I'm kind of shocked with myself right now, I can't believe I got another chapter out, within the next day. Like I don't write for a month, and then in the span of like a week, I get 3 chapters done. But I kinda pushed aside studying for a test, so that's what I have to do tomorrow. Maybe write in the evenings when I stop studying.
Also, I feel like I should warn everyone, but I am not from America or the U.K, so research stuff gets me only so far, so if you are from those places and see if maybe I used the wrong slang or just is not relevant to the place, please tell me.
Thanks again to Tia for beat reading, especially when my sentences get wishy-washy.
It was noon, and Clint had been waiting for Tony to come down from his room for 2 hours now. He wanted to finish talking to the man about the arrow designs and features they had started talking about before he left. He was tired of waiting so he crept all the way into Tony's bedroom, only to find Tony being octofied by his own son. It was an interesting sight to see. Clint snapped a few photos of the two before retreating out of the room. He sent the photos to Nat, she replied with a bunch of full stops, clearly not impressed with him.
When Clint made his way down to the rec area, he found Nat already there and joined her with whatever she was watching on TV, it was some survival show that she always watched. Said it would help if something ever happened, but he knew she secretly enjoyed watching the idiots suffer, not knowing how to survive in the wilderness.
"What do you think of Harry?" Clint asked her.
"I think he is a child that has seen a lot for his age, you can tell by his eyes, and how he jumps slightly at loud noises. But he seems to have a good heart. Probably been deprived of his own childhood, so I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't always act his age, whether that be older or younger than his age I'm not sure. One thing I do know is he doesn't look his age, he is smaller than most 12-year-olds, but that might work to his benefit if he ever learns some defence."
"You want to train him, don't you?"
"Only a little bit, he is the son of an Avenger, he will be at risk, so he needs to know how to defend himself."
"True, if my kids were at his age, they would already know how to shoot with bow and arrow, well, if they wanted to."
"How is your family doing?"
"Laura is doing a fantastic job with the kids while I'm not there, she has been doing good, not as stressed as she normally is for me, but that's because we haven't really had any life-or-death missions. Cooper and Lila had a fight the other day, but they patched things up when I offered to let them both fix up some old bows lying around, and little Nathanial's is starting to eat solids, glad I'm not there for those diaper changes."
"As I would expect, little Natasha is growing up strong and healthy."
"I'm starting to regret naming my child after you, it's Nathanial, Nat" Clint groaned out. After the two fell into silence again, watching whatever show was playing, Natasha tucked her feet under Clint's leg, as she got comfortable on the couch. Steve came in not much later, not even batting an eyelid at the two. He joined them on the same couch, sitting on the other side of Natasha, who now leaned up against him. "So, Cap, what's the kid like, you're the only one besides Tony who has spent time around him?"
"He's not a bad kid, very kind-hearted, and is amazing in the kitchen, but do try to keep him out, otherwise he might start doubting himself and his place here. This is the only thing I'm going to share about him from his past, the rest is up to him. His relatives had been making him cook all the meals in the house. So, while Tony has been allowing him to cook sometimes, but only when he wants to. If he hears that you are hungry, he might go make food for you. Otherwise, he's full of curiosity, and probably has brains that could rival Tony´s. I've never seen someone that easily keep up with him."
"Cap, what's with the owl in Tony's lounge?"
"Ah, that would be Hedwig, she is Harry's pet, or for a lack of better words, his first friend, so don't do anything to her, she might peck your eyes out before you can try anything funny with her." They all talked for a while longer before they went their separate ways. Natasha heading off to the training floor, Clint went to his room to skype with his family, and Steve headed to the kitchen to grab some food. Meanwhile, in Tony's room, Jarvis had woken the two up.
"Sir, Mr Barton has just left your room after taking some images on his device."
"Thanks, J, make sure you get a copy of those photos for me, and that they don't somehow found their way into the press, not that Birdbrain would do that, but still."
"Will do sir." Tony turned to his sleeping child and gently shook him.
"Harry, I think it's time to wake up. We need to get you used to the new time zone, can't have you sleeping all day long."
"I don't want to get up," Harry mumbled into the pillow beneath him.
"Come on mini-me, we got to get that letter written and sent to the goblins today, we can't delay it."
"Fine, I'll get up."
"That's my boy!" Tony hopped out of bed, grabbing some clothes before going to take a shower. Harry eventually got out of bed when he heard the water turn on. He made his way back to his room, checking to see if there were any clothes in the cupboard, and to his surprise, the clothes his dad had gotten him in London were there. He didn't know when that had even happened. He grabbed a t-shirt and a pair of jeans for himself before jumped into the shower like his dad. He was sure he smelled.
Once he was finished in the bathroom, he headed down into the living area of the penthouse, where he greeted Hedwig, who was resting on the new perch they had gotten for her. Harry headed into the kitchen and opened the fridge, only finding the basic of basics in there. He was taking his dad grocery shopping whether he liked it or not. He pulled out the eggs that were in there, and the single pack of bacon hiding in the back of the freezer. He put the bacon into a bowl of lukewarm water, allowing it to defrost, while he got a cup of coffee ready for his dad. When he turned to place the coffee on the counter, it was to find his dad standing there watching him.
"Harry, you don't always have to cook, you know this right? It's my job as your parent to look after you, even if that means I need to learn how to cook."
"I know dad. You've told me multiple times, but I've come to enjoy cooking when I'm not being forced to do it, but I promise, that if I don't feel like cooking then I won't, okay?"
