Thanks for the reviews, they made me smile. I like Tony as a Dad, he is just the right mix of indulgence and toughness when needed. Steve is stricter but he is also very loving, they make a good pair.
I try to update twice a week, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Sorry the last one was late.
So here's the latest, hope you like it.
It was a tough chapter to write and I am not sure about the flow. Constructive criticism is welcome.
Enjoy the weekend, very cold here. Snow soon I think.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Peter was seething, he was not accepting this, no way, no how.
Steve came in and was not surprised to be met with Peter standing, his hands clenched by his side and a murderous look on his face.
''I do not agree. You can take your rules and shove them,'' Peter lifted his chin.
Steve waited, this was a standoff so he said nothing, he just waited. Unsurprisingly, Peter blinked first.
''It's not fair. You pick on me; you are way nicer to Harley. I bet if he was Spiderman you would be all supportive and proud,'' Peter reverted to the child he was very quickly.
''Not true but you are entitled to your point of view,'' Steve replied calmly.
''What?'' Peter frowned at him. Pops wasn't supposed to do that- he was supposed to argue which would distract him from why he was in Peter's room in the first place.
''We have had this conversation kiddo. The rules are set; break them at your peril. Right now, I am more focused on the fact you ignored your grounding and put yourself in danger- which means a spanking as you well know,'' Steve took his son's arm, sat down and pulled him over his lap.
''Pops, stop it! Stop!'' Peter was outraged and began to fight hard as he always did.
Steve took a firm hold then made a decision; he pulled down Peter's sweat pants, he left his underwear in place to protect his modesty.
This completely enraged Peter who upped the ante, kicking and yelling. Unfortunately for him, his father was a super soldier and therefore more than able to handle his son's tantrum.
''Stop!'' Steve landed a hard smack which made Peter howl.
''Stop it! That hurt! That really fucking hurt!'' Peter froze, Oh no!
''You. Do. Not. Swear. At. Me.'' Steve punctuated each word with a harsh swat.
Peter slumped in defeat, the sting intense.
'' So Peter James, what do you have to say to me?'' Steve landed several more swipes and Peter began to sob.
''S..SSS orry,'' Peter managed to say.
''Well let's hope you mean that,'' Steve increased the speed of his swats.
It seemed to go on forever although it was only a few minutes and by the time Steve was done; Peter was one contrite little boy with a severe case of the smarts.
'' You will stop defying us, if you don't then this will happen over and over, do you hear me?'' Steve pointed at the now standing Peter who nodded, dropping his head and trying to control the tears.
''That hurt Pops,'' Peter looked up at him plaintively.
''I know Bubba but this behaviour has to stop okay?'' Steve pulled him in and cuddled him whilst he calmed down.
''Sorry Daddy,'' Peter whispered eventually and Steve sighed.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
''So Petey Pie, you and I are gonna clean up the lab,'' Tony addressed his sulking son, who had been staring at the same page in his book for the last twenty minutes.
''Jeez Dad, don't you have some inventing or something to do?'' Peter sassed.
''No I don't. You and me in the lab. Let's go,'' Tony took the book from his hand and pulled him to his feet.
''What is wrong with you people? Just leave me alone, I'm the bad kid remember? Go hassle Harley, you never bother him,'' Peter continued with the back talking.
''Well I want to spend some time with the bad kid,'' Tony air signed with his fingers.
''Fine, whatever,'' Peter gave in and walked towards the elevator.
Sam watched this altercation with amusement; he turned to Steve with a wry smile. They were having a protein drink after a work-out in the gym.
''That kid sure keeps you on your toes,'' he said with a shake of the head.
''You think?''
''You warm his butt? Is that why he's pouting?'' Sam asked.
''Yeah, pretty much,'' Steve shrugged.
''He's that age, twelve year old boys are little terrors, I was at that age- only one way to tame them. Suspect that kid will need a few more whoopings before he starts to behave. It will pass but tough on you guys,'' Sam was sympathetic.
