Friends to the End: The One Where They're Going to Party
Title: Friends to the End: The One Where They're Going to Party
Author: Ericadawn16
Prompt: The wonderful mash-up of Friends and Avengers
Character/Pairing(s): Clint/Jessica Drew, Jessica Drew/Vange Whedon, Tony/Pepper, Phil/Clint, Clint/Natasha, Clint/?, Natasha/?
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Slash, lots of slash, mild language
Spoilers: a few references here and there, nothing big
Summary: It's New Year's Eve. Kurt and Amanda give Pepper a gift, the boys go on an epic party spree, Pepper confronts Natasha, Natasha confronts Loki, Rhodey has big news and Darcy learns about SWORD.
Beta: HUGE Thanks to lavendergaia and Valoscope
LiveJournal: Big thanks to ragnarok_08 and i_llbedammned for their comments!
Fanfiction.net: Big thanks to Puella5639 for her review, THANK YOU to Deadly-Jabberwock, JimandArtie4ever, WhySoSerious1992, meowbooks for Favoriting and thank you to ohmycastiel and WhySoSerious1992 for putting it on Story Alert.
A03: Big thanks to ariadne83 and xenasoul for commenting and THANK YOU to Gypsylady, Wonkie, ariadne83, scarletsherlock, Amarin_Rose, nerdyheart15, pepgold, Valoscope and four others for leaving Kudos!
The One Where They're Going to Party
December 31, 2016
Pepper rubbed her stomach. It looked like it got bigger every day and it felt like it, too. All three triplets still lived. At least one had a tail just like Kurt. Otherwise, it was hard to see exactly what they would look like. They liked to move a lot especially during the exams. Rae put a comforting hand on her arm.
"We're going to make the most of our New Year's Eve, babies or not!" she declared.
"Yes!" Pepper agreed before adding, "Does it mean having to get off this couch?"
"Well, the party's upstairs..."
"Maybe Jarvis can just bring them downstairs?" Pepper suggested.
"I don't believe I'm allowed to do that, Miss Potts," Jarvis answered. "But there are five gentlemen at your door. Shall I let them in?"
"Yes!" said Rae before Pepper had a chance. "I want to see James."
The door opened and in walked Tony, Rhodey, Steve, Bruce and Thor in suits. Thor pulled at his like a child forced to dress up. Pepper tried to hide her laughter.
"See, I do clean up nice," Rhodey said and turned around for his wife.
"You should dress like this more often," she said and came closer. Then, she pulled him in for a kiss. Pepper looked away but she liked how much they were in love. She snuck a peek at Tony and he was watching them, too. Pepper wished she was ready to go back to that. What if she was never ready or it never went back to how it was?
"Why doesn't Johnny tell us where we're going?" Steve asked.
"Because that's part of what is going to make it epic. He promised up the best guy's night out of all time and that's what we'll have," Tony explained. Pepper smiled again. It was nice seeing a little bit of old Tony after everything. He stepped closer to her. "You'll be fine?"
"Of course, I have Jarvis and half the superheroes known to man," she replied.
"And a few that aren't. Okay, Johnny is being even more fashionably late than me, not acceptable," Tony complained.
*****************************************************************************
Phil stepped into the elevator with Johnny Storm and a female teenager he wasn't familiar with.
"Coulson," Johnny acknowledged while ogling her, "Who's the Asian chick?"
Phil sighed and went for his taser. It always seemed faster and more effective than explaining sexism.
"Agent Coulson, you don't have to use the SL424 for me, or is it the 426? Either way, I can take care of myself," the young woman spoke up and held out her hand. "You must be Johnny Storm, my name's Janet van Dyne. I'm Pepper Potts' intern."
"Nice!" Johnny said and shook her hand. "I like your dress."
"College intern?" Phil asked since she seemed a little young.
"High school," she said proudly. In the blink of an eye, Johnny was leaning against the wall of the elevator opposite from Janet. "Also, I designed and made this dress myself."
"Why choose Miss Potts?" Phil asked.
"She's an exceptional business woman. She's also the closest you can get to Tony Stark on a regular basis. I want to learn all I can from both of them if I'm going to run my own business," she explained with a smile.
"And what would the business be in?" Phil asked.
"I haven't decided. I love fashion but I also love studying the biological effects of weaponized astroradiation," Janet spoke with a giddy enthusiasm.
