So, this is like, half sweet little filler moments, and half important plot. Next chapter will be more danger-oriented and action-y.
Thanks for reading!
Seven weeks. Fifty two days- That was the total, and the entire time since the process started; It was also the amount of time Tony Stark had been worried his son would change his mind. But today, papers in hand, as Peter, Pepper and himself all walked into the school to change not only his guardianship on their records but Peter's name as well, he had never felt so proud.
He had resolved to not ask if Peter was sure this was exactly what he wanted again. Not after he had gotten so much on Peter's nerves that Peter had ask Pepper to reassure him that it was what he wanted. And from that moment on, they stayed the course, did what they had to with the red tape, and finally his name and birth certificate were made right.
Once they got to the door, Tony grabbed it and held it open for Peter and Pepper, who both held back for a moment. "Wait..." Pepper said, putting a hand on Peter's shoulder. "Peter- Once the kids at school know, your life will change. So much. In fact... We should probably go ahead and plan a press conference about it because otherwise they're going to hound him." She looked up at Tony.
"Shit." He mumbled. "I forgot about them. Yeah, she's right. We should do a conference. How do you feel about that? You don't have to talk, I'm pretty good at handling them." Tony laughed.
"Dad, you once held a conference sitting on the floor eating a bacon whopper." Peter reminded him.
"And was still voted one of the sexiest men of the year, so... I make it work." He said, winking over at Pepper, who gave him an eye roll. "But yeah, if we beat them to it, we can control the hell storm."
"In fact, we can hold off on updating the school until we do that, if you want?" Pepper offered. Peter looked from his father to Pepper and back.
"No," He shook his head. "No, I want to do this. Its way passed time. Besides, there have been about a thousand rumors going around since they day you picked me up. It'll be good to get that all cleared up."
"Fair." Pepper said, stepping through the door, followed by Peter and Tony. Immediately the noisy hallway, filled with kids killing time before class quieted down as Pepper's heels clicked on the tile when she walked in.
"Yeah, they did that to me, too." Tony said, coming in behind her, taking her hand and putting his arm around Peter's shoulders. The three kept on their way to the school office, ignoring the teens who stared as they came through. Even with the occasional flash of a not so subtle kid taking a picture with their flash unnecessarily on.
Tony was beyond thankful that Peter had ask Pepper to come too. The two of them were getting to be pretty close, which he loved. And he saw in his son a problem he had himself- His nerve was not as steel as he wanted others to believe. The boy had Tony's eyes, which gave away emotion his face never would. But Pepper was a brick wall, and she protected Peter with the same fierce love and drive she always had Tony. So for that reason, they let Pepper lead the way. Peter was shying back even more as a teacher or two were caught staring, and Tony squeezed him slightly closer. Once they got to the office door, Tony once again stepped forward and held the door. This time, Pepper ushered Peter in first.
"Mr. Parker?" The secretary looked up in surprise. "Can I hel-" she trailed off as Pepper followed him in. She simply stopped mid-sentence, her mouth hanging in an 'O'. Tony closed the door behind him and took the file from Pepper and walked over, hand extended.
"Hi. Tony, this is Pepper." He introduced he and Pepper. "We're here to update name and custodial documentation for my son."
"Uh," The secretary stammered, "Yes, of course, Mr. Stark." She walked around the desk and gestured to a door behind the desk. "Back this way, we will update everything."
By lunch, the word was out. It had been alright in English, first period, because he was able to catch the teacher at the door and explain the updated roll list, so when names were called, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. But in his Physics Lab period, there was a suddenly an eruption when Mr. Planter said, "Did we get a new student? Peter Stark?"
Every head in the room turned to Peter, who shyly replied, "No, that's me."
"I knew it!" A girl, Courtney Williamson, called from the next row over. The class burst into a fury of questions, all at once, directed at Peter. This was exactly what Tony had warned him about, but he sat in place, facing the front, watching the teacher expectantly.
"Oh, who cares if Peter is rich now?" Peter heard MJ's voice call from the back of the room. "It won't help any of our grades, and some of us still have to hope for scholarships to get to college! Can we maybe learn now?"
