Place to discuss, rec, and generally squee over fan fiction about Steve Rogers and Tony Stark
Wednesday Fic Recs #10: High School/College AU & Outsider PoV
As part of our weekly regimen, we're now introducing themed Wednesday fic recs! Each week, we're offering you the chance to submit your favourite fics for our two themes. Self-recs are welcome and of course you can still make new recs once Wednesday has passed!
This week, theme #1 is HIGH SCHOOL/COLLEGE AU (suggested by @Lelantus) -- Say hello to the trope to end all tropes. A classic in any fandom, beloved by many and probably disliked in equal measure. Give us your very best Tony pining after quarterback Steve, arts major Steve Rogers forced to collaborate with engineering post-grad Tony Start for a project demonstarting the collaboration of arts and science, formally skinny runt Steve Rogers meeting his school crush Tony Stark again after years or anything else you can think of. Also, AvAc fics, seeing as it's Marvel's very own borading school AU.
Theme #2 is 'OUTSIDER POV' (suggested by @sabrecmc) -- Every wondered what Tony's and Steve's relationship looks like through the eyes of James Rhodes? How Wolverine wants to be sick if he has to see Tony and Steve giving each other pining looks over breakfast? Pepper seeing that Tony finally is on the track to a happier self? Bucky entirely puzzled how those two go together? If you know the answer to any of those questions and more, leave the rec in the comments!
Please use the following format for your recs (you can just copy & paste this):
**Title**:
**Link**:
**Author**:
**Rating**:
**Word Count**: (Please note if it's a WIP)
**Relationship(s)**:
**Warnings**: There's no need to tag everything, but please heed
at least the mandatory AO3 warnings for Rape/Non-Con, Dub-Con,
Major Character Death, Underage and Graphic Violence. Also note
if the author *chose not to warn*.
**Author summary**:
*(Optional)* **Comment**: Why do you rec this story?
Do you have a rec that doesn't fit either of the themes? Submit it to the general Stony Fic Rec Library, open 24/7 :)
Other great places for recs are:
- Hale Roger's tumblr
- Bea Recs' DW (you need to request access to these)
- Wingheadshellhead's tumblr FAQ
We also want to ask you to name themes for future Fic Rec Wednesdays, so pop into the comments and let us know what you suggest! We'll use your ideas for sure (and of course give proper credit!). This and future posts will be tagged with 'Wednesday Fic Recs' so if you ever want to go back to old themes, you can find them easily.
And now unto the fics!




Title: strays
Link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/1255417/chapters/2584432
Author: theappleppielifestyle
Rating: Teen and Up Audiences
Word Count: 85812
Relationship(s): Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov
Warnings: Creator chose not to warn.
Author summary: Tony will take whatever he can get from Steve, which is pathetic, because he’s not even really friends with him.
Or, the highschool!AU where Pepper is Tony's much-needed therapist, Darcy is his parter in crime, Bruce needs to go through puberty, Clint shows up to school with bruises and Steve just wants everyone to get through this intact.
Comment: Look at that summary and tell me you don't want to read this. While a lot of HS au's tend to be fluffy, humorous and ultimately very rom-com like, these kind of fics make me love the trope in the first place. Teenagers feel things so very deeply, and it shows with this fic. It's poignant, and while the Steve/Tony is wonderful in its own right, it's offset and complemented by this beautiful friendship between all the characters. The way they support each other through some really shitty things is truly amazing.
Title: If It's (Fake) Love
Link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/3944725/chapters/8842021
Author: Wordsplat
Rating: Teen and Up Audiences
Word Count: 26797 (WIP)
Relationship(s): Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov, Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons, Lance Hunter/Bobbi Morse
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Author summary: In an attempt to avoid the annual Stark family retreat, Tony may or may not accidentally blurt out that he's bisexual, and he may or may not accidentally make up a fake boyfriend that sounds an awful lot like someone he already knows. Getting Steve to pretend to be his boyfriend for the weekend is surprisingly easy; remembering that they're pretending turns out to be a lot harder.
