Chapter Text
Harley woke to a sound of quiet knocks from behind him. A dull, stiff pain spread down his neck and back as he sat up.
“Harley?” A voice called and annoyance filled his chest. He got up off the floor, his bones protesting, and opened the door.
“What?” He spat, not bothering to clear out the gruff sleep-tone in his voice.
“Oh- did I wake you up?” Peter looked apologetic, looking around at the door frame, only occasionally glancing back at Harley.
“Yeah.” Harley stared straight at Peter’s face.
“Oh. sorry.” Peter rubbed the back of his neck, looking down the hall. The air turned to an awkward silence between them as Peter didn’t move to speak.
“Did you want something?” Harley spoke, his words clipped. His throat felt raw and scratchy.
Peter’s eyes jumped back to Harley’s, apprehension filling every part of his body language. “Uh- yeah. I- I wanted to ask if we could start over? I don’t know what I did to upset you- but Mr. Stark really wants us to be friends so-”
“Mr. Stark wants us to be friends. Did he send you up here?” Harley interrupts, leaning against the door frame, trying to offset the weight on his aching spine.
“Um, yes. He wanted-”
“Do you want to be friends with me, Underoos?” Harley cut him off, watching Peter’s face closely for any hint of familiar annoyance. Any thought of asshole, you’re impossible, I hate you that he liked to press like a fresh bruise.
Peter’s face flushed. “Don’t call me that,” He protested.
“Tony calls you that.”
“Yeah- but he’s-” A light blushed formed on the other’s face. “Why can’t you-” Peter grit out, stopping himself.
“Why can’t I what?” Harley baited, waiting for an insult, something to feed the black pit growing in his chest.
Peter sighed, looking at Harley. He didn’t rise to the bait, effectively stamping out the fire Harley was trying to start. He wasn’t sure whether he was happy about it or upset. He just felt numb. “Look, man. Can’t we just- stay out of each other’s way? Stay civil in the lab? I don’t want to upset Mr-”
“Oh I’m sure it’s impossible for you to upset the old man, sunshine.” Harley deadpanned back, cutting the other boy off again Peter just stared, his annoyance clear on his features.
“Forget it, this was pointless.” Peter mumbled, moving to stalk away.
Harley pursed his lips. He felt guilt fill him again, a familiar tide rolling back in. “I’m- I’ll be civil.” Harley bit out. He retreated into his room, closing his door before he could see the other boy’s reaction.
*<*<*<*<*<*<*<*<*<*
Harley was in the lab a few hours later, finding it blissfully empty this early in the morning. He had apparently slept past dinner, and after taking a shower and raiding the fridge, Harley made his way down. It was technically ‘tomorrow’ by all standards, so he couldn’t get in trouble with Tony. He was finally going to get to work on the personal plasma shield nano-tech he had been excited about. He was about an hour and half into fiddling with it, taking apart the work that had been done to try and figure out what Peter and Tony had done, figure out where to go from there, when Peter walked in. He hesitated when his eyes landed on Harley, then darted down to the project in his hands. His eyebrows scrunched and his lips parted.
“Did you just take it apart?”
“Yeah.” Harley responded, glancing up at him briefly before continuing with his work.
“Why?”
“To figure out where y’all were at? I’ll put it back together, don’t worry.”
Peter stepped forward a little before stopping. He looked hesitant to move, but his eyes stayed locked on the project. Harley paused, sensing the tension. He looked up at the other boy.
“Is there a problem?”
“It’s just- You haven’t been working on it. Me and Mr. Stark put a lot of time into it and to see it all- you could’ve asked-even Mr. Stark if not me-” Peter rambled, not staying on any thought long enough to finish his sentences.
“Asked permission?” Harley’s voice caught a sharp edge, a finger on a pin, primed to pull. Rage beat his heart faster in his chest, begging to explode.
“Asked for help.” Peter corrected, but it did nothing to dissuade the rage pouring into Harley’s chest.
“I don’t need help. Believe it or not, I’m just as qualified to be here.” He bit out. His chest felt heavy as if everything was swirling around, begging to be let out. He was trying his best to keep calm, to be civil, he could swear that up and down the Mississippi, but he could only hold out so long.
“That’s not what I meant,” Peter groaned.
