A/N: Warnings for language, underage drinking and alcohol abuse
Thoughts in Italics
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Harry looks around his new apartment with a tired but pleased smile. He finally got here after all the damned flight delays, his little cottage is a gem. He doesn't know when or how his mother found this little beauty so close to MIT campus but Harry was grateful to have his own space instead of sharing a dorm room with another international student. It would have made letting his wings out to relax pretty much impossible, not that Alice knew about them at all in the first place.
It wasn't a large place nor is it brand new, it's clean and in well maintained shape, more than enough for what he wants. With two bedrooms, a small living-room, a single bathroom and a tiny kitchen, it will suit him for the next few years it is going to be home. Harry is a little in love with it already. Grinning happily Harry turns to the first box to begin unpacking his books and other things. Luckily his mother hired a designer, he couldn't remember their name. To pick out the furniture and simple decor was not something Harry would categorize as fun or high on his list of priorities. His only immediate worry is unpacking his personal belongings and ordering dinner from the Chinese place he saw a few blocks over. Maybe I'll walk over to pick it up if it's not too late. He thinks to himself as he opens cabinets to see how much space he has to play with in the kitchen. There are six in total, and only two are full of plates, glasses and pans. The others, he is startled to discover, are filled with his preferred vegetarian foods. Frowning a little he goes over to the fridge and opens the door, finding it full stocked. Well then. I see mother has been busier than I thought. Looks like I'm cooking dinner instead.
Shrugging, Harry closes the door and moves back into the living room, locking the front door, he grabs his bags and pulls them into the main bedroom to put away his clothes. He'll come back to the books in the living room in a minute. There are already linens on the bed and heavy curtains on the single window to block out early morning sunlight, which looked like it would fall directly onto the bed and into his eyes.
"Good choice." Harry mutters to himself in approval. He hated early mornings with a passion, but they were a necessary evil that didn't need to be added to by sunlight stabbing him in the eye.
Harry considers the other windows in the cottage as he's pulling open the closet door and hanging up his shirts. They would need heavier curtains too, so he could close them when he released the spell hiding his wings from touch and sight. A slow grin slid across his lips at the thought of his wings; which had finally, finally grown in its adult feathers instead of the sooty colored juvenile ones that didn't let him fly very high or very far. As Harry had thought previously, they hadn't remained that soft speckled gray, but had grown in black as pitch with alternating under wing feathers that glimmered deep green when sunlight hit them in full display. They were large, and stunning, and he was ridiculously proud of them. While a darker color than his Valkyrie mother's, who'd had soft brown with shining gold highlights, he had inherited her iridescent feather pattern. His were a rich green instead of her gleaming gold, but they were still breathtakingly eye catching, and he knew they would very well please a mate when he displayed for them.
Clothes put away Harry returns to the living room for the box of books he opened previously, stacking them on the bookshelf, then moving on to unpacking his electronics. Once that was completed he empties the other couple of boxes, which contains photos and other homey things and calls it a night. Gazing around Harry wonders about the memories he will make in this place, the people he will meet on campus and in classes. He wonders if any of them will be Valkyrie.
Since Harry was little they had watched him, but had kept their distance. At first Harry had felt abandoned by them, hurt and a little angry, but as he got older he realized why they had chosen to do things this way. They wanted him to have as normal and healthy childhood as he could given their situation here on earth. They were still looking after him, he felt that they always would. It wouldn't be long before they return to Harry now that he has his adult flight feathers. Soon, he felt things were going to become busier than they had ever been before. Now would be the time to begin reconnecting with them. When Harry finishes his education and moves into the research fields, then he can begin making changes for them. Helping them in a way that was meaningful and not just as figurehead; a symbol of a home world they had lost, a ruling family that was nearly destroyed and broken, a reminder of billions of loved ones lost and the near extinction of their own race. Harry would build their numbers back up as rapidly, and as safely as he could to begin with, but for that he would need his degree. Valkyrie are a long lived race and not prone to having children nearly as often as humans do. It would take some manipulating of their genes to do what he hoped he could do, and jump start their fertility.
Mentally shaking himself from his thoughts Harry turns to go into the kitchen, intending to pull out some vegetables and make a simple stir fry with rice for dinner. Classes were going to begin in the next couple days. Harry wanted to be rested and a little more familiar with the college campus, so in the morning he intended to take the campus map and go exploring. Pulling out his cell phone while he worked he checked the time, it was six now, which meant it was eleven in London, he hit the speed dial. His parents would still be up for another hour or so before his mother dragged his father away from his work for sleep.
