Hey, guys! There are only five more chapters in this story after this, so I'm going to give you a bit of a layout of them... Chapter 26 is a bit of action, 27 is mainly for the funnies, 28 is even more action, 29 is fluff, and 30 is like the epilogue. I'm hoping that this is an acceptable road map because I've got them planned out and it's staying this way. XD

At any rate, you guys are great. Seriously, for sticking with me throughout this project, you lot are all that and a bag of chips. All of you: my readers, followers, favoriters, and reviewers. PS-Shout-out to glittersweg for reviewing last chapter!) Everyone go look up a recipe for homemade butterbeer because that sh*t is real.

That's all for now, folks! Have a MARVELous day! :)

Pietro and the other guys were bored as hell with the women out of the Tower.

Coupled with the fact that Barton was the one usually deciding what to do, the men were merely lounging around, bantering one another. Eventually, however, Stark decided that he wanted to play beer pong—Thor had been interested in what beer pong was.

Apparently, the god was a natural, and all but undefeatable. Pietro himself had never been good at beer pong, although he and Rogers stood to the sidelines, chuckling as all the others challenged Thor to game after game of said beer pong.

Eventually, Stark handed Pietro a type of wine he'd never tried before, and Pietro had decided he liked it. Seeing the interested look on Pietro's face after he tasted the wine, Stark's eyes widened. "Why do I feel like I've just created a monster?" he asked around.

Banner chuckled. "It's just wine, Tony. He'll be fine."

But Banner couldn't have been more wrong.

Within the next two hours, Pietro and Stark together had drained three bottles of the same wine, as Tony had a very high tolerance for alcohol and Pietro had an incredibly fast metabolism, so it took a lot to get him drunk. As it was, the three bottles were beginning to do their job—Pietro was stumbling around the common area before long, challenging Thor at beer pong despite his original resolve to not participate.

Of course, he lost, although he had fun playing. Seeing how intoxicated he and Stark were getting, the others—except Rogers, who just shook his head—laughed.

"Better make sure we get this man a bucket before he goes to sleep tonight," muttered Rogers, a hopeless groan on his face.

James threw an arm around his shoulder. "Come on, Steve, you have to admit downing two bottles of wine all but singlehandedly is a pretty impressive feat."

Rogers grunted, but said nothing.

For another few minutes, the guys were roaring around the Tower. It was about ten o'clock at night, however, that Esca Rarity and the other women returned, laughing to each other about girly stuff. Or so Pietro figured, anyway.

When Esca Rarity took a look at the scene, she sighed and shook her head. "Have you lot been drinking all night?" she scolded formidably.

Before Pietro could respond, Rogers sighed and crossed his arms. "I'd suggest finding safe cover until morning, ladies. They're all going to have hangovers."

"Except me," volunteered James. "I can't get drunk either."

Rogers gave his friend a grin before turning back to the females. Pietro, however, decided he wanted to welcome his girlfriend home and sauntered over to plant a kiss on her cheek. "Evening, Miss Rarity," he exclaimed, a slap-happy grin on his face.

Esca Rarity raised her eyebrows. "Wow, you are drunk," she declared mildly. Her gaze landed on the captain again as she asked, "How much as Tony given him this time?"

Pietro chuckled at her words of "this time." It wasn't the first—and it sure as hell wouldn't be the last. Getting drunk was an essential in the book of brotherly bonding, and the Avengers were no exception.

As it was, Rogers gestured to the table in aggravation. On said table were three bottles of wine and three bottles of beer. "Does that answer your question, Miss Esca?"

Esca Rarity gaped at the empty bottles on the table before sighing and putting a hand to her head. "Pietro, you are going to feel terrible in the morning. Haven't you learned by now?"

Pietro just chuckled and started swaggering back to Stark, who was waving him over. "We'll see about that. I'll feel great in the morning if I wake up and see you next to me, love."

There was a scoff behind him, and he heard her mutter indignantly, "Love?! Since when have we adopted that?"

"Since now!" he exclaimed, rushing back to throw an arm around her shoulder before steering her back to Stark and Thor, both of whom were challenging Pietro to yet another game of beer pong.

