I am extremely sorry for how long it took to get this out. I've had lots of surprises lately, but I think I'm now done for the rest of summer. So, more stuff coming soon. Thank you for your patience :D

A huge thank you as always to samantha-shakespeare! (Sorry I forgot to put that on the chapter for LGL I put out today)


Tony stood by himself in his newly renovated bar, shifting his weight back and forth from foot to foot. He was nervous; in his pocket he felt the weight of the engagement ring he planned to give to Pepper as soon as she walked in.

About an hour before, Tony had left Bruce in the lab, just saying, "Be right back!" and then not returning. He supposed it was rude, but it didn't really concern him. After his exit at the lab, Tony called Pepper at work and told her to meet him in the bar as soon as she could. He had big plans for her that day.

Tony took another drink of his whiskey. It wasn't nearly strong enough to calm his nerves, but he figured it'd probably all go over better if he wasn't wasted when he asked Pepper to marry him.

The elevator doors opened behind him and he sucked in a deep breath.

"Ok," Tony began, "Before you say anything, I just want to say: I love you very much, and… marry me."

"This is all very sudden, Tony. I value our friendship way too much. And think of Pepper," Bruce's voice rang out. Tony turned to look at him and saw his shit-eating grin but could say nothing before the elevator doors slid open again and Pepper's voice filled the air.

"Tony, I'm really busy right now, so whatever is so important—"

Tony turned to look at her and his expression cut her off. She gave him a questioning look, but let him speak. Bruce knew where this was going and caught the elevator as it left.

"Pepper, we've been doing this thing for—what? Three years now?"

"Four," she corrected, a weak smile on her face.

"Four. Yeah." He paused. "You know you mean the world to me, and that I'm not really good at the whole lovey-dovey emotions sort of thing, but I would really like it if you'd marry me." Tony put his drink down and dug into his pocket. Pepper had dropped the file she was holding and walked over to Tony. "I have this ring," Tony said, showing her. "And—"

"Yes. Yes, Tony," Pepper said, beaming.

"Yes? You mean… you will?" Tony was taken aback, but a grin spread across his face as well. Pepper answered by kissing him, to which Tony enthusiastically responded.

After a moment, Tony pulled back and slipped the ring on her finger.

"Jarvis, rally the troops; I have big news for everyone. And I think this calls for a party."

"Yes, and congratulations, sir. May I suggest a glass of champagne for this occasion?" the computer's voice answered.

"That sounds like a great idea," Tony said, turning and pouring two glasses. Handing one to Pepper, he moved to make a toast. "Here's to… a happy, uneventful engagement and marriage."

"Uneventful?" Pepper asked, clinking her glass to his. "Around here, I don't even think that's a possibility."

"Well, let's just hope nobody destroys the city again any time soon. I can think of a lot of other things I'd rather do while married to you," Tony amended.

Pepper snorted and rolled her eyes. "I'll drink to that."


"It's not your place to tell me who I can and can't marry, Erik!" Jane exclaimed.

"Thor is reckless and dangerous, Jane," Erik Selvig tried to argue.

The two scientists were in the lab in Stark Tower, their new base of operations. Jane had just told Erik of her plans to eventually marry Thor, to which he had responded less than ideally. She did love Thor, but Erik only saw the potential danger he was to Jane. Thor was a warrior, a superhero from another realm, and Jane was just a scientist. Erik didn't see the relationship going anywhere good, and he honestly worried for Jane.

"I don't care if he's dangerous, which he's not. Not to me. You know he'd never hurt me, and you know how we feel about each other." The doors to the lab slid open and Tony Stark walked in. He opened his mouth to speak, but Jane cut him off. "I'll marry him, whether we have your blessings or not."

"Ah, looks like I walked in on the wrong conversation. Trouble in paradise?" Tony asked, looking from Jane to Erik.

"She says that she's going to marry Thor," Erik said, turning and looking at a file on the counter behind him.

"Well congratulations," Tony said, smiling at Jane. When Erik turned and gave him a look, though, he raised an eyebrow and looked to Jane again. "I mean, oh no, how could you," he tried again, speaking unsurely.

"Tell her to reconsider, Tony. Maybe she'll take your word over mine," Erik said.

"I won't be taking anybody's word. I can take care of myself. Thor and I love each other, and that's what matters."

Tony bit his lip, rocked back on his heels, and pretended to be contemplating something. "Well," he began, "You could always be a nun."

"What kind of advice is that?" Erik exclaimed, as Jane simultaneously said, "Excuse me?"

"It's great advice. Now, for why I actually came in here: Pepper and I are getting married. We're having a party tomorrow night. You two should both come, but leave the domestic troubles at home. Bye."

With that, Tony left the two of them alone.


James Rhodes, Bruce Banner, Steve Rogers, and Happy Hogun sat around one of the tables in Stark Tower. Bruce had all just told them about the engagement, and now the four men were trying to plan what to get Tony for an engagement present as a group.

"What can we get for someone who's richer than all of us put together?" Bruce asked, sitting back in his chair.

"That's just it," Rhodey said, "We can't get him anything. We'll have to make him something if we want him to actually appreciate it."

"That, or get him a good bottle of Scotch. From what I've seen, he'll greatly appreciate that," Steve muttered, crossing his arms.

"We could have some kind of show," Happy suggested. "You know, have Jarvis help us put something together. Like fireworks over the tower."

"Yeah, that could work. If we organized a huge show for him, he'd love that," Rhodey agreed.

"When are we going to plan that out? Tony usually watches over what people have Jarvis do. He'll at least be listening," Bruce pointed out.

