Chapter TextOn May 29th, Maria Stark went into labor. As far as births go, it wasn't exceptionally impressive. There was a lot of pain and screaming, but nothing worth talking about, really. The baby was perfectly healthy, and after 5.3 hours, the doctor held up a bright red, wriggling mess and announced that Howard and Maria Stark had a perfect baby girl.That was when problems started to arise.You see, that baby was not a girl. It didn't matter that her birth certificate clearly thought that she was, or that her name was Natasha Antoinette Stark. Not even the fact that she had two x chromosomes and fucking vagina swayed her opinion.
She knew, with utmost certainty, that she was not a girl.He was a boy. No matter how many dresses his mother forced him into. Or how many times his dad replaced his model train sets with dolls. Not even when his mother wholeheartedly refused to let him cut his hair short. He was a boy.His parents didn't know about how he felt; or at least, they refused to acknowledge it. They had just 'assumed' that he was what most people call a tomboy. And so had he, for a while.
He only felt comfortable when he was wearing guy clothes though his mom did still force him into the occasional dress, so it wasn't that far of a leap.Natasha had fully realized that he was not a girl, or a tomboy when he was 13. He'd wandered onto an LGBTQAA+ website and finally learned what the T stands for in the acronym: Transgender.
It had felt like a weight was lifting off of his chest; his feelings towards his body and his gender were starting to make sense. He had realized that it was okay for him to not like dresses, and to feel like he wasn't a girl. There were people, adults, who felt the same way.Now, Natasha was 16 and solely going by Tony. He still wore guy clothes, including the male uniform for his school (oh, the things you can get if you put up enough of a bitch fit). He still had long hair, to appease his mother, but kept it tied up underneath an ugly beanie his friend Clint had given to him.
He also had a kick-ass group of friends, and about the best boyfriend anyone could ask for, who all knew his real gender.So, all things considered, Tony's life wasn't that awful.He was currently at his boyfriend's house, enjoying the calm that came with it. Steve and his mom lived in a small apartment smack in the middle of Brooklyn. You can guess how Tony's snobbish parents felt about that. Howard was still trying to set Tony up with the asshole son of the CEO of Stark Industries’ partner company Viastone.
Even though Tony has been in a serious relationship with Steve for almost 2 years.Anyways, Steve and Sarah Rogers's home may not be the mansion Tony lived in, but he had never felt so comfortable. Nothing compared to sitting at their dining table, helping Steve with homework.
Or when he and Steve would cuddle up on Steve's double bed and watch Netflix on Tony's laptop. Which is what they were doing right now actually.It was December 10th, and the landlord had yet to properly fix the heating in their apartment.
So Steve had pulled an old wool blanket out from the deepest parts of his closet and wrapped it around both of them. Tony wasn't about to complain about pressing himself against Steve's massive chest.Since Steve's mom worked both nights (and sometimes days) as a nurse, they were wearing earbuds to try and stay as quiet as possible so Sarah could sleep before her shift.“Tony,” Steve chastised in a hushed voice, “this is supposed to be a suspenseful scene, stop laughing.”“Oh come on,” Tony answered in the same hushed tone, with a hint of amusement. “Look at how some of them are falling Those two just spun like freaking tops,” he said, pointing at the screen. He turned his head to look at Steve, beaming. “It’s hillaaarious,” he drawled.“You’re ridiculous,” Steve sighed, forcing his eyes back to the screen; not on his ridiculous(ly cute) boyfriend. They were watching Titanic, and the ship was currently going down.
Jack was helping Rose over the railing, and even as people obviously died on screen, Tony wouldn’t stop laughing. The laughter seemed to be contagious, because Steve let out a small giggle when someone hit the propeller of the ship, spinning into the sea.“See?
It’s funny.”“Shut up,” Steve muttered without aggression, pulling Tony’s smug ass closer to him. He wrapped his arms around Tony’s waist, burying his face into soft brown hair. Tony tended not to wear his beanie when it was just him and Steve; the hat wasn't amazingly comfortable and Steve loved to run his fingers along Tony's scalp.They both turned back to the screen in time to see more people die in hilariously dramatic ways.
Causing both teenage boys to start laughing anew. They weren’t being incredibly quiet anymore, either.
