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Harley was sitting in front of the principles office at the school he had been at for less than a week. Next to him was sat a scrawny-looking kid who couldn’t have been older than 14 or 15 with big doe eyes. The boy had a blossoming black eye as well as multiple other injuries that Harley couldn’t see but from what he saw of the “fight” the kid is probably covered in bruises.
If he listened carefully, he could hear bits and pieces of the conversation that was happening in the office between the kid who had started the fight and the principal. The other kid’s parents had gotten there first, so they were currently in the office. Harley was not sure when his adult would show up, but he knew it would be a scene because he just moved in with the Tony Stark.
The boy next to him looked so small sitting in the hard metal folding chairs and Harley had the sudden urge to wrap his arms around the boy to try to comfort him. Before Harley could think anymore about how small this boy was the boy turned to him.
“You didn’t have to do that. I know you are new here. I do not want you risking your education for me. I can take care of myself.”
“Take care of yourself? You were being pummeled when I stepped in.”
“I will heal. I don’t want you to get in trouble for me.”
“I wasn’t going to let that other kid kill you in the middle of the hallway.”
“Well, thanks for helping me even if you didn’t have to.”
“You are welcome.”
“My name is Peter.”
“I’m Harley.”
“Wait Harley Keener?”
“Yeah. How do you know my last name?”
“SHIT. Mr. Stark is going to be so mad. The first time we meet, and we get in a fight.”
“Well, technically we didn’t meet until after the fight. You know Tony?”
“Yeah. I am Peter Parker. His intern.”
“Parker… Yeah, he told me about you. I think we were supposed to meet this weekend.”
“Yeah. He canceled my lab time this week so you could get settled in, but I was supposed to come over on Saturday to meet you.”
Before the boys could get to know each other anymore they heard the tell-tale sound of a very fancy car pulling into the parking lot. Not 30 seconds later Tony Stark came striding into the school hallway with a confidence that only Tony Stark could have. Tony quickly does a once over of both boys and once he is satisfied that neither is hurt to badly crossed his arms and glared at the boys.
“I’m in the only meeting I was planning on going to this week when I get not one but TWO calls from your school saying I need to come down here because both of my boys got into a fight.”
“Wait you are here for me? I thought May was coming.”
“She didn’t answer her phone so they called me.”
“How did they know to call you?”
“May set me as your second emergency contact a few months back in case anything happened while she was at work.”
“oh”
“So they didn’t tell me what happened just that you two got in a fight. Seriously? Were you fighting over who I love more? Because that is the only reasonable reason for my two protégées to be fighting.”
“For starters Old Man that is not really a reasonable reason for us to be fighting in school. Especially because we didn’t even know each other until AFTER the fight.” Harley rolled his eyes at Tony and crossed his arms sitting back in the chair.
“Wait you fought with someone you didn’t even know?”
“We didn’t fight Mr. Stark. I got in a fight with another student and Harley stepped in.” Peter would not even look Tony in the eye, apparently, the floor was very interesting.
“You, Mr. Lets-Spiders-Out-Instead-Of-Killing-Them got in a fight?”
“Spiders don’t deserve to be killed because they ended up in your house. And yes, I got in a fight.”
“I wouldn’t call what I saw a fight. What I saw was you getting your ass handed to you but some idiot.”
“Wait you were letting someone hurt you? Why? I know you could fight back.”
“I didn’t want to hurt him.”
“You didn’t want to hurt the kid who was beating you up? This is why I didn’t believe you got in a fight.”
“I could have really hurt him.”
“Maybe, but instead you let him really hurt you?”
Before Peter could mumble out some sad excuse the secretary stepped out into the hallway and froze when she saw who was standing there. She had spoken to Tony on the phone but hadn’t believed it was him so seeing him standing there had surprised her. Once she regained her composure, she let them know the principal was ready for them.
Once the boys stood up Tony threw his arms around both boys’ shoulders and waltzed into the office. Once he was in the office, he took a seat and motioned for the boys to sit next to him.
“M-Mr. S-Stark. I d-didn’t e-expect you.”
“Why? I am not one but two of your student’s emergency contacts and your secretary called me and told me to be here.”
“W-we t-thought they were l-l-lying.” Tony spun to look at Harley then Peter.
“How long has this been going on?” Peter squirmed under his gaze but didn’t say anything. “How would two students who had never met before today both have put the same number for me if they didn’t know me?”
“I-I didn’t t-think of that.”
