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“Pepper?” Peter asked as he stepped into her office for the first time in two weeks. Recently, they had only seen each other at family dinners or in the odd meeting.
“Yes, honey?” she replied sweetly, not looking up from the document that had recently been handed to her from the legal team.
“Please tell me you didn’t actually sign off on my AcaDec team having a tour here on Friday as a way to congratulate those of us that are graduating.” He collapsed into the seat opposite, sounding outrightly exhausted.
Peter was exhausted. It was only Tuesday, and he was drained. The previous evening had been long, and his patrol hadn’t ended until 4 in the morning, three hours past his curfew. Then he had suffered through the full day of school, and the hour and a half Academic Decathlon practice, before making his own way to the tower. He had stopped by the penthouse to change into one of his suits, and had already been in one excruciatingly pointless meeting.
During practice that afternoon, his teacher Mr Harrington had dropped the bombshell that they were one of the select few teams across the state to have been invited to tour Stark Industries. They were all handed a permission slip and a stack of NDA’s which were required as well. Ned had laughed so hard he cried when he saw Peter’s face, and MJ had just shrugged at him as if it was no big deal.
They knew about his job at SI. Most of the staff at SI knew of his position. Outside of that, it hadn’t been announced. They were waiting. For him to graduate. Which would be an entire three weeks after the trip.
Pepper looked up from the paperwork, eyes soft. “I think Happy was the one to sign off on it. But I probably gave the permission to, yeah.”
“Aww Pep, this is so unfair,” Peter complained. “I thought I could trust you.”
Pepper let out a snort and rolled her eyes. “Kid, you really need to stop picking up Tony’s dramatics. It’s not the end of the world. It’s a good experience for the team, and you could do with seeing the company from a more relaxed perspective. You never switch off while you’re here.”
“But what about the whole CEO thing? Oh and the Avengers? Oh god, what about Spider-Man?” Peter stressed, tugging at his hair.
“It’ll be fine, honey. You need to stop overthinking it. It’s just a field trip.” Pepper said as she stood up. “Now let’s go and make Teresa and Halle in Accounting aware of the new plans for the next quarter before they send me another email that makes me question everything about this company.”
Sunshine
please please please tell me you got the afternoon off
so you can come pick me up after school
harls please tell me you asked Mr Stark for the afternoon off
Cowboy
I did babe, don’t worry
I’ll be waiting outside the school for ya
I’ll even bring snacks for the drive back to my place
Sunshine
you’re the best <3
Cowboy
don’t you forget it
<3
“Texting the boy toy, Parker?” MJ asked with a smirk as she sat beside him on the bus.
“I am yeah. Had to check he’s still coming to get me after what’s about to be the worst field trip ever.” Peter confirmed, pouting slightly.
“You’re so dramatic Pete.” MJ sighed. “I’m just surprised no one has commented about you yet. They rarely see you out of your dorky shirts and ratty jeans, yet here you are in smart casual wear for once. Want to explain that?”
Ned snickered from behind them. “He’s not allowed on the main floors unless he’s being all professional. Miss Potts told him he had to at least wear an ironed shirt.”
She had. Pepper had messaged him the night before, reminding him of the rules where he had to stay as smart and professional as possible even if he was on a field trip. That meant wearing fresh, pressed clothes and not the stuff he wore to school or in Tony’s lab. While he wasn’t going to be working on his trip, the staff would recognise him and he was supposed to be a role model.
No one had commented on Peter’s clothes yet because he had been the first to arrive. Mr Harrington had raised an eyebrow, but had waved him onto the bus nonetheless. Only Ned, Abe, MJ and Brad had arrived so far, and neither Abe nor Brad had looked in Peter’s direction.
Once the entire team had arrived and handed in their permission slips and signed NDA’s, the trip was underway. MJ and Peter spent the journey running through some flashcards for an upcoming final, with Ned sitting besides Betty discussing college plans.
It wasn’t the longest journey, but Peter was fairly exhausted by the time they pulled up outside the tower. It was mostly anxiety really. This was the first time since he had started his training with Pepper that he was going to the tower without the plans already being ingrained into his mind.
