#celestial quill

Quill swears softly and throws his blankets off to follow Cassie out of the bedroom. Her assumption had been correct. Scott was found wandering down in the living room, relocating pillows into odd places like the fake house plant that Emir had some kind of one sided rivalry with, and then he started muttering to himself. Standing in the middle of the room.

Quill was barely able to make out "birds are spies" and while he wanted to laugh, he simply rubbed his face before patting Cassie's shoulder.

"I'll take care of him Sunshine. You get back to bed."

Cassie frowns. "Do you think it was one of his nightmares? I've heard stress makes people sleepwalk sometimes."

"I dunno. Maybe it's the project he's working on right now." Quill muses. "He's been practically pulling out his hair over it."

"Maybe both."

Quill chose not to answer her because that was a depressing thought. While Scott's nightmares were few and far between now, they did seem to rear their ugly head whenever he was overly stressed. Sleepwalking was new though. Scott talked in his sleep on occasion but moving around…

He shook the thought away and descended the stairs as Scott started to take the batteries out of one of the remotes. Quill had no idea what he was going to do with them, but he didn't want to end up dealing with batteries up the nose. Anything was possible at this point.

But Scott simply inspected them, then apparently deemed them unworthy and threw them over his shoulder where they clattered on the carpet with a dull thud. The remote was placed back on the coffee table and Scott turned his attention to the couch. Specifically one of the cushions. When he began to pull it off and unzip the cover, Quill walked over and gently shook Scott's shoulder. The man paused and stared at the cushion in his hands and then glanced up at Quill in confusion.

"...what happened?" Scott mumbles.

"You just decided to take a midnight tour," Quill answers. "Did you have that dream again?"

Scott scrunches his eyebrows in thought. "I…think so?" He admits. "It's already starting to slip away."

"Okay. Cassie said you walked into her room saying something about collars. You okay?"

"Yeah," Scott returns the couch cushion to its proper place and allows Quill to lead him back up to their room. Cassie had gone to bed. "It didn't stick."

The nightmare didn't follow Scott into the waking world, which was good news. The nightmare hadn't affected him like that for over a year now and so the younger man wasn't waking up in terror. The nightmare was already becoming a distant memory.

"Hey buddy, isn't it your job to look after Scott?" Quill says to Emir who barely cracks an eye open to look at him. If he squinted in the darkness of the room, Quill could make out Flynn's ears peeking over the tiger's side. No doubt snuggling against the beast's belly since the god had gotten up from bed.

"I'm fine," Scott reassures Quill as they crawl back into bed. "Confused about the couch cushion, but fine."

Quill snorts in amusement. "I don't know what you were doing with it either, but we might need to put some new batteries in the tv remote."

Scott groans and throws the duvet over his head, "I don't want to know."

"It was kind of funny. Might see if Friday or Victor have a recording." Quill teases before laying on his side and pulling Scott flush against him. The younger mumbles something in annoyance that Quill didn't quite catch, but he laughed all the same. "Go to sleep, Pidge. And no dreams about tea parties with Satan."

"Shut up."

The next day, Scott finally finished his newest project and sent the plans to Luis to handle, and Quill congratulated him with a kiss…and then held out his hand. Two batteries laid in his palm and Scott gave him a look of mild irritation. Watching Scott find the new adjustments he made to their floor was hilarious and of course Quill had to make an occasional teasing statement. Such as the pillow in the house plant.

You just wanted it to be comfortable, babe. Since Emir has something against it.

They found the dining room table facing a corner.

Mom was probably astral projecting and you gave him a timeout?

"So what's your clever input for the batteries?" Scott asks flatly as he takes them.

"Common sense actually. We've been smashing the buttons of the remote for a week now and you were probably just subconsciously changing the batteries." Quill shrugs. "Or at least taking them out. You got bored halfway through."

"Awesome."

Cassie laughs from the direction of the kitchen. "Dad! You put your pants in the freezer!"

Quill cackles. "He was just preparing for when I–"

"No! Shut up!" She screeches. "Ewwwww the image is ingrained in my mind!"

"You love me!" Quill calls out.

"Not right now I don't!"

"Quill, stop traumatizing her." Scott huffs. "You keep this up and she'll never make you food again."

"...good point. I don't think I could live without her macaroni salad." Quill admits. "Or her chili…or her baked cheesecake! I swear she pulls that from heaven or something!"

Quill zeroes in on the ears and finds himself more awake than he had been five seconds ago. "Flynn?"

The little boy's ears perked up now that he had the god's attention. "I have to go potty!" He repeats.

Quill was about to tell him to just go, but then he realized that Flynn, for some reason, wasn't currently a fox so couldn't go to the bathroom like he was used to. He never thought he would have to potty train Flynn like this but hopefully he was old enough to understand what they needed to do.

"Okay, okay. Come on." The celestial groans and sits up, forced to grab the boy and hold him as he gets out of bed since Flynn didn't seem inclined to move. He carried him to the bathroom and set him down in front of the toilet…only to have Flynn stare at it. "Dude, you've seen me use this thing way more than you should have. You should know what you have to do."

Fortunately that was enough for the boy to attempt to relieve his bladder after Quill lifted him up a little. He tried not to think about how awkward this was for him, but he also didn't want Flynn to pee all over the floor because he wasn't quite tall enough to reach. After some more awkward advice and handling after Flynn missed the first time, he was finally finished and Quill carried him over to the sink to help him wash his hands.

