Tony towel-dried his hair, tossing the damp bath sheet onto his bed and grabbed a clean shirt to pull on. He'd gotten a great night's sleep, which was a rare event in his life since the mess in Sokovia, and he was ready to take on the teenage superhero. He hoped that Pete had slept well too but he kind of doubted it. It bothered Tony that the kid spent so much time alone when he aunt was working late. He planned to rectify that soon enough. He knew May Parker was a pediatric nurse, a damn good one from what he'd heard, and since Tony financially supported some of the best hospitals in the world, he planned to get the woman much better hours.

Tony looked in the mirror and ran his fingers through his dark hair; the finger brush would have to do this morning as he planned to cook up a feast. Pepper was away on business for the week and he would be damned if he needed his breakfast catered. Scrambled eggs and bacon were in his future and he felt sure Peter would enjoy them just as much.

As Tony went to leave his bedroom and arouse the kid down the hall, his cell phone rang loudly. With a groan, he reached out to grab it. With everything going on with the UN and the Sokovian Accords, Tony had grown used to business, as usual, every day including Saturday and Sunday. Tony was committed to the accords because it was the only way the Avengers could still operate and not be completely dissolved. Some were better than none, weren't they, no matter what Rodgers thought. At least they had some say with the Accords. He wanted to have a say in how it was done, and he wanted to protect the young ones like Peter, who had the most to lose from them. Tony believed in the Accords, despite the fact it had split the Avengers.

He glanced at his cell before answering it. "Rhodey, where the hell have you been?" he asked, feeling his temper rising. He hadn't heard from his friend in a few weeks and he'd been fearful his best friend had gone rogue and joined Rodger's team of outlaws.

"Relax, Stark, you always seem to forget I have a career outside of the Avengers." Rhodey's voice sounded patient, as it usually was for his friend.

Tony rolled his eyes. "So, you're telling me you were off doing some kind of secret mission for the Air Force, and I didn't know about it?"

"I know this might be hard to believe, Stark, but you don't know everything that happens. Your money doesn't make you the president of United States."

Tony chuckled. "With my money, I don't need to be the president, Rhodes."

Rhodey laughed as well. "Touche. Listen, Stark, as much I love the bantering, I didn't call to play. What the hell is going on with that kid of yours?"

Tony frowned. "What kid of mine?"

Rhodey sighed. "Spiderman. Look, I know you've explained to me a hundred times why you recruited the kid. I get that you knew it was a pretty safe bet that Cap and the gang wouldn't hurt him, but that kid is becoming one hell of a pain in the ass. He's cocky and if he's not careful, he's gonna get snagged into signing the Accords, underaged or not. What is he? Fourteen years old? Do his parents even know about all this shit?"

Tony sat on the bed, suddenly overcome with guilt. Rhodey wasn't saying anything he hadn't already asked himself, but why was his friend calling him now on a Saturday at 8 in the morning? It struck Tony was odd.

"He's not my kid, Rhodey."

"Tones, he's yours now. Congratulations, it's a damned teenager with enhanced abilities. Have a cigar!"

Tony groaned feeling like chucking his cell phone across the room. "Where are you and why are you lecturing me this friggen early in the morning?"

There was a silence on the other end of the line.

"Rhodes?" prompted Tony, thinking it was odd of his friend to pause so suddenly in the conversation.

"Tony, you need to get him under control." Colonel Rhodes voice was quiet.

Tony felt a coldness wash over him. "What's going on, Rhodey?"

A long loud sigh could be heard over the line. "Do you even know where the kid is now, Tony? I thought you were going to keep an eye on him. You said you had things under control and that the kid wouldn't be an issue. Well, my friend, I'm sorry to say, he is a gawddamned issue. Turn on the morning news!"

Tony walked across the room to grab the remote to his television in his room. Switching on the morning news made his jaw drop. The early morning news helicopter had tracked footage of the young web-slinger preventing a collision only to cause another. Police were on the scene, and people were up in arms about the situation, undecided if the webbed crusader had helped or made things worse. Then the story changed to Spidey webbing some early morning cat burglars to the wall.

"Son of a gun," he mumbled and keeping the phone to his ear, he tore off out of the room to where Peter was supposed to be sleeping. He burst into the room to see an empty bed and no sign of the errant teenager.

"Tony?"

Tony closed his eyes and shook his head. "No, no, no. I just talked to the kid last night about this shit. I just busted his ass and we set things straight. I warned him about…"

"Tony?"

Tony ignored Rhodey, who was attempting to get his attention and began to pace the room. What good had it done to smack the kid if he was just going to take off and do his own thing anyway? Hadn't he told the kid to stay put and begin his internship this morning? Who said that corporal punishment worked with kids? What good was it that he'd programmed Jocasta to alert him of just this type of thing? What the hell happened?

"Damn it, Tony, answer me! Are you gonna handle this or am I?"

Tony scrubbed a hand across his face. "Geez, Rhodey, I thought I already had."

"Tony, you brought this damned kid into this and now it's up to you to control him. Letting Ross and the UN drag that boy into the Accords would be nothing short of abusive. As much as I support the Accords, they are much better in theory that they are in reality. That kid has his whole life ahead of him and what right do we have—do YOU have—to take away his identity."

