Avengers fic recs: team goodness edition

[kate_nepveu]

Dear readers, I have been collecting links to Avengers post-movie fanfic that I think has wide appeal. I had been planning on making one big post of them, but then I realized that (1) I would never actually be done with the post, because people would keep posting stories that I wanted to add to it while I was working on it and (2) it would be so long anyway that no-one would want to read it.

But the team-goodness section is done, so have it (twenty-odd stories, yikes) plus the surprisingly long prefatory notes.

Surprisingly long prefatory notes:

My interests in fic are, on a 1-10 scale of increasing interest, something like: Team = 10; Steve = 9.5; Natasha, Bruce = 9; Pepper = 7; Tony = 5; Clint = 3; Thor, Loki = 1 (other SHIELD staff = contextual). People higher on the list can pull up people lower (so there's a great Steve-Thor friendship fic and lots of Natasha-Clint recovery stories in forthcoming lists), but if, say, Clint/Coulson is your thing, or Loki-anyone, you'll likely want to look elsewhere.

No stories on this list have any of the usual content notes apply [*]. The stories are almost all gen, but after much internal debate, I'm only listing pairings where they naturally came to mind in my description of the story (here I delete a tangent about romance and/or queer cooties; you can probably fill it in for yourself). The subject matter categorizations I'm using to divide up these posts are only rough approximations, i.e., there will still be lots of team goodness in the stories I'm going to rec later as being Steve-centric (or whoever).

[*] Major character death within the story; graphic violence; self-harm; or sexual activity that is nonconsensual, dubiously consensual, incestuous [**], or involves underage participants.

[**] Dear fandom, if I see one more Thor/Loki fic tagged with "quasi-incest" or "not really because they're adopted" or suchlike, there will be KATE SMASH. Love, an actual adopted kid.

These are all almost on the Archive of Our Own, which means that if you like them but don't want to leave a comment for whatever reason, you can at minimum hit the "kudos" button to communicate to the author "thanks, I liked this!" Please do.

Finally, if the words "Red Room" or "Winter Soldier" mean nothing to you, you should read this short primer first as it will be relevant to a number of stories.

Team goodness stories

Fifteen Short Stories About Teamwork by BlackEyedGirl (5999 words, teen and up). What it says on the tin; not really thematic, so it's hard to pick out any one thing to mention or quote, but it's exactly what I want for team bonding.

well, let the drum beat drop by jonesandashes, pollyrepeat (4357 words, general audiences). Tony-POV on a series of awkward team dinners, getting progressively less awkward; funny with great details (is it possible to be funny without getting the details right? I suppose this is one of the reasons why comedy is hard. Anyway.).

Pepper leaves, and there’s no more pizza, and Thor’s already talked about Jane, and Tony suspects all of them realize, abruptly and simultaneously, that they actually have no idea what to do now. He is, in fact, pretty certain that they’re just a few minutes away from someone deciding to say something about the weather. It’s probably going to be him.

Romanoff murmurs something to Barton, very quietly, and he says something back that Tony can’t quite make out.

Bruce takes a generous swig of his water, and chuckles to himself about something. Possibly about this. Tony glares at him; Bruce is unbothered. Yes, Tony thinks, absolutely about this. He decides that Banner’s sense of humour might be suspect.

“So how about that sky today,” says Tony, and hates himself.

“What an impressive shade!” Thor says, gamely. Thor is kind of the best.

Romanoff raises an eyebrow at him. Him, Tony, specifically, not Thor, even though Thor is right there, about to describe blue.

Great.

suffer a sea change by ignipes (1253 words, general audiences). The team and friends at a beach house of Tony's; a quiet look, through Bruce's POV, at their interactions.

To Be Modified As Necessary, also by ignipes (5912 words, teen and up). Household rules for superheroes living together. Great humor at the start (I love Steve in this), turns more serious in a convincing and effective way.

Rule 4. Those who make the dares are responsible for at least fifty percent of the bail money.

"Captain Rogers," Fury says. "Do I want to know why every newspaper, media outlet, and gossip blogger in the city is reporting that Captain America teamed up with Batman last night to terrorize the streets of Queens with their own brand of vigilante justice?"

"No, sir," Steve says. "You don't want to know that." He pauses. "Batman isn't a real person, sir. And anybody can buy a Captain America costume. They sell them on the internet."

There is a long silence at the other end of the line. Then Fury says, "I better not hear anything else about a fictional caped crusader roaming the streets of New York."

"Understood, sir," Steve says. "I'm sure you won't."

Steve doesn't like to lie. He'll have to convince Clint to dress up like somebody else next time.

