Tony was looking far away through a large window. There were galaxies, suns, stars and planets out there. He wondered where is Earth among them?
His mind seemed distracted, so he didn’t notice Thanos just came behind him. He startled when a hand put on his swollen stomach.
“What are you thinking, my Anthony?” Thanos mumbled close to his ear.
“Nothing,” Tony replied, leaned his head against Thanos’s chest. The titan wrapped his arms around Tony, gave him a gentle embrace.
“So what are you looking for?” Thanos changed the question, sometimes Tony was so unpredictable, but Thanos was a patience one, he knew if he showed his care enough, Tony would replied.
“I just…I just miss them.” The genius murmured.
“I see.”
It was two years and a half since Tony had gone with Thanos. On that day, the day when Thanos realized Tony was his precious, he decided to take Tony away with him. That was the only condition to disengagement Earth and Tony took it, left his world behind.
From the first place, Tony had scared that Thanos would torture him or something like that, turned out he has done nothing but treated him nice. To making Tony be capable of living in space, Thanos used magic to change his biology. He was still human, but more…different.
And now, Tony was pregnant their baby. The fetus was over five months, steady and healthy. Sometimes they could hear the baby bump, such a wonderful sound.
Tony was being more sensitive since his pregnancy started. His emotions could swtich very fast, which means, by now he could drop his tears, a lot of tears instanly because he was missing his friends.
But at least Thanos stopped it before it could happen. “Do you want to meet them?”
“Can I?” Tony whimpered.
“Of course.” Thanos kissed his hair solfty. “But you have to go to sleep first. It’s time, my Anthony.” He lifted him up bridal style, went to their chamber and put Tony on their bed gently.
Thanos laid down beside Tony, held him close. “I will take you back Earth when you awake. Now sleep, Anthony.”
Tony leaned his head against Thanos’s shoulder, murmured before his eyes closed, “Thank you.”
He stood in front of the door, hesitated. Just more few steps and he could walk in the Compound. Tony turned his head back.
“You won’t come with me?” He asked Thanos.
“No,” the titan shooked his head, “I don’t want you to be awkward by making your friends tense up. Just go, and when you want me come to pick you up, just use you ring and I will be here.” Thanos ran his fingers through Tony’s hair, before put a kiss on his cheek.
“Okay.” Tony nodded, watched the portal closed when Thanos had gone, and moved toward.
“Boss?” There was a voice spoke suddenly, sounded hesitated and disbelieved, “Is that you?”
Tony smiled, he missed his baby girl so much, “Yeah, it’s me, Friday.”
The door opened automatically, then FRIDAY said, “Welcome home, Boss.”
“Thank you.” Tony walked in, FRIDAY continued, “Should I inform everyone about your come back?”
“No,” Tony giggled, “Just tell me where they are, I’d greet them myself. Hey, where is the nearest?”
“Dr.Banner is in the kitchen with Colonel Rhodes.”
Tony walked to kitchen unpromted, as if he had never left. And he saw them, his friends, after two years and a half. Bruce was cooking attentively, making breakfast with eggs, he guessed, and Rhodey sat there, his back against Tony, reading a newspaper.
Bruce turned, his hand still held a pan, intended to take the omelet out. And that was the moment he saw Tony, the pan dropped on the ground.
Rhodey raised his head up from the newspaper instanly, “What’s going on, Bruce?”
But he didn’t answer. Bruce starled at Tony, opened his mouth, his voice sounded cracked, “…Tony?”
“What?!” Rhodey turned around fast enough to break his spine again, and his eyes opened wide when he saw his best friend stood behind him.
“Hey my honey bears.” Tony smiled at them.
“It’s you!” “You came back!” Bruce and Rhodey said at the same time.
“It’s me.” Tony nodded, open his amrs, “I’m back.”
Rhodey hugged him tight, Bruce took a place too. They thought that he never come back, and then he suddenly appeared.
“It’s okay.” Tony pat their back, “I’m here now.”
They pushed him out a bit, watched him from head to toe. Tony was still the same man in their memories, but now seemed more relaxed which made them surprised.
“Do they know you’re back?”
“No, I just came in and see you two first.”
“Oh God, wait here, I will call them up.” Rhodey said, “Pepper would be crazy to see you!” Then he ran out the kitchen hastily.
Tony laughed behind him, “You can tell Friday to do that, you know.”
“I think he just forgot about that because of you.” Bruce said, “He missed you so much.”
“Aw, and you, Brucie – bear?”
