Peter was the one of the heirs to Stark industries.
A lesser known fact. But a fact indeed. Peter knew that his job as the heir was going to be tough, he knew it, but the exquisite feeling of being in charge and finally not being treated like a kid and being entrusted with larger responsibilities was so gratifying.
He was trying his hardest to make his mentors proud as well.
Speaking of mentors, those very same ones had suggested some training to keep him prepared for his future position.
He had felt his stomach produce fluttery butterflies in anticipation at the news.
However, the Lord knows that sometimes, the responsibility of an heir was way too much for a sixteen year old.
So now, Peter was running on two hours of sleep, and words of encouragement from his friends, that was all he had to attempt to keep Stark Industries running while his Mentors were away.
They left, and left him with the biggest responsibility related to his future yet.
He was currently responsible for the entirety of SI.
Peter shuddered at the thought and let out a long, shaky sigh while straightening his tie.
He had an important meeting to attend to, in place of Tony, the anxiety was creeping up his back and embedding itself into his bones with an ice cold sombre. And the pressure of having to live up to the Tony Stark wasn't helping.
He looked downwards at his watch, "Only thirty minutes left," he deadpanned.
---
In the meanwhile, Peter's classmates were sputtering in shock as they asked their equally astounded teacher to repeat what she said a moment ago.
"Y-yes..you heard me right, dear students. Our class has been given special access to Stark Industries and permission to witness a team meeting.." She scoffed at herself, in disbelief.
"But Ms. Joan, that can't be right? Why just us?" One of the students enquired, still dumbfounded but openly curious.
Ms. Joan looked up at the class, let out a soft sigh and regained her composure, then replied; "Truly a good question, Mr. Murphy--" She crossed her arms "however I don't know the answer, the official request specifically asks for this class."
Mj And Ned were horrified. They knew of Peter's current conditions in Stark Industries and they were growing more anxious by the second.
All the while, the rest of the classroom snapped out of their shock and began excitedly celebrating, chatting and snickering loudly among themselves before being hushed by their teacher.
"Alright alright! I'm just as excited as you are, but we won't be able to go anywhere unless you calm down, call your parents and pack your stuff," Ms. Joan stated forcefully, effectively calming the class down.
Mj and Med glanced at each other, glossy eyes filled with concern.(and slight amusement in Mj's case.)
---
Peter ran a hand through his hair and rushed out of the room, he had enough experience with being late at school, but this isn't something he could mess up and serve a quick detention to make up for.
On the way, he felt his someone grab his shoulders and slow his pace.
"Peter slow down, you're gonna be a whole thirty minutes early, those old bozos don't deserve your time" Peter felt his anxiety slowly melt away as he let himself get distracted by his friends words.
"Hey Harls" It was his fellow heir, Peter smiled up at the boy who let go of his shoulder and smiled back.
"Hey Peter, remember; don't stress yourself out, just do what feels right." Harley flashed a mischievous grin before continuing, "I mean-- compared to the old rich boy and Pepper's way of doin' things, I don't think we could get much worse" he laughed and ruffled Peter's hair.
Peter thought about it-- and while it seemed insulting towards Tony and Pepper, Peter couldn't deny that it was right. Harley was right. So Peter took a deep breath, exhaled and felt the tension slowly exit his body.
"There ya' go" Harley commented before turning on his heel and strutting away.
"Goodluck Spider-boy" he waved, leaving Peter slightly irritated by the nickname, but happy with the affection and overjoyed about his newfound confidence.
Soon, he realized that while he was thinking about the meeting, his feet had carried him all the way to the meeting room. He felt a bit of his nervousness crawl back into his stomach, but he brushed it away and turned the doornob, he quickly walked into the room and closed the door, he made his way to the head of the table.
With slightly pale and trembling hands he pulled out a seat and sat down. Fidgeting in hopes of slight relief.
---
Peter's classmates had gotten onto their bus, vibrating with excitement and giddy with wonder, they broke into intense conversation, some people even facetimed relatives to show off.
Ned looked out of the window thoughtfully, he was worried about his friend, his responsibilities only get bigger by the day and Ned sees how this is affecting him.
