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Steeb lived in a world full of song.
During the day Steeb would play in fields of waving purple grass under an orange sky and red sun with his friends. And at night, his mom would tuck him in close and tell stories about the wide world, space beyond, and the heartsong that thrummed through the universe. He shivered with excitement, unable to bear the waiting until he could see it all.
“Shh, sweetheart, all in good time,” his mom would say with a kiss.
He heard the songs of his mom and his dad and all his friends and the people of his small village every day and night. He woke and fell asleep to music all around him. Someday soon, he’d hear the heartsong of the universe and he’d know what he’d want to be after he transformed.
Steeb might be the smallest of all the tsum tsum, but he was determined to be the best tsum tsum he could be. He studied hard, practiced his drawing, and helped his mom and dad. He bounced along worn paths singing to himself about the heartsong.
He knew the day had come when he heard the first notes of a glorious song in his sleep. It was time.
His mom hugged him and said that the time had come to go to the Great Temple for his Transformation. But she smiled at her small child. “You can wait if you to, Steeb. Maybe next year we can go to the City and the Great Temple.”
“No! I want to go!” he said, bouncing up and down. He’d been waiting so long to go, he heard the song, it was time.
Tsum tsum came from all over their homeworld to bring their children to the Great Temple. They would build their cocoons and sleep listening to the heartsong. They did not know what they would be but they would dream and listen and they would become what they most wanted to be from what the heartsong taught them. They would Transform.
The temple guardians bounded along the young tsum tsum heading to the temple to start on their soul journeys. They stopped Steeb. “You’re too small, you should go home to grow.”
“I’m of age, just like everyone!” Steeb protested. “I want to transform like my siblings!”
The guardians looked dismayed. But they relented finally after Steeb refused to wait but kept bouncing along with the other young tsum tsum.
His heart beat fast as he looked up at the high ceilings of the temple and the carvings on the wall and floors. The guardians brought them to the Place of Transformation. Steeb found his spot in the crowd and began to weave and construct his cocoon. He was careful with his cocoon, taking pains to build the best cocoon that he could. Then he crawled inside, wove the cocoon shut, and closed his eyes, hearing now the full heartsong of the universe.
He listened and learned. He dreamt of great heroes on other planets, their fights to save and protect the helpless and the powerless, their struggles and their triumphs. He dreamt of artists who spent blood and tears to create amazing art. He could be a hero. He could be an artist. Or both. He would be both. His heart swelled with joy and hope and strength and courage and the itch to draw and sculpt.
But there was another song Steeb heard. A quieter song, but he could hear it nearly as well as the heartsong that filled his own being. The song was about machines and gears and tools and the joy of creation. He danced along the math equations and physics problems of the song. And swam in questions and thoughts about what made the universe trip along and would a robot powered by the sun be a good idea.
Steeb needed to know who the tsum tsum was whose song he heard. He had to find the tsum tsum who had imprinted on his heart when he sprang out of his cocoon. Then he would find if that tsum tsum had heard his song. They would build a world together. He hoped his songmate would be okay with his artist-hero life. Steeb was desperately in love with that song with the metal in it.
But that’s not what happened.
A thief raided the Great Temple while the guardians were distracted to steal tsum tsum cocoons and Steeb was carried far far away from his home before he ever left the cocoon or met his songmate.
~~~~~
One fine morning on Earth, the Avengers were called out to an alien wreckage site. On the way there in the quinjet, Tony asked Steve, “I’d like to see that new aliens-invade-the-earth sci-fi movie. Want to come along?”
“You don’t see that enough? Aliens invading earth.”
“Eh, the movies never get it right. I really should call it a comedy. Why didn’t they call SWORD or Richards out on this run?”
“Apparently, we’re just picking up part of the wreckage. Reed and his team are taking care of the other site.”
“Great,” Tony said. “Not like I had work to do on some projects for Stark Enterprises or anything.”
Tony had a lot of questions for the universe, like how did part of an alien ship just happen to break up in nice little sections over a Nebraska cornfield instead of burning up as the wreck hit the atmosphere? He looked at the twisted metal parts including a large wing strewn over the landscape. Bruce was in touch with Reed as the Avengers walked the site.
The other burning question was what was he going to get Steve for their anniversary? Two years married, and he still wanted to shower dozens of expensive gifts on Steve. Except Steve, for some strange reason, was less than enamoured of being showered with gifts. So Tony was in a bit of bind since he shouldn’t really buy that condo in Aspen for Steve now.
