Eighteen years. Eighteen years of blissful mating with Tony. Even after all these years, some days he still woke up amazed and had to pinch himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming, wasn’t trapped in the dreamscape he saw all those years ago where he and Tony were bar owners and the rest of the Avengers were their employees. Waking up and seeing Tony’s face next to him, the beloved face that looked so peaceful in sleep, beautiful and so full of life and warmth upon waking, was one of the greatest pleasures of his life. Raising a family and growing old with him was another.
Steve gently caressed Tony’s cheekbones, reflecting on how far they had come from the first time they met at the Helicarrier a long time ago. How they squabbled over nothing, Steve fueled by bitterness and resentment about being thrust into a strange world, and Tony, fueled by a long time sense of inadequacy, lashed out at Steve and his presence and generally at how much Steve lived up to the hype and then some. Even after they finally reconciled and grew closer together, the revelation that the Winter Soldier was responsible for the deaths of Tony’s parents almost tore them apart. But they survived and weathered through it. The two hours Steve spent waiting for Tony to come back to their hotel suite after he revealed the truth about his parents’ death still counted as the longest and most nerve wracking two hours of his life. In those two hours, his life hung on the balance and he kicked himself in the rear repeatedly for just costing himself his own happiness but he knew it could go no other way. He wasn’t about to start a relationship based on lies. And his pain wasn’t for naught, for Tony came back. Tony came back, and the next day they were mated.
They went to a Tiffany’s that morning to pick up the mating bands. Tony chose a sensible plain golden ring for Steve, hefty and solid in his hands, just the way Steve preferred it. A solid reminder of Tony’s love and their bond in his hand, day in and day out. For Tony, Steve chose a platinum mating band, strong, durable and without any embellishments that would interfere with Tony’s work in the shop. Tony smiled fondly at him at his consideration and leaned his body close to Steve’s placing his arms around Steve’s waist and whispered to him, “You know me so well.” They had the rings engraved: Steve’s with Tony’s name and Tony’s ring bore Steve’s name. They went to a Washington DC city hall, filed the paperwork for a mating license then had a justice of peace officiate the ceremony with two of the city clerks as witnesses. It was simple, it was uncomplicated, it was what they wanted their relationship to be.
It was not what Tony deserved their mating ceremony to be though. Tony deserved everything. He deserved the best. He deserved a mating ceremony where all their friends and family were there, celebrating with them and sharing in the joy. Tony deserved a party, a celebration. Not a shotgun mating ceremony at a DC courthouse with two city clerks who was disgruntled because they had a lot of paperwork to go through but was forced to volunteer as mating witnesses. And it still rankled at Steve even eighteen years later that he didn’t give Tony the mating ceremony he deserved. Eighteen years and three sons later, and the shotgun mating ceremony was still on Steve’s mind as something unresolved.
Steve cuddled closer to Tony, placing his hand on Tony’s back and pulling his omega closer to him. Tony instinctively nuzzled closer putting his head in the crook of Steve’s neck where their mated scent, intermingled and combined together after years of mating, was strongest.
“I love you,” Steve whispered to him, “I love you so much, Tony. Mo ghrá, mo shaol. ”
Tony was starting to wake up, his brow scrunching up adorably as his eyes started to flutter open. Steve felt him sigh against his chest, and Tony started caressing his chest, signaling Tony’s wakefulness.
“Good morning,” Steve greeted him, smiling at the man in his arms.
Tony groaned and whined into Steve’s shoulder, “Too early.” Steve chuckled at him and rubbed his hands up and down Tony’s back. Tony made a pleased cooing sound and nuzzled closer to Steve, “Let’s go back to sleep. The kids won’t be awake for another few hours.”
“I see how it is. We’re such an old mated couple that when we have a couple hours to spare, we’ll just use it to sleep.”
Tony lifted up his head to stare at Steve, “You seriously wanna risk a morning quickie after the disaster that was our anniversary three years ago?”
“Oh, yeah.” Steve winced as he recalled the tragedy that was their kids walking in on them when they were having morning sex. Ulysses, Joe and Peter had the bright idea of bringing them breakfast in bed for their anniversary, not knowing that Babbo and Papa were engaged in their own celebration in bed. Without any fanfare, the boys barged into their parents’ bedroom, only to see their parents making like the monster with two backs and promptly screamed in fear, dropping the tray full of breakfast that they cooked, Ulysses scooping up Peter in his arms and grabbing Joe’s arms as they ran away and hid for the rest of the day in their uncles Thor and Bruce’s floor. It was an awkward day for everyone involved. Steve and Tony didn’t dare to look at their sons during dinner that night.
“JARVIS would tell us if they’re approaching. And we can do the fast version.” Steve told Tony, rolling over to position Tony beneath him.
“I don’t know where you’ve been for the past eighteen years, babe, but this…” Tony gestured to his body, still muscled and toned even after all these years, “this is fine wine. Something to sip and savor, not to chug.” Tony chuckled and leaned up to nip at Steve’s lips. Steve deepened the kiss, opening up Tony’s mouth with coaxing lips and tongue. Tony reciprocated fervently, kissing Steve back with fervor. The kiss was warm, and sweet, a little wet, and perfect. They kissed for a long time, until Tony pulled back, his breath a gaspy sweet thing against Steve’s cheek. Tony smiled at him, the love in his eyes evident and unchanging. Steve counted his blessings every single day to have the chance to mate and spend the rest of his life with this beautiful and amazing omega.
“I love you,” he told Tony, his hands cupping Tony’s neck, with his thumb gently caressing his cheek. Tony’s answering smile and the way he leaned in to Steve’s touch was gratifying in its own way and sent a swell of affection blooming in Steve’s chest.
“Love you, too.” Tony kissed his palm and nuzzled into it. Steve leaned down to rest his body on top of Tony, taking care not to put his whole weight on top of his mate, wanting to be close to him and revel in the intimacy of the moment. Tony started stroking his hair, calloused fingers gently caressing him and Steve focused on feeling his touch and steady beat of his heart. Steve prayed that there never would come a day when he couldn’t hear the beating of Tony’s heart. His only hope was that when that day dawned upon them, Steve’s heart would stop too so he wouldn’t have to bear living in a world without Tony. He felt Tony pressed a kiss on the top his head, soft and loving, and Steve closed his eyes in contentment.
Steve loved his sons to pieces. They were the lights of his life, the centers of his universe, the reason he got up in the morning. They have grown up to be fine young men in their own rights, and he and Tony couldn’t be prouder of them. Steve and Tony worked hard to impress on his boys that they weren’t above anyone else, just because they were more privileged. Being blessed with higher than average intelligence than their peers and born into wealth meant they bore more responsibility on their shoulders than the average Joe (insert childish snickers here). Steve insisted on the boys attending public school, in defiance of the norm of celebrity kids attending high priced private schools or elite college preparatory schools. Tony was behind the idea one hundred percent, unwilling to part from his children sooner than the mandatory eighteen years old timepoint. They didn’t want their children growing up out of touch from the realities of middle class living, comfortable in their upper class bubbles and becoming one of those douchebag businessman, or politicians, that only fought for the interests of their bottom line and their donors. Tony Stark and Steve Rogers’ children would be people who would dedicate their lives to make the world a better place, not to enrich themselves.
Ulysses, their oldest son, was seventeen years old now. He was smart as a tack, clearly taking after Tony, and determined, for lack of a better word, just like Steve. He was a perfect combination of them both. He was intelligent, but rarely did he leveraged that fact over his peers. At school, he was class president, captain of the football and debate teams and all-around good guy. Ulysses was a born leader, charismatic and charming to a tee, just like Tony was. He was well-known within his cohort, popular for his kindness, his intelligence and since this was high school, for being a handsome Alpha. Ulysses never lacked admirers, betas and omegas alike flocked to him but he was always respectful of them, not really interested in the playboy lifestyle Tony used to enjoy before meeting Steve. Ulysses was also very close to his little brothers and protective of them. He took his role as the oldest with great gravity and saw his role as the protector and the first line of defense for his little brothers against bullies who thought they could get away his bullying Ulysses Rogers’ little brothers just because they were small and nerdy.