Peter always has eyebags, way more prominent than before, you would rarely find him relaxed but only find him scampering about, afraid that he's forgotten something.
Ned closed his eyes trying, trying to stop worrying about the other boy for one second, and huffed in frustration at his inability to perform the seemingly impossible task.
"What's wrong Leeds? Worrying about Parker? He's absent so often lately, one could only wonder what drugs he's doing this time," Flash trailed off as he heard his friends chuckle.
"Drugs? You've got drugs now? Atleast you're upping your insult game." Ned blinked mindlessly after his retaliation.
After watching Ned retaliate against Flash, the class slowly quieted down and began to watch their argument
"Huh? What was that nerd? Finally gained some courage, didn't ya'? Thought you sacrificed that for your great Lord Peter Parker too," Flash smirked mischievously as he witnessed Ned's cheeks flush red in embarrassment.
"First off, if Peter's doing drugs, you're likely the person selling them to him--" Flash's eyes went wide after hearing Mj's reprisal.
He snapped his neck backwards to look at her, "and second, you're one to talk about lords and saviors when you worship Spider-man like he saved your sorry ass from being held captive in Russia." Mj placed her hands on her hips and eyed Flash up and down, the simple action felt intimidating enough, but when paired with her snarky comment, the whole bus was snickering.
"W-well--" Flash felt his ears grow red at the sudden remark on his obsession with Spider-man, and couldn't bring himself to utter another insult.
"Hm.." Mj looked him up and down again, before turning around and reclaiming her seat.
Flash sent a furious glare towards Ned, before reluctantly sitting back down.
"Alright class!" The teacher walked towards the middle of the bus after having a talk with the driver.
"We're here, but make sure to be on your best behavio--" She began, but didn't get to finish as the class already replied with a restless chorus of 'Yes Ms. Joan!', so she stepped aside and waited a few moments, before everyone felt the bus shake as it came to a stop. Some people squealed while staring at the door that just pried itself open, other people not even looking at the door but instead at the gorgeous and sleak structure of Stark Industries outside.
---
Peter fidgeted with the buttons on his suit. His leg was jittering and he was biting his cheek.
The confidence Harley gave to him was still there, but the nervousness and some strange form of excitement he had harbored within him hadn't yet dissipated.
He went over the meeting in his head, he was informed that the topic of discussion would be related to a revolutionary product that would change Stark Industries for the better, but wasn't supplied any more specific information, which was only making things worse for him.
He stared at himself in the mirrors infront of him, making sure he still looked presentable after all of his squirming.
He held his head in his hands and began his routine of breathing exercises to help calm himself down.
---
Peter's class had made their way into the pristine building, the cool air conditioner hit their faces and some of them 'oo'd' and 'aah'd' at the wonderful architecture.
They were soon met with a guide named Agnes who handed them their Identification badges and dragged them through all the floors until they reached the right one.
"Alright, I'll just take you to the room! Please make sure to be as discreet as possible as this is one way glass." Agnes' cheerful voice echoed through the glass along with everybody's clacking shoes.
She finally stopped her hurried movement a few feet away from a large, seemingly normal glass window, but everybody quickly realized that this was probably the one way glass Agnes was talking about.
"This is where we part ways, Ms. Joan, please take good care of your class, enjoy your stay at SI!" She waved at the students before quickly running down the hallway the just came from.
Of course, she didn't leave them alone, as a few seconds after she ran down the hallway, two well dressed-- and very armed guards made their way towards the class and stopped a few feet away from them, far enough to give them privacy, but close enough to monitor them.
As everybody inched closer to the glass, everybody gasped and whispered words of confusion.
Behold, Peter Parker, in all of his anxious glory was sitting a few feet away from them, completely clueless about their presence.
"WHA--" Flash received a look from Ms. Joan for screaming "--at is Puny Parker doing here?!" He whispered.
"It's almost time.." Peter groaned. They all stopped their soft chatter to look at Peter again, they realized that there must be a speaker somewhere near them that's allowing them to hear the voice of anyone in the other room.
"What does he mean 'it's almost time?' Time for for what?!" Sally Avril whispered, irritatedly.
