The Boy Who Couldn't Leave

Chapter 8

Peter stared up in horror upon feeling the sharp sting of the slap. His hand held to his cheek in shock. 

Tony looked like he didn't even care that he slapped the boy he so badly wanted to be his son. 

With the little courage he had left, Peter spat out "If you thought this was the way to get me to like you, you're dead wrong!" and he stormed off to "his" room. 

As soon as Peter was past the door, his body heavily crumpled to the floor and he let the tears fall. They fell for the abuse to his face, for Aunt May, for his friends, and for all the people of Queens who might lose Spiderman.

He let himself succumb to the sorrow he felt from the time the police showed up at the apartment to now. 

After a few minutes, he stood up, wiping the tears and adopted a stone-cold face.

An heir is what he wants, and an heir is what he'll get.

Tony wants someone who will abide by his rules and will agree to be groomed into the perfect person to take over SI, not unlike the same treatment imparted onto Tony by his own father. And just look how Tony turned out. Turned to drinking and drugs by 14.......the same age Peter is now.

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Tony sat in his office a floor below the penthouse. His face in his hands as he thought about the events that occurred only a few moments ago. He didn't want to slap the kid, but he was being insolent, refused to tell him where he'd been. 

Tony simply sighed in exasperation. Why was he faced with all the hard choices? 

The kid was perfect, too perfect and held too much potential to just let waste away in some dingy little apartment in Queens. He couldn't let that happen. Not when there was a perfectly good tower in Manhattan with state-of-the-art technology and an all knowing AI to watch over the inhabitants. 

Tony didn't even want to acknowledge the fact that as an "adoptive" parent, he has certain promises he has to uphold for the state. Billionaire or not, he has responsibilities to the kid and he wasn't exactly meeting them. For instance, letting the boy leave the tower and sending him to school. 

He could aways just homeschool the kid. No sane person could ever claim that Tony couldn't teach the kid or provide an education. But, they would all frown at him for not letting Peter socialize and all that nonsense. 

SI didn't need the bad press and Pepper would kill him.

All he had to do was make the kid like him again. Some say manipulative, others say ingenious. What did the kid want that Tony couldn't provide that would make him happy? Sadly, there was only one answer, May Parker. There was no way in hell that he would let the kid see his aunt, it's way too soon. 

Sighing loudly, Tony ran his finger through his hair frustratedly. This wasn't supposed to happen! Why was the kid not following the plan?!

He scrubbed his hands over his face and he said "FRIDAY? I have to let the kid go out, don't I?"

FRIDAY's voice spoke "That would be wise, boss." 

"Get potential schools on the phone" 

In all this, Tony momentarily forgot why he was frustrated with Peter in the first place.

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Dinner that evening occurred just as all the other dinners. Peter on one end and Tony on the other. Both of them sitting in silence and Tony answering emails on his phone. 

Peter stared at the man in disgust, still feeling the sting on his cheek although it had healed already. He didn't think Tony would speak to him at all, not that he minded. 

But then again, the man proved to be full of surprises as he finally put his phone down and said "I've begun to look at some schools for you."

Tony's eye twitched when Peter simply rolled his eyes and asked "Why?"

Tony replied calmer than he felt "And here I thought you would be excited to leave the tower."

Peter said "Why are you even looking at schools? I go to Midtown. You have no say in where I go to school!"

Tony put the fork he was eating from down and replied "I do have a say in where you go, where's this attitude coming from?"

Now Peter was getting upset "You're asking about attitude when you're trying to take me away from my school and my friends?! And no you don't have a say in where I go because you're not my dad, no matter how much you try!" 

Tony slammed his hand down on the table "Stop this right now Peter! I have adopted you and now you are my son. I am your father. According to the law, I can make all these decisions with or without your consent, so get used to it."

Peter abruptly stood up from the table and shouted "You orchestrated this entire thing so you could forcibly adopt me. Now look! I'm here! The least you could do is let me stay with my friends!" 

He wanted to leave the room, but he stood there, breathing heavily from his rant, waiting for the man to say something. 

Peter wasn't surprised to see the man sitting there, stoic. He picked his phone up again, seemingly back to answering emails. 

Peter didn't want to be in his presence anymore. He left the table and went back to "his room". This isn't good. If Tony decided to take him away from his school, he'd have nothing. No May, no MJ, no Ned, not even Flash. 

But Peter already knew what to do. He already decided to step into his role of "heir to Stark Industries" It would be completely out of character for him. He isn't the wild, party type. But at this point, he'd do anything to get back at Tony. 

And he still had Spiderman. Tony still doesn't know about him. He'd like to keep it that way.