#stark!verse

So, on one of his many daily missions of finding out what his kid and her geriatric boyfriend were up to, Tony found himself navigating the tower. They weren’t in either of their rooms, nor the living room, the lab, nowhere. Everywhere he happened to look was a dead-end, so Tony had to rely on the work of Jarvis to spy on his kid.

“Sir, the two are currently in the gym.”

“The gym?” Tony raised an eyebrow as he set down his smoothie. “Cap trains in the mornings.”

“I’m aware, sir.”

“Y/N has to be dragged to the gym for combat training.”

“I’m also aware of this, sir.”

“Oh, god. They can’t defile the gym, those stains will never come out!”

“I’m curious to know what you think is exactly in super soldier sperm that it wouldn’t —“

“Ah, don’t say sperm!” Tony shouted as he leapt up from his seat and made his way to the gym. “That’s a hex upon this household, Jarvis, you know that.”

Jarvis would have sighed deeply if he thought it would help Tony to register how ridiculous this was, “Sir, need I remind you of the many conquests of yours I’ve witnessed and had to order particular cleanings for?”

“No.”

“Very well, sir.”

Tony was approaching the gym and he was horrified. He could hear a deep guttural groan and it made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

“Oh, fuck, Steve! Right there.”

That son of a bitch.

“Yes, yes, yes, don’t stop.”

Tony wanted to die. Next, he heard a sharp squeal and an intake of air that made his heart drop to his ass. He quickly looked through the gym doors but could only see you, laying on a yoga mat, hands white-knuckling it as you lay on your stomach with a pained look on your face.

“Steve, you’re too deep! Stop, stop!”

“Come on, doll, if you want it to get better, you’ve gotta take it as deep as I can get.”

Tony Stark was officially going to kill Steve Rogers.

“Get off my daughter you wretched, geriatric, overage, disgusting old pervert!” Tony shouted as he threw open the gym doors and ran inside.

However, when he ran inside, he skidded to a halt.You were laying comfortably on your stomach and staring at him in surprise. You were also fully clothed, which he was surprised, given the sounds he heard and the fact he couldn’t see your bottom half from outside.

Behind you, Steve was sitting on a chair. Your knee was bent, your foot up in the air in front of Steve’s lap. The man’s thumb was pressing into your heel while his other hand held your ankle in place. Steve gave Tony a blank stare while your father stared right back at the two of you, red in the face, vein pulsating on his neck.

“What the hell is this,” he seethed.

“Doc said I have plantar fasciitis, so he’s murdering my heel for me,” you explained. “What did you think we were doing?”

Tony’s jaw tightened, “Nothing. Nothing at all.”

“Really?” Steve raised an eyebrow. “Sounds like you thought we were fonduing.”

Tony pointed a finger at him, “Don’t you dare make a funny right now. You have no right.”

You rolled your eyes, “You know, dad, we do have sex.”

“Stop it, Y/N.”

“It’s pretty crazy. With that strength of his, he can just hold me in the air and —“

“Enough — “

“I mean, gosh, I —“

“She’s kidding, Tony,” Steve said quickly. “I respect her too much to do such intimate acts in a public setting.”

“Good, good. As you should, you old fart,” Tony nodded and scratched the back of his head. “Well, I’m glad we got that settled. I will be in the lab if you need me.”

He left feeling more uncomfortable than he ever had in his entire life. Once he was gone, you two laughed uncontrollably. Steve held his side as you let your face fall to the mat and laugh. Eventually, you rolled onto your back and held your hands up. Steve leaned over, pulled you up, and sat you down right on his lap.

“I think he’ll leave us alone now, don’t you?” He hummed as he kissed your neck softly.

You snickered, “You are such a little shithead, Steve. I love it. Yeah, he’ll definitely give us some space. Which is good, I have a plan.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“He has a really beautiful red car I’ve always wanted to have a little fun in.”

Steve blushed, the tips of his ears turning red, “Doll, I meant it when I said — “

“Yes, yes I know. You’re so very respectful and a gentleman, but you have my full permission to defile me in my dad’s car.”

“Is this a late-stage act of rebellion?”

You blinked twice, “Yes.”

He sighed and shook his head, “Doll —“

“What? I’ve always wanted to do it in a car! Haven’t you? He’ll stay far away from us now because he’s traumatized. It’ll be fun,” you sang as you draped your arms around his shoulders. “Can really get that car rocking.”

He shook his head as he studied you, “You’re devious, Ms. Stark.”

“Black coffee, doughnuts, it’s the cure to any hangover,” Tony explained as he shoved a doughnut into your mouth and then forced coffee down your throat. Honestly, you were surprised you didn’t choke to death. Tony smirked in satisfaction to himself when, after a few seconds, you shrugged, nodded, and took both items from him like a little gremlin. He pushed the box closer to your after grabbing a doughnut for himself and continued on, “Feeling like shit, huh?”

“Yes,” you groaned. “How bad is the damage?”

“Well, Pepper’s dealing with the headlines talking about an Avenger accidentally knocking out an innocent person because she was so drunk, but Spider-Man saving you actually seems to be the bigger story.”

“Ugh, I’m so embarrassed.”

“Because you were saved by a dork in spandex?”

“No! Because I was a drunken, hot mess over a dweeb with a camera.”

Tony hummed, “Right, that Percival Porker from the gala.”

“Peter Parker, dad, I don’t know how you made that so difficult for yourself.”

“Whatever. Fuck that guy, Y/N. If he can’t see how amazing you are, he ain’t shit,” Tony explained to you as he grabbed another doughnut to inhale. “Besides, you seemed to have some serious doe eyes for Spider-Man last night.”

“What? No! No, I didn’t. I didn’t and don’t have doe eyes for Spider-Man.”

He howled with laughter, “Kid, I thought you were going to grab him and kiss him before he jumped off the side of the building.”

“I didn’t think you could see us —“

“I have cameras everywhere,” Tony replied. “And I watched the footage back this morning. You had a hard-on for the guy.”

“You are fucking psychotic.”

Tony scoffed, “I’m not psychotic. I’m simply well-aware.”

“The linguistic gymnastics you perform every time you speak is outstanding,” you mumbled under your breath as you chugged the black coffee before chasing it with another doughnut.

As you two were eating, your bedroom door opened once again. You barely looked to see who was there before Wanda and Natasha were in your bed. Natasha sat like a pretzel on top of the covers, arm reaching across Tony to grab a doughnut for herself. Wanda squeaked that it was ice cold in the room, so she dove onto your bed and pulled the comforter up over her shoulders which made you snicker.

“Kid sleeps in an ice box, you get used to it,” Tony shrugged. “And now that the estrogen outweighs my testosterone —“

“We outweigh you there too, Tony,” Natasha quipped.

“—I will be taking off. Good luck, ladies. I already tried telling her she’s got a boner for the the man that cums webbing, but she’s denying it.”

Tony leaned over to kiss you on the forehead before pushing the box of pastries onto your bed. He left the room while chugging his coffee and muttering that he should convince Bruce to make an actual spider-trap, partially for science, partially for fun.

Natasha raised an eyebrow in your direction as she passed the box to Wanda, who, like a little gremlin, quickly grabbed one and held it close to her mouth so she could stay with as much blanket on her as possible. Natasha was momentarily distracted away from you as she stared at Wanda, “Shouldn’t you be used to the cold given Sokovia’s climate?”

“Nope,” Wanda said with a shrug. “That’s not the point here. Y/N is attracted to Spider-Man.”

“My guess would’ve been Steve,” Natasha shrugged as she leaned on her elbow and ate her doughnut. “He does seem like he has a great body under that spandex. You’re clearly an ass gal.”

“And you know he’s very strong,” Wanda hummed. “And flexible, given what I’ve seen on the news.”

“Okay. What is this?” You sighed. “I thought you two thought me asking out Peter Parker was a good idea.”

“Oh, no, we definitely did, but then he rejected your date and you went full Stark-mode afterwards. The walls are up again, but you know who can climb them and into your pants? Spider-Man.”

“Natasha!” You hissed at the master assassin who grinned.

“What? I’m just saying, a casual fuck wouldn’t be so bad.”

You rolled your eyes, “Whatever. I bet he’d reject me too.”

“Get him close enough, I’ll read his mind and find out,” Wanda said as she stole your coffee and dunked her doughnut into it. You and Natasha stared at her in surprise, “What?”

“That’s a little evil for you,” you teased. “Next you’ll tell me his secret identity?”

“Ah, good point, it is a violation of privacy. Never mind, then,” Wanda chuckled.

“Fucking damn it,” you muttered under you breath and threw yourself back in bed. “Whatever. My love life is a joke, I’ll never see Peter Parker again, hopefully, and I’m attracted to a man in a mask.”

“See? Told you she’d admit it,” Natasha said, holding out her open palm to which Wanda placed a crisp $20 bill into. 

You stared at them both, “I hate you fuckers so much.”

~*~

You decided to take it easy that day. You stayed in bed for awhile, avoided working out with Steve, who seemed to be letting you have an easy day anyway out of the kindness of his heart and the events of the day prior. You did some work in the lab with Bruce and Tony, not that you were much help, but distracting them from their work and acting like an absolute shitty toddler by moving their tools around seemed to be the best possible fun that day.

However, you felt it was safer for you to go out at night. Well, not safer as in statistically with crime, but safer as in least likely to be bothered by anyone. Dressed comfortably, you left the tower alone and walked around the city for a little while. You happened upon one of your favorite late night haunts, a place that specialized in Belgian-style fries. 

You waited for your order, grabbed it, and since the place was so overcrowded, you went and leaned against the side of the building, just outside of the alleyway so as not to have a hint of garbage with your meal.

While you were eating, you were lost in your own world. You weren’t trying to sense for anybody around you, so someone sneaking up on you was easy and likely. You had casually glanced around, as you did every few minutes, but when you looked over your left shoulder, you nearly screamed when you were face to face with an upside-down spider mask.

In fact, your fries ended up on the grounded.

“Oops,” Spider-Man said after a few seconds of both of you staring at the fries. “That was not on purpose, just saying.”

You steadied your breathing for multiple reasons. One, he scared the shit out of you. Two, you didn’t expect to run into Spider-Man ( a single girl hoped, but didn’t think it would happen); and three, you weren’t all dolled up ready to impress. You were comfortable, casual, and were not on your A-game for flirting.

Then again, you weren’t on your A-Game last night when you were drunk.

“Spider-Man,” you began cautiously. “What can I do for you?”

“Oh, you know, I was in the neighborhood, just swinging around, thought I’d check up on you” he replied. “Sorry about the frites. If it’s any consolation, they smelled great.”

