#ms barch

[goldieo-gilt]

Some of my favorite cartoon teachers 🥰

[humbug-demartino]

"Lucky Strike" [S5 Ep06]

[fardell24b]

Spider Quinn 01: Quinn and the Spider

Spider Quinn

Let’s do this one more time. My name is Quinn Morgendorffer and for the past several years, I have been the one and only SpiderGirl. But let’s start at the beginning…

01 Quinn and the Spider

It was an ordinary day at Lawndale High. Quinn Morgendorffer certainly thought so as she headed to her science class.

“Good morning, Class,” Ms. Janet Barch said. “The field trip is today. I hope you have given your permission slips to the office. This field trip will cover much information on Genetics and Entomology, so be sure to take notes. There will be a test next week. Oscorp is one of the leading companies in biotechnology today. Too bad it’s lead by a MAN!”

Everyone in the class was familiar with Barch’s opinion of men, so they didn’t asks questions about that.

They were soon on their way.

“Have you heard about Brooke’s latest surgery, Quinn?” Sandi Griffin asked.

“I have, Sandi,” Quinn replied. ‘Ew!’ She didn’t want to think about it.

“I haven’t, Sandi,” Stacy Rowe answered.

“Wha-at?” Tiffany Blum-Deckler asked.

Sandi sighed.

“What do you think this field trip is about?” Quinn asked, trying to change the topic. ‘Something about genes?’

Sandi glared at Quinn. “Qui-inn! That is a question I would expect from the mouth of that girl who lives with you!”

“No, she would already know, Sandi!” Quinn pointed out. She didn’t like to be reminded of Daria by Sandi!

Stacy gave a nervous look.

“I give you that, but you don’t need to know, Quinn,” Sandi said.

“I hope we don’t have to wear those ugly safety goggles,” Stacy said. “Ugh!”

“Would those make me look fat?” Tiffany asked.

Quinn sighed.

“Back to Brooke,” Sandi said.

“Let’s not,” Stacy said.

Sandi glared at Stacy.

“Eep!”

“We are talking about Brooke,” Sandi said.

“She’s suddenly so weird,” Tiffany added.

“I wouldn’t know,” Quinn said. “I haven’t seen her around.”

Sandi sighed.

The bus soon arrived at the destination. Ms. Barch supervised the class as they disembarked. “Make a straight line as we wait for our guide.” She grumbled as the thoughts of her ex husband came to her mind yet again. ‘I hope it’s not a male!’

‘How likely is that?’ Quinn wondered.

A guide soon approached. “Welcome to the Oscorp Lawndale Genetics Laboratory,” she said.

Ms. Barch gave a quick smile before they followed her inside.

After going through other rooms, the class entered a room filled with cages containing spiders.

“One project is the addition of genes from multiple species to create a hybrid,” the guide explained.

Quinn noticed that one cage was empty. She wasn’t the only one.

“One of them is missing,” Joey Black said.

“The researchers are probably working on it,” the guide said.

In fact, the spider had escaped! It was spinning a web near one of the air vents. A sudden gust dislodged it from the web!

It fell on Quinn’s shoulder! She noticed it. “Ew!” She tried to brush it off. But it bit her.  “Ugh!” She squashed it. She then went pale and her vision went blurry.

“Quinn, are you OK?” Stacy asked.

“Dizzy!” Quinn said, before stumbling.

Sandi saw Quinn stumble after Stacy asked if she was OK. “Ms. Barch! Quinn isn’t feeling well.”

“Wha-at?” Tiffany asked.

Sandi saw that the bite site was swelling.

“What’s wrong?” Ms. Barch asked.

“Quinn’s not well!” Stacy answered.

“There was this spider,” Quinn explained.

Ms. Barch looked at Quinn.

“Class, we’re going back to school.”

Nurse Chase turned to Quinn. “Here’s some antivenom.”

She injected it into Quinn’s arm.

“Good thing, you have it.”

“There are spiders that Pavlov misses. But you still need to go home for the rest of the day.”

“Thanks,” Quinn said.

Helen was home early.

“Mom?” Quinn asked as she came inside.

“I was concerned when I received the call,” Helen responded.

“I’m feeling a little better.”

“Go up to your room and rest.”

Quinn didn’t argue.

Quinn entered her room in a daze. She looked at herself in the mirrors. “Gosh! I look pale!” She flopped onto her bed. She was asleep before she hit the sheets. She began to dream.

