the skies are grey

prologue

[hello!! ive always loved the last of us, and wanting to interpret the marvel universe into it somehow (:

this fic will be a mixture of being a rewrite with a twist of my own since i didnt want to do a direct copy, lmao. so most things will be similar to the game, but not necessarily everything

i do also wish for people who havent played this game to be able to read and understand what's going on, so hopefully ill be able to tell it in such way (:

there will be plenty of character deaths throughout the story, but each character that dies usually doesn't last for more than a chapter, so i didnt think an overall MCD warning was necessary, but! im still warning you guys now, haha

i apologize in advance for any and all errors!]

There's a familiarity to his movements. The simple way he moves around in the small space, always making those who watch him wait for the inevitable of him tripping over something. Yet he rarely ever does, and it never fails to amuse his friends and family. He hasn't told anybody about what he's working on yet, but his son likes to joke it's yet another StarkPhone to compete with the newly released iPhone.

Tony's tinkering away on a small device in front of him; a StarkPad's set up nearby for him to glance at as he works. It's playing some mindless YouTube video that Harley recommended to him a few days ago. He knows that when he gets the time to watch it while he's not in the lab, he'll enjoy it more. For now, though, it's nice background noise. It's too late to blast his usual music.

The door behind him opens and he turns to see Harley strolling in with something hidden behind his back. There's a smirk on his face, and Tony barely remembers that his son's supposed to be asleep.

"You should be in bed," Tony tells him, wiping his hands dry on a random rag on his work station. There's sweat pooling on his forehead, and he absentmindedly wipes at it. "Why are you still awake? You have school tomorrow."

"I know, I know," Harley's quick to defend. "I've been waiting for you to come upstairs all day, but with it nearing midnight now, I came down here instead so I wouldn't miss it."

"Miss what?"

"Your birthday!" Harley laughs, like he can't believe his father forgot his own birthday— again. When he moves his arms, he reveals what he was hiding behind his back. It's a small gift, nothing wider than the size of his palm, and not very tall. Tony furrows his eyebrows when he sees it.

Instead of commenting on it, Tony reaches forward and takes the small gift from his son's waiting hand. It's wrapped in Christmas paper, making Tony snort in amusement. It's nearly the end of September, and stores are stocking on Christmas in droves. It doesn't surprise him that Harley finds amusement in it. When he carefully tears through it, he's a little shocked at the familiarity of the box.

"Did Rhodey help you?" Tony asks, his voice quiet as he opens it. As he expects, in it is revealed to be a familiar looking watch. If not for the moving second hand, Tony might even go as far to assume it was the same exact watch he broke a few months earlier. "How the hell did you even afford this? You don't have a job."

Harley snickers. "Yeah, but my dad's pretty rich."

"Are you telling me I bought my own birthday gift?" Tony asks with a laugh, slipping it onto his wrist. "Thank you for this, though."

Harley lightly kicks at the stool Tony's sitting on. "Yeah, well. I got pretty tired of listening to you whine about your favorite watch being broken."

There's a warm feeling that spreads throughout Tony's chest. It's not something he's willing to admit aloud, but the love he has for his son runs deep. Even from the first time he held the now fourteen-year-old, Tony knew the kid would make a big impact on his life. It's a shame, Tony thinks, that Harley's mom died in childbirth. After a quick night of fun, Tony never expected to be a father. But then Harley's mom came waltzing back in, and for a quick moment, Tony thought he'd get the family life he never thought he'd have.