[Pete] Getting the story straight.

[notawastedlife]

Sleeping for a week was unfortunately out of the equation, but he didn't entirely need to, anyway, running now on a clean arc reactor. The stopgap had alleviated symptoms, certainly, but the underlying cause had still been there, and he hadn't realized how much it had been quietly running him down. Especially given how close to the wire that had

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[daretodo]

If Tony pulled the same stunt any other day, I probably would've kept on lecturing 'til the end of class just to prove that, friends or not, I'm not about to let him walk all over me. It's a respect thing. This is my place of work, much as this can be called work when there's no paycheck as part of the deal. I'm in charge here, and I don't much appreciate having my authority challenged. Today, though, I'm all but sleepwalking through my lectures, thanks to Jessica's surprise visit last night keeping me awake. By the time Chemistry rolled around half an hour ago, I was tempted to call it an early day anyway. Forget being saved by the bell.

Still, that doesn't stop me from shooting a pointed look at Tony's back, then announcing, "Read chapter four. Your assignment's due on Thursday." A beat. "I'm serious. Go. Get. Skedaddle

[notawastedlife]

"I can't look at a class schedule?" he said, writing a couple of extra equations on the board just to confuse whoever was next in the room.

"...don't answer that. You look... terrible, you couldn't take a day off?"

[daretodo]

Tony Stark, such a flatterer.

"I've gone into work looking worse. People think I'm a real klutz, back home," I say, waving off the concern. I chance a glance at the board, fighting back an impulse to start solving what he's writing down. "I'm fine. Just didn't sleep."

[notawastedlife]

"MJ happy to see you," Tony said, nodding seriously as he turned away from the board, tossing the chalk idly up and down once. "Well, that'd figure. De Worde hunted me down."

These were not related topics.

[daretodo]

'Thank God We Didn't Die Sex' is a better excuse for my insomnia than 'My Teenage Girl Clone From Another Universe Wanted To Have A Chat' so I don't bother correcting him. Sometimes the best trick to lying is just letting other people fill in their own blanks.

"In the middle of the night?" I say, purposefully playing dumb. "Wow, I bet Pepper loved that."

[notawastedlife]

"You say that like he wouldn't," Tony said. "Have you met de Worde?"

He considered the sentence. "...hunt me down in the middle of the night, not- well, I don't know how he swings."

[daretodo]

"Pretty sure he's married to an actual lady," I say with a thoughtful frown. I don't make a point of perusing the marriage records all that often, but given the inclination of a fair-sized chunk of the Island, it's the sort of thing that's notable enough for even someone as distracted as me to remember.

"How is Pepper, by the way?" A beat. "Not in-- You know what I mean."

Okay, so I'm skirting around the issue. But De Worde means the Times, and that Tony's here instead of him would indicate that my involvement in yesterday's events isn't public knowledge yet. Given the outfit I was running around in, I'd like to keep it that way.

[notawastedlife]

"On this island?" Tony said. "That puts him in the minority- maybe that's how he managed it, actually, that explains it. Pepper's good. Seems... happy? The absence of palladium poisoning seems to have cheered her up, it's nice."

[daretodo]

A knowing smirk tugs at one corner of my mouth. "Did you sleep?"

[notawastedlife]

"Don't be vulgar," Tony said. "We're talking about the paper. I managed to fob him off by saying I'd give him a full sit-down interview today, but I'm going to have to tell him something."

Get what Duo did out there in as big a font as possible, really.

[daretodo]

Good to know my non-spider related powers of deduction are still up to par. Even with confirmation of what I already suspected, though, it's hard not to be just the slightest bit surprised that Tony's here at all, given how he's treated my identity issues in the past -- that is, by more or less disregarding them completely. I might be calling him a friend these days, but he's not exactly the most thoughtful guy on the Island; it's a minor miracle he waited to talk to me at all. I'm almost touched.

I don't tell him as much, instead turning around to pick up a piece of chalk, and stare at the board. There's no real reason not to solve the equations he just put up, is my thinking, and given that I could use a distraction right now that isn't paperwork or mulling over everything that happened yesterday, I'm going to take the one he's offered up, intended or otherwise

[notawastedlife]

"Really, though?" Tony said, looking dissatisfied. "No credit at all? What I'd like to say is that Duo Maxwell saved the day, with an assist from Iron Man and his buddy Spider-Man, your esteemed tribal leader. Plus assorted scientists. That'd be a great spread."

[daretodo]

I can't control what people have read or watched or heard about me in other universes, nor can I control what the bookshelf dishes out with no apparent rhyme or reason. There are probably plenty of people I don't even know who know my identity, not to mention all the people I do know that know. For all I know, it's the worst kept secret on this whole damn island. That doesn't mean I'm about to advertise it to the world at large. It'd be a hell of a lot easier for any future bad guy to pick up an old issue of the Times than it would be for him to hope my identity reveals itself per the shelf's whims. It's not something I want on public -- and therefore forever accessible -- record. I don't want to leave a trail that leads back to me and my family. It's not about not taking credit. It's about making sure another Osborn doesn't happen.

"You know that saying about bad press being better than no press?" I ask, starting to solve the first equation. "I can pretty much categorically state that that's a lie. No press is great."

[notawastedlife]

"Good press is better," Tony said. "We could get you on a magazine. Next to me. A little behind me, maybe, to the side." He indicated the general position with his hands, framing the spot Peter would stand. "This wouldn't be bad press, you helped save the island. That's your re-election in the bag, right there."

[daretodo]

"I don't even know if I want to get re-elected," I mutter. It slips out without me stopping to think about it, a passing thought that crossed my mind yesterday, but apparently decided to come back today. On the surface, I suppose, it's true enough; I've never been especially comfortable in the position, equally as surprised to have been re-elected as I was to be elected in the first place. Even without my powers, I felt a lot more like myself fighting for my life than I do shoving papers across a desk. Looking deeper, though, there's a part of me that's proud of myself for having won two elections in a row, that wonders if I couldn't win a third. Surely I'm more qualified than a lot of people who've run -- and won.

Holding the chalk just a little too tightly, it snaps between my fingers, the lower half falling to the ground before I have a chance to catch it. I sigh. "Tony, you're not outing me in the paper."

[notawastedlife]

"He doesn't want credit, and he doesn't want anyone I can rely on on the council," Tony said, to the spaces where students would have been. "He's a Fun-Eating Spider." He turned back to Peter. "I wouldn't do it in the paper, we'd have a press conference, people love those. 'I am Spider-Man,' it'd be great. Then I'd do it in the paper- is this the protecting the loved ones bit, is that what's worrying you?"