#tsbmiv

[hereandnowwearealive]

Finals week is rough

Fill description under the cut, created for @tonystarkbingo

Title: Finals Card Number: 4085 Name of Participant: hereandnowwearealive Square Number: R4 - James Rhodes/War Machine Rating: G Pairing: Tony Stark/James Rhodes Warnings: N/A Summary: An image of Tony and Rhodey studying for finals, long overdue for a break

[saganarojanaolt]

Early mornings

Neither Tony or Bucky were morning people. Tony never woke up before the 3rd cup of coffee and Bucky liked to cuddle.

Fill for @tonystarkbingo

Details under the cut

Title: Early mornings

Collaborator Name: Sagana Rojana Olt

Card Number: 4046

Link: N/A

Square Filled: S5 - Art Format: neutral colours

Ship/Main Pairing: James Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark

Rating: Gen

Major Tags: Early morning, sleepy Tony and Bucky

Summary:

Neither Tony or Bucky were morning people. Tony never woke up before the 3rd cup of coffee and Bucky liked to cuddle.

[zainniko]

♥ Blows Kiss ♥

Name of Piece: N/A Card Number: 5057 Name of Participant: Trashcanakin Square Number: (Adopted) Art Format: Animated Rating: G Pairing: N/A Warning: N/A Summary: A gif lmao

@tonystarkbingo

[ralsbecket]

Title: Love Inside This Madness TSB Card: #4056 Square: T4 - Kink: Bondage Ship: Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark Rating: M Warnings: Naked cuddling, light rope bondage Summary: Tony asking if he trusts him is like asking Bucky if he needs air. The answer is always going to be a resounding, “Yes.” For the @tonystarkbingo

@stb-bingo Fill: N3 - Free Space

-

Read the accompanying drabble on AO3!

[iam93percentstardust]

A very happy birthday month to you! I’m a fan of your Stony fics. If you’re still taking prompts, could you do one with a Las Vegas backdrop? Maybe Steve’s first time there with Tony for some reason? I was supposed to have my first trip there ever but Covid cancelled it. Maybe at least they can have a happy ending there. 🙂

Thank you! I’m glad you’re enjoying the Stony fics!

So sorry your Las Vegas trip was cancelled, that’s really awful. I sort of went to Vegas once (it was a layover in the airport). The only thing I remember about the whole thing was the 5 bajillion slot machines in the airport terminals

Since I know so little about Vegas, I ended up going with the getting married in Vegas trope instead of something about the casinos. I also hope you don’t mind that I used this for my bingo square, but I saw the happy ending part in your ask and got inspired for my happily ever after square (details below the cut)

Here’s to Las Vegas

The day after Steve gets married, he wakes up in a Las Vegas hotel with a ring on his finger and Tony Stark snuggled up beside him.

Most days, Steve wakes up the second his alarm goes off, alert and ready for his run. This day, however, he drifts into wakefulness slowly, comfortably lying on his back. He’s warm and there’s a heavy weight on his stomach and chest, pressing him down into sheets that feel so much nicer on his bare skin than the ones he has at home. That’s the second thing he notices: he’s not wearing any clothes, not even the boxer-briefs he normally wears in lieu of pajamas. And the third thing he notices is that there’s something soft tickling his chin.

He slowly blinks his eyes open. He’s somewhere with high vaulted ceilings and an expensive-looking chandelier, which means it’s not Tony’s place (he thinks chandeliers are tacky) and it’s definitely not Steve’s (he can’t afford a chandelier). Whatever it is on his chest shifts and Steve looks down. Tony is draped across him, the top of his head tucked under Steve’s chin, their arms and legs tangled together. He’s breathing deep and even, still asleep even though sunlight is pouring through the window.

Steve smiles at the sight and raises his head enough to kiss Tony’s curls. He doesn’t often get to wake up with Tony. Steve lives in Brooklyn and Tony lives in Manhattan and they’re both so busy—Tony with SI’s R&D and Steve with his teaching—that they decided early on in their relationship that spending every single night together was a bad idea because one of them would always end up late to work. So this makes for a nice change.

Tony stirs, inhaling deeply. Steve brings his hand up to stroke over Tony’s hair, the way he likes it when they both have a rare day when neither of them have to be anywhere so they can spend the night. That’s when he sees it.

The ring.

The one that’s sitting on the ring finger of his left hand, exactly where it should be—except he’s not supposed to be wearing it for another week.

In the sleepy haze of waking up, he’d forgotten what they’d done last night but the memories are filtering in. Flashes of Tony excitedly talking him into finding a chapel and wrangling a couple witnesses from off the street and filing the marriage license a whole week early because both of them were more than tired of the wedding planning, the swell of emotions he’d felt at hearing Tony declared his husband and sweeping Tony off his feet and back to their hotel, kissing the whole way and probably scandalizing their Uber driver.

