Shoutout to Jessica: Thank you for your kind words, it made me so happy to read your review, I'm glad you're enjoying the story!

I woke up around 5 am, realizing I'd lost the entire night before. I sighed, deciding to try and leave early—hopefully early enough to not run into Tony, since I wasn't ready to deal with the fallout from the fight, knowing it would be awkward and possibly further upsetting —and just do my homework at school. I sent Peter a quick text telling him I'd meet him at Midtown, then had a quick shower, got dressed and headed out of my bedroom with my backpack. I moved quietly through the halls, not wanting to alert anyone to my presence. I slowed to a stop a few turns away from the main space with a sudden realization.

I looked up at the ceiling, "Hey, FRIDAY?"

"Yes, Y/N?'

"Is Tony up yet?"

"Yes, he is, Y/N."

"Where is he?"

"He's in the kitchen."

I swore quietly under my breath, "Did he ask you to tell him when I'm up?"

"No, he did not. Did you want me to let him know?"

"No! Um, no, that's fine, umm… is there any other way off this floor?"

"Yes, there is the stairwell, but you have to go down 15 flights before there will be a floor you have access to without a building emergency."

Oof. I thought for a minute… face Tony or face the stairs… I groaned, already regretting my choice as I asked FRIDAY for directions to the staircase.

Several minutes later I exited onto a lower floor and gratefully found the elevator to take the rest of the way to the ground. I headed for the subway, desperately hoping I would remember the route correctly and that it would be the same at this time of day. As I stood waiting for the subway to arrive, my phone rang, the screen lighting up with Tony's name. I ignored the call, watching as it went to voicemail, and I received a text notification.

Tony: Where are you?! Why won't you answer?! All FRIDAY would say was that you left through the stairwell knowing I was in the kitchen.

Y/N: Omw to school.

T: At this hour?! Please tell me Peter is with you.

I smirked a little,

Y/N: I can tell you that, but it won't be the truth.

The phone rang again. And I sighed, answering it hesitantly. "Yes?"

"What do you think you're doing?! There's so many things that could go wrong! Will you please just come back home?" The panic in his voice made me feel a little guilty, but the subway whooshed into the station at that exact moment and I took that as I sign to keep going.

"Sorry Tony, I'm on the train now—besides I have homework to finish and I know that won't happen if I come back…there."

I heard him exhale heavily, "Please…just stay safe. And let me know when you get to school."

I softened at the obvious concern in his voice, "I will, Tony. But I'm going to go now so I don't miss my stop."

"Okay. And kid?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry."

The apology took me off guard, having not expected him to bring it up over the phone, and it took me a moment to respond, "Me too. Talk to you tonight." And I ended the call.

I spent the rest of the ride frantically keeping track of the stops and feeling pretty proud of myself when I got off and found my way to the school. I pulled on the doors to go in—and realized there was something I hadn't thought of. The school not being open yet. I sighed and walked around back to the outside portion of the cafeteria, setting down my books on one of the tables there and settling in. My phone dinged and I glanced over at it.

Peter: Thanks for letting me know, I'll try to get there a bit earlier too.

Y/N: Cool, thanks.

I put my phone off to the side and started in on my schoolwork. Thankfully, between my catch-up work and having only been there for one day, there wasn't a whole lot to do. I finished it quickly enough, packing everything back into my bag an hour later. I noticed other students starting to trickle in as well, though only a handful since first bell was still an hour away.

I headed inside to the now unlocked building and dropped some of my stuff off at my locker. The next fifteen minutes were spent wandering the halls aimlessly trying to better learn my way around, until I got a text from Peter telling me he'd arrived and I went back to the homeroom hallway to find him.

Ned and MJ were already beside him, and I nodded at them in acknowledgement, silently sliding into place beside them as Ned and Peter excitedly spoke in hushed tones.

I turned to MJ, "Stars Wars again?"

"Yep."

I nodded, looking down idly at my phone, still a little unsure how to act around them without an obvious purpose. My mind wandered back to what was going on at the Tower, mentally wincing at my behaviour last night while simultaneously bristling at Tony's.

MJ elbowed me and I startled, looking up at her.

