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Tony wasn’t really sure how this started. He knew when they decided that meetings were a good idea, but it wasn’t supposed to be a regular thing. Somehow it went from stiff handshakes in a stuffy conference room once a month, to weekly dinners at a different restaurant each time. He also hadn’t realized how much their little group had grown until now.
It started with Stephen Strange. Weird, he knows, but it really did. When Tony had to get the surgery done to get the arc reactor removed, he wasn’t about to trust just anyone to get it done. Lucky for him his case was enough to satisfy the doctor so he didn’t have to get creative with his rich-man powers to help him out. That surgery should have been the last they saw each other, but besides Bruce Banner, there was very few people out there that could come close to his intellect. Still, they hadn’t exactly become buddies. They bickered constantly when they were together. Rhodey didn’t see it that way though. He usually left the room saying something along the lines of, “When I get back here you guys had better be done verbally fucking each other. Pepper would not approve.” Tony could admit to hamming it up a bit any time Rhodey came around because getting a rise out of the guy was very entertaining, and of course Strange always gave as good as he got. Pepper had met the guy all of one time before deciding that one Tony was enough and she didn’t need to see them stroke their own egos in front of each other. Still, they hadn’t actually become close until Strange received his ‘powers’ a couple of months later and they both decided that keeping each other in the loop would help immensely in world-saving stuff.
Professor Xavier had followed soon after that. The ‘mutants’ becoming a hot topic in world news. It didn’t help that there were mutants that decided humans were the problem and decided to settle the score themselves. Tony, being the curious human he is, decided he wanted to meet the Professor, and boy, was that an experience. The school was amazing to just stand in, and looking at the children there being able to be so free… Well, Tony had always had a soft spot for children. He told the Professor that same day that if there was anything he needed at all, he would do all he could to help. Xavier had been understandably wary of him at first, but when an incident regarding child mutants occurred, and Tony had been there to help pick up the pieces, Xavier had loosened up a little.
That led to a discussion, which led to the first meeting between Iron Man, War Machine (NOT Iron Patriot), Doctor Strange, and Professor Charles Xavier. It started as just a simple meeting looking at the world from as many sides as possible. They talked about their places in the world now, and how to possibly improve their image. The general consensus was that, despite the large numbers of which there were mutants, enhanced, and magic users, regular people still outnumbered them, and they had a duty to make those people feel safe. Rome wasn’t built in a day though, they knew they were in this for the long haul. It was a general goal to do as much as they could to protect the regular people out there and make them feel safe despite the obvious advantage their kind had over them.
Then they moved onto more lighter topics and eventually they dispersed. The next meeting took place just a few months later, this time adding Doctor Jean Grey and a very reluctant Logan Howlett, who eventually settled down once Tony introduced him to his very well-stocked bar. He couldn’t actually be sure what that meeting was for. Doctor Grey had wanted to meet him, and for some reason Logan tagged along, and Rhodey happened to be in town, and yeah.
That’s where things start to get a bit blurry. He remembered going to Xavier’s school a couple of times and meeting some others. A very big meeting of the minds at one point. Someone suggesting they go eat at a new place that had just opened, and now…
“Where’s the wine?!” Someone called from the dining room.
“Behind the bar, second cabinet on your right!” Tony called back as he continued to stir the risotto, tasting a little bit to see if it needed anything else.
“Where’s the Scotch?!” Of course, it was Logan that asked that. Tony opened his mouth to answer only to be cut off by Logan when he said, “The real good stuff Stark. Don’t you dare hold out on me.”
Tony huffed at that, but told him where to look and asked FRIDAY to open it for the guy. “How’s the dessert looking Viz?” When Tony had found out that Vision had been trying to learn to cook, he suggested about trying baking first, since there were exact measurements to go by instead of having to go by taste. Vision had been taking to it really well, and Tony had been starting him on some basic breakfast dishes to get him into cooking.
“I believe this has been my most successful dish yet. I do hope it tastes as good as it looks,” Vision replied, tilting his head slightly as if he could inspect the taste by looks alone. Tony absolutely did not find that adorable, and did not have to fight down the urge to pat his head. He settled for a light pat on the shoulder.
“I’m sure it’ll taste great. You’ve been improving a lot these past couple of months,” Tony reassured him before going back to inspecting his dish before deciding that it was ready.
“Yes, well, you have been quite the help to me in that regard. I appreciate you taking the time to teach me, Sir.” Vision was looking at Tony now, his lips titled upward in a small smile. Tony blinked. If being called ‘Sir’ affected him he didn’t let it show. Still, he could feel a moment coming on that he really didn’t want to have before the feast that was about to happen so instead he turned his attention to the steaks and said, “It’s Tony. Call me Tony.”
“Of course, Tony.”
Tony began plating the dishes, humming along with music that was playing, a nice background to the ruckus that was the living room right now. He wasn’t even sure when they had decided to make dinner – correction, have Tony make dinner – at the Tower. They were supposed to go out to a new pub, but Rhodey had showed up at his place with Carol, Peter had been there all day, working in the lab along with Strange, and Wade decided to show himself in so he had a place to re-grow his leg (WTF WADE? IF YOU BLED ON MY CARPET ONE MORE TIME!). Charles stated that Jean would be coming, which by default meant Logan was coming. Jessica Jones showed up wanting to punch something, and when she was done, decided that a night out would be nice. Hope came around to discuss the Wasp suit, to which Tony had completely forgot about and told her about the pub and she said she wanted to go too. Charles showed up at his place, bringing Hank along with his two new additions. Then for whatever reason they decided they didn’t really feel like going out and Rhodey had brought up that it had been a long time since Tony cooked, and proceeded to brag, which led to Tony becoming uncharacteristically bashful and telling them he could only do Italian. Somehow, everyone decided that Italian was what they felt like having, and now Tony was throwing a wooden spoon at Peter as he hung from the ceiling trying to get a taste before it was served.
Tony didn’t have to look to know Peter caught the spoon, but the kid still let out a surprised noise and dropped from the ceiling. “That hurt!” Tony gave him a look. “Well it could have.”
“Here, since you’re so bored you can work for your food,” Tony ignored Peter’s groan, “Help me plate these.”
Despite his protests, he helped, and did a pretty good job of it too. When the three of them started walking out the chatter immediately erupted in cheers for their incoming meal.
“Ladies and gentleman, I hope you brought your stretchy pants, because this is going to be quite the meal!” There was applause as the cheers continued. “And of course, for our more enhanced brethren… There are seconds!” The cheers got louder and soon everyone was digging in. Music played in the background while conversations took place. Despite the rough couple of months, everyone seemed relaxed and like they were genuinely having a good time.
“Hey, you okay man?” Rhodey asked him quietly. Tony hadn’t realized he had stopped eating and was just looking. He looked at Rhodey and smiled slightly.
“Yeah, I was just thinking… This is good.” Rhodey grinned and pat him on the back. “It is, isn’t it?” Tony grinned back and continued to dig in, while simultaneously bantering with Strange, and trying to stop Wade from harassing Peter no matter how cute he was when he blushed.
It had been a while, since Tony had felt like he had a place. Maybe this was temporary, maybe he had fooled himself into thinking that this was real, but for the first time in a long time he felt like he was at home. And for the first time in a long time, his reply hadn’t been ‘Always.’