Getting Peter to stay behind was a bit of a chore, but it was understandable. There was a chance that Stephen would not come back from the quantum realm and then where would that leave the teen? He was a year shy of being an adult and already he lost five parents. No one should have to go through that. Now his sixth parent was risking time travel to bring back the fifth.
The conflicted look Peter gave Stephen before he left hurt him.
The initial plan had worked though. He and Scott arrived at the battle right before Tony snapped, and the sorcerer had Victor send a message to the billionaire. The man had paused (not like before) before snapping, and Stephen rushed over to him with Scott on his heals and immediately turned back time on his wounds before Rhodey got to them. They were trying to been seen as little as possible just in case it could cause issues.
He sincerely doubted it though.
Once the Time Stone fixed what it could and just enough color returned to Tony's face, he placed his hand over the arc reactor.
"FRIDAY."
"Boss needs medical attention."
That was enough. He'd have to leave the rest to his past self. God, seeing Tony like this again was too much but if this worked, it would be well worth it.
"Stephen. We gotta go now. Rhodes is heading over." Scott gently tugs on the sorcerer's shoulder until Tony weakly reaches out and grabs the sorcerer's wrist.
"Stephen."
The doctor smiles softly and gently cups his uninjured cheek. "I'll see you soon."
He carefully pulls his arm out of his husband's grip, and backs away, leaving the man confused as Scott grabs Stephen's arm and takes them back through the quantum realm and to their time. If he was correct, and this worked, they would take the place of their alternate selves and gain their memories. He wasn't really looking forward to memories being crammed into his head, even if it was just a few months. He had warned Scott about it ahead of time so he wouldn't panic.
Tony's lab was silent when they got back. No Peter, or Rhodey (who had seen them off), and not Tony. Before he could worry though, the memories assaulted his mind and it took both and Scott a few minutes to recover. It was like watching a really long movie but in fast-forward so one couldn't really grasp what was going on.
Tony was in those memories though.
"Holy crap. That was definitely in my top ten of weird things I've experienced." Scott finally says.
"Welcome to my world." Stephen replies dully and then with a pounding heart looks up at the ceiling. "FRIDAY...where's Tony?"
"In the living room with Peter. You just came from there. Are you alright Doctor? Shall I call for Dr. Banner?" The AI asks with worry.
Stephen and Scott look at each other and rush out of the lab and up to the family floor. Please be real. Please be real, the sorcerer repeats in his head as they stumble into the living room after the elevator doors open.
He was there. His right side scarred but he was there. He was alive and talking enthusiastically about suit upgrades with Peter, neither noticing the presence of the new pair. Peter very obviously didn't retain any memories of after Tony's death since he didn't make the trip with Stephen and Scott.
"Tony." He finally whispers.
The engineer looks up and grins. "Hey babe. Did you-" The smile disappears at the look of disbelief on Stephen's face. "What's wrong? Are you okay?" The sorcerer strides into Tony's arms when the mechanic stands up and throws his arms around his husband while nuzzling his neck.
He smelt like motor oil and coffee. He now understood why smells were important to Peter. They were soothing. They smelled like home. Stephen would never take advantage of it again. He didn't realize how much he really missed this.
"Okay...you're okay. I'm okay." Tony must have realized today was when Stephen came back to save him and that he was now dealing with an overwhelmed sorcerer.
Stephen held back tears. He didn't want to worry Peter anymore than he was already looking. "I've missed you." He whispers.
"We'll talk later tonight." Tony whispers in return. "You look like you need to sit down."
"Uh...so why are you in your suit Scott?" Peter asks curiously.
Shit. Stephen almost forgot about him. Poor guy was probably feeling awkward.
"Got bored again. Eventually saw your mom and followed him up here." He deflects easily.
"Okay." Peter shrugs. Thank whatever powerful deity that was watching that it was actual typical behaviour for the ex-con.
Stephen carefully moves away from his husband and meets his eyes. "Don't freak out. I'll explain later." He mutters.
"Freak out about what?"
Stephen ignores Tony's question and turns on his heel to face Scott. In two short steps, when he's nearly chest to chest with the man, he grabs Scott's face and kisses him. Not a simple peck either. A proper one, because this man helped him get his family back together and it was the very least he could do.
Tony and Peter squawk at the scene, and the sorcerer pulls away after a few long seconds to find Scott's pupils blown wide and his body frozen to the spot. Stephen thanks him with a smug smile, and leaves the frozen man behind as he joins Tony and Peter on the couch when the billionaire sits back down. Thankfully, the engineer didn't look offended. Peter on the other hand...
