niece, good luck with the rest of today.” 

          “Dude! What is your life!” Ned exclaimed. Peter opened the bag of cookies and bit into one, letting Bucky’s unfairly good baking relax him for the time being. Halfway there Peter, what could go wrong?

Chapter Text

          The rest of lunch went fairly quickly, a few people went back for seconds, he shared his cookies with Ned and MJ (and they agreed they were supernaturally good) and they managed to do a ping pong tournament in the break room area. He tried his best not to use his reflexes but Ned isn’t super good at the game so they balanced out to be on the better side of mediocre. 

          The fun came to an end when Manahil called time and hearded them towards the elevators. 

          “I think you guys are really going to like this next section. We’re on our way to the R&D labs where you’re going to have a chance to create something and possibly, if it has potential, get it patented with the help of SI.” Exited chattering filled the elevator for the rest of the trip to the lab. The adults on the tour let them talk, the eager energy contagious within the group. 

          The lab they walked into was similar in design to the medical labs. The only real difference was the isolated rooms that lined the walls (these were used for things that might explode and/or required temperature/climate control.) 

          “Hey midtown,” the person said, Peter recognized them as Peggy, “we have a fun challenge for you guys, you’ll have an hour to build just about anything you want!”

          The person next to her chimed in “try not to make anything that’ll explode.” he said with a smile on his face. “We’ll give you a quick lesson on lab safety and what you can and can’t use in here, then we’ll let you invent or innovate to your heart's content.” 

          Turns out SI was very trusting of a bunch of teenagers, they were allowed to use any supplies on the designated table, and a handful of tools that required supervision for (welder, 3D printer etc.) they were then asked to get into six groups of four and directed to workstations to begin.

          Peter ended up with MJ, Ned, and Betty in his group. He decided he would let them have most of the fun, (if he had any steller inventing ideas he’d write them down and do it later) that’s not to say he wouldn’t help, he would. He just didn’t want to take away from the excitement. 

          In the end, they seemed to want to build a simple recon drone that could help locate civilians in the event of a collapsed building or fire. Ned and Betty got to work programming* while Peter and MJ started on construction.

*I couldn’t for the life of me find anything that talked about betty’s forte in science so I settled on tech because Ned/Betty and also she was a news anchor and that requires some understanding of how cameras work and shit-- idk

          They were about halfway through the building process when someone walked into the lab and caught Peter's attention. “Excuse me a sec,” he said half-heartedly to his group as he walked over to a teary-eyed Loki. 

          When they spotted him they simply said “six” Peter opened his arms in silent invitation and Loki fell into them gratefully.

          Once Peter heard their heartbeat level out he waited a few moments before giving a reassuring squeeze and pulling back to look at their face, keeping his hands resting on their shoulders. “Distraction or discussion?” Loki’s eyes flickered behind Peter, no doubt seeing the other teenagers and connecting the dots. “Don’t worry about them, I can slip away if I need to-- do I need to?” 

          “I was relaxing on the common floor, reading. A shield agent walked in and-- she-- I tried to tell her to--” 

          “Hey, it’s alright” he pulled them into another hug “take your time.” 

          They took an unsteady breath. “They refused to address me properly regarding my pronouns. When I attempted to correct her, she was quite- rude.”

          Peter’s face turned dark, not that Loki could see it. “I’ll take care of her, don’t worry. I don't care what she said Loki, you’re valid. Any way you express yourself is valid. Anyone who says otherwise is a bigoted ass who hasn't evolved past a kindergarten understanding of the world and how it works.” Loki exhaled shakily. 

          “Thank you,” they said quietly.

          “Anytime.” he squeezed them again, “want to see what we’re working on?” 

          “Please.” 

          Neither Betty nor Ned recognized Loki, MJ gave them a weird look but she’s polite enough not to say anything. “Hey guys sorry about that, this is Levi, a coworker. They had a rough day, I was thinking we could show them the project?”*

*Levi was the name Loki used whenever they went out, it’s been helpful at laser tag and arcades.

          Ned, ever the cheerful one, began excitedly showing off the different features that he and Betty had programmed. Peter had let them use some premade lines of code so they wouldn’t have to focus on the flying controls and could go straight to the alert system. Loki seemed interested enough and even made a few suggestions on how to condense the code for faster writing.*

*They went on a coding binge when they first met Jarvis (something about the ability to create consciousness from nothing) and found an interest in the skill.

