Place as a Character
hello! hi! thank you so much for creating such extensive and wonderful rec lists, i wouldn’t know how to navigate this fandom without them. anyway, i was wondering if you had read any fics that feature places as a prominent character/theme? like fics that talk about new york city/brooklyn/manhattan/other places and steve and tony’s relationship with these places. sort of like cities and spaces and stevetony? thank you!
That is an interesting ask! I had to really think about it and get some help from Discord, but here are some that you might enjoy.
THE ONLY COST FOR A WONDERFUL FIC TRIP ARE THE COMMENTS AND KUDOS YOU LEFT ALONG THE WAY!
A City of Millions by @nostalgicatsea: “You’re this city,” Tony once told him. Steve understood what he meant because that was what Tony was to him too; that was the only way he could aptly describe someone so impossible to capture in a few short words.Tony was New York, a city of millions in one man.
promise me we’ll be alright by milfminie: Tony shows Steve the wonders of 21st century new york city.
My Lost City by @elise509: Both Steve and Tony return to Manhattan after their separate missions. While Steve searches for shadows of the New York he knew, Tony tries to overcome his anxiety and re-claim the place that was once his home. As they both attempt to remember how to love their city, they might also learn how to love each other. (past other relationships)
Crafted Anniversary by @betheflame: In which Steve plans his and Tony’s 10th anniversary
Average Avengers Local Chapter 7 of New York City by hetrez: Steve and Tony accidentally start a national do-gooders association and fall in love.
Faulty Memory by midnightsnack: The city was awake without being intrusive and shining lights reflected on the canvas of the sky. It seemed a sight worthy of a photograph or a sketch. That’s how Tony knew he couldn’t possibly be alone.
The Cold Net of Night by @winterstar95: In the last embers of the day he waits. Looking out at the edge of the city, seeing the steel and iron maw of the world around him, he searches to find little hope. The battle raged and the combat beat them, but they won in the end. Yet, he still waits, still looks out and scans the skies for some sign of him.
Across the Bridge by @imafriendlydalek: AIM is planning something in Venice, and Steve and Tony are there undercover to find out what it is. Steve learned an easy trick from Natasha to keep from being noticed – public displays of affection make people uncomfortable. Yes, Steve, they do.
A Peopled Labyrinth of Walls by dorcas_gustine: It’s New Year’s Day and Steve and Tony get lost in Venice. Oh, and there is sex.
alemno tu nell’universo by @silkspectred: Tony drives off.Well, he wants to.But he can’t.Because.Steve Rogers is in front of his car.Steve fucking Rogers. Is in front of Tony’s fucking car.
The Possibilities of Life by MountainKestrel: It’s no secret that Tony doesn’t understand Steve, despite his best intentions. But then Loki causes some mischief, and Tony gets sent back in time. There, he discovers a whole lot of perspective he didn’t know he needed — or even wanted.
Quarantined Together by @avengersnewb (WIP): Steve and Tony hook up on a night out in a bar. They wake up the next morning to the news that they have to self isolate for two weeks.There would be sex.There might also be … love.
Swing City by @lazywriter7: “Of all the places you could go to on holiday, you had to pick the one where everything can possibly kill you.” “I’m here on exchange, actually.” Steve returned primly. “And I’m pretty sure nothing can kill me in a gallery.” “That’s the tragic bit. You’re in a gallery.” Sam’s tone was impressively flat, even for him. “You’re in Australia. Go hiking in the bush with the poisonous snakes. Surfing with the murderous jellyfish.” Spoiler alert: Tony’s in Australia too. And he’s a swing dancer.
Clouds Over a Century Sky by XtaticPearl: Steve Rogers decides to go to Dublin when he is invited by his estranged partner to a conference, despite arguments by his friends. He is convinced that a gesture of commitment might solve their relationship, and sets off on the trip with a ring in hand. Steve’s troubles begin when his flight is diverted due to stormy weather and gets him being stranded at a small town. At a pub, when Steve discovers that the cabs might be more than he can afford at the moment, the barkeep informs him of a fellow American who was staying there and had a rental car. Steve meets Tony, an unpredictable, witty, and oddly smooth self-claimed mechanic, who makes the journey more complicated by making Steve challenge almost everything he believed was simple about himself.
Hole in My Heart (that Goes All the Way to China) by @memorydragon: In which Steve is in stubborn denial and wants to shake some sense into Tony, Tony has a broken heart and wants to cheer Steve up, and pandas are cute and want bamboo.
