Chapter 54 – Morning After

Tony winces as awareness creeps in the next morning, muscles he is sure never existed before are aching and he can't help the satisfied smile that creeps onto his face; there's a firm weight wrapping around his back and holding him in place, and if he's honest he's not entirely sure where his body ends and the next one starts.

He sighs happily and snuggles back into the warmth as Steve presses a light kiss to his shoulder. 'Good morning,' Steve murmurs into his ear.

Opening his eyes he moves just enough to be able to look at the soldier. 'Good morning,' he presses a kiss to the man's lips, slipping an arm out from between them to keep his head close.

'I think I should wake you up with a kiss every morning,' Steve laughs as they pull apart, 'you definitely wake up quicker.'

'I'm not complaining,' he chuckles in response, then he notices Steve's frown as the man looks down. 'What's wrong?'

'I,' he clears his throat and a faint blush colours his cheeks, 'I, uh, may have left some, uh, bruises last night.'

Tony just laughs and pulls the covers down more to take a look. 'Oh good.'

'Good?' Steve looks like he's not entirely sure what's going on. 'But-'

'Oh babe,' he laughs 'never be sorry for giving me bruises in bed. Just tell me if I need to wear a high neck.'

'What- but-'

Tony kisses the soldier to shut him up. 'Though I will say, Steve,' he grins as he pulls away, 'no one is ever allowed to call you innocent again after last night.'

He gets an eye roll in response. 'It's not like it was my first time, Tony; you make it sound like I was raised in a monastery or something.'

'Wait you'd had sex with someone before?' Tony leans up on one elbow. 'I mean I did wonder considering how good you were last night, no virgin is that good,' he grins at the blush getting deeper on Steve's face. 'So some on, spill. Who was it?'

'Tony do we really have to talk about this in bed?' Steve groans.

'Oh god,' his eyes go wide, 'it's not Bucky is it? Please tell me it's not Bucky.'

'What?' Steve bursts out laughing. 'No! Where on earth did that come from? Of course it's not Bucky; that'd be like sleeping with my brother. It was, uh, it was one of the guys from the crew when we were touring with the shows; I never did find out what happened to him.'

'Oh good, I'm not sure I could have looked Bucky in the eye again if it'd been him,' he breathes a sigh of relief.

'Why did you think Buck? Wait,' Steve looks almost worried, 'Tony you two didn't…before I got back?'

Tony bursts out laughing. 'No! Why would you think that?'

'Well he told me about your kiss and I just wondered…'

'Then he also told you I'd told him I liked you,' he presses a kiss to Steve's lips, feeling the man relax under him again. 'You do realise we've just made Bucky sound like the biggest slut out there right?'

Steve laughs and wraps his arms around Tony's waist as he settles himself on the soldier's lap. 'I won't tell him if you don't.'

'I'm not entirely sure how that would come up in conversation in the first place,' he rolls his eyes, sighing happily as Steve runs his hands up his sides and down his back. He winces a little as some of the muscles in his lower back protest at his movement.

'You alright?' Steve sits up, one arm around his waist to keep him steady at the movement.

He nods, resting his forehead against Steve's. 'Just a little sore. Been a while since I'd met someone with the stamina to beat mine in bed,' he chuckles.

'Here,' the soldier's voice is soft as he lays Tony back on the bed and starts to work at the muscles in his back; he gives a groan of appreciation as knots that had formed years ago in the workshop are finally worked free.

'God your hands are miracles,' he moans as Steve presses a kiss to his shoulder and lays down next to him with a chuckle.

'Shall I run you a bath?' he offers. 'I feel like I need to make it better seeing as it's my fault.'

'Only if you join me,' Tony says, turning his head to face him and running a hand down the golden body in front of him.

'Will you behave yourself if I do?' comes the challenge with a raised eyebrow and a grin.

'No promises,' he grins and laughs as Steve sweeps him up and carries him to their bathroom.


Peter's about to knock on the door when he hears talking from inside.

