Never Have I Ever
“Never have I ever smoked weed.”
Tony, Remy and Natasha drank immediately. Rhodey threw a murderous glance at Tony before he too drank. Pepper’s eyebrows shot up.
“Explain. All of you.”
Tony shrugged.
“MIT. Tried a little bit of everything. Didn’t last long but I tried.”
Next was Natasha who simply said:
“A mission.”
Remy’s answer was said in an easy voice.
“Forced by a guy on the streets when I was a kid.”
Everyone’s eyes widened but they didn’t have time to comment because Rhodey was already answering:
“Tony gave it to me once. Didn’t go near that shit ever since.”
Sam who was sitting next to Clint took his turn.
“Never have I ever peed my pants in public.”
Tony, Clint and Remy drank. Seeing the others raised eyebrows Tony quickly explained.
“I was drunk. And technically I peed in the suit so…”
Pepper, Rhodey and Natasha face palmed.
“Don’t remind me.”
Clint shrugged.
“I was a kid.”
Remy nodded.
“Same here.”
Bucky then took his turn.
“Never have I ever been caught drinking and driving.”
Tony, Sam and, to everyone’s surprise, Sharon and Fury drank. Clint pointed his finger at Fury.
“I want to hear that one.”
Fury raised an eyebrow but answered nonetheless.
“It was while I was younger.”
When they nodded Rhodey said:
“Never have I ever eaten alligator meat.”
Remy smiled and drank. So did Tony and Logan. Everyone else was staring at them. Remy looked around and, seeing the confusion, explained.
“We eat it where I come from. It tastes good.”
Logan made a disgusted noise.
“Gumbo made an alligator dish for me once. Swore to never eat that again.”
Tony nodded his head.
“Sorry Remy, your cooking is excellent, but that alligator was disgusting.”
Seeing that everyone had finished speaking, Pepper took her turn.
“Never have I ever stolen.”
Remy rolled his eyes and drank. Natasha, T’Challa, Clint, Wanda and Fury followed his lead. Bucky slowly drank. He remembered stealing as the Winter Soldier. Tony was frowning. He couldn’t decide if some of the thing he had done could be counted as stealing. The food he took when he was a child was to survive. And it was in his own house so it couldn’t count. Then Remy looked over to him and said:
“Some of the files you take would be counted as stealing.”
Tony smiled brightly and drank. Next up was Vision.
“Never have I ever given a lap dance to a complete stranger.”
Tony was shocked at that. He couldn’t understand where Vision had learned about things like that. But he drank and felt a bit better when he noticed that Remy, Natasha and Sharon did that too. This time it was Bucky who rose his eyebrow. Tony explained quickly:
“I was drunk.”
Bucky snorted.
“Is that your explanation to everything?”
Tony nodded with a big grin on his face. Bucky sighed and turned to Natasha.
“Mission.”
Sharon’s answer was identical. When Bucky turned to Remy, the cajun shrugged.
“When I was younger I did whatever it took to get money.”
They all got shocked expressions.
“Did you…?”
Before Bruce managed to ask, Remy shook his head.
“Non. I didn’t have sex with them. But they liked to see me dance. They were sick women.”
T’Challa, seeing that the cajun was uncomfortable with everyone’s attention, took his turn.
“Never have I ever gone a week without showering.”
Tony, Bruce, Remy and Clint drank. Before anyone could ask Tony explained.
“I was working in the workshop. Not drunk.”
Bucky chuckled at that. Bruce smiled softly.
“Caught up in a science project.”
“Didn’t always have the opportunity to when I was younger.”
Remy nodded in agreement and Clint smiled over to him. They could relate to each other in some things. Everyone turned to Fury.
“Never have I ever been to Disneyland.”
Sharon and Pepper were the only ones that drank. Tony looked around and sighed.
“When this is all over we’ll all go there.”
Some of them smiled while Steve thought about his question.
“Never have I ever played strip poker.”
Tony and Remy looked at each other and burst out laughing. When they calmed down they both drank. So did Sharon, Natasha, Sam and Clint. Tony shook his head.
“Played with the cajun. Never again.”
Remy smirked.
“I made him run naked around the tower with Dummy chasing him. Priceless.”
Logan looked at him with amusement.
“Let me guess you didn’t lose anything.”
“Of course not.”
Bruce decided to spare Tony the embarrassment of continuing the story and took his turn.
“Never have I ever gotten seasick.”
Sharon, Wanda and Steve drank. Bucky smirked.
“Yeah. Steve was seasick whenever we were even close to the sea. Before the serum of course.”
It was now Natasha’s turn.
“Never have I ever been kicked out of a bar.”
Logan, Bucky, Clint and Sam drank. Bucky looked to Tony and asked with a frown:
“You’ve never been thrown out of a bar?”
Tony grinned.
