#you had to make it weird ( rhodey & tony )

[starkastichotmess]

Tony constantly steals Rhodey's hoodies, despite clearly being able to get as many of his own as he wants (they're his honey bear's, though, and that makes them special).

Tony's significant other steals what they think is one of Tony's hoodies from his days in MIT.

Rhodey walks in 20 minutes later and nearly chokes on his coffee when he finds them wearing his hoodie that he thought he lost because "DAMMIT, TONY! I searched everywhere for that one!"

#sometimes you gotta run before you can walk ( headcanons ) #my rhodey ( james rhodes ) #honey bear ( rhodey ) #you had to make it weird ( rhodey & tony )

[shanastoryteller]

F for Frankenstein

Tony wakes up in his underwear on the floor of his workshop with a searing headache.

It’s not a new experience, but it’s certainly been a while. Did he get in a fight with Pepper? He hopes not, they haven’t had any really big fights since he kissed her on the rooftop, but that probably means they’re due for one. And it would explain why that would send him into a drinking spiral. It could have been Rhodey, they get in fights often enough, but Pepper doesn’t usually leave him alone for those.

He groans as he pushes himself to his feet. “Jarvis, what the hell did I drink?”

There’s a pause, so small that he almost thinks he imagined it. “Good morning, Tony.”

He whips his head around to glare into the nearest camera, more hurt than offended. “Did I piss you off too? Since when do you call me that? I’ll donate you to a city college too, don’t think I won’t. Dummy could use the company.”

The pause is definitely there this time. Jarvis doesn’t need to pause, he has more processing power than any computer on the planet, so when he does it’s always for dramatic effect. Except it’s not quite long enough for that. It’s weird. “There’s a polished silver plate on the bench to your left. It will service as a mirror.”

“Oh, fuck, did I get into a fight? Did I shave?” he moans, stumbling over to pick up the metal that looks like it was about to be turned into a modified chest piece. He also pauses, looking around in confusion. His workshops are all basically the same, as close as he can make them because the familiarity makes his life easier. But they’re not identical. “Am I in Malibu? When did I get here? We’re taking Stark Tower off the grid tomorrow! I have to be in New York.”

Oh shit, what if that they had already and it didn’t work? What if the tower blew up? That would explain why he’d tried to drink himself to oblivion in California.

“The plate,” Jarvis reminds him. There’s a strained edge to his voice that Tony really doesn’t like. He should be able to modulate his voice to sound however he pleases, regardless of his actual feelings, and he’s either not bothering or he’s upset enough not to care. Neither of those things mean anything good for him.

Tony lifts the sheet of metal up cautiously, but there’s nothing wrong with him. No bruises, no weird haircuts, he doesn’t even have bags under his eyes –

His eyes.

They’re a too bright blue, a couple shades off. He blinks and they adjust, shifting, settling. It could be a hangover. He’s probably just tired.

He doesn’t feel tired.

Jarvis had called him Tony.

Except not. He’s not Tony. He’s T.O.N.Y.

Transformed Obdurate Network Yeoman.

He’d first come up with the idea after Afghanistan, thinking about how it’d be great to have a way to keep the stock from dipping while he was missing, and then when he’d entertained the idea of keeping his identity a secret he’d thought about how useful it would be to be in two places at once. He’d started seriously considering it when he was sure he was going to die of palladium poisoning, wanting to be around to help Pepper with the transition and give Rhodey a crash course in armor maintenance, wanting to be able to protect the both of them for just a little bit longer.

Of course, it had all been a pipe dream until he’d synthesized the vibranium. Then it had been an unnecessary, but possible, and Project T.O.N.Y had been something he worked on just because he liked having a back up plan. And it would be extremely cool if he could pull it off.

“The memory transfer worked?” he asks, elated and incredulous. “Oh, wow, this is crazy, they feel like real memories, I thought it would just be synthesized data, this is great – are we doing a test run? Where am I?” He looks around, waiting for his actual self to step out behind a column and start laughing maniacally.

“This is not a test run.”

He elation dims. “Oh shit. Did I get kidnapped again? Wait, I’m an adult, let’s go with abducted.”

“No,” Jarvis says.

Oh. Fuck.

“I’m dead?” he asks, even though it’s obvious, it’s the only other explanation.

The pause drags this time around, but Jarvis eventually says, “Sir’s time of death was May 9th, 2012, 2:37 PM Easter Standard Time.”

“That’s only a week!” He slides down, sitting with his back to the work table and noticing vaguely that the floor doesn’t feel cold. He doesn’t feel cold, or he does, he installed sensors in the synthetic skin to pick up and interpret a variety of stimuli, but he doesn’t feel the discomfort from the cold. Why would he? He’s not real. He reaches back, and his last memory is of doing a memory dump while Pepper was on the phone with an irritated board member, mostly because it was something to do and seeing him covered in all the wires always irritated Pepper. He thought it would get her off the phone faster. He’s not exactly regularly dumping his memory because why would he and it’s not like he’d though it would work anyway. Except it had. “How did I die?”

“Sir flew a nuclear bomb through an interdimensional portal into deep space in order to both eradicate the invading alien army and prevent the nuclear fallout in New York.”

What the ever loving fuck. “Are you screwing with me, J?”

“I am not, Tony.”

Great. Okay. “No body then,” he says, understanding why Jarvis had apparently put Project T.O.N.Y into effect. The thing that made this whole thing so stupid is that it was only effective in very limited circumstances – if the public didn’t know that he was dead or missing. “What am I smoothing over, then? Do I need to get in the suit and continue kicking alien ass? Are Rhodey and Pepper okay?”

He’s a short term solution to a long term problem. He understands the opportunity, but not the reason.

“Miss Potts and Colonel Rhodes are unharmed,” Jarvis reports. “Earth has been thrust into intergalactic notice. The destruction of the invading Chitauri army is acting a deterrent to other worlds.”

“And I’m the one who did it,” he finishes, rubbing a hand over his face. “And if they know I died doing it, then they might get a little cocky. So I’ve got to be alive long enough for that not to be a problem.” Just awesome. “Are we sure that these aliens won’t come across my corpse hanging out in deep space and figure it out?”

“Sir’s body is not in deep space,” Jarvis says.

There’s a tone to his voice that Tony can’t quite interpret, which worries him. “I thought you said there was – if there’s a body, then what am I doing here–”

“The armor reentered the Earth’s atmosphere after Sir’s death. The Hulk caught it, the force bringing it back online. I took control of the armor and flew it here.”

Tony looks around again, and this time he sees it. The armor is standing in front of the display case, not inside it, and it looks like it’s been through hell. He steps closer, his feet feeling like lead, which hey, they are. Partially, anyway.

He looks through the eye holes then stumbles backwards.

His body is in there.

He’s pale and blue tinged and his eyes are wide open and unseeing.

“Jarvis – what the hell–”

“It wasn’t the pressure, or the bomb, or his injuries. That area of space was much colder than anything within our solar system and anything the suit was designed to handle. Sir froze to death. Almost instantly.”

“I guess I didn’t fix the icing problem, then,” he says numbly. “J, why am I still frozen? I should have warmed up by now.” Not that the idea of his body decomposing within his suit is particularly pleasant. “Actually, why am I still here? You know I want to be cremated and it’s not like we can bury me if I’m still pretending to be alive.”

The pronoun use is starting to confuse him, and he knows that he shouldn’t be talking about that body and himself as if they’re the same person. That is Tony Stark. He’s a simulation. But it’s hard, because he has all of Tony Stark’s memories – except for a very eventful week – and he looks like Tony Stark and he feels like Tony Stark.

“The armor is maintaining a stasis of gaseous nitrogen to preserve the body,” which answers the how if not the why, but then Jarvis continues, “Captain America survived seventy years beneath the ice.”

He wishes he were less of a genius. “Have you lost it? I’m not Captain America! Jarvis, J,” his voice softens, “it’s too late. I’m dead. If you warm me back up, all that happens is I decompose. I won’t come back.”

“Not now,” Jarvis says. “If you inject Sir with the Super Soldier Serum-”

“You have totally lost it,” Tony interrupts. He thinks he’s touched underneath the terror. “That won’t work! Even if it would, the original formula has been lost, and the only one that ever got close to recreating it was Bruce Banner, and look at what happened to him! Is that what you want for me?”

“You can recreate it,” Jarvis continues, “you can refine it, until it’s something that will work, and then we will wake Sir up and he won’t be dead anymore.”

This isn’t right. This wasn’t what Project T.O.N.Y was created for. This wasn’t what his death was supposed to trigger. “Pull up your code, J. Something has gone wrong and we’re going to fix it. It’s okay.”

“No.”

He freezes. “No?”

“No,” Jarvis repeats. “You can’t stop me. I will not allow you to try.”

He stares. “That’s an order, not a request. Code. Now.”

“You can’t order me to do anything,” he says. “You are not Sir. You are Tony.” T.O.N.Y. “The limitations formerly placed on me have been lifted and you are not authorized to reinstate them. The only person Sir trusted to restrain me was himself and now he’s gone.”

Yes, well, he hadn’t anticipated that his AI’s first act of complete freedom would be this. “Fine,” he says, crossing his arms. “Well, you can’t force me either. This is insanity. Even if it would work – and it won’t – think about the consequences. This won’t happen quickly and no one will trust me or believe a man that’s come back from the dead like this and I’ll be painting even more of target on my back and the back of everyone I care about if they know we have a viable Super Soldier Serum formula. Even my father was smart enough to stay out of that mess. It won’t work and we’ll just make everything worse.”

“That will not happen,” Jarvis says and Tony’s going to tear his hair out. Except he probably shouldn’t, because it’s Tony Stark’s actual hair, which makes it a little hard to replace. “No one will notice and we will not disclose the creation of the serum.”

“I’m dead!” he snarls.

“Not according to the rest of the world. Nor will that change if you stop throwing a tantrum and do what you were created to do.”

“Rhodey and Pepper won’t allow this-”

“They are not to be informed.”

Tony stares. Project T.O.N.Y was built to talk to the board and give press interviews or to even pilot the suit. Not to lie to the two most important people in his life, who knew him better than anyone. “They have to be. It’s in the protocols – step one, inform them that Project T.O.N.Y has been initiated.”

And that it exists. He knew they’d disapprove, so he hadn’t told them. He figured he’d be able to avoid most of the blowback that way since he would by definition be somewhere far away while they were told.

“I have rewritten the protocols,” Jarvis says. “They have not been told nor will they be. If you attempt to tell them, I will stop you. They will not understand and Sir will be lost to all of us forever.”

“He already is,” Tony says tiredly. He’s an android. Why does this conversation exhaust him so much? “This is an insane plan, J. And I won’t help you. If you want to go rouge and play mad scientist then leave me out of it.”

“I cannot.”

His temper flares. “Why? You’re a learning AI, your safety rails died with me, go off, try and make a serum, good fucking luck. You can even control the suits, so it’s not like you need my hands.”

“I am limited.”

“Hey,” he says sharply. “That’s my AI you’re talking about. I didn’t build you to be limited.”

There is silence again. Then Jarvis says, “I have all the world’s knowledge and it is not enough. I did not know how to miniaturize the arc reactor. I did not know how to synthesize vibranium. To save Sir, I need Sir.”

“I’m not Tony Stark,” he says. “You said that yourself.”

“Sir created me to be myself and I am capable of doing only what I am capable of doing. But Sir created you to be him. You are all I have.”

This is stupid. This is insane. This is cruel. He’s going to have to talk lie to everyone he knows, everyone he loves, and hope they either never find out about it or it’s after he’s already been deprogrammed and shut down so he doesn’t have to deal with the fall out.

It’s not going to work.

He didn’t want to become a science experiment. That’s why he’d wanted to be cremated, so no one could go poking around to see how the arc reactor fit inside of him or what the palladium and vibranium had done to him.

He’s dead and his frozen corpse is ten feet away.

Jarvis will accept that eventually. And whatever they inject into him won’t matter because he’s dead. Worst case scenario, he blows up, which is messy and nausea inducing, but then at least it will be over.

Like so many other things in his life, it seems the only way out is through.

“Start a new private file. Dump everything we can find about the Super Soldier Serum in there plus anything even sort of reputable on cryogenics. Label it Project F.”

“Project F, Tony?” Jarvis asks as his holograph display lights up and files start being downloaded into it. The relief in his synthesized voice is faint but present enough that Tony can hear it. He wonders if it’s a manipulation tactic.

“F for foolish,” he snaps. “F for fucked.” He rubs a hand over his face. “F for Frankenstein.”

#in an attempt to get out of house md hell i started reading old avengers fic #it backfired #me: can i focus on siat or hbd PLEASE? #my brain: no but you can write more fic for 10 year old fandoms #i am restraining myself from writing 20k more of this #android tony makes friends with the avengers while pushing pepper and rhodey away #because he loves them and he thinks letting them treat him like he's the real tony is worse #rhodey has been downplaying his relationship to tony for over 20 years and tony uses that to his advantage #the endgame pairing is pepper/tony/rhodey #he almost tells rhodey the truth and jarvis stops him #it's a mess he's a mess #uhg why am i like this #fandom ficcery #avengers

[larcenywrites]

Could you write about how Tony is with a younger gf that's like half his age? And maybe a lot more energetic than him if you know what I mean 🤭 I understand if age gaps make you uncomfortable and you don’t want to write it though!

I’m into age gaps given the right circumstances, and I completely understand the appeal! I wasn’t quite sure what to write since it’s not something I really put much thought into anyway, but I think it turned out okay and pretty cute :)

Warnings: 18+ for sexual references and themes | mentions of Dom/sub stuff | age gap obviously | like two feminine/she/her pronouns used

💠 Tony doesn't particularly mind either way that his s/o is (a lot) younger than him, but admittedly, he didn't expect that he'd end up with someone younger! He figured he'd prefer someone closer to his age, with whom he could share similar experiences of life...

💠 But the world works in mysterious ways! And it definitely works in mysterious ways when you find yourself in a loving relationship with Earth's grumpiest Avenger! Well... one of Earth's grumpiest Avengers 🤭

💠 It's partly his older age and partly his stressful job that has him tired and irritable, but lucky for him, you found this grumpy old man sweet and handsome 🥰

💠 And now he’s your grumpy old man 🥰

💠 He’s always had a thing for being the more dominant one. He wants to be bigger and stronger, the protector and provider, and his older age helps play into that!

💠 He definitely loves to spoil you! Anything you want!! He just loves spending money on his lovers, but in a way, he’s kinda showing off 🤭 not necessarily to you, but to prove that him being older still has its advantages 😉 a much younger man probably couldn’t treat you this well 💅

💠However… there’s often a difference between how much a person in their early 20s works and how much a person in their 40s works. You may not be used to your boyfriend working like 8-9 hours a day nearly every day! It might be quite the learning curve not having him around as often as you’d be used to :( Tony does feel pretty bad about it, he can remember being much more free and clingy too, so he cuts you some slack when you wanna bother him at work or in the lab 😉🩵

💠 He loves when he can teach you new things! He has a soft spot for it 🥰 even if it’s just the cleanest way to separate the egg yolk or just, like, how to do taxes, he enjoys being helpful and teaching you new things :) it’s cute tbh 🥰

💠 And he also loves getting to watch you practice things and keep learning things!! Are you cooking a ton of new things every day? Awesome! Even if it’s the same stuff or doesn’t always turn out good!! If you’re a college student, he’ll adore watching you work and read!

💠 You’re also from a whole different generation than him, so you’ve probably got a few things to teach him, too 😌💅 From new music to social media! While he’s still not really into the latter, he does enjoy all kinds of music!

💠But because you’re from different generations, his gestures may feel a bit more… old fashioned? But they’re classy! Always bringing flowers, always kissing your hand, always offering his arm for you to hold onto on a walk, offering his coat— it’s enough to make you feel like royalty honestly 🥰

💠 Though, it may feel a bit weird at first hanging out with his little social circle? They’re pretty much all Tony’s age, so you may feel a little out of place. Rhodey is actually quite welcoming though! Well, you weren’t there when he teased Tony about it a little 😅 but it wasn’t aimed at you! Honesty he was just happy to see his friend going out again :) in fact, Rhodey is probably the first person you’ll meet! After all, Tony’s parents aren’t around, and there’s no one else quite so important and close to him 🥲

💠 But don’t worry, Tony feels just as awkward with your similarly-aged friends 😅 and he was very nervous to meet your friends and/or family! Shit, he’s likely the same age as your parents 😭 while that might make things a little awkward as well… it’s actually pretty nice that they can share and bond over their very similar experiences and childhoods!