Comment: Is this story an absolute fountain of tropes And a wip? Yes, yes it is. Is it also one of the most delightful things I've ever read? Undoubtedly. The author has also written one of the other most popular HS/ABO fics out there - You're Not Stubborn (Just Impossible), but I actually prefer this college/uni/nebulously set fic instead. It gives you feelings, but nice ones, you know? XP
Suggestions for future themes go here
I can't remember if we've already done it or if someone has already suggested it, but maybe established relationship?? So much good fluff! Also maybe a day for young!Tony or young!Steve (not de-aged!). I've read a couple awesome fics where one of them is still them but the other person (usually Tony) is a teenager.
Also, it's a little unconventional, but maybe there are themes that could be more broad? Like "your personal favorite Steve/Tony fic" or there could be a reprisal of the "pimp your own fic" thread in a future wednesday fic rec!
My list says we haven't done established relationship yet, so on there it goes :) Young Steve or Tony hasn't come up yet either.
And I'm all for unconventional themes!
...have we had Rule 63/Genderbend themed recs yet? There are some surprisingly good ones out there. Or fusion fics like those crazy Hogwartsvenger ones XP
We haven't done Rule 63 yet, but it's on the list somewhere around January, I think :)
Crossovers and fusions weren't on the list yet, but they are now
Fics involving truth serum/truth spells? Those are always fun :) also, I've completely forgotten whether or not I suggested this before, but what about presumed dead/temporary character death fics?
Reply to this comment with your recs for OUTSIDER POV
Love in a Time of Amnesia
https://archiveofourown.org/works/964307
Amuly
Teen
6241
Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
No Warnings
Carol might have lost all her memories of her friends, but there's at least one thing she can know with absolute certainty: Steve and Tony are a couple. And if the rest of the Avengers insist on saying they're not, well: Carol will just have to put her amnesia to use, for the greater good.
Comment: I love outsider pov and this fic is just amazing. Such a great Carol voice, just how I imagine her, and the take on how obvious it is that Steve and Tony must love each other is perfect.
Yes! I love this one a lot (and Carol is so relatable)
The Unlikely Wingman
https://archiveofourown.org/works/6312613
sineala
General
1074
Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
No Warnings Apply
Clint doesn't see why he should have to follow Captain America's orders. But he also doesn't see why Captain America should have to sit around looking miserably lonely, either.
Comment: Adorable, wonderful, fluffy goodness.
5 Times Bucky Thought Tony Was Good For Steve + 1 Time He Told Him
https://archiveofourown.org/works/7110997
theappliepielifestyle
Teen
6077
Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
No Warnings Apply
To say Bucky is unimpressed by Stark would be an understatement.
It isn’t that he dislikes him. It’s more that he’s a brand of indifferent that curdles with disdain on the rare occasion that Bucky catches him on the TV: Stark is glib and crass in a way his father never was, and he wears suits like he’d slipped out of the womb clad in Armani.
So it’s a surprise when Bucky moves into the Tower and finds that Steve actually gets along with the guy.
Comment: This is just the most wonderful Bucky POV of Steve and Tony. I love everything about it.
Title: It Started With an Idea
Link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/598226
Author: madness_and_smiles
Rating: T
Word Count: 5269
Relationship(s): Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Clint Barton/ Jessica Drew (past)
Warnings: No Warnings
Author summary: The Avengers rumor mill is a messy, chaotic machine... especially when talking about the relationship problems of other Avengers. But sometimes it yields good results. (This fic is very 616 heavy, and it takes place just before the new Marvel Now! Avengers series. So, it's probably best to be somewhat up to date before reading it.)
Comment: Very fun and cute! Basically everyone speculating whether or not Steve and Tony are 'together' and more and more people getting dragged into it to find out for sure. Note: even though the author says you should read the comcis, you don't really? Helps if you have a brief idea of who the characters are (Clint Barton, Kate Bishop, Jessica Drew, Jan, Logan, Peter, etc.)
Title: Community Service
Link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/189569
Author: valtyr
Rating: G
Word Count: 6109
Relationship(s): Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Warnings: No warnings
Author summary: Matchmaking is harder than it looks.
