II
Harley ended up pacing up and down his rather large room for around 20 minutes. It wasn’t that talking to Tony was bad- it was the subject matter that worried him. He’d done a lot of bad things, things that he’d wished Tony never found out about, but this particular offence was serious. He’d caused actual physical harm to an adult and trashed a very expensive car- not that he really regretted it- but he was worried Tony would look down on him for it.
Harley groaned and collapsed onto his bed running a hand through his damp hair. He sat for a moment more before jumping up and forcing himself to the elevator, FRIDAY took him down to the floor where Tony’s lab sat and Harley briefly noted the location although it’d be easy to find due to Tony’s need for music as he works. Harley stood just outside the lab and his confidence dwindled but before he could even psych himself up Tony called out to him
“Just get your butt in here Keener I ain’t gonna bite” Tony chuckled lightly as he tinkered with his iron man gauntlet, he swirled his chair around to face a fidgety Harley. He gestured for Harley to sit on the vacant couch in the lab as he cleaned his hands of oil.
“So I know your probably wanting to be all secretive but I need you to tell me what happened, and the whole truth not just the half assed explanation you gave everyone else okay? Cool now it’s all you. Take your time because I have literally got all day” Tony plopped down onto the chair and looked to Harley expectantly, Harley hesitated wondering wether or not he could make up some elaborate lie but he was talking to Tony Stark- king of elaborate lies. There was no escaping it so he crumbled under the gaze of Tony and let it all flood out.
—
Harley had returned home from the shitty school he went to, shitty being a key word. The place barely had any decent teachers, the building was falling apart at every corner and not to mention the facilities were all either broken or useless.
Harley threw his tattered bag onto his mattress- yes mattress. This place didn’t even have a proper bed for him. He made his way down to the kitchen to start dinner knowing that neither Michael nor Kelly would make anything, Harley did prepare a second portion of what little food he did have for the other kid under the adults care, a young lad -around 11 years old- named Jack. He was a sweet kid, grew up with no mother and a crap father, social services struggled to get in touch with the kids uncles since they were pretty much MIA. Harley went to pick up Jack from the bus stop just down the road before he finished dinner, Jack was in high spirits as always but his mood significantly darkened once the house came into view.
Regardless of the kids’ sour moods they both sat and enjoyed the little meal of spaghetti and meatballs. Food was incredibly sparse in the house, Harley was used to it and often gave Jack some of his food. Although Harley had once fainted due to the lack of food in his system but was better after a free sandwich from the nurse, she’d looked at him sceptically as he assured her that he was fine but let him go on his way.
It was at eight in the evening when Michael and Kelly stumbled in, the stench of alcohol made Harley frown in disgust. After his mother anything and everything to do with alcohol irked him. The drunk adults were loud and clumsy as they collapsed onto the worn couch.
“Get me a beer” Michael grunted to Jack, being the kid he was, he scurried off to the kitchen before Harley could stop him, upon returning Michaels hand was outstretched making a grabbing motion to the boy. Jack hurried over and placed the beer bottle into the mans hand only letting go once he was sure the man had a grip on it, at first he did, but being the dumb drunk he was Michael dropped the bottle letting it smash onto the floor causing Jack to jump back. Michael slowly pulled himself up from his seat and stomped over to the young boy shoving him to the ground “you dumb fuck!” He growled, Harley quickly flew into action putting himself between the two subsequently getting whacked in the head. He felt a hand grab his shirt and throw him to the floor. “And you! Stay out of what isn’t your business you damn punk” and with that Harley was left with a kick to the ribs, only wincing when he heard Jacks cry of pain. As soon as Michael stalked off into the kitchen Harley hauled himself and Jack off the floor and dashed to their room.
“I’m so sorry Jack- I- I should’ve done more” Harley rambled, in response jack wrapped his small arms around Harley’s neck and held on tight, the latter returned the gesture and the two stayed like that for god knows how long before eventually falling asleep.
Harley managed to get himself and Jack out of the house without any problems but it was when they got home that Harley really lost it. He’d gone to his room to finish fixing up a little robot Tony had supplied him with all those years ago, but instead of finding it in its usual place under his bed behind the dusty books he found it smashed up on his floor. Harley darted our of his room and to the lounge where Michael was strewn lazily across the couch. Harley paused trying to contain himself
“You broke it” he spoke lowly, Michael chuckled deeply in response
“What? Your stupid little toy? Did I make you mad” when Harley didn’t reply Michael stood up and advances upon the teen “that’s what I thought” he huffed before falling back to the couch. Harley swiftly left to his room and grabbed his baseball bat from his closet and slipped into the garage which was found a couple doors down from his room.
Harley stood in front of Michaels well kept car and raised his bat before swinging it full force into the wing mirror- knocking it clean off. It clattered to the floor and Harley took another swing, yelling angrily as he did it. He didn’t care anymore, he didn’t care what happened to him. He after hit, the car became dented and scratched, the windows smashed in, the paint peeling. He only stopped when he felt a heavy hand grab onto his shoulder and pull him around roughly. Harley came face to face with an outraged Michael. The older man shoved Harley against the smashed car, he felt the Tony shards of glass press into his skin but couldn’t bring himself to care as he stared unfazed into the mans eyes.
