Archive of Our Own ^beta

Peter has been looking forward to this field trip.  He's pretty sure his dad or Pepper set it up just for him.  He's not quite sure why, but he's positive that it's true.  Ever since coming to live with his dad and Pepper thirteen months ago, things have been way better than he ever could have expected.

He thinks it was just as big of a shock to his dad to find out he had a son, as it was to Peter to find out that the father his mom never spoke about was none other than Tony Stark.  His mom's death had been unexpected, and Peter had been certain he was going to end up in foster care, but he'd barely been there for two days when a lawyer had shown up and told him that his father was still alive and had just been informed about his existence.

Peter hadn't been sure what to expect then.  He'd always thought his dad was some run of the mill guy… a scientist maybe, since his mom had told him she'd met his father at a science conference in Switzerland.  That and the fact that Peter looked a bit like him was all the information she'd ever given him.

He certainly hadn't been expecting the lawyer to drop the bombshell that he's the son of Iron Man.

"Ex- excuse me?"  Peter had choked when the lawyer had given him Tony's name there in the temporary foster home he'd been placed in.  "I uh… I don't think- I don't think I heard you right."

"Tony Stark kid.  The Tony Stark.  Iron Man.  You heard me right."

"You're sure?"  And then, because he'd felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room and his heart was beating so wildly he wondered if he was having a heart attack, Peter had asked, "Are you sure it's not some guy named Bob?  Or- or Joe?"

The lawyer had only snorted and said, "He's been informed and I've been in contact with his lawyers.  I'm here to collect a DNA sample.  As soon as a positive paternity test comes back, he'll be by to get you.  Just hang tight until then."

Peter had had an entire three days to ruminate on that information, positive the entire time that the lawyer was wrong about the identity of his father, and nervous at the same time that he wasn't wrong at all.  Peter had expected to hear from the lawyer again, but the man never showed up.  Instead, exactly three days and seven hours after he'd seen the lawyer, Peter found Tony Stark standing in the little living room of the foster home in the small town in New Hampshire where he and his mom had been living for the last two years since moving out of New York.

Things had been a whirlwind in the weeks after that, moving back to the big city and getting to know his dad and his dad's fiancée Pepper Potts.  It had all been a big change for Peter, but looking back on it all now, he wouldn't change a thing, except for losing his mom.  He's never going to stop missing her soft smile or a dozen other things about her.

Peter grunts in pain as something hard slams into the back of his head, jarring him and sending his head forward as the bus rolls towards the tower.

"Hey you little shit, just because we're on a field trip doesn't mean I'm going to take it easy on you," comes Josh's voice from right behind him.  The whispered words send a shiver down Peter's spine as he reaches to the back of his head where Josh had smacked him.  Peter had taken an empty seat on the bus only after he'd seen where Josh was sitting, making sure not to sit near him.  Apparently he'd been distracted and hadn't noticed Josh moving seats.

"I expect an answer."

"I don't," Peter says.  Then he realizes that his answer doesn't make any sense.  He's flustered, just like he always is when Josh and Zach are around.  "I don't expect you to take it easy on me," he hurries to say, hoping it will be enough to make Josh sit back and stop harassing him for the rest of the bus ride.  Luckily they're almost to the tower.  He's pretty sure that despite Josh's assurances that he plans on making the day a living hell for him, that he'll leave him alone once he sees how tight security is.  It's one of the reasons Peter has been looking forward to this field trip so much.  He'll be in his own home, on his own turf.  Technically, as Spider Man, the entire city is his turf, especially Queens, where he'd spent five years living with his mom.  But he can't be Spider Man at school, or on the bus, or out in the open without his suit.  Right now he's just Peter, and as just Peter he's pretty scared of Josh and Zach.

Josh and Zach are both older than him.  They're both on the AcaDec team and both pissed that Peter managed to take Josh's spot on the main team, bumping Josh to backup.  To be fair, Peter can't help that he's smarter than both of them, and if he had known the trouble he would get himself into by joining Academic Decathlon, he would have chosen to join a different club instead.  Now he's stuck with Josh and Zach for at least another year until they both graduate.  Today will be the first day all year that Peter will hopefully not be bullied all day long.  Zach is out sick, and with tower security, he hopes Josh will ease up a little.

School has never been easy for Peter.  He's used to being bullied for being smart, but he had really hoped after his dad had gotten him into Midtown for the last month of his freshman year that school would be more enjoyable for him.  That one month of school hadn't been terrible, but then summer had rolled around, and then as soon as school had started up Peter had joined the AcaDec team and run face first into Josh's fist.  It's been nothing but bruises and name calling since then.

Peter's answer seems to have satisfied Josh, because he smirks and flops back against his own seat.  "You're nothing but a joke Parker.  You're such a wuss.  One smack and you turn into a cowering wimp."

Peter lets his eyes drift to the window and tries to ignore all the hair standing up on the back of his neck and arms at having Josh sitting in the seat right behind him.  Sometimes he wishes he could fine-tune his spidey sense.  Most of the time the threat they pose isn't enough to set his spidey sense off, which is why he'd had no warning that Josh had switched seats.  Then at other times, when he knows they're around, or even if he just knows they're in the same room during AcaDec practice, his spidey sense won't shut up and leave him alone, which leaves him feeling on edge sometimes until he gets all the way home and into the penthouse where he knows he's safe.  He hopes that today won't be one of those days.  In the seat in front of him, he can hear Flash's heart rate.  It picked up the moment that Josh smacked Peter's head and started to call him names.  Flash has a full seat of separation from Josh, but Peter doesn't blame him for being tense.  Flash gets bullied by Josh and Zach just as often as Peter does.

From what Peter understands, Flash didn't take either of their spots on the main AcaDec team.  He already had the spot when Josh and Zach joined.  But Flash and Peter are the only two sophomores on the main team, taking up spots that Josh and Zach feel belong to them as juniors.  That makes Flash just as big of a target.

It also makes Flash a jerk and a loud mouth.  Peter isn't sure why, but he'd heard other kids talking about it one day, about how Flash had been a little bit pompous before, but had turned into a total jerk since starting high school.  Peter thinks that maybe mouthing off is Flash's only defense.  He never talks back to Josh and Zach, he can't, so he does it to everybody else instead, particularly to Peter.

Peter doesn't mind much, because Flash is one of the only people that talks to him at school at all.  Peter has had a hard time making friends with Josh and Zach always bullying him.  With Flash in the same position as Peter, it's left them with just each other to sit with at lunch or at AcaDec tournaments or field trips like this one.  Flash never really lets Peter talk to him… it's not like that.  But they do sit together, and Flash mouths off, and Peter lets him.  Flash has never set Peter's spidey sense off with his words, not once, and he's never said anything so terrible that Peter can't forgive him.  Not even when Flash tells Peter he's a loser for liking Star Wars, or has no fashion sense because he wears dorky science pun t-shirts.

Flash's heart beats faster than normal for the last five minutes of the bus ride to Stark Industries.  Peter wants to lean forward and tell him to calm down, or to take a deep breath, but he doesn't think Flash will accept that from him, and he can't in any case because Josh is still sitting right behind him, just waiting for another chance to punish Peter.

When the bus pulls to a stop, the doors don't open right away.  Mr. Harrington stands up with a clipboard at the front of the bus and reminds them all about the NDA's they signed, Midtown's rules for student conduct during field trips, and other things that Peter tunes out.  He's excited to get inside and hopefully set his spidey sense at ease.

"Ok, everyone get out and wait on the sidewalk in a line.  Don't go inside or wander off."

Now that Mr. Harrington is done with his speech, everyone stands up.  As soon as Peter tries to stand, Josh's hand shoots out and pushes him back into his seat as he passes by.  He does the same thing to Flash, who grunts in surprise as he's shoved sideways into his seat.  Peter and Flash don't try to get up again until Josh is all the way off the bus, and instead they let everyone else behind them pass by.  Flash and Peter are the last to get off.

Mr. Harrington does a headcount, something he does obsessively when they're out on a field trip or at a competition, and then he leads them inside and into the tower lobby.  Peter's spidey sense doesn't settle when he gets inside, and he tries not to let himself feel too disappointed despite that he is.

"Everyone stay put and stay in line.  I'm going to go check us in at the front desk."  Mr. Harrington moves off, clipboard in hand, and Peter is grateful suddenly that he and Flash are at the back of the line and that Josh is up near the front.  The older boy doesn't even turn to look at them, instead taking time to look around the lobby.  He's excited like everyone else, and just like everyone else, has no idea that this field trip was most likely set up because of Peter.  No one at school knows that Peter is Tony's son.  It's not a secret, his dad and Pepper haven't tried to keep it to themselves, but Peter has yet to make a friend that he can tell or invite over to his house.

When Mr. Harrington comes back two minutes later, he has a Stark Industries employee with him.  Peter doesn't know her.  He's been to Pepper's office a few times, and his dad has taken him around to several labs, a couple of them on a regular basis, but there are over a thousand employees at SI, and Peter can't hope to know them all.

"Hello Midtown, my name is Thali and I'll be showing you around today.  I'm going to take you through the security checkpoint first.  Then our first stop will be to the ground floor security office to take a look at one of the many cutting edge security technologies we use here at Stark Industries to keep employees, trade secrets, and Stark Tech safe."

