My Name is Flash Thompson and I'm Tony Stark's Son

by PearlGirl03

The Thompson and Parker Families were long time friends. When Rose discovers that Peter is Tony Stark's son, she doesn't know what to do, that is, until the Parkers are killed in a plane crash. As Peter's temporary guardian until May and Ben are able to take him, she uses his relationship to her advantage and nobody knows, after all, how would they?

3. Chapter 3

"Wake up, Peter! You need to get ready for school!" May's voice called through the door. Peter rubbed at his eyes, a yawn escaping his mouth.

"I'm up, 'm up." Peter mumbled, rolling out of his bed. He quickly dressed himself, brushed his teeth, and combed his hair before joining May and Pepper in the kitchen.

"Good morning, honey," Pepper smiled, piling food onto a plate for him.

"Morning, Mom."

"Are you excited to be getting back to school?"

"Yeah, Peter! Are you finally going to ask Michelle out?" May smirked.

"May!" Peter exclaimed, face turning red. "I told you, MJ and I are just friends."

"You like Michelle!" Pepper grinned deviously, catching May's eye.

"Oh my gosh, please don't do anything!"

'You should ask her to go see that new movie," Pepper said. "That one you've been talking about for weeks. What was it called? The one that has the guy you say looks just like Tony."

"Wha- wait, Doolittle?" Peter balked.

"Yes! That one!" May exclaimed. "It's not a romance, so you could ask her as friends to see if she might actually like you!"

"Well, we have Academic Decathlon Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the rest of the week we have the internship until I come to the compound on Friday." Peter whined.

"Tony and I will live if you take off a day from the internship to go on a date," Pepper waved off his concerns.

"Oh, okay then," Peter grinned. "I'll ask her out today! We can go on Wednesday."

"Alright, now Happy's waiting, so you better head down before he leaves you," May teased.

"Okay! Bye!" Peter called, grabbing his bag and heading to the elevator.

"Don't chicken out!" May yelled as the doors closed. His laughter echoes through the halls seconds later.

"Dude," Ned called out, waving him over. "How was the weekend with Flash?"

"It was okay, I guess," Peter shrugged, greeting MJ shortly after.

"Are you sure?" Ned asked.

"Yeah, Peter," MJ said, looking worried.

"What happened?"

"Well, uh, i-it's not as bad as it sounds but–"

"Flash texted the whole school a picture of him and Tony Stark together with the caption, 'Got proof Parker's lying from the source. Guess who got an internship as thanks for exposing a liar.'" MJ said bluntly.

"Oh my gosh," Peter breathed. "Dad's gonna kill him."

"Wait, wait, wait. Did you just say 'dad!'" Ned shrieked.

"Shh, quiet Ned," Peter hissed.

"Come on, Losers. We've got to get to class." MJ said, the bell ringing shortly after.

Classes flew by, and suddenly Peter was waiting for Michelle to walk together to lunch. Ned was probably in the cafeteria already because his fifth was closer than theirs. Thankfully, it wasn't uncommon for Peter to wait for Michelle, otherwise she would have known something was going on.

"M-MJ, o-over here," Peter stuttered.

"Hey, nerd," She smiled. "Sorry to keep you waiting."

"It's okay," Peter shrugged. "Actually, I need to ask you something."

"Fire away."

"Doyouwannagoseeamoviewithmeonwednesday?"

"In English, dork."

"Do you, maybe, want to go see a movie with me?"

"Sure, sounds like fun," MJ shrugged.

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah, text me tonight and we can work out a time."

"O-okay. Okay! Sounds good. I will definitely be doing that."

"Don't make it weird, loser."

The moment the end bell rang Peter was out the door and in the back of Happy's car. The drive to the Tower was long and slow as Peter waited anxiously in the back seat. The moment Happy pulled the car to a stop, Peter was out and racing to the elevator.

"Hi, Peter! Mr. Stark is waiting for you in the penthouse," One of the receptionists called out.

"Thanks, Marge!" Peter called, opting to skip the security check. When he finally got to the penthouse, he found Tony and Pepper in the kitchen baking cookies.

"So, how did it go?" Pepper asked, wiping her floury hands on her apron.

"She said yes!"

"Wait, wait, wait," Tony paused. "Who said yes?"

"Peter asked Michelle on a date today!" Pepper explained.

"No way! Why didn't you tell me, kid?"

