August 4th, 2012, New York City, New York

Mandu was an excellent lab companion. Tony was loathe to admit, and he would deny it until his dying day, but he found himself looking forward to seeing the little furry interloper every afternoon when he finally managed to roll out of bed.

His days had become a bit of a blur, broken up only by the occasional requirement from Pepper to show his face in the outside world and the numbing nature of his extensive liquor collection. He always told himself he wouldn't be like his dad in that sense, but it seemed, with each day that passed with the dark cloud at the edge of his mind, he couldn't fight the way he wanted to. So he tried to focus on other things, on other vices that weren't so inherently toxic to his relationship and to his liver, and the best he could come up with was a truly staggering collection of Iron Man suits.

It started out as an entirely rational project.

He needed a suit that could survive in space.

And then he needed a suit that could fight the Hulk.

And then he needed a suit that was efficient underwater.

And then.

And then.

And then.

More and more, this need and that need, his collection grew until his lab was so full of parts and pieces it looked like a mechanical morgue.

The only living thing, apart from himself and the colony of mold growing on his dinner plate from two weeks before, was Mandu and Tony very much wanted to push the furry little booger away like everything else. But he just kept coming back. Every single day that Avery had been gone, Mandu showed up at the door of his lab just after he started his work, pawing to be let inside and smelling distinctly of old sausage, and the pair of them would begin again.

Tony turned around on his chair and stared at his latest suit, head tilted to the side and lips pursed.

"The pieces just aren't fitting together," He said, flinging it out into the void of his workspace with very little expectation of return. After a moment, a tiny little peep sound to his left. "Why would I switch th… No you're right. Again."

Mandu floated past him, still getting used to the power of his latest Iron Cat suit. Tony fully realized how crazy it might look from the outside, how concerning even, but he decided he didn't much care. It kept his mind from getting bogged down in all the muck. Besides, he had no intention whatsoever of arming the cat.

But a little propulsion technology never hurt anyone.

He reached his hand out and stopped Mandu in place, keeping the cat from floating towards the open flame on the other side of the lab. Moving his hand along the underside of the suit, he found the tiny little kill switch and flipped it, sending the cat plummeting to the floor. Tony scooped him up before he could hit.

"You're getting better," He complimented, smiling when Mandu leaned back against his stomach and made himself comfortable on his lap. "Tomorrow we can try the obstacle course again."

He rubbed the top of Mandu's head absentmindedly, getting lost in the screen in front of him once again. For the next few hours he flipped back and forth, going from suit to suit and back again. When his mind was buzzing and he felt like he couldn't see the screen straight long enough to focus, he switched to the collection of notebooks he found in the old nazi's apartment a few weeks back with Matt and Peter.

It was a scrawling mess of symbology and paranoia, somewhere between English and German, and gave him nothing save for the promise of finding something out on the next page.

If he could managed to puzzle his way through it, that is, and so far he had only made it about three pages.

It was maddening in ways he could not even begin to describe and he had chucked it across the room in frustration half a dozen times.

He thumbed through the pages, hardly noticing as the light of the day slipped away outside his window.

The door to his lab swooshed open and Tony, assuming it was Pepper, Happy, Rhodey, or some ungodly combination of the three, didn't bother to look up.

"It smells like teenager in here."

Natasha.

Tony snapped the notebook closed and shoved it into a box of spare rib plates. He didn't bother trying to school his features, fully aware that Natasha would see right through any attempt. But he did busy himself, taking special care to reposition Mandu so as to make it look like he was working on the littlest suit in his collection.

"It helps with the process," Tony said, turning around to face her as she picked her way through the labyrinth.

"Have you ever seen House of Wax?"

"If you're about the make comparisons…"

"Seems like I don't need to," She finished, bending down to scratch Mandu under the chin.

"So, do you have a reason for this visit?" Tony tried very hard to not be rude, but he always found it difficult when she was involved, duplicitous little fox that she was. He was offended by the very notion of her, offended by his own inability to see past a pretty face for what she actually was. He tried not to make the mistake again and had, in fact, eschewed any and all entanglements with the fairer sex except for Pepper, but he somehow managed to find himself right back in that place again.

