A/N: THIS STORY HAS TIES TO THE CHAPTER 'CHRISTMAS FEELINGS' OF THIS STORY AND THE CHAPTER 'NEW YEAR' OF MY OTHER STORY TITLED 'SPIDER AND SNAKE'. HOWEVER, IT CAN BE READ AS A STAND ALONE

It was safe to say that Peter was noticed by the media (and some criminals) after the holidays... A young teen hanging out with the Avengers for two major celebrations? That was noticed and exploited by every newspaper and tabloid on the planet. Tony laughed at most of the stories they were coming up with, how Peter was his long lost son with Natasha or that Peter was like an older male version of Annie and staying with the billionaire for the holidays to make Stark look better. It was hilarious.

There were a few small papers that made the connection that maybe Peter was somehow related to Spider-Man, but no one was paying them any mind so the Avengers wouldn't either.

"You know you're going to have to hold a press conference to clear up Peter's role here." Pepper said as she walked into Tony's office, tablet in hand with -no doubt- another story of Peter.

"And ruin all the fun these vultures are having?" Tony chuckled as he folded his own newspaper with a picture of Peter on the front page. "I've already scheduled a meeting for tomorrow."

She rolled her eyes at him as they went over what he would say, Pepper wanting to make sure he wouldn't say something that they would regret later. He laughed a bit at her, but she held firm to the notes she was writing for him.

Of course, Tony didn't stay on track with the notes Pepper had prepared for him. He had caused quite a stir when he announced Peter as his long lost love child, both Pepper and Rhodey struggling to get the reporters to calm down long enough for Tony to make the official announcement that Peter Parker was simply Tony's protégé and personal intern. There was doubt about such at first, but Rhodey reminded all the reporters that this was Tony Stark they were dealing with... they seemed to calm down after that.

The problem now though was that the reporters wanted to interview Peter to discover what made him so great for Tony Stark to hire him as an intern. After all, Tony had refused to start an internship for years and now he suddenly had a high school as his personal intern. The kid had to have been special.

Unfortunately, May Parker denied interview rights to her nephew - which in reality only delayed the inevitable, the reporters would get to him one way or another. But in the mean time, they went for the next best thing...

Peter glanced around nervously to make sure no one was watching him as he snuck into a back alley after school, quickly changing into his Spider-Man suit. He had been warned by every adult that knew his secret to be careful of reporters now that the spotlight was on him. He was no longer a nobody that could hide in the shadows and people would ignore him. All of New York knew his face now thanks to the news and bloggers, meaning he may be ambushed at any time for interviews...

Spider-Manning was going to get a lot harder if people followed Peter Parker around all the time.

However, now that he was in his Spider persona, he had nothing to worry about. Because Spider-Man was fearless and carefree and wouldn't be bothered by a few reporters.

The day of crime-fighting was slow with a few bike thefts, someone with a fake gun trying to mug a woman (Peter ended up saving the mugger because the woman turned out to be a ninja or something), and found a lost dog. Boring but satisfying.

He was swinging through the city, looking for anything else he could help out with when he spotted a group of people surrounding the entrance to a building. Peter raised an eyebrow under his mask and landed on the side of the building so he could get a better look at what was going on.

"Spider-Man!" One of the people yelled out, drawing all the attention onto Peter. The eyes of his suit widened as twenty sets of eyes were suddenly locked on him, cameras and microphones being shoved in his direction as well.

And as sudden as the eyes and cameras that were pointed at him, each person in the crowd started shouting questions at him. The voices all blended in with the sounds of camera shutters and car engines on the streets, nearly sending Peter into a sensory overload on the spot.

He blinked and cleared his throat, holding up a hand to get everyone's attention and silence some of the noise. "O-One at a time, please." His eyes scanned the crowd before gesturing to a nice looking lady in a lavender dress, "How about you?"

"Spider-Man, you are close with Tony Stark, correct? What can you tell us of your relationship with the newly famed intern, Peter Parker?" The reporter stuck a microphone into Spider-Man's face, eager for any information that he would give her.

