Peter stepped into the office and the first person he saw was Ben Urich. Mr. Urich stepped in the elevator just as the doors were closing. "Hey," he said, looking at Peter. After thinking for a moment, he announced, "Peter Parker, of course."
"Almost," Peter Stark said. "It's good to see you again, Mr. Urich."
"Nice to see you, kid," Mr. Urich said. "Haven't seen you since... since..."
"Loki Incident," Peter replied. He swallowed.
"Yeah," Mr. Urich said softly. He whistled. "I'm writing a flashback piece on that right now. Jameson's orders."
"That's cool."
"Yeah, it'll be much better around here though if we can start fixing that website again. It's been driving us crazy." Mr. Urich smiled. "Good to see you again, kid."
"Thanks," Peter replied. "Nice to be back."
The doors opened, and Peter walked into the office. He wasn't sure where he should go first, but after seeing his desk missing and replaced with storage cabinets, he figured he should ask Mr. Jameson. Peter knew it was a back idea, but, well, it had been awhile. He wanted to see if the old, noisy goat was still the same. Peter stepped down the hall and walked toward the office. He wasn't even near it when he could hear Jonah Jameson yelling at some poor camera man.
"Peter!" Betty Brant exclaimed, looking up from her work. "It's been awhile."
"Nice to see you," Peter said, "how have you been?"
"Same old, same old," she said, "unfortunately. You?"
Just adopted by gay superheroes and the Avengers, fight crime for fun, my house talks to me, I call the Black Widow, Aunt Natasha, I have a new last name, and am set to inherit a trillion dollar enterprise. "Same old," Peter replied.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING STANDING AROUND THERE, KID? GET TO WORK!"
.
Sweat dripped from outside of Peter's mask, it sogged up in the heat-resistant, metal interwoven fabric and started making puddles somewhere under his eyes. It was like being underwater.
Peter struggled, holding the giant teeth inches from his nose.
"Dad!" Spiderman shouted, feeling safe to do so since they were kind of the only human, non murderous mutant wolf beings in the old laboratory. "I'm holding it!"
"One moment," Iron Man groaned beneath his armor. He was holding the fluid in his hands.
Captain America grunted. He was holding the back of the mutant wolf, keeping it from ripping Peter's face off with its paws. "You had better hurry up, Stark!" The Captain growled.
"Well, next time you can hack into a ten year old computer in a dusty lab for the alchemical composition required to seduce the mutant wolf specimen for Nick Fury, and I'll hang out with Peter."
"Don't worry," Spiderman said as his arms cried out in agony. Those teeth were closer. "We're not having much fun without you."
"Better not!" Iron Man growled, "JARVIS, where are we?"
Damn, throwing them into the acid and killing the ravenous mutts had been easy, trying to preserve a whole specimen, not so much. The mutant wolf shook between Captain America's grip. "STARK!" The Captain warned.
"HONEY-BEAR!" Iron Man retaliated.
"My face is inches from being torn off!" Spiderman shouted.
Captain America looked over the wolf's shoulder. "Don't worry," he said as his lungs heaved for air, "you're going to be fine, sport!"
"I don't see why I can't shoot webs in its mouth!"
"Blame Nick Fury for that one," Iron Man said. His voice was right behind them. They heard the grinding of machinery as he flew over the mutant wolf. "Hold him still."
"What do you think we've been doing?" Captain America shouted.
The mutant wolf suddenly sagged and went limp. It fell against Spiderman's chest. "Umf," Spiderman mumbled.
"Here you go," Iron Man said. He and Captain America grabbed the wolf's pelt and lifted the creature off of Spiderman and onto the ground beside him. "Well," Iron Man said, placing his arms at his side, "this'll make a fond memory."
The Captain wiped at the sweat that had built under his uniform. "Sure, now who wants to carry it to SHIELD?"
"Noses," Peter said as he touched his finger to his nose. Iron Man copied the motion.
"Oh, look," Iron Man said to Captain America, "it's you?"
The Captain stared blankly at them. "What?"
.
Peter stared at the bowl of ice cream at his lap. Perhaps that would make up for the rising bruises, but to be honest, a year ago he could never have imagined doing this, sitting here, and right now it felt so perfect. A year ago, Spiderman was solitary and just starting out. Today, Peter was squashed on a couch between two tired superheroes.
"I'm serious, Steve, you need to get used to this."
"I just don't prefer movies in color."
"Except the Wizard of Oz, and again, no."
"Tony, come on, just nothing too modern."
"That's all that matters, Cap."
"Tony."
"Steve."
"Let's watch a show," Peter offered. "One of the thirty we've taped."
Tony flipped through the recordings. He stopped on one of them. "This one?" He asked.
