Chapter five

14.

Four days have passed since Peter met the Murder twins. Nothing special happened in those, but he did get pretty close to them in barely four days. The spies were pretty cool, even though Peter had small doubts in the beginning. They were on the opposite side of the Civil War, after all.

Ms Natasha took it upon herself to help him with some fighting techniques, while Mr Barton helped him with better aiming and parkour during Peter's free time. He also offered Peter how to dismantle a gun too, but he declined the offer.

He preferred to punch them out of the Bad Guy's hand and web them up, out of reach for anyone but the police when the webbing had dissolved. Peter still panicked every time he had to hold one, let alone disarm one. No guns for him, thank you very much.

Tony was reluctant about the whole situation at first, still not being fully trustworthy about either of them. Mostly Redhead. But he eventually decided that it'd be good if the spies helped him out a little. As far as Tony hated to admit it, he couldn't help Peter with everything, and those two were overqualified in almost every field. It was a good thing. Scary, but good. At least in this situation. Even though they seemed to be thoroughly assessing Peter. Why? Tony didn't know. But then again, those two were creepy, and weird, and seemed to assess everyone they'd met. It made the engineer's skin crawl with paranoia and distrust, but he reminded himself that they always have been like that. So he tried to ignore it as much as possible, for his own sake. Tony just hoped that those two were the only Avengers, apart from him and Rhodey, that would know about Peter's extracurricular activities.

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It was a Tuesday afternoon. The school bell went off, and Midtown High was now done with school for the day. Peter rushed out of the classroom and into the hallway. He managed to dodge a few papers and ignored nasty remarks thrown at him on the way out. Ever since Flash told everyone how he never got the papers for the trip, people started picking on him more, but Peter honestly didn't care. It was just your average Tuesday for him, literally. He sighed at another remark that was made and he slammed his locker shut. Peter quickly made his way to the exit, eager to get away.

Peter was greeted with the spring air right after he exited the school. There was a slight breeze that slightly made him shiver, but the sun shone. It was nice weather; not too warm and not too cold.

Peter readjusted his backpack strap and hopped off the stairs, looking for the familiar slick black Audi car and spotting it easily. Peter grinned and speed-walked to the car.

"Hi, Happy!" He greeted the older man as he got in. Peter closed the doors and all of the outside noise immediately quietened. Happy looked through the rear mirror and grunted as a greeting to Peter before driving away.

The teenager perked up as if suddenly remembering something. "You won't believe what happened today."

He started babbling to the chauffeur while struggling to fiddle with his seatbelt. That one was always a little annoying. He altered between telling his story and occasionally stopping to focus on the task at hand. He could use his super strength for a little support, but Peter feared that he would ruin the whole seat. He'd avoid that.

"Anyway, so the girl ran against the wall and those vials just exploded. They exploded, Happy!"

Peter gave a final tug to the seatbelt and it finally got in its place. He let out a small "Aha!", and then focused on telling the rest of his story to the older man.

"So Mrs Garcia stormed in and started ranting in Spanish. I have no clue what she said because it was too fast, but going by the faces of the people that do speak Spanish, she seemed pretty mad. She started pacing and just lectured everyone while we waited for both a chemistry teacher and the janitor to show up. Mrs Garcia was so mad that her voice was as high as a chipmunk."

Happy only grunted occasionally to show that he was listening. He didn't look as amused as Peter was, but he didn't roll up his window so Peter took that as a win anyway and continued his babbling.

It went on like this for quite a while, Peter telling his story, getting more excited by the second, and Happy grunting and cursing at fellow drivers.

By the time Peter was finishing his story, he had a shit-eating grin on his face. "Then she just fell off the stairs because the eagle hit her. Now we don't have a Spanish class for two weeks. Two weeks of freedom!"

Happy frowned and briefly turned around before focusing on the road ahead of him again. "Eagle?" Peter's grin suddenly dropped and got replaced by a deadpan look. The teenager nodded seriously before he replied. "Yes, eagle."

Happy didn't question him, which was good. Peter didn't feel the need to elaborate. The exhaustion of the school day finally seemed to dawn on him. So he decided to grab his earphones and English assignment to work on until he'd reach the Tower.

