Legal Disclaimer: My work is my own creative intelligence and property, but I do not own the original source material it stems from (I wouldn't be writing fanfiction if it was). The opinions and interpretations of characters reflected in my stories may not follow what is portrayed from the source material. Please don't sue me, I'm a stay at home mom.

Competition/Challenge Block:
Written for/Stacked with: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Term 14); Monthly Challenges for All (Year 4)
Hogwarts: Ravenclaw - A12 (Medieval & Renaissance Studies #2: write about two people having a meaningful discussion.)

Author's Note: I am probably over saturating you all at this point with so much crossover content for the Dreams Saga, but I have given up trying to hold off on things and just let my muse write what it wants to write and share it. Now it seems to want to write this point in time where Tony meets Lily and James. I'll keep the chapters slice of life-like, personal, and under the 2k marker (I hope). There will be a lot of time jumps throughout a 4-year period, and I don't plan for it to go for more than 8 chapters total (2 for each year). I will indicate this with a simple marker at the beginning of each chapter.

Just for some quick reference, there is a major timeline shift, and math is hard so we are going to say Tony is a little older than Lily and James here... 21 ish maybe? They are 18/19? Math. Also, I like to write about things I know nothing about, it is an unfortunate side effect when writing Tony, so if it sounds vague, that is why.

I am actively working on both Where Dreams Are Forged ch3 and We Were Not Ourselves ch2, they just like to be stupid long. :x I have a problem not writing ahead... I have only managed it once with Abandoned. lol

Lastly, perspectives will change either per chapter or indicated with a line break and warnings will be listed in each chapter as needed. Right now, the only warning here is the crime against coffee!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy. :)

Word Count: 2,145

Aren't We All Just Little Disasters?

Year 1.1

It was James' first full day working at the local coffee shop on campus without having Lily hovering over his shoulder—granted she was the one who hired and trained him, but there were times when she felt like she would regret this decision to bring him into her workspace after the very long two week training sessions she put him through. Managing his ADHD was the key, and they soon found a routine that suited him ("I'm sorry, you're just so pretty I couldn't take my eyes off you." he had said when he over-steamed the milk. It became his go-to excuse whenever he started blundering, but she smiled at him every time despite the hiccups). Regardless, she somehow trusted him enough to handle the machines without the hand holding today, so she excused herself to the back office to fill out some paperwork, set schedules, and maybe sneak some homework in.

It was their slow day, Tuesday, and they were on the midday shift, so Lily wasn't terribly worried about him and the occasional latte or americano that would walk through the shop. She pitched the idea of James working at the coffee shop so they could spend more time together, and since she had control of the scheduling, it would be easy to put them together regularly. School was killing them both with their full loads and it was only their first year. They rarely were home, much less seeing much of each other or their friends because of classes, homework, work, and Order business always being juggled, they already forgot what sleep was like. Once it got to the point where they didn't see each other for a full day, Lily finally broke down from the stress and they both admitted they missed each other.

James went into engineering, and Lily set her sights on the sciences. Cambridge was an amazing school to study at and it helped them both get away from the magical world right out of Hogwarts. It was a nice distraction, to pretend that a war wasn't bleeding out around them, threatening them every chance it got. It was easy to live almost oblivious to it among the ordinary people, keeping busy with an ordinary life, and they took advantage of it.

Of course they still participated and contributed to the Order, there was no way the couple would completely ignore their friends and allies suffering at the hands of Voldemort while they played fairytale in the muggle world. Though, they were newlyweds, so they could be a little selfish. They wanted that small piece of happiness and bliss once in a while that everyone else usually had after tying the knot.

So that is what they did. They became students and moved to Cambridge. Lily got a job as a barista for pocket money (and to squirrel away as a just in case if they ever needed to get out of dodge quickly, traveling the muggle way was one of the best ways to throw most wixen off), though they did finance their education with the Potter's wealth, getting large currency exchanges tended to catch the attention of people, and they were also becoming more difficult to do with wary goblins and the conflict they brought upon themselves (goblins stayed out of wixen business, especially wars). They wanted to keep on the down low as best as they could, after all.

The promotion to assistant manager was a nice extra, at least, and gave her the leverage to be able to spend more time with her beloved husband while they fueled the campus with energy. Especially when she'd only been working for a semester.

A very distinct sound of a stalled machine had Lily pull her from her thoughts and emerge from the back to investigate what James did. She smirked, slightly shaking her head that made her red curls bounce around, and folded her arms in front of her.

There was steamed milk all over the floor, a flustered James attempting to remake said milk, and one of the brewing dispensers made a groaning sound as it tried to do its job with the porta-filter not placed on the machine properly. She didn't even take notice of the customer he was trying to help, instead she went to verbally assess the situation.

"Hey, sweetie, what happened?" she asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Lily noticed that his cheeks were pinkening through his warm brown skin when his hazel eyes met hers. He bit at his lip, shifting his attention to the botched drink on the table and the over-steamed milk in the pitcher he held. The machine still groaned, spluttering out water between the gap while still trying to force brew the coffee.

"I…" He stammered, flustered. He deliberately refused to look toward the customer who waited for their drink.

Lily quickly turned the machine off, grabbed James by the elbow, and barely turned her head enough so her projected voice could be heard by the only customer currently in there.

"We will have your drink out momentarily!" she said, pulling James just inside the door flaps

Lily took a heavy breath before focusing on her disaster of a husband. "What happened, James? You haven't fumbled that badly since your third day."

