Disclaimer: The Avengers, its characters and The Marvel Cinematic Universe belong to Marvel Studios and The Walt Disney Company, among many others. I'm only a fan, writing this for love of this film franchise and personal pleasure.

A.N.: I missed the lighter side of the Avengers and I started writing this before I knew what was happening. I'm enjoying myself enormously with this story so far, so there should be a couple more chapters coming up.

Lights Will Guide You Home

"Hey Steve, I was wond─"

Tony abruptly stopped talking as he'd opened the door to the back porch of his house and stumbled upon the scene of Steve and Natasha sitting on the steps leading down towards the lake, seemingly occupied in a full-on make-out session. The couple then stopped kissing and disengaged their lips from one another as they turned to look up at their would-be-gracious host. "Oh, I'm sorry!" Tony exclaimed, a sly grin forming on his lips and his tone of voice conveying he was anything but sorry. "I guess I should've knocked. Even though this is the door leading out to my backyard." He gestured at said door, pulling it shut behind him as he walked out fully onto the porch.

Natasha merely raised an eyebrow at him, her lips twitching for a moment before she hid a smile by pursing her lips into a serious line. Despite his best efforts, a violent blush was creeping up on Steve's neck and face as he turned to look at him over his shoulder. "What is it, Tony?" He said, trying to affect a serious and commanding tone of voice worthy of Captain America. The effect was mostly lost as his face was burning bright with embarrassment and he had his hands around Natasha's waist and she was still quite unceremoniously sitting on his lap, her knees straddling his hips.

"Oh no, never mind me," Tony said with a dismissive hand gesture, his eyes sparkling as if Christmas had come earlier this year. "We can talk shop tomorrow. You kids go back to whatever you were doing before I so rudely interrupted you."

"No, Tony─"

"Go on, carry away!" Tony talked over his feeble protests, thoroughly enjoying himself watching Steve squirm in mortification. "I'd also want to do some celebrating if I'd just come back from the dead. Oh wait! I did just come back from the dead!"

"That's not─"

"You know, I'd offer you the guest bedroom, but we already got a pretty full house and we have impressionable kids over, plus I'm not sure the walls are thick enough─"

"For Christ's sake, Tony!─"

"Relax, Capsicle! If you get any redder you might start melting away." Tony was still grinning at the couple, leaning his shoulder against the wooden column and he'd been about to add a rather crass innuendo involving melting when another voice interrupted him.

"Tony," Natasha said quietly in that husky and deceptively calm tone of voice of hers with an undercurrent of danger that they knew so well. "I'd hate to inflict bodily harm on you on the same day we both came back from the dead, as you just noted."

"Erm, right." Tony said then, promptly shutting up and losing the smile. Riling up Steve was fun, but not at the expense of threats of bodily harm by Natasha. Even after going through the jarring experience of getting killed and coming back to life, he had no doubt that the Black Widow had ways to make him sorrier than he'd ever been if he kept this up.

"Now what is it that you wanted?" She asked with a little self-satisfied smile. It was good to know she could still put the fear on the Stark genius/billionaire/playboy/philanthropist after all these years, even in her current rather compromised position sitting on Captain America's lap.

"Oh nothing much, just dot some Is and cross some Ts about this whole resurrection thing and what we should release to the public and other whatnot," Tony replied nonchalantly, as if this were the sort of topic they were used to discussing on a daily basis. Which, as strange it sounded, was becoming quite the norm in their lives, right next to alien invasions, time heists and emails from a racoon in space.

"Okay, we'll be in there in a moment," she nodded back at him.

"Appreciated." He raised his eyebrows at them, then turned around and went back into his house.

As the door closed and they were once more alone on the porch, Steve and Natasha turned to face each other. Still wrapped in each other's arms, they paused for a moment and then simply burst out into laughter.

"Oh God," Steve said, laughter still bubbling up in his chest as he shook his head slightly to himself.

"Well, I guess the cat's out of that bag," Natasha smirked at him as her own laughter quieted down.

"What, were you planning on keeping me a secret?" He raised a teasing eyebrow back at her, a smile still tugging at his lips.

"No, but it would've been nicer if people actually found out about it through us and not Tony's big mouth and whatever lewd version of events he's about to tell them," Natasha rolled her eyes a little in explanation.

"You really think he's going to tell everyone?" Steve furrowed his eyebrows a little, sounding doubtful.

Suddenly, as if on cue, they could hear Tony's loud voice coming from inside the house. "Guys, you are not going to believe this!"

Steve's only reaction to this was to groan, slump over and rest his forehead on Natasha's shoulder. "I guess that answers your question," she said with laughter in her voice once more. "Are you ready to go in and face the music?"

"Yeah, just…" He took a deep breath in and out before adding, "give me a minute here."

