“Two tiny steps.”
Friday, January 12
Tony fired up the cupola furnace in his lab and bounced on the balls of his feet while he waited for Sirius to arrive.
He hadn’t slept in… thirty hours. But it was the good kind of insomnia, the kind that came from a project.
Harry told him yesterday that he wanted a leg and Tony hoped to have the greatest leg in the world ready by the time Harry returned from school. They took all the measurements yesterday - the prototype that Tony made was too short - and all Tony had to do was finally create it.
The molds were ready, the various compartment were painstakingly carved out for Tony to add some razzle dazzle to it. But he couldn’t assemble the leg until he had the material he needed for it.
Sure, Tony could have used a mixture of aluminum and plastic for it like he did for the ones at the VA, but that was boring. It was boring and destructible, Harry needed a leg that was as invincible as Harry thought he was.
Even the iron that made up Tony’s suits weren’t what Tony wanted or Harry needed. The only thing Tony really wanted to make the prosthetic out of was—
“Is there a reason you needed Steve’s shield at eight in the bloody morning?”
Tony looked away from the fires building in the furnace at Sirius’ grouchy voice. Sirius walked in the lab, still dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a tshirt, with the shield in his hands.
It was perfect.
Both material wise and irony wise, in Tony’s opinion.
It was Steve’s fault that Barnes had been able to take Harry and it was Steve’s beloved shield that would replace the leg that Barnes caused him to lose.
Plus it was technically Tony’s property anyway. An heirloom, of sorts, if he felt sentimental about it.
Howard created the shield originally. Tony would make it a leg. Maybe when Harry had kids of his own one day, little tiny Stark grandbabies, then he would take it and make it a sled or something.
Sirius slammed the shield on Tony’s work table, causing Tony to howl in dismay.
“HEY! Careful!” Tony cried. “This stuff is important!”
All of Harry’s measurements were jotted down along with Tony’s detailed blueprint of the final product.
“Looks like junk to me,” Sirius yawned. He scratched at his jaw and tilted his head at the blueprint Tony created. “You’re building a leg?”
“Not just any leg.” Tony picked up Steve’s shield and waved it around some. “Imagine the perfect leg. Virtually indestructible, it grows as the person grows, and has a variety of hollowed out compartments for weapons and safety features.”
Sirius blinked at Tony slowly.
“You’re taking a priceless shield meant for wars and making a bloody leg out of it?”
“Not just any leg, my friend, but Harry’s leg,” Tony said. He smirked when Sirius instantly became more alert. “Oh, he didn’t tell you he wants one now?”
“He didn’t!” Sirius said, clearly putout by that.
Tony wasn’t putout by that, Tony was ecstatic about it. For the first time, Harry came to Tony first about a problem he had.
“Don’t take it personal, it’s because he likes me better,” Tony taunted Sirius. He’d dealt with Harry’s preference for Sirius for seven months, Sirius could deal for one day.
“Help me melt this,” Tony told him. “The furnace gets up to almost two thousand degrees, but it has to be at least five thousand to melt this down.”
Sirius watched while Tony carefully loaded the shield in the furnace, silently giggling like a little kid about the whole thing.
It was just too perfect.
“Make the flames hotter?” Sirius asked Tony. Tony nodded and Sirius pulled a wand from his sweatpants pocket.
The two of them watched the flames grow and burn hot enough to drive them both back a couple of steps. The shield inside the furnace melted slowly. The colors dripped off it, the circle slowly wilted, until finally, after ten minutes of exposure to the furnace, it melted down in the pot Tony loaded up for it all.
“Indestructible my arse,” Sirius muttered.
Tony grinned at him. “You really think Harry’s at high risk for exposure to temps that high?”
Sirius stared deadpan at Tony until he conceded the point.
“Yeah, well, maybe he’ll just portal away if so,” Tony said. “Hey, you mind? Normally I’d grab that pan with my hook then pour it, but if you’re right here…”
Sirius sighed dramatically and then used his wand to carefully guide the pan from under the furnace to float above the molds.
“Just dump it in?” he asked.
