Peter's POV
In the school that is Midtown School of Science and Technology, everyone is basically a genius of some sort. You have biology geeks, math geeks, chemistry geeks, robotics geeks. You name a branch of STEM subjects, there are guaranteed to be at least 5 masters in every subject.
That being said, being a master in a subject doesn't mean that you would be instantly popular. Sure you might get hounded for homework help, but it doesn't mean you actually make friends as easily. It's more like people want to leech off of your knowledge and don't bother to get to know you.
There's a social pyramid in all schools and let's just say I'm towards the bottom of mine. I build Lego sets, I love Star Wars, I'm a whiz at chemistry and math. But people ignore the fact that I'm 'somewhat' intelligent and focus on the Lego and Star Wars part of my image. Which sucks big time. At least I'm graduating this year.
But at least I have my brother Harley to confide in. We argue over stupid stiff but we both enjoy poking fun at each other.
3rd person POV
Peter was sitting at his usual table with his small group of friends. Ned, MJ, and Betty made up this small group of people.
"So, what are you guys doing this weekend?" Ned asked the group.
"Uhhhh, I was planning on going to see that new movie coming out." Betty answered. "You know, the one with Emilia Clarke and what's his name."
"Oh yeah, I know which one you're talking about." Ned replied.
"You losers can go see a movie, I'm going to a protest outside of Oscorp." MJ replied, sipping her thermos of coffee.
"What did Oscorp do?" Peter asked curiously.
"They're trying to cover up an employee getting severely injured, the safety protocols are shitty, and HR is as usual, the worst part of it all in addition to the censorship of the incident online."
Peter nodded his head, eyes widened.
"Gotcha. I definitely understand why you're going."
MJ set her thermos down and opened her latest book, Speak.
Ned turned to look at Peter.
"Stark internship all weekend?" He inquired.
Peter shrugged and took a sip of water.
"I'm gonna hang out with Harley. Probably do some stuff in the lab. Usual stuff."
Betty shook her head in disbelief.
"I still can't believe you're friends with him." She said. "He's pretty high on the social ladder here. I mean I know you guys have the internship together but it's still kind of baffling that I never see you interacting in school."
Ohhhhh, if you only knew Betty. Peter laughed to himself on the inside.
Nobody at school knew that Peter and Harley were half brothers and the children of Tony Stark. Not even Ned or MJ knew although he suspected that MJ somehow knew or was close to figuring it out. She's scarily perceptive and freakishly good at knowing things about other people that she definitely shouldn't.
The bell rang signaling the end of lunch.
The four friends parted ways and headed to their respective classes.
*After school*
Peter arrived at the tower straight from Delmar's after picking up snacks for the weekend. He had grabbed an assortment, ranging from potato chips to pretzel M&Ms. He waved at Ms. Maldonado, the lady who commanded the reception area and dashed to the elevator, scanning his pass when prompted.
FRIDAY greeted him when the doors closed.
"How was your day Peter? Harley is already waiting for you. He told me to tell you, and I quote, "Peter, I hope you remembered my PRETZEL M&Ms not PEANUT M&M's like last time. If you forgot, I'm going to steal that new Lego set you were planning on building tomorrow. And I WILL hide it somewhere you'll never, ever, find it. Insert maniacal cackling, blah blah blah."
Peter stifled a laugh at Harley's message.
"Uh, well my day was the usual, you know. And tell Harley I got his stupid M&Ms. And I grabbed him something else too if he promises not to threaten the Legos again."
"Sure thing, Peter."
He exited the elevator to the floor which housed the labs he shared with Harley. There were multiple as the duo tended to accidentally blow things up and would need to have another place to work while repairs were being done. Needless to say, Tony was more than a little annoyed that his kids needed multiple labs because they kept blowing them up. But whatever, he loves them and will pay for it as long as he gets to blackmail them with all the ridiculous stories of what blew up and how it happened.
Harley looked up towards the door Peter walked through and lifted his welding mask off his face.
"Hand over the merchandise, blockhead." He said, his arm stretched towards the bag of goodies Peter was carrying.
"Only if you promise to leave the Legos alone, biotch." He replied.
Harley rolled his eyes and dramatically lifted his hand in the air as if he was testifying in court.
"I promise not to touch the Legos." He said in a half joking tone.
