Hello there, welcome to my little Changing Fates AU dump, where shots that didn't quite became a full fledged story will rest, many may be multichaptered, and others will be snipets of bits and pieces that didnt make it to the original story, I will be sure to name them aptly, have fun!

This one takes place in an AU (of course) Post-Civil War in the MCU.

Pairing: Tony Stark/Alexandra Noir.

No warnings.

Plot Monster 890-7

In which Tony Stark gets a hug, maybe a little more.

It all looked the same as before. Before Sokovia; before Ultron; before the damned accords that tore the team apart. It looked just as it had always had, except it wasn't, she had probably lost a few more friends than she had accounted for, and probably it was just a rough patch on the road, something that she could fix with another phone call if she managed to put her pride aside. She remembered he call, Pepper telling her that it was done and through with Tony, that she couldn't manage the stress of dating Tony Stark and her current workload; Alexandra scoffed at the thought as if Tony needed more reasons to hate himself.

She knew the story well, better than them and she had tried to change it, oh how she had tried, but life's hard when you're just a normal human trying not to fall in S.H.I.E.L.D's radar, or worse H.Y.D.R.A's. It had all happened the same way that she remembered and she hated part of herself for that. But she couldn't wallow over it, no, there was one thing that she could do and that was the reason why she was at the entrance of the Avenger's compound.

She gripped the steering wheel of her car, a convertible that thanks to a glitch in the strange world she now lived in, she could afford to have more than one if necessary. She drove carefully, trying to find a decent parking spot, finding the actual location of the place was the result of endless nights viewing satellite streaming of all the Stark owned properties. She saw Tony's car and parked next to it. Taking a big breath she remembered why she was there, it was not fair to Tony, it was not fair that he had lost the entire team to Steve, it had not been fair that he had lost his parents to Bucky, even if Bucky had been the Winter Soldier at the time, it was not fair that the world treated Tony Stark as its personal punching bag. She sighed and turned off the engine.

Heels clicked softly yet steadily on the ground, she reached the main door and hesitated before ringing the doorbell, if anything was like she knew there was a probability that at least Vision knew that she was there, she armed herself with valor and rang. A few minutes later and nothing yet had happened; she rang again growing impatient.

Vision answered the door, he took one glance at her and recognized her immediately, she had been in the Malibu house several times and had visited the Tower once. She looked up at him and smiled.

"Hello Vision is Tony here?" she asked, the android nodded.

"Yes Miss Noir, he's down in the Gym with colonel Rhodes, if you follow me please" he said inviting her in.

She followed Vision around the compound, she still was a bit hesitant, but she was already there. There was no going back now. She took her time to study Vision, the purple android was wearing black slacks, a white oxford shirt and a jumper over it managing to look oddly cute, he reminded her of a small kid that wanted to dress 'smart' or generally look like an older version of itself. The thought made her smile.

Vision stopped in front of a glass door and entered a code, she tilted her head confused, the door slid open and Vision motioned for her to enter, it seemed that he was not going in with her, she thanked him before going in. the door slid shut behind her as she took in the scene before her. Gym, it seemed, was a lacking word for all that stood before her. Deciding against standing in the doorway like an idiot she walked further in, following the faint voices she could hear. After a few minutes of walking in what seemed to be the right direction, and berating herself for not wearing something other than stiletto heels, she reached Tony and Rhodey who were in the middle of what looked like an argument.

"Hello there strangers" she said trying to get their attention. Both men turned at the same time, she smiled at them.

"Alex?" asked Tony looking confused "Why, how'd you get in here?" he asked, she couldn't help but to giggle.

"As for the how, Vision let me in, pretty nice guy" she said with a devious smile, Tony raised an eyebrow.

"And the why?" he asked, Alexandra's eyes found his as her face turned serious.

"I figured you needed a friend" she said, and when he made a face she added "And maybe a hug" Tony scoffed at the idea of needing a hug, but Alexandra's smile returned to her lips, he rolled his eyes and opened his arms.

"Well come here" he said, Alexandra's smile grew and she complied wrapping her arms around Tony's middle, her face reaching the crook of his neck thanks to the heels.

They stood there hugging it out for a while until Rhodey cleared his throat, she let go of Tony and faced her other friend.

"How've you been doing" she asked, Rhodey smiled at her.

"It hasn't been easy, I'm not gonna lie, but its been manageable" he said, Alexandra smiled sadly at him.

"But you'll be back on your feet soon" she said, and it was not a question.

"Of course he will, even if I have to make him new legs myself" said Tony, Alexandra raised an eyebrow and Rhodey smiled at his friend.

A couple of hours later found Alexandra sitting on a barstool in the kitchen nursing a glass of wine. Rodhey had elected to go to his room and Vision had made himself scarce. Tony was observing her, trying to figure out her true meaning for being there.

"You are truly here for me?" he asked after a couple of silent minutes, Alexandra took a sip and nodded.

"And damn hard it was finding this place Tony, do you know how much time I had to spend watching satellite visuals of all the Starks properties? And then trying to figure out accessible roads to reach here?" she said, Tony couldn't help but to smile.

"Pepper knows where this place is located" he said, Alexandra adverted his eyes and bit her lips.

"Peps and I are not on speaking terms right now, we had a slight disagreement" she said, Tony couldn't help the look of surprise on his face.

"Why? You two are best friends, from shopping sprees in Paris to tea afternoons in Italy" he said, Alexandra smiled sadly at him.

"We had a discussion, about you, it was bad. I don't really share the way of how she handled your relationship and I called her out on it, we said a few scathing words to each other, we haven't talked ever since" she explained and somehow Tony couldn't believe that Alexandra would call Pepper out on his account, besides wasn't there a proverb that said Chicks before Dicks or something?

"But why would you defend me? All I seem to do is fuck things over and over again" he said somehow managing to maintain his cocky self.

"Because even though you can be the most self-centered bastard, the things that you do you do them because you believe in them and you do them selflessly Tony, because you deserve way more than this" she said gesturing with her hands to their current situation, Tony smiled at her, a genuine smile.

"You always did seem to believe the best of me" he said, she returned the smile.

"I still do, always will"

"You do know that I'm a trainwreck" he reminded her, she grinned at him.

"I know, still it doesn't make me want to go away" she said softly.

"You don't know what you are saying Alex, I'm an all or nothing" he said, she kept the smile on her face and twirled the glass that she was holding. She stood from her stool and pressed a kiss to Tony's cheek.

"Good, 'cause I'm a ride or die"