For Peace

Their wedding planner is a sweet enough woman but almost a complete fanatic when it came to wedding perfection, so she right away became best friends with Steven (and Mother).

Everything was planned right down to the last detail, and it was looking to be a truly gorgeous ceremony.

The whole wedding was to be held at a beautiful estate on the northern shore of Long Island; the vow taking would be held in the tall bright Chapel (luckily a good fit for all their guests) and the Reception under tall glass marquees by the water.

The Governor was to be invited, turns out he was a very good client of Steven's. A few more long time clients were also to be invited; most were rich and a part of New York's most exclusive social circles.

Y/n tried not to be intimidated by her own wedding guest list. So what if Tony Stark was invited to her wedding? Nothing odd at all, he's just a billionaire and one of the most genius scientists in the world.

Another thing that wasn't helping was Steve trying to get invites to almost every relation of Y/n's he could find, which was too many considering his too damnedly invasive knowledge of Y/n's family tree.

Eventually, after much negotiation, they'd whittled the list down to a hundred and fifty guests. The Invites were laid on silk paper, flowers were ordered by the thousands and the best Caterers and Confectioner's were sourced.

Y/n chose her sister to be her maid of honor after a stern talk about avoiding all topics of conversation about Noah around Steven.

After pretending to be indecisive, Steve informed Bucky he'd be the best man.

The Bride and her sister's gowns were elegantly and timelessy designed by Givenchy and the Groom and his best friend were to be dressed in Tom Ford tuxes.

Y/n found herself loving it against her will.

Steven had been his usual self. He still demanded her presence by his side and her attention on him. Although these days; with him being almost completely overrun by Wedding Fever; he was willing to allow room for wedding business.

He still catered to her every need with his loving ways and he'd taken time away from work to be more present and invested in every aspect of the wedding planning.

With regard to other activities, he'd tucked himself firmly into his gentlemanly armour. He'd expressed remorse about taking it too far that day, but Y/n couldn't let him have all the blame. She could have stopped him, but she hadn't wanted to.

Honestly she'd been craving his hands on her again, needing to feel him with his gentle nature cast aside once more but he refrained and was as respectful as he ever was; need restrained behind steel chains.

Aptly put he'd been as good to her as ever, despite the fact that he still considered her "grounded" so she still had a guard driving (and following) her around while she went to dress fittings.

She still wasn't allowed to leave the penthouse without his approval and she is sure he's still watching her phone.

He won't find much. She'd resisted calling Noah but that hadn't ended the anxious need to know. Eventually, though, she'd conconcted a solid enough plan.

She'd gotten her sister to do the dirty work and asked her to happen to drop by at Noah's parents. They'd happily showed her pictures of Noah in Singapore; proud that he seemed to be doing well, as had subtly been reported to Y/n during a dress fitting.

She'd had breathed a sigh of relief, she hadn't doubted Steven's word but she had to be- sure.

She loves him and he lives for her without doubt but she still worries. Love like Steven's is so strong she has a feeling it wants to consume her, sometimes she worries it already has.

She fits perfectly into the the space next to him and feels at home as as his wife to be; interacting with his family, colleagues, friends and their spouses has become familiar and easy. She enjoys their company (atleast most of them; she isn't too sure about Loki Laufeyson) and they seem to like her too.

She's even been drawn into helping Steven's assistant, Mrs Wintour, with Shield Security's next Annual Ball.

Still , Steven won't hear of her attending interviews and actually doing some work with her newly acquired Degree. Atleast not work that doesn't involve either working with him or him building her a glorified office.

Citing reasons like: he doesn't want her to be stressed with having to work and planning such a big wedding and how he'd worry for her health if she went to work in a public office so soon after the pandemic.

It's not that she hates the thought of being her own boss, hardly. It's just that it's not really the community building work she'd been imagining; where she helps real people with real issues instead of sitting in an office up high sending other people to do the work.

Currently, she and Steve sat at breakfast in the penthouse. The sun shone softly through the double volume windows warming the cold of the morning.

Y/n'd gotten a call from her friend and mentor earlier with information she'd been been contemplating.

"Daddy?" She calls for him.

"Yes, darling?" Steven hummed; left hand on his tablet reading the paper the right holding onto her left hand.

He loves kissing her fingers and her engagement ring ever so often.

She's wearing her third engagement ring today; its an oval cut diamond set in platinum. Steven keeps bringing them home, unable to resist the idea of admiring them on her finger, a different one for different days.

"Miranda Called, she said NYU's Social Development Department is hiring. I was thinking I should apply." He stops reading. "It's a Junior position, and part time to start, but I think it'd be good for my Resumé."

He set his tablet aside and turns to her her fully.

"Baby," He sighs reaching to cup her cheek, fingertips resting on the roots of her hair, "we spoke about this."

"I know, daddy, but I've just been thinking."

Damnit, she's pouting. Steve can't stand it when she's pouting at him like this, this is the reason he can't say no to her.

"That after the wedding I'll have all this free time and it might be good to have something to do especially when you're back to work full time too."

But she's being stubborn again, why does she do this? He provides everything for her, he loves doing so, he'll always take care of her every need and she knows it.

Still, she insists on trying to find some God forsaken job that will take up her time, take away time that they can spend together, when she could be relaxing, spending money instead.

What she doesn't know is that he'd been thinking of stepping down as CEO and handing the reins over to Bucky or Sam; his business partners had been running from the office work since the company's inception but Steve knows they've been watching everything and they know exactly how things should be done. Steve's taking time off had been a trial run but honestly he trusts to handle the company they'd built together.

As for himself, he could do with more time to spend with Y/n.

She's right, it would be unfair for her to do nothing while he's at work but she doesn't know that the thought of leaving her for a full day has become unbearable to him. He doesn't plan on returning to the office, atleast not full time.

He has a wife to tend to and hopefully children too, soon.

Plus he's made more than enough money for he and his wife to never think about work again.

"You won't have to worry about that, darling. Because I've been thinking, that maybe I can step down as CEO, Bucky and Sam can finally take a turn at running the ship." 

That makes her turn to him, speechless.

"I know it seems sudden but I've been thinking about it for a while- even longer. This way we can spend more time together, even after the wedding, we can travel anywhere you want. Maybe afterward, we can even think about starting a family."