“You two are so alike.”
With the renovators coming the next morning, Tony helped Harry get some pajamas on - an old MIT sweater of his and some sweat pants, a horrible experience that they were both going to pretend never happened - and put the kid in his own bed with his nightly medicine and a heavy dose of ‘dreamless sleep’.
Tony wished he could take dreamless sleep. Instead, Tony laid on one side of his bed, smoothing Harry’s hair off his face compulsively, thinking about all of it.
Barnes took Howard and Maria from him and then he tried to take Harry.
“We’re even,” the bastard said before. As if killing Darth Vader and some of his slimy minions could ever make up for what he did.
Barnes took Tony’s son and used him as a confessional booth to tell him that he killed Howard and Maria.
Barnes was so god damned lucky that Sirius stole Tony’s damn prisoner and took him to Magical BFE to inform ‘Gandalf the Great’ that Darth Vader was dead.
Sirius wouldn’t be so lucky when he came home with his tail between his legs, because Tony was going to kick his ass, but that was moot.
As soon as Harry was sound asleep, stretched out like a starfish that made Tony smile, Tony forced himself out of bed to go remedy the only thing he could at the moment.
Harry had no balance, no real strength. And it meant that the poor kid couldn’t take a freaking leak on his own.
The lab was the one place that Tony could still control. All the chaos within it - from the tools scattered where they didn’t belong to the discarded coffee mugs cluttering up the counters - was Tony’s chaos to command.
It was a comfort to be in his lab, doing something.
It didn’t take long for Tony to make a seat that Harry could use in his bathroom. It was set up like any other accessible seat, except with a few adjustments it also raised and lowered with the touch of a button so Harry could get on and off it more easily and the seat warmed up.
If Harry was going to have to sit down to use it, the least he deserved was a warm seat.
“I’m a burden, Dad.”
“I’m sorry I’m such a fucking burden, Howard.”
Tony wondered what Howard’s last thought was. He paused his work to wonder if Tony even crossed his mind before Barnes killed him. He didn’t doubt that Maria thought of him, but probably only after thinking of Howard.
Next, Tony snagged Harry’s wheelchair and began tinkering with it. If he made the arms drop on the sides, just slide up and down, then Harry could move them out of his way to climb out.
There was a better chair already ordered, one that Harry could control with the touch of a keypad so he didn’t feel like everyone had to push him if he was too tired to do it himself. But until then, Tony could make him feel more independent with his current one.
“Mate, I’m- I don’t know how to say this, but… but Barnes told Harry that he killed your mum and dad.”
“What? No, that’s insane. That’s some sort of- of psychological torture he put Harry through. They died in a wreck.”
“Are you sure? Cause Harry thought his parents died in a car wreck too.”
Of course Tony was sure. He’d spent days pouring over the reports.
Howard had went off the road, smashed a tree. He must have hit the steering wheel hard enough to cause a brain bleed. The cops said he had to have been speeding to cause such… such extensive injuries.
But Howard didn’t speed. How many lectures had Tony sat through after wrecking a car because of his speed?
“You won’t get anywhere any quicker if you die, Anthony.”
Impulsively, Tony added a built in speaker to Harry’s chair that would operate on Bluetooth so he could play the crap music he was so fond of. Then he took the seat and the chair in the painting booth and made the chair the red and gold colors that Harry liked. The toilet adaption seat just got a gold finish, something that might make it look less like medical equipment.
After fashioning a couple of gold finished bars for Harry to use to grip, Tony left the chair in the living room and took the rest of it to Harry’s bathroom. Harry would have to use Tony’s bathroom once the renovators arrived, but Tony could at least show it to him in the morning before moving it.
Tony got the seat and the bars set up and looked at it proudly.
If Harry grabbed the bars he hooked up, he could drag himself from his chair, after dropping the arm down, to the brand new handicap accessible toilet.
… handicap accessible toilet.
Tony’s kid was handicapped.
Tony’s son was handicapped.
Harry was handicapped.
In a moment of calmness that Tony knew he’d never be able to describe to anyone later, he walked from Harry’s bathroom back to his lab and grabbed a sledgehammer.
While it took Tony two hours to adjust Harry’s wheelchair to drop the arm and to create the easy seat for Harry to use, it only took him thirty minutes to smash every inch of that bathroom. Tony didn’t stop until water was spraying everywhere from busted pipes, masking the hot tears pouring down his cheeks, and the bathroom was nothing but rubble.
That was where Pepper found him when she arrived at five am, curled up in a ball on the destroyed bathroom floor, screaming about the unfairness of the world to himself.
“Coffee and a shower,” she said, putting her arms around Tony and helping him to his feet with a kind smile that Tony didn’t deserve. “Come on, Tony.”