“Then what did you mean?” Harley’s hands tightened around the project in his hands.
“I meant- asked us where we are at, what we’ve done. Then you wouldn’t have to completely take it apart.”
“Orrr I can take it apart and see that for myself.” Harley rolled his eyes, continuing on with his work. His hands were shaking too bad to get a good grip, and a piece fell from where he was carefully adjusting it. Peter made a noise of disapproval, jerking forward.
“Just- Could you let me sit and help you put it back together? It’s- This project is my baby.” Peter reached for it, but Harley snatched it away. He paused, Peter’s words hitting him.
“Your baby?” He asked, looking at Peter’s focused eyes.
Peter confirmed with a nod, his hand still outstretched. “Just give it back-”
“Did you birth it?” Harley interrupted, holding it tight to his chest.
“Huh?” Peter eyebrows scrunched, and he looked up at Harley’s face.
“Did. you. birth. it?” Harley repeated, emphasizing each word.
“I don’t-” Peter scrambled for what to say. Harley didn’t let him find it.
“Did you create the idea? Or did you steal it, Parker?” Peter's eyes shot up, his jaw tightening.
“Steal it? I didn’t steal anything. It was Tony’s idea but we built it up together. So yeah, it’s my baby. Now give it back before you destroy it.” Peter’s voice was louder now, a second away from a shout. He moved forward, and before Harley could think he shoved Peter back as hard as he could. Peter, to his credit, managed to hold his ground against Harley’s entire force. Harley didn’t spend any more time thinking about the semantics of his strength before he was yelling.
“It wasn’t his idea, you didn’t fucking build it up, it wasn’t yours to touch in the first place. So just fuck off. You’re a fucking thief!” Harley shouted, his chest heaving.
“What is all this about!? Harley?” Another shout came from across the lab, a voice that felt like he took another cold water plunge- all the fire in him tampered out immediately. They both looked over to see Tony at the lab entrance, his eyebrows furrowed and a displeased tilt to his mouth.
“I’m not a thief.” Peter pouted, making his way to leave. Tony attempted to stop him, but he side-stepped Tony’s offer. The room dropped into a silence, the sound of Peter’s steps retreating.
After what felt like hours of agonizing silence, Harley frozen in his spot, Tony broke the ice.
“You want to explain?”
“Not really.” Harley mumbled quietly.
“Sorry, let me rephrase. Explain.”
“I was just upset, Tony. Please, drop it.” Harley begged, looking at Tony’s exasperation clear on his face. He couldn’t stop the undercurrent of fear from slowly consuming him when he thought about the fact that he hasn’t seen Tony happy since he first arrived here.
“Not when you’re yelling.”
Harley sighed, looking down at the project still held in his hands. His grip was lax now, “He didn’t like that I took the project apart. I was just trying to see where y’all were at.”
Tony sighed, rubbing his hand over his face. “Why didn’t you ask us?”
Harley didn’t want to have to ‘figure it out’ at all. “Let’s just work on it now, you can walk me through it.”
“I don’t think Pete wants to work on it now, kid. Let him cool off, apologize, then we’ll work on it all together.”
Harley’s jaw tightened. “So you can work on it with Peter but not me?”
Tony’s eyebrow rose. “We will all work on it together.”
Harley huffed, his eyes locked on Tony’s. His jaw tightened almost painfully as frustration slowly grew in him, the intense swirling in his chest shifting into something closer to anger. “I meant alone.”
“It’s a group project, Harley. It wouldn’t be fair to Peter-”
“I don’t care about him!” Harley yelled
“Harley! Do not raise your voice at me!”
Harley laughed bitterly, his chest hurt like hell and his eyes began to sting. “And you know what? I don’t give a shit about this fucking project.” With that, he raised the device in his hand and threw it hard down on the floor. It immediately shattered on impact, pieces breaking and scattering everywhere. He felt a wave of satisfaction, watching the pieces spin and settle.
But after the explosion, in the deathly quiet that rose after, a wave of guilt ran over Harley followed by something very close to grief. His eyes welled up with tears.
He looked over at Tony, who was staring wide-eyed at the mess he made. He couldn’t stop his tears turning into waves, pouring hot down his cheeks. Tony seemed to step forward a bit, before hesitating and staying in place.
