Chapter 3
The three Winchesters stumbled out of the elevator in the morning like a herd of zombies, after spending the whole night driving continually.
Obviously, from how quiet it was in the penthouse, they were the first to come back to the Tower.
They were kind of glad for that actually, since they were too tired to talk with any human right then.
“Are we the only one here?” Sam asked tiredly as he leaned heavily on Castiel.
“Yeah, I think s-wait, no, we are not.” Dean sighed in frustration, when he walked into the living room and saw two tangled, naked forms on the couch, that were thankfully covered by a blanket.
“Wow.” Sam blinked stupidly at Steve and Tony’s sleeping forms. Completely unaware of anything from how deep they slept. “Looks like they had a honeymoon worthy night.”
“Honestly? I would have done the same, if we had an entire night alone.” Dean leered at Castiel, who just raised an eyebrow at him with a smirk.
“Gross, guys.” Sam grimaced at the both of them. “I don’t want to hear things like that.”
“Whatever, bitch.” Dean chuckled as he made his way towards the kitchen. “Come on, let’s get something to eat, before crashing in bed for hours.”
“Yeah, I am starving.” Sam grumbled as he followed behind Dean and Castiel.
The moment they stepped into the kitchen, Castiel stopped and frowned as he seemed to be smelling something.
“Hey, Blood hound, what’s going on?” Dean eyed him in confusion, while trying to ignore the growling of his empty stomach.
“They did it here.” Castiel scowled as he eyed the counter distrustfully.
“Who did what?” Sam asked in confusion, looking like a lost puppy.
“Steve and Tony had sex on that counter.” Castiel said bluntly with a blank face.
“What? No way.” Dean shook his head as he walked towards the counter to prove Castiel wrong. “There’s no way Steve would-and there is an ass print on the counter.” Dean sighed tiredly, as he rubbed his eyes in frustration.
“You know what? I am not that hungry. So, I am just gonna go.” With that, Sam hightailed out of the kitchen to lock himself in his room instead, mortified.
Castiel just walked to stand beside Dean, as they both eyed the ass print curiously.
“Which one of them it belongs to?” Castiel questioned curiously as he turned to his husband.
“I think it’s Tony’s, since I don’t really think it will be practical if Steve bottoms here.” Dean responded with a resigned face. They were both too tired to be mortified or embarrassed really.
“That’s a very good point.” Castiel nodded along tiredly. “Nice observation.”
“Thanks, babe. Anyway, I am still hungry and I am absolutely not getting any close to that counter, but I can’t sleep with an empty stomach, so we have one solution.”
With that he walked out of the kitchen back to the living room, while Castiel followed obediently.
When Dean reached the couch, he eyed the sleeping couple uncomfortably for a second, before his hunger won. He pulled out his phone then suddenly, ‘Back In Black’ sounded in the quiet room at top volume.
Steve and Tony flinched awake and looked up startled, to see Dean raising an eyebrow down at them and Castiel waving awkwardly behind him.
“Morning, Ducky Lips. Are you trying to make a musical entrance or something?” Tony yawned, completely unbothered by his current nakedness.
“Don’t call me that while you are naked and sprawled over your equally naked husband.” Dean groaned with a shake of his head.
“Well, hello to you too.” Steve stretched with a yawn of his own and smiled sleepily over at Castiel. “Hey, Cas.”
“Hello, Steve.” Castiel nodded back at him with an amused smile at the entire situation. “You seem to be feeling better today.”
“He ought to, after the night we had.” Tony grinned down at Steve, who just smiled and pulled him into a quick kiss.
“Yeah, about that. Of all the places you could have done it in, why did it have to be on the kitchen counter?” Dean crossed his arms across his chest, looking like a reproaching parent then.
“We didn’t do it on the counter.” Tony blinked innocently up at him.
“I saw your ass print on the counter.”
“Oh, then yeah, we did it there.”
“You might not want to go to the gym or the training room or the pool or the bar or the-“ Steve started to count on his fingers, looking like he was drunk or something from how high he looked.
