Chapter 35
*Two weeks later*
"Peter!" Harry exclaimed, leaping off of the couch as his boyfriend stepped out of the elevator. His muscles contracted in protest, but he didn't care.
It had been a week since he had last seen Peter, because Peter's school had started, and Peter had already emerged himself in several school activities that kept him busy afterschool.
Peter threw his arms around Harry in a loving embrace as he barreled into him. He had missed Harry a lot, and even though they had been texting, it wasn't the same as being there in person.
"Hey kid!" Tony greeted, waving from where he was leaning against the kitchen counter, reading something off of a StarkPad and sipping coffee, despite the fact that it was nearly eight at night.
"You didn't tell me you were coming!" Harry cried, before spinning on his heels to see Tony. "You didn't tell me he was coming!"
"We wanted to surprise you," Peter grinned cheekily, shoving his hands down in his pockets with a small shrug.
Harry leaned forward and kissed Peter adoringly, before breaking away and giving him a small, shy smile.
"I was thinking we could have a movie night tonight, if you two would be interested?" Tony suggested.
Harry was just about to agree with Tony, when Peter cut him off. Surprised, Harry took a step back to look at Peter- movie nights were Peter's favorite, he couldn't believe that he was turning the idea of one down!
"Actually," Peter cleared his throat sheepishly. "I was hoping to, if it's alright with you, maybe take Harry on a date tonight?"
Harry's face and ears grew warm with the best kind of embarrassment (because there were good and bad forms of embarrassment), and he couldn't help but look down at his feet timidly.
"Of course that's alright, if Harry wants to!" Tony exclaimed, shooting Peter a grin with a small wink that went unnoticed by Harry.
Peter had texted him around lunch while he was down in the lab, asking about a surprise date for Harry that night. Tony had been more than willing to help him out, but Peter had told him that all he had to do was play along and act just as surprised- he would take care of the rest.
Tony had noticed how quiet had been all week without Peter around, and while he was way better off than he originally had been when he began living with them, it was upsetting to see him take a step back in progress when he had been doing so well. Bruce said it was to be expected, with the whole 'two steps forward, one step back', but Tony was still worried. Sometimes it seemed as they were going 'one step forward, three steps back' instead.
And Peter made it better. Whenever Harry was around Peter, it seemed that the progress of his mental and physical health soared, and he seemed to be completely himself. Yes, he had some slip-ups from time to time, but that was expected of anyone.
But when Peter wasn't around, Harry seemed to be more reserved and tentative than normal. He was comfortable with Tony and Pepper, and occasionally he would open up around everyone else, but he wasn't the same loud, giggling teenager that he was when Peter was with them.
Part of Tony was worried about how reliant his son had become, and worried about the worst- what if something happened to Peter? Or if they broke up? What if something went wrong at the trial and he lost custody? Thoughts raced through his mind, making it hard for him to sleep. In fact, he didn't think he had slept for more than two hours since... Tuesday?
What day was it again?
"Mister Stark, Ms. Potts would like me to inform you that she will be arriving home in an hour."
Oh yeah, it was Friday.
"Thanks, Fri. Tell her that I can't wait and I'll be waiting for her..." Tony glanced towards the two teenage boys standing there and looking at him with innocent looks on their faces. Sighing, Tony finished his sentence quickly, "in the kitchen."
"Will do, sir," Friday responded. Tony rolled his eyes and grumbled something about a bedroom. Peter's face flushed bright red as his sensitive hearing picked up on what Tony was mumbling about.
"Okay, I'm going to go say hi to Bucky and Steve, and I'll be back here in half an hour to pick you up," Peter explained, turning back to Harry.
"Alright, I'll see you in a bit then," Harry smiled, giving Peter a quick peck on the lips. Peter gave him one last smile before taking off towards the elevator again.
"Shit!" Harry exclaimed as the elevator doors closed, making Peter disappear. "What do I wear? Do I need to do something? How quickly could I get flowers? Should I try to whip up something in the kitchen really quick?"
Tony let out a soft chuckle as Harry began freaking out.
"Relax son, Peter isn't expecting you to do anything for this. It's a surprise from him, and he loves you so he wants to treat you," the billionaire explained as Harry paced the floor.
"I made up some cookie dough earlier today that was going to bake up after dinner, but since everyone has different dinner plans, I'll bake some up really quick. While they're baking, I'm going to go get a quick shower in and change."
"Here, I'll place the cookies on the sheet and bake them for..."
"Seven minutes," Harry told him, warily handing the bowl of cookie dough that he had removed from the fridge to Tony, who quickly washed his hands before peeling back the Seram wrap that was covering the top of the bowl.
