Chapter 1
“I hate this. I fucking hate this.”
Dean repeated for the hundredth time in the past hour, making Sam sigh in frustration yet again.
“I know you hate it, Dean. Like I said, I am clueless about these stuff, so I need you here with me, because you are my big brother.” Sam repeated his excuse for dragging Dean into this, playing the brother card again, making Dean scowl at him.
“Okay, so I understand that you need your brother here with you, then why the hell I am here too?” Tony whined from beside Dean with a pout. Sam seriously didn’t know whose whining was worse so far.
“Because, if I didn’t drag you or Cas, then Dean would have never come with me. Cas is currently in Westchester with the X-Family, so the choice laid on you.” He explained with as much patience as he could manage.
“I feel so lucky.” Tony groaned with a roll of his eyes, ignoring the double Winchester bitchfaces directed at him as he took another sip of his glass of wine.
“Why are we here again?” Dean sighed, as he stared at Sam with a frown.
“We are tasting all these different wines, pairing them up with gourmet cheeses for the wedding. Natasha thought wine and cheese will add a nice touch to the whole thing.”
“Who knew being in a committed heterosexual relationship could make a guy so gay.” Tony muttered into his glass. Dean snorted and almost choked on his mouthful of wine as he tried not to burst out laughing, while Sam directed a new version of his bitchface at him, made specifically for the shorter man for over a year now.
“I am sorry, how am I the gay one here? You do realize who you are married to, right? How gayer could you get?” Sam raised his eyebrow at the both of them.
“Still not as gay as you right now, Princess.” Dean smirked cheekily at him, while clinking his glass with Tony, who was wearing a matching grin on his face.
“I may be a sissy right now, but I can still pound you to the ground.”
“I would love to see you try.”
“Come on, guys. That’s one of the only things Natasha asked me to be in charge of. She is taking care of everything else regarding the wedding. So, help me out a little here, it’s out of my comfort zone too.” Sam sighed, already regretting bringing these two with him.
He should have waited until Cas came back, or took Steve with him instead. Charles too would have been a way better option, but sadly, he was the reason why Cas was in his home currently in the first place. Hell, even Erik was a better choice than these two together. At least, from the mutant, he will only get withering looks, with the occasional growl instead.
A lot had happened in the past few months, since the whole ordeal with the demons that trapped them in the Westchester mansion. For starters, they were all now perfectly healed from the ungodly amount of injuries each one of them got from the three demons. Steve, Dean and Charles were doing a lot better from being possessed and forced to hurt their friends and family, or that’s what they were showing anyway. Sam understands his brother, but both Steve and Charles were so hard to read most of the time, even with how open and honest they both were.
Not to mention the biggest change of all; Charles being able to walk, thanks to Tony and Castiel.
It was a slow progress; his legs were, obviously, weak from not being used for almost a decade. The telepath, however, was stubborn and determined, not to mention Erik’s attentiveness and solid presence.
In short few months, Charles was able to walk around for hours, with short breaks in between to rest his still adapting legs. He still couldn’t really run or sprint, jumping could send him to his knees panting harshly, but they were all happy about how far he reached so far. Seeing him walking around, wearing his constant smile, always made everyone feel better if they were having a bad day.
Erik himself looked like a certain weight fell off his shoulders, since the very moment Charles walked up to his arms. He smiled more easily now, became less angry at everything and got even more attached to Charles, looking like a lovesick puppy every time he was around him, which was always.
However, once every week, Castiel would go to Westchester with Bruce, so they could check on the chip in Charles’ spine and make sure there was no complications and that his body wasn’t rejecting the foreign body. Every time there was a problem, Castiel would patiently help to deal with it with a minimal amount of his grace, enough to deal with any complication without over using it. Much to Erik’s gratitude and Dean’s relief.
What was also new, was the fact that each one of their family got an anti-possession tattoo now to avoid a repeat of what happened.
Now, that was a day to remember. Mainly because Tony did get the tattoo on the upper left side of his ass. Sam knows that because the genius announced it very loudly, very cheekily, which resulted in Dean losing his shit from laughter and for Steve’s face turning several, very interesting shades of red.
Sam didn’t really try to ask where the others got their tattoos, he just saw them accidently from some of them. He knows Steve has it on his left pec, from when he saw him shirtless once. Erik on his upper right arm, while Charles on his left hip. Logan on the side of his neck. Bucky on his shoulder, where the star on his metallic arm used to be. Bruce and hank on their forearms. These were the ones who had it in a visible place or showed accidently, the others Sam had no idea where they got theirs.
He obviously knew where Natasha got hers. On her ribs, right under her left breast, which will always be one of the hottest things he ever laid eyes on.
He felt warmth spread through him as he thought about his fiancée. In two weeks, she will be his wife. The wedding was getting closer and closer every day and Sam was feeling lighter than air. He couldn’t believe that that day was finally coming. They have been through a lot since the day he proposed, almost died several times that he thought he won’t live to see this day.
Nothing will be able to ruin that day for him. Hopefully anyway.
Finally, Natasha will be his wife. She will carry his name and become officially Dean’s sister. Sam and Castiel will watch them bicker and at each other’s throats for the rest of their lives and they will enjoy every second of it.
He was so high on his excitement, that he managed to survive an entire afternoon alone with Tony and Dean without wanting to kill them or himself. That was how high he was.
“You know, I still have no idea what my part is in the wedding.” Tony’s grumpy voice pulled him out of his thoughts. “Everyone knows what their part is. Steve got ordained to officiate the wedding, becoming the hottest minister that ever lived-“, that got him double rolling eyes from the two Winchesters, “-Dean is the best man. Castiel, Bruce and Bucky are Groomsmen. Clint is the maid of honor, which I will always make fun of as long as I live. Charlie, Raven and Pepper are bridesmaids. Thor insisted on being the Ring bearer, which was weirdly both hilarious and adorable. That leaves me. What the hell is my role? There is nothing left for me to do!” Tony finished his rant with a pout.