Happy noticed the lack of talking after a few minutes and looked through the rear mirror. Seeing that Peter didn't show any indication of talking anymore, he closed the window, separating the two.

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The black Audi got to a stop. "Alright kiddo, we're here."

Peter looked up from his assignment, expecting to see the underground garage where the private entrance was located, but instead was met with a crowded pavement next to the main entrance of Stark Industries.

Peter paused his music, removed one earphone and frowned. "Hey, Happy? Why are we at the main entrance?" Happy looked at Peter through the rear mirror of the car, and mumbled annoyed: "Banner let a radioactive stink bomb explode in the private elevator and now it's smelling so bad that people pass out from it. Even F.R.I.D.A.Y was complaining. It will take days before that damn smell is gone." Then, "Just walk inside, past the reception, and go straight to the security checkpoints. I would've walked with you, but I have to pick Potts and Boss up in about - " Happy made a show of checking his watch. " - Right now. So you better get your ass in that building." he finished. Peter looked at the man, soaking the information up like a sponge, trying his best to remember everything. Happy looked, well, not happy, given the fact he was the one to find a solution for this whole ordeal. Having to make sure that a bunch of famous weirdos wouldn't get in the way of a bunch of nerds and geeks working was a tough job. Peter knew that, of course, and he tried his very best not to laugh right at Happy's miserable face.

So he just stuffed his papers in his bag, left the car, waved Happy goodbye, and then headed to the front entrance. Peter has never gone through the front entrance, always only having to use the private entrance, so he didn't know anyone there. He hoped that wouldn't be an issue.

Of course, it was.

Peter walked through the unfamiliar slide doors and was greeted by a crowd of employees he didn't know. There was a lady at the reception desk who was frowning at her computer, people walking around, and security everywhere. It was so alive, so why was he anxious?

Peter suddenly felt like he didn't belong there. Everyone had something to do; from cleaning the windows to making sure this place wouldn't go to high heaven.

Everyone looked well dressed and composed, too. It made Peter a little self-aware of his slightly slumping posture and his clothes with some dirt stains on them. He stopped walking and gave himself a critical look, frowning. Peter scoffed and straightened his posture more. He sighed, deciding to give that up and looked around for the security checkpoints instead. If only it wasn't so crowded… Aha! He found them.

Peter readjusted his backpack strap and walked towards them slowly, trying not to earn any stares. But his Parker luck would never have allowed him that. He felt someone's eyes burning on the back of his head. He turned around, only to see the receptionist's desk where the lady was staring at him with curious but suspecting eyes, no longer frowning at her computer but at him. Peter remembered his manners and gave her a small wave. The woman tried to look intimidating, but the blood quickly rushing to her cheeks just made her look embarrassed. Which she probably was. Peter made a bee-line to the security checkpoints trying to ignore some of the stares.

After what felt like an eternity, he finally reached them. Peter gave a relieved sigh and grabbed his phone out of his pocket. Now he could finally get into Mr Stark's penthouse in peace.

He bumped into someone.

That someone was a security guard.

Peter squeaked and dropped his phone. He quickly grabbed it from the floor. How can his phone go through so much and yet survive?

Peter sighed and looked up at the person he bumped into. It was a tall and well-built woman, with brown eyes and wearing a dark blue hijab that was matching her uniform. She looked like she was in her late 20s. She was wearing a dark red badge with the number one plastered on it, along with the pronouns she/her and a name: Faiza Kellouh.

"I'm so sorry, miss! I didn't mean to bump into you." Peter felt his blood rushing to his cheeks when Faiza just smiled. "It's okay, kiddo. No worries. Why are you here? Did you lose your parents?" Faiza responded, giving a quick look into the reception hall, in search of a worriedly looking couple.

Peter felt offended at being called a kid. He was almost seventeen, thank you very much. And also, assuming that he had parents? In this economy? How dare she. Peter liked her.

Remembering that Faiza was waiting for an answer, he replied. "Erm, no. I'm supposed to go up there. I work here." Peter said, pointing to the lift behind the gates of the security checkpoints, smiling nervously.

