"You've never liked anyone that I've dated, Tony. It's hard for me to take your opinion seriously."
"That's because they're all a-holes."
"I dated you," you smirked.
"And my point is made." Tony stepped away for just a moment, answering the buzzing phone in the pocket of his tuxedo jacket. "Excuse me, sweetheart, be right back."
You nodded silently, turning to smooth the silk of your wedding dress and check your make-up one final time. Looking at the white dress was supposed to make you happy, wasn't it? You stared at yourself blankly, waiting for the tears of happiness to hit you, like you had been told they were going to, but they never came. Your soon-to-be husband had been almost intolerable in the past few weeks before the wedding, more moody and angry with you than usual. He had said that his job was really stressful, so you always gave him the benefit of the doubt that he was just overworked, and now you gave him leeway for wedding stress, but a part of you worried that this was who he was going to be from now on.
"Hey, (Y/N), we need to talk."
Tony's voice startled you from your thoughts, giving your dress a final smoothing before turning to face him. "Can it wait? I have something to do first," you smirked, spinning yourself in front of him. "Kinda hard to reschedule."
"No, it can't," he said with a stern expression, taking your hand and pulling you close, handing you his phone with the screen filled with information about your fiancé. "Try to stay calm, okay? My timing really sucks, I know, but you're not doing this."
"Hmm," you hummed through tight lips as you read the information on the screen, seeing the intel that proved that the man waiting for you right now was HYDRA. "Okay, so go ahead and gloat, Tony. Let's just get it out there now."
Tony looked at you completely confused, having expected you to blow up, or cry, or anything more than the reaction you were giving him. He knew that you were tough, but this was a pretty extreme situation to hold in. "(Y/N)? Is that all you're going to say? For me to react?"
"Oh, I'm going to react, honey, don't you worry," you sighed, handing his phone back to him before turning back to the mirror. "But first, you need to walk me out there."
"No, (Y/N), there's no way in hell that I'm walking you to that guy. You've completely lost your mind if you think that's going to happen." He approached you to take your arm, but you didn't see him and took a step forward before his fingers connected. Reaching into your bag you pulled out your handgun and slipped it into your garter.
"Tony, come on. My entire side of the church is made up of Avengers and SHIELD agents, and he knows it. I guarantee that his side is filled with HYDRA idiots. There's gonna be blood on the floor. Did you bring the suit?"
"Why on Earth would I bring my suit to your wedding?!" he said loudly, his hands in the air in exasperation as he turned and motioned to an empty room.
"Because it's you?"
He stopped and took a deep breath, his shoulders relaxing with his long exhalation, "yeah, it's in the car."
~~~
Tony held onto your arm with a grip that almost hurt, but you didn't say anything, knowing that he was growing more and more nervous with each step closer to the altar. Your no-longer-going-to-be husband watched as you approached, his disdain for Tony clearly written across his face. He knew that Tony hated him already, but little did he know how much stronger those feelings were now. You gave him a complacent smile, turned to accept a kiss on the cheek from Tony, then took a few steps up to your place next to him.
"It's about time you got here," he whispered angrily.
"Sorry, I got held up," you replied under your breath.
"With Tony, I imagine?"
"Yeah, we were having a heated debate about the similarities and differences between SHIELD and HYDRA and how that will affect this marriage."
In the flash of seconds, you were both armed and aiming at each other, neither of you about to back down. The poor minister's eyes widened and he gasped at the sudden outburst in his church, with not only the two of you now holding weapons on each other, but the crowd behind you doing the same across the narrow aisle. It was a stand-off that had no likelihood of ending well. Tony was only a few feet to your left, ready to summon his suit on your signal, and Steve was next to Nat and Sam in the pews, each of them armed and guarded by his shield that he conveniently had under his seat. Clint had quickly grabbed his bow and quiver from a nearby floral arrangement, and Thor's hammer was already in his hand.
"When did you know? Did Tony tell you? Of course he did, what am I thinking? That guy has always been in our business."
"That guy actually cares about me. Unlike you. So don't you think this whole wedding charade is a little elaborate to get at the Avengers? HYDRA must be running out of ideas," you scoffed. You raised your gun just slightly higher and steadied your stance, "you're not getting out of here alive, you know." You were watching Steve from your peripheral vision, knowing he would give you a signal when he was ready. When it finally came, you took your one chance to take your ex down for good.
The room exploded with activity immediately, each side of the aisle attacking the other; Tony raised his hand for his suit to connect, but it never came. He pushed you down behind the pulpit to protect you, despite your insistence to let you join the team. "Do you have an extra gun?" he asked over the commotion, slapping his forearms over the malfunctioning chip implants to try to get his suit to recognize him.
"Yeah, Tony, I have a full weapons cabinet tucked away in here," you replied sarcastically. "It's not exactly like a planned a bloodbath on my wedding day." You looked down at your dress, the white silk now splattered with blood. "Well that's just great. There's five thousand that I'll never see again." Leaning to the side, you saw several HYDRA agents that were unarmed; you stood and took aim, easily defeating them and returning to your spot on the floor. "Why exactly did the team bring their gear to the church?"
