When Harry awoke, there was only a strange ringing in his ears to accompany his sudden consciousness. The lights were off, and when he opened his eyes the room was cast in a faint gray with hints of blue dancing in his peripherals. A blanket was draped delicately over his chest, resting just below his chin, and there was a pillow propped beneath his head. It smelled vaguely of lavender and smoke.

"How're you feeling?"

Harry flinched, nearly toppling off the couch at the smooth tenor interrupting his self-survey. A bearded face loomed over him into his view, carefully styled facial hair meticulously done and a complete contrast to the absolute mess that was currently taking up space on top of the man's head. Sunglasses sat crookedly at the tip of his nose and there was a black streak smudged across his cheekbone.

Squinting, Harry cautiously answered the question. "I'm fine. Where am I?"

"Just in the living room- I have the others locked out just in case you freak out again, though."

Humming, Tony swept a hand over his face, spreading the oil down to his jaw. Giving him a side-glance, the older man circled the couch and plopped himself down next to the teen. Harry self-consciously twisted his fingers in his shirt hems, an uncomfortable itch accompanying the actions as the long digits sparked exhaustedly.

Eyebrows scrunched upwards, dark eyes watching in fascination as the blue currents danced over the scarred tissue of a boney fist.

"Care to tell me what that scene was about?"

"Not particularly," Harry mumbled, chewing nervously on his bottom lip. The skin was dry and cracked under the additional pressure, and he could taste the blood.

"Well, I'm gonna be honest with you: it's not really one of those questions where "No" is an option. "Yes", and maybe even "I'll try", are acceptable, but there are currently three assassins living in the tower and I would rather them not have a scheduled kill-list for you, kiddo.

"Now, let's try this again. You wanna talk about it?"

A pregnant pause settled over the two, before the boy opened his mouth and, with flashing eyes, said, "Death threats aren't really all that new, so maybe you should try again."

"That's really not how this works…"

"Well, that's how I'm making it work now. Besides, even if they do manage to kill me, it's not going to be too much of a hardship, you know? In fact, that would be bloody brilliant if they could off me, yeah?"

Tony scowled at the youth, arms crossed over his chest. Creases marred his forehead at the disappointed look he was directing at the young wizard. The engineer's jaw was clenched so tightly that the other could almost hear his teeth shattering.

"We talked about this Harry…"

Said boy groaned loudly and rolled his eyes upwards towards the ceiling, his own scowl making its way onto his face.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah; "You're going to make it to at least 70 years old or so help me I will make you immortal." I know, I know. One can hope though."

"No! One cannot hope, and I want you to remember that you are under oath to at least try and stay alive!"

There was nothing to say to that, so Harry just sat back and pouted. Really, what could one say to that? He was under oath, and technically speaking, he was magically bound to honor said oath to the best of his abilities.

Smirking, Tony stuck his tongue out as if he were a child and not, in fact, an almost-middle aged man. Rolling his eyes, the teenager retaliated by crossing his eyes and scrunching up his face.

"Fine. But only because I have to."

"Good boy."

Standing up from the couch, Tony stretched leisurely, spreading his arms wide, hands fisted and back arching as he let out a noise of satisfaction. In all honesty, for all that he wanted to have this conversation, he absolutely needs a pot of coffee right this very minute or he'll do something horrible, like pass out on the kitchen table.

So, shuffling off, the engineer waved a hand over his shoulder in a 'follow me' gesture, and an accompanying, "Let's have some breakfast, kid," just for good measure. There was no way he was going to let this conversation fizzle out, because he knew- he knew- that Harry would somehow manage to distract him enough that they never actually talked about whatever it was he meant to talk to him about, and so it was best to do it now.

No time like the present, as they always say.

Damn.