Family Secrets

A Whole New School

Peter's school felt totally different now that he was a Stark. People definitely took more notice of Peter, it was the first thing he noticed when he pulled up on Monday morning. His father was driving him that morning and had insisted on taking the lambo, much to Peter's embarrassment.

There was nothing worse than being no one one week, and rolling up to school on Monday in a lambo amid Toyotas and mini-vans. Peter whined when Tony finally stopped in front of the school.

"Come on, Bambi, you gotta go," Tony's smile was warm and made Peter feel a little better.

"I'll see you after school?"

"Yeah, you will! Love you," Tony ruffled Peter's hair and made him chuckle.

"Bye, Dad, love you!"

Peter made his way up to the front of the school, noticing the stares he was getting from his classmates. Despite the fact that Peter should have felt on top of the world, he felt small and scared. He hated attention, especially attention like this. No one was quite sure how to approach the son of Tony and Pepper Stark, so instead they were whispering among themselves.

Ned was waiting for his best friend inside the school doors. "Dude, everyone is talking about you!"

"I know, I hate it," Peter mumbled.

The morning was off, Peter could feel it. He heard every footstep and every whisper. He knew he was going to have a hard day, probably spent fighting off a sensory overload. Ned had only ever seen Peter have one of his episodes, but after that, Peter's family had sat the shorter teen down and explained what to do if he was ever in that position again.

The two boys walked to class. Peter was moving slower than he normally did, his eyes were blurring slightly, and his head was ringing. They got to class fine, but paying attention was too much for Peter and he simply put his head down on the table when he got seated. It wasn't like he normally needed to, it was just chemistry, but they had a sub today.

"Hello, class. Let's start with roll... Flash Thompson?"

She continued with the names until she paused.

"Peter Stark?"

Peter raised his hand slowly.

"Like the kid in the news?"

"Yeah, that's me," he said softly.

"That's amazing, I have so many questions for you! You probably don't even need this class, I mean, Tony Stark is your dad and Dr. Banner is your Uncle, you know everything you need already," the teacher laughed in a high pitched giggle that ripped through Peter's head. She was too loud.

The rest of the class passed slowly, and all too loudly. There was something about this sub, her voice was just at the right pitch to drive Peter's spider powers into a frenzy. It was getting worse and worse, pretty soon the lights were too bright and the teen's clothes felt too scratchy. He was barely able to think, but his hazy thoughts suddenly turned to the looming bell.

"Ned," Peter breathed. "I'm having a hard time focusing, I think I'm going to have a sensory overload. The bell is going to set it off."

Ned blanched, feeling unprepared and unsure.

"You sure?" Ned's whisper was too loud and Peter winced.

"Yeah," Peter barely had the word out of his mouth when the bell finally rang, sending a shock through Peter's head. His eyes finally gave out, and he only saw white. There was nothing but static in his ears and he pressed his hands over his ears tightly, alerting Ned to the full blown attack. Peter slunk out of his chair with a thump that alerted the class to his condition. Ned pushed his chair back, kneeling by Peter and holding his hands.

"Peter, can you hear me? Look at me, I need-" Ned stopped when he realized that Peter's eyes were blank. Shit.

"Karen, call Peter's parents!"

"I already have," Karen said. If an AI could sound worried, Karen did. Ned felt his phone buzz and took it out only to see texts from Peter's family flooding in.

Peter's dad: Ned, you gotta try and snap him out of it

Peter's mom: Is he okay? Are you with him?

Black Widow: I'm coming with Tony, we'll be there soon.

Hulky: I have the med bay ready, make sure he keeps consciousness until Tony gets there.

Ned was working on getting Peter to reengage with him, the rest of the class was making it worse though. The crowd was whispering and only Ned knew how loud that was to Peter. The sub had dimmed the lights, which definitely helped, but she was now hounding Ned with questions, making Peter whimper.

Finally, Tony and Natasha burst through the door, quickly followed by Pepper a few minutes later.

"Everyone out," Tony said, ushering people out of the room. He took the sub aside once out in the hall to explain the situation as best he could without giving away Peter's secret.

"Мой маленький паук, пожалуйста, посмотри на меня, я здесь. Ты в безопасности, ты в порядке. Привет, сладкое сердце, я здесь," Natasha kept her voice as low as possible.(Translation: My little spider, please look at me, I'm right here. You're safe and secure, you're alright. Hey, sweet heart, I'm right here.)

Peter looked up, finally feeling his sight coming back. It was still blurry, but it was clearing up, and he could focus on his aunts words. Sometimes, Russian could pull him out of his episodes easier than English could, since he could focus on the foreign sounds rather than having English words blur into the rest of the noise around him.

Once he was finally out of the daze, Pepper gathered him into her arms. The feeling of fabric was still rough on Peter's skin, but he was thankful for the safe-feeling his mother's arms gave him.

"Hey, babe, it's me... Are you okay to move now? We're going to take you home now."

Peter nodded a little, letting himself cry just a bit. Ned was gathering his bag and handed it over to Natasha.

Tony had already signed Peter out, and was now getting him into the car. Pepper had left a big investors meeting, which Steve had covered, and Tony had just been working in the Tower, so both of them would be going with Peter back to the penthouse.

Natasha drove Pepper's car, while Pepper sat in the back of Tony's with Peter, holding him close.

Peter didn't recognize a lot of what was happening, the next thing he knew was that he was in bed, dressed in pajamas his Uncle and father had developed for the sole purpose of not feeling rough during his attacks. Karen had soundproofed the room and dimmed the lights, letting Peter slip into a deep sleep.

"He'll sleep it off," Pepper said to Tony when she finally shut the door to their son's room.

"A bad one... I wonder what set it off," he mused quietly.

"Probably school. If people were talking a lot about Saturday and he was already nervous, that could have made things worse."

"We're lucky he didn't pass out, Bruce thought we'd for sure be putting him in the Med Bay," Tony sighed.

Pepper smiled softly. "He's such a sweet kid, its a shame that he has to deal with all this."

Tony nodded softly. "He's kinda perfect, besides this."

"Hey! No one said this made him any less perfect!" Pepper swatted at him.

"That's not what I meant! I just mean that I wish he didn't have to deal with this at all!"

Pepper sighed, making her way to the kitchen and pouring herself a glass of wine.

"Drinking?" Tony said, leaning on the counter.

"No," Pepper smiled. "This is for you."

Tony took the glass, but his eyes showed his true confusion. "Why not-"

"I can't for the next few months."