Work Text:
Morgan’s school was having an open house for the families of the students and since Peter was staying at the Tower for his spring break Tony invited him to tag along.
For the open house, the kids had to create a presentation about their hero and Morgan had refused to tell anyone who she was making hers on. She had been very secretive about the whole thing and only worked on it in school so no one at home saw it. They all assumed that she was making it on her dad and wanted to surprise him.
Morgan went to a small private school for the kids of the rich and famous that was very focused on protecting the children and parents’ identities, so Tony didn’t need to hide who he was. The small family walked into the school, Pepper and Tony were holding hands and walking slowly while the kids skipped in front of them. Tony loved how Peter was able to let go around Morgan and act like a kid again.
Morgan brought them straight to the gym where all of the kid’s Hero projects were and brought them straight to hers.
Peter took one look at it and didn’t know whether to be happy or devastated. She had done her project on her brother who goes out and saves people every day. Peter just hoped that no one realized that she was referring to Spider-Man.
“Do you like it Petey??”
“Oh uh, Yeah. I love it. Thank you.” Peter put on a fake smile that he hoped was convincing enough and Morgan seemed to accept it because she started excitedly talking about her project. Peter couldn’t help but feel happy that of all the superheroes she knew she choose him. He just wished she would have talked to an adult about it first or done it on Spider-Man without mentioning him.
Morgan talked about her project for a few minutes before pulling her mom off to go look at her friend’s projects leaving Tony and Peter alone.
“You good kid? I didn’t know she was doing this. I should have pried more when I realized she was keeping a secret from me. I just thought she want to surprise me.”
“I-Its okay. H-Hopefully no one realizes. She only talks about helping people with little things not stopping drug cartels so hopefully it will be okay.”
“You are probably right. Someone who has no idea who you are might just think you volunteer or something.”
“Yeah, that’s what I’m hoping.”
Tony gave Peter a quick hug before they went off to find Morgan and Pepper. The rest of the event went smoothly, and Peter almost forgot about Morgan’s project until he checked his phone when they got home.
“Spider-Man has a Sibling at Local School?” Peter immediately clicked on the link.
“An unnamed student created a project about her hero on her “brother who saves people every day” the project went on to talk about many things that are staples for Spider-Man. This included helping people who were lost, getting cats out of trees, helping old ladies with their groceries, stopping bad people, and making sure people get home safe. While this project never specifically mention’s Spider-Man many have pointed out the similarities between this child’s brother and the masked vigilante. The following image that was posted on an anonymous online messaging board is of the child’s project.”
Peter scrolled down and a screenshot of a messaging board. The original poster seemed to have the sense not to post the child’s name, so Morgan’s name was cropped out of the image leaving just the project. Above the image of Morgan’s project was some text, “Went to my kid's open house and saw this. Does this remind anyone else of Spidey? Could he have a sibling in school?”
Peter just stared at his phone in panic. What if they figured out what school? Would bad people start targeting the school to get to him? What if they figured out it was Morgan? Would people figure out who her father was? Would people go after her?
Before he could spiral anymore Tony came into his room. He took one look at Peter and kneeled down in front of the boy. “Hey kiddo, its going to be okay. Pepper is dealing with it right now. She is going to call a press conference and squash all of these rumors. Okay?”
Peter just nodded to Tony not trusting his mouth to form words right now. “Are you okay? Do you want me to stay?”
“I-I’m okay. Y-You can g-go.”
“Alright kiddo I will try not to be long, Morgan overheard Pepper and I talking and now I can’t get her out of her room, so I am going to go back to her. Come get me if you need anything or let FRI know.”
“Wait why is Mo in her room?”
“She feels bad about what happened and is blaming herself, and I mean I guess it is kind of on her, but she is just a kid and didn’t mean for this to happen, but she doesn’t believe me.”
“C-Can I talk to her?”
“Sure. She locked the door, and I don’t want to make FRIDAY unlock it so you are going to have to talk through the door.” Peter nodded to Tony and started down the hall to Morgan’s room.
“Hey Mo-Mo. Dad told me you feel bad. Can you open the door so we can talk?” Peter waited a moment and heard nothing but just before he was going to speak again, he heard small footsteps on the other side of the door and after a moment the door opened slightly. “Hey kiddo, can I come in?”
Morgan just nodded her head and stepped out of the way. Peter pushed past the door and sat down on Morgan’s bed patting the spot next to him. She complied and sat on the bed but refused to look at Peter which broke his heart.
“Kiddo can you look at me please?” Morgan didn’t move so Peter gently took his hand and raised her chin up so he could see her face. There were dried tear tracks down her face and her eyes were red like she had been crying. Peter pulled her into a quick hug before letting go and looking at her again.
“I’m not mad. You didn’t mean for this to happen. I’m not blaming you; it was just a mistake. And I am a little happy that you picked me over dad.”
“R-Really?? You aren’t mad?”
“No sweetie. I could never be mad at you.”
“B-But I told everyone your secret!”
“No, you didn’t. All people know is that I have a sibling in a school.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, they don’t even know which school or what child.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. I have almost told my secret way more times than I can count and there are a bunch of people who just found out on their own because I’m terrible at secrets.”
“Who?”
“Well, the first person who figured it out was Dad. He showed up in my apartment one day talking all about this grant that I knew I hadn’t applied for and once we were in my room, he told me he knew I was Spider-Man.”
“How did he find out??”
“FRIDAY figured it out and told him.”
“Wow!”
The two of them sat like that snuggling on Morgan’s bed for hours while Peter told her all about every time someone figured out his identity, well except for the vulture. A few hours later Tony came to check on them and found them both passed out on Morgan’s bed holding each other.
The next day Pepper held a press conference saying that the information floating around about Spider-Man having a sibling in school was incorrect and asked that people stop trying to figure this out as there was nothing to find out. Pepper had a way with people and after that most people moved on to the next big thing forgetting all about Spidey having a sibling.