Bloom

“FRAN?”

“File Review & Analysis Network. She’ll be going the past five or six... decades of SHIELD’s, wait, are you going to get in trouble if you know this? Do you need plausible deniability?”

James shrugs. “Hey, technically I’m off the clock. And I’m pretty sure Pepper would hook me up with an at least semi-competent lawyer.”

She digs her cold toes under his thigh where they sit together on the sofa in Tony’s workshop, not looking up from the tablet in her hands.

“If you play your cards right, I might get you two of them.”

He rubs her ankle, smiling like an idiot.

“Gross. I told you from the start you’d be cute, that doesn’t mean I want you getting it all over my sofa.”

With a swipe of his hand, Tony displays the initial framework FRAN is working within. It’s a complex web of SHIELD’s day-to-day and ongoing operations, forking off into subfolders dating back to digitized files from the 50s.

“I have her prioritizing anything coming up now that affects us. If they want access to my company and tech, they can go through us and pay for it. Beyond that are lower priority items, eventually it’ll all be decrypted, sorted, and analyzed, but that’s going to take a while.”

James bites his lip, he’s more on the side of verify than trust.

“So what was the deal with the ‘Avengers Initiative’?”

Another swipe of the hand has FRAN’s work disappearing into the background and Tony’s previous project coming back into frame. He rolls his shoulders and raises his chin.

“Please, do I look like the type to join some super secret boy band?”

Pepper snorts and immediately covers it up with a delicate cough, while James smirks.

“I mean, you did go through that frosted tips phase in the 90s...”

He easily dodges the stylus Tony throws at him, laughing and leaning into his soulmate.

It’s been weighing on him for a while. The military isn’t his life, but he’s worked damn hard to get where he is. Still, lately, he’s been thinking about the future. Tony made him an offer years ago, eyes averted and posture a little too studied to be casual, the way Tony is when he’s really serious and leaving his heart on the line. He wasn’t ready then and let his friend know that as kindly as possible.

Now, though?

He wants to spend every day with Pepper, she’s his goddamn sun. He wants to be there for his friend. Maybe it’s time for something new.

The alert from FRAN via JARVIS comes in during lunch, a good one with all of Tony’s trusted people around him: Rhodey giving Pepper the pickles that came with his pastrami on rye while she pulls tomatoes off her BLT and puts them on his plate, Happy settling in with his corned beef and Yvette frowning at the olives in her side salad.

“Sir, I believe FRAN has processed a recent SHIELD report that requires attention.”

James drops his sandwich, “Holy crap, Tones, that’s...”

(And the thing about Captain America is this: maybe the seed that was Howard and Maria’s potential could’ve grown if Howard gave half a shit. Maybe if he hadn’t measured everyone in his life by the impossible standard of a legend more myth than man, he might have seen his son. It’s not a frozen stranger’s fault that Howard salted the earth he should’ve tended, but Tony would have preferred it if the past stayed buried.)

The pages of the report spread out on the screen beside them, details of the search, pictures of the frigid block they found, breakdowns of his physical condition and photos cataloguing the damage, or lack thereof, of the past 70 years on ice.

Yvette elbows Happy and points to a photo in the bottom corner of the screen.

“Daffodil, that’s an unlucky mark.”

Tony looks up sharply, zooming in on the photo.

“Oh, shit. Shit, no. Hard pass.”

Six months later, Tony gets a call for something more urgent than a consult from SHIELD. An anomaly, too tempting to pass up. The introduction to the dream team goes about as well as can be expected, although he is genuinely pleased to meet Dr. Banner. Several conversations with Rhodey and Pepper, and one gruff and awkward but still helpful back and forth with Happy, over the past months have left him feeling neutral on running into his soulmate. He’s still not particularly interested, but hey, maybe he’ll luck out and get a platonic match out of it. Rhodey could have an ex-military buddy, Happy could have someone else to box with. He should at least give the guy a shot.

“Yeah. Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?”

Welp.

