III
To say Harley was excited to finish his secret project was an understatement. He’d spent the past weeks working on his project and successfully hiding it from prying eyes, which was quite difficult considering Tonys nosy nature. Alas he’d finally hit the end of the road, Harley had taken his work out to the roof and fastened it around his wrist. He took a deep breathe and shuffled his way to the edge of the building, unbeknownst to the boy, FRIDAY had just informed Tony that Harley was on the roof and was making his way to the edge. Tony tripped over himself just to get to the elevator and stumbled through the door to the roof just as Harley stepped off the ledge
“No!” Tony yelled running to the space where Harley had just been but as he peered over the edge something whooshed past him knocking him straight on his arse. A faint ‘woohoo’ could be heard far up in the sky, Tony looked up to see Harley flying around in what looked to be an iron man suit- but it wasn’t, well not one of Tonys making anyway. Once Harley landed Tony felt like he could breathe again.
Whilst Tony recovered from his almost heart attack, a few floors below Peter had dropped his screwdriver as he saw something whiz past his window.
“The fu-“
“The fuck was that Keener?!” Tony yelled, Harley retracted the helmet of his suit, a grin plastered upon his face “no okay this is not funny!” Harley couldn’t help but laugh “for gods sake Keener zip it!” Tony jabbed a finger at Harley’s chest, the latter promptly settled down. Tony let out an exasperated sigh and dragged his hand down his face “What the hell is this?” Tony gestured to the suit which encapsulated Harley
“It’s my secret project” Tony raised his eyebrow as a signal to explain “well being here and living with you all means that some day dangers gonna come my way do I’d rather be prepared to fight than to cower in a damn corner because I can’t protect myself” a look of realisation hit Tony’s face
“That’s why you were so insistent on training with Barnes”
“Yeah” Tony took a moment to look the suit up and down, a smile soon took its place on his lips
“I gotta say this is a good suit”
“Yeah well I did kinda use nanotech for it and added in those retro reflective panels for-“
“Stealth mode” Tony finished with a grin “so where does it store itself?” Harley held a finger up before bringing his wrist up and tapping on it twice, the suit swiftly packed itself into the black band around his wrist, a blue panel in the centre of the band- shaped and designed much like the arc reactor that was in Tony’s chest- glistened just as all of the suit had been stored “that is incredible kid” Tony beamed with pride but this pride left as quickly as it came “but I’m still mad about you jumping off a damn roof okay?”
“Okay” Harley nodded, Tony wrapped an arm around Harley’s shoulders
“My god you’re tall” Tony chuckled
“It has been like 6 years old man” Tony’s smile faltered but just pulled Harley in tighter and smiled.
Upon returning to the lounge Tony and Harley were met with a sprinkling of the avengers, namely: Steve, Bucky, Nat, Clint and Peter. All stood there with expectant expressions, all demanding an answer as to why Tony rushed off through the tower.
“Tony here got a little fright when I walked off the roof edge” Harley spoke nonchalantly, removing himself from Tony’s hold and going to the kitchen which was joined with the lounge. He took a bite out of a cookie and looked up to see a varying amount of looks headed his way. Peter, Steve and Bucky looked worried whilst Nat and Clint looked mildly impressed leaving Tony to look on with exhaustion.
“Yeah kid almost gave me a heart attack”
“Wait- you jumped off the roof? What the hell Harley?!” Peter grabbed a hold of the taller teens shirt and pulled him down to look him in the eyes, it was only now that Harley began to lose him composure and looked rather apologetic.
“I- well i-“ Peter hummed aggressively as he waited for a coherent answer “the project I’ve been working on, I was testing it out”
“On the roof?” Peters voice cracked
“Uh- Yeah?” Harley replied sheepishly, Peter finally let go of Harley’s shirt and huffed waving his arm out
“Let’s see it then. Let’s see the project that warranted you jumping off of a building” Peter crosses his arms and stood back, the others in the room too looked on to see what the ‘secret project’ was. Just as before, Harley tapped twice on the circular blue panel on his wrist and within seconds the suit enveloped his body in his custom made suit. Everyone’s eyes widened, Peter choked on air as he tried to grasp at what he’d just seen
“What- did Mr Stark help you?”
“Nope” Harley grinned retracting the helmet once again
“That’s awesome” was all Peter could reply with
“Loving the paint job on it kid” Bucky complimented, the red stood out nicely against the black, the pattern remained similar to Tony’s but the gold being replaced with the black and a white reactor in the chest powered the suit.
“Thanks” Harley became rather self conscious as all these hero’s stood and stared, although when he looked at Clint he couldn’t help but suppress a laugh. The guy was stood slack jawed, eyes wide, with his arrow slipping from his fingers.