"We're going to have to get you a pull up or something." Quill mumbles tiredly. "Can't let you run around in just my shirt. Did you put that on?"

"Uh-huh! I woke up and I was different again so I put on a shirt like Athena did before! She said it wasn't proper to run around naked." Flynn says as he dries his hands and Quill puts him on the floor to flush the toilet.

"Well she's right. Otherwise Scott would be naked all the time." Quill grumbles and leads the boy back out of the bathroom. "As much as I would like to go back to sleep after my double shift at the station, a pull up has more priority right now."

"What's a pull up?" Flynn asks as he eagerly follows Quill out of the room and to the elevator.

"It's…that special diaper that Valerie wears to bed. It's kind of like underwear but if you have an accident, you won't make a mess." Quill explains.

"Will it hurt my tail?"

Quill blinks and looks down at Flynn as the elevator doors close. "Your what?"

He leans over to lift the back of Flynn's shirt and, sure enough, a small fluffy tail was revealed. Quill didn't even know how he didn't notice it before. It wasn't small enough that he wouldn't have been able to feel it while he was holding Flynn. The only explanation was that he was still waking up.

"Uh…I'm sure we can cut out a hole or something." He finally mumbles as he drops the shirt.

When the elevator doors opened again, Quill didn't even have to step off to find Stephen standing in front of it, holding out the needed pull up. Either the man was psychic or Victor told him he was on his way up with Flynn.

"How did you know?" Quill asks as he takes the pull up and crouches down to help Flynn into it.

"Athena and Tibbs are human as well…with the exception of the ears and tails." Stephen answers. "I already cut a hole out for you."

Sure enough, there was a hole in the back of the pull up and with Quill's help, Flynn was able to comfortably slip his tail through. Then he happily clung to Quill's neck as the celestial stood up, forcing the man to hold him.

"So what's the deal?" Quill wonders.

"I believe this is a permanent…ability." Stephen answers. "At first I thought it was just residual powers left from the vase they broke that I missed with my reversal spell, but then Athena was able to turn back into a wolf. She even turned back into a human and said it took her some focusing to do so."

Quill sighs. "Something Flynn doesn't have."

"He'll need help practicing, that's all." Stephen says with a chuckle. "He's still young because of your powers so he won't have the control Athena has. Tibbs is young too but he's old enough to focus as well."

"So be prepared for random fox and human transformations…got it. Thanks Mom." Quill rubs his eyes.

"I'll send some more pull ups down in a bit."

"I'm hungry Daddy." Flynn says.

"Alright…let's go get you something." Quill glares at Stephen when the sorcerer smirks at the title, but gets cut off when the elevator doors close again and the two are taken back down.

When they reached their floor again, Quill immediately headed for the kitchen and opened the cabinet to grab some pop tarts. He knew it wasn't the healthiest choice but both the people that could cook were currently asleep. Cassie would probably be up soon but Flynn wouldn't have the patience to wait that long. It wasn't like Quill could feed Flynn his usual breakfast in this form.

"You want them hot?" Quill asks as he struggles to open the package since Flynn was currently in one of his arms.

"What is it?"

"Cinnamon sugar pop tarts. You're going to be wired." Quill answers and then pops them into the toaster when Flynn nods.

"How come Emmy didn't change too?"

"Because he wasn't around when you guys broke that vase."

"Oh…I bet he would be big like you Daddy."

Quill grunted in response as the pop tarts popped up. He didn't want to think about that. It would probably be true and Scott didn't need another reason to be attached to his tiger. Not that Quill was jealous. He knew he was the only one for Scott. But he was sure that Emir would still snuggle up to him in human form considering how protective he was of the younger man.

Or he could possibly keep Flynn entertained. It was a toss up.

With the pop tarts on a plate and in hand, Quill carries Flynn to the living room and sets the boy down, placing the plate on the coffee table before laying down on the couch. He at least had the mind to turn the TV on to some cartoons for Flynn before dozing off, but it didn't take long for the boy to climb up onto the couch with his plate. Using Quill's stomach as a seat.

He didn't care at this point. He was exhausted. As long as Flynn was taken care of and entertained, he was going to get some much needed sleep. He would process and figure out Flynn's newfound abilities at a later time.

Some time later, Quill was gently shaken awake and he mumbled as he tiredly waved his disturber away. "Give me another hour."

"Don't you want a hot breakfast Daddy?" Cassie teases and Quill opens one of his eyes to glare at her. "It comes with coffee."

"Might as well. This is probably all the sleep I'm going to get for now." Quill sighs and sits up, only to watch crumbs fall off of his chest. "Seriously Flynn?"

"Cassie made me eggs!" Flynn announced happily from the kitchen table. It was obvious that his daughter had taken care of him as soon as she was up for the day and the first thing she did was give him a proper breakfast. "I said Daddy gave me the pop tarts but she said I needed a proper breakfast!"

"Yeah? Well Daddy isn't allowed to touch the stove so that's what you got." Quill says as he gets up from the couch and brushes off the remains of the crumbs.

"You could have at least given him some fruit." Cassie rolls her eyes and walks back to the kitchen to pour Quill some coffee as the man sat at the table. His breakfast was already waiting for him and even Scott was awake and digging into his own.

