Everything Left Unsaid

Written for the 2011 Alternate Universe Big Bang challenge (@ au_bigbang).

Title: What Lies Inside
Author: penumbren
Artist: xsilverdreamsx
Beta: jadedoll
Fandom: Marvel Comics (The Avengers)
Characters: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Jan Van Dyne, Hank Pym, Thor
Rating: Explicit
Content: A fair bit of angst, a lot of UST, abuse of Middle English, comic book violence and the death of a villain, and mentions of the off-screen death of a secondary character. Oh, and werewolves. And an explicit mating scene.
Word Count: 21,808
Disclaimers: None of them belong to me, sadly. I only borrow Disney’s Marvel’s characters so that I can treat them better than their owners do.
Summary: When the Avengers discover Captain America in the Arctic sea, they find more than just a new team member: Tony Stark discovers his fated mate. The problem is, Steve Rogers is a man out of his own time and apparently straight, and Tony's not about to force anything on the man he loves--even if it means his own death. Besides, Tony's spent his entire life keeping secrets. How can he possibly tell Steve that he's really Iron Man, let alone a werewolf?
Author’s Notes: This was largely inspired by all of the paranormal romance I spent the first half of this year reading. If you think you see anything (worldbuilding, cliches, references) familiar to you from that sort of writing... you're right. The title comes from the lyrics to "Iron" by Within Temptation.

Many, many thanks to Jade for being such a terrific beta. Without her, there would have been even more typos and even less coherence. Also, Tony would have been flailing mindlessly even more than he does. More thanks than I can even express to SD for the amazing, gorgeous artwork! Everyone should go look and admire: Not only did she do the main poster, but she did bonus artwork of the three main characters, divider artwork for each section, icons, and made a wonderful fanmix!



( Amazing artwork + links back here )

(Mods, may I please have a creator tag for my artist? Thanks!) Thank you!