Chapter 41
Harry lifted his head from where it had been resting against Tony's shoulder, and looked around blearily as someone lightly tapped his arm.
"Harry, hon. We're about to land," Pepper rubbed her hand up and down his arm gently, like she always did to wake Tony up.
Harry squinted at the strawberry blonde kneeling before him, and he rubbed his eyes. Carefully, glasses were slid on to his face, and Harry blinked a few times to adjust his eyes to the prescription.
"Thank you," Harry murmured, sleep still thick in his voice. Pepper smiled fondly before standing up and planting a soft kiss to Harry's forehead.
Harry blushed, his ears growing warm. He loved Pepper, and considered her his mum, but they weren't as close as he was with Tony, because she was working all the time. It wasn't often she let her professional façade slip to reveal a sensitive side, but when she did- those were Harry's favorite moments.
Like the time he got up late at night to get a glass of water, and he found Pepper and Tony slow dancing in the kitchen. Tony had twirled Pepper, and her soft laughter floated through the air as she gazed at Tony with adoration in her eyes.
And when he saw Pepper inch her hand closer to Tony's at the dinner table so that their pinkies were just barely touching. When he saw Pepper rest her head on Tony's shoulder while they were watching movies. When he saw Pepper cover Tony with a blanket when he had fallen asleep on the couch or at his lab table.
Those were Harry's favorite moments. When people didn't know anyone was watching, and yet they still continued to do cute and seemingly mundane things for someone else.
But coming from someone who had never experienced this in his life, Harry found moments like those to be the best.
Beside him, Tony's grumbling pulled Harry from his trance.
"Have a nice nap?" Pepper teased, placing her hand on Tony's shoulder as she stepped back to her seat and buckled up, preparing for the descent of the helicopter.
"Mhmm," Tony hummed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes before turning to Harry and smiling.
"Are you excited to see Peter?" Tony asked, eyes crinkling at the corners with his grin.
Harry blushed, and he smiled. Tony had insisted that nobody tell Peter the outcome of the trial, and they had only just told him they were coming home that morning. He knew that it was someone mean, but he had insisted that Peter's reaction would be priceless and they wouldn't want to miss it.
"I can't wait to see his reaction," Harry admitted. He hadn't been fond of the plan at first, but the idea of telling Peter himself was growing on him, and he was growing more and more excited.
"Well it feels as though we're beginning our descent now, so you won't have to wait much longer," Tony declared.
The descent was quick and relatively smooth, and before he knew it, Harry found himself climbing out of the helicopter, Tony and Pepper in front of him, and Steve, Bucky, Bruce, Natasha and Clint behind him.
"Mr. Stark, Peter Parker is waiting in the lobby," Friday announced as the team entered the elevator from roof where the helipad was.
"I figured as much. Go ahead and send him up to the penthouse," Tony smiled.
"I'm going to go put on a pot of coffee," Steve announced as the elevator dinged and opened to reveal the kitchen and living area of the penthouse. Everyone muttered their thanks and agreeance. Natasha and Clint promptly made their way to the couch and both flopped in separate directions, exhausted.
"Jet lag is going to kick your ass for the next few days," Tony laughed. From where they were lying on the couch, two middle fingers from each spy flew up in unison.
"How do you think Peter is going to react?" Harry asked, chewing on his lower lip anxiously. He knew that Peter would be excited, but somewhere inside of him, dark thoughts crossed his mind.
"Harry," Natasha spoke, sitting up. Her voice was rough, but her tone was soothing. "Peter is head over heels for you. He's going to be over the moon to hear that you're staying here, and making your part in this family official. Though, on everything but paper, it is."
Harry smiled. He knew that Tony and Pepper both considered him their son, and that no matter what the outcome of the trial had been, they would have felt the same and fought to keep it that way.
A ding from the elevator signaled that Harry was going to see Peter's reaction sooner than he had originally been expecting.
When the metal doors parted to reveal a disheveled Peter, looking weathered and worried, Harry couldn't stop the smile from spreading across his face.
Peter took a step out of the elevator and looked around frantically before his eyes landed on Harry, and his body visibly relaxed.
"Harry," he breathed, "you're here."
Harry moved from the kitchen towards Peter. "I'm here. And I'm here to stay."
Suddenly there was a blur and then arms were wrapped around his neck, at first making Harry tense, but as he inhaled the scent of Peter's shampoo and deodorant, he melted into the embrace. Ignoring the pain that it caused in his back, Harry squeezed Peter tight against himself, just enjoying the feeling of being in his arms.