Tony looked around at the destruction and sighed, his chest aching. “I’m sorry, Pep. I just…”
“I know,” Pepper said. She walked Tony out of the room, one hand between his shoulders and the other holding his arm. “Let’s get you cleaned up before Harry gets up, okay?”
Tony nodded, feeling like a kid being led around by his mother.
How much pain had Maria been in? Did Barnes kill her first or make her watch him kill Howard first?
Pepper and Tony entered his room on tiptoe, both of them pausing to see that Harry was still snoring soundly on Tony’s bed.
“Did you have to give him a potion?” Pepper whispered while Tony found a set of clean clothes in his closet.
“He won’t sleep without it,” Tony said truthfully. He checked on Harry one more time, not even minding that the dog was curled up next to Harry, getting fur and drool all over Tony’s sheets.
Pepper sighed and nodded. Tony watched as she moved over to the bed and sat carefully on the side so she could reach out and brush her hand across Harry’s forehead.
“If you’re interested in playing Mom, I can have an officiant here in an hour,” Tony said, working hard to find a playful voice.
Pepper tossed Tony a smile and a roll of her eyes. “Go shower, Tony.”
“Yes, Mommy,” Tony quipped with a fond half-smile.
It was good that Pepper was home, things felt more normal with her there. Or, at a minimum, Tony knew that Pepper Potts would make a list to put everything back on track.
Tony took as long as he dared in the shower, trying to wash away thoughts of his parents down the drain with the grime.
They were gone. They were dead.
They’d been dead for a long time.
Tony couldn’t help them, but he had a kid that he could help.
Somehow…
Harry was still sleeping in Tony’s bed when he came out of the shower. Harry looked like a kid… just any kid in the world… when he slept. His face was relaxed and his lashes just barely dusted his cheekbone. Harry’s hair was a wreck, he’d went to sleep with it wet and it looked like a mess.
He probably needed a haircut soon.
But, as much as outward appearances meant to Tony, a haircut was sort of low on a list of priorities.
“God, Tony, you look like hell,” Pepper said. She sat at the kitchen counter, occasionally wincing at the sound of the builders in Harry’s room. Pepper nodded toward the counter. “Coffee’s hot.”
“Insert obligatory ‘you’re hot’ joke here,” Tony said tiredly. He poured himself a full cup of coffee and then collapsed in the seat beside Pepper. “Are they making any progress in there or just a ton of noise?”
“Progress,” Pepper assured him. She slid a pink box of donuts from Tony’s favorite bakery toward him. “Eat and then we need to discuss the rest of the renovations needed.”
“What other renovations?” Tony asked blankly while he grabbed a chocolate glazed from the box.
Pepper sighed and gestured around the penthouse. “Tony, until Harry has the strength to begin using a prosthetic, everything is out of chair reach. Where’s he supposed to cook? Make food? Do homework?”
Tony looked around, seeing the elevated kitchen counters, the bar top they sat at, even the video game equipment was in drawers out of reach.
“He fell yesterday, trying to see up here,” Tony said. He pinched the bridge of his nose and then rubbed his forehead hard. “God damn, I didn’t even think about lowering all the freaking counters for him.”
“Why would you?” Pepper said. “Tony, you’ve got a million and five things floating around in that brilliant brain of yours. The height of your counters just wasn’t one, that’s why I’m here.”
Tony reached out and grabbed Pepper’s hand, waiting until she looked him in the eyes.
“I love you,” he said genuinely. Tony squeezed her hand when Pepper rolled her eyes. “No, really, Pep, thank you. I… I don’t think I could do this without you.”
Having a kid was hard enough, but- but a kid with all the problems Harry was going to have? Nothing had ever made Tony want to drink more.
And, annoyingly, nothing had ever prevented him from drinking more.
“Tony, you’re doing amazing,” Pepper said, gentling her voice and her gaze going soft. “It takes a village to raise a child, don’t forget you have that, okay?”
Tony swallowed down a sleep deprived lump in his throat and nodded. “So complete renovation, huh?”
“Yes,” Pepper said, moving right along. She pulled a tablet from her purse and Tony nearly smiled to see that there was a list, complete with open squares to check items off, pulled up. “You and Harry should go on a trip while they renovate. You can go somewhere nice, somewhere warm even. Not the place in Malibu, it’s not accessible at all.”
“I’ll ask Harry,” Tony said, imagining sandy beaches (that Harry couldn’t walk on) or clear oceans (that Harry couldn’t swim in). “What else?”
“Physical therapy,” Pepper said smartly. “I’ve found Doctor Torres at New York Presbyterian, she’s the highest rated one in our area. I like what she’s doing with swimming therapy. It’s innovative and gaining a lot of attention.”
“Book her,” Tony nodded, trusting Pepper’s judgment. “Next?”
“School,” Pepper went on, making a note on her tablet. “When does Harry want to return to Midtown?”
