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Harley keeps the business card that was left on the workshop of his house. He kept it in a kitchen drawer that his mom never used, because it full of the “nice” dish towels that were only taken out come Christmastime.
His fingers shake as he grips the phone, punching in the numbers.
“Can I ask who’s calling?”
“It’s...um. Harley. Keener. From Tennessee.”
There’s a shift on the phone, and Harley feels a bit guilty because it is late, but he doesn’t know where else to turn.
“What’s up, kiddo?”
“Um. I need help.”
“With what?”
And that’s when Harley loses it. He can barely enunciate the words, and he’s trying to furiously wipe away tears as he hears a litany of curses over the other line.
“I’m...I’m sorry, I just didn’t know who else to call and I don’t know what to do, and-”
“Kid, don’t you worry. I’ll be there in...two hours. Hell, maybe one if I can break the sound barrier. You have anything to eat yet?”
“Um, no?”
“Okay, then we stop for food when we get home.”
“Home?”
“...we’ll talk when I get there.”
-
Tony, in all honesty, does not know what he’s doing. God knows he had two stellar examples of parenting from Howard and Maria.
But he knows that a kid like Harley will get torn apart, and he...he can’t let him do that.
“Are you sure about this?” Rhodey asks.
“Yes,” Tony says. “I’m sure. We’ll...I’ll figure it out. I promise.”
“You act like I’m not going to help you,” Rhodey says. “I’ll be here waiting for you when you get back. You have a way of transporting him back?”
“Already ordered a car to the airport, we’ll be taking a plane back home.”
“Bring him back safe.”
“Always.”
-
Harley collapses into Tony’s arms when he touches down, armor barely off.
“Please,” he sobs. “Please just get me out of here.”
-
Tony wasn’t going into the situation blind. He had seen the article from their newspaper about the crash.
Harley said he had been riding his bike. Abbie really wanted to get a burger, and he hadn’t wanted to go.
“They would still be here if I had gone,” Harley says bitterly, and Tony’s heart has a pang of hurt because he understands that feeling all too well. But right now, Harley doesn’t need someone to understand everything, he just needs to be cared for.
Tony sits down with him at a kitchen table and doesn’t miss how Harley stares at the two chairs across from them.
“I want to talk with you,” he says quietly. “I want to know what you want to do.”
Harley looks at him.
“I...I wasn’t really expecting you to come.”
“We’re connected,” Tony says, a soft smile on his face. “I always will, whenever you want. Now, I’m just here to help you figure out what you want.”
“...what are the options?”
Tony’s willing to go through hell and back for this kid. He doesn’t tell him this verbatim, but the sentiment is there. He’d be willing to do anything, so long as he could see Harley safe and happy wherever he was.
-
Harley sits outside for a moment, breathing.
And then he can’t breathe.
Abbie’s looking up at the night sky, smiling.
“It’ll always be like this, right Harls?”
“Right,” Harley says, smiling nice and easy. “I’m not gonna let anything bad happen to us.”
Except he did.
It was all over the news, and everyone knew about it.
He comes back in, and Tony can probably tell that he’s at his absolute worst.
“I can’t stay here. I-I need to leave. Now.”
“Alright, let’s go.”
-
Driving in the car is a mostly silent affair. Tony hums along to AC/DC and tells Harley about new projects.
Their first rest stop, Tony goes out with Harley, watching him carefully.
“I’m not gonna break,” Harley snaps.
“Not saying you’re gonna.”
“Well I’m not.”
“Okay. Rhodey’s at the house waiting for us when we get there.”
“He on leave?”
Tony nods. “Three months. Lucky.”
“Yeah.”
Not a lot after that.
At some point, Harley dozes off, leaning his head against the door.
Tony sends a message to Rhodey when they’re boarding the plane. Harley’s still a little groggy, and mostly content to just blearily go and find a seat and pass out.
He sleeps the whole flight home, and Tony is left with his thoughts.
Thought One: Maybe he Should’ve Left This Alone.
Thought Two: He needs to answer Pepper’s email regarding the press conferences and publicity things, get that all worked out.
Thought Three: He hopes Rhodey has some sort of food ready.
-
Rhodey sees Tony and Harley stumbling in, and he’s struck for a moment by just how similarly they carry themselves, how Harley’s eyes dart around like Tony’s did when he first moved into their dorm.
