Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do

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Fanfiction
Title: Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do
Author(s): copperbadge
Date(s): 16 May 2013
Length: 33,631 words
Genre: slash fanfiction
Fandom: The Avengers
External Links: Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do (AO3)
Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do (Dreamwidth)
Art by Lienwyn (Tumblr)
Art by Lienwyn (DeviantArt)
The original artwork by Lienwyn that inspired Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do

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Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do is a Steve/Tony 616 AU by copperbadge. Set in Chicago during the Prohibition era and featuring Steve as a detective and Tony as the king gangster, it was written for the 2013 Cap/Iron Man Reverse Bang. Based on a single piece of art by Lienwyn, she in turn created four more illustrations based on the story.[1]

There is a podfic of the story by jellyfishfire[2] available as well as a further snippet of Pepper and Natasha meeting on copperbadge's Tumblr.[3] The fic is reasonably popular in the fandom for a niche AU, with over three thousand kudos and 900 bookmarks on AO3.[4]

The Fic

Written for a reverse bang centered around the Steve/Tony pairing, Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do is based off a picture of Tony lounging while Steve looks on sternly as illustrated by Lienwyn. This art was then claimed and turned into a story by copperbadge which has been praised for its accurate depiction of Chicago and use of '30s slang.[5][6][7][8] This accuracy can be traced back to the fact that copperbadge lived in Chicago for almost a decade by the time he wrote the story.[8] It is frequently praised by people who don't usually enjoy AU fic for still being in-character even with the setting changes.[9][6] The summary for the fic is as follows:

The year is 1930, Prohibition and the Depression are both in full swing, and Chicago Police Detective Steve Rogers has his hands full. There's a dead body on the banks of Lake Michigan, the entire city's legal system is corrupt, and the king gangster of the North Side, Tony Stark, has taken more than a passing interest in him.[4]

After reading the story, Lienwyn was inspired to draw four more pieces of art, for a total of five, which are displayed throughout the text of the story in both the DW and AO3 versions of the story. She had this to say about the process:

I signed up for the Cap/Iron Man Reverse Big Bang 2013 over at livejournal and my art got claimed by the amazing Copperbadge. He proceeded to write an incredible fic based on it - an 616 AU set during the Prohibition called “Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do” - and I couldn’t help drawing a couple of scenes from it. The second picture is the one from the original claims which inspired the fic and the other four are then based off Sam’s writing. It’s been an AWESOME adventure and I really have to do this again sometime.[1]

The fic was initially posted on both LiveJournal and Dreamwidth, as well as AO3, but following the 2017 TOS changes at LJ, copperbadge deleted his LiveJournal. However, the fic is still available on Dreamwidth, and on AO3 where copperbadge posted an additional coda in 2016.

Artwork

Lienwyn posted the series of art pieces she created for the fic to both Tumblr and DeviantArt. She wrote of creating the additional four pieces of artwork,

It's been amazing journey and I've quite literally put everything else on hold in order to complete these in time before the deadline.
Still, it was worth it because the fic is awesome, I'm really proud of the art and it was my first time doing one of these collaboration things. And I loved it.

I hope that you will too!

I had a lot of fun trying to give the pictures the 'old photos'-look and I loved drawing those clothes. I just loved all of it.[10]

  • Anbiid 2.jpg
  • Anbiid 3.jpg
  • Anbiid 4.jpg
  • Anbiid 5.jpg

Follow-Ups & Other Fanworks Inspired By the Fic

In 2015, copperbadge posted an additional snippet in the 'verse of the first meeting between Natasha and Pepper, following an Ask request for a Natasha/Pepper historical AU. In 2016, he added a coda to the fic (described as a "sort-of, could-be sequel") in the form of a fourth chapter on AO3. The coda, Nice Work If You Can Get It, was inspired by a conversation with scifigrl47 and WandererRiha about Steve as Tony's "kept man", and is set 5 years after the original fic.

In 2019, jellyfishfire posted a podfic adaptation of the fic to AO3.

Ain't Nobody's Business also inspired Way Back When We Were Infamous by oldtonyharrison, three pieces of artwork in which Steve, Tony and Pepper (and later also Clint and Darcy) are depicted in a Prohibition-era setting. oldtonyharrison also cited boombangbing's Magnetic series, a Steve/Tony/Pepper series, as inspiration for the first two pieces of art.

