When Peter found out that his dad was Iron Man at the press conference, he went through a whirlwind of emotions. He was so excited that his hero really was his dad, and he was relieved that he wasn't bored of Peter and was just spending all his time working on his suits( that Peter had then gotten to see), but he was also embarrassed that he revealed his thoughts to him, and the guilt of being so selfish and wanting attention instead of letting his dad work...

It was hard at times, having Iron Man as his dad. Peter and Mary were targeted by criminals now, but Peter didn't care much about them... When he saw Tony suffer from anxiety attacks or come close to dying, those were the parts that he hated about having a superhero dad. Peter could live the rest of his life in captivity by insane scientists; but when he watched his dad suffer on the TV or sleepless nights, Peter couldn't handle it.

There was a part of Tony's workshop that always made Peter smile and bring back the pure childhood memories he used to have about Iron Man. Tony had a whole corner dedicated to Peter's childhood drawings of Iron Man and some of the other Avengers. Peter sometimes caught Tony there when his work became too much, and it made the young teen happy to know that something from his past could help his dad.

But while Peter was excited that his dad was Iron Man when he was a child, he had a feeling that Tony wouldn't feel the same about his son being Spider-Man. Best not to tell him about his little... hobby just yet.

He'd probably regret that decision in the future.

When Peter found out that he was now enhanced -thanks to his little spider friend- he was so excited to tell his parents. He was a superhero now, he could be just like his dad! He wanted his parents to be proud of him. But then he realized... his dad was going to kill him. What parent in their right minds would let a fourteen-year-old kid save the city? Not to mention that Peter hadn't stayed with his group on the field trip to Oscorp like he promised... They were going to be so mad at him and ground him for life and there would be no way he'd be able to be a superhero after that.

Peter had been swinging around the city for a few months when he heard his parents talking about 'him'. He stood in the hall, listening to them with his enhanced hearing -though he didn't really need it, Tony was talking pretty loud.

"It's so weird...!" Tony yelled in excitement, waving his hands around, "He just showed up out of nowhere in these pajama things and caught the car with his bare hands! I thought maybe it was just his suit that was giving him these abilities when I first heard of him but getting to see him up close like that... It's so weird!"

Mary chuckled at her husband as she poured him a pot of coffee. "Are you thinking of recruiting him for the Avengers?"

Peter felt his heart jump. Was his dad going to offer him a job? Was he going to be an Avenger? That would be so awesome! He wanted to meet them all so badly -they were never around Tony's private living space when they came to the tower and Tony never took Peter with him when it was training time. Something about Tony not wanting Peter to pick another favorite Avenger aside from him. Peter had only met Rhodey (the man had dinner with them every week) and Bruce Banner before (an embarrassing but amazing day), but he would die if he met Captain America and Black Widow and Thor and Vision and basically everyone. His friends called him a fanboy... Peter couldn't disagree.

"Tracking him has been a little hard since he just appears and disappears from different areas, but I think I had a breakthrough," Tony held his cup in his hand but didn't drink from it as he spoke. "I noticed that he's only active in the afternoon and early night. No one's ever seen him in the morning, which means he probably has a job or something in his normal life. I'm thinking of putting a tracking device on him next time I see him and-"

That heart Peter felt jump earlier? Yeah, that heart was now frozen. Tony was going to put a tracker on Spider-Man and follow him? He's dead. He's so dead. Mom and dad were going to take turns murdering him.

"If he's wearing that mask and hasn't made a public announcement of his identity yet, I don't think you should be the one to reveal it."

His mother was a life saver.

"I'm not going to reveal his identity, just going to find him and offer him a job."

"Tony..."

"Alright, alright," Tony laughed lightly, "I won't find him in his personal life."

Peter let out a sigh of relief as he continued on his way, but he knew that he would still need to keep his guard up now. Tony was not one to give up easily.

And he was right. Not a week later, he found himself being stalked by his own dad through the city. Iron Man was trying his best to sneak behind Spider-Man without being seen - but he was failing thanks to Peter's spidey-sense. The boy kept calling out to Iron Man, who would wave before taking off in the other direction. Peter found that kind of hilarious.

Peter enjoyed his little volunteer work after school, he loved helping the people and the little old ladies that would try to give him money but just buy him a snack when he refused. He loved watching the news reporters saying that crime in the city was dropping ever since he started 'working'. It was rewarding.