“So you pretty much did it everywhere except on your bed?” Dean cut him off with a sigh.
“Beds are too old fashioned and boring now.” Tony pouted up at him, as he made himself comfortable on Steve’s chest.
“Yeah, okay, whatever. Anyway, we are starving. We didn’t eat anything since dinner last night and there is no way I am touching anything in the kitchen now. So, could you please just-“
“Okay, okay, I will go make breakfast.” Steve rolled his eyes, as he started to get up only to freeze, when he heard an indignant shout coming from the eldest Winchester.
“Dude, wait! Come on, I don’t want to get an eyeful.” Dean groaned as he covered his eyes.
“Oh, please, it’s not like I have something you don’t have.” Steve rolled his eyes at him again as he stood up, Tony trailed his eyes all over him from his place on the couch, completely enjoying the view.
“I am guessing your time in the army killed any ounce of shame in you about nakedness?” Castiel raised an eyebrow at the soldier, unbothered by his naked state.
“Oh, you have no idea.” Steve chuckled as he grabbed his pants from the back of the couch and pulled them on. “You can open your eyes now, Dean.”
Dean removed his hand from his eyes to scowl at Steve, who just smiled back at him innocently.
“And you? Did you decide to stay naked forever?” Dean turned his scowl at Tony, who was still eyeing Steve.
“My pants are next you.” Tony smirked cheekily at him.
Dean rolled his eyes as he leaned down to grab the pants, then threw them on Tony’s face, while muttering curses under his breath.
“Welcome home, guys.” Steve grinned at Dean’s increasingly frustrated face, Castiel’s far too amused smile and Tony’s loud laughter.
***
“Okay, Steve’s birthday is tomorrow. Everyone knows their part?”
Tony asked as he trailed his eyes around the gathered team in the kitchen.
“Natasha did you get the chicken parts?” Erik looked over at Natasha, who was responsible for shopping for ingredients of dinner. Erik was responsible for dinner.
“Yeah, I got three legs, five breasts and four wings.” Natasha rattled off, while looking in her grocery bags.
“How do you find clothes that fit?” Dean smirked over at her as she scowled up at him.
“Seriously she will kill you someday if you keep provoking her like that.” Clint warned, while trying to keep his laugh in.
“But I am adorable!”
“Anyway.” Tony rolled his eyes. “Kin doll, you know what to do with the cake?”
“Oh, yeah. I will blow you all away by my cake.” Dean’s smirk should have been a warning at that moment, but they were sadly too naïve to question him at the time.
“Okay, the ones who are going to drag Steve out of the Tower, ready? Remember he will be suspicious of anything wrong you will say.”
“Don’t worry. We are professionals.” Raven grinned at him.
“I just have to ask. Why did you insist that the girls should be the ones to keep Steve out all day?” Castiel asked with a confused tilt of his head.
“Mostly because Natasha knows how to divert his attention, while he will not get suspicious of Raven and Charlie much if they became too friendly. Unlike any one of us.”
“That actually makes sense.” Bruce nodded along in agreement.
“Thanks. Anyway. You all got your gifts ready?”
“You have no idea how hard it was to get that guy a gift.” Dean groaned tiredly as everyone agreed wholeheartedly. “Seriously, I have been on hunts that were easier than getting a gift for him.”
“Don’t I know it.” Tony rolled his eyes with a sigh. “He placed rules on the gift giving thing when we started dating, since he seriously hates it when I threw too much money in a gift.”
“You bought him an island then, didn’t you?” Charles raised an eyebrow at him.
“No.” Tony muttered with a pout. “A yacht.”
“Now we know why he put rules on gift giving.” Erik smirked at him, while Tony just glared.
“Just everyone go and do your parts.” Tony sighed in frustration. The others laughed as they left the room, until there was only Charles, Dean, Castiel and Tony in the kitchen.
“I really hope someone will get Steve a new swear jar or something, since he still a little down about losing his first one.” Tony commented as he checked the list of tasks.