Steve just shifted closer to Peter and took a large bite from his oversized ice cream. He's captured half of the mutant wolf boars by himself, so Tony had ordered JARVIS to give him extra whipped cream.
Peter stretched his legs out and smiled. Sure, it felt weird being crushed between two men, and the home like setting was certainly, a thousand times, different from anything he'd ever had, but it still had the same feelings as movie nights with Uncle Ben and Aunt May, and it was different from that. This was comfortable, if odd.
And, rainbow sprinkles.
The show ended, and Peter thought it was about time for bed. He was exhausted. He yawned, and leaned perhaps a bit too much on the Captain. He was sixteen, and practically cuddling with one of his parents on the couch. Sure. Peter was normal.
He could make a case about having a sad history, and needing affection, and never having someone strong to lean on, but to be honest, Peter was just plain sleepy.
"Pete," Tony said, "I think we should talk about going public."
Peter blinked.
Steve looked up. He acted prepared for this.
"I don't think we should keep treating your adoption like a secret. Steve and I have been planning this for about a month now," Tony said, "but we feel like we should not keep tip toeing around the subject."
Peter frowned. "Spiderman too?"
"Well..." Tony shrugged. "I'll leave that up to you. But, Peter Stark, aren't you a big tired of keeping your parents a secret?"
"We aren't saying we're going to go on CNN and announce it," Steve explained, "but we're not going to worry if it gets public or not."
"Which it probably will," Tony added.
Steve looked at him. Then he turned back to Peter. "I know it has to be tough, considering Tony and I..." Steve turned red.
"Are totally banging," Tony completed.
"Oh God," Peter clamped his hands down over his ears.
"But we love you!" Tony screamed into Peter's covered ear, "As a son, not the creepy way!"
"Shut up!" Peter laughed. He grabbed one of the pillows they'd kicked to the floor and threw it into Tony's face.
Steve grinned. "You deserve that."
"He's your son," Tony Stark muttered as he leaned back, disgruntled.
Steve held out his hand and Peter gave him a high five.
"Mutiny," Tony said.
"I thought we were allowed to mutiny," Peter said, "one, if you ever start drinking too much, two, if you ever start a sentence with 'pink armor', or three, if you ever get too pigheaded."
"I only agree to one and two," Tony Stark stated.
"But," Steve said, turning the attention back to where it was needed, "you get what we're saying, Pete?"
Peter swallowed. "Yeah," he said, though he wasn't too fond of it. "I understand. No more avoiding the whole 'Peter Stark' thing. I just have one question."
"Go on," Tony gestured.
"Is the Iron Man, Captain America thing still under wraps?" Peter asked curiously.
Steve's cheeks were a dark shade of red. "No," he said.
"No?"
"Nope," Tony Stark announced. "Let the world know." Steve flushed darker, and Tony grinned suggestively at him.
"I'm leaving," Peter jumped to his feet. "See you in the morning!"
.
"Society is made up of literally millions of different events, all happening at the same time," Ms. Flip announced. "All of these events have figure heads, and the list we wrote yesterday-" she gestured to a paper filled with names she's taped to the chalkboard, "are all people who are traceable to different events. Here, number one, Barack Obama. Yes, you."
"Gay rights?"
Ms. Flip nodded. "What else?"
An African American student raised his hand. "Black people," he announced.
Ms. Flip nodded, and, thinking for a moment, wrote 'African American President' on the board.
"And next?"
"Senator Kelly and the Mutant Crisis?"
Peter Parker and the 'oh, yeah, assholes, my dad is Tony Stark', crisis? Peter rested his head on his hands and tried not to notice the tiny strips of paper which Flash Thompson, apparently bored, was ripping out of his notebook and doing his best to flick them into Peter's eyes. Maybe Peter should just yell it at Thompson and he would stop. Peter could spend the next two years of high school not being a complete loser. But, friends who just want to see your superhero parents, hold their shield, and meet your aunts and uncles are not actually friends. Besides, Peter had been keeping secrets for so long he'd forgotten how to stop holding them back.
"Tony Stark?" Ms. Flip asked.
"Loki Incident," someone answered.
"The Stark Energy Initiative."
"Iron Man vs. the Supreme Court."
"What about that thing this morning?" Liz Allen asked.
"Oh my God!" One of the girls in the class jumped up in her seat. "You mean when he was on the show after last period?"
Peter's eyes widened. He slipped down into his seat, pushing his collar up his ears; he hoped Flash would not see the red rising on his cheeks. What did Dad do now? Peter Stark grimaced.
Ms. Flip paused. "Well." She swallowed. "Phones." She held out her hand. Liz Allen sighed, and gave it to the teacher. Ms. Flip went to the other girl.
"I watched it on Liz's phone," the girl lied.
