Summary: Peter is starting to realize just how hard it will be for him to keep Spiderman a secret, and just how overprotective Tony can be of him. To top it all off, he experiences strict parent Tony for the first time. Peter gives this experience a 0/10 rating.

Chapter 9: Laying Down the Law

Peter had a mission today. He's going to figure out a way he could secretly continue his crime-fighting, web-slinging activities while living in this extremely high-security, 93-story tower.

Eyes filled with determination, Peter jumped out of bed and checked the time on his phone. It was 7:20 a.m. Hopefully, he'll be able to do some exploring before his parents notice that he's up.

First, Peter checked the windows in his room. They were the kind that didn't open up, which he already expected since the penthouse was on the 80th floor of the tower. He'll have to check the tower for any balconies or terraces that he could possibly swing off of.

"FRIDAY, are my parents awake?"

"Yes, Peter, Boss and Boss Lady are awake," FRIDAY answered.

Huh, did his parents sleep at all? Peter will just have to be quiet while sneaking around.

"Oh, where are they right now?"

"Boss is in his study, and Boss Lady is currently out of the tower, Peter. She left the penthouse at 7:05 a.m."

"Cool, cool." Phew. It doesn't seem like Peter will run into either of them during his exploration.

"Should I let Boss know that you are looking for him, Peter?"

"No! I don't want to bother him, FRIDAY. And... and don't let him know I'm leaving my room either!" Peter shouted out while waving his hands in the air.

"I have not received any direct orders from Boss to alert him of your leave today, Peter, but from my analysis of his previous demands, it is probable that he would want me to do so regardless. May I ask why I should not alert him?"

"Well, he probably didn't get any work done because of me yesterday, and he seems really busy being an Avenger an all that, so I would hate to interrupt what he's doing!"

"Alright, Peter. I will not alert Boss that you are leaving your room."

"Thank you, FRIDAY." Geez, did he really have to go through all that just to get out of his room without anyone noticing? Peter huffed in annoyance as he opened his bedroom door to leave.

"Oh, by the way FRIDAY, is there somewhere in the tower I can go to get some fresh air?"

"Yes, Peter. I recommend that you head to the Sky Lounge and Garden, located on the 78th floor."

"Awesome, thanks Fri!"

As Peter was making his way to the elevators, he heard Tony's voice from across the hallway with his enhanced hearing. He was speaking to someone on the phone.

"...and that's why I really need to keep an eye on him, Nat."

Whoa...was that 'Nat' as inNatasha Romanoff ? Was his dad calling the Black Widow? Eager to know what they were talking about, Peter made a quick u-turn and headed towards Tony's study. He'll just listen in for a little bit, just to satisfy his curiosity.

"Pep's gone to speak with Addie's principal. She's going to work her little magic and get all his teachers to sign NDAs about him being our son. The less people know, the safer it will be for Aidan."

Huh, so that's where his mom went so early in the morning, Peter thought. It would have been nice if they told him beforehand, but Peter was fine with his teachers signing NDAs if it meant that he could still go to his school as Peter Parker and not Aidan Stark.

"We're also donating a small crapload so that his school could strengthen some safety measures, install more security cameras, yada yada. Could you do me a small favor? Could you and Cap head down to Addie's school tomorrow, do a little run-down of the place, and check for any safety hazards, blind spots, and all that jazz? Oh, and could you draw up a map of all the possible escape routes in case the press finds out or if there's a school shooting or whatnot?"

Uh oh. More security cameras meant that Peter really had to be careful when we made his web-fluids at school. He groaned internally.

"Thanks, Nat. And I'm going to ask the whole band at dinner today, but would you... be willing to move back in to the tower again... just for a couple months? Pep and I, we can get really swamped with work, and Happy is technically the head of security here, so he can't watch over Addie 24/7 even if we really want him to. There's only a short list of people I trust with my son, barely half a page long, and you, my friend, are smack dab in the middle of that list. I'd appreciate it if you and some of the other Avengers can keep an eye out for my son when my wife and I aren't able to."

Peter's eyes went wide, and he gasped inaudibly. Was his father really asking the Avengers to move back into the tower... to babysit him?? He would normally feel ecstatic to be able to live with the freaking Avengers, Earth's mightiest sperheros, but not when they were going to babysit Peter like he was a four-year-old!

If hiding Spiderman were a game, the difficulty setting was just adjusted from Hard to Nightmare mode, and Peter was just a noob at this game, a novice at best. This couldn't get any worse!

"Yeah, I'd prefer if I could just homeschool him too, but Addie... he's really attached to his friends, Fred and PJ, Ted and AJ, or something of that variation. He'll probably fight me tooth and nail to be able to keep going to that school with them. I'll just have to settle for having Happy drive him back and forth all the time."