Joe, though, was the opposite. He was book smart, just like his brothers, but was more reserved and shy. By Tony’s own observation, he was the smartest out of his three sons. He wasn’t like Ulysses, who everyone at school knew about, rather he had a smaller group of friends, consisting of his little brother Peter and Peter’s best friend Ned Leeds and the other kids from the marching band where Joe played the trumpet. He took after Steve from his pre-serum days. Where Ulysses was tall and built, Joe was tall and lanky. He was taller than the average omegas, almost at Tony’s height at just fourteen years old and he wasn’t finished growing, which made him self-conscious about his body. He wasn’t sickly like Steve was, just skinny. He loved to draw and he and Steve would go out to museums, spending the whole day there, sketching and drawing together. He wore glasses since he was 10 years old, a byproduct of years of reading too many books and coding with his Babbo. Just like his siblings, he was fluent in Italian but Joe, by virtue of having Natasha as his godmother, was also fluent in Russian. Natasha used to bring him down to Brighton Beach where there was a big Russian diaspora for them both to spend the day and for Joe to practice his conversational skills.
Peter was the baby of the family. A year younger than Joe, he took after Tony, from his brown hair and eyes, to his amazing ability to ramble, his exuberant nature and his love for science. He was a sweet kid, generous to a fault and smart just like his Babbo. Peter was Papa’s baby boy. As a baby, Peter wouldn’t tolerate being held by anyone other than Steve and Tony. He would cry if he was being held by anyone other than Steve or Tony and at times even seemed to prefer Steve to Tony. Tony said it was because Steve was the one who delivered Peter himself, and later saved his life by clearing out his airway by sucking up the afterbirth that was clogging his nose and throat, so Peter could take his first breath. Steve wouldn’t say that Peter was his favorite, because that wasn’t true, he loved all his sons equally, but he just had a different bond with Peter than he did with Ulysses and Joe. It might also be due to the fact that Peter was their youngest son. Peter’s godparents were Thor and Bruce. Thor adored the little boy and while Bruce had some reservations about being Peter’s godfather at the beginning, he took the boy under his wing, teaching him everything from biology to chemistry to physics. Peter, in contrast to Joe who was all about mathematics, computers and physical science or Ulysses who was more interested in history and political science, was more interested in life sciences.
The Avengers pack was stronger than ever. They saved the world a couple of times over the years, defeating an invading Alien army led by a psychopathic Titan a couple of years back, and over the years, they’ve actually added more people to their pack. Natasha and Bucky finally got off their asses and got their act together. They mated about four years ago in a small ceremony held at Tony’s fifth avenue mansion. The ceremony was interrupted by former KGB agents who held a grudge against Natasha and Bucky from back in the days where they worked for the other side. The buffet table was torched to hell, but at least the wedding cake was safe and that was all they cared about. Thor and Bruce being in a relationship was weird and made sense at the same time. No one other than Bruce could handle Thor’s eccentricities with aplomb, and only Thor would be able to handle Hulk’s tantrum if it ever came down to that. They left for Asgard after Thor kept getting dreams about Ragnarok and the destruction of Asgard, and returned with news that Asgard and the Tesseract was destroyed. Also Bruce was pregnant now.
Everyone thought Thor was joking, beta males as a rule didn’t get pregnant, but apparently being mated to Thor, God of Fertility, was enough to defy biology and lo and behold, Bruce and Thor’s daughter, Aurora Jean Banner-Odinson, Princess of Asgard, was born two years ago. Everyone rejoiced, they finally got their long awaited niece.
Sam, Clint and Rhodey remained confirmed bachelors, claiming they had too much love to spread to be tied down, to which Tony commented that the love was more like STIs. They were great uncles to the kids, though, and no matter how much Tony liked to rag on them and mock them, they were still beloved members of his pack. Pepper and Happy, after long years of courtship, finally tied the knot and their love child, Morgan Potts Hogan, was born earlier this year.
The family picture on the mantle had been updated several times over. Where before there was only them and Ulysses, now they had five children in the pack to love and fuss over. It was perfect.
Tony and Steve went down to the kitchen later on that morning. They woke up again a little around 9 AM and decided to go to the kitchen and start making breakfast for their kids. It was summer and school was out, so everyone was home. As they stepped out of the elevator, they heard sounds coming from the kitchen, some song that Tony heard a long time ago playing on the speaker.
“JARVIS, who’s up?” Tony asked.
“Masters Ulysses, Joe and Peter awake, Sir. Along with Agent Barton and Master Sergeant Wilson. Everyone is gathered in the kitchen.”
“Ulysses is awake? I thought he had prom last night,” Tony wondered, “I still can’t get over the fact that Sam’s rank was a master sergeant.” Tony snickered. Steve quirked his lips up in amusement.
“Ulysses did have prom yesterday. I thought he said he would be making a night out of it with his friends.” Steve confirmed, “He wouldn’t have been given access to the Falcon wings otherwise.” he added, referring to Sam.
“Hmm, it was more like the way he behaved. I mean, this is the guy who insisted on rescheduling Peter’s baptism because it fell on the same day of a Lady Gaga concert. Speaking of concert, JARVIS, who’s playing this Hootie song?” now that Tony listened closely, the song playing on the speaker was Let Her Cry by Hootie and the Blowfish.
“Master Ulysses, Sir. He has been playing Hootie and the Blowfish songs since he woke up this morning.”
“What, really?”
Before they could enter the kitchen, Joe came out and spotted them approaching. “ Oh, thank God. Papa, Babbo, please make Uly stop playing Hootie songs. It’s depressing ,”
“ He’s been playing Hootie songs? ”
“ Yeah, all morning. Though honestly it was an improvement over the Pearl Jam songs he kept playing before we came down to the kitchen .”
“ Which one? ”
“ He kept playing ‘ Black’ and ‘ Better Man ’ on repeat. ”
“Oh, boy.” Tony understood now, while Steve looked on in confusion. “What- what’s happening?”
“I think I know why he’s home and not out with his friends.” Tony walked to the kitchen, Steve following suit, to saw one of the saddest things he’s ever seen in his life. Clint and Sam was seated at the counter, staring pityingly at their oldest nephew who had laid his head despondently on the kitchen counter. They looked up as they saw Tony approached his son, their faces communicated just how weirded out they felt by Ulysses’ behavior. Peter playing games on his tablet, casting worried glances at his brother.
“ Oh, il Fiore ,” Tony said, making his presence known. Tony started carding his hand through Ulysses’ messy brown mop, the boy was still wearing his tuxedo from last night. It was rumpled to hell, it seemed Ulysses slept in it. His bow tie was missing and the shirt was untucked. He looked so different from the smiling and happy young man who last night was gearing up to take his girlfriend to prom, “ what happened? ”
“Amy broke up with me.” Ulysses answered despondently.
“What?” Steve blanched, “she broke up with you at prom?”
Ulysses lifted his from the counter to stare directly at his parents, “After prom. After we danced. She said that since we’re graduating and going to different colleges, it wouldn’t be fair for us to tie each other down with a high school relationship that was gonna end anyway. Said she wanted to get to know other people.”
“Christ…” Sam exhaled out. Steve decided he would forgive the blasphemy this time, he had bigger things to worry about.
“I mean, I didn’t know it was going to end. Who’s to say that just because we’re going to different schools, our relationship wouldn’t work?” Ulysses asked shrilly, “no one knows that.”