Peter handed him the pack of M&Ms as well as a container of Oreos.
"I still don't understand why you like pretzel M&Ms." Peter remarked. "There's too much pretzel and not enough chocolate."
Harley stared directly at him as he tore open the M&Ms and popped a few in his mouth.
"I don't understand why you don't like pineapple on pizza." Harley shot back as he swiveled around in his chair
Peter groaned.
"We are not having this discussion again."
"Peter you're an idiot if you don't like pineapple on your pizza."
"Harley, you're a disgrace to the entire state of New York if you do. Fruit is not supposed to go on a proper pizza."
(A/N: I realized after I finished writing this and from people's comments that tomato is infact a fruit. I am a dumbass and I apologize.)
Harley chucked a bolt at Peter's head.
"Hey!" He protested as he turned to look at Harley. And then he saw a glint in Harley's eyes.
"Pizza is a dish with everything from the food pyramid. You have grain, dairy, meat, vegetables, fats, and oh, wait, you don't like pineapple so you're missing out. You could be getting every nutrient from the food pyramid but you're an idiot so you miss your daily serving of delicious pineapple on your pizza."
"Oh my god, stop."
The boys busted out laughing for a full 3 minutes, eventually with Harley falling out of his chair. Tony walked in to find his kids cackling at who knows what, and one on the floor, almost incapacitated by his laughter. He sighed before clearing his throat to gain their attention.
The boys sobered up and finally stopped laughing but they had unshed tears left from the fun.
"What on earth were you two dying of laughter over? Should I call a therapist? Do I need to be concerned? Did you eat something that you shouldn't have?"
Harley sniggered as Peter was trying to keep a straight face.
"He was eating pretzel M&Ms!" Peter said, holding back his laughter. "The type that should be illegal!"
"Peter, you don't diss Pretzel M&Ms, they're an underappreciated member of the M&Ms family. If you think pretzel M&Ms should be illegal, you clearly haven't tried the raspberry ones." Harley replied while doing his best to keep his face straight. "If anything, you should call a therapist for Peter and help him overcome his aversion to pineapple on pizza."
Tony looked even more lost than he was before.
"Ok, I don't know what I'm supposed to make of this. FRIDAY, show me footage of what the hell happened while I wasn't here."
"Sure thing boss."
Friday pulled up security footage of Harley and Peter's conversation. Tony watched it as the two teens were snickering behind him. After he understood the situation he turned to his kids and let out a tired sigh.
"Ok, I don't understand your sense of humor, but I came to tell you that we're having Italian for dinner."
Peter pumped his fist and Harley just shrugged.
"Italian is fine by me I guess."
"All right kiddos, be in the dining room by 7ish or else I'll cut the power to these labs. We eat as a family."
*Time skip*
It was 2 am, Monday morning and everything was silent except for the faint noise of shuffling towards the ceiling.
Clint Barton was crawling around in the vents, obviously on his way to do something he probably shouldn't be.
He had lost a bet with Nat earlier and the punishment was that he had to steal something for blackmail off of FRIDAY's databases.
He quietly dropped out of a vent shaft into an important looking office. He didn't bother checking who it belonged to but he was already too far gone to ask.
"Ok Nat, what do you want me to look for?" He whispered into his earpiece.
"Check the computer on the desk. The password is written on a sticky note in your pocket."
He checked his pocket and there was indeed a post it with a password on it.
"Ok, what am I supposed to find?" He asked once he logged in.
"Look for footage from the labs." She said. "It's probably lab CTS2 or IAI1."
"CTS2 and IAI1, gotcha." He reaffirmed.
(A/N Kudos to everyone who correctly guesses what the lab names mean. Pretty sure you guys can figure it out.)
He browsed around until he found the cameras he needed.
"Ok, found em. What dates should I look at?"
"Look at this past Friday," She answered, "around 4:45 to 6:15 pm. Tony drank from a can of motor oil instead of his coffee cup. I would like this footage in my posession. For my entertainment, and possibly blackmail to pull on him."
"All righty, ok, uhhhh." He muttered as he searched through that window of time.
He watched snippets of the footage and fast forwarded a few times until he glimpsed footage of Harley swiveling around in his chair as Peter looked exasperated. He paused and rewound to see what the situation was.