"I see," she noted, and now she was the one with a decidedly sly grin on her lips. "Did I make you uncomfortable?"

"Once again, that's not the word I'd use," he murmured against her neck, a smile also tugging at the corners of his lips at the memory of another time almost ten years ago when they'd had a similar conversation.

Natasha slid her hands up until they were cupping his face and she brought his head up so she could look him in the eye before she leaned forward and captured his lips with her own. He sighed against her lips and kissed her back, his arms holding her tightly to him yet after a moment he let out a sort of frustrated groan as he broke the kiss. "Not helping, Nat."

"Sorry," she chuckled back at him, unable to resist as she kissed him softly on the lips one last time before she leaned back away from him and slid off his lap, sitting down on the step next to him once more.

Steve grabbed her left hand in his right one, looking over at her with a smile. "So how do you want to handle this?"

"What do you mean?" She raised an amused eyebrow at him.

"Well, what do you want to tell everyone once we get in through that door?" He elaborated, a light blush visible on his cheeks as he gestured with his head at the door behind them.

"I think Tony just saved us of the trouble of actually telling anything," she smirked back at him.

Natasha loved to tease him, but she knew what Steve was getting at. Honestly she would've preferred if they had gotten to pace themselves with their evolving relationship without adding anyone else from their extended family to the situation first. But then life rarely took them down the easy path.

She supposed it was their fault for getting carried away and making out like the teenagers they'd never gotten to be right on Tony's porch. But give her a break, she'd just been brought back to life by the guy she'd had a secret, repressed crush on for the better part of the last decade who then suddenly told her he was in love with her. What else was she supposed to do?

"Seriously, I don't think we need to say anything," Natasha finally said, shrugging her shoulders casually.

"Really?" Steve raised a doubtful eyebrow at her.

"I don't think anyone is going to care that much. I mean, no one even batted an eye when Wanda and Vision got together, and we'd just been fresh from an internal battle that broke up the Avengers, not to mention the fact that they were on opposite sides of that fight and then she was on the run with us from nearly every law enforcement agency and government in the world," she explained her train of thought.

"Uh, if I remember correctly, you batted an eye at that," Steve countered with a teasing smile.

She'd done way more than bat an eye, actually. Natasha had nearly gone ballistic when they'd found out what exactly Wanda had been doing when she first disappeared for days all of a sudden. Then she'd practically sat the girl down for a lecture on the rules of safety while being on the run and the perils of getting involved with former teammates who were bound by the law to turn them in, until the Scarlet Witch had managed to assure and convince them that Vision would never put her or any of them in danger, so they all came up with an agreement so that the couple could continue seeing each other from time to time.

Even if Steve was teasing her about it now, back then he'd been extremely grateful that Natasha had been the one to address that situation. He would've felt incredibly uncomfortable discussing his teammates' private lives and any romantic developments that came along. He still had no idea whatever had possessed him to talk to Bruce about Natasha way back then, as that had been so unlike him. Somehow he had a feeling their friends would have no such qualms about discussing his and Natasha's private affairs now that Tony had outed them.

"Well, can you blame me?" She conceded readily enough to his teasing comment, raising an eyebrow pointedly in reply.

"Fair enough," he chuckled lightly in response. "But back to us… So we're together, then?" Steve asked, looking at her with a rather boyish grin. He'd been running high on his emotions practically all day, going on that mission back in time then deviating from his carefully arranged plans to risk everything on the off chance he could get back everyone they'd lost, and especially now since he'd confessed that he was in love with her and she'd kissed him, so he believed it was best if he followed her lead on what to do about all of this.

"We are," she confirmed with one of her smirks. "Aren't we?" Then she marginally narrowed her eyes at him as she thought about it.

"Yes, we are," he said at once, leaning over and giving her a quick, reassuring kiss. "If you think that's what we should tell them, I'm good with that."

"Well, a part of me wants to say this is none of their business," Natasha added with something of a rueful smile. "But then I am the one who called them my family, so I guess I owe them something. I don't know, let's just see how it goes. How about it?" She suggested with a casual shrug.

"Okay, I guess we'll just play it by ear, then," he agreed, getting up to his feet, still holding her hand and helping her up as well. She nodded curtly in agreement and they turned to go back into the house.

As they walked in, Steve lightly squeezed Natasha's hand before letting it go, as he didn't think they were quite ready for such a couple gesture in front of everyone yet and she smiled back appreciatively at him. Once they stepped into the living room, all conversation stopped and they saw all the adults were gathered there, as the Barton kids had been put to sleep in Morgan's room a little while back and Peter and May Parker were taken back to their apartment in Queens by Happy. The two of them noticed how Tony was standing next to them and still grinning and everyone else was just staring silently at them, some of them with raised eyebrows, others with soft frowns on their brows and a few with curious smiles.

