"Peter, Boss is requesting your presence in his room." FRIDAY announced as Peter finished placing his empty cereal bowl in the dishwasher.

"Ok. I'll be right there." He hoped Tony was feeling better today. Bruce had said he was, but Peter needed to see it with his own eyes before that small thrum of anxiety inside his chest would truly dissipate. He'd witnessed his dad's headaches before, but they'd never been as severe as the one last night.

Also, a small, terribly selfish part of him wanted Tony to be back to normal so they could finally talk about yesterday. He was still locked out of everything, so he had no clue what was going on or what was being said. He hated the idea of the entire world knowing more about what was happening with the press coverage about him than he did.

When he got to Tony's door, he didn't bother knocking, knowing he was already expected. As he opened it and walked in, a weight lifted off his shoulders at the sight of his dad sitting up in bed, finishing breakfast.

"Hey! Just who I wanted to see." Tony smiled and patted the mattress next to him. "Come take a load off."

"How are you feeling?" Peter asked as he made his way over. Tony looked better than last night but still a little tired.

"Almost back to normal." Tony said before adding with uncharacteristic sheepishness, "I'm sorry about last night. That you had to see that. And that we didn't get a chance to talk like I promised."

"It's ok." Peter shrugged as he took a seat on the bed. "It's not like it was your fault."

"Still…"

"And to be honest, watching you get carried to bed by Captain America more than made up for it." Peter teased, trying to lighten the mood a little. He didn't want his dad to feel back about getting sick.

"Yeah, well, we're never going to mention that again, and actually, let's just pretend it didn't happen. Got it?" Tony said.

"That might be hard."

"And why is that?" Tony's eyes narrowed.

"I took pictures." Peter grinned.

"No you didn't."

"I did." And he had. After his dad's mandate, his phone had been useless for calling, texting, or the internet, but the camera had still worked.

"If you send those to anyone you're grounded for life." Tony threatened.

"You sure you don't want me to send you one?" Peter joked, taking out his phone and pulling up one of the photos. "It's kind of adorable." He held it out so his dad could see the picture of Steve walking down the Quinjet's ramp, holding Tony who was out cold in his arms and almost nuzzling into his chest.

"Oh god." Tony made a face like he'd smelled something terrible as he pushed the phone away. "My eyes. I never want to see that again. Delete it."

"No." Peter pocketed his phone. "Your ego can handle it."

Tony narrowed his eyes at him. "I'm serious. If I see those anywhere, especially as Clint's new screensaver, you're grounded for—"

"For life. Yeah, yeah, I got it." Peter interrupted with an eye roll.

"Besides, you don't want to get in an embarrassing picture war with me kid. I'm sure I've got some doozies of you."

"No you don't." Peter doubted it. "You never take pictures."

"I don't need to. FRIDAY does."

Oh yeah. Sometimes Peter forgot about that. Maybe he could believe it then. And Tony didn't look like he was lying. "Fine. The pictures stay in the vault."

"Good." Tony nodded and set aside his empty breakfast tray. "Now that that's settled, I think we need to talk about everything that's going on."

"Ok." Peter licked his lips nervously. He wanted to know what was going on, but at the same time, he was afraid of knowing. In a few seconds he knew the little 'everything was going to be ok' denial bubble he'd been living in would burst.

"Let's see. Where to start…" Tony rolled a couple fingers against his temple in a circular motion. The pinch of his brow looked a little pained and Peter worried the stress of telling him might trigger another migraine.

"Um, we don't have to talk about it now. If you're not feeling up to it yet. I can wait." Peter said, trying to remain outwardly nonchalant even though inside he was dying to know.

"No." Tony immediately dismissed the offer with a shake of his head and he dropped his hand from his face. "I'm fine. We can talk about it now. We should talk about it now."

"Ok."

Tony let out a heavy sigh before he started, "Ok, first off, let's start with how this all started. Sound good?"

Peter nodded.

"Right. So, your identity was leaked because someone somehow found the paperwork documenting your name change from Peter Parker to Peter Stark, and from there, they connected the dots."

