#stevetony yearly wrap up

[stevetonyweekly]

SteveTony Weekly - Best Fic of 2022

It’s the last day of 2022! We made it, friends, and so it’s time for my annual list of my favorite reads from the year. All of these are amazing, and I spent hours on this list because I kept stopping to reread favorite bits. Check ‘em out. And feel free to send me your favorite reads of 2022! 

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Think of This as Solving Problems (That Should Never Have Occurred) by Sineala

No one knows Tony is Iron Man. Then Tony gets amnesia, and literally no one knows Tony is Iron Man.

Sine is always a real treat to read, and I had somehow managed to miss reading this in the past, so I got to enjoy it this year and it was just--lovely. No one does identity porn the way Sine does. 

Some Kind of Personal War by sara_holmes 

And Tony realizes that working out who the Winter Soldier used to be and who he is now are two entirely different things.

The rest of this series is also amazing, but the first part is Bucky/Nat--it’s only part two and three that introduces Stevetony. The entire series is well worth reading, though. 

Teenage Dream by Etharei

"That," says Tony, tone unmistakably smug despite his split lip, "is Captain America. Who, by the way, happens to be my godfather."

I am a sucker for age difference, and also for Steve being utterly protective and besotted, and I loved this verse so much I think I read it twice in December alone. 

Magnetic North by msermesth

Tony joins Steve on his post-Secret Empire road-trip-slash-pity-party.

Turns out the road home is paved with a lot of arguments and sex.

I dug into comics this year, but I still haven’t gotten to Secret Empire, but I really enjoyed this--I had enough working knowledge of the story that it enhanced my reading, but I didn’t feel like it was necessary to enjoy the slow progression Steve and Tony had to each other. 

Like a Comet Streaming On by Sineala

Tony escapes Afghanistan with a functioning Iron Man suit and a perfectly normal heart. He even manages to bring Ho Yinsen home safely at his side. But he may as well have lost everything... because his wolfbrother is dead. Six months later, the Avengers find Captain America, frozen in ice, miraculously alive. Everything and everyone Steve has ever known is gone -- except his wolfsister, the recipient of the lupine version of the super-soldier serum, who was frozen in his arms. Tony has everything but his wolf. Steve has only his wolf. This is how their lives fit together.

I love the worldbuilding in this, and the grief that Tony goes through, the slow bonding between Tony and Steve (and Libby) is just--perfection. 

Mr. July by jibrailis

Tony is the only one who can defend Steve's virtue. Tony hates his life.

It’s just fun. That’s all it is. Just pure fun. 

One-Man Army by Captain_Panda

Takes place immediately after the Chitauri attack in Avengers 1.

Steve is running himself into the ground. Tony notices.

Then Steve gets knocked down hard. And Tony intervenes.

This is absurdly long, and had been unfinished for a while--when it was finished earlier this year, I put it on my list to read and it was even better than I expected--despite the length, it’s exquisitely plotted and perfectly written, and held my attention throughout, something that’s rare during a fic that long. It’s well worth the read. 

For the Love of a Dragon by Captain_Panda

When Steve went down with the Valkyrie, he thought his days with dragons were over.

Then he meets Tony Stark, who inherited Howard Stark's dragon.

As the kids say: "It's complicated."

This entire series is perfect--the world building of dragons in a modern, canon compliant world is just--flawless. I adored the dragons, I adored how different they were and how well they interacted with the people they chose made complete sense and just--I adored it. 

Dangerous Kitchen Tools by ladyshadowdrake

Engineering prodigy, billionaire, and heir to the Stark Industries empire, Tony Stark turned the business world on its head by opening a restuarant and burying himself in the kitchen. Years later, he covers an informal evening cooking class for his friend and fellow molecular gastronomist, Bruce Banner, where he meets famously camera-shy comic artist Steve Rogers.

I really love chef AU’s and this was just so lovely, soft and sweet and perfect. I loved it. 

all in by spqr

What matters is that Steve only hates him 99% of the time now, and the other 1% of the time they laugh together and fight side by side and they’re friends.

Tony’s used to having to wring little bits of love out of people.

He can do it.

I really love SPQR (which is why they’re on this list twice) and this is a flawless little CW AU. 

Patriarch by spqr 

Steve ducks into the hall and comes back with a warm, freshly-laundered towel, which feels so good when he wraps it around Tony’s shoulders that he almost lets out a moan. “There we go,” Steve says. “Don’t want you to catch cold.”

“Thanks, daddy,” Tony quips, because he’s an idiot.

Except Steve’s close enough, his hands wrapped around Tony’s biceps through the towel, that Tony can feel his full-body shudder.

Here we have my most read fic of the year. I think I read this once or twice a month since it was published in March. It’s all my favorite things--mafia, age gap, daddy kink, dangerously possessive Steve. It’s amazing and perfect and I’m gonna go read it again. 

angels who sin by meidui

Summer air is thick and sweet, like Tony's voice pouring honey into Steve's throat, telling Steve more than he needs to know. He's here with his parents for the summer, he just finished his first year at college, he doesn't believe in God but his parents make him come to church.