Peter has never gone through a security checkpoint before.  He and his family always use a private elevator in the private parking garage.  Peter knows he has security clearance to be just about anywhere in the tower, and a badge he's been berated by Happy for losing several times, and wonders if his class will somehow find out about that before the field trip can even start.  He almost wishes they would.

A little thrill of excitement goes through him when he realizes that a security guard is handing out badges to students at the front of the line.  He wonders if his will have his actual last name and clearance level on it.  When he gets to the front of the line, his badge looks just like everyone else's though.  Peter Parker, Guest.  He lets his shoulders fall.  It's ok, he thinks.  His dad probably thought that he didn't want to be outed on the field trip, or maybe Pepper just didn't want to deal with the PR headache his identity reveal might cause.  He pins the badge to his chest and falls back into line behind Flash.

Mr. Harrington is the last to get his badge and go through the security scanner, and as soon as he's through the checkpoint, their guide Thali starts talking again as she leads them off to a door right off of the lobby.

"There are several security offices throughout the tower.  While most of our security systems are located in a room only accessible by Mr. Stark himself, the security staff has access to those systems from the ground floor security office and an office in another undisclosed location."

She leads them down a long hall, and then into a room where two walls are full of monitors.  Most of these monitors show security feeds from outside the tower.  Peter notes that there are cameras high up, all the way up to the top floor.  He knows that the tower has been attacked before, and Pepper told him the story of how their house in Malibu had been attacked and destroyed, sent into the ocean.  From what he can see, and what he knows of his dad, his dad has all of the bases covered.  He thinks that the outside security cameras might be how his dad found out about his… extracurricular activities as Spider Man so quickly after coming to live with him.  He never could get a straight answer out of his dad about how he'd found out.  His dad had just told him, "I'm a genius kid, I know everything," when Peter had asked.

There are four security guards watching the monitors.  Thali asks one of them to explain what kinds of things they're on the lookout for, and one of the guards talks to them for five minutes about the cameras.

After that Thali leads them to a conference room in the security hallway where Happy is waiting for them.  Happy smirks at Peter when Peter's mouth falls open a little upon seeing him there, but the man doesn't otherwise acknowledge him.  Happy's face scans the crowd, lands on Flash, and then turns into a scowl.  Flash shrinks back a little, bumping right into Peter's shoulder, and Peter wonders what it is about Flash that has Happy looking like that.  It's over so quickly, Happy moving on to scanning the rest of the class with his eyes, that Peter wonders if he imagined the whole thing.

"My name is Harold Hogan, I'm the head of security here and have been for 18 years.  I'm going to give you a brief rundown of other security systems we have in place.  I won't be taking questions about the security systems as some things will have to remain vague."  He motions to the chairs around the conference table and says, "Have a seat.  Boss provided hot chocolate and donuts for your tour."

Betty Brant raises her hand, and Happy sighs.  "I just said no questions."

"I'm sorry sir, but I was just wondering, when you said your boss, do you mean Pepper Potts or Tony Stark?"

"In this case, Mr. Stark."

Happy catches Peter's eyes again, and there's a glimmer of amusement there, but again, the look is so brief that Peter barely catches it.  Peter pulls a donut out of one of the boxes on the table and grabs a Starbucks cup with a lid, already full of hot chocolate.  The rest of the class does the same, and then Happy starts to talk in a monotone about laser systems in place in certain parts of the building.  Peter tries to pay attention, but he already knows about most of the security systems around the tower.  Instead he grows bored after a few minutes and focuses on Happy's face.  The man is talking, not missing a beat, but his eyes are scanning the room, and they keep pausing on Flash, as though he's deemed Flash a security threat and is making it a point to keep an extra close eye on him.

Peter turns to look at Flash too, now sitting two seats away from him, but he can't see anything about Flash that might catch Happy's attention.  In fact, Flash has dressed up a little nicer than normal just for this trip.  He always wears expensive clothes… is always bragging about how rich his family is because his mom is a lawyer and his dad runs a bank in Manhattan, but today he's got on an even more expensive polo shirt and a pair of dark gray slacks.  His hair is combed and he's listening attentively, sipping his hot chocolate and looking like he's enjoying himself, especially since Josh is seated all the way across the room, right next to where Happy is standing.  Peter thinks he'll have to ask Happy later on after the field trip is over why he keeps looking at Flash like that.

Happy is done after fifteen minutes, and as promised, is not willing to call on the few students that raise their hands to answer questions.  Instead he just gives a look to their tour guide and she stands up and announces that their next stop is HR.

They're led back into the lobby and then to an elevator.  They go up five floors and Thali leads them into the HR department.  Peter suffers through a twenty minute presentation about hiring at SI, internships available to college students and the application process, and then through another ten minutes of his classmates asking questions.  This is even worse than listening to a presentation by Happy.  In fact, the entire thing is so boring, that his spidey sense settles, and Peter breathes in a sigh of relief from the back of the group as all the hairs on the back of his neck and arms lay down.  He's just thinking that maybe a trip to HR hadn't been so bad after all, when his dad's voice sounds quietly next to him.

"Hey kid, are we doing pizza and action movies tonight, or Chinese food and Disney?"  Peter startles a little and glances at his dad.  He'd spoken so quietly that none of his classmates in front of him even realize that the owner of the company is standing at the back of the group.

Peter grins at him.  "Couldn't stay away, could you?" he whispers.  Pepper had warned him the night before that Tony likes to meddle, and that Peter could probably expect a visit from him at some point during the field trip.  It makes sense now why his spidey sense settled.  It's not because of the boring question and answer session, it's because he'd sensed his dad in the room and hadn't even realized it.

Tony is holding his left wrist in his right hand.  "My company," he says evenly.  "I can go where I want."

Peter smiles even wider.  Tony is looking over the heads of the group of students in front of them, eyes scanning the crowd.  "Got any friends in the group?"

"Uh…" he doesn't have any friends at all, but he doesn't want to tell his dad that so he says, "Sure."

"Which one of these kids is Flash?"

"Flash?"  Peter forgets that he's trying to be quiet and says the word a little too loudly.  Luckily Flash is up near the front of the group and doesn't hear him, and everyone else in engaged in what the man from HR is telling them about.  Peter is certain that the employee has seen Tony standing there at the back, but is choosing not to call out his presence to the group of students.

"Yeah.  I hear you talk about him quite a bit."

Peter frowns.  "Oh… uh… he's up front I think."

Tony nods, eyes scanning the crowd.  Then he turns, pats Peter on the shoulder once, leaving his hand there for a moment.  "See you in a while buddy."

Peter watches as he disappears out the door and back into the hallway.  He never did get to tell his dad whether or not he wanted pizza or Chinese food.  He guesses he can tell him after school in the lab.  Usually he comes home from school, grabs a snack and then heads to the lab to work on various things with his dad.  They work on everything from Peter's web shooters, to projects for R and D, and sometimes, Tony's suits.  Working with his dad in the lab at all is exciting, but Peter's favorite days are days when the Iron Man suits need to be upgraded or maintained.  One of these days he's going to convince his dad to let him take one of the suits out for a test drive.  Then once his dad is convinced, he can work on convincing Pepper that it's a good idea.

Peter is unenthused to have had to sit in an HR office for 25 minutes.  He's even more unenthused to sit through a speech in PR.  He can't wait to start touring some of the labs, and feels like most of the AcaDec team, aside from perhaps Betty, feels the same way.  Nevertheless, they all sit still and quiet around a conference table in PR on the 17th floor as an employee named Peterson talks to them about their job and what they do for the company as part of the public relations team.

"So do you help put out public relations fires?" Betty asks.  Peter groans as he realizes that Betty is taking notes.

"That is something the PR department sometimes handles, but actually, my job is animating commercials for new products.  I just finished a big project I was assigned for the new commercial you'll be seeing soon for the new Stark Phone."  Peterson looks at their tour guide and says, "Thali, are they going to get a look at the new model of the Stark Phone today?"

"Yes, after lunch we're headed up to several R and D labs."

As soon as animation is mentioned, MJ starts to get interested in the conversation, and Peter notes that several other team members try hard not to roll their eyes and fail.  Flash is even twitching a little, anxious to leave, and Ned, one of the other sophomores on the team that Peter hasn't had much of a chance to talk to, looks like he wants to cry as MJ starts asking questions too.

Finally, finally, they're done in PR.  Peter thinks he's made a clean getaway, thinking they can't possibly visit any other departments he's not interested in, when Happy steps out of an elevator with a heavy box in his arms.  He locks eyes with Peter, which normally wouldn't be concerning, but there's a glint there in his eyes like he's up to something.  It's rather frightening to witness that look on Happy's face.

After their brief encounter earlier that morning, Peter expects Happy not to say anything to him at all as he stands in the back of the line of students, waiting for an elevator so they can visit a coding lab.  He's surprised then when Happy comes right to him with a heavy cardboard box full of binders and paperwork and says, "Take this kid.  I'm not getting paid enough to haul this around."  He doesn't give Peter a chance to ask what's in the box, and hands it to Peter, forcing him to take it.  The weight of the large box is no problem for Peter, who can lift a car, and who recently got grounded for stopping an out of control city bus with his bare hands.

His teammates turn one at a time to look at him.  Mr. Harrington turns too, wondering what's going on.

"Uh, Happy?" Peter asks.

"Take it down to the end of the hall to Joy in PR."

"Joy?  I don't know a Joy.  We just talked to Peterson."

"Fine, fine," Happy says.  He waves his hand like he wants Peter to hurry up and do as he's told.  It's clear that he's irritated.

