WHO: Julia Wicker & Tony Stark (MCU), with guest appearances by Morgan Stark and Peter Parker WHEN: Friday, February 14th WHERE: The Lake House WHAT: Julia and Tony have a low key Valentines Day TRIGGERS: None
______________
Julia went to sleep on February thirteenth convinced that something would go wrong.
Her first Valentine’s Day had happened on a cruise ship that landed in Middle Earth. It was a nice distraction from the jarring entry into another world. The elves weren’t really into Valentine’s and back then Julia wasn’t ready to show any interest even if they had.
The next Valentine’s Julia had updated to her Kim D’Antoni persona. Tony having to babysit a confused, pissed off blonde wasn’t precisely romantic. At all.
The invitations for the carnival only cemented Julia’s suspicions that something would go wrong. It seemed like a prime opportunity for whatever the newest trouble happening in Tumbleweed to explode to more chaotic levels.
So Julia was pleasantly surprised when she woke up on the fourteenth and nothing was immediately, obviously wrong. The longer the feeling went on, the longer she wondered if something might come crashing down on the town.
It still might, but for the moment, Tony was content to focus on Julia, and not the Disney villain stirring up trouble in town. He could press pause on his concern for one day. Or at least one morning. Because he had plans.
Sneaking out of bed was not really a thing when he shared it with Julia. She would inevitably wake up along with him. But this morning, he pressed a kiss to her cheek and told her to go back to sleep. Maybe she would oblige.
He returned later with a breakfast tray of orange juice and waffles for two, made with the Avengers waffle iron he’d been mysteriously gifted his first year in Tumbleweed. Julia had given him grief back then about the pitiful state of his waffles. Now, he had an array of waffles, topped with nutella and bananas, strawberries and whipped cream, and blueberries and syrup. A bud vase contained a single purple tulip.
“Happy Friday,” he said softly, setting the tray down in his spot on the bed.
Julia opened her eyes and smiled sleepily. She had taken his advice when he got up and went back to sleep. “Hey, Valentine,” she said. She sat up slowly and rolled her hair back in an effortless bun, stealing the tulip to pin in her hair. Despite having no mirror, it looked purposeful.
“Oh, is that today?” Tony’s mouth turned up into a lopsided grin. “I had no idea.” He leaned in to kiss Julia, then settled onto the bed beside her, careful not to disturb the breakfast tray. As a couple, they didn’t really do big, grandiose romantic gestures. They were always a little bit more understated than that. Still, Tony wanted to go out of his way to make sure that Julia felt loved and appreciated, especially given their last Valentine’s Day together. Or not together, as it were.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Shrubwitch,” he told her, brushing his shoulder against hers.
“Smooth,” she teased gently. By the smile on her face she was clearly pleased. No grand gesture required. Sometimes, it was the quiet moments with Tony that she loved best. Julia reached to his side of the bed, picking up a fork and slicing the first bite of waffle, offering to him first.
“There’s another carnival today,” Julia said. Her raised eyebrow asked the question: go to the carnival and risk the usual curses and temporary magical changes, or avoid it all together? So far, they didn’t have the best track record stopping the crazy from happening. They did have plenty of experience weathering the consequences until it ran its course.
Tony gave Julia a look when she offered him first bite, but he accepted it anyway. This was supposed to be about her. He reached out to grab a fork of his own. “What do you say we sit this one out?” They had already had their share of portal curses this year. And with Maleficent still running wild, Tony wanted to be himself in case things finally came to a head. He sliced into a different flavor of waffle and took a bite.
“And exercise discretion? I’m so proud of our personal growth.” Julia’s lips formed a broad smile. She reached in and took her first bite of a perfect balance between fluffy and crispy waffle. Mmm, she said. She may have teased him about his waffles once, but that was no longer the case.
“It was bound to happen eventually,” Tony shrugged, looking on smugly as she enjoyed her bite. “We can always relapse later.” He took a drink of OJ and gave a quick thought to the coffee he would enjoy later on in the morning while Morgan was getting ready for school. “So what would you like to do today? I’m willing to play hooky.”
Julia nudged his shoulder appreciatively with a smile. “This day gets better and better,” she said. They were both, at their worst, work obsessed in the pursuit of knowledge. For people like them, offering time was precious. Julia took another bite of waffle, but the real satisfaction in her look came from his offer of the day.
Julia turned toward him, and set her legs across his lap. “Do we want to stay in town at least?” Sometimes, when things got bad, magic in and out of Tumbleweed got cut off. Maleficent wasn’t at Red Alert status, though it was solidly orange.
