Chapter 2

Once his throat finally cleared, Tony Stark, the genius multi-billionaire playboy philanthropist panicked.

Tony had always known that this would happen someday. Heck, with all the sleeping around he did back in the day he was surprised it hadn't yet. In fact, he'd even prepared a speech just for this situation. Actually he had two versions of the speech, one for each possible gender. But you know what he really should have another just in case the kid turned out to be part alien or something. One could never know.

But the reason why Tony panicked was because he already knew his kid. He never thought that in a million years he would already know his kid. That was his own fault mostly. He avoided children like the plague, intensely disliking their whiny voices and needy personalities. The one kid that he had really gotten know before Peter was Harley Keener and that was only because his suit crash landed in Tennessee and he took over the kid's shed.

Tony had always imagined that his kid (for some reason it was always a girl) who he had never seen before would just one day strut into his life, cockily stating they were his child and somehow turning his and the other Avenger's lives upside down. They wouldn't know him very well, but the two of them would click instantly. He could change himself to become a better person that didn't make mistakes, or didn't make them cry cause of something he said while not thinking. The rest of the team would all fall in love with his kid, but never as much as he would. Then they'd live out perfect happy lives in their giant Avenger family.

It was complete and utter nonsense. He knew that. But that couldn't stop his imagination from thinking about it on the rare occasion it popped up.

Except there couldn't be a big Avenger's family. The Avenger's were a name with nobody underneath it. And the kid couldn't randomly initiate first contact by strutting into his life. Tony had made the first move by inviting him to a fight. The rest of the team would never get to love the kid, because he had used him in the fight against them. But most of all, Tony couldn't change to become a better person, because his kid already knew him.

So he panicked. Panicked big time. On the inside at least. His insides were all mushy, gooey, and confused, but his outside was frozen stiff. There was too many emotions for his body to portray at once, so it settled for showing none. He was pretty sure his eyes had widened, and that his face had gone pale, but that was about it.

He knew he was staring like an idiot, but he couldn't get his body to move. Peter was staring back at him, a whole emotional battle going on behind is own eyes. Tony knew he wasn't the best at reading emotion (Pepper had told him that plenty of times), but there was definitely confusion and a little hurt in those brown eyes.

"Move you idiot!" His subconscious screamed "Do something already! Go comfort Peter! He's in pain and you're just standing there!"

Tony found his body moving forward, placing his hands on Peter's shoulders and turning the stunned teen around. But it felt wrong. Everything felt wrong. His movements were too stiff and jerky. He was like a wooden puppet, watching his body move and interact, but not under his command. Tony's hands pressed into Peter's jacket as he began to guide the boy towards the lab door.

His subconscious cried out in disbelief. "What are you doing!? Kicking him out of your lab!? You stupid-! That's the exact opposite of what Peter needs right now!"

But he didn't stop. He couldn't stop. Peter did nothing himself, only mindlessly obeyed, too shocked to even form a legible sentence. They reached the lab door all too quickly. Tony couldn't remember crossing the lab. It happened in the blink of an eye. He watched numbly as his hands typed the door's code into the lock. The door slid open and Tony watched as his arms gently shoved the teen out. Peter turned around after a brief moment, delivering the most heart wrenching stare that he'd ever seen.

"I," his traitorous, toneless, voice said "I, I need to figure this out."

The door slid shut, blocking Tony's view of his s-Peter. For a moment he was too stunned to move, staring blankly at the metal in front of him for what felt like forever. That had actually happened. He wasn't dreaming or hallucinating again. Oh gosh, what had he just done?! Unintentionally reveal something extremely life changing. Then slammed the door shut on something extremely precious. On Peter's trust. He was a terrible person. Who does that!? Peter was right there! Needing and wanting his comfort, and what does Tony do? He gives Peter the boot. What kind of person did that!?

Good work Tony. Ruin Peter's life by revealing that you're his surprise dad (Surprise because Tony was just as shocked as Peter) and then just leave him to flounder by himself while you hide away in your little lab. Smooth move. You deserve a medal for what you just pulled there. Yeah, it would be labeled "The Worst Human that Ever Existed." and everything.

That was something your dad would have pulled.

No. No. He did not just think that. He was not about to go down that path. If he went down it he wouldn't come back. Not even Pepper could pull him out of the funk that 'that path' brought him to. He needed to think about something else, something to keep his mind off his problem. A distraction, that's what he needed.

