Ned was tired of this. Every time he and Peter hung out, they either went somewhere in town or to Ned's house. While Ned had never been to Peter's house, Peter had been to his more times than he could count. Ned didn't even know which part of the city Peter lived in (thought he figured it was fairly close to the school) which was strange since the two had been friends ever since starting high school together at Midtown Tech.

They had become such good friends in the short year and a half that it was hard to find one without the other. Except, that is, on weekends or random school days where Peter would call out sick. Ned knew that the real reason was related to Spider-Man, but this time when Peter came back on Wednesday after being gone since the Friday before, Ned had no idea where he'd gone. He'd left without a word and come back with a surprisingly good tan and a sunburned nose.

"Where have you been?" Ned asked during lunch.

"I got the flu," Peter said. It was their code for when he did Spider-Man things, but Ned didn't buy it this time.

"Uh huh," he said sarcastically. "Then why do you have a tan and a sunburned nose?"

Peter crossed his eyes, trying to see his nose but not being very successful. Apparently his spider abilities could fix everything but sunburns.

"I went to a tanning shop after school and stayed in a little too long," Peter lied, picking up his sandwich and smiling hopefully at Ned.

Ned still didn't buy it and Peter could tell. Fortunately for him, the bell for their next class rang and he shot out of the cafeteria and towards his class before Ned could ask another question. With a sigh, Ned resigned himself to waiting until after school to get the real answer.

Peter had other ideas, though. As soon as school was out, he said a quick goodbye to Ned and started walking home.

Ned had never understood why Peter walked home. Queens wasn't known for being safe even for Spider-Man and they had school buses that went to every neighbourhood nearby, but Peter had never once taken the bus. Thinking quickly, Ned made a quick call to his mom saying he was staying late for an impromptu Decathlon practice, then followed Peter from a distance down the street.

Nothing exciting happened until Peter stopped and climbed into a black car parked on the side of the street. Ned's heart beat picked up and he quickly waved down a taxi, keeping an eye on Peter's car.

"Follow that car," Ned told the driver, sliding in the backseat as Peter's car took off.

The taxi driver nodded and followed the black car all the way to downtown Manhattan. When the black car stopped outside of Stark Tower, Ned sighed. Of course Peter was just going to his internship.

Begrudgingly, Ned paid the taxi driver and walked into the Tower. Maybe he could wait for Peter to finish up and they could hang out downtown for a while. After all, he was here now, wasn't he?

"Hello, Peter," the receptionist said, smiling at Peter as he walked past.

Peter smiled and waved to her as he scanned his badge. Ned watched from the doors as Peter said something back to the receptionist then walked through the metal detector.

"Peter Stark, level 10 pass," FRIDAY's voice announced.

Ned choked on his breath and Peter spun around. Both boys locked eyes, looking equally surprised. Backtracking through the metal detector, Peter hurried over to Ned.

"What are you doing here?" he hissed.

"Stark?" Ned stuttered, eyes wide. He couldn't think about anything other than how Peter was not who he thought he was. He was so much cooler.

"Yeah," Peter sighed. He looked around the reception area then grabbed Ned's arm. "Come on."

He tugged Ned through the scanner, telling FRIDAY to hush when she alerted him to an unidentified person, and shoved Ned into the private lift. In silence, they started the trip up to the penthouse.

They were only a third of the way up when Ned regained his voice.

"You're Tony and Pepper Stark's son?" Ned asked, his voice high pitched and eyes wide. Standing across from him, Peter nodded awkwardly.

"Yeah." He paused, hoping Ned would recover from his shock quickly. "You can't tell anyone! If anyone finds out, then the media finds out, then Mom and Dad won't let me go to school anymore!"

"You call Tony Stark 'Dad'," Ned said in amazement.

Peter groaned. He wasn't going to get anywhere with Ned if he couldn't shake out of his stupor. Reaching forward, Peter shook him roughly and Ned blinked.

"You kept a secret from me!" Ned suddenly exclaimed, pointing a finger at Peter.

Peter sighed in relief. He had his friend back.

"Sorry," Peter replied even though he knew Ned knew he wasn't. "To be fair, if anyone told the media I'd be dead."

"I won't tell the media," Ned promised, holding out his pinky.

Peter shook it and they stepped off the elevator and into the penthouse where Pepper was sitting in the living room, sipping tea while she read on her Stark tablet.

"Hey, Mom!" Peter cheered, walking over and kissing her cheek as usual.

Pepper smiled and kissed his cheek as well, before she noticed Ned beside him.

"He followed me home and heard FRIDAY," Peter explained, "He promised not to tell anyone and I trust him because he's keeping Spider-Man a secret too."

"Well, if anything gets out to the media we'll know who to blame," Pepper said, looking at Ned. Ned didn't move even once she smiled. "I'm just kidding."

That didn't really help.

"Come in, Ned. Peter, go get some snacks from the kitchen. Your Dad should be home soon."

"Mr. Stark is in his lab," FRIDAY informed them.

Pepper opened her arms in an exasperated realisation that Tony had been below her the whole time.

"You two have fun," she said, setting her tea mug in the sink while Peter searched for cookies. "I have to go scold Dad for skipping another meeting."

"Okay," Peter chirped, not waiting for her to leave before opening the pantry.

He soon found the cookies then turned to Ned as Pepper disappeared.

"I guess we can hang out in my room now," he suggested, tucking the cookies under his arm. "Come on, I'll show you all my Star Wars stuff."

Ned followed Peter through the penthouse and up to his room where he discovered that Peter's room was easily the size of the first floor of Ned's house, if not bigger. It was also covered in signed Star Wars posters with comic books everywhere and his Spider-Man suit draped over his desk chair. A hologram projected a screen saver over his desk and his notebooks were scattered all over.

"Whoa," Ned said, looking around Peter's room.

Peter smiled shyly.

"I know," he said, sheepishly. "Dad likes to go big when it comes to decorating my room. I tried to make him stop, but he won't. Sorry if it makes you feel bad,"  Peter said, suddenly aware that Ned might feel uncomfortable being in such a huge bedroom that showed just how rich Peter was.

"Don't worry about it," Ned said breathlessly, still looking around Peter's room. He felt anything but uncomfortable. "We should hang out here from now on."