"Hey, Pete, before you go," Tony says suddenly, and then pauses as Peter sticks his head into the room, "I don't want you to be surprised so I'm telling you now. Your class is taking a field trip here in January."

"Here?" Peter's eyes widened in surprise.

"Yeah. There'll be a little tour of like the museum-y stuff and some of the less-restricted labs and workshops."

"Oh… okay. See you next weekend!"

"Uh huh."

The Sunday Before the Trip

Peter and the Avengers were sitting scattered around the living room of the compound as they usually do after a morning workout and before lunch. A few were playing video games, a few were on their phones, and a few were fighting with each other.

"So tomorrow at that thing, I don't need to show up or anything, right?" Clint asked, cutting off Bruce who was trying to explain to him how unhealthy drinking so much coffee is.

"Not if you don't want to. It's not required or anything, but Bruce and I were planning on popping in to talk science. I'm sure they'd be interested in the mechanics of your bow or your variety of arrows, though, if you wanted to say hi," Tony told him. A mischievous look appeared on Clint's face.

"Yeah. I'll do something like that," he grinned.

"Peter, what do your classmates know about your internship?" Steve inquired.

"Well, you know Ned can't keep his mouth shut so they know I work here and I'm here relatively often and I know all of you guys," Peter answered.

"Ha!" Sam snorted. "Ned. I like that kid. He's a character." The others nodded and "Mm-hm"ed in agreement. Peter had Ned over about once a month. Once Tony got them the LEGO Architecture; Avengers Compound set. That was a fun weekend. Ned also had no trouble telling everyone slightly embarrassing stories about Peter, which Peter didn't appreciate but the others did.

"So you'd be cool with me saying hi if I see you?" Bucky clarified.

"Yeah, that's fine. Just don't do anything embarrassing."

"Us? Embarrass you?" Sam joked. As Peter rolled his eyes the oven dinged.

"Finally. Time for my next pot of coffee," Clint said.

The Next Morning

"You need to pack a lunch, right?" May asked Peter. He was sitting at the table, shoveling oatmeal into his mouth.

"Not anymore. We have leftover lasagna from last night at the compound. Bucky said he'll heat it up and get it to me."

"Well that's nice of him. But a building full of super soldiers and you can't finish dinner?" May laughed.

"We had, like, 15 pounds of lasagna plus some vegetables and bread," Peter . Aunt May chuckled at the outlandish amount of food.

"I'm glad I don't have to cook for all of them. Not that you don't eat like a super soldier sometimes," she smiled.

"Haha. Yeah." Peter attempted to cover the sudden panic that overtook him momentarily. May still didn't know about Spider-Man. "Anyway," he continued, changing the subject, "I should get going. Don't want to be late and not get to go on the trip!" May kissed him goodbye and then he threw on his winter coat and hurried out the door, mentally scolding himself acting suspiciously.

He jogged down the stairs to the floor level of the apartment building, crossed through the lobby area, and pushed open the doors. He was hit with a jarring gust of wind. Peter put up the hood of his jacket and lowered his head against the breeze. Snowflakes sprinkled down but didn't stick to the pavement or roads. Music played through his earbuds, blocking out the city noise and roar of the wind.

The bus stop wasn't far and he was early so he had time to think about how to deal with the trip, the Avengers, and Flash for the day. He had told everyone the day prior that his class knew about his internship, but he hadn't mentioned that many people didn't believe it. He didn't want anyone to know at first, but after Ned started spreading the word and people started poking fun at him for lying about it he was looking forward to putting the debate at rest. But when he does see the Avengers, should he speak to them professionally? That is how an intern would address them, right? But he doesn't want it to seem to them that he doesn't want his classmates to know they're pretty close because that might hurt their feelings so maybe he should just be normal. And then there's Flash, who was the number one disbeliever. He was going to be terrible, as usual. But maybe not. He might show off for the Avengers. At that point, the bus arrived, cutting off his train of thought.

Peter shrugged his backpack higher onto his shoulder, and climbed the steep stairs up to the bus. Immediately, he looked for Ned to make sure his best friend wasn't absent. Ned looked up and smiled, seeming very jittery with the tour just a few hours away. Peter walked to his seat behind Ned, shimmying around bags and bodies in the aisle of the bus. Finally, he slid across the stiff bus bench to the window.

Placing his bag between his legs, he pulled out his phone and went to Messages. He opened the ongoing conversation with Tony but hesitated before typing. He didn't know what to write. He didn't even know why he wanted to message him. Okay, so maybe he did know why. Peter was getting more and more anxious by the second. He wanted to be reassured that the field trip would go off without a hitch. But of course it would. If he could defeat the Vulture, he could get through a field trip.

