cap_ironman | Rec Week #3

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Rec Week #3

The theme is non-powered AUs, ready set go!

Comment on this post with your rec(s). Please include:

Title
Author
Basic plot or premise
Why you're recommending the piece
URL/link

We're also doing a secondary fun theme each week, highlighting trends we've noticed in the fandom. There's probably a joke in there somewhere about Tony putting artificial intelligence in more inappropriate things than he's put his... er- *cough* -in. Let's see some sentient household appliances and other AI shenanigans.

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AI shenanigans?
My own The Silent War (http://archiveofourown.org/works/590288).
Summary:: Thor loves his Pop-Tarts, Clint likes the microwave, Natasha likes coffee but doesn’t want anyone to know, and Bruce and Steve cook. Or that time when everything in the kitchen refused to work, but none of the Avengers want to admit why.
Also, the entire series of It's All in the Mind (http://archiveofourown.org/series/21783) with AIs playing a pretty prominent role in it, including a sentient stove and coffee machine.
And on another, lighter note. There's also That Damn Tank Top (http://archiveofourown.org/works/1080725/chapters/2172159), in which Steve becomes tongue-tied at the sight of Tony in a tank top and there's a TV with too much time on its hands.

Artificial Intelligence (http://archiveofourown.org/works/543768) by kyaticlikestea. Completely cracky, but so good.
Summary: Fed up of seeing Tony and Steve dance around each other, the various gadgets of Stark Tower collaborate to become the best wingmen in history.

If only they were any good at it.

As for non-powered AUs? The one I really love because of all its shenanigans and hilariousness is Kari_Kurofai's So No One Told You (http://archiveofourown.org/works/357252/chapters/578616), although it's still a WIP and hasn't been updated in a long time. It's basically a Friends AU.
Summary: Between them there're three apartments, a disgruntled downstairs neighbor, and a coffee shop with a barista who threatens them with tasers. Which, as a whole, that description sounds way more simple than it actually is.

Edited 2014-04-12 00:42 (UTC)

Title: In Which Tony Stark Builds Himself Some Friends (But His Family Was Assigned by Nick Fury) (SERIES)
Author: scifigrl47
Basic plot or premise: Slow-build Steve/Tony among a Team-as-Family storyline, lots of AI fun and other adventures...
Why you're recommending the piece: Well, it's the clear choice for Sentient Household Appliances and other AI Shenanigans, imo.
URL/link: on ao3 (https://archiveofourown.org/series/18228)

AI's:
Well good lord, basically anything by Scifigrl47 (http://archiveofourown.org/users/scifigrl47/pseuds/scifigrl47). Specifically: Tale of the Bots (http://archiveofourown.org/series/18990) (series) & In Which Tony Stark Builds Himself Some Friends (But His Family Was Assigned by Nick Fury) (http://archiveofourown.org/series/18228) (series - aka "the toaster verse") (Both are MCU)

Uh... I'll quote the summaries from a couple of the stories.

Tales of the Bots - first story is The Act of Creation Will Be Your Salvation (http://archiveofourown.org/works/401961) Summary: When Tony Stark was seventeen years old, he built his first AI. On that day, he ceased to be his father's creation, and became a creating force in his own right. That one act likely saved his life, and not always in the most obvious ways.
Why rec? This series is full of Dummy (or DUM-E) love. Scifigrl47 does allllll the bot feels and in particular the first story of this series is one of my favorite fics of all times.

Toaster 'Verse - first up, Some Things Shouldn't be a chore (http://archiveofourown.org/works/381185). Where Tony's roomba ~~army~~ is created and there is team bonding over Steve's chore chart and also angsty Tony. Also, the toaster becomes sentient. Ordinary Workplace Hazards (http://archiveofourown.org/works/389598) contains a weird anomaly and the aforementioned roomba army gets to go on adventures. Four (or five) reasons for kidnapping Tony Stark (http://archiveofourown.org/works/391599) A fairly lengthy adventure where Tony is kidnapped multiple times, all in a row, and it's getting rather ridiculous. How does his toaster and Thor's knitting hobby factor into this?
Why rec? The toaster verse is an epic universe that continues to grow from the main stories (I only directly linked the first three above). Bot feels are included. There are shenanigans all around involving Avengers, SHIELD members, and friends (Coulson's case files are awesome and include Darcy as an agent in training) as well as MCU bots, a hive mind of roombas, and a toaster. One of my favorite fic series, hands down.

