Chapter 10

The day was finally here! He was officially fourteen! Peter had woken up fairly early. Pepper had made him his favorite breakfast- French toast with tons of fruit! She made a huge stack for Peter. When he went into the kitchen and saw the huge stack of food, he immediately sat down at the bar.

"Thank you! 'S so good!"

Pepper ruffled his hair and chuckled, "Don't choke on your food. Tony wants to see you down in the lab to go over what you wanted to do today."

Peter nodded and scarfed down all of his food. He then washed and dried his dishes and went down to the lab.

"Happy birthday, Pete." Tony said when Peter came into the lab.

"Thanks."

"So, I know Pepper made you a huge breakfast. I want to know what you would like to do today."

"Could Ned come over? I hardly have had a chance to see him besides school."

"Sure. And you know you can have Ned over anytime. You want to have several of your friends over?"

"Um, no thanks. Do you think I could g-go by the cem-cemetary?"

Tony didn't seem surprised at all. He had actually wondered if Peter was ever going to ask.

"Sure thing, Pete. Would you like for me to go with you or Ned?"

"Uh yeah actually that would be good."

"Do you want Pepper to get some flowers?" Peter never asked for anything, so Tony wanted to do whatever Peter was comfortable with.

"I mean if she has time or wants to."

"She would be happy to." Peter nodded. They spent about an hour at the cemetery that morning.

That afternoon, Ned came to the tower. "Hey, Ned. I am so happy you are here!" Peter said.

"Yeah me too, bro! Dude your house is huge?"

"Yeah I know it is great!"

"What all is here?"

"I can give you a tour later, but basically the first three floors are the Stark Industry offices for workers and the next two floors up are for labs and research. Above that, is a car garage, pool, library, bowling alley. Each of those have their own or share a floor. Then there is the commons floor for the avengers. They have their own living space. The last couple of floors are Tony's lab, house, and then Pep's office above us and a helicopter pad above her. And outside, we have another pool, hot tub, tennis and basketball courts, and we have the storage buildings and other research facilities." (idk)

"Wow! Do you ever get lost?"

"No, we have FRIDAY to help people not get lost."

"FRIDAY?"

"Yeah the AI that basically can do everything and anything."

"Sweet!"

The boys made their way to Pete's room. "Tony said we could visit his lab later and he could show you some stuff." Ned's eyes got wide.

"Really? I can see Iron Man's lab?"

"Of course, bro!"

Ned looked around Pete's room. "Dude, this room is bigger than my parents' house put together. You have everything a kid could ask for."

"All this stuff was in here when I first came to live here. Of course, I was like a walking zombie at first."

"That's understandable."

The boys continued to chat. Finally, they decided to pull out a brand-new Lego set of the Millennium Falcon.

Tony knocked on the door, "Hey boys, I thought we could order pizza and have some birthday cake. There is also presents to open, Peter."

"Sounds great!" both boys said at the same time!

Jarvis alerted the boys when the pizza arrived. Morgan was bouncing around. Peter put Morgan on his shoulders and ran around with her. She ate a couple of slices of pizza and then had Peter and Ned chase her around outside. It was all fun and games until she fell and skinned her knee outside. Peter carried her in, bandaged her knee, and cuddled her until she stopped crying.

"Ready to open presents, Pete?" Tony asked.

The boys had settled on the couch with Morgan and were watching a movie.

Peter nodded, "You didn't have to get me anything."

"I know, but you're my kid and you deserve to open something." Peter smiled and hugged Tony and Pepper. He began opening his presents: Bluetooth headphones and a new smartphone. His screen was cracked, and Tony had noticed that Pete's fingers were bruised and scabbed from being cut by the screen glass. Ned gave Peter a couple of video games for his Nintendo Switch. Pepper gave him a really expensive watch. Morgan was so happy because Peter let her help open the last couple of gifts. She had really wanted to help open them from the start, but Tony told her no, so she sat on his knee and watched. When the gifts had been opened, the boys and Morgan grabbed the paper and put it in the trash.

Tony decided to invite the boys down to the lab, "Ned, you want to check out the lab?"

Ned was so ecstatic and agreed immediately. Pete couldn't help but laugh at his friend's excitement.

Morgan chimed in, "Can I please go to, daddy?"

"No, Morgan. You are not quite old enough yet."

"I won't touch anything. I promise. Please!"

Tony gave her a stern look, "Morgan, the answer is no."

Morgan folded her arms and let out a loud huff. Peter decided to try to make her feel better by asking Tony if she could come down there, if he put her on his shoulders or held her.

