"It takes only one drink to get me drunk. The trouble is, I can't remember if it's the thirteenth or the fourteenth."
~ George F. Burns
Steve and the Master of Death
Clean-up was always the worst part of a battle. If Steve was anywhere near where the carnage had taken place, he would always make sure that his team was there to help the SHIELD agents out (no matter how much Tony bitched and moaned).
Today was not the first day that he had regretted the rule he'd made with the best of intentions, but today was without a doubt the worst he had ever, ever, felt about the outcome of a battle.
Steve grit his teeth as he looked at the last body. It was the one he had ordered none of the others to clean up, the one that he was only now allowing himself to even contemplate touching.
The one that was Harry's.
He lowered himself to his knees at the side of his friend's corpse and didn't even notice when a low keening noise began to emit from his throat.
There, right next to the lightning bolt scar that Harry had yet to explain to him, was a bullet hole. It was a perfect circle, which seemed impossible, and he really didn't want to see what the exit wound looked like. But he knew that he was the one that was going to have to look at it since he hadn't allowed even a single SHIELD agent near the man - he'd nearly thrown his shield at the last guy that tried.
He glanced at the people who were standing a good distance away, obviously making sure he didn't just collapse into hysterics and start breaking things. The agents wouldn't interfere if they knew what was good for them, but... his team would. They didn't know all that much about Harry; they didn't know that his bar was where Steve ended up during his evening run every day, they didn't know that Harry was fast becoming his best friend, but what they did know was his first name and that Steve was attached to him like a barnacle to a ship's hull.
And his ship had thrown itself in front of another civilian almost the moment Hammer's roboids had started firing.
Steve turned back to Harry, knowing he didn't have much time before he had to turn over the body to SHIELD's clean-up team. He thought that the wound had been larger when it had first been inflicted, but he supposed that the spray of blood had made it seem that way. Speaking of blood, there appeared to be only a little around his friend's head - if anything, there seemed to be less and less...
Steve's mouth fell open as he watched the bullet hole in Harry's head decrease in size millimetre by millimetre.
He pulled Harry into his arms - the wound was even smaller now, and Steve swore he could see bone knitting together in there - and, standing, sent a rather pointed look at Tony before turning and running like the hounds of hell were after him.
Behind him, Tony - bless his metal heart - had spun the rest of the Avengers around to face their shared home the second they'd made eye contact and was expounding on the wonder that was Avengers nee Stark Tower.
Clint told him to fuck off, Bruce rolled his eyes, Thor nodded thoughtfully and Natasha silently said a prayer for the guy that Steve had run off with.
Steve took Harry to the only place he could - the Dragon's Tongue. He pushed open the front door, grateful for once that Harry didn't ever feel the need to lock his doors, even outside business hours, and made his way up to the man's bedroom. He'd only seen it once, when Harry had been running around like a whirlwind trying to get ready to go out and Steve had followed along like a puppy. He'd hoped that the next time he saw it would be to borrow some of those "magic" books that the smaller man was always reading, but such was not the case.
Just as he reached the door, Teddy stepped out of his own room and stopped, staring open-mouthed at his father lying dead – though looking rapidly less pale - in Steve's arms.
His mouth snapped shut very suddenly, and he opened the bedroom door for Steve, who vaguely recalled that he was still in his "spangled" uniform - that phrase would never leave his mind, thank you Tony.
"Put him on the bed," Teddy ordered. He sounded shaken, but not as badly as he should have been at seeing his father limp and dead in another man's arms. Steve cursed his stupidity as he laid his friend out on the bed.
"Teddy, I'm-"
"He's not going to be dead for much longer, Steve," Teddy cut in pointedly looking anywhere except at the skin stretching to cover the now whole bone of his father's skull, "Just... keep an open mind, okay? Dad doesn't like to tell people that he can't die, or how many times he's met Death."
"Met Death?" Steve asked dumbly.
"Yeah; he's- dad is... Dad's special," he finished softly.
"Special."
"Uh huh."
"Teddy, since he's your dad, does that make you... special, as well?"
Teddy shook his head, "Dad isn't my biological dad. He's my godfather, but he's not actually related to me."
This was definitely news to Steve.
"Besides, the not-dying thing is something he inherited, but he wasn't born that way."
A loud gasp erupted from Harry's once-dead body and both of their heads snapped to watch as he coughed, trying to make his lungs work again.