That’s why, when there was a knock on Steve’s door, they froze.“Steve? Tony?” Sarah asked quietly, sounding worn out. She opened Steve’s door, peeking her head into the bedroom.“Yes, Mom?” Steve said, pausing the movie and pulling his earbud out. “Are we being too noisy?”“No, Stevie, you’re okay,” Sarah said, flipping on the light switch.
Tony blinked awkwardly at the sudden wash of light. “I just wanted to tell you two that I’m heading to work and that Tony needs to head home pretty soon.
It’s a school night.” Now that she was properly illuminated, it was obvious that Sarah was ready to go. She had pulled her hair back into a neat bun and was in a pair of green scrubs. Perfect for the ER.“Ok, Mom.”“No problem, Mrs. R.”Tony closed his laptop and threw his half of the heavy blanket onto Steve’s legs, climbing off the bed to grab his backpack.“Do you need a ride home, sweetie?” Sarah asked as Tony zipped his backpack closed.“My car’s in the parking garage, but thank you,” Tony said, standing up. It didn’t matter that Tony was almost always driving himself nowadays.
Sarah had been driving him home since he was in ninth grade and he and Steve had “study-dates” together every Wednesday night. It was an old habit she didn’t want to stop.“Ok, hun; why don’t we walk out together?” Sarah offered, as they left Steve's bedroom and went out to the living room, where the front door was.
She grabbed a pair of old sneakers from the shoe rack, and slipped them on. They were also perfect for getting random bodily fluids on.Tony knew why she wanted to walk with him. That parking garage wasn’t the safest place at 10 o'clock at night. If she hadn’t offered, Tony was sure that Steve would have. He still might.“Yeah, sure,” he said with a genuine smile, quickly and messily lacing up his shoes. He was still getting used to an adult wholeheartedly caring about him and his well-being.
Only Jarvis ever truly acted like that.Once they both had heavy winter coats on, and Steve had given both of them a kiss on the cheek, they left the apartment. Tony heard a resounding click, as Steve locked the door behind them.“How have you been, Tony?” Sarah asked, as they walk down the long hallway towards the stairs of the building. The elevator’s been broken for, like, three years.“Eh, I’m OK,” Tony said honestly enough, with a shrug.
He knows that he can’t lie to Sarah anymore, so he doesn’t try to.“Same old?”“Yeah.”Sarah Rogers knows pretty much everything about Tony’s life. He’s not ashamed (anymore) to say that he burst into tears when he came out to her and she just enveloped him in a really warm hug. She’s practically his mom by now, which is kinda weird since he’s dating her son, but whatever.Speaking of Steve, the relationship he has with his mom baffles Tony on a daily basis. Their trust for each other is, for lack of a better word, incredible. Steve tells his mom literally everything, and Sarah trusts Steve so much that he barely has restrictions. Yeah, he’s got a curfew and has to do chores.
But he’s also allowed to have his boyfriend, who has a freaking vagina, in his dark bedroom with the door closed, when the only adult in the house is asleep. And Sarah knows that they’re not going to do anything, and if they did, they’d be safe.Sarah Rogers is fucking awesome, as a mom and a person.When Tony got home, he was greeted by the butler, Edwin Jarvis.The old man, who has had to deal with Tony’s dad for longer than anyone, was the only one in the house who didn’t constantly call Tony the wrong name, or use the wrong pronoun. Howard and Maria knew that Jarvis did it, but they didn’t say anything anymore, or try to stop him. Maria had initially wanted to fire him, but Howard wasn’t about to let that happen. Jarvis had worked for them too long, and knew far too many Stark Industries secrets, to ever fire.“I’m glad to see that you’ve made it home safely,” Jarvis said with a warm smile. He helped Tony out of his coat and hung it on the coat rack as Tony took off his shoes. “Sandra made some pierogi a few hours ago if you’re hungry.
I’m sure there’s some left in the kitchen.”“No, thanks, Jarvis,” Tony said quickly, leaving the entryway and running up the expansive flight of stairs, through several hallways, and to his bedroom. Thankfully, Tony was able to get to his room without incident, and didn't see either of his parents.Closing his door, Tony tossed his backpack onto his made bed (not by him), pulled off his hat, and sat down at his desk.
It was metal, went from one corner to the other, and was currently covered in crap. After retying his hair back into a loose bun, Tony grabbed a piece of his latest project.If he could get it working properly, it'd be a type of robotic arm.