Non-powered AUs:
Your Barista Is... (http://archiveofourown.org/works/1228831) by PaxieAmor
Summary: Steve Rogers walks into a coffee shop. It's nothing that he expects, but everything he needs.
Why? It's a sweet little AU with a veteran, art student Steve who tries out a coffee shop where Tony's the owner. There's a bit of pining, but they sort themselves out and it's just a good feel-good fic.

Mechanic AU (comic) (http://archiveofourown.org/works/1148493) by ironfries & vespasiana
Summary: Tony's a mechanic, Steve's apparently hopeless with all appliances. Maybe. It's sort of an excuse to keep Tony. (Yes, courtship by way of fixing little appliances.)
Why? The characters are so familiar even without their alteregos and the art is delightful. This is a great comic <3

Haaaave you met Steve? (http://archiveofourown.org/works/498689) by theapplepielifestyle
Summary: “Kids, I’m going to tell you an incredible story. The story of how I met your father.” An Avengers/HIMYM crossover.
Why? It's ridiculous and adorable and too sweet for words.

(and I gotta do two posts due to length...)

Part two, more non-powered AUs:

Got the Cream (http://archiveofourown.org/works/341817) by YourFavoriteRobot
(Well, there is Loki with magic that changes cat!Tony into a human but, well, otherwise it's without powers)
Summary:Steve is coasting through life after leaving the army without making any real connections to anyone around him. Until a mischievous deity turns Steve's only friend, his cat Tony, into a human being.
Why? Ridiculously sweet and cute and amusing.

Apartment 5A (http://archiveofourown.org/works/630980) by toraten
Summary: An AU in which Steve Rogers edits comic books and Tony Stark is Tony Stark.
Why? Probably my favorite non-powered AU I've read. The collection of characters is great and the premise borrows from Chris Evans' movie "What's Your Number'.

And I'd buy a big house where we both could live (http://archiveofourown.org/works/399351) by shinkonokokoro
Summary: Missing: Tony Stark, billionaire businessman, heir to Stark Industries, reward: none. Only Steve didn't know that when he picked up the waterlogged unconscious man from the bank of a river.
Why? I'm a huge sucker for amnesia tropes. (Cannot top my love for amnesia stories, guh, give me more!) Anyway, interesting character interactions and a satisfying length to sit down and read.

Annnnnd that's all I've got. Whew!

So I actually just though an AU rec list together for a friend on tumblr last week, and I had a good number of non-powered AUs, so here we go!

Title: Apartment 5A
Author: toraten
Basic plot or premise: Billionaire Playoy Tony uses Comic Book Editor Steve's apartment to hide from his one night stands and Steve ends up turning him gay, it's great.
Why you're recommending the piece: I how it's written, and occasionally I like some none-heavy fic...
URL/link: ao3 (http://archiveofourown.org/works/630980?view_adult=true)

Title: Confidence Trick
Author: tsukinofaerii
Basic plot or premise: FBI Steve chasing Hacker Iron Man, and then things get interesting...
Why you're recommending the piece: I love the cops and robbers feel of it.
URL/link: ao3 (http://archiveofourown.org/works/803909)

Title: Looking for Heaven
Author: foxxclub
Basic plot or premise: Ex-stable boy Steve and Lord Tony enter marriage of convenience and try to pretend they aren't head over heels in love&lust with each other.
Why you're recommending the piece: When I read romance novels, I usually tend to lean towards the Historical/Regency Romances, with their lords and earls and carriages and schools for girls, etc etc...and this fits in that genre perfectly. :P
URL/link: ao3 (http://archiveofourown.org/works/779087)

