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To say Tony was livid was an understatement. He couldn't even sit down, the anger boiling in him causing him to pace back and forth.
He was currently pacing in front of the office at Penny's school, having gotten called out of work because apparently his daughter got into a fight. Said daughter was sitting in a chair, looking down at her feet like a kicked puppy.
Neither one of them has really said anything to each other. As soon as Tony got to the school, the principal told him to wait in the hall with Penny as he talked to the other student and his parents first. Penny was already sitting in the chair she's sitting in now, a bag of ice sitting on top of her already bruising knuckles.
The only thing Tony didn't understand was why Penny got into a fight in the first place. it's not like her to deal with things with her fists; she doesn't even like to yell when she's upset, choosing rather to sit and talk things out. Which, honestly, Tony should do the same if he wanted to find out what was actually going on.
Tony slowly made his way over to the chairs, sitting down in the seat right next to Penny. Tony sighed slightly when his daughter still refused to look up at him, rubbing his face as he thought of how to start the conversation without making the situation worse.
"How's your hand?" Tony asks, figuring they should start somewhere. He realized that is plan was flawed when all Penny did was mumble a tiny little 'fine'. "You know we need to talk about this, right, Kiddo?" Tony asks, getting a huff in return.
"There's nothing to talk about. I messed up, I punched a kid in the face, and now I'm grounded for a month." Penny grumbles, kicking her feet back and forth in some attempt at a distraction.
"Well, how about you begin with telling me what happened exactly before you start punishing yourself." Tony says, slightly hating the fact that Penny was being so hard on herself. Yeah, sure, she got into a fight, but Tony knows there has to be a good reason for it.
"It's stupid." Penny continues to grumble, groaning a bit when she saw Tony's pointed look. "It's just... this guy's a real grade A douche. He's constantly picking on other boys in our class and sexually harassing girls. Lately he's been bothering me - nothing bad it's just been words so far - but today when I walked passed him he slapped my butt. So I turned around and decked him." Penny explains, making the anger boil up inside Tony once again.
"He did what?!" Tony all but shouts, Penny instantly shushing him. "No, do not shush me about this. Why didn't you tell me this was happening?"
"Because I knew you were going to go into overprotective mode like you are now!" Penny yells back.
"Hell yes I'm going to be overprotective! No one is allowed to touch you without your permission and that's exactly what he did. Where is this little asshole?" Tony says, beginning to get up out of his seat and fully ready to barge into the office.
"Dad, just calm down for a second." Penny says, grabbing onto Tony's arm and tugging him back over to where she was. "I'm fine. Yes, I understand that was he did was beyond wrong and that I should never let anyone touch me like that, but I kind of got him back when I punched him in the face."
"Did you get him good?" Tony asks, sitting back down in the chair next to Penny.
"I think I broke his nose." Penny answers, trying and failing to hold back her smile. Tony just laughed and pulled Penny into his side, kissing the top of her head.
"Well it's good to know that those self-defense classes Nat's been teaching you are paying off." Tony comments, smiling when it managed to pull a small laugh out of the teen. The moment was over almost as soon as it came once Penny's principal walked out into the hallway.
"Mr. Stark, please come into my office so we may discuss what actions need to be taken." Principal Morita says, making both Starks stand up and follow the man into the office.
"Is this the heathen that attacked my son?" A woman asks as soon as they walked into the office. Tony quickly looked her up and down, already knowing that she was going to be one of those stuck-up parents who thinks they're better than everyone. Tony also had to actively hold back a smirk when he saw another boy sitting in a chair and holding a tissue to his bruised and bloodied nose.
"Excuse me? Heathen? Your son is the one who attacked my daughter first. She was just standing up for herself; if anyone is the heathen it's your son for not understanding boundaries." Tony snaps back at the woman, rolling his eyes when she dramatically gasped.
"Okay, let's not astray from the conversation at hand. Mr. Stark, due to our 'no tolerance policy' Ms. Stark will have to be suspended for two weeks." Principal Morita informs, making Penny all but jump up from her seat.
"What?! No, that's not fair!" Penny yells, uncharacteristically raising her voice. Although, it wasn't a surprise that she was getting so heated about this; she did absolutely nothing wrong and has been studying for a month for this competition.
"Well you should have thought about that before you attacked my son." The woman chimes in once again, making the already boiling anger inside Tony bubble over.
"Excuse me, but your son was the one who attacked my daughter first." Tony shouts before turning around and facing the principal. "Is your 'no tolerance policy' also going to suspend this cretin also?" Tony asks Principal Morita.
"Uhh... well, Mr. Stark, since Penny was the first and only one to initiate a physical fight-" Principal Morita slowly tried to explain his reasoning.
"She was defending herself because this jackass thought it was okay to lay his hands on her! Are you telling me that you and your 'no tolerance policy' are going to support and allow boys to touch girls bodies without their permission?" Tony retorts, scowling when the boy's mother scoffed at him.
"Mr. Stark, now you're just being too sensitive. You were a teenage boy once, you should know by now that boys will be boys." The boy's mother says, making Tony seethe and get a little closer to her face than he should have.
"I may have done a bunch of questionable things when I was younger, but never once have I ever touched a woman without her permission. It's people like you that make young impressionable girls think that this is okay." Tony practically growls at the woman before whirling back onto the principal.
"You know what, suspend my daughter, because we will be taking those two weeks to discuss whether or not we feel that this is the kind of environment Penny should be learning in. If she comes back and tells me you didn't do something about this, and we determine that this is not the environment Penny should be in, I'm pulling my daughter out of this school along with all of my funding." Tony threatens, before taking a deep breath and looking over his shoulder at Penny.
"Grab your bag, Pen. We're leaving." Tony says, Penny being quick to scoop her backpack off of the ground and stand up. As soon as she was on her feet, Tony wrapped his arm around her shoulders and lead her out of the office.
Penny refused to say anything as they walked out to the car, still feeling the raw anger radiate off of her father. The last thing she wanted to do was make matters worse when she was already suspended for two weeks.
"So what do you say to a Tai-ice cream-movie night?" Tony finally breaks the silence once they drove some ways down the road.
"Wait, what? Aren't I grounded? I just got suspended for two weeks." Penny asks, completely baffled that her Dad was rewarding her rather than yelling at her and telling her how disappointed he was.
"Baby, no. I will never ground you for protecting yourself. I'm actually very proud of you." Tony tells her, making all of the tension she was holding in since she punched the guy release.
"We'll talk about it more tomorrow, figure out if we really should pull you from that school; hopefully your principal smartened up and decided to punish that ass-wipe also. For now, what kind of ice cream do you want?" Tony asks, making a smile slowly form on Penny's face.
"Butter pecan."