Summary: Basically a highschool!AU that involves a musical based on the songs of Smash.
Notes: okay so this is the last part with loki/tony sexy times and cliche endings!

Tony and Steve sleep together a few more times and Tony avoids thinking about his feelings. Because if he doesn't think about the fact that his heart threatens to explode out of his chest every time Steve kisses him and he becomes incredibly lightheaded when Steve touches him, then he doesn't have to live with the reality that he might be falling for his friend-with-benefits. Until one night, about two months before the first show. Tony is watching Steve climb out of his bed and hunt for his clothes and he's thinking about how he's being forced to go to a gala with his dad in two days and he really doesn't want to go alone.

'So, Steve- uh- there's this benefit thing that I'm being roped into going to on Friday-'

'So you won't be around?'

'Yeah, but also… I- I wondered if you wanted to come with me?'

'Like a date?'

'Yeah, I guess.'

'And why would I do that? I thought this was just sex?' And woah – that stings.

'Well, we could just go as friends?'

'But we're not friends are we? We just sleep together. Why don't you ask Clint?' And Steve is so casual about this, not even noticing the way Tony flinches, hell – not even looking at him.

'I- I thought-'

'What? What did you think, Tony? That just because you're occasionally in my bed, that means we have any sort of relationship?' And it's getting hard to breathe now, and his eyes are starting to burn and no he is not going to cry. And Steve still isn't looking at him and he needs to see those eyes, he needs to see if Steve really means what he says.

'Oh, fine. I guess that if I don't mean anything to you, you can just go out and sleep with other people? Because if you're so fucking good at that, then you had no reason to start this, did you? Oh, wait – is it because you just can't?' Tony's pushing back the sheet now, pulling on his clothes and Steve is glaring daggers at him, and Tony would be scared (because Steve has a good few inches and about a million pounds on him) but he's too angry and hurt to even fucking see straight.

'It takes two to tango, Tony. Did you start this because you realised that no one wants to sleep with a mess like you more than once? Did you just dig your claws in the first person that showed the slightest bit of interest? And you can't deal with the fact that I might not want you like that.'

Tony is taken aback by that – it's true that he'd never even thought about whether Steve had wanted him as well, because no one had rejected him before. The only person who has ever shown his lack of interest in Tony was his father and now Tony is starting to make links between Steve and Howard and he doesn't want to make those kind of links and his heart is starting to ache and his head is starting to pound.

So, he mutters a quiet 'fuck you' and storms out of the house, jumping in his car and driving in the opposite direction of his house, the opposite direction of Steve and the opposite direction of everything he knows.

He crosses the state border around one in the morning (although that isn't hard, because it is only about 300 miles out) and pulls into a bar. Luckily they don't ID him, and he sits and drinks until he can't see straight and he slumps against the bar – the exhaustion and despair and alcohol catching up with him.

He wakes the next morning in an uncomfortable, strange bed, and he panics. He throws himself from between the sheets, glad to see that he's still dressed and his shoes and by the end of the bed. Before he can escape, though, a woman walks in, carrying breakfast on a tray. She puts it on the small table in the room and orders Tony to sit and eat.

'Did you kidnap me?'

She laughs. 'No, you fell asleep in my bar last night, and I figured you could use a place to sleep off whatever was affecting you.'

'Oh. Thanks.'

'No problem, honey. Now eat.' And Tony does. He likes this woman – she reminds him of his mother, and she's a damn good cook.

'That fancy ride out front yours?' He nods, assuming that she's referring to his car, and he's still glad that she isn't asking him how old he is. 'You alright to drive home?' Tony nods again, knowing that by this time, he's already missing school – his father might not notice his absence, but Pepper and Clint sure as hell will.

He stands, stretches and reaches for his wallet. The woman shakes her head and pushes his hand away, refusing anything that he offers her. She hugs him before he leaves, and she hugs him just like Maria used to, and he feels the full weight of everything that happened the previous night slamming back into him, but he will not cry. He won't.

He leaves, but he doesn't drive back home. He doesn't want to face Steve just yet. This was the first time that Tony had really put his heart on the line like this and he'd been decimated. Tony wasn't the type of guy who wanted a long term anything, and it shocked him how much he'd changed in the past few months. He'd gotten a starring role in the school musical, and he'd become attached to one person and he'd actually made real friends, ones who weren't out for his money.

