As some of you may have noticed I have now marked this as complete. I would like to thank everyone that has been reading this fic and stuck with it especially if you read the original version I started almost a year ago. I have decided this was a good moment to end it but I will be adding to this series periodically with extra bits and pieces probably snapshots of Peter's life from where this leaves off. Thanks again, for all your support and I hope you've enjoyed my fic.

-EmptyFridges

Peter blinked blearily as he woke up, "Fri what time is it?" he grumbled groggily.

"7:37am Peter."

The teenager groaned, why on earth was he awake at this during the summer? He didn't have any plans for the day and his alarm wasn't supposed to go off until half nine when he didn't have school so it couldn't have been that that woke him. He had tried to argue for later but his mom had shut that down pretty quickly, she had told him there was no chance she would allow him to pick up any of his dad's poor sleeping habits and there was no arguing with Pepper Potts well Pepper Potts Stark so he was expected in the kitchen by ten o'clock at the latest each day. He was pulled from thinking more on it when his phone started ringing. He reached over and looked at the screen…huh three missed calls from Ned and one incoming from his best friend…that explained what woke him he supposed.

"Hello?" Peter grumbled into the phone still half asleep.

"Peter! Peter! Oh my god! Have you been online? You're trending on twitter!" Ned practically shouted down the phone in one breath.

Peter blinked slowly as he broke apart what his friend was saying. "I'm trending? Like Spiderman?"

"No, no that's it! You're trending."

"Ned, I don't know what you're talking about, was it really necessary to wake me up for this?"

"Duuuuude, yes! You. Are. Trending." Ned repeated as if he was speaking to a child.

"Ned" Peter said slowly mimicking his best friend's tone. "I don't know what you're talking about. Its half seven in the morning and I should still be asleep. Why are you even awake anyway?"

"We have family staying, my little cousin woke up at five. But that's not the point you are trending on twitter! Just open the app!"

Peter rolled his eyes but did as his friend said and opened Twitter, he had thirty messages…huh weird. He opened that first and quickly scrolled down the list, just people from school…it was still strange, no one ever messaged him on Twitter apart from Ned, he was fairly difficult to find as his name wasn't in his handle. He pushed it to the back of his mind as Ned's voice came out his phone again telling him to look at worldwide trends. Grumbling under his breath Peter did so then immediately dropped his phone in shock. "Fucking hell."

"Language!" FRIDAY said as she was now programmed to whenever anyone swore in the penthouse.

Peter ignored her as he picked his phone back up and looked at in disbelief. "Fri get my dad."

"Boss is asleep Peter, is there a problem I can help you with? As per Mrs Stark's request boss cannot be awoken unless there is an emergency."

"This is an emergency Fri! Get dad!"

Less than five seconds later Peter's door flew open and his dad stumbled into the room wearing Spiderman pyjama pants with an Iron Man gauntlet on his hand. "What's wrong?" The man asked frantically his heart in his mouth as soon as he laid eyes on his son. "Are you hurt? Fri said there was an emergency!"

Peter just handed his dad his phone silently unsure what to say exactly.

Tony took the phone from his son and looked at the screen his heart still hammering in his chest. "Pete…what am I supposed to be looking at? This doesn't seem like an emergency."

"The trends dad…"

Tony looked back at the phone confused "yeah it's me…Peter I don't want to brag but I trend on twitter all the time this isn't unusual."

Peter rolled his eyes "no dad…the second trend, yeah you're number one but look at the second."

Tony looked back down and paled "Peter Stark."

Peter just nodded numbly. Sure he had known people would find out who he was but he never expected to be trending on twitter.

"I'll call Pep and we'll discuss this and decide where to go from here, okay? This will all be fine Pete, we knew this day would come and it's fine we'll get through this, together." Tony told the boy as he squeezed his shoulder comfortingly.

Peter nodded smiling softly. "I know."

ʘ-ʘ-ʘ-ʘ-ʘ-ʘ

An hour later Peter was sitting in the lounge with his mom, dad, uncles and SI's press officer.

"We knew this would happen eventually but why today?" Pepper asked Tom the press officer.

"To be honest it's a credit to your son really, it's because of Ultimate Iron Man, someone looked into it and must have found the patent. It's not surprising really, every store he pitched to picked it up and it's been extremely popular."

"It's only been a week since they began stocking it though…" Peter breathed out shocked.

"Peter…" Tony started as he looked at his son, "do you realise just how successful Ultimate Iron Man is?"

