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Title: Assembling the Avengers – Living at Stark Tower

Disclaimer: All rights concerning the Avengers reserved to Marvel. This fanfiction on the other hand is entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.

Warnings: m/m, Canon Divergent Post-Avengers (2012), Team as Family, families of choice, adoption, fluff, hurt/comfort, PTSD, explicit intercourse, anal, oral, m/f, f/f

Main Pairing: Bucky/Tony

Side Pairings: Hope/Darcy, Bruce/Jane, Clint/Natasha, Rhodey/May, Happy/Pepper

Marvel Characters: Anthony 'Tony' Stark, James 'Bucky' Barnes, Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanova, Thor Odinson, Jane Foster, Darcy Lewis, Hope van Dyne, James 'Rhodey' Rhodes, Sam Wilson, Sharon Carter, Katherine Keener, Harley Keener, Gwen Stacy, Miles Morales, Edward 'Ned' Leeds, Peter Parker, May Parker, Pepper Potts, Happy Hogan, Maria Hill

Summary: After the battle of New York, Tony invites the Avengers to live with him in Stark Tower. Everything evolves from there on out. Living together in the tower changes the team-dynamic, changes the fate of the Avengers and how their line-up grows differently over time.

Assembling the Avengers

Living at Stark Tower

Chapter 2: Trip and Bobby

Living at the Avengers Tower – as it had officially been renamed about a month after the Avengers had moved in – was an experience in itself. Maria was their official liaison with SHIELD at the beginning and she had been in charge of decorating the Headquarters floor. They kept the quin-jet there in the hanger, had the meeting hall on the same floor, with conference rooms and offices.

The Avengers found a nice kind of routine together too. Obviously, not all of them were always staying at the Avengers Tower. Clint, Natasha and Steve were still on SHIELD's payroll and went on their own frequent missions, Thor sometimes left for Asgard.

Still, their new system of living together and working together was beneficial to them all. One wasn't alone with their own Big Bad of the week anymore and they could, in case of an attack somewhere in the city, match their skills to the problem at hand.

On top of that, there were the clear perks of living at the tower, the greatest high-tech building in existence. If one manged the technology, that was. One person who was truly struggling with that was Clint. Every morning, Clint was fighting with the toaster. There was absolutely no other way to describe it. Natasha sat at the table, watching in amusement how Clint tried to put toast into the toaster and failed. She sat next to Bruce, who was reading the newspaper and only paying a quarter of mind to the spies. Thor was drinking a large, cooled glass of ale, laughing heartedly as he watched his fellow Avenger fighting against the 'puny machine'. When Steve entered the kitchen, Clint's hair was singed and he looked all the part of someone who had received an electric shock.

"What's... going on here?", asked Steve cautiously, watching Clint glare at the toaster.

"This—This thing attacked me", hissed Clint and kicked it.

"What in the world do you think you're doing to Bobby?!"

The sudden and angry voice startled them, even Bruce dropped his newspaper. It was... actually, it was the first time they saw Tony that angry, not counting the incident on the helicarrier when Steve and Tony had edged on, influenced by the staff. All of a sudden, Tony was in the middle of the kitchen and cradling the toaster to his chest like it was a puppy.

"...Bobby?", echoed Bruce curiously, pushing his glasses up.

"The toaster", growled Tony, patting the toaster that clicked a few times in reply. "Oh, that fiend. Barton, no more bread for you if you can't respect Bobby. Go eat cereals."

"Bobby?", repeated Clint this time, looking incredulously at the genius. "Bobby the toaster?"

Tony patted the toaster a last time before turning to make himself a coffee. "Burner of Bread. Bob. In my defense, I was a kid when I first invented and named him. Bobby here is mark 23."

"You mean to say your machine is sentient?", asked Thor in awe.

