Chapter Text
“Boss? You okay?”
Toni glanced over at Happy, who was currently sitting at the driver’s seat and was looking at her with some worry on his face.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Why are you asking?”
“Because the car stopped over a minute ago, and you did not seem to notice,” he answered, appearing unimpressed. And glancing at her tinted windows, Toni realised he was right.
She had not even noticed they had arrived at the venue. This was definitely not an auspicious start to this whole thing, she had to say.
Not that she’d tell Happy as much, of course. Because otherwise he’d get smug and/or tattle to Rhodey and Pep, and Toni wasn't in the mood for all that.
“So rude to me, Hap,” she complained instead, quickly checking her reflection in the car’s backseat mirror. “I finally agree to let you accompany me to an event instead of having you stay with Pep in Cali all the time, and you become mean in seconds. I deserve better.”
“You deserve everything you get,” he answered, even as he stepped out when Toni gave him a nod.
JARV?
From what I have observed in the past minute and forty-seven seconds since you arrived, the venue is safe. There are several SHIELD agents inside the building, as well as Captain Rogers and Agent Romanoff, and some of your least favourite socialites are also present. However, in terms of safety, while I advise you to keep one weapon at least on yourself, nothing appears out of the ordinary.
Good to know, thought Toni, as she put her sunglasses back on and gave herself another cursory once over, before the door was opened for her.
Toni had been thrusted on stage at age four and sort of never stepped back down since. She was intimately familiar with the media and the paparazzi - hence the sunglasses that she always wore whenever she was forced to interact with them - but that didn’t make them any less annoying, especially on days in which she wasn’t particularly predisposed to seeing them.
And today, after the shitty day she had had, she wasn’t particularly predisposed to seeing them.
Still, she kept her practised smile on as she waved at the various cameras.
“Miss Stark, over here!”
“Give us a smile, Toni!”
“... Toni Stark has just arrived, looking stunning in a lovely dress from Prada’s latest fall collection-”
“Miss Stark, who are you here with today-”
Toni simply kept walking and waving, pausing to pose for a couple of familiar looking photographers, and sending a kiss to a particularly pretty journalist, before she was finally inside the venue.
Not that she was anymore safer in here than she had been outside, mind you.
Contrary to what Pepper seemed to believe, Toni did not hate galas. She had been attending galas from the moment she was conceived (if you counted the ones her mamma had thrown back when she was still pregnant with Toni), and by now she was used to them. They were her norm, something that she did so often she didn’t even really think about it anymore.
But it did not mean she particularly enjoyed them, either. Especially when she (or more specifically, JARVIS) did not have the list of guests beforehand and was sort of flying in blind.
Toni would have loved not having to come to this particular one, but as she was one of the guests of honour, she couldn’t really get away with not showing up.
Believe her, she had asked.
As Pepper said, however, it was for a good cause, and it was the first big event that had been thrown since the Invasion six months ago, so here was Toni. Philanthropist through and though, her mamma would have been proud.
She smiled pleasantly as everyone’s head immediately turned to look at her as soon as stepped in, but she did not pause. She scanned the room instead, hoping to see anyone familiar already there, other than those JARVIS had warned her of.
She’d rather not get drunk so soon after arriving, but so far she had noted no one she felt particularly comfortable with.
She could see Rogers on one side of the room, dressed in his old non-superhero suit, trying to get her attention, and Romanoff was also standing beside him. While JARVIS had warned her of this, the woman's presence was a bit surprising; Toni would have expected her to be a no show, with her whole super spy thing.
Keep an eye on Romanoff in particular, J.
May I state, for the record, that you are acting in a very paranoid manner, Miss? I believe the lack of sleep is getting the better of you.
JARVIS was right, the chances of Romanoff or SHIELD actively doing something at such an event, with Toni in attendance, were very low. However,
It’s not paranoia if they’re really out to get you.
Will do as you wish.
So it was just the three of them, it appeared. The archer dude was gone, Bruce had not shown up, and Thor...
