A future as irrevocable as the past.
Well, here it is. The beginning of the end. But, no worries. We have many miles to go before we sleep on this one.
And remember, I will break your heart, but I always mend what I break in the end.
The song for this chapter is "I Can't Help Falling In Love With You" by choose your favorite artist. The one that always makes me cry is the cover by Pentatonix.
Enjoy!
Chapter 1: Some Things Are Meant To Be
Tony took a deep breath.
He wasn't scared. No matter what anybody said or implied, he wasn't afraid.
"You look like you got hit by Cap's shield."
Tony looked up at Rhodey. "Well, I've been hit by Cap's shield, and I'd say this is...a little worse."
Rhodey was wearing his dress uniform with all his medals, which made him look impressive as hell. Tony had told him it was fine if he wanted to do today in a chair given how much running around there had already been and how much more there was to come, but Rhodey had nearly punched him. So Tony had made a set of the braces that exactly matched the Air Force blue of his uniform that helped them blend in.
Tony tried not to get caught up in a different kind of trepidation, knowing that this was probably the last time Rhodey would ever wear this version of the uniform. Pretty soon, he wouldn't be Air Force anymore. Although he'd rock Asgardian formal-wear for sure. Rhodey always looked dignified. Tony was still a tiny bit jealous about that; dignity wasn't really his strong suit.
Rhodey blinked at him. "When exactly did Cap hit you with his shield? Did you call him 'snowman' or 'Rip Van Winkle' again? 'Cause if you did, you earned that one."
"No, we were training with a couple of Thor's friends and stuff got weird." He shrugged. "It was a good test for the nanotech suit with that energy absorption and redirection trick of Shuri's."
"You know, normal people just play basketball with their friends." Rhodey perched on the couch beside him. "You always gotta be so dramatic."
Tony smiled. "Just reminding the world that I exist."
"As if we could forget." Rhodey clapped him on the shoulder, then turned to follow Tony's gaze out the window. The view of the forest and mountains was nothing short of stunning, especially with the gold of pre-sunset starting to light up the world.
"I'm doing fine," Tony said. "In case you were wondering."
"I wasn't, but good to know."
Tony snorted. "Is that why I haven't seen you since breakfast? Forgetting about me on the most important day of my life?"
"Oh, don't start." Rhodey elbowed him. "Besides, we both know this isn't the most important day, not for you."
Tony's heart invaded his throat and he nodded. The day that changed everything was the day he came home from Afghanistan and started building the Mark 2. There were days he treasured more than that — getting together with Pepper and meeting Peter were high on the list — but none of that would have happened if he hadn't been set on the path of Iron Man in the first place.
"As for where I've been, it falls under the Bridal Party protocol," Rhodey said.
That drew Tony's full attention back. "Uh, I'd have thought we were done with secret planning by this point."
"Well, you'd be wrong." Rhodey's face was carefully blank, and that was never a good sign.
"This wouldn't have anything to do with why I haven't seen Peter, either, would it?" Tony guessed.
"Do yourself a favor and don't worry about it," Rhodey said. "The kid is fine. Pepper is fine. The wedding is fine. If, and I truly mean if anything had gone wrong, it's been handled."
Tony made a mental note to get the full rundown from JARVIS later. The Bridal Party protocol was only meant to keep stuff from him until the end of the night, after all.
"It's not that I don't trust you, but I really would like to see my kid before we get started."
"He's coming," Rhodey said. "Just making sure everything is perfect."
Tony sighed. "I don't need perfect."
"Listen." Rhodey leaned his elbows on his knees. "You know you are the literal hardest person in the world to give a present, right? Because you own everything, and anything you don't already have you'll invent at midnight sometime."
Tony opened his mouth to object but Rhodey cut him off with a look.
"And so all the people who care about you and Pepper are out there right now, because they can't give you something in a fancy box, but they can give you today. So just sit there, look pretty, and let them fuss."
Tony let out a breath and nodded. He faced out the window again.
"It's okay to be nervous," Rhodey said after a while.
"It's not...it's not that. It's just...very real."
"Hmm." Rhodey shifted so that his shoulder was pressed to Tony's. "You deserve it. Let yourself have this."
