A/N: Well, so far I think I'm successfully keeping up with my update schedule 😂

I think I'm kinda making Peter too sassy and a little dark, but that was what I liked about The Amazing Spider-Man series, so... I guess I don't regret it...? (lol)

Anyways, here's the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it :)

Chapter 8: Part of the Team

Peter was the first one to walk out of the classroom as the final bell rang. Even before the hallways got a chance to be crowded with other students, he was passing through the relatively spacious passages. He didn't stop by his own locker ― he had already packed everything before the last class ― but headed straight to the one that was a few rows down from his own. The said locker was open with its owner standing before it, organizing her textbooks and belongings. Peter stopped right behind the girl and cleared his voice.

"May I ask of you a piece of your time today?" He said cheekily in a theatrical tone.

Gwen turned around and gave him a lopsided smile.

"For what purpose, exactly?" She said.

"Anything you wish for," Peter said, shrugging his shoulders. "Movies? Dinner? Or some swinging?"

"How about work?" Gwen answered as she hung her bag over her shoulders and closed the door of her locker. She then started to walk along with Peter through the hall. "Don't you have to go to the lab today?"

"Yeah, well, change of plans," Peter said. "Some of the… members are dropping by today. Tony canceled the lab work. They're having dinner together instead."

"Members as in… 'members'?" Gwen said, emphasizing the last word with a shift of her tone.

Peter hesitated before he nodded.

"Wait, then why are you asking me out?" Gwen looked at Peter, confused. Then her expression changed instantly to that of a slight shock. "Is it… did they not invite you?"

Peter scratched the back of his head.

"No, no," he said. "Tony texted and asked me to come himself."

"Okay. help me out here," Gwen said with a frown. "So you were invited to a dinner with… your teammates," her glance clearly indicated a certain other meaning as she chose the vocabulary, "but you are asking me to make plans with you?"

"Uhm… yes…?"

"Why?"

"Because I'm not going?"

Gwen stopped in the middle of her tracks, causing a student that was behind her to almost bump into her. The said student sent a frown at her before walking away, but Gwen was too occupied with giving Peter an incredulous look to care about it. Peter also came to a halt, though he was able to make way for other students that were following him (with the help of his spider-sense as well).

"What do you mean you're not going?" Gwen said.

"I mean exactly what I mean," Peter said in the most casual tone as if he was stating the obvious. "I don't really feel like going there."

Gwen snorted humorlessly.

"You do realize that probably every single one of the students in this school― no, probably everyone in this entire country would die for a chance to sit at the same table with the Avengers. And you've been invited by Tony Stark himself. Seriously. And you're telling me that you're not going?"

Peter spared a brief side glance at around the two of them as if to make sure that nobody had heard what she said.

"Yeah," he said.

"I don't understand," Gwen said. "I thought you get along well with them."

Peter wriggled his eyebrows shortly and wet his lips. Then there was a shrug of his shoulders before he finally answered.

"I do. They're okay. I mean, I'm okay with them."

Gwen gave him a skeptical look.

"I was just about to believe that, but now I can't," she said. "If you're okay with them, why don't you want to join them for dinner?"

"Because I want to spend some time with you," said Peter. "With everything that has been going on lately, we haven't really had some quality time for us."

Gwen studied him with a straight and piercing gaze. It made Peter feel like he was melting helplessly. Or maybe that was what was actually happening to him at the moment. His mentality couldn't stand firm under her eyes.

"Are you sure that's the only reason?" She asked.

Peter gulped unconsciously. It was a subtle action that was most likely barely detectable, but for some reason, he just knew that Gwen probably noticed it.

"Of course," he said, making a conscious effort to make his voice sound firm and confident. "What else would there be?"

Gwen looked at him with her sharp eyes for a short moment before turning away to start walking as if nothing had happened.

"Well, I'm afraid I'll have to take a rain check on it," she said. "My team recently started a new project and we're kind of busy with seeing it through. I have to be at the lab right away."

Peter couldn't help the mild sense of disappointment emerging from within him.

"Oh, sure," he still managed to say. "What are you working on?"

"It's like a new possible cure for killing cancer cells," Gwen began. "We're trying to come up with the most efficient formula using the genetic characteristics of different species that could fight off cancer while reducing the side effects as much as possible. It was one of the projects that had been going on for a while until one of the arachnids specimens mysteriously disappeared and we had to do it all over again."

Gwen gave him a meaningful look. Peter just grinned, which made Gwen laugh a little as well.