"Stark Industries doesn't make weapons anymore," he pointed out.
"Except for his suit, I know but you guys do and plenty of others do. Is it true that Pym's lab has achieved the usage of negative muons in order to make a shrink ray?" she asked.
Phil was beginning to feel a little interrogated. Even Ben didn't ask this many questions in a row.
"I don't know," he admitted. Pym wasn't on his watch list. Johnny chuckled before commenting, "I've never heard that come from him before."
"Black Widow's stingers; are they simply miniaturization of your taser technology or is there more to it?" Janet asked.
"When you graduate college, you should come see me," Phil suggested.
"When I graduate college, I think you'll be seeing me," she said. Her brown eyes were brimming with confidence. She was a lot like Tony when they first met. "You have sisters, don't you?"
The elevator stopped and the doors opened.
"What makes you say that?" Phil asked as they stepped onto Pepper's floor.
"Sisters or daughters tend to make men more sensitive about women being treated right," Janet explained before discussing something with Pepper. After a couple of signatures, she looked again at Phil, saying, "You didn't answer my last question. I find that interesting."
Then, she disappeared into the elevator.
"She's really something, isn't she?" Pepper remarked.
"Yeah," Phil and Johnny agreed.
"Time to PARTY!" Johnny yelled and motioned for the elevator.
"You sure you don't want to come?" Tony asked, inclining his head towards Steve. It was tempting.
"No, I think I'm too old for that," Phil said. He was a bit surprised that Bruce had agreed. There must have been some cajoling on Tony's part. Tony shrugged and joined the others. They were waiting for the elevator to come back up as Phil went over to Pepper.
"Kurt and Amanda would like to see you. They're upstairs but I can have them come down," Phil told her.
"No, I should come up. Tony's been trying to program Jarvis to inform him about teleports inside Stark Tower but so far, it only works with Kurt when he really wanted it for Loki," Pepper explained and held up her hand. Phil helped her off the couch. It was still a little strange seeing her like this.
"We needed an excuse to go up there anyway," Rae told him.
*******************************************************************
Pepper made her way over to Kurt and his wife, Amanda. Rae went over to where the food lay. It did look good. She'd hit that later or go directly for the kitchen.
"Pepper! It's so good to see you," Kurt exclaimed and hugged her. It had only been a few days since their last prenatal exam together.
"Hello babies," Amanda spoke to her bump. "We're still so excited and pleased that you're doing this for us, but we wanted something to show our appreciation for you and it's not like you're wanting for anything..."
It was true that she was well off. Even estranged, Tony allowed her full use of his black AMEX.
"So, we thought, there are three babies and three of us. I would name the girl, Amanda will name the boy and you can name the second boy," Kurt said as his tail nervously waved behind him.
Pepper wasn't sure what to say.
"We won't accept 'no'," Kurt continued and Amanda nodded. "Tell us the name later."
They walked away, leaving Pepper stunned. She didn't have a list of baby names as some people seemed to and she felt a little bit weird about naming one of their babies. There was one name that came to mind; Maria. The baby was a boy though.
Tony's voice popped in her head, 'Tony makes a nice name'.
Oh god, I've internalized him, she thought.
"I could take this responsibility off your hands," Loki whispered. She was startled but relieved that he was physically there. Tony was enough for voices in her head.
"And what responsibility would that be?" she asked.
"The naming of the third infant," he answered.
She took a breath. Arguing with Loki took skill and she would need all her possible concentration.
"And what would you even name it?" she asked.
"Something nice and appropriate," he answered. She refrained from laughing.
"Like Loki?" Pepper asked.
"Perhaps although there can be none exactly like me," he answered with a grin.
"Although he possibly will be blue with the power to teleport as you do, maybe Loki would be the perfect name for a mere Midgardian and a mutant at that," she said, trying to twist the situation.
"No, I must insist that you not do that," he pleaded which made up her mind. They could call him by his middle name or a nickname or maybe call him Lucky.
"Loki it is then, we'll call him Loki Wagner," Pepper declared. Loki scowled. However, as he walked away, there was a certain spring in his step.
Who had actually won?
She needed to find Natasha.
**********************************************************************************
Darcy liked getting to see this side of people. So often their lives were all about lying and cheating and killing people that it was nice to get dressed up for fun. There was an open bar, plenty of food and she was dancing with Natasha and Kitty. This was actual club dancing like she hadn't done in years where they weren't afraid to grab each other, grind and fling their hair wherever.
