#and Jarvis was shocked a few issues ago when he saw what he thought was Tony picking up after Iron Man

[daydreamerdrew]

Iron Man (1968) #51

[justthehiddleswrites]

Destiny Has Other Plans |Loki x OFC (Alexis Randall) | Chapter 2

Pairing: Loki x OFC

MASTERLIST IS HERE

Summary: When Loki goes to ask his father for permission to marry, he is shocked to discover his destiny has already been made for him.  He is already betrothed to Sjofn, the daughter of the King of Vanaheim.  An arranged marriage to bring the two kingdoms closer together and strengthen the bond.  Never mind that Sjofn and Loki can’t stand each other.  

After The Battle of New York, Loki is sent to live at Avengers Tower as punishment for his misdeeds.  But it doesn’t mean he has to like it.   A year later, he has adjusted to life on Midgard but has avoided any romantic or emotional entanglements, still bitter over his lost love.  Dr. Alexis Randall is skilled at helping others fix their relationships as a couple therapist, but can’t help her own love life.  A chance encounter with Loki in a dive bar has life altering consequences for both of them.  Now, Alexis and Loki must figure out a way to co-habit without killing each other in the process, plus navigating impending parenthood and other roadblocks along the way.

This Chapter:   One month has passed since Alexis and Loki “met” at the bar, Loki has moved on but is confronted with harsh reality of Alexis and the consequences of his cavalier attitude towards relationships, hookups, and birth control. He does not react well.

Warnings: Arranged Marriage, Forced Marriage, Pregnancy, Unplanned Pregnancy, Smut, Angst,  Semi-Public Sex, Mentions of law enforcement, Oral Sex, Cursing, Vaginal Sex

Taglists are Open, please let me know if you wish to be added.

-

One Month Later

“Dr. Randall?” Rachel, Alexis’s receptionist, called out.

Alexis’s head snapped up from her desk, where she fell asleep between appointments.

“Yes?” She smoothed back her hair behind her ears and took a sip of her third cup of coffee of the day.

“Your 2 o’clock is here. The Masons? Can I show them in?” Rachel gazed at her boss with worry. Alexis never napped during the day and stopped drinking caffeine by 11 a.m.

“Yes, please.” Alexis stifled a yawn before composing herself.

The rest of her appointments dragged and she pushed her last appointment out the door rather than allow the Clarks to linger like they do after most sessions. Alexis wanted nothing more to go home and crawl into bed. And then her phone rang.

“Hello?” she answered with a weary tone.

“Tough day?” Hannah asked on the other end. One of Alexis’s few friends.

“I am so tired. And hungry. Tired and hungry.” she groaned.

“Well then, let’s make dinner a quick one. You are still meeting me?”

“Shit! I completely forgot. I don’t understand what is going on with me. Give me five minutes and meet me at the diner down the street?”

“Deal. I’m already almost there. Meet me inside.”

Alexis straightened her desk, grabbed her purse and headed out the door. Hannah was waiting in a booth inside as she slid in.

“I waited for you to order.” Hannah commented.

On cue, the server appeared.

“I’ll have the mac and cheese bites and the bacon cheeseburger with fries.”

The server wrote everything down, nonplussed, while Hannah stared at her friend. “Anything to drink, hun?”

“Strawberry milkshake. Oh, and a Diet Coke.”

“Got it? And you?” The server turned to Hannah.

“House salad with grilled chicken, dressing on the side. And water with lemon.”

“Thanks, hun.” The server grabbed the menus from Hannah, walking away.

Hannah leaned across the table. “That’s some order.”

“I told you I was hungry.” Alexis settled into her seat.

“If I didn’t know you so well, I would say you’re pregnant.” Hannah commented off hand.

Alexis froze, staring at Hannah with wide eyes. Hannah giggled.

“But Eric broke up with you and you’re always so careful with birth control.”

The blood drained from Alexis’s face as she flashed back to that stupid encounter in the bathroom with Loki. She scrambled through her purse, digging out her Filofax, flipping the pages until she saw the note a few weeks ago.

“Fuck! No, no, no, no, no…” She cradled her head in her hands as the server returned with their drinks.

“But you’re on birth control?” Hannah grew quiet.

“I was having some issues, so on advice of my doctor I stopped before trying an alternative. Eric and I were using condoms. Not that we were having sex at the end.”

“So no problem…” Alexis glared at her friend with tear brimmed eyes. Hannah stopped speaking.

Alexis’s hands twisted on top of the table. “There was an… encounter. When Eric and I broke up.”

Hannah let loose a low whistle. “Who would have guessed that uptight little Alexis was secretly a harlot? Details.”

Alexis’s cheeks burned red. She told the sordid tale of meeting Loki at the bar, to sex in the bathroom, and Loki’s disappearance.

“THE BATHROOM?!” Hannah yelped, wrinkling her nose.

Alexis shushed her. “Not my proudest moment, Hannah. And keep your voice down.”

Hannah leaned back against the red vinyl booth, taking in that Alexis, the most dependable, responsible person she knew, fucked a guy. Not just any guy, but Loki in the bathroom of a seedy bar.

“Say something, Hannah.”

“I am in shock. What are you going to do?”

The server appeared with their food, which they left untouched.

“I am not sure. This was not exactly planned.”

Hannah leaned over and flipped through her Filofax. “Nope, definitely not planned.”

“Your humor is not wanted right now.”

Hannah shrugged. “Just trying to lighten the mood.” She stabbed her salad. “First, you need to eat and then let’s find a pharmacy and get a test.”

Alexis pushed her plate towards Hannah. “I’ve lost my appetite.”

Hannah pushed the plate back at her. “Eat. You might be eating for two.”

Alexis groaned.

-

The annoying chime of JARVIS disturbed Loki’s peaceful lunch within the confines of his apartment. Over the past year, he curated a living space he enjoyed with artwork and textiles that brought him joy. What he didn’t enjoy were the intrusions by Stark’s electronic butler.

“Master Loki. There’s a young woman in the lobby asking to see you.”

Loki placed his utensils down. “Did she give a reason?”

A pause.

“It is of a personal nature.”

Loki waved his hand in the air. “Send her away. Tell her I’m indisposed.”

“Yes, sir.”

Loki returned to his lunch. It was probably one of the women he slept with looking for a serious relationship, he mused. That was one thing Loki was not interested in. Lust, not love, ruled his heart these days. And he had no intentions of changing his ways anytime soon.

The next morning JARVIS chimed again, at the hour of 7 a.m. well before Loki woke up on days where he wasn’t due anywhere.

“Master Loki, the woman is back. She is most insistent she needs to speak with you.”

Loki groaned, rolling onto his back. “Leave me be!”

“Should I send her away?”

“Yes.” Loki grabbed the pillow and covered his head, falling back asleep.

The morning wake up call was gone and forgotten as soon as Loki got going for this day. Until he headed out that evening, walking through the empty lobby of Avengers Towers on his way to hopefully meet a new conquest.

“LOKI!” A female voice called out.

Loki turned to see a young woman step out from behind a pillar. Her short, light brown hair and blue eyes vaguely familiar.

“The building’s been closed for hours. How are you even still here?”

“I hid in a supply closet.”

“I shall tell Stark his security is lacking.” He turned his attention to the girl. “You need to leave.”

“No,” She pressed her hand against his chest. “I need to talk to you. It’s important.”

Loki crossed his arms, tapping his foot. “What is it?” He spat at her.

Her composure crumbled. Loki only then noticed the tears in her eyes and the envelope in her hands.

“You don’t remember me, do you?” she muttered. “Of course not. Why would you? Here.” She shoved the envelope in his hand. “I thought you had a right to know.” She walked away, shoulders shaking. “And in case you fucking care, my name is Alexis, ass!”

The name triggered Loki’s memory back to the Whiskey Front Room. He opened the envelope and it contained a single sheet of paper with lab results.

Pregnancy Test: Positive

Loki stared at the door where Alexis exited a minute ago and then back at the paper before laughing. His plans of going out forgotten. He followed her, his long legs catching with Alexis easily.

“Is this some sort of joke?” He called out after her.

She stopped in tracks before spinning on her foot. Black trails of mascara marred her cheeks. “Does it look like I’m fucking joking?!” She snapped, spitting towards him.

Loki took a step back before smiling. He handed the paper back to her. “It’s a false positive. It is impossible.”

Alexis shoved it back at him. “I took three home tests, and that is a copy of my lab results. Do you realize how rare a false positive pregnancy test from a lab is?”

Loki wrinkled his nose. “No. But it’s a mistake.” He nodded his head. “I cast a spell to prevent this thing from happening. So your little scheme isn’t going to work. What is it you want? Money? I don’t have any.”

Alexis jabbed a finger into his chest. “You can drop the condescending tone. I am not here for money or anything else. I just thought you should know… in case you ever wondered if you had a kid out there. You do.” She sniffled.

Alexis slumped her shoulders and walked away. Loki reached out for her.

“Listen, I still don’t believe it, but I can’t have you leaving until we straighten this out.”

“You want me to stay… with… you?” Alexis stuttered. “No fucking way! You just called me a liar.”

“I said it was an impossibility, which is. I’m afraid you need to come with me. Just for one night. You can stay in my quarters.”

“I’m not sleeping with you.”

“I wasn’t asking. You can sleep in the bed and I will take the sofa.” Alexis crossed her arms and stared at Loki. “If you try to leave, I will forcibly return you to the tower. I prefer you coming willingly. I apologize for the inconvenience, but if what you say is true, you may be in danger.”

Alexis’s jaw dropped. “Why would my life be in danger?”

“I have many enemies. Now come.” Loki cradled his arm around her.

“Okay, but we are discussing this whole enemies, life in mortal danger thing some more once we get back.”

Loki nodded. “After we have the doctor examination tomorrow and she confirms you are not pregnant, I will answer all questions you want. But for now, let’s return.” Loki’s confidence Alexis was not pregnant faltered each time he mentioned it. There was no way his magic failed. But something itched at the back of his head. He pushed it away.

Alexis allowed Loki to guide her back to the Tower and into the elevator. Once they reached his quarters, he disappeared into the bedroom.

“Here are some clothes to sleep in.” He offered a t-shirt and shorts of his. “They might be a little big. I could ask around if you want—”

“No!” She yelled, causing Loki to smile. “The shirt and shorts are fine.” Alexis snatched them out of Loki’s hand.

Loki nodded in agreement. “Are you hungry? I can cook or order something in?”

“I appreciate the offer, but I think I just want to sleep and get this over with so I can return to my normal life.”

He rose and grabbed a spare pillow and blanket from a closet. “If you are up before me, please wake me. The sooner we settle this, the sooner you can get on with your life.”

He stretched onto the couch and Alexis’s heart sunk. She wasn’t sure why, perhaps she expected more from Loki than indifference. A hint he cared for the unborn child she carried. She turned over and settled in for a restless night’s sleep in a strange bed.

-

“Brother… Brother…” Thor whispered, shaking Loki out of his slumber.

“What is it, Thor?” He waved off further assault from his brother.

“There is a woman wearing your clothes asleep in your bed.”

“And that requires assault? Have you never seen a woman before?” Loki rolled over, hoping to catch more sleep before facing the nightmare of Alexis and this impossible pregnancy.

“I am still responsible for you here on Midgard, Loki. And I have a right—”

“—You have no right to my personal life!” Loki sneered. “There are things that are mine and mine only. Now leave me be!”

Thor held his hands up in defeat. “Fair enough. But when you are ready to talk… I am here.”

“A small comfort.” Loki forced a smile.