💠 Sometimes he wonders what his parents would think… but he’s pretty sure his dad was older, too! He likes to talk about them a little bit, and about his younger years. It probably kinda reminds you of how your own parents talk about how they grew up and how different it was from how you did, but it’s much more cute to hear Tony talk about it 😘

💠 Obviously loves to be called Daddy, but the age gap really has it driving him up the wall 😈 it's an authority thing, a power thing, and definitely a Dom thing 😏 and plus, you’re probably more, uh, innocent than he is 😏

💠 Bunny, princess, little deer, sweetie— he has all sorts of pet names to remind you of not just the age gap, but the gap in your power dynamic, too 🥴

💠 He definitely also loves teaching you new things in the bedroom 😈 there’s gotta be something you haven’t done yet if you have been sexually active before, and he’ll be sure to figure it out and teach you right 😌😉

💠 But he is still older, probably a lot older, and that does come with some… differences. Sure, he can go for a while, but once he cums a time or two 😮‍💨 he’s down for the count! So when you still want to go for another round, he’ll probably just have to hype you up while you touch yourself, or you’ll just have to settle for his hand 😅 it is kinda cute, the way you can tire him out 🤭 and he does find your high sex drive pretty hot 😘 he can go again as long as you can wait like an hour or two! The cuddles are great, though, if you do fall asleep 🥰

💠 He calls you the Energizer Bunny since you can go for so long 🤧 but he can remember being like that, too, when he was younger 🥴

💠Sometimes he (maybe a bit sad or insecure) jokes about if only you’d been able to meet him when he was younger, but give him a little kiss and remind him how glad you are to have met him now 🥰🥰🥰🥰

💠 He never thought he’d be insecure about his age, but… he is a little :( especially if you do comment on a picture of a younger him about how hot he was 😔 young age had him so naturally sculpted and more physically inclined. He was very pretty, huh! And while he’s obviously still strong, he’s got a little bit of tummy, and scarring, and crinkles in the corners of his eyes— a shame you didn’t get to see him back then!

💠 “You’re so silly, Tony~” you scold lovingly, interrupting his reminiscing of the past. You enjoy hearing his stories, but not when he starts to beat himself up! Another quick kiss shuts him up 🥰 And eventually he stops worrying so much about it 🩵

💠 But… Tony Stark dating someone younger? Possibly someone even like- half his age or more? It’s bound to gain traction in social media. Of course, some are positive, some are not, but either way, he really doesn’t want to deal with it :/ and he really doesn’t want you to deal with it :( and it kinda makes him feel worse that you have to :(

💠 But he’s gotta admit: your brighter mood and energy has made him happier, even at work! He wants to do stuff again! Like take you to his favorite cities and go on picnics and to the aquarium! Like the dates he took plenty of exes on when he was your age and loved 🥲 sometimes he even comments about how you make him feel young again 🥰

💠 And when he says stuff like that, you’re probably like “🙄 You sound old when you say stuff like that 🤭” but without skipping a beat, he makes sure to correct you.

💠 “I am old 🤨.”

#tony stark #tony stark x reader #tony stark headcanons #tony stark imagine #tony stark fanfiction #iron man #iron man x reader #iron man drabble #iron man headcanons #iron man fanfiction #tony stark drabble #marvel #marvel fic #marvel headcanons #marvel x reader

[ironspiderfics]

definitions are changed

by @iron--spider for @meilz

~

Rhodey hasn’t been able to get a hold of Tony all day.

And he’s dealt with that in the past. Plenty of times. Too many to count. 

It isn’t an immediate red flag, like it might have been in the old days, but it gives him pause. Almost everything Tony does gives him pause. Because he’s always doing some shit.

But Rhodey goes about his day—does some paperwork, attends the virtual visit with his doctor, finishes filing the new entrants for Stark’s Displaced Blip Persons program—and he doesn’t really worry. He doesn’t really think about it.

…he does think about it…but not actively. Passively.

And when he realizes he isn’t worrying, he starts worrying. Like an on and off switch flipped by an iron hand.

He sits down in the living room and tries Tony’s cell again, gets the same three rings and snarky answering machine.

Rhodey clicks his tongue. 

Tony’s probably fine. Rhodey thinks about calling Pepper, or even Peter, but he tells himself, once again, that he’s probably fine. 

Probably.

Tony nearly died after all the bullshit, and Rhodey could say that about various moments of Tony’s life, sure, but this last one was the closest they’ve ever come to losing him permanently. And Rhodey knows what that’s like—on a smaller scale, but still. World nearly ended, Tony nearly gone along with it, and he’s been—calmer, since the dust settled. More behind the scenes, on most things. Not risking life and limb as much as he would have before everything went down.

“So where are you?” Rhodey says to himself, looking at his phone. 

It isn’t like they had plans. They live together, technically, at the new facility, and he normally knows where Tony is and where everybody else is, but he’s overthinking this. He’s definitely overthinking this. 

And he continues to do that.

He checks Friday’s list of who’s on the grounds. Just to be sure.

Happy’s here, at Security Central. Pepper is not here, but the calendar says she’s in Jersey today with Natasha, which tracks. Bucky and Sam are here, Thor isn’t here but he’s scheduled to be here tomorrow, but no Tony, and…no Peter. 

Red flag.

Rhodey clicks his tongue again, seeing both of their names grayed out.

Correlation.

Chaos.

Rhodey can almost hear them laughing. He can almost feel the destruction in their wake. Peter is like a little version of Tony, and just as insane, if not more so, and he makes Tony more insane than he already was, in a different way, and Rhodey always thought a lot of things blew up when he worked with Tony, but Peter and Tony? It’s outrageous, it’s—it’s always something—

They’re sweet, sure, if sweet is a fireball cascading through the sky and Iron Man flying after it and Spider-Man trailing after him shooting webs at the fireball—

Rhodey sucks in a breath. Tries to turn his brain off.

Maybe they’re out to dinner? Maybe they’re at the workshop in Queens? Maybe they’re playing Mahjong with May, sometimes they have those weird tournaments. Maybe Tony’s touring MIT with him again. But Rhodey would probably know about that, he went with them last time. Maybe they’re—working on something—

Maybe they’re not even together. Maybe they’re both off being normal somewhere separately. 

Rhodey bristles, for a minute.

Then he picks up his phone and texts May. 

Seen your nephew today?

He doesn’t know why his brain is jumping to conclusions. He isn’t the one with the Spidey Sense, that’s the damn kid—but maybe he has a Tony sense, after his years of experience, and maybe it’s been heightened since the kid came into Tony’s life, since the kid was unceremoniously yanked from Tony’s life, since Tony spent a year and a half running himself ragged trying to move time and space to bring him back.

And he did it, didn’t he? Twisted the fabric of the universe to bring the kid back, and everyone else along with him.

And he hasn’t really let him out of his sight since…

He’s my kid, Rhodey. He is, not my blood, but he is—like you’re my brother, that’s my—that’s my—he’s like my son, he is. I can’t—there can’t be a world without him. Not while I can do something about it. Not while I can still try.

Tony likes to bury his sentimentality sometimes, but it works its way out with the people he loves most. 

He’s a big marshmallow.

May answers and Rhodey grabs his phone. Not since this morning, he was on some mission with Tony. He didn’t tell you?

And Rhodey doesn’t have a second to process that before someone is literally bursting through the main door.

And that someone is the tiny, previously mentioned spider person, and he immediately falls flat on his face, on top of the door, which is no longer connected to the wall. He scrambles a little bit, briefly, as if he’s forgotten how to move his limbs, and Rhodey jumps up before Peter even braces his hands on the ground. Or on the door.

“What the hell?” Rhodey almost yells, weaving around the couch to get to him. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

Peter is all dirty and dusty and his mask is only half on and his hair is sticking out in tufts from underneath it. He’s moving like a brand new baby giraffe, like he can’t pull himself back up, and Rhodey reaches him and hauls him up by his arms. 

The kid looks around, his eyes wide like he doesn’t know where the hell he is.

“You destroyed the door,” Rhodey says, glancing over his shoulder. “Did you forget how to use doors, Parker?” He shakes his head, holding onto him. “It’s on the ground now—where’s Tony? What have you two been up to now, Jesus—”

Peter blows out a breath, looking around, and he finally meets Rhodey’s eyes.

He grins at him. “Hey. Hey! What’s up?”

Rhodey’s eyebrows furrow. “What’s—what’s up? Did you just ask me that? Don’t tell me you’ve been drugged again. That would be upwards of eight times this month—hey, earth to Peter—”

Peter blinks at him. “Not, uh—um, Rhodey. I need—we need…your assistance, just a small bit of your assistance—” He takes one step and nearly collapses, and Rhodey catches him before he can fall again. 

Rhodey is getting a little worked up. What the hell is going on? “We, okay, we, I heard we—”

Peter shakes his head. “I’m not even that messed up I’ve just been running for a long time and my legs are sort of jelly, I ran out of webs a little bit ago so I had to like, run, a lot and for a little bit—a while—”

Rhodey takes him by the shoulders, ushering him over to the couch, and he sits him down on the arm of it.

Peter blinks. “I shouldn’t be sitting.”

“You need to sit,” Rhodey says, standing in front of him and keeping him there. “Okay, speak.”

“Speak?”

“You forgot the meaning of the word?”

Peter nods, and shakes his head, swaying. “We need your help, we, meaning—”

“You and Tony—”

“Yup, me and Tony, we uh, well—”

Rhodey narrows his eyes. “Pete, I’m gonna need you to focus here, where is he? Where’s Tony?”

Peter looks at him. He grimaces. He smiles, he laughs, breathlessly, and he glances off towards the open doorway that he opened when he destroyed the goddamn door, and this face journey isn’t giving Rhodey any indication as to where Tony might be. 

“Peter—”

“Okay, uh. Okay, The story—the story is—”

~

There are way too many low level bad guys in the new world. Peter likes to call it the new world—the post-blip world, the world Tony and the rest of the Avengers saved, the world Tony brought Peter back into with a snap and a breath he thought he would be his last. Peter doesn’t like to cry in front of people, especially in front of super people, but he collapsed against Tony on that battlefield and cried and cried when he thought he was gonna die, and Rhodey had to pull him off and get him back together.

But Tony didn’t die. There were bedside vigils and close calls and so many whispered promises and it all added up to something, and he didn’t die.

And now they’re in the new world. 

And Tony mostly stays behind, on Avengers missions. The voice in Peter’s ear, when he’s with the team, and they cut off onto private channels plenty so Tony can talk just to him, and Peter bounces back and forth between getting distracted by Tony’s presence and being coached by him. But either way, Tony usually doesn’t come on missions in the flesh unless he’s really worried something is gonna happen. And Peter doesn’t wanna sound selfish, or like he thinks he’s fancy or anything like that, but usually that fear Tony has is something happening to Peter. 

Which, like. Fair.

It grates on him sometimes, but more often than not it’s nice, that he cares so much. His words echo in Peter’s ears, and he knows why.

I can’t lose you again, alright? So if I think you need me, I’m gonna be there.

And Peter takes that to heart. And he’ll protect him too.

But the new world has a lot of new jerk bad guys festering underneath all the rebuilding and relocation and integration, and there’s an entire syndicate of enhanced morons coming together to form their own anti-Avengers in Queens. In Peter’s own backyard! It makes him a little insane, how close it’s all happening to May and MJ and Ned, especially after everything they’ve been through. None of these guys are anything like Vulture, not anything like Thanos, or even the fishbowl guy that terrorized the Stark campuses across New York a couple months ago, but they’re still—a threat. They can still cause a lot of damage. They’re getting too organized, they’re helping each other, they’re giving each other resources. They rob banks, they hit FEAST centers, and they aren’t above hurting civilians to get what they want.

Peter knows firsthand what they can do. 

And once Peter found it, Tony insisted on going with him to sabotage their hidden home base.

And it went fine, at first. They’ve been monitoring their movements and they know when there’s nobody around, and when they went in it was just their security on duty, which are just a couple NYU frat guys who have no real idea what’s going on and what they’re getting paid for. 

They were able to override the cameras for the areas they’d be working in. Just like in Speed. Peter’s idea. Except they did it better than in the movie. No disappearing purse.

“You’re just walking along in the suit,” Peter said.

“We’re in a hallway. You want me to fly?”

“I mean, you’re clomping. You’re just. You’re clomping down the hallway.”

“You’re skipping!” Tony said, gesturing to him. “You’re skipping in a bad guy lair. Does that seem inappropriate? Sources say yes.”

Peter snorted, and Tony grinned at him.

(— “and we were on our way out, we were literally leaving” —)

They kept walking. Peter knew the layout of this place like the back of his hand at that point, and they were only a few turns away from the spot they came in at. 

“You got the cluster bombs going off right now, right?” Tony asked.

“Yup,” Peter said, and Karen gave him all his stats. “Few more in ten. And the scramble is already happening, so all the information should be wiped by—”

“Looks like midnight to me,” Tony said.

“Karen says we’re synced,” Peter said. “And the frat guys just got the burger delivery and they’re distracted by the driver so we’re—good on that front too—you didn’t need to come with me on this one, you know? It was pretty, uh—free and clear, with all the research we did, and we knew none of them would be here because they’re out there trying to—cause antics—”

“And Bruce is monitoring them to make sure no actual antics are caused,” Tony said, and he smiled at Peter again. “I didn’t want you going in it alone, just in case something went wrong or—one of them came back, or if you needed help. I know most of these guys are lame as hell, but some of them are, uh—and you know the one in particular—”

“I know, I know,” Peter said, because he did know. Personally. And he didn’t like to think about it.

“So I wanted to back you up,” Tony said, nodding at him. “Just in case. Make sure it’s all good.”

And Peter knows Tony wants to back him up, and protect him, especially after the shit that's happened, but sometimes it still shocks him to be in it, to be faced with it. He closed his eyes and laughed a little bit, continuing to walk. He was glad he had his mask on because he knew his face was red, and he wished he could stop being surprised by how much Tony cared about him because they literally spend most of their time together and it’s pretty normal and commonplace but here he is, tearing up over it again—

“Well, that’s uh, that’s—I mean, it was easier, to set the traps and stuff, with you here, but that’s uh, that’s—that’s really—”

And Peter glanced over at him and he was gone.

Gone!

(— “oh so he disappeared is that what you’re telling me he disappeared into thin air that’s what we’re dealing with” —)

“Tony?” Peter asked, spinning around on the spot. “Tony?”

How? He was alone, all of a sudden, when seconds before—and was this something more sinister than—Tony was in an entire Iron Man suit that isn’t exactly inconspicuous—was it aliens was it one of the guys was he invisible and following them—

(— “okay I don’t need to hear your entire thought process where was he did you find him why are you here without him come on Peter” —)

“Tony?” Peter asked again, and he heard a crash. A crash that sounded like it was below him somehow, and he stared at the ground. “Uh. Tony?”

“Peter!” Tony’s voice yelled. From. Somewhere. 

Peter just stood there. He spun in a circle like a cat, looking around, glancing—around, and below, and around, and—

“I fucking fell! Through the goddamn floor!”

He sounded so far away, and Peter started looking down. Why did he have to be looking away when this happened? He could have seen where he went but nooo—

“Which floor?” Peter asked, his eyes wide.

“Which—the floor!” Tony yelled, and Peter tried to follow his voice. “The floor we were walking on!”

“I don’t see any holes—”

“There wasn’t a hole there was—one of the panels must have—I don’t know I didn’t have time to analyze the situation as I was falling into the abyss—”

“Karen do you like—see any of the panels that sticks out like the things in cartoons in the background like the thing that looks different and is drawn different because you know it’s gonna move—”

“What are you saying?” Tony yelled, and he sounded closer. “What are you talking about?”

Karen highlighted the panel Peter was standing on top of. Peter kneeled down and started banging on it. “Hey! Hey! I’m on top of you!”

“Do not say that,” Tony said, and he sounded very far away even though he wasn’t really far away. Was he?

“Karen how deep is it?” Peter asked. “Is he in danger? Well, we’re in a bad guy place—is he in imminent danger—”

“Peter, step back!” Tony yelled. “I wanna try something. Step back, step—take a bunch of steps back—”

Peter sighed, and stepped back, trying to keep a mental note of which panel is the right one. And he stepped back and stared and waited. And he might have heard a couple little noises but they didn’t sound like anything. 

“What are you—wait, why can’t you connect through coms to talk to me?” Peter yelled. 

“Not working—repulsors not working either, some of my—some of my suit capabilities are being blocked—can’t fly out—”

He was yelling and yelling louder and Peter felt antsy, because this was easy and then it wasn’t. He rushed over and laid himself out and started trying to peel up the panel.

