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Tony’s phone goes off at 11:32am. It’s his phone that’s ringing, not FRIDAY telling him that someone is calling him, which confuses him. It means that the person who is calling is not someone who is a saved contact, which means, basically, it could be anyone in the world. There are exactly thirteen numbers saved on his phone, and a handful more that FRIDAY would recognise if they called. Part of him, a very very small part, hopes it’s Fury calling from a random phone at SHIELD with something serious enough to get him out of the public relations meeting Pepper is making him go to. Another, much larger part of him, has to wonder what he hates more, dealing with SHIELD agents or dealing with PR people.
It turns out, his wondering is pointless. It’s proven when he answers the phone and it’s not Fury calling from a random phone.
“Hello,” A voice calls through, unfamiliar and laced with what Tony can only identify as stress. “Is this Mr…Potts?”
“Can I ask who’s calling?” Tony answers, frown on his face. The first five words of their interaction have not reduced the list of possibilities much, considering how many times he gives his name as Potts to avoid attention.
“This is Kurt Johnson, I’m the guidance councillor from Midtown High. This number is down as one of Peter Parker’s emergency contacts. We tried to contact his aunt, but we couldn’t reach her,”
“Yeah, she’ll be at work at the moment,” He knows they wouldn’t be able to contact May. It’s one of Tony’s weeks, and Tony knows that she tends to take as many shifts as she can when Peter and Leia are at the tower, meaning that the chances are, at any given point in Tony’s weeks, May is either working or asleep. “Is everything okay?” Kurt lets out a sigh just as Tony hears muffled shouting down the line.
“There has been an altercation between Peter and another boy in his class. Would you be able to come down to talk to Principal Morita?”
“Yeah,” Tony sighs, pulling a hand down his face. “Yeah, I’ll be down as soon as I can,” The muffled shouting picks up again just as he hangs up the phone. He looks up, and everyone is watching him. “Midtown,”
“What did they want?”
“Kid’s been in a fight or something. An ‘altercation’, he called it,” He goes to stand up just as Bucky perks up.
“What’s the date?” He asks desperately. He looks around, eyes going wide when nobody answers quickly enough. “Stevie! What’s the-”
“November eighth. Why do you-”
“That’s less than three months!” He grins. Tony frowns when Sam groans from across the room. “Pay up, Wilson!”
“Unbelievable.” Sam grumbles, pulling his wallet out of his pocket. “Kid’s been in the state for two months and couldn’t stop from picking a fight,”
“You had a bet on Harley getting into a fight?” Tony asks before shaking his head. “You know what? Whatever. Put your money away. It’s Peter,”
“Peter?” Bruce and Clint ask at the same time, both their voices laced with shock.
“Are you sure?”
“Yep,” Tony stands, making his way across to the lift. The doors open just before he gets there, and before he can step in, Pepper steps out, already in her business suit.
“I hope you’re on your way to get dressed,” She tells him, raising one eyebrow and frowning slightly. “If you’re about to go down to your lab, don’t bother. I’ve told FRIDAY not to let you in,”
“Sorry, babe, I’m going to have to miss the meeting,” He tries to sound apologetic, but he’s not quite sure it lands. He sees the way Pepper’s frown begins to deepen and speaks before she can. “I’ve got to go to Midtown,”
“Midtown?” Pepper’s frown does deepen, but it’s no longer anger but concern. “Are the kids alright?” Tony doesn’t have time to acknowledge how his heart nearly bursts at how lucky he is, how much he loves how his life has turned out. He’s got a beautiful wife and beautiful kids and he could never have imagined it working out this way. He’s the luckiest guy.
“Peter’s got into a fight or something. Morita wants me to go down,”
“Do you want me to come with you?” She asks
“It’s okay,” He smiles. Seriously, the luckiest. “I’ll be back soon.” He kisses her cheek before stepping into the still open lift.
Tony manages to make it to the school in just over thirty minutes. He had to break several traffic laws to do so, but he arrived in one piece, so he calls it a success.