Alexis stepped out, wearing Loki’s t-shirt, which came down to her mid thigh. “What’s going on?” She rubbed her eyes, hair sticking out.

“My brother was just leaving.” Loki rose and shoved Thor out the front door before he could ask questions of Alexis.

She pursed her lips as Loki turned and chuckled nervously.

“So… does anyone know about me?”

“Not yet. I would prefer to keep this between us until we settle things.”

“They’re already settled for me.” she muttered, tucking her chin to her chest.

Loki’s face softened. “Forgive me for being a skeptic. My magic has never failed me before.”

“Maybe you wanted it to fail.”

“Why would I want it to fail?” Loki squinted at her.

She shrugged her shoulders and smirked. “Maybe you like me.”

“I’m not looking for emotional entanglement. And I am certainly not looking to be a father.” Loki moved to the kitchen to fix some coffee and a light breakfast.

“Doesn’t mean you don’t need it.” Alexis moved to watch Loki in the kitchen. She marveled at the efficiency of his movements. No wasted energy, no extraneous steps. This was a man who pre-planned every aspect of his life. No mistakes, no room for error. Until her.

“Can I have some of that?” She asked as Loki fixed a caramel mocha.

Not as good as the one from the coffee shop, but it sufficed for days when he couldn’t be bothered to leave the Tower. He invested in a top of the line espresso machine for just such purpose.

He sized her up with a questioning glance but prepared a second serving and handed it to her. “Dr. Cho is expecting us at 8. Are you hungry?”

“Famished.” She sipped the coffee after blowing on it to cool, it verged on too sweet for her tastes.

Loki rummaged into the fridge. “I have eggs or… eggs.”

“Eggs, please. Scrambled.”

Loki prepared the eggs as he did the coffee, meticulously.

“I’m glad you don’t fuck the way you cook.” Alexis mused, taking small sips of the sweet coffee.

“Meaning?” He tucked into his eggs, adding buttered toast to both his and Alexis’s plate.

“Precise. Cold. Clinical. Sex should be messy.”

Loki couldn’t resist a smirk. “Isn’t that how we ended up here?”

“Touche. Do I have time to shower before I get poked and prodded to satisfy you that I am pregnant?”

Loki glanced at the clock. “Use whatever you want. If you would prefer, wear one of my shirts rather than your clothes from yesterday.”

“Thanks.”

Loki finished up his food and cleaned up the dishes and his bedding off the couch. Alexis emerged with wet hair, wearing one of Loki’s black button-down shirts, tied at the waist, the top buttons undone. Loki swallowed hard.

“You said I could borrow one.”

“It’s fine. You look good. Give me a few moments and we can go.”

Loki showered and dressed for the day in jeans and a t-shirt, joining Alexis in the living room. “Ready?”

She nodded, and Loki took her hand. He glanced down the hallway before slinking them out and towards the elevator. He froze a voice called out.

“Is this a walk of shame?” Tony commented.

Alexis turned bright red as Loki pulled her close. “Go to the elevator and wait for me.” She mumbled and walked away.

“No need to be embarrassed. She’s cute. Kind of quiet. Frankly, I was wondering.” Tony smirked at Loki.

Loki resisted the bait. “She is just a friend in need of some help. Once she is settled, you’ll never see her again and you can go back to speculating.”

“Whatever, Reindeer Games. Seems like an awful lot of trouble for a friend… wearing your shirt.” Tony averted his gaze.

“I don’t know what you are talking about. Now if you excuse me, I have a previous engagement.”

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” Tony called out as Loki beelined for Alexis, who was holding the elevator.

“Was that Tony Stark?” Alexis whispered once the elevator doors closed and Loki punched in the number.

“Unfortunately, yes. But once we confirm you’re not pregnant, you won’t have to worry about him.”

Alexis grew quiet. “Still convinced this is a mistake?”

“I’m never wrong and my magic never fails.”

One hour later, Dr. Cho pulled Loki aside.

“She is pregnant.”

Loki chuckled, which turned into nervous laughter. “You must be joking. There’s no way—”

“I did two blood tests and an ultrasound. I heard the baby’s heartbeat.”

Loki’s jaw dropped. “But my magic—”

“—failed. Now you can either accept reality or live a life of delusion. Right now there is a young woman in there who is scared and you calling her a liar is not going to help. I am going back in there. Are you coming with me?”

Loki nodded in shock and followed Dr. Cho back into the examination room. Alexis’s eyes met Loki’s with fear, the tears threatening to fall with a blink of her eye or a swipe of her hand.

Loki smiled a crooked smile at her and sighed. “I guess we need to talk.”

[feedmecookiesnow]

Just Like A Circus

Short fic based on @midnightwinterhawk‘s  headcanon about Clint running SHIELD’s obstacle courses to Britney Spears. Thanks for the inspiration (and the excuse to listen to Britney all day)!

***

Bucky decides to give up on sleep after waking up in a cold sweat from his third nightmare. He throws back the covers with more force than is really necessary and stares up at the ceiling. “JARVIS,” he says tentatively, still unused to talking to an unseeing, all-knowing entity. Or at least, one that actually talks back.

“Yes, Sergeant Barnes?”

“What time is it?”

“It is 2AM.”

“Fuck.” Bucky rolls over and looks at the soft light of the city as it comes in through the window. He can still feel the pull of the nightmare, hear the whine of a bone saw, see the unbridled glee on Zola’s face as he detailed exactly what they were going to do to Bucky---

Bucky gets up, goes into the bathroom, and sticks his head under the faucet. The cold water is a shock to his system but it grounds him, wakes him up a little more. Helps chase away the lights and voices and pain that still echo in his head so many years in the future.

“You’re out,” he tells himself, looking up in the mirror. “You made it out.”

He looks like hell, honestly. There’s dark circles under his eyes, and a few days worth of stubble on his face, and his whole face just has a sunken, haunted look to it. Bucky turns his head away and flips the light off, then makes his way out into the dark of his room.

“I can’t sleep,” he says, not sure who exactly he’s talking to, or why he’s even saying it out loud. “I can’t---I don’t want to see that anymore.”

JARVIS makes a sympathetic sound, eerily human. Bucky’s not sure what to make of it. “If I may make a suggestion, Sergeant.”

“Yeah, what?”

“Agent Barton appears to be having the same issues as you are. He is currently running the obstacle course in the gym. I suspect he would appreciate the company.”

Bucky considers this. Clint’s a decent guy. Not as abrasive as Stark, not as clingy as Steve. Certainly not as scary as Natasha. Bucky likes him well enough. Could be worth checking out. The obstacle course part gives him pause, but he’s pretty sure it won’t be anything like Hydra’s used to be. He doubts Clint will be waiting at the end to punish him for any mistakes made.

Bucky looks at his bed, which promises more nightmares, and shudders. “Okay. I’ll go.”

He pulls on some clothes and pads down the hallway barefoot to the elevator. The gym is towards the bottom of the Tower, on the levels where the Avengers and SHIELD start to blend together. He punches the button and leans against the wall. “JARVIS, how long has he been down there?”

“Not long,” JARVIS says. “No more than an hour.”

Bucky nods and taps his fingers on the wall, curious as to what exactly drove Clint to go run an obstacle course at two in the morning.

Agent Barton appears to be having the same issues as you are.

He wonders briefly what Clint’s nightmares look like, if they’re as skin-crawling and horrible as his own, if they make him wake up screaming and---

The doors open into the gym, and he loses his train of thought.

The first thing he notes is the music, blasting loud enough to make him wince. It’s some kind of pop song, nothing he knows. Bucky shakes his head and moves away from the speakers, looking around to see where Clint is.

After a moment, he spots him, hanging upside down in the cargo net. There’s three knives in his right hand, a bow hooked over his right arm, and a quiver strapped to his back. As Bucky watches, he holds one of the knives up to his mouth. For one insane moment, Bucky thinks he’s going to stab himself, and he surges forward, arm already extended to climb---

But no. His mouth is moving, and his head is nodding along to the song, and after a second, Bucky realizes that he’s singing. Singing, and holding the knife hilt-up like it’s a microphone. He’s really into it, gesturing and waving his other arm to the point where he almost loses the bow.

Bucky stares at him incredulously. Clint finishes the song and launches all three knives at the same time, sending them tumbling across the room to lodge into the projected target on the wall. Then as the next song starts, he flips himself upright, detangles his legs from the cargo net, and starts climbing up. At the top of the net, he rolls onto the platform and nocks a couple arrows. He draws the bow back to his ear, then freezes as he finally notices Bucky.

They stare at each other, frozen in an awkward moment. Then Clint says something that Bucky can’t hear. Around them, silence descends as the music shuts off. Clint unstrings the bow and sticks the arrows back in the quiver. Then he slings the bow over his shoulder and jumps off the platform, easily catching a nearby cable and sliding down.

“Hey,” he says at the bottom, pulling the bow off his shoulder. “What’s up? Something going on?”

Bucky has a lot of questions about what’s going on, but when he opens his mouth, what comes out is, “I can’t sleep.”

Clint studies him for a moment, then says, “Nightmares again?”

Again?

Bucky stares at him. Clint shrugs. “I’ve heard you. You scream sometimes.” He gestures to the course. “Wanna run a couple laps? That usually helps me.”

“Is that why you’re here? Nightmares?”

“Yeah,” Clint says, honest and open. He shrugs. “You know about the New York battle, right? With Loki and the wormhole?”

“I know.” He’s gotten the story in bits and pieces, mostly from Tony, who he expects exaggerates a little bit. But he knows the gist of it. “Loki...he brainwashed you, right?”

Clint nods. “Weird magic shit. Nat knocked me out of it but every once in a blue moon I still get nightmares about it. So I come down here and run a couple laps with Britney. Helps me think. Or not think, really.”

Bucky rubs his forehead, sure he’s going to regret asking this. “Who’s Britney?”

“The music.” He points at the ceiling. “Britney Spears. I always start with Toxic, but then I let JARVIS pick after that. I think you came in around...” He stops. “Wait, how long were you in here?”

“You were singing,” Bucky says. “In the cargo net. With the knife.”

Clint doesn’t look embarrassed about this at all. “Ah, so you heard the end of Womanizer. Alright.”

Bucky is fairly sure that Clint is speaking English, but it’s not anything he understands. Clint sighs. “Really? No one’s introduced you to Britney Spears yet?” When Bucky shakes his head, he sighs again. “Alright. Let me educate you.”

“No, wait,” Bucky protests, because every time Clint says that, Bucky ends up being forced to do something that inevitably confuses him. The whole concept of modern pop culture is just not something that he grasps well.

Not that that ever deters Clint, though. “You’ll like it,” he says, which is what he always says. Sometimes he’s right, but Bucky’ll never admit it. “You liked that other playlist I made for you, right?” He doesn’t wait for an answer. “Well, Britney’s the queen of that list. She’s my go-to for running this thing.”

“Why?”

“Why not? High energy, good voice, sets a kicking beat.” He points at the course. “You should try it.”

Bucky looks over at the obstacle course. It doesn’t look too hard. Certainly not anything worse than Hydra ever had him do. “You first,” he says, eyeing some of the pieces he’s not sure about. “I haven’t seen this set-up.”

“Sure,” Clint says easily. He picks up a couple knives from the table nearby the door and restocks his quiver.

“How long does it take?” Bucky asks.

“Not long,” Clint says, adjusting one of his hearing aids. “A little under seven minutes for just the basic run through, give or take a few seconds. Depends on the songs.”

“Depends on the songs?”