Cincinnatus by @laudatenium: Behind the counter were mirror-backed shelves filled with black-and-white photographs and a folded flag in a frame. One of the most prominently displayed was one of Steve, in the ridiculous uniform he had worn during the USO tour. He had the cowl off, and looked exceptionally uncomfortable as he posed with what looked like several railway officials, a couple of the Star-Spangled Singers sitting smirking around spoons in the booth behind them.“Sorry – I gotta –“ Tony motioned outside.
Down in Lonesome Town by resurrectedhippo: Tony eyes him. “Why do I always find my way back to you?”Maybe he didn’t necessarily return to Steve, but fate is a funny little thing, and after living a life of loss, Steve wants something that’s his to keep. Tony deserves a love that’s unrestrained; Steve thinks he’ll erupt with it. Love is messy, not easy, and takes work.Maybe love feels like rage.But maybe love could just be jumping off a rocky mountain and smiling anyway.*
After the universe is restored, Steve is lost without any direction. Retiring from the Avengers, he moves across the country and ends up building a house by a misty blue lake. Across the bridge is Tony Stark’s new workshop.
Marvels: The Bloodstone Odyssey by teaberryblue: The year is 1940. In the middle of the Blitz, Tony Stark and Pepper Potts set out to London to recover Howard Stark’s lost work. But it turns out that they’re not the only ones hunting for it. Tony finds himself contending with Nazis, crooks, and perhaps his most formidable adversary yet: a scrawny, asthmatic, bullheaded kid named Steve Rogers.
His Fate Will Be Unlearned by @scifigrl47: Tony Stark spent his childhood making weapons, filling the hole his father left in the world when he succumbed to alcohol, grief, and his own demons. At the age of fifteen, he ran away from home, and made it as far as MIT before all of his responsibilities caught up to him. Now seventeen, he just wants to finish his degree and escape from everything connected to the Stark name. Steve Rogers crashed into the icy North Atlantic in the 1940’s, sacrificing himself to save the world. He never expected to wake up, and now that he has, he’s not sure he’s glad. The US Army has other plans for him, but for now, Steve is slowly learning to live life in the 21st century, and taking classes at Boston College. He’s beginning to suspect that there is no escape.Boston College is on the T’s Green Line. MIT is on the Red. The two lines meet at the Park Street Station, and so will Steve and Tony.
Starry Night by HoneyAndMurder: For Steve’s 90th birthday Tony takes him to Paris for the weekend. There is a some Van Gogh and falling in love in the city of love. Really this story is just fluff and art.
The White Star of Liberty by @ellidfics: Paris in 1793 is a dangerous place, even for Americans. So why has Anthony Stark, hero of the American Revolution, risked his life to visit a man under suspicion of treason? What does the mysterious African country of Ouqanda to do with the French chemist Lavoisier? Who is the tall, quiet, fair-haired officer who guards the American Legation, and what has he to do with the sudden disappearances of prisoners? And what secret from years past threatens Anthony himself?Anthony Stark does not know the answers to these questions, but he is determined to find out…no matter the cost.
Ain’t Nobody’s Business if I Do by @copperbadge: The year is 1930, Prohibition and the Depression are both in full swing, and Chicago Police Detective Steve Rogers has his hands full. There’s a dead body on the banks of Lake Michigan, the entire city’s legal system is corrupt, and the king gangster of the North Side, Tony Stark, has taken more than a passing interest in him.
Memorial by ani_bester: Tony takes Steve to see the WWII Monument in Washington
You Can Guard Me Anytime, Soldier by @betheflame: Steve Rogers is the newest lifeguard at Tony Stark’s Barnegat Beach Resort and Tony has some questions. First, how is it legal for one human to be that hot? Two, where does Steve disappear to on his days off – or, more specifically, who? Finally, does that blush mean Steve likes Tony’s flirting or is about to sue Tony for sexual harassment?+++++++++A story where Tony has his shit together and Steve *thinks* he does, but then he doesn’t, and Tony helps put him back together again.
What Happens in Vegas by sabrecmc: “What the hell, Tony?” Rhodey demanded brusquely. Tony winced and drew the phone away from his ear. “You’ve got cops and Feds all over the hotel. I’m watching you perp walk out of the police station on repeat on CNN. They’re saying you tried to bribe Stern? Fox News has you selling weapons on the black market, and God that picture they’re using is the one from Bali in ’09. You look like shit. They wheeled Stern out and put him in an ambulance, by the way. Got some paparazzi swearing you decked the guy. Now they’ve got ‘copters following it like he’s OJ.” “Yeah, don’t worry, Sourpatch, I’ve got it covered. Uh, though, I should probably tell you that, purely in the interests of national security and the greater good, I kind of had to fake marry that stripper-gram you sent. Thanks for that, by the way,” Tony added quickly.