Tony paused, holding the mug of coffee barely beneath his lips. "You moved in a month ago, into a talking house. I have a suit that can fly and fire lasers. How does it surprise you that the toaster has a personality? I'm not sure about sentient. To an extend, yes. Not to the same as Jarvis though. Jarvis is one of his kind. All others are more on a... lower level."

"Thank you, sir", chimed Jarvis in.

"All others?", repeated Natasha, eyeing the kitchen warily.

"Well, you apparently already met Trip and she seems to like you", replied Tony, indicating the coffee in Natasha's hand. "Trip's picky. If you insult her, she can make your coffee very disgusting. Be nice to her and she gives it to you just the way you love it."

"Ah", nodded Natasha, turning toward the red coffee-machine. "Thank you... Trip."

To her surprise, the coffee-machine clicked its button a couple times and it actually sounded happy. Or were they just going crazy? Steve slowly sat down, dazed by this level of genius. Since he had woken up, he had gotten used to the advanced technology and when he and the other Avengers had moved in here, he had expected the technology to be superior to what normal people had. He had thought what he had seen on the surface over the past few weeks had been it. But this? This exceeded all expectations. For a brief moment, he contemplated getting himself a coffee. Then he decided that if he wanted to live here, he needed to get along with the machines and get used to Tony's brand of craziness. It made sense, in a way. Tony was a lonely guy – for all the affairs he always had, for how popular he was and how many admirers and business alliances he had, he only had three real friends. Rhodey, Pepper and Happy. No family, no one else he trusted. That was, before he had the Avengers. Steve was determined to change things for the better. Not just for Tony, but for them all. Bruce had no one, Thor's family was on another planet, Clint and Natasha only had one another. But this – living together, being a team – it was the beginning of something more. It was the beginning of what could be their chance at having a family, in each other.

"Hello, Trip. It's nice to make your acquaintance", stated Steve, feeling only slightly odd about talking to a machine. "Would you be so kind to make me a coffee?"

The coffee-machine made a sound that was high-pitched and sounded happy, soon followed by the dripping of dark-brown brew. Steve cast a sideways glance at Tony, who was caressing the handle of the fridge with his thumb. Taking a page out of Tony's book, Steve decided to lay his hand on top of the coffee-machine and rub it gently. It chirped in reply, making Tony laugh.

"Trip the coffee-machine?", asked Bruce with a small smile, raising one eyebrow.

"Technologically Reinforced Intelligence Program. I perfected Bobby and the others after I accomplished Trip. My little pride and joy", cooed Tony, patting the coffee-machine. "She seems to like you, Cap. Maybe you should let Cap handle your breakfast, Barton."

"How do you... I mean, you seem to understand them", questioned Bruce intrigued.

"Well, it's been years. I created Trip in high school. You learn to understand the fine differences in clicks and squeaks with time, I guess", shrugged Tony with a frown.

Clint started laughing loudly. "You're like a Disney-princess, but instead of woodland critters, you talk to machines... You don't need mice to do your laundry, you just sing to your washing machine!"

Tony glowered at Clint until the sink suddenly decided to spray Clint with cold water, causing him to yelp and jump. Now it was the turn of the other Avengers to laugh and snicker.

/break\

"Would you make me a coffee, ple~ease?"

Natasha rolled her eyes and turned her head enough to look at the blonde next to her on the bed. Clint was using his puppy-dog eyes. He had switched to going out to get himself a coffee weeks ago, but they had been on a long and exhausting mission until roughly two AM last night. She could imagine that he had no energy to go to the next Starbucks and get himself something to energize him. Rolling fully onto her side so she could face him properly, she gave him a deadpan look and shook her head. She wasn't getting out of this bed for the next few hours either.

"That is not gonna happen, Clint", stated Natasha. "If you can't get along with Trip, you don't get coffee. I'm not going to betray her by aiding you. If she finds out, I'll end up suffering the same disgusting brew like you. I have no idea why you can't get along with the kitchen."

Clint pouted and turned around so his back was facing his partner in all senses of the word. It was completely not his fault. Those machines were against him, that was all. It was all Tony's fault.