“JARVIS,” he calls up. “Queue up...oh, let’s do 3 and then Circus for me, will you? And reset the course to basic.”

“Certainly, Agent Barton.” There’s some grinding as the floor shifts, and various obstacles unfold and refold themselves.

Clint grins at him and bounces on the balls of his feet. “Ready to watch the magic?”

Bucky makes some kind of helpless go on motion with his metal hand. Clint has this odd talent for knocking him off-balance at every turn, and at this point Bucky’s given up trying to understand him. He’s not entirely sure he wants to, anyway. There’s something inherently charming about the layers of oddness and mystery to Clint. He’s some kind of undefinable puzzle that both fascinates and annoys Bucky in equal measure.

“Sure,” he says, because Clint is apparently waiting for an answer. “I think.”

Clint picks up one of the knives and grips it in his hand, testing the heft of it. “Alright. Hit it, JARVIS.”

A woman’s voice fills the room, loud and...computerized, almost. Clint sings into the knife handle, perfectly in sync, other hand flipping up fingers in time with the words.

One, two, three

Not only you and me

Got one eighty degrees

And I'm caught in between

Bucky stares at him, vaguely aware that his mouth is hanging open. Clint finishes the opening of the song, winks, then backflips onto the raised platform behind him, throwing the knife at the same time. It lands on the target, and he moves on without missing a beat.

The course itself is relatively simple. Lots of climbing and jumping, rolling and ducking. Bucky has a very dim memory of doing something similar in basic training so many years ago. Except, in basic training, he’s pretty sure they weren’t allowed to dance while on the course.

And Clint is dancing. There’s no other word for it. He’s intently focused, never missing a step, but he’s also pretty clearly moving to the music, twisting his body and moving his feet in time with the song. It’s hypnotizing, in a way. Bucky can’t take his eyes off him as he darts around the course, effortlessly climbing obstacles and shooting arrows.

Six and a half minutes later, Clint lands in front of him. His feet touch the floor just as the last note of the second song plays. “Ta-da,” he says, breathing hard, and does an overly dramatic bow.

“Jesus,” Bucky says, because he doesn’t know what else to say. “That...”

“I know,” Clint says with a grin. “I’m amazing.”

“You’re something,” Bucky says, but Clint’s smile is infectious, and he can’t help but return it. “You know you’d be faster if you weren’t dancing.”

“Yeah, but it wouldn’t be nearly as fun.” He gestures to the course. “You wanna try? It really does help.”

Bucky turns to look. “I’m not dancing,” he says.

“We can work up to that.” He points to the weapons locker. “There’s guns over there, if you want to shoot the targets. Otherwise you can just ignore them.”

Bucky goes over and picks out a gun. “I suppose the music is required.”

“Of course.” Clint pulls a water bottle out from his bag and takes a drink. “Any preferences?”

“You’re the one who knows them. You can pick.”

Clint rubs his hands together. “Aw, yeah.”

Bucky has a distinct feeling he’s going to regret that, judging by the sudden gleeful look on Clint’s face, but he also kind of likes that look. So he just sighs and heads to the starting point. “I’m not singing, either.”

“We can work up to that too.” Clint looks up. “JARVIS, start him off with Toxic, as per tradition, and we’ll collaborate from there.”

“As you wish,” JARVIS says, polite as always. “Sergeant Barnes, are you ready?”

“Sure,” Bucky says, and he jumps up to the platform.

It is calming, he realizes as he moves through it. Despite the blaring music, and the adrenaline thrumming through him, he does feel significantly more relaxed by the time his feet land on the ground at the finish line. Or at least, less keyed up than he did a few minutes ago.

Clint is sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall. He bursts into applause as soon as Bucky straightens up. “Good work.”

Bucky wipes the sweat off his head and catches the water bottle tossed at him. “Okay, you’re right. That helps.”

“Told you so.” Clint pats the ground next to him. “I used to get up and run, but once we all moved in here, I figured out this was better. More engaging. It’s hard to focus on nightmares when you’re trying to sing and shoot arrows and backflip off shit at the same time.”

“You don’t have to sing,” Bucky points out.

“Yes I do,” Clint says, looking scandalized at the very thought. “It’s Britney, bitch.”

Bucky snorts. “So which songs should I learn? Since you’re the expert and all.”

Clint’s eyes light up. “You serious?”

“Sure.” Bucky can’t really explain why, but he’s interested. Not necessarily in the music itself, but more in having another glimpse into the weird and wonderful mess that is Clint Barton.

“I’ll send you a playlist,” Clint promises. He reaches for his bag and pulls it over, then digs out his phone and starts swiping at it. “I’ll do it right now, I’ve already got one.”

“My phone’s upstairs,” Bucky says. “I’ll look at it later.” He tilts his head towards the course. “Want to race?”

“Definitely,” Clint says, engrossed in whatever he’s doing. He taps a couple more times, then drops the phone into his bag and gets up. “Sure you can keep up?”

“Pretty sure, twinkletoes,” Bucky says, holding out a hand.

Clint laughs as he pulls him up. “You’re on, old man.”

They run the course together three more times. Clint wins two of them---definitely by cheating, despite his protests otherwise. Bucky doesn’t really care, honestly. He can’t remember the last time he had this much fun doing anything, and watching Clint pull off some ridiculous acrobatic moves while singing along just makes it better.

After the third round, they both collapse on the floor. “Okay,” Clint says, wheezing a little. “Two out of three, I win, which means you’re buying the donuts.”

“I don’t remember anything about donuts,” Bucky says, rolling his head to look at him. “When did donuts ever enter this conversation?”

“Two seconds ago.” Clint looks at his watch. “It’s three-thirty, I know a shop that’ll be open.”

“Right now?”

“You got a better idea?”

“I was going to go shower,” Bucky says. “And then maybe try to sleep.”

Clint waves a hand. “Sleep is for the weak. Come get donuts with me.” He looks at his sweat-soaked shirt, and then says, “We can shower first.”

Bucky means to turn him down, honestly. He’s tired, and he thinks he might be able to sleep without nightmares for a bit. But when he opens his mouth, what comes out is, “Okay.”

“Yay,” Clint says, rolling up to his feet. He offers a hand down, and Bucky takes it. “I’ll meet you in the kitchen in an hour?”

“Sure.” Bucky tosses him his bag, and they both head to the elevator.

They get off at their respective floors. Bucky immediately goes for his bathroom. “JARVIS,” he says as he strips off his clothes. “Can you play the...whatever he sent me?”

“Certainly, Sergeant Barnes,” JARVIS replies, which is how Bucky ends up showering to the dulcet tones of Britney Spears. He’s still not entirely sure what to think of her music, but he can’t deny that they’re catchy songs. He’s still humming one of them when he goes into the kitchen, and finds Clint already perched on the counter, drinking coffee and drumming his heels against the cabinets.

Natasha is there too, and she raises an eyebrow as Bucky walks in. “Oh, no.”

Bucky stops humming. “What?”

She looks at Clint. “Are you making him listen to Britney Spears?”

“Hey,” Clint protests. “She’s fabulous. Don’t hate.”

“She is kind of catchy,” Bucky admits, noting the way Clint smiles.

Natasha rolls her eyes.“I will never understand your thing with her,” she says, dropping her own coffee mug in the sink.

“Your judgement is unnecessary and unwelcome,” Clint tells her.

She blows him a kiss before leaving the kitchen. “Let me know if you want good music,” she says to Bucky. “I have some songs you’d probably like.”

“Rude,” Clint calls after her, then turns his attention to Bucky. “Donuts and coffee?”

“You’re drinking coffee,” Bucky points out.

He slams the rest of it back like a shot and sets the purple mug on the counter “Your point?”

Bucky shakes his head. “You’re so goddamn weird, you know that?”

Clint throws his arms out wide. “There’s two types of people in the world, Barnes. The ones that entertain, and the ones that observe.”

“And you’re a put-on-a-show kind of girl?”

He can see the exact moment when Clint registers what he said, because Bucky’s just about blinded by the brilliant smile that follows. “Exactly,” Clint says, and he hops off the counter. Bucky can’t help but smile back. “Come on, then. I’m calling the shots, and I say it’s time for donuts.”

“I’m in,” Bucky says, and he follows Clint out the door.

[tonystarkbingo]

Title Prompt Game - Tags and Summaries

like a warm blanket - suggested by @rebelmeg

@somesortofitalianroast - fluff, snowed in, only one bed

@huntress79 - There's a reason Tony loves being in the workshop - but not the one most think it is. No, it's not that he knows the place blind, or that he loves (even craves) the attention the bots give him - no, it's because it's his safe harbor, the only place where he can really be him, and the one place that is to Tony what a warm blanket on a cold day is to other people.

@darthbloodorange - [Stony] - Steve never liked the cold, ever since he was little. But after the ice? He loathed it. It always brought up feelings and memories he'd rather keep buried. ~ Or the five times Steve struggled to find something to keep him warm at night, and the time he learned he could just use Tony.

@jamesbuckystark - Tony Stark has self-esteem issues. Only the closest of the closest of his friends know this. On his bad days, they cuddle up with him and whisper words of love and encouragement, comforting him like a warm blanket

@psychiccatpanda - [potential ironhusbands] Tony hadn’t worried when Rhodey’d fallen asleep on his shoulder during movie night.  His sour patch had been burning the candle at both ends lately splitting his time between DC and New York.  But then Rhodey had draped an arm over him and now he was stuck there unless he disturbed him.  On the other hand, it wasn’t that bad... it was cozy - like a warm blanket

@rebelmeg - self-esteem issues, sincere compliments, love confessions

@huntress79 - (WinterIron pre-Relationship) If there's one thing Bucky learned about Howard's boy in the first few weeks he was living in the Tower it was Tony's stubbornness, by times as worse as Steve's. So, of course, Bucky watched the genius. And was the first to notice something off - Tony was getting a cold, and he was fighting it. He just didn't expect the former Winter Soldier, of all people, to bring him chicken soup, warm blankets, a cot and a gazillion of other things into the workshop. Huh - who would have guessed that?

@lbibliophile-mcu - [recovering-bucky] Living with Steve was like being wrapped in a warm blanket. Nice on cold evenings, soft and comforting. But sometimes, it can also be confining, smothering. Sometimes, what he needs instead is the freedom of cold air.

Keep reading for more!

Cappuccino, extra shot - suggested by @somesortofitalianroast

@huntress79 - (Road to Stony XD) Despite working as a Barista in a coffee shop, Steve never really liked all the fancy coffees he made for the customers. Until one day, when torrential rain sweeps a new customer into the shop - hot, elegant, smart-mouthed and way above Steve's league. And pretty much the only guy in all of Manhattan to always order the same thing - Cappuccino, with an extra shot of (insert ingredient of choice)...

@darthbloodorange - [Stony] - Tony would never be seen dead walking into a coffee shop. Why would he go for overvalued, overcooked, too sweet coffee when he has the best beans imported and prepared by his very own live-in barista? He has access to the best coffee 24/7. But his barista goes on parental leave, and Tony finds that brewing his own coffee, isn't one of his many talents. So, if he is to get his daily fix, he has to go to a coffee shop. Tony is miserable about the whole situation, that is until he meets an art student called Steve working to pay his way through college.

@psychiccatpanda - (pre-WinterIron) It wasn’t a difficult drink to make.  So why was it that this guy never made his cappuccino right?  Tony frowned into the froth on top.  And part of the fun of going to a coffee shop and buying cappuccino was seeing what kind of foam design you’d get.  This guy - James, according to his name tag - apparently only knew how to make hearts.  Come on.  Tony walked back to the counter to complain again. Behind the counter, Bucky could feel Natasha’s eyes on him like a dagger between his shoulder blades.  He’d done it again, just to talk to his most gorgeous customer... who also thought he was an idiot.