"Tonight. We'll meet back here after Tony's asleep, and then after we're done we'll have Jarvis erase it from his memory. Easy as that," Rhodey said.

"Yeah," Steve scoffed. "Easy."

"We'll put on the best show Tony's ever seen," Happy said. "It'll be like the Stark Expo, except the city won't be on fire and people won't die."

"That's always a good thing to avoid," Bruce said dryly.

"It'll be great," Rhodey said, ignoring Bruce's comment. "Meet back here tonight at one."


"Loki!" Darcy yelled out, following him down the hallway toward the elevator. "Get back here! You can't be out this late or I'll be the one to get in trouble."

Loki was already at the elevator. When Darcy caught up to him, she paused for a moment.

"Woo. Still alive but I'm barely breathing, am I right?" she said, more to herself.

"What?" Loki was still behind on the pop culture references.

"Not important. But you need to go back to your room. Director Fury will have your head and my ass if you're out this late."

"It's only around nine in the evening. That hardly counts as 'late.' Besides that, I have little care for what Director Fury has to say or if you get into any trouble with your superiors. Now, I am going up to the bar for a drink," Loki answered, pressing the button for the elevator.

"Well, I care about both of those things enough for the both of us. You need to come back to your room."

Loki looked her way and raised an eyebrow. "I'm going to have to say no," he said.

"Well, I'm going to have to insist." She reached into her bag and pulled out her taser. "Go back to your room, or I'll tase your ass and call for someone to physically move you while I go have a drink. Your choice."

The elevator doors opened. Loki and Darcy glared at each other, neither of them moving.

"You're lucky I don't have my magic, girl. When I get it back, however, I'll make you regret ever working for this organization."

"I already regret working for this organization. Now, back to the room." She motioned down the hall with her taser and put her free hand on her hip defiantly.

Loki started to move as if he were turning back, but suddenly he faced her again and, grabbing the taser, twisted it from her hand. Without breaking eye contact, he tightened his hand around the weapon until she heard the plastic cracking. She glanced down at it as the taser fell to the ground in pieces.

"Now, you can either stand there gawking, or you can just come with me." Loki stuck his hand out to catch the door just before it started to slide shut. Darcy sighed heavily and walked past him and onto the elevator.

The ride up to the bar was awkward. The two of them rarely spoke, but when they did it was usually loud and infuriated. He was pleasant on rare occasions, but he'd catch himself being nice and quickly act like a dick to make up for it.

The doors opened and Darcy and Loki were met with the sight of Thor and Jane on the couch across the room, passionately kissing and rubbing each other.

"Wonderful," Loki deadpanned, clearly less than thrilled by what he saw.

"Hey!" Darcy yelled out, stepping off the elevator and walking toward the bar, Loki in tow. "This is a public area. Take that to your room or make it PG for us kids." Jane and Thor separated, both looking slightly embarrassed. "I'm going to need a very strong drink to get that image out of my head," Darcy said to Loki, who nodded in agreement.

"Darcy, I'm glad you're here," Jane said, standing up. "I have something important to tell you."

"If this is about the marriage, I already heard," Darcy said as she poured a drink for herself and Loki. They picked up their glasses and Darcy clinked hers against Loki's, who looked surprised by her action but said nothing.

"You already heard about Thor and I?" Jane asked, looking confused. Darcy nearly did a spit-take.

"You and Thor what?" Darcy asked, coughing. Her throat burned from the alcohol going down the wrong way.

"Thor and I are getting married," Jane said proudly, glancing back at the big guy.

"Are you sure about this?" Loki asked, looking directly at Thor. After speaking, he patted Darcy a few times on the back slightly harder than necessary as she bent over and nearly wheezed. It seemed to work, because the coughing stopped.

"Thanks," she muttered with a hoarse voice, standing up straight again.

"I am very sure. We love each other, and as soon as we get married, the All-Father will have her become immortal. We have discussed it greatly, and it is what we both want," Thor said.

Loki looked from Jane to his adoptive brother. "Whatever you want, Thor," was all he said.

"Well," Darcy interjected, "I'm happy for you guys. Do you know about when you'll be tying the knot?"

Thor and Jane looked at each other, grinning. Jane was the one who answered. "We plan to elope tomorrow night."

Darcy coughed again, but this time Loki was the one who had been taking a drink when she spoke. He handled this with much more poise, however, and got down what was in his mouth without having a near-asthma attack.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Darcy asked. "I mean, why would you elope?"

"We want to get married now because we can't wait any longer," Jane explained. Darcy and Loki exchanged a glance.

"We want the two of you to be there," Thor said.

"Does that count as eloping?" Darcy asked, turning to Loki. "I thought to elope you had to run away in the middle of the night after finding out you're two months pregnant." She looked to Jane and raised an eyebrow. "You're not pregnant, are you?"

Loki snorted. Jane looked utterly insulted.

"No, that is not the case here, Lady Darcy," Thor said. "We simply want to be married so we can truly consummate our love." Loki nearly wheezed and Darcy hit him a couple times on the back.

"You can stop right there, big guy," Darcy said. "I get it. Well, you can count me in for the secret marriage. I'll totally be there for your non-pregnant surprise marriage."

"Excellent!" Thor exclaimed. He looked to Loki. "And you, brother?"

Loki rolled his eyes and sighed heavily. "I suppose," he said.

"Great!" Jane said, beaming. "We'll meet here tomorrow night."

Loki and Darcy exchanged another look. This was going to be interesting.