Earth-200207: May 1992
"I cannot believe you would do this to me, Brucie Bear," loudly complained Toni, pulling at the man's arm, dragging her feet and more or less making a huge nuisance of herself.
Bruce did not even blink, pulling her along with him but mostly ignoring her as he looked around the lab.
Which was just rude.
And she loved every single part of it.
Toni was not going to say anything mean in regard to previous-timeline-Bruce, but knowing this Bruce? It was a breath of fresh air.
It was all the brilliance and salty humour of the previous version, with less of the anxiety and with a healthy dose of arrogance that came from being a genius in the 90s. In other words? She loved him.
"Bruceee," she complained yet again, and finally the man turned to her, looking severely unimpressed.
"You know, no one actually asked you to come here with me. I was all right with the thought of coming here alone," he pointed out, which made her pout even more as she finally let go and sat on one of the desks, ignoring the wince from their 'guide'.
"But then you could have risked not getting to my birthday party on time! And that would have simply been unforgivable."
"Uh-uh," said Bruce, rolling his eyes and turning to the guide once more. "So this is the physics lab? Do astrophysics students use it too or is that separated?"
The guide quickly stepped closer to Bruce once more, gushing about all the cool little toys that the university had to offer, and why it was the 'best around' and bla bla bla.
Now, this might be her alma-loyalty speaking, but Toni was not impressed with what she had seen so far, and she made sure to let everyone around her know. Loudly.
She zoned out as Bruce started questioning her more and more, looking at the pristine white ceiling. She doubted that Bruce would actually choose John Hopkins for his next degree, but this version of him had revealed himself to be surprisingly petty.
Toni's lips twitched in a small smile as she recalled again how quickly their friendship had come once again. They had just met at that geniuses party at the beginning of the year, and to the surprise of everyone but Toni herself, they had clicked.
Remaining in contact was particularly annoying in the non-digital-exactly-but-close era, but despite that, they had worked it out. And Bruce seemed to be as taken with her as she was with him, another nice difference from the previous timeline, where she had to basically chase after him the whole time they had known each other and he had abandoned her as soon as he had sensed trouble.
"Toni?" he called and she turned her attention back on him. "We are going to get a brochure now, come on, laze-a-lot."
She jumped off the desk, rolling her eyes at the man as she skipped to his side, fixing her skirt as she did so. "Seriously? You are seriously considering John Hopkins University?"
Bruce raised an eyebrow at her as they walked. "And what's wrong with that? It's a fine school."
"It's in Baltimore! Baltimore, Bruce!"
He scoffed. "Location means nothing to me."
"It scored at number 10 in the list of best Universities in the USA." The guide scowled at her as non obviously as possible. "That's less than Caltech, Banner. And we all know that if something is worse than Caltech then it's bad."
"'We all', please. Keep your dislike of Caltech to yourself, little miss MIT. It's not universal, and Caltech is a pretty neat University-"
"Pretty neat, don't you even. We all know Caltech is just a dump for MIT rejects, let's keep it cute."
"I'm starting to want to visit Caltech, what with your ringing endorsement," said Bruce and then chuckled when Toni turned an horrified expression on him.
"Don't you ever say those words to me again, Doctor Banner! Asking me to die on the spot would hurt less," she pronounced, putting a hand on her forehead and pretending to swoon from shock.
Bruce caught and straightened her up again, thanking the guide as she handed him a brochure before turning his attention back on Toni. "But anyway, seriously, John Hopkins isn't that bad. And they have their own resident genius on campus."
This time the grimace on Toni's face was not for show.
Unlike with Bruce Banner, she had not kept up to date with the comings and goings of one future Doctor Wizard. At least not on purpose.
She knew, however, that he had made his debut on the genius list of the Scientifica in the last month, and that he was currently studying at John Hopkins, going through his degree faster than any normal person should.
But other than that, she had kept her space from the man.
It was just... with Bruce it was somewhat easy to remember that he was not the same person who had fallen asleep as she tried to spill her guts to him and then disappeared after Sokovia. But with Stephen Strange, it was harder. Even though his unshaven self looked pretty different from his goatee-d self, the two conflated themselves in her head.
Sure, she could try to get to know him so that she 'learnt' their differences, but why? He was an arrogant ass, and while opposites attracted, similar people repelled each other. And according to her data he didn't become Sorcerer Supreme until 2016, so them knowing each other in the 90s would either mean nothing or lead him to never become a sorcerer (unlikely, but still possible). Which, no thanks.