"Well I've looked through the books but I was going to wait a month or so, let it get off its feet before I looked in depth."

"Peter, it's been a huge success, it's flying off the shelves. SI is struggling to create them fast enough to meet demand."

"Huh." Peter said stunned at the news, sure he knew it was doing well he had a google alert turned on for it and it was receiving good reviews but he hadn't realised it was doing that well.

"I can't be sure but I think someone made the SI link then looked into it, perhaps to write an article about the company's new venture but then they stumbled across Peter's name and decided that was a bigger story." Tom told them.

"That makes sense, but where do we go from here?" Rhodey asked as he looked at his nephew worry clear in his eyes, he had witnessed the hounding Tony received and he would hate to see Peter suffer in such a way.

"Well a press release is needed at the very least, if we don't address the issue it will just get worse but a conference would be preferable."

"What do you think Pete?" Tony asked after several moments of silence as everyone thought over their options.

"I suppose a conference is probably for the best, we knew this would happen eventually and people at school and within SI know so it's not like it's been a total secret up to now."

"Okay, if you're sure that's what we'll do then." Pepper stated looking at her son and smiling softly when he nodded at her. "We already have one organised with the Avengers tomorrow about them returning to the compound, should we just combine it? We have already vetted everyone coming so it seems sensible, Peter is our son which may be newsworthy, but he is not going to be paraded around and I think by combining the conferences we show this. If we call a conference purely to speak about him I worry it may give the press the impression they can act as they did when Tony was young."

Tony nodded he wasn't happy about letting the vultures at his son but as he had told the boy they were aware it was inevitable. "Tom, make an announcement that we will discuss the latest rumours surrounding my private life at tomorrows conference. And make clear any slanderous claims will be dealt with swiftly by our lawyers."

When Tom finished writing Pepper stood and showed him out as she thanked him for his time. "I guess none of us will be leaving the tower today then, what with the chance of being hounded by the press so what do you suggest?" she asked speaking to the room at large.

"Monopoly?" Peter asked earning a groan from his uncle Happy and slightly terrifying smirks from the other three in the room.

ʘ-ʘ-ʘ-ʘ-ʘ-ʘ

"Dad how can you be so bad at this? You own a FTSE500 company!" Peter asked an hour and a half into their game as his dad landed on another one of his hotels.

"I am good at this game! You're just cheating spiderboy. I don't know how you're doing it but you definitely are! So is Pep, I never lost a game before I met her!"

Peter just scoffed at his dad's words grinning as he added the money to his own steadily growing pile of cash, "that's impossible, mom's the banker, I'd have more chance stealing something from the White House than from her. And she would never cheat. Face it we're just better than you."

Rhodey smiled as he watched his nephew and best friend interact, himself and Happy had been knocked out within forty-five minutes and he couldn't say he was surprised. He had played plenty of times with Tony in the past and never beaten him, then when Pepper joined years later she had taken his crown, but now it appeared their son was going to beat the pair of them. It was slightly terrifying how ruthless he was being, he never would have suspected it, maybe he picked it up from May. As he watched though he couldn't deny the similarities between Peter and his two adoptive parents, despite not being their biological son he was clearly the best of both of them.

ʘ-ʘ-ʘ-ʘ-ʘ-ʘ

Two hours later the elevator opened and Tony looked up to see the other Avengers arriving, both the Rogues and Nat and Bruce. Their relationships and overall team dynamic wasn't the same as it was before the so called Civil War and he supposed it never would be but they were getting better. Sure, tension still existed especially between himself and Steve but it was getting easier, he supposed he had Peter to thank for that. Peter had quickly found friends in Sam, Scott and Clint largely due to video games and pranks and that in turn had helped heal his own relationships with the three men.

"Have you taken over the board yet Spiderboy?" Clint asked the teen as he leapt over the back of the sofa and made himself comfortable. At the questioning looks from the boy's family he elaborated, "he convinced us to play a week ago he was a demon, had us all out within two hours. It was embarrassing and slightly terrifying to be honest, that sweet face hides a monster."

"Hey!" Both Stark men said in unison over the name calling earning a soft laugh from everyone else.

"I can't help it that you're all terrible, I never once beat Aunt May or Uncle Ben, and we used to play all the time." Peter complained as he took rent off his mom, who was the only one left by this point and realistically would be out on her next roll.

