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“How was Macy’s party, squirt?” Harley asks. They’re sat together in the living room of May’s apartment in Queens. May and Peter are out doing the shopping together, having left Leia with Harley while he was finishing some homework and Leia was still napping. He’s finished now and she’s awake, still in her princess dress, curls mused slightly. Harley chuckles when she huffs.
“Gracie’s party,” She corrects him with a roll of her eyes. Harley shrugs one of his shoulders with a laugh.
“Sure, yeah. Tracey. You have a good time?”
“Uh huh,” She nods happily. “Saw Gracie’s daddy kiss her mama,” Leia tells him, looking up at him from the picture she’s colouring in.
“Did you?” Harley tries his best to sound casual about it, he’s honest, because he knows that Leia, as clever as she is, doesn’t quite grasp the concept of adult relationships yet and how complicated they are, and will not appreciate the absolute quality of the gossip she’s just given Harley. He cannot wait to tell Peter about Miss Miller and her ex-husband kissing at their daughter’s birthday party less than a month after their divorce has been finalised.
“Yeah,” Leia agrees. She doesn’t say anything more as she crawls into Harley’s lap. He pretends to ignore her as she pokes her finger into his cheek repeatedly. “Harls.”
“Oh. Hello there, Leia,”
“You kiss my daddy,”
“I do,” Harley nods slowly, not quite sure what angle Leia is going for. “Because I love him. Like Gracie’s mama loves her daddy,” Leia nods her head, reaching over to pick her picture back up. Harley uses his foot to drag the box of crayons closer to them, so Leia can reach them without getting up from Harley’s lap.
“Does that make you my mama?” She asks as she picks up the box and takes out a blue crayon. If she notices, she doesn’t mention the way Harley suddenly goes stiff underneath her. He tries to open his mouth to say something, anything, but it’s like his brain has short-circuited. “Because,” Leia continues like nothing’s wrong. “I’d like it if you were my mama, Harls,” He smiles tightly when Leia peers up at him.
“That’s…something you’ll have to talk to daddy about, sweetheart,”
“Okay,” Leia smiles. She wriggles on his lap, turning around to show him the picture she’s drawn. “Look!”
“Uh huh,” Harley nods. He takes the piece of paper out of her hand. He studies it carefully. “This is…lovely. What…is it?”
“It’s a cow,” She tells him like Harley’s being stupid. “Moo?”
“Right. Of course. Moo. And what’s the cow doing?”
“She’s fightin’ aliens,” Leia huffs. She points at the paper, at the muddy green splodges around the edges of the page, aggressively. “Look! See. Aliens. Like Daddy fights. An’ Uncle Tony,”
“Oh. Yeah. I see them now,”
“Do you not like it?” She asks, eyes starting to get wet. Harley smiles quickly.
“No, I love it, sweetheart. It’s lovely. Very beautiful. She’s a very brave cow. Fightin’ all those aliens,”
“Thank you,” Leia nods. She grins when she hears the door unlock. “Daddy!” She calls, jumping up from Harley’s lap and running towards the door. Harley’s smile drops when he is out of Leia’s eyeline. He listens, barely, to Peter and May both gushing over Leia’s picture, and he doesn’t move until May comes to stand in front of him.
“Honey?” She asks softly, frowning when Harley jumps at the sound of her voice. “Honey, are you alright?”
“Yeah,” Harley grins up at her. He tries to ignore the way May’s frown deepens. “Yeah. I’m good. Of course. You want help putting this away?” He doesn’t wait for an answer before he takes the bags from May’s hands and rushes into the kitchen. He’s working mainly on auto pilot as he puts the items away, thinking back over the conversation he had with Leia.
“Harls!” Peter grins as he peers around the corner of the kitchen into the room. “You gonna come and watch a film with us before Leia goes to bed?”
Later that night, after they’ve eaten their dinner and watched a film, Peter is giving Leia a bath when the topic comes up again. Peter’s patient as he waits for Leia to bring up what’s bothering her, has noticed that something’s been off since he came back from the shops with May. She’s been quiet, and at first he assumed she was just tired, but no matter how tired she is, Leia never passes up on the opportunity to splash around in the bath, getting all her toys out and getting bubbles all over the bathroom.
Harley’s been acting weird as well, but Peter can figure that out later.
“What’s wrong, pumpkin?” He asks when she pushes one of her ducks around the bath half-heartedly. Leia doesn’t hesitate to ask him. Her voice is quiet, but Peter’s hears her crystal clear.
“Is Harls my mama?”
“Um,” Peter blinks once, twice, before he swallows. “What?”
“I saw Gracie’s daddy kiss her mama,” Leia explains with a frown on her face. “Miss Anna says that mamas and daddies kiss. And you and Harls kiss,”
“That…that doesn’t make him your mama, sweetheart,” He says softly, using a tumbler to pour some water over her head, making sure all the shampoo is rinsed out.
