Chapter Text
Four years…
Four years in prison.
Sure, his mother had gone in on minor offenses, sometimes up to six months where Harley would end up staying with his mee-maw.
This was just reality for him, and for the most part he was alright with it… but mee-maw is gone now… and four years is a long time in the foster system.
He would be eighteen by the time his mother was out.
Harley had always tried to be grateful that he at least had somewhere to go when his mom fell back into jail time, but now he didn’t.
He had nowhere to go. Now all he had was his foster mother Martha and her eight cats.
Just the trial had been hell. Going into an emergency placement while they tried to figure out what would happen during court.
Him having to testify as if he knew anything about what was happening.
As if he had any say in what would happen with his mom's sentencing.
Every time they held this carrot on a string that good behavior would get him into better placements. Really meaning to stay out of jail himself and not ruin this case.
He didn’t just have good behavior, quite the contrary all things considered, he had a sparkling record that boasted straight A’s and lots of potential for good colleges.
He wasn’t in a bad place now, all things considered. It was just a mixed bag.
If at any point Martha decides she doesn't want him there, he’ll be breaking out the trash bag and moving again.
He just wants to be able to go home and everything be okay.
That was the only thing carrying him through his mothers trial, the false hope that once all this is over, his mom will have somehow already served her sentence, and he would get to go back home. That wasn’t going to happen this time.
Harley knew from day one that his mom was gonna be screwed into a prison cell for a good long while, even if he refused to acknowledge it then.
Everything still hasn't set in as Harley sat in the empty visitation room across from his mother.
Two bleak, uncomfortable chairs and a table, a large window with shades half drawn, giving the illusion of privacy, as he looked back at his mother. Harley didn’t know what to say.
He had nothing to say at this point. He had seen this visitation room enough.
Thirty days on Christmas, ninety days on Easter. He celebrated his sixteenth birthday in the visitation rooms, and now… was he expected to graduate here?
Celebrate turning eighteen here? Be accepted to college here?
How long was he supposed to make the trek out to her and how long until she stopped landing herself in here so she could finally be there for him instead of the other way around.
the dark part of his brain wondered if she liked it here in some weird way, away from her family, away from him, not having to worry about anything other than whatever prison drama was going on.
That same dark part of his brain supplied the morbid curiosity on if he would like it in here too, on if it would make his mother feel bad and finally understand how much she’s messed up.
If she finds out that her sweet little Harley just landed himself in the same jail she was in, would she finally take this seriously.
He wouldn’t entertain that, he couldn’t.
That would stoop him to her level and he didn’t want that. Knew that if he landed himself in here with her, then he would end up in the same cycle she was in.
He figured that the worst part of all of this was that there was no reason for her to be back this time.
He could rationalize drug charges, and theft, even that one time for indecent exposure.
But this?
He had to wonder what Robert would be saying.
Harley had been seeing the same therapist for years by Me maw's request to his mother… more so a condition for her to see Harley again.
Everything Robert had ever said about empathy and understanding was currently throwing itself out the window though, and he couldn’t help but feel like the same broken little eight year old getting the call that mama was in jail again, and he would be staying with Me maw. like the first time he sat with his mother here.
The same fluorescent lights overhead bathing everything in a sickly shade of gray.
“You're not going into foster care sweetie.” she said finally, breaking Harley out of his thoughts.
Harley just nodded along with her at this point, what could she do about it anyway?
Did she not realize he was already in foster care?
Didn’t realize that he had no legal guardian anymore.
Was she trying to pretend that all of this wasn’t her fault?
Looking at her with her hair disheveled in a messy bun, wearing a white t-shirt and orange pants. Looking tired and run down while entirely guiltless.
This happened too much… and it sucked.
He had seen this too much.
Of all the memories he had of his mother, all the different hairstyles, makeup, outfits.
All the different places he had been with her and seen her, sixteen years to make all those memories of her outside of here, Whenever he thinks of his mother, imagines what she looks like, all he can see is here sitting just like this in the visiting rooms.
That same look after her sentence, about to beg him for forgiveness without doing any actual work.
“I-i haven't always been honest about your dad.” she started nervously, eyes trained on him even as he tried to look away.
“He-the man who i said was your dad, well he wasn’t,” she sighed regretfully, while Harley kept his eyes trained on the table.
He wasn’t all that surprised honestly, his mom always had a lot of ‘special friends’ that he wasn't supposed to tell dad about.
It wasn’t hard to believe that his deadbeat father was never his dad to begin with.
“Your dad… god, he was something. A genius just like you.” she smiled at him in the same tone that told Harley everything would be okay.
The one she used when he was upset.
The one she used every time she called to tell him she landed in jail again.
Or when she was asking for his forgiveness with tears in her eyes.
Harley could see the tears welling up already.
“I know what you're gonna say, why didn’t you ever reach out to him? Well, he’s a hard person to contact… and it always…” she sighed, noting the resigned look on Harley's face.
“I was afraid of what everyone would say. him, His co-workers, the media. It all was so… terrifyin' and I never knew how to broach it. But… all a’ this.” she gestured vaguely.
“I reached out to him, took me about twelve calls too.” she chuckled with no humor behind it.
“I explained everything’ that DNA test you did one time after frank left? That's when I found out. I was able to get it sent over to him and… He- he’s willin’ to take you in.” she said carefully, waiting for Harleys reaction.
Still Harley just stared at the table Blankley not wanting to take in what he was hearing.
He didn’t want to go live with some random stranger who shared his DNA.
He didn’t want to go stay with Martha and her endless puzzles.
He just wanted to go home.
He wanted to go to Me maws and have her bake cookies.
Or he wanted to go home with his mom and order take out.
He didn’t want anything that was happening to him, and yet there was fuck all he could do about it.
“Mom…” he started, finally looking up, giving her that sad emotion filled look she had expected to see- no, that she wanted to see.
