Chapter Text
Everyone has bad days, and Peter is no exception to that. However, it seems like whatever gods are out to get him, are really out to get him. Last week, his teacher announced a trip to Stark Industries, complete with a permission slip, and about seventy NDAs. The class was so excited, asking Peter about information since he ‘interned’ there. And as if things weren’t bad enough already, Peter was pretty sure that he didn’t actually have an internship with S.I. Well, completely sure, actually. He and Mr. Stark haven’t interacted in nearly three weeks! (Albeit, three weeks wasn’t actually that long of a time, but it was to Peter.)
Exasperated, Peter dropped his head down onto the desk with a loud thud. A few of the kids near him jumped at the sound, and Ned gave him a knowing glance. At the sight of this, Flash leaned towards them and commented, “Hey puny Parker, how’re you holding up?”
Peter silently groaned and said “Go away, Flash. Why can’t you just leave us alone?”
Flash snickered and replied hastily with “Why? Scared that we’ll all find out about your ‘totally real and not fake’ internship?” The boy rolled his eyes. “Plus, Stark Industries doesn’t even take high school interns.”
Fuck. Well, yeah, Flash did have a point. Stark Industries in fact, does not take high-schoolers as interns. In fact, Peter even considered announcing that this whole thing was a lie, because of how ridiculously stupid this situation was. (Fortunately for his dignity, he did not.) Peter sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as Flash sauntered away.
There were a few moments of silence until Ned started talking again. “Ugh, he’s such an asshole. It’s okay, though, right Peter? Because you know Tony Stark! Wait, he said that it was like- a science expo or something. Do you think that THE Bruce Banner will be there?”
Peter took the chatter as a welcome distraction until they were dismissed from class. Walking down the halls, everyone was buzzing with excitement about the field trip. He opened his locker, stepping back to grab his backpack, nearly missing the sticky note that was stuck to the bottom. It read: “think fast”.
At this, Peter quickly whipped his head around to see an open marker flying towards him. He could hear Flash and his friends giggling behind the corner, and allowed himself to be hit by it. Sometimes, Peter selfishly wished that they would bully somebody else. Better him than somebody else. What if they couldn’t handle it? How could he even think that in the first place?
Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Peter pulled out his phone and shot May a text letting her know that he was going to be at his internship after school. He had been doing this for a little while now, on his designated ‘lab days,’ which were usually on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays. They were really a cover for Spider-manning right after school when he needed to blow off a little steam. Peter felt a little guilty lying to May so easily, and even more so at the fact that she believed him.
The week flew by quickly, and Peter was not having a good time. He got May to sign the slip, but he wasn’t really sure if he wanted to go or not. On one hand, he could go and humiliate himself in front of the Decathlon team (Oh! Nobody recognizes Peter, so he must be faking his internship!) and on the other, he could go and humiliate himself by being a no-show. (Oh! Peter didn’t show up, so he must be faking his internship!!!) He decided that he would go, hoping that by some miracle, everything would go well, because field trips don’t go well for Peter Parker. He sighed as he put on his suit and went out to patrol (again!) that night.
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Today was the day of the trip. Peter woke up very disgruntled and exhausted, sitting up with a throbbing headache. Ah, it was one of those days. Everyone has bad days, and Peter is no exception to that. However, it seems like whatever gods are out to get him, are really out to get him. He popped on a pair of sunglasses (seriously, where did those come from?) and headed for the bathroom. Peter seriously couldn’t be bothered with his morning routine today, and all he wanted to do was curl up into a ball on his bed and wait it out, but whatever. He couldn’t back out now, could he? Splashing cold water onto his face, Peter shook his head around, before blinking a couple of times.
“Peter?” May’s voice distracted him for a moment, his head quickly turning towards the door.
“Yeah May? I’m just- uh- brushing my teeth.” He replied through the door.
“You alright? I thought I heard some bumping around.” Said May, sounding worried. “What are you doing? Are you hurt?”
Peter looked down at this legs. Had he really been that loud? Sure enough, there was a scratch, on his left leg. He hadn’t even noticed. Peter let out a shaky breath before answering. “I’m fine, May. Don’t worry about me. Go- go back to bed.”
When he heard May’s response and her footsteps, he finally stood up and exited the bathroom. He took several slow steps towards his room to change out of his sweaty pajamas.
He really didn’t have to go. He was sure that Ned wouldn’t really mind and have fun by himself—really! Peter could just pretend he was sick and—
But Ned was so excited for the trip. He didn’t wanna let him down, and just ditch him! Honestly, Peter could already imagine Flash taunting him the next day when he didn’t show up.
”What’s wrong Parker? Why didn’t you show up? It’s alright, I understand. If I were lying, I wouldn’t want to embarrass myself in front of the whole class either! C’mon guys, look—“
Okay, we get the point. It would be a total disaster if he went, and a total disaster if he didn’t go. Peter blinked again before realizing that he was downstairs and in the kitchen. He blinked again, because he definitely did not remember doing that.
It’ll be fine.Peter reassured himself, while walking the door, still feeling a little nauseous. It’ll be fine.
..right?
Peter felt the soft rays of sunlight on his face, grateful that it was cloudy outside and less bright than it would usually be. Still, he squeezed his eyes shut as he walked to school. He was feeling uncomfortably tired (consequences of not sleeping when you should, kids!) and snappier than usual. He drifted off for a while, staring into space. Peter felt a fleeting sense of relief, as the fuzzy feeling in his head drowned out everyone else on the bus.
Before he knew it, they were at school. Peter only know this because of Ned, who gently poked his shoulder, whispering a “Dude, we’re at school.”
