Homecoming
CHAPTER 7: HOMECOMING
There was no press when they landed in La Guardia, as Pepper had someone leak the fake arrival time to be a day later. From the messages he read over the flight, the rest of the Avengers were already aware of his fatherhood status. Clint even left him a message to inform Tony they’ll keep to themselves for as long as Tony needed until he decides it’s time for them to meet Harry. He said the team were all happy for Tony, and are quite enjoying shopping for toys and clothes the past few days.
Harry had fallen asleep in his lap while they were flying over the Atlantic Ocean, and Tony didn’t have the heart to wake him up. As soon as they were due to disembark the plane, Tony maneuvered his son so Harry could rest his head on Tony’s shoulder instead of his chest. Knowing Happy can take care of their luggage on his own, he carefully made his way out of the plane with Harry limply attached to his chest.
It was a bit of a déjà vu when he saw Pepper waiting for them by the car with a teary smile as her gaze landed on the sleeping boy in Tony’s arms.
“Your eyes are red. Are those tears for your long-lost boss?” Tony said cheekily.
Pepper rolled her eyes and wiped the remaining tears off her cheek. “Yes,” she responded sincerely. “I can’t wait for my long-lost boss to replace his father, actually.”
Tony’s expression turned fond and the hand that held Harry’s back moved its way to cup the back of his child’s head. “He’s finally here,” Tony choked up.
“He is, Tony. Let’s take him home, huh?”
Harry didn’t wake up when he was placed in his car seat, but he did whine a little when Tony buckled the last strap across his chest. “Shhh, it’s alright. It’s just your car seat, kiddo.”
Tiny fists curled up and rubbed one tired eye. Harry’s eyes opened a little and relaxed when he saw Tony. “Daddy,” he whispered before promptly falling back to sleep. Tony’s hands stilled on the buckle and he heard Pepper gasp from behind him.
“He called you daddy,” Pepper stated the obvious.
Tony nodded, equally dazed himself even though Harry had technically called him daddy once in the plane. Unable to stop, he kissed Harry on top of his head and straightened up to settle on his own seat. Pepper understood the predicament her boss was in and went to settle in the front seat of the car, a smile still present on her face.
When Harry finally did fully rouse, they were already turning to enter the building’s parking lot. His eyes immediately landed on the numerous luxury cars that lined up the sides with an awed expression. Tony had grabbed his attention and pointed at each car, explaining in the most basic way how fast it goes, earning him an adorable wow and cool here and there.
With a promise to take Harry down to the basement sometime later, Tony held one of his son’s hands in his and led him towards the elevator. Tucked in Harry’s other arm were his lion and medibear while Tony’s other arm held Harry’s meager possessions he couldn’t bring himself to throw even though every bit of stuff in the bag deserved a trip to the incinerator. Harry was so careful of his things when he handed them to Tony the first time around like they were made of gold. It was only right that Harry should decide what to do with them now that he can actually have things made of diamonds.
Pepper and Happy followed behind them at a considerable distance. Even though Harry was comfortable around Happy, he was still wary of strangers. And while Tony was able to introduce Pepper while they were still in the car, and Harry had heard his father talk about Pepper a lot of times before, Harry was clearly already overwhelmed.
The sight of the extravagant penthouse floor had the child gasp in awe. Evidently, it was nowhere near anything he'd ever seen in his life—living in a suburban nightmare like Privet Drive. A locked-up 5-year-old wouldn't know anything about money apart from the whimsy excuse of earning his keep his so-called relatives made him believe. Tony doubts Harry even knew they were rich.
“Welcome back, sir,” JARVIS’s posh British voice echoed throughout the room. Startled by the sound and the familiar accent, Harry turned his head around to look for the source.
Chuckling, Tony knelt next to the boy and ruffled his hair. “That’s JARVIS, kiddo. He’s basically an A.I. We can’t see him.”
“He don’t talk funny,” was Harry’s only comment.
“I’m pleased to know at least one Stark man knows the way of life,” JARVIS responded as fondly as a natural-language user interface computer system can get. “And I am very pleased to finally meet you, Young Sir.”
“Wow. Please to meetcha’ too,” Harry replied just as warmly, undoubtedly ignoring his father’s earlier words that JARVIS couldn’t be seen because his eyes still roamed around in hopes to see the owner of the not-funny voice.
