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“No!” The word was firm and unyielding.
“Aw, come on!” Peter whined. He looked across the table to his aunt, “Aunt May, please say I can go. I don't want to be the only sophomore stuck at school while everyone else is on a field trip!”
May pursed her lips, shaking her head, “Sorry, sweets. I'm inclined to agree with Tony. Especially after what happened the last time you went on a field trip to one of his competitors.”
“Exactly!” Tony said, glad to have the boy's aunt on his side for once. Not that he wanted to think of Peter's ill-fated field trip to OsCorp too much. Based on the teen’s grimace, he was guessing the kid probably didn't either.
May looked thoughtful, “And I can't say I'm a huge fan of Justin Hammer. After what happened at the expo, I'm not sure I like the thought of you being anywhere near him.”
The older superhero felt the blood drain from his face, “Please tell me you all weren't there for that whole mess.”
“I wasn't there for that mess,” May said, side eyeing her nephew. Peter purposefully avoided making eye contact with either adult.
“Kid!” Tony groaned. Peter finally looked up and met his eyes.
“If it helps, you saved me,” Peter offered helpfully.
“No! No! Do not tell me that the idiot kid who tried to take on a robot with a plastic repulsor was you!” He'd had enough nightmares about that child, thank you very much. He did not need the spiderling's innocent face haunting his sleep even more. Peter immediately went back to avoiding his gaze. Great. That was his idiot spider-teen. Figures.
“Those were Ben's genetics at work,” May said dryly.
The billionaire pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers, “That's even more reason for you not to go! He already tried to kill you once. With your luck he would probably try again. There is absolutely no way you are going on this field trip.”
“But Dad-” Peter argued.
“No! No way. No son of mine will be stepping foot into Hammer Industries. I absolutely forbid it,” Tony emphatically declared, slapping his palm onto the table.
“Come on, Dad, it isn't fair!” Peter shouted, jumping to his feet and storming out of the room. Tony moved to follow, but May reached out and put a hand on his arm.
“Give him some space and time to calm down,” she cautioned softly. The man slumped back in his chair, nodding in understanding.
“I fully support you, by the way,” the woman said, “And it's nice to see neither of you are denying the obvious anymore.”
“I feel like I missed something,” Pepper said, coming into the room. She had left about ten minutes before to take an emergency call, just before Peter had broken the news about his ill-advised field trip.
“We are hosting Midtown at SI for a field trip!” Tony declared, standing to his feet. His fiancé raised her eyebrows.
“Honey, we don't host field trips,” the CEO said carefully, “We barely give tours.”
“Well, we are hosting this one. Under no circumstances is my son setting foot in Hammer Industries. If tours like that and the one to OsCorp are all that is available to his school, clearly they need better options,” he paused and pointed at Pepper, “Make it happen!” With that, he stalked out of the room, headed to his lab. Pepper turned to May, bewilderment etched on her features.
“Did he just…” she trailed off.
“Yep. Peter also called him “dad”. Twice.”
“Did they notice?” the CEO sat down.
“Nope,” May smirked. She took a sip of her wine and turned to her friend, “They were both too worked up over this field trip Peter has coming up to Hammer Industries. Neither of them realized what they said.”
Pepper grimaced, “No wonder Tony is so worked up. I don't love the idea of the kid going there either. Especially after that disaster of an expo. Tony still has nightmares about that night. There was this kid-”
“With a plastic repulsor that tried to take on Hammer’s drone,” May finished. It was her turn to grimace, “Yeah, that was my disaster child.”
Pepper's eyes widened and she jumped to her feet, “No. That was Peter? Oh, god, I need to go find Tony. SI is apparently hosting our first field trip.”
May stood as well, “I need to say goodbye to Peter and head to my shift. Thank you for dinner.”
Pepper reached out to hug the woman, “Anytime. You know you're family. I guess officially now, since the boys are no longer denying it.”
May chuckled, “We'll see what they say when they calm down, and their words sink it. But we already knew it.”
Pepper broke away and headed to Tony's lab. She found the man working on one of his suits.
“Needing it in good repair in case you need to storm Hammer Industries to save your son?” she teased as she entered the lab.