"Excuse me, is there a problem sir?" Mr. Harrington asks.  It's only been an hour and a half since Happy talked to them, and they all remember that he's the head of tower security.  Peter knows this must look odd to his class.

"No problem, I just need Pete to take this back down the hall.  Should only take him a minute."  Happy turns back to Peter, nods his head down the hall, and Peter starts to walk off with the box, holding eye contact with Happy for long moments until he's passed him by.  The glint in his eyes is still there.  This whole thing just feels- off, to Peter.  He turns back just in time to see Happy moving to stand right in front of Flash. Flash is at the end of the line, trying to keep his distance from Josh, who has been sticking close to the tour guide at the front of the group.  Happy glares at Flash, though Flash doesn't seem to notice, because Flash is frowning at Peter as he walks back down the long hall with the box.

Peter turns around to face forward, and frowns himself.  What is going on here?  Happy had been glaring at Flash earlier.  Then his dad had come down to ask about dinner when he didn't seem to actually want an answer to his question, and then Happy had appeared again, sent Peter off, and then stayed himself to hover near Flash.  Peter has no clue what is happening.

He hurries back into PR, sets the box on a table, tells a random employee that the box is for 'Joy' since he can't spot Peterson, and then hurries back into the hall.  He's only been away from the group for sixty seconds, but he can tell that Flash is now acutely aware that Happy is standing way too close and is glaring down at him.  Flash's ears and neck are red, he's staring awkwardly at the floor, and Peter can hear his heart beating fast again.

As soon as Happy spots Peter, he steps away from Flash.  He strides quickly towards Peter, and Peter pauses for a moment before returning to the group.  Peter leans in and mutters, "I know what you two are doing."  He has no idea what Happy and his dad are doing, but thinks this might be a good way to find out.  His dad had used this exact trick on him in June.  Of course Tony had no clue at the time what Peter had been up to, but Peter had spilled the beans about it anyway.  That's how his dad found out that Peter was hiding a kitten in his bedroom closet while he came up with a plan to convince him and Pepper that he needed a pet.  His dad also found out about the chicken the same way.

"Do you?" Happy asks.  He gives Peter a rare smile, like he's proud of him.  "Good.  It's about time someone did something about this."

Peter's mind leaps into overdrive.  Something about this?  Something about what?  Do something about what?  ABOUT WHAT?

Happy smirks.  "You have no idea what's going on, do you?"

Peter looks up at him, cheeks tinging red.  Happy leans in, trying to be discreet because some of his classmates are still watching, and says, "That Flash kid is done.  Your dad isn't going to let him get away with hurting you anymore."

"What?" he chokes out in surprise.  It's the last thing he expected Happy to say.  "No no no, it's not what you think."  His dad's words from an hour before come back to him.  "I hear you talk about him quite a bit."  Peter might have accidentally given his dad the wrong impression about Flash.  It's true, Peter does mention Flash quite a bit, but not because he's bullying him.  Flash is just the only one that actually talks to Peter at school, even if he's just mouthing off.  Peter's dad has asked him before why he comes home covered in bruises… has threatened to go down to the school to complain to the principal about bullying, but Peter always begs him not to.  Peter doesn't tell his dad about Josh and Zach because he's Spider Man, and he should be able to handle a couple of high school bullies.  He doesn't need his dad to take care of the issue for him.  He can see how his dad might have jumped to conclusions though, especially since some of the things Peter has said about Flash are things like, "Flash says my science shirts are stupid.  I know he thinks some of them are funny though."

"We'll see," Happy says.  He doesn't give Peter a chance to say anything else to that, because he's already moving past Peter, right into the PR department where Peter had just dropped off the box.

Peter wants to shout, What does that mean?! but doesn't get the chance.  Happy is gone and the group has already moved into an elevator, Thali holding the door open for Peter so he doesn't get left behind.

As soon as Peter steps inside, the doors slide closed, and they start to move up through the tower again towards the coding lab they're supposed to visit.  An awkward silence falls over them until MJ says, "Tell us the truth Peter.  Are you an intern here?"

Peter wants to laugh.  "An intern?  No, they don't take high schoolers.  Why uh… why would you think that?"

MJ looks at him like she has x-ray vision and is trying to look right into the depths of his soul.  He squirms under her intense gaze.

"I know Happy is all.  He's a friend of the family."

That seems to satisfy MJ and Mr. Harrington.  Their tour guide keeps her mouth shut.  Peter is positive she must know who he is, if not because the staff at SI talk, then because his dad or Pepper probably sent a notice down to her that Peter would be part of the tour that day.

Peter is just starting to contemplate what he's going to do to make his dad and Happy believe that they're wrong about Flash when he's forced to stop.  Josh pokes Peter hard in the ribs from behind, and Peter tenses up, ribs already aching because the day before Josh had shoved him down and he'd fallen on top of his books as he rolled onto his back.  The hard jab certainly wouldn't have felt nice even if he hadn't already been bruised.

"What's really going on Parker?" Josh whispers.  The guy has always creeped Peter out, maybe just because Peter knows the guy gets some kind of perverse pleasure out of tormenting him and Flash, and potentially other students Peter doesn't know about.  "You're going to tell me later."  His tone holds a warning… a threat, and Peter is sure that he's going to go home at the end of the day covered in even more bruises.  They still have a bus ride back to Midtown to endure, and then a few minutes at school before the end of the day.

Peter can't wait to escape the elevator, and is one of the first ones out when the doors slide open on the 50th floor.  Flash is right behind him, also eager to get out of the small enclosed space with Josh.  Flash makes to move off with the group, but Peter grabs Flash's wrist, causing the other boy to flinch.  Peter winces, but doesn't let go as the other kids pass and form a line behind Thali and Mr. Harrington again and then start to move off down the hall.

Flash wrenches his wrist out of Peter's grasp.  "Let go Parker!" he says in a harsh whisper.

"I have to talk to you."

"Forget it!  Why the hell would I want to talk to you?"  Flash leaves him there and hurries forward.  He cuts in line between Ned and MJ, who are at the back of the line, making it so that he won't be at the very end with Peter.

They get through a lecture in the coding lab without incident.  They also make it through a five minute safety briefing about the labs they'll be entering later in the day, and then down to a staff cafeteria on the 48th floor for lunch.  Wherever Peter goes, Flash makes sure he's got people between him and Peter.  There's only 12 people on the team, and Peter feels bad because he can see that Flash is still trying to avoid Josh as well, making it difficult for Flash to maneuver himself away from both of them.

At lunch, Peter ends up sitting by himself.  Normally he sits by himself in a corner of the cafeteria and then Flash sits down a few seats from him at the same empty table.  Some days Flash rants at him about random things… everything from teachers to homework.  Today Flash sits down at the table with Mr. Harrington, so there's no way Peter can approach him to warn him of the impending danger that is potentially (quite probably) one hundred percent Peter's fault.  Peter has never seen his dad be violent (aside from beating up bad guys as Iron Man), and doesn't think he will be towards Flash, but his dad and Happy are definitely up to something, and Peter doesn't think it's going to be pretty.  As he eats his lunch, he imagines Happy picking Flash up and throwing him bodily out the front doors of SI and onto the sidewalk.  He imagines his dad stomping up to Flash in the Iron Man suit and making a scene in front of their entire class, calling Flash out as a bully when in reality he's not.  He even imagines, quite vividly, Pepper threatening to sue Flash for everything he's worth if he doesn't stop bullying Peter.

Peter hangs his head over his lunch and groans.  This is so not how he saw his day going.  At least his spidey sense isn't going haywire, even though he thinks it should be.

Peter tries to catch up with Flash at the end of lunch again, but can't.  Somehow Peter ends up in line right next to Josh, who just smirks at him and elbows him hard in the side, making Peter grunt in pain.

They visit a solar energy lab, followed by a lab focused on making intuitive prosthetic limbs that have integrated AI systems, and then one of the promised R and D labs that deals with the Stark Phone and Stark Tablet technology.  When they walk into the R and D lab, Peter spots his dad right away, leaning down over a circuit board.  This is one of the labs his dad frequently brings him to.  For the most part, his dad works on his own projects.  But the Stark Phone and Stark Tablet are two of the projects Pepper insists he work on for the company, so Tony is in this lab a few times a week, even if it's just to have a quick meeting with the R and D team.

Tony looks up when he hears the class coming into the large room, spots Peter, and motions for him to come over to him.  "Come here and help me with this for a minute Pete."

When Peter doesn't move right away, Tony makes a grabby motion with his hands.  "Come on, I need you to solder something real quick.  You're better at soldering the ultra fine wires than I am."

Peter steps out of the group.  He swears he can feel Josh grab for the back of his shirt, but he makes a quick step forward and his shirt slides right out of Josh's grasp.  His own heart rate picks up for just a moment at the quick escape he'd just made.  If he'd done that at school, Josh would have just stepped forward and slammed him face first into a locker or the ground.  Or if Zach had been on the field trip, Zach would have blocked his path so that Josh could smack him in the back of the head.

Thali (Peter is so grateful for Thali at this point, even though he's never met her until today) takes the class to the opposite end of the lab where an engineer named Lex is ready to show them the guts of the new Stark Phone and explain about improvements over the previous model.  He knows some of his teammates are still trying to get a glimpse of what he and Tony are doing, but he forces himself not to look up at them.  If his dad really does want him to solder something, he's not going to be able to keep his hands from shaking if he looks up and finds Josh making death threats with his eyes.

