Chapter Text
-4 hours and 37 minutes until the wedding
“Tony,” Steve says. “Could I…?”
“No,” Tony immediately responds, picking up his pace. Steve frowns and begins to follow him, catching up without problem—something that just seems to piss Tony off even more. “I said no ,” he repeats, shooting Steve a glare, and Steve can’t help but smile at him like he always used to when Tony would get like this.
“I think you and Peter need to talk,” Steve says, grabbing one of Tony’s elbows to get him to stop walking away, so they can actually talk. After all, Tony’s never been the athletic type, and it would have been a long shot for him to have actually responded to Steve. “I’m serious. Last night I was talking to him and… I think Peter’s really afraid of—”
Tony blinks slowly, cutting him off. “What gives you the right to tell me what to do?” he asks with an ironic half-smile.
“Because I know what you usually do when you think people are pulling away from you,” Steve replies. Tony twists his arm out of his grasp with a fast movement and turns to look Steve in the eye, turning up his chin. “Tony, that kid thinks that is he moves on and goes off somewhere, that his dad—”
“Steve, please,” Tony mutters in response. “Listen. Is it— do you want to be a part of the wedding? Wonderful. Do whatever you want. But just stay…” he huffs and puts his hands up. “Stay away from me, okay? Just… stay the hell away from me.”
Steve tilts his head sadly. “Don’t you realize that he’s just searching desperately for a reason for you to stay with him?” he asks. Tony rolls his eyes and turns to walk away faster. This time, Steve doesn’t follow him. He just stands and watches him, and feels a terrible burden upon himself.
-4 hours and 5 minutes until the wedding
Peter sighs, throwing his head back, before realizing that Wade is on the beach, playing with a Hot Wheels car.
“I get it,” Peter says to him, sighing and falling to his knees in the sand beside him, all while Wade continues making weird noises from his mouth. “This wasn’t what I thought was going to happen. Of course dad’s always been—oh God, what did I do ?” He puts his face in his hands and folds over to rest on Wade’s shoulder. “And of course you’re going to be enough for me,” he mumbles. “Who am I kidding, you’re going to be too much for me. It’s not a matter of family. It’s like…”
Wade turns himself to face Peter and moves his shoulder, just to get on his nerves. When Peter looks up at him, Wade says: “You won the lottery.”
“I know,” Peter responds in a murmur. And a second later, a wave reaches them and Peter’s legs are coated in sand; Wade’s pants, meanwhile, are entirely soaked, and by their proximity, have gotten Peter’s shorts wet, as well. Wade pulls Peter down by the shirt, landing him in the sand, and Peter kicks at his knees to get free. They both end up laughing.
And thus they find themselves once again wrestling like kids in the sand while wearing each other’s underwear instead of preparing for their wedding. Like they should be doing. And sure, Peter may have shouted insults towards his dad and might be feeling the teeniest bit guilty. Even now, as Wade grabs a handful of sand and rubs it into Peter’s hair, as he kisses him and another wave crashes over them. Peter feels himself suffocating.
-3 hours and 35 minutes until the wedding
Pepper huffs as she drags Peter along by his soaked, sandy shirt and when she sees Tony, seated beside Rhodey and drinking his daily dose of coffee, she stops in front of them and grabs Tony by the shirt, as well.
“What’s wrong?” Tony asks, keeping his voice down, and Pepper huffs again before turning to Peter, who’s looking at his feet.
“Peter was meant to be getting ready for his wedding.” Pepper turns to the boy. “We’re talking about your wedding, do you hear me? Nobody else’s wedding. Yours .” She turns back to face Tony. “And you know where I find him? Laying down with Wade. On the beach.”
“Well…” Tony starts, likely about to defend his son, when Pepper’s eyebrow twitches and she stomps on the ground to cut him off.
“No, no ‘well.’ And you know what he said to me when I started bringing him over to get him to shower, seeing as he smelled like sand and seaweed and… and Wade?”
“He smelled like—? Pepper, why are you telling me all this?” Tony asks with a frown, but she’s not focused on him. Pepper smacks Peter on the shoulder to get him to speak.