There was a lot that could go wrong with the trip. Firstly, he could just outright embarrass himself in front of the staff. That could not happen. He was already struggling with the comments about his age and maturity, he didn’t need to give the few close-minded people any more ammunition.
He also didn’t really want his teammates to learn too much about his job. Most of them had accepted that Peter worked there, with Happy’s presence multiple times a week to drive him around and that one time Pepper Potts herself had stopped by to talk to his principal about missing a day of school to fly to Japan for an investors meeting. He was happy to keep everyone thinking he was an intern. Anything more than that would mean being bombarded with potentially uncomfortable questions, and he didn’t want to deal with that either.
Spider-Man was his biggest worry. His secret identity was sacred, and while there shouldn’t be any reason for it to be leaked, if it was going to happen, the probability was that it would be most likely to happen within the tower. A lot of people there knew of his identity, and there were a few odd ways to pick up on it if someone was looking close enough.
The class were ushered off the bus, and reminded very sharply of the rules and expectations. Peter got a pointed look from his teacher when it came to the part about not splitting apart from the group, which made everyone snicker. They all knew how he was. Even at practice he had a habit of just disappearing.
When they walked inside the building, they were met by a tall woman with a kind smile who had a pink lanyard with her ID card attached to it. She immediately recognised Peter, her eyes widening but not enough for anyone to notice. She introduced herself as Nina, their tour guide for the day and quickly summarised the plan for the trip.
As she was discussing the plans for their lunch break, Peter spotted none other than Harley Keener walking to the reception desk to sign in. He was carrying two cups of coffee, and it took everything in Peter to not groan. Harley had timed it so he would arrive just as Peter did, so he could steal a few seconds of his time and most likely embarrass him in some way.
Trying to hide behind MJ was futile, and Harley immediately made his way over to the group of students. He locked in on Peter, striding over with a cocky smile that Peter wished he could wipe off of him without causing a scene.
“Hey sunshine. Coffee?” Harley held out the cup, tilting his head like a puppy.
Peter couldn’t even pretend to be upset. Not when his boyfriend was there, looking like that. “Thanks, cowboy. I thought I told you to not try and find me today though?”
“I was simply not listening, darlin’.” he shrugged.
Before he could continue, a sharp cough interrupted the moment. “If you’d be so kind as to remain focused on this tour, Mr Parker.”
“Sorry sir.” Peter replied, looking down. “Harls, I’ll see you after school. Now shoo.”
Harley just pecked his cheek before wandering off through the staff security gates. Peter felt the curious stares of his teammates but ignored them, silently begging Nina to continue wherever she had left off.
She handed out ID cards to everyone, each of them generic level one temporary passes. Peter wasn’t given one, and instead he fished out the one from his pocket. It looked the same as the others, but this one was his. It had his name inscribed on it in a red text, as well as a very faint ‘all access’ label underneath. It was more of a way to show he was just like any other staff member than anything. He, Pepper and Tony didn’t actually need their ID cards due to being in FRIDAY’s biometrics system.
Nina explained the different levels of access and why the ID cards looked almost the same for everyone. It was a safety measure, so that people couldn’t target staff with different badges in an attempt to use them to get into departments they didn’t have the clearance to access. That had been Peter’s suggestion, but only Pepper and Happy knew that.
The group passed through security and toured the marketing floor without incident. Peter was left alone by everyone, even the one intern who had looked like they wanted to ask a question. He subtly pointed to the phone in their hand to tell them to message or email him if it was important. By their nod, he assumed that they understood.
It all went less smoothly when Nina mentioned the fact that they were moving on to touring the R&D floors. Specifically M, R and A - MedTech, Robotics and Aeronautics. The team had looked ecstatic to have the chance to go to three of the biggest departments, and Ned looked like he was about to burst at the mention of the Robotics labs. He had been dying to visit ever since Peter had changed roles, and had all but given up on the idea that he’d ever make it to them when Peter admitted that he couldn’t give him the clearance to go without Pepper and Happy also signing off on it.
