Chapter Text
Sam met Tony Stark when Steve introduced them after the Fall of SHIELD. His wings were damaged from the fight and Steve assured him that Stark would fix them.
Sam had nodded along but he'd had a different reason for agreeing to meet the genius.
Stark looked exhausted when he met them in his penthouse. When Sam managed to tear his eyes away from the incredible view he quickly identified the signs of sleep deprivation.
"Capsicle," he forced a smile.
Steve seemed oblivious to the man's exhausted state, smiling back and identifying Sam.
"I told him you can fix his wings," he explained.
Sam caught the way Stark's mouth tightened slightly in some negative emotion but that was his only tell.
"I'm kinda busy Cap," he started to say but Steve cut him off.
"Come on Tony. Sam really helped me out. I don't want him out there with subpar equipment."
Stark's shoulders slumped and he sighed, clearly giving in.
Sam decided to speak up before things went further. Steve was already turning to him with an expectant smile.
"Actually, I'm just here to return these," Sam corrected as he hefted the wings into sight.
"What?" Steve asked in confusion and Stark's brow furrowed.
"I technically stole these, they don't belong to me. Sure it was an emergency situation but it's not anymore, so I'm returning them. They're StarkTech though and I didn't know where I could hand them in and be sure they'd make their way back to SI. I know how you feel about your tech in the enemy's hands," he explained, holding the wings out to Stark who just blinked at him in shock.
"Sam," Steve protested. "You don't have to give them back. You're the Falcon!"
Sam gave him an incredulous look. "Steve, these don't belong to me. They're SI property. And they're seriously expensive. They cost up in the millions of dollars. So no, I really can't keep them. But I do appreciate you getting me in contact with Stark so I can return them straight to him." He placed the wings down on the table carefully. "I'm sorry about the damage," he added apologetically.
"Sam! You're the Falcon!" Steve protested. "You can't let Tony take your wings!"
Stark still hadn't said anything, having picked up the wings and started to study them.
"Stark isn't taking them Steve. I'm handing them over voluntarily," Sam explained patiently. "And if I can only be a hero with stolen tech then I'm not much of a hero."
Stark's sharp eyes snapped to him and stared for a moment. Steve looked frustrated and distressed.
"I read all the files on who got trained to use the wings," he finally said. "So I know a bit about you Wilson." He hesitated. "I'm sorry about your friend. I said they weren't ready for the field yet since they didn't have parachutes incorporated into the design yet. They weren't ready. But the military was too excited and rushed them into the field. What happened to your friend should never have happened."
Sam swallowed hard. It eased something in his chest that someone, that Tony Stark of all people who had no reason to care, had known about Riley's death and refused to call it collateral damage.
"Thanks," he murmured. "It means a lot to me. But they're damn good for something that wasn't ready," he joked weakly.
Stark cocked his head. "Wanna see the finished product? I wouldn't give it to the military when they broke the contract by sending you guys out with the training batch."
"Wait seriously?" Sam asked, eyes widening.
Stark gave him a small, tired smirk. "Yeah, you need wings if you're looking to fly Falcon."
Sam couldn't help the wide grin that stretched over his lips at those words.
"I won't let you down," he swore, starting to follow the billionaire towards the elevator. "Call you later Steve," he added absently over his shoulder.
Steve was watching them go in confusion.
"JARVIS will see you out," Stark said absently as the elevator opened. "Come on Featherbrain. Time to blow your mind."
Sam had always expected that the gossip surrounding Tony Stark was exaggerated. Turns out, he was right.
Tony, he'd become Tony after hours talking in his lab, gave Sam wings that were far better than the ones he'd used before. He freely gave Sam the ability to continue to be the Falcon and his only condition was that no one else worked on them but Tony or Sam. He offered to show Sam how to maintain them himself even. Sam even got a little AI companion named Redwing.
It was a dream come true.
Sam left that day with both an upgraded set of wings and a new friend. He thought that was pretty damn good when he’d only gone in the first place to return stolen property.
He kept in contact with Tony after that via texts and the occasional call. He actually found the famous genius/billionaire/playboy/philanthropist to be a hell of a lot of fun away from the public. He had a biting sense of humour, abysmal self-care habits and overall was a giant dork since he very willingly got into heated debates with Sam about Star Trek and Star Wars.
If Sam went and watched the movies and tv shows just to be able to start those debates, well, Tony didn’t have to know.
Steve seemed a bit perplexed by Sam’s new friendship with Tony and Natasha didn’t seem too pleased either. It confused Sam since they were supposed to be teammates weren’t they?
But Natasha was often commenting on Tony’s ego which Sam didn’t understand in the least since Tony was constantly going on about how amazing his research department was and how they’d take SI far, instead of about his own inventions. Steve mentioned Tony’s selfish tendencies as well which, once again, confused Sam. Tony was selfless to a fault and Sam had already figured out that the genius had been used in the past because of it.
He just ended up not bringing the genius up when around the two because they could go on for hours about Tony’s negative aspects.
“Nat and Steve have something against Tony,” Clint had explained when Sam asked once. The archer didn’t seem to have the same bias against Tony that the others did. They weren’t friends but Clint seemed to like Tony well enough.
“But why?” Sam asked.
“Because Tony isn’t Howard. Which is unforgiveable in Steve’s eyes. And Tony doesn’t fall for Nat’s manipulation bullshit that she still tends to do. Which frustrates her.”
“This seems like a very unhealthy team dynamic.”
“You have no idea. I'm waiting for it to blow up in all honestly. We’ve lasted longer than I expected already.”
The whole Mandarin thing gave Sam a near heart attack and he got in contact with Tony as soon as he could, insisting that he was going over to check on him.
He found his friend in a pretty bad state. He was clearly struggling with PTSD and this whole mess had just made it worse.
Sam was relieved when Clint showed up as well. At least someone on this team seemed to care about Tony. Between the two of them they cleaned the genius up, sat him down and yelled at him for not calling one of them for help, and then Sam ordered Tony to see a therapist friend of his who knew how to keep his mouth shut about celebrity clients.
Tony meekly agreed.
During that whole thing, Sam also met Virginia ‘Pepper’ Potts and Colonel James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes.
He had never been more terrified of two people in his entire life. Luckily, they seemed to like him and approved of him and Clint.
Clint agreed with him when he said that he felt like they just dodged a bullet.
Tony thought they were being dramatic.
Sam only saw Tony again for the party in the Tower. He thought that the genius was acting weird but he couldn’t get a straight answer from anyone. So he tried to enjoy the party. He talked with everyone, helped Clint with getting Tony to laugh, talked about the military with Rhodes and in general caught up with everyone.
Oh, and kissed Tony.
And maybe, possibly, snuck away with the genius to the bedroom.
They were just getting to the good part when Ultron interrupted.
Damn robot cockblocker.