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“Tony? Stark! What the hell are you doing? Don’t you dare! If you so much as look at that big hole in the sky, I swear I’m gonna fly up there after you and kick your goddamn ass in space, what the fuck are you-“
“Sorry Bucky Bear,” Tony cut his husband off, mid-terrified rant, as JARVIS flashed a warning signal on the HUD letting him know he was about to lose signal as he crossed the threshold of the giant fucking wormhole that had opened up above Manhattan. “Love you both.”
“Damnit Tony!” “Love you too.”
Bucky and Steve’s voices overlapped, the last words he was going to hear as he clutched on tight to the nuclear warhead, facing the armada of Chitauri ships flying towards him and – beyond that – the yawning chasm of empty space.
With a steadying breath, Tony released his payload.
And not a moment too soon. The strain of overtaxing his suit to reach the wormhole in time – after hours of battling an alien army – finally caught up with him. The HUD went dark, so that Tony could only see through the eye slits as the nuke blasted straight towards the Chitauri ships and then, seconds later, engulfed them in a fiery explosion.
He’d done it.
But without any power to fly away from the ever expanding shockwave, it was going to be the last thing he did. He prayed that they would at least be sensible enough to close the wormhole before the blast – and the radiation – could escape and reach the city below.
His only regret was not having more time with Steve and Bucky. He’d been such an idiot – and wasted so many years because of the toxic bullshit his father had spewed at him his entire childhood. But maybe this was how it was always meant to be. He never would have believed, when he was young, that there was an element of fate or destiny to the whole soulmate situation after all. But now? After spending four wonderful years with his husbands, fighting crazy supervillains and adopting far too many animals, seriously Steve the mansion isn’t an animal shelter … well, he had finally gotten used to the idea that the three of them were destined to be together after all.
He only hoped that they could move on without him.
Swallowing back his tears, Tony let his eyes fall closed, not wanting to see the rush of nuclear devastation heading for him. Wanting his last moments to be thinking about Bucky and Steve.
And then –
Clunk.
He heard the reverberation echo through his suit a second before he felt the grip on his waist – and then he was being tugged backwards.
His eyes flew open again, in time to see the shockwave growing nearer – and then to see the wild blue and black energies of the wormhole rushing towards him.
The sudden return of gravity helped yank him away just as the rift in space finally sealed, leaving only the familiar blue expanse of the sky.
But, instead of the terrifying free fall of gravity yanking him back down to Earth that he ought to be experiencing, the steady presence around his waist slowed the rate of descent so that he didn’t go splat on the pavement beneath them – even if the way it rushed up towards him was alarming when his suit was powerless and he had no control.
He didn’t need to worry though. When they finally reached street level he was ever so gently set down, the steadying presence still holding onto his waist so that he didn’t topple over.
And then he heard the familiar whine of repulsors descending and caught a glimpse of blue and white through his eye slits seconds before he felt the manual release being pressed and his face plate was gently pried off his face.
Steve’s own face plate retracted neatly a second later, his blue eyes shining with worry, brow furrowed in concern.
“Tony, are you alright? We were so worried when we lost communication,” Steve said stepping forward, the deep blue plates of his suit grinding awkwardly in places, rather worse for wear after the battle.
“What the hell were you thinkin’?” Bucky demanded, steady at his back, his voice switching from mechanical modulation to his actual voice as his own faceplate retracted.
Tony just blinked back at Steve, dumbly, his usual whipsmart brain struggling to comprehend what the hell had just happened.
“… Did we win?” he finally asked, just as Steve was starting to get the Oh No Have You Hit Your Head One Too Many Times crease in his brow.
Bucky snorted, then squeezed his midsection tighter, ignoring the ominous creak Tony’s armour made. “Yeah, doll, we won. God, what the hell did we do to deserve such a reckless idiot for a soulmate, Steve? Wait, look who I’m talking to. You’re just annoyed you weren’t close enough to do it yourself, aren’t you? And what are we meant to do with the rest of these schmucks?! As if we haven’t picked up enough strays over the years, that big green guy is gonna eat us out of house and home single-handedly, I can already tell –”
Tony let the familiar bitching wash over him, closing his eyes for just a second, then opening them again when Steve began to laugh – a dry little chuckle, at first, that rolled its way into a full belly laugh when Bucky demanded to know what the hell was so funny.
And then their husband actually squawked in indignation when Tony dissolved into laughter right along with Steve, muttering to himself about being stuck with two loonies with death wishes for the rest of his life.
When they finally petered off into chuckles, Tony looked back into the eyes of his husband and saw such relief reflected back at him that – for a terrifying moment – he was finally able to feel the magnitude of what he’d almost lost.
He squeezed his eyes shut against the tears, but Steve was already leaning forward, making soothing noises. “It’s alright Tony, you’re safe now, we’ve got you,” he murmured, pressing a gentle kiss to Tony’s lips.
Bucky’s arms tightened around Tony’s waist, “Come on, doll, let’s get off this dusty street and go home.”
Tony didn’t actually remember the brief flight back to the mansion – just glimpses of the destruction the Chitauri had wrought and the wind rushing past as Steve and Bucky carried/flew his suit between them.
It wasn’t even a minute after they flew in through the rooftop skylight, after Tony’s armour had been tugged off him by his disassembly bot, that Pepper burst through the door and almost knocked him over with the force of her hug.
“You absolute idiot,” she scolded, voice too watery for it to have any real bite behind it.
“I already told him,” Bucky said from the next platform over, where his own dark grey and red armour was being removed from his body.
“Somebody had to,” Tony pointed out – to all of them, even though it was Pepper’s red-rimmed eyes that he was looking into.