She abandoned her thoughts of Stephen Strange quickly, and linked their arms together as they headed towards the doors. "If they have their own genius, then they don't need you. Meanwhile MIT is the perfect place for more than one genius. Me and Rhodey both coexisted, after all."
He shook his head at that, but he was smiling which counted as a win in her book.
+++
"You know, this isn't what I expected," said Bruce a few hours later.
Toni jumped out of the driver seat of the car, locking it behind her. "What do you mean?"
Bruce shrugged, following after her as they headed towards the establishment. "I don't know, it's just... you're Toni Stark. I expected more chaos and underage drinking."
The girl snorted, keeping an eye on the people around her. It was ironic, really, because she had a pretty definite memory of what her 18th birthday party had been like, the first time around.
And Bruce was right, it had been much more chaos and underage drinking.
Her parents were dead, she had moved to California, the Jarvises were gone, Rhodey had dipped after the funeral and she had not contacted him... according to any child psychologist who wanted to get their names on the paper, that had been the most exuberant and expensive cry for help they had seen in a while.
She had invited a bunch of people she 'knew' from school and SI and then promptly tried to drink herself in an early grave. She was pretty sure there had been a suicide attempt at some point during that party too.
In contrast, while still pretty 'Tony Stark' this party was very much subdued. The lounge had countless of colourful balloons and lights strung around, with her name plastered in the front, but the invitation list was much smaller.
In fact-
Toni twisted her body before the figure behind her could lay a finger on her and she grabbed their arm, trying to immobilize it. The figure barely faltered, using their leg to try and trip Toni and free herself.
"Holy shit!"
It would have worked possibly, had Toni not trained with Natasha Romanoff for several years in the original timeline. As it were, she wrapped both legs around her would be assailant, twisting enough that they both ruined on the floor, this time with the assailant on the ground.
"You win!" said the assailant, not in the slightest embarrassed at having lost and with a huge grin on her face.
"Toni?" questioned Bruce, and right, he was still there. And looking a little freaked out, too.
Toni rolled her eyes and stood back up, pulling the assailant to her feet too. "Seriously, cuz?"
Sharon Carter brushed dust off her jeans, grinning at her. "Constant vigilance, Antoinette." Then she opened her arms, wrapping them around the brunette and pressing a kiss on her cheek. "But damn, where did you learn all that?"
Toni accepted the hug, and was very glad that portable cameras did not exist yet, considering the crowd their little pow wow had gathered. "Self taught, of course," she lied, pulling a very confused Bruce along with them. "By the way, Brucie, this is my cousin, Sharon. Sherry, this is my new best bud, Bruce."
The scientist awkwardly waved at her while Sharon winked. "Nice to meet you, Bruce. This one giving you any trouble?"
"Just the usual amount," managed Bruce, as they finally walked into the karaoke lounge. "So do you usually uh... leap and attack each other on the street?"
"I don't," immediately said Toni, glaring at Sharon. "Because I am a socialite and a lady. Shay, however, is a brute."
"Rude!" complained Sharon, but she didn't rebuff. Instead she shrugged. "I like working on her reflexes, but it doesn't really work if she's expecting me to attack."
"I am always expecting you to attack," pointed out Toni, and Sharon smirked.
"And that's the best training you could possibly have!"
"That doesn't sound healthy," pointed out Bruce, but he had started to relax now. Which was good. She really liked Sharon Carter, this time around.
"That Sherry for you," simply said Toni, another grin appearing on her face as they arrived in the karaoke corner and found two other people standing there and fiddling with the mikes. "Hey you guys!"
Rhodey waved a coke in her direction while Hope nodded, smiling back. "Hey yourself. Hey, Share and and hey... Toni's new friend?"
"Brucie Bear, these are my pals: Rhodey, my best friend from MIT; Poppy, our moms were best friends and our dads hated each other; and you met Sherry, my sort of kind of cousin. Guys, this is Brucie Bear, my science bro and possible brain soulmate." She made jazz hands at them. "Now be friends!"
"Doesn't work like that, Toni," huffed Rhodey, offering Bruce his hand like the proper soldier he was. "Nice to meet you. James Rhodes, but you can call me Rhodey."
"Bruce Banner, please don't call me Brucie Bear. I'm trying to get Toni to stop," he said, earning laughter all around.
"Tell me if you manage to make it stick. I've been trying for like ten years to get her to stop calling me Poppy with not very impressive results," Hope said, with a smile. "I'm Hope Van Dyne." Then she turned to Toni with a single raised eyebrow. "I have to say, I did not expect something this calm from you."
"What are you talking about!" huffed Toni, hip checking her as she stole one of the cokes they had settled on the side. "This is me having fun with my friends on my 18th. What else did you expect?"