"Pizza," Peter says quietly, hurriedly picking up the hot soldering iron and looking at the circuit board, trying to figure out what it is his dad wants him to do.

"What?"

"You asked what I wanted for dinner.  Pizza."

Tony snorts.  "Yeah, ok."  He reaches up and puts his arm around Peter's back and rests his hand on Peter's opposite shoulder.  "Doing ok?  You're kind of pale."

Peter shifts nervously from foot to foot for a moment, trying to come up with something to say.  He still doesn't know how to fix this mess he's created, so he doesn't want to say anything about it to his dad just yet.  He doesn't think his dad will believe him if he just starts talking randomly about how Flash is a good guy and not a bully.  "Uh… I thought you didn't want anyone to know… about us."

Tony frowns, points at the wires he wants Peter to solder, and says, "What would make you think that?"

"I just had a regular guest badge waiting for me this morning."  He reaches up and messes with the white badge pinned to his chest for a moment to show his dad.

"Pete, no.  Buddy, I didn't make those badges.  Tours are all handled through the PR department.  You're not a secret.  I'm proud to call you my son and I wouldn't hide you.  If I wanted to hide you away, I wouldn't have you walking around the tower with me all the time, ok?  I wouldn't have called out to you just now and asked for your help."

"So…" Peter's brain is short circuiting a little.  He hadn't been expecting his dad to come out and say it all like that.  It's nice to hear.  Peter knows he's loved… can feel in his dad's and Pepper's every day actions that they love him and want him around, but it's still nice to have it all laid out like that for him sometimes.  Home is the only place he knows for sure that he is wanted.

"Yeah?" Tony asks, trying to prompt him to continue.

"Why did you come down a couple times today?"

His dad doesn't answer for a few moments and Peter sets to work soldering the two wires to the board.  "Aside from wanting to show you off a little, and show the jerks at school that you're my kid, there's other adult stuff going on behind the scenes that you don't need to worry about."

Peter wants to start rambling about Flash, but really isn't sure that's going to help, so he keeps his mouth shut.

"Ok."  He finishes soldering, shoulder to shoulder with his dad.

Tony ruffles his hair when he sets the soldering iron down, and says, "Ok, skedaddle.  I didn't mind pulling you out of this lecture because you helped me with all of the internals on the new Stark Phone, but I can't keep you too long or your teacher will start complaining."  He smiles at Peter, and Peter returns it.  Peter leaves him there and heads across the large lab to stand at the back of the tour group.  This time when he stands next to Flash, the other boy doesn't move away.

The lecture is only half over, because Peter was only away from the group for a few minutes, so Peter settles in to listen, or to pretend he's listening while he thinks over the issue he's caused for Flash again.  He wants to figure this out as soon as possible, but his dad's words about wanting to show him off and to be seen as his dad keep circling in his brain.  He's filled with warmth at the thought, and wishes yet again that he had a friend to show his dad and Pepper off to.

"What the hell Parker?" Flash whispers, not looking away from the front of the group where Lex is talking about the MEMs micro mirror inside the new Stark phone.

"Shhh," Peter whispers, voice harsh.  He motions with his hand for Flash to take his voice even lower, panicking a little because his dad is still in the lab somewhere behind him.

"Seriously?  You're shushing me?" Flash asks, like he's a little disgusted.

"I swear I'll tell you whatever you want to know if you just shut- up!"  Peter hurries through it as quietly as possible, emphasizing the last two words so that Flash knows he's serious.  He really can't explain it all to him right there.

Flash gives him a wary look, but then gives a single nod and tunes back into the presentation.

A few minutes later, they leave the lab, and Peter is relieved to find that his dad doesn't follow them out into the hall.  He thinks Thali is leading them up to a green energy lab, but his mind is buzzing with thoughts, and he hasn't been paying as much attention as he should be.

At the back of the line, Peter slows down so the group can get a little ahead of them once they make it to the floor with the wave lab.

"You said you'd-"

Peter cuts Flash off.  Flash isn't whispering, and at this point Peter doesn't know if Happy or his dad are lurking somewhere.

"Shh, keep your voice down.  If you value your life, you should keep your mouth shut today."

"Are you threatening me?" Flash pulls back and gives Peter a wary look, surprised, because everyone knows that Peter is usually a dorky cinnamon roll that would never boss anyone around or threaten someone.

"No, you and I are in this together."  Peter knows he's making no sense to the other boy, and hurries to explain in hushed tones.  "If you keep opening your mouth and pretending to harass me while we're here, it's going to go badly for the both of us."

"You're not making any sense."

"You're being watched, and I'd rather not have to watch you get thrown out of the building and threatened because my- because Mr.- uh… Stark… thinks that you're bullying me."

"Me bullying you?  What?  What the hell did you tell him?  Why would he think that and why would he even care?  How the hell do you even know someone like Tony St-"

Peter gives Flash a look like he's urging him to figure something out on his own… to read between the lines, and Flash's eyes widen after a moment.

"You're his secret son or something aren't you?"  Flash's mouth drops open, and then his shoulders fall.  "Damn it," he mutters, tone defeated, but also angry.  "Why the hell did you go and tell him that I'm the one bullying you?"

"I didn't!" Peter squeaks.  "Honestly it's all just a big misunderstanding!  I might have mentioned you mouthing off a couple times, and then he saw me coming home with bruises, and I've never mentioned Josh or Zach to him, so he thinks it's all you!  I just didn't realize it until this morning."

Flash panics for a moment, steps towards Peter and grabs the front of his shirt, holding the cloth in his fist tightly.  "You have to fix this Parker!  Right now!  I can't have freaking Iron Man after me!  Is that why the head of security has been eyeing me all day like he wants to dump me in a river somewhere?  Holy crap Parker, am I gonna get cement shoes today?  Am I?"  He's shaking Peter a little by the end of it, still gripping his shirt tightly.

"Fix this… fix this… right.  I can totally fix this," Peter rambles.  He reaches up and knocks Flash's hand away from his shirt, and Flash lets go.  He starts walking again, this time hurrying to catch up so they don't get left behind.  The group is already at the far end of the hall.  Peter has no idea how he's going to fix this.  He stares at the ground hard for long moments as they catch up with the group.  They move into a room with a large window that overlooks a wave pool, and an engineer Peter knows as Tasha but has never spoken to greets the group and starts talking about harnessing wave energy.  Peter ignores the lecture, missing out on the entire thing.  Flash stands beside him, breathing heavily like he's trying to hold off a panic attack.

Then an idea strikes Peter's fancy and he perks up and smiles at Flash.  "Why don't you come over after school?  I'll ask my dad and he'll just keep us both back after the field trip or something!"

"What?  No, that is a terrible idea!  I hate that idea Parker.  It's the worst."

Peter holds up both hands, trying to placate his panicked classmate.  "No no no no, you don't understand-"

"Let me get this straight," Flash interrupts in a harsh whisper.  "They have me under a microscope, and you want me to stay after so your-" he leans in and whispers, "dad," even quieter, "can interrogate me without Mr. Harrington present?"

"No, that won't happen, I promise."

Flash shoots him an unimpressed look.

"Ok, yeah," Peter says quickly, "you're right, I totally cannot promise that.  But look," Peter holds up both hands again, hoping Flash won't interrupt.  "If he thinks I want you to come over as a friend, and he sees us just hanging out… eating a snack and playing a video game or something, then he'll know he's got the wrong idea."

"Or he'll lock me in a secret lab in the basement and torture me for information all night!"

Peter laughs.  He doesn't mean to, but he laughs out loud, causing Mr. Harrington to shoot him a stern look and Tasha to stop lecturing.  Peter's face heats up and turns red, and he shoots the engineer and Mr. Harrington an apologetic look.  When she starts to lecture again, Peter turns back to Flash and says, "Secret dungeon?  Seriously?  He's not a super villain.  We don't have a secret dungeon!"

"That you know of," Flash counters in an insistent whisper.  "What the hell Parker?"  He growls and corrects himself, "Stark."

"I'm serious," Peter says.  "This could work.  He'll be confused, but it could set things straight.  You have got to stop mouthing off to me while we're here though, and don't grab my shirt again or he'll think he's right."

"Shit, shit," Flash whispers, starting to panic again.  "Aren't there cameras everywhere or something?  Your dad has that all knowing AI watching our every move!  It's probably seen this whole thing already!"

Peter shakes his head.  "FRIDAY knows what's going on, but she's not set to just record every single thing.  That'd be a huge breach in privacy!"

"Your dad is Tony Stark," Flash says.  "You really think he's not using his AI to spy on you while you're in the building?"

"Definitely not."  Peter wants to look up to the ceiling and ask FRIDAY for confirmation on that, just to put Flash at ease, but he can't, because FRIDAY won't whisper, and the entire room will hear her response.

"Tony- Stark," Flash reiterates.

"You're just going to have to trust me.  Come to my house after school.  We'll drive you home after."

"Your dad will have that huge security guard drive my body somewhere to dispose of it."

Peter laughs again but immediately jams his fist into his mouth to stifle it.  His dad and Happy have the wrong impression of Flash, and Flash seems to think his dad is an evil scientist, or that they're part of the mafia.  He remembers Flash's comment about cement shoes again, and being thrown into the river, and wonders how many bad mafia movies Flash has seen.  He keeps his fist jammed in his mouth because he can't stop himself from laughing.  He's shaking so hard from the effort to stay silent that he has to sink down a little and look at the ground, not wanting to be rude to the engineer up front again.