Peter isn’t waiting for him outside of the principal’s office like he’s expecting. Instead, Ned and MJ are there, sitting in front of the secretary’s desk, talking between themselves, and sending worried glances towards the door next to Morita’s office, where a repetitive thumping is coming from. Neither of them notice him.
“What’s happening?” He asks, startling them. He vaguely has the ability to be proud of himself for managing to scare MJ, but there are more pressing matters to hand. His kid is not here, and nobody has told him what’s going on yet.
“Peter is with Kurt and Principal Morita,” Ned tells him. Tony barely manages to stop himself rolling his eyes. He knows the kid isn’t being like this on purpose, stating the obvious and not giving him any information, but it’s still slightly annoying.
“Uh huh,” He nods. “But is he okay?”
“He punched Flash,” MJ tells him, in lieu of an answer to his actual question, but it’s the information he was after. Some of it. “Quite hard. But it wasn’t his fault.”
“He…punched a kid, but it wasn’t his fault?”
“Well, I mean,” She sighs. “He punched him. But he was…it wasn’t his fault,” She reiterates.
“Okay.” Tony rubs his temples, letting his eyes fall closed with a heavy sigh. He takes a moment before opening his eyes again. “And Flash, is he…hurt?”
“He’s with the nurse. There was quite a lot of blood. But he…it was a perfectly normal punch.”
“Right.” Tony’s eyebrows furrow. “Alright. And, why did he-”
“It wasn’t his fault,” MJ tells him for the third time. He can’t stop the eye roll this time.
“I get that, so why did Peter, Peter who refuses to punch muggers and drug dealers and Captain Spangles in the middle of training, punch Eugene Thompson after years of-”
“Flash was saying things about Leia.” She interrupts, stopping Tony’s speech. He blinks a few times.
“And her mother,” Ned adds. He is ridiculously grateful, now, that it was Ned and MJ who were outside of the office instead of Peter because, he loves the kid, but Peter never would have told him this. It also explains the shouting he could hear down the phone, but he’s still not sure about the thumping noises.
“Right. Okay, alright. That’s…alright. Where’s Harley?”
“He’s in a different class. He’s on the other side of the building, he doesn’t know-”
“Okay. Alright, so, what did-” He doesn’t get the chance to ask what Thompson said to Peter that got him riled up enough to finally punch the kid. He knows about Flash Thompson and Peter’s not quite rivalry, he knows that, for whatever reason, they don’t get along and Flash sees how far he can push Peter on a regular basis, but Peter’s too good. He has never, until today, snapped. He’s interrupted by the door opening.
“Mr Stark?” Morita comes out of the room and holds his hand out. Tony takes it, raising his eyebrow at the string of curses he can hear through the open door. “Thank you for coming down. I’m sorry about the short notice,”
“Not a problem,” Tony throws his best press-smile at the principal and follows him into the room. He assumes, judging by the couches and the cushions and bean bags and the, quite frankly, obscene amount of pastel coloured posters on the wall, that this is the guidance councillor’s office. He takes a seat on one of the couches. “Hey, kid,”
“Uh huh,” Peter doesn’t turn to look at him, just continues to throw the tennis ball in his hand against the wall. The kid is an open book, has been for as long as Tony has known him, but he doesn’t think he’s ever seen the amount of anger on Peter’s face. It’s kind of frightening, if he’s being honest.
“Ah,” Morita follows Tony’s line of sight as he leans against the table that Kurt is sat on. Peter throws the ball again. “We’re letting him blow off some steam. I can understand his feelings, given the circumstances. However,” Morita glances at Peter again before looking back at Tony. Kurt purposely avoids his eyes. “Unfortunately, we have a zero-tolerance policy for violence at Midtown,”
“Fucking bullshit! Fucking Flash-”
“Watch your language, Peter,” Morita doesn’t sound angry, just exasperated. “I’m already being extremely lenient with you. If anyone else had pulled a stunt like that and they would be looking at permanent exclusion. Hell, anyone else, Peter, and there probably wouldn’t even be a conversation. But,” He sighed, glancing at Tony. “I’m aware of the situation you are in, and I am also aware of how Eugene provoked you. I’m cutting you a lot of slack, Peter. Don’t push me,” Peter grumbles out a half-hearted apology and crosses his arms. “Okay. Good. Mr Stark, I’m afraid that even with me being lenient, I’m going to have to suspend Peter,”
“Oh, for fu-”
“Peter.” Tony tries his hardest to sound stern, turning his eyes to Peter, who picks up the ball and launches it across the room. He turns back to the other men in the room, who are both glancing at Peter wearily. “For how long? The suspension?”