"You were too busy hanging out with your real kid to pay any attention to the charity case."

"Wha- who told you that? That's not true!"

"Isn't it? The only reason you even know me is because I just happened to be bit by a radioactive spider."

"Peter, honey," Pepper sighed. "That might have been the reason you met, but it's not what brought you together."

"Kiddo, we spend time with you because we love you. You're not a charity case. You're family."

"But what about Flash?"

"Peter, I spend almost every moment either with you or secretly texting you. I know it's hard, but you're going to have to get used to not having me around all the time," Tony frowned.

"I-It just f-feels like I'm l-losing you t-too," Peter hiccuped softly.

"You'll never lose me, kid. Eugene may be my son, but you're my kid. We chose each other, and we have a bond stronger than any opponent we'll ever face." Tony smiled.

"I love you guys."

"And we love you."

"How about we make plans for this Saturday? We can go on a family trip." Pepper suggested.

"That sounds like a great idea," Peter smiled.

"How about Sunday? I have a meeting with the President on Saturday, and I promised Eugene that he could meet Spider-Man Saturday morning, if that's alright with you?" Tony cringed.

"I'll do it on one condition," Peter said.

"What?"

"I get to call you Dad even when Flash is around."

"That's fine," Tony shrugged. "We can just tell Eugene that since Pepper and I are engaged, I'm going to be your Dad now too."

"Okay, then it's settled. Spider-Man meet-and-greet Saturday morning, meeting with the president Saturday afternoon, and family trip on Sunday," Pepper relayed.

"Sounds good to me," Peter smiled.

"It's settled then," Tony nodded. Peter jumped slightly when his phone buzzed in his pocket.

"Oh, Happy wants me to come to dinner with him and May tonight."

"Is he finally going to pop the question?" Pepper asked.

"Uhm, yeah. I guess so. Did he tell you too?"

"No, May told me that she thinks he's going to soon."

"Oh, that makes sense. May's really intuitive."

"Tony and I also have some news for you."

"What is it?"

"Well, we were going to save it for Sunday, but I guess we can tell you now," Tony smiled.

"What is it?"

"We're going to have a kid!" Tony exclaimed.

"W-what! Y-you're pregnant! No way! That's awesome!"

"We thought you'd be excited," Pepper smiled.

"Do you know what the gender is yet? Is it a boy! Is it a girl!" Peter grinned, tears falling down his face, "I'm gonna be a big brother!"

"Morning, kiddo," Tony smiled from behind the counter. "How'd you sleep?"

"Pretty good, did you sleep at all?"

"Uh, yes. I'm offended you would think otherwise!" Tony teased. "Now come on, these pancakes won't eat themselves."

"Aw, yeah!" Peter hopped onto his favorite stool, eagerly bouncing as Tony piled pancakes onto his plate.

"Alright, Eugene is going to be up in about ten minutes. He's gonna eat breakfast with us, and then you're going to get a 'call' from Bruce to go help him down in the labs. I stashed your suit in your gym locker last night so you'll go get change there and then meet us on the balcony."

"That sounds good to me. Is Mom joining us for breakfast?"

"I'm right here," Pepper smiled, already dressed for the day.

"Finish that plate up before you give her a hug. I've got to clean up your plate before Eugene gets up here so that it doesn't seem like you're eating enough for ten people," Tony chuckled. Peter shoveled down his pancakes and washed up. Flash walked in right as he crashed into Pepper's arms.

"Morning, Mom."

"Good morning, honey." Pepper ruffled his hair and placed a kiss on his head.

"Ah, Eugene, you're here," Tony interrupted.

"So this is Eugene," Pepper smiled. "It's nice to meet you, I'm-"

"Pepper Potts. You're Pepper Potts," Flash interrupted.

"Right, I am. You can just call me Pepper, though."

"I-it's nice to meet you too Pepper."

"Alright, enough introductions. These pancakes are going to get cold!"

Tony ushered everyone to the table, Peter following closely behind with a platter of pancakes in one hand and a platter of bacon and eggs in the other. Tony sat at the "head" of the table with Peter on one side and Flash on the other while Pepper chose the seat across from Tony.

"This looks delicious, Tony, thank you for making it," Pepper smiled, reaching across the table for his hand.

"Well he had to make up for the lasagna incident. Can't have you believing he's a terrible cook." Peter smirked.

