Chapter Text
BEEP
Peter hates his BEEP alarm.
Well, Peter doesn’t really BEEP hate anyone. But he BEEP really dislikes anything waking BEEP him up after only 3 hours of BEEP sleep. Peter hit snooze and cringed when he heard the alarm clock shatter under his unfortunately timed spidey strength. He tries to maintain a steady sleep schedule, he really does, but there was an attempted mugging last night, and he had to pick up a new backpack, and he also needed to eat after swinging around for a couple hours, and then he had a physics assignment to complete, so really it wasn’t all his fault.
Aunt May was also getting ready to leave for work. She had been able to arrange her schedule at the hospital so she could be here when Peter is home for the most part. It isn’t perfect, but their little family worked.
Peter heard footsteps start toward his door, and regretfully sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
“I’m up!” He called, which sounded more like “Hgnn oop,”, but Aunt May spoke tired teen well enough to understand and walk back to the kitchen. The smell of reheated breakfast sandwich called to Peter, and he stumbled out of his door.
“Late night?” May asked with only a slight edge to her voice. He technically had a curfew on “internship” nights, but she had agreed to be flexible if he texted her updates every hour.
“Hey, I was home by 2! I just had a super quick homework page, and then I needed to wash the suit, and I couldn’t leave the web-shooters empty, that’s a disaster waiting to happen.” Peter explained.
Aunt May sighed and handed him a cup of coffee. It was barely filled to the middle and from the smell, she’d used the hazelnut weak stuff. But Peter wouldn’t complain. He could grab a stronger dose when he went over the Stark Tower after school, and May was just coming around to him doing grown up stuff like working and drinking coffee. He wouldn’t push it. Yet.
She was already in her scrubs, so since Peter was up and semi-functioning, she kissed his forehead and left for work.
“Have a great day!” She called as she closed the door to their apartment. He smiled in response before realizing she was out of eyesight.
“Bye!” He called haphazardly, slurping the rest of the “”coffee and eyeing the two sandwiches she left out. He ate one while getting dressed and grabbed the other on his way out, his new backpack stuffed with notebooks, his suit, and notes for the Stark projects he would work on after school. He made a mental note to grab some muffins for May from the Stark Tower kitchen before he left that night; she deserved something nice.
Neither of them knew what was coming.
School was as to be expected for a junior at Midtown High School. Peter had 6 classes throughout the day, slightly longer than a regular high school class to accommodate for the students’ advanced knowledge and projects. Before Peter knew it, he was at lunch with Ned and MJ. They typically sat together, sometimes accompanied by Betty or Jason if they were free.
“Guess what?” Ned said excitedly. Without waiting for a response, he rushed into an explanation. “Betty told me that when she interviewed Mr. Harrison this morning for the school newspaper about the field trip last year that he said he hopes this next one is better!”
Peter glanced up from his pizza with a questioning look.
MJ seemed to be in a similar state of confusion. “Shocking.” She muttered from her book. Peter eyed the title and made a mental note to ask her about it when they had class later. He looked away before she caught his eye lingering.
Ned wasn’t put off in the slightest. “Do you know what this means? We’re having another field trip this year! I wonder what it is…”
“It’s got to be here in the city. They wouldn’t take us anywhere too far after last time, right?” Peter asked. He wasn’t completely over the disaster that was D.C., and he would rather not deal with any more supervillains at the moment.
“Ooh, you’re right!” Ned exclaimed. “Let’s brainstorm! It could totally be a museum or a superhero exhibit—or maybe a monument somewhere… Principal Davis talks about his grandfather being a Howling Commando, maybe we’re going to the Captain America exhibit!”
Before Ned could get too excited, MJ pointed out, “All the middle schoolers already go there in the spring, I doubt it.”
“But we could get a behind-the-scenes tour! And maybe an interview!” Ned gasped dramatically. “What If…. What If Captain America was there?”
Peter smiled. “I bet he’d love to talk to Principal Davis, but maybe without a hundred teens asking him about pop culture.”
