Chapter Text
The air acts as a vacuum, sucking out the only oxygen left in her lungs. The area is pitch black and her stomach has a sinking feeling as she feels herself falling. She falls and falls, then falls some more. Her head tries to tilt to the side, but then her body turns with it. She shifts her face back up, so she’s falling face up. “Not again!” Mara cries. “Please!”
The black sky shifts to a grey screen before showing her parents.
“This was a bad idea. All of it. We should have known that we were being stupid when we got ourselves into this mess. Two gay superheroes raising children? What gave us the idea that any of this could work out? What gave us the idea that we can actually be happy?” Tony sits in the corner of his room, hugging his knees to his chest as Steve passes by the door.
“We’d be happy if you weren’t constantly going on and on about how this can never work! Because it was working, Tony! I was happy, the kids were happy. Why couldn’t you ever accept that?”
“Oh, so this is all on me. I’m the reason why you and the kids are no longer happy?”
Steve stops in place, “that isn’t what I said. I just think that it all would have been easier if you tried to pretend like you didn’t believe one of our kids will randomly fall off the face of the Earth!”
“Hm.” Tony laughs to himself. “Well since you have all the answer captain, what happens to the kids when this doesn’t work out?”
“What is it you’re asking exactly? Do you want-.” Steve stops as he hears a knock on the door. “Come in.” He says in a calm voice. The door creeks open revealing Mara and Peter on the other side. “Look at you guys. You look wonderful.” He says lovingly. Peter wraps himself around Steve’s side, but Mara remains by the door.
“Auntie Tasha said it is time to go.” She whispers, keeping her eyes on the floor. “Peter and I will be in the car.
“Okay, sweetie. Papi and I’ll be right down.” Steve smiles at Mara then runs his hands through Peter’s hair. Peter follows Mara down the hall and laughs loudly when she stops, causing him to run into her. Steve stands by the door and takes one last look at Tony. “Let’s just get this over with then we can continue our conversation.” He says in a bitter tone before leaving Tony sitting on their bedroom floor.
“Yeah, whatever.” Tony whispers when Steve is out of reach.
Steve and Tony sit in silence in the car ride to the restaurant. Peter and Natasha discuss the latest crime fighting movie, poking Mara on the shoulder occasionally to ask for her thoughts. She answers certainly before placing her headphones over her ears, closing her eyes, and laying back in the car.
When they enter the restaurant, Steve smiles widely when Bucky approaches them. Tony rolls his eyes, but he also smiles when he sees Rhodey sitting by the others. Peter shoves Mara to get her to pay attention to anything else, but their parents.
“Mara. Stop pouting.” He whispers as he shoves her again.
“Don’t be a brat.” She bites.
“This isn’t going to work if you keep being mean to me.” He whispers again, turning to walk away.
Mara grabs onto his arm tightly, “I’m sorry. This will work. It has to.” She whispers and Peter nods. “Now let’s go take our seats.”
The family engage in conversation as the waiters bring out the food.
“We should have gone somewhere else.” Tony looks at Steve and rolls his eyes.
Steve bites the inside of his cheek and continues cut his food. “You should have stayed home if you were just going to complain.”
“Okay everyone!” Peter shouts to capture everyone’s attention. He offers his biggest, brightest smile as he walks to the mini stage in the corner of the room. Mara kisses her fathers on their cheeks before following her seven-year-old brother to the stage.
“Peter and I thought now was as good as a time as ever to read a little something for you all.” She says into the microphone.
“Woo!” Bucky shouts in encouragement.
“No, please don’t get too excited.” She smiles. “It is not original. We put no effort into writing anything.”
“Ah!” Their family fakes a whine in unison.
“What did you expect? You wanted us to create something on our own?” Peter gasps, his lisp being very apparent as he speaks.
“Tony has his robots do everything for him and Steve needs directions from a mission leader. You guys should know better.” The group burst out into laughter, but Steve and Tony exchange a confused glance. The 9-year-old girl holds her head high as she continues, “we are just teasing. No two people in the world work harder. Well in this world. The guardians work so hard they couldn’t even make it tonight.” The crowd’s laughter roars throughout the restaurant again. “Okay, no more jokes. I have a slumber party to go to next week and not even this rich Stark can afford to be grounded.”
“Stark? I thought you were a Rogers?” Peter asks with his hand placed on his hip.
“My apologies Stark.” She says in an exaggerated Brooklyn accent.
“No problem Rogers.” Peter replies.
Tony and Steve exchange another confused glance. “What are they doing?” Steve whispers.
“How would I know? You’re the one with all the answers.” Tony bites back.
“Okay, okay. Now what we all came for.” Mara clears her throat, bringing her parents attention back to the stage.