@lbibliophile-mcu - "aw, coffee, no" Clint stares despondently at the paper takeaway cup in his hand, the scalding brown liquid running over his wrist to drip on the floor. When he ordered a cappuccino double shot, this was not what he meant. Another loud gunshot echoes in the street outside. Chugging the remaining elixir, he throws the ruined cup in a bin, wipes his hand on his pants, and grabs his bow. Looks like he has a coffee to avenge.

@rebelmeg -  tags: coffee shops, love at first sight, awkward flirting

Bitch boy - suggested by @phoenixmetaphor3000

@tehroserose - tags: BDSM, humiliation, consensual nonconsent

@somesortofitalianroast - [Tony/Bucky] : au: sex work, au: camboys, au: bdsm

@darthbloodorange - [Stony] - He was Tony Stark's bitch. Everything else didn't matter. Everything else was stripped away by his Master, his Sir. 100 odd years on this earth, and he finally found his place... and it was at his master's feet.

@summerpipedream - "Excuse you??" screeched Tony. He shoved his paper cup, somehow already devoid of the coffee poured in there 5 seconds ago, into Rhodey's hands before he launches himself at the asshole yellling at them. 5 times Tony was called a bitch and the one time he actually did something about it.

@tehroserose Winterironfalcon- Tony was his bitch. And that's the way he liked it. But, still, he was going to take care of his boy, in his way. And Tony had a fantasy. He wanted to be taken by a stranger, a stranger who didn't listen when he said no. Sam wasn't willing to give him to a stranger. But Bucky? Bucky looked at his bitch with longing. And Sam trusted Bucky. And Tony? Tony didn't need to trust Bucky to do anything other than to listen to Sam and his safeword. And Tony liked it that way. (Tag: Porn with feelings, It was just sex, (no it wasn't), established Sam/Tony, pre Sam/Tony/Bucky)

@huntress79 - (Stony secret relationship) Ever since they fought the Chitauri, everyone knows that Tony and Steve barely get along. Sure, they got a bit better after Tony's almost death, but yeah, it could be better. But then, one morning, the Avengers are shocked to hear Tony calling Steve "Bitch" and - even more shocking - Steve replying with "Jerk" What the heck is going on now? (the Bitch-Jerk exchange is borrowed from Supernatural XD)

@darthbloodorange - [Stony] - He hated Alphas so much. He hasn't ever met one that had a single good intention in their life. All they ever did was take and destroy. This he learned first hand when he was 15 in a back ally after saving Dorothy Elliott from a couple of Alphas. It didn't matter that he was an Alpha himself, he was small and Omega enough for them, a "Bitch Boy". Steve Rogers hated Alphas and was sure he always would. But then he met Tony Stark and his whole world changed... (Tags: Implied/Referenced R*pe, Alpha/Alpha Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Tony Stark has a Heart, Falling in Love)

@psychiccatpanda - Tony had been called worse before - much worse.  He'd asked Natasha to be his date for the conference because the Avengers thought he needed a bodyguard for an International Energy Council conference.  At least she didn't look like a bodyguard. Justin Hammer had been trying to get his attention for a day and a half when he'd yelled it loud enough for a ballroom full of people to hear.  He saw red and turned to do something rash (like break Hammer's nose) when he felt a strong hand on his wrist.  Tony twisted around to snap at Nat when she pulled him in for a kiss.  Suddenly, swift and blinding vengeance didn't seem quite so important.

@darthbloodorange - [Stony] - Steve Rogers loses a bet with Tony, now he was at Tony's every beck and call. Steve and Tony's relationship is strained as it is, he's not sure it'll make it through this. Tony was milking it for what it was worth; making him wear the maid outfit, making him pick up things he dropped, fetching him drinks. Then Tony goes ahead and calls him "bitch boy" He expected to be fuming, insulted, angry, hurt... but Steve finds he actually likes it. Both are shocked. Maybe they'll make it through this feeling closer than ever before.

Make Thyme for what you Love - suggested by @darthbloodorange

@rebelmeg - pepperony, gardening, fluff

@tehroserose - (Steve and Tony friendship fic)- Steve had grown up with the song. A version of the song at least. His mother said it was the only thing the English had given worth a damn. When he heard Scarborough Fair by Simon and Garfunkel, he cried. Tony watched the tough soldier break down. And right then, he knew he was going to make the time to do something he had promised himself he would do. He was going to find a picture of Sarah Rogers.

@psychiccatpanda - (pre-Stuckony) - When he'd told Pepper why he had hired BarRo Gardening and Landscape Service to care for the plants in the Tower, she'd laughed so hard she'd almost fallen out of her desk chair. 'BarRo Gardening and Landscape Service: Lettuce take care of your plants!  Our prices and services can't be beet!  We also offer sage advice on selecting the best plants for any office environment.' "They offer sage advice, Pep!  How am I supposed to resist that?"

@somesortofitalianroast - Bruce wants to start a garden and put beehives on the top of Stark Tower. Tony reluctantly agrees. Bucky thinks it would be a good idea if he helps. The garden starts out small, mostly herbs and a few easier to care for plants, and grows as Bucky grows more confident in his gardening skills.

@huntress79 - (Stuckony modern AU) At first, Tony hadn't understood why both Steve and Bucky handed him a pot with what turned out to be a thyme plant right before shipping out to their last tour. Sure, it had a nice smell, and wasn't that hard to look after (JARVIS turned out to be as diligent as an auxiliary gardener as in everything else). But then, the plants become so much more - for Tony, it's a promise from "his" soldiers to come back to him. For Steve and Bucky, it's proof that Tony takes care of it - and of himself, despite their absence.

@darthbloodorange - [Stony] - Steve was sceptical when Bruce approached him with the idea of 'Therapeutic Gardening', but he trusted the man and went along with it. He admits it was nice to put aside some time for something that wasn't reports, training, team-building, or learning this new world. Something that wasn't work, something that didn't feel like this uphill battle that he had to fight alone. Unlike everything else in his schedule, he didn't have to work himself up to taking care of his plants. It became a thing after missions, for Steve to sit by his plants and water them, to confide in them. He slowly grows his collection over the months. But he starts to notice new plants in his collection, ones he didn't get himself, but he tends to them anyway. ~ Tony has been trying to look after the plants Bruce gave him, really. But will all the work on his plate he often forgets. But he tries. He notices some of his plants going missing. Plants that he was sure weren't dead the last time he checked on them, which might not be saying much... But he's sure someone has been stealing his plants. And he's going to find out who. ~ Bruce loves gardening, there were so many benefits it offered. It became a personal mission of his to get as many people into gardening as he could. However, he understands that maybe gardening wasn't everyone's thing. Bruce understands when Tony can't keep up with the maintenance of his plants. But he wasn't going to sit around and watch them suffer. So he gathers up those of Tony's plants that need a little more love and slips them into Steve's collection. ------------- (Tags: Accidental Matchmaking, Idiots in Love, Gardening, Team as Family)  

Speak of the Devil - suggested by @psychiccatpanda

@somesortofitalianroast - Lucifer crossover : Tony had heard the expression so many times, in multiple languages. “Speak of Devil and he shall appear.” He just never expected it to literally happen.

@rebelmeg - tags: hades and persephone au, greek mythology, merchant of death, unlikely lovers (i'm imagining it pepperony, but it could go a lot of ways)

@tehroserose - Tony was going to kill... well, when he figured out who had left that magical artifact behind, he was going to kill them. Because apparently, and why hadn't Thor been there earlier to tell them this?, the first dead person mentioned in front of the artifact came back. Temporarily, but who knew for how long? And guess what? Steve had mentioned Howard. Actually, Tony wanted to kill Steve for that, except he'd never breathed a word near Steve of what Howard was really like. He hadn't wanted to ruin Howard in Steve's eyes, for Steve's sake. Now Howard was going to ruin himself in those eyes. Tony braced himself as the mean, belittling words that he'd thought he wouldn't have to hear in that voice again came thundering into his ears.

@psychiccatpanda - Tony believed in science not all the hocus pocus the sorority sisters had been whispering about in not-so-hushed tones in the library while he and Rhodey had been trying to study. "I heard if you look in a mirror and say his name three times, he'll appear to kill your worst enemy." Pft - ridiculous.  He'd prove there wasn't anything to that stupid urban legend.

@darthbloodorange - [Pre-Stuckony] - Steve and Tony never talked about Howard. Ever. It was probably one of few things that keep their tenuous friendship moving along smoothly. but then Bucky came into the picture... and seemed to have a lot to say about Howard. Things started to click together, suddenly he was seeing the full picture. Howard always was an ass. Steve wasn't choosing not to talk about him out of respect for Tony, he didn't talk about Howard because the man was unpleasant to talk about. Tony listened, totally enthralled and vindicated, as Bucky regaled him with tailed of his father. About all the times Howard discredited Steve's intelligence in front of high-ranking Military figureheads, pressured him into testing, belittled Steve for his time in the USO, and ignored Bucky existence as he was just "Steve's tiresome tag-along pup" Turns out the three of them had a lot more in common than he'd initially thought. ------------- (Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Give Everyone A Damn Hug, Still Salty at Howard in that CA:FA Deleted Scene)

[imaginetonyandbucky]

Prompt: Bucky (and Hydra) are discovered way earlier. So when Steve is defrosted, he meets Tony and his husband James Stark.

Steve could hear the conversation going on in the kitchen, and he didn’t have to strain his unnatural hearing range to do so.

“Why would you not report this Romanoff?” Fury was demanding, and god, Steve had no reason to like the man and he didn’t make it easy.

“That would’ve been counter-productive.” Rushman- Romanoff’s reply came in slightly accented English, and Steve could hear Fury’s spluttering the same as he could almost picture Stark- Tony’s smirk.

“To what?”

“To keeping him away from Shield.” Romanoff told him, and more spluttering ensued.

“You helped-?!“ Steve missed whatever one of them said next, distracted by the elevator opening down the corridor and two steps of footsteps clumping out.

“Shit,” one voice hissed, “the fuck did they do to get yelled out now?” the speaker emerged into Steve’s line of sight with the end of his sentence – he was short and stocky, with weather-beaten skin, scruffy blond hair, a flash of purple in his ears (one of which he was fiddling with) and a bow and arrow set slung across his bag. He swallowed hard at the sight of Steve. “Oh. That.”

Steve merely raised an eyebrow, and the blond man turned to say something to whoever had followed him out of the elevator.

It had been a strange few days.

He’d been wondering through the what-happens-next when Tony had come in with Agent Romanoff (as his assistant Natalie Rushman) and ripped the world out from under him a second time.

(Watch out for the break!)

The first time had been two hours previously, when he’d woken up (a shock in itself) and after the worst fucking charade – Steve suspects it was on purpose – been informed he was almost seventy years in the future. They’d won the war, and Steve hadn’t even been there to see it. God, Steve ached – Peggy was old but losing her memory, Howard was gone, the Commandoes were gone, and Bucky had been gone before he even ended up in this mess. All he wanted was a familiar face in this alien century; and for a second he almost did.

Tony had stuck his head around the door of the room Steve was in, and at first Steve had thought he looked almost unbearably like Howard. But his face had broken into a bright grin, and Steve could pick out the differences. His facial hair was an obvious one, a full goatee that’s neatly cared for, but there’s his eyes – brighter than Howard’s, like whiskey – and the laughter lines around them. This man is older than Howard was to Steve, but seems both younger and wise. Kinder. He’d certainly happy to see Steve, and they’d come in and shut the door with so little sound that Steve had known they weren’t meant to be there, almost endearing him to them.