“One of your new friends is a Norse god who can fly!” Pepper pointed out, and Tony couldn’t help but frown at that because a) why hadn’t he thought of that? and b)
“Wait, what happened to Loki?”
In all of the excitement of his near-death experience he’d almost forgotten about the crazy bastard who set this whole mess into motion.
“The Hulk tossed him around like a ragdoll and he passed out,” Natasha announced as she entered the room, an incredibly pleased smirk on her face. Tony didn’t know how the fuck she did it but she barely looked winded, let alone like she’d been out there with them fighting off honest to goodness alien invaders for the better part of the day. “Thor and Coulson are keeping an eye on him. Clint and the Hulk are raiding your fridge. So Sam has gone to find somewhere to order dinner for the rest of us … though he might be flying around for a while, I’m not sure anywhere will still be open,” she mused, wiping at a smudge of dirt on her nose before striding over to Pepper – who immediately pulled away from Tony to envelope her wife in a hug.
“We believe we have located a restaurant that still has a working kitchen,” JARVIS piped up, “Mister Wilson says he ‘hopes you’re all in the mood for shawarma’.”
Bucky stepped up beside Tony, armour-free and shaking his head softly, “How is this our lives?” he muttered to himself.
“You love it,” Steve teased, also out of his armour now, as he reached out to grab both of them around the waist and squeeze them as tightly as he could.
Bucky immediately wrapped his arms around his husbands’ shoulders, Tony squeezing both of them back and pressing his face into Bucky’s shoulder as his husband conceded, “Fiiine, you’re right, I do.”
“Knew it,” Steve replied, pulling back so that they could see his smirk.
Bucky rolled his eyes at him, “You’re lucky that you’re my soulmate, jerk, else I’d have to smack you for being such a smartass.”
Steve’s pupils widened along with his smirk, “Why do I have to miss out just cause we’re soulmates?”
And Tony had about ten seconds to enjoy that mental image before a piece of popcorn bounced off Steve’s head.
“Get a room you three! Tasha and Pepper are right there!” Clint called over from where he’d just entered the room, holding a huge bowl of popcorn.
Natasha just snorted, “We’re used to it. Just be glad you weren’t there after the Stark Expo two years ago.”
“I thought I was dying!” Tony immediately piped in, “Besides, we thought you and Pep were taking care of the clean up with Rhodey!”
“I really am sorry,” Steve added, face bright red. It had taken him six months before he could look Natasha in the eye again.
Before she could reassure him – or tease him, it really depended on her mood – the six of them froze as the floor beneath them rumbled.
“Birdman took Hulk’s popcorn!” echoed up to them from the floor below.
“You didn’t,” Steve gasped, looking scandalised as he turned to Clint.
“I didn’t!” Clint countered, “He probably just finished the rest of his, greedy green bastard.”
“I doubt he’ll see it that way,” Natasha said, already stalking with intent towards Clint – who turned and tried to find an exit, Hulk’s hangry noises still echoing up as he approached.
“I’d better go try and sort this out,” Steve sighed, giving Tony and Bucky’s waists one last squeeze before he went to join Natasha.
“How far away is that shawarma JARVIS?” Bucky asked, the pinch in his brow suggesting that Tony was going to have to figure out how to reinforce the entire structure of the mansion to make it Hulkproof if his husband was ever going to get another wink of sleep. “You’d better tell Sam to order extra,” he added, as he gave Tony’s shoulders a squeeze and then went to join Steve.
Despite knowing he was outnumbered, Clint still foolishly tried to make a break for it – only succeeding in spilling a few kernels of popcorn, as Natasha snatched the entire bowl out of his hands, and Steve and Bucky grabbed him each by an arm and turned him around to go and smooth things over with the Hulk.
Tony listened to them go, the desperate pleas of Clint and the eventual triumphant yell from the Hulk that slowly receded into the distance as they made their way downstairs.
He didn’t even realise he was just standing there, squinting against the stark artificial lighting of their embarkation room, until Pepper came to stand in front of him.
“I’m really really glad you didn’t die up there,” she said, softly.
Tony’s breath whooshed out of him and he swallowed back the wet lump in his throat. “Yeah, me too.”
A moment passed between them that seemed to encompass not just everything that had happened today, but everything that had happened to them both – good and bad – since Pepper had first strode into his office for a job interview all those years ago.
“I want you to make me some armour,” Pepper said, voice still just as soft.
Tony blinked back at her, startled. “What?”
Pepper looked away, her jaw clenching for a moment. “Watching all of you out there, risking your lives while I was stuck in here, not even able to do anything … I don’t think I can do it again.” She took a deep breath, then met his eyes again. “I’m thinking silver and blue … or maybe purple.”
Tony blinked. Again.
Then he nodded, slowly, “Purple could work, wouldn’t want to confuse you with Steve.”
“Sir, Miss Potts, Mister Wilson has arrived downstairs with a very large quantity of shawarma,” JARVIS announced.
“Tell them to make sure the Hulk doesn’t eat it all, Jarvis,” Pepper said, turning to make her way to the door.
Tony followed, mind already whirring away. “So are you thinking silver with purple accents, or purple with silver, or –?”
Pepper looped her arm through his, after they stepped through the doorway and began to make their way down the stairs to join the others. “Surprise me.”
~ later that night ~
“I go to the other side of the country for one day, Tony, one day!! I swear to God I can’t leave you alone for five minutes without aliens invading!”
“What can I say Platypus? You know that the three of us can’t help getting into trouble if you leave us alone for too long.”
“One day!”