Luke Cage woke alone as he had for the last two months, rolling over onto his back and sighing loudly.

Things had been so good until he'd agreed to go to Asgard and met Thor's parents, and he had surprised himself how much he'd gotten along with the thunder god's friends though they'd enjoyed teasing Thor about being with a man.

The god's father on the other hand, had not been nearly as accepting and when Luke had dared talk back to Odin after being berated for what had to have been a dozen times, he had been told that he did not deserve Thor and Thor himself had been ordered to remain in Asgard, much to Luke's dismay.

He'd been practically thrown back to Earth after not even being able to say goodbye to Thor, who'd screamed for him as they tore the pair apart.

And here he was, months later, hopeless and unable to get anyone to help him.

Except for Loki.

Thor's evil brother had shown up shortly after Luke had been cast out of Asgard offering his services and Luke had refused him thinking there had to be some other way to get back to the city of gods.

Now he knew otherwise.

He rolled onto his face and groaned.

Was he really going to do this?

His hand touched the empty pillow beside him, cold without use, and made his decision.

"Loki," he said to the empty room.

The god appeared in the bedroom with a smile and a bow. "Mister Cage. You called?"

Luke sat up and nodded. "Tell me what you want and I'll give it to you as long as you can get me to G..Thor."

Loki grinned, his eyes dancing.

"This is going to be fun," he said, suddenly pacing back and forth, "Hmm…what do I want?"

Luke grew impatient with waiting, practically bursting out of his skin. "Hurry the hell up and tell me, damnitt!"

Loki stopped, looking him up and down. "You really don't want me to rush this, Luke. I might make a rash decision and then where would you be?"

Luke stood, ignoring the fact that he was naked and getting dressed.

He could feel the god's eyes on him as he moved and when he zipped up his jeans without putting his shirt on he saw Loki's eyes on him as well. "Like what you see there, Loki?"

Loki nodded. "I've made my decision."

Luke grabbed a shirt from the closet, his back to Loki as he dressed. "Tell me," he said, though he already knew what the other man was about to say.

"You. I want you. When I send you to Asgard and you rescue Thor, and then come here, I want you to come to me willingly and forsake him."

Luke didn't turn, the muscles in his entire body rejecting even the thought of being with Loki instead of Thor. He swallowed back vomit as he turned and said evenly, "Okay. I promise. Now take me there."

Loki grinned. "Your wish is my command…Luke."

The room filled with bright light and they were gone.

Clint Barton woke to the sound of his lover speaking with someone.

"That sounds great! No, I swear it does! I can't wait! Yes. Yes. I will. I'll see you next Tuesday then. Goodbye!"

He rolled over, his hand touching the empty area where Bruce usually lay every morning before calling out, "Bruce?"

The bespectacled man came out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a pair of blue jeans, smiling brightly at Clint. "Good morning, sleepy head."

Clint smiled. "Who was that on the phone?"

Bruce paused before answering. "Oh it was one of my former colleagues, they wanted to invite me to speak at a seminar this upcoming weekend it's in San Francisco, on the effects of radiation on the environment."

Clint patted the spot next to him. "Hmm…sounds really…boring. C'mere."

Bruce blushed, climbing on to the bed and crawling over to him. He kissed Clint slowly at first but increased the pace very quickly before pulling back and growling as he pushed the other man down onto the bed.

Clint felt a shiver of excitement through him when he saw his lover's eyes were glowing green and he reached up his hand to touch Bruce's face as he said, "Are you gonna go?"

Bruce blinked. "I was going to, I…unless you don't want me to?"

Clint kissed him again and whispered, "I'll miss you being gone but I can't keep you tied up here forever now can I?"

Bruce grinned. "Well…there was that one weekend…"

"No I think that was you tying me, remember?" Clint asked, laughing.

Bruce sighed. "You're right," he whispered, kissing down Clint's chest and pulling the blanket down to get to his stomach, biting at the skin before looking up again, "I forget myself sometimes."

"Mmm…" Clint said, closing his0 eyes, "Are a lot of your old friends gonna be there?"

Bruce nodded against his skin, "Mmm hmm…lots of people I worked with at the labs…people I haven't seen in years since Nick took me in…Betty wanted me specifically for the main speaker so…"

AUTHOR'S NOTE: The scene I wrote as was is against the site's guidelines so I've posted it to my LJ and the editor for the site will not allow me to post a link though there is one in my author profile. My LJ name is kinneytaylor. There will be MANY scenes in this story I will have to do the same to, but I don't want to try and CENSOR them INTO SOMETHING MORE tame so this will have to do. Sorry.

The dark haired man licked his neck, pulling out and whispering, "I love you, Clint, if you don't want me to go…I won't go."

