Chapter Text
Harley Keener missed the Tower. He missed the lab, the chaotic madness of inventions, blueprints, schematics, and week old coffee cups. He missed the blaring music and idiot robots and motor oil smoothies. He missed the penthouse - the family movie nights and Avengers Mario Kart tournaments. He missed Tony, his mentor who was really more of a father figure. Most of all, he missed his boyfriend, Peter.
After years of inconsistent long distance contact following the Mandarin fiasco, Tony had invited Harley to New York the past summer. Harley would’ve been an idiot to say no, and it had turned into the best time of his life. He’d even met Peter, and they’d had two wonderful months of dating before Harley had to return to Tennessee.
But now it was March, and the dreary winter grey was only enhancing Harley’s hatred of Rose Hills. Video calls and texting with Peter and Tony only got him so far. Harley needed to be home. Maybe it was stupid to think of the Tower that way, but he really didn’t care. Home is where the heart is, after all.
Harley was snapped out of his dreams of New York by his teacher snapping his name.
“Mr. Keener! Pay attention!”
Oh, right. He was in school. He was supposed to be “learning”. Never mind the fact that he could do high school science in his sleep.
“Sorry, Mr. Dykstra,” Harley mumbled.
“As I was saying,” Mr. Dykstra continued, “Jefferson High has been randomly selected for a special opportunity over spring break.”
This had the class perking up in a way they never did for science.
“The top 20% of your class will be going to……….”
Silence rang through the classroom as the students waited with bated breath.
“STARK INDUSTRIES!”
The room erupted with cheers. Mr. Dykstra tried to regain control to explain the details, but he was drowned out. After all, it wasn’t often a lowly public school from the middle of Nowhere, Tennessee, got invited on a field trip to the biggest corporation in the world.
Meanwhile, Harley sat dumbstruck in the back row, trying to figure out whether he had good luck or bad luck.
On the one hand, he got to see Peter and Tony before summer started. In fact, he was 99.99999% certain Tony had played some part in the invite. As previously stated, the chances of Jefferson getting randomly selected were slim to none.
On the other hand, no one in Rose Hills knew of his connection to Tony. S.H.I.E.L.D. had covered up the incident back when it happened, and Harley had never told anyone about the billionaire breaking into his garage. They all assumed he’d been a camp counselor the previous summer (though he really wasn’t sure how they got people to believe that- he could never deal with children for that long). If people at SI (or god forbid Tony Stark himself) suddenly seemed to know him, Harley would be getting a lot of questions.
“Dude,” his best friend Meredith whispered from her seat next to him. “Did you arrange this?”
He raised an eyebrow at her. “You think I arranged a field trip for our school?”
“You’ve been complaining about missing Peter, and we both know it’s not entirely out of the question for you to make this happen.”
Meredith was the one person who knew the truth, and only because she became the second person to break into his garage, and he didn’t exactly have a better explanation for all the high end tech he had.
“I’m a little offended you think I’d drag my class along with me instead of just commandeering one of Tony’s private jets.”
Meredith shrugged. “At least this way you get to show me around the Tower, and I can finally meet your boyfriend.”
She had a point, Harley realized. And as he watched EJ brag about how the trip would surely lead to an internship with Tony Stark, Harley decided he could take the opportunity to mess with his class. They were going to Harley’s territory, and he was going to show them that he wasn’t just some nerd from a backwater town. As the permission slip floated from the teacher's hand onto his desk, Harley smiled. This was gonna be fun.
~~~~~
As Harley walked to his motorcycle after school, he scrolled through his contact list before finding the number he wanted.
“Harley?” A voice answered after only one ring. “What’s wrong?”
“Hey, Mrs. Stark. Nothing is wrong, I just wanted to know how much Tony had to pay you to make the field trip happen,” Harley chuckled.
“What field trip?” Pepper sounded genuinely confused, and Harley narrowed his eyes.
“My school is going on a field trip to SI, and I figured the old man had something to do with it. Ain’t no way Jefferson High was selected at random.”
Papers rustled on the other end of the line. “The paperwork does show that the invite was randomized, and Tony would’ve been bragging about his genius if he had thought of a way to bring you back before summer started.”