He groans and tips his head back against the pillows. Tony makes a low sound and yawns widely before slowly opening his eyes. He looks a little like an adorable kitten and Steve can’t resist kissing the top of his head again.

“Wuzzgoinon?” Tony mumbles sleepily.

“What’s going on,” Steve says, “is that your mother is going to kill us. No, she’s going to kill me, because you’re her darling angel who can do no wrong and she’s never once thought I’m good enough for you.”

“No, you’re better,” Tony says around another yawn. “Why is my mama going to kill you?”

Steve picks up Tony’s left hand and waves it in front of his face. Tony goes cross-eyed trying to make out what’s different about his hand. “Oh,” he says eventually and lays his head back down on Steve’s chest.

“Oh?” Steve asks. “That’s it? That’s all you have to say?”

“If Mama didn’t want us to elope, she shouldn’t have sent us to Vegas by ourselves to pick up the rings,” Tony says, as though he’s pointing out something reasonable, even though this is the most absurd thing that’s ever happened in Steve’s entire life—and his best friends are Bucky and Sam. Those two are the very definition of absurd. “Everyone knows what happens in Vegas.”

“This is your fault,” Steve informs him. “If you hadn’t insisted on this particular jeweler—”

“Hmm maybe I was planning this,” Tony hums, closing his eyes again.

And that’s… that’s actually entirely possible. Ever since they got engaged, Tony has been complaining about the big white wedding Mrs. Stark wants them to have and threatening to steal Steve away to the courthouse to elope. Steve had thought he’d calmed down about the whole affair after Mrs. Stark’s tearful outburst about her just wanting her baby to have the perfect wedding (Tony is nothing if not his mama’s boy), but maybe he’d been planning on this instead. He had thought it odd when Tony had insisted on a small-name jeweler in Las Vegas who wouldn’t ship to New York, thereby forcing them to travel to pick up the rings, but if Tony had been planning this all along…

“Did you?” he asks before he can stop himself.

Tony stares up at him for a long moment, blinking. Then he dryly says, “Yes, Steve. I, who has never made a decision that wasn’t impulsive even once in my entire life, somehow managed to both plan out a trip to Vegas to get married and keep it a secret from the love of my life who knows everything I’m thinking before even I know it.”

“Well, when you put it like that,” Steve says, grinning at him. What they’ve just done hits him and he laughs giddily. He sits up, pulling Tony up with him to give him a closed-mouthed good morning kiss. “We’re married.”

Tony smiles happily and kisses him again. “Yeah, we are. Good morning, Mr. Stark-Rogers.”

He likes the sound of that. He really likes the sound of that. Another kiss. “What are we going to tell everyone?” he asks.

“Hmm. How about we got so caught up in the thrill of picking up the rings that we abandoned all reason and got married here? It’s not like the big white wedding my mama wants even really matters in the grand scheme of things. It’s the marriage license that counts.”

“She’s still going to want it.”

“Undoubtedly. And we’ll give it to her. But this is nice, isn’t it?” Tony peers up at him anxiously. “No fuss, no caterers with ten different meal plans for all the restrictions, no Great-Auntie Mildred who shouts for the minister to speak louder. No stress at all.”

Steve leans back against the headboard, thinking about it. Tony’s right. They dealt with a lot less stress by getting married this way. But it isn’t just Great-Auntie Mildred that they left behind, it’s their friends too. It’s hard to know how he feels about that.

But then he starts thinking about the wedding picture the photographer had handed them before they left the chapel last night. Steve had tucked it into his wallet for safekeeping, and he reaches over to the bedside table to grab it, pulling the photo out so he can look at it. It’s a picture of their kiss. They’re holding onto each other so tight he’s not sure a piece of paper would fit between them, smiling so broadly that it’s barely a kiss at all. And he thinks about the engagement pictures Mrs. Stark had sent out in the announcement and wedding invitations: poised and perfect and not a smile to be seen anywhere.

“Yeah,” he says eventually, pulling Tony against his chest. Tony snuggles in, warm and beautiful and all Steve’s. “This was pretty damn perfect.”

Tony sighs contentedly and presses a kiss right over Steve’s heart. “Good.”

“But your mother’s still going to kill me.”

“We just won’t tell her,” Tony replies dismissively. “We’ll get married again and we won’t have to worry about the wedding because we’ll know we’re already married.”

“She’s going to notice the rings.”

“Not if we spend the whole week here.”