"Not sure I'll ever really believe that," Tony admitted softly. "Pepper, Peter, you, May...everyone. Just...it seems like somebody else's life that I accidentally fell into." He swallowed. "I'm not lucky enough for all this."
"Nobody is," Rhodey said. "You think I'm sitting here because you're lucky? Hell no. I'm here because you're my idiot little brother and I'm gonna be right here until the end of your days." He shoved his shoulder hard into Tony's. "You didn't luck into all this. You built it."
Tony felt emotion swirling in his gut, and he blinked hard. But before he could figure out what to say to that, he heard running feet.
"I'm so sorry!" Peter was already halfway through apologizing as he opened the door and dashed in. "I'm so close to being on time, though!"
"You're fine, Underoos," Tony said, smiling.
Peter looked both impossibly grown up and also very young all at once. His tux was perfectly tailored, of course, and its narrow lines made his teenage-long limbs look like they belonged. He looked lean and tall, and if not for the very slight lifts in Tony's shoes, Peter might actually have been the taller of the two of them at last. But his face was flushed and his hair — which had probably started the day firmly gelled in place — was a worse mess than after patrolling for five hours.
Tony's heart lurched. Peter was well and truly growing up.
"I got something for you," Tony said, standing.
Peter immediately frowned. "No, you're not supposed to give other people presents on your wedding day. That's not how it works."
"Well, it is today. C'mere."
Peter obediently made his way over. "Hi again, Rhodey."
"I'm just gonna grab you a comb, okay?" Rhodey asked, smirking.
Peter wrinkled his nose at him. "Seriously?"
"Trust me, kid."
Tony stood and used Rhodey's distraction to grab Peter's nearer arm. He expertly removed the plain cufflink that he'd purposely ordered, just so he could do this now.
"Today of all days," he said, pulling something out of his pocket, "we should match."
He held up a pair of cufflinks with a grin.
Peter's eyes went wide. "They look like yours!"
"Turnabout, fair play, all that jazz." But Tony couldn't help his grin. He'd copied Peter's Lego design from the cufflinks he'd made in secret right after finding out Tony's identity. The ones Peter had made were a white-gold titanium alloy with 'TS' on one and 'MTC' on the other. The set Tony had made in return were a proper gold titanium alloy, also shaped like the three-by-two Lego block, with their own sets of initials: 'PP' and 'SM.'
"Wow." Peter stared at them. When he looked up, his eyes were bright. "Thank you, Tony."
"You're welcome, bud." He finished putting the second one on, then pulled the kid's sleeves straight. "Just...remember that you're always both. Okay? That's what you taught me. Feels like you should remember it."
"That I'm Peter and Spider-Man?"
"And that both are special," Tony said, giving into the impulse to hug him.
Peter squeezed him back. "You're gonna make me cry and we're not even out there yet," he complained.
Tony laughed and that saved him from his own misty eyes. "What is it about weddings that bring out just all the feelings? Totally unnecessary."
"You could have run away to Vegas and avoided all this," Rhodey said, popping up on the side with a comb and attacking Peter's hair.
"Yeah, but then I'd need a different bride, too," Tony said, and they all laughed.
Tony felt like he should say something. Something about how this day wouldn't be complete without both Rhodey and Peter at his side. His brother and his son. The best part of his past and the brightest part of his future. The family who found him, chose him, and kept him going. He felt like he should tell them, that they should know what this meant to him.
But the words caught in his throat.
Rhodey and Peter both looked at him, then exchanged a glance.
"We know," Rhodey said, smiling faintly. "Don't twist yourself in knots, Tones. Whatever you're trying to get off your chest, we already know."
"How…?" Tony managed.
"Dude." Peter's smile had gone soft and full of feeling. "You're kind of obvious."
Tony shut his eyes and reached out, hauling them both into his arms. They came willingly, even if they were sniggering, and he shut his eyes and just held them for a minute.
"You are both," he said through a tight throat, "the best men I have ever known. The bravest, the...the best. I would be lost without you."
Rhodey patted him on the back. "Of course you would be."
"We'd probably be lost without you. I mean, definitely me," Peter added.
Tony shook his head and took a couple of deep breaths. When he let them go, he didn't care that he probably didn't have perfect hair now — he'd match Peter. Nor that his eyes were wet — he'd match Rhodey.
