Never Too Late

(Outside of Ross’ Safe House, Nassau County, Long Island, New York)

When Natasha set her foot on American soil for the first time in months, she hadn’t taken into account the possibility of having to waste more time evading airport security officers. She was very sure that her passport, visa, and ticket was as legit as they could be, and the only thing missing from “Nicole Robinson’s” life story was the record of her actual life. No social media account, no friends and family, just a bunch of documents that said that she was a 30-years-old Canadian lawyer on a vacation.

And yet, here she was, skulking in the shadow because the whole airport was on a red notice alert.

She could only think of one person that would track her movement and change of identities so constantly that a simple border crossing would trip this many alarms. Well, an A.I., to be exact, but F.R.I.D.A.Y. wouldn’t do anything that was not Stark’s explicit commands… right?

Unless F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s also gone rouge like Ultron? Yes, that must’ve been it. Stark wouldn’t take such an antagonistic action against them. As far as he knew, they were still teammates - families - that just had a nasty disagreement. Stark must’ve ordered his A.I. to track them just in case they needed help. Somewhere along the line, the program interpreted the order differently, or just outright disobeyed her “boss” and decided to try and bring down the earth’s mightiest heroes.

Typical Stark. So incapable of competently doing a good thing that he messed up such a simple task. She wondered why Fury was so insistent on bringing Stark to the Avengers Initiative instead of just conning him out of his resources and technology, like they did with his father. It’s not like one of their agents couldn’t be trained to pilot the Iron Man armor, right? James Rhodes was the perfect example of that.

Natasha sighed and peeked out of her hiding. It didn’t look like the securities would go away anytime soon. Their stubbornness of searching the whole airport without thinning out to the city solidified her suspicion. She’s under surveillance.

The damn A.I.’s probably having fun toying with her. But she wasn’t called the black widow for nothing. Stark’s pet computer wanted to play the waiting game against her?

Bring it on.

(New York C Class Airspace)

Harley woke up to the feeling of 2 different sets of hands playing with his hair. Which was usually not something that he’d let someone else do, because what kind of self-respecting human being pets other people?

But the hands on his head felt really nice, and he was really sleepy. Maybe if he didn’t move, they’d just think he’s still asleep?

“we all know you’re awake, Harley. You can stop with the sleeping beauty act.”

Or not.

Well, whatever. The owner of the voice could put it all in a bag and throw it out of the window, because Harley did not care how oddly comforting his voice was. He was snug where he was, and he wasn’t going to move.

He heard a second voice stifle a choked out sounding snicker. “Is he… is he pouting?”

How dare－

He gritted his teeth and soldiered on. Right now, he wasn’t even that sleepy anymore. He’s just going to refuse waking up out of sheer pettiness and spite.

The first voice outright laughed. A deep, throaty, warm laugh, and instantly Harley understood why that voice comforted him even more than the hands playing with his hair.

“Dad?” he rasped out before he stiffened when both hands suddenly stopped moving.

Crap.

“Uh… I meant Tony! Yup, definitely… ugh, god, I’m so sorry－”

Tony cut him off with a hug. Which felt so good and warm, and something inside him melt a little because the last couple hours was just so freaking scary.

Harley hugged him back, and he felt relief rolled out of his Dad in waves.

Harris Keener left when Harley was 3. That’s 3 years of him interacting with his biological father, and Harley honestly couldn’t remember much. Only some occasional glimpse and pieces of a drunken, angry man that gambled all his (and his wife’s) money away.

Tony Stark broke into Harley’s garage when he was 9. That’s 3 years of him debating with himself whether or not he should call Tony ‘dad’ altogether, because he definitely felt infinitely more loved by Tony than his own father. Now, 3 years later, Tony’s embrace answered that question for him

“It’s OK. I don’t mind. I love you,” it said

Tony didn’t say anything, but he didn’t need to; his hug about screamed of acceptance, love, and care, all at once.

“I love you too, dad,” he whispered. Because it’s nice to return good sentiments, even if it was non-verbal.

“I… um, hate to ruin the moment, but… you’re both kind of squishing my broken femur?” the second voice painfully said.