The thing is, Tony had always been a loner, ever since his dad had told him that he wasn't worth shit and everyone always just wanted his money. He'd been drunk at the time, but it'd still had a lasting effect on him. So he was the guy that knew how to party and look awesome while doing it, but he hadn't had anyone to talk to before this. And he was grateful that he wasn't as alone anymore, but it was hard to appreciate that when the only thing he could think about was how his heart was lying in several pieces on his bedroom floor.

Tony drives for hours, only stopping to stock up on coffee and anything else to keep him awake. He makes sure to drive around and not just in a straight line, because driving in a straight line is boring and he damn well knows he's not going to get lost like that.

Eventually he is pretty much totally lost, and it's starting to get dark. He checks his phone for the first time since that morning, and he sees missed calls from Pepper, Clint, even Bruce – but nothing from Steve. He has texts, but he deletes them without reading them. He pulls over and curls up in his seat – he doesn't care that he's going to ache in the morning (and not in the good way), because he's just so damn tired.

Tony drives back as soon as he's awake enough and he has a map on his phone to guide him. It takes him nearly all day to get back, but he finds enough shortcuts that mean he can stroll into rehearsals after school and pretend that nothing happened. Everybody looks at him, and Pepper looks about to say something, but she closes her mouth when Tony shakes his head, sharply and just once.

She clears her throat. 'So, shall we go from Mr & Mrs Smith?'

And so he stands on his mark, and he sings and he dances with Natasha and he proclaims his love for her and his determination to spend their nights 'making our own/little league baseball team'. He escapes for the next hour, becoming DiMaggio and ignoring the blue eyes looking at him from the side of the stage.

Pepper calls it a day soon enough, and Clint grabs Tony as soon as he can, herding him into Tony's dressing room.

'What the hell happened to you?' Tony winces at the anger in his voice, and collapses into a chair.

'I- I asked Steve out.'

'He said no, didn't he?' Clint asks, voice softening and he perches on the edge of the dressing table, facing Tony.

Tony nods, leaning forward to examine the bags under his eyes and realising how bad he truly looks.

'I didn't realise you liked him this much?'

'Neither did I, until he tore me apart.' Tony sighs and shakes his head, leaning back and looking at Clint.

'You should talk to him.'

'No. He made it perfectly clear that he doesn't care about me.'

'Tony-'

'No, I'm done.'

Clint sighs and shakes his head, patting Tony's shoulder before heading towards the door. 'Fancy getting hammered?'

Tony's up and following Clint in the blink of an eye.

The next morning, Tony's head is killing him, and he has one arm slung over a warm body. He opens eyes slowly, taking in the man lying next to him. He's tall, slender and has long black hair fanned out on the pillow. And the first thing that Tony thinks is that he's everything Steve isn't. And when he moves his hips just slightly, he realises that he probably wasn't the bottom last night. So, this is definitely nothing like it was with Steve.

The guy rolls over and opens his eyes, and they are the most shocking shade of green. The guy raises one eyebrow.

'Were you watching me sleep?' His voice is deep, soothing and has a hint of an English accent.

'Nu-uh. I've only just woken up.'

'Sure.'

'Sorry but-'

'Loki. My name is Loki.' Tony smiles at him slightly, watching as he stretches and goddammit he looks like a fucking cat. Loki sits up, swinging his legs over the side and reaching for his clothes. Tony just watches him – the elegant arch of his spine, the ethereal quality to his pale skin.

Before he can leave, Tony asks him if he's busy later. Loki raises that damn eyebrow again and walks over to Tony's desk, writing something on the back of an old piece of paper lying there. He throws the number at Tony.

'Call me.'

And Tony does. He goes out with Loki that night, and they talk and Tony likes Loki – he's witty and sassy and incredibly bitchy about everybody they see in a way that makes Tony feel bad for laughing. They go out, they drink, they dance and they end up right back in Tony's bed.

Loki is arching up underneath Tony's ministrations, responding eagerly to his lips on his chest and his fingers around his cock. Loki looks beautiful like this, all flushed and writhing, but it's nothing compared to the strong tan arms that caged him when he was with Steve. Tony plunges his fingers into Loki, and if he's a little more rough than he probably should be, Loki doesn't mention it or even seem to care. Tony rushes through preparing Loki, but slows down when he pushes in. Loki digs his fingernails into Tony's back, drawing blood and encouraging him to speed up.