You sighed heavily, “Thanks. Um…” you stared at him wondering what to do next. You weren’t prepared for this! You couldn’t even see his face to get any sort of social feedback from him. “I guess I’ll just go —“

“You’re gorgeous,” he blurted out so suddenly that you were frozen as you stared at him. “Sorry. I had to say it. I didn’t want to say it last night — I mean, I did, but you were drunk, so it felt weird if I told you that. It gave me the ick thinking about it. Not that you give me the ick. You give me the opposite of the ick. The ‘ugh’, as in ‘ugh, she’s so beautiful’ sort of thing. I’m digging myself a hole, aren’t I? This did not go according to plan. Can I start again? Hi, I’m Spider-Man, and I think you’re stunning.”

Who the fuck was this guy?

What sort of costumed superhero just casually hangs upside down beside someone, makes them lose their fries, then compliments them in the most awkward and endearing way possible. What were you supposed to do with this? How could one possibly have any way to react to this? Were you just supposed to tell him that you thought his spandex made him look sexy and — 

“I like your gimp suit,” you blurted out.

Jesus fucking Christ.

You listened to him chuckle, watching as he slowly lowered himself more until eyes were perfectly level with yours, “I’d really like to kiss you, Ms. Stark.”

Your throat went dry, “Me? Spider-Man wants to kiss me?”

“If you’d let him,” he replied smoothly.

What was happening! Why did it suddenly feel like Spider-Man was you, and you were Peter whenever you flirted with him? Your heart was racing, your forehead was sweating, and your throat was so dry you thought you were going to choke yourself in anticipation. You squeaked as your arm came up so you could wipe your greasy, fry-tasting lips with the sleeve of your hoodie. 

Spider-Man chuckled, “May I?”

“Okay,” you nodded urgently. “But you’re upside down, so, like ,how are you gonna —“

“Patience, Ms. Stark. I’ve got you,” Spider-Man said cooly as he lowered himself just a little more so his lips were level to yours. He lowered his mask just above his top lip before leaning towards you. Carefully, you leaned just a little bit closer until your lips were touching. You, for once, were shy, awkward, I mean, you’d never kissed a superhero before and you were one. Now you were kissing a masked man upside down? It was insane.

But, you were into it.

He hummed into the kiss as you gently cupped his face for stability. Your lips parted and you could feel the teasing sweep of his tongue against them before he chuckled and nipped your lip. 

What was this fire you were feeling inside? Oh, yes, falling immediately into a probably unhealthy obsession with a masked man just based on his kissing ability alone. Is that what kissing people you were interested in should’ve been like all this time, that instant fire and feeling like you were floating in the clouds? Or was this simply crippling anxiety coupled with the act of faux-arrogance melting away?

You pulled away with a string of saliva connecting the two of you until it popped. You exhaled slowly, your hand coming up to rest over your heart as you reluctantly let go of his face, “Oh, wow,” you breathed.

“Wowza,” he hummed, suddenly sinking more and more until he unceremoniously snapped off his own web and fell on the ground. 

He groaned as he lay on the ground in a heap before jumping up to his feet again and towering over you. Spider-Man moved closer towards you, head tilting down and to the side as he studied you. You held your breath as you gazed up at him and wondered what more he wanted from you.

“You’re more amazing than a guy could ever imagine, Ms. Stark,” he hummed as he fixed his mask and lowered it once more. “Why don’t we —“ suddenly his head snapped to the side as his spider senses began to tingle. “I have to go. We’ll pick this up again,” his hand came to gingerly hold your chin affectionately as he shot a web to the building with his other hand. “Stay safe for me.”

You watched him effortlessly leap into the air and swing away towards the danger. Your legs were like jelly as you slipped backwards a little and leaned against the wall for support. Was Spider-Man always this smooth? Who gave the man the right to be that smooth at all? 

~*~

Meanwhile, the second he felt like he was far enough away, Spider-Man screamed in delight. He still had it in him! He was shocked! Then again, it was always so much easier to act out his desires and throw all caution to the wind and release his inhibitions. No one would see the dorky Peter Parker and see how much of a dweeb he actually was. They saw a hero, the cool, heroic, funny guy that was Spider-Man. This was so much easier, and considering he thoroughly blew it with you in the supermarket, this was his only remaining chance with you, and it seemed to be working wonderfully.

~*~

Upon returning to the tower, you ignored the sounds of Sam and Steve arguing over the original release date of Snow White in theaters. You didn’t care. You were floating as you shuffled your way to the kitchen, opened the freezer, and grabbed your favorite pint of ice cream. When you turned around, you screamed seeing Clint standing right behind you, eyes narrowed as he studied you closely. However, you were so frightened by him that you squeezed the carton, and with your powers, made the ice cream explode over the both of you.

Clint’s eyes remained narrowed as he grabbed a chunk of the ice cream off of his shoulder and ate it, “Did you get laid?”

“What? No.”

“You’re glowing and totally didn’t see me coming,” he pointed out. “What happened?”

“Nothing!”

“You also forgot my fries.”

“Clint—“

“You have to tell me or I’m going to tell Steve you had a sex dream about taking his virginity when you two first met,” Clint whispered.

“I will end you,” you growled. “Fine. Don’t say anything, okay?”

“I won’t, scout’s honor. I mean, I wasn’t a scout. I was a filthy carnie, but you get the idea of it. What’s up?”

“I kissed Spider-Man.”

Clint balked, the ice cream dripping down the both of your faces as he screamed, “You kissed Spider-Man!?”

Not yet.

Your body collapsed to the ground, leaving this other version of you to release a cry with a smile on her face. It was part delighted and overjoyed for having bested you, and part relieved to no longer be exerting so much power and force. However, her relief could only last so long. She straightened up quickly when she felt vibrations charging in her direction.

Charging towards her was Shangqi. Tears stained his cheeks as your body hit the ground in a lifeless heap. The rings on his arms were glowing brightly, every step he took thundering on the ground as he charged this variant of you with one intent: to put her into the ground the way she had done to you.

Sliding in front of Shangqi, Natasha dropped to the ground quickly with the intent to sweep his legs out from under him and knock him over. He jumped over her leg sweep and continued running, preparing to use his rings to launch him into the air to deliver a devastating blow reminiscent of when he faced the Dweller-in-Darkness.  However, Natasha threw her escrima stick at the back of his knee and made him stumble, giving her just enough time to run towards him and tackle him.

“What are you doing?” He shouted as he fought with Natasha until he was able to kick her off. “She has to be stopped! She killed Y/N!”

“I’m doing what Y/N would’ve wanted!” Natasha replied, getting back up and stepping in front of Shangqi, weapons raised high as she lowered herself into a fighting stance.

Shangqi was stunned. How could she? Maybe she wasn’t the Natasha from this universe, but how could she do this to you? How could she step in his way when all he wanted to do was avenge your death?

“Y/N wanted her gone,” Shangqi whispered. “You won’t stop me.”

“Y/N wants you alive, above anything,” Natasha replied. “And I’m going to follow through.”

“Then good luck stopping me,” Shangqi replied.

There was no way Shangqi could possibly care any less about his life at the moment. It didn’t matter. To him, you were gone. You being gone? What was left? You were supposed to start a family. You were supposed to go on vacations together, do cheesy, touristy things, grow your family, live out a long, happy life together where you got to rest and he took up the responsibility of defending the world, the responsibility you and others had for years.

Shangqi and Natasha were locked in a fight against each other, all the while, Steve was rushing forward with an attack. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing ,double of you fighting each other to the death, all because he was being selfish because he wanted another chance.

Steve sprinted right past the fight happening amongst teammates and leapt into the air. Your variant blasted Steve out of the sky, his shield absorbing some of the damage, but not stopping him from being knocked back. It served as a fine distraction for the rest of them.

A portal opened behind her, and Bucky’s arm reached through Doctor Strange’s portal to grab her shoulder. Expecting this, she whirled around and grabbed Bucky’s metal arm. She smirked while Bucky looked shocked for a second. As he tried to yank his arm away from her, she laughed. 

“How much can that arm withstand, James?” She raised an eyebrow while Bucky frowned. 

Bucky raised his right arm to punch her, and she immediately grabbed his forearm and sent a powerful enough vibration to break it, causing him to shout in pain. Bucky fought through the pain and raised his knee to her stomach, but, once again, she blasted his knee, shattering the bone and sending him to the ground. She leaned down and detached Bucky’s arm, looking up quickly when she felt something from the sky.

Sam was flying towards her just as Steve was running at her again. Steve threw the shield at her, which she deflected. Sam swooped in and caught the shield as planned before flying towards her in what would’ve been a devastating nosedive. However, using Bucky’s arm, she threw it comically, like it was a spear, using her powers to send it through Sam’s wings and send him spiraling towards the ground.

Luckily for Sam, Stephen quickly shut his portal after moving Bucky back out of it, and sent his cloak to catch Sam in the air.

Your variant looked around her. She was losing strength quickly, and she still had so much to do. She could end it all now, kill this universe’s Avengers, but it would ruin her plans, put too much attention on her when all she wanted was to have a loving, happy family. Taking a few steps back, she aimed her palms down to the ground and pushed herself into the air.

“Where is she going?” Shangqi shouted, shoving Natasha away from him. “God, damn it!”

“The lake house is that way,” Steve breathed. “She’s going after Tony—“

“She’s going after Morgan,” Natasha corrected him. “We gotta go. Clint can catch up.”

Steve looked around and spotted Sam on the ground, “Sam—“

“I got Bucky,” Sam nodded, glancing over to the man in agony. “We’ll set his bones before they heal incorrectly.”

“I’ll get Dr. Banner,” Stephen said, glancing around. “We need the big guns now.”

“We can’t risk the Hulk destroying the house. Morgan’s just a kid, she shouldn’t see that,” Steve reasoned with the group. “But we need to catch up with her now before she tricks them. Who knows what she’ll do.”

“The good news is she’s losing strength. She can’t take on all of us, not forever,” Natasha explained.

“Are you done?” Shangqi snapped. “Enough talking. We need to go now. I won’t let them hurt my family.”

His family. That’s right. Steve stared at Shangqi for a few seconds and thought about it. They really were his family now. Morgan, his little sister (even though she called him uncle) his father- and mother-in-law, they were all his family now, and Shangqi just lost his wife. If your variant took the rest of your family from him, well, Steve wondered if this Shangqi would seem more like his evil counterpart than anyone could have imagined.

They took off towards the lake house just as Clint was running over to your body. He sighed watching them all disappear, hands resting on his hips as he stared straight ahead. Suddenly appearing next to him, Scott Lang grew to his normal size and took off his helmet as he stared down at you.

“Think it worked?” Scott asked as he took a few deep breaths.

Clint shrugged and reached into his quiver to pull out an arrow with a vial and syringe tip, the syringe filled with a yellow liquid, “Only one way to find out.”