Faiza's smile faded and got replaced with a frown. "Sorry, but you look a little too young to be either working or interning here kiddo. And that area is only for employees, guests and interns of Stark Industries. So unless you have a pass to prove that you work here, I'm afraid I can't let you in." She looked empathetic yet annoyed. She has probably dealt with multiple people trying to sneak in.

Now okay, she was just doing her job. Which was good. But Peter needed his sugar, and no one could deprive him of his sugar. And a pass? What pass was she talking about?

He seemed to have voiced those questions out loud because Faiza's frown deepened. "You don't know about the passes? I'm sorry kid, but I'll have to call your parents. You shouldn't be here alone. We can get you to the front desk and wait for them to pick you up."

Peter got a little annoyed now. "No, I have to pass through. Can I please pass through?" He pressed. Faiza was about to say something when another security guard joined them and beat her to it. "Listen, kid. You heard her. This area is not for you. Now leave, or we'll have to do it by force and I don't want that."

The second voice belonged to a tall and broad man, looking like he was in his mid 30's. He had black hair and green eyes. He was caramel skinned and had a heavy Brooklyn accent. He too had a dark red badge, but it said 4.1 instead. It was accompanied by the pronouns he/him and the name: Alejandro Ramirez.

He looked like he wasn't up for dealing with Peter. Or just any unauthorised person trying to get through. Peter was not, thank you very much.

He waved Faiza away, signalling that he had it under control. She looked reluctant but followed her orders and went back to her station anyway, giving her attention to the tour group waiting for her.

Several people were staring at the scene they'd created now, and Peter just wanted to hide in the penthouse and never get out again. He sighed. "Look, I'm allowed to go up there. I don't have a pass, but I swear I have the clearance to get into that elevator."

Alejandro didn't like that answer. He tensed his jaw and gave him an imitating look. "And how am I supposed to believe that? Why do you want to go up there? We've had a lot of people coming up with the same story as you, niño. It's getting annoying." Alejandro looked exasperated now.

Peter sighed for what felt like the 100th time that day and tried to find a way, any way to explain that he had the clearance to go up when another voice interrupted him.

"You do not have the clearance to question The Kid. Please let him through immediately." Alejandro looked like he would've jumped through the ceiling if he wasn't a trained guard. Peter could honestly relate to that, bar from the trained guard part of course. F.R.I.D.A.Y knew how to give someone a good scare. But he didn't have the time for that. He needed to greet his Lord and Saviour of the day.

"Hi, F.R.I.D.A.Y!" Peter waved to where he thought F.R.I.D.A.Y was. "Hello, Kid." F.R.I.D.A.Y chirped.

Peter turned back to Alejandro with a shit-eating grin on his face. "Can I pass through now?" He batted innocent eyes at him. Alejandro nodded, looking like he'd seen a ghost, and let him through. Peter silently snickered when he saw Faiza's similar face. He entered the lift, wanting to be ready to have some peace.

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Peter's day went like usual when he finally had his sugar obtained and consumed.

To sum that day up: school wasn't all too productive that day, and nothing much happened when Peter got home, either, bar those stares and that whole scene with the guards. He did some homework, ate dinner, patrolled a little, and got Spanish tutoring from a certain hypocrite. He got home around 10:30 pm, took a quick shower and went straight to bed.

He wondered if he would see them again. But that doesn't matter. Tomorrow would be his first day at his internship and Peter couldn't wait.

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F.R.I.D.A.Y woke Peter up at 05:30 am.

Groaning, he dragged himself out of bed and got himself ready for the day. He put some clothes on, brushed his teeth, and packed his bag. When he finished, he went to the kitchen - penthouse this time - to obtain his breakfast. Mr Stark was in Hong Kong and would return this afternoon, so Peter made himself cereal and coffee instead of eating whatever Mr Stark would have made him.

Having his breakfast finished, he made his way to the lift, going through a new entrance Happy arranged. (really, how did he manage to take care of that so fast? It hasn't been even a day.), Now he was ready to face school.

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It was the last two periods of the day and Peter was currently in PE talking with Ned. It was a hot day, which meant that they were outside on the field instead of the gym inside the school. That gave them more of an opportunity to freely chat about certain questioning topics instead of sports. They were the only two sitting on the benches at the tribune, and they took full advantage of that.

