Chapter 2
Charles stared out of the large glass window in his study, just looking at the night sky silently.
He had been doing that a lot lately. Not really feeling like himself for a few months now.
During that time, he had barley been there for his students, too mentally shaken up to be really there for them, which was an unfair thing to do to Erik, who readily covered for him without any complaint. That made him feel even worse.
He hated the fact that what happened months ago was still affecting him this badly.
It was over. It’s done. They won. Sure, he made his first kill by ending the lives of seventy aliens, but it gained him his husband and family.
He shouldn’t be still affected by all of this. His mind shouldn’t be this unsettled.
He shouldn’t be doing this to Erik. Erik who didn’t pressure him to man up and handle his ragged emotions. Erik who took his burdens readily without question. Erik who still looks at him with warmth and love.
Everyday that passes was proving how undeserving he was of Erik’s love.
To be fair, they were all unwell after what happened. He knew that each one of his family was suffering from their own demons and pain. He could always hear their erratic minds, wrapping around his own demons and trauma.
They were trying to pull each other up, but it was taking time.
A soft knock on the door pulled him out of his thoughts. He looked up just in time to see Raven opening the door quietly to enter the room.
In the middle of all this, one of the things that still manages to exhilarate him was Raven’s growing love life. Her relationship with Charlie was amazing and adorable. It was so nice to see Raven this happy for a change. She even started to be in her true form more frequently around people, not caring what anybody says. Everyone else makes sure to catcall at her each time she decided to be in her blue form, just to see her grin as she flip them the bird.
“Hey, Grumpyass.” She greeted with a smirk as she sauntered into the room, while holding a tray in her hands.
“You seem overly chipper this evening.” He turned to her with a small smile. “I don’t think I saw Charlie visiting today.”
“Nope, she didn’t, but the beauty of phone calls is still there.” She grinned as she sat crossed legged on the floor and placed the tray in front of her, which apparently held a strawberry cheesecake. “Now come on, get down on the floor. I made it especially for you.”
“We have seats and tables, you know.” He rolled his eyes, but shuffled out of his wheelchair and lowered himself to the floor anyway.
“Where is the fun in that.” She grinned, while helping him arrange his legs in a comfortable position, then handed him a fork.
“Wait, did you just say you made that cheesecake? Raven, dear, if you want to poison me there are much simpler ways to do that.” He smirked as he glanced skeptically at the cake. Raven never stepped a foot in any kitchen. It’d be a true achievement for her to know the difference between sugar and salt. So for her to make an entire cheesecake on her own is truly a supernatural thing to happen.
“Haha, very funny.” She rolled her eyes at him. “I didn’t make it on my own. I called a very grumpy eldest Winchester and he walked me through it.”
Well, he did sense something supernatural about the situation.
“I thought the Winchesters are on a hunt.” He wondered, as he finally pushed his fork into the cheesecake with more confidence after knowing its source.
“Yup, that’s why he was so grumpy.” She chuckled in delight, always finds it satisfying when she manages to annoy Dean like all little sisters do.
“Well, it was worth it. The cheesecake is great, thank you.” He smiled at her as he took another bite. “What’s the occasion anyway?”
“No occasion. You just seem to be always down lately, and I know provoking your sweet tooth always manages to cheer you up.” She shrugged casually at him. Too casually.
“I am sorry about that.” He sighed tiredly as he kept his eyes on his fork. “I know I haven’t been myself lately.” He wasn’t fair to anyone of his family for a while now and that made his guilt rise up again.
“Hey, it’s okay.” She placed a hand on top of his gently, making him look up to meet her worried eyes. “We are just worried about you, Charles. That’s all.”
“I know. I am fine really.” He smiled as convincingly as he could, knowing from her look that he failed. They ate silently for a few seconds, while he tried to avoid her worried looks.
“He is worried, you know.” She murmured after a few silent minutes. “Well, he is always worried, lately that was increased ten times. I am pretty sure he is at a level that if you sneezed he will have a heart attack. It’s annoying and sometimes hilarious.”