Peter reminded himself to thank Ned later, eternally grateful for all the things that his best friend did for him.
“Oh, uh, thanks Ned.” Peter quickly mumbled back, stifling a yawn.
Peter squinted as they got off the bus, adjusting to the sunlight. It almost seemed as though with every step he took, people just got louder and louder.
Not feeling very well, (Well? Fine would be a better word for whatever he’s feeling right now. In fact, he isn’t even feeling at all!) fine, Peter tries to ignore everything and everyone, oh god, why is so bright here, why are they talking why why why
And so he squeezes his eyes shut, and he ignores Ned, ignores Mr. Whatshisface, he ignores his directions and the bus stopping (when did they even get on a bus??), and he ignores Flash’s taunts and jeers. He ignores everything because even if he wanted to, he couldn’t wake up. Everything is moving too fast and his mind can’t keep up! He feels utterly useless to do anything because he can’t seem to clear his mind from anything and everything and he can’t he can’t he can’t
and he desperately wants to just stop and process everything for just a second!
He doesn’t hear it when the teacher yells that it’s time to get off, or when the staff member starts explaining the exhibits to them. It’s blissfully quiet all of a sudden, and Peter lets go of a sigh he didn’t know he was holding in.
The architecture here is familiar, but Peter can’t quite put his finger on what it is. The walls are white and clean, with geometrical shapes painted on. The floor has a pretty hexagonal pattern that Peter likes. The smell…The smell is clean, like a fresh sheet of paper. The theme is is obviously professional, and Peter is certain that he’s never been here before, so why does he recognize it?
He’s wandering around the big hall, looking at an employee explain to one of his classmates the model that was in front of her. He looks at the employee’s badge, and it hits him like a train.
‘Stark Industries’
It says, on the shiny lanyard. He’s at Stark Industries! The mere thought makes him sick. What is he doing here? More importantly, does anyone know? If he’s in the tower, then it must mean it’s a lab day, right?
Peter makes some excuse about needing to run to the bathroom really quickly (Did Mr. Stark bring him to one of the expos? Honestly, Peter’s always wanted to go.) and he’s off. He feels faint and slightly nauseous as he stumbles his way towards the elevator. He should tell Mr. Stark, maybe they could watch a movie instead. His movements are sluggish and it feels like someone is trying to grab his arm; he pushes them off, he needs to find Mr. Stark, he’s probably in his la— wait what? Scratch that; where the hell is he right now?
Peter blinks slowly at the crowd slowly forming around him. There’s security all up in his face, and some guy on the floor. Utter confusion clouds his vision (Or is it the guard’s hat? He will never know) and before he knows it, the crowd is disappearing and the guy who was previously on the floor is now glaring at him. Someone helps him up and brings him to the security room. He’s graced by Happy’s appearance in the room, ironically, he isn’t very Happy.
“Peter? What are you doing here?” He asks, more gently than he usually does.
Peter takes a second to recall the morning, using the bits of information he remembers (which is not very much).
“I was on a field trip, and I was like, out of it, or something,” he pipes up, not very helpfully, “I was trying to get to Mr. Stark, because I thought it was a lab day. Well I thought it was a lab day because why else would I be here? It was super confusing and then this guy tried to stop me by grabbing my arm so I pushed him off-“ Peter winced, abruptly ending his rant.
Happy groaned. “Listen, punk. We’re sorting all this out, so you just sit tight. Also, I’ve alerted Tony about this.. whole situation, he’s coming down now.”
It took a second to process, but when he realized, Peter’s eyes widened. “Please please please tell me that was a joke—I don’t need to be even more of a bother! Plus this whole this is so embarrassing and I really have to get back to my class so-” He pleaded.
“Kid,” Happy replied, rolling his eyes. “Tony probably couldn’t care less. On a more serious note, he cares about you; more than you think. And how long—“
Just then, the door opened with a little click, and Tony stepped in. “Hey Happy, Pete. I hope you weren’t spreading lies about me,” He sent Happy a friendly glare, “Now, what’s the problem?”
Just as Peter was about to start explaining again, Tony shushed him.
“Nuh uh. Listen here, Underoos. Whatever crap you’re about to spit out — ‘noooo Mr. Stark! I’m so sorry! Everything is my fault!’ — That doesn’t fly here, okay?”
Peter looked at him incredulously. In return, Tony just stared back, then looked at Happy, a silent request to leave.
Happy, in fact, looked all too ‘happy’ to leave and shifted towards the door. “Nice chat, I- uhh, I’m gonna go do important security work.” And with that, he bounded out the door.
When Happy left, Tony went to sit down besides Peter.
“Now, you don’t have to tell me anything, because I already know the story, but I would still like to hear it from your perspective,” He began. “Again, you don’t have to tell me anything. I’m not forcing you to tell me.” At that, Tony waggled his eyebrows.
Peter snickered. “Oh my god, you’re unbelievable.”
The older man quirked up his eyebrow at that. “Well, yeah, I kind of created a new element, saved the world a couple of times, made a super suit, I could go on!”
Peter smiled, the first since this week began. He always loved to hear Tony’s Mr. Stark’s rambles, as well as sharing his own thoughts for them to discuss.
“…Anyways, what time is it? Like 11:00ish? I’m not quite sure, but you need to get back on your field trip, buddy,” Peter scrambled up from the chair he was sitting on as Tony ushered him up. “C’mon, I’ve got to get to a meeting. Your classmates are probably waiting for you.”
Peter, now with a grin on his face, directed his gaze towards the door and walked out with Mr. Stark. He had some catching up to do.