They’d brought him to the tower, arguing in quiet Russian – Steve knew what the language sounded like, even if he didn’t know what they were saying. They’d introduced him to Jarvis and presented him with a room and a studio, and set him off discovering the world, promising him company. It’d taken two days for Fury to show up again – in that time Steve had discovered, perhaps, more than he’d ever wanted to know, but discovered a love for animated films – and he’s done so with barely concealed anger.

That had been an hour ago.

The second elevator occupant joins the blond man then, and Steve has the fleeting notion that he’s still drowning. The man’s hair is longer than Steve ever saw it, and there’s a good week of stubble that would previously have been loathed – he’s taller and broader and older, and has a fucking metal arm, but the resemblance is undeniable. It’s worse than seeing Tony and seeing Howard, seeing this man who looks like the ghost of Bucky Barnes. He wants to say something, introduce himself, but he’s sure the blond man had recognised him, so this man must too. He can’t make his mouth work, his throat’s too dry and his lungs can’t find the air-

“Stevie, shit-“ the long-haired, metal-armed, Not-Bucky swears, and drops whatever he’d been holding, to dash around to where Steve’s sat on the couch. “Breath with me, c’mon Stevie.” He utters and the voice is the same, and Steve had been so certain no one would ever call him Stevie again, had mourned his loses and somehow-

“B-Bucky?” he manages, and the grin is so familiar. “What-?” he tries, but Bucky just pulls him into a hug. Tight and all-encompassing, and for a second Steve feels utterly tiny again. The loss of the past strikes again, another sledgehammer to the chest, and he buries his face in Bucky’s neck, clutching at what he thinks might be the modern equivalent of a tac-suit. Bucky’s clutching him back, hands crossed and pressed tightly over the strap of his suspenders at the back.

“God, you look like you just stepped out…” Bucky muttered, leaning back enough to rest his hands on Steve’s shoulders. His smile was bright and his eyes were damp – Tony had nonchalantly pointed Steve in the direction of the wardrobe, ridding Steve of the tight, shield-issued, tees and pants, letting him step back into 40s fashion and putting him a little more at ease in his skin. Then his smile grew into a grin, and were Steve still that skinny kid, he’d be worried. He glanced at the blond man over his shoulder. “Think Nat’ll take him shopping?”

The blond stopped looking quite so worried, and shared Bucky’s amusement. “Oh, I’ve got to come along this time.” Bucky laughed, and reeled Steve back in for another hug as the kitchen door opens.

“You’re home!” Tony declares, punching the blond in the shoulder. Bucky steps back then, tugging Steve up to stand, squeezing his arm with another smile, before walking right up to Tony – who looks oddly nervous and Steve doesn’t know why- oh. Bucky kissed the younger Stark, metal hand coming up to delicately cradle Tony’s jaw. There’s a ring, golden but probably not gold if Steve’s come to understand anything lately, on Bucky’s left ring finger. Steve thinks back on Tony’s gesticulating and finds in his memory a matching one.

Bucky’s married. To a man. He thinks, and he can’t help but smile. Maybe the future’s not so bad.

Everyone turns to look at him then, and he realises he said that aloud. Bucky’s grinning at him, eyes shining, and Tony looks – well, he looks a little dazed.

“You’re okay with it?” the blond man asks. Steve shrugs.

“More surprised they can than they are.” Any worry or doubt or cautious anger that had remained on the blond’s face then dissipates, and he holds out a hand for Steve to shake (Fury’s eye twitches, but he does not object). Steve takes it gladly, and finds that it’s calloused and rough, from more than just twanging a bowstring.

“Clint Barton.” He introduces himself, “Welcome to the future, Rogers.” He’s grinning and the distinction between Cap and Rogers seems important and he’s grateful for it. Romanoff – Natasha? – comes up to Clint’s shoulder, smiling and Steve thinks, glancing at Bucky and the arm he’s got slung round Tony’s waist, that he can do this. He has to.

 Steve finds watching Bucky interact with Tony soothing.

Oh, it aches something shocking – a large what-if that hangs with Peggy’s smile behind his eyes – and often he feels guilty; he knows what happened to Bucky now, and is torn between the same ache of wishing he’d caught him and the guilt of being glad he didn’t, because Bucky gets this.

Bucky gets to hum as he cooks, and be hugged from behind, gets to place kisses into Tony’s hay-wire hair and roll his eyes because Tony is crazy, but Bucky loves him. It’s so obvious, and so wonderful, that Bucky’s head over heels for Tony – they’ve been married several years and it seems for all the world they’re still honeymooning. Steve enjoys sketching them, and as the two of them take him on a tour of the future, piece-by-piece, he shows his thanks in the drawings. He leaves them where he knows they’ll find them, and often they’ll be stuck to the fridge, or one of the walls of Tony’s workshop. They’re almost like proud parents, especially in the way they mother the hell out of the rest of their friends and take all the risk themselves, using each-other as battering rams and distractions, secure somehow in the knowledge that they’re good at what they do, and they’ll always come back to each other. It doesn’t stop them yelling at one another for getting hurt, or making stupid calls… but Steve’s never seen them go to bed angry. It’s a relationship of determination and trust, of laughter and love, the two of them now so intertwined in their routines and opinions and even how they speak, that even to Steve who knew Bucky first, alone, and best, one without the other is jarring in the worst possible way.

If Steve were inclined to believe in the kind of fairy tale with a happy ending, he’d say it was True Love; and not just for them, but for the whole family they’re building from their broken friends. Steve mentions it, one day, and there must be something sad in his eyes – it’s only been a few months after all – because he comes home from Shield to find a puppy waiting for him, wriggling in Bucky’s arms.

“What the fuck?” Steve asks, stalling only momentarily, but gladly retrieving the wiggling golden ball from his friend, and the little fella gives a happy yip. Bucky is somewhere between exasperated and amused, the very best kind of fond, as he sighs and scratches the dog behind its ears.

“Tony.” Bucky says it like it’s explanation enough, and Steve wonders what it says about the eccentric genius that it kind of is. Steve raises an eyebrow anyway, the slightly judgy look ruined by the dog licking up his neck and cheek happily, making Steve laugh so easily. Bucky’s grinning at him.

“I don’t need a dog.” Steve tries to point out, but Bucky waves him off.

“Tony doesn’t know how to show people he cares. Have you not met Liho yet?” Bucky asked, but knowing the answer was no, he barrelled on. “He decided that Natasha needed something that would provide unconditional love without talking to her, and bought her Liho. That cat is an asshole.” Bucky’s rubbing the shoulder of his flesh arm unconsciously, and Steve’s certain there’s a story there that involves far too many claws. “You need someone to love, and considering it’s illegal to buy people, ta-daa. He got you a puppy.” Steve just stares for a moment, oddly touched by Tony’s gift. He hugs the dog a little closer, and the pup is only too happy to wiggle even more and yip right in Steve’s ear.

“I- does this happen a lot?” he asks, because he’s not a hundred percent sure he can say thank you without crying.

“Most occasions in the beginning. Hell, even without occasions once or twice… but he finally understands he doesn’t have to buy his friends.” Bucky’s gaze seems a little far off, and then he smirks, drawing himself back into the moment. “Those that wanted to be bought got taught a lesson.” Steve grins, “and Tony learnt that stuffed toys you can’t get through the door?? A total no-go.”

“Wait, what?” Steve asks around a laugh, but Bucky just grins and tugs him into a hug.

“Welcome to the Stark-Barnes family of misfits Stevie.” He tells him.

“Happy to be here.” Steve whispers, and despite the ache in his heart finds that he means it.

[valkyrie-echo]

Project Echo, Part 2: Chapter 13 (Tough Decisions)

Part 2 Summary: A new enemy surfaces with a team of the Avengers’ greatest foes, hand-picked for their destruction. Meanwhile, Inessa’s pre-Hydra past begins to surface, casting doubt on where her loyalties truly lie. 

Chapter 13: Tough Decisions

"Enough sleep, time for our run," Natasha knocked on Inessa's door and waited for the sound of the child getting up. Nothing. "Inessa? Sleeping in?" she opened the door to an empty room.

Natasha checked the bottom drawer of her dresser- the shoes were there, so she wasn't waiting downstairs already. Had she gone for a walk? Lost track of the time? "Bucky," she waited for her comm to connect to his.

"What do you need?"

"Can you check Tony's gear in the barn? Nessa isn't in her room."

"Have you searched the house?" Bucky was already headed for the stairs.

Natasha left the room and went to the main floor of the farmhouse, "I'm looking now, but she's always in her room."

Bucky wove his way around the worktable and over to Tony's main computer. On it was a constant feed of Inessa's implant. The readings were all blank. "JARVIS, what's the range on this?"

"The prototype transmitter works over a range of one hundred miles sir."

"Did you get that, Nat?"

"Yeah, so she's in the Valley," Natasha sounded weary, "maybe."

Bucky frowned, "You don't think she'd run away."

"No, of course not," Natasha couldn't say what she was worried about- Inessa showed no signs that she remembered anything the morning of her episode. What if she did though? What if she'd been looking for Berny to help Natasha and gotten herself captured? What if she was lost somewhere, trapped?

Natasha was back upstairs in a second, pounding on Tony's door. Steve opened it, dressed and ready to go for his run. Sam's door across the hall opened at the commotion. Natasha could hear the other Avengers stirring, "I need to talk to Tony."

"Tony needs to sleep," Tony snapped. Natasha pushed past Steve and walked around the dressers- which for some unknown reason had been moved to the center of the room between Tony and Steve's beds. "No crossing the line!" Tony snapped, "You stay on his side of the room!"

"I need to know if you can extend the range of Nessa's implant. She isn't here and I'm worried."

Stark rolled away from her and faced the wall, "She's just playing with her shadow, give her a break. I can't track anything in the Valley."

"I just want to make sure that's where she is. Going off with Bucky might have given her a taste for adventure and it's not safe for her out there." Natasha snapped. She felt a hand on her shoulder- Clint had come out of their room.

"She's fine, Nat," Clint was as confused as the rest of them, "Nessa will turn up any minute. You'll see. Just be patient. Yesterday was a big day for her."

A phone rang downstairs. "I'll grab that," Steve ducked out. It wasn't like Natasha to get overly excited about anything, what was her issue with Inessa taking a morning off from running? He picked up the phone on the fifth ring, "Holless Ranch, Grant speaking."

"Steve, Agent Simmons speaking," she sounded cheerful, as always, but there was apprehension there too.

"Agent Simmons, good morning. What can I help you with?"

"I was wondering- are you by any chance missing Inessa?"

Steve sighed and put his hand over the mouthpiece, "Natasha! Come down here!" he uncovered it again, "Did you find her?"

"One of our Agents picked her up around an hour ago in Gambell on Saint Lawrence Island."

"Where is that?" Steve waved Natasha over and covered the mouthpiece once again, "SHIELD has her," he whispered.

"Between Russia and Alaska. It's nearly three in the morning there now. Agent May has gone to retrieve them. There was a Hydra base under Gambell, not the largest we've seen, but nothing to laugh at. Based on what our Agent saw, Inessa used her wolves to wipe the base out."

"What?" Steve was incredulous, "That can't be right. Your Agent has to be wrong."

Simmons took a deep breath, "I trust her word. The only survivors reported were a handful of people from their research department- all of them test subjects or prisoners.

