Chapter Text
Peter groaned loudly as he closed his computer.
Today had been a nightmare.
He had always known the paparazzi were nothing to joke about, but this was ridiculous. They were following him everywhere. You’d think after a week they would back off. But nope. Still going strong.
Peter had tried to get Tony to take care of them, but that hadn’t worked out very well.
“Hey, Dad. Why don’t you just throw some money at them? I’m sure they’ll leave me alone. Then I can do literally anything without them getting in my way.”
Tony placed his coffee mug back on the table and held up a finger. “First off, I do not just ‘throw money’ at people. Second, why on earth would you want that? It’s so much fun. It’s like a game. Trying to dodge all the cameras. And when you can’t, making the biggest show you can out of it.”
Peter huffed and rolled his eyes. “I will never understand how you like this much attention.” He collapsed onto the stool by his father’s workstation. “I just want to go out as Spiderman. Or go see my friends. But they won’t leave me alone.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, kid. There’s no going back. It’s better to just embrace it and find your new normal.”
That wasn’t working very well.
Peter was tired and miserable. He had had so many cameras flashed in his face that he was starting to wonder if he would have a permanent spot in his vision from the light burning his retinas. He wished he could go back to when he was in school with his friends. No fame. No acknowledgement. Just like a normal kid.
Not that he was normal. He knew he wasn’t, and he’d proudly declared that to the rest of the world. But still. That didn’t mean he wanted this excessive amount of attention.
It was like when he first got to school, and those rumors had gone rampant. Then, they had only wanted to know about the weird new kid. Now, they just wanted to be close to Spiderman or the son of Tony Stark. They didn’t really want to know Peter.
Someone had also given out his contact information, which made everything so much worse. He’d set up a program with Tony that sorted through all of the messages so he only had to read or hear the ones he wanted. He still usually went through all of them though, just so he knew what was going on.
He kept getting emails and text messages about “I would love to get an interview about…” or “I think it would greatly benefit you to start making your own merchandise, and I can help with that…” or “My charity business would love for you to sponsor it so more people will come…” There was nothing wrong with any of those things, but there was just an overabundance of them. It was driving him insane.
By far, the worst had been from his school principal.
Peter had seen the man’s name on the caller ID, so naturally he panicked. Was he in trouble? Was he getting kicked out of school for all the commotion he had caused? What did the man want from him?
Peter picked up the phone.
“Hello. Is this Mister Parker… um, Stark?”
Peter gulped. “Yes, Sir. And Parker is fine, thank you.”
“Alright then.” The man cleared his throat awkwardly on the other end of the line. What did he have to be nervous about? His nervousness made Peter’s nervousness intensify.
“Am I in trouble, Sir?”
“Oh, no no no. Absolutely not. In fact, far from it. I have nothing but high praise for you. Well, except for the dead aliens I had to get cleaned up. And you traumatizing quite a few of my students by beheading said aliens before their eyes. But in the grand scheme of things, that’s really nothing that bad.”
“Oh. Okay. Well….” Peter was confused. What else could the man be calling about?
The principal cleared his throat one more time. “I guess I should get to business. How to start? Wow, I have to say I have never done anything like this. You know how you are this Spiderman, Avenger, hero, role model?”
Nope. No idea.
There was dead silence on the other end of the line.
Peter’s face turned red as he realized he had actually said that out loud. Immediately, he began to splutter out apologies.
“I am so, so sorry, sir. That slipped out. I never would have meant to say that to you, really. I’ve just been so tired, and I haven’t been able to think straight with so many people trying to get my attention and….”
The principal laughed. “It’s quite alright. It was actually quite humorous. It simply threw me by surprise is all. You’re usually a quite kid. At least, from what I have seen and heard. But it seems you are your father’s son.”
“Oh. Yeah. Thanks.”
Peter was still mentally slapping himself in the head. He still hadn’t learned when to shut up. He was starting to believe he never would.
The principal continued. “Well, as I’m sure you noticed, we used to have a lot of videos trying to encourage our students to become the best versions of themselves.”
Peter chuckled. “Oh yeah. The ones with Steve. Those were the best.” His face fell as he realized where this conversation was going. “No. No. Not happening.”