“What the hell have you done?!” He yelled, the strong smell of alcohol made Harley’s eyes water,
“You break my shit I break yours” Harley said through gritted teeth, Michael didn’t hesitate to yank the bat out of the teens hands before ramming the end of it into Harley’s face causing him to crumble to the ground. The bat dropped to the floor as Michael continued to kick Harley in the ribs eventually even landing a kick to the back of his head which was already bleeding. Harley gasped at the harsh contact and threw his arm out and tried to search for the fallen bat, he latched onto the handle before swinging it doubly hard at Michaels shin, he heard a crack before and pulled himself off the floor as the man held his shin and cried out in pain. Harley stumbled out of the garage and burst into Jacks room, Jack stared wide eyed at him but followed regardless. The pair only made it to the end of the drive when Michael came limping out, the cops also arrived seconds later due to a disturbance call from the neighbours. Michael didn’t hesitate to tell the cops what Harley did, to him and his car. When trying to get an answer from Harley he gave none, so he was hauled into the cop car with Jack and off to the station they went. Whilst Harley was taken to the interrogation room, Jack was taken to the front office where his social worker would pick him up. They didn’t part without saying a rather solemn goodbye followed by a promise to one day see each other again.
Harley proceeded to try escape the station which led to his getting handcuffs put on him- very tightly. Then came the questions, then came Tony.
—
Harley lowered head as he waited for a response. He waited for the ‘get out’ but it never came. Instead Tony pulled him into a hug, Harley carefully returned the gesture, wincing slightly because of the pressure on his ribs.
“Shit I should have gotten you checked out straight away- right we gotta go to medical okay?” Tony pushed Harley back by his shoulders and stared at him with such concern it startled the younger boy who just nodded and let Tony guide him to the elevator and up to medical.
Up in medical sat none other than Bucky Barnes. He was up there for his monthly mental examination as well as the check up on his arm. Bucky twisted around to see who’d entered and couldn’t help the frown that came upon his face once he saw Harley.
“The hell happened?” Bucky inquired, not unkindly.
“Well this dumbass” Tony looked pointedly at Harley as he gestured for the teen to sit down on the bed “decided not to tell me about the possible concussion he may have or the bruised and or broken ribs-“
“you never asked!” Harley interjected, Buckys lips quirked into a small smile, those two were too alike.
“Just sit there and I’ll get someone alright kid?” And with that Tony strolled out of the room, Harley tentatively lifted his shirt to get a better look at what had actually happened to him. He felt Buckys calculating eyes practically pierce though him
“What” he said shortly
“Looks like you’ve been in the wars kid”
“somethin like that” Harley mumbled
“Spill. What happened” Harley had half a mind to refuse the request but he believed he could trust Bucky, he didn’t know why, but he did, so he told him.
Once Harley fell into silence he began massaging his sore red wrists, wincing slightly at the pain of the raw skin.
“Handcuffs right?” Harley nodded
“You got personal experience?”
“Well when you’re a wanted assassin they tend to be a little bit more aggressive when you’re caught” Buckys face held an aura of regret which did not go unnoticed by Harley.
“You don’t seem very deadly to me”
“Yeah well Starks been trying to unscramble my brain, get Hydras hold on me obliterated”
“I remember reading about you” Harley said rather out of the blue, Bucky looked at him questioningly so Harley continued “you were Captain America’s best friend, his right hand man, the only howling commando to die in service. An unsung hero in my opinion, whilst everyone else was fawning over Steve I focused on what you did. The way you talk about what happened, you make it out like you don’t deserve to be here, sure Steve was a national hero but you were a hero too” Bucky stared wide eyed at Harley, unsure on how to respond. Luckily for the man he didn’t have to as Tony came back into the room with a doctor in tow, Bruce also followed but split from the other two in favour of completing Buckys assessment.
“Right then Harley let’s take a look at your head”
Tony sat in a chair beside Harley’s bed as Helen checked over his head, it was confirmed that he had a minor concussion due to being slammed back against a hard surface with such force, Helen never asked for every detail- only the necessary ones. Bucky subtly listening to all the conclusions drawn from Harley’s state from his place across the room. Harley had lifted his shirt over his head carefully so he could avoid as much pain as possible. Helen began to press down around the bruised areas as Harley laid down. Everyone in the room was startled when the door slammed open revealing a disheveled looking Peter, his backpack hanging precariously off of his shoulder.
“Peter what are you doing here?” Tony asked as Helen went back to checking over Harley’s ribs but the latter was too invested in the arrival of the mysterious boy hence Helen having to snap her fingers in front of his face to grab his attention, Harley halfheartedly shook his head his eyes set on the interaction between Tony and Peter.
“Well- I thought- FRIDAY said you were in medical so I thought that- I don’t know- I just- I was worried” Peter finally settled, eyes flicking over to the shirtless and severely bruised teen laying in the medical bay, Harley all of a sudden felt incredibly exposed his rambling thoughts cut off by a sharp pain
“Fuck-“ he gasped as Helen prodded at the very tender area of his bruising. Tony quickly whipped away from Peter and focused on Harley
“You good Harls?” Harley nodded shakily in response, biting his lip in an attempt to hold back his pain.