"Oh my god," Steve rubbed the bridge of his nose where a headache was already beginning. "Can you redirect Agent May and Nessa to us?"

"The order was already given," Simmons assured him, "I just wanted to give you forewarning."

"Well, thank you, we owe you one."

"Take care."

"Yeah, you too." he hung up.

Natasha waited impatiently, "Well? Why does SHIELD have Inessa? And why is May bringing her back- why doesn't she just come home?"

"I didn't ask," Steve glanced up as the others came downstairs. He tapped his comm to open a channel to Bucky, "SHIELD has Nessa," he explained to all of them at once. "Based on what Simmons told me, it sounds like Inessa went on a field trip to Alaska. She- Nat, you're not going to like this- she let the dogs loose and took out everyone on a Hydra base- save SHIELD's agent there and some human experiments."

"No," Clint was shocked, "no way."

"Why would she do that?" Sam asked, incredulous, "I mean, I get why, but why?"

"We'll ask her as soon as she gets here," Steve was still processing the shock, "How many bases has she done this to? Since when is she a killer?"

"It has to be Tony's machine," Natasha glanced at him, "it's affecting her in some weird way."

Banner held up his hands, "Now let's not jump to conclusions, alright? Is it so hard to believe, after what she's been through, that she'd want to stop Hydra? We need to be fair about this-"

"Oh, yeah, that's fair," Bucky came in through the kitchen, slamming the door behind him. "I'm Hydra's monkey and prisoner for 70 years and I can't even get away with threatening to kill a drunk piece of shit, but Inessa might have just killed dozens and she gets 'we need to be fair'?"

"Well, you didn't have to live with Zola," Natasha snapped.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Come on, you know what she meant. You got to come out of it and live with friends. She comes out of it and we're asking her to sleep a couple hundred yards from the guy who traumatized her."

Bucky was incredulous, "That isn't an excuse for murder."

"It's hardly murder if it's Hydra," Tony pointed out, "When you're dealing with them, it's justice."

"Cause you're so qualified to be any kind of judge or jury," Sam snapped.

The lights flickered and suddenly the room filled with static. Steve felt the hairs on his arms standing up, unbidden. The Avengers continued to argue until, without warning, there was a loud clap of electricity and everyone received a large (and exceedingly painful) shock.

"What. The. Fuck?" Banner was taking very deep breaths, but his skin had a decidedly green tint- he would Hulk-out soon if he couldn't get it under control, then he'd see if these idiots wanted to insult him- no. He tried to let go of the thought. If he listened to Hulk's voice, he'd change for sure.

Thor stood in the doorway with his hammer still spinning. He was prepared to deliver a second shock, if need be. Bucky's metal arm still crackled with static, but it was dissipating in small snaps of lightning. "Was your anger in earnest, friends, or caused by the creature Inessa beheld?" he honestly couldn't tell. He'd been woken by Steve's report over the communications device. By the time he got to the farmhouse they were already fighting. Without knowing the origins of the argument, he couldn't know if it was natural or not.

"Maybe both," Banner felt the Hulk's grasp easing. He won this time.

"Bucky, I'm sorry," Natasha half meant it, "I shouldn't have said that."

He nodded, still angry.

"Let's just get the report from Agent May and whoever found Inessa. Maybe there's a reasonable explanation. If not, we'll have to figure out a suitable response. Until then maybe we should steer clear of one another? In case it was whatever creature Inessa saw before causing that- or feeding it."

No one was satisfied, but all walked away to wait for May and her cargo. Tony headed straight for his lab and began to work.

"Everyone to the living room, we've got incoming," Tony announced as soon as JARVIS reported SHIELD's helicopter within weapons range. He barely made it to the farmhouse himself before May was flying away again and a young Agent was knocking on the door. Natasha opened it to see her and Inessa standing side-by-side. Inessa looked stressed, scared shitless, and guilty.

"Nadi, give me a few minutes with them, alright? No running off with Peanut Butter, got it?" Inessa nodded, resigned. She shared a quick hug with the Agent and walked past the Avengers nearest the stairs. "May I come in?"

"Of course, please do," Clint came forward and Natasha stepped aside, stunned. She spoke to Inessa with such informality, and what was more unbelievable, Inessa responded quickly, and readily.

"I'm Junior Agent Mallory Ivanou, by the way," she waved nervously to the other Avengers. Everyone shook hands and introduced themselves, getting the pleasantries out of the way as quickly as possible.

"Do you know Inessa? She just- she seems oddly normal around you, if you'll pardon the word choice," Sam asked what most of them were wondering.

Agent Ivanou nodded, "I know Nadya. We grew up together in Chicago- best friends pretty much since birth."

"Why haven't you come forward sooner?" Tony demanded, "SHIELD knows we've been looking for any of Inessa's associates. And why would she kidnap the JIF?" Steve looked at him, confused, "'No running off with peanut butter'," Tony quoted back.

"It's what I call the shadow-wolf, Peanut Butter. She never bothered to give it a proper name and it sticks to her like peanut butter. And for your first question- I've been working undercover for SHIELD pretty much since the Hydra uprising, I don't get news alerts unless Hydra gets them too. I didn't even know why I was in New York until the day of the attack. I'd have blown my cover pretty damn fast if they made me fight."

"Tony, everyone, let's settle a bit," Steve hushed the room, "Agent Ivanou, we are immensely interested in anything you know about Inessa's past, and we'll probably drive you insane with a hundred questions later, but the issue highest on the agenda is what she did to that Hydra base. Can you fill us in? I don't know how she is with you, but the kid was so traumatized by Hydra, we can't even get her to make eye contact, let alone speak to us. It's just hard to believe the Inessa we know is capable of taking on an entire base alone. She can barely be around more than three people most days."

"I was wondering what was with the sign language. As to what happened with Hydra- it's not the first time she's done this."

"That's what we were afraid of," Banner sighed.

"When we were kids Nadya would have these nightmares about scientists and labs and experiments, scared the crap out of her half the time. Eventually we figured out what was happening was a kind of sleepwalking- Peanut Butter-" Tony snickered, "-well what do you call it?"

Bucky shrugged, "Nadya."

"When we tried calling Inessa by her given name, she insisted we give that name to the wolf."

Ivanou frowned, "Is it too weird for you if I call them by the other names?"

"It makes it funnier," Tony prompted.

Natasha silenced him with a look, "Please, call them whatever you want."

"Alright. Anyways- P.B. is the alpha of an entire pack. She gives Nadya some semblance of control, but those things are too close to feral for my liking. If Nadya didn't focus on keeping her abilities in check, a shadow would open somewhere and one of these creatures would get loose until she closed it again. Nadya's nightmares were taking her to a place where the door was weak or where the wolves were coming out. When she realized they weren't dreams, she freaked. She started watching for it. I didn't know she had it in her, but she'd literally kill to try and protect the victim. She told me she had managed to save five people- and evidently put herself on SHIELD's radar in the process."

"After I got to SHIELD's academy I found a file from a few months before Nadya vanished- reports of monsters attacking from the shadows. Some were accidents, some were intentional. My guess is Hydra ran with it, somehow found her, and brought her in. All I know about what's happened since then is they had the Winter Soldier- an assassin with a freaky robot arm they used up until the Triskellion disaster- try to turn her into an Asset- if I'm right in guessing she's what Hydra calls 'Project Echo'." Mallory looked to the Avengers for verification.

There were several uneasy glances, "You're right. Also, in the interest of honesty-" Bucky had introduced himself by name, but he was wearing a hoodie and kept his left hand in the pocket. Now he held it up and pulled the sleeve back.

"Nadya hasn't killed you yet, so I won't, but we'll have words later."

"Understood."

"Anyways- from what I know, two Hydra bases were raided by an unknown enemy one month ago, they lost four guards and two experiments. After that another three were completely wiped out- but no bodies were found, and no blood. Security cameras turned up nothing as well. Based on what I saw in Alaska a few hours ago, I'd have to say Nadya is back on-mission, and she's using her abilities to hide the bodies. Before we left on the helicopter she handed over two people she was keeping tucked away because they were too dangerous to be around others for now, and indicated she has sent six others back to their families. At least, if I'm understanding her correctly- I can only get one-word answers out of her most of the time, and I don't know sign language."

"She must have great trust in you," Thor nodded, "she spoke once, to James Barnes, but beyond that we have heard nothing."

"I'm not surprised," Agent Ivanou side-eyed Bucky, "I can only guess what all he did to get her to talk."

"It was after that," he looked down, "in New York."

Steve glanced at the others, "Agent Ivanou-"

"Mallory, please."

"-Mallory. Would you mind giving us some time to discuss this amongst ourselves? Keep Inessa occupied? Maybe take her for a walk around the farm or something. We'll let you know when you can return."

"Sure," Mallory glanced at a coat closet nearby- the door was slightly ajar, "Come on, Nadi."

Bucky jumped- no one had felt the shiver that usually accompanied her appearance, at least not that they noticed. Inessa stepped out of the darkness and walked quickly out of the house with Mallory, ashamed. They knew the truth now. They knew she was a bad person- a killer and a liar. She thought she could kill to keep her secret- to keep hunting through the shadows for people to save. Before, she would only take the person back, she'd exaggerated to Mallory- the wolves killed, she couldn't stomach it. After? After it was more than just a mission- it was a desperate scramble to save people before Hydra took them beyond saving. Now it was all for naught- they'd kill her or imprison her for sure.

It took record time for the Avengers to agree on what should be done- only half an hour. A remote Suit informed Mallory and Inessa that it was safe to return to the farmhouse. Inessa opened a door in the first suitable shadow and they stepped out into the hallway of the farmhouse. Her insides rolled. She was terrified. Most of the group was looking away. Clint was pale, but he looked determined. They wouldn't meet her eyes- and for once she wished they would. Steve alone watched her, and his gaze scared her even more. Mallory stood back, waiting to hear what the Avengers had decided. If she disagreed, she was taking Nadya and leaving.

"Inessa, Natasha offered you a permanent place here. Do you still want it?"

Yes.

"Even if it means you can't keep attacking Hydra?"

She inhaled sharply and looked back to Mallory, alarmed. "I know more Hydra bases than you. SHIELD is putting together a joint strike force to start flushing them out. Nadi, I know what this means to you, especially now, but- I hate to say this- you have to let the grown-ups fight this war."

"Same. Age." Everyone was shocked by Inessa's harsh whisper. She spoke through clenched teeth and put great effort into the words. Her voice was rough, unused.

Mallory just shook her head, "Not anymore. As far as I'm concerned, you're only 16. After what you've been through? You could be 14 still. Nadi, we're trained for this. We're better equipped to handle both Hydra and the people they are hurting. We can't let a kid risk her life against these bastards. Even if you can rip them apart without so much as a stubbed toe."

Steve drew her attention back, "Until you are 18, you don't get to fight. You can be an Avenger one day, but for the next 2 years we focus on getting you better, and on training. Then you attack when we all agree to attack. Do you still want to join?"

Inessa looked from Steve to Mallory, lost. "SHIELD has ways to block your powers now, and we are willing to share them with Hydra to keep you out of harm's way," Mallory lied. Inessa looked at the Avengers one-by-one. She knelt by Clint and began to sign for him to translate.

I can save people. They can't hurt me- I can save people!

"That's not what we're discussing," Steve shook his head, "You're a kid. Just because a kid can fight a war, doesn't mean we make them soldiers. If you walk out now, SHIELD gives Hydra the ability to lock you out for good. If you agree to training and professional help getting through all of this, then you can resume the fight as an adult. Which one do you chose?"

