A Different Kind Of Failure (May 2015)

Peter had been thinking about asking Serena to marry him for over a year now. However, every time he got up the nerve to ask her, he was interrupted. This time though, they were the only ones in the tower. He was just in a blue t-shirt and jeans but he had the box in his pocket. He and Serena had made another breakthrough with the Arcbot. They were close now, they just needed to make it smaller. In the other timeline this process took time but they already had the materials to accomplish that goal. Time was their only obstacle now.

Serena sat cross-legged on the large couch in the main living area with her laptop on her lap. She typed away on it as Peter got them some iced tea. He picked up the teas and brought them over to the coffee table that sat in front of Serena and set them down. He took in a long breath and then pivoted and went down into his knees before her. As he did he noticed her laptop obscured his face from hers. He put his hand on the back of the screen of her laptop and slowly pushed it shut on her. She had to move her hands from the keyboard.

“You know, we’ve been working on this project for years now. Before that I traveled across an entire universe to get back to you. I think we make a pretty awesome team,” He said as he took her hands into his and looked deep into her gorgeous brown eyes.

Serena was thrilled about the progress they had made with their arcbot. It was real now...it was truly happening. They continued to keep their project a secret, but Serena itched to tell her father. Peter, however, wanted them to wait until it was truly complete before revealing it to him. Serena and Peter had been together now for a few years. She was incredibly happy with him. Everything about their relationship felt...natural. She was comfortable around Peter, and she felt she could tell him anything. They trained together and worked together. They knew how the other one thought and could complete each other's sentence's. They rarely argued and when they did they both hated staying mad at each other and would make up rather quickly. They were best friends and partners in every sense of the word.

Serena had been waiting for a while now for Peter to ask her to marry him. She already knew that they were going to get married, but she wanted to go through the process and to hear him ask her. She wanted to hear those words so badly. There had been a few times over the past few months where she had thought he was going to ask her, but then something would always happen to stop his proposal.

They were currently in the living room alone. Serena was on her laptop working on their scientific paper for the arcbot. She had been writing the paper as they made progress with their invention. Serena could become so focused on her work that the rest of the world melted away around her. That's what happened today. She was in the middle of a sentence when suddenly Peter closed her laptop on her. She had to move her hands away to keep them from getting pinched. She was about to ask Peter why he had done that, when she suddenly saw he was on one knee in front of her. She took in a deep breath and couldn't help but smile happily at what was happening. She looked back into his eyes and waited with bated breath for those words...

...Suddenly, the elevator doors opened and Steve, Kate, Logan, and Natalya got off. They had gone to a baseball game and Steve and Logan were arguing about something that had happened during the game. Natalya rolled her eyes at Logan. "Will you just give it up? You're not going to win this argument."

“The runner decides his running path and the first baseman put his arm into the path. He should not have been called out. “But the runner can’t interfere with the baseman’s ability to catch the ball and he did,” Steve argued. “Enough!” The two women growled. Peter let go of Serena’s hands and sighed. He stood up and tried to not look at Serena. He knew she was disappointed, he was as well but this had been the way of it lately.

He had tried to propose out of the tower but they were always recognized and people always came up to them. “Hi guys, I take it Logan and Steve disagreed on a call again?” He asked. THe red in his cheeks disappeared quickly.

Serena was disappointed, but she also felt bad for Peter. She knew he wanted to propose, but it would happen...eventually.

A week later Peter invited Serena out onto one of the balconies for a romantic candle light dinner. Isabella had prepared the food and helped Peter set up a romantic spot. There was a small table and two chairs and they had strung twinkle lights around. There was also some soft music playing in the background. Peter had suggested that Serena wear something nice that evening, but she didn't know about his plans until he led her out to the balcony. Her heart began to beat a little quicker because she was convinced it was going to happen this time. They sat down and she smiled across the table at him.

Peter had told Isabella about his intentions though both she and Tony already knew and approved of his plans to propose to their daughter. Serena was not the cook her mother was, most because she wasn’t as interested in it but this time it was all a surprise and it wouldn’t matter how many people were in the tower this time because he set everything up on the balcony.

