Three weeks had passed and the routine remained the same. Every morning Lana would wake up next to Bucky, claim to be annoyed by his mere presence, prepare herself for the day, and go to the room that had been dedicated to locating the tesseract, and sit around and wait for someone to discover something, as she sure as hell had no idea how to. More often than not, there would be very little process, but people already working hard. Tony had a tendency to work during the night, Steve and Natasha would always get up early and be there long before Lana and Bucky arrived. Clint had decided to take a little time off, given that he hadn't seen his family for a while. Lana suspected that the close proximity to Loki also had an effect, but she wouldn't be pursuing any answers there. While she knew Clint had never meant her any harm, she was still struggling with relaxing around him, and she preferred to not be too close to him or alone with him.

Bruce was the only one living at the tower who usually came later than Lana and Bucky, but that was only because he'd stay up late whenever he got caught up in something, which was most days. Thor had gotten a temporary room at the tower, but wasn't as dedicated to finding the tesseract as many others, so he spent his days testing human technology and cuisine. So far, his favourite was the pop tarts, but he was still working on getting the toaster to do as he commanded it.

"Oh, shoot, I have to go," Lana suddenly realised one day, thankful she could stand up on her own thanks to Loki's dedicated work in healing her leg. The only people in the room was Bucky, Loki, Steve, Natasha and Clint, who was visiting that day.

It was ten o'clock and Bruce was still asleep. Tony hadn't even been to bed yet, but was off getting coffee.

"Excuse me? You're inviting a psychopath in and then ditching?" Bucky asked, Loki rolling his eyes.

"Like father like daughter, I guess," Clint muttered, quickly receiving a smack to the back of his head from Natasha.

"Where are you going?" Steve asked politely, pretending to not notice Natasha and Clint who was desperately trying to hit each other in the background.

"I'm meeting William," Lana told as she pulled her hair into a ponytail. William had returned about a week and a half ago, but with everything that had been going on, she hadn't felt she could sneak away to see him until then.

"Someone will have to go with," Steve decided quickly; "Buck?"

"I got it," Bucky agreed, pushing his chair out and standing up.

"You don't have to," Lana reminded him kindly.

"And you don't have to be so annoying, but here we are," he replied, handing her her hoodie. She rolled her eyes as they began arguing, offering a quick goodbye before leaving. Loki didn't bother sticking around after that and excused himself, disappearing off to who knows where.

Not long after, Thor came in, wearing some of the human clothes Tony had left for him in his room. Blue jeans and a black v-neck t-shirt that looked bigger than necessary. Tony passed him on the way, a fresh cup of coffee in his hand, quick to settle himself by a computer and get to work.

"There's something strange going on," Thor told the team.

"What, the alien part of the working with your brother part?" Tony asked, not looking away from his screen.

"Loki says he wishes to dominate the earth," Thor informed, crossing his arms.

"So?" Natasha asked unimpressed.

"I think him to be lying," Thor told honestly.

"That's what Lana said, too," Steve remembered, thinking to the first time Lana had told them what had happened at the hospital.

"I know my brother, and this is not what he wants," Thor continued.

"Apparently, you don't know him as well as you thought," Tony just said, still not bothering to look at Thor's troubled expression.

"I doubt it. Something is inspiring him to do as he does. Or forcing him," he added.

"That's the exact thing Lana said," Steve mentioned again, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Huh. I should like to speak with the Lady Lana about this herself," Thor announced loudly.

"She just headed out, she's meeting a friend," Clint informed helpfully.

"Why didn't she say bye?" Tony asked, spinning around in his chair to look at his team.

"She did," Natasha stated dryly.

"Not to me," Tony replied quickly. Natasha just shrugged, her interest in the situation very limited.

"So, how is it working at Stark Industries?" Lana asked curiously, happy to see her friend again.

"It's alright," William told, handing her a mug of the instant coffee he'd just made. The kettle was still emitting a slight steam from the heated water.

"You don't like it?" Lana asked as she took it and handed it to Bucky, who was sitting next to her by the dining table. William had yet to get around to unboxing most of his stuff, but Lana had ordered him a dining table set with four chairs that she knew he'd like as a housewarming gift. She knew for a fact that her easily distracted friend would have happily eaten on the floor or standing up as long as he got to tinker with his projects, and with the monthly paycheque being a Shield employee gave her, it was too easy for her to make sure he'd have at least some furniture.

