Work Text:
“Harry, I believe Sir needs help.”
“Jarvis?” Harry glanced up from his reading, looking down at his StarkPhone.
“Sir’s heart rate is extremely high and he is not moving. He’s sweating as well.”
“Show me,” Harry ordered, putting down his book and picking up his phone, the smallest curl of unease echoing through his body. If Tony was…
His phone unlocked seemingly by itself and the screen flipped. Harry flipped the phone as well, letting the screen go horizontal, and inhaled sharply at the video that popped up. He knew the Avengers were somewhere in Europe going after the last remnants of HYDRA, more particularly Loki’s staff. Tony had said as much right before they had left the night before.
“The suit is not with Sir at the moment,” Jarvis added, lowering his voice a little. “It is on guard duty in the upper hall. Sir is in the secret tunnel.”
Harry’s lips twitched in amusement. “Alright. You have footage of where Tony was a few moments ago then, I presume?”
The video flipped before it showed what Tony had seen, showing the giant skeleton of the Chitauri creature or ship. Harry had seen a little of what the aliens looked like in New York but that had been before he and Tony had gotten together. The Chitauri ship or creature was dead though so there was no action there. It might have been the thing setting Tony off but the curl of unease in Harry’s gut said otherwise. The HUD on screen didn’t show anything alarming, just the interior of a base that was probably HYDRA.
There were three heat signatures in the room and one was obviously Tony. The other two were smaller and warmer than Tony’s signature was. Harry narrowed his eyes at the sight, at the video that Jarvis was showing.
“Do you know who they are? HYDRA agents?” Harry asked, standing up from his desk in his office. His magic sparked and warmed, the elder wand slipping itself into his palm without warning.
“Enhanced. Sir is not fighting anything. His heart rate is still going through the roof and he is not responding to my voice,” Jarvis replied, a thin hint of concern running underneath his voice. “They’re not in HYDRA’s uniform but they are in HYDRA’s employ. Hold on.”
Harry nodded even as he conjured his dragonhide armor, let it curl around him. He reached down to his desk and pulled out the spare comm he’d received a week ago, fitting it to his ear. He kept it to their own private channel, not wanting the team to be aware of him for the moment. “Please tell me you’re hacking HYDRA.”
“I have already. The two young people are.” Jarvis paused and the phone seemed to shiver in his fingers. The screen rippled and the lighting around the edges of it flickered, mirroring Harry’s own magic whenever he was upset. “The woman is Wanda Maximoff and has powers that include mental manipulation. Her brother, Pietro Maximoff, is fast and has already had run-ins with Hawkeye and Captain America. I’m sending the suit to assist you.”
Harry jolted and apparated, following the tracking beacon he’d laid on Tony’s armor. Landed in the dark lair that Tony had infiltrated and heard the metallic steps of the suit. The red and gold armor walked over to him and passed him by, headed directly to the tunnel that Tony had taken. Harry followed it, letting the glow of the repulsor guns and chest piece light the way. He sped up when the suit did, keeping his steps quiet enough in the hopes of not spooking the HYDRA agents into fleeing.
The suit turned right at the end of the hallway and Harry squeezed ahead, stopping for a moment to take in the sight of the Chitauri ship. His mouth opened and then closed, his heart thudding against his ribs and moved on, spotting Tony standing shock still right before Loki’s spear.
Harry flinched at the sight of the spear, at the immediate draw of that strange stone within, before refocusing on Tony. Tony, who hadn’t reacted at all to Harry’s appearance. There was a young woman standing right behind Tony, her hands hovering behind Tony’s head that were dripping with a kind of red energy that Harry had never felt before. She wore warmer clothes, clothes that were darker in color, mainly featuring the color red.
Tony’s hair was sweaty and mussed, his skin very pale. Almost alarmingly so. Harry could see sweat drip down Tony’s neck from this angle. If he’d been a werewolf with a strong sense of smell, he’d probably be smelling fear as well. He knew what Tony looked like when he was in the midst of a nightmare and this was it. That coil of unease in his stomach roiled and made his heart race. Sweat dripped down his back and his forehead even though it was cold outside the HYDRA fortress.
The suit next to him glowed even brighter than it had before, raising its arms and thus repulsor guns right at the woman’s level.
Harry dipped his head in a nod, lowering his hands to signal Jarvis, knowing that Jarvis would understand him, and turned to look at the young man over to their left.
Jarvis immediately fired off a warning shot at the woman and Harry cleared his throat. The woman was thrown backwards, off to the right, shouting in surprise as she collided with some rubble. The young man jolted, his bright blue eyes widening so fast Harry thought they would fly out of his skull.
“Wanda! We have company!”
Harry smirked and flicked his hand, the elder wand humming gleefully in his pocket. “Incarcerous.”
Ropes appeared as if from nowhere and wrapped around the young man, very quickly tying him up like an American Thanksgiving turkey. Pietro yelped loudly as he fell to the stone floor and then Harry stepped up to Pietro's sister, doing the same with her.
Wanda’s eyes widened even as red power surrounded her, leaking from her fingers. Ropes bound her up as quickly as they had her brother, yanking her arms behind her back. She fell onto her back with a loud thud, dust kicking up around them as she squirmed. Wanda glared at him and her eyes turned red, darkening as she struggled against the binding that held her. Her red power seemed to encase her, flitting between the ropes and her body, trying and failing to cut through Harry’s ropes.
His own magic was imbued throughout the ropes, a kind of warding rope that would keep her powers contained.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t,” Harry offered, walking over to kneel before her for a moment. She met his eyes and glared venom at him, spitting at him.
She hissed at him. “Stark won’t get away with this!”
“Those ropes are binding your powers,” Harry said, shrugging. “You can try to get out of them. You won’t succeed though. Jarvis, guard these two while I make sure Tony’s okay. Not that it’s really needed but better safe than sorry.”
The Iron Man suit walked over to his side as Harry stood up, his heart beating a mile a minute.
Wanda continued to glare at him as he walked away.
“J, can you find any evidence that these two were brainwashed into joining HYDRA? Like the Winter Soldier?”
“No, Harry, I cannot,” Jarvis replied.
Harry walked right over to Tony’s side and spared a glance behind him, to where Wanda was still struggling against the ropes. Pietro had gone silent but he was watching him warily.
“We joined HYDRA to get revenge on Stark!” Pietro demanded, glaring at him like his sister.
Harry ran a hand through his hair and scowled. “You do know HYDRA are Nazis, right? And as far as I’m aware Nazis are still and will always be bad.”
A quiet whimper left Tony’s throat, making Harry flinch. He padded over to cup Tony’s face and met the man’s eyes, trailing one hand down to curl around Tony’s left wrist. The pulse at Tony’s neck and wrist was fluttering fast and Harry could feel himself paling.
“Hey, darling. You’re safe, Tony,” Harry offered, keeping his voice low. “Whatever you’re seeing is a hallucination. It’s not real.”
Tony whined, his breathing gone shallow, goosebumps spilling down his arms, and his eyes fluttered behind his eyelids. Harry squeezed Tony’s wrist, smoothing his fingers over the familiar undersuit.
“I’m here and the world is safe,” Harry continued, leaning over to press a kiss to Tony’s forehead. “You’re safe.”
Tony let out a choked sound and finally opened his eyes. His skin had gone pale and his eyes went wide almost immediately, his mouth opening and then closing. He turned to frantically search the room, his gaze landing on the Chitauri ship briefly and stopping at the twins.
“Easy,” Harry whispered, gathering Tony’s hands in his and squeezing them a little. “You’re safe, Tony. The team’s safe.”
“I saw…” Tony broke off with a cough, flexing his fingers in Harry’s hands. He moved his right hand to curl around his left wrist, pressing his thumb into Tony’s pulse. “She…”
“She has some kind of power,” Harry said, nodding in agreement, seeing the fear in Tony’s eyes and hating it. “When I arrived in this world, I never would have thought it would have something like this. But she’s the only one I’ve noticed with it.”
Tony let out a deep breath, letting it out in a loud sigh and took a step towards Harry. “We finally have the staff. J, how’s the rest of the team?”
“They are fine, sir. I am glad to know you are as well.”
“He sent for you?” Tony asked, color coming back to his face now, his breaths slowing down.
“Yeah. He didn’t know what was going on,” Harry said, shrugging and raising an eyebrow at the twins. Wanda was still trying to get rid of the ropes around her, her eyes flashing with red and making Tony flinch every single time. “I will knock you unconscious if you keep trying to escape.”
Wanda glared at them both, snarling something in their native language.
“It’s like I have two boyfriends,” Tony muttered, his lips twitching up. “J, alert Maria we have guests for an extended stay.”
Harry snorted.
“Sir, it might take two people to handle you,” Jarvis remarked, not an ounce of regret in his voice.
Tony went bright red at the words, spluttering a little bit. “How could you, Jarvis?! The very nerve. The… audacity.”
The roar of more repulsor tech echoed from behind them and then one of the Iron Legion robots flew in. Tony nodded at it and walked over to look the spear over, glancing at the Chitauri creature idly. “HYDRA really did a number on SHIELD.”
Harry spared a glance at the Iron Legion suit as it picked up Wanda. “Don’t take the ropes off. They’re keeping her contained.”
The suit saluted him and then flew off, presumably piloted by Jarvis. He eyed Pietro, who stared back at him, and walked over to the spear, staring right at the stone inside the tip of it. “There’s something…”
Harry held his hands up and wrapped a ward around the spear, wrapping it up in his magic. The stone within the spear was powerful and the energy itself was eerie, whispering in his hind brain even through his own ward. Harry blinked one moment and felt himself start to fall into the stone, its power reaching out to him to entice. He shivered and wrapped his own power about himself, pulling himself out of the stone’s power by sheer force of will.
“You know what it is?” Tony asked, exchanging a look with him, reaching out to grasp Harry’s shoulder.
“No. If this was my world, I might know. But it’s not. When you guys had it during the battle of New York, did you feel anything from it?”
Tony blinked and let out a noise of consideration. “It was influencing us into getting into arguments, if that was what you mean. Loki used it to take control of SHIELD agents, including Barton. Mind magic, I guess. Not your kind of magic though.”
Another Iron Legion suit came to pick up Pietro and flew off with him.
“Let’s see what Thor knows,” Harry finally said, handing the spear over to Tony as his boyfriend walked back over to the Iron Man suit and stepped into it. The armor closed in around him again, shielding him from everything around him. “If it can take control of people’s minds… I don’t want it in SHIELD hands, much less HYDRA.”
Tony took the spear from him and glanced down at something else in his hands. “HYDRA also had something, some tech that I want to take a look at. You coming back to the quinjet?”
“Yes. Your mind got controlled for a minute there,” Harry said, walking over to Tony’s side and then falling into step with him as they left the HYDRA lab. “I want to make sure… there’s nothing else there, that Wanda didn’t put anything in there. I don’t know how her powers work so best to be safe.”
The suit jerked to a clunky stop before starting to walk again, walking a few steps in front of Harry.
“I’m sorry,” Harry whispered, reaching out to curl a hand around the armor’s left hand as they walked out of the lab and out of the fortress.
“It wasn’t your fault.” Tony’s voice echoed through the suit, a little strangled, low and rough.
“It wasn’t your fault either,” Harry remarked, narrowing his eyes as he saw the rest of the team headed towards the quinjet.
“The twins have something against me.”
“I’ll ask them about it,” Harry confirmed, shrugging and going over to the railing opposite them. “Chances are that whatever they have against you…wasn’t your fault.”
Tony stayed silent at that and then opened up the suit’s arms, letting Harry have the spear.
“Tony.”
Harry sighed and stepped into the robotic embrace, goosebumps rippling up his arms as Tony flew them up and off to the quinjet.
He glanced at the spear in his hand, eying it with a healthy amount of suspicion. They flew over the forest that had surrounded the fortress, dodging a few very tall trees. Harry could see bodies of HYDRA agents littering the ground below, looking like very dead ants from this high up.
The only reason he wasn’t flying on his broomstick right next to his boyfriend was that he still hadn’t told the Avengers that he was ‘a powerhouse on legs’. Tony had called him that the first time he had seen him use any kind of magic, his brown eyes wide and lit up with excitement. SHIELD didn’t even know yet. Only Tony, Pepper and Rhodey knew, courtesy of Harry dating Tony.
“I haven’t sent any weapons to Sokovia lately.”
The words were very quiet, full of regret, and pained. Harry flinched and opened his mouth to reply when they started to land, falling slowly to the forest floor beneath them. The quinjet was just up ahead and Harry could see Natasha Romanoff, Bruce Banner, and Steve Rogers all headed towards them.
The quinjet’s bay door was open already, letting Harry see that Thor was already in the jet. Harry huffed as Tony released him, his lips twitching up into a half hearted grin.
“How’s Clint doing?” Tony called out, lowering his face mask and taking off his helmet. “Birdbrain going to survive?”
“Oh, fuck off, Stark,” Clint yelled back teasingly, a thin line of pain in his voice, lying down on the med table in the back of the specialized jet. Harry had overseen the making of this one, different from the other quinjets, bigger. This one was bigger, holding extra spaces for the Avengers.
Tony snorted and walked over to check on Clint. “He’ll be fine.”
He watched as his boyfriend walked up into the quinjet, along with Rogers and Banner. Romanoff gave him a look though, her eyes narrowed.
“I’m with him,” Harry said, jerking a thumb at Tony.
Rogers glanced back at him, looking between him and Romanoff curiously. “Nat, what’s wrong?”
Harry glanced over at Tony, who had already gone to sit down in the pilot’s chair, the armor off to the side. His back was to them, a few drops of dried sweat dripping down his neck.
“Nothing. Let’s go.”
Banner went to go sit down against the back of the jet and slipped on a pair of headphones. Romanoff walked over to chat quietly with Clint, slipping her fingers through his.
Harry turned to look at Thor, who was staring at him intently.
“You have the spear,” Thor remarked, his gaze caught on the spear in Harry’s hands.
“Yes. If it’s alright with you, I’d like to take a look at it,” Harry said, shrugging a little. “A proper look at it.”
Thor’s eyes narrowed at the sight of him, lightning sparking from Mjolnir at his belt. Maybe Thor guessed who or what he was, maybe he didn’t. Harry didn’t particularly care. Harry dipped his head in a nod at the god before continuing over to stand next to Tony at the pilot’s chair, smiling faintly at the sticker on the dashboard.
Jarvis is my co-pilot.
Harry peered over at Tony, eying the slight shaking in the man’s hands. The way that his breaths were shallow and uneven still. Tony’s skin was still pale and he still wasn’t looking Harry in the eyes.
Harry’s own breath caught and he flinched before slowly raising his hand, moving cautiously enough. Harry slipped his hand around the nape of Tony’s neck and let his thumb smooth circles into Tony’s skin, squeezing lightly once, twice.
“I got you. It’s alright.”
Tony shuddered in his hold and exhaled loudly, almost slumping into Harry’s side before catching himself. They had an audience, one that Tony preferred to keep in the dark about the exact nature of their relationship. But Harry could see the way that Tony relaxed under his fingers, the way that Tony’s shoulders loosened and his breathing smoothed out.
He remembered the first time that he had met Tony at a club, enjoying watching as other people mingled and fucked around. Harry had just arrived in this world, after idly just picking a destination in the veil and sticking to it. He’d settled in NYC, a block or two away from Stark Tower, and found the club that had drawn his attention later.
It had been exclusive and with NDA’s on the entry list…
He’d seen Stark kneeling at someone’s feet, a random woman who was pretty enough. He remembered watching as the woman started to wrap a blindfold around Stark’s eyes and hearing the yell that came from Tony had echoed in the club. Loud and painful and frantic. It had made every single hair on the back of Harry’s neck stand up.
Harry had been the one to pull Stark out of it, coax him out of the panic that had coiled through him at being blindfolded. Out of the adrenaline rush and drop of being jerked out of subspace that quickly.
After a few bites of chocolate, Tony had mostly calmed down, his eyes still wide, his breathing still uneven. Harry had made sure that the woman who had been the man’s Dom was getting questioned by the club’s owner and then had stayed with Stark ever since.
“Anthony, you look like shit.”
“Merlin, I’m fine. I’m not dead on my feet,” Tony complained, walking up onto his own personal floor after a few days in his lab. He’d been working with Bruce on the spear, trying to find a way to create artificial intelligence and mostly failing. There was a small hint of red around his vision, his eyes entirely dry and squinty. Sweat dripped down his back and neck, down his forehead and into his eyes.
Tony glanced up and around the floor, eying the hall that led to his and Harry’s bedroom.
Harry stood in the center of the living room, his hands tucked into his pockets. Tony nodded over to him, wiping his hands on his pants and walked over to him, bumping into him easily. Harry smelled like sweat and blood, a bitter scent that filled his nose and made Tony’s breath hitch.
The man stiffened underneath him and gasped softly, making Tony pull back a little. “What?”
Tony stared right at his boyfriend and blinked once, twice before realizing that Harry had several days of scruff on his face as well as a bloody nose. The man wore clothes that he didn’t recognize, clothes that were torn and bloody themselves. His hair was loose and messy, shiny with sweat and if Tony squinted, with blood and dirt. There were bags underneath his bloodshot eyes, bags that looked like they had unpacked days ago.
The man rocked on his feet, swaying a little, shadows curling around the man’s fingers. Unease curled its way through Tony’s stomach as the man’s eyes darkened in a way that was familiar. Not from arousal or lust but from having Death a little too close to the front. He’d seen Harry like that exactly once and it hadn’t been pretty.
Tony let out a strangled noise and backed up even more, studying the man before him. “You…”
The man looked like Harry Potter, had the same green eyes and scar as his boyfriend did but he wasn’t…
“Tony, it’s me,” the man started, his voice rough, a little hoarse, raising his hands up in the universal gesture of innocence.
“You’re not…J, get Harry up here.”
“Right away, sir.”
The man’s green eyes softened at Tony’s words, more than a little hint of wistfulness flickering in the man’s gaze.
Tony’s heart skipped a beat at the sight, hearing his Harry apparate and land beside him.
“Hey, love,” Harry murmured, curling his fingers into Tony’s side. “What’s….”
Tony heard the moment that Harry saw the man across the room from them, heard the moment that Harry’s breath caught.
The elder wand slipped its way into Harry’s fingers, letting Tony see the way it sparked.
“What the fuck?” Tony questioned, watching as the man across from them smiled a little in a way that made Tony’s heart hurt. It wasn’t a nice smile. It was more of a jagged one, a broken one. Goosebumps rolled up Tony’s arms and the hair on the back of his neck stood up.
The Harry next to him froze, tightening his fingers through Tony’s before stepping forward.
“How far in the future are you from?” Harry asked, a little hint of gentleness in his voice though it was laced with a kind of steel. Tony glanced at his boyfriend, seeing the way he had hardened, the way his shoulders had tensed. The cloak slipped itself around Harry’s shoulders.
“Seven years.”
Tony cleared his throat, grabbing both men’s attention. “You’re saying… that’s you from the future?”
His Harry nodded. “Before you ask, he’s not a clone or anything like that.”
“Not someone glamored to look like you?”
“No. It’s me,” Harry offered quietly, making a short, clipped hand gesture. “I’m the only Master of Death. It’s in the fine print.”
Tony nodded, swallowing roughly, and turned his gaze to the man from the future. He shuffled over to his Harry’s side and looked into those almost half feral green eyes across the room. “We lost.”
The future Harry arched an eyebrow before dipping his head in a nod. “The Avengers lost. Half the world died and it quickly devolved into chaos.”
Tony let out a strangled sound, feeling all the blood in his face drain. That curl of unease in his gut grew and blossomed, his breath catching. The future Harry’s eyes flickered with black and the sound of wings filled the floor, though there was nothing visible. Ice snaked its way up the windows off to the sides and Tony glanced down as he breathed, seeing his breath become visible in the cool air. Phantom feathers brushed up against his side, making him shiver.
“You lost your Tony, didn’t you?” His Harry asked, tilting his head in thought.
The future Harry let out a low noise, lost, almost like a snarl. “Yes. He died a year after the event. Some stupid civilian decided that… Thanos …had been right. That they would be a better consort to Death than you.”
“Thanos.” Tony closed his eyes, deciding to ignore the way ‘consort’ sounded. The way it made soft warmth slice its way through the unease in his gut.
“Big bogeyman in the galaxy,” future Harry offered, his fingers clenching and unclenching at his sides. He met Tony’s gaze for a moment, his gaze a little watery, a lot shaken. “I watched you die and I couldn’t... ”
Tony shuddered even as the lights on the floor flickered. He glanced down at the tablet in his other hand and let it drop to the floor, his blood thundering in his ears, racing through his body. He took a step and another, crossing the distance between the two men. Between his Harry and the one who looked so like Death, it hurt him.
Future Harry sucked in a breath as Tony walked up to him, his fingers reaching out to touch before being very quickly dropped to his sides. Tony closed the remaining gap between them, ending up close enough to feel the cool air that radiated from future Harry.
The one time Tony had seen Harry like this, the man had been cold to the touch. Cold and slightly skeletal, as if he was so close to the edge that he couldn’t entirely control the change. He could feel Harry’s breath, see the freckles that lay on Harry’s face. He was close enough to trace the scar on the man’s forehead.
“Harry…” Tony trailed off, his voice choked, his fingers shaking too at the thought of his boyfriend having to…to.
The man in front of him was just like how his Harry had been before they had met, denying himself what he wanted. Tony met those almost black eyes, his heart hammering in his chest, and dropped like the strings holding him up had been cut. Kneeling in front of his Dom, whether he was from the future or not.
“ Oh, Tony .” Future Harry let out a choked noise and immediately conjured a pillow for his knees.
Tony gasped, hearing his Harry groan behind him, his knees settling on the familiar pillow.
“Tony…can I?”
Tony nodded emphatically, swallowing audibly and leaned into the man in front of him. Future Harry shivered and slid his fingers through Tony’s hair, making him groan. He leaned his forehead against future Harry’s stomach, feeling the man shake against him and sighed.
“Oh, sweetheart,” future Harry whispered, running his nails over Tony’s scalp in the precise way he liked, down to cup his neck. “I love you so much.”
Tony groaned and arched into the man’s fingers, his heart slowing down, his breath evening out. He heard his Harry’s footsteps come up behind him and another hand stroked down his back, tracing small, easy circles into his skin. The lights stopped flickering around them and he moaned as one of Harry’s hands squeezed his neck gently.
“You’re so good for us,” Harry murmured, from above him.
Tony wasn’t entirely certain who had spoken but his eyes had closed, heat gathering in his gut at the praise. His next words came out half slurred, a bit of a croak. “Wanted to be.”
“I know.”
Harry had slowly stopped shaking, the ice breaking around them, crackling and vanishing.
One of the Harry’s cleared his throat, very much sounding like he was about to start talking business, but didn't stop petting him.
“What can we do?”
“The Avengers split up a few months from now,” the future Harry remarked, his voice steady enough, calm enough.
“The team split?” Tony choked out, reaching out to grab future Harry’s thigh. “But the team… Rogers promised…”
“Easy, love,” his Harry spoke, his hand curling over one of Tony’s. “Why did the team split up?”
Future Harry hesitated clearly enough that Tony didn’t even have to see his face.
“The breakup was ostensibly over Barnes,” Harry explained quietly, reaching down to tip Tony’s chin up to look him in the eyes. “But I believe it was more clearly over the bigger picture, meaning politics.”
Tony shivered at the look in Harry’s eyes.
“You’re trying to create a shield around the world,” future Harry continued, stroking his thumb over Tony’s cheek, looking at him like he was something precious. “An AI to protect the world.”
“Bouncer. We need a bouncer,” Tony whispered.
Future Harry smiled faintly, the love in his eyes shining so clearly. “I remember you calling it that. You need to add magic to it. Having it just be tech didn’t work.”
“Then I… I failed,” Tony said, flinching at the thought. His vision from Wanda came back to him, of seeing his whole team--
Fingers curled around his neck again and squeezed, making him let out a noise. His thoughts came to a halt, as his cock twitched at the sensation.
“No. You did not fail,” future Harry offered, tilting his head thoughtfully. “You just didn’t have all of the ingredients. You…I…need to let Jarvis know too.”
Tony blinked as he heard the Harry behind him hum under his breath.
“Jarvis.” His Harry said it slowly, sounding it out like he was thinking through things, like things were being put together in his mind.
“Give Barnes sanctuary if he needs it,” future Harry added before shaking his head. “I doubt he’ll take you up on the offer but tell him anyway. You’ll find him in Romania right about now, Bucharest to be more specific.”
“What about the spear? The stone inside it?” Tony asked, peering up into those haunted green eyes. “We’ve been wondering about it.”
Future Harry let out a quiet noise before nodding. “It’s an Infinity Stone, one of six. If Thanos gets all six…”
Future Harry paled, closing his eyes for a moment before reopening them. “They all have their own power. Together…”
The Harry behind him, his Harry, shivered, close enough to Tony’s back that he could feel the motion. Hear the sharp intake of breath.
“Right. Never letting that happen,” Tony muttered.
His Harry tapped at his shoulder blades, pressing a kiss to his hair, letting his lips linger for a second, for two. “Come on, Tony, I think I know what… to do.”
Future Harry grinned faintly. “I’ll contribute what I can but.”
“I thought you said it’s bad to meddle with time,” Tony finally added, standing up slowly, with Harry’s hand on the small of his back.
Harry’s grin widened. “Shielding the world will change the timeline. It will-- I will disappear and I will be at peace with that. Besides…when have I ever followed the rules? I was meant to meddle.”
There was no hesitation in his eyes. No fidgeting. No sign that future Harry didn’t want to do this.
“I solemnly swear that I am up to no good,” his Harry murmured, coming up to stand next to him.
Future Harry nodded, something soft and wistful flickering in his eyes.
“Here,” his Harry started, taking something out of a pocket, a vial of some shiny liquid. “If we’re going to do this, we need you to be at the top of your game. Not tired.”
Tony arched an eyebrow but took the vial. “Should I know what this is?”
“It’s a pepper-up potion,” Harry answered, shrugging at future Harry’s knowing look. “Don’t worry about the smoke that’ll leave your ears. It’s normal.”
Tony blinked. “All of it?”
“Yeah.”
He took the cap off and downed the whole thing, startling a little at the burn of it. It was a buzz the likes of which he had never felt before, something more than coffee and alcohol. Tony grinned as he felt it practically wake his whole body up, erasing the exhaustion he felt.
“We’re doing this and…” his Harry trailed off, smiling as he watched Tony. “Then I am seeing what we can do about SHIELD. It’s about time that the organization does something good with themselves.”
Future Harry smirked. “I’ll meet you guys down with the spear. Probably best for me to not be seen.”
They both watched as future Harry vanished, leaving just the two of them.
“Damn.”
“Hmm?” Harry glanced at him, started to turn towards the elevator only to snort. “Tony, we don’t have the time.”
“Yeah, but it’d be hot,” Tony remarked, shrugging and following, his heart skipping several beats at the mere thought. Heat flooded his entire body at the mental image and his cock twitched again. “One of you at each end.”
Harry swore under his breath and elbowed him as they stepped into the elevator.
“You’re thinking about it.”
“I am not.”
“It’d be like twins. You know I’ve had a--”
A hand slipped up to cover his mouth as the elevator door closed behind them. Tony smirked and looked over at Harry, who raised an eyebrow.
“Lick my hand at your own peril, darling,” Harry retorted, amusement lighting his eyes up.
Tony stared at him, smiling under Harry’s hand, and waited.
As soon as the elevator dropped them off to the right floor, the common floor, Harry removed his hand.
“Fine. We’ll do it next time future you comes to visit.”
Tony stepped out, spotting Bruce standing near the spear. Future Harry stood right next to him, invisible to everyone but them.
“Tony!” His Harry scowled and followed him out, rolling his eyes exasperatedly.
“On my count,” Tony said roughly, his eyes glued to the holograms in front of him.
Power flooded the floor of the R&D lab, much more than Tony was used to. It was just the three of them, two Harry’s and one Tony, with the glowing data spheres of Jarvis and the AI from HYDRA’s lab in the center. Visible power connected both spheres, Harry’s power forming a string between the two.
“Sir, I am ready,” Jarvis stated, his voice steady, calm enough to reassure all three of them. Jarvis’ sphere was a bright orange, almost like the sun, as it hummed in the air. The data from the stone was a light blue, floating in the air like a bodiless brain.
His Harry nodded, his eyes practically glowing with power. Future Harry was the same, though with more shadows and the flare of wings at his back. Bruce had walked out, walking down to where the party was starting.
