"Peter, what do you think you're doing?"
Peter rolled his eyes when he heard his dad's voice, what a stupid question, it's obvious he's on the Xbox.
"Don't roll your eyes at me young man. Just because you aren't looking at me doesn't mean I don't see you do it."
"That makes no sense dad. Did you come in here for something or just to bother me?" Peter shot back not looking away from the screen.
Tony raised an eyebrow at his son's tone. "You know school work comes before anything else Pete, turn your game off."
"Whatever, I'll do it after this game."
"Fri, turn off the Xbox."
When the screen turned black mid game Peter threw his controller to the side dramatically and spun to look at his dad for the first time since he entered the room. "What did you do that for? I was in the middle of a level."
Tony didn't bother dignifying his son's question with a response, the boy knew full well why the Xbox had been turned off. "Do your homework. And you better fix that attitude if you don't want to become reacquainted with the corner of my office kid." He told the boy sharply, he didn't understand why the boy was being so unreasonable homework first had always been a rule so why was Peter suddenly taking exception to it?
Sighing Peter grabbed his bag and took his books out so he could get started on his homework. Ugh his dad was so annoying, he hardly had any homework it wasn't like it would take him long to do, what was the harm in using his Xbox before doing it?
Tony pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration as his son practically threw himself down at his desk and put his headphones on to ignore him. Peter had been acting like this for over a week and it was getting on his last nerve. The boy was on thin ice and making even the tiniest of things into an argument, he had tried talking to him to find out what was bothering him but he wasn't getting anywhere. He'd asked Rhodey but he'd just shrugged it off as teenage angst, Tony thought there had to be more to it though. Shaking his head he left the room quietly telling FRIDAY to alert him if Peter stopped doing his homework.
Pepper was in the lounge with her Starkpad in her lap when Tony walked in. "I heard raised voices" she said raising her eyebrow in question.
"He wouldn't turn off his game when he knows homework comes first, and he was disrespectful. Why is he acting like this Pep? Are we doing something wrong? Are we bad parents? I don't know what's causing it, I should maybe mention it to his therapist she might have an idea."
Pepper shrugged with a sad smile on her face, she had no idea what was wrong with their son but she knew if his behaviour didn't make a dramatic change soon the boy would end up in serious trouble, "Give him time to cool off. If his attitude improves see if he wants to go out as Spiderman or tinker in your lab, he's maybe just a little stressed or something he has that physics test next week?"
"Yeah, could be Pep, I'll ask him after dinner." Tony told her still trying to think of the cause of their son's misbehaviour.
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Tony looked at his watch for what had to be the fiftieth time, "I'm going to kill that kid. He promised me he would be home on time."
"Peter has just entered the building." FRIDAY announced mere seconds after Tony's grumbling. The man stood up running his hand through his hair as he did so offering a half-hearted smile to his wife who had just entered the room, he assumed to also meet Peter.
When the elevator doors opened Peter walked into the lounge paying zero attention to his surroundings due to his eyes being glued to his phone screen as he text Ned and MJ. He heard a sharp cough undoubtedly an effort to gain his attention but he ignored it and started heading towards his bedroom.
"Peter. Peter." The boy ignored his dad and made to continue towards his bedroom until his phone was quite literally snatched from his hands and he was forced to turn around by his mom.
"Hey! What was that for?" He snapped at her before he could stop himself.
Tony's jaw dropped at the blatant disrespect he had only heard Peter talk like that once or twice before but never towards Pepper and judging by her expression she hadn't either. She pulled herself together quickly though and quicker than either Tony or Peter thought possible she spun the boy around landed a hard smack to his ass and righted him again.
Peter felt himself blush as he looked up at his mom furiously. Why did she smack me? She'd never done that before. Dad sure, but mom! It hadn't hurt and already he couldn't feel anything but that was totally beside the point. He was practically an adult it was embarrassing for his mom to smack him like that.