~*~

While they were just forming a plan, your variant was already at her next destination. Landing with a thud, your variant straightened up and dusted herself off. She forced a smile on her face as she walked towards the front door of Tony’s home. It was quiet,  which made sense given how early in the morning it was. Everyone was likely asleep. She shook the smile off of her face quickly, changing her mind on how she wanted to approach this type of situation. 

Standing in front of the door, she knocked on it quickly, debating on if it was too bold to just walk in there. After a moment, however, Tony opened the door, staring at her with his eyebrows raised in curiosity, “What’s up, buttercup? It’s late — or early, if you’re looking to get a worm.”

“No worms, just wanted to see my little sister!”

“She’s sleeping,” Tony replied.

“Right.”

“Are you okay? How was the gala?”

She blinked a few times, “Fine, fine! Yeah. I just, I had a fight with Shang. You know how it is when you’re married.”

Tony didn’t let it show, but the second you called him Shang instead of Shangqi, his fears had been confirmed. He sighed and nodded, crossing his arms over his chest as he studied her. “Do you want to come in?”

“Yes, absolutely. I think I need some time to be with my family,” she smiled softly and took a step closer, but Tony didn’t budge. She frowned, “Why aren’t you letting me in?”

“Wanted to see if you really thought I believed you. We both know you’re not my kid.”

A scowled crossed her face as her eyes darkened, “Well, neither is the bitch I left dead in the field,” she replied, smirking as she sensed Tony’s heart skip a beat. “Guess we know who’s stronger, don’t we?”

“You’re not coming in, bitch,” Tony snapped.

“Then I’ll bring the house down but leave little Morgan’s room perfectly in tact. After all, she’s just a kid, and she’ll need someone to look after her, someone like me.”

Tony nodded in agreement as he leaned against the doorframe, tapping it a few times before turning around and walking in. As he slammed the door shut, he shouted, “That’s my kid, not yours. Get lost, you multiverse loser.”

Fuming, she stepped back a few feet. Tony was being difficult. It left her with no choice. She took a few deep breaths, mustering up more strength as she prepared to strategically break this house into smithereens with everyone inside it, all the while trying to make sure Morgan’s room was undamaged.

However, once she saw the front door open again, she figured Tony was coming to fight her. She held her hand out and sent out a blast of vibrations that shattered the doorframe, sending a shower of wood splinters that would surely be a bitch to clean up. She expected Tony to have flown backwards and heard a crash, or at the very least, seen him standing there in shock with a hole in his stomach.

Instead, Tony stepped through the gaping hole  of a front door in a suit of all silver. She was stunned as Tony seemed completely unharmed. His suit didn’t even have a single scratch on it. She stared at him in shock while Tony tilted his head to the side.

He chuckled, “So, you’re stronger, but I guess you’re not smarter, huh, kiddo? Vibranium-laced suits. We’ve made friends with a few people down in Wakanda, in case you were wondering.”

Suddenly, there was a feral shrieking noise in the distance. Coming out of the sky was you. You landed with a mighty thud on the ground, similar to how your counterpart had moments ago. You stood up tall, eyes glowing the brightest gold they ever had in the past. You were huffing and puffing, the ground trembling beneath you as you cracked your neck and stared at your counterpart.

“I killed you,” she hissed. “Your heart stopped beating. I felt it.”

“Oh, okay.” You nodded quickly. “My turn then, I guess.”

The other Avengers arrived just as you went to attack, but they didn’t engage in the fight when they saw you. All of them were far too stunned. Tony went back into the house to get Pepper and Morgan and clear the area. Shangqi stood there as stunned as the rest of them.  They watched you leap forward, hands outstretched in front of you and a look of rage on your face they hadn’t seen before.

“This is my life,” you snapped. “Not yours!”

Her hand came up to block your attack, but it didn’t work. You were so strong, your vibrations overpowered hers, shattering her hand on impact. She screamed in agony and raised her other hand, her powers shoving you back and started to splinter your bones from within. You screamed and stomped your foot on the ground. The ground ripped in half beneath her and sent her stumbling back.

While she was stumbling, you stared at her and raised your fist like you were going to stop your heart. She was expecting this move from you, and she jumped into the air to try to make some distance and keep you from doing this. Figuring that she was going to try and run, you jumped in the air with her and grabbed her.

Your fist ripped through her chest.  You grabbed her heart in your hand and squeezed it yourself until you felt it popping and squishing between your fingers. You watched the life drain out of your own eyes, the soft golden glow from her fading away into nothing as you let her go and let her body fall on the ground.

You landed in front of her, the force of your landing splintering the legs on an already-dead body. You stood up slowly and looked down at your hands. One arm was coated in blood thanks to her, but you could see both your forearms were bruised and shaking like when you were a child and tried to hold back all your power. You glanced at your bicep on your right and saw the bruises were traveling, meaning the power in you was a struggle to contain.

But you were so angry.

You knew this was going to happen. You knew, and yet, you still felt incredibly unprepared. You flirted with death and killed yourself to save your family, but you couldn’t stop shaking and causing havoc around you. This should’t have been happening to you, because you shouldn’t even be alive right now.

As the panic set in, the realization of your ferocity, that you were alive, your control slipped away. Cracks started racing to the house, splitting the porch in half before more cracks began to form along the walls. The ground beneath you wouldn’t stop rumbling as the earth started to break  beneath you and spread to towards the lake.

“It’s happening again,” Steve shouted. “Tony!”

“On it!” Tony was about to take a step towards you, but Morgan grabbed his hand.

He looked down as Morgan looked up at him, “Please don’t die again, daddy.”

Tony’s shoulders sunk. It was a very real possibility that he could die. He hadn’t actually tested the suit against you. He wasn’t sure how much it could withstand, which meant that he had no idea how long he had. He exhaled slowly and squeezed her hand, “I won’t, Morguna. I’ll be right back. I just have to talk to your sister —“

“She’s going to kill you!” Morgan screeched in fear.

Tony didn’t have the chance to move. You heard Morgan’s cries and whipped around. When you made eye contact with her, you were frozen in pain. Morgan was terrified of you, and it made you feel so much worse. The panic, the feelings of dread you were feeling caused you to lose another ounce of control, and it split the house down the middle.

Natasha exhaled and grabbed Scott and Clint by their elbows, “What the hell did you two idiots do?”

“It’s an old contingency plan,” Clint reasoned, his adam’s apple bobbing as everyone slowly started to turn to face him. “Vibranium tipped arrow. It was…well, supposed to kill her or maim her when she got too crazy. It’s a last-resort arrow.”

“You killed her?” Shangqi snapped.

“Not quite,” Scott spoke up. “We used it as a delivery system for me. It was dark, you can barely see the arrow when it’s flying. I was on the tip, and we dosed her up with enough of a little simple syrup — that’s a joke, it wasn’t simple syrup —“

“To stop her heart,” Clint said. “And then we brought her back with some adrenaline and a few more things.”

“What things?” Steve glared as he marched towards him. “What the hell is she on? Why do you even have this?”

“Don’t look at me! Tony made it after Ultron! She almost killed herself in that fight she was so exhausted. He wanted her to have a little boost for the event she’s, uh, fading too much in battle.”

“So you put a relatively unstable woman on steroids,” Stephen deadpanned. “Fantastic.”

Shangqi looked around. These people were actually scared and unsure of what to do, but it was you. It was just you, deep down inside there, and he’d seen this before. You were scared, you were panicking. Okay, you were causing a bit more chaos, but…

“Okay. The lake is now moving,” Clint cleared his throat. “I’ll talk to her—“

“No,” Shangqi dropped the rings from his forearms. “I’ve got it.”

He sidestepped Natasha quickly. Before she could stop him, he was walking towards you and feeling the ground shake anymore. He cringed, a twinge of pain racing up his foot as he approached you. You could hear a new, closer heartbeat, and you turned to Shangqi.

“Get away,” you cautioned him. “Something’s , something’s not right and I —“

“I know. Don’t worry.”

“I’m dead. Right?” You breathed. “This is just a dream?”

“Sorry, you’re stuck with me for the long-haul, babe,” Shangqi smiled softly at you, hands stuffed into his pockets. “So what’s say we head back to the compound, shower, talk.”

“Shangqi..” you trailed off and looks to your corpse. “I’m a monster.”

“What? That? No! Pffft, I would’ve done it myself,” he joked, but you weren’t laughing. “Babe come on —“

“My sister is terrified of me, I destroyed her home, and even I’m shocked with what I just did to her.”

“You’re still my wife,” Shangqi said softly. “You’re still my wife, who I will stay with until the very end. If you want to stay here and destroy everything, do it,” he cringed when he was certain he felt his ankle snap from the vibrations on the ground constantly drumming on his bones. He put his weight on his other leg, and you frowned when you realized what you were doing to him, what he was willing to do for you. “So, if this is the end…I’m here.”

“You’re crazy.”

“Crazy for you,” He grinned. “You’re okay. Everyone’s okay. Scared? Probably. You’re scary, but you’re hot when you’re scary, so that’s something, right?”

You laughed in disbelief and shook your head, “You are so stupid.”

“Yeah, but I’m your stupid husband,” he smiled at you and outstretched his hand, ignoring how he could see his fingertips started to bruise and turn red and purple. “Come on, babe. It’s just me. You can relax now. It’s over. You can rest now.”

You focused on your breathing first. You slowed it down until you were confident you had it under control without focusing so much on it. You shut your eyes and worked on stopping all of the vibrations and the shaking.

You weren’t sure when it happened, but, eventually, it stopped. You felt a hand take yours, and you opened your eyes to see Shangqi staring at you, slowly leaning in to press his forehead against yours. His eyes shut as he too finally relaxed. He exhaled, his breath catching in his chest as tears fell from his closed eyes and his other hand came up to cup your face, “I thought you were gone.”

You nodded and leaned into his hand, “Me too.” You exhaled, “Shangqi,”

“Yeah?”

“Well, as much as you do, at least.”

“Oh, I don’t think anyone comes close to me on that,” you countered, “but I love that your hatred of him has grown. Let your hate consume you, Shangqi.”

“Don’t, don’t go all Palpatine on me. We both know you’re more of a Jedi than Sith leaning anyway,” He sighed as he leaned on his arm.

You chuckled, “Well, definitely more grey-leaning at the least.” You parked in front of Clint’s building, ignoring the fact that the spot you chose definitely wasn’t a spot, and you were likely to get a ticket if some traffic cop came around in the middle of the night. “I see his bike down the block.”

“Great. He’s here,” Shangqi groaned. “This was not how the night was meant to go.”

“I know.”

“You were going to do deplorable things to me, and I was going to do deplorable things to you!”

“Trust me, I’m aware.”

“We were going to traumatize people in a random hotel! I needed this!” He whined and loosened his tie and undid his jacket buttons. “Ugh, let’s just go. At least Clint’s there, he’s cool. Do you think he has food?”

