Author's Note: Hi guys. I've not posted here in quite a while but I've done a bit of co-writing this summer with the fabulous Teddy1008 and am finally getting round to posting the start of this mini-series. Let us know what you think and hopefully it isn't too rusty. This does contain corporal punishments in later chapters so be warned now (although nothing too drastic).
Peter couldn't believe he was here. Meeting Tony Stark had been a dream come true, but going from the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man to joining the league of superheroes in freaking Berlin was something else.
"Woah!" He ducked out of the way of a punch and tried to get the upper hand. For a few minutes, it worked but he was getting so easily distracted with all the excitement that a shot landed and he let out a groan as he let go of his web.
He shook away the pain and hopped up, swinging through the air and shooting his webs at Ant-Man who was bigger than him right now.
As Ant-Man swung at him, lunging forward and trying to grab him, he shot his webs forward, an idea popping into his head, before beginning to wrap them around Ant-Man's body. All that was in his mind was that he had to show Mr. Stark what he could do. "Hey, guys!" he shouted as he continued to swing. "Have you ever seen that really old movie, The Empire Strikes Back?"
When he received no response, he decided to just continue on with his plan. It didn't seem like they had a better one anyway. "You know that part, where they're on the snow planet, with the walking thingies?" he yelled, praying to God that his idea would work.
He was relieved to feel a burst of satisfaction when he saw Ant-Man topple over after being hit by Rhodey and Tony, losing his balance once his legs were tied up with his webs. Cheering, he swung forward. "That was awesome—oof!"
He grunted as his opponent's massive hand hit him hard, sending him flying through the air in an unexpected free fall. "Ahh!" He tried to get his bearings as he fell so he could sling some webs but he couldn't find anything to attach to. Where had all the easy surfaces disappeared suddenly? His heart started to beat faster in a panic.
Suddenly, he wasn't falling anymore, held still by solid metal as his descent slowed. He looked up into the metal mask of Iron Man. "Mr. Stark, you, you saved me. Thanks! We gotta get back out there and…"
He was cut off by Tony as they landed and Tony set him down on the ground. "You did a great job, kid, but you're done. Find somewhere safe and lay low until this is over."
Peter let out an indignant huff and shook his head, gesturing towards the battle going on in the air. "But Mr. Stark, I'm fine! This is important. I didn't get hurt, I…" He started to jump into the air again as he protested, stopping and dropping back to his feet when Tony stopped mid acceleration to glare at him.
"Stay down!" the older man growled as he set off to return to the battle going on behind them.
Peter considered doing as he had been ordered to do. He really did. But when there was a loud explosion above him, he knew he couldn't stay down. How would it look to the others in the battle if he did that? Besides, if he rejoined the fight and showed Mr. Stark how well he could fight, he would be so impressed with him!
His decision made, he stood up, stretching and groaning at his tense muscles. He was sure he had a few bruises here and there, but with his enhanced special abilities, they would heal so quickly they didn't even matter to him.
Jumping back into the fight, he shot his webs at Captain America — Captain freaking America! — and swung away when the man turned to him.
"Stay out of this, kid," Steve called to him, easily ducking when Peter shot a web at him again. "This is something complicated."
"Sorry, Captain, I don't wanna disrespect you or anything, but I gotta impress Mr. Stark!" Peter called back, swinging forward, trying to kick the shield in Steve's hand. The wind was knocked out of him when he was striked back easily, sending him flying. "Oof!" He landed in a pile of boxes.
It took him a moment to regain his senses, blinking rapidly.
He groaned, taking a moment to feel his muscles aching. Man, being a superhero was really hard, he thought miserably. He just wanted to impress Mr. Stark. He started to get up again, but Captain America appeared beside him. Peter tried to web him but the older man easily dodged it.
"Seriously, kid. You're a good fighter and you've held your own, but stay out of this. Tony won't be able to forgive himself if you get hurt on his watch. He's trying to do the right thing here, I guess, but he's wrong. I know you won't believe that but please, just stay down. None of us want to hurt you, but this is all new to you."
"Hey! I'm just as good as the rest of you!" Peter insisted indignantly.
Steve managed to smile, shaking his head in amusement. "No kid, nobody's saying that you aren't. You're just as skilled as anyone here, but this isn't your fight. Now, I won't ask again. Stay out of this." With that, America's first superhero stood and returned to join his teammates.
