not mine, no profit garnered. Title from the national's terrible love. for the trope bingo spot EPISTOLARY. Thanks A!

Tony Stark had pen pals when he was eight. He lied about his real name, of course, didn't want to give away his secret identity as Richie Rich of super rich land. Contrary to what movies and bad television might have implied, none of his pen pals later became super villains seeking revenge for Tony's deception. Nor were any of them secretly beautiful spies. They were all just people.

They would write about their lives; here's what I did at school, here's where we go for fun, where I live, here's a recipe. Tony would ask even more questions because he never really went to school until he went to MIT and his idea of fun places was always pretty warped. It was like he had a little window into Ann Arbor and Dubuque and Austin and Buckhead outside of Atlanta.

People still wrote letters in the eighties, even in the nineties a little. By 1986, Tony had stopped writing letters, but he could have gone longer.

After Tony didn't die and turned forty, somewhere around the time he and Pepper became serious, Tony had Jarvis look them all up. All his pen pals.

Mostly they were perfectly fine. Librarians, research analysts, accountants, two dentists which was a little strange. One had died, drowned trying to save someone who fell in a lake. Tony thought about that one a lot, dying trying to save someone else seemed like a very Tony thing to do. Previous Tony, Tony who didn't straighten up and figure things out and start dating Pepper.

One of them had been Hope Van Dyne. Hope Pym. Whatever she was going by now. It was actually super creepy that he'd been writing her when he was a teenager and she was younger. But she was a smart kid. She'd also used a fake name, claiming to be Aurora Bannf. A ridiculous name. It wasn't even an anagram.

Tony had used the name Brady Starkweather. It was funny.

Hope worked for an asshole. Tony drove to the Bay area in his favorite new car. He breezed in and charmed the receptionist into summoning Hope. She came into the lobby and looked at him, puzzled. She was like Pepper, except she smiled less. "This guy you're working for, who is not your father, is a dick. You should have your own company."

"I agree but what are you doing here?"

"I had an awakening, I almost died. I thought I was going to die and I tried to take stock of my life. It didn't go well. Even with my recent, ah, heroics, very little worth," Tony said.

Hope nodded. "I think my father would agree, but, again, why are you here for me?"

"I thought your dad hated my dad, not me. I've never done anything to Hank Pym. But that's, I came to see you. We used to write back and forth, Pen pals. You used the name Aurora, I was Brady. It wasn't creepy. Right? You were nine or something, but you seemed more mature in your writing."

Hope looked briefly taken aback. She said, "It wasn't creepy. It is now. Now that you're coming here to my work."

"I wanted to help. If there was something you needed to do your own thing. This guy's a serious dick. Pepper hates him," Tony said. "That's a sign of a horrible human being."

"I don't disagree," Hope said, slowly. "But there's nothing you can do. I won't take a handout."

"It wouldn't be a handout. Not that I don't do that, I very much do. Philanthropy is very important to me. But you don't need a handout. You just need seed money, or start up funds or something. Something that you would pay back once you make millions. Which in your case would be under a year," Tony said.

"Sure," Hope said. She practically rolled her eyes. "I'm just sitting around with million dollar ideas I haven't developed yet."

"You could be," Tony said. "Or if you want to buyout this dickhead running your dad's company. Which could be your company."

"Darren's not that bad. I think," she said.

"I think he is," Tony said. "And I know from assholes."

"Well," Hope said. "It was good seeing you, Brady. Thanks for the deranged offer."

"Let me know if you need anything," Tony said. He stopped. "See," Tony said. "When my parents died, I thought about what you wrote about your mom a lot. It was comforting. Okay? I owe you."

She looked him straight in the eye for once. She didn't smile but he felt seen. She said, "Okay."

He drove back to Los Angeles and figured he'd never hear from her. So he didn't mention it to Pepper. A month later, Pepper came downstairs while he working at the lab, trying to build a better Stark Tower. He had almost trained himself to always look up when he heard her heels, but sometimes she wore flats or went barefoot which she should not be doing in his lab.

"Did you tell Hope Van Dyne to call me?"

"Did I?" Tony gestured away the first draft of plans. "I did. Yes, I did. I went to see her last month. Turns out we were pen pals when I was a kid. I bet you didn't know I had pen pals. Perfectly innocent, seriously. We would just write. Nothing else."

"You were pen pals with Hope Van Dyne? Doesn't her father hate you?" Pepper didn't seem surprised about Tony's many letter friends.

"Everyone says that, I have never met the man. His dad hates my dad. I didn't do anything to him. That I'm aware of," Tony said.

"She was interested in buying out Darren, take her company back. We talked about some financing options," Pepper said.

"That's awesome, you're awesome. I told her you'd be able to help her."

Pepper smiled. "Of course, this is all because of you."

"I made the introduction," Tony said.

"She seems great," Pepper said. "Thank you for the very little you did."

"Just trying to help save the world, one pen pal at a time," Tony said. "I'm trying to do good."

"I know," Pepper said. She kissed his cheek. "Are we financing any other takeovers?"

"No, but I know two dentists in Denver I can recommend to you," Tony said.