“Hey, Tony, look at this,” Peter said. He lifted part of what had been the door to a storage container.
There was a pile of packing material, broken crates, some cracked containers oozing green liquid, and a small metal box in perfect shape.
“You know, it looks like someone or someones picked through this wreckage before we were called out,” Peter observed.
“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Tony muttered.
He opened the small metal box. There was a guinea pig-sized cocoon nestled in foam. A quick scan showed that the item in question was definitely organic and very much alive.
“Okay, unknown alien lifeform, guys.”
“Were there more, Tony?” Steve asked.
“Probably, Cap,” Peter said.
Great, Tony thought as he closed the case. Unknown alien lifeforms on earth in some unknown person’s hands. Blew the week up as far Tony was concerned.
“Let’s get back to clean up and see if this little guy has any friends,” Tony said.
~~~~~
It was time. Steeb itched and squirmed in a cocoon that suddenly felt too small for him.
But it was all wrong too.
He couldn’t hear anything. No song from the other tsum tsum, no heartsong. Definitely no song of metal and tools.
But he couldn’t stop the Transformation, couldn’t go back to sleep. His body pushed hard against the walls of the cocoon, he needed air and food and room. Push, push, and push again, and the cocoon fell apart.
And he sat in the remains of the cocoon, blinking in a bright yellow light on a cold, hard table. He froze. This was not the Temple. This wasn’t any place he’d ever been before.
Giants with strange eyes and faces stared down at him. One giant even reached out a flipper towards him. He had to get away from these creatures. Steeb scrambled away to other edge of the table. Another giant stood in the way of his escape.
“I don’t think he liked that, Peter,” the giant in front of him said.
Steeb paused and listened. The smell of metal and ozone was familiar. Not the tsum tsum of his heart, but an imprint of his songmate. He might be safe with this giant, even if he was covered in some sort of red and gold shell. But his eyes were blue and kind, and Steeb needed something to anchor him.
“Steve, he, or she, looks like you,” the red-shelled giant said. “Uniform, blue eyes, blond hair. Huh, similar haircut too.”
Steeb swiveled around to peer at ‘Steve.’ He knew this giant! The heartsong had spoken to him of a hero who was a great legend among his people, who had been small like Steeb, but was now strong enough to fight to protect worlds of beings, and who drew and sketched. This was the hero.
“It’s an alien the size of guinea pig who looks and dresses like Cap,” another giant declared. He was carrying a board that he scratched on as he stared at Steeb.
It was all too overwhelming for Steeb and he shivered. Transformation, no family or friends to greet him, no heartsong to ground him, tired and hungry. All he could hear were the voices of the giants around him, and whirring and clicking and buzzing in the air. He inched closer to the kind being with blue eyes and red shell.
“Hey there, buddy. It’ll be okay.” The giant rubbed his back, immediately soothing him. “Do we have a box around here? Blanket? Water?”
“I’ve got something,” said a different giant with brown hair and red clothing. The giant put a box on the table.
“Thanks, Jan.” The red shell giant asked Steeb, “Is it okay to pick you up?”
Steeb said, “Yes, okay, please.”
“Hmmm, I’m guessing ‘tsum’ means okay. Here you go.”
Steeb was set down on top of a warm fuzzy blanket. He immediately buried himself in the softness. Someone put a dish of liquid in front of him. It smelled like water. He drank some and nibbled at the green and orange sticks he found next to the dish. Not a great dinner, but he could work on that when he woke in the morning.
And even better, as he drifted off he heard faintly the heartsong of the universe.
~~~~~
When he woke in the morning, Steeb felt much better and more grounded and ready to take on the world. Although he despaired of ever getting a good breakfast if the giants insisted on giving him green and orange sticks for food.
He yawned and stretched and wiggled his flippers and remembered that he was now much bigger than he had been before. Not bad. And he felt stronger. He wondered what he looked like now after his transformation. He knew he had blond hair and blue eyes and wore a uniform of some sort from what the giants said.
He had to figure out a plan. To get home and to find that tsum tsum of his dreams.
Well, it was time to explore. He stood up on his back flippers to look over the edge of the box. He tried to push himself over the rim. Then he felt himself start to levitate. He floated right out of the box and into a bright room full of hard surfaces and windows.