"Alcohol, for one," pointed out Rhodey, shrugging. "Bunch of people neither of us actually knew. The police, at some point."
"First of all, we have two underage girls around here," said Toni, winking at Sharon and Hope's eye rolls. "Second, why would I do that? I did that for my 17th. Third, I have a bag of weed in my bag, how's that for bad behaviour?"
"Oh thank god, for a second I thought you had turned into a goody two shoes," said Sharon, quickly snatching the bag from her hands and doublechecking that the door of the karaoke room was properly closed.
It was kind of strange how Toni could go out with friends and not be hounded by paparazzi and reporters. Don't misunderstand, she was very glad for it, but after the life she had lived as Tony Stark, it was weird.
She felt Rhodey's gaze on her face as she selected a song on the machine, and ignored it to the best of her abilities. His worry was touching, but completely unnecessary.
She was fine.
Rhodey was probably trying to connect the Toni Stark he had known for the past four years to the Toni Stark he had barely interacted with after Howard's death. They looked and spoke the same, but she was sure Rhodey could see that the jagged pieces did not quite fit anymore, did not go where they were supposed to.
She trusted Rhodey with her life, but she also loved the man. He was her best friend - would forever be her best friend. And knowing too much not only risked the timeline, but it could also lead him in being a target of someone, and after seeing Rhodey fall to his death, well... she was not interested in risking his life again.
So in the end, Toni was happy to make him think it was simply trauma mixed with 'being free' from Howard.
"No," groaned the airman when Toni finally selected the song, slumping on the chair beside Bruce. "Why are you like this?"
Sharon was already clapping to the rhythm, delighted, while Hope grabbed the other mike, dancing along with her.
"Uh-uh! You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life! Uh-uh, see that girl! Watch that scene, diggin' the dancing queen!"
Toni winked at Rhodey who was still mock glaring at her, her heart feeling lighter at his face. "Friday night and the lights are low... Looking out for the place to go..."
"Where they play the right music," jumped in Hope, pointing at the karaoke bar around them, "getting in the swing, you come in to look for a king..."
"Anybody could be that guy!" sang Toni, sending Bruce a kiss. "Night is young and the music's... hiiiiigh."
"With a bit of rock music, everything is fine. You're in the mood for a dance..."
Sharon jumped on the stage with them. "And when you get the chaaaance!"
And now all three of them, Toni trying to lead them into the Mamma Mia dance with mixed results. "You are the dancing queen! Young and sweet, only seventeen! Dancing queen! Feel the beat from the tambourine! You can dance! You can jive! Having the time of your life! Uh-uh, see that girl," Bruce and Rhodey pointed at them and joined in the chorus. "Watch that scene, diggin' the dancing queen!"
As Sharon stole her mike and joined Hope in destroying the second verse, Toni could only think that she did not remember the last time she had had such free and unrestrained happiness. There was no alcohol, and they were singing oldies while high on sugar and weed, in terrible accents and voices, but Toni's cheeks seriously hurt by how much she was smiling.
They killed ABBA, danced to Queen, Walked on Sunshine and got Hooked on a Feeling and Toni was pretty sure this single birthday had been better than 90% of all of her birthdays ever.
She felt alive.
Earth-200207: September 1992
New Orleans was not a place Toni was particularly fond of. Let's be real, Toni was not that fond of Louisiana in general. It was humid, it was hot and it was boring. Which Rhodey was pretty aware of.
"Why does your family even have a Louisiana place?" wondered Rhodey, sunglasses perched on his nose. "And why did you have to drag me along if all you needed to do was check it before you sold it? We could have been at my ma's by now, eating cheesesteaks and her casseroles." A wistful sigh. "Man do I miss Philly."
Toni rolled her eyes at him, her true reaction covered by her own sunglasses, bopping her head along to the music even though her head was not at all focused on that. "Relax, honey bunch. The quicker I am done with that, the quicker I can move mom and SI to California."
Rhodey turned his head around to look at her, a thoughtful expression on his face. "So you really are keen on this whole moving to the opposite side of the State, uh? Not just a passing fancy?"
Toni gave a half shrug. "I like New York, but you know I've never loved the Mansion. The second I could get away with, I let mom and Howard get me my own apartment. There are a lot of memories there, sure, but..." she chewed on her lower lip, grimacing slightly when she felt the lipstick stick to her tooth. "Howard is gone, and with him a chapter of my life. It's very metaphorical - leaving the cold of New York and my father to embrace the warmth of Malibu and my mother."
Toni had missed her Malibu mansion something fierce. This time around, no bantering with terrorists and watching your house fall into the Ocean.