She gave me a questioning look, "Is everything okay?"

I shrugged. "Why wouldn't it be?"

Her eyes narrowed, clearly not accepting the blow-off. Thankfully I was saved from further questioning by the bell ringing, and we trooped off to homeroom. I took my seat, pointedly ignoring Flash's dirty looks as he passed by me.

The day went by quickly, and I managed to only get turned around twice. Flash continued giving me dirty looks but didn't escalate beyond that, though I did notice Peter had gained a new bruise by gym class. I also noticed MJ watching me with concern and I made sure she didn't get another opportunity to ask any more questions. Though I'm certain she had them, as I couldn't get the fight—or Tony's apology—off of my mind, and was practically drowning in guilt by the end of the day, and I knew I didn't have a great poker face. I also half expected the principal to confront me again, but he never made an appearance.

When the final bell rang, I followed Peter and his friends out of the building and onto the subway, paying just enough attention to their conversation to be able to respond appropriately, while I thought about what awaited me. When we reached my stop, I waved goodbye and went to exit. Peter followed after me, explaining, "I'm working with Mr. Stark in his workshop today."

As we walked, he alternated between swinging his arms and tucking his thumbs into the pockets of his sweater. We chatted about our classes and he told me about some science project he was working on. I didn't understand most of what he was saying, but his face lit up with enthusiasm while he spoke, so I nodded along encouragingly, hoping he wasn't expecting me to chime in at any point.

When we got to the tower, we parted ways, with him taking the general elevator to go check on something in the intern labs before going to the workshop. I went up the classified elevator, taking a deep breath as I stepped off on the penthouse floor. I swallowed hard then pushed open the door, unsure what to expect.

Tony's head snapped up from where he sat on the couch, and he began to stand, wavered slightly as though he was going to sit back down, then recommitted to standing, and fully straightened. He eyed me warily, taking a few steps towards me as I dropped my bag to the floor, taking a hesitant step forward of my own.

He ran his hand through his hair, his Adam's apple bopping. "I'm going to be honest, I'm not sure what to do next here."

I cracked an awkward half smile, "That makes two of us."

There was another beat of silence. He ran his hand through his hair a few more times, and I became overly conscious that I was nervously twisting my clasped hands.

The silence became too much for both of us at the same time.

"I'm sorr—"

"I shouldn't hav—"

"You first" "You first"

Tony chuckled and lightly shook his head, waving for me to join him on the couch as he sat back down. I sat down beside him, gesturing at him to speak first. It seemed only fair, he was the adult after all.

He twisted his hands in his lap, then shifted slightly to face more towards me, "Look, Y/N, things got a little out of hand yesterday. The way I yelled at you was not right… my own father's main mode of communication was yelling and I know it's not a great experience to be on the receiving end of that. I also shouldn't have dismissed what you were saying so quickly, I should have taken the time to listen to you and respond more reasonably…so, I'm sorry."

"You're not the only one in the wrong, Tony. I should never have gotten as mad as I did or said a lot of the things I said. About Pepper….or about you. I just…I have a bit of a temper, always have, and it tends to get the better of me more often than I'd like. I'm sorry too."

"I have a feeling that temper might be from my side of the family, so as much as I wish it would be, this may not be our only face-off. But at least we know we can both come out the other side." His face crinkled into a smile as he raised his eyebrows at me on that last line, laughter in his eyes.

I smiled back, "You know it. Couldn't let you take me down, old man."

"Hey, what did I say about calling me that!"

I scrunched my nose and stuck my tongue out at him.

He laughed and bumped his shoulder into mine, "I think we survived our first fight, kid," "Anything else we need to discuss about it?"

His tone was dismissive, clearly not expecting an actual response. I debated letting the moment continue without bringing up my concern, but my brief pause was enough for him to take notice, and he settled into a slightly more serious expression, "Is there something?"

I swallowed and looked down at my hands, "I feel bad even asking this, but well… if we do get in a fight again… is there…is there a possibility that you might," I exhaled heavily, "…hit me?"

Silence. I tilted my head slightly, apprehensively looking at Tony. His face was ashen, all traces of humour gone as he stared at me with a stricken expression.

"…Tony?"