"I'm not trusting you," Flash mutters, giving Peter's shaking form a disgusted look.

Finally Peter pulls his fist out of his mouth and says, "You can stay, or ride the bus home with Josh.  I'm not going home after the field trip."  Peter hasn't cleared this with his dad at all, or with Pepper.  It's all a bluff.  It works though.

Flash deflates, and says, "If I die today, I'm haunting you," and then in a tired tone, "Holy hell.  This is not how I thought today was going to go."

"How did you think it was going to go?" Peter asks, genuinely curious.

Flash mumbles something about showing off and securing an internship, and Peter stuffs his fist back into his mouth to stop himself from laughing again.

* * *

Tony stares down at the text he just received from his son.  He's confused, and thinks he might be seeing things.  He and Happy had been up late the night before planning this entire day out.  Peter has caught them both spying on him and Flash a few times throughout the trip, but for every time Peter has caught them, there's been three or four other times that he hasn't been aware of their presence.

Tony can't stand the thought of his sweet, cuddly, kind, intelligent son going to school every day and getting bullied.  Tony wouldn't put up with verbal abuse against his son, but thinks that if it were just that, he would let Peter handle it on his own.  It's not just verbal bullying though.  The verbal bullying is the stuff that Peter has mentioned about this Flash kid, but Tony, Happy and Pepper have all seen the bruises Peter comes home from school with.

At first Tony thought that maybe Peter had been sneaking out of school to go out as Spider Man, but in the last few months he's been making Peter leave his spider suit at home when he goes to school, so he knows it's not that.  Three times now Peter has come home with a black eye.  Other times he's come home with bruises on his arms.

Peter had begged Tony and Pepper not to go to the school with their concerns, but Tony had gone anyway.  He's also called the principal several times.  The best assurances the school has been able to give him is that they'll keep an eye out for any bullying.  Every time Tony calls or goes into the office, he's reminded by principal Morita that if Peter doesn't report the bullying, and they don't know who is doing the bullying, that there's nothing they can do about it.

They might not be able to do anything about it, but Tony certainly can.  Tony can't just hang out on school property waiting to catch Flash in action bullying his son.  But he can do that at SI, on his home turf where he controls things.  The field trip had actually been Happy's idea.  As much as Tony likes to plan ahead (his backup plans have backup plans, and they have grandbaby backup plans), he knows that Happy is just as much of a schemer as he is.  This field trip proves it.

Their plan is simple: observe and catch Flash in the act of bullying Peter, and then threaten him (in a friendly, perfectly legal sort of way) into leaving Peter alone.

The problem is, they haven't caught Flash bullying Peter yet.

Now the field trip is almost over and Tony is staring at Peter's confusing text message, asking if Flash can come home with him after school, and if Tony can get them both out of going back to Midtown on the bus.  'Is it ok for Flash to come hang out after school?  That's totally cool, right?  We could even just stay after the field trip.'

He scrutinizes Peter's text.  It's rambling, and feels off, like his son is nervous.  He wonders if Flash has somehow blackmailed him into inviting him up to the penthouse.  This kid must have found out that Tony is Peter's dad, if not from Peter himself than from Tony's own interactions with Peter that day.

His first inclination is to say, 'Absolutely not,' but he thinks about it for several minutes before shooting off a reply to Peter.  This presents a golden opportunity for him to catch Flash in the act.  There's no way he'll leave Peter and Flash alone in the penthouse together.  He's positive that Flash will mess up, even if he thinks an adult is present.  Someone who sends Peter home covered in that many bruises can't act polite and respectful for very long, it's just not possible.

'Sure, it's cool.  I'll call the school.  Have Flash's parents call the school to give the ok for him to stay.'

He waits for a reply, but one doesn't come back to him.  He looks at the clock on his phone and realizes that they're probably wrapping up their tour with a big question and answer session and that Peter might not be able to pull out his phone at the moment.  Instead he texts Happy.  It's Happy's turn to watch and wait.

'Anything?'

'Nothing.  Him and the kid have been whispering together for the last forty minutes.  Their teacher has told them both to pay attention a couple times and gotten onto them both for being rude.'

Tony feels like there's a lecture somewhere in the text meant just for him.  Like father, like son, he thinks.  Happy had warned him earlier in the day that Peter was on to them.  Tony wonders what exactly Peter is up to, inviting Flash up to the penthouse like this.

"What are you up to kid?  I feel like you might be scheming just as hard as we are."

No one answers, because Tony is sitting in his lab alone.  He pulls up the number for Midtown and dials so he can set his next plan into motion.

* * *

"This isn't going to work," Flash mutters to Peter.  The tour is over and they're standing in the lobby, waiting to hand their badges back to security and waiting for the bus to pull around out front.

"It won't if you jinx us."

Flash drags a hand down his face.

"Come on, you texted your parents right?  They said yes?  They called the school?" Peter asks.

"They called the school.  They told them I was going home with you."

Peter grins.  He can't help it.  He's nervous that his plan won't work, but excited that Flash is coming over after school.  He's never had anyone to show his room to, and now Flash knows that he's actually Peter Stark.  He and Flash aren't friends, they're just in this weird situation together that Peter has inadvertently caused.  He still feels excited to have Flash coming over though.

"Are you sure your parents called the school?" Peter leans over and whispers again, but he's cut off when Mr. Harrington comes over to them.

"Peter, Flash, I just got a call from the office at school.  Apparently both of your parents called in and asked that you be allowed to leave straight from here and not to return to school."  He turns to Peter and asks, "Your father will be picking both you and Flash up?"

"Oh uh, yes sir.  Yeah, yup.  My dad said he'd come get us.  We're going to my house."  Peter can't help but ramble.  Even Pepper says he has a terrible poker face because he rambles when he's up to something, though whenever she points it out, it's always with a soft smile, like she thinks it's something to be proud of.  So Peter keeps rambling, because he doesn't know when to shut up sometimes, and often ends up talking himself into a corner.  "Video games," he says, and it's so out of context that he knows he has to fix it, but it just makes the rambling worse.  "We're gonna go play video games, and uh, eat pizza.  Yeah, pizza and video games."

Mr. Harrington holds up a hand to stop Peter from talking, and Peter gratefully snaps his mouth shut.  The teacher eyes Peter, and then Flash.  Peter thinks that Mr. Harrington knows they're up to something, or that he might be annoyed with them.  They'd both been chastised for being rude and talking through the last three lectures of the day.  Even Thali had looked exasperated with Peter by the end of the tour.  But instead of frowning at them, Mr. Harrington gives a soft smile.  "I'm glad you two get to go do something fun."

Flash gives their teacher a confused look, but Mr. Harrington doesn't give him a chance to think over what was just said.  "We'll wait for your dad to come, Peter.  I can't leave you two here without releasing you to him."

They don't have to wait long.  Just as the school bus pulls up out front, an elevator door opens in the lobby and Tony steps out.  He strides straight over to the group, puts a hand on Peter's shoulder, and then turns to the teacher.  "Are you Mr. Harrington?"

Despite having seen Tony briefly in the R and D lab an hour and a half before, Mr. Harrington can't seem to bring himself to say anything right away.  He's surprised to see him there, and it isn't registering for him yet that this is Peter's dad.

"Mr. Stark!"  His exclamation draws the attention of the rest of the team, who have been talking amongst themselves and waiting patiently to go out to the bus.  With all eyes now on them, Mr. Harrington stumbles over his words, sounding just like Peter had a few minutes before.  "What can I- uh, what can I do for you sir?"

"Just here to collect my son and his friend.  The school said they'd notify you that I'm taking them out of school an hour early."

Mr. Harrington frowns, and then finally his eyes travel to Tony's hand which is still on Peter's shoulder.  Tony smirks, and Peter can almost see the gears turning in Mr. Harrington's brain as he realizes that there's no real reason for their team to have been invited to take a tour of SI, and that Tony and Happy had both known and been familiar with Peter earlier in the day.

"Of- of course,"  Mr. Harrington stammers.

"Nice to meet you, Teach," Tony says.  He doesn't offer his hand to shake, and guides Peter past the man and out of the group, hand still on Peter's shoulder.  Flash trails behind, looking like a man being led to the gallows.

The eyes of the AcaDec team are on their backs as Tony, Peter, and Flash head to an elevator.  None of them speak until the trio gets into an elevator and the doors slide closed.

"There's no way," Josh says, stunned.  "No way that kid is-"

"It was Flash right?" Seth asks.  "Flash is Tony Stark's son?"

"He had his hand on Peter's shoulder," MJ points out, turning towards the entrance and wall of windows.  She sounds uninterested.  "And it was Peter that Stark called over to help him on a project in the R and D lab."

Mr. Harrington gathers himself enough to say, "All right, let's not spread rumors.  We need to get on the bus if we're going to get back to school before school is out.  Everyone form a line."

Josh's eyes narrow at the closed elevator door that Peter and Flash had disappeared into.  If Parker thinks he's going to get away from Josh and Zach just because of who his dad is, he has another thing coming.  That kid is nothing special, and being rich doesn't change that.  Having a super hero as his dad doesn't change that.  Josh isn't going to let him forget it.