“ Oh, Polpetto ,” Tony tried to calm him down again, “of course nobody knows about the future."
“I thought we were good together,” Ulysses sullenly continued, “she was nice, and she cared about me. We’re so similar to each other. We have the same goals, the same views. But I guess that wasn’t enough for her. She wants to get to know other people. Meet people who are smarter, better, nicer than me…”
“I’m sure you were, son.” Steve added, “she was a good girl and I know you cared about her and she cared about you too. But sometimes it takes more than fitting together to stay together.”
“Yeah, bud. It sucks but that’s life. Sometimes it gives you a swift kick in the ass and knocks you down.” Clint said, “But you just have to keep moving forward. It might not feel like it for now, but it might be a blessing in disguise.” Tony shot Clint a grateful look, because despite the crass wording, Clint’s message was true.
Steve sat next to Ulysses holding his son’s gaze, blue looking into blue. Tony still standing behind their son, one hand caressing Ulysses’ hair and the other gently rubbing his back, “Ulysses, I know your first love seems like your only love. But that’s not the case. Someday, you’ll meet someone else, someone who, while they might seem like they’re different from you,” his eyes glanced up at Tony’s smiling brown ones, “turned out to be someone who complete your jagged edges. And someone who worked towards the same goals, just with a different approach. And that someone, they would stand by you no matter what. You’ll meet them someday, A stor . You just have to be patient. In the meantime, keep your head up.” Steve tapped Ulysses’ chin in encouragement.
“Hmm, I guess,” Ulysses conceded. He seemed comforted by his parents’ and uncle’s advice. “I’ll be okay. Just had to process everything.”
“And no matter what you do, you will always have your family in your corner.” Tony told him. Ulysses looked at his Babbo and smiled gratefully, “ Grazie, Babbo.”
“Yeah, cheer up, Uly!” Peter jumped on his back, much to Ulysses’ surprise, the boy wrapped his legs around Ulysses’ waist and the older boy stood up from his seat to adjust Peter’s position on his back. “Amy was boring anyway, she didn’t like my potato gun.”
“Nobody liked your potato gun, Peter,” Joe piped in.
“You just don’t like it because it has better efficiency than the one you made.” Peter stuck out his tongue at his brother.
“Please, I would never invent something plebeian like a potato gun,” Joe retorted back, “when I was your age, I already made my first telescope.”
“Boys, be nice.” Tony cautioned, rolling his eyes at his boys’ antics. Steve chuckled at Joe and Peter trying to one up each other with their inventions.
“Can we get dim sum for breakfast?” Ulysses asked. He was an emotional eater, just like Steve. If he was upset or stressed, he would eat to make himself feel better. Peter was still latched on to his back as he walked to the fridge, to fetch a glass of orange juice for himself and Peter, when his little brother indicated he wanted one too.
“Dim sum sounds good.” Steve agreed.
“Yes, dim sum!” Clint cheered, “I’ll go wake everyone up!” then he rushed out of the kitchen to wake everyone up.
Their breakfast lasted long into brunch then lunch and all the way to early afternoon, which was when the restaurant kicked them out when they stopped serving dim sum and had to close to prepare for dinner. After that, they went to Coney Island, where Ulysses, Joe and Peter rode the cyclone with Bucky and Clint while Steve steered clear from any roller coasters and opted to play shooting games, winning a huge stuffed rabbit for Tony much to the billionaire’s amusement. The highlight of the day was when Thor played the strongman game and in his excitement hit the mallet so hard, the puck came flying off the tower, crashing onto one of the shooting game stands that cheated Sam out of his money. Sam laughed his ass off, claiming it was karma against the carnie, while Tony good naturedly compensated both vendors in exchange for them not suing the Avengers for destruction of civilian properties.
Before going home, they spotted a photo booth and decided to take some pictures. It was a riot and a half trying to fit that many buff and muscled men into a photo booth. They managed with just fitting Steve, Thor, Sam and Ulysses’ heads inside the booth, the little ones like Peter and Aurora at the front so only their foreheads and eyes were part of the picture. Natasha and Joe sitting on the floor with Tony and Bruce, while Clint and Bucky stood at the back. It was ridiculous and out of this world, but as they posed for each shot, they were happy. And they would remember this moment forever.
They would be going on a family vacation to Maui for the summer, at Tony’s insistence. It would be the last summer Ulysses would spend with them before going to college in the fall. He had been accepted to Harvard, much to Tony’s dismay (he blamed Rhodey and Bucky for not doing their godfatherly duties well), to study history and political science. Ulysses wanted to be a lawyer. He became fixated on the crusading lawyer archetype ever since he saw ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ on one of the family’s movie nights. He wanted to be just like Atticus Finch, helping people who were victimized by the system, or who were wrongly accused and couldn’t defend themselves. Steve was proud of his son for having such aspirations. His family’s legacy of service would continue on with Ulysses. Tony was just glad Ulysses didn’t want to run off to join the military to serve his country. He appreciated Steve, Bucky, Rhodey and Sam for their services, but there’s still something inside him that rebelled at the thought of his baby being in the line of fire, even though said baby was old enough to enlist. Ulysses was still bummed out by his break up with Amy, but spending time with his little brothers, helping Peter with his chemistry experiments or playing the piano while Joe played his cello or having a coding tournament with his little brothers to see who could improve DUM-E (Ulysses), Butterfingers (Joe) or U (Peter) the best seemed to cheer him up significantly. Bucky and Rhodey took him out to play paintball one weekend, and they were gone for the whole day, but when they came back Ulysses looked pleased as punch. Beating his godfathers, who were both military men, at paintballing might have something to do with that.
So they were all going to Maui and would be there for two weeks. Tony (or rather his PA Joshua) had booked them at the Four Seasons at Wailea. Everyone who had kids were getting a residential suite. Sam and Clint both insisted on getting an oceanview room, while Bucky and Natasha didn’t much care for the oceanview, just as long as they had rooms far enough from the rest of them so they could do unspeakable things to each other. Everyone shuddered at the thought of what they did behind closed doors. If it was anything like the way they fought, it was acrobatic, to say the least.
To pull off two weeks vacation, Tony had to work well into the night and sometimes into the morning, taking care of loose ends in the twenty five year model of the arc reactor project. Not to mention he had to debug some of the codes for the software used in the medical devices produced by Stark Med Tech. On top of that, Maria brought up some security concerns for the Avengers facility, so Tony had to upgrade the encryptions for the security system. All in all, the week before their vacation he was firmly ensconced in the workshop. He barely saw Steve or any of his children, other than when Steve or Ulysses would go down and retrieve him for dinner or to bring him some snacks or a cup of coffee. Joe sometimes came down too, asking him advices for a new cochlear implant he was working on. The boy was probably the single leading authority in auditory systems by this point, even more so than practicing ENTs. Tony was seriously so proud of Joe. He was so kind and generous and selfless. Ever since he found out of Clint’s hearing impediment, the boy seemed to have made it his life’s mission to ease his godfather’s woes by inventing better devices to help him hear.
Seriously, Tony had the best kids in the universe.
All of this lead to him being sleep deprived and tired. So on the day of their departure, he had a massive headache and spent the first leg of their journey sleeping in the jet. They had to transit at LAX to refuel the jet which was where everything went downhill. Because no matter how much money Tony seemed to have and how many times the Avengers might have saved the planet from alien invasions, they still have to go through airport security checks just like everyone else.
“Ma’am, please empty everything out of your pockets,” the disgruntled TSA agent told Natasha through gritted teeth after the metal detector beeped for nth time.
“Everything?”
“Yes, Ma’am. Everything.”
“Okay.” then Natasha proceeded to empty everything in her pockets, which included knives, guns, brass knuckles and lighters and bullet magazines. The TSA agent looked shocked. To be fair, Natasha was wearing a sundress with no pockets in sight.
