Chapter 2
Harry had known even before he disappeared into the desert to find Tony that his soulmate was a genius. He’d known he was rich and famous too - had known he was fairly controversial by Hermione’s expression alone - but it hadn’t quite hit home that he was quite this level of celebrity.
He’d stayed at Tony’s side for the whole plane ride home. Watched him greet his personal assistant (and he hadn’t realized people in the normal world actually had those though he really should’ve expected no less from what he was learning about Tony), and request nothing less than a cheeseburger.
What also surprised him was how easily everyone capitulated to his whims despite the fact that they could harm him.
“Absolutely not.” Harry cut in firmly when it seemed like they were actually going to order fast food. Tony shot him a disbelieving look. Harry stood firm. “Your body won’t be able to handle the grease. I, for one, don’t want to watch you throw up all over yourself.” and he knew the words were harsh, but why wasn’t anyone else stepping in? He squeezed Tony’s hand that had latched onto his the moment they were settled in the car. “Are you really going to make me watch you hurt yourself for a cheeseburger?” Tony deflated immediately.
“No. But I still want that press conference.” Harry shrugged.
“Seems fair. After all, there’s no way you’ll be making any rash decisions after not having slept for three days, crash landing in the desert, and a fair amount of exposure. But yes, why not show yourself to the public media and make decisions about a future you have no set plans for?” Tony shot him a withering look, but in contrast his hand gripped Harry’s tighter.
“Fine.” he snapped. “We’ll go home.” Harry beamed.
“I’ll cook for you.” which immediately brightened Tony’s mood.
“Will you wear an apron?”
“Only if it has frills.” and Tony paused for barely a nano second before he cackled. And so he’d managed to get Tony home, fed, and in bed. At this point, he was only mildly surprised when Tony dragged him along - wrapping around him like an octopus before he fell asleep. Harry was just glad he’d managed to coax the man to drink a bottle of Dreamless Sleep before he’d passed out.
Harry fell asleep soon after.
14 hours later and he woke up, groggy and disoriented, and not at all surprised to see Tony still asleep. He was surprised that the man had hardly moved a muscle, apparently intent on keeping him in place even while unconscious. Harry carefully disentangled himself, searching for the bathroom.
When he stepped back into the bedroom moments later, Tony was up and looking around in a panic, only relaxing when Harry came into sight.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you.” and Tony shrugged, still looking exhausted but no longer panicked. He made grabby hands and so Harry obliged him, crawling back into bed where Tony immediately draped across him.
“I still want that conference.” he muttered into Harry’s neck, and Harry just barely repressed the shiver from Tony’s breath ghosting across his skin. Now definitely wasn’t the time.
“What it is you want to say during this conference?” Harry asked instead, and he could all but hear Tony’s brain switching gears, clearly having expected more resistance.
“You don’t think it’s a terrible idea?”
“I don’t know what the idea is yet.” he reminded. Tony didn’t answer right away, but when he did, his voice was hard as iron.
“I want to shut down the weapons devision of Stark Industries.” Harry tilted his head, considering. From what he understood, Stark Industries was the leading force in weapons manufacturing in the United States, but it did have other interests.
“Okay.” He agreed, drawing the word out. “Any particular reason?” Tony shot up to a sitting position, gaping at him.
“Stock will drop by a significant amount.” Tony informed him, and Harry shrugged.
“The stock market has always been fickle.”
“The board may try to lock me out.”
“You own the majority of the shares in the company, don’t you? They can’t actually keep you out long.”
“It will hurt my company’s legacy.”
“Then you’ll have to build a better one.” Harry countered, and Tony just stared. “I imagine that’s what you have planned anyways, isn’t it?” He frowned in thought. “I can’t say I understand much about technology but I’ve been trying to learn ever since I found out who you were. It’s no use being your soulmate if I can’t even carry a decent conversation, is it? And I was reading an article my friend showed me about the arc reactor.” He snapped his fingers, remembering. “There’s a massive one running one of the factories! But apparently it was impossible to make smaller.” Harry grinned, positively beaming. “Though you managed to prove them wrong, didn’t you? Is that the plan then? Clean energy?”
