The ride to Joe's was quieter than their earlier journey; Tony, having taken pity on Clint, was now in charge of steering a tandem bike and it was taking all of his concentration to work in conjunction with Thor. Pepper and Bruce were enjoying the more leisurely pace this time around, and the other three had not even tried to race one another. It took a little over half an hour to reach their destination, but the trip was well worth it.
Tony was well aware that only the group's sleepiness prevented him from being bankrupted on the spot. They split themselves over a few tables in the colourful dining area, poring over sweet ice cream flavours like Funfetti and Cotton Candy and Nerds; they shared fudge and pretzel sticks and even a couple of banana splits.
It was touch and go on the way back to Beach Bums as to whether the bikes would actually hold them up all the way; what with their overall tiredness and the amount of food they'd eaten it was a small miracle they all made it back in one piece.
The sun was starting to set as the group made their way, on foot, back to the house. Clint was tiredly clinging to Tony's back as Pepper carried a slumbering Natasha in her arms. Steve, Thor and Bruce brought up the rear, dragging their feet and yawning the whole way.
Despite their tiredness and achy limbs, Tony was proud to note that none of the mini Avengers were grumbling or whiny. In fact, the group were all perfectly content and, once back at the house, eager to tell Happy all about their adventures.
Pepper finally managed to tear the suddenly excitable and wide-awake kids away from Happy, who was delightedly listening to their tales, and ushered them upstairs for quick baths. Whilst Pepper had her hands full with the shrieking and mischievous children, Tony and Happy set up the BBQ down on the beach. Tony even had one of his robots mixing up some mocktails for them all to enjoy – see, I can be responsible – and soon enough the smell of sausages and burgers was drifting tantalisingly across the sands.
The first to join the pair was Thor, who was wearing a pair of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle pyjamas. Again, Tony had to wonder if Thor had any clue at all about what the pizza-eating reptiles even were. Before he could ask, however, Thor was already tucking into his first cheeseburger; ketchup and mustard running down his chin as he smiled contentedly around the food.
Clint came barrelling out of the house next, eager, as always, to get his hands on some food. Tony's heart swelled a little when he realised that the red pyjamas Clint was wearing had Iron Man emblazoned across the front.
"Nice jim-jams, Kiddo", he said, handing Clint the hot dog he requested.
"Eh," Clint responded, as he disgustingly slathered the hot dog in chocolate sauce he'd procured from somewhere, "He's not so bad, for an old man." Clint deftly manoeuvred himself out of reach of Tony as the genius made a playful grab for him.
"You wait, Boy-o," he called after the young archer, who was dancing backwards over the sand to where Thor was sitting, "I'll be coming for ya!"
"Like to see you try, Grandpa!"
Steve's appearance at his side stopped Tony from retaliating, which probably saved the older man from a great deal of embarrassment. Tony was tickled to see that Steve was back in the Black Widow t-shirt he'd been wearing when his transformation had first occurred. He'd paired it with some black sweatpants and was looking decidedly emo in the get up. Steve spent a few moments helping to flip the burgers with a childish intensity on his face before deciding on a hot dog. Mercifully, he chose to forgo the chocolate sauce and stuck with ketchup as his chosen condiment.
Bruce ambled down a little later, once the other three were already on their second helpings. Bruce was wearing a fluffy, purple dressing gown over what looked to be blue chequered pyjamas. Judging by his sleepy expression, Tony guessed it wouldn't be long before the young scientist was fast asleep. He gratefully accepted the hamburger Tony offered him before joining his young teammates.
Natasha and Pepper came down the beach together, hand in hand. Nat had Disney Princess pyjamas on and Tony had to wonder whether she was wearing them at her own behest, or because Pepper thought she looked adorable in them – which she did.
Natasha was unable to decide between the food choices on offer, so happily accepted both a cheeseburger and a hotdog on her plate. The group spent a good twenty minutes quietly tucking into their food with very little talking taking place. Tony, once he was satisfyingly full of BBQ food, nipped back to the house to collect some throws. These he laid out side by side on the sand, allowing the group to lay down to rest their full tummies.
The stars were beautifully clear in the dark sky from there; with little light pollution to disrupt the view the group were able to enjoy a rare star-gazing experience. After a little while the sound of Happy's diesel-engine snores disrupted the peaceful night, sending the children into fits of giggles and causing Pepper to give the chauffeur a gentle nudge in the ribs. After good-naturedly taking the jibes lobbied at him, Happy retired back to his room to snore in peace. Bruce looked close to following, but instead chose to use Tony as his personal pillow and fell promptly asleep, his own gentle snores much easier to deal with than the racket Happy had been making.
