"Please tell me Friday's recording this…"

Tony smirked, watching as Peter and Clint started swinging swords at each other, affecting the brawling of two household servants – but really just putting two broom handles in the hands of the two most likely to accidentally whack each other into submission.

"I promised Natasha I wouldn't."

Pepper looked down at the book in her hand – the same book that everyone in the lounge now had a copy of. All were thumbing through it, but Bruce had surprised them by tossing his to the side, reminding Tony that his minor had been in theater way back in the day. He had the play memorized and had asked Peter if he could be the friar.

"Why did you give those two sticks?" a lazy drawl asked, incredulously, making them both look up at Stephen, who had been told what was going on that even and had just arrived in the compound to observe. "I only have so many suturing kits."

Stark smiled at that.

"They're being careful."

Which wasn't quite right – as proven almost immediately when Clint whacked Peter with the stick he was holding, making the boy laugh and Steve shake his head.

"Are they Romeo and Paris?"

"They're family servants," Pepper told the sorcerer, settling in next to Tony to wait for her part to come up. "We're at the beginning of the play, not the end."

"Good." A bowl of popcorn appeared in his lap and he offered it to Pepper, who smiled, but was watching Peter and Clint – just to make sure. "Who are you playing?"

"Lady Capulet."

"And Tony?"

"I'm Tybalt."

"My nephew."

"Want to be in the play?" Tony offered. "We could find you a bit part."

"I'll pass." He grimaced when Peter barely dodged a swing of the broom handle that Clint aimed at his head – although both participants in the servant's brawl were clearly having a good time. "Who is Natasha playing?"

"Juliet."

"Who's Romeo?"

"Steve."

"Carol's alright with that?"

Proving that the sorcerer was kept up on all the gossip around the compound. Of course, he was; Natasha didn't like secrets (aside from her own, of course) and she was everywhere when it came to the compound. A fun juicy bit of gossip like that was not something to be ignored.

"Carol is playing Benvolio."

Stephen made an amused noise, and settled in with his popcorn to watch.

OOOOOOOOOOO

"It wasn't a very happy ending…" Peter said, frowning.

"It's a tragedy," Tony reminded him, watching with Peter as Steve and Natasha both picked themselves up off the floor – along with Bruce, who had played Paris. "It's not supposed to have a happy ending. Pepper told you that."

"I thought she meant tragedy, like ugh, it's a tragedy that none of these people can say a simple greeting without it being nine paragraphs long."

Pepper chuckled, putting her arms around him.

"That's how they spoke back then."

"I'm glad I wasn't alive then. I wouldn't have been able to get beyond good morning, probably, without getting my tongue tied."

"You'd probably be married and a father by now, if you lived back then," Strange pointed out. "They started very young, for the most part."

"Ugh." Peter shook his head. "That would be a tragedy, too."

"Keep that in mind," Tony told him.

The boy grinned and moved away to help gather up the props that they'd been using and start putting the tables back where they belonged, now that they were done with their recreation of the play. Strange glanced at his friend.

"Natasha told me what he did." No surprise there, really. "Any side effects?"

"He was sleepy, earlier this morning. No fever, though, or anything like that. Just stayed up too late, he said."

"You've kept an eye on him, presumably?"

"It's what we do, Stephen," Stark pointed out. "Pepper had him all day, and aside from the conversation about it, and the subsequent groundation that followed, he's fine."

"Two more weeks." Strange was amused. "The kid's never going to have a social life."

"He does fine." Although Pepper and Tony were both always worried about just how well adjusted their son could be, surrounded by adults like he was – never mind the fact that they were superheroes. "He got to hang out with Ned, MJ and Shuri. That's better than a lot of grounded kids would be allowed."

"And he spends time with Clint," Pepper added, watching as the archer came up behind Peter and pretended to hit him with a chair he was moving, only to have the boy turn the tables on him and tackle him, chair and all, until the two were wrestling on the floor, egged on by Bruce and Carol, who were making bets over the outcome. "But we'll have him back in school, next semester, so he'll have a chance to see more people his own age, again."

"You guys are doing an amazing job with him," Strange assured them. "He's not a normal kid, by any means, and that is going to make things difficult for him. The fact that he has the friends that he does, and the support that he needs is showing in how confident he is in his abilities."

Both looked pleased by the compliment, but the sound of a chair breaking drew the conversation to a quick halt. Tony rolled his eyes and moved to save Peter, who was pinned by a chair that Clint had set on him and then seated himself awkwardly onto, but it was Bruce who jumped into the fray, turning himself green with a casual thought, and picking up the archer in his mammoth arms like the man weighed nothing. Tony stayed next to Pepper, and now Peter was wrestling Hulk, and it was obvious that Banner was thoroughly enjoying the fact that he had utter control of the rage monster.

Enough that he could even risk a little rough housing.

"He's getting healthier, anyway," Tony said.

Strange nodded.

"True." They could probably lose the brace any day, also. "Have you started thinking about how to return the remaining stones?"

Tony frowned.

"I've been giving it a lot of though, but from what I understand from the guardians, the people that had the power stone are gone, almost completely – certainly enough that they're not going to be able to keep it safe – so we don't have any clue what to do with it. Have you and Wong been looking into it?"

"Wong has, since he recognized that issue, almost immediately. The other is the soul stone. Peter told me that the man with the red skull gave it to him, and that he doesn't know if he has to take it back and hand it to him, personally, or how to return it. Or even really where he was when he got it."

"I'm more worried about the whole sacrifice thing," Tony said, softly, watching over Strange's shoulder as Peter and Clint wrestled the Hulk down (with a little cooperation from the monster) and were now sitting on him, while Natasha and Steve watched with thinly veiled amazement at seeing such a volatile creature actually playing around. Bruce was a lot like Peter, really, with a very serious side, due to the secrets that he kept. It was clearly a relief for him to have control of the brutish nature of his condition. "What if you have to sacrifice to return it, as well?"

"Have you asked Alec?"

Stark scowled.

"He's the one who told Peter to go confront this Collector guy."

"He's also been around a lot longer than you and I. And he's connected with the mind stone. You might ask. Even though it means Peter knows your concerns."

"He's just getting back in the swing of things," Tony said. "I don't want him worrying, again."

Stephen shrugged.

"He and Alec are probably already beginning to think about it," he replied. "It might not be a bad idea to address it – before the voice in his head points out it might be an errand best handled solo. To avoid risking any of you."

Now Pepper frowned, too, although the Hulk had turned the tables on Clint and Peter, now, and had them both pinned under him, with Natasha finally joining the fray – although Carol and Steve simply watched, rescuing furniture whenever those wrestling around on the floor came too close to smashing something.

"You'd better talk to him, Tony," she told her husband. "I don't want him doing anything dangerous – and I don't want him grounded, again – at least not for a while."

"Yes, honey."

Strange smirked.

He was so whipped.