Chapter Text
Tony frowned at his reflection, reaching up to undo his tie again with shaking fingers. Slender hands stopped him, and Tony turned his frown to Pepper, who just looked at him with a combination of fondness and exasperation. “It’s fine, Tony. Stop messing with it,” she told him, smoothing the tie against Tony’s chest, pausing for just a moment as her hand settled on the arc reactor. Tony’s hand reached up to capture hers, holding it there, and she smiled up at him, her eyes just the slightest bit glossy.
“A few tears for your old boss?” he teased lightly.
Pepper gave him a small smile. “Tears of joy,” she countered. “Now somebody else can be your plus one.”
Tony laughed, lifting her hand to press a kiss to the back of it before releasing her. “You’re fooling yourself if you really believe that,” he told her, grinning widely. “He hates social events even more than I do. But that was a good try.” He wished he had the words to explain how much her being here meant to him. And not just her.
“Come on, man! Get a move on before you’re late for your own wedding!” Rhodey stuck his head in the door, grinning widely at the genius. Tony casually flipped him off, and he just laughed. “Looking good there, Tones,” Rhodey reassured him, stepping into the room.
Tony smirked. “I always look good,” he replied haughtily.
“Uh huh,” Rhodey replied, skepticism in his voice. “You say that like I’ve never seen you after a four-day engineering binge.” Which, Tony admitted, was a valid point. When he got really involved in a project, he’d live on coffee and short power naps here and there, often forgoing other things like showers and shaving and proper meals until he’d worked out whatever it was that had been causing him problems. Rhodey had dragged him out of the lab or workshop and bodily shoved him into a shower on more than one occasion. Now, that duty would fall to Bucky, though Tony knew that the both of them would still come visit whenever they were able. They’d stuck by him for this long; what was another few decades?
He took another critical look at himself in the full-length mirror, twisting his body to make sure that the pants really were as snug as they felt, the suit tailored to flatter and accentuate all of his assets. The white suit with its matching vest and red tie were quite flattering, and Tony wondered if that made him the bride here. Bucky’s suit would be the exact opposite: black suit and vest, gold tie. Tony was half hard just thinking about it.
“You’re drooling again,” Rhodey drawled, and Tony flipped him off before bringing a hand up to his mouth just to check that he was not, in fact, actually drooling. Rhodey laughed, gallantly offering his arm to Pepper, who graciously accepted with a smile before they both turned expectant gazes onto Tony, who sighed, smoothed over his tie once more, and allowed them to herd him out the door. They were right after all; he couldn’t be late to his own wedding, now could he? That would be a rather poor start to the rest of his life with his Soulmate, after all.
Just thinking about spending the rest of his life with Bucky was enough to get his heartrate up, nerves fluttering in his stomach, tangling with the love and pride and sheer amazement that he would actually get to have a Happily Ever After. Whatever Hydra’s role might have been in their meeting, what the two of them had made with each other was all theirs. Tony vindictively hoped Schmidt would see the news article on the marriage of Tony Edward Stark and James Buchanan Barnes and curse the day he’d ever thought to bind them together into Hydra’s service.
He felt a gentle surge of warmth, amusement, and concern come through the Bond, and Tony sent back affection and pleasure, enjoying the give-and-take that was a Soulbond.
“It is good to see that your Soulbond remains stable,” a dryly amused voice spoke up, and Tony grinned sharply at Stephen Strange.
“Yeah, well, mistakes happen,” he joked. Because seriously, while Hydra was slightly less inept than, say, Justin Hammer, it was rare that their grandiose schemes ever actually worked like they were supposed to.
Strange gave Tony a serene smile. “The man known as Red Skull is no longer on this plane of existence,” he informed Tony. “I shall attempt to locate him, but for now, I believe that he is of no threat to you and your Soulmate.”
Tony considered that. While he didn’t like knowing that Red Skull had survived the explosion, the fact that the monster was no longer on Earth - or whatever ‘no longer on this plane of existence’ meant - was somewhat of a relief. “Pity,” he said at last. “He’ll miss the press release.” Tony nodded to the kid Pepper had found to take pictures of the wedding - Patrick? Peter? Something like that - then continued down the corridor towards the large doors at the end that would lead to the hastily constructed chapel where he was to be wed.
Stephen gave a short bow of acknowledgement, then summoned forth a portal and disappeared through it. Tony rolled his eyes at the theatrics and continued on his way. The wedding wouldn’t start for another ten minutes or so, but he was already nervous enough and didn’t want to give himself time to have second thoughts. Again. It had taken him three months after Bucky’s amazing shot had saved his life before he’d managed to gather the courage to ask for Bucky’s hand in marriage, showing off his own newly learned skill in jewelry making. It wasn’t much different than what he normally did, anyhow, manipulating metal, but he’d had to go with wrist cuffs rather than rings for fear of them getting caught on something.
And now, here he was, about to be married. No longer would be Earth’s Most Eligible Bachelor, or whatever stupid title the paparazzi had for him that meant he was still single and potentially available. He hadn’t been on the market since Afghanistan, but that hadn’t deterred the media in the least.
Nicholas J. Fury was standing just outside the doors to the chapel, his only concession to the fact that this was a wedding rather than a combat situation the single red rose stuck through one of the buttonholes on his leather jacket. He glared at Tony. “You sure about this?” he asked.
Tony grinned brightly. “Why, Nicky! I didn’t know you cared!” he purred, batting his eyelashes. Fury just scowled, his mouth thinning into a flat line, and Tony swanned on past him. “Oh, and tell Coulson I said hi, won’t you?” he called back over his shoulder, feeling smug when Fury barked his name. Really, for a super secret spy agency (or was that former super secret spy agency now?), their security was incredibly lax. Jarvis had never left it, no matter how many times they had tried to remove him from their systems. A fact which Coulson had known, and taken advantage of to discreetly suggest that Tony destroy the T.A.H.I.T.I Project. Tony had agreed; super soldiers notwithstanding, there was no need to go mucking about with the natural order of things.
Speaking of super soldiers, Tony looked up as the doors opened to admit him, then stopped and stared, stunned. Bucky looked...well, like a runway fashion model, but better . Definitely sexier, Tony mused. Storm grey eyes offset by the deep black of his suit, hair tied back into an elegant man-bun, back straight and confidence radiating from him as he turned and looked at Tony, his mouth curling into a brilliant smile. Tony shuddered as the feelings flooded through the Bond, amazement and admiration and wonder and love all pouring into him. He staggered, and the bombardment of emotion slowed, calming down, but not lessening in its intensity.
Standing straight, Tony threw open the Bond and sent his own love and awe and determination and pride back to Bucky, watching those eyes flutter closed in pleasure.
Secure that he had made the right decision, Tony headed down the aisle, towards the rest of his life.
Towards his Soulmate.