Clint swallowed his body nearly boneless with the intensity of his orgasm but the tension built as he remembered Betty Ross.

The woman Bruce had loved.

The woman Bruce had left behind because of his monster.

That Clint had helped him calm.

He turned and smiled, kissing Bruce and whispering, "Go, it's okay. I know you want to."

Bruce's smile was brighter than anything he'd ever seen and when he turned back around Clint frowned, closing his eyes again and feigning sleep ignoring the pain in his chest at the thought of Bruce seeing Betty again.

Natasha wept at seeing Steve pushing Tony into her hospital room and he hugged Bucky tightly who began crying as well.

"Missed you, brother," Bucky mumbled as they hugged.

Steve pulled back and kissed Bucky's cheek. "I missed you too, Buck."

Then he hugged on to Natasha before putting his hand on her belly and smiling as he felt the baby move. "She's gonna be a handful, isn't she?"

Natasha grinned. "Just like her daddy."

Bucky kissed her and Steve went back to Tony, sitting down beside him and taking the other man's hand.

Steve gestured to a doctor who came over to them. "Yes, Captain Rogers?"

"A hypodermic needle, please."

Natasha frowned. "What is this, Steven?"

Steve explained, "I'm going to try my blood on Tony to see if it will heal his legs, we…"

Tony took his hand. "Steve, this can wait."

Steve frowned at him. "Tony, no it can't. The longer you wait the more likely it won't work. Let's just try. Okay?"

Tony sighed and Steve took the needle that a nurse came back with, drawing his own blood though he winced when it didn't hit a vein.

"Do you even know what you're doing?" Bucky asked, laughter in his voice.

Steve glared at him. "Shut up."

The nurse came over and said, "I can help, sir. I…"

He winced again as the blood came inside and pulled it out before handing it to her. "Put it in Mister Stark's leg, please."

Tony smiled at him. "So you'll hurt yourself getting it out but not me getting it in?"

Steve took his hand and kissed it. "Of course."

The blood drained out and the nurse stepped back. "Is that all, sir?"

Steve shook his head. "Take more blood and put it in the other leg."

The nurse repeated the process and soon enough Tony had two needles full of blood in him and the nurse left them alone.

He pushed down his pant leg and smiled at Natasha. "Everything okay?"

She nodded. "The doctors believe it was just low blood sugar from not getting enough food as Antonia is very healthy, almost ready to come into all of our lives," she grinned at Bucky who took her hand and brought it to his lips.

Tony watched them and smiled, holding his hand out and feeling just about as perfect as he had felt in a long time.

Nick Fury had become somewhat of a hermit from his life and his team's, ordering from the shadows though his requests were not always followed as of late.

Since the creation of the Avengers Initiative he had been given full authority from the President as was his right as director of SHIELD but even that was starting to wear thin with all the trouble his team was missing instead of heading out to fix.

"My team was indisposed at the time of the fire, there were very few casualties and…"

"In no uncertain terms will another incident stand, Fury. I want this clear," The President said, the look on his face angrier than Nick had ever seen from the man.

Nick raised his eyebrow. "And if there is, sir?"

The President sighed, his anger more feigned than actual. "I have the authority to shut you down, Nick. You know this. I won't, but SHIELD will be given a new head director. That I can assure you."

Nick nodded, tapping his fingers on his desk and staring at the screen in front of him mildly amused. "You are assuming that you will be President next year…sir."

The President looked angry again, though Nick knew how to read men well enough that he could see fear in their eyes even when they were trained not to show any at all.

"Is that a threat, Director Fury?"

Nick smiled. "I've been around for decades, sir. You have been around for years. We'll see who has more staying power. I'll take your comments to the team, but I won't make any promises."

The President looked worried now, but straightened and pretended not to be. "See to it that you will. Good day, Fury."

"Good day, Mister President," Nick said, hanging up first and enjoying watching the screen turn black in front of him.

He sighed, covering his face with one hand.

Things were getting better, that he knew. Steve was back which meant that Tony was in a much more cooperative mood and Howard seemed to be able to handle his son far better than Fury ever could.

That was a development he hadn't expected, Howard being here when Tony came back, though he should have expected as much. He didn't tell any of the others that he still remembered the other man not being here and never would unless asked by Steve or Tony, who he knew were the only others who knew of the change.

Howard Stark was a brilliant man and Nick was glad he was here, though when the man first appeared he had done what Nick suspected his son still wanted to do: punch Nick in the jaw. He then immediately was beginning to revolutionize every machine in the building. Now Nick was just standing back and marveling at the two Starks working together.

Still things weren't at all where he wished they would be.

There was a knock at his door and he waited for Sharon's silken voice informing him of an appointment but got none. When the door opened and in came the last person he'd expected to see, he knew why.

