AN: Okay, so this chapter is basically chapter 1 but from Tony and Steve's perspective - I felt like it was important to show both sides. I hope you all enjoy it!

Steve frowned when he saw the familiar number of his son's school pop up on his phone. They rarely got a call from the school, except to inform them when Peter was absent or the few times he had needed to come home due to overstimulation - Peter didn't really get sick anymore, but if he called saying that he was, both Steve and Tony knew that that was what he meant. Even those calls generally came from Peter on his own cell phone, not the school itself.

"Hello?"

"I'm calling to speak to Mr. Steve Rogers or Mr. Tony Stark." The familiar voice of the secretary came through the phone.

"This is Steve."

"Let me transfer you to the principal." Was all she said before all Steve could hear was annoying hold music.

"Hello. Mr. Rogers?" A male voice came over the phone.

"Yes, this is Steve. What's going on?"

"I'm Mr. Morita, the principal at Midtown High School, and I'm calling to inform you that your son is being suspended for three days due to a fight with another student."

"A fight?" Steve knew he couldn't have sounded more surprised. Peter had never been in a fight at school.

"A fight." Mr. Morita agreed.

"Is Peter okay?" Steve asked. He knew of course that another student would never be able to fully harm Peter, but he needed to at least pretend to be concerned for his son's health.

"He's fine." Mr. Morita assured him. "Actually, my current understanding of the incident indicates that Peter is the only one that threw a punch. The other child's nose is broken and he's been taken to have it looked at."

"You're telling me Peter started the fight?" Steve asked, skeptical. "I'm sorry, that doesn't sound like my son."

Mr. Morita hesitated. "We can discuss this more when you come down to pick Peter up. I'm still trying to get him to share his version of events. He's been silent up until now."

This really made Steve raise his eyebrows. "My husband and I will be there shortly." He promised, ending the call. Steve sat and stared at his phone for a moment before heading down to Tony's lab.

Music was blaring from the lab, so loudly that Steve could hear it from the next floor. His husband had finally been able to start listening to music when working again - he had associated it so much with Peter, who was constantly listening to music when working, that he hadn't been able to listen to any when Peter had run away.

Steve entered the lab, wincing at the volume, but FRIDAY lowered it immediately with her standing order to lower music when another person approached the lab.

Tony whirled around. "Hey Capsicle, what's up?" Tony was apparently in an really good mood today, but he took in Steve's face and turned the music off completely. "What happened?"

Steve explained the phone call that he had gotten from the school to his husband.

"Peter doesn't fight." Tony said. "He's never been in a fight with another kid."

"I know." Steve said.

"And he won't say what happened?"

"Apparently not."

"Well, let's go find out ourselves."

At the school, they found Peter sitting in the office, looking dejected and bored. He looked physically fine, but Steve had to check anyway. Peter assured him he was fine, but didn't say anything else before they went into Mr. Morita's office.

As the meeting progressed, Steve got more and more concerned about his son's behavior. This really wasn't like Peter. He was relieved when the principal excused Peter so that they could speak freely.

"This is what I was telling you on the phone." Mr. Morita nodded towards the door Peter had exited out of. "He won't tell me what happened. I've spoken with the people that were closest to the incident. The other student had friends with him, and their stories are similar - they all claim that Peter attacked unprovoked. Michelle and Ned, Peter's friends, were also there. They both refused to speak as well. I agree that this behavior is out of character for what we've seen from Peter in the past, but unless one of the three will share the true story, my hands are tied. Peter will be suspended for three days, starting tomorrow. Today is Tuesday, so he can return to school on Monday."

Tony looked furious, though Steve wasn't sure who it was directed at, so he spoke first.

"I understand that you have protocol you have to follow for situations like this." Steve shot Tony a look. "If we are able to get the story out of Peter, would this be able to be re-evaluated?"

"If you are able to get the whole story out of him, then we can re-look at the situation. The fact is though, that Peter is the only one who was physical. While I suspect a verbal altercation took place, that doesn't ever give a student a right to lay hands on another student."