Steve stills. He hadn’t thought of that. It would solve a lot of problems, not least that Mrs. Stark would finally have free reign to do whatever she wanted with the wedding without any input from either of them. She was doing anyway, but at least now, they don’t have to hear about how their small family affair has turned into the society event of the year.

Tony continues in a wheedling voice, “Call out all our friends, treat it like an extended bachelor party—or our first honeymoon, take your pick.”

Steve stops him right there with another kiss, lingering this time. “And what are we going to do on our first honeymoon?”

“Blow all our money on slot machines. Count cards at the poker table. Go see some really truly ridiculous shows,” Tony says with a shrug. “What everyone does when they’re in Vegas.”

“Hmm somehow I don’t think counting cards is what everyone does.”

“I suppose everyone didn’t grow up with Ana Jarvis,” Tony muses. Steve laughs because it’s true. Howard might think that Tony is a troublemaker all on his own, but everyone knows that Tony learned it from the best.

He’s distracted out of his thoughts by Tony picking up his hand and gently kissing his wedding ring. “It’s the first day of the rest of our lives, darling,” Tony murmurs. “We can do whatever we want.”

Details for @tonystarkbingo

Title of Fill: Here's to Las Vegas Collaborator: iam93percentstardust Card Number: 4012 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29676711 Square Filled: A3 - Free Square Ship/Main Pairing: Stevetony Rating: T Major Tags/Warnings/Triggers: Established Relationship, Fluff, Marriage Summary: The day after Steve gets married, he wakes up in a Las Vegas hotel with a ring on his finger and Tony Stark snuggled up beside him. Word Count: 1558

[yesmooshoe]

Help me make the most of freedom and pleasure, Nothing ever lasts forever.

MIT 1985, for @tonystarkbingo. Fill info under the cut...

Title: MIT 1985 Name: moosh Card Number: 4037 Square Filled: T3 - MIT Years Pairing: None Rating: Gen Major Tags: None Summary: A mood board/aesthetic from Tony & Rhodey's MIT years.

[eachpeachpearplume]

A daft little pepperony wedding doodle for @tonystarkbingo

[lbibliophile-mcu]

Dum-e knows that hearts are a key theme of Valentine’s day design, so that’s what he draws. But right.

For @tonystarkbingo​ - A1: Use of symbolism [fill details below cut]

--

Valentine’s Day, and the second anniversary for this series!  (Masterlist, AO3) This has been such a fun project, and I can really see my skills improving; both design and using the tongs.

Here are the Valentine’s cards from 2019 and 2020:

TSB MIV fill details

Name of Piece: TON-E, be my Valentine? Card Number: 4090 Name of Participant: LBibliophile Square Number: A1 - use of symbolism Rating: Gen Pairing: Tony & DUM-E Warnings/Tags: Bot feels, Valentine’s card, arc reactor Summary: Dum-e knows that hearts are a key theme of Valentine’s day design, so that’s what he draws. But right.

[riotwritesthings]

“Hey Tony”

WinterIron, T | AO3

Two fic in one day?! See what happened was. Stella sent me This Post, and after I finished laughing until I cried she said “Bucky and Tony tho.” And then my friends begged. And here we are I have no regrets.