And just then, four figures walked into the room. They wore extravagant suits and smelt of prominent cologne, something that messed with Peter's enhanced senses.
"Ah, hello" Peter immediately got up to shake their hands.
"Yes, yes..hello" the man in the front replied, taking Peter's hand and shaking it briefly before sitting himself down in one of the soft, black chairs.
"I hope you aren't too worn out after your journey.." Peter laughed nervously and lowered his head after noticing their deadpan faces.
"No, we aren't, we are here to discuss important matters with Tony Stark." The older man crossed his arms, his gelled, grey hair flying slightly out of place.
Peter was quick to realize that these people hadn't been informed of the change of plans, and decided it would be best to explain.
"I understand, sir, however Tony Stark is away on a business trip with his wife and CEO of SI Pepper Potts, so, I am here to fill in for him." Peter smiled warmly, however the other party did not return the gesture.
"So Mr. Stark invites us into Stark Industries, but won't let us talk to him? He won't let us do the very thing we came here to do?" One of the men who looked a lot younger than the rest questioned, furiously.
"It isn't like that at all!" Peter felt himself panic, he tried his best to hide it.
"It sure looks like it you--" the man began, however he was quickly interupted.
"Now now, Zachary, we must not get ahead of ourselves." The older man hushed.
Outside, Mj and Ned were sitting together on the floor, watching and listening intently.
"They're so rude and for what," Ned questioned.
"I know..like jeez did your brain grow so old it forgot manners?" Abe agreed.
"I love how everybody is just completely fine with our situation" Betty chuckled.
"Well, I mean..we get to sit in SI, watch some drama go down with Peter Parker, our literal classmate who just so happens to be an SI employee, and we don't have to study" Jason reasoned out, people nodded in his direction.
"Puny little Parker is not an employee here, he never will be you buffoons!" Flash exclaimed, he refused to comprehend the news or accept the fact that Peter was involved in this situation at all.
"Takes you a while to comprehend things doesn't it, Flash? Fitting for your tiny IQ" Mj absent-mindedly commented, earning laughter from the class.
"Oh shut it! I bet you're the one helping him get in here unscathed," Flash suggested rudely.
"I'm honestly flattered that you think I'm smart enough to break into one of the most secure buildings on the planet, but then again, you're opinion on Intelligence doesn't count for much.." Mj jokes once again.
"Oh shut up would you?!" Flash whisper-screamed.
Meanwhile, Peter was taken aback by the harshness of the other parties words, he knew that there would be people who would interact with him in a cross manner, but it feels different when it's actually happening to you.
Peter not only felt astounded by the shamless and unpleasant manner of the other men, but also very offended, he felt as if they were insulting his position and importance, and pushing away all of his efforts to get to where he was.
"I apologize for the inconvenience! However I will not be going anywhere, accept that and please begin the meeting" the crowd of students and one teacher quieted down after hearing the slightly loud outburst from a familiar voice.
Peter was trying his hardest to hold himself together, trying to maintain a positive and professional attitude, but he couldn't help but raise his voice just a little.
He had some dignity left, after all.
"God, he looks like he's barely holding it together.." Cindy smiled anxiously.
"Wouldja' look at that? Peter Parker? With some vocal strength? First times for everything," Flash laughed.
Peter had an unusually large smiled plastered onto his face, hiding his irritation.(and doing a very bad job)
After a few beats of silence, the old man in the front continued, "Alright, if we must, I will report to you, however please remember to report this information back to Tony Stark." The man narrowed his eyes at Peter in displeasure.
"Please begin," Peter smiled.
"Well, we've heard a lot about Stark Industries past in manufacturing explosives for war," the old man stated.
"Uh huh.." Peter replied, unsure of where this was going.
"And we would like to propose the idea of bringing the past into the present," another, blonde haired man sitting at the corner continued.
At this remark, both the students watching and Peter were alarmed and confused. Peter blinked his tired eyes in an attempt to comprehend the current state of their meeting.
"I'm sorry? Bring the past into the present..?" Peter narrowed his eyes, he had an idea of where this conversation was going to go, and he didn't like it at all.
