#another time i met someone in rhodes and we just complained about what jerks people could be

[senseiwu]

Giving my right arm a rest to make the pain go away seems to be working

Hopefully I'll be back to drawing soon, and able to start on my temperature blanket....

For tonight though, I think I might play some red dead online. I feel like playing it lately

[mymarvelbunch]

Be Your Own Hero - Steve Rogers x Reader (part 9)

Masterlist

Summary:  You’ve lost all your family and most friends in The Decimation. Refusing to believe their deaths are permanent, you dedicate years to find a way to reverse it. Upon finding something that might help, you search for the Avengers’ help. It’s Steve Rogers x Reader, but in reality it’s mostly Badass!Reader. Also, Non-American!Reader

Warnings: mild language.

Note: Y/Co = your country. Y/Ci = your city; Y/N/L = your native language.

Previously: All exhaustion from the day (God, it all been only a day) overwhelmed you as Steve took you to... a room. Your eyes couldn’t keep themselves open enough for you to see if it was yours or not. You felt yourself being laid down on a bed, but couldn’t bring yourself to let go of Steve just yet. He was so warm... “Y/N?”, he prompted. “You’re warm”, you said simply. “Warm...”, and darkness came again, but this time you welcomed it.

Part Nine

You woke up in the middle of the night with an urgent need to pee.

Your mentally cursed your bladder. There you were, in the dreamless sleep you had so desperately longed for, and now you knew you wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep unless you went to bathroom. Sighing, you tried to stand up, only to find yourself stuck by a pair of arms. Only then you realized your heard wasn’t rested on a pillow, but on someone.

That someone being Steve Rogers.

Your breath quickened. How did that happen? You barely remembered what happened after arriving back on your own timeline, only that Steve had been the one to take you. You couldn’t remember falling asleep at all, exhausted as you were.

Well, you were still too tired to think. Careful not to wake him up, you disentangled yourself from him and crawled out of bed. Fortunately, the room you were in was attached to its own bathroom. You didn’t want to wander around the place.

Relief washed over you as you finally managed to pee. Silently as you came, you left, crawled back to bed and rested your head on an actual pillow. As much as Steve made a great fake one, you wouldn’t dare to use him again, no matter how much you wanted to.

.

When you woke up again, the sun had already risen, and Steve was no longer there. You instantly felt yourself colder, but before you could mentally scold yourself, Steve showed up from the bathroom, toothbrush in hand. “Good morning, Sleeping Beauty”, he greeted, and you were positive you were blushing.

“Is that movie even from your time?”, you teased instead of actually replying. It was crazy; you had gotten used to tease Captain America of all people.

Then again, you two spent a month training together for almost 24/7, and shared a bed now. Teasing shouldn’t be surprising.

“The Disney movie? No, it isn’t. But you do know Sleeping Beauty is an old fairy tale, right?”, he replied with a grin.

“Oh, I forgot”, you said sincerely. “My brain hasn’t completely woken up yet.”

“Mine either, to be honest”, he said, yawning. “Woke up twenty minutes before you, and almost couldn’t get out of bed. God, yesterday was exhausting.”

“Yeah.” You yawned back. “Pretty sure that day lasted more than 24 hours for us. Haven’t been this tired since I got out of my mom.”

He snorted and laughed at that. You giggled, unable to restrain yourself. His laugh sounded like music to your ears, as cliche as that sentence sounded.

“I don’t think even pre-serum me has ever felt this tired”, he replied. “But my super solder stomach woke me up begging for food. Want me to get something for you?”

You shook your head. “I just want a couple more hours of sleep. Can I stay here?” Now that your eyes were fully open, you could attest this wasn’t your room. (Or rather, Scarlet Witch’s.)

“Of course you can. See you later”, that said, he left the room, closing the door. A part of you wanted to melt at his kindness, but the rest of you just wanted to close your eyes and fall back asleep, and so you did.

.

Intermission: Steve’s POV

When he got in the kitchen, only Bucky was there. He had faintly heard the others arriving back the Headquarters, but he didn’t muster the energy to leave his room to greet them. You had fallen asleep still in his arms, and he laid down to try to disentangle you from him so he could sleep on the floor. However, he had underestimated his exhaustion; he fell asleep as soon as he felt the mattress on his back.

Not that he was complaining. It had been the best sleep he had gotten in years, and he was pretty sure your presence had something to do with it - even though you were no longer in his arms when he woke up, he smiled like an idiot upon seeing your sleeping self, wondering what it would be like if he woke up every morning like this.

Calm the fuck down, Rogers, he thought to himself. He was being almost as worse than he was with Peggy after two years knowing each other. He had met you a month ago, for fuck’s sake.

“Is everyone still sleeping?”, he asked his best friend, who was eating a pair of toasts.

“If you mean everyone who stayed here, yes”, he replied. “All aliens went back home, including the Asgardians, which seem to have moved to... Norway, I think?” Steve nodded to indicate he guessed right. “Anyway, T’Challa, Okoye and Shuri went back to Wakanda through the wizard’s sling rings. Asked if I was going too, but I decided to at least wait for you.”

“I appreciate. I’ve missed you, buddy.” He side hugged his friend, who returned the gesture.

“Wish I could say the same”, he said. “But I didn’t even know three years had passed when I woke up. It felt like I had tripped and got knocked out for a couple minutes.”

Steve frowned, trying to remember how exactly did Bucky vanish. Then he snorted. “You fell face on the floor when you got dusted”, he said.

