Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tony sat in the doctors office head in his hands.

His week had started off perfectly. He'd woken up on Monday morning with a cup of coffee brought by Pepper. She'd brought him his post too, and then rushed off to one of several meetings she had to attend. That first letter had been from his attorney, and it was the one that had changed his life forever.

To one Sir Anthony Edward Stark, it is with great sorrow that we write to inform you of the death of one Lily Potter- nee Evans and James Potter. As stated in their will, their son Harry was to be left in your care in the event of the death of any other family members. We wish to set up a meeting with you to discuss his custody. Harry's current guardians have been incacerated on several accounts of neglect, attempted murder and child endangerment. 

He hadn't read any further than that.

He was aware of his Great Aunt Euphemia her husband Fleamont and their son, but there had been no need for any interaction after his parents' death. Not that they had ever met before that. Howard had wanted nothing to do with his "good for nothing sister"- who he claimed had abandoned their family. 

Things had moved pretty quickly after that. He'd met with the lawyers, and signed many papers. His home had been assessed by social services, the people who frequented his home the most were also investigated. In depth background checks were carried out, and Tony hadn't even stood in their way. 

The child had already been failed once, social services were keen to ensure he was placed with safe guardians this time. 

The child's extensive health issues were finally divulged after Tony had passed the checks. That was where he was now, sat in the doctors office three days after opening that letter. 

Tony sat up when the door opened once more. "Are you sure this is right?" He asked, waving the folder around. The doctor- Lee- grimaced. "It is not often Mr Stark that we have patients with a medical file as large as young Harry's. I assure you this is not a mistake." 

Tony flung the folder on the table and stood up. "He's four Doctor Lee." The man bowed his head. "And that is why his previous guardians are sharing 230 years of jail time between them." Lee explained. "I agree with you that it is not enough, but justice has been served."

Tony strode over to the water dispenser and refilled his plastic cup. The doctor watched him from his place by the desk. Tony took a deep breath before speaking again. "I found out two days ago that I had a nephew and I was preparing to bring home a boy who was going to play with toys and go to the funfair and you know!" He flung his hands up into the air. "I can barely look after myself, and now I'm going to have to take care of a child who is so severely disabled."

Tony looked down at the folder and rifled through it. 

Non-verbal, yet to be potty trained, underdeveloped, autism, disabled leapt off the pages at him. "You even suspect that he has had a stroke from the restrictedness of his harm and leg movements." Tony whirled around to face the doctor. "Mr Stark, when social services came to inspect your home, they were doing more than looking at your babyproofing ability. They were watching your interactions with those who you care about. Three separate officers were sent at various times to monitor these interactions, and every single one of them commented on your devotion. That is your strongest point, your devotion. It will be hard, and yes Harry is very disabled, but you will be able to cultivate a relationship with him, and that level of devotion is all that is necessary." 

Lee met Tony's eyes and smiled. "Harry really needs to be shown love and care, and we all think you will be perfect to do that." Tony frowned. "I'm the Iron Man Doctor Lee, I kill and blow up. I don't do nurture." Lee's smile widened. "I think the fact that you are even concerned and dare I say it; scared of making mistakes with Harry shows that you are willing to learn and adapt to his needs. You are going to do just fine, plus, you have a very supportive girlfriend and support system." 

Tony scoffed. "I'm not scared." He sniffed haughtily. "I just don't want to end up causing more damage to the kid. I'm good at damaging but not fixing. Don't blame me if he becomes quadriplegic under my care." The doctor rolled his eyes. 

"I highly doubt that Mr Stark. Now, Harry has received five star care from our nurses. He's excited to meet you and I'm sure you would love to meet him too. Follow me if your thirst has been adequately quenched." Lee stood up and indicated a side door. Tony downed his third cup of water and moved to follow him. 

The lift ride was fairly uneventful, with only a secretary stepping in on the second floor. Tony was led out onto a very quiet corridor. "This is the private paediatric ward." Lee explained, swiping his ID card at the door. They sanitised their hands before stopping at a door three doors down the corridor. Tony looked through the window and saw two nurses conversing with a tiny boy on the bed. Lee put a code into the keypad at the door, and they walked in.

Tony set his eyes on the toddler- Harry he reminded himself. 

He was tiny, his head rather large compared to the rest of his body. There was a faint bruise on his cheek, and it was clear from the bandages on both his arms that there were more hidden beneath the wraps. Harry was suckling on a dummy, and wore a cute dungaree vest combo with a duck on the front. He had short black hair that Tony had read had been cropped due to matting from the Dursley's negligence.  The boy blinked at Tony asymmetrically, with the left closing a few seconds after the right. Harry's face sagged a bit on the left side, and it was clear to Tony why the doctors had diagnosed him with a stroke. Tony swallowed heavily as the boy rolled over from his lying position. The task was no small feat, and Harry had to try three times before finally propping himself up on unsteady legs. 

"Hello Harry." Tony began. "I'm Uncle Tony and you are going to be living with me now." The boy's eyes crinkled as he smiled around the dummy. 

The taller man gave a smile back, and Tony knew that it was going to be okay. They'd make it work- somehow. 

Chapter Text

Tony pulled up a chair to the bedside by the small child. The child shrank into the mattress. 

"Harry, I would like to give you a gift, would you like that?" Tony asked, encouraging the toddler to come out of his shell. He had been carrying around a little bag, and placed it onto his lap. Harry shuffled forward on the bed to get a closer look at the gift. 

Tony withdrew a black stuffed dog toy, and Harry's eyes lit up. "Pfft!" He squealed around the dummy. Tony placed the toy next to Harry's good arm. The child reached for it and overshot his goal, face planting the mattress. Tony stood up quickly to help right the four year old, but Harry once again shrank away from the contact. 

Tony slowly sat back down with a sigh. 

"It will take a while." Doctor Lee had said. "All Harry has known is violence at the hands of adults. Patience is key with him. He needs to be shown love and care and then trust will be built." 

Tony took a deep breath and smiled again when Harry looked up at him. "The puppy doesn't have a name yet Harry. That's your job. He really wants a friend, and when I was in the store looking for the perfect friend for you, he told me that he was the one to be your special friend." Harry eyed the man warily, before reaching out again to carress the soft fur. 

"Pfft!" He mumbled again. "Me?" He asked Tony, who nodded. 

The doctor and nurses in the other section of the room gasped. Tony whirled around to look at them. He'd been so involved in the little adorable child, that he'd forgotten they were there. 

"Well done Harry!" The nurses cooed, clapping softly but not coming any closer. 

Of course!! Non-verbal. Tony remembered. Harry's first word was because of him and his gift. First hurdle cleared. We can do it. 

Tony offered another grin when Harry looked up at him before burying his face in the soft fur of the toy, apparently named - pfft.

Tony met Pepper in the hotel bar later that evening. 

His girlfriend looked gorgeous as usual. She'd met with Harry too, and he'd been intrigued by her red hair. 

Pepper pushed the folder full of papers with dotted lines towards Tony. 

"Pepper, if we sign these, we'll be parents. There's no going back." Tony whispered. "No more late night workshops, no more Iron Man, no more Stark Tech projects." 

Pepper took a sip of her mocktail before responding. "Tony. We've been in this bar for over an hour. Not once have you talked about yourself. There's been no talk of the Iron Man. You've fallen in love with him. You've sent contractors round to the Malibu property and the tower to renovate. You're already dedicated to him. If we sign those papers, we'll be making Harry's life so much better. We'll be his personal Iron Family, and goodness knows he needs it." 

Tony rubbed his forehead. "Look Pe, he's my nephew, you can walk away now, no strings attached, no ill feelings. I never meant to tie you down." Pepper scowled. 

"Anthony Edward Stark. I knew who I was dating before I signed up to date you. I'm in love with you, and I loved Harry on site when I met him. I've stuck by your side through all you've been through the past three years. I am not leaving now. Harry needs us to be his parents now, and I'm going to be there with you." 

Tony smiled at her and picked up the pen. Twenty minutes later, they finished the final signature. Pepper waved the bartender over to their stools. "We'll have those water martinis please." She ordered. The bartender cocked his brow. "Celebrating something?" He asked. "We became parents today." Tony explained, taking Pepper's hand. She smiled at him. "Congratulations." The bartender grinned placing two tumblers of crispy fresh cold water on the table. "I added ice as an extra... something.!" The couple laughed.

Three days later, Tony and Pepper stood beside Harry in his wheelchair as the judge ruled the adoption successful. 

My goodness!! Tony thought as they were taking the official court photos when the final certificate was presented. 

I'm a dad.

Chapter Text

Tony carried the wheelchair into the tower, while Pepper carried a drowsy Harry on her hip. The large building felt like home after an intense month in the heart of London, attending different meetings and examinations. The doctors had carried out more scans on Harry's brain, and had come to the conclusion that he had suffered a stroke at a year old. They weren't exactly sure why but the scans indicated that there had been a temporary cut from the flow of blood to the brain. They called it an ischemic stroke, but there were no obvious indicators of the blood clot that usually deprives the brain of blood and therefore oxygen. 

The couple had been given a diagnosis, and they could now encourage Harry through a healthy recovery. Harry had progressed at the hospital to the point where he could eat mushy solids with a simple soft spoon and adult supervision. This was huge, as the notes Tony had first read repeatedly mentioned the non-verbal and dysfunctionality of Harry's swallow and gag mechanism. The doctors were sure that some of this was due to the stroke, but most of it was down to the failings of his previous carers. They had never encouraged Harry to eat, and therefore he had not been nurtured in a manner that would encourage his growth after the stroke. His abusive relatives- in short- had led to the level of dependence that Harry had first exhibited when he was rescued. With loving care, the toddler should be able to take care of himself reasonably independently. Pepper and Tony were excited to help Hary reach his full potential, and both were involved in helping feed him, and encourage him to crawl. 

They had also made progress with being able to hold and cuddle Harry. The baby now accepted the contact of his new parents, but would still flinch if approached from behind or hands moved quickly around him. They used more exaggerated hand gestures, slow and careful when around him, to show the toddler that he was safe. 

Harry was settled onto a large blue and white play mat in the living room. He rolled over to gum on Pfft who Tony had taken to calling Puff. Harry's eyes widened as he took in the mountain of blocks laid out in front of him. He looked up at the kind man called Tony, and pointed with his right hand at the blocks. He removed Puff from his mouth and asked cutely "Is me?" Tony knelt down beside the child, and pulled a few different coloured wooden blocks towards them. "Yes they are Harry. These are yours, and no one will ever take them away from you." 

Harry gripped one of the blocks in his tiny fist and brought it up to his face to scrutinise the smooth surface. Then, in the fashion that all babies do, he gummed down on the block- hard. 

Tony laughed at the little tooth marks that the boy had left on the block when he pulled it out. Harry's face contorted into a disgusted expression, and he threw the object as far as he could, which wasn't far at all with his weakened muscles. Pepper came up behind them and sat down on Harry's other side. "I know right!" She grinned. "That wooden thing can't be that tasty. I'd throw it away too. It'll be dinner time soon." 

That was another thing the doctor had insisted on. They should enforce the use of a timetable, this would allow Harry to get used to the structure of their home, and would also allow them to adapt to having him at home with them. It had been a month since the adoption had been ruled legal by the judge, and to the couple, they couldn't remember a time without the joyous little boy. They were very confused as to why his previous guardians had done what they had to him. What's more, they wouldn't wish their life any other way. 

They built a little tower with the help from their son, and then settled into the dining room for a dinner of blended yoghurt, cooked oats and berries for Harry, and lasagne for Tony and Pepper. 

"I was conducting a reboot on JARVIS, while we were across the pond." Tony announced as they ate. "Oh!" Pepper nodded. "That actually makes a lot of sense. I wondered where he was." 

"I needed to ensure the new security protocols before we brought our precious boy home." Tony looked over to Harry in Pepper's lap, his little face was smeared with food, but he smacked his lips in a content manner, before accepting another spoonful of food. "He's set to come online in an hour in time for Harry to meet him before bed." 

Harry's room was a beautiful nursery set off from the main bedroom. It was decorated in a minimalistic fashion, the new parents wanted to add personal touches when they got to know their son better. 

There was a crisp white crib with light yellow bedsheets and ducks swimming around ponds on it. There were two new plushies on the mattress to greet their son when he went to bed for the first time. 

The walls were an off white cream colour and had little monkeys and lions frolicking around the skirting boards. The changing table was surrounded by a hanging mobile. There was also an oxygen tank by the crib for Harry's sleep regime of extra oxygen. 

Tony got Harry hooked up to it before kissing his forehead and placing him into the crib. They had had a first successful bathtime after dinner, and Pepper had kissed the boy goodnight before going to answer some emails. 

Tony set the moblile above the crib to start playing calming rain sounds, and just as he was closing the door, heard JARVIS who had just come online whisper- 

"Welcome home Master Harry. I know how much your new Mummy and Daddy love you." 

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Tony woke up with his arm wrapped around his girlfriend's waist. He yawned and stretched, then sat bolt upright as he remembered that they had brought Harry home last night. He rolled over to peek at the baby monitor he had connected through Jarvis, to the one in the nursery. He watched as Harry slept for a couple of moments, before taking the monitor with him to the shower. He knew that Jarvis was more than capable of telling him if Harry so much as sneezed, but he was still getting into the gist of the parenting thing, and preferred to have the device with him. 

After a warm shower, Tony dressed and headed down to the kitchen- monitor still in hand- to have a cup of coffee and puree a pot of mango, yoghurt and baby porridge for Harry's breakfast. The first challenge was actually finding the blender. After Jarvis pointed it out, Tony grabbed the ingredients from the fridge and set about making the puree. Just as he had finished, Tony saw Harry roll over on the baby monitor and his baby pushed himself up to knaw on Puff. 

The brunette finished washing up the dishes he'd used, and put them away as Harry was content to play with his teddy for a moment. 

When Tony reached Harry's room, the baby was squealing to himself about something or other. "Good morning!" Tony greeted, opening the large windows. Harry grinned at him, reaching out his right arm- the left clinging to Puff. "I've made breakfast." Tony lifted him out of the cot. Harry tapped his hand against Tony's cheek examining the man's beard. 

"Good morning Master Harry." Jarvis softly intoned as the pair strolled down the hallway to the kitchen. Harry paused his ministrations of his Dad's cheek to peer around for the source of the voice. "That's Jarvis. He's a robot AI system. He's my main helper. I have other robots who you'll meet later." Tony explained as he placed Harry gently into the highchair at the breakfast bar.

"Jar!" Harry copied bashing the palm of his hand on the table attached to the chair. "Yes!" Tony smiled at him. 

He placed the bottle of milk on the tray whilst he pattered around the kitchen making himeslf some toast and fluffy eggs with Jarvis' direction. Harry sucked on the bottle and watched Tony work. They were joined a few moments later by a freshly showered Pepper, who was dressed in a smart suit. 

"Ooh Harry, doesn't Mummy look smart." Tony pressed a kiss to her cheek and put a mug of tea into her hand. "Mu." Harry garbled, and raised his hand to her. Pepper pressed a kiss to his forehead, before placing her bag onto the barstool. 

"What's for breakfast today Harry?" She asked placing the bowl of puree by her side. Harry looked down at it. "Me?" He asked shyly. Pepper responded by scooping up a small amount onto the spoon and feeding it to him. Harry swallowed it down happily, and opened his mouth for more, like a little bird. 

The family finished their breakfast happily discussing the day's work, and schedule for Harry. Pepper had an essential meeting with their lawyers about a press release later in the month, Tony was staying with Harry and filling out some paperwork throughout the day. Harry was to start his physiotherapy, and in the evening Rhodey was coming over for dinner. 

After breakfast and Pepper had left, Tony cleaned Harry's face- he still wasn't used to eating food properly or cleanly- and took him down to the living room. He placed Harry on the play mat, and sat down too. They spent an hour playing with the blocks again, and had built a red and green fortress with yellow water by the time they stopped for a drink. Harry crawled to the coffee table to grab his sippy cup of orange juice, and drank heavily from it. 

"You were pretty thirsty huh?" Tony brushed the hair out of Harry's eyes as the toddler finished drinking and gasped for air. Harry kicked off from the table to crawl back to the toy chest. He hesitated at the literal toyshop Tony had stocked the chest with.

"Me?" The child asked wearliy- not wanting to get in trouble for playing with something that wasn't his. Tony nodded, and pulled out a toddler playmobil set. 

"Yes. Shall we play with this?" He asked, setting down the box. It was a park set, and Tony had chosen it specifically because he wanted to take Harry to the park in the following weeks. 

Harry patted the box inquisitively, and seeing the characters on the front nodded. 

They got the park set up, and then engaged in a trek from the fortress home to the park. The mother and baby in the pram were pushed by Tony, while Harry carried the child on the back of the shaggy poodle figurine down to the swings. The dad was buried in the sandpit apparently, and the mother sipped her tea while Harry and the child slid down the slide. 

Tony watched his son's face, enraptured by the joy they were having. The pair weren't aware of Jarvis recording the moment, and Tony wouldn't find the recording until a month later in a folder. Said folder was marked by Jarvis on the family drive of the private household Stark Cloud. The video was aptly named: 

Harry and Daddy play in the sand at the Playmobil park for the first time - soo cute.

Chapter Text

After a short nap, Harry was dressed in a cute little dungaree set by Tony. The dungarees were blue and the front pocket had a yellow duck sewn onto it. The four year old wore an accompanying yellow shirt underneath. 

"We're having dinner with my best friend tonight." Tony chatted as he finished changing his son's nappy. Harry ignored him in favour of gumming on Puff as Tony shimmied the shirt on him. 

"He's been with me through thick and thin." Tony continued, rifling through the sock drawer for a pair of yellow socks for Harry's dinky little feet. 

Harry jerked his head over to look at his daddy when the man popped up again from the stooped position. He grinned, and then giggled as Tony slipped the socks on. 

"Well!" Tony finished up and stood back, taking a look at his handy work. Harry kicked his legs about weakly, and then motioned to be picked up. 

The couple had sent James an invite for five thirty as they had dinner at six with Harry according to his schedule. Arriving a half an hour earlier would give Harry and James some time to play. 

Pepper waltzed into the living room at five, a full day as CEO had done her in, and she headed to have a shower after kissing Harry on the forehead, and a chaste kiss with Tony. 

Harry was playing with the Playmobil family at the park again when Rhodes walked through the door announced by Jarvis. 

Tony pulled his brother into a hug and poured the man a scotch from the bookshelf bar. 

"Harry." Tony called. The boy stopped pushing the little pram to roll over and look at his dad. "This is my friend and brother I was telling you about." 

Harry buried his face into Puff's fur, and waved at the tall man shyly. 

"Rhodey, this is my son Harry." Tony swooped down to pick Harry up and settled him on his hip. 

Harry scrunched his face up adorably as he examined the soldier. James grinned.

"Hey little one." He gave Harry a stuffed toy. Tony had told him how much Harry loved Puff, and so the man had bought a stuffed snake. 

"I'm your Uncle Rhodey." James continued. "And, this is your present." Harry gasped.

"Is me Da?" He asked, looking up at Tony for reassurance. Tony nodded, and Harry reached out to accept the gift. "De!" Harry nodded, looking at the taller gentleman. 

"Did you know Harry." Tony settled the boy back on his playmat. "Uncle Rhodey is a soldier. He protects our country." Harry cooed and pulled Puff and the new snake closer to him. At that statement, James snapped his heels together, and raised his arm in a mock salute. "Uncle R reporting for Harry playtime duty." He announced snappishly. Harry giggled, and copied the motion, while drooling slightly. 

Pepper walked in at that moment, and laughed at the scene. "I hope you got that on camera J." She looked at the camera in the corner. "I did Miss Potts." 

James joined Harry on the mat, and the family of four played with the toys together until dinner was served. 

Tony had decided that it was already stressful enough- Harry meeting Rhodey- and so he had hired a chef for the night. Dinner was a tasty risotto, which was soft enough for Harry to mash against the roof of his mouth. 

They ate in comfort and style, with friendly chatter about how different having a child was. James made sure to compliment Harry's duck dungarees. 

"Your outfit is amazing." He said after swallowing the last of his risotto. Harry peered up at him, face a mess of rice and mushed carrot. Harry looked down at the pocket, and touched the duck. He looked up again and grinned, dancing a little in his highchair. Pepper snorted, and scooped up another spoonful before feeding it to her son. 

"Careful with your compliments, or Harry might just go home with you." She joked. Tony let out a soft sigh of content as dessert was served. 

They had ice cream in a cone and a wafer. It was Harry's first time having a wafer, and the brand they had selected were so moreish they melted in the mouth- making it easy for Harry to eat. It was safe to say, Harry really enjoyed his time with Uncle Rhodey.

The first meeting of Harry and his new uncle had gone swimmingly well.

Tony stroked his baby's head as he placed him down to sleep later that evening, Pepper entertaining James in the living room. 

He'd been worried, another new face so soon after having his life uprooted may have been a bit too much for Harry. However, the pair were partners in crime already, and Tony was happy the child had another member playing for his team. 

Baby Harry. You're so loved.

Chapter Text

A week after Harry met James, the little family settled down. Tony returned to work, and followed a strict nine to five routine.

The family would eat a healthy breakfast together, and the couple stressed on the importance of dressing Harry in the morning together. Then, Harry and Happy would wave them away in the lift for an exciting day together. Pepper, who had slightly more leeway with her lunch hour, would return to have a quick meal and playtime with Harry, and then would head off to the next meeting.

In the afternoon, Tony would play with Harry for an hour before bathing him. The family of three would then prepare dinner together, Harry helping by taking ingredients to the adults from the fridge in his wheelchair. One of the adaptations Tony had ordered be made to the home, was that the fridge was at a level that Harry could reach. Food had been used as a punishment for so long by the Dursley's, and so as to repair Harry's relationship with food, Tony and Pepper had been instructed to make it easy for Harry to access food whenever he wanted; without needing supervision or permission. Harry loved being his parents' little helper, and their relationship had grown stronger. 

Harry and Happy; who had been upgraded to Harry's supervisor and bodyguard; spent the day together. They spent their days indulging in a range of activities, from cooking to building legos. Happy made sure to integrate a learning point in all the fun they had together. 

The pair were in the kitchen making fairy cakes. Happy helped Harry to put the cake casings into the cake tin. "Shall we count Harry?" He encouraged, steering Harry's hand in the right direction. The tin was balanced on the highchair table, as Harry's legs weren't strong enough to support him standing on a chair to reach the countertops. 

"One!" Happy stated, as Harry poked the first casing into the hole in the tin. "On!" Harry exclaimed, and clapped his hands at the first sign of victory. He looked up at Happy for a sign- any sign- that he had got it correct. 

They'd noticed that lately, Harry had taken to looking for approval for anything: talking, crawling or even using his nappy. Tony had spoken to the doctor about it, and Lee- on the phone call- had explained that it was ingrained from his treatment at the hands of the Dursley's. They had berated him for everything he did, so now he needed the approval to confirm that he wasn't doing anything wrong. It was clear to them all, that wrong behaviour at the Dursley's would have resulted in a horrendous and painful punishment. 

Happy smiled and ruffled Harry's hair, the toddler jiggled in his seat, and picked up the next casing. By the time they'd reached twelve, and the end of the tin, Harry was alight with excitement and praise. 

"Okay, now we mix the ingredients." Happy placed the mixing bowl with all the pre-measured ingredients in it on the table. He'd taken the time to plug in the electric whisk beforehand. Harry curiously watched Happy retest that the whisk attachments were properly in place, before the man came around to stand behind the four year old. "I'm going to help you hold the whisk." Happy explained, and placed Harry's tiny right hand on the top of the mixer, and then covered it with his own stronger hand. They repeated this action with their hands on the mixing bowl to hold it steady, and then turned on the mixer. 

Harry's giggles filled the room as the whisk whirred loudly, and Happy manipulated their hands gently to get the whisk to incorporate the batter from all over the bowl. It was over fairly quickly, as they wanted to incorporate some air and make the batter light and fluffy, but not overwork the cake into a stodgy and hard texture.

"All done!" Happy stated when they placed the bowl down. "Now we divide the mixture into the cases." He grabbed the spatula and spoon. He again helped Harry hold them both, and they made quick work of dolloping the batter into the casings. They once again counted aloud, and this was to reinforce the learning from earlier. "Telve!" Harry exclaimed as they reached the last one. 

"Yay!!" Happy encouraged, and licked the spatula. Harry gazed up at him curiously. "You can't make cakes and not lick the spoon." Happy explained, putting the tins into the pre-heated oven. He took out one of the soft spoons for Harry's mouth, and scooped up a tiny bit of the remaining batter from the spatula. Because the cakes had raw eggs, and Harry had a delicate stomach, he would only have the one scoop. 

Harry opened his mouth and welcomed the new flavour. They had made vanilla cakes, so the batter was dotted with vanilla beans, and Harry's eyebrows raised in surprise at the rich flavour. "Um!" He gasped. 

"It is yummy isn't it." Happy smiled and placed the last of the utensils they'd used in the dishwasher. 

Harry went down for his nap while the cakes finished baking and cooling in the oven. He woke just as Happy finished mixing up some colours for the icing. He planned to teach Harry some colours as they had fun decorating the cakes. Two lessons in one day was an achievment. 

Happy walked back to the kitchen with Harry perched on his hip, awake and refreshed. He'd changed Harry's nappy when the toddler had woken and Harry carried Puff in his right arm, cradling Puff like Happy was carrying him.

"We're going to decorate the cakes now." Happy showed Harry the range of colours he'd mixed up. "So, Puff will have to have a nap at the table so he doesn't get messy." Harry sighed as if he was hard done by, but put Puff on the table. Happy had even gone so far as to take two velvet placemats, and placed Puff on one and covered him with the other. "Nigh' nigh'." Harry waved at him before they turned back to the colours. 

"You've got a range of colours." Happy pointed at them. "This is green. Can you say it?" 

"Geen." Harry repeated, and received a pat on the back. There was green icing, red, gold, purple and black. Harry had already learned the primary colours, so Happy was expanding his knowledge with the addition of green, gold, purple and black. 

"What colour should we put on the first cake?" Happy asked as he strapped Harry back into the highchair after re-washing their hands.

"Back." Harry chose. They decorated ten of the cakes counting yet again, and then Happy made a suggestion. 

"You should make a cake for Mummy and Daddy." Harry gasped and nodded at the idea, clapping his sticky hands together. Happy had brought out the sprinkles and edible glitter, so Harry was pretty sparkly. 

"Let's do Daddy's one first." Happy pulled the eleventh fairy cake towards them. "What colour should we do this one?" He asked, giving Harry the choice. 

"Wed, an Gol'." Harry opted to slather the top of the cake in gold, and then dotted red onto it. He added a touch of red sprinkles. For Pepper he made a purple and green cake and delicately placed three green sparkles from the glitter onto the top as a finishing touch. 

"Dun'!" Harry grinned, and Happy hauled him out of the highchair so the cakes could set in the fridge. "Your Daddy is going to really need to scrub you in the bath today." Happy conversed as he washed Harry's incredibly sticky hands and face at the sink. "Baff." Harry giggled. 

The little one's vocabulary and speech was coming on in leaps and bounds. In just a week he was annunciating himself a lot better, and considering that the doctors had declared him as non-verbal, the family was witnessing and encouraging a miracle. 

Pepper returned for lunch, and they had chicken wraps. Harry still had to have blended food, and Pepper fed him a mushed shepherd's pie with peas and carrots. The mother and son duo read a book together before Pepper put Harry down for his second nap of the day. Happy cleaned up in the kitchen as Harry slept. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent building a lego construction site. Harry learned about diggers, cranes and bricks.

When Tony and Pepper came back from work, Harry lit up and abandoned the diggers. "'Lo Da, Ma." He grinned, crawling to them quickly. Tony picked him up and peppered kisses all over his face, as had become their little - thing- after a busy day at work. Pepper kissed Harry's cheeks and hands as was their thing.

"Today Harry made fairy cakes." Happy announced grandly, and Harry giggled. "There is a surprise waiting for Harry's Mummy and Daddy in the kitchen." 

They walked over to the kitchen, and while the couple had been greeting Harry, Happy had slipped away to set out the two very special cakes on the best serving china in the kitchen.

"Oh wow!" Tony exclaimed. Happy helped Harry give the cakes to the respective recipient. Harry then blew a kiss at each of his parents before burrowing his face into Happy's shoulder and pointing a very glittery black fairy cake and presenting it to Happy too. The man blushed beetroot red, and munched on his cake to cover it up. 

Tony looked around at the little group in the kitchen with a very warm feeling blooming in his chest. He glanced down at the cake Harry had decorated, in his favourite colour may he add, and grinned. 

I'm the luckiest Dad in the world.

Chapter Text

A month after Harry had become Tony and Pepper's son, the family attended the first of Harry's physiotherapy sessions. 

Of course, all the staff in the specialist building had been made to sign NDAs, and the high profile figures carried their child into the building through the back entrance. 

Harry was being helped by the top physiotherapist in the world. Tony wouldn't have any other, and he flew Doctor Mariah Singh into the facility for the bi-monthly sessions. Singh hailed from Minnesota, where she had set up a specialist facility to provide care for those in underprivileged families. Tony paid for the flights, Singh's time and contributed to her non-profit organisation so that others could receive the type of care Harry was getting. 

The first session didn't go quite according to plan.

The changes that had occurred for Harry in the past four months had taken its toll. He'd met so many new people, and done so well in the process- considering he'd had very little positive contact with adults prior to the Dursley's arrest.

"Good morning!" Pepper greeted Dr Singh, Harry perched on her hip and gumming on Puff. "Good morning." Doctor Singh replied. 

"Harry would you like to say hello to the doctor." Pepper nudged him gently. 

