Chapter Text
She was falling through some kind of weird mist.
Where was she? It didn’t seem important at that moment, she just let herself fall without too much worry, worrying was so tiring and she was way too tired to tire much more.
She didn’t even look around, just kept staring straight up. Or down? She didn’t know what direction she was facing, or even if she was falling or rising. She didn’t particularly care.
Suddenly, a nasty giggle echoed through the mist, and all at once she fell onto what felt like a rock hard platform of ice, and suddenly she was looking up at Flash’s nasty face.
“Puny Parker,” he mocked, looking scathingly at her trembling form on the ice, “you really think they’re gonna keep you around much longer?” He sing-songed, snatching her arm and yanking her up.
“No one wants you. No one.” He cackled, pushing her violently to the floor again, the force of her fall cracking the ice. “Everyone who wanted you is gone.”
Flash cackled, the ice cracked a little more. For some reason, it was as though Piper had lost the ability to speak.
She wasn’t sure she would’ve said something either way, it’s not like Flash was wrong.
“You’re nothing.” He scathed, “Nothing but a nuisance.”
Piper backed away, her lungs constricting and her breaths coming out raggedly, she heard her voice cry out as her back hit something. She turned around at once and Smith was towering over her.
She screeched and got back up, dodging as he swung a beer bottle at her and running further into the mist, then, suddenly, she rammed headfirst into somebody’s chest. Toomes, grinning like the madman that he was.
She screeched again and kept running, the three rushing after her, closing in, their speed making her effort seem useless. She ran on nonetheless.
Suddenly the dark fog grew, swallowing everything around her,but she kept running, and eventually, she stumbled upon – her heart leapt in her throat and her stomach churned nauseatingly – Aunt May.
“Aunt May!” she cried, “You gotta help me! We have to get out of here!”
“Oh but honey, you deserve this.” her voice, which echoed ominously, said, “Look what you’ve done to me. This is all your fault.”
It was then that, with growing horror, Piper realized that this May was… kind of transparent, and was sporting two bullet sized holes on her chest.
“You’re a curse, Parker. A curse to everyone who’s dumb enough to love you.” came Flash’s disembodied voice from somewhere within the darkness.
And at that moment the ice beneath her feet broke and she was falling once more, deep, deep down into that nightmarish abyss, not with the same lightness as before. This time she felt the entirety of gravity’s pull on her, making her fall into whatever void of horribleness this was at breathtaking speed.
So breathtaking she couldn’t even swallow any air anymore, her choked whimpers echoed in the void in very much the same way Flash’s manic guffaws did.
And then suddenly, another voice, one that was external to her nightmare, joined in.
“-iper, Piper, Piper,” it called, with a gentleness that was uncharacteristic in her mindscape.
Piper yelled out loud, her voice coming out in the form of a garbled shriek.
“Sweetie, you have to wake up, hm? You’re asleep, it’s just a bad dream, Love. I’m here, Dad— I mean, Tony’s here. I got you, kiddie.” Murmured the voice, somewhere close to her ear, and suddenly she was falling out of the mist and back into consciousness.
Piper gave another one of those guttural howls which shook her entire body, as well as Tony’s heart. He took a deep breath as he forced himself not to panic as well, and placed his hand on her shoulder, trying to gently shake her awake.
“Kiddo,” he murmured, his voice warm and tender, “wake. C’mon, baby. It’s okay, you’re okay, Sweetie.”
Piper gave another heart wrenching cry as she shot up, and Tony actually had to keep her from leaping off the bed entirely.
He quickly wrapped his arms around her and she gasped and whined and clawed at him with no real strength, her body shaking and spasming violently as he pressed her face into his shoulder.
“You’re okay. You’re okay, honey. I’m here, you’re safe. It wasn’t real, Munchkin. Just breathe, okay? Follow me. One, two, three… thaat’s right sweetheart, you’re doing so well. You’re doing a fantastic job, Lovely.”
They stayed like this for perhaps a few more minutes, Tony doing his best to comfort her as she gradually reemerged from the depths of her panic.
“You okay?” He asked into her hair, his voice almost a whisper, a little while after her whimpering had subsided.
