Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. Feel free to back out if need be.

Author's Note: Reminder that I include things from the MCU Tie-In Comics, which are part of the MCU canon. Since I only diverge from canon at certain points, things that were released & had happened before that point typically stay the same, even when they aren't friendly towards certain characters and organizations. In other news, this is a sequal-ish thing to In the Eyes.

Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 14); MC4A
Individual Challenges: True Colours; Bonjour-Hi; Chilled MCU Bribery (Y); Avengers 2012; Magical MC; Metahuman MC (x2); SHIELD MC (x3); Military MC (x2); Neurodivergent; Rian-Russo Inversion (x4); Ethnic & Present; Disabled; Laws; Booger Breath; Ship Sails; Zed Era; Old Shoes; Marvelous Cinema; Short Jog; Bucket Listing (Y); Two Cakes (Y); Eating Cake (Y); Green Ribbon
House: Slytherin
Assignment No.: Term 14 – Assignment 04
Subject (Task No.): n/a
Other Hogwarts Challenges: Yearly: Fantastic Beasts [24](Chaos); 365 Prompts [275](No using "said"); Scavenger Hunt [41](Any Non-HP Fandom); Days of the Year [Feb 26th](a HEA kind of day); Hot Tea [10](Superhero AU); Black History Month [19](Someone who is influential in their craft/trade); But Can You Spell It? [C](Confident); Stop! Hamper Time (Cheeses)[Smoked Applewood]("..what it looks like..."); Fantasy February (22)[Hero/Villain Exchange];
Other MC4A Challenges: WiB [2E](Mashed Potatoes); Vocab [3E](Cleave); Ship (Frost Iron)[Fa Big](Mashed Potatoes); Fire [Hard](Who's Your Family?); Chim [Karma](Copper); Hangman [05](Queer Relationships);
Representation(s): Tony Stark/Loki; Tony Stark/James Rhodes QPR; Found Family
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: Fruit Fly; Gingersnap; Misshapen Pods; Second Verse (Under the Bridge; Shiver & Shake; Casper's House; Hot Apple; Rock of Ages; Muck & Slime; Most Human Bean; Grease Monkey; Deadliest Catch; Lock & Key; Car in a Tutu; Unwanted Advice; Spinning Plates; Middle Name; Zucchini Bread; Nontraditional; Found Family; Not a Lamp; Ladylike); Chorus (Mermaid; Hot Stuff; Cooler Yelp; Turtle-Duck; Abandoned Ship; Creature Feature; Wind Beneath; Unicorn; Larger than Life; Tomorrow's Shade; Delicious Lie; Bust a Cap; Machismo; Fizzy Lemonade; Wabi Sabi; Odd Feathers)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: n/a
Word Count: 1185 words

(^^)
A Family Dinner
(^^)

If Tony had given any real thought to it, he may not have extended the invitation to all of the Avengers to live in his tower. He would have left it at just Bruce and Thor. Maybe not Thor, actually. The big guy had a tendency to break stuff or leave unexplained scorch marks all over the place.

Not to mention that he came with an adopted sibling still recovering from being mind controlled.

Though to be fair, that one was not his fault or even Thor's.

That was Rhodey's fault. His platypus collected that particular stray. Tony wanted to make sure that was noted on any records about this situation.

Now that Tony thought about it again, Rhodey could also be blamed for most of the Avengers getting invited to live in the tower. The presence of the Avengers had been compromise that Fury had eventually agreed to when Tony had started putting his not inconsiderable weight behind keeping Loki out of SHIELD custody or sending him back to Asgard. Thor had actually been the one to nix the latter option nearly as soon as everything had shaken out from the Incident.

And it wasn't even all that bad. Barton tended to flit in and out of contact a lot for reasons that Tony was increasingly certain weren't because SHIELD sent him on that many missions. Rushmanoff did the same, but with a lot more documentation in the SHIELD databases that JARVIS had taken to hacking at least once a week. Rogers lasted a whole month on his cross country ride before circling back to the East Coast. SHIELD liked using him on the punchier type missions (again the documentation for the missions that Barton's disappearances lacked a good half of the time).

