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“Did I do something to upset you? Tony asked.
Peter rolled his eyes and kept walking.
“Because if I did I will apologize.” Tony continued as he followed him. When they reached the back of the tour group Tony added “Seriously. I will.”
Peter laughed. “You said we could do something I wanted today. This looks interesting. I want to take a tour.”
Tony looked at the roof line of the building, the frown lines around his eyes deepening with every pitch and gable. Peter threaded his arm through Tony’s and turned toward the tour guide.
“Welcome to the Winchester Mystery House.”
“I’ll buy you something nice.”
“Shush.”
“The Winchester Mystery house started as an eight room farmhouse and grew to one hundred and sixty eight rooms, with more than 40 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, covering 24,000 square feet of land.” The tour guide told the group.
“Ok,” Tony said quietly in his ear. “You want a big house. We can do that.”
“No, Tony, I don’t want a big house.”
Tony glanced around again. “You want a small house?”
“No, Tony, I don’t want a small house.” Peter wondered what Tony would consider a small house anyway.
“You want a medium house?” Tony tried again.
“I want to enjoy this tour.” Peter told him gently but firmly. Tony seemed to accept that answer and looked back at their guide.
“Now we’ll see one of the most famous features of the Winchester House, the stairway to nowhere.” Peter peered up the staircase and sure enough the steps continued right up into a solid wood ceiling.
He felt Tony tense through their linked arms.
“Is this your way of telling me that you don’t think our relationship is going anywhere?”
“What?” Peter said, trying to keep his voice down.
Tony side-eyed the staircase. “It’s a visual metaphor.”
“It’s a staircase.” Peter tugged them along after the group.
Tony was quiet as the guide explained the decorative work on the doors and fireplaces. Then they hit another staircase.
“Mrs. Winchester had these easy riser steps installed when her arthritis made it painful for her to climb stairs. It takes almost 100 steps to ascend nine feet.”
Tony tugged Peter close, “You want to take things slow? We’re already engaged. I’m not sure how slow works when we’re engaged. If you explain it to me I’m sure I can handle it. We could discuss it over lunch. Somewhere else.”
Peter gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “I’m fine with the speed we’re going.”
They made it up the stairs and the guide started explaining another feature that made the house so unusual. “This house has more than 10,000 panes of glass in it’s windows. Many of those are in windows inside the house opening from one room into another or opening into hallways.”
“Wow.” Peter said. “That’s what? Sixty windows per room?”
“Got it. You want more transparency in our relationship.” Tony nodded.
The guide continued. “In fact the bathroom that we’re passing now has thirteen windows.”
“Or less transparency? Help me out here.”
Peter tugged Tony to him again. “We’re fine. We have healthy communication.”
Tony sighed.
The guide led then to Mrs. Winchester’s office and told them all the story of William Wirt Winchester, a man whose family fortune was made with the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. And his wife Sarah left widowed and childless had poured that fortune and more than thirty years into creating the house.
Tony hung back holding Peter with him as the rest of the group moved forward. “Is this what you’re planning to do with my money when I die?”
“What?”
“It will all be yours but please, find something better to do with it.” Tony said stroke a thumb across his cheek bone.
“Well…” Peter drew out the word. “If you don’t die it won’t be a problem.”
“Hey.” Tony pressed his forehead against Peter’s.
“I know.” Peter told him throat tight. He gave Tony another kiss and tugged Tony’s arm to catch up with the tour again.
The next stop was the grand ballroom. The guide talked about the different woods used, showed them the safe which Tony harrumphed at, and mentioned that the room had been made almost entirely without nails.
“That’s actually pretty impressive.” Tony admitted.
Peter hoped that Tony could relax now and enjoy the tour.
“Now for another famous feature of the house, ‘The Doorway to Nowhere.’ Yes, this door opens directly to the outside. No balcony, no stairs, just a straight two story drop.”
Tony turned to him, and Peter braced himself. “You’re going to kill me and this is how you’ll spend my money.”
“You threw yourself off the eightieth floor last week. Without your suit.” Peter pointed out a bit sourly. “If you could not do that.”
“Noted.”
“Moving on.” The guide continued. “This cupboard is the smallest in the house. It was probably larger when it was originally built but subsequent renovations decreased it’s size” They opened the door with a flourish. “To one inch deep.”
“Oh, for fuck sake.” Tony said none too quietly.
Peter patted his arm comfortingly.
When the tour got to the storage room Peter had a sinking feeling that Tony was still wrestling with the place. The commissioned glass pieces were neat. And Tony let Peter look at them in peace. Well the kind of peace that usually came before Peter talking Tony down from buying something massive. It lasted until the guide started explaining one of the pieces designed by Mrs. Winchester herself. The guide mentioned that spiderwebs where a favorite occult symbol of Mrs. Winchester. Peter braced himself.
“You want more spider themed décor?” Tony asked, sounding hopeful.
Peter shook his head. “No, I’m good.”
“You want to learn magic?” Tony asked, more dubious this time.
Peter grimaced. “Not really, no.”
Tony looked like a trapped animal now. “You’re leaving me for Strange.”
“Come on. There’s an exit over here.”
“Oh god.”
Once they were out of the house Peter swung Tony around to face him. Them put his hands on the side of his face to make Tony look at him. “I’m not leaving you for Mr. Strange.” Peter leaned in to give Tony a peck on the lips to make his point.
“Ok, good.” Tony relaxed for the first time since the tour started.
"This place really messes with you." Peter wondered.
"I’m just not sure what you’re trying to tell me." Tony frowned. “Can you give me a hint?”
"Tony." Peter said, making sure to maintain eye contact. He paused to make sure Tony wasn't going to start again. "If you learn anything from this."
"I'm listening."
"Somethings aren't about you." Peter watched Tony's eyes flick around as he tried to make sense of what Peter said. Tony opened his mouth then closed it without saying anything and went back to tracing the roofline with his eyes. Peter waited confident that Tony would figure it out eventually.
"It looked interesting.” Tony said slowly, testing each word. “You thought it would be fun to take a tour."
Peter nodded. "I didn’t realize it would break your brain."