Chapter Text
They are at the kitchen cooking dinner and smiling and dancing and…
“Anthony Edward Stark-Strange…”
“Someone is in trouble…” Peter whispers and Harley smirks while Stephen is handling Morgan dirty hands from “helping” with the salad in the moment that Pepper Potts storms into the place.
Tony freezes trying to remember what the hell he could have done to make her that furious since they were following strictly the quarantine rules and…
“Good to find you all here, especially you two, power couple of the millennium,” she says crossing her arms in front of her body.
Tony and Stephen look at each other and the sorcerer raises an eyebrow.
“Why are you so stressed, Pep? I hope it’s not your job, it…”
“No, definitely not my job, just…” She sighs, closing her eyes for a second. “Listen, Morgan sent me a lot of exciting messages today, speaking of something I have no idea about and I tried a thousand times to call you, I came back home in the middle of the afternoon thanks to the portal Stephen left open to me and none of you were here. However, I had many meeting to handle and… It drove me crazy! Where were you?” She asks trying to calm down.
At that moment, Everett Ross comes home from another portal and he feels the tension in the air. So, he just hugs Pepper from behind, without a word, and it makes her to relax a bit.
“Pep… I sent a message to you telling we were going to another dimension, I told you the boys and Morgs were coming with us and…”
“Wait, did you sent me a message?” She frowns.
“I’m sure I did, FRI…”
“Yes, boss, the message was sent at 3:18 P.M. and Miss Potts received it, but she was on a meeting and I’m afraid she missed it,” the AI explains.
“Oh shit…” She says and regret immediately, hearing Morgan’s giggles with her two hands over her mouth, hiding her 8-year-old face on Stephen’s shirt.
“Mama just said a bad word, hmmm, Morgs… what does she deserve?” Tony smirks approaching Pepper and Morgan joins him.
“Tickle attack!” The girl yells and Pepper is lost the moment their hands touch her, trying to find some balance against Ross’ body.
“I quit, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” The CEO of Stark’s Industries yells laughing.
Morgan hugs her mom and Pepper takes her to her arms, kissing her cheeks. The girl is growing up so fast…
“So, now that everything is good, we can go back to the burgers” Tony winks to his ex-wife and forever best girlfriend.
“Mommy, we went to explore a very beautiful dimension. Can you believe everything there were pink or purple or a mix of my favorite two colors?” The girl tells very excited.
Ross kisses Pepper’s cheek and pulls a chair for her to sit with Morgan. Of course, Ross and Pepper took a bath before joining the others, coming home from their jobs. They created and adapted their routines and habits to the quarantine rules and they are taking extra care with everything.
Since the coronavirus crisis started, Tony and Stephen worked very, very hard to create a system to the most vulnerable people in New York and places around the world. Pepper helped them with Stark’s Industries funds and when they organized the job, they all retired to the lake house.
The building is bigger than the original project to accommodate two couples, two young men and a girl, plus the Cloak of Levitation; Gerald, the alpaca; Mister Holmes, the cat, and their usual visitors: Wong, Happy and May Hogan Parker, Rhodey and Carol Danvers, Loki, Thor and Bruce Banner and the Wakanda’s royal family.
Tony and Stephen keep working with scientists, trying to find a cure to the virus; Bruce Banner is helping them from his own lab based on New Asgard. Although, when everything seems too much or too difficult, Stephen takes his husband, Tony, and the kids to visit other dimensions he already knew, so he’s sure there are no threats, and can take his family to exploring trips.
That afternoon, he took Tony, Harley, Peter and Morgan to a dimension colored in pink and purple and all the hues possible for those colors. He thought Morgan would love it and the boys, including his big boy, would be very intrigued.
When they came back home, Tony and the kids were visibly feeling better, full of theories, comments and excited about the place they just visited. Harley and Peter were right to the lab with lots of collected materials until Tony called them, hours later, to make burgers together, a family tradition. Morgan did not stop to talk a minute, even in her bath, and she sent a ton of messages to Pepper.
Their arrangement after the ultimate battle against Thanos took some time, wounds and some pain to work. Basically, Tony and Pepper decided to divorce; Tony fell in love with Stephen, who already loved him so much that bonded their souls to save Tony’s life from the snap; Harley and Peter came to live with their mentor and father figure – and then left to their college, both guys are studying at MIT.
Pepper started dating Everett Ross much later, that’s why he still doesn’t have a fond nickname by Morgan. Stephen is called “Stephie” and Morgan is the only one allowed to call him that. Tony and Stephen got married almost secretly; they do not need and do not want the whole world attention and gossip, thank you very much.
