WHO: Tony Stark (MCU) & Julia Wicker WHEN: January 31st WHERE: The Lake House WHAT: Tony and Julia react to the space cruise brochures. TRIGGERS: N/A
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Julia forgot it had been nearly two years since her arrival on a strange cruise ship that eventually led her to Tumbleweed. It was not until her eyes opened and she reached for her phone out of habit to check the time, that her fingers skimmed a glossy paper brochure that had not been there the night before.
Right. February.
Shifting to sit up in bed, Julia squinted slightly as her eyes adjusted to the dim light in the room. It was almost too early to be up, but Julia found herself trying to read over the brochure without disturbing Tony (unlikely, they were both light sleepers, but she was polite enough to try).
Nebula Cruise Ships sounded more like the first cruise Julia arrived on, than the Merlin that came the following year. Maybe space wouldn’t be so bad? At least, until her eyes caught the words robotic crew.
The first cruise had robots, too, Julia reasoned. There was no reason to assume it would be like the Merlin again. Except Julia had been friends with Quentin for ages and was familiar enough with cybermen and Star Trek to remain wary.
She sighed.
Despite the earliness of the hour, Tony had been dozing in and out of consciousness for the past thirty minutes, unwilling to retreat from the comfort of bed just yet. When Julia stirred, he waited for her to settle back into bed. When she didn’t, and sighed instead, he opened one eye and then the other.
“What is it this time?” he asked softly so as not to startle her. He assumed she was reading an update of some sort on her phone. “Natural disaster, monster, or magic?” Seemed like a good enough categorization of the things that usually went wrong in Tumbleweed.
“Brochure for the next cruise,” Julia said. She let the glossy paper pinwheel in her fingers before handing it over to Tony. “It’s nice that we’re getting a warning this time?” she said, but she didn’t quite believe that herself. “No mention on where we might stop, though.”
Tony sat up and accepted the brochure without hesitation, squinting a little to make out the text. He made a face, then sent the brochure sailing toward the end of the bed like a frisbee. “It had to be space,” he muttered, mostly to himself. The idea of space didn’t bring forth the dread it once did after Titan and nearly meeting his end as a castaway amongst the stars five years back. He’d even let Nebula take him up in her ship recently, a much more pleasant outing than their last had been. Still. He didn’t exactly have the best track record when it came to space.
“Wouldn’t want to spoil all the fun, right?” He wasn’t sure what the purpose of the early warning was. It wasn’t as if they could pack or prepare in any real way. Mostly it just served as a reminder that they were at the mercy of the portal
Julia frowned and settled back into bed, turning on her side to face Tony. “At least this way we can prepare Morgan.” Truly prepare Morgan? Maybe not, but it wouldn’t be a complete shock. “We’ll be okay. Just like we were on the last two.”
Julia remembered the last two cruises. She was injured during the pirate attack on the first cruise, the event that inspired Tony to make Julia her very own gauntlet. Then there was the last cruise, where Tony nearly became an automaton. (And then there had been their new memories, and the break up…)
If anything, saying the words out loud had done the opposite to reassure herself. Not that she was willing to admit otherwise.
“Absolutely. ‘If you suddenly feel the floor giving out on you, don’t worry. It’s just the boarding process for that space cruise you always wanted.’” Tony could joke about it with Julia, but in truth, he was grateful for the chance to give Morgan a head’s up so she wouldn’t panic, thinking she was being sent back through the portal without him. These cruises were no place for a kid, especially his kid, but at least he wouldn't be alone in looking out for her.
Tony reclined in the bed, settling on his side in a position that mirrored Julia’s. “Yeah, we’ll be okay,” he repeated. “If we can steer clear of pirates, giant beavers, sentient ships, and magical mirror jails. At least we know I’m all out of updates.” His voice was playful, even if there was the slightest hint of a pained expression at that last part.
Julia’s poker face was almost perfect, were it not for the brief flinch in her brows. Was it the reminder of his death or Quentin’s? It might have been the one, two punch.
“You can’t cast on the other side of a mirror. Just an FYI in case it comes up. It’s how Q died.” Julia spoke dispassionately, as if she could give Tony just the facts, because with the work that they did, it wasn’t entirely impossible that such a situation might come up. “Magic goes haywire.”
Julia glanced away to bury whatever emotion threatened to bubble up. It wasn’t mourning exactly. Q and Tony were both still alive here. “Are giant beavers really that bad?” she tried, weakly, to change the subject with another joke.