Aeronautics was their first stop, and Peter managed to hang around at the back of the group. He watched as his friends all got stuck in one of the projects that had been offered to them as a demonstration, and took some time to check in with the team director. He asked how everything was going, apologised for not having time to visit as much as he would like, and offered to help with any outstanding projects at the end of the month when he had his next free day from CEO duties.
Unfortunately, before Peter could finish a conversation about the newly designed jet engine, he was pulled away to the next labs. Mr Harrington had given him a stern look for slipping away from the group, but didn’t mention it. Peter assumed it was because the lab director had seemed to be fairly content in the discussion with Peter, and Mr Harrington wasn’t one to argue with the staff of the company they had been given the opportunity of a lifetime to tour.
The short visit in the Robotics department went similarly, everyone else getting stuck in with the demonstration and intern Q&A while Peter pottered around and quietly checked in with some of the team. At one point, he ended up signing some of the project proposals that sat on Martin’s desk.
He eventually joined the group again, smiling at Nina when she suggested moving the team to the MedTech labs. Peter listened to Ned giddily ramble about how exciting everything had been so far, and how jealous he was of Peter for getting to have free access to the technology at SI whenever he wanted. The scoff from Flash wasn’t unheard, but it went ignored.
Everyone was asked to don some spare lab coats before entering the M labs, Nina explaining that they dealt with some chemicals and it was a requirement to wear basic PPE to enter the floor. No one complained, but Peter wished he had brought his own lab coat. It fit nicely, and it was much more comfortable than the spares from the locker room.
“Mini boss? I thought you were meant to be at school! You aren’t injured again were you? Please tell me I don’t have to ask Harley to drag you back to where you came from.” Malia asked when she saw Peter from the corner of her eye.
“Peter?” When she got no response, she looked up from her work bench and saw that the lab had been infested with high school students, and Peter was rubbing his forehead in stress. “Oh. Sorry Mr Parker. Field trip?”
The other students just blinked at her, looking between their friend and the young intern who seemed to both be friendly with and also a subordinate of Peter.
“Yeah, field trip. And please stop calling me Mr Parker. I’m actually begging you. You’ve been to my apartment and had a movie marathon with me. It’s weird.” Peter begged, hoping that Malia would pick up on the fact that the others didn’t know.
“...Okay… Am I supposed to be part of this tour or can I try and finish this write up before Charles gets here and yells at me again?” Malia asked both Peter and Nina.
“Charles yelled at you?” and “No, we just need Anya, thanks Malia.” were the respective answers.
“Oh I’ll message you about it later, Junior. Go do your field trip stuff, I guess.” Malia waved him off, turning back to her project.
Peter just sighed. He really hoped his fledglings weren’t fighting. They were the best pairing he had seen within any of the departments, and tension between them would more than likely cause distractions to the whole MedTech team.
Awkwardly moving on from the distraction, Anya and Nina explained the importance of the M labs, and explained both the pros and cons of working in them. Nina had been part of the team for a few weeks before landing her real internship, so she had some experience to talk about. However when it came to asking questions, everyone’s eyes were on Peter.
“Why did the intern call you ‘Mini boss’?” Cindy asked. Two or three of the other team members hummed along, also wanting an explanation.
“Inside joke with the interns.” Peter shrugged. He wasn’t about to explain the whole nickname thing, not when it would reveal his true position at SI.
“Who’s Harley?” Brad asked. When Peter looked at him questioningly, he continued. “Malia mentioned someone called Harley.”
Anya huffed a laugh as Peter tried to come up with a way to sidestep the question. “He- he’s Tony Stark's personal intern. He was the one that gave me coffee earlier if you saw that.”
MJ scoffed. “Pete, everyone saw that.”
“Well then you know who he is.” Peter shrugged. It wasn’t like it was anyone else’s business. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to brag about and show off his boyfriend, but he also didn’t want it to be a big deal. The tour was why they were here, was it so difficult to stay on track?
By the grace of god, Nina mentioned lunch and everyone’s attention was back on her. She directed the group out of the lab, thanking Anya for her time, and they all put away their lab coats and collected their belongings.
They made their way up to the cafeteria on the 82nd floor, since it was the biggest in the building. They were given an hour to eat and prepare for the second half of the day, left under Mr Harrington’s care while Nina took her own lunch break.