Peter hesitated slightly, panicking slightly as for what to do. He really wasn't expecting his day to turn out like this, and hadn't even begun to prepare what he would say to the press as Peter... What should he say? He had to say something- he was supposed to be hanging out with the Avengers, so of course he should know 'Peter Parker'. But what could he say about himself? What would Mr. Stark do? No, not what Mr. Stark would do... Mr. Stark announced that he was Iron Man at his first press conference, Peter couldn't do that.

It was all up to him, and he had to separate Peter Parker from Spider-Man.

With that thought in mind, Spider-Man gave a laugh and crossed his arms, "That guy is a huge jerk! Just one big failure at human life."

Maybe that wasn't the right thing to say... The way the reporters went crazy again and started asking more questions all at once for him to elaborate on had him regret all of this. He had to get out of there before he said something that would really mess him up...

He placed a hand on his ear, pretending to listen to something before turning away from the cameras and people, "Sorry, I have to go now! New mission!"

He shot a web at a building across the road and swung away from them, heading down the street.

Realizing a little too late that he probably just started an unintentional feud with himself in the press, Peter was filled with mixed emotions. On one hand, Spider-Man now hated Peter Parker; on the other hand... this would be so much fun.

A laugh built within him as he swung through the city, the adrenaline from the rushing wind and the feeling of falling able to raise his spirits about the predicament he just got himself into. Pretending to be rivals with himself would be fun, a definite change of pace to his normal everyday life.

Besides, when Mr. Stark gave him advice last week, he told Peter to have fun with the press. And that was exactly what he was doing.

Through the rest of the week, reporters from all over New York were looking for Spider-Man and Peter Parker both. News papers and internet blogs alike had taken what Peter said and ran with it all out, wanting follow ups from the hero and a response from the intern. Tony - as confused as he was - made sure that the vulturous reporters stayed away from his kid for as long as he could. But there was only so much he could do...

"Mr. Parker," A reporter shouted, rushing towards Peter as he was about to get in the car with Happy, "do you have a response to what Spider-Man said about you?"

There were other reporters there as well, all yelling above each other to have their questions answered first.

Peter glanced at Happy, fighting back a laugh at the confused look the man had. Happy didn't watch the news since it raised his blood pressure too much, so he had absolutely no idea what was happening now or why Peter would have some kind of response to Spider-Man.

Pushing that amusing thought aside, Peter turned to look directly at the camera and placed one hand on the microphone the reporter held. "Yeah, why don't you say that to my face, you tool? Go get a real job!"

The air was filled with the shouts of the reporters once again, but Peter was used to it now as he ran to get in the car, urging Happy to hurry.

"What the hell was that about?" Happy asked, glancing at him in the rear view mirror before cursing loudly as he blew the horn at the reporters and other students that were blocking his exit from the parking lot.

"I'm just having some fun with them, like Mr. Stark said." Peter chuckled as he looked out the window. He could only imagine what they would write this time. It was going to be great.

He had gotten some weird looks while at school today, most likely because Spider-Man had called him a jerk. It gave Flash more fuel to bully him with, but Peter honestly couldn't care because his mind had been so focused on when 'Peter' would get his shot to fire back at 'Spider-Man'.

Who would the press get next time? Would it be Spider-Man, or would they try to follow up on Peter? Maybe they would try to ask some of the Avengers? Hopefully they wouldn't go after May or his friends from school... May and Ned were as confused as everyone else about 'Spider-Man's' weird announcement to the reporters and would probably not know what to say, MJ on the other hand... well she would probably walk away. Or she might spread another rumor around that was even more outrageous as what Peter was doing now. It could honestly go either way with her.

"Hey, kid," Tony's voice shook him out of his thoughts as his door was opened, the man behind the voice standing outside of the car and gesturing for him to step out.

Peter grinned as he hopped to his feet, pulling his backpack with him as he and Tony walked into the Avengers Compound.

"How was school?" Tony asked, though his voice hinted that something other than small talk was on his mind, and Peter had a pretty good guess as to what it was.