"Do you have work today?" Scott asks before crunching into a piece of bacon.

"No. Which is good because I might fall asleep holding up a building at this point." Quill says. Cassie sets the coffee in front of him with a kiss to his cheek and he smiles. "Cassie's food gives me life though."

Cassie snorts as she sits down. "Pretty sure you say that about Dad's butt too."

"That's also true." Quill cackles.

"I feel like it should be weird that my daughter is talking about my butt." Scott mumbles.

"Maybe when you two first started going out. But I'm older, wiser…and completely used to the things I hear now." She says flatly. "Do you know how awkward that was? Hearing my dad? It still is but I've learned to tune you both out."

Scott winces and blushes at the same time. "Sorry, peanut. I swear we're trying not to torture you."

"I know." Cassie shrugs. "Peter and I have plenty to complain about to each other."

"I bet Stephen is a closet kinky bastard." Quill smirks.

"What are you talking about?" Flynn asks with a curious glance.

"Sex."

Scott chokes. "Quill!"

"What?! It's not like he hasn't already heard and seen everything!" Quill defends. "He's an animal. I'm sure he's seen squirrels go at it!"

Flynn tilts his head as if to ponder Quill's words. "You mean when they do funny things with their mates? Uh-huh! I've seen squirrels! Deer too! I saw Cassie do it with Peter too–"

Everyone froze. Cassie had a look of mortification on her face, Scott simply watched his scrambled eggs fall off his fork as he processed Flynn's words…and Quill started to light up. He was the stepdad. He was supposed to be cool about this…but the fact was that he wasn't. He knew Peter was a good kid and it probably took him forever to get the courage to take that next step with Cassie but–

"Stop! You're not going to do anything!" Cassie finally says. "Look, we're careful and take precautions. Mom already caught us and gave us the talk and do you know how weird it is to get the talk from an actual doctor? It made Dad's explanation look tame!"

Quill had to force himself to calm down when Scott reached over to touch his arm. In reality, Cassie was Scott's daughter in blood and only Quill's in name. If Scott was okay with it, then Quill had to respect that. He had to remember that this was about the age teenagers started doing this and at the very least they were being safe about it. That was probably why Scott was being relatively calm about it.

"I really hoped you would wait until you were a little older," Scott says once Quill calms down. "But I think I saw this coming for a while now. We all did. I'm just glad it's Peter. He's responsible…at least when he needs to be. I know he'll take care of you."

"He already does." Cassie says softly.

"Is it bad that Cassie mates with Peter?" Flynn asks with a frown.

Quill sighs. "No buddy. It's just…I forgot how old she is now." He pats Flynn's head. "You, on the other hand, are never allowed to mate. You'll always be a baby and babies don't get mates."

Flynn makes a face. "I don't want a mate. The other animals act funny when they do things with their mate. Like you and Mommy."

Scott chokes on his orange juice, coughing when some even comes out of his nose, and Quill bursts into laughter. He didn't actually think that Flynn saw Scott as a potential mother but actually hearing it from the boy was too funny. Scott glared at him through the tears in his eyes from the burn of the orange juice and that only made Quill laugh even more. 

"Dad, grandma, and now mom!" Cassie laughs. "But sorry to say you're not the world's greatest mom. Mom and…Mom…are tied for that." Then she gasps. "Do you think Emir sees Papa as Mom then?"

Quill bristles. "Hell no! Pretty sure I'm still dad and Scott is mom the way he protects him!"

"Ugh." Scott groans. "I hate to admit it but he has a point."

Flynn starts to push his food around on his plate with a deeper frown, and Quill stops laughing when he looks back over at him. Something obviously upset the kit and it rubbed him the wrong way.

"What's wrong?"

"Will he leave me too?" Flynn asks quietly.

It took Quill a few seconds for the boy's words to click and when they did, his heart broke. So Flynn's mother really did abandon him when he got caught in the trap? It was a survival instinct in the animal kingdom for some animals to abandon their young in those kinds of situations, but to hear that it actually happened to an animal he cared about?

"No. None of us will." Quill says immediately and pulls Flynn onto his lap, rubbing his back when the boy curls close. "Doesn't he take care of you when I have to go to work or go to space?"

"...uh-huh." Flynn nods against his chest. "And Cassie."

"If he was going to leave you, he would have done that a long time ago." Quill reassures him. "You and Emir are part of this family now."

"Forever?"

Quill smirks. "Yeah. Forever. In fact, I bet you'll get sick of us and leave us first."

Flynn leaned back just far enough to give Quill the most offended look he could muster before lunging forward again to wrap both his arms and legs around the god. "No! Never! I love you Daddy! Emmy does too!"

"Good thing I'm already crying. This is too much." Scott jokes.

"God, Dad. You really are a bottom." Cassie says.

"Hey!"

"Don't argue. You know it's true." Quill smirks and then it softens. "At least now I know why Flynn has separation anxiety."

"That might be part of it, but I think he's just attached to you and wants to go everywhere with you." Scott says. "He's your baby."

Training with the other Avengers had sharpened his senses, and it was one good thing that came out of his kidnapping. He was more aware of his surroundings, even when Quill was home and Scott was half asleep. He didn't have a spider sense like Peter did, or some weird magic sensory powers...but he did have instinct that Natasha and Bucky had helped hone.

