Disclaimers: I am not making any money off of this story, so any mistakes are my own. Therefore, I cannot be the owner of the Marvel or Harry Potter universes, that honor goes to their respective creators.
I know nothing about optometry, so I writing is based on experience.
A/N: I'm a horrible person for taking so long to update, but yeah. All spelling mistakes are mine.
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[Chapter Four] Time Spent Together
The world, as Harry knew it, was falling apart at the seams.
For nearly two days since that conversation, Harry had been trying to comprehend his father's apparent non-reaction to the news of him being an up-and-coming wizard.
And for almost two days, his father and occasionally, one of his father's friends, would come by his room and check on him. They never entered, although Harry knew that they could and would if they truly wanted to. Instead, they respected his privacy and desire to be left alone and always stood outside his closed door. They would talk to him through the door, and ask if he was hungry or needed anything, but otherwise left him alone.
While Harry appreciated it, he wondered how long it would last. It had already gone on longer than it would have had he been at the Dursley's, as odd as it sounded. Even though the Dursley's hated his guts, someone had to weed the garden and make sure the shed outback had a fresh coat of paint.
Harry would always respond that he was fine and that he didn't need anything. And yes, he knew that he was free to join them at any time and to come to find him (Tony) if he needed anything, or ask JARVIS.
Everything Harry had known to be true suddenly wasn't.
It was sort of hard to explain because Harry didn't understand it himself. But he supposed it had started when Tony had just accepted that his son was a wizard.
"And for the record, I think it's totally awesome, by the way." Tony Stark had said.
That was the line that kept repeating in Harry's head as he stared out of his window, over the tops of neighboring skyscrapers, and into the buildings in the distance, not really looking at anything in particular as he allowed his thoughts to stray.
"...I think it's totally awesome..."
There was no question about what the "it" was.
Tony Stark, his father, thought that his magic was "awesome."
Harry couldn't comprehend it. Couldn't wrap his mind around it. Why would Tony think his magic was "awesome?"
No one, or at least, no muggle he had ever been around, had ever thought magic was "awesome." Of course, that really did not amount to much as the only muggles he'd been around (excluding the few minutes he was around Mr. and Mrs. Granger) that actually knew about magic or anything was the Dursely's. They, for the record, hated magic.
Even Harry didn't think magic was "awesome" sometimes. For all Tony knew, magic could be a burden. It was a burden. Harry's ability to wield magic had caused him nothing but grief and pain since his parents died. In a way, it was because he was born with magic running through his veins that "marked him" as Voldemort's equal. He didn't want to be anyone's equal, especially Voldemort's. He just wanted to be himself.
Harry knew, logically, he should be relieved that the man just accepted it and didn't get angry or annoyed that Harry had something he didn't, but Snape, (as much as he hated to admit it) was right. Why was Tony just accepting it without proof or any questions? Didn't all muggles require visual evidence that magic existed? Even Hermione's parents, as well as Hermione- herself- had requested that they see a sample of magic before hearing more about Hogwarts. The only muggles Harry had ever known not demand proof that magic existed was his aunt, uncle, and cousin, as they were too fearful of what magic could do. But they were shown anyway by an upset Hagrid, who had tried to turn his cousin into a pig. Only for the half-giant to fail in turning his cousin into an actual pig despite giving Dudley a very authentic pig's tail.
Tony hadn't asked that Harry or the Potion's master to transfigure his coffee maker into a dog or a cat (though Snape would probably go for the snake, simply because it was Slytherin's mascot and all). It was perhaps best since his father seemed to be somewhat addicted to the bitter drink that the Americans seemed to be so fond of.
Harry knew it could be worse, though, Tony could be like his uncle, who would occasionally drink after a particularly rough day at work. Then in his drunken stupor, his uncle would knock Harry around while his aunt would usher Dudley and herself out of the house so that they wouldn't have to witness his uncle's wrath.
Lucky them.
The only adverse reaction he had gotten from any of them about magic was Steve trying to accuse him of being a younger version of Loki since he apparently shared some similar physical traits. Like green eyes and dark hair.
Harry didn't know much about Loki, other than he was the Norse God of Mischief, and had caused a great deal of damage to NYC, according to Tony.
Harry sighed. Again, it could have always been worst, but Harry would have still preferred if it people would stop trying to compare him to others. He wasn't his dad, his mum, or even Loki. He was his own person; he was Harry Potter, son of James and Lily, or stepson of James.
