Trips to Stark Industries

Sort of Sick | Part Seven

"You-" The teacher exclaimed, before stopping halfway through the thought. Whispers erupted all around them, with Ned looking at Peter apologetically. Thinking back on it, all of those texts Peter had elected to ignore were most likely warnings about the field trip so that he could have avoided this exact situation. Peter was at the very least thankful that nobody except for the teacher had outright attempted to confront him about what was going on, as he already wasn't in the mood and that would be too much to handle.

"Parker! What the hell did you have to do to get a Stark Industries employee to lie for you?" Flash shouted, coming to the front of the group. Oh well, all good things couldn't last forever.

"She's not lying, Flash. I work here. And, well, I live here too." Peter said, sounding utterly done. Even with the effects of the Advil he still felt a headache blossoming due to the shouting and pinched the bridge of his nose in an attempt to relieve some of the pain.

"Peter, this is unacceptable. I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to take Flash's side in this." Peter's teacher said, sounding disappointed. "Are you going to admit that you're in the wrong? It's not necessary to contact Mr. Stark about this, but since we're here I'm sure he'd like to know if someone pretended to be living in his tower."

Peter could pick out so many things that were wrong in what his teacher had said, but first and foremost was the matter about contacting his adoptive father. He had no clue why the teacher assumed that they knew so much about Mr. Stark, let alone threatening to "expose" him when they wouldn't even have a way to contact him.

Peter sighed in exasperation before speaking to Friday. "Hey, Friday?"

"Yes, Peter?" The A.I. responded immediately. "Do you need something?"

"Can you get in contact with... Tony?" Peter said, hesitant to refer to him as his dad in front of all of his oblivious classmates. They had agreed to keep the adoption a secret until Peter felt comfortable enough to go public with it, so as a result only MJ and Ned were aware about this huge part of his life. Even the teachers at his school didn't know, the principal was the only member of the faculty who truly needed to know after all.

"Of course, Peter. Would you prefer to call him or ask him to come down to you?" Friday asked, no doubt already notifying Tony.

"Just a phone call should be fine," He said.

After a few moments, Friday spoke again. "He is on his way and should be at your location momentarily. Will that be all?"

"Yep, thanks Friday!" Peter said, before looking back at the class. Half of them had their eyes wide open, clearly gaping at him. Oh, this was just lovely. He'd always wondered how it would feel to reveal that no, he wasn't just some nerdy loser like everyone else thought, instead he was doing more important things than they probably ever would have the chance to. It turns out that seeing their expressions in person was even better than he had imagined.

The teacher was just looking at him in surprise, clearly not expecting this type of response. They probably expected him to just acquiesce and apologize, although Peter clearly did not have any need to.

He felt a dull throbbing sensation coming from behind his eyes and considered taking another Advil, but that probably wouldn't be the best idea. He winced at the ding of the elevator, debating whether or not he could just flee as the doors opened. He was almost sure that it was his father who was in the elevator there, so it would be possible for him to just slip away when everyone was distracted by him, right?

It turns out his choice was made for him as Tony strode out of the elevator and placed a hand on his shoulder. Peter doubted that the action was to prevent him from leaving but nevertheless that was the effect. "Hey Pete, what's up?" He asked, although the glint in his eyes told Peter that he knew everything that was going on.

Peter looked to his teacher, seeing their face pale in shock. Having his father show up, clearly friendly with him, should be enough to banish any doubts about him working there, so he was fully prepared to tell him it was nothing and go back with him, but of course Flash had to intervene.

"Mr. Stark! It's a huge honor!" He said, his eyes practically sparkling from glee. Whether the glee was a result of getting to meet his idol or at what he was going to do next, Peter wasn't sure, but either way him starting a conversation with his dad surely wasn't going to end well. "I just wanted to let you know that Peter here said that he lived here. Is that true?"

He had a huge grin on his face, although it looked malicious when he turned to smirk at Peter. He expected Tony to scoff, say of course not and possibly ban Peter from the building, but little did he know that conversation was definitely not going to go that way. First of all, Tony wouldn't be that harsh with a teen unless they had done something particularly harmful. And secondly, Peter was literally his adopted son, although of course Flash didn't know this.

"Of course it is! His bedroom's right by mine!" Tony said, all smiles and authenticity. It was the truth, just as Peter had said earlier. "Is there... anything else?" He asked, his smile turning colder as he turned to meet Flash's eyes.

"Oh, no, I guess," He said, disappointed. Peter honestly didn't know how he had even taken everything so far, especially after Tony had came all the way down for Peter. The elevator dinged again as it passed by the floors, but it sounded a lot louder than it had before. Peter swayed slightly on his feet, not feeling so well, but thankfully his father was right by his side to loop his arm around his shoulder and leave him away.

"Well, if that's all, I'll be taking Pete back to rest up." Tony said, glancing around the room one last time, making sure to look at the teacher to make sure they understood. It was a wonder that they hadn't noticed how bad Peter was feeling, but then again it was clear that they didn't even believe Peter about his employment, let alone something as simple as not feeling well.

They walked to the elevator, Peter readjusting his sleeve that was wrapped around his father to cover his web shooters. They were covert enough to pass initial scrutiny but the reveal of his living situation was more than enough, he didn't need to risk exposing himself as Spiderman as well. He glanced hurriedly back before walking through the elevator doors, mouthing that he'd text Ned and MJ later, to which they responded with twin thumbs up.

There'd be hell to pay tomorrow at school, but that was a problem for tomorrow's Peter. Today's Peter was content to be led back up to their living room and relax on the couch with his family without worrying about how other people would think about him. He laid back, resting his feet on the table and thinking back on what had happened earlier. God, the faces of his classmates had been absolutely priceless. He wondered how much better the reaction would be when they found out he was the superhero that most of them looked up to if not outright admired, and if would be worth all of the stress. Well, he's sure they'd find out eventually, and he'd be able to see what would happen when that day came around.

-

A/N (not related to the plot, TL;DR at the end): Hey guys, it's been a while, hasn't it? I do apologize for practically dropping off of the face of the earth, I'm not even going to try and provide an excuse or anything because to tell the truth I really just had no motivation to write, and I'm not even really back in my Marvel phase any more :') Still, I did feel guilty about not finishing this for so long, so I hope that this extra long chapter suffices! I tried to keep the characterization mostly the same as I had written it in previous chapters, but it's been a lot of time since I've last written anything with these characters so it might not be exactly the same. Still, I did try to make sure that this chapter was up to par with the quality of the rest, although it is significantly longer. Anyways, I wanted to thank everyone for your support so far, the amount of attention that this has received is actually astounding even while I've been inactive. I can't guarantee that I'll be updating regularly from now on, or even at all, but this chapter does wrap up the "Sort of Sick" section of this book, so that's good! If I do write more for this book I'll try to not leave off partway through or with a cliffhanger, but I can't guarantee that I'll always be able to update </3 Also happy pride month!! You're all very valid and I love you very much, and I hope that you're able to be proud and comfortable with yourself :)

Tl;DR: This chapter is the end of the "Sort of Sick" arc, and I'm not sure if I'm going to write more for this book, whether it's anytime soon or at all. I appreciate the support and hope you all have a good pride month!