REVAMPED!

[little spoiler but I'm currently also working on Emily and Daniel's wedding arc and coming back here to write her parents' own wedding is so cute]

Mark VI: The Start of the Planning

Pepper enters the living room from her kitchen, holding a tray of freshly made espressos and fix-ins in her hands. She sets them down on the coffee table in front of her, and Natasha, Betty, and Jane all help themselves. Pepper takes a seat on the couch next to Betty before making her own espresso.

At first glance, the group of women look as casual and normal as ever, seeming like they live a regular everyday woman life as opposed to having any kind of associations with The Avengers. They're just women in their best jeans, comfiest t-shirts, and left-alone hairstyles that have only seen a brush. This was their day to relax: there was no work to be done, so they could just enjoy some idle chit chat.

At least now, they could talk about Pepper's upcoming wedding which may be earlier than they originally thought.

"Tony wants to get married soon which is something I would like as well," Pepper says as her warm espresso cup sits in her hands. She crosses her legs on the couch to get comfier.

Betty nods, knowing how quick she and Bruce did it. "There's no point in an engagement period when you could just be husband and wife. Besides, it's so much planning for just one day."

Pepper gestures towards her. "That's what Tony said!" She chuckles a little. "As if he's doing any of the planning."

"Especially because you and Tony are basically already husband and wife," Jane adds.

"Awe, thanks Jane."

Jane straightens up. "Oh, I'm serious. Up until the proposal, I thought you guys were already married. Thor took a whole five minutes to convince me that we were going to the airport to help with the proposal."

Betty looks at her fellow scientist and mutters how she thought the same thing when Bruce told her to join him as well.

"I don't blame you," Pepper says to the both of them. "There were a lot of stories out there that thought we already eloped, so this was a real surprise to them."

"I know this isn't my wedding, but I'm all for it being in a week if you would want," Natasha states. "I mean this in the nicest way possible, but let's get this thing over with."

Pepper laughs a little to herself.

-o-

Later in the day, Pepper walks into Tony's laboratory and makes her way around the mess of suit parts that scatter the floor. In the middle of it all, she sees Tony hunched in front of a hologram, typing away on a keyboard. The screen changes constantly as if it was a slideshow switching its slides every time she blinked. Pepper shifts her focus onto Tony and approaches him from behind, putting her hands on his shoulders and massaging them. Tony perks up a little, having not noticed her walk in. He turns around and smiles as he sees Pepper standing above him.

"Hello, Mr. Stark," Pepper greets as she takes a seat next to him.

"Hello, future Mrs. Stark." He pauses for a second. "Wait, are you taking my name?"

Pepper looks at him as if he asked a stupid question. "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I?"

Tony freezes, holding back what looks like a sudden cry that comes out of thin air. "That makes me want to get married even faster."

"Calm down," Pepper says, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek as she turns to look at what he was working on. She was interested the moment she walked in because he seemed so concentrated on it. "What are you doing? Wedding planning?"

"Kind of," Tony responds.

"What does that mean?"

"I'm trying to find out who Steve's girlfriend is."

Pepper raises her eyebrows in surprise. "He has one?"

Tony shares the same kind of shock even though he already knew that for a bit. "Right!? So I'm trying to figure out who she is because not only am I curious, but Natasha is too busy to tell me. Clint is being sort of useless by not asking Natasha because, apparently, he's busy with other stuff. I didn't think the Bonnie and Clyde of assassins would have lives but I'm glad they do, just not right now."

"I heard Natasha set them up, but I didn't think it went that far," Pepper says, "or should I say, they haven't been together that long."

"You didn't talk about it earlier with the other women?"

"We weren't talking about Steve at all. Why would we?"

Tony shrugs. "He's America's golden boy. Anyways, Cap decided to start keeping secrets about a woman, of all things. I need to know to make sure to give him a plus one for the wedding. It's important wedding planning information."

Pepper scoffs. "Just give it to him. There are much more important things to plan for the wedding than America's golden boy's possible date."

"Like what?"

She rolls her eyes, using her fingers to count the list even though there won't be enough. "Location, venue, cake, dress, tuxedo, ceremony, food, reception - "

Tony is taken aback for a moment, already looking a bit overwhelmed. "That's a lot for one day."

"I know."

Tony grins. "Better make it worth it."