Peter?

Harley sit back up so quickly his head spun. “Peter?! What the… how?? What happened to you??”

Peter looked awful. He wasn’t showing any skin besides his face and his very badly burned shoulder. But his whole posture was wrong… too stiff - like it hurt him to just stay awake.

He smiled wanly, looking a little bit sheepish. “I kinda got buried by a secretary of state? It’s like meeting the president… just a little more psychotic.”

Guilt rushed through Harley like a plague. “Oh, god…. I’m so sorry Peter. I－”

Peter shook his head. “I didn’t get hurt because of you, Harley. I got hurt for you. There’s a difference.”

“That’s even worse!” he gaped, horrified.

“How? I chose to go and save you from Ross, even though Tony told me no－”

“Damn right you did,” the man in question mumbled testily.

“－And I chose to go in anyway, knowing that Ross’ armed with some crazy alien tech. I knew the risk and I took it. No regret, man. I’ll heal, and you’re safe, that’s what matters.”

Harley snapped his jaw shut, feeling out of depth all of a sudden. He was pretty sure he’d said something like that to Hailey once when he got beaten up by some kids in their neighborhood because he mouthed them off for teasing her. But… that’s different, right? She was his little sister, so of course he went all protectively dumb all the time for her. Peter, however….

“How does it feel being the younger sibling in distress for once, Harl?” Tony teased gently.

Both Harley and Peter snapped their head to him at once. On the corner of his eyes he could see Peter rapidly turning red with his mouth hanging open. “I… he…. What’s happening right now?” Harley floundered.

“What’s happening right now, Davidson, is you’re being fussed over by two people who have absolutely no blood relation with you at all, but love you like family. Now shut up - Peter please close your mouth - and hug us, you crazy brat.”

Now it was Harley’s jaw’s turn to drop down like an idiot. But he reached out to Peter and Tony anyway, and pulled them in. Tony went in willingly, while Peter just hugged back weakly with a shocked expression in his now close-mouthed face.

“What did just happen?” Peter asked feebly.

Harley felt Tony’s eye roll on the top of his head. “I just answered that, Pete. Keep up.”

Peter began to fumble with his words again, and Harley decided to change the subject for the greater good. “Where am I?”

“In my jet, a few minutes away from the compound.”

“And… Ross? You caught him?”

Something dark and angry crossed Tony’s face for a split second, and chill ran down Harley’s spine. “Cuffed and muffled because he pissed van Dyne off.”

Harley would’ve been lying if he said that the little bit of information didn’t send a smug sort of giddiness through him. “Nice. What is a van Dyne?”

“Van Dyne is the nice woman that helped me rescue your bratty ass, so maybe show a little gratitude? Thank you.”

“Oh… OK, sorry.” He looked back at Tony carefully, waiting for his Dad to mention the elephant in the room. His face was carefully blank, however, so Harley had to breach the subject himself. “And… Tracy? Is she…?”

Tony’s lips pressed down even tighter, if that was even possible. “She’s… alive.”

Harley felt his eyes widened with dread. “Dad… no, oh god, you didn’t－”

“I saved her life, actually,” Tony sniped through clamped shut teeth. “Ross shot her when she pretended to be you. Unfortunately she didn’t undo whatever juju she used to make herself look like you, so I had to watch my fucking kid lost his fucking head!”

The whole jet fell silent afterward, and Tony scrunched up his nose in regret. “Shit－kids, I…－”

“He shot her? In the head?” Harley said quietly.

Tony shook his head fervently. “No. He shot to where your head should be, which was where her upper stomach was. She’s going to make it… probably.”

Peter who had stayed silent during the whole exchange let out a shaky breath. “Is that why you were…?”

Tony threw his glance away. “I saw him, Pete. I saw Ross blast Harley’s head off, and I just…－” Tony’s voice cracked and Harley swore he saw a tear fell down his cheek in a rush. “－I lost it. I watched you got murdered and I lost it, Harl. I almost killed him, and honestly, I’d do it again in a heartbeat. But van Dyne and Vision stopped me, so I just….”