“Well, not exactly. We all came for the pizza and bread.” Peter shakes his head disbelievingly at his sister.
“Oh yeah. But, the reason this day was planned was so we can come up here and make fools of ourselves.”
“Oh, I remember now.” Peter giggles. “Shall we start Rogers?”
“Of course, Stark.” Mara smiles before taking a deep breath in. “Um, okay.” Her voice shakes slightly as she pulls a sheet out of her dress pockets. She exchanges one final look with her brother for encouragement and then begins to read. “Tony, my love, my whole heart.”
Steve shifts in his seat uncomfortably as his kids continue. Peter begins to read from his sheet. “Steve, Cap, I wanted to propose to you that night at the banquet, but I also wanted to be a better person for you. And that included controlling my impulses.”
“I’m not sure when I started to have feelings for you, but I do remember when I fell in love with you.” Mara continues.
“I wanted to change myself to become good and to be a better person because I loved you.” Peter says.
“That night at the banquet was the first night either one of us really acted on our feelings.” Mara says in a quiet voice, taking a deep breath in and wiping the tear forming in the corner of her eye.
They continue until both vows are finished. They smile at each other and Mara walks over to embrace her little brother. He shoves his face into her chest to hide his face and she lays her head on his.
The car ride home is dead silent without Natasha present. Mara plays with Peter’s hair as he sleeps with his head in her lap. “Please don’t be mad.” She whispers.
Tony turns around form the passenger’s seat and offers her a small smile. “We aren’t mad at you honey. We love you both very much. We just need some time to talk as adults.”
“Don’t do that.” She whispers.
“Don’t do what?” He asks in a soft tone.
“Don’t act like we are dumb just because we are kids. Don’t ever act like Peter is dumb.” Tears cloud her vision. Peter stirs in her lap, but she continues to play with his hair to calm down.
“I don’t think either of you are dumb.”
“You made Peter feel like he was dumb and that is why we ran away and almost got killed.”
“Mara, stop.” Steve interjects.
“No, she’s right.” Tony whispers as he leans back into his seat, “I’m sorry.”
“It isn’t your fault that monsters and villains like to attack us. But it is both of your faults when you hurt out feelings. This family will never be perfect, but Peter and I don’t expect it to be. We just need both of you to love us and accept us always.” Mara cries.
“We know that honey.” Steve replies.
“And we need you to include us in these conversations. We are all in this together. It isn’t just the two of you anymore.” She moves her hand to run it up and down Peter’s arm. “Actually, it was never just the two of you. The Avengers are your family and they care about you.”
The car comes to a stop in front of the Avenger’s tower. “Honey, please take Peter upstairs. I need to talk to your father.”
“What. Did you not just hear me?” Mara asks disbelievingly.
“Please, baby.” Tony whispers. Mara rolls her eyes and softly nudges Peter.
“Let’s go upstairs and play laser tag.” She whispers to her brother. Peter’s eyes open wide as he hops over her to leave the car.
As the door closes, Steve turns to Tony. “I know this isn’t what you want, but I think it’s what I want and I think for the sake of the kids we should try-.”
“What do you mean? I thought you wanted to separate.” Tony’s eyes widen in surprise.
“Why would I want to do that? I have everything I ever wanted.”
Tony bites his lip to prevent himself from smiling at Steve’s confession. “I thought that’s what you were trying to say earlier.” He practically whispers.
“No, I thought you wanted to separate.”
“And why would I want to do that?”
“I don’t know.”
“Maybe Mara is right. If we include them in the conversations we wouldn’t be miscommunicating so much.”
“They always were smarter than us.”
“Huh, so that’s how that went.” Mara laughs to herself. The screen goes black again and she continues falling. “So, what, my whole life is going to be shown to me then I’m dead? Wait, am I already dead? Do I just fall forever?” Mara calls out.
A laugh fills the void and Mara’s body tenses in midair. “I said I’m not unfair.” Hecate’s voice echoes through the blackness. “I was just having some more fun with you and your family. You managed to do the impossible. I guess it’s my turn to hold up my end of the bargain.”
And with that oxygen fills Mara’s lungs and the black void becomes colorful. She shuts her eyes as the lights become too bright and sting her eyes. “Ah!” She screams as the pressure pushes on her brain. A hand caresses her face gently and Mara opens her eyes ever so slowly. She sees Steve on his knees in front of her. Tony at his side and the rest of her family standing behind them. She looks around and realizes she’s in her room, sitting on her floor surrounded by her family – her real family.
“Oh, Gods you guys look so old.” She whispers. Steve and Tony smile lovingly at her, but she stands and jogs past them. Peter meets her half way and lifts her into the air like if she ways no more than a throw pillow. “Oh man, I missed you so much.”