“Ma’am, are you aware you’re not allowed to bring these on the airplane?”
“Yes.” Natasha answered succinctly, unflappable as a statue in the middle of a tornado.
“I have to take you in for questioning, Ma’am.” and escorted her to a different room.
In line behind her, Tony sighed longsufferingly. Peter fidgeted behind him, impatient because he had to pee and he didn’t listen to Tony telling him to go on the plane before they landed.
On the other line, Bucky was being detained and singled out for questioning because his mechanical arm didn’t pass inspection. Ulysses went after him claiming Uncle Bucky needed representation during questioning as was his constitutionally protected right. Steve got into an argument with another TSA agent who wanted to put his shield in the X-ray machine, Joe trying to futilely explained to his Papa that nothing would happen to the vibranium in the shield when subjected to X-ray. Thor had placed Mjolnir on the inspection table and was daring the other TSA agents to pick the hammer up to see if any of them were worthy, while Bruce looked on in exasperation at his mate’s antics, desperately telling him that he was holding up the line and they need to get out of here now. Clint and Sam passed without any fanfare and was laughing at them from the other side.
“ Babbo, I have to pee real bad .” Peter whined.
Tony was starting to remember why even after eighteen years, they never had a family vacation together.
They couldn’t leave until the jet was refueled, so now they were stuck at a gate waiting for the plane to be ready. Also, Bucky and Ulysses still hadn’t returned from being detained by airport security. They were all amazed at how fast Natasha escaped from questioning with none of her weapons confiscated. When asked what she did to get them back, she just grinned at them predatorily and said, “I made them an offer they couldn’t refuse.” There were no more questions raised after that.
Tony and Clint were at one of the bars that were already opened at the gate because it was 5 PM somewhere. Tony needed a drink after the debacle that was the Avengers trying to get through airport security. He was pretty sure there were phone cameras recording what happened and any moment now the Avengers would be trending on social media and Pepper would send him strongly worded messages about what happened. Awesome…
“Ugh,” Tony groaned to his glass of scotch, “remind me again why I thought this was a good idea.”
“Because it would be the last time Ulysses would be spending his summer with us. After he’s off to college who knows if he would even have time to go back to New York.”
That sobered Tony up, “Oh God. Oh my God, Clint, my baby’s going away to school.”
“Yeah, finally hit you, did it?”
“Oh my God, I won’t be able to see him everyday.” Tony moaned, “How the fuck did this happen? Why did I tell him it’s okay to apply to school out of state?”
“Life. Life happens.” Clint said sagely, taking a gulp out of his own drink.
“Life. Fucking life. Always had to mess shit up.” Tony grumbled.
“Hey, you remembered when he was a baby and Steve was so into bonding and he wanted to do skin-on-skin contact with him, and Ulysses shit all over him?”
Tony and Clint cracked up loudly at the memory. Steve had looked so horrified when he realized he had a chest full of baby poop. “And, and, and remember that time he brought home an opossum, thinking it was a puppy. I thought Sam and Bucky were gonna shit a brick.” They laughed some more, recounting Ulysses’ shenanigans growing up.
“My baby’s leaving me…” Tony cried, already halfway to tipsy by this point, “ Mio polpetto …”
“Barkeep, keep ‘em coming. We’ll be here awhile,” Clint slurred out as he patted Tony’s back.
Steve was searching for Tony. They hadn’t spend time together just the two of them in a week, what with Tony working overtime before they all left for the vacation and Steve making all the appropriate arrangements with the X-Men, Fantastic Four and Doctor Strange to leave New York and the world in their capable hands. Steve intended to make this vacation a chance to jump start their romance. He was going to spoil Tony endlessly, make him feel good and relaxed and appreciated and loved. Tony did so much for their family, it was only right for Steve to return the favor. He had made a reservation for the hotel to cater for a dinner for two on one of the nights they were staying there. He made arrangements with Bucky and Natasha to take the kids out for dinner and a show and to keep them overnight, just in case the night turn to amorous avenues and they needed the whole suite for themselves. Steve flushed at the thought of making love to Tony, even after all these years thinking of Tony’s body and how it felt against his never failed to light the flames of desire within him.
But before Steve could stand up from his seat to start looking for Tony, Bruce stopped him, “Steve, Steve, could you watch over Aurora please? I think I left my wallet at security. I’m gonna go there and check.”
“Okay,” Steve sat back down again, receiving Aurora from Bruce’s arms and settling the little girl in the crook of his arms and shooting his niece a soft smile, “I can take her, Bruce.”
“Thanks, Steve. Okay, sweetheart, you’re going to hang out with Uncle Steve for a bit, okay?” Bruce told his daughter, eliciting a gummy smile from the baby.
Bruce left after giving Steve all of Aurora’s items, from the diaper bags to the Baby Einstein picture book that she was currently fixated on. Steve propped her up on his lap and decided to entertain her a little bit by going through the picture book with her. Aurora’s sharp intelligent eyes moved through the pages with him. Once in a while she would point at a picture, and glanced up at Steve asking him with her gaze what the item would be called. They played the pointing game, as Steve dubbed it in his mind, for awhile until Joe and Peter came up to them.
“Papa, can I have some money to buy lunch? I’m hungry.” Joe asked.
“Of course,” Steve took out his wallet and gave the boy two twenty dollar bills, “get some for your brother too. Speaking of, where’s Ulysses and your Babbo?”
“Babbo’s at the bar with Uncle Clint.” Peter answered, pointing in the direction of the bar where he saw his father and uncle last.
“At the-- what?”
“He said he had a headache.” Peter added, much to Steve’s consternation. Seriously, Tony?
“Okay,” Steve sighed, “where is your brother?” He hadn’t seen Ulysses since they passed through security.
“Dunno,” Joe shrugged, “He’s probably at a bookstore somewhere, buying more books and snacks.”
“Okay, go get lunch, you two.”
“You want anything, Papa?” Peter asked before they left.
“I’m fine, A stóirín .”
Bruce came back a few minutes later, brandishing the wallet he thought he lost and thanking Steve for watching over his daughter. Joe and Peter came back with a bag of food, between them and sat next to Natasha who was reading a Vogue magazine. A few seats away, Thor was engaged in a rather heated debate with a teenage girl, trying to convince her that Harry Styles was the Justin Timberlake of One Direction, but the girl wasn’t buying it, insisting that it was Zayn instead and that Harry was the JC Chasez. It was only slightly ridiculous than the other debates Thor usually get himself into (re: the waffle fry v. french fry debate with Ulysses).
Steve settled back in his seats, crossing his arms in front of his chest and debating whether or not he should fetch Tony and Clint from the bar, when Peter ran up to him looking panicked.
“Papa, help, Joe’s having an allergic reaction!”
Without thinking twice, Steve leapt from his seat, rushing to his second born’s aide, Peter running behind him. Joe was coughing furiously in his seat, his face red and there was swelling around his lips.
“Papa,” he gasped out.
“Nat, there’s an epipen in Joe’s backpack. Grab it please!”
“On it.”
“What did you eat, sweetheart?”
“Chicken nuggets and fries,” Joe coughed out, his breathing was short and hitching. Steve scrambled for the chicken nugget package and saw the writing that stated that it was fried in “100% pure peanut oil”. Goddamnit, Joe was allergic to peanuts.
“This was fried in peanut oil,” Steve threw the box to the floor, away from his son. Natasha shoved the Epipen in his hands and he opened the pen and jabbed the needle on to Joe’s thigh. Joe gasped out in pain at the shot of epinephrine to his system. Steve hugged him close to his chest, comforting the boy by rubbing his hand up and down his back and murmuring endearments and reassurance.