“Hi,” Rhodey says. “You hungry?”
“Um.”
“We’ll sit down anyways,” Tony says. “Planes are the worst, Harley. They zap all your energy no matter how long you sit on your ass.”
Rhodey sends Tony a look that says “you should probably watch your language.”
Tony sends back a look that says “now’s not the time to discuss my behaviors.”
-
Harley sleeps.
He’s surprised he does, because he wakes up about nine hours later, and he feels like he doesn’t deserve this long of sleep. He gets slammed with the current news of his life all over again, and his lips tremble as he gets out of a bed that he thinks is too nice for him, and stares into a mirror.
“Mr. Keener?”
Harley jumps.
“...is that you, Jarvis?”
“It is indeed, Mr. Keener. An honor to make your acquaintance, Sir has told me so much about you.”
“Please tell me he didn’t tell you about the potato gun.”
“I can neither confirm nor deny.”
Harley grins up at where the voice emanates.
“Your presence is required for breakfast, if that is alright.”
“That’s...that’s fine.”
He’s not hungry, but Rhodey slides him a plate of toast and eggs.
“Try to eat as much as you can,” he says. “Tony can finish off the rest, if he ever comes down from his bed.”
Harley nods, nibbling on the toast.
“You want jam or anything? We have grape, and...only grape. This peach looks questionable.”
Harley snorts.
“I’m good. Thanks, though.”
“No problem.”
They eat in awkward but companionable silence, and finally Harley speaks.
“Tony said you’re on leave for three months.”
“I got lucky,” Rhodey says, grinning. “I get to stay here with you guys for longer than three weeks. A full guarantee, unless of aliens.”
“They’re that much of a concern?” Harley asks, eyebrows raised.
“Only at high levels,” Rhodey says, giving him a lazy wink. “You didn’t hear it from me.”
“If anything, you would hear it from me,” Tony says, wrapped up in a gaudily-patterned robe. “Hello dearest, hello little one.”
“I’m not little,” Harley grumbles.
“You are shorter than me, you are little.”
“For now. Doc said I’m supposed to be over six feet.”
“Hm, we’ll see,” Tony says. “But enough about that. We have to have a little chat.”
Harley’s heart leaps with anxiety. When adults talk about having a chat, or talking, it’s...well. It’s never a walk in the park. Or a jog for that matter, either.
“What about?”
“How we can help you.”
Harley sighs, burrowing deep in his seat.
“We have to talk about this?”
“Yeah, we do.”
-
Harley gets set up with a therapist who he’s not sure he likes yet, but so far she’s been pretty nice. A bit of a mess, because she comes into their second session late and with iced coffee.
“Oh shit, I should’ve asked you if you wanted something,” Joan says, fretting. “Um, hi Harley. How are we doing?”
“Um, fine? I guess? For someone who’s dealing with a lot of change?”
“Oh, that’s great to hear. Do you mind...?” She breathes for a minute. “There was a really cute girl in the elevator for the dentist office above me, and I had to avoid her so that I wouldn’t talk about things and ruin things, so I took the stairs. Do you mind if I just drink my coffee for a moment?”
“...knock yourself out.”
So they sit there for a few moments, while Joan catches her breath and Harley wonders if he can text her his coffee order later.
“Alright, let’s talk you, Harley.”
-
Therapy goes well. As well as it can go, honestly.
And Harley? Well, he settles.
And he notices things.
Rhodey is still with them, two months and three weeks in. This is his last week, and Tony is miserable although he won’t say anything.
Harley notices how Tony will automatically move closer to Rhodey, and Rhodey welcomes him into his space as if it’s the most natural thing in the world.
They bicker at each other, but Rhodey slides scrambled eggs onto Tony’s plate as he argues, and Tony leans over and grabs the coffee mug that Rhodey favors.
-
Apparently, they’re not together.
This leaves Harley very confused.
Tony gets all flustered and in denial when he asks about it.
“Why would...why would he...why would he be with me?” Tony asks, moving around the kitchen. “He has more to life than that. Now come on, get your shopping list together, kiddo. I’m not gonna hear you complain for another week that we didn’t get your pumpkin-carving-coffee-creamer-whatever.”