“You- Peter and I worked very hard on that.” Tony said, still staring at the shattered mess, his voice suddenly calm but laced with disappointment. It hit Harley like a bullet and the tears came out harder, silent and never ending. He felt like he was drowning as the realization hit that he could not deny the truth any longer. Tony had laid it out, clearly, and now he was the same as the mess he had created. Something shattered on the ground.
“So did I.” Harley managed to get out, a light whisper that forced its way through his tight throat.
Tony’s eyebrows twitched and concern laced his features. The older man stood still, locked into his hesitation between paths.
“Why don’t you go check on your son. I know you want to.” Harley bit out. He was gripping the side of the counter for support, his whole body feeling too heavy to support.
Tony pushed his mouth into a line, staring at Harley, then the shattered project, then finally nodding and walking out the door.
Harley bit his lips until the door to the lab swung closed. Only after he was sure he was alone, Harley let everything out, a terrible wail filling the room. His heart was pounding as the familiar feeling of loneliness wrapped around him. He slid down onto the floor, his breathing erratic and uncontrolled. He had just shattered the last good thing in his life. He had finally made everyone leave him, even Tony Stark. Even The Mechanic. He sucked in a shaky breath as he stared at the window with a sort of bitterness. His mind wandered back to the fall. He imagined how it would feel, how the weightlessness would relieve the heavy feeling in his body. It wondered if it would solve the fact he felt like he couldn’t breathe, his lungs working harder and harder to take breaths in. His vision got cloudy and Harley bunched the ends of his jeans into his hands as he gasped for air.
Eventually his breathing evened out, and the dull pain in his chest became apparent. He got up, his whole body feeling shaky and weak, and walked toward the doors. He wasn’t really thinking as he got in the elevator, pressing the button for the ground floor instead of the pent-house. It was as if his brain was on some kind of auto-pilot as he moved through the vacant, silent lobby, pushing through the front doors, and out into the New York night.
*<*<*<*<*<*<*<*<*<*
Harley wandered the streets for a while, only occasionally passing a person or group walking back from a club or a homeless person sleeping against a building. None of them really acknowledged him. He was sure he looked pathetic, some ragged sniffling stranger stumbling blindly down the streets in the middle of the night. He wondered if Tony was going to kick him out - force him to go home. He wondered if his mom would do the same after he came home, upset for depriving her of a Harley-free summer. He wasn’t sure what he would do, where he would go. Maybe he would take the truck in the garage and drive around on that, pick up odd jobs, find somewhere he didn’t take up too much space. His chest started feeling tight again, and he willed himself to stop thinking, letting his feet take him somewhere far away. It was only when his feet started to hurt and his legs started burning that he paused. He came across a small alleyway in between two buildings. Looking around and determining the place was clear, he sat down, hugging his knees to his chest.
His mind started to drift back to a time when he was younger - about 8 - and some kids after school teased him about his dad. About how he up and left their family, claiming loudly that he left because he didn’t want Harley, that they would leave him too if they were his dad. Harley sat in his garage that night, his knees pulled up the same way as tears followed the same wet trails down his cheeks. His mom had come into the garage to find him that night after she got back from work. She hadn’t started dating then, and while she was always tired and held an undercurrent of sadness that matched her weary sigh, she was so kind. That’s how Harley liked to remember her, the way she would hug him tightly and bring him home candy and clean his scraps and cuts from fights and building and climbing trees. It had been years since he had seen her last.
His heart ached for that mom back, and something in that desire had him bringing his phone out of his pocket and clicking on her contact.
The phone rang once and Harley tightened his jaw.
The phone rang a second time and Harley’s heart sped up, his shoulders feeling stiff, but he wasn’t sure he could relax them.
The phone rang a third time and Harley thought about hanging up and abandoning…whatever he was doing. He couldn’t move his hand. The phone rang a fourth time and Harley felt like crying, but his eyes were dry.
As his phone picked up the sound for a fifth time, it was abruptly cut out and replaced with the familiar harsh, tired voice of his mother.
“Why are you calling in the middle of the night?” Her voice was groggy despite the way it was hissed quietly through the phone.
“Ma” He breathed out, his voice hitching on a sob.