“It’s okay, you’re okay. Papa’s here. I got you, sweetheart,”
Joe was still coughing in his arms but his breathing seemed to go back to normal, still hitching periodically. That was a close call, Steve closed his eyes in relief. They almost lost Joe and all because he was too preoccupied with his own plans. Steve hugged his son closer, pressing a kiss to his hair.
“Papa’s here.” he repeated.
Singing Radiohead at the top of our lungs
With the boom box blaring as we're falling in love
I got a bottle of whatever, but it's gotten us drunk
Singing here's to never growing up!!
“Tony! Clint!” Steve bellowed at the two men, currently standing on the bar counter singing (yelling) an Avril Lavigne song loudly and off-key. Honestly it was only 1 PM and they were already drunk of their asses and singing songs on a bar counter.
“Steeeebeeee….!!” Tony screeched out when he spotted his mate, looking like an irate housewife with both his hands propped on his hips, “Stebe, I miss youuu…” Tony jumped off the table, confident even in his inebriated state that Steve would catch him. And catch Tony he did, Steve’s arms supporting his waist and back, holding Tony close to him.
“Tony, I can’t believe you. Day drinking? Now?” Steve chastised Tony.
“I’m saaadddd....” Tony pouted and nuzzled his face into Steve’s neck, “Uly’s leaving soon,”
Steve sighed. He should have known something like this would happen. Tony didn’t seem perturbed when they were all discussing college options, even seemingly encouraging Ulysses to apply to school out of New York so he could explore the world and see what was out there. He should have known that it was all a front, Tony was just starting to realize that one of his sons were leaving soon, becoming an adult that wouldn’t depend on him for every little thing.
“I know, honey. I’m sad too, but Ulysses has to grow up and leave us someday. That’s just the way it is. Children grow up eventually.”
Tony whined into his chest, “Shoulda taken them to Neverland so they nev’r grow up,”
Steve chuckled, “We still have Joe and Peter. They’ll be with us for a while now.”
“Joeeeeyyyy, Peteeeyyyy,” Tony screeched out, “ Mio bambinooo…wanna see them! ”
“Bambino, stromboli, minestrone, spaghetti,” Clint shouted along.
“Okay, Tony, okay, let’s go to them. Thor, can you please?” Steve gestured at Clint who was still stumbling around drunkenly on the bar counter.
“On it, Steve.”
“Jujubee, Petey Pie, Babbo’s coming, babies~~” Tony slurred out drunkenly from his perch on Steve’s shoulder, where Steve was carrying him out of the bar in a bridal carry. Steve apologized to the bartender as he paid Tony and Clint’s bills, adding extra tips in the tip jar for their patience. Tony was asleep by the time they got back to the gate where everyone else was waiting, snoring loudly. Clint was still random Italian words that he knew, Thor carrying him around like a sack of flour on his shoulder. Joe was also asleep on one of the seats at the waiting room, tired after his anaphylaxis attack ordeal, his head on Natasha’s lap and his godmother was stroking his blond hair affectionately.
The maintenance crew finally announced that the jet had finished refueling and the engine had passed inspection for the next leg of journey. The Avengers then proceeded to board the plane. Steve carrying Tony over his shoulder and Joe wrapped around his torso like a spider monkey. Peter carried his Papa’s art portfolio case that contained the shield, feeling proud that he was entrusted with such an important task. As they all piled in on to the jet, nobody seemed to be noticing that they were missing two of their family members. Both of whom were still held for questioning by the TSA.
“Let’s try this again. Your name is James Barnes, correct?”
“Yes. James Buchanan Barnes.”
“James Buchanan Barnes, of Pensacola, Florida? The iguana smuggler?”
“What?!” Bucky and Ulysses yelped.
“No I am definitely not James Buchanan Barnes of Pensacola, Florida! And definitely not an iguana smuggler!” Bucky insisted.
“Officer, I think there’s been a misunderstanding here. You’re confusing my uncle with someone else who happened have the same name as him.” Ulysses tried to ameliorate the situation.
“I don’t think so,” the TSA agent insisted, “the partial prints came back as his. And this picture more than proves it.” He placed a mug shot of a man that looked almost like Bucky. If he didn’t shave and let his hair grow again like he used to do when he was younger.
“Whoa, he kinda looks like you, Uncle Buck.”
“Like hell!”
“I think it’s the beard and the hair.”
“Shut up, punk. Look, I can prove it’s not me. Here’s my ID, you can check yourself.” Bucky took out his drivers license and placed it on the table for TSA officer to see.
The officer took one look at Bucky’s drivers license and shot them an incredulous look, “Are you kidding me?”
“What?”
“This says that your date of birth is April 26th nineteen seventeen.”
“That is my birthday.”
“Ain’t no way you’re over a hundred years old, buddy. You don’t look a day over forty.”
“It really is his date of birth, officer. This isn’t a fake driver’s license. You can check,” Ulysses suggested.
The TSA officer pinned them both with a distrustful look, “Don’t move.”
Thirty minutes of waiting later, they were finally released. The TSA officer apologizing to them for not believing Bucky and complemented Bucky on his metal arm. They walked to where they thought the family would be waiting. When they couldn’t find anyone at the gate, they walked to the hangar where the jet was being refueled only to find an empty hangar. Bucky and Ulysses didn’t speak for a couple of moments, eyes squinting at the lack of airplane in the hangar and trying to figure out what was going on.
“Well this sucks.” Bucky dropped his duffle bag on the ground.
“Where are the Jameses?” Natasha asked, a few minutes after they were airborne.
Sam perked up from his seat and looked around the cabin. Tony and Clint were occupying the three seater seats, sleeping soundly, the sounds of their snores filling the air. Peter was playing with Aurora, trying to distract the baby from the discomfort in her ears caused by the plane taking off. Steve was sitting in one of the chairs, Joe’s sleeping figure sprawled on top of him, Steve still loathed to let him go.
Sam’s eyes widened as he realized that neither James or little James were on the plane.
“Turn around,” Steve sighed despondently, resigned at this point to any and everything going wrong during the vacation.
Maui, HI
“ Joe, honey, did you put on sunscreen? Honey? Did you? ” Tony frantically asked after Joe who had his nose buried in an astrophysics journal and was eager to escape him towards the lobby.
“ Yes, Babbo. ” Joe walked faster away from his father, making a beeline for the hotel lobby.
“Peter, Peter, come here.Did you put sunscreen on your face?” Tony called out to Peter, who was busy taking pictures, and without waiting for Peter’s answer pulled him aside and started slathering the sunscreen on Peter’s face, much to Peter’s consternation and whining “Babbo, quit it!”. Once that was done, Tony turned his attention to Ulysses, who had little Aurora perched on his shoulder, and was taking a selfie with Sam and Bucky with the beach as the backdrop, “Ulysses, did you put on sunscreen?”
Ulysses huffed longsufferingly, putting up with Tony’s antics, “ Yes, Babbo .”
“ Are you sure? ”
“Tony, settle down. They’re fine.” Steve followed sedately behind, unloading their bags from the van that picked them up from the airport. “They’re not gonna burn just because they forgot to put sunscreen.”
“Um, excuse you. How do you not know how sensitive their Irish skins are to sunlight? You’re the one who gave it to them.”
Steve sighed. Tony was being unreasonable and over the top, likely still feeling guilty about day drinking and not being there for Joe when he had an allergic reaction and for losing Ulysses. Steve had repeatedly told him that everything turned out fine, he had nothing to feel guilty about. Day drinking was probably not a good move, but there were extenuating circumstances so Steve let that slide.
“Hey, come here.” Steve pulled Tony aside by his waist, letting the hotel employees finish unloading their bags. They stood to the side, Steve rubbed his hands up and down Tony’s back in a comforting gesture and leaned his forehead close to Tony’s, “what’s the matter, huh? The kids are fine. Everyone’s fine. We turned around and got Bucky and Ulysses back.”