In the living room, her father was fretting. “Quinn was bitten by a spider! On no! We should take her to the hospital!”

“Jake! The school nurse gave her antivenom,” his wife, Helen said reassuringly. “She would have sent her to the hospital if she had concerns. We’ll see how she is in the morning.”

“The morning?”

“Yes.”

Quinn’s sister, Daria was in her room, on the phone with her friend Jane Lane. “…. So now, Quinn is recovering in her room,” she said.

“I suppose whatever date she was going on was cancelled,” Jane said.

“No doubt.”

“You’re going to be easy on her?”

“Not a chance,” Daria answered. “She will be back to her usual self tomorrow.”

“Or maybe she’ll be more insufferable.”

“Is there a word for insufferabler?”

Later that night after her parents and Daria had gone asleep, Quinn stirred, but remained asleep. However, she then started sleepwalking. She got out of bed and went downstairs.

She grabbed some food from the fridge and ate it. She headed back upstairs and to bed.

She awoke after sunrise. “I feel better, but something’s weird… What is it?” She went over to her mirrors. Something was off about her appearance. She found that her abdominal muscles are more defined. “What’s going on with me? Is this a nightmare?”

She decided to try to go back to sleep.

She awoke again and looked at the time. “Breakfast!”

She slipped at the top of the stairs. She summersaulted and then landed on her feet. “What just happened?” she asked herself. She wasn’t sure.

Helen was preparing breakfast when Quinn entered the kitchen. “How are you this morning, Quinn?”

“I feel a lot better.”

“We were worried.”

“You mean, Daddy was,” Quinn responded.

“Yes.”

Daria then entered the kitchen. “Oh. You’re up and about,” she said.

“I feel a lot better,” Quinn said again.

“I didn’t expect otherwise,” Daria said.

Quinn met Sandi and Stacy at a door as she arrived at the school. “Are you feeling better, Quinn?”

“I do,” Quinn responded.

Sandi gave a dubious look. “There’s like, a Fashion Club meeting this afternoon.”

“That’s fine,” Quinn responded. “I’m a lot better.”

Sandi gave another dubious look. “Good,” she said.

Later, in between classes, Quinn saw Brooke Peterson approaching.

“I see you were sent home yesterday,” Brooke said.

“So what?” Quinn asked.

“Something happened, didn’t it?” Brooke asked.

“Something,” Quinn murmured.

Brooke then tried to attack Quinn. Some sort of tingle caused Quinn to move out of the way. Brooke tried again, but she missed!

“Uh!” Brooke said. She swung again, hitting another locker. “Stay still!”

Quinn moved out of the way again.

Brooke then leapt at her.

Quinn jumped, quite high, right over Brooke!

Quinn was confused, something was definitely happening to her. She ran.

Quinn ended up on the roof. ‘What is happening to me?’ she wondered. ‘Was it that spider?’

She suddenly realised that she needed to get to class. She grabbed the doorknob. Her hand than somehow stuck to it. “Oh no!” she said as she panicked. The knob then came off in her hand. “Oh no!” Then a web came out of her wrist! “Ew!”

She was shocked and sat down. ‘What has happened to me so far?’ she wondered.

She sorted through the memories from earlier in the day. That her muscles were more defined. That there was some sort of danger sense that allowed her to avoid being hit by Brooke. That she was sticking to things. And that a web had come out of her wrist. She thought more on this before looking at her watch. “Yikes!”

Quinn ran late into History.

“You’re late, Ms. Morgendorffer!” Mr. DeMartino said.

“Sorry, something came up,” Quinn said.

“That’s alright, Ms. Morgendorffer. Just don’t do it again!”

The rest of the day went by without further incidents.

“See you at the meeting,” Sandi said they left the school.

‘I didn’t forget the meeting, Sandi!’ Quinn groused to herself as she walked away from the school.

She headed downtown. ‘This is a good time to test what I can do now.’

She looked at her right wrist. “What can I do with these webs?” She looked at a nearby building and remembered seeing a spider spinning it’s web.

“Right!”

She produced a web but it didn’t get far.

“Again!” she said with determination.

The second web came out faster and hit somewhere higher on the building.

She then jumped high, but came down on the ground.

‘I’ll try again.’

She ran and shot a web. This time she swung up at an angle. But she still slammed into a wall.

“Ugh!” she said as she fell down the wall. But not far. She found she was sticking to it. “Oh!”

‘I’m sticking to the wall! Can I climb down? Or up?”

She moved down the wall to the ground. “Even more like a spider! Ew! But can I climb up?”

