Bobby froze, spoon halfway to his mouth, at the sight of Iron Man...well, the Iron Man armor retreating to Mr. Stark's nanohousing, walking into the kitchen. He thought he had heard something but wasn't sure what it was and was honestly too tired to investigate. "Um...he's still asleep."

Tony nodded and walked down the hallway to Peter's bedroom. He thought about knocking but opted not to. Pushing the door open, he stopped at looked at the lump on the bed that was Peter. He couldn't help but to smile a little. Peter always looked so much younger when he was asleep. Walking over he sat down on the bed. "Up and at 'em kid."

Peter groaned. He distinctly heard his dad's voice but that couldn't be right. He snuggled into the covers more and pressed his arm further over his head.

"Yeah, not doing this right now. We've got a situation."

Peter's eyes snapped open and he moved his arm enough to look over at his dad, who indeed was sitting on his bed. In Boston. "What situation? Why are you here." He glanced over at the clock and groaned again. "At 6:30 in the morning."

Tony pulled up something on his phone and tapped it to bring up the hologram. Handing it to Peter he waited for it to sink in.

Peter looked at the hologram of a tabloid newspaper. Skimming the display the first thing that jumped out at him was the headline. 'Following in his Father's Footsteps'. Frowning he read the rest of it. Accompanying the headline was a picture of him at The Odyssey with his friends. Pushing himself up into a sitting position he read through the captions on the cover. "Ok, we'll first of all...she's not a bimbo. Second...no, we're not dating. Third...that's my lemonade in case you were curious." He pointed to the glass with the straw in it among the bottles on the table.

"Yeah, I know all of that...the problem is the general public doesn't. They see my kid, who's eighteen, in a bar, with a pretty blond. The headline wasn't a big leap." Tony looked at Peter. "I thought you'd be more concerned that it's out that you're my son."

Peter shrugged and looked over at his dad. "We knew it would get out eventually. I've only got two more finals before winter break so it's not a bad time for it to happen."

Tony narrowed his eyes and looked at Peter. "There are reporters camped outside."

Peter groaned and reached over to grab his phone off his nightstand.

"What are you doing?" Tony watched Peter tap out a text.

"Apologizing to Gwen for what the article says about her and telling her she might not want to leave her apartment today."

Peter slid the blinds back and looked out the window. Panic set in. He was way calmer an hour ago. Since then he had showered and gotten yelled at by Gwen on the phone. The reality of the media circus in front of his house was setting in and he was freaking out. "Dad, what do we do?"

Tony was remarkably calm. Part of him knew it was partially attributed to the fact that he could now tell Peter and Pepper 'I told you so'. It wasn't often he could say that to Pepper. They should have had a press conference over the summer but both of them had voted him down. "When are your finals?"

Peter had started pacing somewhat like a trapped animal. He looked over at Bobby who was sitting unnaturally still, but he could tell he was just as freaked out. "Both of them are tomorrow. Physics and Chemistry."

Tony almost laughed. This was going to be the easy part. "You've got Hopkins for physics, right? Sampson for Chemistry?"

Peter nodded and watched his dad hit a contact in his phone. "Mike...it's Tony." Peter zoned out after that...of course his dad had his professors on speed dial. It was one of the reasons Peter had wanted to hold off on any kind of announcement. When he was in high school it was about protecting the status quo. When he started college it was because Peter wanted to be seen as Peter, not the great Tony Stark's son. Hopefully he had made enough of an impression that all of his professors would see him and not his dad.

"Problem solved. You can take your finals in January. That'll give everything time to die down." Tony looked from Peter to Bobby. "Next problem, getting the two of you out of here. I wouldn't worry about packing anything. Grab your phones, wallets, whatever you absolutely need until January. Hopefully we can just drive out of here." He stared at the two boys and waited for them to move.

Peter grabbed his keys and tossed them to his dad. He was immensely grateful they had a garage right now. After Bobby had gotten in the back seat, he slid into the passenger seat and waited for his dad to get in. Instead, he watched him trigger the remote on the garage door and walk outside. Peter wished he could hear him better. When Tony Stark spoke people listened. While you couldn't hear the threat in his voice, Peter could definitely see it in the way he held his body and he could absolutely see it in his eyes, even hidden behind his trademark glasses, when he slid into the drivers seat.

"Pete, head up, eyes front. If they see panic it'll make it that much worse."

Peter did as his dad instructed and watched the sea of reporters part as Tony drove out of the garage. Stopping long enough to make sure the door was shut behind them, Tony simply drove down the driveway and onto the street. Peter looked at the chaos around him. On top of just reporters there were news trucks clogging most of the street. "This is ridiculous."

"Which is why we needed to control the release of information." Tony stopped just short of saying 'I told you so'. He recognized the look of controlled panic on Peter's face. "Pepper is working on logistics for a press conference. We can introduce Morgan to the world as well. Pepper is tired of trying to dodge photographers any time she goes out with her." He glanced over at Peter who was processing everything. "That way your sister can back you up if it gets to dicey." He smiled when that brought a grin to Peter's face. "Relax, it won't be that bad."

Peter decided that his dad's version of 'not that bad' and his version were totally different. They had always known that...Peter took a knife wound as something that just happened in a normal patrol. His dad saw it as an Avenger level threat. But, when it came to press conferences and media appearances their positions were reversed. Peter definitely felt like he needed backup right now as paced in his bedroom. Pepper had arranged for a handpicked reporter to interview the family in their home. Peter thought it really was a stroke of genius on her part. All of the uproar over his relationship with Tony was just the last straw in what they had all gone through since Morgan had been born. Peter did not understand why the world cared about him, or Morgan, or what their home looked like...which apparently was a huge bargaining chip according to Pepper. Tony had always had a very public side which everyone saw and then an incredibly private side that no one but those closest to him saw. Apparently letting a reporter and a video crew into the 'inner sanctum' was a big deal, even if it was just their living room.

He had been prepped for the last week. How to sit, how to respond to questions, what to do with his hands, the expressions on his face. It was easier training to fight super villains. He didn't know how Pepper handled all of this so naturally. But she did, and he knew this would go off perfectly because Pepper wouldn't allow anything else. He took a deep breath and pulled open his door to walk into the most uncomfortable situation he had been in...ever.