"Well, at least, that's what the team is going for and I'm just following the instructions to conduct some experiments and write papers on them."

"That does sound big," Peter said. He was genuinely impressed and intrigued that he even got to completely forget about the momentary disappointment.

"It is," said Gwen. She then cheekily smiled as she looked at Peter. "Just out of curiosity ― does Tony Stark know that your girlfriend works at Oscorp?"

Peter scratched the back of his head.

"He doesn't. I never really talked about it."

"About which part, me being your girlfriend or me interning at Oscorp?"

"Uh…. Both?"

"Why not? It's not like they have a no-dating policy." Gwen paused for a moment. "Is there?"

"No, no," Peter laughed. "At least, not that I know of."

"Then why not? Are you trying to hide it forever?" Gwen gave him a skeptical look. "It might come up at some point, you know."

"I don't know," Peter said. He hesitated a little. "I don't really talk about myself that much there."

"You mean you only talk about work? That's gotta be boring." Gwen shook her head. "Wait, didn't you say that you had to sit through a two-hour-long therapy with Tony Stark?"

Peter laughed. "Yeah, that was like a nightmare."

"But you never talked to them about yourself?"

"Well, you know what I'm like," Peter said. "He's the one to talk. I don't really like talking that much when I'm working."

"Uh-huh," said Gwen. "Well, today might be a chance for you to open up a bit, then. Unless you plan to just stay quiet throughout the entire dinner with them."

Peter groaned. "Don't remind me."

Gwen laughed. "I think I should, though. Whether you like it or not, you're officially part of the team now. Don't you think that they should at least know about you a little?"

Peter only smiled awkwardly.

By then, the two of them were already outside the school building and halfway across the field between the building and the gate. That was when Peter's phone vibrated inside his pocket. He pulled it out and checked the message that had just come in.

From: Tony Stark - I'm waiting by the back of your school. I'm in a white car. Call me if you can't find it.

Peter suppressed a groan. He sighed instead.

"What is it?" Gwen asked.

Peter hesitated before he eventually answered, "Tony's here."

"Here? As in, here?" Gwen pointed to the ground.

"Yeah, he said he's waiting by the back there," he answered as he pointed at the direction with his thumb.

"Then what are you doing here? Go see him," said Gwen.

"But―"

"Peter." Gwen gave him a stern look. "Go."

Peter frowned childishly.

"Yes, Mom," he said in a mocking tone. "I'll see you later."

"Later," Gwen said.

Gwen watched him go as if she was making sure that Peter did make his way to Tony Stark. When Peter went around the building and disappeared behind it, she finally turned around with a smile and a shake of her head.

Peter had almost reached the back gate of his school when he was stopped by three large boys. Again.

"Where are you going, Parker?" Marcus growled as he blocked Peter's path. Brian and Jason guarded his sides, making sure that Peter had no way to go around him.

Peter tried to turn right and left only to be completely blocked by the three boys.

"Come on, man," Peter said. "I really need to go."

"Not so fast, you can't." Marcus shook his head. He sneered at him. "You haven't paid your toll yet, remember?"

Peter sighed.

"You destroyed those headphones, wasn't that enough?"

"Well, I got nothing in the end, didn't I? So, no, it wasn't enough."

Then a sudden punch flew into Peter's stomach. Peter couldn't say that he did not see it coming. But Puny Parker couldn't just evade a "surprise" punch from bullies who were larger than him. So he doubled over.

Before he could do anything else, Brian and Jason grabbed him from both sides and smashed him against the external wall of the school building. The two of them being football players, they weren't weak ― the cough that came out from Peter wasn't fake.

"Time for some warm-up before the practice," Marcus sneered as he cracked his knuckles.

Peter internally rolled his eyes. There it comes― A punch to the face ― Wham! Then another on the opposite side ― Wham! This time, into the stomach ― Wham! Now a kick coming in―

Marcus paused in the middle of his kick at a loud honking of a car. He turned around to find the source of the sound. Behind him, outside the wire mesh that surrounded the school grounds, stood a white sedan. He frowned as he saw the car's window roll down.

"Hey, you kids there!" The driver called.

Peter would have smacked his forehead if neither Brian nor Jason was holding him tightly to the wall by his arms. He would always recognize the voice so easily.

"You might want to find another guy or no guy at all for that matter, 'cause, you know, bullying is bad?"

Marcus looked back at Peter.

"You know that guy?" He sounded like he was threatening Peter.

