Adopt - Chapter 12
Title: Adopt
Artist: cluegirl and waterofthemoon
Author: j_green_teeth
Rating: Explicit (Story), Teen & General Audience (Art)
Universe: MCU (AU)
Warnings: Subversion of reproductive choices by a third party, infertility, Violence (canon compliant level), Alpha/Beta/Omega, heat, mpreg, knotting
Beta: Many thanks to wylt for making this fic about a thousand times better.
Art: cluegirl did two wonderful pieces for this fic May I.. and Shovel Talk
waterofthemoon TBA
Obie’s voice crackled as it echoed through the workshop from the speaker phone. Tony decided he needed to add more mics in the upstairs hallway, the kitchen, the garage, and basically everywhere. What was the good of having an AI in the house if it couldn’t hear you talk? “Tony, why do you need a personal assistant?
Tony glanced at the ceiling, then at Gin and waggled an eyebrow. “To assist me, personally.” She rolled her eyes at him.
A deep sigh sounded over the line. “Tony, remember when we talked about impropriety and the appearance of impropriety?”
Tony made the note about mics on the blueprint and flipped over to a circuit diagram. “Rings a faint bell. Gin, what are those tiny bells?”
“Tony you’re married and this country, the Board of Directors and the shareholders expect you to be faithful.” Obie continued placidly. Tony rolled his eyes, why did everyone assume he would cheat on Cap? Obie’s tone softened. “You know if you’re having trouble you can talk to me. I know you had a whirlwind romance, if it’s not what you expected or what you wanted, we can fix it.”
Tony tipped his head back to stare at the ceiling. “No, Obie I’m fine. Steve is … well Steve is swell. And the truth is Gin just makes really good coffee.”
“Tony -” Obie started.
Tony cut him off and doodled an airplane wing. “Really. Was there anything else or did you just call to shake your finger at me?”
“Do you have those missile designs?” Obie asked.
He flipped through the files until he found the right one. “They’re not ready yet.”
“Ok. Say the word and I'll have the guy up in Grand Forks finish them up for you.” Obie had a pet engineer tucked away out there that he like to taunt Tony with when he didn’t think he was working fast enough. Tony knew he was doing it but it got him every time right in the ego.
“I’ll have the first draft for you by tomorrow. Bye.” Tony cut the call.
“Swell?” Gin asked.
“Well, how would you describe America’s star spangled man? I mean, I could say that he’s great in the sack but he snores so I kick him out of bed afterwards, but people don’t want to hear about Captain America’s sex life. Unless they do and those people are a bit upsetting with the crazy eyes.”
Gin leaned forward and asked with a suppressed smile. “He snores?”
“No.” Tony sighed.
“Drat. You know I don’t see why you don’t just ask Mr. Stane for help with this. He has Stark Industries best interest’s, and yours, at heart.”
Tony looked at her. How could he explain that Obie didn’t seem to have either in his heart? This was the man who had made time for him when his parents weren’t there. Obie had always been willing to look at Tony’s latest designs when he was a kid, even if they were crap. He still remembered the day he had declared to his mom and dad that he was going to go into the family business, making bigger and better explosions. Maria had laughed at him. Howard, the beta that had given birth to him, had patted him on the head and told him that wasn’t the sort of work for an omega. Tony remembered being furious, he'd stormed out in his eight year old ire and ran into Obie. Obie had told him that he could be whatever he wanted to be, no matter what his parents said. Obie had patiently sat as Tony had explained his idea for a new remote detonation trigger, Obie had rightly pointed out that the trigger might fail at low temperatures. After that it had been their thing, their secret. Tony would send Obie blueprints and Obie would come back with constructive criticism. Over the last couple of years it had gotten a bit dull because all Obie every told him was that the weapon he designed was too expensive for the Army, or that the Air Force wasn’t interested. How could he explain to Gin, an alpha, that Obie who had always been the first to tell him he could do anything he wanted, no matter his gender, was also the person who had turned Tony’s gender into a weapon against him? The one person he had always thought was in his corner really, really wasn’t.
All he could say was, “No, he doesn’t. Not in this.”
“You think he’s involved in whatever we’re hunting?” Gin looked crushed.
“I think that he might be.” Up to his neck in it, the bastard.
“But … he’s one of the best CEO’s out there. He’s ...” She trailed off, making a vague circular motion with her hands.
“Let’s just leave him out of this for now.” Tony made a note on the missile blueprint.
