Work Text:
There’s a dark haired boy with red rimmed eyes sitting on the porch fiddling with a pink band around his wrist. He glances around the garden before hunching back into himself, eyes cast downward.
Peter takes a hesitant seat beside him, hands set on his knees as he tries to come up with something to say. He looks out at the water lapping at the dock, strong trees surrounding the lake. He wonders how this boy knew Mr. Stark. Was he an intern? Someone he saved? He can’t dig out an offer of condolences, but his heart aches to ease their shared grief.
Thankfully he doesn’t have to because Morgan is there, her hair falling out of it’s braid, dress wrinkled, and brown eyes bright as she throws her arms around the boy beside him with a squealed, “Harley!”
“Hey kiddo,” the boy, Harley, shifts to let Morgan onto his lap. There’s a small smile on his face as he slides an arm around her waist to keep her in place. “I have something special for you.”
He unclasps the watch on his wrist, slipping it off to show it to her. Peter catches a glance at Dora the Explorer on the face of the watch, his brows furrowing.
Morgan’s eyes are wide as she takes in the gift, running her fingers over it reverently. “Thank you!”
Harley carefully secures it to her wrist before shooting her a grin. “You gonna go show it off?”
Morgan nods before bouncing away, her hair flowing behind her as she skips off to go show her watch to Pepper and Happy. They both praise its beauty before shooting Harley matching sad smiles.
“That’s a nice watch.” Peter remarks watching Morgan across the grass. She’s tugging on Rhodes’ pants to show him the watch too and he picks her up to sit on his hip as he examines it, nodding his head in approval.
“It was my sister’s.” Harley scrubs his neck with his hand. Peter politely doesn’t point out the endearing streak of motor oil he’s left behind. “I let Tony borrow it, and I don’t know what happened, but the one he gave me back wasn’t the one I gave him.”
Peter cocks an eyebrow at him trying to picture Tony wearing a pink Dora watch. He’s detecting a bit of a southern accent to Harley’s voice that sets his nerves on fire as he watches him look out across the lake. “How did you know?”
“My sister writes her name on everything,” Harley explains looking at Peter for the first time. His eyes are an incredible shade of brown, warm coffee and melted chocolate framed by thick lashes. “Tony didn’t say anything, so neither did I. Anyway, my sister has grown out of it now and that damn thing is still working, so Morgan might as well get some use out of it.”
Peter nods in understanding. Mr. Stark probably fixed it up a bit. Modified it like he does everything and made it last a lifetime. That’s what he always seemed to be doing, creating lasting legacies.
“Scoot over,” Rhodes walks by interrupting Peter’s thoughts as he stands at the foot of the steps. Peter presses closer to Harley to allow him to get up the stairs and across the porch with Morgan chanting for juice pops in his arms. When Peter moves away, he stays close enough that he can still feel the warmth of Harley’s skin through their suit jackets.
“My name is Peter,” he offers, sticking out his hand. Harley shoots him a crooked smile before accepting the handshake, seemingly unconcerned at the sudden lack of appropriate space between them.
“Spider-Man right?” Harley cocks a brow before giving in and laughing as Peter splutters beside him. “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”
Peter relaxes beside him and they settle into a comfortable silence.
“Do you guys want food?” Morgan asks from behind them. They turn as one, but she’s already heading back inside, clearly expecting them to follow.
Peter gets to his feet, quickly scrambling after her, hearing Harley behind him doing the same. Inside the house is a lot more quiet and Peter glances out the window at everyone spread out across the front lawn. He carefully avoids looking at the framed pictures on the shelf in the kitchen.
He’s about to open the fridge when he stops, pauses at the pictures stuck to the front with multi coloured magnets. Under a magnet shaped like Tennessee there’s a picture of a little boy, maybe thirteen? At a science fair, proudly showing off some kind of weapon. He points at the kid before turning to Harley who’s sitting Morgan up on the counter.
“Is this you?”
Harley’s head turns, gaze zeroing in on the picture. His confusion softens and his face crumples, eyes filling with tears. His voice breaks on a meek “yeah.”
Morgan’s brow furrows, confused, as she slides her arms around Harley in a hug. He pats her back, scrubbing at his face with his other hand.
Peter doesn’t hesitate to step up behind him and hug him and Morgan too. He presses his face between Harley’s shoulder blades. Tries not to think about how he felt when he first saw the framed picture of him and Tony. He squeezes his eyes shut, inhaling.
Harley smells so familiar, like leather and grease and Peter tries not to think about how he’s a probably a mechanic just like Mr. Stark. His hands are shaking and Peter steadies them with his own, lacing their fingers together.
“Are you okay?” Morgan asks when Harley finally lets go and Peter steps away. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing princess,” Harley murmurs looking over her head at the picture on the fridge. He closes his eyes taking a deep breath to compose himself before pressing a kiss to her hair. Their hands are still joined and Peter feels warmth radiating from his fingers. Harley cracks a watery smile. “I’ll be okay.”