Ms. Flip sighed and just accepted that. "Well, is this history in the making?"
The other girl started to giggle, which prompted several stares. Liz Allen had an enormous grin on her face when she answered, "Believe me. It's history."
"It's probably still on," Gwen Stacy said.
Peter hadn't known she was in this class, but she was sitting in the front left corner and one of the larger boys from the D&D club, which Peter had been a part of until he'd gotten his powers, was blocking her from sight.
Ms. Flip rolled her eyes. "Alright, no more phones," she slid Liz Allen's phone back on the blonde's desk, "who has seen this Iron Man..."
"Interview," Liz Allen finished with a giggle.
"Grow up," Gwen Stacy mumbled.
"Who has seen this interview?" Ms. Flip asked. All of the girls but one raised their hands, and not a single boy did. "Well, if it's history in the making, perhaps we should watch it. Liz, what channel was this?"
"I think it's disgusting," a curly brunette, a senior who was a year older than Peter, inputed.
"Homophobe," Gwen Stacy growled.
Peter's eyes widened. Fuck. Tony never waited, did he? Just last night they'd said and now, "Damn."
Ms. Flip adjusted the projector. "Alright, one moment, let me find it." She hovered over her computer screen.
"Homo?" Kong leaned forward and shouted across the room to Liz Allan, "Iron Man is a homo?"
"Or like, totally bi," Liz fixed.
"That's such shit!" Flash Thompson hit his hand against the desk, making a statement despite the small noise. "Everyone's turning fucking gay, my dad says people like that are ruining the standard of life in America."
America 'is' gay, Peter thought. Peter Stark knew it. He had seen Steve cradle Tony's head after they'd lost one of their missions and Tony'd been drinking; he'd accidentally walked in to see Steve staring at Tony, who had been obliviously absorbed in his work. Captain America, America's symbol, was gay.
Or, at least, bi. Or, at least, as Tony had originally explained it to a flabbergasted Peter Parker, 'We just found in each other what we couldn't find anywhere else.'
"Love is love, dumbass," Gwen Stacy growled, "and you don't have the right to say who gets to love who."
"Freedom of speech, I have the right to say anything even if you don't agree with it," Flash countered.
"Doesn't mean you should try to force your morals on others!"
"I'm not," Flash snapped, "I just think homos and mutants are freaks and I'm not afraid to say it!"
"I'll show you a freak after I finish with your face!" Gwen stood up.
"Gwen!" Peter jumped to his feet.
Ms. Flip stood up. "Ms. Stacy! You have both made your points, neither of you needs to resort to violence!" She glared at Gwen.
Gwen glared back. She folded her arms. She stared.
"Whatever," Gwen huffed. She sat down.
Peter, awkwardly, sat down as well. He could feel Flash glaring at the back of his neck.
"I didn't need help, Parker," Thompson spat viciously out of the teacher's earshot.
Ms. Flip had a live feed from an interview on her computer. "Shall I play, or will I make you all write a report on how changes in economy affect individual morale?"
"Playing is fine," Liz Allan urged.
"Yeah," another girl in the class said.
She played the interview.
"Well, it's one in the afternoon, and I'm Al Collins, bringing you the latest celebrities in America." Al Collins flashed his perfect, Hollywood smile at the screen.
Ah. Peter recognized him. Al Collins had interviewed Tony Stark twice before, at least when Peter was there. There had been... right after the Loki Incident. Peter had not been there, but he remembered hearing it had gone well.
Or, he remembered Tony saying it had gone well and Steve telling Tony that he, Steve, felt like it could have gone, much, much, a thousand times, better.
And then there had been that time... somewhere in the middle of the summer. Tony had been on the show to discuss the rise in mutant suicides. Peter had watched that. Al Collins had not liked what Tony had to say. The 'interview' turned into a full blown argument about civil rights and the definition of humanity.
Al Collins' final argument had been, "I... you... Commerci-!" Tony Stark had been very smug after that.
"Why," Peter muttered quietly to himself, "why the hell would you go back to that interviewer?"
"Please welcome, Natasha Romanov and Tony Stark!" Al Collins gestured wildly to the side of the stage.
Peter's eyes widened. Aunt Natasha? On television?
At least she looked good. In fact, she looked great. So great, that Flash leaned across Peter's back to punch Kong in the arm, and they both smirked. Peter's arms stiffened. She was wearing a tight black dress that looked stunning and, due to the strategic cuts on the bodice, was not conservative. Tony Stark matched her perfectly, in a casual black suit nix-tie-and-jacket ensemble. Peter guess they'd both planned that together. Dad walked her up stage and gestured graciously to the seat, letting her sit down before he did.
If Peter recalled, Natasha and Tony had only started getting along famously only after Peter and Natasha grew closer.