"- So he jumped off that high platform and did a pretty cool flip. The landing was pretty damn cool at first too, but he forgot that he was spinning at an insanely high speed for five minutes straight before that, so he swayed when he landed and tried to walk it off. But then -" Peter stifled some giggles. "He just - he just full-on walked into that huge pool of paint!" Peter burst into a giggle fit again and grabbed his phone out of his pocket. He opened his gallery, aggressively shoving his phone in Ned's hand to show him a picture of a pouting Hawkeye covered in bright red paint - and somehow covered in feathers. Ned saw the picture and then burst out laughing. Peter joined him.

However, they both jumped at least a metre out of their skin when they heard a curious third voice out of nowhere. "A pool full of paint?" Peter slowly turned around and saw his friend, MJ. Peter's eyes were open comically wide and he was gaping like a fish trying to find an excuse. MJ found it funny. Ned too, apparently, since he laughed even harder than he was before. It looked like Peter wanted to say something, but a baseball flew against his head right before he had the chance to do so.

Ned laughed so hard that he fell off the bench.

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"So… when can you hang out?" Ned asks, dodging a paper being thrown at him. They were now done with school and were getting their stuff out of their lockers. Peter answered but didn't turn to Ned. "I'm not sure, but I hope soon. I have my internship today. And Happy is somewhere, so I'm walking to the tower." Peter grabbed his jacket and closed his locker, lowering his voice. "I'll probably just swing over there." Ned closed his locker, and now they were on their way out of school.

"Didn't Mr Stark forbid you from going, you know, right after school?" Ned mimicked a 'thwip' sound while Peter dodged someone bumping into him. "Yeah, but the old man isn't here. And besides, I need to hurry." Peter shrugged.

They left the building. "See you tomorrow?" Peter raised his hand for their handshake. Ned complied with a smile. "Of course man. Let me know how it went!" Ned said, walking towards the car waiting for him. He almost fell and yelled a quick: "I'm okay!" to Peter. He laughed at his friend and walked to an alley, ready to change into his alter ego. It wasn't like he would patrol; he was in a hurry.

Changing quickly, he climbed on the roof of the building he was next to. He shot a web and quickly fell into his rhythm again. He knew the way back to the tower like the back of his hand, so he had time to think about the internship he was supposed to have in 45 minutes while he let his body move on auto-pilot.

He should take a quick shower and change into a more formal set of clothing. He was pretty sure he would get one of those stereotypical white lab coats too. He'd look like a crazy scientist.

Peter dodged a car right before it hit him. Should he try to tame his curls? Or should he go more naturally? He'd see.

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Peter opened the window of his bedroom, trying to stay quiet. It wasn't a necessity anymore since the room didn't let any noise out, and there wasn't an Aunt May to hide his secret from, but he did it on instinct nonetheless. He quietly crawled on the ceiling, closing the window. Then he dropped to the floor, threw his backpack somewhere, and let out a relieved sigh.

"Hello there."

Peter was so startled that he jumped back on the ceiling, and quite literally hissed. He looked down at the culprit, ready to confront them, and gulped when he saw Mr Stark. He got caught in the act. He must evade or he'd die. He jumped down, with a safe distance between Mr Stark and himself. "General Kenobi. I didn't expect to see you here. What are you up to on this fine afternoon? I have had a rather not interesting and not rulebreaking day." Peter mocked a perfect British accent and stared at Mr Stark, his lenses portraying innocence; which he was not. But the old man didn't have to know.

Mr Stark replied in a mock accent of Thor. "I haven't been up too much, Man of Spiders. I have just returned from the Hong of Kong when the mistress F.R.I.D.A.Y - its creator is rather intelligent if I had to say so - gave me this message. It appeared that a certain Spiderling had tried to sneak its way into the Tower of Stark. Interesting, do you not?" The inventor raised an accusatory and challenging eyebrow at Peter, but Peter knew when to surrender. This was a battle lost. He'd have to face his punishment and hope to not receive the death penalty (no playing Mario Kart for a month).

