Today this could be
The greatest day of our lives
Before it all ends
Before we run out of time
Stay close to me
Stay close to me
Watch the world come alive tonight
Stay close to me
Tonight this could be
The greatest night of our lives
Let's make a new start
The future is ours to find
Greatest Day, by Take That, from the album Greatest Day, released in 2008
Three Days Remaining
Peter was sat down in his room, with Sparrow sitting down on his bed, as they both typed rapidly. They'd put all things on hold, in an attempt to get JARVIS ready to give to Tony, as a sort of engagement gift. It was largely slow going though, but with FRIDAY's help, they'd managed to progress a little bit, with at least two-thirds of the code fixed.
Two-thirds sounded like a lot, but when the code was thousands of lines long, it wasn't really. Still, they all worked together, determined to get it finished. They both took turns heading down to the Common Room and retrieve food and drinks, with FRIDAY acting as their Tony spy, they hadn't been caught once.
"Roe, how are you doing with his memory banks?"
There was a pregnant pause, as her typing became more audible, resting her laptop on her lap as she rapidly typed. Sparrow looked deep in concentration and Peter didn't want to upset her or interrupt her for various reasons- echoes of May's Peter, don't be rude spiel shining through- she did look up for a little while, reaching out and having a drink.
"Difficult. Still corrupted but regaining a few memories here and there. Going to tackle his access to them next."
Peter hummed, not pursuing the conversation any further. The music playlist that was playing helped to fill the ensuing silence, and was something that the two of them could bond over. Or, whatever you wanted to call it. As much as Peter hated to admit it, Sparrow would likely listen to whatever he had on, regardless of her feelings, because she would never tell Peter whether she disliked it or not.
Peter had adapted to her behaviour, like the others, because well, she had been living with them for a while now, had fought with them, and had stood up for Tony against everyone else, even protecting him on occasion. Whether she felt obligated to do it or not didn't really matter to Peter. Anyone who would protect Tony and not immediately criticise him was okay in Peter's opinion.
Okay, screw him, he did have a bit of hero worship going on for Tony, but that would never run out. Not for as long as he wished to call the man Dad, which would never end.
"Peter? May I ask you a question?"
It was quiet, so quiet, and so unlike her, that Peter would have thought he was hallucinating, if not for the, well, enhanced hearing. Pausing from where he was typing, he turned to face her again, silently asking a question before realising he probably should ask her out loud.
"Yeah? Shoot."
"I do not want to shoot you.. super healing or no it wouldn't end well..."
Peter, despite himself, chuckled a little, before shaking his head. His 'how to be a teenager lessons' weren't exactly the best if she thought he wanted her to actually shoot him. Ouch no. He has enough of that on patrol, he'd rather not repeat it if unnecessary.
"It's ah, an expression. It basically means, 'go-ahead'."
Sparrow quirked a little smile, her eyes lighting up with an emotion that Peter couldn't decipher. Still, she nodded, before taking a breath and calmly asking her question, a mask settling over her features that left her face a blank sheet. It was an unnerving habit that she hadn't quite shaken yet- Peter wasn't sure if she herself, wanted to, in all honesty- that she did a lot, but Peter tried hard to understand. He just struggled with it.
"What do you think of Tony?"
Well. Peter mused to himself, reflecting on all the years he knew Tony, his thoughts, his feelings, his appreciation of the things he's done- the reasonable things of course- and his experiences, he couldn't help but remark something. That's a loaded question.
"Where should I begin?
Two Days Remaining
Sparrow was practising her baking skills, something that she was quite adept at. It was careful number balancing, making sure to have the right portions of each different ingredients. The two of them, being Peter and herself, were taking a break from working on JARVIS, with Peter patrolling and trying to keep an innocent facade around Tony, who was a bloodhound when it came to lies.
So, with the occupants of the Compound away on their way to some mission in Lagos, Nigeria, meaning it was just herself, Tony, Peter and Pepper around. Well, Rhodey was around but was on tour in whatever country he was in at the minute. Tony was in his workshop- probably watching Peter through his suit- and Pepper was, as per usual, corralling SI shareholders and the Board of Directors alike.
Pulling the soft sponge out of the oven, she rested it on a metal grid, leaving it to cool. Warm sponge and cold icing made a mess, as she had learned the hard way. The gasp of the hydraulics told Sparrow that the elevator was opening, so as she closed the oven shut and made sure that she wouldn't topple the icing.
"That smells good."
Tony breezed through, holding a couple of files in his hands, before leaning against the kitchen side, still grabbing them. She nodded her head ever so slightly, before checking on her second batch, these ones intending to be carrot cake muffins. Tony moved, tossing the files on the table, and filled the coffee machine up with water, before placing his mug that Peter had gotten under it, and pressing various buttons., which she tracked out of the corner of her eye.
"Remember when you asked me to dig up some stuff about you? I haven't found much, but found a few things."