"No." He buried his face in her shoulder. Pepper sighed. It had been a difficult process that morning. They had been preparing the four year old for the previous three weeks for this day, and he hadn't seemed bothered. Come to think of it, he'd even helped them cross the days off on the calendar. The couple had given Harry the biggest breakfast that morning, porridge and diced pain au chocolat and strawberries. He'd barely eaten any of it, and he'd been silent in the car on the drive to the clinic. 

Tony entered the large room behind them, after finishing the paperwork at the desk. 

"Hello Mr Stark." Mariah greeted as she sat down on the physio mats lining the floor. Tony nodded sharply at her. "Thank you for coming out." He responded. 

"Come on Harry." Tony took the four year old from Pepper and sat down with him opposite the doctor. 

"Today we're having fun with Dr Singh like we've been saying." Tony explained, placing the boy between his legs. Harry twisted around and crawled back into Tony's chest. 

"Harry, today we're going to be having a little playtime with your legs." Mariah stated. 

"Dad, I want to see Harry sit up on his own, if you could sit him on his bottom without any support please." She instructed. 

Tony pried Harry's fingers from his shirt fabric, and placed Harry in the centre of the mat. It was no surprise that he supported himself for a couple of seconds before keeling over onto his right side. 

Harry shrieked, and rolled over onto his front, and crawled over to his mum, giving Tony an injured look. The brunette sighed. Mariah's face gave nothing away. 

"Well done Harry." She praised. Harry stared at the lady for a moment, before once again burying his face in Pepper's shoulder, Puff held in a deathly tight grip. 

"You've done a great job Harry. Can I see you try to stand up now?" Singh asked. Harry gave no indication that he'd heard. 

Pepper knelt up, and hoisted the boy up too. "Let's stand up shall we. You've done this before." Pepper kissed his forehead. 

With the doctor's advice, Tony and Pepper had been standing Harry up twice a day with their support. He usually rested in the support of their arms, and they had been told to exercise his leg muscles as much as possible. Every time it had led to tears, as it was painful for him to use his legs. Harry had been kept locked in a cuboard for three years, and had no need to walk, just crawling was a massive feat at all. 

Pepper supported Harry's armpits with her hands taking most of his weight, and Harry stood for a second before the pain shot up his little legs. He screeched in horror, and tried to twist out of Pepper's arms, growling in anger. 

"Well done!" Mariah called over Harry's protests. "Mum we can set him down now." 

Harry threw himself onto his tummy and screamed for all he was worth. Pepper blushed scarlet in sadness and embarrassment. Mariah pulled a little box towards her. 

"Harry's been very brave coming and trying out a new activity." Mariah spoke calmly. "I've got three different stickers here for Harry to choose from when he'd like to come and see." She laid out a tiger, dog and bird sticker on the floor by her. 

Tony looked at the doctor in shock. His little boy was basically screaming bloody murder in pain from the excercise, and she was offering a sticker. Was she okay? 

Mariah winked at him. Sure enough, at the mention of the stickers, Harry's cries died down. He crawled over to them, and looked up at the doctor. 

"Me?" He asked, and pointed at the dog sticker. 

"Yes. You've done so well doing the two things that really hurt, so you get a reward. I've heard all about your sticker book, and this definitely deserves a sticker." 

Harry selected the black dog and Mariah handed it to Tony. The man was very surprised. They were still relatively new to this parenting thing after all. 

"I have one last thing I want to try today Harry." Singh announced. Harry pointed at the bird sticker. Tony snorted, look at him- already learning the art of negotiation.

"Yes, you'll get the bird at the end." Mariah placed it on the mat Harry was on as an incentive. 

"Now, I'm going to need Mum and Dad's help with this. Mum can I please use you in my demonstration?" Mariah patted the mat in question. Pepper moved over to her, and Singh asked her to lie down. 

"Watch Mummy do it." Tony pointed as Mariah held and manipulated Pepper's leg in bicycle motion. Harry watched in awe, as Pepper went faster and faster. 

"Dad can you come and help mum now please, so I can show Harry how to do it."

The pair switched places, and Mariah helped Harry get into position holding his feet as he clung to Puff. 

"Okay, and push your legs!" She instructed. Harry complied, face straining red with the effort. Mariah could feel Harry trying his hardest, and noted he wasn't moving her hands much at all with the pressure he was exerting. 

"Well done!" She cheered, and Harry grinned. 

Tony and Pepper were watching them with worried eyes. 

"All done now Harry." Mariah set his feet down gently. "You've earned your sticker, and a play with my special lego over there." 

She got Harry set up at the play station, and then sat down with the couple at her desk. 

"So what can you tell us?" Tony begged Mariah. 

"Harry's centre of gravity is all skewed off point. This is why he falls over when sat upright without support. This is due to the stroke, and then not receiving the medical care to recover properly from it afterwards." 

Pepper clutched Tony's arm. 

"Harry also has very limited use of his legs as of now. However, with these activities I will give you, we can build up his muscle mass to a point where he can stand up and support himself. Harry will always need a wheelchair, the stroke affected his balance, but the neglect is what caused his disability to reach this extent." Mariah explained honestly. 

Pepper dabbed her eyes with a tissue, and Tony swallowed heavily. 

"It's not all negative Mr Stark, Ms Potts." the doctor smiled wryly. "Harry is already achieving more than he was expected to under your care. He can crawl, and he can talk. He supports his own breathing, and he is a very happy child." 

They looked over to the boy at the play table. He was giggling away, his back straps supporting him from falling out of the chair, and showing Puff his latest lego creation.

"I would like you to do bicycle legs for five minutes with Harry just before his bath, and continue standing him up. It will hurt him for a while yet, but you are helping him rather than hindering him. If we can get Harry at least standing up by himself, he can reach a new level of independence. Continue with the chest straps to support him. If he can also sit up on his own, he can again reach a new level of independence. At the next meeting, we'll see how Harry's legs are, and I'll issue some leg braces for your stand up sessions. Getting Harry walking will mean the use of braces, and I'll be honest with you, Harry will probably be in them for the rest of his life." 

Mariah explained all this while writing down the instructions. She knew it was overwhelming for the two parents- she delivered news like this fairly regularly. She'd learnt that it was better to get straight to the point, rather than beating around the bush and being placating. 

"I know this is a lot to take in, and it may feel like you've failed in some way or another. You haven't. Harry is already living, and will continue to live, the best life, it is just taking a different form to what you expected." 

Pepper let out a deep breath. "So, Harry will need to be fitted for leg braces?" She questioned again. 

Mariah nodded. "Yes, but we'll see about that at the next appointment, which will be in two weeks." She placed the instructions in an envelope. "It would be best to start a chart to ensure that you are maintaining Harry's exercises everyday. He's already missed out on a lot of support he could have received because of the neglect of his relatives. We want him to thrive as much as he can from here on out." 

Handing the envelope to Tony, the doctor smiled. "Harry is very lucky to have you." 

Walking out of the clinic to the car was hard. They didn't feel like Harry was lucky to have them at all.

Later that evening when Harry was in bed and Pepper was watching a show on the TV, Tony headed down to his workshop. 

"ARRGH!" He screamed when the door was shut. 

He picked up a wrench and threw it at the last project he'd been working on, damaging the metal. 

DUM-E whirred in the corner, and headed over to the workbench and picked up the wrench. He extended his arm to Tony, and beeped in concern, trying to return the tool. 

"Are you MAD?!" Tony screeched. "I don't want a wrench. How can I fix Harry with that? NOTHING can fix him. Not me, not Pep. What kind of parents are we if we can't fix him?" 

DUM-E bleeped and blooped in sympathy. Tony lunged at the bot. "DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?!!" he yelled at the little camera, shaking his creation in frustration.

Seeing his reflection in the lens, something inside Tony snapped. He pulled DUM-E into his chest and clung onto him while sobbing. 

"I can't fix him DUM-E." 

The bot patted his back with his arm, beeping sadly. 

"Perhaps you aren't meant to fix him sir." JARVIS finally piped up. Tony frowned, still clinging to DUM-E. 

"Perhaps he just needs you to love him and show him that the world isn't a horrible place. He needs a Daddy, not a superhero. There's nothing for you to go all Iron Man out on here. The Dursleys are serving their time, and Harry has the best parents in the world. That's all he needs." JARVIS advised. 

DUM-E pulled away from his creator, and beeped excitedly, grabbing the box of tissues from the bar. He presented them to Tony, and the genius pulled one out of the box, wiping his eyes. 

"JARVIS, pull up my Stark tech engeneering software." Tony ordered, pouring himself a glass of coke at the bar. 

"I want to see the progress made on the prosthetic leg we've been trying out for the army vets. Lets see if there's a way we can transfer the bending mechanism to a leg brace design." Tony grabbed his glasses, and peered at the hologram JARVIS was displaying at the work station. 

"There's no way my son is getting anything less than the best. You won't catch Harry Stark walking around in anything but the brand new model of the Stark Brace." Tony turned on the radio. 

"JARVIS, have that patented immediately." Tony requested, while he manipulated the hologram with his fingers, transferring designs from the prosthesis prototypes, and creating a basic design for the first Stark Brace. 

"This takes top priority. The braces will be ready in time for Harry's next physio appointment. I won't allow anything else."

Chapter Text

It was nearly eight months since Harry had come home with Tony and Pepper, and the relationship between them had grown.

Harry still went to physio, Tony had finished making the braces and Harry had taken to them very well. He had made the braces blue with little yellow ducks and frogs on lilypads decorating the metal.

Tony had brought out the customisable braces, prosthetics and crutches range to the new Stark Veteran line. He was moving more of Stark Tech workforce to create more adaptive equipment for people from all walks of life. He had also set up a non-profit called Harry's House of Happiness that distributed essential adaptive equipment to vulnerable individuals - no matter the family background- for free.

This organisation also ensured that individuals in care would be checked up on regularly meeting new guidelines agreed upon by the newly created World Social Society. The WSS governed social services in all countries, it focused on keeping families together as far as possible, but held local authorities accountable. Tony had portioned all of the profits made from the new kids range that Harry was the face of called Stark Kids, towards the WSS. Stark Kids was branded towards children with a clothes department as well as an adaptive equipment section with models also able to be customised to the buyer's tastes. Part of the profits that were made from Stark Tech were going towards the World Social Society as well. Stark Industries was bringing in a huge amount of revenue, which meant the WSS was well funded.

Social Services all around the world were being paid properly for their work, which meant Tony was seeing corruption in these government establishments diminishing. Corruption and malpractice were caused by overworking, understaffing and lack of staff morale. Tony was treating the WSS as a social experiment. He had seen that staff retention was a lot higher since the WSS had been carrying out proper checks at a local level regularly. The staff pay was being governed by the WSS, and the number of people applying for the jobs and staying, was increasing. Over the course of six months, Tony and the psychologists from the World Health Organisation had agreed- the WSS was making improvements for social services on a global and local level. The children and families they were serving were coming out of it better. Fairly paid social workers -who were also working fair hours due to staff retention- were attending to emergencies professionally and efficiently. This made the services they delivered better, and the children they safeguarded even safer. If this wasn't proof to global governments to pay their people properly, Tony didn't know what would help them to see the fact. The World Social Society was a success, and Tony was sure it would mean that no other child would go through what Harry had been through. 

Harry had become the face of Stark Kids- a decision he was fully a part of. His opinion on new garments was highly valued, and if he chose not to do something, that decision was also respected. The August campaign of Stark Kids had been highly anticipated, and the magazine had featured both disabled and able-bodied models. The press release that had come out after that first campaign had been met well.

Most of the world was encouraging of the new addition to the Stark family, and Tony had seen an increase in the general public's protection of the little boy. Harry's House of Happiness had already held its first marathon, and Harry had joined it in his wheelchair. The press coverage of that event was huge, and Tony had been happy to announce that the marathon had raised $90 million dollars with over 200 million people running in the event whether virtually or in person.

Things were looking up for the Stark family. Except for one thing. 

The day was a sunny one, and Tony had chosen to take Harry to the local park. The nearly five year old had come a long way. He was comfortable with coming outside and meeting new people. He was no longer afraid of adults either his Mummy or Daddy introduced him to, and Harry was even comfortable enough to start entertaining the idea of attending school when he turned five. 

Tony had taken the day off, as he was wont to do very often these days. He hated missing any of Harry's milestones. The child still had to have oxygen at night, he still had to have his food blended to eat it, he was still unable to stand up without holding onto something whilst having his braces on. Tony could dwell for days on all the things Harry couldn't do. 

Instead, he focused on what his child could do.

And that was a lot.

He could smile and grin at people. He could make a whole room full of annoyed journalists smile with his laughter, he could crawl around to play with his toys. He could count to twenty, and say a few words- Ma and Da included in that. He could draw gorgeous artwork for his parents when they got home from work. (This had inspired Tony so much that he had demolished a whole floor in Stark Tower to create a gallery for all of Harry's little paintings and plastecine sculptures. The gallery had further inspired Tony to organise an exhibition to fundraise for Harry's House of Happiness with the artwork of individuals that the non-profit catered to.) 

And most of all, Harry could care for anyone and everyone- human, animal or toy. Even, duck.

This caring nature was what had led to Tony's current predicament. 

Tony had taken the day off, and taken Harry to the park for a picnic- which they had indulged in. Harry had enjoyed his raspberry compote rather a lot, and Tony had turned away for one second to grab the wipes to clean his face, when Harry had crawled off. This was not unusual, and Harry wasn't the strongest so his progression was usually rather slow. Except for today. 

Tony turned back to the boy only to see him down by the reeds and bullrushes at the edge of the pond. Tony bolted up to get him, usually, there were all kinds of birds down there and Harry, like most toddlers, had a tendency to shove his fingers in his mouth no matter where he had just put his hands. Tony didn't even want to entertain the idea of his son eating duck poo, and he grabbed Harry's hands before he could do that. 

Tony wiggled his child's little fingers in a game he and Pepper had coined "Oops Don't Eat That Harry!!" This usually prevented a crying fit, and Harry loved having his tiny hands played with. They never berated Harry, it was his method of exploration, tasting new things, and feeling new textures just like a baby. However, there was so much that the four year old shouldn't consume, that Oops Don't Eat That Harry had become a necessary game. 

As the black haired child giggled, Tony noticed the thing that had caught Harry's attention. A tiny duckling was squawking in the grass by the water. It was clearly the runt of the pack, and the mother had left with its other nest siblings. Ducks were Harry's favourite animal, and Tony knew as soon as he saw it, that there was no way Harry would be leaving the park without the little yellow fluffball.

Tony sighed, and whipped out the trusty bottle of hand sanitiser to clean Harry's poo smeared hands. That done, he perched Harry on his hip and carried the child back to the picnic blanket. 

"Da Ducky!" Harry screeched twisting around to look back at the reeds they had just come from. 

"I know Harry. The mummy has just gone away. She'll be back for him soon." Tony lied. It was almost November, the ducks were all gone. He was surprised any chicks had hatched this late in the year. There were no ducks on the pond, they'd all migrated somewhere warmer. That duckling would be dead before the week was out. 

Harry seemed to have caught onto Tony's train of thought, because he finally twisted out of Tony's grip and shot off back towards the reeds screaming as he went. 

Tony plucked his son up and held him to his chest as the boy kicked and screeched in distress. Tony didn't restrain his movements, just softly hummed to the child as he slowly calmed down. It had been an exciting day, full of new smells, sights and an overall sensory overload. Tony had known the meltdown would come sooner or later, and he just held his son as he came down. Fifteen minutes of humming later, Harry hiccoughed softly. "Ducky Da!" He muttered, and raised a hand to wipe his eyes. 

"Yeah. I know it's sad, but the duck is really small." Tony explained, taking them back to the blanket and away from the stares of the other families by the pond. Tony dabbed some water on one of the little cloths he always carried around to wipe Harry's face with, and tapped Harry's eyes with it. They were becoming swollen from the tears, and Tony knew from experience, that the sensation could set Harry off on another crying fit. It was one of Harry's little quirks, and Tony and Pepper were okay with that. It made Harry unique, and they loved him for it. 

Tony finished dabbing Harry's eyes, and the four year old sighed. "Want Da." He pointed at the reeds. Tony groaned internally. 

"Okay here's what we'll do baby." He began packing up the picnic items. "I've got a box in the boot of the car. We'll get all packed up and then I'll get you in your car seat and put the duck in the box. We'll take him home, and then tomorrow, we'll take him to the vets. Okay?" 

Harry nodded and sniffled. "Love Da." He motioned to be picked up, and Tony obliged. "I love you too." 

Pepper came in from a long day at work yawning. She entered the renovated kitchen dining room, and made her way over to the kettle. She proudly observed Harry's artwork for the day on the fridge. It was a little stick man rendition of Harry and Daddy at the park, she read on the backside of the paper. They'd taken to asking Harry about what he had drawn and then writing it down later, as most of his artwork was not easy to distinguish or piece together. As Pepper turned back to her steeping brew of Darjeeling, she noticed a large box in the corner of the room. She approached it cautiously, and peered inside. 

A freshly washed duckling the size of a large tomato was huddled into one corner. The box had a blanket, water bowl and a bowl of bird food in it. Pepper closed her eyes and exhaled. She knew from the blanket and box, that Tony was probably down in the lab creating a proper bird home for this little duckling. 

"JARVIS. Is this Harry's finding today?" Pepper asked, going back to her tea and adding a generous spoonful of honey. 

"Yes he is Miss Potts." JARVIS stated with an amused tone. 

"Well." Pepper sighed, sipping her tea. "I guess this is the newest family member. Hary has been trying to get a pet for ages now." 

JARVIS chuckled. "That he has Miss Potts, that he has." 

The Duck who had been named Duck had been cleared by the vets the next day. Tony had been slightly hopeful that they would be told the thing was too sick for them to take home. The bird had been given the necessary shots, and Tony, Pepper and Harry had gone for their own shots the next day, so that Duck could settle in with them.

Harry was so pleased with his new friend. Tony had made bird feeding stations for every room in their home, and Harry had taken to sleeping with Duck in his cot. The little yellow creature was enamoured with his new brother, and the two had fast become inseparable. Of course, Tony had pioneered a new pets range for Stark Industries, and Harry and Duck were the image of the December campaign, both dressed in the matching red light up Wellignton Boots Stark Pets had invented. A little yellow duckling in red wellies?

Now that was eye catching.

Chapter Text

The morning of the art exhibition was a busy one. 

Harry woke up feeling great, and Tony got him ready for the day. As the proud father unhooked Harry from his night time oxygen canulas, Harry waved his arms around happily squealing in delight as Tony brushed by his feet. Duck quacked in the corner of the cot by Harry's head, preening his feathers contentedly. The small animal had grown over the course of the month, and his feathers were slowly turning white, an indication that he was in fact a Pekin duck. Funny that, with how the little thing seemed to bash its head into the floor at any given opportunity. Tony was of the opinion that the duck may have some special educational needs. There had to be a reason why the mother had left it behind after all- apart from the animal's tiny stature that is. 

Tony shook his head fondly as he pulled on Harry's socks, and completed the outfit for the day ahead. He seemed to attract those who'd been left behind and needed a loving home. 

He was just fine with that. 

As long as Harry didn't bring home an injured horse or something. 

Deep down though, Tony knew that if Harry did bring home an injured horse, he'd build a stable. 

Tony and Pepper had established a routine with their son now, and they didn't deem it necessary to break from it just because there was an art exhibition. 

The exhibition was due to start at four in the afternoon, so that many of the families bringing their children could attend. 

It was funny that.

How Tony's life had been flipped right around. There were no more insane late nights. Even the charity galas he'd been invited to, he left early on in the evening. Harry had changed his life- and surely saved his liver from all those irresponsible pub crawls he'd gotten up to until the early hours of the morning.

Harry had his pureed breakfast and then departed with Happy to the rooftop playground Tony had had the architect add to the Tower. 

Tony headed to his workshop to finish up the latest prototype for the Stark Veteran arm brace, and had the plans sent off for final appraisal later that week. 

Pepper chose not to go into the office building at Stark Inc today, and settled into her own work until lunch in the home office. 

Lunch was a tuna panini with a grape and orange salad, while Harry had pureed spaghetti. 

"Harry, Uncle Rhodey is coming over to help set up after lunch." Pepper told the nearly five year old as she spooned his food into his eager mouth. 

"Isn't that cool?" Tony joined in the conversation, while Duck entertained himself on the table slurping up ice cold water from his "duck cup." Happy ate his own lunch with the family now, and Pepper was elated that Happy was a member of their family now.

"Harry went down the slide today." Happy also joined the chatter. "I also went down with him. It was a very fun morning." 

"Is that so?!" Pepper exclaimed in delight as she took out Harry's dessert from the fridge."I'll need to see that video. JARVIS please send that to me." She intoned airily. Her phone screen flashed indicating the file had been sent over. 

The parents were wary of the time- Harry needed his nap, but they needed to get down to the Metropolitan Museum of Art by two to finalise the plans for the exhibition. 

They'd missed out on Harry's nap only once before, and that had ended in tears, screaming and headaches for all involved. It seemed with Harry, that the saltiness of the tears was a burning sensation that he hated. One that when he felt it, made him cry even more, and so became a vicious cycle until he had worn himself down into a tired sleep. They'd made that mistake once , and never again. 

Harry went down for his nap at twelve thirty, and Happy woke him at one thirty to dress him in the little smart outfit for the exhibition.

Duck was dressed in a smart red tie and his signature red light-up wellington boots. Harry had insisted that the pet come with them, and it was becoming a pretty common sight in the tabloids- the group now dubbed a family of four. Duck never got left behind, even to visit a restaurant.

When Happy carried Harry into the living room to be put in his wheelchair, the four year old was surprised by his Uncle James sat on the sofa nattering away to Pepper who looked absolutely stunning in a red evening gown. 

"De! De!" Harry squealed happily trying to wriggle out of Happy's arms into those of his uncle. James scooped the boy into a hug and twirled them around in cirlces.

"Careful Platypus." Tony smirked entering the living room in a midnight blue suit. "Last time you did that Harry was sick on you. Don't want to turn up at this important fundraiser with vom on your tie." 

James slowed down and looked at his little brother. He then noticed Duck waddling around the living room. "My word is he wearing a tie Tony?" 

Pepper snorted. "Ask Harry. He's the one with the fashion sense." Pepper giggled. 

The exhibition was a success. There were a total of a thousand people who turned up. The artwork was incredible, with Harry's in the centre. The largest piece, a yellow blob with green lines running across it, was the focal point of the exhibition hall. The work was sold in the auction for a whopping $3,000, and Harry proudly waved off the new owner of his work. He took pictures with the patrons, and Duck appeared in every single one of them.

Tony had outdone himself.

The evening started out with the patrons milling through the Metropolitan gallery, looking at the works. Harry had provided ten pieces all done in his sessions with Happy, and they were all to be sold. The artists stood/sat by their works, and got to answer questions about the incredible art on display. After that, there was a meal in a separate dining hall, tables set with white tablecloths and white covered chairs. To end the evening there was an auction of all the artwork.

The dining hall had a theme of white and red running throughout, with the food served on gold plates. Harry had helped pick out the caterer, and the menu had been set by the child himself. Honey glazed butternut squash with mint roasted new potatoes, and chicken with goose fat roasted potatoes. (In reality, the couple had let the boy tried a few pureed versions of some meals, and chosen the ones he had actually liked and formed a comprehensive menu off of that.) 

The other exhibits had all been made by various adults and children with a range of disabilities, and Harry stopped by each of them to take a picture with the artists. There were two hundred works in total, and each sold for upwards of a $100.

By the end of the evening, the accountants added up the total of works sold at the auction, and Tony announced with Harry on the stage the amount of money raised. 

"Good evening!" Tony greeted everyone. "Thank you for coming out to the first Harry's House of Happiness charity exhibition. We didn't expect so many of you to be here, and it is so amazing to you all." The audience cheered, and the press' photographers happily snapped their cameras away. "Harry and I would like to thank all of the amazing artists who donated their work to today's exhibition." Harry grinned at his new friends, and Duck rather perfectly timed a loud quack from his friend's lap; causing the patrons and artists alike to burst into laughter. 

"With that housekeeping done, we shall announce today's total raised. This money will all be used by the non-profit to help individuals and their families recieve impeccable quality adaptive equipment, and the ability to access exceptional care." 

Tony bent down to Harry's level with a gold envelope and helped his son open it. A red card with the amount written on it was inside, and Tony held the microphone up to Harry to read out the total. "What does it say?" He encouraged the boy. Harry peered up at his dad for a moment, before looking at the card. "Ed!" He deduced, the colour rather bright up close. "Yes. It is on a red card." Tony praised him. "Today, with everyone's generosity, we've raised $25,000. Thank you!" 

Red and gold confetti erupted from confetti canons on the sides of the sage, and the room burst into applause. 

All in all, Tony thought later as he hooked Harry up to his oxygen canula, the night had been a perfect success. There would be more in the future.

In a castle in Scotland, a certain bumbling fool read a muggle article with horror filling his stomach. 

The title,  Dursley couple sentenced to life in prison after attempted murder stood out like a flare on a stormy day.

Dumbledore looked up at the woman and men opposite him. "It seems I made a mistake." He whispered. 

Severus Snape rolled his eyes. "You did more than that you fool." The man hissed. "You condemned an innocent child to near death all in the name of what? The greater good? That created a monster the first time you did it. I would have thought that you of all people would have learnt your lesson." 

Albus bowed his head at the man's stinging words. The truth was always hard to hear. 

Hagrid sobbed into his tissue. "Poor li'l Harry. If I had known this woulda happened, I would never have brough' him. You said he would be safe!!" Hagrid sniffled. 

"I told you." Minerva said with thin white lips. "I told you they were the worst sort of muggles Albus." She sat forward in her seat. 

"You have to live with this on your conscience." She spat. The three of them stood up and made their way out of the office.

"Only one good thing has come of this." Severus paused as he passed the large desk. "If you know what's good for you, you buffoon, you'll step down. From all your positions. Clearly it's too much for one man to take on. The parents will be in uproar over this- child endangerment indeed. You neglected the saviour, what more are you hiding?" Severus tossed a second paper on the desk. 

"He's happy now, we'll leave it that way." Severus left after his colleagues- his family. 

Dumbledore picked up the paper. 

Tony Stark's adoption goes through. Congratulations to the happy family. More on page 2. 

Harry Stark and his newest friend. The Duck pandemic, and catering for a Pekin.

Happy indeed. 

A week later, one headmaster relinquished all of his titles. He told the auror department of his knowledge of horcruxes, and he walked away from Hogwarts quietly. One Minerva McGonagoll would rule over the school fairly and justly. Albus Dumbledore walked away from all he'd known as just that- Albus too-many-names Dumbledore. No supreme mugwump, no seats on the wizengamot, just an ordinary wizard with a lot weighing on his conscience. 

Sadly, the wizarding world flourished without him, Thomas Riddle and his followers were taken down, and one Harry Potter was avenged peacefully. The students of Hogwarts found inner unity and peace reigned the nation. 

Harry remained happy.

Chapter Text

Harry's fifth birthday dawned bright and sunny. Unbeknownst to the child, Tony and Pepper had spent weeks planning the perfect birthday party for their little boy. 

Duck preened in the corner of the bed happy to watch Harry kick his legs around waiting for his Daddy to come and pick him up. That was another thing that had changed around the Stark household. Harry no longer slept in a cot. This was partly to do with him being too big for one, and also to his curiosity. (Tony and Pepper had let the pair of them sleep in their huge bed one movie night, and Harry had been very upset to go back to the cot. He'd tasted grown-up life, and he wanted all of it.)

Tony appeared in the corner of Harry's peripheral vision, and the child's face lit up happily at the sight of his dad. 

"Good morning Harry." Tony greeted him, bending down to turn off the oxygen tank and detached him from it. Harry gummed down on Puff's ear with a grin. 

"It's a very special day today." Tony continued, and took the boy to the bathroom to brush his teeth. 

The bathroom had been renovated to accommodate Harry's needs, with a low sink so that he could sit in his chair and Tony could brush his teeth. The sink also extended out further so that Harry could dribble into it, rather than directly onto his lap. 

Harry conceded to having his teeth brushed without a fuss. When Harry had first come to them, the sensation of having any hard object in his mouth had been disconcerting. The Durselys hadn't bothered with any part of Harry's care, let alone brushing his teeth, so Pepper had introduced him to having his little teeth brushed. The damage to his oral health from the neglect was minimal, and Harry now didn't mind the feeling of the toothbrush. He rather liked the cooling effect of the toothpaste in his mouth.

Back in the bedroom, Harry helped Tony pick out an outfit for Duck- a yellow raincoat with red booties. Harry then insisted on wearing blue dungarees and a yellow top to match his friend. (Harry really liked his dungarees, in fact that was his whole wardrobe, save for a few suits for important occasions.)

"Happy birthday Harry!" Pepper greeted the birthday boy as they sat down for breakfast. Happy appeared from where he had been rummaging through the fridge with a big grin. 

"Hello birthday boy." He waved the tub of frozen strawberry compote around. This was also Harry's favourite. 

The small family ate happily. The doctor had cleared Harry to try some slightly more solid foods, and Pepper had made pancakes. 

"Would you like to try one?" Tony asked, putting slices of chopped pancake on Harry's tray. The boy looked at them with distrust. He enjoyed his pureed food, and wasn't interested in change. 

Pepper lifted a piece of pancake to Harry's lips. He turned away with a groan. "Are you sure you don't want to try a bit?" Pepper brushed the soft food against Harry's mouth. He screeched in outrage, and Tony could see a fit coming on. 

"Pepper, leave it. The doctor said he may never move onto solids, just like with his walking and his speech. We should take him as he is. Don't force it." Tony stated wisely, just as Harry began to cry. 

Happy picked Harry up from his seat, and took him to the living room to calm down. Duck waddled after them quickly. 

"Sorry." Pepper sighed. "It's just, distressing. He's not at all like the other children." She whispered. 

Tony enveloped her in a big hug. "And that's okay Pep. He's our Harry. He may never eat solid food, he may never live indipendantly. That's okay. Let's celebrate what he can do. He makes all of our lives so much happier. I don't know what we were doing before he came along." Tony advised.

