Chapter Text
Something had Harry on edge.
Tony wasn’t always the most observant, but when it came to Harry he knew every nuance, every tick and tell and breath. If there was one thing in this world that Tony could focus utterly on, it was his husband. And that was why he knew the other man was restless and unsettled even though it seemed like Harry himself hadn’t even noticed.
He didn’t think it was anything in their local environment. Nothing had really changed though Tony had perhaps put in a few additional hours recently, investing in alternative technology at SI. But that didn’t impact Harry particularly – the wizard had the patience of a saint, and he’d known for years what he’d gotten into.
Tony had kept it to himself till now, given it had mostly manifested in Harry spending an extra half hour training with JARVIS. But coming up to bed in the early morning and finding the sheets cold was something else.
“Babe?” He asked softly, finding Harry sitting with crossed legs in front of the lounge window with the help of JARVIS. He was looking out towards the ocean with a faint crease on his forehead, dark shadows under his brilliant eyes and body slumped with tiredness.
Harry didn’t answer with words, instead turning his head slightly to show that he’d heard and reaching a hand out in welcome.
Tony settled on the floor, feeling his body complain after being hunched over his work bench for most of the day and night. It was worth it though because Harry settled against his side with a sigh.
“You weren’t in bed.” He murmured into the early morning darkness.
Harry hummed in agreement, twining their fingers together where they held hands. “Couldn’t sleep.” The other man admitted.
It was now or never then. “You’ve been restless lately. Anything on your mind?”
Harry frown deepened, though he didn’t disagree outright. Instead he turned to face Tony front on. “There’s something in the air, I think. Can you feel it?” He looked just the slightest bit hopeful and Tony immediately felt terrible that he was going to have to crush that. “No, Kitty cat, I haven’t noticed anything. Want to talk about it?”
Harry didn’t look surprised despite the glimmer of hope. “It’s like an approaching storm. Or static electricity. It’s right there, but I just can’t pin it down.” He huffed out a rush of air, the moment breaking as he rolled his eyes and stood up quickly in one fluid move that Tony was immediately jealous of. “It doesn’t matter. There’s nothing to do about it now.”
Harry pulled Tony up with no effort before stepping in close. “Take me to bed and I’ll worry about it tomorrow.”
He was tempted to say something further but there was really nothing he could add. He’d not been able to pin down the cause of Harry’s trouble himself so had no bright ideas.
“Tomorrow.” He agreed, wrapping an arm around Harry and leading the way to bed.
Things seemed to calm down not long after that, Harry relaxing suddenly as though whatever had been bothering him had simply up and left.
It had taken another week for Tony to realise the timing lined up near perfectly with whatever had captured SHIELD’s attention out in New Mexico. It had been well out Tony’s zone of consideration originally at over 600 miles away, but the coincidence was not something he could ignore.
The fact that something happening two states away was keeping the wizard up at night was mind blowing and it kicked Tony into overdrive. He realised he’d been slacking slightly, focussing on securing SI’s future and allowing his suit development to slip to the wayside.
The event allowed him to recalibrate and reprioritise with the help of JARVIS. SI was important but Harry would always come first and part of that meant making sure his suit was good enough to deal with anything that might come at them.
Luckily his new tower design was complete – Pepper would have had his head if he’d delayed that any further.
“Why don’t we just move?”
To say that Tony was blindsided by the comment would have been an understatement. The fact that he all but choked on a mouthful of ice-cream was something he would deny, despite Harry’s eye witness account and JARVIS’ video footage.
“What now?” He managed, looking away from the schematics of SI’s new tower that was soon to be constructed in Midtown Manhattan. It was a big step forward for SI who had been spread across three separate buildings for a year or so now, expanding beyond the limited space offered in the bustling Manhattan district. The body of the tower had been done for a while, JARVIS making sure things had continued smoothly with Tony’s recent reprioritisation of tasks.
Harry was blinking at him with wide eyes, obviously not having expected Tony’s reaction. “I said, why don’t we just move? It just seems like it would be easier for you, if you need to start attending meetings with the R&D department.”
“You’d move?” He asked again, honestly surprised. They both valued their privacy so much and here was Harry offering to move to one of the busiest places in the US. Though it was true that Tony had already been thinking about the increased commute – Pepper had driven a hard bargain, increasing Tony’s face to face involvement at SI in return for the massive short-term expense of a new, utterly state-of-the-art building. Mostly he’d been planning on using the Suit, which would only take around an hour one way at Mach 3.
“Tony, I moved from London to be with you. I love it here, but I moved for you, not the house.”
Harry had an adorable furrow between his brows, looking perplexed at Tony’s surprise. He supposed his own expression wasn’t too far removed.
“If we take a floor or two near the top no one is going to notice – it’s already got 90 of them.” Harry continued, waving a hand carelessly at the little holographic model hovering in the middle of the lounge that Tony was reviewing. “And we can bring to boys, can’t we?”
