Guilt
Harry and Peter had been streaming a documentary together. [ Something possibly school related ]
Peter didn't notice how shaken Harry was by the subject matter. [True crime. Children had been abducted, abused, murdered.] The families had been distraught and spent years—sometimes decades— waiting and searching for answers. Peter had no way of knowing why this struck a chord in Harry. Sure, Harry was a sensitive guy, so it made sense for him to cry a little bit. But Harry's reaction was so incredibly intense. More than he ever expected that it could be.
The strong emotions were jarring and Harry knew he didn't do a very good job of hiding it. Still, Harry tried to brush it off and didn't dare tell Peter the truth. He wasn't going to risk ruining any more lives over this.
But… the longer Harry sat with these emotions, the more he wondered about how Norman felt about all of it. If Norman was anything like the people in those videos, then Harry was being immensely cruel by not reaching out. Does all the freedom Harry has now make Harry complicit in his father's suffering? If he is suffering…
Harry went digging into internet search results. He'd gone looking before and found nothing, but that was when he was confined to Tony Stark's computers, when JARVIS had monitored all of Harry's online activity. Harry remembered Tony always acted a bit weird after Harry ran any of these searches. Simultaneously extra warm, affectionate and cagey. It stood out as being weird because Harry used to think that Tony was trying to cheer him up. Now Harry suspected that Tony had been acting that way out of guilt.
Now, on a computer without JARVIS interfering to filter results, Harry found a horrifying amount of evidence that his father had, in fact, wanted him to come home. Norman had offered rewards. The Daily Bugle had made many mentions over the years and interviewed Norman Osborn more than once.
Dad wanted him; he loved him, openly adoring his lost son, publicly pleading for Harry's safe return and willing to spend an enormous amount of money to get him back.
Harry cried until his tear ducts ran dry and he refused to get out of bed the next morning.
“Harry?” His roommate tentatively stood in the doorway and asked, “is everything alright? Are you good to go to class, or…”
“No, and I'll probably still be here when you get back.”
Peter nodded dumbly, unaware of what had happened and unsure if he should ask.
Harry's breathing got faster as Peter continued to just stand there staring at him. Harry's anxiety spiked at the thought of having to explain himself and needing to protect one father at the cost of the other and potentially hurting so many others by lying to them as well. He didn't know how much the truth might affect Peter's personal opinion of him or of Tony. Harry couldn't undo the harm caused to Norman. Right now Harry could only try to protect everyone else.
Finally Peter asked, “Did something happen that I don't know about?”
Harry cleared the sleep and lingering tears from his eyes so that he could focus his vision on Peter's pretty face. He briefly imagined what might happen if he invited the attractive young man into bed with him right now, if Peter might give him pity sex, but he quickly dismissed the idea.
“It's a long story,” Harry sighed, “there's not enough time to talk about it. You have to get to class.”
Peter shrugged and said, “I can skip it.”
“No, you can't,” Harry admonished. “Just go , and we'll talk later. My attendance can take the hit today, but yours—”
“Yeah, I suppose you're right,” Peter said. “but still, if you need me, you know where I am and I'll have my phone on me.”
Harry scoffed, “you'd better not take your phone out in class. You're really going to get expelled at this rate. Turn it off. My anguish can wait until you get home.”
Peter anxiously glanced at the clock. “Okay,” he said in a sudden rush. “I will but we're talking about this when I get home. I'm not going to forget about this!”
Peter ran off. Meanwhile Harry stayed put. Harry didn't know what he'd tell Pete when he got back, but he didn't waste a lot of time thinking about that. Contrary to what he said, Harry felt certain that Peter would forget. Harry's thoughts instead traveled back to Norman Osborn.
Harry had been nine years old when he was taken. His memory of the Era ‘Before Tony’ was fuzzy and highly likely distorted. It was mostly just this intense feeling of loneliness and constant yearning.