Before anyone could bombard him with questions, Peter immediately slinked off to see Rai. “Please can I have a large cinnamon latte with oat milk, and a turkey on rye?”
“Sure thing wonder-kid. Coffee first or all together?” Rai asked with the same smile as always.
“Coffee first please.” Peter nodded.
As he waited, he pulled out his work phone and tried to sort through the urgent emails and messages. Many of them he wasn’t the true recipient of, so he deleted them. There were some that he noted he had to look at later, and there was a flagged message from Pepper.
P.Potts
Stop working, kid.
Remember this is your day to see the company in a new light.
I’ll ban you from Tony’s lab if you do any more work today.
Peter let out a loud sigh, switching his phone off. Pepper would take the threat seriously, so Peter had to prevent himself from checking in with the department heads and interns for the afternoon. He had to try and be a regular student for the rest of the day. It would be easier if he didn’t just genuinely enjoy his job. It was exhausting but rewarding. He loved being able to talk to people in different departments, help out, make their days somewhat easier.
“Wow sunshine. Long day?” Harley’s arms snaked around Peter’s waist from behind, his chin resting on Peter’s shoulder.
“Just stressed. Pepper wants me to treat the tour as a break, but I can’t turn off CEO Parker mode.” Peter sighed softly. “And there’s so much at risk too. Like, the others know I’m an intern yeah, but I don’t really want anything else getting out. Not until we make the official announcement.”
“You sound like you’re going to burn out Pete. I know you feel bad for not being always available because of school and the other guy, but it isn’t your job to fix everything in every department. Hell, your job doesn’t really involve being so integrated in any department. You’re running yourself ragged, and even an easy day is stressing you out. I don’t think you’d be as worried if you just let yourself be a student for the day.” Harley said softly, moving to pull Peter into a hug.
“I just wish I could be doing more. I don’t like not being able to help.” Peter murmured, leaning into Harley’s hoodie.
“I know darlin’, I know. But it’s just for the afternoon. I think if you just take the tour like everyone else, you won’t be thinking about your job being revealed as much. It’s going to be okay.”
“Okay.” Peter nodded.
Harley made no move to pull away, and neither did Peter. It was a testament of the brunette’s exhaustion, because normally they refrained from any form of public displays of affection at work. But it did seem like Peter just needed comfort. The trip wasn’t supposed to be stressing him out, but Harley knew that Peter’s mind could run itself into being overwhelmed sometimes, so he wanted to help him stay out of that.
“Junior? I have your lunch.” Rai called, making Peter pull away. He thanked them, collecting his sandwich, before going back to Harley.
“You’re on break, right?”
“Yeah, sunshine.”
“Want to sit with me, Ned and MJ?” Peter offered.
Harley nodded, and let himself be pulled towards the table with Peter’s friends. He noted the presence of some other people, but didn’t mention it. Not when Peter barely blinked at their presence and just fell into the seat.
He gave Harley half of his sandwich, which resulted in a confused glance between Ned and MJ. One sandwich already wasn’t enough for Peter’s metabolism, so half of one definitely wasn’t good enough. Their worry only increased when Peter all but fell asleep as he rested his head on Harley’s shoulder.
Peter’s energy had just drained throughout the day. The stress he had been feeling was exhausting, so taking the break to recover sounded like a good idea. He didn’t even try to maintain a conversation with his friends, instead just using Harley as a human pillow like he had done many times before over the months they had been together.
“Pete?” Harley said softly after a while. Peter just hummed, not moving. “Tony needs me back in the lab. Something about a suit, fire, and a parachute.”
“Spidey suit?” he asked sleepily, rubbing at his eyes to clear them of the blurriness that had accumulated during his not-really-but-also-kind-of nap.
“The new prototype, yeah. I’ll see you after school, okay?”
Peter nodded and squeezed Harley’s hand. “See you later sweetheart.”
Harley gave Peter a short kiss before leaving, which left the table in a sense of shocked silence. When Peter actually took in his surroundings, he noticed that it was no longer just Ned, MJ, Betty and Cindy. No, most of the team had joined them for some sort of conversation he had missed out on, and they were all now staring at him.
