Author’s Note: This is my take on a ‘missing scene’ from the new movie Spiderman: Homecoming. I honestly couldn’t help myself – the movie just screamed ‘spanking’ to me. There are specific spoilers for the entire movie in the story. On a side note, the movie is freaking awesome, funny, heartfelt, and just amazing (get it – ‘Amazing’). You should all go see it, and take your friends. Then read my fic AFTER you’ve seen it. :)
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of these characters, and I’m not making any money from this story.
Warning: Disciplinary spanking of a minor by a mentor. I do not advocate the spanking of minors in real life, only in fiction. I also do not advocate giving minors specialized suits that encourage them to put their lives in danger by fighting crime every night in real life, only in fiction. Also, I don’t see Tony as a good mentor, and my story reflects that. He’s trying to be a good mentor, but he’s failing because he has no idea what it means to be a good mentor.


Failed Internship


“I’m gonna need that back.” Tony said pointing at Peter’s chest.

“What?” Peter asked.

“The suit. Clearly you aren’t responsible enough to have it, so I’m taking it back.”

“For how long?” Peter said, obviously upset.

“Forever.” Tony said with finality, not quite understanding why the teen thought he’d ever get it back after running amok with it.

“Forever?” Peter’s voice was panicky. “Please not forever, Mr. Stark. I’m really sorry, and… you can put the tracker back in it, and turn off the upgrades I hacked, and I swear I won’t mess with any of that stuff again. You could take it away for a month.”

Tony shook his head and opened his mouth, but Peter kept talking, trying to persuade him. “And… and give me some other kind of punishment on top of that. I… I could be grounded for a month while the suit is gone. You could put monitors in my room, if you haven’t already, and make sure I don’t do anything fun all month. No patrolling at night, no using my powers, and no computer or phone.”

Tony shook his head. “I don’t think you understand the gravity of the situation. You almost got yourself killed today, along with a boat full of people, because instead of staying out of this like I told you, you lied to me, and dove in head first.”

“Please don’t take it away, Mr. Stark. I’m nothing without the suit.”

“If you’re nothing without the suit, then you shouldn’t have it at all.”

Those words hurt, and Peter felt a lump in his throat. “I know I screwed up, and I’m sorry, but please give me another chance. I promise I can do better. I’ll do anything to earn it back.”

It was exceptionally difficult for Tony to stick to his decision with the kid looking at him with that sorrowful expression. He couldn’t help but think about his own childhood every time he interacted with Peter, which was a big part of why he avoided the boy as much as possible. Tony remembered the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach when he realized he’d done something to anger his father, and the way that feeling would fester and turn to hate as Howard shunned him for days. He shook his head, and tried to come up with a solution that didn’t leave the teen feeling the way he used to.

He thought about Cap, who was the most decent, upstanding, and well-adjusted person he knew, and tried to envision what he’d do with the kid. The answer came easily. Cap would give the teen a second chance, and go with the grounding, because Captain America always saw the good in people. But then if Cap was mentoring Peter, grounding would be enough because Cap was a decent, honorable, and upstanding man, and the boy would be trying to emulate him. Tony didn’t think of himself as particularly decent, honorable, or upstanding, so what was there for the kid to emulate?

Tony thought about Thor, who was also an honorable and decent man, and wondered what he would do. Then he remembered a story Thor had told him about his childhood with Loki, and their father’s method of correcting bad behavior. As soon as the idea hit him, Tony nodded. He doubted Cap would approve, but Cap didn’t approve of half the things Tony did. And Tony knew he would have jumped at the chance to redeem himself if his father had given him the option of a spanking over being ignored for days.

“Anything?” Tony asked.

Peter nodded quickly, hoping that he’d eventually get the suit back, “Yes, Sir, Mr. Stark. Absolutely anything.”

With a reluctant sigh, Tony said, “Take off the suit first.”

“I uh… I don’t have any other clothes.”

“Please tell me you’re at least wearing underwear.”