Title: “Hey Tony” Collaborator: Riot @starkbucksbingo Square Filled: B1, AU: High School/College @tonystarkbingo (card 4052) Square Filled: R4, All’s Well That Ends Well Ship/Main Pairing: WinterIron Rating: T Major Tags/Warnings: vague non-powered college AU, Steve as the very sick of this best friend. Summary: Steve points out that Bucky never calls Tony by his actual name. Bucky doesn’t believe him, until he does. Word Count: 811

~~~

"You're full of shit," Bucky declares.

Steve narrows his eyes, clearly unimpressed. "Have you seriously not noticed?"

"That you're delusional and creepily obsessed with my love life?" Bucky asks, narrowing his own eyes right back, "Because I'm definitely noticing now."

"You literally have not called him by name since you started dating," Steve insists, setting his pencil down because apparently this is more important than studying.

"What, are you stalkin' me? How could you possibly know that?"

"I have my sources," Steve replies with a sniff, like Bucky doesn't know that means Natasha.

"Well you and your sources are wrong," Bucky grumbles, and pointedly turns his attention back to the textbook spread out on the coffee table in front of them.

Because sure, maybe he's gone a little overboard with the petnames since he started dating Tony, but he's sure it's not that bad. He just... likes the way Tony always gets that pleased little curl to his smile, the way his eyes shine and the lightest flush rises in his cheeks.

"Prove it," Steve challenges, and then raises his voice to be heard over Bucky's loud sigh as he insists "Just call him his actual name and see what happens."

"If I do, can we please go back to studying?" Bucky whines, because he wants to be done with this already.

Steve's nose winkles, but he says "Fine. Be prepared to be proven embarrassingly wrong."

Bucky sighs and rolls his eyes, but leans back on the couch so he can see into the kitchen where Tony is set up at the table because 'I can't watch the two of you do math, I love you Buckaroo but it causes me actual physical pain.’ Sure, Steve had asked why Tony was even in their apartment to study then, but Bucky had just glared at him until he let it go.

There is no room for Steve and his pesky logic here, and the last thing Bucky wants is for Tony to go back to his own dorm.

Bucky gets maybe a little distracted just watching Tony frown at his own book as he blindly shoves potato chips into his mouth, because it's adorable, and when Steve elbows him he huffs and calls out "Hey Tony, can you bring me a drink next time you get up?"

Tony's head snaps up before Bucky is even halfway through the sentence, his eyes wide and panicked and his mouth full of chips as he demands "What'd you just call me?"

"Tony," Bucky repeats slowly, and does his best to ignore the fact that he can feel Steve already shaking with laughter beside him.

"Why?" Tony asks plaintively, apparently completely forgetting about his mouthful of food in favor of fixing Bucky with a distressed look that is somehow both heartbreaking and kind of hilarious. "Am I in trouble?" He asks when Bucky doesn't respond, and then his eyes widen a litte "What is today?!"

Bucky feels a fond smile growing on his face as Tony glances around the small kitchen, as if expecting to find a conveniently located calendar, and then frantically grabs for his phone to check the date.

"Baby," Bucky says, or tries to say, but the word gets caught in his chest along with a laugh and Tony whips his head up to stare at him again.

"Why did you call me Tony?" He asks again, a definite whine in his voice now, "What is it, what did I forget?!"

Bucky tries to respond, he really does, but all that comes out is a barely repressed laugh and when he glances over Steve has his bright red face buried in his hands and his entire body is shaking with his efforts not to crack up.

"Speak to me!" Tony wails from the kitchen, probably spewing crumbs everywhere because he still has a mouthful of food, but it's the wet shine to his eyes that has Bucky shoving himself up off the couch.

He quickly crosses the tiny apartment and leans down to wrap his arms around Tony, burying his face in Tony's messy hair. "I'm sorry sugar," he coos over Tony's continued confused noises,"It didn't mean anything, I swear doll face. I just... didn't realize I never call you that."

"I told you!" Steve crows from the next room.

"Shut up Steve," Bucky calls back, arms still wrapped tight around Tony even though it means he has to awkwardly hunch down over the kitchen chair, "this isn't about you anymore!"

"Yeah stuff it Steven, no one is talking to you!" Tony shouts back, clinging just as tightly to Bucky's arm over his chest and at least it sounds like he's finally swallowed all his chips.

Steve gets up and stomps off to his room, muttering something that sounds a lot like a threat to tell this story at their inevitable wedding.

[sierranovembr]

Dream Sharing Rec List

My last fill for this round of the @tonystarkbingo (fill details below). Dream sharing can be such a delightful trope! I highly recommend these fics:

🎇  Longing to Linger Til Dawn by Politzania

Tony finds himself in a dream, and apparently he’s not alone.

Pairing: Winteriron (Bucky/Tony) Rating: Teen Word Count: 1750

Review: A cute Bucky/Tony get-together fic which has some great interactions between the guys when their guards are down. Tony’s last line is *chef’s kiss*. Funny and sweet!