“Are you okay?”, “Are you guys together?”, “He works on the Spider-Man suit?!”, “Jesus Peter you look like shit.”, “Pete, please eat these chips before you pass out.”, “How’d you manage to get with him?”, “Parker, who is that?”
Everyone’s questions were asked at once, and Peter just sighed tiredly. “That’s Harley, as I said before. He’s my boyfriend and we met because we both work under Mr Stark. Yes, he’s working on the Spider-Man tech, no I can’t tell you any more than that. I’m fine, just tired. It’s been a long week.”
Silence again, until MJ pushed her chips forward to him. “Eat, Parker.”
He did as instructed. He knew better than to fight MJ, especially when she looked a mix of concern and frustration. He was just tired. The trip was going fine, he just wanted it to be over. The sooner it was over, the sooner he could go back to Harley’s and snuggle with him as they watched a film and fall asleep.
Sooner than Peter would have liked, the tour continued. They wandered through the legal department, listening to some of the team leaders discuss things like trademarking and confidentiality. One of them had tried to start up a conversation with Peter, but he had shut them down with a polite smile and a promise to answer any email as soon as he could.
They were taken through the Avengers museum, with small details about each of the original 6 recited to them. Then, they were given a chance to look around at all of the other exhibits. Peter let himself be pulled around by Ned, who was doing the talking for the both of them. When they reached the Spider-Man exhibit, Ned rambled about the original suit and spoke about how much better the new one was. Peter just nodded along, barely taking in any of the words.
The rest of the trip was spent in a daze. Peter honestly didn’t know how he went from the museum back to school. He didn’t recall getting on the bus, let alone sitting down on the steps with MJ as everyone dispersed.
It really wasn’t a bad field trip. Nothing had happened, not really. No one knew about him being the CEO in training, nothing about the Avengers had been leaked, he hadn’t been embarrassed. It was honestly one of his most successful field trips to date.
“Hey, sunshine. You ready to go?” Harley was crouched in front of Peter, cupping his cheek with his hand.
“Hm?” Peter replied, not entirely aware that he had managed to get back to the school.
“He kind of zoned out at like 1.30. Me and Ned tried bringing him back, but I think whatever made him stressed just overwhelmed him. He was like this back when Natasha and Bucky went on a mission a few months ago before he met you. He needs some food and some sleep.” MJ said.
She had seen this a few times since becoming his friend. It wasn’t the scariest thing. No, that was him bleeding out in her bedroom after he crashed through her window at 3AM with a stab wound to the stomach. This was just a rare occurrence.
Peter went into this kind of headspace when he got stressed to a point where he couldn’t separate himself from it. He had done it during their midterms, scaring the hell out of Ned. He had done it a few times when his closest friends on the Avengers went on missions that turned out to be more dangerous than expected. He did it when he pushed himself to the brink of exhaustion. It wasn’t common, but it wasn’t hard to deal with.
Mr Harrington hadn’t even noticed. He had just been glad that Peter had stopped trying to leave the group. Flash had commented on Peter’s quietness, but had been told to leave him alone by MJ. Nina had noticed something, but her worries were waved off. Peter just needed some time, and he’d be back to normal.
“C’mon darlin’. Let’s go take a nap.” Harley said, carefully pulling Peter to his feet.
“Harls?”
“Yeah, sunshine. You’re staying with me tonight, remember? You asked me to take the afternoon off so we could binge watch that medical drama show since Pepper didn’t want you to come back to work after your tour.” Harley explained.
“Oh, right. Yeah.” Peter shook his head. “I think I zoned out. I need to answer some emails before we actually settle in for the afternoon.”
MJ and Harley shared concerned looks. “No, Pete. It can wait for tomorrow.”
“But-”
“Nope! C’mon, there’s ice cream at the apartment waiting for us.” Harley smiled, pressing a kiss into Peter’s curls. “Work can wait, our date afternoon cannot.”
“Okay.” Peter smiled. “I guess the emails can be answered tomorrow.”
“Perfect!”