Peter keeps his gaze downturned and brings a hand up to rub his neck nervously. “I said I couldn’t go and get ready without talking to my dad first.” He shrugs his shoulders and worries his lip.
“So now, you get to help him get changed, and in the meantime both of you stay away from me and everything that has to do with this wedding until everything’s ready. Okay? I love you both dearly, but get the hell away from me. Shoo.”
She has no time to hear how they respond. She has to go speak with hundreds of other people so she can get this show on the road, so she turns on her heel and leaves.
-2 hours and 12 minutes until the wedding
Peter stays still, looking at his reflection in the mirror, while Tony puts his hands around his shoulders, smiling with a mix of happy and sad that Peter’s seen so many times in his life he’s lost count.
“At least now you don’t smell like… Wade, I guess,” Tony mutters, resting his chin on Peter’s shoulder. “And all that sand’s out of your hair. But don’t get too close to Pepper, or she might have a nervous breakdown.” Tony smiles, before pulling back and giving Peter a quick pat on the shoulder.
Peter turns in place, trying for a smile and taking Tony’s hand to keep him from going anywhere. “Dad,” he calls softly. “Earlier, I didn’t mean…”
Tony runs a hand through Peter’s hair and bends down so that they’re at the same level. “I know,” he tells him, and then adjusts Peter’s red necktie. “It’s all okay,” he repeats. He thinks back to the very first time that Peter asked for his father’s help to get dressed like this: it was for a winter formal, to which he’d asked out an older girl. Hours were spent trying to teach Peter how to tie his tie properly. Hours more spent with Jarvis and Peter trying to raise the boy’s self esteem, just a bit. He smiles then, smoothing out Peter’s jacket. “It’s no problem.”
And Peter, for the first time in his life, seemed unsure in his father’s words, moving around nervously in his spot. “Dad,” he says again, taking his hands in his once more. “I did something and— Dad, I love you, and I’m…”
Tony laughs. “You don’t have to—”
“No dad, I do. I have to tell you. I love you, and I didn’t mean any of the things that I said. I don’t even know if anything I said made sense . I thought that maybe you—.... But I know now. I know you built a family, that I have so many aunts and uncles and cousins and people who love me, but you started out by yourself. I am scared, but not because I think I’m going to end up like you. Because dad… ending up like you would be the best thing that could happen to me. You… you raised me, you adopted me, you’ve always been there for me, and now we’re never alone, not really, and it’s—” Peter needs to catch his breath, running one hand past his lips and against his nose while the other keeps its grip on Tony. “And I don’t want to be alone, now. Even—and I don’t mean like I won’t still have Wade and all our family and Michelle and Ned, but I mean you …. You’re my point of reference, right? And so I’m really really scared that you— that you’re not gonna be there anymore.”
Tony furrows his brow. “Oh, Peter, what are you—?”
“Because you’re not— those people, Steve, Stephen and Natasha, they wanted to stay in our lives, right? But… dad, I need no. I need you to stay with me and not disappear. Don’t forget that I’m… because that’s what Starks do, right? We don’t ask people to stay. People who want to stick around do , and we don’t care if other people leave and we leave them, too. But dad, I really need…. I need us to stay the Starks, because I don’t know what I’d—”
“Oh, kiddo,” Tony starts, smoothing over Peter’s cheekbone with his thumb. “How could I forget about my son?” he asks and Peter lowers his gaze. Tony sighs and pulls him into a hug, stroking his hair. “What, do you think I’m just gonna stop leaving super-embarrassing comments on your Instagram?”
Peter laughs and hugs back, keeping his tight, desperate grip. “No… dad, I…”
“Do you remember there was a time when you refused to call me ‘dad’? Or ‘baba’?” Tony asks, tilting his head. Peter opens his mouth to object, but Tony breaks into a laugh. “You told everybody you saw to send you back to Queens, and you refused to respond to your last name whenever anybody called you ‘Parker-Stark’.”
“Really? You want to tell me about this right now? Really?”
“And do you remember when you used to ask me over and over about your real parents? You kept telling me your biological parents would let you do everything I said no to, and I had no idea what to say to that. So…”
“So we went to the cemetery.” Peter nods slowly. “I remember.”
