~Broken Family~

Losing a Piece

Harley wasn't sorry, not one bit. In fact, he was angry. He was furious, almost, that Tony would be so upset about him going back to living his normal life. Sure, his two favorite kids had disappeared from the Snap and he had latched onto Harley, saying he was the one thing keeping him going. But that didn't mean Harley had to give up his life just to be the pet-child of a rapidly aging billionaire suffering from depression.

He found it hard to admit, but he wanted normalcy. He wanted to come home to his own house every night, be able to text his mother that he was on his way home. Be able to thank her for dinner and make her a mother's day card knowing she wouldn't toss it to the floor anymore.

He wanted to return to the life he had before Tony Stark crash-landed in his garage (with a few tweaks, of course). Now that his mother seemed like an okay person, even if she wasn't the same as before, he wanted to start a life with her again.

Have a mother, be able to have a room and a house that he felt was his by right, not like he was renting it from somebody else. 

And he was beyond grateful to Tony for letting him stay after he ran away from child services. More than he could ever put into words. In the last five years, he had been able to breathe for the first time in his life, to express himself without fear of getting laughed at or denied a meal.

He had been able to be himself.

While Tony and Pepper had never been his real parents, they had come pretty close. And he would miss them more than the world.

***

Pepper was more considerate with her reaction than Tony was.

Tony had called her on the way home, trying his best to softly explain the situation without breaking into tears next to a guilty Harley, and their call had been short. But she'd embraced him like his mother the second he stepped through the door and an unknowing Grover jumped on him. She made him bend down so she could kiss the top of his head and looked him dead in the eyes.

"I'll always love you," she said sternly, as if scolding him. "And I'm so, so grateful for the opportunity to look after you for these past five years. They've been..." She let loose a breathless sigh, emotions making her voice tight and high. Tears shone in her blue eyes, making Harley realize how much this was going to screw them up.

He was the only thing they had to look after now; he was their only purpose in life left. Without him, they would waste away as a little retired couple, with nothing to look after but a bunch of birdhouses, a garden, and a dusty Iron Man suit. No way to hold onto their two favorite kids but old photographs and boxes stuffed with their now-unused possessions.

"They've been the best years of my life," she finally continued, gripping his shoulders tightly. "And while this is breaking my heart more than I ever want you to experience, I'm overjoyed that you get to return to your mother. And I hope that she treats you with just as much respect and gives you just as much love as you deserve. I hope she uses American cheese on your sandwiches and buys you 2% milk. I hope she puts extra peanut butter in your ice cream, lets you teach her the difference between all the different baseball leagues, and cleans the dirty spots off your crutch with those lavender-scented wipes."

"Thank you," Harley whispered, shedding a few tears of his own. Pepper's lip trembled and she reached a thumb up to brush them away. "Thank you for everything you've done for me, Pepper. Thank you for being the best foster mom I ever had."

She gave a sobbing laugh, burying her head into his shoulder and giving him another tight squeeze. "I'm the only foster mom you ever had."

Not wanting to remind her he'd had one that he'd ran away from, he remained silent as she cried into his shoulder. She whimpered something after a few seconds, probably unaware he could hear her.