''Yeah well, being a parent isn't easy is it?'' Steve was philosophical, he knew Sam was right- it was an ongoing battle of wills with Peter for now. It was not a battle Steve was prepared to lose, so he was going to be as tough as was required.
''No, no it isn't. So your other boy, kind of have to talk to you about him but I need you to stay real calm and know that we can handle this,'' Sam broached the difficult subject.
Steve looked instantly alarmed. Sam carried on regardless, this conversation needed to happen sooner rather than later.
''So Harley has been smoking weed on a regular basis. He found you leaving real hard, he was terrified that he was losing another family so he found weed to soften the blow. I'm sorry Steve,'' Sam stopped speaking to allow what he had said to sink in.
Steve went very still, confusion then pain flashed across his face before he recovered.
''Okay, I am not sure what means Sam,'' Steve understood this was outside his experience. He knew about modern day drugs, he was married to Tony after all, but Marijuana was hardly common place in the forties- they barely had bananas.
''I know you don't which is why you need to trust me. I have spoken to Harley and he is gonna clean up his act. He has a big chip on his shoulder about the fact that he thinks Peter is your real son and that he is a charity case,'' Sam grimaced as he spoke.
''That's not true, I, Tony, we both love Harley the same as Peter. Why does he think that?'' Steve was shocked, his guilt intensifying by the second.
''Peter takes up a lot of your time, which is kind of normal as he is younger but the whole Spiderman thing makes it even worse,'' Sam hated saying this. His friends were trying to repair their family and he was adding to their already huge burden.
''Right, okay, I can understand that,'' Steve managed to utter as a band of anxiety tightened around his chest.
''He also thinks that you guys are going to abandon him; he has some serious attachment issues. His mom exposed him to a lot of men, mostly not good men but he did become attached to some of them, one in particular, and they always left so that is now his expectation,'' Sam knew how devastating what he was saying was but it had to be said.
''And that is exactly what I did wasn't it?'' Steve was further poleaxed by guilt and regret.
Sam didn't reply because what could he say?
Steve was in turmoil for several minutes then he gathered himself.
''So how do we help him?'' Cap came through just as Sam knew he would.
''Well, I think we, you need to get him into drug counselling as soon as possible,'' Sam replied bluntly.
''Tony should be here for this,'' Steve said and Sam nodded.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Tony didn't react for several minutes after Sam stopped speaking. He just sat with his hands over his face.
''Tones?'' Steve finally said nervously.
''What?'' Tony looked up, his eyes filled with tears; he clutched his hair and looked away.
''This is my fault, this is all my fault,'' he said bitterly and Steve looked at Sam, alarmed by the despair and self-loathing.
''Hey Stark, not sure that's the case. How do you figure that?'' Sam did not hesitate.
''Like father, like son right?'' Came the instant reply.
''Well, as you and Harley do not actually share DNA and you have never exhibited any addictive behaviour in front of him, your judgement is askew. In fact Tony, you set the highest example for both your boys- I know it is your inclination to believe the whole world revolves around you, on this occasion you do not get to enjoy that luxury. This is not about you,'' Sam proved more than a match for a self-pitying Tony Stark.
Tony stared at him, the cycle of his thoughts shining in his eyes, eventually he nodded.
''You are amazing parents, but the reality is that you can do everything perfectly and your kids are still gonna fuck up. Its life and you are gonna have to deal with it. Harley needs you to put him first, so now that's what you do,'' Sam looked between them.
''He's right Tones,'' Steve said softly and Tony nodded.
''Yeah, I know he fucking is,'' Tony glared at Sam who laughed it off.
''So therapy then?'' Tony recovered himself and got back on track.
''Yeah he needs that. But first you need to address the fact that Harley thinks he's second best to Peter,'' Sam said firmly.
''He thinks what? Why?'' Tony was knocked for six.
''Your youngest son is a lovable brat, we all know that. Time you came down hard on that by the way. You cut that kid way too much slack sometimes, quit being so understanding and come down on him when he talks back, every time not just occasionally. Why do you let him speak to you the way he does?'' Sam looked between the two men.