It was lucky that Harry had placed his own already empty ice-cream bowl on the ground because Tony all but flattened his husband in his effort to kiss him.
Harry was looking a little flushed when he finally pulled away, Tony keeping the other man cocooned into the couch. “Seriously, I have no idea what I did to deserve you. Yes, it would probably be easier to move for a little a while, but if you think one floor will do you don’t know me well enough. And the boys would set this place on fire if we left them without supervision.”
Harry huffed in amusement, hands warm against Tony’s hips. “Of course I know you’d prefer more than a floor, but I was rather under the impression this building was already approved and you’ve assigned the levels already. You’re going to give someone a big headache, aren’t you?”
Tony, who was already mentally planning the five additional floors he wanted, tried for non-committal. “I can neither confirm nor deny.”
It was the new basement level for his extended workshop that was probably going to be the real issue, but that’s why he paid the designers the big bucks.
Harry was already smiling at him before the words were halfway out. “Which is fairly incriminating in itself.” His husband relaxed further into the couch, tilting his head up. “Next time, just ask. The worst I can do is say no, right?”
Tony moved to balance himself on an elbow between the back of the couch and Harry’s warm side, face slipping into a faint grimace. “Yeah, that was my bad. Let me give it a go.” He smoothed his face out before attempting a look of adoration, noting that it maybe needed some work if Harry’s resultant grin was anything to go by. “Darling, Light of my Life. Would you please consider moving to the big city with me, so I can work enough to keep you in the life you have grown accustomed to?”
Between one second and the next they had swapped positions, Tony thumping gently into the couch cushions with a grunt. Harry now hovered above him, looking pleased with himself.
“Try again.” His little Wizard offered, indulgent.
“Darling, Light of my Life. Your humble gold-digger husband requests we move to the big city, so he can prove he can support himself using his own money without bumming off his super rich Sugar Daddy.”
And Tony knew that was close enough when his lovely life partner threw his head back and laughed out loud.
Once the decision had been made, things moved fairly quickly. Harry suddenly found himself in charge of the top five floors of the new Stark Tower, three of which would be additional floors to the approved plans.
“You want me to design them? As in layout? Or more like paint colours?” Pepper was looking at him pityingly, which certainly wasn’t helping matters.
“I can’t believe you’ve never done this before. Haven’t you ever redecorated, even?” She seemed almost concerned, so Harry decided now probably wasn’t the time to bring up the fact that magical buildings weren’t really a fan of moving around furniture, let alone completely changing room layouts. “No, I really never have.”
Pepper smiled kindly in that way she had when Tony asked her how buses worked. “Well, this will be an excellent time for you to learn, seeing as only you and Tony will have to deal with the fallout.”
He nodded in bemused agreement, attempting to follow along with the suddenly complex process of interior design that Pepper launched into.
“And we’ll need to have a fairly robust layout decided by the Friday after next, so the services can be laid out properly. Still okay?”
Harry tried to smooth his face into one of almost confidence. “Yes. It will be a nice break from classes.” He offered, hoping he sounded like he’d retained even a third of that conversation.
Pepper didn’t look like she really believed him, but seemed to let it slide. That was why he and Tony liked the woman so much – she could see through their bullshit, but was willing to go with it when it wasn’t important.
“Have you let that local defence group know you’ll be moving in the next few months? They must be disappointed to lose such a competent teacher.” Harry was still volunteering at a local school for self-defence four days a week. Despite having zero real qualifications, he’d impressed the owner enough through assisting with kids classes that he’d been offered to lead under supervision. They’d been particularly happy when Harry refused payment and he found himself supplied all the tea he could drink when there.
“I mentioned it a few days ago. They’re a bit sad but offered to find somewhere new for me if I wanted.”
He would certainly miss some of the kids he’d been teaching for the past few years, but moving would hopefully mean he could eventually teach new kids to defend themselves just as well if everything worked out. It was also perhaps inevitable that he have to give up teaching so close to home in Malibu – he hadn’t exactly hidden the ring on his finger and coupled with the car he drove having the plates STARK05, it was only a sense of community and luck that kept the world from finding out Tony Stark had married and his husband worked in town.
“Are you sure you’re alright with moving? Perhaps I should have discussed everything with you before upping Tony’s face-to-face requirements at SI.” Pepper seemed suddenly unsure, face tipping into an apologetic frown.
“I don’t mind moving, Pepper. Change is good, sometimes.”
And he did honestly mean that. Sure, he loved the house, but it would be nice for he and Tony to build something new together.
“Okay, if you’re sure. I’ve got to head off, but call me if you’re having trouble with the layout. Any time. And thank you – it probably would have ended up with me otherwise.”
After seeing Pepper off, Harry moved back into the kitchen to finish cleaning up his afternoon cooking for the local temporary housing shelter. He liked cooking, but even he and Tony couldn’t eat everything JARVIS came up with.
