All My Life

24| Actions and consequences

Actions have consequences, of course, they do. I've known the fact from an early age, the silent treatments from Aunt May after the anger tantrums of my younger self being one of the oldest alibis of the fact. Adding another experience in that section wasn't exactly on top of my priority list, yet, here I was, sitting on a chair in the middle of the huge lab with a very, very angry mentor standing in front of me.

I'd really prefer dying right now...

I look up at him, waiting for him to explode. "Do you have any idea just how reckless that was?" He snaps at me and I cringe at the sharp edge in his tone. I choose to remain silent, no need to add any more fuel to the fire, I'm already in the middle of an explosion. "I told you not to go after them, didn't I?" He questions and I pull my head down, trying to ignore the look on his face.

"You did," I reply shortly, feeling embarrassed for my actions. I ignore the soreness in my arms and legs, at least it's much easier to handle than an angry and disappointed mentor. Disappointed, gosh how much I hate that word.

"You fucking drowned, Peter. What would have happened if I didn't get there on time, huh?"

I would be dead.

I keep my mouth shut tightly and look up at him after a few moments, only to find him running his hand through his hair. "I'm sorry," I whisper, only for him to give me a hard glare.

"I gave you the suit because I trusted you to make smart choices, but two days in and you went out there and did exactly what I told you not to do, what's wrong with you?!" I find the urge to flinch at the heavy disappointment in his voice.

This is even worse than May's anger...

"I'm sorry, Mr Stark. I swear it won't happen again." I promise him, anything to avoid the sheer amount of dismay in his eyes. He slumps upon the couch in front of me, rubbing his palm over his face. "You scared the shit out of me, Peter!" I finally see the amount of worry hidden, masked behind all the anger over his face.

"I didn't know Karen would inform you," I say but soon regret my words at the fury that flashes by his eyes. "That is your major concern? Karen saved your damn ass, Peter."

"I know, I-"

"Save it." I shut my mouth, again, swallowing the crappy attempt to fix the situation. "Ok, here's the deal. The next time you are gonna wear the suit, I want direct updates from you, not Karen, you. Do you understand?" I swallow hard at the intensity of sternness in his demeanour before nodding in response.

He bends in my direction and stares me in the eyes. "This is your last warning, kid. Something like this happens again, you are done." My eyes snap at him at the statement. I am done? As in, no Spiderman?

"What do you mean, I am done? I-"

"I mean exactly what it sounds like, so you better watch out for what choices you make." He can't just take Spiderman away, can he? I look at him for any hint of humour in his voice, even a slight waver, but all I find is seriousness. Yes, he can.

He doesn't make empty threats...

I simply nod in response and watch him sit back in his previous position. The sudden silence brings heavy exhaustion along with it, the nervousness replaced by the extreme soreness. "You okay?" I look up, startled by the ironically soft voice, an unexpected contrast to the previous yells.

"Yeah, of course. I'm fine." I speak hurriedly and he raises an eyebrow at me before crossing his arms over his chest. "Are you trying to convince me or yourself?"

"I'm not trying to convince anyone," I say stubbornly, no way I am gonna confess in front of the Ironman that a little car chase got me all exhausted, never. He shakes his head before getting up, a tired sigh escaping his lips. My eyes turn to my wristwatch, 12:45. Shit...

"Mr Stark, shit! I-I gotta go, May is gonna kill me."

"Oh, nice to see you finally remembered, Pete." A smirk forms upon his face but the dread flowing through my veins doesn't allow me to pay any attention to his smugness.

Another session with an angry adult is exactly what I do not need.

I quickly get up from my seat on the chair and walk in the direction of the bag that held the suit. "Calm down, kid. She knows you're with me. Someone had to save your idiotic self, after all." I freeze at his statement and feel relief wash away the dread.

"You are the best, Mr Stark!" I say, barely preventing myself from jumping like a kid at a candy store. He smirks at me, "So, I've been told."

Wait, so if May knows I am with Mr Stark, that definitely means I am staying the night at the tower and that means only one thing, it's lab night! I rush towards Mr Stark, "We are going to work on your suits, aren't we?" I say excitedly, lab nights always involves the suits.

"I am going to work on the suits, you are gonna go straight to your room." I feel my energy levels drop down and I stare at him, wishing, he was not serious. "But, Mr Stark, w-"

"Nope."

"But-"

"I don't wanna hear it, Pete." I feel annoyance seep into my very bones. That's. not. fair. "There are some painkillers in your room, get them and sleep."

"I don't need painkillers. I need to work with you, please!" I beg him to let me stay but he doesn't budge, not even little. He walks towards the work table, ignoring my pleas.

"You just had a goose chase with a man in a super-suit who threw you into a lake, what you need is rest." I groan at his answer and feel the urge to stomp my foot on the floor like a baby as I did during those anger tantrums in front of May and Ben.

"I am completely fine, I am spiderman!"

"Yeah, who used to chase criminals in a onesie." My eyes widen at the accusation and I feel offended at Mr Stark making fun of my hand-made costume. "That was not a onesie."

"Are you seriously gonna argue about this?" He gives me a challenging look and I walk in his direction, ready to defend my self when I am cut off.

"I am sorry to cut the bonding session, sir. But Ms Maximoff is asking for entrance."

Ms Maximoff?

Mr Stark stops in his tracks and a frown covers his face. "Wanda?" He mumbles to himself. Wanda Maximoff is here? "Come on." He gives me a look before walking towards the entrance of the lab.

"Allow her in, J" Mr Stark orders the A.I. and a familiar beep followed by the sound of the glass doors opening-up as I stand beside Mr Stark. The doors open up to reveal a brown-haired girl with a huge smile covering her face. I turn to see a similar smile plastered over Mr Stark's face and I feel disbelief at being standing in front of an iconic hero.

"Hey, Uncle Tony."

No way...

**************************************

A/N

Oooh... who saw this coming? Uncle, huh? I guess we can count this as an improvement with respect to the previous one, right?

Also, here's a shoutout to @SC_always_forever, thank you for being so supportive and @oneillcalifornia, opening the app to see so many votes in notification section is a blessing, all thanks to you :)

Ok, then, see ya! ;)