Chapter Text
“No, no, ugh! C’mon, pull yourself together!”
Tony falls in his chair defeatedly and lets his head drop into his hand. This was supposed to be one of the best days of his lives (it was his wedding for gosh sake), but his stupid emotions were interfering again. Why couldn’t he just be happy…?
That’s a dumb question. He obviously doesn’t deserve it. Deserving people don’t let half the frickin universe die.
“Tony?”
Tony snaps his head up to see the source of the voice. Not to his surprise, he sees the best man peeking into his room, tuxedo on and ready to go. Tony automatically puts on a casual smile and pushes all his bad feelings down.
“Rhodey. Don’t you look very handsome?” he teases.
Rhodey rolls his eyes as he enters the room. “Haha, very funny.” He pulls out a chair and sits on it, checking his reflection in the mirror on the wall. Then he looks at Tony, long and hard.
“You’re not ok,” he states.
Tony lifts an eyebrow. “What?”
Rhodey sighs. “You know you can’t hide it from me. I don’t even know why you bother anymore. What’s wrong?”
Tony chuckles, instinctively trying to hide that anything’s wrong, even though he knows Rhodey can see right through him.
“Tony, today is your special day. You need to enjoy it. If not for you, then for Pepper, and Morgan. Now get it out, so we can get you through this.”
“You had to take that psychology class at MIT, didn’t you?” Tony scoffs.
“I did it for you,” comes Rhodey’s immediate answer.
Tony lets his smile drop and he stands up, beginning to pace.
“Obviously I wish there were other people here,” he starts.
“Of course.”
“Vision, maybe Fury, Harley ohmygosh Harley ; I invited that wizard dude, Wong, and so Strange would’ve been nice here too, I thought about those Guardians of the Galaxy people, you know, cause Nebula’s here-”
“Tony, aren’t you forgetting someone?”
Tony looks at his friend.
“No…”
Rhodey sighs for the second time since entering this room.
“Look, Pepper has been telling me that you don’t want to talk about him. I get that it’s hard. Peter did not in any way deserve what happened to him.”
Tony stares at Rhodey with shining eyes. Peter didn’t deserve it. Peter is the one who deserves happiness with his family, not Tony.
“It’s not your fault though,” Rhodey starts again, and Tony scoffs and breaks eye contact, annoyed at the sentence and all the times it’s been repeated to him.
“It’s true Tony, it is not your fault! Peter-”
“IT IS MY FAULT.”
Rhodey looks at his friend, who seems to be barely holding in his rage.
“It is my fault, Rhodes,” he repeats slower and quieter. “Everybody keeps saying it’s not, but it is. I should’ve died, but some stupid idea got into that wizard’s head that he had to save my life. I should’ve-should’ve told him no, b-but I couldn’t keep my head straight. I should’ve never gotten into that vulnerable of a position!”
He collapses into his seat again. Rhodey doesn’t say anything. After a few moments of silence, Tony starts again, laughing with no humor.
“I didn’t pay attention to the kid as much as I should’ve. But there was one day...a few days before the whole thing happened actually. I was stuck in a meeting, bored out of my mind. I started thinking about the wedding, and then I remembered I hadn’t officially invited Peter yet. So I planned it out - the entire thing. I was going to show up at his apartment, hand him the invite. He was going to be so h-happy. I was going to tell him he could be a groomsman, if he wanted to, and May could be one of Pepper’s bridesmaids. That he could invite his friend, who I’m sure would freak out. Maybe even get that cute girl he sometimes talks about to come as his date.”
Tony lets a tear fall down his cheek.
“But they’re all dead now.”
Rhodey leans forward.
“Yes. Yes, they are all dead. And it sucks. But you can’t just forget them. You can’t keep the memories in the back of your mind so they fade away. It’s good that you’re talking about him, just keep doing it .”
Rhodey takes his friend’s hand.
“Ok?”
Tony finally smiles.
“Ok.”
Rhodey stands up, and Tony follows.
“Now hurry up, you’ve got a woman to marry, and she doesn't like to wait.”
They leave the room, go down the halls, and head outside the cabin. From his front deck he can see Natasha and Nebula in matching dresses as they take their places as bridesmaids. He makes his way to the small platform set up in front of the lake and stands where he’s supposed to. Rhodey stands to the side, next to Happy, who’s holding one-year-old Morgan in his arms. He looks at the seats, which are filled with a lot of people (and a few reporters, because Tony Stark would never pass up the chance to make headlines yet again), but he can pick out a few familiar faces. Bruce actually showed up and is wearing a nice suit, and Steve sits almost uncomfortably in the back. Thor and Clint had been invited, but from what Tony could see, they weren’t here. The raccoon was, interestingly enough.
Suddenly, music begins to play. It’s the wedding march, but a rock n’ roll version that had taken months to convince Pepper to allow.
And then then he sees her. She’s wearing a beautiful dress, with a beautiful bouquet, and she’s just...beautiful.
An eagerness is on her face, like she’s been waiting for this moment forever.
Now hurry up, you’ve got a woman to marry, and she does not like to wait.
“But she did,” Tony whispers under his breath. “And she did it for me.”