Peter nodded.

“So take it off, and I’ll get you something else to wear when we’re done.”

“Done? Done with what?”

“Me giving you an incentive not to lie to me again.” Tony said sternly, “Take. It. Off.”

Peter slowly put his hand up, and pushed the button to loosen the suit. He carefully and self-consciously stepped out of it before reluctantly handing it over with the expression of a sad puppy. He shivered in his boxers as he watched Tony put the Spiderman suit on the ground.

Tony took a step towards the little concrete railing that went around the roof of the building, but then realized his mistake. The teen was at least as strong as Cap, and after getting punched and flung into metal and concrete, Peter just got up and kept fighting. There was no way he’d feel anything other than embarrassment if a normal human like Tony spanked him. Iron Man on the other hand, could probably make a smack hurt a little bit. With a nod to himself, Tony stepped into his Iron Man suit, which closed around him, leaving only his face clear. He sat on the railing with his feet on the roof, and pointed to a spot in front of him. “Come here.”

Confused, Peter moved to the indicated spot.

Tony said, “Either the suit is gone forever, or you go over my lap for a spanking, and then you get the suit back in a month.”

Peter’s eyes grew comically large, and he started shaking his head. “A… A spanking? But… that’s… you can’t…” he took a couple of steps back while rambling and still shaking his head, “…I mean… you probably can when you’re in the suit but… I… I really don’t want you to, and… Aunt May wouldn’t approve… and I… I’m too old, and… I don’t deser… well… I really, really don’t want you to, and I’m sorry, and I swear I won’t ever lie to you again, Mr. Stark.”

Tony raised an eyebrow and said, “You want the suit back in a month? Going through with this is the only way that’s happening. Your choice, but knock off the chatter and make up your mind, because I’ve got more important things to do with my time than this.” Not to mention he was going to lose his nerve if the kid didn’t hurry up.

Peter bit his lip, looked back at the suit, and then at Iron Man’s lap. There was no way he could give up the suit forever, and he did feel exceptionally guilty for what had just happened. Coming to a decision, he hung his head, and felt his eyes filling with tears as he stepped towards Tony.

Tony took the boy’s arm and tried to pull him over his lap, but Peter used his strength to keep himself upright.

“Wait! You’re not gonna tell anyone about this, right?” Peter said in a rush. “Not Aunt May, not Happy, not…” his face turned an even brighter shade of red, “…oh God, not any of the Avengers. Right?”

Tony scrutinized the teen for a few moments before he said, “The Avengers, no. Happy yes, but he’s discrete. Your Aunt May… well, I guess that depends on if it works. You stay out of trouble for the next month, and this stays between us. If not, I’ll tell your Aunt May everything.”

A small whimper was Peter’s only response.

“Still your choice, Pete. Spanking, or no suit.”

Looking back down at the ground, Peter muttered, “Spanking.” This time he didn’t resist as Tony pulled him across his lap.

After wrapping one arm around the kid’s waist to keep him in place, Tony used a fraction of the suit’s strength to smack Peter’s blue boxer shorts. The teen didn’t jump, hiss, or have any visible reaction. Tony had been using his suit long enough to know that the force of that blow on a normal human would have caused bruising. He lifted his hand and doubled the strength of the blow. When that still got no reaction out of Peter, Tony wondered exactly how strong the boy was, and since he was still growing, how strong he’d eventually become. He lifted his hand again, and went for a full force blow.

A soft grunt came out of Peter, and his body tensed. Figuring that was the right strength, Tony started talking, and then laid down a spank for each word he emphasized, as if each harsh slap were a punctuation mark for his thoughts.