Tony is almost brutal in his thrusts, but Loki seems to love it, using his hips to force Tony deeper and faster. Tony reaches down, messily wrapping his hand around Loki's cock and smearing the precome down the length before moving faster, muttering in Loki's ear until he clenches and arches up, falling back to the bed, boneless. Tony keeps thrusting right through Loki's orgasm and straight into his. He pauses for a minute, catching his breath, before he pulls out and falls next to Loki, sated.

He curls into Loki's side, and the taller man wraps his arm around his shoulders. It feels too cosy, but Tony knows he screamed Steve's name when he came, and he knows Loki murmured something that wasn't 'Tony'. He knows that they're just doing this for convenience, but it feels nice to be held – after all, Steve was always so eager to leave straight away.

It's two weeks before the first show, and the wardrobe team are finally getting their asses in gear and getting all the costumes together. Natasha looks fabulous in her blonde wig and the red dress for the Let's Be Bad sequence, and he can tell by the look on his face that Clint thinks so too. He practically comes in his pants when she winks at him for the last line ('some like it hot and that ain't bad').

Tony has to fight the hysterics when he hears Clint whisper, 'See if you can borrow that tonight?' to Natasha during their break, and damned if she doesn't throw everything she fucking has into the next run through of the song, and Tony breaks when he sees how white Clint's knuckles are where he grips the arms of his chair.

The drama comes when Tony's being fitted for his baseball jacket. It's slightly too small, and he's just getting chewed out for ripping it during one of the dance numbers they'd just been practicing.

'Hey! Don't yell at me, it's not my fault I was doing what I was supposed to.' Thor the guy in charge of the costumes gives him a dirty look before tearing the jacket from his body. The thing with Thor is that he is over six foot tall and built like a fucking brick wall and there is something incredibly comical about a guy like that marching around with a tape measure around his neck and constantly fretting over fabrics.

'I am sorry that I expected you to be smaller.'

Tony doesn't take that insult to heart, but he does listen to Thor for once. 'That accent – where are you from?'

Thor pauses and squints at Tony. 'My father was a diplomat, so we moved around a lot – I was born in Norway, but I went to boarding school in England until last year, when we moved here.'

'It's just, this guy I know has an accent that's really similar to yours.'

'Oh, Loki?' Tony nods, letting Thor continue. 'He's my brother.'

And Tony really was not expecting that. These two are total opposites in every way and oh god Tony is sleeping with Thor's brother and that is totally, totally not good. Thor obviously doesn't know, but Tony really does not want to get on his bad side, because it's clear that the guy may not mind if you make fun of him for loving clothes, but he isn't going to react well to the fact that Tony is fucking his brother and this guy could probably break every bone in Tony's body with his little finger.

'Oh.' Tony mutters, and he's about to change the subject when Thor interrupts him.

'How do you know my brother?'

Tony freezes. 'Uh-' And thanks whatever deity is up there when the door slams open.

Except it is Steve who hurries in, looking extremely flustered. And Tony has his back to the door, but his front to the mirror, and their reflections lock eyes before Steve shakes his head and turns to Thor.

'Have you seen Clint?' Thor declares that he has not and Steve is about to leave, but he does a double take, staring at Tony's back. Tony hears him curse under his breath, and the look on Steve's face makes Tony's blood run cold.

Surprise, then confusion. And realisation and then anger. These all flash across Steve's face and Tony kind of hates that look, but he doesn't know what he's done to warrant being on the receiving end of it.

'What?' He asks, and he nearly flinches at the amount of venom he can force into that one word.

'Your- your back.' And Tony twists awkwardly in the mirror to see that the flesh of his back is a mesh of scratches and crescent shaped nail marks – none of them particularly deep or painful, but red enough that Steve can tell that they're fresh.

'Oh. My guy is just a little rough in bed, and he has some damn sharp nails, is all.' Tony answers the unspoken question, but he doesn't look at Steve, choosing instead to run his fingers gently over the scratches. He should feel guilty about what he just said but it's all Steve's fault anyway because he's the one that ended their thing and Tony should be allowed to move on with a guy that's just as messed up as he is. Steve spins on his heel and leaves before Tony can come up with a witty continuation.

Thor is looking at him now. Well, less looking at him and more staring at him with an incredibly scary, fiery look. 'So, how did you say you knew my brother?'

Tony gets out of that with a little bit of smooth charm and a promise that he isn't going to hurt Loki and that's just a little more than he wanted to promise anyone today because this thing he has with Loki is definitely casual – there are no lingering romantic feelings between the two of them. For sure this time.

