Archive of Our Own ^beta

• as children 

“Found you!”

Tony turned around to find Hope standing near the door, and quickly put a finger over his mouth. “Hope, shush!”

She pouted at him. “But I found you,” she complained, walking in. “That means I win.”

“It doesn’t count, I wasn’t hiding,” told her Tony, because those were the rules. You could only seek if someone was hiding, if they weren’t hiding you couldn’t seek them out.

“You only did this because you knew I was going to find you!” said Hope, now glaring at him. “You are a cheater, Tony.”

“Am not!”

“Are too!”

“Am not!”

“Are too!”

“Are not!”

“Children!” called Janet from somewhere in the house, and they both froze. “What are you doing? Are we playing nicely?”

“Yes, mommy,” “Yes, Aunt Janet,” they chorused at the same time.

When she did not immediately add anything, Tony turned to Hope. “I was going to hide, but then I saw something, and I got distracted.”

Hope gave a weary sigh that sounded just like Aunt Janet’s. “You always get distracted.”

“Look,” he called, beckoning her over. “Come see.”

Hope huffed, but she still moved forward until she was also standing on the stool Tony was standing on. They were more or less the same height, even though Hope kept saying that she was a little bit taller. Tony thought she was cheating, or using her hair to look taller, but he could never prove it.

“Oh,” she said, watching the contents of the open drawer with wide eyes. “What is this?”

“Mamma’s jewellery drawer,” explained Tony. “All of the things and access... access... acceso-thingies that she puts to make herself prettier.”

“Your mamma is already pretty.”

Tony grinned at her. “Thank you, so is your mommy.”

“Thank you,” she answered, beaming back. “Woah, your mamma got loads of these. Do you think she’ll let me take one if I ask?”

Tony shrugged. “Sure. She has so many, she probably won't even notice if I gave you one of them.”

“Which one are you going to give me?” wondered Hope, touching the pretty golden earrings in a corner. Her ears weren’t pierced like her mommy’s, but if they had been, Tony was sure that the earrings would look pretty on her.

Anything would look pretty on Hope, because Hope was the prettiest.

Even prettier than Tony's mamma, sometimes - though he couldn't tell her that. Mamma was very vain, and she'd get very sad.

“This one,” said Tony, pulling out a ring with a big green stone on top of it. “It’s green and hazel just like your eyes.”

“You’re so silly, Tony,” said Hope, shaking her head. “You cannot give someone a ring without asking them to marry you first!”

“Really?” asked Tony, frowning at her. “How do you know that?”

“Mommy said her ring was given to her when daddy proposed to her,” she explained. “And your Mrs Jarvis got a ring when Mr Jarvis proposed, remember she told us the story? Which means Uncle Howard gave Aunt Maria a ring when he asked her to marry him, most likely.”

“Oh,” said Tony, because it made sense. “Okay, I can do it.”

He jumped off the stool, still holding on the hazel ring. Then he went down on one knee, smiling hopefully at Hope. “Hope Nadia Van Dyne. You are the prettiest girl in all of boarding school, and the nicest, and the strongest. Will you marry me?”

“What exactly is going on here?” came Howard’s voice before Hope could answer. Hank was standing beside him, looking a little irritated, but mostly perplexed by his daughter.

Tony glared at his father. “I was proposing to Hope,” he explained. “So that I can give her mamma’s ring, and we can have a new house and all of the babies.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so,” said Hank, quickly walking in and picking up his daughter. “Stark, keep your spawn away from my daughter. Fitting that first you steal my Pym particles, and then your son tries to steal my daughter.”

“I didn’t take your damned particles, Pym,” said Howard, sounding irritated as he snatched the ring from Tony. “And stop playing with your mom’s stuff, Tony. Come on, out of the room.”

“But I wanted to-”

“Out Tony,” repeated Howard, and Tony sighed as he watched Hope being dragged away with her own dad, failing at getting out of his arms.

Dads sucked.

When he became a dad, though, he was going to be a super awesome dad and be like Mr Jarvis. He was going to let his kids get married whenever they wanted as long as they had a ring. 

And when Howard went to the nursing house, he was never going to visit him.

• as teens

“Stark-Rhodes dorm room, Tony speaking. How can I help you?” answered Tony, a spoonful of cereals in his mouth.

