Harry James Stark

Chapter 10: Harley

(As far as a timeline goes, Harley was 14 when Tony broke into his garage in Iron Man 3, and they stayed in touch, and Harley stayed at Stark Tower in the summer. Peter got his powers at 12, became Spiderman at 13 (after Ben died), and Tony found him and gave Peter the internship. Harley and Peter had become friends, and constantly kept in touch. Peter is currently 14, going into his freshman year at Midtown Tech. Harley is going to turn 17 in September, and is going to be a junior. Harry will turn 16 in July, and will also be a junior.)

Before Tony knew it, lunch was over, and Harry retreated back to his room. It was astounding - his son was a genius! Harry was especially gifted in mechanical engineering and biology, it seemed, and they spent their lab time doing various experiments that Harry had read about. God, his son was amazing. He had his looks, his smarts - thank god Harry didn't seem to have his self-sacrificing nature or impulsiveness. There was no way he could handle that.

After their day in the lab, Tony had finally done some research on his kid. Harry James Potter, born to Lily Joyce Evans and Anthony Edward Stark, adopted by James Charlus Potter. Records show Lily and James dying in a gas explosion in 1981, and Harry's custody was transferred to Petunia Evans Dursley. Harry got genius level grades in school and was bumped up several times. There were a total of five visits to the Dursley household from CPS, but none of the accusations stuck. Tony figured Dursley must've had a few friends in high places.

Because five visits from the CPS screamed not okay. There was very little chance that every single one of these visits were a result of accused emotional or verbal abuse, as that is much harder to spot than physical. Tony had a hunch from the first time he met Harry, but god, he had hoped it wasn't true. Tony prayed that Harry hadn't been physically abused, but he couldn't just ignore this.

Tony debated his options. If he were to demand Harry see Bruce to do a full body check up, Tony would be able to be certain that Harry would be getting treated for any injuries he could potentially have. However, there was no doubt that Harry would see it as a violation of his privacy, and would have a much harder time trusting him. The other extreme was ignoring the situation completely or waiting until Harry trusts him to send him to medical, and Tony knew these options weren't even on the table.

He could try to confront Harry, and ask him to tell Tony if he were injured, but Tony knows there is a high chance Harry would just lie - he's only known Harry for a day, and Harry definitely doesn't trust him.

So he was left to square one. What the hell to do with his awesome-as-hell-kid-who-probably-needs-help-but-likely-won't-accept-it.

"Jarvis?"

"Yes sir?"

"Alert me if Harry is ever in need of medical attention, and remind me to talk to Pepper about that tonight,"

"Of course, Mr. Stark. Would you like me to send Mrs. Potts an email?"

"Sure, J, just tell her I need to talk to her about Harry," Tony said, deciding to put the decision off for a little while longer, feeling much more comfortable now that he knew Jarvis would alert him if anything was desperately wrong with Harry. Jarvis couldn't sense out of sight bruises or test for malnutrition without Harry knowing, but Jarvis can tell Tony if Harry is bleeding, passed out, unable to walk, or any other issue that could be potentially life-threatening. Harry was safe for now.

And Tony needed to figure out more about his kid.

Harry missed large portions of school, but his grades never dipped. He managed to become a Year 11 at 10 years old, which is the US equivalent of a sophomore in high school. Then, he switched to a boarding school, where he started as a first year student with the rest of the 11 year olds.

Strange.

Tony dove deeper into Harry's boarding school, St. Minerva's Academy for the Prestigious and Gifted. The website had all the right information that a typical school website would have, sans a phone number and an address. Apparently, the school sent the transcripts to each student, and kept all their records on paper, because there was no system for Tony to hack into. The whole thing just seemed off. Tony desperately wanted to ask Harry for answers, but knew he would have a hard enough time talking to Harry about potential physical abuse - the emotional and verbal abuse he would address as soon as Harry felt somewhat comfortable with him, but Tony couldn't wait that long if Harry was injured.

Just as he finished deleting the files he had made on Harry, his phone rang.

"Hey Harley, what's up?"

"Hey Tony, is it cool if I stay with you for the school year? I got a full scholarship to go to midtown tech when I applied, and I haven't seen Peter in ages. Peter said I could stay with him if you said no, anyway, but told me to ask before showing up," Harely explained in a rush.

"Is your mom cool with this?"

"Yeah, she got a new boyfriend and they're taking a trip to Texas, and she wanted to take me with 'em, but the last thing I want to do is sit in the backseat while they're yellin' and such. Mom told me that if I had a better place to stay I should go, and I do, so..."

"So here you are,"

"Here I am,"

"I know you're going to do this whether I agree or not," Tony sighed, "I'd love to have you here, and you know it. Things are just complicated right now,"

"That's cool, I can stay with Pete-"

"No, you two would burn May's apartment down. You can stay here, and I'll buy you a plane ticket. When is your mom leaving?"

"Tomorrow,"

"Jesus, kid, alright, I'll come pick you up at the airport, and I just had Jarvis send you the flight information,"

"Okay, but are you sure? I mean it seems like you got stuff goin on,"

"We just have another addition to the tower, that's all,"

"You pick up another kid from YouTube?"

"No Harley, damnit, that was one time!" Tony said, exasperated, as he heard Harley laugh.

"Still happened, though,"

"Yeah, yeah, this one is an actual kid though,"

"Like...biologically?"

"Yeah,"

"How old?"

"15. Harry didn't really volunteer to stay here or anything, though,"

"I didn't exactly volunteer to have my garage broken into, either," Harley remarked.

"What are you implying here?" Tony asked with a grin.

"That you tend to have a way of falling into people's lives. And look where we are now, Tony. You'll worm your way into your son's heart eventually, if you haven't already,"

"...Thanks Harley," Tony murmured.

"No problem. See you tomorrow, yeah? And tell your son, I'd hate to be a surprise,"

"Right, yeah,"

"And Tony?,"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks,"

Tony ended the call with a grin and headed toward the elevator to go tell Harry with a skip in his step.