Discovering Fatherhood (Irondad / Spiderson)

Chapter 15: Steve's Determination Vs Peter's Prepotency

Peter saw with horror that his father advanced cautious steps in his direction, getting closer and closer to him, his look was determined. The chestnut-haired boy gulped and shot a fleeting look at his mother, she, unlike his dad, she lagged behind, standing near the door with her arms crossed and an extremely serious expression on her face.

The unmistakable sound of a footstep immediately caught Peter's attention, he stopped looking at his mom and fixed his brown eyes on his dad, he checked with concern that he was nowhere near reaching him. Peter swallowed, panicked, he wanted to get away but paradoxically he couldn't, so he remained still, he had his arms at his sides of his body and he was in a rigid posture, he felt unable to move because of the nerves that the situation generated in him.

Anyone would think that Peter was already lost, that he was going to be caught, but luckily the teenager managed to get out of his trance state and reacted just in time to escape from his father, who was already reaching his hand towards him, with the intention of holding him by the arm. Peter jumped to the side, preventing his father from capturing him, and then he ran away for two reasons, one to make up the lost distance and two to go in search of his much-prized web-slinging artifacts, which he was going to need to get out of there.

Peter skidded on the floor, stopping in front of the desk chair and bracing himself with his hands on the leather back in the process to keep from falling, he had moved too fast to be inside such a small room, it had also played against him the adrenaline he felt and not knowing how to control his powers very well yet.

Peter steadied himself, standing up straight, then let go of the back of the chair and grabbed the backpack, clumsily unzipping it with trembling fingers, he was in too much of a hurry, afraid his father would catch him at any moment if he lingered. When Peter had unzipped it, he put both hands inside the backpack and stirred its contents until he could feel the web-slinging artifacts, he quickly took them out and outlined a relieved smile, he didn't bother to close the backpack.

"What are you doing?" Steve consulted with an arched eyebrow, his arms were crossed and he had stood still a few steps from Peter.

"It is not obvious?" His son replied with a hint of impatience in his tone of voice, still not looking at him because he was too busy putting the artifacts on his wrists, anyway he was no longer worried that his father would capture him because his super hearing didn't hear approaching footsteps, so he knew that his dad had remained quiet, desisting from going after him and that reassured him. "I'm putting my spider web gadgets on my wrists because at any moment I'm going to get the hell out of here." Peter explained, finished putting on the gadgets and looked up, staring at his dad's incredulous face. "I'm not going to listen to you." He snapped with a serious expression.

Steve's expression turned more serious than his adoptive son's.

"In first, language." He corrected him with a firm tone. Peter rolled his eyes, Steve got angry when he saw this, Peter wasn't taking him seriously so he decided to speak more seriously to make it clear that he should obey him. "Don't make me that face, you know I don't like you to talk like that and secondly, you're not going anywhere because I'm your father and I'm ordering you to." Steve clarified vehemently as he took a step towards his son.

Peter backed up the step his dad had taken, he shot a quick glance at the open window, he had planned to climb onto the windowsill, jump and escape through the roofs of the houses, he heard another footstep and looked back at his father, only this once he didn't back down, he wasn't going to be intimidated. The teenager placed both hands on his hips and adopted a defiant attitude.

"Stop me, Cap." Peter provoked him.

Steve, who had been advancing towards his son, suddenly stood still and his face reflected astonishment. Peter was too talkative and that wasn't usual for him, not at all, he had always been a respectful boy. Peter smiled mischievously.