He wanted to install an artificial intelligence into it as well. So that it wouldn't be just another robotic arm; it was going to be smart.He worked on that for a while, trying to get the joints in the arm moving properly. He also worked on the coding for the artificial intelligence, on his desktop. Around 12;00, there was a knock on his door.' Come in,' he called, assuming that it was Jarvis coming to make him go to bed.' Hi, sweetheart,' a soft female voice slurred. Tony spun around; his mom was leaning on the wooden doorway.
She had a half-filled glass of wine in one hand and from how she was holding herself, she was clearly drunk. 'What're you working on?' 'Nothing important. What do you want, Mama?' 'Can't a woman come see her baby girl?' Maria asked accusingly. She stumbled gracefully towards the bed and sat down; a splash of wine left the glass and dropped onto the bedspread.Tony took a deep breath and cooled himself down.
He can't yell at his mom. He won't yell at his mom. Dammit, he might yell at his mom.Maria didn’t wait for Tony to respond. “Anyways, your father and I want you to go to the fundraiser for the survivors of.” she trailed off, looking dumbly at the ceiling. It’s.Saturday, I believe?
Maybe Friday.”God, she can’t even think straight. Maybe her brain finally gave up after all the abuse, Tony mused bitterly.“I’m sure Jarvis can get you a new dress before then.”Tony swallowed the pain clogging his throat. He knew it was futile to try and convince her to let him wear something he actually felt comfortable in. “Can I bring a guest?” Maybe if Tony could bring Steve, the whole ordeal would be moderately bearable.Maria seemed to ponder that for a while, or maybe she just hadn’t been able to process that Tony had even said anything. She took another sip of her wine, and said, “As long as it’s not that poor boy.”Tony rolled his eyes.
Not this again. “He’s not poor, Mama; he’s middle class. There is a difference.”Maria scoffed. “There are going to be important people there. We are not to be seen with someone in ratty jeans and an old shirt from Wal-Mart.” With that, she stood up and stumbled out of the room, spilling another small drop of wine onto Tony’s carpet.Tony stood up slowly, and closed his door. Oh, how he wanted to slam it, to make sure that his mom knew how pissed he was, but that risked her coming back.
Challenging Authority Piven Pdf
So, yeah, he could resist the urge.Closing his eyes, he tried counting down from ten. It didn’t work, not even a little bit.
Why the fuck do people even suggest that?Since he knew that he had to do something to calm down, he took a pillow off of his bed, collapsed onto his knees, pressed his face deep into the fluffy cotton, and screamed. It was high-pitched, watery and pathetic, but it helped. By the time he was done, his vocal cords burned. Tears had stained the pillow, in small dots and streaks; Tony hadn’t realized that he had been crying.There was a knock at the door. This one was different from Maria’s; it was tentative, like this person was willing (and possibly expecting) to be denied entrance.“Come in,” Tony whined, pressing his back against the side of his bed, and hugging the pillow to his chest.Jarvis entered the room. Without saying a word, he sat next to Tony, holding out a bottle of water and some apple slices on a small plate.Tony took the water, downing half of it.
“Thanks,” he muttered, replacing the cap and putting it down next to him.Jarvis held out the apples a little more insistently. “You should get something in your stomach.”Tony took a slice, and popped it into his mouth. It was a gala, his favorite. He finished the rest of the apples silently.When he was done, Jarvis put the plate down and ran his fingers through Tony’s tangled hair; it had mostly fallen out of the bun by then. Tony had always loved having his hair played with. He leaned against Jarvis's shoulder, searching out more comfort.“Do you want to talk about it?” Jarvis asked quietly.“Not really.”They sat in comfortable silence for a while.“Maria said that she wants me to get you a dress for the fundraiser on Saturday.”“Yeah.”“She really is a dumb woman, isn’t she?”That made Tony smile.
Jarvis didn’t often badmouth the Starks, at least not in front of Tony. “Yeah,” he agreed. “I guess.”“Where could you have possibly have gotten your genius? Both of your parents are such backward thinkers, it shocking that they’re clothes are on right.”Tony laughed quietly.
Challenging Authority Piven Pdf Download
“Maybe I’m an alien.”“It’s much more likely than those buffoons creating someone as wonderful as you,” Jarvis murmured, lightly massaging Tony’s scalp.Tony let out a slow breath, content to stay where he was. “Thanks Jarvis.”“It is my pleasure, Tony.”.