March 1st, 2013

Peter grumbled as his alarm rang. Then, he grumbled even more as he remembered it was a field trip day. Why did life do this?

A knock came from the door. "Peter, wake up!" said Tony. Peter sighed as he got out of bed, the warmth quickly leaving him.

"Coming." He changed clothes and walked downstairs, rubbing his eyes. Tony was already waiting there, with two plates of toast on the counter. "Good morning."

"Morning, Bambi." Tony took a sip of his coffee. "Did you sleep well?"

Peter nodded as he began eating. A set of footsteps came down, and their owner looked even more tired than Peter.

"Can't I stay home?" Harley asked. "I barely slept."

"You know, you wouldn't be so tired if you went to sleep at a reasonable time," said Tony in a sing-song tone. Harley rolled his eyes.

"You've slept three hours this whole week, old man. As if you're one to speak."

Tony looked amused. "Touché."

"So, I was wondering if," Harley paused, biting his lip, "I could spend the night at a friend's house. Like, today, since it's a Friday and all."

"Have I met this friend?"

"It's Oliver. You've met him before, I think. At the parking lot, that one time, remember?"

"Right, right." Tony thought about it. "Ah, what the hell, why not? Do you have your stuff ready?"

"I got it ready last night."

"Of course you did." Tony turned to Peter. "What about you, bud? You wanna spend the night at a friend's? Or I can drop you off on Saturday if you don't want to today?"

Peter sighed. Why did his dad have to bring this up? "I'm fine, thanks. Besides, we can still have a movie night without Harley, right?"

"Sure, if you want to."

Harley grabbed the last piece of toast, standing up as he did. "Good to know you guys love me." With that, he went up the stairs.

"You got all your stuff ready, Pete?" Tony asked. "Permission slip? Homework? Inhaler?"

"Yeah, Dad, I got everything ready. I'm not gonna die, you know?"

Tony ruffled Peter's hair. "I know. Now, finish and get upstairs. You two were already late for school on Tuesday, and Pepper would kill me if it happened again."

His dad was driving away, and Harley had already gone into a different building. Peter's smile finally dropped as he walked inside. He was free.

"All fifth graders, in here, please! Field trip day!" One of the teachers—Mrs. Jacobs—exclaimed. She found Peter among the crowds. "Peter! You're a fifth grader. Come in!" She pulled him by the shoulder inside the classroom and pushed him in the direction of his homeroom teacher.

"We're sorting everything by homerooms today." Oh, great. Spending the day with Flash Thompson, Peter's favorite thing.

Peter walked over to Mr. Zack, who was trying to count the student near him. Besides him, there was a boy whom Peter had never seen. The boy was nervously playing with his backpack strap.

"Peter! Wait, is everyone else here?" The teacher counted through the students. "Perfect! Let's get going then; the faster we get on the bus, the faster we get there!"

"Why are we even going to a pharmaceutical company?" Flash sneered. "Seriously, could they not think of anything more interesting?"

The new kid snickered, and Flash glared at him sharply. "What are you laughing at, fatty?"

The boy shook his head quickly, gulping. Flash smirked at himself.

Mr. Zack continued herding them onto the bus, ignoring Flash. Being the last one in line, Peter would have the grueling task of asking someone if he could sit with them. He looked around and decided on the new kid, who seemed nice. He couldn't be all that bad if Flash had already made him an enemy.

"Can I sit here?" Peter asked quietly. The kid nodded quickly, and Peter sat down. "Hi, I'm Peter."

"Cool." The boy waited a moment before continuing. "My name's Ned. Today's my first day here."

"Cool," Peter repeated. "Why are you just coming in March?"

"Oh, I, uh, I got a scholarship for the school 'cause another kid got expelled, I think. That's what my mom told me. And my parents didn't wanna wait, so, yeah. Here I am."

"Makes sense. I got here in January because of, uh, my dad's job. It's kinda complicated, though."

"What's your dad's job?"

"It's complicated…" Peter trailed off. Before Ned could ask more, one of the teachers told everyone to be quiet as they were leaving. Apparently, she had some 'life-changing' information to give.

"Everyone, please remember the person you're sitting next to as they will be your partner today. And hold on to your worksheets. You'll need them later!"

Ned looked at Peter and smiled. "Guess we're partners."

"Sorry about Flash, by the way," Peter mumbled. "He's a jerk to everyone."

"It's fine." Ned let out a dry laugh. "People were the same to me at my old school as well. I'm kind of used to it."

"That sucks, dude."

Ned shrugged. "Eh, it's fine. So, anyway, what kind of stuff do you like to do? Do you like to watch movies?"

"I guess I do. Have you seen any of the Star Wars movies?"

"Yes!" Ned exclaimed. "I've seen them all! Who's your favorite character? I think mine is R2-D2 if I had to pick."

"Seriously? I think he's gotta be my second favorite. I like Chewbacca. But can we agree on one thing? Star Wars is so much better than Star Trek."

"Yes! Well, I mean, I've never actually seen any of the movies, but apparently, the story sucks."

"It does, it does! My brother forced me to watch one of them, which was so bad. Dude, I am warning you, never watch the movies."

"I believe you," said Ned. "Wait, so you have a brother?"

"Yeah. Well, I mean, he's my half-brother, but still. He's a year older than me. What about you? Do you have any siblings?"

"Nope, I'm an only child."

As much as Peter hated to admit it, Flash was right. A trip to a pharmaceutical company was just about the most boring field trip their school could've come up with. It genuinely sucked. But, he was having what was essentially the time of his life because Ned made pretty good company. They talked throughout the tour guide's speeches (much to her and their teacher's annoyance). Peter had forgotten how good it was to have a friend.

