The field trip had been on a Wednesday, which meant that since Tony had requested May let him sleep over, Peter only had one night to prepare himself before being dropped off in the parking lot of Midtown by an exceptionally surly-looking Happy.

The day itself had sucked. People had either been giving him wide berths and odd glances or acted like they'd been friends for years, presumably to get a chance to meet Mr Stark. He'd barely been able to talk to Ned all day, and MJ had been not-so-silently judging. Apparently she wasn't too fond of Mr Stark's old 'playboy' status and refused to believe he could change.

Worst of all though was Flash. Despite the jokes made at his expense about getting shut down by Mr Stark, he was oddly smug whenever he saw Peter. He obviously had something up his sleeve, but it wasn't until the end of the day that Peter discovered just what.

He'd been leaving the premises with Ned to go to his place and finally build the Lego Death Star together. That was when the real sucky part of the day started. Out of nowhere, they were bombarded by hundreds of photographers and reporters shouting questions at a mile a minute and shoving cameras in his face. Within seconds, Peter had lost sight of Ned, sucked into the whirlwind of chaos.

Let me get this straight: heightened senses aren't great for anything other than fighting. School was barely tolerable with its loud bells and obnoxious teenagers, but this? Way worse. Every nerve in Peter's body was tense; his spidey-senses screaming warnings every second; camera flashes became huge spots of white clouding his entire vision and he couldn't see or smell or hear anything specific because there was just too much. It didn't take long before his lungs felt tight as he struggled to breathe, or even stay upright, about to collapse in a sea of media demons.

Thankfully, Michelle Jones was somehow an extraordinary genius who happened to give just few enough craps about both people and the press to wade into the mess and drag the hyperventilating Peter back into the safety of the school. Peter whimpered softly at the sudden change in environment, his senses going haywire, and Michelle let out a sight. "Breathe," she ordered. "One, two, three - just like that. C'mon, Parker, breathe. Concentrate."

Peter had never been so glad that he had been forced to stay for decathlon practice by Michelle, as otherwise the corridors would have been full of gawping teenagers. As he slowly regained his bearings, sat against a locker, he was distinctly aware that something horrible had happened.

"Michelle?" He asked cautiously, half unsure as to whether he even wanted to know the answer. "Why were there so many reporters?"

She glanced at him, surprise etched onto her features. "You haven't seen?" Grabbing his fallen phone, the girl quickly accessed the internet and typed in his name, coming up with much more than the old stuff about his parents' deaths, and then Uncle Ben's.

IRON MAN'S PRIZED PUPIL... IN THE BEDROOM!

STARK'S UNDERAGE INTERN?

IS PLAYBOY TONY STARK BRANCHING OUT TO THE YOUNGER GENERATION?

Peter stared in horror as the headlines got gradually more and more salacious. "What? Where did they get any of this from? Do people actually believe it?"

Michelle shook her head, saying the name with distaste. "Flash. He was pissed about what happened on the field trip, and posed as your 'close personal friend' for the media. Apparently he's worried about your familiarity with your bosses and late night hours. Hey, you mind if I get a photo of your face? Best distress I've seen all week." Before she had even finished asking, the girl caught a picture, chuckling to herself.

Peter, on the other hand, was freaking out. This kind of media coverage could only be a very bad thing, because Mr Stark probably wanted nothing to do with him now, and even if he did there was a very strong chance he could lose college scholarships, not to mention that a savvy enough reporter could possibly find out he was spiderman. "This is bad," he moaned softly, ignoring MJ. "This is really, really bad."

"Not according to this," Michelle snorted. "Look, Flash says you're really good in bed."

Rubbing his eyes, Peter lunged for his suddenly buzzing phone, praying it was someone who could do something. It was. The growling tones of Happy Hogan greeted Peter as he answered the phone, brusquely demanding the teen meet him out back to be taken to Stark Towers.

Standing shakily, Peter shot a glance at the girl sat cross-legged on the floor, resolutely looking away from him. "Thanks, Michelle," he said warmly.

She sighed. "Whatever, loser. Get out of here." But she shot him a quick pitying smile as he bolted.

Happy looked more disgruntled than normal when Peter leaped into his backseat and slid down to hide from the windows, but there was no grumpy, "Watch the leather," which usually followed. Instead, Peter was greeted by an oddly comforting sounding tone informing him that the windows were tinted, so there was no need to worry about reporters while he was in the car.

Relieved, the teen let out a breath and allowed the tension to leave his body. A smile grew on his face as he peered at Happy, who looked stoically ahead. "Hey," Peter said, much too casually. "How did you know the fire escape you parked by was next to the science labs?"

The car swerved as Happy choked, and Peter was forced to clutch the handle to stay upright. He cleared his throat. "Mr Stark told me you were my secondary client. It's good business to know your surroundings when I'm supposed to protect you."

Peter just smiled. Though he'd never admit it, he knew Happy cared about him. Mr Stark even said they read his reports together sometimes!

The rest of the car ride was spent in silence, but when Peter got out, Happy grabbed his shoulder. "Wait," he groaned, looking like the words were being forced out of him against his will. "I'm sorry, kid. Hope everything goes okay."

Shooting him a shaky thumbs up, Peter slammed the door and stood awkwardly, waiting for a familiar face to tell him what to do. Sure, normally he'd go to the labs, but that was to play around with cool tech. He had no clue what the protocol was for this. Plus, what if Mr Stark didn't want to be around some teenager who makes him look bad anymore? He wouldn't want Peter in the private labs if that was the case.

Just as Peter was beginning to feel awkward just hanging around, he heard someone snapping their fingers and quickly spun around to see Mr Stark motioning him to follow. He looked pissed, which probably wasn't good.