Steve gulped down uncomfortably as no one said anything and just continued looking rather expectantly at the two of them. Natasha noticed this, without even needing to look at him, so she rolled her eyes and sighed a little. "Fine. Yes, Steve and I are together now. Get used to it already and stop staring." She punctuated her final words by crossing her arms and glaring sternly at them all.

"I told ya," Tony turned with his triumphant grin back to the others and a sweeping gesture of the hand at the couple, as if he were presenting a piece of evidence in a courtroom.

"Ha! I knew it," Clint suddenly exclaimed and banged his hand on the coffee table, startling a few people around him, then he broke out into a grin as well and turned to his wife. "Pay up, I called it."

Laura just smiled and shook her head a little, as she reached into her pocket and handed her husband a twenty. Steve and Natasha then watched rather dumbfounded as Tony handed some money over to Pepper, who merely smiled back then waggled her eyebrows up at her husband, and Rhodey also exchanged money with Sam, who had a very self-satisfied smile on his face as he pocketed the bill.

"You owe me." Wanda was sitting on Vision's lap as they occupied an armchair together and she turned to face him with a smile.

"I'll pay you later," the android in human guise said with an amused raised eyebrow. "It really wasn't my best idea to wager against someone who can read minds."

"I didn't need to read minds to figure this out, I only needed eyes," Wanda answered with a teasing smile.

"Are you all serious with the betting now?" Steve demanded as he put his hands on his hips, shifted his weight onto his right foot and raised an incredulous eyebrow at the room at large.

"Hell, yeah," Sam exclaimed excitedly as he got up from his seat and approached the two of them. "I've been waiting for this to happen for years now."

"You what?" Steve was a little thrown at this, as he blinked his eyes at him.

"Actually, when I first met you two I thought you were already together, so," Sam said with a shrug and a tilt of the head as he clapped Steve on his shoulder. "Yeah, it's been a long way coming, dude."

"You people are ridiculous." Natasha shook her head then, but a smile was threatening to pull up at the corners of her mouth.

"Oh yeah, we're ridiculous," Clint scoffed sarcastically and rolled his eyes at her. "We're not the ones who have been flirting and playing house together for the better part of the last decade without making any actual move on each other."

"What?" Steve frowned in confusion at this. "There was nothing going on," he objected at Clint's accusation, though the protest sounded rather feeble even to his own ears.

"Come on, Steve," Bucky then also got up and walked to him. "Even I knew something was bound to happen between the two of you sooner or later, and I was either brainwashed or in the battlefield most of the time I was around you."

"See? I told you," Sam grinned at him.

"Okay, this discussion is over," Steve said in his gravely Captain America voice as he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration and embarrassment. It did not bode well for him that Sam and Bucky had found common ground in ganging up on him to annoy him about his love life, again. It had already been bad enough how much they'd teased him about that one kiss with Sharon all those years ago.

"Oh no, don't you try to go all Captain on us just to get away from this," Tony said, his eyes sparkling with amusement as he pointed a waving finger at them. "How long has this been going on, huh? You two were sneaking around and keeping this from us?"

"There was nothing going on," Steve repeated himself, removing his hand from his face and his voice growing louder with frustration at his friends' antics.

"Yeah, I find that hard to believe." Unexpectedly, it was Bruce who softly said that then and all eyes turned to him. He'd kept quiet so far and he had never voiced his opinions before, but he'd always found it especially weird that it was Steve who had pushed him to pursue a relationship with Natasha way back then. Seeing as he'd inadvertently gathered all the attention to himself, Bruce elaborated, "I mean, I also thought the two of you were together when you arrived at the compound with Wanda, Vision and Sam just before Thanos came along."

"Well, we weren't," Steve assured him, crossing his arms over his chest rather uncomfortably. He knew her short-lived romance with Bruce had been over a long time ago, but it was still extremely awkward to think he was discussing his newfound relationship with Natasha with her former love interest. All part of their messed up little family, he supposed.

For her part, Natasha didn't express any reaction to this, as she remained standing with her arms crossed and an impassive expression on her face. She was actually too shocked to react, years of training ingrained deep into her brain taking over and placing an unfeeling mask over her features without conscious thought. She knew Sam and Wanda had sometimes given her some teasing looks when they'd been on the run together with Steve, and Clint liked to annoy her about it from time to time ever since DC, but learning basically everyone had an opinion about the nature of her relationship with Steve was something else.

"Nope, I still don't buy it," Tony said, crossing his arms stubbornly and eyeing the two of them closely, as if he could spot the lies on their faces. (Steve, probably. Natasha, not so much.) "All that time living together, on the run and nothing? No slip ups? No crossing any lines there?"

