Chapter Text
“Harley?, Are you in here?” Holly Keener says, stepping into the tech-decked out garage, courtesy of Tony Stark. He had left Harley a lot of tech and other items in the family’s garage after Harley helped him with the Mandarian accident 7 years ago when he was 10. Holly was shocked in the least when she found out what happened. Harley got out of being grounded considering he did help a hero but he wasn’t allowed to use his garage for about a week.
Holly still wore her diner outfit, as she had just arrived home from her shift at the diner. She usually worked from 5 am to 11 pm. It was hard enough making ends meet since their father left 14 years ago.
“Yeah?” Harley replied offhandedly, tinkering with some item in his hand. Holly stopped and drew in a breath, looking to the floor. “Ma…?” Harley continued, turning around at his mother’s silence.
“We need to talk, Harley.” Holly said, finally looking up at her son. Harley’s eyebrows knitted together. “With...everything going on, I- I think it would be best if you go to New York.”
“Wha-”
“And live with Tony Stark. Just to finish off your last semester of your Junior year and your Senior year. Tony said that he knows a STEM school up there that can give you a better education than Lakeview” Holly quickly explained, stern but caring.
“Woah-slow down- New York? Tony? You’ve already asked him?” Harley said, his eyebrows knitted tighter and his eyes wide. His mouth was hanging open slightly.
“Yes, I have.” Holly continued with a sigh. “He agreed. You will leave Friday after your exams, and transfer to Midtown High over Christmas Break.”
“Why did you not talk to me first? What if I don’t want to go?”
“Harley-”
“What about Abby, Mom? She is only 13, and you are always at the diner. She needs someone to take her to school, and walk her home, and-”
“Harley! Mrs. White has offered to let her ride to school with her and her kid, Denice, who is in the 6th grade. She knows how to take care of herself. She-We will be fine Harley. We will facetime everyday if you wish. But you are not fine Harley. Those boys-and the school-Harley you need to leave. Somewhere better. Please try and understand”
“Are you sure that you two will be fine?” Harley said as he crossed the room to stand in front of his mother.
“We will, I promise.”
“I-” Harley took a deep breath. “Wow. okay. Does Abby know?”
“I haven’t told her yet. I wanted to let you know first.”
“And Tony said yes?”
“Yes. We will miss you so much. We should tell Abby in the morning, but It’s late. You should go to bed.” Harley nodded. Holly brought her son for a long hug, and when they pulled apart she kissed his forehead. “Goodnight, sweetie”
“Goodnight Mom”
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Harley woke up in the morning, stretching as he pulled himself up to a sitting position. He sat on his bed a moment, a dazed expression on his face. The morning seemed so peaceful as he watched the dust appear and disappear through the rays of sunlight filtering through his window. Birds chirped outside languidly as he rubbed his eyes. He stretched his arms and legs and stood up, checking the clock. 6:00. He trudged his way and opened the door, walking to the kitchen. His mom had already left for the diner, as she always had. Harley opened the fridge and took out four eggs.
“Abby! Get up!” He yelled in the general direction of her room. He heard a muffled response. He took a pan out of the cabinet and placed it on the stove. As he was cracking the eggs into the pan, Abby appeared with wild hair and a blanket wrapped around her soldiers.
“Do we have to go to school today?” Abby complained, her voice still groggy from sleep.
“You ask that everyday. The answer is always going to be yes.” Harley replied, a slight smile on his face. Abby groaned and laid her face in her arms on the table.
“You know, maybe you should be cooking the eggs. Get a head start before I’m gone.” Harley mentioned, attention fully back onto the food.
“Nah. I’ll just have you do it for me every morning. Even when you go to college. You’ll have to stay at home just to cook me eggs in the morning.” Abby said, her face turned toward Harley, her face still laying in her crossed arms.
“Ahh. I see. Well that’s gonna be hard to come back every morning from New York.”
“New York? Is that where you're planning to go for college?”
“Not exact-”
“New York is so cool! I could spend a weekend up there with you and we could go see a Broadway show and look at Times Square.” Abby raised her head as she said this, excitement filling her eyes.
“Abby.” Harley immediately took a breath, moving the now scrambled eggs around the pan with the spatula he was holding. “I’m going to New York after Christmas. I’m moving up there for the rest of highschool.”