Harley coughed nervously before tapping the wrist band again. Shortly after everyone went back to their own thing but just as Harley was about to retreat to his room, Tony pulled him down a different corridor stopping mid way down.
“Look, if you’re serious about being able to defend yourself and all then I’ll help you out” Harley nodded thoughtfully
“I know I said I wanted to make the suit to protect myself but what if I wanted to help people too. Like you and Peter do” he finished quietly
“Then I’d say that I’ll support you in that decision, but you’ve got to promise me that you’ll take care of yourself and don’t think I won’t be modifying an AI in your suit okay?”
“Okay” Harley felt a new sense of purpose overtake him. Tony suddenly snapped his fingers
“I almost forgot, I got an email today about the charges your foster dad put forward and he wants to take you to court for the damage done to his shin and car. A court date has been set for two weeks time so I just wanted to let you know” Harley nodded numbly and felt himself slipping again. He knew one of his times was coming. He didn’t want Tony to find out so he quickly- as quickly as his body could take him- made his way down to his room, hearing the muffled calls from Tony in his ears.
Harley crashed through his doors and shut them as soon as he could, he felt himself get further and further away, eventually he fell to the floor and lay flat on his back letting the numbness take over. His vision became dark and he tried to focus on the light above him but just couldn’t do it, he gripped onto the rug he lay half on and half off, his fingers shaking as he raked his hands across the soft material. Harley briefly heard his door open and close but his mind was drifting further away, he thought he heard someone say his name but then again he thought he heard many things during his times.
He spent what felt like an eternity trying to grasp back onto the single thread of reality which felt as if it was just out of reach, but that thread seemed to suddenly boost itself closer towards him once he felt a light pressure on his left hand. Harley cracked open his eyes as he felt himself slot back into his own body and looked down towards his hand which wasn’t laying alone, instead he saw another hand interlocked with his own. Harley shifted his gaze up to find the owner of said hand to be none other than Peter, he stared confusedly at Peter until the boy looked over to him.
“Are you back?” He asked softly and Harley felt himself nod shortly, Peter frowned slightly and just held Harley’s hand tighter. Harley found it oddly comforting, he’d never had or felt something like this except with Amber and Jack but even then that was more of responsibility and it was never really for his benefit, but this was.
After a few minutes of concentrating on the feeling of both the carpet and warmth of Peters hand, Harley finally felt himself gain back control. He breathed out a shaky breath and turned to look at Peter again giving him a quick smile which Peter returned. They slowly got themselves up and Peter helped Harley to sit on his bed, their hands never left one another. The boys sat in silence, a comfortable one at that,
“How did you know what to do?” Harley asked quietly
“My old friend Harry had dissociative disorder”
“But how did you-“ Harley trailed off
“I saw you rushing down the hall and you had that vacant look in your eyes I guess, besides I recognise the symptoms when I see them and coming in to find you laying on the floor solidified my theory” Harley felt Peters thumb trace across the back of his hand and let himself treasure that feeling of warmth and comfort.
Not much was said in the hours following, then again not much needed to be said. The presence of one another was enough to keep both boys satisfied.
By the end of the week Tony was finally allowed Harley to go out on his first official patrol. He’d been training daily with Bucky and Natasha as well as improving his suit with the help of Tony.
“I’ll be fine old man” Harley said cheekily as Tony repeated the same lecture he’d been giving all week
“Seriously kid be careful” Tony said more seriously, his hand squeezing Harley’s shoulder meaningfully
“I’ll be okay Tony, I promise” with a sharp nod Tony turned to Peter and gave him the same talk he gave him every night before patrol. Harley made his way up to the roof and took a moment to breathe. He took in the scenery of New York’s skyline and just focused on the light breeze whipping past him.
“Right then Keener, let’s do this” he said to himself before stepping off of the ledge just as he had done days prior. Two taps on the band and he was away.
Patrol was rather quiet that night aside from a mugging and an attempt at assault, the city was pretty calm for New York standards. Once the clock hit 1am Harley retreated back to the Towers roof where he spotted Peter sat, mask in hand.
“Waiting up for me Pete?” Harley teased lightly. Peter looked at him tiredly but smiles none the less
“Course, it’s your first patrol Harls, what kinda friend would I be if I didn’t check to see you got back with all your limbs because unlike Wade you can’t grow them back” Peter pointed a finger at Harley who grabbed it
“It’s rude to point Parker”
“Shut up” Peter mumbled pulling Harley back into the tower. Once in the elevator Peter looked to Harley “but seriously how was it?”
“It was pretty quiet, but fun” his answer seemed to satisfy the sleepy teenager who rested his head against the elevator wall until they reached their floor.
