Chapter 3
Tony came back to Peter and Harley’s home hours after the younger men had come home, both of them silently panicking about him being out so long. Their main fear was Tony tried to drive home drunk after a distressing conversation.
They were surprised, however, when Tony had walked in in seemingly good spirits, the opposite of how he had walked in the night before. “You’re back!” Peter said, walking over to the kitchen (he was too nervous to start making dinner). “How’d it go?” Harley asked, still lounging on the couch but sitting up more once Tony had walked through the door. “It went pretty well actually.” Tony said proudly, making the other two’s eyes widen in surprise. “That’s great!” Peter said genuinely. “What do we want for dinner?” He asked while looking through the kitchen cupboards.
“Let’s go out. Dinner’s on me!” Tony let out a loud clap at his announcement. “You don’t have to do that, Tony.” Peter said, Harley sitting there taking everything in. “No, I want to thank you guys for letting me stay here, so we’re going out. No exceptions.” Harley smiled, it was nice seeing Tony bounce back so quickly. He wasn’t letting this keep him down.
Peter let out a sigh that was laced with amusement. “Are we gonna have to dress fancy?” He asked, still in the kitchen. Tony acted like he was thinking hard about the question. “Not, fancy, per se…” He trailed off. Harley groaned and got up from his spot on the couch. “Sunday best?” Harley asked. Tony nodded in response. “We gotta get dressed then.” Harley motioned to his jeans that had paint stains that never washed out. Tony smiled and gave thumbs up to both of the boys as they went to their bedroom to change.
“What do you think happened? He’s like, way better than I thought he would be.” Harley whispered as soon as their bedroom door shut. Peter shrugged as he pulled his sweatshirt off. “It’s weird but I’m not complaining.” Harley was still standing there as Peter undressed, confused. Peter gave him a look as he unbuttoned his shirt. “Get changed.” He ordered. It was almost as if Harley had snapped out of his confused trance, immediately beginning to change into better clothes.
Once they were fully dressed, they gave each other a chaste kiss before walking into the living room, where Tony was in the same spot he was before, but on his phone this time. “Looking good, guys! Let’s head out, I already have a place planned.” He held up his keys after looking at their outfits. Both of them were wearing nicer jeans and button-ups, Harley in plaid and Peter in a plain deep red one. While Harley had gone to church often growing up, Peter had only gone a couple times, not entirely sure what to wear when someone said “Sunday best”.
They both slipped on nicer shoes that they had in a rack near the front door and followed Tony to his car, a sleek back Audi, low-key for Tony’s standards. Not completely subtle though; the license plate still had his name on it. Harley had called shotgun after leaving through the front door, running out to the passenger side before Peter could protest. The exchange made Tony laugh out loud, a wonderful sound to the other boys considering just last night his engagement was called off.
Peter decided to sit in the middle of the backseat, telling Harley that he got to control the music if he got the passenger seat. “Um, who’s driving here?” Tony asked playfully while watching the exchange. “That’s just how it is.” Peter said simply. Both of the other men rolled their eyes playfully as he connected his phone to the car’s bluetooth. It was hard to ignore the look Harley gave Peter, full of love. Tony watched them interact playfully with each other, debating over which playlist to listen to. It made him smile.
Music played softly as Tony drove them to where they would be eating. He hadn’t told the other men where he planned on going, and they were practically interrogating him. Tony just kept insisting it was a surprise, and not to worry about it. It was hard to not start getting excited as they drove into a busy part of town, the expensive part of town. Tony parked the car in front of an extremely fancy, and busy, restaurant. Harley and Peter’s jaws dropped a bit, eyes wandering over the beautifully intricate exterior, lit with warm golden light and a dome at the top that almost resembled a church.
“Don’t worry, we can get in. I have my own table here.” Tony said casually, as if THAT was what was on their minds. They followed him out of the car, trying not to acknowledge the stares they were getting from the other people who were waiting to get a table and were jealous that Tony and two random men could just walk in without a single comment.
The interior was more beautiful than the exterior, making even Harley speechless. The walls were a warm white, and the ceilings were high, an indoor balcony on the perimeter. Everything was accented in gold, but it wasn’t too much, it went perfectly with the vibe of the rest of the lavish place.
