"And the end result is H2O2." Mr. Eldridge said as he finished writing the chemical reaction on the chalkboard. He was the only teacher that still insisted on using a tool from ancient times instead of switching to the less messy whiteboard. "Any questions?"
Betty raised her hand and Peter and Ned shared a knowing look. She always had a question.
"Yes Betty?" Mr. Eldridge asked. Even the teacher couldn't keep the slight exasperation out of his voice.
"So, when we're balancing the equation—"
"Peter Parker report to the office please. Peter Parker to the office." The overhead speaker interrupted.
"Dude, what'd you do?" Ned whispered.
Peter frowned. "Nothing. I don't think?"
"Peter." Mr. Eldridge prompted. "It appears you're needed in the office."
"Um, yes sir." He mumbled and hurriedly grabbed his things, trying to ignore the buzz of the class around him as they whispered about him.
"Way to go Penis." Flash hissed as he walked by.
Peter glared back. Apparently Happy's threat at the beginning of the year was starting to wear off.
"All right everyone settle down. Settle down." Mr. Eldridge said. "Now Betty, what was your question?"
The door closed behind Peter before he could hear whatever she'd been about to ask. That was one small blessing at least. He loved chemistry, but the class bored him to death since he'd known how to balance equations since early middle school. He tried not to complain too much, though, because at least it was an easy A.
Instead of walking straight to the office, he stopped by his locker and grabbed his backpack, stashing all his homework and books into it, before shouldering it and slamming his locker door shut. Chemistry was his last class of the day this semester and he had no plans to return for any more brain numbing torture after he was done with whatever this thing was.
He still had absolutely no idea why he was being called down to the office. Without meaning to, his mind drifted to the last time this had happened, when he'd been tricked by Ross's man into leaving with him and getting kidnapped. That definitely wasn't happening again. He didn't care if the president himself showed up and said he wanted to take him out of school. He was never leaving with someone he didn't absolutely trust again.
It only took him a couple minutes to finish walking the short distance to the office. Once he was outside the door, he pushed it open without hesitation, but the sight that greeted him made him stop up short in the doorway.
Tony stood there, dressed in a white AC/DC t-shirt and black pants along with a suit jacket and red tinted sunglasses. His dad's appearance at his school would be surprising enough, since only Morita knew of their relationship, but he wasn't alone. Steve stood next him in khakis and a polo, looking grave, along with a nervous appearing Bruce in his usual jeans and purple button up ensemble.
"Oh good, Peter you're here." The secretary said as soon as she noticed him. "I was just about to call for you again." She gave him a smile before addressing Tony, "He's been all signed out, so he's free to go."
Tony gave her a nod.
"Uh…what-what's going on? Is this something to do with the uh internship, um, Mr. Stark?" Peter stammered, catching himself from sounding too familiar at the last minute. He surreptitiously glanced at the receptionist, hoping she hadn't noticed, but it didn't seem like it. She was still staring at him with a weird, almost knowing, smile.
As his gaze swept back toward Tony, Peter noticed Principal Morita was there as well, standing in the doorway to his office with his arms crossed. Peter couldn't read his face, but he didn't seem too shocked to have three Avengers in his school. But then again, he had met Tony before.
"You don't need to do that, kid. The cat's out of the bag." Tony said and stepped forward to squeeze his shoulder.
"What? What cat?" Peter looked past his dad to Bruce and Steve for any clue as to what his dad was talking about and how he was supposed to play this, but they both remained silent.
"You haven't been on the internet recently? Or Tweeter? Or whatever it is your generation does these days?"
"It's Twitter." Peter automatically correctly. "And no. Mr. Eldridge has a really strict no phones policy in his classroom."
Tony nodded and took a breath as if to bolster himself for what he was about to say.
"Why? What happened?" Peter asked, suddenly envisioning worst case scenarios. "Did someone get hurt? Oh god, did someone—"
"No no. Nothing like that." Tony interrupted as he shook his head.
"Ok… Then what-why are you here?" Peter frowned.