While everyone was reasonably kind to him, Harry knew they were only doing it out of respect for Tony. Harry knew that they did not know what to think of him. Not really. They were wary of him- of what he could potentially do. It was almost like living with the Dursley's again, except without the violence, but Harry hated it. They hadn't bothered him per se, but Harry knew they would be watching him closely, waiting for a moment where he slipped up and did something that would confirm their suspicions.
The comment about him being an "up and coming Loki" was proof of that. He supposed it didn't really matter, as long as Tony was fine with magic, but Harry found that he wanted them to like him. Maybe it stemmed from never having the Dursley's approval, and Harry knew that he wouldn't truly feel comfortable around Tony without the others' acceptance first, as pathetic as that sounded. He was the Boy-Who-Lived; he had managed to survive what no one else had survived. He shouldn't care about what people thought of him.
But he did, all thanks to the Dursley's who liked to make him feel worthless.
So, Harry, who was so used to feeling worthless, was desperately clinging on to the hope that maybe, just maybe someone would see him for something else.
He hoped he would find that "something else" in Tony, but he wasn't sure even sure what he was looking for. Maybe it was acceptance, but Harry knew it was more than just that.
"So kiddo, are we just going to sit and brood all day, or are we going to get up and do something?" Tony asked while leaning against the door frame of his room.
Harry spooked, having not heard Tony.
Usually, he knew when someone was coming. At the Dursley's, no one particularly cared about being quiet, at least, for his sake. Of course, it was hard to tiptoe around when you were roughly the size of a whale- but that was beside the fact- and his aunt walked about as light as a standard heavy draft horse. And at Hogwarts, it was almost impossible to hear any single person as everyone was always running around everywhere. It also made it a bit difficult to sneak up on anyone too. Or maybe that was just the Gryffindors. Either way, Harry was not used to people just sneaking upon him. But that seemed to be all everyone did here at Stark Tower, and it was seriously starting to bug him. It was almost like they had an unspoken goal between them to see how many times they could sneak up on him, or catch him off guard. And so far, they were excelling at it.
After Harry managed to shake off the scare, he just shrugged his shoulders. He had no problem staying in his room all-day- he had done plenty of that at the Dursley's, and the room he had at the Dursley's was about three times as small as the one he was given here. Not to mention that he had his own attached bath, so the only thing he would need is food, and he knew first hand that he could go a few days without that, so in all honesty, he was prepared to isolate himself in his room.
"Hey, what's with the shrug?" Tony said while looking expectantly at Harry.
"How can you, you know?" Harry said vaguely while gesturing with his hand as if to emphasize what he was saying.
"Can't say I do, kiddo. I am going to need to know more if you want me to answer your question. How can I do what?"
"How can you be okay with it? That I'm a wizard? No one's ever been okay with it before."
Tony sighed; he knew this question would probably come up sooner rather than later and had been trying to think of an answer. He wasn't trying to figure out what he thought Harry wanted to hear, as Tony genuinely wished to reassure his son that he had no problems with him being able to wield magic (so long as he didn't use his powers to take over the world).
"There is always a first time for everything." Tony countered thoughtfully, before turning serious.
"As for your question as to why I'm okay with it. That is a bit harder to answer. I would be kind of hypocritical if I wasn't okay with it, don't you think? What with me being a superhero and all. Besides, what kind of dad would I be if I wasn't proud of my son's accomplishments? Not everyone can control magic, I would know. I think the best thing I can do as your father is to understand and accept our differences.'
Walking further into the room, Tony stopped about a foot away from Harry.
'I really want this to work, Harry. I don't know why I feel this way, only that I do. But for it to work out between us, as father and son, we need to open and honest with each other. I'm not saying you have to tell me everything- far from it, but if it's something big, I want you to feel like you can tell me. I don't want you to be afraid to come to me, or any of the other guys if you need us."
Tony felt like he'd be saying something like this often. On the books, he had had JARVIS pull- they had all said that abused kids (or in his son's case, suspected abuse) needed lots of reassurances.
Harry bit his lip but nodded when he realized that Tony was probably waiting for a verbal response- not that nodding was an actual verbal response. But whatever. It was the best he could do at the moment.
He knew he was acting like a brat by keeping himself locked away in his room when he should have been getting to know Tony, but Harry reasoned that they both needed time to come to terms with everything.
Of course, Tony would probably need more time than him, since he had not only learned that he had a son, but also his son could perform magic.
Or maybe that was just him who needed time, as Tony seemed overly eager to spend more time with Harry.
"So, what do you say we go out and do something?"
"Don't you have to work or something?" He countered, really wanting to be left alone with his thoughts again. He, alone, apparently, needed time.
"Nah, everything I could be doing can wait," Tony said while pulling out his phone and flipping rapidly through various screens, probably trying to make spur of the moment plans for the day.
"Oh," came the reply. Guess, Harry wasn't going to be allowed to sit and wallow in his thoughts after all.
"Come on, grab your coat, and let's go. I think I'll drive today- take you out in one of the sports cars."
Left with no other choice, he sighed and excused himself to get ready and grab his coat.
When he was finally ready, Harry exited the bathroom and found Tony lounging in a chair waiting on him.
"I'm ready," Harry announced, lamely unsure as to what to say. Anyone with two eyes could see that quite clearly as he was now wearing his heavy winter jacket and warm pants. It was another cold day. Tony's eyes snapped up from his phone looking Harry over critically for a minute before nodding, Harry could only guess his approval, or maybe he had made up his mind as to what they were doing today.
Standing up and stretching, Tony pocketed his phone and ushered Harry out of the room.
"So, what are we doing?" Harry asked curiously.
"I figured we'd grab a bite to eat-" Seeing Harry's face, Tony quickly backtracked, "We won't go to the same restaurant as before. Not that it would matter, the Dursley's are in Hawaii right now, so the chances of you running into them again are zero. But I thought since you haven't eaten in almost a day, it might be nice to grab something. Besides, I'm getting kind of hungry myself, and I reckon that if I am getting hungry, my son must be too." Tony lied. He wasn't hungry, he'd had his coffee, and that would tie him over until the next pot. But Bruce had warned him yesterday that his unhealthy eating habits were going to have to change, because, otherwise, Harry would assume that it was okay to skip meals and it wasn't. The boy was already much too waif-like for anyone to be comfortable with.
The two of them walked to the elevator, and Tony pressed the button that would take them to the garage, and they rode the ride down in silence.
Arriving at the car park, Tony lazily pursued his collection of cars. Every so often, he'd glance at Harry taking in his facial expressions. Harry seemed torn between awe and shock, Tony observed with smug pride. Although it was pretty obvious, Harry didn't know he was looking at some collectible, rare cars. Tony would be all too happy to educate Harry on that front.
"What do you say we take this one?" Tony said after a few more seconds.
Harry simply nodded, not really knowing or caring why this car had been the one Tony had chosen. It kind of looked like the other cars in the room, sleek, modern, and extremely low to the ground. Other than that, Harry couldn't say what model of car it was or who made it.
"Great," Tony said while holding the passenger door open for Harry to slide in. Once Harry was in the seat, Tony closed the door and slid in on the driver's side and started the car.
Harry noticed that the interior of the car carried the same theme on the outside: sleek and modern.
Neither of them spoke as Tony focused on the sea of cars around him, and Harry drank in the sight of the city for the second (third time if you count the first taxi ride over) time.
Tony must have known the metropolis very well to be able to effortlessly weave his way around traffic and find his way around the large city.
When they finally arrived at the eatery that Tony had in mind, instead of pulling up to the curb like the other day, Tony found parking a short distance away, and the two walked to the restaurant.
The whole walk to the restaurant, Tony struggled with the desire to sling an arm around Harry to proclaim to the world that Harry was his son. He refrained, though, not knowing how Harry would take it. Besides, there would be plenty of time for that later.
The two of them walked into the restaurant and were quickly seated in a little private alcove, per Tony's request.
From there, Tony had taken to look over the menu spouting off somethings he thought Harry might like. All of them were very safe options Harry noticed, but relatively pricey.
By the time the waiter had come for their drink order, Harry had all but given up deciding on what he wanted to eat. He would have been okay with the cheapest thing on the menu- a sandwich, but Tony wouldn't hear of it.
"Get something else, Harry. You want to get something that will fill you up, and a sandwich," Tony said with a shake of his head, "will not fill you up."
Harry heaved a resigning sigh, he wasn't all that hungry, but he doubted Tony would bother listening to him if he mentioned it.
Harry decided he'd go with the least expensive non-sandwich item on the menu.
Tony having caught on immediately to what Harry was doing frowned but ordered it for him anyway.
The two sat in relative awkward silence for a minute after the waiter had left, before striking up a conversation.
"So now that's taken care of, what do you want to do today?" Tony said while taking a long drink from his cup of coffee. Harry wondered if coffee was the only thing the man drank.
Harry blinked in shock, he had thought Tony had plans for the day, but he guessed not. Maybe it was all a ruse just to get him out of the room. And as mad as Harry wanted to be, Tony was right, even if he hadn't outright said it. Harry was selfish for no reason.
"I thought you had plans?"
Tony looked kind of guilty for a moment causing Harry to frown. What did the man have planned?
"Well, I did have JARVIS set you up an appointment with the optometrist, as I noticed you seem to squint quite a bit, and since you are my son, I figured, I ought to do something about it. But that won't be for a few hours yet, so we will have time to kill before then. I suppose I'll have to make you a doctor's appointment as well to make sure those pigs didn't harm you in any way." Tony continued to muse out loud while looking at Harry for his input.
"You set an eye appointment up?" Harry clarified, a bit confused, why the man would care whether he could see or not? I mean, he guessed it was nice that someone would care enough about him to make sure he could actually see, but it was strange. The Dursley's never cared whether or not he could see. Harry had a sneaking suspicion that the only reason why his aunt even bothered taking him to get glasses out of the donation box was so that he could see to do his chores, and to get the primary teacher off their backs.
"I sure did. I'm sorry I didn't ask you first, but you seemed sort of preoccupied, and I wasn't sure if you wanted to be bothered. I figured even if the prescription was right, we could get you a couple of new pairs of glasses. You know one to wear and a spare or two; that way, if you broke a pair while playing Quidditch, you would have a backup pair on hand." Tony said although he seemed to have caught his mistake when Harry looked frantically around the restaurant to see if anyone was listening to their conversation.
"Sorry. I take it I wasn't supposed to mention that out loud, right?" Tony said softly just to where Harry could hear.
Harry shook his head, relieved that no one seemed to be paying them any mind.
"That pair you're wearing now looks like they are about to fall apart." Tony continued as if he never slipped up.
"Oh, okay, thanks, I guess. So what exactly will the appointment consist of?" Harry questioned uncertainty as he tried to ignore the blush on his cheeks. He'd never gotten his eyes checked before and wanted to know what it was like before it happened.
Tony's eyebrows shot up at the question before he slowly asked the question he wasn't sure he wanted the answer to.
"Have you never gotten your eyes checked before?"
"No. The Dursley's always said that they didn't have the money." Harry said. The Dursley's had never actually said that only that they didn't have the money to spend on getting glasses for him. Besides, what did they care if he could or could not see? It just furthered proved their point that he would never be as perfect as their precious son.
Tony made a rather rude noise before deciding just to wave Harry's comment about the Dursley's off, "never mind them now, Harry. You'll be getting your eyes checked today, and later we'll set up a time with my physician to make sure you are where you are supposed to be. He's on vacation at the moment, so that will be whenever he comes back."
Harry and Tony discussed a bit more about what they might want to do to kill time before the eye appointment as they waited for their food to arrive.
When it finally did, the two ate in relative silence, both lost in their own thought, but Harry noticed Tony appeared to be watching him as he ate—quietly observing how Harry seemed to do more playing with his food than actual eating.
Harry hadn't even realized he had spent much of the mealtime just pushing his chicken around on his plate until Tony spoke.
"Try to eat a bit more than that, Harry. We're in no rush, and don't try to tell me you are not hungry. You haven't eaten anything all day."
Harry looked down at his half picked over plate in surprise. He didn't know if he could eat any more, he hadn't been really hungry before, and he certainly wasn't hungry now.
"I don't think I can," he muttered, looking down in shame. He knew he probably should be jumping at the chance to eat as he did when he was at the Dursley's, but he was too unsettled about the recent events to think clearly.
Tony looked at Harry for a moment before sitting back in his chair. "Okay. I'll admit, I know what it feels like to be pushed to eat when you don't want to, so I'm not going to force you. But if you get hungry, feel free to help yourself to any food you find."
Harry nodded his understanding while he pushed his plate away from him.
They waited a bit longer for the check before bundling up and started heading back to the car.
When they got situated inside the car with the heater on, providing them both with much-needed warmth, Harry turned to Tony.
"Would you- I mean, do you think it would be possible just to ride around?"
"Sure, kiddo. Anything you want to do. Is there any place, in particular, you want to see or…" Tony trailed off, hoping that Harry would comment if there really was somewhere he wanted to go.
"No." Harry shook his head, "I don't think so." Harry said while looking out at the lingering snow that was still present in piles on the sidewalk that had been shoveled up to clear the paths. He was glad that he hadn't had to shovel all the snow like he had to do at the Dursley's when it fell and covered the driveway.
"How about I show you…." And for the next two hours, Tony and Harry drove around the city looking at various landmarks and cool buildings.
Then it was time for Harry's appointment, which he had secretly been dreading, out of fear for what it might consist of. Tony hadn't been overly descriptive when Harry had asked earlier, which made Harry apprehensive.
He knew he was probably being overdramatic and that it couldn't be that bad, but he heard Dudley whine for hours afterward about how weird his eyes felt after his appointments.
Tony must have sensed Harry's uncertainty as he placed one hand on Harry's shoulder and steered him into the waiting room while he went and talked to the lady at the desk.
Harry chose a corner seat away from most of the others and waited for Tony to return, which he soon did.
Harry noticed a couple of people staring at Tony, a couple even looked like they wanted to approach, but something about Tony's demeanor must have kept them at bay. Harry was okay with that.
Eventually, Harry's name was called, or rather, it was Tony's name they called out, even though the appointment was supposedly for him. Harry thought that was odd and gave Tony a questioning look, but he shook his head slightly. Harry assumed he didn't want to talk about it or just didn't feel it was the time to talk about it right now.
Together Harry and Tony were led back to a small, relatively dark room. There in the middle was a really funny looking chair with a large even weirder apparatus hanging from the ceiling, and to the side was a desk, rolling chair. Harry was asked to sit in the chair and wait while Tony talked to the woman softly about who knows what. Harry knew they were talking about him, but he couldn't fathom what Tony would have about to talk about.
The woman nodded along with what Tony was saying, after a few minutes of this, the young woman turned to Harry and Tony left the room, but not before smiling a reassuring smile in Harry's direction.
The whole eye exam went rather quickly, much to Harry's relief. However, the doctor had seemed horrified that Harry had just picked the pair of glasses from a donation box that had provided the clearest vision and had never gotten his eyes checked before.
And in the end, not only they had given him some disposable sunglasses that he was supposed to somehow fashion over the top of his glasses, but also a loaner pair of glasses that were closer to the strength he needed. He still had his old pair, but was instructed to throw them away, or do whatever, but not to wear them again. Harry had been against taking the pair at first, fearing that it was going to cost Tony even more money, but the doctor and his assistant had flat out refused to hear any attempt of Harry's to deny the pair. In the end, they compromised and said that once he chose his frames and got his prescription filled, he could return the pair.
While Harry was sure, he would appreciate the clearer vision the glasses would offer him, at the moment he was more concerned about how to get the sunglasses to stay over the glasses without completely taking the glasses off.
Despite the glasses and the sunglasses, it felt like they did little to help him see as he thought for sure that he had never been quite so blind before.
Harry was actually a bit grateful for Tony's presence as the man led him with great patience back to the car after the doctor had finished talking to him about whatever it was he had found in the exam.
When they pulled from the parking space, Tony began talking, and Harry listened with half an ear, as he was too busy trying to keep his eyes shut. Who knew that even the pale winter sun could be so bright?
"So, what did you think? It wasn't that bad, was it?"
Why did it matter what he thought? It was over with now anyway.
"It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," Harry admitted, "of course, I only had Dudley's reaction to go on, and he always overreacts to everything."
"Ah, well, that's good. How about we head back home now? It'll take another couple hours for your eyes to lose its sensitivity so you will probably want to stay out of the direct sunlight, until then. And by then, it'll be too late to do much of anything."
Harry knew this. The doctor had told him that his eyes would feel sensitive after all the eyedrops they had put in his eyes.
Harry just hoped he didn't get a headache from it like he sometimes got when he attempted to read or study for too long.
"That sounds fine," Harry replied before he realized that he hadn't even looked at any frames.
"What about my glasses?" He figured it would be best to remind Tony before they got too far, not knowing how Tony would react to having to backtrack.