"It was good, I think I aced my physics pop quiz," Peter played along, fighting down a smirk. "And the lunch lady gave me an extra slice of pizza too, which was cool."

"That's cool, cool..." Tony pulled his phone out, flipping it a bit as a hologram appeared above it with a news screen that said:

"Spider-Man and Intern Parker - Bitter Rivals?"

Spider-Man laughed as he crossed his arms, "That guy is a huge jerk! Just one big failure at human life."

Peter looked directly at the camera, placing one hand on the microphone the reporter held. "Yeah, why don't you say that to my face, you tool? Go get a real job!"

There was a news lady that started to comment on the two clips, but Tony muted it and put his phone away. "They really seem to hate each other, don't they?"

Peter nodded, a frown forming on his face. "Yeah. I can't believe Spider-Man said that about me though. I think he's jealous, because he knows I'm your favorite."

It was silent for a while as Tony stared at him, his expression unreadable. He blinked a few times and took a breath in through his nose before taking his sunglasses off and looking the boy right in the eyes.

"Peter..." Tony started, "what the hell? Are you okay? Do I need to call up a doctor or something? This isn't split personality or something, right?"

The genuine worry and concern plastered over Tony's face had Peter struggling to keep a straight face, but he ultimately failed and let out a laugh he had been holding in since seeing his two interviews together. Of course, that only made Tony worry more.

"Oh God, you've gone insane. I knew the pressure of super heroing at such a young age would get to you. You're going to turn into the Miley Cyrus of the Avengers!"

Tony's short rant only made Peter laugh harder; soon having to lean over and rest his hands on his knees or else fear he would fall over. Of course, Mr. Stark still ranting and raving in the background did not help him recover at all. It wasn't until Tony took out his phone to call a doctor that Peter finally managed to quiet his laughter into a wheeze, trying to force his voice out with the little air left in his lungs.

"W-Wait...! Please...!" Peter stood up, wheezing subsiding slowly and interrupted by a cough here or there, "I'm fine, I promise."

"You're sure?" Tony raised an eyebrow, warily gazing at Peter. "Because you're not acting like it."

"No," Peter chuckled, shaking his head, "I'm doing what you said and having fun with the press. What I said the first time kinda slipped out without me properly thinking it through, but it's really fun now to see them freak out over this fake rivalry. Everyone is head-over-heels for it!"

"Kid..." Tony was at a loss for words. When he told Peter to 'have fun with it', he hadn't actually expected him to listen! Peter did his best to avoid attention to himself for fear of the world finding out his identity, and yet here he was drawing attention from the biggest news sources in the city to not one - but both of his identities! He was such a bad influence on him...

"Besides," Peter continued, "this is great cover for me. If the world thinks Spider-Man and I hate each other, no one's going to try and say that we're the same person. I mean, what normal person would start a fight with himself?"

Tony blinked in disbelief once again. There was no way... "You planned this?"

A lopsided grin formed as Peter shrugged, "Sort of, yeah."

The man rolled his eyes and placed his head in his hands, "Oh mon dieu..."

"You're just upset that you didn't think of this before that press conference when you told everyone who you were!" Peter laughed, causing Tony to chuckle and clap a hand on his shoulder.

"Okay, you may - may! - have a point." The two of them started walking to the labs, where they would spend the next few hours working together on their projects and discussing other ways that Peter and Spider-Man could fight.

The next few years would definitely be interesting.

A/N: You have no idea how long I've wanted to write this idea... It's just been sitting on my computer, taunting me this whole time.

As I said before, this story ties in two other chapters I wrote before, "Christmas Feelings" from this story and "New Year" from my other story Spider and Snake (Peter and Loki friendship oneshots). I do plan to write a new chapter for Spider and Snake that has mentions of this story in it, though it won't be anything too related so you don't have to read it if you don't want to.

And remember: Reviews make me happy! XD And a happy author gets more stories out faster! (I'm trying to get out of the slump I've been in since college started, so I could really use the encouragement 3 )