* * *

"How was the tour?" Tony asks.  His arm is around Peter's shoulders.  He's ignoring Flash entirely.  The kid has himself pressed into the far corner of the elevator, as far away from Tony as he can get.  Tony thinks Flash knows that he's in big trouble for bullying Peter, and can't understand why Flash would agree to come up to the penthouse under those circumstances.

"Oh, it was good," Peter says.

"Interesting?"

Peter shrugs his shoulders.

"Learn lots of good information?" Tony presses.

"Uh…" Peter looks up at his dad and gives him a guilty smile.

"Yeah, Happy told me you got in trouble for talking a few times."

"Sorry."

Tony lifts his arm off of Peter's shoulders and then ruffles Peter's hair.  "Can't be rude to the employees kiddo.  You know Pep is going to make you apologize to everyone you were rude to."

Peter huffs out a laugh.  Tony often phrases things like that if Peter is in trouble.  Pepper has never once chastized him or punished him.  His dad doesn't chastize him either, but occasionally Peter manages to get himself grounded, especially if he ignores the rules his dad has set out for going out as Spider Man.  He always makes it sound like it's Pepper's rules they're following though.

"I'll apologize," Peter says earnestly.

Tony runs his hand through Peter's hair again.  When Peter had first moved in with his dad and Pepper just over a year ago, his dad had been nice to him, but not physically affectionate.  Peter had been used to cuddling with his mom on the couch though and watching movies, and getting hugs before and after school and before bed.  It hadn't taken Peter long to wear his dad down.  Now his dad seems to enjoy sitting together on the couch, ruffling Peter's hair, and giving hugs as much as Peter does.  Pepper thinks it's cute, and whenever uncle Rhodey comes over, he acts like it's some sort of magic that Peter has woven over his dad.

It's a three minute ride in the elevator up through the tower.  Tony doesn't say a word to Flash through any of it, and Flash keeps to himself in the corner.  Once the elevator doors open, Tony makes it a point to tell Peter that he'll be in the penthouse for the rest of the day.

"So you're uh… staying?" Peter asks.

"Yeah, problem?"

"No, no no.  That's cool.  Yeah, perfectly fine."

"Good.  You guys have big plans?"

"Plans?  No, no plans."  Peter hates that he rambles when he's nervous or trying to hide something.  He slams his mouth shut, turns and finds that Flash is standing frozen just outside the elevator, grabs his wrist and starts tugging him towards his bedroom, which is just beside the kitchen.  "C'mon, I'll show you my Playstation."

They disappear into the bedroom and Peter shuts his bedroom door.  Tony narrows his eyes, and then says, "FRI?"

"Yes Boss."

"Keep an eye on Peter and Flash.  If Flash says or does anything even remotely threatening… blackmail, cursing, any of it, I want to know right away."

"I should inform you that Peter just made a request that I do not monitor his room."

"Yeah, not gonna happen."

"Understood."

Tony stares at Peter's closed bedroom door.  He wants to walk over there and open it… make a new rule right now that when Peter has friends over (or bullies) that the door has to stay open.  Pepper has been reminding him frequently though that he can't be a helicopter dad.  She and Rhodey both think he likes to hover over Peter and is overprotective.  Rhodey thinks it's hilarious to see Tony in 'full dad mode.'

He sighs, runs a hand down his face, and sits down at the kitchen island with his phone.  He's just going to have to wait until FRIDAY catches Flash bullying Peter.  Then he'll step in.  He doesn't want Peter to feel like he has no freedom.  When Tony had felt like he'd had no freedom as a teenager, he'd rebelled hard, going to parties, drinking, doing drugs, and doing anything at all he could to piss Howard off.  He doesn't want that kind of relationship with Peter, and has been doing his best since meeting his son to do everything the opposite of how Howard would have done it.

Tony never thought he would have a kid… never wanted a child to be responsible for because he was afraid he would turn out to be just like Howard, and no child deserves to be treated like that… to grow up feeling completely alone and unwanted.

Then Peter had come into his life and everything had changed.  Tony can't imagine life without Peter by his side now… is sad sometimes that he missed out on the first fourteen years of Peter's life because Mary had never told him that they'd had a son together.  His only consolation is that Peter is here now, and that he's amazing.  Tony might be a helicopter dad, just a little bit, but it's only because he doesn't want his son getting hurt.  Not by anybody, and especially not by this Flash kid.

* * *

As soon as they're in Peter's room and the bedroom door is closed, Flash plops down on the end of Peter's bed, leans forward and puts his face in his hands.  "I'm totally screwed, aren't I?"

Peter stares at his closed bedroom door for long moments.  He's listening to his dad talking to FRIDAY on the other side.  He's already told FRIDAY to override Peter's request for privacy.  He doesn't know if telling Flash that will help matters or not.  Flash had been right when he'd told Peter that his dad was probably using his AI to spy, though Peter thinks this is the first time his dad has spied on him with it.

He turns and crosses the room to grab both of his Playstation controllers, and then brings one to Flash.  He holds it out and when Flash doesn't see it, hands still over his face, Peter nudges him with the controller.  Flash lets his hands drop and stares down at it.  "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Video games," Peter reminds him.

"Your dad wants to kill me, and you want to play video games?"

"This was the plan, remember?"

"Ugh," Flash groans, frustrated, and snatches the controller from him.  Peter sits down on the floor at the foot of the bed, legs crossed, and uses the controller to turn on the PS5.  Almost as soon as his dad had got him home for the first time, he'd bought Peter the Playstation and a dozen games.  He said he had fourteen years worth of missed birthdays to make up for.  Since then, he and Peter have pulled the game system and the controllers apart almost a dozen times to modify them.  One of the controllers is in Spider Man colors, and one is red and gold.

As soon as Peter turns on a racing game, he turns and spots Flash admiring the red and gold controller Peter had handed him.

"This isn't a regular controller."

"Nope.  We rebuilt it."

"You know how to do that?"

"Sure.  It's one of the first projects we did together.  You can get most of the parts online to do it."  Peter shrugs, then points up at the game.

They both choose a race car and start playing.  Peter wins the first race, but he's not sure that Flash is even trying.  After Peter wins a second race, and then a third, Flash grunts in frustration and starts putting effort into winning.  They lose themselves in the game for almost an hour before Peter's stomach grumbles, unhappy that he hasn't eaten since lunch.

Peter pauses the game, sets his controller down by his feet, and stands up.

"Where are you going?" Flash complains.  "I was about to win."

Peter stretches slowly, careful of his still bruised ribs and torso, and says, "I'm hungry.  We should go out and get a snack and let my dad see that you're harmless."

"That's insulting," Flash says with a sneer.

Peter laughs.  "Come on."

"I'm not harmless."

Peter doesn't respond as he opens his bedroom door and they exit out into the kitchen.  His dad is sitting, predictably, right there at the kitchen island, eyes on both of them as they emerge.

"Flash can stay for dinner, right?" Peter asks.  "Pizza?"

"Sure buddy, whatever you want."  Tony says it to Peter, but his eyes are glued to Flash, who is trying hard to look anywhere but in Tony's direction.

Peter opens the fridge, pulls out two sodas, and then he gets into the snack cupboard and comes out with an armload of snacks.  He has chips, a box of Pop Tarts, and a package of cookies.  Flash is dismayed when Peter dumps his armload of snacks onto the kitchen island instead of taking them back to his room.  He pushes a soda towards Flash, who has yet to approach the kitchen island since that's where Tony is sitting, and then pushes the box of cookies and cream Pop Tarts towards him too.

"Here, you like this kind right?" Peter says, turning to Flash and trying to prompt him with his eyes to come forward.

Flash gives a nod and steps up to the kitchen island.  Peter notes that he's standing close to him, as though that will offer him some protection from Tony.

"What about you?  What did you think of the tour?" Tony asks Flash.

Panic crosses Flash's face for a moment, but he finds his voice quickly.  "It was good sir.  I appreciate the opportunity I was given to see the labs."

"Which lab was your favorite?"

"The R and D lab with the Stark Phone."  The answers roll off of Flash's tongue easily, but Peter can hear that his heart rate is fast, and can practically feel the tense energy vibrating off of him.

Peter is fascinated by the way Tony is asking Flash rapid fire questions.  He moves on to asking Flash detailed questions about the phone internals they were given a presentation about, and then switches quickly to asking Flash about other things he'd seen on the tour.  Tony's eyes bore into Flash the entire time.  Flash doesn't meet Tony's eyes, but he answers quickly and efficiently like he's used to this kind of grilling.  Tony's voice is so different than what Peter is used to hearing.  He's never heard his dad talk to anyone like this before.

Even when Tony is grilling Peter about something he knows Peter has done wrong (or trying to get Peter to admit that he was Spider Man without letting on that he already knew that Peter was Spider Man), Tony had done so in a joking, round about way.  But this interrogation is brutal, and Peter doesn't know how much more of it that Flash can take.

He scoops up an armful of snacks again, grabs Flash's shirt sleeve up by his shoulder, and drags him back towards his room.

"Sorry dad, video games."

Peter shuts his bedroom door again and says, "Sorry.  I swear he's not usually like that.  I've never seen him do that before."

"I have to get out of here."

"He's not going to do anything."

"Parker-" he groans.  "Stark… ugh, Peter, this is messed up.  I am royally screwed.  I'm on his radar now.  Seriously, how the hell did this even happen?"

Peter drops his armful of snacks on the bed and moves to sit on the floor by his controller again.

