Worried teacher or how not to get arachnophobia part 4
Virginia "Pepper" Potts was a smart woman.
She ran the company, she represented the Stark Industries and she handled everyday problems with lawyers and too much coffee per day. Moreover, she was very good at keeping an eye on all kids Tony accumulated, which happened faster than his own suits could ever dream to fly. Somehow, both Peter and Harley felt like her own sons, even if they never actually were. All thanks to her man.
She, however, was also used to the fact that Stark was a proud idiot sometimes.
They received the alarm notification from Karen early in the morning. Too early for Peter to be on patrol and too early for him to be shot. Pepper had to take the place behind her laptop as Tony took off as fast as he could. The notification was too short, barely explained anything and was glitching excessively, which implied that Peter messed with the wiring of his AI once again. But despite vague data the coordinates were clear enough to find him. Pepper thanked Friday for her existence, as she started searching about what happened and how serious it was, while sending a message to Bruce in case Spider-Man would need any additional medical attention.
What she didnât expect was that Tony would return with already patched up Peter, looking like a grumpy wet cat.
That said, Pepper was used to the fact that her boss was a proud idiot.
She just wasnât used to the fact that someone else can be brave enough to poke at Tony about that. Usually people idolized Stark for who he was. He was both loved and hated at the same time and in equal measure. But no one truly said anything into his face, either out of worship thinking or out of fear to be discovered with their ill intents. Therefore, whoever that Ryland Grace was, he was a brave man for saying harsh truths into Iron Manâs face. And he even made it sound like a parent-teacher meeting on top of that! Pepper was impressed.
Tony, though, wasnât sharing her point of view. As soon as he made sure that Peter was safe and with a proper level of lecturing for being reckless, he crept away to his lab. Pepper knew the pattern by heart now. Something made Tony question his expertise and he hid in his small world of machinery and engineering, snapping sarcastic comments on those who dared to enter his domain, or how Pepper called it, his burrow. After all, Tony Stark was a horrible workaholic despite his social media image of a celebrity. And when he felt sad, he always reached for things he could do perfectly regardless of his state of mind.
«Still sulking?» Pepper asked, entering the room with two cups of coffee and a towel over her shoulder. They both had an early morning so⊠Coffee was just a simple necessity.
«Me? Sulking? Delirium!» Tony huffed from behind his desk, while some program ran tests over the simulation she didnât recognize. Lines shifted and moved so fast that it was hard to keep track of them. So she didnât bother with that, placing the cup on the table.
«Hmmm, maybe. Or maybe that guy stepped on a sore spot,» Pepper leaned at the tableâs edge, resting her weight on it, while watching carefully at Tonyâs face. He winced at the implication, but didnât argue. Bad sign. Silent Stark â hurting Stark.
The silence of the lab was comforting, especially with half dimmed lights. After such a rushed and jarring wake up call, it was hard to relax, knowing that in a couple of hours life would be loud and full of people again. Staying in the quiet lab was a nice change of pace, a short break to take a deep breath and find your footing.
«Was it so bad?» Pepper asked careful, placing her cup down and reaching for her soon-to-be-husbandâs shoulder. A few squeezes were more of her own reassurances, as much as her own urges to just squish her man. Tony scoffed, scandalized and offended.
«He said Iâm not doing enough to insure that the kid can come to me with a problem!» he rolled in his chair, looking at Pepper indignantly. «Called me a bad influence! Can you believe that?»
«And youâre not?» Pepper chucked, now rolling her hands over the manâs shoulders more purposely. «Just a few days ago you were trying to teach Peter how to curse.» It was better to distract him from any potential thoughts that he was failing Peter somehow. He already had enough of those.
«Iâs telling you, he does that on purpose! Thereâs no way a teenager wouldnât say fuck!» Tony rolled his eyes, raising his hands in the air as if he was innocent. «The kids these days⊠No cursing, no parties, no troublesâŠÂ»
«As if you would ever allow Peter any of that,» Pepper smiled, letting him drift away from the unpleasant memories. She didnât want her stubborn genius to stuck in a circle of self-loathing and overthinking.
«No. But itâs a matter of principle!» Stark smirked, leaning to Pepperâs caress like a cat. Some of the tension left him, as the massage made wonders to his shoulders and neck. «How they say? âOur grandchildren will avenge us on our childrenâ? Seems to me itâs not so true.»
«And yet this morning Peter scared us both. Heâs just does the avenging part his own wayâŠÂ»
«Hate when youâre rightâŠÂ»
«Iâm always right,» Pepper smiled, leaning closer to the man.
