Disclaimer ~ I do not own the Avengers
Prompt: You're late kid
This had to be a new record. It's been a month, a whole month, since Peter last received a phone call during school hours. It was both freeing and unsettling.
Freeing, because Peter didn't have to explain why aliens were calling him or how he got CAPTAIN AMERICA's phone number. It was unsettling though because Peter had gotten used to his classes being interrupted at least twice a week, and the Avengers staying silent this long usually meant trouble. But he knew there wasn't any Avenger level threat happening anywhere at the moment because A) he's a part of the Avengers and would at least be kept in the loop and B) he's still talking and hanging out with everyone, just not during school time. Heck, just last night he was called to break up a fight between Sam and Clint about what type of chicken nuggets were better.
So yeah, Peter was expecting trouble. Just the less world ending and more majorly embarrassing type of trouble. However, with no idea when he could expect this trouble since his spider-sense wouldn't react until things were already happening, Peter was forced to enjoy the peace while he could. Which admittedly left him unprepared for when his phone rang during science class that day.
Peter jumped at the sudden loud noise in the very quiet classroom, barely managing to stop himself from clinging to the ceiling in surprise. Luckily, he wasn't the only one who jumped. Looks like Peter wasn't the only one who had gotten used to the month of peace. He shouldn't have known it wouldn't last.
"Hello? You're on speaker," Peter answered the call with a sigh, not even nothing to see who it was. He wouldn't be able to stop them anyway. All of his classmates were watching him eagerly, like they were behind several episodes of their favorite soap opera or something. Actually…that might not be that far off. Peter didn't want to think about what that implied.
"You're late kid," Tony's voice came through the phone clear as dad. Peter paled while his classmates stared at him in shock. One kid even choked on their water.
"Well? What do you have to say for yourself," Tony asked, sounding slightly annoyed. Worried was a better word, but it was hard to tell the difference unless you knew Tony well. Which Peter did. And now his classmates would know that he knows Tony, which means the whole school will know by the end of the day. Sure, Peter had been using his "internship" with Tony as a cover for Spider-Man, but thanks to Flash the whole school thought the internship was a lie. Tony just destroyed his normal, bonding high school life with a couple sentences.
"Mr. Stark it's a Thursday," Peter said weakly, still mourning the loss of his invisibility at school.
"Did you get your days scrambled with that last concussion? It's Saturday Underoos," Tony said. Peter got the distinct feeling the man was rolling his eyes.
"Concussion!" Cindy yelped, looking at Peter with worry.
"Minor lab accident a couple days ago. I'm fine. Already healed up and fully functional," Peter told her. She let out a sigh of relief and slumped back down in her seat. Peter noticed a few of his classmates do the same. He really needed to thank Aunt Nat for teaching him how to lie. His concussion actually came from training with Thor yesterday, and it was only healed due to his advanced healing.
"Was that MJ? Say hi for me," Tony said cheerfully.
"Hi Mr. Stark," MJ said. Peter mouthed 'not helping' to her, getting a grin in return.
"That was actually Cindy. A classmate of mine. You know, since I'm in class."
"You're just saying that to make an excuse for being late."
"Mr. Stark, I'm not the one who has their days mixed up," Peter deadpanned. He heard multiple shocked gasps from his classmates and an offended squawk from Tony.
"I keep you fed and let you steal my favorite MIT hoodie and this is the thanks I get? I thought I raised you better," Tony ranted. Peter facepalmed. Great. Now there was going to be rumors about him being Tony's secret son or something. Peter really didn't want to think about it right now.
"Mr. Stark, when was the last time you slept?" Peter asked calmly. Mentally, he was using every single Russian curse word Bucky had taught him to yell at Tony.
"I took a nap a few hours ago while waiting on you."
"FRIDAY, how long has it been since Mr. Stark properly slept?" Peter hoped the AI could hear him. She would make his job so much easier.
"Don't answer that!" Tony yelled. However, FRIDAY ignored her boss.
"Fifty-seven hours and thirty-two minutes ago. During this time, Boss has taken four 'cat naps' with the longest being three hours and six minutes," she told him.
"Thank you FRIDAY. Could you initiate the Boss' Bedtime protocol please?" Peter asked. It was something Pepper and Peter had come up with to force Tony out of the lab when he overworked himself. This would be the first time using it on Tony, but Peter was confident it would work.
"What? No. Peter, what are you talking about? I don't need to sleep. FRIDAY don't listen to him," Tony protested.
"Sorry Mr. Stark but you brought this upon yourself. I'll come by tomorrow after school so I expect you to have gotten at least ten hours of sleep and eat a proper meal," Peter told him. He'd call Pepper or FRIDAY later tonight to make sure Tony was actually sleeping as well.
"Peter! I'm your mentor! This is mutiny!"
"Don't make me call Miss Pepper," Peter threatened. He wouldn't hesitate to call Pepper if Tony didn't listen and the other knew that.
"…Damnit! Fine! You win Underoos." Tony sighed deeply.
"I know. Now go get something to eat, take a shower, and get some sleep. If I find out you didn't then I'll set Pepper on you." Peter had to give Tony specific instructions to eat and shower, even though it should be fairly common sense. If Tony went straight to bed, he would forget to do those things and it's likely he already skipped them along with sleep. The shower was mostly for Pepper's benefit though.
"You're a sadist, kid. Go back to being the innocent brat that was starstruck by my presence," Tony grumbled.
"Too late. You already corrupted me," Peter said, grinning.
"Time to work on a time machine and fix that mistake," Tony announced. He was already muttering ideas, which Peter couldn't allow.
"Tony stop. Food, shower, then bed. Now," Peter demanded. Yes, demanded. His classmates were staring at him in shock. Whether it was because Peter just bosses around THE Tony Stark or because they had never heard Peter use that type of voice before he wasn't sure.
Tony's answering whine was one for the record books, stockpiling onto the shock his classmates were already feeling. They never would have imagined Tony Stark to be so…childish.
"FRIDAY?" Peter requested simply. Immediately a horrible tune that haunted all teenagers and adults started playing. The Barney Song. That was Peter's secret weapon to getting Tony out of the lab. The Boss's Bedtime protocol was set to play a different annoying song on repeat each time it was used until Tony left the lab. The music would only stop playing once Tony had fallen asleep. Peter and Pepper had spent hours picking the most annoying songs they could find for this.
"What the hell? No! Don't play this crap! I'll be good, I promise!" Tony yelled before the call abruptly ended. Peter chuckled and made a mental note to tell Pepper that their plan worked perfectly.
"Dude! You just bosses around Tony Stark," Ned exclaimed, awestruck. Peter chuckled darkly.
"As his intern, it is my job to make sure Mr. Stark gets sufficient amounts of rest. By any means necessary."
Call it pay back for Tony ruining his perfectly normal high school life. This was only the start to Peter's revenge.
I got ready for bed then was filled with a desire to work on a chapter. The chapter I'm actually in the middle of is gonna be super long, so I didn't want to attempt it since I was tired, so I worked on this. Took longer than I planned but I finished it so that's great. Got it typed up the next day because I wrote it on loose paper and didn't want to risk losing it. Unfortunately, I worked that day so I couldn't post it until now.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! We're getting caught up. Only about eight more chapters to go. Then it'll be all new content. I hope you all stick around for that. Please Review, Follow, and Favorite! I'll see you on the next update!