It was what made him duck just as something embedded itself into the wall behind him. Scott didn't have time to investigate because someone lunged at him and he had to jump over the counter to avoid them, dropping his glass in his haste. He barely processed when it shattered on the floor because whoever had managed to break into the tower without tripping any alarms had caught up with him and started to throw punches.

Scott was unarmed and unprotected but that didn't stop him from using his training to at least manage to defend himself. He just had to hold them off long enough for at least Quill to come down and help.

He dodges another fist before landing a couple of his own until his legs are swept out from under him. Scott falls onto his back with a groan, and has to roll away before he can get the chance to catch his breath. He looks back at his attacker after he scrambles to his feet, dodges a kick to his head just before he brings them down with the move Hope had taught him all those years ago.

He didn't get a chance to identify them though. As soon as he pinned them, he was blasted off a short distance with something that shocked him, and while a small part of him recognized it, another part spiralled into terror. Scott clawed at his chest to remove the piece that was partially paralyzing him and watched as his assailant got up and pointed a gun at his face.

They didn't get the chance to fire.

Quill barreled into them, sending them to the ground a few feet away, and stomped up to throw in a few punches of his own while Scott recovered. When he finally freed himself, Scott took a brief moment to inspect the small device and swore he had seen it before, but his thoughts were interrupted with the current fight. Quill was much bigger and stronger than Scott was, and their assailant seemed to be having a more difficult time with him. The god wasn't as fast as Scott, which he made up for in brute strength, so he didn't have time to avoid the next attack.

A gunshot to the head.

Quill dropped like a sack of potatoes, and Scott couldn't help but stare. He knew the god's death wasn't permanent, but seeing him die like that didn't make it any easier to see. When the attacker's attention was turned back to him, Scott looked up at them before scrambling to his feet once again and holding his hands out.

"Hey! Wait! You don't need to shoot!" Scott says quickly. He would have to buy some time. "What is it you want? Money?"

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" A woman's voice responds.

But Scott could only blink and briefly look around. He felt like those were questions he should be asking.

"I...live here?" Maybe he was dreaming? Or he was sucked into an alternate reality? "Just tell me what you want!"

"Where is my sister?" Scott finally recognized the heavy accent as Russian and things finally started to click for him.

"Your sister? Who's your--?"

The woman whips around when Quill gets to his feet with a groan, and even Scott could tell that she was extremely confused without having to see her face.

"What is this?! I killed you!" She exclaims and Quill grabs her arm, squeezing until she's forced to drop her gun.

"Yeah, and that fucking hurt!" He growls as he fists the front of her suit and lifts her into the air. "Now who the fuck are you? Who hired you and why?"

By this time, Cassie had finally poked her head out of her room cautiously to investigate the chaos, but Scott didn't bring any attention to her. Cassie was smart enough to stay put unless he or Quill told her otherwise, and the situation was under some control. His husband was pissed and even slowly making his way toward the balcony.

Probably to paint the sidewalk below with the woman as a medium.

"Quill." Scott says to stop him.

"How are you alive?" The woman asks, and Scott starts to wonder if she was even remotely concerned about her situation.

Quill sneered and opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted.

"Easy big guy. She's with me." Natasha says from the elevator and she walks over in her robe to put a hand on Quill's arm. "Put her down please? I promise she won't cause anymore trouble."

"She attacked Scott." Quill growls.

"I know. I'm sorry. I'm sure it was a misunderstanding." Natasha looks over at the woman, reaching out to remove the mask with the night vision goggles and braided blonde hair falls down. "You seriously got off on the wrong floor? And pissed off a god?"

"I killed him," the woman repeats for a third time.

"Yeah, that's only temporary with him."

"Quill, put her down." Scott sighs, rubbing his side when the adrenaline finally starts to wear off once the danger has passed.

The celestial looked reluctant, but he finally dropped the woman and Scott could tell that he was disappointed that she landed on her feet. But things finally processed completely for Scott and he looked at Natasha as he winced.

"I thought I recognized her fighting style." Scott frowns as he rubs his chest. "And the tools."

Natasha genuinely looked at him apologetically. "I'm sorry. I'm sure that wasn't easy on you."

"I'll be alright." Scott mumbles.

The woman snorts. "It barely tickles."

"Yelena." Natasha shakes her head and motions for her to follow. "Come on."

Natasha leads the younger woman away, and as soon as the elevator doors close behind them, Quill quickly moves closer to Scott. He gently runs his hands over him as he looks for any wounds and frowns when Scott hisses as he touches the area around his ribs. Without a word, Quill leads him back upstairs to their room, only stopping long enough to look at Cassie.

"Go back to bed Sunshine."

"Dad? Are you okay?" She asks softly and Scott waves at her.

"I'm fine. Just a little bruised."

Cassie nods and disappears back into her room, closing the door behind her, and the two men walk into theirs. Scott heads over to the bed and sits down with a wince, and Emir moves closer to sniff him with a concerned rumble. Considering he hadn't tried to maul Yelena himself, Quill probably locked him and Flynn in the room to keep them from getting hurt.

"I'm alright." Scott mutters to the tiger as Quill sits next to him.

"I'm going to touch it again." The god warns before reaching out and testing the area around Scott's ribs. Scott hisses again and Quill immediately wills his light into his hands and begins to heal him. "Think one of your ribs is broken."