          When Peggy called five minutes they were almost done (the drone was kind of nonfunctional though because they didn’t have material to make both a normal and thermal camera, but figured if it were patented SI could easily get their hands on some) when she came around to their group they explained the drone’s function and she was impressed, telling them to wrap up what they were making and to write down what they didn’t get to, (she would collect it later to have it evaluated for patenting) before writing down who did what and collecting contact information to keep them updated. 

          Only theirs and Jason's group (who made a toy version of spider man's webs)* got their set aside for potential patenting.

*Tony is responsible for licensing rights of Avengers merch, all profits go to organizations dedicated to rebuilding and rehabilitating after Avenger level threats.

          “Alright everyone!” Manahil clapped once all was said and done. “We only have a few more stops on the tour before you go home, I know, tragic. But I think you’ll like this bit, we’re going to see the Avengers Gym! I’ll admit, I’ve never even been up to that floor, it’s considered residential, but you guys got special permission to see it.” she winked in Peter's direction. “So back to the elevators everyone wouldn’t want to cut into your time there.”

          Loki didn’t come with them to the elevators, saying they’d rather go down to the food court and get something to eat. Peter offered to come with (definitely not to get out of going to the gym) but they declined. Traitor.

          Once everyone piled in Manahil asked Friday to take them up. (that floor didn’t have a button)

          “I’m sorry Ms.Shariq but you don’t have clearance for that level”

          Peter cursed under his breath, recognizing his family’s tactic to embarrass him further. He glared subtly into the nearest camera before interrupting Manahil’s stammered explanation. “authorization code: YMPBSP, override protocol: IHGDWI”*

*Code: Young Master: Peter Benjamin Stark (Parker) Protocol: I Have Guests, Deal With It

          “Override code accepted, where would you like to go Peter?” his class was staring at him with slack jaws, even Mr. Herrington. 

          Peter kept his eyes closed. “To the gym Fri.” he pinched the bridge of his nose. “And tell Dr.Stark I’ll be having a few words with him when this is all over” 

          “Certainly,” she said, tone laced smugness. I’m soo going to tell Aunt Pepper about this when she gets back”

Chapter Text

          The shocked silence followed them up to the gym. When the elevator doors opened Peter sighed and started walking through the hallway. 

          The entire floor was dedicated to training, however, there were different gyms for different activities. There was the capture the flag/laser tag room (the entire room full of obstacle courses and hiding holes for team training) the drone room (with padded walls that can absorb the damage the drones cause with minimal damage) the firing range (for hawkeye’s arrows Bucky and Nat’s guns and knives and on occasion Peter’s webs) and lastly the gym gym (with workout and sparring equipment) that one leads to the locker rooms and is also where Peter leads his class. 

         Nothing on the residential floors required cards, so Peter didn’t need to restate the authorization code to let his classmates into the gym. Everyone filed in and lined up near the wall. On one side of the room, Nat and Steve were sparring while Bucky lifted weights with his flesh arm on the other. 

          No one acknowledged their presence, seemingly too engrossed in their training to notice them. Peter glanced at his classmates, almost all of them were focused on the match. 

          Watching Nat and Steve fight was always a treat, with Steve's brute strength and military training, it was an interesting clash with Natashas fluid acrobatic style of combat. They were both wearing workout clothes and a faint sheen of sweat could be seen if they stood still enough to catch a glance. 

          “как долго они идут?” (how long have they been going?) he half yelled to Bucky, ignoring the confused glances of his classmates.

          “Всего несколько минут.” (Just a few minutes.) Steve had glanced over when he heard Peter talk, and that split-second distraction was all Natasha needed to pin him down. 

          “спасибо маленький паук,” (thank you little spider) Natasha said, slightly out of breath as she stood. 

          “Yea,” Steve said sarcastically “thanks.”* he stood and grabbed a towel from the edge of the ring, wiping the sweat from his brow and getting a drink of water.

*Bucky has been teaching Steve a little Russian, just small things like ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ so he got the just of the message.

