Tony Stark's Ten Commandments

the seventh commandment

Hello there. I know, I know, it's been a while. A few things before you go on:

1. Like I said in the previous chapter, I've been planning on adding a few chapters to this, just to acknowledge the events of Endgame. Some of you hated the idea for obvious reasons. Thoughts on this?

2. I've been obsessed with Agents of Shield lately. I highkey ship Jemma with Grant or Phil. I know, I'm a creep.

3. Speaking of Coulson, he's alive in this one.

The Stark Tower has always been much of an intimidating beauty to the general public, but much more so to Peter Parker, whose fierce mentor and gentle girl resides.

It is a sight to behold, and it is intimidating even more so today. He had a question to ask Mr. Stark, and while the moments that follow him asking this question will determine whether he will swing through all of New York in ecstasy or die of heartbreak, he couldn't wait to get it over with.

It was still quite dark out; Stark had told him to miss school for the day to work on an urgent project with him. SHIELD had entrusted them with an 084--an object of unknown origin--and Stark wanted Peter to know what to do in situations like this one.

Y/N still slept soundly in her room as the two men read over the file that Maria Hill herself delivered the night before.

"Thoughts, kid?" Tony prompted as he assembled a set of funny-looking metals on a counter.

"Definitely not from here," Peter said easily, "but it's been on Earth for a while."

"And what do you do in this case?"

"Uh... ask for a consult?"

Tony rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but how do you know what consult to ask for? Look closer."

The object looked like it was molded by natural heat into an irregular shape. To be expected, as it had been discovered in an old cave in southern Argentina. There was no way of telling what it was before being reshaped; it looked like a sad clump of metal. However...

"There's an engraving, two symbols, but it looks like there was more than that. Must have been erased by erosion or extreme temperatures," Peter paused. "The symbols... they look... Nordic? Asgardian, maybe."

"Good one," Tony nodded in approval. "you got anyone in mind?"

"Thor?"

Tony rolled his eyes.

"Professor Randolph is Asgardian," Peter offered instead, "but he doesn't want to be contacted..."

Tony waited.

"Dr. Simmons back at SHIELD has had extensive experience in space, sir... I could-"

"Good. Do that." Tony replied, walking to another room to retrieve something. "Honestly, SHIELD is full of history junkies and mad scientists. Not as smart as I am, of course, but honestly, they're wasting our time with their..." Tony's voice became more muted as he walked further into the other room.

"Sir," Peter began when Tony walked back in, box of files in hand. "Y/N is about to go into University, she even said she was going to bring up going to the Academy--"

"I said yes. The other day." Tony interrupted. "It seems like you have quite the influence on her, Underoos. She was quite determined to become Nick Fury's lackey within Communications."

Peter ignored that his agenda was suddenly sidetracked. Stark said yes to Y/N studying at SHIELD Academy, something even the most omniscient would be startled by. "Y-you said yes? There must be a catch, right?"

"If you consider Agent Coulson magically taking an interest in being an S.O. to the younglings of the Academy after decades of not, a catch, then yes, there was a catch."

Silence on Peter's part.

"Fury was happy to hear that my genius daughter was determined to enroll, of course, but even he knew the dangers of having an Avenger's kid in his hands. There are going to be reinforcements. Natasha will be teaching at Operations for a semester. Coulson is going to be her mentor for the entirety of her stay. You're going to study at Science and Technology."

"Wha-"

"I know that they'll probably consider you eligible for graduation before you even finish the semester, but cut them some slack, kid. Stay and protect my girl." Tony glanced at him briefly before turning back to his work. "Now, why'd you bring up Uni?"

"W-well... senior prom's in a month, and Y/N's always wanted to dress up to go out and dance and everything. They allowed us to bring non-students. I'll take care of her, sir. We'll leave before the drinks are even served. I'll never let her out of my sight. All I want to give her is one dance in a normal high school prom. I'll make sure she eats and... and you're not talking."

Throughout the entirety of Peter's little monologue, Tony was staring at him blankly. "A dance. With crazed juveniles."

"Y-yes?"

Now, Peter learned a plenty of things from Mr. Tony Stark, and one of them was that when Tony was silent, the conversation is either over, or so important that he has to think about it. In this case, Tony's silence could mean one or the other, either, or neither.

It took Tony all but five minutes to respond. "Rule number seven, kid. Treat her like a queen. If she ever so merely steps on a thumb tack--"

"--I will incapacitate whoever dropped it."

Tony chuckled, shaking his head. "JARVIS," he called.

"Yes, sir?"

"Tell Pep to clear two hours of her afternoon today. She's going shopping."