Later, Peggy corners Tony. She's Natasha's understudy and Steve's best friend. Tony is initially confused as to why she wants to talk to him, but the reason become clear when she sits him down and takes a deep breath before revealing what's going on.

'Steve's dad doesn't know that he's gay.' And Tony pulls a confused face, so she continues. 'He's really homophobic, and Steve doesn't want him to know.'

'So he doesn't want a relationship?'

'Exactly.' Tony pauses.

'Why didn't he tell me?'

'He's ashamed of it.' Tony bites his lip and shakes his head. 'He really likes you, you know. I've never seen him so… so smitten with somebody. You should've seen him that day you didn't turn up to school. He looked about ready to tear the country apart trying to find you.'

'Really? He- No. No.' Tony shakes his head again, slightly more violently. He can't just give in to this. 'He brought this on himself. He could've explained this to me. I- I've never taken a leap like this before, and if I do, it can't be with somebody who's ashamed of me.' And he stands then, turning and walking off, not caring that he left rather abruptly because his heart is burning now and his throat is all choked up.

It's the night before the night before the first show. Tony had wanted to party the night before, but Pepper has shut him down and ordered that if he must throw a party, it had to be the night before. So, he's drunk and kind of upset because Loki called things off because his ex had wanted him back and he's sat in a corner discussing the merits of- of something with Hank. Actually, he's pretty sure they're talking about the negatives of being in love. Tony actually doesn't really know what's going on right now.

'She just keeps saying it.' Hank moans, flopping his head onto Tony's shoulder. Tony nods seriously, patting Hank on the back with hard, sharp movements.

'Do you-' He hiccups. 'Do you not feel the same?'

'I don't know, Tony. Love is like… it's serious! And I'm not serious! About anything!' Hanks sits up suddenly, using extravagant hand gestures to make his point.

'Plus, it's only high school. We're too young to be in love.'

'Exactly!' Hank yells, probably more loudly than he should, and the people in the surrounding area pause to look at them. They both break into a fit of giggles. Which is when Steve stumbles over to them, asking if he can talk to Tony.

'Whatever you want to say, you can say here in front of Hank. I love him, you know.' And they start giggling again, Tony kissing Hank on the cheek.

'Alone? Please, Tony?' If Tony was even a little bit less inebriated, he'd realise that Steve sounds a little bit desperate.

'Oooh… Hanky, I think I'm in trouble!' Hank and Tony share wide-eyed looks of shock, and Steve loses his patience – grabbing Tony's arm and hoisting him up off of the couch. He pulls him out of the room and into the garden, with Tony yelling at Hank that if he isn't back in twenty minutes to call the police. Hank just falls off of the couch laughing.

Steve leads him away from the congregating people and towards the pool house, where he pulls him into the shadows and pushes him against the wall, keeping him in place with a hand either side of his head. Neither of them say anything for a long time, and there is a heavy silence settling around them that cuts through Tony's hazy state. The air around them is charged with an electricity so thick that it crackles around them and Tony can almost taste it and he starts breathing more heavily – the points of contact between them feel white hot. Air flutters across his skin as Steve takes a deep breath.

'I like you Tony. You're smart and funny and not bad to look at and I don't want this to just be sex. I want to be with you all the time and when I'm not touching you I ache for you. It's like, my heart hurts when I see you and I can't be with you. I wanted to find whoever marked your back and just- hurt them because no one should be able touch you like that. Because you should be mine.' And he's really close now, breathing heavily, ducking his head down so he can look directly into Tony's eyes, and his breath is fanning out over Tony's lips.

Tony's tongue darts out to follow the hot air, and his mouth is suddenly dry and his head is spinning. Steve leans down to kiss him, but he doesn't reciprocate. He pushes Steve away, looking down towards the floor, chest heaving.

'No. That isn't enough. You- You hurt me Steve, as much as I hate to admit it, but you did.' Tony looks up, running his hand through his hair and down to rub at the back of his neck. 'You want me to be yours, but you're ashamed of me? This… thing. It isn't fair. You can't play me like a puppet – I won't come running just because you want me to.' And he is sobering up and he doesn't like this, he doesn't want to be here, having this conversation.

'What can I do? What can I do, Tony?' Steve is almost begging but no, Tony cannot give in to this.

'I don't think there's anything you can do.'

