Tony's kids oneshots

🔵 the scent of your absence 🔵

(Part three of 🔵 hearing a heart stop 🔵 and 🔵 feeling tears flow 🔵. next one is going to be 🔵 a taste of terror 🔵 and the last one will be 🔵 seeing you slip away 🔵)

God, Harley remembered a time when the two of them would be messing around in the lab, with their dad. The three of them stinking of weird chemicals and Peter's web fluid when it went wrong and exploded everywhere. Through the five years, that all faded. The smell of web fluid in the lab, on Harley's clothes, in their shared bedroom, at the table because dad would never get changed before dinner. It always smelled the same, even though the mistake was different every time.

It all disappeared over time.

But Peter was still a kid after those five years, so he would still make it from time to time. Harley joined him whenever possible, but he was an adult. He had other stuff to do. It made them both sad. But Morgan always joined in, so she also smelled horrible half the time. It was gross, but Harley loved that smell. It smelled like home.

But after the three years, he stopped again, locking himself in his room. And once again, the welcome scent of Peter's dumb experiments faded. It was gone.
And Harley had finally had enough of it. Pepper kept telling him breaking the door down wouldn't do any good and only make Peter want to hide away more.

But since when did Harley listen to rules?

He got Morgan to show him how to pick locks. How she could do that he didn't know, but he wasn't going to ask. Shock horror, but Harley did value his life. Probably had something to do with Natasha-

.....Oh wait.......

Harley shoved the thought out of his mind. There wasn't enough time to mourn.

When he got in the room? There wasn't anybody there. Well fuck.

The entire family searched for them. Harley contacted the remaining avengers, but none of them had heard from him since three years ago when Harley had hope, that just maybe, he and Peter would be okay.

Even Shuri and T'Challa in Wakanda were looking for him now, and surely if there was anything that could help find him it would be Wakandan tech.

He asked Ned, MJ even Flash, but nobody new. I mean, obviously MJ wouldn't, she had grown up like Harley had.

It didn't make sense! Why would Peter even do this to them?!

A couple of weeks later, Harley was still worried. But that night... it was different. He frequently had nightmares about Peter. Especially during the five year 'snap gap' and yes, Harley knew the real name it was given was the blip, but his dad always used to refer to it as the snap. So Harley preferred to use Snap Gap when talking about those five years. But anyway, this was different. He had figured out a long time ago that Peter and him had a bond.

It made no sense why, they weren't biologically related, but he noticed it as soon as they were both adopted. If one of them was injured, the other got pins and needles in the same spot. Their emotions were linked, that's how Harley knew Peter was crying every night. He could feel the tears even though they weren't his. And the nightmares... well, he thought they had something to do with missing each other.

Harley got them a couple of times when Tony has already adopted him but not Peter. On days when Peter couldn't visit the tower. He got them almost every night during the snap gap, and all the time he was away on business trips with Stark Industries, he knew Peter hated when he had to go on them. And when Peter started locking himself away, he got them all the time.

This?

It was different. Like... a vision. Not a nightmare, because it wasn't.. upsetting or scary. It wasn't a bad dream. It was just.... an experience?

He couldn't tell what was happening, but he was somewhere he didn't recognise. Or did he? He wasn't sure.... he was still in his own body, but Peter was there too. Except Peter didn't know he was there. It was so weird. Real time, Harley was sure of it. And... when he woke up it was like he hadn't slept at all. He was tried, as though he'd been awake all that time.

Was that where Peter was? He needed to do it again.

And the next night? What do you know! It happened again. He could see a bit more, walk around freely and.....

Oh shit.

May's apartment. Hadn't it been sold? After May died and Peter got adopted? It was sold.

No it wasn't.

No it wasn't because dad brought it so he could stop them selling it because Peter didn't feel comfortable letting go. Because he still went there sometimes. Usually with someone else, but he'd go to his old room if he felt sad and stuff. Harley didn't know his dad didn't sell it during the snap gap.

So.... was Peter there?

He had to check.