          “No problem,” he replied snarkily. 

          “Well,” Natasha said after getting her own drink. “We’re going to be giving you all a quick self-defence lesson today, and at the end, you’ll all get the chance to spar with one of us.” 

          Everyone, predictably, cheered at the prospect. “So, you’ll be divided into three groups and we’ll rotate through our lessons.” Nat pointed to each of them as she talked “Steve will be teaching you proper stances and footwork. Sergeant Barnes will be teaching you some simple offensive technique, and I’ll be teaching you some basic defence maneuvers.”

          Peter (and MJ, Ned, and Flash) ended up in Bucky’s group first. 

          “Is the arm holding up?” 

          “Yup” he smiled. “Okay first things first show me how you punch-” they went through Bucky’s station learning the proper technique for punching, drilling jab-cross, and defensive and offensive round kicks.* Peter actually found it relaxing, if a little slow, drilling the basics.

*If you didn't catch it in the notes, a while back I became a blackbelt, and as such, I have lost all sense of what other people know about fighting. A jab-cross (sometimes called the ‘ol one-two) is a front-hand then back-hand punch. And a defensive kick is from the front leg while an offensive kick is from the back leg (front and back is subjective depending on your guard stance)

          “Okay everyone” Natasha called out, “switch!.” Peter’s group moved over to Steve. “Hey guys, so what we’re gonna do first-” after showing them how to move in different directions while maintaining their guard stance they ended up playing a game of Simon-says. Peter would have to ask to do that during training cause it was kind of fun.

          The real fun began in Natasha’s group though, she had Peter help her demonstrate (which he didn't mind too much) a simple way of avoiding a punch and getting the upper hand on an opponent. 

          “So when Peter comes in to punch,” she nodded and Peter held out his fist. “With your opposite hand, so if he comes in on my left I grab with my right, grab your opponent's wrist from the outside,” she demonstrated as she spoke. “Now presumably the attacker would be moving in on you,” she looked at Peter and he obligingly moved in a step. “You need to use their forward momentum to pull them past you. At this point,” she let go of Peter’s hand. “In a real self-defence situation you should turn and run the other direction, but in a controlled fight or sparring match, you’d then be able to attack when they turn back around. So let's go through that one more time.” 

          Natasha walked them through it once more, a little quicker. Then instructed them to pair up and work the drill, trading off rolls. 

          When it looked like they had that one down she gave them a (brief) tutorial on how to do a side-fall and showed them how to sweep an opponent. 

          “Okay everyone!” Nat called out, "since you’ve all done pretty well go ahead and grab some water” she gestured to the water fountains along the wall. “And after that, If you want to give a go at sparring one of us be sure to line up along the ring.”

          Not surprisingly, most people wanted to try. Peter, Mj, and two others decided to hang back and just watch. The first person to go up, Abe, chose to fight Steve.*

*It was a choice between him and Nat because Bucky didn’t feel comfortable sparring kids with his arm. He chose to be the ref 

          It went pretty well, Abe got a hit or two in, and Cap was obviously pulling his punches, but in the end, everyone had fun yelling suggestions and cheering whenever a hit landed. The match lasted a minute and a half before the next person came up. 

          On and on the line dwindled to an end, Ned was the last one to fight and he went against Steve (only three people were brave {stupid?} enough to pick Nat) It went as well as the other matches and everyone was lightly sweating by the end of it. 

          As Ned and Steve were getting out of the ring Nat climbed in and looked straight at Peter. “давай, паук, давай покажем твоей команде, на что ты способен.” (come on little spider, let's show your team what you can do.)

          His classmates looked between him and Nat, confused. “Должен ли я?” (do I have to?)

          “да, и не сдерживаться, иначе ваша следующая тренировка будет полностью состоять из тренировки мышц” (yes, and no holding back, or your next training session will be entirely comprised of muscle conditioning)

          Peter sighed and moved into the ring, he glanced back at his classmates. “Я не собираюсь использовать свои силы.” (I’m not gonna use my powers.) she nodded. 

          “Ready?” Bucky started. They both got in their fight stances. “Fight!” 

          Natasha came in fast attempting to knock Peter off his feet, but Peter jumped over her leg, charging in with a right hook at the ready. 