Then, she felt Natasha stop. She looked up to see Pepper in a designer maternity dress. Was there some kind of trouble? She pushed aside her dress to see her holstered phone but there were no missed messages. Natasha walked towards Pepper. Rogue came to take her dancing spot. There was an odd moment when Pepper and Rogue looked at each other.
Darcy broke it by turning around and pulling Rogue close to her. From her new angle, she saw Wanda and Clint sitting so close together that they were practically entwined. She should check up on Coulson later.
******************************************************************************
Pepper and Natasha walked to a darkened corner.
"I can't remember when the two of us last even talked," Pepper complained. Natasha's face seemed impassive as ever but she almost seemed nervous to the other woman.
"It's been busy," Natasha said. This was a definite lie. They were always busy except they had made time before.
Pepper gave her a look, like she would give Tony in the same situation.
Natasha looked away before admitting, "I'm not good with...with pregnant people. I don't know what to say."
"What we talked about before," Pepper complained.
"But you're big now, you have people inside you and it's different," Natasha countered back.
"It doesn't have to be. Haven't you ever been around pregnant women before? Jess? Or back in Russia?" Pepper asked.
"I successfully avoided Jess most of the time. As for Russia, it was a liability unless the child could further their research. They frowned upon it," she explained. Pepper wondered if she had stumbled onto something she shouldn't have. There had been rumors that Natasha and the other girls had experiments and others things conducted on them. Maybe she couldn't even have children.
"I had a war of words with Loki and I think he won," Pepper admitted, trying to change the subject. "I thought I would be fine. I can handle Tony."
Natasha gave her a look.
"Tony is a cake-walk compared to Loki. It's why Tony is one of us and Loki is...a villain," she spoke.
"Forever? Weren't you a villain once?" Pepper asked.
"I reached the point where I wanted to change, it's obvious that he doesn't," Natasha explained.
"Pepper!" Rae called.
"I should go," Pepper said. Natasha nodded and they parted.
*****************************************************************
Natasha took a drink off a waiter's tray and drank part of it. She was relieved Pepper hadn't wanted her to touch her stomach or something. There was also that feeling of being watched so she wasn't entirely surprised when...
"So, I'm a villain?" Loki asked.
"I think you've made that pretty clear," she stated and held the glass back up to her mouth. The glass turned into a pretty brown and white snake. She laughed as it crawled along her arm. Loki scowled as though expecting a shriek. Didn't he know her better than that?
"Are you making a date for your midnight kiss?" she asked. Her blue eyes were mischievous.
"No," Loki spat. "Was that an offer?"
"Nope," she answered. "Why are you even here?"
"Even I must admit that Stark has one of the best selection of spirits in the realms," he replied. She smiled at a partially honest answer.
"You could always visit Thor and have them more than once a year," she pointed out.
"No, absolutely not," he spat.
He was already pissed off; she might as well go all the way. It was all too familiar.
"Because you still love him."
"NO! No, I do not! I don't!" he blustered worse than Ben trying to lie. Then, he disappeared.
Natasha frowned and studied her new pet. She should find a cage for him.
**********************************************************************
Hours passed and it was getting close to midnight. The epic guys' night out hadn't turned out exactly as planned. Actually, he had to admit that he was happy to be back at home.
"What did you do with my brother?" Sue Richards asked, charging up to them.
"We are not the ones to be upset with. It was your brother who decided he could out-drink Thor and Captain America. It can't be done. He's sleeping it off on your couch," Tony told her. "He also might not be wearing clothes."
She scowled but added, "That seems about normal, thanks."
With that, she left them and they went their separate ways except for Tony and Rhodey. For once, he didn't feel like having a drink.
Then, he saw Clint and Wanda running to the stage while Jess and Vange were also running from a different direction. Clint took the microphone.
"We have an announcement," he said.
"We have an announcement, too!" Jess squealed loudly enough to be heard in the microphone.
"We're engaged!" Clint said. Wanda beamed.
"We're engaged, too!" Jess squealed again. She and Vange held up their hands which now had diamond rings. Tony had the feeling that Clint hadn't thought of that. He watched them get off the stage and glowered.
"I don't like it," he declared.
"The fact that they've only been dating four months and it's sure to end in disaster, divorce or both?" Rhodey asked.
