"You okay?" Steve brushes his fingertips against your cheek bone, and you nod, leaning against the car.
"Yeah," You give him a smile, "I'm just a little nervous about seeing Stark. He's not my biggest fan these days."
"I know the feeling," Steve sighs.
"At least you weren't directly involved in the murder of his parents," You remind him; the comment was supposed to sound light, but it comes out stiff.
"Hey," Steve grabs your arms, "You didn't have a choice. Either of you." He presses a light kiss to your forehead, "Stark will realize that eventually."
Tony's face is guarded as you all climb out of the car; he stands on the porch with a little brown haired girl who he quickly sends into the house.
Your eyes don't leave his face as he listens to Scott's plan and you know by the end of it he'll refuse. At this revelation the oddest feeling comes over you, and you can't quite place it.
"Now, we know what it sounds like," Scott tacks on at the end when he notices Tony's expression.
"Tony, after everything you've ever seen, is anything really impossible?" Steve asks gently.
Tony stares at him for a moment, his expression unreadable, and then he turns back to Scott, "Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck scale," he says, "Which then triggers the Deutsch proposition. Can we agree on that?" No one answers. Satisfied, Tony walks into the house, before returning with a platter of drinks. "In layman's terms," he continues without breaking his stride, "It means you're not coming home."
"I did," Scott argues.
"No, you accidentally survived," Tony tells him firmly, "It's a billion to one cosmic fluke. And now you want to pull off a… What do you call it?"
"A time heist?" Scott sounds hesitant.
"Yeah, a time heist," Tony says, "Of course, why didn't we think of this before? Oh, because it's laughable? Because it's a pipedream?"
"The stones are in the past," Lang argues, "We can go back and get them."
"We can snap our own fingers," Natasha adds, "We can bring everyone back."
"Or screw it up worse than he already has, right?" Tony snaps.
"I don't believe we would," Steve says gently.
"Gotta say, sometimes I miss that giddy optimism," Stark says, "However high hopes won't help if there's no logical, tangible way for me to safely execute said time heist. I believe the most likely outcome would be our collective demise."
"Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel," Lang explains, "That means no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events-"
"I'm gonna stop you right there Scott," Tony cuts in, "Are you seriously telling me that your plan to save the universe is based on Back to the Future?"
"No," Lang says, face flushed.
"Good," Tony says, "You had me worried there. 'Cause that'd be horse shit. That's not how quantum physics works."
"Tony… We have to take a stand," Nat tells him.
"We did stand," Tony says cooly, "And yet here we are."
"I know you got a lot on the line," Lang interrupts, "You got a wife, a daughter. But I lost someone very important to me. A lot of people did. And now, now we have a chance to bring her back. Bring everyone back. And you're telling me that you won't even-"
"That's right Scott," Tony cuts in, "I won't even. I got a kid."
As if on cue, the young girl runs into the room to her dad, who scoops her into his arms.
"Mommy told me to come and save you," She tells him.
"Good job, I'm saved," Tony turns back to look at you all, "I wish you'd come here to ask me something else. Anything else. Honestly I… I missed you guys, it was… Oh, and table's set for seven."
"Tony, I get it," Steve tries one more time, "And I'm happy for you. I really am. But this is a second chance."
"I got my second chance right here," Tony tells him, "Cap, I can't roll the dice again. If you don't talk shop you can stay for lunch."
As the others walk back to the car you linger behind for a moment, hesitantly. "Tony, I-"
"Save it kid," He tells you, "I know. I'm sorry too. I was out of line."
"Oh," You say surprised, "I wasn't expecting that."
"Yeah well," Tony sighs, running a hand through his hair. You can tell your visit has rattled him. "So tell me, what do you think of this plan?'
You glance over your shoulder where Steve stands, leaning against the driver's side door waiting for you. "I got my second chance too," Your words are barely a whisper, "We both made it through, mostly in one piece. What are the chances of that happening again?"
"You and the Capsicle, huh? Nobody saw that coming," He rolls his eyes, "This is what you do. You take him, and you find a little place like this, and you forget all of this. That's your happy ending. Too bad he's a stubborn old bastard, huh?" You smile and Tony wraps his arms around you, "Take care of yourself."
"You too," You look around one last time, "You got a good thing here Tony, hold onto it."
"Everything okay?" Steve asks as you climb into the car and you nod. "We're going to go see Banner, see if we can get him on board."
"Banner?" You ask slowly, "Steve, if Tony is saying it's impossible, what is Banner going to do?"
"It's worth a shot," he pulls the car away, and you watch Tony's house disappear in the rearview mirror, "Whatever it takes, right?"
"Right," You echo without looking at him, "Whatever it takes."