“He doesn’t,” Tony told her. “Not now, maybe not ever. Let’s find a tutor and not Spider-Kid,” he added hastily. “Harry needs lessons on math, not mouth to mouth.”
“I’ll send out some feelers and see if I can find someone quickly,” Pepper said. She hadn’t even looked up, the woman was sometimes more robot than Tony. “And that just leaves—”
“Mister Stark, Mister Harry is awake.”
Tony jumped up, spilling some of his coffee that he had in his hands as he did.
“Hold that thought, Pep,” Tony said distractedly. What was the morning medicine? Sleeping medicine, antidepressant, antibiotics at night… Adderall and nutrition potion in the morning.
“Hey, grab one of the oatmeal colored tubes and Harry’s Adderall from the cabinet over the stove, will you?” Tony asked Pepper. “I’ll be right back.”
Tony booked it to his bedroom, knocking twice before poking his head in with a smile. “Morning, kid. How ya feeling?”
Harry lifted his head from his pillow long enough for Tony to see his eyes were wide and his hair was wild. He blinked a couple of times at Tony, looking lost.
“Hungry?” Tony asked him. “Need to—”
Harry’s entire upper body twitched when a loud bang from his bathroom could be heard clear in Tony’s room and Tony hated the way the blood drained from his face and his eyes began flicking around erratically.
“It’s the builders,” Tony said. He stepped in the room and kicked the door shut behind him, muffling some of the noise. “They’re putting the fanciest tub I could find in your bathroom.”
Harry bit his lower lip, his eyes dropping, and Tony breezed past it since it clearly wasn’t the right thing to say.
“Pepper brought donuts,” Tony told his unresponsive son. Harry seemed to have moods back and forth, talking and silence. Tony was a pro at speaking aloud though, so he tried to not let it unnerve him. “I had a text from the Dogfather this morning, he’s coming back home tonight.”
And bringing Gandalf, apparently.
“And I had your bathroom set up but the builders destroyed it so if you need help, I’m willing to pretend like it’s never happened.”
“Brilliant,” Harry muttered quietly.
“This might cheer you up,” Tony said, throwing his closet doors open dramatically and waving his hand to the newly updated wheelchair inside. “Before you think ‘it’s just a boring chair with red and gold paint’ let me show you the new features.”
Tony went over the upgrades of the chair, the speaker, the easy drop arms, the heated cushioning, while Harry watched with eyes that were entirely too dull to be normal.
The dog, the damn dog, jumped up and licked Harry on the cheek though, which at least brought some life to his eyes.
“So bathroom, breakfast, take the dog out?” Tony said, nodding to himself when Harry didn’t reply. “Then we can go crash in Sirius’ place until they’re done in your bathroom. It’s so damned loud out there I can’t even hear myself think.”
Which wasn’t entirely true, but Harry got tired just sitting most of the time and he’d never be able to get any rest while they were jacking around in the other room.
When Harry didn’t offer up any complaints or comments one way or another, Tony lifted him up and sat him in the chair to push him toward the bathroom. It probably should have been painfully awkward, propping Harry up against his side while he did his business, but Tony had shared side-by-side urinals in bars before and just chattered away to keep Harry from feeling embarrassed.
Tony talked about a vacation, mentioning half a dozen different places, clear up until Harry had washed his hands and they were walking back in the living room where Pepper had thoughtfully moved to the much more Harry-capable couch.
“Harry!” Pepper was on her feet in an instant and rushed over to wrap Harry in a hug while Tony watched from behind the handlebars.
“Oh, baby, how are you?” Pepper asked, pulling away just enough to smile at Harry. “You look tired and skinny, your dad isn’t feeding you, is he?” Pepper stood up and winked at Tony before pushing him away from Harry’s chair with a bump of her hip. “I’ve got donuts and your super surprise sixteenth birthday gift.”
Harry turned his head and gave Pepper a curious look. “My birthday isn’t for ages?”
“So?” Pepper shrugged. She parked Harry beside the couch and then took the seat closest to him, leaving Tony to take his chair. Pepper grabbed her tablet off the coffee table and began swiping away while nodding at Harry’s medicine sitting beside a raspberry filled donut. “Take your medicine and eat then you can see.”
Tony went to grab it for Harry and only hesitated when Pepper cleared her throat.
“Harry can reach it,” Pepper said lightly. She smiled at Harry, her sweet little ‘I’m in charge and you know it’ smile. “Medicine. Food.”
Tony was on the edge of his seat, literally, when Harry slowly leaned forward and grabbed the orange pill bottle. Harry scrunched his nose after he swallowed the pill down with the nutrition potion Sirius got for him and Tony was quick to grab him a cup of coffee.
Pepper gave Tony ‘a look’, but Harry seemed grateful for the drink so Tony settled back and tried to not hover while Harry picked apart a third of his donut and Pepper revealed her grand surprise.
