I owe a huge thank you to Sam, (@Archiethecat) who sent me the first draft of this chapter (and the next few). I've tweaked them a bit with permission to fit the characters, and to mesh well with my writing style and plot, but I really owe this awesome chapter to Sam and I'm super excited to collaborate more- and to share the rest of this amazing work with ya'll!
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Peter stared at the paper that had just been returned, with a groan he slumped forward burying his head into his arms. Great, just great. C, a big fat C, he had never received a C in his life, and he was painfully aware that neither had his sisters. He was now officially the dunce of the family.
He knew the reason for the poor grade. He had been patrolling a lot recently and he had barely studied for this test, hoping that his natural ability in math would carry him through- boy was he wrong.
"Peter, Peter." Ned hissed and Peterturned his head to be met with his best friend grinning like the Cheshire Cat and waving his paper which had an A in bright red pen stamped on top of it.
Peter groaned again and buried his head deeper into his arms.
"Mr. Rogers, is there a problem?" Mr. Callaghan barked, and Peter bit his lip before sitting up. Callaghan was a hard ass and Peter felt his stomach drop, very aware he was on thin ice.
"No sir," Peter replied quietly, and saw instantly that was not the answer his teacher had wanted.
"Really, so you have no problem with your grade? Because I can assure you, Mr. Rogers I take serious issue with it, and I doubt I'm alone." Mr. Callaghan said and Peter grimaced as the whole class stared at him. His eyes fell upon Flash, who grinned and drew his finger across his neck.
Peter felt an unfamiliar flash of temper spring up and he shrugged belligerently at his teacher, Ned's eyes went wide as his normally placid friend appeared to have quickly developed a death wish.
"Impressive attitude Rogers. Detention, an hour with me, this evening. We will discuss your grade in great detail. It will not be fun," Callaghan snapped and Peter felt his face redden.
"Right, class, so what is wrong with this equation?" Callaghan dismissed him and turned to the whiteboard.
...
"So are you making this prototype or not?" Clint was fed up with the ongoing argument, Fury had again stormed from the room leaving the team staring at Tony.
"Already built it," Tony grinned as he tossed the napkin in his hand into the trash.
"Tones," Steve shook his head in despair.
"What the hell?" Bucky was bemused and Nat laughed. Steve flashed her a stern look which only made her laugh even more.
"See, she gets it. Just got to stick it to the man sometimes," Tony said smugly.
"You know, one day Fury will get his revenge on you," Steve warned as he rolled his eyes.
"And you, my love, will protect me from the big, bad, one eyed man. Right?" Tony smirked, throwing a wink at Steve causing him to blush.
Tony was very aware that Steve was uncomfortable flaunting their relationship in front of the team or in public, so he often went out of his way to tease him when he could.
"Steve, you guys have three kids, I think you're a bit out of the closet," Bucky pointed out with a smile and shake of his head.
"Talking of your amazing offspring- my beautiful god children, I hear my little namesake has been playing hero again," Nat grinned.
"She broke the kid's jaw Nat," Steve deadpanned, shooting Tony a warning glare not to undermine him. None the less Tony winked at Nat who tried to look contrite but did not succeed.
"Evangeline is a fierce fighter and true warrior, worthy of mighty accolades is she not?" Thor asked, mystified by Steve's attitude.
Steve was about to respond when his phone went off, he glanced at the text and sighed heavily.
"Problem?" Tony knew thelook.
"The kids are tag teaming, Peter has detention," Steve replied, this day was going from bad to worse.
"Peter?" Bruce asked, "Our Peter?"
"Little Petey Pie, your sweet, polite child who never does anything wrong, ever?" Nat asked raising her eyebrow.
"I dont know if I'd go that far." Tony scoffed, "He did hack FRIDAY."
The team shared incredulous glances and eye rolls at the thought of Peter in serious trouble. He did not have the same nose for trouble that Evie and Morgan shared, or rather, had inherited from Tony.
Tony and Steve exchanged a wry look, remembering the prior morning's discussion, there was definitely something strange going on with Peter.
"Every kid acts out sometimes, give him a break." Bucky urged. He was fond of Peter, and would defend him no matter what, they were close and he had always indulged the boy. He had always protected Peter from his tougher, or at least louder, sister. Now, which sister that was tended to depend upon the day.
Fury chose that moment to return. He slammed through the door, leaving the doors swinging in his wake. He flung a file folder onto the table.
"What the hell are you going to do about this God damn vigilante spider? He is causing me problems and if I have a problem then it sure as hell is your problem as well!" Fury lived up to his name, and he was pissed.
Tony pinched the bridge of his nose, he had a suspicion that the spiderboy was very much their problem and not just because Fury wanted it to be so. However, he had no idea how to voice this concern to Steve, who would completely panic at even the suggestion.
