Safe Haven

Friday approached pretty fast, and each day Peter vibrated a little more out of excitement. Harley put on the mask that he was calm, but he was just as excited, while Peter had met the Avengers before, Harley hadn’t. The closest Harley had ever gotten to meeting an Avenger was when Natasha had called Peter one night and Peter told him to say hi to her. Sometimes he forgot that he was dating one Avenger and lived with another one whom he had met when he was 9.
Their suits were sent to the tower the night before, Tony saying that the garment bags matched the colors of the jackets themselves. He told them he thought they should get ready for the party there instead of at the house, since his own suits were still in his penthouse and it would probably save time. He also suggested they all stay the night at the tower, knowing both Peter and himself were going to be drinking, maybe even Harley too. He had plenty of rooms in the tower that they could potentially stay in.
They had gotten to the tower a couple hours before the party, the younger men with their own overnight bags and eagerness. Tony had let them pick a room on his penthouse floor, silently celebrating when they chose the one next to his bedroom. “The party will be a couple floors down, but don’t worry about being on time; I know I’m not.” He told them playfully as he gave them their garment bags. Peter and Harley napped, tired from their classes they had earlier in the day, then when it was almost time to get ready, they showered. Tony heard a knock on his door as he was buttoning his shirt up.
“Come in.” Tony called, turning around to see Peter when the door opened. He was wearing his suit, the red velvet contrasted nicely with the fitted black pants. “I don’t have shoes…” He said, looking down at his socked feet. He had come to the tower in old grey New Balance shoes with green laces, they didn’t match at all. “That’s not a problem, Pete. I should’ve gotten you some.” Tony said playfully, walking over to his walk-in closet, motioning for Peter to follow him. “It’s alright, Tony.” Peter said almost shyly. Tony looked through his shoes and found a pair he felt looked good with Peter’s suit. He handed them over and watched as Peter put them on.
“You’re missing something.” Tony said, looking Peter up and down. “Like what?” The younger man asked. It was silent for a moment, the two of them just staring at each other, Tony thinking and Peter waiting. Tony wordlessly walked to a drawer that held much of his jewelry. He used his finger to beckon Peter over, still looking down at the contents of the drawer. Peter walked over, curious about what was happening.
Tony gently grabbed Peter’s left hand and slipped a ring onto his middle finger. The ring was gold with a large rectangular sapphire on it. It was something Tony had bought for himself on a whim, but only wore occasionally. He felt it was perfect for Peter, it fit him perfectly and matched the blue velvet of Harley’s suit. He made a mental note to never ask for the ring back.
“Thank you, Tony.” Peter looked up at Tony with a small smile. “I’m… gonna go finish getting ready, I need to do my hair.” He said while walking backwards, smile on his face and cheeks turning a little pink. Tony took a breath when he heard his bedroom door close again, scrubbing his hand over his face because fuck, these feelings were getting a little deeper than he wanted them to. It was barely a minute when another knock came from his bedroom door. “Did you forget something?” He shouted as he walked out of his closet to see the man at his door wasn’t Peter, it was Harley.
“Oh, do you need shoes too?” He asked him, looking down to see that Harley was wearing his black Vans with his suit. Harley laughed. “No, I just,” he closed the door behind himself. “I feel like I look kind of ridiculous. I feel like this doesn’t look right or something.” He fidgeted with the sleeves as he explained himself. It was unusual to see him nervous and self conscious, normally cocky and loud. Tony walked up to him to get a closer look. There was a mark on Harley’s jacket where a lapel pin should be.
“I have just the thing.” Tony said, walking back to his closet and coming back with a pin in hand. It was small, a gold king’s crown with small rubies on it, but it was elegant in a subtle way. Harley nervously walked over to stand in front of Tony, standing still as Tony pinned it in place. Harley’s eyes wandered to Tony’s half-opened shirt, part of his arc reactor scar on display. “That healed well.” Harley said quietly, shifting his eyes from the scars on Tony’s chest to Tony’s eyes.
“Yeah well…” Tony sighed. “I’m still not a big fan of it.” He dropped his hands after the pin was put into place but neither of them moved further apart. “I like it. I know that it doesn’t revolve around how other people think about it, it’s your body but…” Harley looked like he was thinking really hard about what he was going to say next. “We think it’s really cool.” Tony didn’t even have to ask who ‘we’ was, he already knew. Had he and Peter talked about it?
“Thank you, Tony.” Harley said gently, backing away with a shy smile (since when was Harley shy? Tony didn’t have an answer to that). As Harley made his way to the door, Tony smiled back instinctively. “I’ll get you guys when I’m done. We can go down together.”
