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It was the extremely early hours of the morning when Penny got the call. She tried to ignore it, she really, really did, but, looking back, she was more annoyed she hadn’t answered it faster.
She picked it up, off the nightstand in the small Tennessean motel her, Tony and Pepper were staying at. She didn’t even look to see who was calling her at stupid o’clock in the morning, before grumbling a less than friendly greeting. “Whoever the fuck this is better have one hell of a reason to wake me up at two o’clock in the godamn morning .”
There was only breathing on the other end. And by ‘breathing’, Penny meant ‘hyperventilating’. “P-Penny. I-I’m sorry, I-I shoulda’” Poppy Keener trailed off, breathing erratically.
Penny sat up in bed, suddenly a lot more awake. “No, hey Pop, it’s okay, Just-just tell me what’s wrong, okay?” Her voice was calming, soothing, the same tone Tony used to calm her down from a panic attack and nightmares.
Poppy paused for a second, obviously trying to calm herself down, before saying, “It’s Harley. He’s-he jumped in front of me, and the bottle hit him. And now Daddy is, he’s hurting him Penny. And I-I, didn’t know who to call.”
Penny was already out of bed, throwing on the clothes she had been wearing yesterday, from the moment Poppy mentioned Harley. She sprinted over to the door that led to the adjoining room and started banging on it like crazy, as she reassured Poppy that she had done the right thing in calling her.
Tony opened the door in all his bed-headed glory and glared at her, before noticing how upset she looked. “Hey kid what’s wrong?”
“We need to get to Poppy and Harley now. I’ll explain on the way.” Tony, knowing that she wouldn’t be screwing with him, proceeded to wake up Pepper and throw on clothes. Penny turned her attention back to Poppy, “Pop, hey, you think you can get out of there?”
“Yeah, yeah, I can.” her voice was shaky. Tony signalled that they were ready, and they rushed out of the hotel and into the car, Tony driving, with Penny in shotgun and Pepper in the back.
“Okay, okay Poppy listen, get out of there. We’ll meet you at your house, we’re only a few minutes away. Okay? You just stay in your garden, and we’ll be there in a few.”
“Okay. Okay, yeah.”
“Do you want me to stay on the phone, or not?”
“No, no no, it’s fine. I got it.”
“Okay. Well, be safe Poppy, see you in a few.” Poppy hung up after that and Penny turned to Tony, breathing heavily.
“What’s going
on
, Penny?” He knew. Of course he knew, he always did. He was asking her to not confirm it though, to tell him that what he’s thinking
is
happening
isn’t
.
Instead Penny just looked at him, and spoke, with the hardest voice she had ever used, “Harley’s dad is beating him.”
Tony’s knuckles whitened as they tightened on the steering wheel, as he drew in a sharp breath. Penny couldn’t blame him. She thought back to yesterday, when they first arrived at the Keener house-hold, for their week-long vacation in Tennessee.
Harley had immediately ran up to her, holding her close, like he always did. And they’d kissed, and it was great, and then a certain fourteen-year-old girl had started making gagging noises in the background, and the moment had been quickly soured. They had smiled at each other gooily, before Penny had turned to Poppy, and gave her a big hug. “Hey, kid, you miss me?”
“You’re, like, two years older than me, you can’t call me kid. And I can’t exactly get a chance to miss you, considering we talk almost everyday.” Penny sorted in amusement, but agreeing all-the-same, The three of them had a groupchat, which mainly consisted of Poppy sending Penny embarrassing baby photos of Harley, and Harley whining about it.
She let her go, and leaned into Harley, where he had rested his arm over her shoulders, and pulled her close. “Okay, fair. But still, you must miss seeing my glorious face.”
“Eh. Not really. Harley does enough missing for the both of us.”
Harley decided to pipe up then, eyes finally moving away from Penny, where they had been unashamedly ogling at her since she arrived.“Can’t argue with that logic.”
“Who’s missing who, now?” Tony strolled over, Pepper beside him, rudely interrupting their conversation.
Harley looked up at him with that shit-eating grin, and laid his accent on real thick, as he knew how much Tony hated it. “Ain’t nobody missing you anyway, Old Man.” Tony made a face at the accent before giving Harley the finger.
“Is anyone gonna introduce me, or am I gonna have to do that myself” This was a new voice, one Penny didn’t recognise, but made the hair on the back of her neck rise. And, apparently for good reason. The change in Harley's demeanor was quick, almost imperceptible if you didn’t know him well. But Penny did, and so did Tony. He tensed up slightly, a small muscle in his jaw ticking and his arm holding her tighter against him, but he kept a smile plastered on his face. It wasn’t a real smile, it was a fake one, sharp as a knife, with teeth gleaming in the midday sunlight. Penny and Tony shared a look of slight confusion, before turning to the source of the voice.
He was tall, with broad shoulders. He had dirty blonde hair, and bright blue eyes. He was a carbon copy of Harley, if Harley dressed like a lumberjack, and forgot to shave. Poppy had her arms wrapped around him, and was smiling up at him like he hung the stars, oblivious to her brother's discomfort. Charlotte Keener was behind him, appearing to be drying her hands on a towel.