“I knew you’d fix it.” He whispers into her hair as he gently places her back on her feet and hugs her tightly.
“You? Where were you? Were you hurt?” Mara speaks fast and looks up at her younger brother with worried eyes.
“It was pitch black. I could hear everything you guys were saying after a couple of days. You were talking to me and I think you heard me. It was so scary.” A single tear falls onto his cheek.
“I heard you. I did.” Mara whispers to her brother.
Their attention is brought back to their parents as Tony clears his throat. “We missed you too. No big deal or anything.”
Steve side-eyes Tony, “what he means is take your time, but please don’t forget about us.”
“I literally spent the whole last week with you guys.” Mara rolls her eyes, but let’s go of her brother and walks over to her parents. She stuffs her face into Steve’s chest. “You guys sucked.”
“I know, honey.” Steve says while caressing her hair. “But you did so good. You did so good.” Steve uses one hand to gesture everyone over and soon Mara is being squished by her family. “You did so good.”
*****
Mara pauses outside her bedroom door, leaning her head against it before taking a deep breath and walking in. She walks cautiously towards her bed before taking a seat on the edge. She closes her eyes and leans her head back, taking another deep breath in and out. When she opens her eyes, a white paper on her dresser catches her eye. She hesitantly approaches the paper and frowns when she realizes it is blank. She turns it over, then back and words appear.
“When I said you could only tell one of your parents, I meant biological.”
A cackle followed by a loud howl sounds at a distance. Mara crumbles the paper, tossing it in her garbage bin. “Psycho bitch.” She whispers.
“Language, Ms. Mara.” J.A.R.V.I.S. teases.
“It is good to hear your voice J.A.R.V.I.S.” Mara smiles to herself, before throwing herself backwards onto her bed. “J.A.R.V.I.S.?”
“Yes, Ms. Mara?”
“How do you feel about getting a girlfriend?”
*****
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Here is the alternate ending. Thanks for reading!
*During the events of Civil War where Steve and Bucky take on Tony*
Steve brings his shield up behind him then back down, smashing Tony’s arc reactor over and over. Tony stares at him with these big scared eyes. Steve has seen them before.
Steve’s breaths begin to calm as he cradles his son close to him. He hears some movement and hands off his son to his husband, “Tony take Peter.” Steve scans the area before locking eyes with his daughter. Her body was buried, but the top of her head stuck out. She held her chin up so she wouldn’t suffocate, “good girl.” Steve whispers as he tries to move a car door off her. The pile on top of her shifts and squishes her tightly. She looks up at Steve with the widest confused brown eyes, begging for him to help her. “Okay sweetie. You’ll be okay. Just hang in there. Daddy will get you out.” He moves away from her slightly before screaming for Hulk. In seconds the other avenger is tearing the pile off Mara and Steve takes her carefully in his arms. “You’re okay baby.” He whispers as he lays a gentle kiss in her hair.
Steve drops his shield, falling over to Tony’s side. “No!” He screams as he rolls onto his knees and touches his forehead to the ground. “Bucky, did you know!” He looks over his shoulder to see his best friend avoiding eye contact with him. “Answer my fucking question! I’m here protecting you, dammit!” He turns away, “You knew! You knew! How could you?” He shouts in disgust. Bucky shrinks in on himself and Tony stares at the two, not understanding what was happening.
“Mara!” Steve shouts in agony. Tony shutters at the cries and suddenly Tony isn’t there, he’s somewhere else.
Tony rushes through the hallway of his family’s floor of the tower, searching for the screaming. He stops abruptly at his daughter’s room and runs inside to see Peter curled up by the closet door. “Pete, baby, what is wrong?” He says lowly to calm the boy, but before the boy could answer Tony hears the scream again. He turns to the back of his daughter’s room to see her in the arms of his husband. Steve holds her tightly, trying to keep her arms at her sides.
“Mara, sweetie, you have to stop screaming.” Steve says, choked up. “Please, Tony help me. She won’t stop screaming.”
“Why won’t she stop!” Peter screams. Mara closes her eyes tightly, feeling sorry for making her brother cry. Tony’s feet remain stuck to the floor as paramedics rush in with a gurney and take the girl from Steve’s arms. "Mara!" Steve screams.
“We will take care of her Mr. Stark.” The paramedic assures Tony as they rush out the room. Tony falls to his knees, looking at Steve’s arms where Mara laid before. Steve moves quickly, wrapping Tony in his arms.
Tony’s face is ghost white as he watches Steve cry out their daughter’s name. Bucky finally stands up, “I loved her too. We all did. It is all our fault.” He bites, walking out of the facility and then falling on his knees in the snow. Bucky looks up and screams at the top of his lungs until his throat can't take it anymore.