“Tony, I told you to stop answering the phone like that, you make us sound married!” complained Rhodey, glaring at him from the kitchen.

Tony would have laughed at Rhodey’s tone, but then he caught the sound of a sob from the other side of the phone, and frowned. “Hello? Hope?”

“Yes,” she answered, still sobbing. “It’s me.”

“Hope, what’s wrong?” he asked suddenly concerned. “Is everything okay?”

“My period’s late,” she said, and then started sobbing louder than before.

Tony frowned, more than a little confused and disgusted. Why was she telling him this?

“I’m... sorry?”

“Tony! It’s been a month since my birthday, and my period is late! Have you forgotten what I asked you to give me for my 16th birthday?”

Tony made a sound of distress as he suddenly realised. “No way. Are you serious?”

“No, I’m just calling you and crying over the phone because I wanted to mess with you,” she almost shouted, and Tony winced. Yeah, that was more like him than like her to do. “Yes, I’m super serious, dumbass! And I don’t know what to do! What am I supposed to do? My dad will kill me! And then when he’s done killing me, he’s gonna kill you!”

“Shit,” he said, starting to panic himself. “Okay, shit. This is bad, this is really bad. I’m not ready to be a dad!”

Rhodey choked on his cereals. “I’m sorry, what?!”

“Do you think I’m ready to be a mom?!” demanded Hope, and Tony was not used to hysterical Hope. Even when Aunt Janet had died, Hope had kept her cool. This freaking out thing was weird, hysterical Hope was very loud and, well. Hysterical. “Tony, what am I gonna do? I don’t know what to do, and I’m so scared, I’m still in high school. I’m in high school and you’re in college, oh my god. Isn't that illegal? Are you going to go to prison?”

“I’m not going to prison, they go by age not by class,” said Tony, and there was that at least. He didn't think that Howard would get him out of prison for this, otherwise. Oh man, Howard was going to blow a gasket. And his mamma, shit. “Oh god, this is such a shitshow. Wait, do you want to keep it?!”

“Tony, buddy, what the hell do you mean keep it? And what do you mean you’re going to be a dad?!”

“Where would I even keep it without Hank finding out?!” demanded Hope, sniffing loudly. “A drawer in my bedroom? The cleaning ladies would notice it, and then they'd tell him. My life is over before it even started. I won’t get to go to college, and I won’t get to go anywhere, I’m gonna be a stay at home mom, and Hank will never give me the company, and when my daughter is in high school I’m gonna be barely 30 and everyone is going to judge me because they will all know I got knocked up in high school like some idiot, and I don’t want to be a mom-”

“I don’t want to be a dad either, or a stay at home dad-”

“Man, what the fuck.”

“-But I’ll do it for you, Hope,” said Tony, meaning it. Mamma and Jarvis always told hm about taking responsibility for his actions, and Tony was gonna. He had created this problem because Hope had said she wanted to lose her virginity for her birthday with someone she trusted and he had agreed. His penis had gotten them into this mess, it was right for his mind to try and fix it. “I’ll do the whole thing. Giving the baby bottles, making them food, changing the nasty diapers while you go to school and to work. Your birthday it’s in August, if I'm doing the maths right - and I always do the maths right - by the time the baby’s born I’ll have graduated anyway, and I won’t need to go to school any more.”

She sniffed a little less hysterically than before. “Yeah?”

“Of course,” said Tony, nodding to the air. Yeah, he could almost picture it. “I’ll take the baby to the park while you go to work, and do all the dad things with him. Or the mom things, Howard never taught me any dad things. I’ll keep the house clean or hire Jarvis to do it, and we’ll merge our companies together when our dads pass them down to us, and you can lead them both.”

“Be CEO of SI and Pym Tech?” she asked, and she sounded wondering.

“Yes,” said Tony, grinning. “I’ll be your housewife.”

She giggled. “I think it’s called househusband, when it’s a man.”

“Then I’ll be any kind of husband you want me to be,” answered Tony, also smiling when he heard her laugh.

“Promise?”

“Yeah,” said Tony decidedly. “It’ll be hard at first, but I think I’ll be good at it. I’ll even build a bot to help me take care of the baby when I need.”

“Like your DUM-E?”

“Better, I promise,” he said, and grinned. “Okay? I’ll take care of you. I’ll help you.”

“Okay,” she said, sighing slightly. “I trust you.”