Piper nodded, not trusting her voice enough to speak. And even if she could’ve, she wouldn’t have, a mortified sort of embarrassment creeping up her neck and manifesting in the form of a hot red blush that radiated from her cheeks onto her entire countenance.
Tony, unsure of what to do, started pulling away, but stopped, stunned, when Piper kept her bandaged arms wrapped firmly around him.
“P-Please… stay.” She mumbled, avoiding his eyes, her voice so small it was almost inaudible.
At that, Tony’s expression softened even more and he felt his heart melting.
“Alright, scoot over, Hun.” He said, nodding at the bed.
Piper glanced up at him incredulously, which was a dagger to the chest for Tony, who vowed to track down every single person who had fostered his kid and make their life a living hell. As he pondered on that, she made space for him to climb in bed next to her, and he adjusted himself so that he was half hugging her as they both stared up at the ceiling.
“Wanna talk about it?” Asked Tony after a beat, his tone gentle.
Piper hesitated.
Tony sighed and his heart broke a little more when the action made her tense up.
“I don't wanna force you to talk to me. I'd be honored if you chose to, but I understand– no, I know that trust takes a long time to build, and…” he ran a hand over his face, “Just– please talk to someone. Anyone. Preferably someone trustworthy. Just– you can't bottle everything up, kid.”
Piper fumbled with her fingers, picking at her cuticles and wincing when a bit of skin came off. Tony frowned and gently pried her hands apart, taking one in his own bigger hand and massaging his finger over the now inflamed spot.
Piper bit her lip, “It's… I had a nightmare.” She said, her mumble loud in the silence of the room. How could it be so silent in the first place? Had Tony soundproofed the walls?
In any other moment Tony would've replied with something along the lines of ‘no shit’, but that really didn't feel like the time and place for his usual snark, especially considering that Piper was giving him more than she'd given him in the past few days.
He hummed, “You wanna tell me what it was about?”
Piper quickly shook her head, then frowned as she picked up on the smell of motor oil mixed up with his cologne.
“What time is it?” She asked, trying to turn to face him, “Am I– are you busy? I don't mean to…”
“Hush.” Said Tony softly. “Don't worry about it.”
“But…”
“I said, hush.” He repeated, just as gently, brushing a few strands of hair away from her face and tucking them behind her ears, “Even if I had something to do, you're my top priority, always have been and always will be.”
Piper suddenly found it had to talk.
“Karen?” She called, gulping down a sob, “What time is it?”
“It's currently four in the morning.” Said the AI.
Piper groaned and covered her face with her hands.
“I’m so sorry.” She muttered, her voice muffled, “You’ve already done so much for me and now here I am keeping you up at frickin’ four am with my stupid tantrums.”
“Nuh, uh. Nope. You take that back.” Said Tony, pushing himself up.
Piper raised a brow.
“Piper,” he sighed, “You— I—“ he pinched the bridge of his nose before turning back to her, his eyes sad, “Those aren’t tantrums, they’re… you’ve gone through so much, Piper. So much. It’s normal that you have nightmares. It’s normal that you get triggered sometimes. It’s normal that on some days you feel better and on some worse. Trauma’s a bitch.”
Piper didn’t say anything, so he continued.
“And I know it hasn’t been easy for you, lord knows how much stored up trauma you have. I know that this opening up game is hard for you, you haven’t gotten to open up, to heal, in a long long time.”
He paused.
“I’m not the best dad on the block.” He eventually said, “Heck, I don’t even know if I’m a good dad in general, but I know that I would do anything for you. You’re my world, baby, and if you need anything, anything I’ll do it for you. I will tear the entire planet apart if you need me to. I promise.”
Piper swallowed, and Tony brought a calloused thumb up to her left cheek to wipe away a stray tear.
“As far as I’m concerned,” she said, her voice shaky, “you’re the best dad on the block.”
And then they hugged again.
They stayed like that for a while, just embracing each other silently, and then Piper, in a sudden burst of courage, or perhaps recklessness, spoke.
“Why do you hate Spider-Man?” She asked, catching Tony completely off guard.
“What?” Tony asked dumbly.