“Penny, Tony, Pepper” Harley addressed them one by one, pointing to each of them in turn, “This is my Dad, William Keener.”
He had been polite, if not a bit distant. Penny knew that William had left Harley, when he was still young, so she understood why he didn’t seem to want him there. He had been tense all throughout dinner, eyeing his father wearily, when he saw him down a few beers. Penny had spent the majority of the dinner with her hand in his. When she asked, he told her that he was fine, he just didn’t know how to act with him here. Which was understandable, from what Penny had gathered, he’d only been back a month. It was obvious he didn’t want to talk about him, so Penny hadn’t brought it up again, instead distracting him with retelling tales of how Tony burnt off half of his right eyebrow, and then proceeded to be doused with the fire extinguisher by Dum-E. Tony, Pepper and Penny had left at half-eight, saying how they wanted to unpack, and get settled.
***
They arrived at the house within five-minutes, to find Poppy waiting for them. She went straight into Penny’s arms, adn Penny held her tight. After a few seconds she pulled away, and crouched down so she was her height. “Poppy, I need you to focus, okay?” When she got a nod of confirmation, she continued, “What room is Harley in, where is he?”
“L-living room. He’s in the living room”
That was all Penny and Tony needed. Telling Pepper to stay with Poppy, the duo ran into the house and straight into the living room. The sight was enough to bring tears to Penny’s eyes. Harley was curled up in a small ball, blood was seeping out of several cuts all over his body. There was a small puddle of vomit, near Harleys head, and glass was everywhere. There were countless empty beer bottles, thrown all around the floor. William was towering over Harley kicking him and screaming profanities at him.
Tony rushed over to William, and gave him a swift punch to the jaw. William became distracted, and stumbled drunkenly away from Harley, towards Tony. Which, Penny assumed, had probably been the goal all along. She darted over to Harley, and kneeled beside him. She reached out to touch him, but retracted her hand immediately, when Harley flinched. He opened his eyes and blinked blearily at her. His eyes lit up with recognition before turning panicked. He started mumbling, and if it wasn’t for Penny’s enhanced senses, she never would’ve been able to hear it. “No, no. You-you can’t-you gotta go. He’ll hurt you-Poppy he- Poppy ”
“Hey. hey hey hey. Poppy’s okay, she’s okay, we got her out, she’s okay.” Penny kept repeating herself, reaching out once again towards him. This time though, he didn’t flinch. Penny scooched forward, so that he could lay his head on her lap, and he proceeded to do just that. She ran her fingers through his hair, wincing when it came back stained red.
He was mumbling again, saying how she shouldn’t be here, that she should go, somewhere safe, somewhere where he isn’t. “You don’t have to worry about him. Not ever again.” As she said this, she looked up towards Tony, he was breathing slightly heavier and his knuckles were red, He was looking down towards Harley worryingly. They locked eyes for a moment, before Penny’s drifted down to the motionless body beside him. William Keener was knocked out cold, nose crooked. ‘ He deserves worse ’ Penny thought. She looked down towards Harley again, and noticed a few drops of water on his cheek. It took her a second to realise that the water was coming from her , that it was her tears.
The familiar wailing of sirens was heard, and Penny felt herself relax.Harley was unconscious on her lap. She probably should’ve tried to keep him awake, but he needed rest, and the ambulance was sixty-seconds away, tops.
***
Pepper had been the one to call the ambulance, because
of course she was
. They were in the waiting room of the hospital. Poppy was asleep on Penny’s shoulder, snoring slightly. Pepper was on Poppy’s otherside, holding her hand lightly. Tony had stepped away to call Charlotte, who had been on the nightshift at the local diner, but he stepped back into the room now.
“Charlottes on her way. ‘Says she’ll be around twenty minutes.” He kept his voice low, mindful of Poppy’s sleeping figure. Penny nodded along to what he was saying. He sat next to her and held her hand. The four of them sat in silence, the only sound being Poppy’s soft snores, or the rustling as Tony made himself comfortable in his seat.
Suddenly the doors to Harley’s room opened, and the four of them snapped their heads up-Poppy apparently having woken up. “Harley Keener?” Dr Miller asked the four. When he received four nods of confirmation, he continued, “He’s okay. He has a few cracked ribs, and a few cuts and bruises, but with some bed rest he’ll be right as rain in no time.”
Penny let herself go boneless in the chair as she sighed with relief. “Can we see him?” Poppy asked. Penny smirked to herself, knowing Poppy she was just asking out of courtesy. She’d see her brother whether she was allowed to or not. And if anyone gave her trouble for it, she had Tony Stark there to make the trouble go away.
“Ah, yes. But only a small number first. He’s awake, but still a bit out of it from the anesthetics. Mister Stark would you-”
“Poppy can go” Penny interrupted. It was definitely rude, and she probably should’ve cared about that, but her focus was solely on Poppy.
The girl in question turned her eyes towards Penny, “Are you sure? I know you wanna go in too.” Her voice was hopeful and Penny knew she would’ve let her go in her place. Penny was probably the only person Poppy would let go in her place.