"Can never be too careful, sweetheart." Tony peeked around the side of the old wooden stand that was serving as your only protection and saw his opportunity. "I need you to cover me so I can get to the suit." He stood and ran for the window before you could reply, so you jumped up to cover him without taking a sweeping glance of the surroundings, completely against everything Steve had ever taught you.
"Not cool, Tony! You can't just run off-" you yelled, your words broken by a bullet piercing your shoulder and knocking you back, flat on the floor. "You have got to be kidding me," you hissed between clenched teeth with a few coughs to catch your breath.
Tony quickly ran back to you, dropping at your side and taking off his suit coat, tearing the sleeve away to tie around your wound for pressure to stop the bleeding. "(Y/N), I'm so sorry! This is all my fault!" he said as he continued to work frantically, "I'm sorry!"
"Yes, it is your fault," you groaned, wincing in pain as he pulled the cloth tighter. "It's hard to cover you now, you idiot."
"You know I can't help as much without my suit."
"Then learn how to shoot."
"You wouldn't teach me! You said I was unteachable!"
"No, I said you were arrogant and unteachable," you hissed, starting to feel a little lightheaded.
"Okay, we need to get you out of here," he said, looking frantically around him for a way out. "Rogers!"
"I'm a little busy over here," Steve called back, slamming his shield into the face of his assailant and moving on to the next. "You sure have a strange idea of a fun wedding, (Y/N)!"
You pushed up on the elbow of your uninjured side and reached around the pulpit to shoot at another HYDRA agent, stopping them from getting closer, followed by two more who challenged you by mistakenly thinking you were vulnerable.
"Stop shooting, (Y/N)! Just be injured!" Tony scolded. "Let me do that," he snapped, reaching for your gun but failing to take it when you were too fast and pulled it away. "Are you serious right now? Just give me the damn gun!"
"You don't know what you're doing." You pulled your hand back and held the weapon tightly against you. "And it's mine. Back off, Stark."
Tony reached for it again, leaning closer to get a better grip. Your thumb shifted quickly to lock the safety, knowing that if Tony Stark were anywhere near a loaded weapon, someone was getting hurt, more so than you already were. "(Y/N), why can't you just do what I tell you? You're always so stubborn. That's why we never worked out, you know."
Your brows furrowed in confusion at the sudden change of topic, wondering why he would possibly bring up your failed attempt at dating now, though it was likely just to throw you off guard. It was long decided that you were great as friends, so this was completely out of nowhere. "Are you nuts?" you laughed, despite the stabbing pain growing worse in your shoulder as you fought him, "that was all your fault! I may be stubborn, but you're just plain impossible."
"Well then maybe we're perfect for each other and just didn't realize it."
"Yeah, a perfect disaster..." your voice trailed away as he leaned down to press his lips to yours, taking you by surprise. You didn't push him away, finding comfort in the feel of him and remembering how it felt the first time he had done the same thing years ago. Even though the sudden weight of him against you sent a surge of pain through your arm, and the fight was raging around you, you didn't let that stop you from allowing yourself to enjoy the unexpected moment with him.
"It's good to know that we could cover you guys for this..." Natasha huffed, leaning over the altar to look down at you, a smirk crossing her lips. "Totally worth almost dying so you could make out in a church. Seems a little distasteful, but, to each his own."
~~~
2 years later
"How's he doing?"
"Nervous," Steve sighed with a small nod, "but he's okay."
"No surprises this time, right? No church full of HYDRA agents? You left your shield at home this time? Do I need to bring my gun again?" you scoffed, pulling your veil down over your face and turning to face him.
"No. there's no HYDRA, and I prefer to not disclose the location of my shield," he smirked. "But you might still want the gun. He's never been more annoying and you might just thank me later." Steve linked your arm through his and led you through the door of the bridal suite and towards the chapel. He rested his hand over yours, pausing to feel a slight tremble in it. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," you said with a shaky exhalation, "the last time I tried this, it didn't go so well."
He pulled you closer to him and gave you a soft kiss against your hair, "nothing is going to go wrong, just relax. I mean, come on, what are the odds of that happening twice?"
"With this group, almost zero," you sighed, finally catching sight of Tony at the end of the aisle. "Don't let me fall, Steve."
"I could carry you, if you'd like to make a more dramatic entrance?"
"Hey, Rogers," Tony called out from his position, "could you bring my lovely bride to me today, please? I'd like to get married before you're a hundred and can't make it this far."
Squeezing your eyes shut, you let out a soft groan and shook your head, "no, Steve, I think we can take care of the dramatics on our own, thanks." You reached down to your side and tapped your leg, making sure the weapon at your side wasn't too obvious. "And thanks for the tip, this might come in handy after all."