Through the Web

Period One: American Literature

"Mister Parker, it is currently a quarter to eight in the morning. You have precisely fifteen minutes to wake up, change, have some breakfast if you're hungry, and get onto your American Literature zoom call to start your school day," JARVIS, who at this point serves as everyone's alarm clock, politely informed Peter. 

Groaning, Peter slowly slid out of bed and headed for his closet, eyes still closed. It took him a moment to fully process what JARVIS had told him. If he cut out breakfast and snacked in between passing periods he could sleep in more. And if he worked in his bedroom it would give him even more time to sleep. And if laid out a clean shirt on his bed before he goes to sleep he wouldn't have to leave his bed at all. He'd be able to sleep in an extra ten minutes (because even though Avengers Tower has the fastest wifi known to man, when everyone's on it at once it still lags)! 

"Mister Stark has requested that if you wish not to eat breakfast, you at least come down and say good morning to everyone so he knows you're alive and well."

And there goes that plan. 

Peter bobbed his head as he pulled a random shirt out of his closet and pulled it on over his head. He contemplated changing his shorts but ultimately decided against it. Who would see them anyway? Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he wandered down the hall to the elevator and waited for it to come up before taking it down. Peter had gotten so used to being able to sleep whenever he wanted--because other than Steve, who was going to judge him if he woke up at three in the afternoon? Everyone else had a nonexistent sleep schedule--that waking up this early felt like the time he physically held two sides of a ferry together with his web-shooters. 

Much to Peter's surprise, almost everyone was either sitting in the living room or in the dining room when the elevator doors opened back up. A few people glanced up upon hearing the soft ding; mainly just Tony, Loki, and Natasha. Peter threw up one of his hands as the other continued rubbing his face. Natasha smiled softly. Out of all of the Avengers (besides Tony who has practically adopted this child at this point), Natasha is by far the most protective over Peter. A few of the Avengers have taken to calling her "Mama Spider" because she can and has treated Peter like her baby. Natasha has yet to comment on the nickname nor change her maternal tendencies.

"Morning Sunshine," Tony greeted with an unnaturally chipper tone. Peter raised an eyebrow as he approached the kitchen to get a slice of toast. "Who's ready for school?" Peter let out a low groan, sounding eerily similar to Frankenstein's monster. Tony chuckled. "I'm taking that as a 'I so ready!'" Peter walked back out with a small glare directed at Tony and a slice of buttered and jammed toast hanging from his mouth, getting strawberry jam on the floor and his shirt. "Kid!" Tony chastised. Peter slowly looked down to find the mess he made. He grabbed the toast out of his mouth and used it to scoop the jam on his shirt back up. Everyone who was watching him groaned. "Peter, seriously?" Peter shrugged. 

Loki chuckled and waved her hand, clearing the spot on the floor with the jam. "Now Anthony," she began scolding, "shall I tell Peter the story of this morning?" Tony's ears turned a bright red. Peter raised an eyebrow, suddenly very interested in the conversation. "And how you spilled coffee over your shirt?" Peter bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. "That you've already had to change once today?" Tony hung his head, his blush creeping across the bridge of his nose. Loki smirked before pressing a kiss to his temple. She then glanced to Peter. "Have you figured out where you'll be attending class today?"

Ah, yes. Peter still hadn't completely figured that out. He knew he'd be on mute for entirety of the class but he knew his camera needed to be on. The noisiest room in the house was up for grabs but the noisiest room tended to be the busiest and Peter couldn't guarantee none of the Avengers would walk behind him doing something completely stupid the teacher would suspend him from online school. Just like week, Peter was on a video call with Ned when Clint walked behind him, completely in Ned's view, wearing a bright pink leotard because he lost a bet with Sam and Natasha! Granted it was just Ned, someone who knew about his superhero persona and has been to the tower a few times already, but still. This is school. He needed to display some-sort of professionalism.