“Are you crying?” She asked, her voice sounding more like a steady statement. It lacked the concern it probably should have, only serving to make the clawing feeling in Harley grow sharper. He felt like a dog licking its owner's hand hoping it would mean a kind response this time.
“Ma I think I should come home.” He managed to get out despite it being broken by his voice falling into cries.
The phone was quiet for a moment, and Harley waited patiently, sniffling. “What did you do?” She sighed. “I swear to god you can’t do anything right for even a second, can you?”
“I-” his voice hitched. He fought it down. “I messed up, ma. I just- I think Tony’s really mad at me. I don’t know what to do and I just really think I should come home. I don’t belong here at all, he has some other kid he’s mentoring now and he just doesn’t need me here anymore. I didn’t mean to upset the other kid I just- I don’t know. I don’t know what I should do” Harley rambled. He knew he shouldn’t have. That he should have said something short- or better yet, never called at all. He didn’t know what this was accomplishing, but something in his heart was determined to reach out blindly for comfort that had long been gone.
He heard a sigh from the other side of the phone. “Harley-” It was cut off. The silence resumed. “I don’t know where I went wrong with you.”
Harley’s heart sank. The sudden wave of regret crashed onto him with a force, and he wanted to bury himself in the ground beneath him. He felt so, so stupid.
“You create these problems for yourself, baby. I thought it was just a long boyish phase of recklessness but I’m beginning to think it’s just who you are. Comes from your father, I’ll tell you that. I wouldn’t have given you something so embarrassing.” There was a tsk from the other side of the phone. “I can’t fix your problems for you. You can’t call me in the middle of the night and wake me and Bill up with your whinin’. It’s pathetic. You ain’t a kid anymore, you need’ta stop actin’ like it.”
“I’m sorry” Harley choked out. “I’ll try to be better.” He whispered, his throat feeling red and tight as he fought back the tears.
“Apologies don’t fix nothin’. I was looking forward to a summer away from all of your mess Harley. Bill was looking forward to it. Don’t ruin this by coming home and leaving a mess behind. You better fix things with Tony and stay this summer. If I have to start paying our house bills again due to your bullshit I will tear you a new one.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Harley got out. The line went dead.
Harley choked back sobs, the back of his hand pressed firmly against his mouth as broken sounds tore into the night. Time passed and suddenly there was a gentle thwip followed by two red spandexed feet appearing in his vision. He looked up to see that the two feet were indeed attached to the famous web-slinging superhero. His mood sat stalled as he saw the usually shiny suit now tattered, dirty, and ripped in multiple places. He knew that some fight must have gone down, and probably left some pretty gnarly bruises on the guy underneath.
“You okay?”
“I feel like I should be asking you that question”
Spiderman huffed. “All in a day’s work. It’s not like I can carry around a shield with me.” There was a hint of bitterness in his words, but Harley was too tired to try and pull the story. Exhaustion always wins over curiosity, despite how hard it fights for relevance.
Spiderman then moved to sit down beside Harley, his movement controlled despite the way the preference to his left side and the slight groan betrayed his health. “People say I’m a good confidant. Maybe talking about your issues will help. At least you’ll get it off your chest.”
“You good at advice, Spidey?”
Spidey’s mask squinted slightly, as if he was thinking. Harley marveled at how expressive it was.
“Not really, but I have great ears.”
Harley sniffed, looking down at his hands. “My mom hates me.”
Spidey’s eyes blew wide for a second before recovering. “I’m sure that’s not true.”
“It is. I make things harder for her. In fact, I make things harder for everyone. I’m reckless and stupid, and I can’t keep my mouth shut. I get into fights all the time. She had to deal with that growing up. My dad left me when I was 10 and I know that was because of me too. Because I am just. Impossible. Now I can’t go a day without pissing off my mom’s newest boyfriend, which stresses out my mom. My sister and I barely talk anymore because I couldn’t keep my mouth shut and head down and it made the house more of a hell scape for her seeing me get beat up every damn day. And now-”
Harley had to stop. Somewhere in his spill he had started crying again and he could barely breathe. Spidey didn’t say anything, and Harley couldn’t bring himself to look up. He waited silently while Harley got a hold of his breath and Harley didn’t know if he was grateful or not for that silence.
