13.
New York, 2016
"So why this fancy dinner?" Kass asked, facing Tony in an Italian restaurant. "You know I'm totally good with just a hot dog from a stand, or a burger and fries."
"Me too, but I wanted it to be a special evening. Did you see what I did? Italian in New York? Combines the place we met and the place where we had our first mission together." He smiled proudly.
She smiled back. "Look at you go."
"Now, see where the pattern's going?" He asked when they returned to the Tower, now standing on the balcony.
She leaned against the railing and grinned. "Uh huh. Where we shared our first kiss."
"Which led to the first of other things."
"Oh, yes." Both chuckled and shared a kiss. "So what's this all about?"
"Well, all those firsts were the start of great things. So I thought maybe we could add another..." He reached into his pocket, withdrawing a little box, and kneeling down before her. "Kazimiera Konstantin, will you marry me?"
Her face fell. "Oh, Tony..."
One month later...
Kass had just packed away her gadgets and gear after the mission. She was all cleaned and bandaged up, recovering.
That had been one hell of a mission.
As she was heading down the hall, Tony was coming from the other way.
"Hey."
"Hey."
Barely an acknowledgement.
"How was the mission?" he asked. Of course her bruises and bandages wouldn't go unnoticed by him.
"Okay... We got hold of the package, but made a pretty big mess. How'd your presentation go?"
"Good."
"Then why do you seem upset?" Of course, him trying to hide how he felt wouldn't go unnoticed by her.
He sighed. "Just a reminder that the work we do isn't heroic to everyone."
"We got that reminder too. I'm going to go see Wanda - she's pretty upset."
"And where are you when I need you?" His words stopped her.
"For once, try not to make everything about you."
"I think you just like running from problems."
"And I think you're selfish."
Glad to leave him behind, she headed through the facility and tapped softly on Wanda's bedroom door.
"You can come in, Kass."
Wanda's powers still continued to startle her. They were unsettling, how she could just know things. But that was her perspective as an outsider - she couldn't imagine what it was like for Wanda to actually have that ability.
"You okay?"
"Not really."
"I thought so. I also thought you might want to talk, Sokovian to Sokovian."
"I don't really want to talk to anyone, but thanks. I appreciate it."
"Yeah, I get it."
"You're distressed as well," Wanda observed, reading Kass's state through her powers. "I've noticed for a while now."
"Just some personal stuff."
"Stark?"
"How could you guess?"
"He's a troublemaker. What happened?"
"We just disagreed on something, and he's blowing it way out of proportion."
Leaving Wanda in peace, she passed by Steve on her way. Looked like he was going to visit the youngest member of the team as well.
"Tread carefully, Steve," she warned. "She's in pretty rough shape."
"I will."
When she arrived in the kitchen, she saw Tony speaking with a man in a suit in one of the boardrooms.
"Who's that?" she asked Liv.
"Secretary Ross," the blonde answered. "Secretary of State."
The Sokovia Accords. The fate of the Avengers and those like them were outlined in this very document.
Rhodey and Sam were in the middle of a heated debate, while Steve was trying to actually read the Accords document. Everyone else was numb and silent, thinking about their fates.
"Tony," said Natasha. "You're being uncharacteristically non-hyperverbal."
"That's one way to put it," mumbled Kass.
"It's cause he's already decided," said Steve.
"Boy you know me so well." Tony got up from where he was lounging on the sofa and moved to the kitchen. "I'm actually just nursing a bad headache. That's what going on, Cap. Just pain, and discomfort. Who keeps leaving coffee grounds in the sink? What, am I running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?" Silence. "Oh don't bullshit me, Kass, I know it was you."
"We had a rough mission, sorry if coffee grounds were not my priority," she shot back.
Tony pulled up an image on his watch. "Oh that's Charles Spencer, by the way. Great kid. Computer engineering degree, 3.6 GPA. Charlie wanted to travel before starting work after college. But he didn't go to Vegas, which is what I would have done, or Paris or Amsterdam which sounds fun. No, he decided to build sustainable housing for the poor, where? Sokovia." He let this sink in. "He wanted to make a difference, I suppose, I mean now we'll never know cause we dropped a building on him while we were kicking ass." He popped an Advil in his mouth and gulped it down with some water, practically slamming down the mug onto the counter. "There's no decision-making process here. We need to be put in check. Whatever form that takes I'm game. If we can't accept limitations we're no better than the bad guys."
"Tony, if someone dies on your watch you don't give up," said Steve.
"Who says we're giving up?"
"We are if we don't take responsibility for our actions. This document just shifts the blame."
"I'm sorry, Steve, but that is dangerously arrogant," stepped-in Rhodey. "This is the United Nations we're talking about. It's not the World Security Council, it's not S.H.I.E.L.D., it's not H.Y.D.R.A.-"
"No, but it's run by people with agendas and agendas change."
"That's good, that's why I'm here," said Tony. "When I found out what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands I shut it down, stopped manufacturing."
"Tony, you chose to do that," said Steve. "If we sign this, we surrender our right to choose. What if this panel sends us somewhere we don't think we should go? What if there's somewhere we need to go but they don't let us? We may not be perfect, but the safest hands are still our own."
"If we don't do this now, by choice, it's going to be done to us later," countered Tony.
"You're saying they'll come for me," said Wanda.
"We would protect you," Vision assured her.
"And they could come for any of us," added Liv, trying to reassure her.
"Tony's right," spoke-up Nat. "If we have one hand on the wheel, we can still steer. If we take it off-"
"Aren't you the same woman who told the government to kiss her ass a couple of years ago?" Sam reminded her.
"I'm just reading the terrain. We've made some very public mistakes. We need to win their trust back."
"I'm sorry, did I mishear you, or did you just agree with me?" said Tony.
"Oh, I want to take it back-"
"Nope, can't retract it. Case closed, I win."
"I thought we all had to be in agreement," spoke-up Kass. "Sounds like we're all still divided."
"Why are you even here?" Tony snapped. "As I recall, you're not even officially part of the team."
Silence hovered in the air.
"I say screw this, but clearly my opinion doesn't matter." With that, she got up and left without another word, sure to slam the door behind her.
"What is going on?" cried Nat, turning to Tony.
Tony's jaw clenched. "Nothing."
"Tony."
He didn't answer. "So, we're all decided then?"
"Kazimiera Konstantin, will you marry me?"
Time seemed to freeze around them. Kass said nothing.
Now his face fell. "Wow - I thought of a lot of reactions. Not sure what I was expecting, but not this..."
"Well, how do you expect me to respond to something like this? This is big-"
"Yes, it is."
"This isn't some joke, is it?"
"You think I'd joke about this?"
"No, not really, I-" She was at a complete loss - she had no idea what to say.
"I'm going to stand up, cause I'm just kneeling here like an idiot." Tony got to his feet, still holding the ring. "You were hoping it was a joke?"
"I can't marry you."
"Can't or don't want to? Cause I'm really getting the sense you don't want to."
"It's not that, it's just - I just don't want to rush into something-"
"I'm not."
"Well it feels a little fast for me."
"It's been six years."
"Since we met, Tony. We've been on and off since then."
"Well I thought we'd both come to the conclusion that we liked the being 'on' better."
"Think about it - we both found each other when we were lonely. What if we were clinging to each other out of that loneliness? " He scoffed. "I just want to be sure-"
"I am sure. But you're not."
"I'm-"
"You're not."
"I had a nice time tonight."
"Till I ruined it."
"That's not what I said-"
He tucked the ring back into his pocket and turned away. "Well, goodnight, I guess."
Yay, into 'Civil War' now! Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)