“Woke up facing the mud”, Bucky groaned. “Yeah, laugh all you want, you punk.”

“Jerk”, he replied immediately. “Anyway, what happened in Asgard after I left? You guys took a whole minute to come back. I heard.”

Bucky took another bite of toast before answering. “We managed to get rid of the rest of Thanos’ allies, either by killing them or just kicking them out of the planet for good. When everyone was about to leave, Loki and the green woman - Gamora, I think - asked to come to 2021 with us. Someone - not Tony - had the idea of bringing extra suits in case of failure, so we wouldn’t have a repeat of what happened to Y/N, and gave them to the two. But Thor told Loki that he had to stay and help his past self to defeat their sister Hela, who would come after Odin’s death to seek revenge and destruction. Loki then summoned Odin somehow, and they asked who wanted to help destroy Hela while Odin was still alive. I didn’t, so I came back, along with Sam, Rhodey, Tony and others.

“Some of the magically powerful ones stayed, and came back a few seconds later than us. Long story short, Hela was killed for good, in a cruel manner if you ask me - I’d rather spare you of the details the Asgardians so proudly told us -, Odin took the throne back, someone brought past Valkyrie to be trained for King, and Loki and Gamora came here. Thor is really happy, and Loki is worried by his brother’s looks, I think.”

“He had gone through some hard times, Buck”, Steve defended his teammate and friend. “It’s hard to describe when you weren’t here to see.”

Bucky nodded, and silence fell between the two. It was short-lived, though. “So, you got a girlfriend while I was away?”

He sighed. “Y/N is not my girlfriend, for starters, and I met her a month ago. You heard about it in the debrief before we went to rescue her.”

“Oh, that was a bad summary”, he complained. “I want the good quality content.”

Steve sighed, and told him all about the month spent with you, all while trying to keep his heart rate down and prepare his breakfast.

“You’ve got it bad, my man”, Bucky said in the end. “You should try to make a move, though. If you managed to fall for her in the span of a month, she might have at least a... what do they call now? Ah, a crush.”

“I might”, he replied after taking his first bite of food. “When we are all rested. I’m still not entirely sure if it’s a good idea, though. She is most likely going back to Y/Co to reunite with her family. That was the reason she came here, after all.”

A short silence. “You could follow her”, Bucky suggested quietly. “Personally, I think it’s about goddamn time Captain American retires, regardless of where you end up.”

There was no possible reply to that, so Steve kept his mouth shut and ate his breakfast.

.

Back to reader’s POV

According to an old digital clock in Steve’s room, it was nearly noon when you woke up for good. Your stomach seemed to agree it was lunch time.

After trying to make yourself minimally presentable, you headed to the kitchen, hoping to find something there. A lot of people were gathered inside, seemingly trying to cook lunch with varying degrees of success.

“Hey, Y/N!”, Natasha greeted you, holding a frying pan. “Lunch will be ready soon, make yourself at home!”

Steve smiled and waved at you. Stark, Potts, Barton, Danvers, Scott and Rhodes greeted you normally, while others introduced themselves: Sam Wilson (aka the Falcon), Hope Van Dyne (aka the Wasp, though you didn’t know that), Maria Hill, Nick Fury (who was just sitting around, actually), Peter Parker (aka Spider-Man), Wanda Maximov (aka Scarlet Witch) and... Bucky Barnes?

“Uh, with all due respect, weren’t you dead?”, you said bluntly.

He frowned. “I thought my identity was public knowledge”, he replied innocently.

“It might be the case in Wakanda”, Steve said, “but the files Natasha leaked don’t have any mention on the Winter Soldier’s civilian name.”

“There were theories on the internet”, you added, “but no one gave them credit, to be honest. Even after finding out HYDRA had developed the serum, nobody believed they had run tests as early as in World War II.”

“It makes sense”, Barnes said after a while. “They did try to strip me of my identity. There was no reason for my name to be written down. Anyway, it’s nice to meet you, Y/N Y/L/N. My buddy here has told me all about you.”

There was a glint in his eyes you couldn’t read into. “I hope all good things”, you replied. “Where is the rest?”

“Bruce is at med bay”, Natasha answered. “Taking care of his burnt arm. We still don’t know if it’ll heal.”

“Thor and the Asgardians went back to Norway”, Danvers added. “And the Guardians of the Galaxy took their spaceship and went... somewhere. I might leave soon too, after I visit some friends.”

“Strange went back to work”, Stark said. “Guy never rests. And Morgan is with a nanny Pepper hired at last minute. Did Happy already go to get her?”

“He left fifteen minutes ago, sir”, the disembodied voice you knew as FRIDAY answered.

“Great. We have a lot to celebrate after lunch.”

“And a job”, Steve replied. “Someone has to get the Infinity Stones back to their timelines.”

“True”, Scott agreed. “Who’s going to do it, by the way?”

.

That job fell into yours and Steve’s hands in the end. Or rather, it fell into Steve’s hands and you offered yourself to go along, not only because you wanted to travel across time and space once more, you wanted as much time as possible with him.

Working with the Avengers had been wonderful. Not only you successfully brought everyone back, you got to meet a lot of heroes from Earth and from space. There was a minor setback (okay, maybe the threat to your life wasn’t ‘minor’) but everything worked out in the end.

But you supposed it was time for goodbyes. You weren’t really suited for a hero’s life; you just wanted to go back to normal, with your family and friends by your side. However, you couldn’t say you wouldn’t miss the friends you had made.