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It was halfway through his freshman year that Tony ran into James Rhodes at some sports party. Literally ran into him, knocking his drink down the front of him as Tony drunkenly staggered in an attempt to keep his feet.
"What the hell, man?!" James shouted, staring down at his soaked shirt before glaring at Tony. Tony blinked at him stupidly a few times, trying to figure out which version of the older boy was the real one.
"Ugh...sorry?" He slurred, shoving his own drink into Rhodes hands.
"Here, you can have this one." Rhodes hesitantly took the drink, staring in unease at Tony.
"No, its okay...it was an accident. Hey are you okay kid?" The dark skinned boy asked, absently setting the drink aside as Tony dropped heavily into the nearest chair with a groan.
"I'm fine." Tony mumbled, waving one hand at him while resting his head in the other.
"Just have a headache." He grumbled, closing his eyes against the light and noise as if it would help.
"No, you're drunk off your ass, c'mon. I'll get you out of here. C'mon." Rhodes reached down to pull a reluctant and protesting Tony out of the chair and through the house seeking an exit.
"Where are you taking me? You're not really my type buddy, so leggo." Tony stumbled as he attempted to pull his arm away, nearly face planting into a wall before Rhodes catches him.
"I'm not hitting on you kid. Jesus, you're drunk as hell. You're going to be hating life later." Rhodes carefully maneuvered them through throngs of people to where he remembered the door being, it was slow progress with Tony being as inebriated as he was. Eventually he found the exit and pulled Tony out into the cool night air, taking a couple fresh breaths himself, for a second he let go of Tony. James wrinkled his nose in disgust as the nasty sound of retching came from behind him, he kept his back turned until the sounds stopped and Tony made a pitiful noise of distress.
"At least I got you out of the house first." He muttered under his breath, turning back to check on him. Tony was leaning heavily against the side of the house, like it was the only thing allowing him to keep his legs.
"Oh boy." Rhodes sighed moving over to grab his arm again, firmly but gently. " C'mon kid, don't pass out on me now, we still have to walk down the street a little first."
Tony made a garbled reply that he didn't bother to try and sort out and tugged him down the road, keeping a sharp eye on his balance. If he ever found out who had handed this kid alcohol he was going to bust their head in, he was too young to be on campus alone this late, never mind at that party. Rhodes snorted to himself in anger as Tony stumbled against him again, almost sending them both into the bushes.
"Almost there, just a little a little further. Then you can lay down on the couch for a while." He coaxed to get Tony moving again. The kid whined at him in protest, but started moving when he tugged. Grimly he pulled Tony to his front door, letting him lean against the door frame as he fished his keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door.
"Alright, here we go...inside kid." Gently he led him into the living room where the couch was and had him sit down.
"Names Tony, not kid." Tony leaned his head back against the back of the couch, closing his eyes.
" Uh huh…" Rhodes replied absently as he went about gathering a pillow and blanket, dropping them on the other end of the couch. Then he knelt down in front of Tony and started untying his shoes. Tony picked his head up as he felt Rhodes tugging on the laces.
" Hey..where are we? You're really not my type man, I should go home." Tony tried to push himself up off the couch and failed miserably.
"You're in the apartment I'm renting, and I'm not hitting on you Tony, I'm taking your shoes off so you can sleep." Managing to get one shoe and tossing it aside he went for the other one.
"Sleep?" Tony repeated blankly, blinking slowly as he struggled to stay awake and aware.
"Yeah sleep. That thing you do with your eyes closed? You're lucky it was me you ran into and not somebody else, kid. Tonight could have gone very badly for you." He pulled the last shoe off and tossed it with the other one, standing and grabbing the blanket.
"Lay down Tony, you'll feel better if you get some rest." He lied through his teeth, the kid was going to feel like dog shit when he woke up. Tony laid down silently, apparently at the end of his tolerance for argument, and Rhodes covered him with the blanket then turned to fetch a trash bin for the kid to puke in if he needed to.
"Who are you?" Came the soft question from the couch. He turned back.
"James Rhodes, but you won't remember it when you wake up." He rubbed a hand tiredly over his eyes, it had been a long day, and it was going to be a longer night as he stayed up to make sure the kid didn't die choking on his own vomit.
"I'll remember." Tony responds sleepily. James doesn't comment, just goes and gets the trashcan, when he comes back, Tony is already out. James spends the night in the armchair to be sure the kid keeps breathing through the night.
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It was afternoon before Tony's body wakes him violently with the unhappy need to expel its guts. Luckily the trashcan was literally right in front of his face, because he is nowhere near coherent in that horrible moment. After what seems like an eternity of painful torture his stomach calms down enough for him to feel his head pounding like someone has taken a hammer to his skull a few times. It is everything he can do to concentrate on breathing properly for a few moments.