"Now might not be the best time for a portal trip," Tony acknowledged, resting a hand on Julia's thigh. Getting cut off from Tumbleweed with Morgan and Peter there was not something he even wanted to consider. "Limits our options, I know. But I think I can still show you a good time."
“Romantic boat outing on the lake?” Julia offered. For having a lake and being a lake house, the lake itself seemed highly underutilized. It would be something different for them.
Tony nodded his head at the suggestion and took another bite of breakfast. “I could make that happen.” Under normal circumstances, it might be a little chilly, but with the wearable weather rings, it could feel like a pleasant summer day. “You willing to pull your weight with the oars?” he joked. The last time he had spent any time on the lake had been with Natasha on their death days. Usually the boat just sat on shore, killing his grass. It had been a bigger hit when Morgan was younger and believed there were mermaids and water monsters living in the lake.
“Only if you hold the parasol,” Julia said. She nestled in a little closer, blissfully content to share the morning with him.
“Yeah, sure we can find one of those,” Tony smiled, glancing down at her briefly out of the corner of his eyes as she moved in closer.
They finished their breakfast undisturbed, but soon after, the upstairs shower could be heard. Peter was awake. That meant Morgan would be too and picking out her clothes for the day. She was becoming more and more independent, but Tony still supervised bath time to some degree. He glanced over at Julia, and an unspoken “time to get up” passed between the two of them, and they crawled out of bed to start their usual weekday routine.
Tony played fashion critic, and when today looked to be a long-shower morning for the spiderling, he ushered Morgan downstairs for a hosedown in the master suite. She chose a shower rather than a bath, and tried to convince Tony to turn on the TV so she could watch cartoons through the glass door. He didn’t cave.
Julia, tulip still in her hair, was on breakfast and lunch duty. It wasn’t out of skill as much as it was convenience. There had been mishaps. The alchemy behind a complex and dangerous potion? No problem. Eggs over easy? Usually ended up scrambled.
At least the coffee was safe and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were impossible to mess up. Mostly Julia tried to keep the chaos to a controlled level so that cleanup afterward would be easier. Morgan had a more traditional breakfast and lunches pack up; Peter’s usually involved at least double the calories.
When Peter was finally ready he jogged down the stairs and headed immediately for the kitchen. This morning he managed his customary ”Thanks, Julia,” before stuffing something into his mouth. It was mid chew that the spiderling swallowed and asked, “Did you make waffles?”
He could smell it, but the proof was absent. Julia shrugged her shoulders innocently.
Washed, dried, and dressed, Tony herded Morgan out of his bedroom and into the kitchen, towel still wrapped around her hair atop her head. She slipped up onto the stool next to Peter and gave him a big smile. “G’morning, Spider-Man!” she chirped and helped herself to breakfast. Morgan liked to namedrop Peter’s superhero identity from time to time, as if to remind Peter how cool she thought her adopted brother was.
“G’morning, Spider-Man!” Tony parroted, coming up behind Peter and ruffling his hair. “Got any big plans for Valentine’s Day?”
“No? I mean, sorta,” Peter said. He didn’t elaborate out of teenaged insecurity. He had picked up a gift for Fray, but wasn’t sure how well it would be received. Fray wasn’t as familiar with Earth holidays yet and had a perspective that Peter sometimes didn’t expect. “Fray’s family is kinda going through a thing so, in case she needs to be home with her parents, I figured we could just hang out after school if she’s able to.”
Julia frowned thoughtfully. “Waughlos okay?”
Tony’s nickname for the family had stuck, like his nicknames usually did. Julia considered all three of Fray’s parents her friends, two of which she shared a world and a little more history with.
“Yeah, I think so,” Peter said, without going into any detail.
Tony nodded. “Need me to play chauffeur after school? I can claim Ned and Morgan and leave you to your lady friend.” He had rounded the island and was now leaning his back against the counter next to Julia, looking at Peter with the hint of a smile on his face. “Just let me know if you’re gonna be out late.” He knew he had it easy with Peter. Especially when he remembered what he was like when he was 18. Still, the kid could maybe use a little nudge in the direction of youthful mischief.
The term lady friend made Peter’s face twitch slightly. Tony could be as bad as Aunt May when it came to embarassing terms like Peter Tingle. Peter tried to keep his face neutral as possible as to not encourage Tony, but that almost never worked.