Pepper sniffled and laughed. "When did you become so wise Tony?" 

Tony buried his face in her hair. "About the time I learnt I was about to be a dad." 

Later that afternoon, Harry woke from his nap to a massive surprise. Some of his friends from the HHH offices had come along with Uncle Rhodey and Happy to celebrate his birthday. Doctor Singh was also there. 

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY!" They cheered softly, so as not to create a sensory overload. 

There were streamers in red and yellow around the living room, and a large pile of presents on the coffee table. Pepper and Tony had asked that the presents came wrapped in block colours of either red, yellow or gold, just so that Harry was comfortable. It would be awful if the birthday boy's own party was a mess and overload inducing. 

Harry opened his presents with help from the one who gifted it, and took a picture with each guest for the yearly photo album tradition Tony was integrating into their lives. He received lots of red clothing items with the labels removed, and seamless just how he liked it. Harry also received some matching patterned outfits to wear with Duck and his parents. Harry also received lots of new lego and playmobil sets. 

After opening the presents, the group got down to build a huge lego fortress, and spent time playing with his new playmobil people. 

To end the party, Pepper and Tony brought out a huge one tiered birthday cake, complete with a photo of Harry and Duck on it. They got plenty of photos, before Rhodey helped Harry blow out the candles. 

Despite the meltdown at breakfast, Harry ate a tiny bite of cake and managed to swallow it without choking. Pepper cast a glance at her boyfriend, and noticed him taking video footage of the huge moment. Proud dad indeed, she snorted and turned back to James who was talking to her. 

The birthday was a success, and Harry got a further surprise when he found out that James was staying with them for a week. He was so excited, he didn't want to go to sleep for hours past his bedtime. The proud parents knew that he would be cranky in the morning, but that was a problem for another day. 

Pepper stroked her son's cheek as he fell asleep, and she gazed upon his cuteness. He really had come along in leaps and bounds. A few months ago, Harry wouldn't have felt comfortable enough to have such a party. Pepper pressed a kiss to his forehead, and stood up. She put up the bed barrier to stop him from falling out of his bed should he somehow manage to turn over, and walked out of the room. 

Later that evening when the couple were falling asleep in bed, Pepper murmured. 

"We have a pretty amazing family don't we Tony? Happy, James, and our special boy Harry." 

Tony smiled. 

"That we do Pepper. That we do. We're so lucky." 

They fell asleep smiling, they were all so lucky. 

Chapter Text

Harry was playing in the living room with Duck on his own while Happy went to the toilet. They were working on a new Duplo set with the Playmobil he'd received for his birthday. Suddenly, the lift opened and two tall men stepped out. 

JARVIS spoke up when Harry rolled over to look at them, it was nearing lunch time so he was expecting his parents back from the office. The people who walked out looked as surprised to see him as Harry was. Duck waddled over to him, and quacked furiously in the direction of the suited figures. 

"I highly suggest sirs that you turn around and go back the way you came. Mr Stark will not be pleased to learn that you have overridden my protocols." JARVIS sharply intoned.

"Da?!" Harry questioned after hearing the AI mention his dad's last name. 

"I would recommend that you do as asked." Happy reappeared in the living room. 

Fury with his eyepatch on turned to look at the bodyguard. "We have reason for visiting." He began. 

Happy arched his eyebrow, and bent over to pick up the five year old. He perched Harry on his hip. "I am sure you do have a sufficient reason for "visiting" as you so claim. However, Mr Stark does have a personal phone that you can call. I suggest you turn around and head back to whatever hole it is that you crawled out of and call him from there. Harry needs his lunch." 

Happy turned his back on the pair and carried Harry into the kitchen. The pair had made a light lunch of tuna pasta. Harry himself was to be indulged with a sweet potato and butternut squash mash. His swallowing reflex was coming along very well, and he could now eat weaning food- his meals didn't need to be blitzed to liquid form anymore. 

Happy placed Harry into his seat. He'd upgraded from the highchair, he now had enough neck support, and the booster seat had clip ons for the tray table he required to eat his meals. On top of his mashed food, he could also eat small and soft pieces of fruit. Mainly bananas and oranges that he could squeeze the juice out of.

Harry had come such a long way, he was still mainly non-verbal, and he was disabled, but the hand eye coordination training Pepper and Tony had been working so hard on, had paid off. Harry could crawl properly now with both arms supporting him. He could also feed himself with both hands. His right hand would forever be weaker than the left, but that was okay. 

Happy placed the bowl of mashed food in front of Harry, and sat next to him. He trusted JARVIS to deploy the safety protocol for the two intruders to be escorted out of the building. 

One very messy mealtime later, Happy washed Harry's face and put him down for his nap. Pepper and Tony returned in time for Harry to wake up, and have a small play with both his parents on the rooftop garden.

Tony worried his lip anxiously. Fury had explained rather curtly over the phone, what was going on with a certain God of Mischief and his scepter. Tony had of course, tasked JARVIS with hacking the SHEILD files and giving him as much information as he could. Tony realised that there was more to the picture than met the eye, and SHIELD was conducting some very shady business below the surface. 

After some nervous discussions with Pepper, it had been decided that Tony would help Fury and his little team. If for no reason other than keeping the world safe for Harry.

*

That had led them to now. Tony was leaving for Fury's ship, and he had to say goodbye to his son. 

Tony had been to his fair share of meetings away from home throughout the year that they had had Harry, but it had become clear that Harry was more emotionally attached to him than he was to Pepper. Sure, Harry loved his adoptive mum, but it had been "Da!" that he had intoned first. It was Tony who had first been able to carry Harry without the boy flinching away in distrust. It was Tony who Harry had allowed to give his first bath, and even to date, he still felt more comfortable around Tony. 

(After doing some research, Tony had discovered that Petunia Dursley would wash the boy once a month or so, and would either use boiling hot water, or freezing cold. She would scrub his skin very harshly with the scouring wire meant for pots and pans. No wonder Harry was weary around the female presence of his new mother.)

Tony had explained to Harry that he was going away once again, but the little boy was having none of it. He threw himself onto his belly and screamed loudly. Duck quacked at Tony angrily as the cause of his friend's distress. Pepper shook her head tiredly. 

Ten minutes of Tony consoling the child led to a red faced five year old having a melt down at both his father leaving, and the overstimulation of his senses. 

"For goodness sake Tony!!" Pepper yelled finaly when it had gotten too much for her to handle. "Just take him with you! Nowhere is going to be safer for him than on that aircraft anyway." She picked Puff up from the floor and threw it at Tony. "Take this. Take him, just go- get out of my hair. It's clear that our son likes you better anyway!"

Pepper strode away angrily leaving a softly sobbing Harry with his bemused father, and one very anxious Pekin duck.

"What's he doing here?" Fury growled when Tony entered the control room with Harry in his puschair. Harry had refused to sit in his wheelchair, and so Tony had compromised with him. He would come in his very comfy puschair, but had to wear his braces. Harry had agreed happily enough, and they had packed their bags before heading down to the car Fury had sent to take them to the heli-carrier. 

Harry was in his element. His daddy had taken him for a special outing to a spaceship, and he couldn't be more thrilled. 

Duck had been left behind with Happy, and Pepper had gone off to the office after cooling down and kissing both her boys on the cheek. 

"He has a name Fury. Use it." Tony stated, parking the pushcair in the corner and taking out Harry's soft bound book. 

"Harry was too afraid to be left at home, and he insisted on coming with me." Tony explained, and settled the boy down with That's Not My Teddy (It's Paws Are Too Woolly!) and a small segment of orange. 

Fury scowled unhappily watching Harry mash the orange in his palm causing juice to trickle onto the usually spotless floor. 

Maria Hill looked to her boss to gauge his reaction before turning back to the other agents and firing off some orders. 

Steve Rogers moved forward to begin the briefing now that everyone who had been assigned to the Avengers taskforce had arrived. 

"It is a bit unconventional don't you think?" Steve raised an eyebrow. 

"What?" Barton blinked at the question. "What's unconventional Steve?" 

Steve gestured to where Harry was stroking the sensory parts of the book with a look of pure delight on his face. 

"I mean, sure other agents have children, but you don't see them bringing them on highly dangerous missions." 

Tony put down the cup of coffee he had been sipping. "Are you insinuating Rogers that I am not a good parent?" 

Steve shifted slightly. "No... It's just... I don't think bringing your son, who is a bit... You know..." Steve made a circular motion with his hand up towards his head.

"No I don't know." Tony baited the man to continue. Bruce shook his head and slapped his forehead. 

"Do go on Steve." Tony jibed. "My son. Is. What?" 

"Retarded. I don't think having a retarded child on board will help the mission progress." Steve finished. 

Tony straightened his back. Natasha rolled her eyes upwards at the pure stupidity of her colleague. 

"Listen here Captain Spangles." Tony sidled up to the national treasure. "We don't use that word in this day and age. It's offensive, it's wrong and it's outdated. Outdated. Much like your thinking. Don't think we don't know about your stance on LGBT rights, or the stigma in your day towards mental health issues." Steve blinked down at the shorter man. 

"Don't ever. And I mean EVER!! Call my child that abominable word ever again, or I will rip your manhood- yes I do know how to speak in a less vulgar manner- I'll rip your manhood from your loin and shove it so far up your rectum you won't be able to find it and you will be dancing for days." Tony grabbed the super soldier's lapel and shoved a finger in the stunned man's face. 

"Is that clear?" Tony asked. "Is it?!" Steve nodded. 

The irate father pushed the man away from him and straightened his own jacket. "Now!" Tony clapped his hands. "My son is here, with me, because he has separation anxiety. He is disabled yes, but that does not make him insane, or any less an amazing kind boy. Where is this stupid sceptre so that I can put the world to right, ad tuck my son into bed." 

Bruce stepped forward. "Well. In my lab I can show you the progress I've made tracking it." Tony smiled genuinely at the man, and gestured for him to lead the way. 

"This man Fury." He passed the director with Harry's puschair. "This man I don't mind working with." 

Harry spent the entire afternoon crawling around the lab feeling the cool metal on his fingertips while his daddy and new Uncle Bruce worked hard to save the world. 

Harry gazed at them adoringly. 

He had the best Daddy ever.

Chapter Text

About the same time Tony started antagonising Bruce, Steve walked in. 

Harry had also reached the end of his tether, and was laying on his stomach licking the floor. 

"God Stark. Control your child, he's trying to lick his way off of overnment property." Steve stated with a disgusted expression on his face. 

Tony paused his movements from where he was stood with his index finger pressed into Bruce's chest. He ran around the table and picked Harry up. 

"Oh don't eat that Harry!" Tony gasped in a cheerful tone, and clapped Harry's hands together in reference to the little game they played. Harry giggled happily, and ducked his head under Tony's chin. He stuck his tongue out as he was wont to do when incredibly happy, but unfortunately Steve thought he was trying to insult him. 

"Teach the boy some manners Stark. He can't just go around gesturing like that whenever he doesn't get his way!" Steve scowled. 

Bruce winced as Tony turned to face the super soldier. 

"What part of disabled didn't you get from the first time you insulted my son?" Tony said in a sing song voice while bouncing Harry's tiny body further up his hip. 

"I'll be dealing with you- when my son is not in the vicinity of the area- how I really want to. With my fist in your face." 

Tony turned around to place Harry down on the bench by his pushchair. He knew his son's tells, and checked the time. As he thought, it was closer to Harry's naptime than he thought. It had been a hectic day, and Tony was impressed by how well Harry had taken all the change. 

The proud father ruffled through the bag he'd packed for his child, and found the pre-sterilised dummy Harry slept with. He reclined the pushchair back so Harry could lie down, and then presented Harry- who was already half asleep- with the dummy. Harry accepted it gratefully and Tony picked him up before transferring him into the makeshift bed. "Night night sweetpea." Tony kissed his forehead, and pulled the shade over Harry's face to block out the harsh glare from the medical grade overhead lights. 

"Now." Tony turned back to the room's occupants. "Fury's hiding something. And that something has nothing to do with the fact that the government has managed to withhold from all of us that the National Treasure is actually the dumbest slab of meat I've ever met. No, this is something to do with the shady business the government is conducting under the surface." Tony subtly insulted Steve, and it worked, because the shade flew over the idiot's head..

"You seriously think they would lie to us?" Steve frowned. 

"My goodness Rogers. Do you have a brain in that thick skull of yours or did that rot away when you were on ice?" Tony muttered-annoyed. "Although, at the rate you're going I'm not sure there was much brain to begin with." 

Steve blushed angrily. "Now see here Stark!..."

Tony held up a finger. "No, no, no. You really haven't endeared yourself to me in the last," Tony checked his watch. "Two hours that we've been acquainted. You've insulted my son twice, questioned my capability as his father more than social services ever did, and are now seriously showing how much of a fool you are. We're the scientists, the brains. You just listen and obey, you are the muscle." 

Steve stepped back chastened. "Find the cube Stark." He mumbled, and skulked off to wherever it was that he had come from before to sulk in silence. 

Tony turned to Bruce who had been fairly quiet throughout the exchange. 

"Man he's the worst. Do they seriously trust that man?" Tony shook his head, and they got back to work. 

A few hours later, a dazed Tony, one seriously frazzled Harry and the newly dubbed Avengers walked into the Shawarma restaurant. 

Clint casually sat next to the father-son duo with Natasha opposite them. Thor on Tony's left, with Bruce facing them. Steve and Bruce sat on the other end of the table. 

As they were waiting for the food, a nasty smell filled the area. Harry, who had produced the stink, carried on gumming on the rattle he was currently playing with. 

"Oh dear Harry." Tony scoffed with his eyes watering. "I think you need a diaper change." Harry looked up at his dad when he heard his name. 

"Da." He cooed and lifted his arms. 

"Why is your son still in diapers at five?" Steve ignorantly opened his mouth once again.

"He is but a babe." Thor frowned down the table at him. "Five years on Asgard and the babe is still suckling at the breast, young Stark can stay in the diapers until he wishes to progress to pants. Children develop in their own time, it would be wrong of us to compare them. Have care Rogers how you speak over the child." Thor raised Mjolnir at the man to indicate the end of his speech.

It was funny seeing Steve being berated by the usually out of touch god.  

Tony guffawed as he finished collecting the diaper bag in one hand, and Harry in the other. 

In the bathroom, Tony strapped Harry onto the changing table and quickly and efficiently changed him singing softly to him all the while. 

That done, Tony threw the used thing in the bin, and washed his hands. He peered into the mirror as he did so and took in how ragged he looked. 

He'd died today. 

Tony pressed his forehead against the coolness of the mirror and took deep breaths. 

His eyes watered as he thought over the magnitude of the day. 

Harry continued to kick his feet around happily on the changing table. Tony looked at his precious son and smiled. He was the reason he had done it. So that Harry wouldn't be blown up because of the council's foolishness. (Tony was so hacking into those files and leaking them to the news. They couldn't do anything about it, because Tony kept most of their employees safe with the veteran line and bombproof phones.) 

Becoming a parent was the best thing that had happened to him. Harry babbled as he gazed adoringly up at his dad. 

Tony unstrapped the boy and pulled him close to his chest, finally allowing the tears to fall.

"There's nothing I wouldn't do for you baby." He whispered into his son's hair, which smelled like the apple shampoo and conditioner they used- he smelled like home. Harry mouthed at Tony's neck covering it in drool, and Tony let him.

He'd almost lost this today.

Fury would be feeling his wrath later for sure.  

Tony sucked in a deep breath and wiped away his tears with one hand. "Shall we go and have dinner then? Leek and potato soup with 'nana mush and yoghurt?" Tony asked. Harry just blew a bubble, and Tony smiled. 

This was the normal he knew, repetitive songs on the tv, spit and diapers, but most of all, the unyielding love Harry had for him.

Back in the dining room, Tony strapped Harry into the highchair, as it was big enough to fit him- it would be fine for just one meal. 

"Hey Bruce." Tony encouraged a conversation. "I have a job for you." 

Bruce raised a brow. 

Tony handed him the small plastic sterilised spoon Harry used to eat.

Bruce took it unsure. 

Tony also produced a small tub with Harry's pre-measured food in it. "This is Harry's dinner. He can't eat solids like us. So, Pepper, Happy and I blend his meals so he can sort of mush them in his mouth. This here is leek and potato soup, and a banana mush with honey yogurt for dessert. First uncle duty, you get to feed him." Tony handed the tub to the smaller man. 

Bruce grinned shyly, and Tony settled into his own seat and tucked into the shawarma. 

The conversation blossomed around the table once again, after Bruce successfully managed to feed Harry the first bite. 

Tony chatted happily to Thor, and purposefully ignored Steve, who didn't seem to get the message. He kept trying to butt in, but Tony just steered the conversation elsewhere. 

Bruce was content to feed his honorary nephew, and Harry guzzled down his dinner.  

Tony watched them through his peripheral vision, and continued to eat his meal. Bruce was definitely the right choice. 

Taking into account the day's events, it had ended pretty well. He was here, his gorgeous girlfriend was at home, and his amazing son was right where he should be- by his side. 

Tony ate the last bite of the shawarma. 

Considering how much he had hyped it up in his head, the shawarma was rather underwhelming, one might even say disappointing. It was safe to say, they would never be coming back.

Chapter Text

I highly recommend you read the notes at the top of this chapter if you haven't before you continue. I don't think I would be able to handle another comment about Steve now that I have explained it. I would log out and return only in a year....

That being said: ENJOY!! :)

A week after Loki had been apprehended, the Avengers moved in. 

Pepper had fondly laughed as Tony expressed the need to have the penthouse suite renovated to accommodate the new tenants. Well, they weren't tenants, more like friends at this point. 

Bruce and Thor arrived first with their bags, and Harry crawled over to his new best friends happily. 

"Wow young Stark!" Thor spoke softly, something Bruce was surprised he could do; what with his usually loud demeanor. "It is amazing to see how quickly you move in your own home. I think you may actually be faster than me." 

Thor dropped his bags, and got down on his hands and knees. Bruce watched astounded as Thor proceeded to crawl all over the living room with Harry happily following after him. 

"It is as I predicted." Thor stated in a grave voice once they had completed a third lap of the rug. "I must accept defeat. You, young Stark, are a real speedy gonzalez on your knees." 

Tony snorted from the doorway. "Speedy gonzalez Thor? Where did you hear that phrase?" Tony moved further into the room and Harry blew a bubble in joy at his dad. 

"Twas when I first watched the box that you call a TV. There was a show where you drive in your fast cars. The man trapped inside the box stated the winner was a real speedy gonzalez." Thor explained while collecting his things once again.

Bruce guffawed. "Thor, the man is not trapped as you say. He is a commentator, and he's at the venue of wherever the event is being held. The TV shows us what is going on so we can watch in real time or record and watch later." 

Thor nodded. "Yes. I understand son of Banner. Thank you for being so kind as to explain it to me." 

Tony smirked to himself, watching the pair bonding: how cute!! This home idea was the best he'd had yet.

Shortly after Tony had shown the pair to their respective suites, complete with a bar, mini kitchen area, bathroom bedroom and living room; Natasha and Clint appeared on the helipad on the roof. 

"Sweet playground you have up there." Clint complimented when they had made their way down to the living room. 

Tony grinned. "It's rather great isn't it. Pepper worked with the architect to design an inclusive play area so that Harry and his friends can engage in creative play. I have sent some revised blueprints to the council so that they can build some as they re-build the city." 

Harry rolled over from where he and Tony had been doing his leg stretches. They had become less painful the more the family had instilled the practice into the routine. Now, Harry could straighten his legs without the braces and without pain. He could stand supported by a baby bouncer or his parents and Happy, for a whole ten seconds before his legs would buckle. He was so resilient, and his strength had inspired a whole series of oil portraits to be commissioned by Tony. The paintings were due to arrive later on in the week, and Pepper was anticipating their arrival with maternal glee.

Harry gummed down on Puff, who had been laid to the side while the impromptu physio session had commenced. Natasha bent over to introduce herself once again, but this time not to Harry. No, she shook the stuffed animal's paw, and instantly endured herself to the five year old. 

"Pff!" Harry exclaimed, and clapped his hands together, thus causing himself to drop the plushie. Natasha smiled gently at the child's antics, and offered up the teddy once again. Harry took it before repeating his clapping game. 

Clint watched the usually stoic assassin playing with the child, and his heart was warmed. He knew Natasha loved his children, but seeing her playing so gently with Harry brought Clint a sense of happiness. This mad plan of Tony's could potentially be the best thing. 

Clint glanced at Tony out of the corner of his eye, and he was sure he caught the man smirking at the pair with a calculating look on his face.

What are you up to Tony?

Steve arrived in the late afternoon, and the new housemates gathered in the living room to go over house rules.

"So, Pep is still at work right now." Tony announced bringing the soft chatter in the room to silence. "Therefore, I have been left with the job of reading out the rules we have agreed on." Thor sat up straighter in his seat, Harry perched on his knee sucking on his favourite gold dummy. 

"Firstly, everyone this is your new home and we are so happy to have you joining our family." Tony looked at each individual.

"The rules here are fairly simple. Respect each other's space. We understand the need for privacy. Each suite has space for you to be able to cook for yourselves and host your own guests should you wish to. Otherwise, there is a meal served in the kitchen at eight am, one pm and five thirty. Harry eats at these times, and we stick to this religiously for his routine." Tony scrolled up in the notes on his phone. 

"Harry has a nap at one thirty until two thirty so no loud music or noises to be had during that time. He also goes to sleep after his bath at six, and so please keep him in mind. Harry's room is next to ours, and we're on the furthest end of the penthouse should you need us. The only other rules we have are in regards to Harry and keeping him safe." 

Tony gazed at his son who was now playing with Thor's large hands while self soothing with his dummy. 

"Pepper and I don't post pictures of Harry online without vetting them first. Please refrain from doing so without our express permission. Harry has his daily lessons with Happy, and he comes and goes during the day and night as he pleases. Just like Happy, there is nothing keeping you here, I would love for you to use Stark Tower as your homebase, a stable place you know is always here for you..."

As Tony was talking, Happy walked into the living room with Pepper, and Duck waddled behind them. 

"Friend Stark." Thor interrupted. Tony looked up from his phone. 

"Yeah?" 

"I am not sure if you are aware, but there is a duckling in your home."

Harry had clearly noticed, because he was squirming to be put down to reach his friend. Thor grabbed him in reaction to the violent shaking, and Harry shrieked when he wasn't immediately placed where he wanted to be. Thor cradled the child's head to his chest in a panic, while Pepper and Tony shared a pleased glance. 

"Harry simply wants to be put down Thor." Pepper giggled. Thor blushed, and slid further forward on the couch so he could place Harry gently on the floor. 

Duck quacked happily and stumbled forward to preen Harry's hair. 

"This is Duck." Tony explained in answer to Thor's previous question. "Duck is Harry's best friend, you won't find one without the other, except when Duck goes outside to use the bathroom." 

Duck quaked loudly, before honking in happiness when Harry pressed a soppy kiss to his head.

"They're inseparable." Pepper chimed in.

That first evening was fairly uneventful. The makeshift family came together to eat some pizza, and Harry had blended cheesey butternut squash pasta with some ice cream.

The meal was very pleasant, while Steve watched Pepper and Tony interact with their son. 

They convened in the movie theatre, and Tony had JARVIS put on a comedy film. Thor's booming laugh filled the theatre within seconds of the opening scene.

He slipped off with Harry to bathe him, and got him into his pajamas. Duck followed content to follow the routine. Tony hooked Harry up to his nasal canula and oxygen, and then got his sleeping dummy ready for him. The oxygen tank was portable, and Tony pulled it behind him as he took Harry back to the theatre to say goodnight. 

"JARVIS pause that please." Tony announced as he entered the room.  

"Harry wants to say goodnight." He waved the child's hand at his new family, and Harry rubbed his cheek on Tony's lapel, sucking on the dummy. 

"Harry has to sleep with his oxygen so that his blood is properly oxygenated throughout the night. This is to prevent another stoke happening, which is why Harry is so severely disabled." Pepper explained gently as she got up to kiss Harry's forehead. 

Steve once again, watched the interaction thoughtfully. 

They settled into the rhythm of family life pretty quickly. The two scientists teamed up most mornings in the labs- when Tony wasn't working in the office. The gym was frequented mostly by Natasha, Steve and Clint, but Tony and Bruce popped their heads in occasionally throughout the week.

They ate breakfast as one big group. The first breakfast when Duck hopped onto the counter to eat his fruit and drink his ice water, had caused quite the stir. Thor of course thought it hilarious that the little bird ate with them.

Of course, not everything was plainsailing. 

Harry woke up at about three one morning with a stomach ache and a fever, and screamed his distress for the whole world to hear.

Steve was jolted awake by the ruckus of the parents running around the house to deal with their ill child. He rolled over annoyed at being woken, but resigned himself to an earlier start than normal. He made his way to the kitchen, and was greeted with the sight of a snotty nosed Harry cradled in Tony's arms. Pepper was trying to coax the child to drink the Calpol proffered on the spoon. 

Clint and Bruce hovered in the other doorway nervously watching, wanting to help but not knowing how. 

"Tony, he really needs to drink this. We need to get his fever down" Pepper gestured to the spoon. 

"I know." Tony worried his lip. 

Harry heaved a cough, and started wailing once again. 

"Shh shh baby." Tony soothed him, rocking the child slowly. Harry didn't calm down, and as his cries reached a new pitch, Natasha skidded around the corner to offer her own assistance. 

"Might I suggest something?" Steve hesitated.

He had been doing a lot of reflecting over the time he had been living in the tower, and he had seen that Harry was really loved. His disability wasn't a hindrance. It was rather the opposite. 

"Harry likes his pacifier right? Why don't you dip it in that medicine. Maybe he'll take it that way." Steve finished.

Pepper shrugged. "Can't hurt to try right?" Tony agreed.

Bruce span around to get the dummy Harry had been sleeping with, and brought it back to the kitchen. 

Pepper dipped the teat into the measured out medicine, and offered it to Harry. The five year old accepted it without a fuss, and suckled the medicine without a hiccup. 

Pepper repeated the motion until all the medicine was gone. Harry snuffled and buried deeper into his daddy's embrace. 

By the time daylight shone through the windows, Harry's fever had broken, and he was sleeping in Bruce's arms content with his now happy feeling body.

The family had stayed up, none of them wanting to leave the most vulnerable member when he was at his weakest. 

Happy waltzed in to start his shift, but was met with a group of bleary eyed adults and a peacefully sleeping child. The bodyguard turned on the coffee machine, and set about cracking eggs into a bowl. 

Thor bustled into the kitchen half an hour later, having slept through the distressed cries of earlier in the morning. 

"Good morn!" He boomed grabbing the box of pop tarts from the pop tart cupboard. 

"Shhhh!!" Natasha hissed, and they all turned to Harry. He simply shifted in Bruce's embrace, before huffing and continuing to suck on his dummy. 

"What has happened this bright day? Is young Stark unwell?" Thor questioned quietly. 

"He's fine now." Tony mumbled, sipping the scalding coffee that Happy set down in front of them. "It was a close call, but thanks to Captain over there, Harry is just fine." 

Thor nodded grimly. 

"Thank you Captain Spangly." Thor gratefully bowed his head using the name he'd neard Stark use to address the soldier, and offered him the other half of the pop tart duo he was eating.

Steve hesitated before accepting it aware that Thor didn't share his pop tarts with anyone. 

"On this fine day you are hailed a hero, you saved the life of the youngest son of Stark. I am sure everyone will agree if I speak for them. We are all incredibly grateful for your generous actions." 

Steve blushed. "It really wasn't much. I just noticed that Harry really likes his pacifiers. I was inspired really. My therapist has suggested that I observe people more so I can fit in with the times more. I was following orders I guess, and it paid off." 

Tony looked at Pepper and grinned. 

"I know this will be a good idea." Tony said. Pepper looked at the new floor plans. "But Steve really?" Pepper questioned. 

"Oh he's just out of his depth Pep. He's travelled so far into the past that he recognises nothing. Imagine that. What he needs is support. There will be conditions for him to stay here. He'll have to attend therapy every week, and he won't be allowed on his own with Harry until he's come to terms with the things he went through." 

Pepper mulled over those terms and conditions. "I think it might work. But why did you want everyone here again?" 

Tony tucked the prints back into the folder. "So that they have a stable home. I felt a connection with Bruce the moment I met him, and Natasha could do with a base that will always be there for her. Where Natasha goes, Clint follows. They're not unlike Harry and Duck, brought closer by circumstances. Steve needs stability, we're all he knows. And Thor? Thor needs to know he's always welcome." 

"Tony, what you're suggesting, it sounds more like a family than anything else." Pepper's lips twitched. 

Tony hummed. "I guess it does doesn't it?" He quirked the corners of his mouth upwards. He pulled his girlfriend closer to him. "Harry could do with new friends to play with, and he wouldn't mind an uncle who wears a spangly outfit right?" 

Pepper snorted. "I'm sure Harry would love a spangly uncle."

It was all coming together how he'd planned. The family all here together in the kitchen. All they needed now was Rhodey, but he'd get back from an "undisclosed location" later in the week.

Duck had found his way down to the lobby while Harry napped. He "ducked" behind the large potted plants in the lobby and watched as that irritating caped man stormed through the lobby into the elevator. 

Duck recognised him as the one who had come and made Mummy cry. He'd also made Daddy go away and take Harry with him. 

Duck did not like this man, and so- he darted into the lift and levelled the most deadly stare he could muster on the nasty man. 

Fury raised a brow at the little critter he remembered being in the Stark living room the last time he had been there. 

When the lift arrived at the penthouse level, Steve and Bruce who were watching a UFC fight on the TV were interrupted by Fury shrieking as he scrambled out of it as fast as he could. 

A flurry of wings and angry squawking followed the man, and Duck ran after him biting his ankles angrily. 