“It’s pumpkin spice, and you would know that because you pretend like you don’t use it.”
“We’ll get two bottles this time,” Rhodey says, only coming in on the tail-end of the conversation. “Tony, babe, remember to get the provolone slices when we’re there for the deli sandwiches.”
“Got it, honey.”
Harley stares.
They’re so...domestic.
Harley hasn’t seen that often. Certainly didn’t see it with his parents before his dad left, and his mother...she didn’t get to have that with anyone else afterwards. And his sister,oh god-
“Kiddo, you okay?” Rhodey asks. His hand is on Harley’s shoulder, eyes full of concern. “Do you wanna talk about it?”
“Just...just thinking about my mom. And my sister.”
Rhodey brings him into a hug.
Harley breathes in and out for a moment, absorbing the clean smell of Rhodey’s shirt and focusing on the touch.
“Okay. Okay. I’ll be fine. Let’s go, before Tony gets to choose the car and we have to fit fifteen bags into a Maserati.”
“Then we’ll have to leave you at the store,” Rhodey teases. “Let’s see if we can get a rational car.”
-
Grocery shopping is...it’s nice. It’s one of Harley’s favorite things to do, as boring and uninteresting as that may be.
He mostly just likes watching Tony and Rhodey do it. It’s entertainment, and they’re so practiced together.
Harley isn’t sure if his mom and his sister are still looking on, but he always gets their favorite snacks, just in case. He puts a bag of hot fries and a carton of strawberries into the cart, and then he grins as he finds Tony and Rhodey still arguing over whether or not they should get two bundles of green onions for the Wednesday dinner or not.
“Come on dad,” Harley says, throwing the extra bundle into the cart. “It’ll be good, and we can probably make some sort of soup garnish for the end.”
He moves the cart, and he doesn’t even see how Tony and Rhodey stare after him.
“So obviously, I’m dad,” Tony says. “That’s me.”
“Or is it?” Rhodey asks, faking suspicion. “We don’t know until a full investigation is launched.”
“Oh full investigation my ass,” Tony says. “Come on, before he leaves us in the dust and ends up getting far too many packages of candy.”
“Like you minded, heathen.”
Tony pushes off the grocery cart, and Rhodey has to smile for a moment.
He’s going to miss this. He only has a few days left, and then he’s back and he’s alone, and he’s not alone, but he...
Rhodey always misses Tony. He’s tried to convince himself over the years that it’s just what best friends do, but he doesn’t think that best friends think of each other in the way that he thinks of Tony.
And now there’s Harley.
Harley, who is so much like Tony, and so good. He smiles, and he jokes, and Rhodey now can’t imagine life without him.
He doesn’t want to miss out on a thing, honestly. They’ve already joked about teaching him to drive in New York traffic.
And he wants to come home. He has his own place in New York, honest to god doesn’t know why he pays rent on it since Tony usually has him stay over anyways. He should sub-let or rent it or sell it. That’d be common sense.
-
Dinner goes well. Both Rhodey and Harley have a good rhythm in the kitchen, even with Harley’s questionable music taste and Rhodey’s inability to follow a recipe.
“People who follow recipes are chumps,” Rhodey says, dumping more garlic powder into the mixture. “Never follow a recipe.”
“We can call your mother and ask about the blueberry crumble incident of 1997,” Tony says innocently. “If you want to rehash how well that advice went for you. I recall a nearly-burned-down-house?”
Rhodey scowls, turning to Harley.
“Don’t listen to a word this man has ever said, he is an unlovable scamp.”
“Oh really?” Harley says. “Seems to suit you just fine, right?”
Rhodey momentarily pauses, and then grins.
“I suppose you’re right.”
All too right.
They eat dinner, and Tony as well as Rhodey make no mention of what’s going to happen come Saturday morning.
At least, until Harley does, because Harley does things like ask questions.
“So. When are you going for your next mission?” Harley asks. “And where?”
“Classified, and seven a.m. bright and early Saturday morning,” Rhodey states. “You gonna get out of bed in time to see me off?”
“Mm, we’ll think about it,” Tony says, biting into the pasta. “The beds are awfully comfy...”
“Aw shut up,” Rhodey whines. “Just for that, I get to choose the movie, and I’m choosing the not-movie. I’m choosing the BBC Pride and Prejudice.”
