A/N: So nothing really eventful happens in this chapter, but if you need the six original Avengers having some much-needed family bonding time, read on and enjoy!
Tony made his way across the uneven, grass-covered ground underneath a blanket of stars. He left the small farmhouse behind, eyeing the small blaze of light that must've been a campfire out in the middle of Barton's front yard. The only person Tony could actually make out was Barton himself who was throwing more wood onto the fire. There were others seated around the flames, but they were just silhouettes until Tony got closer. He came to find Natasha, Bruce, Thor and Coulson sitting on lawn chairs facing the fire in a pretty tight circle. Stark approached with his arms crossed close to his body for warmth, Clint's t-shirt and pajama pants not quite adequate against the chill of the late night air.
"Heyyyy! There he is. We were just talking about you." Hawkeye said, clapping a hand on Tony's shoulder.
"Fantastic." Tony joked sarcastically.
"Actually, it was more about your suit so don't flatter yourself." Natasha smiled cheekily at him.
"You know I'll always flatter myself, Romanoff."
Barton had already set up a lawn chair for him by this time. Tony thanked him and joined his friends, immediately relaxing underneath the heat of the fire.
"Couldn't sleep?" Bruce asked, smirking up at Tony.
"Ah," Tony dismissed, shrugging his shoulders. "Unless Barton fancies using manure-scented air fresheners, it's the smell of the country that I'm not quite acclimated to yet."
Everyone around the campfire chuckled but cast their eyes away from each other, smiles soon fading. It was because they knew Tony was joking and that wasn't the real reason he was out here. That wasn't the real reason any of them were out there. The world had just perished on their watch, their friends with it, and it wasn't something that was easy to sleep on. For Tony, it meant nightmares. Terrible nightmares; most of them having to do with a dorky, hyper, web-slinging kid...
Tony saw another figure approaching out of the corner of his eye. He turned to see the dim features of Rogers approach them.
"Cap! Join the party." Tony beckoned, waving him over. Steve approached wearing a tee and sweatpants that were just a bit too long for him, courtesy of that Agent Mack guy from the Zephyr. He smiled tiredly and thanked Clint who rushed to get him a seat. Barton also returned with two beers for Steve and Tony from the cooler which they both gratefully accepted.
"So what were we talking about?" Steve asked, taking a sip of beer.
"Me! Apparently. But what's new? Carry on." Tony mused, waiting for his friends to elaborate.
"I was just admiring how far your upgrades have come." Coulson explained, giving Tony that eerily nostalgic small smile and tip of the head. Tony raised his eyebrows and cracked open his drink.
"Yeah, a lot can happen when you're playing Amy Elliot Dunne for six years."
"I checked in on you all periodically through S.H.I.E.L.D's databases."
"Oh, great, okay. But never thought of maybe dropping by?"
"Believe it or not, I've been busy."
"Well... You missed a great funeral." Tony said, trying not to put too much of a bitter aftertaste to his words. He was a little upset- how messed up is that to make all of your friends believe that you died? But Tony was mostly just happy to see him and quite frankly, was too tired to be too much of an ass at that moment.
"I heard. Stark, if you want me to formally apologize-"
"Oh no, I don't need one. I get it. We were being a handful; needed motivation to officially form the happy family. But my fiancee, who I had to come home and tell that Phil Coulson had been unexpectantly run through with a magic pointy stick, had nothing to-"
"Congratulations, by the way." Coulson calmly interrupted. Tony debated with himself on whether or not hassle Phil for hurting Pepper. That is why he was mainly angry, but at this point, it wasn't really worth it. Stark relaxed in his chair.
"Thanks. I would've sent invites, to all of you, I might add, but I had trouble finding an address for the dead, outlaw country and space." Tony finished, nodding his head to each person as it applied. It was quiet for a bit, the only sounds were the chirping crickets and the crackle of the fire.
"Well, we're here now," Cap said, the everlasting voice of optimism. "And after we fix all of this-"
"We'll have one hell of a bachelor party." Tony finished for him, turning amused eyes to meet Steve's. A half-smile spread across Cap's face as he looked down. Turning his eyes back to Tony, he nodded.
"We'll have one hell of a bachelor party."
Everyone erupted into cheers of excited agreement, beers raised towards the fire. Tony pointed at Cap.
"I'm holding that to ya, Rogers."
Steve raised his beer towards Tony and took a sip which was an answer satisfying enough.
"So Phil..." Natasha piped up, leaning intently forward as if about to tell him a secret. "What've you been up to for six years?"
Turns out, Coulson has been up to quite a lot. They found out S.H.I.E.L.D. still exists as an underground organization which was really the last thing they needed, in Tony's opinion, but he guessed times were simpler with S.H.I.E.L.D. anyway. At least it felt like they had back-up. Phil had his own team now too, most of which were dusted away. His arm was cybertronic. He's been to space. He's been to...
"Tahiti?" Barton asked, his face twisted in confusion.
"It's a magical place." Coulson slyly commented, as if there was a much more elaborate discussion that he was choosing not to have on the matter. "But enough about me. Seems like you all have been busy. Last I heard, Mom and Dad were fighting. Glad to see my death worked." Coulson remarked sarcastically, looking from Tony to Steve. Stark cleared his throat awkwardly and hid behind his beer that he tipped back to take a drink from. Out of the corner of his eye, he swore he watched Cap shrink back a little too.
"Well, I haven't been myself for two years so I can't say I remember anything to tell you." Bruce spoke up, and off they went. In the world's weirdest session of catch-up, the Avengers went around the fire and went through their separate lives the past couple of years.
Bruce has been stuck as Hulk in an alien planet where he was a glorified champion gladiator.
"Who let this guy go first? I can't compete with that shit." Hawkeye had complained.
Bruce, or sorry, Hulk ended up facing against Thor in battle which he won... or Thor won? That was still unclear, even despite Thor's insistent commentary.
"By the way, have you ever thought of wearing pants for men, Tony?" Bruce asked, shifting in his seat uncomfortably as if still experiencing distress. Stark laughed and raised up his hands in defense.
"Not everyone can rock the mom jeans like you can." He shot right back at his friend, still enjoying the thought of his friend in the extra clothes he left in the quinjet.
It was only natural to move to Thor next, and holy hell did this guy get hit hard. He lost his Dad, his friends, his home, his hair, his eye, his brother...
"Again? Jesus, what is with you people? Dead or alive, pick one." Tony said, quickly adding, ", and condolences."
Thor smiled sadly and nodded, finishing off his seventh beer and adding the empty bottle to the pile near his feet.
"No one has to pretend they feel anything other than disdain for my brother, I understand."
Tony watched Coulson shudder from across the fire, holding his abdomen where Loki shoved his scepter through.
"Still," Rogers spoke up. "That's a lot to handle, Thor. I hope you know you always have a place here."
"I appreciate it, Captain. I would never want to burd-"
"Hey." Tony interrupted. "Don't give us that shit."
"We're a family. A fucked up, destructive, socially impaired..."
"I understand." Thor interrupted Clint. "Thank you all. And I will not give you the shit again."
Stark closed his eyes and rubbed them in disbelief. You'd think Thor would've caught onto Earth lingo a bit by now. Gotta love the guy though.
"So... Stark..."
Tony looked around at all eyes on him, waiting for a debrief on his life the past couple of years. It was strange telling the people who used to know almost everything regarding his day-to-day about his life.
"Uh, well obviously the biggie- getting hitched soon."
"Ugh, the fact that Tony found a woman who's willing to put up with him for life and I haven't had a girlfriend in fifteen years-"
"I can't help that you're taking siestas in space, bud." Tony joked back at him.
"Well you know, turning into a giant green rage monster isn't exactly a turn on either."
"That's not a hit in bed? Natasha, weigh in."
"Why now? How'd you know it was time?" Natasha asked Tony regarding the wedding, completely ignoring his question quite intentionally.
"Well, she handled all my bullshit for 8 years, 14 if you count before we were an item. I figured if she hadn't killed me yet, I was probably safe."
"We're ecstatic, Tony. Really. You know we adore Pepper." Barton voiced, back-up by murmurs and nods of agreement all around. Tony smiled a bit just at the thought of her, still sound asleep curled up under the covers inside. "Now do we understand her? Ehhhhh..."
Barton made a suspicious face that earned laughs. They never stopped giving Tony shit about that. The constant joke between them all was coming up with different excuses as to why Pepper is able to deal with Tony. The reasonings ranged from Tony developing a high-tech brainwashing machine to her being an extremely advanced one of his A.I.'s.
Tony smirked and rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I don't know, after gluing the pieces together after they fell apart for a bit, everything was feeling cohesive for the first time in a while. Rhodey was walking again, we officially moved everything upstate, and the kid..."
Tony trailed off. Everyone remained in silence, but Stark could feel a different tone take over the air around them. Tony cleared his throat.
"The kid really kept me busy. He's a handful, but I'm not one to talk."
"I think it's great. What you have with the kid, I mean." Steve spoke up, his voice dark and serious.
"I didn't realize he meant that much to you," Bruce said from across the flames. Tony nodded, keeping his eyes at a burning ember on the ground as if he could focus hard enough to make the pain in his chest to go away.
"I didn't really stop to realize it either. Something about his mind-numbing stubbornness and plucky gusto... Damn kid wraps those synthesized webs right around your heart." Tony half-joked, hiding the truth of it all behind his usual sarcastic phrasing.
A few smiles and chuckled then again; silence.
"But stop stalling, Oh Captain, my Captain," Tony said with new vibrancy in his voice to try to lighten the mood. "Where has the war-criminal life brought you and Miss Romanoff here?"
Turns out it was a mix of Wakanda, trashy hotels, mutual friends they could trust, and sometimes just plain old camping despite Sam's complaints. They had run into some opportunities for missions on the side, some small Scooby-Doo level villains to take down, but other than that they kept quiet. Moving onto Barton, he didn't say much about his life. He just mentioned that he was in full-on family mode and loving every second of it. After that, Clint choked up and couldn't say much else. The silence took over again like it did every time someone who was lost was mentioned. Coulson was the first to move, bidding everyone goodnight and leaving the circle.
Tony heard a small snicker from Natasha's direction. He looked up to see everyone exchanging glances with small, tired smiles of amusement on their face. Tony looked around. Oh. He got it. Six of them were left. Tony, Steve, Natasha, Barton, Thor, Banner... The original six- where it all started. They sat like that for a little while, no one knowing quite what to say. Everyone was probably thinking the same thing anyway- Look at how far we've come, how did we all survive this far, could we have done something differently... you name it.
Tony was about to announce that he was going to hit the hay again when his name was called.
"Stark," Natasha said, grabbing another beer.
"Hm?"
"Truth or dare?"
"Come on, Romanoff. I thought your maturity was above fifth grade. Seventh, at least."
"Funny. Truth or dare."
Everyone looked between Nat and Tony with confused but intrigued smiles on their faces, waiting for him to answer.
"Fine, but you should know I annihilate in this game. Dare."
And that's how the game started. It reminded Tony a lot of post-mission "revels" as Thor would put it. They'd go out to eat or just hang around Avengers Tower and have a drink, learn more about each other, or do stupid, juvenile stuff just like this. It wasn't all shits and giggles though. Sometimes the truths got a little more serious, but never about their recent strife. It was like the unsaid rule of the game- no talking about Thanos or the snap.
"If you could choose to be one of us, who would you choose?" Thor asked Tony at one point. "As a "super-being" that is."
