Chapter Text
Peter
Once Peter saw Tony Stark sitting on his couch again, he knew he was screwed. He needed to install a security system more advanced than the ever asleep old man named Lee behind the security desk. Anything to keep from getting dragged into Mr. Stark's nonsense.
“Underoos!” Mr. Stark called out. “Come pop a squat by Uncle Tony, and tell me about how your school day was. Only A’s in the grade book, right?”
Uh oh spaghetti-o's was the only clear thought in his head, intermingled with a few holy shits. Sure, Mr. Stark stood in a special place of honor as one of Peter's scientific role models, but that by no means made up for the shit fest, aka the media dubbed "civil war", that man dragged him into, for little to no reason. Add in the fact that a public unmasking was still one of the first things that came up when Mr. Stark was googled, having Mr. Stark lounging on the worn down couch was enough to make Peter's heart race more than when Liz Allen walked down the hallway. The secret part of Peter's secret identity was kinda a big deal for a kid with a 10 o'clock curfew, and eventually all the visits from Mr. Stark would be a dead give away for Aunt May. So whatever force dragged the billionaire back to Queens better have been something good.
"Mr. Stark, I'm not sure why you're here, but could you please keep your voice down. Aunt May could be back for work any minute now.” Panic made his voice crack mid sentence, something Peter tried to cover up with a small cough.
“Relax, Spandex, as much as I'd like to see your unbelievably hot aunt again, I've got F.R.I.D.A.Y. watching the parameter. If anyone who isn't apart of our special club gets too close, she'll tell me. Now, would you like to know what brings the great Tony Stark back to Queens?" Mr. Stark smirked as Peter tensed.
“Look, I’ve got this Spanish homework to do, so please, please, make it quick, Mr. Stark."
“Kid, if you don't stop calling me Mr. Stark, I will take anyway that amazing suit I gave you and let you go back to running around in swim goggles and a hoodie. And besides, you should probably just forget Spanish and pick up a French textbook.”
Just as Peter was going to think of a witty quip (a good ole spidery trademark), his brain registered the word French. “What do you mean a French textbook ?”
Mr.S- Tony took in a deep break and pulled off his sunglasses for dramatic effect. “Okay, this is gonna take a minute, so sit your spider butt down. What I'm asking for is a favor, like a huge favor, like bigger than Germany kinda deal.”
At this point, if Peter actually had regard for his own life, he would have turned and crawled away. But seeing as whatever sense of self preservation was long gone, he sat down on the couch.
“Okay kid, here's something a little above your pay grade. Between you and me, S.H.I.E.L.D. is A, still alive, and B, a bit of a mess right now. So, I try to help out every now and then to make sure the world doesn't end, something only I seem capable of doing. Anyway, they're trying to investigate a"- he paused to search for the appropriate word- "recurring incident in France, but they lack any agents who met the mission requirements. Once I read the mission report, I realized there was only one person for this mission: You.”
“But why me Mr… Tony!” Peter corrected himself, worried that Tony was only half joking at taking away his suit. Look, hearing about the infamous prank wars at Avengers Tower was enough to make Peter fear the lengths which the Avengers would go to, especially Black Widow.
Truth be told, he would of been more surprised to see jolly J Jonah Jameson praise Spider-man as the greatest hero of New York than for Iron Man to pick him first for anything. Yeah, they fought side by side in Germany, and he was a “Junior Science Bro” once Bruce Banner got back and approved the paperwork. But still, so many people were more experienced and powerful than Peter on Tony's speed dial.
Tony glared at Peter, then resumed talking. “Don't cut me off while monologuing, spiderling. This is some important information, so much sure to take notes because there might be a pop quiz at the end. Anyways, there’s this thing going on in Paris that I'm not allowed to tell you about until you say yes. It's being kept very hush hush by the mayor there cause he doesn't want it to negatively affect tourism, which is dumb if you ask me. I mean, look at my life. Coming out as Iron boosted my stock by- I digress. Look, kid, the reason why you're the best choice is because, well, you're a kid. And as much as it pains me to send your spandex clad ass into the field, you're the only teenager I trust, and that's saying a lot cause I trust like 6 people max."
