Work Text:
"Avada Kedavra!"
There wasn't pain, not exactly. It was more like impact, the feeling of breathlessness when you have the wind knocked clean out of you, the ragged, far too thin breaths painfully taken before you faint.
The sudden lack of sound was almost cacophony, the ringing both in and out of his ears, the sort of silence that begged any resonance possible. The black was so pitch that he couldn't tell if his eyes were open or shut, if he was vertical or horizontal. He couldn't tell if he was swimming or floating, with the way something almost fluid seemed to be about him.
It brought some terror into him, the realisation that whilst he didn't know that he wasn't alone, he also didn't know that he was alone, either.
Harry didn't know which was a more terrifying option.
Just as he'd felt all of his breath leave him, it seemed to breathe life into the scene, King's Cross Station, so pale it could have been carved into ivory.
Harry heard rasping breathing near him, and jerked away from a strange creature, one that looked like the homunculus that Voldemort had been before reclaiming a body. A thing of nightmares only seen last year... had it been so short a time?
"What?" He whispered, before another voice, one that made his heart squeeze, cut through the air.
"You can't help that creature, Harry, you brave, wonderful boy."
"Sirius!" Harry shouted, running into his Godfather's waiting arms. He was spun around, Sirius kissing the top of his head. They exchanged tearful exclamations, sounds that were too difficult to make out even between each other, but they could both feel the depth of the emotion behind it.
So, they didn't need to parse every word.
Finally, Sirius pulled away, his eyes suspiciously wet. "Walk with me, pup, I've got a gift for you, for all you've done."
Harry fell into step beside him, but nudged his shoulder with his forehead, pointing at the creature. "Sirius, what is that?"
"Something beyond either of our help, I'm afraid. It's part of Voldemort sent here to die." Sirius worried his fingers a bit, before looking at Harry in the eyes.
"I need you to know that I didn't know. I had no idea that you were a horcrux, and even if I did, I would have done everything in my power to save you from this. Albus was wrong. Wrong about a lot of things."
Harry's lips trembled as he fought his tears. "It's not like I had much to live for anyways," he tried to joke, scuffing his trainer on the ground.
"No, Harry, no," Sirius breathed, taking Harry's face into both of his hands. "You had everything to live for, and your parents and I wanted you to have a long and happy life. A good life. One filled with mirth, splendour, and good cheer."
"Even though..." Harry couldn't seem to find enough air in the room, hands shaking. "Even though I killed you?"
"What? Killed me?" Sirius' soft hands still smelt of fresh pipe tobacco, the spice of his cologne clinging to his spectral form. He hugged Harry tightly. "Pronglet, you didn't kill me. Bellatrix did. A bit poetic, in a way."
"But--!"
"But nothing. I chose to come to save you, because I love you, more than anything. I was happy to die if it meant you didn't. I knew the risks, and as an adult, I made that decision. I stand by it."
Harry opened his mouth to interject, but his Godfather gently tapped his lip to prompt a closed mouth. "Don't argue, I see that face you're pulling. It's my job to protect you as your godfather. Now... we have a train to catch, should you like to go somewhere with an old dog?"
Harry couldn't say 'no' to Sirius' disarming smile.
"Where to?"
"Onward, baby prongs, onward!"
Harry was beyond nervous.
He'd never had a good experience attending Muggle schools... and his experience at Hogwarts had been patchy at best. But, Sirius had seemed enthusiastic for him. Tony had pulled whatever strings he'd thought necessary to get Harry into a school with a programme that interested him.
He'd always been good at Maths, and melding technology and magic had kept his focus since Arthur Weasley lamented the inability to do so before his Second Year.
Looking outside the limo, he could see the school coming into view. Midtown School of Science and Technology.
This was his second, no third, no... oh, who was counting? chance at a normal life.
"I'm going to look like a Trustafarian ponce, Padfoot," Harry lamented, seeing the students staring at the car.
"You won't, Harry. Even if you do, James wore that Trust Fund Baby look well!"
Sirius attempted some humour, but it fell a bit flat with his worry. He didn't like Harry leaving each day to school away from his care, not after everything. Not after Azkaban for 12 years, not after not being able to protect Harry from the Dursleys, from the Hogwarts students turning on him as quickly as they turned to him, or from Albus' machinations.
When both adults moved to exit the car with him, Harry gave voice to his anxiety. "Don't tell me that you're both escorting me to class!"
"Nah, kiddo, it's important that they know that you're involved with me, so they don't mess with you," Tony said, cheerfully.
"You, and those fucking barracuda lawyers you have," Sirius snarked.
"Ew. 'Involved with you' is a weird way to put it."
"Well, you won't admit that we're a fa--"
"Anyhow, pup," Sirius intervened, before the two stubborn souls could get started.
"You've just turned 16, you've literally died to ensure that Voldemort is defeated in our last universe, and you're keen on learning science and technology to see how it can combine with magic. If it works, it'll open up our world to so much. It's life changing, inventive stuff, and if you want to work with Tony in the future to help make magitech for wixen use, then knowing the right people helps."
"Let me guess, " Harry muttered.
"A Black Family trait, correct. You're Heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, and now, a Stark. The world is yours, especially with Tony's help. Accept it."
Harry scowled, looking between his Godfather, well, registered in this world as his father.... and his Godfather's husband. His... stepfather.
Who had adopted him.
Tony gave him an assessing look, before saying, "All right, kiddo, you asked for it. Time for the smoulder."
Tony gave him a puppy eyed, pouty look that hit with devastating accuracy on his ruggedly handsome features. It was a crime to use such soulful brown eyes in such a doe-like stare. "Please, Harry, you're my kid. In many ways, you always were. Let me spoil you rotten, to make up for 15 years of not being able to be your Dad."
Harry felt his will crumbling, trying to scoff, but he found that he very quickly caved in. "Okay, fine... stop with the face, and the eyes! Ugh! Okay, just don't go overboard."
Tony immediately straightened up, smiling widely at him in victory. "Wouldn't dream of it, kid. I never go overboard."
A loud snort came from the front seat, and Tony mock glared in Happy's direction.
"Just let us walk you in, and get you all set up. We do have to register as your parents, but you already knew that. I have the adoption papers all set up, your new name documents are secured, and you, my son, are attending school like a normal teenager. No Dark Lords, no prophecies, no Tri Wizard Tournaments. Just regular high school."
Harry's throat burned with the knowledge that he was wanted, by people who wanted to parent him.
He was loved, and he didn't know what to do with this brand new emotion.
He stepped out of the limo, giving Happy a wobbly smile before being gently led into the school. Sirius' cool hand on his arm fortified him, and he walked with all of the grace of a bored Pureblood, unimpressed with those around him.
The crowds seemed to naturally part for Tony, and Harry couldn't help but take note of the different faces staring at him.
Some starstruck at Tony and Sirius, some girls staring at he himself with dollar signs in their eyes, a few seemed more assessing of him, and which of his... parents... he would be like.
Then he caught eyes with another boy, soft amber eyes behind thicker black frames that seemed to grip his very soul. A flash of white teeth, tousled sandy hair, full lips, and a jawline for days. The sound of the boy's laughter made him feel warmth to this very toes. Harry may as well have been hit with Cupid's arrow.
Looking into those eyes felt like coming home.
Whilst Tony and Sirius dealt with his admission with the Headmaster (wait, this was the US, they were called 'Principal', here) Harry leaned against the door.
He didn't really need to wear his specs if he wasn't reading, but by now it was force of habit.
A blonde force of nature interrupted his musings.
"Are you Harry Stark?"
It took Harry a moment to respond, still unused to the name. "I... I am..."
"Gwen Stacy, nice to meet you! Do you mind a photo for the Yearbook, and school paper? Just a boring article about new transfers, nothing for your famous dad's lawyers to worry about!"
Harry blinked at her, then looked at those eyes again, the boy right behind her, holding a camera.
"I... sure..."
Oh smooth, Harry.
"I'm Peter. Parker, um, Peter Parker."
Oh Merlin, he had such a gorgeous voice, and a smile worth taking another Avada straight to the chest.
"Oh!" Gwen looked thrilled by something, rubbing her hands together and smiling as she looked between the two.
"I don't know how to pose well for a picture," Harry murmured, still entranced by the other boy, whose hair seemed to be a bit disobedient as well.
"Nah, you're a natural. Just be yourself."
Just being the subject of Peter's attention making Harry's stomach flutter.
"I feel like myself is just a bit cross."
"Cross?" Gwen asked. "Like, grumpy? You're so British, I love it."
Peter looked embarrassed, and the blush that decorated his cheeks and neck made Harry eager to see it again.
"You can do it, no need to be bright eyed and bushy tailed for this."
Harry bit his lip, then nodded. "If you're sure..."
The click of a camera went off, and yet another awkward photo of the Boy Who Lived, known in this universe as Harry Stark, ended up in a newspaper.
Harry jolted awake, struggling for air, the same as he always was after a nightmare.
How many more times was he going to think he had a family and people who wanted him only for it to be ripped away from him? Who could've known that taking the wrong train could've been so traumatic?
Well, he supposed, it hadn't been the wrong train, just the train with Sirius that had taken him to a completely different universe. He'd been given a choice, the train back to life to killing Voldemort - or going on a trip with Sirius.
He'd chosen the latter, and they'd quickly ended up in a huge mess, using their magic to help save people's lives. What had shocked them was the Aurors who were also in the open and helping Muggle and Wixen alike, with the Muggles knowing what Aurors even were?
Of course the day ended with living in a tech billionaire's building, chatting after defending the earth from bloody aliens.
Aliens.
A world where wixen existed in the open, where gods, aliens, superheroes, and mutants didn't hide.
Well, at least some superheroes didn't. Tony did set quite the example, he was a tough act to follow at the best of times.
And now, what he'd thought was a new start with a future, with people who loved him? As usual, it had blown up in his face.
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
He hated his life. He just wasn't meant for love. Wasn't meant to have a family.
His mobile buzzed, obnoxiously, with a call. Checking the screen, his eyes went skyward. For all that that boy was adorable, he was dog shite at taking a hint.
The phone stopped moving, just to buzz once more with a text.
Peter: Just give me a chance.
Harry felt his eyes burning with that, knowing that nobody had ever fought so hard for him, for his affections.
Not even Romilda Vane, who had tried to drug him into loving her with Amortentia. Certainly not Cho Chang, who had tried to turn Harry into a replacement for Cedric when he'd been trying to help her get back out there after the loss of her boyfriend. Definitely not Ginny Weasley, who'd wanted to be Lady Potter and be with Harry, her childhood crush, and had been brought to tears upon finding out that he wasn't interested in girls.
Harry: I want to, but it's...
He texted back, biting his bottom lip and hitting send. Not to be dramatic, but he felt the situation merited it a bit.
Peter: Complicated? Unique? Difficult?
Peter pinged back, clearly invested enough not to put his phone down.
Peter: Baby, I'm not afraid of a challenge. Otherwise I wouldn't be fighting to save the world with your Dads.
Harry scowled at that.
Harry: Tony and Sirius Stark are not my Dads!
He hit send, and sent another in a flurry of annoyance. He needed to detach from the idea of them being his dads now. That way, it wouldn't hurt as badly when they inevitably left.
Seeing Sirius die again would be devastating.
Harry: I had parents. They're dead, remember? I was a year old, Halloween, murderous supervillain wizard, scar on my weird face? I could've sworn I told you all about this. We were having a nip at Gwen's party?
Peter: Suuuuuure they're not. And I love your face.
Damn Peter Parker to hell.
Harry: They aren't!
Peter: Oh, no, I believe you.
Peter: That's why you don't smart off like Tony, and that's why you and Sirius don't have those same judgemental eyebrows and nice cheekbones.
Harry: Piss off.
Peter: No, I'm being serious. I'm even wearing my 'I believe you' face. Want to see it?
Harry: No.
Peter: It's really cute, Harry.
Harry: I'm sure it isn't.
Peter: I love it when you play hard to get, Bright Eyes.
Harry cursed as he looked at his phone, wanting to throw it across the room. With his luck, it'd bounce back and whing him in the face.
Bzzzzzzzt.
He looked at the screen and nearly cried. Why was the other boy so damned cute? Why wasn't he seeing the writing on the wall? They needed to break up, it was for Peter's own good.
So he could have a life.
Peter: *img.jpg*
Harry: Really? Taking screenshots from that "First Date" video that Pepper took?
Peter: Well, taking photos is what I do 😁
Harry: I much prefer this one.
*img.jpg*
Peter: Ouch, baby.
Harry: I am not your baby!
Peter: Okay then. Do you want to see one of my favourite photos of you, Bright Eyes?
Harry: No, go away. Take a hint.
Peter: *img.jpg*
Harry: Are you serious?! I look ridiculous in that! It was my first day at school, I was wearing my reading specs, because as it turns out, a Vision Improvement Potion can't fix all that a spider bite can. I hadn't even been taking my Nutrition potion enough to look like a non-malnourished human, like I do now!
Peter: Nope. I'm Peter.
Peter: You look cute in your reading specs, btw.
Harry: Oh god, Sirius has got you doing that name pun too! And you shouldn't take embarrassing pics of me, that's rude.
Peter: I need my future father in law to like me.
Harry: We are not getting married! No!
Peter: Maybe I should check and see if the spider had any radioactive siblings that want to nibble a wizard.
Harry: I'm convinced it was my fault you even got bitten. Potter luck and all.
Harry: No thanks, one spider wanting to bite me is enough. Cheers, though.
Peter: *img.jpg*
Peter: This better, my adorably grumpy boyfriend (whom I'm absolutely going to marry)? This was just last week, and you haven't taken potions since we found out what you being the Master of Death even means.
Harry: I'm not your boyfriend! We're not getting married. Look at this boy I'm not going to marry. At all. On a roof of all places. *img.jpg*
Peter: I can't wait to marry you, but I'm glad that you're my boyfriend. That we're boyfriends.
Harry: .......
Peter: Boyfriend 💐*img.jpg*
Harry: How many pictures of me do you have, anyhow, not boyfriend🚫?
Peter: Couple hundred, literal boyfriend 😉
Harry: Stalker.
Peter: Avid photographer.
Harry: Creep😒
Peter: ❤️
Harry:
Peter: 🥰
Harry: Things haven't changed, you know.
Peter: Not for me, either.
Harry started to type 'what?' when the next message came in.
Peter: Knock knock.
Before Harry could fully react, a fingernail tapped at his window. He sighed in irritation, then marched over to his window, seeing Spiderman standing on his balcony.
Against his better judgement, he opened the door, arms crossed over his chest.
"It's still stalking even when your alternate ego comes by," Harry protested. "This is a penthouse apartment. This is total abuse of your Spider Powers."
He could almost feel the smile through the spidey mask, and he didn't know why he let him in, but he did.
Peter removed his mask, and looked all adorable, rumpled, and dimpled, and no no absolutely not.
"I meant what I said. You can't be with me."
"I meant what I said. I want to be with you."
Harry's eyes darkened with determination. "Well, you shouldn't. I'm not - I'm not normal. Not like I was when we met. You can't have a normal relationship with me."
"I don't want normal, Harry," Peter said softly, reaching up with a gentle hand to caress his face, the way he had so many times. "You weren't normal when we met, you were a wizard stepson of a tech billionaire, from another universe, who helped save the world from aliens. There was no time during our relationship when you were normal."
Harry ducked the movement, missing the brief look of hurt that glanced in Peter's embered irises.
"But--!"
"I was bitten by a radioactive spider, and now I help save the world too. I'm a mutant superhero, I'm not normal. I don't want normal, baby."
"But you will, that's the thing! One day, you'll be in your twenties. Think about it!"
"Harry--"
"No! No, shush!" Harry covered Peter's mouth with his hand. "Listen to me, truly listen. One day you'll be in your twenties, absolutely gorgeous like you are now, but older. Devastatingly handsome."
Harry ignored the grin he felt against his palm and swallowed a bit painfully, trying to force more out. He had to say it.
Had to.
"You've finished uni, top of your class. You've a job as a journalist, and people love seeing your photos. You have gallery shows, you've made a name for yourself. I see that for you."
He glanced at Peter, wincing as he saw the blush on the face he adored so much. He had to continue, he had to make him see reason.
"Then you come to your boyfriend's party, as it's my birthday. There are sixteen candles on my cake, even ten years after today, cos I'm still sixteen. I'm sixteen this year, just like last year, and next year, and forever."
He tried to give a hardened glare at his love -- no no, to Peter, er... Mr. Parker, to hammer the point home.
"You'll -- ACK, PETER!!!"