"JARVIS are you recording this?" Bruce asked. 

"I am indeed Master Bruce. Mr Stark will be most pleased with the forethought." JARVIS responded. 

Duck herded Fury back into the lift, and JARVIS played the security cameras on the screen. All the way down the creature attacked the director, and through the lobby onto the street. Fury yanked his car door open and dived in headfirst before slamming it shut. 

Duck ruffled his feathers happily, before re-entering the building and going back to foraging in the plant pots like he'd been doing before. 

"That's priceless." Steve laughed. 

And it was. They all howled at Duck's performance later that evening after dinner. 

Screeching Fury made it to the top of Tony's favourite funny moments of the year, and somehow or other, the SHIELD Christmas cards got mixed up in the printer. Fury's terrified face was plastered all over them, and Tony made sure to get Duck to sign each of them with his signature- a flipper print. Tony hung up the art next to the newly arrived oil paintings he'd commissioned. Harry and Duck together, just as it should be. 

Chapter Text

Harry had a new obsession. 

Peppa Pig was on the TV non-stop all day, every day and had been for the past week. 

"Potts." Natasha growled when she entered the kitchen for breakfast. 

Harry was propped up in his booster seat with the latest Stark Pad- the SP19 playing the infuriating theme song as the latest episode began. 

Tony was nowhere to be seen, having had to rush off to fix an emergency in the office building. 

Pepper didn't look any better than the rest of them, Harry's every waking moment was either filled with Peppa Pig music, or the series themselves. Tony had spent more money on PP contraband than anything else this month. The living room was covered in Harry's toys, and the child had not engaged in any other activity besides painting and cooking with Happy. Even then, that was pig themed.

"Please, please can we not have to listen to this while we eat?" Natasha begged, plating up some fruit salad next to her crossaint and chocolate.

Pepper glared at her from behind her steaming cup of tea. "You think I don't want to turn that off? It is so irritating, and you can actually leave the room every once in a while. Happy is sick today, so I've taken a day off and I'm going to have to listen to it all day." 

Harry bashed his spoon on his tray happily, and cooed as Peppa whizzed down the hill on her bike. The little child was oblivious to the irritation his new favourite show was causing, and he continued to watch with glee.

A short while later, Bruce who was bleary eyed and still half asleep, walked into the kitchen in his pyjamas. As such, he wasn't looking at where he was going, and the short man tripped over a new Peppa Pig toy car that Harry had been playing with before being lifted into his chair for breakfast. 

"For FUCK's SAKE!!" Bruce bellowed, and his veins bled green. "I am FED up of hearing that stupid music, and these stupid toys. POTTS!!!!" 

Pepper stood up quickly to shush Harry as he began crying at the outburst. 

"Now look at what you've done." Pepper gave Bruce an evil eye as she rocked Harry back and forth in her arms. 

"Don't you think it's hard?" Pepper asked the occupants of the room. "Every kid has a show they like, but because of Harry's autism, he's fixated on this stupid pig." Pepper ranted quietly- mindful of her precious baby in her arms.

"Every waking moment is filled with I'm Peppa Pig and this is my little brother George, Tony and I have really been struggling to get him to sleep because all he wants to do is watch this damn show. When he wakes up, he doesn't even look at me any more. It's a struggle giving Harry his bath because he just wants to watch the stupid pig. I've not had a proper playtime with him either, all Harry wants is this stupid stupid pig. I think you of all people can handle hearing a little jingle, because you get to walk away. Harry is my kid, I signed up for this when we adopted him, but God is it exhausting." 

Pepper sat down in her seat, Harry was finally calming down, and the tired mother offered Harry a sip of his juice from his bottle. Harry latched onto the nipple , and the room was soon filled with the snuffling of Harry drinking slowly. 

"I shouldn't have left the toy there and I'm sorry you tripped." Pepper apologized. "This parenting thing is hard though. I wish Harry could watch something else, but I'm not going to force him to watch another thing because it causes a meltdown. You've been lucky that he hasn't had a bad one since he moved in. Tony and I will let Harry watch anything if it means a meltdown free day." 

Natasha and Bruce nodded, realising that there was a lot more to the situation than they had picked up at face value. 

Pepper kicked the toy into the corner, and stood up to take Harry to his bedroom and dress him for the day.

By lunch time, Pepper was close to pulling her hair out. 

Suzie Sheep was being ridiculous on screen, and Harry was close to turning into a square eyed child if the screen stayed on any longer. 

Having had enough, Pepper plonked Harry into his wheelchair and strapped him in. Then, she went to the kitchen and packed a little picnic bag with all of Harry's things. A pre-made jar of blitzed food, and two bottles of juice and Harry's sterilised dummies. Duck's lead was packed too, and Pepper returned to the living room.

Pepper put Duck's boots on him, and his yellow raincoat, before slipping a pair of boots on herself. 

"Let's go Harry and Duck." Pepper gestured to the lift, and turned off the TV. 

Harry kicked his legs in excitement at the idea of an adventure. 

Down in the car park, Pepper tucked Duck into his harness and strapped him in before doing the same for Harry. 

"I looked up a living museum Harry." Pepper explained as they drove along the road.  "We're going to see some animals. Maybe they might have some pigs and sheep there." Pepper suggested, and Harry clapped his hands together. 

Pepper looked in the mirror to see Harry snuggling up to Puff who had come with them. She smiled and returned her focus back to the road. 

The sun was out when they arrived an hour later, and Pepper unstrapped Duck from the car. 

Harry gasped in wonder at the animals roaming around that he could see through the arch of the ticket office. 

"That's where we're going Harry." Pepper grinned, and pushed the wheelchair to the office to purchase their day tickets. 

Duck got in for free after Pepper showed proof of his vaccination card (it wouldn't do for a pet to be brought in that could infect the animals), and they wandered over to the goat feeding station. 

"Do you want to feed the goats Harry?" Pepper asked, and offered the milk bottle to Harry. 

The child took the bottle but lifted it towards his own mouth. 

"Oh no. Don't eat that Harry!" Pepper laughed. "It's not for you. I know it looks like your bottles doesn't it?" Pepper gently turned Harry's hands around to face the teat at the goat that had approached them. 

"Did you know Harry, that baby goats are called kids?" Pepper taught him. 

"Id." Harry copied, and then nearly dropped the bottle as the goat sucked strongly. 

"Shall we hold it together?" Pepper suggested, and they fed the kid as it guzzled the milk down eagerly. 

The goat wandered off when the milk was finished. 

"All done!" Pepper exclaimed as Harry once again tried to drink from the bottle. "It's all done Harry." 

Harry frowned and pushed his chest out in annoyance. 

Pepper knew her son well, and could see a tantrum brewing. She dug through the bag she'd prepared, and pulled the lid off the sterilised bottle top. She offered the juice to Harry, and he also began guzzling the drink down. 

"My goodness you were thirsty weren't you baby?" Pepper chuckled as she stroked Harry's fringe out of his eyes. Harry eyed her wearily as he continued drinking. When he'd drunk about half of the bottle, Harry thrust it at her gasping deep gulps of air. Pepper giggled at his antics, and then pulled out the map. 

"Okay Harry, this is where we are, and the whole brown area is the animal farm. Where do you want to go next?" She pointed out the areas, and held Harry's finger to the paper so he could feel it. 

"We can stay here and feed another goat, or we can go somewhere else. Where would you like to go?" 

Harry looked up at her face before peering down at the map again. He made a wild gesture, before pointing at a random area. 

"The mini aquarium?" Pepper read out where his finger landed. "Let's go and see some fish."

Duck waddled over to them from where he had been conversing with some other ducks across the large entrance pen near the pond; and they headed to the building that held the mini aquarium. 

By the time they finished in the aquarium, it was nearly two o'clock, and Harry was hungry. 

They visited the cafe, and sat outside by a picnic table. Pepper eyed them with joy, and noticed that each table had a section cut out from the bench so wheelchair users could sit with their friends and family while eating. She mentally applauded the owners of the living museum for being so inclusive. It was one thing to have a ramp, but another to have thought of such minor details. It annoyed the proud mother so much when she and Tony took Harry and Duck out to places, and they had to struggle to feed Harry in his wheelchair. More often than not, they had to prop him up in their laps to feed him- not that they minded the extra cuddle time, but it was a bit inconvenient to maneuver him in and out of his chair just to eat some food. 

The mother-son duo ate their lunch with Duck napping on the table. Pepper spied the ice-cream van in the corner of the cafe and mentally planned to take Harry over there when the main meal was eaten. 

The sun had come up even further, and it was starting to get swelteringly hot, so Pepper fished Harry's sunhat out of the bag, and applied some more suncream to them both. She poured Duck a bowl of ice cold water from Duck's duck bottle; and he gobbled down the small ice chips to cool down.

Food eaten, Pepper carried Harry over to the ice cream truck on her hip so that he could see the menu. 

Something she and Tony were instilling in Harry was his ability to choose things. In the beginning, it had been important that Harry saw them as his carers and safe people to latch onto. They had just given him food and drink whenever it was right on time with the doctor's schedule. As Harry had gotten up to the recommended body weight, Pepper and Tony came up with a new plan. They created picture cards of the food and drink that could be prepared for dinner, and Harry got to point out the one he wanted. It was the same with toys and TV shows, hence why Peppa Pig was always on repeat. Tony and Pepper wanted to mold their son into an individual, and not solely an automated human programmed to do as he was told. Their efforts were paying off, as Harry vocalised what he was happy with more, and meant that his needs could be met even better. Overall, Harry's quality of life was being brought to its full potential, and Pepper was very happy to facilitate that transition. 

"Okay, Harry let's have some ice cream because it's really hot." Pepper pointed at the menu board. 

"There's lots to choose from." She mused as she looked over the flavours and different types of ice cream. 

"Which flavour do you want?" Pepper lifted Harry's hand so he could point at what he wanted. 

Harry's eyes roamed over the board before settling on a bright red ice cream. He loved red things, and he patted the palm of his hand at it. 

"Ooh good choice." Pepper noted the raspberry flavour and ordered two scoops for them both. 

They returned to their picnic table, Duck having finished his water was looking out for them and watching their belongings- not that Pepper couldn't clearly see their things from the ten steps they'd walked.

She sat down with Harry on her lap, and got out his special weaning spoon to feed the ice cream to him. 

She spooned the first bite into his mouth, and he mushed it around. 

"Is it nice?" Pepper looked down at him. 

Harry hummed happily and opened his mouth like a baby bird asking for more. 

"Okay Oliver Twist." Pepper chuckled at the pet name she called him, scooping up another spoonful. "Hold your horses. Yummy!!" She fed the next spoonful to the eager boy.

When they got back home, Harry crawled into Pepper's lap and dropped off to sleep. She grabbed the harness and strapped his little body to her chest. It was their favourite position, and Pepper loved the weight of his small body resting over her heart. Harry, despite being five years old, was the size of a three year old due to the Dursley's maltreatment. It was sad, but his small frame still allowed the doting parents to carry their son around as much as they wanted. 

Pepper tidied up the living room as Harry slept, and she herded all the Peppa Pig paraphernalia into a box. Harry could get it if he wanted, but really it was too much. 

They'd been out later than anticipated, so Harry was still asleep when Tony appeared. Tony slipped his shoes off and put them on the rack by the lift, before approaching Pepper who was resting on the sofa with Harry on her belly. 

"Aww." Tony whispered, kissing Pepper hello. 

"We went out to the living museum today. That one that we were looking up the other day." Pepper explained. 

"We only got back half an hour ago, and I've decided that we really need to control this situation a bit more." Pepper murmered softly. 

"We were out all afternoon, and Harry didn't even want his PP stuff. I think we were enabling him a bit too much, and that has caused this tension lately. He is autistic yes, but after this afternoon, I think we were projecting textbook descriptions onto our son. He's not a cardboard cut out made to fit certain expectations, and he certainly is not attached to that cartoon pig." 

Tony nodded and listened to his girlfriend. "You know what Pep, I think you're right. We were just out of our element a bit, and instead of discussing it, we stuck our child in front of the TV. No wonder he started acting out." 

Pepper snorted. "If he wakes up and we find out that he really does have an obsession with that infruriating pig..." 

"...We'l manage it." Tony cut her off. "We'll manage it Pepper. Every autistic child is different. This may just be a phase that passes. If it isn't, we'll have a house meeting to explain it to everyone. We'll do a better job of managing it than we have been. We'll create a TV schedule, we'll get Harry some headphones and certainly there will not be a tablet at the table or in the bathroom." 

Pepper leaned up to kiss him again, and Tony did so. He went off to change into more comfortable home clothes, and returned just as Harry was waking. 

"Oh hello Harry baby!" Tony crooned quietly. Harry looked at him through sleep clouded eyes, and Pepper transferred the boy to his dad so he could wake up gently, and she could check the toad in the hole in the oven that she had made for dinner. 

Dinner was a happy affair. The family ate with their friends at the table, and there was no tablet to be seen. 

As if to prove Pepper's earlier words, Harry had crawled over to his playmobil toy box, and played happily with the new train track set Tony had bought that day to try and coax him away from the other toys. He was happy to sit next to Thor and eat his dinner, while Clint chatted to him about his day. 

Tony leaned into Pepper's side and they watched Clint areoplane Harry's next mouthful into his eagerly open bocca.

They had the best family ever. 

Chapter Text

James walked down the busy street confused.

One moment he had been out on a mission, and then he was falling...down, down down....

He had forgotten the mission details, he'd forgotten it all. Well, the past 70 years. He remembered everything prior to whatever had happened to him, he must have hit his head very hard. 

He was currently trying to locate a phone booth, he really needed to call Steve, he'd be nearly 90 now. He hoped his friend and brother was still alive. 

James felt the coins in his back pocket jingling, and he rifled through them mindlessly. After the call, he'd visit the cafe he decided.

As he turned the corner, he viewed the most obnoxious sky high building with a massive A on the front and scoffed. Honestly, people could be such snobs. 

James found the phone box opposite said building, and went to enter it. However, he noticed a light up ball at the door, and bent over to pick it up. A small giggle filled the air, and James looked around the corner to see a toddler sucking his fist. 

The child had stunning green eyes, and James could make out the tail end of a very faded scar peeking through the well coiffed fringe. James also noted the lopsided way the child held himself, and the braces on his tiny legs. They were either made by a brand called STARK, or that was the child's name. Either way, it was clear the child was well cared for. Therefore, either the kid had been kidnapped from his parents, or he'd wandered off somehow. 

James bent down to reach the child's level and smiled. 

"Where's your mummy or daddy?" He asked in his gruff voice. 

"Da." The child babbled and reached out to touch James' metal fingers. The ex-soldier retracted his digits quickly, unused to others seeing his metal appendages. The child's face crumbled, and James' heart skipped a beat. 

"Hey, hey. It's okay, look." James held out the ball, and the child clapped his hands together. James rolled the ball to him, and the child flicked it back with his hand. 

James looked around again to see if there were any frantic parents calling out for their kids, but saw none. 

He sighed and resigned himself to finding a police officer to report the child to. 

Steve could wait. 

Daddy had gone to the toilet. 

Then, the lift had opened, and Harry's ball had rolled in, so he crawled in and followed it. 

Someone downstairs must have called the lift down, because the lift had gone down before he could get back out. 

Harry didn't mind, he'd never been down to the main lobby on his own before. 

When the doors opened, nobody got in, so Harry got out, and released the ball. 

Daddy had programmed the ball to the "roll" setting, so it would roll away without external stimulation. He'd been in a meeting on the phone, and Harry had wanted to stay with him, so Daddy gave Harry the ball to play with under the table. 

As such, the ball rolled away and Harry crawled after it- determined to catch it before it stopped rolling. He didn't manage to of course, but the ball lit up and played the little tune it always did when Harry pressed his palm to it. 

No-one was in the lobby, but Harry didn't mind, and released the ball again. It reached the double doors, and they opened as Harry crawled closer to them. Harry lost track of where he was going, and crawled happily after his ball. 

It rolled into the middle of the road, but Harry was oblivious to the mess he was causing, the cars swerving to avoid him as he went. 

"Someone pick up that child!!" A female's voice screamed as a large bus turned around the corner. 

Harry was oblivious as the bus nearly ran him over, but stopped as if by some other power, before careening on after he'd passed it. Harry laughed as the ball played the jingle again, and eventually looked up when a large man bent over him. 

He was very large, and he had a funny hand that he wanted to touch, but he wouldn't let him. Harry started to cry, he was just trying to be nice, but the man gave him his ball back and began playing with him. 

He wasn't so mean after all, and Harry didn't mind when the tall man picked him up. They ended up in a dark place where lots of people in hats were living. 

The man tried to give him to one of the ladies who looked kind like Mummy, but Harry didn't want to go with her. He wanted to stay with the tall man, and he kicked away from the woman, screaming. 

Harry shrieked loudly attracting the attention of the other uniformed people in the office. 

A brown haired man who looked like Daddy approached them. 

"Let him down Kate, maybe he doesn't want to be held." The man with the hat said. 

Harry liked his voice, and made to touch his hat, but was put down before he could get it. He screamed even louder in anger, and the tall man from earlier looked aver at him again from where he was writing something at the desk. 

Harry didn't understand why he wasn't playing with him anymore. He crawled over to him, and dropped the ball at his feet. 

"Ba!" He yelled, and bashed the ball into the man's foot repeatedly. 

"I'm sorry. I can't play right now." The man said gently. "I'm filling out these forms for the nice policemen, so that they don't put me in prison, and so they can help you find your mummy and daddy." 

Harry started wailing again. "Ba!" He patted the man's shoe and tried to pull himself up the pant leg. 

"Ba! BA! BA!!!!" He screamed his throat raw, and threw himself onto the floor angrily. 

The man swooped down and picked him up swiftly- ignoring the mutters of one of the junior policemen about "spoiled and entitled children." Couldn't he tell that the child was obviously extremely distressed?

Harry fisted a lock of the man's long brown hair to his cheek, and huffed out breaths against the man's neck, tucking his head under the man's chin like he did with Daddy. Harry cried and cried some more.

Tony had just gone to the toilet. 

When he came back, finished with his meeting, Harry was gone. 

Harry was probably in the kitchen with Duck and Happy, who had been due back ten minutes ago. He'd gotten wrapped up in sending an email. 

Tony strolled into the kitchen expecting the trio to be baking the brownies Happy had put on the schedule. 

The kitchen was empty apart from Duck who was still snoozing in the corner.

"Harry?" Tony called out. 

"JARVIS. Where is Harry?" Tony asked, and picked Duck up and cradled him to his chest. 

"JARVIS?" Tony repeated, to no response from the AI.

"JARVIS!" Tony called out more frantically. 

He ran through every room heart pounding. "Harry!!" 

The child was not in the penthouse. 

Tony took the stair don to his labs two at a time, and frantically looked to see if Harry had somehow gotten down there to play with DUM-E and U. The bots were playing a game of catch with themselves, no Harry in sight. 

"HARRY!!" Tony screamed, and ran down another level to Bruce's lab. 

"Bruce, Harry's gone missing, JARVIS is out of action. There's been a security breach." Tony choked on his words. 

The scientist dropped the probe he had been holding and made his way around the table swiftly. 

"When did he go missing?" Bruce asked, he grabbed Duck from Tony's arms, the bird seemed to have a sixth senses and knew to stay calm. 

"It must have been fifteen minutes ago." Tony started to panic even more. "I was answering that stupid email about the next Vet campaign, and I lost track of the time. I shouldn't have gone to the toilet. I should have brought Harry to the toilet with me. How could I have been so stupid?" 

Bruce took off his lab coat, and shut off the lights ready to begin looking for Harry with Tony.

"Wait a minute Tony. You needed to go to the toilet, you can't blame yourself for that. It would be unreasonable to take Harry to the toilet with you, he's a growing boy who doesn't need to see his dad peeing." Bruce collected himself. 

"Now, we need to think critically. What was Harry doing? Was he playing?" 

Tony's eyes widened. "Yes... YES!" He turned away, and they sprinted up the stairs to the living room. It was untouched. 

"The ball, it's gone." Bruce pointed out. 

Tony grabbed Bruce's face in his own hands. "You're a genius Bruce, a genius." 

Bruce blinked confused. "I don't think...? Tony?" 

The harried father was suiting up, and opened a window. 

"That ball has a tracking device in it, in case Harry lost it. If Harry still has it with him, I can track him in the suit." 

Tony jumped out of the window and put on the visor. 

"TONY!" Bruce called out to him. "I'LL BE HERE, CALL ME IF YOU NEED ME. I WON'T LEAVE." 

The man gave him a salute and activated the tracking device. It was pointing him to the nearby police station. 

Tony flew to the station with his heart in his chest. If the ball was there, he really hoped it wasn't in an evidence bag and Harry's body in the morgue. He didn't know what he'd do if that was the case. And how would he tell Pepper that he'd basically facilitated in their son's kidnap and murder? 

Tony flew down and entered the building ignoring the murmers of other pedestrians. 

The entrance hall was fairly busy, but the first thing Tony registered was the screams of his son.

 He lifted his visor and looked around to see a horrifying scene. 

A man with a large metal arm was holding Harry close, clearly using him as some kind of ransom, the police officers surrounding him looked very nervous.

Tony's heart clenched, and he aimed one of his repulsors at the man. 

"Let go of my son!" He growled. 

The man spun around and his eyes widened. 

"Put my son on the ground and put your hands up!!" Tony yelled, his patience worn thin. 

The brunette slowly did so, and Harry's screams increased. Tony ran over to him and choked on his tears. 

He pressed a button for the suit to disassemble, and dropped the briefcase it came in. 

He dropped to his knees and picked up Harry. The boy snuffled and bit the fabric of his shirt collar. 

Tony inhaled his son's scent and breathed out before remembering the metal armed man.

"What. Did. You. Do. To. Him." Tony whispered dangerously. "Were you going to use him for ransom money? You could have just asked, I fund quite a few projects. You didn't need to do this, he's just a baby." 

The man looked incredibly confused. "I'm sorry what? I didn't steal your child." Bucky began to explain.

"Mr Stark sir." One of the policemen moved forward. "I think there has been a bit of a misunderstanding. Mr Barnes here, found your son when he was going to a phone booth. He picked him up and brought him here to report a missing child. We were going to take him to the creche room we have for missing children, but your son got very angry about us taking him away from Mr Barnes. We were all hovering around because Harry seemed to be crying himself sick." 

Tony narrowed his eyes at the man- Mr Barnes. 

"I would apologise, but I've learned to never apologise for protecting my son." Tony extended a hand. "I guess I owe you some thanks then." 

James shook it. "I was just looking to call a long lost friend I'm looking for." 

Tony lit up, Harry now fast asleep in his arms, exhausted from his busy day. 

"Well, why don't you come home with me. I have the best tech in the industry, and I can find anybody on planet earth." Tony offered. "You can have some dinner, and I'm sure you'll get along with my family. Think of it as thanks. Harry is safe because of you, the least I can do is help you find your friend. Also, I'll be honest- that is some sweet tech on your arm." 

James shrugged. It couldn't hurt. 

Tony arrived back at the tower with his guest in tow, and Harry still fast asleep on his hip. 

James stared around the penthouse. "This place is amazing, you have a lovely home." He complimented. "I didn't realise you lived in this tower. I didn't know you were nobles, are you related to the Queen?" James thought back to his earlier observations of the place. Mr Stark was a bit obnoxious, but it was clear his love for his son outweighed everything. 

"Thanks. No we're not nobles. But I might say we are, thanks for that idea." Tony grinned. "It has labs, a gym, an indoor and an outdoor pool..." 

"Good afternoon sir." JARVIS interrupted. James looked around for the owner of the voice, but was surprised not to see one.

"You and I are going to have serious words JARVIS." Tony wagged his finger at the camera in the corner. "Someone snatched Harry earlier, but thanks to Mr Barnes." 

"James." James also interrupted. "Mr Barnes was my father." 

Tony nodded.

"Thanks to James, Harry is safe. So, I'm going to run the people finder in thanks." 

JARVIS hummed. "In reality Mr Stark, Harry left of his own accord." 

The TV turned on and showed security camera footage of Harry following his ball. 

"Then why didn't you keep the lift doors open, hell, why didn't you lock the doors in the lobby?" Tony scowled. 

"You set me for maintenance of my servers today sir. I was indisposed for five hours." 

Tony slapped his head, remembering the programming he'd completed the week before. 

"Of course, those are external cameras in case your servers ever went down." Bruce spoke from behind them. 

"Well, case solved." Tony snorted. "I just didn't realise Harry had gotten strong enough to make such a hasty escape." 

James finished taking in the view from the window. 

"Who is JARVIS?" He asked. Tony grinned at him. "Just A Rather Very Intelligent System. An AI I constructed. He's amazing." 

"I'm glad you think so sir." JARVIS intoned with a hint of amusement. 

James snorted. 

"I'll take you to the labs later. For now, Pepper ordered some take-away, and the others will be coming to the kitchen to eat soon." 

Tony shifted Harry's warm weight, and the little one yawned as he blinked himself awake. 

"Hello baby." Tony cooed. Harry grinned and sucked in a big sigh of air. 

"Da." He mumbled. 

"I see you had a very busy day." Tony led the group to the kitchen. Happy; who was unpacking the Chinese meal; placed a hand over his heart when he looked up. 

"Thank goodness he's okay." He muttered. "Bruce told us all about his little escapade today." Happy rounded the island to stroke Harry's hair.

James observed the interactions. Harry clearly was very loved, and it warmed his heart. 

They sat down to eat ten minutes later. Harry insisted on sitting next to James, and they tucked in. The housemates filtered in one by one. James got to meet Thor the actual God!! and Clint, an archer. 

Then Tony's wife? Girlfriend? Came in from work, and she peppered Harry's face with kisses before greeting anyone else. 

James looked up from his chicken chow mein when he heard a gasp at the door. 

"Bucky!?" 

Steve.

Chapter Text

Bucky fitted in with the family just fine. 

He and Steve shared a suite, with two bedrooms, but more often than not, the blonde would crawl into Bucky's room and sleep on the floor. They both had seen a vast reduction in nightmares when they slept in the same room, and Bucky was close to just asking Tony for a room with a double bed for the pair of them. 

Harry was fed up with the rain.

He didn't like it, and he let his parents know his distaste for the water droplets as much as he could.

Loudly. 

"Oh I know!!" Tony whispered, as he rocked Harry's small body close to his chest. "It's okay." Tony hummed to the child as the five year old cried. 

"Is he still not down?" Pepper popped her head into the room. 

"We're nearly there." Tony mouthed, and continued to dance around Harry's room; gently swaying the boy in his arms. 

"Shall we have JARVIS put your favourite song on?" Tony asked. 

Harry flung his arm out. 

Tony had introduced the child to YouTube for kids, and Harry had fallen in love with Bright Eyes by Simon and Garfunkel. Why that song was anyone's guess, as Harry was too young to watch Watership Down, but alas- the boy had found the song, and he listened to it every night before bed. 

JARVIS silently followed the request, and the intro music filled the room. 

Harry shifted himself, and meshed his body into Tony's as much as possible. His eyes drooped as he fought the sleep that threatened the end of the current day. 

Harry had enjoyed the outing with Buck and Bruce, until it began to rain unexpectedly. That had been the start of the biggest meltdown the family had ever seen, and even now- six hours later- Harry was still crying. 

At this point though, Tony and Pepper had realised that Harry was grisling over the pain and puffiness his torrential downpour of tears had induced earlier that day. Now, Harry was uncomfortable, and it was nearly nine pm, and he was still crying. 

Harry was soothed by the song, and Tony swayed some more, before he bent down to place Harry down on his soft bed. 

The harried parents crept out of the bedroom, and closed the door gently. 

"Are we good?" Tony whispered to Pepper. 

"We're good." She responded, and pressed a quick kiss to his lips. 

They hurried down the hall to the living room where everyone else was, and settled down to watch the latest movie in the Batman series. 

Natasha had just poured them all a glass of whiskey or juice, when JARVIS interrupted them. 

"I am afraid, Master Harry has woken up, and he's crying." The AI announced. 

Pepper sighed. "I'll get him." She waved Tony away, and rushed to the nursery. 

"Hey Harry. It's mummy." Pepper cooed, and assessed the situation.

Maybe he just needed to be spoken to, and there was no need to pick him up. 

Pepper whispered sweet nothings to the little boy after checking that it wasn't his nasal canula that was causing irritation. It wasn't and Harry was simply having a bad night. 

They'd applied some warm heating pads to his eyes earlier, and they'd tried ice too. The puffiness had gone down, but Harry was still in pain. 

If he didn't fall asleep in five minutes, Pepper reasoned, She'd give him some Calpol. 

Harry eventually dropped off again, and Pepper kept on murmuring to him for five minutes, just to be on the safe side; before creeping back to the living room.

They managed to watch half of the film, so an hour and a half, before JARVIS alerted them that Harry was awake again. 

"Oh my goodness!!" Tony huffed, and stood up to get him. 

"Hey baby." He said, entering Harry's room. 

Harry was really screaming his lungs out. 

"What's happening baby?" Tony asked, as he lifted Harry up. 

He extended the canula tube so that they could sway around, and walked Harry round and round in circles.

Harry continued to cry, and Tony wondered if he had a temperature.

The five year old didn't. 

"Don't you want to go to sleep Harry?" Tony asked. 

The child threw his arms out in annoyance. 

"DA!! DA!!" He cried. 

"I know. I know." Tony soothed him some more. 

"JARVIS, can we have Bright Eyes please." 

The music filled the large room.

Duck stayed fast asleep on the bed- how, Tony had no clue. Harry's cries were loud enough to be heard in Russia. 

Harry was not soothed by the calming song, and his screams reached a fever pitch. 

"For GOODNESS SAKE HARRY!!" Tony roared, fed up with the wailing. 

If possible, Harry began to shriek even louder at his dad's yelling. 