He could fly!
He could go anywhere he wanted to. He zipped around the room a couple of times to get some sense of what he could and couldn’t do. He could really get used to this.
“Great. The Cap Guinea Pig Alien can fly,” a shorter giant covered in black hair announced. “I really need a beer.”
“He or she is an alien,” the other giant, the one who had been in a red shell before, said. “Not a surprise that they can fly. And it’s not even eight in the morning.”
“It’s five pm somewhere.” The hairy giant opened a door on a large metallic box and took out a metal container.
Steeb narrowed his eyes. He knew the voice of that giant who had been in a red shell yesterday but now was in other clothes. He felt the faint stirrings of a song. A song about machines and metal and circuits. Like his songmate. But not, because the giant was not a tsum tsum. Which was a pity. He had no idea how these giants could be happy not having the heartsong in their lives.
He flew over to the giant and saw the other giant, the taller blond one who the others called Cap. Cap had a faint song too, echoing the song thrumming in Steeb’s heart. He reached out to him in desperation to connect with someone. Even if that only meant he got something better to eat.
“Tsum tsum,” Steeb bleated.
The blond giant cocked his head slightly to the side, like he was listening intently. “He says his name is Steeb and he would like something to eat other than the colored sticks we gave him.”
“Steeb?”
“That’s what he said, Tony.”
“And you can understand him.”
“A bit. I can’t understand how.” Steve frowned.
Steeb flew around the giant who was named Tony. And landed on his shoulder, giving him a good view of the room and Cap and the hairy giant. Besides, he liked being around Tony.
“Looks like you have a new friend,” the giant who got him the box said. Steeb remembered that the others called her Jan. “He’s cute sitting up there.”
“What do you think Flying Alien Guinea Pigs who look like Steve eat?” Tony asked.
“Um, not celery and carrot sticks?” Jan replied.
Cap -- no, Steve, glanced at Steeb, who projected all he could about food. “His name is Steeb. Um, he does not like celery and carrot sticks at all. He’d prefer something like pancakes.”
Steeb looked hopefully at Tony.
“We’ll get you pancakes,” Tony said, already indefensible to the requests of yet another Steve in his life.
~~~~~
“Fascinating,” Reed proclaimed every five minutes as he examined Steeb, who was tossing around a small shield in an hard light holo-enclosure in Reed’s visitor’s lab. Tony knew that Reed had shunted them to the smaller lab so that no one would be the least bit tempted in touching whatever the hell he was working on in his regular lab.
“Your little alien manipulates energy fields to fly and use tools. Wonder what else he can do? Are those real clothes or is it skin?”
“So you didn’t find anything in your part of the wreckage?” Tony asked crossly.
“No,” Reed replied cheerfully. “Although, hmm, Sue was thinking a smuggler was piloting the ship.” He stretched over to a computer. “I’ve been checking against all species cataloging databases that I know about. Not finding a match for the alien here.”
“His name is Steeb,” Tony corrected.
“Fascinating.” Reed keep typing away on another computer and then stretched his arm to grab a box from the other side of the lab.
Steve and Tony exchanged looks. There was a reason no one from the team wanted to join them on their trip to the Baxter Building. Tony saw Steeb poking at the hologram walls, like he was looking for a weakness and a way to escape. It was eerie, the whole way the flying guinea pig in the Cap uniform acted more and more like Steve. As long as Steeb didn’t jump up and down on his chest in the morning nagging him to go for a run, Tony would be okay with it. Not that Steve did that in morning, but he did point out that Tony needed to work out more often than Tony’s pride would prefer.
“I’ve found a match! Tsum tsum from an isolated quadrant of space --”
“Oh?”
“The Collector is protecting the area and no one is supposed to take anything or out. According to what I’m finding now.” Reed rapidly kept typing.
“Great. An Elder of the Universe version of a national park and someone smuggled out some of residents. Dealing with the Collector is going to put a real damper on our plans for the weekend, Steve,” Tony said.
“We have plans?”
“Tsum tsum!” Steeb bleated at them.
Steve nodded. “He wants to go home.”
“Fascinating. It’s not telepathy, is it? I want to run another test or five. Maybe he communicates at at audio frequencies we can’t hear but Steve can. Hmmm.”
Steeb and Steve groaned.