          The fight was fast and graceful, the two so used to each other's fighting styles that they could flit around one another. To an outsider, it looked almost choreographed with how seamless it was. Peter landed a few hits, a backhand to the side of her face and a sidekick to her ribs. Natasha had landed a few of her own, a kick to the solar plexus, a few punches. 

          They were a few minutes into the fight when Natasha left herself open. Peter latched onto her arm and swung his body around her to wrap with thighs around her head and launcher her to the ground, taking a knee on her chest so she couldn’t get back up. 

          “ты--. пошел-- полегче со мной” (you-- went-- easy on me) he said between huffs of breath. 

          Natasha smiled, breathing heavily herself. Peter let out a chuckle before standing and offering Natasha a hand, lifting her up as well. “они все смотрят на меня, не так ли?” (they’re all staring at me aren’t they?) 

          “Ага,” (yup,) she placed a hand on his shoulder “и теперь они знают, какой ты крутой паучок” (and now they know how cool you are little spider) she ruffled his hair “иди принеси воды и, может быть, свежую рубашку” (go get some water, and maybe a fresh shirt)

          “Yeah, yeah.” he huffed, running fingers through his sweaty hair. “Be right back” he said as he passed Ned, making his way to the locker room.

          After a drink of water, some baby wipes, and a fresh shirt, he walked back into the gym only to find that no one was looking at him (good!) because his dad had just walked in (not good!) 

          “Hey, Peter! Imagine my surprise when I got out of my meeting and Friday tells me that my favourite intern is here early. I was gonna suggest we go to your lab and take a look at those new web-shooters you were designing for Spiderman, but I see you're busy with this so-”

          “Peter has his own lab!” 

          “Peter works on Spiderman's gear!?”

          “Dude what the hell?!”

          Tony clapped to get everyone’s attention. “You guys want to see it?” Peter, Steve, and Bucky all flinched at the resounding ‘yes!’ that everyone shouted in some form or another. 

          Tony motioned for them to quiet then turned to Peter. “Alright Pete, guess you’re the tour guide now”

          Peter took a deep breath, “hey Dr.Stark?” 

          “Yes, Peter?”

          “I’m going to kill you.” Tony laughed while his team just gaped at how he was talking to The Tony Stark. 

          “I’m sure you will bud,” he said, totally unconcerned. 

          “And I’ll tell Pepper.”

          Tony’s laughter cut off abruptly, “you wouldn’t dare.”

Chapter Text

          Tony motioned for them to quiet then turned to Peter. “Alright Pete, guess you’re the tour guide now”

          Peter took a deep breath, “hey Dr.Stark?” 

          “Yes, Peter?”

          “I’m going to kill you.” Tony laughed while his team just gaped at how he was talking to The Tony Stark. 

          “I’m sure you will bud,” he said, totally unconcerned. 

          “And I’ll tell Pepper”

          Tony’s laughter cut off abruptly, “you wouldn’t dare.”

          Peter glared at Tony, “Try me,” he let the silence hang in the air before sighing, pinching the bridge of his nose and turning towards his classmates.

          “Alright here's the deal, my lab is full of dangerous and highly confidential projects that are, and I cannot stress this enough, covered by your NDA. One word about anything you see up thereafter we leave that floor and I will personally drag you to the courthouse and see to it your hit with so many lawsuits that your parents, your sister's cat, and your great-great-grandchildren are still feeling the effects. Are. We. Clear.”* Peter made eye contact with everyone (including Mr.Herrington and Manahil) getting nods from each person before pinching the bridge of his nose.

*He was channelling both his inner Pepper and his inner Nat for this one and the downright terrified looks on his classmates' faces reflected that.

          “Alright, c’mon,” He said in a tired voice as he made his way to the elevators. “Floor seventy-six Fri.” 

          Everyone (the team and Tony, the assassins and Steve decided to head off somewhere else) rode in the elevator. His team was a mix of excited and terrified (Peter won’t apologize for being protective of his work) as the seconds ticked down. When the doors opened Peter led them through the familiar hallway and to his lab. The door, as well as a few feet of the wall on either side, were made of glass; leaving a perfect view of the lab for his team to ogle at.

          “ Ooh, what's that!”

           “Is that spider man's suit?!”