As Clint watched the whole argument play out and the aftermath, a shit eating grin began to spread across his face. He emailed himself the whole interaction for his own entertainment (blackmail, cough cough) and went back to searching for what he originally came for. He eventually found it, sent it to Natasha, logged out of the computer, and climbed into the open vent.
"You get it?" Nat asked suspiciously.
"Oh yeah, I got it." He said, trying to hold back the mischievous laughter that was threatening to let loose. He checked his phone to see whether he got the email he sent to himself. But to his surprise and sudden panic, it was not there. His social media, however, was blowing up with comments about the two kids and who they were and theories people were spouting.
"Oh shit."
"What did you do, Clinton?" Nat asked in a threateningly monotone voice.
Clint banged his head on the vent, forgetting that he still had his comms on.
"I may or may not have accidentally exposed Peter and Harley as Tony's kids."
Nat was silent for a moment before she finally responded.
"Tony's probably going to kill you for this, so you should pack your bags right now. Make funeral arrangements as well and update your will."
"Ah shit."
*Monday morning, 6:45 am*
Peter woke up to his phone ringing. He groaned and turned on his side to ignore the call. The phone rang again and he sighed before reluctantly sitting up and grabbing his phone.
What the hell, who's calling this early?
He looked at his notifications and saw multiple missed calls and texts from Ned and MJ. Something must have happened because Ned had typed in all caps, 'PETER EVERYONE KNOWS! CALL ME NOW!' MJ's text just said, 'I knew already. Don't try to hide it from me whenever you come to school.'
Instantly, Peter was wide awake. Did the whole world know he was Spiderman? But how did this happen, who would leak that information and how did they get it?
He called Ned and before he could even say, "What's up?" Ned butted in with a sentence he was not expecting.
"Peter, when were you going to tell me your dad was Tony Stark?! This is even bigger than Spiderman! As your Guy in the Chair, I think this knowledge might have been missing in our conversations."
Peter was at a loss for words as he stood up.
"It's all over social media and people are going apeshit over this!"
"Ned, you shouldn't believe everything you read on the internet." Peter replied in a nervous tone as he began pacing back and forth in his room. "How do you know the source is credible? Remember what Ms. Hernandez said about credibility when giving information in an essays or whatever?"
"But Peter, Hawkeye was the one who posted it. You know, the Avenger who shoots arrows?"
Peter stopped pacing and froze midstep.
Uncle Clint was behind this? But why?
"You sure he wasn't hacked?" Peter asked as he feebly attempted to get out of this confrontation.
"No, it's security footage from a lab. Tony said in the video that you guys were a family."
Peter then realized that he couldn't worm his way out of this situation. The whole world knew he and Harley were brothers and the sons of Tony Stark. Of course this happened, why wouldn't it?
"I'm going to call you back, I need to talk to Clint." Peter said.
"Ok, just let me know if you and Harley are going to be ok or not." Ned replied.
"Bye Ned."
"Bye."
Peter hung up and took a deep breath before leaving his room to go find Clint.
He entered the kitchen and almost everyone was there except the one person he wanted to talk to.
"Hey, uh, where's uncle Clint?" Peter asked.
Uncle Steve looked up from his breakfast.
"He left last night. Family emergency."
"Uh huh, so correct me if I'm wrong but Clint left because dad was going to kill him, right?"
Suddenly everyone was avoiding eye contact with Peter. Yup, everyone knew what happened.
Just then, Tony walked in with a very irritated expression.
"I don't think you and Harley are going to be able to go to school today. Some kid from your school, Dash or something posted you go to school with him and know you both. So there are multiple news stations outside the tower and surrounding your school. Might be best to just stay home today."
"Is Uncle Clint still alive?" Harley asked as he walked in, yawning.
"He is alive," Tony responded "Not for much longer though."
"Dad, you can't just kill him." Peter protested. "It's not like he actually did anything that warrants his death."
"I don't think he meant to do it." Harley added. "He deleted it maybe 10 minutes after he posted it but other people recorded it on their own devices and re shared it. He probably realized what he had done and tried to delete it but of course, once it's out there, it's out there."
"Don't kill Uncle Clint, he's got a wife and kids. Besides, we need him on the team." Peter said.
"We don't need Clint," Tony said, waving his hand. "I already got a replacement set up."
Peter had not heard of this new team member that was apparently going to replace Clint.
"Who is it?" Harley asked curiously.
