Hiding in the Shadows

Chapter 36 - Stark Goes Overprotective Dad

"What the hell is going on here?!" My father demanded, causing Peter and I to quickly pull away from our kiss. We glanced up at each other, having the same "oh shit" expressions painted on our faces.

"Dad, weren't you in the lab?" I asked, a lame attempt to change the subject.

"I was but then I went to go fetch more materials and walked in on my daughter and my pretend intern seeming to be trying to naw each other's faces off! Now one of you better start fessing up!" He replied, seeming to be getting more angry by the minute.

"Dad, please calm down," I spoke, although knowing it would have no impact on his emotions. "Peter and I were going to tell you, I swear, we were just afraid as to how you would take the news."

"Oh, so this has been going on for a while now, has it?! Great to know you've decided to keep this behind my back! What the hell did you think you were doing? Parker, I asked you to keep an eye out for her, not start dating her! And (Y/N), haven't I raised you better than this?!"

"Mr. Stark, I understand why you are upset, but I can assure you that I would never dream of hurting (Y/N) in any way-" Peter began, taking my hand in his so that we could stand as a united front.

"I don't want to hear it, Parker! I didn't think I had to specifically name not dating my daughter as one of your rules for using the suit, but clearly I should have! You're going to need to return that, by the way," Tony attacked Peter, making my blood boil. I knew what it was like to have him threaten to take away my suit, to take away my chance to help others, and I wasn't having it.

"Now that is extremely unfair, Dad. Peter's position as Spider-Man has nothing to do with any of this," I interjected, causing him to turn on me.

"My suit, my rules! I'm not letting you out anymore either, (Y/N), not now that I know you to might just be claiming to be going out on patrol and are instead just getting some alone time to fuck each other!"

"Dad! You know that we don't do that, helping people in need is something that we would never jeopardize! This is exactly why we didn't tell you that we were dating!"

"Well then maybe you two should have simply been smart enough to stay out of a relationship!" He came back at me, but thankfully others had been drawn to our room by the yelling and decided to support us.

"Tones, you shouldn't be so hard on them," Rhodey spoke up, making me thankful that he had come to support us. "If they have feelings for each other, then that is something neither one of them can make go away just because you take away their privileges."

"Stay out of this, James," Tony hissed, taking me aback by using Rhodey's first name, which was not something I had ever heard leave his lips. "This matter does not concern you and by your apparent lack of surprise I am assuming you knew about this relationship long before now, so I'm nearly as angry with you as I am with them."

Natasha rolled her eyes and added, "Tony, we all knew for a while now, they haven't been all that good at hiding it. Maybe if you weren't so blind you would have been able to see the clear admiration in their eyes when they look at each other. Also, you aren't allowed to break them up because we have collectively decided that we totally ship them."

Tony seemed to realize that he wasn't going to win an argument against all of us so instead he growled at Peter, "Parker, my office, now."

"Of course, Mr. Stark," he gulped, looking as though he feared for his life.

I took his hand reassuringly, "it's going to be ok, Pete. If he agreed to let me risk my life everyday with your protection, then he'll warm up to the idea of us dating. Besides, he does like you so he won't actually do anything to harm you."

"I know, i-it's just that last time I had a one-on-one conversation with a girlfriend's dad, he actually tried to kill me."

...

(Peter's POV):
I walked followed Mr. Stark into his office, nervously playing with the promise ring that now sat on my finger. Mr. Stark sighed as he collapsed in the chair behind his desk, leaving the room in silence and making me wonder if I should break it.

"Mr. Stark, I-" I finally managed the courage to start speaking, until he cut me off with a wave of his hand.

"Shh, don't talk. I'm just try to figure out what could have possibly made you think that dating my daughter was acceptable or even a good idea to begin with." he spoke, his anger towards me rising back up to the surface.

"With all due respect, Mr. Stark, (Y/N) knows how to take care of herself and doesn't need your protection. You need to start letting her make her own decisions and not control every aspect of her life. I know that we should have told you that we were dating, but she wanted to wait until after Christmas so we didn't ruin the holidays," I began to defend, hoping that I could convince him to trust me with his daughter.

"I have a feeling that you two've been dating for long enough that you could have told me long before Christmas. That's a promise ring sitting on your hand, isn't it?"

I looked down at the silver and blue ring and nodded, "but before that you were still upset with her about the whole Shadow thing and I will admit we were pushing it off because we were afraid of your reaction. The rest of the Avengers seemed to figure it out and were incredibly accepting, but you obviously feel a duty to protect your only daughter so we knew you would not be so quick to trust me dating her."

"Yet you did it anyway," he commented, glaring at me.

"I love (Y/N), Mr. Stark. I-I know you may say that I'm too young to know what love is, but I have experienced high school crushes before and the way I feel about your daughter is more than that. She means the world to me and I would never knowingly hurt her in any way, I can assure you of that."

"Peter, I was once a teenager like yourself. I know how these things are-"

"No, Mr. Stark. I'm not like you were. I'm not just going to use her for sex and then dump her once I've had my fill, I want to stay with her for as long as she allows me to. I'm not some sort of playboy, please just give me a chance."

He sighed, "they say that having a girl as a child is payback for all of the things you did when you were younger, I'm really starting to see the truth in that statement. Alright, Parker, I'll give you a chance. But if you hurt her, intentionally or not, I will not hesitate to rip my suit from you and make your life a living hell, do you understand?"

I nodded, "of course, sir. Thank you."

"Oh, and would you please stop calling me sir and Mr. Stark? It's Tony, Peter, we've surely worked together long enough for you to call me by my first name."

"Of course, Mr. S-Tony," I replied, quickly correcting myself.

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(A/N): Look how nice I was, I didn't finish this chapter with an arguing or uncertainty of it Tony was going to accept them, y'all should be so proud of me. Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed the chapter!