It Only Takes a Second

- LXIV -

"Yeah," Harry spoke between laughs, "I think I have a few that I can spare."

Everyone else joined in laughing, which made Bucky start mock-pouting.

"What'd I miss?" Bruce asked, entering the kitchen with a soft smile and a mug of tea already in hand. It was obvious that he had already been up for a while, but had lost track of time. Harry presumed that he had been in the lab-- for someone that lectured him about getting more sleep and taking care of himself, Bruce spent an awful lot of time tucked away in the lab instead of in bed.

"Luscious locks over here didn't get the beauty sleep he needed," Clint poked Bucky in the side, making the soldier squirm in his chair. The idea of harassing an ex-assassin and making him squirm was funny to Harry, in a twisted way, and he couldn't help but laugh.

"Is everyone here?" Tony asked finally, surveying the room to see if all of the charges of the building were present. Other than Thor and Loki, who had promised to meet them at the bakery later in the day disguised as civilians, and Peter who would meet them after his classes were out for the day, everyone seemed to be there.

Harry glanced around, pride and excitement bubbling in his chest as he saw everyone wearing the Lily's t-shirts that he had had made. Steve looked proudest, wearing the logo he had designed proudly.

"Before we get this show on the road, Harry, we have a gift for you," Pepper announced, pulling a box out from underneath the counter. "Hon, this is from all of us, to you. You've put in so much hard work these past few weeks, and we all know that this bakery is going to be a huge success."

Harry felt himself growing red, both flattered and completely unprepared for this.

"You didn't have to do that," he murmured, "you've all already done so much for me."

Everyone smiled at him, and Pepper slid the box across the counter. "You've done so much for us as well, and we wanted you to have this."

Harry looked at the box which was tied with a bow that was the same shade of periwinkle blue as the shirts. Carefully, he untied the ribbon, and lifted the lid off of the box.

Underneath the tissue paper that was layered carefully on top, was an apron. On the front of it, the Lily's logo was carefully embroidered. However, beneath the apron were several picture frames, turned upside down so Harry couldn't see the photo.

He glanced up at everyone who was watching him, to his dad that nodded encouragingly.

The first frame contained a picture of him and Peter in the bakery's kitchen, completely unaware that their picture was being taken. It was from the day that they had been baking cookies together, and there was flour smeared across both of their faces. They looked so happy-- so unbothered by everything else going on in the world.

"I hope you don't mind," Tony blushed, "I had Friday take the picture."

Harry beamed at him, heart melting at the photo within the frame. "I love it, dad. Thank you."

"Don't get all sappy just yet, there's still more pictures," Clint chimed in, earning a couple laughs.

Harry reached in and flipped over the next frame. In this picture, both Pepper and Tony were standing with him in front of the bakery. It was supposed to be a posed photo, but Pepper and Tony were smiling at Harry who was staring proudly up at the sign that had just been hung outside. Their arms were wrapped around him, and the love that they had for their son was evident by the look on their faces.

"We figured you could either keep these for yourself, or hang them up in the bakery for everyone to see. Or we could make a copy, and you can do both," Pepper smiled, suddenly sheepish as if she felt like maybe the gift hadn't been great.

But as Harry flipped over the other two frames, he couldn't imagine a better gift.

The other frames were photos of him directing Steve and Bucky as to where to go while carrying the display case into the building. Everyone was laughing, as Clint was in the middle and was supposed to be helping, but instead had the case 'balanced' on top of his finger.

"They had that! I don't know why I was needed," Clint exclaimed as everyone began laughing again at the memory.

"You weren't-- that's the point," Natasha elbowed him playfully.

The other frame was a photo of Bruce trying to teach Natasha and Harry how to set up the computer system. In the photo, Bruce was speaking animatedly about it, and Harry and Natasha are glancing at each other with a confused look on their face. Harry couldn't help but laugh-- he hadn't realized how visibly confused they had been.

"You two had absolutely no clue what I was talking about, but I thought it was funny to see how far I could go before you politely told me to shut up," Bruce chuckled, then paused. "But now that I think about it, Nat, you weren't polite at all."

Natasha tipped her head and raised her coffee mug, before taking a drink.

In the final picture frame, it was a picture of everyone outside of the bakery. Pepper, Tony, Steve, Bucky, Clint, Natasha, Bruce, Thor, Loki, and Peter were all there, with Harry in the middle. It was taken only yesterday, as the finishing touches were placed on the building. Jacob had stopped by to wish Harry good luck and declare that he would be one of the first in line for opening day. They had asked him to take a picture of all of them before he left, and he had eagerly complied.

"I love them," Harry looked up from the photos and around the kitchen to some of the most important people in his life. His team. His support-system.

His family.

"Of course, kiddo," Tony smiled, walking around the counter and slinging an arm around his shoulder.

"Now, are you ready for this?"

Harry glanced up at everyone, whose eyes were all on him, eagerly awaiting his response.

"Let's do this."

*

(A/N: It's opening day! Next chapter, we'll be at the bakery and see what happens with all of Harry's hard work! Sorry that this chapter was super duper long, but it felt better to break it up this way instead of continue it on. Thanks for reading, and I hope you're still enjoying! Stay safe and healthy everyone!)