Tony goes back into the house before Steve can reply, because his resolve is already weakening. He watches as Steve storms through the house soon after, charging out of the front door with Peggy in tow. She throws Tony a dirty look, but it bounces straight off of him as he notices the wet tracks on Steve's cheeks. He drinks enough to stop caring, and realises that he might just love Clint and Pepper when the two of them hoist him into his bed at around two in the morning, after herding everybody else out of his house.

This might be considered self-destructive – hell, if Tony thinks it's self-destructive then it most definitely is – but he can't bring himself to care. Because maybe he should stop fighting this and he should just give in to Steve and forgive him so they can live happily ever after but Tony doesn't deserve happiness or love and he still remembers the words that Steve said to him and he feels like he's getting fucking whiplash from all of these changing emotions and fucking hell life was so much simpler when he was lonely.

It's now two hours before curtain up, and Tony's hiding from everybody – it's not like he has to care, he isn't on until halfway through act one. He's thinking, which is dangerous anyway, but this time he's thinking about Steve. Steve had basically told him that he loved him or at least seriously cared about him and Tony had just denied him. It wasn't that Tony didn't reciprocate his feelings, but he can't handle that. He can't handle that considering the fact that Steve had destroyed him and his heart and he can't keep up with these turning tables because if Steve can change his mind like that, then what's to say that he won't change his mind about being with Tony in the future?

And then Tony decides that he doesn't care. He doesn't care if Steve changes his mind because what he wants is Steve and he wants him now. They're in high school anyway and forever isn't a realistic goal and it's nearly the end of the year so they can have a damn awesome summer before Steve heads off to whatever art school he wants to go to and Tony heads to MIT.

Tony stands, and starts running through the school, searching for Steve – he isn't backstage and he isn't well, anywhere that Tony can find him. So he bursts through the doors and onto the football pitch, taking a left and running all the way to the baseball diamond on the other side of the street and he goes hurtling into the bunker and straight on top of Steve who looks like he was just leaving.

They land, collapsed on top of each other in the dirt. Tony feels like he should care about the fact that he's getting his costume dirty (but he just tells the tiny conscience-Thor in his head that it just adds to the authenticity). So he straddles Steve's hips and lets his thoughts out.

'I don't care. I don't care that you want to keep me a secret and I don't care that you broke my fucking heart. As long as you can promise me a tomorrow and that you care about me even half as much as I care about you because I think I might have tripped and fallen in love with you and I kind of like it down here, but only as long as you're here with me.' He stops, realising that he sounds insane, chest heaving and throat burning.

And it's Steve's turn not to answer him. Instead, he grabs Tony's collar and heaves him down to join their lips and it starts as a soft touch of their lips but Tony runs his tongue over the seam of Steve's lips and then it's a battle for dominance, but it isn't fast or rough. It's slow and caring and heady. Tony pulls away first, leaning their foreheads together – their breath mixing as they heave out deep breaths.

'I love you too.' Steve whispers against Tony's lips, and they both grin at each other, not caring that this has moved incredibly fast and Tony finally notices the signs that he was an idiot wasting two months with Loki and his beaten heart when he could've just talked to Steve and they could've been like this for that time.

'I'm sorry, I didn't mean what I said before-'

'And neither did I. I'm sorry too.' They kiss again.

'Are you still ashamed of me?' Steve sighs and pulls away, but Tony can't let go of that, of that word.

'No. I- I told my dad last night. About being gay and everything.' And now Steve's eyes are shining with tears and for fuck's sake Tony really needs to stop ruining perfectly good moments. Tony kisses the corner of Steve's mouth, encouraging him to continue. 'He- uh- kicked me out, I guess.'

Tony sits up abruptly, chewing on his lip and wishes he could launch into an apology, one that would've had the potential to save Troy. But Steve doesn't let him get it out.

'No. It's not your fault. I needed to tell him anyway. I'm staying with Peggy at the moment,' Steve shrugs. 'It's nice there. Her parents are amazing.'

Tony nods. 'I would ask you to move in with me but-'

'Too soon.' And Tony nods again and thinks that maybe in this one way it's a good thing that his dad ignores him, because at least he doesn't have to face up to telling him that he likes boys too.

'Hang on a minute, aren't you supposed to be getting ready to sing and dance for two hours?'

'SHIT.' Tony's up and running before Steve has time to get on his feet, and Tony pauses at the exit to the baseball field to grab Steve's hand and pull him after him.

They burst through the doors to the school, dodging the people milling about in the corridor (it's totally cliché and like something out of a movie) and they take the back entrance to the backstage area and are met by a fuming Pepper.

'Where the hell were you?'