"Change, I don't like it. Why can't things just stay the same?" Tony asked. For a moment, Rhodey's brown eyes focused elsewhere.
"Katniss and Shelob are getting married again to other people. Pepper's pregnant, like hugely pregnant. She looks like she should be ready to pop any day but it's still like four months away. She still won't even kiss me. Cage is having a baby. I mean, he's practically a kid himself. I'm old enough to be his father," Tony said before pausing. He realized this was the crux of what had turned the evening so wrong. "I'm old. I don't want to be old. I hate being old but we were drinking and partying and...I just wanted to be home. Remember when we would go and do that shit for the whole weekend? No cares, no worries. What happened?"
"We grew up, Tony," Rhodey answered. He was so simple and matter of fact. Tony didn't want to hear that right now. He wanted his pity party.
"Can we stop that? I could get my scientists on it," he said. "We could have everything like it used to be, no more change."
Rhodey frowned and his expression was serious.
"What? What'd I say?" Tony asked.
"Rae and I are having a boy," he announced.
"What? When did that happen? You never even said she was pregnant," Tony pointed out.
"We wanted to wait until the first trimester was over. Then, I wanted to tell you in person," he explained. Tony hugged him hard.
"This calls for another celebration. We need to find some non-alcoholic...something, some champagne and find the girls," he declared.
"It's more change," Rhodey reminded him.
"Yeah, but this is good. I get to swoop in, spoil him and then leave without any of the actual responsibility," Tony explained. Rhodey laughed.
**************************************************************************
Darcy found Coulson buttoning his coat and preparing to leave.
"You're going to leave before midnight?" she asked.
"Yeah, Sif skipped out this year so..." he tried to joke.
"Maybe it's the perfect time to tell me about SWORD," she suggested. His blue eyes were thoughtful.
"Okay, but not here," Coulson agreed.
"My floor is just downstairs," she offered. Would he be fine with it? Finally, he nodded. They headed for the elevator and went in. "Yay, I never get people to come visit me! It's hard to get clearance and everyone else prefers their own floor. Jane comes but we're both so busy."
The elevator dinged and the doors opened.
"And we're here! My own private spot," she said, trying to see it through his eyes. It was her main living space so one whole wall was just her music collection; mostly vinyl but also a large quantity of CDS. Tony had teased her by buying her a handful of phonograph cylinders for Christmas. She had them displayed proudly on one shelf.
"Want anything?" she asked before heading into the kitchen.
"Sprite," he replied. She shrugged and made herself a mudslide. Then, they settled on the couch.
"You did well on the history of SHIELD exam so I presume you remember?"
"I remembered enough to do well," Darcy replied. "Then I felt I could forget everything."
"SHIELD was founded by Peggy Carter, Howard Stark, remaining members of the Howling Commandos, Nick Fury's father and assorted scientists. It was meant to combat everyone who tried to replicate the super soldier program, any other weird experiments and the reports of those born with super human talents. As time went on, they argued about how to treat such. SHIELD tended to neutralize problems and study them later. Many of the scientists and others wanted a more lenient approach. There was a schism and they founded their own organization, SWORD. Now it tends to deal more with aliens and things beyond our galaxy," Coulson explained.
Darcy tried to order her thoughts.
"I thought Thor and Loki were the furthest from our galaxy," she said, confused.
"No, there are lots of galaxies and beings but we really don't want Stark to know about interstellar travel. He doesn't know about our time machine either."
"We have a time machine?!" Darcy shrieked. "Why did no one tell me?"
"Because it's for emergencies only, Nathaniel Richards invented it fifty years ago," Coulson answered.
"Doesn't the fact that we were never able to see the Beatles in person constitute an emergency?" she asked. He hesitated which she viewed as a victory. "What's this about Nick Fury's father founding SHIELD? Does that make him a legacy then, like a fraternity?"
"There are a number of legacies as you put it. Nathaniel Richards is the father of Reed, Howard is Stark's father, Sitwell is the grandson of a Howling Commando and others I'm not at liberty to divulge at this time," he explained.
"Why?"
"Because not everyone knows their parents' involvement," Coulson answered. Immediately, she wanted to know who that included but knew he would never say...not yet.
"What about you?" she asked. He shook his head.
"No, they were just hard-working normal people," he told her.
Everywhere suddenly grew loud. Fireworks exploded and cheers reverberated.
"Must be midnight," Darcy commented.
"Yeah," Coulson agreed.