“I trust you too,” he answered. “I’ll call you soon?”

“Can you stay on the phone with me a little longer?” she asked, sniffling again. “Please? I’m scared.”

“Whatever you want, Hope,” answered Tony, ignoring Rhodey trying to get his attention. “Whatever you want.”

+++

Hope opened the door of her widow after the fifth rock hit, looking incredibly vexed. A look that melted into one of surprise when she looked down at her garden and saw Tony standing on one knee under the window.

“Tony!” she hissed, looking around in confusion. “What are you doing here?!”

“I’ve had some time to think and a couple of red bulls and beers to gather courage - don’t worry, Rhodey drove me over - and look. Hank is going to freak enough about the baby. Finding out that his precious daughter had a baby out of wedlock might just kill him. And while you don’t like your dad, this is not preferable because he might cut you off the will, and where are you going to work the first few years after Uni?”

“Tony-”

“Let me finish, Hope,” he continued, opening the box to reveal a small ring inside of it. “Now, this is not the proper ring. Because I don’t know the size of your fingers. But it was the only one I could find on short notice, and maybe when we get to Vegas, we’ll find a better one for me to propose with.”

“But-”

“Shh, I’m not done. I put us in this mess, and I’m going to take full responsibility for it because Edwin Jarvis did not raise a deadbeat. He raised a gentleman, and even though my previous actions contradict it, I am.

“So, Hope Nadia Van Dyne, my beautiful princess in an evil tower,” he said, grinning up at her. She looked at him like he was an idiot, but that was fine. Hope had started looking at him like that when they were six and he had tripped around wearing Aunt Janet’s heels, and never stopped. “Will you make me the happiest future dad and house husband in the world, and marry me?”

“No,” said Hope, shaking her head. “Because I’m not pregnant.”

Tony blinked, not having even enough time to be upset. “You’re not pregnant?”

“Nope,” she said, smiling down at him. “My period came two days after I called you. I tried to call you again, but you wouldn’t answer the phone. Wait, did you drive here?”

“Well, yeah,” said Tony, frowning at her. He was starting to feel a little silly, now. “It was a whole road-trip, getting here all the way from Massachusetts. And you’re not even pregnant?”

“Nope,” she said, and then snickered. “I can’t believe you came all the way down here to propose to me. You’re such an idiot.”

“I think the word you’re looking for is an upstanding future dad to your children,” he informed her, and she snorted, shaking her head again. 

“Idiot,” she repeated, but Tony liked to think she was fond. He had totally impressed her. “Come on, did you and your friend Rhodey come? Come inside, it’s getting colder out here. You’re lucky Hank wasn’t here, he’d have freaked.”

“Please,” said Tony, waving towards Rhodey’s car. “I jammed the cameras first thing first.”

“Of course you did,” she said, glancing at where Rhodey was emerging from the car. “Woah. Has your friend Rhodey always been so handsome?”

“Back the hell up, amiga,” said Tony, waving his finger at her. “No touching. Rhodey’s mine. You are not allowed to have a crush on him.”

“Why, do you have a crush on him?” Tony glared and she grinned, eyes turning devious. “Oh my god, you totally do!”

“Shut up!”

“How was this marriage going to work, Tony, when you liked someone else?”

“Just like Mrs Newt has her pool boy on the side while being married to Mr Newt, I would have had my future soldier on the side while being married to you,” he said, shrugging. 

“Veto. I’m putting Rhodey on the no kiss list.”

“You can’t put Rhodey on the no kiss list!”

Rhodey stopped beside him, side-eyeing him a little. “I’m afraid to ask what the no kiss list is. Did she say yes?”

Tony waved him off, marching towards Hope’s door. “She’d be a horrible wife.”

“I heard that!”

• at his parents' funeral

“There you are.”

Tony did not look up from where he was laying in the den of the Mansion, eyes wide open behind the sunglasses he was wearing. 

Hope did not need an answer from him. She simply sat down beside him, crossing her legs together.

All day, people had felt the need to fill the silence around him. Tony was usually the one who filled the silences whenever he was around people, he was the one who spoke and spoke and spoke about things no one actually cared about.

People found silence around him deeply uncomfortable, and kept trying to fill it with happy stories about his parents, happy memories that they had of them. Or they tried to offer him condolences, to inform him of how sorry they were for his loss.

Tony did not believe any of them one bit.

He had not seen Hank anywhere at that event - he sort of had stopped seeing Hank after Aunt Janet’s funeral, really - so he had thought that Hope wouldn’t have been able to attend either.

He really should have given her more credit.

He felt Hope move beside him, also laying down at his side. Then, seconds later, he felt her hand pressing against his.

For minutes, the only sound in the entire room was the sound of the tick tocking of the large clock in the den, and the sound of their breathing.

Then, eventually, Tony spoke. “Mamma left you something, by the way. In the will.”

“Mh?”

“Yeah,” said Tony, staring right above him. “The ring from when we were kids. The one I proposed to you with, the hazel one. She gave you a bunch of stuff, but thats the only thing that I really recognised.”

“Awesome.”

Tony turned to look at her, watching her profile for a few moments. “Does it ever stop hurting?”

Hope also turned around. Like this, they were so close their nose were almost touching, and Tony could see all of her lashes even with the sunglasses on. He could see the little scar near the base of her nose, that’s how close they were. 

“No,” she said, eventually. “It doesn’t stop hurting. But... it does become easier to handle.”

That sounded impossible. “How?”

“By having someone you love close to you,” she said, linking their hands together. “By having a friend to help you navigate the hurt. A friend to pull you back out when you’re drowning.”

Like you did, she didn’t say. But Tony heard it in the hand hold anyway.

“Marry me,” he said, after watching her for a minute longer. 

Hope smiled. “No,” she said, shaking her head. “Not today.”

Tony hadn’t expected her to say yes. “One day?”

“One day,” she agreed.

Tony squeezed her hand, and Hope squeezed it back.

• as young adults

“I can’t believe I’ve never been to Vegas before,” said Hope, looking around her with her eyes shining. “This place is awesome.”

“And you know what the best part of you being in Vegas is?” asked Tony, turning to look at her with a grin.

“What?”

“If Hank knew we were here, he’d have a coronary and several heart attacks,” he said, pleased when it made he burst into laughter.

“I know right? Maybe he was onto something with the whole ‘Tony Stark is gonna corrupt my daughter’ spiel,” she said, shaking her head.

“Oh, absolutely,” agreed Rhodey. “I have done things since I’ve met Tony Stark that my mother would faint over. Do not make it weird.”

Tony closed his mouth with a pout. “You suck. Why do you always ruin my fun, Rhodey Rhodes?”

“Because your fun is not funny, and neither are you,” answered Rhodey, rolling his eyes. Hope, the big traitor, giggled at that. “What do you want to do, Van Dyne?”

She shrugged, looking around her with some curiosity. “I don’t know. What do you suggest?"

Tony smiled.

+++

Tony did not remember the last time he had had this much fun at Las Vegas. He went to the place often enough, of course. It was fun, and alcohol, and drugs, and beautiful ladies, what wasn’t there to love?

It was awesome.

But still he did not remember the last time he had had so much fun.

They did not even win that much money, and they probably lost at the very list a couple of thousands, but Hope kept laughing and looking delighted, and Tony was having the time of his life watching her have the time of her life.

This could also be the alcohol talking. 

He had had a lot of alcohol, because Rhodey and Hope kept giggling together every now and then, and it made him feel something ugly in his chest every time he saw his best friend high five her or giving her a half hug.

Rhodey was on the no kiss list for a reason, but Tony had never put Hope on he and Rhodey’s no kiss list. Then again, there was the fact that he did want to kiss Hope one day, and the entire point of the no kiss list was that neither party who agreed on the list could kiss the people listed.

But still, it was bro code, wasn’t it? Rhodey had seen Tony forcefully drag him and his car all the way to San Francisco so that he could propose to Hope because he had thought she had been pregnant. Surely he’d knew better than to hit on her.

If he was even hitting on her.

But after enough, the ugly feelings had all gone away, and Tony was once more happy and calm and nothing was wrong anymore.

Tony loved alcohol.

+++

“Here he comes,” greeted Hope, as soon as Tony walked inside the living rom.

Or rather as soon as dragged himself inside the living room. He felt like death warmed over and like his bones were made of rubber, which was not very conductive to walking.

“Stop being so loud,” he complained, putting his head over the table.

“I’m not being loud,” she said, loudly. “I’m being annoying. It’s different.”

“Shut up.”

