Science Fairs Can Never Be Boring

Peter was prepared. He had done his science fair project weeks ahead of time then perfected it with Mr. Stark's help. It hasn't been easy, but it felt great to be able to relax and know his project was well done. Standing behind his small table before the fair began, he couldn't stop smiling.


The fair would begin in five minutes with two special speakers and then the exhibits were open. While Peter was excited to show his off to other students and their families, he wished Mr. Stark could have come. He'd asked him a few days before, but according to Pepper, he already had something scheduled that day. Aunt May was coming, though, and unlike Mr. Stark, she hadn't seen his project yet. Peter had wanted it to be a surprise for her even if he did tell her everything he had done with Mr. Stark for it.


"Dude, I heard someone say Tony Stark was the guest speaker," Ned hissed, running up behind Peter. He pulled Peter over to sit with the rest of the group and muttered, "Someone saw him in the parking lot."


"You're kidding," Peter whispered back, his eyes widening. As much as he had wanted Mr. Stark to come, he didn't want him to draw attention which was a near impossible feat for the man.


"Not at all," Ned said, fidgeting in his seat beside Peter.


Peter groaned, closing his eyes and sliding down in his seat. Seconds later, he felt someone sit down on his other side and opened his eyes to see who it was. May was smiling on his right.


"Stark is here," she said. Peter groaned again and she frowned. "What's wrong? I thought you loved Tony."


"I do," Peter said. He sat upright in his chair and sighed. "But he's gonna draw attention to me and I don't want that."


May hummed and nodded in understanding. 


"I'll talk to him," she promised, patting his arm reassuringly.


Peter smiled thankfully at her as the lights dimmed and Principal Morita walked on stage.  Tapping the mic, he drew everyone's attention to him then smiled.


"Welcome, welcome," he greeted, raising his hands to quiet the gym. "Thank you all for coming. Our students have worked very hard these past few weeks and are excited to present their projects."


Peter and Ned shared a grin, both eager to get to their booths. Unfortunately, Principal Morita was still talking.


"It is my pleasure to welcome our keynote speakers today," he said, smiling at the crowd and the curtains behind him were pulled open. "Please give a warm welcome to Mr. Tony Stark and Dr. Bruce Banner!"


"Bruce is here?" Peter exclaimed, suddenly more excited about the visit.


Much to Mr. Stark's chagrin, Peter liked Bruce almost as much as he liked Mr. Stark. He had helped Peter with Biology several times and he was the only one other than Pepper that could keep Tony under some form of control. If Bruce was here with him, maybe things wouldn't be so bad.


Peter waited anxiously for Bruce and Mr. Stark to finish their talk. With the thought of showing Bruce his project, he was more anxious than ever to start the fair.


It felt like hours before Mr. Stark finished his speech and the lights came back up. As soon as they walked off the stage, Peter jumped up and ran to his project to set it up. When he's finished, he eagerly waited for his first visitor who turned out to be May. With a proud grin, he told her everything down to the finest detail before letting her move went next door to see Ned's project. The hospital was calling for her by the time she finished listening to Ned, but she gave them both tight hugs and told them how proud she was before racing out of the gym.


"What do we have here?" Mr. Stark asked Ned, appearing just as May left.


Beside him, Bruce smiled at Peter and listened as Ned stumbled through an explanation of his project.


"Sounds very interesting," Bruce told him at the end.


Ned gave a nervous laugh and thanked them both awkwardly.


As Ned caught his breath and tried to regain some composure, Mr. Stark and Bruce both turned to Peter's booth.


"Hey, Bruce!" Peter grinned, ignoring how Mr. Stark rolled his eyes. "I didn't know you were coming."


"Pepper thought influencing kids would be good for him," Bruce said, gesturing to Mr. Stark. He didn't notice. "Now, I know what your original project was, but Tony says you've made some changes."


"A little," Peter said. He explained how he had changed the direction of power flow to make it more efficient and Mr. Stark cut in, reminding Peter that he was actually the one that had thought that up. Peter crossed his arms. "I'm sorry, should I put your name on it?"


With a short laugh, Mr. Stark shook his head.


"No," he said with a twitch of his lips. "I've already got enough stuff with my name on it that's made messes."


Peter glared at him and Mr. Stark chuckled.


