Emily's Marvel Head Canon Universe – Rules of Play
- Bucky, Spiderman, Falcon & Ant Man are Avengers (the latter two do not live in the tower full time)
- The whole team, plus Jane, Darcy and Loki on occasion, live in the Tower
- Pepper is the CEO of Stark Industries and Tony's good friend (nothing more)
- Only the events of Avengers 1 and Cap 2 happened. After Avengers 1 Loki was no longer being manipulated by the Cube power and is now on probation with Shield, working inter-galactically for them. After Cap 2 Steve managed to capture Bucky and they've been in intense mental rehabilitation ever since
- Everything post Cap 2 didn't happen, the Twins and Vision aren't involved, Clint isn't married with kids and Peter joined after Tony found out who Spiderman was. Also, discount Iron Man 3 for the most part. This will very much be an "on a whim" headcanon collection, much like my Harry Potter one is.
Everything else you guys will pick up as you read the chapters. Five head canons per chapter. If you'd like to check out the Head Canons I use, find me on Pinterest under the same username, just with an 'underscore' symbol after 'the' in my username.
1 – Steve's POV
I walked into the kitchen one morning to see Tony sipping from a coffee mug at the kitchen island while Bucky was cooking what smelt like eggs and bacon. Bucky was talking animatedly about something and Tony was just nodding as he scribbled on a pad in front of him, occasionally mumbling a sound of agreement.
"Morning you two," I greeted them as I walked in and headed straight for the special Asgardian brew Thor had brought back with him from his last visit to his home planet. Since Bucky and I had the super soldier serum flowing through our veins, regular caffeine didn't have much of an effect on us. We had still been drinking it for the taste when we brought the issue up with Thor, who offered this drink that was extremely similar, though the coffee taste combined with an almost cinnamon-like flavour in one's mouth.
"What's going on here?" I asked as I sat down next to Tony, glancing over his shoulder to see a bunch of indiscernible scribbles, and a vague looking arm sketched out in the corner.
"I'm working on an alternate arm for your old pal," Tony said, not taking his eyes off his paper. "Don't know if you've noticed but it's kind of hard not to notice his very noticeable fake arm."
"What he said," Bucky said, actually laughing (a few months ago that would've been impossible) as he came over and loaded up his and Tony's plates with bacon, eggs and some spinach and mushrooms he had also been cooking up. "You want some pal? I can cook up some more for ya' real quick."
I shook my head. "No thanks. I like to eat after my run. Usually I'm out the door by now but I decided to let Sam sleep in."
"So what have you two got so far?" I asked, trying once again to decipher Tony's doctor-like scrawl.
"So, run me through the basics one more time," Tony said, presumably to Bucky, who put down his knife and fork to turn and face Tony straight on.
"I want it to be removable."
"Okay."
"And lightweight."
"Okay."
"No more super strength."
"Okay."
"With LED lights that change colours and shit," Bucky threw in, causing me to choke on my drink as I stared confusedly at my friend.
"Okay," Tony said, not even blinking an eye.
"…that was a joke, Stark."
"Oh," Tony actually sounded a little disappointed.
"…can you do it though?"
"Yep," here Tony sounded almost offended at the question. He would, I thought derisively, still acknowledging that it was warranted considering Tony's skillset.
"Cool. Do it."
"Okay."
I saw Bucky nod and turn back to his breakfast as Tony continued to write on his pad, making more adjustments to the sketch of the arm. I blinked slowly at the both of them, not saying anything until Sam came into the room.
Thankfully he did so soon after. "Hey man, sorry for sleeping in. You ready?" he asked, pulling on his sweatshirt.
"More than you know," I said, quickly getting up and hurrying out of the room.
2 – Steve's POV
Tonight was movie night and our movie of choice was 'Star Wars Episode V: Empire Strikes Back'. Whenever we did get the chance to bring the whole team together we all liked to relax at the tower. And Tony's somewhat oversized media room was the perfect place to catch up on the massive amount of films and TV shows that I had missed while frozen.
Everyone except Loki, Thor, Jane and Peter were in attendance. Even Darcy had willingly come along, the once-assistant-turned-SHIELD-handler (don't ask. She knows us and Loki likes her, that's enough) bringing along the apparent necessary snacks for such a night.