Neither of them had a reply- Peter did have an inclination to be very disrespectful.
''You know what? I am gonna leave that with you cos we are talking about Harley right now. So I can tell just from what you have said so far that you plan to give Harley a break and I get that, I do; but before you do that, the kid needs brought back in line like yesterday. He has a great life now and he has made bad choices, very bad choices which you need to call him out on. So you deal with that before you get all hyper supportive,'' Sam stopped talking.
''He should be punished,'' Steve understood immediately and Sam nodded.
''Oh yeah, if you don't punish him then he will interpret that as you not giving a damn,'' Sam smiled tightly.
Tony was very quiet and Steve looked at him with concern.
''Tones?'' he asked tentatively.
''When I acted out my dad never punished me, that was too much trouble, he sent me to therapists, rehab, anything so he didn't have to deal with me. Anything to keep me at arm's length,'' Tony reflected and Sam nodded.
''Exactly.''
''He's too old to spank,'' Steve was adamant about that.
''Yeah he is, but hard core grounding, no privileges, chores, those all work,'' Tony nodded, that needed to happen.
They had to make it very clear to Harley that his behaviour was unsatisfactory and there were consequences to actions.
Then they would address the root causes but first they needed to make sure that Harley understood he was as important as Peter to them.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
''What the hell?'' Harley was dumbstruck, he expected some harsh words but grounded for another month, all electronics withdrawn except for school and a list of chores longer than his arm was a bit of a shock.
''I'm sorry, what did you say young man?'' Steve fixed him with his best Cap glare and Harley gulped.
''That's not fair,'' Harley the teddy bear showed his less amiable side.
''Oh it is very fair, more than fair. Do you think smoking weed at your age is appropriate?'' Tony asked brusquely.
''Uuuum no, but…'' Harley thought he might cry.
''But what? What Harley?'' Tony gave him the look he normally reserved for Peter.
Harley had no reply, he never thought in a million years his parents would react this way; he thought they would send him to rehab, make him some else's problem. He was very wrong.
''Sorry,'' Harley sniffed and wiped his arm across his eyes.
''Harley, I get that it was hard whilst I was gone, but there is no excuse for smoking that crap, it is not a solution, it is a problem. We will help you but first we need to know that you understand that your behaviour was unacceptable. Do you understand that?'' Steve was tough and Harley gulped.
He nodded which earned him glares from both his parents.
''Yes sir, I understand,'' Harley spoke up which seemed to placate them slightly although the teen could see by their faces his parents were very aggravated.
Sam had been right; he did not want this sort of attention. Why did he ever think he did?
''We will talk more tomorrow, for now you go to your room. You are being punished so none of your technology works, including your TV. If you behave then you might earn that back sooner, '' Steve ordered and Harley stood up. He was stunned, he didn't even have his TV, this was the worst.
As he walked past Steve, he grabbed his arm. A thought occurring to the adult, a thought that he didn't want to contemplate but had to.
''Please tell me that you did not smoke around your little brother, did you?''
Harley blinked, the truth shining in his eyes.
''Are you kidding me?'' Steve felt his temper rise further.
''Only once, well maybe twice. He asked to try some but I said no. I wouldn't let him, I swear,'' Harley flinched at the look his father shot him.
''Well at least you showed some sense but in front of him Harley, he's twelve years old! What were you thinking?'' Steve was furious.
''I..I..'' Harley had no adequate response.
''You are supposed to be an example to your brother and you do that! He looks up to you, Jesus Harley! I cannot believe you would do something so stupid, you know better, please tell me you know better,'' Tony was just as angry.
''I do, honestly I do. I'm sorry it just kinda happened,'' Harley went scarlet as he stuttered out the inadequate words.
''Go to your room and do your homework, one of us will check it so do it properly. We are beyond disappointed in you. Now go!'' Steve swatted him twice on the butt- Harley winced, that really, really hurt. He moved fast towards his room.
''Thought he was too old?'' Tony raised a sardonic eyebrow.
''Shut up Tony!'' Steve snapped.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX