My 10 cents: Well, I figured most of you thought the story was heading in this direction by your reviews. Thanks for the reviews btw. My original intention wasn't actually to head in this direction, but I had some frustrating days with my 15-year-old son and this chapter was surprisingly quick to write and therapeutic. The best part was emailing my son this chapter and seeing the annoyed look on his face! Better Peter than my kid, right? I told him just that. I grounded my kid and gave him enough chores to keep him busy until school starts on Sept 10th.
I don't want this work to be a beat on Peter fic...I hope it will become more of a father/son mentoring and bonding fic...perhaps, by getting this out of the way at the beginning, Pete will get the idea that Tony isn't messing around with the whole obedience thing. My son tends to think that obedience is optional, and it's really testing my patience. *growl*
Anyways, hope you don't think Tony is a creep or that I am a creep...I'm just an irritated dad and Peter was my scapegoat. Sorry about that, Pete.
All that to say that WARNING: a really annoying, disobedient fictional teenager gets some hands-on discipline from a fictional adult.
Peter paced. It was an odd habit but it was something he did when he was very anxious or very angry. This time, he was both. His lips and brow were firmly set in a menacing scowl only matched by Tony Stark's equally ominous glare. An observer might have wagered a guess that the two of them were having a glaring match. Tony was standing with both his hands on his hips and muttering expletives under his breath, not loud enough to be understood but obvious enough to be known he was cursing up a storm.
"Stop it!" said Peter, suddenly finding his tongue and annoyed enough to have the guts to say something despite the polar dip in the room.
Tony's glare deepened. "Stop what? My plan to kick your ass into the middle of next week?"
"You and whose army, Stark?"
Tony chuckled sardonically. "I don't need an army, kid. All I need is one Ironman boot."
Peter swallowed hard at the remark and crossed his arms. His anger wasn't going to get him far in this conversation and he knew it.
Tony hadn't even removed his Ironman suit yet. The man was standing sternly sans the helmet with his hands on his hips, doing his damnedest to look intimidating and he was going a pretty good job at it. In pale comparison, Peter was still in his homemade Spiderman suit and the whole sight was ridiculous, making Peter feel like even more like a kid.
"You didn't need to haul me off like some wanton criminal. I did everyone a favour catching those guys. They have to work for Toomes!"
Tony's arms dropped to his side and he took a step closer to Peter, pointing at him sternly. "Where's the phone I gave you?"
Peter sucked in a breath and took a step back. His mind raced in the moment. He didn't remember what he'd done with the phone. His suit didn't exactly come equipped with deep pockets for cell phones. He didn't even carry his own when he was out and about as Spiderman. It ticked his aunt off too.
"Uhh, I dunno…umm, I think it's at home…"
"Why aren't you at home with it, Pete? Why the hell didn't you just call me and tell me what was going on instead of taking it into your own stupid head to handle it yourself? Seems to me that I remember grounding you from the whole Spiderman gig…"
"NO, you didn't. You asked if I would take a break for a couple of weeks, and I did. It was time I got back out there, and besides, you're not my boss, Stark!" Peter's voice sounded much firmer than he felt. Inside, he felt like a bowl full of runny Jell-O.
Tony's jaw was clenched tightly. He spun on his heel with a loud growl and walked towards the mini bar. On the way there, he stopped to step out of his Ironman suit and the suit disappeared from the room under its own power. Peter's jaw dropped in amazement. Every time he witnessed to Tony's ingenuity, he was left in complete awe.
Tony grabbed two bottles of water from the mini fridge, turned and chucked one at Peter's head. Peter's quick reflexes took over and he caught the water.
"That's not how I remember things, Underoos."
Peter shrugged and set the bottle of water down. He hadn't given up his pacing yet and wasn't ready to accept any peace offerings from Tony just yet.
Tony, on the other hand, opened the top on his and emptied the bottle. Being pissed off at the teenager had made him thirsty. More than anything, though, he longed for something a hell of a lot stronger but he knew he needed to keep his wits about him so he could aim straight when he kicked the spider's little butt across the penthouse.