Everyone was dressing for the occasion tonight. Darcy had pyjama bottoms with little frogs on them and Bruce was wearing a wife beater with the, somewhat ironic, words 'you won't like me when I'm mad' printed on them. "Come on guys, I'm going to put this on."
"You forget that you and Barnes are the only ones who haven't seen this film," Nat's voice came from just outside the room. Before I could respond, she entered the room and I turned to look at her, my eyebrows rising at what I saw.
"Nat, is that my sweater?" I asked, surprised.
"Yes," she said, walking over to her spot on the couch. She had a large mug in her hands, probably full with her special Columbian blend coffee, but it was the rest of her outfit that caught my eye. My sweater and the pants were especially baggy on her.
"Whose things are you wearing?" I wondered aloud.
Clint briefly lifted his head from where he'd been lying on another couch with his feet in Darcy's lap, to look at his partner. He blinked once at Nat as she eyed him with an eyebrow raised, before he lay his head back down. "Yeah," he said idly. "They're my pants."
"And the slippers?" I asked, referring to the bright pink fluffy slippers she was wearing. I could even see two little tufts of fabric on top of each of the individual slippers, indicating rabbit ears I assumed.
"Oh, those are mine," Tony said, walking into the room while fiddling on his tablet. "What?" he asks, stopping in the entryway as everyone, bar Nat, turns to look at him.
3 – Darcy's POV
"Hey guys! I've got coffee!" I shouted, coming through the door of the lab after thanking JARVIS for granting me access even though Tony hadn't given express permission. I figured since this was one of their least classified labs I'd try and bring them some fuel for their nerd brains. Far be it from me to attempt to make them stop, but as Jane's former intern I felt obligated to make sure they didn't die…or other such terrible events.
This morning the whole crew was down there with Natasha. Tony and Bruce had been trying to create this mini daggers that, when they made contact with a target, would transmit a poison to the subject that wasn't deadly but would nonetheless incapacitate whoever Nat was fighting with. Jane had gone with them in the name of scientific curiosity and had apparently had to serve as the temporary model for weapon schematics and design.
They'd finally arrived at a solid prototype for Nat to test, which they had been doing for the last few hours (at least, since I'd left for a SHIELD meeting this morning). JARVIS had informed me that they'd already completed several simulations of real fights with different bots, with Nat, Bruce and Jane now talking quietly as Tony fiddled with something.
At my shout all four heads turned towards me with varying looks of appreciation. Bruce seemed relived, politely coming to me to retrieve his green tea. He was the last one in the entire tower not to succumb to some form of coffee.
Jane came next, her eyes locked on her Caffe Americano as she mumbled a thank you to me. I didn't even bat an eyelid because this behaviour wasn't atypical of Jane in the throes of a science-creating-random-pieces-of-smart-junk thing.
Tony had immediately put down his tools and came over to me, pulling down his eye cover to rest around his neck as he sent me a flirtatious grin. "You are a Goddess come to Earth," he said, winking as he picked up his Scorched Butterscotch Latte (don't ask).
Last came Nat and she even gave me a small smile of thanks as she grabbed her lightly roasted, straight coffee and took a sip. I paused long enough to take note of the blissful expression on her face as she made a small hum of approval. I also paused long enough to be caught up when Nat, after giving her coffee to Jane, took my face in both of her hands and kissed me.
On the mouth.
With her mouth.
On mine.
I started to get into it the longer it continued and we eventually broke apart to see the surprised looks on the guys' faces and the nonplussed expression on Jane's. She just sipped her coffee (I thought to hide her smile that peeked out from behind the rim) as she eyed their surprise with amusement.
"You saw that right?" Tony asked Bruce, his eyes wide. "I mean, that happened in real life? I didn't just imagine that?"
Bruce was equally as shocked. "No, no, you definitely saw that Tony," he muttered softly, looking at me like he wanted to study me. I looked at Nat and just shrugged, giving her a bemused look. She let the smallest of smiles escape onto her face as she shook her head and walked away, talking quietly with Jane.
