Tony tinkered with some equipment in the garage. Usually, he would have FRIDAY blare his heavy metal music to get his ideas flowing. But three years ago, Sue commented that the man never responded to her when she called for him from the kitchen. He thought this was because of his loud music, so he decided to have it on a lower volume. But even then, he couldn't hear her calls. Booker would have to be sent into the garage to collect him and he realised that countless years of guitar riffs and drum solos had muted his hearing. It made him realise that he was getting older and that he wouldn't be able to continue his old lifestyle of listening to rockbands, reading small text and bending down to grab things off the ground without consequences.

He let FRIDAY piece together some titanium-alloy that would soon be Pepper's birthday present while he scrolled through the news on his phone. Articles of citizens who found out their blipped loved ones left them love letters or had secret hobbies flooded his timeline. The doom and gloom went on for about a year and a half after the blip, but the media soon had no choice but to try and get some of society's morale back up. There were many stories around the world about people learning to live without the other half of the population that once walked the Earth, and things were beginning to look up. But the event could never be ignored, and what once was, will always be in everyone's minds.

There were of course the articles about the missing Avengers. The press hadn't been on their case as much as they used to be. There was the assumption that a lot of the team had been blipped, which wasn't exactly false. But Tony and Sue never complained, and Booker's identity still hadn't been found out by the public. It was the life they wanted with hero work behind them and a new family. They just wished the circumstances were better, and that their family still had the one person who was taken from them all those years ago.

'Dad, Mum says lunch is ready,' Booker opened the door to the garage. The boy walked down the steps and looked up to the blue hologram that showed the formation of a suit.

'Thanks, sport,' Tony looked over the top of his reading glasses and slipped his phone back into his pocket. 'What's the boss got cookin'?'

'Grilled sandwiches. Hey, what's that?'

'Nothing.'

'Doesn't look like nothing.'

Booker stepped to be next to his father and eyed FRIDAY's work. Tony reached his arms up and tapped in the air, buttons appearing under his fingertips. He then swiped to the right and the suit plan disappeared. The garage darkened before the lights turned up at FRIDAY's operation. All the walls were littered with what was considered old-fashioned tools like hammers, mallets and screwdrivers. Desks were full of paper and sketches, all marked with adjustments and notes. Tony hadn't lost his passion for engineering and technology, but it became a light hobby, as opposed to his previous habit of letting it take over his entire lifestyle.

'And you don't look like you've brushed your hair this morning, mister,' Tony ducked down and picked up Booker by the waist. The boy let out a giggle and Tony headed for the door, while bouncing his son on his hip. Booker put his hands on his father's shoulders and Tony opened the door to the hallway, where the smell of grilled chicken hit his nostrils.

'Boy, does that smell good,' the Stark called out and the sound of feet padding against the mahogany floors travelled from the kitchen. Susan appeared with three plates in hand, ready to dish out their lunches.

'What's the go, hun?' Tony planted his lips on Sue's, and she beamed, her smile wide as Booker squealed.

'Gross!' he covered his eyes and Tony laughed. He crouched down to let Booker's feet touch the floor and the boy immediately broke out into a run.

'Don't touch the sandwich press!' Sue lowered down to tell her son as he passed her. Booker skidded across the floor and turned the corner of the living room and ran into the kitchen. Sue sighed and shook her head at his actions before turning back to Tony. But she was met with his side profile, as he looked out of the window that stretched from beside the front door. It viewed the front yard and the treeline that encircled the house, and Sue followed his gaze that had turned solid.

'What is it?' she asked. She stepped in front of Tony to look from his position, and he looked over the top of her head, a sigh leaving his lips with his eyes threatening to roll.

At Tony's reaction, Sue resisted the urge to do the same when she saw what was in their driveway. The gravel path curved from within the forest and up to the right of their porch. A black Audi was parked and wobbled when three of its doors were closed at the same time. Three figures passed the window and Sue caught the unmistakable fiery hair with blonde tips.

'Mum? Dad? Are we eating?' Booker called from the kitchen at the absence of his parents. Sue and Tony turned their gazes to each other, their lips tight and their eyes troubled. They knew that the three's arrival couldn't mean anything good.

---

'Now, we know what it sounds like...'

Scott Lang stood on the porch of the house with Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff and Tony Stark. After five years, the stragglers of the team had changed from the last time they had seen each other. Steve had regrown his facial hair and Natasha's red hair had invaded her attempted blonde colouring. Scott looked the same, the man barely even ageing past thirty, but his experiences had aged him mentally. 

They had approached the house with the hope of gaining an audience with its residents but were ushered out by Tony before they could make it past the threshold. He led them around the porch with a hushed tone at first, looking in through the window to catch sight of Sue. The woman was occupying Booker in the kitchen with some lunch, and Tony wanted to wrap things up quickly to join them.

'Tony, after everything you've seen, is anything really impossible?' Steve questioned and looked to his old friend with a raised eyebrow.

'Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck Scale, which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition. Can we agree on that?' Tony's science talk baffled the three who looked to each other for a simpler explanation.

