that funny feeling
It’s a short ride to the tower. Happy takes five minutes to parallel park in the secure garage. Harley doesn’t know why he insists on parallel parking, a common form of torture, but doesn’t say anything as Happy makes minute adjustments. He’s excited to see Tony and Pepper and Morgan again. He’s mortified that he’s excited to take a break. There is nothing easy about leaving his mom except for leaving his mom. And it’s horrible, it’s awful, it’s sociopathic and stomach curdling, but it’s true.
He almost falls when something waist-high tackles into him.
“Harley!!!” Morgan shouts into his leg, saying it more like Harwey. It’s adorable.
“Morgs! When’d you get so tall!” He ruffles up her brown hair. Wow, it’s been a while since he’s seen her. She was barely a toddler then. Now, she’s almost six.
“When’d you get so old!” She hugs his leg and looks up at him with wide eyes. “Piggy back ride!”
“Alright, princess, as you wish.” He exaggerates his effort as he hoists her onto his back. She giggles like soda pop, all bright and fizzing with energy. She tugs on his shirt and his shaggy hair. He looks back to Happy and his luggage.
“I got this here. Go carry the dictator up to the tower.” Happy slips a smile through.
“Alright, princess. Are we gonna go see your dad now?”
“And Petey!”
“Petey?” Harley strains for the elevator button. Is Petey (probably Peter) a new Avenger? Semi-adopted Stark kid, like him? A weird nickname for Pepper?
“Yeah!!!” She steers him like Remy steered Alfredo Linguini. Yes, he knows the names of the characters from Ratatouille. He was a 2000s kid, anyways.
“Welcome back. Mr. Keener.” FRIDAY chirps in the elevator. “And Princess Morgan.”
“Hey, Fri. Can you take us up to Tony?”
“Of course, Mr. Keener.”
“Alright, Morgs. You’re what? 16, now?” Harley makes conversation as the elevator whirs up. She laughs loudly and digs her fingers further into his hair.
“No! I’m 5 and three quarters. That means I’m almost six,” she explains to Harley. He nods slowly.
“Do you do school yet? Like I do?”
“Daddy is teaching me all the cool stuff. Mommy says I have to learn English, too.” She complains.
“What? You don’t like English? That’s where all your stories come from!” He jests. “All your books about princesses and dragons and space pirates are written. You learn all that stuff in English class.”
“Boooooring.” She rests her head on Harley’s. “I wanna make an explosion!”
“Might be a bit - you know what? As long as I can watch.”
The doors slide open to the sleek lab. Tony is sitting, fiddling with a wire plate, glasses pushed down to the very edge of his nose.
“Kid! Other kid!” He cheers and stands up, arms wide. “Princess Morgan, Mommy made PB&Js for you. Why don’t you give Harley a break before he’s your chariot all month?”
She squeals excitedly. “Down, down!”
“Morgan, my fair princess, until we meet again.” He bows down and kneels to let her climb off his back. She dips her head at him with a scrunched up serious face. She drops that expression as she runs away giggling.
“She’s got you wrapped around her finger.” Tony chides jokingly, watching her barrel into the elevator. “In a few years, you should bring Rosie up here. They’d get along.”
“That’ll be a scary day for humankind. Did I tell you she’s started reading 18th century Russian literature now?”
“G-d. I should put a S.H.I.E.L.D. alert on her.” Tony looks off for a second. “When did you get taller than me?”
“Like, seventh grade?”
“And your hair - is that what people do in Tennessee? Destroy hopes and dreams?”
“I like my hair, Tony, and it’s not like yours is much better. You’re more salt than pepper here.”
“I’ll have you know that I look remarkably good, and this is a choice and partially caused by all the stress you give me -”
“Is that also why you’re wrinkly like a raisin?”
They stand for a moment before Tony hugs Harley, gives him the obligatory few thumps on the back. “It’s been too long, kid.”
“You too, Tony.”
They step back as the elevator doors open again, only this time, it’s not Morgan. It’s a lanky teenager with curly brown hair and bright eyes and a nerdy shirt on. Unnamed Teen pauses.
“Am I interrupting? If I’m interrupting I’ll just go help Pepper with Morgan -” they start rambling, voice like sweet tea with strawberries.
“Harley, I’d like to introduce you to someone.” Tony takes Harley’s shoulder and steers him towards Unnamed Teen. “This is Peter. He’s an intern here.”
“Oh, so you’re the Petey Morgan was talking about!” Of course Harley finds the dumbest thing to say in front of this attractive boy - “Hi, I’m Harley, but you probably knew that.”
Peter looks confused at this interaction. He tilts his head at Harley for a millisecond before finding a semi-smile to put on his face. Great start. “Yeah, that’s me! Petey!” Peter laughs awkwardly. “Can we start this introduction over again?”
“Please.”
“Hi, my name is Peter Parker, he/him, and I’m an intern here.”
“Hi Peter, I’m Harley Keener, also he/him, and I’m a friend of Tony Stark.”
They both nod satisfactorily. Tony looks between them, the most confused Harley’s ever seen him.
“Alright, whatever the hell that was, I’m not gonna mention it and try to bleach it from my memory. Peter, you can show Harley his room, right? I feel bad for siccing a hungry Morgan on my poor wife.”
“Yeah, of course. Good luck with Pep.” Peter gives him a tiny wave.
“He’s gonna need it.” Harley says under his breath to Peter as the elevator hums once again. He has the feeling he’s not talking solely about Tony.