Dean didn't sleep that night. He sat with his back on their door, standing guard for Sammy. When he felt sure that everyone in the house was asleep, he went to work.

Dean grabbed the salt, warding book and a sharpie marker and went to protect the house from the outside monsters.

Only, every window sill had salt in its casing. Every door had a mat in front of it that had warding burnt into the bottom. The whole house was already protected.

That must have been what Mr Coulson was talking about 'everything you'll need to be safe is already in place'.

Son of a bitch that guy is good.

Dean still double checked every corner of the house to make sure nothing was tampered with or drawn incorrectly. He didn't find anything of the sort.

By the time he returned to their room, it was five o'clock in the morning. Exhausted, Dean crawled into bed and set his eyes on their door, determined to protect Sammy.

A couple hours later, the boys woke to a knock on their door and Tony telling them that French toast was waiting for them in the kitchen.

"Mornin' boys!" Tony called out from behind his tablet. The man was sitting next to a coffee machine in the kitchen as Sam and Dean made their way down the stairs.

"Where is everyone?" Sam asked, rubbing his eyes.

"We decided to let you two sleep in. Steve is driving everyone to school so it's just the three of us here at the moment." Tony put down the tablet and pushed his glasses up to rest in his serious case of bed head. "Grab some French toast! Have a seat!"

Sam tilted his head. "What's French toast?"

Tony's eyes sparkled as his face lit up. "You're in for a treat!" He ushered the boys to sit at the breakfast nook and plated up two helpings of toast.

"Steve and I took cooking classes in Paris for our fifth anniversary, well, not so much cooking classes as we had breakfast at a bistro and begged the chef until he taught us how to make it." The man set the plates in front of the boys along with the syrup. "Either way it's freaking delicious!"

The brothers dug in. Dean quickly started moaning at the taste and stuffed more into his mouth, giving Tony a thumbs up. Sam ate leisurely, pausing between mouth fulls to complement Tony.

"I'm back!" Steve called from the front entrance, the jangling of keys following.

"In the kitchen!" Tony called back.

"Tony was just telling us about how you learned to make French toast!" Sam exclaimed as Steve walked in.

"Really? He told you about how he bought out a restaurant and bribed the chef?" Steve smiled and hugged Tony from behind.

"Hey! I'll have you know he was very happy to be bribed!" Tony teased his husband. Before pushing him away and gathering the empty plates.

Steve sat at the table beside Dean, leaving Tony to sit next to Sam. "Okay, so here's what's gonna happen today." Steve addressed the boys. "Right now we're going lay out the house rules and you can ask any questions you want. We promise to be completely honest with everything we tell you. We'd also like to know more about the two of you, so we'll ask you some questions too, but know that you do not have to answer questions you don't want to. We would prefer you to say 'I don't want to tell you' over you lying to us. After that, the entire day is yours! Go swimming, check out the library, play video games, go crazy! Understand?"

The boys nodded. "Awesome! Let's start with curfew!" Tony chimed in. "Sam, you're not allowed out without someone else and you need to be back before eight. Dean, you need to be back by nine thirty on school nights, ten thirty on weekends. Both of you need to text us where you'll be going and if you know what time you'll be back. Speaking of!" Tony reached into his pocket and pulled out two Starkphones.

"These are for you. Both are programmed with the family's numbers as well as Mr Wilson's and Mr Coulson's numbers. If there are any other numbers you'd like to add go right ahead." Tony explained, passing over the phones.

"These are your phones now. Do whatever you'd like with them. If for whatever reason you need to leave us, the phones will go with you." Steve assured the brothers.

Dean inspected the phone. "These are brand new. How much did they cost?"

Tony scoffed. "Like ten cents. I made them a couple days ago when we first found out you were coming."

"You...made..?" Dean was piecing the puzzle together. "Starktech. You create all the technology for Starktech. That's why you're so rich."

"Well it had to come from somewhere! Anyways, if you want any features on the phone just let me know and I'll make it happen." Tony winked at Dean playfully. Dean eyed Tony strangely.

"Alright, next. Bedtimes. Sam, in bed by nine, Dean, ten thirty on school nights, midnight on weekends. We don't care if you're asleep at those times but you need to be in bed. Read a book, do some homework, whatever you want as long as you're in bed." Tony continued.

"But we would prefer if you actually tried to sleep." Steve interjected.

This went on as the boys learnt rules about chores, homework and all other boring rules of the household. Dean zoned out as the two kept talking, aware that this was important, but running on such little sleep was starting to catch up.

"And everyone goes to therapy. That one is non-negotiable."

Dean sat up abruptly.

"What?"

"Therapy. Everyone goes. Depending on how much they need to go. For example Tony goes once every two weeks and I go once a week. Some of the kids go more often than that." Steve explained.

"You? Go for therapy?" The words were out of Deans mouth before he could stop them.

Steve smiled. "We do. I was a Captain in the army and saw a lot of hard stuff. I came back with Post Traumatic Stress."

"And I was kidnapped in Afghanistan and lived in a cave for a few months. I get panic attacks and live with anxiety." Tony offered. "Mental illness isn't something to push away or hide. It's a real part of us and everyone in this family has some need for help."

"I thought I was okay? That's what the doctor said." Sam asked, confused.

Tony and Steve smiled. "We still want you go. Moving around a lot can be really stressful, and sometimes it can help to have someone to just listen to you."

Sam shrugged. "Okay."

"Dean? Do you have any thoughts on this?" Steve asked tentatively.

Dean raised his brows in a silent question. "Me? Pfft. I have a lot to say on the matter, but nothing's gonna change your mind so why bother."

"Now that that's settled!" Tony pushed forward. "Is there anything you'd like to ask us?"

Over the next hour they learnt that the two men had been together for close to thirteen years, married for nine and they met when Tony was hosting a benefit for veterans. Thor was the first child they adopted, followed by Bruce and then a few years later Clint and Natasha. Thor has a half brother in Scandinavia that was almost beaten to death by Thor's father/Loki's step father and Steve and Tony have been fighting to get him to the states to adopt him as well.

They also learned that Thor has issues with aggression, Bruce has something called 'meltdowns', Natasha can get really scary sometimes when she thinks she's in danger and Clint will get scared if you talk with your hands when he's close by.

Dean picked out the specific traumas that most likely happened to each kid. Sam just took the information in stride, not bothering to wonder where the behaviour could've come from.

"Do you have anymore questions for us?" Steve asked.

Both Dean and Sam shook their heads no.

"Okay, then off you go! Explore the house! Let us know if there's anything you need or if you have any more questions!" Tony shooed then off, then reached for his husbands hand. "I think we got this."