Still looking at her cakes, she tilted her so slightly, the slightest hint of curiosity seeping through. Or rather, she allowed it to, in an attempt to seem less like a murder. She would always be one, however, and it was something that she knew she would never shake. Despite what her therapist said, every death she committed was her fault, and nothing would change that.
"You were originally born on the sixth of June, in 1941. I had FRIDAY on hacking the HYDRA files, but so far, I've found nothing that has the names of your original birth parents."
The oven timer went off, so she moved to take it out, still listening to what Tony was saying. He could've faked the file for all Sparrow knew, but she trusted him. And in reality, it made no difference whether what he said was fact or fiction. Placing them down, she pressed the back of her hand on the other muffins, feeling that they were cold. She began to decorate them with a swirl of blue icing, nodding along as she intricately decorated them to look pleasant.
"From what I could tell from the translated file, you were identified as project 'Вооружение войны'"
Tony had been getting better at his Russian and hadn't butchered the Russian name. Still, the fact that she had, essentially, been referred to as an 'armament of war' didn't sit well with her. Then again, nothing HYDRA did sit well with her. Letting the icing set, she moved away from the muffins, looking at the files Tony was quoting from.
"There wasn't much else I discovered, other than the fact that your original nationality is Russian- who knows why they redacted your parents' info but not your nationality- and that you had an IQ of 255 when you were tested in 1950. To put it lightly, that's fifteen below my own."
She turned her head, before turning back to her cakes, checking the temperature, and icing her carrot cake with bright white icing, with smaller swirls this time. Little icing carrots were in the fridge, ready to be placed on top.
"What does that mean?"
She asked, wanting to know what this whole IQ thing was. Tony smirked, retrieving his coffee and taking a sip of it, despite it being scalding hot. It made sense that the man had a cast iron mouth, considering he was the Iron Man after all. Tony placed his cup on the table as she arranged the files into a neat pile, looking like they had never been touched at all.
"That, little Passero, means you are a certified genius, like yours truly."
One Day Remaining
JARVIS was almost, almost complete. Sparrow was currently trying to fix an issue with his camera access and general system access, while Peter was improving his backup system. As in, JARVIS' backup system. There was a small hidey-hole in the servers that Peter had managed to create, much to Tony's unawareness, which had a place for each AI: JARVIS, JOCASTA, Karen, FRIDAY etc, could back up their data, so it would never happen again.
Both of them, Sparrow and Peter knew what would happen if he lost another one of his AI's. On a plate, discarded absently in the corner of the room, were some of the cakes she had made yesterday, the few that were left. They had come out very well, she thought, and Tony had given them his seal of approval.
For all she knew though, he was lying just to save her feelings. It didn't really affect her much either way, because she was used to people lying to her. Taking a drink, Sparrow found herself humming a familiar song that Tony played all of the time.
"Has he got it stuck in your head then?"
She bobbed her head, still typing with a face of deep concentration. They stayed like that for a few seconds, before Peter closed his laptop, sighing in relief.
"I've finished. Once that's finished JARVIS should be okay for the initial start-up. How are you doing FRIDAY?"
The first part of the sentence was directed at Sparrow, the other directed to FRIDAY, as evidenced by the fact that he brought her name into the conversation. Sparrow was still paying attention to the interaction between the two, as she glared at this one segment of code that was being a particular nuisance. Still, she just had to get it…
"I'm doing okay Peter. Why do you ask?"
"I just want you to know we aren't replacing you or anything."
Sparrow got the impression that if the AI could shrug, she would have. Instead, the AI seemed to settle for flashing a few of her cameras with a strobe light, but only at a low level. Reaching out for one of her carrot cake muffins, she unwrapped it, taking a few bites out of it before placing it back down, intending to eat it after she'd done this last bit.
She was unused to being unable to do something, and it was annoying her- especially because she had to have this for tomorrow. Actually, she had to have it done for today because they had to get him booted up and ready. Pressure was nothing new to her, and stress was something she was good at putting off, but she hated time constraints. Mainly because she had to keep things to a high standard and keep them perfect, without having the time frame to do so.
"It will make Boss happy to have Big Brother back- I'm sure we can share."
Peter sighed, just as Sparrow finally got that last bit of code finished, with no errors in sight. That was always a good thing. She took a few more bites out of her muffin, before turning to face Peter, smiling a little and rubbing her mouth with the back of her hand.
"Finished."
Peter nodded, before looking out the window, at the bright blue skies and the sky-breaching towers that decorated the landscape of New York. He took a drink, shaking it a little as he tilted it as if to get the last drops out. He placed it down on the table and stretched, yawning as he did so. Turning off the music, he looked at Sparrow once again, seeming a little bit shyer than usual, reminiscent of when they had first met when she was in the cell.
"H-How about we go spar a little bit? Since… since we've been cooped up a lot."
Choosing not to focus on his sudden shyness, she nodded, amicable to the idea because like she said, she had to be in perfect condition.
"That would be good. I will just get changed into something more training fit."