Tony stumbled over to closest opened console, suddenly discovering that his body was finally back to listening to him. The holoscreen had schematics for the new Quinjet he was designing. One of many uncomplete projects. He'd actually started it before the whole superhero civil war thing, but it had been shoved to the side in the following chaos. This Quinjet was suppose to fly on cleaner power than the previous incarnations, along with a few minor renovations. It would be huge asset in the transportation section.

But Tony didn't give a flying crap about that. It was unfinished so it meant it was work. And work meant numbers. And numbers were great! They were cold, hard, logical, and dependable. Everything they said could be taken at face value. Their world was black and white. You were either wrong or you were right. Some days Tony wished he could be a number. Number's didn't have to deal with stress or other people. They didn't have all these weird, emotional problems that didn't come with exact answers.

With this, Tony Stark did what he did best. He threw himself into his work and forgot about the real world.

"Ms. Potts?"

Pepper Potts looked up to the white tiled ceiling, a pen in her raised hand and a large stack of papers with the Stark Industries logo on her office desk. "Yes F.R.I.D.A.Y? What is it?"

"It's the Boss. He is not answering to my calls."

Pepper dropped her hand, worry blooming on her face "What do you mean?"

"He isn't answering when I talk. All he does is work. Ever since Peter Parker left three hours and twenty four minutes ago, Boss has completed over thirty projects without a break."

Her face went pale. Pepper let out a shaky breath and leaned forward on her elbows. She knew those symptoms. Tony was in "The Zone". He could spend days working, only stopping when his body gave out on him. It was terrible for Tony's health, but it also put a ton of stress on those close to him. In the early days of Iron-man, when Tony would spend weeks in his workshop, Pepper got an average of five hours of sleep each night from worrying over him.

But he hadn't had one of those episodes for years. They only came when he was under emotional stress. When the Avengers split up, Pepper had kept a close eye on Tony, ready to interfere the moment she even suspected he was about to go under. To her intense surprise, he never did. She had a feeling part of the reason was due to the enhanced teenager he had brought with him to Germany. The Spider-man. Tony kind of took the kid under his wing, and kept himself too busy with him and selling the Avengers Tower to spend much time in his lab. What was Spider-man's real name again? Peter Parker? That sounded about right. F.R.I.D.A.Y had mentioned the kid was there. And when Peter left Tony entered "The Zone". Did Peter do something? What could he have done to incite such a reaction from Tony?

"Tony," Pepper breathed "What in the world happened?"

She stood suddenly, shoving her chair back without a care. She grabbed her purse, picked up the papers she was looking at and shoved them into her purse along with the pen. "F.R.I.D.A.Y, cancel all of my appointments for the day. I'm going to Tony."

"Yes Ma'am." F.R.I.D.A.Y replied instantly "Should I summon a driver for you?"

"There's no need, I can drive myself. But I want to thank you for informing me of Tony's condition."

"It was no problem." The AI informed her cheerfully.

Pepper stood to the side and pushed her chair under the desk. She shouldered her purse and strode out of her office. Her heels clicked against the floor as she walked in hurried silence. None of the employees she passed stopped her, all of them recognizing the the stress in her pace. Pepper profusely thanked each one of them mentally. She didn't know if she could handle small talk right now.

The elevator at the end of the hall took her down to the garage, where several cars laid out. Tony had offered her many of his cars, but in the end she chose the black Acura NSX, because it was the least assuming of the cars that Tony Stark owned. One of the rarer cars, but it could blend into the crowd better than the rest. In fact, Pepper was positive Tony had only used the car once, and that was to drop off Bruce Banner with the rest of the Avengers to bid Thor and Loki goodbye after the Battle for New York because the car was so plain.

The car's engines kicked on as Pepper settled into the driver's seat and buckled up. Ah, the perks of having an AI. She tossed her purse into the passenger seat before placing her hands on the steering wheel and turning around, shifting the car into reverse without looking. Hold on Tony, here she comes.

"Tony."