But Tony didn’t answer, he was too busy staring. When he’d been staring for almost a minute, expression unreadable, Harry frowned.
“Did I say something wrong?” The words earned him a laugh, but it was a nearly hysterical sound.
“You started teaching yourself about modern science and technology so you could talk to me?” And Harry frowned.
“Of course. You’re brilliant, Tony. And I won’t be able to keep up with your intelligence in a lot of things, but I can at least learn enough to be a good sounding board.” His smile now was shy, cheeks going pink. “I was actually hoping that you’d teach me some.”
“You want me to teach you more?” Harry’s frown returned.
“Of course I do. I want to learn as much as I can about what you do.” He cocked his head. “You want to learn about magic too, I imagine. Don’t you?” And Tony nodded immediately.
“Absolutely. As soon as I’m in the lab I want to run full scans and see what kind of energy levels you emit.”
“See? Exactly. Why is it such a surprise that I would want to learn about what makes you who you are?” Tony didn’t answer right away and it took all of Harry’s will not to not just look in Tony’s mind and find the answer he was looking for. Then the older man shook his head, offering a tentative smile.
“I’ll teach you whatever you want to learn.” And Harry was beginning to realize that these moments of vulnerability were something only he really saw. “But yeah - clean energy is the path I want to take. I was nearly killed by weapons I designed.” And thinking back - Harry could recall seeing the name Stark on the sides of boxes.
“Then shut the rest down. I’m not going anywhere, Tony. And as I’m not particularly fond of the violence of war I can’t say I mind much that you won’t be as involved even if was peripherally for the most part.” And there was one more moment where Tony just stared before his face split in a beaming grin.
“Come on. I want to show you my lab.” And then he was grabbing Harry’s hand and dragging him along. “Jarvis?” He called as they ran through the house, and Harry looked around, not having seen anyone else in the house the day before when they’d arrived.
“Sir.” And the voice came from all around them. Harry tripped over his own feet only staying upright since he had Tony to balance against. He looked around in surprise.
“Who’s that?”
“That’s Jarvis. Think of it like a reverse meet the parents. He’s one of my babies.” And Harry’s eyes lit with understanding.
“Incredible.” Tony flashed a grin.
“He is. Self-teaching artificial intelligence system.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Jarvis.” Harry said in lieu of replying.
“May I presume that you are Mr. Potter?” He blinked again.
“You’ve heard of me?”
“Mr. Stark uploaded as much data as he could from the cellphone of Colonel Rhodes.” Harry chanced a glance at Tony who studiously looked everywhere but at him.
“Enough chatter - I’ve got things to build!” But his eyes were tight when they finally met Harry’s. “I need an upgrade.” And the metallic tap of the arc reactor had Harry sobering.
“Of course. Will you be joining us, Jarvis?” And the question was enough to ease at least some of the anxiety from Tony’s eyes.
“Jarvis runs the entire house. He’s everywhere.” Harry just beamed.
“Brilliant.”
>>>
Tony liked to think that he was honest with himself, but honesty took a whole different level when faced with one Harry Potter. There was something about Harry that was so painfully honest that anytime Tony even considered bending the truth a little he felt awkward and out of sorts. Because not only did he feel weird about it, he also knew Harry trusted him to be honest - didn’t even second guess trusting him. He knew for a fact Harry hadn’t looked at his thoughts because he knew what that felt like now and knew the other man had kept to himself which Tony kinda missed if he was being honest which he was, because there was something about knowing the man who was his soulmate was close by without having to actually be close by.
It had got to the point where Harry didn’t leave the room without telling him because it gave him such anxiety and Tony felt bad about it - in fact, the more relaxed Harry was, the worse he felt. Which was weird because it’s not like Harry hadn’t put his foot down on stuff - he’d finally had that burger he’d wanted after all, but it had taken 2 weeks of only home cooked food before Harry had allowed it and somehow he’d brought Jarvis to his side so he hadn’t even been able to order it behind Harry’s back.
