Chapter Text
Harley Keener was one unlucky son of a bitch. Or so he always thought. He was the scrawny short kid in his class for years before he shot up like a weed in eighth grade and became the lanky tall kid. Harley was six feet and two inches of chaos and clumsiness for seventeen years, and despite his height, he was still bullied. Like they tell you to when you’re a kid, he tried to ignore it, but that didn’t make it go away. And when he was outed at 14 for kissing the only openly gay kid in town behind the bleachers at a football game, his luck got worse. He wasn’t just bullied for being a dork with no coordination. Now he was bullied for being queer, too.
He refused to tell his little sister, Abbie. She was 12, and she didn’t need to know that her big brother was bullied. He needed to be strong for her because he was all she had, aside from a mother who didn’t care. But then the mother who didn’t care fucked off with her boyfriend Mike, and it was just Harley and Abbie. Until they were threatened to be put in foster care, and Tony found out.
Now, here they were, on a plane by themselves headed to New York fucking City because Tony promised to look out for Harley, and he needed a home. He had signed the adoption papers about two days after Katie fucked off, and he tracked her down to force her to give up the rights to the Keener kids, just to make it easier on everyone. A private jet was offered to them, but Harley declined, not wanting Abbie to get too excited, and he still needed some time to accept the fact that his life would now be changing drastically.
Harley called it bad luck that his dad fucked off, then his mom a few years later. And it was bad luck that he was bullied from fourth grade to junior year for his intelligence, his size, and his sexuality. It was also bad luck that he was moving to New York because it was such a massive change. He loved Tony, he really did, and he appreciated absolutely everything the guy did for him and his sister, but New York was a monster he wasn’t exactly ready to face.
The flight was over far sooner than Harley wanted it to be. His mind was running wild with all the possibilities of being mugged, getting murdered, or either of those things happening to Abbie. It was a nightmare, and he was spiraling, just seconds away from a panic attack when he was forced out of his seat and into the aisle by his little sister’s strong grip. He couldn’t allow himself to panic, anyway, not in front of Abbie. She didn’t need to know how much he struggled, especially in a completely foreign place.
Harley was prepared to have to take a cab to the tower, where Tony said they’d be living, so he was surprised to see someone waiting at baggage claim for the two of them. Tony had mentioned this guy before, so Harley would know him anywhere. This was none other than Happy Hogan.
The Keener siblings made their way to Happy, who looked extremely bored with his sunglasses on indoors, and Happy greeted them with a small smile and obligatory small talk. He asked how they were doing, how the flight was, what grades they were going into this year, and everything else that your uncle asks you when you visit him once a year for Christmas. Harley liked Happy, as much as he could without ever meeting the guy before this day, and he appreciated the attempts to make them comfortable. Because of that, the car ride wasn’t uncomfortable. Abbie started asking Happy about his job and the duties that came with it, and Happy was clearly ecstatic at the chance to brag about it. If you asked Harley, he thought Happy’s job was important, but he would have been bored out of his mind if it was his job.
Harley was the definition of a STEM kid. He’d been taking things apart and putting them back together since before he hit double digits, which he used to attribute to his ADHD, but he knew at least part of his fixation had to do with his natural attraction to science. A very distinct memory in his mind was of playing with his childhood friend Daniel’s LEGO sets and creating brand new things that didn’t match the instructions. Daniel wasn’t the biggest fan of that when he was trying to put the set together, but Harley always took his creations apart in favor of helping his friend.
So, in other words, being head of security for a major company sounded terrible to Harley.
Spending most of the drive thinking about what it would be like to live in the famous Avengers/Stark Tower and attend his last year of high school in Manhattan, Harley had zoned out and didn’t notice they had reached the building until the car came to a full stop and Happy exited the car. Abbie turned to him with a look of anxious excitement on her face before she jumped out of the car. After a deep breath, Harley joined her.
Harley felt like he might fall over in shock. Of course he had seen pictures of the tower before, but they did not do it justice. He’d lived in Rose Hill, Tennessee his whole life, so Harley had never even seen a skyscraper in person, and dear god was the name accurate. Abbie had to drag him into the building like she dragged him out of the airplane, and the lobby was perhaps an even bigger shock. He didn’t have much time to really look at things before he was thrust forward to the front desk.
A woman who appeared to be in her early thirties with light blonde hair was sitting behind the desk, talking into an earpiece that was practically invisible it was so small. After a moment, she turned to look at the Keener siblings and Happy standing right next to them. “Hi, I’m Margaret. What can I do for you?” She directed her question more towards Happy, but the introduction was meant for the kids.
“I’m here to pick up two security passes for a Harley James Keener and an Abigail Grace Keener.”
“Ah, yes. Mr. Stark had these prepared temporarily before you two are inputted in Friday’s scanners.” Margaret placed two badges on the desk that seemed basic, but the sides read “Platinum” in big bold letters. Harley and Abbie each took one and clipped it to their jackets. “Mr. Hogan, I’ve been requested to remind you that Mr. Stark is waiting on the residential floors with Mrs. Potts.”
“Did he say which of the floors?”
Margaret shook her head. “No, sorry. Friday should know, but he didn’t specify to me.”
Happy nodded, seeming unsurprised, and neither was Harley. He was almost certain Tony wouldn’t even be on a residential floor. Tony was probably tucked away in his workshop testing out some new gear. So, of course, as soon as they stepped in one of the glass elevators, Happy addressed Friday, the tower’s AI.
“Friday, can you let Tony know the kids are here?”
“Of course, sir.” Both Abbie and Harley were startled at the sound of Friday’s Irish accent echoing around the elevator.
“Where is he right now?”
“Boss is currently on Floor 3 of the Residential Floors. The Real Boss is with him.”
Harley couldn’t help but laugh at what he knew to be Pepper’s nickname in Friday’s system. She was the CEO of Stark Industries, after all.
“Great. Take us there, Friday.”
“Of course, sir.”