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Midtown’s decathlon team had won nationals and the prize was invitations to an invite-only science and technology convention being hosted by MIT. It was one of the most prestigious science conventions in the country and they only invited a few hundred people every year so the whole team was excited.
They were all on the bus heading to Massachusetts, it was a weekend-long event that started on Friday so they had gotten out of school early on Friday so that they could be at the opening event that night.
“I can’t wait! This is going to be awesome! I wonder who will be there!” Ned was shaking in the seat next to Peter.
“Well, I know Mr. Stark and Shuri will be there as well as Dr. Banner. The head of MIT’s science department should be there as well.”
“Will we get to meet Dr. Banner??”
“I can introduce you.”
“Really?? You are the best friend ever!”
“Lying to your one friend. Really Penis? How can you introduce him to someone you have never met?” Of course, Flash had to ruin their good time. Peter just ignored him and went back to texting Shuri. The two of them had become internet friends a few months ago through Mr. Stark and this was going to be the first time they got to meet in person.
“Don’t you ignore me Penis!”
MJ was seated across the aisle from the boys and had her nose in her book. “We all get that you want to get in Peter’s pants, but do you have to be so loud about it?”
Flash sputtered while turning bright red. “I-I don’t like Penis!”
“Then stop talking about his dick all the time.” Flash opened and closed his mouth a few times before turning and going back to his seat.
“Thanks, MJ.”
“Whatever Loser.”
Twenty minutes of Ned’s excited rambling later they got to the hotel. They all waited on the bus while Mr. Harrington checked them in. Flash tried to use this chance to harass Peter but one strong look from MJ sent him back to his seat.
Once they were checked in, they all grabbed their bags and headed for their rooms. Peter and Ned were sharing a room and MJ was sharing the room next to them with Betty. They all had forty minutes to get ready for the formal dinner that would kick off the weekend. Peter and Ned had only taken a few minutes to get dressed so they hung on in MJ and Betty’s room while they got ready for the rest of the forty minutes.
Once they were all ready, they met Mr. Harrington and the rest of the team by the elevators. They were staying in the hotel the event was being hosted so they just had to take the elevator down a few floors. Mr. Harrington gave them all a once-over to make sure they were properly dressed for the event before calling the elevator.
The whole team was jittery with excitement and practically dashed into the elevator when the doors opened. When they got out of the elevator, they were in a hallway with a line of people wearing suits and dresses. They got into the back of the line and waited. It took a few minutes but eventually, they made it to the front.
“Hello, we are the decathlon team from Midtown.”
The woman Mr. Harrington was speaking to was sitting behind a table that was covered in lanyards with name badges hanging from the end. She grabbed a bundle of white badges and handed them to Mr. Harrington.
“Make sure every student gets the correct one. Let me know if there are any issues.”
“Okay, Thank you.” The group stepped away from the table and Mr. Harrington handed out badges but when he finished Peter still hadn’t gotten a badge. “Um. Excuse me?”
“Yes.”
“It looks like one of my students doesn’t have a badge.”
“What’s the name?”
“Peter Parker.” The woman looked around the table for a moment before grabbing a gold badge.
“Is it possible that he was invited by Stark Industries? I have a Peter Parker, but it is a VIP pass.”
“That’s me. I was already supposed to come before we won nationals. Mr. Stark invited me.” Peter had hoped this wouldn’t happen, but he knew his luck, so he wasn’t that surprised.
The woman nodded and handed the gold badge to Peter. He quickly slid it over his head and turned back to the class and was met by a bunch of bewildered stares from everyone except for Ned and MJ.
“I-I told you I have an internship.”
“I don’t know how you did this, but I know you didn’t get invited by Tony Stark. You don’t even know him.” Peter rolled his eyes and walked past the group and into the ballroom. The rest of the class followed him in, excited to start talking to some of the world"s most renowned scientists.
The first person Peter noticed was Shuri. She had her back to the door so she didn’t see Peter so he slowly tried to sneak up on her but before he could get close, he noticed a few scary-looking women who must have been the Dora Milaje that Shuri had told him about. If anything Shuri had said about them was true there was no way he would be sneaking past them so he just walked normally up to Shuri. He could see the two of the Dora that was closest to Shuri seemed to size him up but let him pass anyway. They either knew who he was or didn’t see him as a threat.
“Shuri!” She spun around and saw Peter.
“White Boy!” She pulled him into what would have been a bone-crushing hug if he wasn’t enhanced. “Umm. Who’s the gaggle of teens staring at us?”
“Oh… Uhm. That’s my ACADEC team. They got invites for winning nationals. Well, I guess I got one too. But I had already been invited so it didn’t really matter.” Peter turned to look at the team, they all seemed astonished except for Ned who just looked excited, and MJ who seemed like she couldn’t care less. Peter pointed to Ned and MJ, “That’s Ned and MJ.”
“Ned, MJ!! Peter has told me all about you!”
“They better have all been good things.” MJ glared at Peter with a fire that would have melted a normal man and since Peter was in fact terrified of MJ he cowered.