🎇  Dream On by TheLostWeasley

After the second snap, when everyone comes back, they start dream-sharing and nobody knows why.

Bucky wakes up on beach, confused and wondering where the hell he is.

Pairing: Winteriron (Bucky/Tony) Rating: Teen Word Count: 5527

Review: Dream sharing with bonus soulmates and a modern Bucky. I thought the mechanism for dream sharing was really interesting and I loved prof!Bucky. It is a post-Endgame Winteriron story, and those are somewhat harder to find. So, go enjoy this great example!

🎇  In Dreams by sabrecmc

Steve enters Tony's dreamscape to save him and finds a lot more than he ever expected.

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: Explicit  Word Count: 7542

Review: The odd-fic-out on this rec list, both by pairing and rating, but, damn, does this fic earn its spot here. Super hot 🔥🔥🔥 Tony getting worked over by multiple Steves.  The ending works perfectly well, but I’m still spinning out what happens next in my head.

🎇  Dream a Little Dream by Amethystina

When Tony and Bucky are struck by a ricocheting magic spell during a battle, there are unexpected consequences. The medical team can't find anything wrong and they both feel fine, shrugging it off as no big deal — until the dreams start. Dreams of them together, happy and in love, that sometimes feel more real than their waking moments. Neither Tony nor Bucky know what to do; they can't risk telling the other, afraid to ruin their growing friendship.

But keeping their emotions at bay — and distinguishing dreams from reality — gets more and more difficult, especially when they both find that what they want the most is for their dreams to become reality.

Pairing: Winteriron (Bucky/Tony) Rating: Mature  Word Count: 8271

Review: Starts off hot and then turns on the feelings! This fic is full of wonderful tender moments interspersed with such longing, I end up honest to goodness clutching my chest. Amazingly sweet and a genuine pleasure to read.

🎇  December 19, 1991 by Finely Honed (jaqen_hgar)

It is December 19, 1991 and Tony Stark is sleeping. This is significant for several reasons.

For a start, this is the first he’s slept since sometime early on December 16th. He’s gone without sleep for longer—both with and without the intervention of illegal stimulants—so it isn’t so much that as it is the fact that his parents haven’t been alive since December 16th.

Pairing: Winteriron (Bucky/Tony) Rating: Teen  Word Count: 4385

Review: One of my all-time favorites, but you will have to be logged in to AO3 to enjoy it. Tony dream shares with the Winter Soldier after his parents’ deaths and they fall in love. The way their feelings grow over the years and their eventual meeting is wonderfully done. I reread this fic and its  Bucky POV companion fic over and over!

Name of Piece: Dream Sharing Rec List Card Number: 4033 Name of Participant: SierraNovembr Square Number: K1 - Dream Sharing Rating: n/a Pairing: Tony Stark/Bucky Barnes, Tony Stark/Steve Rogers Warning: n/a Summary: A rec list of my top five favorite Dream Sharing fics. for @tonystarkbingo

[newnewyorker93]

“I got you.”              “I got you first.”

A little cross-stitch of one of my favorite Pepperony moments from Iron Man 3 - and Pepper’s first time in armor ❤

(Thanks as always to @rebelmeg for letting me tweak and play around with her cross-stitch cutie patterns!)

@tonystarkbingo details below 

Title: “I got you.”/“I got you first.” Collaborator: newnewyorker93 Card Number: 4042 Square Filled: A3 - accidental marriage* Main Pairing: Tony/Pepper Rating: Gen Major Tags: cross-stitch, Iron Man 3 Summary: Cross-stitch of Tony and Pepper from Iron Man 3, with Pepper wearing the Mark 42 armor.

*I swear I have actual logic behind this square choice! My square-squishing reasoning is that 1) this scene is the accidental pairing of Pepper + armor for the first time and 2) the dialogue has a bit of a vows vibe to it... so, “accidental marriage” it is :)

[hereandnowwearealive]

“Will that be all, Mr. Stark?”

“That’ll be all, Ms. Potts.”

Fill description under the cut, created for @tonystarkbingo 

Title: Smooch Card Number: 4085 Name of Participant: hereandnowwearealive Square Number: S1 - Nose kiss Rating: G Pairing: Tony Stark/Pepper Potts Warnings: N/A Summary: An image of Tony kissing Pepper on the nose

[saganarojanaolt]

Multipli-cat-ion - Collab with @polizwrites and illogicalkat for @starkbucksbingo

Summary: Tony likes his boyfriend's cat, even if the furball is a little...*moody.* Turns out, Bucky forgot a key point of information during the introduction, and an offhand comment by Steve only muddied the waters. Several months later - Tony makes a startling discovery about Alpine

Find the story here on AO3!

Fill information under the cut!

Title: Multipli-cat-ion

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33359950

Collaborator1 Name: PoliZ

Card Number: 220

Square Filled: I1 - Denial

Collaborator2 Name: Illogicalkat

Card Number: 213

Square Filled: B1- cats

Collaborator3 Name: Sagana Rojana Olt

Card number: 223

Square Filled with Art 1 - N2 mistaken identity for Starkbucks bingo, C5 - in hiding for @buckybarnesbingo , and T1 - Fluff for @tonystarkbingo

Square Filled with Art 2 - O3 Domesticity for Starkbucks bingo, K3 - Fluff for @buckybarnesbingo , and S3 - animal for @tonystarkbingo

Ship/Main Pairing: WinterIron - Tony/Bucky

Rating: General