"You are the meanest", huffed Clint like it was the worst insult on Earth.

Natasha chuckled fondly. She admired his childlike attitude, it was refreshing in their line of work. Granted, at times she wished he'd lay off the pranks some, because no one wanted the Hulk to trash their living room. Still, Clint often found the gloomiest situations and managed to lighten the mood with one of his pranks or his sassy comments. It didn't surprise her at the least that Clint and Tony were the best friends and the worst enemies. Depending on if they sassed each other or if they teamed up on an unsuspecting victim. Mostly that victim turned out to be Steve. Because after a few months, even Clint had learned that pranking Bruce could result in an angry Hulk and no one wanted an angry Hulk against them. Natasha was out of question, because aside from Natasha knowing too many ways to kill a person without a weapon, much less with the aid of one, Clint also knew he'd be sleeping on the couch for months if he dared to prank her (never mind that technically he had his own floor, he just preferred to sleep in Nat's). Thor was critical. He was like a naive, big puppy sometimes and then even Clint and Tony felt bad about pranking him. That only left Steve and Steve had learned to take it all in good humor. Natasha was living in a kindergarten. The worst thing? She actually enjoyed it. She had never felt as alive as here with the Avengers. She had always been lonely – the name Black Widow was an earned one. After the mission was over, she was alone. Not anymore. She came home to... to a family. The only family she had ever truly known. To comforting pancakes made by Captain America, the sound of witty banter between Clint and Tony, a gentle and not prying conversation with Bruce, the comforting words of praise coming from Thor who loved to point out that she was a mighty lady warrior, worthy of the ranks of the Valkyries. It felt good, not being a cold-blooded assassin but doing good.

"I'll go and get breakfast. Are you coming with me?", inquired Natasha as she got up, looking at Clint for a moment before adding. "I'll even make you toast. I'm sure Bob won't mind."

Clint perked up and jumped off the bed, following the female spy to their elevator and up to the Common Area. Thor was sprawled out on the couch, snoring loudly. He could sleep in his bed, or even in the living room of his own quarters, but Natasha understood. After she and Clint had returned last night, their first destination had been the Common Area too, where they had been glad to find Bruce and Tony just emerging from the Headquarters. They had been in the middle of some discussion about their latest project, getting their probably fifth pot of coffee for the day. Though those plans had been canceled when they saw Natasha and Clint. The four of them had moved to the living room and just lounged together. It was a kind of tradition that had formed rather quickly. When someone returned from a not-team mission, they'd gather together. To enforce the feeling of coming home, to make sure the others knew they weren't alone anymore. It was a good feeling. Natasha filled the toaster while Clint got out three plates and they relocated to the living room.

"Thor honey, breakfast", chimed Clint high-pitched.

"Not yet, I am indulging in a fantastic dream", groaned Thor and turned over.

Natasha grinned amused as she settled down to eat breakfast. "Not your wife. Come on. Breakfast."

The god of thunder grunted and cracked one eye open, looking at the two spies. He had come to consider them his Midgardian family and he valued them no less than his Asgardian family. Stretching to get rid of all the kinks in his spine, he sat up. Buttered toast and different kinds of marmalade were set out on the table in front of him. Surely no feast to celebrate the victorious battle he had just fought, but the company made it worthy enough. The hunger too. And when Clint got out the hidden boxes of Pop Tarts, Thor's face lit up in joy.

"Why are you all already awake? Weren't you guys on missions? Shouldn't you still be asleep?"

Thor turned his head to look at their two brilliant friends. Tony looked bewildered as he saw them all sitting together and eating breakfast. By the looks of it, the two scientist hadn't left their lair since Thor had left for Svartalfheim to aid his dwarven friends in battle. Tony and Bruce were still wearing the same clothes as they had when Thor had left – which, unlike for Asgardians, seemed to be unusual. He understood that their brilliant minds could get easily distracted so both, though Tony more so than Bruce, tended to forget to sleep or eat between work. It was worrisome, making Thor glad that the Avengers were living here together to watch out for each other. Steve would often go down to the labs to bring them sandwiches or to forcefully drag them out so they'd sleep. The super soldier was a fine leader, who looked out for his team, and Thor appreciated that greatly.

