You're What?

I Don't Want An Invitation

"Alright, everyone, listen up," Mr. Harrington announced at the end of Decathlon practice.

Peter looked up from his conversation with Ned and the others slowly stopped their own conversations.

Once it was quiet, Mr. Harrington said, "We have been personally invited by Mr. Tony Stark to come tour Stark Tower after school tomorrow afternoon."

Peter blanched. Mr. Tony Stark did what now?

"Really?" Betty asked excitedly.

Mr. Harrington nodded proudly and Betty turned to Sally with a grin.

"Apparently he heard how we did on nationals and wanted to give us a tour in case any of you wanted to work for him in the future," Mr. Harrington explained, proudly looking at the award on the wall.

Peter called bull. There was no way Mr. Stark had decided to give them a tour based on how well the did in nationals. He hadn't even watched nationals.

"Do we have to skip class?" Abraham asked, sounding more upset than Peter would have if he'd asked.

Mr. Harrington nodded.

"Only your last class of the day," he assured him. "Mr. Stark could only get us in from 2-4PM."

That was a lie if Peter had ever heard one. Mr. Stark knew Peter had PE as his last class and that he hated it. At least something good was going to come out of this. He wasn't sure if it would off set the bad, but he could hope.

"I have permission slips for your parents to sign," Mr. Harrington told them, holding up a small handful of papers. "Take one as you leave."

He passed them each a slip as they walked out the door, but instead of grinning widely like the others, Peter grumbled as he took his.

Walking beside Ned to their lockers, he didn't notice Flash until he yelled after him down the hall.

"Hey, Penis! Guess we'll finally hear from Mr. Stark that your internship's a fake."

Peter sighed and opened his locker.  Unfortunately, he hasn't forgotten about that part. Maybe he would get shot or stabbed on patrol tonight. He should do that. Hopefully a criminal would comply.

"We'll see, Flash," Peter replied, sharing a look with Ned.

Flash nodded smugly. "Yeah we will."

As Flash walked off, Peter grabbed his backpack and said goodbye to Ned.

It wasn't hard to find Happy parked near the back of the parking lot. He was parked in his usual spot and with a bit of a hop, Peter hurried over to climb in the backseat.

"Did you know Mr. Stark invited the Decathlon team to tour SI?" he asked, closing the door behind him.

Happy grunted in response, but that didn't dissuade Peter and he continued to talk about it all the way to the Tower.

"Do you think it would be too much it I let someone stab me tonight?"

Happy glanced at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Just a little," Peter told him, "Not like—I don't want it to kill me. I just want to be stabbed a little, you know?"

Happy didn't look like he did, so Peter took his silence to mean no.

When they got to Stark Industries, Peter hopped out of the car, waved goodbye to Happy, and sprinted inside. He scanned his badge, getting a warm welcome from FRIDAY, then stepped into Mr. Stark's private lift.

"Mr. Stark is in a meeting and has asked me to tell you he will be up in approximately ten minutes," FRIDAY told Peter, "Miss Potts is upstairs expecting your arrival."