Bucky had been tracking and trailing down his next target for several weeks. An owner of a company that was embezzling millions, too rich for prison, but too stupid to not keep it a secret. More importantly, an enemy to Hydra. The agent had his rifle modified a week in advance to work as a silencer.
Though just as he locked sights on a clear shot. He saw a secretary waltz her way into the room. Sighing as he watched from the opposite balcony. “Come on dude..I just need to bag this and I can go home..couldn’t you fuck your secretary an hour from now? You just got off the phone with your wife too..” Shaking his head as he glanced away from the crosshairs of his scope. Seeing something dropping down from another building.
Of course..
It’s that goddamn shield agent again..
I thought..
He learned to leave me alone..
Back in Bucharest..
Stony Endgame AU where Pepper's not the mother, Doctor Stark fucked it up in 1970, and he got stuck with Captain Stevens aka @captainwithashield
.
-MALIBU, 2019-
“Tony, I’m flattered that you came to me to be a witness to your character,” Pepper informed him, raising her hands exasperatedly.
“Great, then sign it. Please.”
Pepper looked at Tony sternly, placed a hand on the court order, and slowly pushed it a few inches away from her. She took her hands back, sat up straight in her office chair, delicately interlaced her fingers, meeting his eyes knowingly. “I would be even more flattered if I didn’t know that you’d gone to Happy first. Then Rhodey.”
Tony didn’t say anything, his dark eyes imploring. “Pepper--”
“No. I’m sorry, Tony, I can’t approve on something like this!” she told him. “It’s been eight months since the-- the snap, and you haven’t... All you’ve been doing is pursuing this court case.”
“For good reason!”
“Tony. You’re trying to sue the American government for denying your parental screening,” Pepper deadpanned. She leaned forward, speaking slowly and deliberately, as if that would make him understand. “You are recovering from post traumatic stress disorder. You have had suicidal tendencies in the past. You are one of the bravest men I know, but your mental state is obsessive and damaged to say the very least! And you refuse to artificially inseminate with anyone except this-- this woman from New York? Stephanie Rogers?”
She tossed a file onto the desk, opening it up to a picture of a beautiful, stoic-looking blonde woman with a strong jaw and blue eyes.
Tony looked away.
Pepper stared at him in disbelief. “Does this,” she demanded, pointing to the picture, “look like something a stable man would do?”
“It’s just coincidence, Pep! She’s got a great family history, good genes, she’s--”
“Do not try to sell me that horseshit!”
“It’s not horseshit, Pepper!!” Tony yelled back, making a gesture at the papers.
“This is not healthy behavior, Tony. It’s going to be nearly impossible to convince anyone that this isn’t exactly what it is. You’re trying to project on something that you yourself pushed away!”
Tony bristled. “I know what it looks like!”
Pepper blinked in surprise at the rage and desperation in his eyes. She went still, and slowly settled back as he looked at her, begging silently. “Fine,” she murmured. “Give me one good reason why this would be good for any child you father with this Stephanie girl. You’d be a single father. Her mother’s papers would have to be sealed to avoid this whole shitstorm of drama from airing out in public. What would Steve Rogers think?”
Tony was quiet for almost a minute, his sad, hungry brown eyes searching her face. She could see his brain spinning a thousand miles a minute...
Then, finally, he opened his mouth.
“I can’t.”
Pepper’s brows shot towards her hairline. “You can’t? You can’t do what?”
Tony shrugged, bewildered and slightly mad. “I can’t tell you why it has to be this way, okay?” he told her. “I know it sounds crazy. I know I shouldn’t be doing this, that I should wait, or find a girl to marry, or whatever, but I can’t. I wish I could tell you that I’m confident in this whole venture, but I can’t! I just-- I just...”
He lowered his eyes and swallowed, rubbing at his face. “I just know in my heart... that this is what I have to do.”
Pepper stared at him incredulously. “Parenthood is a huge step, Tony.”
“I know. Biggest step in life.”
“They’ll want you to retire from being a superhero.”
“I’m pretty sure I’m already retired? Where do I sign the paperwork for that, exactly?”
“You’re going to have to protect this kid, Tony. If you’re going to be their dad, there are some vultures out there that will want to know what the story is.”
“I’ll protect her,” Tony murmured, soft and earnest. “I’ll never leave her. Not once. She can be anything she wants to be in the world. And she’ll have me. Always.”