Peter's eyes widened in shock. He never would've guessed that was how they'd found out. "So…this is my fault."

"No. No, that's not what I'm saying." Tony shook his head, but Peter continued without listening, "I'm so stupid. I should've thought of that. I never should've done it. I'm so sorry Tony."

"Peter, stop." Tony held up a hand. "It's not your fault. It's not. Trust me. If it hadn't been that, it would've been something else eventually."

Peter ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. "I guess."

"Anyway, after they found the name change paperwork, it was only a hop, skip, and a jump into digging up the adoption paperwork. So, I'm sorry, but there was really no way for me to deny it. We had to officially confirm that you're my son."

Peter nodded. He'd already figured.

"Ok," he mumbled, "so everyone knows."

"Yeah, I think it's safe to say everyone in the world who's not living under a rock, knows."

Peter winced. Even though he knew it was coming, it was still a lot to process. "Ok, so…what do we do now?"

Tony sniffed and rubbed at his nose for a moment before answering, "Well, there's not a lot we can do besides move forward, and learn to live with it as a new normal."

Peter swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry. The image of all those people waiting for him outside of his school flashed through his mind. A new normal.

Tony must've sensed his train of thought because he snaked an arm around his shoulders and pulled him close against his side. "I'm sorry kiddo. You have to believe me when I say I never wanted this for you. Being your dad? Yes, of course. But this? You having to live with the reality of everyone knowing? And what that means? Being treated like a Stark? I never wanted that."

"I know," he whispered, and it came out slightly watery even though he refused to let the tears come. Tony squeezed him tighter.

"And I promise I'm going to do everything in my power to help get you through this. You're not alone, ok?"

"I know." He did. He knew that. If there was one thing he could trust, it was that Tony would have his back.

They sat there for a few seconds before Peter broke the silence to ask the next logical question on his mind, "So what are our next steps from here?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, obviously we can't stay here, hiding out forever. So…what next?"

"Well," Tony cleared his throat, "I thought we'd stay here for awhile."

Peter narrowed his eyes at him. "How long is awhile?"

He watched as Tony tried not to fidget. "Honestly? I hadn't made up my mind on that part yet."

"Not more than a week."

"What?"

"I can't miss school for more than a week. I'll never catch up." He protested because suddenly he could see the possibility of Tony wanting to stay there. Maybe even forever if it meant keeping him safe.

"You and I both know that's not true." Tony raised an eyebrow at him, but Peter could tell he was just trying to deflect.

"Tony." He pulled away so he could turn and face his dad straight on. "I can't just stay here forever. I need my friends."

Tony waved a hand in dismissal. "Don't worry. Ted and the scary girl can come visit whenever they want."

Peter just stared at him.

"Ok fine. We'll make sure you get back to school in a reasonable time frame."

"Define reasonable."

Tony tapped his fingers over his chest as he considered it, a quirk Peter had noticed he did sometimes when he was thinking particularly hard about something.

"A week," Peter repeated sternly, anticipating that Tony might try to argue that the rest of the school year was a 'reasonable time frame'.

Tony sighed. "Buddy, you saw what it looked like outside your school yesterday. We have to let things cool off at least for a little bit before you go back."

"And we will. For a week." Peter insisted, but even as he did, he wasn't quite sure why, except a part of him just craved to return to some semblance of normality as soon as possible.

This time it was Tony's turn to stare.

"Come on. You know it's just going to make it harder the longer we wait anyway. " Peter added.

Tony pursed his lips and appeared to be really considering it this time.

"Come on dad. Please." Peter gave him the puppy eyes, and he knew that with that, coupled with the use of 'dad', he should have him.

Tony shook his head as he let out a long breath. "Fine. One week." He held a finger up. "But I don't think you really understand what you're asking for."

"I know. It's going to suck." He did know. At least in the abstract sense. He knew everyone would be staring at him and talking about him. He wouldn't be able to fly under the radar anymore like he had the entirety of his high school existence so far. But he still had Ned. And MJ. He wouldn't be completely alone. They'd stick by him.

