#clint going 'i should check out this 'internet' thing'

[avatarthelastairgender]

i actually really like all of the little worldbuilding things in stardew valley that exist but aren't excessively focused on— the various pieces of dialogue that suggest the setting is a pseudo-late-90s-early-2000s period piece, the war happening in the background, etc. also i just found out elves exist (existed????). we've never seen one. i want to learn more

[natsaffection]

I hate you! | part 2 | N. Romanoff

Avenger!Natasha x Younger!Recruit!Reader

Summary: When you're on the run from Shield and past memories remind you what you realy are.

warnings: Torture, mention of suicide, panic attack,

Word count: 9,2k

A/N: second part! We dive into the past..

-

A few months passed, and you could say that you had finally settled in. After Sokovia you spent more time together, but you still had your fears of contact. So you had taken some pictures of your comrades yourself. With Tony and Bruce you had no problems. There was information all over the Internet about them, but all the formulas and so forth got on your nerves after two minutes. With Steve, it was even easier. He had a whole museum about him, after all. You were there for several days and hours and agreed he was a good guy. About Clint, you could find some things at SHIELD. How come you guys didn't run into each other once?? And Natasha?! You can't understand that you have so much in common, and she can't look at you normally? There's nothing about her at all. Just like about you.

What you didn't know until then is that Natasha felt the same way. She rummaged through everything, former shares at SHIELD, the complete media, everything and absolutely nothing about you. Are you even registered? Who are you? She was pissed, and she knew exactly who to turn to.

"We need to talk." She stormed into Fury's office first thing that morning, wanting answers, and only he could have them.

"How is it that Y/n L/n, has no background data whatsoever, and at SHIELD!" Fury just looked puzzled from his work to her, "How come you care?"

"You're the one who showed me with to be on a team, so I must know the people too." Fury is definitely too old for this. That could have come from you. He stood up with a sigh and looked out the window, "I hate to say this, but you will only find out the answers if you ask her yourself.

Natasha chuckled. Fury isn't going to tell her? "What makes her so special that you want to protect her, huh? Let me guess, the Council is behind this." Oh, how he wished that. He turns to her and looks at her seriously again, "That's enough. You'll understand when you figure it out." He heads towards the exit until he thought of something else, "Oh by the way! While we're at it, Y/n and Rogers are on their way here right now. The three of you will be leaving in 20 minutes. The Lemurian was hijacked an hour ago and the crew held hostage.“

⧗

"Six minutes to drop, guys."

You were reading this famous book series until Steve came into your room and took you away. He gave you the memo on the way, and you were ready to go. So that's the life of an Avenger, working with time constraints and never knowing when or where it's going to hit next.

You were already in the jet that flew you to the position, and you get ready like every time. In the past, it was go and bang, you were in your mode. Now? Now you have to get your head straight, so you don't totally drift off when it starts.

"Y/n!"

Steve brought you out of your thoughts, and you look at him, "What?" You take in your surroundings and realize that everyone's was ready, "You're going to secure the back deck with Natasha and then join us," You don't listen further because you already knew what to do. Not with whom, though..And Steve seems to have seen your reaction, "What's going on?"

You look at him and then over to Natasha and roll your eyes, "Well..You should ask her that.." He followed your gaze and understood, "Hey, whatever this is between you guys, get it together and talk it out. It can't come between missions, okay?"

If only it were that simple. Who has been trying to talk to her for the last few weeks? Who's been on their best behavior and so on?

"Understood..." God, you hate it. You check your gear again and get ready to go. Steve just opens the loading door and jumps right out. Your eyes widen because you didn't know he took the shortcut. You just grin and jump out after him as well.

The wind that blew against your face did you good and brought back memories. You get ready for the intact and a little later you land bolt upright in the ocean. You quickly dive to the deck and climb up. The guards weren't exactly well placed, and you secure your deck in seconds. You had to smile from time to time because you could hear Steve's movements and his shield impacts. In exactly 5 minutes you had cleaned the entire deck and the others joined you. Now the fun part begins....

"Alright. Split up, and we'll meet at the meeting point." Steve nodded at you, and Natasha ran over with you to get under the deck. It wasn't long before you were running into the first men again. Natasha left you standing and went to work herself. You didn't mind, yet at some point it got boring. You thought it would be a little more exciting if you went ahead now, but you were wrong. What kind of soldiers are they? They literally fall down when you just blow on them.... "Finished already? Let's go." Natasha walked past you, and you had to pull yourself together not to repeat her.

After Steve had checked our position and then given the command for the attack, you wanted to get ready to meet the other ones who were rescuing the hostages. But when you notice that Natasha was going in a completely different direction, you go after her, "Uhm..isn't it that way?" You see Natasha laugh, "Didn't Nick tell you? That surprises even me right now..." Told you what, exactly? You were about to ask when three men came running towards you and threw you against the grate separating the ship with the ocean. The impact was so unpredictable that it made you drop your weapon. However, it also slid through the grate and into the water. You look behind in shock and back at the guy who attacked you. You hit him in the face, and he took it more calmly than the guys before. You ducked, kicked him in the leg and he crumpled away. He fell forward slightly, and you give him the final blow as you grabbed his head and slammed it against the bars. You look back down into the water and take a note that you need to ask Fury for a new weapon....

"What's wrong?" Natasha came up to you, thinking you were looking at something, but when she realized you were looking at nothing, she was confused. "My gun..." You had a problem.

"What?" Are you the one who's confused now? Did you take a hit? "My gun is drowning in the ocean right now..." She looks at you and looks around, "Well, take another one. Here lie a lot around, and now go on." To her, it's just a normal weapon, but she's wrong. It can fire bullets, yes, but only if you've been given permission to do so...If not, you'll have to manage in stun mode.

"I can't..." Natasha has already walked forward again and stopped, "Why not?!"

You now step away from the grate and look at the gun in front of you lying on the ground and shake your head, "It just won't work, okay? Can we please unlock with the others now?" You see Natasha roll her eyes and continue walking in her direction again.

You were going to stop her after all, but you suddenly hear more men coming towards you. "Natasha, there's more coming!" You just dodge a fist and punch the guy in the pit of his stomach. He was holding it, and meanwhile you take care of the second one. You dodge several times, punch him in the face and then kick him in the stomach as well. He fell backwards and suddenly the other one was completely on his feet again. But there were now not just two, but three. He kicked you away as well, and you rolled backwards. Natasha probably had to have gotten kicked as well that you were now back together and surrounded by several men, "Now take this one." Natasha pulled her second pistol out of the holster and handed it to you. You didn't see what it was at first, but when you tried to touch the handle, you dropped it, "No!" She looked at the gun and then back to you,

"What's wrong with you Y/n!?"

"First, I told you I couldn't and second, the others will hear the shots!" The second was an excuse, but one that definitely made sense. You notice how Natasha took her other one and fired away, "The hostages are most definitely on their way to be picked up by now and now do something!"

She ran at a couple of men, and you again dodge the blows of the others. You do the same tactic again from earlier, and it was going very well until Natasha was done with hers and decided to turn the mens from you out. They both fell down, shot. You take a few steps back and look at her annoyed.

I had everything under control!

She looks at you with a cold look and continues walking. You know better, and should actually go to Steve, but you can't just leave her alone now, can you? You sigh and go after her again. You follow her until she wanted to go around a corner, and she suddenly takes a step back and holds you. You look at her and then cautiously around the corner and see that once again two men are standing in front of a door. What is behind it? And what does Natasha want from it? “You on the right, me on the left." She sprints forward and you understand what she wanted. You turn off the right and Natasha walked through the door. You stopped and thought you were in the wrong movie. Do you actually always leave the remains on open ground? You grunt and push the boys in with you and close the door again. You look around and realize you're in a central room. Natasha is standing right in front of you, typing something on the screens, "What are you doing?" She sees you coming towards her in the corner of her eye, "Nothing that concerns you and now shut up. You've done enough, or should I say not."

You wanted to say something, but know better that it won't do any good with her. So you just lean against the wall, close your eyes and exhale deeply. Natasha could think you were exhausted, but you weren't at all. You could go on for hours, but you had to get your nerves under control, and not because of Natasha...Your head is literally screaming for at least one body. But as always, you will not give in and fight it. It is not your first and last time.

A few minutes passed before the door opened again, or rather fell off...It was Steve with the guy who was in charge. He punched him one last time in the face and he remained unconscious. That's the way to do it!

"Oh, how embarrassing.." Of course..And there's her other side again. Steve didn't expect to hear another voice and looks. He felt his face fall asleep when he saw you, "What are you doing?" You lean off the wall, "We're not doing anything! I tried to stop her, but-"

"Backing up, you should always do that..." She was as annoyed with you as you were with her. Steve walks past you and comes up to Natasha, "What's so important here?" He looked at the whole thing, "You're securing classified SHIELD data..."

"Anything I can get." That didn't make it any better. "Our mission was to rescue hostages!" Thank you..Finally someone says that. It felt good to have Steve make an announcement to her. But they were busy with each other, and you were happy that Natasha was going to get in trouble, so no one noticed that the other dude lit a grenade and threw it in your direction. Steve bounced it off with his shield, grabbed Natasha who shot a target and the three of you flew through it. The grenade exploded, and the room goes up in fire, "Okay..that one's on me."

"You're damn right it is."

"Yes it is!"

You and Steve understood each other. He got up and left the now broken room. The three of you made your way to the rendezvous point and were picked up again by the jet.

Natasha and you were heading back to the tower. Steve, on the other hand, wanted to take care of something and thus left you behind. You didn't care where Natasha went. You had to go immediately to the training room and let your thoughts run free. You go in, activate the Combat mode, grab the demo gun and start shooting. You leave your head in complete control and hit every single target without even looking directly at it. No matter where the hologram appears, you hit it. No matter how far away it is, you hit it. You hate it, but it's the only way to get down. When you were done, you threw the gun away and went to take a shower. But when you go towards the door, Natasha is already there. Who was watching you.

"Answer me this, if you can shoot so well, why can't you shoot on the damn ship?" You've had enough of her today, so you just want to get out of here. But before you could leave the room, she gets in the way, and you run right into her, "By God, what do you want?" You were so fed up. "My answer." You take a deep breath and look at her, "In all these months you didn't even want to talk to me and now," you had to get it out, "now all of a sudden you care about me? What? Are you afraid that you'll get congruence? Get your life together..." Who's the adult here?! You wanted to go further, and she held you by your arm, "Now you listen to me, L/n. I can't watch it anymore. Do you think everything is a joke? Are you really that full of yourself?" Natasha thought you were making fun of her and the team. Why didn't you use these skills before, both with Ultron and today. "You don't know anything about m-“

"And I don't care about your life either, but I will not tolerate you putting us in danger!" Now it's over. "Putting us in danger?! Who the hell put the entire mission in danger earlier to get any info! And for what?! To get a medal for SHIELD? I thought we were a team here and that it only matters what we do here at the Avengers, but I guess I was wrong, just like with Fury back then! It's always EQUAL after all!" The last word was dedicated with so much hate and anger that Natasha let go of you as you walk on to finally get into your well deserved shower.

And man did you love it. You were in there for a whopping 40 minutes and when you came out and put on some new clothes, you felt like you had been reborn. You go downstairs to get something to eat. But before you could open the fridge, Natasha came in again. You see her and would immediately- "I really-"

"I thought you'd want to hear this. Fury got attacked and it looks bad."

You drop all your stuff and follow her to one of the cars. She drove you there and the ride was silent. You both had the same train of thought. When you arrived, Natasha asked where Fury was and someone took you into a room where Steve and Maria were already standing watching the doctors. You also go closer and your heart stopped, He's going to make it? Isn't he?! Please..

"What does ballistics say?" Now asked Natasha, who was also shocked, "Three bullets, no characteristics and untraceable." That can only be- "Soviet." Before you could think about it, what no one wanted to hear came,

"Cardiac arrest!"

You move even closer to the window and see the entire team now focused on getting Nick's heart beating again. But it was now the second shock. And after the third, they stopped.

You got angry. Why don't they continue? Do they actually know who is lying there on the table?

"HEY!" You hit the glass to get the doctors' attention, but they didn't respond, "Y/n.." Maria put a hand on your shoulder, but you bat it away.

"DAMN NOW, DO SOMETHING!" You got louder and angrier. You hit the glass even harder now, and before it could break, Maria and Steve stopped you. You collapsed in their arms and couldn't believe Nick was dead. Murdered. You scream your whole soul out.

When at some point no sound came out of you, Maria got you back on your feet and took you into the next room. After a while, a few people came in to give you a chance to say goodbye. But you have already seen enough. You wait outside as Natasha, Steve, and Maria go in and, you let your mind wander again. Who are you taking the Red Order from now? Who will be there for you when it's too much? Who will save you from the Avengers again when they did put themselves out there wrong?

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‎

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‎ Twenty years ago:

‎

"Amniotic fluid drained."

"Incubator uterus unlocked."

"Nine-month cycle complete, infant weighs 6 pounds, 284 grams."

Exactly twenty years ago, you had seen the light of day, and a little too soon. The plan was for you to spend three more months in the tank..growing up. But there was a last-minute change.

"M-Ma'am! You're endangering the fetus with the-" The woman who was supposed to be in charge of you had concerns from the beginning when she came into the program. At first, she didn't care, as she was only in it for the money. But after time and the progress you made, she couldn't take her eyes off you. One of the other doctors shot her when she opened her mouth too wide,

"Get a new nanny! The child needs a breast that will nurse it!" There were countless women who could be conceived for this. So a little later, there was another donor woman standing in front of you.

The mastermind of it all, took you out of the tank and looked at you in full view.

"Welcome to the world, number seven."

The first few years of your life went normally, if you wanted to call it that. You had felt like a miracle..Everyone looked up to you, did what you wanted, played with you what you wanted..just everything..Until one day everything changed. You were four when you started thinking for yourself. To talk properly and to run. From then on, you were a lab rat. A guinea pig. They treated you like dirt, every time you did something wrong, didn't listen, didn't follow orders, they punished you. At first, they dragged you back to your room, because it was impossible to do further tests in your condition. They needed you alive, not beaten half to death.

When you had recovered to some extent, they continued. At first, you begged them to stop, but in time you learned that it was useless, and finally you let them do it to you.

At the age of nine, you learned that you were not the only one and your name suddenly made sense. There were seven of you in the beginning. Most of them were older than you, but you were far superior. After all, they had seven tries.

Alexandra, the brains behind the whole thing, played it smart. She acted as if she was the one you could rely on and others were the culprits. Instead, she was the monster. She gave the orders.

She was also the one who was there when you needed someone to talk to, to cry on a shoulder...you thought she was listening to you, but she was just taking your weaknesses and working with them. She gave you a suppressed sense of family, and at one point you felt like seven.

At an age of eleven, the harder stuff started. You were in one of the training rooms as usual, thinking that it was business as usual with Strucker's people. You all hated him. He was the bad guy here in your children's eyes and no one else. He stood there as usual and gave the hand signal. There were four people rushing at you, and it only took a few seconds, and they were on the ground. A legacy of years of training and most importantly what is instilled in you, since you were planted in the incubator.

"She's ready." You knew the voice. Alexandra came out of nowhere and stood right next to him. You didn't know what was going on, and suddenly three doors opened around you. Out of them came number one, six, and four. You all looked at each other in confusion. Since when are you allowed to fight together? Everything here was always set up for single combat, so what was going on?

Alexandra took a step forward, "I just want to see one of you on the mat here in front of me. That one is also just permitted to walk out of here alive." You looked at her in shock, You're supposed to fight each other? Absolutely not.

"B-But Ms. Alexandra, we-" Number one, the oldest of you, probably wanted to say what each of you was thinking. But Alexandra just held up her hand. A sign to be quiet. "No re-word. Now get going before I have to say goodbye to all of you." And suddenly 13 men with guns came in and surrounded the mat. They pointed their guns at you and waited for something.

"Come on. I'm counting on you." The four of you didn't know it. But each one of you felt directly addressed. Alexandra made this sure over the years that each of you thought he or she was the most important thing to her. But you are all equally indifferent.

Number six attacked first and that gave a short term reaction. The rest of you defended yourselves, but one more person got scared and attacked another one in the meantime. And it wasn't long before every single one of you was now fighting for your lives. Number four was on the floor first and number six was on top of her. But she hesitated, "What are you doing? Kill her." Number six looked over at Alexandra, "I-I can't..." And two shots rang out. Number six and four now lay shot in front of you.

Number one, and you looked at each other, and you knew what that meant. Only one can get out of here. It was a long fight and you finally admit defeat. You couldn't take it anymore. After all, your opponent was eight years older than you. He had more experience and more strength than you. You lie on the floor and see him coming towards you. He had a gun in his hand, and you didn't even know when he picked it up. You close your eyes and get ready. No matter what is to come. It will be better than life here.

But suddenly number one cried out and let his guard down. You didn't know why, but your body took that chance and knocked him over. Now you were the one on top of him. You took the gun and held it to his head. I won...Ha I did it-

"Finish it."

You breathed hard. Your hand started shaking and you couldn't pull the trigger. You see in the corner of your eye Alexandra coming towards you. She took the gun from your hand and you sighed out. But then you heard a gunshot and saw the life drain out of number one. You were in shock, but still jumped up when Alexandra looked back at you.

She killed them all!? What if she is the danger? She approached you, and you took a step back again, "Stop right there." You shook your head, "Number Seven, stop right there!" It was like a button press, and you're stopped in your tracks. You wanted to walk, to run, but you couldn't.

"If you don't fit this role here.. You're useless to us...and to me." She wiped away a tear from your face that rolled down. "So. Why did you hesitate?" You had never heard that pitch of voice from her before, "I-I couldn't..." She continued to look at you, "And why not?" You wanted to run from her, but why couldn't you??? "There's no point in resisting, so..I'll ask one last time....Why did you hesitate?" You knew you couldn't get away from it. And Strucker was in the room too. Now, or in a few hours, you'll blurt out the answer anyway, "I...We..-were friends..." You look down, too afraid of Strucker's reaction and action. But he did nothing. You hear Alexandra sighs and leave.

"Take her to the room." You looked up. The room..This was the biggest punishment you could have had. But why is the order coming from her? This is Strucker's command territory! You scream after Alexandra, that it was a mistake and will never happen again. But men were already holding you and dragging you down the corridor.

From that point on, you were just a machine. They could remove all your emotions and feelings from you. Well...almost all of them. When you understood that Alexandra was behind all this, you could see through her a bit. You told her only what she wanted to hear. But it did not end the numerous pains she caused you. You were again in one of the cells because you couldn't carry out an order, and Alexandra came in and wanted to know why. You wanted to laugh about it. How is a person with such injuries supposed to give the best?

"You are a weapon, do you understand that? If you don't deliver, you're useless. I didn't wait years for you for nothing, only to be disappointed in the end!" She turns her back on you and is about to leave the room when you mutter to yourself,

"I...h-hate you..."

She stopped and turns around, "What did you just say?" You were so angry. What worse could happen? "I hate you! You're a monster!" She continues to look at you sideways until she left. "You'll regret this."

Hours passed, days passed, and after the actual two days, in that you should have been let out long ago, the lights turned off and no one came. Another three days, and you were still in there. No food, no drink. No one to talk to. You were going insane. Without a hint of light, you didn't even know what day it was. After exactly thirteen days, you started begging to be let out of here. You don't want to be alone anymore. You want Alexandra back. However, she made you beg for another two days and eventually a crack of light came into your cell as she opened the door and walked in. She knelt in front of the bars, "Have you learned your lesson number seven?" You're immediately starting crying, "I..I-I'm sorry! Please..Please I need you, I don’t-" Alexandra started to grin. There it is. She broke you completely.

Your other three fellow riders had respect and fear for you. The favorite child of Alexandra and Strucker. They couldn't do anything against you. And at some point, number three died at your hands. It wasn't your first kill by far, but the first on a person you grew up with. Her eyes just before you pulled the trigger will haunt your dreams forever.

You came back from multiple missions with maximum casualties. You were exactly what HYDRA always wanted. A weapon that brought success every time.

There were rules for you. If you failed to follow some, you were punished. When you carried out every order they gave you, you were rewarded. There hasn't been a single punishment since then, and you tried to keep it that way. They treated you with respect as long as you followed the rules. You saw no way out. This will now be your life forever. You arbitrarily became HYDRA's puppet.

HYDRA.

HYDRA...

Your home...

Your family...

Your life...

They had managed to make you play by their rules. According to their ideas, to kill, to destroy...just everything. For the others, it was physically and mentally too much. Number two and five took their own lives a little later to get some freedom.

Also, something you thought about several times. However, HYDRA couldn't afford to let one of their most perfect experiments go just like that, and kept stopping you.

Years passed, and you found yourself back in the meeting room. Alexandra in front of you gave you your assignment, told you some more details and finally gave you the equipment you needed. It was funny..In front of you are all kinds and designs of different weapons.

How beautiful she would look with a bullet in her head...

You were now 18 years old and could think for yourself again. Till that one day, you lay in your bed at night, and you could laugh that Alexandra usually never managed to leave you cold forever. Well, it wasn't entirely thanks to you that you got your will back.

You had a mission in Soul 14 months ago. You were supposed to take out an engineer. Everything was going according to plan until you walk into a room and several soldiers are pointing guns at you. You looked around and got ready to fight. But before you could get started, they were all shooting bullets that had a stun serum in them. It took 26 bullets for you to fall to the ground unconscious.

When you came back to, you were in some kind of interrogation room. You were again in a kind of box that was made of glass. You hit the glass, but were only thrown back. You get up, confused, and a man walks in. "Always fun to watch."

He had a deep, raspy voice. He stands right in front of you, "Nick..Fury. We already know your name..Haven't held back the last few years." Who was this guy? And what did he want from you, "I know you. And you might know us. You're with SHIELD."

When he said the name, a huge wave of anger brushed inside you. You looked at him with a killer look, but it left him cold. "I know what you're thinking. After all, they've talked you into it for years, but HYDRA is the real enemy here."

"LIE!" You pounded on the glass. SHIELD is your enemy. The enemy of Alexandra. You were created to wipe out SHIELD. Fury knew what was coming out of you. After all, he had been through something similar with someone else. He pressed a button and a screen went down. A little later, you were shown pictures, "Does this look familiar?"

It was some kind of tank with some kind of liquid in it and several cables attached to it, "No? Well, that's your birthplace. Do you know how normal children are brought into the world? Through mothers."

You had a mother. So what is this guy babbling about?! Before you could start, the picture changed, "Did you know there wasn't just you guys? Number seven, right? That's what they call you? Well, I'm sorry to say that, but there has been a Seven before. Only that was several centuries ago."

That can't be. A hundred years?

"There was a generation created back in 1989. You're not the only one. You're just an enhanced version. How does it feel to be treated as an object?"

He's telling lies..just lies!

"This..should look familiar to you." Suddenly there were pictures of you on the screen. You were seen at the age of six, then at 13 and one at 15. It wasn't pretty to watch when you saw the situation you were in.

"Wh-Where did you get that?!" If it weren't for that glass between you, Fury would be in little pieces by now. "Jack. You might know him." Your eyes widen. He was one of Strucker's henchmen. He was one of them? That could explain his resignation...

"He was a good guy, you know. You knew him too, didn't you?" He was the only one who treated you normally. Looked the other way when men beat you to death again... "He helped us make this plan here. To get you here... I don't want to beat around the bush anymore. I'll make you an offer. Help us destroy the work of Alexandra! Together we can prevent that again children like you have to live through such tortures."

It sounded too good to be true. Is it a test? Is Alexandra behind it to test your loyalty? You didn't know..Fury left the room and let the images continue to play. You saw again pictures of fetuses in those tank’s, Information about HYDRA, about SHIELD. After a few hours, Fury came back with a tablet with food on it for you. You asked him things, and he was happy to give you the answers. You continue to listen to him about his plans and finally decide to give it a try. If you are wrong it is so, but you could not hide that at that moment you felt in small sparks of hope.

You came back to HYDRA and started your own research. Fury gave you time to think about it. And you found out that he was telling the truth. You came back to him and accepted his offer. Which now led you back to the meeting room. In front of you now stood Alexandra.

You had to pull yourself together not to pull out your gun and shoot her in the head right away. She gave you the info about the mission and as you were about to go, she stopped you,

"The rules?" One last time... "Kill anyone who gets in our way, No witnesses, No victims of our sides, Only speak when demanded, No-"

"Dismissed."

You nod and make your way to the squad cars. It seemed to be a bigger act as another 25 men were sent along. We each split up into the vehicles and headed out. You drove for a while until you were given the command in your ear, and you drew your weapon and shot everyone in the vehicle. You break through the grate that separated you and the driver and take him out as well. The vehicle comes to a stop, and you wait as instructed for the others to open the doors. When you did, Fury stood in front of you and looked at the bloodbath you had made. "Well..we need to work on that..."

You emptied the vehicle and instead of HYDRA soldiers, there were now soldiers from SHIELD sitting inside. You were about to get back in as well when Fury stopped you. "You stay here." That doesn't suit you at all. You're supposed to give this man the trust to stop Alexandra? Forget it."

"You'll never-"

"Never say never. You stay here." He looks at you and you accept it. You watched the captured vehicles drive off and back to the base. You are now in a built up camp of SHIELD and you couldn't stay calm. Sure, you gave the information about the construction of the laboratory, nevertheless you are damn nervous that Fury will not succeed. A woman came up to you, "Hey, it's going to be okay, okay? This isn't Fury's first assignment." You look at the woman, "I'm Maria..." You shake your head, "You don't know what it looks like there..you...What if Alexandra already knows..she knows everything, you..you." You start breathing uncontrollably. Maria caught on to this and made you sit down. She sits down on the floor with you and looked at you, "Hey, can I touch you?" She knows what you've been through and doesn't want to cross anything. But when you didn't respond, and it got worse, she had to. She took your hands and put them in hers, "Hey..Take it easy..Hey.." She didn't know how to address you though..and it got worse, "Seven, please calm down.." You shake your head, "I- I can't..My- help.."

"It's okay, try to come down. Take deep breaths." She looked at you gently and took a deep breath so you could follow suit, "Follow me, okay? In..and out. Focus on me."

You do what she said and it helped. "Yes..Just like that.." You both breathe the same, and you close your eyes to focus more on Maria's voice. Man, is she good at this. You see her smile as she realizes you're improving. "Are you okay again?" You realize what kind of situation you're in. You stand up and pat the dirt off your legs, "Yeah..Um.." She knew what you were going to say, but she understood that you weren't saying it. You both now stood there looking ahead and 23 minutes later, you both could see the vehicles on the horizon again. Everyone got ready and when the vehicles were in front of you, Fury got out and came up to you.

"What happened, did you-" you literally gushed over him, stopping, but when you saw Alexandra out of the car, arrested. Any words stuck in your throat. Behind her came more men, but nowhere did you see Strucker... "He got away, but don't worry, we'll find him." You honestly didn't care about him. Only she. She looked deep into your eyes as she walks past you, and you looked down. If she ever gets free..Then it's- "She'll rot for eternity, I promise you."