Major Tags & Triggers: Fluff, Modern No Powers AU, Dating, Alpine, Cat Confusion

Word Count: 1915

Summary: Tony likes his boyfriend's cat, even if the furball is a little...*moody.* Turns out, Bucky forgot a key point of information during the introduction, and an offhand comment by Steve only muddied the waters. Several months later - Tony makes a startling discovery about Alpine.

[rebelmeg]

So this idea has been in my brain for literal years, but now I’ve FINALLY MADE IT REAL!  I have been wanting to sketch out the floor plan of what I see in my head when I imagine the communal floor of the Avengers Tower for so long, and then I realized.... that the living area I imagined covered a very tiny amount of space.

So then I went slightly crazy and gave the Avengers a movie theater, ball pit, bowling alley, greenhouse, and just couldn’t stop.  Which, considering I used MS Paint for all of this, is saying something.  The furniture or “soft” things are in purple, things like counters in gray, and wood things in brown.

Hopefully I didn’t forget anything, and hopefully if you click on it you can see it big enough to read the words.... now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve gotta think up ridiculous ideas to go along with every single thing in there.

@tonystarkbingo

Title: Avengers Tower Communal Floor Collaborator: rebelmeg Card Number: 4034 Square Filled: Adopted -  Art Format: Blueprint Ship: none Rating: Gen Major Tags: art (kinda), floorplan/blueprint, Avengers Tower Summary: A floorplan of the entire communal floor in the Avengers Tower

[writing-kiki]

@tonystarkbingo TSB - 5122 S3 - Team Mates.

@buckybarnesbingo BBB - B141 Y1 - Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel)

Vote of Confidence by Kikidoesfanfic

Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Tony Stark

Characters: James "Bucky" Barnes, Tony Stark, Carol Danvers, Avengers Team

Additional Tags: Pre-Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Civil War Team Iron Man

Summary: "That's bullshit! We have seven votes you have six." Clint says, banging a fist on the table and then pointing at Tony.

"Yet somehow, Mr. Barton, there are seven votes here in favor of Colonel Danvers." Stark seems unruffled, demeanor calm and collected in spite of the outraged energy of the room.

The team votes for their Captain, Bucky swings his vote, a look at the fallout.

[iam93percentstardust]

what i know about you (would fill a thousand books)

A fic for @tonystarkbingo

Title of Fill: what i know about you (would fill a thousand books) Collaborator: iam93percentstardust Card Number: 4012 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29378016 Square Filled: S4 - Sharon Carter Ship/Main Pairing: Carter-Stark Cousins, Stony, Natsharon Rating: G Major Tags/Warnings/Triggers: Established Relationship, Past Abuse, Insomnia Summary: Here is what Tony knows about Sharon: she tells people she likes blueberry muffins because she thinks it makes her sound grown up, but she prefers chocolate donuts. She likes wildflowers and lilies and violets, but Queen Anne’s lace best of all and that’s what Natasha had brought her for their third date that had tipped her from liking this red-headed spy into loving her. On bad days, she curls up on the couch with the softest blanket she owns and watches old cartoons.

Here is what Sharon knows about Tony: he used to love carrot cake but hasn’t touched it since the day his parents died while he and Sharon were out at dinner. He insists on always having her burner phone’s number when she’s a mission because the one time Fury told him he couldn’t have it, Sharon ended up with three broken ribs. He hates roses because they were what Tiberius always gave him after he did something like cheating on Tony or hitting him or mocking him in front of the press (Steve gives him blue poppies the same shade as the arc reactor and Sharon loves him for that). Word Count: 2284

~

Here is what the world knows about Tony Stark’s childhood: he’s born to Howard and Maria Stark and grows up surrounded by luxury. His father worked hand in hand with the Howling Commandos. Every year, Howard hosts a reunion for the Howlies, and ever since they’re introduced to a newborn Tony, they dote on him, despite Howard’s insistence that his son doesn’t need more people to fawn over him.

Here is what the world knows about Sharon Carter’s childhood: not much. The world doesn’t really care about a single blonde child. But here’s what Director Nicholas Fury knows about her childhood: she’s raised by a single father, who happens to be the nephew to one Margaret Carter, and when her father is killed in a car crash when she’s three years old, her great-aunt swoops in to take her in. Director Carter never explicitly says that she retires to focus on her great-niece but Fury is more than capable of reading between the lines.

Here is what only a few people know about both of their childhoods: Tony spends every summer at Aunt Peggy’s house until he goes off to MIT when he’s fourteen. He never tells her but those summers are the happiest times of his childhood. The year he turns ten, his idyllic summer is interrupted by the arrival of his favorite cousin, who has no idea of how to care for a newborn and needs his aunt’s help. Tony doesn’t know how to care for a newborn either, but he’s as enamored of baby Sharon as she is of him so he helps as much as he can.