“Every time he– she— any time I come up you get all weird and try to evade the topic.” She mumbled, pulling away and avoiding his gaze.
Tony pulled away too, his heart clenching as he looked at the kid as she brought her knees to her chest, hugging her arms around her legs. He’d been so focused on doing his best to ignore that his child had been biologically modified with a tweaked version of the Supersoldier Serum that he hadn’t taken her feelings and literally the only thing she’d actually opened up to him about into account.
He was such an ass.
Tony sighed and sat up a little, “Listen, kid–”
“No you're right I'm sorry. I-I shouldn't have asked. I'm sorry.” She rushed to say, her eyes a little wide.
“Oh god, kid. No. Don't apologize. I should be apologizing.”
“Huh?” Asked Piper, her brows pulled in a frown.
“I'm– it's just… takes a while to wrap my head around it. I just got you back after worrying for years that Hydra did who knows what to you and now I find out you were exposed to literal radiation that switched up the way your DNA works.” He sighed dejectedly, his expression lightening as he playfully raised an eyebrow, and shot her a half smirk, “And that you use said abilities to swing around town in your pajamas, risking your life every day. It's just– I worry about you, you're my kid.”
“O-Oh…” mumbled Piper, suddenly feeling guilty as hell, “I'm sorry.”
“No don't–” Tony winced, “Please don't apologize, you didn't do anything wrong, I promise.”
“Right. Sorry.” Said Piper, cringing a second later when she registered her words.
Tony sighed.
“Say what,” he said softly, “since neither of us are gonna be getting any sleep from the looks of it, how about we move this to the kitchen, I make us some food and meanwhile you tell me about those freaky powers of yours, hm?”
Piper thought it over and tentatively agreed.
“So,” Tony said as he grabbed a packet of spaghetti from one of the cabinets and dunked half of its contents in a pot of boiling water, “you already told me about the webs, which are really impressive, by the way. You'll have to show me how you make them. No one's ever replicated spider webs before, and you not only managed to do that, you also strengthened them. That's really, really impressive. Beyond impressive.”
He turned around to face her as he said so.
Piper, who was swinging her legs from where she sat on the island, went beet red.
“And I know that Brucie-Bear would loove to take a look as well.” He added with a wink.
Piper bit her lip and nodded in thanks.
“How about your other powers, did they affect your day-to day life as well?” He halted, a sudden thought dawning on him “They also helped you with your health problems, right? Your asthma and your eyesight…”
“Yeah, it sure looks like it.” Said Piper, “I haven't gotten an asthma attack in ages and all my senses have been dialed up to eleven. Even my eyesight, which is crazy! Like, I can see so, so well, it's like I have built in microscopes. Which is weird because I'm pretty sure spiders can't see shit, so whatever Osborn did to those spiders really messed them up.”
Tony hummed, turning around to stir the pasta.
“Also,” Piper added, to which Tony turned back around, “the first few days after the bite were crazy in general. I was getting stuck to everything… and I accidentally ripped so many doors off their hinges.”
Tony raised his eyebrows, “Just how strong are you?”
“Um,” said Piper pulling a face as she did some mental math, “most I've ever lifted was like twenty-ish tons I think?”
Tony choked on air, “What?! And how did that happen?!”
Piper looked away, wincing and intertwining her feet as their swinging subsided.
“Pip,” he said, his voice suddenly taking that gentle cadence from earlier again as he got closer to her, realization dawning behind his eyes as he thought back to a little slip-up of hers Nat had told him about, “when did you have to lift twenty tons?”
Piper didn't say anything, just focused on her feet.
Tony sighed, “Did you have a building dropped on you?”
Piper froze, then her head suddenly snapped to him.
“How did you know?” She croaked with some urgency.
“You think no one heard your little slip-up when you were talking with your friends?” He said gently.
“O-Oh,” she breathed, her face going pale, “oof.”
Tony looked at her expectantly, his eyes sad.
Piper sighed, “Yeah, Toomes dropped his warehouse on me on Homecoming night. It was a shit show. His daughter invited me over for dinner before the event. I was gonna be a normal kid that night, I really was. But then I got there, and he opened the door, then we were talking in the car and he figured out that I was Spider-Man.”