There’s something wrong with Thor’s (adopted) brother. He nearly skewers Coulson, blocked only by Rhodes managing to shove him out of the way. Loki freezes, and for a fleeting fraction of a second, there’s something in his eyes. The briefest flash of panic pings a memory in James. The look Tony had in the desert, torn between seeing rescue and fearing hallucination. Then it’s gone and so is he, courtesy of a blast from Coulson and a team of mind-controlled SHIELD agents.

“Thanks for the save.”

“Did that not seem off to you?”

Coulson nods, but heads back to meet with Fury and the others. “I think we have bigger problems.”

When they get back to the bridge, Tony is pissed off and fielding a report from JARVIS, while the Captain watches, thoughtful and a little too intent for James’ liking.

“He’s on my tower. He’s on my tower.”

On private comms while they fly, James fills Tony in on the odd encounter with Loki. They’re going into this too blind, but they’re out of time.

They dive into the fray. Rhodes is not a soldier anymore, but he was, and his heart is in his throat as he and Tony cover each other’s backs because Tony is not a soldier. He’s a genius idiot with his heart badly protected by a glowing star and sheer spite.

Rhodey wasn’t wrong, Loki really does look like shit. Tony has a second to think the quip about performance issues probably wasn’t worth it as Loki’s hand closes around his throat.

“You will all—” Loki falters, his eyes flicker and Tony’s widen.

“Help me. Please.” He whispers so softly Tony thinks he’s imagining the sound, the pain on Loki’s face. And then he’s being thrown out a fucking window and falling.

“Deploy, JARVIS! Deploy, deploy!!”

The stars aren’t like his, they’re not warm, they don’t welcome. He sends the nuke into a fleet of alien warships and he falls and falls.

Rhodes chases after Tony, the idiot, he’s never, ever letting him live this down. Of all the stupid, impossible places he’s ever followed Tony, a portal into the abyss of space makes the top ten. Top three! He sees a glimpse of infinite stars and then he’s catching the dead weight that is Tony’s suit and fighting as his own fails and sputters out. God, Pepper. He’s sorry, he’s so sorry.

The Hulk saves them. Snatches them out of the air like a couple of rag dolls. Looks like the enormous green rage monster is a fan of Tony, too.

Tony gasps awake after the Hulk’s roar, “What the hell? What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me. Unless it was you, honeybear, you know I love you.”

Rhodes ignores the dirty look from the Captain and helps Tony release the suit, pulling him into a tight hug.

“Come on, man. Let’s get you looked at back at the tower.”

And it’s true, Tony does need looked at, but JARVIS sounds in Rhodey’s ear that they also have a guest to take care of before SHIELD worms their way in.

“Do you need any help?”

The Captain sounds eager and James knows he’s probably being unfair but something about the man just rubs him the wrong way. Part of him looks at Tony and still sees a scrawny teen with big eyes and too many bruises. The scepter influencing them on the ship dialed Tony’s capacity for being a little shit up to 11, but he was still Tony. If it made the Captain try to physically intimidate a guy he easily has 50lbs on, what does that say about him?

“Thanks, Captain, but I think you’re still needed here. We’ll debrief with SHIELD later.”

The first thing Rhodes does when they reach the tower is drop Tony off in his workshop with Happy and Yvette. He still can’t get ahold of Pepper, but from the general chaos, he’s not the only one whose calls aren’t going through. She’s safe, at least. Away from here, he holds that close in his heart.

Loki is still in the crater where Banner left him. He lets out a low groan, a single eye cracks open.

“I believe Stark offered me a drink. If it’s all the same to you, I’ll take you up on that now.”

Rhodes crouches down and looks him over, “I saw something in you, on the helicarrier. And you asked Tony for help. We’ve only got a little time before SHIELD and god knows who else is breathing down our necks, so yeah, I’ll get you a drink. And you can tell me everything about what the hell has been going on.”

Loki does, in gasping stops and starts.

And when Tony makes his way up, he finds the two of them still talking quietly. James sitting on the coffee table, and Loki on the sofa with a mug of the shitty, instant hot chocolate Rhodey keeps for emergencies and a throw blanket around his shoulders.

James sighs when he sees Tony’s face. Pure spiteful stubbornness with a generous helping of we’re keeping this one.