"Mister Stark," he said his voice wary.

Tony Stark wheeled himself into Nick's office, his eyes devoid of his natural warmth Nick remembered, though it had been months since they had looked each other in the eye. He looked about ready to kill someone, shutting the door behind him with a quiet click.

"Fury," he said softly, stopping just short of Nick's desk.

"I wasn't aware we had…" Nick started, but Tony finished.

"A scheduled appointment, no, though I can assure you this has been a long time coming," Tony said with a smirk.

Nick sat back in his chair with a smile of his own. "So."

"I'm fine, by the way," Tony said, lifting his leg slightly before sitting it back down, "On the mend, the docs are pretty optimistic."

Nick nodded. "I've heard."

Tony cocked his head and said, "You've heard? I know you've been hiding in the shadows, Nick, and I finally thought we should get this all out in the open. You fucked with me and I'm here to tell you, it won't happen again."

Nick laughed. "I fucked with you? How so, Tony?"

Tony leaned forward and put his elbows on Nick's desk. "With Steve. You might be trying to convince yourself this was all some elaborate plan that worked to your exact specifications, but I know you only brought it out because you wanted to see what would happen. I know you're sick that way, hell I'm the same," he said, sitting up and spreading his hands out as he sat back, "But I'll tell you something," he pointed at Nick, "You will not fuck my life again. Steve is mine, we're glued together and any more plans you may or may not have up your sleeve? Keep 'em in your vault. Because if some dead girlfriend, or dead father, or crazy villainous scheme comes out of the woodwork again? I'm going to make it my life's work to ruin you. Not kill you. Ruin. We clear?"

Nick stroked his chin, still smiling. "You're somethin' else, Tony. You seriously think I'm out to get you, which couldn't be further from the truth, though I can see where you'd get the idea from. But the delusion that you can do anything to hurt me in any way…that's completely and ridiculously laughable. You're weak, kid. Even your dad knows it. Hell Steve knows it; why the fuck do you think he's into you? He loves saving damsels in distress!"

Tony flinched, but then he smiled. "True, Steve has many different….fetishes…for which we are extremely compatible. But I do have something that I can use to get to you, Nick."

Nick shook his head, still smiling.

"Does T'Challa know about Ororo?"

That got Nick's attention, but he smirked still looking amused. "Does he know about his wife? His wife is…"

Tony grinned. "Dead, yeah she is. But does he know that you have just as much right to that kid as he does?"

Nick paled. "Tony…how…?"

Tony turned his chair without comment, wheeling towards the door and grabbing the handle to throw it open. He raised one hand and waved behind him calling out, "See you later, Fury. Remember what I said," before wheeling through the door.

And with that, he was gone.

Nick sat back in his chair, putting his head in his hands.

Tony was back to himself again, which Nick wasn't sure he was happy about anymore.

Thor woke to the sound of someone arguing.

"They will spot you! This is ridiculous!" Sif yelled, bringing him out of his sleep.

"I know," came a whisper, which sent Thor's entire body ablaze.

Lucas.

Thor sat up in his bed, running to the adjoining room door and throwing it open.

Luke sat with Sif on her bed, the would-be queen his father was trying to force on him and the man he ached for more than breathing.

"Lucas," he whispered hoarsely, surprising them both.

Sif jumped a bit and started to say, "Thor I told him…" but Thor didn't hear anything as Luke came to him and they embraced, locking lips in a devastating kiss that brought the god nearly to his knees.

When they pulled apart Thor shivered, his hands on both of his lover's cheeks as he whispered, "How is this possible?"

Luke looked to Sif who looked distressed, and did not meet Thor's gaze when he explained, "I'm here to get you out. He has the portal open, he…"

Thor wrapped his arms around Luke and turned the man so he had to look at him. "Lucas, explain how you have arrived. Heimdall could not open the portal without authority."

Luke swallowed. "I…Loki…"

Thor let him go, pushing Luke back and staring in dismay. "No, Lucas you did not."

Luke tried to come to him saying, "He says he'll take you out of here, he…"

Thor turned away, the muscles in his arms constricting from not taking what was offered and the lightning in his eyes making it hard to focus. "No, he lies to you. He…Loki is the MASTER of lies. He," he turned angrily, coming at Luke and grabbing the front of his clothes before pushing him into the wall whispering, "What did you promise him?"

Luke looked away again and Thor growled, "LOOK AT ME!"

Luke had tears in his eyes when he raised them before he whispered, "If we get back to Earth successfully…I promised I would go to him and…not you."

Thor let him go, turning away. "Why would you even think I would want to remain on earth if without you? I have no connection to any other humans there I…"

Luke whispered, "There's Clint."