Especially Steve. Your feelings for him only grew in the past weeks, and you were half sure you were in love. You were certain you weren’t meant to be, though. Steve was a man out of his time, and many of your talks showed that he still missed the past deeply. He carried a compass with Peggy Carter’s picture inside! If that wasn’t proof that he longed for the life he lost when he crashed the plane, you didn’t know what it was.

By nighttime, you two were suited up, carrying three Stones in each hand. The Mind Stone was back to the Scepter, the Time Stone was held inside a pendant, and the Power Stone was inside an orb, but no one managed to rebuild the Tesseract that held the Space Stone. Soul and Reality didn’t need anything else with them.

“Okay, let’s review one last time”, Stark said as he turned the time heist on. “Mind and Space Stones go back to New York in 2012. Time goes back to 2017 Strange, also in New York. Power is sent back to Morag, 2014. Soul and Reality to 2018. We all agree it’s too dangerous to send them back to Titan, right? So we take Soul back to Vormir and Reality to Knowhere.”

You and Steve nodded. Once again, you carried extra suits, timers and Pym Particles. Better to be safe than sorry.

“Okay, then. On 3... 2... 1...”

Stark Tower, 2012

The main hall was nearly empty. “Where is everybody?”, you asked Steve.

“Anywhere but here”, he replied. “Everyone got busy after the battle. HYDRA’s trying to retrieve the Scepter and the Tesseract, SHIELD agents are doing the same while evaluating Loki, and we are wrapping everything up.”

You nodded. The Scepter was in your hands. “Are we sure we should hand both of these back? From what you guys told me, these Stones will only bring more problems in the future.”

He turned to you with a thoughtful expression. “What do you suggest?”

You took the Mind Stone out of the Scepter. “Let’s switch Stones and throw Mind in the elevator shaft. It barely glows, so it will take quite a while for them to find it.”

You turned to him to get the Space Stone. He had a mischievous smile on his face. “I like the way you think, Y/N”, he said, handing you the Stone. You placed it on the Scepter. Then, as the elevator doors opened, you threw the other down. You and Steve were quietly laughing as you got in and waited to arrive at the floor the Avengers would be at.

When the doors opened, things were way more chaotic than you expected. Grinning, you simply threw the Scepter on the floor. “Let’s just suit up and go”, you suggested. He nodded, and you both left.

New York, 2017

This looks like a mansion”, Steve commented while standing in front of the Sanctum.

“The Sanctum in Y/Ci is much more modest”, you replied. “It was disguised as a tarot reading shop. Anyway, let’s get in. Strange must be waiting for us.” You knocked. Steve was the one holding the pendant with the Time Stone, ready to show it when needed.

It was Wong who opened the door. It was odd to see him and not be able to greet him like you would had you saw him in 2021. This Wong had never met you. “Oh, you came with the Eye of Agamotto”, he said. “Come in.”

Strange showed up soon after, coming from a random room. “Captain Rogers, Miss Y/L/N”, he greeted. “Thank you for returning the Stone to me.”

Steve handed him the pendant. “Before we go”, you said, “may I use the bathroom?”

“Of course”, Strange replied politely. “Captain, I have something for you in the meantime.”

After coming back from the bathroom, you tried to ask Steve what did Strange give you, but he simply waved it off. “I’ll tell you when we’re done.” You bid your farewells to Strange and Wong, and activated your suits.

Vormir, 2018

You could smell death all around the planet. “What kind of planet is this?”, you whispered quietly to yourself.

“Let’s just deliver the Soul Stone and get out of here”, Steve said, probably just as tense as you were.

“I was thinking”, you replied. “We could let the Reality Stone here too. Buried under the sand, like we plan to do with the Power Stone.”

He frowned. “Why?”

“It’ll make it harder for Thanos—or anyone else—to find it. People come here to find the Soul Stone. Nobody will think of looking for another.”

He nodded and opened his mouth to speak, but a voice stopped him. “Y/N, daughter of [your father’s first name]. Steve, son of Sarah.”

You both turned to see a floating red creature wearing a black robe. “Red Skull?!”, Steve exclaimed. “What the hell are you doing here? I thought the Tesseract had absorbed you.”

‘The Tesseract had what?’, you thought incredulously.

The red-faced man answered, “The Space Stone cast me out, banished me here, guiding others to a treasure I cannot possess. But it seems that you came to return it, instead.”

“Yes”, you replied, ignoring the fact that Steve apparently knew this guy. “We have no more use for it.”

“Alright, then”, ‘Red Skull’ said. “Follow me.”

And so they did. He led them to a cliff. “Normally, this is where you sacrifice one which you love to acquire the Stone. However, in your case, it is where you will return it.”

“I knew it!”, you mumbled. A sacrifice was needed to get the Soul Stone, and this was how Thanos had killed Gamora.

Without hesitating, you threw both Stones down the cliff. “What have you done?”, Red Skull asked, his voice tone unreadable. “The Reality Stone cannot be acquired through the sacrifice.”

“That’s the point, Sunburn”, you replied with a grin.

“Well, it was nice seeing you again, Schimdt”, Steve said with a tone that pointed it hadn’t been nice at all, “but we have more work t—“

He was interrupted by an orange glow. Something floated up to them and fell on the cliff’s edge. When the glow faded, you immediately recognized Gamora.