“Yeah baby?” she asked, tears beginning to fall so she could cry her way to forgiveness yet again.
Harley's gaze darkened at that.
His mental image of his mom reflects this very sight, jaw setting tightly as he remembered when his mom recited the same apology on two separate occasions.
“You stole a fucking car! You CRASHED IT! Into city property! The fact you got off with only four years is a fucking miracle! I don’t give a shit about who my dad is! The fact you stole a car right after Me maws fucking funeral! Leaving me to deal with this shit! Don’t you think that's worth addressing rather than crying?” he yelled, all the anger bubbling back up on him that he had been saving for his therapist, his therapist that he didn’t get to go to anymore.
His mom just cried silently, unmoving till Harley seemed to be done yelling.
“I can’t make up for what I've done, not to you. Not now. I have to serve my time before I can.” she sighed.
‘Cop out answer’ Harley thought to himself.
“Your dad- his name is Tony, he’ll be out here soon, he lives in new York, got a nice place there too.” she soldiered on with her explanation despite the rising fire from Harley.
“Movin’ to New York…” was all he said before getting up and leaving without another word.
“Taking out your anger onto another person is unproductive, despite how good it feels in the moment wont make up for the fall out later.'' Roberts' voice echoed as Harley just kept walking out the door of the visitation areas and attempting to leave the building entirely, only to be stopped by the CPS worker who pulled him into a different visitation room down the hall so he didn’t have to see his mom being lead back to her holding cell until they could transfer her to the county prison.
“Your dad will be here soon.” was all she said, handing him a can of coke and a vending machine sandwich before sitting back in her chair opposite him.
“Normally y’all leave for me to stew in here alone.” Harley comments, not touching the food.
And it was true, they’d leave him in the room, without anything to eat or drink till his grandma came to pick him up. Now she was sitting next to him with food in reach.
“These are… different then our normal circumstances, Harley.” was all she said
That was new as well.
Normally they just called him Mr. Keener, or by his case number.
“What? this some new York big shot?:” he joked.
She didn’t respond to that, leaving them in an uncomfortable silence to wait.
There wasn’t ever anything to do here. Nothing too busy with his hands, in his current status as ‘ward of the state’ he was basically a piece of property for them to lock away until they saw fit.
No matter how loudly he was bouncing his leg against the concrete, or how much he kept tipping back in his chair.
His dad was coming soon.
Not the frank though, the dad he remembers. a different dad, from New York that he’d never even met.
How did his mom even get with a new Yorker? Maybe he traveled a lot? Ended up in Tennessee for whatever reason and had a one night stand with his mom? Then how did his mother have
his number even after all this time?
What if he already had a family? Had laid down roots that Harley was destroying by mere existence.
He didn’t know what was worse, living with people who were paid to keep him, or the idea of someone he was meant to share DNA with that he knew nothing about. A whole person, someone that everyone had in their lives, except Harley.
He still remembers on fathers day being told to ‘just make a card for your mom’ Other kids teased him because he didn’t have a dad, calling his mother the local whore.
Grumpy old men saying in hush tones that Harley was gonna wind up gay cause he didn't have a strong male influence.
Even when his mom knew about his dad, probably had for years and never told Harley.
Why wouldn’t she tell him? Was he some bad guy she wanted to protect him from? Was there something wrong with him? Even after who he thought was his dad left, she could have still told him about Tony.
Tony.
It wasn’t a bad horrible name, just a very new York name.
Looking around with exactly no distractions in sight, there was nothing for Harley to do right now but wonder about him.
Harley always assumed he got the blonde hair and blue eyes from his mom, but what about his dad? What did he have? His mom said that he was a genius, so presumably had a job in science or medicine rather than meth like all the other “geniuses” in his town.
He was coming all the way from New York too. Surly the meth industry there was over saturated
and a tough market.
Was he flying to get here? Harley had never even been on a plane before.
If he was flying here then that would tell Harley that Tony was able to afford a plane ticket. His mom wasn’t even able to afford gas prices sometimes.
If he had that money then why did his mother never try for child support? Had she been rejected? Was his dad the reason they lived in a run down farm and not somewhere that didn’t need two Brita filters just to get clean drinking water?
Harley had barely even been out of Tennessee.
The fact that he would be going to New York of all places, honestly sounded cliché, and more than a little daunting.
He wasn’t sure how long he sat there in contemplation like this, the social worker doing something on her phone as some kind of commotion could be heard outside of the door.
“Your fathers here.” the social worker said abruptly. She stood up and began rushing to make the already empty room tidier, shifting the untouched sandwich and drink to be more visible somehow, closer to Harley with the labels pointed at the door. straightening her clothes, shuffling paper and sitting up straight.
“New york big shot then?” Harley stated this time, rather than asking by the way she seemed to anticipate… something as she shot him a look.
“Fix your hair.” was all she said.
Just for that Harley messed his hair up more.
Harley began feeling her nerves rub off onto him as she fussed about.
It would take a lot to get a social worker this visibly nervous before a parent came in.
How important could this guy be?
An actor? Model? Would they even come themselves, or just send an assistant to pick him up.
Would they disapprove of Harley's clothes? Why did Harley suddenly care about that of all things? He didn’t care what they thought about him, it was a red hoodie, and a gray t-shirt.
Anyone who cared about that was an idiot.
Anyone who worried about what some stranger had to say… it wasn’t Harley, he didn’t care.
He wouldn’t care, and anything this guy had to say about him was irrelevant. He didn’t know Harley, didn’t know his life, didn’t know anything. Tony probably spent his time in a pretty little New York penthouse while Harley had to make up a million excuses on why he didn’t know how to grow weed and couldn’t work for you.
Whatever happened wouldn’t change that.
This guy would never know Harley.
There Were two knocks on the door only moments before it opened.
Giving Harley little time to brace himself for the larger guy who walked in, graying hair and a suit, eyes landing on Harley, and looking extremely annoyed.