"Lunchtime," said one of the teachers, irritation in their voice. "Everyone to the main cafeteria. I'll know if you don't go there."

They followed the crowd, who were pushing and shoving to get there. Finally, they got in line.

"Ya know," said Ned quietly. He bit his lip and continued. "You can sit with your other friends if you want… You don't have to only hang out with me. I get it if you wanna leave or whatever."

Peter almost laughed. "I don't really… I haven't really made friends with anyone here. I don't know, they all… It's complicated."

"Same type of complicated as your dad's job complicated?"

"Kind of… Doesn't matter," Peter said quickly. "Let's get food." They grabbed two sandwiches from the buffet and chose an empty table.

"Wait, so does this mean we're friends?" The question was abrupt, and Peter regretted it the second he asked.

"Sure." Ned smiled at him, and Peter smiled back. A friend he had a friend. "So, dude, what kind of stuff do you like to do?"

"Oh, this is kinda embarrassing, but I like building legos…."

Ned took a few seconds to reply. "No way! Me too! I know everyone says they're for kids, but–"

"They're so much fun to build!"

"Yeah, exactly. My mom got me a new Star Wars lego set. Do you wanna… come to my house to build it? It's the Millennium Falcon."

"No way! Seriously, that's awesome! Yeah, sure, that'd be so cool."

"I can't believe my mom is late on my first day of school," said Ned, glancing down at his watch. Peter had long concluded that Tony was picking him up since Happy was always punctual, and it was well beyond pick-up time. "My dad's always late."

"Yeah, he is, isn't he," said Harley, sitting down next to Peter. His face was flushed as if he had just been running. Harley nodded to Ned. "Hey."

"Hi. Are you Peter's brother?"

"I am." Harley turned to Peter. "Did you finally make friends?"

"Leave me alone," Peter muttered. "Why are you even here? Aren't you staying at your friend's house?"

"I forgot something at home. Tony's going to give it to me. If he ever gets here, that is. Ollie's waiting for me inside, I think."

Ned looked at Harley curiously. "Who's Ollie? Is she your girlfriend?"

Harley shook his head immediately. "Ollie's short for Oliver—he's my friend… And Dad is here. Finally." A car slowed down in front of them, the window opening.

"Hey," said Tony calmly. His gaze went to Harley, and he tossed a plastic bag outside the car to Harley. "There you go. See you tomorrow!"

Harley saluted him before walking off. "See you!"

Ned, in the meantime, stared at Tony wide-eyed. His mouth was open, and his entire body was still. Shit, had Peter not told him about this one tiny detail?

"You're- you're Tony Stark," Ned managed.

Tony nodded, glancing between Peter and Ned. "That's my name. Did you make a new friend at school today, Pete?"

Ned twisted his head to Peter, still gaping. "Your dad is Tony Stark."

"Uh, yeah. My dad is Tony Stark."

"Seriously?" Ned asked, eyes bulging. Peter gave him a thumbs up. "That's awesome. Holy crap, your dad is Iron Man."

The car behind Tony's honked. Ned said, "crap, that's my mom. I, um. It was nice to meet you, Mr. Tony Stark. I'll… I'll see you tomorrow, Peter." Ned scrambled to get into his mom's car, but he waved Peter goodbye as they drove away.

"Did you make a new friend at school today?" Tony asked.

Peter got in the car. "Yeah, I guess I did."

March 9th, 2013

Peter waited nervously for someone to answer the door. After Ned found out Peter's dad was Iron Man, he didn't treat Peter any differently (something Peter was very happy about). Which was why he was here, at Ned's house, waiting for anyone to hear the doorbell and open the front door.

"Hello," said a woman, pulling the door open. She must've been Ned's mother. "Do I know you?"

"Uh, no. I'm, uh, I'm Peter," he squeaked. "I'm here to see Ned."

The lady smiled. "Oh! Come right in." Peter followed her inside, and she pointed upstairs. "Ned is waiting upstairs for you."

"Okay." Peter hurried up the stairs while taking in the pictures on the walls. There were a lot of Baby Ned. He found a door with a Star Wars poster, assumed it was Ned's, and walked in. Ned was waiting for him, messing with some legos on the floors.

"Peter! You're here!"

Peter nodded excitedly. "Yeah! Can I see it? Can I see the set?" He sat down on the floor while Ned pulled a box from one of his drawers. The Millennial Falcon was proudly pictured on the cover.

"I haven't opened it yet." He pulled the wrapping off and essentially threw the plastic bags containing the legos out of the box. He and Peter ripped them apart, carefully separating each part into sections. Then, they began building.

Peter frowned as he heard the doorbell ring downstairs. It was already dark, and there was only one person it could be.

"My dad's here," he said quietly. The Millennial Falcon was in front of them, nearly completed. The 'bones' (as Ned called them) were complete, and they had almost finished the 'decorations.'

"Too bad." Ned stood up, setting the lego build gently on his bed. "I'll see you on Monday?"

"Of course." Peter grabbed his backpack, and they went downstairs, where Tony was sitting on the couch, sipping some water and chatting with Ned's mother. Ned froze when he spotted him.

"Thanks for having me," Peter said to Mrs. Leeds, shaking her hand. She smiled back at him.

"It was a pleasure. Nice speaking with you, Tony."

"You too." Tony placed his arm on Peter's shoulder. "Come on, kiddo, let's go. It's already kind of late."

Peter waved to Ned before he and Tony left, stepping out into the street.

"How was it, Bambino? Did you have fun?"

"I did!" Peter exclaimed. "It was great!"

Tony smiled. "Well, I'm glad."