"Come join our feast. We celebrate victory", announced Thor with a large smile, holding up his buttered toast for now while looking longingly at the Pop Tarts Clint was taking care of. "For we all returned victoriously from our quests! As was expected."

"This is so not a celebration", stated Tony with a deadpan and looked at the food.

With that said, he disappeared into the kitchen and soon, the living room was filled with the delicious smell of what truly was feast-worthy. It never stopped to surprise Thor that Tony could cook – the man who was mostly too engrossed in work to even eat. It seemed so untypical.

"Where did you learn to cook, my friend?", asked Thor in his booming voice as he stood.

The trio from the living room headed after the two scientists and sat down in the kitchen to keep Tony company. He wore a Captain America apron that he had bought after laughing for twenty minutes straight about the fact that such a thing existed. Thor remembered fondly how Steve had looked at the scientist. A mix of exasperation and the slightest dust of fondness.

"You don't even need to try, Thor", chuckled Natasha with a glint in her eyes. "I've seen dictators giving their plans up easier than Tony Stark talking about anything before he became an Avenger."

Thor frowned confused. He loved to share his adventures after a good ale and yes, at times it was painful to talk about his family in Asgard and the past that laid between Thor and Loki, but it was a bittersweet thing too. To indulge his comrades in his tales. Tony however...

"Ah, but are we not a family? Surely we can share such mundane things about our lives", pointed Thor out, frowning confused and looking over at the wealthy man.

Tony paused his movement and went still. Steve, who had been watching from the doorway since Clint's attempt at waking Thor, stepped closer to join his team. He knew Howard Stark had done Tony many wrongs, regardless of how unbelievable that still sounded for Steve. He had learned to respect and value Howard Stark and even liked to call Howard a friend, he had a hard time believing that the man would be cruel toward anyone, much less his own flesh and blood. But he was also unwilling to believe Tony would lie about such matters. Especially considering that Tony had never actually accused Howard of anything. The team had only learned about it from Rhodey, during a drunk and bitter night (on Rhodey's part) a few weeks back. If it were lies, then a man like Tony surely could play his cards better – use the empathy abused children got for his advantage. But Tony kept it all bottled up, made sure it never reached foreign ears – much less the press. That was all the proof Steve needed to know that if he could go back in time, he'd punch Howard in the jaw.

"Aunt Peggy taught me", said Tony softly after a while.

The team, at this point setting the table for a proper celebratory breakfast, halted and stumbled for a second. When it were boisterous stories of women or inventions, then Tony could speak about his past. Things like Afghanistan, Obediah Stane and least of it all his childhood? He never lost a word about them. Bruce was utterly surprised that Tony actually answered. What little they knew about the self-proclaimed genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist was through the news and Rhodey's beer-loosened tongue. Not from the man himself. Though Bruce was pretty sure that in some kind of way, Tony must have approved of Rhodey sharing things with his team. It was far too frequent to be a coincident. If Rhodey truly would be that bad at keeping Tony's secrets, then either they wouldn't be friends anymore or Tony's life would be all over the news at this point. Bruce was pretty sure that Rhodey was a kind of spokesman. Tony's past had scared him deeply, crippled him emotionally. He may be incapable to talk about it, but he still wished to be honest with his friends, so he had allowed Rhodey to tell them selected details. Or so Bruce thought.

"Peggy?", repeated Steve, with so much emotion that it was clear he had a bond to the name.