"Yes, we plan to create a revolutionary bomb, it will be one of poison! Completely soundless and doesn't damage anything but the people that need to be damaged! All it does is--" The blonde man was interrupted by Peter standing up quickly.
"Excuse me..?" The old man asked, in an offended tone.
"This meeting is done, it was already wrong of you to not mention the actual reason for this meeting on your documents, but you purposely didn't mention it because you wanted to corner Tony Stark and make him listen to your revolting ideas!" Peter exclaimed, he was unsure of where this sudden burst of courage came from, but he was grateful for it as he didn't know if he could control his rage any longer. This last bit was the cherry on top.
"Revolting?!" A black haired man stood up, with a glare that could kill, "How dare you, someone who doesn't even know a thing about bombs call our research revolting!" He yelled.
"It's revolting because everyone is aware of how hard Mr. Stark worked to keep his company away from that horrible path! You knew but you still wanted him to listen" Peter shouted, even louder than before.
"Damn..haven't seen this side of him.." Mj thought out loud.
"I didn't know Peter could be so..commanding!" Betty exclaimed.
"It's kinda scary.." Jason muttered. Looking away from Peter.
"I simply won't stand for it! Get me another appointment with Stark or else I swear I will get you fired boy!" The old man threatened, a furious edge to his voice.
"NO"
.
.
"What?" The noise had been loud and deafening.
"Oh my God.." Cindy whimpered, the scream was shrill and loud enough to send shivers down someone's spine. And the fact that it was so unexpected didn't help with the shock everyone was facing.
"Oh.." Mj blinked, wide-eyed eyed and astounded.
"Ow.." Sally, who had been sitting right near the speaker exclaimed in pain.
Ned gaped at Peter in concern and surprise, he hadn't even seen Peter this outraged while fighting against villians.
Flash stared at Peter in a traumatized stupor.
Peter was burning with rage, how could someone think so low of Tony Stark? How could someone attempt to throw his company into the same chaos it worked so hard to climb out of? How could someone suggest something like this even while knowing about Stark Industries past? About Tony's past? This was unacceptable.
"Are you deaf, man? Do you seriously need hearing aids that bad or is it just the size of your huge ass ego blocking your eardrums. Now, I'll say it once. Just one more time" Peter raised his chin and walked towards the old man, who was already standing up.
The look in Peter's eyes was pure hatred and irritation.
"Mr. Stark does not need your war research. He does not need your bombs either. Now, as the acting president of SI, I ask you to leave before I get security," Peter's smile was cold, chilling to the bone, and, and his tone was so soft, in contrast to his loud scream earlier.
'Acting president?!' Peter's classmates(except Ned and Mj) and the researches thought at the same time, Flash was on the verge of tears and unconsciousness, while the researchers jaws had descended to the floor.
Peter leaned away from the old man and walked towards the door behind them, and opened it slowly and pointed to it.
"Out." he deadpanned.
After a few moments of silence, the old man fixed his suit.
"Come on, we mustn't linger here much longer.." he muttered and walked out, having his workers follow close behind him.
.
.
.
Peter took a deep breath and collapsed onto the chair nearest to him.
Flash sat there, jaw open and face pale, he shuddered at the thought of Peter acting like that towards him.
"Dear Lord save us.." Betty joined her hands in prayer.
"He's the acting president?! When did he? How?!-" Someone exclaimed.
"Acting..acting..pres..?" Ms. Joan stuttered in shock, her brain working hard to process the current turn of events.
"The acting president of Stark Industries is literally our nerdy classmate who gets laughed at everyday.." Sally thought out loud as he realized the intensity of the situation.
"See now, why doesn't he just be like that everyday?" Mj asked sarcastically, the 'new' information didn't surprise her as she was already informed of Peter's position. But she was also worried about the fact that the whole class knew now as well.
"I didn't know Peter could get that worked up..it might just be the sleep deprivation.." Ned whispered to the others, who looked at him with terrified expressions. Ned hadn't been taken aback by the sudden revelation of Peter being the Acting president either, as he had already known too.
Ned and Mj worridly wondered how someone found out about their relationship with Peter and his position at Stark Industries and decided to expose him.
What also traumatized the other students even further was Peter's sudden outbursts and actions of authority.