"Mr Stark, I... I'm really sorry, you know... I just-"

He was cut off by Iron Man himself, who had a face like thunder. "You're sorry? I wasn't aware you leaked those rumours."

"I didn't!"

"Then you don't need to be sorry, kiddo, you need to be vengeful. Who was it? Who's this... Flash kid? I've got people looking into him but I'd rather hear it from you."

Peter exhaled a sigh of relief, wanting to almost collapse in the corridor. Mr Stark wasn't mad at him, he was mad at Flash! Maybe, just maybe, he'd be allowed to stick around after this whole mess was over.

"You actually met him, Mr Stark. Last time I was here." So maybe Peter didn't want to have to admit out loud to his idol that he was pathetic enough to be bullied at school, so what? Tony was smart; he could figure it out.

Mr Stark groaned. "Penis kid?" Peter nodded. "Well, now Pepper can cook up something especially devious because there's no way in hell someone with a name as lame as Flash can call Spiderman names."

Grinning up at the billionaire, Peter decided to point out the silver lining of this whole mess. "You called me Spiderman."

"What? No, I didn't."

"You did! Not Spiderling, not Spiderboy - you called me Spiderman."

Tony continued to protest loudly, but Peter was on a high. Mr Stark respected him, saw him as something more than just sone dumb kid. Whatever was going on with the Rogue Avengers and Iron Man, Peter was even more firmly on Mr Stark's side than ever.

They reached Miss Potts' office and Peter had barely stepped through the door before he was engulfed in a hug. May smoothed his hair back and straightened his hair, looking him straight in the eye. "Miss Potts here has been telling me some interesting stuff, Peter. Mind filling me in?"

Peter gulped, his eyes widening. "Uh..." He could only think of one thing. "I'm Spiderman."

The room fell silent. Apparently that had not been what May meant. "She was talking about at school, moron," Mr Stark hissed, and Peter felt his stomach drop. Great, now Aunt May knew.

Sensing an oncoming explosion, Miss Potts was quick to make the best of the situation. "That could work, you know, Peter. If you explain your identity as Spiderman, it would give us a head start on any reporter who'll figure it out, since now that the public eye's on you it's only really a matter of time."

Peter nodded, realising that keeping it a secret now would be all but impossible, and let his shoulders sag. Tony sighed next to him. "Pepper, call a press conference. Peter, I'll have someone find the key to your room and set one up for your aunt - your home may not be safe once your identity's released. In the meantime, why don't you explain things to May."

He clapped Peter on the shoulder and left, Pepper doing the same after grabbing her phone and shooting him an apologetic smile.

"What the fuck, Peter?" Aunt May yelled, apparently having lost her usual bad language stigma. "You could be killed, you understand that? You lie to me and sneak out every night, and for what? Five minutes of fame on YouTube?"

"No!" Peter's initial plan had been to just ride the storm and hope not to die, but he couldn't just let May think he was like some stupid Tide Pod kid. After his outburst, he hesitated, because May started giving him the 'mom look' - you know, the one that makes you want to shrivel up into a ball and die? "That... that's not why."

"Then what is it? Please explain, because I'm currently failing to understand why you could be so stupid!" There was a pause. "I'm waiting for an answer, Peter!"

"...Uncle Ben," Peter muttered, refusing to look his guardian in the eye. "I got these crazy powers when I was fourteen, and I spent like a week just messing around and trying to wrap my head around them. That's why I was out so late the night he died, remember? That's why he came out looking for me, and why he was there when that dude was robbing people. I was right there, you know? I was right across the street and I have crazy senses and I'm stronger and faster than most people, but I just stood there. I just watched as this dude shot him. Uncle Ben died because I didn't do anything. And... and he said this thing, right? Some quote or something, I don't know but he used to say it all the time. 'With great power comes great responsibility.' I have power, May, so I've got responsibility too, because if anyone else dies when I know I can stop it, that's on me too. Just like Ben was."

May sighed, and came over to sit next to Peter. She didn't say it, but with that action Peter knew he was forgiven. He felt horrible for bringing up Uncle Ben, he knew it upset May, but he didn't know what else to say except the truth. "Why didn't you tell me?" She sounded miserable, and Peter felt guilt clench his heart for lying to her.

"I wanted to protect you."

She choked out a laugh. "That's supposed to be my job, Peter. I'm your guardian. Not that I've been doing a great job since you've been sneaking out to fight crime every night."

"Don't say that," Peter said, grabbing her hand as she raised it to her face. "You've been great, May. It's not your fault I became Spiderman... and it's not Mr Stark's either," he added, reading the look on her face. "I was doing it way before he found me, and I'll do it after. All he did was give me a better suit to protect myself."

May smiled shakily, and hauled him up. "Come on," she said. "You've got a press conference to go to."

They walked down to meet Mr Stark together, but May waited outside the conference room, disinclined to talk to reporters. Instead, Peter found himself clutching onto Tony as they entered the loud room full of obnoxious story-seekers, which only grew louder upon the sight of him.

It went silent, though, when Pepper cleared her throat, and eyed the few who refused to settle down. "I'm sure you've all heard the story claiming Peter Parker is Tony's illicit tryst. It has no evidence apart from the ludicrous claims of a high school bully, so to clear things up we're gonna have Peter himself tell you the reason for his internship with Stark Industries. There will be no questions until he's finished talking, and I'm going to request you keep things to a minimum since you almost gave him a panic attack this morning. He's fifteen. Show a little respect, please. Peter?"

She stayed there, a comforting presence as Peter made his way to the lecturn and tried his best to calm his nerves, pretending she was the only one in the room. He took a deep breath.

"I am Spiderman."