He tried not to think about the fact that Avery might be the latest in a long line of poor decision making when it came to women, even if his involvement in her life was entirely devoid of any and all attraction.

"It's confirmed. The markings on the ground match."

"It took S.H.I.E.L.D. three weeks to confirm a bunch of chicken scratch on the ground matches? That's what our tax payers get? No wonder so many people don't like the government."

"So Bruce is in Perth. Pepper is back in Hong Kong. Jane went to London to teach for the semester. Peter is trying to be a college student. Avery and Steve are off world. And we're here."

"I never thought I would be the least cool of the cool kids, but here were are," Tony said, sharing a rare look of amusement with the assassin.

"Maybe you should head to California for a little bit." If it had been anyone else, he might have heard a little bit of concern in their voice. Instead, all he felt was a deep suspicion that bubbled up in his gut and tasted like ash in his mouth. He narrowed his eyes and watched as she looked around the overflowing lab. She took everything in, cataloging it with precision, before she looked back at him and did the same with his person. "A change of scenery can't hurt."

Again, there might have been concern.

But, even a murderous clock like her was right twice a day.

"Maybe," Tony said, looking around his lab. He could see it clearly, as he had always been able to do, but it seemed so much worse all of a sudden. He stood up, adjusting Mandu under his arm like a furry football, and stretched out his back. "I do hate New York in the fall."

"I do too," Natasha said, and Tony thought, for a brief moment, that something of an understanding passed between them.

"Back to field work?" Tony asked, making up his mind and beginning to pack up a few essentials. There was no sense in delaying it. Once he made a decision he hated to waffle around.

"Some of us have to keep the lights on. We can't all fuck off to another planet for an extended holiday."

"Realm, I think," Tony said, handing her the cat as he shoved three metal arms into a bag.

"Are you taking the cat?"

"Someone has to be a stable influence in his life since his parents completely abandoned him."

"You softie," Natasha said, stepping back to make room as Tony continued to pack in a flurry. "Have you figured out how to keep him from wandering while in the suit?"

"Is there anything you don't know?"

"Not much, no."

"Anyway, I wish I could say it's been a pleasure," He started, holding out his arms to take Mandu back. Natasha rolled her eyes and turned her back to him. She waved her hand and started to leave the lab. She paused by the door, turning ever so slightly so he was looking at her profile.

"I've got time before I head back to DC, I'll stop by and tell the kid."

She left without saying anything else, not that Tony expected her to. They weren't friends. He wouldn't even really consider them teammates. Trust was essential to forming such relationships and Tony was not entirely convinced she was even capable. He watched the back of her red hair until it was completely gone from sight. The moment he was sure she wasn't going to turn back around, he reached into the box of parts and grabbed the notebook, determined to get something out of all it's disturbed ramblings.

He shoved it into the bag of suit arms and looked down at Mandu, thankful that it was just the two of them again.

"Ready to go? We can stop for donuts on the way to the jet. If you behave, I might even let you steer for a little bit over some flyover states."

Peter Parker was embarrassingly easy to find. Natasha perched herself on the fire escape, lips quirked into a smirk as she watch Peter and his masked companion snarking back and forth in the alley below. Peter was only half changed into his bright blue and red uniform, looking very out of place and moderately insane as he talked to the man dressed fully in black.

Natasha leaned forward, wondering when it would be that he would finally notice.

If it went much longer, she would start to seriously worry about his fitness for field work.

"You don't see the conflict between beating the shit out of the skin tags of humanity and then offering them legal counsel the next day?"

A lawyer.

Natasha assumed this was Avery's mysterious man, Matt. Former man, she mentally corrected herself as she remembered the whiplash changes in the other woman's life. The man laughed, a deep graveling sound that piqued Natasha's interest and caused her to lean forward a little bit more.

"I think life is full of inherent contradictions."

Peter snorted and pulled on his mask, completing the ensemble. Natasha found it ostentatious and hardly conducive to actually fighting crime in city as cynical as New York, but it seemed to work for him and his brand of overzealous enthusiasm.

"So how long till you hear about your score?"