“Of course, T – bones.” Bruce sighed but smiled at Tony. “So how you can…?”
But before Bruce could complete his words, there was a female voice echoed the hallway through the kitchen.
“WHAT?! What? He is here? Tony is here?” Pepper stormed in, then trailed off when she saw Tony.
“Hey Peps.” Tony almost bit his tongue when she hit him with a hug. “Oh…okay, it’s okay, Pepper.”
She started to cry, and that was surprisingly, because she rarely cried front of others. “I thought you never be back!” She choked, buried her face into his neck.
And before Tony could say anything to calm her down, there was another voice cracked out, “Tony?” Tony looked over Pepper’s head and saw Peter. The kid was taller than the last time they met, wearing a T-shirt with the line MIT on it, his hair was still a mess. Peter ran to Tony and the boy started to cry too.
“Hey hey don’t cry, kid. It’s okay Peps…Oh God, why are you all crying at me?” Tony said, but he alomost dropped his tears too. Bruce and Rhodey grinned to each other as they heard that.
“Welcome back, Tony.” Then Strange appeared, said to Tony firmly with a smile.
Pepper stopped crying, pushed herself out of Tony. Peter wipped his eyes, he look like a puppy that Tony so adored to raised a hand and rubbed his messy hair.
“I miss you.” Peter shyly murmured, Tony gave him a smiled, “I know kid, I miss you too. Got into MIT already huh?” Peter brighten up with proud as he heard that.
“So,” Bruce claped his hands together, “What do you guys want to eat? Omelet, pancakes or something?”
“I prefer a cup of coffee.” Tony said as everyone sit down around table, except Bruce, who picked the pan up from the ground. “Don’t know how can I live without it almost three years.”
“Bruce.” Strange said suddenly.
“Yeah, Stephen?”
“Get Tony a cup of milk, please.” He looked at Tony’s stomach with concern. Tony startled, put a hand on his belly instinctively.
“What? What’s wrong?” Bruce had no idea, he asked back curiously. Strange didn’t answer, instead, he said to Tony, “Tony, it’s fine. You don’t need to hide it.”
“But…” Tony hesitated, “It’s weird.”
“No, it’s not. We are your friends, we won’t see you as an alien just because you lived with one almost three years.” Strange comforted him firmly.
“What are you talking about?” Pepper frowned, her gaze switched from Tony to Strange. “What happened to Tony?”
Strange gave her a look, then stood up, came close to Tony, reached his hand out to him, “May I?”
Tony looked around at his friends, hesitated for seconds then nodded, “Okay.”
Strange’s fingers touched Tony’s stomach, and then there was something like a glass sheet covered his abdomen started to cracking out. The spell that Tony had asked Thanos to put on his body just gone. His swollen stomach showed out in front of everyone.
“What happened to you?” Rhodey asked in shock.
“I think he is pregnant.” Starnge stepped back, grinned, “I can feel the baby bump, it’s healthy. Good job, Tony.”
“What do you mean pregnant? He is a – a male !” This time was Pepper.
“Why don’t you let him tell you himself? Now, Tony, how are you living?” Strange put a hand on his shoulder to supported him.
“It’s nice. I…there is not much things to do. Just wake up, eat, sleep, read something interesting, go around planets and stars…Seriously, it’s kinda boring, but peaceful. I love it.”
“And what about…you know, him?” Pepper asked worry. “Did he do anything to hurt you?”
“No, no. He is nice.” Tony rubbed his stomach, “He adores me.” He continued after seconds, “I…we’re kinda more attached since the beginning, you know…And, yes, now I’m pregnant. It’s his child.” He reliesed a breath that he didn’t notice to held it whole time.
There was silent.
Tony was sobbing unconsciously. “I know…it’s hard to believe, it’s weird. It’s against my nature. You may not accept this. But this is - ” he chocked out, “ – this is my child and I – “
“This is amazing!” Peter interrupted him, “So I will have a brother or a sister?”
“Uh… yeah?” Tony looked at him, “I don’t know, it could be any one of genders.”
“How long have you been pregnant?” Pepper came close to him, “Oh my God, did I hurt you?” She remembered that just five minutes ago she had been hit him like a bullet to hugged him.
“No, it’s okay. It’s over five months and already staedy. I…”
“Can I be the godmother?” Once she knew Tony was fine, she squealed happily. Rhodey joined with her, “Oh, can I be the godfather then? No no, Bruce, you can’t take that place from me.”