Harry jerked his hand away after Peter licked his palm, watching him look far too pleased with himself.
"Awww, didn't like my surprise?" He asked with a shite eating grin that made Harry want to give him a smack.
"It was disgusting, Peter."
"You didn't think that when we were, as you called it, full frontal snogging."
"I, we, you're entirely off topic!"
"I love you. That's the topic."
Before Harry could answer, the lights of the room flickered, in one second the chair in the corner was empty, in the next, an all too familiar form sat there as though it was his own bedroom being invaded, rather than the other way around.
Harry stared at Death in absolute shock.
It was midnight, on his birthday, and just as his dads stepped in to wish him a Happy Birthday and give him a cake, as per his tradition, and they walked in on Harry having a disagreement with his totally not boyfriend boyfriend, and Death.
Chaos immediately unfolded, with Sirius shouting in fear for his son, Tony making threats as if he could kill Death, Peter valiantly standing in front of a bemused Harry, and Harry's phone buzzing and chiming with birthday wishes.
"Enough," Death spoke, and they all felt the vibration in their chests, the energy clutching at their kind to freeze their mouths for a second. All went silent at this pull on their very souls, save for Harry.
He was the only one that Harry need never fear.
Once satisfied with the silence, Death caught Harry's once emerald, now darkened, hues.
"I have a gift for you, Master, on this anniversary of your birth."
"I think you've done enough," Tony muttered, before being shushed by a worried Sirius. "An immortal 16 year old who will never age and watch everyone he loves grow old and die without him is a fucking whopper, you know."
Playboy extraordinaire turned ultra devoted husband and father, his own father would've died of shock if he wasn't dead already. He reached out and touched Harry's shoulder in support.
"I promise, you'll like this one."
The stares that Death received for that should've been expected. It ran the gauntlet from bemusement to befuddlement to horror. What was not expected was for a skull to give an impression of a raised eyebrow without having eyebrows. In fact, his stare could even be felt despite the lack of eyes, as well.
It was... unsettling.
"Let's get this over with," Harry sighed. "What's the new mission? New Dark Lord prophecy? Evil rat shifter going to kill this set of parents as well? Need a basilisk hunted?"
"Nothing quite so severe, Master. Just an offer to your family and your paramour."
Death stared at them all down, before conjuring something out of thin air. With a wave of his hand, a shining metal object appeared out of black smoke, shadows circling the item in an infinity-esque symbol pattern. Death lifted it closer to them, revealing a dagger around the size of an envelope opener. It was not long at all, and had a golden hilt with a large diamond at the very end of it. There were small Runes that seemed to dance in the air along the metal, the energy in the object was almost choking even from clear across the room.
"We can, this year, gift you three, Master."
Harry's head jerked, having been so enraptured with the sight of the pub, he was a bit off kilter, for a moment. "Um... three?"
Death let out a soft sound of understanding, demurring to the Master of Death.
"Three to walk your path with you. Three people who will never age beyond their age now, physically or mentally. Who will walk with you, until they and you choose for them to enter the next world, of which you have dominion. But there is a catch."
Death waited for a beat, allowing his words to truly sink in, before continuing.
"When the time comes, you must reap them yourself. You must take them to the end."
Tears built in Harry's eyes, just the opportunity to keep those he loved with him, but, he couldn't ask that if them. They deserved... they deserve...
.... more.
"I can't..." Harry choked out, tears in his voice and a burn in his throat. "I can't ask that of any of you."
"You're not asking," Sirius reassured, standing on front of him as suddenly as apparition, touching his cheek and wiping his tears. "I'm your father, I'm never going to leave you again, pup. Never. Blood adopting you was the best thing I've ever done, and I can now guarantee that I'll take care of you forever, just like I promised James and Lily that I would."
Harry let out a wet sob, taking the dagger from Death's hands. He somehow knew what to do immediately, taking Sirius' arm and turning his forearm, using the dagger to carve Algiz ᛉ, which immediately sent darkness travelling up his arm to his heart.
Sirius' eyes took on the same slight gold in his irises that Harry had, a sign that he was now eternal, just like his son.
Harry could feel him now, sense him in this room, and knew that he'd always be able to feel him, feel that he was about in the world, sharing this gift. From the look on Sirius' face, he knew that the other man felt the same. They looked into each other's eyes, and the sense of each other's presence felt overwhelming, the essence of Sirius growing in Harry's heart.
