Chapter 54
Steve rubbed his eyes as he padded down the hallways towards source of the amazing aroma wafting through the penthouse. It wasn't even 6 in the morning, yet he knew Harry had already been up and baking for quite a while.
However, despite knowing this, the impressive spread of food that was displayed upon the marble countertops in the Stark kitchen took Steve by surprise.
Harry was flitting around the kitchen like a hummingbird, checking on multiple mixers that were going at once, adding ingredients to some, and checking on things that were baking in the oven. He hadn't yet noticed Steve standing in the entry way to the room.
In an attempt not to frighten the teen, Steve reached over and knocked lightly on the wall, and cleared his throat. Harry looked up, and grinned at the super-soldier, flour smeared across his cheek in the most adorable way possible.
"Harry, this is incredible," Steve spoke, bewildered as he watched a bowl float through the air, landing in front of Harry. "How long have you been at this?"
Harry's face flushed bright red, not wanting Steve to scold him. "I wasn't able to sleep. I came down here around 3, and decided to make everything on my menu so that everyone can try it. I figure having a star of approval from an Avenger next to it might increase sales."
Steve had to give it to the kid, it was a good marketing strategy.
"What have you made so far?" Steve questioned, deciding to let the fact that Harry hadn't slept slide by.
"I've made a peach cobbler, blueberry pie, cherry chip cake with buttercream frosting, and right now there's a lemon pound cake, coffee cake, and apple pie being made. I'll do more puddings, fudges, cookies, brownies and other simpler desserts here in a bit."
Steve couldn't help but chuckle at the idea that those items were any easier, but held his tongue. He had no room to hold an opinion when it came to cooking and baking. The last time he had tried to make the team dinner, he came close to giving everyone food poisoning.
"What are you going to do with all of this food?" Steve asked, hooking his foot around a barstool and pulling it out to take a seat.
Harry looked up at the super-soldier with an amused expression. "Do you really think that this team is going to let anything go to waste? Several of you have extremely high metabolisms, and the others just really like desserts."
"The others just really like your cooking in general," a new voice declared, entering the room. Steve and Harry looked up and grinned as Bucky made his way towards the island beside his fiancé.
"Did I wake you?" Steve asked softly, brows furrowing with worry. He would feel bad if his getting up had disturbed Bucky, but the man just shook his head.
"No. Nightmare," he whispered sheepishly so that Harry wouldn't be able to hear.
"I'm sorry I wasn't there to help you after you woke up," Steve's heart ached for his fiancé. He wished that there was a way that he could take all of the pain and memories away from him, but he knew that it wasn't possible. It was the same way he felt about Harry's nightmares and flashbacks.
"It's alright. I just took a hot shower and it helped," Bucky replied before raising his voice to where Harry could hear. "And then I could smell Harry's amazing baking, so I had to come check it out."
Harry blushed, placing a slice of everything that he had made thus far on to a plate and setting it down before the two soldiers.
"Here, let me know if these are any good."
Bucky chuckled, "Harry, I know for a damn fact that these are going to be amazing."
"He's right. You've yet to make anything that I haven't enjoyed enough to go back and get a third or fourth serving of," Steve smiled, reaching across the counter and grabbing a fork. He started in on a piece of the cherry chip cake, and let out a hum of delight as he tasted the dessert.
"It's alright?" Harry asked, hands clasped in front of him anxiously. He was worried about the fact that he hadn't followed the exact same recipes that he had in the past, where he had just tossed ingredients about until he thought it would taste perfect. This time, he had written down exact measurements, so other employees would be able to follow the recipe if they needed, and hadn't included any extra flourishes.
"It's amazing," Bucky reassured, piling a second bite of peach cobbler into his mouth eagerly.
"Whatever it is that I'm smelling, can I have some?" Tony's voice called as he followed his nose into the kitchen, inhaling the sweet aroma that was wafting through the penthouse.
"You're just in time to try the blueberry pie," Harry giggled, watching as his dad's eyes grew to the size of saucers.
"You made blueberry pie? Here. In my kitchen? Cap, pinch me, I think I'm dreaming," Tony joked, dramatically stumbling around the kitchen as if he were in a daze.
"Here," Harry placed a plate in front of his dad that contained a little bit of everything, but mostly blueberry pie.
"Harry this is..." Tony began, taking another bite of pie. "Delicious."
"Do you think the investors made a good decision?" Harry grinned cheekily.
"The best financial decision they've ever made," Tony winked. Even if Harry weren't his son, he was positive that he would have funded this bakery. Harry made the best food that he had ever had- and he had eaten in many a 5 star restaurants in his day.
"Are you getting excited about the grand opening?" Steve asked, polishing off the last of the food on his plate. He knew that after Harry was finished baking today that he was going to have to spend at least three more hours at the gym to work off all of the kid's baking. He couldn't help it- Harry's cooking was his weakness.
"I'm really nervous, but excited. I know that we've put up fliers, and advertised, but I'm still worried nobody will show up," Harry responded honestly.
"People will show up, trust me. I know for a fact everyone from the S.H.I.E.L.D group already plans on being there, the entire team will be there, and Peter has been hyping it up at school. Trust me, people are coming," Bucky replied.
"May already told me that she's planning on putting in a rather large order for the entire hospital staff at some point after opening week," Steve added.
"I think we should put Thor out on the street corner, twirling a sign," Natasha grinned, entering the kitchen with Clint.
The archer snorted. "That'd be fun until he forgets his strength and knocks out a toddler with a twirling sign."
Everyone chuckled, knowing that there was some truth to Clint's statement.
"Okay, okay," Natasha laughed. "Maybe we can forgo the sign."
"Have you told Peter that you've been baking all morning? I'm sure he would make it here in record time if he knew," Tony asked Harry, who just shook his head with a laugh.
"Dad, it's barely 6:30 on a Saturday, and Peter's a normal teenager who sleeps until noon on weekends."
"You're right. Speaking of which, how early did you get up? Like you said, it's barely 6:30 and you've got all of this already made," Tony questioned, just now realizing how much his kid had done at such an early time.
Harry's face blushed a bright red, and he looked towards Steve with a panicked look. Steve hadn't questioned it at all, and now he was worried that his dad was going to be mad at him for not sleeping.
"I just couldn't sleep," Harry murmured. "I came out here around 3 and started baking. I put a silencing charm up around the room so that I wouldn't wake anyone. Please don't be mad at me."
Tony's heart clenched at how small Harry sounded all of a sudden.
"Buddy, I would be one hell of a hypocrite if I lectured you about not sleeping. While I would prefer you have gotten a little more sleep, I know that some nights it's harder to sleep than others, and that you've been getting better sleep these past few months, so I'm not overly worried. I just wanted to make sure you were alright."
Harry's shoulders relaxed as he realized that his dad wasn't about to scold him. Steve cleared his throat.
"Have you seen Bruce this morning? I think he was staying up all night as well, to work on something in the lab. He probably fell asleep at his desk again," the captain spoke, changing the subject.
Harry brightened. "I'll bring him some coffee and a piece of the coffee cake that just finished!"
The teen started bustling around the kitchen once more, and everyone looked between each other with a smile. Life was never boring when Harry was around, that was for sure.