Who's ready for a nice, polite, civilized dinner party involving absolutely zero weapons, alcohol, or crazy party games? Nobody? Good! Because if you came here for that, you will be veeeeeerrrryyy disappointed. So without further ado, here comes none of the stuff listed above. Warning: Homecoming spoilers! The section will be marked for those who do not wish to read. Nothing too major is spoiled however.

Tony stood up as the doorbell rang, making sure his tie was straight and attempting a sincere smile. He was on his best behavior, because Pepper was right. Pepper is always right, said the voice inside his head. It wasn't wrong. He needed to rebuild the bridges he'd burned, because these were quite possibly the only people in the world who would ever tolerate him. He opened the door to Sam Wilson, who looked better than Tony had ever seen him. It was either the fact that he was not locked in a high security prison, or the gorgeous woman standing at his shoulder. Her heels actually made her taller than him. After blinking a few times, he recognized her, but that still didn't make sense, because what would Maria Hill be doing with Sam Wilson? Forcing his brain back onto the correct train of thought, Tony grinned at Sam.

"Wilson. Good to see you again. You're looking well." He nodded to Maria. "Agent Hill."

Maria seemed amused by this, though Tony was at a loss as to why. "Stark, I'm at your house, and neither of us are actually here for work. Call me Maria."

Tony swallowed back the rather inappropriate joke that immediately popped into his head. "Uh, look, Sam, I just wanted to say, I'm sorry I got you arrested, and then locked in a high security prison the first and second times we met. That was kind of a dick move, and, uh, I think everything kinda got a little out of control. So, bearing that in mind, we, well, we still haven't officially met yet. Tony Stark." He holds out his hand to shake.

Sam is actually smiling. "Thanks, man. I mean, it wasn't that great of you, but we were all kinda confused. if I wanted to stay out of this, I could've shut the door in Captain America's face when he showed up with a hot redhead two years ago. I appreciate the apology though. Where's the food?"

Maria rolls her eyes and punches him playfully on the shoulder. "Steve is bringing Sharon Carter with him, you need to apologize to her for costing her her job, and offer your condolences, you haven't seen her since her aunt died." She informs Tony. He gives her a nod of thanks.

Next to arrive is a large armored vehicle that provides Tony with a sense of foreboding, not so much because he couldn't tell who was inside it, but more because he knew exactly who it held. Surely enough, a semi - large group exits the vehicle, looking like a cross between a World War Two movie and a group of models strutting down a catwalk. Natasha is in the lead, wearing a blue sleeveless dress that looks too cold for the season and huge, dark sunglasses. She's followed by Steve, in a button down and khakis, because he's Steve. Next to him is Bucky, whom Tony doesn't remember inviting but knows he'll have to talk with anyway. And next to Bucky, standing a bit farther off, is a blonde he assumes to be Sharon Carter. She's wearing a white button down tank with a blue skirt and red sunglasses. Staring wide - eyed, Tony notices their overall color theme. Red white, and blue. He snorts.

As the group nears, he opens his mouth to greet them, realizes any words he could say would fall short, and holds up a hand instead, waving. "Uh. Hey, guys. Why don't you come inside. I've, uh, got a lot of stuff to say, aaaaand, we might wanna sit down first." He looks around, hoping he doesn't look as nervous as he feels. Realizing he's blocking the doorway, Tony steps to the side and waves them through.

Pepper looks up from the table, where she's talking to Maria about their mutual dislike of Secretary Ross. She watches as a group of four enters, three she knows and one she doesn't. They assemble themselves on the couch in an almost practiced fashion as Tony follows them in. The blonde she doesn't recognize perches on the arm of the couch, then leans back in what would be a balancing act for anyone else, but seems well - practiced and comfortable to her. This position makes it so Barnes is pinned to the couch by her shoulder, but as his metal arm is still free, and he has it around Natasha's shoulder. Natasha looks at him with a raised eyebrow, and he smirks, but doesn't remove his arm. She shifts slightly as Steve sits down, leaning into him in a way that looks like they might possibly have gotten a little more friendly with each other since the last time the group had seen them. She sighs and sets down her drink. Behind her, Maria notices, and straightens. "This is the make or break moment, huh?" She asks.

"Well, yeah, you could call it that." Pepper rests on her hands, leaning back against the table. "Do you know the blonde?" Maria turns to look, and her brow furrows worriedly.

"Uh, yeah. Sharon Carter. I don't know what the hell she thinks she's playing at.." Maria trails off, watching the conversation.

Steve is leaning so he can have his arm sort of over Bucky's, which puts Natasha practically in his lap. Not interested in making things easier for him, she is leaning so her head is in her hand, her elbow propped on her knee. So yes, it's rather uncomfortable, but so is the conversation.

~~ Minor Homecoming Spoilers. Not a huge deal, but if you're really averse to spoilers, maybe just read the bold at the end of this chapter. ~~

"Romanoff, what you said, how many years ago? God, four this May, right? About the world needing to be saved, that's still true. It always will be. And I, I can't do it alone. And sure, maybe I'm not the only one left, maybe new people show up, but us, we're the originals. We are the Avengers. So yeah, maybe we have disagreements, and maybe we make them larger than they should be, but maybe, just maybe, we can get our shit together, and we can fix our mistakes, and get back to saving the world and bitching about who ate the last of the ice cream. It'll be a slow process, but why don't we start tonight?" He's addressing the entire room now, which has been increased by Wanda, Vision, approximately five Bartons, Rhodey, and a woman with a teenager that nobody really recognizes. "We have food, and each one of you has a fancy apartment in my big new house. So are we pretending to be normal and functioning again, or are we giving up?" He has somehow made his way onto a table. Natasha looks up at him, eyes narrowed, eyebrow raised.

"I'm not really a quitter." She gets up, and before she's taken three steps from the couch, Clint meets her with a high - five. As Lila, Cooper, and Nathan swarm her, Clint meets Tony's eyes with a solemn nod.

"I'm in." He looks at Laura. "You OK with this?" She nods, and takes his hand.

"Yeah. I'll worry less about you here than I do when you just run off on vigilante missions. Now you have people to watch your back." She smiles at him, and he buries his face in her neck, peppering her collarbone with kisses.

"I'm not gonna live here permanently. Only when there's a problem or a mission," he promises. Laura smiles.

"Alright everybody, food is served! The table should fit everyone!" Calls Pepper. Cheers echo from the group, and slowly, people filter in, sitting down and creating the first picture of what might be something like a family, shattered into pieces and put back together.

Alright, thanks for reading! For those of you who are spoiler sensitive, Tony gave a speech and them there was some Clint/Laura fluff and then everyone sat down for dinner. BTW, I have no update schedule, I try to update all my fics in a cycle. I am slow, and I do this for fun, and I have many commitments. So, You may not see more of this for a while, but maybe check out some of my other fics!