“Well, whatever the reason, I’ll be happy to see you all again.”
“You too, Harley,” Pepper responded, her voice warm. “Perhaps I’ll call your mom and talk to her about the possibility of you staying in New York for a few extra days.”
“That would be awesome, Mrs. Stark,” Harley cheered.
“Pepper,” she admonished. “If you call my husband Tony, I don’t understand why you can’t do the same with me.”
“Eh, he doesn’t command the same respect as you,” he reasoned.
Pepper chuckled awkwardly (as awkward as an icon like Pepper Stark could be). “Well, I have a meeting to get to, but I’m glad you called. I’ll see you for your field trip!”
After he hung up, Harley stared at his phone.
“So,” he pondered aloud. “Peter and Tony have no idea I’m coming.”
A grin spread across his face. A chance to show off to his school AND surprise his boyfriend?
“This is gonna be awesome,” he cackled to himself.
~~~~~
The weeks leading up to the field trip were agonizing. Lying to someone as golden retrieverish as Peter was not easy, and Harley had to actively stop himself from blurting out his surprise - especially when the other boy mentioned how much he missed Harley.
His mom had happily signed the permission slip and agreed to an extended trip, glad that Harley was able to spend time at the Tower. He knew she felt bad that she couldn’t afford constant flights out to New York, and Harley refused to ask for a private jet from Tony. Once they were at MIT together, he could see Peter all he wanted, and that made the long waits worth it. Still, he couldn’t help counting down the days.
Finally, the day arrived. Harley was dragged out of his bed at the incomprehensibly early time of 2 AM. He was a firm believer that nobody should be awake that early, except bats and racoons. Seriously, who made it legal to start the day before the sun came up? Anyway, thus commenced the forty-five minute drive in which the students slept against the shaking windows of the bus in an attempt to ward off the early start.
The airport was a mess, as would be expected of a group of fifty-odd students and too few chaperones. Harley, who had only ever flown via Tony Stark’s private jet, was thoroughly overwhelmed. After a short plane ride (okay, two hours, but he spent it watching a movie with Meredith, so it felt a lot shorter), they had officially arrived in New York.
Seeing the city never got old. Harley had spent his whole life in a small town dreaming of a big city, so seeing the sights and sounds of New York always caught him off guard. The honking taxis and bright lights seemed to welcome him, and tell him “This is where you belong. This is where you can make your dreams come true.” Or maybe he was just being sappy. Tony would certainly think so. Peter would probably start crying and give him a big hug. How those two ever got along, Harley would never know.
The first day was spent doing all the traditional tourist things. They saw Times Square, the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building…all of which Harley had seen before. He did enjoy pointing out his favorite things to Meredith, like the hot dog stand the Starks frequented and the best ice cream shop, as well as other things unrelated to food (he was a teenage boy, though, so you can’t blame him). He showed her the spot he had first kissed Peter, and the pond they would always go to feed the ducks. The memories made him miss Peter even more, and he was glad he only had to wait one more day.
“Your life is so cool,” Meredith wistfully informed him that night. “Like, you get to have a secret life in NYC with your genius boyfriend and billionaire father figure, and one day we’re all going to watch you on TV back in Rose Hills and say ‘I went to school with that guy’. Isn’t that crazy?”
“Hey,” he said, nudging her shoulder. “You’re going to be right there beside me. I’ll be damned if I don’t show you off enough tomorrow that you don’t get offered an SI internship.”
“Actually?” Meredith squealed. “You’re the best!”
“Nah, you are. You’ve got the skills, and you just need the right people to see them. I’ll just be giving you that opportunity.”
She wrapped him in a hug, which Harley gladly returned…Good Lord, he was being sappy again. Thank goodness Tony couldn’t see him; he had a bad boy image to maintain with the old man.
The class was electric with excitement. SI was the business, the corporation. If you worked there, or even had an internship there, it meant prestige and guaranteed success. Every student had a small part of them that thought, maybe this field trip will be my chance to get noticed. Maybe Tony Stark will see me and offer me a job. Of course, anyone who actually knew Tony would know that he hated children (with very few exceptions) and would never willingly interact with a field trip. Nevertheless, the students dreamed.
