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Harley sat down on his couch wishing he still had a room. Or even the garage to hide away from Eli. Eli, his mother’s newest escapade that has lasted longer than Harley and his sister Haylee had hypothesized. The marriage between his mother, Chiara, and Eli had been torture for the genius boy. The other male has seemingly made it his mission to make Harley’s life a living nightmare. And as much as Harley would hate to admit it, Eli is doing a pretty good job since he couldn't even enjoy school anymore as a pressure free environment ever since Eli had decided he would be homeschooled because there is no school in the area could possibly benefit the child genius. Sadly, Harley’s other had readily agreed stating she had been thinking about that for quite a while.
“Harley get your ass over here,” a voice yells, as Harley reenters the house. It was his job to make dinner for himself, his sister, his mom, and his mom’s newest boytoy. It had been a month since the last guy and about three days since the new guy, Ian? Wait, no, Eli had moved in with the family. Harley couldn’t help, but grimpse as he walked closer and saw the only other occupant in the house holding up his report card. Ever since the man had moved into the house he was trying to become a father figure to Harley, and Chiara had told Harley to let him. Despite the fact that Harley already has a father figure in Tony Stark and of course a motherly figure in Virginia Potts. “I know you came in the fucking house get in the fucking living room right now.”
“Can you not curse so much?” Harley asked meekly, approaching the six-foot man that towered over his thirteen-year-old form. The man merely sneers at the boy, picking up that semester’s report card. Harley tries not to flinch as the man throws his hand, and the report down to the table. The sound resonating throughout the empty kitchen. Despite being slightly terrified of the man, Harley does not want to step back and let himself be bullied. Instead he squares his shoulders and meets the other man’s cold hazel eyes.
“What the fuck is this?” The greasy brown-haired man questions calmly. The voice was nearly too calm especially because of the steel and icy edge the man had to his voice as he spoke to the ten-year-old boy in front of him. Tensing, Harley moves to take a step back. His flight or fight instincts coming to the surface. Yet, rather than back down the boy decides not to let Eli push him around.
“Um. It’s called a report card I know you must not have known because you didn’t go to school, but it tells the grades I got this semester,” Harley says looking up at the man with big brown eyes. The man chuckles a bit then raises his hand. The teen realizes too late what is happening and receives a smack to the face.
“I know what a report card is dumbass” Eli says, moving into Harley’s personal space. Harley will always ask himself one question. What would have happened if I had just kept my mouth shut?
Life continued on despite Harley wishing it wouldn’t. Along with that first shitty report card came his first beating. Then his room was taken away, since he apparently spent too much time there. Soon Harley had begun to live on the couch in the living room with no privacy. His old room became storage for Eli to put all his trash in. At first Harley had been okay with his things being taken away because at least he wasn’t being beaten anymore. However, now he has nothing left to give. If Harley gets anything less than a hundred on any assignment he gets a beating, sass equals beating, any attitude is the equivalent to a beating. It was almost as if Eli was beating Harley’s entire being out of existence little by little he lost every part of himself. It did not help that being in a constant state of pain had altered his grades negatively. Harley has thought about calling Tony, but ever since that kid Peter Parker came around Tony started to ignore him. Although Harley was nearly positive that his father figure was not doing it on purpose it still hurt him enough that he did not want to reach out to the man for comfort for fear that he would be rejected.
“Harley!” a voice yells, the voice Harley has come to dread hearing daily. Footsteps can be heard coming from down the hallway. Hurriedly, Harley stands wincing in pain when he puts pressure on his left leg specifically. Harley briefly entertains the thought of having a broken leg before pushing the thought away as Eli comes barreling into the living room where he had been doing his homework. “You got a 90 on a homework assignment! How could you! I thought you were some great genius from how often your mother talks about you! Might as well kick you out and leave her!”
Eli kicks Harley’s previously injured leg as he yells. The force of the action sends the teen crashing to the floor. Unfortunately for Harley beside him lay an already broken coffee table that Eli had broken during one of his many rampages. As the young adult fell to the floor his head hit the head of the coffee table with enough force to break the skin drawing blood.
“Harley, I am contacting Mr. Stark,” Friday speaks, from where she is hidden inside a tiny robot figurine. Eli had finished torturing Harley for now, leaving the boy on the floor in pain with nothing to help numb it. The robot was the last of his possessions, he had only managed to keep it when he managed to convince Eli was the last gift he ever received from his grandparents. Before they tragically died in a car accident. Little does Eli know, Harley’s grandparents had died years before he was even conceived. The tragic accident he had used was the one of the Stark’s.
“NO! Not Tony, he doesn’t care don’t bother!” Harley whisper yells before losing consciousness. Friday secretly alerts Pepper giving explicit instructions not to tell Tony.
“Harley! Oh my god, baby why didn’t you tell us,” Pepper shouts in disbelief as she hurries across the room towards the boy she came to love as her own son. “Friday, when was the last time he was conscious?”