“No, because my son is not going to Hammer Industries,” the man said tersely as he fidgeted with his suit. Suddenly he froze. His eyes shot up to Pepper's, wide and horrified.
“I called him my son,” he whispered.
“Yep. And evidently he called you dad twice. I think you will both survive,” she replied. She reached out and put her hand on his, “You both have been feeling and thinking it for a while. It's about time you actually acknowledged it.” Tony pursed his lips, before drawing a breath and nodding.
“So,” Pepper said, straightening and clapping her hands together, “Tell me more about this field trip you think Midtown should take.”
****************************************************
“So, did you remember to get your permission slip signed?” Ned asked as they entered their first period class the next day.
“No,” the boy pouted. He moved towards the front of the room where Mrs. Warren was getting ready for class.
“Hello, Peter,” she greeted him, glancing up from her stack of papers.
“My dad said I couldn't go on the field trip,” he informed her. The teacher looked up, blinking.
“Your dad?” She questioned in confusion.
“Shit!” Peter yelped, realizing what he had said. And also what he had said last night. And what Tony had said. Not good! Not good! Not good! So not good.
“Mr. Parker!” Mrs. Warren scolded, “Language!”
Behind him, he could hear surprised murmurs of the students who were already in class.
“Parker's what?” one student asked another.
“I thought his parents were, you know, dead? Another whispered in a hushed voice.
“What?” Flash's voice was loud as he entered the room, “Why is everyone talking about Parker's dad? Parker doesn't have a dad.”
“Sorry,” Peter said apologetically, inching his way towards the back of the room, away from everyone's stares. As soon as he reached an empty desk at the back, he slid into the seat and buried his face in his hands.
“Can you move your hands a little,” MJ asked from next to him. He looked at her, bemused. She held up her sketchbook, “You're the perfect amount of “in crisis” to be a good addition.”
He groaned and covered his face again. Right about then, Mrs. Warren called for everyone's attention.
“All right, class, so we have a little bit of a change in plans,” she said, rubbing her hands together, “I know yesterday I passed out the information and permission slips for our field trip to Hammer Industries.”
Some students cheered. Others turned to stare at Peter, who resolutely hid his face. Mrs. Warren clapped to regain their focus.
“Like I said, change in plans. This morning the administration was presented with an opportunity we did not feel we could turn down. Therefore, we will no longer be going to Hammer Industries-” she held up her hand to silence them, “Instead, we have been granted a once in a lifetime chance to take the entire Midtown 10th grade class on a tour of Stark Industries.”
Peter shot straight up, hands falling against the desk, panicked. How was this better? It was so, so much worse!
“Did you know?” Ned whispered loudly, his body vibrating with excitement.
“No “ the teen muttered. He took the packet of papers Mrs. Warren handed him and began flipping through it. It contained a permission slip, information about what they would see on the tour, and several lengthy NDAs.
Peter had ended up going to bed before either Pepper or Tony came up from the lab. And both of them had been up and out of the penthouse before Peter had woken up (FRIDAY assured him they had gotten a few hours of sleep. He would admit to being concerned.) At least now he knew what the couple had been doing.
“We've sent your parents an email letting them know about the change, but we will need these forms back by the end of this week. The field trip will be next Friday,” Mrs. Warren explained. The class erupted in whispers once more. By this point, Mrs. Warren didn't even bother teaching her planned lesson. At this point, the students were too excited about the new destination to pay any attention to her lecture. She put on a documentary and let them talk amongst themselves. Peter slouched down in his seat, trying to ignore the chatter around him.
The whispers about Peter and his “dad” followed him to the rest of his morning classes, as did the excitement about the trip to SI. The other grades in the school began picking up the news about the switch and began shooting envious looks at every tenth grader they passed. Lunch was even worse.
“Fake internship. Fake dad. What are you going to lie about next, Parker?” Flash mocked as he waited in line for their food.
Peter grit his teeth and clenched and unclenched his fist, his irritation with the other boy growing, “Leave me alone, Flash.” Getting detention or suspended for fighting wouldn't be worth the satisfaction of momentarily shutting him up, Peter mentally reminded himself. Thankfully, his turn to get lunch came next, and he was able to go to his table across the cafeteria from where Flash and his friends typically sat.
