Partners First

He marries her in Vegas, in the end.

It's classy, not tacky and cheap, and certainly not the crazy whirlwind adventure that Stark was wanting it to be. They go to the Chapel in the Clouds on the 103rd floor of the Stratosphere, securing a last minute package for the Bella Luna Salon. It only seated twenty guests, but they arrived broken, beaten and some still bleeding after a near miss outside the Vegas Strip, and twenty seemed like too large a number for who they could invite. They're told to wait an hour, and Stark insists that enough time to fly in the extras.

Marriage was something they talked about for a while; first as a casual mention in the darkness of the bedroom, with sweat sheened skin still tangled in the sheets, but it didn't go further until Pepper casually mentioned that she'd been looking over the S.H.I.E.L.D. employee regulations, and that there wasn't actually anything about marriage mentioned in there other than that protection could be provided for families if necessary. After that revelation, when it seemed like a possibility, the rules of the game changed. The next time their bare skins meet in the dead of night, he asks her for real, and this time she doesn't laugh along with him. There's no laughter, not even a smile, but there's a kiss, a touch against his jaw, and in her own way, he knows she's saying yes.

For a year no one says anything. They don't share the news with their team mates. It's not something of a normal occasion, especially not to them. There isn't an engagement ring, a bridal shower. They don't have any need for that. What would they do with gifts and housewares? They certainly didn't need money. There wouldn't be a big white dress, but she'd wear something special, and for once, he might not make a fuss about wearing a tie and keeping his shirt buttoned all the way. He might not get drunk and leave it over the back of the chair along with the tie and a pair of shoes, either. The only time its spoken of they agree that it will be small, personal, and not a big flashy show; just like their relationship is in the first place.

But then Vegas happens.

They're battling something he's never seen the likes of, even in all their missions, and there comes a moment when his heart almost stops because hers very nearly does. A stand off, and he can't release the arrow because even with his aim he refuses to shoot through that miniscule gap revealing his heart, because he won't allow the arrow to pierce her skin, not from his bow. But the exhange doesn't end because of an arrow or a bullet, because when he throws her to the ground at the angle he was holding her, he could have sworn that he'd broken her neck the way she'd collapsed, and he'd ran to her fallen body truly believing for twenty seconds that she was gone.

Twenty one seconds later, when she was coming round in his arms, he really understood for the first time what it meant for them not to be invincible. And another ten seconds later when she looked up into his eyes he realised that thirty one seconds had been all it took for his heart to almost cut out at the thought of losing her.

So he tells her he wants to marry her. Today.

Which is how they end up on the 103rd floor, booking their wedding, still in their working attire with weapons now carefully stashed back on the transport. He'd have married her with three guns on her person but she wouldn't marry him with a quiver of arrows on his back because this wasn't about work this was about them. And in the hour that they wait they go into the bathrooms, wash away the smears of dirt and blood that give way to bruises. Stark's right, an hour is long enough, and ten minutes before their time slot is free, Pepper and Jane arrive in the bathroom with her, Darcy tagging along, and thankfully one of them has a hairbrush - something Natasha isn't greatful for until she sees that Darcy has bought a camera to capture the moment.

And when they marry, its simple. He expected to feel differently afterwards, but he holds her hands, runs his eyes over her face and they have to ask the somewhat bored minister to repeat a section because he loses all focus when he spots that bruise on her jawline and he reaches out to brush it with his thumb rather than repeat the words he was supposed to. Something about repeating the lines made Stark shove a bunch of bills - not sure where they'd been hiding in the Iron Man suit - into Banner's hand, and when he leans in and kisses her too soon, the women all made some delightful noise and applaud but Banner then transfers the same handful of money to Rogers.

After, they go back on their original plan and they do purchase a set of rings. They don't get them from the chapel though, they go to a jewellers on the edge of the strip and find a set which is simple but they have them engraved. At first, after the measurements are taken, the rings go onto chains around their necks until they go home, and under the privacy of their own - now marital bed - they spend the first portion of their wedding night placing the rings on one anothers fingers.

When Stark tries to disturb them early the next morning, Natasha finally gives into the threats he never listens to and the strike fractures his collarbone. She returns to bed as casually as if she'd just got up for a glass of water, locks the door and disperses the shirt of Clint's that she'd worn to answer the door. And then, skin against skin and tangled in the blankets, the same way all of this started, was the way that it stayed, and when harsh words were thrown and arguments ensued, the words inside their rings bought them back to the blankets.

Partners first, lovers always.