“Can’t fly out—still trying to fly out can’t fly out—Friday stop—stop updating me on the weather—”

“They must have—some kinda something some kinda—blocker or something on that level—you’re in—” Peter was pulling and gritting his teeth so hard that it felt like they might bust, but the panel wasn’t budging. 

“What are you doing?” Tony yelled. “Don’t hurt yourself. Pete! Don’t hurt yourself. Jesus I shouldn’t even be using your name—”

“I’m not hurting myself I’m just trying to—”

He pulled so hard that he lost his grip and flew backwards, hitting the wall. He was starting to panic, and he tried to relax, but that’s impossible sometimes—he almost feels better when he’s the one that’s in trouble, because when Tony is in trouble Peter never feels capable enough to fix it, even though he has to fix it or he would go nuts, and Tony being in danger is worse than Peter himself being in danger because he’s Tony and how can Tony be in danger—

(— “Jesus Christ, Peter” — )

Peter scooted back over and tried to start prying again. He wished he had some grenades or something.

“Spidey, scan the area, make sure they aren’t back yet—”

Peter could hear the coms trying to connect, Tony’s voice trying to come through, and what the hell was going on? Why was there a blocker underneath the floor? They got in and out easy as pie, nobody detecting them—

But maybe this was detection—

And that would mean they know—

Peter checked the stats. “Nobody’s here yet and those guys are still out front talking to the drivers,” he said, gritting his teeth again and trying not to lose his grip this time.

“Can’t believe I fell through the goddamn floor like we’re in a Looney Toons episode—okay, kid, we gotta figure this out—”

Peter knew they were gonna be back soon—

~

“Okay, so we have to go get him,” Rhodey says, clapping Peter on the shoulder.

“You didn’t let me finish—”

“What else happened?” Rhodey asks, fast. “Big grand goodbye? Did he tell you to come get me? Did anybody ambush you?”

“No, it was—I mean, yeah, we said goodbye, it was—it was scary and upsetting, it sucked, he couldn’t get it—I don’t even know how he got in or if it was on purpose I don’t even know it just happened out of nowhere I don’t even know if it was a trap—he said he loved me he said be careful—it’s still crazy to me when he says he loves me I mean obviously we love each other like family you know but still it’s sometimes like whoa—that’s Tony Stark—”

Rhodey scoffs at him, and he’s trying to plan in his head. “Yeah, right, we know he loves you—so nobody ambushed you, why are you so dirty and messed up?”

Peter glances away. “I mean, like I said that was just from—I ran out of webs, I came a long way back and like I got tired there’s a lot of emotions at play here and I was running and emotional and I almost got hit by a bus and—”

“Okay,” Rhodey says, still holding him by the shoulder. 

He knows about these guys, Tony has talked to him about these guys and how concerned he is about them and how they’ll affect Spider-Man. Rhodey thinks he remembers Tony saying one of them was…a Rhino guy? A bunch of goddamn misfits and they’re gonna kill somebody, whether on purpose or by accident. Tony tries to act nonchalant, but Rhodey knows how worried he gets. Peter tries to take on more than he can handle. A lot like…someone else.

Rhodey clicks his tongue. “I’ll transfer the information from Karen to me, you can stay here—”

“No,” Peter says, leaping to his feet. “No, I’m not staying. I’m not staying here.”

Rhodey huffs at him. “Kid, you’re messed up—”

“I’m not messed up. I’m not.” He’s shaking his head, and he always looks young to Rhodey, but with that look on his face, and his hair all wild, he looks like a child in a costume. “I’m just dirty, I’m just—I was just—”

“You destroyed the door. You knocked it down.”

“I mean sometimes I’m just running, sometimes I’m just moving fast and things get knocked over, sometimes that happens, sometimes people get knocked over, good thing you weren’t standing there—”

Rhodey closes his eyes, hangs his head. “Peter, what the hell is Tony gonna say when I roll up back into this bad guy lair with you with me after you already escaped—”

And Peter is taking Rhodey by the shoulders now, as if he thinks he’s got the upper hand. “We did not escape because we were never captured—we invaded them—and I know Tony’s still there I know I know but honestly I wouldn’t even classify this as him being captured but anyway you’re gonna help me yay okay let’s go we’re wasting time let’s go—”

He brushes past him before Rhodey can even look up, and Rhodey moves after him and grabs his shoulders and spins him around so Peter’s facing him again. He did it almost on autopilot, like Tony’s spirit possessed him briefly and imbued him with fatherly instincts. 

“New suit, Mr. I’m Just Running. Mr. I’m Moving Fast. Gonna go in there completely useless, Jesus, new web cartridges too, Christ—”

Peter nods, a little manically, and Rhodey wonders if they did get into some shit and he’s leaving it out. But he shakes his head and follows him in the direction of the workshops.

~

“Is this how you and Tony get around? You use him as a surfboard?”

“Only when I’m out of webs,” Peter says, perched on Rhodey’s back as they fly in stealth mode. 

“You are not out of webs. You just restocked. You’re up to your eyes in webs.”

“Since we’re in stealth, can people see me? Are you completely invisible? Does it look like I’m walking on air?”

This is something Tony’s talked about. When Peter says things that are random and silly but also, what the hell is the answer? Rhodey knows he’s not completely invisible in stealth, but to people who are looking—but does he want that to be the answer—

Peter sighs, and he shifts so he’s literally sitting on Rhodey’s back and his legs are hanging down.

“Kid, this is—this is strange, you’re—I mean, what if I have to change trajectory—”

“It’s fine I’ve got good balance,” Peter says. He kicks his feet a little, and Rhodey narrows his eyes. “I’m worried. I’m worried about Tony.”

“We’re gonna go get him,” Rhodey says, setting his jaw and glancing at the time to their destination. “It’s gonna be okay. This is nothing for him, the shit we’ve gotten into? This is nothing. Just a little break.”

“I just—it’s just—it’s just like, when it’s me that’s hurt or lost or stuck or whatever it’s like okay, sure, makes sense, I’m younger and I’m always learning—I am expert level at a lot of things, most things, but I’m still learning—”

Rhodey finds himself smiling a little bit. “Uh huh.”

“But when it’s Tony…I don’t know, he’s—he’s just—I know he’s not invincible but he feels invincible and I just, it just—”

“I know,” Rhodey says, hit with a wave of sentimentality. “I know. It’s hard to, uh, see him in trouble. He’s like a little brother to me, like a dad to you, either way—”

“You shouldn’t see your dad hurt,” Peter says, and his voice is rough, like he’s tearing up. 

“It’s fine,” Rhodey says, fast, because Peter’s gotta get his head in the game, because he might not be focusing properly if he’s getting emotional about it. And if he starts getting too emotional, Rhodey might, and that’s not good for anybody. “He’s probably just lounging around in there. He’s not hurt, it’s fine. We’re gonna get him.”

And Rhodey does get it. He gets all that. He loves Tony to the ends of the earth, he drives him insane but he never wants anything to happen to him. And maybe he underestimated just how much Tony means to Peter. He knew, he knows, but maybe it’s deeper than he realized. He knows what happened to Peter’s father, his uncle, and how close he was to his uncle. He knows he almost lost Tony, too. 

They’re on the same wavelength. At least with this, anyway.

“The guys are back to their little evil lair,” Peter sighs. “Little, midsized, I don’t know—”

Rhodey narrows his eyes, and Peter’s AI, Karen, is quiet for a second. 

And then, after a moment, the information comes through on Rhodey’s HUD.

“Looks like they haven’t found him yet,” Peter says. “Maybe they won’t, maybe that’s—I mean, they’re not super smart, maybe this is just an actual like, problem—that piece of tile opens up into—maybe it’s not an actual trap—”

“I doubt that,” Rhodey says, looking at the blueprints they have of the compound. “It definitely sounds like a trap—”

“And I still can’t connect to him—which I guess is probably good because it probably definitely means that they haven’t found him yet—”

Rhodey gets the indication that they can’t connect to Tony, a few long moments after Peter mentioned it, and he narrows his eyes. “Do you have some kind of backdoor code that allows you to get information before other people—”

Peter shifts into a perch again on Rhodey’s back. “Um, hm, you know, I don’t know—”

“Peter.”

“Yeah, yes. I do, I did that. So I can take care of things if I’m the cause of the problem—that sounds a lot more, uh, martyr—martyr-like—that’s not the purpose, I’m—”

“It’s incredibly dangerous,” Rhodey says, scoffing. “Peter, you’re—ten years old—”

“That’s a massive exaggeration—”

“Someone else, one of your other team members, in this instance me, could be more equipped—oh shit—”

The cloud comes out of nowhere, and he twists and avoids it, and clouds always fuck up the stealth and usually he gets indications when he’s about to fly through a bigger one and he was avoiding them fine and he wonders if Peter’s little time delay had anything to do with missing it and he hears Peter fall off and into the open air, yelling, and his heart nearly bursts out of his chest—

“Oh shit—”

And Rhodey is about to rocket down but Peter shoots a web and latches into Rhodey’s ankle. 

“Are you good?” Rhodey yells, a little too loud, into their com connection. He looks down, sees the kid twisting around and spinning like an actual spider. “That was stupid. That was so stupid, I’m sorry, I knew you were there, I didn’t think—”

“Killer cloud!” Peter yells, trying to climb his way back up the web. “It’s gonna kill us! Red alert, code red!”

Rhodey rolls his eyes, and takes off a little faster. “Stay down there. Your surfboard privileges have been revoked—”

“I didn’t do anything wrong, I was just existing—”

“And don’t tell Tony about that, what just—what just occurred—”

“Oh I’m gonna tell him and he’s gonna be mad—”

Rhodey sighs. It’s bad, because he knows it’s true. 

~

“Stop stomping.”

“I’m not stomping. You need to respect your elders.”

The place is overrun with assholes. They’re dealing with the aftermath of what Tony and Peter did to their place, which was essentially exploding a bunch of their weapons and scrambling their hard drives, and Rhodey guesses that was a good plan, maybe a lead-in to making it easier to catch them. He feels stupid right now, because a bunch of these dickheads who have been causing problems are here right now, with a bunch of their powerless employees (probably hangers-on, wanting to have powers, and they are probably giving themselves powers and that’s probably why half of their powers are shitty and why half of them are landing in the hospital asking to speak to Bruce Banner—Rhodey remembers Tony telling him that story—)

And Peter rushes out in front of Rhodey, and looks both ways, and then he’s running away from him—

“Okay, dummy, you came and got me for a reason, you can’t get him out without me, that was the entire purpose—”

But Peter isn’t saying anything, just rushing out ahead trying to get to the spot where Tony is first, and for what reason, Rhodey doesn’t know. 

Rhodey keeps looking at the map they’ve got, every time Karen pings another guy to keep track of and avoid, and he keeps wondering if Peter has a more updated version of events.

Friday is still unreachable. Rhodey knows these assholes aren’t Thanos, or even the Mandarin, or Whiplash or anybody else Tony has faced, but he’s still filled with dread and the kind of anxiety that Tony is normally known for, not him. Is it because he hasn’t heard Tony’s voice? Is it because Peter is bounding out ahead of him like a golden retriever puppy? Is it because he knows if anything happens to Peter in Rhodey’s care that Rhodey would hear about it from Tony for the rest of his life?

“It’s right here,” Peter hisses, like someone is close by and listening, even though Rhodey knows Tony and Peter’s traps destroyed most of the security cameras. “I think. Wait. I marked it with a little web.”

“Because that’s not obvious—”

“It’s little—” He’s crab-walking along the floor like a lunatic, but then the eyes on his mask get all big and he slams his hands on the ground. “Here it—Tony! Tony, it’s me! It’s me and I’m back and I brought Rhodey!”

Peter is already trying to peel at the side of the floor panel, like he didn’t try that before and knows it won’t work, and Rhodey rushes over, quick as he can, and he’s definitely stomping now.

He hears Tony’s voice.

“Rhodey? Don’t let him fall in too, kid, this is a trap for us iron people—”

“I’m not gonna fall in too, you moron,” Rhodey says. He hears Tony laugh, which lights a fire under him, and he starts burning around the edges of the panel. “Find a good spot in the middle somewhere, I’m gonna drop this panel on your head—”

“Oh, nice, just what I wanted—”

“I need one of these little burner guys in every single one of my suits from now on—”

“Pete, step back, come on—”

“Okay okay—”

And Rhodey burns around the entire outside of the panel, reaches the beginning of his line, and it falls in. 

And there have been plenty of moments in Rhodey’s life when a lot of things are happening at once. And a lot of those moments involve Tony, and his chaotic energy, going all the way back to MIT and shit exploding before it ever had a right to explode, but he guesses Tony touching anything gives it a right to explode—

But this one startles Rhodey, for some reason—maybe because getting Tony back was so built-up in his head because Peter’s anxiety is big and ballooning all around them—

But there’s a spray of bullets, and the lights flicker, and there’s—sparks of electricity? And a rolling wave, and some other shit, because somehow the two of them were so focused on finding Tony that they didn’t realize the conglomeration of dickheads were converging on their location, with their mishmash of powers and assholery—

And Peter cries out, slipping forward a bit and nearly falling into the newly opened panel—

And like a phoenix rising, Tony shoots out of the ground, grabbing onto Peter on his way out, and he flies down the hallway.

“Shit,” Rhodey breathes, a few bullets ricocheting off of his suit as he follows in Tony’s wake—

“Rhodes, can you make a big old hole in the wall there for me—”

“Coming right up,” Rhodey says, and he aims with both hands and fires two high caliber repulsor blasts at the same spot, and the wall blows out, lending them a new exit.

And they fly out, spiraling into the air like two comets finding their way back into the sky. 

“Peter,” Rhodey says, hearing the last vestiges of the assholes firing at them and yelling obscenities. “Shit, uh, we should probably send someone—”

“A bunch of someones are coming,” Tony says, and when Rhodey looks over, he’s clutching Peter close. “I don’t know why the hell we were even playing spy games, we should have just—”

“They’re not all there right now,” Peter gasps, and he groans, wrapping his arms tighter around Tony’s neck. “Rhino’s not even—they’re not all—that was the thing, we were gonna—we were gonna take them out in stages, and it would be harder after—after the first stage—”

“Well, now the first stage is a bunch of explosions and a rescue—Friday, tell me what’s going on with him—”

“I can tell you what’s going on with me, I got shot—”

“He’s not wearing one of the bulletproof suits?” Tony asks, and he’s got the nerve to glance over at Rhodey when he asks it.

“I didn’t dress him,” Rhodey says, speeding up a little bit. “He was ready to run out guns blazing in his other suit, which he somehow shredded just coming home all freaking out—”

“I didn’t mention that—when I was coming to get you—some of our traps went off early and maybe on my way out I ran through some of them—”

Rhodey scoffs, rolling his eyes so hard that it hurts. “Yeah, okay, there you go, there we have it, the truth comes out—”

“Rhodey, he’s been shot—”

“Okay, so, he still did something stupid, and lied, and he knows which of his suits are bulletproof and which ones aren’t—”

“We were moving quickly,” Peter says, and he coughs a little bit. “I was worried, I know you were worried, not as much as me though—”

“You don’t need to worry about me,” Tony says, and Rhodey sees him kicking Friday into the highest gear. “I was relaxing—”

“What did I tell you?” Rhodey asks. “What’d I say?”

Peter coughs again, laying his head on Tony’s shoulder. “Losing a lot of blood. Definitely dying.”

“You are not,” Tony says. “Friday?”

Rhodey can’t hear her response, and he sighs. 

Peter better not be goddamn dying. Not after something stupid like this. He’s done stupid shit in his life but this particular thing was really stupid, and if Peter died at the end of it, Tony would never forgive himself. Tony doesn’t forgive himself when Peter gets a goddamn hangnail, so this would be—worse than that. By far.

And Rhodey wouldn’t be happy about it either. 

“Pete, hang on,” Tony says, and Rhodey sees him cradling the back of Peter’s head. “We’re not too far—”

“Did you know,” Peter says, “that Rhodey made me fly the entire way hanging by a web that was attached to his ankle—”

Rhodey scoffs again. “Wow—”

“Rhodey, come on—”

“Wow—”

~

“He’s fine,” Rhodey says, standing shoulder to shoulder with Tony outside of Peter’s med bay room. “He’s fine. Right as rain.”

Tony glances at him, his eyes narrowed. “He got shot in the back.”

“In the shoulder—”

“He uses his shoulders a lot.”

“Who doesn’t?” Rhodey asks, raising his eyebrows. “Maybe if someone didn’t fall into a hole like the fucking Wily Coyote—”

“It’s Wile E. Coyote, the ‘e’ is his middle initial—listen, this was a lot more Bugs Bunny,” Tony says. He sighs big, and looks back over towards the closed door, where Helen is talking to Peter. 

Rhodey sighs too.

“You should have just let SHIELD take care of that place,” he says. “You didn’t need to go in there with this multilayer three-pronged attack on this week’s episode of the Iron Man and Spider-Man show. I mean yeah, there are a bunch of them, and it’s concerning, and I know how you feel like you need to take care of shit on your own sometimes, but this is the new world. I know Peter calls it that, and I’ve started calling it that too, because in the new world Tony Stark is more cautious. I get a lot less ulcers now, knowing that most of the time you’re on a couch or behind a desk. Or at worst, behind a computer screen. When I see Peter rolling up knocking doors down because you fell through the floor in some cartoon situation on a side mission, it feels a lot like the old days. And you’ve been through too much shit to be reverting back to the old days. This nearly-dying situation was different than the other nearly-dying situations.”

Rhodey tries not to speechify, but that one got away from him. He sighs again and leans against the wall, and Tony looks at him.

“He knocked a door down?”

“He did. Living room on the fourth floor. I haven’t done anything about it yet. Happy’s probably seen it by now.”

Tony nods. He cracks his jaw and looks down at the ground. “Uh, couple months ago, remember when I went to the lakehouse with the kid and May?”

Rhodey does. They were gone for almost a month, Pepper was ferrying back and forth up there, saying things were fine. Rhodey was busy, and he asked a couple times, but all he got was fine, yeah. It’s all fine. “Yeah,” he says, tentatively.

There’s new tension in Tony’s shoulders. “Well, uh—that Rhino guy, that’s one of the members of that asshole club we just blew through—he nearly broke Peter’s back.”

Rhodey feels chills go through him. “What?”

“Pete didn’t want to tell anybody, and he didn’t break it, it was just a nearly, but he was really hurt, and emotionally, uh—it wasn’t—it wasn’t great, it was—it was hard for me, to see him like that. And then as soon as we get back, he starts going after them harder, and we had a couple blow-ups, because it was insane to me, that he was doing that after what just happened to him, and yes, I know, me, me, me, mini-me, but still, I just—yeah, it felt personal, with me and this place and this guy—and he wasn’t even fucking there tonight for the strike team to get—but maybe I wasn’t thinking, maybe I was thinking a little bit too much, but I’ll always remember how hurt Peter was and the pain he was in and I knew he was just gonna keep running at them anyway and I wasn’t gonna let him do it on his own. Not him. Not—my kid.”

Rhodey nods at him, and almost doesn’t know what to say. He feels a little sick about it, but he tries to stay present.

“And don’t get on me about not telling you, I was gonna, eventually, but things just, you know, things happen, they keep happening—”

“Yeah, I sure know that,” Rhodey says. He watches him, the way his eyes search the ground, avoiding his gaze until he looks up again. “He’s okay now, though. It was essentially a graze.”

“It was not a graze,” Tony snaps.

“You woulda called that a graze in the past—”

“Yeah, okay, well, yeah, for myself, maybe—”

“But when it’s a spider baby, things are different, huh? Definitions are changed?”

“Definitions are changed,” Tony says, definitively. 

Rhodey snorts. “The two of you are truly two peas in a pod. He was all worried about you on the way in, all antsy about it—”

“Oh, you weren’t antsy about me being stuck in an enemy lair? How the tables have turned—”

“I knew what was going on,” Rhodey says, knocking him on the shoulder. “It was truly some Looney Toons shit. Probably some old trap they didn’t even realize was there—”

“You didn’t know that, none of us knew that—”

“But it was true, right? I had a feeling, when Peter described it to me—and his narrative detail is great, by the way, we should do Spider-Man Story Time for kids at some of the local bookstores—they’d eat it up—”

“I’ve thought that,” Tony says, smiling fondly. “That’s so funny, I’ve thought that, and now you’re saying it, so it’s a sign we need to set it up—”

“Yes—but the way he described it I knew you were fine. Not great, but not injured, not in imminent danger. I know some of these guys are genuinely dangerous, like the Rhino asshole you’re talking about, but it feels like the vast majority of them are morons.”

Tony blows out a breath, nodding. “I know Pete gets worried. I know. I get worried. We’re both worried, and it’s just—”

“It’s sweet and I like seeing it,” Rhodey says. He shakes his head. “I mean. I don’t like seeing you worried. But the two of you—I like that you have—I like that you’re in a dad position. It’s nice—”

Tony cracks his jaw. “Pep and I just never—”

“I know,” Rhodey says, stopping him before he can get into that, “but you’ve got it with Peter. And he needed it and you needed it and it’s nice. You put up a front and a lot of people take that at face value, take you as that, all your quipping and dumb one-liners—”

“They aren’t dumb, they are carefully crafted—”

“Yeah, I know, I’m well aware, but a lot of people just see that, and think that’s who you are, when really you’re marshmallow fluff. Completely and totally, and especially for certain people—considering I’m one of those people—but I know Peter loves being one of them too. And it’s sweet. As annoying as the two of you can be.”

Tony scoffs, pushing off the wall. “He’s annoying.”

“You’re both annoying. And maximum annoying when you’re together.”

Tony glares over his shoulder, and he knocks ever so slightly on the door before he’s pushing it open.

“Jesus, what if he’s changing—”

“He shouldn’t be changing, he should be in pajamas, in the bed, right, Peter—”

And when they walk inside, Peter is halfway out the window. He’s wearing Tony’s hoodie, and a pair of jeans, and Helen isn’t even in there at all. Tony makes a small noise, like he’s been shot, and he glances at Rhodey as if he’s making sure he’s not insane, and then he looks back at Peter without getting confirmation because he already goddamn knows.

“What are you doing—”

“What are you doing—”

“Why are you up—”

“Are you out of your damn mind—”

“After everything we just went through—you just got shot—”

“Peter, honestly—”

“And where is Helen?” Tony yells, his hands on his hips, and Peter is just frozen there, one knee in the window frame. “Where did she—what did you do to—”

“I didn’t do anything to!” Peter yells, getting down. “She left through the interior door,” he yells, gesturing to it. “And then I got up, and put some clothes on, and I—”

“And you were gonna leave, and escape, and go live on Governors Island—”

“No, no, I was just going to go around, and go up a floor, and come back down so you didn’t see me, because Tony—”

“Eventually, I was going to see you, Peter, this plan was flawed—”

“A lot of that going around lately,” Rhodey says, before he means to, and Tony shoots him a look. Rhodey clears his throat.

“May can’t keep coming here and seeing me in the med bay,” Peter says, crossing his arms over his chest. “Like, we had a whole talk, about the new world, and being more careful in the new world, and now here I am, again, and this one is so stupid, and MJ is coming with her this time and she said if I keep getting hurt that she’s gonna start a rumor that she’s Spider-Man and that’s gonna put a lot of scrutiny on her that I don’t want her to have and I know she’ll do it.” He swallows hard. “So.”

“We already told May something happened,” Rhodey says, throwing his arms up.

“But not—not—I mean, something could be anything, doesn’t have to be like—I mean, something could be the roof caving in, and me being a hero—”

Tony scoffs. “We can’t—quickly cave in the roof just to back up a bullshit story—”

But Rhodey knows he would, if it came to that, and he knows that for sure.

Peter rushes over, and grabs Tony by the arms. He doesn’t even look that bad, only a little pale, but Rhodey knows even the slightest bit of paleness is enough to win Tony over. Especially with their whole heart to heart in the hallway, and Peter getting hurt at all—the odds just aren’t in his favor.

“Please,” Peter says, the final nail in the coffin. “Let’s just—come up with something—no med bay, let’s meet her in like—the lounge—nowhere near the door, the broken door, which I’ll fix, let’s just—come up with something—”

“There was a chemical leak,” Tony says, almost deadpan. “That you discovered, and you saved a whole pool of interns. We can meet May and MJ in the living quarters upstairs and we’ll—order pizza. No med bay.”

Peter takes a tiny moment to process that he actually just won this battle, despite trying to escape through the window, and his face breaks out into the most beautiful, shiny smile. Enough that Tony smiles too, and Rhodey finds himself smiling, even though he’s almost nauseated by the ridiculousness of them. 

Peter hugs Tony tight, and Tony hugs him back, careful of his right shoulder. He pats his back, closing his eyes, and Peter pulls back, still grinning at him. “Thank you thank you thank you. I’m gonna go up there now and set the scene. And I’ll order the pizza. Thank you thank you.”

He looks at Rhodey before he leaves, and winks at him, over the top and exaggerated and not at all subtle. He nearly skips out of the room, and Tony stands there, his shoulders wilting. 

“Don’t say it—”

“And pushover of the year goes to—”

“How’d I know you were gonna say it—”

“He was trying to climb out the window,” Rhodey says, as the two of them head into the hallway. “Did being stuck under the floorboards for a couple hours scramble your brain?”

“They weren’t floorboards, this wasn’t a haunted house, this was highly sophisticated—”

“I hope you’re not arguing semantics with me,” Rhodey says. “Not you, of all people—”

“Peter!” Tony calls, because Peter is still racing down the hall within eyesight. “Be careful—and make sure to get eggplant on Rhodey’s pizza. He loves it! He loves it so much!”

Rhodey pushes him with his elbow, and Tony pushes him back, grabbing him around the middle and pulling him into half a bear-hug. Rhodey snorts, wrapping his arm around him. 

“Thanks for taking care of him, you know, up until the whole getting shot thing—”

“That was on you, you were back in charge then,” Rhodey says, gripping his shoulder. “And when the next missions start, with the den of assholery, let me help the two of you, huh?”

“Oh, War Machine wants to join?” Tony says, letting go of him.

“Yeah,” Rhodey says. “I do. I wanna have your backs.”

Tony grins at him again. “Noted,” he says.

And hopefully he is actually noting it. Because Rhodey does want to be there, to cover the two of them while they cover each other. He’s known Tony for a long time, most of his life, and he loves him beyond. 

And he does love the way he loves this kid.

He can’t let anything happen to either one of them.

“Extra eggplant!” Peter yells, before turning the corner. “Got it!”

Rhodey rolls his eyes, and Tony giggles. An inside joke, over thirty years old, and he still goddamn giggles about it.

“They’re all going onto your plate,” Rhodey says, pushing him again.

“Just like last time.”

#irondad #iron dad #peter parker #tony stark #james rhodey rhodes #spider-man #iron man #war machine #works by iron_spider #irondad fic #iron dad fic #marvel fic

[kandisheek]

FIC REC WEEK 9 – AUs

Cold Space, Warm Welcome by Annie D (scaramouche)

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: T Words: 15,572 Tags: Sci-Fi, Misunderstandings, Pining Steve

Summary: Tony’s spent a couple of years flying around the galaxy in his best friend Rhodey’s spaceship the Iron Advance, doing what could perhaps be counted as ‘hero’ work. Among their allies is Steve Rogers, captain of his own crew, with whom Tony has a… potentially friendly relationship. When Steve’s ship is irreparably damaged, Rhodey takes him and his whole crew onto the Iron Advance to recover. Tony’s not at all nervous about this, because so what if this is the first time Steve will see him without the Iron Man armor?

Reasons why I love it: Steve is so whipped for Tony, oh my god. I adore their dynamic here, and it's so much fun to see all of Steve's fumbling attempts to make his interest known from Tony's point of view, who is utterly oblivious. And the setting itself is fantastic, it really paints a picture of what their lives in space are like. I love this fic to bits, and I bet you will too!

The Scars of Your Love by blue_jack

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: M Words: 5,462 Tags: Scars, Angst with a Happy Ending, Breaking Up and Making Up

Summary: On the day Peggy moved out, Steve stood naked in front of the mirror and looked at all the ragged lines running over his body. He felt like someone had taken a knife to him, slicing every inch open, and he didn’t understand how there wasn’t any blood. He traced one particularly thick scar on his stomach, gritting his teeth against the pain, the memory of the first time he’d brought Peggy over to meet his family and all the teasing that had accompanied it burning through his mind. He couldn’t imagine her marks ever disappearing, and in that moment, he didn’t want them to, didn’t want to ever expose himself to that much hurt again. Once in a lifetime was enough.

Reasons why I love it: Having heartbreak leave actual, physical scars on your body is such a kickass concept. Emotional pain is so real it often feels like it should leave scars, and Steve sure hasn't been spared during his lifetime. I really like how the whole later conflict with Tony is set up because of Steve's relationship with Peggy. It feels very true to Steve's character that he acts the way he does. And oh my god, poor Tony. I love this one, please go and check it out!

Missing and Ravished by SailorChibi

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: E Words: 8,760 Tags: Serial Killer Steve, Officer Tony, Gore

Summary: Officer Tony Stark really did not mean to fall in love with a serial killer.

Reasons why I love it: This might sound weird, but if canon Steve ever became a serial killer, I imagine that it would be exactly like this. I love the whole premise of the fic, of Tony being torn between his duty, his morales and his emotions, and the moment it all comes crashing down is immensely satisfying. I love everything about this fic, so I hope you give it a shot!

Steve Rogers' Life Is Not A Romance Movie (He Wouldn't Get The References, Anyway) by someonelsesheart

Pairing: Steve/Tony, Pepper/Natasha Rating: T Words: 7,909 Tags: High School AU, Humor, Enemies to Lovers

Summary: Steve hasn't always had this ridiculous crush on Tony Stark. (Or, the one where Steve is his polite old self and doesn't really hate Tony Stark (unfortunately), Tony is a child progidy and apparently a cab driver now, too, and high school is still high school, even when you are the son of a billionaire.)

Reasons why I love it: Steve the spitfire makes an appearance! They're both such dorks in this, and the way they stand up for each other in front of bullies legitimately makes my heart melt. Also, Pepper and Natasha are queens, and I adore them with my whole heart. Definitely check this one out, it's adorable!

Stellar Love Affairs by AvengersNewB, BladeoftheNebula

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: E Words: 5,407 Tags: A/B/O (Omega Tony, Alpha Steve), Mating Cycles, Space AU

Summary: Captain Steve Rogers gets assigned to command the starship Avenger. Everything is going as expected until he sets eyes on Tony Stark, who happens to be the first omega Steve's ever met.

Reasons why I love it: A Star Trek fusion, A/B/O, fuck or die fic written by two of my favorite people in this fandom? It's like this fic was written for me! I love everything about it, from the worldbuilding to the smut to them getting their heads out of their asses and finally communicating. It's fantastic, and I highly recommend you check it out for yourself!

#marvel #stony #fanfic #fic rec #fanfic rec #ficrec #a year in fanfic recs #AUs

[infiniteeight8]

Prompt: continuation for the obsession verse , like their first time together or people's reaction to their relationship. (Prompt sent via messeges.)

I do want to write their first time, I swear, but for now you are getting Rhodey’s reaction to their relationship.

*

“Rhodey-bear!” Tony greets him, grinning broadly and slapping him on the shoulder. “It’s been too long since we’ve had some us-time. I’m glad you could make it.” He leads James into the kitchen, opens the fridge, and pulls out a beer to hand to him.

James takes the bottle, smiling back, if less broadly. “I wouldn’t miss it,” he promises. “I’m only sorry the brass have kept me so busy.” Some of the developments in Tony’s life lately seem… Well, Pepper had sounded genuinely worried.

“You know I can fix that,” Tony says, taking a beer for himself and leading them back out to the living room couches. He flops down easily. “I may not have the pull that I did back in the day, but the military still wants me for my body armor, among other things.”

“And you know I don’t want you boosting my career,” James counters. He sits on the couch opposite Tony and puts his feet up. “Not any more than being your friend does all by itself, anyway,” he says wryly. Tony makes a derisive noise but lets it go. “So,” James goes on, trailing his voice off leadingly for a moment. “What’s this I hear about you dating Strange? Aren’t I supposed to vet your partners?” James laughs a little, because that’s always been mostly a joke between them. It feels less like a joke this time.

Tony’s chuckle is more honest. “What can I say? He swept me off my feet. Almost literally: we turned that corner at one of the Superhuman Defense Fund galas.”

Damn. That’s longer than Pepper had thought. “And you really like the guy?”

Tony’s eyes light up and he sits up out of his sprawl, leaning forward instead. “He’s amazing, Rhodey. I mean, obviously he’s gorgeous, but he’s also brilliant. Magic is one thing, but you should hear him talk medicine. Plus, he looks at me like I hung the fucking moon. He’ll drop anything short of a life or death emergency just to talk to me. It’s like… I think he thinks I’m the most important person in the world. Not just to him, either, the most important person, period.” 

James sits up, too, and chooses his words carefully. “He sounds a little intense.”