"Sit down Peter, and if you want to argue we can easily move this conversation to your dad's office." Pepper told the boy firmly and watched as he nodded numbly shocked at what had just occurred. She herself was slightly shocked to be honest, it was just instinct, Peter had been acting like a brat and she knew Tony would have smacked him had he spoken to him like that so she had to, consistency was key. Also, she hadn't deserved to be spoken to like that and she wanted her son to know that.
Tony sat down on the couch opposite the teen and immediately went into lecture mode. "Peter, it's forty minutes after your curfew and you've just walked in as if that means nothing. We let you go out as Spiderman despite your attitude before dinner and this is how you repay us? Not only that but you then ignore me when I try to get your attention and then mouth off at your mom. That is unacceptable. What do you have to say for yourself?"
"Sorry." The boy shrugged not sounding the slightest bit apologetic and refusing to look up from the floor.
"Do you want to try that again? With feeling this time."
Peter scoffed internally before he looked up at his dad, "You're overreacting, you knew I was fine. I know how many protocols are in my suit, whats the big deal?"
"What's the big deal? What's the big deal?" Tony spluttered gesturing his arms wildly. What was with this kid? He knew his son understood the rules, he had been perfectly on board when they were set so why the sudden u-turn?
Pepper placed a hand on her husband's arm to calm him before speaking herself, making sure to maintain eye contact with her son and keep her voice level. "Peter, the big deal is we agreed a curfew of eleven o'clock and you broke it. You broke your word. It's a school night and you know the rules. The rules are in place to protect you and keep you healthy, you know this and you know they are non-negotiable. Also we allowed you to go out in spite of your behaviour earlier regarding your homework and you still had the audacity to not only come home late but be extremely disrespectful to myself and your dad when you did."
Peter sighed and toed his shoe sullenly into the rug. "Okay sorry." He said with slightly more meaning behind it. "I won't do it again. Happy?" He added slightly sarcastically. Why were they being so unreasonable? So what he came home a little late, he was Spiderman!
"No not happy, you do not take that tone with me young man. Is that clear?" Pepper snapped reaching the end of her patience with the boy, when she received a mumbled apology and a nod she continued. "You broke your curfew, you know the rules, and you are grounded for the next week. No Spiderman, no friends, no Xbox."
"Fine! Can I go now? I have school tomorrow." Peter bit out as he rose to his feet.
Tony nodded angrily trying his best not to raise his voice at the kid. "You may go, straight to bed though Pete, and you better have lost that attitude by the morning or you'll be going to school with a red backside," he threatened. It was too late to argue more, he just hoped his son would wake up in a better mood to the one he was currently in, he didn't particularly want to punish him first thing in the morning but he had said it now and he knew he would have to follow through if the teen's behaviour persisted.
Peter nodded jerkily at his dad's words clenching his jaw as he stalked to his bedroom, as angry as he was at his parent's overprotectiveness and unreasonable response to a little lateness he didn't slam the door knowing Tony would definitely smack him if he did so. Pulling off his suit he immediately climbed into his bed, almost as soon as his head hit the pillow he realised how tired he was…huh maybe midnight was late to go to bed on a school night. Just as he was about to drop off to sleep he slapped his hand against his head. Abe from decathlon was having a party this weekend, everyone was going it would be social suicide to miss it and he was grounded…but then again what his parents didn't know wouldn't hurt them. The teen fell asleep with a slight smirk on his face.
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Two days later Peter was eating his lunch with Ned when his best friend brought up Abe's party.
"So my mom offered to drive me there tomorrow, it's a little too far to walk, do you want a ride? We can pick you up at the tower." Ned asked not looking up from his lunch.
At Ned's words Peter swallowed nervously, if Mrs Leeds came to collect him she would be seen and someone would definitely tell Tony if they saw his son get into some random car, especially while grounded. "Nah it's cool I'll just come to yours, no point going out of your way."
"Peter the tower is literally on the way, why are you being weird?"
"Nah it's cool really, I'll come to you or you can pick me up at the gelato place around the corner from the tower?" He tried to negotiate without it sounding strange.