No way. Not him. Anyone but him, literally! Please god anyone but that guy!
Some deity did seem to be looking down on him kindly at that moment, because the big angry guy stepped aside and…
Tony. fucking. Stark was there…
What the actual hell…
What the hell was his life? Why was this his life?
Tony fucking Stark stood there, in a button up shirt and slacks, sunglasses on his face, covering his eyes, though Harley very clearly felt them on him as he just stared back.
“Hey kid.” Tony smiled that same smile he wore in the news as the other guy brought over papers to the social worker and began having her sign things.
With those words all the shock Harley was feeling melted away and burned into a pit of anger in his stomach.
His entire life, this guy has been parading around in a billion dollar metal bucket, and Harley was here.
This guy was a billion air while Harley scrapped by and no one ever thought to tell Harley that Tony Stark was his father.
“What the actual fuck?” Harley heard himself say before he could think, getting a snort from Tony, Who just… sat down across from him, completely unaware of the rage building inside of him.
“Yeah kid, this is one hell of a plot twist.” he said with a smile that suddenly dropped as he cleared his throat taking off the sunglasses to reveal tired brown eyes that looked like he had gone a few too many days without sleep.
“How are you my fucking dad?” Harley asked again without thinking.
Tony just chuckled again.
“Pretty valid reaction all things considered, your mom called, told me the short version, or what i assume is the short version.” He shrugged, stroking his goatee.
“If you want we can do a DNA test once we get back to prove it, for now though, we’ve got you a room set up and… we’ll go over some other stuff.” Tony offered. Looking nervous all of the sudden.
Like he didn’t know what to say or do with Harley. Like Harley was an equation he had not accounted for.
Harley felt the anger beginning to dissipate into a sizable gap of annoyance. A dna test? Like hell he was gonna rock this boat. Whether he liked it or not, living with Tony Stark was a way better option than what he had been doing.
Tony met the other guy's eyes who just nodded at him, some sort of silent agreement of something.
“Well, there is a lot to do, so we better head out.” Tony said abruptly, standing up, not wasting anymore time for pleasantries.
“Just like that?” Harley asked, his brain truly not working in his favor anymore.
He didn’t know what he expected, but it was certainly more than ‘I'm tony stark the richest guy in the world and iron man, I'm taking you home with me now.’
“Well, it’ll only take so long for reports to catch wind that one of my jets is at the airport, and I think I'm safe to assume that we don’t want this making news right now.” he said that cool confidence coming back over his face.
Was he ashamed of Harley? Was he upset about this? Was he already resentful about the controversy?
Harley tried to push away that feeling of insecurity gnawing at him and be logical.
The rational part of his brain told Harley that Tony was truly saying that this was not where he wanted to be dubbed Tony Stark's son, not in this context. Right out of foster care and not even having time to process everything, But the rest of him was already saying everything he was afraid of.
‘Not wanted.’
Well, Tony Stark didn't get to decide if he was wanted. Tony Stark didn’t know anything about him.
Taking a moment to Steel himself, Harley stood up slowly, following Tony out the door with the other guy as he tried not to look too hard at the situation as they made their way out of the building.
Harley suddenly noticed that there were drastically less people around suddenly.
Did Tony have something to do with that?
It wouldn’t be a surprise, seeing how this guy could probably dish out legally binding NDA’s faster than you could say illegal.
He didn’t know what to do except follow Tony and the other guy to a sleek looking black sports car and climbed into the back with Tony who let out a long sigh of relief as soon as the grumpy guy started driving.
“Sorry about that, not really comfortable giving the low down in front of the social worker, even if she did sign all the papers.” Tony said with a shrug, one arm leaning on the window frame looking over at Harley next to him with… interest? Judgment? Disinterested? Who knows.
It didn’t matter anyways, not to Harley, this guy was uprooting him from his home regardless of how shitty it was, he didn’t get a say in Harley's value.
“So, I assume you have questions?” Tony asked, breaking Harley out of his thoughts, causing him to feel himself deflate.
He did have questions, a lot of questions. He had so many questions that they were all melting together into one big ball of what the hell.
“I don’t even know anymore.” he said with a sigh. Tony just nodded, as if he expected that.
“I don’t blame ya kid, not my idea of a good time with this whole load of shit being dropped on you. Hell i nearly shit knickle once i found out, but hey, we work with it, and we do a lot of googling. after your mom called i looked into ya… that sounded creepier then i meant to… but ya know what i mean right?” he seemed to be rattling away streams of consciousness with no clear direction. Something about it made Harley feel a little better, to be seeing him going through a similar freak out to Harley at least.
“Jesus Christ none of this is helping… how about we start with the usual questions you would ask. I don’t really know what those would be, as there's not really a list of ‘thirty things to tell the kid you just found out about so he doesn't think you're a total piece of shit, but let’s try it anyways.” Tony shrugged, shifting to look at Harley more as he watched Tony with interest.
“Happy, how long have we got?” Tony asked the driver.
“About forty twenty minutes to the airport.” the guy answered.
“Happy?” Harley echoed one brow raised as he looked to the stoic man who never seemed to have smiled in his life.
“Yeah why?” the guy asked him in a flat tone, looking just as unimpressed through the rear view mirror.
Harley felt himself smile at the contrast.
“It suits you.” he added with a grin, seeing Tony smiling as well.
“I like you kid.” Tony said with a matching grin.
“But anyways, name Tony Stark I assume you’ve heard it.” he started, and Harley wished he could say that, that statement was pretentious and egotistical, but in reality not a single person hasn’t heard it, and he wouldn’t believe them if they said they hadn’t.
“Yeah, super hero, genius, man whore, billionaire.” Harley said flatly, getting a snort from the front seat at that as Tony gaffaud.
“Definitely Stark's kid.” Happy added, no smile evident but clearly amused.
