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STARK ESTATE
Steve and Bucky stood in front of the time travel machine. The last infinity stone was back in place, the world saved, and they both stood there somewhat at a loss.
"What now?" Bucky asked.
"I don't know," Steve replied. "I guess we just try to go on... We do what we've always done. Save the world... As soon as it needs saving again."
"I guess so..."
Steve started to walk away, then turned around again. "Are you coming?"
Bucky looked at him quizzically, "Is it okay to stay with you for starters...?"
Steve gave him an amused look. "Where else would you stay?"
*
THE MILANO
"I'm in charge, right?" Quill repeated.
Thor grinned at him. "Of course you are."
Rocket looked at Thor through narrowed eyes, "Well, you're in a chipper mood."
15 MINUTES EARLIER, ALSO ABOARD THE MILANO
Thor was sitting in the supplies store, pondering over his future and space beer (in particular his future as it concerned space beer), when the air in front of him started flickering.
"Well, you do look awful." Loki stated, one eyebrow raised. The next moment he looked a lot less dignified as he lost his footing when Thor ripped him off the floor and into a hug.
"You're not dead!" Thor stated unnecessarily.
"Quite obviously." Loki affirmed, still very much without use of his arms or ground under his feet. "I assumed your little friends would have informed you about the change in the past they caused which left me with the Tesseract and never having been killed by Thanos."
"They didn't... But how do you know all that?"
"Time travel paradox. For a little while there, I met Tony in the afterlife and he told me."
"Where have you been all this time?!"
"Trying not to upset the timeline."
"And what did you do with the Tesseract?"
"Nothing yet." He didn't mention that he actually wasn't all that keen on world-domination and that he was quite enjoying the hug. That pathetic bunch of Asgardians living in that rundown fisherman's town wasn't really worth the bother of ruling over them. Although he might actually be doing them a favor, giving them some of their dignity back. Well, he might consider it, for charity.
*
AVENGERS HEADQUARTER
They sat together on the balcony. The sun had long vanished on the horizon, and the universe was looking down on them.
"What did you do while I was gone?" Bucky asked. "Those five years."
Steve gave a small sad smile, nodding to himself. "The same thing I did when you were gone before... Trying to go on somehow. Trying to find sense in what was left. I gave up this time too. Just like back then. I stopped looking. I'm sorry."
Bucky frowned. "You did what you could. I know I can count on you. Always."
"I'm not so sure about that."
"I'm okay with this. It's better than I could have hoped."
Steve shook his head. "It's not good enough. The next time I'll vanish and you stay."
Bucky looked at him somberly, "I wouldn't want to be in a world without you."
"Same."
"I loved you for over seventy years... isn't that strange?" Bucky said pensively.
Steve looked at him for a long while. "Let's get married."
"What?"
"Right now." Steve repeated more determinedly.
*
Someone finally picked up.
"Cap," Sam started. "You were suddenly gone. Where the heck are you? Is Bucky with you?"
"We're in Vegas." Steve replied on the other side of the line.
"Did you suddenly feel like some gambling–" Sam stopped right there. "Oh damn! Oh damn." he repeated in awe.
"We got married." Steve explained somewhat shyly, somewhat proudly.
"Yeah, I figured that, champ. At least I hoped it's that, and not gambling, after seventy years that would have been just sad. Congrats!" he added. "Why the fuck wasn't I the best man?"
*
THE MILANO
"And now, my little friend, I wonder. Should I tell them that Loki is back or will that only get them unduly worried?" Thor asked, face in a frown of worry.
"I am groot."
"You're probably right, kind adolescent tree." Thor nodded sagely. "Let's rejoin our feline friend for a game of cards."
"Oh my God!" Rocket shouted from the other room. "I'm not a cat either!"
"You have whiskers!" Thor shouted back, both helplessly and exasperatedly.
"Look again at that book about animals Quill gave you!"
"I did! I identified you as a possum! A majestic, dangerous warrior creature that like you eats garbage!" Thor shouted, red-faced and defensive.
Nearby they heard Quill choking on laughter.
"I don't eat garbage! Quill, stop laughing, or we'll have that fight for captaincy after all!"
Suddenly Loki popped into the room. "He's a raccoon. It's not that hard to remember. Look at the stripes on his tail."
"See." Rocket said. "He gets it."