Peter didn't say anything as she walked out of his room, closing the door behind her, as she went into the elevator. FRIDAY, without prompting, took her up to her room, where she quickly got changed, not wanting to make Peter wait. Tying her hair up as she walked back into the elevator, she headed down to the training room in an attempt to relax before Tony's big day.
Day of the Proposal
Peter was waiting anxiously for Tony and Pepper to arrive. Sparrow had dropped him off here ahead of time, so he could hang up some banners, make sure the area was clear, and get the food sorted out. Sparrow had been coming here for the past three days- with Peter certain she'd been going in the middle of the night- and keeping the plants alive and bright, and it had worked, because it looked like they were perfect, with no signs of decay or discolouration.
The whole area didn't look too bad if Peter didn't say so himself. The food was neatly arranged on the picnic blanket, wrapped up so it stayed warm, along with a bottle of wine, champagne, and several soft drinks for Tony's sake, since he knew the man wouldn't want to touch alcohol.
Since Peter and Sparrow would be left here for the duration of the proposal- with Peter tidying up while Sparrow gave out lifts, and then returned to get him, they too had their own food and drink, where they would be situated a little distance away. Far enough to be out of sight, but close enough to hear if they were shouted after, which they both hoped they wouldn't. JARVIS was ready and waiting, with FRIDAY having been left with the instructions to enable him ten minutes before Tony was due back.
They'd ran the diagnostics, the initial start-up, and everything else that needed to be done, so that JARVIS was ready. It'd been hard trying to initialise him without Tony being aware of a 'foreign invader' in the Tower, but as far as Peter knew, they'd successfully done it. The familiar sounds of wingbeats were ringing out over the mountains, signifying to Peter that Sparrow and her passengers were coming soon.
As Peter concentrated further, he could make out the faint conversation between Pepper and Tony, which he quickly tuned out of, because they deserved their privacy. Standing up from where he was sitting, he quickly peered through the shrubs, just to double-check he hadn't missed anything or messed anything up. Food, drink, blanket, cups, cutlery... I think everything is okay.
Still peering through the bushes, he saw the form of Sparrow land, circling a little bit before landing on the ground gently. Kinda reminded Peter of a plane.. and he wasn't the biggest fan of those ever since Toomes. Although when he had flown with Sparrow, he had been okay for the most part, ignoring his brief jitters. Honesty, it had even been fun. Why he felt safe on a dragon when he could barely stand to be on a plane was something even he didn't know.
Feeling particularly nosy and intrusive, yet still doing it anyway, he watched as Tony, dressed in a formal-looking suit, jumped down from the saddle, settling himself, before outstretching his hand towards Pepper, who was wearing a long, sweeping, red dress. Once they were off, Sparrow nodded, before launching herself into the air, and flying to where he was sitting. She landed, curling up, before settling down next to where Peter was sitting, having moved away from the bushes, leaving Pepper and Tony to their business.
Reaching out to the little basket filled with food and drink, he retrieved himself a can of lemonade, trying to cut down on the caffeine consumption, before turning to look at Sparrow, who was watching with slitted eyes. Peter would be nerding out right now- well, he was- if not for the fact that it was Sparrow, and that he couldn't- wouldn't- treat her any differently from how he would treat her when she was her normal self.
"You want a drink?"
She nodded, blinking her eyes, as she extended her claws. Peter knew- had been forewarned, even- that Sparrow couldn't talk in this form, but could use Morse Code to 'talk' so to speak. It made him ever the so much more grateful for learning Morse Code as a requisite to join the Avengers, even on a junior scale.
Lemonade. Please. Hold out the can, I will handle the rest.
Taking the can out, he held it outstretched towards her. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but it wasn't for Sparrow to extend a claw, and neatly cut around the top of the lid. Once she removed her claw, he picked the lid out and tossed it into the bag he'd helpfully webbed to the ground. He placed the drink on the ground, before using his free hand to web it into place.
It had taken him a while to have good accuracy with both hands, but with practice, he had done it. Sparrow's forked tongue flicked out, curling inside the can as she lapped it up. They sat like that for a while, before he heard the popping of a champagne cork, and the sounds of Pepper saying 'Yes!, Yes!'.
They put all their food down, Peter picking up the bag of firework balls- balls of gunpowder that would explode like fireworks once subjected to heat- and launched himself on Sparrow's back, as she launched into the air. He threw the firework balls out into the air, a fair distance away, as Sparrow hit every single one of them with a purple flare of heat, which Peter could feel from where he was sitting.
And so, the sky around them exploded with vibrant and beautiful colours and shapes, marking the beginning of a wonderful relationship with Pepper for Tony, but marking the beginning of a downfall.
Author's Note
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!
And so, we begin 2020. Did everyone have a good Christmas?
I'm unfortunately going to school tomorrow, which means I need to wrap this up.
QOTW: What is everybody's favourite thing about the New Year?
I like knowing that the year ahead is going to be different from the one before and I look forward to that.
See you next week!
~Cait