“You suck,” Tony groans. “If you weren’t a gorgeous man, I would have kicked you out decades earlier.”
“You make us sound ancient.”
“That’s because you two geezers are,” Harley says, taking his dish to the sink. “Come on, I totally dibs on getting the mint candies.”
“Absolutely not, you stole them all last, at least let us portion them out,” Tony says.
“Do we not live as a family? Can we no longer share things?” Harley cries out dramatically, draping his body across the couch. “Am I reduced to nothing but a pretty face?”
“I don’t know where you get your dramatics from,” Rhodey deadpans. “Truly, I don’t.”
Harley pokes his tongue out, and gestures for them to come over.
“We can wash dishes later, we need to see if Mr. Darcy comes back,” Harley says.
“You know he does,” Tony says, looking over at Rhodey. “He always will.”
It means...something. They’re not sure what, and they’re not going to ask each other while Harley is busy commandeering the couch and wiggling his way into getting the best blanket.
Tony on one side, Rhodey on the other, although the latter is busy popping popcorn and thinking.
He doesn’t even really want to go. He signed up for this tour, and he wasn’t honestly thinking it was going to be his last, but with Harley now, and with how life is going...would it be a bad thing?
Tony’s always wanted him to do at least consulting work for SI, and he could semi-retire comfortably...
“Honey-darling!” Tony calls, “the ETA on popcorn? I’m getting desperate!”
Harley sends Tony a sneaky look, and looks back towards the movie.
“You should remind Rhodey to get chocolate chips,” Harley says. “You know he likes them.”
“Of course I know that, how do you know that?”
“You usually get the popcorn,” Harley says with a shrug. “I know what you know about him. And you know a lot, don’t you?”
“I...I suppose,” Tony says, getting up.
Harley settles into his spot on the couch.
Tony comes up to Rhodey.
“Remember your chocolate chips,” Tony says.
Rhodey looks surprised.
“I thought you hated how sticky they got your hands.”
“That’s what napkins were invented for,” he says with a laugh. “I’ve been dealing with your chocolate chips for years, haven’t I?”
“I guess,” Rhodey says. “Just like I’ve been dealing with the fact that you pretend like you don’t like it, but you steal all of it.”
“Lies and slander, dearest,” Tony says, and Rhodey grins smoothly.
“Get back to the kid, sweetheart. I’ll be there when all of this is done.”
And it sounds so goddamned domestic. As if it’s real, as if they’ve been doing this song and dance for years. And they have, but it’s never been...
It’s never been real. Sure, they’ve waited on each other when Rhodey leaves or Tony travels, and they fall in together in a nice and easy rhythm.
But Tony...he’s a Stark. He needs a good reputation, and while most wouldn’t say his reputation is exactly good, there’s a lot that the public can forgive. Rhodey is not part of that.
Tony thinks that Rhodey deserves someone better. He knows it, knows it in the way that Rhodey smiles and it’s the best damned thing he’s ever seen, knows it in the way how his eyes track people who need help the most.
-
Harley knows virtually none of this. The only thing he knows is that his guardians are the stupidest people on the planet, and now he has a side project besides school and by god it’ll be fun.
But first, Rhodey is being sent off. Tony’s hands are wandering all over the place, as Harley’s noticed they do when he’s nervous. His do the same. Tony is talking about everything and joking about changes, and Rhodey smiles and nods and they both know what is going to happen.
Harley, for his part, mostly just tries not to doze off because it’s too early for any of this but also he wants to remember this.
Rhodey will be gone for one month and three weeks. According to Tony, this isn’t the longest he’s ever been away, but usually he’s not gone for this long. The older he gets, the shorter the missions or projects get. But they need his expertise with rookies.
Tony, for his part, has packed about three extra bags for Rhodey under the guise of them being “goodie bags” or the army to peruse after Rhodey.
“I won’t need all of these fancy pieces,” Rhodey says, rolling his eyes. “I’m not even leaving the US this time, cupcake.”
“You saying you can’t be in danger when you’re here?” Tony asks, raising an eyebrow.
“Take the stuff dad,” Harley says exasperated.
“Ha!” Rhodey teases. “So I’m dad!”
“You both are,” Harley says. “You’re both dad.”
They grin at each other, at least until Tony furrows his brow.