Title: Down on the Farm
Author: tellxmebby
Basic plot or premise: CEO Tony takes a wrong exit, meets Farmer/Mechanic Steve, and it's hot.
Why you're recommending the piece: The second type of romance novel that I like are the modern one where City Person goes out into the country, meets Country/Cowboy/Farm Person, falls in love and has hot sex with them...and this is a Steve/Tony version of that.
URL/link: ao3 (http://archiveofourown.org/works/699375?view_adult=true)

Title: My Life Belongs To My Country, But My Heart Will Always Be Yours
Author: renai-chan
Basic plot or premise: Prince Tony and Knight Steve are in love and have a secret relationship, which Evil Archduke Obadiah takes advantage of. (*there is whipping as corporal punishment and dubcon oral sex, Steve and Tony aren't doing those things to each other though)
Why you're recommending the piece: I love Prince/Knight AUs, and this one is very emotional and angsty, AND IT DOES HAVE A HAPPY ENDING.
URL/link: ao3 (http://archiveofourown.org/works/1059252?view_adult=true)

Title: The Tony Stark Relationship Primer (Steve and Tony Make a Porno & Kiss and Tell)
Author: uraneia
Basic plot or premise: Tony lies his way into Steve's Porn Audition and then they go out on a date.
Why you're recommending the piece: It's just very sexy and funny.
URL/link: ao3 (https://archiveofourown.org/series/40747)

Title: Upon Waking
Author: winterstar
Basic plot or premise: Tony rebels and becomes a celeb journalist but still goes to Afghanistan and is held hostage. When he returns part of his therapy is to volunteer at a rehab for vets, and he meets the Avengers there, including Steve, a soldier in a coma who eventually wakes up.
Why you're recommending the piece: It's so well written and it's emotional and angsty and lovely.
URL/link: ao3 (https://archiveofourown.org/works/1021180?view_adult=true)

Edited 2014-04-12 01:50 (UTC)

Great recs so far!

*whispers* I'm waiting to see if someone can dig up Tony puts an AI in a sex toy.

In the series Don't Look too Closely (all the angles are oblique) (http://archiveofourown.org/series/29050), I think I remember reading Tony progamming sex toys for Steve and using a set of armor as a sex toy, but I don't remember which fics that stuff happened in.

There are also voice activated sex toys in Taking (https://archiveofourown.org/works/696716) (part of the Steve Rogers Never Was a Boy Scout series).

I recognize that author from fandoms of old. Will have to check it out, thanks!

This isn't a non powered AU but it does have Tony putting an AI in a sex machine. :D
http://archiveofourown.org/works/1329145
The unexpected and somewhat bizarre story of Steve Rogers and Tony Stark falling madly in love with one another …

… over an A.I. fucking machine.

So I really don't care for AUs all that much, but I do have one for sentient household appliances.

Title: Tony Stark: Appliance Whisperer
Author: Alex51324
Basic plot or premise: After Tony over-reacts to some SHIELD agents breaking a microwave oven, Steve begins to wonder if there's something the team should know.
Why you're recommending the piece: Okay, so this is gen, not slash, and I might be pushing it a bit with Steve and Tony's friendship being a focus (though Steve is totally the one who figures things out first and wants to help Tony), but god damn it, this is too darn cute not to rec. Machines have feelings too. You will have microwave feels, refrigerator feels, and vacuum cleaner feels, and all sorts of Tony feels. I just want to cuddle all of them. Plus, it's Tony Stark talking to machines with feelings no one else knows about. What's not to love?

AI shenanigans

I'm gonna be lame and rec my own little one shot:

Title: JARVIS and the Pizza Girl
Author: ohmyloki
Summary: JARVIS makes a friend.
Link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/913597 (http://archiveofourown.org/works/913597)

Non-Powered AUs:

Apartment 5A has been recced a few times, but I'm throwing my recommendation on top of it for all the same reasons. :)

Title: 99 problems (and the dice ain't one)
Author: kellifer_fic
Summary: Tony's life is almost perfect. He lives in a converted warehouse full of friends (and one frenemy), has a job that leaves him plenty of time to think about other things and a regular Friday night campaign. If his best friend, Steve Rogers, hadn't moved away to New York and left him behind, then perfection would've been achieved.