"Look, Pete, I thought we got past all this teenage angst last time. I'm really trying hard here and you seem to just go for broke. What gives?"
Peter furrowed his brows, not even knowing how to answer the question.
"I took a break. The break is over. Plain enough for you?" Peter was surprised at how sharp his tone was. He was also surprised how angry and hurt he felt; he didn't even really understand why.
Tony sighed and sat down on the very plush and comfortable sofa. He gestured for Peter to follow suit but Peter shook his head stubbornly.
"Damn it. How is possible that I can screw up with you every friggen time?" Tony leaned back and ran both hands through his hair before looking up. "Okay, spiderling, you win. I did ask you to take a break for two weeks, and you're correct, that time is up. However, I did not give you back the suit; therefore, you damned well should have called me to get it back rather than going out in your pyjamas and taking on the dangerous bad guys again. May I remind you that those are the same high tech weapons that almost got you killed a couple weeks ago? I'm still pissed with you over that whole Ferry incident."
Peter stopped pacing and set his gaze on Tony. His eyes were ablaze. "You said you would be in touch when YOU were ready! That phone was for emergencies. It wasn't an emergency. I handled things fine on my own."
Tony harrumphed. "Shall I bill you directly for my clean up crew's expenditures, Mr. Parker?"
Peter glared. "Those buildings were blown up long before I came along. I'm the one that stopped them from doing any more damage, so don't lay that crap on me, Stark."
Tony stood up and his hands found his hips once more, exasperation written across his face. "Kid, it's not the damage that concerns me. It's your reckless attitude."
Peter's face reddened, huffing in annoyance but remained silent.
"Now, I'm not in the mood to rehash conversations we've already had. I'm just going to follow through with the consequences and hope I get something through to that thick head of yours."
Peter's brows rose and his heart skipped a beat in his chest.
"Seems to me that you broke our deal. Tell me, Mr. Parker, what was rule number two?"
Peter searched his head for the rules. It had been a few weeks and he hadn't actually been all that keen on paying much attention to the rules Mr. Stark had blathered about. He just agreed originally to get the suit back and to shut the man up.
Tony crossed his legs, picking imaginary lint from his sweatshirt. He looked entirely too smug for Peter's liking and it was making him more angry than repentant.
"Well? I'm waiting, Pete."
Peter shrugged and pulled off his red and blue sweatshirt, feeling hot under the collar. Without his sweater, his red t-shirt underneath felt much cooler. He hiked up his saggy blue bottoms and decided to take a load off and sit.
"Who the hell cares," he muttered heatedly, trying to keep his pride intact.
Tony rubbed his forehead that seemed to be pounding a new tune in his head. "Let me refresh your memory. No going after supervillains with high tech weapons. Sound vaguely familiar, Mr. Parker?"
Peter sighed, his anger melting away. He was screwed. Suddenly, fatigue hit him full force. It was going to be a long, long evening.
"They weren't supervillains…" he muttered half-heartedly.
Tony lifted one brow in amusement. "Yah, yah, I'll give you that, but they were using high tech weapons that you know nothing about. Am I right?" Peter narrowed his eyes at him but didn't answer so Tony continued, "You also broke rule three."
Peter searched his brain again but came up empty. He had no idea what rule Tony was referring to this time either.
"Don't piss off Tony," said Tony, a small smirk playing on his lips.
Peter sunk back further into the sofa. He felt like he was attached to a bungee cord, rushing full speed to the ground only to be jerked upward one again. The sensation was jarring. Anger mixed with fear settling into his gut.
"What about not pissing me off, huh? You grabbed me like some kind of prey. I wasn't even finished…" muttered Peter.
"Pete," said Tony in annoyance. "If I hadn't dragged your sorry carcass out of there, you might have been caught by the police."
Peter's rage surged up once more and he looked Tony square in the eyes. "I was leaving a note!"
