Chapter 1
Raising your eyes without lifting your head to keep from looking like you’re listening, you direct your attention to the giggling and failed attempts at hushed conversation. Across the room near the water cooler you can’t help but sigh at the group of your co-workers you see gathered there. Looking back down at your computer you try to redirect your focus back to the reports in front of you, but you can’t help it as the snide comments about your outfit and body float towards you on the peals of their annoying laughter. With a small sigh you push your glasses up off your face and close your eyes, gently running one of your hands down your face trying to ease the tension that you feel growing. You look down at your outfit that you had picked for today, up until about 5 minutes ago you had felt very confident in your favorite ripped skinny jeans and white blouse with the black outlines of cats wearing glasses. You thought it looked professional while still looking cute and more your age. It helped the Stark Industries kept a casual dress code allowing you to wear things you were more comfortable in like jeans. You shudder at the thought of having to wear heels and a skirt every day. You could only imagine the amount of chaffing; you could almost feel the pain without it being there. Shaking your head slightly you readjust your glasses and hit the save button on the document you were currently looking over. Deciding to take a walk to try and clear your head, you lock your computer and gently push away from your desk hoping to slip away relatively unnoticed. Carefully looking up towards the group at the cooler, you relax a bit as they seem to be too absorbed in what the others are saying to notice you walking away.
Thankfully the elevators and the bathrooms where the opposite direction from the group, you once again sent up a small thank to whoever had made that design decision as you quickly made your way out of the big open office and into the hall that lead you towards the elevators. Your office was not the only open floor plan office on this level, you also shared the level with half of accounting and there were some smaller private offices for people in research and development when they needed a quiet place to draft plans. Making your way down the hall, you took a deep breath. You loved your job, you really did. Being able to work as the head of Corporate Philanthropy in the department Public Relations, it was a dream. It had started back when you were still an intern in public relations, and you suggested that Stark Industries joined some kind of corporate outreach program. It had originally been put on you as sort of busy work, but the project quickly became your baby and soon they brought you on full time to do just that. You felt like you were really able to do something and make a difference, being able to bring different charities and causes to Mr. Stark’s attention and maybe even securing them a donation. The big guy had a big heart and as much as he tried to play up the billionaire Playboy aspect of his persona, when it came to charity, he was more than willing to empty those deep pockets. Maybe it was his way of making amends for once being an weapons dealer, you could only guess. Laughing softly to yourself, “Maybe if I ever meet him, I’ll ask.” You rolled your eyes at yourself as you entered the bathroom. Stopping to look at yourself in the mirror you let out a deep sigh as your eyes scanned up and down your reflection. You’d always been bigger than others. This was nothing new, it had become your normal from as far back as you could remember. Your thighs spread out when you sat, your tummy was round and your hips where wide. They gave you a nice shape from the front, you thought to yourself, almost hourglass. But when you turned to the side, you felt the positive aspects become a distant memory. Seeing the size of your thighs and the way your tummy sticks out, the roundness of your cheeks and under your chin. Turning your back to the mirror you lean against the counter, as your shoulders slump. You thought you’d be used to the teasing, the snide remarks, the stares, the awful nicknames. It had been going on since middle school, and we’ll you’d dealt with it for so long it almost felt like second nature. Whispering so as not to be overheard, “It doesn’t make it sting any less though.” You sighed softly, turning back to face yourself. Looking in the eyes of your reflection, you smile a sad half smile. “The outfit is still cute, so what if they don’t like it on you? I do, and that’s what matters.”, you say to yourself a bit louder, trying to instill some confidence back in yourself. Even if it was fake, no one else had to know. Straightening your back and shoulders, you took a deep breath and held your head a little higher before smiling a bit bigger and nodding. “You can do this Y/N. You’ve made it this far, and we’re not letting a couple bullies take that away from you.” Satisfied at your own little pep talk you walk back out of the bathroom and down the hall to the office.