Charles gave her a bitchface, which she returned with a cheeky grin.
“You might want to change the subject.” He said as he took another bite from the cake calmly.
“Why? Are you-“ she was cut off as the door opened again, revealing this time Erik, who faltered a little when he found them both on the floor eating a cheesecake. “Oh.” Raven smirked, since she now knew he felt Erik’s presence before he came. “Why, hello there, Lovebird. Come join us in this joyous treat.”
“Did you forget how tables and chairs worked or you decided to simply ignore them?” he raised an eyebrow at her, but approached anyway when Charles gestured for him to sit next to him on the floor.
“Come on, Erik, enjoy life a little.” She grinned, while handing him a third fork. “But first enjoy my new marvelous creation.”
“I heard your very entertaining conversation with Dean earlier, so I know it’s not technically your cooking.” He smirked at her as he started to eat. “If it was, I wouldn’t have even let you come anywhere near here.”
Raven scowled at him, while Charles couldn’t help but let out a loud laugh, which earned him a delighted look from Raven and a soft smile from Erik. Admittedly, It’s been a while since he laughed, so their reactions are fair enough.
They spent hours on the floor just talking, laughing and eating, since apparently Raven made two cheesecakes. After the first hour, they were joined by Logan and Hank, who heard them inside the study, bringing even more desserts with them that they were planning to give to Charles too. The high amount sugar was making Charles a little high, as he laughed and giggled as he shared memories with him, Raven and Tony during their childhood, which effectively was making the others in the room amused as they laughed uncontrollably along with him. It was so nice to hear Erik’s laugh, so refreshing, so free.
By midnight, Raven was curled up on the floor, sleeping soundly. Hank and Logan passed out a few feet from her. Obviously, the three of them weren’t planning to go anywhere just yet.
Erik was laying on his back on the floor, arm wrapped around Charles’ shoulders as he curled up on his side, head resting on his chest and an arm wrapped around the Metal Binder’s waist.
“How the sugar working out with you?” Erik raised an eyebrow down at him with a small smile.
“Am Amazing. You’re amazing.” Charles drawled with a dazed smile. Sugar have the same effect of alcohol on the telepath, which was always an adorable sight to see.
“Glad to hear that, schatz.” Erik chuckled as he leaned down to press his lips against Charles’ hair, only to let out a laugh, when the telepath raised his head so he was kissing his lips instead. He cupped Charles’ face with his hand as they kissed and kissed for a long time.
By the time they pulled away, Charles was pretty much half asleep and incoherent.
He rested his head back on Erik’s chest with a dazed smile, he was probably unaware of what he was saying but he murmured. “I wish I could just lean up to kiss you like I used to, and not have to wait for you to lean all the way down to do it.” With that he fell asleep.
Leaving Erik to feel his heart shattering in his chest at the barley hearable words. Sadly, he heard them. He knew Charles wasn’t awake enough to know what he was saying, but that was something the telepath was thinking about.
Charles misses his legs. The ones Erik took away from him years ago.
The one thing Erik could never give Charles. The one mistake he could never fix.
Erik just kept staring at the ceiling, feeling Charles’ warm presence plastered to his side.
Also the warmth of his bitter tears, as they slid down his face silently in the quiet room.
***
Dean was blinking hard to keep himself awake.
He had been driving for five hours straight, trying to shorten the still too long distance towards New York, and also giving Sam the chance to sleep a little longer.
He looked in the rearview mirror to see that Castiel was now laying on the backseat, sleeping deeply, which was still strange to see because usually Castiel fights sleep as long as he could manage.
The problem was he doesn’t actually know if there was a problem with Cas in the first place. Everything seems normal in their bond. He couldn’t sense anything wrong.
Or maybe Castiel was making sure he doesn’t feel anything wrong.
In the middle of his worried thoughts, he didn’t realize that his eyes were slipping close.
He flinched when the car swiveled to the side silently when he fell asleep, managing to wake Sam who yelped as he found himself almost falling on Dean.
