Hiding in the Shadows

Chapter 16 - It Was My Fault

"So you think you're going back to school today?" Tony asked me, finding me in the kitchen the following morning.

"Yes, I already told people I had just a stomach bug, I'm sure they're expecting me back today or tomorrow. You wouldn't want them to get suspicious, would you?" I asked as I continued eating my breakfast.

"I already told you, I'm not letting you off of these grounds until we find out who hacked my files and what data they took."

I rolled my eyes, "nothing has happened since they hacked you, maybe they didn't find anything."

"Or maybe they found out about you and know that they can't touch you in here so are just waiting for you to return to school."

"Do you really think that's the case? Besides, if you weren't able to track them in the past two days, what makes you think you'll miraculously find them today? At this rate you might as well drop me out of school!"

"This is not up for discussion, (Y/N), you are not going to school until I found who's responsible and torture them to find out what they found!" Tony shouted back, a crowd of Avengers forming around the kitchen, watching our fight.

I was oblivious to their presence as I finally lost all control, "It's my fault, alright?! I was the hacker!"

Tony did a double take and stared at me in disbelief, "you-you what?"

I sighed as I sank into one of the chairs around the island, "you wouldn't tell me the truth about one of my best friends and I didn't like being kept in the dark, so I took matters into my own hands. My only mistake was that you added an extra security system since the last time I hacked you and I wasn't expecting it."

"Since the last time? (Y/N), how many times have you hacked me?"

I shrugged, "I used to do it for fun, to see if I still had what it took to get into your files. I usually don't really look for any information, I don't really care about your secrets unless it involves someone know."

"You had the entire Avengers compound on lockdown for two days because you wanted to find out more about your friend? I'm not quite sure if I'm more angry that you would do something like that or proud because you managed to do it."

"I would say angry because I should have checked to make sure you hadn't installed any new barriers before I began hacking, but I figured you wouldn't have and then as a result tripped an alarm."

"But I've spent the past two days trying to track you and it's resulted in absolutely nothing. That takes a lot of skill, in addition to what was needed to hack me," Tony reasoned, but then his face turned serious. "But don't hack me again or there will be consequences. Now go off to school before you're late and don't tell Peter what you found out. Also he doesn't know about you, despite his connection with me so keep that in mind."

I raised my eyebrow at him, offended that he thought he needed to tell me that, before replying sarcastically, "well there goes all of my plans, I wanted to walk right up to him shouting 'what's up, Spider-Man? My father, Tony Stark, says hi' for the whole school to hear."

"Hey, don't use that tone with me after the stunt you just pulled."

...

"(Y/N), how are you feeling?" Peter asked as he approached me at my locker once I got to school.

I smiled, touched that he seemed to care about me so much, "I'm feeling a lot better, it was just a twenty four hour thing. Though I wasted most of the day sleeping and now I can't get any of that time back."

"Well you were either going to waste a bunch of time sleeping or a bunch of time at school if you weren't sick, so I think you would have been pretty even. Why hasn't your dad let you skip grades? You are certainly brilliant enough to, but instead he makes you pretend to learn things that you already know."

I blushed, "thanks Peter, but I really don't think I'm as smart as you make me out to be. You should meet my father, he's a literal genius, and I also know this girl who's a bit younger than we are but is probably the smartest person on the planet. However, with what they are teaching here, I would've like to have graduated early, but my dad was afraid that I wouldn't be able to make as many friends if I jumped grades."

"That doesn't seem like it would be a problem, you were essentially given an invite to the popular kids on your first day, despite you being a thousand times smarter. And you're so considerate and kind and beautiful, I'm sure you would have no trouble making friends regardless of what you dad had decided."

"Peter, I-I don't know what to say," I stuttered, my cheeks deepening in color. What was wrong with me? I am a Stark, I shouldn't be acting like this! I knew I was beautiful and smart, I don't need other people telling me this, especially not Peter. Why am I getting so flustered by his compliments?

Luckily I was saved by Ned joining our group, "hey, (Y/N), it's good to see you back at school, we missed you yesterday."

"I missed you guys too," I smiled, trying to recover from embarrassment. "That was pretty much the only thing I missed at this school."

"Really? Not even showing up everyone in literally every one of your classes?"

I shrugged, "well, it kinda gets old. Besides, I sometimes have trouble showing up the two of you. And you should see MJ in English, my goal is to get a grade that is higher than hers on an essay before the end of the year, but I have a feeling that that goal will go unaccomplished."

"Yeah, I'll see to that," a voice from behind me commented, making me turn around and see MJ standing there with a ghost of a smile on her face.

-

(A/N): I'm honestly so exhausted right now, I just need one day that I can lie home in bed and not have to do anything, but that's not going to happen anytime soon. Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter!