Oscar The Slouch

Here on the You Gave Me A Home Steve/Tony server, we are continuing our mission to read comics that are helpful to those of us participating in the current @niche616exchanges about Steve not being Captain America, and that means it's time for Commander Rogers and his Secret Avengers!

For those of you new to comics, this state of affairs arises in 2010, when Steve -- who dies just after the end of the Civil War event -- comes back to life (in a miniseries called Captain America Reborn). While Steve was dead, Tony decided to give Bucky the shield, and when Steve comes back to life (and after Who Will Wield the Shield and the crossover event Siege) he decides to let Bucky keep the shield while he himself, at the request of the president, tries to put SHIELD back together, which means that he becomes Commander Rogers and leads a black-ops outfit called the Secret Avengers.

What you may not be aware of about this era of canon, if you've just seen panels of Commander Rogers wearing a skin-tight catsuit, is that (a) Steve is not all that good at doing black ops and (b) Steve is extremely unhappy about doing black ops. He makes a lot of terrible moral choices (including multiple instances of torture), he's very depressed, and I would call a lot of his tactical decisions at the very least passively suicidal. So, yeah, welcome to Steve's spy job. He hates it. A lot.

We've previously read other comics featuring Commander Rogers -- early Avengers v4, Steve Rogers: Super Soldier, Warren Ellis' Secret Avengers run -- but we've never actually read the Brubaker run that started it all, so we're reading the first arc, released in trade as Mission to Mars. This is Secret Avengers v1 #1-5. (There is a second Brubaker arc after this one but we're starting here.)

Yes, Steve does in fact go on a mission to Mars! He's here to find one of his team members (Nova) who was there to look for the Serpent Crown, only to find Rich has been possessed by it. Whoops. Steve's plan to save Rich involves him doing something so personally dangerous that Worldmind itself has to tell Steve it thinks this is a bad idea and that Steve will probably not survive this. Steve says it doesn't matter! That's just what Steve's life is now.

He's miserable. Come read about him.

It’s the first day of gift reveals! Check back each day for more reveals or keep an eye on the AO3 collection.

To our participants, please be sure to comment on your gifts and thank your creator for making something for you. AO3 sometimes forgets to send gift emails, so be sure to check this blog (or the collection) each day to see what’s being revealed.

All creators are still secret, so don’t post anywhere about your work, even if it has been revealed. You can, however, reply to comments on your work. AO3 will automatically show you as an anon author until creator reveals.

Creators: AO3 will post your work under the date it was submitted. Once your work has been revealed, go into edit and click “Set a different publication date” then change it to today’s date. This will ensure that your work is posted to the top of the new works.

Without further ado… onto today’s gifts!

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Life After Survival for TheDrow (MCU AU, 27,951 Words)

Six months pass after a zombie apocalypse tears the world apart and takes most of the Avengers with it. Now Steve and Tony are the only ones left looking after the compound and wondering if there are even any other survivors out there. They have their own routines after so much time, but is it merely survival, or is their new way of life something they can make worth living?

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I’m following the map that leads to you for Neverever (AA, 2,537 words)

Steve gets badly injured at 5 am and he doesn't know who to call. Tony would be the first on the list but he thinks that Tony won’t pick up. Then Tony calls him for some reason.

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Bitterness On My Tongue for DragonoftheShadows (MCU, 2,337 words)

Ever since Tony unexpectedly broke up with Steve, the tension between them had been palpable. It was bad for the team and their missions, but Steve had no idea how to fix this mess. He still didn’t know WHY Tony had broken up with him in the first place.

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every line leading me to you for wingheads (MCU, 5,382 words)

5 times Steve secretly draws Tony + 1 time he lets Tony see his drawings

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Down boy for 24hourmess (616, art)

Has a fic ever absolutely devastated you to the point you can’t form a coherent thought? That’s okay! That’s where picture comments come in! Here’s how!

Incubus x priest AU