Gin, showing off the crease between her eyes, said. “If you’re sure.”
~*~
Steve looked at the clock, 11am. He had promised Tony he would go to the mansion that morning to take a look at what Tony had done so far. The idea had been that they would get breakfast together at a little cafe Tony liked then Steve would get the grand tour. They hadn't set a specific time but Steve was pretty sure he was late. He hadn’t factored in getting a call at three in the morning and rushing to Philadelphia to deal with mind controlled giant slugs with Jack of Clubs and Wolverine. By the time they had dispatched the slugs, dealt with the mind controller and gotten back it was 10am. Steve had taken ten minutes to shower, then fifty minutes to debrief, so now he was late. Steve hated being late. He tried to decide how annoyed Tony would be with him. Flowers? Steve wasn't sure Tony would know what to do with them. Chocolate? Not quite the right tone. Donuts? Those would probably work. Steve made himself presentable and left in search of a bakery.
Steve gave the reporters a cheery wave as he walked past them through the mansion gates. He glanced around at the yard and felt disoriented. Whoever had been looking after the place had kept the ornamental bushes trimmed the way they had been when Howard was alive. Steve had memorized the shapes when he slipped away from Howard’s parties escaping press of people. The grounds were the same and the angles of the house were the ones he remembered seeing every time he walked up the drive to visit Howard. This was the place he had first met Tony. Tony, who had been four at the time. Here it impossible not to remember Tony’s eight birthday party, and sitting across from a sulky thirteen year old at Thanksgiving dinner. Steve had never felt more like a creepy old man. Even if nothing had started before Tony showed up two months ago, Steve had been born in 1918, ninety-four years ago. If he didn’t include his own personal ice age, he was still over twenty years older than Tony. Tony made him forget that, had a way of ignoring so thoroughly the age difference Steve had to ignore it too. But coming to his old friend’s home, his in-laws house? Steve slowed to a stop as he tried to incorporate that thought into his worldview; Howard Stark was his mother-in-law. Steve honestly had no idea what his friend would have thought of that if he were alive. A plastic sheet over a pile of lumber sitting by the side of the house caught his eye and he got a grip. Tony was making this place his own. Tony was here and Howard was gone. If he weren’t Tony would never come to Steve for help, never would have had to. Steve had to believe Howard would approve of Steve keeping Tony safe, he had always made it clear that no one messed with his meek.
Steve took a breath, tightened his grip on the pink pastry box, and walked into the mansion.
It looked, well, it looked like a disaster, but Tony had said he was gutting it. He had to step around a pile of drywall in the foyer. He followed the sound of voices to his left was a much more finished room. There he overheard Tony arguing with a red headed alpha.
"Do you think the curtains match the carpet?" Steve bit his lip, and Tony continued unaware of his presence. “If I go with the cream it might clash with the blue accents in the carpet.”
The alpha looked up. Her eyes glinting when she saw Steve. “Hello.” She said to him then to Tony. “Tony, it looks like there’s someone here who is morally obligated to listen to you talk about curtains."
Tony turned to smile at Steve. “Gin is bitter because I added fabric consultant to her job description. You two haven’t met yet. Steve, this is Gin, she’s helping me with my investigation.” Steve held out his hand to shake. “Gin, this is Mr. Apple Pie, himself, America’s golden boy, and my husband, Steve Rogers.”
“It is an honor to meet you, Captain.” She gave his hand a firm shake.
Steve smiled. “Oh, call me Steve. Gin, was it?”
“Ms. Potts, Virginia Potts.” She replied, a little wide eyed.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Potts.”
Steve noticed the smirk she gave Tony and was about to ask when she said, “I’m going to lunch. Please get him to pick his curtains before I get back.”
“Ooh, pick me up a sandwich.” Tony told her.
Steve remembered his box of donuts and offered them to Tony. “I brought breakfast.”
Tony looked at the box then pulled him into a kiss.
Steve didn’t know what to say when Tony broke the kiss, he wasn’t sure what prompted it in the first place
“I reward proactive behavior.” Tony looked like he was going to reward Steve some more when a distant twanging sound caught his attention. “I should introduce you to JARVIS.”
“Who’s JARVIS? Did you finally get a bodyguard?” Steve asked hopefully he had been reminding Tony, but Tony hadn’t hired anyone.
“No, he’s more of a houseguard. Say hi, JARVIS.”
“Hello, Master Rogers.” A distorted voice came from hidden speakers.
Tony made a tada motion with his hands. Steve just looked at him. “You’re not impressed.” Tony frowned.
“No, your intercom is very nice.” Steve tried to reassure him.
“Intercom. Intercom he says. Yes, my intercom is very nice. What is even nicer is the Artificial Intelligence that I built that can listen to and understand our conversation enough to know to when to introduce itself.”
“That’s an AI?” Steve asked.
“Yes.”
Now Steve was impressed. “Why did you create an AI?”
“This is a smart house.” Tony told him like that was the obvious answer.
“I thought smart houses just had things on timers, lights, heat.”
“No, those are dumb houses.” Tony spread his arms wide. “Stark mansion is going to be a smart house. JARVIS will e the brains and be able to track everyone in the house, respond to voice commands. He’s fully wired into all the house systems.”
“So he’ll know if anyone comes in or out?” Steve asked, wanting confirmation. If Tony didn’t have a bodyguard maybe his AI would at least be an adequate security system.
“Yes.” Tony wagged his head at him. “C'mon. Time for the tour. This is the first floor, shocking I know.” Tony gestured around them. “This is the living room,” Tony bounced through an open door, Steve followed. “And this is the kitchen. Here’s the parlor, a den, billiard room, the conservatory. I think this room would make a good gym. I've taken over the basement for my workshop. I'm thinking underground parking too. Upstairs, there are a bunch of bedrooms and a library and the study. Then up a level are more bedrooms.”
“This place is huge.” Steve hadn’t been here since before the funeral. Trailing after Tony he was stunned again by the amount of space Stark mansion took up in downtown New York. “What are you going to do with all the space?” Tony blinked at him. “It's nice but won't you rattle around in here.”
“You’re moving in too. Maybe I should give Gin a room.” Tony wandered forward like he hadn’t said anything strange.
“I like my apartment.” Steve told him.
Tony looked shocked. “But it's tiny.” He held up two fingers a little apart for emphasis.
“It's big enough for me.” Steve defended. It might be small but it had all the space Steve needed.
Tony chewed his lip. “You don't like the mansion.”
“It's great. Just big.” Steve placated.
Tony tugged at his arm. “You haven’t even seen the ballroom yet.”
Chapter 13
Artist: cluegirl and waterofthemoon
Author: j_green_teeth
Rating: Explicit (Story), Teen & General Audience (Art)
Universe: MCU (AU)
Warnings: Subversion of reproductive choices by a third party, infertility, Violence (canon compliant level), Alpha/Beta/Omega, heat, mpreg, knotting
Beta: Many thanks to wylt for making this fic about a thousand times better.
Art: cluegirl did two wonderful pieces for this fic May I.. and Shovel Talk
waterofthemoon TBA
Obie’s voice crackled as it echoed through the workshop from the speaker phone. Tony decided he needed to add more mics in the upstairs hallway, the kitchen, the garage, and basically everywhere. What was the good of having an AI in the house if it couldn’t hear you talk? “Tony, why do you need a personal assistant?
Tony glanced at the ceiling, then at Gin and waggled an eyebrow. “To assist me, personally.” She rolled her eyes at him.
A deep sigh sounded over the line. “Tony, remember when we talked about impropriety and the appearance of impropriety?”
Tony made the note about mics on the blueprint and flipped over to a circuit diagram. “Rings a faint bell. Gin, what are those tiny bells?”
“Tony you’re married and this country, the Board of Directors and the shareholders expect you to be faithful.” Obie continued placidly. Tony rolled his eyes, why did everyone assume he would cheat on Cap? Obie’s tone softened. “You know if you’re having trouble you can talk to me. I know you had a whirlwind romance, if it’s not what you expected or what you wanted, we can fix it.”
Tony tipped his head back to stare at the ceiling. “No, Obie I’m fine. Steve is … well Steve is swell. And the truth is Gin just makes really good coffee.”
“Tony -” Obie started.
Tony cut him off and doodled an airplane wing. “Really. Was there anything else or did you just call to shake your finger at me?”
“Do you have those missile designs?” Obie asked.
He flipped through the files until he found the right one. “They’re not ready yet.”
“Ok. Say the word and I'll have the guy up in Grand Forks finish them up for you.” Obie had a pet engineer tucked away out there that he like to taunt Tony with when he didn’t think he was working fast enough. Tony knew he was doing it but it got him every time right in the ego.
