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There was a terrible accident, and Tony was the first to find out. This time, it wasn't Stephen or Peter who were the victims, but rather Harley. Or his mom and sister to be more specific. Harley was running errands for his mother, but when he got back to the house...it was up in flames. What was left of his family was taken by the inferno and after he got over his initial shock, he recovered just enough to call Tony. As soon as the engineer told him he would be there in a couple of hours, Harley had closed up again. He didn't say a word when Tony arrived, and the engineer kept one eye on him while he took care of what he needed to so he could take Harley with him back to New York.
As soon as they was taken care of and they took Tony's jet back to New York, Stephen silently showed Harley to the guest room (which would eventually become his) and told him to get some rest. The teen said nothing until the next morning when the sorcerer took food up to his room since he didn't join them for dinner the night before. Harley was hurting but he still needed to eat.
"Here. Try to eat something." Stephen says softly and sets the plate of food on the bare desk.
Harley looks between Stephen and breakfast for a few moments before deciding to crawl out of bed to sit at the desk and eat. His stomach growled loudly and he really was hungry, but he didn't have much of an appetite so that made it hard to eat. He did anyway, and then stopped halfway through to hang his head.
"...I didn't know who else to call." The teen whispers.
"You did the right thing."
Stephen had to keep himself from reaching out to thread his fingers through brown hair. This was not Peter, it was Harley, and he wasn't sure if the motion would be appreciated. For now, he would just have to give the boy his space. If Harley needed physical comfort, he would come to them. Tony, really. Stephen and Harley still weren't very close. The only reason he was checking on him in the first place was because Tony was in a meeting with his lawyers about getting permanent guardianship over Harley...at the very least. Like with Peter, it was Harley's decision if he wanted to take that extra step and let Tony adopt him.
Stephen also couldn't ignore his maternal instinct that Peter had drilled into him. A child was hurting, hungry, and locked himself away in his grief. Mama Bear surfaced. He wasn't the only one worried either. Tony was worried, and even Peter kept glancing up at the bedroom with apprehension. He understood and probably wanted to help, but like Stephen, didn't know if it would be welcome. Tony would probably be the only one who could do something.
When Harley puts his fork down for the final time, Stephen takes the plate, glad to see it almost empty. "If you need anything just ask."
"...thanks." Harley says quietly as he returns to bed.
Stephen frowns as soon as he leaves the bedroom and the door closes behind him. It would be best to let him be until Tony got home. He was Harley's father figure. Stephen was just Tony's husband. At least Harley spoke to him though. What he said made Stephen think that the teen maybe felt a little bad that he called the engineer. That he had barged in on their lives when that wasn't the case at all. Harley needed help and they were all more than willing to give it. Peter wasn't jealous of him anymore and wouldn't mind sharing Mama Bear because he knew that was what Harley needed right now but was too stubborn to accept.
"You're not staying with him?" Peter asks when the sorcerer returns down to the kitchen to deposit the plate in the sink.
"He's not like you cub."
The vigilante pokes at his own eggs with his fork with a thoughtful gaze. "Maybe...but I know how he feels. The last thing I wanted was to be alone. You weren't Aunt May or my mom..." Stephen flinches minutely at that. "...but when you hugged me...I felt safe. I wasn't so worried and I definitely didn't feel alone. I always felt empty and the world was way too big for me until either you or Dad sat with me." Peter looks back up at him. "I'm just trying to say that just sitting with him might help. I know Harley is stubborn and it probably took a lot for him just to call Dad for help...but right now, I think he needs a Mama Bear."
Stephen chuckles and smiles softly at Peter. He had some good points, and the worst Harley could do was ask the sorcerer to leave. So after he washes the dishes, he gently kisses the top of Peter's head on his way back up to Harley's bedroom where he gently raps on the door with his knuckles. Predictably, no answer came, and the sorcerer slowly lets himself back into the bedroom and closes the door. Harley didn't move when Stephen sat on the empty side of the bed, but the doctor knew he wasn't asleep. The teen was either ignoring him or trying to figure out what the man was doing.
Stephen stretches his legs out with his back against the headboard and turns the TV on before throwing caution to the wind and setting his hand on Harley's head. It only took a few moments of brushing his fingers through the teen's hair to break Harley. Quiet sobs escape the teen, and Stephen almost jumps when the boy turns to press his face into the sorcerer's thigh. Peter was right. Harley needed company but was too stubborn to ask for it. It gave quite a bit of insight on how to deal with him in the future.
The crying eventually tapered away to sniffles, and then stopped completely after about half an hour. When Stephen looked down, he found Harley had fallen asleep. He was glad. FRIDAY had told him and Tony that the teen hadn't slept at all the previous evening and that was when they decided it was best to have Stephen try to get him to eat while Tony took care of the custody situation. Harley ate breakfast, and now he was sleeping. There was no doubt in the doctor's mind that the boy wouldn't speak of this moment or even come to him for comfort in the future, but at least Stephen knew what was really going on in Harley's head.
All thanks to Peter of course.