"A couple months at least," Matt said, walking over to the alley wall so he could use it to stretch out his muscles.

"Bummer."

Matt laughed again and began to swing his arms around. "We have to make it a short one, tonight."

"Why?" Peter asked, stretching out his own muscles. He did so with far less precision than Matt, although Natasha noticed he lacked the hitch to his muscles that the older man had.

"Because your classes start soon. You should be practicing balance now."

"I'm absolutely certain I've heard some saying about a pot and kettle before, but I just can't remember it."

"Yeah, yeah," Matt said, bending over at the waist to touch his toes.

Natasha decided she had creeped in the shadows long enough. She stood up, not bothering to conceal the sounds of her boots on the metal fire escape, and started to hop down.

"Who's there?" Peter asked, voice cracking ever so slightly before he covered it up with a cough. When he saw her bright red hair and smirk, he immediately relaxed and pulled off his mask. "How long have you been lurking?"

"Long enough. Who's your friend?"

"Chaperone," Matt corrected. "And if Peter's heartrate is anything to go on, I'm assuming you already know him in and out of uniform."

"I hate when you do that."

"Natasha Romanoff," She said, extending her hand.

Matt tilted his head down, a quirk to his lips. "Matt," He said after a moment, reaching out to return the gesture. He missed her hand at first, but quickly corrected, piquing Natasha's interest even more than it already was.

"Nice to meet you," She said, hand lingering in his for a moment before she pulled back. What little she could see of his face, she could tell he had a wicked jaw line, complete with stubble and a slight dip to his chin. She could see, instantly and a little alarmingly, why Avery had entertained her little charade for as long as she had.

The greater mystery to Natasha was why she had ended it at all.

Natasha could feel Peter watching them and when she turned to look at him, she saw his mouth popped open slightly. He looked back and forth between them.

"Tony is heading to California," Natasha said, ignoring the way Peter continued to gape between the two of them. "And you know Avery and Steve are off world. If you need something, me and Clint will be your contact points moving forward."

She stepped back and turned towards the open end of the alley. She paused, feeling a streak of something rocket through her as she felt a pair of eyes on her back. The teenage spiderling, she was indifferent towards. But the man. The man sparked something deep in her gut that she hadn't felt for a very long time and she was wildly curious to see just where it went.

After all, why shouldn't she.

She was meant to be something more now.

More than just the bloodthirsty assassin who haunted people's nightmares. She was meant to be on a team, part of a higher mission, and living her life outside the shadows that she had called home for so long.

Part of that was making friends.

And not just Clint. It meant actually being friends with Avery and Steve and Tony, if they would let her.

It meant maybe spending time with man for longer than a night and wanting him to know more than just her name in the process.

It meant staying in one place longer than the duration of a mission.

"You too, Matt."

She bit her lip and kept walking, fully confident in whatever effect she might have had. Only when she was sure she wouldn't be noticed did she look back and dare a glance at Matt one more time. She shoved her hands into her pockets and walked into the chaos of the city, relishing in the noise and the life in a way that wouldn't have been possible to her even one year before. Part of her wished there was someone there to share that revelation with, but a much greater part of her was thankful for the moment alone to cherish it for herself.

Thor slammed Steve into the ground, legs gripped tight around his waist. Their latest spar had been going on for near two hours without sign of stopping and Steve, so thankful for his increased endurance over the last few weeks, felt the wear and tear on his muscles building up to an unbearable level.

But he would not yield, not when watched by the Lady Sif and the Warriors Three, and not when he had the self-imposed honor of Earth resting squarely on his overly exhausted shoulders. So he grappled with Thor, hands slipping on the sweat on his friends shoulders as he twisted him around and shoved him face-down on the training ground dirt.

"Yield?" He asked, muscles flexing with the absolute soul-crushing effort of keeping the much stronger man incapacitated long enough to get the win.

"Never!" Thor shouted, voice slightly strained from under Steve's arms. Steve smiled, fully aware that that was the answer he would receive. They had done this dozens of times, trading wins back and forth, and neither of them had never given up once.

