Superfamily One Shots

Colleagues

**Request for Mspepper1period where the Midtown class goes on a field trip and runs into not 1 of their classmates, but 3. This was a really fun one, I hope you don't mind that I went a little off script and expanded the idea. I hope you enjoy!!**

Peter, Ned, and MJ were, for lack of a better phrase, screwed 6 ways to Sunday, and in their nice slacks, too. MJ was working to catch up on about 30 patents, Ned had a whole slew of performance reports to submit by the end of the week, and Peter was working on a new prototype hydro-steam engine for an exposition coming up.

Which is why the rash of employees with flu, the server crash, and the mandatory team trainings that robbed all three of 5 hours each just pushed them into the totally screwed category.

"Can we get Ned on the phone?" Peter called to the interns scattering in his lab. One of them grabbed a phone off the edge of the desk and dialed down to Ned's office. It only rang twice before Ned's own interns answered. There was some nice pleasantries and then the phone was put right in Peter's hand.

"Hey."

"Hey, what's up?"

"When you did the reports on the footprint of our break system, you were looking at the full system, right? The whole car?" Peter was scribbling notes as he talked. If they were going to really clinch this expo, Peter had to be on his toes. This engine was the final part in the most fuel efficient, low emission car in the world.

"Yeah, I have schematics of a standard car and the changes each part makes. How's the engine going?"

"Slowly," Peter said evenly. "But I'll get it done. I think if... If the math here is right, I can cut the emission on the whole car but up to 12%, but I need the numbers for the other parts."

Ned typed away on his computer and Peter saw an email notification pop up in the corner of his screen. "There you go. Hey, you going to the school thing?"

It was typical for SI to host a whole slew of students - university classes were the most common, but sometimes elementary kids would come in to tinker in the lower level labs - and today was no exception. There was a tour coming through, but Peter had barely looked it over before he'd swiped it away and got to work that morning.

"What thing?"

"There's a Q and A session. I know Tony and Pep were going to go, they asked the heads of the departments to come."

Peter hummed. "I can probably steal a couple hours. Did you talk to MJ about it?"

"Her assistant took care of it," Ned said. "I'll see you down there at noon."

Ned hung up the phone and Peter pulled up the numbers he'd sent over. He was right - with the other parts already developed, the engine would cut the emissions but another 12%, meaning it really would be the lowest emission car in the worlds. By a lot.

Peter was used to long hours - his record was 87 hours before he took a nap - but there was something even worse about the hours he was putting in now. It was the cold winter months, so Peter went into the labs before the sun came up, and he went up to the penthouse for dinner hours after the sun went down. The flu meant he picked up about half of the work the others did. The end of the year deadlines meant everyone was on a tight timeline. And there was the holiday break, which put most of the employees out of commission near that end stretch, and Peter being the heir to the company, he took on much of the slack.

Peter hadn't even noticed the time when his phone went off. He glanced down and startled - it was MJ's assistant. And it was almost 4.

"Hello?"

"Miss Jones is starting to get worried you forgot about the Q and A session. She is down here with Mr. Stark, Mrs. Stark, and Mr. Leeds."

Peter was rushing to put his things in his bag, grabbing his lab coat off the back of his chair. As head of Research and Development now, he was almost always wearing a lab coat over his clothes - it was a bitch to scrub chemicals out of slacks.

Peter's trip down to the main conference room was quick, but he did stop by the vending machines on his way there and it took a little longer than usual when his chips got stuck in the rings of the machine. It was 4:02 - 2 minutes after the Q and A was supposed to start - when Peter headed in.

It was unusually quiet.

Peter pulled his hand out of the Dorito bag and licked his fingers, his eyes glued to his hands.

"That looks awfully yummy," Tony said, watching Peter as he practically moaned around his hand. "Is that your dinner?"

"My breakfast, too," Peter said. "I haven't eaten all day, I'm just soaking up a coffee river."

"Peter." MJ's voice was stern, and there was something there behind it Peter couldn't quite place.

"What's up, M?" Peter asked, still focused on his food as he slipped around the crowds of kids. "I swear, I got the engine done today. Ned's got the numbers done, I'll send you the prototypes for the patents this week, but I refuse to work Saturday. Saturday is my one day off, MJ, I want to spend some time with the team."

"Peter."

There was that tone again, stern and... stern and... stern...

Warning.

Peter finally looked up from his snack. It wasn't a university class. It wasn't an elementary class. It was his class. His, Ned's, and MJ's.

It was Midtown Tech.

"Oh." Peter looked around and spotted the teacher supervising the class. It was Harrington. And there was Abe, Betty, Flash... Everyone. "It's good to see you all."

"What are you doing here, Mr. Parker?" Harrington asked the question everyone else was wondering. Pepper took that opportunity to interrupt and save Peter from the hot seat.

"We were just about to get to introductions. Peter, Ned, and MJ are all colleagues here. MJ runs the patent department, Ned is in charge of the performance reports for projects here in the company. Peter, though, is the head of Research and Development here, and is set to inherit the company."

The whole class was stunned as Pepper explained. Peter was settling into his chair at the table, and Tony pulled him forward, ruffling his hair and hugging the teen. Pepper finished up her explanation and the whole class put their attention back on the teen and his colleagues. MJ and Ned were both shifting in their own chairs uncomfortably.

"Well," Peter said. "Can we answer any questions?"

"I got one," Betty said, standing up. "How long were you three going to keep this a secret?"

Ned's eyes found MJ's. MJ's found Peter's. Peter's found Ned's. After a few minutes looking between each other, they all looked back at their class.

"Until Peter became the CEO."