Tony was full on trembling now. His eyes were glassy and unseeing, and Harley just knew that he was going through another panic attack - because of him.

Tentatively, he peeked at Peter and reached to Tony’s shoulder, letting the other teen take the other one. None of them said anything. They just sat there in silence, until Tony lifted his hands and rest it on their shoulders too.

“I’m going to give my therapist a raise after this,” he joked weakly.

“That wasn’t supposed to happen,” Harley said while he chewed his lips nervously. “She was just supposed to try and get a clear shot to take Ross out…. But then the door just exploded and I just… blacked out.”

“She knocked you out. Swap place with you and disguised you as her corpse.”

“Oh….”

Tony sighed. Look, kid. I already know about his brother, and－” Tony held out a hand when Harley perked up at the mention of Tracy’s brother, “－to some extend, I understand why she did what she did.”

“Wait what did she do?” Peter asked confusedly.

Both Harley and Tony stilled and looked at each other uncertainly.

“She, uh… well, she’s the one who took me here.”

Peter’s eyes bulged as he inhaled sharply. “But－Why?!”

“Remember Cassidy?” Tony hedged.

“Oh god, they tortured him, didn’t they??”

“Illegally and unethically experimented on him, but yes. I think she was forced to kidnap Harley via her brother.”

Peter looked like he might puke. “Oh god,” he whispered. “Oh god.”

Harley looked at Tony imploringly. “Dad, please, you gotta help her - for Cassidy, if nothing else…. I know she screwed up, but she’s not a bad person. Just… just give her a chance to tell you her story, OK? I’m not asking you to bail her out or anything, just… try to listen.”

Tony sighed wearily and tipped his head back. “God, you got to stop making me soft like this, Harl. Fine. I’ll listen to her, but that’s it. If the accords wants a piece of her, then they are more than welcome to have it.”

Harley gulped and nodded, settling himself back to Tony’s side. They were going home, and everything would be alright.

At least he hoped so.

(New Avengers’ Facility, Upstate New York)

When the high from getting Harley back began to fade, Tony mentally bashed his own head in.

‘What’s happening right now, Davidson, is you’re being fussed over by two people who have absolutely no blood relation with you at all, but love you like family.’

Ugh.

Tony buried his face into Pepper’s hair and groaned miserably.

“Tony?”

“I’m okay, honey. Just regretting my past decision and lack of impulse control.”

Pepper turned in his lap to face him in earnest. “Tony? What’s wrong?”

He hesitated. “I might or might not have just told two children to call me daddy.”

“I hope you’re talking about Harley and Peter. And please, by god, don’t use that word.”

“Hey, it’s not my fault people choose to normalize that kink!”

“Yeah, you’re right,” she sighed. “So what’s the problem? Did they get uncomfortable?”

“No…?” Tony tried. “I mean, it was Harley that woke up calling me ‘Dad,’ and Peter acted so much like a goddamn older brother, and I just….” He shrugged helplessly.

Pepper snorted affectionately. “OK, you got me there - I want the full story. Spill.”

So Tony did. He told her about how fucking lost he felt when he thought Harley was gone for good. How Peter kept him from spiraling down that path. How overjoyed he felt when Harley finally woke up and still called him ‘Dad.’ He told her all about Peter’s heated speech, how it matched almost word to word the one he knew Harley gave his sister once - Hailey told him herself, after all.

He told her about how he got overwhelmed after more than 24 hours emotional roller coaster and just said fuck it to restraint and stoicism. How he just let Harley call him ‘Dad,’ before he rolled on and call him Peter’s younger brother in distress - by proxy, telling Peter, the boy who he just knew for a few months, and whose aunt hates his guts, that he was extended the same “courtesy.”

By the end of his rant, Tony was closing his eyes, ready for Pepper to judge him. He wasn’t expecting her to laugh so hard she almost fell down the sofa.

“Pep?”

Pepper wheezed and coughed.

“Oh, Come on, no need to be mean, I know I fucked up,” he sulked.