"Pete…why are you awkward? You know my family know about Tony there's no need to hide," as he questioned his friend he looked up from his lunch and saw Peter's ears turn a little red. He knew his best friend almost as well as he knew himself so he knew red ears mean Peter is either in trouble or likely to be in trouble. "Wait…your dad does know about Abe's party yeah?" He asked quietly suddenly worried about his friend's response, Tony was extremely overprotective and would surely insist on taking Peter himself or the boy being picked up straight outside the tower.
"Well…technically…ummm…maybe not. I'm sorta grounded."
"Peter! What the hell? You knew Abe's was this weekend, what did you do? How will you keep it from your dad?"
"It's cool," Peter tried to assure his friend, "he doesn't need to know, him and mom are at some charity fundraiser tomorrow anyway, they won't even know I'm gone. I'll go out once they leave and be home before they come home, it'll be fine."
"Dude there's an AI in your home whose like main job is to know where everyone is and what they're doing. One question and you're bust."
At that Peter smirked and took a USB out of his pocket. "It's cool I got FRIDAY covered, it was impossible to hack into it but I made a sort of plaster which will just cover my room so if anyone asks where I am or what I'm doing Fri will just say I'm asleep." Honestly Peter was pretty proud of what he had achieved especially as he was only able to work on it when no one else was around, it had taken him ages, he had attempted to hack into the AI but he didn't know enough about it and he was sure it would take him months to get anywhere near, in the time he had the plaster he had created would be enough…hopefully.
"What if they come home early and someone looks in your room?"
"Won't happen…well probably not, it's cool, they know even a little noise wakes me up so they won't check on me, mom is big on getting a good night's sleep. And they probably won't come home early, it's a huge gala they need to meet loads of people to talk about SI they will be out all evening."
"Fine, whatever," Ned said after thinking about it, it wasn't like he would be able to dissuade Peter and also…he really wanted to go to this party with him, they'd only been to one high school party before and Peter had left to chase the Vulture's men so... "We'll pick you up at the gelato place at eight, but if your dad finds out I want him to know I did not help with this. I am not being murdered by Iron Man before I can legally drink, or ever for that matter."
Peter grinned in response, he knew Ned would be cool.
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"Peter, come here I want to talk to you."
Peter threw his phone down onto his bed and made his way towards the source of the shout. Walking into the lounge he saw his parents dressed to the nines, his dad's tie matched his mums dress and he couldn't help but smile at them. "You look great, both of you," he told them honestly.
Tony grinned at his son in thanks, Peter's behaviour had improved since their argument the other day, he just hoped it would continue to do so, he did hate punishing the boy after all. "We will probably be back around two, so you better be in bed when we get home, okay Peter?" At his son's nod he continued "good boy. Now Bruce and Nat are out for date night so if you need anything send me a text or call Uncle Rhodey or Happy. And remember you're grounded so if I found out you leave this apartment to go to the labs or something you'll be in trouble, the same goes for inviting anyone over."
Peter's stomach flipped but he nodded anyway pushing away the guilt. After all he wouldn't need to break his grounding if his parents hadn't been ridiculously overprotective and grounded him in the first place. So really it was their fault he planned to do what he was. He waved as his parents left and as soon as the elevator closed made his way into his dad's office. Technically he wasn't breaking a rule by being in here, he had never been told he couldn't come in after all, he just never really did...apart from when he was in trouble obviously. He sat himself down in Tony's desk chair and turned on the computer, his USB in hand. As soon as it was up and running he pushed the USB into one of the ports and began typing furiously, he didn't have long after all and he still needed to get ready.
Ten minutes later Peter sat back with a smile. Nailed it. "FRIDAY where is Peter?"
"Peter is asleep in bed."
The teen punched the air in celebration and sprinted back to his bedroom to shower and change. A half hour later he was ready, he thought about going out the window but the risk of his face being seen was too big and he could hardly take his suit as he had no way to hide it. So he took the private elevator down to the ground level praying no one would get in, anyone that had access to this elevator probably knew he was grounded after all, although with Nat and Bruce being out and his uncle's not here it was unlikely anyone would use it, very few had clearance to. He left through the back entrance so he would be less likely to be seen, he didn't want anyone to report him to his parents after all.
