Chapter 6
The vacation was going fine so far.
Sure, there was Charles’ slight freak out a few days ago, but when he called his home and made sure everything was going fine, he seemed to relax a little. Of course, Erik was making sure to make him as relaxed as possible. Sadly, their room was right between Stark-Rogers and the Winchesters couple, not to mention the thin walls.
They continue to make Thor’s life hell, from how his hair was getting crazier by each day. Tony and Dean were taking turns on calling him names, he didn’t understand half of them, but it still did the trick.
“So, what are we gonna do today?” Steve asked while he was walking with Tony, Castiel and Dean on the beach, each one of the others was off doing something and they decided to hang out together.
“They have a game room in the hotel downstairs. Ping pong and stuff.” Tony suggested with a shrug.
“Ping pong?” Dean repeated pleasantly surprised, then turned to Castiel. “Baby, they have ping pong! Let's play!”
“Oh, I don't think so.” Castiel shook his head with a shudder.
“What? Why not?” Dean looked at him in disappointment.
“Because you know how competitive you get and well, I say it's adorable, others disagree, and I'm lying!” the angel rolled his eyes at him.
“I'm not always that bad!”
“Oh, really? What happened when we played last time?”
“I punched you...?” Dean murmured hesitatingly.
“And..?”
“... Tony...?”
“…And…?” Tony was the one to prompt him this time with a raised eyebrow.
“And I clunked your heads together.” Dean sighed in defeat.
Castiel turns to Steve and gives him a ‘See what I mean?’ look, who just shrugged at him with a smile.
“I still think it is worth a shot, instead of being coped up in the room or almost kill each other again over sand castles.” Steve stated calmly, taking Tony’s hand and started to stir them towards the hotel.
“Yeah! Promise I will try to not punch anyone this time.” Dean smiled innocently, earning two suspicious looks from Tony and Castiel, but they obliged anyway.
***
“So, did you decide who will walk you down the aisle?” Sam asked curiously, as he trailed his hand through Natasha’s hair, while they laid next to each other on the bed.
“No, not yet.” She frowned at the ceiling as she thought about it. “The choice is a little hard. I want everyone to feel involved and not left out. They are our family, after all.”
Sam smiled, as he watched her talk about each one’s role in the wedding and who would be her bridesmaids and his groomsmen, and those details she knows by heart by now.
“I can’t believe we will be married in a few months.” He murmured quietly, his smile widening a little.
She stopped talking and looked over at him with a soft smile.
“Hard to believe, huh?” she whispered softly, trailing her eyes over his face. “After everything we have been through, I thought that day is never going to happen.”
“Can’t blame you. Our lives had been going to hell for forever now,” he chuckled a little with a shake of his head.
She watched him for a few seconds carefully. Watching his face intently.
“Did you, at any point, regret it?” she murmured quietly, not looking away from him, like she was watching his reactions carefully.
“Regret what?” he looked at her in confusion.
“Regretted being with an ex Russian assassin with a crazy life and a shady past?”
“Why would I regret it, if that ex Russian assassin is the best thing that happened to me in my life?” he raised an eyebrow at her with a soft, warm smile placed on his face.
“Your life must have been really terrible.” She rolled her eyes, while getting up from the bed to dress.
Sam stopped her by grapping her wrest gently. She turned to him in surprise.
“Yeah, it had been terrible.” He confirmed seriously, his eyes never looking away from her. “I thought I would probably die before I am forty or something, alone. Dean has Cas, he always will until the very last moment. I will always be happy for them, but wished for the same thing for me. I thought I never will.” He then smiled gently at her, as he took her hand gently in both his. “But then I met you. It felt right from the very first moment and I never regretted anything regarding you. I love you. You know that by now.”
She gazed at him silently for a few moments, before smiling gently at him and placed a soft kiss against his forehead.
“I love you too, you big puppy.” She chuckled and Sam just grinned at her. “Come on, let’s see what the other losers are doing, before they kill someone accidently.”
