THE ESSENTIALS - A STONY STARTER LIST
For those newly inducted into the Stony family, there are a few fics which everyone needs to read. And here are a few compiled for your reading pleasure:
The Twice Told Tale by arysteia: For someone he'd hero-worshipped for so long, Steve Rogers in the flesh is a pretty big disappointment. For one thing, he keeps looking at Tony as though he reminds him of someone else, and even if he never says anything, Tony's pretty sure it's his father. A lifetime of not measuring up to Howard's expectations is more than enough, thank you very much, and he's certainly not going to make an effort to live up to any of Steve's. Steve's pretty clearly failed to live up to his expectations, in any case, and that's not hypocritical at all. Explicit, 15 789, Complete.
Ghost in the Wires by sororexitium: When Steve moves into Avengers mansion he is caught up in strange coincidences. He walks behind an unseen ghost: a ghost who leaves empty spaces all around the manor. It doesn't make sense, and it sounds crazy until he meets Anthony, a computer simulation programmed by Anthony Stark, who died two years ago. Then it just seems even crazier. Mature, 48 292, Complete.
And I’d Buy A Big House Where We Both Could Live by shinkonokokoro: Missing: Tony Stark, billionaire businessman, heir to Stark Industries, reward: none
Only Steve didn't know that when he picked up the waterlogged unconscious man from the bank of a river. Mature, 59 285, Complete.
Two Out of Three (Ain’t Bad) by plingo_kat: It blindsides him one morning in the middle of his customary third cup of coffee; Steve walks through the door in loose cotton pants, shirt pulled up to wipe the sweat off his face from his usual morning workout, and Tony thinks: adorable. Teen, 9 449, Complete.
Coming Home by Sonora: When S.H.I.E.L.D. approaches Tony Stark to help with their 1940s deception for Steve Rogers, to be a semi-familiar face and name to help re-introduce him to the world, Tony agrees on one condition - that it's his show to run. And at first, it seems like his plan's going off without a hitch. What he doesn't account for, however, are his own growing feelings for Steve. Mature, 22 138, Complete.
Average Avengers Local Chapter 7 of New York by hetrez: Steve and Tony accidentally start a national do-gooders association and fall in love. Teen, 9 178, Complete.
Buy You A Mockingbird by jadedoll: Babyfic! When Tony unexpectedly becomes a parent, his world view drastically changes. And changes. Then it changes again. And then again. Explicit, 29 652, Complete.
Bros Before by tsukinofaerii: For a year, Steve and Tony have had a bromance of epic proportions, bonding over cheesy movies and long, dateless nights where they reminisce over love lost. But now something threatens to interfere with their precious Thursday Night Movies: a woman. Dun dun duuuuun. Explicit, 8 861, Complete.
How To Royally Fuck Up The Avengers Tower by theappleppielifestyle: "Hey, Cap, it's Tony. Stark. Iron Man. Uh, yeah- I was looking over the designs for your part in the Avengers Tower, and I am pretty sure Fury will castrate me if I put in some stripper poles, so I was wondering if you could swing by and see if everything is, uh. Dandy. Did people say 'dandy' in the 40s? I have no idea. Ah, anyway, drop by anytime. Yep. Bye." Teen, 17 021, Complete.
Teenage Dream by shinkonokokoro: A battle with Loki leaves Tony de-aged physically and mentally to the time he was in college.
young!Tony takes it all in stride. He is duly impressed by his armor, confused and excited by all the superhumans (Thor and Hulk) around and then is smacked by the realization that the boring blond hovering around is actually his MAJOR childhood hero / crush / source of adolescent fantasies Captain America! Cue teen!Tony trying his best (and maybe succeeding?) to get into an increasingly flustered and blushy Captain America.
Bonus if teen!Tony is still way way more experienced than virgin!Steve and is *delighted* to get to top (and deflower) Captain America.
(Um, extra bonus for including a little bit of Rhodey and Pepper interacting with Tony. Also super bonus for Steve unearthing Tony's daddy issues by the dozen.) Explicit, 16 905, Complete.
Mr. July by jibrailis: Tony is the only one who can defend Steve's virtue. Tony hates his life. Explicit, 10 065, Complete.
Living In The Future by Closer: Eighteen-year-old Tony Stark is the boy genius who woke Captain America, and now he's stuck with him. That's not a bad thing, but between Steve's wide-eyed wonder at the new world and Tony's little fanboy crush, the awkwardness just keeps happening. Mature, 36 271, Complete.
In All the World by wallhaditcoming: In a world where Sentinels, people with five heightened senses, bond mentally and spiritually with Guides, people gifted with empathetic powers, Tony Stark has spent thirty-three years overwhelmed by the emotions of those around him and running from his own. Sentinel Steve Rogers wakes up sixty years out of his own time and struggles to deal with the massive amount of new sensory input while trying to find his footing in a New York very different from the one he knew. When they finally find each other, how will their bond change them? Teen, 15 082, Complete.
