No Comment

Ch. 6

Unfortunately for the Starks (and Peter, but he didn't know yet), FRIDAY had the same luck as Pepper when it came to finding publicists.  Tony had been told their best bet would be a not-so-great company (compared to what Stark Industries usually had) that could take them in a week at the very soonest.  While Peter was working on homework with Ned and Michelle before dinner, Tony worked to set up appointments with the best publicist companies he could find in either New York or Malibu, no matter how long it would take to become a client.  Pepper would have to step in for a while, but she was trying to look on the bright side.

After dinner, Happy was called to take Michelle and Ned home while Peter got his stuff packed as tonight would be his last night with Tony and Pepper.  He didn't have to pack everything, but he wanted to have enough packed it would be easy to grab and finish packing in the morning.  He was in the middle of folding a freshly washed shirt, Dum-E watching him happily and holding a single sock, when Pepper gently knocked on his door.  He looked up and grinned, telling her she could come in.  He wasn't expecting Tony to follow her in and slowed his laundry folding.

"What's up?"  he asked, trying to sound casual.  He knew from movies that whenever two adults, especially adults that acted as parents, came into a kid's room, they were usually about to deliver bad news.  He couldn't remember doing anything that could get him in trouble, but that didn't calm his nerves.

"Hey, Peter,"  Tony said, flopping down on Peter's bed dramatically.  He wasn't sure why it was the most comfortable bed in the house, but he knew that if anyone deserved it, Peter did.  "How's packing coming?"

"Am I in trouble?"  Peter burst.  Tony lifted his head off the bed enough he could see Peter, looking at him in confusion.  Pepper shook her head, joining Tony on Peter's bed, but less sprawled out.

"No, we just wanted to talk to you about your press conference,"  Pepper told him.  Peter visibly relaxed as he nodded, his mouth forming a quiet 'oh'.  "Long story short, Stark Industries no longer has a publicist and your press conference is scheduled for a week out."

"What?"  Peter asked, not sure he heard what Pepper had said correctly.  "What's the long story?"  Pepper sighed then told him how she'd gone to talk to their previous publicist about the articles written about Peter being Tony's son, only to find out they had moved the day of his press conference forward without asking.

"So they're fired and we're currently working on getting new PR agents for SI as a whole,"  Pepper told him.  Peter nodded numbly, trying to process what that meant for him.

"We're not doing the conference in a week though, right?"  he asked.  Pepper and Tony glanced at each other before Tony sat up and looked at Peter.

"Right now, yes, it is,"  he answered.  Peter's eyes widened only a little bit, but Tony knew the news obviously scared him.  He hadn't been looking forward to it being two weeks away and now it was barely a week away.  "However, Pepper is going to work on moving it back to the original date so you have more time to mentally prepare,"  Tony assured him.

"Okay,"  Peter said softly, looking down at his half folded laundry.  "Does Aunt May know?"

"I did text her what had happened since she saw the articles as well,"  Pepper told him.  She promised him that May wasn't blaming him at all for it (he didn't have to say anything for her to know Peter's mind had drifted that direction) and that she was going to make sure the school knew to shut down the rumors.

"Alright,"  Peter said, still upset that the conference was much closer than planned, but confident Pepper could move it back.  "Oh, can I tell Ned?  He'll be upset if I don't tell him before and it's close enough, I think he can keep it secret."

"If you think he can keep it a secret for two weeks, then you can tell him,"  Tony said.  Peter grinned.  That would obviously be the first thing he told Ned tomorrow at school.  It had been hard keeping the secret from his friend (it was the first one since the Spider-Man secret) and he didn't like it.  "Now, it's your last night here and I think we should have our Mario Kart rematch."

"Only if you can handle losing again,"  Peter smirked.  Tony narrowed his eyes at him and stood up from the bed.

"I won't lose again,"  Tony said, walking towards the door.  He turned back to face Peter and said,  "Be prepared to die."