“Honey, I’m nearly positive that man has food.”

Shocking absolutely no one, when you got to Clint’s floor, you could smell pizza. You looked to Shangqi who sighed in relief. You didn’t want to know where that man had gotten pizza from this late at night, but, hey, it was New York, after all. 

The door was already open since you had rung the bell downstairs to be let in. You both walked right into the apartment and were hit by the smell of pizza even more. Clint muttered that Steve was in the kitchen, and you all walked right over there to see him leaning against the counter, his hands gripping the countertop behind him while Natasha leaned against the refrigerator. 

Natasha caught your eye, a tiny smirk forming at the corner of her lips as she addressed you, “Hey, Stark. Still in shock I’m here?”

“What? No. I’m totally fine with the fact that you’re back and we had a totally different relationship in your world.”

“Well, you were dead for most of it in my world, so,” Natasha nodded. “Anyway, Steve’s here.”

“Great,” Shangqi muttered under his breath and grabbed a slice of pizza off the countertop before shoving half of it in his mouth. “So what is it this time, Rogers? You found out we were having a nice night out on the town, and you just felt it in your bones to try to steal my wife from me for the millionth time?”

“No,” Steve cleared his throat and lifted his head to look at you with those pitiful blue eyes. “We have a problem.”

Rolling your eyes, which earned a smirk from Clint as he leaned over to whisper in Natasha’s ear, you hopped up and sat on the last empty counter, “Speak.”

“I think there’s a version of you from an alternatte universe here,” Steve confessed.

This was it. This was exactly your fear, another you in your world trying to cause trouble. You sat there listening to Steve plead his case, how he explained that you, or rather, this version of you, came to him saying how you loved him, that you and Shangqi were no more. He explained that the two of you had been sleeping together and that Steve thought this was the chance he’d been waiting for, but how he realized it was too good to be true the second she called him ‘Stevie’, but he was so enamored with the idea of having you back, he kept on doing it until the guilt got to him.

“So, let me get this straight,” you cleared your throat. “You thought I left Shangqi, and you decided that it was totally normal for me to appproach you and fuck you after leaving my husband.”

“Well, there was a tan line on your ring finger, and you were wearing that blue sweater I really like — “

“I don’t even own that anymore, Steve! I burned it! I can’t fucking believe you. I can’t believe you honestly thought it was me and you just went with it thinking with your fucking dick first! This is unbelievable! And, what, you had your fill of her and you’re telling me this now, why?”

Steve groaned, “Like I said, Y/N, I, I just wasn’t thinking. I thought it was you, okay? I love you, and I —“

Steve did not finish his sentence. Shangqi had quietly taken one step forward, just enough space for him to reel back and throw his fist against Steve’s cheek. The super soldier stumbled but quickly recovered to see Shangqi fuming.

“You need to stay the hell away from my wife,” Shangqi growled. “Just keep her name out of your fucking mouth, Rogers.”

Clint cleared his throat to get your attention, “You gonna stop that?”

You crossed one leg over the other and grabbed one of Clint’s discarded beers to drink from, “Nope.”

“Shangqi —“

“No,” he said, cutting him off quickly. “No, Steve. I’m sick of it. Ever since.I met you, you’ve been trying to get her away from me. Now you’re just standing here telling me all about how you slept with her and thought we were done, so you swooped in like a vulture? I mean, what kind of brazen piece of shit are you?”

“I get you’re upset, but you’ve got to understand our history here —“

“No —“

“Gentlemen,” Natasha said loudly to cut over their bickering, “You’re missing the point here. Y/N Stark from another universe is here looking for family. What does that mean?”

Steve shook his head, “She just said she wanted me back and how she loves me.”

“And what have you been doing?” Natasha asked, then rolled her eyes when she saw Steve turn red, “Aisde from sleeping together, Steve.”

“She kept talking about starting over, and having a family together and stepping away from all of this,” Steve explained. “It was...very domestic, I hadn’t heard you say anything like that for a long time, Y/N.”

You hummed, “Well, I haven’t been feeling very domestic for a long time, and you were gone, so, you know —“

“Before that —“

“Whatever —“

“She talked about wanting kids,” Steve said. “But she kept it short, like it upset her.”

Clint frowned, “Where is she, Steve?”

“She’s at the compound. I left saying I was meeting Bucky.”

“Wow, Captain America lying again, amazing,” Shangqi snickered.

“Out of curiosity, where’s Morgan?” Natasha asked.

“At home….” you trailed off. “Do you think she’d go after them?”

“I think if she’s desperate for a family, who knows what she’s capable of.”

You knew you had to act fast, you jumped off the table and went to grab your phone from your clutch as you started barking orders, “Steve, call my father. Clint, get the special arrows —“ 

“They’re all special — “

“You know which ones,” you said quickly, locking eyes with the man who cringed and nodded.  You nodded to yourself, “Shangqi, rings?”

“Car.”

“Okay. I’m calling Strange, we’re gonna need him.Here’s the plan. We’re teleporting to either the compound, or the lake house. Clint, I want you nowhere near. I want you as far as you can get while maintaining sight. Shangqi, you, Steve, Sam, and Bucky are on quake watch — after we kidnap them, of course.”

Shangqi balked, “Excuse me?”

“Oh, let me make myself clear:  If one or both of us gets close to breaking the planet in half, you have to stop us. Your rings can, at the very least, match my power. They have vibranium, Stephen can teleport them, and Clint —“

“Has knockout arrows and a very special netting arrow where the netting is very thinly laced with vibranium, made it after the snap, not sure how strong it is yet, but I guess we’ll find out,” Clint added as he threw his quiver on his shoulder. “Let’s get going, shall we?”

“No plan for me, Stark?” Natasha asked after a moment, head tilting to the side as she stared at you. “I’m hurt.”

You chewed on your bottom lip, “I’m sure you can guess what I need from you.”

Natasha’s eyes flickered over to Shangqi. She watched as the man gave her the most confused stare on the planet as he looked between her and you. Natasha looked back to you and gave you one quick nod in understanding.

~*~

After gathering everyone in the middle of the night, you went to the compound to prepare for something potentially horrible. Tony said that no one had come to the compound yet, but he did have his sensors go off for seismic activity near the property before it stopped. 

You deduced that, perhaps, you realized that the other you had been detected and decided to back off of the lake house for now. This way, when everyone was at the compound and in position, Shangqi several feet behind you with Steve, the rest of them laying in hiding, you expected to see yourself. You were waiting for it, but watching a version of you suddenly land in the dirt in front of you, ground cracking by her feet, it was unnerving. When she stood at her full height, you felt a little uneasy watching her stare at you with such intensity.

Is this what it was like when people saw you? Wow, this was a lot.

“So we finally meet. You found me out. It took you long enough,” she said to you. “I’m not here to fight.”

“Good,” you replied. “Why are you here?”

“It’s simple,” she explained. “I lost everything, and I want my life back.”

You shook your head, “You can’t have it by taking mine.”

She laughed in your face, “Is that what you think? That, that you and your band of merry friends hiding in the trees could stop me from taking what I want?”

“Well, clearly,” You shrugged and nodded to her. “This is my life, not yours. I think it’s time you go.”

“You’re not sending me back,” she shook her head. “You got your dad back, your friends, you got Stevie back and you don’t even love him like you should.”

“He hurt me — “

“We hurt him,” she snapped. “We failed him.”

You laughed in disbelief, “We didn’t do shit. Fuck that guy, he’s a prick. I knew my self-esteem was low, but damn, that low to think you’re missing out with Steve of all people? Rough, buddy. I — “

“Don’t talk about him like that!” She threw her hand up and made your heart stop. You gasped for air and clutched your chest as you went straight to the ground. Shangqi ran forward, his hand shooting forward to hit her with a ring, but she deflected his own ring back to him and sent him flying in the air until Steve jumped up, caught his arm, and brought him down.

“Stop it!” Steve shouted. “Stop hurting her!”

The alternate version of you lowered her hand. You gasped for air as the pain stopped and your heart started pumping blood once more. You looked up as she started approaching you in a slow, sinister walk.

“You don’t know what it’s like to watch your husband die,” she hissed. “To watch the life leave his eyes because he died for you. You have no idea how that feels.”

You held up your hand, your index and thumb close together, “A little bit.”

Laughing, she knelt down in front of you, “I lost everything, and you have everything I want, well, almost everything I want.”

You stared up at her and narrowed your eyes, “Oh, right. You wanted a baby, right? Did you think you can just take my sister and raise her as your own? Fat chance. Why not just keep letting Steve use you as a cum dumpster? He’s stupid enough to think you’re somewhat like me.”

She chuckled again and shook her head, “You don’t even know, do you?”

“Know what?”

“We can’t have children, Stark,” she explained to you. “Have you never tried? Two husbands, and not a single attempt at kids? Sad, pathetic, even,” she shook her head. “We can’t have children.”

You laughed at her. She was lying, clearly. You were perfectly healthy, so why would you be unable to have kids? That wasn’t even a thought that had crossed your mind, it wasn’t a concern, nothing ever came up. “That’s, that’s just not true. You, maybe, but there’s nothing wrong with me —“

“Miscarriage, after miscarriage, after miscarriage, and you know what I learned?” She stood up tall. “We’re just too physically unstable to have a kid. All that power we hold in, it’s too unstable an environment, and when we use it? It’s even worse. You will never be a mother, Y/N Stark. You will never have that picture-perfect family that I know you want, but I will.”

Now, given that this was you, you knew what to expect. Your hands came up just as hers did, and the two of you were intent on using your powers to kill the other, but you were locked in a stalemate. Shangqi tried to throw his rings into the mix, but the power emanating from you two, they couldn’t even penetrate.

Steve’s shield hovered in the air near you, but it was flung right back. You and yourself were making the earth beneath you shake and crack, a split forming in the dirt between you. Chunks of the ground started to shoot up, and as the earth started to split, you both started to lose your balance, but neither were giving up.

“Just let me have this!” She shouted at you, “Let me have him! You don’t even want him!”

“You’re right, I don’t,” you agreed. “But I’m not letting some cunty, harpy version of me have him either. You will not have my life.”

She nodded frantically, “Fine, then die!”

“I mean it!” You whined as he wrapped his arms around your middle and yanked you over the back of the sofa until you landed unceremoniously on his lap. “Something is off. It’s too normal here.”

Shangqi sighed heavily and leaned back against the armrest of the small sofa, pulling you back with him and nuzzling your hair with his nose, “Just because we haven’t had any drama doesn’t mean that something is wrong.”

“It’s too quiet here!”

“People are on missions, aren’t they?”

“We aren’t!”

“We were visiting your family.”

“Pft. Still. Even Steve! Steve hasn’t tried to hit on me once. Hasn’t called me doll at all. In fact, I haven’t even seen him!”