She gaped at the group and tried to read their expressions. Natasha, Clint, Thor, and Banner were all united with Steve. Bucky and Sam looked less certain, and Tony was just on-edge about the whole thing. That frequency- the one Hydra used to use- she knew it had something to do with why she had been locked out of the Valley- she couldn't risk them using it to keep her away for good. The only way for her to get her revenge was to give it up- for now.

Fine. Inessa turned her back on the Avengers and pushed past Mallory on her way to the stairs. She didn't want to look at them.

"Inessa- there's one more thing," Steve's voice was soft. Inessa stopped with a foot on the steps. "We want to trust you- really we do. But the same rule applies to you as Bucky- you have to earn that trust again. Until then... Until then, you're grounded. Tony, go ahead."

She didn't have time to wonder what he meant by 'grounded' before Tony activated the device. It felt like someone had punched her in the side of the head. Inessa cried out and fell onto the steps. She grabbed her aching head, struggled to breathe. Her muscles were locked tight and straining. Tony dialed it down carefully and walked over to her. "The implant- as a feature I added a low-range speaker. It was supposed to act like a comm, since you don't have one of your own. I'm sorry, I calculated the frequency too high. You'll feel a little out of it at first, but I promise that will fade as we fine-tune the signal."

"You're grounded to this plane," Clint came over and put a hand on Inessa's back. She was panting, kneeling on two steps and holding herself up by the stair rail. "Until we're sure you'll keep up your end of the deal, you won't be able to go into the Valley. No more doors. No more windows."

The enemy-

"For your own sake, we'll risk it," more than anything, that had been what made the Avengers hesitate in their plan. If they were in someone's cross-hairs, did they really want to take out the one person who could see their enemy? She was still a kid. It always came back to that- no matter how grave their need.

Inessa strained to open a door to the Valley- but it was like she was hitting a glass wall. She reached back and tried to pull out the implant, desperate. A series of shocks emanated from it. The Avengers stood back and watched sadly as the implant defended itself and effectively tazed the attacker. Inessa gave up before the shocks reached too high of a voltage- it would knock her out if it needed to to make sure she kept it in.

Betrayed, confused, angry, Inessa scrambled to her feet and threw herself at Clint, knocking him over. She ran out of the farmhouse at full speed towards the heart of the cornfield- from there she would turn sharply, change her course. She couldn't leave the farm- not with Tony's suits on patrol, but she could hide until she found a way to remove the implant.

The Avengers watched her flee in silence, ashamed. They didn't doubt their decision, but every one of them regretted it. "She'll come around, Nadi's always been very level-headed. She'll understand, once the shock wears off." Mallory promised.

"Mind if we have that talk now?" Bucky asked, "Being yelled at might make me feel better."

Chapter 14: What Comes Next

[imagine-loki]

Loki and the Minion

TITLE: Loki and the Minion

CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter-1

AUTHOR: latent-thoughts ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine Loki hiring you as his manager while he slowly takes over Midgard again. You are to manage his PR, his daily schedule, and you also are his guide to everything Midgardian. He doesn’t make it easy for you, though. He causes trouble, doesn’t listen to your advice very often, and in general, annoys and intimidates you. He is the God of Mischief after all, and you are the nearest target available to him. You suffer through his antics because he pays well and also, you don’t know what might befall you if you refuse him. He is kinda scary after all.

RATING: T for now, will change later. NOTES/WARNINGS: None

A/N: Basically Loki being a diva, and a Disney Prince. Sort of… 

____________________

Victory… Conquest… Subjugation…

Merely words concluding the struggle between two parties in opposition. A simple enough concept, but a rather difficult accomplishment.

You win at it once, and everyone thinks you invincible. You fail at it once, and everyone takes you for granted.

This fatal flaw in the perception of the nature of war is what Loki sought to exploit.

Loki’s second attempt at taking the realm of Midgard would be his and his alone. There would be no one breathing down his neck, demanding things he had no intent to relinquish.

This time, there would be no conscious lack of conviction, there would be no loopholes for the so called heroes to slip away through.

This time… everyone would see what a cunning strategist Loki was.

This time… everyone would witness the new ruler of Midgard in new light.

But before all that could happen, Loki was certain that he needed a most important addition to his victorious contrivance this time round.

No, it wasn’t an army, for he alone was enough to take on everyone.

Loki had a mighty need—a need to be respected, to be looked upon with hope and not merely fright, to be viewed as benevolent, yet just and exacting.

He had a need for a medium that would enlighten the world about his munificence and his acumen, and he knew he’d need to acquire a new asset for this very purpose.

______________________

Managing Tony Stark’s PR was no small feat. There were events to arrange, parties to organize, not to mention, the wrangling with the media and social media.

In short, it was a daily struggle, requiring a whole team to handle it. Being a part of the said team was considered both an honor and a curse. An honor, because you got to work for a literal superhero. A curse, because it was stressful and sometimes, life threatening.

Even though she had yet to face a situation where her life was on the line, Elsa Trembley had heard enough accounts of such situations to help her mentally prepare for it. However, no amount of mental preparation works to keep one calm when things actually take a turn for the worse. She realized this harsh truth one late afternoon, when a cryptic message was received on Stark’s official mailing address.

It was a short note, written in a calligraphic handwriting on a thick, gold hued paper-

‘I come in peace, to join your cause. Receive me well and you shall be rewarded. Receive me poorly and there shall be dire consequences.’

~Loki of Asgard.

Panicked, she tried to reach Stark, but he didn’t pick up her call. She tried for Pepper Potts, and the result remained the same. Both Stark and Potts being unreachable at the same time—could mean that they were together, and busy…

There was an event coming up later in the evening, and Elsa wanted to inform Stark of the strange, threatening missive before he went off to attend it. So, she rushed straight to the upper levels of the tower, ignoring the actuality that she might be interrupting something.

“What’s all the fuss about, queen?” Stark asked as he greeted her, after hearing her screaming at Jarvis to inform him of her presence at the door to his private chambers. “Everything okay? Did someone issue death threats for me? Or is it a fake pregnancy this time?”

A groan was heard from behind him, marking the presence of Pepper Potts. So, Elsa had interrupted something…

It wasn’t a surprise, though, for Stark and Potts had been pretty much inseparable ever since the battle of New York.

Elsa shuddered. Right. The battle of New York. Loki…

Without further delay, she handed Stark the missive she had received, noting how clammy her hands had gotten.

Stark studied the message and then started chortling. “Well, I guess it’s no longer ‘too soon’ for the Loki related threats to arrive at my door.”

“You don’t think it’s from him?”

“Nope,” he said, handing the note to Potts, who was leaning against the wall just behind him. “He was taken to Asgard, remember? By none other than Thor. There’s no way in hell he is coming back. Thor told me he’d be punished, and that too, severely.”

“But, just how much do you know about these Asgardians? Enough to trust them?” Elsa asked, still unsettled by the message.

Stark shrugged, looking unfazed. “He fought against his own brother to help us out. That’s good enough for me. Besides, don’t you think it’s a bit too obvious to be from Reindeer Games? The message itself is kinda contradictory. He wants to join us but threatens us with dire consequences if we don’t let him. What a joke!”

She nodded, feeling sheepish now. She should’ve known, after all she worked in the field of PR. Anyone could’ve impersonated Loki to send this message, just to create panic. It’s basically what trolls did, well at least the modern day ones.

Hence, the whole issue was brushed aside and everyone carried on as if nothing had happened.

____________________

The city hall was the venue for the evening’s event. Stark was to be felicitated and honored as a hero. It  was officially New York’s ‘thank you’ to Stark. A bigger event was planned later, at the end of the month, to thank all of the Avengers.

By then all of them—except Thor—would be back in the city, marking an end of their three month long break. Elsa was eager to meet them. Now that they were officially recognized as a team, it was imperative that they collectively have a PR team to manage them. She was waiting for that to happen.

But first, tonight’s event had to conclude without a hitch.

She was one of the people from Stark’s team who were to ensure that nothing unseemly occurred during the felicitation. It was why she had been allowed access to the city hall much before the guests had arrived. It was an especially important event for Elsa, as it was the first time she had been given the task to lead the team in the handling of the event, PR wise.

It wasn’t her first major PR assignment, though. Before Stark, she had handled a couple of Hollywood’s upcoming stars. However, nothing compared to the intensity of handling a superhero’s PR. It was partly why she was here. She had been seeking a challenge, something which would stand out in her résumé.

When the event was finally underway, she was kind of relieved to see that everything had gone smoothly. Well, perhaps her own self congratulatory thoughts jinxed her then. Because as soon as that nebulous thought of success formed in her mind, all the lights went out.

A loud hum followed, where she could hear people giving in to panic.

“Everyone calm down, it’s just a power cut, nothing to be worried about. I’m sure it’ll be resolved,” she said, with a loud and firm voice to keep panic at bay, at least in the crowd that surrounded her.

The building had full power back up, and the present situation shouldn’t have happened. But it did. She just hoped that it didn’t amount to any sort of mischief on part of anyone.

Somewhere in the distance, she could hear Tony Stark bickering with Pepper Potts about the present situation and it made her nervous. She had been given the responsibility for the present event, and now it was on the verge of getting screwed because of one stupid power back-up failure.

Elsa knew the building plan—she had checked it out before the event—and decided to check on the power back-up system herself. Quite a reckless move from someone like her, but it was essentially her event, and she needed to rescue it.

When she reached the back-up unit, she found a tall man standing in front of it, with his hands spread. She watched silently as a strange light emanated from his hands and went straight into the unit.

He must have felt her presence, because he turned around and glared at her.

Panic struck her full force then. It was Loki, the one who had wrecked New York only months ago.

Loki… was back, in New York. LOKI WAS BACK!

A string of ‘oh shit, oh shit, oh shit’ ran through her mind then, as she beheld him. For a few beats, she simply couldn’t move, frozen in shock. And when senses came back to her, the first thing she tried to do was run. Obviously.

However, as she moved to run, the heel of her shoe snagged on something on the floor and she found herself stuck. Well, it was a sacrifice worth making, she decided, as she pulled her feet from the shoes and ran barefoot.

A sinister laughter followed her down the corridor and stairs.

The lights came back on as she was in the middle of dialing Stark’s number.

When she reached the hall where the event was being held, she saw that every decoration had been turned into green and gold, including everyone’s clothes.

WHAT THE FUCK!

And then he was there, in the middle of a raised dais that she was pretty sure wasn’t there earlier. More importantly, Tony Stark was stuck to one of the columns in a weird cocoon like thing. The absence of the rest of the Avengers was sorely being felt right about now.

Everyone had thought that the planet was safe for now. How wrong were they…

“Greetings everyone. I am Loki,” the dreaded man began, in a loud, authoritative voice. “And all of you probably recognize me as the scourge of New York, among other things.”

A villainous speech… oh god, this was getting worse.

“You believe me to be a threat to your realm, however, this time I come in peace…”

He didn’t get to finish his speech. Tony Stark’s flying monkeys—his suits of armor—came flying on some sort of command from him, Elsa were certain. They started attacking Loki and nearly wrecked the whole building in the process.

Loki didn’t attack the suits. He chose to disappear instead, much to everyone’s surprise.

When everyone tried to free Tony Stark, it was found that he had been stuck to the wall by nothing else but some industrial strength taffy.

He even ended up eating some of it out of stress, once he was freed, that is.

Everyone was sent home in a hurry, while Stark went calling in all the Avengers. There was no way to call Thor, though, as he was stuck on another realm.