"He took me by surprise, honestly," James rushed out. "I was cleaning the machines, you know, giving them a little spit-shine… without the spit of course, and I hear, 'One of your daily specials, please.' which I totally knew was a caffé breve, and I so knew how to make it. Anyways, I say, 'Sure thing! What size?' and then I looked and completely forgot how to live, breathe, think…"

She held up her hands to get James to focus on her and cease his rambling spiel, because he would keep going if she let him. "Okay, sweetie. Take a breath. How about you stick to the topic and explain what's going on? Did the customer say something that had you make the machine stall?"

"Because I … I just couldn't focus." James ran his hands over his face. "I put the porta-filter in wrong and then it got jammed, and I couldn't stop looking… I mean," he gestured to the window on the door where the customer was barely in view of. "Look at him. He's gorgeous."

Lily peeked through the plastic window and her breath hitched. A handsome man wearing a simple navy suit jacket with the button undone, revealing a white button-down underneath, styled short medium-brown hair, and the beginnings of a well-formed goatee growing in around thin, dusty pink lips and sculpted nose. His brown eyes seemed to have locked with hers momentarily before she blinked herself back to reality and looked back to James.

"Oh, I want one," she said coyly, now understanding why her husband was a mess. It wasn't everyday they found someone so pretty aside from one another. "We need to proceed carefully, dear husband. If you don't mind, I'll distract him while you magic away the mess and remake his drink to bring to him? Or would you like to do the honors?"

James shook his head. "No, no, you are better with your words around the pretty ones. I am just a bumbling fool. He's American, too, just to prepare you for that gorgeous accent."

"Noted." Lily paused for a moment to steal another glance to the front of house. "Funny how things all work out, huh? Our first date was at a coffee shop, hence our little tea cup tattoos on our hips, we work at a coffee shop, now we have a potential suitor that came to our coffee shop. Maybe we should invest in coffee…"

She looked at herself in the very shiny reflective stainless steel counter next to the sink, fluffing her curls and checking the purple lipstick she chose to wear that morning. It matched the smoky purple shadow on her eyes, popping nicely against her dark skin.

"How do I look?" Lily asked, smoothing the white apron out when she turned back to face her soulmate.

"Drop dead gorgeous as always," he said, brushing a hand over her cheek.

She breezed through the door, grabbing a couple clean towels in the process to wipe down the counters and make a show of dropping them on the floor to mop up the mess there. She did just that when their customer looked their way.

"I'm so sorry for the delay, my husband can be a bit of a butterfingers at times. He will get you a fresh caffé breve out right away, on the house."

"Oh, I couldn't accept that, it is fine, really. I was more worried that he was sick or something," he replied kindly yet a bit quickly.

She went around to the front of the house to wipe down tables, smiling warmly at the stranger when she walked by. "Oh, he is fine, I assure you. He tends to get a bit jumbled around new interests."

'Smooth,' Lily thought, mentally swearing.

"Interests?"

The stranger's brow quirked slightly at this. "We don't get too many Americans in here, so it piqued interest," Lily said, recovering.

"Ah, yes. Was invited to Cambridge to do a science and engineering curriculum overhaul. Honestly, it's been needed, and I was honored they thought of me," he said, watching Lily as if he knew her.

"Wow, you must be really important then," she said, smiling at him. "I am majoring in science. James is in engineering, so I am not looking forward to the stress of a change for us."

"It's only going to be implemented for the new enrollees," he explained.

"Ah, so we will be stuck with the inferior information, then," Lily teased, lightly laughing at her own joke. "I co-wrote that paper to get published for nothing."

This seemed to have really caught the man's attention. "Paper? You're not referring to the one about the distinct differences between AI and CI?" he blurted suddenly. "You're… you're not the Lily Evans Potter, are you?"

Her name on his tongue sounded quite lovely, Lily thought to herself. She did a little bow. "The one and only."

He seemed to be at a loss for words now, and she was glad because James had just finished wrapping up the several cleaning charms and was nearly finished with the drink now. Tony was none the wiser of all the magic going on directly behind him.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. Gosh, I feel a bit foolish not recognizing you," he stammered, holding out his hand. "I'm—"

"One caffé breve for Tony!" James announced, sliding the drink across the pickup counter before leaning onto it. "Sorry for the delay. Seems like you've not noticed, though."

"Uh, yeah. That's me. Tony Stark," he greeted sheepishly, accepting the coffee instead of trying to shake Lily's hand.

"He knows about my paper, dear," she said, looking excited at James. "Dr. Tony Stark knows about my paper!"

"That's amazing!"

"Have to give credit where it's due. I know the guy you co-authored with, and honestly I am not surprised he didn't bump you entirely. He's a real tool," Tony said, taking a drink of his coffee. "This is delicious! What's your secret?"

"Magic," James said almost too quickly, winking and putting on his best smile when Tony laughed. He held up his hands and wiggled his fingers. "It's all the work of these hands."

"It is unfortunate you had to go through him to even have your paper considered to get to publication. If you decide to write anything else, I've got connections," Tony offered.

Lily raised her brow at such a generous gesture. "Well, James is actually in the process of writing something as well..."

"Awesome, I'd be glad to help," he responded, and Lily observed him eying James now that he moved away from the counter to the register.

A couple customers came in then, the chime pulling Lily back from the excitement and giddiness that stirred her core. "Well, Dr. Stark—"

"Please, Tony is fine," he corrected quickly. "Dr. Stark was my father."

'Good to know,' she thought, and based on the veiled tone used, it was more bitter than humble. "If you'd like to talk more about our papers, we could perhaps meet up for lunch this weekend, if you're available, Tony?"

Tony didn't even double-take at the notion of going out with a married couple, much less being flirted with by them. He looked back at her and smirked, his eyes ever so slightly dilated. "I'd love to."

She pulled a permanent marker from her apron and gracefully nicked Tony's coffee cup from his hand, writing her and James home line number down before leaving a kiss print next to it, handing it back with a wink. "It's a date."