Pepper searched his face for a long moment.
Then, finally, she sighed and picked up the pen. Tony watched in elated disbelief as she signed the form. “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” she muttered, then folded the paper and gave it back to him. “You better keep that promise, Tony.”
As he accepted the form from her, Tony fully intended to keep that promise.
.
-NEW JERSEY, 1970-
Hiding in a broom closet, Tony pulled Steve inside and quickly closed the door, staying as quiet as he could as a small patrol of officers marched past. “What did you do?” he whispered. “You toss somebody through a window? How’d we get caught? Oh, whatever. It won’t matter in ten seconds anyway.”
Tony shrugged back his sleeve, dialing up the time-space coordinates of the rendevous. “Ready? In three, two...”
It’s not the person at the center of his statement that is the reason for the bile in his tone. It’s the fact that he can’t help himself, that he has no control over his own mind, something that kills him now that he’s no longer the Winter Soldier. Bucky tugs at his hair, venom in his gaze as he meets Steve’s eyes. “I’m trying! I can’t--I can’t! You’re all that I think about!”
Peggy had been finishing up in the office. Another day of meetings as they figure out the best methods to conquer each enemy. Part of her was happy for the long day to be over, but she also didn’t like going home anymore. Since Steve’s sacrifice, she spends most of her free time wondering what would have happened if he had survived. The feeling of their kiss lingered on her lips when she thought about that moment. Would they have started dating? Would they have gotten married and started a family after the war? Was she foolish for jumping to such things? Now, she had to have another night of loneliness. She locked up the building as she started to walk down the street to her home.
“ What have I gotta do to convince you to let me take you out, huh? You need to loosen up a little, you always look so tense. Old boy or not if you frown much harder you’re gonna end up with a permanent frown attached to that pretty face. ” Tony winked at Steve, a smile tugging at his mouth. “ Pretty please? Just a couple hours. ”
@captainwithashield sent: Nightmare ( for a starter where my character suddenly wakes up from a bad dream.)
Halloween-ish Starter Prompts | accepting
Wanda gasped, sitting up in bed with her heart thudding nearly painfully in her chest. It was the usual pattern, but that didn’t dull the reactions each time. She felt bad on intruding on any member of her team with these dreams, but the ache of being alone cut so much deeper in these quiet nights. Padding down the hall, she softly knocked on Steve’s door, almost hoping she hadn’t woken him up—either from her nightmare or from her knock. “Steve? Are you up? Can I come in?”
James looked up at the man standing before him. He'd known who that was his whole life. He had been a symbol of America for so long, how could he not? Looking up he nodded and swallowed down any nervousness he might have. For a five year old kid he was pretty brave, but that tended to happen when you were staring at a literal hero.
" I was on a field trip with school. We got seperated. " He tried to remember everything that happened, the poor boy looking very nervous. " Mommy always told me if I ever got into trouble like this, to run and hide until help came. " And that was what he did. he stayed hidden until he saw Captain America, and knew he'd be safe.
━━ ⚙️┊SC.┊TONY STARK & STEVE ROGERS.┊@captainwithashield
based on -- au where two people are connected and if one gets hurt or touched, the other feels it.
The clang of a wrench hitting the floor echoed out through his workshop, he had finally found a flow with the build that had enraptured his attention when something he would liken to the same sensation of being hit by a truck had occurred.
“Ow, fuck.”
There was no one else present, no tangible reason -- but there was an absurdist truth that he was still being inconvenienced by. He was connected to Steve Rogers, Captain Trouble Magnet, and every time he exercised his penchant for valiance Tony was the one who seemed to get the worst of it.
( Not like he had a super serum to fall back on. )
Suited up, he was out of his space and entering airspace as soon as FRIDAY had gotten a lock on Cap’s co-ordinates, the less then impressed armored billionaire now on a mission to insert himself into a mission he otherwise didn’t care about.
Landing with his usual over-the-top patter, he flipped up the face mask to get an unaided look at his surroundings, tone somewhat aggravated as he addresses the thorn in his side in person rather than over comms.
“Hey, Rocky, you might like doing this all day,” Tony paraphrases, his tone the lovechild of sarcasm and irritation, “But that’s not my style, and it’s really starting to get on my nerves, so tell me what we’re doing here so I can help you stop getting punched in the face ‘cause it’s ruining my Saturday.”
