Chapter 2

The following day Peter made his way through school as usual, keeping quiet in class and avoiding Flash as much as possible. However, they had Decathlon practice at lunch, so that meant an extra hour where he was trapped in a room with the bully. Conversation once again turned to the topic of the upcoming science trip to SI.

"Are you ready to tell everyone the truth yet Parker?" Flash asked whilst leering at Peter.

"I am telling the truth Flash, I do have an internship at SI"

"Yeah and I'm sure you know Tony Stark personally!" Flash returned sarcastically.

"I do!" Peter was getting frustrated now, despite knowing that he shouldn't let it get to him. He looked to Harrington in the hopes that he would be able to get Flash to shut up, but unfortunately it didn't go the way he planned.

"Flash is right Peter, you should just stop lying about all this! It only makes you look worse and the truth will come out on Saturday anyway." Peter couldn't believe what he was hearing, being accused of lying by Flash was one thing, but for a teacher to accuse him of it as well made Peter even more upset. After all, Harrington had no reason not to believe Peter.

"Just ignore them dude! Imagine their faces on Saturday when they see that you weren't making it up. Bro its gonna be awesome!" Ned told him, looking like it was going to be even more of a reward for him than it would be for Peter.

The bell rang, alerting them to the start of their next class and MJ joined Ned and Peter to make their way over to the correct room.

The physics lesson went much the same as yesterday, with Peter struggling to pay attention when he found the things Harrington covered were so simple compared to the work he did with Tony and Bruce. Time dragged until the class was over and Peter could be free.

When the bell rang Peter leapt from his seat and said goodbye to Ned before throwing his permission slip on Harrington's desk and fleeing the school grounds.

After his patrol that evening Peter made his way to the communal kitchen on the hunt for food. He'd had a busier patrol today and had also been able to stay out later because there were no family activities planned that evening. Between the extra work and his increased metabolism, Peter was starving. He ferreted some leftovers out of the fridge and grabbed some snacks to eat whilst the leftovers were being heated.

While Peter was shovelling lasagne into his mouth, Steve wandered into the kitchen, starting up the coffee machine and smiled in Peter's direction. "You ok, kid?" He asked.

"Yeah I guess," Peter mumbled around a mouthful of food. "I'm still not looking forward to the trip tomorrow. My classmates are all dicks."

"Language!" Cap chastised halfheartedly. "There's got to be some silver lining surely?"

"I mean, I'm meeting everyone here so I get to sleep for like 2 extra hours tomorrow morning." Steve laughed at Peter's attempt to be enthusiastic, but agreed with him all the same.

"That's the spirit son!" He replied before turning to leave again, coffee cup in hand.

After finishing his meal, Peter left to find Harley, who was once again curled up with a book in their bed. "Hey Princess, good book?" Peter asked, sitting down on the edge of their bed.

"Hi! Yeah it is actually. I wasn't sure it would be; Bucky recommended it." Harley replied, moving to put the book on the bedside table after slipping his favourite Spider-man themed bookmark between the pages.

"Wow, I didn't think you two would've had the same reading taste."

"Yeah well it gives us something to talk about. I think he still struggles to fit in sometimes, so if I can read a book he recommends every now and again and spend some time talking about it with him, then at least I feel like I'm doing my part to make sure he feels welcome here." Harley replied, slightly more sombre and Peter could see how much he meant it.

"If he really is still feeling left out, maybe we can set up a book club. But we will have to find a way of doing it so that he doesn't think we are making fun of him. Maybe you should suggest it, since you have already started with him."

"You really mean that darlin'?" Harley asked, slightly surprised.

"Of course, why wouldn't I?"

"You really are so incredible." Harley said in lieu of answering. He leaned forward to kiss Peter, in love with how much Peter cared about everyone.

Peter leaned into Harley, certainly not complaining about the direction the evening was taking. He sighed into the feel of Harley's lips on his own, which gave Harley a chance to slip his tongue into Peter's mouth. Harley groaned as Peter moved to straddle him and started kissing across his jaw and then down his neck. He pulled Peter closer using his hand that was resting in the small of his back and whispered in his ear "Take me to bed Spider-man."