It Starts Out Like an A-Word (As Anyone Can See) by Amy (8092 words, general audiences). The Avengers visit Sesame Street to help fix it up after the Chitauri invasion. Another one that starts funny and turns sniffly.

It's days like this [the Count]'s glad he took on a temporary roommate. . . .

Thor loves it as much as the Count does. All of it, the lightning and the thunder and the numbers that come with it. They go out to the meadow together (it can be quite scary when it's dark, but right now it's almost pleasant) and he raises his hammer up high, and almost immediately, the clouds come and the sky lights up.

Because the Count is a good influence when it comes to sharing, and because Thor says he learned some things from dealing with his brother, they take turns.

"One!" the Count shouts over the crackle of electricity in the air. "One godly thunderbolt!"

"Two!" Thor bellows. His voice is deeper than the Count's, and he isn't as practiced with counting, but he's just as enthusiastic.

"Three! Three godly thunderbolts!"

The Count is amazed at how long Thor can hold his arm straight up while holding such a heavy object. He's even better at it than Jim was.

Working Nine To Five by chaletian (2011 words, general audiences). This was written before the movie but it's an AU and it is pure hilarity. Author's summary:

Clint has been stealing the office doughnuts. Everyone knows why.

“Analysts still at their desks shall think themselves accursed they were not here, and hold their manhoods cheap while any speaks that fought with us on Get-Clint-And-Phil-Together day,” said Thor.

“There’s nothing cheap about my manhood,” said Tony, and did a commando roll of his own. “Ow, shit!”

“I think we might be taking this a little too seriously,” said Bruce.

Frankie Says Relax by kellifer_fic (4759 words, teen and up). Darcy (Jane's assistant from Thor) gets a day job that turns into working with all the Avengers. Outsider perspective, team cuteness, and the lighter side of the post-movie increased visibility of the team.

Public Interface by jenna_thorn (5085 words, teen and up). Another fairly light story about the team's increased visibility. Author's summary:

SHIELD's PR team leader has to deal with with Stark's press conferences, Hulk's fondness for leveling public buildings and repeated violations of international airspace. You know she's to be a force to be reckoned with.

Her smile was disarmingly sweet. “I promise, I won’t make you dance. Kissing babies is also off the table.”

“Oh thank you,” he said, and realized how it sounded when she tilted her head at him. “Not that I don’t like babies! Babies are great! I mean . . . they . . . ” He sighed. "They throw up unexpectedly. It’s . . . awkward.”

“I’m not putting you on tour, Captain, just coordinating an event for which you need to show up, mind your manners, and if possible, keep Iron Man’s mask on and mouth shut.”

the helicarrier by gdgdbaby (3230 words, teen and up). A mockumentary story, very silly; the one where Tony runs Twitter accounts called Shit Thor Says and Shit Captain America Says.

Scavenger Hunting Is Extremely Likely Disastrous (S.H.I.E.L.D) by amathela (1972 words, PG-13). More (partly) headquarters shenanigans, with eventual Darcy/Sif. "Nobody ever owns up to starting the scavenger hunt, but given that the first item is 'procure fully weaponised robot armour,' it's a safe bet that Tony's the one to blame."

Knit 1, Purl 2, Save The World (Again) by katemonkey (1301 words, general audiences). Natasha, Bruce, and Steve form the Avengers Stitch & Bitch Club. Really, what else is there to say?

Progress Reports, Pancakes, and Paper Planes by such_heights (2402 words, teen and up). Natasha-POV on post-movie team shenanigans.

The new additions bring a stabilising influence to the team. If it were up to Natasha she'd probably station Rhodey to be Tony's wingman 24/7, though admittedly that's hardly fair on Rhodey, who's a good guy. Watching him and Pepper tag-team Tony is always a pleasure, especially now they've got a new recruit in the shape of Bruce.

"The key to Stark-wrangling," Rhodey tells Bruce, "is to humour him up to a certain point, and then kick his ass when he's got it coming. Verbally if you want to, but by all means suit up and actually kick his ass if he really needs it."

Natasha nods her agreement. "Though give us a heads-up if you're planning on Hulking out, okay? But I will gladly transport the two of you to an empty field to duke it out if you like."

"I'm right here," Tony points out.

Natasha, Bruce, Rhodey and Pepper all ignore him.

The Strange Familiar series by theleaveswant (currently three parts totalling approximately 9,000 words, with the highest rating teen and up). All large fandoms eventually have at least one academia AU [*]; this one is set in an anthropology department and, like all good AUs of this type, is enjoyable for seeing the characters from a different angle. Note that the series is incomplete and so far is (fun) character sketches and establishing rather than plot; also the third part is an AU of itself involving psychic wolf companions, because that is apparently now also something that all large fandoms eventually have.