"Come on Tony, give them a break," Pepper said, taking pity on the new couple and interjecting on their behalf, trying to rein in on her husband's caustic behavior.

"Yeah, you're not one to talk," Rhodey agreed, gesturing with a hand as he raised his eyebrows at his best friend. "All that time you danced around Pepper, remember that?"

"Hey, I had some very extenuating circumstances back then, like the fact that I was uh, what was that again? Oh yeah, dying from palladium poisoning." Tony turned to him and rolled his eyes dramatically in response to the provocation. "Besides, it was six months. Not six years." He turned back to Steve and Natasha. "So you just expect me to believe that, what? After all those years and even with the Decimation, it took Natasha dying for you to finally realize you're madly in love with her and then you risked everything on a half-assed plan just to bring her back to life?"

Steve just threw his hands up in frustration as Tony kept pestering him about it. "Yes, as a matter of fact that's exactly… what happened." The final words slowly came out of his mouth as Steve realized just what he was saying. As everyone gaped at what he'd admitted, his blue eyes went wide and he turned with alarm to look down at Natasha and gauge her reaction to his unexpected outburst.

But he needn't have worried, for Natasha was only looking up at him with a small, affectionate smile. "It's a good thing you were never captured and tortured, Rogers, 'cause boy would you crack easily under interrogation," she drawled out and smirked up at him, her green eyes sparkling with amusement as she put her hand tenderly on his arm.

He merely smiled down at her, relieved that she wasn't somehow upset with what he'd just unintentionally confessed to in front of nearly all their friends and family.

"Alright then," Tony said, grinning in satisfaction as he'd finally gotten what he'd wanted. "So, when's the wedding?"

Steve and Natasha rolled their eyes and turned in unison to look at him with identical glares, as she once more crossed her arms and he placed his hands on his hips in exasperation.

"Tony," Pepper sighed at him, both a rather useless warning and a well-known, long-suffering sound that usually accompanied her husband's shenanigans.

"What?" He countered, turning to her as he blinked his eyes innocently, if that was even possible for Tony Stark. "I think I have the right to know, considering they were practically using our back porch as a honeymoon suite."

"Okay, that's it," Natasha said, narrowing her eyes at him as she suddenly and swiftly advanced on him. "You're dead, Stark."

"Oh shit. Hey now. Cap! Control your woman!" Tony exclaimed in alarm, as he dodged her and made a quick getaway, Natasha hot in pursuit, the two of them suddenly running around the house like children and heading outside through the side door.

"I'm not getting into that," Steve shook his head, bringing one hand up to his temple. "And you're crazy if you think I could ever control her!" He called after him as a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"Well, less than 24 hours before he was back in mortal peril," Pepper quipped, making a show of looking at her wristwatch as she got up to her feet, the others all laughing softly at that. "Let's see if I can persuade Natasha to let me keep my husband alive for a little while longer." She then reached out and pulled Steve into a hug. He was a little surprised at this but wrapped his arms around her all the same. "I'm glad you found each other. I was always rooting for you," Pepper told him, gave him a kiss on the cheek and then let him go, leisurely walking towards the door.

"I'll help," Clint chuckled as he got up and followed her. "Seriously Cap, I'm happy for the two of you," he commented as he clapped a hand on his shoulder on his way after Pepper, and Steve only smiled appreciatively back at him.

Meanwhile, Tony and Natasha had dashed outside and they had just jumped down the steps leading to the driveway when she'd quickly caught up to him, grabbing him by the arm. Tony grabbed her arm back and used their momentum to pull her in the opposite direction. Instead of resisting, Natasha flowed into the movement and for one bizarre moment it almost looked like they were dancing. Then she smirked and aimed a punch at him. He was slightly taken aback by this, but still managed to block her. Then he smirked and parried back with her, throwing in his own punches and kicks, but she was too fast and nimble on her feet, blocking and dancing around him as she dodged him until she managed to get the upper hand by pushing herself up on his thigh, swinging up on his shoulders and wrapping her legs around his neck, throwing all her weight back and taking them both down to the ground. She did soften his fall to the ground a little by keeping her hold on him, but once they were down, she rolled them over, twisted his arm over his back and pressed one knee down on the small of his back.

"Ow, ow, ow! Okay, you win! I'm sorry, alright?" He cried out, his voice somewhat muffled from having his face pressed against the grass.

"God, you're just crap without your suit," she chuckled quietly, releasing him and getting up to her feet in one fluid motion, then she stepped around him and offered her hand to help him up. "Maybe it's really time for you to retire."

"Yeah, well I wasn't expecting you to actually chase me around my house right now and then get into a fistfight," he mumbled as he took her hand and got up to his feet, dusting his pants with his hands. "Besides, give me a break. I just got back to life."

