Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel or the Avengers!
Hey guys, sorry it took me so long to update, it was my fall break, so I was away from my computer. :) This chapter is a little bit lighter, but I am incapable of writing a chapter without any dramatics, so prepare yourself. Anyway, I hope you like the chapter! All reviews are appreciated!
Tony stood at the counter, staring at the empty hall. Waiting. His coffee was cooling in his hands and the tall stack of pancakes sat beside him. The spider-kid's fast metabolism requires him to consume more calories, and since he would be at school, he needed a big breakfast. He checked the clock again – 7:40. Anytime now….
"Tony! Tony! Tony, Tony, Tony, Tony, Tony, Tony, Tony." Peter came running down the hall, practically sliding into his seat because of his socks on the hardwood floors.
"Yeah, kid?" Tony asked, nonchalantly.
"Do you know what today is?" Peter gave him an intense, but excited look.
He feigned ignorance. "No, what?"
"It's the first day of school!" The kid shouted, grinning happily.
"Oh, right." The genius pretended to remember, tapping his chin thoughtfully.
"You're messing with me." Peter deadpanned, frowning at him.
"A little bit." He gave the kid a smirk and turned around to fill up his coffee.
"C'mon, Tony. I have only seen my friends like, twice, all summer! Plus, this means decathlon is starting up. And Science Olympiad. And Mathletes." The teenage explained, practically shaking.
"Wow, you are such a nerd." He rolled his eyes, jokingly.
"Shut up. You would feel the same as me if you were in my position!" Peter insisted.
"You're right… but I am not, so I can make fun of you all I want." Tony shot him another grin.
"Ugh, just let me live my life, free of judgement!" He dramatically stood up and sauntered towards the food on the table.
"You are such a drama queen. Just sit down and eat breakfast so you aren't late." The older man shook his head and passed him some silverware.
"Oh. Right." He sheepishly accepted the utensils and stacked some of the pancakes on a plate.
"So how do you want to get to school?" Tony asked him, finishing another cup of coffee.
"Um… can I walk?" Peter suggested, shoveling in more food.
"I'm not sure why you like to walk places so much."
"Because I need the fresh air! And it's fun!" He explained, using wild gestures to prove his point.
"Yeah, okay, whatever you say. But you can walk if you want to get to school thirty minutes late! You need to be there in forty five minutes, and you are still in your pajamas with half of your pancakes left." Tony gestured casually to the boy who indeed was wearing Iron-Man pajamas, had wild hair, and three pancakes left.
"Yeah, you're right." He admitted, eating another pancake.
"But anyway, kid, do you want me to drive you?" He offered, kindly (and slightly hopeful, not that he would admit it.)
"If it's not too much trouble. I know you have meetings later and-" Peter started but was quickly cut off.
"Be ready to go in thirty minutes, and I'll meet you at the car." He gave the kid a small smile and put all his dishes in the sink.
"Okay. Thanks for breakfast." Peter told him, cutting up his last pancake.
"You're welcome." Tony chirped, plucking a couple of pancake pieces off of his plate.
"Hey!" Peter protested, but the billionaire had already walked down the hallway towards his own room.
40 minutes later, Peter arrived at school.
He entered the building with a little bit of a different attitude than when he woke up, as now that he was finally here, it wasn't as great as he remembered. Immediately, he was taunted by Flash and knocked into the lockers by passing cheerleaders. Ned wasn't going to be at school until later, he suddenly remembered, as he got a text early this morning that his flight back from visiting his cousins in Topeka got delayed.
He felt his phone buzz in his pocket as he was pulling his notebooks out of his locker, so he quickly slid them into his backpack and pulled out his phone. Three texts from Tony.
Hey, if today isn't as good as you hoped, I just got a text from Clint that they released Avengers themed ice cream, and some of them seem pretty good, so we can have a movie night or something. Explained the first one.
The second one read Oh and btw, sorry but they don't have a tub of anything Spidey. They had Stark Raving Hazelnuts though, and that sounds great! He couldn't help but grin at that.
Seriously though, I hope you have a great day kid, and call me if you need anything.
He slid his phone back into his pocket, took a deep breath, and walked into his first class. Luckily, it was chem, one of his best subjects. Not that he would be doing any real school work today. He saw an empty desk towards the left of the room and quickly sat in it before anybody else could. Knowing his classmates, nobody would want to sit next to him, and everybody basically stayed in these seats all year anyway, so he and Ned would be together. The bell rang, and class started, so he knew he was right about the seating. He also was right about what the class would be like, as they only went over the syllabus.
His day went fine until lunch, when he bumped into Flash with no sign of Ned. The other boy was leaning onto the lockers next to his, effectively blocking him if he wanted to enter the cafeteria.
"Hey, Penis Parker. What's up?" The bully taunted, malice in his voice.
"What could you possibly want, Flash?" Peter rolled his eyes and closed his locker.
"Oh, nothing. Just to make up for the humiliation I faced last time I saw you." He cracked his knuckles and tried to make himself seem taller, even though Peter had an inch or two on him.
"Oh, you mean when you tried to beat up on me, but Iron-Man showed up and helped me out?" He replied cockily.
"Yeah. That." Flash's angry grimace deepened.
"Oh, really?" Although he knew he shouldn't be provoking the bully, he just couldn't help himself.
"Yep. Because there is no way Tony Stark will show up to save you now. What, does he just happen to be here for another 'intern' thing?" He paused and, seeing the look of realization dawning on Peter's face, smirked at him. "That's what I thought."