~~~~~
Steeb appreciated that his new friends gave him a new nest and removed the box. Jan excitedly showed him the soft blankets piled up on a small mattress, a new water dish, and a screen so he could have some privacy. And they introduced him to pizza, which was miraculous, and he wolfed down an entire slice all by himself.
“How does he eat actually? It looks like he bumps the food and pieces disappear,” Peter said.
Steeb sniffed at Logan’s beer. The scent stung so he declined to try it.
“Maybe it’s not all that important,” Ororo said.
His new friends gathered around a flat surface with moving images on it. Then Steeb watched Tony and Steve, who sat close, and eventually Tony dropped his head on Steve’s shoulder and Steve kissed the top of his head.
Steeb sighed. Everything he knew, everyone he knew was millions of miles away. Seeing his friends Tony and Steve happy with each other, Steeb regretted that he had not met his songmate, who sang that beautiful song of iron and heat and math. Would his songmate have sat with him watching the stars and waving grass and put their flipper in his, maybe lean their head on his head?
This confusing and lonely place might be his home now. Pizza, wondrous as it was, didn’t make up for all that he lost.
~~~~~
Since he broke out of his cocoon, Tonee was having the time of his life. First of all, he woke up in an exciting, brand-new world, and in a workshop of interesting tools. The only fly in the ointment was that he was not on his homeworld and he kind of suspected that he and the other tsum tsum were being held captive by some giant who was constantly pacing and wringing his hands. He wasn’t sure if he should be scared of or pity the giant.
And the other downside was that he had fallen in love with a song of courage and sacrifice and intelligence and art. The tsum tsum who sang that song was nowhere to be found. Which meant that Tonee needed to find a way back to their homeworld. He was going to start by building himself a suit of armor.
Tonee merrily disassembled a large cylinder with the new blowtorch he rigged up, slicing the metal in shapes for the armor design he had in mind.
The giant was pacing again and muttering into a device he held up to his face. “I don’t know what they are. You told me that you had stuff you scrounged from an alien shipment. You never told me that you had live animals in that shipment! And now they’re crawling all over my apartment and I don’t know what to do with them.”
He walked over to Tonee and roughly pushed him off the worktable. “I told you to get off that. No, not you. I told you the alien things were all over my apartment. I’ve had to nail windows shut --”
Tonee squawked at the giant. He looked over at the other tsum tsum quivering in the corner. They were scared and hungry and lost. Right, back to building the armor. Because he had to protect the others.
~~~~~
Ororo pushed the tablet over to Tony and Steve. “I’ve been combing through reports about the alien crash. It took SHIELD about five hours to respond after the initial reports. Plenty of time for someone to plunder the site, like you thought, Tony.”
Steeb, in civilian clothes for once, was perched on Tony’s shoulder and asked “Tsum?” as he peered at the tablet.
“Yes, that’s where we found you,” Steve responded.
Hopping back and forth on Tony’s shoulder, Steeb bleated and booped at them. Finally he launched into the air to fly furiously around their heads and manifested his uniform and shield. Steve listened very intently, nodding at spots and frowning at others.
“Steve?”
“Hmm, Steeb says that he heard stories about thieves who came to their big house, maybe temple?, to steal cocoons. They have guards to prevent kidnapping now. He thinks that’s what happened to him and that that whoever took him took other tsum tsum. And Steeb wants to find them. Now.”
“That makes sense,” Ororo said. “Intergalactic smugglers aren’t likely to be any different from our home-grown smugglers. We’ll have to find leads to black market sales --”
“Right, like someone is going to advertise small alien pets for sale on Craigslist,” Tony pointed out. “I’ll get the computers working on it.”
Steeb nudged Steve, then Tony. “Tsum tsum!”
“We’ll find your friends, Steeb,” Steve said.
“As soon as we can,” Ororo added.
Steeb sadly returned to his perch on Tony’s shoulder and sighed. Ororo patted him.
“It’s okay,” they all said.
~~~~~
He couldn’t sleep well without the thrumming comfort of the heartsong of the universe. He gave up to trying to draw with his new little pencils, turned off his lamp and floated over to the window to stare out at the city spread out below and the horizon in the far distance. The city lights twinkled and sparkled under a dark sky. But all Steeb could think about was the night sky in his village and there he could see thousands and thousands of stars.
Somewhere out there in the universe was his home.