She sobered up a little at that. “No, no… I wasn’t laughing at you… honest,” she said as she wrapped herself around him once more. “It’s just… Tony, don’t you see how Harley’s been seeing you as his father figure for years now? It’s not that big of a jump to say that he just started to call you that because… well, getting kidnapped so soon after seeing you dying wasn’t exactly a trauma free experience, now, is it?”

Tony opened his mouth to protest, but he couldn’t find any logical answer to that. “Fine. I’ll give you that one. But Peter? Pep, I can’t just, I don’t know… stake a claim on him, or something. I barely even know him, for god’s sake.”

“And yet, you care for him,” Pepper answered easily.

That wasn’t a question, but Tony was defensive. “Well, yeah, of course I do. Peter just wanted to do good - he’s a good kid and he’s going to be so much better than me, Pep. He can’t exactly do that in a footie pajama, can he?”

“Okay, so you make him a new suit. Done. Why are you still hanging around then? You’ve given him the best protection he could ever get, so why are you still hovering around him like a helicopter on a rescue mission?”

Tony gritted his teeth. Pepper was making sense, and he didn’t like it. “I can’t just leave him alone to figure it all out by himself, Pepper. I can’t let him go through all that unnecessary shit show when I can just, you know, tell him all about it.”

Pepper smirked knowingly. “Ah, I see. Just acting as a mentor, huh. Care to explain the college fund, then? The chem set in your personal lab? Sudden interest in hacking a high school server just to check his grades? The－”

“Okay, Okay! Fine. I overstepped a little bit. I’ll stop, you happy now?”

Pepper’s face softened and she reached out to brush his cheeks. “Oh, Tony… It’s not bad to care. You see a lot of yourself in him, so you reach out and now you’re attached. It’s happened once with Harley and now it’s happening again, so you’re doing it twice as fast. I don’t see how that’s your fault, Tony.”

“His aunt hates me.”

“Not really. In fact, she just called me to say thank you. She figures Peter won’t ever tell her about Spider-Man if you didn’t insist on it. She’s coming soon, by the way, I told her about his injury and she flipped, understandably.”

Tony pursed his lips. He wanted to argue, to tell Pepper that he wasn’t worth all of that. But just as he opened his mouth, Pepper continued, “If you’re really bothered by that, Tony, why don’t you talk about it with the kid himself?”

He flinched, hard. “Pep, no－I’ll scare the kid off, and－”

“Tony,” Pepper interrupted sternly, “what did your therapist say about avoiding emotional conflict.”

Tony hung his head in shame. “Don’t,” he mumbled like a chastised boy.

Pepper nodded, satisfied. She twist around again to face the TV, and just sat there in companionable silence.

This is nice, he thought. It’s been a while since we just cuddle like this.

He settled himself for a long, comfortable snuggle. His A.I., however, had different ideas.

“Boss? Is it OK if I bother you with something else now?”

He groaned internally. Somehow, he just knew it had something to do with his estranged… ex-squatter. “What now, Fri? Can’t you see we’re about to have fun?”

“I’m terribly sorry, Boss and Boss-Lady, but it seems like a certain spider wanted to have a look at the commotion back in long island… 12 hours ago.”

See?! Can’t they just leave me alone like regular people who don’t like me?? “And you just told me this now why, F.R.I.D.A.Y.?”

Her voice was almost sheepish when she answered. “Well, I did have a lot of fun playing cat and mouse with her. But it seems she grew tired of the game and rage quit back to Venezuela a few minutes ago.”

Pepper piped up with something that sounded like a vindictive glee, “And did you alert local authority, F.R.I.D.A.Y.?”

“No, Ma’am. I need Boss’ express permission for that.”

“Leave it, baby girl. I’ll handle them myself,” he answered tiredly. “I think it’s high time we deal with them, anyway. The accords are in place, and people are stepping up to protect the earth.” Gently, he set Pepper down from his lap and stood up. “We don’t need training wheels anymore. If the UN wants them in prison, then they’ll have them in prison. I’m done covering for their asses.”

“You’re going to the council now?” Pepper asked.

“Nah, I promised my kid I’ll go talk to his kidnapper. Might as well check if she’s still alive.”