"Come on, Bruce," he said, pulling the other man away. "Let's move on."


"Bye, Peter," Bruce said, nodding a goodbye before following Mr. Stark to the next table.


Peter waved at him then turned back to his project to see Flash glaring at him.


"So you really do know Tony Stark, huh?" he said, arms crossed in front of him.


Peter nodded, but didn't say anything. With a little luck, Flash would leave it alone and walk away. He didn't want Mr. Stark or Bruce to find out he was being bullied. They were already suspicious. He didn't want them to see their worries confirmed.


"Here's what you're gonna do," Flash said. Peter sighed. "You're gonna set me up with an internship as Tony Stark's personal intern."


Peter glanced at Mr. Stark and Bruce to make sure they weren't paying attention and was happy to see they weren't.


"Sorry, Flash," Peter said, not feeling terribly sorry. "There's only one available and I got it."


Flash nodded.


"Okay," he said, "Give it to me."


At first Peter thought he was joking, then he realised Flash was serious.


"What? No way," he said. Flash's frown deepened. "Besides, there's no way you could even be considered for this internship."


"You think you're really that special, Penis?" Flash hissed. "It's probably just a charity case anyway. That's why he chose you instead of me. We both know I'm more qualified."


"Flash, you have a C- in Biology," Peter said before he could stop himself.


Flash fumed and Peter paled. He sensed Flash's incoming fist before he saw it, but he didn't duck. Moving too quickly would bring even more attention, so instead, he let Flash's fist connect with his jaw.


"You're nothing special, Penis," Flash hissed, rubbing his fist. Peter gingerly touched his jaw. "Don't think just because Tony Stark has you as his intern means you're invincible."


"I'm sorry," a voice came from behind. "Am I interrupted something?"


Flash and Peter both froze before turning to look up to see Tony and Bruce standing behind Flash.


"No! No, sir," Flash said, shaking his head rapidly.


"I want you to know that Peter Parker is not a charity case for me," he said. Flash nodded quickly once again, trying to get away but Mr. Stark wasn't done with him yet. "Peter is the brightest and most kind hearted kid I've ever met. That boy comes to my lab after school and brightens my life before he says a word to me. You can only dream of being like him one day."


"I understand, sir," Flash said, trying to escape once more. Mr. Stark still didn't let him.


"That boy is my son," he said and Flash gulped. "And if I ever hear about or see you bullying him again, I will make it my personal mission to sabotage every possible chance you have at getting into a good school."


Flash nodded weakly and the moment that Mr. Stark let him go, he ran off.  Peter just stood there, staring at Mr. Stark and wondering if he'd heard him correctly


"You really mean that?" Peter asked quietly. Mr. Stark turned to him and gave him a soft smile. He nodded and Peter smiled shyly. "I think of you like my dad, you know?"


"I know," Mr. Stark admitted. Peter frowned, confused as to how Mr. Stark has known. He'd tried pretty hard to keep it a secret in case Mr. Stark thought it was creepy or annoying. With a smirk, Mr. Stark told him, "You talk in your sleep, kid. And your mouth runs on its own when you're tired."


Peter felt his face heat up.


"Tony!" Peter exclaimed, trying to hide his face behind his hands.


Tony laughed.


"Oh, it's Tony now, is it?" he teased. Peter's face got even hotter. "Come on, kid. Let's clean up your project and head home."


"I'll go talk to the teacher," Bruce said, leaving them to pack up Peter's project.


After much convincing on Bruce's part and a call to Aunt May, just to make sure Tony and Bruce really were allowed to take Peter out of school, the three walked outside and met Happy in the car.


"How'd it go?" Happy asked, pulling out of the parking lot.


"Awful," Tony said, moving the ice pack Peter had gotten from the nurse to see if his jaw had bruised at all. Unfortunately, it was starting to. "However, I'm sure ice cream will make things better."


Despite his injured jaw, Peter excitedly agreed. "Yeah!"


Happy grumbled about giving the already excited kid something that would spike his energy, but found himself pulling up to an ice cream parlour a few minutes later. He wasn't that surprised when Peter came out with one rocky road ice cream and one vanilla ice cream for him, either, and though he pretended to find it annoying, he was more than willing to take the cone off his hands and eat it in the car with Tony, Bruce, and Peter.

Comment