"You're the only one that ever talks to me at school."  Peter grimaces as he realizes what he just said and how lame it sounds.  The best he can do his hurry forward and hope Flash forgets what he said.  "So sometimes I mention you, or things you said.  I think he took what I said the wrong way.  Like… the time you said I was a dork or something for liking Star Wars.  He knows I'm getting hurt at school, but I haven't told him who, and I told him it was fine and that it was no big deal.  But like, you're the only one I ever mention at school, so I think he thinks that you're the one beating me up."

Flash groans again.  "If I thought I could take someone in a fight, I would go after Josh and Zach, not you."

"I know."

Peter watches as Flash sits back on the foot of Peter's bed, and then rolls his left shoulder back.  "Those guys are assholes.  Monday I thought Zach broke my collar bone."

"Did he?"

"No, just hurts.  It's black and blue."  Flash gives Peter a hard look and says, "My parents have been asking too, but I didn't go and tell them that you were beating me up!"

"Sorry.  I'm really sorry.  I never told him that, I promise.  And I tried to tell Happy today that it wasn't what he thought, that it was a misunderstanding, but he didn't believe me."

"I don't know who is scarier, your dad or your bodyguard."

"Neither one.  They're both friendly, I promise.  Happy is just grumpy, but it's like a fake grumpy.  He just likes to complain a lot."

"I'll keep that in mind when he throws me in the trunk of his car to drive out to the woods somewhere."

"You know we're not part of the mafia right?" Peter says with a laugh.

Flash doesn't answer.  He rolls his shoulder a couple more times, grimaces, and then says, "Your plan isn't working, and I'm definitely not letting your grumpy bodyguard drive me home.  I'll call my dad to come get me."

"Wait til' we have pizza at least.  Pepper will be home at five.  We usually eat at five thirty."

"Why do you call her that?  Isn't she your mom?"

Peter bites his lip.  He loves Pepper.  He's grown as close to Pepper as he has to his dad in the year since he arrived.  In truth, he thinks of Pepper as a mom, but he still misses his own mom, and isn't sure how he feels about that.  He's also not sure how Pepper would feel if he called her mom, so he hasn't.  He wishes his mom were still alive so he could ask her if she would be ok with that… with him being happy where he's at with his dad and Pepper… with him thinking of Pepper like a mom, even though she's not technically Peter's.  Even aunt May and uncle Ben are gone… they'd died right before Peter and his mom had decided to move out of New York.  He misses them just as much, and wishes he could ask any of them what they think about all of this.  Since he can't, he's been trying to focus on just being happy where he's at, and hoping that they would be ok with this.

Peter shakes his head.  Then he changes his mind and nods.  He sighs and says, "I mean, she is, kind of.  She's my step mom.  My mom died a month before the end of freshman year and I came to live here."

Flash stares at him, open mouthed.  It doesn't matter if Flash is angry, or upset, or even if he's just been beat up by Josh or Zach, he always has something to say.  Even in the face of Tony's mini interrogation a few minutes before, Flash had kept himself composed enough to answer.  Now he appears to be lost for words.

When Flash finally speaks, he says, "You're kind of pathetic aren't you?"  It's in the normal tone Flash talks to Peter in on a daily basis.  It's his, 'You're the only one I have to talk to, so I'm going to be a loud mouth to you about anything and everything, and you're a dork just like me' tone.  Peter doesn't mind.

He smirks, nods, and says, "Yeah, just as pathetic as you are.  Guess we'll have to be pathetic together."

"That makes it even worse," Flash groans.  He opens his mouth to say something else, but Peter's bedroom door opens quickly, and Tony steps in, looking angry.  Peter has never seen him angry before, not like this.  He'd been upset when Peter had split the ferry in half over the summer, but this is something on another level.

"You, up," he says, voice hard, pointing at Flash.  Flash doesn't question him and obeys immediately.

"Whoa, dad, wait-"

"No Pete, I'm done.  I'm not going to let him sit in here and bully you and call you pathetic for losing your mother.  I've had enough.  The school isn't willing to do anything about the bullying, so I will."

Flash squeaks in fear, and Peter hurries to put himself between Flash and his dad.  "No, it's not what you think, I promise.  Flash isn't a bully!"

"He's been hitting you at school Pete!" Tony says.  He's so upset that his voice remains raised, even when talking to Peter.  "I can't have that!  I never should have let it go on this long!"

Peter holds his hands up, and when his dad tries to step around him, Peter shifts his position.  "He's not!  It's not him!  He gets bullied too!"  He notes that as he moves, continuing to put himself between his dad and Flash, that Flash moves too, staying behind him.

"Peter, move.  I'm not going to hurt him, but he and I are going to have a little chat."

Peter panics.  He knows his dad would never hurt anyone, aside from the really bad guys like he sometimes has to do when out fighting as Iron Man.  But all of Flash's crazy ideas about him ending up in the bottom of the river wearing cement shoes are now flitting through Peter's mind, one after the other, and he doesn't want that to happen to his only friend.  He's so panicked and overwhelmed, unsure of what to do, that he barely realizes what he's saying as he calls out to FRIDAY, begging the AI for help.

"FRIDAY, I need mom!  Please!"

FRIDAY answers right away.  "Mrs. Boss has been informed and is on her way."

"Peter-"

"No dad, please, I swear, it's not what you think.  Don't hurt him.  You've got it all wrong."

Peter has never had a panic attack before.  He's used to sensory overloads, and feeling sad about losing his mom, but he's pretty certain he's headed towards a full blown panic attack right now. From the sound of Flash's rapid breathing right behind him, Flash is already there.

"Hey, buddy, breathe.  I'm not going to hurt him, I promise."  Tony reaches forward towards Peter, and Peter lets him get close, knowing he's not going for Flash this time.  Tony grips both of Peter's shoulders gently and then pulls him close and into a hug.  Peter lets his dad hug him for long moments, but he's reminded that Flash is still there by his quick breaths and rapidly beating heart.  He doesn't pull away though, soaking up the warmth of his dad's embrace.

"Hey Pete?" Tony says quietly, not wanting to rile him up again.

"Mm?"

"What do you mean he's getting bullied too?"

Peter finally pulls away, and turns to look at Flash.  Flash shoots Peter a panicked look.  Peter turns back to his dad.  "It's not him.  He's never hurt me, not once.  He's the only one that will sit with me at lunch, or at AcaDec practices."

"You told me some of the things he said to you."

"He was just joking."  He wasn't.  Peter knows that, but he also knows that Flash is all talk.  He just likes to complain, and Peter is ok that he's the one Flash is complaining to, even if Peter is sometimes the one that Flash is complaining about.

"And you're both getting bullied by the same guy?"

Flash pulls in a long breath, holds it for a moment, and lets it out slowly, his heart rate finally calming down some.

When neither boy answers Tony's question, he says, "Peter?"

"I told you, it's no big deal.  I can handle it."

"Pete, it's been months.  If you were going to handle it, you would have by now.  You're coming home covered in bruises at least once a week."

"Only once a week?" Flash huffs out, and Peter shoots him a look that says he doesn't appreciate him tattling.  Flash catches it and says, "What?  I know you're just as bruised as I am right now.  I know what happened on the bus."

Tony looks from Peter, to Flash, and back again.  He points at Peter and says, "You're going to tell me exactly what happened on the bus."  But then he turns back to Flash and says, "Are you hurt right now too?"

Flash hugs himself and gives a single nod.

"You got hurt today?"

Flash nods again.

"Ok, we're going to the med bay, right now."

"What?  Dad, no."

"No, come on."

"You can't make Flash go," Peter says.

"Then I'll call his parents."

"You don't need to call them," Flash interjects.

It's at this moment that Pepper appears in the doorframe to Peter's room, looking harried, like she just ran up through the tower despite that Peter knows she took the elevator.

"What's going on in here?  FRIDAY said there was an emergency and that Peter was asking for me."

"There's no problem Pep, me and the boys are about to head to the med bay."

Pepper realizes that it's not just Tony and Peter, that there's another teenager in the room.  "Who's hurt?"

"Flash and Peter both apparently.  They've both been getting bullied at school."

"I'm not hurt bad enough for the med bay," Peter insists.

"And Flash?" Tony asks.

Flash shrugs, not looking up at any of them now.

"If Flash isn't sure, then he needs to go to the med bay," Tony says.

"Hold on for a moment," Pepper says, still trying to get her bearings and figure out what's going on.  "This is Flash?" she asks.

"Yeah," Peter answers for her.  She's looking at Tony though.

"Flash is here?  Was he on the field trip?  Tony, tell me you didn't kidnap this boy from his field trip."

"I would never."

"I asked dad if Flash could come over after school."

"Mm hm," she says, like she understands everything.  "Tony, did you set up this entire field trip just so you could spy on Flash?"

Flash groans, Peter says, "Yes," and Tony doesn't deny it.  Pepper purses her lips, and turns away from Tony and to Flash.

"Please accept my apology, Flash," Pepper says.  "If you'd like a ride home, I'll arrange one for you or I can call your parents to come get you.  You do not have to go to the med bay, though if you're hurt, I think that would be a good idea.  If you'd prefer to have your parents present, or would prefer they take you to a doctor after you leave, that's fine too.  You are under no circumstances required to stay here or to see our doctor."