I looked back at Bruce and Tony, who didn't look any less confused. I sent them the biggest smirk as I shrug and turn around, making my way to the door. I turn back to say one last thing, seeing that Tony and Bruce hadn't moved.
"Oh, by the way guys?" I asked, making them snap their gazes to me. "Best kiss I've ever had."
4 – Peter's POV
We were just finishing up Team Dinner when 'It' happened. And I do mean 'It' in the capitalised sense, because it will forever be burned onto my memory.
We tried to do these dinners once a month where the entire team, live ins or not, came together at the Tower for themed parties. This month Clint had convinced Tony to organise a Mexican night, because he "felt like tequila and tacos". I obviously stuck to normal soft drink, but everyone else had a margarita or just straight tequila in hand.
As I'd learned from multiple other nights, it was extremely hard for the Asgardians in the room to get even slightly tipsy. The only time I'd ever witnessed them inebriated at all was when a British friend of Clint and Natasha's stopped by with something called Firewhiskey. By the end of the night Loki, Thor and Steve were stumbling around the Tower.
Tonight Tony had brought each their own bottle of tequila. Upon seeing the concentration level of alcohol in the tequila Steve had pushed the bottle away, joining me in sobriety for the evening. Thor and Loki went for it though. Maybe that was why Loki was feeling so daring and he did what he did.
I mean, it's not like nobody knew. Everyone did. Most of us had been unfortunate enough to get more than one lecture about it from Thor. So this was pretty big.
I watched as Loki drained the last of the tequila from the bottle and walked over to the two bins that Tony had at the edge of his balcony. One was for recycling and one was for rubbish. By this point Thor, Steve and Sam were watching the Asgardian Prince as well. Loki paused, his hand over the recycling bin lid, before he looked back at the group with a sly look on his face. Unsure of what was happening, I shared an anxious look with Sam and Steve as Thor kept his gaze laser focused on his brother.
Then, purposefully and in full view of everyone, Loki moved his hovering hand from the recycling bin to the trash bin. He lifted the lid and, still looking at Thor, threw the battle in.
"Oh my," Steve said, looking at Thor immediately to gauge his reaction.
"Loki," I breathed, staring at the God of Mischief.
"No he didn't," Sam said, shaking his head at Loki's actions.
Slowly conversation around the table died down as everyone's attention was drawn to Thor's rising figure. He placed his bottle slowly down on the table as he stepped slowly towards his brother.
"Loki," he said, his tone firm.
"Yes dear brother?" Loki replied, his accompanying grin as mischievous as ever.
"What..." Thor responded, stepping closer and closer to his brother with each word. I shrunk back in my chair, preparing for a lecture to end all lectures. "…have I told you…about the importance of recycling?"
5 – Tony's POV
I had just woken up ridiculously early (considering the amount of sleep I didn't get), as per usual, and was heading for the kitchen for my morning coffee. I had my tablet with me and was working on the schematics for an addition to Steve's shield when I stopped and looked up, walking backwards a few steps until I came to the end of the hallway wall that separated the hallway from the main living area.
"Hey Sam, what're you doing?" I asked the Tower's resident birdman, who was currently fully suited up and hovering under one corner of the roof.
"What do you think I'm doing Stark?" he grumbled out at me, though he didn't look over.
"I think you're trying to cheat your way through your punishment," I answered. "Which is ridiculous, because you know that only means you get another week on your sentence the next time he gets into it."
He stepped scrubbing at the roof and turned back to me, still flapping away in the air. "I don't even know why I'm the one in here. Nat was the one that moved the coffee to a new hiding spot. How was I meant to know Peter was around the corner listening in when Darcy asked me where it was?"
I shook my head. "Amateur move Birdie. You should've thoroughly reconned the area before mentioning anything. We've been down this road to many times for you not to know that."
"You can all bite me," he said, going back to his task of cleaning the marks off the roof.
I laughed silently to myself as I walked out of the entryway and continued on to the kitchen. We didn't have many rules in the tower but at least half of the ones we did have had to do with coffee. And the number one, cardinal rule governing coffee in this Tower was that, under no circumstances ever, was anyone to tell Peter where the coffee was stored. Anyone that was judged to have done so was responsible for cleaning the webs and muddy footprints from the ceiling for as long as he was on his high.