His voice came out low and choked, "You…you thought I would hit you?"

I shrugged, embarrassed, "Not really…but I also don't know you enough to know that you wouldn't either...and you seemed so mad at the end…"

He took my hands in his, intently looking in my eyes, "Never. I would never hit you. I promise. I will do everything I can to never hurt you again. I know I hurt you last night…. I heard you crying and it about broke my heart…and I never want to do that again. I can't guarantee I won't be stupid again, but I can and do promise that I will never hit you. No matter how angry I am. Okay?"

I nodded, speechless at his intensity. He gazed at me for a moment longer before releasing my hands and raising his arms to pull me into a tight hug instead. Some of my lingering emotions broke out, and I tucked my head into his shoulder, tears leaking into his shirt as I held onto him. He pulled me closer, one hand coming to rest against the back of my head.

We sat like that for a few minutes, before shifting apart. I wiped at my eyes and noticed him trying to discreetly do the same. I raised my eyebrow at him, forcing a teasing tone into my voice, "So, am I still grounded then?"

The cloud over his face lifted, his tone matching mine, "Ha, no; no grounding for you, young lady, you escaped—this time."

The tense mood evaporated and by the time FRIDAY announced Peter was waiting for Tony downstairs, we were joking around with each other in the kitchen as I gave Tony a proper update on how school had gone yesterday and today, leaving out Flash. I also found out that Tony had given the principal a call himself, explaining the situation and chastising him for not first attempting to follow up with the listed guardian contact information before discussing it with the student, as was the proper protocol.

At FRIDAY's announcement, Tony gave me a slightly guilty look, but I waved him off, telling him I'd see him in a bit for dinner, and to make sure he brought Peter with him—I'd noticed he got sluggish when he wasn't constantly being fed.

With Tony gone, I sat down to my schoolwork, immediately ignoring it again when the elevator chime signalled a visitor. I looked up from the kitchen island, returning Uncle Bucky's wave as he entered the room.

We sat down in adjacent armchairs, my legs tucked underneath me.

He leaned back in his chair, "So, how was school?"

I gave him the rundown, once again avoiding mentioning Flash, his brow furrowing when I told him about the principal's accusation, but smoothing out into an amused expression when I told him about Tony's response call to the school. I brushed over my fight with Tony, but his slightly askance expression made me think he'd noticed I was leaving something important out.

We chatted for awhile longer, with me lightheartedly complaining about my science classes and him nodding in agreement, until FRIDAY announced Tony, Peter, and Pepper were on their way up for dinner.

Bucky rubbed his hands against his pants and stood up, "I'll be on leaving then."

"You can stay for dinner if you want?"

"No, I'd better not. I'll see you later."

He gave me a half salute, which I returned, and then he was gone. I cleared my homework off the island and put out plates on the dining table. Mere moments later the others arrived in a rush of technical chatter between Peter and Tony, Pepper herding them from behind, a patient smile on her face. Their conversation cut off as they saw me, switching to a debate over what to have for dinner. I won and we ordered in pub food in honour of one of my favourite places to go on one of the rare occasions we ate out at home. I got my usual, beef and mushroom pie with Yorkshire pudding, Tony got a burger with fries, Pepper got shepherd pie, and Peter got a roast beef sandwich. Partway through dinner, I realized the bruise was no longer visible on Peter's arm, and I wondered if he'd covered it up with makeup to hide it from Tony.

After dinner, Tony and Peter went back to the workshop, with a slightly suspicious glance shared between them, and Pepper said she had a few errands she wanted to run. I was left alone and finally settled down to do my homework.

I finished it pretty quickly, and found myself wandering the penthouse aimlessly, looking for something to do. I ended up deciding to ignore Tony's insistence that I had no need to ever use the kitchen and instead raided it for baking supplies. I remembered them saying that while Peter loved to bake, his results were always atrocious, similar to any of Tony's attempts in the kitchen, and Pepper wasn't big on baking, so I wondered when the last time was that they had actual homemade baked goods.

I made a small batch of brownies, leaving them out on the counter with a note, and then went up to my room, scrolling the internet on my laptop before finally heading to bed, still not having heard anyone else return, even though it was after 10pm.