"I see Sleeping Beauty is awake." An unrecognized voice came from his right, causing Tony to instinctively tense. He lifted his head in this person's direction with an absolutely vile glare. Which would have had more impact if Tony didn't look like a bedraggled tramped on and pissed off cat with his hair sticking up. Rhodes bit back a tired smile, knowing it wouldn't be appreciated.
"Rhodes." Tony bit out grumpily after a long moment of looking at him. James arched an eyebrow in surprise.
"So you did remember. You were pretty trashed last night." Tony just grunts in reply and slowly eases away from the trash can, snatching up the glass of water and aspirin James had left on the side table.
"You want me to call your parents to pick you up Tony?" The kid gave him a baleful glare again.
"First off, my parents wouldn't given a damn, they live out in California anyway, and second, I'm a student here Rhodes." James blinked a few times in surprise.
"But…" He started, only for Tony to cut him off with a sigh.
"Yes, I'm as young as I look. I'm fifteen, no that does not mean you can boss me around, and no that does not mean I'm going to stop going to parties sometimes." Tony states bluntly.
James snaps his mouth shut with a snap and just looks at Tony for a few moments, considering his options. He could report him and possibly ruin Tony's academic career and have the kid hate him. He could patch him up and send him on his way for the kid to likely end up hurt or in trouble anyway. Or, he can let this go for now and try to stick around, curb what he could and pull his butt out of the line of fire if he needs too. He has a feeling the kid will need him too. Nodding mentally to himself in resolve he turns his attention back to Tony, who is looking at him with wary eyes and a raised eyebrow.
"You want some toast kid?"
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Harry is sitting at his little kitchen table reading one of his course books and ignoring his Ramen when his doorbell rings. Lifting his head with a curious blink Harry sets his fork down and stands, walking over to peek through the window. There were two men he didn't know standing on his doorstep. Both are shades of blonde, with clean shaven faces, jeans, sneakers and t-shirts, one has a light jacket hanging off one arm. Frowning, Harry cautiously cracked open the door to peek at them.
"Yes?" He asks, as he opens the door a tiny bit wider so he can see both of them better.
"Harold Sinclair?" The one on the left asks, he looks to be in this thirties, a little bit older than the twenty something, on the right and has brown eyes.
"Who's asking?" He demands softly. The younger one shifts slightly, and Harry realizes that he's been staring at him for some reason ever since he's opened the door. Nerves have Harry tightening his grip on the door handle, ready to slam the door in their faces if he needed to. Something about these two was strange, and he didn't know what it was.
"Your mother asked us to come see you." The older one answered, nudging the younger with his elbow with a slight frown. The younger blinked, breaking his stare and blushed, dropping his gaze.
"I very seriously doubt that. You can leave now." Harry went to shut the door in their lying faces when the older man spoke again, his words stopping Harry in his tracks.
"I was not referring to Alice."
Harry frowned, looking at them hard before slowly opening the door, and stepping back, motioning them silently for them to come in. When they did he closed it firmly behind them before turning back. The older man held out his hand in greeting.
"My name is Kiran, this is my younger brother Meloth."
Harry took the offered hand, clasping at the wrist rather than the palm the way humans did, feeling Kiran's fingers curl about his own wrist in return. They held the gesture for a few seconds in politeness before dropping their hands away.
"You aren't part of my usual watchers." Harry stated, offering for them to sit with a gesture of his hand and taking a seat on the couch himself. Both accepted the offer without comment on it, Kiran continuing the conversation while Meloth remained silent.
"You are correct my Prince, we are not. The community felt that at this age you would be old enough for further training. I am here to offer myself and my brother as combat and flight instructors." Kiran leaned forward in his seat as he spoke, resting his arms on his knees. Meloth was back to studying him intently, but it wasn't as disturbing now that he had an idea why.
"Okay?" Harry agrees hesitantly, uncertain where all this was going. Kiran smiles reassuringly at him. Silently Meloth stands, walking about the room and drawing all the curtains tightly closed.
"Uhm?" Harry offers, not sure what exactly is going on, Meloth doesn't answer him, but Kiran does.
"Just a moment of patience my Prince and you will understand." Kiran stands and moves to the center of the living room. Once all the curtains are secured he drops his glamour, revealing large, dusty brown and white wings. Meloth moves over in the general vicinity and also drops the spell, revealing his own chocolate brown. Harry's eyes widen, taking in each detail happily. Not since he was a young child has he seen another of his own kind up close. No one else with wings. Now he had two Valkyrie in his living room and he was completely lost on what to do to not seem rude. Luckily Kiran comes to his rescue once again.
