To The Stars and Back

    It was a calm morning in the tower. Well, as calm as they could get. Tony and Stephen were standing in the kitchen while they made breakfast for their son, Peter. Peter, on the other hand, was pacing around the kitchen, frantically signing about a test that he had that day. 

    Stephen stepped away from Tony’s side at the counter, walking over to their son. Peter looked up at his pops, who reached up to grab his frantic hands. 

    “Pete, it’s going to be fine. I promise you,” Stephen signed. He made sure to look Peter in the eyes, even though he was looking down to know what his pops said. Once his pops finished, he looked up to look his pops in the eye. 

    “Thank you, pops,” Peter signed. Something that Tony and Stephen realized shortly after meeting and adopting Peter was that there was only one sign for dad. So, Tony became “mechanic dad” and Stephen became “doctor dad.” Tony and Stephen both melted every time.

    “Peter, I love you, but you have to go to school. Happy’s waiting in the garage and you’re going to be late if you don’t leave. now,” Tony signed over Stephen’s shoulder, saying it as well so Stephen knew what was going on. Peter’s eyes widened as he pulled away to grab his backpack and run out the door. The last thing that Tony and Stephen saw was their son’s hand waving “I love you” as the door shut. 

    “I love him, but he has absolutely no sense of time,” Stephen said, going back to help his partner make breakfast. Despite being together since college, they’ve never gotten around to getting married. Both of them wanted to get married, but it never really came up.

    “He gets that from me, obviously,” they both laughed and enjoyed the silence that followed. “Let’s do something this weekend. Something as a family.”

    “I think I could agree to that, depending on where. What are you thinking of doing, love?” Stephen said as he walked over to the couch, sitting in his usual spot. Tony followed him over, immediately laying down on his partner once he was close enough. 

    “I have an idea in mind. It’s one that I think both you and Pete will like a lot.”

    “Do I get to know where?”

    “Nope, it’s a surprise. Spider-Baby already knows and is on board with it too.”

    “So our kid gets to know but not me?’

    “That’s correct, mio stella,” the nickname alone should've given it away, but it flew right over Stephen’s head. “What about this Saturday? I know for a fact that we’re all free.”

    If Stephen had been a little more awake, then he would’ve noticed the parallels between the first time Tony asked him out and now. However, he had only had half a cup of tea so far. 

    Saturday came before anyone in their small family knew it. Tony was nervous as hell, Peter was excited, and Stephen was still in the dark. Tony had spent an hour talking to Rhodey the night before to let him know that it was finally happening. 

    “Tony, love, since you haven’t told me anything about this, what should I wear?” Stephen yelled from inside their closet. 

    “Jeans and a t-shirt. Maybe that jacket that you usually wear when you don’t choose Levi.”

    “I take it that Levi isn’t invited on this trip?” Stephen asked as he grabbed the jacket out. It was one of his favorites. Mainly because it was the jacket he wore to his and Tony’s first date. He grabbed some jeans and a shirt too, throwing them on their bed before he did the same with his shoes. 

    “I feel like this would be a little easier without them there. Don’t get me wrong, I love them, I just want this to go as smooth as possible,” Tony walked out of their bathroom in jeans and a shirt, leather jacket thrown over his shoulder. He smiled at both of their jacket choices, knowing what would be happening later tonight. 

    “I’ll have to take your word on it since you still haven’t told me what’s going on.”

    “I love you, babe, but you’re not finding out until we’re there,” Tony gave Stephen a quick kiss, knowing that there would be plenty of time for more later. Assuming that everything was going to go to plan, of course. 

    They finished getting dressed and walked out to the living room. They thought that Peter was still getting ready, but quickly realized that that wasn’t the case when they saw their son walking down the wall from the ceiling to greet them.

    “Peter, how many times do I have to tell you not to walk on the ceiling or walls?” Tony signed.

    “You said not to do it with shoes on, and my shoes are over by the door,” Tony and Stephen immediately looked towards the front door, only to see that their son was telling the truth. Tony just shook his head and looked down before he signed, “Are you ready to go, Spider-Baby?”