Peter didn't even try to defend himself. If he did, things would just be worse, and he might give up his identity by accident. So, he took the punch Flash threw, hoping that his healing factor would repair his busted lip, light nose bleed, and probable forming bruises. After that, Flash got bored and headed into the cafeteria to get his lunch and Peter snuck away to the bathroom to clean up the blood on his face.
After looking slightly better (or at least presentable), he headed to the cafeteria and scarfed down his lunch. Luckily, at the end of lunch, he saw Ned walk in. "Peter, hey!"
"Hey, Ned! How was Kansas?" He enthusiastically asked, genuinely excited for him because Ned had been talking about this trip for a month. These were his favorite cousins and they lived in an interesting area, so he got to do a lot of cool things.
"It was a lot of fun! I hadn't seen my cousins in a while, so that was great." Ned smiled happily and pulled out his phone to show his best friend some pictures.
"That's awesome!" He pointed out after seeing Ned attempting to fly an old time-y looking plane.
"Wait a second…" Peter crossed his fingers, hoping Ned wouldn't notice. "Did Flash beat you up again? Your lip is all swollen."
"What? No, I'm fine." The teen arachnid swore, trying to brush off the other boy's concern.
"Seriously dude, you should go to the office." Ned insisted.
"I can't! Then she'll call Tony! He cannot show up at school here, then everyone will find out!" Peter was whisper yelling now, trying to get his point across without attracting any attention.
"Oh, I guess that's true. Your healing factor should help you out, right?" Ned asked hopefully, praying he was making the right decision by letting Peter go straight to class.
"Yeah, it should." Peter replied, hoping that was actually the truth. He stood up and dumped his food in the trash, heading for the door.
"Okay. If anything, else happens today, please go though, alright?" Ned pleaded, tagging along behind him.
Peter just brushed it off again and entered the hallway. "Yeah, of course."
Peter did not have anything else happen to him that day. In fact, the rest of his day was as great as he expected. Except for his throbbing lip and nose of course, but nobody else seemed to notice. Or care. He had so much fun in biology with MJ and Ned, as they played this trivia review game (that they dominated of course). They set a date for their first decathlon meeting, which excited him so much, now that he was able to (and forced by Tony to) fully participate this year.
But while nobody else had acknowledged Peter's injury today, Tony certainly did.
"What the hell happened to you? Don't give me any of that 'clumsy' bullshit, you have your damn spider senses. So, what was it? That asshole kid, Flash? I swear to god-" Tony ranted, the second he got a good look at Peter's face.
He sighed, dabbing at his lip with the towel Tony passed him. "Tony, seriously, I am fine. Really."
"Nope, I don't buy it." He rolled his eyes, but the kid could tell how serious he was.
"Seriously, though! It happened at lunch, and I barely feel it now." Peter insisted.
"I can see it throbbing from here. Why didn't anybody else see it?" Tony leaned in closer to him to fully inspect his injuries before pulling out of the parking lot.
"I appear clumsy at school and always pop of with random injuries." He shrugged, opening his backpack to pull out a form he needed to fill out.
Tony nearly slammed on the breaks when he reached the red light, screaming "What? Why?"
"Spider-Man!" Peter gave him a 'duh' look.
"Right. But anyway, you have to do something about this, Peter!" Tony seemed pretty worked up, which made Peter worked up.
"And what? Fight back and reveal my identity? Turn him in and make it even worse? Have you come in a show everyone that I am not some random intern to you, that I am your kid? I have my accelerated healing and it keeps him from doing it to other people instead, who can't take it as well as me." While he started out upset, by the end of his rant his voice was quiet and low.
"Ugh, I guess you're right. But I still don't like it." The older man relented, turning onto the Tower's street.
"I know." Peter agreed.
"Please promise me that you will do something if it gets too bad?" the genius asked hopefully.
"Yeah, I will." Peter said. Although he told the man that to make him happy, he knew that was the truth.
"How is Ned?" Tony asked, changing the subject.
"He's great, he had a lot of fun on his trip." Peter replied.
"That's good. How was the rest of your day?"
"So much fun." The kid grinned.
Tony glanced over at him and smiled. "As good as you hoped?"
"Definitely." Peter paused and glanced at the billionaire. "Do you mind if we watch TV tonight and eat ice cream out of the tub anyway?"
"Of course. That sounds great, kid. Want to patrol for a little bit first?" He offered, already knowing the answer.
"Oh my god, yes." Peter smiled even bigger, if that was even possible.
"Okay. You can suit up when you get home but be back by dinner." Tony offered.
"Got it." The kid nodded.
Pretty soon after, he was swinging through the city. "Woo hoo!" He yelled, swinging around a corner. Man, he had really missed constant patrols. Maybe now that school was back in session, he could do his afterschool patrols like he did with May before going home. That seems like something Tony would be on board with.
He quickly spotted a robbery of a convenience store and swung down to help. Luckily, they seemed to be amateurs and he ended it quickly. There were a couple more minor thefts, one robbery, and a lost old lady. He was back right on time for dinner.
"Nice of you to show up!" Tony teased.
"I am only two minutes late! C'mon, Tony!"
"Yeah, yeah. Just sit down and eat."
They finished their Chinese food and started their show. They were halfway through their second episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, when Tony's phone rang.
He stood up, pulling his phone out of his pocket. "Hey, sorry kid, it's Steve. Is it okay if I take it?"
"Yeah, go ahead. Do you want me to pause it?" The kid offered.
"Nah, it's fine." He waved him off and Peter shrugged, turning back to the TV.
Tony headed into the other room and the second he answered the phone he heard Steve's voice on the other end, erratic and panicking. "Tony, we need your help."