His mind flashed back to two days ago when they had left for England, and he had had to say goodbye to Peter, for possibly the last time. They had hugged for several minutes, and Tony almost had to pry them apart to get Harry on to the helicopter.
Returning to the present moment, Harry closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, taking in the scent of Peter. His hair smelled of strawberries and coconut, and Harry smiled as he realized that Peter had used some of May's shampoo again by mistake.
Peter broke away from Harry after several minutes, blushing profusely as he looked around at everyone else in the room, all who were wearing smiles on their faces.
"Hi," the teen said, glancing down at his shoes shyly.
"Come here, kid," Tony held open his arms, welcoming Peter into a rare gesture of physical affection. Tony didn't show many physical displays of affection with anyone other than Harry and Pepper, especially not in front of others, so when he offered, it was a special moment.
"So what happened? How did it go? I mean, it obviously went well, but what all went down?" Peter asked, rapid fire questions flying, as he broke away from Tony's hug. He had so many questions that his head felt as though it were spinning, and his heart was beating quickly.
With a small chuckle, Tony placed his hand on Peter's shoulder. The teen almost appeared to be shaking with excitement, all of his pent up anxiety and tension from the past several days now being released.
"It went really well!" Harry jumped in, face bright with excitement. He had expected the trial to be hard for him to recount, but after feeling so much peace and relief from being set free, he found that it was easier to talk about than originally expected.
He began to dive into details that made Peter's head spin, his vision blurring in and out, fading around the edges. His head pounded as he listened to Harry describe the trial.
Everyone was smiling as the listened to Harry ramble on, telling Peter his side of everything. How Petunia had lied about everything, how she scowled at him every time he spoke, how kind everyone in the courtroom was too him.
Peter's head pounded, and he squinted as the room grew bright. What had Harry just said?
"Pete?" Tony asked, feeling the teen begin to sway beneath his hand that was still resting on Peter's shoulder.
"Sleepy," Peter slurred. "M' head hur's."
His eyes rolled back before shutting, and his head lolled backwards, as if whatever had been keeping his head upright had suddenly collapsed.
Tony caught him as his knees gave out, and the rest of his body went limp.
"Peter!" Harry cried, eyes widening as he realized what had just happened.
"Bruce!" Tony barked, and the scientist quickly rushed around from the other side of the kitchen island.
"Oh my God, Peter!" Harry cried, rushing to his boyfriend's side and doubling over with a sob. Everything had actually been going according to plan for once, so why did life always have to fuck him over? Couldn't everything have been fine for at least a few minutes?
"His pulse is racing, and his heart rate is through the roof from what I can tell," Bruce frowned, holding his hand to Peter's wrist and feeling his pulse. "Let's get him down to the medbay and we can take his BP and see what's going on."
"It seems that Mr. Parker is suffering from extreme exhaustion and dehydration," Friday announced.
Peter groaned, beginning to stir a bit. Harry grasped at his hand, giving his a tight squeeze as the stirring began to turn into thrashing and panic.
"Shh, you're alright," Harry soothed, remembering how Peter had always greeted him when he woke up panicking.
"Just stay there, Pete," Tony hushed.
"Peter, you just fainted. We're going to get you down to the medbay and get an IV in, and run some tests."
"Uh-uh," Peter shook his head slowly, scrunching his face up as his eyes adjusted to the light. "No 'spital."
"It's not the hospital Pete, just the medbay. You've been there plenty of times, and you've got your own bed right next to mine! Bruce is going to help you, okay?" Harry brushed Peter's curls out of his face gently.
Tony watched as his kids interacted, and pride swelled in his chest as he realized how far Harry had come. Something like this would have set him off and had him spiraling about a month ago. But now, he was able to remain levelheaded and somewhat calm for Peter.
"Here you go, Peter. Let me help you sit up slowly, alright?" Bucky appeared, a glass of water in his hand. He set the cup down and placed one hand on Peter's shoulder, and offered his other hand to Peter so that he could pull himself up.
"Three, two, one, up... slowly," Bucky coached, his hand sliding down to the small of Peter's back as he helped the teen sit up.
"Here you are," he handed Peter the glass of water, guiding the glass to his mouth.
"Peter, can you tell me what day it is?" Bruce asked, voice soft and patient.
"September 17th," Peter replied, voice still rough and grumbly, but he was more coherent now.
"Good. When was the last time you slept?" Bruce frowned, just now noticing the dark bags under the teenager's eyes.