"We can pick them out another day. I want you to see what options they offer, and spend all the time you need when deciding, not make some half-blind attempt or get the first couple of pairs you see." Tony sounded so dismissive of it all that Harry assumed Tony didn't mind taking another trip just to get him his glasses.
If Tony didn't care, Harry couldn't bring himself to care either.
Tony was silent for a minute before speaking again. "The doctor is concerned that your eyesight has been made worse due to years of wearing the wrong prescription. The headaches you told him about are probably a result of that."
Harry half-frowned at this. Did the doctor really have to tell Tony about the headaches? He wondered if the doctor had warned him of the potential one Harry could get until his eyes fully adjusted to the strength of the loaner glasses. "They seemed to work all right when I got them. I mean, I could see fine with them then."
He heard a sigh come from the driver's seat. "Maybe when you got them, you could see fine, but eyesight tends to worsen over time. If you would rather not wear glasses, you could always go with contacts. They would certainly make your eyes stand out."
Harry didn't know anyone who wore contacts and wasn't sure how he felt about sticking something into his eyes every day. Plus, with glasses, he was able to protect his eyes from Neville's exploding cauldron.
"I think I'll just stick to wearing glasses."
"Sure, kiddo, whatever, you want."
"Hey, Tony?" Harry asked, just remembering something.
"Yeah?"
"Why did they call your name and not mine?" Harry couldn't believe he had almost forgotten to ask.
Tony looked at the car ahead of him for a brief moment before answering, "I am pretty well known, if you haven't figured that out yet, Harry. Most people are fine reading about my latest invention or whatnot and going back to their lives, but some want to know what I do on a day-to-day basis. This causes the near-constant media presence. It can get extremely annoying and inconvenient at times but, if it's a show they want, it's a show I am usually all too willing to give."
Harry was beginning to realize why Tony did, as simple as it was, Harry couldn't help but feel touched at the thought.
'However, sometimes, paparazzi can get a bit too close and personal in their digs. The paps tend to twist and skew stuff at the best of times and be downright vicious the rest of the time. Therefore I wish to keep your anonymity for as long as possible. I don't think you are ready to be thrown into that kind of spotlight just yet."
"But, can't they just look it up like you did?" Harry asked, hoping that all of Tony's work wasn't going to be in vain.
"They would have to know your name to look you up. And there really isn't a whole lot about you online. You bring up a good point, though. Maybe I ought to look into having you completely erased from the web, that way no one could look you up… Yeah, I like that idea. I'll set JARVIS to is when we get back to the tower."
The rest of the ride back to the tower was filled with similar small talk.
By the time they did get back, they had fallen into a comfortable flow of conversation.
Sensing that Tony wasn't about to let Harry sneak back up to his room, Harry initially opted to sit on the floor, but was pulled up by a confused looking Tony and pushed down to sit on one end of the long couch. He didn't lean back into the sofa. Instead, he sat at the edge, ready to leap off of it at a moment's notice.
The others looked at him curiously, but none of them said a word, probably on the account that Tony had sat next to him, with an arm draped over the back of the couch where Harry sat, giving the illusion to the room that he was slinging his arm around Harry if he would have leaned back.
By now, Harry could feel his earlier fear of a headache come true. The pounding was dull, but Harry knew it was likely to get worse with all the light that emitted into the room. He wanted to get up and go to his room, get in the closet, where there was no light, and hide until his headache eased off.
Sinking further into the couch, Harry pretended that he was in the common room and not at Stark Tower. It was easier for him just to pretend that he wasn't sitting on Tony's furniture as he still wanted to follow the rules the Dursley's had set for him.
It was kind of weird, Harry thought, how he could be so comfortable at Hogwarts, but so up-in-arms here. It was all because of his uncle's rule that stated freaks weren't allowed on any furniture.
At Hogwarts, he was mainly surrounded by his housemates, and none of them had the real authority to chastise him for sitting on the furniture (although Percy liked to think he held some clout being a Perfect). Of course, there didn't seem to be any common room rule that stated freaks weren't allowed on the furniture. That would have been plain ridiculous as then, at least according to the Dursley's- none of them would have been permitted to sit in any of the numerous chairs or couches that were scattered throughout the room.
And here at Stark Tower, Tony had all but invited Harry to sit on his couch, making Dursley's rule null and void, or at least until Tony got fed up with him and told him to shove it.