"Brother," Thor whirled around to Loki, face in a hopeful smile. "You've returned."
"Yeah. He's here for a card game with us." Gamora informed them nonchalantly.
Nebula stepped beside her, face set in determination. "I will not be defeated again."
"What, you've been here before? Without saying hi!" Thor exclaimed miffedly.
"Just checking in, making sure you don't drink all of Rocket's beer."
"That's my man." Rocket and Loki high-fived, which required Rocket jumping up, but was still remarkably in sync.
Thor gave a pouty growl, watching Loki leave with Gamora and Nebula. "And cats totally have striped tails too." he mumbled under his breath.
Loki gave a long-suffering sigh, raising a hand without turning around. "By all means, if you absolutely need to, you can join us for our game of cards."
Thor's face immediately lit up.
"Just so you know," Gamora said. "One card in the deck is always a transformed snake. Who gets the snake, loses, obviously."
"Only if they're bitten." Nebula added.
"Ah," Thor nodded happily. "So, same rules as always."
*
AVENGERS HEADQUARTER
"You're looking better..." Bruce assessed, looking Thor up and down.
"Yes, the little rabbit and my tree friend worked out with me." Thor explained.
"I'm not a rabbit!" Rocket yelled from the spaceship, but it sounded more perfunctory, like he'd already given up a long time ago.
"You're a good friend!" Thor yelled back amicably.
"Oh you!" came Rocket's reply, both grousy and bashfully.
"You're doing okay, then, with them?" Bruce asked Thor.
"Oh yes. They are good people. The little tree reminds me a lot of Loki when we were that age. Listening to loud music, saying rude things, growing roots and choking people with them." Thor nodded fondly.
"That's... good." Bruce nodded a little tentatively.
"So, what's new in Midgard?" Thor now asked.
"Not much... Peter's on a trip to Europe... Steve and Bucky got married..."
"Oh!" Thor exclaimed delighted. "I shall send them a glorious wedding present. They probably didn't even have proper swords to exchange." he added, rolling his eyes. "Friends!" he yelled to the spaceship. "Make haste to New Asgard! We shall go to procure the most glorious wedding gifts befitting of two great warriors!"
Nebula poked her head out the ship. Her voice was somber and clipped. "A wedding... might be fun. I have nothing to wear, though."
"The wedding kinda already was..." Bruce put in.
"Nonsense!" Thor shouted jovially, patting him on the back energetically. "The celebration shall last seven days and we will all attend!"
*
SOMEWHERE
"So..." Natasha said to Gamora. "Are we going to sit here for all eternity...?"
"I guess." the other shrugged. "If at least the Red Skull would return we'd have enough people for a game of cards."
"Is this the afterlife?" Natasha now wondered.
"Nah. I think it's just the bottom of the mountain, really."
"Did you try climbing up?"
"Not just once."
"Didn't work." Natasha assessed.
"Nope." Gamora replied darkly.
"Hmm..." Natasha nodded, frowning.
They sat in silence for a while. No one could really say for how long.
"It's incredibly humid around here."
"True." Gamora nodded impassively.
"Ladies, do you need a lift?"
"Loki!" Natasha jumped to her feet. "What are you doing here?! Weren't you dead?!"
Loki tilted his head contemplatively. "Yes, sort of. I heard a lot of noise out of the Valley of the Doomed, and I thought I'd check it out. You know," He turned to Gamora. "Me and your past version are getting somewhere, but Peter's still hung up over you." He shrugged regretfully.
"What?" Gamora just stared at him.
"So about that lift?" Loki reiterated, tapping the watch on his wrist.
"We can't leave here." Natasha explained slowly, brows furrowed.
"Everything in life is about loopholes." Loki told her with a twinkle in his eye. "A sacrifice that can't be undone. Sure, you can't unjump your fall down here. But no one said you have to stay here. It says you need to be willing to sacrifice what you love. No one says what happens to the loved one after that. This is what happens when people are just not willing to prod and bend the rules." He sighed, giving them a wide smile. "Technically you're in an inaccessible realm. But I have the Tesseract, so whatever."
"You have the Tesseract?!"
"Yes. A big thanks to the Avengers." Loki smiled broadly. "This is really the least I can do."
"Why are you really helping us?" Natasha asked, voice full of suspicion.