"What the hell?! Are you and Scott having an affair?"
"No cub. I owed him a favor and that was how he collected."
"Important enough to kiss him in front of us?" Peter asks skeptically.
"Very important." Stephen confirms as he looks at Tony.
His lover only smirks in understanding and points at Lang.
"I don't know if you can hear me Stuart Little, but that is never happening again!" Scott didn't respond. "Babe, I think you broke him. Maybe that should happen again."
"It would lose its effectiveness."
"Huh...thats true."
Tony waves his hand in Scott's direction as if brushing off the subject and leans against the arm of the couch. When he motions for Stephen, he didn't waste any time curling against his husband, making sure not to jostle the man's weaker arm too much. He knew his right side was sensitive sometimes but Tony could actually use it, and proved it by wrapping it around the sorcerer. Once Stephen comfortable settles against him, with his face in the man's unscathed collarbone, it was Peter's turn to wiggle into their cuddle. When he was comfortable, Levi flew over and covered the small family.
"So are we just going to ignore the fact that Scott is over there in his own world?" The teen asks and Tony laughs.
Stephen missed his laugh.
"Let him enjoy the moment. Mom made his day...probably his whole life."
"You know..." Stephen starts with a smirk. "Considering all the juice he drinks, there wasn't a single hint of it."
Tony raises an eyebrow. "Normally I would tell you I don't want to hear about it, but now you have me curious."
"I don't kiss and tell, love."
"Asshole."
They laid like that for a long time. The tv playing some sort of documentary that only Tony and Peter were half paying attention to, but Stephen was too busy enjoying the closeness of his family. Their smells, their beating hearts...their warmth. He wouldn't mind staying like this forever.
That is, until an important reminder came to him and he lifted his head just enough to look up at Tony.
"Natasha and Loki-"
"In their rooms. Along with Vision."
Stephen sighs. "Good."
The elevator hisses open and Natasha soon appears in the living room pointing her thumb over her shoulder. "What's wrong with Scott?"
"Mama Bear broke him."
"How did you manage that?"
"Kissed him."
Natasha's eyebrows fly up to her hairline. "FRIDAY, did you record that?"
"Yes, Miss Romanov."
"Oh. This I gotta see."
Stephen sighs when the assassin grabs Tony's tablet off the coffee table, and plays back the kiss that happened an hour ago (he was honestly surprised Scott hasn't moved yet), and catches Tony watching it as well.
"Now that I'm over the initial shock...that's actually kind of hot Mama Bear."
Both Peter and Stephen groan and Scott finally comes out of his happy stupor just in time to catch the last bit of the recording.
"That actually happened? I thought I dreamt that up. Damn that was amazing."
"You were standing there for over an hour in happy shock so I would hope so." Stephen teases.
"Well that's embarrassing. I didn't start drooling did I?" Scott asks as he wipes his mouth.
Tony sniggers. "Not yet."
"Can you send that recording to me?"
"Not a chance Thumbelina. I don't want you getting-"
"Man, your wife just kissed me. I can use my imagination." Scott argues.
"He has a point." Stephen mutters and Tony rolls his eyes.
"Fine. FRIDAY go ahead and send that to Scott."
Natasha grins wickedly. "Send it to the whole team."
Tony scowls. "If everyone starts trying to kissy with Stephen, I blame you."
"No one but you and Scott want that, and Baby Spider already gets the cuddles." Natasha points out with a roll of her eyes.
"Damn right." Peter mumbles. "My mom."
It didn't take long for Tony's and Stephen's phones to blow up from messages from the team. They all mostly consisted of confused questions or something of the like, and the sorcerer simply texted them all saying that Scott did him a very special kindness and it was just a thank you for it. He also heavily implied that it would nothappen again. Their phones didn't go off again but Scott's did. They both decided they didn't want to know.
Peter chose to just ignore it all and wait for everyone to calm down. Brilliant move on his part. He just pressed closer to his parents and enjoyed their presence. Both adults smile and both wrap an arm around the teen, making Levi adjust itself over them.
"Never let me choose a stone over the two of you again." Stephen whispers. "Biggest mistake of my life."
Natasha, overhearing the sorcerer, actually smiles and leans down to kiss his temple. "Thank you by the way."
Thank you for bringing us home.