'Hey, Pep. Calm down, looks like the two lovebirds came to their senses, is all.' Clint appears out of nowhere, herding Tony in the general direction of the makeup people. Pepper relents, but does pull Steve away, muttering under her breath at him as she tells him that he needs to stay out of the way.

When it's time for the first DiMaggio scene, Tony stands opposite Natasha and acts his fucking heart out and if the pair of electric blue eyes staring at him from the darkness in the wings encourages him, well then, he isn't about to scream that from the rooftops.

Four hours later and Tony is perched on his roof, a bottle of beer in one hand and a cigarette dangling from his lips. He exhales, watching the smoke curl upwards, mixing with the dark blue of the sky. He hears a bang from behind him, and he laughs.

'Elegant.' He says, tipping his head all the way back to lock (upside down) eyes with Steve, who is climbing through the hatch, rubbing his elbow and wincing in pain. Steve pouts, sticking his bottom lip out and widening his eyes and Tony just laughs again, straightening up and waving Steve over. 'C'mere.'

Steve sits next to him, tipping his head to rest it on Tony's shoulder as Tony swings his arm around the larger man's shoulders. Neither of them says anything for the longest time.

Steve's staring at the sky, wonderstruck. 'It's beautiful up here.'

Tony sighs and nods. 'I started coming up here after my mother died. It makes me feel closer to her, I guess.' Tony shrugs, taking another drag and ignoring the sympathetic look Steve gives him. They stay silent for a little longer.

'Here,' Tony says, offering him the cigarette. 'Live a little.'

Steve sighs, but he does take it, sucking in the smoke before spluttering it out and coughing, clutching his chest. Tony laughs, taking the cigarette back.

'Some people are naturals at that. You, however, are not one of them.' Steve shoves Tony with his shoulder.

'That tastes foul.'

'You don't mind it when you kiss me.' Tony mutters, leaning in.

'Yeah, but it tastes different on you.' Steve leans in and they kiss deeply, as if just to prove his point.

Tony pulls away, resting their foreheads together. 'Say fuck.'

'What? Why?'

'Because I've never heard you swear before, even in all our wonderful trysts. And my mission tonight is to completely destroy your innocent façade.'

Steve breathes in, deeply, before leaning towards Tony's ear and whispering, in the most sultry voice he can come up with. 'Fuck.'

Tony shivers, the sound travelling straight down his spine. He shivers against Steve, and turns his head to join their lips again. Steve leans into Tony, pushing him back to hover over him. They kiss until they can't breathe, and then they lie there and they talk and laugh until the sun rises.

'Are you sure you've got everything?' Steve asks, as Tony heaves the last box into the back of his truck.

'I think so. Everything of importance anyway. As long as I've got you, everything else can be bought.' He leans up to kiss Steve, quickly and gently. Steve blushes and Clint groans, demanding that they get a room.

'We're heading to our room now.' Steve winks at him.

'You have completely destroyed the innocence in that one, Tony.' Natasha smirks from where she leans against Clint's truck. They're all leaving today, all heading to MIT – which was a fluke, them all getting in, and had absolutely nothing to do with the brand new lab that Howard Stark had just generously donated.

Pepper pulls up next, climbing out to hug everyone and exclaim, 'AAH. I'm so excited!' for the millionth time this week.

'We all ready?' Bruce asks, and they all agree on some level.

'Hang on a minute,' Tony says as he runs back inside to place the letter neatly addressed to Dad on the desk in Howard's study. He'd seen his dad less and less lately, but he wanted to say goodbye in some way.

'Let's go, then?' Clint asks when Tony gets back outside. Pepper jumps back in her car and Bruce into his. Natasha kisses Clint quickly before climbing into the passenger seat of Clint's truck, and Clint settles himself behind the wheel.

Tony looks back at his house, and feels a little sad. 'It isn't for forever.' Steve whispers in his ear, wrapping his arms around Tony's waist and kissing the side of his head.

'Come on, you two! We have places to be!' Pepper yells, leaning out of her window.

Tony laughs, shaking his head and pulls away from Steve's embrace. 'Are you driving, or should I?'

'When was the last time you slept?' Steve asks, raising an eyebrow. When Tony's only answer is a sheepish look and to duck his head, Steve continues. 'I thought so. I don't trust you with my life when you're this tired.'

Tony nods in agreement and climbs into the passenger side, and Steve jumps into the driver's seat, starts the engine and leads their little troupe away from Tony's and towards their future.