“Then how will we know which one you’re talking to?”
“I’ll come up with a different name then,” Harley says. “I don’t know. Let’s not talk about this while you’re supposed to be boarding a jet.”
Rhodey shrugs, leaning in for a hug from Harley, and facing Tony. There’s something in his eyes.
“Stay safe,” Tony says. “Promise me that.”
“I don’t make promises,” Rhodey says, a smile playing at his lips.
“For anyone else,” Tony finishes, grinning. He brings him into a hug, probably holding on for a touch longer than necessary. But he’s leaving, so you can’t fault him for it.
Harley is smiling to himself as Rhodey whispers something in Tony’s ear, which causes him to widen his eyes in delight.
“Seriously? You’re serious.”
“As a heart attack.”
Tony cheers for a moment, before they hear a shout across the tarmac. Rhodey gives a lazy salute.
“Until one month and three weeks.”
“Until then, nerd,” Harley shouts.
Tony blows a kiss, and Rhodey “catches” it and puts it in his pocket.
Harley sends Tony a look as they’re driving home.
“So. What did Rhodey whisper in your ear?”
“He’s going to move in,” Tony says, grinning.
“He doesn’t actually live at our home?” Harley asks, absolutely flabbergasted. “There’s no fucking way-”
“Language!”
“You said ‘shit’ during breakfast, if anything this is just leveling the playing field-”
“Don’t care, you’re a small child. What would the public say if they knew I was teaching my boy curse words?” Tony says dramatically.
“They’d probably not be surprised,” Harley answers. “Didn’t you tell the paparazzi to ‘get fucked’ when they ambushed our dinner last month?”
“Not the point.”
“Or is it?”
“You’re detracting from the fact that you get to help me get rid of all of Rhodey’s ugly furniture in his apartment.”
“Seriously?” Harley whines. “No, I’m...doing something.”
“Doing what? Eating hot fries on my couch and getting it stained with spicy cheese dust?”
“...no.”
“Hm, thought so. You’re coming with me.”
-
Rhodey isn’t expecting to miss home as fiercely as he does this time around. He’s irritable, but he finds comfort in talking with some of the other members of the crew about kids.
“Didn’t know you had a kid,” Hicks mentions. “When did that happen?”
“About six months ago,” Rhodey answers. “Kid needed a guardian, Tony stepped up to the plate. He’s a real neat kid, really a genius. Just like Tony, in that way.”
“You live with Tony, finally?” Thompson asks. “Or do you still have that dinky bachelor pad?”
“I’m selling it,” Rhodey said. “I told Tony I’d help out with Harley, and that’s what I’m doing. Figure since I’m always over there anyways, might as well move in.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t move in sooner, what with you and Stark anyways,” Thompson remarks.
“What do you mean?” Rhodey asks.
“You’re...not together?”
Rhodey looks away, a bit sheepish.
“Uh...no. We’re not.”
“But you wanna be,” Owens teases from her corner, eating her sandwich. “You stupid lover-boy.”
“Aw shut up,” Rhodey fires back. “As if you aren’t all over your husband when you get back.”
“But I, my dear old man, am married,” Owens says. “Put a ring on it! God knows you should’ve, like, eight years ago. Have you even asked him on a date?”
“He has other options, and a life outside of me,” Rhodey says.
“Bullshit,” the team crows, laughing. Rhodey just shakes his head, and bites into his sandwich.
He misses them.
-
Harley and Tony miss him equally as much. Tony is down in the dumps, sulking in his lab while Harley attempts to rebuild a projectile weapon.
“Do you have a permit for that?”
“Do I need one?” Harley asks. “I’m not gonna take it anywhere, except maybe when I’m in trouble.”
“When will you be in trouble?”
“...you’ll know.”
“Please tell me you’re not going to be on national news.”
“Just on regional, don’t worry.”
Tony sighs.
“Rhodey is going to want to witness that, so can you wait?”
“...potentially.”
-
Rhodey gets letters from the two of them. He thinks it’s Harley’s idea: after all, Tony would simply just hijack the internet feed and yell at people until Rhodey was called for.
He gets two pages from Tony with his elegant writing, the writing that almost never comes out because he remembers that Tony was taught how to write in blocky, all-caps letters that he was fond of now.