Peter is in awe of how Pepper is talking to Flash, as though she's in full business mode, putting out all the fires that Peter and his dad have created.  He's in just as much awe of the difference in her tone as he was to see the difference in the way his dad was talking to Flash earlier while interrogating him.  His dad seems to have these different sides of himself he turns on and off when dealing with different types of people.  Pepper does too, though he typically only sees the version of her that he and his dad love so much.  He thinks he really likes this side of her too, and is glad she came when he called for her.

"I'll stay," Flash says.  "If that's ok ma'am.  I don't want my parents to see."

"To see what?" Tony presses.  His voice is still tinged with anger, but it's taken a back seat to concern now.  Peter thinks that his dad finally believes him that Flash hasn't been bullying him.

Flash unbuttons the three buttons of his polo shirt and pulls the shirt neck aside to show a gnarly black and blue bruise across his left collar bone.

"Who did it?" Tony asks through gritted teeth.  He's balling and unballing his right fist.

"Zach," Flash mutters, looking at the floor.

"Zach who?"

"Heywood."

Tony pulls out his phone and types the name in, but pauses when Flash says, "But it's Josh Millson who elbowed me hard in the side today."  He lifts up the right side of his shirt and there's a fresh bruise there, about the size of a baseball.  "And Josh smacked Peter in the back of the head hard on the bus today, and I saw him jabbing Peter in the ribs when we were in an elevator."

It's Tony who pulls in a deep breath this time, trying to reign in his anger.  He holds it and then lets it go all in a quick blast.

"Peter?" Pepper asks gently.

Peter grumbles something about it not being a big deal, but then turns his back to them and pulls up the back of his shirt.  He can't pull it up very high, so Pepper steps forward and lifts the edge of it up, revealing what Peter is sure is a mottled landscape of bruises.  He heals fast, but Josh and Zach keep up a constant barrage of attacks at school, pushes and shoves, small hits, jabbing him in the side with fingers, fists, and books.  At least they have never broken one of Peter's bones.  After seeing the gnarly bruise on Flash's collar bone, Peter is positive that they broke that.

"Ok," Tony says, and Peter is surprised he's so calm.  "Thank you for telling us."  He meets Peter's eyes and then turns to look at Flash, who still isn't looking up at any of them.  "We're going to take care of this.  You're not going to have to deal with either of them at school again."  This does cause Flash to look up.

"How?"

"Adult stuff buddy, let us handle it.  I'd like your parents number so I can call them and let them know what's going on."

Flash pulls out his phone, pulls up his dad's number, and hands the phone to Tony so he can put the number into his phone.  Tony turns and leaves, phone already out and dialing.

"We'll wait until we get permission from your parents for you to go to the med bay.  Until then," Pepper says, "why don't I get you both some ice?"

"I'm ok," Peter insists.  "I really didn't get hurt bad today.  Most of this is from earlier in the week."

Pepper purses her lips at that, unhappy that Peter's body has taken so much damage.

"I could use some ice," Flash says.  Pepper nods, and leaves them there to go out into the kitchen, leaving both boys in silence.

Peter doesn't know what to say.  This is really some mess, and it's all his fault.  "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"My dad, and- uh… you know, just… all of it.  I'm sorry you got dragged into it."

Flash thinks about what he said for long moments.  Peter thinks he's not going to speak again.  Maybe he won't ever speak to Peter again, not even to rant or complain, and Peter will be left to sit by himself at lunch and at AcaDec.

"You put yourself right between me and your dad."

"I knew he wouldn't hurt you."

"Did you?"

"It's your fault.  You put all those ideas into my head about cement shoes and the river."

Flash huffs out a laugh.  "Don't you watch movies about the mafia at all Parker?  Erm… Peter."

"Not really."

"What do you watch then aside from Star Wars?"

Peter's ears color red.  Disney, anime, science movies, and things like How To Train Your Dragon.  He feels lame, like maybe Flash isn't a dork… like Peter is the only nerd in the room after all if Flash is watching what are probably R rated mafia movies.

"Whatever it is, it can't be worse than Star Wars," Flash says when Peter remains silent.  "Geeze, you should be friends with Ned.  That kid loves that stuff."

"Really?"

"Pretty sure it's the only thing Leeds watches."

"I watch a lot of anime too, not just Star Wars," Peter says, though he's not sure Flash will think that's much better.

"Like Naruto?"

Peter perks up.  "Do you watch that?"

"Yeah."

Peter smiles a little to himself just as Pepper comes back in and hands Flash a ziplock bag full of ice, wrapped in a clean hand towel.  Flash accepts it gratefully and presses it gingerly to his collarbone.

"How did that happen?" Pepper asks.

Peter thinks that Flash isn't going to answer, but just like when Tony had been interrogating him in the kitchen, Flash seems to have an answer ready.  "Zach slammed me into a locker Monday and then punched me.  He punched my collar bone.  I'm pretty sure he didn't mean to, because it hurt his knuckles."

"I'm sorry that happened to you.  Tony is talking to your father right now.  It sounds like your father is on his way to pick you up and take you to the hospital."

"I don't need the hospital," Flash mumbles.

"You might not, but they can take photos of the injuries and that can be submitted for evidence later.  Tony and your father are both going to be making a police report about Zach and Josh.  Tony is pulling security footage from today to see if there's any footage of Josh hurting Peter.  When did Josh elbow you in the side today?  Do you remember where you were?"

"We were leaving the coding lab.  And he tried to trip me as we got into an elevator after we left the security office this morning."

"Well get the footage of that."  She turns to Peter.  "Peter?"

"I don't remember."  Her gaze grows serious and Peter says, "Honest!  I was really focused on dad and Happy not killing Flash today.  Ask dad, I got in trouble three times for not listening to different presentations today.  Sorry," he hurries to say.  "Dad already said I had to apologize to the engineers and tour guide, I'm going to, I promise."

She crosses the room and sets her hand gently on top of his head, moving her fingers through his hair slowly for a moment.  "I believe you," she says.

"Dad promised us pizza.  Flash can stay for that, right?"

"If he has to leave beforehand, then we can have him back again for pizza on a different night."

Peter glances up at Flash to see if that's something he's interested in.  Flash looks shocked that he's being invited back, but then a small smile forms on his face and he gives a little nod.

"Cool," Peter says, smiling to himself.

Forty minutes later, Flash's dad is escorted up to the penthouse by Tony, who went down to the lobby to meet him.  He makes Flash show him his injuries, and then glances at Peter, wondering where Peter is injured.

"Can I show him kid?" Tony asks.  Peter nods and turns around, and Tony gently lifts the back of his shirt up, giving Mr. Thompson a brief look at the mottled bruising.  Tony drops Peter's shirt down and Peter turns around.

"I appreciate you taking care of my son," Mr. Thompson says.  "I'll make a report to the police as soon as we get him checked out at the hospital."

"Hopefully they'll arrest both boys tonight and do an investigation at school so they'll get expelled," Tony says.  "If not, I'll make sure it happens."

Mr. Thompson gives a nod, motions for Flash to stand up from the spot he's been occupying at the foot of Peter's bed, bag of ice still against his collar bone, and they leave.  Happy is waiting at the elevator to escort them back down through the building and out.  Peter hopes that Happy has gotten the memo and won't spend the entire trip down through the building glaring at Flash.

As soon as Flash and his father are gone, Tony comes back into Peter's room and pulls him up out of his desk chair and into a hug.

"I wish you had trusted us with this sooner," Tony says.  "I hate the thought of you getting hurt every day at school."

"I'm sorry," Peter says into his shoulder.

"It's ok, I'm not mad at you.  And I would never hurt a kid, not even a bully."

"I know.  Flash put all these crazy ideas into my head though.  He was sure you were going to kill him, and Happy had been glaring at him all day and, yeah, it was just a big mess.  I'm really sorry.  I didn't mean to give you the wrong impression."

"I should have pressed you harder for information."

"Maybe not that," Peter says with a little laugh.

They grow quiet again, Tony still hugging him, not willing to let go yet.  "Hey Pete?"

"Mmm?"

"You know you called Pepper mom today, right?"

"Sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry for, buddy."

Peter pulls away a little and his dad lets him go.  "She's- do you think she's ok with it?"

"Kid," Tony laughs.  "FRIDAY didn't just tell her you were calling for her, she replayed your message directly to Pep, and Pep came running.  That was just for you.  She doesn't mind."

Peter fidgets for a moment, biting his lip.  "Do you think my mom would mind?"

Tony puts his hand on Peter's shoulder.  "I didn't know her well.  I wish I did, because maybe then she would have told me about you sooner.  But from what you've said, I know she loved you, and would want you to be happy, and I think she'd be happy knowing you still have a family.  Am I wrong about that?"

Peter shakes his head.

"I don't think she'd mind," Tony says.

His dad thinks it's ok, and Pepper thinks it's ok.  And now that Peter is thinking about what his dad said, he's pretty sure that his dad is right, and that his mom would be ok with where he's at now, and with Tony and Pepper both.  May and Ben would have wanted him to be happy too.

It's been a wild day.  It hasn't turned out at all the way that Peter thought it would, but at the end of it all, he doesn't think it's turned out so bad.  Flash wants to come back for pizza another night, Peter found one thing they both have in common, his dad is taking care of Zach and Josh, and he'd accidentally called Pepper mom and it hadn't been the end of the world.  In fact, it's quite the opposite.  He'd needed her, and she'd come running, just like his dad had said.

His mom, and May and Ben would want him to be happy.  His dad and Pepper want that too.  And the best part?  He is happy.  Yeah, this field trip turned out way better than he expected.