She then climbed up.

She got to the eave. “Time to try swinging again,” she said as she looked at it. She produced webbing again, and swung.

This time she ended up on the roof. “That worked!”

She walked to the edge of the roof, and shot another web.

Soon she was going from rooftop to rooftop through Lawndale’s downtown. But she soon came to the edge of the downtown, where it and the suburbia met. ‘This is going to be more difficult,’ she thought as she looked over the sprawl towards home.

She swung to the ground.

As she went towards home, she wondered if she could swing from trees. There was only one way to find out.

She shot out webbing and it connected to a branch. She smiled and swung. She found that it worked, but not as well as in the built up area.

Ten minutes later, she swung up onto the roof of her house. She looked back in the direction she had just come. ‘I wonder what the future has in store.’

[plokool]

I'm reminded of the sign that Ms. Barch (not pictured, this is the art teacher critiquing it) made for a teacher's strike in Daria

I literally feel like a teacher writing a huge ❓ on a student's paper everytime I go to protests lately. Why are we gathered at a prolife contra protest and you have a sign with "LGBT education in schools" written on it. Why are you shouting an environmentalist slogan. This is a pro choice protest. Why are you fragmenting the group with unrelated topics? Are you a fed? Why does every protest lately have to be a buy one get one free type of event? Why is it that when our reproductive rights are threatened we feel the need to also bring up barely related topics and take away the focus from the problem at hand?

[urbandesignlab]

Ms. NOH Seo Yeon starts her PhD program

Ms. Noh Seo Yeon starts her PhD program. She is interested at urban resilience and critical impact on human perceptions and movements. She completed her BArch at Korea National University of Arts and her MSc at UNIST.

[iitroorkee]

IIT Roorkee revised its undergraduate curriculum after a decade. The new curriculum will be offered to students who will be admitted in all BTech, BArch, BS-MS and Integrated MTech programmes. The institute has introduced concepts which make its curriculum unique in the country introducing mandatory courses on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML), Data Science, Indian Knowledge System (IKS), Tinkering and Mentoring, Talent Enhancement Baskets (TEB), Entrepreneurship, Environmental Science and Sustainability (ESSC), Community Outreach (CORE), soft skills and more.

[hodophilediaries]

Manipal Entrance Test

The Manipal Entrance Test (MET) exam was formerly known as the Manipal University Online Entrance Exam (MU-OET). Manipal University offers a variety of programmes for admission, such as MBBS, MD, MS, PG Medical Diploma, MSc (in many disciplines), MPhil, DM, Bachelor of Audiology & Speech Pathology (BASLP), Bachelor of Cardiovascular Technology (BSc CVT), BSc (in many disciplines), Bachelor of Physiotherapy (BPT), BTech (in many disciplines), MTech (in many disciplines), MSc (in many disciplines), BArch, BDes, BA etc.

To admit candidates to the programmes it offers, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) holds its own online entrance exam. Candidates can enrol in courses offered by Manipal University based on their performance on the Manipal Entrance Test (MET).

[ifyouseekay468]

I swear Madam Satan is just a gayer, more badass version of Ms Barch from Daria. I can totally picture her in class going “now explain why the constellation Orion carries around a sword in order to feel like a man,”

[glitterberry]

Ms. Barch | Daria: Fair Enough 2x10

[totallycorrectdariaquotes]

Ms. Barch: *confiscating an adult magazine* How do you feel about having owned this type of magazine?

Upchuck: ...Ashamed!

Ms. Barch: Do you have anything you want to say to women for having owned this offensive magazine?

Upchuck: ...I'm sorry women.

[royalarmyofoz]

daria: 2.02 - the daria hunter

brittany surprising everyone with her knowledge of combat tactics

bonus:

[squirrelmort]

Rules: List your 10 favorite female characters from 10 different fandoms and tag 10 people

Thanks @choking-on-roses for the tag

In no particular order:

1. Maddie Hatter (Ever After High): It’s hard to go wrong with this fandom, but Maddie was my first and still the best. She’s just so cute and sweet and fun.

2. Catra (She-Ra: Princesses of Power): It’s hard to pick a favorite from this series, but I love Catra so much. I mean, she’s a lesbian and a cat. That’s enough, but then you add on AJ Michalka’s voice and a redemption arc?

3. Skipper (Barbie multiverse [primarily Life in the Dreamhouse and Dreamhouse Adventures]): as much as I love Barbie (and Ken, and Raquelle, and...), Skipper is the best, sorry not sorry.