"Oh God, I'm sorry Harry. I'm sorry." Tony frantically rocked the child. "Daddy's sorry for yelling. It's just, we're all tired okay? Don't you want to go to sleep?" 

Pepper skidded into the room, having heard Tony's frustrated yells. 

"Here. Give him to me, and calm down okay? We're all annoyed. It's nearly midnight now, and we all want to go to bed." Pepper took Harry into her arms. 

"When you're calm, make him a bottle of milk. He's dehydrated enough as it is." Pepper swayed out of the room. 

Tony buried his head in his hands, and let out a few frustrated sobs. 

Duck quacked in the corner. 

"I'm sorry Duck. Did I wake you up too?" Tony lifted the bird out of the bed. "Let's go and make Harry some milk, and go and see everyone." 

When Tony arrived with the bottle, Harry was playing quietly with his favourite playmobil set. 

"Harry. Daddy's sorry for yelling." Tony said as he knelt next to the child. 

Harry looked up at him with red rimmed eyes. They looked really painful. 

"Da." He whispered, throat croaky from all the screaming. 

Tony offered him the bottle, and Harry grasped it, gulping down the milk very quickly. Tony lifted the child onto his lap, and rocked to and fro, enjoying the moment of calm. 

Pepper started the film up again, and JARVIS lowered the volume. 

When Harry had finished his milk, he shimmied out of Tony's arms, and crawled back to his toys. 

"It seems pointless." Tony sighed. 

"What does?" Clint asked, well aware; and used to, sleepless nights caused by children.

"We put him down for bed over five hours ago." Tony looked at the clock. It was nearly two in the morning now. "We may as well have just sat up with him for all the good this has done." 

Tony sat up on the sofa, and they finished the film. 

When it was over, and the popcorn had been cleared away, the family looked over to where Harry had been playing. 

The child was curled up in his sensory corner, all comfy on one of the large beanbags. The material practically swallowed him up. 

Pepper chuckled. 

Bruce had disappeared to Harry's room at some point, because he returned with the child's duck theme duvet. The proud uncle covered the child with it, checked the five year old's canula was in place, and tucked Duck in too. 

"One night in there will be fine." Bruce told the parents. 

"I'll sleep here on the couch." Tony whispered. "I don't have to go to work tomorrow morning, so I can lie in when Happy clocks in." 

Peper nodded, and tiptoed away with the rest of their family. 

Tony settled down on the very large and very plush sofa, he'd been told it could be a bed multiple times, and how right they had been.

Night, night. Sleep tight, and don't let the bugs bite. JARVIS whispered, and turned off the lights. 

Chapter Text

It was cold. 

So cold, that it had snowed in New York. 

"Look!!" Pepper held Harry on her hip and pointed at the snow falling outside. 

Harry peered out at it, and then in a way only kids can, sighed heavily. 

"Nah." He announced, and then wriggled to get out of the embrace. 

Pepper also sighed, but in defeat, and placed him down on the floor next to Duck so that the child wouldn't fall. 

The pair raced off around the large rug in the living room, and Pepper watched them playing with a frown on her face. 

"It's official." Bucky announced, as he entered the penthouse with a screaming Harry on his hip. They'd been out to the roof to make snow angels, but the second the falling snow had touched Harry's cheeks, he'd begun screaming. 

"This boy does not like the snow." Bucky handed Harry over to his dad, and the red cheeked child's screams picked up even louder. 

"Oh it's okay!!" Tony rocked him. "Lets go and have a bath and get you all warmed up." 

The proud father took Harry into his bedroom, and had JARVIS turn up the heating. 

"We'll try that another time." Tony continued, as he pulled off the large puffy snowsuit they had dressed Harry in to go outside. Next followed the warm onesie underneath, and then Harry's vest and nappy. 

Tony rushed the cold boy into the bathroom, and took out the custom made bath seat, so Harry could relax in the water JARVIS had filled the bath with. 

"Ooooh. Isn't that nice?!" Tony asked, as he slid Harry into the water- after checking the temperature with his elbow as was now an ingrained habit. 

Harry giggled as Duck ran into the room, little webbed feet pattering on the tiles. The little bird settled down on the closed lid of the toilet to watch his friend and dad play.

"Da. Da." Harry slapped his palms on the surface of the water. 

"Oh my gosh!!" Tony laughed. "Are you playing with the water?" Tony sent a little wave of water towards Harry, and the little boy shrieked in happiness. 

He pushed some water back at his dad, and Tony pretended to have been drenched. 

"My word!!" He stated. "I've been beaten by Harry!! Again." 

Harry giggled happily, and sent another splash at his dad. 

~~~~

Harry, all warm and in a fresh set of clothes, was set to crawl around at his play area, and the group of tired adults sat down on the sofas in the living room. Duck rolling a ball between Harry and himself happily. 

"Harry doesn't like the cold." Bucky stated again, and glanced over to where Harry and Duck were both crawling/waddling after the light up ball. 

"We've established that." Tony groaned. "The question is, what do we do about it? It's December, there's no getting away from the cold." 

Clint raised a brow. "Oh darling. Sometimes I wonder where the genius goes when you're out of the lab. Does your brain work a nine to five or something?" 

Tony scowled at his friend. "What's your point? Sweetheart." 

"Well... You said there's no escaping the snow in December. You're technically right. There's no escaping it in New York, but what about Malibu? Where you have a house? Where you own a strip of the beach? In the sun, in the warm. Do you see what I'm getting at? You take Harry and go and have a warm weather Christmas." Clint finished with a flourish. 

Tony glanced at his girlfriend. "I guess so. I can't believe I didn't think of that before." 

Pepper smiled, and looked at their son. Harry and Duck were now curled up around each other on the beanbag, a book clutched in Harry's hands as he babbled away to his feathered friend. 

"We." Pepper stated. 

The group of friends looked at her confused. 

"We will be going to Malibu and taking Harry with us. We'll have a warm Christmas together. 

"We're going to the beach today." Tony explained to Harry. 

It had been a hectic week, what with the move over, and then getting Harry settled into a new place. It had been odd to see the child roaming around, opening cupboard doors that were on his level, and integrating himself into Tony's second home. 

Their second home. 

Harry watched his father lathering sunscreen over his arms and legs with interest, and let the man apply it to his own torso when it was his turn. 

Harry wriggled as Tony tickled his little armpits, nearly choking on his laughter. 

Pepper poked her head into the room, and grinned at her family having a great time over something so small and trivial. Duck was cradled in the woman's arms, and he quacked in joy at hearing Harry's laughter. 

"Are we all ready?" Pepper asked, stepping into the room fully, and beamed at them. 

Tony tugged Harry's arm floats on, and then looked over to his girlfriend- gorgeous in a gold bikini. 

"We're so ready. Let's go and play in the sea!!"

~~~~

Harry's aunts and uncles had set up a picnic on Tony's private beach, and it looked very cute. There were two long picnic tables joined together with picnic blankets over them, with two large parasols keeping them under the shade. 

Tony waved down at Natasha from the steps leading down, and then slowly descended with Harry in his arms. Pepper followed behind them with Duck and a cooler filled with ice creams. 

"Shall we go and play in the water?" Pepper asked her son. She took him from Tony, and along with Bruce and Clint, she took him down to the water's edge. 

Tony had dressed the boy in a pair of swimming trunks with little ducks swimming in little ponds on them. 

Pepper dipped the child's little toes into the water and gauged his reaction to the sensation. 

Harry pondered over the feel of the waves lapping at his little feet, and decided he rather liked it. The little one kicked his legs around happily, and Pepper took him into the water a little further. 

"I hope you're getting this on video." Bruce told Clint, who had his phone out and had been videoing from the second they got to the ocean. 

"What do you think I'm doing Bruce?" Clint rolled his eyes. 

Duck landed on the surface of the water next to Harry, and quacked loudly- clearly very happy with the change of environment. 

Pepper took them further into the water, until it was just over Harry's chest. She let her son float with his arm bands loosely holding his waist, and grinned as Harry began giggling. 

Tony approached them with a large ring doughnut that he'd been blowing up. 

"Shall we try putting you in this Harry?" Tony asked, and lifted the five year old into it when he didn't object. 

Harry propelled himself along with his legs, happy to sit in the doughnut. Duck bobbed along beside him, sometimes preening himself and sometimes nibbling on Harry's wet hair. 

The family stayed in the water for most of the afternoon. Stopping to nibble on the  large spread Natasha and Steve had laid out on the table. 

It was a warm day but most importantly, Harry was happy. 

Christmas was going to be amazing. 

Chapter Text

It was Christmas week, and Tony and Pepper were out choosing a Christmas tree for Harry's bedroom. 

They already had trees in the main living areas. 

They were out at a live Christmas tree vendor, and Harry, Duck and the happy parents were strolling up and down the rows of trees. 

"Which one do you like?" Pepper asked, stopping Harry's wheelchair by a few waist height trees that would be great for Harry's room. 

Harry gummed down on his fist before pointing at a small tree. 

Tony and Pepper shared a look before taking Harry out of his chair to get closer. 

Duck flew onto Tony's shoulder and the man smiled over at him. 

Harry grabbed fistfuls of pines, feeling them before rejecting the tree. 

"Not that one then." Tony said, and they moved onto the next row. 

"Nah." Harry said, and turned away from the tree. 

~~~~

An hour later, and the little family were all stood around a tiny spindly tree, that barely reached the knee. 

"DA!!" Harry squealed, and twisted to get out of Pepper's arms. 

She placed him down by the twig- really, it barely had any branches at all, and it didn't have any pines at all.

"This one really?" Pepper mouthed at Tony, and he shrugged. 

"What Harry wants, Harry gets." He stated, and gestured over at the attendant who had been tailing them at a respectable distance. 

"What is that?" Clint sputtered as Tony carried the plant pot with the 'tree' in it into the living room. 

"This." Tony placed the thing down. "Is the tree that Harry has chosen for his bedroom. You know how we were going to pick one out today." 

Natasha walked into the room just as Pepper carried Harry in. Duck waddled lazily along behind them. 

""That's a stick." She sniffed. "I could throw that, and Barton would chase after it." 

"I would not!!" Clint whined. 

"You're whining." Natasha noted. 

"Cut it out. Look at Harry's amazing tree." Tony pointed at the sad little thing in the corner.

"Come on, I'll get the baubles, we're decorating it now." 

Tony zoomed off to collect the decorations he had placed aside, and met his makeshift family in Harry's large bedroom. 

"Where do you think we should place it?" Tony asked enthusiastically. 

Pepper sighed. "You could put it anywhere, Harry won't mind will he?" 

She peered down at the child on her hip.

"Na." Harry nodded. 

They ended up agreeing on placing it on the dresser by the bathroom door.

~~~~

In the end, the tree only managed to take one bauble before a thin twig snapped off.

It looked very... bespoke- one of a kind; marginally elegant. 

Tony lifted Harry up to place the little angel on top of the tree.

The thinnest branch of them all, it snapped within a second of the heavy ornament being placed on it.  

"There!!" 

Tony stepped back, and they all looked at the end result. 

The most sad looking twig ever with four protruding prongs- two of which had fallen off- with a tiny amount of gold tinsel sitting at the base, and one red and gold bauble on the strongest branch- stood in a black plant pot. 

"DA!!" Harry squealed. 

"That looks amazing." Tony kissed his forehead. 

"Race you all to the kitchen for hot chocolate!!" He ran out of the room with Duck flapping and squawking after them.

"I don't know, but that tree looks like something the cat dragged in." Clint scoffed. 

"Don't be mean." Pepper slapped his arm, before coughing to hide her laughter. 

"See!!" Clint said. "You can't deny it." 

"Harry picked it out, it's what he wants, so we'll live with it because it makes him happy." Bruce reasoned sternly. 

"It's not that bad." Steve agreed. 

JARVIS took a picture of the group of friends laughing, and titled it a Very Harry Christmas. 

It was a very happy day indeed, and the hot chocolates were works of art. They had whipped cream, peppermint candy-cane spoons, Snow Enrobed Oreos on the side, festive sprinkles and a little packet of snowmen biscuits. 

Delicious.

Chapter Text

They weren't in New York, and so Tony and Pepper had devised a very good plan to see in the new year.

Tony couldn't wait to see Harry's little face as he saw the sky light up. 

The couple had escaped for the 30th of December to host the annual SI new years party, leaving Harry and his uncles and aunt together. 

(They'd come home to find that Happy and Harry had made brownies, and Duck had created an oil painting for the fairly blank walls by dipping his flippers in paint methodically. Pepper had hung up the picture of a flower in the entrance hall with pride. "That bird is way too intelligent for his own good." Tony had hissed as the pair of them eyed the artwork later that evening. "Don't be mean. He's probably watched Harry do his own finger painting and decided to join in." Pepper whispered back.)

But for now, Clint, Rhodey and Bruce were distracting the little one, while the parents ran around the house like crazy- setting up the new years party they had planned for their own family. 

"Hey Pep!!" Tony called out as he rushed down the large staircase in the entrance of the mansion. In his arms he held massive balloons- made from biodegradable materials, and filled with air- he'd searched for an environmentally friendly balloon company to cater to their needs. 

Pepper turned around from where she was attaching gold and silver streamers to the banisters. 

"Ah good!! You found the balloons." She smiled, and bent over to secure some more streamers. 

"I never lost them!" Tony whined. 

Pepper raised a brow at him. 

"So who was it this morning frantically searching all of the rooms because they'd misplaced a very large order of silver and gold balloons?" She laughed at his put out expression. 

"There's a reason why I'm in charge of the really important things." Pepper continued. "You'd literally lose the company otherwise." Tony squawked indignantly. 

"You would!!" Pepper giggled. "Now, go and put the balloons in the dining room before you lose them again. There's only so much time a film can run for, before Harry notices we're missing. By the way, the explosives guys are here, and they should be ready to begin the fireworks display at eight for Harry, and then again at midnight for us." 

Tony shuffled off; weighed down under the large balloons. 

"Look!!" Pepper gasped at Harry on her hip, as Tony opened the double doors to the dining room. 

The large space had been transformed. The large dining table had been pushed to one side of the room, while the other end of the room was taken over by a massive balloon arch that read "Happy New Year!!" in alternating gold and silver balloons. There were streamers all over the room, and the carpet had been covered with a disco floor peel off veneer. 

There was a disco ball hanging from the fixture where the chandelier usually was, and some coloured lights bounced off it, and cast a funky glow over the darkened room. 

The long table was laden down with a new year's feast. There were spag bol tacos, mozzarella and halloumi sticks, deep fried mac and cheese balls. There were slices of pizza and blinis with a smoky horseradish cream cheese base, with Hebredian salmon balanced on top with a tiny sprig of dill perched on top of that. There were small portions of celeriac steak on a skewer coated with vegan Cafe de Paris sauce, sweet potato soup served in little rye bread boats, courgette and brussel sprouts wrapped in a thin layer of ribboned carrot, and honey roasted with herbs in the oven- just some of the veggie and vegan options on offer. 

There were also the little reindeer brownies Harry and Happy had prepared that morning. There were multicoloured doughnuts laid out ready for new year, and lots of other mini desserts. Everything was intended to be eaten with the fingers, and Tony and Pepper had really outdone themselves. 

Harry was handed a mock-tail- pina colada, made with pineapple juice, coconut cream and a dash of sparkling water for pizzazz. 

