You're going to love him like the sun

Washington DC December 2012

Tony stares at Rumiko Fujikawa as she emerges from the St. Regis, the hundreds of thousands of beads of her long-sleeved powder blue sheath gown gleaming brilliantly under DC’s winter moonlight. Her smile is coy, and she walks towards Tony with an elegance that money and class cannot buy—it simply radiates from within her. He remembers how this grace made it easy for him to fall in love with her, how natural it was to just simply be with her. And with her standing in front of him looking as radiant as ever, it would not be so hard to fall back into that feeling again. But they had their time, and all their cards had run out all those years ago. Now an unspoken fondness and mutual respect remain, their strong and steady friendship weathering the years that have passed since they both decided that being romantically involved was no longer in their best interests.

“Darling, I do hope that’s not real fur. You of all people know how much rap I would get from the environmental lobby if it were,” Tony teases, referring to the white minx stole wrapped around Rumiko’s shoulders, protecting her from the cold.

Rumiko laughs heartily as she kisses him on the cheek. “It’s faux fur. Very expensive faux fur, to be exact. But don’t worry, Tony, I’ll be sure to mention how fake it is to the reporters.”

Washington DC November 2012

With the television as background noise, Tony taps away on his tablet, making notes on various pieces of legislation that he has had to put on the backburner. On the surface, things are business as usual for the Democrats and their associates, but behind the curtains, the investigation had escalated from a small house party into a rager with an entire high school of uninvited guests, thanks to Fury’s and Coulson’s sudden interest in his team’s extra-curricular activities. With that and all the new information that’s been coming in, Tony hasn’t had any time or energy to deal with his actual, constitutionally bound duties as Speaker of the House.

Which is a shame, because despite what he says about the House of Representatives in public, he does genuinely enjoy his job. He enjoys the challenge of finding solutions to difficult problems. He enjoys seeing that his decisions result in the improvement of American lives. He enjoys celebrating with his team when they win, and he most certainly enjoys lording their victories over sullen Republicans.

He hasn’t had the chance to do any of that recently, and the worst of it all is that he misses his team. Sure, he sees them regularly inside and outside of the Capitol, but because of everything that’s currently on everybody’s plates, they hardly have any time to be actual friends. He hasn’t even had so much as an after-work drink (non-alcoholic for him, of course) with Clint since Loki decided to stroll back into DC and throw their lives into chaos.

Somewhere in the outskirts of Washington, DC November 2012 Three weeks after Thanksgiving

Clint and Natasha drive towards what seems to be an empty, rotting warehouse at the end of a dirt road off of Highway 270. It’s the dead of night, and from where they’re sitting, there is no sign of life. Their headlights are turned off, as they were instructed to do so once they had found the dirt road. Everything around them is still as they listen for anything that could give them a clue as to where they’re supposed to be headed next.

Suddenly, Natasha spots some movement by the front of the structure. “Over there,” she points, and Clint drives slowly towards the direction Natasha is indicating.

Clint stops the car some 60 feet from the entrance, where a man and a woman stand, guarding the opening to the inside of the warehouse. They both get out slowly and quietly, careful not to make any sudden movements to cause a commotion.

“Can I help you, Ms. Romanoff, Senator Barton?” the man asks, his voice deep and vigilant.

Puente Antiguo, New Mexico Thanksgiving Day 2012

hi guys. i know this blog has been quiet for the better part of last year, but i just wanted to get out of tumblr exile to share something amazing that’s happened.

i know that things haven’t been going so well for some of us. politically we’ve been pushed on a boat we didn’t want to get on in the first place, and that has made life difficult for some of us, or if you’re personally affected by the politics, for those around us.

i don’t know if you guys have been reading my fic across the aisle, but let me tell you why i started writing this humble fic in the first place. i was i a junior in college when this plot bunny came jumping around in my head like a rabbit on steroids, and it was meant to satisfy my hunger for a stevetony/avengers politics!AU—something that wasn’t available yet in the fandom at the scale that i wanted. five years later, it’s take on so much more meaning in light of recent events.

one follower had commented on the latest chapter to tell me that they had donated $40 to the ACLU in honor of my fic, and there are no words to explain or describe how that feels, to know that something you’re creating is making a difference somewhere, somehow, in the greater scheme of things. the direction i’ve taken with regards to writing this story has been to talk about differences in policy-making, about crossing gaps that divide us, about building bridges and not walls, about showing that we have more things in common than we think we do.

we love these characters because they represent the fight for what is good and what is just, and i’m glad and ever so thankful that we’re somehow embodying the values that make our superheroes super in the little acts of kindness and resistance that we do.

remember that your words have power.

Washington DC The day before Thanksgiving 2012

Washington DC November 2012

In Catholic tradition, November is the Month of the Souls in Purgatory—an apt description for the state of Tony’s soul, if there ever was one. It’s a fitting illustration for his physical state, too. His eyes are dark, sunken, and red from the lack of sleep, his hair disheveled. He is unfocused, his mind floating about—the product of spending the whole night tinkering in his workshop instead of getting some much needed rest, like he originally planned in the first place.

Washington DC October 2012

Two days ago, Tony had told him to keep his eyes and ears open for anything unusual happening on his side of the capital. He had believed the Speaker of the House, of course—after everything they’d been through with the shutdown, how could he not? There was no reason not to continue trusting the man. So he took note of Tony’s advice, but he didn’t think he’d actually need it so soon, because after having his first—and only—caffeine intake of the day, his chief of staff came into the Oval Office with the most unusual and shocking of news.

Steve: she needs to come and join the battle instead

Fandom: yasssss team cap!

Tony: Peter is a kid, so I'm going to upgrade his suit to make it more efficient, I'm going to bring him in just to stay on the edges of the fight and do some webbing, I'm going to tell him what to do in case Steve attacks him and how to defend himself. He's a superpowered kid but I won't blindly throw him into a fight.

Tony: *immediately sends Spidey home after he gets hit once*

Fandom: evil man has recruited a child :/

(Bonus)

Steve: drops a huge thing on Peter with no previous knowledge that Peter is superpowered, expects him to hold it up, walks away with Peter struggling