That was all two years ago. Nick kept his promise until now. She's in the deepest hole on earth, and you haven't even seen her since, and you're grateful for that, too. It took time for you to settle into SHIELD normally. Maria made this her mission. She was your first point of contact after Fury. The three of you got along so well that it made it easier for you. One evening the three of you were in Fury's office to discuss future plans. That's when you realized you needed a new name. Its easier for everyone involved and especially for you. The three of you thought about it for a long time, and Maria looked at you, and came up with your name.

For your 19th birthday, they gave you your very first SHIELD mission. They had tried to train you for something..combat less, but they couldn't overcome Alexandra's brainwashing since your fetus state. You were made to kill, after all. Also, a complicated thing..

They ran some tests with your permission. You had a 99% hit rate. Fighting arts like in the books. Even with your eyes closed, you could take out your opponents. And it's your nature to fight. So SHIELD had no choice but to send you on missions. It was a Winn Winn situation. At first, it was hard to drop your rules, so Maria gave you new ones.

No sacrifices on our part, no killing, and if we did, it was with Fury's permission. You remember sitting in front of her and taking out a piece of paper to write them down. You looked at her in surprise when after two she had already finished. It also took time, but you were able to replace them.

You also got your hit rate under control to some extent. You got two guns with a regulator. It is automatically set to stun and when Fury gives you the command, you can switch it to kill at any time.

You used the word "thank you" for the first time in your life. Something you learned in one of the movies. Maria grinned with a wide face, and Fury just nodded and left. But he, too, had to grin. Those two became a family to you that you never had.

And now one of them is supposed to be dead? After all that Fury did for you? You couldn't even tell him.

"Y/n!"

You look up tiredly and realize you were lost in your thoughts. Steve and Natasha were standing in front of you, "We have to go!" Natasha left, and you didn't know what was going on. "Come on." Steve walked beside you and explained what happened.

13 hours later.

Being on the run wasn't the hard part, but rather showing Steve how the whole thing works. If it weren't for you and Natasha, he probably would have been taken into custody in the first 10 minutes.

They both couldn't do much with you during that time. You were quiet, only reacted when it got serious, and stayed out of the entire thing. Nick's death hit you hard, and you still have thought processes that made you despair.

You were in a car with a guy Steve was interrogating, when suddenly the window is smashed and the guy is pulled out onto the open road. You hear footsteps on the roof and take cover, because a little later you are shot at. Steve applied the brakes and the attacker fell forward.

As if your day couldn't get any worse, the Winter Soldier was now standing in front of you. The one who was shown to you as fear and taken as a parable example of what would happen to you then if you disobeyed.

You had only focus on him and had not even noticed that Steve took you out of the vehicle and on the road. The three of you saw how one of the men gave the soldier a grenade launcher in his hand and then he shot one. One came straight at Steve and Natasha. Steve pushed Natasha away, and he flew across the divide.

The other men who got out of one of the vehicles also started shooting at you, and you take cover. Great, now it's just the two of you again, this is going to work out great..You both separate and go behind different vehicles to get cover. However, since Natasha was the only one who could fire back, you had to think about a plan, but Natasha already had one and drew fire. She changed lanes, and you saw the Winter Soldier aiming and firing the grenade launcher at her and she flew also from the road. You hoped deep inside that she was alright, and when you saw the soldier exchange the grenade launcher for a machine gun, it was your chance.

You had only a few seconds and sprinted towards the one who now had the launcher in his hand. You threw him to the ground, took the launcher from him and at that moment you saw the soldier go to the edge and shoot down. You knew it could only be Natasha. You run towards him, reload the gun, shoot at the ground in front of the rest of the men, and you knew that the shock wave of the grenade is enough to bring all of them to the ground. The grenade explodes and the remaining three men are down.

The soldier, in turn dodges, and you knew he would. You drop the gun and run right into the soldier. You throw yourself and him over the divide down on the other street. The impact is quicker than expected, and you accidentally let go of him. You slide a few more feet until you came to a stop and check on the soldier. You had to pull yourself together, because the impact was harder than you thought, and when you got yourself back into shape, you see Natasha going into the attack.

She was good, you have to admit, but the soldier threw her away and she crashed into a car. He took a gun that was on the ground, and you run over again and just before he could shoot, you kick his gun away. He quickly caught himself and stepped back. You dodge, but he hit you in the chest afterward. You are pushed backwards and get up..His fighting skill has not changed, so you were one step ahead. You run up to him and see him pull out a knife. It went on for several minutes of you dodging each other's fists until you were able to give him a sidekick. He stumbled and you kick him in the stomach. He flew away and you go over into the attack again. He dodged and grabbed you by the neck with his metal arm. He lifted you up and threw you backwards for countless meters. You bounce into a car and stay seated, "Fuck..You didn't have the strength...last time..." You tried to get up, but he must have hit something inside you, and you fall back to the ground. You look where the soldier is and see Steve taking care of him. Finally...

He definitely had the easier job of the two of you, as the fight was over after a few minutes. Steve was able to remove his mask and when he got up, Steve froze for some reason.

The soldier tried to go back into the attack but was thrown away when Natasha hit him with the grenade launcher. You'll looked to see where he was, but instead of seeing him, you saw several SHIELD vehicles coming at you. You were all too done to fight back, so hundreds of SHIELD agents took you into custody.

The ride was silent. Steve muttered stuff to himself about a Bucky you only knew as Strucker's toy.

So.. Strucker was back. The winter soldier was back. What is-

You were pulled from your thoughts when you noticed Natasha next to you, continuing to struggle with consciousness. You look at her and only now realize that she had been hit, "We need a medic here! If we don't apply a tourniquet, she's going to bleed to death right here in the ca-" Before you could finish, one of the guards held a stick in front of your face, which began to charge with electricity. But the guard turned it and shocked the other guard who was sitting inside. Then the person took off the helmet and it was Maria. Your mood went up again, and she helped you get out of the vehicle. She got into another car and drove you to an unknown location.

People came running right up to you, "Gunshot wound, she lost a pint of blood-"

You knew better, "Maybe more!" You held her shoulder and notice more and more blood flowing out. A man came running toward you, "I'll take her!"

Maria stopped the man, "They want to see him first." You both looked at her confused, and she took you to a room. You enter it and your heart stopped for the second time.

In front of you was Nick. And definitely not dead. He looked up at you and smirked. You were sat down and Natasha was taken care of. He listed everything that happened to him and even joked about it, "Your heart stopped beating, they cut you open..." Natasha asked the question that was also on your mind. "..We alienated it for the purpose." You couldn't listen to it anymore and you leave the room. You go out for some fresh air and had to keep your anger under control.

This is the second time now that Fury had lied to you. How can you trust him now?! And when you thought of the devil, Maria came to you, "I know how you feel-"

"You don't! The man I trusted with my life has deceived me for the second time now!" Maria didn't know about the other one until she understood that the second "lie" was one she made up to keep you from Strucker's death... "Listen. We wanted to get you involved, but we had to make it look believable. Plus, if you had just left with us, it would have been too dangerous..." This was no lie for once.

"Don't you trust me? Is it because I'm not one of yours? I can keep my mouth shut!" Your words hurt her. She doesn't like it when you think of yourself that way, "Hey, you're angry, I can understand that, but none of this has anything to do with where you're from, understand? Don't even think about mentioning something like that again!" Now she was angry too..But not at you, but at herself. However, you didn't know that, and her tone..startled you. You've never seen her so serious before and before the rudder goes completely off the rails, you do what you've learned to do in the last few years, "Okay..I-I'm sorry..." iu. That sounded strange.

Maria appreciated the apology, she loosened her gaze and came towards you, "Hey..You did a great job out there..Otherwise you wouldn't be here right now. We need you here, and we all do. Fury is counting on you in there because he knows you can do it, so let's go back in there now and save the people, okay?" Maria was desperate, but thought it might do some good. You nodded, "Alright..I'll be right there." Maria smiled and went back to the others. You look around again, take a deep breath and rejoin them as well.

You're right on time. You discuss the plan to disable the carriers and get ready. However...As the devil would have it, you'll have to work with Natasha again. The two of you are supposed to attack directly from the inside, so Fury gave you a technique that "reshaped" you into any person you scanned before. Natasha had a plan to infiltrate directly as council members, however it only had one female person inside. Thus, one of you had to play the agent. Your choice was unanimous for the first, time and a little later Natasha was in Pierce's office, and you were outside his door, standing guard. A few minutes passed before Steve's voice could be heard everywhere.

"Agents of SHIELD, this is Steve Rogers, you've heard a lot about me in the last few days,"

Does he write it down beforehand, or does he just throw something like that out on the fly? He gave an entire speech, and you see some agents looking at each other and some even leaving the hallway. They know the brain is in here, so that definitely means trouble.

And the trouble came.. The Strike Team arrived and you nod innocently and let them in. But after a few minutes you hear the distress signal in your ear, and you drop the mask and enter the room. You see Pierce holding a gun to the head of one of the members and Natasha taking the gun from him. You took that as a sign and took out the other three guards. Natasha took the gun and now held it on Pierce, "I'm sorry," She now took off her mask as well, "Did I stepped on your moment?"

You look at her. And you- wow. That was..-What? You shake the thoughts away and see Natasha walking towards you with her gun drawn. "Take it." Not again...

You look at her, "Natasha, I can't-" she looks at you seriously, "Whatever problem you have, just put it aside for a few minutes! You can't kill? okay! Then don't pull the trigger, and now take the damn gun." She's right. You don't need to pull the trigger..you can do this..you nod and take the gun from her. She sighs and walks over to a keyboard, meanwhile she had to think. Why can't you hold a real gun? Don't you want to kill? Can't you? But then why are you at SHIELD? Every recruit, right at the beginning, signs that there won't be any physical problems once you're made to carry out a death order. She just doesn't get it.

She starts typing and looks for the encryption, "What are you doing?" One of the members got curious, "She puts all the secrets on the internet." Pierce took a few steps forward and you panicked. Do you have to shoot?! It's against the rule, you can't. Natasha caught your trembling hand, "Everything Hydra has done in the past few years, and stop now!" He did as she said and grinned, "And from SHIELD. When you do that, your past becomes known. Budapest, Osaka..the children's home.” Natasha stopped typing. children home? she was in one? Natasha looked at Pierce and back at the screen, "Are you okay with the world knowing who you really are?"

She looks up at him and smirked, "Are you?" She kept typing. Apparently she found what she wanted. However, this required two people from the management level to deactivate it. Pierce proudly made this clear. But when Natasha said someone else was coming, the door opened and Nick walked inside. Pierce had the same look as Nick did when he saw you with a loaded gun. You were about to clarify when Pierce interrupted you. He wanted to make his innocence clear, but that was no use. The two unlocked the files and Natasha drew a gun again, and you were finally able to drop yours.

"Done." Natasha looked at her phone, "And it's spreading." Before you could even feel victory, some council members cried out, and you see a hole burned in their breasts. Those badges they wore that were- "If you don't want a hole in your chest, put your gun down. It's been armed since you lit it.”

Natasha was forced to drop the gun. "If only one of you moves, she gets grilled." How you hate moments like that.. Pierce walks over to the computers and asked for status, "Connecting in 65 seconds, targeting in progress."

He was still typing some things on the computer, and suddenly you hear shots. You thought they were the ones placed on the targets, but you followed Pierce's gaze and looked up as well. All three carriers shoot at themselves and gradually destroy each other. Steve did it..

"What a waste."

Natasha couldn't resist and had to crack one of her jokes again, which Pierce didn't exactly leave unmoved, "Come on my love. You're flying me out of here.” He held the button in front of her. and Natasha was again forced to follow him. You and Fury looked at each other, "There were times I would have taken a bullet for you." Nick looked at you and as he said the word "bullet"he looked down at the gun you dropped earlier. You pick the gun up and hold her behind your back. You understood what he wanted. The two of you stood a little apart, and with the line from earlier, Pierce looked at Fury, "You already-"

"Y/n, permission granted." Pierce didn't know what that meant, but you did. It clicked and suddenly three shots were fired. All three flew straight into Pierce's chest. He fell to the ground and died instantly. Natasha looked at you, wondering where your fear from earlier has gone. You continue to stare at Pierce, gun drawn, now lying in his own blood. The feeling was-

"Y/n." Fury slowly came up to you and put one hand on the gun and pushed it down with a little force and finally took it off, "Y/n!" He said your name with more seriousness this time, until you break the trance and look at him and then back at the man you killed, "Nothing's going to happen. Let's go home, okay?” You just nod and repeat his “Okay” Natasha just stood there and watched you both. It was like you had completely changed person. Your stance, your eyes, the straightness with which you held the weapon was nothing compared to before.

The three of you board the helicopter together and fly to SHIELD's second base. It definitely needs a rebuild, and Nick revealed that Tony has agreed to wind down the people and find out who else is in HYDRA. You were in your room for two days, back in the tower, going through everything that had happened in the past few days. But after everything was clarified, you could go out again with a clear conscience. Tony and the others also want to know what happened, since SHIELD grounded them in the Tower when it all started. So you spent hours together again.

Natasha was in her own room most of the time preparing for the panel interview. You, too, read the published stuff about her and felt bad. Yet you were still confused..You both went through almost the same thing, so why doesn't she want to talk to you? Is that why? In any case, you will not force her to like you now. If she hates you, so be it. However, you couldn't reply that her announcement in the panel impressed you.. If you were just friends, everything would be much easier..

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TAGLIST: @marvelwomen-simp @natsxwife @blacklightsposts @yourmamacom @cd-4848 @kksalexa

[razieltwelve]

Socialisation (Final Rose x MCU)

Averia stared at Tony and Bruce.

“Why are you staring at us like that?” Bruce asked. “And why do I feel a sudden chill up my spine.”

“Let me get this straight,” Averia said. “You want to create an AI to help defend the world... and you haven’t thought about socialising it?”

“...” Tony made a face. “You know, that might have slipped my mind.”

“Let’s say you tell this AI to help defend the world. How do you think it’s going to react if the only way it has to learn about it is through the internet and JARVIS.” Averia paused. “No offence, JARVIS. I think you’re wonderful.”

“No offence taken, ma’am.” JARVIS radiated a certain smugness. She’d never called Tony wonderful. “And I do believe she has a point, sir. My... affable nature aside, I do believe that any AI that is exposed to the internet without the proper socialisation procedures may well be driven insane. It does, after all, contain the best of humanity... and the very worst.”

Averia frowned. “Also, I wasn’t with you on the last mission, but there’s something different about you.” Her eyes narrowed, and Tony took a reflexive step back as he felt Saviour’s activation.

“Hey!” Tony said. “Pepper will be pissed if you stab me!”

“I can just fix you afterward,” Averia replied. “But I’m serious. There’s something... ah. Right.” Saviour’s impossibly keen senses pointed out something that Tony himself must have missed. “Tony, what happened on your last mission? There are residues of a power that I haven’t encountered before although it’s reminiscent of Loki’s sceptre. I’m fairly confident it’s been influencing your mind.”

Tony paled. “What? I...” He pursed his lips. “I had... no. Shit. Did I get hit with something?”

“Possibly. Give me a moment to purge it from your body.” Averia allowed her Semblance to do the rest. Simply stripping the influence out was relatively straight forward. There was some meagre resistance, but Saviour’s will was absolute. “There.”

Tony swallowed thickly and blinked owlishly at them. “Oh. That... that makes a difference.”

“What do you mean?”

“I think that whatever they hit me with... it’s been feeding my paranoia, making me even more nervous about things.” He ran a hand through his hair. “An unsocialised AI? Shit. What was I thinking? The moment it became self-aware it would probably try to stab JARVIS or something.”

“I would hope not, sir, but probably. To a newly emergent but hostile AI, I would be deemed the main threat.”

“Put the AI on the back burner for now,” Averia said. “Or perhaps hand over some of the duties you’ve got in mind to JARVIS. He’s sane, highly capable, and trustworthy.”

“Yeah. Yeah. Maybe.” Tony sat down. “I think I need a drink.” He looked at Averia. “Wait... isn’t it a school night?”

“I am, apparently, studying at the library.”

“...” Tony tilted his head to one side. “And your family bought that?”

“I have an excellent poker face.” Averia shrugged. “Plus, I wanted to check up on all of you.”

“Worried we’ll get blasted when you’re not around?” Tony teased.

“Frankly, yes. Thor and Bruce are sturdy enough to take a bit of blasting, but you’re basically cannon fodder without your suit, Clint really should wear more protective clothing, and I have absolutely no idea how Natasha isn’t noticed more with the glowing strips on her costume.”

“No criticism of Steve?” Tony asked.

“Super soldier plus vibranium shield equals way less likely to die than you without a suit. Plus, Steve has something at least vaguely resembling common sense.”

“Ouch.” Tony clutched at his heart. “Your words cut deep.”

“Only because they’re true.” Averia’s lips twitched. “But, seriously, you guys are my friends. I worry because I care. Things will be easier once I’m in university and have an internship with Stark Industries.”

“What makes you think I’ll give you one?” Tony asked, grinning.

“Are you saying you won’t?” Averia shot back.

“Heh. Pepper would be mad if I didn’t. Plus, having you around adds an extra layer of security. You know, nigh-invincible harbinger of shiny death that you are. Also, I’ve read those papers you wrote for me to review. Even if you weren’t part of the team, I’d still try to hire you the second it was legal. That design for a micro fusion-reactor is insane. JARVIS gives it a 95% probability of working as intended.”

“It’ll work.” Averia knew that for a fact. It was, after all, based heavily on the micro fusion reactors that Diana had designed. “And the world could use a little help on the energy front. The arc reactor is a brilliant design, but for everyday energy needs, fusion should do just fine. Anti-matter would be more powerful, but I’d rather not have those around until we can guarantee their security.”

Tony leaned forward. “You have a design for an anti-matter reactor in that head of yours?”

“I might.”

Bruce cleared his throat. “As wonderful as that is - and it is wonderful - there is a party going on. People are going to ask questions if we don’t show up. And by questions, I think they’ll be wondering what sort of evil plan we’re coming up with.”

X     X     X

“Ah!” Thor greeted Averia with a hearty laugh and reached out to clasp arms with her. His smiled widened when she returned his grip without flinching. “Nice of you to join us. It’s a shame you couldn’t come on our last mission. It was quite fun. Plenty of evil to smite.”

“Alas, Thor, I have school.” Averia bit back a chuckle at the big man’s enthusiasm. “Which means disappearing for a few days at a time isn’t always possible.”

“Ah, yes. School.” Thor nodded sagely. “How does that work here?”

“It involves a great deal less combat than you’re probably thinking. Well, physical combat. Social combat is all the rage in high school.” Averia smiled. “Although... if that invitation to Asgard is still open, I can probably arrange a week away during the next school holidays.” It shouldn’t be too hard to invent an excuse. Perhaps a Stark Industries Student Camp or something? Pepper was always happy to help in exchange for Averia keeping an eye on Tony during missions, so he didn’t do anything insane like grab a nuclear weapon again.

“A week? Yes. Something could certainly be arranged.” Thor downed his drink with one big swig. “I will speak to my father. There are a great many monsters and enemies we can smite!” He paused. “Have you ever fought a dragon?”

Averia nodded. “Yes.”

“Bullshit,” Tony said. “You have not fought a dragon.”

Averia had, in fact, fought multiple dragons... in her previous life and her current one. “Magic is real, Tony. Believe me. I can see it.” There was a certain house that she’d have to pay a visit to, if only because she wanted to make her stance on certain matters clear.

“Where do you usually aim first?” Thor asked thoughtfully. “I myself prefer to go for the head.”

“I suppose it depends on the dragon. If the dragon is slow enough, then a strike to the head that kills it outright is ideal. However, if it’s too quick, you might have to deal with its wings or limbs first to slow it down.”

Tony shook his head. “We’re having a party, and you two are talking about how to kill a dragon.”

“Killing a dragon would make for an excellent party,” Thor replied.

“I agree.’ Averia snickered at Tony’s aghast expression. “But be mindful of the blood.”

“Aye,” Thor said. “Their blood is usually like molten rock. Not a threat to you or I, but Tony here would be ashes without his armour.”

“That is true, but I still feel insulted,” Tony said. “But seriously, magic? So... there are like wizards and stuff just wandering around?”

“More than you think.” Averia hummed thoughtfully. “I’ll tell you what. I plan on meeting with them soon to discuss several... issues. I can bring you with me if you want.”

“Meet actual wizards?” Tony’s eyes gleamed. “Sure. I’m in. Give me a call the day before, okay?”

“Sure.”

X     X     X

Averia watched with amusement as her fellow Avengers tried to lift Thor’s hammer. Saviour allowed her to perceive and understand the limitations on the weapon, and the only one who really stood a chance was Steve. After Steve had threatened to budge the hammer - Thor looked a bit panicked by that - the others had turned to her.

“Nope.” Averia shook her head. “I don’t need any extra weapons.”

“You don’t think you’re worthy?” Thor asked with genuine curiosity.

“It’s not a matter of worthiness,” Averia said. “It would be cheating.”

“Oh?” Tony asked.

“Saviour’s... negation fields, I suppose you could call them, would most likely allow me to lift the hammer regardless of my worthiness. Also...” She gestured, and space warped in a way that made the hammer seem to lift off the table before it returned to its spot. “Stuff like that works too.”

“Wait.” Tony covered his face with his hands. “You can warp space? Why don’t you do that more often?”

“Because it’s usually inefficient for what I want to do.” Averia shrugged. “Teleportation? Why warp space when I can simply choose the coordinates I want to be at and be there? Homing projectiles? Warping space is, admittedly, more useful there, but why not just conceptually link the projectiles to their target, so they basically can never miss?” She paused. “Although I will say that rending space is a very, very useful ability to have. It can bypass most forms of physical durability and strike at higher dimensions.”

“Fuck.” Tony laughed. “I need a stronger drink.” He gave her a petulant pout. “One of these days, we have to get you into a lab to see what you can really do.”

“I sincerely hope you never, ever have to find out what I can do at full strength because that will, as they say, mean that the world has gone to shit.”

“Language,” Steve said. The others looked at him. “Hey, she is younger than us.”

Averia sighed dramatically. “Alas, my foul language can be attributed to Tony. He’s a bad influence.”

“Way to throw me under the bus, kid.” Tony laughed. “Did you know that Steve actually called me out for swearing during our mission.”

The blond man groaned. “Tony...”

“Wait, really?” Averia raised one eyebrow. “While you were fighting?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“Tell me more.”

Averia stayed a bit longer, if only to watch Bruce’s awkward attempts to deal with Natasha’s flirting. Connecting with people her own age had been hard. They just... didn’t have the same sort of experiences as her. She still had friends, but not nearly as many as people believed. Peter, of course, was different. He was her brother. The Avengers, though, they understood.

“You need a ride home?” Tony asked.

Averia stepped out onto the balcony. “No. I think I’ll be fine.”

Tony watched her race up into the sky. “Show off.”

[shotsbyshae]

Not Afraid Anymore

Warnings: Language,Smut

Words: 2.3k

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Fem!Reader

Summary: A little Sinday Drabble. There is a reason Nick Fury assigned you to Steve Rogers. You’ll tell him one day.  

Song: Not Afraid Anymore by Halsey.

And touch me like you never.

2012

You were there the day he was thawed out.

Watching as Agent Coulson fanboyed out over the life-size Ken doll.

Fury rolling his one good eye makes you hide a smirk.

You bet Coulson fifty bucks that he wouldn’t fall for the elaborate set-up S.H.I.E.L.D. had created to try and convince him it was still 1945.

Phil took the bet.

There is no hiding the smug smile from your face when Coulson’s beloved Captain America goes feral, knocking out agents, busting through the wall, and running out of the facility.

You watch from the backseat of the black SUV as Fury approaches Rogers. The man standing in the middle of Time Square looks like a lost puppy with his wide, innocent blue eyes and short blonde hair.

“Are you going to tell him?” Phil questions from the driver’s seat. “Who your –”

“No,” you interrupt him. “I think he’s got enough to process for a while.”

Nick speaks with him for a few moments, then he begins walking the science experiment back to your SUV. Fury had ridden with you and Coulson. Which means – the rear passenger door opens and you’re not sure why you feel nervous as Steve Rogers climbs onto the bench seat beside you.

“Hi,” he looks surprised by your presence and the word comes out uneasy as Fury climbs into the passenger seat.

“Captain, this is Agent Coulson,” Fury introduces your superior first, which is customary, before he gives the man your name.

“Nice to meet you,” Steve gives a nod, eyes narrowing slightly. Something about you is familiar, but he can’t place it and you see the questions written on his face.

You feel awful for him.

This wouldn’t be easy for anyone.

Waking up to find everyone and everything you knew is gone.

Later, you stand outside Fury’s office, watching him and Coulson. Steve Rogers sits in front of Fury’s desk, looking more rattled than he did in Times Square. Nick Fury’s eyes land on you through the glass partition and he raises his hand, motioning for you to come inside.

“Sir?” you question him as you enter, closing the door behind you.

“I’m going to need you to help Captain Rogers adjust,” Fury states, his gaze shifting over to the Captain. “A lot has changed in seventy years.”

“What?” the request shocks you. You glance to Coulson and he gives you a nod of reassurance.

Of course. Why would they assign someone else to him when you’re here?

Only Coulson and Fury know who you really are.

“Agent Coulson’s already cleared you,” Fury comments and you look over to the man in the chair.

A big, blonde, blue-eyed, lost puppy.

You had joined S.H.I.E.L.D. to make a difference.

For the thrill of missions and secrecy.

Yet, here you are, baby-sitter to Captain America himself.

So, for months you help him – teach him – things that he should know.

The Internet. Cell phones. Computers.

A checking account. Debit card.

Shopping. Driving, although he’s more comfortable on a motorcycle.

Microwaves.

Pizza Rolls.

Nutella.

You introduce him to Star Wars and the two of you start doing movie nights to get him caught up on cultural references.

Rogers tells you about life before the serum, about Bucky, Dr. Erskine, Howard, and Peggy. You hear about his team, The Howling Commandos and their raids on Hydra.

He’s lost so much, and you see a side of him that no one else sees.

The golden boy is broken.

“Thank you,” he says sincerely, as the two of you approach your car one night. He always insists on walking out with you when you leave his apartment.

“For?” you question, shoving your hands in your jacket pockets as you smile, hitting the unlock button on the key fob there, because he’s already reaching for your car door.

So old-fashioned.

“I know you didn’t want me as an assignment,” he says, pulling open the driver’s door. “But you’ve helped me – a lot. I mean, I don’t really have anyone, so thank you, for being a friend.”

Little lost puppy.

You give him a warm smile, “Well, you have me now and I’m pretty awesome.” He laughs as you smirk. “I’ll always be your friend, Rogers. I promise.”

“Oh, that’s a promise?” he says it questioningly, and you pull your right hand from your pocket. Fist clenched tightly, only your pinky finger extending from it.

“Pinky swear,” you say simply, and a smile plays at the corners of his mouth as he lifts his left hand to wrap his pinky finger around yours.

“Okay,” he remarks. “Pinky swear it is.”

Friends.

Always.