Tony clapped his hand once. “Alright, that’s enough. JARVIS, Harry. Harry, JARVIS. Awesome. Now, let’s go see your room,” the billionaire declared excitedly. Pepper had sent him a photo of Harry’s room minutes before they boarded the plane, and Tony couldn’t wait to see Harry’s reaction when he sees the wonderland.
The door to Harry’s room was painted soft cool gray with white outlines; a single nail hammered in the top middle, completely free of weight. Tony knelt next to his son again and showed the bag which contained Harry’s old belongings. As Harry watched, he dug into the bag and pulled out the old cardboard sign Harry made for his room.
“Want me to help you put your sign on your new bedroom door?” Tony offered as he held the piece of cheap cardboard carefully in the palm of his hands.
Harry covered his mouth with one hand to keep the squeal from escaping his lips. Nodding, the little boy reached out to take the sign from his father and let himself be lifted from the ground. With shaking hands, Harry gingerly hung the sign that used to identify his cupboard under the stairs.
“Perfect,” observed the adult, a proud grin overtaking his whole face. “Ready to see your room, buddy?”
The first thing that caught Tony’s eye when they entered Harry’s room was the floor-to-ceiling glass wall overlooking the city. It might not have meant much to him before, but the fact that Harry lived the past 4 years living inside a storage space under the stairs with no windows, Tony suddenly wanted to cry. The wall was covered with two sets of curtains, one white and almost translucent to allow the sunlight to peek in, and the other a set of cool gray blackout curtains— all controlled by JARVIS.
In the middle of the room was a full-sized bed with an incredibly soft gray-colored blanket above white sheets with gray stars. The white wall behind the headboard was also littered with hundreds of gray stars similar to his sheets. Beside the bed were a nightstand and a desk equipped with every writing and drawing material Harry could need. The floor was fully carpeted and held beanbags, cuddly toys systematically strewn all over. The built-in shelves were full of storybooks and small trinkets ranging from adorable animal wooden figurines to empty picture frames. Tony didn’t have to think so hard to realize most of the stuff on Harry’s shelves were his as a child. He can still remember the fond memory of his mother reading those books to him before bed. The intricately carved animals were one of the few gifts Howard gave him that actually meant something to Tony. He was around Harry’s age when his dad bought them for him, a year or so after Howard made him stop playing with toys. It was the only time his dad sat next to him on his bed and allowed Tony to play in his presence, even going as far as encouraging him to do so.
Pepper had overdone herself.
“Woah.” Tony heard Harry gasp next to him. He glanced down to his son, grinned, and gave him an encouraging nudge to check out his room.
Harry immediately went straight to the window and looked awestruck by the view. "So big," he said.
Tony crossed the room in long strides and stood next to his son as they both marveled at the view for a second. Then, he picked up Harry and settled him on his hip while he went on to finish giving Harry the tour of his bedroom. His bathroom was half the size of Tony's but still bigger than what a small child can ever need. It's fully equipped with a child-safe bathtub, the smallest toilet Tony ever saw, an awesome sink complete with a stepping-stool, a cupboard full of children's toiletries, and a whole separate wardrobe meant to store fluffy towels with anchors and stars on them and numerous adorable bathrobes ranging from shark ones to a miniature copy of Tony's own brown, patterned silk robes.
Harry's walk-in closet wasn't full yet, but Tony can already identify which of them were bought by which team member. Obviously, they each bought shirts and hoodies of their own superhero characters in between buying everything they thought would look cute on a kid. Even Hulk ones were visible in the rack and piles. Thankfully, they seemed to think Harry deserved Iron Man ones, too. The shoes were still in their boxes, and Tony decided they leave that for later. He hoped there were at least five pairs of tiny sneakers in them. He’d like to see Harry in mini Chuck Taylors. The plain colored shirts, pants, and underwear were clearly Pepper’s choices while the khakis and button-downs were, Tony guessed, Steve’s. He wasn’t sure who bought the leather jacket but they deserve a raise. There was no way Harry’s ever going to wear that on his own but it looks painstakingly cute.
Harry’s face routinely shifts from overwhelmed to baffled to surprised, then extremely grateful, then back to overwhelm once again. But, the kid didn’t look like he was about to drop and cry so Tony kept on. He reckons Harry just hadn’t let it sink in his mind yet that everything Tony showed him was his to keep. They did, however, stop for another second in front of the shelves because Tony couldn't resist touching one of the wooden animals.