Thor turned and laughed. "Of course, I will just throw away all of my feelings for you and steal Clinton away from his love so I can remain somewhere I have NO NEED TO STAY! HAVE YOU LOST ALL SENSE?"

The door opened and Frigga entered with guards who took in the scene, ready to attack before the Queen said, "Leave us."

"My queen he…"

Thor watched his mother turn and say with all her authority, "LEAVE."

The guards did as told and the doors closed before his mother looked at the three of them sadly. "Oh, Thor."

Thor went to his mother, who wrapped her arms around him and whispered, "What has happened?"

"Loki," he whispered, tears on his face.

She pulled back, looked down at Luke who hadn't moved from where he'd fallen after Thor had let him go. "You have returned to break my son's heart again, I see," she said, her eyes hard.

Luke stared at her. "ME? You people TOOK him, forced him to…"

"And you did NOTHING to get him back? What kind of warrior are you?" she demanded, which made Luke stand and come towards her.

"ME? I got NO powers, lady. How the HELL was I supposed to get back here?"

She sighed. "With the medallion I put in your pocket when you left!"

Luke stepped back, speechless. "What?"

Frigga stood staring at him again, looking annoyed. "The guards escorted you out, I slipped the medallion in your clothing and you were taken to…"

"My darling, I am afraid the medallion never made it to earth," came Odin's voice from the doorway.

Thor glared at his father. "You took it," he said coldly.

Odin nodded. "Yes. Though I have been watching your warrior, Thor, who did as your mother says and waited for you to save him…until today. So I still do not believe he is any type of warrior or a worthy companion for my son, though he may make a good partner for Loki."

Thor growled and started towards his father but was stopped when Luke got there before he did, striking out taking his father by surprise and successfully hitting Odin, the All-Father, on the face.

Odin started, his eyes shocked as he grabbed Luke's arm and held it there. "You dare?"

"Father, no!" Thor said, but Odin cut him off.

"SILENCE. Answer me!" Odin yelled.

Luke didn't even flinch as Odin used all of his strength and squeezed, staring with anger as he said, "Damn right, I dare."

Odin stared at him, still squeezing, staring at Luke's skin and then at the man. "You have power, human."

Luke growled, "More than I need, you bastard."

Odin let him go and Luke fell back, though Thor caught him. Luke grabbed him and the kissed quite passionately, Luke claiming his mouth as Thor pressed into the other man as closely as he could before they pulled apart.

The god pressed their foreheads together and whispered, "You will not leave here if Loki is going to take you."

"Goldy…" Luke whispered.

Thor kissed him again. "I will not let any bargain of his be…"

"THOR," his father said, bringing both men out of their reverie.

Thor grabbed Luke's hand. "Father. I request that if Lucas is not fit to be my companion then I will rescind the throne to a worthy successor."

Frigga put a hand on her mouth. "No, Thor! You…"

Odin out up a hand. "Silence! Let me speak, my son."

Thor squeezed Luke's hand and both men stared at the white haired god in front of them.

"I have seen enough," Odin said, looking from one man to the other, "Thor, you will not be rescinding your birthright," Thor started to protest and Odin continued with a smile, "And Lucas Cage…you are the most worthy companion my son has ever encountered of Midgard, and I see no reason that you would not be able to help him rule wisely."

Thor stared at his father. "Father?"

Odin sighed. "Thor, I ask forgiveness for the deception. When you brought home the human, I did not see him as worthy enough for my son. I truly understand if you will not see fit to recognize me as trustworthy in the future. I did not see another way."

Thor looked hurt and stared at his mother. "Mother, you knew?"

She shook her head. "No, Thor, I…this is as much a surprise to you as it is to me," she smiled at Sif over her shoulder, "My dear you can return to your home now. I believe these quarters are now reserved for my son's…companion."

Luke was still staring at them in silent shock, not letting go of Thor's hand.

Odin walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "I am sorry, Lucas. I never meant to steal Thor from you or have you enter into such a bargain with Loki, I just wanted you see how much you would fight for my son. If I had seen his arrival to you on Midgard, his actions are hidden from me."

Luke blinked and t hen started to laugh. He held out his hand and Odin took it. "You could have just asked me to kick someone's ass. It would've been easier."

Odin smiled. "Next time I will reserve a frost giant for such a show. Now we take our leave of you. Come, wife."

They left together, both of his parents, and Sif was not far behind before hugging both men quickly and closing the door behind her.

Thor looked at Luke, who had never looked happier.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: The scene I wrote as was is against the site's guidelines so I've posted it to my LJ and the editor for the site will not allow me to post a link though there is one in my author profile. My LJ name is kinneytaylor. There will be MANY scenes in this story I will have to do the same to, but I don't want to try and CENSOR them INTO SOMETHING MORE tame so this will have to do. Sorry.