It wasn't just the way he acted, no, but what got to them all was the abnormality of the situation, they never could've imagined Peter Parker being so extremely rude to someone(albeit rightfully) but here he is, right infront of them.
After a few seconds, they heard the door to the meeting room open again.
"Hey Peter! How'd it go?" Harley walked into the room, he seemed particularly happy, Peter assumed it was because his meeting went well
"Hey Harls, nothing much, just some guys who wanted to 'bring SI's past into the present' with some lovely bombs.." Peter didn't raise his head from where he had rested it on the table.
"Oh no Darlin' that's awful," Harley walked next to where Peter sat on his chair and crouched down so they could be eye level.
It was then that Harley truly noticed Peter's current state, the large eye bags paired with his pale complexion made him look like a ghost, along with his slightly malnourished and thin figure. Harley's worries increased for every second his eyes were set on Peter.
"Oh! Who's that?" Cindy enquired playfully.
"Hey, wanna do something fun?" Harley asked, a tinge of concern in his voice.
"What is it?" Peter replied, tiredness evident in his tone.
"Let's go to sleep," Harley smiled sweetly as he pulled Peter off of the chair and held him in a quick embrace.
"Oh dear, atleast someone's gonna get him to do it.." Ned snickered.
Mj glared at Harley, a tinge of jealousy in her eyes, so small you could barely see it.
"Who is that guy anyway? D'you think we could ask Peter about him..for research purposes.." Betty asked shyly.
Meanwhile Harley dragged Peter all the way to the living room to take a nap and eat some snacks.
---
The next day, Peter showed up to school as usual, however his classmates attitudes towards him had changed drastically.
Flash wouldn't bully him anymore, Betty kept asking about any guy friends he had, Everyone kept covering their ears on reflex around him too.
Not to mention, everywhere he went, people treated him with an extremely uncomfortable amount of respect, Ms. Anderson didn't even yell at him for being late today.
But he was, frankly, too busy to care about the sudden change.
But he couldn't say he wasn't curious.
---
After Peter made his way to Stark Industries and into Tony's lab, Peter decided to raise the topic of his classmates and teachers strange behavior towards him.
"And I walked into class and everyone was staring at me like I was dressed as a chinchilla..not to hate on them they're cute." Peter stated, frustration evident in his body language and his tone.
"Oh...yeah.." Tony smirked knowingly, Peter noticed this and frowned irritatedly.
"Wait, don't tell me you have something to do with this Mr. Stark!" Peter exclaimed, shaking his head slowly, wearing an expression of worry.
"Ahh, well, do you remember the meeting you had yesterday?" Tony enquired with a large grin that reached eye to eye.
Peter squinted thoughtfully, "Yeah..of course I do, those guys were awful. What does that have to do with anything?" Peter walked up to Tony so he was directly next to him.
"Oh no, nothing really, it's just that the room you were in had a bunch of mirrors which were actually one way glass with a speaker in the room, and a pretty specific group of teenagers were anonymously invited by me to observe the meeting." The older man chuckled.
In response to the news, Peter's eyes grew wide and his eyebrows furrowed.
"But why, Mr. Stark?!" He asked loudly.
"I wanted a fun way to announce the heir thing to everyone!" Tony exclaimed while flashing a toothy smile.
"You could've told me!" Peter yelled, exasperated.
"Now everyone's gonna act so weird around me.." He whined.
"Aw c'mon kid, think of all the fun stuff you'll get to do now that everyone knows about it" Tony placed his hands on Peter's shoulders in an attempt to comfort him.
"And besides, I knew you weren't going to tell everyone until you actually had to finally start a project as heir," the older man huffed.
Peter couldn't really argue with that logic, he knew himself quite well.
"Alright then," Peter smiled softly, accepting that his new identity as the heir of Stark Industries was made public.
"Oh the news is gonna spread like wildfire! I'm pretty sure it'll make the front page tomorrow." Tony crossed his arms and puffed out his chest, as if he was a proud parent.
But then Peter finally realized why everyone was covering their ears around him.
'Oh Lord' he thought, before collapsing in his chair and covering his face, which was growing red in embarrassment.
---
Requested by: HannahDarwin001