You keep your promise, even when Loki gets inside your head later that year. On the carrier, you come face to face with Steve and for a moment, you hesitate. Unable to fight him as the Asgardian had instructed you to do. Natasha lands a hard, right hook to your jaw, knowing it had worked on Clint.

When you wake up, Fury’s there. He tells you about Coulson and your heart shatters, but you keep your emotions in check. You follow him to a conference table where he gives a speech to what’s left of the team.

Everyone’s in their own head.

Defeated, but determined.

He doesn’t come to you until later, when you’re sitting on the steps, adjusting the leather gloves of your uniform as you wait for the fight that’s coming.

“You good?” there’s concern in his tone.

You nod, “I’m – I’m sorry.”

“It wasn’t you,” he states. “We’re okay.”

Your eyes shift up to him. The red, white, and blue uniform making him look every bit the hero that Coulson would fanboy over. You lift your fist to him, extending your pinky finger. He gives a smile, his finger twisting around yours tightly.

2014

You keep your promise, even when the Hydra trained assassin The Winter Soldier tries to kill you, and Steve tells you that the man is Bucky Barnes. You’re not convinced – until you are – as you watch The Winter Soldier pull an unconscious Captain America from the river.

Sam tells you he’s awake and when you enter the hospital room, he tries to give you a smile. It pains you to see him so beaten and bruised.

Little lost puppy.

Broken again.

“I saw him,” you say quietly, standing beside the edge of the bed. “I saw him pull you from the river.”

“It’s Bucky,” he states, the sadness in his voice is heartbreaking.

You lay your hand on top of his, a small comfort, “I should have believed you. I’m sorry.”

His hand shifts under yours and you feel his pinky finger intertwine with yours.

A reminder.

2015

Tony Stark brings you in full time at the tower after the collapse of S.H.I.E.L.D. because Fury left him a note explaining who you really are.

Stark is surprised to say the least, but happy, and he promises to keep it a secret. You haven’t told Rogers yet, but you will – at some point.

Ultron happens and Tony moves you upstate to the new facility and suddenly you’re spending more time with him than before when not on missions.

You overhear him and Sam in the kitchen one night.

“What’s the deal with you two?” Wilson questions.

“Sam,” Steve sounds exasperated. “She’s a friend. It’s easy to be around her – she knows me.”

“Uh huh,” Sam remarks. “Pretty sure they have another word for that.”

“Sam,” his tone is reprimanding.

“Okay,” Wilson replies. “But weren’t you the one giving Banner advice on not waiting too long?”

You’d be lying if you said the thought’s never crossed your mind.

You’re human.

But he’s always been that lost puppy in the middle of Times Square.

The broken hero in need of a friend.

You enter the kitchen, surprising Sam more than Steve. He smiles at you warmly, a small glint in his blue eyes and it reminds you that as long as he needs you to be that – you will.

His friend.

Always.

2016

Nigeria happens and everyone’s hit hard. The night you all return, he stops by your room. Leaning against your doorframe, still looking like the blonde haired, blue-eyed puppy you were assigned, just a bit older – refined.

“You okay?” you question him as you continue to unpack your duffel.

“No,” he responds quietly. “But I have to be.”

Closing the drawer on your dresser you sigh, before turning around to face him, “Heavy is the head, Cap.” You move back toward your bed. “It’s not your fault.”

“I know,” he folds his arms across his chest. “Hey, I – I – know it’s not the best time.” When he stumbles over the words, you glance at him. He’s all nerves. “But do you want to get dinner this weekend – with me?”

Your brows furrow curiously at his question, “Dinner?”

“Yea,” he responds with a slight nod. “Dinner.”

A smile slowly spreads across your face and you watch it reciprocate on his as you say, “Sure.”

“Ok then,” the puppy is still in there, because you see him. “Good.”

The two of you never make it to dinner though.

Ross shows up the next day with the Accords and turns your world upside down. When the lines get drawn, you find yourself standing across from Steve Rogers. The wounded look in his eyes is enough to shatter you.

For the first time, you are part of the reason he’s a little more broken.

Your heart is ripped from your chest when Tony returns from Siberia, tossing the vibranium shield on the floor in front of you. You see the anger and heartache in the older man’s face, but he doesn’t tell you what happened.

Only that Steve is alive.

2018

Two years.

It’s not that long, but it feels like an eternity.

The pardon had gone into effect and they were finally coming home.

Your friends – family really.

Although, after the fight in Germany, you’re not sure if Steve even wants to see you.

Keeping yourself busy as a distraction in the lab, you aren’t aware someone’s standing in the doorway watching as you run tests on an artifact Parker had come across. He finally clears his throat to gain your attention and you turn around slowly.

The man standing in the doorway of the lab, makes the Steve Rogers you met the day he woke up after being in the ice look like a boy. A thick, dark beard lines his jaw, his once short, bright, blonde hair, now darker, longer. You have the sudden urge to run your fingers through it, and you realize you’re staring at him – not breathing.

“Steve,” you say his name as if it’s foreign to you.

“Hey,” his voice is even a little deeper.

His eyes are the same though. A beautiful pain stricken blue.

You can’t imagine what he’s been through the past two years. The fallout with Tony was bad enough, but the things he’s done since then.

The person he had to become.

Still the broken hero.

But how many times can a broken thing break?

“I missed you,” he finally says softly, and you smile as you bring your fist in front of you, pinky extended.

A reminder.

There’s a ghost of smile on his lips as his long legs close the distance between you in a couple strides. His finger hooking yours tightly. “I needed you.” He whispers, eyes taking in your features before his soft, plush lips crash against yours. He moves his hand to encompass the side of your face, his tongue dipping into your mouth for a taste.

This wasn’t the reunion you had expected.

No objections though.

His broad shoulders seem to tower over you as he pushes you against the lab table behind you. A glass beaker falls victim to the collision and shatters against the floor. Steve Rogers may still be broken, but this is a side of him you’ve never seen.

He’s filled with desire and want, spreading it to you with every lick and dip of his tongue.

An all-consuming need.

Wet.

Hot.

Desperate.

You’re arching into him, feeling the length of him press into your hip – hard. Your fingers are in his hair, pulling him closer to you. His mouth moves to your jaw, before working his way down your neck. You feel the graze of his teeth at the vein there, nipping and sucking.

You didn't know you wanted this.

Needed this.

You've never needed anything more than him in this moment.

That little lost puppy – a full-grown wolf – who knows exactly what he wants.

You.

“Steve,” his name comes out in a breathy moan against his ear and you feel him press harder against you. The moan from his chest feels more like a growl and your right leg hooks around him. You need to feel him there and his fingers grip your thigh tightly as he grinds into you. His mouth captures yours again a little softer this time – affectionately. You press against him, heat radiating through your jeans, an aching, slick beneath and you need him to know what he's doing to you.

Begging for him to take you.

To devour you like the animal he's become.

You will help fix your broken boy.

Protect him.

His shield.

“Cap,” Tony’s voice is cold and stern from the doorway. His lips leave yours, blue eyes staring down at you mischievously at being caught. The next words fall from Stark’s lips and you watch as the realization crosses Steve’s rugged features.

The familiarity of you the first day in the SUV.

Fury assigning you to him.

It all made sense.

After all, Howard had admired Steve Rogers.

“Get your fucking hands off my sister.”

[wiypt-writes]

Stark Spangled Banner

Ch 18:  Told You I’d Say Yes

Summary: Steve, Katie and Sam begin their search for Bucky and they uncover something that makes Steve start to question where their priorities as a team should lie. Decision made, the two of them head back to the Tower in New York to join up with the other adventures, and when Katie’s 30th birthday arrives, Steve asks a very differen question…

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

Warnings: Bad language words, smut (NSFW), no under 18s. And a whole lotta teeth rotting fluff…

A/N: I think this is my favourite edit yet, @angrybirdcr​

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Chapter 17

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

 Steve had no real leads and as such he, Katie and Sam spent weeks combing through the information that Natasha had provided, using JARVIS to translate the Russian which none of them spoke of course. It was hard work, stressful and gave them nothing of real use either, other than give them a bit more of an understanding of who the Winter Soldier was, so to speak, and then Sam had a brainwave. If Bucky was starting to get his memories back and pieced together that he had been working for Hydra under duress, he might go looking for answers, possibly even revenge.

They decided to start in the nearest Hydra base they knew about from the leaks on the internet, and as such they were now ransacking an old abandoned bank in the financial district in the middle of the night.

What they found wasn’t great- a dozen bodies of dead Hydra agents. Most looked as if they had had their throats crushed apart from one who was sat in a chair, a bullet between his eyes.  From the look, and smell, they’d been there a while.

“That’s an execution.” Sam muttered, nodding at the man who had been shot and Katie looked at him as Steve simply turned and walked from the smaller room, back into the larger corridor. He made his way down, pulling open a thick door into the main vault and stopped dead as he saw some form of chair in the middle, surrounded by restraints and a device that looked like some kind of macabre halo. Steve felt his mouth go dry as he looked at it. I was some perverted form of the chamber he’d been in when they’d administered the serum…

“Looks like they were deleting data when they were interrupted…” Sam bent over to get a closer look at the computer to the side. Katie passed him the device she had brought and he plugged it in and started the data mining. As Steve made his way towards the two of them, Sam frowned and clicked on something that caught his attention and immediately the sounds of tortured screams filled the room. Katie jolted slightly as Sam took a step back, the three of them glancing at the screen which was sat on the desk. And all 3 wished they hadn’t. As there, on the screen Bucky was strapped down the halo-like contraption lowered onto his head.

“Turn it off!” Katie instructed to Sam, who moved to cut the footage immediately but Steve grabbed his arm.

“No…” he said firmly, his eyes fixated on the grim footage in front of him, his chest heaving with anger.

Finally the screams stopped and someone was saying words as they were in Russian but when they finished Bucky slumped down in the chair staring blankly ahead, as he spoke a single sentence, his face and voice completely void of expression and emotion. 

There was a moment of silence when Steve suddenly snapped grabbing the edge of the table and flipping it over with a loud crash, all of the equipment and computers meeting a rather abrupt end along with it. He felt sick, upset, angry…and he couldn’t help but feel this was his fault for leaving his friend behind.

“Steve?” Katie asked anxiously, whilst she watched his shoulders heave with anger.

“Let’s go.” He instructed sternly, already making his way to the exit.

“Steve?” She called again.

“Now.” He bit back.

Steve didn’t speak a word whilst they drove home. Once they were in the apartment he stormed straight through the hall and up the stairs to the bed room. Katie turned to Sam who was hovering in the hall.

“That went well.” he quipped.

Katie sighed, walking into the kitchen and handed Sam a water which he thankfully took, draining it in one go.

“The thing is, Sam…” she ran a hand over her face “It’s gonna get worse, the more we dig, the more we’re going to find.”

“Yeah well, on that note I’m going to go back to the bank, do a bit more digging of my own tonight.” Sam sighed “See if I can find something that would give us an indication as to when exactly Bucky hit the base, might help us piece together a timeline of sorts.”

“Alright, but be careful, yeah?”

“I’m always careful, sugar!” Sam grinned, and Katie rolled her eyes. “Listen, you gonna be ok?”

“Yeah, I’ll give him some time. He’ll come round, he’s just…” she paused searching for the right word before she concluded “sad.”

Sam nodded “Call you tomorrow then, I’m at the VA in the morning but my afternoon is free”

“Will do…oh, and Sam?”

He turned around and Katie threw him the keys to the Q5 as he still hadn’t replaced his car. “Take this, but bring it back in once piece.”

“Cheers dude!” He beamed, catching the keys expertly before he headed out of the door.

Once he was gone, Katie walked over to the sofa and dropped down onto it, pulling out her phone. She knew it was late, but Tony answered straight away.

“Did it work?” She asked instantly.

“Did it work…” Tony snorted “I made the damned device, of course it did. JARVIS took everything off their system…he’s already sifting through and cross referencing… any mention of Barnes in any form he’ll find it.”

“Thanks Tony.”

“There is something he has found thought, that’s kinda interesting, but also very worrying.”

“What?”

“He found an encoded list of locations, locations for HYDRA bases across the globe. Curiosity got the better of me, and I ran a couple of cross checks on the bases that were already captured or infiltrated, and it matches 80%…”

“Yeah, there’s bases out there that didn’t fall… that’s what Fury’s doing, you know this.”

“Well here’s the thing…” Tony sighed “That 80% rallies to around 10 bases. One-Eye-Willy knew about 6, which he is currently working on with SHIELD or whatever they’re called now. The other 4 were unknown, until now.”

“Shit.” Katie sighed. If they had gone unknown, unchallenged, then it was possible that more of Hydra remained than they thought.

“Pretty much what Fury said when I called him.” Tony replied “Anyway, I think it’s time we put the band back together Kiddo…”

She groaned. “Steve already turned Fury down to find Bucky first.”

“Well, for once I’m inclined to agree with the Goth Pirate.”  Tony continued “I think rounding the last of these bastards up is slightly more pressing than Spangles chasing his old school buddy.”

“Don’t call him that…” She sighed, rubbing her hands over her face. 

“Fury says he’ll make contact with Natasha and Clint, no idea how to reach Point Break though. I called his girlfriend, or paramour, whatever, who said he was off chasing something, no idea what, but when he comes back she’s gonna tell him we’re looking for him.”

“I’ll talk to Steve…but I can’t promise anything.”

“If anyone can talk him round it’s you.” He said, his voice adopting a more sympathetic tone “You know, there’s no reason why we can’t look for Barnes along the way. I mean it’s all Hydra, right?”

“Yeah, good point. Let me talk to him. I’ll call you tomorrow, or later today, whatever.”

“No sweat, take care. Love you kiddo.”

“You too Tones”

Katie dropped her phone onto the couch and sighed. Time to tackle Steve. She unzipped her combat boots, shucked them off and headed up the stairs. She gently opened the bedroom door and saw Steve, hair damp from the shower, led on the bed, looking up at the ceiling.

“Hey.” She crawled onto the bed next to him and propped herself up on her elbows so she could look at him.

“Hi.” He rolled his head to accept the kiss she offered as she reached a hand up to twine in the hair at the top of his head. “I’m sorry.” He leaned into her hand like a dog seeking attention. Katie opened her arms to let Steve snuggle into them, like a child, as she rolled onto her back, his head laying on her chest as her hand continued to tangle in his hair.

“Do you think we’re wasting our time? Looking for him?” Steve asked after a moment.

Katie hesitated, choosing her words carefully. “Bucky has been brainwashed and tortured by HYDRA for longer than I’ve been alive. It’s going to take more than saving you from the river to bring back the man you knew” she took a deep breath “I think we’re going to struggle chasing someone as resourceful as he is when he doesn’t want to be found. And we may have another problem…”

“Like what?” He asked, frowning at her.

“I just spoke to Tony. J has been going through the info that we pulled from the servers. Apparently there’s a list of 4 secret Hydra bases that no one knew about, not even Fury, that didn’t go down when we took out SHIELD.”

Steve let out a groan “So now I have to choose, between Bucky and taking down what remains of Hydra…”

Katie kissed his head sympathetically as the turmoil raged within his brain. They couldn’t let Hydra get a foothold again. But he didn’t want to let Bucky down either.

“You know, going after Hydra might help.” Katie spoke softly “I mean, we have nothing other than vague ideas and supposition about where Bucky is or what he has planned next. We might find something along the way. In the meantime, Sam can keep working our current angle and line of thought.”

“You’re right.” he said after a pause “I’ve tried twice to bring these bastards down. I can’t let them slip through my fingers a third time.”

*****

“Gotta say Cap, you’re looking better than last time I saw you.” Tony grnned as they entered the lab in the tower.

“I feel it!” Steve smiled, shaking Tony’s hand.

“What you looking at?” Katie asked, nodding to the screen, taking in the map.

“Got JARVIS running a bit of an analysis on the bases we found out about. Terrain surrounding them, best places to land the jet, potential areas of weakness that kinda thing.” He said, “Could take a while but, best to be prepared with some form of plan I suppose.”

Katie turned to Steve, grinning, about to launch into a rendition of “Star Spangled Man with a Plan” but Steve gave her a filthy look, knowing full well what was going through her mind. She grinned at him innocently and he turned his attention back to Tony.

“Any news on the others?”

“Banner is due back at some point tomorrow. He’s at some kind of Scientist band camp…” Tony waved his hand. “Barton is on his way, but you already know that. As for Nat…well she said she’ll be here when she can…which just leaves Point Break to show, whenever he’s back from riding the rainbow road that is.”

“He’ll turn up.” Katie shrugged “If all else fails I’ll do what he told me to when we needed him.”

“Which was what?” Steve asked, looking at Katie, frowning. As if she knew how to contact him and hadn’t said anything…

“Stand on top of a tall building a shout.” she said, grinning. Steve gave a roll of his eyes as Tony snorted. “Although I think he may have been joking.”

“Maybe we should get him some kind of Bat Signal” Tony mused “but with a hammer instead of a bat.”

“No.” Katie shook her head and Tony pouted at her.

“Why do you always piss on my parade?”

“Because your parade is usually dumb. Look we’re gonna go upstairs and unpack a few things.”

“Sure.” Tony nodded. “Oh, happy said he’ll get your apartment in DC cleared over the next week, and I thought we could go for something to eat tonight. Do the whole…” he waved his hand in a circle motion as he looked back at the screen, “fmily thing.

“Sounds great.” Katie smiled, looking at Steve who nodded, thankful of something ‘normal’ to look forward to, and the pair of them made to leave.

“By the way, I renovated the living floors so your Penthouse has had a bit of a facelift.” Tony said. Katie stopped and turned to face him.

“What do you mean facelift?” She frowned “I liked my floor…”

“Yeah but when I did the rooms for everyone else they got new furniture so I ordered you some too. If you don’t like it you can change it, no big deal. I didn’t change the décor to much…I know how much of a princess you are about people touching your stuff”

“Princess here technically owns forty percent of this tower so…” She flicked him the finger and he rolled his eyes.

“Yeah yeah…there’s a spare suite for you anyway Spangles opposite Thor’s, you know, just in case you get pissed off with her. No one would blame you if you did…”

“You’re a dick.” She rolled her eyes at her brother and turned back towards the elevator.

In all fairness Katie did actually quite like the changes Tony had made. Her penthouse spanned the entire floor below Tony’s whilst everyone else shared a floor a couple of levels down with another Avenger. Perks of ownership, after all. There was a new coffee and cream coloured L shaped sofa in the room, a walnut coffee table replaced the glass one that had been there, and a brand new HD OLED TV adorned the wall opposite, along with a media system. A state of the art sound system was installed and the kitchen was completely new and had been knocked through to the dining area giving them a huge open plan space similar to the layout of the apartment in DC. There was frankly the biggest bed Steve had ever seen in the bedroom and the furniture was sleek, with a slightly smaller TV adorning the wall opposite the bed. The en-suite now sported his and hers sinks along with a double shower, a corner spa tub and there was a smaller bathroom just off the hallway along with another bedroom, a study and a balcony spanned the entire length of the floor, which was accessible from the main bedroom and the kitchen-diner. It overlooked the New York skyline and contained a small patio area and a hot-tub along with some outside furniture.  But true to his word, Tony had kept the colour scheme. Different shades of blue throughout the bedroom, steel grey in the kitchen and warm coffee and walnut colours in the lounge.

Steve loved it.

As promised, late that evening, the two of them accompanied Pepper and Tony out for dinner. They had gone to Anatolia’s, an Italian restaurant on the outskirts of Brooklyn much to Steve’s delight. It had been a really nice evening, the 4 drinking and eating far too much but as Tony had pointed out, things were about to get a little bit crazy so who knew when the next time they would get chance to relax and socialise was.

“Other than your 30th that is.” he said, looking at Katie over his wine.

“So there is something planned…” she grinned.

“Maybe.” Steve shrugged. Oh, he had something planned alright. He’d spoken to Tony about it a week or so ago, the Inventor gleefully agreeing with his idea.

“Man, my little sis is turning 30 in 3 weeks…I feel so old.” Tony continued to grumble.

 “You are!” she teased.

“Yeah but not as old as your boyfriend…”

“Well done, you almost went a full evening without mentioning it.” Steve dead panned, folding his arms.

“You know he’s technically younger than me, Tones.” Katie said “

“What?” Steve looked at her, “How do you work that out.”

“You were born in July 1918 right, went into the ice in, what, March 1945?”

“Yeah…”

“Woke up in May 2012. So when you count how many years you spent actually awake and living, and not taking a cold nap, you’re really only 29 this time round.”

“So Captain America is your toy-boy?” Pepper giggled. Katie shrugged and took a sip of her wine as Tony and Steve looked at one another, both of them wearing expressions of bewilderment.

“Wait, does this mean we can throw a Happy 97 minus 67 party for Spangles next year?” Tony grinned and Steve let out a groan.

“See what you’ve done?” he looked at Katie with exasperation, and she just shrugged.

The night ended with a few drinks in a bar before a car picked them up and the couples both bid each other goodnight before going their separate ways

“That was proper pizza.” Steve said as they walked out of the elevator into their living area, the panel sliding in place leaving the door hidden.

Katie laughed as JARVIS gently flipped on the ambient lighting.  “Well you certainly enjoyed it…getting through 2”

“Yeah, think the last 3 slices were a mistake” he mumbled as she headed into the kitchen. “They’re sitting in me like a brick.”

“Awwww poor baby!” she mocked thickly. “Getting so old you can’t even have a few slices without indigestion.”

“Hey, I’m younger than you, remember?” He laughed as Katie pulled 2 beers out of the fridge handing him one as she glided past him to flop onto the couch.

“I’m gonna regret pointing that out, aint i?” She laughed as Steve nodded.

*****

Katie had a meeting with her Editors and New Business department the next morning and Steve had a job of his own, a different mission that he was fucking nervous as hell about. He asked JARVIS where Tony was, who located him in the large, open plan main common room area of the tower, the one Loki and the Hulk had decimated 2 years previously.

“Tony you got a minute?”

“S'up Cap?”

Steve took a deep breath “I err…” his palms suddenly felt sweaty. “You know I love Katie and…" He cleared his throat before he looked Tony square in the eye, surprised to find the man watching him, warmth across his features.  “She’s the most important thing in my life, and I…well, I wanted to ask for your permission, to ask her to marry me.”

“My permission?” Tony quipped.

“Well I’d normally ask her dad but…”

Tony smiled and glanced down at hands before he looked back at the blonde haired man stood besides him. “You gonna do better than a ‘we can get married if you want’ outside your apartment door?”

Steve let out a sigh and shook his head “she told you about that?”

“In the hospital” Tony smiled.

“Not my finest moment” Steve rubbed at his temple.

“Oh I dunno.” Tony said pushing off the front of the Bar area where he had been leaning. “Given the fact you were inches from death she was pretty upset at the fact she told you to come back with a Tiffany special…”

Steve smiled.

“You got one yet?” Tony asked. “A ring I mean.”

“No.” Steve shook his head.

“Well it just so happens I know one of the consultants at Tiffany.” Tony smiled, and Steve looked at him, his face creeping into a smile as he knew that this was Tony’s confirmation he was giving him his blessing. “Whenever you’re ready, I’ll make a call.“

The two men looked at one another, sharing a silent moment of respect before Tony reached out with his hand and Steve shook it, a shit-eating-grin spreading across his handsome features.

“Oh fuck this, come on Spangles, bring it in. I’m secure enough in my sexuality to hug another man.” Tony sniffed, and Steve stood up off the bar stool with a chuckle, the men exchanging a quick embrace, punctuated by a lot of back slapping.

“For what it’s worth…” Tony smiled as he stepped back, his eyes shining with emotion. “You make her happy, you treat her right, you put her first and I’ve never seen anyone metaphorically slap her back into place as well as you do….sorry, lot of dust in here…” he wiped at his suddenly watering eyes, water that may or may not have been tears before he took a breath and looked at Steve again “I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather grant permission to.”

Steve smiled, his own eyes shining with emotion.

“And I’m pretty sure you’d have gotten it off dad too.” Tony nodded at him and Steve looked at the floor for a second before he glanced back up at him, taking a deep breath.

“Thank you Tony.”

*****

“What is this?” Thor’s voice was loud. “I can’t see them…”

“No you turn it…hang on”  The 4 Avengers in the lab looked at one another, Tony grinning from ear to ear as Jane was trying to explain how to use the video call facility on her phone.

“He’s worse than you!” He grinned up at Steve who merely rolled his eyes as Bruce stifled a grin.

Eventually Thor’s face, or rather his left nostril filled their screen and all of them urged him to move the phone away. Finally he did so, and his handsome face beamed down at us all.

“Greetings!” he smiled “It is good to see you all again, Little Stark you look as radiant as ever.” “Thanks Thor!” Katie laughed as besides her Steve bristled a little bit. 

“Jane says you need my help.”

“Yeah, we got a job Point Break.” Tony said.

“Is this to do with SHIELD and Hydra?” the God’s deep voice rumbled.

“You know about that?” Katie asked.

“Of course, it was all over the news. I watch that now, with Jane” he said, a glint in his eyes, “But that reminds me, I have a bone to pick with both you and the Captain…”

Steve frowned and looked at Katie, the pair of them sharing a glance before they looked back at the screen.

 “I saw you both on the television fighting SHIELD alongside the Birdman…” Thor continued, ignoring Katie and Steve’s laughter as they both thought of Sam’s face if he could hear that nickname, “Why didn’t you call me? You know how much I love fighting.”

“They didn’t send for me either…” Tony said, putting his hand up.

“Call you, do you have a cell phone?” Katie looked at Thor.

“No, what for?”

She didn’t reply, instead she looked away trying not to laugh at the perplexed look on the God’s face

“We have a lot of loose ends to tie up.” Steve spoke, steering the conversation back to the purpose in hand. “Not all of Hydra went down when we took SHIELD out.”

Thor’s face split into a grin. “More fighting?”

“More fighting.” Tony said, as Banner let out a small sigh.

“Why is there always fighting?”

They explained the basics of what was going on to Thor, before he promised to join them as soon as he could and then Banner headed off to shower and to unpack following his trip.

“I’m going to head to the office for a few hours.” Katie said. Steve nodded.

“Tony and I have stuff to do.” he said simply, but met her gaze with a passive one of his own as she glanced at him, arching her eyebrow.

“Ohh…I get it…” she grinned, “You’re sorting my birthday surprise. Cute.” As she turned to go she walked straight into the desk behind her, jabbing the corner harshly into her thigh.

“You alright?” Steve asked, trying but failing to hide the chuckle in his voice at her clumsiness.

“Thanks for your genuine concern.” She grumbled, instantly rubbing where the sharp corner had dug into her. “Shit, that hurt…Jesus fucking Christ…”

"Ooooh, hey. You kiss Spangles with that mouth?” Tony raised an eyebrow at her

“Yes, Tony, I kiss him all over with that mouth.” She glared at him as she rubbed her thigh. “Every inch of –”

Tony clapped his hands over his ears. “Lalalalalalalalala! I can’t hear you!”

Once Katie was out of earshot, Tony turned to Steve “You get it?”

He nodded, holding up his mother’s ring that he had managed to slip of when Katie was sleeping.

