Chapter Text
Tony and Natasha cheerfully but mysteriously trotted up the stage, the AcaDec team cheering loudly as if there were hundreds of people.
"I hope Spider-man shows up! God he is so cool!" Peter and Ned exchanged a mischievous glance as Flash's eyes sparkled at the thought of meeting Spider-man.
"Alright then kids. You all already know who I am." Tony used his patented smirk as the kids erupted in cheers once again.
"I am Natasha Romanov otherwise known as the Black Widow. "
"Steve Rogers, Captain America. "
"Bucky Barnes, White Wolf. "
"Bruce Banner, the Hulk. "
"It's my turn? Uh- Clint Barton, Hawkeye. "
"The better bird, Sam Wilson the Falcon. " Sam chuckled seeing Clint's playfully angry face.
"I am Thor! And this is my brother Loki-"
"No need brother, I can introduce myself. I am Loki Odinson."
"James Rhodes. The Iron Patriot. "
"Honey bear everyone knows you as the War Machine, can't just change the name when mine is much better cripple. " 'Oohs' of amusement echoed from the students along with stifled chuckling.
"Like you didn't have a mental breakdown when I became 'crippled'" Rhodey shot back.
Tony put his hands up in defense against himself before silencing the room in a loud clap. "Alright! Lets get this Q&A started!"
Everyone's hands shot up, some waving in order to get noticed while Peter sunk even further into his chair.
"Nevermind then we'll just go around since there's like four of you. "
"Stark you are one of the most brilliant people on Earth and you can't even count properly? "
"I'd rather not count the amount of kids there are here then count my age into the 90s." Tony glanced at Steve before choosing which direction the questions would go around in.
"State your name and your question for whatever hero you choose kid. " Tony instructed the impatient students.
"Hi I'm Seymour O'Reilly and my question is for Bruce Banner. Have you ever Hulked out during simple tasks like brushing your teeth. "
"Uh yes many times, once I "hulked out" while brushing my hair and ripped some of it out I had a bald spot. " Bruce stared at his feet, heat creeping up his neck as he recalled the memory.
"I'm Betty Brant and I have two questions unrelated. First off am I allowed to use some of this for the school paper? "
"Yes."
"Oh okay great! Second off my question is for Mrs. Widow, what could you say as a inspirational quote to young girls? "
Natasha was slightly taken aback by the deeper question but regained her posture and mulled it over for a minute. "Keep your head high and always remember you aren't responsible for anyone else but yourself so don't let others drag you down. "
"I'm Jason Ionello and my question is to Mr. Barton, do you have any silly customized arrows?"
"It's Clint and yes, once I used a confetti arrow with the "Pocketful of Sunshine" on repeat for 30 hours to wake up Peter over there. God it was amazing! " Clint started bursting into even more laughter at Peter's ashamed face who was trying to keep a low profile.
"Flash Thompson, I'm sure you heard of me-"
"We haven't. " Tony interrupted, keeping a cold look on his face.
"Oookay then... " Flash awkwardly squirmed in his seat before regaining his confidence. "Does Pen- does Parker really work here? "
Before Tony could respond the doors bursted open before being quickly slammed again, commotion going outside the room. A disheveled Pepper Potts ran towards the class.
"Where is Peter? Peter?" She yelled, quite distressed. Immediately sensing her urgency, Tony hopped off the stage as Peter sprinted from his seat to catch up with Pep.
"Okay so there is no time but apparently someone has leaked information to the press that a teen claims to have a internship here and now the press wants answers which just so happens to be on the day of a conference! " Pepper throws up her hands in disbelief.
"What? Who leaked fake information about my kid? " Tony's furious eyes glance around the room as a not so subtly guilty Flash sinks into his seat.
"Fuck...okay. Alright Midtown we are changing gears I want you all to head to the back of the room to make space for the reporters. Any information you get here will and cannot be spoken about outside this tour you got that?" Tony pointed a accusatory finger at all the students, his own heart beat picking up in stress.
"FRI, get Peter a formal suit and get him tidied up." Pepper called out to the cameras in the room.
"Okay listen to me Pete, I know you are stressing and stuff okay but are you ready to go public? " Tony's eyes darted around Peter's face, searching for the answers in his eyes.