Ned grinned as they pulled up in front of the gelato shop to pick up Peter, he was honestly shocked his friend had managed to get out unscathed, he sure as hell wouldn't directly disobey Tony Stark, Peter had balls that was for sure. Twenty minutes later they pulled up at Abe's which already seemed to be fairly busy and with a shout of thanks the teens jumped out the car and made their way inside.
God it was loud. The only other party Peter had been to was Flash's and he had a slight issue with the noise there, but he had found alcohol seemed to dull it so he made his way to the drinks table and promptly helped himself to a beer. Eyes searching the room he quickly found MJ and made his way over with a smile.
Peter was on his second beer when he heard a shout from across the room "Hey Pete, come join the beer pong tournament." With a shouted agreement he fought his way through the dancing teens where a table was set up, Cindy was standing next to it with a sheet of paper.
"Right you play three games then the final. You playing Peter?"
Peter agreed and stood to the side to watch the first game knowing he was up next against Ned. Twenty minutes later Peter beat Abe and got himself into the final, by this point he had drunk quite a few cups and the alcohol was beginning to hit him. Although it appeared that Spider DNA made it harder to get drunk…well he couldn't be positive on that as he hadn't had prior experience to compare it to but he was definitely amongst the more sober there despite drinking a fair amount.
"Ready to lose Penis?" He rolled his eyes at Flash's ridiculous taunts and took his place opposite his long-time bully smirking. He easily sunk the first ball in one of the other boy's drinks but was immediately forced to drink one himself, it seemed despite being fairly drunk Flash still had quite impressive hand eye coordination. But, that didn't matter, his was better.
Within ten minutes Flash was drinking his last cup suitably cowed. Peter laughed as the others cheered him on and graciously accepted another beer from Abe.
"Chug, chug, chug."
Fuck it. Peter thought to himself as he fell to the peer pressure and began to chug his drink. By this point he was definitely drunk but couldn't care less. He was with his friends and having fun, he was being a normal teenager for a change and it felt great…actually shit maybe not he thought to himself as he felt his stomach begin to rebel.
Pushing people out of the way he was in the bathroom in seconds slamming the door behind him as he proceeded to empty his stomach. The first few times it was just beer but soon he was dry heaving and pushed himself away from the toilet to lean back against the door. God that was horrible, note to self chugging beer is a bad idea.
"Hey…Petrrrr….Petrrr….Spidr…man"
Peter dragged himself to his feet and pulled the door open in a panic his heart slowing slightly when he realised it was just an extremely drunk Ned. "Dude you okay?" Peter had to admit throwing up maybe helped him a little he was still drunk but not quite as hammered as before, although his mouth did taste awful.
"Tis dark Petrrr….bedtime."
Peter blinked slowly as he tried to interpret his friends' words, he glanced at his watch and let out a muttered swear reaching his hand out to hold the door frame for support. "Okay…right." He grabbed Ned and threw his arm over his shoulder so he could support his weight and began to lead him out of the house. It was already twenty past one and his parents were due home at two…so if he took Ned home then went to the tower he could probably get there with five minutes to spare. With a shouted goodbye in the general direction of those still partying Peter grabbed his jacket and half dragged Ned outside. Usually as Spiderman he would have been able to carry his friend in a fireman's lift but Ned was drunk…pretty much a dead weight and he himself was drunk enough that he could drop Ned.
"You're a good friend Peter. You're the best. I'll come to your funeral."
"Thanks Ned, you're a great friend too." Peter told him with a grin but then paused a the rest of his words hit him, "Wait!? What funeral?"
"When Irondad kills you hahahahahahaha."
"He won't kill me because he will never find out." Peter responded sighing as Ned's answer was just a hiccup. How reassuring.
