Wish Upon A Star
Tony and Pepper got married in the winter of 2015. The engagement was in a secret location, far far away from any press. It was the most romantic thing Tony ever managed to do at the time (even if he did get a whole team to help). The wedding, however, blew that out of the water.
The venue was huge. Pepper always wanted to get married outdoors so, Tony chose the most beautiful forest in Sweden and made sure to pick a day where snow was forecasted. The snow draped over leaves, making it feel like a winter wonderland. He wanted to make it special for his wife, hiring the best bakers, photographers, videographers and event planners that money could buy.
When Pepper walked down the aisle, Tony couldn’t believe how lucky he was. He felt out of breath. All he wanted to do was give everything to her. She was the best thing in Tony’s life, by far. This commitment he was making to her was the easiest decision. To make the most woman his wife, it was no brainer.
She wore a gown with puffy sleeves, the fabric of the skirt falling over shoes. It was an ivory colour, not white (he made that mistake a few times), and complimented her. She wore the most beautiful diamond necklace Tony gave her, completing the sparkles that are intertwined into the torso. It turned her into a real life princess (as if she wasn’t already one before). Her long hair was braided and her make-up enhanced her beautiful features. A light pink shade on her lips, it was her all time favourite colour.
If stunning was a person, it would be Pepper Potts (Potts-Stark, if he was being pedantic). In Tony’s, not biased, opinion.
A year after the ceremony, they both decided that they wanted to take the next, huge, step. They wanted to bring another person into their family. So, they started trying.
Getting pregnant turned out to be a lot harder than they both thought it would ever be. Pepper took so many pregnancy tests and every single time, they turned out negative. She spent so many nights crying in the bathroom over a test, Tony’s arms wrapped around her body. They both started to feel as if something was wrong with them.
Infertility was horrid, something that they would never wish on their worst enemy. Dealing with it in front of the press, made it 100x worse. Constant articles graced the newspapers whenever they were spotted in a doctors office. When photos surfaced of Pepper crying in front of the tower, Tony went mental. He sued the magazine for harassment: showing the court that they had followed them around constantly. The magazine was off stores shelves days later.
Tony began to feel useless, spending more time saving the world rather than being there for his wife. The relationship was starting to become tense, a little. He never thought of himself as a father but, now that’s all he wanted. He’d love his child no matter what, he’d give them the world if given the chance. It hurt like hell that it wasn’t working.
They looked into adoption. Agencies told them that it was too dangerous, that Tony working for SHIELD would put any child in danger. They were rejected. This hurt Tony the most. This was his fault, nothing Pepper could say would change that. Yet, even then, Tony couldn’t give up his suits. They became a lifeline, one he’d rather not throw down the drain. That made him feel a new type of guilt. That night, he spent the night in the spare room. It was too hard to look into her eyes.
Waking up after that dreadful day, Tony knew he had a mission to prepare for. He made Pepper breakfast and left it on their bedside table, pressing a kiss to her forehead before he left. He did find it hard to spend so much time away but, he knew the world needed him. He needed it, really. It kept his mind away from everything else.
The usual team was there, par from Clint Barton. He had family leave. The word ‘family’ made Tony tense up, his mood souring as he listened to the debrief. Dr Strange took Clint’s seat, looking as smug as he always did.
“Hey, Stark?” Steve said, after all their team had dispersed from the table; it was just the two of them left. He looked concerned, noticing Tony’s vacant expression. The man was never this quiet.
Tony’s head turned, looking at the man that he usually butted heads with. He wasn’t used to this facial expression (directed at him) and it was making him feel uneasy. “What spangles? Can’t you see that I’m busy not talking to any of you right now.”
“Direct all you want, Tony,” Steve said, noticing Tony’s tactics before the man himself even realised he was doing it. “I’ll be here. You know, if you want to talk. Howard was a good friend of mine, it’ll be nice to actually get along with his son.”
Tony’s heart picked up at the sound of his father’s name. He hadn’t heard that one in a while. He knew the solider heard his heartbeat, as much as that creeped him out, so it was hard not to hide how panicked he suddenly was.
To say that Howard Stark was a bad father was an understatement. When little Tony built a perfect circuit board at the age of four, the man didn’t even smile. Instead, he scowled at Tony and told him to walk away from his meeting. Compared to other memories Tony had of that man, that was minuscule. He vowed that he’d be a better father than Howard could ever be, whenever the world gifted him that opportunity.
“Well, Howard definitely wasn’t a friend of mine,” Tony said. “Excuse me, Steve. I think this conversation is over.”