[*] Along with a coffee shop AU, a college student AU, a werewolf AU, an AU where everyone has His Dark Materials daemons, and an everyone-is-evil AU, plus more I'm probably not thinking of. Pre-movie Avengers fandom already had the first three at least; I suck at people's daemons, but if anyone else wants to play, that would be awesome.

Your Mountain Is Waiting by thatdamneddame (5475 words, teen and up), another academic AU, this time set in a history department. There's one line early that almost threw me out, and it's a little quieter than the prior one, but I very much like the ending. And both of these have alive (though long-distance) Peggy, which makes me very happy because, Peggy!

Finally, some quasi-team recs; these are authors who've written a bunch of character studies that it's easiest to just rec as a set, giving a cumulative team-ish effect.

siria posted a number of short post-movie character reactions, all of which are worth reading:

• account rendered (617 words, general audiences): why Clint made a different call.



• measured (676 words, general audiences): Pepper and Coulson talking on the way to LaGuardia.



• intermission (389 words, general audiences): Fury-POV immediate aftermath story, with Maria Hill.



• regular joe (549 words, general audiences): Steve, coming to terms.



• bare (816 words, general audiences): Natasha will never work undercover again.



• what a way to make a living (698 words, general audiences): a little Bruce-Natasha moment.

I also like everything irnan has written in this fandom:

• can't carve a whistle (3564 words, general audiences): a really great Maria Hill character study (movie extrapolation only; I gather her comics characterization is kind of a mess?).



• when we first came here (1688 words, general audiences): Steve post-movie adjusting vignettes.



• breadcrumbs (2410 words, general audiences): Betty being awesome and coming to find Bruce. (I have not watched either Hulk movie, but you know me and my appreciation for acknowledging the existence of female characters.)



• safe (1747 words, general audiences): Steve teaches Bruce to shoot. As the author's notes put it: "Alternate title: 'but she's our witch.'"



• yet turning stay (4053 words, teen and up): a Pepper character study, including family backstory.



• and don't you dare be late (7676 words, teen and up): Peggy fix-it fic; I can't quite figure out the plot, but it's kind of incidental to, Peggy!

Stay tuned for a Steve list (halfway done), a Natasha (-Clint, -Bruce) list whose organization is still under construction, a Bruce list, and a miscellaneous list.

Comments

[rosefox]

If you want something on the raunchier side, have an improbable adorable kinky poly queer Bruce/Tony/Hulk fic with bonus hysterical Tony and Pepper polyamory awesomeness.

Pepper walks up and kisses him, brief and soft, just to say hello. "I get that you're a self-obsessed absent-minded atemporal narcissist vampire, yes," she replies primly, before turning to smile at Bruce.

"Really, self-obsessed and a narcissist. Both of those."

"Yes. Hello, Dr Banner."

"Bruce, please," he stutters, taking an additional step backwards and almost tripping over a bench.

"Bruce," Pepper nods. "Bruce, it's absolutely fine that you're having sex with my boyfriend, so please stop skittering around like that. I'm not going to bite."

Tony pouts at her, and she smacks him.

"Uh, thanks," Bruce says, and tries half a smile.

Tony grins. "Let's all get dinner!"

"It's still three in the afternoon," Bruce says, but now it's a whole smile.

"I missed lunch, actually," Pepper says, "I could eat." She breaks away from Tony and falls in next to Bruce, taking his elbow as they head for the elevator. "So I hear you're taking over the radiation labs," she says, leaning in to him. "I can't tell you how glad I am to have someone in there who knows what he's doing."

[niko]

Massively looking forward to working through these and your other batches as they come. :) It looks like you're tastes definitely click with mine, and I've been too lazy to go digging in this fandom yet myself. :)

[coffeeandink]

Along with a coffee shop AU, a college student AU, a werewolf AU, an AU where everyone has His Dark Materials daemons, and an everyone-is-evil AU, plus more I'm probably not thinking of.

You forgot the Inception AU, which Avengers also already had before the movie came out. There are more now, though.

[thette]

Even if Tony Stark is not your thing, I can recommend In Which Tony Stark Builds Himself Some Friends (But His Family Was Assigned by Nick Fury). It's hilarious, with a sentient toaster and sentient Roombas.

[(Anonymous)]

hey! I stumbled across this post somehow and was debating whether leaving a comment on something so old would be slightly creepy but... just wanted to say that this is a really good rec list. Thanks so much for pointing me towards these fics!