«Me too. But youâre taking the spotlight. Keep doing that, tho,» Tony smirked, perking up to leave a small kiss on his soon-to-be-wifeâs cheek. They both liked the titles, looking forward to the wedding day like kids to the Christmas.
«The information has been collected,» suddenly said Friday, breaking the sweet atmosphere that only took place. Pepper raised her head to the monitor in confusion, only to see that what she mistook for simulation was actually a data analysis.
The whole screen was filled with files, photos and information about Dr. Ryland Grace. Pepper frowned, noticing a picture of two identical men, before turning towards Tony with an arched brow. He, in turn, at least had some sense to look guilty.
«And someone claimed he didnât have stalking tendencies,» the CEO in Pepper raise her head, expecting explanations.
«Ry, relax, itâs not the end of the world,» Simon sat near on the bench, offering a tea cup he bought at the coffee machine nearby.
«Yeah, itâs just much worseâŠÂ» Grace said gruffly, biting his lips and fighting real hard against the urge to throw his phone somewhere. The only thing that stopped him was a fact that he wonât have money to buy a new one later. «If parents call the principle, if the complains turn out to be serious enough, Iâll lose my job.»
«Ry, I really doubt anyone would care,» Simon tried once again, taking away the phone and forcing a tea cup into his hands. In return he got skeptical look, a huff and a mile of Graceâs attitude, visible in the roll of his eyes.
«Simon, thatâs school. Parents care about the colors of the corridor walls these days. Just a month ago, someone filed a complaint against Ms. Jefferson for her dress. For being, and I quote, too revealing.»
«Wait, Ms. Jefferson?» Simon frowned and turned to Ryland. The kids were busy with the interactive exhibits about molecular development, mixing with Midtowns instantly. After that boy found the video of Graceâs incident at the NASA conference and played it at full volume, the two groups became inseparable. «Isnât it a nice lady in her sixties?» Simon tilted his head. He was familiar with some of Graceâs colleagues from some short run-ins in the city or from some stories he heard.
The look Ryland gave his partner was more than enough to answer Simonâs questions. He knew about some absurd things some parents did or said, saw how Grace could spend hours fuming about some of the parent-teacher meetings, and he remember how some parents tried to achieve Rylandâs dismissal because they found Coltâs social medias and couldnât tell the twins apart. That was quite the spectacular show. The principal had to listen to the two hours of arguing on the edge of screaming, until Colt entered the room in the most inappropriate outfit he ever had. Back then, even Ryland was shocked, and he saw his brother in all sorts of costumes.
They sat in silence for some time, watching the kids and trying to understand what to do next. Ryland really hoped that today wonât be the reason for another dismissal demands. He wasnât sure The Hemel Hempstead School would want to deal with it again.
Their semi-peaceful moping was disturbed by a three teens, that moved towards them. Among them was a boy that played the audio, which made Simon question why they were going here.
«Troublemakers, two oâclock,» Simon smirked, looking away at the group of other kids. They were in a middle of creating some digital monster. Was that an eel? Jeez, it looked creepyâŠ
Ryland perked up, watching as two kids stopped a bit behind and one came closer.
«Um⊠Dr. Grace? I wanted to apologize for earlier. I didnât mean it. Iâm sorry for⊠what I did,» the boy awkwardly gestured around, making Simon smirk a bit more. He knew those mannerisms, saw them in Ryland all the time. Nowadays he was practically an expert at identifying anxious and overthinking people.
«Well, I canât say it was pleasant, but I understand,» Grace nodded, straitening his back and setting his tea aside. Simon had to take it into his hand to prevent an accidental spill. «Iâm not angry, but I want to know why you had that record, though.»
The teen stiffened, making both men look at him carefully. It was easy to understand how Rylandâs kids couldâve find it. After all, they were his students. Some of them were finding Coltâs medias because of their curiosity. But being able to pinpoint Grace and his⊠free choice of words when seeing him for the first time? Why would a random high school student from New York search information about random teacher from San Francisco? Simon didnât like where this was going.
«Oh, thatâs quite easy! I sent it to him!» a sudden voice from the side made Simon turn towards the speaker, along with all people in the room. Tony Stark and his fiancĂ©e Pepper Potts walked right at this moment, making Simon want to scoff. This two were walking around to interfere exactly at this moment or something? Also⊠Why are they here?
Ryland, despite all expectations, just⊠stared. Oh. Sometimes Simon was forgetting how itâs terrifyingly easy to anger Grace and how dangerous it could be. And right now Rylandâs gaze promised all sorts of retributions.
Oh, and Simon wasn't the only one to question Stark's behavior. Pepper looked at him as if she wanted to scold him. Right until her eyes met Simon's.
«Wait, you?!» they both said at the same time, disbelief in their voices was louder than anything.
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