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Peter's Ditch Day

Summary:

Even the little things can set you off.

Work Text:

Tony was at the tower, working on enhancing Karen when FRIDAY's voice came from the smartwatch he had on his wrist, "Boss, the spiderling seems distressed."

FRIDAY could only detect that only when he had his suit on, and he was in school right now. Unless. . .

"FRI, Is Peter at school?"

"Tracking Peter Parker now." She paused for a bit and then continued, "He is not at school. He's moving right now. Sending the coordinates now, boss."

Tony could only assume the worst. Peter would never leave school like that. Was he in trouble? Did someone kidnap him? He hoped not. If anything happened to him, Tony wouldn't know how to live with himself.

He grabbed his phone and headed to the elevator. When he got into his car, FRIDAY navigated him to Peter's destination, which was 10 minutes downtown.

"The Spiderling is on top of a building nearby," FRIDAY said.

Tony looked up and saw him up on top of the building he was facing, sitting on the edge. He stepped outside of his car, tapping his arc reactor, which changed him into his iron man suit, and started flying towards him.

Tony stopped in front of him, revealing his face, and Peter looked at him.

"Kid, you had me worried! Why'd you skip school? Did something happen?" He settled beside him, and Peter only sighed, looking away from him.

Tony was getting impatient, groaning, and pinching the bridge of his nose. "You gotta talk to me, kid, otherwise I won't know what's going on."

"I'm sorry." He looked at him. "Please don't get mad."

"Is it that bad?"

He sighed. "You have no idea."

"Come on, out with it, I won't get mad." When Peter still said nothing, he continued, "I promise."

Peter gave in. "I lashed out at a teacher. Mrs. Grumblow. In my defense, she didn't seem to care about how loud the other students were being, so I asked her if I could work outside. She said no. And then I forgot my headphones, so I couldn't concentrate on anything. I just bullshit the answers to be done with it, and then I punched Flash because he wouldn't stop bothering me, telling me I was stupid when he grabbed my paper."

Tony nodded. "That's when you came here."

"I know I shouldn't have done that, but he's had it coming. I was just so pissed off at everything. It was just building up until I let it all loose and just bailed."

"Kid-"

"I know, I know, I'm grounded until further notice."

"Look, I can get this teacher fired. She sounds like the kind that fails you because she doesn't like you. Had plenty of those growing up."

"She doesn't even teach. She gives us page numbers to read from the textbook and expects us to do well on the tests. That's why I'm failing her class."

"Ok, first, I am definitely getting her fired. Second, please promise me to not punch anyone or ditch school again."

"I promise, Mr. Stark."

"Third, I'm not gonna ground you. I know you won't do this again, you're a good kid. I trust you. And fourth, if you ever feel like this, overwhelmed and wanting to punch something, I want you to go to the bathroom or wherever you can be alone and call me, and if I don't pick up, I'll program Karen to take my calls and talk to you, so we can help you calm down."

Petter nodded along, and Tony continued. "And maybe I can get you into therapy for a professional to help you with everything." when he saw Peter's face, he added, "Pete, I struggled with this too when I was in school. It was hell. I failed almost all of my classes except for the ones I actually liked. Maybe we can do it together if you don't feel comfortable doing it alone. Sound like a plan?"

He thought it over for a bit and then said, "I'll give it a shot. Thanks, Mr. Stark."

"Hey, no problem, Underoos. Anything for you."