“And now I’m here staying with the only person that I have left and I made him hate me too. It’s all because he has this new mentee who is his pride and joy and he’s completely replaced me. And I know that I should have just, taken it, and stepped back, and been happy with getting an occasional call and a letter of recommendation to MIT now that he’s done with me but I got so angry and I fucked it up.”
“You feel like you were replaced? By this other kid.”
“I was. We- we had this project that I came up with. It was this nano-tech shield I thought up the last day I was here last winter. Tony promised we would work on it next summer when I came back. We spent half a year talking about it, making plans, building the idea up. Then I came here and he wasn’t waiting for me at the doors like he usually does, he had forgotten I was even coming. And he was working on our project with the new mentee. And when I tried to work on it by myself I offended the other kid and he yelled at me.”
Harley looked at Spidey, who seemed a little tense. Harley felt a wave of embarrassment wash over him. “I’m sorry for laying all of that on ‘ya. You can just forget about it.” Harley started to get up to leave, when Spidey quickly reached out and grabbed his wrist. Harley flinched and Peter carefully loosened his grip. His sleeve had moved up enough to show the healing bruises. To Spiderman’s credit, he recovered quickly from the brief pause to stare at them.
“No! No, I just wasn’t expecting that. Look, I’m sure that your mentor doesn’t hate you. You should talk to him about how you’ve been feeling. And…and maybe what has been going on at home. Also, I don’t know what the other mentee knows but maybe if you explain to him about the project he will understand what it means to you and back off.”
Harley huffed. “Maybe.” He then eyed the rips in Spidey’s outfit. “Maybe you could use a shield.”
“Huh?”
“That’s what I was building. A nanotech shield that responds to incoming projectiles. It could work as an extra barrier for your suit. At least against bullets and knives. Brute force might not do much unless I play with the force barrier, but that might mess with your hits as well, unless we can centralize the levels- I’ll talk to Tony and the other kid. They might be willing to make you a version.”
“You don’t have to do that.” The hero looked away, rubbing his arm awkwardly.
Harley shrugs. “I didn’t really have a purpose for it anyway. Besides, it’s not really mine anymore. I’ll ask though. If anyone deserves to have it, it’s you.”
Spiderman paused. “Thanks man” He responded so genuinely it almost made Harley forget about his issues. “I should probably walk you back home though, this is not really a safe place to be at night, and I have other therapy appointments and cats to rescue.”
A small smile forms on Harley’s face at the joke. “Yeah, okay.” He wipes his eyes and gets off the floor, allowing the superhero to walk him home.
*<*<*<*<*<*<*<*<*<*
Harley considered falling asleep, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to until he put this issue to rest. That is how he found himself working throughout the night to fix the broken project back to the way it was when he first arrived. It wasn’t an easy fix. The first rays of sun were peaking around the buildings outside when he was soldering on the last touches. Tony walked in the lab with a steaming cup of coffee and his own huge bags under his eyes. He paused when he saw Harley.
“I’m just fixing it. It will be back to where you guys had it and then y’all can take it from there. I’ll…find something else to do. If I'm allowed.”
Tony pursed his lips together, staring at the project in Harley’s hands. Harley pushed it over. Tony looked back up at Harley.
“Did you sleep at all?”
Harley shook his head, and Tony rubbed his. “Go get some sleep, kid. At least an hour and then some breakfast. We both have apologies to make but I need you to take care of yourself first.”
Harley nodded, pulling himself up, feeling the weight of everything crushing on him.
As he was leaving, he turned back around. “Hey, Tony?”
“Yeah, spud?”
“I know it’s not really my place anymore but- could you give the project to Spiderman when it’s done? Obviously you’ll have to ask Peter but… he could really use it. It could really help him.”
A look crossed Tony’s face that Harley couldn’t decipher. He figured his exhaustion had really started to blur his perception of reality, because he thought he saw the older man stifle a laugh.
“I’ll talk to Pete. Get some rest, spud.”
*<*<*<*<*<*<*<*<*<*
Harley slept for three hours before he rose and made his way to the kitchen. He made himself a massive meal of eggs, bacon, and fruit he found in the fridge, snacking as he did to try and curb his hunger while it cooked.
Tony walked in the kitchen as he was finishing up the bacon, quietly preparing them coffee. The silence set Harley on edge, digging under his skin as he tried to focus on the sizzling bacon.
