Wow, it took me a long time to actually sit down and write this. In my defense school has been hectic. Anyway, I hope you enjoy.
"Sir, there is an intruder, inside." A mechanical voice sounded in the middle of the night.
There were many, many much more pleasant ways to wake up, than hearing your A.P. tell you about an intruder in your extremely well secured mansion, and falling out of your bed. Many, many ways.
"J.A.R.V.I.S., which part of sleep deprivation do you not understand?" Tony Stark groaned looking at the clock, which showed that it was 4 a.m. A perfectly reasonable time to be awake, provided a person hadn't already went to sleep. Provided that person hadn't spent the last two weeks hunting down an organization of assassins and sleeping fifteen hours all together. And while Tony was not above losing sleep to get a job done, fifteen hours in two weeks was pushing it.
"There is an intruder in the mansion. Second floor, in the kitchen." The A.P. repeated, somehow managing to sound impatient.
When the words finally sunk, the multi billionaire rushed down the flight of stairs that led to the kitchen. The mansion was huge, and he rarely even went in the kitchen as his particular house was mostly used for parties. Still like most other estates he owned, it was high tech and he had designed the security himself. In other words, it was impossible for a normal person to get in uninvited. Which meant that whoever was inside was more likely than not an enemy of the Avengers. And dangerous.
By the time Tony realized this he was already in front of the kitchen. No time to get his suit.
Prepared for the worst, he opened the door as quietly as possible. And froze.
Whatever he had expected to find, this was not it. There were no crazy assassins, no superpowered threats, no insane, puny, weirdly dressed gods.
Just a scrawny boy, reaching up to one of the shelfs.
He pushed the door open all the way and said the first thing that came to mind. "How the hell did you get in?" The kids' shoulders tensed, and he turned around slowly.
A familiar, impish face and pair of dark eyes faced him. A smirk joined. "Man, we have got to stop meeting like this." the kid said, hopping on to a barstool.
Tony watched him, suppressing the urge to gawk. "Harvey Kyle was it?" he asked casually.
The Latino shrugged and smiled sheepishly, taking a bite of a pizza slice. He looked different than the last time Tony had seen him. That had been more than a year ago, for a few minutes, so he had no idea why he remembered but he knew. The kid looked different. Still scrawny, but less awkward about it. Still scruffy and messy looking, but his clothes fitted him better, looked newer. Still looking around the room and fidgeting like a cornered animal, but less desperate.
"So, kid, what's you real name?" he asked. Meeting the real Harvey Kyle, after meeting the fake one, had been extremely disappointing. And awkward. Thank god, he wouldn't have to have any more of those interviews for a few years.
The smirk was back. "Leo Valdez, at your service." He said leaning back as if he had paid for everything in the room.
"Actually, it looks like I am at your service." Tony remarked drily, gesturing to the now almost non-existent pizza slice. "How did you get in here?"
"Your security needs an upgrade. The main gate was too easy to wire, and the front door had nothing stopping me from disabling security. And I could've hacked you're A.P. with a little effort. If I'd…you know…noticed it. Honestly it wasn't that hard." Leo stared at him the way Tony stared at his employees. With a mix of amusement and superiority. Apparently, it was very irritating.
Despite that, Tony looked at him approvingly. He had forgotten that that was the reason Leo Valdez stuck in his memory. His intellect, which bordered on genius. And his personality, strangely similar to his own.
"Stalking me, are you kid? I'll admit my stalkers are usually taller, more attractive and female. But hey, who am I to judge?"
"Okay, dude, I did not know where I was going when we met. It was a total accident. And this mansion? It doesn't exactly have your name on the doorbell."
"In other words, my office building was just a random place for you to hide from the police, while this mansion is just a random place for you to steal food from?" Tony raised an eyebrow.
Leo nodded. "Yes. I mean no- I- ugh." He ran a hand through his hair in exasperation.
"Why did you even need to do those things? You a runaway?" he asked the boy, whose eyes widened at the sudden question.
"Not…anymore." He replied, clearly thinking about his words.
"How come?" it surprised him to realize he was actually curious. Openly curious. Usually, Tony Stark had little interest in anything besides his work, Pepper, and the Avengers. But there was something about this kid. Maybe it was how he reminded Tony of himself. Or maybe it was how different he was. Being so clearly good with tech, so clearly genius and having nothing to show for it. Probably no one to show it to. Tony himself had always, since he was a child, been encouraged to use and develop his skills. Then again, his father had never understood. It had always been about weapons and profit. In some ways, he supposed he hadn't had anyone to show it to either.
Leo had been staring at him, contemplatively, wondering how much to say. Tony could understand why. They were, in reality, complete strangers. Strangers with something in common, but still strangers.
"I ran away from a couple of foster homes- well you know, six…no wait seven…does juvie count as a foster home? – anyway. And then I stayed in one of them. Well more like a camp, really." He started playing with the end of his sleeve. Tony wondered if the kid could stand still even if he wanted to.
"In that case, do tell why you are in my kitchen, eating my pizza, instead of in this lovely camp?"
"Umm…well I left- temporarily- with some friends of mine- "
"Wait. Tell me there are not friends of yours inside right now." Tony interrupted, horror washing over him at the idea of multiple, scrawny elves running around his mansion.
"What? No! Of course not. I'm meeting up with them later. Anyway, so, we are on this…expedition thingy…and yah. Old habits die hard and all that. So, your kitchen is being robbed."
Although nothing in that story made sense, Tony sensed that there was some truth in it. Looking at Leo, for some reason, suddenly brought the image of Thor to his mind. Something about the boy reminded him of the blondie god. Why? There was nothing similar about them. Thor was muscled up, blonde, blue eyed and obviously…godly. Leo Valdez was not. But there was a feeling he got when he was around Thor. A feeling like he was coming close to something powerful. He got the same feeling around Leo, right now. A feeling of power.
He shook his head. This was ridiculous. Comparing this scrawny street kid to a god made him want to laugh. Lack of sleep was really taking its toll on him.
"Well, could you rob my kitchen in the morning? I haven't slept in days, kid."
Leo mumbled something that sounded like "me neither". But he smiled and hopped off the stool he was perched on. Grabbing the rest of the pizza, an apple and for some reason, a knife, he headed for the door leading outside. He stopped abruptly as if he had an idea. "Do you have any bandages by chance? One of my friends scraped her knee."
Tony supposed he should have been calling the police or social services. But he didn't. Instead he opened a cupboard and took out a roll of bandages. They stayed in the kitchen ever since he tried to cook for Pepper. That had not been a successful date.
He tossed them to the curly haired boy who caught them sharply. "Thanks!" he grinned.
"Well, until the next time your property is in a convenient for me place." With a mock-salute he went out and quickly disappeared in the dark.
The kid could take care of himself. He knew it, somehow.
Now…sleep. That was important.