"I couldn't tell you when that happened." Scott jokes and finally starts to relax as the pain ebbs away.

"Are you okay?"

Scott knew Quill wasn't asking about his injuries. Natasha (and Yelena's) Widow Bite's stung, and this was the second time Scott was on the receiving end of it. But that's not what his husband was asking either. It was the shock that came with it. Even after a couple of years, any kind of shock would remind Scott of his time with her, and it would take him time to get through a funk after that. He had to admit that his mind went back to that time as he struggled to remove the small piece incapacitating him, and he was lucky Quill had arrived in time to occupy Yelena while Scott recovered.

It still took time to shake something like that off whether or not he had the trauma though. He wasn't a super soldier, and he wasn't armored...Scott was lucky Yelena had set it to stun and not kill.

"I'm okay." Scott eventually says, and it was true.

"How's your neck?" Quill asks next and Scott absentmindedly rubs it. The scars there didn't flare up which was a blessing. Being shocked like that was usually all it took.

"No pain."

Quill huffs with relief. "Good."

"You know, I'm getting real tired of getting my ass handed to me by Black Widows." Scott huffs and Quill laughs.

"Hey, you fought her off in your pajamas."

"Not like I could say 'Can you hang on a second? I need to get my suit for this.'"

Quill cackles as they get settled back into bed, and Emir lays on the ground by Scott's side. Flynn had to wait for Quill and Scott to get comfortable before he could curl up by the Celestial's neck, but he finally did with a sleepy chitter as Scott laid his head on Quill's arm. Any injuries he sustained were now a distant memory thanks to Quill's healing, and the rest of the adrenaline had burned away, leaving him exhausted and ready to sleep.

"Why did she have to come visit at three in the morning?" Scott grumbles.

"I dunno pidge. Why don't you ask her in the morning?"

"I'm gonna. Normal people visit when other people are awake."

Quill snorts. "I don't think they're normal."

"Don't let them hear you say that or one of them will kill you again." Scott snorts.

Quill winces. "Damn that hurt. Death by shotgun is still at the top of 'This Sucks' list."

Scott decided he probably didn't want to know what deaths were on that list. For all he knew, Quill died once or twice at work. He wouldn't put it past him. Quill was the type to save everyone he could.

Cassie shakes her head in exasperation. Of course she knew what exactly Stephen got for Lucy because more often than not, she was with him whenever he picked up the baby supplies. She didn't mind though. It gave her a little more alone time with Peter before they were both pulled back into the chaos of the tower. Something she always missed because she learned during those five quiet years that she shouldn't take it for granted. There was a lot she didn't take for granted anymore.

When she sees Peter eyeing her pretzel she holds it away. "You had yours! Three in fact! Let me have my one!"

"Aww come on babe! They're so good!" Peter practically begs.

"No!"

Peter grins and reaches for the last bit of pretzel. "Come on it's just a--"

He suddenly freezes and Cassie yelps in surprise when Peter pushes her away and then her eyes widen when something blasts into sidewalk where she had been standing just moments ago. As the sidewalk smolders, she and Peter look into the direction the fireball came from and find what looked to be another psychotic villain with a grudge.

Fucking fantastic.

"Not cool." Peter says before tapping his nanotech bracelet to suit up and webs toward the villain after telling Cassie to find somewhere safe to hide.

For a moment she considered it, but when Peter was almost immediately blasted away when he got close enough to the attacker, she decided that it was probably time to reveal her powers. Tony had made her her own suit just in case, and Cassie hadn't even asked for one but she was glad for it. It was more subtle than the bracelets that Stephen and the boys had for their suits, and it still amazed her how Tony managed to fit a whole suit in a ring. It was like the others though and all it needed was a tap before nanites covered her body and formed a suit similar to her father's.

The moment she was completely covered, she grew to a large size and stopped Peter from hitting asphalt by catching him with one of her hands. Cassie hears him mumble to himself in confusion and then he looks up and the eyes of his suit widen.

"Holy shit!" Peter shouts.

He clearly had a default reaction to seeing people grow for the first time.

"You okay?" She asks.

"I...I will be when I have time to process...this," Peter motions to her. "That will have to wait. Do you mind?"

Peter points back toward the approaching villain and Cassie nods before tossing her boyfriend back towards him. As Peter webs what looks like a custom flamethrower away from the villain, Cassie shrinks back down and runs up to assist. Having his weapon ripped from his hands was enough of a distraction for Cassie to reach the villain and deliver a blow under his jaw, and he stumbles back in surprise.

The training Cassie went through was finally worth it as she continued to help Peter try and restrain the villain who had pulled out another weapon that was definitely alien. She wasn't even surprised to see one anymore. Like Hydra, alien weapons were always hidden in the cracks and came out at the most inopportune times and there was likely no chance of finding them all. Especially when people dismantled the power sources for use in other weapons. Peter had experience with that.

Cassie gets blasted back by the weapon and lands with a groan on the ground. This was still better than being tossed around by a celestial. While Quill never actually used his full strength while helping her train, he only pulled his punches just enough for it to hurt but not actually cause any damage to Cassie. Basically how he trained with Scott was how he trained with her. Quill pulled his punches but it still left some nasty bruises.