"He's won this round, Thor!" Volstagg called, mug of ale sloshing around dangerously. His face was already a bit red, as it always seemed to be, and he had long ago lost interest in their fight at the thirty minute mark. "Let him finish you off so we can move onto the revels of the evening."

Another thing Steve had noticed was the absolute constant need to party.

Win a spar? Revel.

Successful hunt? Revel.

Good deal at the market? Revel.

"Nonsense!" Fandral called, lively eyes focused on Steve. "There is no time limit on a good fight."

He continued to stare at Steve, eyes trailing over his arms, up to his face, and down his legs. It was endlessly unnerving at first, when he realized what was happening. He felt flustered, overwhelmed, and a little bit flattered. But most of all, he felt deeply uncomfortable when he realized why he was staring. The discomfort intensified tenfold when he realized that he did not mind as much as he might should have.

Using Steve's momentary distraction, Thor flipped him around and yanked one of Steve's arms behind his head. He pulled hard enough to cause Steve to cry out.

But he quickly refocused and reached behind him, pulling Thor over his shoulder. He punched him in the face, sending the Asgardian stumbling back for only a moment before he attacked again.

"Swipe his legs!" Sif yelled, still fully focused on the fight.

"Break his base," Hogun offered, voice calm and collected. But for all his quiet, he watched the spar like a hawk, taking in every move, every parry, and every hit. They were both bruised and bloody, covered in dirt, and unsteady on their feet, but to Hogun's eyes there was still an endless fight left in them both.

Thor punched his ribs and he hunched over, wheezing. Steve couldn't remember the last time he had his ass kicked as many times and in as many ways as he had over the last three weeks. One by one, bit by bit, the Warriors Three, Sif, and Thor had completely retooled his fighting techniques. They broke them down and were now in the process of building them back up. He knew he was making progress, but he wasn't quite there yet and he had the mosaic of bruises covering his body to prove it.

"Remember the move from last week, Captain!" Sif yelled, eyes sparking with something almost feral.

She was a terrifying woman on her best days and Steve had been on the receiving end of far too many of her lessons to question her judgement.

Steve let Thor get a hold of him from behind, crushing him under the strength of his arms. He went limp, feigning a little bit of pain even, with a dramatic flair that would make Avery proud if she could ever manage to extract herself from Frigga's lessons long enough to see, and slumped over slightly. Only when Thor loosened his grip, concern coloring his voice when he called his name, did Steve flip over him. Wrapping one arm around his neck and the other around his back, he pushed him to the ground and pressed his knee to his neck.

"Yield?" Steve asked, holding eye contact with Thor as he struggled to push him off. He scraped at his knee, fingers digging into the muscles for a moment before he finally gave up and tapped his thigh.

"Yield."

Steve smirked and pulled back, holding out a hand to help him back to his feet.

"Pay up, Hogun," Fandral called, crossing the small training ground to join the two of them. He kept his gaze on Steve, now openly watching him as Sif handed him and Thor tankards of water. Steve tried to ignore him, just as he tried to ignore the heat in his gut every time he caught Fandral opening watching him, but it was becoming harder and harder, as of late.

Why that was, Steve had no idea.

But, perhaps, given how free and open all Asgardians seemed to be, it would be worth asking Thor.

He considered asking Avery. They did share a room after all and she was the closest friend he had had since Bucky, but it just felt wrong to ask her about it.

Why that was, Steve also had no idea.

He took a large sip of water and glanced at Fandral, thankful that his face was already flushed when he saw the look he was giving him.

Asgard was transformative, he had come to discover even after being there for such a short time, but he wasn't sure he was ready to begin to process something that different.

How could he?

How could he even begin to fathom why it was that he didn't hate when Fandral stared, or why it felt natural, or why he didn't feel wrong about it even in the slightest.

More pressing still, how could he even begin to fathom why – ever since arriving – he hadn't thought about Peggy even once. His mind was a constant flow of Avery, and sparing, and staring at the stars, and Avery again. She had begun to dominate his mind more and more and if he wasn't careful, she would start to notice.

"Steve!"