Ned seemed to remember that Peter saw the Avengers on a semi-regular basis and switched gears. “Totally! It’s gotta be something cool though, even Flash was excited when he heard, he kept bragging that he knew something about it.”
MJ snorted. “Flash thinks he knows a lot more than he actually does.”
Peter smiled. He could always count on MJ to call people out. Especially if those people made a habit of calling him “Penis” and tripping him in the hall.
As the bell rang, Ned was still going on about possible ideas or places they could go, but Peter could barely focus on the conversation as they walked to Chemistry class. He was convinced that their teacher, Mr. Stanley, hated him. Ever since Peter missed his first class for an “internship” meeting, then corrected him in class (Peter didn’t mean to be disrespectful! They were working with acid, he HAD to say something so there were no explosions!) the teacher seemed to have it out for him.
Peter was always called on when he was checking his phone or used as an example for new concepts that they hadn’t even gone over. Even when Peter answered or guessed correctly, that seemed to annoy him even more. Flash was delighted with a teacher who shared his disdain for Peter, and he made sure to show it by tripping Peter as they all walked in. As per usual, Mr. Stanley turned a blind eye and continued writing on the board.
Peter sighed and went to his seat. Ned and MJ exchanged a look, but they’d had this argument too many times to bring up the favoritism at work. Mr. Stanley was technically overqualified to teach at Midtown, but everyone knew he wanted a better position. What he was doing at a high school in New York was anyone’s guess. When Mr. Davis went to a 2-week conference for local principals, Mr. Stanley arranged to take over as acting Principal in the interim. His smug expression littered the hallways for the very long 14 days, and he even tried to convince Mr. Davis to stay longer or make him Assistant Principal. When he was denied, he made the students’ lives hell with pop quizzes and oral presentations for a month. Peter got 3 weeks of detention in that time, almost asking to switch classes in the middle of the term in desperation. Luckily, Mr. Harrington caught on and threatened to tell Mr. Davis about the inappropriate classroom conduct. It was enough to make him back off, at least for a while. As students settled in, Mr. Stanley wrote out several equations on the board and listed the reading pages assigned that night. Peter cringed; he’d left his textbook in his locker. Hopefully, they wouldn’t need it in class. Mr. Stanley went through the usual motions of Chem II with only a few remarks about Peter’s attendance and lack of preparation, and then he and Ned were off to Engineering 300. MJ waved as she left for the Biology department.
Mr. Harrington welcomed them with much more enthusiasm than Mr. Stanley, and the class was subsequently more fun. Ned and Peter got to work on engineering programs and the school’s 3D printer. Peter had access to much more advanced technology at Stark Tower, but he loved working with people his own age. Even the youngest interns were all older than him, and Peter loved being creative without looking too unprofessional in a lab.
“Peter, look!” Ned whispered.
Betty had been at the front of the classroom with Mr. Harrington, looking very satisfied. As she walked back to her seat, Mr. Harrington clapped his hands.
“Alright class, let’s start wrapping up.” He said. “I…have an announcement to make.”
Ned was practically vibrating next to Peter, who was beginning to get excited despite himself.
As students began whispering among themselves, Peter realized almost everyone was speculating about a potential field trip. They were somewhat infamous at Midtown, so there were a ton of ideas floating around, both good and bad.
“As some of you know, we have been discussing a possible field trip for the junior class. Seniors have their annual trip, and all underclassmen trips have been relegated to the Midtown building as in-school assemblies with guests, for....obvious reasons." Peter blushed and tried to shrink in his seat, but for once, no eyes were on him when the D.C. trip came up. "However, the school applied for a very competitive opportunity here in the city, and I am proud to say we were accepted last week.” Mr. Harrington grinned, and Peter could see how excited even the teacher was.
“In two weeks, we will be taking 200 students to…Stark Industries!”
As the class erupted in cheers and excited murmurs, Peter sat still, shocked by even his bad luck. How the hell was he going to get out of this?