The bus pulled up to the school and after getting off, Peter went to Ned.

"Dude, this is so awesome!" Ned told him excitedly. "We get to go see the Avengers and prove to Flash that you know them."

"Yeah, but I don't want to make it seem like I'm bragging or drawing attention to the fact. I don't think Steve and his righteousness would appreciate it."

"I thought you said Steve wasn't anything like Captain America."

"He's not, it was a joke. The other day Bucky made the most crude and inappropriate joke I've ever heard and he laughed so hard. He likes to say that Cap is an army but he was in the army. I guess in the army they use dirty jokes to make the time pass."

The boys got inside the building now and headed to their lockers, walking faster than they normally would. Peter needed to go to his locker so they stopped for him to ditch his backpack. There wasn't a reason for most kids in his class to bring their bags but he had brought study material for academic decathlon which was taking place after school. He put in his combo and swung open the door as Ned chattered on about the day's event. Peter tossed the bag in, not even bothering to hang it on the hook.

"Peter, hurry up, we're going to be late," Ned urged.

"No we're not, the bus doesn't leave for another 30 minutes," Peter said exasperatedly after checking his watch. He closed his locker and the boys continued their fast walk down the hallway to Mr. Harrington's room when just the person Peter didn't want to see yelled from behind them.

"Hey Penis! Today when we see Ironman will he speak to you? It'll kinda suck for you if we all found out that you're a liar."

"Is it just me, or were those not even insults?" Ned whispered to Peter.

"Yeah. Who knows, maybe he's gotten tired of his old ways."

"Yo Parker! I'm talking to you!" Flash shouted, pushing his way to Ned and Peter. "I can't wait to meet your personal friend Captain America."

"Yeah, well, I-I kind of know him as Steve. Steve Rogers so, ah…" Peter ran his fingers through his hair reflexively, as he usually does when in an awkward conversation.

"Just because you googled his name doesn't mean you're friends." Flash fake-smiled apologetically and shrugged. "Though I do have to admit, if there was an Avenger you were friends, which is totally cockamamie, it'd be Captain America. You're both annoying dorks. If I have to watch another one of his motivational videos I will kill myself."

"Captain America isn't an annoying dork!" Ned said defensively.

"'Hi. I'm Captain America, and whether you're in the classroom or on the-" Flash started in a mocking voice before getting cut off by Michelle.

"Do you think I could get Pepper Potts alone long enough to ask her a few questions?" she wondered.

"I'm sure she'd be open to it," Peter confirmed.

"Oh, you're friends with the CEO of a multibillion dollar company too?" Flash asked.

"Flash, shouldn't you be putting massive amounts of gel in your hair right now or something?" Michelle interjected. Flash glared at her but did leave. Peter and Ned agreed one day at the compound that he's probably afraid of her.

"We had that handled," Peter said to Michelle.

"No you didn't," she replied. Ned looked at Peter and shrugged as if to say 'she's kind of right.'

When they got to Mr. Harrington's classroom, most of the rest of the AP science was already there, talking loudly about the wonders they'd see.

"Do you think Thor will be there?' A blonde girl who was friends with Liz was asking a brown haired boy.

"Did you know the compound is two square miles?" a boy asked his friend.

"Do you think I could ask Mr. Rogers about what it was like growing up poor in the '40s with immigrant parents?" Michelle asked Peter.

"I… My first reaction is no, but it is Steve we're talking about here. He'd probably love to give a five minute speech on how important civil rights are and how immigrants have always been treated poorly even though the large majority of citizens are from immigrant families," Peter said in a comically deep voice causing Ned to giggle. Mr. Harrington looked up to see the trio.

"Ah, this looks like about everyone. Let's take roll," he called. Flash sauntered in just in time and took his seat in the middle of the room. He took roll call in his usual slow and monotonous voice and it seemed to take ages to the eager students. At last the final name was called. Mr. Harrington told the kids to calmly leave their seats and quietly go to the bus so as to not disturbing any classes, but everyone was already nearly at the door by the time he said "seats."

Ned and Peter sat together with Michelle a seat behind them alone. The bus was extremely loud. When the teacher got on the bus with a few parent chaperones he tried to quiet everyone down but gave up rather quickly. The bus started and the hour long trip to the Avengers Compound commenced.

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! I know, it's pretty long for in intro chapter but whenever I read a fanfic I want it to last forever so I'm trying to give you as much as possible. I won't upload the next until probably this weekend. Sorry! Thanks for reading and comment what you like or don't like.