4. Moira Rose (Schitt’s Creek): Honestly, my favorite female character from this show changes constantly, but today it is Moira. Bébé.

5. Ms. Barch (Daria): Yet another difficult choice. I was going to do Daria, but then remembered that I am Ms. Barch.

6. Claudia Auditore (Assassin’s Creed): For such a male dominated franchise, this series has some truly badass ladies.

7. Bonnie (Pokémon anime): I feel this may be a controversial choice, for a show that gifted us Jessie and Serena and Misty, but I love Bonnie so much. She’s so cute, but also drags her brother hard.

8. Eun Chan (Coffee Prince): This one almost feels like cheating, because there are many major female characters in this one, but Coffee Prince was my first kdrama and remains my favorite. I will always love Eun Chan.

9. Miss America Chavez (Young Avengers): GURL. I don’t even know what to say.

10. Tiana (The Princess and the Frog/Disney Princesses): My favorite princess movie and my favorite princess. Married to my favorite prince. She and her movie are so under appreciated.

Couldn’t pick just one for Harry Potter

Tagging @quinnmorgendorffer @ohtheshippings @xyliandra

[humbug-demartino]

"Lucky Strike" [S5 Ep06]

[fardell24b]

Spider Quinn 08 - The Three Misfits - Part 5

Lawndale Sun-Herald

Tuesday, January 5th, 2000

There are still no Y2K related issues in Lawndale

Quinn was excited to be back at school. The holidays weren’t exactly, happy times, with her father no longer around. She knew that Stacy, Tiffany and Tori had had it better. She had remembered that she was going to do a field trip with the three misfits. She also hadn’t encountered Anna as SpiderGirl over the Holidays.

“Quinn Morgendorffer, please report to the Principal’s Office,” came an announcement straight after Homeroom.

“Right on que,” Quinn said.

“Good luck,” Stacy said.

“Thanks.”

“I have decided to approve your field trip idea,” Ms. Li said.

“That’s great!” Quinn said.

“I’m going to call in the other three now.”

“Go ahead.”

“Anna Coultard, Ben Harrod and Gerald Brown, please report to the Principal’s Office.”

Anna had remembered and she had reminded Ben the night before, so she wasn’t surprised. She got a hall pass from DeMartino and headed towards the Principal’s office.

Ben entered last.

“I have approved the field trip idea, for sometime this week,” the Principal said. “One of the junior science teachers will accompany you to one of the forests where they will assist you in a survey of plants and animals.”

“A junior science teacher?” Anna asked.

“Yes. Sending Barch with two male students by herself would be a bad idea,” Li answered.

Both Ben and Gerald nodded. That was an understatement.

“Either tomorrow or Thursday would be great,” Quinn said. “Best to strike while the iron is hot, or whatever.”

“Tomorrow. I can send out the permission slips today,” the Principal decided.

“That’s fine,” Anna said.

“Yeah, fine,” Gerald said, in a subdued tone.

“Sure,” Ben said, although he wasn’t sure.

As they left the Principal’s office, Quinn saw that Ben wasn’t enthusiastic. “Ben!”

“Yes, Quinn?”

“I’ll make sure that we do have a first aid kit.”

“Thanks, but that’s not what I’m concerned about,” Ben said.

“Which will have disinfectant and insect repellent,” Quinn added.

“That will do, I suppose.”

Upon school letting out, SpiderGirl headed to the west, to the forests where the group would be having their field trip. She arrived there less than 10 minutes later.

‘It looks alright to me,’ she thought. But there was then a flashback to when she and her parents had eaten strange berries on a camping trip back in the Spring. Or was it the previous Winter? ‘No one will be picking strange berries this time,’ she thought as she reflected on the usual grief that came when she remembered her father. ‘With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility.’

She looked around some more before she heard a cry in the distance. She quickly swung in that direction.

She found that a young woman had fallen down a small ravine. “SpiderGirl! Help!” she called.

“Coming!” she said. She swung down into the ravine.

“I think my leg is broken,” the young woman said.

“I can’t tell,” SpiderGirl said. “But I will get you out of the ravine and then call an ambulance.”

“OK.”

It wasn’t that difficult, except SpiderGirl had to use a branch as a splint before slowly bringing the woman out of the ravine.

She left her in a clearing not far from the ravine before heading to the nearest phone booth and calling 911.

Having called the ambulance, she returned to the woman. “They’re on their way,” she said.