Mr Stark noticed this and just sighed. "We'll talk about this later. You have - " he made a dramatic gesture while checking his watch. Do all adults do that? " - exactly 25 minutes to do whatever teenagers do getting ready to blow something up." With that the brunette turned around, ready to leave. "Oh, wait." Mr Stark turned back and threw something right at Peter's face. "That's your lab coat. Just go to the first floor of the R&D labs and report yourself. There should be a desk with the receptionist of the department right after you get out of the elevator. You'll get another pass, but it won't have a chip because it can mess with F.R.I.D.A.Y. So leave your actual pass wherever you leave it, I just remembered that I never gave you one. I will take care of that. Anyway, just wear that one while you're interning." This time Mr Stark made his way really to leave. ("Thanks, Mr Stark. You're the best!" "You can't flatter your way out of this, Ometto." "I had to try sir!")

Peter sighed and dropped the coat on his bed. A month without Mario Kart? He. would. rather. die. He could find a way to get his privileges back. Guilttrip the old man or something. Maybe give the spies some puppy eyes. Doesn't matter, he will get it back. Peter changed out of his suit, got a quick shower, and changed into some more formal clothing; all the while thinking about how he was planning to get those privileges back. Man, teenage life is hard and Peter deserved more. Having that decision made, Peter walked with refound confidence into the lift, ready to start his internship.

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When Peter got out of the lift, all of it had evaporated instantly.

As soon as he showed himself, all eyes immediately fell on Peter, tracking his every movement.

Again.

This floor may be full with offices, but they still have windows. For some reason. Meaning that everyone in their office could still see Peter. Meaning that Peter was the centre of attention again.

It felt like they were hawks eyeing their prey. Peter gulped, trying to ignore them, and made a bee-line for the receptionist's desk. Does everyone at SI have a staring problem? Is it a requirement? Or did they develop one after Barnes visited the Tower? Maybe he gave them a speed class staring as a condition of the pardon, who knew? Peter slightly snorted at that thought, as he halted by the desk.

There was a man, no, a young adult, teenager? behind it. Well, at least around the 20's or a little younger. He looked confident, but his body language screamed introverted and shy. He had dirty blond hair, and brown eyes, and from the way he was sitting, he looked taller than he let on. He had a yellow badge, with the number one accompanied by the pronouns they/them. Peters' eyes widened a little, realising his mistake. Peter cursed himself and inspected the badge further. Their name was Sam... Dijk? Now how is that pronounced? Peter narrowed his eyes. He'd ask Sam later if he ever got the chance to speak with them again.

Behind Sam stood another person. It was a fairly short woman, who looked in her 40's. She was black and chubby. She had black greying hair - which was short and curly - and brown eyes, which were giving Peter an assessing and narrowing look. She had a light green badge, with the number 3.6 on it. With it were the pronouns she/her, and the name Joan Zhang.

They both looked at Peter with expecting eyes, Joan raising an eyebrow, and he realised that he didn't say anything yet. He cleared his throat and thanked whatever was up there for his voice not going 5 octaves higher. "Hi, I'm Peter…. Parker…." He tried his best to not add Stark behind it. "I'm here for the internship? I was told to report myself here."

Sam seemed to remember that they should reply, which was probably their goal. But instead, they blurted out: "Holy shit, you're the Ghost Boy."

Peter expected a short explanation, an introduction, maybe who his temporary boss would be. But he certainly didn't expect that. To say he was confused was an understatement.

Joan threw a pen at Sam's head, who seemed to have finally processed what they just blabbed out. They turned their chair and looked behind them, mouthing sorry at Joan. They threw the pen back at Joan and she caught it. Then she raised her eyebrow and gestured at Peter. Sam winced and turned back to Peter while rubbing the spot where they got hit, and they looked like they wanted to slap themselves.

"Sorry about… that." Sam made a vague gesture, subconsciously knocked on the desk table and then cleared their throat. Sam then gave Peter an awkward smile. "Anyway, I'll just grab your file and see who will supervise you. I'll also grab your pass…" Sam went through a bunch of papers on the desk, trying to find Peter's fake pass. Joan perked up. "It's not there. I'll grab it for you." She left the receptionist's desk. Joan had a heavy accent, but Peter couldn't quite place from where. He made another note to ask about that later. He hoped he'd remember.