“A soul for a soul”, you heard Red Skull say as Gamora stood up. “It seems that the deal goes both ways.”

“Where am I?”, Gamora asked. “Who are you?”

“You’re on Vormir, and we are allies”, Steve replied. “We’ve met your friends. Guardians of the Galaxy, right?” She nodded. “We can take you to Earth. Rocket and Groot  are there.”

She frowned. “What about the others?”

“On Titan”, he said. “They were fighting Thanos last we saw them, and it’s too dangerous for us two to be near him. They are supposed to go to Earth afterwards, though.”

It took a couple minutes, but Gamora eventually agreed.

Morag, 2014

You dropped Gamora on 2018 Earth and quickly proceeded to your last destination. Past Peter Quill was no longer there, but none of you were really bothered. You two knelt and buried the orb near the temple it originally was. “At least this is a timeline with no Thanos”, Steve commented quietly. “Let’s go”, he said as you finished burying the Stone.

“Wait, Steve”, you said as you stood up. “You don’t have to come with me.”

He frowned. “What?”

You sighed. This was hard, but you knew it was the right thing to do. “You have extra Pym Particles. We both do. Steve… I know you never really moved on from the past. You still long for the life that was taken from you when you fell on the Artic. You don’t feel like you belong in our present, do you? This is your chance to rewrite your story, Steve. Go to 1945 and dance with Peggy. Find Bucky while he still hasn’t turned to the Winter Soldier. Get rid of Zola and HYDRA before they take over. Make everything right. You’ve fought for so long, you deserve to rest.”

His eyes widened, but he said nothing. You took that as an agreement on his part. “Go be happy, Steve. You deserve it more than anyone I know.” You suited up and proceeded to turn your timer on. Before you could go back to your time, you had an idea. It was entirely impulsive, but it was your only chance. “May I do something? You can push me out at any time.”

He nodded slowly, seemingly still processing what you had told him previously. Gently, you placed your hands on both sides of his face, stood on your toes, closed your eyes and kissed him on the lips. It was brief, nothing more than a peck—you didn’t want to stay enough to find out if he’d kiss you back or not—but it was everything you ever wanted. You backed out fast, and activated your timer. “Thank you for everything”, you said.

Your last thought as you entered the Time Heist was that you never got to know what Strange had given him.

Avengers Headquarters, 2021

You opened your eyes to see Steve looking at you with a small smile. You frowned. “What?”

He let out a quiet laugh. “I think we need to talk a bit, huh?” You nodded, still shocked to see him there, looking exactly like he did when you saw him. “Let’s go to my room.”

You waved to Stark and followed Steve to his room. There, he sat on the bed and gestured for you to sit beside him. “I thought you were going to follow my suggestion”, you said quietly.

He smiled. “I kind of did. I did go to 1945, but not to Peggy’s home. I went to the Arctic, shortly after the plane crashed, and rescued my past self.

“After he came to his senses, I told him I was from the far future. I gave him a notebook Strange gave me when we were in 2017. He said the notebook had showed up at the Sanctum with my name in it. When I opened, waiting for you to come back from the bathroom, there were notes regarding Peggy, HYDRA, Bucky, the Starks, the Avengers and many other things. When you suggested I should go back, I understood what I truly had to do.

“I told past me to go fix my timeline, and live the life I hadn’t been able to. When he seemed to understand, I helped him find a way to go back to US.”

You bit your lip. His story was clear, but there was still something you didn’t understand. “But why didn’t you do it yourself? Why did you gave it to the other Steve?”

He reached your face and tucked a lock of hair behind your ear. “For someone so smart, you can be really oblivious sometimes.”

You blinked, heart rate increasing. It couldn’t be, could it? “What do you mean?”

He grinned wide, hand rested on the crook of your neck. “She wasn’t my Peggy, he wasn’t my Bucky. That timeline didn’t belong to me. You were right in a way. That Steve I saved will surely be happy now… but I wouldn’t.”

He turned in your direction. “Once upon a time, Peggy was the love of my life. But I’ve moved on from her. Yes, I missed her. Yes, I wish Bucky and I had gone back from the war and had peaceful lives. But I made a life for myself here, a good one. I have friends, a nice home… and I found someone new. Someone to love.”

You gulped. He kept on, “I was afraid she wouldn’t like me back. After all, I was the idiot who fell in love after only a month of knowing her. But then… she kissed me, can you believe it? Right after telling me to go chase another woman. She wanted me to let her go after kissing me, but I couldn’t. Not when I had a chance to be with her.”

You were sure you had stopped breathing. Steve had just said he fallen in love with you. You. It couldn’t be real.

“Me?”, you whispered, afraid to speak any louder and wake yourself up from that dream—because that had to be one. “You… love me?”

“Don’t look so surprised, Y/N”, he said softly. “A beautiful woman shows up at my home one day, offers me a chance to get my friends and half of the universe back to life after spending three years devoting herself to find said chance—years that could have been spent on chasing her own dreams—, gives emotional support not only to me but to other members of the team, treats me as a person instead of a hero, nearly sacrifices herself so Thanos wouldn’t go after us, is worthy of wielding Mjölnir and shows to put everyone above herself. Not to mention she’s funny as hell, has good taste in film and music and gives the best hugs of the century. How could I not fall in love?”

Your breath returned, but quicker than it should be. He was looking at you as if you were his whole world, and there was nothing else to look at.