Peter raised his hand, and waited for Tony to let him to talk. “Okay, so basically, are you saying that you want me to go to PARIS of all places, where I don't even know the language and would have to miss school, and do some really important mission that I'm the best choice just because of my age?”
“When you phrase it like that, it sounds kinda bad. But, a benefit to this assignment, you wouldn't be missing any school, because, drum roll please, you'd be working undercover at a school in Paris. The place is called Françoise Dupont. And before your bring up that whole “I don't speak French thing”, I got it covered. Me, being the genius that I am, already have a solution all worked out. You get to be the guinea pig for Stark industries newest innovation, the universal translator. It basically translates what people are saying, converts your words into that language, spells out the words so you can write in the language, and let's you read it too. We can get into the science of it on the plane.”
“I haven't even said yes yet! Do you know how suspicious Aunt May will get if I keep leaving every time you snap your fingers? Even though yours only lasted for like two minutes, I kinda want to keep my secret identity a secret. And she's never let me go to a foreign country alone without any adult supervision.
“Don't worry, spider-ling, I've already got all those pesky little details worked out. You've been picked for Stark Industries “Genius across the Globe” trip."
"And I'm the unfortunate person with the job of watching you for this whole thing," a female voice from behind Peter said.
Startled, Peter screamed something so nasty Aunt May would've washed his mouth with soap as he jumped to the ceiling. There was a loud thud as Peter hit his head, which caused him to again need some censoring. Once he finally pulled himself together, and stuck out his tongue at the very amused Tony Stark, Peter turned at saw the Black Widow by his door, eating a piece of his Aunt's (in)famous walnut and date loaf.
"Seriously, Tony, this stuff isn't as bad as you made it out to be. I was served a hell of a lot worse in the red room."
"Well, I'm sorry that you lack my refined pallet."
"And is that what you said to Ms August or Ms April back in your playboy days?"
The casual conversation between Mr. Stark and the Black Widow (Peter was way too terrified to use her real name) was a little unsetttling to Peter. Yes, he'd accepted most of the avengers as real people (even Vision, cause there's no way a robot could be programmed to use that much parpaka in his cooking), but the Black Widow was still someone who Peter struggled to see as an everyday person. Maybe it had something to do with the first time Peter met her, he tried to say some kind of spider joke that ended with him being flipped onto the ground and electrocuted. Yeah, how was Peter suppose to know that she was having a rough day?
With the bickering between her and Mr. Stark still ongoing, Peter felt it was his duty as an Avenger (he had an ID card, he was legit) to get them back on track. He dropped to the ground and then coughed.
"Uh, guys, can we get backing to talking about the super important mission you want to send a minor on?"
Tony rolled his eyes and then got back to the task at hand. "So, if you haven't guessed it already, Natasha here is your parental supervision for this thing. She's the best spy we got, and you both have that spider thing going. Plus, she lost a bet with me and had to go on any mission of my choosing. Look, I've got all the details worked out, I just need you to say yes. All you'd actually do there is a little info collecting for Black Widow for about no more than 3 weeks. You get a break from all the New York craziness and a free trip to Paris.”
“Why so vague then? Why haven't you even said what I'm suppose to be investigating? Why do you keep dodging all my questions?”
Black Widow responded for Tony. "Relax, the only reason is S.H.I.E.L.D. They don't like giving up their secrets to anyone. That organization is so tight on secrets it takes a level seven clearance to know Nick Fury's favorite flavor of ice cream."
Tony placed his hand on Peter shoulder. "Look, kid, I wouldn't have made a house visit unless I really, really needed your help. Otherwise I would have just let Happy handle it. I swear on my arc reactor, nothing bad will happen to you. So say yes, and get all the answers. Plus, I'll let you run wild in my lab for an hour with no supervision so you can cook up whatever the hell you want as payment.”