"Alright, seven minutes. Got it," Tony repeated. "You go take a shower and get changed, and I'll take care of these. You've got 26 minutes, go, go, go!"
Tony gave him a gentle, playful shove and pushed him towards the hall where the bedrooms were.
Harry shot him a thankful smile before disappearing off to his bedroom, leaving Tony alone with a the cookie dough.
"Seven minutes, seven minutes, seven minutes," he repeated as he placed the cookie dough on a cookie sheet.
"Seven minutes, seven minutes, seven minute."
*
Exactly twelve minutes later, Harry reappeared to see Tony pulling a batch of cookies out of the oven.
"Dad!" He exclaimed, observing how dark brown the cookies were. "I said seven minutes!"
Tony's face flushed guiltily as he glanced towards where Harry was standing.
"They were still really doughy and puffy when I pulled them out after seven minutes so I put them in for three more minutes!" Tony exclaimed.
"They're supposed to look like that! They lose the doughy look once they cool for a few minutes!" Harry cried, rushing over to the chocolate chip rocks that Tony had just removed from the oven. He glanced at his watch, making sure that he had time to spare to place another batch in. Sure enough, he had fourteen minutes left. He could make a batch and have another finishing right as Peter showed up if he got started right now.
"I've got another sheet prepped right now," Tony told him, pointing to the one on the counter. "You don't have to make them for tonight though. Peter is perfectly fine without them."
Harry visibly deflated. "He's always doing nice things for me, I just wanted to do something for him for once."
He slid the cookies into the oven and plopped down on a bar stool.
"Peter loves you a lot, and you do a lot for him without even realizing it. Peter has come out of his shell and is much happier now that you've been here."
"You really think so?" Harry asked, biting his lip in doubt.
"I know so," Tony placed a calloused hand on top of Harry's small, scarred hand.
"Now, I'm going to leave you alone with your cookies now and go try to get a few minutes of shut eye before Pepper gets home. But have fun alright, and know that I love you?"
"Alright, I will. I love you too," Harry smiled, the words still feeling unfamiliar in his mouth. But he did love Tony. He loved the entire team, but Tony was his dad- he really did love him.
Tony pressed a chaste kiss against Harry's temple before making his way into his bedroom and flopping on to the bed, asleep within seconds.
*
The elevator opened with a soft ding, and Peter appeared with a smile.
"That smells so good, I could smell it from a few floors away," Peter grinned, sauntering over to where Harry was pulling the second (edible) batch of cookies out of the oven.
"Whoa, what happened with these?" Peter's eyes widened as he picked up a brown/black cookie and smacked it against the counter a few times, without it crumbling at all.
"Tony. Apparently he can't follow simple directions," Harry chuckled.
"You just figured that out?" Peter raised an eyebrow at him with a grin.
"Okay, true," Harry giggled.
"Are you ready to go?" Peter asked as Harry began packing up the good batches of cookies.
"Are you going to tell me where we're going?" Harry questioned with a smirk.
"But what fun would that be?" Peter teased, pulling Harry closer to him and giving him a kiss. Intertwining his hand with Harry's and pulled him towards the elevator.
"Friday, can you bring the elevator to the roof please?" Peter politely requested, smiling when the AI brought the elevator to the roof.
"The roof?"
"We're going stargazing," Peter admitted with a big smile.
Harry raised his eye brows at Peter, with an amused look on his face. "Peter, it's New York City. You can't see the stars."
The elevator doors opened, revealing the roof.
"Surprise," Peter grasped Harry's hand and began pulling him as he walked backwards. "Me going to say hi to Bucky and Steve wasn't a complete lie, but they were up here helping me set up."
Harry's eyes widened as he saw the set up. There was a large blanket laid spread out on the ground spread underneath four poles that were holding up a large black bedsheet.
A small, flat projector was lying on the ground at the top of the blanket, projecting an image of the night sky.
"Peter, this is incredible..." Harry breathed in awe as they came and laid on the blanket.
"Here's the best part," Peter grinned. "It mirrors the stars in the sky for the night. So this is what the sky looks like right now, if we were able to see it."
"I can't believe you did this for me!" Harry exclaimed, lying back and gazing up at the star projections. He could see constellations that he hadn't been able to see since his time at Hogwarts.
"You mentioned once that you and Cedric used to star gaze because it was calming to you. But I don't want you to feel like I'm trying to take that away from the two of you, or replace him. I just know that you've been a bit stressed out with Loki's tutoring, your new inheritance and PT recently. I thought you deserved a break."
He gave Harry's hand a light, reassuring squeeze.
"I really love you Peter," Harry whispered, cuddling up against his boyfriend and nestling himself under his arm.
"I love you too."