“I’ll arrange a meeting for next week. And we will discuss how you’re feeling, Peter. Is Thursday morning alright? Before your classes begin?” Peter gives the smallest of nods. “And, if we both agree you’re ready to return, you can attend your classes. If I, or you, feel as though you need a bit longer, we can discuss it then. Sound good, Peter?”
“Peter.” Tony glares when Peter picks up the ball and rolls his eyes.
“Thank you, Principal Morita.” He bites out. He throws the ball once more, letting it hit the ball and bounce away before picking up his bag.
“Good.” The two men stand up, following where Peter is making his way towards the door. “Spend the week to calm down, Peter. Spend some time with your daughter, don’t think about Flash. He will be getting disciplined for his part in this as well. And Peter?” Peter pauses where he is, almost halfway down the hall. He doesn’t turn back towards him. “I don’t want a repeat of this ever again. Do you hear me?” Peter gives a singular nod without turning and continues walking.
“I’m really sorry about this,” Tony apologises. “And when he’s calmed down, I know Peter will feel terrible about how he’s behaved. I really appreciate the strings you’ve pulled for him, and I’m sure May will as well,”
“Honestly, Mr Stark, there’s no need for apologies. I’m not justifying Peter’s actions, but as a father myself, I completely understand where he’s coming from,”
“It’s really no excuse for how he spoke to you-”
“Kurt!” Ned shouts from down the hall. Tony’s head shoots, and he starts running when he sees Peter pinning someone to the ground. He pushes past the teenagers who are beginning to gather around, praying and hoping that none of them recognise him, for Peter’s sake. He doesn’t really know many kids who wouldn’t shout about knowing the avengers, but Peter, just like Harley, likes his privacy, and he’s not about to ruin that for him. He’s lucky that he got the call before Pepper made him put his suit on.
He manages to pull Peter off Flash, but he struggles in his grip, trying to pull away and get back on to the other teenager.
He’s kind fo amazed that he’s able to hold the kid back. He’s seen Peter fight off hundreds of criminals, a couple of dozen hydra agents, and one time a police officer who was trying to restrain him, and he has never, not once, seen anyone who is able to hold him back. Not even Stvee or Bucky can hold him if he puts his entire being into escaping. He guesses it’s subconcious. He can feel the anger coming from Peter, and, although he’s not quite in the same boat, he knows that if someone said anything about either of his kids, he probably wouldn’t be able to stop himself. It’s what makes Peter so much better than him.
Something, even if it’s buried deep, inside Peter is stopping him. He’s holding back, and that’s what makes Peter such a good person. No matter how angry he is, he knows the damage he could cause, and even when he feels like this, he’s not willing to risk it.
“You need to calm down, kid.” Tony speaks right into Peter’s ear, tightening his grip to the point where he’s sure it must be painful, but Peter doesn’t stop struggling. “Stop.” Peter growls when he sees Flash smirking the principal’s arms. “He’s trying to get a reaction out of you, don’t let him get to you,”
“Thompson, my office. Now.” Morita shoves him towards his office before he sighs. Flash bumps his shoulder into Peter when he walks past. Tony doesn’t hear what he mutters, but he’s suddenly got a much looser grip on his kid, barely holding him back.
“Take her name out of your fucking mouth!” Peter growls. Morita pushes Flash’s shoulder again, encouraging him to keep moving.
“Go home, Peter,” He says gently, squeezing his shoulder. “Everyone else, get back to your lessons.”
