Chapter Text
Tony’s phone rang for the second or third time in as many minutes. He reached over and pressed the volume button, silencing it before reaching for his abandoned cup of coffee.
“Boss, I suggest you take the call.” His AI recommended.
“Why on earth would I do that, FRIDAY?”
“I believe that is Peter’s school calling.”
Nearly choking on his drink of coffee, he sputtered, “Why didn’t you tell me that the first time they called?”
“I didn’t trace the call until this third attempt at reaching you.”
Tony rolled his eyes as he grabbed the phone, quickly accepting the call. “Stark here.”
A solid twenty seconds of dead silence met him on the other line before a nervous sounding male voice started to speak. “Tony Stark?”
“The one and only. How can I help you?” He agreed.
“I thought Peter was…I’m terribly sorry to bother you, sir. If I had realized that Mr. Parker was going to give me a false number and that the number actually belonged to you, I would never have-“
“I’m going to chose to ignore that. Is Peter alright?” Tony plowed over the other man.
“I’m Peter Parker’s principal, Jim Morita. I was trying to reach his guardian. He needs a guardian to pick him up.”
“Is. Peter. Alright?” Tony repeated.
“Yes, he’s fine. However he is in a fair amount of trouble.”
“I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”
“Sir-“
“I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”
“I-Thank you, Mr. Stark.”
Tony hung up the phone and shoved it into the pockets of his jeans. “FRIDAY, have Happy get the car ready. Send a text to May letting her know the school called and I’m handling it.”
“I took the liberty of alerting Happy as soon as the principal announced that Peter was in trouble.”
“You’re a dear, FRI.”
Tony strode quickly to the front doors of Midtown Tech with Happy struggling to keep up with him and grumbling about ‘not taking any precautions or cares about his own wellbeing’. He pulled the doors open and followed the signs down a hallway to the office. The mechanic stood in front of an open window into the office and cleared his throat. A frazzled looking secretary looked up from her computer and jumped with surprise. “Mr. Stark?”
“I’m here for Peter Parker.”
“Come in,” She pushed back her chair and rushed to pull open the office door. “I’ll let Mr. Morita know that you’re here.”
Tony leaned against a wall near the secretaries desk as she disappeared down a hallway towards the back of the main office. Happy stood next to him with his hands clasped behind his back.
“You know you’re missing a meeting to come running to the kids school.”
“The principal said Peter’s in trouble.” Tony turned to look at the other man, clearly amused at the look of shock on his Head of Securities face.
“Do they have the right kid?”
Tony and Happy were led to the principals office by the same secretary. Tony rolled his eyes as Happy blocked him from entering the room. The Head of Security poked his head in the room and looked around before stepping back and to the side. “I’ll wait here, boss.”
Tony stepped into the room his eyes immediately searching for Peter. once he found Peter and reassured himself that Peter was fine, he turned his attention to principle morita. Tony didn't miss the way that Peter kept his head hung low and his shoulders hunched in. when's the principle had introduced himself he knelt down in front of the teen and ignored the principle. He took note of the nasty bruise appearing around the teen’s left eye.
“I'm really sorry Mr stark.” Peter whispered without looking up.
“Are you OK, kid?”
Peter nodded and began to fidget with his hands in his lap. “I'm fine.”
“we'll talk more in a minute kid. why don't you go wait in the hall with Happy? Get some ice on that eye.”
Peter stood without a word and stepped into the hallway. Once Peter had left the room Tony once again turned his attention to Morita. “why is Peter in trouble?”
“He was found to be bullying other students.”
“Have you met Peter?” Tony couldn’t hide his annoyance. “how in the world did you come up with that conclusion?”
“He was in the midst of a fist fight with another student, Flash Thompson, and the group of students that tried to break up the fight all said without any doubt that Peter started the fight. We have high standards here at Midtown Tech, Mr. Stark, and unfortunately I’ll have to suspend Peter for a month.”
Tony stared at the principal in complete shock. It took the genius a few seconds to fully process what the other man just told him. “Yeah, no.” He finally said.
The principal looked taken aback. “I’m not sure I understand.”
“No, I’m sure you don’t. Peter will not be suspended for any length of time. Any altercation he was involved in was started by Flash. In case you haven’t noticed, Peter is not a violent kid. In fact, I guarantee if you look in his file you’ll see that. You’ll also find that Flash has been tormenting him for years. Did you even investigate the fight?” Tony ranted. “Have you even asked for Peter’s side of the story?”
“Well, uh, Peter declined answering any questions in regards to the fight. His friend Ned claimed that Flash started the fight, but the other boys have all stated that Peter started the fight.”
“Yeah, I’m going to go talk to my kid. I suggest you review the security footage of the fight.” Tony turned and left the office, without waiting for a response. He shut the door behind him. He glanced around the hallway for Peter and Happy, before heading back towards the front office. He found Peter sitting in a chair next to the secretaries desk with Happy kneeling on the floor in front of the kid. The secretary rushed back into the room with a package of ice in a baggy and handed it to Peter.
“Is there an office I can speak to Peter in?” He asked as he crossed the room.
“Is the nurses office okay?” She asked.
He nodded briskly and motioned for her to show them the way. He held out a hand for Peter and helped the teen up from the seat.
Once Peter, Tony and Happy were in the nurses office, he closed the door and motioned for Peter to sit on the bed. “Nice shiner you got there, kiddo.” Tony smiled at Peter and sat next to him. “Any other injuries I should know about?”
“Nothing important Mr. Stark. I’m really sorry you had to come all the way down here.”