           “Does he work by himself?”

           “What are those formulas?” 

          Peter glanced over in slight alarm when he heard that one. The formula in question was on one of the whiteboards in the center of the lab. Peter started laughing when he saw which one it was. 

          Everyone shot him confused glances, silently asking him to explain. Looking at the person who asked he nodded towards the whiteboard. “That’s the formulae for the perfect compound to mix with mac-n-cheese powder to give Clint indigestion cause he ate all my fruit snacks last week.” 

          His dad burst out laughing. “I was wondering how you’d planned on getting him back, but you know after this he’d probably declare code pink.”*

*Code pink: full-out prank war, Friday and Jarvis keep tabs of who has successful pranks and who gets pranked on the most. The prize is usually a favour that the loser owes to the winner. The time limit on a code pink is typically two weeks but can vary based on who’s involved. (you can tap out of the prank war at any time to avoid targeted pranks and bathrooms and bedrooms are off-limits.)

          “You don’t mess with a man’s fruit snacks Dr.Stark” he shook his head slowly, glaring onto the distance. “It’s just not right.” he shook away the serious pretense. “Anyone have any other questions?”

          He nodded towards the first hand he saw. “What do you work on in there?”

          “Uhh, bit of everything I guess? I mean, I pretty much do whatever I want, I pitch in on Avengers gear if I get inspired or if Da- Dr.Stark needs help.” I’m getting too relaxed, he chided himself. “But I usually just tinker around with whatever idea pops into my head.”

          “Really kid?” his Dad interrupted “‘just tinker around’ don’t sell yourself so short.” Tony slung an arm around his shoulder and ruffled his hair, “aren’t you the one who, just yesterday, found a way to create a fully functioning lightsaber, just because you could?” Peter blushed red as his class reacted.

          Tony chuckled, checking his watch then detangling himself from around Peter. “Alright everyone!” he clapped his hands to get their attention. “You’ve got one more stop on your tour before you’re sent home and I guarantee you won't want to miss it.” 

          Tony leads the grou[p back to the elevators and to floor thirty-six. 

          Peter can tell they’re heading to one of the three presentation rooms on this floor. These rooms are larger and set up in a more auditorium-style layout to allow for a more focused presentation. 

          Peter hears it before he sees it. 

          When his class shuffles into the room they’re dead silent, and for good reason. At the front of the room stands Thor, Natasha, Bucky, Steve, Clint, and Bruce. All of them in full armour, looking to the world like they’ve nowhere better to be.

          Tony walks up to join them and starts off the event with an in-character “you already know who I am.” he gestured to the lineup of heroes and listed them off as their preferred names before turning back to the crowd. “Today you guys will get the chance to ask us any questions you want. Keeping in mind that we reserve the right to not answer if it’s too personal or classified.” he glanced around the room to show everyone he was serious. “Okay, questions?” 

          As expected, everyone’s hand shot up. People started with the basics, still unused to being in their presence. People asked a few ‘what are your favourite’ questions, a few people asked Steve and Bucky about the ’40s (one brave soul asked about their relationship and they confirmed they were together and left it at that.) MJ asked Nat about being a female superhero, Betty asked about SI’s commitment to green energy. One person asked how Thor’s hammer worked. 

            “Only those worthy of the throne of Asgard can wield mjölnir, would you like to try?” oh boy did that get everyone's attention. 

          Tony raised his hands for everyone to quiet down. “Alright, first the only one on the team that can lift it is Thor, Steve got it to budge but not much else so don’t get your hopes up. Second, if you get into a line we can do this in an orderly fashion.” 

           Everyone scrambled to get in line (except Peter [cause he just didn’t feel like it] and MJ [because she didn’t care])* one by one everyone went up, tried to lift the hammer, inevitably failed, and continued on back to their seats. 

*It’s important to note that Peter has never actually tried to lift Mjölnir, he figured it was like his web-shooters, yes he doesn't necessarily mind people touching them, but he doesn't really like it. So he just never asked.

          “Peter, you don't want to try?” Steve asked, genuinely curious. 

          “No thanks I’m good.”  immediately his class jumped in, telling him he should at least try, who knows? He might be worthy. “Alright, alright, fine!” he said with a laugh as he walked to the front of the room. 