Sighing, Peter cursed the old Parker luck. “You knew from the moment you sat on my couch I was going to go along with your crazy.”
“What can I say, I'm use to getting my way. Now are you ready for something nonsense that sounds straight outta kids cartoon show?”
---
As the plane began it's almost 8 hour journey, Peter flipped through the dossier (oh yeah, Peter was official now) provided by Black Widow, or "Aunt Natalie" as she was to be referred to for the mission, was forcing him to read. With her asleep and having taken his phone so he couldn't just play candy crush the whole time, it looked like the only thing Peter could do was read the many, many, many dull and boring files. It included things like his fellow students, major “akumas”, whatever the hell those were, and what little info S.H.I.E.L.D. had actually been able to gather on the city’s two heroes, Ladybug and Chat Noir. They had been saving Paris for a little more than a year, which gave them just a little more experience than Peter. That seemed to be the only part he could relate to. Shocked, Peter found out that anyone could be “akumatized” just for any negative emotions, something that thankfully didn't happen in New York. What was even more upsetting was what he found in his new classmates folders. All of them, except two, had been akumatized. He looked at the two remaining students files:
Marinette Dupain-Cheng
Age: 16
Ethnicity: French/Chinese
Physical Appearance: bluish-black hair, light blue eyes, pale skin
Parents: Sabine Dupain-Cheng and Tom Dupain-Cheng
Interest: Designing, baking
Personality: Clumsy, low self-esteem, passionate, kind, obsessive
Additional Information: Despite being well liked by most of her classmates, Marinette lacks any real self-confidence. She also can barely focus around classmate Adrien Agreste, which is because of a possible crush on him.
Adrien Agreste
Age: 16
Ethnicity : French
Physical Appearance: Blond hair, green eyes, caucasian
Parents: Gabriel Agreste and Celine Agreste (Location Unknown)
Interest: Fencing, anime, modeling
Personality: Shy, reserved, caring, naïve, charismatic
Additional Information: After his mother, Celine Agreste, disappearance over two years ago, Adrien devoted his life modeling, which his then grieving father, Gabriel Agrest, strongly encouraged. This caused Adrien to be incredibly sheltered and separated from others his age, until his introduction to public school last year.
Peter knew he was sent to this class as they had the highest percentage of any group in Paris to be akumatized. What he couldn't figure out was what made those two people different. That was one of the many goals Tony had asked of him. He turned back to the front page and looked at his objectives, aka the worst to do list ever to be handed to him.
OBJECTIVES
( Listed by priority)
- INFORMATION ON HAWKMOTH (age, identity, motives, etc)
- ORIGIN OF THE MIRACULOUS
- THE IDENTITY OF LADYBUG AND CHAT NOIR
- REASON BEHIND THE TARGETING OF FRANÇOISE DUPONT
Yeah, Peter cursed himself for agreeing to trade his pre-cal homework for Mr. Stark's laundry list. It was going to be no easy task, and that was out even thinking about dealing with other highschoolers. Peter just assumed people universally sucked everywhere. So, he gave it about a day, two if he was lucky, before he was able to write a report on the differences between the American and the French locker.
Trying to move away from his own thoughts, Peter turned to the brief files about his fellow do-gooders. And honestly, brief was the best word to describe them cause Peter had seen longer tweets by Flash Thompson.
LABYBUG
Identity: Unknown
Age: Unknown (Possibly 5000 or early teen years)
Ethnicity: Unknown (possible Asian descent)
Abilities: Lucky charm (generates one object essential for her fight), Miraculous Ladybug (fixes any damage that occurs during a fight)
Weapon: yo-yo
Power Source: Her earrings, which may act as a timer on her abilities
CHAT NOIR
Identity: Unknown
Age: Unknown (Possibly early teen years)
Ethnicity: Unknown
Abilities: Cataclysm (Can destroy any one object he touches)
Weapon: Baton
Power Source: His ring, which may act as a timer on his abilities
With no information to be found there, he started flipping through all pages dedicated to akumas. It was definitely the most interesting part, with villains ranging from "The Bubbler" to "Lady Wifi". Still, sleep was inevitable, so halfway through the files describing someone known as "Dark Cupid", Peter passed out.