“I’ll have the first draft for you by tomorrow. Bye.” Tony cut the call.
“Swell?” Gin asked.
“Well, how would you describe America’s star spangled man? I mean, I could say that he’s great in the sack but he snores so I kick him out of bed afterwards, but people don’t want to hear about Captain America’s sex life. Unless they do and those people are a bit upsetting with the crazy eyes.”
Gin leaned forward and asked with a suppressed smile. “He snores?”
“No.” Tony sighed.
“Drat. You know I don’t see why you don’t just ask Mr. Stane for help with this. He has Stark Industries best interest’s, and yours, at heart.”
Tony looked at her. How could he explain that Obie didn’t seem to have either in his heart? This was the man who had made time for him when his parents weren’t there. Obie had always been willing to look at Tony’s latest designs when he was a kid, even if they were crap. He still remembered the day he had declared to his mom and dad that he was going to go into the family business, making bigger and better explosions. Maria had laughed at him. Howard, the beta that had given birth to him, had patted him on the head and told him that wasn’t the sort of work for an omega. Tony remembered being furious, he'd stormed out in his eight year old ire and ran into Obie. Obie had told him that he could be whatever he wanted to be, no matter what his parents said. Obie had patiently sat as Tony had explained his idea for a new remote detonation trigger, Obie had rightly pointed out that the trigger might fail at low temperatures. After that it had been their thing, their secret. Tony would send Obie blueprints and Obie would come back with constructive criticism. Over the last couple of years it had gotten a bit dull because all Obie every told him was that the weapon he designed was too expensive for the Army, or that the Air Force wasn’t interested. How could he explain to Gin, an alpha, that Obie who had always been the first to tell him he could do anything he wanted, no matter his gender, was also the person who had turned Tony’s gender into a weapon against him? The one person he had always thought was in his corner really, really wasn’t.
All he could say was, “No, he doesn’t. Not in this.”
“You think he’s involved in whatever we’re hunting?” Gin looked crushed.
“I think that he might be.” Up to his neck in it, the bastard.
“But … he’s one of the best CEO’s out there. He’s ...” She trailed off, making a vague circular motion with her hands.
“Let’s just leave him out of this for now.” Tony made a note on the missile blueprint.
Gin, showing off the crease between her eyes, said. “If you’re sure.”
~*~
Steve looked at the clock, 11am. He had promised Tony he would go to the mansion that morning to take a look at what Tony had done so far. The idea had been that they would get breakfast together at a little cafe Tony liked then Steve would get the grand tour. They hadn't set a specific time but Steve was pretty sure he was late. He hadn’t factored in getting a call at three in the morning and rushing to Philadelphia to deal with mind controlled giant slugs with Jack of Clubs and Wolverine. By the time they had dispatched the slugs, dealt with the mind controller and gotten back it was 10am. Steve had taken ten minutes to shower, then fifty minutes to debrief, so now he was late. Steve hated being late. He tried to decide how annoyed Tony would be with him. Flowers? Steve wasn't sure Tony would know what to do with them. Chocolate? Not quite the right tone. Donuts? Those would probably work. Steve made himself presentable and left in search of a bakery.
Steve gave the reporters a cheery wave as he walked past them through the mansion gates. He glanced around at the yard and felt disoriented. Whoever had been looking after the place had kept the ornamental bushes trimmed the way they had been when Howard was alive. Steve had memorized the shapes when he slipped away from Howard’s parties escaping press of people. The grounds were the same and the angles of the house were the ones he remembered seeing every time he walked up the drive to visit Howard. This was the place he had first met Tony. Tony, who had been four at the time. Here it impossible not to remember Tony’s eight birthday party, and sitting across from a sulky thirteen year old at Thanksgiving dinner. Steve had never felt more like a creepy old man. Even if nothing had started before Tony showed up two months ago, Steve had been born in 1918, ninety-four years ago. If he didn’t include his own personal ice age, he was still over twenty years older than Tony. Tony made him forget that, had a way of ignoring so thoroughly the age difference Steve had to ignore it too. But coming to his old friend’s home, his in-laws house? Steve slowed to a stop as he tried to incorporate that thought into his worldview; Howard Stark was his mother-in-law. Steve honestly had no idea what his friend would have thought of that if he were alive. A plastic sheet over a pile of lumber sitting by the side of the house caught his eye and he got a grip. Tony was making this place his own. Tony was here and Howard was gone. If he weren’t Tony would never come to Steve for help, never would have had to. Steve had to believe Howard would approve of Steve keeping Tony safe, he had always made it clear that no one messed with his meek.