Comment: Cute match-making fic! Really, really cute. (From Marvel Adventure Tigra and Spider-Man's point of view)
OKAY...THIS ONE IS COMING OUT OF LEFT FIELD........BUT WHY NOT........................
Title: Privilege and Duty
Link: http://cap-ironman.livejournal.com/206481.html
Author: simmysim
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 6220
Relationship(s): Rhodes/Tony/Steve
Warnings: "There's this thing called "double penetration" and it's exactly what you're thinking, and it happens in this fic."
Author summary: Tony needs comfort in a language he can't misinterpret.
Author's Note: This fic was inspired by issues 160 to 200 of v1 (Specifically these two pages), when Tony falls off the wagon a second time, a period that could really be called "Adventures in Babysitting" if it had been told from Rhodes and Steve's POV.
Comment: Okay this is...yeah. Yeah. I haven't read this in a while, but I remember it feeling like a stevetony and Rhodey just there to help out his bud. It's a Rhodey POV fic where he thinks about how sad Tony is (and how gay Steve and Tony are for each other? if I'm remembering correctly? hahaha)
I wish I wasn't reccing this one immediately after the, uh, other one I recced, but this one is really innocent I swear.
Title: D.P.
Link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/205258
Author: tsukinofaerii
Rating: T
Word Count: 1823
Relationship(s): Tony Stark/Steve Rogers
Warnings: No warnings
Author summary: Do not leave important questions to text messages. Rhodey and Tony learn the hard way.
Comment: This is a hilarious and ridiculous fic. I love rereading it. Rhodey's POV and focus on Rhodey and Tony's friendship.
Respond to this comment with your recs for HIGH SCHOOL/COLLEGE AU
Hey Moon
http://archiveofourown.org/works/265455
indigostohelit
Teen & up
965
Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
No warnings
The world is big, and empty, and fake, and their feet are tangled together on the bedsheets, and Steve's watching Tony, and Tony's watching the stars. From the kink meme.
Comment: Set in the 1950's, just a sweet slice-of-life, stream of consciousness fic. I've probably read it a thousand times and I could read it a thousand more without getting tired of it!
A Second of Totality
http://archiveofourown.org/works/5204525/chapters/11996054
ann2who
Explicit
35,237
Steve Rogers/Tony Stark; Rhodey/Carol
No Warnings
{TO•TAL•ITY | The moment when the light from the eclipsed sun is totally obscured}
Tony Stark is a lot of things: Sixteen. High school graduate. Child prodigy. Obsessed with solar eclipses. And also hopelessly in love with his ex-best friend Steve Rogers. At the end of high school, life sucks in a not very sexy way, and there’s only one thing Tony’s looking forward to: a road trip to witness the first solar eclipse on American mainland in four decades. Over a week of world-stopping kisses and holes in the sky, Tony finally gets a chance to tell Steve how he really feels. But can the one short week end in anything but goodbye?
Comment: I don't usually read high school fics, but this one is so perfect, words cannot express how much I love it. It gets all the characters so right, and Steve and Tony are both just wonderful. I particularly love ann2who's Steve. He is just the best.
I love this fic!!! Ann2who has written a couple of HS/College AUs and I'm a fan of all of them - they're always so good!
I had forgotten about this one! Amazing! I can't wait to reread it!
This one is great! It's actually loosely based on a prompt I talked with her about!
Oh yay! I shamelessly love (LOVE) this trope :D I've probably read like every single HS/College AU in this fandom, but these are some of my favorites:
Title: Bulletproof
Link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/330201
Author: foxxcub
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 20,544
Relationship(s): Steve/Tony, Clint/Phil
Warnings: None
Author summary: At age fifteen, Steve Rogers had been in love with Tony Stark.
By age twenty, he’d (mostly) gotten over it. And then he promptly became Tony Stark's fuck buddy.
Comment: Probably the most well known College AU, but still one of my favorites!
