A/N: One last chapter update before I'm off! I've skipped about a month here. Had to show how the Starks get in trouble. :D
I don't own The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And my amazing collaborator KairacahraFlower Goddess owns his ideas that he's letting me use. :D
Tony looked around the office he sat in and pushed his sunglasses up on top of his head. Glancing back over he saw the principal walk into the office with Leo behind him. He motioned to the two chairs and Father and Son sat down across from the mahogany desk. Tony hadn't been inside of a principal's office since he was 14, so this was a bit of nostalgia for him.
"Mr Stark, thank you for coming down so quickly," the older man started formally. "I know that we're less than two weeks until school releases for the summer holidays-"
"Are you gonna suspend me?" Leo asked, and there seemed to be a little bite to his words. Tony raised an eyebrow. Principal Hayes rubbed between his eyes a little.
"There was an instance earlier today-"
"That would explain the forming bruise around Leo's eye?" Tony asked as he looked a little closer at his son.
"- that resulted into some kind of retaliation." The principal finished, seeing how the two males in the room were related. "We're not sure how, but it would seem that Leo covered the students desks in ice, freezing their chairs to the floor, and subsequently, the students to the chairs." Tony raised both eyebrows and looked at Leo.
"They hit me first!" Leo exclaimed.
"You said you weren't sure how, but are you sure that it Was Leo that did this?" Tony would defend his son first, even if he knew that he was the culprit.
"We found the frost on his hands, and his fingers were slightly blue from handling the ice," Hayes told the older Stark. Tony glanced over and saw that Leo was keeping his hands clasped together tightly. He would need Loki for this one.
"Alright, so I'm assuming you called me down here to take him home while he's suspended?" Tony looked at the principal, and saw that it was something a little more serious.
"We're releasing him for the rest of the school year," Hayes said smoothly and Leo's head shot up. "There is no doubt that he has passed into the next grade, so there's no need to be worried about that, but this will be going into his record-"
"And will it go into their record that they hit me? That they stole-"
"Leo," Tony said sternly. Leo looked up at him, then down to his lap, mumbling under his breath.
"He'll be allowed to go gather his stuff," Hayes continued as if Leo hadn't said anything. "After that I leave the rest to you Mr Stark." Tony scrunched his face a little and pushed his sunglasses back down over his face and stood up. He shook Principal Hayes hand shortly then put a hand behind Leo's back, urging him out of the room first.
They were half way to Leo's locker before he turned and looked at Tony, his mouth open to talk. "Wait until we're in the car," Tony told him. He wasn't angry at Leo, how could he be? They didn't think that they'd have to explain to their seven year old son that he was he part ice maker.
Leo gathered the stuff from his locker, and sulked into the classroom, ignoring the look of his teacher, getting the rest of his personal things. Tony looked around the room and saw the desk in question already starting to thaw, and was slightly impressed. Tony offered the teacher an almost apologetic look and took the dufflebag from Leo as he hefted his backpack over his shoulder.
Leo slid into the backseat of the town car and Tony was a little happy that he had decided to have someone drive him. He had been at the office but instructed the driver to take them back to the mansion.
"They took my book, the one that Dad gave me," Leo said as he crossed his arms over his chest. "I tried to get it back and they pushed me, so I pushed them, and then they hit me."
"I can see that," Tony had tilted Leo's head up with his eye to look at the forming bruise. "You're gonna have a bit of a shiner there come morning. You can ask your Dad to try and heal it, or wear your first black eye with pride."
"You're not gonna make me keep it as punishment?" Leo asked uncertainly.
"Answer me honestly, and I'll let you know," Tony let go of his sons chin. "Did you freeze the desks on purpose?"
"No!" Leo quickly exclaimed. "I didn't know what I was doing. I wanted to do something to them, but I knew that you and Dad would be angry if I used magic at school. I don't know what happened," his eyes were wide and Tony couldn't help but believe him. "And then my hands turned blue, and I don't know why-"
"Which is why we're not going to punish you," Tony had grabbed a towel from one of the compartments in the car and put some ice in it. He placed it gently by the corner of his eyes and put Leo's hand up to hold it there. "How could they not put some ice on this? Does no one ever get black eyes there? It's like the first rule to getting hit."