Abby just stared at Harley, her lips in a straight line. “Mmhmm. Okay. You sure you had enough sleep?”
Harley gave Abby an annoyed look over his shoulder. “No. I didn’t. But that has nothing to do with this. Mom called Tony and I’m going to high school up there now.” Harley said as he transferred the eggs onto a plate.
The silence of the room rang as Abby watched Harley grab the salt and pepper and sit the eggs on the table.
“New York?”
“Yes.”
“Serious?”
“Yeah.”
Harley looked at Abby as she grabbed the eggs from the plate.
“If you don’t want me to go just let me know and i'll-”
“No!, no. I want you to go. It’s for the best. I assume it’s because of everything?” Abby looked up at Harley as he gave a nod
“Mostly” He added.
“Then it’s for the best. I’m gonna miss you soo much though. We have to Facetime everyday.” Abby demanded, a slight smile on her face.
“Deal.” Harley added smiling back. “Now eat your eggs and get ready. We don’t want to be late for school. Again.”
===========
Harley opened his locker and took out his math book and binder. His eyes scanned the rest of the contents of the locker, making sure that he had gotten everything he needed. He shut his locker and turned around heading to Math class. Harley was excited to go to the new school in New York. It’s not that this school was horrible, he was just too advanced for it. He was in honors math, which was the highest his school offered and it was still way too easy for him. He felt like he shouldn’t be complaining about it, considering it let him have extra time to take care of the house and Abby. Finishing his responsibilities early gave him extra time to work in his garage as well. But he had lost all drive for school. He no longer had any motivation to do his homework and never paid attention in class, which got him into trouble. He swore that the simpleness of all the lessons had to be killing some of his brain cells. What’s the point of staying awake in class if the class is pointless for you anyway. Harley wasn’t a genius or anything either, but he definitely needed some more rigorous curriculum.
The school itself was very run-down. Black mold was in various places and it had a slightly serious cockroach infection. Constant leaks when it rained as well. Due to it being a public school in a small town with only around 500 students for the entire high school meant it didn’t get much government funding.
He walked into the math classroom. The teacher, Mr Graves, sat at his desk in the front of the classroom. Most people were already in the classroom. A few were tapping on their phones, some were already asleep again. Harley moved his way to the seat in the back of the classroom. He didn’t really pay attention in this class considering he already had practically mastered what the teacher was teaching. He had even started working chapters ahead of where the class was when he got extremely bored. A few minutes before the bell three guys walked into the room. They sauntered into the classroom laughing about something Danny, the leader of the pack, said. As they walked to their respective seats, Harley and Danny locked eyes like two cowboys about to have a duel in an old west movie. A second later, Mr Graves stood up and cleared his throat.
“Good morning class. Everyone sit down. We have a pop quiz today so we should get to it so y’all have enough time to finish it.”
Most of the room groaned. “Can we have it tomorrow? I think we should just have a relaxing day today.” Holden, one of Danny’s friends replied. Mr Graves just gave him a disappointed look and started handing out the papers. Holden sat down next to Harley and Jake, the third, sat down on the other side of Holden. Danny took a seat in front of Holden. The room went quiet as everyone in the room started working on the quiz. He could tell that Holden was peaking over at his quiz. The only reason that they were in honor math anyway was because they constantly cheated and Danny’s dad was the mayor of Rose Hill so he didn’t get in trouble and his friends got a free pass too. Harley sometimes wonders if that is the reason Jake still hangs out with them. He never really participated much in the others' antics and he usually looks really guilty.
Harley moved his arm to block Holden from seeing. Normally Harley would not care whether someone decided to cheat off him but he couldn’t get into anymore trouble with the school. He would definitely be the one blamed if Mr. Graves noticed the papers were the same. And yes, Holden would copy it exactly like what Harley had and so would Jake. Their school privilege really undid their creativity or common sense. Harley then glanced at Danny’s back. Usually Danny would sit behind Holden or Jake and also copy, so he wondered why he decided to choose the upper seat. Holden tried to glance at Harley’s paper again but saw that it was covered. Harley saw out of the corner of his eye Holden glancing at Jake with an annoyed shake of his head. Harley turned his focus on the quiz. This wouldn’t take him but 5 minutes. Harley sighed inwardly and quickly started answering the questions.