---
“Hello class, meet our new student, Ben Peterson,” the teacher announced, “There’s an empty seat in the back next to Nathaniel were you can sit.”
As Peter made his way to the back of the classroom, he thanked his webs that he hadn't had to introduce himself. After the mess up that had been his introduction to King T'Challa of Wakanda, where he said his name was Spider-Parker, then corrected it to Peter-man, and finally he just kept muttering shit while Mr. Stark laughed, his reputation at horrible first impressions was cemented. There's no way having to introduce himself in a new environment with a fake name could have gone any better than that moment.
Peter readjusted his ear piece, which allowed him to pleasure of having the Black Widow's voice in his head. She'd looked just as thrilled as Peter did when Mr. Stark said they needed to be in constant communication. And so, the infamous Black Widow was forced to listen to the wonders of teenage adolescents. Plus, add on that his glasses gave live video streaming to her, and it was like the Black Widow had her own personal high school rom-com to watch.
After he made his way to his seat, he sat down and waved at the red head. Nathaniel gave a weak wave back and directed his attention to his notebook, drawing an in depth image of Ladybug. The drawing made her look heroic, a very different image than Spider-man got in NYC. Peter was 99% sure his most flattering photo every posted by the Daily Bugle was the one where you could see his red heart underwear. In an attempt to move past that memory, he looked away from the drawing and back at the artist making it.
That's Nathaniel Kurtzberg, aka Evillustrator, which is a better name than most of your villains. I mean seriously, Kangaroo?
When Black Widow said she was providing information essential information throughout the mission, Peter didn't think it was going to be delivered with so many hits to his confidence and already flimsy reputation as a legit superhero, but hey, that's just the Parker Luck.
Sighing and ignoring the Black Widow, Peter pulled out his notebook and got ready to write notes about physics he didn't actually need to pass. Truth be told, Peter wasn't entirely sure what grade Tony had dropped him in, just that it was about the same as 10th in America.
"Okay, today's lesson is one Newton's fourth law, the law of attraction. Does anyone have any thoughts on it from last nights reading? Perhaps you do, Chloé?"
Peter thought back to the files he had read and tried to recall hers, but Black Widow had him covered.
Chloé Bourgeois: daughter of the mayor, resident queen bee of the class, and always got her way. She's the kind of girl who'd hate you immediately, which makes it kinda ironic that her villain name was Anti-bug.
She didn't even have a notebook out and was instead filing her nails. Although, considering how rich she was, there was little to no chance she'd like Peter, as the only two people with any money to actually like him were Harry Osborn and Mr. Stark, and both of them were considered the rich people word for crazy: eccentric.
The snotty blonde scoffed at the teacher's question. "The only law of attraction that matter is how every guy should be attracted to me."
A loud groan came from almost everyone in class, with only the redhead next to her nodding in support.
Okay, that red-haired girl who's Chloé's lackey is Sabrina Raincomprix. H er villain name had been the Vanisher, which I'd wager may of been the names of the last two girls who you asked out.
Yeah, Peter was in his own personal hell with the Black Widow's commentary. Under his breath, he muttered, "Could you please cut back on roasting me?"
Nope. Someones gotta suffer for Stark putting me on this assignment. And, as seeing as your the only one around, looks like you get the lucky job.
A girl with a dark complexion and glasses laughed in the front row. "Pretty sure it's against the law for any sensible guy to be attracted to you, Chloé." While the class erupted in laughter, the girl turned and high fived the guy in the baseball cap.