"We understand." Tony's voice was strained, though he did look more composed than he had. "I can assure you that we will be dealing with this ourselves as well."

"I'm sure you have it well in hand." Mr. Morita responded, and he stood up. "Unless you two have other questions, I have another meeting in a couple of minutes-" Tony and Steve both stood, taking the cue, and left to find their son in much the same position they had found him the first time.

Peter followed them wordlessly and the car ride back home was silent as Steve processed the information they had. When they arrived, Steve knew that he and Tony needed to discuss the events themselves and present a united front with their son, so he sent him to his room.

"Steve, something is going on." Tony said as soon as Peter was out of earshot. "Peter is not acting like himself."

"Something happened." Steve agreed. "But if Peter is not willing to talk about it-"

"Ned and MJ were there." Tony pointed out. "They may talk to us."

Steve made a face. "That would destroy Peter's trust in not only us, but in his friends."

"That's true." Tony conceded. "That could cause a whole host of different problems."

"What do we do?" Steve felt lost. "Do we ground him?"

"I think we have to." Tony didn't look pleased with the idea either. "Through his suspension? That's five days, since he returns to school on Monday."

"No Spiderman patrols, no phone, no tablet, no computer?" Steve asked, their standard consequence for their son.

"Let's leave him with the computer. He needs to be doing school work, he's worked really hard trying to get caught up. I don't want to mess up that progress." Tony pointed out. "But no training - he's in trouble for fighting as it is."

"Yeah, I agree. And I think we should leave the internship alone. It's valuable information that I want him to have." Steve said, and Tony nodded.

"Let's try to get him to spend some time with us in the evenings, maybe he'll open up and tell us what is really going on." Tony added, though he didn't sound hopeful.

With a plan in place, they headed to Peter's room. Steve knocked, and heard their son invite them in, but he wasn't sure what to make of the scene that greeted them.

Peter had a hoodie on and looked ready to go outside, and a backpack in front of him on his desk with what appeared to be his Spiderman suit and webshooters. There were other things, Steve was sure, that he couldn't see, and Peter was shoving his tablet into it.

"What are you doing?" Tony sounded as alarmed as Steve felt, and Peter turned around, bag in hand.

"What do you mean?" Peter asked, and glanced at the bag in his hand before blushing. He shoved the bag at Steve and explained that it was all the things that he assumed he was grounded from.

This threw Steve for a loop. Peter, like all teenagers, never responded so well to consequences - something was wrong, and in the moment, he didn't even want to give his son any sort of consequence - he wanted to wrap him up in a hug, assure him everything was okay, and find out exactly what was bothering him. But they had a plan, and Steve couldn't alter it now.

Tony looked as confused as Steve was, and Steve pulled the computer and charger out of the bag, explaining to Peter that he needed his computer for school so they wouldn't be taking it.

They made one more attempt to get him to open up about the events of the day, but were met with resistance, and even some venom that Steve hadn't been expecting.

Tony changed the subject, glancing at Steve to make sure they were still in agreement, before explaining that they weren't taking the internship away.

Steve knew it was the right decision when he saw his son light up for the first time that day. When Peter asked them for space, they consented, not wanting to be overbearing. But when they were down the hall and out of earshot, both spoke at the same time.

"FRIDAY, let me know if Peter leaves the building."

Steve sighed. "I know we need to trust him, and I want to-"

"But it feels like he's pushing us away again." Tony agreed. "I know, babe. I want to trust him too. But I'm afraid."

Steve agreed, knowing the feeling. His adrenaline was still pumping from the scene that greeted them when they entered Peter's room - Peter looked like he was ready to hop out the window any second, and they couldn't handle losing him again.

"He trusts us." Tony said quietly. "He does." Steve didn't point out that Tony seemed to be trying to convince himself as much as he was Steve. "He'll tell us eventually."

"I hope so." Steve said quietly, though he didn't feel optimistic.