Dean stopped the car by the side of the road and smiled sheepishly at his brother, who scowled at him.
“You were waiting to crush the car and kill us all, before you decide to wake me up or something?” Sam raised an eyebrow at him as he unbuckled his seatbelt.
“Sorry.” Dean winced as he prepared to switch seats with Sam. “I was letting you sleep a little longer.”
“Go sleep in the back with Cas.” Sam sighed with a shake of his head at his brother. “Cas, come on, make a ro-“ he stopped and they both frowned in confusion, when they saw that Castiel was still sleeping in the same position just as deeply as before. Nothing of what just happened managed to wake him.
Dean felt worry eating up inside him again, while Sam frowned in concern at Castiel’s sleeping form.
“That’s weird.” Sam murmured in worry. “He usually wakes up at any passing sound. He must be really tired.”
“Yeah.” Dean muttered as he got out of the car so he could get in the backseat, having a strong urge to be close to Castiel in that moment.
He opened the back door and crawled beside Castiel, who stirred and started to move to make a room for Dean unconsciously.
The hunter rested on his back, arm wrapped around the angel as he snuggled into his side, until he found a comfortable position.
Sam trailed his eyes between them silently for a few seconds, before reaching out to grab the blanket he was covering himself with earlier and spread it over Dean and Castiel’s bodies.
“Isn’t this the blanket that Nat gave you?” Dean smirked cheekily up at his brother.
“Shut up.” Sam muttered, as he turned around in his seat to start up the car.
Dean looked down at Castiel when he felt him move a little under the blanket, as they drove in silence for a while.
“Cas?” Dean whispered, as he nudged the angel gently to wake him a little more.
“Yes, Dean?” Castiel murmured sleepily, while he burrowed more into Dean’s warmth.
“You’d tell me if there was something wrong with you, right?”
Castiel’s eyes blinked open at that as he moved a little to look up at Dean.
They stared at each other silently for a while. Like always, unable to look away the moment their eyes lock.
This time though, Castiel looked away first and gazed down at his hand that was placed on Dean’s chest.
“Of course, Dean.” He murmured softly, trailing soft circles on the hunter’s chest instead of looking up at him.
“Is something wrong with you now?” Dean pushed, determined to get an answer.
Castiel moved then so now he could cup Dean’s face gently in his hand, he looked down at him intently.
“Yes.” He confirmed honestly and Dean felt his breath catches in his chest as he looked up at the angel. “But it’s nothing to worry about. I used my grace a lot in the past months. It’s taking its toll on me. I just need to take it easy for a while, that’s all.”
“Are you sure? Cas, you seem-“ he started but Castiel shut him up with a small kiss to his lips.
“I’m fine, Dean.” He murmured against his lips softly. “If it gets any serious, I promise to tell you, okay?”
“Okay.” Dean whispered as he pulled him down for another kiss, that was deeper and longer than the last one.
One kiss led to another before they realized what they were doing.
“Okay, guys, don’t do anything shady under my Nat blanket, especially with me still in the car. It’s a blanket, not the cloak of invisibility.” Sam’s amused voice cut through the bubble they created around them, and shattering it completely.
“’Your ‘Nat blanket’?” Dean chuckled after he forced himself to pull away from Castiel’s lips. “You seriously going to call it that?”
“My blanket. I will name it whatever I want.” Sam grumbled at him and tried to ignore Dean’s loud obnoxious laugh. “Just go the fuck to sleep already. You were sleeping just fine behind the wheel a few minutes ago.”
“Alright. Alright. Don’t be so cranky. Do you want your blanket to feel better?” Dean grinned cheekily, which turned into another laugh when Sam just gave him the finger.
“I want my own blanket too.” Castiel muttered with a small scowl as he settled back on Dean’s chest.
“I will get you an even better one to make Sam jealous.” Dean smiled into Castiel’s hair, before placing a small kiss there.
“Promise?”
“Promise, babe. You will get the best blanket ever. You can call it your Dean blanket too.”
Castiel chuckled as he moved up a little to kiss Dean’s cheek softly.