"Listen." Tony took his sunglasses off with a sigh and looked him in the eyes. "There's no easy way to say this, but someone, somehow, and believe me I'm going to find out who, leaked your identity to the press. The news broke half an hour ago."
He froze and his eyes widened. The first thought that crossed his mind was that his dad was talking about his superhero identity, but after a second he realized that wasn't it. His dad was talking about his civilian identity. His identity as Tony Stark's son, which meant…the whole world knew who Peter Parker was now.
"Oh." He didn't even know what else to say. His thoughts raced but all he could do was blink up at his dad.
Luckily, Tony seemed to understand his mental state. "Sorry buddy. I know this is less than ideal."
"I just thought we'd have more time." He said softly.
"Me too." Tony nodded and let out a heavy sigh. "But we don't. So, what we have to do now is get you out of here and then we'll go from there. All right?"
Peter nodded.
"Ok. First, put these on." Tony handed him his red tinted sunglasses.
He took them with a frown. "Why?"
"Because." His dad said. "Trust me, they'll help."
Peter slid them on, confused.
"Ready?" Tony asked.
Peter nodded and heard Steve answer, "Ready."
He looked over and watched as Bruce gave his dad a nod too.
Oh. Peter realized Tony hadn't been talking only to him, but to Steve and Bruce as well.
"Ok, let's go." Tony said and headed for the door. Peter followed, Steve and Bruce right behind him.
"Thanks Jim." Tony called out over his shoulder as he pulled on the door handle.
"No problem Mr. Stark. Good luck." Principal Morita replied.
"I'm sure we'll be in touch." Tony said and stepped out. As soon as they were in the hallway, he wrapped an arm around Peter's shoulders. Peter could feel the pent up tension in his body. "I can't believe this place doesn't have a back exit." His dad mumbled under his breath as he led them down the hallway toward the front doors.
Peter frowned.
When they got about fifteen feet from the doors, his dad stopped and peeled off his suit jacket while Steve took a few steps in front of them and Bruce stayed behind. Before Peter could ask what was going on, Tony draped his jacket over Peter's head and shoulders, so Peter could still see out, but barely.
"Keep your head down until we get to the car." Tony ordered.
"What? Wait. Why? What's going on?" Peter finally asked, pulling the jacket off his head. None of this was making any sense to him.
Tony blinked and seemed to check himself with a small shake of his head. "I'm sorry kid. I figured you knew."
"Knew what?"
"Everyone knows who you are now." Tony said slowly as if Peter might not have understood it the first time.
"Yeah I know. You said that." Peter mumbled, still not quite getting it.
"Think about it. They know who you are, so how hard do you think it was for them to figure out where you go to school?" Tony explained slowly.
Peter's eyes widened as he finally realized what his dad was trying to tell him.
"It looks like the red carpet out there." Tony added with a wince.
"Oh." That was a lot to process.
"Yeah." Tony said with an aggrieved sigh. "You're a Stark now, kid. Sorry."
Peter didn't know what to say to that. He glanced back toward the doors and now he could see faint flashes of light through the frosted windows, probably cameras. He suddenly felt kind of sick.
Tony gripped his shoulders and looked him in the eye. "I'm going to get you through this, ok? Just stay close to me. It'll all be ok."
Peter swallowed, his mouth dry. Right now it sure didn't seem like it'd be ok.
"You ready?" His dad asked.
He nodded and tried to take a deep calming breath. He could do this. Spiderman did way harder things than this every day. It was just a stupid little crowd.
"Ok." Tony said and made eye contact with Steve and Bruce. Peter realized then the reason they were here. For his protection. Besides Wanda and Vision, who'd gone off to Europe sometime after New Year's, the Hulk and Captain America were two of the strongest Avengers.
Tony readjusted the suit jacket so it was over his head again and shielding his face as well as it could. Once his dad was satisfied with its position, he slung an arm around Peter's shoulders and pulled him tight to his side like he was trying to protect him.
"It's going to be loud, but just remember, keep your head down until we get to the car. Ok?"
"Ok." He whispered in response.
"Let's go." Tony said and they started walking, quickly closing the remaining distance to the doors. Peter could hear the cacophony of noise behind them now that he was listening for it. His dad was right. It was going to be loud.