The billionaire ignored her, his eyes glued to the hologram in front of him. Lines of numbers flew over his head in rapid succession as Tony twisted the hologram engine in front of him. He barely glanced at it before twisting it again, this time selecting a couple of features. He let go of the engine and initiated the testing program. But instead of letting the program run at its usual time, the process was sped up for instant results. The whole hologram lit up red, and a loud beep rang out. Tony didn't wait for the sound to finish before he was back on the engine, messing with other parts of the simulation.

"Tony."

He ran the program again. This time the hologram flashed green, and a bell rung twice. The instant the sound finished Tony saved the schematics and pulled up his next project. The blueprints for the next Starkphone. It was slightly less advanced than the one he carried around, but still years ahead of what rival companies could pull out. The details were the same, but instead of interacting with holograms, the users would touch a glass screen with the visuals projected onto it. Almost the same, but not quite. Just like Tony Stark himself. The only problem was that the glass too fragile. Using the phone call feature actually shattered the glass. Not that it mattered much 'cause kids- Not that it mattered because sources reported that more and more people were turning to email and texting. But some still used phones for calling, and it wouldn't be good for business if the phone shattered each time someone called you. At this point he was considering turning to plastic as an alternative because it could handle the pressure better and it was much less expens-

"TONY!"

Tony jerked as his name ripped into his subconscious, forcing his brain from the world of schematics and numbers. The hologram of the phone went spinning. His eyes jumped around randomly, until they landed on Pepper Potts. Why was she here? Like, why was she her in his lab? Did he miss an important meeting again? He didn't think so. But if she was here it was something important. Better play it cool so she didn't realize how big of a mess he was right now. Tony forced his body to relax, pulling a fake smile up onto his face "Hey Pepper what's up?"

Pepper's eyes ran over his body. He looked like a mess that was trying to hide just how much of a mess they were. Crumbled clothing, messy hair, hunched back. One of Tony's hands were rubbing against his chest, a sure sign of stress he was holding inside. His eyes had a haunted look that she'd hope to never see again. Part of her crumbled when Tony put on the obviously false smile.

"Are you okay?" She asked bluntly.

Tony's mask cracked a little "What do you mean? I mean, I feel fine. And I look just as fine as I feel." He turned his back to her and snatched the phone hologram out from the air. He twisted it around a couple times. If he played it off as something unsubstantial then she would most likely go away, and then he could dive back into his work and forget about Peter and that whole problem for a while longer.

"Tony, you are not fine. F.R.I.D.A.Y told me you have been down here for over three hours working. You don't do that if something isn't wrong. Tell me."

"What? Nothing is wrong, I promise. I just felt like completing some projects."

Pepper dropped her purse on a table and walked closer to Tony. She stopped a couple feet in front of him. "Thirty projects? In three hours? You don't do that Tony. Nobody does that."

"Well, I do that." He snarked with a little bite, twisting the phone once more.

She leaned back, surprise running over her features. Tony hasn't dared talk to her like that in years. Whatever happened, it was serious. Her face settled into stone. "F.R.I.D.A.Y, save and shut down the project Tony is working on."

The hologram flashed in acknowledgement, then blinked out of existence.

"Hey, hey! I was working on that!" Tony spun around. He blinked in surprise when Pepper took a step forward, closing the distance between them from two feet to only a couple inches.

"What happened?" She asked.

Tony glanced down, shuffling to the side as to not be so close "Nothing. Nothing happened, nothing is wrong. I am not trying to hide anything, and I am not upset about anything. I just wanted to work on some projects. By myself, and for a long time, just for your information."

Pepper stepped back. Her arms crossed and she stood stiffly as she evaluated him. Her face pinched, before smoothing out and her posture relaxed "And it has nothing to do with the Peter Parker boy, does it?"

Tony's shoulders stiffened "What? It has nothing to do with Peter, why would you even ask that?"

"So it does involve Peter." Pepper said.

"No!" Stark snapped, "No it doesn't."

"Yes, it does. And do you know how I can tell? Because you called him 'Peter' and not one of your ridicules nicknames you're always coming up with." She grabbed his hands, purposely breaking into his personal space. "Tony, tell me what is wrong."

"Nothing." Tony insisted, jerking his hands out of Pepper's, and turning his back to her. He poked at the console with one hand, trying to get the machine to start up so he could escape the real world again, while the other hand rubbed at his chest.

"Fine." He heard Pepper sigh "You want to play it that way, then I'll just ask F.R.I.D.A.Y what happened. F.R.I.D.A.Y?"

