Tell Me The Truth ~ Peter x Harley

A New Beginning

My heart broke even more. They were so young...

"Well, I promise we'll take good care of you, alright? You're safe here, nothing will hurt you." Steve said with a dad smile. They looked uneasy, but still accepted his words. He turned to walk away and I followed him, waving goodbye to the two girls who had such a tragic story. "What will happen to them?" I said, once we were out of earshot. Steve sighed, "I'm not sure. We'll have to figure some stuff out. You know, if there's a dad, grandparents, aunts, uncles, all that. If not, I guess we'll have to put them in an orphanage." I lowered my head and watched my feet. I didn't want to see them being put in an orphanage. I don't have any firsthand experience because I didn't grow up in one, but I've heard bad things about orphanages and I wanted those kids to grow up with parents.

But I guess there's not really much I can do. Sometimes the world is just cruel in that way.

"Harley," I heard my name being called from behind us. We both turned around to see Tony popped out from one of the rooms. "Can I see you for a minute?" I glanced nervously at Steve and he shrugged. "I don't know what it's about but you should probably go," he whispered and pushed me toward him. I took a deep breath.

He's going to yell at me, isn't he?

I walked toward Tony and he held the door open for me. "Have a seat," he nodded towards the dozens of chairs surrounding a rectangular conference table. I sat down. My heart was beating so fast and I was trying to keep my hands from shaking.

He shut the door and walked around the perimeter of the room, tapping a pencil against the palm of his hand. "What you did today," he started, "was completely irresponsible and careless. You could have been badly injured or even killed." He scoffed, "I mean you didn't even know how to work an Iron Man suit! And you think it's okay to break into my lab and steal a suit?" He sat down backwards in a chair and stared at me. It felt like he was searching my soul. "What would I have done if you had gotten hurt? Hm?" I didn't say anything. I just stared at the floor, then back up to him, then back down to the floor. His eyes were too intimidating.

"Talk to me, Keener."

"I'm sorry," I said, "I'm sorry that I went behind your back but I'm not sorry that I helped protect the people I love most."

He sighed. "I respect you, Harley. Hell, I admire you for doing what you did. But please, do not ever do it again. You almost gave me a heart attack when I saw you fly into the middle of that battle."

"Okay," I nodded. I know I had an annoyed tone in my voice but I wasn't trying to. "I promise I won't."

"Good," he said and stood from his chair. "In that case, I want to give you the suit you stole."

I whipped my head up and stared at him in disbelief. "What?"

"You showed courage and loyalty to the team. Even if you upset me, I can't deny that. I'm sorry I had to get through the whole 'you shouldn't have done that' rant before I got to the fun part, but yeah. I want to give you the suit and make you an official part of the team."

I literally could not believe it. Was he being serious? Or was this some sort of fucked up joke? I wouldn't put it past him...

"I- I- don't know what to say."

"Just say yes." He smiled at me and I could tell he was proud. Tears welled in my eyes. I had never really had a father, at least not a good one, so seeing Tony Stark in front of me, offering me a full time job as an Avenger, his eyes glinting with pride, made me so emotional I could barely contain it. "Y-yes," I sobbed. "Thank you, thank you so much."

I stood up and he wrapped his arms around me. He hugged me tight and I buried my head in his shoulder and let myself cry. I wasn't even going to try to hide it because it was pointless. "T-thank you," I stuttered and he patted my back. "You're welcome. I'm happy to have you. I've thought about this for a long time."