(I need to get my shit together for school but who the hell cares about grades anyways? I'd rather write for y'all. Rip me.)

Tony took a deep breath, as if to gather his thoughts. His nostrils flared angrily, but he pushed it down, determined to stay calm. He waited until the clip ended with the teenagers glued to the couch next to the rest of the Avengers.

"Uh, what did I just watch?" Clint asked in genuine confusion.

Peter lowered his head to study his hands. He was in for it now.

"Care to explain, kid?" Tony crossed his arms and the team slowly turned to the arachnid.

"Um, I have no idea," the teen looked up and spread his arms innocently. "That guy was pretty awesome though, huh?"

"And pretty grounded," Peter's mouth fell open to argue but Tony silenced him with a look. "What were you thinking? You could have died! You had no protection, no plan, no backup–"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Peter stood angrily. "Sam and Danny were there!"

"And did nothing."

He ignored Natasha's muttered comment. "And what was I supposed to do? Let that kid die? I was perfectly willing to trade my life for his!"

His own team sat in stunned silence as the Avengers gave him sympathetic looks, as if they understood. Which they probably did. They were superheroes.

"You're the world's worst hypocrite," Peter spat at his father. Tony's face went red.

"I've been doing this for years. I know how to take care of myself in a fight–"

"So have I!" Peter yelled in his face. "Why can't I use my powers to help people? Why do I have to be reminded about what I've done every time I use them?

"If I can save someone from a burning building, I'm gonna do it! If I can make sure some guy gets home in time to have dinner with his family instead of them having to pay for hospital bills? I'm going to help. I may not be a hero but I sure as hell don't want to stand on the sidelines. I'm done letting people suffer on my watch."

The two had an intense staring contest as everyone lapsed into an uncomfortable silence. They didn't break eye contact until Steve interrupted whatever they were doing to pull Tony aside.

His friends gave him confused sympathetic looks as he stood back in between them. Though the two seasoned Avengers were talking in low tone, Peter heard nearly every word.

"–maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea," Steve proposed.

Tony purses his lips, frustration obviously still visible. "Steve, give him a few months, hell, a few years, and yeah, maybe I would consider it. But it's only been four weeks since they got away from that hellhole..."

"You do realize grounding your rebellious son will do nothing," Steve crossed his arms. "He is your son, after all."

Tony huffed, almost pouting. "I don't like it–"

"It'll help him as much as it will help others, Tony. Think about him for once."

The billionaire sighed, "Fiiiiine."

"They're going to need teachers, though. They barley have a grasp of what's right and what's wrong thanks to being raised by a bunch of blood thirsty killers. When Scott came back this morning he told me he was afraid some idiot would try to beat up Peter and go home with a few broken bones, at least."

"Yeah," Tony winced. "That may be a problem."

"You do realize we can hear every word you're saying," Nova pointed out sharply.

"I did realize that, in fact," Tony told him, unimpressed as the two trudged back over to the group. "You four, leave."

Ava's mouth fell open. "Okay, you may be his dad, but you are not ours. You can't tell us what to do."

"Um, while you're living under my roof?" the billionaire pointed at the ceiling, as if to emphasize his point. "Yes I can."

Natasha put a hand on the feline's shoulder and an unspoken understanding passed between them. Tiger roller her eyes and dragged the boys back to the hallway reluctantly. Peter blinked in surprise. He hadn't recognized how close the two girls had gotten since their arrival. He supposed Natasha did understand what they were going through...

"Kid, come with me," Tony steered Peter to the elevator with a hand on the shoulder and pressed a button. Steve, Natasha, Clint and Scott trailed behind. Peter's earlier anger was immediately replaced by curiosity.

"Where are we going?" He asked. The teen frowned in confusion when Tony clicked the button to the work out level. "Why are we going to the training room?"

"Kiddo, if you're gonna be a superhero, you gotta have training."

"Whoa," Peter brushed his hand away and stepped out of the elevator as it reached its destination. That was quick. What is this, a bullet elevator? "I never said I wanted to be a superhero. Much less an Avenger. No offense."

"Yeah, well, you wouldn't get to be an Avenger anyways. You have to at least finish collage before then," Tony followed him in next to Steve and Scott as the two ex-shield assassins disappeared into a side room.

"Still, I don't need training. I'm pretty sure I have enough," Peter told him.

"Oh really," Tony crossed his arms.

Peter nodded confidently and demonstrated by doing a triple back flip-handspring-run up the wall to scissor kick a dummy across the room.

Tony looked on unimpressed as Natasha and Clint reappeared, hands full of weapons, most of them deadly. Clint went to hand the arachnid a handgun - uh, his gun! Where did he even find that? Nevertheless, Peter took a step back, shaking his head determinedly.

"I'm not going to kill anyone else." He pushed the archer away. "Ever again."

Tony hid his approving smile and instead kept up his mentor facade. The billionaire pointed across the room where Scott and Steve were setting the dummy up again. It's head was bent at an odd angle and one of its arms was laying on the floor.

"Well, that," Tony shook his head. "Would have killed a real guy. We aren't training you to fight or defend. We are going to train you to have control. You can't keep taking your strength for granted."

Peter deflated a little, looking at the squashed practice target. Of course Mr. Stark was a hundred percent correct. "Right. Sorry."

He flinched a bit when Tony put a comforting hand on his shoulder. The billionaire either didn't notice or didn't comment. Peter slowly eased up at his encouraging look. "That's okay kiddo. We have a while to fix–er, work on it."

"You guys certainly have your work cut out for you," the teen let out a disappointed sigh. Disappointed in himself. But he would get better. He swore it silently. Never again.

Steve tilted his chin up at him from across the room approvingly. "You'll be the best of us one day, son. I have no doubt."

Natasha chimed in, almost excitedly. "Neither do I."

"Ditto. Or tritto, I guess," Clint chuckled.

"Yeah, same, of course, but seriously, Tony," Scott eyes the billionaire warily. "If Thor ate all my cupcakes while we were down here having this little chat, I'm going to kill you."

Peter laughed at his very serious expression that didn't match the words. Tony cherished the sound, realizing this was the first time he had heard it. Maybe they were making progress  after all.

"You sure you're up to being a super hero, kid?"

They locked eyes. Peter nodded seriously.

"I've never been more sure of anything in my life, Mr. Stark." Which isn't saying much, but still, he thought, cracking a grim smile.

"Great," his father grinned. "Now go get some sleep. First lesson is tomorrow."

——————————

Okay I know this was fast but who cares?? Peter's gonna have super hero training!

But how will his team react? Is our Spider still on Flash's hit list? What about Miles? And–oh yeah–how is Strucker going to react if he sees the video?!

Heh. Guess you web heads will figure it out next time.

- Wanda