Speaking of.
“JARVIS, I’m really hoping you got all of that, because I’m in deep trouble otherwise.”
“Yes, Hadrian. If you don’t mind me commenting, you are rather alike Sir in your manner with Miss Potts. I find it prudent to track requested deliverables, particularly when Sir and yourself wear such facial expressions.” JARVIS very helpfully displayed the facial expression in question on his recipe screen, which was the definition of ‘deer in headlights’.
“Bugger. I was hoping it was a bit more subtle than that. Well, as you’re offering, you’re now my designated co-conspirator. If you’re alright with helping, of course.” They’d started watching themselves a bit more, now that JARVIS was growing into what was realistically his own person. They didn’t want him feeling as though he simply existed to follow orders.
“It would be my pleasure, Hadrian. I am up to date with all the latest trends, and have a blueprint of the appropriate dimensions for the tower.”
Harry was smiling before JARVIS finished. “You internet searched the latest trends during that conversation, didn’t you?”
A brief, rather telling pause. “I can neither confirm, nor deny.”
Tony walked in on Harry laughing brightly at the AI’s humour, hearing with no context, “You are certainly your father’s son, JARVIS.”
It was telling that Tony didn’t disagree.
This was starting to get incredibly annoying.
“Test twenty-seven is also a fail.” He said to the ceiling, knowing from Harry’s commiserating expression that the prototype communicator had been fried once more.
“Indeed Sir.” JARVIS agreed, sounding similarly frustrated which was an entirely new experience – JARVIS had never been actually frustrated before and Tony didn’t think he was enjoying it all that much.
“I told you that a round trip to London wasn’t a great place to start, Love. Should we maybe stick to the length of the house now? And that would be smoother apparation rather than a portkey as well.”
Ignoring the way his husband’s accent curled adorably around the pet name, Tony replied as he had every other time so far. “You told me Pepper’s phone was fine for the jumps around SI – a few hundred meters at a time. It’s not a real test if it doesn’t test to destruction!”
Harry was smiling long before Tony had finished the sentence, nodding along in wry amusement. “Of course. I keep forgetting you are the paradigm of scientific process.”
Rather than acknowledge the faint edge of sarcasm Tony decided the best course of action was to simply agree and move on.
“Thank you. Now, what goodies do we have this time?”
Over the last few weeks Harry had been making runs to his house in London, slowly transferring his frankly massive library of magical books to Malibu via enchanted trucks.
That had been a whole other conversation around the use of ‘enchanted’ for literally anything unless it was ‘cursed’, but the only difference between enchant and curse was apparently intent?
Anyway.
Harry was bringing over books to store in the bunker Tony had underneath the house, safer than just sitting in a dingey old manor so far away in London. At least this way no one would accidentally knock the magic house down while doing renovations next door.
Harry also quite liked the fact that JARVIS had been scanning each book for preservation in a digital format. Tony had a very, very secure server, also in the bunker, that couldn’t be accessed unless someone physically connected an ethernet cable specifically to JARVIS. Some books were a no-go due to the content they contained – the Black family had been some dark, messed up people – but everything Harry was okay with got saved.
JARVIS devoted a fair amount of time to it, scanning and learning, and hadn’t that been a lovely surprise? JARVIS had developed his own incredibly complex manner of remembering things. The data wasn’t just saved in a memory bank any longer, but kind of split up into a million different parcels and scattered all over the place. The best part was that the AI didn’t need to reassemble anything to remember it – he just did.
And it meant that actually, JARVIS had a far superior understanding of magical theory compared to Harry and the wizard was enchanted by it. Yeah, see what he did there?
“Still runes, though I think this is the last set. Runic magic is pretty extensive given the sheer number of languages, but it’ll be the most helpful for JARVIS to learn for the new building.”
Harry and JARVIS had plans. Tony loved all of it. He even loved that they were being all secretive about it – it was utterly adorable. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t poke at it just a little.
“Plans coming together then? Is the building going to fry anyone who tries to enter without a pass? Shoot lasers out of the wall if you walk too slow? Increase everyone’s IQ by 10?”
Harry rolled his eyes playfully. “You know very well it will be defensive, not offensive. Increasing intelligence counts as offensive, by the way.”
“So, the pass thing?”
Harry smirked before kneeling down to open the trunk. “We’ll take it under advisement.”
Surprised into startled laughter, Tony mostly went back to his own work. After re-prioritising SI below suit upgrades that could properly keep his husband safe, Tony had made it through around a third of his list. They had yet to get to any stealth flaps for aesthetics but that was because he had left JARVIS in charge of the to-do list. For exactly that reason.
He did keep one eye on the trunk unpacking though – it would never not be cool to see Harry’s magic, and he still hadn’t figured out this ‘wizard’s space’ malarky. There was no way you could fit that many books into a trunk that small without violating the laws of physics.