“Toni, dear,” came someone’s voice beside her, and Toni mentally sighed even as she offered the approaching woman a smile. “I thought it was you. You look so lovely, darling.”
“I know,” she agreed, keeping the sweet smile firm in place. “Nice dress. Wearing white was a bold choice for you, Eleanor, but I suppose fortune does favour the bold.”
Whether Eleanor Bishop did not hear the underlying cattiness or chose to ignore it for a chance to be seen talking to her, Toni wasn’t sure.
Still, she allowed the woman to pull her along. This was a charity event, after all, and Toni could be cordial enough to get those tips coming in. The city wasn’t going to be reconstructed for free, that was why she was here to begin with.
“Girls, look who’s here!” called Bishop, and Toni kept her smile up as she was steamrolled by boring conversation without much substance about ‘where have you been, honey?'
That was a bit rude. It wasn’t like all of the women here were vapid and self obsessed; in fact, many of them were very clever and duplicitous. It was just that they forced themselves into the roles society had created for them whenever they were at events like these, and Toni was expected to follow the script.
And Toni hated following the script.
“I have to say, you look fantastic, Toni dear,” said Moira Brandon (Eleanor Bishop’s sister in law, from what Toni recalled), looking at her up and down. “How do you maintain your figure like that? What’s your secret?”
Toni chuckled, shaking her head. “You know how it is. The Iron Queen suit is a workout in itself, that thing weighs like 300 pounds.”
“Wow,” said Michelle, wife of Senator Stern, eyes wide and amazed. She looked high. “It looks so light and pretty from a distance.”
Toni did not answer, just kept smiling: the suit had been described as many things, but never had Toni heard pretty.
It was even more irritating that the woman was not even lying, that was seriously what she thought.
“Though there hasn’t been much Iron Queen-ing from you, lately,” said Moira, attention focused on Toni. Unlike Bishop, evil sister in law never had a problem being catty, and Toni readied herself. “I’ve heard something about PTSD on the news? Is that true?”
Toni knew that there was nothing wrong with suffering from PTSD, even without JARVIS, Rhodey and Yinsen’s continued insistence on the fact.
But she was also very much aware of how well these ladies would take an admission of mental health problems from heir, so she just laughed prettily. “Please. We all know the news sells what they know dim-witted people will buy and believe.”
The corner of Moira’s eye tightened, and Toni gave her a disarming smile. “Still,” said the old crone, after a moment. “There is all this fear mongering about the Mandarin and his shady dealings everywhere. When are you going to teach him a lesson, Iron Queen?”
The Mandarin. Yes, Toni had heard about him on the news, had seen the two videos he published following his attacks, and she wasn’t impressed. She would have absolutely loved to get out of her house and do something about this.
Unfortunately, “I am not military, Moira, you know that. And while aliens fell under my jurisdiction,” at least they would from now, “Terrorists in the Middle East no longer do. Believe me, I’ve tried. But the military-”
“Screw the military,” ‘joked’ Moira. “You are that girl, an icon for women everywhere! Surely you’re not going to simply allow some old men to tell you what to do?”
“That way lies vigilantism, Moira dear,” came Helen’s voice as she and her husband appeared in their small circle. “Toni, sweetheart. How wonderful to see you.”
“A party in my honour,” she answered, smiling cockily. Inside, she was very grateful to have moved past that annoying conversation. “How could I miss it? That’s not rhetorical, I’m genuinely asking.”
They all laughed at her ‘joke’, and the Mayor beckoned her. “Now, would you ladies mind terribly it if I stole Miss Stark for a moment? Just for a minute.”
“We would, but we understand,” said Bishop, pouting exaggeratedly. “Come by when he frees you, Toni!”
No way in hell, she thought, but outside, she only smiled, waving and at the same time keeping some distance between herself and the mayor. He always had this weird vaporub smell attached to him, and while it wasn’t as fastidious as other things Toni was forced to smell, it wasn’t pleasant either.
“Captain Rogers, there you are,” said the Mayor, and Toni mentally rolled her eyes as the blond appeared.
Of course: Iron Queen and Captain America, her in a pretty dress, and him in his fancy green old time military suit, both of them standing with the Mayor. The photos were gonna be everywhere, and donations were going to be pouring in.
She was enough of a business woman to appreciate the strategy, even if she found it detestable.
Romanoff is on the phone with Director Fury as we speak. I believe they are keeping as close an eye on you as you are on them.
“Toni, hi,” said GI Joe, smiling at her. “You look wonderful.”
Great. Unfortunately for them, only one person has ever beaten me at chess, and he doesn’t work for SHIELD.
“You cut quite a figure yourself, Captain,” she said, lips parted in a playfully flirty smile that made the man blush.
Oh, this was going to be hell, wasn’t it?
+++
“Ok, I have to go,” said the Mayor, what felt like three hours later. “Have to prepare for my speech and all. But you two go ahead and mingle!”
“Thanks, we-”
“Are going to get a drink for a moment,” said Toni, cutting off Rogers. “Need to rest my feet for a bit. These heels were not my brightest idea today.”
“My wife complains about it all the time too,” said the man with a chuckle, and Toni laughed too as she watched him walk away.
“God, he’s insufferable,” she said as soon as he was out of earshot.
“He wasn’t that bad,” said Rogers, offering her his arm as he had been doing the entire time they had been walking around. “Would you like a drink?”
“Yes,” she said, pretending to not see as she started walking towards the bar. “Or several.”
Rogers and his stupidly long legs fell into step with her quicker than she would have preferred and she cursed his serum once more. The bane of her existence, that serum, truly.
“One scotch on the rocks, please,” she said, as soon as she sat down at the bar and the bartender appeared.
“Sorry,” said Rogers, sitting down beside her.
Toni frowned at him. “About what?”
Rogers nodded in the general direction of where the crowd was, more than one of them unashamedly staring at the two of them. “The pony show, out there. I know you don’t like it much.”
“What, you saw that in the footage too?” she questioned, one eyebrow raised as her drink was put down in front of her. “Was it a dossier or did you get a powerpoint presentation? Oh, please tell me Fury presented. Did you get to grade him?”
“Can we start again?” asked Rogers, looking at her halfway between embarrassed and annoyed. “I know I was not exactly nice to you the first time around. In fact, I was downright rude. SHIELD painted a picture of you that I can now see wasn’t quite true.”
“Did they get my eyes wrong? People do it all the time, it’s annoying. My eyes are not just brown, they are-”
“I’m sorry for acting like a jackass towards you, the first time around,” interrupted Rogers, giving her his best impression of a golden retriever. He was actually being honest, wasn’t that a nice surprise. “I did not know you and you were right, I had too many assumptions and presumptions for someone who was an ‘icicle mere weeks before’.”
Toni hummed, crossing her arms around her chest as she took her glass. “That’s true.” She tilted her head to the side when he kept staring at her, expectantly.
I believe he’s expecting an apology back, Miss.
Oh, really.
“I hope you’re not expecting me to apologise too,” she then said, scoffing. “Because you’ll be waiting for a cold day in hell.”
Rogers’ eyebrow twitched, and then he shook his head, a little bit amused. “No, no. So: truce?”
“I didn’t know we were beefing,” she admitted, before reluctantly accepting the hand offered. “But, sure. Truce.”
Solid grip. He was warm to the touch, but not as warm as Thor.
She let go of his hand quickly.
“I’ve seen what you’ve been doing to help the city, all of the reconstructions,” he continued as she sipped her drink. “You are a really impressive dame, Toni.”
“Alright, no need to start brown-nosing,” she said, rolling her eyes.
He frowned, confused. “Brown nosing? What does it mean?”
“Aw,” she cooed. “This truce might be your worst idea in a while, Captain. I’m going to absolutely ruin you.”
Wouldn’t that be a trip?
Was your double entendre on purpose, Miss?
What double- Ah crap.