“Yeah yeah, shut up Happy.” Tony grumbled.
“Anyways, all that stuff, but add, stopped partying, got sober, all public knowledge, but less so…” he paused for a moment looking up as if contemplating what to say here.
“I have another son, his name is Peter. He's fifteen and he lives with me too. Good kid, and with a mouth like that, you two should get along just fine.” he said coolly.
Harley didn’t know what to say to that. Didn’t know if he should broach that topic any further.
Tony Stark had another kid.
A son named Peter who was one year younger than Harley.
Harley had a half brother.
And just as much as he didn’t care what Tony thought about him… Harley will fully admit that the idea of brother potentially not liking him… it was scary. The daunting reality of somebody his age, under the same roof, not liking him, it made him feel more than a little apprehensive at the prospect.
“Brother?” was all that seemed to come out of his mouth though. He had never heard anything about Tony Stark having a kid at least not outside of unreliable gossip sites.
“Yeah, kept him out of the public eye pretty well for the most part, no kid should grow up in all that shit.” Tony sighed looking… a lot more depressed suddenly. Bags under his eyes suddenly became more pronounced, frown lines and wrinkles visible. Something very disturbed crossing the man's face before perking back up.
“Anyways he likes science, and… what were they?” he muttered furrowing his brow in thought. Tone forcibly light inorder to change subject.
“Vines.” Happy calls from the front.
“He showed them to you too?” Tony called back, exasperated.
“Yeet, Yolo, and swag, my Felicia's.” Happy said in such a flat serious tone that it was hilarious, and Harley found himself busting out laughing despite the circumstances.
“Sounds like we’ll get along.” he said after he calmed down a bit.
Even if he wasn’t actually sure. At the very least they could quote views to each other and mostly understand what was being said.
At least Harley was no longer feeling worried about meeting mystery dad, and a lot more worried about mystery brother.
“So you like science?” Tony said after a moment getting Harley to perk up.
“Yeah, mostly chemical engineering and shit.”
He shrugged used to most people not knowing much more than that till his brain registered that he was sitting with the king of all engineering.
“I’ll have to take a look at the ‘and shit’ portion then.” Tony smiled wryly, something encouraging and comforting in his expression that Harley didn’t think anyone had ever seen. At least not in the media, ity was always a cycle of a handful of expressions being shown.
They kept driving in relative silence, though far less tense than before.
The lul in their conversation allowing Harley time to gather his bearings up tightly before shoving them all away into a little box no one else got to touch. Robert called it his ‘conscious dissociation’ forcing himself to drop his emotions at the door and address the checking fee later.
Robert also said that it shouldn’t be his ‘go to’ coping mechanism but right now, Harley didn’t give a shit. Whatever got him from point A to point B with the least amount of emotional damage was far more preferable to raw doging a panic attack in Tony Stark's car.
Harley could imagine Tony Stark shoving him out the window if he did saying ‘this one's defective’ or something.
That thought may have made that bundle of emotions stir a bit, though Harley just shoved them back together so nothing jumped away right now.
Arriving at the airport and driving directly through the gates to the runway was… unexpected. It shouldn't have been, this was Tony Stark who would get swarmed if he set foot in the public airport.
And while Harley had never been on an actual plane, whatever it was he got into, was definitely not a plane.
Walking up the ramp and into what he supposed were the only seats, he could finally get a feel for what it was he was sitting in.
It seemed… industrial. After thinking on it more he began to realize it was alarmingly similar to the air crafts that the avengers would use. Was in an Avengers helicarrier? Had the black widow sat in this very seat? Forcing his fanboying for later at the fact he was maybe in the same airplane the black widow had been, and focused on just getting to wherever they were going.
Tony seemed to have the same idea, as he sat across from Harley, and Happy wasted no time going down to the Cockpit.
“Stark industries Hela-carrier, we’ll be there in 15 minutes max, the longest part is just getting off the ground.” Tony said with the usual playboy smile on his face that Harley was accustomed to.
Harley wasn’t sure how to pin Tony just yet, one second super serious the next everything was a game.
It was obvious that the guy had been through shit, Avengering couldn’t be an easy job. Harley wouldn't blame him if he was messed up from it. Yet it was something in the way that he picked it up and set it down again, going from tired old man to untouchable hero was a little exhausting just to watch.
Harley was already experiencing the emotional whiplash of every new surprise beginning to weigh down on him. He couldn't imagine how Tony felt. For Harley it mostly felt like someone was taking a hot poker and jabbing it into his brain at every angle, and he had to keep shoving all of that away to address later.
Harley seriously needed a nap. Or a grippy sock vacation, or like, some REALLY strong painkillers.
Seeing as it was Tony Stark, he probably had some really strong pain killers, seeing as how much the avengers get hurt.
Wait, would Harley meet the avengers?
His eyes shot up to Tony who, as if reading his mind, answered before he could even ask it.
“You're Not meeting the avengers, the avengers haven't even met Peter, don't even know about him, it’s better that way.” he answered quickly making Harley's shoulders sag with a huff.
Tony relaxed a little at that.
“I get it, earth's mightiest heroes, yada yada yada save the day, but it puts a target on your back, and i the last thing i need is to call your mom and tell her you got kidnapped.” Tony said in a softer tone over the whir of the Heli carrier.
“You don’t know me.” Harley snapped, suddenly on the defense. That same ‘how dare you judge me’ wall coming back up at the mention of his mom. This guy didn’t know Harley or his family. Didn't know anything about him. He just met Harley, he can't tell Harley who to interact with and where to go.
“Easy there tiger, all I'm saying is that i don't want you getting kidnapped by power hungry d-bags. The avengers automatically mean target. We once had to rescue someone who door dashed Bruce a bottle of tums and got held hostage for it.” he stated, shoulders sagging at the memory.
Harley didn't say anything after that, the two of them falling into an uncomfortable silence till he couldn't take it anymore and a rather undignified snort of laughter broke through.