She jumped off the island and began to pace, hugging herself as she did so.
“And once Liz was out of the car, he threatened me with a gun, saying to stay out of it. So, I dropped my phone in there and got Ned to track it. I left Homecoming, stole Flash's car, crashed it, got there, found Toomes, we argued, I fought him, he dropped the building on me, took off with that wingsuit of his, hyjacked your plane, I lifted the building off of myself, followed him on that plane, fought him on the plane, crashed the plane, fought him on the beach, the beach caught fire, I saved him from the fire, and then I went home.”
She finished, just now realizing that she was on the wall, halfway to the ceiling.
“O-Oh sorry,” she muttered, dropping down, “I know that freaks you out.”
Before she could even look at him, she found herself wrapped in a tight embrace and a kiss was being planted on the top of her head.
“The only thing that freaks me out is how much you've been through.” He murmured, running a hand through her hair, “You're so brave, kiddo, so fucking brave.”
“Boss, you might wanna strain the pasta before the kitchen catches fire again.”
They enjoyed the pasta – which by far had been the best dish Piper had ever eaten – in relative silence, except for some occasional chatter on Tony’s part.
Tony, who made a mental note to page Dr. Cho for a proper meal plan for Piper, who was eating way too ravenously to be moved solely by the dish’s enjoyable flavour.
The silence was eventually interrupted by the clicking of heels and Tony froze, his face paling and his fork stopping halfway to his mouth.
On cue, Pepper, seemingly in a rush, walked in, not noticing them as she rushed by. Tony was about to let out a sigh of relief, but then the woman halted just in front of the elevator doors and turned around, her eyes slightly narrowed as they went from Tony’s face to Piper’s, both displaying the exact same deer-caught-in-headlights look, and then moving down to the half eaten plates of spaghetti, before settling on Tony’s face again.
“What,” she started, sounding like she was considering calling it a day, kicking off her Loubutin’s and going back to bed, “is going on here?”
“Heyy Pep,” said Tony cheerfully, making a show of getting to his feet and strutting towards her, “We uhm, made breakfast. You hungry?” he tried, flashing a bright smile.
Pepper didn’t look the slightest bit impressed.
“Breakfast.” She said slowly, drawing out the word as she inspected the absolute mess on the counter and then the ludicrous amount of pasta on the island, her eyes roaming over Piper’s lips which were framed with sauce.
She went back to looking at Tony, an eyebrow raised, “As in, spaghetti and meatballs. With the sauce having been made entirely from scratch by the looks of it.” She enunciated with that same slowness, “At six in the morning.”
“You want some?” He repeated, his cheerfulness sounding slightly manic, like he was trying not to cower.
Pepper glanced at Piper, who was biting back a grin at the exchange, and sighed.
“Grab me a plate.” She said in exasperation, “And some blueberries from the fridge. The kid needs some vitamins too.”
“As you wish, Boss.” Said Tony, rushing to the kitchen while Pepper walked to the island and settled on her usual spot at the head, with Tony and Piper on either side of her.
”Did you guys even sleep?” She questioned, frowning at Piper’s swollen eyes and looking at Tony. She’d been made aware of Piper’s nightmare by Friday, so she hadn’t marched down to the lab to retrieve Tony when he didn't come back to bed, rightfully assuming that he was tending to his kid.
Piper shrugged, “I tried.”
“Well, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, right?” Said Tony, placing a plate in front of Pepper and a box of blueberries next to Piper’s plate, and ignoring his fiancée’s glare as he served her a generous portion of spaghetti.
“Have you had any water, Sweetheart?” Said Pepper, eyeing Piper, and pouring some in her glass before she could reply.
”Um, thanks, Miss Potts— I-I mean, Pepper.” she mumbled as she took the glass in her hand.
Pepper smiled kindly at her, “No worries, sweetheart.”
There was a brief silence as they all ate, then Tony spoke, addressing the ceiling.
“Fri, what have we got today?” He asked, not sounding like he wanted an answer.