“Tones, is this any way to talk to your fiancé?” complained Rhodey, sounding like he was holding back a laugh.

Tony lifted his head from his arms, frowning at his smirking best friend and the amused Hope. “What.”

“Don’t tell me you forgot what happened yesterday,” said Hope, looking almost disappointed. “Oh, you poor idiot.”

“I have a higher IQ than you do, I resent you calling me that,” he said, gratefully taking the aspirin she passed him. “Speak clearly.”

“How about we show you?” asked Rhodey, snickering as he dropped the video camera in front of him.

Tony did not have a good feeling about this, and subtly observed Rhodey and Hope. “What am I about to watch?”

“What your dumbass did last night,” told him Rhodey, still snickering. “And why it’s completely valid for the both of us to call you an idiot from now on.”

Tony swallowed the aspirin in one go, not feeling the slightest bit better about his hangover or about what his friends were planning. Still, he was curious by nature.

He grabbed the camera, clicking start on the video Rhodey had left queued up.

And then stared with a rapidly growing mortified look on his face as the events of last night unfolded.

“...Unhand her, you fiend!” said a very drunk Tony, glaring at Rhodey’s camera. “I won’t let you get away with this.”

“With this what?” asked Rhodey, sounding like he was laughing. “Say it once more for the camera.”

“With running off with my wife,” answered Tony, and the camera shook as Rhodey laughed heartily, Hope looking embarrassed beside Tony. “What happened to the bro code, bro?”

“Bro code doesn’t count when we aren’t actually together, Tony,” told him Hope, a mix between annoyed and very much amused. “And to add to that, I’m not your wife.”

“You’re... not?” he said, turning to her in shock. “But how is this possible?!”

“You’ve never asked me out, and I’ve never asked you out,” explained Hope, shrugging and smiling. “Can’t marry someone you’ve never gone on one date with.”

“You’re right,” realised Tony. He looked in his pockets for a second, before pulling out a ring pop that had Rhodey doubling back in laughter. Tony ignored him, dropping on one knee and offering Hope the sweet with hopeful eyes. “Hope Van Dyne, will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?”

“We aren’t dating, you adorable idiot,” said Hope, giggling again. “I can’t marry someone I’ve never gone on one single date with.”

“Really?”  asked Tony, mouth turning downwards. “Not even when it’s me?”

“Not even when it’s you,” she agreed, pressing a kiss on his cheek. “I’ll still take the ring pop though, Casanova.”

Tony gave it to her willingly enough, before turning to look at Rhodey when the camera focused on his face again. “She is so awesome,” he gushed, looking pathetically besotted. "I adore her, Rhodey. One day I'm gonna make her my wife."

"Of course you are, Tones."

Tony ignored the laughter that followed as soon as he turned the video camera off, flipping them both off. “You’re assholes.”

“And you drunk proposed me,” said Hope, looking delighted. “And you think I’m awesome, and you adore me. You sure do know how to make a girl feel appreciated, Tony Stark.”

“Technically, you accepted the ring pop, which makes you my fiancé,” shot back Tony, and Hope shrugged.

“Could think of worse things to be,” she said easily enough.

Drunk Tony talked too much, but in one thing he was very much right: Hope Van Dyne was awesome.

And he adored her.

• during the invasion

“Sir, would you like me to call Miss Van Dyne for you?”

Tony stared at the wormhole rapidly approaching, feeling his heartbeat all the way in his ears. He had a feeling this was not going to be one of the things he was going to be able to get himself out of.

“Yeah,” he ended up saying, heart heavy. “Call Hope.”

He had honestly expected the call to go to voicemail, or for JARVIS to fail to connect.

But it didn’t fail, and only a second later he heard Hope’s voice inside of his helmet. “Tony, don’t do it!”

“I don’t have a choice, Hop,” he said, swallowing thickly. He had not thought this through. Calling Hope was a terrible idea, why had he let JARVIS do this?

“Tony,” she said, not quite crying but definitely sounding choked up. “Tony, please.”

“You know I love you, right?” he asked, because this was not really a social call. His seconds were literally numbered. “This is terrible timing, but I think it’s important that you know this. I love you. I loved you from the moment-”

“You can’t just tell me that now-”

“Your mom brought you over to my house the first time. I don’t remember it because I was like one or something, but I fell in love with you then and never stopped loving you. It’s been over 30 years, almost forty since we first met, and not a day has gone by where I didn’t love you.”

