One by one the avengers gathered for family dinner on floor 71. As they entered the floor they were greeted with a packed table of cranberry-orange roast ducklings, mashed potatoes, meatless meatballs, oven roasted asparagus, deviled eggs, and various drinks to choose from. It was a smorgasbord of mostly homemade offerings. The whole floor was full of warm and comforting smells that felt like a childhood home after a difficult week at school.

Though as the Avengers showed up the atmosphere began to subtlety change. The air seemed to grow dense with anticipation for the confrontation most of them knew would be taking place momentarily.

Clint grabbed a beer from the fridge and cracked it open before sitting down. But he didn't dare take a sip till Natasha arrived and sat down next to him.

Once Natasha sat down she reached for Clint's hand under the table. She gave it a gentle squeeze and rubbed at his knuckles.

Bruce brewed a cup of tea while he waited for everyone to arrive and for the dinner to start.

Loki was the last to arrive. He hadn't meant to be. In actual fact he had meant to leave Tea and Potions early. But he had also wanted to make a good impression. He had been living in the tower for several months at this point and had never been invited to the found family dinner. He didn't know what the customs for such things were and he didn't want to arrive empty handed. Instead he closed the shop early by at least an hour and he set to work combining sugar, syrup, and a hint of magic till it sort of resembled an airy candy he had enjoyed in his youth.

Tony had gotten to dinner about two minutes before Loki had. And he could sense something was coming. Perhaps it was the extra place setting that confirmed his boyfriend had in actual fact been invited for the first time ever. Perhaps it was the silence that permeated the room. How he had walked in and it felt like they were waiting for the room to explode. The tension was practically crackling. But before he had time to adjust and figure out what to do, Loki arrived.

The elevator dinged, the doors slid open, and Loki stepped onto floor 71. He glanced around and passed a tentative smile to Tony. "I wanted to...thank you for inviting me and-" Loki gently cut himself off. He contemplated saying something about how they allowed him to stay in the tower. Instead he said, "I brought some sweets for later." As he said that he put them on a spare table against a wall so they wouldn't be in the way during dinner.

Loki and Tony were the last to sit down and they made certain to grab two seats next to each other.

Clint was the one to break through the sounds of dinner being served. Over the gentle scraping of silverware against bowls and plates Clint asked, "So are you two dating now or what?"

"So what if we are," Tony snapped back at Clint. "So what if Loki did some bad things in his past."

"He-"

"Yeah yeah. I already know the spiel, birdbrain. It's the same arguments you've been giving for months for anything that connects back to Loki. But here's the thing. Loki isn't the same person who hurt you. He's not some merchant of death. Hell, even if he was, I already held that title and you seem pretty fine with being around me or have you just been using me for the tech!"

Steve tried to cut in, "I had thought we were going to be at least a little subtle about this but I guess not. Tony we are not using you. I think you are a good person with or without the tech. Barton just seemed a bit concerned over the legality-"

Everyone stopped their back and forth arguing when Loki stood up and started walking toward the elevator. He carefully pushed the button and waited patiently for the doors to slide open. Loki walked in and only looked at the control panel, focusing on finding the button for his floor, watching as the number 77 lit up and listening to the whoosh of the doors.

"Well that could have gone better," Bruce muttered as he stood up to put the kettle back on. The sound of his chair scraping against the wooden floor was the loudest sound in the room.

The rest of the room seemed to wait with baited breath as Tony stood up.

Tony shook his head and gripped the chair like it was a cane. "If my dating Loki puts the team in danger that would be one thing. But as far as I'm concerned you're bringing this up because you don't like him. You didn't like it when I let him live here so of course you wouldn't approve of him having someone who cares. Someone who actually wants to support him. Let alone the fact that he supports me just as much." Tony let out the longest sigh as he tried to gather his thoughts. He couldn't explain everything and a part of him did not want to so instead he said, "Even if you don't trust or believe Loki I would hope that you would trust me to know what I'm doing. I'm not some blushing bride. We are just two people who like to sleep together, just sleeping, so the nightmares don't show up as often. And Clint, if you can't accept that Loki lives here. If you can't accept that sometimes he and I share a bed. Then I think it might be best if you leave."

Before Clint could make a comeback Tony turned away. The elevator doors were open by the time he reached them and the number 77 was already lit up for him. Once the doors closed he thanked Jarvis for the efficiency.