Peter ignores everyone who tries to talk to him, grabbing his bag and storming through the corridor. Tony offers Morita another apology that the man shakes off, before he follows after Peter. He calls after Peter when he gets out of the building doors.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“Where the hell do you think?” Peter responds, not slowing down as he stalks across the car park, Tony following after him. “I’m going to get my daughter.”
“No.” He grabs the back of Peter’s jumper.
“You can’t stop me, Tony! You can’t keep me away from her.” Tony sighs when Peter pushes him off and just picks the kid up instead.
“Absolutely not. Not while you’re in this state. We’re going to the tower, you’re going to fight Capsicle or something, calm down, and then you can pick her up. At half past three. When you usually do on Tuesdays,”
“But-” Peter is still struggling in his arms.
“Nope. No arguments. You can get her when you’re not as angry.” Tony pushes him into the car, as gently as he can, closing the door behind him before he can get out. He locks the door before Peter can open it again, making his way around to the driver’s side and getting in. He has to push Peter back to stop him climbing out of Tony’s side. He locks the door again when he’s behind the wheel. “Put your belt on.” He doesn’t start the car, just sits and waits for Peter to do it. He sighs when he doesn’t move, just glares out of the window. “Pete, if you don’t put it on, I’m going to have to do it for you. Okay?” He sighs again when Peter just continues to stare. He reaches over, pulling the seatbelt over his body. Peter doesn’t react, even as Tony turns on the radio and starts the car, just continues to scowl out of the window.
It’s unusual, being with Peter in silence. The kid is always talking, telling Tony about his day or his patrol of the dog that he met walking to school. If he’s not talking, he’s humming along to the music even if he doesn’t know the song, or he’s tapping against the table or bouncing his leg. He’s always moving or making some sort of noise, so to be sat with the kid when he’s like this is…unnerving. Uncomfortable.
He doesn’t react when the car parks in the tower’s garage, doesn’t move to undo his belt or get out of the car. Tony sighs. He takes his phone out to text the others to meet them, and then turns the car off. He gets out and walks around to Peter’s door, all without the kid reacting to anything. Tony sighs heavily before he opens the kid’s door.
“Out, kid. C’mon,” He grabs Peter’s bag from by his feet, and steps to the side. As soon as Tony is no longer blocking the doorway, Peter is out of the car and stalking towards the lift up into the building. Tony follows in after him as quickly as he can, stepping in just as the doors close. He overrides whatever instruction Peter has given FRIDAY, using his phone to silently tell the AI to take them to the gym. When the doors open, Peter doesn’t make a move.
“Out.” Tony orders, picking Peter’s bag up from where he’s put it down in the corner. When Peter still doesn’t move, Tony rolls his eyes and pulls on his wrist, making him stumble out of the lift. He only lets go when they enter the gym, Tony throwing the bag on the floor and pushing Peter towards the back of the room.
“This is stupid, Tony. Let me fucking go,”
“Go and get changed, Peter. No arguing,” Tony raises an eyebrow when Peter rolls his eyes and tries to move past Tony. He’s a bit rougher when he pushes Peter this time, but he’s still being careful. He’s always careful with his kids.
“Fine. Fucking whatever.” Peter groans, marching towards the changing rooms. “I’ll do your stupid fucking fighting. And then, when it doesn’t fucking work, I’m going to get my daughter.”
“What’s going on?” Sam asks, looking at where Peter has slammed the door behind him. “Are you sure that’s Peter you’ve brought back with you?”
“Flash Thompson,” Tony snarls. “Said something about Leia and her mother. Peter punched him,” The others in the room nod their heads in understanding. They don’t talk much while they wait for Peter, just begin to warm up between themselves, spreading out and stretching or sparing. Tony sits on the bench against the back of the wall, facing the doors of the changing rooms. He glances at them every few seconds, waiting anxiously for Peter to emerge.
“Hey,” Bucky says, sitting down gently next to Tony. The other man jumps slightly, turning to scowl at the super soldier. “You okay?”
“Hmm,” Tony leans forwards, leaning his elbows on his knees.
