Hi, guys. I'm sorry, this is just a filler chapter. I swear I WILL have Rule #1 up ASAP.
-Reyna
How They Got There
Tony wasn't used to having so many people around.
Yes, he loved parties. Yes, he attended – not to mention hosted – them regularly. Yes, they were almost always very crowded. But that was at night, not during the day and most certainly not in the early hours of the morning.
So as soon as four of his teammates – plus Pepper – had taken up his offer to move in/visit him at Stark Tower, he realized that he'd have to adjust to them constantly being around, and adjust pretty damn fast.
Bruce was already a presence he was used to. He (reluctantly) enjoyed spending time with Tony in the towers labs, and tended to visit more and more until finally taking up a temporary permanent residence in the quarters Tony had built for him.
The next to make an appearance were the Agents. Barton had given Tony an advance warning that he was coming, so the billionaire made sure that the archer's floor – the top level, complete with a high tech shooting range and a crow's nest on the tower's roof – was ready and fully functional. What he didn't expect was that someone else would arrive before Clint. So Tony was in for a shock when he walked into the kitchen the morning before Clint showed up, bleary-eyed and in his pajamas, to get his morning coffee. What he found was Natasha Romanoff sitting in his chair, with her feet on his table, reading his paper, and drinking his coffee. She glanced up at him, and said she'd let herself in.
Tony decided he would interrogate JARVIS later.
Steve had moved in with a high level of reluctance. He made a point of making himself scarce during the day, but made an effort to spend time with the others in the evenings. He bonded especially well with Natasha. He had a rocky friendship with Pepper: sometimes they wouldn't stop talking to each other, others their equal needs to be in charge clashed violently.
With the four Avengers and Pepper living with him, Tony already thought that the tower was a little crowded. But, in a freaky way, he kind of liked it.
After a couple months, they'd all finally settled into a routine and dynamic of living together. Everyone would show up in the kitchen in their pajamas first thing in the morning for breakfast and coffee, and lazy around for an hour or two. Then they'd separate to various places. They all went to work, of course, but on days off Bruce and Tony would blow stuff up, Cap and Natasha went exploring, and Barton would either hide in the rafters and vents, or have long, semi-serious talks with JARVIS. The two latter found each other very fascinating.
In the evenings they conjugated in the main living space for 'group bonding.' This consisted of a ton of movies, TV marathons, heated debates, going out to random places, and sometimes various drinking games. After a few weeks, they became close enough that in their minds it was now called 'family time.'
And damn, were they a twisted family.
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