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If you asked Elliot Ludwig who the started kid in the Young Geniuses Program was, he would tell you that the smartest kid in the Young Geniuses Program was easily Harley Sawyer. Even if he’d rather not have favorites between the children, Harley is one of a kind and he can see it.
The boy however is…cocky and lacks a type of humility that is needed in scientists. The boy is young, twelve and about to turn thirteen if he remembers correctly. Yet Harley is more prideful and arrogant than any child he’s ever met. He refuses to work with others and seems to have believe progress without compassion is the only way. It’s a shame to see such a brilliant boy have such a way of thinking.
Which led to the moment Elliot was stuck in now; which was trying to write a letter telling Harley he’d be out of the Young Geniuses Program. He doesn’t want to say he’s ’kicking him out’ as it sounds rather harsh to him. He doesn’t want Harley to loose his drive and passion for science as he could do great things if he was able to see things another way. Although sometimes rejection can be the greatest thing for people and gives them something to learn from.
After Harley told him that he cannot be ‘soft’ and that progress would not care about how anyone felt about it. That was the final straw that led to Elliot attempting to write this letter for Harley. Even if a part of him hates it, he hates sending any of the kids away. Which isn’t saying a lot considering that Harley is the first kid he was attempting to kick out of the program.
His thoughts are interrupted by a firm three knocks on his office door and when he picks up his head a head pops in Harley Sawyer himself. The boy’s brown hair is as unruly as it always is, dangling just above his shoulder and his icy blue eyes staring at him. His glasses sliding down his face; they always seemed to be ill-fitting on him.
“Harley.” Elliot says and tucks the letter he was writing away, not exactly wanting this to be how the boy finds out he was planning on kicking him out. He didn’t expect the boy to walk in while trying to write that letter after all. Harley stands there for a moment before coming in and sitting down in the chair across from him. He’s being unusually quiet and his head is bowed slightly. His glassing looking ready to completely fall off his nose.
”Elliot.” Harley greets when he sits down and stares at his lap where he is fidgeting with a circuit board he had been working on. This isn’t the first time Harley had randomly came to his office in the day. Sometimes he just gets too annoyed with the other kids, much to Elliot’s dissatisfaction, and just needs to tuck himself away for a while.
“Needed a moment?” Elliot asks and Harley just gives a slight nod of his head as he continues with the circuit board he was working on. He spares a look at the boy while he works on his project.
Harley’s always been on the skinner side, to the point that his clothes are always a little loose on him. He always assumed that Harley’s family wasn’t well off, that they didn’t get enough money to eat great. He tried to get Harley to eat when he was here at Playtime Co. but he always seemed to refuse food, or stare at it like so much was alien to him.
The kids in the Young Geniuses Program always got fed three times a day. Despite this Harley never seemed to eat much like he thought he’d be in trouble for doing so. Leading to him always looking a little too skinny and possible borderline underweight for Elliot’s liking.
”Did you eat?” Elliot asks him and Harley’s lips form that all familiar scowl that doesn’t belong on the twelve, soon to be thirteen, year olds face.
“I have not.” Harley says, not exactly looking at Elliot just yet. Odd, he’s not one for avoiding eye contact.
He sighs and looks at the boy and for a moment wonders if he should just tell Harley in person instead of finishing this letter. It might be more difficult to hear in person but might be more meaningful than that letter could ever manage to be. Taking a breath he looks back over at him and waits for the boy to look at him…when he doesn’t Elliot raises an eyebrow.
”Harley, can you look at me please?” He says, not wanting to sound like he’s angry with him. He’s not angry at all…more disappointed in the way this will end. Elliot knows though tang disappointment can sometimes be worse than anger. And while this wasn’t how he wanted to tell Harley it’s starting to seem like the best course of action.
“No.” Harley mutters and it startles Elliot a bit. Sure, Harley can be a bit of an egotistical child and sometimes has an issue with authority, but he’s never outright refused when Elliot asked something of him. Harley went home recently since the dorms for the Young Geniuses Program kids were flooded by a pipe leak. They were just recently repaired and the others came back today. He wonders if something happened at home for Harley to act like this. The boy never seems to miss his home and doesn’t talk about it much.
