Peter wanted nothing more than to die in a black hole. He was seriously considering letting himself get stabbed tonight on patrol or feigning sickness so May would keep him out of school. Unfortunately, he doubted the last one would work at all since May was rarely fooled easily and the first one was more painful than he would like to admit. Besides, if he did get stabbed, it would have to be a large stab and it would have to be life threatening. Otherwise he would heal well enough to still attend school and he was trying to avoid that. He loved school, he really did. There was just one thing: his school, the place where smart people were supposed to be, was making the stupidest decision Peter had ever heard of: they were going on a field trip to Stark Tower. Tomorrow. For the entire day.

He had the permission slip in his backpack for May to sign when he got home. Maybe he could just hide it and tell his teacher he forgot to get it signed. However, he knew the teacher would then just call May and ask her for permission. That would bring a bigger problem than he wanted because May would scold him for "forgetting" to let her sign it and Flash would accuse him of having a fake internship the whole time. As badly as he wanted to prove Flash wrong, he didn't want to deal with Mr. Stark embarrassing him the whole trip.

"What do you think, Karen?" Peter asked, legs swinging off a fire escape of a tall building. Whilst waiting for criminals, he'd developed the habit of talking to Karen and eating, much to Mr. Stark's amusement.

"I think you should tell Mr. Stark and ask him not to embarrass you," Karen replied. Peter snorted and shook his head.

"He'll embarrass me if I asked him," Peter said. He sighed and finished off his sandwich. "It would just be worse," he told her with his mouth full.

He grabbed his trash and jumped off the building. He threw the garbage in the bin nearby then swung off through Queens, still considering getting injured until Karen informed him she would tell Mr. Stark if he did.

* * * * *

Peter tried telling May he was sick, but she saw right through him. He had not gotten more than halfway through his excuse before she sent him out the door to meet the bus with a piece of peanut butter toast and an apple.

Arguing with himself over whether or not he should tell May he was sick had taken enough time he was going to be late if he didn't hurry, so he ran to the bus. He made it just in time and raced on board, sitting down in his regular seat and pulling out his headphones. With a little luck, the bus would be late enough he'd miss the trip.

"Are you ready for today?" Ned asked as they climbed off the bus only to load another one.

Peter shook his head and sat down on the second bus, biting into his apple.

"At my funeral, make sure to mention how it was all May's fault since she made me go."

Ned gave him a sad smile and Peter sighed, putting his head back against the window. He looked back up when he felt someone sit down beside him, but wasn't too surprised to see Michelle beside him. She didn't look up at him from her book, but she gave a quiet 'hey, loser' before she continued reading. With a shrug, Peter went back to leaning against the window with his eyes closed.

"Hey, Penis!" Flash yelled. Peter's eyes snapped open and he sat up, spotting Flash a few seats back. "Now we finally get to watch you die of embarrassment when Mr. Stark calls you out on your lie."

"Whatever, Flash," Peter mumbled, laying back, closing his eyes as the bus started up and they headed to the Tower.

When they got there, he grabbed his bag, shared a look with Ned, and followed Michelle off the bus.

"Alright, everyone," Miss Hendy said, clapping to get everyone's attention. "Follow me inside where we'll get our security badges and meet our guide."

She turned and the group followed her into the lobby, cheerfully talking amongst themselves. They were directed over to another woman who Peter recognised immediately. He tried to hide behind Ned, but it was no use. After giving everyone a badge, she asked if everyone had gotten one.

"Peter didn't!" Flash said, pointing to Peter. Olivia frowned and looked around. When she saw Peter, she smiled.

"Hey, Peter," she said. Peter gave her a small smile and nodded, hating the feeling of having everyone's eyes on him. "Do you need a badge or do you have your own still?"

"It's in my bag," Peter told her.

She grinned and nodded, taking the rest of the badges back to the front desk. Flash glared at Peter but stopped when Olivia returned to give them the security speech.

"Everyone needs to have their badges on and easy to see at all times," Olivia said. A few people adjusted theirs so they were visible and Olivia continued. "Our head of security is strict about that and won't hesitate to question you if he doesn't see them. Now, some of the things we will visit are labs and various invention models, so please be very careful. As long as you don't touch anything, you should be fine. Follow me through the gate and scan your badges."