"I just don't want you to think that you're only staying with me now to cook for me."
"I know that though. In the short time, I've been with you, I've never felt so loved before." Tony smiled at Harry and pulled him into a quick hug before ruffling his hair.
"Okay then mini-me, what are you making, and how can I help."
"Seeing as the fridge is empty, we're doing bacon and eggs, no toast though. We are going grocery shopping today."
"Okay, normally get other people to do it for me, but sure, you know what works, but we can only go after we get that letter written up. And I'm slightly offended you haven't told me how I can help. I would like to inform you that I am a very smart man, genius even," Tony teased.
"Yeah, but even if you're smart you can't cook." Harry shoot right back at him, causing Tony to laugh.
"You got me there, you're just going to have to teach me." Tony drowned his coffee, before he made himself another one, and drank it slowly, talking with Harry as he cooked. They two ate breakfast quickly before they started on the letter. Jarvis would record everything they wanted to put in the letter and suggest against a few things. They eventually had a complete letter, and Jarvis printed it out. Tony read over it once more, before rolling it up and giving it to Hedwig. "Okay girl, can you take this to the closest goblin run bank?" Hedwig hooted before she took off through the door that led to the balcony.
After that, they headed out, to go get groceries for Harry's peace of mind over his dad's health. Tony wasn't just going to go to any old grocery store, they went to the high-end places, and not just one store. Tony said if they were doing this, they were doing it the right way. Harry honestly didn't know what the difference was between the normal places and the places Tony was taking him. The owners of the stores even came out to greet Tony whenever they stepped into a new place. Harry wasn't going to argue, it was a fun experience. When the car was full-loaded and deals made for weekly deliveries made for the fresh foods as well as best meats, they headed back to the tower.
Tony got people to come help take everything up to the penthouse. The two of them headed to the rec room. It was empty when they got there, so while Harry turned on the TV, Tony made some calls, to get someone to come to paint Harry's room the next day, as well as to arrange for a press conference on that Friday. He also called into a few clothing places, to tell them that he would be coming in with a child the next day, and to be prepared. It wasn't all the places he planned to take Harry, but the ones that needed booking beforehand, normally a week, but he was Tony Stark. Tony eventually joined Harry on the couch to find him watching some cartoons.
"Dad?"
"Yes?" Tony's heart melted every time Harry called him dad.
"What's going to happen to Petunia. I know you said she is still in ICU, but what happens when she gets better?"
"Well, because of abusing you as she did, she will be tried by the court for child neglect and endangerment. And while I probably can't get the maximum of 10 years for her, because her abuse was more mental and emotional. I'm going to push for as much as I can, hopefully with the best attorney's and my name, things will work out. I wish I could have also gotten that slime of an uncle of yours tried. But from what I've been told from the lawyers, his assets are frozen, and any benefits his family would have gotten are also frozen. They are going to be sold and with the money he already had, it is all going into a charity system that helps abused children. Your cousin is going to stay with his aunt. That's about all I was willing to listen to."
"Oh, okay. Whatever happens to them I´m sure will be what they deserve." Harry said leaning on his dad's shoulder. Mentioning his relatives had been putting him into a sombre mood. Clint walked in not long after the two had fallen silent, sitting in one of the armchairs looking at Tony. Who raised an eyebrow at him.
"So Tony, I was looking for you this morning. I wanted to talk to you about the arrows we had been discussing before you left. Also, fair warning, Nat wants to train Harry."
"That doesn't sound like a bad idea," Tony said questioning himself.
"What? The arrows or me being trained?" Harry asked.
"Both really, but more along the lines of Natasha giving you lessons. It won't help any less if you know how to defend yourself. I also had to learn as a child to defend myself. One of the perks of being a Stark, and probably the child of an Avenger. J, where is Natasha?"
"Miss Romanoff, is still on the training deck, sir."
"Harry why don't you go talk to her about some exercises you can start doing, while I talk tech with Birdbrain over here." Harry nodded at his dad, heading off to the elevator that went down a few floors before it opened, and Harry was met with a gym area.
"Young Harry, if you continue through the gym and find the door on the far-left side, you will find miss Romanoff in there."
"Thank you, Jarvis!"
"No problem young Harry." Harry headed through the gym before standing in front of the door Jarvis said miss Romanoff would be in. He knocked twice on the door waiting for a response.
"You can come in." Harry heard her call out, he stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. She looked surprised to see him here. "What can I do for you, Harry?"
"Um, hi miss Romanoff, my dad said you wanted to teach me something, and I should come and get some exercises from you to start off with."
"Please Harry, call me Nat or Natasha, miss Romanoff is purely for business. And sure, I can get you started on some things, but why don't you join me in my warm down right now, nothing hard, just stretching."
"Uh okay, I don't know if what I'm wearing is okay though?"
"You should be fine for just this once, just be sure that whenever Tony takes you shopping that you get some stuff to work out in." Harry nodded going to her side, mainly watching what she did and trying to copy her, he wasn't as flexible as she was, so he couldn't do half the things properly. But his limited Quidditch experience definitely helped. Afterwards, she sat with him on the floor while she made a list of the things he could do and planned for some days where he could join her, and they could start working on his defence.
It was the first of many days to come, where Harry felt as if he was part of a big family, it wasn't just his dad and Steve with him, he now had more people around him willing to help and care for him. Harry felt content that night as he fell asleep in his own room, looking forward to all the exciting adventures to come.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter, don't know when I will have the next one out, but hopefully, it's not a month.