“Tony Stark, is this another proposal?” she asked, and this time she was crying when she said it.

Tony felt the tears in his eyes too, as he drew closer and closer to the wormhole. “Yeah. Hope Van Dyne, will you marry me and make me-”

(“Tony? Tony, come on, Tony! Tony!”)

+++

“Do you guys want a drink before we get back to work?” asked Tony, moving towards the bar. It was only day two of the whole safe and rescue thing with the newly formed Avengers, and he was already exhausted.

“Fuck it, yeah,” said Barton, groaning as he shifted his shoulders. “You got the strong stuff, rich boy?”

Tony was never sure if this was Barton’s idea of playful banter or if his throwaway remarks were meant to actively hit him where it hurt. Either way, it didn’t work in doing anything other than make Tony not like the man all that much.

Honestly, the only one of the people in his penthouse that he actually liked was Banner. Banner kept to himself and was on the quiet side, but he dished out as well as he was given. And also appreciated Tony’s way of being, even though it clearly confused him too at times.

Everyone else was too noble or too two faced for Tony to like and bother with.

“Your elevator light is on,” said Romanoff, looking over at it. “Someone’s coming up.”

“Who?” asked Tony, a little confused. There were few people that JARVIS didn’t bother announcing unless Tony was doing something important, and he had seen Pepper just a few minutes ago.

“I don’t have infrared vision,” started Romanoff, just as the door of the elevator opened. 

Tony was looking at it right along everyone’s else, and his face split into a grin as soon as he spotted her. “Hey-”

“Tony,” called out Hope, rushing at him. He was almost knocked out by the force of her hug, but that did not stop him from immediately wrapping his arms around her and turning around with her in his arms. “You fucking bastard.”

“I love you too, Hope Van Dyne,” he answered, grinning brightly. Unfortunately for Tony, the lines around the Tower had been compromised by the Tesseract and the Invasion, so getting into contact with anyone had been almost impossible. He was 75% he had managed to get a message delivered to Hope saying he was still alive, but she hadn’t answered, so he hadn't been sure. “How did you make-”

His words were cut off by the press of her lips against his, and for a second Tony actually short circuited.

Because Hope was kissing him. Hope was... kissing him? Hope was kissing him? Hope was kissing him?

Did not compute. Could not be true.

But then Hope started to pull back, and Tony’s brain automatically came back online. He put both hands against her cheeks and pulled her closer again, deepening their kiss a little bit more than it would be acceptable to do in polite company. But Tony did not care.

Tony had been waiting to kiss Hope Van Dyne with intent for like more than 10 years, at this point, and he was going to enjoy it, damn it.

Eventually, however, he had to pull back because of his stupidly small lungs and the fact that they’d both need oxygen to live. Tony was going to have to fix that, because his life now depended on the fact that he got to kiss Hope as often as possible.

Hope smiled at him when they broke the kiss, eyes looking a little teary. Her voice was still steady when she spoke. “Don’t you ever do that to me again.”

“My beautiful wife, I’d never leave you behind if I can help it,” he answered her, pressing his forehead against hers.

Hope rolled his eyes. “I’m ignoring the fact that your dumbass actually tried to propose to me as you were flying through a wormhole with a nuke on your back,” she started, holding his shirt in her fist a little tighter. “Which, by the way, brings you up to a total of five proposals. You might have forgotten, but normal people tend to date before they propose.”

“That sounds boring,” complained Tony. Then he frowned. “Hold on, how is it five?”

“Wormhole, Vegas, funeral, pregnancy scare, and your mom’s ring while playing hide and seek,” she listed off.

“Wait, we are counting Vegas? That wasn’t even a proper proposal! That was a drunken ring pop!”

“And the funeral one was?” questioned Hope, sounding equal parts fond and amused.

Tony shrugged. “Well...” she rolled her eyes, and Tony’s smile grew fonder. “And think about it this way: you get to pick whichever proposal you want to talk about depending on the situation. Win-win.”

“I suppose not many girls can say that they have refused Tony Stark’s proposal not once but five times-”

“Hold on, you did not refuse me!”

Hope gave him a pitying look. “The fact that we are still not engaged nor married speaks for itself.”

“You accepted the ring pop, Van Dyne,” he reminded her quite pointedly.

“I ate the ring pop.”