You still couldn’t understand how and why someone as wonderful as Steve fell for an ordinary woman like you, but you’d be damned if you let him go. “You know, I’m really relieved to hear that, because I fell in love with the most amazing man I’ve ever met. I think you might know him. Steve Rogers. He’s pretty handsome for a centenary man, and his smile makes me want to melt on spot. Not to mention he’s always been kind to me and laughs at my bad jokes. Oh, and he’s a hero, did you hear? Captain America, paragon of virtue and a moral compass for an entire nation. You’d think the guy would have an ego twice his size, but he’s actually really humble, and lives up to his reputation. He makes me want to be a better person, every day, and look, he’s Catholic like me, meaning my dream of getting married at church is still within reach...”

Yes, you were rambling in an attempt to hide your nervousness. He didn’t seem bothered by it, though. When you stopped talking to take a breath, he asked, “May I kiss you? You didn’t gave me the opportunity to kiss you back in Morag, and I really, really want to show you how mad you were to think I’d leave you for Peggy.”

Unable to answer that with words, you nodded. His lips reached yours, and everything else faded away.

Epilogue

-------------------------------

Happy holidays, everyone! Now there is only an epilogue missing. It’s going to be cute, I promise!

Taglist: @autobotgirl15-blog​ @starstrucknature @cheeseburgersstuff​ @aamzter2013 

[give-me-back-my-rhodey]

College Pepperony

Title: College Pepperony

Author: Purple_ducky00

Rating: General Audiences

Warning: n/a

Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark

Read on AO3

Summary: Before Virginia Potts met Tony Stark, everyone warned her to be wary of his playboy ways. Little do they know she will be the one to make the first move.

“Ginny. You won’t believe what my roommate did today.” Jimmy Rhodes flops down on Virginia's bed.

She smiles indulgently. Jimmy has been complaining to her since day one of the first semester about his roommate. They are now in semester number two, and she still has not met said roomie. “What did he do?”

“He blew up our toaster! And he knows I eat Poptarts for breakfast every day!” Jimmy cries, and Ginny laughs.

 “Oh, poor Jim. Did you say something to him?”

 Jim's eyes soften. “I didn’t have to. He immediately apologized and went out and bought me a new one. He’s a good guy, but he just has the sense of a moth. And he doesn’t even realize when he gets burned.”

 “So when do I meet him?”

 Jim sits up. “Are you sure you want to? He is almost definitely going to try to flirt with you. He thinks he’s a ladies man or something.” Jimmy muses, “I guess whatever he does works because more often than not, he’s got someone in his room.”

 “I think I can take care of myself.” Virginia waves. “He’s definitely not the first fuckboi who's tried to get in my pants.”

 “Your funeral.” Jimmy rolls his eyes. “Want to grab some takeout and head back to my room?”

 “Panda Express?”

 “You know it. Let me call Tones to see if he wants some.” Jim pulls out his cell. His roommate answers before the first ring is over. “Hey Tony. You want some Panda Express? Yes… No… Listen… My friend an… Tony.” Jim sighs then raises his voice. “Tony listen. I’ll be home in like twenty minutes. My friend and I are getting Panda Express. What do you want? Mmhmm… ok… ok… anything else? Ok. All right. We'll be there asap.”

 Virginia raises an eyebrow when Jim hangs up. He shrugs. “I don’t know. He’s hungry. Probably hasn’t eaten since breakfast yesterday.”

 Twenty minutes later, Virginia and Jim walk into his dorm. “Tony! Dinner!”

 Virginia walks in to see a man about her age, sitting on the floor with toaster parts spread out around him. He’s wearing a red muscle shirt that’s not too tight, and his hair is sticking out in all directions. He doesn’t realize they are there until Jim claps his hands beside his head. Immediately he goes to a fighting position. Seeing Jim, he relaxes. “Oh it’s you, Rhodey. You almost gave me a heart attack.”

 Jim shrugs when Virginia mouths Rhodey? “Tones, you need to be more aware. Or turn JARVIS on or something. Come on, we got you food.”

 “Who’s we?” Tony snarks, then turns and sees Virginia. “Oh.”  He stares at her with wide eyes, mouth gaping like a fish. “I, uh, um, hi?”

 “Wow. You really made him speechless. That’s never happened,” Jim chuckles. “Tony, this is my friend Virginia Potts. Ginny, this is Tony Stark, my friend and roommate.”

 Tony recovers quickly. “Aww, thanks for the friendship badge, honeybear. Hello, Ginny. Oh no, I don’t like that name. I’m going to have to come up with another name for you.”

 “What’s wrong with my name?” Virginia shoots back.

 “Virginia just sounds like the state, which ew. Ginny makes me think of a powdery old lady. And Potts? I can’t even make a good nickname out of that. You’re going to need a whole new name. Oh, you know what? How do you like ‘Pepper'? Pepper Potts. Hey J?” Tony calls out.

 “Hello Sir,” a male British voice comes out of the speaker. “Remember this lady as Pepper Potts.”

 “Welcome Miss Potts,” the voice says.

 “You just defeated my purpose JARVIS,” Tony says good-naturedly.  “That’s JARVIS, my AI. He’s still learning.”

 Virginia is amazed that he was able to create even a functioning AI.

 ++++++

As the three hang out more, Virginia realizes the effect Tony has on people. For one, everyone on campus refers to her as “Pepper”.  Tony’s a weird fellow because he has this reputation and all, and he does sleep around, but he’s not the jerk that he lets everyone believe he is. Other than the big persona he slips into at parties, he’s really a lowkey kind of guy.