But she shook her head ‘no’ anyways. “Nah kid, just knowing his okay is enough for me right now. I know you’re itching to see him, so go on ahead.” Poppy didn’t need any more reassurance than that, because in a blink of an eye, she was off her chair and through the door. Tony let out a small huff of laughter at that, as Penny closed her eyes and rested her head against his shoulder. She dozed while the doctor rambled on about prescriptions and shit. Tony wrapped his arm around her, tight, as Pepper went to go grab herself and Tony a coffee.
It was only then that Penny noticed that she was crying again. She buried her face into the crook of Tony’s neck, and he held her as she sobbed. “Oh kiddo” He murmured into her hair, and it wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair that Penny had the best Dad in the world and Harley got stuck with that bastard. It just wasn’t fair .
After a few minutes, her sobs finally subsided into smaller whimpers and hiccups. Face still buried in Tony’s neck, Penny muttered: “Thank you. Thanks for not being like him .” Tony only held her tighter, placing a small kiss on her head.
***
Poppy had come out of the room, a big smile on her face. She looked towards Penny and said; “He wants to see you. And, he gave me a dollar for the vending machine.” She then disappeared around a corner, presumably off to find a vending machine. Penny walked into the room, to see Harley sitting slightly up in the bed, high enough to easily hold a conversation, but low enough that he’d still be comfortable to sleep. He had numerous cuts across his face and a bandage wrapped around his head. One of his eyes was black, and he was a few shade paler than he usually was.
“Are you supposed to be sitting up?” he just shrugged in response, a dopey grin on his face. He reached out a hand, making a grabby motion. Penny laughed at his childish antics before walking over and holding his hand gently.
“Hi.” he said, face all mushy.
“Hey you.” She slowly reached a hand out, running them through his blonde curls, and relaxing when he didn’t flinch back. Instead he did the exact opposite, and pressed his face into her hand, closed his eyes and purred , like a goddamn cat. Penny snorted in amusement. “I heard you paid your sister to come get me” They kept their voices quiet, as if talking any louder would wreck the fragile peace they had. Which, with their luck, was entirely possible.
He opened one eye to stare at her, still with that goofy grin on his face, looking completely unashamed at what he did. He shrugged his shoulders with a small “Hnngh” and said, “I wanted to see you. You’re pretty and, and I like pretty things.”
Penny smiled, and blushed slightly, “What? You only keeping me around for my looks now, Keener?”
Instead of the smile or laugh she was expecting to get, Penny received an absolutely horrified look. As if the thought of him dating her just because she was pretty was the most disgusting thing he’d ever heard. “No! Nonononono! I love you ‘cause you’re super smart, and your really funny, and you’re really nice to, like, everyone and you’re-”
“Okay, okay.” Penny interrupted, blushing strongly but smiling softly at him. “I get it, you love me for more than just my looks. I know that Keener. I was just teasing.”
“Oh. Okay good. ‘Cause it’s all true, y’know?” Penny nodded her head again. And they sat in silence for a few more moments, Penny running her fingers periodically through his hair in soothing, repetitive motions. She had fully expected him to nod off, in fact, she was surprised he already hadn’t. The medication he was on was strong and Penny knew he was tired. Hell, anyone would be with the day he’s had. Not to mention it was still only about three in the morning. So, she was very surprised when he lifted a hand-the one without the IV in it-, and stroked her cheek gently. Penny looked at him questioningly.
“You were crying.” He accused her. When she didn’t refute his statement, he continued, “Why were you crying?”
Penny smiled towards him sadly, deciding to not lie to him. “I was worried. You got hurt and I don’t like it when you’re hurt”. There was more to it than that, but neither of them wanted to talk about it, it being too fresh in their memories.
He scoffed slightly before saying, “You didn’t need to worry. I’m fine.” At Penny’s unamused expression, smiled, dopey grin back. “Besides, this is just payback for all the times you made me worry.”
Penny let out a laugh at that, loud in the quietness of the room, and Harley positively beamed at her. “You’re an asshole, Keener”
He shrugged, as if to say ‘ Yeah? And what are you going to about it? ’ Instead, he just said: “Yeah, but I’m your asshole.” He was silent for a moment, eyes slipping closed. “C’mere” He mumbled.
“I’m right beside you” Penny whispered, smiling slightly.
He scooched over on the bed, until there was just enough room for the both of them. “No. C’mere ” He started tugging on the hand that wasn’t in his hair, trying to pull her in.
“I don’t think the nurses would be too happy if they saw us in bed. Together .” She wriggled her eyebrows suggestively. He grinned at her, before he let his bottom-lip stick out in a pout and his eyes fall shut again. “‘Don’t care wha’ the nurses say. Wanna stay with my girlfriend.” His voice was slurred slightly with sleep, and he sloppily patted the space he had made for her in the bed.
She breathed out a laugh at the child-like expression on his face, before climbing under the covers. He settled himself, with his head resting against her chest, soft snores already coming from his mouth. Penny smiled and closed her eyes, never once stopping running her fingers through his hair.
When they woke up, they had a lot to talk about, but right now, they weren’t going to worry about a thing.