Hold Onto Me 'Cause I'm a Little Unsteady

Chapter Eleven

Tony sighs, resting his head against Steve's chest. Steve's quick to adjust his tight grip around Tony's waist and to run a soothing hand through his messy hair.

"I miss him so bad," Tony admits to the quiet darkness of the room. Morgan will be getting here soon to curl up between them in the bed. And then a few hours later, Harley will make his way into the room with tear-stained cheeks and bloodshot eyes. It's become a routine.

"I do too," Steve whispers, voice breaking.

The only reason Tony finds himself in bed these days is for his family's sake. If it weren't for them, he'd probably be chugging coffee in the lab while searching for any possible leads.

Tony's breath hitches, squeezing his eyes shut against Steve's loose grey t-shirt to try to stop his tears before they fall. He needs to be strong. He can't be anything but strong. He can't break now.

Soothing circles are rubbed into his back and Steve's saying something, but Tony's too tired to focus enough. Just because he hasn't been down in the lab working, doesn't mean he's been sleeping well.

On good nights, he'll lay in bed with his arms tucked around one of his kids and maybe get a few hours of shut eye.

On bad nights, he'll re-watch security footage he's seen a thousand times before like it'll really make a difference.

He already knows this'll be a bad night with the pressure in his chest and the weight of the world resting on his shoulders, the guilt rolling in his stomach and the moisture in his eyes. It'll be a really bad night.

There's a soft knock on the door before the door is being pushed open. Tony lifts his head from Steve's shirt, hoping he doesn't look too disastrous as Morgan shuffles into the room.

Steve wordlessly lifts the covers between them as a silent offer. The young girl crawls into her parents' bed and curls up between them, resting her head beside Tony's arc reactor with a soft sigh of relief.

"Hey, sweetheart," Steve murmurs, pressing a soft kiss to her temple. "Try to get some sleep tonight, okay?"

Morgan sniffles, not looking at either of them when she speaks, "Harley yelled at me... I was trying to tell him that Peter would be okay, but he didn't believe me and started yelling at me. He told me that Peter wasn't going to be okay and that we're all living in a delusion. When I left, he threw something at the wall and it broke."

"I'll go check on him," Steve says before Tony can. Lately, Tony's been taking better care of Harley and Steve's been with Morgan because Tony and Harley have known each other for a lot longer, but Tony's not in the right mindset to be helping Harley right now.

Steve glances once more over his shoulder at the doorway, watching his husband murmur some soothing words to their daughter before heading out to Harley's room.

He knocks softly. "Harley? Can I come in?"

"Harley is currently one room to the right," Friday informs.

Steve's already destroyed heart seems to break even more. Harley's in Peter's room.

The door is open, revealing Peter's nerdy décor and dusty furniture after leaving it for two weeks- he still can't believe Peter's been gone for two weeks and they still haven't found him yet. Harley is laying on the floor in the center of the room, blankly staring at the ceiling which is covered in little glow in the dark stars.

There are shards of glass by his feet along with the broken picture frame and there's a cut on his hand that's steadily bleeding. Harley doesn't seem to notice or care.