Bruce just shrugged and smiled, “Fair enough. I can be a mentor, if the child has Tony’s brain.”
“This is so amazing!” Peter repeated, “Hey, how about we celebrating this?”
“Good idea! I will order something nice! What do you want Tony? Italian?” Pepper looked at him.
“You…you accept this? It’s kinda…”
“Don’t call my godchild is weird, Tones.” Rhodey glared at him, pointed his finger to the cup of milk Bruce just put on table and stood up. “Drink it, I will help Bruce making breakfast.”
“See, I told you, we are your friends.” Strange gave Tony a confident smile.
That night, Tony and his friends stayed together, joined the party to congratulated him and his child. Pepper had ordered a lot of Italian food and pizzas (lovely ! – Tony said). Sadly Hope and Vision weren’t here. Hope had business at Pym Technology and Vision had visited Wanda three days ago.
Yeah, this Compound was belong to The New Avengers, included War Machine, The Wasp, Dr. Starnge, Vision, The Hulk and Spiderman. Other heroes had their own place in somewhere else. Pepper was still CEO of Stark Industries, also she had got married Happy eight months ago.
“Congrats!” Tony exclaimed, “Where is he now?”
“He is far away from here,” Pepper waved her hand, “Take care of some businesses of mine. Don’t worry, he will be back tomorrow.”
“Oh Tones, I think he would crazy like Pepper did when he sees you. He loves children.” Rhodey took a sip of beer.
“Yeah? I thought he doesn’t. His ECG jumped surprisingly once when he had to take care of this little Pete.” (Hey! – someone was very offensed said).
“And he does since he got married with Pepper. He said he would named his daughter Elizabeth. He would call her Queen.”
“What?!” Pepper hissed.
“Yeah yeah I know, you are the Queen already, your daughter just be a princess for all.” Tony and Bruce laughed as they heard that.
“No, not that.” Pepper said, “I thought we all agree her name is Emily, if I have a daughter.”
“By the way, does the Spidey here have someone’s daughter as his girlfriend?” Tony asked Peter, the boy chocked his soda out.
“He has a boyfriend actually.” Bruce grinned at him, Peter’s cheeks blushed like tomatoes. “Bruce!”
“Wow, what his name?” Tony asked.
“Harry.” Peter shyly replied, “Harry Osborn. I’ve been met him at school.”
“Osborn? Son of Norman Osborn? Wow kid, he is a lucky one.” Then Tony talked to the others, “Guys, keep an eye on him okay?”
“Peter or Osborn you want to say?” Everyone laughed as they heard Rhodey said that, excepted Peter, the boy shyly buried his face into hands.
The night ended in happy and cozy.
Tony stayed for a month. Happy really got crazy when he saw Tony (Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!), Hope and Vision glad to met him again. Now he felt safe and sound, he was at home.
But one night, he dreamed about Thanos, just a smugde, but that made he decided to come back with his husband.
“What? You’re gonna leave?” Pepper frowned at him.
“Yeah, I have to.” Tony was rubbing his stomach gently, “He misses me. I can feel it.”
Pepper sat down next to him, sighed, “You miss him too, do you?” Tony said nothing but nodded.
“I thought you would stay here with us.” Rhodey murmured.
“I’m sorry.” Tony said sadly, he wanted to stay, but he wanted to be together with the titan as well. “This is just a visit. I want to stay with all of you, but…”
“It’s okay Tony.” Bruce smiled at him, “We understand.”
“I want you to stay too,” Pepper hugged him, “But more than that, I want you to be happy. If Thanos can do that for you, then go. Come back to him.”
“But promise us,” Peter said, his eyes seemed watery,“you will visit us regularly, okay?” He continued shyly, “I want to introduce Harry to you.”
“Yeah, and if you visit us someday, take your child go with you,” Happy smiled, “Maybe that time he or she would has a new friend.” He winked at Pepper.
It was hard to say goodbye. When the portal opened, and a large purple hand reached out to him, Tony cried. Tears dropped down his cheeks quitely as he looked at his friends one last time.
“We will waiting for you.” Hope said, and then Vision, “Come back soon, Mr. Stark.”
Peter and Pepper were crying, waved their hands to Tony, as Rhodey, Happy, Bruce and Strange all smiled at him.
Tony wipped his eyes, then went through the portal.
“Welcome home, my Anthony.” Thanos kissed him when he leaned himself on the warm and steady embrace.
“It’s good to be home.” Tony closed his brimming eyes, said fondly.