“Slowly,” Tony stressed. “Don’t let it splash and make sure you get all three molds.”
Sirius screwed his face up in a cute look of concentration - just because Tony was soon to be a married man didn’t mean he was blind - as he followed Tony’s instructions.
“Done!” Sirius said victoriously after he finished. He looked as gleeful as Tony was about the whole project. “What now?”
“Now,” Tony checked the time, “I’ve got an appointment I need to get to. These should be set by the time I get back, then I can build it and have Harry try it on when he gets home.”
“An appointment? Are you sick?” Sirius asked. He put the back of his hand on Tony’s forehead and groaned. “I knew it, getting engaged is killing you, isn’t it?”
Tony smacked Sirius’ hand away with a chuckle. He didn’t know if it was the fact that Harry finally came to him first or just the contentment that came from knowing he would have his family for the rest of his life, but Tony felt oddly fond of Sirius in the moment.
Which was a mostly new emotion as Tony typically felt jealous of Sirius at any given time.
“It’s for Pepper’s wedding present,” Tony told Sirius. “Hey! You want to come with?”
Sirius’ face lit up. “Can we take the bikes?”
“Obviously we’re taking the bikes.”
Sure, it was a frozen and freezing tundra outside, but Tony had a heated jacket and Sirius had magic. So, yeah, obviously they were taking the bikes.
Tony felt fifteen years younger on the drive. If he closed his eyes, he was back in London, racing Sirius while James and Lily cheered him on from the veranda of the pub.
Tony didn’t close his eyes though. Aside from the obvious safety concerns that would occur if Tony tried to drive a motorcycle blind, Tony didn’t want to close his eyes.
Why would he go back to the past when he had more than he ever thought he wanted in the present?
Tony had a brilliant and gorgeous woman who loved him and wanted to be with him for the rest of their lives. Tony had a son who was probably the strongest person that Tony knew. Tony had a few good friends who he knew had his back when it came down to it.
Even better than the present would be the future, and that was what Tony wanted to focus on. A future where Harry would walk again. A future where Tony had his own family. A future where they had a home, not just a place to live.
“You cheated,” Tony said as soon as he parked his bike. Sirius beat him to the location by eighty-seven seconds. “I saw that car suddenly decided to turn,” he said, pointing at Sirius accusingly.
Sirius leaned against the Ducati that Tony gave him and was the image of arrogant indifference.
“You got me mixed up with some other bloke,” Sirius said airily. He looked around the empty land they parked in front of. “What are we doing here?”
‘Here’ being the twenty acre lot that Tony planned to purchase. It was perfect, in Tony’s opinion. It sat on the edge of the bay that surrounded Woodsburgh, giving it a beach vibe that Tony liked. It was also close enough to both Stark Industry headquarters and Midtown that commute wouldn’t be an issue.
“This is where I’m going to build a house,” Tony told him. He could imagine it perfectly, so he tried to describe his vision to Sirius.
“I’ll have a detached barn over there,” Tony waved his hand around as he spoke. “That’ll be for my lab, keep it separate from the house. Then I’m thinking a ranch-style house, all one floor? But with a finished apartment style basement for Harry, maybe make it two bedrooms, so his friends can crash here too.
“Then if I put the master room on that far side over there, we’ll see the sunset from our windows. I thought about flipping it to see the sunrise, but I don’t want to be woken at the literal crack of dawn every day.
“So then the kids’ rooms will be—”
“Woah!” Sirius let Tony ramble about his plans for a while but then he abruptly interrupted. When Tony blinked at him, Sirius’ eyebrows were high on his forehead. “Kids rooms?” he asked. “As in, more than just Harry?”
“Yeah?” Tony ran an uncertain hand through his hair before dropping his arm to his side. “Why not?”
Sirius locked his lower lip between his teeth for a moment, stressing Tony out.
Harry said he wanted siblings, but… but Sirius knew Harry a hell of a lot better than Tony did. Maybe Harry only said it because he thought Tony and Pepper wanted him to?
Fuck.
Tony didn’t even consider that.