 Everyone who knew Tony warned her that he might try to bed and then abandon her, but in the two semesters that they have hung out, he never hit on her, not even once. She is a little disappointed, though, because she has an itty, bitty crush on him.

 She’ll never tell anyone, but there was one time she stopped past Rhodey and his dorm to drop something off. She knocked on the door, but no one answered. Assuming that no one heard because the music was so loud, she tried the knob. It was unlocked. When she walked in, he was in the living room with one of his bots. There was an ACDC song on the radio, and he was headbanging and using a wrench as a microphone. The bot was moving its claw with the beat of the song. Pepper quietly snuck past and laid the bag on their table. She was going to sneak out when the song ended. Tony turned and screamed when he saw her, then sank to the floor.

 “Are you ok?” She raced over to him, concerned.

 Tony was wheezing for breath. “You scared me. I thought I was here alone.”

 “You should really learn to lock your door.” She had told him, laughing. “By the way, I love your moves.”

 There was a moment where Tony had looked up at her with wide eyes, then he smirked and said. “Who doesn’t?”

 Now, Pepper is eating lunch with Rhodey at a little café near the campus when she asks, “Why were you so concerned that Tony would hit on me?”

“Honestly, I didn’t take into consideration how much he likes you.” Rhodey takes a sip of his Pepsi.

 “Why wouldn’t he like me? Are you saying I’m not likeable?” Pepper demands. “That I would be just a call girl to him?”

 Rhodey shakes his head. “I used the incorrect wording there. I knew he’d like you well enough. I hadn’t accounted for the amount he’d actually love you.”

 “Love me?” Pepper snorts. “He treats me like he likes you.”

 “But he doesn’t flirt with you like he does me. He thinks you're unattainable, and he doesn’t want to do anything to drive you away.” Rhodey explains.

 Pepper gives him a look. “Did he tell you this himself?”

 “No, but I know Tones.” He sits back in his chair. “And I know how he looks at you.”

 Pepper doesn’t know if Rhodey’s just hyping her up or not, but she figures it won’t hurt to ask Tony out. She figures that she can move past it quickly if he rejects her, so their friendship shouldn’t be hurt. The next day, she texts Tony. Wanna grab some lunch?

 Sure. What are you thinking? He texts back quickly. Do I need to shower?

 Yes. She grins. What about the coffeeshop near my dorm?

 He texts back his affirmation, and Pepper squeals. Today she is going to see what he thinks about her and, well, the two of them. Her roommate grins. “Sounds like you have a hot date.”

 “Nope. Just getting lunch with one of my best friends.”

 “That you have a crush on.” Bethany across from her. “Which one is it, Rhodey or Tony?”

Pepper brushes her off. “Rhodey’s dating Carol.”

 “So Tony. Be careful. He’s got the love-em-and-leave-em reputation.” Bethany shrugs. “Don’t really know the dude, so I can’t say one way or the other. You do, so I trust your judgment.”

 “Thanks. Most people would tell me I’m out of my mind, but he’s really sweet. He never once hit on me, you know that? Rhodey told me it’s because he likes me and doesn’t want to lose me, but I’m not so sure about that.”

 Bethany pats her shoulder. “He’d be an idiot to reject you, Pep.”

 Tony meets her at the coffeeshop for lunch, and conversation goes on like normal. They tell each other about their days, and there’s some good-natured ribbing. Finally, Pepper works up her courage and asks. “Are you dating anybody?”

 “Umm… no?” Tony is frozen like a deer in the headlights.

 “Want to go out on a date?”

 Tony shifts uncomfortably in his seat. “Are you sure? Like, I’d love to, but I’m not the best person to date. I forget things, like a lot. I get so caught up in my inventions that I don’t even realize anyone else is there. I forget to shower sometimes. My brain-to-mouth filter is basically non-existent. I’m a mess and a failure. Also, people are going to say a lot of stuff about you. Stuff that’s not true and could be really hurtful. My life is in the spotlight the moment I go out in public. Like, are you sure? You’re going to want to break up with me very shortly.”

 “Did people actually say these things to you?” Pepper asks angrily. “Give me their names so I can murder them.”

Tony sags. “You’re right. Let’s date. Just let me know when you’ve had enough.”

 Tony won’t look at her until she takes his hand. When he finally does raise his head, she is amazed to see the vulnerability in his eyes. She knows that is one thing he hates – seeming vulnerable to others.

“Tony,” She says softly, “I really like you. If you want to date me, and I want to date you, why should anyone else get a say? Shouldn’t we decide what we should have?”

 +++++++

Five Years Later

Pepper will laugh when she looks back to that day. Five years later, and they’re still together. They’ve had their ups and downs, but together they worked everything out.

 Lying in bed with Tony curled around her side, she looks down at him sleeping peacefully. She loves this man, and he loves her, too.

[imaginetonyandbucky]

Hogwarts AU where Tony is the first ever 10 year old to get accepted and he gets sorted into Slytherin. Imagine 2 years later when The other Avengers arrives and finds out Tony is the number one student, That he have skipped a few years and is now a 4th year instead of a 2nd year student and the most mysterious of all the people there. Bucky of course sets out to unravel this mysteriousness surrounding the young genius. Bonus if Tony revolutionise magic my amplifying his with the arc reactor.

Author Note - not exactly what the prompter wanted, but I hope it satisfies...