Tony's spine straightened "No." He faced Pepper again "No, no. You can't do that. F.R.I.D.A.Y don't you answer her question!"

"Yes Ma'am?"

He groaned. Traitor. "Why don't my AIs ever listen to me?"

Pepper gave Tony a smug look as she addressed the AI "What happened?"

F.R.I.D.A.Y paused a moment, most likely pulling up her records of the conversation to understand what Pepper meant, and then formulating her answer in the space of a single second "Boss brought in Peter to do some DNA work out of a curiosity to see how the spider DNA effected Peter's DNA. He retrieved the sample through a mouth swab, and then initiated conversation with Peter as I ran tests. As Peter was leaving, Boss asked if Peter would bring him some coffee, which he did, and as Peter was about to leave once more, I found something that I thought the boss would find interesting. I told them both what I discovered, and I believe both the boss and Peter went into shock at the news. Boss then maneuvered Peter out of his lab, stared at the lab door for two minutes and forty-eight seconds, then began working on the unfinished projects until you arrived."

Pepper frowned, her mind running a million miles per second as she tried to understand how F.R.I.D.A.Y's summary factored into Tony's mood. Brain synapses clicked as she gathered and configured an answer from the information presented to her. The conclusion was simple, and the result surprising. But not unexpected. Pepper audibly inhaled, and her face lost the smug look from before.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y, what was the thing you found interesting?" She asked, her voice trembling slightly.

"I discov-"

"Why are you even asking!?" Tony demanded, cutting off his AI. "You're smart! You already know! You already know that Peter is my kid and-" his voice cracked as his throat closed up. Well, there you go. He'd finally said it. And he'd said it out loud.

Pepper's eyes widened, and breathing quickened for a brief moment before slowing back down. He'd admitted it. Tony had actually admitted it. "When do you think-?" She left the question open ended, trusting Tony to fill it himself.

Stark drooped in defeat "I don't know. He's not very old so probably around the time I went to show off Jericho to the military. Earlier maybe."

This was bound to happen, Pepper knew. She'd always accepted the fact that there might be multiple kids running around with Stark blood running through their veins. There was a lot of women in Tony Stark's life before his kidnapping and a few were bound to have kids. And then came Iron-man. The heroic man of iron, flying through the air and blasting bad guys down with his repulsors. It was every kid's dream for Iron-man to be their dad. It was a surprise no one came forth with the fatherhood claim, especially after the Avengers were formed. But with Iron-man came enemies, who were always eager to wreak havoc on Tony Stark's personal life. Pepper hoped that the mothers were smart enough to not draw attention to their kid by not announcing the father. And so far, her wish had been granted.

It technically still was. Nobody came out and claimed Peter as Tony's kid. It wasn't some secret hidden away for years from both parent and offspring, only revealed through the words of a dead relative. This was a complete accident, discovered in a lab in front of both parties. Probably the most harmful way to find out as well.

Poor Peter. Everything he knew about himself and his family was probably shaken to the core.

She nodded "Okay, that is good to know." Pepper took a deep breath, straightening her suit jacket. That was enough peering into the past. What was done was done, and it couldn't be changed. Now they had to look to the future. "So, what are you going to do about him?"

Tony stiffened and faced the console behind him once more. This time it powered on with no motivation. "What am I going to do? Nothing, absolutely nothing."

"Tony." Pepper said, exasperated "You can't do nothing. Peter is your son, you have to do something."

"I can't Pepper!" He slammed his hands against the machine, causing the holographic phone to flicker and Pepper to flinch back. "I've ruined Peter's life enough already! He doesn't need me in there messin' it up even more!"

Silence reigned for a tense moment before Pepper's quiet voice spoke "But he does need you."

"No he doesn't."

"Yes, he does. His entire world has changed, and you are the only one who he can turn to."

"That's not true. He has someone else, an aunt."

"But you are his father."

He winced. "Yeah, but I'm not ready to be anybody's dad right now Pep. I mean just look at me!"

"...Fine then, but you are Tony Stark. His mentor, the one person that he's probably looked up to his whole life. You are practically his father figure already. Peter put all his hopes and dreams in your hands. Now his whole life could be a lie, and you are the one person who could possibly relate to him in this. Peter needs you to be there for him Tony."