"At this rate," he said, "Pepper's the only one not going to be crying by the end of today."
"That," Rhodey said, "is because she's tougher than all of us."
"True."
And maybe they would have stood there with feelings and Tony would have had to go build something just to keep sane, but there was a tap on the door.
"You ready?" It was Bruce, looking very, very official somehow. His hair wasn't unruly for once, and his glasses perched on his nose above his own suit made him look completely put together. "It's about that time."
"Come on." Rhodey clapped Tony on the back. "Let's go make an honest man out of you."
"Is that how that works?" Peter asked.
"Bruce, help," Tony joked. "They're picking on me on my wedding day."
"Oh, good," Bruce said, nodding. "Somebody should."
Tony snorted.
They wandered down the long stairway towards the side entrance to the garden. Tony glanced around, amazed at how the airy event space had been transformed overnight. The lodge's simple wooden beams had been strung with delicate dripping lights and clusters of winking crystals which sent a riot of tiny rainbows in every direction. Bouquets of flowers stood on stately pedestals, but never on tables where they would keep people from being able to see one another while seated. The dark purple irises contrasted with the white roses, and every vase was wrapped in a golden bow. It looked ethereal, elegant.
"This," Bruce said, noticing Tony's attention, "is why you weren't allowed to choose colors."
"Yup," Tony agreed. "I still think I could spice it up with some hot rod red, though."
"Bruce, you owe me fifty bucks."
Tony turned to see Nat grinning and holding a small box. She was resplendent in a pale champagne dress that showed off her toned shoulders and arms, her fiery red hair piled high and decorated with gold and pearls.
"Some of us knew you couldn't go all day without whining about adding a little extra color," Nat said, smiling. "So we prepared for it, just in case you got any dumb ideas to do it on your own." She held out the box.
Tony laughed. Inside he found a boutonniere that was a red orchid with a particularly gold center paired with some lily of the valley.
"This has to mean something," he said, lifting it out gently. He was even more pleased to find that there was a second one in a separate tray underneath it, a red orchid paired with tiny blue flowers.
"The red orchid symbolizes courage and strength," Nat said, "and the lily of the valley is your birth flower." She plucked the second boutonniere out of the box before Tony could grab it. "And this one's for Peter. The blue forget-me-nots are probably pretty self-explanatory."
"Also," Rhodey said, "good colors for our neighborhood Spider-Man."
"How come you don't get one?" Peter asked while Nat started pinning it on him.
Rhodey took Tony's boutonniere from him to copy the action. "Because I have medals."
"He's colorful enough." Nat nodded. "Now, get out there and make me proud, Stark."
Tony smiled at her. "That's a tall order, but I'll give it a shot."
Nat gave them all a smile in return before she sailed off in the direction of the bridal suite.
"Now you're ready to go," Bruce said. "Which is good, because it's basically time."
"I can't possibly be late to my own wedd— ouch!"
Rhodey retracted his foot from where he'd kicked Tony — comparatively gently, but he was still wearing boots with sharp toes — in the shin.
"Do not start with me. If you jinx us and we get attacked by radioactive gophers or whatever, nobody will forgive you. Especially Pepper." Rhodey glowered at him.
"Fine. Bruce, you're the nice one. What am I supposed to do now that won't actually summon down a rain of bad luck on us?"
Bruce laughed. "Come on. Just get into your place and walk out when you hear your cue."
Tony allowed himself to be led to the little waiting area near the side door. From here, all he could see was the backdrop with the arch of flowers and many more twinkling lights.
"Are you nervous, Bruce?" Peter asked, shuffling from foot to foot.
"A little." Bruce wiped at his glasses. "Honestly, defending a thesis is easier, because if you screw up, it only hurts you."
"You won't screw up," Rhodey told him. "Just read your cards and if you get lost, tell them to kiss and we'll start clapping and nobody will even notice."
"That's...not actually very reassuring," Bruce said.
"Or," Tony offered, "just look at Nat. She's got the whole thing memorized probably and she can feed you your lines."
He didn't mean for it to sound suggestive, but Bruce colored slightly anyway — and not towards green. "Thanks."