“Since before I contacted you, Miss Potts,” Friday informs as Pepper inhales sharply cursing the boy in her head. He was all bloody and there was no one in the house but them. Pepper vaguely remembers the boy telling her his mother and sister were going on a cruise for two weeks while he stayed back with Eli. The three meaning Tony, Harley and Pepper would have weekly phone calls at least, but Tony had missed last weeks something about Peter.
“What are you doing here?” A man asked with greasy brown hair and dark green eyes, who looked incredibly athletic with the same body type as Clint’s but a bit taller. The man menacingly approached the two as Pepper was still frantically searched for a pulse that she could barely feel. The man didn’t get another word in when suddenly James was behind the man quickly knocking him out with one of Harley’s text books.
“James, please. I can barely feel a pulse we have to get him back to the labs and fast,” Rhodey rushed over sensing Pepper’s panic as tears started to fall from her eyes as Rhodey lifted the lifeless looking body from the ground.
Helen Cho was awaiting their arrival in the helicopter when it landed under orders to not tell Tony of this development, everyone followed Harley’s request understanding. They had all realized how much it hurt the boy when his only father figure pushed him away for someone else just as his real father had done.
“Hook him up to the monitors!” Helen yells as they arrive to her medical lab on the third floor. “Pepper you can stay, but if we need you to move you need to move or else you will be taken from the room.”
Pepper chokes on a sob bring her hand up to her mouth grabbing Harley’s hand. Helen watches the interaction for a moment before smiling sadly and beginning to order around the nurses and fellow doctors. Harley groans in pain when Helen feels around his chest and orders an IV with heroin in it to ease the pain. Harley begins coughing and blood comes out of his mouth which causes Pepper to cry out in shock as he continues to cough.
“Put him to his side and put him under he is bleeding internally,”
“Mama,” Harley speaks clearly in pain. Pepper lightly squeezed his hand. Despite living with his mother, her being absent most of the time pushed her away so much that Harley doesn’t feel comfortable calling her mom from the absence and the pain she has cause him. When Pepper first met him when he was nine he shyly asked if he could call her mama cause she was the closest thing he had to a mom. Pepper had of course agreed. Harley only ever called Tony, dad when he did something bad or was in trouble.
“I’m here baby don’t worry I’ll fix this,” Pepper speaks as he goes under. Pepper sits to the side while the work on her boy. Feeling utterly helpless at the amount of help she can provide. Especially when his heart gave out and they barely got him back. His heartbeat was still weak even now an hour after the surgery.
“Pepper, Tones is looking for you wondering where you’ve been this whole time. Don’t worry I didn’t tell him,” Rhodey says as he walks into the room where Pepper sat holding the small teens hand in one hand while the other held a pen as she looked down at the proposal seated in her lap. Her strawberry blonde hair sat in a bun with some of her hair falling out, reading glasses sat on her face and an old sweatshirt of hers from her high school named after the third president of the united states. “When are you going to tell him?”
“I will tell him when he asks about Harley. Ever since peter came along Tony has been ignoring Harley’s very existence and it really isn’t fair to him. I will go when Harley wakes up. I don’t want to leave him alone,” Pepper explains. Rhodey shakes his head. Neither him nor Pepper mind him being distracted by the new kid hero, but it has gotten a tad bit ridiculous.
“I will stay with Harley. Go before Tony comes looking for you and accidentally stumbles upon this,” Pepper nods wiping at her eyes which were rimmed red. Silently telling herself to keep it together and to remember to contact the lawyers to get Harley out of his home.
“Pepper! I tried calling Harley just now and he isn’t responding. Have you talked to him today?” Tony says walking into Pepper's office in the penthouse. Pepper looks up at Tony raising an eyebrow. It had been two weeks since the incident and though Harley was awake he was confined to bed currently due to a dislocated shoulder, knee cap, sprained ankle, concussion, and multiple sprained or broken ribs as well as tendons.
“Tony, it has been nearly a month since you talked to him. Why do you want to talk to him now?” Pepper asks suspiciously. He hadn’t mentioned Harley at all so neither has she and the boy has been in his room in the penthouse for the last two weeks.
“Well Pet-“
“Enough with Peter! I like the kid too, but this has to stop. Harley almost died and he didn’t want to call you because he was too worried you would get upset from losing time with your new son!” Pepper yells at Tony as the man is left flabbergasted at the outburst. What did she mean nearly died? Pepper stormed from the room halting as she came outside if Harley’s room and taking a deep breath. Tomy follows silently at a distance. Wondering what she had meant. His heart stops as he takes in the sight of his son wrapped nearly from head to toe in bandages and casts.
“Harley?” Tony whispers in shock barely registering the soft flinch before the boy buried himself into Peppers side. He was mumbling something into her side and the love of Tonys life clearly looked distraught .
“Harley listen to me none of this was your fault.” Pepper says bending down to look him in the eyes. The boy was a shell of himself, barely talking, there was no trace of the happy go lucky boy who would joke, be sassy, and sarcastic. It became clear to Tony within a few minutes what Harley had been through and had to walk out of the room to give himself a minute.