And not just that but with his next business venture. He knew it was going to be a rough change for the company, changing it like he was planning - and Harry hadn’t even blinked. Sure he’d made sure Tony had planned out a firm direction to take so he was prepared for the fallout but really that’s something Tony needed to do anyways. When he’d offered to show Harry the plans, the man had actually laughed and said he was nowhere near as brilliant as Tony and so probably wouldn’t understand the intricacies but that he trusted Tony’s judgment.
Nobody ever trusted his judgment.
And Harry had been so good about his weirdness. His many quirks. Like whenever Pepper had come down he’d taken the things she wanted to hand to Tony, setting them down within his reach for him to pick up. He hadn’t even realized it was something that had bothered him until Harry had dealt with it.
He’d performed spell after (harmless) spell, his only caveat that he wouldn’t perform anything that might put Tony in danger until they could confirm how Harry’s magic would affect the arc reactor. What it meant was Harry wouldn’t perform any spells on Tony, but that didn’t stop him from casting them on everything else.
Tony wasn’t sure what kind of energy levels most wizards held but he was pretty sure Harry had to be above the norm because the readings were insane.
Harry had even accompanied him to the press conference - hanging back but watching like a hawk. Tony didn’t think he’d ever felt so safe in his life.
What had surprised him was the assumptions people made about the other man. He’d known they’d been seen together - after all Harry was by his side at pretty much all times - but as Tony had never been big on PDA with the people that actually mattered he should have realized that nobody would know that Harry was his soulmate.
“Mr. Stark - is that your new bodyguard?” And the question shouldn’t have surprised him but it still threw him off guard and he was so surprised he nearly laughed. He glanced at Harry who’s bright green eyes were laughing but not opposed and decided - what the hell? It would certainly make explaining Harry’s presence easier. And Harry did act like a bodyguard in some respects. Plus, for now at least, he didn’t want to have to share Harry with the world. Nobody looked twice at a bodyguard but eyes of the world would be on Tony Stark’s soulmate. The fact that Harry was actually very protective of him was a bit of a weird turn on for Tony.
“Yes, he is.” And he smirked and left it at that. After he dropped the bomb about Stark Industries, everyone was too focused on that to even give Harry a second thought.
“That went well.” Harry noted as soon as they were away from the reporters. When Pepper shot him an incredulous look, he shrugged.
“I’ve definitely been the subject of worse.” He shrugged, and that - that was something Tony would need more information about later, but overall Harry was right. That had gone about as well as it could have. Better, even, because he’d immediately launched into his energy campaign and it had garnered some interest.
Pepper was nodding now, already busy on her phone.
“It wasn’t as bad as I expected.” She’d admitted, and Tony was glad Harry had suggested involving her because she’d been a big help even if she didn’t necessarily agree with the decision. Tony frowned as he tinkered on the stabilizer in his lab. If only the rest of his friends could be that supportive.
“Sir, Colonel Rhodes is here. Mr. Potter is already going to meet him.” And there was something like trepidation in Jarvis’ voice. That, more than anything, caught Tony’s attention. Quietly, because his curiosity outweighed everything else, he made his way up the stairs from his lab, staying out of sight.
“How could you encourage this?” Rhodey was demanding, and Tony flinched. He resigned himself to Harry at least listening to Rhodey - but he should have known better.
“How could you not?” And Harry’s tone cut like a whip.
“Excuse me?”
“Have you ever faced down death? And I don’t mean fear of dying. Have you ever known you were dying, and known that it was by your own hand? Inadvertently or not?” And there was a simmering rage in Harry’s voice similar to when he’d threatened to kill for him. “Tony nearly died. We both nearly lost him. And despite how he’s acting he’s still hurt. He’s got a foreign object in his chest that may never come out - and that’s because a weapon he designed - a weapon with his name on it - nearly tore him to pieces. And you’re angry that he doesn’t want other people to hurt as he was hurt?” Harry scoffed, and Tony had never felt so cared for before in his entire life. This man, this strange and impossibly magic man, was protecting him even when he didn’t have to. He could’ve dealt with Rhodey - and really he knew his friend would come around eventually - but the fact that Harry wouldn’t even let it get that far was something he didn’t think he’d ever be able to get used to.