Out in the garden, music started playing suddenly.
"Well, I guess I should head out there," Bruce said. But he paused. "Thank you, Tony. For, you know. Trusting me to do this."
Tony gripped his arm. "Nobody else I would even think of asking."
Bruce nodded, smiled to himself, and went out the door.
"Well," Rhodey said, "any last words before you get emotional in front of everybody and prove you're just a big sap once and for all?"
"If it takes today for everybody to figure that out, they haven't been paying attention," Tony shot back.
But his gut was churning again.
It was all about to become very real now, and while he wasn't bothered about the ceremony, or the audience, he just couldn't get past that feeling of a near-miss. Tony wasn't worried Pepper would stand him up, any more than he was worried about finding himself in the moment with doubts. He could never doubt her, and he could never have doubt in her.
But himself? That was different.
Peter looked like he wanted to say something, but the music changed. It was time.
"All right," Rhodey said. He squeezed Tony's shoulders as Peter fell in at the end of their little line. "Let's do this."
And Rhodey gave him a little shove, which started him walking.
The garden was more beautiful than he'd expected, and part of that was the small, familiar crowd of faces. The chairs were set up less in rows and more in tiers, giving the shape a rounded feeling like people crowding together at a table. Tony's feet carried him to his place next to Bruce, Rhodey's hand out of sight but on his elbow, just enough to be felt.
So many smiling people looked back at him. The Avengers, the Asgardians, the Wakandans. SHIELD people, a few from SI scattered here and there. He saw Harley sitting next to Happy, and Happy was already crying. He saw Clint with Laura and the kids, Lila waving in what was probably supposed to be a subtle way at Peter. He saw Loki — probably disguised to others, but not to those who were trusted — sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with Thor and Odin. He saw Steve and Bucky who looked as proud as if they were solely responsible for the day. He saw Sam and Pietro sitting to the side of Wanda and Vision who were holding hands. Even Ned's family was here, looking amazed and already getting emotional.
This was Tony's whole world, absent only Nat, May, and, of course Pepper.
The music changed again and Nat emerged to walk down the aisle. She moved with the beat without actually marching, and her gown sparkled in the golden sunlight. She winked at Tony as she took her place.
Then May emerged, and Tony felt his heart swell. She was beautiful in a dress the same champagne color as Nat's, but cut differently to compliment her figure. Her face was already a little red under her makeup, and Tony saw the handkerchief she was mostly hiding in her grip on the bouquet. When May reached the front, she broke from the plan enough to lean over to kiss Tony on the cheek. He squeezed her wrists before she stepped back.
And then everyone stood up and Tony's brain stopped.
Without pictures, he would never quite remember the exact cut of Pepper's dress with its delicate lace and simple flowing skirt. He would never entirely be able to recall how she wore her hair, only that it was down and flowed around her better than any veil. He would never know what her makeup looked like or what made it special.
What Tony would remember to the end of his days was the light in Pepper's eyes as she moved towards him. The brightness of her spirit, her impossibly warm heart, love shining out of her like a beacon. It was as though he was truly feeling sunlight for the very first time.
And he had never loved anything or anyone more.
-==OOO==-
Peter sat at the table with Ned and Harley and Pietro.
"Are all weddings like this?" he asked. "I've never been to one before."
"Not like this," Harley said, shaking his head. "Besides all the, you know." He waved in a way Peter figured was supposed to capture the pre-ceremony mess. "Most weddings I've been to are in a church and then you get cake and snacks in the fellowship hall and somebody's uncle gets drunk and knocks a table over and then everybody does the Electric Slide and goes home."
Pietro stared at him. "You live in a very strange world."
"You have no idea." Harley saluted him with his glass of not-champagne.
"I am going to remember this for the literal rest of my life," Ned said. His eyes were finally a little less wide, but he was still holding onto his engraved party favor like Gollum with the One Ring. "I'll be a hundred years old and not know my name, but I'll remember I was at this wedding."
"Where'd your folks go?" Harley asked.
"They're dancing," Ned said, gesturing to the full dance floor at the other end of the room. "They love dancing. They tried to teach me before, but, like, it didn't work out."