They decided to live all together because of the young girl, who has all the adults wrapped around her finger. With the coronavirus crisis and the quarantine, they chose to leave New York and spend that time at the lake house.
FRIDAY is always monitoring them, scanning all of them to have an early diagnosis just in case they are infected, especially Pepper and Ross, who keep going to their offices regularly, using Stephen’s portals.
At home, Tony and Stephen keep sparring and teasing each other every session – that’s why Harley and Peter prefer to not join them. With FRIDAY’s help, the boys and Morgan have regular study activities, but what they love most are the experiments with Tony at the lab or the trips to explore different dimensions with Stephen.
“I’m sorry for storming that way at home, really, I…” Pepper rests her forehead on Morgan’s head.
“It’s okay, Pep. We’re all going a bit insane here. You’re taking a lot of responsibilities, as always, and doing a lot of work,” Tony tells her with a fond voice.
“Still… I should trust you more, especially Stephen, he’s the most reasonable person around,” she mocks a little.
“Hey!” Tony points to her indignantly and Stephen chuckles, kissing his husband’s neck.
“I’d go crazy if I thought Miss Morgan was missing too,” the sorcerer says and blows a kiss to the girl who smiles to him with her vivid hazel-chocolate eyes.
“It wasn’t an easy day, you’re right… this nightmare seems to be so far from a solution, I know you guys and a lot of people are working hard, but… many places are collapsing, we’re losing thousands of lives every day and some stupid assholes are out there crying because their profits melted…” She lets off.
“Yeah, it was a very though day dealing with dumb government people around some countries still denying how much serious this problem is and their incompetence to coordinate a global force to face this new coronavirus, y’know,” Ross tells them.
“Are there people still denying it? What do they want? To kill millions of people?” Harley asks angry.
“You’re the best man we have on the negotiating table, Ross, you’re doing a very hard work with the Wakandians to lead the countries to a common agenda, it’s not your fault some people are just so stupid,” Stephen points out.
“Why, thank you,” the blond man smiles a bit sad. He feels very tired today.
“So, whatcha think about a lot of stories from the pink and purple place where we were today? These young men guys and our little lady here have many to share, you can move to the most comfortable room and we’ll be there with cheeseburgers soon,” Tony smiles.
“Thank you, Tony,” Pepper smiles tiredly to him, taking Morgan with her and joining Ross hand. The boys follow them to the living room with bigger coughs and many cushions to spread over the carpet.
When they leave, Tony turns to Stephen and hugs him.
“I hate this…” He mumbles.
“I know, love. Me too. I wish we could already have a vaccine or, at least, a safe protocol, but we’re trying hard, we’re working, a lot of people are and…”
“This shitty virus is tricking us and our best efforts,” Tony relaxes with the circular and soothing movements of Stephen’s hands on his back.
“We’re not giving up till we win, though. I know the man I love,” Stephen rubs his nose on Tony’s neck and the man smiles.
“You sure do,” Tony shivers, even two years after their first kiss. “Thank you for taking me and the boys away from the lab today, thank you for taking so much good care of us and thank you for choosing a dimension where we could take Morgan, she was fascinated with…”
“I created that place,” Stephen confesses.
“You what?” Tony looks at him.
“I did, I… I used my magic and put there many feelings, good feelings, those you all helped me to discover and, well, I chose Morgan’s favorite colors, trying to imagine animals, shapes, objects, plants and almost everything to create a place to just took you all and sit and relax a bit knowing you were safe and happy,” he reveals.
Tony is shocked and marveled. This man, his man, Stephen will never stop to surprise him. He feels engulfed by love, a deep and pure love, so he grabs his husband’s oversized shirt and pulls the sorcerer for a meaningful kiss. Tony is still not good with talking about his feelings, but he is trying with a new confidence since Stephen. He always has been a man of action, though. Therefore, he kisses Stephen with all of him.
“Thank you,” Tony says a bit breathy when they pull back slightly, but his hands keep deeply buried in Stephen’s gray streaks, eyes closed and foreheads touching.
“I’m glad I was able to make this little universe made so much of us…”
“Me too… You’re… I love you…”
“And I love you…”
“Old men, we’re hungry,” Harley yells from the living room and pierce their sweet bubble.
“We’re going!” Tony yells back till wrapped within Stephen arms.
The sorcerer smiles and moves his hands a bit, finishing their cheeseburgers with magic. Tony knows better to protest; he just chuckles and pecks Stephen’s lips one more time before the cloak takes the big tray full of burgers and fly in front of them.
At the end of the day, besides everything, they are still all together and safe. Tomorrow they can keep working and fight against the virus.