“Oh,” She frowns. She reaches for the duck again, only to squeeze it once and let it float away again.
“What’s wrong?” Peter’s voice is almost a whisper. Leia’s voice matches when she replies.
“Wanted Harls to be my mama,”
“You want Harls to be your mama?”
“Hmm,” Leia peers up at Peter, eyes wide. “Is he…allowed to be my mama,” Peter smiles.
“Well, you know how some people have two daddies?” He asks. Leia nods up at him. “Wouldn’t Harls be another daddy?”
“But…” Leia frowns. She thinks for a moment. “But you’re my daddy.”
“I know,” Peter smiles and Leia pokes his cheek with a wet finger. “But-”
“So Harls can’t be my daddy, because you’re my daddy,” She interrupts. She looks up at her father with a confused look on her face. “Right? Confusing. What if…what if there was two Leia’s. How would I know if you were talking to me and not the…the other?”
“Well.” Peter shifts slightly on his knees. “Well, yeah, okay. But, he could be your dada, or your-”
“My mama?” Peter gives her a small smile.
“You really want him to be your mama, huh?”
“Is…is that allowed?” Leia asks. Peter smiles before the frown on her face can grow any more. He runs a hand through her hair and cups her cheek gently.
“Of course it’s allowed. Harls can be your mama if you want him to. And if he wants to be.” Leia grins up at her daddy.
“Hey,” Harley greets Peter when he comes into his bedroom. “She asleep?”
“Yeah,” Peter smiles as he lays down on the bed. He raises his arms, making grabby hands, beckoning him to join him from his place at Peter’s desk. He grins, a gentle smile, as he joins Peter on his bed. “She had three different books. Had to stop her getting up and start to play around. She had a lot of energy,”
“Did she?”
“Hmm,” Peter smiles. He pulls Harley into his arms, hugging him tightly, as if stopping him running away. “She told me what you two talked about before,”
“What, about aliens and cows in space?”
“About you being her mama.”
“Oh,” Harley, for the record, does try to pull away from Peter. It’s a waste of his time, with the way Peter barely even moves despite the way Harley puts his whole effort into the movement. “I’m…I’m sorry.”
“Why are you sorry?”
“Because I’m not her mother. And…she said that and I-”
“Harls.”
“-don’t want you thinking I’m trying to replace Bella because I’m not-”
“Harls.”
“-and I completely understand if you’re mad and want me to leave because-”
“Harley.” Peter places a hand over Harley’s mouth, stopping the torrent of words coming out of his mouth. When Harley stops trying to talk, he removes it. “Shut up. I’m not mad,”
“You’re…you’re not?”
“Of course, I’m not mad,” Peter scoffs. “Why would I be mad?”
“Because-”
“Because my daughter loves you? Because she wants you to be a part of her life? Yeah, Harls, I’m absolutely livid that you make her feel safe and you make her feel loved. How dare you.” He says dryly.
“But-”
“And, listen, I know you’re not Bee. Leia knows you’re not Bee too, but here’s the thing, Harls. Bee’s…Bee’s not coming back,” He smiles sadly. “And I loved Bee. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t love you,”
“Peter-”
“Leia loves you, Harls. And I love you.”
“And I love you, but that doesn’t mean-”
“You do know you’re already her other parent, don’t you?”
“What?”
“Honestly.” Peter shakes his head. He pulls away from Harley enough to give him a disbelieving look. “You’re stupid sometimes. We’ve been together since she was a year old, Harls. You’re a part of her life, and whether you like it or not, you’re her other parent.”
“Oh.”
“Did you really not know?”
“No I just…just thought she liked me,”
“She loves you, you idiot. She adores you. She wants you to be her mama, Harls, because she loves you,”
“She…wants me to be her mama?”
“Yeah. She loves you,”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. ‘Oh’.” Peter grins. “You want to be her mama?”
“I…”
“It’s okay if you don’t, Harls. She’ll understand,”
“No, I…I’d love to. Are you…are you sure?” Peter grips Harley’s hand, rubbing his thumb along the back of it.
“Harley, you think if I didn’t want you to be her parent, if I didn’t want you to be involved in her life, I’d want you hanging out with her?” Harley doesn’t say anything, but he doesn’t meet Peter’s eyes. Peter sighs quietly. “You remember when we first started dating? Before we got together and I introduced you to her?”
“Yeah?”
“I told you that Leia would always be my first priority.” Harley nods his head slowly. “She will be. Always. And that’s not going to change. Ever. You think I’d let you be involved in her life at all if I didn’t trust you with her life?”
“No?”
“No. But I do, Harls. And I want you to be a part of her life. And I get that we’re young and stuff but…she’s our kid, you know?”