The entire place was buzzing with the news of the tenth grade’s unexpected field trip destination.
“Stark Industries doesn't even offer field trips! How in the world did they get a special invitation there?” a student he recognized as a senior was complaining. Meanwhile, a few freshmen were discussing their good fortune that they had now inherited the Hammer Industries trip, because the school didn't want to waste the fees they had already paid by canceling.
A couple of sophomore girls walked by Peter's table and snarked, “I wonder if Parker's dad will let him go on this one.” The group walked off laughing.
“So, your dad?” Ned finally asked.
“You already knew how I felt,” Peter protested.
“Yeah, but I didn't know you were actually calling him that now!”
“I'm not! It just came out!” the teen groaned, letting his head drop to the table with a thud.
“You do realize that MJ is drawing you again,” his friend responded. Peter flipped him off.
****************************************************
“I think I know why Peter Parker got his internship with SI,” Monica Warren announced as she strolled into the teacher's lounge during her lunch break.
Roger Harrington looked up from the stack of papers he was grading, “Because of his intelligence?”
“I mean, yes he is very intelligent, but so are many of our students,” Monica shrugged as she poured herself a cup of coffee, “But I think there's more to it. And I think it's why we suddenly were invited to Stark Industries. Peter Parker is Tony Stark’s son!”
By this point, she had the attention of every teacher in the room. One of the English teachers commented, “I thought we were assuming that Stark offered it because Peter was his intern?”
“Before we announced the change, Peter told me his dad wouldn't let him go to Hammer Industries,” Monica said triumphantly, “And he clearly had not intended to admit that.” There were gasps throughout the room.
“It must be recent,” One of the teachers Peter had his freshman year mused, “The Parkers clearly did their best to care for Peter, but until this year, he didn't have any expensive clothing or anything.”
“Right? His wardrobe had been getting progressively pricier. And I had to confiscate his phone a few weeks ago. It's a Stark phone, but definitely upgraded from any model on the market,” another teacher added.
“It does explain a lot,” Roger nodded thoughtfully, “I thought his behavior issues at the beginning of the year were because he was still dealing with adjusting after his uncle's death. But if on top of it, he just met his father? Anyone would have trouble dealing with that.”
No one could think of anything to refute Monica's theory. In fact, all the evidence only seemed to further confirm it. Down to the facts that Tony Stark and Pepper Potts had personally delivered the paperwork for Peter's supposed internship (a perfect cover to spend time with a secret son), May Parker had added the man as the boy's emergency contact (he'd even picked the boy up from the nurse's office a few times), and the expensive cars that often dropped off or picked up the tenth grader. Once they all thought about it, it was irrefutable, really. But at least their school was getting a tour of SI out of it!
****************************************************
By the end of the day, Peter wasn't sure which was worse: the field trip or accidentally referring to Mr. Stark as his dad. And somehow the staff seemed to have come to the conclusion that the dad he mentioned was in fact Tony Stark, based on the way no less than four teachers had told him to “thank his father for the tour!” And the students themselves couldn't seem to decide which was more shocking: Peter Parker not being an orphan after all or the sophomore class being chosen to tour SI. The teen was so done with the day that he barely acknowledged Happy when he slid into the car after school and hit the button to roll up the window before Happy even had a chance to pull out into traffic.
“Someone's in a mood,” Happy snarked as Peter bolted from the car as soon as it was parked. The teen sent him a glare and then continued to the elevator. He stalked into the lab and over to where Tony was working on the computer.
“Dad-” he began.
Tony didn't even look up as he said, “No son of mine is going on sub-par field trips.” Peter crossed his arms and pouted. Clearly, his slip up didn't bother the man.
“But it's a bit,” the teen paused to think of the word he wanted before continuing, “It's a bit extra.”
Tony hummed, “Seems about right. Pepper says I'm extra all the time. Now, are you going to stand there pouting or help me?”
The teen huffed. He wasn't going to win this argument, “Fine. I'll help.” After several hours, Pepper wandered into the room to see if they were ready for dinner.