When he dropped Ned off he watched him go into his house, there was no way he was going in, he didn't want to face Mrs Leeds after he took her son home almost passed out from alcohol.
So…twenty to one plenty of time he thought to himself as he stumbled back towards the tower. At least he couldn't get lost he thought to himself giggling slightly as he looked up at the massive building several blocks away.
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Tony stepped out of the lift kissing his fiancée softly as he did so. "Thank you for such a great night my sweet lady."
"Tony…we are married you don't need to charm me into our own bed."
He simply grinned at her as he stole another kiss. "I don't need to, but I want to Pep," he told her with a smile on his face and love clear in his eyes.
She laughed and pushed him away slightly as she looked around the room. Odd. It's exactly the same as it was when they left, Peter tended to leave things lying around in the way all teenagers do but the room was undisturbed. "I wonder what Peter's been up to? He must have stayed in his room, theres no way he's suddenly started cleaning up after himself."
"hmmm…yeah it's unlike him. Fri what's Peter up to?"
"Peter is asleep in bed."
"What's Peter been doing since we left?" Pepper asked curiously, if he had found a way to use his Xbox the kid would be in trouble in the morning.
"Peter is asleep in bed."
The two looked at each other in confusion, FRIDAY never had issues answering usually, was it a glitch? "Maybe we should check on him."
Tony nodded at her words but before he'd even taken two steps the elevator they just left opened behind them. Spinning on the spot his jaw dropped as his eyes landed on his son. His son who was supposed to be in bed. Asleep. And according to FRIDAY was. Also the kid was wearing a jacket and trainers so he had clearly been out somewhere, he wouldn't bother with a jacket it he had just been nipping downstairs. Sure the boy would have been in trouble for leaving the penthouse but leaving the tower…his son was in major trouble.
Peter paled when the door opened and his parents were suddenly directly in front of him. He glanced down at his watch…"It's not two yet." He stated dumbly unable to stop himself or thing of a way to try and get out of the situation.
"Really! That's what you're going with Peter? Where have you been? What have you been doing? What part of grounded did you not understand? You were given explicit instructions before we left." Tony walked towards Peter his voice rising until he's yelling at the teen. How could the kid do this? They had trusted him when they left him home alone, sure had he been on his Xbox they would have been disappointed but for him to have left the safety of the tower without telling them was a whole other ballgame. Suddenly he stopped dead in his tracks in front of the teen. "Peter please tell me that is not alcohol I can smell on you…and is that…yeah sick." His voice dropped to a dangerous growl as he spoke disappointment lacing his words. Pinching his nose he let out a breath "no…I'm not dealing with this right now, you can't even stand upright."
At his dad's words Peter let go of the wall as if to illustrate he was totally fine but stumbled almost immediately. He looked at the floor unwilling to make eye contact with his undoubtedly furious parents.
"Peter. Bed now. We will deal with this in the morning." Tony bit out the anger clear in his words.
Peter nodded shakily and stumbled towards his room as quickly as he could still refusing to meet his parent's eyes.
When he heard Peter's door close Tony sagged as if he was a puppet whose strings had been cut. "It's my fault."
Pepper immediately grabbed her husband's hand at his defeated tone. "No, not it isn't, this is on Peter. But we will get through this. Let's go to bed and deal with this with cool heads tomorrow nothing can be done now. Look at me Tony. This is not your fault. You've not been drunk in almost a year Tony and you've certainly never had more than one or two in front of Peter. This is not your fault."
Tony nodded at her words and quickly filled a glass of water to place next to his sons bed. He may be furious at the boy but he didn't wish a killer hangover on him…after all the boy was going to be dealing with a sore backside anyway. For once Peter did not stir when he entered the room, had it been any other night he would have been relieved the boy definitely didn't sleep enough but he knew the alcohol he drank was the most likely reason. Leaving the teen's bin next to the bed in case he felt sick in the morning he ordered Fri to keep an eye on him before leaving the room for his own bed.
His sleep was nowhere near as deep as his sons.