Harley writes in chicken-scratch that is barely legible, although he mentions that he’s been learning about lettering from Tony.
Tony misses you a lot, by the way, Harley writes, he’s been playing all of your favorite songs, and I didn’t know that you liked Three Dog Night. Interesting.
It’s not surprising that Tony knows and plays his music, not really. But Rhodey is still pleasantly surprised that even when he isn’t physically present, Tony keeps a piece of him around.
Similarly, Tony writes about Harley.
The kid misses you, honey. He’s been compiling a list of things he wants to do when you get back. You’re better at hugging him, by the way. Today (well, Wednesday for you) we had a good cry session. Wish you were there, but we made do with what we had. Why did you take your sweatshirt, by the way? Stupid man, now I can’t wear it and drape myself across couches like a scorned widow. Honestly...
-
Rhodey comes back on a Tuesday morning. Harley’s allowed to miss school for it, which he’s very happy about.
“That doesn’t mean you get to sleep in,” Tony says. “We’re picking him up at eight.”
“Why must I be punished for all time,” Harley moans. “Eight? Seriously? Doesn’t the army know that noon exists?”
“They made up the early rule because of me,” Tony jokes. “But I promise that Rhodey will most likely want an actual breakfast, which means we get diner breakfast.”
“Yes!” Harley says, pumping his fist. “Waking up early just became worth it.”
“Yeah sure, just look at the emails your teachers sent you about missing homework and be sure to text Peter and Ned about the classes you missed,” Tony says.
Harley nods, walking out of the kitchen before pausing and turning back.
“You should wear that Black Sabbath shirt that Rhodey likes tomorrow,” he says. “It’ll be nice for him to see.”
Tony raises an eyebrow.
“And since when did you know what Rhodey likes to see?”
“Since I was born with vision,” Harley deadpans. “He always picks that shirt out for you when you come back after a business meeting overseas.”
-
Waking up at eight a.m. is worth it for a hug from Rhodey. Honest to god, that man gives the best hugs Harley’s ever had, short of Abbie and mom.
Tony is asking a million questions a minute, and then telling Rhodey about the results of the apartment. A Stark Industries employee is renting it, and Tony managed to save some of the mugs, and chastised Rhodey for stealing a colander, apparently.
“It was our good one! Why did you leave it in your apartment?”
“I thought I stored it where we put the pans!” Rhodey defended. “How was I supposed to know that it was at that apartment?”
“Quit arguing and start moving,” Harley says. “We have breakfast to get to.”
“Our boy is growing,” Tony says, sighing. “Soon he’ll eat us out of house and home.”
“We live in a gigantic tower in New York, I think you’re gonna be fine,” Rhodey says. “Although let’s get on it before there’s too much of a wait.”
“It’s a Tuesday, darling,” Tony says. “No wait. And they know us.”
-
Harley enjoys witnessing breakfast. Basically because Tony and Rhodey fall into their respective rhythms as if no one had ever left. Rhodey is fighting about the hash browns, and Tony is reaching all the way across the table for the hot sauce.
Harley has honestly and truly missed them all together like this.
Even if Rhodey nabs a sausage from his plate.
“I’m the growing teen here!” Harley says, gesturing with his fork. “Why steal from your poor, innocent charge? Was it not enough to leave for a month and three weeks?”
“And three weeks! Honestly honey,” Tony says, distracting Harley enough to steal the other sausage off of his plate. “You should’ve been here sooner, we could’ve eaten more of these!”
“You both are criminals,” Harley says. “Criminals who I have to live with. This is unforgivable. I’ll waste away into nothing...”
Rhodey laughs, and he catches Tony’s eyes.
Yeah. It’s good to be back.
-
Living with Tony and Harley isn’t really an adjustment at all. Rhodey had barely used his apartment before, and now is no different. He just gets to decorate his room a little bit more, and contribute more to groceries.
He’s also around for more of Harley which is...interesting.
The kid knows something, that’s for sure.
He is also sneakily good at making sure that Tony and Rhodey get alone time, whether that be last-minute-ditching plans with Pepper or “forgetting” that he was supposed to be going to Ned’s for a video-game championship. (Harley was good at lying, but Tony and Rhodey have had years of practice.)
Rhodey has a sneaking suspicion that he knows why.
Harley isn’t a stupid boy, not by a long shot.
