3 Days At Stark Towers

Bargaining

Sunlight streamed through the window as the shutters were retracted.

"Good morning, Mini-Boss Two. It is 7:30, breakfast will be in half an hour," FRIDAY said.

"Tell dad I'll be late," Peter pulled the sheets over his head, voice muffled.

There was a pause.

"Boss says you can't skip your field trip. He said, 'You gotta show the other kids your rad skills'. He also said there was a 'z' at the end of skills."

Peter bolted upright, taking the room in with wide eyes. He blinked owlishly, then slumped in defeat, "Right, field trip. I forgot. What're we doing today, FRI?"

"According to your class' schedule, today is mostly dedicated to creating a project of self-design in the internship laboratories, then presenting it to Boss and The Green Dude. Any time left will be spent showing how to improve projects."

"Right, yeah, I remember now. So I'm in for a boring day. Can you ask dad if I can leave early once I finish my project?" Peter turned to look out the window at the city. I wasn't anywhere near as good as the view from his room.

Another pause. Then, "Incoming call from Boss. Accept or decline?"

Perking up, Peter said, "Accept!"

A hologram of Tony appeared at the foot of the bed. He smirked, "Hey Underoos. How're you going?"

"Please, please, please can I leave today's activities early? I'll finish by lunch if I dawdle!" Peter said.

Tony place a hand on his chin, appearing deep in thought. Peter looked at him eagerly.

"Allll-right," Tony said, "But you owe me a favour, okay? You can go wherever you want, as long as you're back at the scheduled times."

"Deal!" Peter exclaimed.

"Hologram handshake," Tony held out his hand.

Peter scrambled to shove the covers away, stretching to swipe his hand through Tony's. The hologram shimmered where they touched.

"It's a deal, kid. Just try not to cause too much trouble," Tony said, "FRIDAY? End call."

Grinning, Peter leapt out of bed and changed out of his PJs. He skipped out of the room, humming under his breath. MJ spared him a raised eyebrow from where she was sitting on the sofa, but apart from that, Peter was left to his joy. Ned wasn't even up yet.

Peter opened the minifridge, pulling out a small bottle of milk. He poured himself a glass and leant against the counter.

"It's working on a project in the intern labs, today," Peter said, taking a sip. He wiped away a milky moustache with his sleeve.

"I thought you would've been bored out of your mind with something like that," MJ said.

"Dad's letting me leave once I've finished!" Peter said, grinning.

"What, just like that? No terms and conditions?"

"Well, he did tell me to stay out of trouble. Oh! And I owe him a favour."

MJ hummed thoughtfully.

"Hey FRIDAY, can you wake Ned up?" Peter downed the last of his milk.

"Sure thing, Mini-Boss Two."

A moment later, Ned came stumbling out of his room, rubbing his eyes and yawning. Peter flashed him a smile, and offered him the bottle that he had left on the counter, "Milk?"

Ned shook his head and flopped on the couch. Peter put the bottle away.

MJ put her book aside and stood, "It's nearly time. Let's go."

Peter and Ned followed her out of T1 and down the hallway, out to the shared room. A few kids were already there, and the TV was blaring.

Giving it a disgusted look, MJ asked, "Do they ever turn it off?"

"Doubt it," Ned said, flopping down onto a beanbag. Peter sat in one next to him, and MJ settled cross-legged on the floor between them.

MJ scrolled through her phone. Probably Tumblr, Peter thought. The two boys whispered over her head about Star Wars.

The door slid open, "Gooooood morning!" Enfys yelled, "Up and at 'em, it's time to get going!"

Someone on the other side of the room groaned loudly.

"Fantastic attitude! Come on, come one, we don't have all day!"

She turned to TV off, ignoring the incessant complaining, and began to shepherd the students to the door, "Shake a goddamn leg and get moving!"

"But Miss, it's early!" someone, it sounded like Vanessa, whined.

"And I had to be up even earlier to get here on time! You were given a schedule, and I will not have mercy on people who cannot follow it! Chop chop!"

The students were ushered out the door, Peter, MJ & Ned with them. Before it closed, Enfys said, "FRIDAY, when any of the students who slept in wake up, direct them on where to go."

"Sure thing," FRIDAY said.

As they were walking, Peter tapped Enfys on the arm, "Isn't that, y'know, a bit, brutal?"

Enfys grinned, "Probably, but hey, they're not paying for this trip and if you don't get chucked in the deep end at least once, what's the point?"

She turned to the following students, walking backwards, "Come on, the day is young, get some energy going!"

"Bloody maniac," someone muttered.

I am back! Hello everybody!!!

I've rebuilt my stash of back-up chapters, so updates should be every Sunday.

This story has actually taken off while I was working on planning and writing and I'm??? Floored??? Over 4 thousand reads and we've been 1st in #schooltrip for quite a while now. Thank you so much!!! I am touched and slightly confused.

I also have an announcement to make. In planning, I've decided I'd really like to expand this to a trilogy. It would be 3 Days At Stark Towers, 3 Days As Peter Tonyson, and 3 Days Without Spiderman. I don't want to give too much away, but I'd like to know what you think. I'm still at the stage where this book could stay as a standalone - if you have any preferences either way, I'd love to know why!

Finally, a shameless self-promo: if for some reason you enjoy my writing enough to want more, you can find me on World Anvil, where you'll find notes for original works I'm planning. I'm starrymoon52 on there as well, and there's a link on my profile. Link also here: https://www.worldanvil.com/author/starrymoon52 . I'd really appreciate it if you checked it out and told me what you think!

Thank you so much, and I hope you enjoy the story from here onwards!