Tony constantly faulted his father for not making enough time for him. Harry thought back to how Norman had always been so busy—but Norman had been building Oscorp up from scratch. Tony inherited Stark Industries and for a long time Obadiah Stane (may he rest in piss) did the bulk of the work running things behind the scenes. It didn't seem like a fair comparison.
Plus, Tony had JARVIS and Pepper and Happy and other assorted babysitters there to step in and keep Harry company.
It just… it wasn't fair to fault Norman for not having all the same resources as Anthony fucking Stark. Rage started simmering below the surface, getting hotter and hotter the more that Harry thought about this.
Norman hadn't done everything right, but what parent does? And what right did Tony have to criticize him as harshly as he had? How long had Tony even known them before jumping to those conclusions? As far as Harry could remember, that week where Tony had abducted him was the very same week that he and Tony had been introduced.
And if Norman had truly been as awful as Tony always said he was, then how did Harry still have fond memories of him? The memories were fuzzy around the edges, but when Harry closed his eyes he could viscerally remember the feel of Norman's arms around him. Norman's hugs had felt different from Tony's, but no less loving.
Hunger interrupted these thoughts and dragged Harry back into the present. Staying in bed all day was just going to make him more miserable. With a groan, Harry slid out of bed. He wrapped himself up in a robe, grabbed his phone, and went to the kitchen.
He poured himself a bowl of cereal and unlocked his phone. For several seconds he just stared at it, not knowing what he wanted to do. Then he opened up a photo album filled with ‘family pictures.’ The Stark family. Harry's second family. Harry didn't have any pictures of the Osborn's. The only pictures he had of Norman featured the man standing next to Tony.
Harry couldn't remember his mother at all. She had died when he was an infant. He'd seen her framed portrait often as a child, but now he couldn't remember what she looked like. He didn't even know her name. Just ‘mom.’
Searching for ‘Norman Osborn's deceased wife’ brought up her obituary. Harry saved the pictures, but he didn't read the article. He didn't feel for her the same way that he felt for Norman. She was, unfortunately, reduced to set dressing in the fantasy of what his life could have been if Tony hadn't taken him.
There were many more pictures of Norman available on the internet. He wasn't a celebrity like Tony Stark, but he was in a public facing position as CEO and founder of an extremely profitable company that was in direct competition with Stark Industries. There existed a ‘friendly rivalry’ between the two. Not for the first time, Harry wondered how deep this ‘rivalry’ really went. He'd been told it was just for publicity, but the hate Tony had for Norman couldn't be fake.
You don't abduct the children of people you genuinely like and respect.
It was right there. It was always there. Norman's number was on Tony's phone. Harry had seriously considered the possibility that he could just pick up the phone and call him.
Harry felt sick when he realized what this meant. Tony and Norman ran in the same social circles. They talked and interacted, maybe not on a regular basis, but at some point Tony had looked Norman in the eye and never told him that his missing son was alive.
What did Tony say to Norman? The topic of Harry's disappearance must've come up at least once. Did Tony offer condolences? Any reassurances that Harry could still be alive? Or did Tony encourage Norman to think that Harry must be dead.
All this time, Tony knew exactly where Harry was and withheld the truth. How certain he must've been, that Norman didn't care—wouldn't care—unless Tony intentionally wanted to hurt him.
Did Norman deserve to be hurt like this? Punished . Sure, Norman wasn't the most attentive father, but... he had lost his wife, Harry's mother was dead, and Norman was tasked with looking after and providing for Harry while at the same time trying to run a company with big ambitions.
Norman loves him. Harry remembered being absolutely certain of that... until Tony insisted over and over that Norman didn't, and Harry started to believe him.
It was agonizing. Coming to terms with that fact. Now Harry's life was turned upside down once again as he started to question whether that had ever been true. Had Tony lied to him?
Tony, his second father, the man that had raised and taken care of him since he was nine years old. The man that abducted him when he was nine years old. Could a man like that be trusted? The sort of man that would steal a child.