Tony huffed out a laugh. "That's one way to put it."

Peter gave him a small smile. "Ok, so can I have my TV and phone privileges and everything else back now?"

"Yes, but before I forget, my team wants you to hold off on posting anything on social media for the time being until they get a chance to talk with you."

"Your team?"

"Yeah I-" Tony paused with a frown as if that very question was odd. "I have a team for this kind of stuff. You know that, right?"

"No, but I guess I do now." Peter shrugged.

"You—" Tony blinked at him. "Who did you think does all this stuff? Me?"

"No." Peter made a face. Of course not. "Pepper."

Tony laughed. "No. Definitely not. I don't think either of us would've survived that."

Peter grinned.

"Anyway, no posting." Tony repeated.

"That's fine. I never really post that much anyway." He didn't. But he also didn't love the idea of some strangers dictating what he could and couldn't do.

Tony nodded and a second later his brow furrowed. "Actually, now that we're on that topic, I just remembered they wanted me to pick out some pictures of you to release to the media. That might've been something I was supposed to do yesterday… Or was it? God, I can't even remember. I hate how fuzzy migraines make me." He touched his head as if that would help. "I guess I'll just have to do it today. Do you want to help?"

"Sure," he agreed easily. "Right now?" At least being involved in this one thing meant he had some control over something.

"In a minute. Before we do that, I think we should watch the press conference I gave yesterday. It'll help give you some framework as to what's going on. Then I promise you can have all your access to everything back."

"Ok." Peter agreed. Even though he was crazy curious about what everyone was saying about him online, he also wanted to know what his dad had said at the press conference.

"But I have one condition." Tony held up a finger.

"What?"

"You promise to come to me if you come across anything that bothers you."

Peter opened his mouth to protest, to argue that he wouldn't let whatever the idiots were saying online bother him. He was stronger than that.

But Tony continued before he had a chance to speak, "I know. I know. You're going to say it doesn't matter what they say because you don't care about what other people think."

Peter blinked. Sometimes Tony's ability to read his mind scared him.

"I don't care what people think." Peter echoed but it didn't come out quite as strong as he wanted it to.

"I know, but this is a whole different ballgame. It's not just some classmates. It's going to be the entire world. Commenting on everything you do. Criticizing you. Judging you. Watching you all the time. And not as Spiderman. As Peter Parker."

"Peter Stark," he corrected with a shy smile.

Tony's eyes warmed and he smiled back. "Right. As Peter Stark." Tony laid a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. "Trust me. It's going to be hard. Even the strongest people can get worn down when it's relentless. And it's going to be."

Peter chewed on his bottom lip. It did sound kind of bad when Tony explained it like that.

"I know you're good at the whole water off your back thing, but if you're struggling with it, or you just need to talk, I want you to come to me. That's all I ask, ok? Even if I can't do anything to fix it, if you're having a tough time with it, with any of it, I want to know. Does that sound fair?"

It did.

"Yeah, ok. I will." Peter agreed, somewhat scared now as he tried to envision the picture Tony had painted for his life moving forward.

"Alright then." Tony lifted the hand off his shoulder to give his hair a playful ruffle. "FRI, play the press conference I gave yesterday."

"Yes Boss."

The TV blinked on to the image of Tony walking out to a podium. It was always a little disconcerting to watch Tony on TV especially when the man himself was sitting right beside him.

As Peter settled in to watch, Tony slung an arm around him and tugged him closer to his side. The Tony on the screen opened his mouth to speak, "I have a statement."

Peter sat on his bed and flipped open his laptop, glancing over at his closed bedroom door. Even though Tony had given him permission to look, had restored his access to everything, he still felt like he was doing something illicit. Like Tony was going to burst in and snatch his computer away, which was ridiculous because when Peter had left him a few minutes ago he'd been snoring away, which Peter had chosen to take as evidence that he wasn't feeling back to normal yet instead of a testament to any lack in the quality of the newest Star Trek movie they'd been watching.