Peter nodded. He was just grateful that Rhodey was the best man and not himself; Rhodey looked way better dancing with Pepper while Tony danced with May for the replacement father/daughter mother/son dance than he would have.
"So." Shuri dropped into an empty seat at the table. She wore beautiful bright colors that made her stand out in the more subdued crowd. "I am glad to see you are all in one piece after this morning. I had a few doubts."
Peter was used to her humor, so he just smiled tiredly at her. "You could have stayed for cleanup with the rest of us."
"Do you think I can craft this," she gestured to her insanely elaborate pile of braids, "in just the few minutes you had to spare?"
"I bet I could braid it fast enough," Pietro offered.
Shuri glared at him. "Touch my hair and die, white boy."
Pietro held his hands up. "As you wish, princess."
Ned suddenly looked terrified. "Oh my god you're a literal princess. Was I supposed to bow? I am not ready for this level of social interaction." He grabbed for Peter's arm. "Is she going to behead me for being an idiot all night?"
"Maybe," Shuri told him without missing a beat.
Harley snorted. "Can I move to your country?"
She raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"I wanna live wherever you can behead morons. That sounds like a solution to half of my problems."
"One," Peter said, shaking off Ned's grip, "Shuri doesn't behead people. And you don't bow. Two," now he glared at her, "stop scaring Ned. He has a weak constitution."
Pietro blinked. "Are you not offended to be called weak?" he asked.
Ned shook his head. "No, that's a totally fair analysis. Peter's known me since we were babies. I am, like, only great at three things and standing up under pressure is not usually one of them."
"What are your three things?" Harley wanted to know.
"Coding computer stuff, nerd trivia with a specialization in Star Wars, and AcaDec."
Peter smiled. There was a time Ned wouldn't have claimed that he was great at anything. Maybe especially AcaDec. In spite of everything, they'd come a long way.
"Four things," Peter put in. "Being my Guy in the Chair."
Ned grinned and offered him the short half of their handshake, which Peter returned.
"Guy in the Chair?" Pietro asked.
"Oh, come on." Harley looked affronted. "You know. Every hero with a heads-up display has somebody who can hack stuff and look up information and all that. Tony has JARVIS do it for him."
"And I have KAREN, too," Peter said, "but before I had KAREN, I had Ned."
Pietro nodded. "Cool." And there was real approval in it, and Ned puffed up a bit.
"What are your three things?" Shuri asked Harley.
Harley snorted. "Irritating Tony, building stuff out of leftover parts, and dealing with punks who mess with people. You?"
Shuri tossed her head. "Building revolutionary technology unfathomable to you," but she said it with a smile to take the bite out of it, "irritating my brother, and memes."
"Solid." Harley looked over at Pietro. "Superpowers don't count. What you got?"
Pietro grinned. "Irritating my sister and Vision when they are being gross, beating people at Mario Kart, and ruining other people's plans."
"It's true," Peter piped up. "Every time we try to do a training scenario and Steve is all 'let's do this methodically as a team,' Pietro just runs to the end, finishes the task, and goes to take a nap. And we get there and whatever we were supposed to retrieve is already gone."
"You'd think he'd learn after the third time," Pietro said.
"It's because Bucky keeps telling him that he should trust you," Peter said. "And Steve trusts Bucky so he believes him and doesn't notice that Bucky is pranking him."
"I kind of love that the Avengers are all these badass heroes who are also basically just idiot high schoolers messing around in real life," Harley said. "If we could capture it all on social media, we'd go viral in a hot second."
"It's so true," Shuri agreed. "But if they did go viral without letting me arrange it, I would never forgive any of them."
"You didn't do yours, Peter," Ned said. "Your three things."
Peter froze for a minute under the eyes turned on him. But he was at ease here with them. So he shrugged. "Um, same nerd stuff as Ned, I guess. Uh, you said no powers? Then chemistry, since I made my webs and stuff. And…"
"And," came a voice from behind him, "being the heart of the team."
Peter gulped and looked up. Sam was grinning at him.
"No, I'm sorry," Pietro said at once. "This is the cool kids table. You are only allowed at the old farts table."
Sam ignored him and turned the nearest chair around so he could sit in it and fold his arms across the top. "Aw, pipe down, running shoes. I'm just coming to visit and make sure there's no teenage shenanigans happening over here."