“Thanks. I don’t know what I was thinking, trying to climb down that ravine.”

“You’re lucky I came along. I didn’t know I was coming out this way.”

“You’re right, SpiderGirl. I can call you that right?”

“Of course.”

“You can call me Bella.”

“Bella. That’s pretty.”

Bella chuckled. “I was going to say that I could have been stuck down there for days.”

“Probably not that long. I would have joined in the search.”

“I guess so.”

It wasn’t long before the ambulance arrived. The paramedics thanked SpiderGirl for what she did. “We would have needed to call in a helicopter otherwise.”

“You’re welcome,” SpiderGirl said, although she recognised that that particular paramedic had been there when her father had passed. ‘Not his fault. He tried his best,’ she thought, yet again.

As the ambulance left she went back to the area she was looking at. ‘I know to avoid that ravine now.’

Lawndale Sun-Herald

Wednesday January 6, 2000

Why has Norman Osborne moved to Lawndale?

The Tycoon has been tight lipped about his move from New York

SpiderGirl put down the paper. She felt, uneasy for some reason. ‘All I know is that I have some foreboding.’ She thought. She shook her head and swung away. She still needed some sleep before school started.

It was still early in the morning when the phone rang at the Coultard residence.

“Anna, it’s your friend,” her mother said. “Please tell him he’s not sick!”

Anna got out of bed and went to the phone. “You’re not sick.”

“Yes, I am,” Ben said.

“No, you’re not.”

“Really. I am.”

“We have to sleep,” Anna said with a yawn.

“I can’t go on this field trip.”

“Yes, you can.”

“No, I can’t,” Ben objected.

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Bye!” Anna said before hanging up.

Ben was still sure that he was unwell when he got to school. He headed straight to the nurse’s office straight after Homeroom.

“See,” he said.

“It’s nothing,” Nurse Chase said.

“It’s a fever,” Ben said..

“Your temperature is only a quarter of a degree above normal.”

“That’s right.”

“It is easily prompted by emotional stress,” Chase said.

“Or an influenza virus.”

“You don’t have a flu. I’m not giving you a medical excuse. Not this time. You shouldn’t have that thermometer! I’m sure it’s school property. You are going on that field trip. You won’t have time to be worried about getting sick.”

The school day went as usual. The field trip started at the beginning of the last period. Anna, Ben and Gerald met Quinn and the young science teacher at the bus stop behind the school’s football stadium.

“Are we ready to go?” Quinn asked.

“Yes,” Anna said.

“As I’ll ever be,” Gerald said.

“I still don’t like it,” Ben answered.

“Let’s go,” the teacher, Ms. Olivia Sanderson, said.

Ms. Sanderson had prepared as much as she could for the field trip after Ms. Li had informed her that she would be taking the students early in the day. She went over the checklist again before sitting in the drivers seat. She did have a bus licence, but she didn’t know why Ms. Li wanted her to drive rather than one of the staff hired to drive the school’s buses.

“We’re almost there,” Sanderson said.

“Cool,” Quinn said.

The bus pulled up at a bus stop on the edge of the forest.

“We shall take everything,” Sanderson said as they disembarked.

“Of course,” Quinn said.

“Should we start now?” Anna asked.

“We don’t want to miss anything,” Sanderson said.

Suddenly there flock of birds flew away in an agitated flurry nearby and Quinn felt something through her spider sense. “What just happened?” she asked.

“Nothing,” Gerald said.

“Something,” Anna said.

“I agree with Anna,” Ben said.

“We may not be alone,” Sanderson said. “Keep an eye out.”

“I agree,” Quinn said as she looked around.

Sanderson and Quinn lead the way deeper into the forest. With Gerald following and Anna and Ben bringing up the rear.

Ben took out a protein bar. “Want one?” he asked Anna.

“Sure,” she responded.

Quinn dropped back to Gerald. “Apparently you aren’t from Lawndale either.”

“No. But I’m not good at small talk. Like what’s the point.”

“I used to be good at it, before what happened.”

“Look! I’m sorry for running off that time,” Gerald said.

“Apology accepted.”

“But I’m not up for talking about my home town.”

“Usually, I wouldn’t talk of that town in Texas, either,” Quinn said.

“Usually?”

“Like, I’m worried Lawndale will become like it, or worse.”

“How bad was it?” Gerald asked.

Quinn began to tell of Highland, including of the two weirdos Daria sometimes hung out with.

Suddenly part of a tree a tree fell nearby.