“She is?”
“Yeah, you idiot,” Peter grins. He bashes his shoulder against Harley’s gently. “You’ve been her parent for two years. This is just making things official,”
“Are you-”
“Harley, I swear if you ask if I’m sure once more I’m going to kick you out of this bed,” Peter tells him, half serious. The seriousness is betrayed by the grin on his face. “Yes?” Harley peers up at Peter’s face. He stares for a moment before he smiles.
“Yeah.”
It doesn’t happen for a while. And when it does happen, it’s on a particularly bad day. Peter’s on a mission with Clint and Natasha. He’s been gone for two days, and it’s the longest Leia’s ever gone without seeing him and she misses him. She hasn’t seen him for so long and she doesn’t know when her daddy’s meant to be coming home and it’s making her so sad.
She’s staying at the tower. May’s staying there too, her and Tony having decided that it will probably be easier for Leia if she can spend time with as many people as possible, but it doesn’t really matter how much time she spends with Tony or Pepper or Sammy or Stevie or even Buck, she just misses her daddy.
May and Happy pick her up from play group. Leia’s still napping, and Miss Anna tells May that she’s spent most of the day on her own, not wanting to play with Lucas or Renee, and she barely made a sound until it was nap time, when she started bawling. She’s barely been asleep for half an hour by the time they pick her up.
Happy drives them as quickly as he safely can back to the tower, trying to limit the amount of time Leia has to spend in a moving vehicle in a car seat that, no matter how much Tony splashed out on, he can’t imagine to be any sort of comfortable. He and May don’t speak during the drive, the music not playing through the speakers. They don’t talk on their way up to the penthouse, either, but Leia still wakes up on the way up in the lift. She sniffles.
“Daddy.”
“Oh, sweet pea,” May coos, kissing Leia’s cheek softly. “Daddy’s still working, honey pie,”
“Wan’ Daddy,” She whines pitifully as the lift doors open. Tony and Pepper, both sat on the couch in the middle of the room, look up at the sound. They smile sadly when Leia glances at them. She hides her face back in May’s neck.
“You wanna give Uncle Tony a hug, baby bug?” May rhymes, swaying Leia on her hip. Leia shakes her head.
“Wan’ Daddy!”
“Sweetheart,” Tony sighs sadly, standing and walking over towards them. “Hi, turtle bug,” She doesn’t lift her head away from May’s shoulder, just turns it so she can look up at Tony. She sniffles again.
“Wan’ Daddy,” Leia repeats. “Please,”
“I’m sure he’ll be back soon, petal,” Pepper tells her, locking her phone and slipping it into her pocket. “Nat said it should be a pretty easy mission. I’m sure he’ll be back soon with something special for you,” She elbows Tony harshly when she hears him muttering something that sounds like ‘if he’s got any sense’.
“Pep, you okay?” A voice calls, footsteps following from down the hallway. “FRIDAY said…”
As soon as Leia notices Harley in the room, she reaches her hands out and grabs for him.
“Mama,” Harley coos softly as he makes his way over to the group. As soon as he’s in reaching distance, Leia is pushing herself away from May’s body, trying to jump into Harley’s arms. He’s gentle as he helps Leia settle herself on his hip. She links her arms around Harley’s neck, presses her face into his skin. “Mama,”
“Hi, peach,” He murmurs, pressing a kiss onto the top of her head. “How’re you feelin’?”
“Miss Daddy,” Leia mumbles, muffled by Harley’s neck. “Miss him so much,”
“I know, baby. So do I,” Harley whispers it like it’s a secret, trying to ignore the way he can feel all eyes in the room on the two of them. “You have a good nap, at least?”
“No!” Leia suddenly wails, voice loud enough in Harley’s ear to make him jump. “No! I-I d-did-”
“Hey,” Harley reaches a hand up and places it on the back of her head. “Hey, take a breath for me, sweetness. Big and deep, like this,” He encourages her to breath for a few minutes, waiting until she breathes without choking on air. “There we go. Hey,” He smiles when Leia lifts her head from Harley’s shoulder. “Hi,”
“Mama,”
“I know, baby,” He makes the movements small as he lifts a hand to comb through Leia’s hair. His fingers are gentle as he pulls them through the curls, rocking softly from side to side. He smiles kindly when Leia peers up at him, eyes blinking slowly, eyes staying closed for a few moments longer each time.
“Stay, Mama?”
“Of course, angel,” With the confirmation that Harley’s not going to leave her, she lets her eyes close, settling her head back onto Harley’s shoulder. He keeps rocking her even when he’s sure she’s asleep, keeping a hand running through her hair.
“So,” Tony’s voice is quiet from next to Harley. The teen looks up at him. “You’re ‘mama’ now?”
“I guess,” Harley smiles. “Yeah.”