AN: I'm sorry to say you'll have to be satisfied with this chapter until possibly after the holidays. I'll take your suggestions for flourless pastries, gluten free, vegan, lactose free, and all that as I write, but please don't freak out if your suggestion is not in the fic. I can't write everything that everyone writes, I'm afraid, but I'll try my best.
Happy reading and check out the recipes in my profile. Sometimes I'll put up the recipes before the chapter so look out for that.
16.
Going back to working at the bakery on Monday morning seemed a little bit anticlimactic after having spent Thursday night at the Stark Expo and then spending the weekend in the UK to make sure that the family was fine. Tara requested to have that Monday off, more than likely because she got ridiculously drunk last night and was still nursing a hangover. She didn't mention the hangover part but Harry could hear it in her voice quite clearly from several of his own hangovers.
"It's quiet here today," Tony commented as he came into the bakery and propped himself against the front counter. "So, how was it? Did you like it?"
Harry blinked at the man and quickly thought about getting a bell and dismissed the idea because a bell would get annoying very quickly. He grinned slightly and filled a mug of coffee and put it on the counter in front of the man. "It was certainly flashy and explosive. I liked your entrance, it wasn't what I expected; I thought you were going to come out of the stage in one of those stage lifts."
Tony snorted as he blew air into his coffee to cool it down. "That's too tame for me. I needed to go all out for the Expo!"
"The dancing, scantily clad women were a nice touch," Harry said and Tony choked on his coffee. "I didn't understand what they had to do with the Expo but I suppose that it's more as- I believe the term is- fan service."
"There was nothing wrong with the Ironettes!" Tony exclaimed. "You know Pepper didn't like them either; I think she was just jealous."
"I think she didn't like the fact that they looked like they were wearing their underwear in front of a very large crowd of people as well as several news cameras," Harry said with a roll of his eyes. "I think any girlfriend would be tad bit miffed to see their boyfriend surrounded by women baring it all, mate."
Tony blinked and looked around him to see what Harry was talking about. "Ah, Pepper isn't my girlfriend. She says we shouldn't mix business with pleasure… and I think she's dating Happy but she won't tell me about it."
"She's your PA, right? She doesn't have to tell you anything about her life," Harry shrugged at the irritated look Tony shot him. "Especially who she is romantically involved with unless it's causing trouble for you or for your company. They both work for you so it shouldn't be a problem, right?"
"I guess not," Tony grumbled but then he gave Harry a look. "But it's Pepper and Happy!"
"Then you should be pleased to see them together," Harry rolled his eyes and poured another cup of coffee. "They're your friends, don't be such a downer and congratulate them once you are positive that they are indeed together."
"Bah!"
17.
"I have a question."
Harry barely had time to lock the door and not throw out a punch before Tony Stark in a suit and his hair all ruffled accosted his vision.
"Considering that I think I just lost ten years off my life from the fright you just gave me I don't see how not answering your questions would matter at this point," Harry said as he put one hand over his heart and the other clutched at the door frame to the bakery.
"Do you know how to make an omelet?" he asked, looking around him as if spies were watching him.
"Yes, I do," Harry said and stepped back and around Tony. "Would you like to learn how to make one and is it urgent that you know how?"
"The YouTube videos all do it differently and I've gone through three dozen eggs and they still don't look like they do in the videos," Tony explained quickly. "I'm going to Monaco in a week and I need to know how to do it perfectly before I get there."
"I don't live too far from here," Harry said and turned Tony around. "I hope you don't mind omelets for dinner. Thank goodness my kitchen isn't small or anything."
18.
"Good evening, Mr. Fray," Harry greeted the old man at the front desk as he put his usual muffin and coffee in front of the man.
"Good evening, Mr. Potter… and friend," the man gave Tony a once over with a raised brow while Harry went over to his mailbox. "You got some packages earlier."
"Thanks, Mr. Fray," Harry said as the man handed over his packages.