“Alright, let’s go.”

They drove the short distance into Manhatten, and Tony parked his car up in a private space behind the department store they were visiting. Steve followed him into the store where they were greeted by a small, grey haired mousy looking man dressed in an immaculate 3 piece suit.

“Mr Stark, Captain Rogers.”

“Hi Robert.” Tony smiled at him, clapping Steve on the shoulder “Take good care of him, he’s shitting himself.”

Steve sighed and shook his head but the inventor had already wandered off to the other side of the store, examining something in one of the glass cases.

“It’s perfectly understandable to be nervous, it’s a big thing.” Robert smiled, gesturing for Steve to follow him. He did, as they walked across the store to a small room at the back. Steve walked in and dropped into a seat. “So, do you have anything specific in mind?” 

Steve took a deep breath, “Something elegant, but flashy enough to be special, I’ve no idea really, other than she prefers white gold to yellow.”

Robert smiled at him, “White gold or platinum. Ok. Any idea on the cut of diamond?”

“Princess.” Steve said, smiling. That he did know, from way before they were even dating.

“Oh my god!” Katie said, looking at the gossip magazine Natasha was reading, as Steve peered up at them from the seat behind his desk. “That’s fucking hideous.”

Natasha snorted “20 carat apparently.”

“Who the fuck needs a 20 carat ring?” Katie shook her head.

“I dunno, not something Tony would buy for Pepper?”

“Nah he isn’t that tacky.” she shook her head “And I’d kick his ass, it’s so…garish.”

“I don’t think the cut helps” Nat said, holding the magazine up “It’s a Brilliant, so looks a bit..”

“Shit?” Katie offered and the girls laughed “Seriously, if I ever have a man who’s ready to propose you better tell him it’s Princess or bust…”

He and Robert chatted for a few moments, Steve assuring him that the budget was healthy, whilst the man headed off into the store and came back with a few options set on a blue velvet tray of sorts. Steve’s eyes were instantly drawn to one in the middle. It was held a large diamond and was set into an elaborate clasp which melted into the band which was studded with smaller diamonds.

“Ahh yes.” Robert smiled as Steve picked it up “That’s one of my favourites. It’s a Tiffany Novo…”

“Sorry, did you say Nova?” Steve’s head jerked up, a smile on his face.

“Novo, Captain.”

Close enough Steve thought as he grinned.

“Princess cut with a Pave set Diamond band in platinum. That one’s a 2.05 carat, but we can do it smaller.”

“No, this one is perfect.” Steve smiled, looking at him.

“Well, that was easy…” Robert quipped and Steve nodded, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah…” he let out a chortle of a laugh, “you had me at Novo.”

Robert frowned, but didn’t ask for an explanation. “That one there is Sixty-Six thou…”

“Holy shit.” Steve exclaimed, before hastily apologising for his outburst. He knew he had said he had a decent budget but…

“However, Captain, seeing as it’s you, I can shave twenty percent off that, leave my commission.” he man smiled as Steve began to protest “And offer you a further ten percent for Tony being a regular customer.”

“I couldn’t…”

“You guys saved my daughter’s life in New York.” Robert looked at him, smiling softly “She was in the bank.”

Steve took a deep breath and shrugged, a faint flush on his cheeks. “Just doing my job.”

“So am I. So we’ll call it forty, and I’ll throw in an extra eighteen months care package. So she can bring it in to be cleaned, repaired should anything happen to it over the next three years.”

Steve hesitated, it was a lot of money. He knew he had enough, more than enough. His wages from SHIELD had been generous, plus his Army back pay that Katie and Fury had secured for him had been piling up and earning interest, but he still wasn’t used to being able to just flash it around. Plus now he wasn’t technically earning either…but the more he looked at it, the more he just knew it was right. 

And she was worth far more to him than anything money could buy.

“I’ll take it.” He nodded, decision made.

He handed Robert his Ma’s ring, which Katie had had resized to fit properly and Robert nodded, smiling as he slid it onto a measuring cone.

“You’re in luck Captain. We have one that size in stock so you can take it away today. Whilst we’re here, would you like me to give this one a polish?”

“Oh, err, yeah, great.”

He shook hands with the man and headed back into the store where Tony was now leaning over a cabinet, talking to a blonde haired assistant. He pointed at a necklace with an obscene price tag, and she nodded, picking it up and turning around.

“Something for Pep.” he said, gesturing to the gift as he nodded at Steve. “You know, just because.” he frowned “That was fast.”

“Found the perfect one.” Steve smiled “It’s called a Novo”

“Nova?” Tony looked at him, eyebrow raising as he smirked.

“No, Novo…although that’s what I heard too at first.” Steve laughed.

“Huh.” Tony said, as Robert approached them. He opened the box he was holding and reached in for the ring, setting it down on a velvet tray again to show to the men. It was even brighter in the store lights than in the room. Steve heard Tony whistle at the side of him.

“That’s a rock and a half Cap.”

“She’s worth it.” he shrugged, simply. “I just hope she likes it.”

“If she doesn’t we can exchange.” Robert said, as he finished his inspection and after making himself happy the ring was perfect he boxed it up and handed it to Steve in a Tiffany bag.

“Cap, you could propose with a ring pull and she’d say it was perfect.” Tony smiled.

“Now you tell me.” Steve said, handing over his credit card.

*******

“Shit, shit, shit…” Katie was panicking. Her ring was gone. Steve’s Ma’s ring. The one he had given to her at Christmas. The only real thing he had of his mom left. She’d ransacked the bedroom, living room, her office. “No,no…”

She made her way back into the kitchen, looking everywhere, before she headed into the bathroom. Nothing. She collapsed onto the closed toilet seat, her head in her hands as she began to cry when she heard the elevator door open.

Steve stopped as he walked into the living room, frowning at the utter chaos that greeted him. Cushions were all over the place, drawers in the large unit were flung open. Immediately he went on the defensive, knowing it was ridiculous as there was no way anyone could have gotten in here, but still…

“Katie?” he called. Katie’s head jerked up and she wiped her eyes

“Bathroom.” she said back, and he could tell from her tone something was wrong.

“Doll, what’s going on?” He strode into the bedroom and then stepped into the large en-suite. She’d been crying. “Baby?” he crouched in front of her.

“I…I’m so sorry…” Her voice cracked. “But your mom’s ring… I can’t…”

Steve felt a sudden pang of guilt, she was distraught, thinking she had lost it. He hadn’t thought of that.

“No, sweetheart, it’s ok, I’ve got it.”

“You do?” she frowned.

“Yeah.��� he reached into his shirt pocket and pulled it out. “I was looking at it when you were asleep last night and thought it could do with a bit of a clean-up so I took it off and Tony took me to a place Pepper takes hers…”

Katie looked at the ring, before she felt her anger simmer over.

“You complete ass Steven Grant Rogers!” she yelled, hitting him in the chest “I’ve spent the last 3 hours out of my mind with worry…”

“I know, I should have told you but I wanted it to be a surprise.” Steve lied, hoping to god for once she wouldn’t see through it “I’m so sorry!”

She snatched it off him, returning it to its home and she glared at him, before looking down at it.

“Well, it does look nice and shiny” she said, admiring it and Steve let out a sigh of relief “Don’t touch my stuff.”

“Your stuff?” he looked at her as she wiped at her face.

“Yes, my stuff.” she repeated petulantly. “You gave it to me, remember. It’s mine.”

He was about to laugh and call her a brat, when there was a loud clap of thunder and a flashing of bright white light, punctuated by various rainbow colours, outside the bedroom window and they both turned their heads to look at it.

“Thor!” Katie said, jumping up and beaming.

“Am I forgiven?” Steve asked, rising to his feet. She turned and looked at him, rolling her eyes at the injured puppy dog eyes he was giving her.

“Pull another stunt like that again and I’m imposing a sex ban for a week.”

“Yes Ma’am.” he grinned, giving her a peck on the lips.

****

Thor’s arrival spurred the Avengers into getting down to some real planning, and when Clint arrived that day too, bringing with him the news that Natasha would be with them by the middle of June- she was on some kind of trip with Fury-those of them present began to take all the information they had, planning their first raid on one of the uncovered Hydra bases, this one being on the outskirts of Seattle.

“Your call Cap.”  Tony looked at Steve, his jaw was twitching as he turned over the pros and cons of hitting the base whilst they were still one down on the team. Eventually he made his decision and looked around the team.

 Suit up…” he said, straightening up “Wheels up in 20”

Behind him Banner groaned.

He needn’t have worried though, there was no need for a code green. In fact, it was a bit of a damp squib. There were minimum guards to take out and all in all it was relatively easy. There were also no computers, just a truck load of paper files which they meticulously boxed up and loaded onto the jet.

Over the next two weeks they hit the remaining unknown basis that they had discovered, and every one of them was the same. They were clearly never used as main strongholds, more like storage facilities if anything. Steve was frustrated, Katie knew that. But as she and Tony pointed out to him, they had a hell of a lot of information to comb through. They liaised with Fury, who had nothing new to add, other than that he would be in touch if his team needed help about the remaining bases in Europe.

As such they spent most of their time filtering through the information they had gotten from the bases, along with the boxes of files that Fury and Hill had pulled from SHIELD. Banner and Katie (when she wasn’t working) set up a simple filing system as they went along, cataloguing each bit of paper information so they knew where to find it in future, and could add to it as they went along.

There wasn’t much to go on, they didn’t find any new information, and nothing on Bucky, but there was one name that continued to crop up time and time again.

“Baron Von Strucker…” Katie said to the team which was congregated in the lab. “I’ve gone through the information available, including what was dumped on the internet when we released all the files…it isn’t pretty reading.”

Clint lounged with his feet up on the desk munching some popcorn. He offered it round and Tony took a hand full.

“Not likely to be where Hydra is involved.” he said, leaning against a desk, chucking the popcorn in his mouth.

Steve who had been flicking through a file clucked slightly with his tongue and shook his head “Says here he trained with Jasper Sitwell at the Preparatory Academy.”

Tony began choking and at first Katie thought it was reaction to the fact that Hydra had an academy but she soon realised, as he was pointing at Clint with a disgusted expression on his face that it was the popcorn. She grinned- Clint like his popcorn laced with cayenne pepper.

“What is wrong with butter and salt?” Tony gasped as Clint explained what was on the corn through his laughter. Thor reached over curiously and took a handful before declaring, much to Clint’s annoyance, that he enjoyed the spicy snack.

“He had his fingers in a lot of SHIELD pies” Katie continued “He was running the SHIELD STATION, which is the Scientific Training and Tactical Intelligence Operative Network, an R&D facility which was established to conduct investigations on the material retrieved from the ground during the battle of New York, you know, the shit Fury said he had destroyed?”

“Alright.” Steve nodded “Dig up what you can on it and then we’ll go from there. From the sounds of it he seems like the one we should be focussing on.”

Katie nodded.

“But not tonight.” Tony said, looking at Steve “I think we deserve a break, especially seeing as it’s someone’s 30th tomorrow.”

The room cheered and Katie rolled her eyes “Yeah yeah…don’t remind me.”

*****

Katie woke the next morning to soft kisses peppering the side of her neck and a deep burn growing at her centre as she was slowly pulled to consciousness. She let out a low moan and felt the lips at her throat spread into a sly smile

“You dreaming about me?” her Soldier whispered.

She bit her lip, arching her back and leaned into him as his hand splayed on her stomach, pulling her closer before she felt his fingers sliding down gently to the space between her legs. She didn’t say a word, she couldn’t. It was all she could do to simply groan as he gently pushed two fingers inside her, before he moved to massaging her spot. She pulled her legs together suddenly, thighs tightening as the muscles in her core clenched.

“You want more?” he asked, voice slow and deep.

She nodded eagerly, moving so that she was lay on her back and finally opened her eyes.

Steve gently moved, so his knee was positioned between her legs, sliding his T-shirt over her head before one hands moved up her body, tracing her ribs before he started to caress her breast, the other fingers continued to stroke inside, making her groan more and more. He placed a soft kiss on her jawline and smiled at her.

“Happy birthday, Gorgeous.”

His words undid her, and she let out a sound that was halfway between a gasp and a squeal, feeling for him under the sheets “Steve…” Every inch of her was on fire and he wanted him. “Please…” she begged, her voice catching as he moved over on top of her fully, shoving his boxers down and she let out a long shaky moan as he entered her.

“Good?” he asked, his breath a whisper and she nodded eagerly as he began to move. His thrusts were slow but deep and powerful, every roll of his hips sent his pelvis rocking up against her spot.

It didn’t take long at all, she was so close already and Steve watched her face, not wanting to miss the moment.

“Fuck…” Her head completely dropped backwards as her core spasmed again and then she came, hard, her orgasm rolling over her in such a way it had her clinging to Steve, crying out a strangled cry as he too reached his peak, her name tumbling from his lips.

The minutes passed as they lay curled in silence, completely blissed out and relaxed, hearing only each other’s gradually steadying breaths.

Steve’s hand gently stroked the arm that was draped over his abdomen before he gently moved her to one side, sitting up. He had things to do.

“Hey…” she began to protest before he smiled.

“I’m going to make you breakfast”

“You are?”

“Of course, it’s your birthday” He chuckled, from the edge of the bed where he was pulling on a pair of sweats.

"Pancakes,” she muttered hopefully.

He laughed. “Yup,” he said before lowering his lips onto hers. They shared a long, deep kiss that left them grinning like idiots as he pulled away, hopping off the bed and pulling on a t-shirt before leaving the room.

Katie stretched out and glanced over at the clock on the bedside table. It was half 9. A perfectly reasonable time to wake up on her birthday. And the best bit was, she had an entire day of being a spoilt birthday brat ahead of her! Steve was taking her to Coney Island in the afternoon, he had been dying to take her back to Brooklyn for ages and they’d picked today to go after the team had decided to take a break from the non-stop research and missions. Then later in the evening there was some form of meal booked, although where she had absolutely no idea. She’d been trying to catch everyone out about it for weeks but failed, miserably.

She was just about to get out of bed and into the shower when she heard her phone vibrating on the nightstand beside her bed. She reached over for it, and rolled her eyes. It was Tony.

“Happy birthday kiddo! How does it feel to be officially old?”

“You still got fourteen years on me, you dick!” she said, grinning before she yawned slightly “Why are you ringing me when you’re, what? A floor away?”

“Wasn’t sure if you’d be up or not.”

“Well there’s no worries on that account as for my birthday Steve got me a new alarm clock.”

“An alarm clock?” Tony said, his tone flat

“Yeah.” she said, biting her lip as she fought to keep myself from laughing “His penis.”

There was a pause “That’s gross.” Tony groaned and Katie laughed as he continued to complain “I mean it’s bad enough knowing that you two…you know, without being given some form of mental image like that…”

“Oh quit your whining!” she grinned “When you bringing me my present?”

“Ah well, you’ll have to come get it, it’s a bit big.”

“Big?” I said “It’s not a 16 foot teddy bear is it?”

It was his turn to laugh “No, although, speaking of big, stuffed animals, what did Cap actually get you?”

“You’re hilarious, and I’ve no idea. He’s making me breakfast at the moment.”

 “More sausage?” he said sardonically.

“Pancakes, actually” she replied “Which is why I need to go and have a shower before he eats them all himself…”

“Alright, come up when you’re ready…” he said. “Not going anywhere…”

By the time she made her way into the large open plan living area, Steve had already completed 2 stacks of pancakes (his miles bigger than hers), a plate of bacon and was just setting 2 glasses of orange juice down on the breakfast bar in front of the 2 plates. He looked up and smiled, she was dressed casually for a day at the fair, tight jeans, boots and long white top, over which she wore an open beige half-sleeved cardigan, and her hair was pulled up into a high, messy pony tail. She looked beautiful as ever.

“You look lovely.” He said, pressing a kiss to the side of her head as she sat down. “So, how does it feel to be old?” He could barely get the words out without laughing, and she simply shook her head at his poor attempt at a joke

“You’re such a jerk!” She rolled her eyes, as he grinned.

They ate breakfast, and then like the big child she was she demanded to know where her presents were so Steve took her hand and led her into the living room where they were laid out on the coffee table.

She opened her gifts one by one, a few items of clothing, a pair of earrings, a new set of wireless earphones that she had mused over buying and then decided not to, a gorgeous white and rose gold diamond bracelet and a leather bound edition of the Wizard of Oz book to replace the one she had lost in Malibu.

“I saw that and couldn’t resist.” He grinned, as she grinned back “oh and here…”

This was the big one. He held out the envelope and Katie looked at him, gently taking it before she slid a finger under the top to rip it open. Steve watched as she pulled out the piece of paper and for the second time that morning her mouth dropped open in surprise. It was a print out of an itinerary leaving the 30th November and returning on the 14th December, with the locations being cities in Europe- Munich, Paris, Venice, Bruges, Dublin and London.

“2 nights in each…3 in London” Steve said as she glanced up at him, unable to speak “I didn’t know what else to do and I know you’ve wanted to go back to Europe for ages, and how much you love Christmas and the markets and stuff…”

“Oh my god, Steve… ” She glanced down at the paper, finally finding her voice. “This is amazing! I don’t know what to say.” Steve felt the familiar pink tinge growing around his cheeks before she threw her arms around him, “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

He smiled and then kissed her head before he pulled away. “Shall we go and see what outrageously flashy present Tony has for you?”

“Do you know what is is?” she asked.

“I might do…” he smiled as she stood up. There was no might about it. He knew what it was. And he knew she was going to lose her shit about it.

The two of them made their way up to Tony’s main living floor, her hand in his.

“You now I’m excited to finally take you to Coney Island.” He smiled as the door to the elevator shut.

“Excited?”

"Yeah, it’s just I watched Bucky take so many dates around there and I spent most of my time wondering when I was gonna’ get to take my own gal.” He admitted, bashfully.

"God, you’re adorable,” she smiled at him as the doors opened.

“Happy birthday!” Both Tony and Pepper chimed and she grinned, stepping out and into Pepper’s arms before Tony swept her into a hug.

“Well I don’t see any huge stuffed toys so…” she looked around and Pepper snorted.

“I talked him out of it.”

Tony handed her a small box and Katie looked at him.

“This isn’t big.”

“Brat.” Tony rolled his eyes and she smirked. She pulled the ribbon of the box, took the lid off and stared at the content inside. And as it dawned on her what it was she looked up at him, then to Steve, who was watching her, an amused expression on her face, then back at the box her eyes wide.

“You didn’t?” she looked up at her brother, her mouth dropping open.

Tony shrugged “Well you buried your Range Rover and gave away the Audi so…”

She looked at him for a split second before she squealed, threw herself at her brother and then turned on her heels, running.

Steve and Tony both watched her go before they turned to one another and followed her.

“You ready?” Tony asked.

“As I’ll ever be.” Steve nodded.

“Huh.” Tony nodded.

“Ready for what?” Pepper asked.

“Oh, they’re going to Coney Island.” Tony said as they headed down in the elevator, waving away her question.

Way ahead of them Katie burst into the parking lot and skidded to a halt. There, in all its glory was her own brand new Chevrolet Camero Exorcist, the car she had dreamed of since she was a teenager. It was gorgeous. Deep blue with cream leather interior. She unlocked it and sat in the driver’s seat, taking in the smell. The head rests were stitched with the Stark Industries logo and the dash was awash with every single button and function you could imagine.

“Fire it up.” a voice said, and Tony looked at her through the open driver’s side door. She did as she was told and grinned at the beautiful growling noise it made and squealed, feeling the leather of the steering wheel.

She turned to Steve who was stood leaning slightly on the door watching her.

“Hop in soldier!” she grinned, and he smirked, walking to the passenger side.

“Have fun…” Tony said, before he turned to Steve and looked at him, giving him a significant nod and a clap on the shoulder. Steve smiled back and then sank into the leather seat. He had to admit the car was nice. Katie pulled out of the space and gave a groan that was far too arousing than it should have been.

“Oh my god…” she murmured, as she pulled onto the street. The car purred and handled like a dream. As she put her foot down it sped forward, throwing them both back in the seat.

“Easy baby!” Steve chuckled as she laughed, speeding over Brooklyn Bridge. “You’re gonna get a ticket…”

She shrugged, not actually caring at that point.

*****

Steve wound up, pitching the ball which sliced through the bottles on the stall diagonally, knocking them completely off their pedestal and sending the ball through the back of the canvas booth as it ripped a hole clean through it. Steve bit his lip, not realising how hard he had thrown it and turned to look at Katie. She was doubled over, laughing at the look on his face, and then laughed even harder at the expression on the attendants face as he glanced from Steve to the bottles on the floor, to the hole in the canvas and back again.

“Which one do you want?” Steve asked, placing his arm around her as the attendant indicated for her to pick a toy.

“I think I’ll have that one…” she said, pointing to a brown bear that was dressed in a Captain America outfit, complete with helmet and shield.

Steve shot her a look and she held out her hands, protesting her innocence. “What?”

“Good choice ma’am” the attendant said, handing over the bear “He’s an all American hero is our Captain.”

“That he is.” She grinned “He’s incredibly handsome too I believe.” 

Steve cut her off as he thanked the man before steering her away as he checked his watch. They had about an hour before they needed to get back. 

“Come on, let’s take a walk.”

He led them both down to the sea front, pausing to get a hot dog each, and they walked, eating in comfortable silence. The sun was still warm in the sky, the sea was by their side and Katie was lost in her own little world until she realised Steve wasn’t besides her. She turned to look for him, wondering where he was and then spotted him a few yards behind her, crouched on one knee on the well-worn wooden slats of the boardwalk.

“I told you I was gonna ask you properly one day.” He cleared his throat, looking up at her with those blue eyes she loved so much as he held out his hand, opening the small box that was inside. The sun bounced off the surface of the ring and she couldn’t see it fully but she clamped her hands over her mouth. “I know we were a little too late to be each other’s firsts, well in some ways anyway…” he said, and Katie let out a choked giggle. “But I want all my lasts to be with you. Will you marry me, sweetheart?”

“And I told you I’d say yes one day!” She said, her voice cracking with emotion as she removed her hands shakily from her mouth and nodded. “Yes. Yes of course I’ll marry you.”

A few of the by-standers who had been watching started cheering as Steve jumped up, everything around him bar his girl faded to nothing as she threw herself into his arms. He picked her up, laughing like an idiot, his strong arms round her as he twirled her round, the pair of them sharing fast, rapid dizzying pecks on the lips as he held her off the floor. Eventually he set her on her feet, an utterly stupid grin plastered on his face as he looked at her, a grin that wasn’t going to fade any time soon.

“Do I errr have to put it on myself?” She spluttered a laugh, raising an eyebrow.

“What, oh, yeah, right…” he said, stepping back and removing the ring from its home, fumbling slightly before he managed to get it out, holding it in his right hand, but before he could do anything else she grabbed his left hand which contained the box before he could slip it back into his pocket.

“You bought me a Tiffany?” She almost shrieked as she looked at the distinctive blue-green box in her hand.

“Yeah, and if you give me a second you can see it.” Steve chuckled at her. Biting her lip she held out her left hand and he slid the ring onto her finger and she let out a loud gasp.

“Stevie, it’s beautiful.” She whispered, looking at it before she took his face in both her hands. “I love it.”

“I love you.” he murmured into their kiss. He grinned and dropped and arm round her shoulder as they made their way back down the boardwalk, back to the car, Katie’s eyes almost permanently transfixed on her ring.

“You definitely like it?” Steve asked, suddenly feeling nervous as he nodded to her hand

“It’s perfect, but how did you know?” she looked up at him as they reached the other side of the road

“Do the words, ‘big, fuck off Tiffany diamond’ ring any bells?” he looked at her, referencing their conversation outside his flat a few months ago.

“Not about the tiffany.” she shook her head “But the cut. It’s a princess one, the one I’ve always wanted.

“I have a good memory” he smiled, “And I picked that particular one because its a design called a Novo. I thought he said Nova at first.”

Katie laughed as she snaked her arms round his neck. “For the record, this was much a much better proposal than we can get married if you want….”

“Are you ever gonna let me forget that?” he sighed as he leaned down.

“I think you’ve redeemed yourself…” she said as her lips met his.

****

“Tony suggested we have a drink before we meet everyone.” Steve stepped into the elevator and Katie looked at him before she smoothed down her white dress.

“So where are we meeting everyone?”

“It’s a surprise, stop being so impatient.”

“Errr. You can’t tell me off, it’s my birthday.”

“Well stop asking so many questions and just enjoy your night!”

She didn’t get chance to reply as then the elevator doors opened onto the main party floor and there was a loud eruption of noise, making Katie jump.

“SURPRISE!”

Her mouth dropped open as she looked around the room. It was decorated in banners, balloons, and now paper streamers from the party poppers that had just been exploded by their friends. Clint, Thor, Bruce, Rhodey, Sam, Maria Hill, Tony, Pepper, Lawson, Evans, a whole host of people that worked in the offices and a familiar copper haired assassin stepped forward to greet her.

“Miss me?” Nat quipped.

 “I can’t…” Katie began to speak, as she hugged her friend back “Oh my God…”

“JARVIS can you record this?” she heard Tony speak. “For this is a monumental occasion. She’s actually speechless…”

Katie turned to look at Steve who had been watching her reaction with a smile on his face. He loved seeing her happy, and he was pretty sure he’d managed to achieve that several times over during the day.

“Did you organise this?” she asked

“Why do you sound so surprised?” he chuckled, stepping forward to kiss her cheek “I had a little help but yeah, it was my idea. Happy Birthday baby.”

Before she could reply Natasha suddenly spoke very loudly. 

“What is that?”

“What?” Katie asked, although she knew full well what Natasha was talking about.

“Errrr that?” She grabbed at Katie’s left hand.

The room fell silent.

“What does it look like?” Katie grinned at her

“Holy fucking shit.” Steve heard Clint chuckle as he slid his arm round his fiancées waist and the two of them exchanged a smile.

“We’re getting married” Steve grinned, finally tearing his eyes from Katie to look round the room. There was a pause and he locked eyes with Tony who winked at him before there was a flurry of noise and activity as everyone surged forward to congratulate them.

Tony reached them first and the two men shared a manly hug, which included lots of back slapping before he dropped a kiss to his sister’s cheek as Katie felt a hand grab hers. Natasha scrutinised her newest piece of jewellery before she looked up at Steve.

“You picked that all by yourself?” she looked up at Steve.

“I’m not completely useless” he rolled his eyes.

“I’m impressed Rogers,”

Sam clapped Steve on his back and as the two men began to banter, Tony pulled his sister into his side.

“Congratulations Kiddo.” He said, looking down at her hand “Looks even better on.”

“You’ve seen it?” She frowned.

“I may or may not have taken him to Tiffany’s…” Tony shrugged. “But I promise he picked it all by himself”

“So you knew he was gonna ask me?”

“He asked my permission.” Tony sniffed. “Well I might not be Dad but…”

Katie noticed his eyes were shining and she smiled at him as he continued.

“I want you to know,” Tony’s voice cracked slightly “I couldn’t be prouder of you, or love you more if you were my own.”