He wondered if his dad felt this way as well. Tony had millions of screaming fans, and he did love the attention it seemed... So Peter would have to guess that it was a yes. Which meant that he was almost just like his dad (kind of (not really))!

Peter smiled happily to himself as he swung to another building, his senses zeroing in on Iron Man hiding behind him somewhere. He decided that he wouldn't call the man out just yet, what harm could he cause by simply stalking Peter? It would give him a chance to see how responsible he was and when the time was right and Peter decided to tell his parents about Spider-Man, Tony could remember this moment and think about how great Peter was at- Oh man!

Peter barely dodged the bullet that was aimed at his head, latching himself onto the side of a building and looking at the parking garage across the street. His eyes saw movement on the top levels as groups of men started laughing as they fired more guns at him. Peter gulped, his fourteen-year-old mind struggling with how to handle this situation. He's dealt with robbers and muggers before, but he's always had the benefit of surprise - and the guns hardly ever went off.

Peter quickly climbed up the building to the roof, bracing his feet on the edge before kicking off and jumping across the gap. He landed on the side of the garage, shooting a web at one of the drunk men and leaving them stuck to a nearby car as he started to take out the rest of the men.

They were all drunk convicts that Peter had sent to prison at some point in time - all brought together in this weird form out criminal friendship by their mutual hatred of Spider-Man. See? Spider-Man even let people make friends. He was such a great person.

It was a sloppy move, Peter honestly knew better... but he was showing off for his dad -who was no longer attempting to hide as he watched the fight- and forgot to check that all of them were secured. He was climbing up on the small concrete wall and about to greet Iron Man when the gunshot rang out.

Peter's eyes widened as he looked back at the man with his left hand loose and waving the gun around, quickly shooting another web at him. He could see the police cars on the street below, he knew that he needed to get away now instead of checking himself over.

He shot a web out to the nearest building and jumped off the side of the garage, doing his best to ignore the sharp pain that radiated through his side. The bullet was still inside him, oh God he could feel it...!

He latched on to the glass windows of the building and climbed to the roof, scrambling to the shaded area by the vents. He pressed back against the tin and took a deep breath, twisting to get a look at the wound in his back. Oh, that's not going to be fun to get out...

Peter bit down on the inside of the mask as he stuck his fingers into the hole, his breathing ragged as his finger brushed against the bullet.

"I'm pretty sure you aren't supposed to do it like that."

Just great...

Peter looked up to see Tony landing on the roof with him, his faceplate lifting up to get a better look at Spider-Man. He knelt down next to him and gently moved Peter's hands away, the boy groaning in pain as he was forced to let the bullet go.

"I've got a med-bay at the Stark Tower, you're welcomed there if you want."

"N-No thanks," Peter coughed a bit and tried to deepen his voice. "I've got super healing, I just need to get the bullet out and everything will be all better."

Tony quirked an eyebrow at the obviously fake voice but didn't say anything to it. "No one will give away your identity if that's what you're worried about. I have to say, I'm pretty curious as to who you are. C'mon, just one little peek won't hurt, will it?"

Yes, it will...

Peter ignored him as he stuck two fingers back into the wound, firmly gripping it and beginning to pull it out.

A wave of cold washed over Peter, his body shaking as he felt the color start to drain from his face. Not good... His vision swam as he sucked in a breath and clamped his free hand over his mouth, praying that he wouldn't throw up in his suit. He really wished that his dad would go away now so Peter could deal with this on his own and away from prying eyes.

Nope. Nope, Iron Man was curious and he was going to stay right there and oh God Peter was going to throw up.

It was a split second decision, Peter would rather take his chances with his dad that get a faceful of vomit.

He turned away from Tony's confused expression and ripped his mask off, hurling his guts out against the wall. The shock that was taking over from the gunshot was doing nothing to stop the craziness in him, and each heave that wracked his body tugged against his wound.

When he finally got everything under control, he took in a shaky breath and wiped his sleeve against his mouth. Note to self: don't get shot again.

"No..."

Peter snapped his head up, seeing Tony hold his mask in a clenched fist with the angriest look Peter had ever seen on his face -that's saying a lot for the boy that was held hostage on almost a weekly basis.

"Dad-"

"Not you!"

Peter flinched at the harsh yell and the slap of his mask hitting the concrete. He closed his eyes tightly as Tony's heavy breathing filled in the silence, swallowing down the lump in his throat. Could this day get any worse?

