A/N: This chapter was written by me and edited by anxious soul.
Warnings: Just a lot of fluff and a touch of grief.
The surroundings were blazing, the darkness was accompanied by cries and begging of people with the fires and blasts all around.
"Run... don't look back... run" a voice rasped out and that is what she did. She ran, leaving behind all the screams and cries, the blasts and fires.
"-bby!" a childish voice shouted suddenly. Wait what? Where did a child come from?
"Nebby! Wake up!" the voice said frantically and she stopped running. Why was someone asking her to wake up when she was running?
"Nebby, please wake up now!" the voice said, nearly in tears of what sounded like helplessness and everything started to fade away.
Nebula woke up with a gasp, trying to control her quick breathing and ground herself to reality. Beside her, five year old Tony stood, feeling helpless at what to do to comfort his sister.
Minutes before, he had woken up for a glass of water when he heard her screams and rushed to her room to try and wake Nebula, who was shaking and sweating badly, up.
Now, he was sitting to the side, unsure on how to help his sister after whatever happened. Instinctively, he put his arms around her and felt her tense at this gesture. He was about to pull away but then he felt her hug him back and cry on his shoulder.
"Nightmares?" Tony asked innocently and Nebula just shook her head, not wanting to talk about it.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, once she'd calmed herself down.
"Wanted to get some water but I think some of Jarvis' Mysterious Magic will do you more good." he said confidently and dragged Nebula to the kitchen after waking up Jarvis.
And the Mysterious Magic (Which was just hot chocolate with ice cream and crystallized caramel, topped with whipped cream and chocolate chips) as Tony liked to call it, worked its magic.
The next morning was started with the sight of Tony and Nebula sleeping on the couch with relaxed smiles on their faces.
- Line Break -
It was a peaceful Sunday morning in the city, well... as peaceful as you can get in New York, yet there was a lot of commotion at the Stark household. Everyone was running around, trying to sort out whether they had everything they needed for the day. The original plan was to go to a bookstore, then go out for a nice picnic at a scheduled corner at some park before heading back home.
You see, the sudden visit to the book store was for two reasons. One because Nebula was a crazy fan of books. The other reason was because the two children were going to start school in the next week. They were going to start school seen as Tony was five and Nebula was a child and so she required some education as it wouldn't be fair to her - she had, after all, been the one to request going to school with her little brother.
Back on track. After all the preparations were finished, the family finally set out to a bookstore, miraculously escaping the paparazzi that was usually after the family, for which everyone was relieved as they didn't want anyone to know about Nebula, ever. Even at school, she is enrolled under the alias "Amelia Jackson".
The moment they set foot in the bookstore, Nebula shot off, running through all the shelves with excitement and wonder, looking through them to choose some books to take home, all the while dragging a flailing Tony, who just let her drag him while pleading his parents to save him from this hyperactive sister. The two of them just stood at the side, sharing amused looks at their children's antics and went off to purchase the required school books.
In the end, Nebula had purchased ten thick, bound books and a few small ones to read to Tony while the boy himself had some books related to mythology (Norse, Egyptian, Greek, Indian, etc) and a few books on mechanics, all of which were towards adults... not children, before they left the shop.
One thing that Tony might deny if ever asked was his fascination about mythology. He had always been drawn to all those fantasies and while he might try to deny it, he couldn't help but imagine them to be true and even role play at times because he was still a child and is allowed to be imaginative!
Then they headed towards the park, Howard laid out the blanket, where he and Maria sat with smiles as the adults watched their two children playing around. Nebula and Tony climbed the little wooden castle together when someone approached them.
"May I join you?" a young boy asked, causing the two to raise their head up to see who it was.
"And.. you are?" Nebula queried.
"Oh! I'm Peter Quill and I have recently moved here." Peter said excitedly, still waiting for their reply.
"Sure! My name's Tony and this is Nebula." Tony replied as he beckoned Peter to join them in building the castle.
"How old are you guys? I am five." Peter asked curiously. "Well... Nebby is eight and I'm five like you!" Tony answered with a grin.
After a while, they got bored and ran about playing a makeshift game of tag, which swiftly changed to hide and seek before they rushed over to Maria in excitement to introduce their new friend.
"Mom! Meet our new friend!" Tony shouted as he approached his parents.
"So, who is it?" Howard asked.
"Dad, this is Peter. We built that sand castle and then we had a lot of fun!" Nebula exclaimed.
"Is that so?" Maria asked. Just then a woman came in calling out for Peter, who rushed up to her and embraced her before he dragged her over to the Stark family.
"And then, we played a game of tag and it was fun!" Quill finished excitedly.
"I hope he hasn't been of any trouble to you all? I'm Meredith Quill." she introduced herself.
"No problem. It was actually nice to see them interacting with someone else other than each other, you know?." Howard said.
"Would you like to join us? We have more than we could eat." Maria offered and Meredith accepted.
The children gobble down some of the food Maria had placed on the blanket. Thankfully, they allowed their food to go down a bit before running away to the now empty swings, where they stayed chatting about whatever children chat about. Howard shared a smile with Maria and Meredith as the three listened to their children laughing with each other. It was a truly magical sound.
Eventually the adults had a talk about all the adult things and even Meredith offered to take care of the children if ever the needed and the other two were very thankful for it as at times, it became too boring with just Jarvis and Ana around.
The fun came to an end several hours later when the clouds darkened and the sky rumbled. Maria called the three over as Howard packed up. They'd just got in the car to go home when the rain came pouring down.
- Line Break -
It was late in the evening when Howard popped into Tony's bedroom, where he and Nebula were taking it in turns to read a book out loud.
"You should both get ready for sleep. There's a big surprise of sorts coming here tomorrow." He closed the door to the sound of Tony speculating to Nebula that they were getting a puppy. Howard chuckled and shook his head before sighing and running a hand down his face.
- Line Break -
Sometime before in Howard's office
"Those two seem to be getting along well right?" Maria asked, going through something Howard showed her.
"Yes, they do. Have the Hills call recently? I mean, I thought they were supposed to leave little Marie over here before they left for the mission the day after you know?" Howard replied.
"Yeah, which reminds me, they did call and informed that Marie will be staying with us for the foreseeable future. Their mission seems to be a little serious this time as they are going undercover somewhere. Maria will be dropped off tomorrow." Maria said.
"One second, I will tell the kids something and come back" Howard murmured with a wink and went upstairs before coming back down. "Done. Now, my lady, shall we head to bed or..." he stated suggestively, eyebrows raised. Maria smirked and nodded her head
The other thing ended up being reading to the kids, tucking them in before heading to bed.
A/N: So... yeah, a new chapter after all this while. And what do you think about this new development of the two meeting Quill? Comment below. And I am really excited about Endgame (Even though I might end up watching it online instead of theatres)… I am rambling now aren't I?
Anyways, Hope you all like this chapter! All comments and criticism accepted and appreciated as always.
Thank you all for reading!
Rasi10 signing off
Published on 7 April 2019