Cassie sits up and glares at the villain as she lifts one of her wrists. "I can do that too." She then sends a bio electric blast at him hitting both him and his weapon.

Peter webs him to the ground as he swings down to Cassie, and he helps her to her feet. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Papa has done worse if I'm gonna be honest."

"Ugh. I know what you mean. I think your dad is a masochist."

"I try not to think about it. Thanks."

The two walk over to the unconscious villain and look down at him.

"What do we do about him?" She asks.

"Ping the cops." Peter shrugs. "They'll come take care of him."

"That's it?" Cassie asks in surprise. "Seems a little…"

She trails off when she hears a soft beep over the noise around them and she looks closer at the villain. Peter looks as well and when Cassie looks at the weapon, her eyes widen when she sees a light on the weapon start to flash rapidly in tune with fast beeping.

"Run!" She yells.

But it was too late. The weapon exploded and the force of it sent both Peter and Cassie flying back in different directions. Cassie was sent into an alley and she groans when she lands into a pile of boxes and old wood, and she was pretty sure she felt something...snap? When she tosses the garbage off of her and tries to get to her feet, she cries out in pain when her ankle throbs and sends her to the ground.

"I believe you have fractured your ankle Miss. I suggest you lie still. I've already paged the doctor." Victor says and Cassie blinks in surprise.

"Victor? You're in my suit?"

"Yes. It was decided that I would help you whenever you felt the need to use your suit." The AI explains.

"Cassie!" Peter runs over just as a gateway opens and Stephen steps through.

"Victor says I broke my ankle and I'm inclined to believe him." She tells them and Peter carefully picks her up.

"Leave your suit on until we get you to medbay." Stephen says and motions for Peter to follow.

Stephen changes the destination of the gateway to the medbay and walks back through with Peter following close behind with Cassie. The sorcerer directs Peter to an empty bed and he carefully lays Cassie on it who hisses a little when her ankle is jostled. When Stephen asks her to, she retracts the suit and the nanites crawl back into their core in her ring and he carefully pushes up her pant leg to assess the damage. It was already swollen and purple and Stephen barely had to touch it for more pain to flare up.

"Ow!"

"I think Victor is right but we'll still take some x-rays." Stephen says.

While the doctor moves around getting things ready to x-ray Cassie's ankle, Bruce arrives with Scott and Quill and Cassie smiles sheepishly at her parents.

"What happened?" Scott asks as he rushes to her bedside.

"She kicked ass." Peter says. His suit had also been put away during her exam and now he was just standing by as support.

"A weapon self destructed and kind of rudely threw me into an alley." Cassie explains. "Broke my ankle."

Scott turns to Quill immediately. "Can you heal her?"

"Uhhh...I'd rather not. Bones are a little more finicky than flesh." Quill says.

"I'm okay." Cassie says as she rolls her eyes.

"Are you sure? No head injuries?" Scott asks when he returns his attention back to her.

"Tony made the suit. I'm sure I would have had a few if he didn't."

"That's not funny."

===========

Stephen's AI was right. Cassie had broken her ankle and Bruce had to put a plaster cast on her which she was required to wear for at least six weeks. He would monitor it closely during that time and much to Cassie's annoyance, Scott rarely let her move around. Which made sense, but he and Quill were disasters with housework and she was afraid to watch them attempt laundry. The few times they did it themselves, only twice it went without a hitch and the other times were too painful to recall.

"Ugh!" Cassie groans when Scott keeps her from getting up from the couch. "Are you going to help me pee?!"

Her father immediately holds his hands up. "Oh. No. That's all you peanut."

"Thank you." She sighs and gets up with her crutches and makes her way to the bathroom.

To be fair, going to the bathroom was a little bit of a struggle but at least it gave her some feeling of independence. Her dads barely let her do anything except go to the bathroom, and there was only one time she fell and needed help. She never told them that of course because she had been up with Peter and it happened to be in his bathroom. When she asked for his help, he was so calm about it and to her surprise he didn't even blush or sputter when he saw her with her pants halfway down. He just helped her up and looked away while he kept her up so she could pull them back up.

In fact, Peter had been a huge help ever since she got her cast. He got her whatever she wanted that he was capable of making (which wasn't much; he was almost as bad as Quill), he sometimes helped her change or get ready for the shower which was also something she didn't tell her dad's because they would blow a gasket, and he kept her company whenever Diana didn't. Diana was helpful too. She helped with bathroom stuff too if Cassie needed it and her parents knew about the little girl's help.

After she finishes in the bathroom and washes her hands, she opens the bathroom door and proceeds to leave, only for one of her crutches to get caught on the door jamb. She yelps and falls forward and fortunately gets caught by Quill who she had fallen against. He helps her straighten and uses a small amount of his powers to pick up the crutch she had dropped and returns it to her.

"You alright?"

"Yeah. Thanks. I'm gonna go upstairs." Cassie sighs.

"Let me help you to the elevator." Before Cassie can argue he points over in the direction of the elevator and she finds Emir sleeping near it. "He's kind of a big obstacle." Quill laughs.

"Oh, right." Cassie nods and accepts Quill's help, which consisted of him picking her up and carrying her to the elevator and he puts her back down as the doors open. "Thanks Papa."

Quill winks at her. "I'll distract your dad."