“Don’t worry about that right now. I want to know if you have any other injuries.”
“My ribs are a little sore? But I’m pretty sure they’ll be healed by tomorrow.”
“Lift your shirt.” Tony rolled his eyes. “You’re idea of ‘not injured’ is very different from mine.”
Peter set the ice pack down and gripped the bottom of his t-shirt, slowly lifting it to show his ribs. Tony’s eyes widened in surprise. Peter’s entire torso was a motley of bruises, some already a dark purple. “Kid, that’s not nothing. I’ll be impressed if there isn’t anything broken! Happy’s going to check you over, real quick. He’s got way more experience then me. I’m only good in a pinch.”
Tony carefully wrapped his arm around Peter’s shoulders and pulled the boy snuggly into his side and then nodded for Happy to take a look. Tony felt his heart break every time Peter winced as Happy gently poked at his ribs. He was quickly turning that heart break into fury that his kid was hurt and going to be punished for it.
Happy leaned back on his heels, looking up towards Tony with a dark expression on his face. “The kid has at least two broken ribs. I’m going to assume at least one more rib is fractured. He needs to get to the Med Bay and have x rays.”
“I’ve had worse. It’s fine. You don’t need to waste any more time taking me to the Med Bay,” Peter protested, sitting upright with a wince.
“Nope, not happening kid. We’ll come back to the ‘having had worse’ aspect in a bit. First, you need to tell me what happened today.”
Peter glanced up at Tony briefly, scanning his face for any hint of anger before he nodded. “Flash and a bunch of his friends surrounded me and Ned at my locker. I guess I pissed him off for showing him up on my test scores. I didn’t mean to hit Flash, but my senses were screaming at me, move, move, move, hit! And I just followed them. I pulled my strength at the last minute and I don’t think Flash will even have a bruise. He laughed when I hit him, Mr. Stark! And that was the only time I hit him! Once my brain caught up I did everything I could to ignore the Spidey Sense and pretend I’m just a normal teenager, just like I was before the bite, even if it meant getting wailed on.”
“I believe you, Pete. C’mon. We’re going to show that principal of yours what Flash did to you, then I’m taking you home.”
Tony and Happy walked with Peter in between them supporting his weight, much to the teen’s frustration, back to the principals office. Tony shoved the door open without knocking and stepped in the room. He and Happy carefully maneuvered Peter into the chair he had been sitting in when Tony had first arrived. Morita stood up from his desk as the door swung open. Tony glared at the man, silently daring him to make any comment. Morita’s mouth opened in surprise as he realized the other two men were practically carrying the teen.
“I really hope you listened and watched the footage, Morita. You’re looking at a hell of a lawsuit.” Tony stood to his full height and motioned towards Peter. “Before you open your mouth, I suggest you step closer and take a look at Peter’s torso.” Tony waited half a second for Morita to step around his desk before he turned around and lifted the bottom of Peter’s shirt up to reveal the bruising.
“Oh, my god.” Morita gasped. “I had no idea!”
“You would have, if you’d checked to make sure he was okay before you hauled him in here to suspend him. Happy here has already confirmed that Peter has 2 broken ribs and possible fractures to several more ribs. Like I said, you’re going to have quite the lawsuit.”
“You were right, Mr. Stark. I looked over the security feed and it seems that Ned Leeds was telling the truth. Peter will not be suspended.”
“That’s all fine and dandy, however a measly month of suspension isn’t going to cut it when it comes to punishment to the other “children” involved. They could have killed Peter. In fact, Happy, go ahead and get Pepper on the line. She can get the paperwork started. Start photographing Pete’s injuries, too.” Tony half glanced in Happy’s direction to make sure the other man was following his orders. Once he was satisfied with that, he turned back to Morita, and ignored Happy’s quiet whispering on the phone. Peter continued to sit in shocked silence, resigned to letting Tony take care of things his way.
“I can assure you Mr. Stark they’ll be dealt with accordingly. I’ll be calling all of their parents immediately and bringing them in.”
“Yeah, that’s not going to be enough. For now, I’m taking my kid to get medical treatment. We’ll be in contact. Oh, and don’t expect Peter back for a few days.” Tony turned his back on Morita again. He reached down and helped pull Peter upright.
Tony pulled his phone from his pocket and tapped the screen once. FRIDAY’s voice rang clearly through the air. “What can I do for you, boss?”
“Alert Helen Cho that I’m bringing Peter to the Med Bay.”
“Of course. Anything else?”
“Upload all data from the time I arrived at Midtown Tech to my private servers and send a copy of the transcript to Pepper.”
“Consider it done, boss. Ms. Potts relayed she’ll be waiting for you and Peter at home."
Tony slipped the phone back into his pocket and continued to lead Peter through the offices and out of the school, with Happy following directly behind them, still on the phone with Pepper. As soon as the trio was within sight of the car, Happy rushed forward and got the back door open for Tony and Peter.
“How are you feeling, Peter?” Pepper asked before the trio could fully exit the elevators into the Med Bay.
“I’m okay, Ms. Potts, I promise.” Peter tried to reassure her.
Tony smirked. “Yuck it up while you can, kid. Trust me.”
Pepper rolled her eyes but smiled good naturedly at the both of them. “Ignore him, Peter.” She turned her attention to Tony. “Helen has room three set up for Peter. Tony, I’ve called May and explained everything to her. I told her Peter’s in no danger and no rush to get here. She’s going to finish her shift. I volunteered Happy to pick her up.”
“Oh man, you called Aunt May?” Peter whined. “She’s never going to let me out of her sight again!”