"Pietro, I have to go put my stuff upstairs. I'll come back down in just a minute—"

For the first time, he realized Esca Rarity was carrying a few shopping bags. He was curious about what she got, and he peeked inside one of the Hot Topic bags—

"Hey, hey, hey!" she cried out, yanking the bag out of his reach. "You can't look in there!"

"Why ever not?" he questioned innocently.

"Because there are birthday presents in there and I don't want you knowing what it is before your and Wanda's birthday. Besides, if you know what her present is, she'll just read your mind and it won't be a surprise anymore!"

He gazed at her in mock hurt. "But now I'm curious."

She giggled. "You'll have to wait until your birthday. Just because I love you doesn't mean you get special privileges when it comes to surprises."

Pietro sulked. "I hate waiting."

"You'll learn to deal with it," she taunted, smiling sweetly.

Since she wouldn't tell him what was in the bag, Pietro sighed theatrically. "Fine, then. I suppose I'll simply have to guess about what's in there. It's from Hot Topic, but you might have just put some random item in the bag to cover your tracks… Maybe it's something a little exciting?" he questioned after a pause, smirking at her.

Esca Rarity raised her eyebrow again. "What do you mean, exciting?"

Before Pietro could answer, Stark threw a drunken arm around her shoulder. "The man means exactly what he says, blondie; something quite exciting." He wiggled an eyebrow at her for emphasis, and Esca Rarity looked astounded.

"I bought nothing of the sort," she retorted. "Now, I'm going to put this in my room—"

"She doesn't want us to see her lingerie," sighed Pietro theatrically. "I suppose that's my privilege. Sorry, old man."

Stark frowned, yet rolled his eyes. "Sure, Maximoff, I'm sure you are. But the joke's on you—I've got the lovely Pepper Potts."

"Betcha she doesn't wear lingerie."

"I didn't buy lingerie!" protested Esca Rarity, a frown coming across her face. "In fact, I've never worn any, nor do I want to! Now both of you; please stop teasing me like that."

"Betcha she does," shot back Stark to Pietro. Both of them entirely ignored Esca Rarity.

"Betcha she isn't as skilled as Esca Rarity at night."

"Pietro!" shouted Esca Rarity, her face turning beet red and her lips parted in utter shock. "That… that isn't—isn't something… you just say like that! I mean, it's not like I had a… a choice or anything regarding Germany!"

Pietro failed to see that her face was red out of anger as well as embarrassment, and so he replied, "Maybe not, but I guess it worked out for me."

Esca Rarity faltered. Her eyes were wide and shining, but Pietro was too drunk to notice. "That isn't funny, Pietro. That isn't funny at all. I was—not everything was by my design, Pietro, that isn't funny! I was raped!"

But neither Pietro nor Stark were listening. In fact, Stark burst out laughing. Pietro soon joined him—but his laughter was immediately cut off whenever Esca Rarity sobbed, "You are a jerk, Pietro Maximoff. I'm going to bed."

Then she seized her bags, escaped from underneath Pietro's shoulder, and raced for the stairs without looking back.

"W-wait! Esca!" he exclaimed, but he was so goddamn drunk that he tripped over the couch and almost landed flat on his face. By the time he got up, she was already out of sight.

Pietro sighed and ran a hand through his hair. What had he just said, exactly? He couldn't even remember. But when he saw the somber look on Thor's and Banner's faces, he figured it must've been bad.

As if knowing that he'd just hurt Esca Rarity's feelings wasn't bad enough, it got worse.

Rogers stormed up to him, his expression one that promised murder.

"You and I are going to have a little talk," he growled—and then the captain threw Pietro over his shoulder.

Pietro didn't say anything for a moment in pure shock. But then, realizing what was happening, he burst out, "Hey! Cap! Put me down! What the fuck are you doing?"

"You watch your language!" retorted Rogers furiously, giving Pietro no hint that he was getting down anytime soon.

Knowing that there wasn't anything else for it, Pietro sighed and allowed Rogers to carry him into the next room. Once the captain slammed the door shut behind them, he plopped Pietro on a couch and glared at him angrily.

"Do you realize what you've just said to her?" asked Rogers, almost deathly quiet.

"You're talking to the man who can't remember how he got into this room," laughed Pietro, leaning casually back into the couch. "When did we get here?"