Peter watched in defeat as Captain America joined the fight, seriously torn. It was seriously cool that the Captain America thought he was talented, but he'd just gotten his butt kicked by him really, really fast… Peter groaned. Oh, God, he'd looked like such a kid in comparison. He realised belatedly that the others had moved further away as they fought and scrambled upright, head pounding. "Hey, wait for me!" he yelled, webbing towards them.
By the time he got there the battle was almost over, and he realised with horror that there were a few casualties. For one thing, Rhodey's legs looked like they'd been blown off. Peter let out a shocked gasp, stepping away and starting to ramble anxiously. "Woah, what happened? What did I miss? I was only down for a minute…"
He looked around, body tingling numbly at the sight of Rhodey's legs. After a few seconds, he found Tony helping Natasha to lift Rhodey onto a stretcher, and before he knew it, he called out, "Mr. Stark!"
Tony's head whipped up towards him as Rhodey was carried off quickly for medical attention.
Anxiously, Peter continued stumbling over his words, unsure of what to do or say. "Mr. Stark, is there anything I can do to help? Do you want me to… I can—"
He was dismayed to hear Tony respond by growling, "Yeah, there is something you can do. You can explain to me what in the world made you think that jumping back into the fight after I clearly told you not to was okay!" He was standing so close to Peter now that their chests were only a few inches apart.
Peter gulped. "Mr. Stark, I was just—"
"I don't to hear excuses; I want an explanation!" Tony interrupted, crossing his arms and looking extremely displeased.
Peter just stared at the ground, cheeks burning, unable to come up with a good enough excuse — no, explanation — that would satisfy Tony. God, Mr. Stark was so mad at him now. His plan to impress him definitely hadn't worked.
Seeming to grow more and more frustrated the longer the silence was drawn out, Tony ran a hand through his hair. Letting out a deep sigh, he spoke sternly. "We're going to be talking more about this later. Don't think for a moment that I'm gonna let this go, kid."
Peter just mutely nodded, keeping his gaze fixed on the ground, which had suddenly become much more interesting than before. He heard Tony's footsteps slowly fade away and only when he didn't hear any, he looked up. Inhaling shakily, he clenched his hands nervously. God, he was so screwed.
Tony walked away and ran a hand through his hair in agitation. What the hell had the kid been thinking? He didn't give out instructions for the fun of it, this was life and death. He didn't care how starstruck this kid was about meeting the Avengers, his happy go lucky attitude just didn't cut it. Tony sighed. What the hell was he meant to do now, he wondered. He shook his head. He'd have to figure that one out when things were sorted here.
He looked over a few minutes later and noticed Peter still standing forlornly in the same spot looking lost. For a moment, he was almost able to forgive and forget the direct disobedience, but that wouldn't help any of them in the long run. He cursed under his break. "Friday? Keep an eye on the kid for me, would you? And Veronica, tell me if he gets any dumb ideas to take off or do something stupid. And tell him to sit down on those crates over there or something. I'm going to be busy a while." He sighed when both AI's responded positively and turned his full attention to fixing up some of the chaos that had been caused and the ensuing damage. There was no way on this good Earth that this would help matters with this whole Accords mess.
By the time Tony had finished clearing up, Peter had managed to sit on the crates, his knees drawn up to his chin despite how childish it might look to anyone watching. The older Avenger made his way over with a sigh, a flutter or nerves in his belly. He'd never really been a role model for anyone before and he was a little unsure what the hell he was going to do now that it was time to talk. He sure hoped Peter had thought about his question and finally come up with an answer.
He reached the teen and leaned against the crate beside Peter's, arms folded over his chest as he looked out over the airstrip. "So, did you think about what I asked you earlier?" He questioned softly, sounding much calmer than he had before. It was only now he noticed the mask twisted up in Peter's hands having obviously been dragged off in the time his young intern had been left to think on his foolhardy actions.
Peter shrugged. "I thought I could help…" he mumbled eventually without meeting Tony's gaze. His cheeks started to heat up again. It seemed like they always did when he was under Tony's stern gaze.
"You thought you could help," Tony repeated dubiously, facial expression completely neutral and not revealing anything. "Help with…?"
"The fight," Peter responded softly, wringing the mask in his hands again, fidgeting nervously.
"Ah." Tony didn't say much, just pursing his lips. After a few moments of silence which felt like years to Peter, the man remarked, "And you didn't think that it would be helpful if you obeyed my orders?"
"No, well, yes, I mean—" Peter broke off, voice cracking a little, revealing how upset he actually was.