He’s caught on to Rhodey’s stares, the way that Tony and Rhodey have something, but neither really want to acknowledge.
To acknowledge means to know, and knowing is something that is far more terrifying than most people give it credit.
-
Harley eventually has help.
After all, he and Pepper didn’t just go their separate ways when he ditched his guardians to give them quality dates, and he didn’t just talk about video game strategy with Peter, Ned, and MJ.
He was planning. Figured it would fit with a life plan, honestly.
Pepper is quite potentially even more tired than he is, and has agreed to help set up a nice date.
She’s made deals she never expected to.
She owes the god of mischief a bottle of wine. It’s ridiculous.
Peter and Ned have been elected with getting the “aesthetic” right, and MJ has been “helpfully” suggesting where lights go.
“MJ, if I move them any more left they’ll fall off the building and become a hazard,” Harley grunts.
“Exactly. Nothing says romance like dangerous situations,” she says with a shrug. “But put them in the tree, and we can link the extension cord behind. It’ll look nice. All Pinterest-y and shit.”
“Why can’t you help and then joke?”
“I never joke. You just always like my second plan better.”
“I don’t know whether to be terrified or alarmed!” Peter calls from his spot of building the cheese-board.
“They’re synonyms,” MJ says. “When are we going home, by the way?”
“As soon as Rhodey finishes up with his afternoon run, and Tony realizes that dinner is still a social concept,” Harley says.
“Time, then?”
“...five-thirty.”
“Perfect.”
“I’ll call my mom about the pizza,” Ned says. “We still thinking one pepperoni and one veggie?”
“Sounds great,” Peter says. “What movie are we watching tonight?”
“Twitter polls said Clueless over the Leonardo DiCaprio version of Romeo and Juliet. Sorry Ned, looks like your choice will be next week.”
“My heart hurts, but it understands,” Ned says sagely, placing a hand over his heart. “I will see Mercutio soon enough.”
-
Tony was not aware that their rooftop had lights. He doesn’t remember putting them there.
He was also pretty sure that Harley had a question about the flight patterns of birds in relation to GPS technology in drones, and it was weird that it was outside, but-
There’s a cheese-board. And now he gets why Pepper made him change shirts. He knew that his shirt wasn’t ugly!
Rhodey is standing across the way, looking at the dinner set-up and the tealights flickering gently from their placement.
“Is this...did you do this, Tony?”
“I don’t have this much of a creative eye,” Tony says, eyeing the intimate table placement. “Maybe Pepper?”
“She doesn’t do lights...”
“Harley,” they both say in unison, laughing.
There’s a note at the table, written in the same near-illegible handwriting:
Either get together or I get to make a Twitter thread. Your call.
Tony snorts as he looks at the placement of everything.
“Well...it’d be a shame for it to go to waste.”
“Is that you saying you’re flattered, but no thanks?” Rhodey asks.
“No,” Tony says, looking at Rhodey. “It’s not that at all, if you-”
“You mean-?”
“What? Is this what’s happening?” Tony asks. His breathing speeds up. He’s quite embarrassed that he can feel his cheeks turn red. He thought he got rid of blushing in ‘96.
“I...damn it, Tony. I love you!”
Tony stares. He just stares, and for a moment it doesn’t process, until it does. He flings himself into Rhodey’s arms, and laughs.
“Holy shit, that’s a relief.”
Rhodey spins him around, taking a brief moment to kiss him gently on the cheek.
“Oh, you owe me more than that, soldier.”
“I think I’m a little bit higher ranked than that.”
“Oh, and what would that be?”
“Boyfriend, for one.”
Tony rolls his eyes.
“We’re, like, a minute into this and you’re already the cheesy one.”
“Well one of us has to be, and I’m going to beat you to the punch.”
-
Harley gets one text at four in the morning from Rhodey:
no twitter thread for us. and you need to figure out what to call tony because i’m claiming “dad.”
Harley cackles, grinning.
got it, he’ll be pops then.
Tony texts Harley a minute later.
if you call me ‘pops’ there will be a mutiny! a mutiny!!
Harley laughs again, tapping a message back.
wotever.
Tony doesn’t respond, choosing instead to roll back over and sling an arm around his significant other. It’s too early to be nitpicking your kid’s grammar.