Peter stood there now, in an awkward silence with Sam. They looked uneasy. Maybe he could try to steer up some conversation? Would that help? "So, uh… Sam." Sam perked up, snapping their fingers. "Yeah?" Peter smiled. "Do you like Star Wars?" Sam looked excited. "Mhm, I do!" Now that was a score. "I do too! What's your favourite movie and why?" Sam started talking, and Peter noticed the tension in both of their shoulders leaving. Peter forgot the stares by now. Sam looked excited, and Peter was equally matching theirs. They were grinning too, occasionally flapping their hands and knocking on the desk. Sam looked hesitant at first, but Peter's smile reassured them.

Joan came back with Peter's badge. As she neared the desk, she smiled at the two interacting and watched them a little. Deciding that conversing time was over, she knocked on the desk, announcing her presence. Both were slightly startled at the sound and looked her way. Joan walked behind the desk and offered Peter his pass. "I assume this is yours, Mr Parker." Peter blushed a little, seeming to forget why he was there in the first place, and accepted the pass. Joan nodded her head to the direction of a hallway "Your supervisor is waiting for you. Sam here will bring you to Mr Miller." Sam groaned at their newly assigned task but quickly shut up when they noticed the stare Joan gave them. Sam reluctantly got out of their chair, and Joan took their place. Peter was right, Sam was indeed taller. Peter slightly laughed and then made a dramatic gesture with his hands. "After you, my trustworthy travel guide."

They both walked down the hallway. Peter wanted answers. "So, I'm assuming you don't like Mr Miller?" He asked. Sam sighed. "Nope." Peter was getting anxious. He wouldn't be stuck with a shitty supervisor, right? "Why so?" Peter watched as Sam snapped their fingers again. "He's not the nicest," Sam replied. Peter nodded. "Can you tell me why he isn't?" Sam blushed a little, embarrassed. "I used to intern for him before I got transferred to PR and Legal. He's one of the reasons I transferred." Peter's eyes widened a little. He didn't think that Sam did anything outside of reception. He wondered if they did something in the engineering department. Maybe chemistry? Chemical engineering? Or something else? Sam interrupted Peter's line of thought. "He usually just makes you get his coffee and carry his paperwork. Like you're his PA and not an intern. Which sucks. And somehow, he always gets away with it." They came to a halt, standing beside a door. There was a glass window next to it, and in there was Mr Miller, frowning at his computer. Sam gave Peter a sympathetic look. "Good luck, man. You can always rant to me about him." Peter snorted at that. He gave Sam a small wave when they left, and then knocked on the door. When he heard a faint "come in", he entered.

"Hi, Mr Miller? I'm Peter.." Peter trailed off when he saw his supervisor. Really, could his luck get any worse?

Miller gave Peter a fast glance from his computer when he noticed who the boy was. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "It's you. I have to intern you?" Peter gave a nervous smile, biting his teeth and giving an awkward thumbs-up accompanied by a small nod. Miller sighed. "Do me a favour and get me a coffee, will ya? Doesn't matter what and how you make it, as long as there's caffeine." Then, to his computer, "Son of a - this is why I'm not an engineer. Work, damn it!" Miller gave the computer under his desk a kick and slightly shook his monitor. Peter winced at the poor device but left the room. He better hurry up if he doesn't want to end up like that computer.

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"He terrifies me. That poor computer." Peter and Sam were in one of the canteens of SI. It was 18:00, which meant that the younger employees and interns were allowed to eat dinner and have a break until 18:45. The older employees would eat an hour and a half later.

Sam grabbed two plates for both of them. Peter thanked them. "I pity you. I hope that you'll last. How long will you intern?" They both walked towards a booth, going over the options they had. When neither of them seemed to be interested in it, they continued walking.

"At least for 3 months, I think? I don't know how that works." Peter dismissively waved. They were now at the booth for Italian food. Peter's mouth started to water, and Sam laughed light-heartedly at him. "So, I'm guessing it'll be Italian for tonight?" Peter blushed a little. "If you're okay with that? If you prefer somewhere else we can go there first before we grab some food for me. Or -" Sam interrupted his rant. "It's okay! I love Italian food too." Peter smiled at them, and they got in line.