"I feel like there's more to it than just wanting to help," Tony told him, straightening up and crossing his arms, observing the teenager closely.
"I just wanted to help." Peter wondered if his reply had been a bit too fast. He licked his dry lips, reassuring himself that he wasn't lying. He just didn't want to tell Tony the entire truth—that he had wanted to impress him. He would sound like a total kid desperate for praise.
"Alright." Tony sounded unconvinced, but thankfully, he let the topic go. Or at least, Peter thought he did, until he said, "We'll talk more about that later."
"Later?" Peter gulped. Wasn't one lecture enough?! Apparently not, according to Tony.
"Get up, kid."
Peter scrambled to his feet, nearly falling off the crate in his haste. His heart was pounding in his chest, the sound of his blood rushing roaring in his ears. He stared at the ground, wishing a hole could just appear and swallow him so that he wouldn't be in this position. Although, even then, Tony would still manage to find him, he told himself wryly.
"Look at me, kid." Tony waited for Peter to comply nervously.
Peter didn't think it was possible for his face to turn any more red, but he swore it was getting hotter by the minute. He dragged his gaze up, worrying at his lower lip with his teeth. "Yes Sir, Mr. Stark?"
Tony sighed. The kid was like a damn oversized puppy. "Peter, listen to me. I asked you to come on this mission because I see a hell of a lot of potential in you. I see a young man with a moral compass who really does care about people. I see the kind of man I wish I'd been at your age. I also saw a lot of a younger me today. I wouldn't have followed orders either, but that is precisely why I ended up in shitloads of trouble all the time. You think this is like high school and I'm some underpaid teacher bossing you around? Well, do you?"
Peter shook his head in a hurry, eyes wide. "No! Of course not…"
"Good. Because it's not, Mr. Parker. This isn't a game. People die when we don't work together. What if seeing you'd disobeyed me had distracted me enough that that blast hit Rhodey's chest and not his legs, hmm? What if I'd killed Cap trying to save you from his shield? This battle wasn't to kill or maim anyone, it was to do the right thing and bring justice."
"I know that, Mr. Stark. Really, I do," Peter insisted softly, oblivious to the fact it sounded like a whine.
Tony stood up a little straighter and hoped he looked more tough and less drained than he felt. "I'm not sure that you do, because you put the lives of every single one of the Avengers at greater risk by not doing as you were told. This," he pointed between them. "Isn't going to work if you can't follow simple orders, Peter. I thought you were ready but I guess I was wrong."
Peter flinched as if his dog had just been kicked and he looked up at Tony with beseeching eyes. "Mr. Stark, please. I am ready, I swear I am! I won't disobey you again. Please, I'll… I'll do anything. Please just don't give up on me," he pleaded.
Tony studied him a moment, struggling not to smirk at the irony. The kid was stood there with his cap -or mask- in hand, literally, with so much misery piled into one look that Tony just couldn't stay mad. He couldn't do it. He sighed heavily. "Alright. Tell me the real reason you disobeyed me, and I'll let this one go. But I'm telling you now, Peter. You want to work with me? Well, there will be rules, and if you don't follow those rules there will be a shitload of trouble, more trouble than your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man knows what to do with."
"Yes, okay, alright," Peter stammered, in near tears at the thought of Tony thinking he wasn't ready. "I'll do whatever you say, I promise, I won't ever do anything stupid—"
"Peter," Tony interrupted, not unkindly. "You still haven't told me your reason."
"Oh, right, that." Peter gulped, squeezing his eyes shut for a few seconds, biting his bottom lip nervously. "I just …" He flushed, struggling to admit it.
"Go on."
"I just w-wanted to impress you." His voice was small as he struggled not to drop his eyes to avoid eye contact. He felt like a five year old child, not a fifteen year old teenager.
"You wanted to impress me." Tony sounded very, very unimpressed.
Peter nodded quickly, shifting his weight from side to side on his feet anxiously.
"Well, Mr. Parker," Tony said, making Peter since at the formality, "I'm guessing you wanted to prove to me that you were worthy of being a superhero. Well, you'll be very unhappy to know that the only thing you've proven to me is that you're an reckless, rash teenager!"
Peter flinched at the words, swallowing hard. "Mr. Stark, I—"
"And I don't want to hear any excuses because it sure as hell won't make anything better!"
Peter fell silent, quivering. His eyes burned with unshed tears and he clenched and unclenched his fists, trying not to cry.