—-
15 minutes later he was making his way to the room Peter and Harley were sharing for the night. It only took him about 5 minutes to finish getting ready, it was a normal black suit with the usual little details added on, but the other 10 minutes were spent trying to will his heart to slow down at least just a little bit. Harley and Peter were already waiting outside the door for him, looking handsome as ever. Tony felt a strange sense of pride seeing them wear his things.
“You ready?” Tony asked, surprised by Peter’s oddly calm demeanor for the situation. They both nodded while smiling, Peter becoming noticeably more giddy by the second. Peter’s excitement starting to seep out little by little. “Let’s head out.” Tony gave them his usual charming smile, pulling a pair of sunglasses out of his pocket and slipping them onto his face. They walked to the elevator together, Peter slipping Harley’s hand into his own.
Peter was practically bouncing up and down the entire elevator ride, the other men with him couldn’t hold back their own smiles. When the elevator stopped, they all walked out, Peter and Harley pausing to take in the atmosphere. The lights were low just a little bit, lights with a golden hue reflecting on the shiny black floors and silver railings. Plush white and grey couches and chairs were scattered about, music was playing, and waiters were coming to and from the bar with trays of drinks. Peter didn’t even notice someone came to stand on the other side of him.
“You clean up nicely, Mr. Parker.” Peter turned his head to see Natasha with a sly but genuine smile on her face. Her hair was a bit longer than it had been last time he had seen here, falling in gentle curls just past her shoulders. She wore a knee length black dress, red fabric draped over one side of the skirt that fell at an angle intentionally with simple looking black high heels (simple LOOKING because everyone knew she had a few tricks in there). “Natasha!” He exclaimed and brought her in for a hug, having to arch downwards a little bit because she was still a few inches shorter than him in her high heels.
She pulled away with a big smile on her perfect red lips. “And this must be THE Harley Keener.” She said while looking at Harley. Harley was visibly anxious, meeting his boyfriend's pseudo super-hero ex-assassin mom who was internationally known for being a threat. She came off warm, but he knew if he fucked up he would go missing. “Hello, Miss Romanoff, it’s nice to finally meet you.” He said with a smile and a hand out to shake. She went and gave him a gentle hug instead, making him duck down to be her level. Peter laughed at his confused expression. Natasha already knew everything about Harley, and not just because she had looked up everything about him. She could tell she didn’t have to give them the shovel talk, and loved him because he loved Peter.
When she released Harley, Tony couldn’t help but smile. While Harley was close to him, he had yet to meet any of the Avengers. Seeing Natasha Romanoff embrace Harley so quickly eased his own mind a bit. Harley would fit into the rest of his family just fine.
They walked more into the room together, Natasha linking her arm with Peter’s. Peter was about to ask if Wanda was there when he was interrupted by Thor’s booming voice. “Parker!” He shouted in excitement, probably a little tipsy already from drinking his Asgardian mead. Before Peter could respond, his arm was no longer linked with Natasha’s and instead Thor’s arms were around him and lifting him up. Tony wished he had a camera with him, Harley’s facial expressions were priceless. Harley knew the Avengers, he had seen them on TV and he lived with two of them, but he wasn’t used to THESE Avengers specifically. How almost… domestic they were. A few other Avengers followed the sound of Thor’s shout, Peter saying hello once both of his feet were back on the ground. Sam, Steve, and Clint introduced themselves to Harley and he felt himself start to relax in the lighthearted atmosphere they had.
Peter jumped when hands grabbed his sides from behind, causing him to turn around and see Wanda. “There you are!” She said while smiling, her accent still laced in her words despite being taught how to mask it in certain situations. She was wearing a short black dress that was fitted but had puffy sleeves that went down to her wrists, heeled black ankle boots and fishnet tights. Her long auburn hair was curled nicely with half of it being tied back with a deep red ribbon. It was like her usual style, but upped for the party. “Wanda!” He hugged her tightly. “This is my boyfriend, Harley.” He took Harley’s hand to introduce them. Harley was less tense during this introduction, well, compared to how tense he was when he had met Natasha.
“Mind if I steal him?” She asked with her sweet voice, anxious to finally have Peter back to talk to. “Yeah, you guys go, I’ll take care of him.” Tony put his arm around Harley’s shoulders and waved his hand to usher them off, knowing that Peter and Wanda also had a close bond. Not as close as Peter’s bond with Natasha, but very close nonetheless.