So really, it was just Bruce, Thor, and Loki that Tony had underfoot the most at the tower. Even his platypus was more often away than present. The air force liked to keep Rhodey hopping about, especially between the armor and inspiring the new zoomies. To be honest, Thor was often off world, too, dealing with his duties to the throne. Thor's thing with Dr. Foster had puttered out around the same time that Pepper had made the decision that she and Tony were better off as friends who worked together than a romantic couple. It meant that Thor was around the tower more instead of wherever the astrophysicist was stationed.

Of course, Tony would never have really thought that inviting a bunch of superheroes (plus whatever Loki was identifying as that moment) would have led to moments like this. For once, most of them were at the tower. Tony had even managed to have some extra people included in the mix. Tony liked having the best, and for Astrophysics and Microbiology, there just wasn't anyone better than Drs. Jane Foster and Betty Ross. Both of them had brought an extra person, too, bringing their total count to up over the double digit mark.

"A toast," Tony announced as he raised his wine glass full of cranberry juice into the air. The chatter around the table faded as everyone picked up their drinks. Tony tilted his glass towards Darcy. "To the soon to be Dr. Lewis, proving that Political Science is a gateway drug to real science."

"Excuse you," Darcy snarked back, barely hiding her grin, "but I actually defend the Poli-Sci doctorate second, so it will be Astrophysics as the gateway drug."

"Oh, I like that logic," Rhodey commented, too cheerfully for Tony's comfort. "He defended the Lit doctorate last."

"Wait, Stark actually has doctorates?" Steve interjected over the eruption of laughter at that comment. "As in actual doctorates? How many does he have?"

Most of the table looked surprised that the super soldier didn't know. Even months after the Invasion, they were still finding gaps in his knowledge. The strangest ones were always the things that should have been in the dossiers Steve should have gotten from SHIELD for the Avengers.

"Four that he defended," Rhodey answered with a cover of casualness as he leveled a look at Natasha. The redhead shifted in her seat, clearly uncomfortable with the reminder of how much she missed. Satisified, Rhodey looked over at Tony. "What are you up to in honorary doctorates now? Twenty-two?"

"Dunno," Tony answered with a shrug. "JARVIS?"

"Sir has twenty-three honorary doctorates at the moment," the CI dutifully replied. "There are another three that are currently being processed."

"So when that kid the other day called you 'Dr. Stark'," Steve commented slowly, "it wasn't a Dr. Phil situation? That's your actual title?"

"Oh, look at the time," Tony deflected, uncomfortable with the amount of surprise in Steve's voice. Things had gotten better than the wrong foot they had started on, but it was still an ongoing struggle. Tony sat down his glass and started reaching for the bowl of mashed potatoes in front of him. "The grub is getting cold. Better eat it before something happens that would be really awkward."

"Don't take all the rolls!" Thor protested, his bellow cleaving the tension before it could fully settle over them. Loki just gave a flashing grin before obliging. He sent a roll to most of the plates around the table, pointedly skipping Thor. He still had most of the rolls on his own plate.

"Dude, share," Clint ordered in a voice that brokered no compromise while also sounding like he was disappointed in Loki's life choices. Tony would definitely label it a Dad voice, no matter how different it was from his own father's. Loki raised his nose in the air and summoned Clint's roll away from the archer. Pointedly, Loki gave the roll to Rhodey who promptly frowned.

"This isn't what it looks like," he protested when the Avengers looked surprised and curious about why Loki was showing Rhodey preferential treatment. Tony snickered.

"Really?" Tony asked, aiming the question as much at Loki as he did at Rhodey.

"Well, no, it's exactly what it looks like," Loki admitted without a hint of shame, "but I have reasons."

"Are any of them that you're just a dick?" Clint asked. "Or is this just a continuation of how you're brothers. Because Fury still wants to know how you got your official file to reflect that."

"As amusing as this pettiness is," Tony interceded using the serving spoon to point at Loki, "you need to stop trying to antagonize Thor and Clint."

"I will never stop," Loki declared. "If my loved ones can't stop me, you can't either!"

"Bold of you to assume I ever liked you," Tony countered, confident that Loki wouldn't take any real offense. He couldn't say the same for most of the other Avengers. Bruce would definitely understand the joke, but All Speak didn't always translate sarcasm correctly. Loki pressed a hand against his chest dramatically.

"I thought we had a thing, Stark." Loki got a sly look. "Perhaps I should remind you of all the ways you do like me."

"And to think," Rhodey commented dryly, "I thought Tony always had to make things weird."