The rest of the kids dropped off to sleep one by one, leaving just Pepper and Tony awake. Tony glanced over the top of Bruce's head at his partner - who was being used as a pillow by both Clint and Natasha - and he marvelled at how he could have gotten so lucky. His thoughts drifted once again to the idea of raising a family with her, of having their own little boy or girl wanting to snuggle up with them and watch the stars shift across the night sky. Could we really bring a child into this though?
That was the kicker; the one major hesitation that he always came back to. Tony had the distinct disadvantage of being closely linked to not only the man-made horrors of this world, but also the extra-terrestrial ones. Could they bring an innocent child into the world knowing pain and suffering that was being inflicted by man and alien alike? Could he ask Pepper to have a child with him knowing that he would never be able to hang up his Iron Man suit, that he would be willingly putting his life in danger on a regular basis, potentially leaving his child fatherless at a young age? His own father had put work before his family and Tony had hated him for it; I never want to be like the old man.
"Pep," he eventually whispered, not wanting to wake the kids, "do you really think we could have this someday?"
Pepper smiled gently in his direction as she threaded her fingers gently through Natasha's red curls.
"I like to think so, although I'm not sure that now would be the right time to be trying, if I'm being honest. As much as I want to start a family with you, like yesterday, I…I still have reservations."
"Like what?" Tony knows, to a degree, what Pepper's answer will be, but he needs to hear her say the words herself.
"I'm scared of being left to raise a child by myself, of having to explain to my child that their father has been killed by some warrior alien, or god, or just some common thug he felt the need to stand up to. I never want to have that conversation, but I know I can't ask you to give up your work…like I know you'd never ask me to give up mine."
"Well, to be fair to you, your job has a much higher life expectancy, and a better healthcare package attached to it."
Pepper smiled sardonically at him before turning her gaze back to the night sky.
"I want this with you," Tony watched as Pepper hugged Natasha and Clint closer to her. "I want it more than anything…but I need to know that we could be a family. I need us to be a team for as long as possible, and I don't know if that's a feasible dream with the way things are now. And if I asked you to step down from being Iron Man, then we'd be leaving the world a more unsafe place."
"Catch-22".
"Exactly."
"What if we just stayed here…with these kids? Retire from the world and grow old together, raising these little hellions?"
"Sounds perfect," Pepper smiled, "but the hellions in question may think differently".
Tony was about to respond when a loud crack was reverberated across the sky. Tony's attention was immediately engaged as the skies momentarily lit up with a green hue.
"No!" he breathed out, as a dark shape appeared above the water. Lights flared out from strangely shaped aircraft and travelled across the still waters and up the sandy beach before lighting upon the group lying huddled on the blankets.
The young Avengers blinked awake, groggily sitting up and rubbing their eyes against the harsh light. Tony struggled to his feet, putting his body in front of the children and Pepper as the spacecraft hovered a little further down the beach. After a few moments where the craft just hung ominously in the air, moments that Tony spent trying to push the clamouring Avengers behind him, before a ramp descended from the base of the ship.
Four armoured figures walked purposefully down the ramp to the beach. Tony recognised the leader of the group as Lady Sif, the fierce warrior who had always shown the greatest loyalty to Thor. Her three companions were male and, although Tony had never met them before, he felt as though he recognised them from Thor's tales of the Warriors Three.
Tony felt a momentary swell of relief in his chest as the quartet strode towards them, barely affected by the soft sand beneath their feet. His relief was short lived, however, as he realised that Thor, who should have been thrilled at the arrival of his loyal followers, appeared strained and almost on the verge of tears.
"Buddy…" Tony tried to reach for the young god, but his hand was shoved away unceremoniously as Thor stomped to the front of the group, planting his feet squarely in the sand and bringing his fists up unto a fighting stance.
"That bastard!" The venom in Thor's tone took everyone by surprise. The blonde rarely cursed, and almost never lost his temper. Tony did not have to wonder long about the cause of his upset.
The Asgardian warriors stopped a few metres away from the Avengers, backs ramrod straight, capes and long hair blowing in the slight breeze. Tony, on another day, might have made a joke about their appearance if not for one aspect of their appearance that froze Tony's voice in his throat.
All four of Thor's companions stared silently at the group; their eyes were a pale, glassy blue and their skin had a sallow, sweaty sheen. Tony felt every member of his team tense up as the realisation of what they were facing dawned on them. The sound of tramping boots shifted Tony's attention from the zombie-like warriors to the ramp they had recently descended; a group of twenty or so warriors were marching down to the beach. Although Tony could not see clearly from where he was standing, he would bet his last dollar that each and every one of them had the same sickly pallor and glazed expression.
That bastard, indeed.