Chapter Text
Whispers permeated the streets.
Newspapers fluttered in the wind and the headlines announcing that Tony Stark had chosen an heir decorated front pages for days.
Most of the news sources had chosen to align with what Pepper Potts and the entire PR department of Stark Industries had requested.
Others didn’t.
Favors were called in. Bribes changed hands. Security was put on high alert.
Pepper Potts watched it all happen from her window lined office. Standing and looking out of the window over the city, she crossed her arms and sighed.
It had taken days of negotiation with the board and Tony to lay out the way that the press conference was going to go.
The only reason that it had been necessary for them to reveal that information that yes, Tony Stark did in fact have an heir, was because of how hard a hit Iron Man had taken the day before. Videos had littered the news of Iron Man limping off of the battlefield and the board consequently created a riot.
Frantic about the fact that, every time Iron Man took a hit, the stocks went down, they demanded that Tony release to the public that he did in fact have an heir. The board had been notified of the fact a few months before.
Pepper watched the cars pass by below her and thought about how Tony had returned from the battle that night. Suppressing his pain, he had smiled at her and croaked out a “hey Pep” at his fiancée before groaning and clutching his side.
She had rushed forward and, with the help of FRIDAY, convinced him to get medical assistance. Two broken ribs. The nurse on call bandaged him up (with no lack of trouble from Tony) and Pepper had paced outside, watching the emails and calls on her phone add up.
The nurse walked out of the room and nodded at Pepper, who rushed in to the sight of Tony attempting to get up from the bed. The CEO sighed and sat down next to him, stroking her hand through his hair as he grimaced and tried to bat her hand away, a small smile playing on his face.
Her phone buzzed again. Looking down at it, she sighed, and Tony frowned.
“What’s going on, Pep?”
She placed the phone on the side table and looked her fiancé in the eyes.
“It’s the board. They want you to release information about Peter’s position so that the stocks stop getting as hurt whenever you go to fight.”
Tony’s eyes turned hard. “Absolutely not.”
“Tony…”
“Pepper. I had to deal with the press my entire life and I am not subjecting Peter to that kind of torment. I know exactly what they’ll say about him. Do you think they’ll believe that he’s not mine biologically? Do you think that the kids at his school will treat him the same? Do you think he’ll ever be able to go to a movie without being accosted by the paparazzi?”
“Tony…”
“I can’t do that to him, Pep.”
“I know.”
“I… I can’t do that to him.”
Tony had focused on a spot on the wall across from him and stared it down. Pepper took off her heels and climbed in next to him. Touching his face and turning it towards her, she looked him in the eyes and made a promise. “We’ll figure out something.”
That had been two weeks ago. In that time, the press had continued to send their lurking fingers through all sorts of aisles. Tony’s heart problems had only been increased with the fact that the Avengers had found a way to actually meet Peter while in the safety of the tower. Pepper had sat down with the board and with CEOs of news corporations and negotiated and negotiated because she made a promise to keep Peter safe from all of Tony’s fears.
She wished she had been there when the Avengers had breached the tower. Unfortunately, negotiating deals with the press for their silence on the matter had required her to fly across the country. She wasn’t there to defend her boys.
A knock sounded on her door and she turned around to see her assistant walk in. They covered the normal stuff. Signatures that were needed, schedules to change, expenses for the new model of the Stark phone, oh, and that WHiH claimed to have discovered the identity of the Stark heir.
Pepper paused and looked up in shock at the last piece of information, demanding to see proof. As her assistant walked out of the room, FRIDAY projected the announcement.
Christine Everhart.
Of course.
Apparently the investigative reporter had discovered lots of information and had ignored all of Pepper’s careful negotiations. It had been reported on WHiH’s website that there would be an hour long special that very day about the matter of the Stark heir.
Pepper’s eye twitched and she exhaled angrily. Running her hands through her hair, she stared down at the table.
FRIDAY interrupted. “Ms. Potts? My information lists Ms. Everhart as someone to be watched. Do you want me to inform Boss?”
Pepper looked up and smiled at the nearest camera.
“No need to tell Tony about this right now. Christine and I have an… interesting relationship. Let’s just say that I once alluded to her being trash. She’s tended to not cooperate since then. Fragile ego.”
“I see.”
“All right. FRIDAY can you connect me to the head of WHiH?”
Pepper spent the next hour on the phone.
It ended in Pepper placing the phone gently onto the table and steepling her fingers while spinning around in her chair.
That had been a thoroughly uncooperative call. They refused to stop the broadcast and refused to give her any information on what they would be releasing.
Pepper sighed, “All right. FRIDAY. Contact legal about what’s about to go down, freedom of the press and all that, but see if we can nail them with privacy violations or an ethics court. Tell PR to get ready with a statement and possibly a press conference. Let May know about the broadcast. Are Tony and Peter in the penthouse?”
“Yes, Ms. Potts.”
“Tell them that I’m coming up.”