Tony, 10:52 am: Seriously kid, you need to rescue me from this meeting, I can’t go onnnn
Peter, 10:53 am: You know I’m in class right? What am I supposed to do?
Tony, 10:53 am: Why are you answering your phone in class? Tsk tsk
Peter, 10:54 am: Why are you texting during a meeting?
Tony, 10:55 am: Touche my young protege
Peter, 10:55 am: Stop rhyming, it’s not cute
Tony, 10:56 am: I think it’s pretty cute
Tony, 11:06 am: Ok, it’s not cute. Don’t leave me all alooone.
Tony, 11:10 am: Fine, don’t rescue me. Make me suffer... I guess I truly have been a horrible mentor to you, haven’t I?
Peter, 11:31 am: Thanks a lot, you made me get my phone taken away and now I have detention after school
Tony, 11:32 am: Seriously? Over a little texting? That’s crazy, who do I have to talk to?
Peter, 11:33 am: Nobody! Don’t talk to anybody, it’s fine. Just tell Happy he needs to pick me up at 3:45 instead of 2:45
Tony set his phone down just as his meeting was coming to an end. How dare the school try to give his kid detention on a lab day, especially when he was talking to Tony Stark himself!
Pepper approached him as the room began to file out. She swatted him with her purse.
“Hey! What was that for?”
“You were texting the entire meeting!” she exclaimed.
“No... when Peter stopped answering me, I started playing Candy Crush,” he rectified.
Pepper rolled her eyes, “You shouldn’t be texting Peter while he’s in school. You’re going to get the poor boy in trouble.”
Tony rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, “Yeah, about that, I’m going to need you to cancel my three o'clock.”
“Tony! You barely paid attention in this meeting! Are you going to do any work today?”
“Sorry Pep, I need to go rescue my kid!” the man shrugged his shoulders, backing away slowly, “You understand.”
Pepper only shook her head as she pulled out her phone to deal with the clients Tony had decided he was going to ignore that afternoon.
Tony pulled up to the school at exactly 2:45 pm and waited ten minutes for the schoolyard to empty out from the final bell before exiting his car with an air of confidence.
He marched down the now emptied hallway with his head held high and when he got to the door labeled ‘Detention’ he rapped determinedly.
A short balding man opened the door lethargically, “May I help yo—” his eyes grew wide when he caught sight of the disturbance, “You’re Tony Stark.”
Tony gave himself a once over, “Huh... I guess I am,” he confirmed, “Anyway, I need Peter Parker, is he here?”
He looked past the man’s shoulder to see his young mentee who was hiding his red face in the crook of his elbow on his desk.
“Peter Parker?” the other man said in a daze.
“Yeah, he’s mine, I need him,” Tony confirmed.
“Well, uh, he’s—he’s in detention, Sir. You’re going to have to wait until three forty-five when he is dismissed,” the teacher informed as if he was slightly unsure of the information himself.
Tony scrunched his face up, “Yeah, well, you see, that’s not going to work. He’s my intern, and we have a lot of work to do today so—”
“Yes, well, I’m sorry, but he was texting in class. We have rules here Mr. Stark and when they are broken there are consequences,” the man stated, more sure of himself.
“Uh-huh, but, funny thing is it was actually me who was texting him when he got in trouble so if anything this whole thing is really my fault. So, I’m going to take him right now, come on Pete!” he paused his speech in order to beckon the boy who looked between the two men, unsure of whom to obey, but ultimately deciding to heed Tony’s order, “and if anyone has a problem they can call me directly, m’kay? Awesome.”
Without waiting for another word, Tony scooped his mentee under his arm and pulled him along, turning away from the sputtering man as he marched the boy all the way down the hallway and out to the car, nobody daring to stop him along the way.
Only when the two were comfortably seated in the black Audi did the kid finally speak up, “Mr. Stark, that was insane .”
Tony only shrugged, “I can be pretty persuasive when I want to be.”
“Do you think I’m going to get in trouble for that?” he then asked, hooking his thumb in the direction of the school.
“You better not!” Tony shook his head authoritatively, “I meant what I said, they can deal with me if they have any issues.”
Peter was quiet for a moment, “Is that really fair though? I mean most people don’t just get to leave detention whenever they want. Just because I know you—”
“Put it this way kid,” Tony cut him off, turning the car back onto the road, “If you were actually in trouble for something you honestly did wrong, I would totally make you stay. This one was on me,” he stated firmly, “Of course I was going to come to rescue you.”
Peter mulled his mentor’s words over, wanting to continue feeling guilty but ultimately deciding to let his mentor make the call on this one, “Thanks, Tony,” he let a small smile creep onto his face.
“Anytime kid. I promise I’ll try harder to respect your class time better in the future, we don’t need you getting a bad school record. Plus, it severely cuts into lab time.”
“I’ll say,” Peter agreed, “And next time you have a meeting when you know I’m not in school, text me, and I promise I’ll come up with a very elaborate plan to rescue you! I’m thinking a giant man-eating guinea pig terrorizing Grand Central Station, OR maybe I broke my leg swinging off the empire state building! OR—”
Tony chuckled, “I might just take you up on that offer, Spider-Kid.”