In the previous timeline, the Mansion had been inspired by Maria Stark's décor and thoughts on fashion. In this timeline, Maria Stark would help decorating it herself. The best of both worlds.
"Tones," called Rhodey, and she turned towards him, forcing herself not to groan at the 'serious conversation' tone and face he had adopted.
"Yes, sugar plum, light of my life, sugarpop-"
"Are you okay?"
Such kindness, such gentleness.
Toni's hold on the steering wheel tightened, and she hoped he did not see it.
Because truth was, she was coping, she was planning but she... wasn't okay.
She was not okay because she had friends who she knew inside out and understood perfectly while they were totally unaware of who truly she was. Because everyone expected her to be mourning Howard still, but she was already past his death and was busy mourning the loss of her entire Universe.
Because she had a fiancé who died and was now alive in some university (Harvard) working on some random degree (business administration) who had absolutely no clue of who she was and who she would become to Toni.
Because she had another best friend who was a washed out boxer out there (in Oregon) who was still trying to make it out there and who Toni did not even know if he had died in the snap or was eaten by their collapsing reality.
Because Peter-
"I'm not fine," she said, not looking at her best friend in the eyes. And could she still call him best friend when she was hiding something this huge from him? Did she have the right?
She was reverse engineering friendships years in the making for her own comfort (and to save the Universe, a little). Her friendship with Hope Van Dyne had fizzled out in the previous timeline, after the Starks' death. Tony Stark would have certainly never invited Hope Van Dyne to his 18th birthday party. Tony Stark and Sharon Carter would have drifted out the second he moved to California. James Rhodes had been pushed away by both Tony and Obadiah, and only his stubbornness had let their friendship remain strong.
So was it right for Toni to do what she knew would make them stay? Not test them in her usual ways, but instead allowing them to comfort her, talk to her, be there for her? Abusing trust and secrets that had been spilled to her years later to keep them happy?
It wasn't right.
But she would do it anyway.
Rhodey smiled at her for the confession, just as she knew he would, and Toni blinked rapidly behind the dark shades, keeping herself steady and calm even as he promised he would always be there for her no matter what, and that she could speak to him.
She wanted to shout at him that she knew, because Rhodey was the best and he had proven it for an entire lifetime.
But she didn't, instead smiling at him, and nodding in easy acceptance the Tony Stark of old - and even the Toni Stark he knew before Howard's death - had never been known for.
Then their car sputtered and came to a stop on the road.
+++
The last time Tony had seen Maria Rambeau it was 1994 and it was the 'anniversary' of Carol Danvers' disappearance. He hadn't wanted to go, but Rhodey had wore him down and they had spent a perfectly lovely afternoon with the new mom and her daughter, Monica.
While Toni did not know her as well as Rhodey did, they interacted often enough, especially before Carol disappeared. She wouldn't have called them friends, but they were more than simple acquaintances. They were on each other's Christmas lists and sent cards, even though they never met face to face.
This time around, Toni was planning on changing that.
"Come on then," she called smiling brightly at them. "I'll get you guys some lemonade and then we can see what the heck you did to your car."
"Thank you so much, Captain Rambeau-" started Rhodey, earning a snort from the older woman.
"Please call me Maria, Jim. I haven't been Captain Rambeau in a while."
Rhodey smiled back even if he clearly did not agree, and then he settled on the couch.
Toni was still standing in the main hallway, a finger tracing the frame of the pictures of Maria, Monica and Carol. The future Captain Marvel was grinning at the camera in a way Toni hadn't had time to see in the future past, and Maria was looking at her with pure love in her eyes.
"That's my Auntie Carol," said a little voice next to her, and Toni looked down at Monica with a small smile.
"She looks beautiful," she told her and Monica smiled, pleased.
"She is. There was an accident and then they couldn't find Auntie Carol anymore, and mom was really sad."
Toni put down the frame, not wanting to grip it too tightly and break it.
What right did she have to keep the truth from Maria? She knew for a fact that Carol was alive - and considering how little impact Earth shenanigans had on the rest of the future, at least for the next couple of years/decades, telling Maria that she was alive would not affect Carol's return.
But what proof did she have? 'I am from the future of an alternate reality?'
She'd get put in a house for the mentally impaired before she even tried to speak about aliens and Infinity Stones.
"Do you miss her?" softly asked Toni, turning to face Monica fully.
She wondered if the little girl even remembered Toni. Prior to this, the last time they had seen each other face to face had been Carol's 'funeral' in 1989.
Monica smiled at her, fully at ease. "Sure. But it's okay, cause she's going to come back."