By the time Tony leaves for MIT four years later, he and Sharon are closer siblings than Aunt Peggy’s known some flesh-and-blood siblings to be. She never tells anyone, but she counts bringing the two of them together to be one of the best things she’s ever done in her life.

~

Sharon’s exhausted by the time she gets back to Avengers Tower. She doesn’t really regret leaving her job at the CIA to take on being the Avengers’ liaison to the UN, but it certainly leaves her way more exhausted than her old job ever did. She gets it now, why Aunt Peggy had hated politicians so much.

It’s late, late enough that even JARVIS sounds weary when he welcomes her home as she steps onto the elevator. She leans her forehead against the cool metal wall as the elevator rises through the tower, dozing off just a little. Her phone chimes and Sharon pulls it out, smiling fondly as she reads Natasha’s text: Let me know when you land. Just like her girlfriend to send her a text asking her to check in. Natasha doesn’t know that she came back early, planning on surprising her for their anniversary tomorrow.

“Hey, JARVIS?” she asks.

“Yes, Agent Carter?”

“Don’t tell Natasha I’m back yet?”

“Of course. Only Sir and Captain Rogers are aware you’ve returned.”

In her sleep-befuddled state, it takes her a moment to realize why Steve would know she’s back. But of course, the team leader would need to be updated of the team’s whereabouts, even those not currently on the active duty roster.

“Thanks.”

The elevator stops and she steps out onto the team floors, intent on putting the chocolates she’d picked up in Geneva in the kitchen for people to swipe in the morning. The TV is playing softly in the living room and she pokes her head in, curious to see who’s still up.

It’s Steve, watching the playback from the team’s last mission. He perks up as soon as he hears her footsteps on the kitchen tile, only to droop when he realizes it’s her. It makes her pause, that reaction, and she sighs.

“How long has he been down there?” she asks.

“Three days,” Steve says quietly.

~

Here is what Tony knows about Sharon: she tells people she likes blueberry muffins because she thinks it makes her sound grown up, but she prefers chocolate donuts. She likes wildflowers and lilies and violets, but Queen Anne’s lace best of all and that’s what Natasha had brought her for their third date that had tipped her from liking this red-headed spy into loving her. On bad days, she curls up on the couch with the softest blanket she owns and watches old cartoons.

She has a habit of taking on more than she can chew and going into what she calls “anxiety spirals” when she realizes what she’s done that only Tony can talk her down from.

Here is what Sharon knows about Tony: he used to love carrot cake but hasn’t touched it since the day his parents died while he and Sharon were out at dinner. He insists on always having her burner phone’s number when she’s a mission because the one time Fury told him he couldn’t have it, Sharon ended up with three broken ribs. He hates roses because they were what Tiberius always gave him after he did something like cheating on Tony or hitting him or mocking him in front of the press (Steve gives him blue poppies the same shade as the arc reactor and Sharon loves him for that).

He always blames himself for things going wrong, even when there’s nothing he could have done, and he’ll stay up for days making sure that it never happens again.

~

Sharon sighs again. Three days ago, Clint fell off a ledge during a mission; Sharon had watched the fight on the UN’s monitors. Clint landed in a dumpster, which broke the worst of the fall, but he still ended up with a broken wrist. He won’t be joining the team on their missions for at least another couple of months while he recovers. If she knows Tony, he’s been down in the workshop ever since, working on something that’ll make sure Clint never breaks another wrist.

“Code not working?” she asks Steve. He shakes his head, looking exhausted down to his bones. “I’ll go down there.”

“You don’t have to,” Steve says quickly. “I know you’re tired.”

She smiles at him, appreciating how much he cares, but... “I’m sure you two are both tired as well.” He grins ruefully back at her, confirming that he hasn’t slept either since Tony disappeared into the workshop. “Someone has to drag him out, and I’ll bet he hasn’t thought about blocking my access.”

~

Here is what Tony thought the first time he met Natasha Romanoff: You tried to shoot her the first time you saw her. You are not worthy of my little sister.

Here is what Sharon thought the first time she met Steve Rogers: You told him you knew men worth ten of him. You are not worthy of my big brother.

Here is what Tony thought the first time he saw Natasha and Sharon together: You bring her chocolate donuts and Queen Anne’s lace and know to put on Sleeping Beauty when she has a bad day. You might not be worthy of her but I don’t really think anyone is, and she loves you, so if I have to choose anyone, it might as well be you.

Here is what Sharon thought the first time she saw Steve and Tony together: I still don’t know if you’re worthy of him, but you learned how to make cheesecake for him and you bring him poppies and you always make sure my phone number gets to him, even when Fury tells me I have to go completely dark, and he loves you, so if I have to choose anyone, it might as well be you.

~