“Stark Industries has a military contract.” But Rhodey’s voice was no longer as sure.
“And that was Howard’s decision. As well as his dream. From what I understand, the man’s lucky I wasn’t around to meet him.” And despite everything, Rhodey actually laughed.
“Can’t argue that.” There was a pause and Tony wished he could see their faces. “You’re good for him.” Rhodey finally said, and Harry sighed.
“Not good enough, I don’t think.” And Tony paled. Harry didn’t think he was good enough? Had he done something to make Harry think he didn’t appreciate him?
“Man, you just stood up, unarmed, against a fully trained military personnel to protect his feelings. I’d say that’s good enough.”
“Good enough would have found him before he could get hurt in the first place.” And Oh. Tony wanted to both laugh and cry at the same time. God, Harry was such an idiot. It seemed Rhodey felt the same way, because he laughed again.
“Shit, you’re as bad as he is.” Then there was a sigh. “Look. I don’t know you - I don’t know how things work between the two of you - but since you’ve been here, Tony’s been in better shape than he’s been his entire life. And from the sounds of it, you’re just as hard on yourself as he is. My advice? Let him take care of you too. Before you burn out.”
“Tony doesn’t exhaust me as much as you obviously think he does.” Came Harry’s wry reply. There was a pause and then a sigh. It seemed Harry’s honesty was about to strike again. “I just - I’ve got family back home. I know they’re worried. But I won’t leave Tony - I can’t. And I can’t have them here. It’s too soon.” Tony wanted to smack his head against the wall. He’d been so selfish with Harry’s time he hadn’t even considered that there might be people worried about him. He was so used to being on his own that it was hard to imagine someone who wasn’t.
“It’s a big house. And if Tony finds out you’ve been unhappy about anything because you’ve been taking care of him he’ll become a whole other type of idiot.” Harry chuckled.
“I’ve gotten that impression, yeah.” But it was affectionate. Shit. He was so screwed. “I’ll talk to him about it.” There was another pause but when he spoke again, that steel was back. “But Colonel Rhodes, if you hurt him like this again, inadvertent or not, it will be me you have to deal with. He may be fully capable of taking care of himself, but that in no way means he has to.”
“Understood.” And Tony knew Rhodey’s voice enough to hear the respect in it. “Now where is the genius?” And Tony scrambled back down to his lab before he could get caught eavesdropping.
That night, when Harry had wrangled him out of the lab and so Tony in turn had dragged him to bed with him, he couldn’t hold it in any longer.
“So - you’re from England.” And it wasn’t a question since it had been one of the first things Harry had told him, but Harry confirmed it anyways.
“I am.”
“Do you have family back in England?” He meant it to come across as blasé but when Harry didn’t answer right away he knew it must’ve sounded more strained than he’d intended.
“Not technically.” Harry said, voice far too light to be believable. “But there are people there I care for as family.”
“You don’t talk about them.” Harry huffed out a breath and he knew he was caught.
“How much did you overhear?” Tony tilted his head back to glare mutinously at Harry. Harry though, just looked amused.
“Most of it.” Harry nodded.
“So are you asking because you want me to go visit them or because you want me to invite them here?” He inquired. Tony’s arms spasmed around him at the mention of his leaving and everything about Harry seemed to soften at the reaction. It was downright embarrassing. Tony also loved every second.
“It’s a big house.” He muttered, moving to shift away, but Harry caught hold of him before he could get far.
“Hey - don’t do that.” Harry ordered, frustrated. “I’m here because I want to be. My family - they understand that. They understand what you’ve been through too.” There was a fire in Harry’s eyes that was full of pain. Tony hated it. He hated himself for putting it there.