“Okay, Harry, see this program?” Pepper flipped the tablet around, showing Harry the design screen for the StarkCar. “This will walk you through the system, from start to finish, and let you design your first car.”
Harry blinked at her and Tony huffed irritably.
He should have thought about that. They had a little over eight months until Harry’s birthday, but designing a car - from the style to engine size to the color and texture of the interior - took a while to get completed.
Harry, apparently, didn’t agree with them.
“Hilarious,” he snapped at Pepper, turning his face away from her. “Hysterical, really.”
Pepper sat the tablet on Harry’s lap, bravely thinking he wouldn’t just toss it away.
“See? This is why I knew it would be a good surprise today,” she said calmly. “You think I’m being cruel? Harry, do you actually think I would do that to you?”
Harry glanced over at her, his frosty exterior melting just a little. “I have one bloody leg,” Harry hissed. “How am I supposed to drive like that? Or did you want me to pick a car to have someone drive me around like they move me around?”
“Harry, no—”
Pepper raised her hand, silencing Tony’s quick retort. “Harry, this is not the end of your life. You will drive, you will laugh, you will live again. So I am telling you to start designing a car today so that when you turn sixteen your dad can stick a giant bow on the hood, we can all scream surprise, and you can drive it. You. Will. Have. A. Normal. Life. Got it?” she asked sternly, as hard as she’d ever been on the kid.
Tough love was tough to watch, but Tony grinned and relaxed when Harry glared at Pepper before snatching up the tablet and glaring at the screen.
‘Best stepmom ever,’ Tony mouthed to Pepper over Harry’s head with a wink.
‘I know,’ she shot right back.
It was always good when Pepper was home. It was… it was just the missing wheel that kept the belt on track, really.
Tony had a good time for about an hour, describing the pros and cons of every body style of car to Harry. Harry didn’t make a single decision, he started nodding off while Tony tried to convince him to go with a sensible and safe sedan.
“Why don’t you take him down to Sirius’ place and both of you grab a nap?” Pepper suggested. “Make him design a car when he wakes up. It’s good for him to have something to look forward to. Something normal that isn’t just a bathtub or accessible counters.”
“I thought he’d look forward to a prosthetic,” Tony admitted. “He doesn’t want one.”
Even though Tony already had the materials ordered and the blueprints finished. It was amazing the things he could accomplish when he couldn’t sleep.
“Of course he doesn’t,” Pepper scoffed. She got up and shot a look toward Harry’s room, leaving no question on what she planned to do while Harry rested and Tony hovered. “Tony, be serious, he was kidnapped and traumatized by a man with a prosthetic arm. Give him time, he’ll come around. And if not, who cares?”
“Pepper, he can’t just… just not replace his leg,” Tony whispered. What would that look like? Harry just… never walking again? When there was a whole world of prosthetics available? When Tony had dual degrees from MIT and an entire laboratory to dedicate solely to a single leg?
Tony could create legs that would respond to Harry’s thoughts, his mood. Tony could create a leg so realistic that Harry could tattoo it if he felt like getting a tattoo.
And Harry wanted none of it.
“Educate yourself, Tony,” Pepper said firmly. She pulled her phone out and turned her back to him. “I’ve sent you an email. Take a nap first, then read. I’ll wake you when lunch is ready.”
“‘Educate yourself’,” Tony mocked Pepper as he pushed Harry’s chair to the elevator. “I’m supposed to educate myself? Pft.”
“‘M sleeping,” Harry murmured, startling Tony and causing his eyes to look down guiltily.
“Hey, kid,” Tony said quietly, hoping Harry hadn’t been awake long. “I thought you were asleep.”
“I woke up when you started whining that I don’t want a fake leg,” Harry said. He clenched his eyes hard for a moment and it had Tony automatically reaching for one of the instant pain potions he’d taken to carrying around in his pocket for him.
Tony waited until Harry finished the pain reliever off before clearing his throat awkwardly as they arrived on Sirius’ currently empty floor.
“You don’t have to get a prosthetic right now, you know? If you don’t want one, then fuck it, you know?”
Harry unexpectedly grabbed the brakes of his chair and slamming them hard. He turned in his chair and looked up at Tony with a face so perfectly blank that Tony knew it was hiding something rough.
“I don’t want a fake leg,” he said with his chin raised high. “I- I know it makes everything harder for you, but—”
“What? No, wait!” Tony shook his head, a little insulted at Harry’s insinuation. “Kid, I don’t give a damn if you have one leg or seven. You’re not a burden either way. If you don’t want it, fine. I’m sure tons of people live happy one-legged lives, just- just hopping along.”
Anthony Stark, for the love of God… time and place.
There were too many times that Tony’s mouth ran ahead of his brain. Elvita Adams was a good instance of it, ‘hopping along’ was another.
Harry’s mouth opened some and he gawked at Tony, momentarily just as shocked at what Tony said as Tony was. Then, because there was a merciful god somewhere in the world, Harry’s lips curled up in a teeny-tiny small grin.
