A/N: This takes place after some of the events of Civil War and Captain America's death.

After the...funeral, Tony stumbled back to his room, somehow finding a bottle in his hand. Slumping in the chair, head lolling against the back, he realised he didn't mean for that to happen. Even as Extremis warned him that his BAC was dangerously high, he felt his mouth twitch into a twisted smile. This was all insane. Crazy. This... And choked on emotion. On days like this, it would be nice to just go crazy and not remember any of this.

Hopefully, he thought as darkness skulked up to cover him, he wouldn't remember this in the morning.

The light was bright. He groaned and rolled, only to flop onto the floor when the support of the desk gave way to air. Frowning he blinked several times. Hangover? No. Extremis. Catching sight of the bottle on the desk above him. Steve would be upset. He'd promised he'd stop. Shuddered. He twitched and groaned again as pain lanced through him once. And then was gone.

He got to his feet, rolled his shoulders, and stripped off the somber suit, the clothes a trail behind him on the way to the bathroom for a shower. That business taken care of, he tromped through the hallways of the helicarrier, almost bumping into Carol as he rounded a corner.

"Tony!"

"Carol."

She squinted at him.

"Where is everyone? The hallways are eerily empty."

She frowned. "Are you alright?"

"Fine. Thanks. Um. Round everybody up and get them to conference room C for a meeting." He hesitated a second to think, Extremis shifting his schedule around in his head. "Yeah. Conference room C."

Carol's frown lines deepened. "Tony?"

"Carol?"

"Are you..." She shook her head. "Alright. Who's 'everybody?'"

Now he wasn't sure that Carol wasn't the one who needed to be checked out. "Are you alright?"

"I'm..." Everything tightened and coiled like she wanted to hit something so he took a step back. "I'll be fine. I'm fine."

It sounded like when he told Steve he'd be fine. "Um. Right. Good. That's good. Just tell everybody to meet. You know. Avengers."

"Um. Right. Everybody's scattered right now. Hill is—"

"Not part of the Avengers," Tony drawled, iron in his voice.

"No, of course not, but she's been working with you, so I figured you'd want her in on the meeting." Now Carol just looked confused. "Well Widow's in Russia for whatever you wanted her there for. Bob's... Bob's still having issues. Wonder Man is in California. This is a bad time to call a meeting, Tony."

"What?" He just stared at her.

"What what." She threw her hands up. "Jesus! You ask me to run the team and then you control it all behind the scenes anyway! What do you want!"

"Sorry, you leading the team?"

"Apparently not really!" she snapped, planting her hands on her hips, looking more like she wanted to punch someone again.

"Well where'd Steve run off to!" he huffed, running through some new plans for a jet in his head.

Gaping at him, Carol stumbled backwards. "Tony."

He probably wouldn't have paid much attention at all save for the completely scandalised tone of her voice. "Carol. We've been saying each others' names a lot today. Is this going to be a theme? I don't like themes. Except for Iron Man's theme, of course." He grinned. "AC/DC's T.N.T. Classic. I know."

Now she was staring at him in horror.

"Jesus! Now what! It's not a crime to have a theme song, is it?" He waved a hand and then went back to planning. "Just spread the word about the meeting. Make sure Hank is on time too. He's always late. Hm. Pick up some donuts. I'm feeling donuts. Yeah. See you in thirty!" He spun smoothly on a heel and headed back down the corridor, shaking his head and dismissing the feeling that he was missing something vital. Something he'd forgotten. Nothing glaring on his to-do list or in his email. He shrugged it off and slipped his hands into his pockets as he mentally prepped for the meeting. He'd remember it later.