***
They entered the hotel game room, where there was a ping pong table in the middle of the room. Dean, Tony, Castiel and Steve walked towards it.
“C'mon guys, it'll be fun!” Dean said excitedly, as he dragged Castiel towards the table.
“All right, all right... I'll play if we don't keep score.” Castiel stated with a sigh.
“But then how do we know who wins?” the hunter frowned at him indignantly.
“Nobody wins.”
“So, we're just four losers?”
Tony and Castiel raised their eyebrows at him.
“I'm not playing with you.” Castiel scowled at him.
“Yeah, I'm out.” Tony raised his hands in a defeated manner.
“I'll play ya.” Steve shrugged, as he moved to take one of the paddles.
“Finally, someone with guts.” Dean grinned, as he took the other paddle at the other side of the table.
“Steve, you don't know! you don't know what you're doing!” Tony hissed, while he tried to pull at Steve.
“He can get a little vicious in this game.” Castiel warned, but looked more amused than worried.
Dean just rolled his eyes.
“I think I will be all right.” Steve just chuckled, before turning to Dean. “You wanna volley a bit for a serve?”
“Sure, Got to.” Dean shrugged as he took position.
They started to play for a few seconds, just back and forth for a while, before Steve suddenly swerved and scored.
“What the-“ Dean stuttered, as he stared at him startled.
“Oh, by the way... I'm awesome.” Steve grinned cheekily at him, as he swirled the paddle expertly in his hand.
“Oh dear God, there's two of them.” Tony sighed with a shake of his head.
“You're ready to play?” Steve smirked in challenge at Dean.
“Hell, yeah.” Dean smirked back smugly.
“I think we are just faded shapes to them now.” Castiel whispered to Tony as he blinked at their husbands.
“Well, I knew this side of Steve, but it still a little weird to see it up close like this.” Tony whispered without taking his eyes off them.
“Wanna make it more interesting?” Steve suggested in challenge.
“How much were you thinking?” the hunter raised an eyebrow.
“Ten bucks a game?”
“Make it fifty!”
“I'll make it a hundred!”
“One thousand-“
“Dean!” Castiel cut him off indignantly, the hunter just rolled his eyes.
“To see who goes first, you got a quarter?” Steve asked looking over at Dean.
“No.” Dean replied, while going through his pockets, then turned to Tony and Castiel. “Either of you girls got a quarter?”
They both looked back at him blankly.
“Focus the trash talk on him, will you?” Tony rolled his eyes, while pulling out a quarter from his pocket. “Steve, you call it.”
“Heads! No, Tails! heads!”
“Tails.” Tony announced after flipping the coin.
“Ow, what are the chances!”
Tony and Castiel blinked blankly at Steve, who just huffed without another comment.
They started playing again for a while, then Dean leaned on the table with his hand to stabilize himself so he could score.
“Ha, my point!” he exclaimed after scoring.
“Oh, no! I don't think so. You know, according to standard table tennis rules, if at any time a player uses his non racket bearing hand to touch the playing surface, he or she forfeits the point.” Steve stated calmly with a smug smirk, earning a glare from Dean.
“That’s my baby! Captain America by day, A lawyer by night.” Tony cheered with a proud grin.
***
Charles was in his and Erik’s room, staring at his phone on the table in front of him, like he was expecting it to ring any second with bad news.
He still couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something going on back home, but every time he called home, either Hank or Logan would tell him that everything was fine and he doesn’t need to worry.
They have no reason to lie to him, right? Maybe he was just overthinking it, or it was his guilt for leaving his students for a whole week that was doing this to him.
He couldn’t deny that he and Erik really needed this vacation, it was a nice change for the both of them. It’s just the first time he had been away from his students for this long and it was tugging at his nerves.
He was about to reach out to the phone to call again, but it suddenly started to float in the air and out of his reach.
“Erik,” he sighed while looking up at his husband, who was standing in the doorway, making circles with the phone in the air. “I will just call one last time. I swear.”