“Rude thing to say to a kid in a wheelchair,” Harry snarked. “It’s not like I can stand up and fight you about it.”
If Harry wanted to do self-deprecation, Tony could do self-deprecation all day long.
Tony was king of self-deprecation.
“Just make sure if you join any gangs, you join the blue side, they’re the crips,” Tony advised him with a grin. “You’ll roll around with them just fine.”
“Roll around?” Harry scoffed. He turned back around and Tony saw his longing look toward Sirius’ plush L-shaped sofa. “Weak.”
“Cut me some slack, I’m running on E,” Tony said. He reached down and picked Harry up from the chair and put him on the short length of the couch, leaving the long length for himself.
Harry gingerly sat Pepper’s tablet on the coffee table and looked at Tony until Tony laid his head down on the armrest and had his feet by Harry’s… Harry’s foot.
Singular.
Tony tossed blankets over both of them and thought maybe he’d close his eyes, just rest his eyelids for a moment until Harry went to sleep, but Mother Mary he was tired.
“Dad?”
Tony hummed and couldn’t even open his eyes at Harry’s quiet and tired call.
“You… you know how you say you love me?”
Tony grinned crookedly. “I know I do love you, kid.”
“What if… what if I don’t ever want a fake leg? What if I’m just making your life harder because- because I can’t use a fake leg?”
“Would you love me if I was an idiot, Dad? Huh? Do you even love me now?”
“Anthony, you’re acting disgraceful. Are you drunk?”
“Harry, nothing could ever make me not love you,” Tony said with an itching sort of vulnerability. He peeked one eye open and saw that Harry was doing the exact same thing. “One leg, peg leg, red leg, blue leg; it doesn’t make a difference to me.”
Harry’s tense shoulders relaxed some and he closed his eyes. “Thanks.”
Tony gave Harry a tired and lazy salute. “Shh, I’m sleeping,” he joked.
Harry grinned, Tony grinned, and they were both asleep within moments.
Tony didn’t know what Harry dreamt of, but Tony dreamt of his parents- imagining their last moments.
Who went first?
Who had to watch the other one be murdered?
What were Maria’s last words? Howard’s?
Did Barnes even consider letting them live?
Did he get whatever he wanted from them? Or did he have any ulterior motives? Did Barnes kill them for fun?
Did either of them think of their son - their only son - in their last moments?
Tony would have thought of Harry.
Pepper arrived around noon and left a pan of lasagna, a dozen breadsticks, and a note for Tony and Harry to stay at Sirius’ place until the builders were done with Harry’s bathroom.
Tony spent about half an hour over lunch dissecting the heart on the note with Harry.
“Do you think it means ‘I love you like a friend’ or ‘Tony, I’m so passionately obsessed with you, kiss me!’?” Tony asked Harry, sliding the marinara to Harry’s end of the coffee table. “Dip your breadstick in that like a normal human being, kid. Trust me, I’m doing you a favor.”
Harry was sitting up on the couch, looking stronger than he had in a while. There was some color to his cheeks and Tony liked seeing him sitting up with a normal blanket covering his leg instead of the cloak that made him look like half his body was missing. Harry was swapping back and forth between eating and browsing options for a StarkCar.
So far, Harry hadn’t even chosen a body style yet, but at least he was still looking.
“Quit shagging random blokes and ask her on a normal date,” Harry said. “Like… buy her flowers, or chocolate- no, buy her shoes,” he said seriously. “Pepper loves shoes.”
“A nice pair of pumps would be the way to her heart,” Tony agreed. It was the most Harry had talked in weeks and if he wanted to dissect Pepper’s humiliating and all-consuming crush on Tony, so be it.
“Okay, new shoes and then what? A movie and some kissing in a skatepark? That’s standard for dates nowadays, right?” Tony grinned.
Harry glowered at Tony and Tony barked out a laugh when Harry threw a piece of lasagna at his head.
“Peter and I are- we’re over. Can we not talk about him anymore?”
Tony frowned at the quick flash of sadness that washed over Harry’s face before he dropped his head down and began poking at his food.
“Okay, I’m going to count to five and then we’re both going to say what’s on our minds,” Tony said. It was something he used to do with Rhodey back in college. Rhodey could vent about his classes and Tony could bitch about whatever woman of the week was clinging to him. “Ready? One… two… three… four…”
“Peter doesn’t need a one legged boyfriend.”
“Pepper could do better.”
Tony blinked at his son, just as surprised by what came out of Harry’s mouth as Harry seemed to be by what Tony said.
“Harry, no…” Tony slid down the couch to sit by Harry, pulling him to his side. “He’s half-spider, who cares about a missing leg?”