"Yeah... Yeah I'm ready just a little- or well a lot nervous. " Peter humorlessly chuckled as a assistant passed him a formal suit to get into before the press would enter.
Peter retreated behind the curtains of the stage, changing into his suit while taking deep breaths. This was it.
He was going to announce his full name on camera.
Peter Parker-Stark. Yay I guess.
"Alright alright everyone settle down Jesus Christ people! " Happy yelled over the bustling crowd. Each trying to shove their way to the front to get their questions answered.
Happy turned around and motioned for Tony to take the lead on the crowd and to introduce the teenager standing awkwardly behind Natasha.
"Hello everyone, now I'm sure you all have questions about the ongoing accusations about a fake internship teen breaking into the tower. Now I can reassure you there is no fake internship or any trespassing alright? " Tony glanced around the room, murmurs of agreement bouncing along the voices of the crowd. The AcaDec team shoved into a corner with thousands of their own questions and why Peter was standing on stage.
"But! There is in fact a teen. " Before the crowd can begin screaming again Tony turned to Peter. "Not exactly in the way you think though. Let me introduce you to the future and the heir of Stark Industries, my son Peter Parker-Stark! " Almost immediately cheers and shouts echoed off the walls as Peter began to walk up to the podium, he couldn't help but feel a little satisfied at the gaping mouth of Flash Thompson who went pale.
"Uh. Hi. " Just by two words Peter was caught off guard by the amount of flashes of cameras blinding him.
"Turn off your flashes! " Happy's voiced boomed from behind Peter as the crowd began to shuffle around with their cameras.
"Uh... my name is Peter and uh, " Peter glanced back at Pepper, unsure of what to say but she just gave a reassuring nod.
"And well, Tony just introduced me so I'm uh, not sure what to say? " Peter chuckled humorlessly, a lump of slight panic beginning to form in his throat as hundreds of eyes curiously inspected him. "Questions? "
Questions began to be shouted at Peter who could barely even hear any voice, on a limb he just randomly chose whoever seemed nicest (not that there were many options of who is nice.)
"Uh you in the red tuxedo! " Peter yelled over the crowd.
The man began to scream his question "How has Tony managed to keep you undercover for years?"
"Well I was actually adopted so... uh you in the hat! "
"How old are you? "
Peter turned to Tony, unsure if that was okay to answer but Tony just nodded, his smile unfaltering.
"I'm 16 at the moment, " as further questions about his age and adoption began to be shouted he added "And Tony adopted me when I was about late 14, so I haven't been uncover for so long. "
After nearly a hour passed of long and boring questions about Peter's life, half of which he couldn't answer or just was disgusted by, the press conference began to slow down, reporters began to get satisfied with the answers they were getting.
Until one particular person caught Peter's eyes.
He froze, recognizing the person by their slicked blonde hair, and the tidy suit he had on.
Peter felt his throat close, he felt vulnerable again, his heart pounded against his chest as if he was going into cardiac arrest. It couldn't be. He moved away. How could he be back?
But the predatory grin that plastered the man's face was all too familiar.
Sweat beads began to collect on Peter's forehead. His hands shaking nervously as his knees felt like they were going to snap under just a breeze of wind. His heart sank as he finally caught the man's eyes. He didn't want to be here anymore. His breaths were getting more and more uneven and picking up pace as he continued to look into the familiar man's eyes. He knew him too well. Peter's mind felt like it was snapping under the weight of buried memories being taken out from the locked away part of his brain.
His eyes became blurry as he felt lightheaded, eyes still locked on the man's blue eyes. He felt himself fall slightly forwards, his hands catching himself on the edge of the podium. He didn't care that this was his first introduction anymore. He didn't care that people would think of him as pathetic. That was what the man always thought of Peter anyways.
Maybe Peter was imagining things. That would explain this. Why would he be back after all these years? He left shortly after May died in that car crash. He left Peter more vulnerable and scared then he had ever been.
As Peter began to recall the buried memories, he suddenly remembered why exactly he began to hurt himself. Because of him. Because he was a disgusting predator that hurt Peter. Because of him, Peter's mental state had crashed so far down. It was because of his relatives deaths but it was mainly sourced by him.
By Skip Westcott.
"Hey there Einstein! Missed me? "