“Yeah- Just painful is all” Harley tried a laugh but failed miserably as he flopped back into the firm pillows behind him and screwed his eyes shut “so care to introduce me to bambi over there Tony?” At this the man seemed to snap back into reality and rubbed his hands together
“Right yes. Ok Harley this is Peter and Peter this is Harley”
“I’m gonna need more old man”
“Watch it kid” Tony warned playfully “Peter’s my intern, well intern slash Spider-Man” Peters eyes widened comically
“Mr Stark! I- what” he stuttered in shock
“It’s fine, Harley isn’t gonna tell anyone are ya?”
“I’ve got nobody to tell dipshit” Harley growled in response, the pain in his head and ribs together was not a pleasant experience.
“Hey Harls I gotta go check on some work stuff but I’ll see you later yeah? Hey Barnes keep an eye on him” Tony squeezed Harley’s shoulder lightly before making his exit giving Bucky one last look on his way out. Peter stared at the bruised skin on Harley’s stomach one more time and with a sigh he left the room too.
“What happened?” Peter inquired as soon as he’d caught up to Tony.
“Stuff. Stuff I can’t tell you about” Peter nodded in understanding but he didn’t stop asking questions.
“How’d you know him?”
“Met him way back in the mandarin incident. You know when everyone thought I was dead. The kid helped me rebuild my iron man suit, he did so much for me and I just left him” the deep set guilt showed through both Tony’s voice and body language- namely the incessant scratching of the palm of his hand, a nervous tick he’d adopted a while back.
“I’m sure he doesn’t blame you”
“He should”
Tony finished up his work as fast as he could, Peter noticed the rushed nature of his mentor and couldn’t help but feel a little jealous. Tony was never like this with him, he wouldn’t rush his work to visit him in medical or wherever after a tricky mission so why was this Harley so special? Peter would’ve asked Tony but the guy was already tugging on his jacket and making his way out to find Harley. Peter sighed and continued to tinker with the Spider-Man web shooter.
Peter remained in the lab for a further hour, the low hum of the various machines was drowned out by the music flowing through the speakers dotted around the room. Peter was absorbed in his work but was pulled from it when he heard a light knock on the glass door, Peter set down his web shooter and turned around- almost dropping his screwdriver once he saw Harley stood in the doorway and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t find Harley attractive. The taller teen smiled sheepishly at the fumbling boy and took it as confirmation to enter. Peter stood and held his hand out
“I’m Peter. Parker. But you knew that already so” before Peter dropped his hand out of sheer embarrassment Harley took hold of it and smiled
“Harley Keener” they remained linked together until Peter coughed awkwardly, released Harley’s hand and twirled back towards his bench. “So” Harley began, his eyes travelling across the lab, landing on different finished and unfinished work “How’d ya meet Tony?” It was an innocent enough question but it still held an underlying tone of judgment
“Well he kinda just turned up in my apartment. Walked right in and he was just sat on my couch with my aunt”
“Seems like he’s got a thing for crashing into people’s homes unannounced” Peter chuckled lightly at this and it brought a small smile to Harley’s face.
“Yeah I suppose he does” Peter set down the random screw he was fiddling with and took a seat by the bench before kicking the other swivel chair over to Harley who easily stopped it and took a seat. That was how Tony found the boys around two hours later, just sitting and chatting like they had all the time in the world.
Over the course of the next week Peter and Harley continued to get closer, spending a large chunk of time on the labs, Peter with his Spider-Man gear and Harley with his own little secret project that he refused to let anyone know the full extent of. Harley also sparked up a relationship with Bucky and Clint who were ready to help with any shenanigans the teen would want to play- well Clint was more on board than Bucky most of the time but he soldier tended to cave after a little persuading.
Harley had also gotten to meet Clint and Natasha’s pseudo child Wade, the two of them had spent hours talking of missions Wade had been on. Wade was 18 and despite being a year older than Harley it was like he was a damn god in comparison, he’d done such crazy things- been to such amazing places, all whilst dealing with his schizophrenia which Harley thought was pretty darn incredible that he still managed to get on with his superhero-y ways even with a mental condition which the guy seemed to easily take in his stride.
On another note it’d taken Harley a mere two days to convince Bucky to teach him some combat moves. During their first session of training Bucky had been surprised at the kids raw talent, he’d could land punched pretty hard despite them being far and few between. Harley had simply stated that he’d had experience in throwing a few punches, Bucky didn’t push any further. Tony had burst in on Harley and Bucky training one time which led to the billionaire dragging the teen out of the gym and lecturing him about safety and some other crap Harley didn’t bother remembering. He’d eventually gotten Tony to let him carry on but only after Tony told him to keep his injures in check.
As each day passed, from spending time in the gym to messing about with Peter in the labs, Harley began to feel like he finally had a safe place, a family.
It felt as if nothing could hurt this little family that’d been built up, Harley couldn’t have been more wrong.