“I will be expecting it soon then.”
Suddenly, ‘Right Here’ of Ashes Remain started to play loudly in the car, and they both jumped to look at the smug Sam sitting in the front seat.
“Sam? Seriously?” Dean raised an eyebrow at him.
“What? This song fits you guys perfectly.” Sam just shrugged as he started to sing along.
“I think Sam just turned into a girl.” Dean announced grimly to Castiel.
“He is right, though.” Castiel chuckled as he listened to the lyrics. “It fits us.”
Dean didn’t find it in him to object, as he started to mouth along to the song with his brother’s obnoxious voice in the background and Castiel’s soft smile directed at him.
***
Steve let out a relieved sigh, when he finally reached the Tower after spending long hours in SHIELD.
He just spent those hours wishing he was home instead. Home where it was safe and warm with Tony and his loud, dysfunctional family fighting over the last pancake or cup of coffee.
He did realize that he barely got out of home anymore, wither it was the Bunker or the Tower. It was just after everything that happened in the past few months, he just didn’t feel it was worth it to leave the safety and the warmth that surrounds him when he was home. It was now physically painful for him when an attack happens and the Avengers are called to deal with it.
He was just too tired. He wants a break, even if it was a short one. Where he, Tony and the whole army of loud, obnoxious Avengers, Winchesters and X-Men could finally lay back and breathe.
But it didn’t seem like it’s ever going to happen.
He sighed as he dismounted his motorcycle, that seemed to be as tired as he was lately. It was expected since he started to use it as a shield in battles, if he lost his shield one way or another during the fight. It was a miracle it didn’t break down to pieces by now, and he always forgets to tell Tony or Dean to give it a look.
Or maybe he doesn’t want it to be fixed, so he won’t have to leave home for any reason.
On the long trip up the elevator, he just trailed his finger over his wedding ring and closed his eyes to feel the soft beating of Tony’s heart coming from it steadily.
He had been doing that all day. Whenever he felt disoriented or overwhelmed, he would just close his eyes and feel the soft heart beats trailing up his arm from the ring. Reminding himself that Tony was waiting for him back home with a gentle, loving smile.
It kept him going all day. Probably every day since Tony made these rings all those years ago.
The elevator opened in the penthouse, which was way too quiet to be normal. No bickering, no explosions, no broken things and certainly no loud cursing. Steve updated now. Every time someone swears, he’d just throw something at their face. He will keep doing it, until he finds a new jar instead of the one Erik threw from the roof.
He walked into the empty penthouse carefully, confused when he smelled something delicious coming from the kitchen.
Well, he certainly didn’t cook anything before he left, Dean was on a hunt and Erik is not here, so it was neither one of the cookers. Who could possibly be cooking without making an explosion through half of New York?
He stepped into the kitchen carefully, only to stop and stare stupidly at the scene.
A table set for two, there were two plates filled with really good looking food and wine glasses on the side. Tony in the middle of all this, fiddling with a lighter to light up a couple of candles in the middle of the table, without noticing Steve’s presence yet.
The soldier trailed his eyes around the kitchen in surprise, noticing the obvious signs of cooking around the counter and the stove.
Tony cooked this food. He didn’t order it from any restaurant. He actually cooked it.
Now that was something you don’t see every day.
“Tony?” he called out to get the genius’ attention. Which worked by Tony jumping in surprise and burn his palm accidently with the lighter.
Steve was on him immediately taking his hand gently, then pushed it under the tap after opening it frantically. “Shit, shit, sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.” He kept apologizing over and over again, as he focused on drenching Tony’s burned hand.
“Hey, hey, honey, it’s okay. I was just too focused on lighting that thing, that I jumped at the first sound.” He cupped Steve’s face with his free hand gently to make him meet his eyes. “Besides, it’s just a small burn, it doesn’t even hurt anymore.”
Steve just kept staring at him for a few seconds. Apparently, he was even more exhausted than he thought, if a small burn could freak him out like that. They fought freaking aliens, for crying out loud!