“I wanted to talk to you before we go down to the lab.” Tony broke the fragile silence.
Harley nodded, feeling trepidation settle in his bones. Tony settled on a stool, waiting patiently as Harley plated his food and sat down beside him. He didn’t eat. He sat there, mulling over the apology he knew he needed to give. How was he supposed to start-?
“I’m sorry.” Tony cut through his thoughts. Harley’s head shot up, confusion slowly blooming across his open mouth and scrunched eyebrows. “That project was yours, and I handed it to Peter without thinking. Pete… he got so excited when I told him about it. How it would help SpiderMan. He started rambling about what uses it would have that I didn’t think twice about working on it. I should have told you, made the kid wait until you got here, but I didn’t. I’m sorry. That was on me, not Peter. He didn’t know. And for all intents and purposes, the kid feels awful about it.” Harley opened his mouth to respond, but Tony was quicker. “That being said, what happens next is your decision. If you want to work on it yourself, if you want it to just be us, if you want Peter to join, if you want to give it to Spiderman, to the Avengers, keep it for yourself, send it to Timbuktu. It’s yours, so we will do whatever you want.”
Harley paused, emotions swelling. He swallowed. “I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have acted the way I did. Yelled at you and Peter.”
Tony nodded. “No. But it’s all behind us now.” Tony picked a piece of bacon off of Harley’s plate.
Harley smiled, not bothering to swat his hand away. “Thanks, Mechanic. I guess I should apologize to Peter before we start working on the project.”
Tony had leaned backward on the counter, relaxed in a self-important way that Harley was comfortably familiar with when it came to his mentor. He watched as Tony side-glanced him with amusement sparkling in his eyes. “How many times do you have to apologize to the kid?”
Harley scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. “What?”
“You did last night, right? That’s why you want the project for Spiderman?”
Harley blinked, mind whirring. Why would Tony think him wanting the project for Spiderman mean he talked to Peter? Why would Peter be so excited to make something for Spiderman? Harley’s brain flashed with Peter’s uncanny strength and his unexplained mentorship with Tony. His mouth opened. Tony put his face in his hands.
“Peter is Spiderman?” It came out as more of a statement then a question as Harley’s mind continued to whirl.
Tony rubbed his face. “...Would you believe me if I said no?”
“Not at all.”
“Friday, call Peter up here, please.” Tony sighed, pulling himself together.
“Right away boss.” FRIDAYS voice cut through the space.
It took a few minutes before Peter was walking into the kitchen. Harley couldn’t take his eyes off the un-masked hero. Suddenly his amazement gave way to embarrassment. He had spent the last night unloading everything about his life to the other, unknowingly complaining about a guy to the guy he was complaining about. Peter must have sensed the tension, because he became suspicious, slowing his walk and looking between the two.
“What happened?”
“Kid-” Tony started, but Harley cut him off.
‘You’re Spiderman.” Peter’s eyes grew wide, glancing at Tony before awkwardly laughing.
“What? No I’m not-I”
“You’re a terrible liar.” Harley groaned. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know it was you last night.”
Tony looked between them. “You talked to Spiderman last night? Not Peter?”
Harley looked at Tony in disbelief. How was he not understanding how embarrassing this was for him? At the same time he spoke, Peter spoke with him, his brain seemingly short-circuiting just as much as Harley’s.
“Same person, that’s the issue.”
“No he was in an alleyway on 86th”
Tony’s eyebrows shot up. “You were.” Tony paused. “Please don’t tell me you left the tower in the middle of the night and skipped down dark alleyways.”
Harley pouted “I didn’t skip down dark alleyways. I sat in one alleyway. That I carefully picked out”
Tony looked like he was about to have a heart attack. “That’s not safe. Pepper’s gonna kill me. Your mother’s gonna kill me. What if you got hurt?”
He felt Peter look at him and he turned to meet Peter’s gaze. He shook his head and Peter pouted. Harley tilted his head in a plea- or a threat- he wasn’t sure over the anxiety taking over his body.
“He was upset. I was there, it’s okay.” Peter spoke up.
“It’s okay? Did you get hurt? Friday, run a diagnostic.”
