Chapter Text
In the end it was Bucky who saved the day.
The day and a few paparazzi too.
But in all honesty, Tony wasn't entirely too happy with the fact that the ex assassin had saved him from what would have been a very expensive group of lawsuits.
They had arrived safely at the zoo in one piece only to be greeted by what looked to be at least half of San Diego’s paparazzi population.
They'd swarmed the moment the sleek black car drove into the parking area followed by the equally shiny red.
But by the grace of whatever deity was watching from above, they'd been barred from entering the parking area, giving the team a few minutes to collect themselves before they'd have to walk out to the chaos.
Tony had parked towards the back, turning the engine off before swiveling to face Peter who still looked a little terrified at just how fast it was that they'd been going, eyes wide as he clutched the seatbelt.
“Alright, team meeting before we go” he didn't even have to glance back to the front to press one of the many buttons on the dash.
“Copy.” Nat’s voice came from the speakers.
“There's a shit ton of paparazzi outside, just in case you missed it.”
“Mhm.”
“Whatever you do, don't touch them. Don't talk to them. Don't look them in the eyes. Just keep walking. And try your best not to get too physical, even if they're being touchy.”
Peter nodded. Tony had his serious face on, and that meant that this was important.
“Okay. Let's go.”
----
Peter couldn't breathe.
Too many voices in too loud volumes sealed with far too many flashes had his enhanced senses screaming.
He tried his best to keep his eyes on the ground in front of him as they moved slowly towards the entrance of the zoo. And all things considered, he was doing a pretty good job in hiding his internal suffering, until someone started getting handsy.
He had been following Tony’s shoes as a marker to where he was supposed to keep walking to, so it was more than a little surprising when he suddenly felt himself being yanked to the side in blind confusion and panic. His throat tightened considerably, head and heart beginning to pound. The sudden jerk followed by his near fall didn't help.
And before he could react there was a camera shoved near his face, blinding him momentarily.
He felt dizzy.
And then all of a sudden the man let go, pushing him none too gently into Banner who caught Peter in time.
Things were still hazy, so he followed Banners gentle guiding to continue. He saw Widow’s red hair to his left, but had lost sight of Tony.
But Bruce kept gently prodding so he kept moving, eyes glued to the floor through a shower of obnoxiously flashing cameras and yelled questions ranging from requests to downright heinous questions.
All of which he ignored.
He just kept walking, feeling incredibly out of his comfort zone.
----
The zoo itself was surprisingly void of any paparazzi. Something Peter was so grateful for.
It had given them three hours of non chaotic leisure time to walk around.
They'd stopped at nearly every animal, taking a little longer than the others at the Coyotes.
By the time they decided to leave, the entire chaotic paparazzi moment had nearly been forgotten with the sounds and lights back to normal.
It was almost too good to be true. The illusion had died the moment they made it out of the zoo towards the parking lot.
While the way in consisted of nosy paparazzi looking for scandalous details, the way out had antis, which made things so much worse.
They followed the team, heckling and harassing using some pretty vulgar language.
Even Rogers looked irritated.
Everyone from haters to jealous competitors, ex interns, extremist groups, pro weapon believers. Some of them fans from Hammer Industries.
But this wasn't new. Tony had grown up around these sorts. He had practice.
He had perfected the art of ignoring people by the age of ten.
He couldn't care less about what they thought.
But Peter was an entirely different story.
Peter didn't deserve this, and Tony felt like absolute shit in not being able to shield the teen from these demons.
So when a particularly angry but very scrawny man in the pro weapons group decided to send a punch in Peter’s general direction, Tony lost it.
With one quick moment he was seeing red, catching the punch only to have Barnes squeeze himself in between the potential fight.
Rogers had stepped up behind Tony and held him back while Barnes got the man to back off.
“You're nothing! You and your kid!” he continued to scream as he back off back to his group.
Tony narrowed his eyes, wholy ready to stomp the bastard.
Banner put himself between Peter and the hateful crowd, inching away as Widow brought up the rear.
“He's baiting you Tony. He's not worth it.” Rogers muttered, holding on in an iron tight vice.
Tony in turn didn't say a thing, still visibly fuming with a lack of utter hatred painted on his face.