"Yes, right." Mr. Planter said after a moment, clearing his throat. Peter turned around to MJ and mouthed a silent 'Thank you'. She smirked in return and looked back to the board where the teacher had set up notes on projection.
So naturally, by the time Peter had his lunch tray and had found Ned to sit down, he was swarmed. People who had literally never even looked at him before were trying to talk to him. He sat in silence, not giving anyone an answer, only an apologetic look to his best friend. Following suit, Ned also ate in silence, until the two were both done, and he and Peter stood and walked away together, letting everyone know he was not about to give in.
Once they were able to break away, Peter dragged Ned into the courtyard, and took a deep breath when he noticed hardly anyone else was outside. "I'm sorry, man." He said. "I know it's been hard to keep that secret, but I'm thankful for you, dude." He said, starting his handshake with Ned, who followed along through the moves.
"No problem, dude. I'm sorry people are being so weird." He said. "But I figured you'd suddenly get popular when that happened."
"I wouldn't call this popular..." Peter said, shrugging. "And I have no time for fake friendships. That is something dad told me right off the bat. He said he took too long to learn that."
"Yeah, and I'm sure it'll blow over soon." Ned added.
"Not likely." MJ said, coming around the corner and sitting down on the bench on the other side of Ned. "This is the most exciting thing to happen around here since Mr. Leonard had that affair with the lady from the couciler's office..." Ned and Peter both snorted and laughed.
"Thanks, guys. I needed that." Peter said. "I guess I'll just have to learn to keep my face straight and ignore them all."
"Or we could flank for you." MJ offered. "Keep the popularazzi away, as it were."
"That would be awesome, thanks." Peter smiled.
"So, its all official at the school, huh?" Rhodey ask, coming into Bruce's lab where Tony was feeding his friend's fish in his absence. "How did that go?"
"Well," Tony said, closing the lid on the tank so he could turn to face his friend, "It was fine at first, but according to Happy, who picked him up for me, everyone wants to be his new best friend. Which, I guess we expected. But I just hate it for him." Tony shook his head.
"Have you thought about switching his school?" Rhodey wondered, crossing his arms. He wouldn't openly admit it, but he loved Peter too, and he reminded him a lot of when he had first met Tony.
"He doesn't want to switch schools. He likes it there, and it is an excellent STEM school. I just-" Tony shook his head. "I can't keep him protected from everything. And it's already a rumor on the internet. This time tomorrow the tabloids will be for sale, and with all the kids taking pictures this morning I doubt there will be a magazine without our faces all over it. Pepper and I can handle that fine, but its new and violating for Pete." Tony rubbed his hands over his face.
"Well, I hate to add any stress, but they're calling us out." Rhodey said, bringing up a message on his phone and handing it over for Tony to read.
"Well, shit." Tony said as he read the briefing, which detailed a terrorist attack and potential outpost in the north of the Afghan desert. "So, me, you and who else?" he ask.
"Sam and Clint." He answered, "Aerial recon, and Clint in a quinjet to cover from a distance."
"Great, can't even comfort my kid after a hard day at school because of fucking terrorists." He sighed. Rhodey clapped a hand on his back as he headed off for the hanger.
"All part of the job, man. Let's go suit up." He called behind him. Tony shook his head, and sent a message to Pepper before following after his friend.
Pepper settled Peter on a couch in the commons area of the compound, with Ned in tote. She was glad that he had finally felt comfortable enough to ask if a friend could come, and while it was a bit of a complicated thing for her to call and ask Ned's parents if she could take her son to the Avenger's compound, she was glad he was with Peter to keep his mind off things as Tony was called out as Iron Man for the first time since Peter had met his father. "You boys hang out right here, and I'll finish up for Tony, then we'll get something to eat?"
"Thanks, Pepper!" Peter called.
"Yeah, thank you Miss Potts." Ned said shyly. As Pepper walked off, Ned turned around and grinned.
"Oh. My. Holy. Shit." He said, enunciating each word. "This place is nuts!"