“All good I assure you!”
“Y-Your P-Princess Shuri of Wakanda. What are you doing talking to Him?”
“Peter? Because he is my friend.”
“Why would you be friends with a loser like him when you could be friends with someone like me. Flash Thompson by the way.” He took a step towards Shuri with his hand out but before he could get anywhere near her the Dora all appeared from seemingly nowhere because if you didn’t know what you were looking for, they blended into the crowd. Peter had picked them out by the way they carried themselves like warriors, and by the Kimoyo beads they were all wearing but someone like Flash who didn’t know about them never would have spotted them. That was obvious is the terrified look that was plastered on Flash’s face from having four scary-looking women glare daggers at him.
A small crowd had gathered around them that included the president of MIT, Rafael Reif. “You should really be careful what you say about Pete around here. Almost every person in this room has at least heard about him and I would hate for you to lose opportunities because of childish jealousy.” Flash went to respond but seemed to realize who he was talking to and shut up.
The rest of the ACADEC team were all frozen to the spot. Did the president of MIT and the Princess of Wakanda both just admit to knowing the dorky nerd they went to school with?
“Why does everyone know him? He just a high school student like the rest of us.” Abe had stepped to the front of the group but was still a bit behind Flash.
“Just a high school student is a stretch. I know him because he goes to MIT. Some others know him because he is Tony Stark’s personal intern and others know him because of his scientific papers and inventions.”
Like he was called, Tony Stark stepped out of the crowd. “Did I hear my name?” Tony looked around the group standing in the center of the crowd and saw Peter and Shuri. “Pete! Hey, I thought you were going to come to find me when you got here?”
“I was but there was a mix-up with my badge because I was under SI’s pile not the ACADEC pile and then I saw Shuri and then there was a bit of an issue with one of my classmates.”
“It sounds like the infamous Parker Luck as struck again. And what is this issue with a classmate? Do I need to have words with someone?”
“No, Mr. Reif already dealt with it.”
“Well good. Wouldn’t want my favorite Intern getting bullied.” Tony messed with Peter’s hair before turning to the rest of the ACADEC team. “You must be Ned and MJ. It’s good to finally put faces to Peter’s rambling.”
“Hello, Stark.” MJ stepped forward and stuck her hand out to shake which Tony complied with. Once she had stepped back to leaned towards Peter and spoke in a stage whisper “Why am I terrified of her? I’ve fought aliens and terrorists, but this girl scares the shit out of me.”
“That would be because she is terrifying. Everyone in their right mind should fear her. She will rule us all one day.”
“I wouldn’t doubt that. She is scarier than Pepper and she could take over the world if she wanted to.”
“That’s why you have to always be nice to her.”
MJ slapped Peter on the back of the head, “You don’t do a very good job of that loser.”
“Oh, you know you love me.” Peter gave a sly smirk which earned him another head slap.
“Yo, you, Dash, was it? Close your mouth I wouldn’t want a bird to build their nest there.” Flash’s jaw slammed shut and he took a few large steps back into the group. “Alright, Pete let"s go schmooze some scientists into coming to work for SI.”
Tony put an arm around Peter’s shoulders and led him away from his team.
For the rest of the night, Tony led Peter around the room having him talk to the scientists. They had talked to almost everyone in the room by the time the party had ended. Peter met back up with his class to go back up to their rooms.
“You sure you want to go back to the rooms the school got you? You can come to stay with me in the penthouse if you want.”
“No, it"s okay. I want to be with Ned and the rest of the team.”
“Okay, I will see you tomorrow.” They went their separate ways, Tony going to the elevator to the penthouse and Peter and the team getting in the normal elevator.
The next morning after breakfast they went down to the conference floor and spent the day walking around looking at the newest technology and talking to the world"s most renowned scientist. Shuri found Peter almost as soon as he walked in the room so Shuri, Ned, MJ, Peter, and the Dora all walked around together. Tony also joined them for part of the day, but SI had a booth, so he was spending some time there.
The next day was more of the same and by the time they were going to get on the bus, they were all exhausted.
Tony ran up to where they were standing by the bus with Shuri in tow. “Pete! Why don’t you and your friends ride in the jet with me? That way you can talk to Shuri. I already called MJ and Ted’s parents and they said it was fine.”
Peter looked to Mr. Harrington who just shrugged his shoulders. “Is that okay with you?” He looked to Ned who was shaking his head vigorously and MJ who just shrugged her shoulders. “Alright. Let’s go!”
Tony led them away from the bus and towards an SUV that was waiting. Tony climbed into the passenger’s seat letting the kids take the back. The Dora was in a separate car behind them so the four were able to fit comfortably. They spent the whole drive and the flight back to New York talking about everything from Vines, to Tik Tok, to super complicated scientific equations.
Apparently, Tony had gotten permission for the kids to all sleep at the tower as long as he got them to school the next day, so they all crashed in Peter’s room as soon as they landed. As Peter fell asleep, he realized that this was one of the best weekends ever. Not because of the science but because of his friends.