Making your way back to your desk, you ignored the group still chatting and sat back down feeling more energized and confident. Re-opening your computer you pulled up the documents you had been working on, being essentially a one-person program there was a constant stream of paperwork to go through. Be it applications for scholarships, organizations looking for a donation or a grant, someone hoping Tony would be willing to host a charity gala for this cause or that, and not to mention all the Make A Wish requests for the various Avengers. You smiled as you saw the latest email come through from the group. That was another perk of your job, every now and then you got to work with the team. Well, not one on one exactly, but sometimes when PR decided that one member or another needed a boost in the public’s eye, well you helped set them up with a good outreach opportunity. And sometimes they just got bored or wanted to give back even more than they already do. Cap was always checking to see if you had new groups, he might be good with. His current favorite was Boys and Girls Club, he loved being a mentor and getting to see the kids when he could. The two of you had never met in person, but he kept you updated on how things went when he did have a chance to visit. You smiled fondly thinking of the last email that he sent you, he had even managed to attach some pictures of him and the kids. That email had filled you with so much joy that you knew you were in the right place, and those pictures were proudly pinned to a bulletin board you had back in your apartment.
As you were about to get back into your paperwork the group at the cooler finally decided to break up their little party, not stopping their conversation though as they all went back to their desks. Several of them continued chatting as they sat at their computers, leading to their being quite a bit of hubbub in the room. You inhaled deeply and grabbed the headphones from the top drawer of your desk, quickly plugging them into your phone and bringing up your favorite playlist to help you focus on your work. Hitting shuffle, you couldn’t help but laugh softly at the first song that came on. High School Never Ends by Bowling for Soup. “Well that’s appropriate.” You muttered to yourself before diving back into work.
A few hours later, just as you’re reading through the last application on your queue for today you hear the ping of your email. Looking at the notification, you furrow your brow at the sender, it was one Mr. Tony Stark. Quickly opening the new email, you feel your eyebrows raise at the message inside. “Y/N, I’m coming by in 30 with some people who want to meet you. Just thought you’d want to know! -Tony (Sent by F.R.I.D.A.Y.)” Rereading it to make sure you weren’t seeing things; you sit back in your seat a bit stunned. “Well that’s new. I didn’t even think he knew my name.” I mean sure, you were a one-woman program, but you were still under the PR umbrella, so while you technically didn’t report to anyone, there was quite a lot of communication that still went through the middleman of the PR heads. Looking at the clock you noticed it was nearing 4pm. Checking the time stamp on the email you saw you had about 20 minutes until chaos was going to ensue. Trying not to groan as you thought about how your co-workers were going to react to Tony Stark’s arrival, and whoever he was dragging along, you quickly decided you were not caffeinated enough to deal with that. Grabbing the travel mug on your desk, you headed off to the break room. One of the many perks of working for Stark, the coffee machines were always working, and the coffee was great. Humming softly to yourself you quickly stirred in your sugar and cream to your newly acquired anti-murder bean juice, you put the lid back on the mug that had been a gift from your friend when you told her about your job. Smiling softly as you looked at the mug’s silver script that read “Not Today Satan” you shook your head and went back to your desk. Putting away the headphones you had left on your desk before going to the break room, you heard a hush fall across the office before the hurried footsteps of what you could only assume was a stampede of your coworkers viewing for the attention of Stark as he entered the office. Rolling your eyes, you bent over in your seat to dig through your bag for you glasses cloth, knowing it would take them a hot minute to get to you, being close to the opposite side and having to deal with all the others. Finally finding the cloth you went to straighten, but you didn’t notice how close your head was to the edge of the desk. As you lifted your head you managed to hit it on the desk causing you to jerk back and quickly raise a hand to the hurt spot on the back of your head, “Jesus…”, you mutter, cursing your clumsiness. Looking up towards the entrance of the room you hear the snickers from certain coworkers begin, because of course luck had never been on your side when it came to potentially making a fool of yourself. Stark used the distraction as the break he needed to make his way to your desk, his two guests trailing not far behind him. You roll your eyes and sigh softly, not paying attention to the trio making their way to you as you take a sip of your coffee. You can already feel the glares from the same people who were previously laughing at your pain, and you elect to ignore it, not wanting to give them the satisfaction of even a glance. You hear the footsteps of the trio approaching so you turn in your chair and stand up, taking a step towards them as they stop in front of you, Tony in front and the other two men slightly behind him. Smiling at the billionaire in front of you, “It’s so nice to meet you Mr. Stark, I’m Y/N Y/L/N.” You’re smile grows bigger as you notice one of the men with him the none other than Captain America, aka Mr. Steve Rogers who you email with surprisingly often. You didn’t know the man beside Steve, but he looked vaguely familiar, his brown hair pulled back into a bun to keep it out of his face. You didn’t get much of a chance to study him further as Tony quickly grabbed your attention, “Y/N, I should’ve introduced myself a long time ago especially with how much work you do for me and the team, but anyway no time for should haves.” He clapped his hands together before gesturing to the two behind him, “This is Capsicle, although you probably already knew that. And this here, is what I am dubbing your next big outreach project. Sergeant Bucky Barnes here, aka The Winter Soldier, is in need of a bit of an image boost, and you have done that for the rest of us in spades.” He offers you a smile as you blush at his compliments, smiling wide as you try to wrap your head around Tony Stark praising your work. Shyly, “Really its nothing Mr. Stark, just matching people with an organization that would be a good fit for their interests.”, you try to brush off the compliments. “Nonsense! And call me Tony. Anyway, I will leave these two fossils with you and I’m sure you’ll get it all figured out.” You nod and give him a small wave as he turns and strides out of the room.