We Don’t Need a Heart of Gold, We Need the Heart of a Lion by Zekkass: 'You know what's an interesting plot bunny? And I'm sorry in advance. If Captain America was an alternate personality of Steve's or vice versa.' Explicit, 16 879, Complete.
Falling to Earth by entanglednow: Snow is the beginner's substance of choice for all cave-ins and trapped-in-the-wilderness scenarios. Why couldn't it have been snow? Teen, 5 374, Complete.
And Has Time Enough by wanttobeatree: Tony asks if they have met. It's a matter of perspective. (A Time Traveller's Wife AU.) General, 15 685, Complete.
The Last Love Song of Anthony E. Stark by jibrailis: After contracting an Asgardian virus, Tony starts forgetting things. And people. And Steve. Mature, 42 333, Complete.
Oxidation by paxnirvana: Terrorists develop a riot-inducing spray that has unexpected effects on America's only Super Soldier. Mature, 10 719, Complete. WARNINGS FOR RAPE/NON-CON though not for Tony or Steve (that’s more dub-con). Sex-Pollen!fic
Wilt Thou Exchange by twentysomething: "The first time Steve meets Toni is about a week after he wakes up." Explicit, 33 608, Complete. Always-a-Girl!Tony.
Wanderer by 51stCenturyFox: Tony jerks away like he's awakened to find himself taunting an alligator with a raw chicken, and almost falls on the floor.
"You sleepwalked," Steve says, stating the obvious,"into my bed." Mature, 1 676, Complete.
Start as You Mean to Go On by BlackEyedGirl: Tony gets that the others think this is an ego thing - the way he can’t resist pushing Steve’s buttons. Honest-to-God, the guy just bugs him. Mostly because Steve is distractingly perfect, but a little bit because of the family history. Explicit, 2 612, Complete.
Be No Stranger (All Your Saints and Soldiers Remix) by jibrailis: That's the twenty-first century love song, baby. Glitz and glamour and every one of us is a liar. Teen, 5 973, Complete.
Team Building Activities by valtyr: Fury's a beautiful princess. Clint's plotting a Communist revolution. Rhodey's not sexy. Wall-E's not a documentary. Clint's not gay but he does give a great blowjob. This fic is not an AU. Mature, 37 938, Complete. (one of my personal favourites)
(First Impressions Are) A Work in Progress by porthos: Tony has a point system for the times he can get Steve to be less than perfect. Mature, 15 195, Complete.
Sleep Verse by ashinan: As the months progress, Steve takes note of Tony's complete disregard of sleep. And when Tony does sleep, it is usually on the couch in the living room. What started as a means of getting Tony to acknowledge his body's demands, evolved into a complex array of mathematical equations and Pavlovian conditioning. Figuring out how to get Tony to sleep is the easy part. Everything else are unaccounted variables. Explicit (eventually), 19 241, Complete.
This Wasn’t What the Brochure Promised by kahn: Tony, Steve, Clint and Bruce spend quality time together in a cave. Tony does not build another arc reactor (even if he sort of needs one). Steve is all Protective Leader. Clint is terrifyingly good with a knife. Bruce bleeds and snarks. There is banter and embarrassing amounts of schmoop and the boys get very touchy-feely. Teen, 7 424, Complete.
Recalibration by malfaisant: Loki touched the sceptre to his chest, a centimetre above the arc reactor, a centimetre above where it would’ve been harmless and Tony would’ve brushed it off with a crude joke. Instead, there was a sharp needlepoint on his sternum, and cold, blue tendrils clutching at his heart, the same electric blue as his pupils. Explicit, 46 390, Complete.
Homefront by copperbadge: Steve Rogers is a capable leader, a kind and cheerful man, a good friend, a strong role model, and a loyal soldier. He's also teetering on the edge of suicide. Explicit, 12 860, Complete.
Slipping Through the Years by often_adamanta: The plane crash and subsequent ice might have killed him, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t still around, haunting those he cares about. And since the only person who can see him is Tony Stark, death sure isn’t going to be boring. Mature, 17 991, Complete.
The Act of Creation Will Be Your Salvation by scifigrl47: When Tony Stark was seventeen years old, he built his first AI. On that day, he ceased to be his father's creation, and became a creating force in his own right.
That one act likely saved his life, and not always in the most obvious ways. Mature, 84 678, Complete.
There are a lot of things I left off of this list so if you think that there are any other must-haves for starters then let me know and I’ll add it to the list.
(P.S. I apologize for our directory tags at the moment, they appeare to have gotten a bit muddled, but I am trying to fix the problem, it just may take some time as I am in the middle of an exam period)
