Laughs echoed against the walls of the living room. Drinks clinked against each other in a joyous way. The dim lights lit up the room and reflected back against the new windows Tony's contractors had put in. Rock music played in the background as white noise. Peter's fingers clicked against the keyboard on his laptop as he played a game. Bruce started up a conversation and got the group interested. Steve and Clint played a game of cards while sitting on the floor. Nat curled up in a chair and watched Tony and Bruce go back and forth, bickering like children. Thor added a few comments here and there, but he mostly laid back in a relaxed state.

My mind wandered off for a bit. It had only been a day since the incident. I finally mustered up the courage and pushed down the guilt to come join the group. When they noticed, they didn't try to engage me in conversation. They acknowledged my presence, but waited for me to join in when I was ready. I respected them for that. They didn't push me to do anything. I could tell they were just happy I was out there with them.

"So, if you shoot a bullet into the vacuum of space, would it leave the gun?" Clint questioned. This was a new topic he wanted to know the answer to. He was tired of Bruce and Tony fighting about some scientific thing, so might as well hear about something the group could actually be interested in.

Tony spoke up first, "If the gun had it's own oxidizer, then yes. It needs oxygen to fire."

"Would it ever stop?" Steve asked curiously. He glanced up from his deck of cards and looked around at everyone.

"No. If it were released into the vacuum of space, it would go on forever until a force acted upon it, like the orbit of a planet or something," Peter chimed in. He pushed his glasses up and cracked his knuckles.

Bruce added onto that, "And the speed of the bullet would be much faster. Without air or any forces acting against it, whatever got hit by that bullet would be pulverized."

"Why did you ask, Nest-Maker?" Tony turned to Barton and stretched out in his seat. He loosened his tie and drank some more of the alcohol in his hand.

"Lame!" Peter called out, referring to the nickname. Tony shot a glare at him, but in return, Peter stuck his tongue out at him.

Barton shrugged. "For...research."

Romanoff licked her lips after finishing her drink. Her green eyes landed on me and left me a small smile. Her fingers pushed some of her shiny red hair behind her ear. "So, if I shoot a bullet into the sky, could I still kill someone?"

"Not really. Maybe kill a bird," Bruce replied and popped some chips into his mouth. Clint gasped loudly at the sound of it.

Tony chuckled and tapped his fingers against the black leather seat. He thought about it for a moment. "It could kill someone. Eventually, the bullet would stop because of the force of the atmosphere. It would fall back down and eventually get up to a high speed. If anyone was nearby, they could get killed."

"Unless it lodged itself into an airplane or something else on the way down," Peter contributed. He smacked the laptop and cried out in frustration. "Damn it!"

"What, die again on your little game? Man, your skills are really lacking," Clint remarked jokingly.

Peter growled lowly and eyed him. "I'd love to see you try, Barton."

"Alright, let me show you who's boss." He cracked his knuckles and got up from his card game.

I stopped listening and walked out onto the balcony. The skyline was so beautiful at night. Lights everywhere, people bustling on the street down below, airplanes taking off or landing. The stars shined brighter the higher in the tower I got, which left a lovely view from our rooms. The moonlight lit up the dark sky and the tops of buildings. I leaned over on the railing and took in the breeze of fresh air. Something clicked behind me. "I could have killed you."

Steve joined me and leaned his back against the railing. He crossed his arm over his chest and watched the group inside through the glass. "But you didn't."

"I don't know what I would have done with myself. Killing someone I..." My voice trailed off. I couldn't finish that sentence out loud. Like. Have feelings for. Can't stand to not be around. Someone I didn't think who would like me back. My hazel eyes glanced down at my hands as I rubbed them together. "I'd be blamed by everyone. Outcast. Maybe even from Peter. I'd lose all the great friends I have now."

"It didn't happen. You can't be stuck in the past and think about what could have happened."

I scoffed, "Speak for yourself. You do that all the time."

He rolled his eyes. "At least I try to stay in the present." I stayed silent, not knowing what to say after that. Steve rubbed the back of his neck tiredly and declared, "You know, I forgive you. All you have to do is forgive yourself."

I closed my eyes and sighed deeply. My voice came out as a soft whisper, "I don't know how I can."

"You can't be stuck in the shadow that could have been. Just be glad it didn't."

I thought back to what Peter had said last night. He was right in so many ways. I opened my eyes and looked at the people below the tower. They looked like ants from up there, rushing to get to their destination. "I've been thinking I'm a monster. But monsters can do good. I was built for destruction, but Peter helped me realize that the destruction could be towards the end of some villains. I'd be making this world a better place. Right? I'd be a monster to my enemies, not everyone."