“What’s that?” Harry asked, pointing at the wooden deer Tony had on his hand.
“Oh, uh, it’s a deer, sweetheart,” Tony responded softly, but Harry gave him a look that he was glad no one else saw because it was one that said Tony was being stupid.
“I know,” drawled Harry impatiently that Tony had to keep himself from leaping in joy. Harry hadn’t shown him any of his sass before, and unlike many parents, Tony was glad his son finally felt comfortable around him to express a bit of himself.
Tony ruffled Harry’s messy hair and tapped the kid’s chin. “It used to be mine. My own dad gave it to me when I was your age. I just sort of forgot about it.”
Harry went thoughtful for a second, then gazed at Tony with bright eyes. “You keep it, daddy.”
“Nah,” Tony smiled at his son warmly. “I like that it’s yours now. It’s always meant to be yours, baby.”
After a couple more minutes of insisting that everything inside the room was Harry’s, the father and son duo walked hand-in-hand out the room and towards the kitchen. JARVIS had their food delivered from the company’s cafeteria downstairs. Normally, Tony and the rest of the team prefer eating take-out most nights unless one of them (usually Bruce or Steve) offers to cook. However, Harry wasn’t allowed their usual pizza or Chinese yet. Instead, the chef downstairs prepared them plated meals of steamed vegetables such as broccoli and carrots, chicken cutlets, and mashed potatoes smothered in gravy— thankfully something Tony can eat without the constant urge to throw up. At least it wasn’t porridge.
They ate relatively calmly. Harry is never messy and loud when it’s mealtime, almost as if his only focus should be on the food in front of him. It would be endearing if it weren’t so heartbreaking. Sometimes, his little boy still gets this look on his face wherein he seems surprised by the amount of food placed on his plate. He was so glad the Dursleys didn’t get off scot-free.
Amidst the quiet atmosphere and the occasional clicking of utensils against the plates, Tony made sure to talk about the rest of the people living in the tower; so when he brings Harry to meet the team, he won’t work himself to panic.
“—likes to crawl in vents a lot, but JARVIS will always warn you ahead if he’s coming your way. Anyway, Clint isn’t the sneakiest of the bunch. Lots of people think it must be Natasha because she’s the spy of the team, but it’s actually Bruce. I talked about him before, haven’t I? He’s a very sneaky peaky kinda guy. Quiet like a mouse. I think you’ll like him very much because he tells awesome stories about his time in India and parts of Asia. Oh, and then there’s Steve! I’m not sure if Cap’s as famous in England as he is here in the States—”
“Cap?” Harry interrupted gently. “Capt’n ‘merica?”
Admittedly, Tony felt a little jealous that Harry knew Captain America; but that’s kind of a given. Everybody knows Captain America. Even little British kids. “You like Captain America, buddy? Well, lucks on you because he’s very excited to meet you,” said Tony, making sure he sounded extra cheerful regardless of his jealousy. It wasn’t Harry’s fault that everyone liked Captain America better than Iron Man.
Harry’s eyes widened at the information. “Really? You friends with Capt’n?”
Was he? Huh, Tony thinks they’re sort of friends by now. “Yeah, we’re friends. We can go meet them soon if you want. They’re all very happy you’re here. I think they bought half the toys in your room and most of the clothes in your closet.”
Harry was visibly squirming in his seat by now, apparently equally excited to meet the Avengers. “Even-even Iron Man?”
Oh.
Oh.
His son didn’t know his own father was Iron Man.
Coming back from his short moment of shock, Tony mentally shook his head. He cleared his throat to wash off the possible squeak in his voice as he asked, “Is he your favorite, bud? You like Iron Man?”
Harry nodded fiercely. “Like red and gold. And- and he can fly. Dudley has action fig’res of everyone. Like Iron Man best.”
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Was this how parents feel when their child gives them cards on Parents’ Day? His son told him straight in the eyes that his favorite superhero is Iron Man without knowing he was talking to Iron Man. Wasn’t that a huge ego boost?
Tony ran a palm over his face and breathed to calm his beating heart. “Okay, okay,” he placated himself, turning to his son with determination. “Alright, Harry bunny, daddy’s gonna show you something cool.”
The stunned look on Harry’s face when Tony showed him the Iron Man suits and admitted to being the man inside was worth every blood and dollar he spent on them.