Tony groaned at the reminder that everyone actually forgot Ulysses and Bucky at the airport. “Relax, Tony. it’s vacation time.”
“It’s like you forgot we’re parents,” Tony scoffed, “our vacation time ceases to be the moment they’re born, Steve. We’re going to be at defcon one the moment we step into that hotel.”
Steve stopped short at that. Was that what Tony thought all this time? Steve naively thought that they were going to relax, get to spend some time together and hopefully Steve could pop the question and they could renew their vows.
“Well, I don’t believe that. I believe this vacation is for us to relax, decompress and spend time together. Mark my words, Tony, one of these nights I am going to romance you, woo you,” Steve whispered in his ears, “make love to you,” he felt Tony shivered in his arms, his breath hitching in Steve’s ears. Steve grinned in satisfaction, “I’ll make you forget about everything except my name.”
Tony looked at him, brown eyes blown up by lust, “Mmm, I might just take you up on that, handsome.” They kissed softly and slowly, completely forgetting their surroundings. Tony moaned into the kiss as Steve touched his tongue on his bottom lip, asking without words to be let in which Tony gladly obliged as he opened his mouth wider, welcoming Steve’s seeking tongue into the heat of his mouth. Drinking in the sensations of Steve kissing him, reveling in the closeness and intimacy that they still shared even after all these years. Tony never wanted to stop feeling this way. He loved Steve, so much , he couldn’t imagine ever feeling otherwise.
“Could you guys please stop making out? Nobody wants to see that,” Peter’s complaints broke the moment much to Tony and Steve’s annoyance. Tony rolled his eyes at his son’s dramaticized complaints and sighed exasperatedly, pulling away from Steve’s embrace.
“Later,” Steve nipped his bottom lip, his smile was the one that promised many a pleasurable things in Tony’s future. That smile meant by the end of the night Tony’s voice would be hoarse from screaming out Steve’s name repeatedly.
“ You should be grateful your parents still kiss. A lot of your friends’ parents aren’t even together anymore. ” Tony sassed at Peter, ruffling the boy’s hair in payback for making him stop kissing Steve. Steve tangled their fingers together as he walked in after them, smiling fondly at Peter who still squawking in annoyance at his father for rumpling up his hair do.
They all went inside to check in and get settled in their rooms then went out for lunch at a local place where food trucks seemed to congregate, serving a variety of dishes from Thai food to poke. For all their celebrity status and the fact they were all used to eating fine dining from going to various charity galas and dinners, they still preferred eating street food any day of the week. With the combined appetites of Steve, Thor, Bucky and Ulysses, they ended up spending most of the afternoon at the food court, eating some trucks out of business, much to the vendor’s delight. Before leaving they graciously posed for pictures with the other customers and the food truck vendors who were more than happy to have an anecdote about that time the Avengers stopped by and ate their food.
Evening dawned, and with it Steve’s plans for a romantic dinner for two with Tony. He had confirmed everything with their guest ambassador, Kiani, that everything Steve ordered was all set for tonight. Once the sun set, Steve was ready for the night to start, room service should be arriving with their food soon. Tony, Peter and Joe were playing the Wii in the living room and Ulysses was down in the lobby. He had spotted a grand piano there and when he asked the staff if guests were allowed to play it and they said yes, he immediately leapt on the chance to play. Steve watched him play for a couple minutes, he was still amazed at how skilled his son was with the piano. Gentle lilting melody or fast paced jazz tunes, any type of compositions Ulysses would play Steve enjoyed them all.
Just as Steve finished preparing the dining room for their dinner, he received a text message from Natasha telling him she and Bucky couldn’t take the kids for the night for shocking reasons.
“Really, Buck? Food poisoning? You survived the Depression eating mulligan stew and you got food poisoning from eating poke?” Steve leaned against the bathroom door, arms crossed in front of his chest, looking on with thinly veiled disgust at the sight in front of him.
“Fuck you, asshole. I saved my paychecks to buy your laudanum and this is how you repay me?” Bucky retched into the toilet bowl again, Natasha at his side holding hair back and rubbing his back.
“Sorry, Steve. We can’t take the boys after all. This one,” she gestured to Bucky still heaving into the toilet bowl, “would need constant supervision.”
“God, I hate you both so much. If I don’t have puke filling up my mouth right now, I’d scream at you.” Bucky groaned out.
“Feel better soon, Buck.” Steve told him, then awkwardly patted his back before leaving the room. On his way back, Thor found him and asked him to take Aurora for the night.
“See, Bruce and I haven’t been on a date night in awhile. Ever since Aurora was born, actually. So could you do us a big favor and watch over her for the night?” Thor pleaded with him.
Never able to say no to any of his family members, Steve graciously said, “Of course. I’d be happy to, Thor. Have fun with Bruce.”
He came back to their suite with a baby in his arms to find the food he ordered for two already halfway to being eaten by his sons.
“Steve, I didn’t know you ordered food. But I think we’d need more. Let me just call up room service for more. What do you want, Big Guy? The usual everything on the menu?”
Steve sighed. He had a feeling he’d be sighing a lot in this trip.
He tried again the next day. But before he could even suggest to Tony that they spend the day together at the beach, Peter ran up to them telling them Ulysses was fighting with another boy who was harassing Joe. They managed to separate them but not before Ulysses got a pretty amazing shiner on his left eye. They ended up spending the rest of the day at the Maui Memorial’s emergency room and Tony spending the rest of the day and night fawning over his eldest son and threatening to sue the other boy and his parents for punching Ulysses and having an omega-to-omega talk with Joe who was rightfully feeling some discomfort for being treated like less than human for his secondary gender. Steve had half a mind of finding that boy and tossing him straight into the ocean. Nobody messed with his baby.
It was a stressful day for everyone involved, and one that was not made better by what happened the next morning.
“In jail?” Steve was aware he sounded very done for, “What the fuck for?”
Ulysses and Peter who were sitting next to him at breakfast looked incredulously at him, eyes wide in fear. Their Papa never swore unless it was very much warranted. Steve tried to do the breathing exercises his therapist from the post-thawing days had taught him, but it was failing miserably to curb his temper at the shitshow that was their family vacation. “Fine. Fine, I’m coming to bail you out.”
“What happened?” Ulysses asked cautiously.
“Your Uncles Sam, Clint and Bucky are all in jail because they went to an illegal gambling ring last night and got busted by the cops.” Steve threw his phone to the table. Seriously, what the fuck? Only those three could find an illegal gambling ring and got busted at the same night.
“Let your Babbo know where I went, will you? Thanks, guys.” Steve clapped Ulysses on the back and placed a kiss on Peter’s forehead before heading out.
Strike two.
Okay, third time’s the charm. It had to be. That’s what everyone said. But of course nothing in Steve’s life would ever be that easy. Steve must have used up all his luck for surviving the super serum infusion, that was it. Because nobody was this bad at proposing to someone.
Thor and Bruce lost Aurora. They fucking lost their baby. In a hotel.
They had been going to the lobby from their room, taking the elevator and apparently arguing about how Bruce thought Thor enjoyed the Big Guy’s company better than his own, which devolved to Bruce saying Thor was more attracted to the Big Guy than to him, at which point they stepped out of the elevator, leaving behind their baby, still in her stroller, at the elevator.
They only noticed when they got to the lobby and there was a distinct lack of blond haired blue eyed baby and promptly panicked, ran back to the elevator but when they got there the baby was not in the elevator anymore.
“Avengers assemble!” Bruce screamed into the panic button despite the lack of speaker on the button.
All the Avengers assembled to the lobby where a panicked Bruce, looking green around the gills, and a horrified Thor who was failing miserably in calming his mate down, was pacing the lobby, babbling about how Aurora was taken from them and they had to call SHIELD and Heimdall to find her immediately.