"We both did yet I can still kick your ass," she smirked in amusement at him. "You're going to keep using that excuse forever now, aren't you?"

"Oh you know it," he admitted with a smile of his own and as he turned to her, the look in his eyes became softer. "You know, all joking aside, I'm very happy for you. Both of you. I always thought you and Cap were good for each other." Then he raised a rather sardonic eyebrow. "I just never thought either of you would actually do anything about it, but this is one instance I can wholeheartedly admit I'm glad I was wrong."

"Thanks, Tony," she said, her own smirk softening into a genuine smile. "Well, this was fun."

"You know what? It was," he agreed, his eyes sparkling mischievously for a moment before he grew serious. "How are you feeling? I know I'm still having trouble believing this is all real."

She felt the shift in his tone and knew this wasn't about her and Steve anymore. For a moment, Natasha felt conflicted about what to tell him. This was Tony; they pushed each other's buttons and drove each other crazy half the time. But he'd also been her first link to this family, other than Clint, back when they used to be such different people than the ones standing there right now. She had only been a spy working for SHIELD, still keeping everyone out, as it'd been the only way she knew how to survive. And so had he, in his own way, keeping safe inside his suit and keeping others at arm's length. Now they were Avengers with families to protect.

And he seemed to be genuinely concerned about her, both being able to share a moment of honesty now that it was just the two of them. He was also the one person who could fully relate to this harrowing experience of actually dying─as opposed to being dusted by Thanos─and coming back to life (besides Vision; maybe they should create a support group for the resurrected?). She had a feeling they would have a lot of these conversations moving forward.

"I know. I'm─I'm afraid I'm going to wake up and either find out we're still living with the Decimation or that I'm inside the Soul Stone and this is just some delusional dream I created for myself," she admitted, her voice getting smaller with each word, her green eyes shining with emotion.

Tony reached out and gave her arm a tender squeeze. "I got you, Red." Then he pulled her to him and the two shared a tight hug, content to give each other some measure of comfort at least for a moment, thinking of all they'd been through together since they'd met some thirteen years ago.

That was how Pepper and Clint found them, as they stood on the porch just by the front steps of the house. "Is this a new form of torture I haven't heard of?" Clint quipped, leaning his hand against the railing and smiling down at them.

"Watch it or I might give you the same treatment, Barton," Natasha called out as she smirked up at him, then she and Tony let go of each other.

"Well, I for one am glad you're not actually killing my husband, especially since I just got him back," Pepper said good-naturedly, but her words only made Natasha blanch.

"Oh my God, Pepper," she said hurriedly. "I'm so sorry, I didn't even think of what I was saying─"

"It's okay," Pepper waved her concerns away with a careless hand gesture and a small smile. She knew Natasha hadn't meant any harm and that it wasn't her fault, as she hadn't been there with them for that battle and the week leading up to the funeral and all the pain they'd been through. "Besides, it's his own fault. He was being very obnoxious." She added, her eyes sparkling mischievously at her husband.

"Hey! You're supposed to be on my team," Tony protested with a slight frown as he and Natasha made their way up the steps to join them.

"I am on your team," Pepper countered at once, giving an easy smile as she raised her eyebrows at him. "It doesn't mean I'm always going to agree with everything you do or say."

"I expect most of the time you wouldn't," Clint commented offhandedly.

"True," Tony acquiesced readily with a raised eyebrow, putting his arm around Pepper and the four of them made their way back into the house.

"So now that this is all done, shall we get back to business?" Natasha offered, remembering why Tony had walked in on her and Steve in the first place.

"I think it's getting late for that," Pepper said with a slight frown. "Why don't we all get ready for bed and we pick this up in the morning?"

"Aw I wanted to pitch them my idea of a new religion: Starkism," Tony pouted, then made a gesture with his hand in the air as if seeing the word written there as he pushed the side door open and they walked into the house.

"Please tell me you're joking." Natasha stared back at him, raising a slightly worried eyebrow at him.

"Come on! Think about it. I'm already famous, people are used to worshipping me, I've already saved the world a handful of times and now I helped bring half the universe back to life, sacrificing myself for that and I miraculously got back to life," Tony argued good-humoredly. "All the items of the start-your-own-religion start-up pack."

"I obviously only caught the tail end of that discussion there, but please, please tell me you're joking," Rhodey said, also staring worriedly at his best friend.

"Yes, of course I'm joking. I don't want to start my own religion," Tony said with a slight roll of the eyes, and there were several sighs of relief throughout the room. "But that is not to say some nuthead out there is not going to follow through with that and start a following. It was already bad enough when I was only Tony Stark, then things got a little crazy when I became Iron Man and we formed the Avengers."