He raised an eyebrow as he leaned forward and prompted you to turn your head to face him, “Do you miss Steve hitting on you and trying to steal you away from me, Y/N?”

“What? No, it’s just shady as fuck. Don’t be a dumb, jealous boy, even though it can be hot sometimes.”

He huffed, “Maybe he finally got a hint and moved on. We’re married, you know.”

“Wait, we’re married?” You blinked innocently. 

Pouting, Shangqi’s hands dove for your sides. He tickled you mercilessly while you screamed and thrashed on top of him, your body wiggling and jumping around as you tried to get off of him and away from him. Failing miserably, Shangqi pulled you back onto his lap and bear hugged you.

“Enjoy the peace while it lasts, baby,” he told you as he kissed the back of your neck. “Or enjoy me instead, right on the sofa. Or the bed. Or the floor? Either works.”

Before you could respond, Wednesday interrupted, “Baby Boss, Big Boss is calling.”

Shangqi snorted, “Baby boss!?”

“Shut up.”

“I’ve never heard that! When did this happen?”

“He hacked into her,” you whined. “Put him through, Wednesday.”

After a few seconds, you could hear your father, well…your clone father? Multiverse father? Something like that. Either way, you were so desperate to have your dad back, and Tony was so desperate to have his family back, you both fell into your roles fairly quickly, especially given the near-perfect parallel you both lived.

“Spawn,” Tony began. “Am I interrupting naked time?”

“…If I say yes, will that traumatize you?”

“Nope, I’d just making ‘riding the dragon’ jokes. Anyway, are you guys still in New York?”

“Depends,” you glanced to your husband who shrugged. “Why?”

“There might be a charity gala down at the Met tonight,” Tony began.

“Again? The fuck, it seems like they always have one.”

“I know, right? So annoying to go to them constantly, that’s why I RSVP’d you and Mushu to go in place of Pepper,” Tony said quickly.

“You did what!?” 

“Hey, I’m not Mushu! I rode a dragon, I’m not one,” Shangqi argued.

“Not the hill you want to die on, honey,” you said quietly as you patted the top of his head. You cleared your throat and let your head roll back over your shoulders as you stared at the ceiling, “Why?”

“Well, Pepper’s been avoiding them, with good, mourning reasons —“

“Me too!”

“Actually, she told me you’ve been avoiding them because you called a group of old white men a racist and Smaug beat up a bunch of attempted robbers who tried to hit the place.”

You chewed on your bottom lip, “…See why I can’t go?”

“Thank you so much for being a dazzling, darling daughter and going to make sure Stark Industries stands strong with that girl boss attitude of yours. I know you guys don’t have anything ready. Luckily for you, Pepper’s got only the best designer contacts who pulled a couple of pieces together and are waiting at The Plaza for you.”

“Why are you like this?”

“I missed you too, spawn,” Tony cackled. “Have fun with Toothless over there.”

The call ended and Shangqi was sitting next to you looking moderately traumatized, “Why does your dad know so many dragons off the top of his head?”

“Don’t ask questions you’re not ready to hear the answer to,” you sighed and patted the top of his head. “Let’s get going. If we get through this without an incident, I’ll do that thing you really like.”

Shangqi’s eyes suddenly widened comically. He shoved you off of him and spun you around, ignoring your giggles of laughter as he gripped your shoulders and held you in place, “With the suit on?”

You laughed, “Yes, with the suit on.”

He groaned. Shangqi leapt forward, his lips crushing yours as he wrapped his arms around you and kissed you deeply. He jumped off of you with a loud pop of his lips and ran around the room shouting that it was time to go while he grabbed both of your bags and belongings. He damn near picked you up himself and was rushing out the door with you to get a move on, get through the night, and get to the promised fun that awaited him.

With your feet finally on the ground as you two went to your car, you paused mid-step. You set your foot down and turned around, staring at the building curiously as you started to use your powers.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Shangqi asked you after loading the bags in the trunk. “Forget something?”

“No, no,” you muttered. “I thought I felt something.”

“Like what?”

“Just another vibration. I don’t know. It was strong —“

“Well, Bruce is in the lab, he might be experimenting on something,” Shangqi reasoned. “He did say he was busy this weekend.”

“True,” you trailed off and shook your head. “Doesn’t feel like Bruce though.”

“You know how everyone feels?”

“Well, yeah.”

“That is so creepy,” he muttered under his breath. “Come on you little seismometer we’ve got a ball to go to.”

Ignoring the nagging feeling in your gut that something was wrong, you chalked it up to, maybe, you were, in fact, being overly paranoid. You climbed into the car and glanced at the compound one last time, almost like you were reassuring yourself that nothing was wrong. You shook your head, turned your attention to your husband, and grinned as he grabbed your hand and drove down to the city.

~*~

This wasn’t fair. This was punishment.

You and Shangqi had run off to different rooms to quickly get ready. Hair, makeup, clothing. Just deciding on what to wear from what they had available was stressful for you, but you landed on something you really, really liked after starting to become stressed and hopeless about it. After hair, makeup, and changing was done, you went to meet Shangqi who was out in the hall and ready to go.

Except that the second you opened the door, your eyes widened, and as you tried to walk out, you slammed your shoulder right into the doorframe and howled in pain. Ever the doting husband, he laughed at you before cooing and grabbing you to rub your shoulder soothingly.

“What was that?” He laughed, then it clicked. “Oh, this is like that time with the glasses in Madripoor, right?”

“No. Shut up,” you muttered as you stared at him.

It was, it absolutely was. Shangqi looked like something straight out of a magazine called ‘Sin.’ The red suit, the gold accents, the cute black bowtie and that confident, cute, dorky smile as he held your hand and stepped back to get a good look at you.

“You look incredible, babe.” He said as he admired you. “No one will be able to keep their eyes off of you. You look so —“

“If I’m wearing my suit tonight,” you began quietly as you looked him over from head to toe without a single ounce of shame. “Then you’re wearing that. And it stays on.”

He laughed, cheeks gathering a slight rose shade as he stared at you, “Really?”

“The shirt can go,” you told him as your hand ran up his bicep and down his chest, “but everything else stays. What is this strap? You know what, I don’t care. Do things with it —“

“Oh my god, Y/N,” he laughed as he started to tug you towards the elevator, “Stop, or we will never make it there.”

“I honestly wouldn’t mind ditching,” you confessed. “I will slam that emergency break in the elevator right now. Should I? Let me —“

“No, no, we should go.”

You blinked in surprise as you lowered your hand from the panel and leaned back against the elevator wall. Shangqi shook his head, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth as he stared at the ground.

“You are acting like an adult. I’m surprised,” you remarked.

“Just trying to get on your dad’s good side, is all,” he admitted. “I thought winning over Clint and Pepper would be the end of it, but, uh, well, he surprised me.”

You cooed. You leaned over to rest your head on his shoulder as you rubbed his chest sweetly, “My sweet man. Don’t worry, he likes you.”

“Sure doesn’t feel that way. I don’t think he knows my name.”

“He’s adjusting to realizing you’re not an evil villain obsessed with me here, but I know he likes you. We’d have known if he didn’t.”

“Really?”

“Oh, yes. He would’ve run you out of here already. He’s very persistent.”

“I….wow, how charming.”

Arriving at the MET, the two of you were, naturally, the talk of the town. Y/N Stark and her Avenger boyfriend, which was a step up from his previous nicknames: Bus Boy, Y/N Stark’s Boyfriend, Y/N’s Husband. Maybe one day they’d actually bother to learn his name.

This time, the event went smoothly, but not for a lack of Shangqi trying. When he realized just how smitten you were with this red suit of his, he just couldn’t let it go. Every so often his hand would brush a little too low on your backside. He’d lean in and whisper in your ear, steal a quick peck on your neck when no one was looking, He was a menace, openly flirting with you, handing you drinks, a hand always on you somewhere no matter what.

Plus, he was doing much, much better this time around than the first time he went to one of these things with you. He was far more relaxed and sure of himself now than he was in the past. After all, now he was here as the dutiful husband, admiring his intelligent, charming wife as she conversed, dazzled, charmed her way around the room. Although, after most every conversation you usually leaned over to your husband with a horrible, snarky remark that would make your father proud and Pepper sigh heavily.

You excused yourself at one point to the restroom, warning Shangqi not to follow you and be a menace. He laughed, but shot you a wink which had you wondering if you were going to partake in yet another museum quickie.

After doing your business, you touched up your makeup in the mirror and checked your phone. Just as you were about to pocket it in your clutch, it began to ring. Frowning when you saw the name, you quickly answered and brought it to your ear.

“Someone better be fucking dying, Rogers,” you snapped.

You could hear him chuckle on the other end, “Charming as ever, doll.”

“Why are you calling?”

“I just wanted to know,” Steve began, clearing his throat. He sounded like he was…nervous? Afraid? You couldn’t tell, “I just wanted to know, when was the last time you called me Stevie?”

“Stevie?” You howled with laughter. “I have never called you that. Who the fuck do you think you are, Stevie Nicks? Please, you could never.”

You could hear him exhale on the other line, “I figured.”

You rolled your eyes, “Okay, enough of the melancholy. I’m at an event and you’re taking up precious time, here. Did you need something?”

“Yeah,” Steve scratched the top of his head and looked around the room he was in quickly. It pained him to do this. He didn’t want to. He wanted to be selfish all over again and keep this to himself, have the happy life he really, truly wanted. But the last time he tried that, he destroyed you, and the two of you were never able to come back from it together. He had to do this.

“And good morning to you, babe,” he said with a smile on his face. “When you finish that, get ready, I’ve got plans today.”

“Oh?” You asked after finally pulling away from the drink when it was half gone. “What’s going on?”

“You’ll see.”

“Is Katy coming?”

“She’ll be joining a little later. Bucky’s in town. He’s letting her try out a motorcycle.”

“Hm ,Bucky’s in town and didn’t come say hi first? I’m offended,” you hummed and sipped your drink some more, watching Shangqi’s facial expressions closely to try to guess what was going on. “We’re not going on a mission, are we?”

“What? No!” He laughed. “No. I just thought you could use a day out, and I know you love fall, so….”

“So!?”

“So there’s the Autumn Moon Festival in Chinatown. There’s tons of food, cooking demonstrations, acrobatics and martial arts, storytellers, and a parade, obviously,” he explained to you. “It’s no apple-picking in Upstate New York, but —“

“That sounds good,” You nodded and placed your empty cup in his hand before sitting up on your knees, leaning forward, and pressing your lips to his. “So…breakfast there, then?”

“There’s a pumpkin muffin waiting for you for the car ride.”

You sighed happily and draped your arms around his shoulders, “This is why I married you, Shangqi. I hope you know that.”