Everyone else picked up some champagne by the drink's station. Duck had a bowl of his favourite ice cold Fiji water, with large cubes of ice floating in it. 

~~~~

They ate well, and then the music turned on. Harry danced with all of his family, taking a song with each, and by the time the large curtains were swept aside, he was well and truly worn out. 

"What's going on?!" Tony asked the boy, and lifted him into his arms, before taking him over to the massive panels of glass. On a warm day, the doors retracted into the corners, so that dining could be a cosy and fresh experience. 

Down on the patio, just underneath the large windows, the explosive experts were all set up and ready, and Pepper placed the noise cancelling headset on Harry's ears. They didn't need a breakdown, and she placed a custom set on Duck's tiny head to protect him too. 

At eight on the dot, the firework display began, and Harry clapped his hands excitedly at the Catherine wheels and other explosives raining down from the sky. 

The display ended with a red and gold set spelling out "Happy New Year Harry!!" in the sky. 

"Is that your name?" Pepper pointed, and Harry nodded. 

"Ma!!" He jiggled about in Tony's arms happily. 

"Happy new year Harry." The family chorused, and Pepper handed him a red doughnut with gold sprinkles. 

With Harry in bed, the real party started, and the hard alcohol was rolled out. 

The explosives crew were invited inside to eat and party. Happy indulged himself on the brownies they'd made, and Natasha chewed happily on the honey roasted carrots. Clint scarfed down more of the tacos, and Steve ate some of the pumpkin pie that had been brought out.  

They'd discovered over Christmas that Harry didn't like pumpkin.

They ate it in secret. 

Bruce ate the celeriac steak bites happily, and polished off the platter of sweet potato soup. Rhodey ate some of the mini burgers and fries that had been brought out, while Pepper and Tony fed each other pork belly squares, and ate lots and lots of the little crumble and custard spoons.

After stuffing themselves with food, they danced some more, to more explicit songs than earlier. Tony and Pepper were practically grinding on each other. 

At a little before midnight, the explosives team- who had been served mock-tails so that they could handle the fireworks safely- went back outside to set up the new display. 

Pepper and Tony watched along with their family as the night's sky was lit up with the pretty colours. They counted down to midnight before kissing each other with the back drop of gold and white lettering ablaze in the sky behind them. 

"Happy New Year Pep." Tony whispered, his eyes crinkled from grinning. 

"Happy New Year Tony." Pepper grinned back, before kissing him again. 

It was a very happy new year indeed.

Chapter Text

Harry usually didn't like being away from Tony, Pepper or Happy during the day. It was a given that Duck accompanied Harry everywhere, but that would not be the case today. 

No. 

Harry was going it alone for the first time since he'd been adopted, and Tony was not happy about it. 

"I'll make sure to pack Puff." Pepper was saying as she rounded up Harry's things into a bag.

Tony snatched the stuffed toy out of her hands, and returned Puff to Harry's bed. 

"He won't be needing that." He snarled. 

"Tony!!" Pepper gasped, and grabbed the stuffed toy back. 

"I understand that you're nervous.." She began, but Tony interrupted her. 

"Exactly, and there is no need to pack Puff like Harry will never be returning." Tony snapped. 

Pepper sighed. 

"Tony, I'm just as anxious as you are about this." She murmured. "But Harry's not going to war. He's simply going on a play-date."

"I know that it's not that big of a deal really. But Harry's not like the other kids. He needs extra support with his eating." 

Pepper raised a brow. "And, Hannah and George are two very respectable parents who have two children. They've spoon fed both of them as they were weaning, and I'm sure that they won't mind spoon feeding Harry just as they have done their own children. Besides, I informed Hannah of Harry's needs weeks ago when we planned this day. They met at a playgroup for children with differing physical needs. There's no way that they agreed to this ignorant of what Harry needs." 

Tony looked Pepper up and down with a slightly distrusting gaze. 

"My goodness Tony. The whole point of signing Harry up to that playgroup was so that he could make friends. He's made one, and now he needs to learn about how to play." Pepper huffed, and turned back to folding two pairs of spare clothes in case Harry had an accident. He was rather prone to getting messy when eating, and if the Fredrickson's decided to play in mud or water, Harry would also get wet. 

"I don't understand why they can't just play here." Tony whined. 

"Tony!! The last three times they've played, it's been here. Harry has become a recluse, it's not healthy, and for his development he should be outside getting to know people. It's only fair that he gets to go to other people's houses too. We can't keep asking the Fredrickson's to bring Reggie here every time." 

Tony pouted. "But what if Harry begins to miss us? What if he's left all on his own while he's crying. How do we know that they won't just leave him to cry? He hates water on his face." The nervous father fretted. 

"They've been notified of all his quirks." Pepper placated as she folded some of Harry's seamless socks in pairs and threw them into the bag. Pepper turned to her boyfriend. "You know that they wouldn't do that to Harry. You've literally sent social services around to their house to do unannounced visits to ensure they treat their children well behind closed doors. Harry will be fine. Now quit stalling Tony. Harry needs to be changed and ready. They'll be here to pick him up at eleven thirty, so that they can be back in time for lunch." 

Tony groaned, and went to search for his precious child, he was somewhere with Happy and Duck doing some counting. 

Eleven o'clock came too soon in Tony's opinion. 

Harry was clutched to his chest tightly reading a book, and Tony was sat stiffly on the sofa waiting for the lift doors to ding- thus signifying the arrival of the family that were coming to kidnap his son. Was it kidnapping if he knew about it? 

Either way, he wasn't happy. 

At eleven thirty exactly, the lift dinged, and Tony stood with Harry as Mrs Hannah Fredrickson and her son Reggie entered the living room. 

"Good morning Mr Stark. Pepper." Hannah smiled. She was a plump and merry little woman with laughing blue eyes, her brown hair done in a perfect up-do. Her son happily played with his stuffed dragon toy while seated in a double pushchair. Pepper hadn't mentioned Reggie had a twin. 

"Good morning Hannah!!" Pepper welcomed them in. "I can see that you have a new toy Reggie." Pepper bent down and touched Reggie's little fist. The boy grinned up at her. "Lo Pepper! Is Greg." He crooned, and then went back to chewing on the dragon's snout. 

Pepper looked up at Hannah. 

"The dragon's name is Greg." Hannah clarified. 

Pepper beckoned to Tony. 

It amazed her- that this little family had been in their own home multiple times, but Tony was always conveniently in his workshop when they came. 

"Come and meet Hannah and Reggie. And put Harry down so that he can get ready to go." Pepper pushed Tony forward. He shook Hannah's hand, and patted Reggie on the arm in greeting. 

Harry crawled over to Reggie and began babbling away to him. 

"Gee!! Lo." Harry pulled himself up by Reggie's socked feet to press a wet kiss to his cheek. 

Tony's eyes widened. 

"That's new!!" Pepper laughed, and scooped Harry up to press lots of kisses to his cheeks. 

"You're going out with Reggie and his mummy today. We'll see you after your nap okay?" Pepper blew a raspberry on Harry's tummy. "Can you say bye bye to mummy and daddy?" 

Pepper waved her hand in a goodbye motion, and Harry endeavoured to copy her. 

"Ma. Ba ba." 

Harry had learnt some new words it seemed. Tony watched on with a sour expression. 

"I just don't want him to cry." Tony snatched Harry back into his arms as Pepper went to put him down.  

A little hand pushed at Tony's chest. 

"Da. NO!!" Harry squirmed to be put down. 

"Gee!!" Harry crawled over to his toy chest and Pepper helped him pick a toy to take with him. 

Harry chose the Duplo Clifford set, and Pepper packed that away. 

Hannah approached Tony. 

"Mr Stark. I know how worried you are. I felt that way when I first left Reggie here. But you and Pepper proved to me that you can do a very good job of taking care of Harry, and so I felt comfortable leaving my son here. I'm sure you felt the same way when you left Harry at playgroup for the first time." 

Tony nodded. 

"I just know he gets upset when I leave him. He cries, and Harry has a breakdown when he cries. I also don't want him to think that I'm abandoning him. I don't doubt your ability to look after your own children, but Harry's... Harry's mine." Tony admitted. 

Hannah smiled. "I appreciate your confession. I don't want to steal your child Tony. I just want to nurture the friendship that he's growing with my Reggie. The world isn't kind to people with physical or mental disabilities. The more friends these children have, the better. Harry knows that he's coming back. You need to give him more credit for how much he can understand. There's just a bit of a communication barrier between us is all." 

The parents turned back to their children. Pepper had Harry wrapped up in his coat, and he was back to babbling away with Reggie. The two friends were touching the different parts of Harry's latest toy. A sensory tactile snake, with lots of different features along the thick body. There were different textures, and the snake's eyes also lit up. 

"Harry." Tony called out. 

Harry looked up and over at him.

"Da!!" The little boy crawled over to him speedily, pulled himself up by Tony's pant legs, and hugged the man's legs. 

"You go and have a good time with Reggie okay. I love you very much, and I'll be right here when you come back home." Harry sighed, and pressed his ear over Tony's chest- right where Tony's heart was. The position that Harry loved to fall asleep in, and Tony chuckled. 

"Yes Harry. There's always room for you there in my heart, now go and have a good time before I lock you away from the outside world forever." 

Harry wriggled down to the ground, and Tony looked at him. He looked incredibly cute in his winter coat and light up shoes. He had a red bobble hat on, and Pepper had put on the cutest matching mittens. Harry hugged Duck goodbye, and the bird quacked at him. 

"Nothing to worry about see!" Hannah set Harry in the other seat in the pushchair. 

Tony mentally facepalmed. That was why she'd brought a double pram, so Harry could go in it too. 

Tony assessed how Hannah took immense care when wrapping Harry up in the little waterproof half sleeping bag that kept their legs warm. Harry's little arms peeked out from under it, but in all- Tony was impressed. 

Harry was going to be fine. 

"I know you've packed up Harry's lunch, but I've prepared an easy to eat trifle, with strawberry jelly for pudding. A little treat if you will." Hannah beamed, and then waved goodbye while pushing the pram into the lift. "We'll see you at three o'clock. Have a good afternoon." 

The lift doors closed behind them. 

"Strawberry trifle?" Tony mouthed at Pepper. The woman shook her head. Trust Tony to be won over by the idea of such a delicious dessert.  

He was jealous.

Chapter Text

They'd been teaching Harry how to swim in the indoor pool. 

Harry's aversion to water had settled down to a burning discomfort when he felt tears only. 

He had taken to the pool like a duck to the water. 

Duck had been happy to accompany him. 

Tony and Pepper had discussed with many wildlife specialists, and pool experts on how to treat their pools in a manner that would keep the humans safe from germs, and Duck safe from poisoning. They had found the right balance for everyone, and Duck had dive bombed the water as soon as he could. 

Tony stared at the indoor pool with a critical eye. 

There were streamers and bunting covering the windows, and there were tables laden with finger foods and soft drinks. 

It was Pepper's idea. 

To throw the party for Harry and his friends at the playgroup. 

Tony still hadn't managed to gather up the courage to attend a session. He'd started seeing a therapist, and just last week when Pepper had brought up the idea- he'd disclosed the reason why he had an aversion to the place. 

If he went to the sessions, he would have to admit that there is something wrong with Harry. The group was advertised as a club for parents and children with learning disparities. 

Tony hated that terminology.

It made the children that attended the sessions seem like inferior members of society. 

They weren't. 

Not at all.

But to Tony, the individual that had designed the poster was an imbecile. 

If you are trying to attract customers to your playgroup, it would not do well to insult them. 

Pepper however, had seen past the poster and attended a couple of open days. 

"Tony, it's amazing. They take wonderful care of each child, and they even do referrals to a local kindergarten for when Harry is ready for that. The playgroup is run by individuals who have had disabled family, and they are very sincere. We attend each session with Harry, and then when he's ready to move on, they have connections with proper education and regulatory bodies that place Harry in the correct schooling system."

That's when Tony had learned about the different forms of schooling. It had opened his eyes to the type of care that was available for Harry when he grew older.  

That had led to a conversation full of tears about what Harry would do when he reached eighteen. 

He couldn't stay their mollycoddled little boy forever- they wouldn't always be able to carry him around on their hips- he'd already grown an inch in the year he'd been with them. 

Tony had then told the therapist that he was also scared that the playgroup was like a hospice. Biding it's time- watching and waiting for one of the children to die, and he wasn't too happy about that. 

Pepper said it wasn't like that at all, but she also said that Dior looked the same as Prada - she had a taste for fine things, but didn't know the nuances between them. She also thought fashion shows were a ridiculous waste of time. (To be fair, Tony agreed, but fashion and their son weren't the same thing. She may have mistaken a hospice for a playgroup, and Tony didn't want to imagine children hooked up to machines and playing while a dead child was wheeled out of the next room on a gurney.)

These confessions were why Tony was here today. 

They had brought in the external caterer they always used, and a party planner too. 

Pepper had suggested a pool day for all the kids and their families so that Tony could meet the people Harry was playing with. So that he could see the quality of life that Harry was having- he'd made lots of friends, and so had Pepper. 

That was another thing that worried Tony. That these other parents who were better at taking care of their children, would see the couple as a pair of failures when they saw how hard they found it raising Harry. 

Tony knew he was doing a bad job at it. He'd sat on his feelings, but Harry hadn't really progressed much at all in the year that he had lived with them. Sure, he could now eat mushy foods rather than just blended things. He still couldn't eat much in the grand scheme of things though. Yes he could now crawl, but he was still nowhere near close to walking. He could pull himself up into a standing position- thanks to Tony and Pepper's insistence that they would do his muscle training with the door bouncer every evening before his bath. Yes he had progressed with making simple sounds, and he could ask for what he wanted instead of having to wait and beg like he had at the Dursley's, but he still wasn't really talking. Outsiders looking in would just think he was babbling away to himself- which he was most of the time. 

Tony bit his lip as he heard Pepper's laugh as the first family arrived in the living room. He let out a deep breath and turned to greet the family as they came through to the pool area- Clint leading them happily. 

Tony plastered a grin on his face and went to greet them too.

Harry and his friends were having a blast of a time. 

Tony hadn't realised quite how big some of the families were, with teenagers and young adults frolicking in the deep end of the pool. The party planner had arranged a life-guard for the afternoon, and they were up in their chair surveying the play happening below them. 

Hannah sidled up to Tony- the only parent he had actually recognised. Reggie and Harry were playing together in their floats in the shallow end of the pool. 

"You've outdone yourself Tony." Hannah grinned, her hair wet from the water. 

"I have?" Tony asked.

"We usually have a pool day once a month at the playgroup- they have pools there for water therapy and play too. Here at your pool the other parents are happy. Keisha- that's Kieran's mum- was saying last week that they had taken him to the public pool for the first time and it was a disaster. One of the attendees had tried to tell them that they weren't allowed there because Kieran was a high risk of using the pool as a toilet, and then everyone else ran out of the kiddie pool when they went in it. Some of the parents had lots of nasty things to say to Keisha about her letting him in there. We usually use that pool as the summer party location, however we're boycotting it until there's equality for those in the disability community." 

Tony listened horrified, and noted the Kieran Hannah was talking about. He was a charming young man with cerebral palsy being supported in the pool by his sister Kayla. He had the biggest smile on his face as another member of the group- Archie if Tony remembered correctly- sent gentle waves over to lap at his chin. Archie had been born without legs, and the biggest heart of gold ever. 

Tony scowled. He was very aware of the horrible mentally that society still thought was acceptable when it came to disabled individuals. The fact that his son was so publicly disabled didn't curb the hate comments or nasty messages Tony received daily. 

"Then, I'll start talking to the necessary contractors and safety analysts so that you guys can have this as your base." Tony found himself volunteering. He just hated the thought of it being Harry who had someone make such nasty comments to him. The five year old was too little to understand the words, but the sentiment wouldn't be lost. Children were sponges, and they could tell a nasty comment from a kind one. Tony didn't want any of his son's friends feeling negatively about themselves either, and so what better way to keep everyone happy and safe than in his own pool?

Hannah smiled. "I'm sure Jill- the founder of the playgroup- will be happy to let you know who she used to be able to have the pool on site. She's over there with Anna." Hannah indicated a woman in a pink polka dot swimsuit helping a laughing girl swirl through the water in a purple doughnut float. 

Tony let his eyes wander back over to Harry, and he beamed as he saw Pepper had joined the trio that were playing. Harry and Reggie were being supported by their respective parents- Reggie's dad had come- and were being dunk under the water gently. 

Tony waded into the shallow water to join them. 

"Hello Daddy." Pepper grinned, and turned Harry to face him. The little one was wearing some red goggles, and his hair was sticking up in every direction. Duck floated alongside the friends happily quacking. 

"DA!!" Harry screeched in excitement, and proceeded to slap his hands on the surface of the water. 

"What are we playing?!" Tony responded with a little flick of water towards the child. 

"Harry and Reggie were diving for diamonds." Pepper explained, and pointed at a variety of pool toys on the bottom of the tiled floor. Tony nodded. 

"How many have you managed to collect?" The proud father asked. 

Pepper indicated a pile of toys on the edge of the pool, and Tony smirked. 

"You've got a fair few there. Can I help you get some more? We may be able to trade them with a kind merchant and get some gold bullion." Tony finished with a pirate voice. 

Reggie giggled. 

"Da." Harry pointed at the man. "Da." 

Tony swam closer, and took over helping the boy dive. 

"The rest of the Avengers will be here soon to say hello to the kids." Pepper explained to Hannah who had followed Tony into the water. 

Harry showcased his great hand eye coordination, and picked up a green pool ring. Tony slowly and carefully brought him back to the surface, and Harry gulped in some air. 

"Gee. See Gee." Harry showed the toy off to Reggie, and then Tony swam him over to the edge to add to their large collection of "jewels."

The whole event had turned out to be a lot more fun than Tony had thought. All the parents were trying their best, and if there was something Tony saw as the afternoon went on- it was that the families were the happiest Tony had ever seen. 

And Harry? 

The whole day Harry had the biggest grin on his face. Playing with his friends- who Tony could now place faces to the names Pepper told him about when returning from another session- Tony realised just how happy these children were. 

Harry had developed a lot Tony realised as he helped his son eat some soft cake from the buffet. Steve was helping another child eat their lunch chatting about being a superhero, Natasha was doing a little gymnastics show in the corner by some wide eyed teenagers, and Clint and Bruce were handing out cake to the rest of the parents and families. Harry was the happiest child Tony had ever seen, loved by so many wherever he went. He had the brightest smile that could end a war. He could crawl, and he hadn't even been able to sit up a year ago. He was eating cake, and he loved cake now that he had had a taste for it.

Tony pulled Pepper into a kiss as she walked passed them looking super hot in a black one piece with a little gold belt. 

This wonderful woman made him the happiest man ever, and she kept their family going. When he was struggling she pulled him up, and filled in for him when he dropped off. Tony couldn't ask for a better girlfriend. 

He loved Pepper to the bottom of his heart. Enough to die for her, so maybe it was time. Tony grinned as he watched her join Ash in the pool to play a mermaid game with the little girl with epilepsy. She was the best girlfriend ever, and Tony didn't want to lose her- he would do anything to keep her. Maybe they'd been together long enough- long enough to wife her. 

Chapter Text

Harry's smile could end wars. 

Today, it would have stopped an alien invasion and Fury's wrath too.

Daddy had put a little shiny thing on mummy's finger and it had made her cry and scream like some of the kids he played with. 

Why, Harry was unsure, but when they got home from the afternoon in the park, Aunty Tasha had started squealing too. 

Daddy's face was happier than usual, and he kissed Harry's forehead more than usual too. Even Duck got extra icy ice water. It was mainly ice rather than water, something Duck really really liked.

Harry even got some soft jelly for dessert, after the trifle he'd had before that. An extra treaty treat. Harry usually only had one dessert. He wasn't quite sure why today was so special, but if it meant more dessert - he wasn't complaining. 

Tony had prepared Harry for a picnic and dressed him in his favourite duck dungarees. 

Duck got to wear his favourite yellow coat and red wellies. 

"It's family day!" Tony cheered when everyone was strapped into the car. 

"I wonder where we're going!!" Pepper made a game out of figuring out their final destination. 

It was an hours drive away.

The absolutely gorgeous park that is. 

Tony had organised for the butterfly and wildflower nature reserve to be booked for the day so that he could his plan into motion. He just hoped Pepper would agree.

Pepper loved bees and dragonflies,  of which the reserve had an abundance of. Because it was spring, the flowers were in full bloom. So the area where Tony had come to earlier to set up the picnic blanket, was absolutely surrounded by fragrant flowers. 

Harry and Duck were let loose on the blanket, while Tony took out a hamper from the boot of the car.

"You really planned today out didn't you?" Pepper joked as she helped set out the picnic items on one side of the large chequered blanket.

Tony didn't respond, so she turned around to look for him.

Tony was knelt on one knee behind her holding out a gold box. 

Inside, a little ring sat nestled in a cocoon of white satin, protecting the precious metal.

Pepper gasped.

"Tony..." She murmured.

"Virginia. Pepper. I have had the honour of spending the past ten years of my life with you. Having you at my side when I was the most difficult person to deal with was the greatest honour. You stayed by my side as I recovered from my trials in Afghanistan. You stayed even when I was trying to throw away my life before I found my purpose as Iron Man, and despite putting you in danger by announcing my address to the news, you still stayed beside me. Then, to prove that you really are the most selfless woman, you agreed to adopt our son with me. Even though you had no ties to him at the time, you still stayed by my side, and provided our amazing son Harry with the best supportive mum figure that I have ever seen." 

Tony's voice trembled with the raw emotion he was channeling into his speech.

"I never believed I would be worthy of someone loving me as much as you do. But, somehow I found you. I don't know what deity chose to allow me to have you, but I thank them every day. My heart swells with love whenever I see you, and it feels like it will burst when I see you with our son. I never thought I would be capable of feeling such love, but my heart hurts from the overflowing amounts of love it holds..." 

Tony didn't even bother to wipe away the tears that had escaped from the corner of his eyes. 

"Pepper. Will you do me the honour of agreeing to marry me?" 

Pepper had started to cry somewhere at the start of his speech, and she could only nod stupidly as her brain had shorted out. 

She'd been dreaming of a princess wedding since she was a little girl, and now she was going to have one. 

"Yes!!" She whispered.

Tony wrangled the ring out of the box with shaking fingers, and after a few attempts - it was clear he'd been nervous about doing this- he managed to slide the gorgeous ring onto her finger.

Pepper yanked him to his feet and kissed him soundly on the mouth. 

Harry clapped his hands by their feet from where he'd crawled over to them, and Duck was squawking and honking in delight beside him. His humans were all very happy, and that made him happy.

"Mummy and Daddy are getting married Harry." Pepper giggled, pulling the child into her arms. 

"Na." Harry responded. He wiped away the tears on his Mummy's cheeks before slobbering all over them in his version of a kiss.

Pepper grinned at him and kissed his forehead, before discreetly wiping the drool off her cheeks.

She showed Harry the ring, a white gold piece with a small diamond in the middle, surrounded by her favourite stone - rubies. It was a beautiful piece, and Tony had clearly spent lot of time designing it. The piece had the essence of both of them, Pepper's rubies, also a tie in to her beautiful fiery hair - a joke between them. The diamond was a throwback to Tony's favourite stone, while tying off the whole piece, and even if Harry's favourite colours were red and gold, his favourite metal to wear was white gold. Something they'd discovered on the day they'd thrown the HHH auction. Harry had opted to wear a white gold bracelet over all the gold pieces Tony had shown him. Duck was also involved in the ring, as on the inside, there was a little heart engraved into the metal. The heart outline was formed from little webbed duck prints. The prints had been taken from Pepper's favourite painting that Duck had made himself. Tony had scanned the prints into a hologram and had then shrunk down to the size she saw now. Inside the little heart was a small wheelchair symbol for Harry, an iron man head for Tony, a dish with ice cubes for Duck, and a pair of heels. A reference to Pepper's favourite things on earth besides her boys - her shoe collection. 

As was the norm with Harry, he dipped his head down and began sucking on the rock on her finger. 

Pepper laughed and worked the ring out of Harry's mouth gently. 

"Oops, don't eat that Harry!!" She giggled. "Let's have some food now. I know you're hungry. I am too." 

Tony watched his family happily,  Duck cradled in his arms. 

They settled down to eat the food that he'd prepared all by himself. It was a variety of finger foods, but considering the fact that he had burnt water before Harry had come along, he was proud of himself.

He'd organised this whole day himself, and woken up early to drive to and from the nature reserve before everyone had woken, so that he could set up the blanket.

He'd also set up some drones discreetly to take pictures and videos of the special moment. 

Tony slipped out his phone to take some candid shots of Pepper laughing when two butterflies landed on Harry's nose, and grinned. 

He was so lucky to have had these two perfect humans land in his life. 

Biting down on his sandwich, Tony looked down at his phone and grinned. JARVIS flashed a thumbs up and smiley face emoji on the screen.

Tony had all his special people at this most important day of his life. 

Pepper, Harry, Duck and JARVIS. 

A butterfly landed on his own nose, and Tony grinned when Harry pointed it out to him as if he couldn't see it.

The day had turned out to be perfect, and Tony's heart was bursting with love. 

Chapter Text

Harry's arms propelled him through the water. Duck quacking happily alongside him as he moved along slowly.

Harry was winning the race.

Uncle Bruce crawled beside him pretending to swim too.

"Go on Harry!!" His family and friends cheered from the side of the pool. 

They were racing through the width of the shallow end of the pool, Harry in his doughnut and Bruce hampered down by a full onesie and snowcoat. 

The man was still slowing himself down significantly on purpose. The width of the pool was the smallest length to swim, and in the shallow end, Bruce could crawl along and still have a full head and shoulders clear the water's surface. 

This was about Harry, not seeing a fully grown man thrash a toddler in a race. Which Bruce could do in two strokes if he wanted to.

"A little more to go Harry!" Tony cheered. 

The boy's parents stood at the finish line. Tony in the water ready to cath his son, and Pepper at the edge with a towel to dry him off.

The day was a big one.

Harry was racing for charity. 

Swimming the width of the pool for a very special individual. 

Who that individual was, was yet to be determined.  

Tony was going to send a list of names through a machine once Harry had finished swimming, and then it would select the name of the winner using the unbiased software Tony had constructed. 

The race was currently being streamed live, and an employee of Stark Industries would run through with the ticket at the end for the announcement.

Tony had made it very clear that everyone who had signed up and wasn't already in receipt of a wheelchair would all get a custom chair. No one would be missing out or discriminated against in regards to accessing equipment.

The prize would be dinner with Harry and the Avengers. A special dinner, because it would be held in Cinderella's Castle at Disneyland.

Tony had set up an Instagram post six weeks prior to the event, and asked for individuals with any disability who did not already have a wheelchair to sign up. The post had reached far and wide, and 600 people had signed up. Some through the HHH post, and others through word of mouth. 

The man was very happy, as it meant more people would be able to access the equipment they needed. Equipment the government wasn't making easy to afford, or was willing to provide.

Tony had already set up a long weekend where Disneyland would be booked for the families that had entered the prize draw. On this weekend, there would be wheelchair experts and specialists coming to the Florida park's conference room to explain the importance of having wheelchairs customised to each user. There would be a demonstration of a custom fitting, and there would be an opportunity for all the individuals requiring a new chair to sign up for an appointment with the wheelchair specialists. 

Tony had wrangled his way into the White House, and a couple of politicians were coming to hear the important things the speakers would talk about. It was imperative- and about time- that politicians made disability rights a priority. 

Tony was already forking out lots of money booking jets to pick up families from different continents to bring them to the conference. It shouldn't have to be that way, as planes should have provisions in place to carry disabled individuals. 

Most commercial flights didn't have any facilities for individuals with disabilities to use their services. 

Tony's jets were all cleared by flight safety standards to allow disabled individuals to board in their chairs. There were safety harnesses for the chairs to latch onto during takeoff, landing and turbulence too. 

Tony was considering selling the idea to the big plane companies, as he had already had them patented. Then, he could invest in a small fleet of aircraft that disabled families could use when they needed to. It could be an extention of HHH, and therefore would mean Tony could help families in another way. It wouldn't be a money grabbing scheme, because he wouldn't make the families pay for the seats they used. 

The long weekend consisted of families arriving on the Friday, and heading to the park where Tony had booked Disney's Grand Floridian Hotel out for all the families.

Saturday would be spent exploring the parks with fast passes Tony would provide them with on arrival. There would be a special meal at the Sleeping Beauty Bar for everyone that evening.

On Sunday, the politicians would arrive and everyone would listen to the talks Tony had lined up. Then,Tony had arranged for more accessible vehicles to take everyone over to the Magic Kongdom. Here there would be another meal at the Plaza Restaurant in the Magic Kingdom. Families would stay over in the Contemporary Resort for the rest of the trip. Sunday afternoon and evening would be spent exploring the Magic Kingdom.

Harry would then meet the winner of the prize and they would eat in a private suite in Cinderella's Castle.

Everyone else would eat at Cinderella's Royal Table restaurant.

Monday would be spent exploring the parks, and then families would make their way home on Teusday afternoon. The jets taking them back to the countries they had travelled in from. 

Each family would be given a Disney card, that Tony had spent the past year formulating with Disney reps when he'd first had the idea to do this. It was a card that he had put five thousand dollars onto, so that families could eat out and have some spending money. It was a card exclusively handed out on this trip only, and the money would stay on the card for a year so that families could visit the parks as much as they wanted to. It could be used to access deals on any Disney trip, and at any park across the world. 

Tony wasn't ignorant, he was aware that for most of the families coming to the conference, they would never have been able to afford a trip to Disneyland and get a wheelchair. So, Tony was going to make sure that they got both.

Many of the individuals coming were also terminally ill, so Tony had paired with Make a Wish to ensure they had the best time.

These individuals had a slightly different plan for their Saturday, as they would be having a private meet and greet with the Avengers, and special photoshoots with their families and Disney characters too. Tony had ensured they would be visiting the park when it was relatively quiet, so the terminally ill individuals could go through the park at a slower pace. 

Tony had partnered with the charity in such a way that this trip wasn't using up the individuals' Wish. He was paying for it, but making it extra special with the charity's help. The individual could go on to use their Wish in any way they wanted. The families had been made aware of this.

Tony wanted them to go home with photos and memories to remember. 

Tony shook his head of those thoughts, and looked back at his baby.

Harry was so close, and Tony could hear the pinging of the livestream's chat going wild. They'd disabled the feature that allowed people to send money via emojis. The point was to raise awareness through the foundation, watch Harry having a good time as the founder of said charity, and draw a winning name for the dinner.

Harry reached Tony's waiting arms and the room filled with cheers. 

Bruce huffed and puffed his way to the end, and Harry's beaming face greeted him. 

"We did it Harry baby." Bruce peppered the little one's face with kisses, and Harry grinned. The chat was pinging away, and Pepper's face was wet with tears of pride. 

This was the second time Harry had swam by himself without any physical assistance. The doughnut float kept him from sinking, as he swam with mainly his arms. His legs trailed behind him kicking feebly.

"Well done!!" Pepper accepted her son into her arms, and began to rub him down. 

"Ma!" Harry cooed at her.

"You did a very good job Harry." She kissed his forehead. 

"Let's get you dry, and then we can read out the name." Pepper quickly towled him off, and then they made their way over to the mini kiss and cry Clint had suggested when they'd first sat down to discuss the idea. He thought it would be funny, and Tony had too.

Tony had run with the silly idea, and made it into a whole show- as he usually did- but this time it came in handy. The cameras streamed to both the live chat and HHH's YouTube channel. The kiss and cry was lit perfectly, and a heater off to the side kept Harry warm. 

An employee ran up to the little family, and under the watch of a million viewers, handed over the folded printed paper. 

"Here we are Harry." Pepper handed Harry the paper and he put it right where he did everything. It headed straight to his mouth, before Pepper intercepted with a laugh.

Tony joined them and thanked the employee- an intern called Peter if he remembered correctly- profusely. The teen blushed bright red, and stood off to the side. 

"Right, let's read this." Tony unfolded the paper, and peeled away the sticky back to show the screen.

"Just remember," He said as he followed through with that action. "Everyone who signed up, will be coming to the Disneyland conference we have set up in two months time. Everyone is a winner, and everyone will have a chance to meet the Avengers across the weekend."

Tony handed Pepper the sheet, and she grinned. 

"Come and hold it Harry." The parents squished together with Harry now on Tony's lap, and they read out the name in unison.

"The winner of the customised wheelchair and a dinner with the Avengers and Harry is Sky Springer-May from London!!" 

The chat was filled with congratulations, and one user called SSM commented "oh my gosh that's me!"

Harry smiled as Duck waddled over into the shot.

"Congratulations Sky, we can't wait to meet you in a few months time." Pepper congratulated the individual.

"Just remember, we're all winners, and we're all going to Disneyland!!" Tony cheered. 

Harry couldn't wait.

Chapter Text

Harry was shocked to see another boy with His daddy.

It was the same one from when they had gone swimming last week. 

The one with the paper.

Harry had liked him then, but he wasn't so sure now. 

Daddy was telling this boy, who had brown hair, that he would be staying for dinner.

Harry wasn't sure what they were having for dinner tonight, but he was very sure this boy wouldn't be eating it with them. He'd take care of that later if he had to.

Harry didn't even know where his daddy had found this silly boy.

Daddy had promised Harry that he would play with the Playmobil with him this afternoon. 

Then, Daddy had come over to tell Harry that he now had to look over this silly billy's school project. Whatever a school project was. 

Daddy had said something about being a practice assessor for the boy. Harry hadn't really been paying attention. 

All he knew was, one minute Daddy had been putting him down to play after his afternoon nap, and then this boy had come through with a huge stack of paperwork. 

Daddy had been ignoring Harry for the past twenty minutes. 

Even Duck was ignoring him, though to be fair the bird was still sleeping in Harry's bedroom. He always woke up half an hour after Harry did when they had their afternoon nap.

Mummy was at work, and Harry's aunts and uncles were out on their respective jobs too.

Harry screeched unhappily, fed up of Tinga Tinga Tales that was showing on the TV screen. He slid off his beanbag chair and grabbed his "Follow It!" interactive ball to play with.

If that was how Daddy wanted to play it, let him.

Tony looked over at Harry. "I'm just helping Peter finish his work, Harry baby." Tony cooed at his son. 

They were sat at the coffee table in the more intimate family living room, so that Harry could recline on his beanbag chair and watch TV. 

"We can do this another time if it's more convenient Mr Stark." Peter voiced.

Tony shook his head. "We set this time, and Harry is probably just a little grouchy from having just woken up from his nap. He'll let me know if he needs me." 

Peter nodded and went back to explaining why his model for the new prosthetic hand prototype, was the best. Their school assignment had been set as Mechanics in Society, and Peter had been inspired by Tony's exhibition at the Stark Expo earlier in the year.

Tony always advertised two roles at SI to high school students from allover New York every academic year, and Peter had finally signed up with Ned's encouragement. He'd been shocked when he had been selected. He was made aware that Tony had taken a great liking to his prosthetics proposition, and that was how and why he'd been selected for the role.

Peter had been in his induction week when Tony had done the livestream for the Avengers dinner prize. Peter had been sent up with the ticket as a runner- since starting the job, the sixteen year old had learned some harsh truths about office culture. He'd been used as a coffee runner prior to that, and his induction lead hadn't even cared to show Peter the ropes, or explained what Mr Stark expected of him now that he actually worked in the building.

After the livestream, when all the cameras had been turned off and Harry had been whisked away for a warm bath, Tony had stopped Peter as he was helping out with the clearing up, for a chat about his work.

Peter was surprised to know that Tony knew all of his employees by face and job role. At least, the ones that worked in the tower. Peter guessed it was for the best- they worked in the same place he lived after all. He would need to know for security purposes. 

Peter had been shocked, because Tony had asked what his main school project was. It was clear the man already knew the answer to the question, because he launched into ways he could aid Peter in his work without directly influencing it, before the teen could answer the man's question. He could provide Peter with materials and experience to level up his work. And as long as Peter took all the opportunities with both hands, there would be a job role waiting for him when he graduated. 

That's how they had gotten to today. Tony had arranged this meeting and Peter had eagerly agreed. 

May had been ecstatic when Peter told her the Tony Stark was taking a keen interest in his work. She'd told him not to waste the opportunity. 

On the way over to the tower, Peter's nerves had bubbled at the surface. Not because of his work, no.

He had never been up close and personal with such a severely disabled individual before. Harry had seemed nice enough at the swim meet, but Peter was nervous that he would do something to offend him. He didn't want to do something that may be ableist, or rude in the boy's own home. (He'd done a paper on ablism the previous academic year, and his research had led him to the prosthetics idea for his current thesis.)

Peter watched Harry roll around on his interactive mat while Tony read over his abstract. 

He really was a cute child, but Peter didn't miss the glare the five year old sent him when he caught the older boy looking at him.

Peter glanced back at his mentor wondering if he noticed the look, but the man was absorbed in his work.

Peter shook it off as a trick of the light, and picked up the main body of his work.

Harry was not happy at all.

Today was Happy's day off, so he couldn't even crawl over to him to play with.

The people he used to live with didn't think he had a brain. They didn't think he could understand them. But he could.

He understood Daddy perfectly well when he said they could play together this afternoon, and an afternoon had a lot of time in it. But Daddy had said after his nap.

That was from when Harry had woken up again and had his nappy change. After his nap was a long time ago now.

Daddy wasn't playing with him now. 

He was playing with Peter. Duck was drinking his water and preening, and Mummy still wasn't back home. 

Harry had played with his toys- the ones he could reach anyway. Every time he'd tried to get Daddy to get his toys out of the big cupboard, he kept saying "in a minute Harry."

It had been lots of minutes now. 

So many, that the clock now showed the number four on it. That was two more than before, when Peter came when the clock said two. 

Harry flung himself on his belly with a shriek. 

"DA! DA!" Harry cried out, pummelling his palms on the soft furnishings of his playmat.

Tony looked up at his cries. He swooped down to pick his son up, and cuddled him to his chest. 

"Sorry baby, I lost track of the time. Can you forgive me?" Tony moved back to his seat and sat down with Harry in his lap.

Peter watched the pair with a worried expression on his face.

"Is Harry alright? This is my fault. I can't believe two hours have gone by already." 

Tony shook his head. "It's not your fault kid. I usually put a timer on when I work, so that Harry isn't left alone for too long. He still suffers from separation anxiety. It's my mistake." 

Tony rocked his son back and forth, gently soothing him back down to a calm place from the high ruckus of his meltdown. 

Harry eventually quieted down to hiccuping coughs, and wiped his eyes. 

"There we are baby." Tony smiled. "Sorry for leaving you for so long baby. I'm here now." He soothed his son.

Harry glared up at him, and then, before either male could intercept him, Harry reached over and slapped Peter's cheek. He stood up in Tony's lap slightly to do so.

That would teach him, for trying to steal Harry's Daddy from right under his nose, in his own home too!! 

The audacity.

It was worth the scolding Harry recieved, and the ensuing meltdown that that caused, in Harry's opinion. 

He got to sleep with mummy and daddy in their big bed with Duck at the foot of it that evening, because he didn't want to be alone. Not after Daddy nearly replaced him with that silly Peter boy.

That would teach Daddy to never ignore Harry again.

Chapter Text

That boy was back.

Again.

It was snack time, and Happy was feeding Harry soft fruits he could mash against the roof of his mouth.

Harry flung his slice of soft melon in Happy's face.

The big man frowned down at his charge. 

Tony had mentioned the fact that Harry was acting out a lot more these days.

Happy, who had been waiting to see why these supposed tantrums happened, was in for a treat.

"We don't throw things at people Harry." Happy muttered. 

Peter walked into the kitchen with a smile.

"Hello Harry. Hello sir. I'm waiting for Mr Stark, he scheduled a meeting today. He said to wait in the kitchen, and he would be up by five." Peter explained.

Happy nodded at the teen.

"You're the intern with the prosthetics thing yeah? Park or something?" Happy questioned. 

"Peter Parker, yes." 

Harry glared at the teen from his booster seat, and yet again, before either male could react- threw another slice of melon. This time it hit the teen's eye.

Peter jerked back with a gasped, and Tony walked into the room just as the melon connected with Peter's face.

"Harry!!" He gasped. "You don't hit people, or throw things at people. That is unacceptable."

Harry made sure he had eye contact with his dad, before throwing his last piece of mango to wetly smack Peter's cheek. 

"That's enough." Tony moved around the kitchen island, and unclipped Harry from his seat.

"No more snack time. You've shown that you can't be trusted with your food right now. And no, I'm not starving you. There will be dinner later, and if you get hungry before that, there's fruit in the cupboard you can access."

Tony spoke over Harry's building meltdown, the child's little legs kicking out weakly from where he held him, Harry screaming in annoyance. 

"I don't know what your problem with Peter is. But he's done nothing to you." 

Tony and Pepper had been talking about seeing the family therapist again. Harry had been acting out more and more, and the tantrums seemed to coincide with the happy go lucky teen's visits.

Tony carried his son to the little beanbag chair that had been dubbed the 'time out' corner of the kitchen. It faced the smart fridge that had an inbuilt tablet panel. 

Tony showed Harry the timer, and let him know why he was being placed in the timeout corner.

"You threw food, we don't throw food. And you did it so that it hurt Peter. His eye could have been taken out if he hadn't been so lucky. That's really naughty. Daddy asked you to stop, and you did it again. That's not good. So, you'll be here on the chair for six minutes. Five for your age, and one for being so naughty." Tony finished his explanation, and showed Harry the timer. 

He turned it on, and then walked back to the counter. 

Harry's screams picked up a notch, and the child slid off the beanbag to follow his dad over to the island where drinks were being poured and fruit handed out. 

"Nope." Tony plucked the child off the floor and deposited him back on the beanbag. He restarted the timer. 

Peter watched the exchange with worried eyes. Tony ran back and forth through the kitchen. Six times, before Harry defeatedly sat back and wailed loudly.

Harry steadily grew more and more red, his eyes swollen, and snot dripping down his chin.

"Mr Stark. I'm okay. I didn't mean to get Harry in trouble. You don't need to..." Tony placed a hand in the air in the universal stop motion, Harry screaming his lungs out behind him. 

"He has to learn that hitting, throwing things, kicking and punching people is wrong. Boundaries have to be set, otherwise, he'll go around hurting people as and when he gets upset. His disability is not an excuse for abuse. He'll learn." 

Peter was silenced. He couldn't argue with that, it was just uncomfortable watching the small child crying so angrily.

Tony stayed within Harry's line of vision the whole time, but coaxed Peter to get his tablet out and show him his progress on the actual main body of his thesis.

The timer pinged, and Tony excused himself to attend to his naughty child. 

Harry had calmed down by the time the time out was finished, and he flung himself into his dad's arms for a hug.

"That's it baby." Tony murmured. "It's not that bad." 

After their hug, Tony set Harry on his feet so that he could talk to him. "No more hitting people. What do you say for being cheeky to Daddy and hurting Peter?" 

They'd been working on sign language lately, and Harry knew how to say sorry, please, thank you and his own name. 

Tony watched with pride as Harry brought his fist to his left shoulder to rub out the I'm sorry sign. 

He kissed his son's forehead, and reminded him to apologise to Peter too. Harry signed the apology to the teen, and Peter smiled at him.

"Thank you Harry." Peter accepted the apology. 

Tony handed Harry off to Happy, and turned back to the tablet.

Happy fixed Harry some juice and took him to the loving room to play.

Peter returned to the tower for the third time that week. 

This time, to join Tony in the lab to create the first prosthetic prototype out of the cheapest materials money could by while still meeting safety standards. 

He was going to perfect the affordable prosthesis if it was the last thing he did.

Harry had not hit him again, but Peter was curious as to why Harry really didn't like him very much.

Maybe he was more scary than he realised. He didn't have much experience with kids. So, maybe he was more scary to children than he realised. 

May had suggested that Harry was jealous that Peter was spending more time with his dad than before. She said it sounded like he had attachment issues, and saw Perer as a threat.

Which was ridiculous because Peter wasn't a threat to anyone. 

But Harry didn't know that. 

That sounded like a more intelligent- and probable answer.

Peter mulled over that idea as he made his way up the steps to the penthouse. He did that every day now, entered from the garage and took the stairs for exercise. 

He was so engrossed in his thoughts, that he didn't notice Harry wobbling at the top of the last set of stairs before the living room. 

Peter looked up when he heard Tony's anguished shout, and he saw Harry teeter off the edge and fall towards him.

His heart sank into the earth's core, and he leapt up those steps to try and catch Harry before he could bash his head. 

The child landed on his chest, and Peter grabbed the handrail to right himself so he didn't fall too. 

He looked down at the small child. 

Really, he was ridiculously tiny. 

Harry was as white as a sheet, his grip on the dog plushie he carried everywhere with him, was so strong his knuckles were also white. 

Tony flew down the steps to meet them where they were, Duck squawking in distress from the top landing.

"Oh my god!!" Tony panicked, patting Harry down. 

"He was literally with me in the living room.  Then he wasn't. I heard Duck squawking and ran over to see him fall. That door is usually closed. I don't know why it was open. It must have been Fury when he came over." 

Tony escorted Peter up to the living room, and lowered him down on the sofa, Harry still clutching his shirt. 

"Fury doesn't take the lift anymore, not since Duck cornered him in it. He takes the stairs. Thank goodness for you though."

Tony began to laugh hysterically.

"That damn fool didn't shut the door. And Harry nearly broke his neck." 

Tony passed a hand over his face, and then disappeared into the kitchen to get some juice for the two kids in his living room.

It took Harry thirty minutes to unfreeze, and when he did, he began to cry. 

Peter handed him over to his dad, and watched Tony bounce him on his hip until he calmed down enough to have some juice. 

"I bought stair gates when we first got Harry, but we don't actually have stairs in the penthouse. When he's finished drinking, we're putting up the stair gates." 

Peter nodded, and downed the tall glass of juice Tony had poured him. Wetting his dry mouth, and calming his frayed nerves. 

The image of Harry's tumbling body was imprinted on the back of his eyelids, and he saw it every time he blinked. 

Harry finished sucking down his drink, and Tony handed him back to Peter so he could find the stair gate. Harry, cuddled into Peter's embrace with a small sigh. 

Peter looked down at his charge, and was happy to see the colour had returned to his face. 

He really was a cute little thing. His green eyes fluttering as he fought sleep, his body tired after the shock it had gone through. 

"You can go to sleep Harry. You're safe with me." Peter found himself whispering. 

Harry's eyes fluttered closed for the final time, and Peter was happy to hear his breathing slow to a soft snuffle as Harry slept.

Tony returned from his adventure with a large box and a toolkit. 

Duck waddled behind him, a blanket trailing behind him.  

"That's Harry's." Tony indicated the blanket, and Peter took it from the bird. Duck hopped up onto the seat next to the teen, and settled down by Harry's leg. 

As Tony worked on the gate, he muttered about reprogramming JARVIS to have automatic control on all swing doors, so that he could shut them if they were left open when they shouldn't be. 

Peter got engrossed watching and listening to Tony work, and found himself crashing from the adrenaline high into a deep slumber. 

When Tony shook him awake, it was to pizza boxes laid out in front of him on the coffee table, and to a stair gate standing in front of the now closed door leading to the stairwell.

"Come and eat kid." Tony said quietly, and took Harry from his arms. 

He placed the still sleeping child on a large beanbag. It was so huge it swallowed Harry into its depths like an embrace. Tony covered Harry in a blanket, and then placed Duck next to him. 

"When he wakes up, I'll give him some porridge, and then try to get him to just go to bed. He'll be too tired and irritated for anything else this evening." 

Peter munched on a pizza slice, it tasted like cardboard and Tony seemed to notice this, because he packed away a couple of boxes, and then stood up.

"We're not going to do any work tonight. You look knackered. Go get your coat on, and I'm taking you home." 

Peter did as instructed. He didn't want to talk, he didn't think he could talk. 

When he returned from the cloakroom, Tony had managed to get Harry into his own coat. The boy was so deeply asleep, that he didn't even wake when they reached cool air of the garage. Tony strapped his son into the rear facing car seat, and then locked the thing in place. 

They drove to Queens without talking to each other, the only noise the musi playing quietly from the radio.

When Tony reached the apartment complex, he also got out of the car. Handing Peter the boxes of food, he engulfed the teen in a huge hug.

"Thank you." Tony whispered. 

"For saving my son." 

Peter nodded and swallowed around the lump in his throat. He still couldn't speak. 

"I'll be in touch about coming over soon. I'll ping you the number of my therapist too, so you can talk to them about what happened today. I know it's hard to talk right now, but you'll need to talk to someone. Why not her?" 

Tony pulled Peter into another hug, and then watched him enter the building before driving away.

May was in when he got up to their apartment. 

It was home. 

The TV on, playing some awful British soap.

May listening in as she loaded the machine with washing. She turned around when she heard Peter drop the boxes of pizza and sides on the table. 

She didn't say anything, and neither did he. But she knew what he needed, and engulfed him in her ample bosom, hugging the life out of her boy.

When Peter returned to Stark Tower the following week, he took the stairs. 

He opened the baby gate at the top of the final flight, and closed it. 

Then, he opened the door with the special code Tony had given him. 

Then, he opened and closed the final stair gate. Making sure he heard the ping of the little lock engaging. 

Harry crawled over to him enthusiastically, Duck waddling over to preen against his boot.

"Hello Duck. Hello Harry!!" Peter greeted, swinging his bag onto the back of the armchair.

Harry gestured to be picked up, and Peter obeyed. Harry babbled into his ear as he patted his cheek carefully.

"Peee." Harry annunciated. "Peee!!" He grinned and tucked his head under the teens chin, and stuck his thumb into his mouth sucking contently. 

"He's been looking forward to seeing you all week." Tony voiced from the doorway. 

"Been asking for Peee everyday before bed."

Peter looked down as much as he could, and smiled. 

When he returned home later that evening, after tucking Harry into bed, he made sure that both stair gates were closed and the door too. They couldn't have another accident. 

Harry really was cute. And Peter was his new friend.

Chapter Text

Ned stared at the email on Peter's phone. 

"Woah dude. Tony Stark is inviting you to join his family on the Disneyland trip."

Peter grinned and danced excitedly in his seat.

"Aunt May had a stroke when I showed her. It says I get to stay in the Cinderella suite with them, because they're taking me as their ward as I'm underage." 

******

"Aunt May. Aunt May, look at this!!" 

Peter skidded down the hallway to the kitchen when May was stirring a pot of sauce and pasta bubbling away on the stove.

"What is it sweetie?" May asked, placing the wooden spoon on the side of the pot. She grinned to herself, knowing exactly what the message was going to say.

Peter thrust his phone into her face.

Dear Peter Parker, 

You have been invited on a trip to Disneyland for the Harry's House of Happiness Disability Awareness Conference. 

Mr Stark has cordially extended an invitation to you to be your temporary guardian while you are on this trip with him. 

This trip is relevent to your school assignment, as part of the conference will be a talk on the effects of prosthetics in society given by a prosthetics expert and some personal testimonies. Midtown High School has agreed to give you the time off you will require for the trip.

This trip will take place from the twelfth of April until the nineteenth. In this time, you will attend the HHH conference, provide proof of this in picture form, as well write a mini five hundred word essay for your course lead back at school. This five hundred word essay will be a summary of one of the prosthetics testimonials as evidence for your societal impact dissertation. The essay will be due two weeks after the trip.

As Mr Stark will act as your guardian, you will be required to arrive on the twelfth before five pm, as you will travel to Disney a day early to assist in getting the final touches ready for the conference. 

While on the trip with the family, you will stay in Cinderella's Castle, so make sure to bring your camera for lots of pictures. You will have plenty of opportunities to have alone time while on the trip, and provisions to visit as many parks and rides as possible.

You have the opportunity to bring one friend along with you on this trip, as you will have a lot of free time. The trip is fully paid for by Mr Stark for both of you.

The excursion requires you to have a passport, so please inform Mr Stark if you and your chosen friend need help acquiring one. Please do this as soon as possible, so the process to procure a passport can be started.

A reply to Mr Stark on this email is wanted in either acceptance or refusal of this invitation. 

Yours Sincerely, 

JARVIS 

"Please can I go Aunt May?" Peter begged. 

"I'll do the work assigned and you can check it over. I promise."

May put up her hand. "This sounds like a once in a lifetime opportunity. A holiday pre-paid, and the chance to take a friend. You definitely can go."

Peter rushed at her and hugged her- squeezed her.

"Ben and I have done our best with you, but the amazing young man you've become- that's all down to who you are inside. Mr Stark said that he wanted to ask you to come along, as you've proven time and time again what an awesome person you are. He said that you saved his son's life, and that you exercised the most incredible amounts of patience when Harry was being hostile towards you. Patience can't be taught or bought, and yet somehow, you have an abundance of it. I'm really proud of you."

She pressed a kiss to Peter's crown, and swayed with him in her arms.

Peter swallowed down tears of gratitude. 

May really had done her best, and he knew that she sacrificed so much for him.

"Will you be okay when I'm gone?" Peter worried his lip.

"Who me?" May chuckled. "Tony Stark has paid for me to go to a relaxing holiday with my girls for the week you're gone. It's in Bora Bora." 

Peter gaped at her. May pushed him away from her chest and held him at arms length. "I'll be just fine Petey, you don't have to worry about me." She pressed a final kiss to his forehead, and then extracted herself from his grip to stir the sauce.

******

Peter waited for Ned to continue reading the email, and look at the section he had edited.

Ned looked up at him. Then, back down at the phone, mouth agape.

"You're bringing me along as your plus one?" He bleated.

Peter nodded. 

Ned's mouth bobbled like a fish underwater.

"Apparently, after I submitted the acceptance to JARVIS, Tony sent a permission request form to your parents. They sent it back yesterday with their approval." Peter explained.

Ned was barely breathing.

MJ and Gwen approached the pair with their loaded lunch trays. 

"Why's Ned trying to swallow the school's resident fly colony?" Gwen asked.

"He's processing some hard information." Peter answered. 

Gwen snatched the phone from Ned's hand and scanned the email. "That's so cool you guys. Look MJ, they're going to Disney with the Starks."

MJ peered at the email and read it with envy. "Lucky you." 

Peter blushed and stuffed some lettuce from his salad into his mouth.

The twelfth couldn't come soon enough.

Harry watched his daddy and mummy as they ate their dinner.

He remembered the darkness.

He remembered the pain.

He remembered the mean people.

But, then his daddy had come and taken him from the hospital.

His daddy always had time for him, and his mummy always made time for him. 

He wasn't hit or punched or smacked anymore. He wasn't called the horrible words anymore either.

He felt safe. He felt at home, and he felt loved.

He had his lovely aunts and uncles.

The five year old rotated his head to watch them all chatting and laughing around the table. 

Uncle Thor, Uncle Rhodey and Uncle Loki were all here today. 

Everyone was together for family dinner.

Harry loved family night on Sundays. It was his favourite day of the week. When he would get so many hugs that he would fall asleep in someone's lap. Then, he'd wake up in his big boy bed, with his oxygen tank whiring away comfortingly and Duck asleep by his head. 

Harry loved his family. He couldn't wait to see Peter again, and daddy said they were going on holiday with him soon.

Reggie was coming, and all of Harry's friends from playgroup were joining them at the hotel.

Harry couldn't wait for what was to come. 

He stuffed some mashed potatoes into his mouth, and giggled as Uncle Clint tickled his armpit with a finger. 