When Elsa reached home, barefoot and frazzled, she was shocked to find Loki waiting for her in her living room. He held her shoes in his hand while he smiled at her enigmatically.

“I believe these are yours,” he said, offering them to her.

The situation called for a Cinderella reference… that is, if Cinderella had been trying to run from a villain and lost her shoes, and was then found by the said villain because of those very shoes.

Happily ever after? Yeah, right!

The sheer terror she was feeling at present qualified it for a horror version, though.

Loki blinked at her, as if confused. “What sad ways have I to tread, to be greeted with silence for bringing you your prized possessions?”

Sarcasm was practically dripping from the tenor of his words.

What could she say in return?

“Th-Thank you…,” she stuttered, grasping at an attempt towards graciousness, “…good sir.”

Really? Good Sir?

She felt like smacking herself silly.

His smile grew into a grin then, his teeth glinting and his eyes dancing in utter delight. She briefly wondered if it was his pre-murder grin. It was kind of attractive, if not a hell lot of creepy.

“Would you come closer, mortal, for I’m not sure we can converse in a proper way, with you standing so far away.”

Oh… pre-murder fancy talk? About what exactly?

Very slowly, Elsa closed the distance he was griping about, coming to stand in front of him.

“Do sit down,” he ordered, his voice lowering to a silky purr. “We have much to discuss and the night is fading fast.”

As she sat down on one of the single seater sofas, he lowered himself on his knees. Much to her continuing astonishment, he bent forth and took her foot in his hand.

She jerked in response, as his hand was cold, and her fear was dripping down her back in the form of perspiration.

Gently, he placed her foot into the shoe, playing out the grimmer than Grim Brothers’ version of Cinderella with aplomb.

It reminded her that he was, after all, a prince. The manners of the royalty were still there, apparently.

The other shoe was placed on its rightful foot as well, marking an end of the whole Cinderella act, she assumed.

Perhaps now it was time for murder…

“You must be wondering why I am here,” he stated, rising on his feet. His already impressive height was now further emphasized, with her still seated and him standing. It made him look even more intimidating than usual.

Elsa nodded, curious, even though she still dreaded the answer that might come. “I gathered that it wasn’t just about the shoes.”

“Good, we may proceed on to it, then.” He clasped his hands behind his back and gave her a head-to-toe assessing look. “You’ll be pleased to know that I’ve chosen you for a very vital purpose.”

[aslightstep]

29 - Tony / ABO AU

(This is the start of how it all ever ends/They used to shout my name, now they whisper it)

Yellow Flicker Beat

When the world finds out, the people almost seem relieved. “Yes,” they breathe, laughing under their breath. Vindicated. “He’s exactly the monster we always thought he was.”

Crowds rage outside of his tower day and night while he watches them from on high. He’d had a glass of whiskey in his hand, but Clint had dashed it to the floor the moment he saw it. Clint, who had always let him be, let him cope, never treated him differently even if he was Tony Stark. Clint who was fearless, who had then shrunk back when Tony whirled on him, the remnants of the glass in between them. Normal, adjusted Omega Clint.

The Avengers are…gone now, maybe, Tony is too tired to care. (Too scared.) The big secret came out and suddenly there was a tinge of fear in Steve’s eyes, a knowing in Natasha’s glance, a shock of betrayal in the new set of Bruce’s worry lines. If Thor had been here…well, perhaps he could have kept Thor. Thor had been greatly confused by Earth’s gender dynamics when he first arrived and once they were explained, had been even more greatly discomfited.

“A warrior should be judged by his mettle,” Thor had protested. “His honor.”

“And they are,” Natasha had replied smoothly. Betas were always smooth, but Natasha was like silk. “As long as they’re in control.” 

The glass is still on the floor, the crowds are still outside, and there’s a strange beeping echoing through the floor. “J,” Tony croaks. “What is that?”

“A reminder, sir. It is time for you to take your suppressants.”

Oh, God. That had been the first thing he had ever taught JARVIS to do, over twenty years ago. Not once had it ever been needed, not after nearly a decade of ruthless conditioning by Howard and his teachers on their necessity. 

Not once, until now.

“Cancel it, J. No point now.” Tony leans into the cold glass. He can’t see the signs that people are waving from up here, but he can imagine what more than a few of them say. It’s a slogan ingrained in every child’s mind.

TRUST NO ALPHA 

Once upon a time, Alphas had ruled the world. They were leaders, kings, emperors. Strong and quick, amassing great packs filled with loyal Betas and Omegas that bent to their will. Alphas were strong, quick, and fiercely protective.

They waged wars over great swaths of land, gobbling up whatever fell in their path and making it their own. There was no individuality. There was only Pack. You were in it or you were dead.

And in the pack, there was only Alpha.

But over time, things changed. Rulers became dictators. Kings became tyrants. Protection became possession. And the loyalty of those Omegas and Betas became slavery. 

Alphas were rare, even back then. The masses rose up and cast the Alphas down. A new world order arose. Betas were so much more even-keeled, after all, and omegas just as fierce and loyal without riding the razor’s edge of madness. What did Alphas provide anyone but a lifetime of unwanted devotion and terror, never-ending instability in their constant need for control?

Alphas were dangerous. Alphas were unstable. Alphas were intrinsically inferior from the moment they were born. Trust No Alpha. They were only good for fighting and fucking. 

No one wanted them. Parents in third-world countries drowned their Alpha babies, not wanting to risk a new Pack rising up. Developed countries sent their Alphas to faraway, isolated schools with the same fear. Because no matter what Omegas and Betas told themselves, the awful truth was that an Alpha demanded Pack by sheer virtue of his or her existence. They were scared. Letting any Alpha roam free was a chance that at any moment, it could all be undone. A new Pack could be born.

They had tracked down one out on tundras of Russia just last year. Shot them all dead to a man. Tony was still surprised to this day that Howard hadn’t done the same the moment he presented. Instead, Howard had traced his mother’s lineage. Found more than a few Alphas in her line. Beat her black and blue. 

That, more than anything, proved to Tony exactly what he was worth.

“The board’s vote was unanimous, Tony,” Pepper whispers, barely audible as she chokes back her tears. She’s known what Tony was since the moment a bond almost formed between them when the dosage for his suppressants needed a re-up and his hormones had gone out of whack. Tony had torn it apart quickly and efficiently but she had still felt it. “I’m so sorry.”

His company. His legacy. Gone, just like that. Because his DNA did this, instead of that. “It’s not your fault, Pep.” Tony hangs up the call. He’s been drunk for days. There’s a Stark-issue pistol sitting pretty on the coffee table, calling his name. “Any word from the team, J?”

“No, sir.” And why would there be? He was an Alpha in their midst. Hadn’t SHIELD warned them how out of control Tony could be? He could’ve formed Pack at any moment if he’d gone off the suppressants. Could’ve bent them to his will, unmade and remade them to his liking. 

But he didn’t. Doesn’t that - doesn’t that count? He didn’t. He never would have. He didn’t want a pack. He wanted a family.

And he’d had it, for one brief shining moment. One rogue hacker with an agenda going through his medical records and in an instant it was all gone. “Try their cells, every four hours, alternating, J.” He’s past caring about appearing clingy or pushy. He just wants to talk to them.

“Is there a message you would like to leave?”

Tony looks down at the crowd outside. Hears the round table going on the news. Rhodey’s phone call from yesterday evening echoing in his head. “Tell them I’m sorry. Tell them there’s not much time.”

He picks the gun up. Puts it down. He doesn’t want to die like this. Like an Alpha. He wants to be Tony Stark.

“Tony, they’re coming for you.”

“They’re not getting their hands on the suit.”

“They’re coming for you. You’re an unbonded Alpha with more power than most of the free world. They won’t allow you to…”

“Live?”

“Tones. I’m coming, okay? Get your suit ready, we’ll make a run for Finland. Their Alpha laws aren’t so insane.”

“I’m not making you a fugitive, Rhodey.”

“Tony-”

“I love you, okay? You saved my life. Think of this as me returning the favor.”

“Sir. They are shutting down power to the building.”

“Initiate Project Nuketown, J,” Tony says. The lights go out, but Tony’s not an idiot. His penthouse and lab have their own generator. “JARVIS?”

“Sir?” JARVIS sounds almost scared now, as the sound of boots echo in their stairwell from a long ways away.

“Look for me. This isn’t the end, alright? I’m not going out like this - okay, I totally am, but it’s like the song says-”

There are soldiers in the living room. Tony grins at them, full-grown Alpha snarl, teeth bared, relishing in the collective flinch.

“’Iron Man lives again.’”

When they lead him out in a hood (to decrease sensory overload) and handcuffs that would probably keep Steve Rogers in check (never underestimate an Alpha’s strength) the crowd that has been protesting at the base of the tower goes strangely quiet. He can hear their feet move as they shuffle aside, letting them pass. High up above in the labs, a special corrosive liquid developed by him is eating away at the suits while the bots lock themselves away in a private room and JARVIS retreats deep into the Internet to hide and bide.

Tony Stark is disappearing before their eyes. Iron Man is no more.

They take him to a prison called 42. A sneering government agent tells Tony that he can go free if he bonds, which Tony refuses. “I’ll rip out the gland if you try to force it,” he tells them. “Don’t think that I can’t.” Alphas are devoted to the Omegas they bond with, on occasion to the point of obsession. They can’t think of anything but providing and protecting for their Omega. Nowadays, that kind of mental imbalance is encouraged - to keep the Alphas in line and under control. 

Tony imagines that it used to be a very profound thing, the Bond. An Alpha’s body yearns for one their whole life. But a smart Alpha is careful to let that be the only thing that does. Keep your heart and your mind safe. They are the only things you will own.

Tony is stuck in a dark cell, alone, always cold. He dreams about life before constantly. Even with years of suppressants destroying his body and his mind always screaming as its most base part was ruthlessly shut down, Tony had been so happy. He’d had Pepper, and Rhodey. He’d had the Avengers. No one knew his secret; it had died with those men in the cave and Obie. He was going to live an incomplete life, but that had just made what he did have all the more sweet.

He was warm, and respected, and maybe even loved. They’d make Pack, and gender dynamics could go fuck themselves. It had been all their own.

Now it’s all gone. 

They, of course, want him to make weapons.

“You’re smart. Amazingly smart, for an Alpha. It’d be a shame to let that go to waste.”

And Tony agrees.

They lead him into a room with all sorts of metal and chemicals and tools and he smiles. The guards are watching him at all times. But they’re watching out for an Alpha. That is their mistake.

It was never being an Alpha that saved him. It was being Tony Stark. And they can take away his money, and his toys, his friends and his team, but at the end of the day, he is what he made himself, not what his biology dictated. He is Iron Man.

It doesn’t take three months this time.

Three months later, Bruce Banner is awakened by a beeping sound. He sits up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. They had been pulling so many long nights lately. The world insisted that Tony Stark had died in the Prison 42 explosion, but the Avengers didn’t believe it. Couldn’t believe it. 

“JARVIS? What is it?” 

“I have located him,” the AI answers, clearly overjoyed. The audio seems to cut out and quietly, Black Sabbath’s ‘Iron Man’ begins to play. “It is on a loop. Repeating for over three weeks.”

Bruce laughs disbelievingly. “Oh, Tony,” he whispers, a fierce wave of longing rising up in him. He’d missed his friend. “Are you able to contact him?”

“Yes, I am. Would you like to pass on a message?”

“Tell him his apology is accepted. And we’ll give our own in person.” He stands, yanking the cricks out of his back, and heads for the elevator. “And tell the team to Assemble. Our Alpha needs us.”