Harry snorted and rested his head on Tony’s shoulder, leaning in to Tony’s embrace. “Pepper likes you, but you’re a slag. Quit being a slag and she’ll go out with you.”
“Quit being a dick and Petey will go out with you,” Tony said.
“Or we swear off love forever.”
Tony laughed and hugged Harry a little tighter. “That’s not going to happen, kid. We’re Stark’s, we’re destined for love.”
“We’re destined for disappointment,” Harry said quietly, sounding pretty pathetic.
Tony rested his head on Harry’s and sighed.
“Barnes told Harry that he killed your mum and dad.”
“Yeah, that too.”
They were cleared to return to their place around three and Tony took Harry on a tour around his new bathroom.
The counters were all ‘wheelchair height’ and the tub had jets and an opening door thing. The toilet was… was handicapped accessible.
“The walls are wet so don’t touch them,” Tony said, forcing himself to sound cheerful about the whole thing. “You want to test out the tub? Look, there’s like five different detachable shower heads so you can wash your hair and—”
“I bet this was expensive…” Harry said softly, looking around the pretty damn nice bathroom. Tony didn’t think that was a compliment though, so he waved it off.
“Nah, I got a good deal,” Tony lied. “I’ll just… uh… leave you to it?”
Harry nodded and so Tony backed out, letting Harry have his victory moment of independence.
His very expensive victory moment of independence that Tony would have paid three times as much for his kid to have.
“JARVIS, if he so much as slips or starts breathing weird, alert me,” Tony ordered his faithful AI when he anxiously sat in his office, throwing a tennis ball up and catching it.
“Very good, sir. Mister Parker has arrived, would you like me to allow him entrance?”
Tony sighed. He’d initiated PHaT-K lockdown the night before, desperately just needing… time. Tony had needed time to wrap his head around everything before Gandalf came and before the world had to spin again.
But Spider-Kid had found Barnes and Tony didn’t hate the kid as much as he planned to.
“Alright, sure,” Tony said irritably. “Tell him to come in here though, he’s not going to go jump in the tub with Harry.”
“Yes, sir,” JARVIS replied, managing to sound amused.
Tony waited tensely for Peter to arrive, just throwing the tennis ball again and again. He glanced down when his phone went off, a text from Strange that he planned on ignoring.
Strange had insisted that Harry needed to continue with his lessons, ‘for normalcy’, and Tony had told him in no uncertain terms to fuck off. Harry needed a chance to breathe, adjust to the new normal.
God knew they all did.
And normal didn’t usually include teenage boys storming in Tony’s office with a skateboard under one arm and a check in the other hand.
“I don’t care how rich you are, I’m not someone you can bribe,” Peter told Tony. He waved the check around and had a whole little righteous set to his jaw.
“Good to see you too, Pete,” Tony quipped. He squinted at the check until he recognized it as one he’d sent out last week. “It’s not a bribe, it’s yours.”
“Did you pay me to come talk to Harry? Or because if I’m not rich then I’m not good enough for him?” Peter asked, standing straight with his spine set like steel. He held the check out to Tony like it was diseased or going to bounce. “I love your son, and I don’t care if you think I’m not good enough for him. I’ve been giving him space because he’s going through something pretty freaking messed up, but you can’t bribe me to come over. I don’t want your money.”
Tony blinked.
Not many things could catch Tony Stark off guard, but that little rant did the trick.
“Pete, I sent you that check because it’s the reward money for finding Barnes,” Tony explained slowly, not really used to teenagers that weren’t his ranting at him. “The extra ten k is standard payment for the members of the Avengers after a mission.”
Okay, maybe Tony only usually cut checks for eight grand, but Pete was a minor so Tony threw him a little extra for hazard pay.
Peter was the one who looked caught off-guard then. He reared back like Tony had punched him.
Which Tony absolutely didn’t do.
“I didn’t catch Barnes for the money,” Peter said. He slapped the check for $510,000 on Tony’s desk. “I caught him because he nearly killed Harry.”
Tony relaxed his shoulders and smirked up at Peter. “So you don’t want the money?”
“I don’t want a bribe,” Peter said curtly. To the kid’s credit, his eyes didn’t even flick once to that check. “And I don’t need paid for being Spiderman.”
Tony laughed and picked the check up, holding it back out for Peter. “You got a savings account, kid?”
“I’ve got a trust fund from my parents,” Peter said slowly. “Why?”
Tony waved a hand, inviting the kid to have a seat. “This is your money. Spend it on college, a car, booze or blow, I don’t care. But let’s get it in an account where it can grow interest while you pretend like this money isn’t going to change your life, alright?”
Peter took a seat and Tony launched in a discussion about IRA’s, interest, investments, and the nitty gritty details that Peter seemed to follow with ease. By the end of it, Tony had most of Peter’s money in an interest growing account and fifty grand in a checking account for him to spend how he wanted.