~~~~~~~~

Tony reached a hand over the back of Pepper's chair, rubbing her shoulder with his thumb.

She looked over at him and smiled at him.

"You okay?" She asked him.

Tony smiled. "Yeah." 

"Are you glad I made the call to have everyone come and live with us?" He asked.

Pepper beamed. "Look at what you've created babe. Have a good look." 

Tony turned and looked around the dining table. 

The dining table, which had barely seen any use before they got Harry. 

Now, every seat was filled. The table was laden with foods each individual had brought to contribute to family night. 

The penthouse was always filled with sound, whether Harry's TV shows, music or chatter as people cooked in the kitchen. It was never quiet. And Tony liked that.

Natasha and Bruce were engaged in a conversation littered with smiles and laughs. Steve, Loki and Rhodey were nattering away about their favourite pies, and Thor had joined Clint in tickling Harry. Happy was smirking at his son from where he was sat opposite, next to Pepper and adding his two cents to Loki's conversation where he saw fit.

Duck stood on the table next to Harry's place setting, chomping on a bowl of mixed veg Tony had prepared him earlier. 

Tony had made this. 

He'd made this home. 

He sniffled at the realisation. He was so much better than Howard. He always had been. 

His son loved him. 

His son was happy to see him. 

His son was confident in coming to ask for what he wanted, and Tony provided him with everything he needed. 

He had made this family, and he had made the family a home.

His heart was in this place. 

Tony looked over at his fiancé. 

"I am very happy that I made that call." He agreed.

His idea and plan to bring everyone together had worked. 

Tony's eyes landed on Harry, the little boy had come into his own. He'd developed his own personality. He was such a happy and lively child, compared to the timid little thing he'd been when Tony had first met him.

He was his son, and Tony wouldn't change him for the world.

His phone buzzed, and Tony looked at the heart JARVIS flashed him on the screen. He grinned at the camera, and Pepper placed her head on his shoulder.

He had a fiancé. 

He had a fricking fiancé, even though Howard had told him he was destined to be alone.

He'd made it, really made it in life. 

He was just surviving before Harry. 

He had nearly a trillion dollars in his bank account, but he had been so unhappy. 

Then his family had come along. Harry, Duck, Peter and his soon to be wife Pepper.

Tony rested his head on Pepper's, and grinned. 

He had the best life. He was doing great things with the money he had made, and he wouldn't change anything for anything in the world.

Chapter Text

A lot has changed since I last posted on either story. 

I have left the midwifery program, and it was the best thing I ever did. 

As positive as I was trying to be, I could not continue to work or live in the environment I was stuck in. I was being bullied at the placement by some of the qualified midwives. Some of them in very senior positions. The mean girl to healthcare worker thing is so true. I witnessed traumatic births that meant I couldn't even step foot back at that hospital. To make matters worse, the hospital was involved in a massive scandal that was released in the news. Having worked there, I could understand why. When out and about in my uniform, I was scared to even say where I worked, because the people in the local community hate that hospitals maternity unit so much, I had a gentleman cussing me out on the bus. 

It wasn't all bad. My direct supervising midwives were amazing. So many of the midwives are, but it is the ones that don't care and act like they don't care even in front of the families, that give the rest a bad name. I would feel very safe if those two were to deliver my baby, they were so loving, kind and efficient. All things a midwife should be. So, even though there were some bad things, I met many lovely people. For example, the others in my class are going to qualify and be the most amazing midwives. I can hope that they are the generation that brings some change to midwifery. 

All of that is to say, I left the course for my own mental health. I was getting to the point at the end of May in 2023, that I thought I was going to die. I didn't expect to live through to Christmas. But I stuck it through. I was nearly homeless again as my new job lost our paperwork, and I couldn't pay my rent. But I have some amazing friends who helped me, and I have been living in a lovely house-share with some amazing people. We had house Christmas together last year, and it was so much fun. 

On top of this, I started a new job working at the airport, and it's fun. But because I was living in a different country for 3 years, I can't obtain a pass to stay working there. So if I drop off the face of the earth again, it's because I'm frantically trying to find a new job. I do have an interview tomorrow, so fingers crossed. 

So!!

I have become a little more stable in some ways, but also things are up in the air. I'm a much happier person either way. I talk to my whole family more regularly. I see my family more regularly, and I moved closer to home, where all my friends are. Being so isolated from everyone really didn't help when I was on the course. Now though, my best friend (who I have been friends with for over twenty years now) and I meet up every week. We have the same days off, and I just know a good gossip hates to see us coming!!

I hope you're all well. 

Lots and Lots of Love!!!!

MT.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Chapter Text

Ned stared at his friend and his friend's little friend. 

"Is this a good idea?" He asked when he had finally found his voice again. 

~~~~~~

Tony Stark had come over when Ned was round at Peter's home, and had dropped his son off with them. He hadn't said much, just that they needed to get to know each other if they were going to be going on holiday together. Duck had come along too. 

Ned had only heard of the little bird, although the thing wasn't very small anymore. It had run straight into the door of Peter's kitchen, then proceeded to slurp up some water from a bowl Tony Stark procured from his bag as if it hadn't just brained itself on the wooden slab. 

The Tony Stark had then stood in Peter's hallway nattering to his aunt before leaving. It would be a wild thing to post about on his Facebook story- he had met the man the myth the legend in the flesh, and, he was going on a week long holiday with him.

~~~~~~

Harry was roaming around the living room on all fours, touching the fabric of the sofas, and eventually laying flat on his tummy to lick the carpet.

"Oh. NO! NO!!" Peter rushed over to pick him up, and perched the small child on his hip. 

Harry frowned up at his friend, and then sighed, pointing to the floor. "Peee!!" He wriggled to be let down. 

Peter did place him back on the floor, but only because he was afraid of dropping the five year old. "Okay, but you can't lick the floor, it's dirty." 

Harry seemed to have heard him, because he turned to Duck, and beckoned him over to look at the selection of miniature toys on the bottom shelf of May's souvenir cabinet. May had known that the boy was coming over, and had tried to make sure that the main areas were baby proofed- the cabinet had glass doors, and needed a key to be opened anyway. The porcelain keepsakes were safe. 

"And, yeah. It's a great idea. Harry will love the latest Lego Death Star we've been working on. Let's go and get it while he's occupied with Duck over there." Peter tugged Ned to his bedroom, and they came up with a plan of action to move the massive piece to show the boy.

Meanwhile, in the living room, Harry had managed to open the drawer the landline phone sat on next to the large TV. He found some small tasty looking objects, and popped a few into his mouth. Duck, who would usually quack to deter his friend from putting things in his mouth, had strolled into the kitchen to see if he could beg for some food from May who was cooking their lunch. 

Harry struggled to swallow the shiny buttons, and eventually got a couple down, before the third got stuck at the back of his mouth. He tried to call out to Peter, but found no noise would come out. Harry flopped onto his back, and gagged even more on the shiny thing. He was starting to wish he hadn't eaten so many. The first two were tasty, but he couldn't breathe now. 

Peter and Ned carried the Lego masterpiece through on a piece of plywood, something Uncle Ben had crafted for Peter to display his artwork on years ago. "Look at what Ned and I made together Harry!!" Peter announced proudly and manoeuvred through the door, and then looked around to find Harry. He spotted the boy by the window sofa, and dropped his side of the plywood. Ned lunged forward to catch it, and saved the aircraft that had taken hours to build, from dropping on the floor.

"Oh my God. MAY!!!!" Peter ran to Harry's side. The boy was red in the face, and his lips were purple. "He's not breathing properly!!" Peter began to panic. Ned had settled their creation on the table, and immediately called 911. 

May rushed through with Duck following hot on her heels. 

"What's happened?" She asked. 

"I don't know!! We just left him for a moment. I swear we didn't do anything to him." Peter hesitated to touch the boy. 

May cast a beady eye over the room, and noted the open drawer. She thanked herself for her OCD when she noted her rows of button batteries were out of order. She only kept 30 of them, and they were in three rows of ten, organised by a little button battery tray she'd had ordered on Amazon. There was one row of just seven, there should have been ten from when she'd restocked a week ago. 

"Harry's eaten three of these button batteries." She stated clearly to the 911 operator when asked. 

The trio cleared the area, and then May sat the child in her lap, clearly talking to him. She whacked his back in line with the operator's instructions. She smacked his back sharply with the heel of her palm. Ned and Peter watched with baited breath. Harry's eyes were wide with fear, and the room was silent as she gave him another five. 

Peter had called Tony, and the man was on the way to the local emergency room to meet them there. He was also quiet on the line, listening to hear that his son was alright. 

Ned ran to the door to meet the paramedics when they arrived, and May continued with five more smacks. 

One battery shot out of Harry's mouth and onto the carpet. Peter scooped it up and placed it on a tissue as asked by the operator. The hospital would check it wasn't leaking and hadn't leaked in Harry's throat. 

Harry flopped back into May's chest, and the three of them listened to his gasping breaths as he gulped air into his lungs. His face slowly returned to its normal colour.

"We've got one out, and he's breathing clearly." May announced to the 911 operator. The woman's voice had a relieved tone to it, and she informed them that they should still go to the emergency room, as the other two batteries were still inside Harry, and just like the one they had removed- they needed to be sure they weren't leaking inside him and corroding his insides. 

The paramedics arrived, and Peter cut the 911 line, before informing Tony with a wobbly voice, that they would be at the A and E within five minutes.

Peter locked up the flat after the ambulance had left, and Ned stood by his side quietly. 

They would follow May and Harry on foot, as there wasn't enough space in the ambulance. 

They were going to be in so much trouble.

Forget Disneyland.

Peter would be lucky if Mr Stark would even want to continue to help with his assignment anymore.

The emergency room was surprisingly quiet when Peter and Ned arrived. 

They sat down to wait for a reply to the message Peter had sent May asking where to go. 

Three minutes later, Peter was tapped on the shoulder by Pepper Potts. 

"Come along boys. I've just arrived, Tony says they're waiting in recovery. Duck's with Happy in the car." 

Peter nodded, and followed her through the hospital until they arrived in the recovery ward. 

Surgery recovery. 

"He had to have an operation?!" Peter whispered horrified. 

"It's procedure. They put all kids under general anaesthetic when taking things out of their throat. It's not a cut into the skin type of procedure as far as we are aware. Tony explained it to me on the phone. They're putting a tiny tube down his throat, and it basically has a tiny light on the end. They'll put another one down with a little claw on the end to pull out the batteries." Pepper explained to the boys as they washed their hands before entering the quiet ward. 

Peter swallowed as he saw Mr Stark's worried face. 

The man would kill him for sure when they were left in private. 

He was shocked into silence when said man strode over and pulled Peter into a hug. "Are you okay?" The older man asked as he released Peter and yanked Ned into a warm embrace. "That must have been so scary seeing him like that."  

Peter gaped at him. "You're not mad?" He blurted.

Tony's wise eyes saddened in understanding. 

"It was an accident. You weren't to know that Harry is very adept at getting into things he shouldn't. He's not unable to do anything. He's disabled, not stupid. That boy will probably be a detective when he's older. He can get into anything when someone tells him not to. If you show him first, he'll lose interest and leave it alone. As for eating things, Harry will eat anything. The first time we went on a plane together, he started licking the floor before we could give him a drink. It's not your fault. We were here a few months ago when Harry decided it would be a good idea to swallow a magnet down in my lab. I was literally right next to him when he did it. You come to realise that kids will be kids, and you can only prepare yourself for their stupidity. May said you were trying to surprise him with your Legos. Harry will love to see it next time he comes over." 

Tony turned away at the finality of his statement, and rushed over to meet the surgeon who strode over to them. 

Peter mulled over Tony's kind words. He was shocked the man was even alluding at allowing Harry to stay alone with Peter and Ned again.

He followed along dazedly as the surgeon led them to Harry's private room. The five year old was awake, and he perked up significantly when he saw his parents. "Da. Ma. Peee!!" He wiggled around on the bed sluggishly, and held his arms out towards the teen. As if he could tell that Peter needed some reassurance. He probably could, Peter was coming to realise that the five year old kid was a lot more intelligent than he probably gave him credit for.

"Go on. Give him a hug." Pepper nudged her son's friend. 

Peter picked the boy up and placed him in his lap, cuddling him close. 

Harry settled into Peter's chest, and in the knowledge he was safe, he fell into a light snooze.

Peter looked over to the adults, all three were smiling at him, and Ned was taking pictures on his phone. 

Maybe things would be okay. He could be the big brother Harry needed, and he would look out for him as much as he could. 

Helicopter brother reporting for duty.

Chapter Text

Harry was annoyed. 

He was being dragged around the shopping mall by his father, and Ned and Peter were chatting excitedly next to him. 

Duck sat in Harry's lap quacking occasionally, but otherwise remained calm and quiet. 

Daddy had told him that they were going to have fun, but Harry didn't understand what was fun about going into the shops to find whatever it was that Daddy was looking for. 

The five year old sighed, and surrendered himself to however many more hours of hell he was going to have to endure. 

Tony pushed the pram through the mall with excitement. 

He'd booked out the whole shopping centre for two hours. He knew how Harry could get, so he had made sure the place would be quiet while he took Ned and Peter shopping for the convention at Disney. 

It was his treat, and Peter had been working really hard to be two months ahead of his work at school. Ned followed his example, and the boys deserved a reward for showing how well they could manage themselves. 

Harry also had been very good lately- he was always good- Tony was just looking for an excuse to buy him more toys. 

They'd already been to Oliver Bonas for some nice bags to take on the trip. Tony knew Pepper liked the scarves from there too, so he got a couple of the new releases. It was quite a- sophisticated shop, so Tony knew they were headed for more casual clothes in the stores like H&M and New Look. 

So that's where they went after he'd paid.

~~~~~~~~~~

Tony headed over to the men's section, and then sat down with the pram in the seating area to watch as Ned and Peter did a fashion show for them.

Harry had fallen asleep, so Tony pulled the hood of the pram down, and reclined the seat so Harry was lying down. Duck hopped off Harry's lap, and waddled around the area with interest, exploring the places he could reach.

Peter emerged from the dressing room first, and Tony grinned at the look of joy on his face.

He wore a green shirt with rolled sleeves, and some dark blue jeans. 

"Do you like it then?" Tony asked, as if he didn't know that he did.

Peter nodded. "It's so comfy. I have a couple of shirts in different colours in there, same type, same size, that will go well with these jeans." 

Tony smiled. "Pop them in the basket then. Next outfit!!" 

Ned emerged next, in a button down shirt, and he looked great. It was funny to Tony how much two people could differ. They were in the same shop, in the same section, but both boys had a different style that they liked, and they looked amazing in what they chose. 

The fashion show continued for the next hour, with Tony hyping up the two friends, and occasionally checking on Harry in his pram. 

By the end of the large pile of clothes, Harry had woken up, and taken some sips of juice from his bottle.

"We're all done Tony." Peter finally said. His hair was a sweaty mess from pulling shirts on and off, and it was stuck up in different directions.

"Hey Harry!!" Peter and Ned played with the five year old as Tony paid. 

Harry stared up at his friends and sighed. He was fed up of his pushchair, fed up of the whole thing really. 

He'd been woken early this morning, and because of that, he'd barely eaten any of his breakfast. He was hungry, he was tired and he was fed up of his chair. He wanted to crawl around, he wanted his Mummy, and he wanted to go to sleep.

"Did you know that we're going to Disneyland soon?" Ned asked. "That's why we're going shopping today. We need nice clothes for the convention. There will be lots of your friends there." 

Harry held his hand out for Ned to take, and the teen bent down slightly to hold his friend's hand, as Tony pushed the chair to the next shop. 

It was Alan David Custom- Tony's favourite suit shop. 

Because there was going to be a formal dinner the second night of the convention, he wanted the boys to have nice suits. He'd return with Harry another day, because they didn't have time for his fitting right now. 

They were picking up some suits that they'd had fitted a week ago. They needed at least two nice suits for the fancy dinners they were going to have. And also, in Tony's words, every person needed at least one posh outfit, because you never know when you might be invited out to an evening dinner or black tie party. 

Harry sat through the final fitting gradually getting more and more annoyed, before finally exploding when Tony tried to push the chair into the toy shop. 

They had been in the mall for an hour and a half already, and Harry wasn't used to the new environment. 

Tony couldn't blame him.

Ned watched on helplessly when Harry began to cry. The five year old cried and shrieked, trying to stop Tony from entering the shop. The ToysRUs employees watched on concerned, as Tony crouched down to console the distressed child, but it was clear, that Harry had reached his limits. 

He kicked his legs out weakly, and screamed when Tony tried to push the chair towards the exit. Duck had flapped out of Harry's grip when he began to cry, and Ned scooped the bird up into his warm embrace.

"Okay, okay baby." Tony shushed his child. 

Harry was having none of it, and he screamed and wailed and cried until his eyes were swollen. 

Peter swooped in to save the day. He manoeuvred himself around Harry's flailing limbs, and unstrapped the boy from the chair, and scooped him up into his arms. The child was still really light and Peter managed to hold him with ease.

Harry calmed down instantly, and hiccoughed around the last of his tears. 

"I think he was just tired of sitting in there." Peter said to Tony and pointed at the pushchair.

The older male sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. 

"This whole parenting thing is not easy. Wait until you're older and know what you really want before committing to becoming a dad. Got it?" Tony looked at both teens. 

Ned cradled Duck in his arms, and Peter held his son in his arms. 

Harry had fallen asleep by the time they got back to the car, the mall was open again, and Tony managed to navigate the Jeep through the hoards of paparazzi that were waiting outside the mall's car park.

"Well. That was eventful!!" Ned sighed as they drove back to Queens where he was staying the night at Peter's again. 

"I'm sorry Harry had a tantrum, but the rest of the day was great right?" Tony used the mirror to look at the two friends who sat on either side of Harry's car seat, the child snuffling softly as he slept. 

Tony winced at the puffy state of his eyes, he'd have to do a compress on them when they got to Peter's house.

"We had a great time. And, we're really grateful for everything you've got us. I think it was just a bit much for Harry is all." Ned thanked the man. 

"Yeah. Thank you Tony. We love Harry, so a small tantrum won't make us want to avoid going to Disney with you." Peter added. 

Tony sagged in his seat a bit, and flashed them a smile through the mirror, and focused on the road. 

He'd been worried that this along with the choking incident a few weeks ago, would make the two teens reconsider the trip. Harry wasn't an easy child to look after, Tony wouldn't change him for the world, but Peter and Ned hadn't signed up to look after him. 

Tony was slightly worried that that was what Peter thought he was doing- being a glorified babysitter. But hearing the teens say they loved his son, made him feel better. 

This trip was going to be amazing.

Chapter Text

Tony and Pepper were devastated. 

Things had been going well. The wedding planning was coming along slowly. The final bits and bobs for the Disney convention were coming along too. The only thing that was not coming along well, were their emotions. 

The parents stood outside the building, their hands intertwined and feeling like their hearts were broken. 

Until Harry had come along, they hadn't realised how much bigger their hearts could grow.

Their hearts were full.

They were so full in fact, that they weren't ready for him to be gone. 

It was so sudden too. 

The way that when they had left home, Happy had been sobbing in the cloakroom. 

Duck had been warbling weakly in the kitchen. 

Rhodey had been crying in the living room. 

He'd stayed over for the night, and the emotions of the grieving family were running rampant. 

Peter and Ned had come over too, and they now stood a few feet away from the sad couple. Big brothers forever on duty.

They were grieving the life that they had once had. 

The Harry who had always been there. 

His cheerful giggles and smiles filling the penthouse with joy.

The Harry who would crawl over to them with his roller ball for a quick hug. His tiny hands squeezing them with love. 

The Harry who would always be found with his trusty companion. Duck had taken to walking around quacking sadly, looking so lost without his friend. 

Tony held his crying wife in his hands, and looked around at his surroundings. 

They had chosen this place, because they knew that Harry would stay well here. They couldn't do anything more for him, and it was a hard thing to admit. 

They- as his parents- had done all they could for him. 

It was time for him to fly, and that was hard for anyone in their close knit family to accept.

He was a big boy. He had to grow. 

Tony swallowed his tears, and pulled Peter and Ned into a deep hug. 

"He'll be fine right?" Peter looked at the grey marble. 

"He'll be fine." Tony tried to convince himself too. 

He steered the three people towards the car, and they clambered in. 

Harry's car seat stayed empty in between Peter and Ned. Puff lay on his side, exactly as Harry had left him the last time he'd sat in that seat.

Approximately twenty minutes ago. 

The length of time it had taken Tony and Pepper to drag themselves away from his new prison. 

A grave. 

That's what they'd told the therapist when they'd made the decision to go ahead with it. 

They were burying the past that they had had. It was time for a new future. 

A part of themselves had died when Harry had gone inside. 

None of them were sure what they were going to do with themselves now that he was gone. 

Tony started the engine, and they drove away from the building in silence. 

They left the large security gates, buzzed out by the security guard. 

It was a lot of safety for a morgue. Tony thought.

Because, to him, as long as Harry wasn't with him- his boy was dead. 

His heart and brain were not rationalising the reality. 

It would be funny if it was anyone else.

He'd thought the other parents were lying. 

'The first day is always the hardest. It'll get easier though.' 

That it felt like your child was dead and never coming back.

Tony had thought: "It's just three hours without them. What could they be talking about?" 

As he pulled away from The Manhattan Children's Centre, he realised what they had meant. 

His heart, was broken.

He wouldn't be able to do this again. His wife was practically comatose next to him. The grief, was not for the child that was all of theirs.

No.

It was for the way life had been. It would never be the same again.

Their baby, was growing up.

Chapter Text

Tony and Pepper stood waiting outside the school in anticipation 

Harry's first day had dragged slowly.

They'd tried doing some work at home, but ended up sat on the sofa watching a rom com to take their mind off the missing child.

It hadn't worked.

They ate lunch with Rhodey and Duck in harried silence, and then drove to the coffee shop on the corner of the street closest to the school an hour before Harry was due to be picked up.

Now, the bell was due to go off, and then their son- who was probably upset at his parents' absence, would roll out of the school crying to go home. 

Pepper squeezed her fiancé's hand and eyed the other parents who also looked nervous.

The good thing about this school, was the fact that they opened up a Friday before all the other returning students so that the kindergarteners could settle down with their teachers. It was a school for the gifted and the rich, so of course they had thought this through.

Tony had imagined the playground to be noisy and full of smiling parents. Today, the adults stood on the tarmac all looked very nervous. No body was talking to anyone else but their chosen partner and they were all staring at the reception waiting for their kids to tumble forth.

The bell went off, and Tony and Pepper straightened up to comfort their probably anxious son.

The couple sat in the car shocked. 

That had not gone how they'd expected. 

It was like they had whiplash.