Loki gave the question its due consideration, then sighed. "Upsetting cosmic balance. A 'fuck you' to the powers that be." He shrugged. "Also, Thor's planning Steve and Bucky's wedding, and he was all mopy like 'If only Natasha was here'. And Quill was like 'I wanted to marry Gamora', getting all teary-eyed. And then the little raccoon got sad..." He stopped there, nodding in reminiscence, as if that explained everything.
"Why are you suddenly...? Are you... actually doing something nice?"
"I do nice things all the time." He gave her a sharp smile. "Also, I met my mom again in the afterlife. We talked a couple things through. And with my dad and Asgard gone, I feel like a lot of pressure is gone as well. Do you know what I mean?"
Gamora nodded with conviction.
Natasha just stared at both of them.
*
AVENGERS HEADQUARTER
"Tony–" Steve stared at his friend, nearly dropping the vows he was still writing on. "How are you here? Are you... Is that you, Loki?" he asked then suspiciously.
"I'm sitting right over here." Loki informed him long-sufferingly from two chairs to the side.
"Yeah, no, it's actually me." Tony affirmed.
"But, how?"
"Funny story actually... So my daughter becomes a genius, obviously. She travels back in time, gets the infinity stones, brings me back, returns them to their place of origin– And, voila! Here I am." Tony rubbed his beard. "And she did all of that with the help of two stoner kids she plays dungeons and dragons with and your and Bucky's adopted daughter. Congrats to tying the knot by the way."
Steve was speechless for a moment. "Aren't you upsetting the timeline by telling us?"
"Nope. She tried to explain it to me. But what can I, say she's smarter than me... By the way, what's he doing here?" Tony pointed at Loki.
"Oh, I'm part of the team now." Loki explained.
"Seriously, Cap?!" Tony gawked accusatorily (which wasn't a good look on anyone). "Were you that short on people?!"
Loki rolled his eyes. "I'm kidding. I'm once more burdened with glorious purpose. Namely, to arrange the Winter Soldier's stag night."
*
"Peter," Bruce said on the phone. "I know you're in Europe, and I'm sure you're learning priceless lessons about history–"
"What is it, Dr Banner?"
"You need to come home, right now."
"Oh God! Who's attacking?!"
"Uhhh... No. Steve and Bucky are getting married. Also, Natasha and Tony are back from the dead... I probably should have started with that."
*
"I love him so much." Steve said, voice getting a little weepy.
"I know. I know." Sam patted his arm.
"Why isn't he here?" Steve whined, clutching his beer glass.
"He's at his own stag night." Sam explained patiently, not for the first time in the last fifteen minutes. And, yes, goading Steve into accepting a drinking challenge against the rock guy, didn't seem like such a good idea any longer.
*
"I propose a drinking game." Nebula stated gravely, looking into the round, consisting of Bucky, the two Gamoras, Loki, Okoye and Groot.
"You're going to lose." Loki grinned at her.
"Maybe someone should give a toast, first." Okoye proposed. "To the joyous occasion."
"I am groot."
"Thanks, man." Bucky nodded solemnly.
"You're a fucking sap." Loki ruffled Groot's top-leafs.
"I am grooot." Groot grumbled annoyedly, straightening the leafs back into their stylish form.
*
Steve fell into bed with a groan. "Oh God, I'm gonna be so hungover tomorrow."
"Me too." Bucky laughed softly beside him.
"I don't know if I lost a drinking challenge against a guy made of stone, or if I imagined it." Steve said with marvel in his voice.
"Nebula made a strange salad. But whatever was in it, it wasn't ripe yet. No one dared to tell her." Bucky chuckled, low and relaxed, a laugh that crinkled the corners of his eyes and reminded Steve of better times. A laugh that made Steve realise that maybe it was better times again, now. Finally.
"I think Tony's going to give us a bag of sex toys for our wedding." Steve said, just so maybe the laugh would go on. "He's still a little salty."
"Oh well." was all Bucky said. He turned on his side, facing Steve, a sleepy grin on his face. Then Bucky kissed him. A kiss that was soft and sure. "Oh," he said, breaking the kiss, and reaching for something in one of the side-pockets of his trousers. "Here." Bucky held up a tape. "Gamora said Peter made us an awesome wedding mix."
"I actually think I still have a player for this."