She demonstrated and scanned her badge. Everyone watched as the gate light turned green and she walked through.

"Olivia Foss, level 6 clearance," FRIDAY announced. At FRIDAY's voice, the class erupted in another round of amazed whispers.

"Guest, level 2 clearance," FRIDAY announced when the first student went through.

Everyone had the same badges, so hearing FRIDAY say the same thing 34 times in a row was quickly getting old. Much to Peter's horror, he knew this would only make it more obvious when he scanned his badge.

When it was his turn, he pulled out his badge and scanned it quickly, racing through to stand with Ned and Michelle.

"Welcome back, Peter. Mr. Stark is currently in a meeting. Should I alert him you are here early?" FRIDAY asked.

"No!" Peter said with wide eyes, drawing even more attention. "That's fine. I want to surprise him."

"Alright," FRIDAY replied.

Peter let out a breath when she didn't call out his clearance level. Olivia was an intern and if she only had level 6 while Peter had level 10—full clearance—people would be suspicious.

"Alright, everyone," Olivia said, drawing their attention away from FRIDAY and Peter. "Follow me to our first destination."

* * * * *

Peter thought the trip was going pretty well. Olivia hadn't said anything to him that would indicate he wasn't really an intern and he hadn't run into Miss Potts or Mr. Stark. There was only half an hour more before they would be heading back to school and Peter felt like it had been a rather successful trip. He really wished he hadn't jinxed himself, though, because he had barely finished congratulating himself when Olivia announced they would now be meeting Mr. Stark.

"Kill me now," Peter whispered to Ned. Ned grimaced and let Peter hide behind him in the back of the room.

"Hello, Midtown Tech," Mr. Stark said, smiling and scanning the crowd. He frowned just a bit when he didn't see Peter. "How have you enjoyed your tour?"

"It was actually pretty good," Peter admitted quietly to Ned. Ned glanced back at him and nodded. Mr. Stark noticed and Peter cursed, trying to duck behind Ned again.

"For the next half hour, you can ask me anything and I'll answer them all truthfully," Mr. Stark said, looking directly at Ned who he now knew was hiding Peter. Both boys stayed still. "Who's first?"

Flash's hand shot up and Mr. Stark called on him.

"Do you really have an internship program for high school students?"

Mr. Stark frowned and shook his head.

"No," he replied. "Internships are only available to college graduates and sometimes undergrads."

With a victorious grin, Flash turned around to look at Peter.

"I knew you were lying, Penis!" Flash yelled.

Peter's eyes widened and Mr. Stark's narrowed.

"What did you call him?" Mr. Stark demanded.  Flash heard him and turned to look at Mr. Stark. He suddenly looked nervous as Mr. Stark all but glared at him.

"Um, I just, uh, it's a joke?" Flash said.

Even if he didn't know Mr. Stark, Peter knew he didn't believe Flash. He looked at Peter who was frozen, not sure how to go about explaining what had just happened to Mr. Stark without Flash become an extinct species.

"Yeah, it's a joke," Peter said, a weak argument even to his own ears.

Mr. Stark rolled his eyes and pointed at Flash.

"If I ever hear you call my kid 'Penis' again, I will make sure you don't get into any reputable college, understand?" he threatened.

Eyes wide and terrified, Flash nodded quickly.

"Good."

"Did you say Peter was your kid?" Betty asked, raising her hand as she spoke.

"Yes, he's my personal intern and my kid," Mr. Stark said. He smiled at Peter who gave a short smile back. Too many eyes were on him and he wanted to disappear, but it was no surprise when Mr. Stark seemed to notice. Turning to Miss Hendy, he asked, "Do you mind if I keep him? He'll be coming back anyway and his aunt will be fine with it."

"Oh, of course," Miss Hendy nodded.

Mr. Stark turned back to look at Peter.

"Pepper's upstairs," he said. Peter nodded and without further instructions, he raced out of the room and into the elevator.

He had just stepped foot into Pepper's office when she looked up at him with a soft smile.

"Did Tony embarrass you?" she asked, glancing at the door he'd just come through.

Peter shook his head and bit back a smile.

"He called me his kid."