The workshop walls are dark when she steps out onto the floor, but the door opens for her as easy as it always does, and she smiles. Maybe Tony didn’t realize he’d need to block her access too or maybe he just knows that that won’t fly with her, same as it won’t fly with Pepper, same as it wouldn’t fly with Steve if he ever realizes that he’s one of the few people Tony would let pull him from the workshop.

“You weren’t there to say hi,” she says as she steps inside.

Tony turns and blinks at her slowly, the shadows deep under his eyes. “I sent a car for you, didn’t I?” he says eventually but he’s missing the usual venom in his voice. He goes back to his work.

“That’s not the same thing.” She comes up behind him and wraps her arms around his waist, hooking her chin over his shoulder. Just as she’d suspected, he’s working on a new wrist guard for Clint, something sturdy enough to protect him from breaking his wrist but flexible enough it won’t inhibit his mobility. Sharon doesn’t really speak technobabble the way Tony does, but even she can tell that there are several mistakes in his formulas, probably from his lack of sleep.

“Steve misses you,” she tells him.

“I’ll come up when I’m done.”

“Or you can come up now and catch up on sleep. This will still be here tomorrow.”

“No,” he argues. “I have to make sure this is ready for Clint—”

“When will he be back on the duty roster?”

“Seven weeks, three days, and twelve hours,” Tony says automatically.

“And you don’t think this can wait another day?” she asks, raising an eyebrow skeptically.

Tony hesitates and then drops his head back onto her shoulder, saying to the ceiling, “I can’t sleep.”

Sharon wrinkles her brow. She knows that already, but Tony is already shaking his head.

“I mean, before…all this,” he explains, waving a limp hand in the air in the vague direction of the plans for Clint’s wrist guard.

Oh.

This happens sometimes, she knows. Tony’s insomnia acts up and he’ll spend a few days in the workshop, unable to sleep, or working from his bed because he thinks he should at least spend some time there. But as far as she knows, this is the first time it’s acted up while he’s been with Steve, and knowing Tony, he’s probably worried that Steve won’t like it if Tony spends all night in their bedroom working on his tablet. A silly concern really, she thinks Steve wouldn’t care if he was in literal hell as long as he was there with Tony, but Tony gets in his head about things like this.

“Well,” she begins hesitantly, “I won’t say that going to bed with your boyfriend is a sure way to get you to sleep, because that’s ridiculous, but I know that Steve’s been up as long as you have because he’s worried about you. So maybe you could go up there so he could get some sleep?”

Tony tilts his head to look at her. “He has?”

~

Here is what Tony knows about Sharon: there isn’t a thing in the world she wouldn’t do for Natasha.

Here is what Sharon knows about Tony: there isn’t a thing in the world he wouldn’t do for Steve.

~

She steps off the elevator for the third time that night, Tony trailing behind her. He brightens as soon as he sees Steve, stumbling past her into Steve’s waiting arms. Steve leans down and kisses the top of Tony’s head before shooting Sharon a grateful smile.

She winks back at him and then heads for the team’s private elevators, only available from this floor and the only way to reach their rooms. Grabbing Tony hadn’t taken too long but it’s still longer than she’d like when she has Natasha waiting for her in their bedroom. Tony’s all taken care of, Steve more than up to the task, so she can head to bed now.

Her and Natasha’s floor is almost entirely dark when she finally reaches it, except for a small sliver of light stretching out from underneath their bedroom door. Sharon navigates the floor easily, stepping around the furniture she can’t see and over the heels she’s sure Natasha has left lying around.

The bedroom door swings open before she reaches it, revealing her beautiful girlfriend framed in the light. Sharon smiles and reaches for her, cupping Natasha’s cheek in her hand as she kisses her.

“Hello, beautiful,” she murmurs. “I’m back.”

“Early,” Natasha remarks, clearly surprised.

Sharon shrugs. “It would have been earlier but I had to make a stop to pick up Tony.”

Natasha’s expression clears. “Steve’s been worried about him.”

Sharon nods. “That’s why I dragged him out.” She lets Natasha pull her inside their bedroom, herd her into the shower, and rinse off. Neither of them are much in the mood for a lengthy shower, so as soon as Sharon considers herself clean enough, she turns the water off, deciding that she’ll take another shower when she’s better rested.

They collapse into bed, Natasha curling around Sharon as soon as they’re situated. Sharon’s phone chimes once with a soft text message. She reaches over to the dresser, intent on turning the phone off, only to smile when she sees the message from Steve—a picture of Tony curled up, sound asleep on his bed.

“Turn it off, babe,” Natasha says sleepily, and Sharon would never deny her anything, so she does, and then wraps herself around Natasha.

~

Here is what Tony knows about Sharon: she is loved, by Aunt Peggy and Nick Fury and the agents under her command and Clint and Natasha.

Here is what Sharon knows about Tony: he is loved, by Aunt Peggy and the Avengers and Pepper and Rhodey and Steve.

Here is what they know about each other: they are loved, by a thousand other people, but by each other most of all.