“What was that?” Gerald asked.

“It was just a weakened branch,” Sanderson said. “But we can start here.”

Sanderson handed out pages on how to identify various plants and animals. “So, we’ll work carefully along the trail, back to the bus and look out for each species. Don’t go too far.”

The next half hour was spent looking at various plants and animals in the area. But then something happened.

Quinn and Sanderson turned as the heard Ben cry out. They ran to him. “What was it?” Sanderson asked.

“It was a snake!” Anna exclaimed.

“Did you see it?” Sanderson asked.

“It was a Copperhead,” Anna said.

“Right,” Sanderson said. “Where’s the bite?”

“On his ancle,” Anna said.

“Help!” Ben called out.

Sanderson whipped out the first aid kit. “Take off your shoe first. Then I can wrap the bandage around your leg.”

“This is one reason why I didn’t want to come,” Gerald said to Quinn.

“Being at home isn’t exactly safe,” Quinn responded.

“There haven’t been break and enters when the people are at home in the news.”

“No, but, stuff can still happen,” Quinn said.

Sanderson then came up. “I can’t leave him, as I have the duty of care. Someone has to go and call an ambulance,” she said.

“You don’t have a cell phone?” Quinn asked.

“I do,” Sanderson said. “But there’s no signal.”

“I can do it,” Quinn responded.

“You shouldn’t go alone though,” Sanderson said.

‘If I did go it would be quicker though,’ Quinn thought. But she didn’t want to just dash off, because she wanted to stay in Ms. Li’s good books and to continue mentoring the three. “OK.”

“Gerald will go with you,” Sanderson said. “Anna wants to stay with him.”

“Of course,” Quinn said.

[frauleinfunf]

Riverparents + Daria

Mary - Daria

Gladys - Jane

Hermione - Quinn

Fred - Brittany

FP - Kevin

Sierra - Jodie

Myles - Mack

Hiram - Upchuck

Penelope - Andrea

Alice - Ms. Barch

Hal - Mr. O’Neil

Tom - Mr. DeMartino

[manymessyfandoms]

I love your iron Dad fics and your prose is so nice man it flows really well. Could you maybe write about when Tony goes to the career day at Peter’s school? (Im just picturing that picture where Tom looks like an embarrassed son) Gracias!

Yes, of course! And for real, thank you so much for the compliment, catch me grinning like an idiot at my computer 

(PART ONE) (PART TWO)

I HOPE YOU LIKE IT, LOVE

“Class, don’t forget tomorrow is career day! And- Peter? Can I have a word with you?”

Peter’s head snapped up at hearing his name and he nodded, walking over to where she stood as the class filed out of the room. “What’s up?”

She looked at him with an irritated expression. “I think you need to take career day more seriously and stop treating it as a joke. ‘Tony Stark’? Really?”

It took him a minute to realize what she was saying. “Wha- no! It’s not a joke, I swear!” he said. “Tony’s coming, Ms. L. I promise.”

That was an understatement. Tony was more excited for Peter’s career day than Peter himself.

But his teacher didn’t look like she would quite believe that bit of information. “You’re really sticking with this then?” She let out a sigh. “Fine. But I’ll have you know if he doesn’t show tomorrow, I’ll have no choice but to mark you down a letter grade.”

Peter gave her a thumbs up, not worried in the slightest. “Okay, sounds good.” She just rolled her eyes slightly and waved him off.

Someone must’ve overheard them talking, because when Peter arrived at school the next day, he was getting strange looks.

“Dude,” Ned said as he walked up to him, “people heard Tony’s coming in for career day, and they are freaking out. Well, a third of them are freaking out. The rest think you’re lying.” Peter laughed for a moment before he felt something hit the back of his head.

It was another kid from Peter’s class. Flash hadn’t been an issue in so long, Peter had almost forgotten there was more than one asshole in the school.

“Hey, Parker. Somebody told me that you have Tony Stark coming in for career day, and you know what? I might actually believe them. I mean, your parents are dead, your uncle is dead, who else would be able to do it?” Peter felt his heart sink and he squeezed his hand into a fist. “I’ve heard rumors that Stark came by the school when you had that spaz attack, so maybe you’re not full of horseshit, but let me be very clear, it doesn’t matter who you know, you will always be nothing.”

Peter stood there as he walked away, not quite knowing what to do with all that. 

“-eter? Hey, Peter?” Ned’s voice phased in, and Peter looked towards him. “You okay, man? You kind of spaced out there for a second.”