Which was when Natasha walked into the lobby with baby Aurora in her arms, looking none the worse for the wear, much to the relief of her parents and uncles were in.
“She was in the elevator when I wanted to go down to answer the call. You guys left her in the elevator, didn’t you?”
Strike three. You’re out.
In the basement of a random church in Maui
“Okay, what the hell is going on, Steve? You’ve been acting like a dick the whole time we’re here. Are you a skrull?” Clint demanded, his annoyance warranted as he and the rest of the pack were being locked in a church basement, because they had just been kidnapped for the most intense bible study session ever. Steve was looking at all of them with anger and annoyance on his face, his lips pursed and twisted like a petulant child and buff arms crossed in front of his chest.
They were still trying to figure out how Steve managed to break into a church and kidnapped all of them at the same time. Although ‘kidnap’ might be too strong a word, because Steve tricked them into boarding the shuttle by telling them they were going for brunch. The Avengers were suckers for brunches. They should have known it was a trap, Steve wouldn’t be going anywhere voluntarily without Tony anymore.
“To be fair, a skrull wouldn’t tell us he’s a skrull.” Sam added, “but yeah, what’s up, dude? You’ve been short tempered and snappish with everyone.”
“Also, how did you get the keys to this place? I’ve been wondering about that, actually.” Bruce said.
“Kaho’olawe at the Concierge’s desk gave me the keys. It’s his family’s church.” Steve answered curtly.
“Didn’t know you were so tight with the front desk people,” Sam raised his eyebrow in incredulity.
“Stark not putting out?” Bucky offered.
“Uncle Buck!”
“Eww!”
“Seriously, TMI!”
“We still need therapy after what happened three years ago! Come on!”
“I don’t know why you kids make such a big deal about that. Isn’t it nice to have proof that your parents still love each other?” Thor asked, “Loki and I walked in on my parents lots of times. We were the better for it.”
“Uncle Thor…” Peter looked on, horrified at his godfather, while Bruce just face palmed in exasperation.
“Because you people have been ruining something important to me with all of your shenanigans.”
“How could we be ruining something we didn’t even know existed?” Ulysses piped in.
“Son, this is not the time for one of your philosophical debates, okay?” Steve shot back.
“Papa, what exactly did we ruin?” Joe asked, ever the voice of reason and Steve’s most level headed child, “maybe if you tell us what it is we could help you,”
“I’ve been trying to propose to Tony! And you people keep ruining the moment with “going to jail,” to Sam, Clint and Bucky, “and fighting with other kids, albeit for justifiable reasons” to the boys, “and losing your own baby because you were too busy arguing about which of your alter egos your mate was more attracted to.” to Bruce and Thor. “Tony and I never had a bonding ceremony. We had a shotgun bonding at a city hall, and afterwards we were too busy building up the Avengers after SHIELD dissolved. And we just...just never had time to stop and properly celebrate our relationship.”
There was a silence across the room. Everyone looked at Steve with surprise in their eyes, wide eyed and guilty at having ruined something important for their pack leaders.
“Ooooohhh.” Clint intoned and winced at what Steve just said.
“Sorry, Pops.” Ulysses was the first to recover, looking guiltily at his father.
“Yeah, our bad. Sorry, Steve.”
“It’s okay, you didn’t know,” Steve shook his head, “It was a stupid idea anyway. We’ve been together for eighteen years already. Why do we need to renew our vows in the first place?”
“Wha-- no, Pops, don’t say that.” Peter retorted, “you and Babbo deserved to celebrate your relationship and your love. We’re sorry that it’s taken you eighteen years to do it, but we’ll make it happen! We’ll help you! Right, guys?”
“Thank you, Peter.” Steve smiled softly at his youngest. The rest of his family nodded in agreement with Peter. Thor clapped him on his back and grinned, “Sorry for ruining your proposals, Steve. We’ll make it up to you.”
“So what exactly are you plan on doing for the vow renewal?” Natasha sedately asked him.
“Uh, just, you know, ask him if he wants to renew our vows and maybe spend the rest of his life with me, and then you know have a ceremony when we get back.”
“That’s it?”
“Well, what else was I supposed to do, Nat?”
Natasha sighed, “You’re lucky you’re pretty,” Steve shot her an offended look, “I’m just going to point something out here: we are in Maui and everyone you know and presumably, love, are here. ”
Steve was silent for a moment, then his blue eyes widened as he caught on to what Natasha was saying, “Nat, you are a goddess among men.” he finally conceded.
“I know,” Natasha’s lips quirked up in a fond smile.
“So, how are we going to do this?” Bucky asked from his seated position next to Natasha.
There was a resounding silence from the room. Everyone was staring blankly at her, including Steve, who apparently had no plans past asking Tony to renew his vows with him.
Men , Natasha thought.
“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do…”
“Should I be concerned?”
“Hmm? About what?”
“About the lack of kids, and the yelling and the hollering about not being able to find the inhaler, or the glasses or that particular Chomsky book. This seems very suspicious, Steve.”
Steve smiled at Tony indulgently, “Kids are growin’ up, Tony. They can take care of themselves. God forbid they start keeping track of their stuff by themselves,”
“Uh-huh. I believe that when I see it,” Tony quirked his eyebrow up suspiciously, “what’s going on, Steve? Where are they?”
“They’re with Clint at the beach. Surfing or something.”
“Oh yeah, because that’s reassuring. It’s either the boys babysitting Clint or Clint babysitting. Either way what could go wrong?”
“Tony, relax,” Steve told him, lifting Tony’s hand to his and kiss his knuckles, and Tony just melted at the sweetness of the gesture, “the kids are fine. I know behind all those bluster and snarks about Clint, you trust him with the boys. He’s a good uncle for them. Now, we have the whole day, just the two of us. Do you really want to spend the whole day worrying and fretting?”
They were left alone in their suite after the boys’ left with Clint to the beach. Steve, in contrast to his daily routine of running and working out in the morning, was laying down on one of the poolside chairs by the infinity pool that came with their room, topless and with his sunglasses on. With his hot body and handsome face, he looked like every inch of the trophy husband that other men and women Tony’s age would be clamoring to have. Tony thanked his lucky stars each and every day that someone like him would ever be worthy to be loved by someone like Steve. Brave, handsome, chivalrous, loving and amazing father Steve.
And now, Steve seemed to be going the extra length to spend the day together with Tony, which Tony was totally up for. The last couple of days of their stay hadn’t exactly been stellar, to say the least. First Clint, Sam and Bucky managed to get thrown in jail for getting into a bar fight, then Thor and Bruce left Aurora in an elevator whilst busy arguing, losing her for a couple of hours which managed to get everyone up in arms, thinking someone had abducted one of their own. Then Ulysses got into a fight with some boys who were harassing Joe and Peter on the beach. Although the fight was for a good reason (Steve and Tony weren’t gonna punish Ulysses for protecting his brothers), they still had to halfheartedly give him a speech about words over fists (although Steve really, really didn’t have a leg to stand on that one, so he let Tony gave that speech instead). They haven’t been able to have time together, just the two of them, and it was starting to feel like work instead of a vacation with the amount of damage control they had to be doing day and day out.
“And what do you propose we should spend the day doing then, hmm, without kids to run around after?” Tony asked him, shooting Steve what he hoped was a sultry smile.
Steve took of his sunglasses and kissed him sweetly, “How about we take a swim?” then he continued, whispering hotly in Tony’s ear, “clothing optional? Matter of fact, clothing prohibited.”