Peter wracked his brain for an answer, thinking back to the last two nights when he had just laid staring at the ceiling, worrying about the trial for so long that he had just decided to patrol as Spiderman instead. May was away at a conference in Maine, and wouldn't be home for another three days, so she wasn't there to make him stay home from school.
School had also been hectic, as the teachers regained the swing of things and stopped being so nice like they had been after the first few days of school. Now, school was fully back in session.
Thinking back on it, Peter couldn't remember the last time he had slept.
"Maybe... five or six nights ago? For a few hours?" Peter murmured, ashamed. He knew that Tony was going to scold him for being so irresponsible and not taking care of himself.
"Peter," Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh.
"Before you scold me, I know. I was just worried, and I couldn't sleep. But right now, I just don't feel good, so please don't yell at me," Peter sniffled, eyes pooling with tears that he wished would go away.
Harry looked up at Tony from his place behind Peter, shaking his head at his dad who seemed to be biting back a lecture. It wasn't the time or place for chastising Peter- he already felt bad enough.
"Pete, do you think you can walk or do you need help?" Bucky asked, crouching down beside Peter so that he was eye level with the teenager.
"'M still lightheaded," Peter grumbled, closing his eyes as the room spun more. Before he could say anything else, Bucky had bundled him in his arms and was holding him close to his chest.
"While you guys all sit around and blame him for being concerned about his boyfriend, I'm going to take him down to the medbay, and I'll meet you down there when you're ready to be judgement free," Bucky blandly stated, and disappeared into the elevator with Peter collected in his arms.
Wordlessly, Harry rose to his feet and followed the two, leaving the rest of the team to stand, watching as they walked away.
*
A knock at the door caught Harry's attention, and he turned to face where Tony was standing sheepishly in the doorway.
"Hey," Tony murmured softly, voice low so that he didn't disturb Peter, who appeared to be sleeping quite heavily.
"Hey," Harry replied, giving his dad a small smile. "You can come in. He's completely out. Bruce gave him a light sedative. Well, light for him."
Tony let a small smirk show, as he knew exactly what Harry meant. A 'light' sedative for Peter could knock out a horse.
"Good. He works himself into the ground too easily. Thinks it's his responsibility to help everyone and everything, even if it means putting himself last all the time," Tony gazed fondly at the sleeping superhero.
"You know, I wasn't going to yell at him earlier. At least, I didn't think I was. But then I realized, I have no room to get upset with him, because I do the same things. I can't get mad at him for staying up for almost a full week when I do the same thing. I can't be mad at him for worrying about helping others to the point that he ends up hurting himself, because I do the same things. You do it to. The three of us, we're all alike, you know? And I just feel bad for not checking in on him to see how he was doing through all of this, because it affects all of us. And-"
"Dad," Harry interrupted, stopping Tony's rambling. "It's okay. We've all had a lot on our plates the past few weeks. And sometimes, for survival's sake, you have to think about yourself, and yourself only. I only just recently learned that lesson, and it takes some getting used to. But Peter doesn't blame you for anything. He's just afraid of disappointing you, or letting you down."
Tony's heart sank as he looked at how innocent Peter looked in the bed, fast asleep. His curls, overdue for a haircut, were splayed out messily on the pillow. His lips were slightly parted as he breathed, and his eyelashes fluttered as he dreamed. How could Peter possibly disappoint him?
And Harry, sitting beside Peter's bedside, curled up in a chair in the same way Peter had been when their roles had been reversed. How could either one of his kids think that they could ever let him down?
Pride bubbled within Tony's chest as he realized how much both boys had grown since they met him. Harry still had a long way to go, but when they had met, he was a severely abused, malnourished kid, afraid of his own shadow, and was terrified of committing to relationships with anyone else.
Now, he was looking healthier, and was sitting with his boyfriend and was finding himself welcomed into a new family.
And Peter; when Tony had met him, he was a quiet, timid kid that was afraid of sharing his ideas, fearful about possibly being wrong. He had been a kid in pajamas, swinging around New York City from the product of a science experiment, fighting crime. Now, he had a high tech suit, suggested any and all ideas he had to Tony, had no problem pointing out things that needed to be fixed in Stark labs, and he found himself viewing Tony as filling the role of role model/ father figure in his life.
Tony smiled to himself as he watched Harry reach for Peter's hand and intertwine his fingers with Peter's. He had good kids, and he was so unbelievable proud of them.
And he swore on his life right then and there, that nothing and nobody could ever change his mind about that.