“I want Hawaiian pizza,” Peter announced, walking with Pepper out of the lab.
Tony followed behind grumbling, “No son of mine should be eating pineapple on pizza.” Peter blatantly ignored him, ordering it anyway. Pepper merely rolled her eyes and muttered about the ridiculousness of her boys. The teen couldn't deny the warmth he felt inside at being called Tony's son and one of Pepper's boys.
****************************************************
All too soon, the morning of the field trip dawned. The sophomores were bubbling with excitement and anticipation as they unloaded the buses and followed their teachers into the building. Once inside, they were split into groups. Peter sighed with relief that Ned and MJ were in his group, although he was frustrated that Flash was also in it.
“Can't wait to see what a liar you are!” Flash whispered as he passed Peter. Peter merely sighed, not wanting to say or do anything that would provoke the other boy further.
They followed their teacher and chaperones over to their group's assigned tour guide, who was holding a box of badges.
“Please wear your badge some place that is visible. It will provide you with temporary access for today, but will be deactivated,” their guide, a woman in her early twenties named Melanie, explained. She passed them out to everyone, calling their names as she did. She frowned when she realized that Peter didn't get one.
The teen pulled his out and held it up, “I have one already. I know Mr. Hogan doesn't like people having more than one active badge at a time.”
Melanie's eyes widened briefly, but she quickly regained her composure and agreed, “That is correct. Please wear your own badge.” Peter slipped the lanyard over his head and got in line for security.
“Do you think FRIDAY will announce your security level for everyone?” Ned asked excitedly.
“What? No!” Peter hissed, “FRIDAY doesn't really talk much outside of the Penthouse, the lab, or Pepper's office. And why would she announce clearance levels? That's a huge security risk!”
When the students reached the front of the line, the security guard instructed them to take electronics out of their bags to go through the x-rays. Then, students went through the metal detectors. When they collected their bags, their phones were placed in storage compartments. Students scanned their badge to lock the compartments, after being instructed that they would retrieve their phones on their way out.
When it came time for Peter to go through security, the guard frowned reading the screen, eyebrows raising as he looked up at the teen in front of him. When Peter tried to hand in his phone and place his bag on the conveyor belt to be x-rayed, the man waved him through, saying softly so that Peter's classmates didn't overhear, “Don't worry kid. We have strict instructions here that you are to bypass security.”
Peter slipped his phone back in his bag and followed his classmates from the lobby to the elevator bank. Melanie explained all the areas they would be seeing through the day, reminding everyone of the NDAs they had been required to sign.
“This is what Stark Industries looks like, Parker,” Flash sneered as they entered the large elevator, “I'll bet you never have been inside it before!”
“Have you?” MJ retorted.
Flash puffed up, “A couple of times actually. My parents sometimes have business here.”
The snide comments continued throughout the day, always under his breath and when the teachers and Melanie weren't close enough to overhear. Peter was just about done with it, but he had been threatened by both May and Mr. Stark with a month long grounding from both life and Spider-Man if he got another detention, so he kept breathing deep to keep his cool.
For the most part, the tour was fascinating. While he wasn't overly thrilled with the tour of HR and the legal department, he was thrilled at the large number of labs they were able to visit, including some R&D labs he occasionally visited with Mr. Stark.
“Best field trip ever!” Ned exclaimed, “Thank goodness your dad hates Hammer Industries so much!” A couple of students looked over in shock at Ned’s statement, but they wisely refrained from comment.
For lunch, they were told their badges would get them a free meal combo in one of SI’s food courts. There were several scattered across the 80 floors of the building that contained SI, so different groups would be visiting different food courts. A few other groups were already in the food court on the 50th floor when Peter's group arrived. Betty and Cindy were in one of those groups and came over to talk to them as soon as they entered.
“Peter, is Tony Stark really your dad?” Betty asked quietly.
“What?” the teen squawked, “Who said that?”
“A couple of the girls in our group overheard Mr. Harrington and Mrs. Warren saying it. But even if it isn't true, you clearly know him,” Cindy motioned to the badge Peter was wearing.