She leaned over and kissed his cheek which turned a bit red.
*********************************************************************
Author: Ericadawn16
Prompt: The wonderful mash-up of Friends and Avengers
Character/Pairing(s): Clint/Jessica Drew, Jessica Drew/Vange Whedon, Tony/Pepper, Phil/Clint, Clint/Natasha, Clint/?, Natasha/?
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Slash, lots of slash, mild language
Spoilers: a few references here and there, nothing big
Summary: It's New Year's Eve. Kurt and Amanda give Pepper a gift, the boys go on an epic party spree, Pepper confronts Natasha, Natasha confronts Loki, Rhodey has big news and Darcy learns about SWORD.
Beta: HUGE Thanks to lavendergaia and Valoscope
LiveJournal: Big thanks to ragnarok_08 and i_llbedammned for their comments!
Fanfiction.net: Big thanks to Puella5639 for her review, THANK YOU to Deadly-Jabberwock, JimandArtie4ever, WhySoSerious1992, meowbooks for Favoriting and thank you to ohmycastiel and WhySoSerious1992 for putting it on Story Alert.
A03: Big thanks to ariadne83 and xenasoul for commenting and THANK YOU to Gypsylady, Wonkie, ariadne83, scarletsherlock, Amarin_Rose, nerdyheart15, pepgold, Valoscope and four others for leaving Kudos!
The One Where They're Going to Party
December 31, 2016
Pepper rubbed her stomach. It looked like it got bigger every day and it felt like it, too. All three triplets still lived. At least one had a tail just like Kurt. Otherwise, it was hard to see exactly what they would look like. They liked to move a lot especially during the exams. Rae put a comforting hand on her arm.
"We're going to make the most of our New Year's Eve, babies or not!" she declared.
"Yes!" Pepper agreed before adding, "Does it mean having to get off this couch?"
"Well, the party's upstairs..."
"Maybe Jarvis can just bring them downstairs?" Pepper suggested.
"I don't believe I'm allowed to do that, Miss Potts," Jarvis answered. "But there are five gentlemen at your door. Shall I let them in?"
"Yes!" said Rae before Pepper had a chance. "I want to see James."
The door opened and in walked Tony, Rhodey, Steve, Bruce and Thor in suits. Thor pulled at his like a child forced to dress up. Pepper tried to hide her laughter.
"See, I do clean up nice," Rhodey said and turned around for his wife.
"You should dress like this more often," she said and came closer. Then, she pulled him in for a kiss. Pepper looked away but she liked how much they were in love. She snuck a peek at Tony and he was watching them, too. Pepper wished she was ready to go back to that. What if she was never ready or it never went back to how it was?
"Why doesn't Johnny tell us where we're going?" Steve asked.
"Because that's part of what is going to make it epic. He promised up the best guy's night out of all time and that's what we'll have," Tony explained. Pepper smiled again. It was nice seeing a little bit of old Tony after everything. He stepped closer to her. "You'll be fine?"
"Of course, I have Jarvis and half the superheroes known to man," she replied.
"And a few that aren't. Okay, Johnny is being even more fashionably late than me, not acceptable," Tony complained.
*****************************************************************************
Phil stepped into the elevator with Johnny Storm and a female teenager he wasn't familiar with.
"Coulson," Johnny acknowledged while ogling her, "Who's the Asian chick?"
Phil sighed and went for his taser. It always seemed faster and more effective than explaining sexism.
"Agent Coulson, you don't have to use the SL424 for me, or is it the 426? Either way, I can take care of myself," the young woman spoke up and held out her hand. "You must be Johnny Storm, my name's Janet van Dyne. I'm Pepper Potts' intern."
"Nice!" Johnny said and shook her hand. "I like your dress."
"College intern?" Phil asked since she seemed a little young.
"High school," she said proudly. In the blink of an eye, Johnny was leaning against the wall of the elevator opposite from Janet. "Also, I designed and made this dress myself."
"Why choose Miss Potts?" Phil asked.
"She's an exceptional business woman. She's also the closest you can get to Tony Stark on a regular basis. I want to learn all I can from both of them if I'm going to run my own business," she explained with a smile.
"And what would the business be in?" Phil asked.
"I haven't decided. I love fashion but I also love studying the biological effects of weaponized astroradiation," Janet spoke with a giddy enthusiasm.
"Stark Industries doesn't make weapons anymore," he pointed out.