He knew deep down that it was all different now since there were other tsum tsum here on this planet. He wasn’t alone here. But he was safe, and he didn’t know if they were. He had to find and rescue them from wherever they were. And then they could all go home together.
He concentrated as hard as he could on listening for their songs. It was too noisy, too loud here. He could barely hear the heartsong of the universe. Nothing came to him.
Feeling like a failure, he floated along the air currents of the living room, eventually being blown down the hallway. He aimlessly wiggled his flippers until he came across a room where he could hear familiar voices. He nudged the door open to find Steve and Tony talking and reading in bed.
“I’m just saying that we should do something nice for our anniversary. Maybe a weekend getaway. Assuming that we’re not fighting the Collector,” Tony said. “Can’t I fuss over you for once?”
“It’s just that -- I don’t know if we can get away --”
“Vacation isn’t a swear word, Steve.”
“It’s not that either -- I know what you like to do for vacation and maybe we should plan for a longer time than a weekend --”
“Wait. Hey, Steeb,” Tony said, looking up from his tablet.
“What’s the matter?” Steve asked.
Steeb landed between the bed between Tony and Steve and sighed.
“Missing your friends?” Steve asked. He reached down and gently ran a finger up and down Steeb’s back. “Guess we have company for the night,” Steve said.
~~~~~
Somehow, Jan having lunch with Sue Richards and talking superhero business gave them the best lead they ever had on the missing tsum tsum. The Fantastic Four had had their usual quarterly tangle with the Puppet Master, and Sue said that he was running out of the special mud or whatever he used to make his puppets. Reed had long suspected that the Puppet Master had a source for off-planet minerals and now his source had run dry.
“We should start at his hideout,” Ororo said to the team gathered around a map of New Jersey.
Jan reported, “I’m not finding any reports of anything unusual around the area.”
Steeb determinedly followed the flyers as they headed off to Newark. “Should he be allowed to come along? Considering that Steeb is, um, on the small side,” Peter asked as he hitched a ride on Steve’s skycycle.
Steve smiled. “Can’t tell someone no if they want to protect their people.”
“So what are you and Tony going to do for your anniversary?”
“I don’t know.”
“You know, if I had a multi-billionaire husband, I’d let him give me anything he’d want to.”
“Hmm.” Steve was more worried about what to give Tony for their anniversary than whatever Tony had planned.
~~~~~
Fueled by worry for his fellow tsum tsum, Steeb had to be there when his friends confronted the Puppet Master. He could fly, but not as fast as Tony in his armor. He grabbed a groove on Tony’s leg for the trip to New Jersey. Wind whistled past him as Tony sped up. He didn’t know what they would find there. But he was ready.
They landed in the street in front of a house with drawn curtains and a no trespassing sign posted on the fence. “This doesn’t look like a supervillain hideout,” Tony said as he scanned the otherwise ordinary-looking city street.
“Steve and the rest of the team will be here in five minutes,” Ororo said as she checked the comms.
Steeb steadied himself for his first big test as a superhero. Drawing in a deep breath, he heard the notes of the heartsong of the universe. Then the songs, the music of a dozen tsum tsum, washed over Steeb. And a song of circuits and armor and indescribable courage roared triumphantly.
He had found them. He had found even the tsum tsum whose song he fallen desperately in love with as he slept in his cocoon. He had to save them.
“We’ll have Cap knock on the door when he gets here. The Puppet Master will probably just cave -- Cap has that effect on people.”
Steeb sensed that his fellow tsum tsum were in a dark place, quaking with fear. All except the one who was fighting the humans who were threatening the tsum tsum. He flew straight to the front door and slammed his shield repeatedly into the front door.
“Wait, Tiny Cap! Stop!” Tony shouted after him. “You don’t know what’s behind that door.”
The door shattered under the assault, in time for a flood of life-size puppet soldiers with tasers to pour through the doorway, down the walkway and into the street. Followed by a flying tsum tsum in grey armor.
“Okay, wasn’t expecting that,” Tony said. “Good thing that the cavalry is here.”
Steve and the rest of the team jumped off skycycles into the fray. He punched a couple of puppets on his way to Tony.
“Um, what’s that?” Steve said, pointing to a flying blob.
“A tsum tsum in Iron Man armor as best as I can tell. Looks great,” Tony said.
Steeb heard a soaring song as he flew over to the tsum tsum who was shooting repulsor blasts at the puppet soldiers. He watched the most perfect tsum tsum fly back and forth fighting the puppets. It was most definitely love at first sight.