“No, I’m fine,” Peter mumbled, looking back down at his shoes. He didn’t mean to be affected by the other kid’s words, but he couldn’t help it. His remarks about his parents and Ben were enough to knock the wind out of him.

Ned gave him a sympathetic look. “Don’t listen to that douchebag,” he said softly. “He doesn’t know shit.”

Peter nodded. “Right, of course. I know.” He faked a smile before walking to his next class.

He felt off for the rest of the day. It wasn’t until he finally got to his final period and he knew he’d see Tony that he started to feel like himself again. 

“Alright,” the teacher said as she glanced at the clock. “So, your parents should be arriving any minute now-”

As if summoned by her words, Tony Stark strutted through the door, and Peter’s smile grew genuine for the first time since that morning. 

“Am I late?” Tony asked. “I’m kidding. Of course I’m not late. Oh, Pete!” He walked over to where Peter was sitting and plopped into the space next to him. “Ah, this is cozy. Brings me back to my own high school experience. Although I really only was in class about 50% of the time.”

“Thank you for coming, Tony,” Peter said with genuine relief in his voice, and Tony scrunched his eyebrows. 

He casually slung an arm on Peter’s shoulder and lowered his voice. “What’s wrong, kid?”

The rest of the parents that were able to make it started entering, so the students’ eyes diverted from the two of them, but the eyes would only leave for a few moments before inevitably shifting back to them. 

“Nothing, I’m fine, Mr. Stark,” he muttered.

“You’re a horrible liar, Peter.” The teacher was speaking again before he could pester him more. 

“Okay then! I think that everyone’s here, so we could get started. We’ll be going alphabetically, so the Barch’s will be starting.”

It was only five minutes later that Tony nudged his shoulder. “You going to tell me what’s wrong or am I going to have to guess,” he said under his breath.

“I said nothing was wrong.”

“Yeah, and I said you’re a horrible liar. Now that we’re done recapping, can you tell me why you look like somebody kicked your puppy?”

“I don’t have a puppy.”

“It’s a metaphorical puppy, Parker.”

“Erm- Peter and Mr. Stark?” Ms. L’s voice interrupted. “Please no talking during the other students orientation.”

Tony gave her a thumbs up before saying, “Sorry, teach. Carry on.”

A few parents later, Peter felt something hit the back of his neck. He grimaced after wiping off the spitball and pointedly ignoring Tony’s look.

It was a bold move, Peter gave him that. Doing that with all the parents around. 

“Peter-”

His teacher’s voice cut him off. “All right, how about a round of applause for Mrs. Roland! Up next is Mr. Stark, here for Peter Parker.”

Tony glanced at Peter for a moment before he stood up walked towards the front of the room, tucking his glasses in his jacket pocket. 

“Yes, hello. I am Tony Stark, as I’m sure you all know, and I’m here to talk about what I do.” Tony went on with his speech and Peter spaced out, lulled by the sound of his voice, until his name startled him out of his trance. “Pete? Can you help me demonstrate the newest bot?”

Peter nodded and walked towards the front of the class. “Of course.”

“You see, Peter here helps me out with some of my most valuable assets. The kid might even know as much as me. In fact, I actually brought one of his own inventions.” 

“Wait, you brought Harry?” Harry was one of Peter’s AI robots. He wasn’t as advanced as Tony’s, but he was good enough for Peter to be proud of himself, and apparently Mr. Stark, too, because the pride in his voice was unmistakeable when he spoke next.

“It’s the most brilliant thing I’ve ever seen from someone his age. Let me tell you, this school doesn’t know what it’s got with this one. He’s going to be one of the greats. He’s already got one of the most brilliant minds, and he’s only sixteen. You’re lucky you have the privilege of having him here.”

Peter was blushing all the way down his neck by the time Tony had finished. “Uh- I mean, he’s exaggerating-”

“No, no, I’m not. Show them Harry.”  

He could still feel the heat on his face when he said, “Hey, Harry? Awake.” Immediately, the robot woke up and rolled over to where Peter was standing, and he grinned. “Hey, buddy.” 

“Hello, Peter.”

“So, why don’t you tell my classmates a little about yourself.”