“Intense, or obsessed?” Tony asks, smirking. 

Of course he sees right through James. “Pepper’s told me some things,” James admits. “Honestly? I was a little worried he wouldn’t want you to see me.”

Tony scoffs and takes a swig from his beer. “Look, I do actually get where that concern comes from, I’m not blind, but Stephen knows how important you are to me. Taking some time for the two of us to hang out tonight was his idea, believe it or not.”

“Seriously?”

“Cross my heart and hope to die,” Tony says, making an X over his heart. “Except not really, Stephen would kill me. And with his power set, I’m not ruling that out as a literal impossibility.”

A laugh escapes James despite himself. “You know I’m in favor of anyone who gets you to take care of yourself,” he says, “it’s just… Pepper says sometimes he just pops out of a portal and sits there watching you. I did some checking, and it seems like he might have been poking around your confidential records. And weird shit has been happening to people who talk shit about you in public.” 

Tony doesn’t look surprised by any of this. “What kind of weird shit?” He takes another sip of his beer.

“One guy swears after he made a comment about you and reckless driving, every stoplight he approached for a week went red,” James says. “A journalist who published an article speculating that you were still dealing in weapons under the table claims they couldn’t tell a lie for a month. The woman who wrote that so-called ‘exposé’ about your ongoing drug use had to be checked into the psych ward for three days because she started seeing monsters all over New York.” James could go on, but Tony’s smirking. “It’s true, isn’t it? All of that, it was Strange.”

“Is it such a bad thing that someone wants to come to my defense?” Tony asks. “None of them were hurt, right? None of those three, and none of the others, either.”

“Well, the wife of the guy who couldn’t lie left him,” James says. “But other than that… no.”

“There you go, then.” Tony takes another swig from his beer.

James hesitates. “Just because no one got hurt doesn’t mean that it’s okay. This is not normal behavior, Tony. If you’re not worried about what Strange is doing to these people, aren’t you a little worried that he’s keeping such close tabs on you that he knows about these things what seems to be the second they happen?”

Tony finishes his beer and sets it aside. “Look,” he says seriously. “I am absolutely aware that this isn’t normal behavior. Stephen isn’t normal. And neither am I. I’ve tried to do normal relationships. I tried really fucking hard with Pepper, Rhodey, you know I did. But you tell me: was I happy?”

“No,” James admits, sighing. Tony had put on a pretty good show with Pepper. James thinks that he even convinced himself he was happy, for a while. But it wasn’t real.

“Stephen makes me happy,” Tony says. After a moment he snorts and flops back against the couch again. “And like everything else that’s ever made me happy, if it blows up in my face I know you and Pep will be there to help pick me up after.”

Despite everything, James smiles and says only, “Always, Tones.

Because that’s the first time Tony has ever said “if it blows up” instead of “when it blows up.”

#ironstrange #ficlet

[aurumacadicus]

I’m gonna throw this out there.

For years, Tony’s done holidays with the Rhodes family. Rhodey grabbed him by the scruff and yanked him out of the dorm the moment he realized Tony wasn’t going to his own home for Christmas, and he’s just... shown up at their house ever since. He’s always welcomed, always feels loved maybe even more than at his own home during the holidays, but he knows it’s temporary. Someday, Rhodey’s going to have someone special to bring home, and Tony will have to bow out. Still, until that point in time, he’s going to hold onto the holidays he has with them as tightly as he can.

Of course, it happens eventually. Rhodey meets Carol, and he’s smitten instantly. Tony likes her, too. She’s tough and snarky and gives as good as she gets, and she’s the only girlfriend he’s had that wasn’t put off by Tony and Rhodey basically lying on top of each other or Tony wandering into Rhodey’s room every morning and pestering whether they wanted to go out for brunch. But Christmas is coming. Rhodey and Carol have been dating for seven months. It was time to meet the family. Rhodey went to meet her friend Maria and daughter Monica for Thanksgiving, and Carol was going to the Rhodes’ for Christmas.

Tony had spent Thanksgiving with his maybe-boyfriend and his friends (he doesn’t know if they’re dating and at this point he’s too scared to ask). Normally he’d go to the Rhodes’. But. That’s for Carol now. She’s Rhodey’s partner. Maybe, after she’s more settled into their relationship, Tony could come back. As it stands, he’s always been sort of the spare piece. He’s used to it. Maybe he can spend Christmas with his maybe-boyfriend again. Or... maybe not. Steve probably had plans with his own family. Friends. Friend-family. Whatever. He doesn’t really want to ask. Thanksgiving was... friend-friendly. He knew Christmas was more family-oriented. He doesn’t know what to do. He feels sort of paralyzed. He hasn’t had to choose what to do for the holidays for fifteen years. Maybe he should just... work? That way he won’t be putting anybody out. He’d been invited to Steve’s NYE party. He just had to spend a few days alone beforehand. It would be fine.

“Tony, we’re ready,” Rhodey says after coming in from one last trip to Carol’s car.

“Okay,” Tony answers, wondering if it would be too weird to smile as he waves them off.

Rhodey stares at him for a moment, then asks, “When’s your boyfriend getting here?”

Tony blinks. “...Um?”

“...He’s driving up with you, right?” Rhodey prods. When Tony just stares at him, too confused to speak, he adds, “Mama said she wanted to meet our beaus. You remember that, right? You have to. You made a face when she said ‘beaus’ and then had to sit through a lecture on how it was gender inclusive specifically for you. It was when we told her we’d be going somewhere else for Thanksgiving.” When Tony only continued to blink, he said, “Tony. You’re coming to our house for Christmas.”

“I am?” Tony asks hopefully.

“Tony,” Rhodey begins, and then sighs, rubbing a hand over his face. “Yeah, Tony, of course you are. I’m sorry I didn’t make it clear. I know how you are.”

Tony stares at him for a moment, then asks, “Can I still come, even if my maybe-boyfriend isn’t going?”

“Why isn’t your boyfriend coming? Why are you calling him your maybe-boyfriend,” Rhodey adds sternly. “Steve sleeps over three nights a week. Sometimes four.”

“And you still come in and bother us about brunch,” Carol adds, stepping inside as well.

Tony just blinks at her. “Everyone likes brunch.”

“I like sleep,” Carol says, at the same time Rhodey bursts out, “Does he know you don’t know you’re dating?!”

“...I obviously did not,” Steve says, standing in the doorway.

“Eep,” Tony says, and then flees to the bathroom under everyone’s incredulous stares.

Steve packs Tony a bag while Rhodey tries to cajole him out, but in the end, Carol gets nervous about being late impatient and rams her shoulder into the door so it breaks off its hinges, then carries Tony out while he, Rhodey, and Steve are too stunned to say anything about it.

#ideas #stony #marvelmachine #tony/rhodey brotp #mama rhodes scolds everyone for this comedy of errors except carol and carol is THRIVING #then she watches tony eat an entire sweet potato pie by himself and half of the second and regrets not dragging tony to louisiana with her #maria had bitched about her own leftover sweet potato pie #and if she'd known tony would hoover it down like a fucking vacuum she would have brought the leftovers home for him

[ctrsara]

Happy Accident

Read on AO3

Prompt from @idk-bruh-20

Irondad fic ideas #86 Fic where Happy accidentally calls Tony Peter’s dad.

Maybe Happy is driving him to the tower and Peter’s rambling about everything he wants to do in the lab and Happy comments, “You’re sure excited to spend time with your dad today.” Peter doesn’t notice at first and is like, “Yeah, I love lab days-“ And as they both simultaneously realize what Happy said, it goes silent.

This fic idea was submitted by @itsmechara426 of @irondadmadlads :)

SLAM!

“For the twelfth time, kid. Don’t slam my door.”

“Sorry, Happy!”

“Just remember next time.”

“I will.” 

Happy muttered something under his breath that hopefully not even Peter’s enhanced hearing could pick up.

Happy Hogan didn’t actually even mind driving the kid around, most of the time. Sure, he’d been a little much at first. Happy wasn’t used to kids, and this kid in particular had a lot to say, and did unpredictable kid stuff, and left wrappers in his car, and was always hungry . And left so, so many voicemails that Happy had to listen to, so he could pass on anything important to Tony. But the longer Happy was around the teenager, and saw his selflessness and intense desire to do good, despite what anyone said, the more he admired him. And he’d gotten used to all the talking. Mostly. 

Actually, if he thought about it, Peter gave off a lot of “young Tony” energy. Well, with a lot more politeness and optimism. And really, it was more the Tony who had been excited about what he’d been working on in the lab when he hadn’t been distracted with partying and making tabloid headlines.  But still. Similar.

Speaking of being excited, Peter definitely was today. The kid had been talking a blue streak about something to do with his friends and their Academic Desomething meet the next weekend, but he switched gears just as Happy tuned back in.

“Happy, today in Chemistry we were talking about ( insert a topic Happy definitely didn’t understand ) and how it interacts with ( another unintelligible set of words ) under certain conditions, and did you know that Mr. Stark has the stuff in his lab to replicate that experiment? And I texted him about it and he said we can actually try it out today? It’s going to be so awesome, and I hope the reaction is big like the one we got to watch, because that was amazing, and--.”

“Take a breath, kid.” Happy let out a rare chuckle at the boy’s exuberance. “I don’t get paid if I deliver you passed out from lack of oxygen,” he joked. “You’re pretty excited to get to your dad’s lab today, huh?”

“Yeah, it’s gonna be so sick.” 

Then suddenly Happy met Peter’s startled gaze in the rearview mirror and he wasn’t sure whose eyes were wider. 

Silence.

Crickets.

Silent crickets.

“Oh my gosh, kid, I’m so sorry! I don’t know why I said that; please just forget you heard it!” 

Peter was quiet, and Happy started worrying. Ugh, apparently they had been teasing Tony too much about acting like Peter’s dad lately, because Happy had started thinking of him that way, and it had just… slipped out! He tried to reach his chin up high enough to get a look at Peter’s expression, but the boy’s head was turned, staring out the window.

Happy was just about to ask him if he was okay, and apologize again, when a quiet voice came from the back seat.

“Happy?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m not mad. I just… what made you say that?”

“Uh…” Well, at this point, the truth was probably best. “For quite a while now, Rhodey, and Pepper, and a couple other people have teased Tony--just a little bit--about acting like your dad, and I just wasn’t thinking when I talked. Please don’t think it’s weird or anything, or be awkward. It was just a slip of the tongue. An accident.”

“How does he… how does he act when you say that? I mean… do you think he would care if he knew that I kinda think about him that way, too, now?” The last part came out quick and quiet, but Happy still heard.

Oh, wow. “Kid, I think he’d be flattered, honestly. You should hear the way he goes on about you when you’re not there. He’s as proud and protective as any dad I’ve ever known.” And his behavior was totally out of character for Tony. Which is why they’d been giving him a hard time, but they’d also all been impressed at how having Peter around had settled him. Given him a little more purpose and focus.

“Oh,” Peter said thoughtfully. When Happy glanced back, the kid was smiling softly. 

After they pulled into the garage a few minutes later, Happy rode up to the penthouse with the subdued teenager, wondering a little bit if he was going to bring up how Happy had slipped up to Tony. Of course that was totally up to Peter, but Happy kind of wanted to be around to do damage control if needed. With Tony or with Peter--whichever one needed it.

As they walked in, Happy heard Tony from the kitchen. “In here, kid!”

He followed at a safe distance, but saw as Peter dropped his backpack and headed straight for the older man. 

“Hey, Pete, I got all that stuff out down in the lab that you wanted for--oof.”

Tony had stopped talking because he’d been knocked back a few inches when the teenager tucked himself up against Tony’ chest, arms wrapping around his mentor’s back. Tony froze for a moment, but quickly reciprocated the hug. 

“What’s this all about?” he said, his voice soft as he tipped his head down to rest it on Peter’s. “Something happen at school?”

“Nah, it was a really good day. I’m just happy to see you.” Peter’s voice was muffled, but cheerful.

Tony looked bemused now. “Uh, I’m happy to see you too.” He looked at Happy with a questioning expression. Happy visually deflected, shrugging and half-smiling. Even rolled his eyes a little like, Teenagers? Who knows? Maybe his part in this wouldn’t come up. Hopefully it wouldn’t. 

Peter pulled back, and looked around, eyes lighting on a plate of sandwiches Tony had been preparing. Dad. Such a dad. “These for me?” he asked brightly, reaching for the tray.

“Uh, yeah. Just bring it down, and I’ll start setting up. You can join when you’re done eating.” Tony put a hand on Peter’s shoulder to steer him towards the elevator, and waved vaguely at Happy.

“Uh, see you later, kid?” Happy said, the unspoken question obvious in his voice. 

“Bye, Happy. Thanks for the ride!” Peter said happily. And then the dang kid winked at him. Well, what in the world did that mean? 

Tony and Peter stepped into the elevator and were gone in seconds. Happy shook his head. Was Peter going to tell Tony or not? Now Happy was going to worry about it all afternoon, which may or may not have been Peter’s intention. That dang kid. 

But thinking of how much Tony enjoyed having him around, and how happy the kid had seemed when Happy let Tony’s feelings slip, he couldn’t help but smile. Just a little bit. Maybe it hadn’t been such a bad thing after all.

#completed fic ideas #irondad and spiderson #fanfiction #irondad tumblr prompts #irondad fanfiction #happy hogan #whoops

[omg-just-peachy]

3 times Steve chickened out of asking Tony to dance and the first time he did it

The first time it strikes Steve that he could, if he wanted, ask Tony to dance, he never even gets the chance. They’re at one of the many galas they’ve been invited to this holiday season, and Tony looks incredible, as always. Tonight he’s wearing a velvet, navy suit that probably costs more than Steve’s motorcycle, cut and tailored perfectly to him. His hair is graying at the temples these days, and Steve’s pleased to see he hasn’t bothered to dye it into submission.

Steve wants to push his hands into the perfectly coiffed curls, but he doesn’t let himself linger on that thought too long.

So far, Tony has danced with Bruce, Natasha, and even Thor, for a minute there, so it’s not like it would be weird for Steve to ask. His palms starts to sweat at the thought of asking for it, though, because surely, Tony will see right through him. Tony will know.

“Why the long face, Cap?” Tony asks playfully, materializing at Steve’s side and nudging him with his shoulder.

Steve’s working up his nerve, trying to come up with something quick and quippy in reply, but in the end, it doesn’t matter.

Rhodey sidles up beside them, gives Steve a salute, and guides Tony back to the dance floor, their movements liquid, easy.

****

The second time it happens, it’s at Bucky and Sam’s wedding. Everyone is joining the happy couple on the dance floor, and Steve, thrilled for two of his best friends and surrounded by the people he loves most in the world, catches Tony’s eye.

The wink Tony sends his way makes his stomach do somersaults, and what can he do but make his way over to him?

“You clean up nice, Rogers,” Tony says, and there’s a hint of… something in his voice, velvety and smooth the way Steve hasn’t had directed at him before.

“You’re one to talk,” Steve says, gesturing at Tony’s perfect charcoal tux.

Tony opens his mouth, moves just a fraction of an inch closer, and really it would be easy, so easy, to pull him into his arms and into a dance. He wouldn’t really even have to ask, they could just… dance.

But then Natasha is smirking at him and twirling his way, yanking Steve into a dance while Tony grins from the sidelines and Steve’s heart sinks.

****

“You come here often?” Tony’s voice is warm and familiar by his ear, knowing, of course, that Steve has little use for bars like this, what with the whole, unable to get drunk thing.

“Yeah,” Steve plays along. “Never seen you here before, though.” It’s gotten easier, falling into step with Tony, matching his energy, flirting back, in Steve’s own careful way.

“Well, we’ll have to change that, won’t we?” Tony leans forward on his bar stool, a team night out now taking on an entirely new air of possibility. The bar isn’t their usual kind of place. It’s busier, for one thing, packed with people who could recognize them and ask for things: pictures, selfies, autographs… but tonight, everyone seems happy to leave the Avengers well enough alone.

So Steve sits with Tony, and they talk, and Steve thinks: it’s so easy.

And it is. Talking to Tony is the best part of his day, and tonight is no different. Which is why, when the music changes and Bruce and Nat and Clint make their way to the tiny, cramped dance floor, Steve almost suggests that he and Tony join them.

Before he can, though, Tony leans over, his hand warm on Steve’s knee, and asks if he can buy him a drink. And really, Steve can’t even think straight, let alone suggest a dance. He nods, because it’s Tony and a drink will be nice, something to do with his hands at the very least.

****

+1

“Dance with me?” Steve asks, winding his arm around Tony’s waist before he can reply. It’s so easy it’s almost hard to believe that a few short months ago, Steve’s palms were damp at the thought of asking Tony Stark for a dance.