“You ate your engagement ring? Do you have any idea of how much-”

She shut him up with another kiss.

(Neither of them paid any attention to their uncomfortable roommates)

• + one time hope proposed to him

Hope Van Dyne had been in love with Tony Stark since what felt like forever.

If asked to describe when she fell in love with him, she wouldn’t have been able to give an answer. If asked to say what about him made her fall for him, she wouldn’t have been able to answer either.

It had just become a fact of life, for her, eventually: the sky was blue, California was hot, she was in love with Tony Stark.

It wasn’t until Las Vegas, however, that she realised that Tony was in love with her too. She had considered the fact when he had asked her to marry him someday, after his parent’s funeral, but back then she hadn’t been sure it wasn’t his need of companionship following a personal tragedy talking.

Las Vegas though, that cemented it in her head. Tony had been drunk out of his ass, and spent the entire time complimenting her looks and being jealous of Rhodey, and Hope was not an idiot.

Alcohol lowered your inhibitions, it did not completely create feelings that had not been there for a while. And that had also been the fourth time Tony had proposed to her, and it wasn’t the type of running gag he’d pull.

He had a questionable sense of humour, but one Hope could predict.

They still did not get together for a few years, after that. Between his company and Hank’s, they had their arms full. They were both based in California, but in almost opposite sides of the State so, for a while, they had had a hard time meeting up with each other.

And then Afghanistan.

The only reason Hope had not been out there with Rhodey, combing the desert and trying to find Tony, was that Hank had taken the Wasp and Ant-Man suit and hidden them away. No amount of shouting and demands from Hope had made him give them up - and believe her, Hope had tried very hard to get her hands on them.

Then Tony had come back, and you’d think one of them would have finally taken that final step and asked the other out.

And Hope would have.

Had Miss Potts not been there.

Miss Potts, Tony’s beautiful assistant, Tony’s younger assistant, who was with him 24/7, who saw him before Hope did when he came back from Afghanistan, who understood his rapid fire way of speaking as well as Hope herself did and who had her own language with Tony.

Hope was not a jealous person, nor a particularly possessive one. 

But she did know when it was better to quit while ahead, and when it was better to fight harder.

She stepped back even after Tony showed her his super awesome suit of armour - which didn’t shrink, something she kept lording over him - and let him get away with pushing her away during that palladium thing.

But Tony did not get with Pepper Potts. In fact, after the palladium ordeal and Rhodey getting a suit too, he had shown up at the front door of her Mansion.

Hope had opened the door to find him standing there, and he had said “I kissed Pepper and I did not like it,” before walking inside like he owned the place and heading for her kitchen.

Hope had not said anything about it, and their little dance had continued.

But she had had enough of dancing around, and had the Invasion not happened, Hope would have asked Tony out anyway (yes, she would have. Rhodey could keep his disbelieving expression and opinions to himself).

She smiled when she heard the front door of the house opening, heart beating a little faster than before. She had honestly thought it’d have taken him a little longer than this.

She heard the sound of him coming up the stairs and then took a deep breath, going down on one knee as quietly as she could.

Tony crept into the room seconds later, and while the lightning choice kept her hidden, it did not keep him hidden from her. His expression was as giddy as she had expected it to be, and he did not hesitate in moving towards his mother’s old dressing table and opening it.

He pulled out the small flowery piece of paper inside of it, and added it to the ones in his hands already. 

“You,” he read out, smirking. “Yes, I will marry you.”

“Several years late,” said Hope, the lights turning on over her head on cue. Tony startled slightly, but then he beamed when he saw her on one knee in the room. “But back in the room where you asked me the first time around: yes, Tony Stark. I will marry you.”

“This is so not how you’re supposed to propose,” he said, snickering as he came down to his knees in front of her. “There is a clear lack of questions, here.”

“Why question, when I’m certain?” 

“You sent me to a scavenger hunt back to the every place where I ever proposed to you so that you could tell me that you will marry me,” said Tony, and he was beaming.

“Yes,” she said, grinning too.

“Hope Van Dyne, you are the woman of my dreams,” he informed her, taking the box from her hands, and pressing a kiss to her lips. “Let me ask you one last time, and I promise I’ll never ask again.” Hope’s face was radiant, and so was his. “Will you marry me?”

“Yes,” she repeated, euphoric. “I will marry you.”