“Was it at least good tums?” he asked after a moment of giggling, making Tony grin.
It was those ones that are supposed to be fruit flavored but you're just chewing chalk, said he had acid reflux. After all that he had really bad acid reflux with high blood pressure, gave the dasher a good tip after that, enough to retire early.” Tony shrugged causing Harley to stifle another laugh at the sheer absurdity of the situation.
Harley had not even realized they had even taken off, or that the flight had ended. even when the doors opened again he had expected it to be someone else coming in.
Instead, Tony got up from his seat and made towards the door pausing and turning to Harley when he didn’t move.
Harley wasn't sure he could move.
“I’m in New York?” he asked softly, brow furrowing at the idea that he just went from using old boxes as a chair to a billion dollar tower.
“What's up?” Tony asked him, sitting back down, closer this time.
“I'm in New York…” Harley said again, louder this time. eyes widening as things began barreling into him at record speed despite him trying to tie it all together again.
“You are.” Tony agreed carefully, nodding his head slowly not fully grasping Harley's existential crisis.
“This morning I was living out of a garbage bag and eating cold soup with Martha and her eight cats…” he laughed a little, slumping further in his seat at the sheer contrast that kept smacking him in the face.
“You want a cat?” was Tony's first response, sitting there stroking his chin thoughtfully till he saw the look Harley shot him.
“Alright yeah, not the time. Listen kid, I get that we don't know each other, but believe me, I get it, having your whole reality uprooted is… shitty, and it's stressful, and I'm not gonna make light of that. Though how about, for right now, we worry about getting to the elevator, nothing else, and we can question reality from there, okay?” he asked, sunglasses off so Harley could see his tired eyes with dark bags hanging from them.
A look in them that told Harley that the man did actually know a little bit of what Harley was going through even if it was in a different way.
It was a little comforting just to see it, even if he knew Tony didn’t fully understand.
Yet there it was again, able to go from joking and assholish, to seeming to actually care and being really Intune to what was happening.
Harley finally just nodded, not wanting to have a deep heart to heart right now, instead standing up to leave the plane
.
“Can we name the cat tinman?” Harley asked instead of addressing this any further, causing Tony to groan rolling his eyes.
“Yeah, you and Peter will get along fine.” he huffed as Tony and Harley walked out into the loud city sounds on the roof of Avengers Tower.
The sudden shift of quiet to deafening was more than a little jarring as Harley stood there taking in the sights of New York from so high up.
He had never been out of Tennessee, he grew up in a town with the idea of a ‘coffee shop’ was the gas station that had coffee and a few benches outside. Talk about two different worlds.
“Get to the elevator, go from there.” Tony said again, guiding Harley over to the side of the building with a door ushering him inside without much fanfare.
The moment the doors were shut, blocking out the outside sound, Harley released a breath he didn't know he had been holding.
“Friday, tour mode.” Tony said to the ceiling
“Of course boss.” a voice said back, causing Harley to look up one brow raised as a picture of what appeared to be some sort of elevator floors in various colors appeared on the side of the elevator.
“That’s Friday, my AI she keeps this show rolling, you can always talk to her if you need something.” Tony said offhandedly.
“Like Alexa?” Harley asked honestly, only to laugh at the disgruntled expression on Tony’s face.
“While Alexa is a wonderful AI for many homes, I am able to act as security as well as an informational database unmatched by any other AI's currently available on the public market.”
Friday responded in a kind tone.
“Don’t worry fri, I'm offended on your behalf.” Tony said with a frown though there was no real heat to it causing Harley to laugh again until there was a ding before the door opened to a spacious open concept penthouse. Greeting Harley with a living room fit with a couch that looked like it could seat twenty people, along with a wall of windows spanning along beside it.
“Alright.” Tony started walking out the elevator first.
“I’mma be honest here i don’t like rules, though i feel until you are familiar with the tower, we should set some.” he said facing Harley who felt his shoulders immediately slump but nodded.
He knew this was coming.
“What, don't be seen with you? Don't interact with anyone? Don’t ask for things?” he quipped with an unamused expression.
Tony didn’t say anything for a moment just shooting him a funny look with his face scrunched up.
“Is my public image really that bad?” he mumbled, head tilting to the side and another strange expression on his face before he seemed to snap out of it again, turning to Harley.
“While yes it is not a great idea for us to be seen together, you're not being held captive here bud… anyways” he clapped his hands to break the tension.
“I’ve talked with Peter and he’ll be able to give you a more ‘in depth tour’ cause apparently I'm not good at prolonged first impressions.” he said in a mocking tone beginning to walk down the hallway with Harley following him.
“Till that happens, I would recommend sticking to this floor. To be honest I had about five hours notice before going to get you, so right now you're gonna need to be in one of the guest rooms, but! I do already have a section cleared out near Peter's room, that you and I can plan out later.”
Tony said, stopping at a door that had a blue spider painted on it.
“Um- for privacy's sake we’ll keep it closed, but it’s some good stuff, I promise you, lots of activity stuff he’s… hyper….” Tony said after a moment, brow crinkled as he gave Harley some kind of assessing look.
“Anyways, this is the gutted one that we can make your room if you want it.” he said, going to a door across the hall and opening it, letting Harley walk inside to look around.
He let out a low whistle when he did.
“Wow…” was all he could say. It was a large white room, that was about the same size as his high school gymnasium, with high ceilings and wood floors, along with a door to the bathroom the size of his high school changing rooms.
“God damn.” he said after a moment getting a snort out of Tony.
“Yeah, again we can work on getting it set up later, for now, your room is down here.” he said, guiding Harley to another room farther away and opening the door to a spacious guest room.
Harley would have been more than happy with just this.
The dark wood of the bed frame and nightstand made it so that the navy blue of the bedspread and carpets added a nice pop of color, along with the light blue of the walls getting plenty of light through the window. To his own delight, he saw he even had his own bathroom already here as well.
