They have the wedding a week later.
It's not what they intended. There are no matching bridesmaids dresses, and no fancy fold for the napkins. The flower arrangement is wrong, and they had to get two smaller cakes instead of one big one. Pepper's not even in her real dress, which was designer and cost over ten thousand dollars, but in something that she picked up from a thrift store that had a weird stain on the hem. Instead of going off without a hitch, it was a last minute jumble, with no one sure where they were sitting or what they were going to eat at the reception or what time anything was going to start, but they all agreed afterwards that it was the most beautiful wedding they had ever sat through.
Because Nora is the maid of honor and Peter is the best man, they get to escort each other down the aisle. She's nervous and too afraid she's going to trip, but it's better knowing that he's there to catch her. When she gets to the end, Tony hugs them both before they take their places.
"It's happening kid," He mutters in her ears, and he looks so damn happy that it makes tears spring to her eyes. She tries to blink them back, but ends up having to wipe them away the whole way through. "I finally did it."
Pepper looks beautiful, walking down the aisle in her second hand dress. The bouqet was made from flowers that Peter had picked out from his Aunt May's rooftop flower bed, none of them matching and all of them slightly wilting, but it seemed to match better than a professional arrangement. When she gets to the end of the aisle, she takes Tony's hands and lets him pull her close to whisper something in her ear. Whatever it is, it makes her cry.
They wrote their own vows. Nora had to read Tony's over three times the night before in order for him to read it out loud today.
"Pepper Potts." Tony's eyes were shining. "I spent a lot of time thinking about what I could say that would sum up my feelings better than I love you, but I finally came up with this: most of my life, I spent running away from everything and everyone. I was hiding, but no matter where I went, I'd look to my side and have you be right there with me, pushing me to be better even when I thought that wasn't possible. And when I thought that there was no point in going on, no way to go on, I'd look at you and know with my entire heart that I was wrong, that as long as you were willing to stand with me, than there must be something worth fighting for." Nora was crying, and across from her, so was Peter, both of them smiling through the tears. "I know you don't like that suit. I know it scares you. But every time I go off to fight, I'm doing it because of you, and the thought that no matter where I'm at, there is always someone who is counting on me to come back home." He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. "You're the only reason I'm still breathing, Pepper Potts. So I guess all I'm trying to say is this: stay with me. For the rest of my life, always be the person that stands by side and reminds me to keep fighting, okay?"
Pepper's crying, but her voice is steady when she talks. "When I met you, I didn't like messes. And I didn't like chaos. I liked things neat and organzied, everything placed in boxes that can be checked off and filed away. And then I started working for you, and Tony Stark, you had the messiest, most chaotic life that I could have imagined, and suddenly I couldn't find out how to get away from you." She stopped to wipe away her tears. "And one day -I don't know when- I stopped wanting to, because I realized that with you and all your many messes, my life was better. I loved you and all your choas, becuase I needed someone to draw me out of that box that I was living in. I was so afraid of leaving that box, but I was more afraid of not being a part of your life." Pepper tucked the piece of paper she was readhing off of away, like she no longer was unsure about what she had to say. "When I walked into work that first day, you told me I had made the worst decision of my life. But I didn't. In this world, there aren't many things I have faith in, but you, Tony Stark, with all your chaos and catastrohpy, are one of them. And I am so, so grateful for that first day, becuase it led us to all of this. To our little family."
Nora was grateful for that, too.
Peter stands on a chair to get everyone's attention, but they don't really quiet down until Thor bellows for them to fall silent, that the boys of spiders was going to speak.
"Um." Peter threw a nervous glance at Nora, who gave him a thumbs up. "Thanks, Thor."
"When I realized I had to make a speech, I thought it would be easy to find great things to say about Mr. Stark. About how he's the smartest man in the world and that his inventions shaped history, about how he was a hero, how his family loves him. But then I realized that everyone in the room, everyone in the world, already knew these things, and I had to do better, so I came up with this instead."
Peter looked down at Mr. Stark, took one deep breath like he was steeling his nerves, and then pressed on.
"When I was younger, I lost someone really close to me. My Uncle Ben. And I remember, right after I was told about it, how I sat in my bed and decided that there would never be someone who could care about me that much again. How I'd lost not only my real father, but the only person that could come close to filling his shoes, and the universe wouldn't give me a third chance.
"But later, shortly after I became spiderman, I realized I was wrong, becuase then I met Mr. Stark." Peter swallowed hard, eyes darting around the room. "He came to me because he said he needed help, but I think that in the end, it was more to help me. Give me someone I can look to, turn towards when I needed help. At the time, things were going pretty bad. I didn't know how to handle my powers, and I didn't understand the responsibility that gave me."
"But he made me see it. Made me understand that it's not all fun and games, when you have these abilities. That you've got a responsiblity. And he helped me, steering me down the right path. It wasn't just with the powers, either- it was with school, with girls, with college searches. I don't know where I would have ended up without him. Who I am today, everything I've done and will do- it's all because of him. I wouldn't have been able to make it this far without it.