“As per previous orders, your entire schedule has been cleared for the rest of the month, with your only obligation for the day being a meeting with Piper’s principal and homeroom teacher at 10:30am.”
“Right.” Said Tony, while Piper suddenly paled, her thoughts going to Flash and her dream.
“Is everything alright, Piper?” Asked Pepper, causing Tony’s head to snap up to look at his kid.
”You’re sure that you wanna go?” He asked carefully.
Piper shook her head a little too quickly. So much so that Tony and Pepper exchanged a glance.
“Well, how about this,” started Pepper, “Instead of going to school you stay here, Tony goes to the meeting and then you guys spend the day together.”
Piper shook her head, “No, I wanna go. I… I promised Ned and MJ I’d see them and we haven’t seen each other since, well… since before…” she lowered her gaze.
Tony sighed, “Fine, then. You can come with me to the meeting if you really want to, but first you gotta get some rest. You’re running on what? Two hours of sleep?”
”Three and a half.” Said Piper as though that made it any better.
“Still more than what you get in a week.” Said Pepper teasingly.
Tony looked at Pepper in mock offense, but before he could reply Piper spoke.
”Can Pepper come too?” She asked quickly, like she was trying to get the words out before someone could say no.
The adults stayed silent for a moment, Pepper trying to blink back tears as the words registered while Tony’s mouth broke out in a grin.
“Are you-“ said Pepper, choking up a little, “Are you sure?”
Piper nodded. She liked Pepper, she was nice, strong and she just generally felt safe around her.
“It’s okay, if you don’t want to,” said the girl quickly, her eyes a little wide, “you don’t have to say yes. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked… I-I, I’ll just g—“
”No, no,” Pepper interjected, a big smile on her lips, “I’d be honored to come. Friday? Clear my schedule for the day, will you.”
”Miss Boss, you have a meeting this at eight that can’t be—“
”Reschedule it.” Said Pepper, turning to the father-daughter duo, rushing to make a proposition before Piper could start garbling out apologies, “How about a movie? Piper’s choice.”
And thus, half an hour of cleaning later, the three were settled on the couch, the intro to Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope rolling on the screen with the iconic theme song echoing throughout the penthouse, and Piper already dozing off against Tony’s shoulder.
Piper felt her stomach churn as she followed her dad and m- Tony and Pepper through the parking lot and into the school.
She frowned for a moment at her mental slip up, but that thought quickly went out the window when she slipped on a soda can and almost became one with the floor.
“Careful,” murmured Tony as he caught her and helped her stabilize back on her feet.
“Sorry…” mumbled Piper, shivering.
“Piper,” said Pepper sternly, “where is your jacket?”
Piper went very red in the face and pointedly avoided both of their gazes.
“Oh shit.” Muttered Tony as he pulled off his coat and placed it on Piper's shoulders.
“That bastard.” Muttered Pepper, thinking about Piper’s former guardian, as Piper tried shrugging off Tony's coat.
“No.” Said Tony in a tone that allowed no argument. “It’s cold.”
Piper pouted and looked away in shame.
“Nope, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. It’s not your fault.” It was that bastard who’d been meant to take care of her’s, and of all those who came before him.
They would pay. Tony vowed to himself. They all would.
The rest of the walk to the entrance was silent, and Piper looked around three times before entering, and rushed through the entrance hall, past rows and rows of lockers, until she reached hers.
“This doesn’t look like the reception desk.” Mused Tony, raising a brow at her.
“Y-Yeah. Sorry, I just… I gotta get some stuff from here.” Mumbled Piper as she unlocked the locker and several objects fell out, causing her to curse under her breath as she rushed to pick one in particular up.
Tony, however, was faster, and he snatched it at once, inspecting it as his heart swelled up with something halfway between pride and wonder.
“Is this-“
“Oh my gosh. This is so embarrassing!” Groaned Piper, burying her face in her hands.
Tony inspected the arc reactor prototype, which his kid had clearly put a lot of effort into building, before holding it out to her.
“This is really impressive work, Pip, did you do it all by yourself?” He said, his voice gentle.
Piper peeked at him from between her fingers and hesitantly nodded.
“I’m so proud of you. Maybe one of these days I can show you how mine works.” He said.