 “Stop it, you’re making me cry!” Katie exclaimed, the tears in her own eyes gently spilling out as he pulled her into huge hug and she pressed her face into his chest. Eventually she stepped back, the pair of them wiping their eyes and Tony took the opportunity of a distraction, turning to a waiter.

Steve, who had been watching the two siblings saw the emotional exchanged and he stepped forward, as Tony was yelling about champagne for a toast.

“You alright?” Steve asked, gently wiping a tear off her cheek before he slipped his arms around her waist.

“Never been happier.” she beamed, honestly, her hands winding round his neck “ I know I said last year was the best birthday ever but this has smacked it straight out of the park.”

“Glad to hear it.” he smiled, leaning down to kiss her “I love you.”

“God job, seeing as I’m gonna be your wife.” she teased, her hand tangling in the back of his hair.

“Yeah…” he said, the shit eating grin spreading across his face again as he contemplated the words. His wife. “Yeah, you are”

Chapter 19

**Original Posting**

[gogglor]

Cap-Ironman RecWeek: Different Media Thursday

I’ve been looking forward to writing this installment of @cap-ironman rec week all week. There’s some phenomenally creative fanworks out there centered around these two goobers, and it is my absolute pleasure to bring them to your attention.

Best Fansite Ever!!

Creator: FestiveFerret

Word Count: 468 + a website

Summary: A blast from Tony's past gets him caught in a PR nightmare. 

Why You Should Check It Out:

Ferret’s another big name in the Stony community, and a pseudo fairy code parent who we can go to with our internet booboos. They’re also a kickass, prolific author in their own right, and an afternoon spent going through their fics would be an absolutely delightful afternoon.

Ferret busted out the coding skills with this fic, both in the email skin and, most importantly, in Tony Stark’s pseudo-geocities fanpage for Captain America which... Christ, there is no description of it that could do it justice. I don’t think I laughed so hard in ages. There’s a link in the fic, or you can click here to see for yourself. I’d say you won’t regret it, but for those of us old enough to remember those sites (and who maybe made one or two)... you might feel some sympathy cringe for Tony on this one.

The Stark Guide(tm) to Mission Reports

Creators: coffeesuperhero and sabinelagrand

Word Count: 1025 (kinda)

Summary: With annotations by Clint Barton, and further annotations by Phil Coulson, and questions from Thor Odinson, for whom this was all written in the first place.

Why You Should Check It Out:

This one just baaaarely qualifies as Stony but honestly, it’s so good I don’t even care (and it’s tagged with Stony, so it counts). I can’t comment on the authors as I haven’t checked them out individually, but if their stuff is half as funny as this they’re worth a look.

Thor needs help writing mission reports. Tony has written a handy guide to help him out. Clint, Coulson and Thor all have notes (and Tony has responses). The result is a fic in the format of a memo covered with everyone’s scribbles. This is another one for the “Wow, I didn’t know I could laugh so hard I would pull a muscle” file - the jokes all land beautifully, the mental images are sublime, the implied backstory is hysterical. If you’re looking for something short and sweet and flipping hilarious to read, I can’t recommend this one highly enough.

And on the third day of ficrecs, we’re finally getting to some self-recs. Am I biased on these? Absolutely. But I wouldn’t rec them if there weren’t a lot of other people independently confirming they’re good fics, Bront.

An Avengers Powerpoint Party

Creator: gogglor

Word Count: 4,769 (kinda)

Summary: The Avengers threw a Powerpoint Party. These are their slides.

Why You Should Check It Out:

Some time ago there was a TikTok going around where someone imagined what the Avengers would present at a Powerpoint Party (here’s what that is, for the unfamiliar) and I couldn’t resist putting my own spin on the idea.

Team bonding fics are a huge weakness of mine, and I had a lot of fun writing the team letting their hair down and getting silly with each other, in the format of Powerpoint slides they prepared for each other. Here’s the first slide of the first chapter:

Need I say more?

Caught Up In Our Stories

Creator: gogglor

Word Count: 40,689 (kinda)

CW: Brief mention of past parental abuse.

Summary: Someone's cast a spell on Avengers Tower that has changed each floor into a different kind of story, and trapped the Avengers inside. Steve mounts a rescue mission, starting with Tony Stark, PI, a noir detective who's got a thing for blonde bombshells who bring trouble to his door.

Why You Should Check It Out:

This here was my pandemic magnum opus. I got the idea to trap the Avengers in as many story-telling mediums as I could and just sorta... got borderline carried away with it. I’ll probably never attempt anything that was this much work again, but I’m glad I’ve got something to show for all that time spent inside, and very pleased with the way it turned out.

I’d describe the story of CUIOS as our favorite two dingdongs figuring out they like each other, woven into some good old-fashioned team bonding while facing the consequences of past choices. I’d describe the medium of CUIOS as a ludicrously complex kitchen sink lovingly assembled by someone with way too much time on their hands. If you want to be surprised at the mediums I use, stop reading here, and don’t read past the first few story tags on AO3.

.

.

.

.

Here’s a taste of some of the contents that don’t spoil the story, just some of the mediums. In this work you’ll also find, among other things, a choose your own adventure game, a Western movie script, a crayon drawing, a comment section flame war, and a robust debate on which anthropomorphized floor of Avengers tower would be best in the sack. What’s not to love?

Just be glad my sister talked me out of making paper bag puppets too.

That’s it for today! Tomorrow is Laugh-Out-Loud Friday and considering I am pretty much always on the look out for fics that make me laugh, I’ve got some really great recs waiting in the wings for y’all.

[ofstarsandfireflies]

@just-inside-her asked for this one, which was going to be part of January but I moved it off the list to fit others in so we got it this month!

Stephen has been waiting for the day for Tony to return to him ever since the man beat Kingpin and had to go into hiding.

Due to their relationship, what remains of the Avengers have been keeping a close watch on him, waiting for him to lead them to wherever Tony is.

It’s been two years, and neither of them have received word on his whereabouts or whether he’s still alive.

That is, until Stephen’s usual routine is disrupted by a letter with the Stark Industries letter head, and a message in Tony’s handwriting telling him to board a specific train and find someone with his height and build on it to make the Avengers think it’s him so they’ll leave Stephen in peace.

Stephen manages to shake the surveillance team and boards the train, finding a spare seat in front of a man who introduces himself as ‘Robert’ and smoking a fake cigarette.

This man will do.

He has brown hair where Tony had black, brown eyes where Tony had blue, stubble where a neatly trimmed beard should be and, most importantly, an English accent where Tony was American.

They talk for a while, Robert doing most of it as he can’t seem to shut up in front of this handsome stranger.

But they’re not alone.

Both Natasha and Clint have boarded the train and have even taken a photo of Robert, sending it back to HQ to the only one who never gave up on finding Tony.

Vision.

For the past two years he’s been scouring the Internet for any traces of the man who had had a hand in creating his existence.

He’s kept an eye on social media, on banking records, waiting for Tony’s name to pop up somewhere or for the billions of dollars he’d pulled from his bank accounts to appear suddenly.

But it never happened.

He’s especially frantic to find him now because King Pin just broke out of jail, and Vision knows Tony’s at the top of his shit list.

But he’s making it rather difficult to track down.

So when he receives the photo Nat and Clint have sent to him, he can’t help but think that it is Tony.

It’s only when he finds Robert’s passport photo and everything checks out that his hope dies again.

The guy Stephen is talking to is no more than a tourist.

Parting ways when their train comes to a stop, they quickly find one another again when Stephen asks Robert if he’d like a lift, taking him to the expensive Hotel where he and Tony would usually stay.

The room is beautifully decorated, and when Stephen enters the bedroom, he finds the wardrobe filled with expensive clothes, colognes and watches, gifts he knows are from Tony.

Robert has no idea what he’s doing here, but gets dressed into one of the suits he’s packed so they can go out for dinner.

After making a fool of himself when he sees Stephen dressed up, they have a nice dinner where they enjoy themselves, Stephen noticing how he’s still being followed.

It’s only after they get back that Robert points out the huge bouquet of flowers that definitely wasn’t there before they left, and an envelope.

Within the envelope addressed to Stephen is an invite to a ball two nights from now.

This is where he’ll see Tony again.

He’s waited two years, what’s two more days?

But there’s still the case of the Avengers.

They haven’t approached him yet, so he knows he hasn’t fooled them completely into thinking this man is Tony.

So, Stephen does the only thing he can think of that would put more suspicion on this man.

He kisses him while they stand on the balcony, in full view of the people he knows are watching.

And a small part of him thrills when Robert kisses him back.

He could almost picture Tony in his place when he closed his eyes.

Robert’s arms come up to hold him and Stephen stops before this can progress any further, offering the couch for him to sleep on while he makes his way to the single bedroom.

It’s as he’s undressing, he hears the doorknob of his room turning.

He pauses to watch, waiting to see what Robert will do.

It turns a little more, almost fully, but Robert reconsiders and makes his way to the couch.

And Stephen doesn’t know why he’s disappointed.

The next morning, Robert wakes to find room service has brought him breakfast, courtesy of Stephen, who has left him alone.

And since he’s alone in the room where Tony’s lover is staying, Kingpin’s men descend on it, forcing Robert to make his escape through the window of the bathroom and across the rooftop of the next building, catching the eye of everyone in the streets below, including Stephen, who is just as shocked to bear witness to what this man is doing and just who is chasing after him.

Of course he had to go and persuade the wrong people that Robert was Tony.

Unable to use his magic and cause even more commotion amongst the people when he was trying not to draw attention to himself, Stephen whispers a command to his cloak, which quickly slips down an alley, up the side of the building and plants itself on the ground, ripping out from under the men chasing Robert, catching them off guard and making them tumble down to the street.

When Robert looks behind him and sees that Stephen has somehow appeared behind him instead of the men who had been chasing him, he stops running and starts asking questions.

And that’s how Robert learns about Tony.

The man Stephen loves.

The man Stephen is putting his life and Robert’s life in danger for.

The man he hasn’t seen for two years.

And with his questions answered, Stephen sends him through a portal to the train station, a bag of necessities falling out of another portal beside him.

But Robert can’t leave.

Not now he’s in love with Stephen.

While Robert is out purchasing a much nicer suit than the one he brought with him with the money Stephen gave him, Stephen is finally meeting up with Vision, who is not happy about Stephen’s attitude the past three years, one of which he was with Tony before he suddenly disappeared.

Both of them should know that the Avengers could help in protecting them, they were both Avengers themselves, but Stephen just shakes his head.

Keeping their distance from the Avengers has been part of the plan.

No need for anyone to die just to protect a billionaire, as Tony had put it.

So, running out of questions and patience, Vision asks why Stephen has finally agreed to meet up with them.

How it couldn’t possibly have anything to do with the tourist Stephen seems to fancy.

And Stephen tells him about the ball tonight, and how Tony will be there.

Except, he isn’t.

At the ball, another letter addressed to him arrives, from a man who could only be Tony.

But when Stephen loses him in the crowd, Robert appears, putting their little operation in jeopardy

Stephen can’t just send him through another portal with so many people around, opting instead to go after Tony, but Robert stands in his way and offers his hand to dance.

And Stephen takes it.

He tries to tell him that he’s in danger here, that Kingpin’s men are still after him and he has to leave.

Robert refuses.

It’s only when Stephen tells him he was just using him that Robert lets Stephen go, and Stephen opens the letter from Tony, which contains a key and an address.

Stephen goes there immediately, having just let himself inside when the door opens.

And Kingpin walks in.

Stephen barely has time to move before his henchmen are pointing their guns at him, forcing him to sit on the couch as they wait for Tony Stark to finally arrive.

Five minutes pass.

Then ten.

Still no sign of Tony.

Kingpin begins his exposition about how being thrown in jail cost him Vanessa, about how Stark went for her to get to him like a coward instead of coming straight to him like a man.

How he will kill Stephen if Tony does not show his face in the next five minutes.

Vision has been listening in to all of this with Robert, who had tried going after Stephen before Nat and Clint grabbed him.

Robert is concerned about Stephen and about the threat from Kingpin.

But Vision’s not concerned at all, he knows Tony wouldn’t let anyhint happen and will come for him, all they have to do is wait.

But he doesn’t.

Just when Kingpin is about to give the order, Stephen spies a large medallion of the eye of Agamotto set into the wall of the fireplace.

He knows there’s a safe behind it, and upon telling Kingpin, manages to draw his attention away from killing him for the time being.

Only, when the safe is revealed, they realise they need a seven-digit code to open it.

And the only person who could possibly know it, who they have here right now, is Stephen.

Robert is trying to make Vision send his men in, but Vision isn’t listening.

He knows Tony will come.

He knows him, knows how much he loves Stephen, so he has to.

Stephen is brought to the safe, racking his brains to form a code.

Maybe a date?

Or even a word when spelled on a numbered keypad?

At his first attempt at the code, he enters 4766626

IRONMAN

The button turns red.

Kingpin doesn’t see this as Stephen not knowing.

He thinks he’s trying to buy time until Tony get there.

So he gives him one last try.

And Stephen can’t think.

What else could it be?

Avenger?

America?

Industry?

There were too many possibilities and he only had one chance.

283...

It had to Avenger.

They were the reason he hadn’t gone to them for help.

They were the reason they’d met, what they both were.

It has to be...

643...

His finger hovered over the 7.

And just as he was about to press it, he heard someone call out his name.

What.

The hell.

Was Robert doing here?

Guns turned on the tourist he’d roped into all of this, the men working for Kingpin looking to their boss, who walked up to the idiot who was now claiming to be Tony Stark.

Kingpin looked him over, noticing the details of his face which had changed drastically in the last two years.

Robert didn’t seem intimidated by him, standing up taller despite his short stature.

And then Kingpin began laughing.

Was this another ploy to await Stark’s grand return?

Very well.

There really was only one way to find out if this man was Tony.

He’d have to open the safe.

Robert tries to secure Stephen’s safety in exchange for his help, but everyone just turns their guns on the Sorcerer, who gives Robert a sad smile.

So, having little choice, Robert walks towards the safe.

Towards Stephen.

He keeps his eyes on him, wanting Stephen to be the last thing he sees before they’re killed.

And just as he reaches it, just when he sees Stephen mouth the words he’s longed to hear, Nick Fury takes control of Vision’s operation and demands for Kingpin to be taken out.

Stephen breathes a sigh of relief and turns to Robert, and then the safe where he’s completed the code.

7837436

STEPHEN

And the button turns green.

Quotes -

“Do you mind me smoking? It’s not a real cigarette.”

“What?”

“It’s electronic. It delivers the same amount of nicotine, but the smoke is water vapour. Yeah. Watch. LED light.”

“That’s somewhat disappointing.”

“Would you rather have me smoking for real?”

“I would rather you be a man who did exactly as he pleased.”

“...”

Stephen chooses Robert for his plan

“You tell me what my story is.”

“Okay, um, I think you would be diplomatic attaché. Or maybe a girl from East Germany...whose father’s been kidnapped...and they’re blackmailing you into stealing something for them. Probably a microfilm. There’s usually a microfilm involved.”

“What awaits me?”

“Trouble, certainly.”

“Danger?”

“Oh, yeah. You’ll most likely be shot in less than two chapters.”

“Is there a man in my life?”

“Have to wait and see.”

Robert getting a little flustered

“Fuck.”

“...?”

“You’re ravenous.”

“Do you mean ravishing?”

“I do.”

“You’re ravenous.”

“I am.”

Not the best attempt at flirting

“Why is all this happening? Why is everyone trying to kill me?”

“It’s because I kissed you.”

“...Do I look that much like him?”

“I am sorry I got you involved in all this.”

“Why are you involved in all this?”

“Because I’m in love with him.”

“Really? I’m not.”

Robert learns about Tony

“It’s just who he is.”

“Could you ever feel like that about someone like me?”

“...”

“I don’t regret it, you know...kissing you.”

Robert’s fallen in love with Stephen, and Stephen is starting to fall for him too.

January, February

Missed a Day? Catch up here!

Day 1 Day 2

You aren’t what you say you are -

Tony has been in hiding for two years, but while Stephen still waits for him to come back, another man catches his eye.

[visionsofus]

Hey, my city has just been put into lockdown :( so I thought I might send a prompt... maybe something about some of the times Vision phases through Wandas wall? Idk but I hope you're well and I love your writing :)

hello! I am so sorry to hear that your city has been put into lockdown! I hope you are staying safe and looking after yourself. I bumped this to the top of my list so I could get you something nice to read quickly. It's mainly about Vision comforting Wanda but I hope it brings you some comfort too!

Mixtape track # 28: Time After Time cover by Theresa Sokyrka, Jesse Brown

| read on AO3 here | mixtape playlist | send me an ask with your song/prompt request |

lying in my bed, I hear the clock tick and think of you

synopsis: Three times Vision phased into Wanda's room unannounced and found her in varying states of disarray/ injury. Aka a fluffy comfort fic for those of you who need it.

Warnings: mentions of blood and stitches, illness (flu), mild swearing

Vision was sitting at the kitchen counter, a novel before him when Steve hurried into the kitchen and began rooting through cabinets. Vision placed a finger to mark his page and glanced up in confusion.

“Is there something you need help with, Captain?” He asked, curious at Steve’s haste. The captain jumped visibly, and Vision looked down sheepishly. The team was yet to grow accustomed to his presence in the Compound and he was still learning to be something like human. It was a slow process.

“Vision,” Steve said, a hand pressed to his chest in surprise. “Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”

Vision nodded. “What are you looking for?”

“Cold and flu medicine,” Steve replied, turning back to the cabinets and pushing aside two different bags of coffee beans and a pot of sugar. His hand scraped around the back of the shelf to no avail. “I know we had some here somewhere.”

Vision tilted his head curiously. There weren’t many at the compound who could fall ill, Steve and himself included. Tony was away with Rhodey in New York for the weekend, Clint was with his family, and from what Vision knew of Natasha, she didn’t seem the kind of person to accept medicine.

That only left one other person in the enormous building he now called home.

“Is Wanda okay?” Vision asked his voice sound slightly strained, even to his own ears. He hadn’t quite mastered control over tone yet but was getting better at identifying such markers in other’s speech.

“She’s okay,” Steve mulled as he moved things around, moving to another cupboard. Vision heard the concern in his voice. Forgetting his page, he shut his book all thoughts now directed to Wanda. Where could she have contracted an illness? Perhaps it was overworking, of all of them, Wanda pushed herself the hardest. The last few weeks had been particularly rough with training every day, minor missions interstate, and relentless press appearances.

“Aha!” Steve cried in triumph, holding up a packet of cold and flu tablets.

“I can take them to her,” Vision said jumping to his feet and moving swiftly to Steve’s side, a glass in his hand ready to fill with water for Wanda. Steve jerked back a little, evidently, he was still not adjusted to the synthezoid’s super speed.

“Okay,” Steve sounded hesitant as he passed over the thin package. “Don’t smother her, alright? She’s not in a very good mood.”

“I won’t,” Vision said pleased as he filled up the glass with water and headed off down the corridor. As he walked, he quickly had a look at what ‘smothering’ meant – why Steve thought he might cover Wanda’s head with a pillow, Vision couldn’t understand. A little more looking revealed it could also mean overwhelm. Vision shook his head, he would make every effort to not overwhelm her, he just wanted to make sure she was comfortable and provide anything that might make her feel better.

Out of Steve’s sight, he hurried quickly down the corridor that led to Wanda’s bedroom. Once he was close enough to her bedroom he phased effortlessly through the wall, bringing the water and pills with him.

He arrived in her room to find that the lights were out and the curtains drawn despite it being mid-morning.

“Vision?” Wanda exclaimed, or tried to. Her voice cracked and she coughed most of the way through his name.

He hurried to the other side of her bed, concerned to see her covers pulled up to her chin even as sweat made her forehead shine.

“What did I saw about knocking?” Wanda said, her voice hoarse, her eyes struggling to stay open.

“That I should?” Vision said hesitantly.

Wanda murmured something in affirmation, and he felt guilty.

“Sorry, I will next time. I brought you some medicine.” He set the glass of water on her bedside table which was cluttered with tissues, empty glasses and unfinished books.

“Don’t need it, thanks,” Wanda murmured, turning onto her side.

Vision sighed. She looked dreadful, which was saying something as he rarely found her anything but beautiful. Concerned, he slowly reached out to press his hand to her forehead. Wanda shivered, feverish.

“You have a high temperature; the medicine will make you feel better.”

Wanda opened her eyes blearily and huffed in frustration. She heaved herself up to lean against the headboard and held a hand out for the pills. Vision popped two of the night pills into her palm before extending the water glass. She swallowed the medicine and shivered again.

“When did you start feeling bad?” Vision asked, trying to make conversation as he hovered about her room, not yet ready to leave her in such a state.

“Last night, but woke up feeling like the plague this morning,” Wanda mumbled, slipping back down onto the pillow. He moved forward to pull her pillow up so she was more comfortable.

“Okay, well we’ll keep an eye on your fever,” he said nervously more to himself, feeling the need to speak the instructions he had read about online aloud. But Wanda’s eyes were already closed, and it seemed she was relenting to an exhausted slumber.

Vision bit his lip, unsure if he were allowed to stay in her room while she was asleep. Glancing at her bedside table he decided to at least clean up on his way out. With the empty glasses stacked and the tissues in the bin he set about opening up a window a little bit to allow for some circulation. Even if Wanda felt cold, her fever needed to come down. Finally, unable to see a reason to stay Vision went over to adjust her blankets. Seeing that she was peacefully asleep he pressed his palm to her forehead, glad to feel that she felt a little bit less warm. She murmured something sleepily but didn’t wake.

Vision returned to her wall with the glasses in hand and phased through it once more, leaving Wanda to her fever dreams. For the remainder of the day, he kept a keen eye on Wanda, phasing through her wall each hour to take her temperature and replace her water glass. She remained asleep or at least didn’t acknowledge his care, though each time he left her mouth twitched up at the corners.

“Wanda!” Vision’s voice was a singsong as he phased through her bedroom wall, eager for their promised game of chess. He had taken up teaching her the game not long after he had learnt it himself. There was no one at the compound who could play that well but he always had fun with Wanda. Even when Vision knew all the tricks, she still surprised him. In exchange they had been following up each game with a few episodes of the Dick Van Dyke show. It was their Saturday night ritual now, though they had only known each other 6 months. Wanda had only just returned from the mission she had been on with Steve and Nat. Perhaps chess was off the table, but he hoped she would let him keep her company and watch some television. Vision struggled to understand how keenly he had felt her absence in the past week.

He phased through the wall and for a moment his sight was clouded. He emerged into the bedroom that he had slowly been acquainted with. Vision knew the view from her windows, the books on her desk, her guitar in the corner and the pattern of her bedsheets. His eyes checked off each of these features before looking to the bed. His heart dropped sickeningly when he caught sight of the figure laying atop the covers.

Wanda had propped herself against the headboard, her mouth twisted in pain as she nursed a gash that was bleeding all down her left arm.

“Wanda?” Vision whispered. Her eyes opened weakly, and she grimaced a smile.

“Hi.”

Vision was at her side instantly. “Hi? What do you mean hi? Are you okay what happened—”

“Shhh,” Wanda whispered, reaching out to grab his arm and squeeze. “Don’t want the others to know.”

“What do you mean?” Vision asked furiously. “You’re hurt, why didn’t you go the med bay when you got back?”

“Please,” she turned her eyes on him and he registered the pain behind her gaze. “Help me and I’ll answer any questions you want. I tried,” she gestured to the trail of thread she’d been using to stitch herself up with, “but my hands are too shaky.”

He ignored that she was half undressed, more focused on how her blood had soaked through the left side of her top and was dripping onto her bed. Vision spared less than a second before he was speeding away from her side. He trusted Wanda, if she said that she didn’t want the others knowing then he would wait to hear her reasoning. For now, he just wanted to alleviate her pain.

He thanked the gods for his super speed as he dashed down the corridor, down the stairs through two walls and into the empty med bay. He dipped in and out of the internet finding a reputable source for stitching up a wound even as he lectured himself for not understanding such an important procedure sooner. He grabbed more supplies, gauze and bandages, antiseptic and a fresh needle and tweezers. He sped back upstairs and arrived in Wanda’s room just as she was swiping tears away from her eyes.

“Sorry,” she winced, trying to sit up better as he set his supplies on her bedside table.

“You have nothing to apologise for,” Vision said soothingly. “Let’s get you fixed up.”

“You weren’t supposed to see,” Wanda sighed, her eyes closed as he set about propping her arm up with a pillow and a fresh towel to mop up the blood.

“Lucky I entered without announcing myself then,” Vision murmured perching himself next to her tense body. He wasn’t usually squeamish and managed to maintain a distance when it came to gore. But seeing Wanda’s blood trickling down her arm had his heart thumping far too quickly. He took a few calming breaths.

Vision straightened her arm and watched her forehead contort in pain, sweat beading. Silently he took the medical scissors and cut off the thread and the mess Wanda had made of her wound. On closer inspection he was relieved to see it wasn’t too deep and that the blood had stopped flowing. He cleaned and numbed the area.

“It’s not as bad as I thought,” Vision murmured as he helped her sit up taller, so she was at a better angle for the stitches.

“Feels bad enough,” Wanda winced.

He frowned at her pain. “Tell me about your favourite episode of Dick Van Dyke,” Vision prompted as he set about threading the needle. Wisely, Wanda decided to turn her attention to her sweeping windows and the clouds drifting across the amber sky.

“Season 2, episode 20,” Wanda said. “It’s not necessarily my favourite but it’s the episode I’ve seen the most. Rob watches this movie with aliens and monsters, it was scary for me as a kid, but I found it funny how out of control it became—” Wanda broke off with a pained groan as Vision began the first stitch.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“Now it doesn’t scare me but it’s still eerie...” she trailed off to prepare for the next stitch. Moments later it was done, and she breathed out slowly as Vision tugged the thread gently, closing the wound.

“— it’s interesting to look back on the episode and –” She thumped her other first on her thigh as the needle dug in once more.

“—and see how far my life has changed since I first watched it – oh fuck that!”

Vision startled, not used to hearing her swear. “Two more and it’ll be done,” Vision replied, conscious that he was leaning over her torso and that there might have been easier ways to sit for stitching up the gash.

“Two more?” Wanda sighed her right shoulder slumping in defeat.

“Almost there, almost there,” he murmured soothingly, starting on the next stitch. Wanda cried out, biting her fist. His heart twinged painfully in sympathy.

“You’re okay,” Vision said, doing his best to be comfortingly. “One more and then it’s done, one more and it’ll be over.”

He continued to murmur small comforts, hoping his voice would distract her from the thin metal dipping in and out of her skin. Despite her pain he had successfully kept the stitches neat and hoped that they’d be suitable enough for healing. At least he had used the thread that dissolved as the wound healed and she could avoid the new pain of having them taken out once more.

As he pushed the needle in for the final stitch Wanda’s head lolled against his neck. He froze in fear.

“I’m okay,” she whispered, “just, keep going.”

Her head remained pressed into the crook of his neck, her breath warming his skin in slow, controlled breaths. Vision did his best to focus on finishing off his work. He completed the final stitch, tied it up and cut the needle free. As he moved his materials to her bedside table and picked up the gauze, he became conscious of Wanda’s shoulders shaking slowly.