Sighing he decides to focus on his paper work if Harley isn’t going to cooperate he’ll focus on his work while he speaks. He doesn’t want to stare at the kid since he seems to get uncomfortable with long periods of staring. Harley’s always seemed to be a little introverted despite always being very talkative when it comes to things he is passionate about.
“I need to talk to you about something, Harley.” Elliot tells him and Harley’s head tilts slightly towards him. A slight show that he is listening but the boy’s longish brown hair hides his face. He can seeing Harley’s glasses sliding down his nose before he pushes them back up.
“I’m sorry, Harley. But I believe it’s for the best interest for everyone involved if you were…sent home.” Elliot says and that gets Harley’s head to whip around to face him. And before he can ask any questions or demanding answers, he clarifies. “I’m kicking you out of the Young Geniuses Program.”
The silence that follows that sentence is deafening and it’s so unlike the Harley Sawyer he knows to be speechless. He turns his head to look at the boy but before he can get a good look at his face, Harley jumps up, the circuit board he was working on falling to the floor, and swats a pencil cup off his desk.
“You can’t do that!” Harley snaps and his hands go into his brown hair, his fingers gripping onto the strands like a lifeline. Elliot goes to open his mouth when Harley punches at the wall. “You can’t Elliot!” He snaps.
”Harley, enough.” Elliot says sternly and stands up, it’s probably the harshest he’s ever sounded with him. The boy is reasonably angry but that doesn’t mean he’ll let him beat up the wall and trash his office. Walking over to him he takes Harley’s chin between two fingers to try and make him look at him, but he flinches back. For the first time he can see Harley’s face fully and sees the deep purple blueish bruising around his left eye and his bottom lip is spilt.
”Harley, what happened to your face?” He asks and his tone becomes softer again when he sees his face. Bruising like that can’t come from a common accident, it’s a full on black eye and his eyelid looks a little swollen. His lip is spilt nastily, perhaps he could have done it from a fall, but combined with the black eye Elliot doubts it.
”It’s nothing.”
“Harley-“
“I said it’s nothing Elliot!”
Harley looks like he wants to be anywhere else but here at the moment. Like he regrets even coming to his office for a break and to get away from the other kids. Like he wishes he just stayed in his dorm all day since he got back. Before another word can be said Harley zooms for the office door and leaves, leaning a shocked Elliot Ludwig behind.
A few hours pass with Elliot sitting at his desk with his elbows resting on the wooden surface and his hands clasped together. Thinking he supposes. He always assumed on some level that Harley didn’t have the greatest home life. But he assumed at worst it was his parents weren’t around much. That maybe they didn’t have a lot of money for things. He never thought that the boy he considered so bold and brilliant to be physically abused. Thinking back on it however…there were signs he wished he noticed sooner.
Eventually the time reaches five in the afternoon and Elliot gets up and closes his office door. He makes his way through the halls until he makes it to the room where all the Young Geniuses Program kids are working. He tries his best to smile and greet the children there when they see him but he’s looking for a certain brunette more than others.
But there’s no brunette boy with black framed glasses sliding down his face. Excusing himself he heads to the dorms and reads the names on the plaques. Noah Bennett. Elijah Miller. Ruth Quinn. Then he finally reaches the dorm he was looking for and the plaque looks no different from the others.
Harley Sawyer.
Raising his hand he gives three firm knocks on the door and waits patiently for the door to open. When it doesn’t open he sighs at the door and bites at his lips. “Harley, I know you’re in there.” He calls and waits for the door to open; the sound of quiet footsteps padding towards the door from the other side and it cracks open. Harley peeking the unbruised side of his face through the opening.
He can’t see much into Harley’s dorm but from what he can see the room is trashed. His bed flipped over and the few belongs he has thrown all over the place. Harley’s icy blue eyes are narrowed at him in distant and perhaps a bit of hurt.
”What do you want?” Harley mutters with a scowl on his face, not opening the door anymore.
“Pack your stuff.” Elliot tells Harley, and Harley believes that Elliot is really going through with this and kicking him out. Making him go back to his mother and father. He scoffs and throws the door wide open and goes for his backpack. The next sentence however catches the boy off guard.
”I’m taking you back to my house, Harley. We’ll figure out the legal situation tomorrow.” Elliot says and it stuns him to the point that he stops mocking. The man walks in and starts gathering the possessions he threw across the room. Leaving the more private items for Harley himself to pack. Even so there is still a question that Harley needs to ask before this goes further.