"Kate Bishop. She's already on her way here. Clint trained her to take over the mantle of Hawkeye anyway so it shouldn't be that big a deal." Tony shrugged. "She's a bit older than you two, 18 or 19, I can't remember at the moment."
"Ok, then, as long as she's trusted by you." Peter relented.
"Don't know what she might be like, but if Clint trained her, and they share similar personalities, whatever spirits above help us." Harley said solemnly.
Peter smacked Harley's arm.
"Hey!" He complained.
"She's not even here yet and you are badmouthing her already. Have some manners, dude."
"It doesn't matter at the moment right? You said it yourself, she's not here yet and I will 'have some manners' when she does."
All of a sudden, Peter heard a nearly imperceptible shuffling coming from above. He felt a shiver go down his spine and the instinct to get into a defensive position.
"He's right, you should have some manners young man." An unfamiliar voice boomed from above.
Harley looked around wildly in confusion.
"Who's there?! Are you a spirit from above???" He asked.
All of a sudden, a figure dropped out of the vent directly above Harley and tackled him to the ground.
"And that is Kate Bishop." Tony said, answering the question in everyone's mind.
Kate released Harley from her grip and she helped him up.
"Clint was right," She said, smiling. "Crawling through the vents to prank people is fun."
She looked up to the open vent and held out her arms, to everyone's confusion.
"Lucky, come on down!" She called.
To everyone's shock, a dog with one good eye poked his head out from the vent and jumped into Kate's arms.
"Oh crap, nobody has allergies to dog dander, right?" Kate asked, looking at everyone.
"Maybe? I'm not sure." Peter replied.
"Damn, I should have checked before bringing him, huh." Kate muttered.
Tony waved his hand at the dog.
"As long as he's potty trained, we should be fine." He said, trying to reassure her worries. "We're all fine with dogs."
Peter thought back to all the dogs he's pet on patrol. They always seemed happy to play with him and now there was a dog in the tower. Huzzah, he didn't get to only pet dogs on patrol now!
"Well, all's well that ends well, right?" Peter said.
"How about everyone gets acquainted with Kate?" Tony suggested. "It's not like you two are going to school today anyway."
Peter and Harley agreed and that day became a get to know the new team member day.
Peter texted Ned to let him know he was going to school the next day and invited him to the tower after school to meet someone. Oh the look on Ned's face when he found out would be priceless.
Yes, hi, hello everyone. It's been a hot minute since I've updated this and I apologize for that. As a reminder, requests will only be taken into account on the request chapter. Please keep all the requests there so I can keep track of them all. I plan to upload a couple more this week at least since I am on spring break right now.
Also I am stating here that as an Asian American, I am pleading for everyone to stop Asian hate. Please don't let your activism be performative, i.e. sharing posts but not actively changing your mindset and perceptions of the Asian and Pacific Islander communities. Don't support us just because you enjoy Asian media and culture i.e. anime, food, clothing, kpop, jpop, etc. support us because you actually care about the people. Include all Asians in your activism, not just Japanese, or Korean Americans, include Filipino Americans, include Vietnamese Americans.
Hate crimes against the AAPI community has gone up 145% in 2020 alone. And there's a chance the percentage is higher because of cases that haven't been reported. The Stop Asian Hate movement is not meant to detract from other movements such as the Black Lives Matter movement. Both are important and should support each other. The stereotype of the model minority has forced us against each other in the past. Don't give in to stereotypes and the pressure of hating other minorities. It is only when we stand together united that we can end white supremacy and stop the oppression forced upon anyone who is not white.
To my AAPI readers, please know I stand with you and know that I understand your struggles. Don't let other people frame you as the smart kid, the stick in the mud who never wants to take risks. Stand up for yourselves. You are more than just the kid who's supposed to be good at math. You are strong and when you do take a risk, you do it because you want to, not because of peer pressure. Nobody should be allowed to make you feel like you have to be perfect 24/7. Nobody should lord over the fact they got a higher grade on an assignment than you. These little microaggressions happen all the time, and if you have done this to others, you should feel ashamed of yourself. Stop thinking that every Asian kid is a genius, because a lot of us aren't and that's completely okay. We don't have to fit ourselves into that mold for anyone. We shouldn't have to do that. Stop Asian Hate and please check in and support your family and friends who are struggling right now.