Peter and Harley went their separate ways once they reached the floor where their bedrooms were. The whole night Harley couldn’t help but feel incredibly grateful to not only have been given a place to stay but also to have been introduced to such a wonderful human being that would most likely always put others before himself.
The following patrols went pretty smoothly except one in particular night when he had quite a close run in with a burglar. However patrolling was taking a back seat this week, his court date was just around the corner and while Harley knew that breaking Michaels shin was in pure self defense, smashing up his car was what could fuck it all up. Harley found himself spending more time in his room, he drifted further away from Peter, Tony and Pepper, the only person he’d actually spoken to recently was Bucky. It was because he understood what it was like to mess up big- and whilst Buckys mistakes were on a much larger scale, it still comforted him to know he wasn’t alone.
“Come one kid you’ve gotta talk to them, or at least talk to Parker” Bucky pleaded as he sat on the too small for him chair opposite Harley.
“Why Peter?”
“Because the guys been all jittery and he’s gotten this lost puppy look in his damn eyes and it’s getting slightly nauseating” this brought a small smile to Harley’s face as he fiddled with a small screwdriver
“Really?” Bucky nodded, Harley ceased his fiddling, and looked to the door thoughtfully before pushing himself off his bed and walking through the door. It was only a few seconds before Harley poked his head around the door again
“He’s on the roof” Bucky supplied with a chuckle, Harley nodded
“Right thanks” and off he went.
Peter was easily found sat with his legs dangling over the side of the building
“You’re gonna fall off if you’re not careful” Peter jumped ever so slightly before turning to see Harley with his hands stuffed in his pockets, his hair falling in his face. Peter jerked his head to the empty space beside him and looked back out to the skyline, Harley carefully sat himself down being careful not to tip off the edge. The two of them sat in a semi comfortable silence, the only sound coming from the busy streets below.
“I’m sorry” Harley broke through the silence, Peter nodded
“It’s okay” he replied, “but I just wanna know if I did something wrong?” Harley snapped his head around to look at the brunette
“What? No, you did nothing wrong it’s just me being worried is all. I kinda have a tendency to isolate myself when shit happens” Peter stared at Harley, a light frown on his face
“What’s got you so worried?” Peter asked, his gaze not leaving Harley’s face, said boy swallowed nervously
“I’m being taken to court” Peters eyes widened,
“Why? What did you do?”
“My last foster family..” Harley began
“You don’t have to tell me”
“No, no I know that, but I want to tell you. In my last foster home my foster father Michael was kind of a dick” he let out a humourless laugh “he got real rough with me and my little foster brother Jack, and one day I came back from school to find my latest project broken. So I took my baseball bat and smashed up his car” Harley paused when he felt Peters hand lay on top of his own and the light squeeze that followed. “He got mad. Understand obviously, he threw me around a bit and that’s why my ribs were so fucked up. I may have also taken a bat to his shin and broken it.” Harley finished quietly
“Wow okay, um was not expecting that if I’m honest. But it was self defence, they’d have to be stupid not to see that”
“The problem is that I’m a foster kid who’s been chucked out of like 12 homes, most of which were group homes so take that against a man from a street full of people who all support him and never gave me or Jack a second look”
“You’re gonna beat this guy Harley, I just know it” Peter said reassuringly and the pair of boys lapsed into a more comfortable silence, Peters hand never left Harley’s.
“You know when you first arrived I was super jealous”
“Seriously?” Harley stared at Peter incredulously
“Yep, I mean Mr Stark was always running to you whenever something happened and I guess I just felt... jealous, I know it’s dumb”
“It’s not dumb, I guess I’d feel like that too if a random guy just turned up like I did”
“I’m jealous anymore though because I realised I really like you Harley, I mean you’re one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met, you don’t judge me for all the nerdy stuff I do- you like a lot of what I do and it’s so cool to have someone to work with in the lab- not that Mr Stark is bad to work with it’s just-“
“Having someone closer to your age?” Harley finished for him
“Yeah” Peter breathed out with a slight smile.
“You know I really like you too Peter, I don’t think I’ve ever felt so normal or- or happy” Peter gave all his attention to Harley and in that moment it was like nothing else mattered. Peters gaze flickered between Harleys bright eyes and his slightly parted lips, soon enough Peter leant in and closed the space between himself and Harley. Harley leant into the kiss so it came as a surprise when he suddenly pushed Peter back looking at the shorter teen with wide eyes
“I- I can’t” Harley choked out, he scrambled away from the edge and from Peter leaving the doe eyed boy frozen and alone.
Peter bit his lip, willing himself not to cry, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath but nothing he did would ease the ache that grew in his heart.