Just when Tony’s thoughts were spiraling off in worry that Harry was perfectly content being an only child, Sirius stepped forward and put a hand on Tony’s shoulder.
“You’re a good dad, Tony, you should have more kids. I bet Pepper would be a hell of a mum.”
“You don’t think Harry will secretly resent them for the rest of his life?” Tony asked, aiming for sarcasm and failing spectacularly.
There was a flash of something across Sirius’ face, a look of concern or some other emotion that was replaced by a charming smile too quickly for Tony to identify it.
“Harry loves kids,” Sirius said. He squeezed Tony’s shoulder once more before he stuffed his hands in his leather jacket pockets and turned to look around at the land. “You going to sell the tower?” he asked, a complete and appreciated change in subject.
“I do use that tower for more than just hosting the homeless,” Tony joked. He nudged Sirius with his shoulder and pointed toward an area far back from where he planned to put the house. “How many bedrooms do you want? Two? Three?”
“What?” Sirius looked over at Tony in surprise. “What are you talking about?”
“You can’t live in my house, I don’t need Pepper exposed to your naked ass every day, but, yeah, I figured I’d add a place for you.” Tony shrugged. “Harry and his future siblings will want their godfather around. And it’ll save me from having to get more animals, they can just play fetch with you if they get bored.”
Tony felt an uncomfortable itch on the back of his neck when Sirius’ grey eyes glazed over with what looked like tears. Tony was not a ‘let’s cry together’ kind of guy, no matter that he had done it before in Sirius’ arms.
Thankfully, Sirius only sniffed quietly and then turned back to look at the property.
“Three rooms then,” he said quietly. “So my godkids can come stay the night when you piss them off.”
Sirius stayed quiet while Tony met with the realtor and signed the deal for the property. As soon as the ground defrosted, Tony could hire a crew and get the place built. If all went to plan, Tony could move his family in after the wedding that summer.
Everything was almost too good to be true.
Tony and Sirius split up on the drive home. Sirius went to meet up with Stephen - and Tony had to assume that Stephen was magical in bed because Tony couldn’t imagine what Sirius saw in the arrogant prick - while Tony rushed back to the tower to finish building Harry’s leg.
The molds had set perfectly and Tony was gentle as he removed pieces for assembly. Even hollowed out, the vibranium mixed with iron alloy was strong enough that it could support an infinite amount of weight without bending.
Tony wanted to test its weight, but he’d seen Thor hit the shield with his hammer without even leaving a dent, so he figured it was sturdy enough.
The assembly took a little longer than Tony planned, but Harry’s leg had a lot more pieces than the ones he made before. The place where Harry’s thigh would rest needed to be able to expand as Harry got older. The upper and lower portions needed to have telescoping pieces installed for growth.
And the knee was just a bitch to do. Teeny tiny screws and paper thin plates to make the joint bend and move just like a leg? It was more intricate than the kneecap on Tony’s favorite suit was.
By the time JARVIS alerted Tony that Harry had returned from school, Tony had just applied the thick layer of gel in the top socket.
With more compartments than Harry could begin to need, three separate trackers imbedded in the metal, and a fail-safe taser connected with the toes that could be activated by a button behind the knee? It was a work of art.
Not to pat himself on the back, but that leg was beautiful. Underneath a pair of jeans and it would be impossible to tell it was even artificial.
Tony hid the leg under a tarp and waited for Harry to make his way to the lab. Harry would know that Tony worked tirelessly on his new limb, but Tony still wanted a dramatic reveal.
When Harry finally clanked his way in the lab (a noise that Tony would be thrilled to not have to hear again), he looked exhausted while Tony had never felt more awake.
“Hey, Dad,” Harry said. He tossed his backpack on the floor by the door and carefully made his way through the path of junk to get to where Tony stood.
“Rough day?” Tony asked, concerned with the tired bags under Harry’s eyes. Harry shrugged and popped down on one of the stools Tony had by his workstation.
“The perk of homeschooling was much less hopping around all day,” Harry said. He winced as he reached down to rub his left leg. “I dunno, it started aching in chemistry, I reckon even my stump doesn’t like chemical bonds.”