Tony sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Listen, Peter, you're a good kid, I have no doubt of that. But like I said before, there are responsibilities that come with this kind of work. And if I can't trust you to uphold those responsibilities, then I can't trust you to be one of us."
"I understand, Mr. Stark," Peter whispered. "Please, I'll make sure this won't ever happen again."
Tony was silent for a couple of moments as he considered his options. He was sure to the kid squirming in front of him, it must feel like an eternity. Eventually he nodded decisively. "Alright, okay. I believe you. But if you're serious about this then we need to lay some very definite base rules."
Peter looked at him with wide eyes but nodded nervously. "O-okay…"
Tony smiled at him wryly. "Relax, kid. I'm not going to kill you. I know I can be a little scary when I'm pissed, but I'm not mad anymore. I just want you to have boundaries. If you're serious about this superhero stuff then I think some rules will help you out. You are still a kid after all."
Peter groaned. "Aw, Mr. Stark… Do you really need to make rules?"
Tony raised an eyebrow at him. "Yeah, I do. Unless you'd rather try this out again in a couple of years when you're out of high school…"
"N-no! Mr. Stark, please…"
Tony nodded. "That's what I thought, kid. Okay, here's the deal. Rule number one: If I give you an order, you follow it. If you have an issue with an order I give you, you talk to me about it."
"But… Today… How was I meant to talk to you when you just flew off like that?" Peter protested emotionally. He was feeling more than a little overwhelmed right now.
"That's because your safety was at risk. Actually, that brings me to rule number two: you don't put your life on the line unless its a real necessity. Your life isn't disposable. It can't just be tossed away or played with. I get that being a superhero comes with risks, but it's really important to learn to be wise and know when you make that risk and when you don't. You cross that line and I'll kick your scrawny ass for it." Tony paused and looked the kid over. "Any questions so far?"
Peter gulped and shook his head slightly. "No, Mr. Stark… Is… Uh, is that all of 'em?" he asked with worry evident in his voice.
Tony shook his head. "'Fraid not, Pete. Your grades are next. Your GPA is high. I expect it to stay that way. I see them drop or you start failing school, your web slinging days stop until you get it back up. Your mind is every bit of a weapon as your webs, so I expect you to train it too. Understood?"
Peter was able to nod more eagerly at that. Sure, he didn't always like school, but he was good at it. He could keep that rule easy. "Got it, Sir."
Tony nodded and offered him a warmer smile. "Good man. Now, the next one… might sound dumb, but here goes anyway. Your Aunt May gives you chores and shit… Right?"
Peter blushed furiously. "Mr. Stark!" He protested in embarrassment.
"I'll assume that's a yes then…" Tony retorted dryly. "Don't worry, I'm not going to add to them. But I do expect you to help your Aunt out. She doesn't know about this whole superhero thing, and she'd worry if she did. So I expect you to help her out at home and spend time with her. She's already lost your Uncle, she doesn't need to lose you too."
"Oh…" Peter nodded. "Th-that… That seems fair, Mr. Stark."
"Good, because I agree." Tony gave a curt nod. "As time goes on, we'll see if there's anything else we should add to the list. Sound good?"
Peter nodded quickly. "Um, Mr. Stark?"
"Yeah, kid?" Tony raised an eyebrow, curious as to what the teenager had to say now.
"I really am sorry for not listening to you," Peter said, blushing.
Tony nodded, reaching out with one hand to give the teen's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "I know, kid. I, uh, I forgive you." He offered him a smile and stood up straighter. "Now, I think it's time we got you home or May's gonna freak that you'll be home late on a school night. If only she knew…"
Peter gave him a small smile and nodded. Seeing Aunt May sounded really good around now. She always made him feel better. "Sure, Mr. Stark. Thanks."
"Of course. Look, I need to finish up here but I'll ask Happy to get you home. Thank you for your help here, kid. You did a good job, disobedience aside. I'm proud of you." Tony reached out to shake his hand before asking Friday to call Happy for him.
His chief of security appeared within minutes and surveyed the damage wearily. "Jeez, Tony. I thought this was a friendly?"
"It was," Tony confirmed with one brow raised. "I gotta finish overseeing things here, could you see to it that Mr. Parker gets home safely?"
"'Course, boss. Come on, Peter, you're gonna want to get changed first." Happy gestured for the teen to follow him. He waited for the teen to get changed then got him on Tony's private jet and took him back to New York. He was surprised by how subdued the kid was but decided not to ask; Peter tended to chatter and Happy had sworn his ears were going to fall off on the way here.