I Thought You Were Different: Part 4

Questions (FINAL chapter)

It's OVER.

Steve seemed to be immune to the wedding day hustle that was happening all around him, finding himself more than willing to stand guard in the living room entryway, leaning against the wall casually with arms crossed. At least, he appeared casual; inside his stomach was churning and fighting the burn of acidity as he watched his boy and his girlfriend sitting on one of the couches together, their fingers intertwined playfully as they spoke to each other too quietly for even him to overhear. She seemed nice enough, Steve had quickly decided after she arrived, having known nothing more about her than what T'Challa had shared, but nice didn't quell his concerns that Anthony was still too young as far as he was concerned.

"Wow, Cap, subtle."

Steve sucked in a tight breath and turned to Sam, his eyes giving away his guilt at what he was doing and feeling like he had been caught red-handed. "Yeah, I know," he groaned softly, pushing his hands deeply into his tuxedo pants pockets as he turned back towards his son, "but the more that I see him being well-behaved, the more likely I am to back off."

"Ha!" Sam scoffed, nearly choking on his drink. "Like that's actually gonna happen! Steve, come on, this is you we're talking about. Your kids are gonna be virgins until they're thirty."

"Oh, god, Sam," Steve grimaced, "why would you say that? That's the opposite of helping."

"Never said that I was," his friend shrugged in reply, taking another drink with a mischievous glance at Steve before leaving him there to consider that he wasn't even exaggerating. Sam knew that if these kids were to have any chance at living a normal life within the extraordinary surroundings that they were born into, there would be a lot more of the not helping happening to get Steve to see it.

~~~

"How late is the caterer going to be? Well that's just unacceptable...hold on," you paused and pressed your hand over the phone, turning to Pepper as her makeup was being finished. "They're going to be about an hour late because some idiot forgot an entire cart of appetizers. I'm demanding half of the deposit back."

"No, don't worry about it," she smiled softly, "we can stall, it's not a big deal." Her eyes were closed and she was sitting perfectly still, the look on her face as calm as you had ever seen her, almost as if she were lost in meditation. It should have transferred some of the mood to you just by looking at her, but it only made you more tense. "Relax, (Y/N). It will all work out."

"Have you been drinking?"

"No," she laughed, "I'm just not letting things get to me today. You should try it."

"Hmm, right. You're not letting things get to you today because I'm doing them all," you huffed, returning to your call. Her suite at the tower was filled with people running in all directions, making sure that her gown was steamed and pressed without the hint of a wrinkle anywhere before she was to put it on, another person was standing behind her, pinning her hair up into an elegant style while the last touches of her lipstick were being applied. Anyone who would have walked into the room right now would easily miss seeing her in all of the chaos, but when Natasha burst through the doors, Pepper was her immediate target.

"Nope! Romanoff, stop," you broke in, stepping in her way. "You come to me with problems, leave Pepper alone."

"Are you sure?"

"No, but hit me with it anyway," you sighed, knowing it was likely something terrible.

"FRIDAY has some kind of a glitch that Tony can't figure out, and she won't be able to play the music for the ceremony. Pete's helping him work on it, but it's not looking good."