Title: Issues
Link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/2577506
Author: so_shhy
Rating: Mature
Word Count: 10,863
Relationship(s): Steve/Tony, Bucky/Natasha
Warnings: None
Author summary: In which Steve has a crippling crush on Tony Stark, Tony is oblivious and obnoxious, and Bucky expresses his disapproval via passive-aggressive comics.
Comment: Really cute and I love all the comments about Iron Man/Captain America in the comics and how they might as well just bang (seriously, the sexual tension!).
Title: You're Not Stubborn (Just Impossible)
Link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/866302/chapters/1662344
Author: Wordsplat
Rating: Mature
Word Count: 95,156
Relationship(s): Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Jane Foster/Thor, James "Bucky" Barnes/Natasha Romanov
Warnings: None
Author summary: Steve's an alpha, Tony's an omega. Biology should take care of the rest, right? Except, Tony's not anything like TV taught Steve omegas were--or like anyone else Steve's ever met, actually--and Steve should really learn to just keep his mouth shut about that. Also, it doesn't help that Tony's not too keen on the idea of alphas. Or Steve. Yeah, this bonding thing looked a whole lot easier on TV.
Comment: LOVE IT!! Probs my favorite wordsplat fic??
Also, I already shamelessly self-recced my own College AU last week for secret relationship (would have totally saved it for this week if I had known!), but here it is again just in case anyone missed it!
Title: You Look a Lot Like My Next Boyfriend
Link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/7402294/chapters/16814239
Author: Lelantus
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 59,403 (and counting, its a WIP thats about 80% finished I would say?)
Relationship(s): Steve/Tony
Warnings: Author chose not to use
Author summary “Pepper, today I met my arch nemesis.” “Again? Really? Is this another Justin Hammer situation?”
“I don’t hate him, Buck. He’s just some rich kid that’s being forced to do charity work by his dad. It just pisses me off that he doesn’t actually care. You know how much stuff like this means to me.”
Or: A Steve/Tony College AU. Tony attempts to “reform” his public image by doing charity work. Steve volunteers at said charity. They meet and kind of hate each other. Then, somehow, they end up friends. And one day Tony realizes he might be a little bit in love with Steve, which wouldn’t be that bad if Steve weren’t pretty much straight. Next comes a bet, a kiss, a minor sexuality crisis, a secret relationship, and a whole lot of boys being stupidly repressed about their feelings.
Comment: This fic has been super fun to write but is very self-indulgent and contains like every trope in existence... so just beware?
Bulletproooooof omg I will never be over this fic. It's very likely the one I've reread most in any fandom I've ever been in.
I feel you! I re-read it so often I've probably memorized most of it at this point :)
Sameee, it's awesome :D
Purple at the Edge
http://archiveofourown.org/works/7568938
ConjureUpaSmile
Mature
5722
Steve/Tony, Bucky/Natasha
No major warnings
Life isn't always what it's supposed to be. It's painful and messy and unfair, but now they have each other.
Comments: Alright, I'm totally self-recommening. I tried not to, but I honestly love this story. It's a stream of consciousness story about Steve trying to make it through high school in one piece admist pressure from his friends to date
Title: Open Field in Front of Him
Link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/5028601/chapters/11558116
Author: seventymilestobabylon
Rating: E
Word Count: 66405
Relationship(s): Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Warnings: Physical Abuse (that was the only warning tagged, but also know that it has Abusive Dad Howard, and Tony being drugged (to keep him incompacitated))
Author summary: Steve Rogers's football season is functionally over after a loss to Rutgers, but he finds a distraction in Tony Stark (yes, THAT Tony Stark). A college AU Stony fic.
Comment: From the summary, you'd assume that this would be a fun/happy fic, but instead you just get a lot of sadness and drama. It's a case of 'Steve and Tony being really good for each other while also being terrible for each other.' The relationship seems kind of imbalanced because Tony is so fucked up and intentionally scathing, and Steve is so unsure of where he stands, but it's really engaging (and realistic?) because of it. BUT! I thought it still ended on a good note and with enough closure for me to be satisfied? Definitely not tied up nicely with a ribbon, but almost there.