"Have a good night, sir," Mr. Fray waved at him as Tony and Harry made their way to the elevator.
"Good night!"
Tony stared at Harry and then at the closing doors. "He seems like a nice guy."
"He's a bit paranoid about random people coming to the building," Harry shrugged. "People don't usually get through him without ID or without a call to the tenants they came to see. Apparently a couple of years ago the doorman let in a thief into the building and the thief killed an elderly lady and took all her money."
"That's something to be paranoid about," Tony said with a nod as the elevator slowly made its way to the sixth floor. He followed Harry slowly out of the elevator and towards the doors. "Woah. Bachelor pad."
Harry laughed at the comment as he turned on the light and put his light jacket on the hook by the door. "I got it for the kitchen and I live alone so I don't need much."
"I like the fish," Tony said as he pointed to the tank at the end of the T-section that opened up to what looked like the living room. "I remember my bachelor pad."
"I can only imagine what your bachelor pad looks like," Harry said with a small laugh.
"I had it built on the edge of a cliff in Malibu," Tony explained as he took his suit jacket off and draped it over the back of the couch. "I still live in it."
"What do you need with so much space?"
"I have a lot of cars," Tony said. "Really fast ones. I have a lab, too," he added when Harry raised a brow. "Oh, and JARVIS' mainframe takes up a lot of space, too."
Harry shook his head and wondered what exactly a Jarvis was or why framing would take up so much space. It was probably an expensive art piece; one of those modern ones with three black lines and a blue dot on a white canvas.
"Is there any reason why you want to know how to make an omelet other than the fact that omelets are good?" Harry asked and took out the eggs from the fridge as well as the butter dish.
"I wanna break some bad news to Pepper," Tony said as he eyed Harry getting the needed materials.
Harry raised a brow at the answer and motioned to Tony's sleeves. "Roll up your sleeves. I only know how to make a French country omelet, which is what I was taught when I lived with the Delacours. Coincidentally the country omelet is the way that it's made here in the states."
"What's the difference?"
"Hm, the country omelet, has a bit of a brown crust while the classic French omelet is pale," Harry said while putting two bowls on the counter. "It's usually just eggs and a couple of herbs, the omelets aren't as stuffed as they are here; at least they weren't at the Delacour home. Any particular things you'd like in your omelet, Mr. Stark?"
"What do you have your omelet with?" he returned as he stared at the ingredients in front of him.
"I like mine with chives and cheese," Harry said with a small shrug. "A little salt and pepper is all I need."
"Don't omelets usually have meat inside and potatoes and things like that?"
"Omelets aren't supposed to take all day to cook; it's something that can be cooked in a couple of minutes," Harry said with a small smile. "That's my way of telling you I have no meat that would be good in an omelet."
"Okay. I'll have an omelet the way you like your omelet," Tony said and Harry nodded while he took out the rest of the ingredients.
"Alright, lets start on our mise en place," Harry commented and motioned Tony to the counter right next to the stove. "The cheese has already been grated so just put out how much cheese you'd like in your omelet in that bowl right there," Harry pointed to the different bowls. "I'm assuming you know how to crack eggs."
"I know how to crack eggs," Tony grumbled and to prove his point cracked two eggs into the bowl provided for him. "Now I just throw in the chives?"
"You have to cut the chives first, but yes," Harry said and took a couple of strands of chives and quickly cut them into tiny pieces and used the knife to pick up the chives and put them into his own bowl. "If at any point I'm going too fast just tell me so," Harry instructed as he cracked the eggs over the chives.
"Why do you have two of the same pans?" Tony asked as he slowly cut his own chives and pointed to the stove.
"I bought one and the other was a house warming gift," Harry said and began to beat his eggs. "You have to beat it from side to side so that you don't have any strands of egg whites floating about. When that's done, we can start putting the butter in the pan."
"We're not going to put the cheese in first?" Tony asked as he looked over to his bowl of shredded cheese. "The cheese is the important part."