"He doesn't need me." He denied. "Mentor figures change all the time. Watch, it will take him like what, five minutes before he has someone else?" It hurt to say that funnily enough. It made him laugh bitterly on the inside. Here he was, trying to prove that Peter didn't need Tony in his life, when simply saying the kid get a different role model made his heart ache.

"That's what you keep telling yourself. But change like that doesn't happen easily Tony." Pepper continued, slightly exasperated.

Tony's shoulders stiffened. Why was Pepper still pushing this!? She knew what he wanted so why didn't she just let it be!? He couldn't listen to her anymore. He needed to get out. Stark cut off the hologram harshly, letting it hazily fade away as he stepped back from the console. Pepper scooted to the side as Tony roughly pushed past her, his gaze locked on the lab door.

"Well," he said, his inner bitterness leaking into his voice "Peter chose a terrible mentor."

"Tony!" Pepper's cry was to no avail, and the member of the Avengers slammed the code on the door lock. He didn't wait for the door to fully open before slipping through. She heard a surprised voice greet him, one that quickly became confused when the multi-billionaire pushed past with no word.

A couple moments later Happy Hogan stumbled into the lab. The bodyguard-chauffeur bumped into a table, laying a hand on the surface as he sent a concerned glance back his boss. Then he turned to Pepper and gave her the same look. "What is up with Tony? Did he and Peter get in a argument? I know that something must have happened, 'cause the kid was deadly silent on the drive back."

Pepper sighed, and leaned against the console Tony was just working on. Her hands came up to rub her eyes. Should she tell Happy? He would probably bug her until he knew what went on. And that would be highly annoying and something she did not want to deal with at the moment. You know what, why not. It's not like he didn't know everything about her and Tony's lives already.

"Tony discovered that Peter is his son and didn't take it too well."

Happy's face blanched. Whatever he had been expecting, that wasn't obviously it. "Oh."

"Yes. Oh." Pepper copied dryly, and dropped her hand back to her side. "Peter learned about as well, so that was why he was so quiet. He was in shock."

"...That makes a lot of sense." Happy commented, half to himself "The kid usually never shuts up."

She chuckled, a dry sound with no actual humor behind it. "Why am I not surprised. He's related to Tony after all."

"That's true." He agreed. Then his face became contemplative "You know, now that I'm thinking about it they are kind of alike. Not personality wise, thank goodness, but they both a have a mouth that needs watching."

Pepper laughed again, a true one this time. "I actually haven't had the pleasure of meeting Peter yet, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least bit."

Her attitude sobered suddenly, and her body language changed in an instant. "Tony needs to speak with Peter about this, but he is being a stubborn." she said. Happy nodded, and Pepper continued on. "If Peter goes off the deep end because of this, then I know Tony will blame himself and he will just end up worse than he already is. We can't allow that to happen."

"Yes." Happy nodded again. "That'd be bad. Plus, I hate to admit it but the kid has grown on me. I wouldn't like it if anything happened to him."

"Then its settled. We need to get the two of them back together. Oh gosh." She stifled a giggle, bringing a hand up to her mouth. "We sound like two conniving friends trying to get a third back with their ex."

Happy laughed. "We kind of are."

Pepper giggled, a hyperactive kind that could only be accomplished by someone mentally exhausted. But not so tired that she couldn't think ahead. "Oh by the way. F.R.I.D.A.Y? Can you please not mention this conversation to Tony until I say so?"

"Yes Ma'am. My lips are sealed." the AI promised.

Hey guys, this is theorbess540 comin' in with a new chapter. I wanted to apologize for not having an Author's Note for the last chapter (for those who like the Notes). That was posted after my official, parent-set "Bedtime", and I was sneaking onto my computer cause I promised to post that day. I just hurried and posted the first chapter. I didn't even think about an Author's Note until the day after, and I felt embarrassed about the fact afterwards. Hope you guys liked this chapter as well.

Well, I just wanted to give a big "Thank You!" to everyone who followed, favorited, and commented on my last chapter. I was blown away by the amount of comments I received. I knew I had a fun idea going, and lots of people had done the same with other Spideys, but I didn't know that my story was that loved. Thank you guys. But a special thanks goes out to JinsTales for beta-ing my story and offering advice every time I got paranoid about keeping the characters in character.

Thanks!