"Except for his suit, I know but you guys do and plenty of others do. Is it true that Pym's lab has achieved the usage of negative muons in order to make a shrink ray?" she asked.
Phil was beginning to feel a little interrogated. Even Ben didn't ask this many questions in a row.
"I don't know," he admitted. Pym wasn't on his watch list. Johnny chuckled before commenting, "I've never heard that come from him before."
"Black Widow's stingers; are they simply miniaturization of your taser technology or is there more to it?" Janet asked.
"When you graduate college, you should come see me," Phil suggested.
"When I graduate college, I think you'll be seeing me," she said. Her brown eyes were brimming with confidence. She was a lot like Tony when they first met. "You have sisters, don't you?"
The elevator stopped and the doors opened.
"What makes you say that?" Phil asked as they stepped onto Pepper's floor.
"Sisters or daughters tend to make men more sensitive about women being treated right," Janet explained before discussing something with Pepper. After a couple of signatures, she looked again at Phil, saying, "You didn't answer my last question. I find that interesting."
Then, she disappeared into the elevator.
"She's really something, isn't she?" Pepper remarked.
"Yeah," Phil and Johnny agreed.
"Time to PARTY!" Johnny yelled and motioned for the elevator.
"You sure you don't want to come?" Tony asked, inclining his head towards Steve. It was tempting.
"No, I think I'm too old for that," Phil said. He was a bit surprised that Bruce had agreed. There must have been some cajoling on Tony's part. Tony shrugged and joined the others. They were waiting for the elevator to come back up as Phil went over to Pepper.
"Kurt and Amanda would like to see you. They're upstairs but I can have them come down," Phil told her.
"No, I should come up. Tony's been trying to program Jarvis to inform him about teleports inside Stark Tower but so far, it only works with Kurt when he really wanted it for Loki," Pepper explained and held up her hand. Phil helped her off the couch. It was still a little strange seeing her like this.
"We needed an excuse to go up there anyway," Rae told him.
*******************************************************************
Pepper made her way over to Kurt and his wife, Amanda. Rae went over to where the food lay. It did look good. She'd hit that later or go directly for the kitchen.
"Pepper! It's so good to see you," Kurt exclaimed and hugged her. It had only been a few days since their last prenatal exam together.
"Hello babies," Amanda spoke to her bump. "We're still so excited and pleased that you're doing this for us, but we wanted something to show our appreciation for you and it's not like you're wanting for anything..."
It was true that she was well off. Even estranged, Tony allowed her full use of his black AMEX.
"So, we thought, there are three babies and three of us. I would name the girl, Amanda will name the boy and you can name the second boy," Kurt said as his tail nervously waved behind him.
Pepper wasn't sure what to say.
"We won't accept 'no'," Kurt continued and Amanda nodded. "Tell us the name later."
They walked away, leaving Pepper stunned. She didn't have a list of baby names as some people seemed to and she felt a little bit weird about naming one of their babies. There was one name that came to mind; Maria. The baby was a boy though.
Tony's voice popped in her head, 'Tony makes a nice name'.
Oh god, I've internalized him, she thought.
"I could take this responsibility off your hands," Loki whispered. She was startled but relieved that he was physically there. Tony was enough for voices in her head.
"And what responsibility would that be?" she asked.
"The naming of the third infant," he answered.
She took a breath. Arguing with Loki took skill and she would need all her possible concentration.
"And what would you even name it?" she asked.
"Something nice and appropriate," he answered. She refrained from laughing.
"Like Loki?" Pepper asked.
"Perhaps although there can be none exactly like me," he answered with a grin.
"Although he possibly will be blue with the power to teleport as you do, maybe Loki would be the perfect name for a mere Midgardian and a mutant at that," she said, trying to twist the situation.
"No, I must insist that you not do that," he pleaded which made up her mind. They could call him by his middle name or a nickname or maybe call him Lucky.
"Loki it is then, we'll call him Loki Wagner," Pepper declared. Loki scowled. However, as he walked away, there was a certain spring in his step.
Who had actually won?
She needed to find Natasha.
**********************************************************************************
Darcy liked getting to see this side of people. So often their lives were all about lying and cheating and killing people that it was nice to get dressed up for fun. There was an open bar, plenty of food and she was dancing with Natasha and Kitty. This was actual club dancing like she hadn't done in years where they weren't afraid to grab each other, grind and fling their hair wherever.