“Uh huh,” Bucky doesn’t even pretend to believe him, Tony can tell. “You wanna talk about it?”
“I’ve never seen him that angry,” He admits quietly. “And I know he and Flash have never gotten along, but I don’t understand what would possess him to say…whatever he said. Like, why would you go after someone’s kid? Why would you go after the kid’s dead mother? Why would-”
“Tony,” Bucky sighs. “Kids are horrible. They always have been, and they always will be, and I’m not excusing his behaviour,” He reassures quickly when he sees the look on Tony’s face. “But…Peter’s told us before, he doesn’t want us to get involved with anything to do with Flash. And he’s nearly finished with school and then we won’t have to worry about it, but the most important thing? Is that we help the kid how we can. Like now, we can help calm him down, and maybe let him spend some time with his kid and his best guy, and maybe let Natasha and I go and give Eugene a little visit-”
“You’re not going near the kid,” Tony sighs heavily. “You’re right. Peter can handle himself. We’ve just…We can help,”
“Yeah, we can,” Bucky pats him on the shoulder, squeezes gently. “Take a minute, relax a bit. We’re all here for you, both of you,” Bucky smiles as he stands, squeezes Tony’s shoulder once more, before walking over to where Steve and Sam are stretching in the corner.
Tony takes a moment. He breathes. Lets his eyes close.
They open when he hears a door squeak.
“So,” He claps his hands together when Peter eventually remerges from the changing rooms at the back of the floor. “Anybody up for burning off some steam?” The scowl is still planted firmly of the kid’s face. He rolls his eyes as Tony nudges him towards the sparring mat in the middle of the room. Nobody mentions the muttered curses leaving his mouth
The others share a look before following Peter, forming a ring around him.
“So,” Natasha needles gently. “Are you just going to stand there looking like an angry kitten, or are you going to let it out?” She quirks an eyebrow at the growl Peter lets out.
“C’mon Pete,” Tony encourages. “Try punching Steve. God knows that’s what I think about doing when I’m angry,” There’s scattered laughter from around the circle, but it quickly tampers out when Peter remains silent. “Come on, kid. We’re trying to help-”
He’s cut off when Peter grabs his hand. It hasn’t even made contact with his shoulder yet, is just making its way through the air, but Peter intercepts it, grabbing his forearm and slamming Tony into the ground. His eyes widen minutely when he sees Tony groaning on the floor, but he’s quickly distracted by another hand reaching out for him. He doesn’t have time to be surprised when he notices he’s done the same thing with Clint, because there’s suddenly hands coming for him from every direction.
He loses track of time as he defends himself, sending punches flying this way and that. He notices, vaguely, as if he’s watching from the side lines, that as he goes on there are fewer and fewer hands coming towards him, until he’s only fighting two bodies. He’s watching but he isn’t seeing, relying completely on his Spidey-Senses to tell him where the threat is coming from, and he isn’t surprised when, after what could be hours, his senses start to lag behind. It starts with missing a punch that lands on his left arm and ends with him missing a well-timed kick to his legs that knocks him straight onto the floor.
Tony’s been watching carefully since the second he stepped out the ring after Peter knocked him down. He’s never been the best at sparring with the kid, refusing to use his strength even though he knows he’s unlikely to hurt Peter. Even if he did hurt Peter, the boy’s healing factor would kick in and would repair any damages, but he’s always felt more comfortable on the side lines when Peter is sparring. Now, he watches Peter carefully. Watches as he enters a trance, blocking punches and attacking each of the other Avengers.
He watches as Peter starts getting sloppy. He’s only up against Steve and Bucky at this point, everyone else either having dropped out or been told to leave the ring when Peter was beginning to injure them too much, and the two super soldiers are giving him all their attention. They work together as a team, noticing when Peter starts leaving parts of himself unprotected, communicating silently as one of them attacks and the other distracts, until Steve manages to land a solid kick to Peter’s legs and swipe him down.
The second Bucky is pinning Peter to the ground, wrists held to the floor and hips being restrained by knees, the kid loses all his fight. He tugs once on his arms before he bursts into tears, body going slack. Bucky lets go of him immediately.