Tony just closed the tap and dried his hand on his shirt, then cupped Steve’s face with both hands and smiled gently up at him. “Welcome home, honey. Hope you are hungry. I made your favorites.”
“You-you cooked.” Steve uttered dumbly as he blinked down at Tony, enjoying the feel of his hands on him.
“Yeah, shocking, right?” Tony grinned cheekily at him.
“But there are no scorch marks anywhere or an explosion or something on fire.” The shock was so evident in his voice, that it made Tony chuckle.
“You will have to thank Kin Doll for that.” Tony just shrugged, still chuckling a little. “He helped me with everything through the phone to not explode anything.”
“Aren’t they on a hunt?”
“Yeah, but Dean managed to walk me through an entire dinner and Raven in making two cheesecakes, while he chopped off vampires’ heads at the same time. I am telling you, if that man ever decided to conquer the world, he will only need a pocket knife and a rolled up newspaper.”
“What will happen if Cas joined him?” Steve asked in amusement, as he pulled Tony closer to him.
“We will all be doomed by the end of the day.” Tony announced grimly with a shudder, making Steve laugh loudly.
“Hopefully, they won’t go dark side anytime soon.” Steve grinned, feeling a lot lighter than he had been all day, just by being in Tony’s presence for a few minutes. “You really cooked for me?”
“Well, yeah.” The genius just shrugged at him a little shyly.
“What’s the occasion? Is there an anniversary that I forgot about?”
“I don’t need an occasion to make something sweet for my perfect as hell husband.” Tony placed a quick kiss to Steve’s lips, which was way too quick for his liking. “I realized that we have the whole Tower for us alone till morning. So, I thought we should take advantage of our new alone time.”
“The whole Tower for us till morning, huh?” Steve smiled as he pulled Tony even closer, anticipation making his skin go a little hot. “I wonder what we should be doing.”
Tony covered Steve’s mouth with his hand, when the latter leaned down for a longer kiss.
“The food is getting cold.” Tony smirked up at him, as he stepped back to go to the prepared table. “After we eat, we will see what will happen next.”
Steve pouted, but followed him when his empty stomach kept grumbling at him in indignation.
He sat across Tony on the table, and couldn’t help the grin that crossed his face when he saw the food.
“A Scotsman's Shepherd Pie?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
“And Root Beer and Sesame Glazed Ribs.” Tony grinned back at him, looking very proud of himself.
“My God, I love you.” With that he started enthusiastically on his food, only to moan happily at the taste. “This is amazing, Tony.”
“I think I can hear Dean Winchester’s manic laughter in the distance for this victory.” Tony laughed, as he enjoyed the delight on Steve’s face.
They ate, talked and laughed, like they were back on their first date all those years ago. A lot of things happened since that day. Lots of things changed. Things they lost and things they gained. New family members were added to their dysfunctional family.
But at that moment, Steve couldn’t be happier from the fact that after all these years, after all they had been through, him and Tony were still the same. Their relationship remained the same, it grew stronger and steadier each year, but the love they felt then is still as strong as ever now.
Steve couldn’t help the laugh he let out when Tony presented a half chocolate, half strawberry cheesecake from the fridge, after they emptied their plates.
“How did you-“ Steve started but Tony at him off excitedly.
“I hacked into Dean and Raven’s very entertaining conversation, got the recipe and a few good laughs there. And since you like chocolate and I like strawberry, I decided to do both!” He grinned proudly as they dug into the cheesecake happily.
“JARVIS, music.” Tony called out the moment they finished eating, and got up from his chair when ‘A Thousand Years’ started playing and gently pulled Steve out of his chair.
“What are you doing?” Steve laughed, as he allowed Tony to pull him into the middle of the kitchen.
“Dance with me.” Tony smiled up at him, as he wrapped Steve’s arms around his own waist and wrapped his around Steve’s neck.
“You know I can’t dance.” Steve murmured, but let Tony do whatever he wanted anyway.
“Just sway. Sway with the song.”
“Why this song anyway?”
“I don’t know.” Tony whispered against Steve’s lips. “I just think it fits us.”