Piper looked like Christmas had come early.
Pepper, looking apologetic, cleared her throat, snapping the two back to reality.
“Oh, right!” Exclaimed Piper, digging through the locker and fishing out a beige backpack that had writings and doodles all over, and was adorned with an Iron Man themed keychain as well as a Mjölnir one.
She proceeded to stuff a concerning amount of textbooks into it, as well as a little pink fuzzy pencil case and the prototype.
She went to swing the backpack over her shoulder but Tony stopped her, insisting to carry it for her.
“Are you sure?” She asked, “It’s pretty heavy.”
That, Tony figured out on his own as soon as his fingers had wrapped around one of the straps.
“What do you keep in here, bricks?!” He asked dramatically, to witch the girl shrugged, glancing sheepishly at the locker.
“Um, there’s something else.” She added in that same sheepish tone, scrunching up her face in a wince as she pulled out a whole skateboard.
“I’m not even gonna question how you managed to fit that in there. And why there was a skateboard in there in the first place. Or why you need it right now.” Said Tony, studying the object, which was also covered in drawings, before turning away and walking towards the stairs, slightly weighed down by the backpack.
As they reached the lobby Piper hugged her skateboard close to herself, focusing on the floor.
Pepper cleared her throat as she approached the desk.
The secretary hummed, not lifting her gaze from her phone, “Yeah?”
“We have an appointment with Principal Morita.” Said Tony, his signature smirk slightly less shiny and his tone slightly more cutting.
The woman finally looked up and, had Piper been looking at her, she would’ve probably witnessed her going very pale, or her jaw dropping in shock, or something of the likes.
For a moment it was very, very quiet, with the receptionist probably glancing from Tony, to Pepper, to Piper a couple times.
“Um,” she said, sounding a little breathless, “the office’s through there. P-Parker knows the way.”
The two adults followed the kid’s lead into the hallway the lady had gestured at, with Pepper halting briefly in front of the lady, and slapping an NDA in front of her.
“If any of this comes out, our lawyers will make your life a living hell.” She said, her voice sweet like venom.
“Um, this is it.” Said Piper as she halted in front of the principal’s office, awkwardly waving her hand in the door’s general direction, and ultimately settling on knocking because she was standing closest to the door, and pulling the handle down before the Principal’s reply even came.
As she entered, her face red and her eyes a little wide, Principal Morita, who was halfway through saying “Come in”, stood up and smiled welcomingly at her.
Piper smiled back, he’d always been somewhat lenient with her, she knew it was out of pity, but kindness wasn’t something she took for granted anymore, no matter the motive.
“Hey, Piper,” he said, “you’re here with your knew guardians I pr…”
Piper could see through Morita’s expression the exact moment Tony and Pepper crossed the door’s threshold. The way the entirety of his faux cheerfulness melted away from his countenance to leave space for the utter shock that took over was comical.
Then Morita seemed to do some mental math and at once he turned to Piper, his expression horrified.
“Okay.” He said breathlessly, glancing at Tony again, then at the files he’d left on his desk, then at Piper, clearly not knowing what to do.
“Okay.” Said Tony, to which Pepper glared at him.
Piper brought her attention to the tips of her Converse as she leaned her skateboard upright against one of the bookcases she was standing next to.
“Please, take a seat.” Said the principal eventually, gesturing at the two chairs in front of his desk and moving to get a third one, eyeing the way Tony was carrying Piper’s backpack.
“Nah, don’t worry—“ said Tony to the man, stopping him, then turning towards Piper who was dragging her feet towards the door, “And where do you think you’re going, Missy?”
“U-Uhm…” said Piper, who’d whipped around so fast she almost lost balance, “To, to get a chair?”
Tony scoffed, the mere thought of his daughter putting herself last nothing short of ridiculous, “You sit down, Kiddo.”
Piper was hesitant, “Are you—“
Tony raised a brow and pulled the chair back for her, “Sit. Please.”
Morita watched the exchange in silence, his face still a little pale as he studied Tony’s jacket which Piper was still wearing.
“I assume this… development comes as a surprise.” Said Pepper, who had sat down on Piper’ right.