“I thought it was because I made you a better person and because I’m so damn handsome?”

“Well, I’m glad you’re not pretending it’s your intelligence,” you teased.

He gasped. Shangqi gasped before he pouted, grabbed your waist, and stood up with you. You shrieked with laughter as he dropped the both of you on the bed like a poorly executed wrestling move before he rolled over you, face hovering over yours as he playfully held your wrists to the bed.

“You’re an awful person, Mrs. Stark,” he sighed.

You beamed, “Yes, yes I am, Mr. Xu. Don’t you love it?”

He sighed again, “Yeah, I really do. Come on, get ready. If we get there and all the food is gone, I’m afraid for what you’ll do.”

“Cry, probably. Definitely cry.”

~*~

At the festival, Shangqi could see you were in heaven. There were so many foods to try. The colors and decorations were vibrant and bright,  there were beautiful trinkets, like fans, to purchase, and, naturally, you found yourself going overboard on things to buy.

Shangqi was stuffing your mouth with mooncake as the two of you shuffled through the busy streets together. You came across one of the demonstrations and watched on the sidelines as the experts displayed their martial arts prowess. 

As you both were watching, you yourself felt like you were being watched. You glanced around curiously, and noticed how everyone was turning to stare at your husband. You smiled softly to yourself. He was completely oblivious to all the attention he was getting. Turning slightly, you tugged on his jacket and leaned in to speak in his ear, “You’ve been recognized, babe.”

Shangqi broke out of his daze and looked around. There were camera phones pointed at him, people talking and whispering, kids staring in awe.

He scoffed, “Nah ,that’s for you, baby —“

“Honey, consider the predominantly Asian neighborhood we are in and the very obvious lack of Asian representation in the superhero world so far,” you sighed as you grabbed his shoulders and gave him a little shake. “It’s for you.”

Shangqi gave another look around as you slipped away from him shouting that ‘bus boy is here.’ He scoffed at the old nickname you used for him, but he quickly recovered as people grabbed his arms and started dragging him over to join the other demonstrators. He looked at you wondering what he should do. You simply nodded and waved your hand in a ‘go on’ motion to prompt him. With a shrug, Shangqi displayed his own fighting prowess.

You watched with a smile on your face. You remembered your own moments when you were first being recognized. The same attention you got from people of your own culture because they felt a connection to you, a hero. It was sweet seeing that with your husband right now. Little kids were trying to follow along with him, and some adults too. People were filming him. He had all the attention.

You ended up turning it into a film session. A family or group of people handed you their phone while you were crouched down on the ground. You took pictures of them with your husband, gave the phone back, and moved it along.

“I didn’t think we’d be working,” Shangqi joked as you two eventually walked away to continue on with your day. “Sorry about that —“

“Enjoy it. All those little kids look at you and see themselves as a hero, adults too! It’s one of the perks of the business,” you smiled and squeezed his hand. “So is that woman that gave me an entire bag of scallion pancakes.”

“You are going to get sick eating all of those.”

“I’m aware, and I don’t care,” you said simply. “I didn’t judge you for eating 20 dumplings, 20!!!”

“Okay, okay,” he laughed and wrapped an arm around your shoulders. “How about we go grab some boba — “

“I want egg tarts —“

“And that too,” he nodded. “There’s a Japanese tea ceremony going on. I got tickets to see if you’re interested.”

You nodded, “Yeah, let’s do it.”

With snacks for later and drinks in hand, you two found yourselves viewing a traditional Japanese tea ceremony with other performances. You both were sitting in your seats and observing when you spotted Katy and Bucky across the way. Katy unceremoniously threw a balled up napkin at Shangqi’s face. It smacked him on the cheek and fell on the ground, causing you to stifle your giggles in the middle of this beautiful ceremony.

Afterwards, you all waited for each other outside. You locked eyes with Bucky and gave him the middle finger. He rolled his eyes as he approached, leaning down to kiss you on the cheek before giving Shangqi a hug.

“I guess we’re meeting up earlier than planned,” Katy began. “So, this can only mean one thing —“

“Katy,” Shangqi sighed. “I’m trying to give her a fall day —“

“You don’t even know what I  was suggesting.”

“Probably karaoke and booze,” Bucky hummed.

She scoffed, “What? No…”

“Why not,” you shrugged with a laugh. “It’s a San Francisco fall day, right? Let’s do it.”

“See? This is why you married her, she’s smart,” Katy draped an arm around your shoulders as she started to lead you away. “Thank god you’re here now. Bucky was making me look bad in front of everyone.”

“It’s not my fault I speak multiple languages,” he shrugged his shoulders as he and Shangqi walked behind you and Katy.

“It is, Barnes, it absolutely is!” Katy scoffed. “And he ate, like, 20 chicken wings. I can’t tell if I’m scared or turned on.”

“Oh, that’s funny. Shangqi had 20 dumplings.”

“Animals,” Katy shook her head while behind her, Shangqi rolled his eyes and Bucky snorted.

At the usual Karaoke bar, it was a little more crowded than usual with people in the area for the festivals. You guys managed to get a room right before the crowd hit, and you planned on keeping it for as long as you could. The drinks were flowing, Bucky was running out to get snacks to bring back, and you all were screaming your lungs out.

Well, all except—

“Come on, Bucky Bear,” you whined as you grabbed his arm. “You gotta sing a little something.”

Shangqi blinked as he watched you bat your eyes up at Bucky. He wasn’t sure if he was witnessing a nefarious plan, or a drunken confession.

“Fuck off, Stark.”

“Bucky bear!” You whined again, watching the soldier’s nostrils flare as his eyes darkened with an urge to throw you into the ocean. “Please?”

“What is happening?” Shangqi blurted out.

“Bucky loves a damsel in distress so I’m trying to appeal to that to get him to sing,” you explained as you stared up at Bucky. “Is it working?”

Bucky blinked twice as he stared at you in silence before answering, “Not even in your wildest dreams, Stark.”

“….You bitch.”

“I got it,” Katy slammed her drink before setting the glass on the table and marching up to him. She poked him in his chest, “Please sing. My girlfriend ghosted me. I need this.”

“Pity isn’t fair,Katy.”

“But it works, right?”

“Wait. My sister ghosted you?” Shangqi stared at Katy in disbelief. “I am too drunk for all this information. What is happening right now? Katy, are you okay?”

“Oh, sure, dude. My girlfriend’s so busy with work and some new project she’s on that she basically ghosted me and only answered ages later to say it’s done. I’m totally okay — no, I’m not okay. But I will be if Bucky starts to sing…”

Everyone slowly turned to stare at Bucky. The man with a permanent scowl rolled his eyes, grabbed a microphone, and went to pick a song. The three of you cheered while he was picking something.

“I bet it’s old as shit,” Katy whispered. “You were right, Stark, damsel works every time.”

“Told you. One time, I got him to take me to Wendy’s at 1:00 a.m. because I wanted a frosty.”

“Thank god. I thought you were in love with him,” Shangqi sighed in relief. “One super soldier love triangle was enough for me.”

“Ew? Bucky? I could never,” you shuddered at the thought. 

Bucky finally picked a song and surprised the three of you. No one would have guessed when or how he came upon this, but given that he’d been through more eras in time than Steve, and had a lot more time on his hands now, maybe this was how he came upon it.

“Hungry eyes,” Bucky sang, going fully into it by thrusting his hips and making a fist against his chest. “One look at you and I can’t disguise!”

This was incredible. The three of you were frozen as you watched him. Was this really happening? Was Bucky a variant? This was insane. Never in your wildest dreams would you have guessed this was happening. It took you off guard so much, that it took you a moment to finally pull out your cell phone and start recording, only for Bucky to run over and rip it out your hand while he was singing and hold it in the air away from you.

“What a bully,” you huffed as Shangqi laughed and wrapped an arm around you. “This was a great day, honey, thank you.”

He beamed and rested his chin on the top of your head as he watched Katy grab a microphone and join in with Bucky, “Yeah? I mean, it’s no fall in New York, but —“

“But this was equally as fantastic. We needed this. Good job, babe,” you patted his chest and turned to kiss him softly on his cheek. “We should check on Xialing, though. That sounded weird.”

“I was just thinking the same thing,” he sighed. “I’m sure it’s fine. I’ll give her a call first.”

“Good,” you nodded. “Maybe take Katy out. Let her pick which car of my dad’s and go have a day together.”

“Are you sure you want to do that?”

“What? Yeah, she’s a great driver. I trust her. Better driver than I am, at least,” you shrugged your shoulders. “Better than you too, grandma.”

But that morning, as you were waiting for Pepper to come by and you spoke to him in the kitchen, you were thinking that maybe, just maybe, you were allowed to have some good luck on your side.

“My daughter, you, I guess, in my universe, she used to make the most incredible brownies,” Tony explained with a grin as he stared off out the window and thought back on a particular day. “And one day I came back from a mission with everyone. You were — she was asleep, but those brownies were there. I took ‘em before anyone could say otherwise, ran off, and wrapped them all in plastic wrap and hid pieces around the tower so I had snacks all week and no one else got any.”

Your eyes watered as you remembered this being the exact story you had shared with Shangqi around Thanksgiving, the night that he proposed. Your head went down as you laughed and shook your head before looking up again, “I — I did that here.”

“You did?”

“I did,” you nodded. “You were like a crackhead for brownies. Did I ever — “

“Top them with chocolate blueberries? Oh, yeah, definitely,” Tony finished your sentence all too eagerly. “You didn’t think it would taste good, but I loved it.”

“Holy shit,” you mumbled to yourself and chugged your coffee. You thought the burn would help snap some sense into you to not get your hopes up, and yet — 

“Did Cap ever take you away?” Tony asked, “When you two were together, did Cap ever take you to Connecticut?”

“He did…”

“Huh,” Tony mused and crossed his arms over his chest. “Well, spawn, I think we may have come across a very rare anomaly.”

“And that is?”

“Our life experiences seem to have been identical to one another, and yet our ends were the inverse,” Tony tilted his head to the side and studied you, “Huh.”

“What? What huh?”

“Well, we had the same experience with each other. Our lives are essentially a mirror of one another, but your husband wasn’t the same in my world. I’m just wondering, if you had survived, would you have gone dark side? Turned him good? I wonder if there’s something called ‘destiny’ out there, and you two were meant to be together.”

“Oh, god, please don’t,”  you held your hand up with a laugh. “I can barely deal with the fact that you’re here and …well, everything, I can’t deal with another Shangqi right now — much less an evil one.”

Tony nodded in understanding as he reached over to the middle of the counter, grabbed the coffee pot, and poured more coffee for the two of you, even adding your favorite add-ins to the cup just the way you liked it, which made you want to burst into tears then and there. 

“If it means anything, this Shangqi seems like a good man. Not at all like his shitty ass father,” he told you as he slid your cup over to you.