They waited a moment more before Steve pulled Tony in the direction Bruce was headed, still shielding Peter.
Nat and Bucky stayed at the end, warding off any other possible attacks, not lowering their defensive stances until they got to the car.
---
They'd barely made it an hour into their near five hour flight before pictures started popping up.
To say Tony was unhappy was an understatement.
Article after article of false ideas and gossip.
But then again, it wasn't new. And on the large scale of things, in his experience, this situation was minor.
It would go away in a week or two.
But there was one article he couldn't bring himself to ignore.
“ The Next Privileged Asshole?” followed by what looked like an up close shot of Peter, eyes wide in panic looking more terrified than surprised.
He had seen the man grab Peter, bringing back a flood of horrid memories of past paparazzi mobs he had to deal with. He was young at the time, eyes wide, sincerely hoping against all hope that maybe if he could make it through at least one paparazzi mob without getting a negative article written, his father would actually be proud of him.
It hadn't worked of course. There was no way no one would give up the opportunity of fucking up Tony’s life. Especially not with Howard in the picture.
He had taken the brunt of negative commentary that had come from the very people who hated Howard and STARK Industries without having the courage to go after him directly.
No, Howard was too strong for that. Too rich, too powerful. Too big of a risk to go after him. So they turned their attention to Tony. Tony who had not yet recreated his cold and uncaring facade. Little boy Tony who tried his best to follow in his father’s gigantic shadow. He was willing to do anything to make the man proud.
In all honesty, he wasn't sure if he could stomach the idea of Peter being the same way.
The kid was out of it for sure, but not a single request was made to leave. He soldiered through, as much as Tony hated to admit, in a way that reminded him of his own self. The isolation. The fear of unprovoked violence. The absolute terror in what they might write about him next.
Peter didn't deserve any of that.
And the shirts. Of course they'd picked up on it, being the detail oriented pricks they were.
“Like Father Like Son” “Tony Stark 2.0” they'd taken photos from every possible angle, comparing the shirts to each other.
They picked him apart, reminding him of just how hated he really was by a great deal of people. And in true paparazzi style, they picked Peter apart too, delving into private information that shouldn't have been available in the first place.
And through it all, Tony felt like absolute shit.
This was on him.
He had turned into a Hayward, putting his kid in the middle of the public eye, opening him up to be vulnerable to so much hate and threats.
It was terrifying.
“It'll go away in a week or two” Steve broke the silence.
“Just avoid reading the tabloids. They say ridiculous things all the time” he glanced over to Peter who sat staring into space, trying to get his bearings straight.
“It's fine” he jolted out if his stupor with a grin that didn't quite reach his eyes.
“It's not. And I'm so sorry. You shouldn't have been put in that position in the first place.” Tony responded from the bar area in the back.
“I've got PR running clean up. Those pictures are going to get taken down.” He took a gulp out of his whiskey.
“But for now, all we can do is wait. I'm gonna need you to stay inside for the week, Peter. Until this whole things blows through.”
Peter nodded.
Tony continued to stare into his amber glass, trying his best to rebury the unwanted memories of the past.
They had four hours left, a couple more drinks and he'd be fine.
---
Two days after the zoo debacle found Tony returning from a short business trip to Norway, wanting nothing more than to lock himself in his lab for a while, far far away from the boring business investors.
So that's what he did. Strolling to his lab at four in the morning, in sweatpants.
He almost missed it, replying to the last of the emails on his phone while pressing the codes in.
And just as he pushed the door open he saw something flutter on his work table, something bright red.
He walked over, emails forgotten as he picked up the sheet.
It was a magazine cover, or at least that's what he thought it was.
A bright red magazine cover with a blown up photo on the front.
“Genuine Smiles” was the title with a photo of him laughing at a smiling Peter who had caught the Coyote’s attention.
He wasn't sure where the paparazzi had been in that picture, but he had to admit, if was a great candid shot.
He eyed the short article under it. “ I don't know about you, but it looks like, for the first time in decades, Tony Stark is actually genuinely smiling. Color me surprised. Who knew he'd be so different from Howard Stark?”
He stared a few moments longer before a sticky note fluttered to the ground from the back of the page.
“ You're beyond amazing. I really had a good time today. Thank you :) “