Sam hid his smirk as he took a sip of wine. Tony did have a role, but Natasha insisted on torturing him by not telling him anything yet. He had to admit, it was funny to see a genius superhero pouting like a little kid at being left out. It was worth it, so he could see his reaction, when Natasha eventually tells him what his role was.
“I don’t know, Tony. Try asking Nat, she is the one responsible for these things.” Sam shrugged, not giving anything away.
“I tried! But she kept deflecting me, like the manipulative spy she is.” Tony frowned, as he shoved a piece of cheese in his mouth, chewing aggressively.
“She is just probably torturing you, dude.” Dean smirked, as he watched him in amusement. Sam suspected that Dean knows what Natasha had in her mind and was enjoying torturing Tony as well. He wouldn’t put it past him. “Just be patient. Don’t get your panties in a twist.”
“Patience isn’t one of my many, many qualities.” Tony huffed as he took another sip from his glass, eyeing Dean from the corner of his eye. “And my type of underwear is only between me and Steve. No need to judge.”
“You had to ruin it for me, hadn’t you?” Dean grimaced at him, earning a smirk from the genius and a groan from Sam. “Anyway, let’s talk about the Bachelor party!”
That effectively changed the subject, as the two men started to talk excitedly about how to get Sam stupid drunk for an entire night.
Sam just watched them with a warm smile. All of this wouldn’t be happening if they hadn’t met the Avengers for more than a year ago. A lot had changed since then and Sam couldn’t be happier even if he tried.
***
“I think this is everything.”
Natasha announced from where she was sitting on the kitchen table, a pile of paper in front of her. Her hair pulled up into a messy bun on top of her head with a pencil stuck in it, Steve suspected she had forgotten about it.
“All the wedding planning is done?” he asked without looking up from his cooking, already used to her materializing wherever he was to bounce off the wedding details at him, without needing him to actually listen, but he did anyway.
He could tell she was getting both stressed and excited the closer the wedding gets, so he never commented or complained. Even when she sometimes appears, suddenly, in his and Tony’s bedroom, effectively cock blocking them most of the time, which drives Tony crazy. He suspects she does that on purpose. He chuckled, as he leaned down to scratch Angel, the little puppy, on the head as he slept peacefully by Steve’s feet.
“Well, technically, it’s never done, until the wedding is actually done. I managed to finish all the tasks I am supposed to do so far. Sent out invites. Arranged the guests’ seating chart and all that. Everyone knows their roles, except Tony, but that’s on purpose. You are absolutely sure you got ordained, right?” she asked him for maybe the tenth time since he did it.
“Yes, Nat, my answer is still the same as the ten times you asked me already.” He rolled his eyes, but couldn’t help to feel amused at how nervous and stressed she was. It was unusual to see her like that.
“Sorry, sorry. If it makes you feel any better, I kept asking each one if they knew their roles over ten times too. At one point, I actually managed to frustrate Castiel. I am both proud and guilty about that one.” She sighed, as she finally pulled the pencil from her hair and placed it on top of the pile of paper.
“Everything is going to go alright, Nat. You did a great work in such a short time.” He gave her a small smile, before going back to his task.
“Thank you.” she smiled briefly back at him, as she stood up and made her way towards him. “All I need to focus on right now, is cooking Sam a nice dinner, after spending an entire afternoon alone with Dean and Tony. The poor guy deserves a romantic evening.” She stopped by the counter and eyed what he was doing. “By the way, what am I cooking?”
“Well, you are making him a frisee salad with goat cheese and pine nuts. Wild rice, roasted asparagus and salmon en croute.” He announced with a smile. Proudly eyeing the fancy dinner he was making for the engaged couple. Even if the credit would go to Natasha.
“I thought I was making him filet mignon.” Natasha stated with a small frown.
His smile fell into a disapproving, frustrated scowl. “Yeah, you were, but you decided to make salmon, because you had some left over and then, you realized if you bitched about it, then you would stop cooking and you would have to make your famous burned, baked potato and diet coke.” He snarked with narrowed eyes.
“Wow, I really get crappy when I cook.” Natasha raised an eyebrow at him. “Not sure if this amount of sass was already there, or it was multiplied by being subjected constantly to Tony’s snark and Castiel’s sass.”
Steve rolled his eyes. “You do realize that Sam is fully aware of your inability to cook a decent, unburned meal, right? This isn’t going to fool him.”
“Yeah, well, it won’t hurt to try.” Natasha gave him a bitchface, that suspiciously looked exactly like Sam’s.
“Wow, couples who live together do start to look alike.” He smirked, getting an even more powerful bitchface for his trouble.
They fell into a comfortable silence for a few minutes, Steve focusing back on finishing the meal.
“I am getting married in two weeks.” Natasha whispered a few minutes later, looking awed.
Steve looked up at her and smiled warmly at the wonder and awe on her face. “Yeah, you are.”
“I never thought this will ever happen.” She murmured, looking up at him with wide eyes. “With everything that happened, I didn’t think I will get this far.”
He reached over to cover her hand gently with his and squeezed.
“You deserve it, Nat.” he whispered warmly to her. “After everything you went through, you deserve to be happy.”
She looked up at him and mirrored his smile.
“I guess it’s time for me to try some of what you have.” Her smile widened as she said that.
“It’s about time you do.” He chuckled softly. “You won’t regret it. Believe me.”
She squeezed his hand in a silent gratitude.
“I still think that Sam won’t believe you cooked this.”
“Really supportive, Steve.”