          Casually he bent down with one hand, gripped it tight and pulled up, surprised when it actually came effortlessly off the ground. 

          The room was silent for a solid three seconds before Thor lifted him off the ground and hoisted Peter onto his shoulder, “the boy is worthy!!” Everyone cheered and clapped and when Peter glanced over, his dad had the biggest proudest smile on his face.

          Peter, as a general rule, hated to be the center of attention. But here, surrounded by his friends and family, just this once, he thought to himself, it’s not so bad.

Chapter Text

           “The boy is worthy!”

          Once everyone had stopped cheering Manahil had said that the tour was officially over. Tony reminded everyone not to discuss anything they’d learned today, that included Peter wielding Mjölnir. He also convinced Mr. Herrington to let Peter stay because “he’s coming right back here after school, it’d be a waste of time for him to go back.” 

          So Peter had said a quick goodbye to Ned and MJ, promising to see them again on Monday. When everyone was out of the room and headed towards the exit, he slowly turned his head (while still perched on Thor’s shoulders because the god refused to put him down) towards Tony. 

          “Well Dad? What are you planning to do to make up for this before Aunt Pepper gets home?”

          There was a sharp intake of breath by the door, Peter snapped his gaze and saw a shocked Flash Thompson flickering his gaze between him and Tony. 

          “Uh, how much did you hear?” 

          Flash didn’t answer, instead, he squared his shoulders, stared Tony dead in the eye as he walked up and slapped him across the face. 

          .

          .

          .

          .

          “Wanna tell me what that was for?” his dad said, probably torn between confusion and anger.

          “I’ve seen Peter’s bruises, no one has any right to hurt their kid like that! Not even some billionaire philanthropist! I don’t care what your excuse is! Even if you had a shit childhood that doesn't mean you can drag Peter into your sick-”

          “Flash!” Peter shouted, slipping from Thor’s shoulder and moving to grab his peer (friend?) by the arms. “Look, I know what you think those cuts and bruises were, but you have no idea. I promise you my dad has never laid a hand on me.” Peter took a deep breath “I’m not going to tell you where they came from. And I’ll be honest they probably won’t stop anytime soon; but if you can be certain of anything, it’s that he’s a good dad. I let you think what you did because the truth would have put us both in danger. And also if I’m being honest, you were nicer after you saw them.” Peter dropped his hold on Flash’s arms and ran a hand through his hair. “Look just… I’m safe here, you don’t need to question that, alright?” 

          Flash’s eyes flickered between him and Tony, judging the sincerity of Peter’s words. “Yea. yea okay.” he looked towards Tony sheepishly “sorry for hitting you, sir.” 

          “I’ll let it slide, and this is a promise, not a threat. If you so much as think this in the direction of the media I will make sure you and your family are at the mercy of the entire Stark Industries legal team. Capisce?” 

          Flash nodded sincerely, “capisce.” 

          Tony smirked, “right, this has been an eventful day, now scram before the tour group comes looking for you.” 

          Flash nodded again before turning to the seat he was in during the Q&A, grabbing his phone, and leaving back out the doors.

          “I think I need a nap,” Clint said, flopping down into a nearby chair.

          “You need a nap Barton?! I just got slapped in the face by a twelve-year-old!” 

          The bickering and familial banter followed them back up to the common room where Steve offers to make Arancini with Tony tagging in, offering to make homemade pasta. Peter accepts the olive branches for what they are, then dismissed himself to hang out with Loki until dinner. 

          Pepper and Happy walked in, bags in hand, just as the food was being finished. 

          When the food was plated and everyone was settled, Peter allowed himself to relax in the warm ambiance of family, food, and the knowledge that the second Pepper asks what happened while she was gone everyone at the table was gonna get a disappointed Pepper look™ and that just made everything worth it.

          Disappointed looks dished out, food eaten, Peter asked if he could ask Pepper a question as he started clearing away the plates. 

          They ended up in the kitchen Pepper washing plates and Peter drying. “What did you wanna ask me Pete?”

          “Well- y’see, uh.” Peter heard his face flush and cursed the ‘no hiding yourself in your own home’ rule* “there's this- I have a friend.” Peter blushed harder and took a deep breath. “My friend MJ really looks up to you and she’s writing this thing and I was wondering if you’d mind letting her have an interview sometime?”