Tony hadn't known about the significance of the mirror. He wouldn't have joked about it if he had. Julia had never elaborated on Quentin's demise, and he had never asked her to do so. The news took him aback, and he didn't bother trying to hide it. "Shit, Julia. I'm sorry." Trapping her in the mirror had been Strange's doing, but on his behalf. Tony's apology sounded empty to him. He looked out across the empty space between them as Julia glanced away.
The subject change was a valiant effort, and would have given Tony the chance to lighten the mood by finally giving a true account of how he came by the huge gash in his back on Dino Island. But instead he kept his eyes on Julia, wondering how she really was. It hadn't been an easy year. For either of them. Maybe this new one would bring better days.
“I should have told you earlier,” Julia said. Except her lifelong best friend had died, her boyfriend got news just a few days later of his own death, and everything had been fucked. “He’s still here, so I try not to think about it.”
Now that Gaby and Napoleon were gone, Julia worried about Quentin. Everyone in Tumbleweed had someone to lose. And if Quentin disappeared? It would feel like losing him twice. Usually, Julia could put a positive spin on it: here they had time together they would never have gotten otherwise. Tumbleweed was, strangely, precious that way.
“I get why you didn’t.” Things had been complicated at the time. Even more so than they usually were. But they were finally coming down from all that. The past couple months had been a break from the usual routine of portal shenanigans and trying to sort things out between the two of them for one reason or another. Now here was another cruise to potentially shake things up again.
Tony reached out to take her hand and gently ran his thumb over the triangle tattooed on her index finger. “Anything else you want to put out there? Something you meant to tell me before I went all narcissistic sad sack on you?” He tried to lighten the mood a little. Maybe poking fun at his breaking up with her was not the way to go about it, but he flashed her a shameless half-grin anyway.
He successfully got her to smile. And roll her eyes. He’d lost his world. It was far from narcissistic. That they both went through so much death and change around the same time had been rough. If anything, Julia had felt guilty about adding her troubles to his.
“I think you’re being a little hard on yourself,” Julia teased, holding a tiny bit of space between her thumb and index finger to show just how little.
The smile had been all Tony was really after anyway. The eye roll was an added bonus. “Me?” He shook his head. “Never.”
And he rolled onto his back and pulled Julia along with him. When he looked up at her face framed between the dark fountain of her hair, he couldn't help but feel grateful for the chance to exist in the same time and place as Julia Wicker and lucky that she still wanted to be a part of whatever life he got here.
He could have told her all this, but instead he said, “Let’s try to stay out of the brig this time.” But he reached up to cup her cheek with his hand, his eyes giving him away.
“Who’s the buzzkill now?” she said. Julia smiled warmly before leaning in to kiss him, taking her time in a sleepy, good morning fashion.
"Eager for Morgan's 'I'm disappointed in you' face, huh?" Tony asked afterwards, rolling them back onto their sides. "It's a scolding you'll never forget." Jokes aside, things were going to have to be a little different on the third go-around, with a kid in tow.
Julia snickered. “I bet.” She couldn’t imagine Morgan’s disappointed face being anything but adorable. Julia reached forward and combed her fingers through Tony’s hair. Her smile changed subtly from amusement to affection.
Tony closed his eyes briefly as Julia ran her fingers through his hair. It was still early. "I figure we've got another hour before the Little Miss is up and demanding breakfast." He nestled into the pillows and threw an arm around Julia, but not in a way that would keep her from combing her fingers through his hair if she chose. He was rather like a cat arching its back asking to be pet.
The words were barely out of Tony’s mouth before the enchantment on the door made a pleasant chime, letting them know Morgan’s hand was on the handle. The door itself didn’t open unless certain criteria were met-- since both of them were dressed and merely laying in bed, it did.
Julia’s eyes just barely went to the open door frame, before the excited feet, stomping on the floor at twenty times the weight of a five year old, launched Morgan onto the bed, waving her on the own copy of the cruise brochure around. Julia scoot to make room, the surprise still not completely off her face. “An hour, huh?”
Tony shrugged, more with the expression on his face than with his shoulders, and tried to shield himself from the incoming flailing limbs of his daughter.
"We're going to SPAAAAAACE!" she bounced.
Tony couldn't help but crack a smile. He looked over at Julia. "Somehow I don't think there's going to be much preparation involved."