Harry turned towards the class and started speaking. “Hello, Peter’s class. My name is Harry. I am a form of artificial intelligence crafted by Peter Benjamin Parker.” Peter was still smiling at his bot as he went into the specifics of his innerworkings, and Tony clapped a hand on his shoulder. “I sometimes help Peter when he goes out on missions, and the other Av-”

“Harry, sleep!” Peter yelled, and the bot shut down. His outburst caused the class’s looks to shift from wonder to confusion. “Uh, he calls everything ‘missions’. Like, I can be like, ‘Yo, Harry, where’s the nearest sandwich shop?’, and he’d be like, “It’s on 25th Street, good luck on your mission.’” There was an awkward silence and Peter could feel Tony choking back a laugh. 

“Right,” Tony said. “So, that’s Peter’s bot. I’ve got a few more things here that we work on- like that, Pete, grab that for me, will you?”

The rest of the presentation went well. It was when they got to the questions that things got… confrontational. 

“Yeah, I’ve got a question for Tony,” the kid from earlier that day said. “What are you getting out of all of this?”

Tony was quiet for a beat. “Pardon me?”

“Well, you’re a big shot billionaire with probably a million things to do. This seems a little below your pay grade.”

Tony squinted. “Is this guy kidding? Are you kidding?” 

“No, I’m being serious.”

“I thought this was fairly obvious, but I’m here because Peter needed me here.”

A scoff. “You expect us to believe that?” he said with bitterness. “That you’re here because of Parker? No, what is it really? Good publicity?”

Tony looked around the room in a dramatic way. “Do you see any cameras, because I don’t.” Tony kept talking before he could be interrupted. “You know, I don’t think I like you very much, pal. Like I said, Peter asked me to come, so I came. No ulterior motives.”

“But Peter doesn’t even matter.” And that was the wrong thing to say.

“I’m sorry, did you just say Peter Parker doesn’t even matter? Are you sniffing glue?”

Peter grabbed his arm lightly. “Tony, it’s fine.”

“No, Pete, I didn’t say all that stuff about this school being lucky to have you for shits and giggles. I said it because it’s true, and these teenybopper assholes shouldn’t be talking about things they don’t understand, which they obviously don’t, because if they understood the situation, they’d realize they’re all going to be working for you one day and would be kissing your ass.” Tony huffed out a dry laugh. “‘Doesn’t even matter’. Give it a few years, kid. Then you’ll realize what the rest of us already know. You’ll realize how much Peter Parker matters.”

Everyone seemed slightly stunned, including Peter. He hadn’t anticipated Tony to say all that stuff about him, and the redness was back in his cheeks. 

“Okay,” his teacher said, trying to gain control of the room again. “Okay, I think we’re done with questions. Why doesn’t everyone give a round of applause for Peter and Mr. Stark. Thank you for taking time to come out and speak with us, Mr. Stark.”

“The pleasure was all mine.” He glanced back to where the kid was avoiding his eye. “Well, mostly.”

Later that night when they were back at the tower, Peter sat on the couch while Tony threw a pizza in the oven.

“You didn’t have to say all that stuff, you know.”

“Huh?”

“Back at the school. You didn’t have to say that.”Tony scoffed. “Kid, I know I didn’t have to. I wanted to because it’s the truth. It’s about time those monsters treat you the way you deserve.”

“But they weren’t entirely wrong. I mean, I am nothing, really.” 

Tony stopped from where he was trying to preheat the oven and walked over to where Peter was seated. “You don’t really think that, Pete. Right?”

Normally Peter didn’t listen to whatever people threw his way, but the comment about his parents and Ben ripped him open earlier, so when he was called “nothing”, it settled right in his heart and hadn’t left. 

“Yes. No. I- I don’t know.” He rubbed a hand over his face. 

“Peter, I meant every single goddamn syllable I said in there. And even if you weren’t one of the smartest kids, no people, I knew, you still wouldn’t be nothing. You’re Peter Parker. You will always be something.” Tony laughed. “Hell, you’re everything, kid.” 

Peter sucked in a shuddering breath. “Thank you.”

Tony must’ve noticed the heaviness in his voice because he replied with, “Hey, don’t thank me. You’re the brilliant one, and if you need me to remind you everyday then I will. Actually- FRIDAY? Remind me later to make a pow-wow video for Peter to watch when his self esteem tank is on low.”

Peter laughed. “No! That’s embarrassing, don’t-”

Tony ruffled his hair before walking back into the kitchen. “Oh, I’m doing it, kid. You’re going to have confidence through the roof, just you wait. I can’t have you thinking you’re nothing, Pete. Not on my watch.”

And Peter smiled as his heart grew warm. It didn’t matter what the other kids said. 

He’d still always have everything.