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Stephen feels the wards at the edge of the property alert him to someone arriving, but at the feeling of a familiar aura, he doesn’t even look up from his book. Besides, even if someone did show up, it’s unlikely they would get past his defensive spells and his partner’s vast array of weapons.
There is a loud thudding noise as something lands in the front yard, but considering what Tony’s plans were for the day, that is also not surprising. Stephen would be more surprised if there wasn’t something being dumped in the front yard. Tony rarely doesn’t get what he wants when he goes out.
Of course, he doesn’t make it obvious , neither of them are fools and make their plans obvious to the Avengers.
“Honey, I’m home!” The front door slams behind Tony, and Stephen puts a bookmark in the text he’s reading.
“So? How did it go?” Stephen stretches as he stands, feeling the Cloak settle over his shoulders. Depending on exactly how Tony’s plan unfolded, they either have an Avengers A in their yard or the head of the Captain America statue.
“Oh, it went perfectly! Loki decided he wanted to get the statues, and get them he did! Should be on the news right about now,” Tony grins, giving Stephen a peck on the cheek. “Thor didn’t know who he wanted to go after more, his wayward adopted brother or his betrayer of a shieldbrother. Which, of course, threw off any plan Captain America had, especially since Clint is still blinded by rage every time Loki is in his line of sight. You should have heard the way that he cursed Loki out!” Tony saunters into the kitchen, Stephen following closely behind. “I’m totally going to have FRIDAY hack into their systems to see what the fallout is back at the compound, man that battle was messy on their end.”
“And are the new members anything to worry about?” Stephen sits down at the kitchen counter, watching Tony pull out some leftover pasta and stick it in the microwave.
“Nah, the shrinking thing might have been a problem pre-nanobot upgrade, but not anymore. The magic girl is clearly untrained, but Loki has some slight concerns that her raw power might cause some issues for our other allies down the line.”
Stephen nods while Tony stirs his newly reheated pasta around. “I’ll stage a fight with her soon, then, see if I need to bind her powers or just flag them. What about the fast one? Quicksilver?”
“Easy, aim at where he will be, not where he is. Loki put him in a time-freeze or something, he’ll tell you whenever your next tea time is. Ready to hear what the news is saying about the fight?” Tony grabs a bag of chips from the pantry while Stephen starts moving to the living room.
“Of course. JARVIS, if you would?” Stephen summons their favorite blanket, while the cloak drifts over to what is basically their own chair - a long table with comfortable padding and a pillow for them to rest their collar on.
The TV turns on, as Tony joins him on the couch, passing him the bag of chips. Stephen throws the blanket over both their laps and passes Tony the remote so he can control the volume.
“-most recent news, there has been another attack by Iron Man and Loki, this time on the newly constructed monument of the Avengers. While no lives were lost in the battle, there has been significant damage to the monument itself. Despite the addition of new members to the Avengers, including Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Ant-Man, and the Wasp, neither villain was captured. It is unclear what the goal of the attack was, but common theories include defacing the monument, testing the abilities of the new Avengers, and creating a distraction,” News Anchor #1 says, staring into the camera.
“The first two theories make sense, after all, the monument was heavily damaged and both villains spent extra time attacking the newer members, but why the third theory?” News Anchor #2 asks.
“Five bucks they say it’s because you didn’t show,” Tony offers, Stephen snorting at the comment.
“Because Iron Man’s partner, the Sorcerer Supreme, was not at the scene, despite the three of them often working together. With all the Avengers busy with a flashy and public attack, he would be free to execute his own plan elsewhere.”
“Called it!” Tony crows, grinning. “But hey, now they will be stressing about that for a while, and we didn’t even have to do anything.”
Tony flips between news stations, but most of them are saying the same thing. No one is showing clips of the battle, which Tony pouts about, but he brightens when it switches to a press conference being given by the Avengers. Ever since he had managed to pull Stark Industries' funding away from the Avengers, their Public Relations had floundered a bit.
Rodgers had been glad to see it go, too much of a reminder of the teammate who went bad, even if everything had been passed off to Rhodey, until it was gone and things started to go sideways. He shouldn’t have thrown away the greatest treasure he ever had, then, Stephen thinks savagely.
Stephen mostly tunes out what is being said, only half listening to the jeers that Tony throws at the TV. That is, until Wanda Maximoff answers the question about why she largely ignored Loki in favor of fighting Iron Man.
“When I was a child, one of his weapons killed Pietro and I’s parents. Ever since then, we have been working towards avenging our parents' deaths, no matter the cost,” Wanda snarls, glaring off to the side. “We won’t stop until he pays for his crimes.”
Stephen whips his head around to look at Tony, who’s guiltily fidgeting with the blanket. “Tony…”
“I was going to tell you! Just a bit later. And I promise I’m not feeling guilty over it, I looked into it and it was clearly one of Stane’s weapons that he sold under the table.” Tony’s voice drops, muttering “none of my weapons would have failed to go off for hours like that bomb did.”
Stephen runs his hand along Tony’s arm. “I wish you had told me sooner, but I understand. Want to tell me the plans you have for the big, ugly A currently sitting in our yard instead of watching this nonsense?”
Tony grins and jumps into all the different plans he has, for tricks and traps and schemes, while Stephen start to plan all the ways that he could make sure these Maximoff twins never have a chance to touch a hair on his beloved’s head.