"Okay. Just this once. But Morgan, you cannot touch anything, and you have to stay with Peter. Do you understand?"

"Yes, yes! Thank you, daddy!"

Tony decided to warn her, "If I see that you are getting too wild and not listening to Peter, you will be sent straight back upstairs. Got it?" Morgan in all of her cuteness said,

"Yes sir."

Tony was an old softy, but was very strict about the lab, especially because people could be hurt if they weren't careful. He didn't want anything bad to happen to Morgan. Tony showed Ned around while Peter followed closely behind with Morgan on his shoulders. Ned and Morgan asked several questions, that ended up being really intelligent questions. Peter handed Morgan over to Tony when he showed Ned some of his stuff that he was working on. Afterwards, Morgan went straight back onto Pete's shoulders while they went to the floor with all of Tony's cars. Tony reminded Morgan that the same rules applied.

"Wow, Mr. Stark, you have so many cool cars here!" Ned exclaimed.

"Pretty cool, huh? Tell you what, when you get your license, I will buy you any car you want. Same goes for Peter and Morgan." Ned and Peter's jaws dropped to the floor.

"Really?!" both boys exclaimed.

Tony chuckled, "Yes of course. If you crash it, you're on your own." The boys chuckled and went back to Pete's room.

The week that followed was good for Peter. He seemed to be getting better a little every day. But the call from the school that came was not what Tony had expected on Friday.

"Hi, this is Principle Morita. I need to speak to Peter Parker's guardian."

"This is Tony Stark. Everything okay?" Tony said. He held his breath, wondering what was going on.

"Peter didn't show up to his third period or fourth period class."

"What?" Tony immediately began tracking Peter's cell.

"He will have to serve detention for skipping class." Principle Morita stated.

"I understand. I will find him, and he will be back Monday." Tony said as he continued to try to figure out where his kid was.

Dang. The kid had turned his cell off. Tony thought for a moment about where Peter could have possibly gone. Then he remembered it was May's birthday today and he had totally forgotten. No wonder the kid was so down. Tony was not happy that Peter had left but he was more concerned that he had turned his cell off. So, he took off in his car to find Peter. When he got there, Peter was walking around sullenly. Tony got out of the car, walking towards Peter who looked slightly surprised and ashamed.

"What are you doing here?" Tony knew the answer, but he wanted the kid to answer.

"Uh- I- I am sorry for leaving school." Peter said looking at his feet.

"Not what I asked, Peter."

"It's May's birthday. I just wanted to see her." His voice cracking with emotion.

Tony nodded his head in understanding. "Why did you turn your cell off?"

"Just wanted to be alone."

Tony didn't know how to handle this. He wasn't happy but he understood the reason behind Peter's actions. "Let's go home, Pete."

Peter followed him to the car. The ride was silent but comfortable. When they got to the tower, Tony ordered the kid to his room.

A little while later, Tony went to Peter's room. A small "come in" was heard after Tony knocked on the door. When he came in, Pete was sitting on his bed, looking miserable with shame.

"Pete, I know why you left school. You know you could have just asked me to stay home today. I wouldn't have said no."

"I am sorry, sir." Pete said, refusing to look up.

"I know kid. Turning your cell off is the thing that makes me mad more than anything. That's not a good idea even if you are Spiderman." Tony stated firmly.

Peter bit his lip and nodded in understanding. Tony came over and sat next to him.

"I love you, kid. I just want to make sure you are safe. I can't do that when I don't know where you are. Pete, your school called, so you have detention when you go back Monday. You, spider-ling, are also grounded for the weekend." Tony said. Wow, he never thought that he would have to go dad-mode with a teen. It was easier to handle a five-year-old.

Peter didn't say anything, other than nod his head.

"Hand over your phone, Pete." Tony finally said.

Peter handed him his phone, without much argument. He knew he probably deserved it.

"You will get it back Monday, kiddo." Tony said as he pocketed the phone. "Now, that the hard part is over, what about getting pizza and a movie?"

Peter looked up and a smile across his face. "Really?"

"Enjoy it. It's your only tv or movie for the weekend." Tony said.

"Well then, pizza and a movie sounds great!" Peter said as he rushed to the living room.

Author's Note: Well, looks like Tony finally braved up and grounded Peter, even if it is just for the weekend. Don't worry, the whole "Spiderman" part is coming, but not yet. Also, there will be more counseling appointments, but I need some time to come up with what will lead up to it and how it will go down. For now, I hope y'all have enjoyed this chapter.