"I like it, it's just... I don't know, maybe I just thought I'd be different," he admitted with a grimace, handing her another cup of coffee. This time, she kept it, and Will sat down in front of her and across from Bucky, who'd pulled his chair out further than necessary from the table so he could rest an ankle on the knee of the other leg.

"How so?" Lana asked.

"Well, it's just, I had the idea for the product, so I kind of thought I would be the one developing it further, but it seems I'm really just there because I patented it and this is the only way they get to produce and sell it. It's more about making money off of the one product instead of actually developing a line of them," he explained.

"What do you mean?" Lana asked, placing her hand around the mug to enjoy the heat radiating off of it.

"It's just, with the resources available we could make a security system for entire houses, better than anything else on the market, but they seem content on just doing the nanotech door lock and sell it at overpricing," he explained with a disappointed huff.

"You could always quit," Lana reminded him, shrugging casually.

"And do what?" William replied in a small laugh.

"Whatever you want. Develop what you want and sell it directly, cut out the middle man," Lana suggested, not sure if she was making an actual suggestion or just pointing out that William wasn't entirely stuck without options.

"I can't afford that. This is New York, I can hardly pay my rent as it is," he claimed, laughing again.

"Get an investor," Lana just said.

"I have nothing to show for myself! I don't have the ability to produce it on a larger scale yet, I can't afford to quit my job and get a head start. They'd have to invest in me instead of an actual product, and who would invest in me. I'm nothing," he added, smiling sadly.

"Will, you're selling yourself short. Think about it, after everything that's happened, you don't think people are dying to feel safe in their own homes? With the right marketing, this could be big," Lanna claimed seriously.

"You think so?"

"When was the last time there was an actual development in common locks until you came with an invention that could change the game? The only reason it's not standard is that you're the only one with the rights to produce and sell it," Lana reminded him.

"I only patented it because my professor said to, and I would never get an investment. Materials are expensive, and I need some kind of salary to be able to live," William reminded her, bringing the cup to his lips to take a sip.

"Well... I live at the tower for free. If you want, I could loan you some money," Lana offered after a brief pause.

"Lana, I'm not letting you give me money," Will replied immediately. Lana bit her lower lip, considering the situation properly before saying something.

"Okay, we'll do it together then. You'll do product development and I'll do the rest. I'll get some deals with manufacturers somewhere and make an agreement with a factory. We'll use your apartment as an office, for now, then I can pay the rent and you can keep living here until we get this going," she decided.

"And if we don't?" William asked seriously.

"Then we don't," she replied with a shrug; "I know my dad and I aren't exactly on good terms, but I'm fairly certain I won't be entirely without an inheritance, so I don't really need to have a lot of savings. I'm pretty privileged, and that gives me the opportunity to do something fun with my friend."

"Are you sure you want this? I'm not sure it's going to be fun, it's going to be hard work," William reminded her.

"Hard work is fun, and I haven't done anything with marketing since finishing college, and it's not like working at Shield keeps me all too busy, anyway, I hardly ever have to do anything."

Will bit his lip as he considered, taking a deep breath before nodding slowly.

"Alright, I guess we're doing this," he decided, breaking into a smile.

"Thank you for going with me today," Lana said, running her brush through her hair. Bucky didn't reply, instead just crawled into bed, watching her get ready as well. She was wearing an old grey shirt from her t-shirt as well as a pair of Bucky's pyjamas trousers that he'd never gotten back after she'd stolen them when her leg was in the cast. She yawned as she walked over to the bed, getting under the cover on her side.

"I've been thinking," Bucky told her quietly.

"Oh no, this never ends well," Lana replied quickly.

"Lana!"

"I just don't want you hurting yourself!" Lana claimed.

"Forget it," Bucky decided, turning his back to her.

"No, I'm sorry, I just have a very deep and overwhelming urge to constantly annoy you," Lana explained, making Bucky laugh slightly before turning back to her.

"I think you should learn self-defence. It's pretty clear you're not great at staying back and I won't always be there to protect you," Bucky explained to her, sitting up and resting his weight on his hands behind him on the bed.

"You're saying I'll be rid of you at some point? Isn't this happy news," Lana mused to herself; "But okay."

"Okay? No arguing?" Bucky asked confused.

"Do you want me to argue?" she replied.

"I want you to be honest with me," Bucky admitted quietly. Lana turned to him.

"Honestly? I think it's a good idea. Plus, what's the harm? A little exercise? Actually, that does sound bad," she realised, suddenly concerned.