Toni blinked at her, startled. Had she missed Carol's return? She was pretty sure the woman had said she returned in 1995, so how-
"I know what everyone thinks," said Maria, appearing behind her daughter with a tray of lemonade in her hands. Her expression was grim, but decided. "But I truly believe that Carol is out there, somewhere. Her body wasn't there, and Wendy Lawson looked..." she shook her head. "Did I ever tell you the black box was missing?"
They weren't really close, so no. Toni shook her head, and looked at her carefully. "You think it's a cover up."
Maria jutted out her chin. "Yes."
Daring her to say it was silly. To offer platitudes or something of the sorts.
But Toni needed to be Maria's friend, so that when Carol came she could get to her and the Tesseract and get the ball rolling. So she simply took the tray from her hands and offered her what she hoped was a bittersweet smile. "I don't think my father crashed off the road because he was drunk. I was in hospital when it happened and when the police got there, the surveillance tape stopped at the car crash and the rest was unsalvageable." She passed a hand on the picture frame, feeling both guilty and not for her words. "I believe you."
Maria smiled at her, a sheen of tears in her eyes, and Toni returned to the living room where Rhodey was sitting ramrod straight, looking at the TV.
Reverse engineering friendships indeed.
Earth-200207: October 1992
When she ran into him for the third time in about two weeks, Toni decided that the Universe might be trying to tell her something.
She had gone to Columbia the first time around, but in the end Bruce had managed to somehow convince her to join up with him at NYU. She still wasn't sure how, maybe she was letting previous Banner's non reactions colour theirs still, but she had agreed.
Now she wondered if this was one of the staples of the 'new timeline' that needed to happen.
"You're scowling," informed her Bruce, chewing on his sandwich and splitting his attention between it, the book in his free hand and her. "Why?"
Toni huffed, playing around with her food and sending little glares every now and then. "Nothing."
"Usually 'nothing' doesn't make people scowl at one of the other geniuses around the University," informed her Bruce, simply smirking when she sent a sharp look at him instead. "I'm not stupid. Now, tell me what your problem with Strange is."
Yes. Because she had not been aware of Stephen Strange's original life story, she hadn't known that he went to NYU. Nor had she known that he had gone so young. He was older than her - at least in this timeline - so he wasn't 'so young' but he was still younger than most.
And now here he was, stuck in her life. Or adjacent to her life, since they didn't actually share any classes together.
"I don't have a problem with Strange," she told him, which made Bruce give her his best 'bitch please' face.
"Then what's with the glare?"
"Yes, Stark," came another voice and Toni startled slightly, berating herself for not having seen him move. "What's with the glare?"
Bruce looked at him, a little wary, but Toni pursed her lips, forcing her face in a mask of politeness. Considering the way Strange's smirk grew, he saw right through her.
Dick.
Whatever. "Sometimes some people just rub you the wrong way, I guess."
Instead of leaving or taking more insult with that, Strange dropped his tray next to Bruce's and sat down. "I guess. I could see how the woman who designed her first weapon at age 8 and the guy who realised he wanted to save lives at age 8 might not like each other."
Low blow.
Toni's hold on her fork tightened ever so slightly, and from the curl of Strange's lips as he took a bite of his lasagna, he was very much aware.
It wasn't even like Toni had willingly chosen to create the gun. She had to, which was something Strange would never truly understand of course.
Instead of giving the satisfaction of answering that dig, she gave him a sickly sweet smile. "Oh, I don't know, Strange. People say that opposites attract, which probably means that people who are too similar to each other repel, right?"
Strange rolled his eyes at her, but she had a front view of the way the muscle in his cheek ticked ever so slightly. "Are you suggesting that me and you are in any way similar to each other?"
Toni shrugged. "Or something. Draw your own conclusions, I am simply offering an hypothesis."
"I don't think you have all the necessary data to make such," pointed out the future Merlin and Toni gave him a dark look at the missed irony.
"You'll find that I have plenty of data, Strange."
A raised eyebrow. "Should I feel concerned as to how you have acquired this data?"
"Are you concerned about being so easily read?"
"I am concerned about you making assumptions based on your over inflated sense of self, Stark."
"Nothing about me is over inflated, Stranger Danger."
"This is weird," loudly said Bruce, looking at both of them with a slight frown. "I don't know if you're dissing each other or flirting, at this point."
Toni turned away from what she wasn't so sure was an argument anymore and just smiled sunnily at Bruce, stealing his fruit salad. "Love you too, Brucie Bear."
Strange rolled his eyes again and continued eating.
But he didn't leave their table.