“You don’t talk about it. Before. All you want to talk about is me.”
“Because you’re what matters to me.”
“Yeah well, you matter to me.” Tony shot back. “And you make it sound like you have some sort of similar experience. Isn’t that something people bond over?” Harry actually winced.
“Is that what you want? To hear about my pain? It won’t compare to yours, Tony. I have never experienced what you have.” And it wasn’t a lie exactly - but Harry was staring at a spot in the distance instead of meeting his gaze. Since Harry had never lied to him, it put a gross taste in his mouth.
“But you have been a prisoner.” When Harry looked back at him, there was a soft banked anger that had never before been aimed at him.
“Yes. But it wasn’t me who was tortured that time.” Tony knew the qualifier was a slip of the tongue and he didn’t like knowing that Harry had in fact been tortured before. “Is this really want you want?” Harry all but demanded now, and it wasn’t, Tony realized. He didn’t want anything that made Harry look like this - angry and hurt and ripped to pieces - but he couldn’t take back what he’d already said.
“Don’t leave.” And he didn’t even realize it was what he’d been thinking until he’d said it. Harry looked immediately appalled.
“Why would I ever want to leave you?” The question was so earnest that Tony knew he wasn’t making fun - but he still didn’t know how to answer it. When he remained silent, Harry sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. When he met Tony’s gaze again, he offered a tired smile. An apology in and of itself. Because Tony didn’t know anyone else who would ever even consider apologizing to him when he’d been the one to almost start a fight.
“You know,” Harry began, tone ironic. “I thought I had a shit childhood. Turns out being locked in a cupboard isn’t the only form of neglect.” Tony’s outrage was immediate but he tamped down on it, for now. He knew what Harry was really offering was a truce for the moment. Tony didn’t want to pass that up, even if he wanted to destroy anyone who would even consider locking this beautiful man away. Harry pulled him back in and Tony went eagerly, clinging tightly. Jarvis obviously took this as a sign because the dimmed lights went out completely.
“I want to meet them.” He blurted out, arms tightening when Harry flinched in surprise. “Your family. Maybe not all at once. But I want to meet them.” He really did want to meet the people Harry considered family, but he also needed the assurance that Harry wasn’t going to just up and leave. If his family came here, he’d be less likely to want to go to them, right? Harry sighed.
“Tomorrow morning I’m going to show you how to feel for my thoughts.” Harry told him, yawning. “I think you might actually believe that I don’t want to be anywhere but here if you did.” Tony had to fight the urge to ask to learn now. Instead,
“You know, I wouldn’t mind if you wanted to talk to me that way sometimes too.” Tony admitted into the softness of the dark, pressing his face to Harry’s T-shirt clad shoulder. He immediately felt the brush of Harry’s mind against his, but this time, instead of it fading away, it stayed warm and steady.
“Goodnight, Tony.”
>>>
Tony woke to the low buzz of voices, and made a face. It was too early for voices. He opened his eyes and realized the windows were completely blacked out and he had no idea what time it actually was - but that Harry was definitely not in bed with him. Since he could still feel the warm weight that was Harry at the back of his mind, he sent a gentle probing thought towards it. Harry answered immediately.
“It seems my family heard your invitation.” Came Harry’s wry tone in his thoughts. “My two best mates are here.” And in the span of what could only have been a second he had flashing images of a pair - almost like watching a reel of them growing up. It was obviously heavily edited but for now Tony knew enough to be comfortable around these two people who’d been veritable strangers moments before. “Come out whenever you’re ready. I made breakfast.” The words had Tony scrambling out of bed. Harry’s cooking was definitely worth getting up for.
He stumbled into the kitchen fully dressed if not fully coherent and slumped into Harry who easily took his weight even while pressing a cup of coffee into his hands.
A snort of laughter had him looking up to see a tall red headed man watching them with amusement. It was a little disorienting knowing exactly who this was and why he was important, but Tony also thought he probably would’ve wanted to crawl out of his own skin if he hadn’t known what he did.