"I am not a teenager," Pietro pointed out.
"And yet you get into more trouble than all of them combined. So you count." Sam smiled.
Pietro said something probably rude in Sokovian. Peter didn't know the words, but he definitely knew an insult when he heard one.
"Did you tire of your constant bickering with Clint Barton?" Shuri asked. "I am not sure I have ever seen you do anything else."
"Oh, he bickers with Steve and Bucky and Tony and Loki and…" Peter trailed off. "Everybody, I guess."
"Good way of keeping folks on their toes." Sam was unrepentant. "And yes. Laura told me if I made Clint punch me at the wedding she would kill me, and that woman is a force of terror."
"She'd have to be, to put up with being married to a SHIELD agent," Harley said. "And an Avenger."
"All the civilians are strong," Pietro said, no trace of mockery in his voice. "For what we put them through, it is necessary."
Peter looked away. He wasn't worried about Pepper, but he felt bad about May and even Ned. So far, they hadn't seen anything worse than the thing with the crane that broke his jaw, not directly. They knew about Toomes, but neither of them had actually seen Peter beaten and bloodied. He knew that wouldn't last forever. Eventually May and Ned would see the evidence of Spider-Man's battles. And they would be scared. And hurt.
"Hey." Sam reached over and poked him. "No long faces today."
Peter met his eyes and nodded, pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind. Today was about family and celebration and new beginnings.
The bad things would come soon enough. And he had been told forever that you can't stop them from happening; you can only deal with them when they happen and fix them after.
So he smiled.
"Thanks."
Sam reached onto the table and picked up the nearest of the party favors — Harley's. Most of the guests had gotten things like personally engraved bottle openers, pocket watches, combs, or makeup compacts. But a few were special. Harley and Ned both had super fancy pocket knives with a hidden flash drive inside. Pietro's had been a bell with a note that he should wear it so they could hear him coming. Peter knew Shuri's was a very pretty hair stick thing because she'd added it to her hair already.
Peter hadn't expected to get one, since Tony had already given him the cufflinks. But at his seat he'd found his own little wrapped box. It contained a bookmark with a silver engraving of a unicorn on it and a quote.
I became a hero to serve you, and all that is like you.
Peter had tucked it into his pocket feeling warm and proud.
"Pretty neat," Sam said, examining the various blades and bits in Harley's knife. "I'll trade you for my corkscrew."
Peter was pretty sure everyone could tell he was joking, but Harley shook his head anyway. "No deal. What do I need with a corkscrew? This is way better."
Sam smiled and set it down.
"Why did you really come over?" Peter found himself asking.
Sam looked at him, and Peter shrugged. He knew by now that Sam rarely did anything without a reason.
"Honestly?" He gestured. "I didn't have a partner."
Peter turned back to the dance floor. It was full of couples dancing slowly together. Tony and Pepper were in the center, but others surrounded them. Wanda and Vision, Bruce and Nat (and it was about time!), Clint and Laura, T'Challa and Nakia, Steve laughing in Bucky's red face, Thor and Jane, Maria Hill with the Lady Sif, and May and Happy.
Peter's jaw dropped. "Why is May dancing with Happy?"
"Well," Shuri said, "when a man and a woman — "
"No, no, no, that's not a thing," Peter interrupted. "It's definitely not a thing."
"It's just a dance," Harley said. "Lots of reasons for friends to dance."
"Yeah, because that's what Steve and Bucky are doing," Pietro muttered mostly to himself.
But Peter couldn't pay attention to that. "But...May?"
"I am just grateful my idiot brother is actually dancing with Nakia instead of staring at her like a gazelle under the eyes of a lion," Shuri said. "Many men are idiots about women, but my brother may be the worst of them all."
Peter couldn't think. He rose from the table. "I'm just gonna get some air," he said. He was pretty sure that caused the others to worry, but he couldn't deal with that right now, so he turned and walked off before anyone could stop him.
He made his way out of the hall and down the corridor that led back out into the garden. The door was unlocked and the warm night was quiet as he slipped out. He considered heading towards where the ceremony had been, its flowery arch still set up after all the pictures, but instead turned to the building itself.