“Wait, Tony-,”
Tony left the table, walking over to the back of the room. Steve gave up. He joined the rest of the team as they stood in a circle; they were sat on the opposite side of the room. Tony felt isolated but, that’s what he wanted. He didn’t need prying eyes right now. He just wanted to be alone.
He heard their laughter. Instead, he focused on their mission. Evil guys, generic things, that they have faced before. However, they’re different. They’re holding kids hostage, making the poor little ones more traumatised than somebody could imagine. All he wanted to do was calm the crying, tell them that Iron Man was coming.
He had always been good with kid’s (somewhat). The first memorable relationship he had with a kid-fan (a fan who’s young) had to be the little boy in the Iron Man suit. Tony freaked out, told the kid ‘nice work, kid’ and left. Yet, he came back. He spoke to the little boy and made sure he was okay before moving on to face Pepper’s wrath. All her wrath did was make her more attractive. He decided in that moment to propose, it just took him a long time to decide that.
The mission was simple. They got all the little kiddos out, making sure they did a triple sweep around the area to make sure we got everyone. With all the firepower the team had, it was over in only two hours.
Tony saw a flash of red web by, talking to the team and then leaving. He noticed Iron Man, giving him wave. Tony waved back, having no idea who or what that was. He seemed nice, after all.
Tony stared at of the reunited families as they held their child for far too long. He just hoped that was in his future, one day. The kid’s laughter, her adoring eyes for the father that held her. Not the kidnapping part. That’s all he wanted and he couldn’t even give that to Pepper.
“Such a wonderful thing, isn’t it?” Stephen Strange said to Tony, walking (floating?) over to him once they boarded back onto the ship.
“What’s that?” Tony mumbled, not really paying attention to what the man said.
“Family. It’s all we fight for at the end of the day. Some of us have to fight a lot harder than others, some don’t have to fight at all.”
How cryptic, Tony thought. He raised an eyebrow at Strange, confused as to where he was going with this. “I don’t understand. I don’t want to indulge in your magic fantasies right now, I’m not in the mood.”
“We can all see that,” Strange told him, yet he didn’t move an inch from where they were sat. When Tony moved, he did too.
“You know what’s wrong, don’t you?”
“I noticed your lingering eyes,” Stephen explained, “Also, tabloids publish pretty much everything they see.”
“That they do,” Tony rolled his eyes. “So, what was the point of this conversation? Are you trying to push it in my face that I can’t have a child? I must admit, that’s a bit fucked up.”
“Have you ever considered simply wishing on a star? You know most important things in life come to us in a time of need. All you have to do is believe,” Strange told him. Before Tony could yell, he floated (walked?) away.
When Tony eventually walked down to his lab after he got back to the tower, he thought about his conversation with Strange. Most things don’t arrive to you when you need them most. It never happened to him, at least. Strange was definitely wrong, he always was.
It wouldn’t hurt to try though, would it? Tony told himself this, his feet taking him back up to the penthouse. He took a step out onto the balcony and closed his eyes.
“I wish for a kid,” He whispered to himself, his eyes making their way to the brightest star in the sky.
Nothing happened. Not that he thought it would happen immediately. He was just a little disappointed, that’s all. He expected fireworks or.... maybe Pepper would run to him with a stick, one that had to two lines on the digital screen. Yet again, nothing. He just had to deal with his life as it was.
Tony woke up early in the morning for the first time in a while. He was in a bad mood, already. He had a meeting with a set of new candidates later that day, all applying for the same internship spot. Only one got it and he was the person in charge of making that choice. He wasn’t CEO anymore. A part of him wanted to ping the whole thing on her and if she wasn’t struggling so much, he certainly would do so.
Making his bad morning into an even worse one, there was no coffee in the kitchen. He swore that they only just got a new set delivered. Tony needed that coffee and he couldn’t wait for somebody to go get him some. He needed to do this himself.
He looked into the mirror before he went, frowning at the sight. He looked pitiful. Pepper would say he looked handsome, Tony would disagree.
Stepping outside, he braced the cold with a warm scarf draped over his neck and the biggest jacket of his that he could find. He walked down the street and grabbed two coffees, just in case he needed it. It turned out he did, however, for a very different reason than he expected.
Walking up to his tower, he bumped into someone. Tony’s first coffee cup went tumbling down the man’s white t-shirt, probably burning him in the process. He felt guilty straight away as he realised the person’s fist was clenched, probably trying to pretend he wasn’t hurting.
When he finally looked up, big brown eyes met his. It was just a little kid. He didn’t look older than fourteen, his messy curls making him look adorable. Tony’s eyes went to the kid’s, now soiled shirt, and noticed a name tag sitting across his torso. “Peter Parker”