“Your suit is an expensive piece of technology; mytechnology. Your suit is not a toy. You don’t get to disassemble it like some kind of Lego set. I put that tracker in there for a good reason, and you put your life in danger by purposely removing it. Then when I asked you where you were, you lied to me. You said you were in class, which by the way, is where you’re supposed to be. Skipping school to play superhero was never part of the agreement, and if I’d known you were the type of kid to do that, I would have put security measures in place to make sure you couldn’t. When I pulled you out of that lake, where you very well might have died, I told you to leave it alone, didn’t I? I told you to stick to the neighborhood and fight the small crime so you could work your way up to something bigger, but did you listen to me? No! You decided to track the seriously dangerous bad guys and interfere with the FBI investigation I’d set up, and in doing so put hundreds of lives at risk!”

When he paused to take a large breath, he noticed Peter’s shoulders were shaking, and realized with shock that the teen was quietly crying. He froze, and only then did it occur to him that he probably should have been keeping count. He had no idea how many smacks he’d given, and he hadn’t really been paying attention to where the blows landed other than on top of the boxers. For all he knew every one of the smacks could have been in exactly the same spot. Jesus, what if he’d really hurt the boy?

He opened his mouth to warn Peter that he was going to check the damage, but then wondered if the kid would fight him over it. He had to clear his throat to make his voice stern again, and said, “I’m going to check for bruising, and then the spanking will be over.”

Peter got out a teary, “What?” and then a mortified, “Oh, God,” as his boxers were pulled down slightly.

Tony just stared at the skin for a few seconds, blinking with disbelief. It was barely pink. Relief flooded through him, only to be followed with irritation at himself for thinking he’d actually hurt the teen. There hadn’t been any signs of acute pain. Peter’s tears weren’t tears of pain; they were tears of remorse. And honestly that was what he’d been aiming for, right? He pulled the shorts back up over the kid’s butt, and said, “Okay, all done. You can get up.”

Peter instantly shoved himself up, and stepped back a few feet, keeping his head down, and wiping at his face.

Feeling pretty guilty about the tears, even if remorse had been the goal, Tony stood and then stepped out of his Iron Man suit. He awkwardly put a hand on the Peter’s shoulder and said softly, “I forgive you, okay? You can have the suit back in a month, and you don’t even have to be grounded while the suit is gone.”

The teen nodded and clearly tried to stop crying without much success if the stuttered breath was any indication.

With a grimace at the thought of emotional human contact that wasn’t Pepper, he sighed, pulled Peter into a hug, and muttered, “I guess we’re there now.”

Peter grabbed a fist full of the older man’s jacket, and leaned into the hug. “I’m sorry,” he said softly.

“Yeah, I know, but I don’t need you to be sorry. I need you to be better…” he didn’t tack on the ‘than me’ that he’d been thinking.

“I will be. I promise.”

Not able to stand the hug any longer, Tony pulled away, and said, “Okay it’s past time to get you home. Stay here, and I’ll go get you some clothes.” He stepped into his Iron Man suit, picked up the Spiderman suit from the ground, and then flew off to find something for the kid to wear home.

# # #

After handing over some ill fitting tourist clothes and bus fare, Tony flew away towards home. But then he started to rehash what had just happened, and couldn’t help but doubt himself. He decided to ask his A.I. her opinion. “Hey FRIDAY, do you think I did the right thing?”

“Peter rides the bus every day,” she said, “He should have no trouble getting home.”

“Not that. I mean spanking him. Do you think it was… I don’t know… wrong?”

“Corporal punishment is generally considered to be wrong in our society.”

“Yeah, but… Thor’s dad spanked him, and he turned out to be a great guy, right?”

“True, but Loki’s father spanked him as well, and he’s a murderer.”

“Shit, you’re right.” Tony muttered. After a pause he said, “Well, what’s done is done, and Peter reminds me a lot more of Thor than Loki. We’ll just have to keep an eye on him and make sure he’s okay.”

“Project baby monitor is still in full effect.”

“Good. Give me a daily update on his status, and let me know if anything seriously bad happens.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Feeling slightly better about it, Tony headed for home and tried to decide how to explain this to Happy in a way that wouldn’t get him ratted out to Pepper.


The End

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