"Easy, Natasha." Tony said, obviously surprising everyone who joined in a chorus of protests.
"Woah, woah, woah! What is this? Let the man pick who he wants!" Natasha yelled over everyone else, holding her hand out with a slightly inebriated smile on her face.
"Stark- are you sure?" Thor asked with a confused smile, raising his hand and summoning lightning around them.
"Put it away, Pikachu. Think about it. What "powers" does Nat have over here?"
"Other than being a bad-ass and mortally terrifying, nothing." Bruce said, pulling a small smile from Romanoff.
"Gross. No flirting, P.D.A free bonfire please." Tony joked, earning the finger from Banner. "Anyway, that's exactly my point. We're all over here with our safety blankets and she's holding her own right alongside us."
"Thank you, Tony."
It was quiet for a bit, and then, of course, more protests coming in all at once.
"Bull. Shit." Clint yelled, raising his beer in the air.
"Who are you?"
"Kiss ass."
"Alright, alright. You're all upset that you weren't smart enough to think of it." Tony said, waving them away. "Who would you guys pick then?"
Everyone looked at each other, and nearly at the same time:
"Thor!"
"Uh, lightning!"
"Thor."
"Immortality, lightning, super strength, godliness... "
"Neanderthals." Tony dismissed, rolling his eyes and smiling as he took another swig. Thor smiled smugly and summoned another lightning bolt to solidify his cavalier point.
Stark got some other good questions too. Some making him a little uncomfortable even.
"A fear we don't know about. Go." Clint challenged. He was pretty drunk at this point, but no one blamed him considering all he had been through. They all were buzzed at the very least.
"Okay... Turkeys."
"Turkeys."
"Yeah. Whose idea was it to make a shitty brown peacock and attach a nutsack to its face? Not a fan."
The night sky was filled with the sounds of the 6 Avengers' laughter. Tony chuckled and took a sip of beer before setting it down. He should probably slow down.
"Okay, okay. But what about a real fear?"
Tony sighed. Barton wasn't going to let him wiggle out of this one. He gave it a few moments, weighing his options. He had a lot of fears. Unfortunately, most of them came true and his friends already knew about them anyway. Except...
"Water."
"Really? Water?" Cap spoke up. "I feel like I've seen you in water before."
"Yeah, in the suit. I'm not deathly afraid or anything, I just- I don't know, being waterboarded wasn't too fun and neither was being crushed under my house hundreds of feet down in the Pacific. It just makes me a bit... antsy."
There were small noises of acknowledgment and some solemn nods. Tony didn't feel insecure telling these people. If anything, they were the only six people in the world other than Pepper and Rhodey who he didn't mind speaking about those things with. He was glad to have a little more fun with his next truth question though.
"Stark." Cap called on him.
"You know I love it when you say my name."
Steve snickered and rolled his eyes. "If you had the time stone, considering yesterday never happened," Cap added, "Where or what would you go back in time to?"
Tony took a deep breath and sat back, not taking long before a mischevious smile spread across his face.
"There's a show. A musical savoir-faire, if you will, that I've always wanted to see in person."
"Uh-huh... Didn't peg you as the musical type." Steve said, eyeing Tony suspiciously probably wondering what he was up to.
"Oh yeah."
"How far would you have to go back to see it?"
"The ol' 1942."
Tony had a full panoramic view of four perplexed eyes on him, smiles wide as they knew this had to be going somewhere good. Tony smirked and turned to Cap who's head dropped in his hands to hide from the world.
"Oh my God..." his muffled voice groaned into his hands.
"Let me see... Oh yes- Who's strong and brave here to save the American Way?" Tony began to sing. Natasha gasped and laughed, obviously the only other one who knew what the heck Stark was talking about.
"Who vows to fight for what's right night and day?" Tony kept going despite Roger's eyes that were now narrowed in on him dangerously. Even he couldn't keep the smile from his face though.