Tony swallowed hard knowing everything Rhodey was saying was the truth. "Okay, okay, I hear you. I've got this."

"Do you want me to pick him up?"

Tony thought a moment. He'd already dragged the kid home recently and it had done nothing to stop him. Maybe a ride with Rhodey and a stern lecture from the United States Air force colonel would be something that would stick. Obviously, nothing Tony had said made a difference to the kid. What the holy hell was it going to take to get through to the kid? Short of a leach, Tony was at a loss.

"Yah. Pick him up and bring him to me. I'll handle it, Rhodes."

"You better, Stark. He's already identified with you. That means he's your responsibility. Are you going to be able to live with yourself if the Accords steal his childhood away? Are his parents ready to deal with this kind of publicity? Hell, I'm not even ready to deal with it. I have a damned good job in the Air Force and while being a superhero is altruistic, I'm still not convinced I can't better in my career. The kid deserves a chance to grow up and decide when he's not being so controlled by his emotions and hormones."

Tony nodded. He heard everything Rhodey was saying. Tony had made a conscious decision to reveal his identity as Iron Man. He'd been a grown adult, capable of making rational decisions. He'd been old enough and wise enough to know the ramifications of such a decision. Peter did not. All Peter saw was that he could help people, and somehow he felt it was his duty to use his gifts to do just that. It was noble. Peter was a good person. A damned good person.

"You're right, Rhodes. Read him the riot act and bring him home."

"Oh, he's gonna get an earful alright." With those final words, Tony heard the line go dead.

Tony chucked his cell phone on Peter's bed. The bed was tousled showing that Peter had tried to sleep at one point. What made the kid decide to leave? Tony grabbed the closest item to him—a book—and pitched it across the room as hard as he could, trying to vent some of his frustration. He wasn't angry at the kid. Tony was discouraged. How could he have been so arrogant to believe that he had gotten through to the kid? After all, hadn't he been the most self-centred kid in the world himself? He should have been able to read the kid.

Tony walked around the room, yo-yo-ing between discouragement and disappointment and then being hit in the gut with remorse and compassion. Peter was a 15-year-old kid whose parents had been ripped away from him at a young age, leaving him to his aunt and uncle to rear. And then fate slapped the poor kid in the face again, stealing his uncle from him when the kid most needed a male role model in his life. Tony was positive that the kid's aunt did her best, but teen boys needed a father figure; they needed a firm hand to lay down the law but also to be there for them unconditionally no matter how much they screw up. Kids needed that kind of security. Peter didn't have that. And as much as Tony had attempted to step into that role, he hadn't earned the right. Peter was shouting that loud and clear. The question was how was Tony going to prove himself to the kid? How was he going to earn the right to be the role model and father figure that they kid so desperately needed? It was going to take a whole hell of a lot more than a spanking to get through to the kid. But what that looked like escaped Tony.

Lost in his thoughts, Tony sat down at the desk in the room and when he looked down, his jaw dropped. He blinked a few times as he picked up some not so random pieces of technology on the desk.

He fingered the wires and remnants of Jocasta.

"Damn, kid. You're smarter than I give you credit for."

From the looks of things, Peter had managed to alter the tracker Tony strapped on his wrist. The kid may not have been able to remove the babysitter, but he was sure was able to do enough damage to shut her down before she could talk. If Tony hoped to stay one step ahead of Peter, he would need to step up his game. He'd underestimated the kid. He wouldn't make that mistake again.

XxXxspidermanironmanxXxX

Peter's ears were still ringing by the time War Machine dropped him off on Tony Stark's doorstep. The man didn't seem content with just unloading him either. Once they landed and Peter's feet were on firm ground, he felt himself being escorted bodily—quite literally dragged- into the building and shoved onto the sofa. Only then did the mask retract and the angry black man step out of his suit. Peter landed with a jolt and looked up in sheepish astonishment.

"You're damned lucky it was me dragging your sorry ass back here and not Captain America. Steve Rodgers is from the thirties, kid, where no one thought twice of taking a belt to a stupid teenager's ass. Right now, I have half a mind to do it myself…"

"Don't waste your time, Rhodey. I already wore him out, and it didn't seem to do one gawddamned thing."

Peter gulped when he saw Tony walk into the common room. Tony looked just as pissed as the Colonel. Suddenly, Peter was second-guessing every single decision he made since Tony left him the night before.

Rhodey walked to Tony's bar and stood to stare at it. "It's not even lunchtime, and I want a drink! What does that say about me?" Rhodey turned and leaned on the bar, a look of total exasperation on his face. "Maybe you didn't do it right, Stark. Maybe I should try my hand at it."

Peter gulped in uneasiness at the direction of the topic. "Uh…h-he did it right," he whispered and then regretted it when Tony shot him a look that said 'keep your mouth shut if you know what's good for you', and probably a whole lot of other things that Peter didn't want to know.

Rhodey angrily strode over to Tony and punched him in the shoulder. "This is your fault, Stark. You dragged that damned kid into this when you had no business. Are you nuts?"