"No one can replace my dad, or my uncle. Tony wasn't trying to fill their shoes and become a surrogate father or anything, all he wanted to do was reach out a helping hand to a kid from queens. And even though I learned a lot from him about being super and about mechanics, I learned something else." His hands were shaking. "The world wasn't done with me yet. They were going to give me one more chance at finding that person who's there for you and who's going to lead you through the dark times without asking for anything."
Peter climbed down from the chair, and Tony stood to hug him. "I love you, Mr. Stark. Don't know what I would have done without you." He was choking back tears. "I'm glad you're back."
"I love you too, kid." Tony was still hugging him, choking back his own tears. "So much."
There's a father daughter dance instead of a mother son one.
Nora thought she would be nervous about having everyone look at her, but she wasn't. It was hard to be nervous when you were Tony.
"I am so proud of you." He said, eyes shining. She hadn't pegged him to be the kind of person to cry this much. "You know that, right?"
"I do." They weren't really dancing, just swaying back and forth. "And you know I love you, right? And that I'm really, really glad that you're my father."
"I know." He spun her around, and her skirt flared out the way it does in the movies. This whole thing was picture perfect. "We're going to be alright, kid. I can feel it."
There was one more thing that Nora had to do before she was able to put it all behind her.
And that thing involved Bucky.
She corners him around the time that the cake was cut under the guise of making sure that he had gotten something to eat. He looked pleased to have company, but also overall uncomfortable, but whether it was from all the people or the fact that he had to wear a suit, she couldn't tell.
"So you're alright?" He taps at her wrist, which still had the tendency to start glowing at inoppurtune moments. "They're going to get that taken care of?"
"We've got a doctor all lined up. But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about." Nora tried to gather her courage, to tell herself that even if he said no, she'd be fine. "I have a question."
"Shoot."
"You want to be my god father?"
He actually chokes on his food, which probably isn't a good sign, but it did break the tension. "You want me to be your what?" He wipes the icing from the cake off on the table cloth. "Nora, I don't even go to church."
"That's not the point." She wasn't going to let him say no. He can be a self sacrificing idiot some other time. "The point is that I don't have god parents. Tony said I get to choose. So I chose Natasha, and I chose you."
"Why?"
He was confused, because he was still caught up in who he had been and what he had done, and Nora knows he thinks that taints everyone around him. She wasn't there to absolve his sins, but she does think that this might give them both someone extra to hang onto when things get rough.
"Because family isn't always the people you get stuck with. More often than not, its the people you choose. And I choose you, Bucky Barnes, because I think you deserve it. So what do you say?"
He says yes, of course. It's hard to say no to the girl who practically came back from the dead.
Peter finds her out on the balcony.
It's too cold to be standing outside in a dress this thin, but she likes the chill of the night air on her skin. It dulls the heat that seems to always flare up inside her now, and maybe it serves as an extra reminder that she is actually here, alive and well.
"Their vows were amazing." He comes up beside her, placing his hand beside hers on the bannister, close enough so their pinkies were just barely brushing.
"So was your speech."
He wrinkles his nose at her. He's probably heard it a hundred times already. "Do you know what I think, Nora Reynolds?" Peter is still staring up at the sky, maybe picking out the constellations she had shown him. "I think good things are coming for us."
"Do you?" She edges herself between him and the bannister, and he kisses her, which makes the light in her wrists glow just enough to be noticeable.
(They had figured out that side affect last night. Peter thinks its cool, because, as he said, it was a thermometer for how good of a kisser he was. Nora just thought it was annoying.)
"I can feel it." He taps at his chest, right above his heart. "Right here."
"And if you're wrong?" That's what she's most afraid of, that this feeling might not last. That there's going to be a day where the ground crumbles from underneath her feet once again. "What do we do then?"
"We work through it. All of us. Together, just like we did everything else." He was so certain, Nora couldn't help but believe him.
"And for right now?"
"For right now?" He grins, wickedly, and holds out his hand to her. "You want to get out of here?"
She can see the watch around his wrist, the one that just holds his webbing instead of telling time. He tells everyone its purely for fashion, and most people believe him.
"They'll notice we're gone."
"Not for a while." He pulls her close to him, where he can hang onto her and neither of them be afraid of falling. "Be young and dumb with me, just for a moment."
It sounded like a promise. A promise of living and loving and never giving up even when it would be easier. About always being good and brave and true, about how even when they are not so lovely, even when they are bleeding and broken and just want to admit that they had been beaten, they will be there for the other to lean on.
Life isn't so scary, when you have people to walk through it with you.
"Young and dumb." She took his hand and watches the stars as her feet lifted off the ground, wishing they could just keep flying until they reached them. "I can do that."
In the end, though, they just stop at the roof, sitting on the edge and swinging their feet in the open air. There's something about being so close to the fall that makes you feel more alive.
"Really, though." She's tracing the constellations with her fingers, trying to teach him. "I feel like this won't last."
"It won't." Peter laced his fingers with hers. "There's always going to be another bad guy. But you know something else, Nora?"
"What's that?" She knew that she loved him. She knew that she wanted nothing more than to stay on this roof forever. She knew that she was happy.
"There's always going to be people like us, too." He squeezed her hand, and as much as this felt like a beginning, part of her couldn't help but focus on the part of her life that would be ending. "There's always going to be heroes."