Harley, meanwhile, was equal parts excited and nervous. The excitement came from returning home to the tower. The nerves were because he knew his reign of relative anonymity at Jefferson High was about to come to an end.
Meredith started whacking his arms as soon as the Tower came into view.
“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. It’s beautiful, Harley. I can’t believe you live here.”
He didn’t get the chance to respond before the bus was parked and she was dragging him off the bus. A security guard was waiting for them, looking absolutely thrilled (not) to be escorting a bunch of high schoolers.
“Hello, welcome to Stark Industries,” he intoned in a robotic voice. “Please note that any photography is prohibited, this is a workspace so do not disrespect or distract the employees, no bullying will be tolerated…”
He might’ve said more, but Harley zoned out. He knew most of the rules, and what were they going to do, kick him out? He’d just call up Tony (or even better, Pepper) and be just fine. He would rather scan the lobby for familiar faces. The previous summer had been spent mostly in Tony’s private lab, but they’d ventured down to the other floors on occasion. Peter was often sent to help the interns, and Harley tagged along enough that he’d probably recognize a few people.
The group arrived at the security scanners and badges were thrust into their hands with instructions to be worn at all times. Harley was given one despite Happy’s rule against reprinting badges simply because he hadn’t needed one before. FRIDAY knew he was allowed everywhere, same with the Starks and Peter.
Meredith giddily looped hers around her neck. “This is so freaking cool,” she hissed. “The lobby is such a brilliant representation of SI’s contribution to the modern world of technology.”
Harley looked at the sculpted metalwork and pristine marble floors as she droned on about the architecture.
“Sure, Mer. Whatever you say. I’m sure Tony Stark thought about the connotations of white furniture when he designed this place.”
“Whoa there, Keener,” EJ the irritant interrupted. “You’re talkin’ like you know the guy. What do you know about Iron Man’s taste in couches?”
“Well I know he probably didn’t actually design the lobby himself, if that counts for anything. Tony Stark would never be caught dead picking out paint swatches and fabric samples.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” a new voice chimed in. A harried looking intern in a lab coat pushed her glasses up her nose as she waved her clipboard at them. Her curly red hair easily identified her to Harley, though she didn’t seem to register his presence. She was one of the interns he and Peter had worked closely with on a number of big projects, and he was mildly surprised to see her interacting with a tour group.
“Hello, y’all. My name is Lacey, and I’ll be your tour guide today,” she introduced herself. “Now, if you would please start making your way through the scanners so we can begin the fun!”
Harley sidled up to her. “Hey,” he whispered, making her jump.
“Harley? What on Earth are you doing here? I thought you wouldn’t be back until the summer!”
“I’m, uh, on the field trip. Listen, nobody but Pepper knows I’m here, and I was kind of hoping to surprise Peter and Tony later, so…”
“Keep it quiet? Gotcha. Peter’s going to be so ecstatic to see you; he talks about you all the time. Though I will say, without you around, our number of explosions has decreased dramatically,” she laughed.
“What can I say,” he said, spreading his hands. “I’m a master of controlled chaos.”
“Oh please, you live for the uncontrolled chaos,” Lacey corrected him. Thinking back on all the unplanned disasters that had happened the previous summer…perhaps she was right.
“Keener!” Mr. Dykstra shouted. “Stop pestering the tour guide and get through the scanner! We’re all waiting for you!”
Harley flushed and turned to do so when he remembered his original purpose for talking to Lacey.
“Hey, um…my class doesn’t exactly know I’ve worked here, and I’d like to keep it that way as long as possible, so…”
“No problem,” she assured him. “Your secret is safe with me.”
The class was so busy guessing the itinerary that none of them noticed when the scanners flashed “Harley Keener, Level 10, all access.” It wasn’t that Harley thought he could keep his secret the whole day, or even that he wanted to. Nah, when the students of Rose Hills found out how awesome his life was, it was going to be on Harley’s terms. And it was going to be epic.