Tony Stark and the Boy With the Artificial Arm

“But Mama,” Tony complained, staring at the redtrain with the gold lettering, marked Hogwarts Express. “I don’t want to go to anotherboarding school. Can’t you just teach me at home?” Bad enough that this… curse…whatever it was… had driven his mother all the way back to Europe and to takeTony with her, but he didn’t want to be left at this… English boarding school.He’d heard too many stories as it was. None of them worked out well forAmericans.

“Antonio Edaordo,” Maria Stark said, tugging ather collar. Tony knew he was in trouble when his mama switched all the way backto her native Italian. “”

Tony tapped his vest pocket. “I have it,” hesaid, stubbornly sticking to English, his American accent drawing attention. Hecould speak many languages, and his Italian-accented English was spot on, butsomething about the New York drawl annoyed his mother, so he kept to it. Hewasn’t going to get what he wanted, so he may as well score some points. Later,she’d feel guilty about fighting and she’d send him a really good care package.

Someone brushed by him, hard, and muttered“filthy muggle,” whatever that meant.

“”Maria said, presenting her lightly powdered and perfumed cheek for Tony’s kiss.“” Tony dutifully kissed his mom, huggedher, and tried not to cry.

Tony pressed a hand to his chest, feeling thefaint vibrations of his arc-reactor under his thick shirt -- he was relieved atone thing, and that was that the class robes he was required to wear (whichlooked extremely stupid, especially with the pointy-hat, like they were playingHalloween every day) at least would cover up the blue glow of the device thatkept him alive. Other kids hadn’t reacted favorably to the device in the No-Magworld, much less in a world where technology was apparently foreign.

The train was crowded, full of kids and theirhoity toity British accents. Tony wondered if he should pull his Liverpool outof the closet and brush it off, so to speak. He had a knack for languages andaccents; he could probably pretend for most of the year, but decided not to. Hewas one-hundred percent New York, they could deal.

He found a car with three other boys in it, twoolder kids and another freshman (first year, whatever.). The older boys werestrangely alike, for all their differences. One wore a green cloak over hisshoulders and had long hair and a particularly devilish smile. The other wasblonde, enormous, and his cloak was red. His grin was so wide that Tony felt hewas looking at a reincarnated golden retriever, rather than a thirteen-year-oldboy.

“WELL MET!” The blonde boomed, then grinned aseveryone swiveled to look at him. “I am Thor Odinson, and this is my brother,Loki. Join us, friend!”

“Tony,” Tony offered. He glanced at the otherboy, with dark skin and a particularly long nose. “And you are?”

“James Rhodes,” the boy said. He looked out thewindow again.

“Wait, Tony?” Loki said, looking up from thebook he’d been carrying in his lap. “Tony Stark? From America? I’ve heard aboutyou, special program and everything. Got in two years early. You’re nine?You’re sure to be in my house. It’s a place for men with more brains thanbrawn. And a healthy dose of ambition, to be sure. Let me see your wand.”

Tony blinked. Oh, right. This was not aninvitation to play doctor, as he’d done with Sunset Bain back at home. Wand.Yes. He had one of those. He reached into the black robe’s pockets and pulledit out.

“Oh, that’s… beautiful,” Loki said, leaningforward with interest. “What’s it made from? I’ve never seen one like it. Areall American wands metal?”

Tony looked at his wand; he hadn’t seen anyothers aside from his mother’s the day after he’d first exhibited magicaltalent. He hadn’t known anything about it up until that point. His mother’s wasdelicate, silver and slender. “It might be a Carbonell thing. My mother’sItalian.” His wand was a titanium alloy, the core was a very rare elementcalled vibranium. It had glowed blue the instant Tony’d put his hand on it.

Loki took his own wand from beneath his robes;an elaborate, and perhaps overly long carved stick of curled and carvedashwood. “Ash and frost giant hair,” he said, proudly. “Fifteen inches.Extremely whippy.”

[more under the break, may not show up on mobile]

Thor pulled his out, as well, a very thick rod,wrapped in leather, with gold filigree up the side. “Ironwood and sea serpentspine. I call it Mjolnir.”

“Wands don’t have names, stupid,” another boysaid, leaning in the door. “Come on, Loki, let’s ditch this loser and get outof here.”

Thor scowled. “No one here cares for youropinion, Obadiah Stane,” he said in such a tone that it seemed that itabsolutely must be the truth.

“Go on, Obie,” Loki said, waving one of hisslender hands dismissively. “I’ll see you at the Feast.” Loki waited until thestock boy wandered off again. “Don’t mind Obie, he’s in my House, but we’re notfriends. Unlike certain members of the wizarding community, I actuallythink that cross-house friendships are worth nurturing. You never know whenyou’re going to need a brave ally to stand between you and oncoming dragons,right brother?”

Thor beamed like he was Scooby-Doo and had justbeen given a snack.

The Sorting Hat debated; really, for much longerthan Tony thought was strictly necessary, as he sat on a stool in front of thewhole school and listened to the hat debate his entire personality.

“Brave,” the hat said in a tiny voice thatwhispered in his head. “So brave, to cross the ocean, on the run from yourNo-Mag father, and --”

“I don’t want to talk about that,” Tony thoughtback, furiously. His mother, crying into her handkerchief while they were onthe boat, carefully using her compact to cover up her black eye and wearinglong sleeves to hide the marks of Howard’s belt across her shoulders.