"He's not wrong," Pepper commented, worrying her lower lip for a moment. "Stark Tower and then the Avengers Tower always needed security 24/7 to keep the fans away from the entrances. It was one of the reasons we turned one of the old Stark Industries storage units into the new Avengers facility upstate, in a less accessible location."

"You see? That's why I'm worried about what we should release to the public regarding this little resurrection thing," Tony added. "I don't want any of that crazy life anymore. I just want to stay here, with my family, leading a quiet life away from the spotlight."

"So what? Do you want to keep the fact that you're alive again a secret?" Steve asked him, as he frowned slightly.

"Well, that is a thought," Tony said quietly after a moment.

"Hold on. While I'm glad you're considering retiring, again, I also want Morgan to lead a normal life," Pepper countered. "She can't exactly do that if she can't tell people her father is still alive. Besides many, many, many other issues here."

"We might want to get Fury's input on this," Natasha offered. "He has experience with this sort of thing."

"Yeah, but he didn't actually die and come back to life," Sam pointed out. "He just made people think he'd died to stop the assassination attempts on him." Then he actually threw a smirk at Bucky, who groaned and hid his face in his hands, prompting Steve to place a comforting hand on his shoulder and aim a glare at Sam, who merely raised his hands in an apologetic gesture, but kept his smirk on his lips anyway.

"To the public at large, same difference," Natasha argued with a simple shrug. "We could come up with a reason to justify releasing to the public a version of events that led to Tony's death while, for instance, people handled the threat of possible retaliation from any of Thanos's followers after the battle."

"But there are no more of Thanos's followers left," Tony raised an eyebrow at her. "I made sure of that."

"Okay, but the world doesn't know that," Natasha continued with her train of thought. "If you don't want people actually knowing you died and came back to life due to some impossible, magical miracle that would throw your life into public chaos, then this is what we could do. We say we spread the word of your death for your protection in fear of retaliation in the aftermath of the battle, and now the threats have been neutralized and we're back to normal. Anyone else who knows the truth would back this up."

"What about you?" Wanda asked her then. "Are you going to say the same about what happened to you?"

"Me? People don't care that I died," she shrugged her shoulders carelessly.

"Uh, I beg to differ, and I think Cap would be offended at that," Clint pointed out at once.

"That's not what I mean," Natasha grimaced slightly at her thoughtless choice of words, giving Clint and Steve an apologetic look. "You know that. The public doesn't care as much about my death and subsequent resurrection as they would about Iron Man."

"Actually, you would be surprised at how much the popularity of Black Widow has risen since the battle against Thanos," Laura said, looking for something in her cell phone to show Natasha. "Word got out that you sacrificed yourself to bring the universe back to life and they're singing your praises on the internet. You're a hero, Nat!"

"What?" Natasha raised her eyebrows and walked over to Laura to look at her cell phone. "How the hell did word even get out that I sacrificed my life for the Soul Stone? What is this about an 'unnamed source' slipping that up to news outlets?" She then turned to glare askance at basically the entire room.

"My guess?" Sam offered, raising his hand to draw attention to himself. "Scott." There was a collective reaction of rolling eyes and concurring nods around the room.

"Ugh so much for people in the know backing us up," Natasha muttered, frowning in thought at this added complication to her situation. "Or keeping their damn mouths shut."

"That's what we get for hiring freelancers," Tony quipped with a smirk. "Didn't anyone remember to give him the confidentiality agreement to sign?"

"Yeah, right after we took pictures for his badge and gave him the brochure for the Avengers employee benefits package," Bruce deadpanned back at him. "What the hell are you talking about? We were running a nearly impossible mission to save the universe!" Several people chuckled at that and Tony kept his smirk and merely waggled his eyebrows and tilted his head, silently conceding to his point.

"If that really was Scott, he probably meant no harm," Steve said in a placating tone, coming up behind Natasha and placing his hands comfortingly on her shoulders. "His heart was in the right place. He saw how impacted we all were when we lost you and wanted the world to know about your legacy."

"Yeah," she turned to give him a small smile over her shoulder. "But now I need to think of something to cover up my death and resurrection as well."

"Which brings us to the discussion I said was getting too late to get into right now," Pepper said, raising an eyebrow at them all. "How about we all just sleep on it and regroup in the morning to think this through? We could all use a little rest after the day we've had."

There were several murmurs of agreement. Even if this reverse-funeral of sorts had been a very happy occasion, it was getting close to the small hours late into the night and they all felt the effects of the long day, Steve more so than anyone thanks to his time-travels.

"Great idea, honey," Tony said brightly. "But that brings up another issue: lodgings. I don't think our humble abode can house everyone comfortably and several of these idiots got too drunk to drive."

"Not to mention that we didn't bring any cars over," Clint commented and rolled his eyes at him, as he was definitely one of those mentioned that were too impaired to use heavy machinery.