"If I remember correctly, the lasagna incident was your fault not mine. I've made lasagna hundreds of times and it never exploded before." Tony defended.

"Wait, what? What's the lasagna incident?" Flash asked, slightly annoyed.

"Trust me when I say that you don't want to know," Tony cringed.

"Excuse me Boss," Friday interrupted. "Spider-Man would like me to inform you that he is on his way."

"Wait, wait, wait. That was today! I'm meeting Spider-Man today!" Flash exclaimed. "I've got to tell my fans! They're never gonna believe it!"

"Yep!" Tony said, pulling up some fake specs, "Looks like he's about fifteen minutes away so you'll have plenty of time to tell your fans."

Flash excused himself from the table and went over to the bar to start a live-stream while Tony, Pepper, and Peter started cleaning up breakfast. In the background they vaguely registered Flash doing his usual live introduction.

"Alright, while Eugene does that Pep and I will be on dishes and Pete I want you on leftovers. You can take the pancakes for lunch on Monday!" Tony said.

"Aw, come on, Dad," Peter whined excessively. "Mom's lunches are so much better though!"

"He's not wrong, Tony," Pepper smirked.

"Betrayed by my fiancée and my son all on the same day! The thing's this world has come to!" Tony complained dramatically.

"Well as amusing as this is to watch, I do actually have a job to get to," Pepper interrupted.

"Bye, Mom," Peter smiled, giving her a hug. She kissed his forehead before releasing him to move on to Tony.

"You boys better behave and I mean it," Pepper said sharply. "I have a bunch of important meetings today and so do you, Tony. If you miss that meeting with the President, not even the Iron Legion will be able to protect you from my wrath."

"Can I at least bring Peter? He needs to start going to meetings anyways so that he'll be prepared to take over SI when we retire," Tony commented off-handedly.

"Yes you can take Peter. Whatever will get you to actually go to the meeting."

"Sorry to interrupt Boss, but Dr. Banner has been requesting Mini-Bosses presence for the last five minutes. He seems to have gotten himself into a sticky situation." Friday said.

"Well, I guess that's my cue to head out," Peter said.

"Be safe, Peter," Pepper said.

"And you'd better be back up here by noon," Tony warned, ruffling the boy's hair. Peter swiped his hand away and attempted to smooth his curls back down.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. I'll be careful."

Peter retreated to the elevators, heading down to the gym to change rather than to Bruce's lab where he knew the man wasn't. Pepper left not long after Peter did, going down to her office.

"Alright, Eugene. Guess it's just you and me until Spidey gets here."

"Cool, some of my fans were wondering if you'd be willing to do a short Q&A while we wait for Spider-Man."

"Yeah, sure. No harm no foul, right?"

"Great! Okay so the first question is from spideyfam2000 . . . who was that kid in the background? Does Tony Stark have a secret son?. . . uh we're gonna skip that one, sorry"

"No, it's alright. I'm okay answering that. That was Peter, my intern. He's Spidey's main technician. I actually found him and was able to offer him the internship around the same time that I asked Spidey to join the Avengers."

"superscool27 wants to know why he was calling you and Pepper Potts Mom and Dad if he's just an intern."

"Oh, look at the time! Spidey's gonna be here any minute now! Why don't we make our way to the balcony to see if he's here!" Tony deflected, failing miserably at being cool, calm, and collected (the three c's that Natasha says are imperative to getting someone to believe a lie).

"Whoa! Hey Mr. Stark!" Spidey exclaimed, landing on the balcony rail and doing a front flip onto the actual balcony. "I thought I'd be meeting you inside, but plans change I guess. You must be Eugene. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Believe me, sir. The pleasure is all mine!" Flash exclaimed. "Would you mind answering a few questions?"

"Fire away!"

"Alright, so we obviously know that you have ties with Tony Stark, and that he's the one that made your suit. You mentioned meeting us inside, but Mr. Stark made it clear that only people with Alpha level clearance could enter this level unless they have clearance from someone with Boss level. Do you have alpha level clearance?"

"Oh, that's easy! All the Avengers have alpha level clearance because they live here. I'm technically not an Avenger yet, but they gave me alpha because I help them out on missions and I'm almost always in the MedBay being patched up! Besides, even if I didn't have clearance my buddy Pete could always just admit me." Spider-Man shrugged.