"The cheese is for when the omelet is done; it'll melt inside of it from the heat," Harry said as he put a pad of butter in his pan and scooted the butter dish closer to Tony so that he could do the same in his pan. "Unless you want to put it in the egg now."
"No, I'll do it like you," Tony said as he moved the pan around to get the butter to melt. "After the butter is melted I just put the eggs in it?"
"That's right," Harry nodded as he picked up his bowl and dropped the eggs and chives into the hot pan. Tony followed his actions and poured his own bowl of eggs and quickly picked up the rubber spatula on the counter to spoon his eggs around.
19.
Tony gave Harry back his kitchen once he was sure that the omelet he had made was perfect. Harry took out some ingredients from the fridge again and cocked his head to the side.
"You can set up the table in the kitchen or the living room, whichever you want," Harry suggested while pointing up to the cabinets above his head. "The plates and cups are in the upper cabinets and the silverware in the lower drawers."
Harry ignored the older man's rummaging about as he finished the corned beef hash and hoped that everything tasted good.
"Hey, what is Firewhiskey? I've never heard of it," Tony asked as he peeked his head through the kitchen doorway.
"It's whiskey from where I'm from. As far as I know it's not sold anywhere else," Harry said with a frown as he picked up the pan with the hash and brought it around the doorway. "It causes a burning sensation and warms you up," he continued lightly. "A lot of people also say that it fills your body with courage."
"So, basically, it has a high alcohol proof?" Tony said as he twirled the bottle around to look at it from all sides. "You don't seem like a whiskey kind of guy."
"The minister gave it to me when I left England to live in France," Harry explained while giving a mental wince at the thought of Shacklebolt giving him the bottle a week after the Battle of Hogwarts.
"You know the minister?" Tony asked with a raised brow. "What kind of things do you have to do to know the minister personally?"
"I don't think we're talking about the same minister, mate," Harry said with a small smile. "Would you like a glass for the firewhiskey?"
"How come you haven't even opened it yet?" Tony asked as he stared at the label of the bottle. "If a minister gave it to you I'd think you'd want to celebrate with it right away."
Harry blushed at that and scratched at his cheek in embarrassment. "Well, I never had anything to celebrate or someone to drink it with. All of the people I considered family were back in England and the Delacours only drank Blishen's Firewhisky and Blishen's can quite possibly peel paint and more than likely your stomach lining."
Tony laughed at that and put the bottle on the table while Harry got the cups and ice.
"It's actually not a good idea to drink it with ice," Harry said slowly as he put everything down at the table and sat down. "The heat from the whiskey with the ice is a bit of an odd feeling that I wouldn't wish on anyone. My friends and I dared each other to drink it that way to see who could drink an entire serving of it. But many people have told me that to get the best flavor a single ice cube would be best. It's your choice how you do it, though."
"Nothing like breakfast for dinner with a glass of paint thinner," Tony said cheerfully as he sat down across from Harry at the small table.
20.
Eleven days after the impromptu omelet tutorial and breakfast dinner Tony was on the telly again and this time it was because someone tried to kill him. Harry hadn't seen much except that Tony had decided to join the race and that halfway through a lap of the racing circuit some psychopath had used some electric whips and caused a major crash.
There was a brief fight between the crazy man with the whips and Tony once he put on his Iron Man suit. Tony came out of it alive but it did seem that he was hurt somewhat though the news reporter didn't say how badly or whether he would be okay.
Harry didn't know what the weird feeling he felt in his chest was but he had an odd feeling that it might have been worry for the older man.
Ogden's Old Firewhiskey is from Harry Potter as is Blishen's Firewhisky, and yes, whiskey is spelled differently for both, that was not a mistake of mine. The description for the firewhiskey in Harry's possession is of the Ogden variety and comes from the Harry Potter Wikia.
As stated above, I don't know if I'll update until after the new year so I hope this will tide you over until then. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year, if I don't see you lot before then!