Cassie makes a face when she catches his insinuation and Quill cackles as the doors close. She was pretty sure he was taking advantage of her inability to run away by torturing her like this. She was half tempted to return the favor by insinuating that she and Peter were doing things but she was pretty sure that would backfire and her dads would try to kill Peter. She liked her boyfriend thank you very much.

When the doors opened again, she was immediately greeted by Peter who was the next to scoop her up. "Movie in bed?"

"I want to watch Moana and I want a shoulder massage. These crutches are killing me." Cassie pouts and Peter laughs as he carries her upstairs.

Quill grunted to let Scott know that he had heard him and not even two seconds later, was snoring like an overgrown cat. Flynn's nose poked out from under his collection of Quill's shirts on his bed before the fox crawled out from under them and jumped into the bed after a few tries. As the kit walked up the bed to plop next to the celestial and curl against his neck, Scott began to wonder why Flynn didn't seem to be growing. He had to be almost a year old but still looked as if he were only a couple months old and Quill sure as shit wasn't into…that. Was there a different connection between the two?

Then the metaphorical light bulb lit up. Flynn chewed on Quill's fingers every chance he got, and whenever he drew blood, he whined apologetically and licked the droplets away. Maybe that was the reason Flynn wasn't growing? Neither of them were concerned, just curious.

Scott huffed fondly and rolled back over to go to sleep, but was woken again when he felt another body crawl into the bed between them. Cassie slips under the covers between them, and sighs softly, not even complaining about Quill's smoky smell.

"Nightmare?" Scott asks groggily.

"Couldn't go back to sleep by myself." She whispers.

"Just be careful of Flynn." Scott mumbles before going back to sleep.

The next morning, when Scott woke up, Cassie was already gone from the bed and breakfast wafted in the air through the cracked doorway. He didn't get up. He just rolled over and entwined his legs with Quill's and sighed softly when the god wrapped an arm around him in response. Quill still smelt like smoke but neither he nor Flynn minded...and that was another thing about the fox. Any other fox would run and hide from the smell of smoke but it seemed like Flynn understood the difference between his daddy smelling like it and something like the barbecue at the lake house.

"Are you wearing perfume?" Quill mumbles out and Scott snorts.

"No. Cassie was in here with us last night. Maybe she was wearing some yesterday."

"Hnn...okay…"

"Come on big guy let's take a shower. I can smell breakfast. Barely. You stink." Scott laughs and shakes Quill awake.

"Too tired for shower sex." He groans.

"We don't have to do that. Now get up before I push you off the bed."

Scott rolls out of bed and schleps himself into the adjoining bathroom, taking off his shirt and sleep pants with the door open. Quill may be too tired to do the deed but giving him something to look at would give him enough motivation to get out of bed. And it worked. He heard his husband mumble something along the lines of "you're such a tease" as he got out of bed, and Quill soon joined him as he pulled off his own clothes. They stepped into the shower after Scott turned it on and just before Quill closed the door, Flynn darted in and hee-hee'd as the water wet his fur.

"We might as well get him clean too." Scott laughs.

"Shouldn't it be weird that he can see us naked?" Quill asks as Flynn moves to his usual corner out of the spray and out of danger of being stepped on.

"We've had sex while he was in the room. You're worried about this now?" Scott rolls his eyes as Quill starts washing his hair.

"Nah. I'm not worried about it."

They washed and rinsed, Quill got a little handsy which led to a steamy make out session, and then Quill finally turned his attention to Flynn when the kit started yapping for his attention. While he washed Flynn, Scott got out of the shower and dried off before wrapping the towel around his waist and went to pull their clothes out. It wasn't long before he heard the shower turn off and then Flynn's collar jingling obnoxiously, giving away that he had shaken the water off his fur.

Then he heard the hair dryer. Flynn hee-hee'd again, and Scott rolled his eyes as he took the clothes into the bathroom after getting dressed. Flynn was sitting on the sink as Quill pointed the hair dryer at him on the lowest setting to dry him off, with his tongue sticking out and his tail swishing happily. It had been sort of an accident when they found out Flynn liked the hair dryer. The fox had the zooms one day and darted into Cassie's bedroom and then her bathroom when he saw it cracked open and she pointed her hair dryer at him in the middle of drying her hair to try and chase him out, but he just sat down and enjoyed the warm air.

More often than not, Cassie's hair dryer was in their bathroom now.

"Alright. All done buddy. Go see if Cassie will brush you." Quill says as he turns off the hair dryer.

As if he understood, Flynn hopped down onto the toilet and then the floor before running out and Quill accepted his clothes from Scott after putting the appliance away. It gave the thief time to appreciate the very firmly toned body in front of him until it was hidden away by clothes. He, of course, picked out a tight fitting t-shirt to hug Quill's muscles so he could ogle some more. Shame? The word flew from his vocabulary when he started dating Quill. Now he was married to the man and it was almost like they didn't know what it meant. Just enough to keep not safe for work activities from young eyes.

The second Quill finished getting dressed, Scott glomped onto him. "You sure you need this on?" He asks as he tugs on the shirt.

Quill laughs. "I'm pretty sure Cassie is getting sick of me walking around without a shirt on."

"Maybe later we can--" Scott starts until Flynn comes running back in to screech at them loudly.

"Alright, alright!" Quill huffs and follows Flynn downstairs after Scott drops his arms. "Did Cassie brush you?"