Steve nodded. "Yeah. That's definitely one way to look at it."

"I feel a lot better about myself now that I've had time to think. I just got to let go of the guilt..." I trailed off for a second and bit my lip. "I really like you too, Steve."

"Good, because I didn't want to hear you say the opposite. That would have been painful." His hand played with the top of mine and traced circles around my knuckles. "We'll take this one step at a time, right?"

"Yeah, of course, Rogers. As long as you're comfortable, I'm comfortable."

Rogers agreed and set his hand on mine gently. "Come on, Lillypad. Come inside."

"Lillypad? That's the best you got?" I laughed and intertwined my fingers in his. His touch was different somehow. A good different, like when I get that one special food I've been craving for a long time. The satisfaction of finally getting what I want. It wasn't only that. I felt...reassured. Reassured everything was going to be okay with him. My eyes flicked up to meet his blue ones.

"What? You don't think it's cute?" He asked and tilted his head to the side. He grinned in an adorable way.

I suppressed another laugh and my lips twitched up. "It's the cutest it's going to get with my name."

Peter noticed us as we walked inside and set his laptop on the coffee table. "You guys have to hear this." He typed for a few seconds and clicked the mouse. "After what happened in New York, people have made soundtracks for us."

"What does that mean?" Steve asked as he plopped down on the couch. He tugged me down next to him and kept his hand clasped to mine.

Tony sat up and answered, "It's like...if you were in a movie, the songs would be the background music. People post them online so others can listen to them quick and simple, unlike whatever dinosaur you guys played it on."

Steve shot Tony a look.

Peter pushed play on the video and turned up the volume. The orchestra started playing in the beginning. Trumpets and what sounded like a xylophone joined in. Soon, it was a beautiful orchestrated masterpiece. Drums even chimed in and added a patriotic theme to it. And just like that two minutes later, it was over. Peter replayed the song. "This actually sounds badass."

All of us nodded in agreement. Steve tapped his fingers against his leg to the song. Natasha bobbed her head. Thor clicked his foot against the floor. Tony shrugged and said, "It could be better."

Peter didn't listen to him and tried to pull Clint off of the floor. Clint became dead weight and wouldn't budge, complaining about it being too much work. When he was off duty, he didn't do anything. It was his relaxing time, which consisted of doing nothing.

Peter waved him off, "Whatever." He sprinted over to Bruce and tugged his arm. Bruce tried to do everything he could to make him let go, but failure was imminent. He gave in and stood up. Peter dragged him to the center of the room. Banner idly stood there with his hands clasped in front of him. A shy smirk settled on his face as he swayed back and forth. Peter pretended to fight him kung fu style along to the music. At first, Bruce wasn't into it. As the time went on, he acted out the scene as the villain and pretended to die towards the end. Peter fist pumped his hands into the air and did a little victory dance.

When the song ended for the second time, Tony stood up and stretched. "Well, that was a great...uh...whatever that was." Peter huffed and sat down. Tony rolled his eyes and finished what he was going to say, "I'm leaving to see Pepper. I'll tell her you freeloaders say hi."

All of us replied simultaneously, creating an inaudible, jumbled sentence together. Tony waved it off and left.

Natasha turned her attention to me. "Lil, I think you've got a real find on your hands. He might be worth top dollar at some museum."

Rogers rolled his eyes. "Very funny, Natasha."

"I know, I'm hilarious." She grinned and rubbed her hand through Clint's short brown hair. "Or maybe he'd be worth nothing at some antique shop. He has quite some sass on him."

Steve squeezed my hand and stated, "She has loads of these jokes piled up. She'll get through them all eventually."

"Yeah, like when you're ninety. Oh, wait, you already are. My bad," her emerald eyes lit up with fire and wonder at the same time.

"One day Natasha..."

Nat cut him off with a laugh, "One day when your turtle self catches up to me? Good luck with that, grandpa."

I giggled at that one. She was pretty sharp when it came to burns and wittiness. I had to hand it to her, it was easy at times. Steve did set himself up for it. I listened to their conversation go back and forth until Steve got tired of it. He got up and went to sleep. Clint was already sleeping up against Nat's legs as she ran her fingers through his hair. Peter logged off his laptop and went into his room to rest. Bruce drank a few bottles of water before setting off for the night. Thor wanted to go look at the night sky from the roof, so he left. That was when I called it quits. Today was a good day. There weren't going to be a lot of those left...