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Beta'd by WithinHerHeart :)

Peter Rogers-Stark sat quietly at the back of the classroom, absentmindedly doodling on the corner of his notebook. It was Career's day at his elementary school and, for once, he'd actually been excited. It was the first time his dads had agreed to join the parents of his classmates since he first joined. Something always came up – a conference for Stark Industries, a S.H.I.E.L.D meeting, or killer robots attacking Coney Island – and for once, he thought maybe he wouldn't be the only kid, yet again, whose parents never showed up to anything.

But of course, work got in the way again.

He understood, he really did; his dads had an important job, protecting the world from invasion and destruction, but he couldn't help feeling a little resentful. Maybe it was the way Flash had laughed and told him that even his adopted parents didn't want anything to do with him, before his mother shushed him firmly and shot him a sympathetic look. Or maybe it was the pitying look that Miss Simnel gave him when he told that his parents couldn't make it again. It was probably a mixture of both; something that made him feeling pitiful and disappointed in his parents, something he wished he didn't feel.

Stop it; he scolded himself, that's just being selfish. Dad and pa can't be everywhere at once and protecting the world is more important than a stupid Career's day. At least, that's what he tried to convince himself.

Gwen Stacey's dad was a detective for NYPD, so far the favourite with the seven year olds of class 2B. He spoke about the criminals of the city – and as it was New York, there was a lot of them – and about the process of arresting someone and how he was planning to become the chief inspector in the near future. Flash's mum, a doctor at the General Hospital, had gone on before and entertained them with horror stories of the A&E. His dads' would have gone on before her and Peter wondered whether they would have told the story of their first team mission; the story of how Loki, Uncle Thor's brother, had tried to invade and rule over the Earth; a story he knew very well, practically off by heart.

It was that story that helped him fight off the frustration that his parents weren't there and kept the urge to stand up and defend their absence from the commiserating gazes. No one would ever believe him anyway – he'd just make himself out to be a laughing stock. When Peter had first said that he wanted to go to public school, after a year of homeschooling, everyone had agreed it would be better if the names of his parents were kept secret, much like his name – the son of Captain America and Iron Man – had been kept out of the papers. It was for his safety more than anything else, but recently, Steve and Tony had been seeking to change it. There had just never been the chance.

Until now.

They stumbled through the classroom door, his dad panting breathlessly and his Pa a little pink in the face, awkwardly trying to adjust the collars on their shirts and the hems of their jackets – must have changed in a hurry, Peter recognised the look. Pa had a nervous smile on his face and he ran a hand through his hair.

"Hello, are we, uh, are we too late?" Steve asked bashfully, "There was an incident that needed to be taken care of…"

Tony snorted his amusement. "Only you would call the Masters of Evil trying to steal a rune to call Frost Giants to Earth an 'incident'." He turned his attention towards the flustered teacher, "So are we?"

"Uh, um, n-no of course not…" Miss Simnel stammered out.

"Oh good, we thought we might miss another one of Peter's school things," Tony grinned.

"P-peter?" she repeated disbelievingly, "You're Peter Parker's…parents?"

"Yes," Steve confirmed, eyebrows furrowing, "Is that a problem?"

"Oh! Oh, of course not," Miss Simnel quickly recovered. She turned towards Peter with a forced encouraging smile on her face, "Peter, why don't you come up here and, ah, introduce your parents to the rest of the class?"

Peter could feel the eyes burning into his back as he shuffled to the front of the class and, although he could feel his cheeks heating up at the attention, he couldn't bring himself to care. His dads were here.

"You made it," he stated.

"We made it," Steve repeated, smiling widely.

"We almost didn't," Tony told him, "But we did and here we are, ready to blow the minds of these kids with our awesomeness." He winked playfully.

Peter hugged them both, squeezing tightly and briefly, as if he could convey all his emotions in one embrace. When he pulled back to face the class, he couldn't keep the smile from his face. The class stared back at him with disbelief; parents looking a little bewildered and unsure of how to react; even Miss Simnel, who was usually so calm and collected, looked a little dazed (although Peter suspected that was because she had a crush on his papa; something that disturbed him a little because it was papa).

"Everyone this is my daddy and my papa, Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. They are part of the superhero team called the Avengers – Captain America and Iron Man," Peter introduced, his words carefully pronounced and smug pride mingled with his voice.

His dad clapped him warmly on the back and his papa ruffled his hair as he passed to return to his seat at the back of the classroom.

His parents may be superheroes with an entire universe to protect, but, when it really counts, Peter is the most important thing to them.

And he couldn't help but love them more for that.