“Mister Parker, I truly think your word would mean a lot to your peers and the community. Obviously, you wouldn’t be doing the same messages, since you are still a student yourself. But just a few. Maybe about standing up for those around you. Or antibullying. Or warnings against drugs. Or simply some school pride. Just think how well those would go over.”
Peter was shaking his head. Then, he realized the man couldn’t see that through the phone. “No, sir. I really don’t think that would go well.”
Peter suddenly felt bad for shoving those videos in Steve’s face. This had to be karma. And if Steve ever found out about this, it would be game over.
“Oh, I’m sure it would go much better than you think. And it won’t just be for our school. Spiderman’s messages would go all over the country. Imagine the impact you could have. And….”
Peter had stopped listening. He wanted nothing to do with that. He was too famous for his liking as it was. He didn’t need to be any more so.
“I’m sorry, but I would like to decline that offer.”
The principal tried in vain a little bit longer. Peter’s anxiety was growing by the second, so he finally decided to hang up.
Thankfully, the topic hadn’t been brought back up by anyone, but Peter was sure this luck wouldn’t last. Good thing he had the whole summer break to avoid the principal.
Peter felt his phone buzz beside him. At first, he was annoyed. Then, he realized this wasn’t a message buzz. This was an alert. A smile spread across his face as he grabbed his phone.
JARVIS was notifying him of a bus that had crashed on the side of a bridge. It was currently suspended half-way over the edge, but it could fall at any second, crushing the people inside and below.
Peter slipped on his suit and rushed out his bedroom window. Within two minutes, he was at the scene. He heard people shouting his name in the same distracting way they had been since the Scripa attack. He ignored it. He had other things to focus on.
He analyzed the scene. The best option would be for him to somehow pull the bus back up onto the bridge. Not too hard, right?
He landed behind the bus and shot some webs at it. He started to pull, but the weight was greater than he anticipated. He dug his heels into the concrete as he started to slide with the bus. Okay. Maybe not as easy as he first thought.
He spun himself around so he could pull over his shoulder. Not sure why, but he always found it easier that way. It was probably some physics thing. He made a mental note to look it up at some point.
With a lot of effort and time, he managed to get the bus back to safety. He pried the doors open and helped the passengers out one-by-one.
He turned around to swing away but stopped in shock as a light flashed in his face. The press had managed to sneak onto the scene. This was not only annoying as they could have gotten in his way, but it was dangerous for them. If this had been a fight, they would have been in serious trouble.
A reporter stepped forward. “Would you mind giving us a word about this event?”
Another stepped forward. “How have your duties as the local, daily hero changed now that your identity is known.”
“Would you mind stepping aside for an interview?”
“Could you tell us any news about the Avengers? How are they handling everything that has happened?”
Peter looked above him for a way of escape. He aimed a webshooter at the closest tower and fired. He swiftly ascended above the mass of people and swung back to the tower.
Still in his suit, he crawled onto his bed. He was exhausted. Mentally and physically. He decided he needed sleep. Who needed a normal sleep schedule? Why not go to bed at 3:00 in the afternoon?
Peter jolted awake as he heard JARVIS speaking to him.
“I’m sorry. Could you repeat that?” he mumbled as he rubbed his eyes.
“You appear to have a guest requesting permission to enter your room.”
Peter scrunched his face in confusion. “Seem to?”
“You do. Would you like me to send them to your floor?”
“Okayyy. I guess send them up.”
Peter sat on his bed, trying to think of who it could be. It definitely wasn’t one of the Avengers. They would call him to them. And it wasn’t anyone from the press or paparazzi. They wouldn’t be allowed to talk to JARVIS.
In fact, no one except the Avengers and a few high-ranking people had access to JARVIS. That meant the AI must have gone against his programming. He had deemed this person worthy of his help, which was a rare occurrence. So, who was it?
There was a rhythmic knock at his door. It was a dainty knock. Like the one from that princess in Frozen.
“Come in,” he called.
When the door opened, Peter’s jaw dropped. Okay. Definitely hadn’t seen that one coming.
“Emma?”