    “Yeah, just let me put my shoes on real quick,” Peter didn’t wait for a response and immediately ran to the door to put his shoes on. Once on, he stood there, waiting for his dads to walk over so they could finally leave. 

    They all went down towards the garage and walked over to one of Tony’s cars. Stephen was surprised to see Tony get in the driver’s seat instead of Happy. Tony made sure to pick one of his safer cars, wanting to soothe as much of Stephen’s anxiety about driving as he could. Stephen slid into the passenger seat and Peter stumbled into the back. 

    They drove in mostly silence, just the radio playing lightly to keep Tony and Stephen from going insane. It was a comfortable silence, but Tony was about to explode from nerves. 

    A few minutes later, Tony pulled into the parking lot. Stephen looked up at the building, immediately realizing where they were. Tears sprung to his eyes as he looked over at Tony, who was smiling at him.

    “I’m not overstepping, am I?” Tony signed along for Peter’s benefit, despite him not understanding why that was so funny to his dads. 

    “No, not at all, my love. I think that it’s amazing.”

    “I’m glad,” Tony smiled and got out, walking over to Stephen’s door and opening it. Stephen laughed and got out, thanking Tony as he did so. The trio walked to the front of the building, Tony once again opening the door.

    They walked over to the door where they would watch the show. Peter wouldn’t know what was being said about the stars, but he didn’t mind. Tony and Stephen sat down, immediately reaching out to hold hands once they did. Peter sat next to Tony, who wrapped his arm around his shoulders. 

    As the show ended, the stars didn’t fade away and the lights didn’t turn on like how they were supposed to. Instead, Tony stood up, took a few steps, and knelt down. Stephen realized what he was doing as he pulled out a ring from his front pocket. Stephen looked over at their son to see that he was standing too, but a few steps away with a camera pointed at them. Peter gave him a big, toothy, smile as he turned back to Tony.

    “Steph, I have loved you since that day when you went on a rant about how much you loved space and watching the stars. I think that I had been in love with you longer than that, but that’s when I realized it. Ever since then, I had our first date planned. Then, after we got back that night, Rhodey and I spent hours talking about how one day I would eventually propose to you,” Tony looked towards Peter, who gave a thumbs up despite having no idea what was being said right now. 

    “I’m sorry that it took me so long to get off my ass and actually propose. That’s the one thing that I would change about our relationship, honestly. Rhodey and Pepper always yell at me for not having done this sooner and they’re right. I should have done this years ago. But, I’d like to think that it’s better late than never. So, even though we’re practically already married, would you do me the honor of becoming my husband?” 

    “Yes, you asshole. Of course I’ll marry you,” Stephen stood up, followed shortly by Tony. This kiss was much like their first kiss. It was full of promises and love. They each reached up, Tony cupping Stephen’s cheek and Stephen resting his hand on the back of Tony’s head. 

    They broke apart and Tony grabbed Stephen’s hand. He slid on a band. It was simple and silver, but it had an arc reactor engraved on it with a sapphire in the middle. Later, when Stephen was looking at it before bed, he would realize that there was something engraved on the inside. It simply said “To The Stars and Back,” something they started saying long before they ever said “I love you.”

    It was then that they were reminded of their son standing off to the side. He had stopped recording, so he wasn’t quite sure what to do. Tony looked up and nodded at the teen, watching as a huge smile spread across his face. In the next second, he was standing right there with his dads, all wrapped in a giant hug. 

    Later on that night, they all watched the video over. This time, however, Tony had FRIDAY add captions so that Peter could understand what was going on. Tony felt bad for not signing what he was saying in the moment as he usually did, but Peter made sure to reassure him that it was fine, he had more important things to deal with at the time. 

    Tony looked over at his fiancé, only to find Stephen was already looking at him. They smiled, ready to share the rest of their lives together. They would have done that anyways, but now they got to share how much they love each other with everyone they knew. Not that they didn’t already know, though.

    That night as they laid sweatily in bed, they realized that there was no other way for their relationship to have gone. If they had gotten married earlier, then they probably would have never met Peter, let alone adopt him and raise him. They thought that their life was perfect before, but now it was only going to get better.