“My aunt is going to freak,” Peter said after Tony printed out the information on his accounts and handed them over. The kid’s eyes were huge and made Tony chuckle. “Just… just totally going to freak.”
“Bring her over for dinner sometime,” Tony offered. “If you’re going to be working with Sirius again, probably be best if I smooth things over with the parental unit.”
“Oh, yeah, I’m not doing that,” Peter said absently, staring down at the papers still. “Harry would kick my ass.”
Pete just got better and better really.
“Hey, you wanna stay for dinner?” Tony asked him. “Harry’s in a decent mood and we can get takeout or something.”
“Yeah?” Peter looked up then. “He won’t mind?”
Probably. But the kid couldn’t just go around thinking nobody would ever love him because of a silly little leg.
Harry was still Harry.
And, against his better judgement, Tony was starting to like Pete.
Peter trailed behind Tony as he went to the living room. Tony planned on going to check on Harry, only to find Harry sitting in his wheelchair in the living room, in clean clothes, looking smug as hell.
“I— oh.” Harry’s smug look dropped almost immediately when he saw Peter and Tony winced when Harry quickly snatched a blanket off the sofa and covered himself with it.
“I came to yell at your dad and he invited me for dinner,” Peter said nonchalantly. He strutted over to the couch and draped himself across the back. “Iron Man or Gryffindor?” he asked, nodding to Harry’s chair.
“What would you know about Gryffindor?” Harry scoffed, turning his head from Peter.
Tony figured they could just… figure it out… while he went to order dinner, Pepper, and wine.
Not necessarily in that order.
*****
Albus wants to meet in the morning with the whole team.
Good for him. Where’s my prisoner?
Can I come home without him?
Tony looked up from his text conversation with Sirius to see that Harry and Peter were playing a game on the Xbox, Peter’s idea.
From behind, just seeing the back of Harry’s head while he ran his mouth to Peter, shit talking, it looked so normal.
It looked like any other kid hanging out in the afternoon with his friend.
It didn’t look like a kid who got kidnapped and dragged from the country and left in a motel to die.
All done by the man who killed Tony’s parents.
No.
Sirius stole the prisoner, he could spend another night at his place in London.
Pepper arrived with dinner, wine, and a packet that she slapped down on the coffee table in front of Harry.
“You and your dad are going to the Montcalm Royal tomorrow night,” she told Harry. “It’s a seven day stay. Rest, relax, see the sights.”
“I grew up in Surrey?” Harry said skeptically.
“Did you see any sights?” Pepper asked.
Harry rolled his eyes, which was a pretty clear answer.
“And when you two get back, we’re having Thanksgiving dinner and we are doing physical therapy and tutoring. Am I understood, gentlemen?”
“Ma’am, yes, ma’am!” Tony quipped. He stole the wine from Pepper and held it up. “Boys, wine?”
“God, yes,” Peter breathed, tossing the controller on the table.
Pepper made ‘disapproving parent noises’ during dinner when Tony let each of the boys have a glass of wine, but Harry was in a better mood than he’d been in since before- before.
They all talked some, the boys made snarky comments about their classmates, Tony flirted with Pepper. Harry even ate almost an entire serving of chicken parm, which was more than he’d ate in eons.
It was so normal that Tony wanted to cry.
“I think Peter’s good for Harry,” Pepper said. The boys went to Harry’s room after dinner, leaving Tony and Pepper to relax on the couch with glasses of wine. Pepper had her socked feet in Tony’s lap and Tony couldn’t think of anywhere he’d rather be. “Do you think they’ll get back together?”
Tony hummed. “Maybe if Harry stops thinking people only liked him before, yeah.”
Pepper snorted and took a long sip of her wine. “I cannot imagine where he got that sort of diminished self-confidence from.”
“What is that supposed to mean, Miss Potts?” Tony asked, feigning outrage. “I’ll have you know that Lily Potter was nothing but confident.”
“I mean you, stupid,” Pepper grinned. She wiggled her feet in Tony’s lap until Tony got the hint. Tony put his wine glass on the table and began rubbing her feet. The woman deserved it, she was fixing everything single-handedly.
The real hero in the tower was Pepper Potts.
“Tony, that boy has your insecurities—”
Tony and Pepper both jolted when they heard Harry scream.
“WHAT? WHAT MAKES ME MORE OF A FREAK? THE MAGIC OR THE MISSING LEG?!”
“There’s that Stark confidence I was talking about,” Pepper sighed.
“You think Peter said something?” Tony asked hesitantly. He didn’t want to think Pete - the same kid that helped Tony find all the photos of Harry for his birthday and charged in with a check for over half a million dollars and planned on burning it for Harry’s sake - would go around calling Harry a freak. But Tony didn’t think Harry’s shout was exactly promising either.
“Nope. I think our kid needs locked in there until they figure it out,” Pepper said. She drained her wine glass and leaned back on the armrest. “God. You two are so alike.”