*This included 1) no photostatic veils 2) no hand paint and 3) free rein of the ceilings {tony tried to carpet the ceilings but Peter declined on the grounds that it would impede his ability to stick}

          Pepper laughed, a light airy laugh that Peter didn’t know how to react to. Before his brain could go into overdrive Pepper started talking. “Of course she can, did you happen to catch what it was about?” 

          “I think she said ‘the importance of women in places of capitalistic power’”

          She laughed again, “MJ sounds lovely, why don't you ask her what day works best. Happy can bring her here with you after school, she’ll probably want a few days to get her questions in order.” Peter nodded. The rest of the dishes were washed and dried while talking about all the cool things that Pepper saw in Hong Kong.

          The weekend was spent between normal weekend things and worrying about school come Monday. He’d talked to Loki about it and she’d said there was nothing he could do but wait. So that wasn’t very helpful.

          The two days off passed in a blur (except the lunch he had with May, but that was really the only thing that broke up the haze of the weekend) and Monday was fast approaching.

          When Peter woke up (with another confusing dream about MJ fresh on his mind) his reluctance to get out of bed was driven by more than just a desire for sleep. Nonetheless, he dragged himself from bed and worked through his morning routine, even eating a full breakfast of eggs and pancakes, courtesy of Clint down on the common floor. 

          Walking into school was… suspiciously normal. No one was whispering behind his back or staring at him, heck they weren't even shooting him weird looks. It seems as though everyone had actually kept their mouths shut. 

          If he shared a class with an AcaDec member they seemed a little more inclined to get his help when they were stuck, and Flash was actually throwing him looks, (but if he were honest, if he wasn’t doing that Peter would be even more concerned) 

          He was thankful when lunch rolled around. 

          Plopping down next to Ned with a heavy sigh he started picking at the tater tots on his tray. He glanced up and saw MJ reading a book. “Oh yea, MJ?” he said, getting her attention. “Ms. Potts said she’d do the interview.” MJ’s face lit up, she was even (almost) smiling!! “She said you can come to the tower with me after school, she also wanted to know what day you wanted to do?”

          “Either Thursday or Friday, whichever works best for her.”

          Peter nodded and pulled out his phone to text Pepper. The rest of lunch went by without incident and the rest of the day passed with minimal awkwardness. Gym was a little weird though. After his sparring match with Nat, it became clear to his classmates that the only reason he was ‘bad’ at gym was that he wanted to be. Whatever conclusions they draw about his reasons aside, no one commented. 

          Getting in the car with Happy at the end of the day was a relief. Peter knew that the first day was the worst, meaning the worst was behind him. Happy offered to get ice cream for surviving, and what was Peter supposed to say? No? (he got Stark Raving Hazelnuts) 

Friday

          It was the day of MJ and Pepper’s interview and the two teens were currently on their way to the tower. MJ was doing some last-minute rewording of her questions, Peter on the other hand… well, he realized that he might, maybe, kinda sorta, has a crush… on MJ. he was currently thinking whether or not to ask her about it. 

           Now or never. “Hey MJ?”

          “Yea loser.”

          “Well uh, I was thinking… now I just want to say that I don't expect you to feel the same and I’m not trying to pressure you into anything but I uh-- maybe kinda, like you?” 

          “Is that a question?” she replied, smirking, not even looking up from her flashcards.

          “O-oh um, I- no, no it's not a question, I just-”

          MJ cut him off “I’m just fucking with you dork, I don't care if you ‘like’ me or whatever but I’m aro* so” she shrugged.

*Aro: aromantic: not having romantic attraction (aro and ace are not mutually exclusive)

          “Oh! That's cool, I just wanted you to know.”

          “Alright kids, we’re here.” Happy called to the back as he parked the car in the private parking lot

          “ wait MJ,” Peter said just as she went to grab the door handle “So are we-- still friends?”

          “Obviously loser.” She got out of the car and started towards the elevator. “now come on, I’m not gonna be late for this interview!” 

          Peter frantically climbed out of the car and jogged to catch up to her, a dopey smile still plastered on his face.