The computer booted up and he clicked on his internet browser icon. Then he did something he'd never done. He googled himself. Peter Stark. It was weird using his real name. Sure, he'd googled Spiderman countless times before, but never his civilian name. Nothing interesting would've come of it. That definitely wasn't true anymore.

The split second before the results came up, Peter thought maybe it wouldn't be so bad. But he was wrong. It was bad. So so bad. Every single news site had his story right at the top.

Tony Stark adopts orphaned teenager from Queens.

Meet the new heir to Stark Industries: Peter Stark.

From rags to riches, a modern day fairytale for Peter Stark.

Everything you need to know about Tony Stark's new son.

Teenage whiz kid adopted by Tony Stark.

Ironman's in a family way.

Peter Parker becomes Peter Stark.

Queens orphan luckiest kid alive?

Plagued by tragedy, orphaned teen rises from the ashes.

"Jeez," Peter muttered to himself as he scrolled through all of them. He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but it wasn't this. Tony had been right to warn him. Even if he wanted to, there was no way he could read all these articles. He clicked on the one at the end and skimmed it. By the end of it, his stomach was churning. The journalist had bared his entire life story for the world to read.

Now everyone would know about how his parents had died, and then his uncle and his aunt. It felt wrong that it read like a fascinating human interest piece instead of the worst events of his life. He clicked on another article. And then another. And another.

Most of them were reiterations of the same limited information. His basic life story, what was available to the public anyway, and how Tony had given him an internship and then adopted him when his last living family member had died. Some articles were pure conjecture on possible reasons why Tony had adopted him. Others guessed at what their relationship was like and what kind of dad Tony Stark would make. Quite a few were actually nice and painted Tony in a good light, while several others claimed Tony had no business adopting anyone, that because he was narcissist or a superhero or a Stark, that he would completely ruin Peter. Those were his least favorite articles. Or so he thought. Until he read one about how lucky he was that his entire family had died which had the cleared the way so he could be adopted by a billionaire. That article made him want to be sick and his blood boil simultaneously, a completely new sensation for him. And not a pleasant one.

A buzzing interrupted his thoughts and he looked up from his computer, dazed, as if surfacing for air. Almost two hours had passed since he'd opened his laptop. Wow. And he still didn't think he'd even put a dent in the information out there. The buzzing came again and Peter remembered he still hadn't taken his cellphone off silent from yesterday. He hadn't seen the point when Tony had turned it into a brick anyway as soon as he'd gotten home, but it was obviously working again because someone was calling him.

Peter hopped off his bed and grabbed his phone off the charging port on his desk. Ned's named flashed on the screen and he swiped his thumb to answer it.

"Hey."

"Peter! Holy shit dude. I've been calling and texting you all day." Ned said as a greeting.

"Sorry. Tony took away all my technology privileges yesterday and I just got them back a little while ago."

"Why? Are you in trouble?"

"No." Peter walked back over to his bed and flopped down on it, staring at the ceiling. "Nothing like that. He was just really busy yesterday and didn't want me on the internet and watching all the news by myself until we'd had a chance to talk."

"Oh. I guess that makes sense."

"Yeah."

"But still, this is crazy dude. You're famous! You're like an overnight celebrity!"

"That seems to be about the gist of it." Peter winced. He could tell Ned was excited, but he couldn't muster any similar kind of emotion. Mainly he just felt anxiety and a looming sense of dread.

"Do you know how many phone calls I've gotten today?" Ned asked.

"No. How many?"

"Like fifty! Somehow people found out we're best friends and they all want to interview me!"

"Oh." Peter frowned. He should've thought of that. "I'm sorry they're bothering you. Are you, uh, are you going to do it?"

"What? Are you insane? Of course not! I'd never betray you like that. No matter how much money they're offering me. I'm your guy in the chair." Ned said with utmost sincerity.