The second that Peter begins to sob, Tony is back in the ring, gathering him up in his arms. He rocks him gently.
“You alright with him, Tony?” Natasha asks. She looks concerned, but both she and Tony know that there’s nothing more that they can do for Peter. They’ve worked all the anger out of him.
“Yeah,” He whispers back, letting Peter’s hands twist in his shirt. “Thank you. All of you,” None of them say anything as they leave, all just sending him a smile.
Tony just sits there with Peter, rubbing his back, until the sobs die down. He’s still crying, face blotchy and eyes glassy. He knows that Peter is barely aware of what’s happening as he is carried into the showers. Tony doesn’t bother taking their clothes off, just stands there and lets the water run, shushing Peter’s cries. He washes the crying boy’s hair, careful to keep all the soap out of his eyes and stands under the spray with him until the water runs cold. He steps out and makes a failed attempt at getting them dry, realises the futility of it when he gathers that he could never dry their clothes, and makes his way towards the private lift that only he, Pepper, Harley, and Peter have access to. He asks FRIDAY to take them up to the penthouse, and by the time the doors open, Peter’s feet are on the floor and his grip on Tony’s shirt has loosened. He whimpers when they start moving, but Tony shushes him quietly, placing a hand on the small of Peter’s back and guides them towards Peter’s bedroom. By the time Tony leaves him in the middle of the room with the gentle order to get dry and put some clothes on, Peter is slightly more lucid, enough so that Tony feels it’s safe enough to leave him so he can go and change in his own room.
“I’ll be back in five minutes, Peter, alright?” He offers lightly before he rushes down the hall, dries himself off, and slips into a pair of sweatpants and a loose t-shirt. He knocks on Peter’s door before entering, listening for a few moments for any sort of objection before he pushes the door open. Peter is standing in the middle of the room again, in almost the exact same position that Tony left him in, but now wearing a jumper too large for him that Tony recognises as one that went missing from his wardrobe months ago, and his pyjama pants. “Let’s get you into bed, huh, bud?” He leads the teen over to the bed. He pushes Peter down on it on his side and pulls the covers up over Peter’s shoulder. Tony shuffles so he’s sitting behind Peter, back against the wall and legs bent over Peter’s body, fingers of one hand running through the kid’s hair. It shows how worked up Peter still is that he doesn’t let himself relax into the touch that usually sends him to sleep with a couple of minutes. His eyes remain open but unseeing, staring straight at the wall.
Tony stays with him the whole time, talking quietly, fingers not stopping their movements even when he fires a text to Harley explaining what happened and asking if he would be able to pick up Leia. He sends another immediately after, warning him about the wet floor. He keeps his phone unlocked just until he gets a reply, short and sweet, agreeing.
They are in the same position when Pepper pushes the door open sometime later, Harley standing behind her. Tony blinks at the light that burns his eyes, smiling softly when he sees Leia squirm out of Harley’s arms, concern clear on her little face. Pepper sits down lightly at the end of the bed. Tony takes one of her hands in his empty one. Harley settles down on the floor, leaning against the wall.
“Hi pumpkin,” Tony doesn’t even pretend to be offended when Leia ignores him completely and goes straight up to Peter.
“You okay, Daddy?” Peter doesn’t say anything, just blinks up at her. His eyes clear when he notices who is standing in front of him. Leia giggles softly, a little sadly, when Peter pulls her hand, letting her climb up into the bed. She wiggles around until she’s comfortable, her head tucked into Peter’s neck, one hand joining Tony’s in Peter’s hair. Her father sighs contently as he wraps his own arms around her body. “Daddy been crying?”
“Yeah,” Peter’s voice breaks when he speaks, tired from hours of crying and disuse. “Daddy got upset,”
“Okay now?” A small smile appears on Peter’s face. He kisses the top of her head.
“Yeah. I’m okay now.” He tucks her body into his own, resting his head on top of hers. He smiles, softly, for the first time. “I’m okay now. You’re with me.”