"It's a private school, Dad," Leo told him. "They expect they won't have to put up with stuff like this."
"Well, in the fall you'll be in the 6th grade, and that means a whole new school," Tony told him as he saw the mansion coming up.
"Public school?" Leo asked hopefully. He despised private school.
Tony hesitated. "We'll discuss it." He leaned back a little when the car suddenly rocked to the side and the driver hit the brakes. "What was that?" Tony undid his seat belt and leaned forward to slide the tinted glass to speak to the driver. His eyes widened when he saw a black figure shifting and quickly shut the little window. "Okay, time to go."
The car jerked again and Tony hit the floor between the partition and the seat. Leo was looking out the window. "There are black spots circling the car."
"Shit." Leo looked over at Tony. "Don't you dare tell Uncle Steve I swore in front of you, I will not put one more penny into that stupid swear jar." He pushed himself up when a hand suddenly wrapped around his neck and pulled him up and against the glass. One hand flew up to pull at the arm around him while the other arm reached back to try and find the person the arm was attached to.
Hands were starting to pound on the windows and Le quickly undid his seat belt to get away from the window. "Dad!" He leaped forward and hit the emergency button int he car then reached up to grab the arm around Tony's neck.
"Ice," Tony choked out. "Make ice."
Leo's eyes widened a little. "But it made me turn blue, I don't know if-"
"Trust me," Tony took a gasping breath and his hand had found a head, but couldn't grasp it. It seemed the shifter had opted to stay in it's solid form instead of taken on a human guise.
Leo rubbed his hands together a little and tried to remember how he had made the ice before. He could feel something cold in his chest and pulled at that. The temperature in the car dropped suddenly and Leo opened his eyes to see that the blue was starting to travel up his arms too. Tony was looking at him, his face turning red, and quickly paler from lack of air. He surged forward and grabbed onto the black arm.
The creature screamed and wailed but Leo just screwed his eyes shut and didn't let go. Suddenly the arms slipped through Leo's grip, turning into a goopy substance. Tony quickly moved away, willing memories of a similar oily substance away.
"Come here," Tony pulled Leo closer to him, making sure to avoid any bare blue skin. "As I was gonna say, the whole turning blue thing is normal," Tony said while catching his breath. "And I'm really going to have to work on a way to have an Iron Man suit with me at all times."
"Maybe you should start sparring with the others?" Leo suggested. Tony noted that the blue had stopped around Leo's neck, but his eyes had turned red. The pounding outside the car had stopped and both Starks jumped when someone knocked on the window instead. Tony reached over and opened it to see Loki looking inside, almost doing a double take when he saw Leo.
"Had a little trouble coming home from school?" Loki asked curiously. Leo started to slide out of the car with Tony right behind him. Tony kicked the door closed then was suddenly pushed up against it by a shifter. Loki has grabbed Leo's arm to pull him away before trying to pull the shifter away from Tony. Leo's brow creased when he saw that Loki's hand had turned blue when he touched Leo.
"What, the hell!" Tony spit out when Loki sent a freeze through the the shifter, quickly melting him.
"Should have made a hand held blaster for yourself," Loki remarked and pushed Tony towards the house. "For some reason they seemed trained on you."
"I hadn't noticed," Tony commented dryly.
"Dad!" Leo shouted as he grabbed Tony's arm to pull him back as three shadows started to pool ont he ground in front of him. Tony hissed in pain and Loki moved forward, but they scattered before he could freeze them.
Leo had pulled his hands back quickly, his eyes wide, when he saw black start to cover Tony's arm. Tony held his arm close to his chest and grit his teeth a little. "Leo, don't worry-"
"I did that?" He whispered taking another step back and into Loki. Leo whipped around and tried to pull away but Loki leaned down and took Leo's hands in his own. "No! I might hurt you, too!" Loki held on tightly and Leo watched as the blue traveled from his hands and up Loki's arms.
"You won't hurt me," Loki told him calmly.
"But I hurt Dad," Leo whispered, his eyes watering.
"Not the first time I've gotten frostbite," Tony breathed out, coming closer to his partner and Leo. Leo watched as Loki's face and eyes changed. The boy threw himself into Loki's arms and the taller man picked him up easily.