“And so very smart, too,” the hat went rightalong. “And a master, so young, at magical devices. Only the greatest wizardscan --”

“Necessary to live,” Tony thought, sighing. Thearc-reactor had won him no friends whatsoever, and if it wasn’t utterly crucialto his survival, he would have ripped it out already. It hurt in his chest, allthe time, made breathing difficult.

“And so helpful,” the hat continued. “There’s areal thirst for friends, for acceptance --”

Tony was tapping his fingers absently over thewall of the arc-reactor, feeling the thrumming vibrations under his sternum.“Can we just move on with this? I have a world to rule,” Tony thought, quotingone of his father’s favorite sarcastic phrases.

“Slytherin!” the hat bellowed.

Which was how he found himself sitting next toLoki at dinner and being glowered at by Obadiah Stane, who seemed to want thatcoveted position for himself. Great. First day of school and he already had anarch enemy.

The note sent him off to the hospital wing wherehe met and was fussed over by a grey-haired witch named Madam Pomfrey. She madehim take off his shirt and examined the artifact in his chest -- thearc-reactor -- closely. She made notes on a pad that floated around behind her,the quill doing all the writing on its own. Tony wondered where he could getone of those, he was tired of ink on his fingers already. What was it with thisplace that no one knew how to use a ball-point?

“This is advanced spellwork, young man,” shesaid, poking at the surface with her wand.

Tony jerked back from her, blocking her wandwith his arm. He didn’t like people to touch it. “Thank you,” he said. “It’squite functional. I’ll let you know if that changes.”

“You’ll want to speak with Professor Slughorn,”she said, “about the potion you need. Professor Sprout has gotten in a specialorder of bloodpods and everblooming dandelions to make sure your medical needsare met during your time at Hogwarts.”

Yay. Tony still had half a vial of the revoltingchlorophyll concoction he had to drink regularly; his mother had made it; itkept the arc-reactor that powered his heart from killing him due to heavy metalpoisoning. Tony continued to work the idea in his head, how to improve thereactor so it wouldn’t kill him in the process of keeping himself alive.

“Poppy!” a sharp woman’s voice called out. Tonypeeked around the curtains to see a very stern woman in a tartan robe leading aboy into the room. The boy had ragged cut brown hair and brilliant blue eyes.The boy was gripping at his shoulder as if it hurt.

“Yes, Headmistress?” Madam Pomfrey asked, “What…oh. Did you have a good summer, Mister Barnes? Perhaps it was too much toexpect you to stay out of trouble for the whole first day. What now?”

The boy, Barnes, pushed his black robes down hisarm and Tony wasn’t able to conceal his gasp. The boy had a metal arm, gleamingsilver. “Picked up a curse meant for someone else,” the boy said. “New kid, Steve Rogers. Someone tried to hit him with a Knockback Jinx.”

“Don’t those children learn?” Madam Pomfreyasked, obviously not expecting anyone to answer.

“Don’t know,” the boy said. “But I wasn’t gonnalet the new boy eat that. He’s so skinny a good jinx’ll knock a year’s growth off him.”

Madam Pomfrey tapped the boy’s arm with her wanda few times, which made the boy wince and grind his teeth together, before adark swirl of smoke came out from under the plates that shifted and clickedevery time he moved. The smoke grew a pair of eyes, glaring, and Tony shrankback against the bed.

The headmistress waved her wand and the smokedissipated. “Both Misters Stane and Killian have detention, Poppy,” she said.“I will send you to them tomorrow. Have them do something… very smelly, Ithink.”

“You should have some chocolate, before you go,Mister Barnes,” Madam Pomfrey said. ‘Go sit there with Mister Stark while I getyou some.”

Barnes grinned and hopped up onto the cot nextto Tony. “Hey, first year,” he said. “That’s a cool thing you got there.” Hejerked his chin at Tony’s chest, and Tony blushed, mortified and frightened,grabbing for his robes.

“Naw, don’t worry,” the boy said. “I know whatit’s like. M’ dad made this for me, after my real arm got bit off by a hydra.It holds bad magic, so I’m in here all th’ time. Pommy old Pomfrey thinks ofme as a troublemaker, but really, the hexes and jinxes don’t hurt me, I may aswell take ‘em instead of the others, right?”

Tony let the robe fall down; Barnes had seen italready. “Your dad does good work,” he said, clinically. “It’s fullyarticulated? And has wards on it against jinxes? That’s a good spell, I’d liketo learn that.”

“I’m Bucky, by the way,” Barnes said.“Gryffindor.”

“Tony Stark,” Tony said. “Um… the house with thesnake, I forget what it’s called.”

“Oh, Slytherin,” Bucky said. “Cool. So, what isthat thing?”

“Arc-reactor,” Tony said. “It protects my heart.I made it.”

“Protects your heart from what?”

Tony shivered. “Avada Kadavra. It’s keeping thecurse from killing me.”

“Savage!” Bucky said. “You made a magicalartifact that deflects a killing curse? That’s totally rad. Why aren’t you inRavenclaw?”

Tony shrugged. The houses didn’t matter to himat all, except that he’d be wearing a green and silver scarf instead of themuch more attractive red and gold.

“Well, I’m in Gryffindor, but after You-Know-Whosnuffed it, we’re supposed to be trying this whole inter-house-getting-alongthing. If you don’t… we could be friends?”

Tony nodded. “Sure,” he said. “Let’s do that.”

as always, @tisfan