“And I told you exactly what I’m going to tell you now,” Tony says, nodding with a smirk. “No matter what, whether you like it or not, I am your father. And in honor of those two people, I took on the responsibility of raising you. And because I love you, I’m going to keep on raising you and being here for you. So, I don’t know, if this is your way of putting me to the test, of seeing if I’m good enough for you, then go ahead and put me to the test. I’m not going anywhere.” He smiles at Peter, whose eyes are red and watery when he returns his gaze. “That’s a promise. Okay?”
The boy bites his lip and nods. “I remember,” he repeats.
“You were the best thing that could have possibly happened to me. And you were the best decision I ever made. I’m telling you this because I’ve made terrible decisions before, I’ve—I have made so many mistakes in my life. But you… you are my pride and joy, Peter Parker-Stark.” Tony ruffles Peter’s hair and immediately regrets it, because it means he’ll just have to style it again, or else hide from Pepper for the rest of his days. “Never doubt that, kid.”
Peter nods more emphatically and hugs him again.
Tony sighs. “Is this why you were acting so weird yesterday?”
“Umm…” Peter lamely replies. “I… may have done something that may not have been the best thing to do, but I’m sure you’ll forgive me because you love me so much.” He sniffs. “Dad, please, don’t get mad.”
-51 minutes until the wedding
Tony is slowly following the procession of people taking everyone up to the church and while Steve knows what Tony’s asked of him, he also knows that he can’t keep away from Tony. Not while he looks so broken-up and dejected. Steve takes a deep breath and makes his way over, trying to avoid being noticed. But Tony sees him, and simply looks up and smiles at Steve vacantly.
“Why do you always have to be right all the time?” Tony asks, keeping his voice low. Steve looks down. “Thank you. For Peter,” he tells him, but that’s it. He raises a hand to keep Steve from talking. To leave things how they are.
Steve’s eyebrows tighten, as does his jaw. “Tony,” he tries. “I’m here.”
Tony turns toward him. He shrugs one shoulder, and keeps on walking.
-56 seconds until the wedding
Peter stands before the altar, while Ned adjusts the cufflinks on his sleeves. He’s terribly nervous, certainly because he’s about to be married and nobody knows where Wade’s run off to. (None of it is helped by the priest, who’s muttering things to himself that Peter doesn’t even wish he understood.)
He sees his father, who’s speaking with Uncle Thor and Uncle Bruce. And that should be enough for him. Of course there’s also Aunt Pepper, who’s probably going to kill Wade with her bare hands because, still, he hasn’t been seen anywhere so maybe they should go out and look for him and—
“I object!” Wade shouts from the entrance to the church and Peter turns to look at him, trying to get a handle on what Wade’s trying to do, all dressed up in his too-colorful tuxedo. Okay, yeah, Pepper’s definitely going to kill him. Wade runs down the aisle, stopping right in front of Peter. He takes him in his arms, as if he were some sort of princess, and tries to run back out of the church.
“Wade! What the fuck!?” Peter shouts, trying to get himself down. “What the hell are you thinking?” He kicks his legs and Wade laughs.
“I was thinking that getting married is stupid, and that we could just get, like, a cottage in the country and eat chimichangas for the rest of our lives. It’s not like we don’t have the money. I’m rich, and your dad’s rich.”
“You’re the one who wanted to get married!” shouts Peter.
“And now I changed my mind! I could still change my mind.”
“Oh for the love of…” Peter hides his face in his hands. “So, what are we supposed to do now?”
“In Mamma Mia, at the end, Sky and Sophie decide to travel the world, so instead of getting married, they go on a trip around the globe. But you’ve already been on too many trips around the globe, yourself. We could probably just live a simple life in the country, right?”
“...What are you talking about?”
“So is there even going to be a wedding?” Ned asks, and Peter is way too confused to know how to respond to that. Is he really that disappointed that he isn’t getting married? No, not really. In the end, he got to have what he really wanted. He has dad, he has the security of knowing he’ll never have to choose between him and Wade and he wants… he wants to enjoy this limbo he finds himself in, feeling like he’s still a kid who can pretend to not have the few responsibilities that he does. So sure, the wedding doesn’t need to happen, even if that means that Peter will have to hide from his Aunt Pepper for the rest of his life.
