A/N Not my best work, but here it is. For the Tony Stark 2018 Bingo Challenge. Square filled- A4, Always. Seriously still agonizing over it's good enough to publish but too late now to back out.

Tony still wasn't sure how he had managed to pick up Darcy Lewis but not Jane Foster. Apparently Darcy had liked his offer better because SHIELD merely tolerated her status as Jane Foster's intern, but valued all of the doctor's research? Either way, picking up a political science major who was interested in furthering her studies at some point was a good move for both Stark Industries and the Avengers, especially after the mess that was Ultron and Sokovia.

He didn't count on becoming friends with her. He didn't count on her going over everything Avengers with him after finding out he was hoping her primary job would be to be in charge of PR for the Avengers. He didn't count on her insisting on attending all the inquiries about his actions that led to Ultron and ultimately helping to clear him of anything wrong doing. He did not count on her writing articles in order to publicly air his innocence to the world that was still blaming him. (He hadn't even noticed that she'd taken some courses in journalism). He did not count on her getting all the facts right, or strong arming some of the others into helping him with relief efforts.

He did not expect that her written accounts of how Ultron was created would be positively received; that they'd cover facts. Laid out like that, it was hard to deny that he actually had very little hand in how the AI was created. It showed his panic after that vision resulting in bringing the incomplete code up, unable to be pulled online yet and missing key components, running tests on the alien artifact as he was asked by both Steve and Thor, both worried about the side effects of it being in the hands of both Loki and then Hydra even if it belonged on Asgard. Sentience from the Mind Stone interacting with Jarvis, finding the code for Ultron and taking some of the protocols, along with the name. The possibility that it coming alive at all wasn't even the tests being run but Thor using his lightning (magic) giving it the boost it needed to become free. He most certainly did not expect it to change the attitude of some of the others (most notably Clint and Thor).

He owed her for that, invited her to his penthouse. Hung out with her. Binged movies and read books with her. He wasn't sure how it lead to her inviting others she felt would be good for him to have fun with to also read books, which led to a book club when they couldn't always get together to read a book, instead they were assigned a book to read and then they'd spend the meeting discussing it instead. Rhodey, Pepper, Clint, and Thor all joined. Well, Thor was only involved when he was on earth, which became more and more infrequent as time passed and his searches for the other stones grew more desperate. They read all sorts of books, adult books, kids books, adventure, fantasy, romance... Eventually one of the books led to the greatest inside joke they had when they debated one of the books, one that none of them but Darcy had read before it was assigned, surprising due to its popularity.

"So, you're still working on that crazy idea?" Pepper sighed as she entered the lab one day shortly after that meeting, which had been one of their early ones and glanced over Tony's projects. He looked up and smirked.

"Always."

Pepper groaned in exasperation, shaking her head fondly as she went about giving Tony updates about the company.

"You still enjoy crawling around in tight spaces don't you?" Rhodey sighed after Clint startled Sam at breakfast one day when the archer was staying over on one of his random visits (which always happened to coincide with book club meetings).

"Always, Rhodes." He cackled as he swiped some cereal to munch on while he perched on the counter. Rhodey just shook his head, chuckling, while Sam just blinked in confusion.

"Hey Thor, have you been busy lately? Is that why we haven't seen you?" Steve asked curiously one day at dinner.

"Always, my friend," the god responded solemnly while Clint, Rhodey, Darcy, and Tony all lost it. Thor pretended to be confused. The rest were genuinely confused. Pepper shook her head at them when she heard about it later.

"Hey Pep, love of my life, you've been working too hard," Tony came around her desk to rub her shoulders.

"Always," she sighed, with a hint of amusement, resigned to the inside joke. The genius huffed a laugh at her.

"Wrap this up, I've got dinner plans."

"Ms. Lewis, you seem fairly protective of the Avengers, and Tony in particular. Do you have anything to say about that?" A reporter called at a press conference where Darcy defended the Avengers actions on a legitimate mission where laws were followed.

"Always," she replied simply with a straight face. A news article later showed Tony Stark spitting out water and laughing immediately after that statement.

It wasn't all fun and games, though.

"You have my back with the Accords, right?" Tony asked the book club, minus Thor who had been gone for two months now.

"Always," they replied in sync, sadly.

He had been trying to show Steve the Accords for months. Darcy had tried too. Steve, Sam, and Wanda seemed intent on believing it would never happen. In reality, it was one bad incident away from being voted on, even though they were doing their best to curb them. They were still running missions without clearance from anyone. Thankfully, those all ran under the radar. It wasn't sustainable though. Especially with the news covering the Accords still running at random times when new information came.

It happened. Lagos. The Accords was happening. Tony tried. He tried so hard to get the others to sign it. But it was only Vision and Natasha that did. Clint wasn't going to do anything at all, since he was retired, but when he found out Steve was choosing to be stupid, he volunteered to try to keep the collateral down. As a result, he got to Bucky first, and took him into custody without any fuss. Mostly because he talked quietly, and didn't trigger any automatic defenses the poor guy had from his PTSD.

"Got your back Tony, always," Clint told Tony when the man protested that he didn't have to do this.

"Wanda needs to know the repercussions, I got this for you. Always." Darcy took care of explaining to Scarlet Witch why she wasn't allowed to leave the compound, complete with videos showing the danger.

"Hey, you're not alone. I'm here with you. Always," Rhodey held Tony while he broke down at the video of the Winter Soldier killing his parents. Bucky was still in custody despite his attempt to break out as they caught Zemo fast enough, but Steve had accompanied them, threatening to go by himself if they didn't let him. And had revealed he knew after viewing the video. Rhodey was holding Tony back from attacking the other man, while Captain America had assumed a defensive stance, like he'd fight back. Colonel Rhodes just glared at him while he tried to comfort his shattered best friend.

Afterwards, once everyone was back in the compound, recovering from the events, Pepper appeared. She quickly rushed over to hug Tony, having heard the news.

"I'm so sorry that happened, Tony. You don't deserve it. I'm here for you. Always." She hugged him.

Steve frowned, he wished he had his best friend, but he was being held for trial and everyone had talked him out of going to rescue him because Darcy had already planned a great press campaign to sway everyone into Bucky's favor. He didn't get why everyone was so mad at him for keeping Tony from the truth though. Tony didn't take it well, tried to fight him. That was reason enough. What if Bucky had been there? And yet... Darcy was going through with her plans, and Tony had approved them once he calmed down... Had he been wrong about Tony?

"Okay, what is up with that 'always' thing you guys have had going for the last several months?" Sam asked, breaking the tension that had settled over the room.

"Oh, it's a book club thing," Darcy responded dismissively from where she was working on her laptop to get things rolling.

"And what happens in book club, stays in book club," Clint added from where he was lounging on the floor.

"Always," Tony added in, feeling more like himself. They all started laughing at the looks on everyone's faces.