”Does this mean I’m not kicked out of the Young Geniuses Program?”
”We’ll talk about that later.”
The answer isn’t the one he wanted to hear at all and it makes him mad all over again. Elliot knows it made him mad but there isn’t much he can do about it right now. His main issue is making sure Harley is somewhere safe for the time being. Sure he could let him stay in his dorm for the night like the other kids do in the Young Geniuses Program, but that doesn’t feel like a good idea at the moment. And not wanting to spread the news of what he figured out by accident, that leaves Harley coming home with him. Even if it’s just for the night since he doesn’t know what CPS will say tomorrow morning.
Elliot leaves with Harley in tow and his Playtime Co. employees save goodbye to him. Raising an eyebrow at Harley following behind him with a backpack and suitcase. He scowls at them whenever they look at him for too long. Elliot just sighs at the behavior and tries his best to hustle Harley to his car.
He seems to zone out for most of the drive and stares out the window. He arrives at his house and Harley seems to be still spaced out and he places a land gently on his shoulder. Making him jump and he pulls his hand away quickly while Harley stares with wide eyes.
”I’m sorry, Harley. I didn’t mean to startle you.” Elliot says, knowing that he made a stupid move touching the kid when he wasn’t paying attention. It probably just made him freak out even more.
He watches Harley’s eyes narrow again back into his normal self and he huffs “It’s fine.” He says coldly as he doesn’t want to admit that he was startled by that.
Elliot knows he wouldn’t be able to get another answer out of the boy and just unbuckles himself and gets out of the car. Harley follows suit and watches as Elliot opens the trunk and gets his suitcase out. He feels awkward standing there and doing nothing while being at his mentor’s house. It makes him mad when he realizes he’s feeling awkward and out of place, he absolutely despises that feeling.
He rolls the suitcase over to Harley who quickly grabs it and storms up to the front door and waits for Elliot to come up and unlock it. Going inside the house he’s surprised, it’s bigger than he expected despite knowing that Elliot was very well off. Elliot just lets Harley follow him as he walks through the house and can see the twelve year old’s confusion when he walks over to a woman and hands her some money and then she leaves.
“Who was that?” Harley asks and readjust the straps on his backpack as he looks at Elliot again.
”Babysitter.” Elliot tells him and can see the shock on his face when he tells them that.
Harley moves forward and looks down to see a small play-area with a tiny baby in it. He has a dumbfounded look on his face as he stares at the little redheaded baby with blue eyes.
”Who is this?” Harley asks and watches as Elliot picks up the tiny human in the play-area
“My daughter, Poppy.” Elliot tells him and Harley’s face shifts into one of shock. He never knew his mentor had a little baby daughter and a part of him can’t help but scowl at the baby. “Sit down, get comfortable. I’ll make dinner.”
Elliot sets Poppy back down in her play-area and Harley plops down on the couch. Elliot only comes back to give Harley an icepack for his black eye and split lip. Which leaves Harley to watch the little baby play when she looks up at him, giving a gummy smile. Harley scowls but the kid must just be a happy little thing because she just laughs at him.
A stupid human part of him he wishes he could bury feels jealous of the small baby. He knows Elliot and that the man is probably the best father in the world. Something he’s never known the feeling of from his own mother and father. He scoffs, filling ridiculously for being jealous of a baby of all things. It’s pointless and completely unnecessary to seek approval from his parents when they won’t ever care. It’s foolish to be jealous of this little baby before him. Little baby Poppy Ludwig.
So why is he so jealous?
Elliot comes back a few minutes later and picks up Poppy and places her in her high chair in the dining room. “Come eat, Harley.” He says and so Harley gets up and walks to the dining room, ignoring the way his stomach is growling angrily with hunger.
The smell of seasoned rice with garlic chicken reaches his nose and it makes his stomach growl again and his mouth water. A stupid weakness in Harley’s eyes even if hunger is a basic human need. He feels awkward sitting down at a dinner table with nobody but Elliot Ludwig and his daughter he didn’t even know the man had.
Elliot watches Harley as he sits down and just stares at the food while he’s unsure of what to do with it. “Harley.” He calls.