The food smelled delicious and the lights twinkled brightly around the balcony. He had drawn the blinds closed so no one would see them if they looked out at them. He was worried about those clouds though. He was in a nice, button down shirt and black pants. Just as Serena moved out onto the balcony Peter lifted up a small bouquet of wild flowers and handed them to her, The table was set, the lights twinkled and he took Serena’s hand and led her to her seat then moved around to sit near her on her right.

Serena was so incredibly happy and that happiness was reflected in her eyes. She couldn't wait to finally be engaged to Peter and for them to be able to plan their wedding and then spend the rest of their lives together. She took a seat and watched as Peter sat next to her. Peter seemed anxious to get the question out and as he took her hand into his she looked into his eyes. His words were were loving and filled with such hope for their future together. Serena felt a few tears come to her eyes as she watched him start to go down onto one knee...

...There was a slight rumble of thunder followed by three raindrops. Then, the sky above them seemed to open up and rain began to pour. Serena and Peter scrambled to get inside but they both got soaking wet. Isabella had been sitting with Tony watching the news when they had mentioned the fast incoming storm. She had jumped up to go warn Peter, but it was too late. She winced as she looked at them and then quickly went to go get some towels.

Peter accepted the towel but once again he wasn’t able to propose. He was beginning to think that the world was against him asking Serena to marry him. Like it wasn’t supposed to happen. He grumbled and went to their room to change and get dry. When Serena came in he couldn’t even look at her. He wanted the moment to be special and he knew she did too and that made it all even worse. He didn’t know why he was angry but he just was. He unzipped Serena’s dress and even seeing her in her sexy bra and panties did not help his broodful mood. He took off his shirt and tossed it into the hamper. He put the black box back into his desk and scrubbed the towel through his wet hair.

“It shouldn’t be this difficult!” Peter grumbled.

Over the next four days things were...tense between Peter and Serena. The joyfulness of the proposal was gone and Peter seemed...upset and angry. They were both back in their room and Peter had been unusually quiet and moody. She finally decided to break the silence that had settled between them.

"Peter, what's wrong?"

Peter was getting ready for bed. At the start he thought living in the tower with Serena and the others would be the greatest experience of his life. It actually had been but he wasn’t so certain about that now. When you dated a woman who grew up around wealth there was a certain way of living that she was accustomed to. Serena never didn’t get what she wanted in her entire life and he knew she wanted a fairytale proposal to go with her fairytale life.

“You know what’s wrong. I can’t win with this. Every time I set it all up something happens! It shouldn’t be this difficult Serena!” He groaned and fell into the bed. He just had his white boxer shorts on at this point. Usually what he slept in.

Serena walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed next to him. "Peter, I don't need a big, dramatic proposal. You could propose to me right now in your boxers and I'd be the happiest woman alive. I just want you. That's all I've ever wanted."

Peter scoffed and sat up on his elbows. “Well that’s a lie. I don’t need you to patronize me Serena, this is hard enough without you doing that!” He said then fell back onto the bed.

“Oh, I’ll be happy of you proposed to me in your boxers!” He said in a high pitched voice to mock her own voice. “Yeah right, thanks for nothing,” he grumbled.

Serena blinked at Peter and when he mocked her she felt her own anger start to grow. "I'm not patronizing you Peter! I never asked for a big proposal! All I want is to be engaged to you and to spend the rest of our lives together because we're happy!"

Peter rolled over and buried his face into his pillow. He grunted into it and felt her hand on his back. “Since when have you ever been satisfied with anything that wasn’t glittery and magical like some fairytale!” He said as he lifted up from his pillow. “You want a proposal that you will remember the rest of your life. I know I want that!” He said and half rolled over to look up at her.

“You deserve that Serena,” Peter said in nearly a whine.

Serena looked hurt by Peter's words and she removed her hand from his back. She felt a few tears come to her eyes. She was angry and upset. She hadn't wanted any of this and the fact that Peter thought that she did hurt her more than he would ever know.

"Fine, it's all my fault Peter. There is that what you wanted to hear?"

Before Peter could answer they got a notification on their comm links. Nick Fury informed them that the Juggernaut was reeking havoc downtown. Serena immediately jumped up and pressed a button on her comm link that called her suit to her. She could hear the others getting ready as well.