Rogers appeared flustered at her words, and Toni focused back on her drink, pretending not to notice. This was what happened when you were fluent in innuendos; you started speaking in them without even realising.
“Perhaps-”
“Captain Rogers,” came a woman’s voice, cutting them off. A pretty woman Toni didn’t recognise was standing a little away from them, blushing and looking at Steve hopefully. “If you’re not too busy, could I perhaps have a dance? With you?”
Mrs Matilda Roy, she is the newly wedded wife of Mr Roy of Roy Enterprises. You do not care for her nor her husband, but you sent them a gift basket for their wedding.
I did?
Yourself and Stark Industries.
“Well, I-” started the well meaning boy scout, and Toni grinned, putting down her glass for a moment.
“Of course he doesn’t mind, Matilda,” she said, patting his shoulder. “Don’t worry, Captain. I’ll be safe by myself for a while. You go dance with Mrs Roy, have fun!”
“Right,” said the Captain, glancing between Toni and Convenient Distraction with a pinched expression. Then he smiled at the second with a little bit more conviction, offering her his arm. “Ma’am.”
“Ma’am,” repeated the woman, giggling slightly as she possessively took his arm. “Thank you, Toni!”
“Have fun,” said Toni, watching them go for a second before taking another drink out of her glass and signalling for the bartender to top her off.
Incoming, warned JARVIS, seconds later.
“Are you sure that’s wise?” asked a voice as the chair Rogers had vacated was once more occupied. “Getting drunk at such an event?”
“Russians aren’t the only people capable of holding their liquor,” said Toni, not glancing at her. “No need to worry your pretty head about it.”
“No need to worry?” asked Romanoff, sounding almost amused. Toni did not think she was amused. “Considering SHIELD nearly went belly up and half of our budget was suddenly cut off, and we are still struggling to recover, I think that there is plenty of things to worry about, when you are involved, Miss Stark. Don’t glare, camera on your six.”
“I’m not glaring,” said Toni, turning to grin at her. “This smile is 100% genuine. This news delights me.”
“I don’t know what your problem with SHIELD is,” said Romanoff, keeping her features relaxed. To any onlooker, it’d have looked like two friends having a nice conversation. “We are all on the same side.”
“Are we?” wondered Toni. “I am here alone with only my bodyguard, really, to cover me. I have a couple of weapons on me, just in case, and I’m doing as well as I can to help the city rebuild. Meanwhile SHIELD sneaked 9 undercover agents as waiters that I can see out here, and they have done all they could to slink down in the shadows as soon as Thor and Loki were gone, doing nothing to help or ready themselves for a possible second coming attack.”
“There are 11 agents on the floor, you are getting sloppy, Stark,” corrected Romanoff, smirking. “And there is not going to be a second Invasion.”
13 agents on the floor.
“You are stupid if you think so, and I said 9 undercover as waiters, I did not say the total of agents on the floor was eleven,” she said, taking her glass with a triumphant smile. “Loki said that there would be.”
“Unlike you, SHIELD is not so willing to believe the words of an alien criminal who had no official trial on Earth and who we were not even able to fully prove was mentally coerced into the attack,” answered the spider, taking a glass from a passing by agent-waiter. “All we know is what you have told us. And I’m sorry, but you are not the sanest or most trustworthy of sources. Considering your breakdown after the Invasion, and whatnot.”
Toni refused to show that the dig had landed. Yes, PTSD was nothing to be ashamed of, yes. But allowing SHIELD to see a weakness in her? That was something to be ashamed of.
“Why do I need you to listen to me anyway?” countered Toni, with a shrug. “You have less credibility than the postal office at this point. You are the laughing stock of the intelligence community; it’s embarrassing.”
“I mean, beggars can’t be choosers,” pointed out Romanoff. “The military sure does not seem eager to back you up, do they?”
Damn her.
What are the chances that SHIELD is actively undermining my credibility?
Low, but not zero. I shall look into it.
“Beggars can be choosers when the choice is SHIELD. You couldn’t even manage the measly task of infiltrating my company, and you want me to trust you when it comes to planetary defence?”