Harley looks up and his glasses slide down his face again, they’ll have to get them resized to fit his face better. His icy blue eyes glance between the food and Elliot, which prompts Elliot’s second question.
“Your parents didn’t feed you much, did they?” He asks and watches as Harley’s shoulder rise and scrunch up against his ears. His lips fold in and Harley hates even coming close to talking about this. He just shakes his head no.
“Harley, listen. While you are staying here you don’t need to worry about food.”
”I don’t want your pity.”
”It’s not pity, Harley. You’re not supposed to be going hungry. Your parents are supposed to be taking care of you…and clearly they have not been.”
Harley stares at the food in front of him for a moment before hesitatingly going for the fork. Keeping his eyes on Elliot as he eats the food in front of him. It’s good, really good actually since the chicken is all tender and juicy and seasoned with garlic. The rice isn’t undercooked or overcooked like he’s used to his mother and father giving him.
Later Elliot shows him to the guest room after he put Poppy in her crib and the idea of having a huge bed like that is mind boggling to him. Especially since he’s used to his small creaky twin bed back at his parent’s home. Even the dorm room beds are twin beds, more comfortable but still twin sized. This bed however is a queen size and he doesn’t know what to do with it.
He gives in when Elliot gently nudges him into the room and he sits down on the sit edge. Staring at his black sneakers and all the scruffs on them from years of use and being too small. He looks at Elliot and looks at him with furrowed eyebrows.
”Why are you doing this? Nobody ever cares about me.” Harley says and Elliot sighs and sits down next to him.
”I always assumed you didn’t have the…greatest live at home, but I never thought it was as bad as it was.” Elliot tells him and clasps his hands together in his lap, “But I didn’t know it was as bad as it was and if I did I would have intervened much sooner. No children should be hurt by their own parents, and Harley you are a wonderful child, even with your flaws. We all have them, but just because you’re flawed doesn’t mean you deserve to be treated the way you were. You’re a very talented young man but-“
“If this is about humility again.” Harley interrupts and before he can go further into that argument Elliot raises a hand slightly and sighs.
“We’ll talk about this tomorrow, as for now? Go to sleep Harley.” Elliot tells him and once again he seems awkward again. Elliot himself grunts as he gets off the bed and repairs to leave the bedroom.
”What happens tomorrow?” Harley asks as he kicks his sneakers off and sorts for his ratty pair of pajamas in his bag for changing.
”We’ll contact Child Protective Services and go through there.” Elliot tells him and Harley’s head shoots up to look at him.
“No.”
”Harley-“
“No.”
”Listen to me.” Elliot says and before Harley can interject with anymore attempts of an argument he continues. “I have to contact CPS. Even if your parents do not care they could get me in a lot of trouble for keeping you here without permission or any legal assistance.”
Harley looks back down at his feet because logically he knows that is true. That he can’t just camp in Elliot Ludwig’s house because knowing his parents they’d report this. Not because they were worried about their dear son, but because they realized they might be able to sue or something. Even if they wouldn’t win the court case in all likelihood.
”And after?” Harley asks and Elliot sighs while running a hand through his short graying brown hair.
”We’ll see what they say and where you’ll be able to stay.” Elliot tells him and he notices Harley shifting nervously. “Harley?”
”And if I wanted to stay here?” He asked, he does not want to go into foster care or live with some adult he doesn’t know. That sounds like another kind of hell to him even if the adults he got shoved with were nice. He’d prefer to be with someone he already knows and can predict more easily.
”I’ll see if that can be errantes.” Elliot says because at the moment that’s all he can promise. “Goodnight, Harley.”
Once Elliot is gone Harley changed into his ratty old t-shirt and soft sweatpants. Makeshift pajamas. He hates not knowing for certain what’s going to happen. He’d rather there be a plan for everything so he knew what to expect, but everything that is happening know wasn’t planned, everything is going play by play. That's all he can do at the moment, go hour by hour, day by day.
Laying down in the guest bedroom bed he finds the mattress is firmer but comfy and the blankets fluffy and soft. His belly is fuller than it’s been in god knows how long and he doesn’t have that hunger gnawing at him anymore. And as much as the pretends to hate it the small speech Elliot gave him did more for him than he’ll ever admit. He, for the first time in a long time, felt slightly safe.
And maybe even a little cared for.