Rogers sighed and slapped a hand to his forehead, as if Pietro not remembering was even worse than if he had. But then, he removed his hand from obscuring his eyes, and Pietro could see how angry Rogers was as he explained, "You just laughed at her—ignored her when she told you to stop teasing her. You laughed at her after she reminded you she was… she was used by those horrid Germans."

Pietro stared at Rogers. He blinked. "No, I—" he started to say, but he was cut off.

"She had tears in her eyes and you laughed at her."

Pietro swallowed. Did that really just happen? This was worse than he had expected. She had been crying and he'd laughed at her? As if her entire situation, her entire past, had been a joke?

"Hell," Pietro whispered, more to himself than anything. He felt godawful now, and he figured he deserved it. He remembered how she'd hurt him by telling him she couldn't tell him her past for the ironic reason that she didn't want to hurt him. But finally she'd opened up and told him everything, trusted him with her heart. And now he'd just done exactly what he promised he'd never do—hurt her. With her own past.

"God," he moaned, leaping up from the couch. He stared manically at Rogers, who was leaning forward as he spoke. "Did I really just do that? Please tell me I didn't. Please—shit!"

He kicked the leg of the couch and felt his toe throb. He probably deserved that.

The captain sighed. "I wish I were joking. I… hated… seeing her like that."

His tone of voice made Pietro stop short. "You think you hated it? Now that I know what just happened, I sort of hate myself. Why should you care, anyway?"

Rogers glared back up at Pietro, his blue eyes sharp. "Mind your own business, Maximoff."

Pietro stopped pacing the room and stared at the captain, at the way Rogers's fists were clenched, the way he was tense and so full of fury, the way his eyes contained anger and something else: sympathy. For Esca Rarity.

"You know, she really loves you," murmured Rogers. Pietro wasn't sure if Rogers was trying to comfort him by saying that, but the words hit him like a truck. He already knew she loved him, and look just how well he'd treated her. "She'll forgive you."

"I don't know," he sighed. His rapid metabolism was helping him become sober faster than he'd expected; it was also probably helped by the fact that he was no longer drinking. "I wouldn't if I were her."

"Now you're just being dramatic," smirked the captain. After a short silence, he added, "Although, I suppose now is a good time to tell you this: If you are ever sober and you do something like this, I will personally come after you. We all threaten to beat each other up if we hurt anyone's girl—Bucky, for one, will kill anyone who touches Zelda. I'm sure of that. But if it's Miss Esca, he won't exchange blows. He'll verbally fight you, not physically. The others would all do the same. But not me. Miss Esca has become dear to all of us, but you can be damn sure that I'm going to protect her from anyone. So if this happens again... you'll want to use that super-speed to lay low for a week or so."

Pietro, despite feeling threatened, couldn't help but grin. It was nice to know that someone else had Esca Rarity's back.

"Don't worry, Cap," he said. He was almost completely sober by this time; he figured that was the case based on the weight settling on his chest. "I'll personally make sure it doesn't happen again. But I appreciate you looking out for her. Thanks for that."

Rogers smiled halfheartedly and slapped a hand on Pietro's arm. "No problem. I've got her back—and yours, if you ever need it."

"And I've got yours."

Another uncomfortable silence. And then Rogers sighed, "You want to go check on her, make sure she's okay?"

Pietro shook his head. "I think she'll need time before she wants to see me. But… someone might need to talk to her."

Rogers glanced at Pietro sideways, but said nothing.

"If you think they should, anyway," amended Pietro, shrugging.

After another moment, Rogers nodded and sighed. "Alright. I'll make sure she's okay. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow morning."

Pietro sighed too. "Thanks."

The captain rose and started to head towards the door. Then he added over his shoulder, "Nice chat, Maximoff. Glad we got some stuff sorted out. Just don't forget—" he pointed at Pietro in a mock-threatening manner, "You hurt her, I will kick your ass."

"Such language," scolded Pietro halfheartedly.

The captain just smirked before leaving the room to go check on Esca Rarity.

Once he was gone, Pietro sighed out through his nose… it had been a helluva night.

He decided not to head to his own room. He probably deserved to just sleep on a couch. And so he lay down and vowed something to himself: never get this drunk again.