The next couple of hours pass quietly, and the only interruption was when Tony got home and came to check on Harley. When he found him curled into Stephen's leg though, he was openly surprised. The surprise quickly turned into a look that said 'of fucking course' as the engineer rounds the bed to Stephen's side and leans down to kiss him.
"How long has he been asleep?" Tony whispers after he pulls away and sits on the side of the bed.
"Only about two hours." Stephen gently weaves his fingers through brown hair again, a motion he had been absently doing all this time. "How did it go with the lawyers?"
Tony sighs and pulls his sunglasses off to rub his eyes. "Good. It apparently helped that we already have Peter so child services was more lenient about giving us custody. So Harley is ours now."
"...what about his father?"
The engineer scowls. "In the million in one chance that he decides to try and slither back into Harley's life, he'll only be taking the kid from my cold, dead fingers."
"What if Harley wants to go with him?" Stephen asks softly and Tony clenches his teeth.
"It's not going to happen so can we please stop talking about this? Stay with him and I'll go check on Underoos."
Stephen nods and Tony gets up and leaves the room quietly, leaving his husband to his tv show. He wasn't really watching anything. The tv was mainly on for noise and the periodic need for entertainment. Another couple of hours passed like before, and by the time lunchtime rolled around, Harley woke up from his much needed nap. He didn't say anything though. He just turned his attention to the television and enjoyed the hand in his hair.
"It's about lunchtime now." Stephen states quietly. "Do you want to come downstairs with me or do you want me to bring you something?"
Harley's response surprised Stephen. "I...I'll come down."
"Alright. Take your time."
Once Harley moves away from his leg, Stephen gets up and leaves the bedroom, and joins Tony and Peter down in the kitchen. The engineer was currently frying up some bacon, and Peter was stuffing his face with a BLT. He wouldn't have been surprised if it was the vigilante's second one.
"How many sandwiches do you and Spud want?"
Both Stephen and Peter guffaw at the nickname, but the teen chokes on his sandwich momentarily. "Th-that's awful Dad."
Tony ignores him and looks at his husband expectantly. "One...two? Four?"
"Harley is coming down this time." Stephen says with a shake of his head. "Only one for me."
Tony nods and Stephen makes his sandwich once the bacon is finished, and sits at the table with a crossword puzzle he grabs from the junk drawer. Harley came down a few minutes later, his eyes looking a little less red, and asks Tony for two sandwiches. Both men were happy to see that he was willing to eat, and that he even sat at the table with Stephen. Peter had a bad habit of standing at the island to eat, but he and Tony joined the other two at the table and they all ate in comfortable silence with their respective separate entertainment. Stephen with his crosswords, Tony with his tablet, and Peter with his phone. Harley didn't seem to want anything but his food and that was just fine. The fact that he was down here with them instead of hiding in his room was progress.
Stephen wondered if it had anything to do with him. Maybe Peter was right and Harley just needed a reminder that he wasn't alone.
"Hey Spudicus." Tony starts and Harley grimaces at the nickname. "How about some lab time? Just the two of us."
The older teen looks up at the engineer. "...really?"
"Yup. Something I gotta talk to you about anyway." Stephen kicks Tony's shins under the table in warning when Harley frowns and Tony hides a wince. "Nothing bad. More of a...confirmation."
"Okay." Harley says after some hesitancy.
Tony nods and the four of them finish their lunch before he and Harley make their way down to the lab, and Stephen stays with Peter for the rest of the day. Come to find out, taking the other teen down to the lab had been Peter's idea. It was a way to keep his mind off the tragedy, he had said, and it was working. Stephen made a mental note to go to Peter if he felt like he was hitting a wall with Harley. The younger teen obviously knew what he needed even if Harley was being stubborn about it.
Pride. Stubborn's mistress.
It was later that night when Peter and Harley had already gone to bed and Stephen and Tony were getting ready themselves, when the billionaire told the sorcerer what he had talked to Harley about. The custody.
"He took it pretty well."
"You didn't bring up adoption did you?" Stephen asks warily as he slips under the covers.
Tony pulls off his shirt and throws it in the direction of the hamper, missing spectacularly and making Stephen roll his eyes. He would be the one picking that up later. "No. I wasn't going to either, but Harley did so we ended up having that conversation."
"And?"
"I told him we just have permanent guardianship of him. If he wants to take that step, he just needs to say so but I made it clear that it was his choice." The engineer crawls into bed and lays on his stomach with an audible 'thwump'. "He took that pretty well too."
"Well now we can focus on getting him comfortable. We'll need to enroll him in school once he's had time to grieve too." Stephen replies tiredly as he snuggles into his husband's side.
Tony turns to pulls the doctor into his arms. "I mentioned Peter's school and he was okay with it. That way he'll at least know one person and he's smart enough for it."
"Mmm..."
Tony smiles and kisses Stephen's forehead. "Thanks for everything babe. I know I kind of just brought him without talking to you."
"If I minded I would have said something."
"The fact that you don't is one of the reasons I love you."
"Go to sleep Tony." The sorcerer mumbles tiredly. "You're turning into a sap." Tony chuckles in response before settling and closing his eyes, and Stephen presses his face into his neck. "I love you too."