"My guardian makes Italian food a lot. Which would make sense, because he's, well, Italian. I am too, actually half. I'm also a quarter Irish and a quarter American. Where are you from?" Peter grabbed a few pieces of fresh garlic bread. He offered some to Sam, but they declined. "No thanks, I hate garlic. I'm from the Netherlands. Rotterdam, to be exact. Full blood. Have you heard of it?" Peter beamed. "Yeah, I have! It's in Europe right?" Sam gave a nod of affirmation.

"Never been there, but it looks cool. How did you end up at Stark Industries?" Peter put a generous amount of lasagne on his plate. They continued walking. "My sister and I got a scholarship." Sam snapped their fingers. "She already goes to M.I.T., and I'm starting my first year at Columbia University after the summer break. I first wanted to be a chemist, but I decided on lawyering. She wants to be an engineer here. Electrical engineering, if I remember correctly. It'll be tough to see her because of the distance, but we'll get through." When Sam spotted the pizza, they made a bee-line for it, and grabbed four pieces of Margherita, when they seemed to realise something.

"Sorry, was that too much information?" Sam narrowed their eyes in concern, anxiously rocking on the balms of their feet. Peter smiled and quickly reassured them. "No, it's fine. Don't worry." Sam smiled back.

They're now on their way to obtain their drinks. Funnily enough, they both instantly made their way to the coffee machines. That earned a snort from both of them.

"But you have a sister, that's cool! Though I was wondering why you're doing reception when you want to be a lawyer?"

Sam smiled sheepishly. "I may or may not have accomplished locking an entire group of annoying and old businessmen up by accident, and am now stuck with reception for the past week." Peter laughed. "That's genius, Sam." Sam gave a small smile.

They both got their respective - rather huge - cups of coffee, and found a table to sit at.

"Does she also intern here? Oh, and Columbia University? I'm jealous. Well, not seriously jealous, of course. Though it would be something a lot of people would be jealous of. Which is a good thing! In a way. But that's a huge accomplishment, bro. That's cool." Peter stuffed his mouth full of lasagna. Sam beamed at him.

"That's nice of you." Sam blushed now. "She also interns here. She's in the R&D department. She should be here right now." They looked around for a little, before paying attention to Peter again. "Which college do you attend?" Peter choked on his coffee, and his cheeks reddened. "I'm still in high school."

Sam froze right before eating a slice of pizza, their mouth open in a comedically way, saying a very intelligent "Uhh". Some Margaretha fell from their slice, which seemed to bring them back into reality. They cursed slightly, carefully placing the topping back on their slice with a fork they pulled out of nowhere.

"How old are you then? And how did you get in? I'm not questioning you! It's just cool." Peter laughed to himself. He found another version of himself. "I'm sixteen, almost seventeen in like," Peter checked his phone. " Four months. How old are you? I genuinely can't tell if you're either a very young-looking person in their mid 20's or younger than 20. That's a compliment, by the way."

Peter took a bite of his garlic bread. Sam laughed awkwardly and took a sip from their coffee before speaking. "I'm turning nineteen in a few months." Peter took a bite from his lasagna, thoughtfully chewing while nodding. Sam raised their eyebrows. Peter had an amused smirk on his face but didn't say anything. Sam took a sip of their coffee before starting on their second slice. They fell into a comfortable silence, bar the occasional snapping fingers or the sound of wrists hitting against each other.

Their peaceful silence got interrupted, however, when a rather loud woman - a young woman - approached the table with three other people. "Hi, Sammie!" The woman sat down next to Sam. She looked scarily similar to them. Their only differences were that Sam had a very freckled face and short hair, while the woman had long hair and no freckles at all. Both of their hair was curly too. She was a few centimetres shorter than Peter but looked small compared to Sam. She had a dark green badge which said level one. It informed him of the pronouns she/her and her name, Lisa Dijk. Ah, so that's Sam's sister!

Another person joined their table and sat next down to Lisa. He was tall, taller than Sam. He looked intimidating but had a nice face nonetheless. The man had black hair and brown eyes. He also had the same badge as Lisa, only his pronouns were he/him and accompanied by the name: Joshua Willow.