As if summoned by his thoughts, she appeared at the edge of the training grounds. She came around the same time every day after finishing her lessons with Frigga. He could count on her like clockwork to arrive just before dusk. But over the last week, she had shown up later and later. At first, he thought nothing of it, used to her unexpected behavior even from their time on Earth. But then he started to notice the distant look on her face and the way she wrung her fingers together.

Today, she was later than yesterday and her hair was a tangled mess, like she had been running her hands through it.

His stomach dropped, but he kept his face deceptively neutral.

She waved at him, smiling as bright as ever, even if the gesture didn't reach her eyes.

Steve handed the water back to Fandral and walked over to her, brows furrowed.

"Hey," He said, suddenly very aware of how sweaty he was once she was barely an arm's length away. "Good day?"

"Yeah," She said, voice distracted. "You?"

"Yeah. Is everything okay? You're shaking," Steve said, aware of the other five watching them. Thor, now fully recovered from the minor humiliation of losing to him, made his way over to them. He gestured for the others to stay back, smiling jovially at Avery as he came to stand next to Steve.

"Hey Thor," She smiled up at the taller man and, surprising them both, stepped forward to give him a brief hug. It was lightning quick and over before either Steve or Thor could process it. But it seemed to be enough for Thor and he was practically beaming when she stepped back. He looked down at her, opening his mouth to say something, before something caught his attention over her shoulder.

"Cousin!"

"Yes?" She said, looking at Steve in confusion. Steve shrugged.

"Thor!" Another voice called, deeper than any Steve had ever heard before. It bounced around in his head like music, lingering far past when the name was spoken.

Avery noticed it too and turned, brows scrunched together.

Her mouth popped open when she saw the man rushing towards them.

It was her.

Not her, her. But her in male form. The man was tall and slender, with deep brown skin and eyes of pure molten gold, but Steve was certain he was staring at Avery in multiple.

"You see it…"

"Yeah," He said, truly uncomfortable with just how much the man looked like her.

"Baldur!" Thor boomed, pulling the man into a tight embrace. He dragged him back and planted him in front of Avery and Steve – both of whom hadn't yet managed to close their mouths – and practically shoved him towards them. "Avery, this our cousin, Baldur!"

Baldur looked at Steve first, doing a thorough assessment of him before he quickly moved onto Avery. His golden eyes, like hers but far more intense, swept over her.

"You are Fulla's daughter?" He asked, voice somehow reminding Steve of tinkling bells dropped down sic octaves.

"Yes," She said slowly.

"Then my mother was her sister. I have so missed her."

Avery frowned, glancing over at Thor the moment she heard the man rhyme. Steve, for his part, had learned not question the ever increasing oddities that were presented to him on Asgard. A man who spoke in rhymes was only marginally weird when compared to everything else. Steve smiled at the man and extended his hand forward.

"I'm Steve, Avery's friend."

"Well met, Steve."

"Come, I think drinks are in order. I want to hear about your time abroad," Thor said, clapping Baldur around the shoulder and pulling him towards the table of food and drink on the other side of the training grounds.

Avery lingered, turning to follow after them, before she paused.

She grabbed Steve's arm and stopped him from moving, fingernails digging in. He lifted his hand and grabbed hers, unlatching it from his arm so he could lace their fingers together. Perhaps it was selfish of him, to take advantage of her need for physical contact, but he couldn't help but reach out for her whenever possible.

He couldn't very well put into words how he felt.

Not that he understood much of it for himself.

But he could hold her hand on occasion.

If it meant more to him than to her, then so be it. For now, it would be enough until he could put into words what the rest of it meant.

"I think I did something very stupid."

Something pricked at the back of his neck – panic, he thought- and he turned to look at her in full.

"What? What happened?"

"I need to show you something."

Character growth for everybody! Tony Stark is a cat dad! Natasha is crushing on Matt right away! Steve might like men?! What fun for everybody!

As a side note, I think it's important for Steve and Avery to experience growth that is not based on each other in the slightest. It is not healthy for building a long term relationship for everything to be shared between them. Her time with Frigga and his time with the Warriors Three and Sif is important for them to both grow as people so that they can later grow together.

Reviews are always appreciated! See you soon!