"Wait, Peter has Boss level clearance? I thought Mr. Stark said that only he and Ms. Potts had Boss level?"

"Oh, right, ha ha. Well Pete works closely with Tony, so I meant that he'd just ask Tony to clear me."

"Okay then. Moving on. Did-" Flash began.

"Actually, I have a question." Tony cut in. The white lenses on Spider-Man's mask, that could be considered his eyes, went wide. "A little birdy told me you're afraid of spiders. Is that true?"

"Peter, if you're watching this, start running now." Spider-Man said to the camera.

"Wait, you're actually afraid of spiders?" Flash asked.

"Well, seeing as how a spider bit me once and I almost died, yeah just slightly."

"That is so cool!" Flash exclaimed. Spider-Man looked as though he didn't quite agree with that statement.

"Do you or any of your fans have any questions for me?" He asked.

"Oh, yeah! Here's a good one! greenmachine27 wants to know how you know Peter."

Spider-Man froze for a second, wracking his brain for the excuse he gave earlier as Peter.

"Uhm, well, I can't say too much for safety reasons, but I met Peter back in grade school. When I realized I wanted to become a superhero, I knew I'd need a tech guy. Someone smart enough to manufacture stuff and keep it in good condition. I remembered that Peter was basically a genius and tracked him down. He agreed to help and actually made my first suit, web shooters, and even helped me track down crimes to stop. When Tony found me, he found Peter too and immediately offered him an internship here."

"Interesting," Flash hummed. "iflygay61 asked if you knew Peter in grade school, does that mean you're also a high schooler?"

"Ah, no. I'm older than Peter, but because he was so smart sometimes he went to the older kids' classes and did work with them. That's how I knew he was a genius." Peter paled under the mask, trying to make his lie as believable as possible. He looked to Tony with a panic that he knew would only be visible to the two of them.

"Well, we should probably wrap this up. It's a long trip back to Queen's and New York's favorite webslinger has a lot of work to do today," Tony said, patting the aforementioned hero on the back.

"Thank you so much for making time to meet with me, sir." Flash said, disgruntled at their time being cut short.

"You're welcome, kid. I do need to go though. A hero's work is never completed," Spider-Man said, all too ready for this to be over. He did a very dramatic backflip off the balcony and swung off into the forest.

"Okay, so I've got to go get ready for my lunch meeting with the president. The team's probably in the gym or on a run. Bruce is most likely in his lab so you should probably leave him be. Don't go looking for Wanda and Vision either. It's a bad idea, trust me. You can go bother anyone else on the team though. I wouldn't say anything degrading about Peter though. Jealousy induced or not, the team loves Peter more than they love Cap's homemade strawberry syrup, and that's saying something."

"Uh huh, I think I'll just stay in my room."

"That would probably be best."

"Mr. Stark, so glad you could make it," President Ellis smiled warmly.

"Whoa, no way! Dad, that's the president!" Peter exclaimed quietly.

"An astute observation, Pete," Tony whispered. "Thank you so much for the invitation, Matthew. It's been too long."

"And who is this fine young man?" the president asked.

"This is Peter. He's the heir to Stark Industries." Tony explained.

"Well it's nice to meet you, Peter."

"It's nice to meet you too, Mr. President," Peter stated in awe, fumbling as he went to shake the literal president's hand.

"Please, call me Matthew. Mr. President is too formal and this is a friendly gathering."

"I thought that this was a business meeting?" Peter said, confusion etched into his brows.

"That's just what we tell Pepper, kiddo. Trust me, this is way more fun than a business meeting." Tony smiled.

"Sweet!"

"I am wondering how you and Peter met, Tony. He seems very young." Matthew inquired. Peter looked nervously at Tony, unaware that Tony already had a plan.

"Peter and I met during my hunt for Spider-Man. I always noticed that Spidey would always stop by Peter's window and then a little while later a young man would walk out of the apartment complex. At first I thought that Peter might be Spider-Man until Peter got into a little trouble and Spider-Man was the one that bailed him out. It didn't take much more searching to realize that Peter was the one who does all Spidey's suit repairs and that he designed and built the web shooters he uses. After I found out what a genius the kid was I offered him a place at SI as my personal intern and now we're here."

"Well isn't that impressive. Stark Industries is lucky to have gained a genius like you then," Matthew smiled. "You said he was the heir? I haven't read anything or seen anything like that on the news. Is it not public knowledge yet?"