Nevermind, it just got way worse. He couldn't even go to school on his own? There was no way he could be Spiderman when someone was going to be watching over him like a hawk all the damn time. He knew Tony was overprotective of him, but he didn't think he would be this paranoid?!

He rushed towards the elevators and directed FRIDAY to take him to the 78th floor. Peter was getting really, really agitated, and he desperately needed some fresh air to calm himself down.

When Peter got to the sky garden, he first noticed that there were rows of outdoor sofas facing the view of the city. He tossed himself down on a random sofa and took a couple of deep breaths.

Peter closed his eyes, feeling the wind brush through his hair. As he listened to the various sounds of the city, he felt himself calm down a little bit.

Tony was probably paranoid because he just got his kidnapped son back two days ago, but maybe that paranoia would wear off in a couple months when he realizes that Peter's a teenager and not a four-year-old anymore. Peter just had to show Tony how grown-up and responsible he is now. Oh, and maybe Peter can continue Spiderman-ing every Saturday at Ned's place in the meantime if Tony allows him to go.

Peter opened his eyes again with renewed vigor. He won't let what he just overheard discourage him from continuing on with his mission.

He looked around the area, searching for any security cameras. He spotted two cameras, one directed towards the row of sofas and one directed towards the garden, but none pointing towards the ledge of the tower. Nice!

He scurried towards the ledge and looked down towards the ground while slightly leaning his upper body onto the railing. Even with his enhanced vision, the cars stuck in traffic below were as tiny as ants, and the people walking around looked like floating specks of dust. Wow... he was really, really high-up.

'I wonder how long it would take to climb down from here. Probably at least, like, eight minutes,' Peter thought. And it would be really awkward if he accidentally made eye contact with an SI employee on the other side of the window while climbing up and down the tower.

Maybe he could just swing directly to a nearby building instead? There was one particular building that was similar in height to the tower, but it was around 100 feet away. Peter tried to visualize how he would jump off. He'll start off sprinting from around the second row of those sofas, leap onto the railing, jump off, angle his wrists up around 70 degrees, and use his webshooters to attach a web onto the left corner of that building. That would probably work!

He tried rehearsing the jump once more in his head. Start off there, leap over here and...!

Peter accidentally jumped up slightly—in real life— toward the edge of the ledge with his arms raised upwards as if he were shooting out a web from his webshooter. There was a problem, though. He wasn't actually wearing his webshooters at the moment; they were currently tucked away inside his locker at school.

When he landed, he found that his upper body was completely dangling down on the railing now, and his head and arms were pointed dangerously towards the ground. Ahhh! Holy Shit! He was losing his balance and about to fall. Even with his powers, Peter was pretty sure he would be a goner if he fell flat onto the concrete from the 78th floor of a skyscraper.

As he was about to activate the micro-setea on the palm of his hands to try to stick his hands towards the railing, he felt two hands on his torso, abruptly pulling him back from the ledge. He was then forcefully turned 180 degrees so that his eyes met the two infuriated eyes of one Anthony Stark.

"Aidan Maria Stark! What were you thinking?!"

"I'm sorry! It... it was an accident! I didn't mean to almost fall!" Peter cried out as he felt his father's hands tightly gripping onto his arms.

Peter was suddenly turned on his side one more time as Tony landed three hard swats to the seat of his pants.

"Ahh!" Peter yelped in surprise. He immediately covered his bottom with his hands to try to block out any further blows.

"You should know by now to be careful near the railing of a goddamn skyscraper, Aidan!"

"You just... you just... swatted me!" Peter accused his father, looking up at him in disbelief.

"You bet your ass I did! And I'd do it again if I ever catch you endangering yourself like you just did!" Tony berated. "THANK GOD I never got to deactivating your Baby Monitor Protocol! If FRIDAY hadn't notified me that you were within two feet from a railing and I didn't get down here on time... I could have lost you again, Ads... forever this time," Tony said.

"I'm really sorry, dad. I promise I'll be more careful now," Peter mumbled, his eyes cast down towards his shoes.

In response, Tony pulled Peter into a tight bear hug. "Good, 'cause I can't lose you again, Ads. Not when I just got you back, bud."

Peter sank his head into his father's shoulder defeatedly. 'Spectacular job, just spectacular Peter,' he thought to himself sarcastically. 'Now Tony is going to be even more paranoid about you. It'll be nearly impossible to prove to him that you are so grown-up and responsible now.'

As if on cue, Tony pulled Peter out of the hug and lifted Peter's head gently with his hand so that their eyes met. "I didn't want to do this so soon, but I'm taking your foster mom's advice, Aidan. I'm laying down the law so that you know exactly what to expect from me going forward. Let's head inside, kid."

Peter gulped. He was getting déjà vu; those were almost the exact words Dana used a couple months ago after she caught Peter with the bruise on his jaw. He didn't like where this was going.