Peter Parker... Stark?

Nosy News Reporter

Everything was finally going right.

After Peter recovered, Tony had organized a press conference to announce that he had adopted Peter. In the event of both Tony's and Pepper's untimely deaths, Peter would inherit everything. The reporters had rapid-fired questions after Tony gave his little spiel, but Peter had been guided out of the room before he could answer any of them.

Is Tony Stark your biological father?

When and why did Mr. Stark decide to adopt you?

Does this mean the Avengers are adding a new member to their team?

That last question had Peter's heart skip a beat for a moment. He noticed Tony flick his eyes over to the reporter as well, but then they left the stage without saying anything more.

The reporter noticed the nervous glance, and although she was a little disgruntled about being so blatantly disregarded, something about the way the two Starks had looked at her made her wonder if there was something more going on.

"Are you still rolling?" she asked her camera man. He nodded. "Good. Send me all the footage as soon as you can."

He raised an eyebrow. "All of it?"

"All of it."

~~~

Tony promised he would take care of all the drama surrounding SHIELD, and within a week of being adopted, Peter was given permission to go out on patrol again.

"But," Tony said as the teen began to smile widely, "I have one condition. You aren't wearing your pajamas anymore. It's too dangerous."

"But... what am I supposed to wear then?"

Tony smirked. "Let's just say there's an adoption slash apology gift waiting for you in your bedroom."

Peter was running to his bedroom before Tony could finish, and the genius couldn't help but smile at the kid's contagious amount of energy and excitement. Before Tony made it to the boy's room, he could hear shouting.

Moments later the boy emerged from the room, clutching the brand new suit in his hands. "Did you make this for me?"

"You know it, kiddo."

Peter disappeared into his room again, and after a few minutes came back out with the suit on. Tony grinned, pleased with how it had turned out. Peter sported an equally large smile, and then slipped on the mask.

"I've got Friday in there for you, too," Tony said.

"Wow, really?"

There was a moment of silence as Friday introduced herself to Peter as if he didn't already know who she was. When she was done, Peter slid the mask off again.

"Can I go try it out?"

"Yep," Tony said, and without a second thought, Peter was back in his bedroom, opening up the window. The teen sat on the edge, saluted Tony, and then fell backwards into the open air.

~~~

Lenorah Marshall knew she was on to something.

What that something was, exactly... that's what had her stumped. She'd watched the footage a dozen times, and something about the two Starks still didn't seem quite right. They were definitely hiding something.

She leaned back in her chair and took a sip of coffee. She was the only one still in the office, and all the lights were off.

Suddenly, a loud bang echoed from the other side of the room, followed by what sounded like... footsteps?

Lenorah stood up abruptly as Spider-Man ran across the windows to her office before leaping off the side of the building and swinging away. She looked down in dismay at the coffee she'd sloshed on her white shirt, when suddenly it clicked.

He wasn't wearing his old suit anymore. In fact, Spider-Man hadn't been seen for several weeks, and now he was back with an upgraded getup?

That seemed like too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence.

Lenorah sat down again, her coffee stain forgotten, a headline already forming in her mind. This could be her front page debut. She would need more time for sure, but with some digging this could become the story of a decade. A smile grew on her face. She could already see the raise her boss would give her, and her fingers flew over her keyboard with a renewed vigor.

~~~

Two weeks after Peter had come home, giddy with excitement and adrenaline, things went south.

Because his Parker luck just couldn't let him catch a break.

He'd become a celebrity at school since he'd gone back, but he'd known that was going to happen and he quickly made it clear he wasn't interested in fake friendships. That served to sour Flash's mood, but now he couldn't do anything about it for fear that he would have to deal with Tony Stark.

After a while, Peter's social life pretty much went back to the way it was before. He hung out with Ned and MJ, kept on top of his homework, and Spider-Manned in the evenings.

But one day, in between class periods, Peter noticed the number of stares and whispers he got was higher than usual.

"What's with them?" Michelle asked as a group of girls stared wide-eyed at Peter.

"I have no idea," Peter admitted. They hurried past the group, but it didn't stop after that. More people stared the farther the got into the crowded hallway, and then Peter realized people were pulling out their cameras and filming.

Suddenly, Peter's phone started buzzing in his pocket. He pulled it out and answered. Tony was on the other end, telling him to get out of the school. Happy was waiting for him outside.

Confused, Peter said a brief goodbye to MJ and pushed past the groups of people. He had no idea what was going on until he started paying attention to the whispers.

"They think he's Spider-Man? Stop pulling my leg."

"Do you think it's true?"

"Is that why Tony Stark adopted him?"

Peter's heart was pounding and he kept his head down as he made his way to the front doors of the school. People finally started getting up the nerve to ask him aloud as he passed whether it was true. He kept his eyes on the ground, and by the time he reached the doors he was practically running.

Happy was already standing outside the car with the door open.

"Happy, what's going on?" Peter asked as Happy shut the driver's door and pulled away from the school.

"Tony will explain when we get back to the Tower."

The drive back to the Tower was silent after that, which only made Peter worry more. Who had figured out who he was? How did everyone suddenly know?

It seemed to take forever for Peter to finally get up to the penthouse, but when he stepped out of the elevator it wasn't Tony who greeted him.

It was Spider-Man.

(AN: I think that counts as a cliffhanger...

Guys. Over 700 reads!? You are all amazing. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my work, it really means so much to me. Until next chapter!)