innitmarvelous_og

Creator: innitmarvelous_og
Title: Love Written in the Sky
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Characters/Pairings: Pepper Potts, Morgan Stark, Tony Stark/Pepper Potts
Prompt: Star
Word Count/Medium: 1047
Rating: PG
Warning: Angst
Summary: Pepper finds a way to keep Tony close for her daughter and herself. Post-Endgame

Notes: Recommended listening while you're reading this fic is "Stars" by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals.

It was on a Tuesday night when Pepper finally decided to finish everything that was needed in the process to name a star.

She had tucked Morgan into bed a few hours ago, and in her mind she knows her daughter has kicked the covers off while she's snuggled close to her Iron Man teddy bear. Pepper would check on her before she went to bed herself, and she would make sure that her little girl was warm then.

In the meantime, she sat in the living room curled up with a throw blanket and her tablet. She scrolled through the sites with sound muted, when her thumb paused over the page she needed to go to if she wanted to get this done. 

Stark Foundation for Astronomical Research and Outreach.

The foundation also had sponsored star registries that were tied to real coordinates. They also studied and cataloged the same stars so it wasn't just about novelty nonsense. Tony had scoffed at that sort of thing in the past as for once he had wanted to keep it as legitimate in the science department as he could.

There was nothing special about the star she chose. It wasn't the brightest, nor the largest. It's far enough away from Earth that its light had been traveling for centuries already just to grace the nighttime sky. As she stared at it, she decided that somehow it was the one, that it felt right.

She continued to fill out the form, and when she reached the question of what the star's name should be, she hesitated.

Then with a trembling hand, she typed out: Anthony E. Stark

She stared at his name, his formal legal name then shook her head before she deleted it.

No, that wasn't right.

It sounded too formal, and impersonal. 

Pepper thought for another moment, then she typed out: I am Iron Man.

She didn't even hesitate to delete that choice because Tony was so much more than just being Iron Man.

Once more, she thought about what his star should be named.

Stark-1

No, such a name could apply to any member of the Stark family and she wanted the star's name to be something just for Tony.

Stark Alpha

No again as it presented the same problem.

Mark Infinity

Definitely no on that one! She didn't want the word infinity associated with Tony from this time forward since the very things that killed him were the Infinity Stones!

With a sigh, she tried once again, then again. 

Iron Star

No, that was too close to Iron Man.

Arc Light

She didn't delete this one as fast but she did in the end as it wasn't right either.

She tapped her fingers on her thigh, and sighed. Maybe this would have to wait for another night?

"Not that it's a competition, but she loves me 3000."

"Oh, does she now?"

"I love you 3000."

Pepper's hand hovered over the backspace button, but she didn't press down on it.

I love you 3000. The last words in Tony's message to her, and more importantly, to Morgan.

Pepper chewed her bottom lip for a moment, staring at the words, and then she typed an addition.

I love you 3000 TS2MS.

She chewed her bottom lip again, then she hit the NEXT button below. A few minutes later, it was done.

There was now a heavenly body in the night sky she could point to when Morgan asked about her Daddy.

It was a bit chilly out, so Pepper made sure that Morgan was dressed warmly. She then grabbed a blanket, the telescope, and a thermos of warm cocoa then took her daughter's hand.

"Come on, let's go see where Daddy is now."

Morgan's dark eyes lit up, "Are we really, Mommy?"

Pepper nodded, "Yes, baby, we are."

She led them outside of the cabin, to the perfect spot for stargazing that Tony had discovered when they'd first moved to the cabin. She remembered how surprised she'd been the first time he'd led her here. After being trapped in a badly damaged ship in a lonely region of space, she had thought he'd would have wanted nothing to do with anything related to space again.

At the spot, she spread the blanket onto the ground, and motioned for Morgan to sit down while she set up the telescope.

"Where's Daddy, Mommy?" Morgan asked, her eyes locked onto the skies above.

"Give Mommy a second to check a few things out and finish setting up the telescope, sweetie."

"Okay."

Pepper returned to what she was doing, looking once more at her phone. Tony's star was visible with the naked eye, especially without any light pollution such as they had, but she wanted Morgan's first time seeing it to be special. 

After a moment or so, she had the telescope set up, and she looked through it.

"Okay, sweetie, come here," she said.

Morgan sprang to her feet and skipped to her mother's side.

Pepper showed her how to look through the telescope, then steadied it as Morgan peered through the instrument.

"Hi, Daddy!" Morgan exclaimed, pulling away to wave at the star.

Pepper had to bite her lip to help keep the tears at bay.

The little girl looked through the telescope again, "I miss you, Daddy."

Without a doubt, wherever he was, Tony was missing her too.

He was missing both of his girls.

She gave her daughter some time to look at the star, then they sat down together to drink some cocoa.

After a few minutes of sipping her cocoa, Morgan looked up at the sky and said, "Mommy?"

"Yes, baby?"

"Mommy, Aunt Nebula lives up there too, right?" 

Pepper nodded, "Yes, sweetheart, I think your Aunt Nebula lives up there." She waited to see what Morgan would say.

Morgan didn't take her eyes off the stars as she innocently asked, "Mommy, do you think if I asked her real nicely, Aunt Nebula would take me in her spaceship up there to see Daddy?"

It was all Pepper could do not to sob at her little girl's innocent words of longing.

She took several breaths, put down her cocoa, and motioned for Morgan to come sit in her lap, "Come here, baby..."