A few easy moves that didn't even pull on his tux and he was perched on the roof, looking out over the dark of the forest. The windows below spilled golden light across the grounds and he could still hear the faint sounds of the music. Other than that, it was quiet, but it felt comforting the way perching on buildings to watch the world go by was always comforting in the city.
The land in every direction was dark, and it afforded Peter a view of the sky he'd never seen before. There were more stars visible than anything like what he'd seen even at the Compound. He knew intellectually that there were endless stars in space, but it was different to see them more clearly.
They made him feel very small.
"Hello, Peter."
He wasn't surprised because he'd sensed the presence, so he huffed instead. "I should have expected somebody would come after me."
"In fact, more than one person volunteered," Loki said, coming to stand beside him. "Have no fear — Stark has likely not noticed your absence yet and there is a concentrated effort keeping him from becoming aware so that his night is unspoiled."
"That's good," Peter said, meaning it. "Bad enough to make everybody else worry."
"I am assured that the concern is only due to their care for you."
"That's almost worse," Peter said. "Don't you ever just...wish you could fly away? Like, get out from under everybody for a little while with nobody looking at you and worrying about you and rearranging their life for you?"
"To be fair," Loki said, and Peter could hear the slight amusement, "few if any have ever rearranged their life for me. But I understand your feelings. I have ruled Asgard for such a very short time, and yet the weight of the crown is heavy. The throne feels at times like a gravity well from which not even I might escape."
Given what Peter knew about Loki and falling through space, he understood that Loki's words were a lot more solemn than most people would have realized.
"Why do you stay, then? Isn't it temporary?" he asked.
"We are not here to discuss me," Loki replied. "I know already that you are troubled. I would like to know if there is someone I need to address about it."
"It's not that." Peter huffed, a tiny bit pleased at Loki's protectiveness even if he also found it a little smothering. "May's down there dancing with Happy. And…" He shrugged.
"I see. Would you like me to enchant him such that he steps on her foot and forever ruins his standing in her eyes?"
Peter laughed before he could stop himself.
"No, it's okay. But thanks." He sighed. "I know...it's been almost five years since we lost Uncle Ben. And...if she can be with someone who makes her happy, I should be happy for her. I just, I'm not...I might not ever be…" He ran out of words, but not feeling.
Loki, beside him, said nothing.
"Things are going to change, aren't they?" Peter asked finally.
"Things always change," Loki said quietly. "They must. That which is stagnant cannot endure."
Peter nodded. "Does it...does it ever get easier?"
"I wish I could tell you otherwise, but no. All songs end. Stars fade. Threads in the tapestry of fate run out. No matter how much we might wish otherwise."
Peter thought about the song Tony and Pepper had danced their official first dance to. "Like a river flows, surely to the sea," he recited. He tipped his head back to look up at the stars again. "How do you deal with it?"
Loki actually put a hand on his shoulder. "Teach yourself to enjoy the beauty of each moment as it comes. They are so fleeting. Make choices you will not regret later, if you are wiser than I. And." He stopped.
"And?" Peter prompted.
Loki squeezed his shoulder slightly. "Do not live your life in fear of what may be. You will lose far more than you will gain if you put your mind upon paths not yet revealed. Evil will find you soon enough. You need not open the door for it too soon."
Peter took a deep breath. "Yeah, that makes sense." Then, "Thanks for coming up here after me, Loki. I really...I appreciate it."
"I will stay if you wish."
"No," Peter said, standing. "I think I'm okay now. And I don't want to miss any more of tonight than I already have." And he found it was true. "Let's go see if we can get Thor to do 'The Chicken Dance.'"
Loki grinned at him. "Whatever that is, I will do my utmost to assist you. It sounds well worth my efforts."
Peter grinned back and dropped off the roof back to the ground with a lighter heart.
Less than half an hour later and with some help from Shuri and Ned, they hacked the DJ's dancing playlist while Pietro and Harley went with Loki to explain to Thor about the rules of etiquette he was breaking if he didn't perform the dance as a sign of friendship. And then Thor convinced everyone else from Asgard (except Loki, obviously, and Odin who knew better) to join him.
It was the only time all day Pepper actually cried — from laughing.