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Peter was having a bad Monday.
He woke up late after accidentally setting his alarm clock to 7:00 PM instead of 7:00 AM, happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and witness a mugging so he was even more late because he couldn’t just ignore it, got berated by his weirdly miserable history teacher in front of the entire class when he finally made it, and then got accused of using AI to write his latest English essay and spent ten minutes proving he wrote it himself.
All that to say, he wasn’t in the greatest mood when he finally sat down with Ned and MJ for lunch. Ten minutes late, he might add. Peter wanted nothing more than to dig into the sandwiches he packed for lunch and try to start the second half of the school day off at least a little better. His hopes were already starting to get up when Ned started rambling about some newly popular Star Wars theory he found on TikTok last night.
His hope was misplaced and he knew it the second he heard Flash’s voice above the noise of the other students in the cafeteria because clearly no one taught him what an "inside voice” was when he was a kid.
“I mean sure, but we all know Tony Stark is still the one in charge.” Flash was in the middle of saying to a few of the guys he hung around with. “Pepper Potts being named CEO was probably more of a PR stunt than anything else. Just a fake ass job title to get feminists or whatever on their side.”
Peter’s eye twitched and his fist flexed around his sandwich. Ned and MJ noticed too and Ned warily eyed Peter’s rapidly whitening knuckles while MJ shot a glare directly at Flash over Peter and Ned’s shoulders.
Flash noticed and grinned when he realized he was riling up his favourite group to torment.
“Peter probably knows all the secrets about it, being so close to Tony Stark and all that.” He said sarcastically, now more so at the trio than his own friends. “He probably told Peter all about how she got there. I bet she slept her way to the top. I mean, she was Tony Stark’s personal assistant for how long? She had to have assisted him with more than just company bullshit in that much ti-”
“WOULD YOU SHUT UP!?”
The whole cafeteria went silent at Peter’s outburst before a few teasing “oooooh”’s resounded through the student body.
Flash stood up and Peter copied the action. Logically, he knew this was a terrible idea. He should put his head back down and mumble some half assed attempt at calming Flash down and continue on his day just as miserably as he started it. Less logically, the frustration building up and thrumming under his skin and in his veins had his fists clenched and his feet planted for a fight before Flash had even gotten around his table to stand face to face with Peter.
“What was that? Penis Parker finally feels like standing up for himself, huh?”
Peter didn’t flinch when Flash got in his space and he swore he saw Flash falter at the unusually intimidating look in Peter’s eyes.
“Pepper Potts became CEO of Stark Industries through hard work, you’re only spreading lies about it because you know you couldn’t get even half as far as she has if you had millions of years to try. Take it back.”
This was a dangerous game and Peter knew it but he really could not just sit back and listen to Flash and his gaggle of meatheads slander Pepper like that. Flash had been on a real spree of sexism lately and that combined with everything that had gone wrong today already and of course the loyalty Peter felt towards Pepper and Tony as he slowly became a part of their family all mixed into a cocktail of volatile emotions.
Flash scoffed then looked somewhat appalled when he realized Peter was dead serious.
“Take it back? Are you serious? I’m not apologizing because you really believe she didn’t whore herself out to get-”
The distinct sound of knuckles meeting a jawbone rang through the cafeteria and if any other students weren’t already watching they sure were now. For a moment there was silence, then all hell broke loose when Flash practically flung himself onto Peter like a feral cat.
Other students started yelling, some cheering, and Ned’s yell of Peter’s name was lost in the noise of the crowd. MJ didn’t even get up as Ned reached forward to at least try to pull Peter off of Flash. Flash’s friends eventually started trying to pull Flash out as well, but only when they came to the shocking conclusion that Flash was losing the fight.
A very confused social studies teacher passing by the cafeteria in the hallway ran inside when she realized what was happening and pushed through the crowd of now standing students just in time to see the two boys get pulled off of each other.
Both were panting but Flash was noticeably worse for wear, holding a bleeding nose and sporting a nasty bruise where Peter had first decked him in the jaw. Peter himself had a few bruises and a little tiny cut across his cheek where the skin split but other than that he seemed shockingly okay for a nerdy kid who just got into a fight.
“BOTH OF YOU, PRINCIPAL’S OFFICE, NOW!”
Flash and Peter’s heads both snapped around to face the teacher yelling at them and Peter sighed and made the move to follow her to their demise first. Flash begrudgingly followed.
The walk down the hallway was silent aside from three pairs of shoes tapping against the scuffed school floors. Despite Flash’s best attempts to throw a glare at him, Peter kept his eyes firmly on his beat up sneakers. The weight of his actions was settling on him and he was starting to regret them, no matter how satisfying that first hit had been.
There was more silence when they were left to sit awkwardly outside Mr. Morita’s office. Why anyone thought it was a good idea to leave two highschoolers who just tried to tear each other’s throats out alone sitting next to each other was beyond Peter. He didn’t have to think about it for long before Principal Morita called them inside just as Flash’s father walked into the building down the hall.
Peter and Flash took the two furthest apart chairs of the four in Morita’s office. Peter kept his eyes down even when Flash’s father arrived but he could see the man take a seat next to his son in his peripheral vision.