“I propose,” Wade replies in a shout, “that Steve finally talk to Tony and that they get married.”
“What?!” Peter balks.
-0 seconds until the wedding
“What?” Steve echoes, and it’s almost lost among the chaos in the church. Tony wishes he could disappear into the void and watches as Pepper moves toward him in an effort to keep him from doing anything stupid.
“Yeah,” Wade continues. “We’re at the end of a musical, so everything has to end in the least realistic way possible. The three that Peter specially invited get to join the big family that all these folks have created, and one of them has to pledge their eternal love to Tony because, well, it’s how they feel. And seeing as everyone here already knows that Steve—do I have to point him out? That guy, over there. Blond, extremely handsome. Tony really hit the jackpot. Anyway, he—that guy—has been walking around the island like he’s made the biggest mistake of his life and seeing as how every time Tony shows up he has to be held back so he doesn’t go up to him… I think those two should get married.”
Peter sighs, still trying to wiggle his way back to the ground. “Wade, really, I think you should take a deep breath and try to maybe speak in front of my whole family like you’re not completely crazy?”
“You know I can’t do that.”
Steve sighs, turning toward Tony. And he smiles at him. “Would you say yes?” he asks and Tony can’t help but smile. What an idiot. People are looking at him like he’s serious, because this is one of those things that you’d have to know Steve Rogers in order to understand. His extremely stupid sense of humor. Tony has to smile.
“I’ll do it if you’ll do it,” he responds, and an embarrassing silence falls over the church. Tony can’t help himself, he breaks into a laugh. Steve covers his mouth.
“See?” Wade mutters and Peter elbows him to shut him up.
“Tony’s not gonna do it,” Rhodey interrupts, shaking his head. “You guys wanna be aunts and uncles? Okay, welcome to the family. Do what you want. But Tony is not marrying Steve today.”
“But they could resolve all their issues publicly like they do in rom-coms,” Wade suggests. “Isn’t that something everyone ought to do at some point in their life? Like sex on the beach.”
“Wade, please…. My cousins are here.” Peter whispers.
“If it’ll get Tony to listen to me.” Steve shrugs. “I’ll do that, too.”
“God bless fanfiction.”
Peter doesn’t even bother anymore trying to shut him up. He starts to laugh, hiding his face in Wade’s shoulder. “Oh, come on,” he mutters, and Wade smiles, entertained, before returning to look at the scene he’s made.
“Okay, well then, what do you want to say to me?” Tony asks Steve, shaking his head lightly. “You’ve already said everything you wanted to to me. You said you were going to be transferred. You said that it was important to you. What else do you want to say?”
“It didn’t seem to matter to you,” Steve replies. “You just told me to go. Take it. Nothing else except ‘go’.”
“What else was I supposed to say? Stay? Sacrifice everything you’ve fought your whole life for, just so you can—can just end up resenting me? Or Peter? Or both of us? Was that really what you wanted me to have said? Because that’s not something I could have said. Because I loved you. And I still love the idea of you. And I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself had I been the cause of…” He shakes his head. “Of your unhappiness.”
“You could have said it.” Steve has the kind of severe look on his face, like when he’s trying to say something difficult. “I went away and I lost you. I lost Peter. I lost my art. And when I tried to come back, not even a month later, what happened was—when I wanted to come back, you weren’t there anymore.”
Tony blinks slowly and rubs his forehead. “So what do you want to do now?” he asks.
“We could give it another shot.” Steve shrugs one shoulder. “I’ll do it if you’ll do it,” he repeats Tony’s words with a smirk.
Tony sees Rhodey roll his eyes, but he knows he won’t say anything so long as this makes him happy. Bruce sends the two of them curious looks. Tony smiles in return.
“Okay,” he responds, clearing his throat. “Okay,” he repeats in a slightly louder voice. “I’ll do it.” And for the first time in twenty four hours, he lets his body move without being held back by fear of what he might do. It’s the first time he lets himself approach Steve.
“God bless fanfiction,” Wade repeats, and Peter just rolls his eyes.