“How did Erik get his hands on the Jar in the first place?” Castiel questioned in confusion.
“I stole it for him.” Dean muttered, as he seemed suddenly, too interested in the new counter Tony bought under the hunter’s insistence.
“What? Why?” Castiel looked at him in shock.
“Come on, Cas! At that rate, I was going to be broke by the end of the year from the amount of money I was stuffing in that thing.”
“You could just stop swearing all the time. It’d have been easier.” The angel rolled his eyes at him.
“Swearing is like a reflex. You can’t just turn it off! A situation could happen and the swearing would just come right out.”
The three men blinked at him for a few seconds.
“Sadly, I can’t argue with that.” Tony shrugged with a shake of his head.
“I am curious though. You are terrible in keeping secrets, how did you manage to keep this birthday thing a secret so far?” Charles raised an eyebrow at Tony.
“Trust me, it wasn’t easy. He almost caught me talking about it several ti-“ Steve entered the kitchen in that moment. “-So two cups of Tarragon, a pound of baking soda and a red onion?” he rattled off immediately, trailing his eyes towards Dean hastily.
Dean and Steve raised their eyebrows at him.
“What the hell are you cooking?” they both asked at the same time, the former smirking, while the latter incredulous, making Castiel and Charles struggle hard to keep from laughing at Tony’s frustrated glare Dean’s way, who just kept smirking in amusement.
***
“How have you been by the way?” Castiel asked Charles later, when they finally managed to stop Tony from strangling Dean earlier. “I heard you have been down lately.”
“Yes, that’s quite true.” Charles gave him a small sad smile.
“Is that about what happened months ago?” The angel asked softly as he looked over at Charles carefully. He did sense the sadness lingering from both him and Erik since they came to the Tower that morning. The Metal binder deflected his question when he asked before, but Charles seemed to be more open to talk about it.
“Part of it.” Charles sighed tiredly as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He looked over at Castiel then away. “I just feel useless. That’s all.”
“What are you talking about? You saved our lives then. If not for you we wouldn’t be here today, Charles.” Castiel looked at him indignantly.
“I could have done more if I wasn’t-“ Charles snapped his mouth shut, when he realized what he was about to say in his frustration.
But Castiel understood what he didn’t say.
“It’s okay, you know?” He said softly with an understanding look. “It’s okay to miss your legs. It’s normal to feel that. You are not a rock.”
Charles glanced at him sadly, then looked down at his unmoving legs.
“It’s not fair to Erik.” He murmured quietly, looking ten years older in that moment. “He already still feels guilty about it even after almost a decade had passed since that fateful day. It’s just-“ he sighed tiredly. “-I just feel like I am becoming a burden on everyone around me. especially on Erik and Tony, who constantly trying to invent new ways to make me as comfortable and happy as possible. Each one of them in their own way. When we were facing those robotic invaders, it came to me how useless and a heavy burden I was. I can never talk about this with either Erik or Tony. I will see a look of pain and guilt on the former and a renewed anger in the latter directed at the former.”
“Well, I am a good listener. If you want to talk, I am here to listen.” Castiel shrugged with a kind smile, as he nudged his shoulder to Charles’ gently. “Also, you were never a burden or useless, Charles. You are the telepath, so you should know that they never thought of you like that. None of us did. You are important to everyone in this Tower, wither you like it or not.” Charles chuckled a little at that, then looked up when the angel placed a hand on his shoulder. “Erik will always feel guilty. You know that. It’s a huge burden to accidently hurt the one you love. It’s something he couldn’t just stop feeling. He is just trying to redeem himself in every way he can think of. It might take him another decade to finally forgive himself for it.”
Charles gave him a long silent look, before returning his gentle smile. “Thank you, Castiel. I needed to let all this off my chest.”
“You are quite welcome.” Castiel’s smile widened then. “Now let’s focus on trying to surprise a very vigilant super soldier who will be suspicious of every word we will say! That should be fun.”
“Your definition of fun is alarming.”