Chapter 14
"However, he did suffer a bit of a relapse..."
Bruce trailed off and Tony felt his jaw clench.
"How bad?" He grimaced, bracing himself for the answer.
"Well," Bruce began grimly. "He- He thinks I'm... him. He thinks I'm his uncle."
*
The room went silent, and the tension that hung in the air could be cut with a knife.
"He...how could he..." Tony paused and took a deep breath to regain his composure. "Is it just you?"
"I think so," Bruce sighed. "He wasn't afraid of Clint, just me."
"Then I want to see him," Tony decided. "I need to make sure he's okay, and I promised Peter that he could come down when Harry was awake because the kid's really freaking out and-"
"Tony," Pepper put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a light squeeze as she interrupted him. "Take a deep breath."
He inhaled a shaky breath, nodding before he turned to Bruce.
"Can I go in there and see him?"
Bruce nodded, and Tony took a step towards the door and quietly entered the room. Immediately, his eyes fell upon Harry who was curled on the bed with a pillow clutched to his chest.
"Hey buddy," Tony whispered as he approached Harry slowly. He didn't want to frighten the already terrified kid in front of him, and he knew that if he was loud or made any sudden movements, Harry would be scared.
Harry's green eyes widened as he glanced wildly in the direction of the man's voice. But this voice wasn't scary or angry. It wasn't loud and threatening; instead, it was soft and gentle. Familiar.
"Tony?" Harry called softly. He went to sit up, but was immediately hit with a wave of nausea and dizziness, causing him to groan and sink back to the bed.
"Hey, shh. You're okay," Tony told him as Harry began to whimper, and he took a careful seat on the edge of Harry's bed.
"Are you in pain?" Tony looked at the quivering child in front of him with concerned etched across his face. His eyes landed on the thickly applied gauze and bandages that were tightly wound around Harry's forearm. Harry, having noticed that Tony was glancing at his arm, quickly threw the blanket over the bandaging in an attempt to hide it.
"Hey," Tony spoke softly with a frown. "You don't have to hide from us. It's okay."
"No its not," Harry cried, "I messed up. I'm so sorry, I mess up. It's okay if you don't want me anymore. I'm sorry."
"Shh, you're okay. Can I touch you?" Tony asked and Harry gave a slight nod before Tony pulled him into his arms. "Harry, there is no way that something like this can make me change my mind about wanting to adopt you. You are always welcome here, and I will always want you. We... I... I love you kid."
"You... you do?" Harry breathed, pulling away from Tony's shoulder wearing a shocked expression. "Even though I screwed up?"
"If people stopped loving others every time the other screwed up, Pepper would be in Timbuktu by now to try to get away from me," Tony teased, giving Harry good hand a light squeeze.
"Nobody's ever told me that before. Not that I can remember," Harry whispered so softly that Tony almost didn't hear. But the words, no matter how quiet they were, resonated with Tony at a volume so high that it was almost impossible to hear anything else.
Nobody's ever told the kid they love him before.
"Well, I'm telling you now, and I can guarantee you that everyone on the team would tell you the exact same thing," Tony brushed Harry's hair out of his face. He was intrigued by the odd shaped scar that marked Harry's forehead, but knew better than to ask. When Bruce had asked what had happened, Harry got skittish and anxious, so they had agreed never to ask again.
There was the soft whoosh noise, and Harry flinched away from Tony's embrace suddenly.
"Harry?" A voice called, and Harry stiffened.
"Harry? Can we talk?" Bruce asked, stepping closer to where Harry was at.
"No, please," Harry cried, beginning to tremble. "I'm sorry sir, I'm sorry."
"Harry, it's me, Bruce. I'm not going to hurt you," Bruce responded with a heavy, sad voice. Harry's hand flew to his injured arm and hid the bandages under the blanket even more.
"Harry, it's just Bruce. Your Uncle isn't here and nobody is going to hurt you, I promise," Tony soothed.
"He hurt me. I'm sorry sir, please don't hurt me again."