Okay, pay attention to those two. That's Alya Césaire and Nino Lahiffe. They're both close with the targets, Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste.
Peter nodded, hoping it came across that way on Widow's screen and that he didn't look like he was slightly off his rocker. But, with all that was going on in the classroom, Peter highly doubted anyone was paying attention to him. Honestly, who didn't like seeing a brat get put in their place? He wished he could stand up to Flash like that, but hey, he had a secret identity to protect and as such endured each knuckle sandwich willingly.
As the teacher fought to regain control of her classroom, several other students snickered under their breath. As Peter looked around the room, Black Widow quickly provided him with their names. Alex Kudbel (Time breaker) was trying to hardest to contain her laughter, with Lê Chién Kim (Dark Cupid) in a close second. Max Kanté also looked amused, but was more focused on the physics assignment, which made him the only student in the room to actual care about school work. The people who laughed the quietest had been Ivan Brule (Stoneheart), Mylène Haprèle (Horrificator), Rose Lavillant (Princess Fragrance), and Juleka Couffaine (Refleka). Peter just assumed those people were either too nice to laugh loudly or just terrified of Chloe.
In fact, the only person not to laugh at all was one of Peter's main targets, Adrien Agreste. Instead, he looked sorry for Chloe, which Peter couldn't understand why. But that wasn't the question Peter need to answer. There had to be a reason why he was one of two people in this class who hadn't turned to the dark side.
"ENOUGH," the teacher yelled out, clearly flustered. The room fell silent, and she began her lesson. "Now, with no more inter-"
"Sorry I'm late, I promise I have an excellent reason and- this is the middle of a lesson and I'm interrupting it. I'll just go, uh, take my seat," Marinette Dupain-Cheng said as she burst through the door. She looked exactly that the picture in the file, with hair so black it looked blue and light blue eyes that conveyed a deep kindness, although Marinette was shorted than expected. She then made her way over to her spot next to Alya and pulled out her pink notebook. Peter felt bad for her, having shown up many times late like she had, but he needed to put any personally feelings aside so he could find out why she had yet to been akumatized.
With the classroom reigned in, the lesson could truly began. There really wasn't much for Peter to learn about the law of attraction, so he just passed time until he could actually talk to people and get the real info.
Oh God is it time for physics? Damn you Tony Stark for making me suffer this way. Text me whenever it's your lunch break, I don't deserve to listen to this. I'd rather listen to Hawkeye sing and he's deaf.
Peter laughed as quietly as he could and for once thanked having Black Widow supervising him.
---
Peter had forgotten about the true evil of high school: finding someone to seat with at lunch. The high pitch shrill of the lunch bell reminded him of this horrendous act. Frowning, he realized (and accepted) that he was going to be stuck in the same position as he was at Midtown High, where nobody wanted to sit by "Puny Parker", only here he didn't have Ned to back him up. Peter missed his buddy, and hated that Black Widow had "highly encouraged" him not to text Ned so he could better focus on the task at hand (it also in part might have been because she doubted Peter's abilities to tell a decent lie). While in the midst of lamenting over his life, a voice cut through the angst and offered salvation.
“Hey! Ben, right? My name's Marinette, and I'm the class president. I know you're new here and probably don't have anywhere to sit, but if you'd like you could come sit with me and my friends,” She pointed off to a table with Alya, Nino, and Adrien already sitting there.
You better say yes, this is your way to the inner circle.
Peter cautiously smiled back, not use to such honest niceness and a rare lucky break. Maybe the ol’ Parker Lucky hadn't follow him to Paris. “Sure, I’d love to sit with you, but only if I'm not a burden.”
“Don’t worry, a new face is always welcomed. I'll introduce you to everyone,” she said while dragging him with surprising strength over to the table where three other students sat. “This is Alya, the greatest reporter in Paris, Nino, sickest DJ I know, and Ad-Adrien, the boy with his face plastered all over the city,” stumbling over the last name a little. Marinette suddenly looked at little flustered and made eye contact with Alya. Somehow, in that unspoken language only girls understood, Alya knew to take over the conversation.