“Sorry,” she said quietly, her voice thick with tears.

“It’s alright, Wanda,” Vision said with a comforting smile, though she didn’t raise her head. He raised a hand and gently stroked the back of her head in what he hoped was a soothing manner. “I’ll wrap your arm up and give you something for the pain.”

Wanda sniffled against his shoulder. “I’m glad you’re the only one who can phase through physical walls.”

Vision smiled happily; glad Wanda couldn’t see his reaction.

Vision hovered; his hand raised to knock on Wanda’s bedroom door. He’d been standing there for a few moments debating on whether or not to disturb her when he’d heard the soft noises of Wanda’s cries. Vision knew how she sounded when she was upset. In the year they had been living together there had been a few nights he had spent sitting outside her door, listening to her cry and waiting for her to fall asleep. Often, all she’d allow him to do was bring her food or a cup of tea, insisting she be left to her sorrows. But Vision was struggling to bear it tonight. He worried that she thought herself a burden, that she locked herself up in her room on her bad days as a way to save the rest of the team from her anguish. But Vision hated seeing, or hearing, her pain.

Unable to wait any longer Vision side stepped the door and phased right through the wood. The room was dark, and the air was still, Wanda hadn’t left her bed all day. Quietly, Vision walked slowly to her bedside and crouched beside her curled up form. The covers were pulled up over her head, her arms wrapped around one of her cushions. His throat grew tight with emotion as he gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Wanda?” He whispered. The covers shifted and her head emerged, tear tracks looked as though they had made permanent lines down her face, dark circles hung under her eyes.

She didn’t say anything, just rolled over so that her back was to him.

“Is there anything that you need?” Vision asked removing his hand, hesitant to take her rejection, he’d wait until she explicitly asked him to leave. Wanda didn’t reply, her breath catching in her throat, and she shook her head slowly.

“You don’t have to do this alone,” Vision said quietly.

“I don’t want to bother anyone,” Wanda whispered, her voice hoarse from not speaking. Vision raised to stand, hovering next to her bed. He desperately wanted to wrap his arms around her and hold her close, to banish all her sadness and protect her from fear.

“You could never be a burden to me, it is a privilege to be a part of your life.” His words sounded raw, even to his own ears and he heard Wanda hiccup emotionally.

It didn’t take much, just her hand emerging from beneath the covers to tug at the hem of his woollen sweater. It was all he needed to know she wanted him to say.

She shifted to make room and Vision settled onto the bed next to her. Almost reluctantly, Wanda slid closer though her face was still hidden. When he was close enough, he pulled a blanket from the floor and wrapped it around her shoulders. She leant in, sniffling tearily. When he held his arms open, she hesitated for a few moments, her body stiff with tension. Finally, she relented, pressing her forehead into his shoulder and allowing him to wrap her in his warm arms. The tears started again, and he rocked them back and forth as she trembled.

“It’s alright,” Vision whispered over and over. He rubbed a hand in circles on her back, holding her close.

They remained that way for a while, Vision let her cry as much as she needed, not feeling the need to ask what was causing her such anguish. She would tell him when she was ready.

“When you’re feeling up for it, we can go for a walk,” Vision said soothingly, “there are wildflowers out by the woods, I even saw some bluebells the other morning. Maybe you can point out some other flowers you recognise to me. I think the birds miss you out there.” He talked slowly about small things, none of them important but gradually her sobs slowed into hiccups.

“Thank you,” Wanda whispered into his shoulders, her hands tangled up in his jumper.

“It’s okay,” Vision said softly, “just because your brain tells you you’re alone, doesn’t mean it’s true. There are so many people who care about you. Whenever you need me, I’ll always be here.”

[lemonsandstrawberries]

Hashtag: RelationshipGoals

fandom: Stony (Steve x Tony)

summary: Steve is being forced into getting a Twitter accounts and logs into Tony’s for inspiration - one mistake later, he finds more than he asked for. Meaning, his boyfriend has a tickle kink and Steve has a lot of thinking to do. 

length: 5 468

a/n: Happy Friday 13th! *throws confetti* To celebrate I am posting a fic that contains one of the biggest fears for people with tickle kink - someone finding out when you are not ready to tell them. It has a happy ending, promise! Hope you all will enjoy this fic, feedback, reblogs and likes are appreciated and needed! fic inspired by this prompt. 

—————

Hashtag: RelationshipGoals

Long story short - Steve was getting a Twitter account.

Long story long...

It all started with a certain PR meeting held for the Avengers team, just this time, it was Steve vs the whole PR team. The problem was simple - Steve didn't like social media and didn't have an account on any of the numerous websites and apps. Fighting with aliens, planning new missions, schooling SHIELD agents - those were the zones he felt comfortable in. Some thought that the hidden reason behind the hostility towards social media was, that Steve, born in the 1920s, had a problem with using modern technology. Some called it endearing, some pathetic, the truth was, that Steve fairly quickly mastered each piece of technology he was given, skillfully using any given device. After all, he wasn't dense. Many apps were quite useful, some just plain entertaining, and it required a lot of navigating, but he managed to find some favorites. Just when it came to social media… Steve didn't feel like sharing his private life with unknown faces. Call him old-fashioned, but he liked having direct contact with people and as much as he liked to take a stop during his random walks in the city to talk with people who called themselves his fans, it quickly became too overwhelming. He wasn't good at such things and always thought he was too awkward and not what people expected. Steve didn't like that kind of pressure and didn't like the almost weekly notices from the PR team that he needed to make himself more 'accessible'. By no means, he was expected to stop and talk to everyone who ever called him or share mission details with strangers, but he needed to create a more public persona for Captain America and Steve Rogers.

Hence, Steve was encouraged to take a plunge into the world of social media. 

And he really, really, really didn't want to do that.

One - it was pretty tedious to keep up with everything. Tony eagerly showed him all social accounts he had - Twitter, Instagram, Facebook profile, Youtube, and it all just gave him a headache as Tony chattered which media was good for what and gladly showed him his own Instagram page (mostly workshop photos and meals Steve had prepared for him, which was kinda sweet) and if Steve became slightly interested in that, his interest dropped after hearing about filters and tags. Too much work. 

Second - he didn't have time to keep his theoretical accounts active and post new content regularly. Or more, he didn't want to make time, preferring to spend it on reading or training or hanging out with Tony or anything else, really. He had been gently suggested, that some celebrities (Steve's eyes widened a little after hearing that - was he a celebrity?) hire someone else to run their social media accounts. Steve shook his head at the proposition, knowing that none of his teammates did that and so he shouldn't either, not mentioning that everything posted wouldn't be sincere.

Third - Steve considered himself not an interesting person. He didn't have Tony's charisma, who, of course, had the biggest social media following ever, Thor's flair, which made his Youtube channel where he tasted food sent to him from all over the world by his viewers a huge success or Clint's humor, whose Internet activity limited to commenting on funny animal photos and home videos and people loved him. Even Bruce, seemingly even more awkward and distant when it came to dealing with a privacy-invading crowd, was doing great, kindling the interest of young kids in science with a series of easy to repeat experiments at home and railing about the importance of protecting and preserving the environment. Even Natasha didn't have a problem, her social media accounts full of useful self-defense tips for everyone who needed to feel safer. Steve just couldn't find anything in himself he would like to share with the world. He liked to keep his art private, his relationship private, and his whole life private. 

It should be the ending statement.

It wasn't.

And so Steve, feeling scolded, got back to his and Tony's shared floor, planning to hide, except that he was assigned a very simple task for the week.

Get a Twitter account.

Steve sat heavily on the couch, putting elbows on his knees and palms around his cheeks, definitely not pouting. Why on Earth did he need a Twitter account? Wasn't it enough that from time to time he appeared on Tony's account, being the supportive boyfriend, and allowing Tony share the photos of their date nights or even the short movies from Steve's training when Tony was proudly showing off Steve's impressive physique and using those damn filters and making small stars and glitter swirl around him. 

Speaking of Tony, he could use his boyfriend's advice... Steve checked his phone and knew that Tony was still stuck in a business meeting, and won't be back for an hour or so and as much as he wanted to not think about the Twitter issue it kept coming back to him. What was he supposed to write on Twitter? Something that wouldn't give too much about him, but would be safe and entertaining. He needed inspiration. Maybe a walk would clear his mind but as Steve was getting up, he noticed Tony's tablet laying at the edge of the coffee table. 

Well... Tony wouldn't mind if he took a peak, right? Granted, he never used Tony's tablet before without his boyfriend’s permission. It felt too personal and barging on privacy and it was almost a silent agreement between them that Steve won't touch Tony's electronic devices and Tony won't look through Steve's sketchbooks without prior agreement. But it was different, right? Tony's Twitter account was out there, for everyone, so it didn't matter if Steve would install the app on his phone and check the account, or go to the source and look through Tony's account. It might even help him to understand better how the app was working. 

Steve took the tablet and unlocked it, searching for the Twitter app. Letter T on a blue background. Steve pressed it and skimmed over the screen, looking at the design of the app. Huh, it looked very different from the account owner's point of view. He scrolled down the screen, seeing a lot of text, too much text because wasn't there a limit of signs per tweet? Further, into the app, Steve saw more of things he didn't recognize, didn't see any posts from other Avengers, instead of images and gifs and -

"Woah," Steve gaped, taking in what he was seeing. He quickly scrolled up, his face becoming heated, unsure what he just saw. For a minute, he turned the tablet in his hands, trying to decide if it really belonged to Tony and not someone else, but who else would have a hot red and gold cover, resembling the design of the Iron Man suit. It had to be Tony's tablet, which meant...

Those posts were Tony's. That account was Tony's. Tony had two Twitter accounts? Steve looked back, just now noticing that it wasn't Twitter after all. At the top of the screen on a background of dark blue in white letters was written Tumblr. Steve didn't hear of the app, it wasn't listed as one of the most popular ones for celebrities and that's probably why Tony used it for -

Steve wasn't exactly sure for what. For something secretive. Something he wanted to hide. Things he didn't admit even to Steve. 

Cautiously, Steve scrolled down again, trying to keep an open mind and be more cautious. He wasn't a prude, he knew that people had different kinks and it was completely normal. Heck, he and Tony had a very healthy sex and intimate life and the sight of Tony tied down for their playtime always made Steve's blood boil with lust and desire and they did indulge in some kinks, Steve current favorite one included spanking Tony's bouncy ass and watch it jiggle and the skin turn red. Tony had no problems with sharing his kinky fantasies and Steve was always willing to give it a go, sometimes proposing things on his own, like wax play, which wasn't only sexy but also artistic - Tony's body colored with drips of different colored wax was a beautiful sight. This... This was something different, Steve didn't think to consider. 

There were pictures, that without context seemed innocent, like an array of feathers on a pillow. Some were less subtle and showed a part of sucked in stomach, escaping from a coming closer feather duster. The gifs were the most intriguing - a tied up, blindfolded man, laughing and squirming, while a different man was...

Tickling him?

Steve's brow furrowed as he watched the gif, frame by frame. There was no doubt that it was tickling, fingers gliding over tied man's armpits and sides. Steve expected this to be a prelude, something more to follow, but it was all. Tickling was the main point. Steve blushed when he realized that if there were gifs, there had to be a video and who knew how long it was. How many minutes would it take to bring someone to the brink of hysterics, to make them crumble, but at the same time make it pleasurable? People were not forced into filming porn and following that principle, there were not forced into filming tickle kink videos.

And that being said... 

"Huh..." Steve mused out, bits of information falling into one picture. They never discussed it, but in the back of his head, Steve had this thought that Tony enjoyed being tickled, or at least didn't mind terribly. The way he squirmed between Steve's tickling hands but didn't try to run away. How he laughed and screamed for mercy whenever Steve targeted a sensitive spot and always seemed a bit disappointed when the tickling ended but masked it with a smile and complaints of being assaulted. Sometimes, Steve just felt provoked into tickling his boyfriend, like that one time, Tony had taken his sketchbook and hid away, refusing to say where he hid it and Steve had to tickle the information out of him until Tony was absolutely incoherent from laughter and breathless. 

That was cute. All those shared tickle moments were cute, but Steve never thought that they could be... hot. And intimate. He looked back at the gif, at the way the tickled man arched and bucked, but was not able to escape the ticklish strokes delivered over his skin. What if Tony was the one tied and spread in the chair and Steve was the one standing behind, dotting his fingertips over the bare torso, having that sense of power and control, enjoying the ticklish tremble of the bothered skin. It became a tempting image in his head. 

'Guuuuys, I don't know what to do.'

Steve's eyes caught on some text among the images and gifs. A separate post.

'I still can't tell my bf that I like being tickled. I just can't! There is this block in my head -'

Steve read the text, feeling that he might know the author. 

'I even did that thing you recommended with hiding his stuff away -'

Definitely knew the author. At the top of the post, he saw a name, probably the username and clicked on it. Blue background color, and image of feathers and the username in white bold font. The Spare Parts Man.

That was one major hint...

Steve scrolled down this page, seeing more text and images of people being tickled, some like, a gif that was of a zoomed in stomach, the belly button tickled by a tip of the feather, signed with a 'omg, goals', whatever that meant. Steve tried to search for the text he saw on the previous page, but couldn't find it anymore, instead saw more posts, where people seemed to be interacting with the author.

'Hi, SP! I was the one who sent you the asks with hiding your BF's stuff -'

'I am sure your BF will understand, from what you said, you are dating for a long time -'

'You still didn't tell him??? What are you waiting for, GO GO GO!'

Steve pursed his lips together, feeling upset that Tony was so willing to share with strangers, but not with him. This whole site seemed so secretive, and while Steve felt a bit betrayed, he started to think about things from Tony's perspective. Tickling wasn't a mainstream kink. Bondage, spanking, food play - all the things they had tried seemed to be more acceptable in the sex world while tickling... Some people enjoyed it, some hated it. Steve was somewhere in between. It could be a fun thing among loved ones, but could quickly become overwhelming and unbearable. Steve didn't think about it earlier, but he really liked tickling Tony. He loved the way his body twitched, the sound of his laughter, and the feeling of closeness and trust in the action. For Steve it was fun. For Tony, it had to run much deeper, forming stronger connections than it did for Steve. 

'I don't want to lose him. What if he thinks I am a freak?'

No, Steve would never think that. Tony was the great love of his life and Steve accepted him on every level. 

"Oh, babe..." Steve sighed softly, reading more posts, some screaming nervousness as Tony was pouring his heart out, feeling miserable with his inability to tell Steve the truth, some so heartwarming and oozing happiness when Tony was describing Steve's last tickle attacks and how incredibly good and completed it made Tony feel. 

That. Steve wanted to make Tony feel like that every day. Satiated and fulfilled and safe. 

No more secrets. 

Carried on the moment, Steve pressed on an icon with a pencil and began to write. 

***

Tony was bored. So, so bored. He caught a glimpse of Pepper sending him a scolding look and straightened up in his seat, pretending to pay attention. He just wanted to go back home and curl up next to Steve, feeling Steve's fingers stroking his hair and maybe, if he got lucky, Steve would rub his belly, using just enough pressure to make him smile and feel like melting. He started to smile at the thought and Pepper sent him a confused look. Uh oh. He better control himself. Tony grinned sheepishly at Pepper and set his face in a schooled, thoughtful look, trying to focus his attention on the meeting. Just half an hour more... It was all ending statements, so it was nothing bad if he decided to check his social media, right? Cautiously, Tony took out his phone and unlocked the screen, keeping the phone under the table. A new tasting video from Thor, with a package of sweets sent from the Netherlands. Tony made a mental note to drop later to Thor's floor and ask if he had any stroopwafels left to share because they were amazing with black coffee. Clint commenting on funny cats videos, Tony added it to his watch later list. As usual, his own social media were bursting with notifications, people raving over Iron Man and asking for more videos of Steve training routine, which, Tony couldn't blame them, the sight of his boyfriend working out was heaven. He even decided to check his Tumblr, curious if anyone sent him some more tips or maybe just left him a nice message -

Oh, that was weird. Usually, he had maybe two or three messages, some reblogs, and a few comments. This time, his app was bursting with notifications and Tony didn't post anything that could cause such a commotion in the last days.

'WHAT. WHAT????"

'Nooooooo... Please don't break up with him! He loves you so much!'

"The hell, dude! You invaded your bf's privacy like that?? You're the worst!"

Tony didn't understand anything. Maybe he clicked and shared something by accident. There was a slight possibility that his account was hacked. Maybe -

Maybe it was way, way worse. 

There was a new text post on his main, one he didn't write.

'Hi, this is Spare Part Man's boyfriend. I found this account by accident and me and my boyfriend have a lot to talk about once I see him.'

No. No, no, no.

"Tony? Tony, are you okay?!"

Tony didn't realize he started to hyperventilate until Pepper's voice brought him back. Everyone was staring at him and Tony felt like vomiting.

"I am fine," Tony said, not meaning it, his voice coming out squeaky. "Can we - excuse me, I have to go," Tony rambled out, sending a sorry look in Pepper's direction and trying to walk out of the conference room as calmly as possible. It felt like the whole world was spinning around him, making him feel nauseous. Tony stumbled to the window and pressed his face against the cool glass, trying to soothe his heated skin and get his thoughts back in order.

It wasn't supposed to happen. Not like this. Maybe it was never supposed to happen, staying as his hidden fantasy and dark secret. What if he deleted the account, right here, right now, would he be able to convince Steve that it never existed? 

No. Steve wouldn't fall for it. And Tony felt so stupid for creating that account in the first place, but he needed a place to vent. He didn't plan on socializing, sharing his life, just get the urges out and move on. He just... Wanted to feel accepted. Find people who thought the same as he did. Not feel so alone.

And he would end alone because Steve definitely was going to dump him.

***

"I am back!"

Tony was a genius. He had numerous diplomas to prove it. Yet, he decided that the best thing to do would be to march into his and Steve's shared floor, acting like nothing ever happened. Maybe if he managed to keep his cool he could put this whole Tumblr thing as a social study. Just a research on kinks. No biggie. He could do this.

"Tony, come to the bedroom for a second!"

Somehow hearing Steve's voice made this situation very real and not like Tony imagined it. He couldn't say anything from the tone of Steve's voice, it was neutral, not angry, but also wasn't the cheerful, loving one Steve had towards him. On usual days, Steve would come to him, resembling an excited puppy and lick his face - kiss, Tony meant kiss, and then they would sit on the couch and share their day. Their bedroom was a private, closed space and once Tony set his foot there, there was no way back. 

Feeling a nervous twist in his stomach, Tony peeked into the bedroom, just to feel if the situation was as bad as he feared. Steve was on the bed, forehead creased in thought, and was looking at the space in front of him until he spotted Tony from the corner of his eyes.

"Tony - " Steve started, sitting up straight, pulling shoulders back.

"No, Steve, I - " Tony walked into the bedroom, trying to make his voice strong. Just remember what he had planned and it would be fine. "I want to talk first, okay?" 

Steve blinked and frowned lightly, but kept his lips tight. Alright, if Tony insisted.

"Okay," Tony nodded, trying to give himself some courage and began to pace around the room. "I know you found my Tumblr account," he said the obvious, struggling to keep his voice firm. "And - and it was not true, you know that, right? I just - research - an experiment to - ahh," Tony quickly got lost in his words, noticing Steve's look changing to a confused one. "I - ah, fuck, fuck, fuck - " Tony couldn't get any coherent words out and stopped and hid his face in hands. He continued to quietly curse, not knowing how to get out of this mess and not lose everything. 

"Babe..."

Tony almost jumped away, when Steve came closer and wrapped arms around him. After a moment of hesitation, Tony buried himself into his soldier's arms, his face pressed against Steve's neck. Probably the last hug he would receive from Steve. This whole thing won't make Avengers stuff awkward at all. What if Steve would quit the team? Tony couldn't imagine not being able to see Steve anymore. He needed him. He would change, he would do better. Steve couldn't break up with him. 

"Of course that I am not breaking up with you," Steve said suddenly, and Tony winced, not realizing he said it out loud. "Is that what you thought?" Steve asked, sounding shocked. Reluctantly, Tony nodded. Somehow he was used to being rejected and walking away from problems was one of the things he did and expected the same happen to him. 

"God, Tony," Steve said in an exasperated huff, not believing how quickly this whole thing could escalate in Tony's mind. Then again, he should know, because Tony did think too much and sometimes didn't stop his thoughts on time, letting them drag him deeper and deeper. "Tony, I am not breaking up with you," Steve said again, just to make sure the words sunk in his boyfriend's head. "And I am sorry," Steve gently put his thumb and forefinger under Tony's chin, encouraging him to eye contact. 'Sorry you turned out to be messed up in the head,' Tony finished in his mind, looking into Steve's blue eyes. 

"I am sorry for barging into your space when you didn't feel ready to share yet," Steve said, closing the distance between them and leaning his forehead against Tony's.

What?

Tony didn't reply, just stared, his brown eyes widening. Steve was... apologizing to him? Not the other way around?

"I read some of your blog," Steve said and Tony panicked again, Steve holding him closer when he felt brunet's body tense, "and I understand how hard it is for you to talk about it and how important it is for you. I really do. If anything, I am... a bit disappointed you didn't tell me. Why didn't you?"

Tony's mouth twisted into a scowl. He was disappointed with himself too, but it was hard. Harder than admitting that he liked being pinned down by Steve, or spanked, as it all seemed... simpler. It was obvious why people who enjoyed it were turned on by it. Tickling wasn't easy to explain. 

"I wanted to," Tony finally spoke, his voice coming out quiet, "I didn't know how," this wasn't a good answer. Tony closed his eyes, not able to look at Steve. "I was embarrassed, I guess."

"Hmmm," Steve hummed in understanding, waiting for Tony to continue, but he didn't say anything more. Tony had no problems with voicing out his needs on his site, but face to face with Steve, he was fumbling and struggling for words. Anonymity gave him a sense of control which was being stripped away from him, layer by layer. Maybe with time, Tony would open more, and it was on Steve's side to nurture that vulnerable mindset until Tony would feel strong enough and confident to voice out his true needs. 

"Then... can you tell me why you like it?" Steve tried, sounding gentle and not judgmental. Keeping an open mind was the key here.

"I don't know," Tony said quickly, sounding defensive. He didn't mean to, but it was stranger than him. He didn't want Steve to judge him, to think less of him, but... It was Steve. Steve who was always so understanding and didn't laugh at him and did his best to keep Tony feel accepted. It won't work if Steve would be the only one willing to share. "I guess," Tony corrected himself, trying to be more open, "I like the trust in it. And closeness," he said, tugging on Steve's clothes and hiding more into his boyfriend, "and, uh, it feels good."

"Feels good?"

"Yeah," Tony admitted, burying his heated face deeper into Steve's neck. "Feels really good. Especially when you are the one ti - doing it."

"Oh," Steve said, carding his fingers through the short hair on the back of Tony's head. Tony shivered, just slightly, from the light touch, smiling against Steve's skin and Steve felt an urge to touch him all over. This time differently, more aware and more intimate, paying closer attention to the reactions. "So... you wanna do it?"

"Do what?"

"You know what."

Tony moved away from Steve, showing a confused face. That kinda felt like mocking him, but Steve's face was honest. And it would certainly change the mood and make Tony feel better about this whole day. "I don't know," Tony said, just to be safe, "do you want to do it?"

"Heck yeah."

"What? You do?" Tony asked, his mouth falling agape at the enthusiasm. 

"Sure. You like it and I like tickling you too. It's a win-win, right?"

Tony started to smile in relief. It was really happening. Steve accepted one of Tony's darkest secrets and even wanted to take part in it. Tony could barely wrap his mind around it, already feeling excited and giddy.

"So?" Steve asked again, eyes sparkling, waiting for permission from his boyfriend.

"If you keep asking, it takes the surprise factor AWAAHHAHA!" Tony's newly found boost of confidence was efficiently cut off when Steve latched hands to his sides and squeezed repeatedly. Tony doubled over in laughter and squirmed away, watching with a pounding heart as Steve followed him, smiling beautifully mischievous. "No, no, no, wait, Steve! STEHEVE!" Tony screeched in laughter when Steve ran forward, pushing Tony on the bed, and falling with him. "ACK! STE - hahaha! Waaait!" Tony wailed when fingers were going up and down his body tickling intensely. When Tony became pink in the face and a little breathless, Steve stopped, leaning in and kissing Tony's smiling lips.

"I love you, babe," Steve whispered, looking at his lover.

"I love you too," Tony answered, his heart hammering from the ticklish rush and all love he had for Steve. 

"Are we good?"

"We are good," Tony assured, still not believing that everything turned out so great. 

"Good," Steve smiled, and just now Tony realized that somehow both of his wrists were in soldier's hold and Steve easily pinned his hands above his head, leaving his torso exposed. "Because now," Steve said, sitting on Tony's thighs and slowly sliding his free hand under Tony's shirt. "I want to test every ticklish spot on you."

"Oh fuhahahck - " Tony wriggled uselessly, his stomach sinking in when Steve gently ran fingertips over the soft skin. "Steve, Steve, pleaheehehehese!"

"This is just your tummy and you already are so ticklish. It is a very promising start."

"Ahhahaha!"

"Oh, is this rib ticklish? How about this one? And this one?"

"GAAA HAHAHA!"

"Oh look, the higher I go, the more you laugh. Sooo, this means that when I do this -"

"PFF HAHAHAHA!"

"That's one ticklish armpit you have, babe! Let's find out if the other one is as ticklish -"

Steve was grinning, watching Tony crumbling and laughing, coming apart under his fingers. Steve was right, it was a win-win for both of them.

***

"You should write on your Tumblr."

"Huh?"

"You should," Steve repeated, rolling on completely naked Tony and kissing his lips, "write on your," a kiss on the chin, "Tumblr," Steve finished, blowing a raspberry into Tony's neck.

"HAAHAHA! Stoooop," Tony tried to swat Steve away, feeling too blissful to move. Of course that a long, intimate tickle session changed into an amazing make out. It was incredible how the tickle foreplay increased their appetite and how wonderfully responsive Tony became. 

Steve laughed and rolled on his side, looking at Tony with adoration. Laughing made Tony ten times more attractive in Steve's eyes, and Tony was off the scale to start with. 

"I am serious, babe," Steve tried again, gently poking his finger all over Tony's bare belly, making him squeak funnily and curl up, "write on your Tumblr. Everyone has to be worried."

"Ah hahaha... Ohkahay!" Tony agreed, shielding his stomach with one hand and using the other one to reach for his phone. "Uhh... Should I update and delete it?" Tony asked. With everything working out so great, there was no reason for him to keep that account. No more secret lusting, when he had it all in real life.

"If you want to," Steve said truthfully, "or maybe you can keep it for a bit longer because I might need some inspiration on how to take you apart."

"Ahhh, not sure if I want to give you access to that sort of power," Tony teased, opening the app. "Huh, people kinda hate you."

Steve shrugged, understanding that what he wrote, did sound menacing, even if it wasn't his intention. "Just write that we are fine and your boyfriend plans on fulfilling your each and every one tickle fantasy."