The sound of a motor filled the air, the universe seeming to answer Peter specifically as a news helicopter appeared over the edge of the building with a big, ugly camera aimed right at them. Peter quickly reached out for his mask and put it on, standing up and starting to stumble his way away from the camera.

The pain shot through him as he cried out and nearly faceplanted right back into the ground if it hadn't been for Iron Man wrapping his arm around him and carrying him off to somewhere more private. As they flew, Tony wrapped his other arm under Peter's legs and carried him princess style -Peter felt as if this was part of his punishment because Tony knew how much he hated being carried like this.

The whole trip to the tower was in complete silence, Peter knowing that he was really going to get it with every passing second. When they landed on the roof entrance, Tony stayed in his suit and only confirmed Peter's thoughts. If this bullet didn't kill him, then his dad would.

Peter was rushed into the med-bay where Bruce was working, Tony calling to him as he placed Peter on a bed.

"Hey, it's Spider-Man," Bruce smiled at the boy as he walked over, "What are you doing over here?"

Tony's faceplate lifted as he fixed his hard gaze on Peter, reaching out and tugging the boy's mask off none-too-gently.

"Peter?" Bruce tilted his head slightly as he looked between the father and son, his eyebrows drawn together as he pieced together the information before a look of realization hit him. "Oh... Oh man... um..."

"Bruce, I need you to look at his side. The idiotic tendencies of this child got him shot and the even more stupid mind of his wanted to pull the bullet out with his own damn fingers."

Peter flinched at the bite in his dad's voice, his head hanging low as he listened to Dr. Banner hum softly in acknowledgment. The doctor set to work with removing the bullet, the room falling into an uncomfortable silence that was only interrupted by the occasional grunt and whimper of pain from Peter.

It took a short while for Bruce to get the bullet out and stitch Peter up -the boy getting himself in even more trouble when he tried to say that he didn't need stitches and would just let himself heal naturally. Once all medical help was finished with, Bruce excused himself with a light pat on Peter's shoulder as the room went back into silence once again.

Neither superhero said anything for a while, neither wanting to be the first to talk. What could one even say during such a moment? There wasn't a handbook or anything for the topic 'I Just Found Out My Son Is A Superhero - Now What', was there? Tony should write a book like that... It could be a huge hit.

Though Tony might not be the best example to follow when it came to parenting...

"Dad...? I-"

"Nope, me first." Tony held up his hand, cutting Peter off as he took a deep breath. "Why? I just gotta know why you're doing this. Is it because you aren't getting enough attention here at home? Are you trying to prove yourself to me or the other Avengers? What made you put that suit on and try to stop crime all by yourself? That's not even a real suit, that's just pajamas!"

Peter frowned as he shook his head, "No, no, it's not like that at all." He stood up from the bed and faced his father fully, "I just wanted to be like you. When I realized what I could do, I knew immediately that I wanted to be a hero like you."

Tony's eyes widened slightly as he took a step back, processing the fact that his child became a hero just to be like him. "C-Couldn't you have waited, or... something? You know, until you're a legal adult?"

"I didn't plan for any of this to happen...!" Peter looked down, embarrassed by his little outburst as he realized that his dad didn't know how he got his powers. "It's not the suit that lets me do these things..."

Tony's eyebrows shot up, "You're enhanced?"

"Yeah... I was bitten by a radioactive spider and everything just started changing... I was planning on telling you at first, I swear, but I knew that you and mom would freak and I just wanted to show that I was good enough to be a hero and join the Avengers when the time was right."

"Peter, you're fourteen-"

"Just because I'm young doesn't mean I can't make a difference! The crime rate in Queens has gone down so much now that I'm helping out! And it's not always as dangerous as it was today; today was just a freak thing! It's normally really slow and I'm just stopping petty crimes like robbers and things! I'm hardly ever shot at or stabbed!"

"You've been stabbed before?"

Peter froze slightly as he realized he shouldn't have said that... He decided it would be better to just change course a bit. "Am I grounded?"

"Kid, you are so grounded. But let's let your mother decide everything out for us." Tony smiled and patted his shoulder, Peter's face paling at the thought of what his mother would do to him.

"I'm going to die before I can even finish high school..."

"Hey," Tony held his hands up in surrender, "You're the one that thought it would be a good idea to hide this from us. This is all on you."

A/N: I took a section of this story from a picture floating around on the internet of Tony finding out that his son is Spider-Man... I needed to see the story behind that and honestly, it's the whole reason for this story. Just so I could get some kind of background for that picture. ^_^;