And with perfect timing. Shangqi entered the kitchen, dressed for the day, yawning and yearning for a cup of coffee. He smiled at you and quickly rushed over to greet you with a kiss, “Mornin’ babe.” He reached for the coffee pot and looked to your dad, “Good Morning, Mr. Stark.”

Tony raised his mug to him, “Morning there, Dragon Tales.”

You snorted, coffee shooting out of your nose, “Dude!”

“What? He fought dragons! Come on, you used to love that show as a kid. It’s a good reference, and I know you understood that better than my ‘Point Break’ one on Thor.”

“I wasn’t going to say it was bad or anything, I loved it. I wanted a high five,” you said, sticking your hand out to your dad who happily slapped it.

Shanqi’s smile fell.It was at this moment that it dawned on him that there were two of you. There was you, and the original, plus Morgan? Fuck, he was going to die.

“Good one, Mr. Stark. I’ll just uh, I’ll go ahead and wait by the front for Pepper and Morgan so I can take Morgan to play while you three talk. Later, honey,” Shangqi leaned down to kiss the back of your head and left with his coffee.

You shook your head at your dad, “He’s going to stop calling you Mr. Stark.”

“But it’s nice having Xu Shangqi afraid of me for once. It amuses me,” Tony smirked and finished his coffee. “Pep, um, Pepper’s coming, does she know?”

“I think she suspects,” you nodded. “We’re going to take this over to the conference room. It’s got blackout windows and a silence function.”

“What, you put padding all around?”

“Nah, installed a panel in the office. Emits two different frequencies undetectable by the human ear, but also cancel each other out. It’s basically like a cone of silence.”

Tony stared at you in awe, “Wow, kid. I’m impressed. You’re amazing.”

You missed that praise from your father. It gave you flashbacks to when you were a kid and the two of you would be working on an invention together. You’d get something right, and Tony would tell you how great of a job you did before going to get ice cream together or some sort of treat to celebrate your good work.

“Thanks, da — uh, Tony — I don’t know what to call you.”

Tony’s jaw clenched slightly as he nodded. He straightened his posture and sniffled quickly as he nodded once more to himself for reassurance, “Yeah, no, no. It’s fine. We’ll figure something out.”

Meanwhile, in the hallway, Steve had heard the exchange since he was on his way to get in an early morning run. He glanced at Shangqi and nodded to him, “Can’t handle Stark’s nicknames?”

Shangqi rolled his eyes, “I can handle them just fine, Steve. Don’t you have some Metamucil to go drink or something?”

Steve chuckled, “Funny. Let’s see how long that relationship lasts now that Tony’s here to stay. And let’s not forget the fact that, well, Y/N and I were married in his universe as well — “

“Yeah, and she’s dead, so I guess she goes to extremes to get rid of you,” Shangqi snapped. “We’re married, Steve. Fuck off.”

Steve said nothing. He watched Shangqi walk off to the front where Pepper and Morgan had just entered. Shangqi left his coffee mug on a random table, which was sure to annoy his wife later on, and threw open his arms as he went on bended knee.

“Morgan the Destroyer!” He shouted.

“Uncle Shangqi!” She screeched and dove into his outstretched arms. She hugged him tightly around the neck as he scooped her up and stood at his full height with her. “Hello!”

“Hey, Morgan. Ready to play today?” He asked before greeting Pepper with a smile and gesturing over his shoulder with his chin.

“I’ll be back, sweetheart,” Pepper told Morgan with a kiss to her head before walking off.

“Yes, but where is Y/N?”

“She has to take care of some boring old business stuff,” Shangqi said as he carried her off to a completely different section of the compound. “So you’re stuck with me, kid!”

“You’re lying,” Morgan said as she studied his face.

He sputtered, “What? What? No! I’m not lying. Why do you think I’m lying?”

Morgan shrugged, “I know all.”

“You….are a scary little kid.”

Morgan beamed at that, “I know.” It was at this point Morgan took out a stick she hid up the sleeve of her jacket and pointed it at him, “Speak or be destroyed!”

“Holy shit.”

~*~

In the conference room, you were pacing back and forth nervously while chewing on a breakfast bar. Tony watched you in amusement and stared carefully at the ground like he was waiting for something to happen. He made a mental note that he was impressed you hadn’t brought the entire place down yet.

When the door opened, Pepper walked in, shut it behind her, and exhaled as she looked directly at you before spotting Tony.

“I knew it,” she shut her eyes tightly and leaned against the wall, “I’m going insane.”

“No, no, you’re not insane. That’s…him. Sort of.”

“What do you mean sort of?”

You paused and tried to figure out how to word this, “Well, so, he, uh — “

“I’m your Tony from a parallel dimension — somewhat,” Tony explained as he cautiously approached her. “Back where I’m from, everything was the same up until Thanos came. That’s sort of where our lives diverge.”

Pepper frowned, “What do you mean?”

“Tony didn’t snap in his world. In fact, it never even got that far,” you explained. “I’m the one that died.”

Pepper’s hands went up to her mouth, “Oh my god.”

“So did you, while pregnant,” Tony explained, and you could see how his eyes started to turn glassy. “You weren’t far along enough, though. It was very early, but the stress of the situation, Y/N, me. I came back and my whole life was gone in an instant.”

Pepper sniffled as she listened to this, “Oh, Tony, I’m so sorry — “

“Seeing the two of you again is, well, it’s almost comical,” he laughed dryly. “Like a big punch in the face by the universe.”

“I’m just so surprised you’re here,” Pepper said quietly. “Is Doctor Strange — “

“He can’t, he doesn’t have the magic for that,” you told her quietly. “He’s here to stay, Natasha too.”

“Natasha?” Her voice cracked and she took a deep breath to steady herself. “Is she — “

“A little different, yeah,” you told her very briefly what was going on with Natasha. “But that’s — I — well —“

“You lost your Tony,” Tony said as he approached Pepper and reached out for her hands, “I lost my Pepper, my Y/N, our child that I was thinking we could name after your weird uncle Morgan. All gone. And I’m standing here looking at the two of you thinking, well shit, maybe I can have the life I wanted.”

Pepper shuddered, “Tony — “

“I know, I know. It’s weird. I’m not your Tony, but damn it, Pepper Potts, I think I’ll love you no matter what universe it is. You and me Pep, always.”

She laughed nervously as she pulled away from Tony and wiped her eyes, “Tony, there’s something you need to know — “

“And you,” Tony turned around and fixated on you, “I said it before but I’ll say it again. You are my greatest creation, Y/N. And I know this is weird for us, this whole thing, but maybe I can be there for you. You don’t have to call me dad. I won’t resent you for it. Your future kids don’t have to call me Grandpa or anything like that, but — “

“Tony,” Pepper snapped. “We had a daughter.”

“Oh, I know.” Tony nodded simply.

She scoffed, “What?”

“Yeah, you and this dead guy had your own Morgan. I was trying to let you have the big reveal, but I know she’s here. I’m kind of not acknowledging it because once I see her I may lose my shit, and as funny as that would be, it would probably terrify the kid.”

Pepper stared at him incredulously, “Wow. I hate you so much you big idiot.”

Tony shrugged his shoulders, “You know, hate is a strong word. I — “

Tony was silenced by Pepper hugging her dumb genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist idiot. She was trying to hold it together, but she couldn’t stop crying as she held Tony in her arms. Tony also tried to keep it together, but he couldn’t. All the bravado he held, all the jokes he was making and trying to play off his feelings, it all came down as he held Pepper tightly and hid his face in her hair as he held her.

Suddenly, you could feel a pitter patter of footsteps outside the room. You narrowed your eyes immediately, realizing that Morgan had gotten the best of Shangqi, her favorite uncle who could so easily falter under her gaze and do whatever she asked of him. You stepped out of the room, shut the door behind you quietly, and watched as Morgan was jumping up and down trying to peek into each room.

You crossed your arms over your chest as you stared at her. Shangqi came racing down the hall and skidded to a stop when he saw you watching Morgan. You slowly turned and raised an eyebrow at him. He gave you a sheepish grin as he cleared his throat.

“She tricked me into hide and seek.”

“You are such a sap,” you shook your head.

“Sorry, babe.”

“It’s fine, no worries.”

“Where are they?”

“Giving them time,” you explained, seeing Morgan turn around and realize she had been caught. “I still don’t know what to tell her.”

“Well, think fast,” He muttered seeing Morgan speed towards you.

Morgan was running at full speed with her shoelaces untied. You snorted to yourself wondering if she was going to trip and make you have the hardest laugh you’d have in a long time. Perfectly so, she did trip. She stepped on her laces and went flying forward. As much as you were ready to laugh, your protective instinct took over and your hand shot forward. With your powers, you gently pushed her back, easing her forward-facing fall into a gentle landing on her tush.

Morgan sat there flabbergasted as she stared at you. You wondered why she looked that way at you until Shangqi broke the news to you.

“Honey,” he began. “I don’t think you’ve ever used your powers in front of her.”

You blinked, “Oh, shit.”

“That was fucking awesome!” She screamed at the top of her lungs.

“Oh, shit,” you mumbled again to yourself.

Shangqi grinned, “Well, now you have something else to talk to her about and distract her with. Am I off the hook?”

“I suppose I’ll allow it,” you reasoned. “Would you mind checking in on them?”

“You got it,” he kissed your cheek and ran off as Morgan ran up to you and stared at you with her little fists balled up on her hip.

“You can do things,” she said as she studied you intensely. “Why I didn’t know?”

“Well, Morgan, it never came up?” You asked, raising an eyebrow. “Want a popsicle?”

“Fine, and the story,” she said as you took her hand and walked with her to the kitchen.

With snacks in place, you two sat at the counter in the kitchen and tried to figure out where to begin. Really, how were you to explain to as child that you had powers?  She understood Tony’s situation fairly well, but there was something different to explaining that your sister had powers.

“So, no one ever told you I could do things?” 

“No. Daddy said you’d get upset and break things like a baby Hulk.”

You sighed, “Yeah, that’s pretty accurate for him.”

Morgan nodded and took a long sip of her juice before putting the glass down, sliding it towards you, and saying ‘hit me’. Snickering, you poured more juice for her and watched her sip more, 

“How come I can’t do that?” Morgan asked quietly. “I’m not strong enough?”

Your eyes widened, “No, no, that’s not why! Morganite, you are the strongest, creepiest little kid I’ve ever met.”

“Do you mean that?”

“Yes, you little demon child,” you teased as you poked her nose softly. “You remember that we have different moms, right?”

Morgan nodded, “Yeah.”

“Well, where I’m from, my mom was a powerful witch,” You said, watching Morgan gasp out loud and stare at you in awe. “She was very, very connected to nature and spirits and gods. I never really found out why I got these powers, but we suspected it had to do with her who she drew her power from.”