He threw his shield to take out puppets on his way over to the armored tsum tsum.
“Hello,” he tried to say, but choked on the word.
“I’m Tonee,” the other tsum tsum announced. He bumped Steeb. “I’ve wanted to meet you ever since I heard your song.”
“Wow.” Steeb couldn’t move because he could only stare at Tonee and let his song fill his heart.
“We have to stop these puppets,” Tonee prompted. “Or they’ll hurt the others.”
“Oh, right. These are my friends --”
Tonee zipped over to Iron Man. He hovered around him for a minute and then he turned his armor red and gold. Then he fought with the team as they took on the puppet army.
The team punched, whacked, smashed, and webbed up the soldier as the fight turned into a slog.
Steeb held up his shield ready to pound another puppet. Then he heard the cries of the tsum tsum imprisoned in a crate. In all the confusion the Puppet Master had snuck out the back of the house pushing a dolly loaded up with the crate of tsum tsum. Steeb had to stop him.
He looked back at Tonee who was zapping puppet soldiers alongside Iron Man.
“Tiny Cap -- No!” Jan yelled. “Wait for us!”
He was born to be a hero. And heroes sometimes have to sacrifice themselves. He threw his shield to stop the dolly. The dolly skidded to a stop with Steeb’s shield wedged under a front wheel. And then he launched himself at the Puppet Master. He landed with all the force that he had, knocking the man backwards. The Puppet Master flailed at Steeb, who kept hitting him.
Then the Puppet Master scored a direct hit on Steeb, slamming him into the ground. The Puppet Master kicked him again and again. Until Iron Man repulsored him unconscious.
Steeb hurt all over. And he felt cold. It was worth it -- he had stopped the Puppet Master long enough for the Avengers to rush in and take him down. And his friends would now rescue the other tsum tsum. A hero couldn’t ask for more. He shivered from the pain.
He felt a soft nudge and then heard the music he had first heard in his cocoon. A song of metal and gears and tools. Tonee was holding his left flipper. Well, he had found his tsum tsum after all. Too late now. He struggled to open his eyes to see Tonee. Tonee had lifted the visor on his armor.
“You have beautiful eyes,” Steeb said.
“Steeb,” Tonee whispered.
“ ‘Sokay,” Steeb replied, slurring his words. “Make sure they’re safe.”
He slipped into unconsciousness listening to the wonderful song of Tonee. Not a bad way to go.
~~~~~
“He’ll be okay, I swear,” Reed proclaimed.
Battered and bruised, Steeb was wrapped up in bandages with an IV and settled in his bed. Tony wasn’t quite sure how Reed figured out where to put the IV. His heart clenched to see Steeb injured. Not much different from how the Avengers looked after a rough battle, but somehow it hurt more to see the brave little hero like this. A despondent Tonee held a flipper and kept vigil over the badly wounded Steeb.
“Do we look like that when we’re in the hospital?” Tony asked Steve.
“All the time,” Jan said.
The other tsum tsum had been corralled into a spare suite in the Tower and left to their own devices. Tony didn’t even want to think about the craziness that was going on in the suite. But Jarvis assured him that the tsum tsum were much calmer and politer than Steeb and Tonee. Perfect house guests as well, and much happier to have food, a nice place to sleep, and the room to bounce around in.
Tony pushed the food around his plate, pondering if his opinion of the Puppet Master could get any worse. Steve looked like he’d lost his appetite too.
“Reed knows what he’s talking about,” Steve said. “Steeb will be okay.”
“You did notice that Tonee is wearing a black t-shirt, jeans and what appears to be an arc reactor light?”
“Uh-huh.”
“I’m not sure if I’m weirded out or extremely impressed.”
Tony stopped by later to check in on Steeb. Steve was already on watch, reading a book, and Tonee was still keeping vigil over a sleeping Steeb.
“Anything new?”
Steve smiled. “I think he’ll pull through. He’s breathing regularly and is getting color in his, um, face.”
“Good,” Tony said with great relief. “Coming to bed?”
“They almost lost each other, you know,” Steve said softly as he nodded towards the tsum tsum. “We’ve almost lost each other too many times to count.”
“And?”
“We can’t figure out what to get each other for our anniversary. Nothing seems right -- I can’t think of the right gift, you keep changing your mind. But I have you. Maybe that’s all we need.”
