Chapter Text
When the West Coast Avengers facility was ready but before the great migration took place, Tony, of course, threw a party.
A cookout sort of thing this time, he thought, since compared to the Tower, the facility was so open and horizontal and had so much nice grass. And also, he kind of wanted this to feel more like a family thing.
My gosh. Was he getting settled? Pepper had always yearned for the day when Tony started to settle. But he didn't think she would have appreciated it this way. He still had his suits nearby, he had Extremis boiling under his skin, Friday in his ear and he was ready to go and be a hero at a moment's notice.
He was just also the kind of guy who wanted to throw a party that would be appropriate for not just his adult friends and co-workers, but also Peter, Harley and his sister Katie, Cooper, Lila, Nathaniel, and what was the ant guy's kid called, Cassie? And the Samson kids, Eliza and Justin, who Bruce raved about, and... whoa. It seemed like all of a sudden Tony knew a lot of kids.
He didn't feel the same need for loud music and hard alcohol and rambunctious stupidity that had once constituted his social life. He felt like he'd be just as happy to sit in the late afternoon sun with the love of his life by his side, watching the younger generations indulge in their own kind of rambunctious stupidity, instead.
Settled.
Huh.
Well, and of course, there was the part where the love of his life was the Norse god of mischief, the same guy who'd thrown him out a window all those years ago. That didn't sound like getting settled.
Except to someone who knew Loki as well as Tony did, someone who'd seen the man with his foster son, someone who'd spent hours and days just talking to him, about everything and nothing, while Tony worked on his cars, while they ate Chinese takeout sitting cross-legged on the bare garage floor, someone who'd seen how well Loki fit into something domestic and comfortable when a little space was made for him.
It wasn't all they were, but it was important.
Tony knew Loki so well, but he didn't know how to explain Loki to Pepper, to Natasha and Clint and Sam.
So maybe he was a coward for wanting the little ones around when he tried to figure out how to say it, so maybe they'd make less of a scene. For wanting anyone and everyone he could call family there. Pepper was frightening. Natasha, equally so. The birds - well, not quite as much. But still.
Tony wondered if Loki could get Jor to come. Jor would be even more of a conversation piece than Loki himself was, and it would be evidence of his talent with kids.
Well, before he worried about that, he had to see if he could actually get Pepper to agree to show up.
"Is that you, Tony? Why are you calling and not texting or emailing or otherwise relaying a message via FRIDAY? Is this not business related? Are you okay? Are you drunk?"
"Pep, I'm fine. I'm not drunk. ...Can you even get drunk when enhanced with Extremis? I never thought to ask. In any case I haven't had the opportunity to find out."
"No, I can't, in fact, and it's very annoying... wait. Are you telling me that you used Extremis on yourself? Is that what you're trying to tell me? That you used experimental tech on yourself that almost killed me? Did you do this as some kind of... gesture?"
"Okay, yes, I did the thing, but not because of you, okay? There was shit going down on Asgard and they wanted my help but I decided I needed a boost first. Good thing too, because the armor I brought was half gone by the time we won...." At a pained gasp from Pepper, Tony abruptly changed tacks. "But it's okay! I'm fine! And that's not actually why I'm calling. We're having a little get-together at the New York Avengers compound on the third and I'd really like you to be there."
There was a long silence before Pepper said, "I'm not sure if it's a good idea for us to see each other socially right now."
"Pepper, it's just as friends, I promise, in fact there's someone I want you to meet. Who I've been seeing. Seriously."
"Really?" She sounded intrigued, pleased, and only slightly bitter. "In that case, Tony, I will definitely come."
She sounded as if she was going to come prepared to warn someone away, whether it was for Tony's sake or their own. That might worry Tony, if it was anyone but Loki. But Loki... Tony thought Loki could handle the full force of Hurricane Pepper, if need be.
Now, the question was, could Tony weather the full force of both of them combined?
Tony happened to be deep in conversation with Roz about the weather control tech when Pepper arrived. He saw her look speculatively over at them, until Thor approached, all wide grin and muscles, and pulled her into a passionate kiss. Then Tony just smiled knowingly at Pepper, giving her a little head shake.
"All right," she said, "who is it, then? Because that was actually my best guess. Unless... does that mean Jane's available now? Are you actually dating Jane Foster? Because that... that sounds like... chaos incarnate, is what that sounds like."
"No, that actually means Jane Foster is less available. But funny you should mention chaos incarnate...."
"Who. Is. She. Tony."
There was a tutting noise behind Tony's shoulder. "Such baseless assumptions," Loki said, wrapping an arm around Tony and smiling at Pepper. "It's as if you've never seen the way he flirts with Bruce before. Or Rhodey, even."
Part of Tony's mind wanted to worry about this, but the rest of him just turned his head to smirk fondly up at Loki, let his nose brush Loki's cheek.
Pepper blinked at him. The most visible sign of her agitation was Extremis's light shifting under her skin.
"I assure you," Loki told her, "I mean neither the Earth, nor Tony, any harm. The master who sent me here to conquer, under the influence of the Mind Stone, is dead."
"Very dead," Tony agreed. "We made sure of that."
He watched Pepper's fingers unclench, watched her look around at where Bruce, Vision and Rhodey were manning the grills, where Wanda and Steve stood nearby, chatting and watching the three of them thoughtfully. Where Thor stood answering questions about Asgard for Harley and Katie, with only a smile for his brother and nary a qualm about the kids. The light went quiet, her pale skin even again.
"Okay," she said. "Okay. I expect to wake up sometime soon, but okay." She visibly searched for a topic that would make more sense. "Tony, are you sure you want kids at one of your parties? Does Harley's mom know these two are here?"
"Oh, yeah, definitely, in fact, she should be around here somewhere. And Clint's bringing his brood, and Scott, and probably Betty, if Bruce didn't chicken out and 'forget' to invite her and Len. Don't worry, no open bar and no agency invites. It's a family thing, I swear, Pep."
Pepper narrowed his eyes at him. "And just suddenly this is your kind of party?"
He shrugged. "It surprised the hell out of me, too."
"Because you clearly haven't gotten less self-destructive."
Tony wasn't sure whether she was referring to Extremis, the destruction of the suit he'd worn to Asgard, or Loki, but he supposed it didn't matter.
"Pepper," he said, laying a hand on her arm, then he took a breath. He didn't know how to say this.
"He is happier now," whispered Loki, watching Tony carefully, listening hard. "He is happier accepting that he is and always will be Iron Man, than he ever was trying to live up to the name of Tony Stark."
Loki's voice was soft, fond and awed, and Tony leaned back into him, clutching his hand, and nodded.
"He will go out and fight, every time, because this is what he fights to protect. His friends. His family. The world. The galaxy. These most precious things. And he needs no more distractions from how alone he is, because there is someone who understands. There is someone who hears him. Someone who knows him."
All three of them had damp eyes, in the silence that left behind. Tony knew that Loki was speaking of himself, as well as of Tony. He turned in Loki's arms, enough to kiss him, sweet and raw and intense. To tell him all over again, to tell him how true it was. To tell him that there was someone who understood.
"Oh, Tony," Pepper said a little brokenly, once they'd pulled back from the kiss. "You're really happy, aren't you?"
"Yeah," he replied, not quite managing to look away from the spark and glow of Loki's delighted eyes. "Yeah, I am."
"Okay," she said. "Okay." And she wandered off to talk to Rhodey. Probably to interrogate him about the whole thing. But that was fine. Rhodey knew them both as well as anyone else did, now. Anyone but each other.