'What if we can't stop him?' Wanda's voice is quiet, but his hearing can still pick it up. 'He'll come for your stone, Vis; can you even survive without it?'

'It's a distinct possibility,' the humanoid reassures her, 'but may require some work and for now it's better if it stays where it is so I am better able to study it. I'm hoping we can find another solution, but I do wonder if destroying it might be the best answer.'

'That would kill you,' her voice chokes off.

'If we have no other option it is better for one to pay the price than countless millions.'

'Vis no!' Wanda protests, and Peter starts to back away from the door, not wanting to intrude on their conversation. He wants to run in and promise them both that Thanos isn't going to get hold of Vision or the Mind Stone, and that they've nothing to worry about. But he can't lie to them.

'Hey! There you are!' he looks up as Wade hurries towards him down the corridor. 'I was wondering where you'd scurried off to Spidey.'

'Wade-' he starts, but can't speak past the lump in his throat.

'What's wrong, Baby Boy?' the mercenary comes up to him, holding his shoulders in gentle hands.

'We're going to win, right? We'll all be alright?'

Wade pulls him into a tight hug and Peter buries his face in the man's hoodie, he feels the scarred cheek rest against the top of his head. 'I wish I could promise you the world, Baby Boy,' he answers quietly, 'but all I can do is promise to do everything I can to keep you safe and make sure you've got your team by the end of all this shit.'

Peter smiles and turns to look up at him. 'As long as you've got my back, Wade,' he tells him, running a hand up to cup his cheek, 'we can take on anything.'

'Just don't go anywhere I can't follow?'

'I'll do my best,' Peter promises, pressing a soft, quick kiss to Wade's lips and pulling away before anyone can stumble across them.


Steve walks in to the common area and immediately regrets the decision as a cackling Peter dodges around him, just out of Bucky's grasp; then proceeds to disappear.

'Stop doing that!' the dark haired man roars, glaring at the smirking god of mischief sitting at the breakfast bar. 'He's bad enough as it is without you encouraging him!'

'What on Earth?' Steve asks out loud.

'Peter and Loki have joined forces,' Sam sighs from the sofa, 'and are taking great delight in playing pranks on Bucky.'

'I hope you weren't the one to start this,' Steve raises an eyebrow at the god.

'No that was me,' Peter reappears in front of Steve, making him jump back in fright, he's dangling upside down from the ceiling from one of his webs. 'Mr Loki was explaining how he keeps the Tesseract hidden and I asked if it was possible to make someone invisible and then… well, I may have got a little carried away. But you've got to hear some of the stuff he can do, it's amazing! And have you heard the story about when he turned Mr Thor into a toad?'

'Pete please I need something to drink and some form of breakfast before we start on this,' Steve pleads, rubbing his temples. 'And please stop pranking Bucky, he comes and moans to me.'

'Hey!' Bucky tries to tackle him, but Steve's too quick and dances out of the way.

'Alright children,' Tony says as he enters, 'settle down please, I haven't had my morning coffee.'

'Tony are you alright?' Peter frowns as he watches the inventor walk to the kitchenette. 'You're walking funny.'

Steve tries not to blush as he follows Tony to the kitchenette and takes two mugs out of the cupboard; he can feel Bucky's grin blazing into his back as he goes.

'I'm fine, Pete,' the inventor replies.

'Really? Because you really don't look like you are. You haven't been over-working yourself have you? Because the doctors said you haven't recovered enough yet and you don't want to-'

'Please find his off button,' Steve mutters to him.

'-set back your recovery because you know how impatient you get with doctors and-'

'Alright, Baby Boy,' Wade laughs, standing from his chair and grabbing hold of the webslinger and throwing him over his shoulder, 'you and me are going for some sparring.'

'Wade put me down!' Peter protests as the laughing mercenary carries him out of the room. 'Wade!'

'Oh thank god for Deadpool,' Steve sighs.

Tony chuckles next to him. 'Bet you'd never thought you'd say that.'

'So Steve,' Sam laughs, 'how does it feel to be outed by a teenager?'