"Dad, try to breathe more slowly!" Teddy scolded as he went and sat beside his father on the bed.
"Sorry," Harry apologised, and Steve's heart clenched at how tired he sounded, "The first breath-"
"Is always the hardest, I know - you've told me heaps of times."
A moment of silence passed as Harry's breathing descend to normal levels before Steve spoke up.
"... Harry?"
Harry's eyes flickered open and met his before closing again. "Fuck."
When Steve trudged into the Avengers' shared living space that evening, he received pitying looks but no condolences.
He was glad for this; it would feel weird to accept them when the man they were lamenting over was serving customers in a building that Steve could literally see from the tower.
Steve was also glad to know that Tony was never likely to change; the man couldn't keep a secret if it came with a cage and care instructions. He probably would've been angry if Harry actually had been dead, but at the moment he was so elated that he couldn't care less.
The fact that his friend had promised to teach him how to ride a broom on the weekend was not a factor in his good mood, no sir.
The bottle of Odinsleep he was carrying was placed on the coffee table, and Steve went to the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of coke and a glass before returning. He shooed Tony away from the bottle and poured himself a drink, raising the glass and toasting to the ceiling.
"To hard-headed bar-wizards," he said, before chugging the entire thing down.
Tony had skulked off to the kitchen and returned with his own glass, placing it near the bottle and proceeding to give Steve what could only be construed as "puppy-dog eyes". Steve stared at him for a long moment before sighing and pouring the genius a tiny bit, cutting off Tony's complaint by saying, "Try it before you attempt to drink the rest of my bottle."
Tony took a sip and immediately started coughing once he'd swallowed.
"What the heck is that stuff?" he asked once he'd recovered, looking absolutely smitten with it.
"Odinsleep," Steve replied evenly, knowing that he was now doomed to share it, "Harry's strongest creation."
"Oh," Tony said, obviously not knowing how to respond to that information without mortally offending him.
"A drink named after my father's resting state?" asked Thor, effectively saving him.
"Yeah, probably the strongest drink that exists on this planet," Steve informed him somewhat proudly.
The demi-god went to the kitchen and brought back a glass of his own, into which Steve poured a sizeable amount of the liquor, before dispensing some more for himself and Tony and raising his glass again; "To kicking the crap out of Hammer the next time I see him."
"Here, here!" the other two agreed, though Tony's was somewhat fiercer than Thor's.
Thor put down his glass and smiled, "A most satisfying beverage! Your Harry's skill in brewing was unparalleled amongst humans; much better than the weak swill I have sampled thus far."
Tony glared at Thor from across the table, "Well you can't have any more of my scotch, if that's what you think of it."
"Ah, do not be mistaken, friend Tony," Thor apologised, motioning to the glass, "I am simply commenting on the strength of the drink; yours have many more flavours and varieties than those on Asgard, but sometimes I long for a mug of strong ale to fill my belly."
"This is definitely not ale," Tony told him, eyeing the bottle with something akin to lust.
The night progressed like this, and by the end everyone but Bruce had had something to drink.
Tony had passed out after four glasses, despite the drink being liberally watered down - and much to his chagrin on waking the next morning - and even Steve was feeling tingly from his nose to his toes by the time he and Thor managed to polish off the bottle.
"Afternoon, Harry," Steve said as he entered the bar.
"Steve, good to see you as always," Harry replied, and they shared a secret grin, the type that said "we know things that no one else does".
"How's that headache coming along?" asked Steve.
"Mostly gone; it'd be gone faster if you'd promise not to tell SHIELD or Fury where I am."
"I promise," Steve replied instantly, "How long did you say you've been on their watch list?"
"Since nineteen-eighty-one, mate; SHIELD and I have been acquainted since we were both just babies."
They shared another grin and Harry placed a glass full of liquid that was murky white, bordering on silver, in front of him.
"New drink?"
"The Avenger."
"Ah."
AN: Oh my gods, people! I woke up this morning with the intention of checking my emails and heading for uni, but I was not expecting the amount of attention this got – and in one night!
My thanks for all the follows, favourites and especially the reviews; I love hearing where people would take an idea and I love it when you guys give me ideas for what's going to happen.
ALSO, FEAR NOT!
Harry is going to be properly characterised later on; if I had worked his life story into this chapter it wouldn't have flowed properly, but you will know something of what happened to him after the Battle of Hogwarts.
AGAIN, THANK YOU SO MUCH!
~ Runaway