Hacking Isn't Always Bad

Tony was insane. If he thought showing up in the middle of Spanish class, asking to take Peter out of class early, was a good idea, he had another thing coming. Peter's teacher had just stared at Mr. Stark in shock while all the students had turned to look at Peter who's face felt very warm. Despite having no idea what was going on, he was going to kill Mr. Stark.


"Is that a yes or a no?" Tony asked, glancing at Mrs. Cortez.


"Um, he... he will need parental permission," Mrs. Cortez told him hesitantly.


Tony nodded, expecting as much. "Yeah, he's got that."


Peter narrowed his eyes at Mr. Stark. Either he was lying or May was insane too.


"Can he go?"


"Yes, I suppose," Mrs. Cortez said, trying to recover from her shock.


Peter slowly packed up his things, pulling his backpack over his shoulder and turning to look at Ned.


"I'll see you later," he whispered, glancing at Mr. Stark.


Ned nodded, staring at Mr. Stark in awe like the rest of his classmates.


In silence, Peter walked over to Mr. Stark, but he didn't move. He wasn't even looking at Peter. Instead, his eyes were on Ned who shifted nervously in his seat.


"Are you that Ned kid?"


Ned nodded, heart racing.


"You're the one that hacked my tech?"


Another nod and Ned started saying his prayers. He was so dead. Tony Stark knew he'd hacked his tech and was going to kill him for it. Good bye, world! Good bye, Peter! Good bye, mom!


"I'm sorry, sir," he whispered, hands shaking at his side.


Mr. Stark smiled and walked across the room.


Ned closed his eyes tightly, waiting for the impact that would result in his sure death. Instead, Mr. Stark handed him a piece of paper. On it was a scribbled number. Oh god! It was the date Mr. Stark would come to kill him! His days were numbered.


"I could use brains like that."


Ned was sure his brain would look like every other brain once Mr. Stark put it in a jar.


Mr. Stark patted his shoulder and Ned braced himself, waiting to be injected with poison or something.


"Not everyone can hack my tech."


Ned knew that. That's why he was going to die, right?


"I want you at Stark Industries."


Ned's entire body froze. Confused, he looked up at Mr. Stark and asked, "Wait, you're not gonna kill me?"


He glanced at Peter who just shrugged and didn't look nearly as shocked as Ned expected.


"No," Mr. Stark said with a chuckle.


He pointed to the paper with the number on it and Ned realised it was a phone number, not a death date.


"That's my private number," Mr. Stark said, tapping the card twice. "Give me a call sometime and I'll tell you more. Right now, I have a plane waiting to take me and Pete to Lucerne."


Eyes narrowing, Peter looked at Mr. Stark suspicious. "You're taking me out of school to go to Switzerland?"


Around them, his class was visibly confused. Why did Peter sound angry?


"This better not be another Avengers' argument," Peter hissed, "You can't keep taking me out of the country whenever you feel like it!"


Mr. Stark waved him off.


"Call me," he told Ned before turning away.


Ned nodded quickly, watching as Mr. Stark walked back over to Peter.


"I thought you wanted to go to Switzerland," Mr. Stark said, throwing his arm over Peter's shoulders.


"Not in the middle of school!" Peter exclaimed, walking down the hall and out of ear shot of his Spanish class.


The following Monday, he had a line of questions to answer from his classmates, but that wasn't what worried him the most. No, what worried him the most was when May met him outside the school to ask her own line of questions, none of which were half as entertaining as his classmates'.

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