"You and Laura can take the guest bedroom," Pepper told him with a smile. She didn't want to awake their kids, seeing as they were already settled in Morgan's room. "As for everyone else, Stark Tower still has your rooms on the personal floors, as well as some guest rooms available. You could take one of the Quinjets and sleep over there, and we can meet you there in the morning and sort anything long term then."

"You kept our rooms even after all these years?" Natasha was surprised to hear this. They'd only resided at the short-lived Avengers Tower for a couple of years and afterwards they'd transferred over to the Avengers facility upstate. She knew Pepper still ran Stark Industries from the Tower, but she thought anything Avengers had come with them to the compound.

"It didn't feel right to just turn them into office space," Pepper offered the simple explanation with a shrug and a smile. "I know you took your personal belongings with you, but I kept all quarters furnished just as they were, with a few essentials stored away, just in case. I thought eventually it might be good for you guys to have a place in the city, if you ever needed it. And now you need it."

"I thought you said you'd gotten rid of everything, you know, after what happened with the Accords," Tony raised an eyebrow at her then. After he'd returned from Siberia, the first thing he'd done was send her orders to remove anything related to the Avengers that was still left at the tower. They'd still been navigating through their break back then and he took her assurances that she would take care of it at face value, so even when they got back together he never thought about it again until now.

"Yes, that's what I told you," she said easily. "But I knew better than to trust any rash decisions made in anger."

Tony felt something twist inside his chest in a rather painful yet good way as he looked at his wife. Even when they'd been broken up, Pepper had still known exactly what he'd needed even before he did. He was glad she knew him so damn well and continued to take care of him over all these years.

"Thank you, Pepper," Steve said then, giving her a small smile. He was still standing with his hands settled gently on Natasha's shoulders, and she could only nod at Pepper as her eyes seemed to glisten over with unshed tears. Out of everyone, Natasha had been the only one that still resided full-time at the Avengers compound, so she'd lost everything she had in the battle against Thanos. Her old quarters at the tower would at least be a familiar place to start over while the compound was reconstructed.

After saying their goodbyes to Tony, Pepper, Clint and Laura, the rest of the group piled up into one of the Quinjets and headed for New York City, with Steve acting as pilot, as he was practically the only sober person there. It was a rather short flight and they were soon touching down on the aerial pad.

"Welcome to Stark Tower," Bruce said as he led the way out of the Quinjet and guided the group. "I have full access at all hours, since I've been working and living here for the past five years." He punched his code into the security pad by the door, which promptly opened for him and he ushered them all in. "Steve, Nat? Do you remember your way around this place?"

"Yeah, I think we can manage," Natasha said and Steve nodded back at him.

"Good, then Rhodey and I will show these guys to the guest rooms," Bruce said, gesturing at the others with a thumb as he smiled at the two of them. "See you in the morning."

Taking the hint, Rhodey fell in step next to Bruce so that they could show Sam, Bucky, Wanda and Vision to the guest rooms and the group bid each other goodnight. As they were left alone in the living room of the common floor, Steve and Natasha turned to each other to talk privately for the first time since their moment at the porch.

"Look, I'm sorry for the way things happened back at Tony's house," Steve said, a light blush once more visible on his cheeks as he reached for Natasha's hands and intertwined his fingers with hers. "I wasn't thinking straight and things got out of hand…"

"Don't worry about it," Natasha reassured him quietly. "I don't regret one bit."

She stepped closer to him and pushed herself up on her toes, her hands going up to frame his face as she brought him down to capture his lips with her own. He responded immediately by pulling her flush against him and wrapping his arms around her smaller frame. "Shall we pick up where we left off?" She murmured against his lips.

"Hum, about that," Steve said, pulling a little away from her but still keeping her close to him and pressing his forehead gently to hers. "I know you're probably going to laugh at me or something, but I'm actually glad Tony interrupted us back there."

"You are?" She pulled away to take a better look at his face, as she raised an eyebrow in curiosity at him.

"Yeah, because I was getting too drunk on you, on us, to think straight," he admitted quietly, looking down into her eyes. "I want to do this right with you, Nat. I wanted us to actually go out on a date before… well, before anything else happens."

Natasha blinked up in surprise at this. She knew Steve had adapted greatly to the 21st century, but it looked like for some things he was still quite old-fashioned. It wasn't like they hadn't known each other for over a decade now or hadn't been friends and partners for all this time. But she supposed he was right. Being together would change things between them, and even if it was a most welcomed change, they should acknowledge it in some way. It was actually sweet and nothing less she'd expect of Steve Rogers.

"Okay," she said then, smiling up at him.

"Okay?" He was the one blinking down in surprise at her then.