~~~~~~~~

Harry had barely even acknowledged them when he came out of the school. He was attached to a new friend. 

The pair of them stood nattering away for a good ten minutes, before Tony approached cautiously. 

Nattering said lightly, as Harry didn't really say much, but- communicate the pair did.

"Don't tell me my baby boy has a girlfriend at this age Pepper." Tony whispered dramatically. 

And girl friend Harry had. 

She was a little sweetheart with bright blue eyes, her golden yellow hair had been pulled into two plaits that morning, and had miraculously stayed in their confines all day.

She held her pink bookbag close to her chest. 

The pair continued to talk happily, Harry in his manner, and the girl her way. 

"Hey Harry!!" Tony approached his son.

"How was your day? Did you make a new friend?" Pepper added.

Harry honest to the Lord, glared at his parents, and then turned his chair so his back was to then and continued to honk and giggle with his friend. 

Tony's mouth flopped open, and he chased Harry around to get some eye contact, and asked after his day again.

"NO DA!!" The boy snapped, and smiled when the girl grabbed his hand and pulled Harry over to her parents. 

A beautiful woman with the same golden hair and blue eyes as her daughter, grinned down at the child. 

"Hello Alilah, did you have a good day?" The woman asked.

Alilah nodded. "Dis Hawwee. Nice day." 

Tony decided to break the ice, and ended up sticking his foot in it.

"I don't think I want your little daughter dating my son at this age."

Pepper slapped her palms to her face and sighed.

"Are you serious?!" Clint giggled as they had tea and coffee, keeping with Harry's afternoon routine so as not to overwhelm him with too much change in one day.

Pepper scowled at her man. "This one is an idiot. I had to spend the next few minutes doing damage control with Alilah's mum. Aliyah is a lovely woman by the way, I will be going out for coffee with her, and Tony won't nearly scare Harry's first friend from school away. It's a good thing Alilah is deaf, and wasn't facing Tony, otherwise she'd have gotten a little upset about what he was accusing her of."

Pepper glared at the sullen man.

"I was just being honest. She was trying to steal Harry away from me." Tony muttered.

"Do you hear yourself mate?" Bruce asked incredulously. "You're jealous of a five year old."

Tony shrugged. "Anyone who tries to take Harry away from me is a threat." 

Pepper sighed and looked over to Steve who was playing with Harry in the ball pit. Duck preening alongside them. 

"That's the problem Tony. Unless you aim to have Harry with you twenty-four-seven, three-six-five, you have to let him go. You'll always be his dad. He's not finding a replacement. Our baby just needs to grow and socialise. When he'd finished talking to Alilah, did he not give you and I a hug?" 

Pepper stared at her fiancé with a disappointed gaze. 

The older male sighed. "I hate it when you're logical." Tony agreed with her. 

Harry turned around and crawled over to them. "Da. Love Da!!" And he flung his hands up to be carried. 

Tony pulled him up with a smile and Harry pressed lots of kisses to the scratchy stubble covered face. 

"I love you too baby." 

Steve snorted and shook his head.

"Jealous of a five year old. Honestly."

Chapter Text

He didn't know why he hadn't thought of this before.

Tony felt like a bit of an idiot honestly.

It had taken that idiotic intern- what was his name? The blond twerp anyway.

The one who didn't know what personal space was?

The one who also didn't know what a boundary was?

That one. 

Only to discover he wasn't actually an employee either, he was a spy. 

Anyway, it had taken Tony whacking the psycho over the head with his Stark Tablet- he was a genius for designing the sleek multicoloured and affordable objects- to realise that Harry could actually use it to communicate.

And so, as he left the maniac to be handcuffed by the SHIELD operatives that had been sent out when Tony called them for assistance, Tony zoomed past Agent Agent and ran upstairs to the penthouse with his child in tow. 

"I am a GENIUS!!" Tony sang as the five year old twisted out of his arms in annoyance at the loud noise in his ears.

"Da, No!" He slapped his fist against Tony's arm to be let down. 

"How are you a genius exactly?" Steve asked from where he was sat on the couch with Bucky peering over his shoulder busy filling in the blank spaces on the daily crossword they solved together. It was a tradition at this point, and now, Tony didn't even bat an eyelid at them anymore. 

"I'm always a genius. Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist and GENIUS. That has always been my catchphrase, and it hasn't changed Spangles. Well, it has since I put a ring on it, but the genius still stands. I. Am. A. GENIUS!!"

Bucky looked up from where he was pencilling in the word HEP to the clue- not square. "And what was genius about when you poured baking powder into Harry's bottle this morning?" He chided gently. 

Tony blushed a deep red at the memory.

"It was an accident. How was I to know that Happy had plans to bake with Harry this evening? How was I to know that Happy was so organised, that he had the foresight to buy an extra large bottle of baking soda, from the same company that makes Harry's milkshakes? And when he popped out to get Harry ready for the day, and I was being helpful by making up the bottle- baring in mind that I was half asleep because I was working in the lab all night, how was I supposed to know it wasn't the same powder as the milkshake one? The labels are the same colour, different font." Tony defended himself weakly, and then looked over to where Harry and Duck were playing with the Lego and Playmobil in the toy corner.

"Da!" Harry waved his favourite Lego character- Miss Lee, who was actually a man- but who was Tony to dictate what a plastic figurine could be? He had never put limitations on Harry, and he wouldn't start now with his imaginative play. The little sweet one had just gotten home from school with Happy, when they had been jumped in the lobby by the fake intern. SHIELD would of course inform Tony of the findings of their investigations when the interrogation was finished. Bucky would be notified, if it was HYDRA running stupid operations again. Hit Tony where it hurt the most. 

He had sort of forgotten that he was Iron Man, when JARVIS had informed him of the attack in the lobby. He was in the lower level labs anyway, so he ditched the actual interns that he had been working on a new prototype for prosthetic fingers with, and took the stairs four at a time to swoop Harry out of Happy's arms. The man was a bodyguard, so he had been doing a good job at taking down the attacker anyway. It was one man, Tony could have left him alone. But, the anger and fear at having his precious son stolen from him, overcame Tony's senses. He had deposited Harry next to the cowering receptionist, and grabbed her Stark Pad from the desk. Then, proceeded to whack the idiot over the head with it until the man was unconscious. The Pad, though? Remained intact. 

If the video of Tony defeating a bad guy with a tablet had surfaced on Twitter later that day? It had nothing to do with him. And if the hashtag, #brainsbutdoesntshatter had become the trending one of the day? That also had nothing to do with him. And the advert that came out a day later, showing side by side pictures of the terrorist's head and the Stark Pad working in perfect condition had gone viral the next week? Well. That really didn't have anything to do with Tony. 

Tony shook his head. 

"I'm a genius because, I made a realisation." 

Peter and Pepper walked into the living room just as Tony made his grand announcement.

"EyeGaze the company, make assistive tech that helps people with communication needs talk through various means. Literally eye gaze, touch pads and keyboards that speak for people. So, the Stark Pad should be able to use similar technology. Harry is great at pressing the buttons on the TV remote, too good honestly." Tony shuddered at the memory of Harry a few weeks ago. 

He'd walked into the living room to see Harry watching Naked Attraction on the large wall to wall TV they had. It was a British show, how the kid had managed to find it still baffled the man. Then, unaware or his audience, Harry had manoeuvred through the channels again to land on another show. The Real Housewives of Wherever. He really didn't need to see short women with hideous lip jobs and foreheads stretched so thin the skin was cracking, so Tony swooped in and plucked the kid off the couch. Harry had proceeded to whack his dad over the head with the remote.

Tony shivered. "It would do Harry a load of good to be able to communicate with us don't you think? He's so much more intelligent than we give him credit for." Tony thought back to the weekly red and gold cupcake that Harry still made him with Happy every Monday. 

Peter clapped from his place next to Bucky on the couch. "Well done mate. How long did it take you to complete it this time?" 

Steve answered. "Five minutes I think today. Not our record, but still pretty good." 

Toby stared at his friends and family incredulously. "Hey. Guys?! Are you even listening?" 

Bucky hauled Peter into a mini wrestling fight, and Harry crawled over to the squirming pile of limbs in interest. Duck hopped along next to him. 

"Me." Harry pointed at the legs and arms flying around and then lifted his arms up to Steve, who obliged and gently tickled Harry. The living room filled with his giggles.

"I'm listening." Pepper whispered and pressed a kiss to her fiancé's cheek. 

Tony snorted. "They'll rue the day they ignored me. Betrayed by my own son!! Seriously??!!" Tony kissed Pepper lovingly, and then zoomed off to the lab to hook Harry's Stark Pad up with some new tech. 

A week later, Tony emerged from the bowels of his lab. 

He squirrelled himself and Harry away for a portion of the mornings the following week, teaching him how to press the buttons and pull up the different keyboard selections. 

He'd figured out that Makaton was the most effective communication tool for children and so, he figured out some picture cards of all the most common things in Harry's life. That was what had taken the length of the week- snooping around the penthouse taking pictures of everything. He'd uploaded pictures of all the family members, and pictures of Harry's friends and their parents, his teachers at school and the doctors. That was the first keyboard selection page. The next one was a selection of food and drinks that Harry could ask for. The third was a load of the toys Harry liked to play with, and places Harry liked to visit. The final page was filled with common phrases and filler words. 

Tony had outdone himself making sure each page had a different background colour so that Harry could colour code each page he wanted. And then, he'd used consistent fonts but different text box colours so that Harry could differentiate between the words he wanted. 

Tony pushed Harry's wheelchair into the dining room. They were having lasagne and steamed vegetables for dinner, with garlic bread. It was team dinner, and Ned and Peter were there too. 

Tony had timed everything perfectly, and poked Harry slightly as Pepper and Thor brought the dishes of steaming hot food out to the table.

"Put your tablet away now Harry. Dinner time." Pepper coaxed as she served up some food on his plate, and then chopped it up. 

The chatter at the table died down as the family began tucking in. The food was delicious. Happy had really outdone himself. Harry had helped cook the meal, and had joined in the baking of an apple crumble for dessert. 

Pepper turned to Harry and asked if he was finished with his main meal. The child had decimated the food and Tony had had to stop the five year old from licking his Minnie Mouse plate clean. 

"Would like crumble. Dessert. Custard." Harry punched into his Stark Pad. 

Peter and Ned who had been giggling about something at the other end of the table with Clint, whipped their heads around at the electronic sounding voice coming from Harry's chair. 

"Would you like dessert now?" Pepper smiled. Harry nodded.

"Mummy. Get dessert for Harry please." The Pad intoned. 

"The young one speaks!!" Thor rushed over to hug Harry. 

"NO." The keyboard barked. "No. No. No." Harry pushed the giant away with his other hand. 

"No squeeze. No squeeze Harry. Kind hands. Indoor voice." 

"Told off by a todler." Clint howled with laughter.

"Uncle Clint. Indoor voice." Harry typed next. 

The whole room burst into joyful peals of laughter. 

Pepper came through with the dessert, and Harry thanked her for his portion of dessert. 

"Duck, ice." Harry demanded next. As if Duck wasn't fed his dinner every day at the end of their human meal. 

"Okay Mr Bossy!" Tony grinned. But, he obliged happily enough. 

After Harry was content that Duck was happy with drink, he went right back to tapping away at his keyboards. 

"Peter. Harry story. Night night. No Daddy. Peter." Harry smirked evily at his father. 

It had become their thing, Tony bathed the boy and then read a story to him when he was all hooked up on his bipap. 

"Whatever King Harry wants." Tony slipped off to the bathroom to run Harry's bath. 

"I have a question for you Harry." Natasha stated. "Do you like living here with us?" 

Pepper bit her lip at that. It was all well and good having fun with the tablet. But, the purpose of it was to give Harry a voice. So that he could advocate for himself. So that they could hear what he had to say, even if it wasn't what they wanted to hear.

Harry thought for a minute, and then began typing furiously. 

"Harry like big family. Big, big. Lots and lots of love. Harry like lots and lots. Safe. No hurt. No purple angry shouting whale. No red screaming slap giraffe. No black room. Lots and lots of Harry hugs. Aunty and Uncles safe. Big Brothers Peter and Ned, JARVIS DUM-E, U. Duck too. Mummy and Daddy and Happy. Harry love lots and lots. Harry thank you." 

Pepper smiled at her son with tears pooling in her eyes. "We love you so much baby." 

Harry blew kisses on the tablet. 

"Harry has lots of fun at home. School show and tell, lots of stories." 

"You tell lots of stories about here at home at show and tell?" Steve asked. Harry nodded. 

"Lots of fun." 

Tony listened in from his place just outside the door. He had intended to go and run the bath, but had stayed to hear Harry's response. 

Their boy was so happy. Telling them about show and tell. 

This was what he had wanted. He'd always known their son was intelligent. He just got frustrated when he couldn't communication what he wanted or needed with them.

Safe. No hurt. 

That was all he had wanted. To create a safe environment for his son. And to hear that he had, broke a little something inside him. 

Tony slunk off to the bathroom, and turned on the taps. He sat down on the toilet seat, and let the memory of Harry's words play through his head. 

"Lots and lots of Harry hugs." 

Because they had. They'd smothered the boy in them, making sure that he knew he was wanted. Making sure that he knew he was loved. And it had worked.

Something dripped onto Tony's hands, and he lifted it up to his cheeks. 

They were wet. 

The damn burst, and the tears that he'd been holding in for over a year, fell out of him. Tears for the small boy that had been liberated. Tears for the parents he had lost. Tears of gratitude that he and Pepper had been gifted the child to love. Tears of sorrow at the hurt their baby boy had felt. Tears of relief that he liked it living with them. Tears and tears and tears. 

Tony sobbed pitifully into his hands and didn't even notice Peter wheeling Harry into the room for his bath. 

"No cry Daddy."

Tony looked up and wiped his tears away. His eyes were so blurry from crying that he had to squint to see two of his three adopted children. 

"Men cry. Weak boys try to hide it." Tony blurted. And then winced at Peter's confused expression.

"I just meant. It's fine to cry even as a boy." 

"Why sad?" Harry asked. 

"I'm just happy you like it here. I was scared you were going to say you wanted to leave." Tony admitted.

Harry rolled his eyes. Tony's gut twisted at the thought of Harry's inner sass being released, but he let the thought go. Of course he was going to have some sass- he was Harry Stark after all. 

"Silly."

Harry pressed it again. "Silly Daddy. Harry loves home. Harry lots and lots of love home." 

Pepper and Ned appeared in the doorway, having been alerted by JARVIS that Tony was in distress. 

"Harry lots and lots love Mummy and Daddy and Peter and Ned. Harry home. Harry stay. Forever." 

Tony couldn't help it. He pulled the five year old into his arms and beckoned Pepper, Ned and Peter to join them to. 

He started to cry again, which set off Ned who set off Peter and Pepper. 

"This is your home forever Harry." Pepper whispered against his head of brown hair. 

"Forever."

And Peter read Harry his bedtime story with Tony and Pepper and Ned perched around him on his bed. Duck in place by his head as always.

Then,  they all kissed Harry's forehead and the little boy drifted off to sleep. Surrounded in the love of his forever family. 

Sometimes, found family was even better than the default.

Sometimes, found family was the best. 

Chapter Text

Tony sighed as Harry pulled yet another blanket from the perfectly organised shelf. 

This one was his favourite blue and yellow pond scene blanket. It was one of four of the same blanket that Tony and Pepper had bought their son, because the first one had frayed from a year of use. Harry loved that blanket, and so to save themselves the tears that had come after that first disaster- they'd bought back-ups. 

Tony sighed again, but his son just sent him a withering look, and went back to pulling off the second duplicate blanket from the shelf. 

"Harry. You're not going to need all four of the duck blankets when we go away. Just the one will be fine." Tony finally interjected as the third blanket made its way to the floor. 

Harry glared at him and caught his eye, before defiantly pulling off the fourth blanket with an evil smirk. Loki would have been proud had he been there to see it.

The action however, caused the rest of Harry's rather marvellous blanket collection to fall on top of him, so Tony had the last laugh as he pulled Harry out from under a pile of fluffy wool.

"Daddy, not nice. Not funny." Harry hit the keyboard as Tony strapped him back into his wheelchair.

Pepper had Harry in the bath, soap suds somehow in his hair despite it not being a hair wash day. 

"I think you should pick one toy from here to take with you." She suggested, knowing that Tony would buy out Disney when they got there the following week. 

Harry eyed his rather extensive rubber duck collection, and then chose his favourite red and yellow duck and handed it to Pepper to put in the washbag she was currently packing. Duck swam over to preen Harry's hair, and the boy giggled conspiratorially at his brother from another mother. Duck, quacked to cover Harry's evil cackles. 

(The following week, Pepper would find another bag in her suitcase, and she wouldn't know how it had got there because the flipping thing had been locked shut. The bag would be full to the brim with rubber ducks of varying colours, and if they all happened to come from Harry's collection? Well. He didn't know anything about it.)

Peter had Harry sat on his bed.

Tony had dropped the boy off earlier, Pepper in the car with Happy driving them somewhere. It had sort of fled his mind, but he thought Tony had said something to do with wedding ring sizing. Whatever. 

No. His concerns lay with the troublesome little shit who had decided every single box of Lego just had to come on the trip with them. 

He was going to have a whale of a time reorganising his bedroom. Harry had pulled down every Lego box he owned from the shelves and tried to stuff them into Peter's suitcase. The resulting mess would be a pain, but hey!! He knew he owned that Avalon Lego set from that birthday years ago. Just wait until Ned saw it, he'd be so jealous of the limited edition kit.

"You do realise that we're going to Disneyland. The home of toys. We'll find more fun stuff there. Besides, we're packing for me not you. Give that here you little monkey." Peter held out a hand for the Lego space rover box that Harry was holding. The boy swung the box out of Peter's grasp and clutched it to his chest in that insolent way children do. 

"Na. Pee, NO!!" Harry squealed as his friend pried the box out of his hands and placed it back on the shelf. 

May popped her head round the door when she heard Harry's angry yelps.

Peter, sighed. 

(And if he opened his suitcase and found the Lego Death Star box in it, well Harry really didn't have a clue about that.)

It was a meltdown in the kitchen.

Pepper and Tony had gone out, and Harry had been left with Thor. 

The God couldn't quite understand why Harry was insisting on him carrying a box of Pop Tarts to his room, but the child had devolved into a puddle of heart wrenching tears. 

"Oh come now young Stark. I'm sure it's not that bad. I just do not wish to eat the sacred Pop Tart in my bedroom. The crumbs crawl into the bed, and then you have to burn it and get a new one to alleviate the itchy feeling of crumbled treat on your calf or in your ear." Thor pleaded with the boy. (And that had absolutely nothing to do with the time when Thor had dragged his whole bed upstairs to the roof and obliterated it with a lightening strike because he had been enjoying a whole multipack of Pop Tarts between the sheets while watching Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey Jessie!! And cackling at Ravi and Mrs Kipling's 'hilarious acts' as he called them. When he had gone to sleep and found that his bed was covered in crumbs, he'd reacted in a fit of anger. And destroyed a perfectly good bed. "That. Was mahogany!!" Tony screamed as he looked at the potmark left on the roof, not even an ash remained of the offending furniture. Tony had of course ordered a new bed to be delivered that evening, but Thor had been forbidden from eating Pop Tarts in his room at the same time as watching TV- ever again.)

Harry's tears stopped long enough for Thor to think he had won this round, but then the shrillest screech to ever grace Thor's ears pierced his drums. JARVIS had to call Tony back from the charity Gala. (Something the father wasn't even annoyed about. "It's just a load of posh twats competing to look the best and donate the most money to whichever charity the board has chosen this time. I really didn't need to hear about Senator Jambal's latest conquest and I certainly didn't need to see Miss Sophie from accounting getting it on with Dev from Maintenance in the disabled toilet on the fourth floor!!" Tony said to JARVIS as he raced back to the Tower to save Thor from his son.)

Thor had scurried off to his room to escape the tears that vanished the second Tony stepped out of the elevator. 

(And when Thor found he had a third suitcase waiting for him in his suite, he certainly couldn't understand why the large object was packed full with his favourite strawberry Pop Tart. Out of the box but still in the silver casings to allow for maximum packaging. JARVIS counted five hundred of the things to be exact. 

At dinner, Harry definitely didn't order a shortbread type dessert that looked rather suspiciously like Thor's treats, and he didn't laugh at the god while stuffing his face full of pudding.)

In the end, the day to leave for the trip came, and all of the Avengers stood in the penthouse lobby, suitcases and all- to take a 'vacay picture!!' as Tony described it.

Harry sat on his own suitcase, a duck shaped thing that Tony had found from this company that made kiddy suitcases- Trunki. He looked super cute. As Tony would later find in the pictures though, he couldn't quite understand how Natasha, Bruce, Steve and Clint had all got large versions of the ride on suitcase. All with their corresponding alter egos on them too. Clint's was honest to merlin, shaped like a bow. Tony would figure out the physics of packing that later, but that photo would take centre stage in the living room for many decades to come. Everyone thought back on the start of the trip to end all trips very fondly. 

And years later, when Tony would ask Harry what that whole packing frustration had been about, his son would answer very simply. 

"I wanted everyone to take a little bit of home with them."

Chapter Text

Stark is a household name. 

With many connotations. 

Genius. Billionaire. Playboy. Philanthropist. 

Yet, as I watch Tony kiss his son's forehead, I think of other words.

Harry (pictured above) has many complex needs.

Through the few hours I'm with them, I come to see that Stark- the elder is many things. Patient. Warm. Loving. 

I could go on. 

The most interesting resident in the penthouse is not Stark's AI, or his intelligent robots: DUM-E, Butterfingers and U. 

No.

It's Harry's friend Duck. 

Duck is an actual duck, and he's aptly been named Duck by Harry.

Duck is empathetic, charming and so attached to Harry, he goes along with Stark to drop Harry off to school every morning. 

I watch in awe as Duck brings Harry's comfort blanket without prompting when Harry falls and bangs his knee. Duck preens Harry's hair in what Stark tells me is his "I love you!!" signature style. He explains that Duck has different types of preening techniques. I find it cute that Stark has memorised them all. 

Duck was abandoned by his mother, and when they were on a trip to the park, Harry found him in the bushes. 

"I think Harry resonates with that. Being left behind. So, when he met Duck, he made sure to bring him along." Stark says when I ask how they met the little bird. 

We're in the living room of the penthouse. It's large and open and light. 

Harry is a very tactile child, and when I first enter the room, he crawls over to hug my legs. "This is Iman, Harry. The reporter I was telling you about. Remember?" Stark crouches down to introduce me, and I join him so that we're not towering over Harry. Harry smiles and waves. 

"Hi!!" He coos and then crawls back to where he was playing. 

"That's one of his favourite words." Stark says with a fond grin. "Harry is mainly non-verbal, but he does verbalise a few words. Mainly names for people he loves, or to greet people. Harry loves to be welcoming." 

Harry had a difficult start in life. Both of his biological parents died when he was one. Then, he went to live with the Dursley family. It is suspected that Harry had a stroke when he was an infant. The Dursley family neglected to take him to the doctor, so his paralysed muscles began to atrophy, leading to his difficulties mobilising now. 

Tony and Pepper Stark, as they like to be known, have worked long and hard to undo the Dursley's damage. "We do physio every day. We have a strict meal plan and schedule too. Harry was very malnourished when he came to us. We make sure that Harry can access his snacks whenever he wants as well."

I'm shown the cupboards in the kitchen at the lowest level that Harry can open easily. They're full of soft healthy snacks and lots of pureed fruit too. There is even a refrigerated drawer that is full of yogurts, soft cheeses and other small juice boxes. I'm a little jealous of the spread if I must say so myself. 

It's obvious that Harry is very loved. 

"Daddy! Juice please." A robotic voice calls out interrupting us.

That is what I'm here for today.

By the time this article is published, Stark Industries will have launched their newest app. 

Communicate. 

This app employs Makaton- a picture and word tool used often to promote positive communication- and a voice control so that it's easy for everyone of any age and ability to use. Stark and his team have spent the past year developing this with the input of other disabled individuals from across the globe, and this is the final product. 

Harry demonstrates its use by saying "Thank you!" when his dad hands him an apple juice box. The machine has a soft and young male tone. Stark explains that the voice can be adjusted and changed however the user wants. You can even input some pre-recorded audio that the software extrapolates to say anything typed into it. 

I next see Harry use his tablet to tell Duck a story. "Duck!" The tablet says. The aforementioned being waddles over, and settles down next to Harry with a soft Quack, ready to listen.  

"Story time is very important around here." Stark smirks, and we sit down as well. 

Harry tells a complex tale in which we go swimming and dive with mermaids. There's lots of treasure, and at the end, we get out to eat ice cream and chips at the cafe. 

I'm surprised to see that Harry includes me in the story too. But then I remember Stark's earlier words. Harry does take no man left behind very seriously. 

The user interface for Communicate is very simple. 

There's a few tabs that Harry created himself, and each one is for a different thing. 

People, Food, Places, Words, Story Time.  

Each individual user can add as many tabs and buttons that they want. There are a few standardised ones that come with the app, like: Hello, My name is, And, Please, Thank You and Sorry. The rest, is customised. 

Self explanatory really. Each tab is filled with buttons of pictures. Stark demonstrates how to create a new button by taking a picture of me with the app. A large blue button appears with my face in the centre, and then I type my name in when prompted. A character icon called Iman pops up. Harry taps it to say: "Hello Iman!!" And after all of that, we're immersed in his made up story. 

Communicate is going to revolutionise personal care.

Stark wants to create something like Eye-Gaze, so that non ambulatory users can use it too. But this is just the first wave. 

Stark and Stark- father and son- are taking over the disability community. And rather than privatising it, they're creating a space that allows for person-centred, individual-focused care. This tool is enabling individuals to have a voice. To create a little pocket of user friendly tech, that makes this very cold world into something a little bit warmer. Kinder. 

Stark- the name, has many connotations. 

But today I can add my own.

Revolutionary. 

Unstoppable. 

Whirlwind. 

And my favourite. 

Devoted.