Tony smiled fondly at Steve and ruffled his hair. “Maybe. That doesn’t mean that I don’t want to buy you a fleet of vintage motorcycles.”
“I want to take you out on the perfect date too.”
“We’re putting too much pressure on ourselves. Let’s take a day off and sleep in and see what we feel like.”
Steve leaned into Tony. “That sounds like the best plan.”
“Anything for my guy.”
~~~~~
Steeb could feel another tsum tsum’s flipper against his flipper, grounding him, keeping him alive. And he could finally hear the heart song of the universe and the music that bound all tsum tsum together wherever they were. Soaring above it all was a song full of pride, love, joy and worry for him. He’d know that song anywhere. He heard the notes of metal, math, grease, and big thoughts.
Tonee’s song.
Tonee. Best name in the universe for the best tsum tsum.
“Hello again,” Steeb said. He smiled at the tired Tonee.
“Hello!” Tonee said joyfully. He rubbed his nose with Steeb’s. “I’ve been so worried about you.”
Steeb wiggled a bit, feeling where the bruises were. “I have so much to tell you.”
Tonee shifted so that his entire body cuddled Steeb’s. “Sleep first. Then we’ll talk.”
Steve slept the best he ever had as he listened to Tonee’s song and heartbeat next to his. Everything was going to work out now.
~~~~~
Reed had rigged an interdimensional portal to send the tsum tsum back to their homeworld, and Sue had convinced the Collector that all the tsum tsum on Earth were accounted for and that most of them would be returning. Steeb and Tonee were staying behind for a little while to train with the Avengers before returning home to become the Tsum Tsum Avengers. Tonee had even started working on new armor designs with Tony.
The Avengers watched as the tsum tsum bounced up and down on the platform, way too eager to return home. Reed, of course, fiddled with a number of portal controls. A couple of turns of a dial and push of a button, and the tsum tsum were whisked away home as Steeb and Tonee cheered them on and the rest wishing them a good trip.
Tony announced when the Avengers returned back to the Tower that it was a good time to have a party to celebrate. “Reed says that the tsum tsum are back home safe and sound. So I’m ordering pizza and soda.”
“And beer?” Logan asked hopefully.
“And beer,” Tony concluded.
Peter set up the Wii while Jan picked out playlists. Steeb and Tonee bounced boisterously along with the beat, bumping into everybody around them. Tony did a little tsum tsum wrangling, luring them off to the side of the room and out of the way of the Wii players.
“I don’t think that’s enough pizza,” Steve said as he looked over the order list Ororo compiled.
Steeb told Tonee enthusiastically how great pizza was. And marked the list with one pizza with veggies for the both of them.
Three hours into the party and twenty-five empty pizza boxes later, Steve and Peter had coaxed Bruce into playing Wii sports. Tony teased Steve unmercifully over getting way too competitive at bowling. Over at the kitchen table, Ororo was handily beating Logan and Jan at poker.
“Hey, isn’t this Steve and Tony’s anniversary?” Peter asked.
“We should make a toast,” Ororo agreed. Steve blushed to his hairline and Tony laughed.
“I wonder where Steeb and Tonee went,” Jan said.
She walked over to the counter where someone had put the box they had used to transport the tsum tsum to Reed’s.
“Awww, look at that. They’re cuddling,” Jan cooed. Then she blushed and closed the lid of the box. “Um, that’s not just cuddling. We’ll just let them, um, get better acquainted. Over here, by themselves.”
“So, a toast to Steve and Tony, right?” Jan said as she walked away from the table. “Many happy years and all that jazz?”
“Yeah, all that jazz,” Tony laughed as he put his arm around Steve’s waist.
~~~~~
High above Tony’s workshop, Steeb and Tonee carved out a nice nest for themselves in a small corner of the Avengers’ suite. Soon they would return to their homeworld to take on the mantle of Tsum Tsum Avengers. But for now, they trained hard with the Avengers, absorbing all they could learn.
Steeb loved the floor-to-ceiling windows. He could draw in the sunlight while Tonee worked in his own miniature workshop. Today, after a hard morning in the gym, Steve was humming as he sketched his favorite subject: Tonee, dozing in the sun.
In these moments of quiet he could hear the thrum of the building, the faint sound of the heartsong of the universe, and the notes of their songs woven and blended into their life song. Their own song of home.