"Who will campaign door to door for America,
Carry the flag shore to shore for America,
From Hoboken to Spokane,"
Tony held his arms dramatically out towards Steve as if to "present" him.
", the Star Spangled Man with a plan!"
"Very nice, Stark. To be honest, I don't know if that itself is worse, or the fact that you know the song by heart."
"Well you know I am your most adoring fan, Mr. Spangled."
"Right. Howard told you about that?"
"I own the original film copies, pal. Don't worry, I won't let your hard work and go-go boots be forgotten."
Soon truth and dare faded out and it was all "remember when" from there.
"Remember when Banner showed up to Schwarma naked, wrapped in giant pants?"
"Remember when Stark's trackers malfunctioned on the hunt for Loki's scepter and led them to a sex shop in Cairo?"
"Remember when Thor attempted to drive Tony's Audi?"
(That one was hardly funny while it happened, by the way).
"Remember when a guy was getting handsy with Nat at the bar and she flipped him and both his friends over the counter?"
"Remember when Clint spent twenty minutes looking for his bow strapped to his back?"
"Remember when Cap said language?"
By the time the reminiscing slowed, Tony's eyes were getting heavy and his phone said it was nearing 3:45am.
"I don't know about you boys, but it's been quite the damn day." Tasha spoke up first, stretching then standing.
"Yeah, I think I'll hit the sack." Banner added, standing as well.
"Very subtle. You two have fun." Tony teased. Bruce sighed and sat down again. "Don't pout, Brucie. You know I'm busting your balls. Get outta here."
Natasha and Bruce left, followed by Thor who "bid them a goodnight and seemless slumber".
"I'm going to head back too." Hawkeye said gruffly, looking back at his house. "Can't avoid the place forever. Just keep the fire burning when you come in. It'll burn out by itself."
Soon it was just Tony and Steve, finishing off their last beer and being hypnotized by the fire.
"You really think we have a chance at bringing our people back?" Tony finally voiced. Cap looked at him and shrugged.
"It's damn well worth it to find out."
Tony nodded.
"Well, you may need something then..." Tony pulled out his phone. "F.R.I.D.A.Y!"
"Yes, boss?"
"Send capsule A34E77."
It took an awkwardly long time to arrive. It wasn't quite the dramatic entrance Tony was looking for, but when the metal capsule crashed into the ground fifteen feet away from them, he knew he had Steve's attention. Tony got up and walked to the storage unit, telling his AI to open it up. The mechanism inside whirred as the metal unfolded, revealing the contents; Cap's shield. His eyes lit up by the sight of it. Tony took the weapon in his hands, lifting is and walking over to meet Captain who was already out of his seat.
"Here. This is for you." Tony said, handing back the shield. It was good to see Rogers with it again.
"Thank you," Steve thanked, holding the shield on one arm tightly and shaking Tony's hand with the other. He pulled back and moved his body around with the shield in hand a bit, getting used to the grip. "Man, this feels good."
"Well we'll need you at full force to 'rise or fall and give your all' to find these stupid rocks and a way to make a gauntlet." Stark referenced the Star Spangled Man song again, hoping Steve still wanted to stick to the plan. Cap looked at Tony and gave him a respectful nod. That's all he needed to see.
"Good night, Tony."
"Good night, Steve."
And with that, Rogers left, leaving Stark to his thoughts at the side of the bonfire. He watched it for a while, thinking about this particular night and how good it was to have the six of them together again. Under the circumstances, not so much, but that aside, it was a night Tony wouldn't trade for anything. Having the team on the same page again was especially comforting when hoping for this new "2nd gauntlet" plan to move along efficiently. He felt like they finally fully put aside all of their differences and were ready to be a team again- the original Avengers doing what they were meant to do. Avenging the new. All they had to do was acquire all six infinity stones and harness their unmatched power into a magical glove. Easy, right?
Well, in two weeks time, they did just that.