"Yeah, okay," she said, pushing herself up on her toes to kiss him softly on the lips. "You're right. Let's do this 'the right way'. We've already waited a decade, apparently. What's the harm in waiting a couple of days? Besides, I haven't been on a date in…" She paused, furrowing her eyebrows in thought. "Actually, I can't remember the last time I was out on a real date, if ever."

"Well, Ms. Romanoff, then you'll be in for a treat," he smiled brightly down at her and couldn't resist kissing her again.

"I have one request, though," she said, raising an eyebrow at him, encircling her arms around his neck.

"Anything," he said at once.

"Stay with me tonight?" She looked up at him, her green eyes suddenly looking very big and vulnerable. "We don't have to─I just…" She paused, biting her lower lip for a moment. "I don't want to be alone."

"You won't," Steve told her softly, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. He doubted he'd be able to let her go even if she hadn't asked him to stay.

Walking hand in hand to the elevators, they took one down to the personal floors and got out on the one to their quarters. Their apartments were situated on the same level, right across one another.

"Pepper said there should be essentials stored away," Steve said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder at the door to his quarters. "I'm going to look for some sleepwear in my old rooms and be right over."

"I'll do the same," she said with a small smile. "Don't take too long or I'll come looking for you."

"Roger that," he smiled back in acknowledgement.

A few minutes later, after cleaning up and getting changed into a comfortable pair of lounge pants and tee shirt, Steve walked across the hall and let himself into her apartment. After calling out for Natasha, she told him to come into the bedroom and that she would be right out.

He got to the bedroom and stood for a moment at the door, taking in the room. He'd never been here before, but it looked just the same as her old rooms in the Avengers compound, which he'd been more familiar with, as the two of them had spent a lot of time together running the team and their operations. He didn't know what to do with himself, so he decided to just cross his arms, lean his shoulder against the doorway and wait for her.

It wasn't long before the door to her en-suite bathroom got open and she stepped out into the room. Steve swallowed hard as he took in her appearance. Natasha would usually dress for bed similarly to how he was dressed, in simple lounge pants and tank tops, but right now she was wearing a matching pair of pajama top and shorts made in silk in a shade that matched the red of her hair and made him seriously reconsider this whole waiting to go out on a date thing that he'd insisted on.

"I have to say, Pepper has excellent taste," Natasha said casually, walking barefoot towards him and taking note of how he was openly staring at her. "What do you think?"

"Yeah, she, uh," Steve stammered incoherently, nearly swallowing his tongue as she came to stand right in front of him. "You look… great."

"You don't look so bad yourself," she replied, indulging herself while openly looking at him. She'd always covertly admired his physique, but it was quite liberating not having to be subtle about it, and the sight of Steve Rogers in casual wear in her bedroom was causing some very interesting flutterings that were spreading from the pit of her stomach out to her whole body. She noticed how he swallowed heavily once more and raised an eyebrow at him. "Nervous, soldier? It's not like we haven't done this before."

Steve made a conceding head gesture. Strictly speaking, they had shared a bed before, out on a few missions and many times when they'd been together on the run, yet even if a wayward thought may have crossed his mind from time to time, they'd never crossed any lines before. "Yes, but you gotta admit this is an entirely new situation for us." He smiled down at her.

She reached out to him and with one hand she grasped one of his hands in her own and with the other she turned off the switch on the wall next to him, suddenly plunging the two of them into darkness. As their eyes adjusted to the dim light that came in through the partially closed curtains at the window, they just stood together for a moment before she tugged on his hand and led him backwards to the bed.

As they settled in, they laid down on their sides facing each other. Steve reached out to tuck a loose strand of her long hair behind her ear and she leaned into his touch, smiling at him. "Please tell me this isn't a dream," she whispered at him.

"I really hope it isn't," he whispered back at her then pulled her closer to him, nestling her in his arms and leaning down to kiss her gently. He internally struggled for a moment to keep it sweet and chaste, since having her in his arms and being able to hold her like this was doing some very funny things to his heart. Then he sighed against her lips and placed one final kiss on the corner of her mouth. "Goodnight, Nat. Sweet dreams…"

"Goodnight, Steve." Natasha smiled and buried her nose in the crook of his neck, inhaling his scent and closing her eyes. With her hand settled against his chest, she could feel his strong heartbeat under her palm and it was a while before her own wild heart slowed enough to get her to calm down and let herself be lulled into unconsciousness, but once she did it was probably the best sleep of her whole life.

A.N.: Yeah, I'm totally ignoring the fact that Tony sold the Avengers Tower in Spiderman: Homecoming for my own purposes. But then again, according to that movie the whole plot happens 8 years after The Avengers, making it in the year 2020, which does not fit in the MCU timeline, so… yeah. Let's say he converted the Avengers Tower back into Stark Tower for Pepper.