"You do?" Tony asked, voice trembling with excitement.

"All of them, babe," Steve assured, smiling broadly. He had remembered some of the things he read and gifs he saw, and could easily imagine Tony on the receiving end. 

Looking enthusiastic, Tony got to writing. Soon, Steve got up and leaned over Tony's shoulder, looking at the screen.

'Hi, guys. Sorry for the sudden silence but as you saw we had a situation here. It is all good now, me and BF talked, and he turned to be all sweet about it, not bragging, I just had my first tickle session and it was amazing! So, I just wanted to give you an update, that I am fine. More than fine. My BF said that I can keep this Tumblr if I want to and he will even use it as an inspiration, so aaaah, can't wait. Just don't give him any ideas! I am gonna talk to you all soon, but for now, I and my BF have plans. See you later!'

After the post got published, Tony and Steve didn't have to wait for a reaction.

'AAAAH! I AM SO GLAD EVERYTHING IS FINE! YOU BOYS HAVE FUN NOW!'

'Awesome, couple goals.'

'That's great, dude, but I hope your BF apologized.'

"That's the one that doesn't like me, right?" Steve squinted his eyes, pointing at the last comment. Tony laughed and nosed Steve's cheek playfully.

"It is okay, I like you," he smiled. "Do you want to have a nickname? That will make it much easier for me to write when you are involved."

"Um, sure," Steve said, not entirely sold on the idea, but not wanting to shot Tony's idea down. "You call yourself Spare Parts Man, right?" Steve asked and Tony nodded. "Soooo... How about you call me Iron Man?"

Tony's smile dropped in surprise, and he laughed mockingly. "Seriously, dude?"

"Hey, the darkest place is under the candle," Steve said, sounding defensive.

"Fine," Tony agreed, rolling his eyes dramatically. He reblogged the post and added an update.

'BF wants you to call him Iron Man. I know, lame.'

"Ack!" Tony almost dropped his phone when Steve scoldingly pinched his side. Soon the first comments came.

'Ah you sound like a superhero couple, how cute!'

'I am shipping you both. #relationshipgoals'

'Wow, your BF is not very creative, isn't he? But fine, let it be IRON MAN.'

"Write to this one that I don't like them either," Steve hissed, looking at the last comment. 

Tony laughed and turned to Steve, pressing their lips together in a kiss. Long and sweet. The kind of kiss that was the perfect happy ending to a tickle kink coming out story.

"Oh, interesting!" Steve suddenly said, ending the kiss too soon and looking at one of the comments, smiling wickedly. 

"What is int - noooooo!" Tony wailed, understanding the reason behind the smile. It was stronger than him and Tony started to panic. "It is a lie, Steve! Don't believe the lieeee no no aaah HELP!"

Steve laughed, wrestling Tony down and pinning his hands once again. If Tony was already getting this worked up, there was no way Steve would back up.

"No, please!" Tony giggled, kicking his legs, trying to wriggle away, as Steve's menacingly moving fingers were getting closer and closer. "I cahahahan't!"

Somehow, Steve didn't believe him. Instead, he believed the comment.

'Hey, this is for Iron Man - I am sure you know already, that SP's stomach is really ticklish, but did you try tickling his belly button specifically? From what SP writes it is a very ticklish outie. Have fun!'

When Steve pressed his finger over Tony's outie delicately and Tony burst into giggling, almost maniacal laughter, Steve was in heaven. It was settled, Tony was keeping his blog for further tips for Steve. 

[metalbvcky]

I have way too many WIPs so I thought I’d share this idea and see if anyone wants to take up the challenge of writing it. Maybe it’ll spark a little inspiration for someone. :)

Bucky collects vintage records, while also being the owner of his very own record store. His life is going smooth for the most part, he’s got a great small group of friends; Sam, Natasha, and Clint, who also works at the store.

But then one afternoon, out the corner of Bucky’s eye, he spots a tall man with broad shoulders and a well trimmed beard (fucking hell those abs) walking into his store. Bucky knew he was a goner from then on.

If it were possible, Bucky would’ve hidden behind the front counter and hoped the guy wouldn’t notice him drooling over those should be illegal biceps. But no. This guy, a literal hansom piece of work that belongs in a museum, comes right up to Bucky with a voice smooth as butter but oh so rough.

“Hi, Bucky is it? Do you happen to have any albums by Frank Sinatra by chance?”

Not even a minute in and this guy’s already on a first name basis. Well, it doesn’t help with the fact that Bucky has a nametag clipped on his very low cut v-neck.

“Frank Sinatra?” Bucky echoes, way too distracted with Steve’s crystal clear blue eyes. “Um, we might have a couple in the back but if you check over here-”

The isles are so narrow, no more than two people can pass by at once. Yet Steve took up most of the room, save for side stepping to let Bucky through but their hands brushed up against each other as he did so. Sparks, fireworks, anything that explodes into tiny pieces of confetti threw Bucky’s brain into a pile of smitten goo.

“Yeah, here’s one,” Bucky says and has no idea how he managed to not stutter with the way his heart was hammering in his chest. “Mr...?”

“Steve, it’s just Steve,” Steve says, smile so radiant it could blind a man.

Bucky not only needs Steve’s number pronto but he also really, really wants to do so many things with him in bed.

TL;DR: Steve found himself searching for an old record from his childhood that his ma would play for him when ill. The internet was no help but instead, it leads him to Bucky’s record store. Music lover Bearded!Steve + Record store owner Twink!Bucky 

Please be my guest whoever wants to write this!! 

[dearlazerbunny]

Let it Go (Ch. 2 of ?)

Pairings: platonic avengers team x reader, potential background loki x reader

Words: 3000

Genre/Ratings: -WARNINGS- there will be an (unsuccessful) suicide attempt by reader- chapter will be explicitly marked in advance. Drug (pills) and alcohol abuse, lots of negativity and self loathing. There will be an arc, but said arc is going to start in the eleventh circle of hell and inch up from there.

Summary: *not far enough into this one to give an accurate summary, so this’ll have to be updated eventually. enjoy for now!*

He had just gotten used to the noise.

When he first woke up, it felt like he was suffocating him- always there, always cars honking and lights flashing and music playing and people going about their lives- the city that never sleeps. Someone told him that, he forgets who. He figured out what they meant the second he stepped outside for longer than a minute.

 Now there’s just the wind stirring up dust, and occasionally toppling over a loose pile of debris. City workers push brooms along the street, trying to clear a path. Machines groan and creak as they haul away pieces of the city- days ago, that window was hundreds of feet in the sky- like its nothing. Another day. Just a little quieter than usual.

 t’s hard to believe, even though he has the scars on his shield and healing bruises on his ribs to prove the aliens did, in fact, try to invade New York and take over the planet. Led by a god. And then he’d teamed up with another god- he still wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He’d never been particularly religious, but Bucky was- the insufferable bastard Stark, two assassins and a green giant and became an Avenger of planet Earth.

 This wasn’t what he signed up for in 1941. Nazis or aliens, punching them in the face still uses the same muscles. Metal torsos don’t have quite as much give against the knuckles though.  

 He wanders the streets with no real purpose in mind, other than helping out with lifting here and there where needed. The war roars to life in the back of his mind, overlayed with the eerily calm day. His eyes mark the battle: here, where he launched Nat into the air, her dry words echoing in his ears; here, where Thor had very efficiently covered his back. Here, where for the second time in his life he watched a man who didn’t deserve to fall hurdle towards the ground.

 And here- something happened here. His feet remember even if his mind doesn’t- they’ve stopped in the middle of the road. He squints, resisting the urge to cough on a cloud of dust that gets kicked up in his face. Something… his shield, doing far greater damage than his fist ever could, and then someone… screamed?

Her. A girl, in the middle of the road, eyes sunken and skin so taught and paperwhite he’d wondered if the ghosts of this battle were already coming to haunt him before it was even done. She’s screamed at him to duck, and her voice was so raw it triggered something in the back of his brain from basic training and caused him to hit the ground before he fully knew what he was doing. Something had flown over his head- he could hear it cutting through the air- a thunk, a screech that would likely be added to his rotating litany of nightmares- then nothing, save the battle raging behind him. A Chitauri he assumed he’d missed lay twitching on the ground just inches from his neck, and sticking from its chest- ice. Solid ice. So cold that his gloved hand still recoiled when he reached out to touch it.

The irony wasn’t lost on him.

The girl’s face had been a roulette of emotions- a hint of pride, a darkly sarcastic flicker of her lips, and then her eyes widened and- fear. He watched her watch him, clenching and unclenching her fists. By the time he had opened his mouth to call out to her, she was gone, leaving only a trail of what looked to be frost on the ground before she disappeared around a corner- and something that slipped out of her pocket, jostled from her sweatshirt as she made her getaway.

He didn’t have time to think about her after that. A second later, his comm had crackled to life in his ear, and Stark started barking instructions, and Captain America had straightened his spine and grabbed his shield, and got back to where he was needed.

Steve Rogers, though, still has her tucked in the back of his mind.

The frost is still on the ground. Not as white as it had been, but a few grains of ice still cling to the cracks in the pavement. Strange. Magic? After everything he’s seen the past few days he wouldn’t be surprised. He follows the trail, irrationally hoping she’ll still be tucked behind an overturned car or crumbling building corner.

She isn’t. But there is a neon orange bottle tucked amongst the wreckage, and as he reaches for it he has a flash of memory of it falling from your pocket as you run. The contents rattle. A prescription bottle- like the ones medical gives him never get touched and sit collecting dust in a corner of his closet. Neat rows of print declare it Klonopin, 0.5 mg. Take once a day at bedtime, take an additional half as needed. Ingest with food. In the upper left corner is a name and address and phone number- Christian Heysworth.

The girl in the sweatshirt doesn’t strike him as a Christian. He should probably drop the bottle- it’d never be noticed among the rest of the chaos- and walk away. Worry about his own life and his own mess.

He tucks the bottle into his pocket. It might be a place to start.

…

The knock on her door is crisp and succinct, with no room for error. A soldier’s knock. She knows who it is before she turns the lock, because Clint doesn’t bother knocking anymore. When the door opens, she tries not to look as tired as she feels. “Captain.” It’s an easy acknowledgment, and it gives him time to categorize the healing gash on her cheekbone, covered with a butterfly bandage; the bruise blossoming on her collarbone that peeks just far enough above the neckline of her shirt to be seen. She doesn’t need the attention, but he needs a reminder that not everything is different since the forties. Same soldiers, different decade. Despite herself, the corner of her lip flicks up in the tiniest hint of appreciation. It has been a while since someone’s cared. “What can I do for you?”

“I need a favor.”

Interesting. “With?”

“Something stupid, most likely,” His voice is just sheepish enough to believe him. From his pocket, he pulls an orange bottle identical to the ones SHIELD’s psych department keeps prescribing her and the ones she keeps using for target practice.

Oh. Something deep in her chest softens and clenches all at once. She knows these questions all too well. “Cap. If you need help with- well. I can try my best, but I doubt I’m the best person to-”

Steve’s eyes widen. “Oh, no, these- they aren’t mine.” He hands the medicine over and she appraises it with a practiced eye. Klonopin, schedule IV drug in the United States, dose as low as one milligram to sedate an average adult male within forty-five minutes, effects greatly compounded by alcohol- “I, um. I’d like to track down the owner.”

Her brain is humming. “Any particular reason?”

“It’s a long story.”

Wordlessly, she steps aside, letting him in. “I didn’t have much to do tonight.”

Eventually, there are cups of tea in front of both of them, though she’s only taken a sip and Steve hasn’t touched his at all. He tells her about the girl who leaves frost on the ground in the middle of Manhattan and saves him with a spear made of ice. From the way he speaks, its almost like he isn’t quite sure if she was real or not- just a ghost or a very strange guardian angel. It’s bizarre, but not even on her top ten list of bizarre things in this week alone.

“So. I want to… thank her, I suppose?” He laughs without mirth. “I’m not really sure.”

“Think she’s enhanced?”

“Hopefully not by force.”

It doesn’t even bother her, anymore, the implication. Her breathing becomes more controlled on instinct. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Don’t think about it. “Let’s hope. Is she on anyone’s radar? SHIELD?”

“I wouldn’t even know how to check. And if I did, I don’t have anything to go on.”

Natasha glances down at the bottle of pills. But there is Christian Heysworth. She reaches under the couch cushion she sits on to produce a laptop from the gap. It’s wafer-thin and high tech enough that pulling up something as inane as Facebook looks categorically ridiculous. There’s a few Christian Heysworths, but they’re quickly narrowed down by what little information she has. “Christian Heysworth: junior at NYU, frat boy, wouldn’t be surprised if he’s got a couple of DUIs under his belt paid off by someone in his family-” she glances up, sharp cheekbones illuminated in blue light. “What?”

“I just… what are the odds he’d be in SHIELD’s databases…?”

“Hardly, Cap. Behold the wonders of the internet. So, are we wringing his neck, or were you thinking something more subtle?”

She says it to get a rise out of him and is rewarded by an aghast expression. “I just need to ask him some questions, Natasha, not-” he stops when her quiet smirk lifts a little of the weight from her eyes and laughs with her. “Fine. But I’m doing the talking.”

...

Natasha Romanov has infiltrated thirty-seven countries in as many or more disguises and has never been caught. She is failing miserably at attempting to camouflage Captain America into a generic civilian. There aren’t enough sunglasses and baseball caps in the world to make him a more manageable height and physique, and his t-shirt- at least two sizes too small for him- attracts the eyes of every wannabe pro sports player and every girl and guy hanging off of their arm. Honestly, they expect her to work in these kinds of conditions? Thankfully pulling her top a little lower and batting her eyelashes nets her enough information to direct her to her “absolutely earth-shattering one-night stand.” They climb stairs in a dorm hall that could be nicer than some of the floors in Stark Tower. She has the urge to crack the tile with something sharp.

Heysworth opens his door in boxers and smoke still on his breath. Heavy-lidded eyes barely focus on her face. “Uh, hey. Can I help you?”

Steve comes up behind her. “Christian Heysworth? I’d like to have a word with you, son.”

“I didn’t do nothin’.”

“I didn’t say you did.” Steve’s blue eyes are cool when he takes off his aviators; primly folds them and hangs them on the collar of his shirt. “Recognize this?” He holds out the prescription.

“Uh, I didn’t really-” Heysworth stops. Belches. Squints up at Steve. “I- wait. Wait, holy shit, you’re fucking Captain America! Holy shit man, I can’t even-”

As he rambles, Steve looks over to Natasha, who shrugs. “You must have one of those faces.”

Captain America holds up a hand to the kid’s face. “Just answer the question, son.”

“I, yeah, okay, um-” he turns the bottle over in his hands. “Shit, is this what that bitch stole from me?”

“Language. Who stole from you?”

“I met up with some chick downtown who wanted to buy them, but then those freaking aliens started coming and I- you didn’t hear it from me though, ‘kay?”

Steve sighs. “Do you know her name?”

“Nah, chat rooms and shi- stuff. Sorry. I have her screen name?”

He agrees to trade for a selfie with the Captain, which Natasha promptly deletes as soon as he hands over his phone, transferring data to her own. “She’s communicating from this address,” she murmurs, showing Steve the area it triangulated before wiping that information too. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

“Uh-huh. Hey, are you-”

Steve neatly closes the door in his face. “I don’t think he looked at your face once.

Oh, Steve. What a pure soul. “To be fair, I don’t think anyone has been looking at yours either.”

Their trail leads them to the backstreets, to an alley so covered in grime it looks like the whole place should be condemned. And many of the buildings are- covered in caution tape, stairwells crumbling, and fire escapes rusted over. Wind whistles through shattered windows. Foundations are rotting. And yet there are a few minuscule signs of life- a door that’s scraped the ground so many times there’s wear on the concrete, a few piles of garbage here and there. “She’s off the grid.”

“Can’t be right. She was a kid, couldn’t have been more than twenty-”

“You do what you have to.” She gives him a look. “You know that.”

His face goes stony. “Let’s just find her.”

Natasha sets off in one direction, Steve in the other. They both know how this works. It’s a practiced dance. Search the bottom floors first, find faults in the buildings and stairwells so you can avoid them the next floor up. She picks a lock that has managed to stay fast despite rusting over, he leverages himself through a windowsill strong enough to hold his weight. Eerily silent save for scraps of trash and the skittering of mice. If you listen closely, you can almost hear the construction in midtown, slowly shoveling away.

Steve’s mark is almost laughably easy to find. There’s a door tucked in a second-level corner whose seams are iced over three inches thick.

Her boots crunch in frost spilling out from under a crack in the door. She punctures the air with a bird call, and seconds later Steve rounds the corner. He reaches down to run a finger through the snow. “it looks the same.”

“Do you want to do the honors then?” He tests the knob once, twice- the metal doesn’t even rattle, it’s too frozen solid. He opts to kick it in with a well-placed boot, wincing at the sound of ice cracking and then shattering into shards.

The apartment is empty. There’s a table along the far wall stacked with a few cardboard boxes to use as makeshift shelves. Packets of potato chips are shoved in one alcove, a few granola bars in the other. Empty soda bottles litter the floor. The table itself is mostly covered with alcohol: a whole skyline of glass bottles glinting in the light from the newly busted door. Some are empty, some are half full, a few have broken necks. An inspection of the crooked drawers attached underneath reveals nothing but a junkyard of pills, none of which are prescribed to the same person more than twice.

Natasha opens a few of the safety caps, rattling them like a scientist with an interest. “There’s enough in here to put even you to sleep.”

“Is she here? She would’ve heard the door.”

“Maybe.” A door leads off to a molding bathroom and a small hall closet. The next, a makeshift bedroom. A grimy mattress sits in the corner, covered in blankets so dirty there’s no telling what the print of them might’ve once been. There’s also a girl. She’s curled up in the center, drowning in layers of hoodies and sweatshirts. The second Natasha steps in the room she can see her breath. Another step in and the air feels like home. Whatever water was in the air has crystallized and fallen to the ground in a tiny hailstorm, surrounding her like a halo.

She also doesn’t move.

The spy moves with ruthless efficiency, ignoring the cold as she kneels by the mattress. Too many layers. Can’t even see if she’s breathing. She tugs her sleeve up over her fingertips before beginning to shove aside tangled hoods and t-shirts, digging for the collarbone.

“Natasha?”

“Here. She’s almost-” she cuts off with a hiss of pain, wrenching her fingers back like she was bit.

“What-?” the girl is still sleeping. Steve only spares her a glance before taking Natasha’s hand in his, checking for damage. There’s no blood, no broken skin. But the tips of her fingers are white and hard, paler than normal and cold to the touch. He recoils on instinct. “Frostbite.”

Natasha is muttering low in Russian, tapping her fingers together to move the blood, and Steve is momentarily taken back to a plane going down in the middle of an endless ocean surrounded by walls of blue. No going back, only going under, and nothing waiting for him but frost and ice and cold-

“Steve!” He blinks. Natasha’s face swims back into focus. “Get out. Contact the tower. We can’t move her like this and she needed medical yesterday.”

“I’m fi-”

“No, you’re not. I can handle this. Russian, remember?” She tries to give him a small smile. He doesn’t return it. “Get out and coordinate removal. That’s an order.”

Orders, some primeval part of Steve’s brain can understand. He turns and hopes he doesn’t run from the apartment, not even bothering to navigate the stairs- just jumps over the balcony to land in the courtyard below, chest heaving. Unconsciously, he glances in a nearby piece of glass, ensuring his breath isn’t fog. He isn’t cold. He isn’t. He’s fine.

He isn’t thinking when he puts a beacon out for JARVIS to trace. He isn’t flexing his fingers to make sure they can move. He isn’t drowning. He isn’t on ice. He isn’t, he isn’t, he isn’t-

In the apartment, Natasha swears and wrings her hand as pins and needles race down her arm. She’s handled plenty of frostbite, but it never gets easier. The girl is still unconscious, heartbeat dangerously slow. Whatever she put in her system, she meant to knock herself out for a long time. Or worse.

And Steve is on the verge of a panic attack and if your heart stops she can’t perform CPR, so she sits on the edge of your mattress blowing on her fingers as you keep causing the air around you to quietly freeze and fall, a tiny secret twinkle of ice in the middle of New York.

[thatsbucknasty]

she used to be mine (iii) waitress au

summary: Inspired by the broadway musical. Y/N Beck is a pie baking force to be reckoned with. She’s pregnant with her lazy ass husband, Quentin Beck’s baby. As everything around her turns upside down, Doctor James Buchanan Barnes charms his way into her life.

pairing: Y/N x Bucky

tags are open c:

chapter 3: when he sees me

“I read on the internet that if you boil the cutlery every night, you get rid of the germs that the soap alone couldn’t kill, plus it makes them extra shiny”. I enter the diner and meet Wanda’s voice, while she explains her late night research to Sam, he completely ignores her, but that’s good. Keeps him distracted from the fact that I’m-

“You’re late. You’re never late. What happened? Did Quentin pull an all nighter? I saw him at Phil’s Bar, you know? If you need me to talk to that piece of sh-” Sam has always been a little over protective of us girls.

“I’m fine, Sam. Sorry I’m late, the bus driver was falling asleep, and don’t worry, Quentin didn’t come home too late. There’s no need for you to talk to him cause he won’t listen anyway”.

“That’s right, he can’t hear a word I say cause his head has been stuck in his ass ever since that one hit wonder he wrote ten years ago played in the local radio station”. Sam says bitterly before he sips an equally bitter cup of black coffee.

“Hey! For your information, I helped write that song”. I smirk.

“Good morning to my ladies, and my ladies only”. Nat walks through the door, thirty minutes late. She must wanna get Sam angry on purpose at this point. She hugs Wanda and then me.

“No love for me?” Okay, I wasn’t expecting that. Yelling and cursing maybe, but not this.

“What is going on?” I ask Wanda but she shrugs, clueless.

Nat stops whatever truce she has with Sam, rolls her eyes at him and says something I can’t quite catch and asks.

“Sooo, Wands, did you do it?” 

“Do what?” I say.

“Call that mystery Jon Snow she met at the comic con last weekend! Come on! You said he was cute”.

“Oh I don’t know, maybe he’s not into me and he was just being polite giving me his number. He was cute indeed, but his costume was really bad, I think maybe I should call him and ask who made it for him, since I made my own and he liked it so much, maybe I could help him out next year”.

“Already planning your one year anniversary? Ambitious. But sure! That’s a great excuse to start a conversation. What’s his name again?” I beg for information, since I’ve been left out of the weekend catch up, apparently.

“No, no. I don’t know girls. He might not like me. His name is Steve, by the way. But enough about me. How did it go with doctor Perkins?”

“It didn’t. She’s retired”.

“God bless her, we went to see her last year. Remember when Clint had the flu and he wouldn’t even eat? Doctor Perkins was there to see him cry when he got a shot on his bum. Poor woman”. Now that I see it, Nat never talks about her husband anymore. 

“And how’s Clint? I feel like I haven’t seen him in forever. Remind me to send some of my Couch Potato Pie to him, he always devoured it”.

“He’s busy all the time. I feel like I don’t see him that much either and we sleep in the same bed every night, isn’t that funny? But if Doctor Perkins is retired, then who saw you?” Nice deflect from the subject. Nat’s good at that.

“It’s a man, he’s new in town. A bit weird and awkward but he was nice”.

“Ooh a man, is he single? Might be good for Wanda”.

“Hehehe, no, no. I’m good, thanks”. The giggling mess of a girl leaves to get some more bottles of ketchup to clean.

“I think he mentioned a wife”.

“That’s too bad. Is he handsome though?”

“Nat, I just told you he has a wife”.

“Is he though? I’m just asking cause nothing happens in this town. If there’s a pretty new face out there I wanna look… respectfully”.

“Okay then”.

“Well? Is he pretty?”

“He is. Very. It’s distracting, I think I should look for another doctor”.

“Oh my god, Y/N don’t be dramatic, besides? What other doctor in town is gonna see you? Doctor Roberts? We all know he’s a perv. Take it easy, you’ve only been to one appointment. And you know, a little distraction is nice once in a while. If a nice looking doctor would want to do me a check-up I certainly wouldn’t mind!”

Well, she has a point.

-

I’m leaving late again tonight. It’s just that, ever since I got the official news of my pregnancy, I can’t seem to tolerate Quentin’s cologne mixed with his usual beer and peanuts scent. Just thinking about it makes me sick, and I can’t risk it. If he suspects something’s up I’ll have to tell him the truth, he always calls me out on my bullshit when I try to lie.

I like having this for myself for now. I’m starting to like the idea of having this baby. I know I wasn’t the most thrilled mother at the beginning but, a piece of myself is growing inside of me. I really hope they like to bake when they grow up, I could teach them all I know. It could be our thing.

-

“Guys!!! Guys, guys guys, guys. I texted Steve!” Wanda comes into the diner yelling and almost trips over the counter.

“Jesus, woman, breathe. Who is Steve?” Sam’s intrigued, but also annoyed.

“Oh I think you actually know him Sammy, it’s Steve!!! The blonde cutie with gorgeous eyes who owns the video store”.

“Oh yeah! We used to play videogames at his house back in High School cause he had all the good ones”.

“So? Did he respond? Do tell!!” I’m excited for Wanda, she’s only a couple years younger than me and Nat but she’s like our little sister. She started working at the diner four years ago and I’ve never seen her date anyone.

“Yes, yes! He said he wants to take me out. Oh my god, I think I might have a panic attack. I don’t think I should go, should I? What if he doesn’t like me? What if he gets to know me and he’s disappointed? I know I looked amazing at the Con last weekend but that’s because I was wearing that wig, you know, the pretty one with the celtic braids? But without my gorgeous Ygritte costume I’m just- me. What if when he sees me, he runs the other way?” She deflates on the booth she was cleaning and Nat and I silently decide it’s time to talk some sense into her. My turn first.

“Listen, sweetie. You’re a gorgeous woman, with and without those beautiful outfits you create and wigs, or even with this dirty apron, he would be stunned by your beauty. Plus, once he gets to know you, he won’t be disappointed!” 

“How do you know?! I don’t even know what I would say to him, you guys, should I make some flashcards?” She lives for the drama, but this time she really needs some reassurance. Nat goes now.

“You have an extensive knowledge of Game of Thrones, you can share that with him. He owns a video store and you love movies and videogames, you’ll never run out of things to say, and you are so funny and charming he’ll fall for you instantly!”

“Hear me out, Wanda. I’ll bake you a pie to bring him on your date. Nat will help you get all dolled up and you and Steve are gonna have a great time together, alright?” I say to her, getting up and already planning a recipe in my head.

“Oh Y/N, that’s very sweet of you, thank you! Whatchu gonna put in that pie, can I help?” 

“I’ll make it extra special with some spices that will enchant his belly and his heart! I’ll call it Falling in love chocolate mousse pie!”

If I can’t have my fairytale romance with the happy family and the white picket fence, I might as well make damn sure that Wanda gets hers.