“Yeah, either way, can you thank him for us? This is a way cooler field trip than Hammer Industries would have been,” Betty added.
“Um, yeah, sure,” Peter agreed. He quickly left the girls to get in line to order his food, eager to end the line of conversation. While he didn't have the standard visitor badge that would come with the free meal, Peter knew that Mr. Stark kept money on Peter's SI account for him to use in any of the food courts whenever he wanted to grab food there. He confidently scanned his badge, took his tray, and moved to the most secluded table he could find with MJ and Ned. Thankfully, they were able to eat their lunch in relative peace.
Afterwards, the tour continued through several more labs, before ending in an assembly room that SI mostly used for press releases or the occasional inter-department meeting. The entirety of the 10th grade class filled the room. The students were still buzzing from their day as they waited for the presentation about SI and Q&A session before ending their tour.
Peter shouldn't have been surprised when he realized that Mr. Stark and Pepper would be presenting and answering questions. After all, they had set up this entire trip just to stop Peter from going on the trip to Hammer Industries. However, he couldn't help but feel a slight bit of surprise. They briefly shared about SI's history, current developments, and plans for the future before opening the floor for question.
Flash's hand immediately shot up and Pepper quickly called on him. The boy asked, “One of my classmates is claiming to have a Stark Industries internship. Do you hire high schoolers or is he lying?” After Flash spoke, he sent a smirk to Peter. Tony's eyes narrowed and he went to respond, but Pepper quickly rested a hand on his arm, stopping him.
She spoke, “We generally do not hire high schoolers, but we were highly impressed Bby Peter Parker's intelligence, creativity, and kindness. If he is the classmate you mean, then yes he does have an internship. No, he is not lying.” Flash glared at Peter, slouching down in his seat, clearly not liking the answer.
Betty was called on next. Her question made Peter want to melt into the floor, “Is Peter Parker your son?” The question caught both Pepper and Tony short, mouths dropping open.
Tony recovered first, “I would remind you that anything discussed here is covered by the NDAs you and your parents signed. But, yes, for all intents and purposes, Peter Parker is my son and heir.” Heads swiveled to stare at the teen in question.
Pepper cleared her throat, “Does anyone have any questions about Stark Tech or Iron Man?” Hands shot up across the room. The rest of the Q&A time was spent on questions along those lines, leaving Peter to digest that Mr. Stark had just told all of his classmates that he was the man's son. Peter couldn't help but grin at the idea of being publicly called that.
After the Q&A, the students made their way back to the lobby to retrieve their phones, have a brief visit to the SI gift shop, and board the buses to return to school. Tony and Pepper entered the lobby and made their way to Mrs. Warren, who had been Peter's assigned teacher that day.
“I believe Peter has permission to stay behind?” Tony addressed her. Mrs. Warren glanced at her clipboard and nodded.
“Of course,” she motioned for Peter to join the couple. She then turned to Tony and Pepper, saying, “Thank you so much for arranging this trip. I know it was mostly for your son, but we do appreciate it.”
“Of course,” Pepper said smoothly as Tony wrapped his arm around the boy, leading him away.
“Come on, Roo,” he said, ushering the teen into the elevator. Pepper followed close behind. Peter sunk into Tony's side.
“Thanks for today, Dad,” he said softly. Tony beamed for a moment before turning serious.
“You know, if that Flash kid bothers you too much, you can talk to May and me. We'll talk to your principal and teachers about steps we can take. You don't have to deal with him alone.”
Peter hummed and nodded, glancing up at his mentor, “I think I know that now.” And he did. He knew that both Tony and May (and Pepper, too) had his back if he needed them.
“Good,” Tony said, squeezing him tighter, “Because no son of mine should have to deal with a bully alone.”
Peter grinned, snuggling closer to the man, whispering, ‘Thanks, Dad! I love you!”
Tony leaned down and kissed Peter's temple, “I love you too, Roo. So very much.” Pepper stood off to the side, beaming as she watched her boys, glad to see what they had been denying for so long out in the open.
Peter didn't know how exactly a field trip to Hammer Industries led to him having a dad, but he was happy that it did.