Tony shot Bruce a confused look, and Bruce nodded his head to Tony, motioning for him to step outside for a moment.
"I'll be right back. You're okay," Tony planted a chaste kiss on Harry's forehead, holding back a small smile when Harry leaned slightly into the fatherly kiss.
"He thinks you're his uncle because you hurt him?" Tony hissed, attempting to bite back his anger. "What did you do?"
"Tony, please relax. The sedatives must not have fully kicked in before I began stitching him up. He must know it was me," Bruce sighed, taking off his glasses and rubbing his hand over his face. But his face soon shifted to anger.
"But you should know that I would never- never, intentionally hurt Harry!" He spat, shaking a bit with rage. How dare he accuse him of hurting Harry! He would never, and Tony should know that!
"Whoa buddy, calm down there. We don't need the Other Guy to make an appearance right now, especially when Harry's already this scared of you," Tony put both hands on Bruce's chest to ground him, guiding him through several deep breaths.
"Good," Tony sighed after Bruce had finally calmed down.
"I'm sorry. I was just upset that you thought, even for a second, that I had meant to hurt Harry," Bruce apologized.
"Bruce, I never thought that. I was just confused and, and... angry. Angry at his uncle for making him scared of everyone that accidentally hurts him. Angry at myself for not noticing that he was struggling, or checking up on him sooner. Angry at the goddamn world for being so fucking awful!"
This time, it was Bruce's hands that found themselves on Tony's chest, helping to calm him down.
"Tone," Bruce spoke softly, "look around you. Yeah, life can suck sometimes, but you've got a family. A team of people that will always be there for you, and now you're welcoming a new member into it, and it was all because the world just decided to throw a curveball. If you the world hadn't been so screwed up, we never would have gotten Harry."
The sound of silence was louder than anything else in that moment. Bruce was right. If the world hadn't been so fucked up, they wouldn't have ever met Harry, and they would never have known how much happiness they were missing out on.
The late morning breakfasts with the Harry flipping pancakes at the griddle while giggling as he tried to instruct Clint how to properly cook the scrambled eggs.
The movie nights with Harry huddled under layers of blankets, head in Pepper's lap as they watched.
The late nights where Harry would bring water and food down to the gym where he knew Steve was training because neither of them could sleep.
The quiet afternoons where Harry would sneak up to the roof to join Natasha in cloud watching, pointing out unique shapes of animals she had never heard of.
The early mornings when Harry would slip down to the library and chat with Bruce because he knew the man got up early and longed for company.
The days when Harry would sneak down into the lab with a plate of cookies, coffee and some blueberries for Tony because those were his favorite, and he knew the man had forgotten to eat once more.
Harry seemed to be their glue. He was the one that kept them all in one piece. The one that gave them reasons to get up and fight every morning, even if the world wasn't looking up. But if Harry could keep getting up, then goddammit they could too.
"You're right," Tony finally spoke. "Harry is one of the best things that has ever happened to me, and it's all because of some screwed up asshole that hurt him."
"Mister Stark?" A small voice interrupted them, and Tony looked up to see Peter peeking around the corner timidly, as if he were a child sneaking into somewhere he shouldn't be.
"Pete, what're you doing down here?" Tony asked as he hurried to the kid's side. Peter's face had more color to it now than it did earlier, but he was still looking rather wobbly on his feet.
"Ms. Potts brought me down here," Peter responded. "She said, if it was alright with you and Dr. Banner, I could maybe see Harry?"
Tony exchanged glanced with Bruce, before running a hand over his face, feeling the prickle of his facial hair.
"I suppose that's alright, but you'll have to be very careful. He thinks Bruce is his uncle right now, so there's no telling what he might do."
Peter gave a half nod, eyes trained on Tony's. With one final nod to Bruce, Tony wrapped an arm around Peter and gave him a reassuring squeeze before leading him into the room where Harry was.
"Alright kid, I'll leave you to it. If you need anything, I'll be right here," Tony told Peter with one last squeeze on his shoulder. Peter took one last deep breath, before ducking into the room.