While Natasha was like another mother figure in his life, Wanda was like a sister. They were the closest in age on the team but it ran deeper than that. They’d spend hours in her room at times, which sometimes worried Tony, ready to give the “birds and the bees” talk until Natasha told him to relax, it wasn’t like that. Wanda loved Peter instantly, taking the then teenager under her wing. They both got their powers during traumatizing times, they both weren’t sure how far their powers went, which they had talked about a lot. Sometimes they just needed each other to talk to, needed each other for comfort.
When Peter had started college, Wanda started going out with Vision, and Wanda also had to do more missions. They didn’t see each other as much as they wished they did. Wanda missed her brother, Peter missed his sister.
“Where’d you get back from?” Peter asked as they walked around, Wanda stopping a waiter to get a couple flutes of champagne for them. “Scotland.” Wanda answered as she handed Peter a drink. She looped her arm around his like Natasha did, leading their mindless walking. “We had a mission there that wrapped up early, but we stayed a bit longer, just to relax.” She said, referring to Vision. “It’s lovely. Cold, but lovely. I’ll take you for spring break, maybe.” She said with a smile. “I can’t say I know anyone who goes to Scotland for spring break.” Peter joked, making her laugh. “Bring Harley and you will know someone who does.” She joked back as she took a sip of champagne.
She began to lead them to a seating area in the loft part of the floor. “How are you boys doing? You guys had just moved in together last I saw you.” She asked, sitting on a loveseat and making room for Peter to sit beside her. “It’s been great, actually. He even taught me how to cook.” He playfully elbowed her side. Her eyebrows raised at that, knowing that May was not a great teacher in the culinary department. “Oh really?” She asked as Peter sipped his champagne. “He’s also just like,” he sighed happily “he’s so amazing. In every way.” He stopped himself from rambling.
Wanda smiled. “And how is Stark as a roommate? I know he’s been living with you for a bit.” She asked. “He’s great, actually. He said he only wanted to stay until Pepper got herself a place, but…” He didn’t know how to continue that. Almost as if she was reading his mind (she probably was), she asked “You don’t want him to leave, don’t you?” She still had a smile on her face, but it was less playful and more understanding. Peter looked around to see if either Tony or Harley were nearby. “Is it bad that I don’t want him to leave?” He asked quietly. She looked at him for a moment. “It isn’t, but talk to Harley about it.” She said simply. Peter was confused. “Why?” She squinted at him a bit. “You know why.”
—-
On the other side of the floor, Tony was introducing Harley to people he deemed “important”. Harley had gotten more and more comfortable, probably with a little bit of aid from the champagne Tony slipped him. Apparently Tony and Peter had talked about him a lot, judging by the amount of times he heard people saying “so THIS is Harley!” He caught a glance of Peter in a loft section of the party floor, talking deeply with Wanda about something. He could just tell by the expressions Peter was making, and then suddenly both Peter and Wanda were looking at him, waving at him.
Wanda patted Peter’s thigh when Vision walked up to them, Peter getting up and going down the steps to meet back up with Harley and Tony. “Sorry about that, we just wanted to catch up.” He explained when he was with them again, giving Harley a kiss on the cheek. “She wants to take us to Scotland for spring break.” He said while intertwining his fingers with Harley’s. “Scotland?” Harley asked playfully and bumped Peter’s shoulder with his own. “She insists.”
Tony smiled at their interactions, something sad pulling at a part of his heart. A slow, romantic song began to play over the many speakers throughout the floor. Harley smiled and placed his glass on a nearby bar. “May I have this dance?” He said playfully with his hand out for Peter to take. Peter laughed at him, but took his hand and let Harley lead him to the dancefloor. They fell into an easy rhythm together, the men swaying back and forth as Peter’s head rested on Harley’s chest. Tony couldn’t help but look at them longingly.
“Would you like to dance, Stark?” Natasha had appeared next to him. She had a sly smile on her face when Tony looked at her, but he could tell it was genuine. He took her hand as she lead him onto the dance floor, movements similar to how Harley had asked Peter to dance. She let Tony lead their dance, noticing his faraway look in the direction of the other men, who were what Tony considered to be a safe distance away. “You should talk to them,” she said simply to him. “About what?” He looked at her and decided to play dumb. The dumbest part of that was that Natasha knew almost everything.
She cocked an eyebrow at her. “How would I do that? ‘Hey, I think I’m in love with both of you and I never want to move out, in fact I have a California king bed on the way’?” He dropped his oblivious act. She shrugged, her dancing never faltering. “Something along those lines.” She replied. They danced in silence for a moment, Tony thinking about how he could ever possibly talk to them about his feelings. “I’ll think about it.” He said simply. She smiled at him with her lovely red lips. She gave him a peck on the cheek as the song ended.
“I’m always watching, Stark. Don’t think I won’t bury you if you hurt him.” She said as she walked off.