Peter chose not to answer. But it did not help the situation.

The driver honked the car again.

"Pete! Come on!" He yelled through the window. "Or are you gonna just stay there and let those brats beat you into a pulp?"

Marcus glared at the driver and then at Peter. Yet, he did not dare continue his assault knowing that there was a witness. Brian and Jason also loosened their grip on Peter.

Peter took it as a chance to pick up his backpack that had fallen at some point. He brushed the dirt off it before he hung it over his shoulder. He then walked over to the back gate, around the wire mesh, and reached the car. He opened the passenger's seat and got in. As he did, the window rolled up, sealing Peter inside completely with the driver.

"What are you doing here, Tony?" Peter asked right away. He was unable to hide a bit of exasperation in his voice.

"Do I need a reason to see my favorite intern?" Tony questioned, lowering his sunglasses and looking at him.

"Since when am I your favorite intern?" Peter asked with a raised eyebrow. He then turned to look at Tony with suspicious eyes. "Did you try to mess with my suit again?"

"Okay, first of all," said Tony. "I never mess with your suit, I make it better."

"Yeah, that is messing with it in my book," retorted Peter.

"And secondly," Tony continued as if he ignored Peter completely. "I didn't even touch your suit. I'm just here to pick you up."

"And why would you do that?"

"So that you don't try to sneak out and skip on the team dinner with some made-up excuses."

Peter pursed his lips. Did the man have some kind of surveillance device around him?

"But now I'm glad that I did, after seeing that."

Peter huffed rather childishly.

"I can handle it just fine on my own."

"Uh-huh," Tony deadpanned, "yeah, I was really impressed back there, how you 'handled' it by nearly getting beaten up to death."

"Well, I don't really have much choice," Peter said a little snappily. "I'm supposed to be this weak nerd and that means I can't fight back. And they can't even hurt me that badly, anyway. I heal fast and I control where I get hit."

"Pete." Tony pulled his sunglasses off and looked at Peter. "You may have chosen to keep yourself unknown, but it does not mean that you cannot get help. There are other ways to deal with problems than just standing up to it alone."

"Don't," said Peter. "Just don't, because that kind of lecture is the last thing I need right now."

"No," Tony said. He was being stern for a change. There was no trace of his usual humor and casual tone. "You have a problem. Why can't you just admit that you need help? That you can get help?"

"Because I can't!" Peter snapped. It was the first time that he actually genuinely got angry before Tony. Most importantly, it was the first time that he showed such emotion before him, as well. "You don't understand! Everyone that I cared about is gone, and everyone that tried to help me is dead because they helped me."

He breathed hard. He tried to calm down. He had to calm down a little. He rubbed his face with his hands.

"I've been just doing fine on my own," he said.

Tony watched the teen silently for a moment.

"Maybe," he said quietly. "But that doesn't mean that you should any longer."

Peter didn't say anything.

"Why do you think Fury put us all into a group in the first place? Why did he put you with us?" Tony said. "It's because no matter how hard you try, there are just things that you cannot deal with alone."

Peter groaned.

"That just sounds so cheesy," he mumbled.

Tony snorted. "Yeah, well, all motivational speeches are," he deadpanned.

Peter sighed.

"I never had to work with someone before," he said.

"You still don't," Tony replied. "Not usually, at least. You're already going around doing your own thing every night as it is. But I'm just saying that sometimes, it's better to just talk to someone. Preferable to me than Bruce because I want to be the first one to know all your dirty little secrets."

"And that is exactly why I will always choose Bruce over you," retorted Peter.

Tony narrowed his eyes in a frown. "I'm supposed to be your boss."

"Then why don't you act like one for a change?" Peter deadpanned.

"Alright, you're going nowhere, mister," said Tony. All the doors of the car locked before he immediately started the car.

Peter huffed. "It's not like you were going to let me in the first place."

"Of course not," Tony said as if he was saying the most obvious thing in the world. Then he placed his hand on the gear stick.

Peter awkwardly cleared his throat.

"By the way," he said. Tony turned his eyes slightly to look at him. Peter looked out the window on the passenger's side to avoid looking at Tony. "Thanks… for back there."

"Anytime, Pete." Peter could hear Tony's smirk in his voice.

And they drove off.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading this story!

Please feel free to leave your thoughts, reviews, and any kind of feedback in the comments!

I hope everyone stays safe and have a wonderful day, wherever you are!

Best,

Lisa :)