Tony sighed, "Yah, from your friendly neighbour Spiderman. I know. Cute, kid." His voice was dripping in sarcasm. Tony stood to his feet and pulled Peter to his. His finger went into Peter's face quickly and Peter was unable to back away. "Toomes and his lackeys don't need a friendly neighbour spider baby. They need the damned Avengers!"
Peter grabbed Tony's arm and attempted to pull it off him but it was to no avail. It was then that Peter realised that Tony's watch gauntlet had been activated. There was no way Peter could escape Tony's iron like grip.
"There are no Avenger's left. You disbanded them in Sokovia."
Tony's face reddened at the words but he released his grip on Peter. Peter stepped back and straightened his shirt. Tony took a few steps away forcing his own self to calm down before turning back to the kid.
"I know. And you know it was for a good reason." The man's words were quiet.
Peter nodded, chewing on his bottom lip regretfully. He freely admitted he didn't understand everything concerning the Avengers, but he was willing to admit he knew it was for a good reason. There would be no other reason why the Avengers would split up and make enemies of each other. Peter's conscience pricked at him uncomfortably.
"I'm sorry," mumbled Peter, regret in his voice. As much as he was angry, he didn't want to hurt Tony.
Tony waved a dismissive hand. "Forget it, kid. We have enough to hash out tonight to let that bother me."
Peter nodded and began to pace again.
Tony pinched his nose wearily. The two of them were at a standstill and the ball was in Tony's court and he knew it. He had to fish or cut bait.
"Peter, I need to make a stand here. You're never going to respect me as an authority if I keep pussy footing around…"
Peter turned on his heel and scowled. "You're not anything to me, Stark."
Tony shook his head. "We had a deal, Underoos. I've kept my part of it and you haven't. So you have a choice here. You accept the consequences for your behaviour or you release me from the deal and let me have a chat with your Aunt May." Tony looked at his watch. He was in no mood to let this drag into the next day. He was dealing with it tonight and taking the kid home. Plain and simple.
Peter blinked.
"I'm not going to give you a whole bunch of time to think it over. We both know that just leads to you doing something stupid, so hurry up and decide so we can both get on with life."
Peter felt the colour drain from his face. There was no way May would understand him being a superhero. She would forbid it and he would go against her and it would be one giant mess.
"I…umm…I'm sorry, Mr. Stark…I…umm…" Peter stammered.
Tony rolled his eyes impatiently. "What'll it be, Pete?"
Peter shrugged and Tony threw his hands up in exasperation. Letting the kid decide was like putting him in front of 100 kinds of ice cream and expecting him to pick one favour. It was impossible. It was time to take the bull by the horns and take charge. Tony strode over to the wide-eyed teenager and grasped him firmly by the arm.
"W-wait, Mr. Stark, c-can we talk about this?" stammered Peter, taken aback and trying his best to pull away from the iron grip on his mentor.
"Pete, I've talked more to you than I talk to Pepper and that's saying a lot. I'm finished talking."
Tony pulled Peter over towards the sofa, put his foot on the edge and hiked the kid over his knee. Peter protested indignantly but Tony ignored him, scowling as he delivered several sharp swats to the kid's upended hiney.
"Oww…Mr. Stark…I'm sorry. P-Please stop," pleaded Peter, squirming and struggling to get free. Tony gritted his teeth and continued raining down swats but remained silent. He was tired of talking and for now, he was content to let his hand do the work for him.
Peter continued to squawk, squirm and complain but Tony disregarded it. He knew he wasn't really hurting the kid much anyway. Tony had spent a few days testing out the gauntlet as well as testing his strength on his own thigh. It might have sounded stupid, but Tony wanted to know how hard he was hitting. He didn't want to leave any marks, but he did want to leave a lasting sting. Tony figured that he'd smack the kid twenty times before he'd let the kid take a breather.
"P-please, Mr. Stark, please s-stop. You're h-hurting me."