"It is pretty cool." Peter said with a shrug.
"And your dad lets you train with them?" Ned said excitedly.
"A little." Peter said from behind his laptop. Ned, though excited to be there, could tell something was bothering his friend.
"Hey man, you good?" He ask. Peter shrugged. "Peter, seriously." He pressed on.
"It's stupid, don't worry about it." Peter replied, typing on his homework as he glanced over his notes.
"I bet it's not." Ned replied. "Come on, you used to tell me everything." Peter glanced up, and sighed.
"It's just- When I was Peter Parker, and Tony Stark was just this larger than life guy who saved the world and smiled on TV and had everything going for him, I saw him like he was bulletproof and immortal. But now, I'm a Stark, he's my dad and he has this mission, right?" He waited, and Ned nodded that he was following. "Right. So now, now that I've seen him without the suits and long sleeve shirts and he's told me about his missions and scars. About some of the things he has seen. About what made him change..." Peter shook his head.
"You're worried." Ned said quietly.
"I can't help it. It's stupid. Because nothing is different about him. Not really. Except now it's like..."
"It's like, you met your hero and realized he's human. And it scares you because you know something could happen to him?" A voice sounded softly from behind the boys, and they turned to see Natasha Romanoff standing against the wall. Peter gave a small smile of greeting, but Ned seemed a bit distracted by the woman's famed beauty.
"Aunt Nat." Peter greeted her with the name she'd told him he could call her by. She moved across the room and ruffled Peter's hair before leaning over the couch.
"You okay, little spider?" She ask kindly. Peter shrugged.
"I didn't know you were there." He said.
"I'd be a horrible spy if people heard me coming, Peter." She reminded him, making the boy laugh. She smiled too, then looked over and raised an eyebrow at the other teen on the couch, who still sat mouth slightly agape.
"Uh, Ned..." Peter said, "This is Natasha. Aunt Nat, this is my best friend, Ned. Pepper said he could come along since she wouldn't be long."
"Eh, you guys own the place. I just work here." She shrugged, holding a hand out. Ned clamped his mouth shut and shook her hand very briefly. "Nice to meet you, Ned."
"You too." He squeaked in a small voice. Natasha turned back to her friend's son.
"You good, kiddo?" She ask concerned. Peter nodded.
"Yeah, I guess I have to get used to it." He said. She smiled.
"As much as I hate to admit it, and don't tell him I said this, but your dad knows what he is doing, and he's good at what he does. That, and he has scared Pepper enough times to know he better bring his ass home in one piece or he'll have to deal with her. Plus, he has you now too. And he'd tear the world apart before he'd let you down." She smiled when her words made Peter smile.
"Thanks, that does make me feel better." He said. She tussled his hair again and walked off down the hall to wherever it was she was headed when she'd overhead them talking.
"Duuuuude." Ned over-exaggerated. "That was Black Widow. And you called her 'Aunt Nat'. What even is your life, man?" He said. "She is so beautiful I'd let her stab me..."
"You promised if I let you come that you would be cool. This is not cool..." Peter laughed.
"Black Widow, Peter." He said again. "Wait- And she called you-" He laughed. "She called you little spider! That's weirdly adorable."
"And only she can, Ned. Spider-Man to you." He said, annoyed.
"You feel better now, though. I can tell." Ned said. Peter shrugged.
"You're right. I guess I do. But you know, other than Pepper, Nat is like, the most open and welcoming one. The others Avengers are all nice, don't get me wrong, but it's like she goes out of her way to watch out for me. She's the best."
"You are like the luckiest kid." Ned said.
"You boys ready to go?" Pepper ask, opening a side door that lead to Tony's office. Peter and Ned packed their homework up and followed after her, Peter feeling much calmer about the mission and his fears.
Thank you all for reading and giving so much love and support!
To my Stony fans- If you guys want to check out my Stony story- Family is an F Word, I'd love it. It doesn't have quite as much attention as this one, but I really like working on it so I just thought I'd put this out there.
You're all amazing!