“Your right you didn’t think.” Flash and his parents were frozen in the chairs next to Peter and hadn’t so much as made a sound since Tony came in. “Let’s get this on with. I want to get these boys checked out to make sure nothing is seriously injured after this boy attacked them.”
“My son did not such thing! It was your boys who attacked my poor boy.” Flash’s mom looked furious and like she actually believes what she was saying.
“That is not what these two told me and forgive me if I trust my protégés more than I trust you.” She looked even angrier than she had but before she could speak again Tony continued. “Well, there is one way to solve this. Why don’t we pull up some video footage?”
“We don’t have any security cameras in that hallway.” The principal had gained back some of his composure but still looked rather flustered.
“That’s not a big deal. Peter’s watch records every time his heart rate spikes. FRI be a dear and pull up the video from the fight for me.”
“You can’t just record my son without my permission.” Flash’s father was now getting angry as well.
“Actually, I can. New York is a one-party consent state which means that as long as one of the involved parties agrees to the recording it is perfectly legal and Peter knew about this feature of his watch. Meaning that one of the involved parties was consenting to be recorded.”
Flash’s dad opened his mouth a few times but couldn’t seem to find the words, so Tony turned back to his watch. FRI had found the video and after Tony clicked a few buttons there was a hologram of Peter and Flash coming out of Tony’s watch.
Video Peter was backed up against a locker with Flash and a few other boys standing around him. Peter was holding his textbooks tightly to his chest and was staring at the ground. Flash’s mouth was moving but there was no audio. After a few moments Flash swung at Peter and hit him right in the stomach. Peter collapsed over himself and clutched his stomach. Flash hit Peter again this time in the back of the knee causing the smaller boy to hit the ground.
Peter rolled onto his side into the fetal position and clutched his knees. Flash started kicking Peter but before he could kick him a second time another boy entered the frame. Harley. He grabbed Flash and pulled him away from Peter. Harley was clearly saying something to Flash before Flash tried to hit Harley who caught his fist and twisted Flash’s arm. Harley let go of Flash who clearly hadn’t learned his lesson and tried to hit Harley again. This time Harley grabbed Flash’s arm and flipped him onto the ground.
Before Flash could get back up Harley turned his back on him and offered a hand to Peter helping him off the ground. Once Peter was standing Flash tried to hit Harley for the third time who this time just ducked out of the way letting Flash send his fist into the metal locker that was behind Harley.
At this point, a teacher finally showed up and broke up the fight and the recording ended. While they had been watching the video, Tony had moved closer to the edge of his seat and was clenching both of his fists. He was going to kill the kid who thought he could hurt Peter.
Harley looked around the room, Peter was staring at the floor looking like he would rather be anywhere than here. Tony looked like he was about to kill someone, Flash finally was looking way less smug and looked a bit worried. His mother was glaring at Tony like he had done something, and his father was looking furious. The principal looked shocked and was staring at where the hologram had been a moment ago.
After a long silent moment, the principal cleared his throat. “After seeing this footage Harley will be suspended for three days and will be carefully watched after this. Flash will be suspended for a week and Peter will not face any consequences.”
“WAIT A SECOND. You are going to suspend Harley for defending another kid? He clearly tried to stop the fight without violence but when that did not work, he tried not to hurt the other kid before he absolutely had to. Peter looks like he has been hit by a car and the kid who attacked him only has some bruised knuckles from when he hit the locker. If anything, Harley was too easy on him.”
“W-Well it is his first w-week and he already got in a fight.”
“He did not get in a fight. He broke up a fight that none of your staff had even seemed to notice even though half the school was standing around watching.”
“O-Okay. Harley w-will not be s-suspended. You may take both boys home now.”
Tony smiled at the principal before standing up and stepping towards the door. Both boys got up and followed him.
“Thanks. Hopefully, I will never have to see you again.” Tony smiled and left the room. Once they were out in the hall Tony turned to the boys.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes,” both boys said simultaneously.
“That was creepy. But moving on. Do you need to get anything from your lockers?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. I will wait here. Go get your shit and come back. Chop Chop.” Both boys turned and walked away from Tony to get to their lockers.
Once they came back Tony led them out to his car and watched as Harley took off sprinting as soon as he saw the car to beat Peter to the passenger’s seat. Peter just shook his head and kept walking with Tony.
As soon as they were all in the car Tony sped off in the direction of the tower. Only stopping once to get burgers and shakes from his favorite dinner before taking the boys back to the tower to do some science stuff in the lab for the rest of the day.