REVAMPED!

Mark III: Early Morning Flights

It was 7:30 AM at the airport.

People were rushing through the crowds to get to their early flights, running in-between connecting flights, tiredly lugging their bags, dragging their screaming kids, carrying their sleeping kids, cramming some sleep on benches, arguing with the airport staff, and so much more.

The only ones relaxed were some of The Avengers and their girls if they brought them. Steve, Natasha, Thor, Jane, and Betty were all chatting amongst themselves while Clint was snoozing nearby and Bruce arrived with breakfast for all of them.

To think that Tony told them to be here early and he is the only one absent. They would be irritated but they saw this coming. Tony and the idea of being on time were parallel lines: continuously happening but never crossing.

"That is why I use the Bifrost for travelling," Thor says, pointing at the crowds of frazzled mortals in different stages of travelling.

Then, Tony rushes over. He has a plastic bag full of poster boards and a package of thick permanent markers in his mouth. He drops his supplies on the ground and takes Bruce's coffee, finishing it and handing him back the empty cup.

"What is all this?" Bruce questions.

"My proposal," Tony presents, opening his arms to the mess of school supplies on the ground.

It takes all of The Avengers a few seconds to process that statement. They look at Tony with disbelief at first before beginning to cheer him on. Clint, however, still sleeps through it all.

"You're asking Pepper to marry you by asking her to do your homework?" Natasha asks, pointing at the supplies. "She already does all your work so I think she'll just jump back on the plane."

"No!" Tony exclaims.

"Sounds romantic to me," Bruce comments.

"You asked Betty that way?" He looks at Betty. "You said yes to that."

The two scientists look at one another with bright smiles as they nod yes. Tony isn't sure if they're messing with him or not but he couldn't care less about that right now. He's focused on his current proposal but he is still happy that after Bruce helped him with some projects following New York, he encouraged his new friend to go out and do something remarkable because he deserves it. Then, Bruce came back with his old girlfriend, Betty Ross, who became Betty Banner. Even though Bruce was the force in that miracle happening, Tony likes to take credit for it.

Tony sits on the floor and takes out one of the poster boards and unrolls it. He makes Thor and Jane hold down the ends as he uncaps the marker with his teeth. He almost starts writing but pauses, sitting up.

"What is it?" Jane asks.

"After I came home, I had doubts about doing this," Tony explains. "So I went to sleep. I had a dream that Pepper and I had a baby and when I woke up, the way I felt in the dream stayed with me. I truly believed that I had a baby with Pepper. That motivated me to actually go through with this."

"That's so cute..." Jane says, rubbing Tony's shoulder.

"So, if you didn't show up to pick up Pepper, we would've had to bring her home?" Thor questions before Jane smacks his torso.

"Yeah," Tony responds as he goes back to his poster boards.

"Can't you have a baby without the wedding?" Steve questions rhetorically.

"Yes, Spangles, you can. Relationships have evolved since the courting days meaning that people now live together and have babies before marriage - or not get married at all. Take that into consideration before finding a lady."

"I found a lady."

Tony drops his marker on his good jeans but he doesn't care about the stain that will never come out because he can't believe what he just heard; Jane smiles and claps a little, Thor literally spits out his coffee on Bruce in shock, Bruce narrows his eyes at Thor but is still surprised of what Steve said, Betty laughs as she hands Bruce some napkins; Natasha's jaw drops before she smiles in pure excitement, and Clint is still sleeping. Steve is a little offended by their expressions.

"It worked out?!" Natasha exclaims excitedly.

"What did?" Tony asks her.

"I set them up!"

"And you didn't think to tell me about it?"

Natasha points at Steve. "He didn't tell me if it worked out or not!"

Steve shrugs. He didn't inform Natasha because he's been too busy hanging out with his girlfriend. He almost brought her here but opted not to because it may be too early in their relationship and it is certainly too early in the morning.

"Clint!" Tony yells for.

They all look over on a nearby cushioned seat and see Clint sleepily looks up at them.

"Did you know about Steve having a girlfriend?" Tony asks him.

Clint nods as he yawns, eventually going back to sleep.

Tony looks back at Steve. "We have time before my proposal and now I know to give you a plus one to the wedding. Tell me about her."

"Finish your proposal first," Steve orders.

Tony mimics him like a child as he goes back to work. He sneakily looks up at Natasha who nods her head, indicating that she will tell him all the details she knows about it after extracting more information from Steve.

"Pepper's flight will be here soon," Tony states as he continues working.

"You brought the ring, right?" Betty asks.

Tony looks up and hesitates for a second. He almost panics before checking his pockets, calming down once he feels the box. As he goes back to making his proposal, he has a rush of nervous adrenaline coursing through his veins. He limbs feel like they're going to go numb as his stomach drops. A part of him feels like bailing and asking Bruce to drive him home while the others pick up Pepper and take her home, but he thinks back to his dream and continues working.

I just had to put that Infinity War reference in there. It fits.