Tony wasn’t ashamed to admit that he whimpered at Steve’s words. When he pulled back, Steve was smiling mischievously at him. Tony wanted to taste that smile on his lips and surged forward to capture Steve’s lips in a deeper kiss. Steve responded with fervor, pulling Tony closer to him and holding him up by the waist. As they kissed, Tony felt Steve stood up, and without breaking their kiss, Tony lifted his legs to wind the around Steve’s waist. He felt Steve placed his big hands underneath his thighs, and walking them towards the pool.
Just before they entered the pool, Steve stopped and stripped off Tony’s shirt and pants before doing the same thing with his own. Tony grinned at the sight of Steve’s naked body, reaching out to caress that hard rock set of abs that still sends tendrils of lust shooting through his body. “Hey there, big boy,” Tony murmured, eyes focused on Steve’s thick hard cock, his knot was starting to build at the base and Tony felt the tell-tale slick and wetness on his hole in response. Steve chuckled lightly and pulled Tony back in, kissing him again. Steve nipped at his bottom lip, seeking entrance and when Tony opened his lips, his tongue sojourned in, plundering his mouth and taking what Tony offered to him and giving Tony so much more in return. All his love and affection, his happiness, his sadness, his everything. Tony wanted it all. They must have been kissing for a long time because when they broke apart, they were in the pool. Steve the ever considerate mate that he was, took extra care to make sure that when they entered the pool, Tony’s head wasn’t submerged in the water. Tony clung to him, winding his arms around his neck and kissing him in gratitude.
“I love you, Tony, so much,” Steve murmured, blue eyes shining with love and affection that even after eighteen years, Tony was still in awe that all of that was for him, “thank you for making my dreams come true.”
It was the same words he said to Tony the night they found they were pregnant the first time and the night Ulysses was born. “Love you, too,” Tony nuzzled his cheek, inhaling their combined scents, “can’t imagine my life without you. Better together than apart, yes?”
“Always, Tony.”
Come evening, Tony was so blissed out by the day’s events that he had a smile permanently etched on his face, it might as well be his new face now. After the pool, they went back to bed where they stayed for the entire day, making love and just spending time together. Now, they decided to take a stroll around the hotel. They still haven’t seen hair nor hide from their children or any of their families. It would be concerning if Tony could muster up any strength of will to freak out but he just didn’t. One look at Steve’s, looking so happy and carefree to have Tony by his side, was enough to push aside any concerns he might have had.
“That was a good way to spend the day,” Tony sighed, resting his head on Steve’s shoulder as they walked around the resort’s courtyard, Tony’s arms wound around Steve’s biceps.
“You were great, Shellhead, so great,” Steve complemented, voice low and reverent as he pressed a soft kiss to Tony’s hair.
“Happy to be of service, Winghead.” Tony answered, “And now a little evening stroll to finish the day. Perfect,”
“You think the day’s over?” Steve asked him, smiling amusedly.
“Hmm, what else do you have up your sleeve? ‘Cause I think my well’s tapped out for today.” Steve just smirked kindly at him, eyes looking at something behind Tony, which prompted him to turn around to see what caught Steve’s attention. What he saw was something unexpected. At the courtyard, there was a white carpeting lining up the pathway leading up to a wooden gate that was decorated with soft white fabrics, plumerias and stargazer lilies, soft tealight candles decorating each sides of the pathway and marking them. There were white garden chairs on either side of the pathway, swathed in the same cloth that were decorated the gate, creating an aisle in the middle. It almost looked like a set up for a mating ceremony.
“Steve, what is all this?” Tony asked, wide eyed in astonishment at the set up in front of them. And there were their families. Clint was standing under the wooden gate, a lei around his neck and wearing a garish Hawaiian shirt of koi fishes and plumerias. Natasha was standing by the chairs, in a beautiful red sundress, her hair braided with fresh flowers, hand in hand with Bucky, who was also wearing a Hawaiian shirt and lei. Bruce and Thor stood on the other side of the aisle, across from Natasha and Bucky. Aurora in their arms, looking like the prettiest baby in the universe with her dress and the flowers in her hair. Sam and Rhodey (oh, my God Rhodey was here!) were also there with them, and completing the picture was Tony’s sons, Ulysses, Joe and Peter standing at the very end of the aisle, bright smiles on their faces and Joe carrying a bouquet of white peonies, pink roses and succulents, fidgeting exuberantly in his place.
“Tony,” Steve’s voice drew him back from the scene in front of him to his mate. Tony gasped as Steve started to kneel in front of him, holding one of Tony’s hand in his own as he gazed reverently into Tony’s eyes. He could feel tears started to gather in his eyes as he started to realize what was happening around him, “Tony, the past eighteen years have been the best years of my life. And it’s all because of you. At the beginning, we started this relationship on shaky grounds. Several things that were out of our control happened,” Steve said, alluding to the painful revelation about Tony’s parents’ death, “but we weathered through it and were stronger for it. I didn’t want to lose you so soon after I just got you back so we went to the City Hall the next day and that was that. But Tony, sweetheart, you deserve so much more than a shotgun bonding at city hall. You deserve the world.”
By this point, Tony was flat out sobbing at Steve’s words, “I just want you,” he whispered.
“And I’m so lucky for that. But I’m selfish, so I have another thing I want to ask from you, Tony,”
“What?”
“Will you do me the honor of being my mate, once again? For me to have and to hold, to cherish and to honor from now and until death do us part?”
Tony was futilely holding back tears as he listened to Steve’s speech. There was only one answer he would be giving but the emotions welling up inside was making it hard to speak. He just squeezed Steve’s hand in response.
“Say yes, Babbo!” Peter shouted from the other side of the courtyard and was promptly shushed by his brothers and aunt and uncles. Steve and Tony didn’t mind though, they just laughed at Peter’s interruption of their moment.
“Of course, Steve, you lug. Like I could ever answer any other way,” Tony chuckled. Steve’s answering smile was so bright and beautiful that Tony couldn’t resist the wave of fondness rolling over him at the sight, “now come up here and give me a kiss, Alpha.”
“Who could say no to that?” and then they kissed, Steve and Tony pouring all the love they felt to each other, savoring in the moment until they felt several additional weights on their bodies. They broke apart only to find their sons
“ You’re supposed to kiss after the ceremony, guys, ” Peter complained from his position glommed on to Tony’s back.
“ Says who? ” Tony challenged.
“ Says everyone. Come on, Babbo and Pops, let’s get remated, already.” Joe held out the bouquet to Tony expectantly, willing his father to take the flower arrangement. Tony took the bouquet from his son’s hand, observing it in his hands. It’s really happening, this was really happening. He and Steve would get to have a mating ceremony, and this time with their sons and their family in attendance. Tony looked at Steve, standing there in his white button up shirt, looking as handsome as the day Tony met him and Tony knew that he wouldn’t let his life go any other way than being with Steve and his sons.
“Shall we?” Ulysses said, holding his elbow out for Tony to wound his arm around. His other hand was holding Steve’s who was arm in arm with Peter, Joe at Ulysses’ other side. And together they walked down the aisle to where Clint was officiating their mating ceremony.
Later, all Tony could remember was how happy he was to be here, celebrating their love with their friends and family. His sons at their side, Ulysses as Steve’s best man, Joe and Peter as Tony’s matrons of honor, with Joe holding his bouquet behind him. He could have sworn he saw Thor shed a tear or two, Bruce leaning in closer to his mate and whispered comforting words to him. Sam and Rhodey looked on proudly and with affections in their eyes. Natasha looked proud, because she single handedly arranged the whole ceremony by herself by sheer force of competence and intelligence, and as she leaned her head on Bucky’s shoulder, she looked peaceful and happy with her mate by her side. Bucky looked like he was about to cry too, inside he was imagining that his mother, Winnie, and Steve’s mother, Sarah, would have been so proud and happy to see them all together.
As Clint pronounced them bonded for life and they shared another kiss to seal their vows to each other, Tony thought that this was what paradise must have felt like.