“Friday, stop!” Harley shouted quickly. “Tony, I’m fine. I didn’t even really see anyone other than Spi- Peter.”
Tony paused, suspicion growing. He glanced at Peter who was looking down. It was obvious he wasn’t saying something and Harley groaned inwardly. Peter was a terrible liar. How was he Spiderman with this kind of pokerface?
“What aren’t you telling me?” He glanced between the two.
“Nothing” Harley cut in. Tony was staring at Peter expectantly, who was looking at the counter with the same sheepish energy he had earlier.
“Pete-”
“Don’t ask me. It’s not my business. My Spidey talks are private you know that Mr. Stark, HIPAA violations are very serious.” Peter rambles out.
Tony turned to Harley. “Are you hurt?”
“No.” Harley with all the conviction that he could. He wasn’t sure it was super convincing anyway. Tony turned to Peter. “Is he hurt?”
Peter hesitated. Tony took that as his answer. “Friday. Diagnostic.” He said again before pulling Harley’s arms forward to roll up his sleeves.
“Multiple healing bruises over his arms and abdomen, sir. No other injuries found.”
Tony had his bruises on display as he was looking at them with a concern that made a lump form in Harley’s throat.
“These aren’t fresh.” Tony mumbled, a thought to himself more than a statement to the other two in the room. “Are you getting into fights again?”
Harley’s lump somehow got bigger at the easy out he was given. He knew he should feel grateful but the idea that he could easily wiggle out of this situation filled him with a sick sort of grief. It took him back to dark sleepless nights where he imagined Tony’s reaction if he had ever told him. He had played and replayed multiple scenes of Tony reacting every way possible over and over in his mind. He came so close to actually telling Tony so many times and he chickened at each one. He dealt with shame and disappointment and regret after each one too. He tried to respond with an affirmative. Lean into the easy lie, but all that came out was a choked sob. Tony looked up and his concern turned into fear.
“Kid?” Tony grabbed his face, cupping his cheeks. “Kid, what’s going on?”
Harley just continued to cry and Tony brought Harley to his chest. He felt Tony look over at Peter, but didn’t hear any words. Something in him knew Peter wouldn’t say anything. That knowledge made a wave of security bloom deep within him. He leaned further into Tony’s warmth, letting himself cry as Tony rubbed comforting motions across his back.
When Harley calmed down, he leaned back, and Tony immediately got up, quietly dragging him over to the couches. Harley hadn’t even sat down fully when he began spilling everything that had been building up for years. It was like a dam had broken and he couldn’t keep it all from spilling out- the insecurity, the pain, the loneliness- everything that had weighed on him, every scar that he had accumulated. He highlighted over and over how much it meant to him to be here. He needed Tony to understand that. He needed Tony to know how grateful he was. Tony listened quietly, his face pinched and pained.
When Harley finished, satisfied that everything was out in the open, Tony nodded once. “You aren’t going back there.” He said, a quiet statement.
“What?” Harley paused.
“You are staying here. If you think I’m going to let you go back there you’re wrong. They will not lay another hand on you.”
“I- It’s okay Tony, I don’t want to be a burden. I can handle my mom and some lousy boyfriends-”
“Kid.” Tony interrupted, his voice soft but firm. “You are never a burden. I love having you here. Pepper loves having you here. I’m sorry I didn’t notice what was happening, but I’m going to fix it now.”
Harley opened and closed his mouth, not sure how to respond. A thousand emotions flooded back into his system until he was weakly nodding, new tears finding their way down his cheeks. Harley leaned toward the older man and he closed the motion, wrapping Harley in an embrace that gently breathed safety into Harley’s bones.
Eventually, he felt Tony’s chest rumble as he spoke. “Would you like to rest now or get your mind off of-?”
“Mind off, please,” Harley cut in, pulling himself out of the embrace. He sniffled, wiping his eyes as his lips formed a sly smile “I want to work on that damn project.”
Tony huffed a laugh. “Alright kid. Do you want me there?”
“Yeah.” He looked over at Peter with a small smile, who was sitting on the chair in the corner. “All of us. Spidey needs to tell us what would help him best.”
Peter smiled back at him, perking up in excitement. Harley got up on shaky legs and Tony wrapped an arm around his shoulders, leading all three of them to the lab.