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Harley sat down at the lunch table, his two friends in a conversation. They were his friends, but they were more casual friends. The kind you could trust to do group projects with and help take you to the nurse if your nose is broken but not to tell your secrets to. When Harley arrived, Melanie and Phil’s heads turned toward Harley.
“Perfect! Harley! Me and Phil are gonna go down to Gregory’s shop after school. Are you gonna join?” Melanie asked, with the same bright energy she had every day. Harley wondered where she got all of that joy. He sure needed some.
“I ca-”
“Can’t. You can’t. Why do we ever expect a different answer, Mel?” Phil interrupted, looking toward Melanie, with a non-serious annoyed look on his face.
“We’re pitifully hopeful, Phil” Melanie responded with a joking roll of her eyes and a slight smirk. “You have to take care of your sister?”
“Yeah. There’s something else, though.” Harley responded, finally sitting down.
Both of their attentions zeroed in on Harley.
“I- I’m not coming back after Christmas break.” Harley took a quick pause to glance at both of them. “I’m going to New York.”
There was a slight pause and Harley looked in between both of them, waiting for their reaction.
“New York?” You’re serious?” Phil asked, looking shocked.
“Yeah”
“Why?” Melanie asked, looking equally as shocked.
“There’s a really good STEM school up there. Better education, and um, get away from here honestly.” Harley replied.
“Yeah. Those three have been after you for two years now. Probably for the best” Melanie said
“Who are you gonna stay with?” Phil added
“Uh- Tony Stark”
“TO-”
“Shhh! Shut up!” Harley interrupted Phil.
“Kinda makes sense, didn’t he break into your garage when you were ten?” Melanie asked
“Yeah.”
“Well. We are happy for you.” Melanie continued
“And we will miss you a bunch.” Phil added.
“Thanks guys. I’ll miss y’all too.”
“Oh! Harley, how did you think you did on the quiz?” Melanie asked.
“There’s a quiz?!” Phil exclaimed.
===========
Harley opened the doors of the school, ready to head home. Exams were the next week and he needed to “study”. He didn’t really need to study, especially considering that he wasn’t even gonna be here next week, but he usually helped Abby with hers.
Suddenly, Danny stepped in front of Harley.
“Hey Harley!” Holden said as he came up from behind Harley and put his arm over Harley’s shoulder like they were friends.
“What do you want?” Harley asked, shrugging off Holden.
“I wanna know why you blocked my view of your quiz paper today.” Holden answered
“We had a deal, Holden and Jake are part of that deal as well.” Danny added.
“We never had a deal. You made a demand and I never agreed. It’s not my fault that you’re too stupid to pass a quiz without having to leech off of me.”
“You wanna say that again? You say we’re the stupid ones but you keep forgetting who you’re talking to.” Danny cut in
“I don’t forget. I just don’t take orders from assholes whose greatest asset is their daddies’ money.”
“Shut up” Danny said, him and Holden moving closer and Jake looking uncomfortable in the back.
“Why would I? You never do.” As he said that a fist connected with his jaw.
Harley stumbled back and immediately put up his fists. Holden then threw a punch, which Harley ducked under and then punched Danny in the nose. He heard a crack. Holden then grabbed him and threw him to the ground. Before Harley could get up, Danny’s foot hit Harley’s face and Holden was on the ground punching Harley. Harley managed to shove Holden off when he heard Jake.
“Guys! Let’s go. I think he’s got the point.” Jake sounded uncomfortable and a bit scared.
Jake kicked Harley once more and all three of them left.
Harley pulled himself off the ground. He wasn’t bleeding and he could tell some bruises were forming, but he was sure nothing was broken.
He headed toward the middle school doors to pick up Abby.
==========
Harley entered the house with Abby walking in right after him.
“Harley?” Holly said.
“Ma?” Harley asked, surprised.
“Mom?” Abby parroted.
Holly came into the living room and hesitated as she saw Harley’s face. She sighed.
“What happened? Those boys again?” Holly asked, beckoning Harley to sit down on the couch and headed to get an ice pack.
“Who else?” Abby asked hypothetically, sitting on the old, fraying chair next to the old, fraying couch.
“Why are you home early? It’s only 3:30” Harley said.