“Nope. If they try, I just buy the bar. Can’t throw me out if I’m the owner right? And I mostly drink at home.”
And since it was his turn he continued:
“Never have I ever cheated on a test.”
Rhodey was the only one to drink. Pepper tilted her head. Rhodey looked embarrassed.
“I cheated off of Tony.”
Logan rolled his eyes and said:
“Never have I ever had an allergic reaction.”
Pepper and Wanda drank. Tony looked suddenly very guilty.
“I’m truly sorry for those strawberries Pep. Really.”
She smiled.
“It’s fine. I know you tried to make things fine between us again. And that you most probably didn’t remember that I was allergic.”
Remy leaned closer to Wanda.
“And what are you allergic to cherie?”
Wanda shrugged.
“Nothing big. I don’t really tolerate honey but it’s nothing serious.”
Remy nodded. He decided that he would have to remember this for the future. If he was going to stay. Meanwhile Sharon was thinking about what she was going to say.
“Never have I ever starved myself.”
Remy shrugged and drank. Slowly Wanda brought her glass up and drank a sip. For the first time, Tony looked positively shocked by the fact that Remy drank. He was even more shocked that Wanda drank. With a finger pointed at them he demanded:
“You two explain yourselves. Now.”
Remy shrugged once again.
“I was looking for an easy way out before Jean-Luc took me in.”
Tony accepted the answer but decided that he would have to talk about that with the cajun. But that would be later. Now he turned towards Wanda. She lowered her head a bit.
“A kid from the neighborhood bullied me when I was younger. He called me fat so I started to starve myself. When it got to a point that it was visible, my parents took me to a hospital and Pietro found that kid and beat him up. I never tried again.”
Remy put his arm around her shoulders.
“That kid was an idiot. You’re beautiful as you are cherie.”
Wanda blushed a bit but looked a bit more confident when she took her turn.
“Never have I ever slipped on a banana peel.”
T’Challa, Fury and Sam drank. Clint’s eyes widened.
“Director? When?”
Fury looked over at him with anger.
“If I remember right, you were the one that threw that banana peel agent Barton.”
Clint suddenly became red and turned away. Remy took his turn before anyone else said anything.
“Never have I ever been afraid of the dark.”
Sharon, Pepper and Wanda drank. Tony looked around.
“Another round?”
The others shook their heads. Suddenly the room filled with green smoke. A woman in green clothes, with long blonde hair appeared. Tony stood up and smiled.
“Amora.”
The woman smiled back.
“Stark. It’s nice to see you with your powers.”
But Tony didn’t let her talk too much.
“Why are you here Amora? I already said that we are even.”
The woman suddenly turned to Remy and her eyes widened.
“How are you doing that mortal?!”
Remy was looking at her calmly. He had felt the way she tried to read his mind and he had strengthened the shields even more. Tony made a small sound in the back of his throat and she turned back to him.
“Oh, yes. Excuse me. What I came here for is important. I won’t consider the debt paid until your team have seen all the clips that I gave them about you. There is no need for you to be here when they watch it but they need to understand everything. They still look at you like someone that have done something wrong. They have forgiven. But they do not trust. They have to see that you never wanted to hurt anyone.”
Tony shook his head.
“Why are you doing this Amora? Why do you insist on making people know about my past?”
“Because they didn’t know about him! And look where he is now! In a prison cell! Not even his brother trusts him anymore! Because no one would take the time to STOP AND LISTEN!”
Her voice rose to a scream. Tony sighed.
“I’m not Loki. Yes, there are likenesses between us. But I’m not him. I know what you are going through. But you need to leave this. Go. Help him. He needs you now.”
She seemed to think it through but then she shook her head.
“No. I’m not leaving. I’ve put a charm on this room. No one leaves until they have seen it all. You can leave Stark. I would never force you to live through that again. But they can’t leave.”
She turned to Remy.
“You have been through more than any other person your age would be able to live through. There are a few memories of yours on the DVD that you got earlier. I think they should see it.”
She turned around to leave but he had gotten up and grabbed her arm before she managed to disappear.
“I don’t need anything from you. I don’t want to have any debt with a being like you.”
She smiled almost softly.
“There is no debt Gambit. Don’t worry. I’m doing this because I want to help. Because you have been through things that no one should go through.”
He stared at her for a long moment and then let her go. She disappeared in a green smoke and both mutants fell back on their seats. Tony closed his eyes.
“Damn it.”
Remy looked over to him and understood. Tony had the whole family to lose in case something they saw was bad. But then he remembered how they had accepted him. And he understood what Amora meant. They had to understand.
“Tony? She’s right.”
He opened a link between them and sent calming feelings to Tony. Slowly the other man took a deep breath and nodded. Remy drew the power back.
“Fine. Let’s watch it.”
A screen appeared on a wall and the windows became dark.