Steve just groans and tries to ignore his two friends laughing at him. Tony puts an arm around his waist and offers him a freshly brewed mug of coffee. 'Look on the bright side, babe,' he says, grinning up at him, 'at least they know you didn't disappoint.'

'Seriously?' Steve just rolls his eyes, unable to keep the small smile from his face as he pulls Tony against his side.

'Alright I do not want to hear anymore!' Sam protests. 'Has no one realised that Deadpool just carried Peter out and no one stopped him?'

Steve just laughs as Bucky's eyes go wide and he leaps after the pair. He sees Loki shake his head and sigh. 'I don't think I shall ever fully understand mortals.'


'Come in,' Natasha calls, not looking up from her tablet as she scans some of the information Strange and Wong had brought over; Tony had gotten FRIDAY to scan all the books and upload them to the facility's framework so they could read it in their own time.

'Uh, hi,' Bruce says, pushing the door closed behind him. 'I can come back if you're busy?'

'Just reading over some of the information Strange brought with him,' she replies, setting the tablet down on her table. 'You alright?'

'I-uh,' Bruce looks uncomfortable, fidgeting and not looking straight at her, 'I just wanted to talk to you. We haven't really had chance since I got back.'

'There's been plenty of talking going on,' she replies, raising an eyebrow, 'and I'm pretty sure we've both been involved.'

'I mean I want to talk to you about some things that are just between us,' he tries again, finally looking up at her.

'Is there anything to discuss about us, Bruce?' she asks, defensive as old feelings were fighting their way to the surface. 'Last I remember you and Hulk decided you were better off alone.'

'I'm sorry,' he looks like he means it. 'You deserve better than me, Natasha, better than a man who turns into a monster, even Hulk agreed which is why he took us away after Sokovia. But every time I came back into my right mind I'd think of you, and I couldn't stop-'

'So you thought you'd just walk back in and expect to pick up from when you ran off?'

'No,' he shakes his head, 'no I don't expect anything from you, Natasha. I came to ask for a chance.'

Natasha blinks, trying to hold back her emotions just as she'd been taught all those years ago. It's a rare occasion she's glad for her training.

'Natasha?'

'Maybe,' she replies, looking back down at her tablet.

'I-I honestly didn't expect that much,' he admits. 'Do you, uh, do you want me to leave?'

'Have you looked through any of the texts Strange brought over yet?'

'Uh, no, I was going to do that today. Been trying to get my head around everything else that's been happening. Not to mention the fact that Tony and Steve are apparently now an item and the team seems to have adopted a teenager that's half spider with a preference for nutcases.'

'Grab the chair and see if you can help me understand some of this,' she says, gesturing to the spare chair in her room. 'I'm wondering if the stones produce some form of radiation when their power is used.'

'If they did it could give us an idea of how they're powered,' he replies, dragging over the piece of furniture. 'We may be able to find a way to neutralise it and possibly destroy one of the stones; then Thanos wouldn't be able to collect them all and complete his plan.'

'But couldn't that be potentially dangerous?'

'Well, that all depends,' he says, and she sees the second he slips into his scientist mode and gets comfortable.


A/N: Hi everyone. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it's the penultimate one of this story and then I'll be starting to post the sequels. Thank you so much to everyone who has stuck with this story, and I hope it's proving worth the time to read it.

Do let me know what you think in the reviews. Thank you so much to everyone who has left reviews, I really do appreciate your feedback. I know there's a couple I still need to respond to so keep an eye out for those replies soon.

Love to you all,

L x

As always here's your sneak peek:

Thor turns to his brother. 'Try not to get up to too much mischief while I'm gone.'

'No promises,' Loki grins, 'I seem to have an accomplice who enjoys tricks as much as I do.'

'Yes that's what I'm afraid of,' Thor sighs, glancing over at Peter who at least looks sheepish. 'Take care, brother.'

'I told you,' Loki responds, placing a hand on the taller man's shoulder, 'that the sun will shine on us again, Thor.'

'Perhaps it already has,' the blond responds, copying the gesture.