Notes:

Cruises always end too soon.

###

DAY 7

Around Thor his friends gathered, content with food and drink. He leaned back against his plush seat, the same seat he'd sat on for the last seven days, and surveyed the remains of their feast. Twenty or so empty plates littered the space between them. There were the remains of cream and a red sauce Natasha favored, there was also a small tower of bowls that used to hold scoops of gelato but now tilted under the engineering of a food-drunk Tony Stark.

Thor would miss this ship.

"I can't move, Nat" Clint groaned.

"No one's asking you too. We can literally sit here until breakfast."

"I think I'm going to puke."

Behind Natasha a sight caught Thor's eye, the first break in the night as the haze that surrounded city lights reached the horizon.

Tony eyes followed Thor's. "New York."

It only took the two words to jolt them all awake. The sun would rise soon and the ship would waken with it. They'd already be at New York Harbor by then, scheduled to drop anchor just after two in the morning. They decided to return to the bow and watch the city lights return one by one.

"I bet I can spot Avenger's Tower first." Clint declared, perched precariously on the wall surrounding the bow, feet wrapped around the post he had shot at earlier.

"I bet I could swim to Avenger's Tower first," Steve countered, stretching his arms as if he was actually considering it.

Tony pulled away from the wall and bumped himself into Steve. "And here I thought I was the one who hated this ship the most."

"I'm only saying, between this ship and a room in the Tower? I'd choose the tower any day."

"And it only took this horrible, invasive, troublesome cruise for you all to figure that out." Tony observed then sighed dramatically. "How am I supposed to hate it in hindsight?"

Steve was unable to hold back his smile. "To be fair, it took this horrible, invasive, troublesome cruise for you to invite all of us to live in the Tower in the first place."

Clint nodded. "Really, Stark. You should be thanking this cruise."

"And don't forget, Fury too," Natasha added.

"And Fun Engineer Dok," Bruce agreed.

"Now, now," Clint cut in. "I wouldn't go that far."

Tony felt Steve's arm slide around his waist as the outline of the first skyscraper illuminated the night's sky. He memorized the solid weight of Steve's arm, the laughter of the Avengers nearby, how it felt to return to their city as a team. And Tony wondered if, maybe, all the things he hated were behind him now. At least, for a little while.

fin.