"This is so that you are sure we are not lying to you my Prince. I will teach you how to recognize one of our own, that aren't your watchers, without having to have the glamour down as proof."
Absently Harry nodded, getting to his feet and stepping closer.
"Can I?" He asks softly, gesturing towards their wings. They share a glance and Meloth finally speaks up.
"You may walk around and look at them, but never touch without permission. Asking such is extremely personal, so do not do so lightly, you might offend someone you don't mean to."
Curiosity burning through him, Harry circles back to take a closer look. Their wings were larger than his own, which made him wonder if that meant anything, and they didn't seem to have any of the iridescent feathers that he and his mother shared. Their wings weren't fully open though, so perhaps there were some on the underside. Circling back to the front of Meloth, he tried to peer to see the underside to find if any feathers were there. Harry starts when Meloth growls and takes a step back away from Harry. Confused, Harry steps back himself, an apology on his lip automatically, though he didn't know what he did wrong. Kiran's voice quiets him before it leaves his mouth.
"Calm yourself Meloth, he doesn't know any better." The words seem to slowly settle Meloth, whose feathers have fluffed up in agitation. Harry looked back and forth between them as Meloth calmed down.
"What did I do? I didn't touch." He points out, backing up another couple of steps.
"You were seeking to look at more than you were invited to my Prince." Kiran replied gently.
Harry's lips turn down in a frown of confusion. " I don't understand."
"I know." Kiran gestured for Meloth to sit back down, and he did so without comment, tucking his wings tightly behind him so they weren't squashed. Kiran turns back to Harry with an amused grin.
"Trying to glimpse the underside of another's wings without permission or invitation is about the same as trying to look up a human woman's skirt without her permission, my Prince."
Harry's green eyes widened in horror, looking over at Meloth he blushed darkly. "Oh my god. I'm so sorry! But, wait..what about when flying? Can't everyone see the underside then?"
Meloth cracked a faint smile in return. " Don't worry about it, I'm fine. But you might get smacked if you try it again. What were you looking for anyway?"
Harry rubbed the back of his neck with embarrassment, shifting in place. " The feathers, I was looking for the iridescent feathers."
Meloth frowns at him in confusion. "I've never seen feathers like what you're describing before. Why would you be looking for them?"
Kiran cuts in before Harry can answer. "There were rumours that the Queen had such feathers." He was looking at Harry with intensity, considering. "As for your question, the unspoken rule is to simply not stare and do not comment. Seeing the underside of another's wings while flying is something that truly can't be avoided. However it is not commented on in polite conversation. Will you show us your wings my Prince?"
Harry blinked, then nodded. "Oh yes, of course. How rude of me." Without further thought he drops the glamour, opening his wings a little bit for them to see his iridescent green undersides, missing Meloth's shocked expression to his disregard. Kiran seems a bit stunned as well, but covers it better, concentrating on the topic at hand.
"I see what you mean. To answer your curiousity my Prince, not many have feathers like this. I would strongly advise you to not so willingly show them off as you have just now, however, it would be taken as extremely forward."
"Forward?" Harry asked, not sure he understood what Kiran was trying to politely imply. This time Meloth jumps in before Kiran can answer.
"What would the reaction to a human woman walking down the street in lingerie be?"
Harry blushed again. "Oh, so showing them like this is personal too?" Kiran nodded. Harry quickly folded up his wings, tucking them behind him self-consciously.
"Its alright Harry, these things are part of what your continued training will be. You didn't grow up the traditional way our children would have before." Kiran tries to soothe him, walking over to sit down again, Harry following suit.
"It's still embarrassing." Harry grumbled good naturedly. Kiran laughed at him softly, a rich sound that was nice to the ears.
"No more than any other curious child would be my Prince. The only difference is they do such things younger. Displaying your wings so openly like that is normally reserved for mates and done privately to...entice a your partner."
Harry crosses his arms as he leans back, turning his face away as his blush returns and deepens with every word. "Oh...so, how would you know you've met your mate anyhow?"