"Peggy Carter", elaborated Tony, his voice gentle. "She was a... family friend." There was another pause and Tony went back to making breakfast, while the others continued to set the table, thinking this was all the answer they'd get. "When the great Howard Stark had an idea, he disappeared for days without a break. Not to be bothered. Over the years, it had driven my mother to drinking. So while my mother was passed out in the parlor and my father was locked into his workshop, aunt Peggy took care of me. Taught me how to cook, told me stories. Parent-stuff, you know?"

It was a strange concept for Steve to think the woman he had fancied had been like a mother to Tony. It was the closest Tony had ever come to voicing his father's neglect. Never before had any of them heard of Maria Stark's situation though. Steve had been wondering, had assumed that maybe Tony had at least gotten love from her. Apparently not.

"She was a... force to be reckoned", chuckled Tony fondly.

"Sounds that way", grunted Clint. "If she put up with you, she must have been."

"Oh, shut it, bird-brain", huffed Tony. "Or no bacon for you."

Clint whined, causing the others to chuckle. Not that Tony had meant it. Today they celebrated, for the sake of Natasha, Clint and Thor, all having accomplished their respective missions without losing their lives or limbs. And for Clint, not ending up in the infirmary really was an accomplishment. The archer was prone to injure himself in the most ridiculous ways. Even Clint got good coffee on such days. And damn, it was good. The cursed coffee-machine really made the best coffee Clint had ever tasted, but that didn't mean he was going to play nice with the hexed thing.

/break\

Clint's favorite thing about living at the Avengers Tower – aside from the advanced weapons he got from Tony (because the Avengers were the only ones for whom Tony still made weapons) and the fact that he actually had a home – were movie nights. Movie nights were a tradition that went back to their first month of living at the tower, when Rhodey had been over and watched Transformers with Tony. For the kicks of it. Cap had walked in and his initial reaction had been disturbed shock, thinking the news were on and Tony had created some horrifying sentient robots. It took the Avengers a bit to calm down from their laughing fit, before explaining that it was a movie. The following week, all the Avengers were gathered in the Common Area's living room for the first annual movie night. That first night, they scribbled a list – starting with the movies that Steve had already noted down as things he needed to be caught up on. Everyone added something they deemed necessary to watch. That list hung next to the flat-screen, together with a pen. Old school, for Cap's sake. Whenever they watched one of the movies, it got crossed off. Whenever a different movie came to someone's mind, it got added to the list. They took rotating turns on who got to pick a movie from the list to watch to keep it fair.

This week's movie was Forrest Gump. Because they needed something to laugh. It was a good tradition. It grounded them and brought both Cap and Thor closer to modern times. Natasha had her feet in Clint's lap, both looking pretty cozy in this show of affection, something they only did rarely and only in the safety of their team. Thor next to Steve was laughing heartedly at the movie. Tony sat with Bruce on their other side. Tony liked this, these calm nights together as a team.

"Did you sleep at all last night, Tony?", asked Steve softly, in that scolding kind of way.

"I'll make sure he goes to bed at one point tonight", grunted Bruce with a fond scowl.

"Sh now! The movie is starting!", hissed Clint, throwing popcorn at the three of them.

Huffing amused, Tony ducked so the popcorn hit Bruce mainly. This was still all very odd and very new, despite having been his new normal for nearly three months at that point. The tower had been so big and so empty before. Now it was filled with bickering and laughter, shenanigans and this odd feeling, this sense of family and home. It made Tony feel warm in a way he hadn't expected to... ever really feel again, not since Jarvis and Ana had died, not since aunt Peggy had gotten ill. It most certainly was not what Tony had expected when Nick Fury had first suggested the Avengers Initiative to him. But then again, who could have possibly predicted any of this? No, not even a genius like Tony Stark could have seen this outcome.

Author's note: Before tackling events fo the MCU, I found it important to establish that a certain amount of time had passed and the Avengers bonded in that shared time. Now that we got that established, we will tackle Iron Man 3 in the next chapter! What if Captain America and the rest of the Avengers actually got involved when a literal group of terrorists attack the US?