"This is a first, isn't it?" Al Collins said to Natasha just as the theme music stopped.
Natasha smiled, her typical smile that was somewhere between a kind expression and a condescending one. "I've been interviewed many times," she said, "on television. Never as Natasha Romanov."
Al Collins blinked. "Ah." He adjusted his collar. He was showing either a healthy amount of fear or an unhealthy amount of sexual attraction from the Black Widow's presence.
"I believe we are here to discuss the Avengers continued presence in New York," Natasha said.
Tony Stark leaned back casually and smirked.
"Of course," Al Collins smiled broadly. "Now, do the two of you feel that, after the Loki Incident over six months ago, that the Avengers should still... 'nest' here?" He smirked at his own joke, an obscure reference to Hawkeye.
Natasha didn't flinch. "Yes."
Tony leaned forward. He elaborated, "New York and the United States face a fair amount of threats every day. Believe me, we are not just sitting back on eggs in our tower. As a whole, the Avengers Initiative has yet to go on a mission together, but we had solved many problems and stopped many possible tragedies in smaller groups of about two or three."
"Why haven't the American people heard about these?" Al Collins asked. He was grinning so hard he looked like a freakish clown.
"Telling the general public our every move would be counter productive," Natasha stated flatly.
Tony nodded and laughed. "As a division of the government, we aren't going to be constantly updating our twitter telling everyone our position. Who knows who'd subscribe to that?"
"But aren't you Russian?" Al Collins asked Natasha.
"I was born Russian. I am an American citizen do to issues I faced in my home country. I am a member of SHIELD." Natasha smiled briefly before her face returned to a passive blankness.
"Is there a large amount of secrecy in the Avengers?" Al Collins asked.
"Relatively," Tony Stark said, "we prefer to keep some things, especially personal things, private."
Al Collins chuckled. "Since when does Tony Stark keep things private?"
There was a resulting laugh from the audience.
Tony, smugly, crossed his leg over his knee and said, "Oh, I think I might surprise you."
Al Collins leaned back in his chair. His outrageous smile had faded to a grin, although his Hollywood white teeth still showed. "Like what?"
Tony Stark drawled, "Oh, Al, you haven't changed a bit, have you?"
Al Collins looked at Natasha. "What sort of secrets have the Avengers been hiding from us?" He asked the master assassin.
"You're asking me, just like this, to tell you a secret?" Natasha asked. "Alright." She glanced, so quickly anyone without superpowers would miss it, at Tony. "The Avengers, all of us, have grown close. We share a floor, which, for research and training purposes, has a lab and a gym beside each other. Last Thursday, Tony was kicked out of his apartment and slept in the lab. Clint had to take him back to his apartment and, Mr. billionaire, playboy, philanthropist slept on the couch."
Peter smiled slightly at the nickname, all of the Avengers, when referring to Tony, gave him the excessively long title 'billionaire, playboy, philanthropist'. Besides, he knew why Tony had been kicked out too.
"So," Al Collins' smile returned, "am I right in assuming that you, Ms. Romanov, and Tony Stark are currently dating?"
Natasha Romanov lifted an eyebrow.
"Yes?" Al Collins asked after considerably time had passed and she did not reply.
Tony Stark coughed deliberately into his hand.
Al Collins barely kept himself from rolling his eyes. "Yes," he said, his gritting his teeth as he smiled, "Mr. Stark?"
"I am dating a member of the Avengers," Tony said.
There were guffaws and laughs from the audience.
Al Collins smirked. "Yes, so the world inferred after you broke up with Ms. Potts so quickly after the Avengers Initiative."
"That was a different thing entirely," Tony Stark said.
"May I say," Al Collins gestured to Natasha and Tony. "The two of you make a beautiful couple. Can we expect to see more of you together in the future?"
Natasha grimaced.
"Mr. Collins." Tony adjusted his seat and leaned forward. "I am dating a member of the Avengers but it is not the Black Widow."
Al Collins blinked.
The girls in Peter's class squealed. Ms. Flip stared at the screen with her jaw open. "Ugh," Kong grumbled. Most of the boys in the class made similar exclamations of disgust.
"Are you..." Al Collins stared. "Coming out?"
Tony Stark laughed. "It's not like I've ever been anything different, nor do I feel the need to announce myself. I am merely mentioning that I am currently in a committed relationship."
"With whom?"
"All of the secrets in one day?"
The bell signaling the end of class rang.
"Damn, Collins, I thought you knew how to haul in ratings?"
"Well," Ms. Flips paused the interview.
"What!" Someone, one of the boys, protested, "It was just getting good."
"School is over. You can watch the rest of this interview at home."
.
PLEASE check my poll on my profile. Because I'm actually entertaining a non-typical idea for the pairing. (p.s., you can vote four times)