They stopped at the doors and Steve touched his ear. "Sam? Clint? Rhodes? We all clear?"
Wow. Apparently more Avengers than just Bruce and Steve had come to get him.
"We're clear." Steve told Tony after a few seconds.
"Ok. Time to go. Straight to the car." Tony said and Peter's heart fluttered in trepidation.
"We're coming out." Steve said, pressing at the comm in his ear again.
Then he opened the door and they stepped out into absolute chaos.
Even with the sunglasses on and his face partially covered by his dad's suit jacket, he was still blinded by all the camera flashes. And everyone was screaming. Questions. Accusations. It was like an all out assault upon his senses. His head spun with it, along with the realization that this was all for him. They were here to take hispicture, not his dad's or the Avengers. His breath caught in his throat and it took all his concentration to keep putting one foot in front of the other as his dad led him straight towards the car.
"Step aside. Let us through." Steve said as they passed through the mob.
The distance to the car was only about thirty feet, but it felt like it took an eternity to cross it. Luckily, the crowd parted for them, but even so, Peter still got jostled.
"No comment." Tony kept saying over and over again in his cold media voice as everyone yelled questions and screamed for his attention. His dad clutched him tighter, obviously trying to shield him from it all.
Out of the corner of his eye Peter could see the hordes of news hounds lined up, hoping to get a piece of him. A good picture of him right now would probably be worth a pretty penny. No doubt that was the reason Tony had tried to keep him as covered up and as hidden as possible. The thought made his gut churn. This was worse than anything he'd imagined when he'd thought about what it'd be like to be outed as Tony's son. Was getting in and out of school going to be like this everyday?
Finally, they made it to the car. He heard Steve open the door and Tony ushered him in, Steve and Bruce following right behind. The door slammed shut with a definitive thud, and the commotion quieted slightly, but Peter could still hear it. Tony was quick to yank the jacket off his head, but he kept his arm wrapped around him.
"You good?" His dad asked, trying to peer down at him, but Peter was still pressed too tightly against his chest for him to really see.
He nodded. But it was a lie. He wasn't good. He was so far from good it wasn't even funny.
The car started moving, but at a glacial pace, with the horn honking every other second.
"Get out of the way asshole!" Happy yelled from the front and the horn blared again, a long three second squeal. Peter winced and glanced up. Happy was driving and Natasha sat in the passenger seat, twisted around to look back at them. When she caught him looking at her, she gave him a reassuring smile.
"Hey squirt, you ok?" She asked.
He just blinked at her.
"Peter?" His dad asked him with a nudge, trying to get him to sit up straighter so he could see his face.
"This is crazy." He blurted out without thinking.
"Yeah it is." His dad agreed and this time when he nudged him, Peter pulled away and sat up. "But you're all right now. They can't see through these windows."
They were in his dad's bulletproof Bentley with the deeply tinted windows. Outside there were people and more people as far as the eye could see. Peter recognized all the media crews with their official logos and huge cameras, but there were a lot of what looked like average people out there as well, holding up their phones in the hope of snapping a quick photo of him. The idea of some random stranger trying to take his picture seemed insane. He hadn't done anything special, that they knew about anyway. He was just Peter. What was wrong with these people? How did his dad live like this?
Peter turned entreating eyes on him and asked, barely above a whisper, "What are we going to do now?"
"I don't know yet buddy, but I promise we'll figure it out, ok?" Tony gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze.
He chewed on his lip and nodded. He wished he could pretend that his dad would be able to fix this like he fixed everything, and that everything would all go back to normal soon, but he knew that was a fantasy.
"Nothing's ever going to be the same again, is it?" He asked. He already knew the answer, but he needed to hear it spoken out loud.
"No." His dad said, his regret evident. "It's not."
Peter sighed and let his head fall back against the seat. As he closed his eyes, he tried to ignore the fact that his entire life had just irrevocably changed in the span of a single afternoon.
A/N: It finally happened! Peter's identity is out. Sorry this update took a little longer than I meant it to, but I got a little busy doing Febuwhump. Hope it was worth the wait!