Turning to the two men in front of you, you notice just how talk they are as you step forward and offer your hand, “Captain Rogers, Sergeant Barnes, it’s a pleasure to meet you both.” Steve takes your hand and smiles warmly shaking your hand. Bucky is a bit slower to take your hand but still gives a polite shake, briefly making eye contact but quickly breaking it as he lets go of your hand. You smile gently at him, before continuing, “As Mr. Stark said, I’m Y/N, and I’m basically in charge of connecting charities to the resources of Stark Industries and by extension The Avengers. So, I guess the best place to start would be figuring out what kinds of organizations you would be interested in working with, or what kind of causes are important to you?” Steve smiles and nods, and you quickly step back to your desk. “Oh! Let me get you chairs!” you quickly say as realizing that you have desk chair, but Steve cuts you off with a small wave of his hand, “Allow me.” You nod softly as you sit down at your desk and Steve pulls two chairs around. Scooting closer to the desk to allow them space, you quickly pull up a new document on your computer. You glance up at the rest of the room and can’t help but catch glares of several of the women who are talking around one of their desks. Shaking your head softly as you turn back to the men, putting on a small smile or at least what you hope is coming across as a smile. Steve had noticed the glance and turned to look at the women, noticing the glares before they quickly changed to smiles and flirty glances when they saw him looking. Turning back to you, he gave a little nod, “What’s all that about if you don’t mind me asking?” You sigh softly, “Oh you know, high school never ends.” You grimace softly, before putting on your business persona again, “But anyway, um I guess part of figuring out what would work best would be knowing what I’m up against. I know Mr. Stark mentioned an image boost, but I’m not quite sure what tarnished it in the first place.” You watch as Steve and Bucky seem to have a conversation with nothing more than a few looks and eyebrow movements. As you notice Bucky begin to shift in his seat seemingly uncomfortable with where the conversation is going you quickly speak up, “You don’t have to tell me, I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable really. I can just, put together a list of the groups that Captain Rogers and the rest of the team has really liked, and you can pick whatever you like the most.” Bucky nods and quickly rises from his chair, exiting the room as silently as he entered. Your shoulders drop as he walks away, cursing yourself for asking things you shouldn’t have. You look over to Steve who is watching his friend leave with a slightly worried look on his face. Softly, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked. I didn’t mean to upset him.” Steve turns back to you, shaking his head. “It wasn’t anything you did; he’s been through a lot. We both have.” You nod softly, looking down at your lap. Steve gently reaches for your hand. “I mean it, it wasn’t anything you did. It may not be my place to tell you his story, but I can tell you he was under Hydra’s control. They messed with his head in horrible ways.” Your eyes go wide as you look up at Steve. He meets your eyes, “But I know all the good that working with the groups you connected me to did for me, and I know they’ll be just as good for Buck.” He offers you a smile, and you give him a small one in return. “I’ll do my best Captain.”, you say softly. He gently squeezes your hand before pushing back in his chair to stand. “I know you will, and please, call me Steve, I think we’ve emailed enough to be at that point.” You can’t help but laugh at that, “I really do love getting your emails, they make my day.” You smile up at the super soldier in front of you. Steve gives a small sigh, “I better go check on him, but he’ll come around.” You nod and stand up as he does, offering a small wave as he turns to leave the office. You quickly return the two chairs and sit back at your desk feeling both torn and hopeful. It won’t be easy, but you had a feeling that this was going to be worth it in the end. However it ended.