“Now!”
Tony flipped a switch, typing something on his screen, and both Harry’s reached for each sphere, magic invading Jarvis’ data and the data from the stone. Lights flickered on and off around them as both spheres lit up, merging into one. Tony gasped and swayed a little at the amount of power that swamped the hall, an immense pressure pushing down on them all.
The spheres fully merged and collided with a loud boom, creating a beam of orange light. Tony yelped and jumped back, running into future Harry, who caught him with a steadying hand to his shoulder.
His Harry shuffled over to them, his eyes wide as Jarvis’ sphere turned into a beam. Turned into a beam that shot up right through the ceiling of the tower. Right into the heavens.
Tony’s eyes widened and his heart skipped several beats. “I’m gonna…”
“Go. Let me know what you see.”
Tony ran down the set of stairs and right to his suit, letting it fold around his body without a second thought.
There was no more blue sphere in sight. Just the bright orange of Jarvis.
“Stark!”
Yells came from downstairs and Harry jolted, his heart thudding against his ribcage, exchanging glances with future Harry.
“ Fuck .”
He heard the suit take off and the bay door open above them.
“Tony! What do you see?” Harry called out, knowing his question would be heard over the com automatically.
“...I don’t…I am experiencing…” Jarvis’ voice echoed throughout the air.
Tony’s laugh filtered through the com in Harry’s ear, not having removed it.
“It’s like…” Tony trailed off, glee in his voice.
Harry glanced down at the computer screens on the floor before running over to the floor to ceiling windows. His eyes widened as he saw a glint of orange in the sky, the beam of light that was Jarvis spreading out over the horizon. Like a great big mushroom cloud. Like a shield. It spread and kept on spreading, past where his naked eye could see.
His own magic was going haywire, power dripping from his fingertips. He looked over at future Harry, whose nose was bloody, a few drops of blood drying the edge of a nostril. He swiped over his own nose and felt the same, so much powerful magic being used at once.
“I’m not going to use magic for a few minutes,” Harry muttered shakily, his breath hitching.
“That would probably be wise,” Jarvis remarked, the AI’s voice coming from all over the place.
Harry jumped and started to grin. “Jarvis? You alright?”
“More than, sir,” Jarvis replied, his voice faint as if he was stretching everywhere. “I can see everything. ”
“Including up there?”
Jarvis hummed. “Yes, space included. It is empty as of right now.”
“You’re like the patronus for the world,” Harry whispered, still in shock that their plan had worked. He turned to look at future Harry and blinked, seeing the man fade in and out of existence.
“What are you planning for SHIELD?” future Harry asked, raising an eyebrow even as his existence was wiped from the timeline.
“Their name spells out SHIELD. They should act like it,” Harry retorted, crossing his arms.
“You’re going to make them get their shit together.”
“Yep.”
Future Harry grinned and waved. “Oh, you should know. The Winter Soldier killed Tony’s parents. They didn’t die in a car accident like everyone thinks.”
Harry swore under his breath, feeling the blood drain from his face. He heard the bay door open back up and the sound of the suits' repulsors echoed in the hall. Shouts came from downstairs, where the rest of the team was.
“I would so love to watch you become Director of SHIELD,” future Harry said, with a rather feral glint in his eyes. “But alas as Dumbledore said.”
Tony’s eyes were lit up, an expression of absolute wonder on his face as he rejoined them. “You’re leaving?”
“Who said anything about becoming Director?” Harry asked, sighing at his own question. “I don’t know what’s going on with SHIELD right now, come to think of it.”
Tony snorted and leaned into Harry’s side, melting into the arm that Harry slung around him. “We’ll take it from here, Harry. You can let go now.”
Future Harry sucked in a sharp breath, his eyes going a little watery, and waved. Finally disappearing, dying.
Tony’s phone rang and didn’t stop ringing for several minutes.
“We may or may not have just accidentally taken over the world,” Harry commented, jerking a thumb up. The beam had mostly disappeared from the tower but they could both see orange light shimmering in the clouds.
Tony giggled and went right in for a kiss. “That was hot, Merlin.”
Harry rolled his eyes and cupped Tony’s face, laughing into the kiss.