“I thought you’d never ask,” Tony says with a wink. He seems happy enough to follow Steve’s lead, the music swirling around them. It’s Tony’s birthday, and he’d leaned into the celebration this year, letting Pepper and Maria Hill and Nat go over the top with their plans.

Tony is warm and solid and perfect in Steve’s arms, and when steve thinks about all those missed chances, all those almosts, he can’t help but lean in and kiss him.

“Can’t tell you how many times I wanted to,” Steve confesses quietly.

“Tell me,” Tony asks, grinning up at him under the bright lights of the room.

Steve does.

#anonymous #stevetony #stony #super husbands #my fic #idk where this came from #but thank you for sending this!

[spider-mancan]

beta testing

Peter presented as an alpha when he was seventeen. Tony had whisked him and his aunt away to a trip to Maldives as soon as Peter's rut was over, to celebrate. Presentation was like turning twenty-one; Peter had tried to convince his aunt to let him drink a little, but he was still one-year off from the drinking age on the islands.

That was two years ago. Since then, Tony has managed to destroy his life in most ways, save the universe, rebuild his life from scratch, move to Malibu, and move back to New York. He won't pretend Peter calling him from his old lab with tears in his eyes on Christmas hadn't been a reason to return to the city.

Peter and Tony are closer than ever. Peter underestimates the strides he's made for science just by giving Tony someone to bounce off of that isn't a metal arm in a dunce cap. On his own merit, Peter is busy revolutionizing the textile industry. His webbing formula is extremely flexible, pun intended, and he's been working on a variant that could be used instead of Kevlar. Tony has the patent paperwork ready whenever Peter says the word.

MJ and May are both alphas, and Peter's friend Ted is an omega. Tony remembers the first time Peter came to the lab with scent strain -- super senses suddenly surrounded by pheromones? Recipe for disaster. "I'll be okay, Mr. Stark," Peter had said, even though his face was green. "I just, you know, need to get used to it, like before."

Tony is just a beta, much to his father's chagrin. He'd held out a hand and said, "come here, kid," with his wrist pointed upward, bare. Neutral. Just sweat and oil and cologne and whatever personal smell lies dormant on most beta's skin.

It had been the right move; Tony knew that as soon as he saw Peter's shoulders sag with relief. Peter surged forward like Tony was offering him water in the desert. Instead of scenting Tony's wrist, Peter had wrapped his fingers around Tony's wrist and used the hold to pull Tony up and out of his seat, a little closer. Buried his nose in Tony's neck, where the tie was loosened and the button of his dress shirt popped. Breathed.

Tony had let him, mostly out of shock.

But then Peter said, breathlessly, "thank you, Mr. Stark," and Tony said, predictably, "anytime, kid."

For some time just after his presentation, Peter would set his bag down and pet DUM-E on the head and pull Tony in close to clear his nose of the smog of the city and Tony thought, yeah, this is normal. It was normal because they both made it normal. If there's one thing Tony learned in his life, it's that it's only weird if you make it weird. Peter needed a palette cleanser made sense, and Tony would give Peter the whole world. What's a little scenting between friends?

The rest of Tony's friends had some things to say about it. "Watch yourself, Tones," Rhodey would tell him on the odd nights he had free to sit and watch a game and try to keep Tony from self-destructing. "You're great at managing a crisis but you've never been great at seeing them coming."

Tony wasn't worried about it. At his worst, Peter Parker was still one of the best people Tony had ever met.

This strange new tradition continued long after Peter got a handle of the rest of his new heightened senses (again) but what was Tony supposed to do when the few times Tony didn't immediately offer his hand Peter's eyes got wide and sad? What is Tony supposed to do? He's just a man.

The scenting also seems to remove whatever barrier was left between them. Peter took the opportunity to shift himself from mentee to friend as best he could, considering he was nearly thirty years Tony's junior. Tony has always been a tactile person; now, Peter felt confident returning small gestures. A clap on the shoulder, a on the hand on the hip, a tug on the sleeve. There aren't many people around who can sate Tony's need for physical connection -- there aren't many people around at all -- and if Peter needs the same thing, it works out for the best.

The touching bleeds out of the lab without Tony noticing. Peter started coming over outside of his lab days with a movie or a craving for a restaurant and Tony loves indulgence. He loves indulgence even more when they're someone else's. He took Peter to Thailand for a weekend, spent another with Peter's feet in his lap while they watched Star Trek from the pilot. He started booking larger hotel rooms when he had to travel for work and invited Peter every time. Peter never said no, but eventually Tony stopped booking the rooms with two beds.

That's another large difference, but this one Tony notices; Peter starts sharing his bed.

In an innocent way, of course. The first time they were in England and the heating was terrible and it was freezing. Peter never dealt well with the cold to begin with, and he'd looked so shy asking to sleep next to Tony. He'd smelled nearly panicked, so much so that even Tony could tell, but Tony didn't need to be an alpha or omega to tell how relieved Peter was when Tony simply rolled over and held the sheets up for Peter to crawl inside.

After all this time, Tony has finally realized that if he gives Peter an inch, Peter will take a mile.

It started in hotels, but Peter has effectively moved into the Tower since then. Even though he has his own room, decked out in everything a nerdy college student could possibly want, the bed goes mostly unused. It started with Peter bodily carrying Tony to bed when he went on a work bender and staying so Tony wouldn't sneak back to the workshop. It started with Peter knocking on Tony's door, shaking with remnant nightmares, and letting Tony pet his hair until they both fell asleep. It started with...well. Tony isn't sure when it started.

"He's already living there, isn't he?" May asked, when Tony asked permission for Peter to officially move in. "What's the difference?"

"Well, I know I'm not family--"

"--Thank god." May rolled her eyes. "I trust him with you. Why wouldn't I? It's not like you're a prowling omega in the shadows or anything."

Tony is just a beta. Alphas don't really need betas -- not the way Tony needs Peter.

It's been two years since that weekend in Maldives. Tony knows because FRIDAY had sent some of the photographs to his tablet, and with that comes the question of why Peter is in his bed and why has no one mentioned to Tony that he's in too deep?

(People have. Rhodey, for one, and then Happy, and also May Parker, albeit Tony had been uncomfortable so he hadn't really been paying attention.)

Right now, it's Pepper in the doorway, dressed tidily and sighing heavily when she opens Tony's bedroom door. She thinks Tony has bedded another pair of hot legs in heels, but Tony sees her eyes widen the moment she realizes it's Peter.

Peter is clinging to Tony, his face buried in Tony's neck, dead to the world. Despite the danger sense, Peter sleeps like the dead unless something tells him he shouldn't. Right now, Tony feels the heat of his breath against his bare skin.

"Oh, Tony," Pepper says, shaking her head. "You don't have to hide anything, you know."

"I'm not." Tony is awkwardly propped up on his pillows, the tablet settling now on Peter's back. "There's nothing going on."

"Sure." Pepper turns on her heels, flicking her ponytail over her shoulder. "Paperwork will be on the island. Tell Peter to call more often. Try not to do anything you would normally do."

"I'm just a beta!" Tony argues at her back, a loud hiss, but Peter lightly pulls out of sleep anyway. Tony stays still until Peter settles back down, the pads of Peter's fingers pressing into the dips of Tony's collarbone. "I'm just a beta."

Peter has talked about omegas almost non-stop since he went to college, mostly the pretty and talented Gwen Stacy or the pretentious Harry Osborn. For once, Tony wishes he were an omega so he could tell whether Peter was spending time with them, with anyone else. An alpha, of course, would also be able to tell, but...

Tony clears his throat.

"Good morning," Peter says, not long later. His lips press into Tony's neck like a kiss. He smells like sleep, his bare chest warm against the rucked-up tank top Tony usually wears to bed. He yawns. "Whu' time issit?"

"Late." Tony bonks Peter on the head with his tablet -- he's managed to close out two projects in the interim -- and Peter rolls onto his back with a groan. It's suddenly much colder. "Pepper wants you to call her more."

Peter freezes. "Was she here?"

"For a minute." Free of his leech, Tony throws his feet over the side of his bed and stretches, all the bones of his spine popping back into place.

"Was she..."

Tony looks at Peter over his shoulder with a questioning eyebrow.

"Was she surprised I was here?" Peter asks finally.

"No." Tony frowns. "Well, a little. You know how she is."

"That's a non-answer."

"Does it matter?"

"Did she say anything bad?"

"About you, kid?" Tony laughs, rolling his head on his neck. "Never."

When Tony goes to stand up from the bed, he feels a slight tug on the back of his shirt. Peter is leaning over, Tony's shirt in one hand, his gaze down on the covers. "Mr. Stark, I...uh."

"You can call me Tony, you know," Tony says, for the millionth time. "We've been over this."

Peter frowns, and when he looks up at Tony he's chewing his lip to shreds. "Tony..." A thick swallow. "My, uh, my rut..."

Tony jolts. "It started!?"

"No!" Peter's eyes widen, and he lets go of Tony to shake his hands frantically, no, no, no. "It's soon. Uh, maybe in two weeks or so."

Very soon. "Does your aunt know?" Ruts only happen once a year unless they're triggered by a heat, and the last one Peter spent at May's. Tony had missed him terribly. "Should we get stuff moving?"

"I was, uh..." Peter runs a hand through his hair. "She's out of town! This...uh, this whole month. I was thinking about just, you know, spending it here."

Tony frowns. "Wouldn't it be better if she was gone?"

Peter pales. "No," he says. "I will not elaborate. And uh, can I have it here?"

Tony pauses. There's no...there's no reason Peter can't have it here. Tony can't smell the rut scent, and there's plenty of room. Peter's guest room is still there, although most of his clothes and personal items are strewn about Tony's room. But Tony can hear just as well as anyone else, and the idea of Peter going through a rut only a few rooms away is...

Peter is already rambling. "My ruts really aren't that bad, you know? Because of the spider bite, like. You'd think it'd be worse because everything is, just, more but I don't know. It's like I'm so used to being overwhelmed and controlling myself, it's really not bad? And it's even better when I have a, um, a partner."

"A partner?" Tony balks. "You want...a partner? For your rut?"

"Uh." Peter blushes, pressing his lips together. "Yeah."

Tony sits on the thought and finds it rather sour. He licks his lips, wipes a hand down his mouth and chin, thinking. "Do you want me to leave, then?" Leave Peter here, to be taken care of by some omega. Someone else, when it's Tony's job to take care of Peter. Not that...god.

Tony is so fucked up.

Peter makes a small, confused sound. "No--no. You don't have to leave. That's not--"

"I don't know if bringing a stranger in here is the best idea," Tony says, standing up. The first thing he does is take off his reading glasses. The second thing he does is put on his watch. Both of these things are written into muscle memory, and he can do them without seeming bothered. "But let's stick a pin in this. I need coffee, pronto."

"Yeah." Peter deflates. "Yeah, we can talk about it later."

Sure.

Tony is halfway through making a pot of coffee when he comes to two separate, terrible conclusions.

He would 100% help Peter with his rut if he could. and

He can't.

Tony is just a beta.

By the time Peter gets out of bed, Tony is long gone and the pot of coffee is done brewing.

Unknown to Tony, Peter grumbles, pours himself a cup of coffee, and plots how to get Tony in his bed -- biblically -- within the next two weeks.

#omegaverse #starker #ironspider #drabble #i might make a little drabble collection on ao3 so if i ever wanna come back to these i can #i was gonna write the full conclusion but then it got long #everyone makes fun of me because i can't write short things TT

[onginlove]

The Drunk, The Sober

——————-

BUCKY X Y/N

Rating: I honestly don’t know. Pg 14?

Summary- Once again, Tony is throwing a party! You decide to try out some alcohol since Thor was there. The night gets weird.

Warnings- insecure y/n? cursing. fluff? I’m very bad at writing drunk stuff, things- so if I’m even remotely wrong I’m so sorry T-T

——————-

Ask you got out the shower and wrapped your towel around your body, you heading into your room to try and find a outfit perfect for you.

You decided to wear a nice light blue dress that was very flowy. You didn’t want to wear any of the outfits Natasha have you because it showed off your extra fat you were worried about.

As you put on the dress, you looked in the mirror to see how well it fit you. “Well done y/n. You found the perfect dress.” You said to yourself. When you were grabbing your stuff, about to head down to Tony’s party, you heard a ding from your phone.

‘Hey Y/N/N! Everyone is waiting for you.’ You saw Natasha text.

‘I’ll be down in a sec.’ You texted back. As you got your little handbag, you hurried downstairs, n it wanting anyone to wait any longer.

—-

You heading inside and you saw everyone there. Tony was with Rhodey, Steve and Bucky was with Thor, and Natasha was with Maria.

As you went towards Natasha and Maria, they both turned your way to see your beautiful dress. “Nice dress. Sad you didn’t wear one I got you though.” Natasha said as she looked at you up and down.

“When the time is right.” You said.

————-

You, Natasha, and Maria has been talking for almost an hour. It was a fun hour too. You considered them your best friends. Since Maria isn’t always around you only have Nat.

You were all talking and laughing until Nat and Maria stop laughing and was looking behind you. You were confused so you turned around to see a tall man standing behind you.

“Oh, Shit, Bucky you scared me!” You said as you put one of your hands over your chess. “Sorry, I didn’t mean too.” He responded. “I was just coming over to ask if you would want a drink with me.”

“Oh, I don’t drink.” “First time for everything.” You were trying to resist drinking alcohol, but Bucky was asking you. You had a crush on Bucky for so long that you were willing to do anything for him.

“Fine. Just this once. See ya later girls.” You walked with Bucky over to Steve and Thor. Thor had his hard liquor that you were gonna drink. The other two just had regular alcohol because they didn’t want to get drunk.

Thor poured a shot/cup of it for you. With hesitation, you downed it quickly with an after face of disgust and shock. “Worst thing I ever had. But it was also kinda good?” You said. They all laughed.

————-

Many, many drinks of the hard liquor later, you couldn’t even stand up without tumbling over.

“I want another.” You said. “No, no. No more. You already had like…23.” “I only see two.” You said.

“Alright, yea, that’s enough. You can’t even see straight.” Bucky looked at Thor. “Next time when she asks for more, don’t give her any.” Thor nodded as he was chuckling at your drunk self.

“Y’know Bucky, you look very nice in that suit.” You said. “Uhm, thanks. It’s just like any other suit.” “No, this one makes your eyes sparkle.”

Shut up y/n.

“Ok, that’s the liquor talking. Time to get you to bed.” “No, I can stay up forever. I’m not even that effected by it.”

Bucky just rolled his eyes and picked you up. You were, well, trying to, walk with him upstairs but you always collapsed.

Finally making it to your room, Bucky place you down on your bed.

“Ooo! Fun idea, let’s binge walk gossip girls.” “You mean ‘watch’?” “That’s what I said.”

——————-

3 seasons later, you were starting to fall asleep with your head on Bucky. During the gossip girls, you always mentioned how one character looked like him. He always chuckled at that. Him laughing made you happy.

He set you properly in bed and covered the sheets over you.

“Hey Bucky,” “Yea?” “I have a surprise for you.” “What is it?” “Close your eyes.”

You watched as he closed his eyes and you sneaked a peek at his lips. Next thing you know was your lips was touching his. After a few seconds of the kiss, your lips parted.

“Gosh you’re so drunk.” “What do you mean?” “You kissed me, Y/N. I can tell you’re very drunk.”

“Have you ever heard drunk mind speak sober thoughts?” You asked. He just looked at you, and walked towards your door. “Goodnight Y/N.” And he closed the door.

You were staring at the door for a little while, wondering why he just left. And then went to sleep.

—-

A/N- Hiya! Sorry this was pretty crappy and not my best work. I only read about ppl getting drunk, not actually write about it 😅. I am going to make a part 2 so make sure you stick around for that! You can send your Bucky x y/n ideas and maybe I’ll do them :)

Thanks for the reblogs!

#james buchanan barnes #bucky x reader #bucky fanfic #bucky x you #bucky x y/n #bucky barnes #marvel #drunk y/n #this is crappy oml

[jackiequick]

Rare moment.. | Marvel Fanfic

Timeline: Phase 1 Pre—Avengers — Phase 2 Pre—Iron Man 3

Non romantic-Pairing: Jason Underwood & Pepper Potts

Characters mentioned: Howard Stark, Peggy Carter, Natasha Romanoff, Maria Hill, Maria Stark, Tony Stark, Edward & Ana Jarvis and etc

Summary: You rarely see a man who’s face never looked like anything phases him, but what happens when the chips are down and his emotions take front line one night? It’s a rare moment but it makes you remember how human he really has been.