Then, she felt Natasha stop. She looked up to see Pepper in a designer maternity dress. Was there some kind of trouble? She pushed aside her dress to see her holstered phone but there were no missed messages. Natasha walked towards Pepper. Rogue came to take her dancing spot. There was an odd moment when Pepper and Rogue looked at each other.
Darcy broke it by turning around and pulling Rogue close to her. From her new angle, she saw Wanda and Clint sitting so close together that they were practically entwined. She should check up on Coulson later.
******************************************************************************
Pepper and Natasha walked to a darkened corner.
"I can't remember when the two of us last even talked," Pepper complained. Natasha's face seemed impassive as ever but she almost seemed nervous to the other woman.
"It's been busy," Natasha said. This was a definite lie. They were always busy except they had made time before.
Pepper gave her a look, like she would give Tony in the same situation.
Natasha looked away before admitting, "I'm not good with...with pregnant people. I don't know what to say."
"What we talked about before," Pepper complained.
"But you're big now, you have people inside you and it's different," Natasha countered back.
"It doesn't have to be. Haven't you ever been around pregnant women before? Jess? Or back in Russia?" Pepper asked.
"I successfully avoided Jess most of the time. As for Russia, it was a liability unless the child could further their research. They frowned upon it," she explained. Pepper wondered if she had stumbled onto something she shouldn't have. There had been rumors that Natasha and the other girls had experiments and others things conducted on them. Maybe she couldn't even have children.
"I had a war of words with Loki and I think he won," Pepper admitted, trying to change the subject. "I thought I would be fine. I can handle Tony."
Natasha gave her a look.
"Tony is a cake-walk compared to Loki. It's why Tony is one of us and Loki is...a villain," she spoke.
"Forever? Weren't you a villain once?" Pepper asked.
"I reached the point where I wanted to change, it's obvious that he doesn't," Natasha explained.
"Pepper!" Rae called.
"I should go," Pepper said. Natasha nodded and they parted.
*****************************************************************
Natasha took a drink off a waiter's tray and drank part of it. She was relieved Pepper hadn't wanted her to touch her stomach or something. There was also that feeling of being watched so she wasn't entirely surprised when...
"So, I'm a villain?" Loki asked.
"I think you've made that pretty clear," she stated and held the glass back up to her mouth. The glass turned into a pretty brown and white snake. She laughed as it crawled along her arm. Loki scowled as though expecting a shriek. Didn't he know her better than that?
"Are you making a date for your midnight kiss?" she asked. Her blue eyes were mischievous.
"No," Loki spat. "Was that an offer?"
"Nope," she answered. "Why are you even here?"
"Even I must admit that Stark has one of the best selection of spirits in the realms," he replied. She smiled at a partially honest answer.
"You could always visit Thor and have them more than once a year," she pointed out.
"No, absolutely not," he spat.
He was already pissed off; she might as well go all the way. It was all too familiar.
"Because you still love him."
"NO! No, I do not! I don't!" he blustered worse than Ben trying to lie. Then, he disappeared.
Natasha frowned and studied her new pet. She should find a cage for him.
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Hours passed and it was getting close to midnight. The epic guys' night out hadn't turned out exactly as planned. Actually, he had to admit that he was happy to be back at home.
"What did you do with my brother?" Sue Richards asked, charging up to them.
"We are not the ones to be upset with. It was your brother who decided he could out-drink Thor and Captain America. It can't be done. He's sleeping it off on your couch," Tony told her. "He also might not be wearing clothes."
She scowled but added, "That seems about normal, thanks."
With that, she left them and they went their separate ways except for Tony and Rhodey. For once, he didn't feel like having a drink.
Then, he saw Clint and Wanda running to the stage while Jess and Vange were also running from a different direction. Clint took the microphone.
"We have an announcement," he said.
"We have an announcement, too!" Jess squealed loudly enough to be heard in the microphone.
"We're engaged!" Clint said. Wanda beamed.
"We're engaged, too!" Jess squealed again. She and Vange held up their hands which now had diamond rings. Tony had the feeling that Clint hadn't thought of that. He watched them get off the stage and glowered.
"I don't like it," he declared.
"The fact that they've only been dating four months and it's sure to end in disaster, divorce or both?" Rhodey asked.
"Change, I don't like it. Why can't things just stay the same?" Tony asked. For a moment, Rhodey's brown eyes focused elsewhere.