“Did you take anything for it?” Tony asked.
Harry rolled his eyes up to the ceiling and sighed.
“Yeah, I was gonna take a pain potion in the middle of muggle school. That wouldn’t be hard to explain at all, would it?”
“Smartass,” Tony said fondly. He had plenty of bottles of ibuprofen laying around, a side-effect of his chronic headaches; he grabbed a bottle and gave Harry two tablets before tucking it in the side of his backpack.
“Take two if you need them at school and let me know what time you took them,” Tony told Harry.
Harry was smart and responsible in his own way, but keeping track of medications was not his strong suit.
Harry agreed easily enough as he made a little portal to get a bottle of water from the kitchen.
“Portaling has made you lazy,” Tony laughed.
“I’ve got one leg,” Harry said drily. “The less hopping I do, the better.”
“Touché,” Tony said. He grabbed the edge of the tarp and waited until Harry took the medicine to gain his son’s complete attention.
“You’ll need to find a new excuse though because…” Tony ripped the tarp off in a dramatic flourish. “Tada! Now you have two legs!”
Harry actually gasped in what seemed to be incredibly vindicating surprise.
“This… you made this?” Harry asked, wide eyed. He reached out to touch the fully functioning ankle and Tony smiled at the impressed look on Harry’s face.
“Sirius helped some,” Tony said. He could give Sirius some credit because that look of shock and admiration was being aimed directly at Tony.
“It looks so real,” Harry murmured. He stroked the metal softly, a smile slowly stretching on his face. “Was it expensive to make?” he asked abruptly.
“Nope, I used some material I already had laying around,” Tony said, not even lying. “You wanna try it on? See if we need to make any adjustments?”
“Alright then,” Harry said, suddenly wary. Tony didn’t give him time to get nervous, he couldn’t wait to see Harry walk again.
Tony grabbed the prosthetic and waited for Harry to roll up his jeans until Tony could see his thigh.
Thanks to Stephen and Sirius, the scarring was minimal and it healed perfectly.
“All you have to do is put your leg in here and then tighten this part, or loosen it, whatever you need,” Tony explained while he fit the leg to Harry’s thigh. Once it was secured, Tony backed up a couple of feet and held his hands out.
“You ready?” he asked Harry.
Harry took a deep breath and Tony thanked himself for installing so many cameras in his lab, it was a moment he needed to have recorded for posterity.
“If I fall and break my other leg, I’m going to tell Pepper to marry Clint,” Harry said, hiding his nerves behind a scowled comment. It was getting easier and easier to interpret Harry-sass - it just took some practice.
“Good idea,” Tony replied seriously. “Then you can have Nat as an aunt.”
“Ugh.” Harry sighed again and then held his hands out to Tony while he planted his feet on the floor. “Don’t- don’t let me fall.”
“I won’t,” Tony said solemnly. “C’mon, kid, you can do this. Two tiny steps.”
Harry squeezed Tony’s hands tight as he shakily stood up and adjusted to the feel of it.
“All good?” Tony asked. “No pinching or anything?”
Harry shook his head. “Nothing.”
“Alright, two steps,” Tony encouraged him. “I’ve got you, you’re not going to fall.”
Tony just needed Harry to trust him again, trust that Tony wouldn’t let him fall.
Harry held Tony’s hand in an iron grip and moved his right foot forward before slowly lifting his left foot and taking a step forward.
“I did it!” Harry cried, he let out a surprised laugh. “Dad! I did it!”
“You did it!” Tony agreed with his own laugh. They both let out victory cheers when Harry took another step.
Tony backed up so Harry could walk forward and it only took Harry two more steps before he let go of Tony’s hands.
“Dad…” Harry looked down at his feet and then up at Tony and there were tears welling up and dripping over the edges. “Dad, I can walk.”
Tony wasn’t a ‘let’s cry together’ kind of guy when it came to anyone else in the galaxy. But when he got to watch his son take his first steps after months of rehab and surgery and trauma?
Then Tony was apparently a ‘let’s cry together’ kind of dad.