"Ah, well you see, Peter's still a minor and he wants to finish school in peace so we're planning on announcing his heir status when he turns 18. It also helps him make friends that he knows aren't using him to get to me." Tony explained.

"That is very smart. So how old are you now, Peter?"

"I'm sixteen, so we've still got a bit of time before the world finds out about me."

"Yeah, not so sure that's so true, bud," Tony winced.

"What happened!"

"Well, you know how Eugene was live streaming today?"

"Yeah?"

"We were kind of, uhm, how do I put this, in the background."

"What!" Peter exclaimed. "You mean the whole world saw me call you Dad! You ruffled my hair! How are we gonna explain that? Plus I bet you lied terribly! Nat says that you never mastered the three c's."

"I mastered the three c's!"

"Mhhmmm, for some reason I doubt that."

"Alright, so I never mastered the three c's. That doesn't mean they're automatically going to assume you're my son. Besides, even if they did it wouldn't be the worst thing that could've happened."

"You boys forget," Matthew interrupted. "You have Pepper Potts on your side and no one's better at manipulating the media than she is."

Peter held the straps of his backpack so tightly he was sure to break them off with even the slightest movement. His neck was prickling ever so slightly with so many eyes on him. He furrowed his brow and closed his eyes, attempting to block out the whispers. He felt a hand on his arm, but the familiar aroma of MJ's shampoo calmed him as she led him to his locker.

"You just have a knack for causing problems, don't you, Parker?"

"It's not like I knew we were in the background of the live."

"Your Peter Tingle didn't warn you?"

"Uhm, well you see, my Spider-Sense doesn't work as well when I'm with Tony and Pepper because they make me feel safe," Peter glanced away, cheeks tinted pink.

"Oh my gosh, Peter," MJ rolled her eyes. "You can call them Mom and Dad around me, it's not like Pepper hasn't been gushing about you calling her Mom all weekend."

"Yeah, but I don't want everyone to wonder why an orphan is suddenly calling people mom and dad, you know?"

"I'm impressed. For once you're actually using common sense," MJ snickered.

"Ha ha, very funny." He deadpanned.

"Dude! I cannot believe you called Tony Stark Dad in the background of Flash's livestream! That's insane!"

"Hello to you too," Peter smiled.

"Right, hi!" Ned said. "Anyways, I was talking to Betty and apparently everyone thinks that you're Tony's real son and that Flash was lying about not seeing you at the compound to keep you safe from rumors! It's literally the best! Now everyone thinks he was actually being nice to you. He's probably so mad."

"Could this get any worse?" Peter groaned, he slammed his locker shut as the warning bell rang.

"I mean, they could think that you're Spider-Man," MJ shrugged.

"That's true," He grimaced. Things could be much worse than people thinking he was biologically Tony Stark's son. Hopefully he would have a chance to smooth things over at the movie night they'd planned with Rhodey. Peter couldn't wait to meet him and he hoped that Rhodey would be able to smooth the tension between him, Flash, and Tony.

"Mini-Boss, Boss would like you to grab Eugene and meet in the Avengers common room." Friday rang out. Peter answered the last question on his physics homework and headed across the suite to Flash's room. He knocked three times before the door swung open.

"What?"

"I think Rhodey's here so we need to head down to the commons." Peter explained.

"The what's?"

"The commons. It's one of the names we have for the Avengers common room. We normally just use it as a movie room or a video game room."

"Alright, let me grab my phone."

Peter led Flash to the elevator for a very awkward thirty second ride. Luckily, they ran into Rhodey on the way to the commons.

"Colonel Rhodes, hello!" Peter smiled. "It's an honor to meet you! I've heard so much!"

"It's nice to meet you too! You must be Eugene? Tony's son?" Rhodey asked. Peter froze, he didn't know what to say to that.

"Uhm, no." Flash frowned. "I'm Eugene. That's Peter."

"Sorry, but there's no way. I met Tony when he was your age and he looks just like him. You, not so much." Rhodey explained.

"I-uh, no, sorry sir. I am Peter. Peter Parker. I'm just Tony's intern."

"No, I don't believe it! You look exactly like him."

"I'm so sorry, but sometimes looks can be deceiving," Peter shrugged. Rhodey shook his head and headed to the common room to check with Tony.

"Tony, this little sprout here is saying that he's not your son."