Peter quickly glanced around everyone in the two rooms. "Uh, I think I'll start in the lab and see how that goes," he told her. Loki nodded. It was a well-known fact that Bruce enjoyed working in either silence or with soft piano music playing in the background. It'd be perfect for Peter to not only focus on school but to also ensure no one would do something stupid and embarrass him in front of his whole class. "If that's okay with Mr. Banner?" Bruce looked up from the newspaper he was reading and nodded. They shared a smile. 

Both Loki and Peter then turned to Tony.

He raised an eyebrow. "Why are you looking at me?"

"Because if you are to attend to whatever it is you're building down there while Peter is at school, you are to not make a fool out of yourself," Loki stated, a cold glare in her eyes. Tony rolled his eyes. Loki's glare sharpened. "Am I understood?"

"Of course, Snowflake." He pressed a kiss to her forehead before standing from the table and making his way to the elevator, passing Peter in the process. "You'll be muted right?" Peter slowly nodded, his eyes narrowed. A huge grin overtook Tony's face. "Great." With that, he left for the lab. 

"Does anyone else have a horrible feeling about this?" Peter asked, not taking his gaze off the elevator. 

"Text me if he does anything stupid and I'll come get him." Peter nodded. "If the teacher scolds you for texting, just tell them it's an emergency or something." Peter raised an eyebrow and glanced over at Loki.

"Are you telling me to lie to a teacher?"

Loki raised an eyebrow back, a different look in her eyes than Peter. "Peter. I'm the goddess of lies. If I didn't know you as well as I do, I'd always be telling you to lie." They started laughing. 

~~~

Peter didn't even get through attendance before someone did something stupid. 

Just like they would if everyone was actually in school, the teacher still had to take attendance. Peter had zoned out for most of it, knowing he wasn't until the end. He fiddled with the pencil beside him; throwing it up in the air and catching it. From what he could see, he didn't know anyone in the class. And the teacher didn't seem all that pleasant. Definitely the start to a fantastic school year. 

"Peter? Peter Parker?" the teacher called. It took a second to resonate with Peter before he let the pencil fall onto the table and scrambled to turn his microphone on. 

"I'm here!" he exclaimed. The teacher scanned the sea of other students on the call to find Peter. "I'm here," he repeated, giving her another opportunity to find him. She continued to scan the screen for a few more seconds. "I'm-"    

Before Peter could say 'here' for a third time, the opening chords of Back in Black started blaring. Peter's eyes widened as he painfully watched his microphone bounce up and down. Part of him wanted to facepalm; he should've known not to come down here after Tony made that comment upstairs. Part of him wanted to smile through it and act like it wasn't happening. Maybe if he quickly turned his mic off no one would notice. 

But the teacher had spotted his square within the class grid. A stern look settled in her eyes as she leaned closer to the camera."Mr. Parker, can you please turn off the music?"

Peter tried laughing it off, desperately trying to text Loki while keeping his eyes on the teacher. "You see, actually, I, uh, can't turn the music off," he clicked send and glanced up as he shut his phone off, "because I think Mr. Stark is having one of those fits again where he hasn't slept in three days and--" He quickly glanced up at the elevator, hearing it ding softly. Loki came storming out, a scowl on her face and a sharp glare in her eyes. "--I uh, think Loki is trying to drag him to bed." Peter's gaze returned to the screen. He offered the teacher an awkward smile. She glanced him up and down before scowling. 

"Make sure it doesn't happen again," she ordered, not even bothering to say please. "Perhaps you should find a different location before you enter my Zoom call tomorrow, Mr. Parker." Peter nodded. "We don't need you or anyone else in my class to be distracted by your eccentric uncle."

"Oh! He isn't--" Peter stopped himself when his teacher raised an eyebrow, the pointed look in her eyes returning. He gulped. He certainly did not miss getting the look from his teachers while everyone was in lock-down. "Yes, ma'am," he said instead. She nodded once before continuing with attendance. Peter quickly muted his mic and buried his head in his arms, his cheeks burning. 

He should've just stayed in his room.