The two younger men walked behind Tony hesitantly, who was walking around like he owned the place to a bar near the back of the building. The bartender looked up and smiled at Tony with a sense of familiarity. “Mr. Stark! Good to see you again! I’ll let Chris know you’re here.” He said before heading to a room behind the bar. Tony had given the man a short polite nod before he walked off while Peter and Harley were still in silent awe over the interior of the restaurant they were in.
“Tony Stark! What can I do for you?” A tall man came out of the back room, donned in a deep blue suit with swooped back blond hair. Tony shook his hand with a firm grip and a smug smile on his face. “I’m here to have dinner with my favorite boys!” Peter and Harley gave each other a look when Tony said that, confused but not in a bad way. It was a pleasant surprise to be called Tony’s favorites.
Chris’s genuine smile stayed in place. “Of course. Follow me, gentlemen.” He grabbed a few menus from behind the bars and led them up an elegant stone staircase to the indoor balcony. At the top, they had a view of the gorgeous interior of their building, with the golden accents and crystal chandeliers. There were also windows that showed the beauty of nighttime in New York. It didn’t matter which direction they looked; the view was beautiful.
They were seated at a table decorated with a red velvet tablecloth and a candle in a golden holder. As they sat down, Chris set down the menus carefully. “Would you like your regular wine, sir?” He asked Tony, who nodded in response with a smile. Peter’s eyes widened as he looked at the menu. He didn’t know a single thing that was on there, and no prices on anything. Harley was on the same boat. “I don’t know what any of this is.” Harley said with his eyebrows furrowed. Peter nodded in agreement. Tony showed his menu to the younger men, explaining which meal was. A waiter came back to the table with a bottle of wine and a pitcher of water and took their orders, the younger men fumbling to try to pronounce the names of what they were ordering.
Once the waiter left, Tony popped open the bottle of wine with a smile. “You’re gonna be the DD tonight.” Peter said slyly to Harley while holding his empty wine glass out to Tony. Harley groaned. “He’s right, you’re too little to drink.” Tony continued the joke as he poured wine into Peter’s glass. “I’m only like, a year younger than him.” Harley said, referring to Peter, who managed to smirk while taking a sip of wine. “You’re still only 20, baby.” Peter said in a soft tone that was gentle but still joking.
“This is really good.” Peter took another sip of the wine while looking at the bottle. “I hope so, it’s a couple grand a bottle.” Tony smiled as he said it casually. Peter’s eyes widened and he choked as he swallowed his drink. “Can you even get drunk with… you know…” Tony asked, referring to Peter’s powers. Both of the younger men nodded, Peter much more enthusiastically than Harley. “Oh yeah.” They said in unison. “He’s quite the party animal.” Tony’s eyes widened, about to ask about Peter’s partying escapades when their waiter came back with their food.
Every plate was decorated elegantly, the younger men hesitating to disturb the beauty as Tony immediately dug into his meal. They all ate in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Peter decided to be brave and ask the question that was on his and Harley’s minds for the past few hours.
“How did the talk with Pepper go?” He said almost delicately, afraid of ruining the comfortable air between all of them. Tony took a sip of his wine before answering. “It went amazing, actually. PR is gonna release a statement tomorrow and we’ve decided we’re donating everything for the wedding to different charities.” “That’s really good. We were worried for a bit when you came home late.” Harley explained before taking another bite of his food. “Well, we talked some things out afterwards. Pepper’s gonna look for a place she likes that’s still pretty close to headquarters but she’ll be living in the penthouse until then. We’re probably going to have to do a few conferences and interviews after the news breaks to kind of nip rumors in the bud.”
Peter and Harley nodded through Tony’s explanation, interjecting occasionally. Tony had ordered desserts and they also ate those while talking. By the end of their meals, 3 hours had passed, Tony was a little buzzed, and Peter was more than tipsy. After paying and making their way to the car, Harley had his arm around Peter’s waist as Peter whispered things into his ear. It was hard for Tony to ignore the looks that came over Harley’s face as Peter spoke. It was strange to see Harley flustered.
Peter sat in the front seat as Harley drove and Tony sat in the backseat in the middle seat. As Harley drove them all home, Tony couldn’t help but notice the affection between the younger men. It was a gentle affection, Tony would call it the epitome of “young and in love.” Their fingers were intertwined, resting on Peter’s thigh. Peter would make an occasional joke and Harley would laugh lightly and look away from the road to give Peter a look that was full of admiration. It felt intimate, Tony had to look away occasionally when he caught himself staring. It was almost enviable, how soft their love was.
Tony never really had that.