"That's because he's my intern. Rhodey, what's going on?" Tony asked.

"He looks just like you! There's no way that boy is your son!"

"Rhodey, calm down! You're going to upset him!"

"Too late," Peter grimaced.

"What?" Tony turned to face his pseudo-son.

"He stormed out a bit ago, after Mr. Rhodes said that I looked just like you."

"Why didn't you say something sooner?"

"I tried, but you weren't listening."

"Alright, we've got to find him. It's not safe to be alone at this time of night."

"I'll go find him!" Peter exclaimed. He ran out of the common area and made his way down to the lobby. As soon as he made it out of the doors he spotted Flash just across the street. Not bothering to wait for the cars to stop, he ran across to the other boy.

"What are you doing here!" Flash frowned.

"It isn't safe to be out alone at night. You should come back inside."

"No. It's clear nobody wants me there. Everyone would rather have you as Tony's son anyways. He even lets you call him Dad!"

"That's because he's marrying my mom! I'm supposed to be comfortable with him! Look, Flash. Pretty soon we're going to be brothers, okay? We need to learn to get along!" Peter sighed. He pulled Flash into the alley they were arguing by. He was trying to ignore the bite of the cold so he didn't notice the chill that ran down his spine.

"We don't have to be friends! We don't even have to like each other! You've had him for the past two years. I think it's my turn. I want you to leave Tony alone. Get out of his life, leave us alone. Maybe if he still wants you around in two years you can come back, but it's my turn."

"That's not how this works!" Peter shouted. "He's my Dad too! I won't let you take him from me! I can't lose anyone else!"

"Peter, stop!" Flash grabbed his arm, accidentally activating his Panic Watch. Peter looked in Flash's eyes and saw terror. He turned slowly, finding himself face-to-face with a gun.

"Hand over your wallets and your phones," The man said, brandishing the gun. Flash complied quickly, but Peter was frozen. He hadn't been unsuited with a civilian in a situation involving a gun since Ben. His breathing became more labored and he fell to his knees, sobbing.

"H-he doesn't have any money," Flash tried to explain.

"Shut up and give me his phone!"

"He doesn't have anything on him!"

"Then why is he in the richest part of town."

"My dad is dating his mom and they came over for dinner but we got into a fight and he ran out with nothing but the clothes he's wearing."

"Fine then, I guess yours will have to do," the man frowned before firing a bullet into Flash's leg. "For good measure."

When Tony showed up a few seconds later, he found two crying boys. One bleeding out, one having a panic attack. He got them both back to the medbay as quickly as possible before alerting Pepper and May of the situation. He was filling them in when Cho burst through the doors. Her eyes were narrowed and a frown was present on her face.

"Anthony Edward Stark, do you want your son to die?" She asked, semi-calmly.

"What?"

"Why would you tell me the wrong blood type! You're lucky I double checked!"

"What are you talking about? He should be O+, at least that's what he was when he was younger."

"No, Peter's O+, Eugene is A-. You must have gotten them mixed up and that's just unacceptable."

"What? I am so sorry, Helen! I didn't even realize that I had gotten that mixed up. That could have been terrible."

"Yes, well you're lucky I'm so thorough. Anyways, Peter could use your help. He's no longer panicking quite so much but he could use a friendly face."

"I'll see to that then. Sorry, again," He grimaced. He bid the two women goodbye and headed down to Peter's room in the Medbay. Tony was worried about the boy because he had never reacted to a shooter like that before. He knocked twice on the door before letting himself in.

"Hey, bud. How are you doing?"

"I'm okay," Peter shrugged.

"Wanna let me in on what happened out there?"

"There was a man and he tried to mug us."

"I meant why you had an attack, bambino. That's never happened before."

"I-I," Peter sniffled, eyes watering. "I couldn't stop thinking about what happened to Ben."

"What?"

"Ben was shot and killed and I was right there and I couldn't do anything! I felt so helpless, and then suddenly Flash and I are in danger and I can't do anything because I'm just Peter Parker and I guess I freaked out. I'm sorry."

"Nothing to apologize for, kiddo. I know I've had my fair share of attacks at inopportune moments." Tony chuckled, thinking of the time he'd had one with Rhodey in a bar while signing a child's drawing. "Ben seems like he was a great guy though. Do you look a lot like him?"