“Ron.” He greeted, inhaling half his coffee with a sigh of bliss. Then he turned his head from where he’d settled it in the crook of Harry’s neck, looking for the woman he knew to also be here. She stepped into his view, looking just as amused as Ron, and Tony offered her a little wave. “Hermione.”
“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Tony. You’re all Harry talks about.” And the words weren’t patronizing but full of affection as she looked at the man in question. Tony leaned back so he could look at Harry too and felt the grin stretching across his features as he watched the blush cover Harry’s. He downed the rest of his coffee and pressed an affectionate kiss to Harry’s cheek before going to pour himself another cup, no longer feeling as disoriented with the first hit of caffeine slowly buzzing through his system.
“All the salacious details I hope.” Was what Tony shot back, and Hermione laughed even as Ron made a face.
“Blimey. Please don’t.” Ron muttered, sounding aggrieved, and Tony smirked over his second cup, meeting Harry’s gaze across the kitchen and wiggling his eyebrows.
“What do you think, babe, should we regale them with our escapades?” And Harry’s eyes were bright with mischief as he smirked right back.
“Would only be fair. After all, I heard much more about them than I would’ve liked.” And Hermione immediately turned a narrow eyed gaze on Ron, swatting him in the arm.
“Oi!” Ron objected, and Harry snickered.
“Well I wouldn’t want to hurt your delicate sensibilities.” Tony mocked, moving back to where Harry had settled in a chair. He immediately draped across his lap, settling in. He didn’t see the affectionate look Harry gave him as he wound a steadying arm around him or the amused glance Ron and Hermione exchanged.
“You must be hungry.” Hermione said then, immediately changing the subject. And then before his very eyes a plate floated over in front of him, followed immediately by 3 other place settings. Tony looked to Harry with wide, excited eyes and Harry grinned at his excitement.
“Ta for that Hermione. I’d been keeping household magic to a minimum. I was trying to ease him into it.” Hermione just rolled her eyes.
“Right. Because you’re such a model citizen for thinking before you act.” Harry shot her a narrow eyed look, though his mouth twitched up at the corner.
“I wouldn’t want to damage my reputation as a Gryffindor.” He tossed back. “How am I supposed to bravely rush in if I pause for thought?” Harry asked glibly.
“Did Harry tell you where we were?” Tony found himself interrupting. As much as he enjoyed the easy back and forth, he couldn’t figure out how they’d got here so quickly without Harry knowing they were coming. Hermione’s expression immediately sobered.
“That’s actually something I wanted to talk to you about, both of you. We should put up anti apparition wards on the house. As well as some protective ones.” Harry was nodding along, but spared a glance for Tony. With the glance came a whole other rush of images - explaining apparition and other forms of Wizarding travels as well as the wards against them.
“So that’s how you got here? Apparating?” Tony asked, and Hermione shook her head, lifting her wrist to show off the gold bangle there. “Portkey?” Tony guessed, thinking over what he’d seen, and she nodded.
“All three of us have two. One keyed to each of the others.” At Tony’s look of surprise, Hermione glanced at Harry, hesitating. Tony turned his head as well, narrowing his gaze. Harry sighed.
“You know that thing I haven’t wanted to talk about until you were better?” And since the argument had been the night before, Tony nodded. “It’s because of that.” When he looked back at Ron and Hermione, the two were holding hands, both looking a little pale. It became increasingly clear just why they had the portkeys that lead to each other. These were the people Harry had been kidnapped with. The people he’d been tortured with. He didn’t press any further because he didn’t have to like it to know he had a lot of healing to do before he’d even be close to ready to talking about it. He immediately changed the subject.
“So this seems like a good time to announce it as any. I finished my new suit.” Ron and Hermione looked perplexed but Harry was delighted.
“Already? That’s brilliant. Are you going to show us then?” And Tony smirked, standing and offering his hand.
“Obviously. Come on.”