“Or just the Avengers,” said the red head, shrugging delicately. “Considering we are up for medals, it’s clear we did something right.”
“First of all, Avengers and SHIELD are synonyms. Second, I’m not on the team.”
“Ah,” she agreed. “But does the media know that? The Mayor invited you to an event dedicated to the Avengers.”
“He did not use that name. He used the individual call signs that were given during the press conferences.”
Rushmanoff smiled, and Toni wondered if the cameras would be able to see it for what it was. “I don’t think that makes much difference to them,” she said, sweetly enough. Toni sort of wanted to shoot her again. “According to them we are a team, and you and I are best friends. You know, as the only two women in a boy’s club.”
Agent Romanoff is, unfortunately, correct. According to a recent poll, more than 67,21% of the world and of the US is under the belief that you are an Avenger and/or on the team.
Damn it.
“If you wanted to be my friend, you wouldn’t have come in that ugly beige dress. It washes you out, hon.”
“Really?” said Romanoff, looking unimpressed. “Is this what we’re going to resort to?”
“That was bad, I concede,” agreed Toni, grimacing. “I get catty at galas.”
“Look at us,” said Romanoff, smiling like a snake again. “Becoming friends.”
“I’d still rather adopt a live black widow than do that.”
“Do you promise?”
“Throw off your attempts at getting Rogers to like me, and you’ve got a deal.”
Romanoff’s smile was almost genuine. “That was the second plan, at SHIELD. To trust in your inability to not jump at any handsome guy in your vicinity. But we didn’t have to lift a finger. Rogers decided to get a crush on you all by himself.”
Wasn’t that just great?
“Why, aren’t you happy, Stark? Not many girls can say that Captain America has a crush on them. Only one girl, really, and she’s in hospital succumbing to dementia.”
“Despite your best attempts, we are still not girlfriends, Rushmanoff,” told her Toni, ignoring the mention of Carter completely.
The red head shrugged. “I told Fury this would never work. I don’t like you, and you dislike me back. But he insisted.”
“Listening to men? Very not Black Widow like of you. Aren’t you ashamed?”
Another convenient distraction approaching.
“I don’t think either of us has ever had a problem with shame,” said Natashalie, glancing at the cut of Toni’s dress. It was a gorgeous Dolce & Gabbana red piece, short (barely knee length) in the front and long in the back.
“This is classy,” protested Toni, uncrossing her legs.
“Incredibly so,” agreed a voice, and Toni was already smiling as she looked up at the man now standing beside her.
“Hey, Simba,” she said, finally feeling something other than the annoyance she had felt since she had stepped out of her car.
“Toni,” he said, taking her free hand in his and kissing the back of it. “Looking lovely as usual.”
“You clean up nice too,” she answered, making a show of admiring his fine golden blazer and the fitting trousers. “Who are we here to impress, Cha-Cha?”
“Cannot have you outdoing me,” he said, shrugging with some amusement. He glanced at Rushmanoff, who was watching them both with her usual poker face. “Want to introduce me?”
“Does anyone want to see the Mayor pole dancing on the bar table?” she answered, standing up.
“I don’t know, there are people who might find him appealing,” pointed out T’Challa, as she pulled him towards the dance floor. “His wife, maybe?”
“She’s cheating on him with the secretary, so I very much doubt it,” said Toni, coming to a stop a few steps later. “Now stop being a smartass and dance with me.”
“Bold words, coming from you,” he answered, even as he complied. “Chances that we make it to the front page?”
“You know, not that high. On one side, scoop scoop, rekindling of romance between the Prince of Wakanda and Toni Stark! On the other side, Iron Queen, symbol of the future, and Captain America, relic from the past, walking around with him being all sort of gentlemanly. Prince of an unknown African country, superhero with blond hair and blue eyes, eh... sorry, don’t like your chances on this one.”
“Drats,” said T’Challa, and Toni snickered.
Despite the fact that they texted and spoke to one another often enough, she had missed T’Challa.
