Tony/Peter Quill
“Tony,” Charles, said, suddenly, “I think you are needed elsewhere… Why don’t you make your way back to the house?” he asked, leaving before he had an answer.
With only a roll of his eyes at the professor’s mysterious actions, Tony got up, wandering towards the house. He didn’t make it all the way, though, as he found what he was meant to be looking for before he reached the house.
“Hey, starshine,” Peter called to him from the entrance to the garden.
He was cast in pink light, the sun somehow reflecting off the flowers to make him appear softer, welcoming. He had one earbud in, the other dangling freely.
“Peter,” Tony said, with a soft smile, tentatively walking over to him.
Peter reached a hand up to Tony’s face, and Tony expected… well, he didn’t know what he expected. But Peter tapping his ear piece twice wasn’t it.
In response to Peter’s tapping, music, likely the same that Peter was listening to, came spilling through the ear piece.
“How…” Tony inquired, twisting the device around in his ear.
“I got FRIDAY’s help. Hope you don’t mind.”
They were standing close. Too close for Tony to really think properly.
“No, it’s fine, I…” he trailed off, unsure of what exactly he was going to say-- something embarrassing about being happy Peter got along with his kids, probably.
Peter only smiled, and took his hand, leading him farther into the gardens. He stopped in a small clearing just off of the path, and pulled Tony close.
“Dance with me?” Peter asked.
“As if I would ever say no,” Tony said, and it should have been a joke, but it wasn’t; he would never say no to a dance with Peter.
“Are you okay? I was worried about… well, I’m always worried about you,” he said, cheeks going pink, “but spilling your guts like that is rough.”
Tony shrugged.
“I’m trying something new. Trying to be better… I just, I don’t want to rely on them anymore.”
“But you don’t rely on them. You just got screwed over. Those Avengers, they’re gone. They destroyed that. You're better now, better than you could ever be with them, starshine.”
Tony was silent for a moment, leaning in to rest his head on Peter’s chest, head tucked under Peter’s chin.
“Run away with me,” Tony whispered, eyes closed to the world.
Tony felt rather than saw Peter’s headshake.
“You don’t need saving,” Peter said.
“I know. Do it anyway. After we kill the titan. Run away with me.”
Peter leaned down, pressing a kiss into his hair.
“My bio-dad tried to convince me that my life was like that song, that, ‘my life, my love, my lady, is the sea…’ and he was a little sorta right, I’ll man up, I’ll own up to that,” Peter said, tucking Tony under his chin as he spoke, “but it isn’t an either-or situation, not with you.”
“I... don’t understand,” Tony said, cautious.
Peter, without pulling back, tapped Tony’s earpiece again, and the song in question began playing in his ear.
“Brandy, you’re a fine girl, what a good wife you would be, but my life, my love, my lady is the sea,” Peter sang along, voice softer, smokier than normal.
And, to Tony, that sounded about right, about what he expected. He knew what that was like, to have a relationship end because you couldn’t end your journey just yet-- because you couldn’t quite give up the rush.
“But that’s not us,” Peter said, to Tony’s surprise.
“It isn’t?”
Peter shook his head where it rested on Tony’s, ruffling his hair as he did so.
“Our version would be more like: Tony…” he began, clearly still thinking through what he was going to say, “you’re a hero, you’re my hero…” he said, reverently, “I’ll call you my husband one day, if you’d let me… and the stars are my life-- a life I’d love to share with you.”
At this, Tony started, pulling back. He halted their dance, looking into Peter’s eyes for any hit of a joke.
“Did you just… propose?” Tony asked, voice guarded.
Peter’s eyes grew wide, as if just now processing his own words. It was like the statement had been so obvious and truthfully, so innate to his mind that he hadn’t even thought twice before he said it.
“No, no, I ain’t…. Uhhh…” Peter stuttered.
His eyes drug across Tony’s face, taking him in, and something in Peter was freed.
“You know what, fuck it. Yes,” Peter said.
There was barely a moment of hesitation as he thought though his next move-- he suddenly knew exactly what he needed to do, as if he had been planning this all along, as if this was exactly what was meant to happen.
Peter reached up and pulled one of his necklaces off, something from his raveger days. It was a symbol of the eternal bond the ravegers shared, their chosen family. Peter didn’t put it on Tony himself, instead holding it out for him to accept or reject.
“Marry me, Anthony Edward Stark. Not yet, not now. But promise me that one day, you’ll roam the stars with me, marry me, and run away with me,” he nearly begged, all in one breath.
Tony’s hand closed around Peter’s, the one holding the necklace. Tony pulled him in, pressing a deep, leisurely kiss to Peter’s lips, as if time was of no concern. But, in the end, it wasn’t-- they had the rest of their lives.
A round, knot-like insignia hung from a leather cord around Tony’s neck, glinting in the sun’s fading light as he and Peter returned to the courtyard. It was Peter, the younger, that spotted them first.
“Wade…” he called to the merc, “I think we owe you some money.”
The teen’s gaze was shifting from Tony, to his necklace, to their intertwined hands. He was obviously cautious, worried for his mentor. Wade, reading the situation in a surprising show of empathy, stepped in.
“So, shovel talk? I think Petey is a little worried about… your ability to commit?” Wade said, playing mediator between the two Peters.
Peter, the elder, was unconcerned, too elated to grasp the importance of the spider’s opinion.
“We’re engaged,” Peter declared.
“-ish” Tony added, though no less happily.
“Pre-engaged,” Peter offered.
Wade screeched in delight, almost breaking several eardrums.
“I’m two for two! Pay up, fuckers!”
“If we’re only pre-engaged, can I still call you my fiance? Cause I want to. It sounds fancy,” Peter said, a charming, uncontrollable grin taking over his face.
Tony rolled his eyes, leaning in to press kisses all over his face.
“I love you, you dumbass.”