Tony couldn't help but grin as he watched his son bankrupt his wife, he didn't think he'd ever seen Pepper lose at anything. Ever. As he watched his son interact with his family and the Avengers he could only wonder if evenings like these would continue once Peter was known to the general public. As much as he knew it was inevitable Peter would eventually be exposed to the press he couldn't help but worry, he knew Peter, he knew he was better than himself but he couldn't help but worry about how the press would react to the boy and how Peter would react to them. Logically he knew it was highly unlikely Peter would turn out like him and go off the rails, after all Tony didn't put pressure on his son in the way Howard had with him, also his son had a strong support network which he himself had not had at the same age. Still he couldn't help but worry, tomorrow was going to change the lives of himself and his family and he couldn't stop himself from thinking the worst.

ʘ-ʘ-ʘ-ʘ-ʘ-ʘ

Peter was once again stood in front of his mirror trying to tie his tie.

"You don't need to bother with that Pete, this is not a formal affair." Tony told his son as he walked into the teen's bedroom.

"I want to make a good impression though." Peter explained as he turned to face the older man.

"You can make a good impression by being you Peter. You don't need to dress up to make a good impression I hope you know that." When Peter nodded Tony continued, "and as real as we are wanting to come across today all press conferences and the media in general is like a game, it's a constant game with some marketing strategy thrown in."

"I don't know what you're trying to tell me dad. Just tell me what to wear."

Tony ran his hand through his hair as he tried to find the words he was looking for. "Okay, so we are trying to show the press we are a normal, happy family, which of course we are. We want people to know this is real, we are a real family who love each other, we want to stay as far away from the Stark family image portrayed by Howard as possible."

"But we are a real family, why wouldn't we be?"

Tony let out a breath and sat down on the bed gesturing for his son to sit next to him. "Peter you're too young to really remember, but when I was younger I was reckless, I was always getting drunk, taking women home. I was a mess. And even though I haven't been that man in a long time the media remembers. Some think you are a tactic to make me look good."

"But you haven't been like that in a long time. You're Iron Man." Peter interrupted still confused.

"Of course, but it tarnished my image. People remember and I will always be attached to that image as long as I live. The majority of my life in the media I've been the irresponsible rich playboy. People cannot connect this to the idea of Tony Stark a dad…they don't believe it possible, so they think it must be fake. They think I took advantage and you are simply charity or a pity project."

"So we need people to see you being dadlike? They need to see we are a real family and not strangers living together?"

"As sad as it is, yes Pete but you don't need to worry about that, you just need to go out and be you. We will have the conference about the Avengers first and then after that you will come out with Pep and we will introduce you."

Peter nodded still a little apprehensive, "so I can wear just normal clothes?"

"Wear whatever you want Peter, heck wear your Iron Man pyjamas if you want." Tony told the boy grinning as the kid's ears turned red. He ruffled the boy's hair before making his leave, the Avengers conference was due to start soon so he made his way down the common floor to meet the others, Peter and Pep wouldn't be expected for another hour or so.

ʘ-ʘ-ʘ-ʘ-ʘ-ʘ

"You'll be fine Peter, just relax, you'll be with me and your dad the whole time and the Avengers will stay out there too."

Peter nodded at his mom's words as he tried to relax. It was still stressful though, sure he had done the Ultimate Iron Man presentation but he was still worried. For Ultimate Iron Man he was a nobody and it was essentially just about making money for the stockers he presented to, this was not so simple, he had heard those around him refer to the press as vultures on many occasions after all.

Peter let out a breath and listened in to what was happening on the other side of the screen he was stood behind with his mom. His dad was speaking.

"Early yesterday morning information came to light regarding my family, and we will be addressing this in a moment. But before we do I would just like to say any slanderous articles or comments regarding this matter will be dealt with swiftly and harshly by SI's lawyers and this is a promise not a threat." Tony was silent for a moment to allow his words to sink in. Everyone was waiting with baited breath for him to continue. "Pep come on in."

Peter took a breath and smiled softly up at his mom as she placed a hand on his shoulder in comfort and stepped out from behind the screen. He had to supress a flinch at the sudden noise as the previously silent room seemed to go crazy, the camera flashes were practically blinding and he knew if they continued for too long his enhanced senses would begin to play up. He made his way across to his dad quickly and sat down in the empty chair next to him relaxing slightly as his mom sat on his other side.