"Not really, I'm not really sure who I look like cause I only look a little like my mom and not much like my dad." Peter grabbed his wallet from the side table. He pulled out a slip of paper and handed it to Tony. "Here's a picture of us."

Tony froze. He recognized May, he figured the man in the picture was Ben, and then there was a five-year-old Eugene Thompson. He thought back to the fact that he got Eugene's blood type wrong. The fact that Rhodey thought Peter looked just like teenage him.

"Peter," he breathed. "The boy. Is- Is that you?"

"Uhm, yeah? Who else would it be?"

"I have an extremely important question for you."

"Okay?"

"When you were younger, did you ever come to Stark Tower?"

"Yeah! Once after my parents died I came with Aunt Rose. I can't remember what we were doing there, but I got to meet Pepper and I think you might have come down for a minute. They took my spit or something like that too I think. Why?"

"Pete, when you were five years old, Rose Thompson came to Stark Tower with the little boy in this picture. She said his name was Eugene Thompson and that he was my son. We ran some tests and they came back positive."

"W-wait, what are you saying?"

"Friday, can you run a paternity test between me and Peter?" Tony said, he looked at Peter for his reaction. The boy had tensed and his eyes were glistening with wetness. The only reason Tony wasn't worrying was the slight smile on the boy's face.

"Boss, I have the results." Friday rang out, causing both of them to jump.

"Give us the results, girl."

"There is a 99.99% match. Congratulations, Boss. It's a boy."

Peter burst into tears. Tony looks back to him, eyes wide. He pulled him into an awkward hug, trying to console the boy.

"Bambino, are you okay? Is this a bad thing?"

"You're my real dad, this is the best day of my life," Peter sobbed. Tony's eyes began to leak as well.

"I'm so happy you're my son, cucciolo."

The door burst open, May and Pepper on the other side.

"What is going on here?" May asked.

"M-may, he's my real dad," Peter grinned, tears glistening on his cheeks.

"W-what?"

"Peter's my biological son, not Eugene. Apparently after Mary and Richard passed away, Rose Thompson played a little switcheroo on us to make us think that Eugene was my kid by having Peter pretend to be him and come get a paternity test at the tower," Tony explained.

"She did what! Excuse me for a moment, I have to make a call," May frowned.

"Man, I would not want to be Aunt Rose right now," Peter grimaced.

"Yeah, me neither. A mad May is a scary May."

"Mom," Peter smiled, reaching out for a hug. Pepper immediately reciprocated.

"This is just the happiest day for you, isn't it buddy?" Pepper asked.

"Yeah, we're gonna be a real family! You, Dad, Me, and the little peanut!"

"Aw, hun, we were always going to be a real family, whether you were biologically related to us or not." Pepper teared up slightly.

"Yeah, that's why we're planning on adopting you, legally. Full custody, the whole shebang. School activities, chaperoning, PTA, competitions," Tony listed.

"This is the best day of my life," Peter grinned, wiping the dried tears from his cheeks just as May walked back into the room.

"The nerve of that woman," May grumbled.

"May, it's okay! I may not have had Tony all this time, but I have him now and I don't think things would have gone the same way if we knew the truth. We're all together now, and we're happy and I think that's really all that matters."

"I guess that's true," May shrugged.

"Of course it is! You should never wish for things to go differently because life always has ups and downs. In the end, you end up where you need to be with who you're supposed to be with."

"Just like you and your scary girlfriend?" Tony smirked.

"Dad!" Peter blushed.

(Two Years Later)

"Peter, can you grab Morgan?" Pepper shouted from across the hall.

"On it!" Peter called back, exiting his room and entering his sister's room.

"Mi-mi! Wan' mi-mi!" Morgan cried from the crib.

"Don't worry, Momo. I have your binky right here." Peter placed it in her open mouth and lifted her off the bed. "We've gotta get you all dressed up! Can't be late for my graduation!"

"Can't forget about the press conference after, bud," Tony said from the doorway.

"I didn't forget! How could I? I'm finally able to tell the world who I really am!"

"You're not nervous that people will know you're a Stark?"

"No, I'd never be afraid to tell people that! I love being a Stark and I'm so happy I'll finally be able to stop hiding that part of me!"

"Speaking of hiding, I invited an old friend of mine who's around your age to your party tonight. I think you guys are gonna get along really well."

"Oh, yeah? What's their name?"

"His name's Harley. Harley Keener."