Steve took a breath, tightened his grip on the pink pastry box, and walked into the mansion.
It looked, well, it looked like a disaster, but Tony had said he was gutting it. He had to step around a pile of drywall in the foyer. He followed the sound of voices to his left was a much more finished room. There he overheard Tony arguing with a red headed alpha.
"Do you think the curtains match the carpet?" Steve bit his lip, and Tony continued unaware of his presence. “If I go with the cream it might clash with the blue accents in the carpet.”
The alpha looked up. Her eyes glinting when she saw Steve. “Hello.” She said to him then to Tony. “Tony, it looks like there’s someone here who is morally obligated to listen to you talk about curtains."
Tony turned to smile at Steve. “Gin is bitter because I added fabric consultant to her job description. You two haven’t met yet. Steve, this is Gin, she’s helping me with my investigation.” Steve held out his hand to shake. “Gin, this is Mr. Apple Pie, himself, America’s golden boy, and my husband, Steve Rogers.”
“It is an honor to meet you, Captain.” She gave his hand a firm shake.
Steve smiled. “Oh, call me Steve. Gin, was it?”
“Ms. Potts, Virginia Potts.” She replied, a little wide eyed.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Potts.”
Steve noticed the smirk she gave Tony and was about to ask when she said, “I’m going to lunch. Please get him to pick his curtains before I get back.”
“Ooh, pick me up a sandwich.” Tony told her.
Steve remembered his box of donuts and offered them to Tony. “I brought breakfast.”
Tony looked at the box then pulled him into a kiss.
Steve didn’t know what to say when Tony broke the kiss, he wasn’t sure what prompted it in the first place
“I reward proactive behavior.” Tony looked like he was going to reward Steve some more when a distant twanging sound caught his attention. “I should introduce you to JARVIS.”
“Who’s JARVIS? Did you finally get a bodyguard?” Steve asked hopefully he had been reminding Tony, but Tony hadn’t hired anyone.
“No, he’s more of a houseguard. Say hi, JARVIS.”
“Hello, Master Rogers.” A distorted voice came from hidden speakers.
Tony made a tada motion with his hands. Steve just looked at him. “You’re not impressed.” Tony frowned.
“No, your intercom is very nice.” Steve tried to reassure him.
“Intercom. Intercom he says. Yes, my intercom is very nice. What is even nicer is the Artificial Intelligence that I built that can listen to and understand our conversation enough to know to when to introduce itself.”
“That’s an AI?” Steve asked.
“Yes.”
Now Steve was impressed. “Why did you create an AI?”
“This is a smart house.” Tony told him like that was the obvious answer.
“I thought smart houses just had things on timers, lights, heat.”
“No, those are dumb houses.” Tony spread his arms wide. “Stark mansion is going to be a smart house. JARVIS will e the brains and be able to track everyone in the house, respond to voice commands. He’s fully wired into all the house systems.”
“So he’ll know if anyone comes in or out?” Steve asked, wanting confirmation. If Tony didn’t have a bodyguard maybe his AI would at least be an adequate security system.
“Yes.” Tony wagged his head at him. “C'mon. Time for the tour. This is the first floor, shocking I know.” Tony gestured around them. “This is the living room,” Tony bounced through an open door, Steve followed. “And this is the kitchen. Here’s the parlor, a den, billiard room, the conservatory. I think this room would make a good gym. I've taken over the basement for my workshop. I'm thinking underground parking too. Upstairs, there are a bunch of bedrooms and a library and the study. Then up a level are more bedrooms.”
“This place is huge.” Steve hadn’t been here since before the funeral. Trailing after Tony he was stunned again by the amount of space Stark mansion took up in downtown New York. “What are you going to do with all the space?” Tony blinked at him. “It's nice but won't you rattle around in here.”
“You’re moving in too. Maybe I should give Gin a room.” Tony wandered forward like he hadn’t said anything strange.
“I like my apartment.” Steve told him.
Tony looked shocked. “But it's tiny.” He held up two fingers a little apart for emphasis.
“It's big enough for me.” Steve defended. It might be small but it had all the space Steve needed.
Tony chewed his lip. “You don't like the mansion.”
“It's great. Just big.” Steve placated.
Tony tugged at his arm. “You haven’t even seen the ballroom yet.”
Chapter 13