Peter blew out a breath in relief. Ned really was the best friend a guy could ask for. "I know. Wait. Did you say something about money?"

"Yeah, but don't worry about it dude." Ned tried to blow it off.

"They want to give you money? Just to talk about me? How much?"

There was uncomfortable silence over the phone and Peter knew his friend was squirming as he tried to decide what to say.

"Just tell me." He insisted.

"Not that much." Ned said, but it wasn't an answer. "Seriously, don't worry about it. They could offer me a million dollars and I wouldn't even blink."

Peter smiled. "I know. You're the best Ned."

"Just promise me you're still going to Comic-Con with me this summer."

"Oh man." Peter groaned. He'd almost forgotten about their earlier conversation about that. "I'm going to ruin Comic-Con for us. It's going to be so crazy if I go now."

"Don't worry. We'll figure it out. We can dress you up as someone with a helmet. Or I can be your bodyguard if you need me to be. I'll practice my imposing faces. Or just try to channel the look Happy always gives you. That'd probably work well enough." Ned joked.

Peter laughed, feeling lighter for the first time since he'd walked out his school doors yesterday. "You're probably right. Thanks man."

"Don't mention it."

Peter kept staring at the ceiling tile cracks as the conversation hit a comfortable lull.

"Hey, uh, do you want me to come over? I could bring some video games? Or a Lego set?" Ned offered.

"That'd be awesome, but I'm not in the city." Peter sighed. "Tony took me up to the compound yesterday. I think he thinks it's safer or something."

"Oh. That sucks man." Ned said and Peter could tell he meant it.

"Yeah."

"So when are you coming back?"

"I don't know. Hopefully in a week. We just talked about it this morning. Tony wants to give everything some time to die down before I go back."

"Ok." Ned let out his own. "I guess a week's not so bad."

Peter hummed.

"Um, and uh, how are you doing with all this?" Ned asked.

"I've been better." Peter answered honestly.

"I'm sorry."

"I mean it almost doesn't seem real, but at the same time it's like my life is imploding?" Peter said with a nervous laugh.

"Yeah…I know things might seem kind of not so great right now, but it's going to be ok."

"You really think so?"

"Yeah man." Ned said, turning more solemn. "I mean sure it sucks that everyone knows you're Peter Stark now, but at least they didn't find out you're 'you know who', right? And now you don't need to hide your relationship with Tony anymore so that's kind of nice in a way. And compared to everything else you've already been through, this probably doesn't even rank in the top five bad things to ever happen to you in your life. So, if you think of it that way, maybe it's not so bad?"

Peter let out an amused huff as he ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah or maybe it just says something about how shitty my life has been," he joked, but before Ned could respond, he added, "No, you're right. Things could be way worse. Things have been way worse."

"See? That's the spirit."

"Thanks man." Peter said.

"Hey, whatever I can do to help. I'm here for you."

"I know you are. And it means a lot. Really."

Someone knocked on his door. "Dinner time pipsqueak." Clint announced before walking away back toward the kitchen.

"Oh, hey, I got to go. Can I call you back later?" He asked, feeling bad that he couldn't give his best friend more time when he was being so great.

"Sure. I'll talk to you later."

"Ok. And seriously, thanks."

"You're welcome."

"Bye."

He hung up the phone with a sigh, more relieved than aggrieved now that he'd talked to Ned. His friend was right. It was all about perspective. He'd dealt with the death of his parents, his uncle, and most recently his aunt. He'd gotten bit by a radioactive spider and almost died, only to survive with new superpowers. He'd had a building dropped on him and survived a plane crash. He'd been kidnapped by the Secretary of State, gotten shot and almost died. Compared to all of that, this should be a walk in the park, but for some reason, he couldn't make himself completely believe it.

A/N: Ah! I can't believe it's been five months since my last update. So sorry! I hope some of you are still following along and enjoying it. Thanks so much for all the comments! They seriously brighten my day and help keep me motivated to keep chugging along at this in the little bits of free time I have.

For anyone interested, I'm also on tumblr as starryknight09.