Tony kept count in his head until he reached twenty sharp, stinging swats then he stopped. He repositioned Peter and held him close to his middle. Peter was breathing heavy and struggling to get free.
"Do I have your attention now, Mr. Parker? Would you by chance be ready to listen to reason?"
Peter shuttered and attempted to reach back to rub his stinging rear-end. Tony's swats weren't unbearable but they were certainly capturing his attention enough that he wanted to escape. His accelerated healing seemed to ward off the worst of the sting but Tony's firm swats were building up enough that he felt the throb and it was getting harder to maintain his dignity. Peter had been smacked around enough to know he healed quickly, but in all honesty, no one ever hit him more than once in the same place. The constant attention to the same area of his backside was bringing about much more of a sting than he would have liked.
"Pete?" Another sharp smack sucked his attention back into the room.
"OW!" he shouted, feeling that one a little more than the others.
"Do I have your attention?"
"Lemme go!" Peter struggled to get free but was unable to move freely enough to gain a foothold.
Tony shifted his knee tipping Peter forward further so that his feet dangled off the ground, putting more pressure on his stomach. Peter sucked in an uncomfortable breath.
"We had a deal, Pete. You break the deal, you end up here. Period. End of story. Got it?"
When Peter didn't answer, Tony resumed his assault on the kid's tender spots eliciting screeches from him.
"Please, Mr. Stark, please….ow…stop…" With these words, Peter dissolved into sobs but Tony didn't stop. He had a lesson to impart and he planned to carry it through to completion.
"Right about now, you're feeling pretty sorry for yourself, I'm sure, but you see, I want to get you past that and onto feeling sorry for breaking rules."
Tony was feeling rather heartless as he listened to the teenager sob but he didn't relent. He could feel the tension in the kid and he knew Peter hadn't completely yielded yet plus Tony also knew that he wasn't smacking the kid very hard. He'd given himself two black and blue bruises on his upper thigh from the gauntlet and he wasn't an enhanced superhero. The strength he was using behind the swats wasn't nearly as hard as he'd used on himself.
"God, stop, Stark, please!" This time belligerence rang out in the kid's voice between the sobs.
"Nope, not yet," answered Tony, upping the ante a little, keeping perfect control. Peter stiffened and yelped in response and Tony knew he's reached the perfect cadence. "Okay, I think we've reached the point where I have your attention." Peter yelped again and then his body went limp across Tony's knee. "There, now we're making progress." Tony stilled his hand, resting it on Peter's back and pulling Peter's shaking frame closer to his middle, adjusting him once again.
"P-please let me get up, I feel like I'm gonna be sick," cried Peter, his bottom lip quivering pathetically. Not only was Peter utterly humiliated, he was completely at Tony's mercy and currently, Tony didn't seem to have any.
"What was our deal?"
Peter huffed and was rewarded with a few sharp swats for his troubles. "Owwwww…okay…d-don't go after bad guys with super weapons," he cried out loudly, with a hiccup.
"And?" prodded Tony, tapping the kid's back lightly to encourage him along. His knee was getting sore supporting the kid's full weight and he wanted to finish things up.
"Don't piss you o-off!" Peter's voice cracked through the shuttering sobs. Tony figured he'd let that one slide. He did basically say that anyhow and he could always explain himself a little better afterwards.
"Alright, then we're done here."
Tony dropped his knee, steadying and supporting Peter's weight as the kid straightened up and felt the floor beneath his feet once more. Immediately, Peter jumped back and his hands flew to his sore rear, as tears of embarrassment and obvious discomfort ran down his flushed face.
"Now, then, since we've established an understanding and rid you of that attitude of yours, would you be so kind as to sit your ass down and let's have a little chat about your future as Spiderman."
Peter gulped, tears running down his cheeks but he obeyed and sat gingerly on the soft sofa, wincing as his tender bottom made contact with the cushion. He was too stunned to do anything but stare. He'd just been soundly spanked by Tony Stark, and it had hurt far more than he wanted to admit. Life as he knew it was about to change drastically.