“This is… nice…” he said after a moment, giving Tony a questioning look not knowing how else to say it.
“Rules?” he asked finally, noticing that Tony had avoided it earlier.
The man let out a sigh at that.
“Yeah… so, there are certain floors you cannot go on without clearance, if it's any consolation, they are all the same floors as Peter, mostly just avengers floor as well as a few of the labs. You said you liked chemical engineering and shit?” he asked one brow quirked as Harley lit up.
“I thought you looked into me? Straight A’s for days, i wanna go into bio and medical engineering more specifically.” he said almost offended, but seeing the big smile on Tony's face he knew it was a good answer to anyone, even if he didn’t know those exact degrees, any major that had medical in the name always got people's approval.
“Good, Peter has a lab of his own, you can use it whenever, but. Big but.” he said, holding up a hand to stop Harley's reaction.
“There is a twenty four seven camera in there, recording everything, it shuts down at 11 o’clock every night no exception, and if Friday finds that you have not ate or drank anything for more than six hours, she will kick you out till you do so.” he said sternly.
“Does Peter do that?” he asked one brow quirked.
Tony’s hand curled in and a frustrated look came to his face.
“Well… it… may more be a protocol in place for me, but that still stands for you too, and Peter, and really anyone who works here.” he shrugged, continuing on down to the kitchen, opening the fridge looking between Harley and the stuff inside for a moment before speaking.
“So, Peter has an… interesting diet, anything with a P on it, steer clear of it, trust me, it’s nothing good anyways.” he said holding up what looked like a smoothie bottle and showing him.
“Otherwise you can help yourself to whatever you want, if there's any food that you're craving, you can tell Friday and it’ll be delivered. If you set the kitchen on fire, make sure you get to safety.” he lectured before pausing.
“Do you have a phone?” he asked Harley suddenly who somehow felt taken aback by the shift in his demeanor, almost… protective in the sudden intensity that was directed at him by Tony.
“I-no… ma thought I would hack into the government.” he said sheepishly, getting a snort from Tony.
“Why?” he asked, one brow quirked as Harley just blushed at the memory of why.
“Dear god you really are my son… ya know what, don’t worry about it. Don’t do it again, and don’t hack into Friday, you can’t. Friday?”
“I will have the latest stark phone delivered to your room.” she said helpfully, causing Harley to look up in a mix of confusion and concern.
“Add on some clothes along with everything he would need for school.” Tony told her.
“Yes boss.”
“That’s terrifying…” Harley muttered
Tony just shrugged.
“Don’t worry, unless you are doing something genuinely dangerous she wont blab.” he shrugged.
“Do you drive?” he asked, changing the subject Harley nodded.
“Got my license three months ago,” he said.
Tony nodded.
“Good…” Tony mused, looking a little apprehensive at whatever he was about to say before holding out a tablet that had been sitting on one of the counters.
“These are the cars you can use. If you get a ticket, it’s not the end of the world but please tell me, if you get into a wreck, tell me. If you plan to go somewhere tell Friday to let me know. I’m all for you having your own life and all that, but I want to know where you are and when to expect you back.” he said with that same tight apprehensive expression present.
“That seems reasonable.” Harley said absently ignoring the look on Tony's face and instead looking at the list of twelve different cars that went from a nice unassuming suv, all the way to lambos.
Harley had always wanted to drive something like that, but looking at it as an option was suddenly terrifying.
“Anyways.” Tony said, shaking away the tight look.
“Peter will be back soon, he’s been blowing up my phone all day when he should be in school,” he said looking at said device before tucking it back in his pocket.
“Cool.” Harley said with a nod, still looking around the kitchen. The sudden silence became awkward fast.
“Well, if you want to watch anything, no matter what room, Friday can pull that up for ya, at least till you get your phone.” he said with a shrug as Harley nodded.
“Yeah, i’ll probably go to my room, this has been…” he trailed off not knowing what to say.
“Yeah, no of course, go right ahead.” Tony agreed with an open palmed wave towards the door backing away a little.
“It’s a weird day, imma just be, down in the lab, ya know.” he offered pointing towards the elevator.
“Totally, yeah, yeah, um… see ya later?” Harley asked backing towards the hallway as well.
“Yeah, see you soon, for real, ask Friday if anything or if you need me or-”
“Yeah, I will.” Harley nodded adamantly, wanting this exchange over as he hurried down the hall and to his room, shutting the door quickly and leaning on it.
“Weird day…” he muttered to himself leaning against the door and sliding to the floor, something about sitting on the bed very unappealing to him right now.
Sitting still while taking in a few stabilizing breaths, shutting his eyes as he tried to gather his thoughts
“Does today suck?” he asked out loud.
“I’m out of foster care, my…. Tony, is rich.” he said slowly the word dad not sitting right with him.
“I’m in New York, I have a brother… Jesus Christ…” he sighed at the mere idea of a brother still feeling like this big stressful milestone. He had a younger brother, who grew up here.
He liked science, if he had his own lab. Had some sort of dietary restrictions that made him drink gross smoothies, and was hyper.
That’s all Harley really knew.
He hoped they’d get along. It would be nice to have someone his own age to hang out with.
Hopefully they weren't some spoiled rich kid.
Taking another stealing breath Harley sat back again letting his head thump against the door softly.
“Friday?” he asked.
“Yes Mr. Keener?” her voice came, causing him to blanch back at the name.
“um , just Harley,” he said.
“Of course Harley.” she said sweetly.
“Can you, like, tell me when Peters is here?” he asked carefully.
“Of course, he should be on route to arrive within the next fifteen minutes.” she supplied helpfully. Harley nodded, standing up and stretching before heading to the bathroom.
It was a normal sized bathroom, if a bit bigger, toilet and sink in normal spots, it was the fact that there was a metal door to the shower that was dug into the wall that made him curious, upon opening it he understood why.