'Sorry to interrupt...'

The group turned and saw Susan Storm standing with a tray of drinks in her hands. She looked slightly embarrassed to be entering the discussion so late but attempted a smile. The four glasses containing raspberry lemonade sat awaiting collection and Natasha, who was the closest, took one carefully with a smile. The women wordlessly said hello while Steve reached to take a glass, which made Sue turn to him and see the man eyeing her with a half-smile.

'Thank you,' he said politely. 'You look well, Sue.'

'You too, Cap.'

The last time Steve had seen her, she was recovering from her month's depression after their battle in Wakanda. She knew that she looked incredibly healthier since then and Steve was glad to see that she had recovered well.

Sue took the last two drinks off the tray and held them out to Scott and Tony. The Lang grabbed it quickly with a loud thank you, while Tony took his with a soft look to his love. Sue stepped back awkwardly, pursing her lips at the stares she got from the people she once knew. When she didn't know how to break the ice, she turned to head around the porch to the door. But she was stopped at the sound of Steve's voice.

'We, uh-' she turned around. 'We wanted to talk to you, too.'

'Oh.'

Sue settled herself in the place between the Captain and Natasha. She looked to Tony, who stood sipping his drink and cleared his throat when he saw that she urged him to continue.

'In Layman's terms-' Tony started again and looked to Scott. '-it means you're not coming home.'

'I did.'

'No, you accidentally survived. It's a billion to one cosmic fluke. And now you wanna pull off a... What do you call it?'

'Time heist...'

Sue stifled a laugh at Scott's pink cheeks and shifty gaze. She was slightly lost on what the topic was, but she was beginning to catch on. It didn't seem like Steve or Natasha were completely confident in knowing what Tony or Scott were talking about, so she didn't feel completely left out.

'Yeah, a time heist,' Tony's voice strained, and he shook his head with sarcasm dripping from his lips. 'Of course, why didn't we think of this before. Oh, because it's laughable? Because it's a pipedream?'

'Wait, I'm a little lost here,' Sue closed her eyes and put her hands over them. 'What are you guys planning to do?'

'They want to go back in time and get the Infinity Stones before Thanos ever did,' Tony glanced at her and her jaw dropped.

'I'm sorry?! That's impossible!'

'It's not! I did it!' Scott insisted once more. 'If we go back and get them, we could change it all!'

'We can snap our own fingers,' Natasha added. 'We can bring everyone back.'

'Or screw it up worse than he already has, right?' Tony fought and Steve intervened.

'I don't believe we would.'

'You're talking about time travel, here. That's just... that's ludicrous,' Sue said and stood with wide eyes at the suggestion.

'I gotta say, sometimes I miss that giddy optimism,' Tony finished his glass of lemonade. 'However, high hopes won't help if there's no logical, tangible way for me to safely execute said time heist. I believe the most likely outcome would be our collective demise.'

'Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel.'

'You've made your own rules for time travel?' Sue raised an eyebrow at Scott. 'What are they? No stepping on butterflies?'

'Pfft, no,' Scott rolled his eyes and laughed nervously. 'Just no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events-'

'I'm gonna stop you right there, Scott. Are you seriously telling me that your plan to save the universe is based on 'Back To The Future'?'

'No...'

Tony and Scott went back and forth. Sue could see that Tony was getting irritated at the constant pushing and thought about saving him. But she didn't need to, as a new voice intervened and made the discussion go silent.

'Mum?'

Sue looked over her shoulder and saw Booker peaking out from around the porch's corner. The boy's eyes were wide and blinking, the sight of strangers at his house an unusual sight. His mop of brown waves blew from the soft breeze and his resemblance to Susan made Steve, Scott and Natasha's lips part in surprise. They hadn't expected to see any young children at the Stark residence, and it made them feel guilty for not asking about what had changed in their lives in the past five years.

'Hey, you okay, love?' Sue pushed a long piece of hair out of her eyes and bent down to Booker's level. 'Was your lunch okay?'

'Yeah, it was good. Who are these people?'

It was surprising to hear the four-year-old speak so well and ask questions so bluntly. Steve looked to Tony, who was relieved to have his son save him from the pointless conversation. He walked forward and met Sue, who picked Booker up and put him on her hip. He saw how Booker looked at his old teammates with wonder and thought about telling him some old hero stories someday. The kid loved comic books and Tony was still narcissistic enough to want to be his son's only hero.

'Look, guys,' Tony turned back to the three while he stood next to Sue and Booker. 'I wish you'd come here to ask me something else. Anything else. Honestly, I... I missed you guys, it was... Oh, and table's set for six.'

'Tony, I get it. And I'm happy for you, I really am. But this is a second chance,' Steve pleaded, but Tony had made up his mind.

'I got my second chance right here, Cap,' Tony put his arm around Sue's waist and after all these years, she still felt jitters in her stomach from his touch. 'I can't roll the dice again. If you don't talk shop, you can stay for lunch.'

'I don't remember that being part of the deal,' Sue whispered under her breath as he turned her away and walked her back to the front door.

'Well, they don't have to know that.'