Tony stepped up next, smiling softly at Harry and presenting his forearm.
"Are... are you sure?" Harry whispered, too filled with emotion to properly speak.
"What will it take for you to understand that I love you more than anything, more than my own life? I knew I was done for the second I saw you both, it just took a bit of time for my brain to catch up with my heart." Tony said, firmly. "You're my kid. My. Kid. There's not a chance in hell that I'm allowing my eternally sixteen year old son out and about without both of his parents to help. I'm not about to make Sirius a single father, either."
Harry's lips wobbled, vision blurring as he heard Tony's voice. He chose to do something radical and believe him, for once. Breathing out burned as he tried to carry on, hot tears leaving tracks down his face.
He carved the symbol on his stepfather... no, his father's forearm, surprised at the legibility despite the trembling.
Seeing the gold flickers appear in Tony's eyes, feeling him somewhere deep inside with every breath, it gave a sudden security to him. It assuaged pain that he had never fully named before, and that hole in his heart filled a bit more.
When Peter tried to step forward, Harry whimpered. "No, I can't do that to you..."
"Baby," Peter whispered, taking one of Harry's hands and kissing his palm. "Love of my life. I want you to imagine it. Ten years from now, we've finished uni, I have gallery shows of my photographs and you're presenting you and your Dad's latest magitech invention. That night, we celebrate your sixteenth birthday, and then eleven days later, we celebrate my sixteenth birthday."
He pulled Harry forward, kissing his forehead, then the tears from his eyes.
"Just because we'll never grow older doesn't mean that we can't have a wonderful life, it'll just look different from everybody else's. That's okay. We'll be together, and that's all that matters."
"Your brain will never finish developing, Peter. You'll be an emotional teenager for literal ever."
"So will you, baby."
"We, as the adults, will take care of that. You both worry about being kids," Tony said in his most fatherly voice to date, making both boys laugh a bit wetly.
"You'll never be rid of me, Peter. Even if you-- if we break up, you'll be able to feel me forever. You'll never be able to fully move on. I can feel my dads right now, in the back of my mind, in my heart, their presence. I feel it."
"He said 'dads', did you hear him?" Sirius stage whispered to Tony.
"I did, he's a big kid now, finally admitting we're a family. I'm so proud," Tony stage whispered back, making Harry groan in a put upon way. He threw a quick, squinty eyed glare over his shoulder before turning back to Peter.
"Harry, you already own me, heart, mind, body, and soul. Let me do this, because I know that we're forever. I'll never leave. You're my person."
Harry took a few minutes to let those words take around his mind, before deciding, again, that this ridiculously Gryffindor mutant boyfriend of his meant what he said.
"Okay," Harry said with a watery smile. "This might hurt..."
Algiz ᛉ was carved into Peter's forearm with delicate care, Harry at first struggling to hurt the other boy's tender skin.
Peter breathed out, and suddenly Harry could feel him, more strongly than he could feel his dads. They looked into each other's eyes, and the gold flecks in Peter's eyes made them turn an even brighter shade of amber, reflecting like a tigerseye stone in the light.
Peter knew now that the dark brown of Harry's eyes came from a mixture of blood adoption and being the Master of Death. The gold in Harry's eyes reminded Peter of embers above a bonfire, and he felt like he was coming home as he took Harry's lips in a kiss.
The ability to feel him so deeply whilst kissing him took Harry's breath away. He felt more secure than he ever had in his life, dropping the dagger, mentally vanishing it from the air.
Death disappeared as well, having work to do.
Just as Peter tilted his head to deepen the kiss, Tony interjected with, "Hey, hey, whoa, pause, keep it PG or I'm getting the hose. Jarvis, memo to me, figure out a drone to spray water on horny teenagers. Harry, just because you can't kill me via heart attack doesn't mean I'm interested in one."
"Why don't we have some cake, and we'll talk about the rules about snogging in front of us later," Sirius laughed, winking at Harry to show that he was on his side.
The two boys broke apart with a laugh, and Harry looked Peter in the eyes.
"You ready, boyfriend?"
The smile Peter gave him could've lit New York City for the next year.
"Ready."