It wasn't a shower, it was a full on rain room.
Looking up he saw all the spots that water would come from, along with what looked like projector screens on the wall if you wanted to watch a movie for whatever reason.
“Friday?” he asked again.
“Yes Harley?”
“Can I live in this shower?” he asked her.
“That would be inadvisable, though if you’d like i can turn it on and bring the water to an average 103 degrees Fahrenheit.”
“Yeah.” Harley nodded with a grin.
_______________
Harley was convinced that anyone who took quick, cold showers, were psychopaths.
On top of that, anyone who didn’t like to sit on the floor of the shower and contemplate the existence of humanity as a whole, was probably really bored, and he didn’t want to be friends with.
That was maybe the best shower he ever had, and he spent the entire time, sitting in the corner staring at a single groove in the tile while the endlessly hot water nearly burned him. He only got snapped out of it when Friday said that the water temp may cause him burns if he stayed in any longer.
He wasn’t even sure how long he had been in there, at least an hour, if not more. Friday had come on at one point to tell him that Peter was there, and Harley had contemplated cutting it short to go meet him… but this was something he had never experienced.
Growing up in a home that had one cramped shower bath, with water that ran hot for exactly five seconds, he was going to let himself enjoy this religious experience, and when he did finally emerge, found himself in a state of calm he didn’t think possible, seeing the stacks of clothes on his bed along with a brand new phone, he began finally seeing how unbelievably awesome all of this was.
Did the reason for him being here suck?
Yes.
Could he enjoy being here while it lasted?
Also yes.
Did some part of him feel guilty-satisfaction as his mom sat in a jail cell while he was here?
yes.
Pulling out the clothes and looking through them he saw that they were all somewhat similar to what he had worn that day, baggy t-shirts, flannels, hoodies, jeans. Pretty basic stuff, though they all fit nicely, and seemed to be a good quality, and all that Harley was really unhappy with was the sudden daunting notion of how he should dress to walk across the hall.
Would Peter judge him for wearing sweatpants? Would he judge him for not wearing sweatpants? Was he partial to a specific brand of clothes that wasn’t here?
For someone who tried not to care, Harley was suddenly irrationally worried about this.
“Friday?” he asked finally.
“Yes Harley?” she asked.
“Can anyone else listen in to these conversations?” he asked.
“Unless you find yourself in physical danger no one else will have access to my audio.” she answered, Harley nodded.
“Is Peter, like… does he care?” he asked, a little unsure.
“I’m afraid I don't understand the question.” Friday answered.
“Like, does he care about looks? Is there some sort of rich kid social standards that i don't meet?” he asked.
There was a beat of silence, as if Friday was thinking.
“If it is helpful, Peter is currently wearing sweatpants, ironman socks, and a blue shirt that reads ‘i make bad science puns periodically.” she answered and Harley couldn’t help but hear the hint of mockery in her tone.
“That does help actually.” Harley said letting out a nervous breath, pulling on some black sweats with a ret t-shirt and going out his door.
The hallway was empty and quiet, not like Harley expected it any different.
He was about to go up to Peter's door and knock, before he began to hear someone in the kitchen.
“Hi, I'm Peter, i get that this is really weird but ya know, so am i- no! That’s stupid! Stupid!”
“hi , I'm your new brother, and i get this sucks, but we have a game room… nooo! Idiot…”
Harley slowly crept around the corner to see a teenager, with a mop of unruly brown hair pacing around with what looked like an energy drink in hand.
“Peter, I must advise you to switch to water.” Friday's voice was heard overhead.
“Meeeeh!” the boy whined to the ceiling as he threw himself into a chair on the table, face planted into the wood.
“What if he doesn’t like me?” he heard the other boy whine, looking up to the ceiling. Harley couldn’t help but smile and feel just a little bit relieved that he was just as freaked out as Harley was.
“I am sure Harley will love you.” was all Friday said, a certain edge to her voice that Harley almost felt was directed at him.
There was a beat of silence before Harley decided to make his presence known, clearing his throat a little louder than necessary, he stepped into the kitchen, meeting Peter's eyes as if he just came in.
“Oh- hi, um… I'm Harley,” he said with a soft smile.
“I’m Peter…” Peter said back with a similar nervous smile on his lips, that dimpled at his cheeks, just like Harleys did.
There was a moment where neither one of them knew what to say, Harley took it as something to jump on before it got awkward.
“Not gonna lie, I am lovin’ these showers.” he decided, getting a small giggle from Peter.
“They are pretty nice.” he agreed, that same nervous smile on his face as Harley sat across from him, crossing his legs under the table.
“Tony says you like science too?” he asked to see Peter light up at that.
“Yes! Oh my gosh! I am so relieved to hear that! Like yeah other stuff is cool but i wouldn't have a hard time trying to talk about like, bird watching, i am really into biophysics and biochem, but like, i also really like inventing, and tinkering around and stuff it just isn’t as much as my things as it is dads, but it’s cool too, what about you?” Peter rushed out.
Suddenly Harley understood what Tony meant by Hyper.
“Do you by chance have a slow down button?” he asked one brow raised as Peter began to blush, big brown eyes widening comically.
“Oh, um… sorry, just um- excited…” he stammered looking around nervously face getting redder.
“I get it,” Harley said, waving him off with a smile at those big puppy dog eyes.
“So, what is there to do around here?” he asked instead remembering Peter nervously rambling about ‘game room’
Peter perked right back up at that.
“Yeah! So we have the labs, but those get shut down after 11. Then there is the game room which dad tried to put a curfew on, but I hacked into it so many times I think he just gave up.” Peter grinned, beginning to get up, as Harley followed behind to the elevator stepping in with him.
“Friday, can you show the level button things?” he asked as a hologram appeared on the side of the elevator where there would normally be buttons some of them green, most of them blue, and a few of them red.