“Well, Piper— I mean, uh…” started the principal.
“Piper’s fine.” Said the girl.
“Thank you.” Said Morita, “Well, Piper’s social assistant did inform the school that some guardianship changes had taken place again… but I think she left a thing or two out.”
He eyed the trio.
“My apologies for that, Mr. Morita, you have to understand that it’s been a hectic week and we were trying to keep things as concealed as possible for Piper’s sake.” Said Pepper.
“Also, we kinda wanted to deal with these things personally, since, well, the kid’s my kid.” Tony added.
“Right.” Said Morita, that sentence dawning on him like the confirmation he needed to believe whatever the hell was going on.
“We’re not here only to discuss eventual changes in her documentation, but also a few issues which have been brought to our attention.” Said Tony, his tone set.
“You’re talking about Piper’s suspension.” Said Morita.
Tony snapped his fingers and pointed at Morita, “Bingo.”
Piper began sliding down her chair, her heart pounding in her chest.
“You see, Piper here wasn’t doing too peachy that day.” He started, his tone icy cold, his smile holding the ability to inspire fear in the devil himself, “As a matter of fact, she wasn’t okay at all. Now, I’m not gonna get into the details but let’s just say that going to school right after finding out her true heritage wasn’t her brightest choice.”
Morita almost fell off his chair. Piper’s cheeks went hot and the wood of the chair was creaking under her grasp.
“Right. That suspension is going to be removed from her record.” Croaked the principal.
“I knew we’d see eye to eye.” Said Tony, glancing at Piper in worry, “Hey, you okay, kid?”
“Mh hm, never been better.” She ground out as she straightened up.
“I assume you want this kept under wraps?” Said Morita tentatively.
“That’s right, which is also why we’d prefer it if you didn’t change Piper’s name on the database.” Said Pepper.
“I don’t think that’s very legal…” said Morita.
Tony sighed and ran a hand over his face, “How about changing it but keeping it concealed from the teachers?”
“We can think of something. On that note, I really think at least Piper’s homeroom teacher should be made aware of the situation.” Said the principal.
Pepper turned to Tony, who turned to Piper, who went red in the face.
“U-Uhm… y-yeah. Sure. He’s fine.” Tony placed a hand over Piper’s and she took a deep breath, “I trust him.”
Morita smiled, and leaned towards his microphone, pressing the intercom button and calling Mr. Harrington to his office. Piper heard shuffling and hushed voices in the distance, a person or two silently cheered.
A little longer than a minute later she heard Mr. Harrington’s walking pattern down the hallway, and not ten seconds later he was knocking on the door. Morita invited him in, not getting up from his desk.
“Uhm, hello,” said Mr. Harrington nervously, “you said it was urgent? I was kinda in the middle of a—“
He stopped in his tracks as his eyes fell on Piper, Tony and Pepper, who had all turned to look at him, and his face got several shades paler, his expression morphing from shock, to understanding to horror.
“Oh god.” He said, horrified.
It took him less than a second to snap back to reality and rush forwards, pulling a chair up and almost falling over in his haste to reach the desk, and Piper, who had gotten to her feet.
“Oh my god.” He said again, his voice breathless.
Piper tried to smile apologetically at him, but it came out as more of a grimace.
“Um. I should sit, yeah. Ah right! I’m Roger Harrington, Mr. Stark and uh— a-and Ms. Potts, it’s a pleasure meeting you. I’m Piper’s biology and homeroom teacher.” He said, shaking the man’s hand and then the woman’s.
“And hey, Piper.” Said Mr. Harrington, his voice softening a little, “I’m so glad you’re okay. I– we were so worried.”
Piper smiled awkwardly at him as she rubbed her hand up and down her other arm, half hugging herself. Tony studied the scene, he suddenly decided that he really liked this Roger guy.
At once Harrington’s face morphed in worry, “You are okay, right?” He asked, tentatively, glancing at the bandages peeking out from under her sleeves.
Tony clapped his hands, making everyone else jump, getting to his feet, “About that, I was hoping that we could have a word ab—“
Suddenly, the door to the office swung open, hitting the bookshelf that stood next to it with a bang, revealing two wide eyed and pale faced kids, a girl and a boy, sporting similar expressions of shocked urgency.