“Mr. Thompson, thank you for arriving so quickly on such short notice. I believe Peter’s guardian will be along shortly.” Mr. Morita addressed Flash’s father before turning his attention to Peter and Flash. “Boys, I doubt I have to tell you what I think of this incident. It was disrespectful to each other, the staff, our school, and other students.”
“He started it!” Flash took no time at all to throw Peter under the bus and Peter really did not have the energy to try and defend himself.
Mr. Morita sighed at Flash’s childish response but did turn his gaze to Peter.
“Peter, is that true? Did you initiate the fight?”
There was a pause, Peter was pretty sure Mr. Thompson raised an eyebrow, and he bit his cheek and figured there was no point starting an argument he couldn’t win. He just hoped this would be over fast so May wouldn’t have to be pulled from her shift for too long.
“I hit him first, Mr. Morita. I’m sorry.”
“Why’d you hit him?”
Everyone raised their heads at the new voice and Peter’s eyes widened when they landed on Tony Stark standing in the doorway of a high school principal’s office. He knew May had his number listed as a legal guarding, he didn’t think they’d ever actually contact him.
Flash’s jaw was gaping and even Mr. Morita looked surprised by the sudden celebrity appearance.
“What are you doing here?” Peter didn’t mean to sound so aggressive and desperate but who could blame him really.
Tony took all the stares in stride and calmly took off his sunglasses as he took a seat next to Peter.
“I got a call that my kid was being disruptive, May was busy. Can’t really ignore it, you know. Wouldn’t reflect very well on me.” He replied easily. “That and it got me out of a meeting. Anyway, you didn’t answer me. Why’d you hit Dash or whatever his name is?”
Flash had at least closed his mouth by now but was rapidly paling in the face as it dawned on him that he was going to have to explain why he was being sexist about Pepper Potts to her fiancé’s face, who was also arguably one of the most powerful men in the world.
Peter’s mumbling could only be heard because it was the only sound in the room. “He was saying some stuff about Pepper sleeping with you to get her job. I don’t know, I guess I just snapped. I still shouldn’t have hit him, I’m sorry.”
Flash was staring wide eyed at the floor like he was staring down death itself and Mr. Thompson visibly tensed when he heard the reason for the fight.
“Right. Well, like you said Peter, you still can’t be harming people.” Mr. Morita finally spoke up after a tense moment. “I’m going to be giving Peter two weeks detention, and a week for Flash too for his comments.”
“Now hang on,” Tony raised a hand and Mr. Morita’s mouth snapped shut. “How come when May called in to mention her concerns about Flash nothing was done? He laid hands on him a few times from what I’ve heard, what happened there?”
Peter was starting to worry someone was going to pass out if they kept holding their breath like this.
“Well, I, uhm, those were slightly different situations.” Principal Morita was starting to stutter under Tony’s gaze. It seemed Mr. Thompson had nothing to say. “No staff members witnessed those incidents so it changes things slightly.”
Tony’s eyes narrowed. “Riiiight. Sure. How about this,” He clapped his hands together and Peter could’ve sworn he saw Mr. Morita flinch. “I’m going to take Peter out of school early today, and he won’t have detention today or Friday. Flash over here still gets the whole week, and you actually follow through next time May calls in with concerns. Deal?”
Mr. Morita hesitantly nodded and glanced at Mr. Thompson, who reluctantly spoke up for the first time this whole meeting. “Fine. And I apologize for the inconvenience, Mr. Stark.” He prodded Flash’s foot with his own and his son stuttered out a similar apology.
Tony nodded, flashed a paparazzi worthy smile, and slid his sunglasses back on his face before standing and motioning for Peter to follow him out the door. Peter mumbled one last quiet apology before stumbling to follow Tony down the hall.
“Grab your stuff and meet me in the car out front, we’re heading to the tower.” Tony didn’t leave any room for comment and walked straight past Peter’s locker on his way to the door.
Peter groaned, shot a quick text to Ned and MJ with a simplified explanation of the current situation, and grabbed what he needed from his locker before half-jogging out to the front of the school.
Tony was waiting in some black luxury car, because of course he was, and Peter threw his backpack into the back seat before sheepishly climbing into the passenger’s seat and buckling his seatbelt.
Tony allowed him about fifteen seconds of shameful moping before he spoke up.
“Obviously, don’t hit people unless you have to.” Tony started. Peter braced for the talk about responsibility that was sure to follow. “But, that was pretty good.”
Peter turned to give Tony an incredulous look and found him cracking a smile at the road in front of him.
“What?”
“I’m just saying, it’s good to see you defending yourself. And my wonderful fiancé, of course. The school clearly hasn’t been doing all that much but maybe this’ll get that Cash kid off your back. What I’m trying to say is, I’m proud of you. But don’t tell May. Or Pepper. I’ll get in trouble for encouraging reckless behaviour.”
Tony kept his eyes on the road but Peter thought he maybe saw a bit of fondness on his face behind the sunglasses.
“Oh. Um. Thanks?”
Tony snorted a laugh at the awkward response and Peter couldn’t help but laugh a bit too.
“We’re getting ice cream, by the way.”
“Oh my God.”