Steve swayed with Tony softly to the music as he listened carefully to the lyrics. “Yeah, it does actually. Every word.” He whispered back as he smiled lovingly down at his husband.
At that moment, as they swayed slowly to the song, bellies filled with his favorite food and dessert, Steve felt lighter than air. All his physical and mental tiredness he felt for a while now, left up from him as he stared at Tony’s eyes, unable to look away no matter how he tried, not that he tried anyway.
He felt like they were the only two people that exist in the universe at that moment. Nothing could take that away from him.
“You say the Tower is empty?” Steve murmured, just as the song was ending.
“Just the two of us in this far too lonely building.” Tony answered as a grin was starting to take over his face. “Until morning.”
“That’s good to hear.” He kissed him deeply just as ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love’ started to play and he couldn’t help, but pull away with a laugh. “Really?”
“Seriously, don’t tell either Buster Brown or Magnets or Legolas about this playlist. They will never let me live it down.”
“I won’t. Besides, I can dig Elvis.” He shrugged, before leaning down again to capture Tony’s lips.
The kiss this time started to get heated fast, as they tried to get as close to one other as they could, that there wasn’t an inch between them anymore.
Steve trailed his hands down Tony’s back, until he reached the back of his thighs, then hoisted him up effortlessly, while the genius wrapped his legs tightly around the soldier’s waist. Their lips never separating for even a second the entire time.
“Bedroom?” Steve murmured against Tony’s lips.
“Later. Want you here. Now.”
“Table or counter?”
“Plates still on the table, so counter it is.”
“They are so going to hate it.” He muttered, even while he walked to the counter and laid Tony’s upper half on it then covered him with his own, lips reconnecting again.
“Serves them right for not being home in the first place.” Tony moaned, when Steve started to trail his lips down his neck, while trying to remove his clothes at the same time.
After a short maneuvering, they were both naked in a record time. It wasn’t the first time they did it outside a bed, neither it was the strangest place either, so they are experts in undressing each other by now.
Steve’s hands travelled all over Tony’s body as he kissed and nipped at his neck, marking it where everyone will see. Something Tony loved and Steve always loved doing it.
“Come on, Steve. Get on with it.” Tony groaned after a while, as he couldn’t take the anticipation any longer.
“Okay.” Steve whispered as he trailed his hand between Tony’s legs. “I just need to get-Oh.” He stopped when he reached his entrance and felt the lube dripping from there. “Well, someone has come prepared.”
“I had some free time.” Tony grinned up at him. “And I was hoping for this turn of events.”
“You know this turn of events is inevitable no matter what or when, Tony.” Steve rolled his eyes with a chuckle, as he coated himself with some of the dripping lube and lined up with Tony’s entrance.
“That’s a very good point that we should discuss much, much later.” Tony groaned loudly as Steve entered him smoothly, his legs tightening around the soldier’s waist, as the latter went all the way. “I am pretty sure you are getting bigger the older you get.”
“Promise by my birthday next year, we will measure it to make sure.” Steve panted as he started to move.
He moved slowly at first for a few minutes, until Tony was pretty much writhing on the counter and clawing at his back for him to move faster.
He sped up gradually, till he was pretty much slamming Tony into the counter, who took advantage of the fact that there was no one in the Tower and just let his moans and groans get louder, that he was almost screaming the harder Steve went.
After a few minutes, they both came with a loud groans of each other’s names, lips never separating.
They panted against each other’s mouths, as they tried to regain their breaths again.
“Okay, so where do you want to do it next first? Couch? In the gym? Training room? Oh! The pool!” Tony rattled on excitedly, while he was still trying to breathe normally again.
“You are planning to defile the entire Tower tonight, aren’t you?” Steve raised an eyebrow down at him, already feeling himself harden again at all the options. He couldn’t help it when it came to Tony really.
“Well, we might not get this opportunity again. So, I say we take complete advantage of it.” Tony smirked up at him.
“Okay, if you can keep up, then I choose all the above.”
“My God, I love you.”