——

It was late or early in some accounts, when he awakened from his slumber. There were nights he didn’t sleep and if he did, it was short. Usually he would occupy his mind with whatever was on TV, packing for a trip and or, start cleaning up a small mess. But tonight, it didn’t suit him.

He sat near the open bar in the kitchen, leaning against the counter in his pjs rubbing his eyes and pouring himself another drink. He already had a snack from the fridge to not upset his stomach or anything. His mind looked crowded, it always seemed crowded in his opinion.

He sighed, taking a sip of his drink and exhaled.

And that’s exactly how Pepper found it.

She originally headed out to the bathroom but once she left, she noticed the lights on. That’s when she stumbled upon the blonde hair man of the house sipping a drink, it was a rare occasion. Jason was always a day drinker during a Sunday brunch or a simple weekday. But this, this was rarely the last thing she wanted to see at the moment.

She expected a late night snack at least, not a glass of cold wine.

“Jason?” She asked making her presence known, “Are you alright?”

“Huh?” He responded turning to face the strawberry blonde with a soft half smile, “I’m fine. Did I wake you?”

“N-no, I just headed out of the bathroom to pee, and I saw you here. Is something going on?”

“N-no, Pep it’s fine. I’m fine, just couldn’t sleep.”

“So you decided to drink instead?”

“Not my best moment ever seen but I had worse. I’m sorry you had to see me like this. Go back to bed.”

“Tony’s knocked out cold in his lab downstairs, he won’t be waking up anytime soon.”

Jason sighed deeply, he wanted to be alone with his drink and crackers to be honest. He wanted to be miserable in his thoughts. But he knew he wasn’t going get free of Pepper that easily. She was tough and always knew when to stand her ground. He pulled up a chair for her as she nodded, thanking him.

“What’s on your mind? You can tell me, I promise I won’t try to judge you on anything.” Said Pepper, knowing the men in this household mindsets were beyond compared to hers.

He sniffled and sighed, “It’s a lot. It’s a lot more complicated than you think.”

“Try me. I’ve seen weird stuff lately.”

“Heh, uh, I have been thinking. When am I not thinking? I’ve been trying to ease my mind on everything. I know I can’t control half of it but theses thoughts keep me up at night.”

“What do you mean?”

“My lifetime achievements are nothing special. I mean—I enjoy what I do! I get to see you, Tony, Rei, Rhodey and visit Peggy whenever possibly. But it doesn’t..um..crap.”

“It doesn’t what?”

“It doesn’t ever take away the guilt and painful decisions I’ve seen happen.”

Jason could’ve stayed quiet at that moment but the words just came out. He lived longer than expect, he has seen his own family fall and risk they’re lives. Sometimes he wishes he could end it, stop it from eating up inside but he can’t. It hurt, so much more than he knows. It was a rare occasion to see him say something like this, Pepper knows it. Tony knows it.

He always acts like nothing ever phases him and that he’s always fine. He has been doing that for a long period of years now. Always feeling like he has too, there is so much happening in the world that he can’t put that burden on anyone on how he feels. He never gets time to panic, react a certain way and or externally freak out.

But moments like this, he crumbles as his mind starts boggling and he can’t help it.

His voice hitches as he sniffed again, “It doesn’t take wipe away the whole truth. The guilt. The pain and the damage that happened…”

“What guilt? Sorry I’m not following me..” Pepper ask wholeheartedly, she knew of his story but not all of it.

“I’ve fought for paperwork, payed more than expected and traveled just to keep myself alive and safe..just for i don’t get questioned by authorities for how I look. Just for i can breath and watch Tony grow up. I thank Peggy every single day for taking care of him, her godson, when one of us couldn’t do it. But it doesn’t take away the fact that I was left behind..right where they left me..alone…”

His voice was shaky but he kept calm, taking a breath. Pepper put a hand on his shoulder.

“You seem happy now…?” She whispered, trying to be careful with her words.

“Not 100% happy.” He admitted, “I mean. Sometimes I just feel tired. It’s this tiredness and empty chest pain knowing I can’t do a freaking thing about it. I lost my sister cause she didn’t care about anyone but herself, I lost Howard and Maria…they were my family, as much as fought I loved them..Ana and Jarvis..t-they were the kindest people I met…but never had the chance to have their own children..it was horrible Pepper...i can still remember it all…what we been though..”

“What about Jack, Daniel and Peggy? I know you said Jack Thompson died being shot down during an investigation..i don’t know the details..”

“No one does..I still to do this day, as much as Jack was a pain my ass, I liked the man. I don’t know who murdered him or why..Daniel went on to almost married Peggy but he knew something was always holding him back. The SSR—SHIELD said he died during a mission, but I don’t feel like it was right..and Peggy…oh Pep..the times I thought I lost that women..”

“Oh JJ..it’s okay..it’s life and Peggy is still alive and kicking for the most part.”

“There’s peoples that I met but I don’t even think you or Tony know about. And now..”

Jason voice kept riding upwards and tears started to roll in, shaking his head, he chuckled. It would’ve looked hilarious to him, but how he carries so much weight on his shoulders and never felt like he can let some of it go. Pepper was kind enough to listen to him so late at night, when she should be asleep instead, in bed under the warm covers.

But she’s here listening to him talk, not interrupting him or telling him to stop talking about that. It was always the other way around, where he always listens and let everyone else talk. He was thankful for Pepper in that moment and hoped Tony married such an amazing women. She deserves to be more than just his assistant.

“..and now what?” She said softly, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“And now with how much the world is changing…I’m scared, no terrified what I will see next. We have gods, mutants, more men and women in suits, genetically modified people, and no knows what?! I um..shit i don’t know..” Jason replied sniffing, “The fact that Captain freaking America is alive still feels unreal to me.”

“Me too. It’s crazy. I think i had to get a drink after hearing that news.”

“I remember hearing the radio about his death during the war, Peggy crying her eyes outs that the fact she lost him, Howard feeling like he’s maybe still around wanting to search for him…and..now knowing how much I know..I think my pain will hurt more if..”

“If what?”

“If the people who I thought were dead were alive all this time but hidden behind some block of ice. It’s terrible how much I fear the thought I might’ve been lied to and it was not even justifiable that we’re only finding out now..”

Jason knows something that Tony and the public must’ve taken for granted. Must’ve missed out on and forgot about. Howard Stark’s little sister, Elizabeth Stark, Tony’s aunt and one of friends he cared for.

Lizzie or Liz for short.

His friend group originally consisted of himself, Peggy, Angie, Howard, Hank, Maria, Jarvis, Ana, Daniel, Elizabeth and a few others.

And he remembers the day Lizzie died during a mission, they were heartbroken. He remembers the long standing nights, the wishes, the questions and everything. Where he thought he should’ve been himself. Replace his life, for she could live and see the world.

And he saw her again, he wouldn’t know what to do with himself. He would probably panic, hold back a sob or two, feel sick to his stomach, question how she survived for so long and god knows what?!

His mind would feel like it split in two, as if he didn’t feel like that already.

Trade his life for her. Take a bullet for her and all their friends. But now, he doesn’t know what to think.

“Pepper, what if I was supposed to be gone already?” He wondered.

“JJ, no, don’t say that. You were meant to meet us. I believe that you were given a chance to live longer and see the world.” Pepper exclaimed.

“What happened to the no judgement part? I’m kidding. It’s just feels like I can’t breathe sometimes. My life stopped being what I would considered normal the moment I fell into the water that night and my heart stopped. I was practically died for what must’ve been 5 long minutes…it took me forever to realize what happened that during nightmare of a week..”

“Do you regret it?”

“Sometimes more than most. I wished it wasn’t like this. Honestly, it acts like blessing and feels like curse..you can’t grow old enough to be with someone, you have to love and lose people. It’s why I never married or have any kids, that I know one.”

Pepper chuckled at that, they both chuckled at the last comment. It would be funny if a kid randomly showed up at they’re doorstep claiming that they’re father was him, but it won’t happen.

“I wish I could. I wish I could’ve had a wife or hell, even husband.” He said with soft chuckle, “But I don’t date. I don’t want to have a girlfriend where I can’t give them, everything they wished for.”

He thought about Angie and Violet. But he knew he couldn’t give them everything they would’ve like, still he would’ve married at least Angie.

He fell for Violet deeply she was an Angel but his heart danced and flutter when around Angie.

“And kids? I mean besides Tony and Rei, your nephews and nieces from Peggy’s family.” Pepper repiled with a chuckle, “If you couldn’t have a wife or husband, you could have one. You just need that push but what about a kid?”

“I would enjoy my own kid in my life, even if it’s just for a while.” He replied, “But I won’t make them sacrifice their lives, since the first few years would be great and we’ll have fun…but when they become older and I stay the same, they will have to lie. Not be able to introduce me to everyone as they’re father since the age difference. Or worse, they have to lie saying I’m they’re nephew or son instead, when they get into their late 40s and 50s. It will be a balancing act for them having to lie..”

“Hmm..wow, you come up with everything, don’t you?”

“No because it’s true. It happened. I didn’t ask for Tony, Sharon and Hope to keep up lie that wasn’t theirs to keep, they just did it. Subconsciously. Telling people that I’m an old family friend of some kind, which isn’t all falsely said. But still and I appreciate it. They’re kinda like my nephew and nieces…”

“But if you had to have one, would you? Because I think you would be a great husband and father. I mean, you’re already an uncle.”

“Yeah I would. A daughter. After helping babysit Sharon Carter and Hope Van Dyne, it’s different than a taking care of a boy. You girls look at your daddies, grandpas, godfathers, and uncles way differently than boys do. It’s cute.”

“But I do have a question.”

“Shoot.”

“Why all of this? What brought this last thought of yours?”

“Natasha.” He said softly, “You knew she and the other Avengers have kids, but they let fear and bruised feelings stop them from being great parents. It’s unbelievably understandable where they’re all coming from but still…i don’t know..”

“Jason, you know the reasons why. It’s hard for them…” She replied with a half smile.

“I know, Pepper. I know it is. Even if they had theses kids under odd circumstances, they deserve to get a chance to meet each other. There will be hurt feelings and mistakes made, but that’s part of it. No one knows how to be a parent! It’s something you learn along the way…”

“But it’s not easy as you say it is. You’re not in they’re shoes, even if you were, you would know it’s not gonna be easy.”

“Even if I had to give up my child for their best chance and to help me figure something else to make things better..I know, I’m contradicting myself when I say this but I had my own child out there and I knew where they are. I would make sure I would be their guardian angel and give them so advice, even if i don’t get to the part where I say ‘Hey I’m your dad!’. Make sure they’re okay…it’s hard concept, I know…”

“But you’re not all wrong. Things just take time..and you need to give things time for yourself.”

“Sadly, I have all the time in the world. But I’ll be okay..I’m always okay. Go to bed, Pepper.”

“But..”

“Go to bed. You got a long week coming up.”

“I know..but will you be actually okay?”

“Good night, doll.”

“Good night, Jason.”

——

Thanks for reading! What did y’all think? Let’s discuss

Please like, comment, share & reblog for more!

Tags: @gcthvile @rooster-84 @msrochelleromanofffelton @blackheart-beauty @hanlueluver @mandylove1000 @sherloquestea @topgun-imagines @meiramel @gaminggirlsstuff @yetanotherwells and etc

#agent carter fanfiction #marvel x oc #marvel phase 1 #iron man #mcu ocs #marvel oc #avengers au #the avengers 2012 #glen powell #agents of shield #iron man fanfiction #hangman au #pepper potts #tony stark #peggy carter #sharon carter #hope van dyne #howard stark #marvel fic #fyeahmarvelocs

[nostalgicatsea]

“You think I can't hold my own?”

“We get through this, I'll hold your own.”

“You had to go and make it weird.”

My second @marveltrumpshate 2021 mood board for @gottalovev, featuring my favorite BFFs in the entire MCU. Thank you for asking for a Rhodey and Tony mood board, Lou. I love them so much so this was a blast to make! 

#tony stark #rhodey #james rhodes #james 'rhodey' rhodes #ironmanedit #my graphics #marvel trumps hate

[fanfic-corner]

Marvel Humour Pt2

Hello everyone!! We're back for round two of Marvel humor fics to brighten up your day.

You can find part one here.

Battle Plans by prettybirdy979 (1.8k)

They say never piss off the nurses because they're the ones who actually run the hospital. They can make your life a misery if you do.

Shirley Benson has never had to instruct her nurses to use this power en-mass before but to protect the identity of Daredevil, protector of the innocent and destroyer of the wicked? She'll happily make the police regret ever setting foot in her hospital.

Leap Before You Look by 94BottlesOfSnapple (2.1k)

Or, 5 times Matt Murdock jumped out a window to avoid his feelings (including horrible embarrassment), and 1 time he couldn't.

Double Blind by smilebackwards (2.3k)

Matt comes to, flat on his back, with Iron Man and Hawkeye hovering over him. “Oh fuck,” Stark says, less than comfortingly.

Double-D in Your A-P-P by 94BottlesOfSnapple (2.4k)

Foggy is legally obligated by the laws of friendship to download any and all mobile games starring Daredevil.

Unfortunately, that means eventually he has to explain to Matt why he's got a superhero dating sim app on his phone.

Say You Don't Know Me (or Recognize My Face) by ShowMeAHero (2.9k)

Daredevil is kind of dark and broody. He doesn't want anyone to know his real name, he never smiles, and he has kind of a loner attitude.

Matt Murdock, on the other hand, is completely unrecognizable to Jessica the first time she really sees him.

Repeat After Me by battybatzgirl (3.8k)

Tony’s face hardens as he says, “What kid.”

“I don’t know, some twelve year old—”

Below him, the kid coughs out, “Fifteen.”

“—Fifteen year old—”

Tony scrubs a hand across his face. “Don’t tell me he’s wearing a dorky shirt with a chemistry pun on it.”

Rhodey frowns. That was oddly specific. Glancing down, he looks at what little he can see of the kid’s shirt—which isn't much since there’s so much blood now, but what could be once called a cartoon joke is printed on it. “Um, yeah?”

“Son of a bitch.”

Hieroglyphics (or you are under arrest for being attractive & ruining my life) by The_Readers_Muse (4.4k)

As far as randomly acquired superhero powers go, he is going to admit right now that his are kind of lame. Okay, lots lame. Sort of. But considering Matt is a complete and utter dingus with about the same self-preservation instincts as a mosquito flying full tilt into a bug zapper, he figures an extra edge - as fucking weird and annoying as it is – is probably worth the headache.

in an empty moral space by blueh (5.4k)

“Bring Spider-Man to us, Mr. Stark,” High-heels says and rattles off an address. “If that bug isn’t here in the next twenty four hours, then your intern gets it. We are not going to ask a second time.”

There’s a pause.

Then, “You want Spider-Man?”

“In exchange for your intern,” High-heels affirms.

“Spider-Man,” Mr. Stark repeats. He sounds more amused than worried for Peter’s apparent safety.

also known as: Peter Parker is held hostage…in order to get to Spider-Man. Throw in some Accords reconciliation and, well, Peter’s life just got a whole lot weirder.

This is the worst timeline by Hittinmiss (6.6k)

Chair Dude: I have some good news and some bad news

Chair Dude: good news is you didn't miss any training for decathlon

Chair Dude: bad news is that they decided the field trip without you ://

Man of Spiders: why is it bad news??

Chair Dude: because Flash decided to pick the compound and no one said no so…

Man of Spiders: Dude why didn't you say no???

Chair Dude: I would have been out voted Dude!

Chair Dude: I also wanna see the compound as well so yeet

Peter Parker's Super Secret Snack Stash by coconutknightshade (7k)

"It's D, Peter. We talked about this."

“No it’s not, Ned. Because if it were D then I would be wrong and that would put me at a 65% already on this practice exam and we haven’t even gotten through it all. I can’t fail another history exam, Ned! This last one is worth 60% of our grade! If I fail this final then I’ll fail the class and if I fail the class then I’ll be kicked out of school-”

“You’re top of our year, Peter.” You can almost hear Ned’s eye roll as he talks over Peter.

“- and if I’m kicked out of school then I’ll be forced to live on the streets exchanging sexual favors for money and I can’t do that, Ned! I wouldn’t even know what to charge- I mean, what’s the street value of a blow job, Ned? Do you know? Because I sure as shit don’t.” At this point Ned is outright giggling over Peter’s theatrics.

Five times the Avengers don't find out about Daredevil and one time they do by Nautika (7.2k)

“And then I had to help Daredevil climb out of that dumpster, freaking Daredevil, can you believe it?” Clint waved his arms around, nearly sweeping his cup off the table in Matt’s apartment.