“Handsome? Charming? Talented beyond reason?”
“I JUMPED! I JUMPED OUT OF THE CAR JUST LIKE I JUMPED OFF THE ROOF!”
“The self-confidence of an ant,” Pepper said.
“Oh, Jesus,” Tony sighed. He looked up and saw Pepper reflecting his own misery right back to him. “Do I go grab Petey and save him from Harry’s wrath?”
Pepper closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead, looking exhausted. “I—”
“I GOT CEDRIC KILLED AND I PROBABLY GOT BUCKY LOCKED UP AND I AM RUINING EVERYTHING! I HAVE ONE FUCKING LEG BECAUSE ONLY STUPID HARRY POTTER WOULD JUMP FROM A CAR, RIGHT?!”
“Daily therapy,” Pepper murmured to herself. “Every single day for a month. No, six months. Tony, go break it up, okay?”
“Yeah…” Tony got up and moved to Harry’s room, stepping in just to catch the last part of Harry’s red-faced screaming rant.
“NOBODY’S SURPRISED THOUGH, ARE THEY?” Harry screamed. He was sitting in his wheelchair, his chest heaving, and tears streaming down his face. Peter earned himself a couple begrudging points though, he just stood inside the bedroom door, letting Harry take all his anger out on him. “I’M A COWARD, UNWORTHY TO HOLD A HAMMER, CAN’T PASS BLOODY CHEMISTRY, WITH A BRAIN FULL OF DEFICITS AND A HAND CALLING ME A LIAR!”
Harry laughed then, a terrifying sound since it sounded so vulnerable and broken. “AND NOW I’VE GOT ANOTHER SCAR FOR MY FUCKED UP COLLECTION!”
“Time to go, Pete,” Tony quipped quietly. He put his hands on Peter’s shoulders and turned him around, pushing him toward the door.
Peter let Tony push him away and Tony shut the door behind the poor kid.
“Harry… come on…” Tony knelt down and went to pick Harry up.
“DON’T FUCKING GRAB ME!” Harry screamed, jerking his torso to the side. Harry’s eyes were burning with the same sort of horribly deep loathing for himself, for the world, that Tony used to see in the mirror every morning. “I LOST A LEG, NOT THE RIGHT TO NOT BE LIFTED UP LIKE A BLOODY INFANT!”
“You’re right, you’re right,” Tony said, immediately holding his hands up. It wasn’t as if Tony wouldn’t be the same way. Damn, he’d been carrying Harry around like a toddler, not even asking first, just assuming since the kid had been so quiet.
“I’m sorry,” Tony said calmly. He raised his eyebrows pointedly. “Do you want to grab my arms and—” for the love of God, do not say ‘hop’ “—and climb in bed?” he offered, not missing a beat even while he berated himself.
There was a time and place for horribly morbid jokes, that wasn’t the time or place really.
Harry glared at Tony for a long moment, weighing him up.
“I’ve got to use the loo first,” Harry snapped. He grabbed the wheels of his chair and pushed hard, almost running Tony’s toes over in the process.
Tony looked around the too-clean room while Harry was in the bathroom, hating it. He liked it more when Harry had been running around, making a mess, eating all the cereal in the place.
When Harry wheeled himself out of the bathroom, his face still red and swollen but the snot and tears washed away, Tony waited until he was beside his bed to make his offer again.
“Want a hand getting in bed?” Tony said.
“No,” Harry said with a snarl. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the bed as if it had personally wronged him.
“Peter said he loved me again,” Harry said, apropos of absolutely nothing. “Like he- he just… he just…”
Tony was there in an instant when Harry bent at the waist and started crying the most heartbreaking sobs.
“You- you had to spend all this money and my hips hurt all the time and I tried to throw a book and I couldn’t even do it because my arms are tired for no reason!”
“I know, I know.” Tony went ahead and picked Harry up, swinging him in his bed, half on Tony’s chest and half across the middle of the bed. “It’ll get better, it really will.”
“How would you know?!” Harry asked with a strangled sob that was muffled by Tony’s chest. “You’ve got great legs!”
Any other day, Tony would have laughed. Tony would have made a witty joke and veered the conversation to safer waters.
But it wasn’t any other day, it was Harry thinking he was alone and unlovable and… and damn Tony didn’t realize if he had a son that he’d be just like him.
Poor kid.
“Everyone says ‘I know what you’re going through’, but they don’t, how can they?” Tony said. He kept Harry cradled on his chest, calming himself with the familiar feeling of Harry’s thick hair between his fingers. “I… I don’t know what exactly you’re going through, but I’ve got a decent idea about some of it.
“I was in Afghanistan, you would have been… five, yeah, five. Anyway, I was there to promote a new weapon Stark Tech had developed…”
Tony talked until Harry was snoring on his chest and Tony followed behind a few minutes later.