Tony can roll with the punches though and he's almost all the way over that little bump in the road (shut up Bruce, he totally is) when Steve moves back, looking taller and broader and more confident than ever and Tony's left with a converted warehouse full of friends (and one frenemy), a job that leaves him plenty of time to think about other things, a regular Friday night campaign and the uncomfortable realization that maybe he's in love with his best friend and has been since he was sixteen.

Why I'm recommending it: I just love how adorably sweet and fluffy this story is. It's great if you're in the mood for something to make you smile. And I just love how nerdy all the characters are. :3
Link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/549884 (http://archiveofourown.org/works/549884)

Title: When Darkness Sleeps Beside You
Author: rufflefeather
Summary: Steve meets Tony Stark at a party while he's there escorting another woman. He's not opposed to making a quick buck but things don't go as planned.
Why I'm recommending it: SUCH GREAT SMUT. Tony still has the arc reactor but there's no Iron Man and No Captain America.
Link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/435668 (http://archiveofourown.org/works/435668)

Title: The Billionaire Hooker's Deceived Artist
Author: tsukinofaerii
Summary: During Tony's senior year at MIT, his partying habit finally hit the edge of his parents' patience. When Howard and Maria cut him
off from his usual sources of money, he decides to turn to less conventional ones.
Why I'm recommending this: Because I honestly cannot believe no one else here has already done so? Definitely one of my all-time favorite fics much less one of my favorite non-powered AUs! It's got smut and skinny!Steve, you guys. What more could you ask for?
Link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/314634/chapters/504592 (http://archiveofourown.org/works/314634/chapters/504592)

And these are technically HS/College AUs but they're also non-powered... so I'm just going to list these because I loved them as well:

If At First (http://archiveofourown.org/works/274680) and, alternatively: Try, Try Again ()

Bulletproof (http://archiveofourown.org/works/330201)

Clueless, or: How I Learned to Stop Being a Selfish Prick and Love a Capsicle (http://archiveofourown.org/works/435113/chapters/738828)

Olympics 'Verse (http://archiveofourown.org/series/19146)

Edited 2014-04-12 21:03 (UTC)

Title:Loose and Tight in All the Right Places
Author: Clio_jlh (http://archiveofourown.org/users/clio_jlh/pseuds/clio_jlh)
Summary: The Avengers, led by Tony Stark, have been kicking around the Williamsburg scene for a couple of years now. When bassist Pepper Potts finds them a new guitarist who completely changes their sound, they also get the attention of SHIELD Records' top A&R guy, Nick Fury.
But on the bill with The Avengers on their big night is Spies Become Soldiers, formed by Williamsburg vets Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton, who wanted to take their music in a new direction. They've only been playing together a few months, but they've already got a lot of buzz surrounding them, and the songs to back it up.
Why I'm recommending this: Because it's awesome. Rival bands, pining, all sorts of interesting pairings, and a lot of good music. I like that the author includes a track list at the end. :)
Link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/551864

Edited 2014-04-16 04:06 (UTC)

For non-powered AUs, I adore Comedia's New Year's series and think you would too!

Author: Comedia
Title: Midnight
Rating: Teen
Warnings: none
Summary: Tony Stark decides that taking a shortcut through a dark alley is the best idea ever. Not unexpectedly he gets attacked, but someone comes to his rescue. It’s not the muscular knight in shining armor he’d normally wish for in this kind of situation, but the scrawny man who ends up saving him proves to be one of the most intriguing people he’s met in quite some time.
link: http://archiveofourown.org/series/32985

This series is a delight. I like non-powered AUs, but I like them far better when Steve is skinny and has health problems, 'cause to me that's such a foundational part of his personality. This is utterly fantastic. Billionaire Tony and skinny artist Steve and beautiful, vibrant writing. Enjoy!

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Rec Week #3

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