Recs and Reviews

This is just fanTAStic! I mean, gay speakeasies? Why is there not a million entries under that tag? The deliciousness that is Tony and Steve in the 1930's is only added to by their spot on characterization and all these little details and in-references that make the story come alive - Tony never seen without a drink in his hand, Tony and Steve hating each other at thier first meeting (and with a line drop!), Steve being unreasonably horrified at the thought of drowning in icy waters. All that wrapped up in quick-paced murder plot riddled with cameo references makes this a def rec. Also, did I mention gangster!Tony?[11]

OH MY GOD. YES. YES. I NEVER KNEW I WANTED A 1930 GANGSTER!TONY AND DETECTIVE!STEVE AU UNTIL NOW. SCREAMED SO LOUD WHEN I SAW THIS AND IT HAS NOT DISAPPOINTED. In which Steve is investigating the murder of Joe Yinsen, a man who worked under Tony Stark. Tony and Steve strike up a deal to help each other find the murderer, and along the way get involved.[12]

I knew I was going to love this (and not just because of the gorgeous art). I love Alternate Realities and I love your stories, and somehow when I saw it was Chicago Prohibition Era AR I said, "This is going to be THE GREATEST THING," [...] because TONY THE BOOTLEGGER EMPEROR. IN CHICAGO. WITH STEVE THE FLATFOOT. And all your takes on the other characters--Pepper (who is nobody's "moll," as Steve finds) and her girl Natasha ("send her home to her baba," indeed!) and Thor the Hammer who's a pushover and Clint who's a different kind of sharpshooter and Fury and Philly and Bruce, how much do I love your not-so-yokel Bruce, god, so terrific. Start to finish, this was gorgeous. The story and the plot and the romance and the porn and the unexpected plotty twist at the end [...], so so good, all of it. Your dialogue, gah, so easy to follow and to hear in the characters' voices. And the way they react to each other--I loved Steve's "I won't be owned" moment but even better I loved the way Tony reacts to it, soothing, retracting, backing down and apologizing enough to put them back on less-rocky ground. One of the joys of fanfiction is the author's wish to deliver the ending the audience craves, the ability to give us uniformly happy endings if that's what the story allows, and a good author can even make us believe in uniformly happy endings in fanfiction. That would be you, oh, yeah.[13]

This is an entertaining AU with some great characterization and character interaction! I like the build up of the relationship between Steve and Tony. I also liked the murder mystery aspects and the pretty much everything about this fic. @copperbadge is a great writer.[14]

The Prohibition gangster AU that nobody asked for and everybody needed. Background (super hot) Peppertasha. Honestly I’d rather this WAS just peppertasha, but the steve.tony bit has like. plot and stuff. Also excellent historical writing- unlike many fics in this fandom, he actually does his research and gets his shit right. Tony makes an excellent gangster, guys.[15]

just glorious. ranks up there among my favorite stevetony fics of all time.[16]

Moral ambiguity, murder mystery, gangsters and cops, the appearance of all our favourite characters, all set in Prohibition Chicago. What’s not to love? Not my usual ship but I couldn’t really say no to this summary and I was not disappointed[17]

References

  1. ^ a b lienwyn. Tumblr post, 16 May 2013. (Accessed 16 june 2013)
  2. ^ Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do Podfic. Posted 8 Sept 2019. Accessed 10 Dec 2021.
  3. ^ Natasha and Pepper Snippet. Posted 22 Mar 2015. Accessed 10 Dec 2021.
  4. ^ a b Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do. Posted 16 May 2013. Accessed 10 Dec 2021.
  5. ^ Anonymous Comment on AO3. Posted 16 May 2013. Accessed 15 Dec 2021.
  6. ^ a b Comment by Deleted User. Posted 5 Mar 2016. Accessed 15 Dec 2021.
  7. ^ Comment by Survivah. Posted 8 Jul 2013. Accessed 15 Dec 2021.
  8. ^ a b Comment by backbone89. Posted 17 May 2013. Accessed 15 Dec 2021.
  9. ^ Anonymous Comment. Posted 20 May 2013. Accessed 15 Dec 2021.
  10. ^ Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do by Lienwyn via Deviantart. Posted May 16, 2013 (Accessed January 8, 2022).
  11. ^ sakanda. AO3 rec, 14 June 2013.(Accessed 16 June 2013)
  12. ^ vucizalis. AO3 rec, 21 May 2013.(Accessed 16 June 2013)
  13. ^ Amanuensis. AO3 comment, 21 May 2013.(Accessed 16 June 2013)
  14. ^ "December 16, 2017 blog post". Archived from the original on 2021-12-10.
  15. ^ "mica's (terrifyingly long) marvel fic rec list". Archived from the original on 2021-12-10.
  16. ^ "best beloved mafia au's. bless this fandom for loving it as much as i do". Archived from the original on 2021-12-10.
  17. ^ "June 2 2020 Tumblr post". Archived from the original on 2021-12-10.
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