“Who was that?” Morgan asked.

“Atabey,” you told her. “Although it’s kind of weird because she was also called Guabancex. I think? Or that’s just another manifestation of — sorry. I get fuzzy. It’s been so long since my mom last explained it to me. But she was associated with nature and natural disasters and, well, Morgan…I’ve got seismic powers.”

“Like earthquakes?”

You laughed, “Yeah, sort of! Everything in the world vibrates at a certain level, and I can control those vibrations.”

“Whoa,” Morgan trailed off. “That’s amazing.”

“It is,” Steve remarked as he walked into the kitchen after his latest workout to grab a bottle of water. “Your sister is kind of amazing.”

You rolled your eyes, “Don’t butter me up, Rogers.”

“Yeah, fuck off, Rogers!” Morgan echoed.

You snorted while Steve snickered to himself and shook his head.

“Just saying, ladies. I don’t know anyone else that could put a hole through an alien without ever actually touching it. Your sister is amazing,” Steve said before leaving.

You rolled your eyes, and Morgan quickly imitated you the best she could, causing you to laugh and reach out to ruffle her hair.

“So you’re magic?”

“I don’t think it’s magic,” you shrugged. “We never quite figured out what it was, but I’m not like anyone else here, so….I don’t know. We never figured it out.” You cleared your throat. “So, yeah, that’s me!”

“You’re so cool, Y/N,” Morgan gushed. “Is Shangqi like you?”

“Shangqi’s a little different,” you smiled softly. “Maybe he’ll tell you later.”

“But you can kick his butt, right?”

You laughed, “All day, every day.”

Morgan nodded and deemed this to be the appropriate answer, “Is that why you wore those arm things when you first came to visit?”

You nodded, “What did you think it was?”

“Osteoarthritis,” she said quickly.

“Not sure how or why you learned what that is, but, I mean, that's a fair guess.” You scratched the top of your hair and stared at her, “What else they didn’t tell you?”

Morgan chewed on her lip and bobbed her head from side to side as she thought about it, “Why Steve isn’t Uncle Steve.”

“Mm, yeah I’m not touching that one until you’re older.”

“Okay.  Why is he Uncle Shangqi isn’t he my brother-in-law?”

You narrowed your eyes as you stared at her, “Because I didn’t— I — my brain farted, okay!?” You shouted playfully at her listening to her laugh. “Stop knowing things, aren’t you two!?”

“I’m this many,” She held up her fingers and you scoffed.

“Well if you’re saying ‘this many’ and using fingers, you’re too little to know so much,” you said as you scooped her up from her chair and started walking away with her.

“I’m a genius, though.”

“Okay. Fair. I can’t handle that, though. Go back to being tiny and cute,” you demanded of her as you two walked down the hall.

You noticed Shangqi who looked traumatized. You frowned and walked over to him and grabbed his arm, “Hey, what happened?”

“I saw things I shouldn’t have seen…”he trailed off. “Very…very intimate, things.”

You frowned before realizing what he meant. Your eye twitched and you muttered ‘not again’ as you grabbed his hand and led him away as well. You said that the three of you could watch a movie together and try to forget all your troubles.

You sat in the middle of Morgan and Shangqi. Shangqi’s head was on your lap and you were running your fingers through his hair while you simultaneously stroked Morgan’s.

Nearing the end of the movie, Pepper appeared by the hallway, her head sticking out from the corner. She waved you over and you quickly excused yourself and ran over to her. You two silently went back to the conference room and locked it.

You gagged, “It smells like sex. It smells like parental sex, oh my god — “

“Like I haven’t been in a room after you’ve fucked in it,” Tony scoffed. “I remember in my garage you dragged Rogers to my red corvette and — “

“Stop! I don’t need that rehashed!” You shouted, flinging your hands over your ears to cover them and silence him.

Pepper sighed and took your hands down and gestured for you to sit. She cleared her throat and looked to Tony who zipped his mouth shut and sat there like a quiet, good little boy while Pepper spoke.

“We… are trying to figure out how to do this the best for Morgan,” Pepper began and was promptly interrupted.

“I say we rip the band-aid off,” Tony offered.

“And when you die again?” You asked, crossing your arms over your chest. “What do we tell her when you die again? What do any of us do when you die again?”

Tony stared at you, “Well, by that point, I’ll have achieved immortality, so — “

“That’s not funny. I mean it. She’s a kid. She’s going to have some serious emotional developmental issues from this, right? I mean — “

“She’s a Stark, so, yes,” Pepper added quietly.

“I resent that. I turned out just fine, and so did my spawn here,” Tony gestured to you.

You stared at him quietly and you groaned, “Yeah, that kid is fucked regardless. And, also, you two fucked. Are you together? Is this a thing?”

“We’re taking it slow,” she said.

“You FUCKED!” 

“That’s slow for a Stark,” Tony offered. “Well, for me, anyways. Not you. You’re old fashioned. To be fair, your type is usually old men, so — “

“I need people in my life to stop saying out loud that I fuck old men!” You threw your arms up in the air.

Pepper missed this. She stood there quietly, watching as you and your father started screaming at each other about Steve, his age, and how your relationship with him was just too good to pass up when it came to making jokes. You two could be so unbearable, and loud, and ridiculous beyond reason, but she adored you two.

“I mean, he’s back to being young, right? What is it at this time around, 200 or 300?” Tony asked.

“I don’t know, dad! He’s fucking old and I don’t fuck him!” You shouted then paused. “I called you dad. That slipped. I’m confused — “

“And Morgan will be too,” Pepper jumped in. “He’s not going to move back into the house immediately. I think he should stay here at the  compound for a while so she has time to adjust to him. I also have to talk to Happy, Rhodey…”

You nodded slowly, “Okay. Um. So does this mean that Iron Man — “

“I’m retiring,” Tony said quickly. “I’m choosing to be a stay-at-home dad, and I plan on wearing lots of tracksuits, aprons, and food all day long.”

You snorted, “Is that so?”

“I’ve got a second chance, I’m not messing it up,” he told you. “Besides, it looks like you’ve more than filled my footsteps. A second compound, hm? West Coast Avengers? Pepper says you’ve been thinking of starting an organization to protect enhanced youths from abuse.”

“Oh, she told you, um, I’m — I’m just toying with the idea — “

“It’s a good one. Do it,” Tony smiled softly at you. “I never got to see you really shine, and I’m more than happy to step back and watch you.”

“Oh, wow,” you laughed nervously as the room briefly, but violently shook from your powers. “Okay. Didn’t expect that. Overwhelming feelings. Can’t run away, promised not to do that anymore — “

“Why don’t I go get Morgan?” Pepper said with a nod, wanting to give you two a moment.

But right as she opened the door, Morgan slammed into her legs as she had been charging down the hall to try to get in. You could all hear Shangqi behind her shouting for her to stop. When Morgan looked up from Pepper’s legs as she got up from the ground, she spotted Tony immediately and her eyes widened.

“Holy shit,” Morgan shouted.

Tony’s eyes widened as he studied her, “Holy shit.”

“Ah, shit,” Shangqi muttered.

“Fuck,” You sighed.

“Everyone stop swearing so much in front of my child!” Pepper shrieked.

Morgan frowned. She immediately went to stand behind Pepper’s legs and hide. She glanced up nervously at Shangqi, muttering something that no one could hear.

“What did she say?” Tony asked quietly.

“She doesn’t want to see the ghost,” Shangqi replied.

“Morganite,” you called to her. She cautiously turned her head, and you could only see one eye peaking out from behind Pepper’s leg. “Remember when I said my mom was magic?”

“Yeah.”

“Well,” you cleared your throat, “something magical happened. Actually, a big, dumb, stupid sorcerer fucked up a spell and — “

“Y/N,” Pepper said in a warning tone.

“Right. So something magical happened. That is Tony Stark, but he’s from another world and — “

“Hey, don’t bastardize things for the kid,” Tony said. “Strange opened the multiverse and I came through.”

You huffed, “Fine. He’s from the multiverse. This guy is from a parallel-ish world. Everything in life was exactly the same up until the moment we fought that big giant monster. This is the same man that raised you, technically, but in his world, I’m the one that died,” you explained, not wanting to tell her that she was never born and that her mother died. “So, in a way, we’re both — “

“The inverse?” Morgan asked. “So… that world’s Morgan doesn’t have you?”

“Right,” you nodded, jaw clenching as you lied through your teeth.

“That’s sad,” Morgan said quietly, slowly looking around Pepper to stare at Tony.

Tony was silently losing it. He was keeping everything inside as he studied the little girl that he missed out on having in his life. The child that was never born, hiding behind the wife that he lost, being calmed by his first-born who died to save the universe. He was losing it and struggling to remain calm. He wanted nothing more than to just scoop up this little girl and smother her in hugs.

“Nice to meet you, Morguna,” Tony said with a small wave.

Morgan hid her head again, and you could hear her sniffling behind Pepper. Your heart broke. Pepper offered a soft smile to Tony and turned around to pick her up.

“I’ll take her outside to talk to her,” Pepper said as she left the room with her.

You looked to your dad who cleared his throat, stood up, and excused himself to the restroom. You were left alone with Shangqi who slipped into the chair next to you and grabbed your hand.

“How are we doing?” He asked.

“This is a lot,” you sighed. “I need a vacation from my brain.”

“Then let’s do that,” he offered. “We’ll go on vacation somewhere. Go to London, Spain, wherever.”

“I’d like that,” you leaned on him and rested your head on his shoulder. “Did you see Morgan’s face? I wanted to make my own brain explode so I could never see her that sad again.”

“Yeah, I saw her. Broke my heart,” Shangqi sighed and put his feet up on the desk as he wrapped an arm around your shoulders. “It’s okay. She’s a smart kid. She’ll understand, eventually. But it’s good, she gets a second chance with her dad. That, well, that never happens for anyone, a parent coming back like that.”

And that moment you realized no one came through that Shangqi knew. His mother wasn’t there, nor was his father. You frowned as you reached up to stroke his cheek and grab his attention towards you, “I’m sorry, Shangqi.”

He smiled softly, “It’s okay. I dealt with their death. I’m honestly kind of relieved I don’t have to go through what you guys are going through, even if I am a little jealous.”

“Well,” You sighed and thought about it. “You now get to experience what it’s like to be the son-in-law of Tony Stark.”

“Should I be scared?”

“It’s…an experience,” you mumbled. “But, you know, you’ll live!”

“Oh, great. Fun. Can’t wait.”

Tony exited the restroom at the perfect moment. He glanced at Shangqi, eyes red from the obvious crying he was hiding, but, also, you could see the little fire in his eyes as you knew he was preparing to say something horrible.

“Don’t be such a pussy, Shangqi. You’ll love me.”