Spider-Man? Who's He?

Ch. 1

Peter woke up to Theo jumping excitedly on his bed. He groaned and rolled over, swatting at his little brother. It didn't do much to stop the kid, though. He just dropped onto the bed and laid beside Peter, looking at him with wide eyes. Peter stared at him blankly, blinking a couple of times to adjust to the light in his room. Why did FRIDAY turn the panels on his window? He liked it better when they were shut. He figured Theo must have asked for her to turn them, though, since he didn't like dark rooms and Peter's room could get pretty dark with the panels closed.

"What do you want, Theo?" Peter mumbled, trying to push Theo away so he could go back to sleep. Finals had been awful and he was fully intending on getting enough sleep during the day he could catch up on Spider-Man duties at night. Last night had been the first night in over a week that he had gone out as Spider-Man and there had been a lot more crime than expected.

"Spider-Man was out last night!" Theo exclaimed, sitting up and grinning down at Peter. The six year old boy absolutely adored the hero and Peter knew this.

"That's great," Peter muttered, draping an arm over his eyes. Normally he would have encouraged Theo to talk about Spider-Man just so he could feel like he was doing something right, but at the moment, all he wanted to do was go back to sleep. "Can you go bother Harley? I'm tired." Theo's face dropped but he nodded. He climbed off Peter's bed and stumbled out of the room, going to find Harley.

Peter would have fallen right back asleep, but he felt bad about kicking Theo out of his room. He knew Harley didn't like listening to Theo talk about Spider-Man endlessly so he was often the one Theo went to. With a guilty conscience, he forced himself get out of bed and dress so he could find Theo. It didn't take more than ten minutes before he wandered down the hall and knocked on Harley's door. Harley yelled for him to come in and he poked his head in. Theo was kneeling on Harley's bed, bouncing while Harley sat at his desk looking less than thrilled to hear about Spider-Man.

"Hey, Theo," Peter said, opening the door further and leaning against the frame. "Sorry about earlier, I was really tired. I'd love to hear all about Spider-Man now." Harley looked relieved as Theo jumped off his bed and followed Peter out of Harley's room, telling him all about Spider-Man's achievements during the night.

Peter often wondered if it made him conceited to listen to his little brother praising his alter ego, but he always ignored that thought. Some people thought Spider-Man was a menace and only reported on him as though he were a criminal. Others, like Ned and Theo, thought Spider-Man was amazing and should be an Avenger. As much as Peter tried to avoid the negative comments on Spider-Man, he couldn't do entirely. Instead, he told himself that listening to Theo practically worship Spider-Man made up for all the awful things others said.

"And he even saved Mr. Delmar's store from a robbery!" Theo exclaimed, skipping beside Peter as they walked into the kitchen. Pepper was making breakfast while Tony was setting the table. "Mommy! Daddy!"

"Theo!" Tony exclaimed, turning around to pick Theo up as he jumped into his dad's arms.

"Did you hear about Spider-Man?" Theo asked. Tony nodded and Theo squirmed out of his arms. Tony handed Theo a handful of forks to put around the table and Theo told Tony everything FRIDAY had told him about Spider-Man's nightly adventures.

"Seems like he's not dead after all," Tony said. Theo nodded. "Wonder what he was up to all this time."

"Maybe he had finals," Peter suggested, hugging Pepper and kissing her cheek. "Morning, Mom."

"Good morning, Peter," Pepper replied. She turned and handed Peter something to take to the table and he set it in the centre of the table.

"What makes you think he's in school still? Maybe he's my age," Tony said. Peter chuckled.

"Dad, I love you, but there's no way a man your age could swing around New York like that," Peter said. Tony rolled his eyes and Harley raised an eyebrow as he walked into the room. Peter filled him in and he chuckled.

"Yeah, Dad," Harley said, patting Tony's back. "I'm with Peter on this one."

"Pep, you're on my side, right?" Tony asked. Pepper gave him a look. "What about you Theo? You think I could be Spider-Man." Theo shook his head and Tony sighed. "Fine. Dash my hopes and dreams before breakfast."

"Speaking of which, you all need to sit and eat if you want to be on time for school," Pepper said, bringing the last thing to the table. They all sat down and started eating. "Theo, have you decided on your birthday party theme?" Pepper asked, scooping eggs into her plate. Theo nodded.

"Spider-Man!" he exclaimed. It was the same as last year and the year before that. It wasn't that much of a surprise. "And I want him to come too!" Peter almost choked on his eggs and Harley had trouble swallowing his drink. Pepper and Tony noticed.

"It's okay if Theo wants another Spider-Man party," Tony said, giving them sharp looks. He had mistaken their surprise for mocking. "I don't think we can get Spider-Man to come, buddy." Theo frowned.

"But you're Iron Man," Theo reminded him. "Can't you find him on his patrol and ask him? I'm sure he'll say yes!"

"I'll try," Tony promised. Peter and Harley looked at each other, discretely giving the other a panicked look. If Tony promised he would do something for one of his sons, he would do it. That meant Peter would have to look out for Iron Man on his patrol. He already had to worry about someone finding him missing at the Tower, now he also needed to worry about what to do when confronting Iron Man.