“I took off early. There’s- there’s something I need to tell you before you go to New York” Holly said as she sat on the couch and started dabbing the ice pack gently on his face. Harley and Abby stayed quiet as they waited for an answer but Holly did not continue.
“Ma?” Harley asked. Holly sighed and looked at the carpet.
“First I want you to know that everything I have ever done was try and give you and your sister the best life I could. I need you to listen and not interrupt me until I’ve fully explained.” Holly looked toward Harley and he nodded, with a confused look on his face.
“When I was in my last year of college, I took a paid for trip to New York for a final reporting grade. I went with some friends in the same major. There… I partied a lot. And I met Tony at a club. We- When I got home- Two weeks after I got home I found out that I was pregnant. I knew it was Tony’s because he was the only man that I slept with within a plausible amount of time. I told my parents, your grandparents, and as you know, them being devout Catholics, they threw me out. I was with Darrell at that point. I was homeless, I had no money. I stayed with a friend at that time and I spent the night with Darrell. Two weeks later I took another pregnancy test and I told him that you were his. I wanted you to have a father. And I did love Darrell. Soon after I married him. And we had Abby. But he isn’t your real father Harley.” Holly finished her story and looked at Harley. He sat staring at his mother. Harley turned his head and looked at Abby who looked equally as shocked as he did. He glanced back at his mother and then turned his gaze toward the carpet.
“Are you saying that I- that Tony- he’s- he’s my…” Harley asked, unable to finish the sentence.
“Tony Stark is your father. Your biological father” Holly finished, sympathetically.
“Does Tony know?” Harley asked.
“No. He was really drunk that night. I- I don’t think he remembers.”
“Why didn’t you tell him?” Abby cut in
“A lot of reasons. I didn’t have a home to raise you. And I couldn’t crash on my friend’s couch forever. I thought that if Darrell thought it was his we had a chance of a normal life. You had a chance of a father. Which didn’t work out in the end. Tony back then, he definitely wasn’t ready for a kid. And how many women call him, claiming to be pregnant? I didn’t want him to refuse you before you were even born. And what if he wanted you? He lives in New York. And he’s rich. He could’ve taken you away from me. And you, Harley, you and Abby are the best things in my life.” Holly said as she cupped Harley’s cheek in her hand and reached over and squeezed Abby’s hand.
“Why did you never tell me?” Harley asked. No anger in his voice. He was still in shock.
“I wanted you to have a normal life. And I knew you would have wanted to see him. And I was afraid he would reject you. That’s why it was so strange when he crashed here 7 years ago, it was such a strange coincidence. I thought about telling you, but you were young. I was scared. I’m sorry.”
Harley sat there, staring at the carpet. The room stayed quiet for a few seconds that seemed to last forever.
Harley got up off of the couch and walked to his room, slamming the door shut.
=======
The next few days went by slowly. Harley helped Abby with her upcoming exams and got ready for him. He was starting to pack for New York when he heard two knocks on his open door. Harley turned around and saw his mother standing at the door.
“Can I come in?” Holly asked.
“Yeah”
Holly walked in and started helping Harley fold clothes to put in the suitcase.
“I'm not mad. I was a little at first. But I understand why you did what you did. And I’m not mad.” Harley said. He turned to look at his mom. “And you will always be my mother. And I love you.”
Holly immediately brought Harley into a hug. “Thank you, baby. I will always love you.”
“When I go, should I tell Tony?” Harley asked when they broke the hug.
“If you want to. I will support you with whatever you decide.” Holly replied.
“Okay. I don’t know yet.”
“That’s okay. Just let me know when you figure it out.” Holly said.
“I will. Imma head to bed for tonight. I love you.”
“Love you too.”
====
The next day Harley was helping Abby study for her last exam, when she suddenly turned to him.
“I know we’re not technically fully siblings anymore I guess, biologically, I mean, but you are my brother. And nothing's gonna change that.” Abby said.
“Abby. It wouldn’t matter if my dad was Tony Stark or Darrell or the old man that always buys the number 5 combo and coleslaw and the diner,” Abby scrunched her nose and chuckled. “You will always be my sister. And nothings gonna change that.”
“And you will always be my big brother.”
Harley pulled Abby into a bear hug. “I love you, you little munchkin.”
“I love you too you big munchkin”