Toni and T’Challa had first met during a kidnapping back when she was in her early twenties. It had been, quite honestly, the first time Toni had been kidnapped by accident. The people there hadn’t been there for her, just for the young Wakandan prince, who they had mistaken Erik for. Toni had been convenient collateral, in their minds.
Unfortunately for them, Toni and Erik all knew how to get out of a kidnapping pretty easily, and by the time the T'Challa, Dora Milaje and their fancy Vibranium weapons had gotten there, Toni was free and had learnt a lot about the secret country.
King T’Chaka had not been sold on her, at first, what with her ‘past’. However, considering the fact that Erik lived in America and sort of considered himself American, Toni had kept contact with both of them. By the time she and T’Challa had started dating, sometime 2004, Toni had had something like the man’s blessing.
She still did not get to visit Wakanda that often, because of who she was and the fact that not everyone in the country liked her, but they did see each other a lot, outside the country’s borders.
He smiled more gently at her. “I have missed you too,” he said, pulling her a little closer.
Toni allowed it, letting her head rest on his shoulder. He didn’t feel like Thor or Bruce did, but Toni could still feel the panther hidden inside of him. Unlike Hulk and the lightning inside of Thor, the panther was quiet and yet still watchful, and very clever.
Had he never told her about his past time gig as Black Panther of Wakanda, she would have still figured it out.
She wasn’t sure exactly of how one became Black Panther (another secret a foreigner wasn't allowed to know), but considering the super soldier stamina and increased healing abilities, she wondered if that was something about every super soldier serum - that hidden beast, that hidden thing inside.
Captain Patriotism, she hadn’t felt anything from him other than the deaths he had caused through his life. Was that the proof of Erskine’s super serum’s success? It didn’t cause a split in one’s mind and inside them?
She had doubts.
Then again, she had not paid much attention to Rogers in general.
“Penny for your thoughts?”
“Don’t get cheap on me now,” complained Toni, lifting her head once more. “My thoughts are worth their weight in gold.”
“Yes, but now that we aren’t dating anymore, I don’t need to bother,” he pointed out, smirking. “I can be as cheap as I want now.”
“One, so rude,” she said, trying not to smile. “Two, speaking of dating...”
“Ugh,” said T’Challa, grimacing. “You sound like my mother, now.”
“Ramonda’s a lovely woman, that’s a compliment in my books,” she told him, shrugging. “But come on. I didn’t want to ask over text in case you tried to run away from the convo, but now you’re right where I want you, in my arms. What happened with you and Nakia?”
T’Challa sighed. “The same thing that happened with you and me,” he admitted, after a couple of seconds, twirling her around. “Apparently I have a thing for women who are free and unconquerable, which is very awkward when we have the conversation about ‘where is this relationship going?’ and they admit they will never want to be shackled by the responsibility of being the future Queen of Wakanda.”
“Yikes,” she said, squeezing his arm a little bit. “That sucks. I’m sorry.”
“Eh,” he answered, doing a bad job at appearing unbothered. “I sort of saw it coming, this time around. And she and I didn’t date nearly as long as you and I did.”
“I know,” she agreed, catching his eyes. “Still. I’m sorry.”
He smiled. “Thanks. What about you?”
Toni frowned at him. “What about me?”
“You are doing a great job at pretending you are relaxed and completely at ease, but that’s clearly not the case,” he said, catching her eyes when she tried to look away. “Something is clearly up with you. What is it?”
Oh, where did she start?
“Not the sort of conversation we can have here, with SHIELD spies around and minutes before I’m supposed to go on that stage and accept a medal,” she said, sighing. “How about we talk about this later? When are you leaving?”
“In two days.”
“Reconvene at mine tomorrow or after this whole circus is done?”
T’Challa nodded. “I’ll be holding you on to that,” he said, as they resumed dancing with more ease than before. “Now let’s show this crowd what real dancing looks like.”
“As you wish, my Prince,” she answered, winking while he laughed.
She truly had missed him.