At once both their gazes landed on Piper, whose eyes had also gone wide as they met theirs, and the two kids threw themselves at her, as she did too, the three crashing together halfway and wrapping their arms around each other in a very messy hug.
“Oh my gosh!” Said the boy choking up, Tony and Pepper recognizing him as the kid from the phone call, Ned, the one who had helped Piper hack Friday, “Holy shit! You’re okay!”
“I’m okay, Ned, I’m okay.” Said Piper, her voice wavering.
“Don’t ever worry us like that ever again.” Said MJ, her voice muffled by Piper’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry!” Cried Piper.
“Stop apologizing!” They both yelled out.
“Right.” Said Piper, wiping away a tear as she pulled back, smiling at them.
As her stoic mask fell back on, MJ noticed the bandages on Piper’s arm, where Tony’s coat sleeve had ridden up her arm. Her friend raised a questioning eyebrow and Ned frowned.
“Long story.” Said Piper dismissively, pulling down the sleeve completely, so that it fell way past her hand and made her feel like a cheap Ariana Grande impersonator.
Ned’s frown deepened and MJ didn’t lower her eyebrow, merely moved the look from Piper to Tony over Ned’s shoulder.
At once Ned froze and whirled around, his jaw dropping as soon as his line of view landed on Tony and Pepper.
The two smiled kindly at him, the billionaire’s smile nothing close to the fakeness of the ones he reserved for the general public, this one was real, nice, and reeked with gratitude, appreciation.
“Um, Ned, MJ.” Said Piper, waving in the adults’ general direction, “My da- fa- Ton- my dad. And his fiancé. Pepper.”
“Hey guys.” Said Pepper, smiling gently, “It’s a pleasure meeting you.”
“I’ll have to say the same.” Said Tony, his lofty façade returning ever so slightly, as he offered his hand to Ned who, goggling as he was, seemed to have forgotten what hands were, “Tony,” he introduced himself as MJ shook his hand instead, squeezing tightly enough to let him know that it was intentional, her eyes narrowed in warning, “and you two just climbed your way up to my top ten favourite people.”
Ned, who’d seemingly come back down from the cloud he’d been on, was yeeted back to it with the intensity of a nuclear explosion.
Pepper smiled, “How about you three go outside while we wrap things up?”
Tony snapped his fingers, “Right, go do whatever it is teenagers do these days while we hash out the boring adult stuff. C’mon go, go.” He said, ushering them out, his cheerful facade dropping from his face, revealing a dark look that had Morita straightening up.
“What do you think they’re gonna talk about?” Asked Piper as the door closed behind her, having noticed Tony’s expression.
“Hm, he’s probably gonna chew them out about ignoring the clear signs of abuse you were showing.” Said MJ casually, leaning against the wall.
At once Piper felt sick with anxiety, her heart beating faster as she picked up on her father’s deathly whisper from the other side of the door, his words confirming MJ’s theory.
“Piper. No.” Said MJ, causing Piper’s spiral to come to a crashing halt. “I know what you’re gonna say and he’s doing the right thing. Defending your rights and calling out people who wronged you. You were being abused and we all saw the signs. Do you think Ned and I never tried talking to Morita? Or the teachers? They always either dismissed us or — in Mr. Harrington’s case — tried to do something, didn’t conclude shit, and let it go.”
“At least he tried…” mumbled Piper.
“Not hard enough!” Shouted MJ, making her flinch.
Ned took Piper’s hand and squeezed, grounding her, but didn’t argue in her favour.
“Sorry.” Said MJ, her voice taking a gentler note, “But it’s true. What if you weren’t Tony Stark’s long lost kid, what if you were still under Smith’s care —- he tried to kill you, Piper. Would you even still be here if you— if you—” She cut herself off and looked away, blinking back tears.
“We love you Piper. And it’s right for your dad to give them hell.” Said Ned gently.
“I love you too, guys.” Mumbled Piper as she enveloped both her friends in a hug and buried her face in somebody’s shoulder, “I love you too.”