“A Hundred Times, Once” by FestiveFerret & SirSapling

Pairing: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark (Marvel)
Word Count: 24,761
Warnings: NSFW (lots of sexy times), CW for mentions of suicide and internalized homophobia

Author’s Summary

The shrill tone of his SHIELD beeper pulls Steve out of sleep and into battle. He fights robots, he fights Tony’s shameless advances, he fights the exhaustion that threatens to take over him, drown him. And then the next morning, he wakes and does it again. Exactly the same.

And again.

And again.

And again.

My Thoughts

I saw Avengers: Endgame again the other day, and, well, I’m back on this ship and steering us toward the Promised Land (aka AO3).

I’ve read a lot of Stony fics over the years, but somehow I’ve never read a fic that followed the same basic premise as Groundhog Day. (With the amount of time travelling these superheroes do, you’d think that this trope would appear all the time.)

I expected this fic to be a little silly and well, like Groundhog Day. It is and it isn’t. It takes the idea of reliving the same day over and over and uses it to explore the depth of Steve Rogers’ character and it gives him a chance to explore the depth and complexity of his sexuality. Many fics like to assume that Cap is all-accepting of 21st century sensibilities when it comes to sexuality, but given the time period he grew up in, I appreciate authors who demonstrate the struggle that he must have in suddenly waking up in a world where everything that he was taught must be hidden is suddenly in the light.

Read this fic if you enjoy character exploration, Stony, and, well, Groundhog Day.