"Katniss and Shelob are getting married again to other people. Pepper's pregnant, like hugely pregnant. She looks like she should be ready to pop any day but it's still like four months away. She still won't even kiss me. Cage is having a baby. I mean, he's practically a kid himself. I'm old enough to be his father," Tony said before pausing. He realized this was the crux of what had turned the evening so wrong. "I'm old. I don't want to be old. I hate being old but we were drinking and partying and...I just wanted to be home. Remember when we would go and do that shit for the whole weekend? No cares, no worries. What happened?"
"We grew up, Tony," Rhodey answered. He was so simple and matter of fact. Tony didn't want to hear that right now. He wanted his pity party.
"Can we stop that? I could get my scientists on it," he said. "We could have everything like it used to be, no more change."
Rhodey frowned and his expression was serious.
"What? What'd I say?" Tony asked.
"Rae and I are having a boy," he announced.
"What? When did that happen? You never even said she was pregnant," Tony pointed out.
"We wanted to wait until the first trimester was over. Then, I wanted to tell you in person," he explained. Tony hugged him hard.
"This calls for another celebration. We need to find some non-alcoholic...something, some champagne and find the girls," he declared.
"It's more change," Rhodey reminded him.
"Yeah, but this is good. I get to swoop in, spoil him and then leave without any of the actual responsibility," Tony explained. Rhodey laughed.
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Darcy found Coulson buttoning his coat and preparing to leave.
"You're going to leave before midnight?" she asked.
"Yeah, Sif skipped out this year so..." he tried to joke.
"Maybe it's the perfect time to tell me about SWORD," she suggested. His blue eyes were thoughtful.
"Okay, but not here," Coulson agreed.
"My floor is just downstairs," she offered. Would he be fine with it? Finally, he nodded. They headed for the elevator and went in. "Yay, I never get people to come visit me! It's hard to get clearance and everyone else prefers their own floor. Jane comes but we're both so busy."
The elevator dinged and the doors opened.
"And we're here! My own private spot," she said, trying to see it through his eyes. It was her main living space so one whole wall was just her music collection; mostly vinyl but also a large quantity of CDS. Tony had teased her by buying her a handful of phonograph cylinders for Christmas. She had them displayed proudly on one shelf.
"Want anything?" she asked before heading into the kitchen.
"Sprite," he replied. She shrugged and made herself a mudslide. Then, they settled on the couch.
"You did well on the history of SHIELD exam so I presume you remember?"
"I remembered enough to do well," Darcy replied. "Then I felt I could forget everything."
"SHIELD was founded by Peggy Carter, Howard Stark, remaining members of the Howling Commandos, Nick Fury's father and assorted scientists. It was meant to combat everyone who tried to replicate the super soldier program, any other weird experiments and the reports of those born with super human talents. As time went on, they argued about how to treat such. SHIELD tended to neutralize problems and study them later. Many of the scientists and others wanted a more lenient approach. There was a schism and they founded their own organization, SWORD. Now it tends to deal more with aliens and things beyond our galaxy," Coulson explained.
Darcy tried to order her thoughts.
"I thought Thor and Loki were the furthest from our galaxy," she said, confused.
"No, there are lots of galaxies and beings but we really don't want Stark to know about interstellar travel. He doesn't know about our time machine either."
"We have a time machine?!" Darcy shrieked. "Why did no one tell me?"
"Because it's for emergencies only, Nathaniel Richards invented it fifty years ago," Coulson answered.
"Doesn't the fact that we were never able to see the Beatles in person constitute an emergency?" she asked. He hesitated which she viewed as a victory. "What's this about Nick Fury's father founding SHIELD? Does that make him a legacy then, like a fraternity?"
"There are a number of legacies as you put it. Nathaniel Richards is the father of Reed, Howard is Stark's father, Sitwell is the grandson of a Howling Commando and others I'm not at liberty to divulge at this time," he explained.
"Why?"
"Because not everyone knows their parents' involvement," Coulson answered. Immediately, she wanted to know who that included but knew he would never say...not yet.
"What about you?" she asked. He shook his head.
"No, they were just hard-working normal people," he told her.
Everywhere suddenly grew loud. Fireworks exploded and cheers reverberated.
"Must be midnight," Darcy commented.
"Yeah," Coulson agreed.
She leaned over and kissed his cheek which turned a bit red.
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