Revamped!

[This was supposed to be two chapters but I just decided to make it one big chapter instead.

I'll post part one of the next arc later]. [2020: I'm pumped for that arc!]


Chapter 47: Breaking News

Stark Towers - 10:37 AM

As the sound of her tower being under construction pounds against her skull, Emily dives into the deep web to see what's new in the media. There was a lot going on but the articles that caught her eye the most were the ones about her. It wasn't completely because she was a narcissist but because the articles had to do with her engagement. If the articles had one underlying plot, it was the fact that she was engaged since high school with a fiancé that the public eye didn't know about.

It would've been easy for any of Emily's former classmates to say that her fiancé is Daniel Banner but Emily knows that nobody hated her and even if they did, they didn't hate Daniel. All in all, their privacy is respected and no journalist has found a leak. Besides, she has Jarvis on the prowl for any mention of Daniel.

"The media is a bitch," Janet says as she takes a seat beside Emily. "Back in the day, there was this one journalist who wrote that I was your dad's mistress. I read the article and almost believed it myself."

Emily laughs a little. "Apparently, having a seven-year engagement to a mystery man creates conspiracy theories."

"People these days love conspiracy theories so I think you're on the right track."

Janet shrugs. Emily just closes her laptop and moans into her couch. Now that she's back in town and going to stay with the others, she has so much more on her plate than in that seven-year period. She has her tower to fix before Daniel moves in with her since her parents decided to move into their California home, her Iron Man suit to finish building, her wedding to plan, and the family business just lingering in the back of her mind. As if she didn't already have a lot to deal with.

Janet rubs Emily's shoulder. "Being out in the open with your engagement will be hard as if it wasn't already, especially since Daniel isn't the typical billionaire or all-star celebrity whom everybody expects you to marry. When Hank and I started dating, rumours flew all over the place saying crap about how marrying each other was a part of giving the company to him or that we're using each other for our money. I didn't believe that second one since I had more money than Hank so why would I be a gold-digger? Anyways, people will always say the worst just to get the most reads but what they say doesn't matter. When you and Daniel are celebrating your 50th wedding anniversary with your fifty grandkids running around, those journalists will be the ones looking foolish."

"They better," Emily says as she rubs her temples. She smiles to herself. "I've been thinking of doing a private wedding - just strictly family and friends."

"It's your relationship that matters most … and that your wedding has the best champagne."

Emily scoffs. "Janet, please, only the finest will be served."

-o-

Barton Household - Manhattan - 12:23 PM

Sipping chilled beers in a backyard that has just been freshly mowed are Hank, Tony, Clint, and Steve. They all sunbathe in Clint's backyard, sitting in beach chairs and taking a casual day as a moment to relax and breathe in the cooling scent of cut grass. As for their entertainment, it was James doing the landscaping since he still got grounded for the incident with the Pym particles. He thought that his parents would let it slide since he saved their lives and because he's an adult but no.

"Angela is a lucky girl," Tony says as they all watch James sharpen some hedge clippers.

Steve looks at him with a sour taste in his mouth. "Are you sure?"

The men all see James accidentally drop the hedge clippers. James shrieks like a girl and shrinks as the clippers fall, just so the sharp edges don't slice off any of his limbs. Once the clippers hit the ground, a calm James grows back to his normal size and continues the gardening as if that incident never happened. He doesn't even check if his dad or the other men saw.

"James is a lucky boy," Hank corrects, not caring that he's deprecating his son.

"That's more like it," Steve says as he and Hank clink beer bottles.

The focus back on James who wipes the sweat on his forehead before looking at the hedge that needs trimming. For a moment, he thinks that all he has to do is clip off all the uneven branches and make the hedge look pretty but that's not the plan.

"James, you think you can make that hedge look like me?!" Clint asks.

James looks over at Clint, about to laugh at that joke but the archer was dead serious about the hedge looking like him.

"...sure, why not?!" James replies optimistically with a hint of sarcasm as he starts clipping the hedge to resemble Clint.

Clint and Hank clink their beer bottles. This would be the best exterior landscaping job yet. Merida might be able to tolerate, especially when she found out that James made it, it but Natasha would get rid of it with a chainsaw.

"Youth is wasted on the young," Steve says.

"Says the man who's over a hundred years old but looks forty," Tony spits back.

-o-

Daniel's Apartment - 22:14 PM

In Daniel's semi-empty apartment stand him, Xavier, Angela, and Merida. They're helping Daniel pack for his move into Stark Towers. It was an easy packing job since he didn't have much stuff to begin with. Since most of his work and research was overseas, and add missions to that, he was rarely here for more than a week at a time. As of now, they're all just sitting on closed boxes, resting.

"What if the media thinks you're a con man?" Xavier says as he browses through the online articles about Emily's "mysterious" fiancé.

Daniel glares at him. Xavier couldn't tell if that look was serious or not. They would always theorize about this at The Academy when the buzz about Emily's engagement died down and Sci-Tech wouldn't decapitate him for shacking their goddess.

"I'm kidding," Xavier says although Daniel already knew that, "you'd be the worst con man ever."

"Speaking of weddings," Angela says with a heightened perk in her voice, "how much do you and Emily have planned?"

Daniel shrugs. "We don't even have a date so we have nothing planned except for the fact that we'll be married. Apollo, Britney, and Iqadi will be there - that is, whenever the hell they'll show up which they have to eventually. I'm pretty sure Emily will handle all the technical details because I don't know how all that works."

Merida fakes a gasp. "Daniel doesn't know something!"

"You know how to slow dance, right?" Angela asks him. "Not prom dancing but wedding dancing?"

Daniel shrugs again. He didn't need to know how to dance back then since it wasn't his wedding so he wasn't the centre of attention. But now it would be his wedding and all eyes will be on him (he hopes they'll be looking at Emily more than him. He knows he'll be looking at her the whole time).

Merida fakes a gasp again. "Daniel doesn't know something else!"

Daniel gives her a judgmental look. Merida just mimics his shrug as a response. As if Merida knew how to plan weddings and formally dance at them. She only knew how to ballroom dance for missions from that dance elective at The Academy and that was it.

Angela immediately gets up from the box she was sitting on and grabs Merida to her feet. She begins demonstrating how ballroom dancing works and uses Merida as her fake partner, positioning herself and Merida as each part (Merida being the female of the waltz and Angela being the male). Angela could've asked Xavier to demonstrate since he's a boy but Xavier can barely ballroom dance on missions let alone in all causality.

The perk of Daniel's apartment being mostly cleaned out and stored away is that Angela has more room to teach him.

"You're lucky I'm in a good mood or I would hate this so much," Merida says, unwillingly going along with Angela's movements.

"I'm enjoying this," Daniel says happily. He wouldn't say he's learning how to dance but he sure is entertained.


[I've come to realize that Daniel is that friend who low-key judges everyone … and I'm that friend]. [2020: Wow. No wonder I don't have many].