“No, it’s okay. Like I said, I don’t know what Fray’s schedule is going to be so I just figured it was probably best to play it by ear.” Peter’s teenaged antics were generally reserved for a half million dollar spider-man suit and heroics. The Peter in Tumbleweed was as close to a Peter Parker that had never been bitten by the altered spider that there would ever be-- a good if not slightly boring kid, who focused mostly on academics. “I can drop Ned and Morgan off. Fray’s not weird about stuff like that.”
Julia sipped her coffee and watched Morgan eat her breakfast with a smile.
“Your call, Romeo,” Tony shrugged and picked up the coffee that Julia had prepared for him. He took a sip. “Let me know if you change your mind.” He winked at him.
Morgan was happy to eat her breakfast and follow along with the boys’ conversation. It was funny to watch Tony be a parent to someone else, but in a good way. She wished her mom was there to see it. She and her dad had quietly celebrated Pepper's birthday two days before. Morgan had made her a card which was now hanging on the fridge. She had been sad for a while, but it was never lost on her that in order to have her dad back, she had to miss her mom. It made the sadness more meaningful, and somehow easier to bear.
She looked over at Julia and noticed the tulip in her hair for the first time. “I like your flower,” Morgan told her. “Is it magic?”
Peter pretended not to notice Tony’s encouraging look. Adults were so weird. But if he were being honest he preferred this Tony to the one that dropped him off at home after Germany. Sometimes Peter still didn’t believe it. Iron Man was his dad.
He missed May, but knowing he was outed and his life about to be turned upside down, he wasn’t eager to be back home and face that either.
“Thanks. It’s a regular tulip,” Julia explained. “Is your school doing anything fun today for Valentine’s?” Julia adored Morgan. There was a lot of her father in her.
“But it’s holding your hair!” Morgan was impressed. But then she gave a nod that was also a shrug. “Something with candy, I think.” School wasn’t exactly holding her interest.
“That reminds me,” Tony started, disappearing into the study for a moment and returning with something in his hand. He walked up to Morgan and slid a pair of purple heart shaped sunglasses of questionable price onto her face. “There. Now you’re Valentine’s Day ready.” Morgan beamed up at him and struck a pose. Tony whipped out his phone for a photo. “The towel is really what sells it,” he nodded, returning the phone to his pocket and rejoining Julia’s side. “Got a pair for you too, Pete,” he joked, pretending to toss imaginary sunglasses at the teenager. Morgan smiled and the two of them and continued to eat her breakfast.
Peter jerked his head slightly, pretending the glasses beaned him in the temple before scoffing and rubbing the spot. Mostly in a show for Morgan. He took his big brother responsibilities seriously like that.
“You want me to do your hair?” Julia offered. It wasn’t an everyday occurrence and Morgan didn’t always have the patience for it, being five. Today, however, Morgan accepted and Julia waited for Morgan to finish her breakfast before taking her into the master bathroom to use Julia’s collection of hair styling products.
Julia didn’t torture Morgan for long, wisely opting for putting her hair up in a twist before sending her off to school with Peter.
Tony was hair capable, but Morgan, who greatly admired Julia’s hair, liked it when the hedgewitch worked her figurative magic on it. When she walked hand in hand with Peter out to the car, hair twisted up and sunglasses on, the five year old looked like she could take on the world.
While Julia was on hair duty, Tony tackled the dishes, so that when the house was finally kid-free, there was nothing but the day before them. “Another one down,” he said as she came back out into the kitchen. Another morning in the books. Sometimes he expected her to grow tired of the domestic life he had made for himself, that she would want something else. But that worry wasn’t there today. “Too early for a boat ride?” he asked, approaching Julia and taking her into his arms.
“Nope,” Julia said. Her fingers slid up the hem of his shirt so she could feel the skin and warmth underneath and she wrapped her arms around his waist in return. She wondered if there was room for her in his new life. Sometimes she was worried she’d be found out, that Tony would figure out she didn’t quite belong or fit anymore. But that worry wasn’t there today.
“You know, the boat will still be there in a couple hours,” Tony leaned down and whispered in her ear. Merely a suggestion. An enticement prompted by the way Julia’s hands felt against his skin.
Tony’s voice low in her ear was enough to return the enticement in kind. Julia responded by craning her neck up to meet his lips with a very encouraging kiss before slowly leading him back into the bedroom.
Later, they did go out on the boat with a picnic lunch and a couple bottles of wine, enjoying one another’s company, reminiscing about their early days as a pair, and swapping stories of increasing ridiculousness. By the end of the second bottle, and with Julia’s inebriate encouragement, Tony was reciting AC/DC lyrics in a phony British accent as if they were great works of romantic poetry. They floated more than boated, but no one fell in and they were happy and they were together. What more could they ask for?