“So the green ones are like, the fun stuff. Game room, lab, pool, spa, yadadada. The blue are like company stuff, so employee labs, never take stuff from there unless you have approval, they get real up tight about missing chemicals.” he said scratching the back of his neck.
“Have you done that before?” Harley asked, one brow quirked.
“There… was HR complaints, no big deal.” he said brushing it off.
“But mostly employees, this ones the employee cafeteria, highly recommend going on Thursdays, amazing desserts. If you go down and anyone asks, you're an intern, which- has dad talked to you about?” Peter asked, pausing his rambling and turning to Harley.
“Um- no?” he said slowly, Peter just nodded.
“Figures, you’ll probably be given an internship, it helps as a cover, i have one. You get a paycheck which is nice. Despite what popular belief would be, we don't get an endless supply of money, or well…. we ‘re okay but- bleh!” he rambled looking uncomfortable at the topic.
“Basically dad has the rule, you can either buy it, build it or ask for it. If you can buy it with your paycheck, you can buy it, if you can build it and it is not dangerous, you can have it, if you ask for it then it gets sent to Friday for review, does that make sense?” he turned to Harley who just nodded a little at that.
“Great, anyways.” Peter sighed in relief, turning back to the buttons.
“The red ones are the ones we aren't allowed on without approval, so that's avengers floor, avengers training, and dads lab, which we can go in dads lab, but only when he’s there too.” he
explained finally.
“That is where he makes…” Harley trailed off and Peter smiled, nodding with his curls bouncing when he did.
“Yeah, I actually got to help with a few of them, it was pretty cool. Friday are we there yet?” he asked the AI
“We have been here for several minutes Peter.” she answered a little sarcastically as the doors opened to reveal-
“You have an arcade!” Harley shouted running into the room. Seeing that it had everything from video games, to snack machines, rock climbing walls, and slides, even a waterfall pond!
“How the hell do you even set this up?” he asked, amazed as Peter shrugged.
“Well, I built most of the games, did the wiring for the waterfall and all that.” he shrugged, gesturing around making Harley turn to him.
“Wait- you built a waterfall?” he asked, looking at the gushing pond of water covering half of one wall.
Peter just nodded, looking away as Harley took in everything.
“Friday, close water.” he said, making a plexiglass shield come down over the waterfall silencing it as Harley explored further.
“How do you have the time?” he asked looking back at Peter who just shrugged.
“I don't get out much,” he said a little uncomfortably.
“Anyways, um, dad doesn't really come in here, he wanted it to be more of a no grownup allowed thing.” Peter shrugged, not meeting Harley's eye.
Harley noticed when Peter looked up, following his eyes and seeing the giant hammock-like net that sat up there.
“Wow, how do you get up there?” he asked excitedly looking at Peter who was suddenly a lot more nervous.
“Um, yeah… so… haha, well” he stuttered, not meeting Harley's eye.
“You can't tell anyone.” he said finally, causing Harley's brows to furrow in confusion at the sudden seriousness.
“Huh?”
“Like, things aren't really great for people like me, right now… there's a lot of people who… don't like it… I'll -I'll just show you.” he hurried out, beginning to take off his socks and going over to the wall…
And climbing it…
Not even climbing, he just stuck his hand and foot on the wall and pushed off, till he was hanging upside down on an exposed part of the ceiling.
“Um… yeah?” he said, looking down at Harley Carefully.
“That… is insane!” was all Harley said staring up with wide eyes before grinning.
“I would have said you're all over the place, but you are literally, all over…” he said with an excited laugh flinching when Peter fell off the ceiling and landed on his feet.
“How does that even happen?” Harley asked, eyes still wide as Peter looked around the room.
“Um… I kinda- well… I don't really like talking about it.” he stammered bouncing on the balls of his feet, going over and sitting cross legged on the couch where Harley joined him.
“Is that why you don’t go out often?” he guessed as Peter shrugged.
“Kinda, dad's worried someone is going to find out I'm his son and then kidnap me.” he shrugged.
Harley nodded slowly.,
“That… kinda makes sense, Iron man's kid and all that, but you can still go out and do stuff.” he pushes.
“I- i don't really like to, it’s.. It’s happened before,” he says slowly rocking back and forth like the conversation stressed him out.
“You’ve… been kidnapped before?” Harley asked, brow furrowing in alarm.
“Yeah, they thought that i would have some sort of crazy stark info at eight, ended up getting bit by a radioactive spider, Iron man saved the day, now I'm sticky.” he shrugged looking over to Harley seeing the alarmed look on his face.
“It’s fine though, that's why it’s kinda a secret, but anyways. Do you like movies?” he asked, changing the subject as Harley relaxed a little at that.
“Yeah.” he agreed, seeing Peter's relieved look when he did so. Peter then got up and went over to the snack cupboards and pulled out sodas and Doritos, throwing one of each to Harley.
“Star Wars or star trek?” He asked shooting Harley a look to choose wisely.
“Star Wars all the way.” Harley said instantly, getting a big grin out of Peter.
“Get comfy we got blankets, pillows and some weighted blankets too,” Peter said gesturing to a basket in one corner Harley only just noticed.
Harley nodded, going and grabbing a blanket and pillow before sitting down on the floor wrapping himself up in it.
“No couch?” Peter said, sounding almost excited.
“Not really my thing.” Harley shrugged, making Peter grin more.
“Um… do you mind if…” he trailed off pointing up.
“Can you watch the movie from there?” he asked.
“I have enhanced seeing and hearing.” he shrugged, making Harley smile.
“go for it.” he waved him off as Peter grabbed a blanket and crawled up to the ceiling under the giant net that suddenly was a lot more like a spider web now that Harley looked closer.
“Friday, can you play, The Empire Strikes Back?” he asked as the light dimmed and the movie projected onto the wall.
Leaning back against the couch, Harley could finally relax.
Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.