Behind Joshua were two others. They looked about the same age as Sam. One was a girl. She had beautiful red hair and green eyes. She had a nice face and was short. She, like Sam, had a yellow badge which said level one. You could see the pronouns she/her and the name Heléna Coleman.

Next to Heléna stood another person. Peter couldn't quite tell their gender from just looking. They were slightly taller than Heléna and chubby. They had black hair which reached their neck and blue eyes. On their blouse was a light green badge clipped with the number 3.2. The pronouns said she/he and the name proudly stood out; Sebastién Jones.

The other two came to sit next to Joshua, making Peter sit alone at his side.

Sam choked on their food, startled. Lisa gave them some pats on their back and Peter found it slightly amusing. Though his amusement died down as soon as he saw the stares of the other three people that joined the table. "Uh, hi?"

Lisa seemed to only just have noticed that Peter was there at all. "Hey, Sammie? Who's that?" Lisa asked Sam, who finally calmed down from their choking fit. They swallowed some water down from the bottle that Lisa handed to them at some point. "Uh, that's Peter. He's my… friend?" Sam said uncertainly. They gave a quick look at Peter, who smiled and nodded. Then, with more confidence, "Yeah, my friend."

The stares of the other three seemed to soften a little, but they remained. "How and when did you meet him, Sam?" Joshua asked, still having some food in his mouth. Sam slightly cringed at that. "We met earlier today. He's the new intern of Mr Miller - " The four newly joined people cringed at the name. " - and I met him through reception. We talked a little and now we're friends. He's nice, I like him." Sam gave a small smile. Peter smiled back.

Heléna spoke for the first time. "Well, a friend of Sam is a friend of ours. I'm Heléna, nice to meet you, Peter." She gave Peter a smile and wave, which he returned.

"I'm pretty sure that he already knows our names, Helé. It's literally on our passes." Now it was Sebastién's turn to speak. Heléna rolled her eyes. "So? It's still nice to introduce yourself. So, go on."

Sebastién sighed but complied. "My name is Sebastién, which you probably already knew. My pronouns are she/he, but I don't care if you use only one of those. Next to Heléna is Joshua. And next to Joshua is Lisa, Sam's sister. But you probably would've guessed that."

Joshua gave Peter a grin and tried to steal a piece of chicken from Lisa's plate, but she swatted his hand away. "That's my food, Willow. Don't touch it." Joshua rolled his eyes. Then, Lisa said: "Try to ignore Sebastién. She's snarky, sarcastic, and acts like he has a stick up in her ass."

Sebastién threw the wrapping of a straw at Lisa. "At least I don't go around randomly jumping my siblings."

"That's because you don't have siblings, Seb. And it shows, because you clearly can't handle a little bit of joking around, you cranky arse." Heléna bit back. Joshua bellowed a peal of loud laughter, earning some stares from other employees. Lisa and Peter joined in, with Sam silently joining in. Sebastién looked unamused, but his mouth perked up slightly.

Peter could get used to those people.

•─────────•🕸️🕷🕸️─────────•

"Parker! Run to the printer for me, and hand the copied file in at the receptionist's desk before you check out." Mr Miller called from his desk. Peter silently sighed but complied. "Yes, sir. Is there anything else?" Mr Miller was neck-deep in some papers and didn't bother looking up. "No. Just go, so I can finish up in the testing labs." Peter nodded and walked over to the desk to grab his intern map. He said his goodbyes to Mr Miller - who ignored him - and made his way out.

Peter made his way to the printer and printed the designated files out. He walked to the receptionist's desk, handing Joan the files. Sam had already gone home, it seemed. He bid Joan goodnight and stepped into the lift.

"Hey, F.R.I. Penthouse, please. I'm going straight to bed. I'll talk with Mr Stark tomorrow" Peter yawned. He expected more of his time as an intern. He was quite literally Miller's errand boy, and it sucked. At least he met Sam.

Peter made his way out of the lift, straight going to his room. Sam was nice, and their friends were too. They seemed like a nice person, and he would love to get to know them more.

Peter put his pyjamas on, texted everyone a good night (including Sam, he got Sam's number!), and went to bed.