“So, Ben, what bring you to Paris?”
Remembering his story, painfully practiced in the mirror for hours under Black Widow's judging eyes, Peter said a quick silent prayer that he wouldn't mess this up. “Oh, I'm from Queens, and I won the Stark Genius Around the Globe Contest. It means I get to spend time studying in a foreign country to enhance my world view.”
Did lying make Peter feel sick to his stomach? Yes. But what else could he do? Walking up to them and saying "Hey everyone, I'm a superhero sent by a super secret spy organization here to find out every detail of your life in order to write a report on two superheroes who probably have nothing to do with you." Yeah, so lying was the only option. He was here for information, not to get a French pen pal. So, that meant sticking to his story, moral compass be damned.
Alya raised an eyebrow. “Your French is really good for someone from New York,” she said.
Don't take that as a compliment, Parker. I know your French is really shit. Now remember the story I made up for you and prove that you're better than Hawkeye a selling a story.
Peter repeated the lines he memorized that morning in exchange for his breakfast. “English is my first language, but both my parents are originally from here. That's why when I got to pick a major city to come to, I choose here.”
"Oh that's so cool, what do they do?"
"Uh, well, they were scientist, before they died." Yup, looks like crossing over international lines didn't stop his ability to be a party pooper. Wanting to keep himself from getting too tangled in his web of lies, Peter choose to tell them the truth. “My parents both died is an overseas plane crash when I was seven. After that, I moved in with my Aunt and Uncle, would were the best parents I could ever ask for. Well, now it's just my Aunt Natalie, since little over eleven months ago, my Uncle was shot by a burglar." Peter paused, and realized he might have gotten a little too personal. Whoops. He quickly tried to save the conversation. "So, uh, anyways, do you think you guys could like, I don't know, tell me few things I need to know to survive Paris?”
All eyes fell on Alya, with her being the resident blogger. “Alrighty, Ben, have you ever heard of Ladybug and Chat Noir?” her eyes lightening up with excitement.
Peter faked innocence and shook his head.
This is going to be important so listen up, Parker.
Alya fell into reporter mode. “Well, they’re basically cooler than all of the Avengers put together. Ladybug has her yo-yo and lucky charm, which makes any object to help her in battle. As for Chat Noir, he has his staff and Cataclysm, which can destroy anything he touches. Together, they fight Hawkmoth and his akumas and save Paris.”
Seeing Peter was still confused, Nino added, "An Akuma is basically this super evil butterfly that comes after people who are feeling bummed out. Whenever that happens, Hawkmoth makes a deal with the person, where they end up becoming freaky villains, something me and my girl Alya have personally experienced.”
Again, Peter was forced to fake innocence. “So y'all have been akumatized before? What was that like?”
Alya took this question. “It's… strange. Basically, after one experiences a really negative emotion, usually caused by Chloé for our class ( wow what a surprise), a black butterfly will land on you. Then you hear Hawkmoth’s voice, and offers you power to right whatever's bothering you in return for helping him get Ladybug and Chat Noir’s miraculouses. Then, the darkness takes over and it's black out time. Then next thing you remember is Ladybug and Chat Noir above you, telling you it wasn't your fault.”
Peter’s report just got so much better. He thanked every star and stripe on Captain America for meeting Alya. “So why does Hawkmoth want these miraculouses?”
Before either one of them could respond, a scream came from outside the school walls. Alya jumped up, way too excited. “I bet it's another Akuma attack! I gotta go record this for the Ladyblog.”
She ran off, and Nino begrudgingly followed to make sure she didn't hurt herself. Both Adrien and Marinette stood up and said, “I have to go to the bathroom,” neither paying attention to each other. This left Peter alone at the table, a bit confused but ready to meet the heroes of Paris. But first, he had to suit up.