It Only Takes a Second

- L -

"Harry," a soft voice called, "Harry, wake up."

Harry lifted his head, squinting as his eyes adjusted to the lights of the kitchen. As his bleary eyes focused, he realized that Peter was leaning across the counter, a lopsided grin on his face.

"Peter!" Harry exclaimed, suddenly becoming infinitely more awake. "What are you doing here? I thought you weren't coming until tomorrow night!"

Peter just giggled and blushed coyly. "You have lines from your sweater on your face."

It was Harry's turn to blush as his hand flew to his face where he could physically feel the indentions that his jumper (that was actually Steve's, because he liked his clothes to swallow him) had left.

"You didn't answer my question," Harry mumbled, standing up and walking around the island and giving Peter a hug.

"Mister Stark asked if I wanted to come over, and I had finished my homework, so I said 'yeah, sure!'" Peter gave Harry's forehead a light kiss. Harry instinctively leaned into Peter's warm embrace, enjoying the sense of security it provided.

"What would you like to do today?" Peter brushed an unruly strand of hair out of Harry's face and smiled at him lovingly. Harry bit his lip and glanced back at the notebook and StarkPad that were sitting at the counter.

"Don't worry about that," Peter took a step towards it and pushed it away lightly. "What would you like to do?"

"Can we go down to Lily's? I want to finish decorating, and try out the new appliances," Harry spoke sheepishly. It sounded silly that, of all things to get his mind off of the wedding planning and the bakery's opening, he wanted to go to the shop and bake. But Peter knew that this was something Harry did to unwind, and he was willing to do anything to help.

"Of course. Let's go clear this with Mister Stark, and we'll go," Peter clasped Harry's hand in his own and pulled him towards the elevator, leaving all of the worries and stress on the counter behind them.

*

"You should have known that dad would send us in a car. He hates when we take the subway ourselves," Harry chuckled, stepping out of the sleek Mercedes that Tony had ordered to take them to the bakery.

Peter rolled his eyes, but he couldn't help but smile. He had been taking the subway by himself for what seemed like forever. But he knew that, if it came down to it, he could handle himself in a dangerous situation. Deep down, he knew Harry could too, but he still understood Tony's worry nonetheless. It was hard to imagine that his delicate, quiet and scarred boyfriend had fought in and won a war.

"Come on! I can't wait to show you the changes we've made since you were last here!" Harry pulled Peter towards the door, digging the key out of his pocket and unlocking the bakery door. The door now bore the Lily's logo design, with the word scrawled out in beautiful, easy to read cursive. It was simple, but elegant- perfect for the simple yet elegant building.

As Harry pushed open the door and flipped on the lights, Peter's mouth dropped open in surprise. The building had been completely transformed since the last time that he had been there. String lights had been strung across the ceiling in a zig-zagged pattern, the bulbs glowing brightly and bathing the bakery in soothing warm white.

The two walls of windows had been left without decorations, however the brick wall that had a small sitting bar fixed to it was decked out with photos from all over the city, ranging in all different sizes.

Behind the display cases and counter where the cash register would be was a large chalkboard, where someone with perfect handwriting had written out the entire menu and prices, along with a short description of the item.