"I will after breakfast." She says as she sets plates on the breakfast counter.

"Do you have any plans for today?" Scott asks her as the couple sits down to eat.

"The circus is in town." She says as she sits with them. "Diana wants to go so I said I'd take her. Stephen was going to come with us but he had an emergency and he's dimension hopping now."

"We can go with you." Quill offers after swallowing some eggs.

"Really?! She was disappointed when Mom had to cancel last minute."

"Sure peanut. We'll eat, get Flynn nice and pretty, and we'll take you and Dia." Scott says.

"Pretty." Quill snorts and bites off a piece of bacon.

==========

He didn't know what happened. One minute they were enjoying the show, and the next, the tent was on fire and people were screaming. Quill immediately jumped into action and got Scott and the girls out safely before focusing on getting everyone else out as quickly as possible, and just as the last of the people were running out of the blazing tent...he heard it. A pained roar filled the air just as potently as the black smoke and Quill looked around until he found a tiger trapped under some of the metal structure that had fallen. The tiger roared again and when Quill got close enough, it growled dangerously until the celestial held his hands up.

"Easy." Quill steps closer slowly and stops again when the beast swipes its paw at him. "I'm just going to get this off of you."

He braves stepping even closer and grabs the metal structure carefully and then lifts it almost effortlessly off of the tiger. It quickly gets up and moves out from under it just before Quill drops it again, and the beast roars out painfully and collapses again. It didn't take much investigation to see the structure had injured the cat and Quill approached it again, ignoring the swipe to heal its injured leg. The tiger's claws sunk deeply into his shoulder, but Quill didn't move until he was done healing the tiger.

He was minorly surprised when the massive paw dropped from his shoulder carefully.

"Alright, get up. Come on." He urges the tiger and leads it by its scruff to their exit when it gets back to its feet.

The tent started coming down around them as they escaped, and they nearly had to dive out to keep themselves from getting buried under the burning tarp. Quill leads the tiger a safer distance away from the fire, and once he catches a glimpse of the fire department arriving and taking action, he looks around for Scott and the girls. Quill found them a few yards away and sighed with relief when he saw they were unharmed, and started the short trek over to them...until he was nearly knocked over by the tiger nudging his leg.

Right. The tiger. There was no chance in hell he was returning it to the circus. He saw a few scars scattered along its side and haunches as he was healing its leg and it infuriated him to know that animal cruelty was real within the circus.

Quill kneels down and slowly reaches out to pet it gently. The tiger chuffs softly and moves closer to nudge the celestial again and he sighs. "If Scott doesn't kill me, Tony will. I have a fox at home. There's a cat and a wolf too. You can't eat them."

No one came to claim the tiger so Quill got back up and led it over to Scott and the girls. Not that he would have handed the tiger over anyway. When he got close enough and they noticed his presence, Scott immediately pulled the girls behind him when he saw the tiger.

"Quill! There's--"

"A tiger. I know." He huffs. "It…" he pauses and looks under the tiger. "Excuse me, he is coming home with us."

Scott opens and closes his mouth before, "he's...what about Flynn and the other animals?!"

"I'm sure Stephen can help with that. Sugar...he needs some TLC." Quill gently pets the tiger's side to draw attention to his scars. "I won't let them take him back...and he's too domesticated for the wild."

Scott sighs. "...if you think it's safe then fine. Tony is probably going to shit a brick though."

"I don't think Tony cares anymore."

"I can make a portal home!" Diana finally pipes up, and without the use of a sling ring, she opens a portal to their floor at the tower and walks through with Cassie and Scott before Quill follows with the tiger.

As the portal closes behind them, Quill firmly grabs the tiger by its scruff as Flynn comes tearing after them from out of nowhere...and the kit immediately skids to a stop when he sees the tiger. Both animals stared at each other for what seemed like an hour, and then the tiger finally lays down and pulls Flynn closer with one of his massive paws and starts licking him. The kit screeches in surprise but once he realizes he's not being eaten, he slowly begins to relax until he's actually starting to enjoy the grooming.

"I…" Scott finally starts with an expression of bewilderment. "Just like that? Do we even need Stephen's help communicating with him?"

"We might not." Quill replies in amusement.

"What are you gonna name him?" Cassie asks.

"Oh pfft...hell if I know." Quill says.

Scott bravely crouches next to the tiger and hesitates before reaching out and petting him. He doesn't even falter in cleaning the fox between his paws. "He looks like an Emir."

Cassie nods. "I like it."

"Emir it is." Quill chuckles.

"Uncle Quill, you're bleeding!" Diana says as she points to his wounded shoulder.

"Believe me, it was worse than this when he swipes at me. It'll be healed in another hour." The god tells her with a smile. "You better go upstairs and tell your dad that you're okay. I'm sure the fire is all over the news."

Diana agrees and takes Cassie with her to go upstairs and Scott stands back up to stand next to Quill and watch Emir lick Flynn. Maybe since Quill had helped him and even saved his life, Emir was respecting the ones he was with and knew Flynn wasn't dinner? He wasn't sure but it was a mercy. If he had to keep them separated until Stephen got home, it would have been a nightmare.

"Maybe I can get Emir to do that to you too." Quill cackles and Scott smacks his chest with the back of his hand.