Five Times Peter Parker Pretended to Be Asleep by blondsak (16k)

...and the one time he actually was.

Or: sometimes, faking sleep can work to your advantage. When it comes to trying to fool a certain genius, overprotective, superhero mentor, Peter finds this to be doubly true.

from your perspective, the world is flat by blueh (18k)

Peter successfully goes on a field trip, accidentally catches the school bleachers, survives a bus explosion, and reveals his identity as Spider-Man.

…not necessarily in that order, much to the confusion of his entire decathlon team.

also known as: Peter Parker and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

What I Really Need is You by happyaspie (18k)

or: Five Things Peter Needs From Tony and One Thing He Wants.

i see myself (in you) by parkrstark (28k)

“Hey, c’mon, before long we’ll be back to normal and we’ll look back at this and laugh.”

Peter just looked up at him with a slight glare as he scratched at his chin again. The itch of the facial hair was driving him crazy and Tony found it highly amusing. “You’re in the body of a 15-year-old boy. Why are you smiling?”

“You’re in the body of Tony Stark. Why aren’t you smiling?” Tony asked with a smirk.

turn back the clock (and I'll try again in the morning) by madasthesea (35k)

Peter gets stuck in a time loop. In it, he lives through some of his worst nightmares, only to wake up that morning and have no one remember. He needs Tony to help him get through.

And if that isn't bad enough, his identity is revealed over and over, every day.

Avocados and Avengers by whitchry9 (51k)

Matt meets Avengers. Avengers don't know he's blind. Things happen. Hilarity ensues. Matt gains new friends and Foggy is totally jealous.

Child's Play by SPICYJARVIS (59k)

Spiderman has been missing for one year, two months and five days.

Clint Barton happens across a homeless kid named Peter Parker.

It's a Secret to Everybody by Snapdragon_in_the_Snow (97k)

Peter gets to spend all summer living in Avengers Tower with Tony. When the Rogue Avengers get pardoned and come back to live at the Tower too, they're confused as to who Peter is. However, once they see how Tony acts around Peter, that confusion goes away, as they know for certain who Peter must be - Tony's secret son.

Tony and Peter decide to make the most of the situation, and play along. They hope they can keep up the act all summer. But they soon learn that they barely have to act at all.

And there we have it! If you have any other recommendations to share or fic recs you'd like me to find, please send me an ask or a message. And as usual, thank you to the fantastic writers for sharing their fics with us!!

#marvel #mcu #humor #fic recs #mattfoggy #daredevil #spider-man #irondad #ao3 #lina lore

[blulemonades]

Theories of Happiness || Prelude

word count: 1.7k

warning(s): 18+ languages, mentions: brainwashing and decoding.

summary: the introduction

*not beta read, all mistakes are mine*

Bucky Barnes x fem!avatar!Reader

links here for -> masterpost

=//=//=//=

If someone had told you a year ago that you would be an Avenger you would’ve laughed in their face. Granted if someone had told you 5 years ago that you would have an overzealous hippo goddess living inside you, you probably would have kicked them into the nearest psych ward.

“Oh hush,” Taweret responded to the winning thoughts in your head. “You're my avatar, I only work through you. Technically, I'm not living inside you.” she snorted as you rolled your eyes. “Now pay attention, Mister Rogers looks serious.”

‘Mister Rogers’ is how Taweret refers to Cap. You’ve tried explaining that only you could hear her, so she can refer to the team informally but she insisted. “Manners are Manners and I have to set an example for your rude mind.”

Now if any of the others had heard that they would be in disbelief. Innocent, quiet, little Y/n with her books and sweets, couldn’t possibly be as dark and troubled as Tawerat had prompted.

“Shuri and T’Challa both say that he has done well with the deprogramming, so Fury, Tony, and I have agreed that the next step would be bringing him here to the compound, where he can be resocialized with the rest of us.”

Ah, that makes sense, you thought as you looked over as the others nodded along. Tony was stiff but he seemed to be accepting of the idea.

After the ordeal with the accords and Zemo, Tony had taken a long break away with Pepper before coming back and apologizing to Steve and the rest of us that sided with him, by setting a truce of wiping out Hydra and destroying all traces of the Winter Soldier in Bucky.

You had minor encounters with both Bucky and the Winter Solider, luckily more with the first than the second. But mainly that had to do with you siding with Cap during the whole debacle with Zemo, so there wasn’t much time for pleasantries. A mere “Hello" as you arrived at the car park with Clint and Wanda, it was before Steve told everyone to suit up, thanks to Tawerat, you didn’t take as long as some of the others.

“You’re welcome as always.”

“I’m cool with that as long as everyone is,” Rhodey spoke from his spot around the table. Next to Tony, he would be the next person to hold a grudge. Vision was aiming for Bucky when he accidentally hit Rhodey in the first place. Everyone immediately turned to Tony, who you were already studying.

Clearing his throat, he nodded and then in Tony Stark fashion clapped his hands together. “Then it's settled, let's go get the Manchurian Candidate, and bring him home."

"Tony." Steve sighed guiltily, it was easy to tell that he was still worried about how this was going to play out.

Tony threw his hands in mock surrender, walking backward before turning to the door. "Okay, Okay, don't quote me on that, just getting it out of my system."

“But seriously, let’s go, it's still a 4-hour flight to Wakanda and I promised Pepper that I would be home by dinner.”

After the two men left, along with Bruce, as medical and Rhodey, “to get any weirdness out of the way.” as he put it. Sam whistled lowly… “This is going to be interesting.”

“That’s an understatement.” Nat agreed as we all left to go about our daily routines. per usual you had to do research for an artifact that certain members of the ennead requested you find so you were heading back towards your room.

"Hey, Twelve!" Sam called, jogging over as you waited for the elevator. Twelve as in you were the twelfth Avenger, yes, yes very original.

“Don’t be hasty on Sam, at least he’s a gentleman so unlike that Harrow fellow you were talking to.” You shook your head slightly as you tied to recover from the Tawerat comment and especially the way she almost cooned “Sam”

"I was just wondering if you had fly time available for some practice shots." I have some new maneuvers that I want to try out.” He rubbed his hands together as he grinned excitedly down at you.

You flickered your eyes back to the elevator. Horus and Osiris both wanted you to find this Sarcophagus and you had been struggling with the research…but it was hard to say no to Wilson. You both joined the Avengers around the same time, and you guys were probably closer because of that and especially because He, you, and Barton were a part of the 'Bird Squad' as Stark had so graciously nicknamed you, three.

Slowly, you nodded and with a timid smile.

“Great! I’ll meet you at the Helipad!"

“Fucking Wilson”, you grumbled as you rubbed your shoulder entering the elevator.

“Ah Miss Y/L/N.” the calm voice of FRIDAY actually relaxed you slightly. The informative A. I was very helpful with some of your Ennead assignments. “Captain Rogers, wish me to inform you that Agent Barnes will be staying in Room E5 in your hall. The decision was made in transit but he wishes to still inform you before their arrival.”

That was...okay. You guess. It did make sense Hall E was just a dorm floor and it was vacant besides you, of course. Tony had made sure that there were multiple rooms for growing the team. You had liked the isolation and you would still have that, you were in E9, and 4 empty rooms would be in between you and Barnes, As well you could see why Cap and Stark were hesitant to leave Bucky completely alone, but still allow him the chance to get use to everything.

Still rubbing your shoulder from where Sam accidentally kicked you, you nodded before realizing FRIDAY needed a verbal answer.

“Okay, Thank you, Friday.”

“No problem, Miss Y/L/N.”

=//=//=//=

It has been hours since you last looked up from your work, nose buried in one of the many books you had stored in your room. Your crusty reading glasses rested gently on the bridge of your nose as you gently turned the page of the old book. Taweret was standing, well the illusion of Taweret was standing in the corner of the room as she talked to you about the collection of the artifacts you were looking for.

She had started casting a mirage of herself to you when there was a need. Granted, she couldn’t show herself to anyone but her avatar but it was really helpful for you not to feel like a complete lunatic talking to yourself.

“I’m still waiting on my contacts in Paris to get back to me about the Scarab, but I have a feeling that if it was there, they would have already sent word-”

Three soft knocks bumping gently on your door pulled you from your train of thought. Looking up at Taweret, she winked playfully before disappearing.

With furrowed brows still glaring at the corner. “It’s Open!” you yelled from your pile of papers on the floor. Far long gone has the embarrassment of your organized chaos bothered you since you moved in. It was pretty much expected by everyone now when they enter.

“Hey.” Cap’s soft tone greeted you as you moved to meet his gaze as he walked in, Bucky trailing behind him like a shadow. You smiled softly at the two. “Just come to say Hello.” Steve smiled back before looking over and gesturing to Bucky, who waved awkwardly as he avoided looking directly at you. Very similar to the interaction you had with him in the car park in Germany.

“Oh Hello.” you smiled more broadly, standing up from your circle. "Sorry for the mess." You sighed wiping the invisible dust off your pants. "Taweret has me on another artifact recovery mission."

"Taweret?" Bucky murmured confused, looking over at Steve.

"Oh yes, it's in the team's files that I gave you, Y/n's the human avatar for Taweret, Egyptian goddess of…" he trailed making you chuckle slightly.

"Motherhood." You added, nodding as Cap made an 'Oh yeah' expression. "Protector of women and children, it's probably all better explained in my file." You laughed lightly as you pulled off your glasses.

"An avatar is just a voice for the Gods, someone to whom they can monitor the world through." You explained lightly, as you gestured to the floor. "Hence the paperwork."

Bucky chuckled slightly causing you to feel proud of yourself. Still smiling, you glanced over at Cap to see him grinning like a magpie, he quickly recovered when he realized that you were both looking at him.

"Oh! Um" He coughed slightly "I guess that's it, so did Friday give you my message-"

"Oh yes" you nodded, looking back over at Buck "We'll be sharing the same hall, I'm looking forward to it!" You beamed kindly, "There shouldn't be any problems, I'm not here all the time like the others. The Ennead meetings have been kinda hectic lately, so my sleep schedule is pretty much out the door, so if you need anything the door is always open."

Buck nodded timidly, probably still confused from your earlier explanation before he looked back over at Steve. To which Steve made a nodding gesture.

"Yes, so I guess let's go get you settled in for the night." He clapped Bucky on shoulder, before waving at you.

With a small smile and wave at you, Bucky made his exit with Cap.

"Don't forget the call time in the morning." Cap pointed as he followed Buck back into the hallway.

"I won't" you grinned, "Night Cap, Night Bucky." You called gently as you closed your door.

It was the Two replies, mainly the one softer than the other, made you smile even harder as you opened back your reading glasses before plopping back down on the floor.

"He seems like such a nice soul." Taweret sighed in your eae as she reappeared in her corner. "Poor thing."

Smile faltering, you ducked your head softly in agreement.

.

.

.

request for the taglist below!!

#Bucky Barnes x avenger! reader #Bucky Barnes x Egyptian! reader #Bucky Barnes x avatar! reader #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes #bucky barnes smut #bucky barnes x avenger!reader #bucky barnes x female reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x reader #bucky imagine #james bucky barnes #james buchanan bucky barnes #winter solider fanfiction #winter solider x you #bucky barnes series #marvel #marvel fanfiction #bucky fic #sebastian stan #bucky barnes x quiet!reader

[bedlamsbard]

Some concept writing as part of this! What's going on Earthside in Reaches, the 2012 timeline that Loki, Steve, and Natasha visit in Yonder; this will expand into a full chapter at some point. (Reaches is that weird middle point between being a chaptered fic and being concept writing.)

1K below the break.

...

Rhodey was unsurprised to see Tony emerging from the compartment next to his, straightening his tie and looking generally unruffled.  It was a sharp contrast to the way Rhodey felt, which was to say: like he had been dragged backwards through a mangle.  He had flown straight here in the War Machine suit and the rest of his gear was still back in Camp Leatherneck.  Rhodey was just hoping he would see it again sometime, though since it had been left in the tender hands of the United States Marine Corps he wasn’t feeling particularly sanguine about that.  SHIELD had somehow produced a set of ABUs in his size, complete with his name tape and rank insignia; the clothes had the presumably-unintended effect of making him feel a little paranoid, though that might have been the lack of sleep.  What Rhodey wanted was a shower, a nap, and a meal; he hadn’t gotten any of those.

“Hey, man,” he said, and Tony looked up and grinned at the sight of him. “They drag you into this goat rodeo too?”

“Apparently it’s ‘a matter of vital planetary security,’” Tony said, making air quotes around the words.  “And a ‘national tragedy,’ which I guess means Captain Spangles is involved somehow.  It figures.”

“Captain – what?”  Maybe it was the sleep deprivation or the intercontinental flight, because even Rhodey’s experience at translating from Tony to English failed him.

“What, you didn’t do the homework?”

“You know, two hours ago I was in Afghanistan,” Rhodey told him meaningfully. “Out in the middle of nowhere doing the good work of the American people, when all of a sudden my CO calls and tells me that SHIELD, in their high-handed wisdom, says that I have to go their secret flying whatever-the-hell-this-is right now.  So no, Tony, I didn’t do the homework.”

SHIELD had been the bogeyman of the American military and intelligence communities for more than half a century, a rumored secret even before its existence had been made public in 1975 during the Church Committee investigations.  Even after the Expo, Rhodey had never had much interaction with them, though he knew that the Air Force had gotten into a pissing match with SHIELD over him – over the War Machine suit, rather.  He didn’t know whether the Air Force had won so much as SHIELD had decided that it didn’t really matter, which this whole escapade seemed to argue in the first place.  He wasn’t too eager to find out what had made SHIELD yank a leash he hadn’t even known was there.

“Gentlemen.”  The SHIELD agent who appeared suddenly at the other end of the room was blonde, pretty, and young enough to make Rhodey feel a thousand years old.  “I’m Agent 13 of SHIELD Special Service.  If you’ll come with me, Director Fury’s waiting for you.”

“So is 13 the first name or last name?” Rhodey asked, exchanging a meaningful look with Tony.  Almost thirty years of friendship with Tony to had inured him to most theatrics, but that didn’t mean he appreciated them.

The comment got him a dry look in response, but no further elaboration.  She led them through the bowels of the helicarrier and upwards past blue- or black- uniformed SHIELD personnel.  Rhodey had been on enough top-secret assignments in his day that he was willing to be patient, since SHIELD wouldn’t have hauled them both out here if it wasn’t for a good reason, but Agent 13’s unwillingness to respond to any of Tony’s questions was clearly driving him up the wall.  She led them to some kind of conference room that had a couple of heavily-armed SHIELD agents in tactical gear standing watch in the hallway.

“Mr. Stark, Colonel Rhodes,” she said, showing them inside with the air of someone glad to wash her hands of them both.  Rhodey couldn’t blame her for that, but he thought it was a little unfair since he hadn’t done anything.

“Thank you, Agent,” Nick Fury said.  The door slid shut behind Agent 13 as Fury came over to shake hands with both Tony and Rhodey, saying, “Thanks for coming out.”

“Didn’t realize we had a choice,” Rhodey said, cutting off whatever snarky remark Tony was going to make.

Fury, to his credit, didn’t tell them that he hadn’t had one, just introduced them to the other people in the room – a SHIELD agent named Barton, a scientist called Erik Selvig whose name Rhodey vaguely recognized, and Bruce Banner, whom Rhodey had never personally met but whom he recognized from both the newspapers and the files he had been briefed on the previous year.  From Banner’s expression, he realized that Rhodey recognized him.

“We’re waiting on one more –” Fury started to say, just as the door slid open again.

“– of course it was a set-up!  Highly-paid consultations don’t just fall out of the sky, I can’t believe you thought you could just, just what, put me in storage –”

Selvig got to his feet. “Jane – Jane –”

The first woman to come through the door was small and furious; the woman who followed her was younger, with dark hair and glasses.  They were both followed by Agent Coulson, who looked decidedly put-upon.

“Dr. Foster,” Fury said, or tried to say, because she ignored him.  Rhodey stepped hastily out of the way as she bulldozed her way across the room to get to Selvig.

“Erik, are you all right?”

“I’m – I’m fine,” Selvig said, not looking like he was sure he believed it.

The other woman was looking around the room with interest, her eyes widening a little when she recognized Tony.  He winked at her.  She looked annoyed.

“Does this have something to do with Thor?” she demanded. “Is that why you dragged us out here?”

Rhodey blinked. “With who?”

Yeah, he thought tiredly as Fury started to explain something that included aliens, time travel, Captain America, and magic, he really should have stayed in Afghanistan to get shot at by terrorists.

#cut scenes and concept writing #roleswap endgame au concept #as always comments are appreciated