Tony rubbed his arm with a feigned expression of insult on his face. "Ow, that hurt," he complained.

Rhodey tossed him an unsympathetic glare. "Shut up, Stark. Damn these friggen Accords. Have you heard from Hawkeye? He's got kids; he'd been able to handle this shit."

Tony sighed, still rubbing his arm absentmindedly. "Clint's oldest kid is what? 8 years old? Pfff, I highly doubt he'd know what to do with a snot-nosed adolescent like Pete here."

Peter shrunk down further into the sofa and pulled off his mask while Tony and Rhodey continued to banter back and forth like a pair of feuding old men. Pete did his best to block out the arguing. There was no point in him listening to it when neither of the men would allow him a word in edgewise. Tony had made it clear that Peter should keep his mouth shut and opinions to himself. Perhaps, the quarrelling would wear both adults out and allow Peter to live to see another day. So far, the conversation had only put him on edge thinking one or both of the men were going to lambaste him into the middle of next week. Tony had already made a show of his authority once, and Peter did not relish another demonstration. After Tony had left him the night before, he had tried to sleep. He made a very honest effort to lie down and put away the events of the day, but he just couldn't. His head kept spinning in circles, going through every single thing that had happened.

Peter had been and still was, very miffed about the tracker Tony had affixed to his wrist. It was an invasion of privacy and frankly, it had also felt like a challenge to him; one that Peter was gladly willing to tackle. If Tony Stark thought Peter wasn't intelligent enough to figure out a wristwatch, the man must have been full of hot air about the internship. All it'd taken was a call to Ned, and between them, they'd manage to disable Jocasta within a couple of hours. Peter might not have been able to take off the tracker but he sure as hell could disable it.

After Ned tried to talk him out of being an idiot and leaving; and after Peter made Ned swear on his life not to alert Tony of his whereabouts, Peter had slipped out the window into the night. To be honest, he hadn't intended on doing anything but slinging around and enjoying the quiet of the early morning. Only trouble was, Peter couldn't help himself. When he saw a chance to help, he took it without thinking. It was what he did. It was who he was. Peter just wished that Tony could understand that without freaking out and thinking that he had to protect him. Peter had survived fine before Tony found out about him, so he knew he could take care of himself. Fate had picked him; he hadn't asked for it.

"Peter!" said a sharp voice.

Peter's head jerked up and he noticed that Tony was alone; Rhodey was nowhere to be seen.

"Do you want some breakfast?"

Peter shook his head. He was hungry but his stomach was churning. Peter was always hungry; he'd grown used to the feeling and could bear it especially when he felt like Tony was one step away from killing him.

"Where did Colonel Rhodes go?" asked Peter so softly that Tony almost didn't hear him.

Tony ran a hand through his still damp hair and sat across from Peter. He stared at the teenager for a minute before answering the question. Peter squirmed under the scrutiny.

"It was best that he left before he assassinated you or something."

Peter visually cringed.

Tony heaved a weary sigh. "So, what now, kid?"

Peter's eyes widened.

"I've tried to be nice. I've tried to sympathize with your life situation. I've busted your butt. I thought I'd created a tracker that couldn't be manipulated by you, but you seemed to master it in a couple of hours; which by the way, kid, was pretty impressive. Jocasta was not an easy program to hack, yet it seemed like child's play to you."

Peter fidgeted. "I kinda got Ned to help…"

Tony chuckled. "I knew that, but I'm sure I'm allowed to kick Ned's butt."

Peter's face reddened but he didn't say anything.

Tony puffed out his cheeks and stood to his feet again. "So, what now, Peter?"

Peter shrugged and looked up at his mentor. "Uh, I couldn't sleep, you gave me back the suit and you never said I couldn't…" he attempted to explain. "And I never broke any of your rules." He added for emphasis.

Tony nodded. He couldn't disagree, and he wasn't angry that the teen had taken off. Oh, Rhodey was pissed beyond all comprehension, but he would get over it if Tony could keep a handle on Peter. Somehow, Tony needed to keep Spiderman under wraps for a while so Rhodey, the rest of the UN and the Accord lovers calmed down and the dust settled a little. The Accord had everyone on edge. Peter could not even begin to understand the ramifications for himself if he kept pushing the envelope. It was up to Tony to do whatever it took to protect him, even if it meant that Peter grew to hate him.

"Okay. I'm going to make bacon and eggs for breakfast, and you and I are going to start your internship." Tony beckoned the boy to follow him as he walked out of the room.

Peter furrowed his brow. "That's it?"

Tony turned to face him. "What's it?"

"You're not going to yell at me for leaving?"

"Did you break the rules or not because if you think you did, I'll be glad to bust your ass?"

Peter shuddered but was silent. He wasn't sure how to take that.

Tony waited with his hands on his hips.

"I never broke your rules," stated Peter quietly but with conviction.

Tony walked towards him purposefully and put a firm hand on the back of his head, essentially pushing the boy forward. "Then c'mon, will ya. I'm starving."

A small smile played on Peter's lips as he dropped his shoulders and followed his mentor out of the room.