"They said you can help me find faith," Tony says, as mischievous as he is innocent, and Steve is as good as gone.

Priest Steve, Twink Tony and meidui’s gorgeous prose? That’s it, that’s everything. 

seven years in heaven by meidui

Tony gave Steve everything in the divorce. Their beautiful Brooklyn brownstone and everything in it, Tony's beloved Audi, their private garden upstate. Tony even offered him the lakehouse, but Steve had looked up at him with red eyes and begged softly for him to stop.

Tony gave Steve everything, every last piece of himself. He didn't take much with him when he flew out to his mansion in Malibu, but he took every last piece of Steve, too.

This ached and hurt me in the best ways and then it put me back together. 

you great unfinished symphony (you sent for me) by ketchupcrisp

The last thing Steve Rogers ever expected to see on a Wednesday afternoon was his (their) dead submissive tumbling out of a portal and practically into Phil’s lap, very much alive and frantic about Soul Stones and timelines and some other version of the team.

This is technically poly, but the heavy focus is on Stevetony, and the world-building is just…very very well done. Excellently done. 

Forty-Seven Flat by geekymoviemom

Steve Rogers was on the top of the world. He was one of the top students in his class, a world-class athlete, and had a man who loved him. Winning an Olympic Gold Medal seemed like the perfect addition to his picture-perfect life.

But only four years later, Steve’s entire world has come crashing down around him, leaving defending his Olympic title the only thing lying between him and utter ruin.

And then, the unthinkable happens.

I’m a huge fan of superfamily, and sports AU, and this one is so well done--it’s a little unrealistic but fun and made me cry so, winner winner. 

Without Irony by tsukinofaerii

Open file TS_762-b.ims... Sometimes, when a drive is completely broken, the only thing to do is wipe it clean and start over. When he wakes up, Tony has no idea who he is, or what he did to end up where he is. Depending on who he talks to, he was a villain or a hero, a genius or a degenerate. What he is now is still up for debate, but it doesn't look like he's going to have much time to figure it out. With a computer in his head screwing up and a country falling to pieces, options are getting limited. Steve The world needs Iron Man a lot more than it needs Tony Stark.

I’m a huge fan of fic that covers Tony’s mind wipe and this one did such a great job of that. And then it follows up with part two (below). I looove this little series so much. 

Per Expectations by tsukinofaerii

After the events of Without Irony, Tony wakes up with a freshly rebooted memory and nearly all of his memories from before the deletion and none after. Nearly all isn't nearly enough, and what's missing just might be the most important thing he's ever forgotten. Tony's not sure he wants to remember, but if he doesn't it's going to be the death of him.

Tabula Rasa by Sineala 

Sometimes superheroes save the world. And sometimes they're too late.

Captain America's longtime villain Superia had a plan for revenge. She stopped the Avengers from ever finding Steve in the ice, tore the Avengers apart, and turned the world into her own personal authoritarian dystopia. A team made up of Captains America from across the multiverse came to set things right: they united all the remaining superheroes, took down Superia, and made sure the world would find Steve again.

Tony spent Superia's hellish reign as her prisoner, a suicidally-depressed disembodied brain trapped in a jar for years on end, begging the Avengers to kill him and put him out of his misery. The Captain America Corps instead gives him his freedom, a brand-new body, and even the Avengers -- including his very own Captain America. But Tony's not entirely sure he wants to be here. He's walking wounded, and he thinks some wounds are too deep to heal. He thinks there's no chance the Avengers will ever be what they could have been. He thinks there's no way Steve will ever be the friend and partner he could have been on so many other worlds.

Luckily for Tony, Steve happens to disagree with that.

I really loved this. It was sad, and it hurt to read because of how Tony was depicted, but it was just--perfectly done. 

The Last Love Song of Anthony E. Stark by jibrailis

After contracting an Asgardian virus, Tony starts forgetting things. And people. And Steve.

This is a fandom classic, and I finally got around to reading it and I was absurdly pleased with it--like it was so much better than I even hoped it’d be. 

Relativistic Heat Conduction by BlossomsintheMist

Age of Ultron-based, but not entirely canon compliant. Written for the 2013 Cap-Iron Man Reverse Big Bang. Ultron has attacked, obliterating most of the world's superheroes and resistance in a matter of hours. The remaining heroes band together and share what strength they have to get through it, to survive, and defeat Ultron once and for all. Steve Rogers grieves in the wake of the disaster and the heroes' defeat, and no one knows if he will be able to provide the leadership they need--but Tony Stark isn't about to let him slip away that easily.

This is extremely sad. It was a dark sad read that I loved so much. I especially loved the end--it shouldn’t have been possible to pull off a happy ending, but somehow, it worked, and it was sooooo good.