"You're too young for it now, but when you reach twenty one and onwards you will be eligible. It varies a little bit from person to person, much like human courtship does in the beginning stages. It is not something you instantaneously know when meeting someone, but given a little bit of time and getting to know the prospective partner, you will instinctively know who to show your wings to and when. I know that might not help much, but it really is like that. Some know within a few hours, some know one another for years before they know. It's not a precise science with right and wrong formula. Bonding is a very private, very intense time. Most partners develop a few metaphysical side effects from this bonding. Such as limited empathy, or limited telepathy. The breaking of such a deep connection in devastating. " Kiran pauses in his explanation, a strange look coming over his face as he gazes at Harry
"So don't flash my wings at anyone like I did before unless I get some mystical urge? Thanks, that didn't clarify matters much right now. What? Why are you looking at me like that?" Harry demands nervously.
"I don't suppose anyone has told you that Valkyrie go into a dry heat from time to time on a regular basis have they?"
"Excuse me?!" Harry yelped, nearly coming out of his seat. Kiran sighed in apparent distress himself.
"I was afraid of that. Yes, a non-fertile heat, some Valkyrie find discreet partners, some lock themselves away and spend it alone. More of us are finding casual human partners that don't look to much into it. You will only be fertile for your mate, so that will not be a concern and you will not have that sort of cycle until the bond has been settled for a bit of time."
"Oh my god," Harry breathes in horror "I did not just get "The Talk" a second time in my life from a complete stranger. Alice was traumatizing enough."
Meloth muffled a snort behind his hand. " You so did." Kiran reaches over to smack him casually on the back of the head.
This makes thing so much more difficult. Harry thought to himself, still reeling from his unpleasant shock. If Valkyrie can only produce children with their mates, how in the hell am I going to boost our numbers on this planet? Fertility manipulation won't do a damned thing if no one will use it. "Just how many of us are there on Earth?"
Kiran tilted his head, seeming curious about the question, but answers anyway. "There were over fifteen thousand of us that followed your mother down to the surface of the planet. Many more are still on the ship, waiting for your signal for the next group that it is safe to come. That the humans won't notice another large group increasing their population."
Harry stared at him, unsure how to process this information for a moment. There are more of us just sitting on a spaceship somewhere? That seriously needs to be fixed, soon. "How many of us on Earth are mated?"
Kiran raises his eyes to stare slightly above Harry's head as he considers with a soft hum. "Exact numbers I'm not sure my Prince, but I would estimate roughly half of us by now. Only a hundred or so children have been born after you however."
Harry nods, having expected a low birthrate number. They have not been on earth very long really all things considered. They were blending in smoothly and quickly for only fifteen years on the surface. "How many are on the ship? And how quickly can they be integrated here with the others without notice?"
Kiran refocuses his gaze on Harry, pulling himself back from where ever his thoughts had wandered for a moment. "Roughly another fifteen thousand last I knew. I am uncertain as to the number of mated Valkyrie there. I do know that there were more young ones in the second group. They were kept on the ship until safer passage could be had. As for integrating them, it can be done now that the first group is mostly settled and we have more resources to hide them from the humans straight away. But, it will take time to set up my Prince, and you would need to go to them and bring them down to the surface yourself with a small group to help. Seeing you would greatly reassure them."
"So I would need to leave the planet to go to them, how would that be done? Where are they anyway?" Harry inquired, not sure how he felt about leaving the planet and going into space.
"It would not be a fast trip my Prince, the journey would take several Earth years. Two to get to the ship, and two to return to Earth. You would need to find some way to account for this time you are missing. As for the Valkyrie ship, it is cloaked in hiding behind the moon the humans call Pluto. At the edge of this system."
Harry blinked. "Years. I'll be in space for years? Wait, how did we reach Earth before I was born if my mother was in the early stages of pregnancy with me? Its a huge distance from here to the Gemini System. I'll have to think about that more, that's a lot of time be be missing without a really good reason."
Kiran nods. "Yes, a much longer distance to travel than where you will need to go my Prince. The ship is on the edges of this system. The reason this shorter distance will take longer is actually rather simple. Fuel. We exhausted all of the fuel on the mother ship to get the first landing party down to earth. Since then, we have only what we can substitute from earth to use to use. Its not anywhere as efficient as what we had on our home world, thus, the journey will take longer that it otherwise would have. We've had to overhaul the landing ship to be able to even use the substitute."
Meloth swiftly switches the conversation to something else, pulling Harry from his plotting before he can ask more questions. "Going back to the reason we are here my Prince. We'll have to sit down and work around your class schedule and study needs. We're completely at your disposal right now, until we feel your training is complete. It will take some years I think, to cover everything you will need to know, between flight, combat and social etiquette. Some of it doesn't matter anymore sadly, it just doesn't apply to this world, but there are other things you will need."
Harry nodded and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. He had a feeling his world was about to turn upside down again, just when he thought he might have a handle on it. "Alright, let's started then, I guess."