Unknowingly to Harry, as his headache began to worsen gradually, he slowly relaxed his tense shoulders. He sank further and further into the couch until it really did give off the appearance that Tony had one arm around him.
At some point, Harry must have dozed off because he felt someone giving him a gentle shake.
"Hey, kid, come on now, wake up." Harry lurched up off of the couch at the gentle prob.
Harry couldn't believe he'd fallen asleep. He had let his guard down and had fallen asleep. He didn't feel safe enough here to be doing something like that, yet he had done it.
Fortunately, he noticed as his eyes flitted around the room, it seemed that his vision was no longer as blurry, nor his eyes and eyelids as sticky meaning whatever they had put in his eyes must have gone away. Unfortunately, though, his headache appeared to be even worse than before. Almost to the point that it still hurt to be in the direct light, although by now, it was lamplight and not sunlight.
Gathering his bearings and blinking the last bit of sleep out of his eyes, Harry stood and looked expectantly at Tony, who was staring at him with an unreadable expression.
Harry glanced around the room again and noticed that everyone seemed to more or less ignore him.
Good, that was good. No need to make it more awkward than it had to be. It was already awkward enough as it was since Harry did really know anyone here.
Harry saw some food lying around haphazardly on various flat surfaces. Most had looked to be untouched at the moment, but his attention was brought back to Tony as the man wordlessly motioned for Harry to sit, and handed him a take-out box.
"Here, I wasn't sure what you wanted, so I got you what I usually get. It's shawarma. It's my favorite, and I think you'll like it."
Harry took the food hesitantly, not knowing what shawarma was. He wasn't really interested in learning about it either, but the look on Tony's face made it impossible to refuse.
In short, Tony looked absolutely thrilled to be sharing this moment with Harry, even if it was just introducing "his son" to one of his favorite foods.
Harry wondered about Tony's mannerisms. Someone with all his fame and fortune could, should have everything.
They shouldn't be finding such delight in doing such mundane things, like encouraging him to try what looked like an ordinary chicken wrap (but apparently wasn't).
He certainly didn't know much about Tony, and Tony didn't know a whole lot about him, but the way Tony appeared to want to hang out with him all afternoon. And the fact that he seemed so eager to hear what Harry's thoughts were on the shawarma struck Harry as a bit odd.
Harry couldn't help but wonder if perhaps Tony, even with everything he had, was lonely. And that was why he was so eager to get to know Harry.
If this was the case, then Harry felt bad for Tony. He shouldn't be looking at Harry for approval, which Harry noticed that he hadn't yet to take a bite of the wrap.
Feeling guilty at keeping the man waiting, Harry took a bite of the food and found that he sort of liked it. It was a bit different than what he was used to. It had a lot more spices than anything he usually ate, but it wasn't necessarily bad.
"It's good," Harry said, confirming that he liked it, which caused Tony to positively beam at him.
Harry returned the smile with one of his own. That had been easy enough to say that it was good, and it wasn't even a lie. The shawarma was good, maybe not his favorite thing ever, but he could (and probably would) eat it again.
If Tony wasn't a lonely man, then he really just wanted to make a good impression on Harry, and for that, Harry couldn't figure out which was sadder.
The fact that there was a billionaire, who could probably impress anyone, just with money alone, making such an effort to impress the one person he felt that he needed to... his son. Or the fact that the man was probably looking for someone who he didn't have to put up a front with, someone who would accept that underneath all his wealth and knowledge, he was a bit insecure and wanted to find someone who would look up to him and idol him in a way that the media and fans couldn't.
In all honesty, Harry wasn't sure he wanted to be that person or that he was the right person for the job, but on the flip side, Tony thought he was, so that must mean something, right?
"So, you really like it?" Tony said after Harry didn't say anymore.
"Yeah, yeah, it's good," Harry said before swallowing. "I like it."
Tony seemed to be happy at that. "Good. I hope you don't mind the chicken. I thought since you ate chicken over lunch, you wouldn't have a problem with eating more, but if you want to try something different, let me know. They have a lot of different choices."
Harry confirmed that he would, indeed, let Tony know if he wanted to try a different kind, although, to himself, Harry knew even if he wanted something other than chicken, he wouldn't ask.
Tony and Harry spent the rest of the meal in silence, although the rest of the evening was spent making small talk. However, it was mainly between Harry and Tony as the others ventured off to do whatever it was they did, and Harry realized he kind of enjoyed spending time with Tony.