And while I try to sort out whether I’m staying in my messy marriage and how I’m gonna cope with this unexpected pregnancy, I’ll just bake, bake, bake. It’s all I can do to keep myself and this little nugget inside of me afloat. In the meantime, staring at my cute obgyn won’t hurt anybody, will it?

-

chapter 4: it only takes a taste

-

pls reblog if you liked it c:

[mrslaufeyson002]

Rise Chapter 12.

Taylor's POV

We would get to our destination by morning (Seoul) and so I got into my PJ's (picture above/beginning). I am sleeping on a bunkbed that is on the Quinjet (for overnight trips). I text Loki and Bruce to see how they're doing before I go to bed.

We have arrived in Seoul by not a few hours later and I was prepared (outfit below).

We are close to Dr. Cho's work place (thankfully Stark contacted us through the coms and letting us know that our doctor, Dawn Palmer, is safe at home).I joined the rest near the cockpit. The members currently here are Nat, Steve, Clint, and I. Bruce, Tony, and Loki were back at Avengers Tower, and Thor still wasn't around. "Taylor, stay here with Clint and Nat. I'm going to go in and check on Dr. Cho."

"Steve, somebody should go with you. We have an even amount of people. You need someone there in case Ultron or the twins are there." I speak up and try to change his mind about going in alone.

"No. I need you guys to stay here." I knew there was no arguing with Steve so I didn't and stayed on the Quinjet. Steve landed on the top of the rooftop. We started moving further away when Cap fives another order through the coms, "Two minutes. Stay close."

The Quinjet is currently hovering over the city as Steve searches for Dr. Cho. I was lost in my head, thinking about Loki and other random stuff, when I heard Steve's voice over coms. "Dr. Cho?" He sounded worried. What happened to Dr. Cho? "He's uploading himself into the body." Dr. Cho could be heard, informing Steve, breathing heavily.

"Where?"

"The real power is inside the cradle. The gem, its power is uncontainable. You can't just blow it up." She takes a break to breathe and continues, "You have to get the cradle to Stark."

"First I have to find it."

"Go."

"Did you guys copy that?"

"Yes." I respond a bit in a sarcastic tone. Clint gives me a patronizing look and I just glare at him. I was still bitter that I was stuck here and not down on the ground with Steve. This was the first time in a long time that I actually got to go on a mission and not babysit anybody.

"We did." Clint answers Steve as well, but more respectfully than I did. "I got a private jet taking off across town. No manifest." Nat informs Steve and Clint is looking around below. He spots a big semi truck from Dr. Cho's lab. "There, it's a truck from the lab. Right above you."

"It's them. Three with the cradle and one in the cab." I inform Cap. "I could take out the driver." Clint suggests.

"Negative, if that truck crashes, the gem could level the whole city. We need to draw Ultron out." Steve goes off coms and we watch as he jumps off onto the truck as it drives below him. A blast sends Steve swinging on the door and a second one blasts the door off it's hinges. "Well, he's definitely not happy." Steve remarks as I mutter under y breath, "No dip sherlock." Steve continues with, "I'm gonna keep him that way." I mentally slap him in the face. "That is a bad idea, Steve." He ignores my comment.

"You're no match for him, Cap."

"Thanks, Barton." Cap says sarcastically. Ultron is so mad that he sends Cap flying onto the windshield of a the car behind them. Clint flies the Quinjet closer towards Steve in case he needs help. Steve loses his shield during his battle with Ultron. Ultron hits Steve with another blast from his weapon/gun as Clint tells Nat and I to get ready to help Cap and retrieve the cradle. We get on our motorcycles/motorbikes waiting for Clint to drop us down. "We got a window in four, three..." He presses a button. "Give him h..." Nat and I drive out onto the streets of Seoul and chasing after Cap and Ultron. Nat and I have to swerve between cars just to catch up. Nat grabs the shield and I follow behind her. "They're heading under the overpass. I don't got a shot."

"Which way?" Nat asks Clint. "Hard right." He pauses a few seconds. "Now." I follow Nat as she turns right. We pull into a narrow alley and we see the truck. Nat throws Steve's shield up to him. Ultron's minions start firing at us, but Nat and I moved separate ways and got separated.

Ultron blasted Steve once again, but he landed near me, so I stopped and offered him a ride to get closer to the truck so he could jump back on. Clint fired at Ultron and his minions flew up towards the Quinjet. Steve jumped back onto the truck and continue his fight with Ultron. The minions were heading back our way. I kept following the truck trying to get the cradle. I jumped in and as soon as I did, I saw Nat right behind me looking at the glowing cradle. She looks at me with a questioning look and I just shrug my shoulders. "I don't know why it's glowing." The truck started to lift slowly into the air. Nat looked just as concerned as me. The truck started to lift higher into the air and considering I was closer to the edge, I fell backwards and out of the truck. I hit my head pretty hard before the lights went out.

Steve's POV

I was shocked to find the twins working against Ultron. "Cap do you have eyes on Nat and Taylor?"

"If you have the package, get it to Stark! Go!" I ordered Clint. "Do you have eyes on them?" Clint asks again. "Go!" I yell looking for Taylor and Nat. I looked to the twins. "Civilians in our path." The fast one leaves. I look at the girl. "Can you stop this thing?" She tries to stop it and eventually succeeds in doing so. I get off and walk towards them. "Just give me a minute." The boy says while his sister steadies him. "I'm very tempted not to give you one."

"The cradle. Did you get it?" The girls asks. "Stark will take care of it." She looks shocked. "No, he won't."

"You don't know what you're talking about. Stark's not crazy."

"He will do anything to make things right."

"Stark come in, Stark. Anyone on coms."

"Ultron can't tell the difference between saving the world and destroying it, where do you think he gets that?"

Loki's POV

Clint came in with the cradle and told us about Nat and Taylor. "Any thing on Nat?" Bruce asks Tony. "I haven't heard, but Taylor is with Steve and Dr. Palmer is on her way here to treat her." He gives me a reassuring smile and smile weakly at him and start worrying about Taylor. "Nat is alive, or Ultron would be rubbing our faces in it."

Clint hops off the cradle. "This is sealed tight."

"We're gonna need to access the program, break it down from within."

"Any chance Natasha might leave you a message outside the internet?" Tony asks Clint. "Old school spy stuff."

"There are some nets I can cast." Barton leaves us alone to try and find Nat.

"I can work on tissue degeneration if you could fry whatever operational system Cho implanted."

"Yeah, about that." Tony stops and looks at Bruce and this goes on for a few minutes before Banner replies with, "No."

"You have to trust me." Stark starts and I cut in with, "No he doesn't." Stark continues, "Our ally, the guy protecting the military's nuclear codes, I found him."

JARVIS's voice speaks up. "Hello, Dr. Banner and Mr. Laufeyson." I wave to nobody in particular a bit confused.

"Ultron didn't attack JARVIS because he was angry. He attacked because he was afraid of what he can do." I decided to zone out and continue thinking and worrying about Taylor. I gasp in a mix of surprise and horror at the sight of Taylor limp in the fast boy's arms.

[buckybarnesbingo]

What the Pic? - Pic Summary Game

Aim of the Game: Provide some kind of summary for what is going on in the pic.  Thank you to our Party Mod @ariasfandom​ for facilitating!

@saganarojanaolt - A chase ended badly

For the baddies

---------------------

@pherryt -  "In retrospect, letting Steve drive the van had been a bad idea. Too bad nobody listened to Bucky"

---------------------

@liquidlightz -  Steve knew he shouldn't have let Sam drive... Bucky just couldn't resist hiding up on the roof and tearing out Sam's steering wheel when he least expected it... for old times sake

---------------------

@lokivsanubis -  “Honestly driving had changed a lot since 1943. What’s this automatic mean?” Steve is honestly confused. Bucky sighs, “Next time I drive.”

Keep reading for more!

@lokivsanubis​ -  Clint just looked at the key then back at the door. Bucky paused, “are you sure you live here?”

---------------------

@liquidlightz - Steve had been struggling to get a handle on his new body after the serum... looks like it's back to 0 days since the last mishap.  Good thing he can just break the lock and get in that way, who needs keys anyway.

---------------------

@pherryt - "Bucky glared at the broken off key. He just wanted to grab a shower and hit the hay. He hadn't even been using the metal arm. He wasn't Steve for God's sake, just breaking things willy nilly. Which meant... Sam. Sam's prank had gone too far this time..."

@lokivsanubis​ -  Steve still wasn't' sure 100% how this photo survived all these years. And yet here it was as he looked at at his best man and then back at his partner. 

 "Don't worry Babe," Bucky assured them. "You've got yourself a winner in Stevie." 

 "And don't worry." Clint assures from the side, "We definitely ate that pizza." 

Steve just wanted to curl up and die. That photo was 5 years and at least 90 lbs ago.

--------------------

@liquidlightz - What the hell Buck?" Steve exclaimed as he bent down to check Clint was still breathing.  "You open the door inward, not out at people!" 

 "You're the one who installed it after your last little episode... maybe you should have read the instructions as to which side the hinges go on!

---------------------

@saganarojanaolt - Clint has a fantastic aim, Drunk Clint has a fantastic aim too just sometimes for the wrong targets As Tony have learned the hard way when the cup hit him on the head just when he taken the pizza

@lokivsanubis​ - Sometimes it's the things you don't say that say everything. The fact that Tony didn't depart the plane told Steve everything he needed to know.  He put the flowers down and accepted his losses. The fact that Bucky couldn't let their relationship die here and was currently on a plane to California to drag Tony home is another story entirely.

@saganarojanaolt​ -  I can imagine all kind of explanation of why Tony didn't board the plane

And it ends in Happy end

@lokivsanubis​ -  i feel like Bucky would show up like 'WTF?' And tony be like hmmm? What do you mean it's thursday? JARVIS WHY ARE YOU MUTED!?

@saganarojanaolt​ -  Exactly

Or Avengers business

Or an accident

Tony got on the wrong plane

@lokivsanubis​ -  Tony trying to fly coach is just a disaster waiting to happen.

---------------------

@saganarojanaolt​ -  Tony gets into an accident, and because he doesn't have an ID with him - why would he? Everyone knows who is he - when he loses his memory he is noted down as a John Smith This protects him from the paparazzi but also from Bucky finding him

@lokivsanubis​ - ohh the drama i love it!

especially if they shaved his face or his hair for some reason.

so he'd look different

@saganarojanaolt​ -  nods nods

Surgery

Or it was bad guys who caused the incident - so they shaved him and thrown him off somewhere far away where he was last seen

---------------------

@liquidlightz​ -  Steve waited to receive his Russian internet match with bated breath and a humble bunch of flowers, they seemed so small now, he really should have gotten a better bunch on the way instead of relying on the airport shops, they were extortionate, maybe he should stop being cheap and go buy a bigger bunch... 

 as he considered his frugal choices he heard his name called out, and looked up to meet the most mesmerising sky blue eyes he could have never imagined, a shy tentative smile on a gorgeous face framed by luscious long wavy locks, and cradled to his chest in a sling, a little toddler...  asleep, while his dad struggled one handed with the luggage.

They were as smitten in person as they had ever been over their emails, and the flowers were graciously received but left forgotten for anyone else who might need them more... they both now had everything they needed and all their hands were full...

@lokivsanubis​ - though i'm imagining Bucky with Alpine in a cat sweater lol

but OMG SO CUTE!!

@liquidlightz​ - ha ha... plot twist... the baby is a kitten!

@menatiera​ - Bucky still doesn't know to this day how his phone ended up outside on the windowsill. He suspects either Sam's prank, or some kind of magical mishap from a practicing Sorcerer Supreme. Anyway, good thing he has a few Spiderfolks on speed dial, even if that means he'll owe a favor to one of them. Now to decide which one is the safest bet to be indebted to...

@dreaminglypeach​ - Has a few spiderfolks on speed dial, but he needs his phone to be able to call them to come rescue his phone… not sure how well Bucky has thought this one through

---------------------

@pherryt​ - that's absolutely Clint's phone. he climbed up on the roof to take a picture of something and then it slipped right out of his hands. Now Bucky's wishing Nat was here to help talk clint out of doing some aerial stunts without a safety net just to reach the damn thing. "Phones can be replaced, dumbass" Bucky's muttering. Clint, halfway down the wall already 'But it's got pics of Lucky and Alpine cuddling together!"

---------------------

@liquidlightz​ - Bucky had been insisting that he could scale buildings and climb through windows better than Nat could... which Clint scoffed at, nobody would believe him, and Nat refused to take up his challenges so he could prove his point. 

 She'd left him no choice; with Clint's help he'd managed to swipe her phone and abseil the side of Stark Tower to place it outside the common room window which he knew to be tightly sealed...  Steve and Clint had timed him as impartial witnesses. 

 Now Nat would have no choice but to retrieve her phone and everyone, including Jarvis, was placing bets and keeping a close eye so they wouldn't miss it when she made her move...

@saganarojanaolt​ - Nat quietly kills Bucky, while everyone is watching the phone, no one takes her phone unpunished

---------------------

@lbibliophile-mcu​​ - Bucky glares at Steve 

"But...!" 

"No. I've told you before, no playing on your phone during briefings. I thought you would have learnt from Clint's example last week."

 "But..!" 

"Calm down. Stephen can help you grab it again after the meeting. If you pay attention."

Steve never had these problems leading the Howlies... he just had different ones

---------------------

@your-ginger-angel​ - It's not Bucky's fault that he forgot his phone on the windowsill.  He'd been sucked into some stupid TV show Steve was watching and before he knew it, he was sobbing as character A professed their love to character B (he had no idea what the characters names were or what they were saying -- Steve had some damn good windows!) and then as Character B walked away, Bucky had put his hand on the window and cried, "Noooooo!"  Now, he doesn't think Steve heard him, but the movement had to have caught his attention because Bucky had been forced to made a quick climb up to the roof before Steve realized that Bucky was perched on the sill keeping an eye on him.

[veliseraptor]

Top 5 Loki-centric fics! (By other authors, because yours are too good and that would cheating :)

Lord I don’t even fuckin’ know. I’ve read so much Loki fic and bookmarked 335 fics tagged with him, which isn’t including the WIPs I’m subscribed to. That’s a lot of really good fic to choose from.

It’s too bad I can’t sort my bookmarks by kudos or whatever so I could check which ones are underread or whatever. What if I confined myself to ‘completed multichapter (more than twoshot)’ maybe that’ll help? And didn’t do ‘verses?

god this was hard, though, and I know I’m leaving stuff off. went for some older ones I thought new people might not’ve read, too.

1. The Hangman’s Hands by Mercurie. This is an old classic that I haven’t reread in a while, but it’s definitely one of those “epic, defining fics of the Loki fandom” things. It’s especially notable for its great use of Jane, and one particularly memorable whump scene that I think about a lot and referenced obliquely in another fic of mine. It’s just very well done. Intricately plotted, and well constructed, and so, so satisfying. Also made me cry at least once that I remember off the top of my head.

2. Every Moment We Teeter by NamelessDragon. Okay maybe technically cheating on my “no ‘verses” rule here, but the other one is just a short oneshot and I really wanted to include this one because it’s one I’ve reread a lot recently and is so perfectly tailored to my tastes. There’s horrible whump and repetitive death experiences and suicidal deeply fucked up Loki, a fantastic Valkyrie, and the whole thing is just. [kisses fingers] excellent.

3. No Such Liberty by Xparrot. This is another one I think of as an old fandom classic, and I haven’t reread in a while, and really should. It’s dense, and plotty, and really well done, and I just remember being both super impressed and also kind of envious of the quality of both the writing and the plotting. Great Thor and Loki, and the choice to just use Thor’s POV and make Loki’s actions more opaque was an inspired one.

4. Maybe You (and your sad blue eyes) by alby_mangroves. This is marked as part of a ‘verse but it’s the only one that’s there and it’s been a while, so I’m going with it as a standalone. I just reread it recently and...god, so many feelings. One of my favorite Steve/Loki fics out there that I didn’t write, and probably the only soul-mate AU that I’ve read and loved this much. Also there’s gorgeous art, too. This fic makes me wish the author had written more Steve/Loki. (They did make art for me for an exchange, once.)

5. Screaming Mute and Seeing Blind by Nonymos. I’m so picky about my Clint/Loki fic, and I don’t find a lot of it that I like, and this is easily the standout for me (that’s completed, anyway - there’s the one in progress that I love love love possibly even more). It’s dark - fair warning - but it’s dark in a perfect way for both characters, and yeah, it’s just. So well done, and so vicious in the way that these two should be vicious. Fantastic fic.

Bonus: Jacob and Esau say their goodbyes by LadyCharity. I haven’t read this one in years because I know it will gut me and I haven’t felt ready for it, but if you’re down to suffer (and I mean, really suffer, major character death suffer) it’s absolutely worth it. LadyCharity’s writing is always stellar, and her pain is always really good pain.

Honorary mention of Bargaining by proantagonist, lost to the internet, which remains one of my favorite fics of all time.

[imagine-avengers]

Biker Part One- Clint Barton Series

This is Part one of the Biker Clint series, the series is yet to be completed, which isn’t typical for me as I like to finish a series before posting any part but I should be done writing it soon. Enjoy!

Olivia never thought she’d be standing in the parking lot of the Howling Commando’s clubhouse again. She never thought she’d be coming home after all these years, especially after the way she left. Olivia leaned against the side of her black Ford Focus and stared at the bikes lining the wall, her sunglasses over her eyes hiding her face so no one recognized her. She watched as a few Prospects came out of the clubhouse all laughing together so she picked up her camera and took a few photos of them before dropping it back against her chest and heading towards the front doors. Entering the clubhouse brought a wave of nostalgia over Olivia as she spent most of her life in this place.

“Olivia?” Olivia’s eyes scanned the bar area before settling on where Steve Rogers stood against it, his broad chest covered by his kutte that held the VP patch he gained once Bucky had taken over as President.

“Hiya Stevie.” Olivia smiled at her brothers best friend as she took her sunglasses off, showing the scar that was over her eye that she had gotten from a motorcycle accident along with a newer bruise that went over her other eye.

“I thought that was you.” Steve moved from the bar and enveloped Olivia into his arms. “What the hell happened to your eye Liv? What are you doing here? Buck know you’re back? Does Clint?” Steve reamed her with questions as Olivia pulled away from him.

“Slow down.” Olivia laughed. “No Stevie, haven’t talked to Clint since I left, you know that. I thought I’d surprise Bucky.” She shrugged thinking of her brother. “I have news for him.” She spoke. “The eye, well that’s partially why I’m here. Is Buck around?” She glanced around the bar not seeing Bucky or his wife, Natasha, or anyone she really recognized. “Lots of knew people in town, huh?” She asked as Steve nodded.

“Yeah, he’s in the office, had some stuff to go over with Nat, money wise. Come on, I’ll take you back.” Olivia nodded and followed behind Steve, she stood out in the clubhouse, being in her light-wash skinny jeans and plain white t-shirt and black converse. “He’s gonna be shocked Liv, we haven’t heard from you in months.” Steve gave the girl; whom was basically his little sister, a glare. “And now you show up with a big ass bruise, hell Barton is gonna have a heart attack.”

“I know, things got crazy with school Stevie.” Olivia frowned as Steve knocked on Bucky’s office door.

“You two decent?” Steve asked before hearing a grunt and he opened the door and got hit in the head with a pen that came from Natasha. “Someone’s here to see you Buck.” Steve stepped inside the room and made room for Olivia to step in.

“Hey big brother.” Bucky dropped his own pen and stood moving towards his little sister.

“Fuck Livvy.” Bucky muttered pulling his sister into his arms. “What the fuck happened to you?” Bucky pulled away and examined her, his eyes landing on the bruise. “Who touched you?”

“Buck,”

“Who touched you?” Natasha asked, now standing where Bucky had been in front of her. “Liv, we can’t help if you don’t tell us.” Nat spoke as she pulled her sister-in-law into a hug.

“Um, if we’re going to have this conversation, you’re gonna want to have Clint here.” Olivia spoke softly as she fiddled with the sleeves of her jacket.

“Is Clint back in town yet?” Bucky asked looking to Steve.

“Not sure, I’d have to check with Sam.” Bucky nodded and Steve left the room to go find Sam.

“Let’s get you a drink, huh?” Natasha went to pull Olivia out of the room and towards the bar, Bucky not far behind them.

“Wait.” Olivia turned to her brother. “I have news.” She grinned at her brother. “I graduate at the end of the month; my last final was two days ago.” She spoke causing Bucky to grin.

“That’s great Livvy. I’m so proud of you!” Bucky pulled her into another hug. “Now go hang out with Nat while I finish this up and then we’ll have Barton back to talk.” Olivia nodded and followed Natasha to the bar.

“Hey Nat?” Olivia asked as she stared down at the glass of bourbon that sat in front of her. “How’s Rebecca?” She spoke of her sister. Rebecca and Olivia had stopped talking years ago when Rebecca had claimed to be in love with Clint and refused to speak to Olivia once she started seeing him. Though she and Rebecca didn’t speak, Olivia still spoke to her younger sisters, Frances and Mary almost everyday, the three being very close as they were all off at college.

“She’s doing good, we missed you at the wedding.” Olivia looked up at her sister-in-law from her drink.

“Wedding? Becca got married?” Olivia hadn’t known Rebecca was seeing anyone, much less getting married.

“Oh Liv, I thought she would have at least invited you to the wedding, I’m sorry.” Natasha frowned at the girl. “They got married three months ago, they’re expecting a little girl in about seven months.” Olivia nodded.

“Becca’s always wanted kids, I’m happy for her.” Olivia spoke softly. “She told me I was dead to her when I was fifteen and hasn’t spoken to me since I turned eighteen and agreed to marry Clint, so I’m not surprised she didn’t invite me, just kinda hurts.” Olivia shrugged as she heard the doors open.

“Clint’s here.” Natasha spoke as Olivia glanced behind her to see Clint walking in with Thor and Loki. “Clint.” Natasha waved him over, and he turned locking eyes with Olivia. “Your wife is here.” This caused the clubhouse to fall silent.

“Whoa, you’re married?” Sam asked from by where Steve stood with a few others. Olivia hadn’t met Sam, but from the description Natasha had given her and the way Wanda was holding onto him, she assumed he was Sam.

“Yeah.” Clint nodded. “She left.” Clint spoke as he stared at her, his eyes following the line of the bruise on her face. “Back to get me to sign the papers so you can marry your boyfriend?” Clint asked as Olivia rolled her eyes.

“Don’t be like that Clint.” Olivia muttered, her eyes following his face to look for any signs of scarring. “Where are your hearing aids?” She signed to the eighty percent deaf Clint. He shrugged as he moved towards her, his eyes never leaving the bruise. “I’m not back because of a boyfriend, if I’m being honest, haven’t dated since you, jackass.” She turned back to the vodka that Natasha had sat in front of her.

“Olivia is Bucky’s sister.” Natasha spoke glancing at Sam.

“What happened Liv?” Clint spoke softly as he ran a hand over the bruise as he stopped in front of her.

“Put your hearing aids in.” Olivia mumbled pulling away from him. “That’s one of the reasons I’m here.” She spoke staring into his eyes for a moment. “Stevie, Nat.” Olivia looked to the two and motioned towards Bucky’s office, where the four walked into, Clint putting his hearing aids in whilst the four headed back to the office.

“What happened?” Bucky asked leaning against his desk, Nat sitting in his chair, Steve standing against the door frame with Clint standing next to Olivia.

“So, I worked at a bar as a bartender and there was this guy who kept flirting with me every shift, he couldn’t get the hint that I wasn’t interested. After a few months I felt like someone was following me around, so I changed my routine. I came home from work a few weeks ago and somethings in my apartment were moved around, I filed a police report, but since nothing was stolen, they couldn’t do anything. Then a few nights ago, I was walking home from work, I only lived two blocks away, and the guy from the bar showed up demanding I take him home, and was insinuating I should sleep with him, I told him I was married, he didn’t like that.” Oliva ran a hand over her eyes. “He said if he ever seen me with another man, he’d kill them and then he hit me. He left me in the street, I packed everything and left that night and came here. Buck, I’m scared.” Olivia spoke as she started trembling. “What if he followed me?” The whole time she spoke she signed so Clint could see what she was saying, though he was eighty percent deaf, he could hear slightly and could talk perfectly fine.

“Liv, that asshole is never going to touch you again, he messed with the wrong girl.” Bucky spoke pulling his sister into his arms. “Besides, we’ve all seen how possessive Barton gets, no way is anyone ever going to harm you baby sis.”

“No one is going to touch you Liv.” Clint spoke staring at his wife whom nodded. The group sat in Bucky’s office, Liv describing what the guy looked like before Natasha called Tony to run down security camera’s from the bar Liv had worked at.

“You gonna stay at the clubhouse, my place, or with Barton?” Bucky asked whilst the two were sitting at the bar, Loki was in the kitchen making some burgers for the two. Olivia looked over at her brother as she sipped out of her coffee mug.

“Probably with Clint, I think the two of us need to talk.” Olivia shrugged. “Plus I know he has internet, unlike my brother.” She gave him a look and smirked. “I have some photos I have to send out to a client.” Olivia was getting a photography degree and had started an online photography business.

“I know you never wanted to talk about it, but why’d you ask for the divorce?” Bucky looked at his sister from his beer. Olivia sighed and bit her lip before groaning.

“Buck,” Olivia’s voice was soft. “he spent more time here with the club than he did with me after we got married. I never got to see him, all we did was fight and he became distant.” Olivia looked away from her brother. “I thought it was what he wanted, I thought he wanted a divorce, I never understood why he didn’t sign the papers, he didn’t want me Buck.” Olivia spoke softly. “He proved that to me enough in our first year of marriage.”

“Liv, that’s not why he pulled away, I think you should talk to him. Yeah he pulled away because of club stuff, but he’s been in love with you since you were like ten.” Bucky reminded as Loki brought out their food.

“Thanks Loki.” Olivia smiled at the raven-haired man as she pushed her fries around.

“For the record,” Loki spoke. “Clint Barton is hopelessly in love with you.” He stated before heading back into the kitchen.

“For fuck sake. Is everyone going to keep telling me this?” Olivia groaned before she took a bite of her burger.

“Yes.” Natasha spoke standing behind her husband. “Babe, Clint is my best friend and has been since I was four, the mans in love with you and that’s never changed.” Natasha stated as she touched her husband’s shoulder. “I’m heading home, don’t be too late.” Natasha spoke before giving a tight smile to Liv. “Talk to Clint, clear things up and then fuck him.” Winking as Bucky groaned, Natasha took her leave.

“Your wife is a minx.” Bucky nodded at his sisters words, the two eating in silence for a few minutes. “We talked about starting a family.” Olivia whispered glancing at Clint by the pool table. “We were going to start trying, but then he came home one day after a club meeting, telling me it wasn’t what he wanted, he didn’t want to have kids with me.”

“He didn’t mean that Liv,”

“No, he just meant he didn’t want them with me, I know that Buck. I’m not an idiot, I could see my husband losing interest in me and I wasn’t going to continue being in a once sided marriage.” Olivia pushed her fries around as she spoke. “I loved him Buck but he didn’t fight for me, he didn’t even try to save our marriage, I tried so hard and he couldn’t be bothered.”