“That’s what you said the first five times.” Erik raised an eyebrow at him, but it was softened by the amused, soft smile on his face.
“The sixth time is the charm?” Charles tried with an unconvincing innocent smile, earning another raised eyebrow for his trouble.
“You are worrying yourself over nothing, sweetheart.” Erik sighed as he made his way towards, grapping the phone from the air at the same time. “You deserve a break, Charles. If there is any kind of trouble back home, Logan and Hank are more than capable to handle it. You can stop worrying and trust them a little.”
Charles looked up at him helplessly for a few seconds, before sighing in defeat.
“You are right. I am worrying too much.” He admitted with a shake of his head. “I wouldn’t have come to this vacation, if I didn’t think I needed it.”
“That’s the spirit.” Erik smiled fondly at him, as he crouched in front of him. He stroked Charles’ cheek gently with his hand, smiling even more when the telepath leaned against his touch with a small sigh. “So, there are a few options we can do right now. We can go to the beach, take a walk around the island, see what the others are doing and join them, or going down to the gaming room and watch Dean and Steve’s competitive sides devour each other.”
“Well, they are all very hard choices.” Charles smirked a little, as he leaned towards Erik suggestively. “But I have a better option.” He murmured, while trailing his hand down Erik’s chest slowly.
Erik watched his hand travelling down his body, a matching smirk appearing on his face.
“I like this option better.” He drawled, as he pulled the telepath into a deep kiss.
***
Back in the hotel game room, Steve and Dean were still playing ping pong.
Steve swerved a little sharply, that the ball missed the table entirely.
“Oh! I'm sorry, I think, I think, that you may have missed the table.” Dean taunted with a grin.
“Do you?” Steve glared at him.
“Ah, yeah.”
“Do you?”
“Ah, yeah!”
“Do you?!”
“Ah yeah!!”
“This is going to last forever, isn’t it?” Castiel sighed with a shake of his head.
“Is it bad that it is totally turning me on to see Steve like this?” Tony whispered, while leering at his husband appreciatively.
“Well, not really, Dean does look adorable when he is like this, but I am worried they might play until we die from old age.” Castiel rolled his eyes, while sneaking fond looks Dean’s way.
“Come on, Steve! Knock the smirk off his face!” Tony cheered on, ignoring Dean’s glares.
This time, Steve scores.
“Damn it!” Dean shouted angrily.
“I am married to him!” Tony rejoiced, while cheering loudly, earning happy grins from Steve.
“Game, point.” Steve announced smugly.
“Don't get too cocky! Remember, I won the last one.” Dean threatened before turning to Castiel indignantly. “And you! Why aren’t you cheering me on too? You are not in my fan club right now? We are freaking married!”
Castiel blinked back at him blankly, before cursing under his breath.
“Go, Dean, wipe his face into the table. Make me proud.” He cheered dryly with a straight face, earning a narrowed eyes from Dean, a suppressed laugh from Tony and a chuckle from Steve.
“I will take it.” Dean decided, before they started to play again, but then Steve scores again and winning the game. “Fucking dammit!”
“And that's how it's done.” Steve smiled cheekily, his smile widening when Tony moved to kiss him.
“Alright, You've each won a game and I've lost what's felt like a year of my life. So everybody goes home a winner.” Castiel tried, as he placed a soft kiss against Dean’s cheek in consolation.
“Best out of three?” Dean asked instead, looking up at Steve.
“That's what I'm thinking.” Steve agreed with a smile.
“Did I just turn invisible or something?” Castiel asked with a raised eyebrow, as he took his place back besides Tony.
“I am pretty sure they are not going anywhere any time soon.” Tony pursed his lips in displeasure.
“Serve the ball, chump.” Dean called out to Steve as he took position.
“’ Serve the ball, chump.’” Steve muttered, while imitating Dean mockingly.
“Ok Steve, better come backs, honey, better come backs.” Tony cheered with a shake of his head.
“This is going to be a long day.” Castiel said in defeat.