Tony held up a hand after several moments, "that's enough now, let me speak." When the room once again fell silent he continued. "Thank you, now this here is Peter Benjamin Parker Stark and he is mine and Pepper's son. Peter came to my attention nearly two years ago and we quickly became close, after a year or so I became his secondary guardian. After his Aunt May sadly passed away earlier this year Peter came to live with me and Pep. He had been our son for a long time already by this time and quite frankly we didn't need to think twice, it was the only option." He paused again for a few seconds to allow the reporters to jot down what he said, "we will now allow questions, one at a time and we may refuse to answer any we deem intrusive or unnecessary." At this he turned and nodded towards one of the SI press aides who would point at reporters to ask questions.

"Peter." At his name Peter looked towards the reporter who had spoken, "how did you become Tony's intern at such a young age? As far as we are aware SI had never had such a young intern."

"I was dumpster diving, I was fixing up broken electrical goods and selling them online for some extra money. Somehow dad found out about me and then turned up at my apartment. I just worked with him for a while in his own labs…well he didn't actually pay me at the time so I suppose I didn't work as such…" Peter mused.

Tony interrupted at that moment. "truthfully it hadn't really occurred to me to pay the kid, he was…is a genius," he told them fondly glancing at his son briefly "it was a bit like being in the lab with Brucey-bear but then when he told me he was looking for a job I hired him immediately and he became a proper SI intern, with backpay of course. I couldn't let anyone else get a hold of his brain" he joked earning chuckles from the reporters.

Another reporter was pointed to and spoke to Pepper, "Mrs Stark it is clear your husband met Peter before yourself, did it make you reconsider your relationship? Him picking up a child did it strain your relationship?"

Pepper squeezed her son's hand under the table and calmly answered the question, "It was a no brainer, Peter is a delight, I don't think anyone could meet him and not fall in love with him immediately."

Peter blushed at her words ignoring his uncle's snickering from his dad's other side. "Peter was no strain on our relationship, if anything he made it stronger. He brings out a side of Tony I have never seen before, the Tony of ten years ago is unrecognisable in my husband of today."

ʘ-ʘ-ʘ-ʘ-ʘ-ʘ

After forty minutes or so Peter was getting bored, they had been asked plenty of questions regarding how they met and his own background, some of which they had not answered. Why would they ask about Ben's murder? Who does that?

"Peter, you became known to the world as a result of Ultimate Iron Man can you tell us about that?"

Peter smiled softly, this he could answer without worry, "Ultimate Iron Man is a toy I designed, in the lead up to dad's birthday I was stuck. What do you buy a billionaire? Uncle Rhodey said he would love anything I got him but I wanted it to be something memorable, I couldn't find what I wanted though so I created it. I wanted something we could do together so I made a remote control Iron Man so we could race them and fly them together. Ultimate Iron Man came from an employees son who wanted to get one for himself and well….that's it." He finished slightly lamely blushing.

"You must be proud Mr Stark for what your son has achieved with this robot?"

"Of course I am, but I am always proud of my boy, it doesn't matter what he does. I'm his dad and I'll always be proud of him." He ignored the coos he could hear from the audience and simply ruffled his son's hair affectionately laughing as the boy elbowed him in the side.

"So Peter was living in Stark Tower when the Rogue Avengers came home, what was that like for you?" Another journalist asked the other Avengers.

Steve leaned forward immediately, "it was a surprise, certainly. We had no idea but the differences in Tony and Pepper were clear as is their love for their son."

Clint interrupted before the man could continue "Tony is such a soccer dad."

Tony blushed and hid his face as the others suddenly began to almost fight to be heard.

"The number of times we've found him asleep with Pete on the couch is startling." Sam cut in.

"Yeah and Mr Irresponsible here has become the total opposite. You can't swear in the tower without FRIDAY shouting at you, suddenly eating vegetables is no longer optional if you want to eat dinner in the penthouse."

"That's part of being an adult Barton." Tony drawled as he put his arm over his son's shoulder. "We have time for one more question," he said pointing at a random journalist "you."

"What's it like having Tony Stark for a dad Peter?" The room fell silent as the boy swallowed nervously before answering.

"Well he's sort of the same as any dad. He makes sure I'm up on time to go to school, he makes sure my homework is done before I use my Xbox, he won't let me leave the table until I finish my dinner and he supports me in everything I do. But also we spend time in the lab together, and he's shown me the Iron Man suits, I don't think that's something every dad can do. He's exactly what I need, he's there every time I need him, whether that's for my decathlon competitions, getting my wisdom teeth removed or my aunt's funeral. He's just my dad and the best one I could have."

Tony wiped his eyes at his son's words and pressed a soft kiss to the boy's head as he pulled the teen to his feet and nodded towards the exit. That was the shot that was front page on every paper the next morning.