"There is no way I'm going camping." Tony said just after Fury suggested it.
"Yes, you are. You all are." He replied with his arms crossed.
"But whyyyy!"
"Because you people aren't a team. You keep fighting about the stupidest things. So, you're going camping. End of discussion." He left the room and left the Avengers sitting at the table. Steve stood up.
"Come on, we have 20 minutes to pack. No electronics." Tony scoffed.
"There is no way I am not bringing electronics. They're a part of me. It's like saying that Natasha can't bring her hair, or Clint can't bring his obnoxious body odor, or we can't bring our souls!"
Sure enough, however, 20 minutes later they were all crammed into a car. Apparently, no one trusted Tony to drive, Steve didn't know how to drive the complicated car, Peter wasn't old enough, Thor didn't have his license, Bruce said he would get too frustrated, and Clint didn't want to, so Natasha drove. In shotgun was Tony ("If I can't drive I'm sitting in the front!"), the second row of seats consisted of Thor, Steve, and Bruce, in that order, and in the back was Clint and Peter. They had been in the car for about 10 minutes.
"This is dumb." Peter shouted from the back. "I don't wanna go camping. Does this count as kidnapping?"
"No Peter. Come on, it will be fun." Steve replied back.
"No it won't, Cap. Camping is gross." Clint countered. He had done enough stakeout missions and didn't see the difference between that torture and camping.
"Has anyone actually been camping before, besides me?" Steve asked.
"I have!" Peter said. "It was dumb and gross!" No one else replied.
"Seriously Tony? You haven't been camping before?" He was playing with something in his lap.
"Nope. I just know it's the worst thing ever in the entire universe." Steve leaned up to look over his shoulder.
"Tony! Get off your phone! You're not even supposed to have that!" Tony just laughed and typed something into the small device. Steve reached forward to try and grab the phone, but Tony leaned out of the way, hitting Natasha, who turned the wheel and caused the car to swerve to the side before she slammed on the brakes. They sat quietly for a few seconds before Natasha reached over and flicked Tony on the head, causing him to yelp, then took his phone and threw it out the window.
"Is everyone okay?" Steve asked, trying to calm down Bruce before he could Hulk out. They all mumbled yes.
"That was not my fault." Tony said.
"Yes, it was, Tony. How could that possibly not be your fault?" Steve answered back.
"Actually, you were kind of the one who tried to take the phone, so it's your fault too." Peter quietly replied from the back, sticking up for his lab partner. Steve turned and glared at him. Peter stuck his hands up defensively. "What, it's true!?" They all sighed and Natasha started the car back up and drove back onto the road. It was quiet for almost two minutes before the fighting started again.
"What is this music?" Steve asked as Back in Black by AC DC was playing. Tony scoffed.
"Only the best music ever. Get with the times, Grandpa."
"But it's horrible." Tony spun around glaring.
"You're kidding, right? This is pure art!"
"It's better than the modern stuff, Cap." Clint admitted.
"Yeah, rock and roll is great. My generation's music is nothing compared to this." Peter said.
"What kind of music did you listen to, Capsicle? Classical?" Steve looked offended.
"No, Louis Armstrong and blues mainly. And they were graceful, unlike this! Change the station." Tony leaned back into his chair.
"No."
"Tony, change it, it's giving me a headache!" Tony turned it up. "I swear Tony…" He started singing along.
"Tony turn it off!" - "Baaack in blaaack!"- "Come on!" -"Yes I'm Baaack in blaaack!" They continued like this until the song was over. The next song that came on was Walk This Way by Aerosmith.
"Oh, yes this song is the best!" Peter yelled. "Turn it up!" Tony, Clint, and Peter started singing, while Steve tried to yell over the radio, Natasha glared out on the road, Thor looked confused, and Bruce was asleep. FInally, Natasha grew tired after two more AC DC songs and a Bon Jovi hit, and she shut off the radio completely. Tony began to protest, but one look from her shut him up. It was silent for another 2 minutes.
"...99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer," Peter started.
"Take one down, pass it around," Tony joined in with Peter.
"98 bottles of-" Clint, Tony and Peter sang before cut off by Steve.
"-no." Peter sighed. About an hour passed with random shenanigans coming up, such as when Tony pulled out a backup phone, or when Thor wanted to play a game where they tried to see who could hang on to the top of the car the longest, but they all decided it wasn't worth it because Peter had sticky fingers and would win. By the time they pulled up, said spider was passed out, head leaning on Clint, along with Bruce, asleep and pressed against the window, and Thor laughing and sticking his head out on the other side (and Fury said he wasn't a dog!). Tony got out of the car as soon as the it pulled up, and Thor got out next, letting Steve out. Natasha got out and went over to gently wake up Bruce, who shuffled out and walked over to stand next to Thor. Clint looked conflicted.
"Should I wake him up?" Natasha shrugged, half in the car, half sticking out the door to look back at him. Clint started to gently shake Peter and shrugged his shoulders to get him off, but he was out cold. Eventually, Steve had to come over and carry Peter out, who wouldn't let go of Clint, causing them to shuffle in a giant hug over to the clearing. They started to scout out the area, while Clint sat down on a log near the edge of the clearing with Peter. He and Peter would, for obvious reasons, be sharing a tent. He was quite attached to him (emotionally and, at this moment, physically). Clint liked the kid, he was like the little brother he always wanted, all the other kids he had met while he was in the orphanages he had been scared to get attached to. Tony and Bruce would be sharing a tent (science bros!), and Thor and Steve (the blonde and brawn squad as Tony called them) would be resting in the final tent. Natasha, of course, would have her own tent. They decided to split into groups based on their tents. Team Science Bros would be in charge of putting together the tents, Team Strongies would be unpacking the car and planning meals, and Team Sneaky would be collecting firewood (Widow was joining their team). They all set off their different ways.
Team Science Bros were done within 2 minutes. How many geniuses does it take to set up 4 tents? Well, it took them 30 seconds per tent, so probably none. Bruce and Tony decided after they finished to follow Team Sneaky into the woods. They really had no purpose for this. Bruce just does what Tony does, and Tony does what he wants.
Team Strongies was doing okay. Thor kept asking a bunch of questions, apparently, no one had explained to him what camping was yet. They unloaded the packed trunk and put the bags into the appropriate tents, surprised when they found them made and ready to go, the two men nowhere to be found. They finished unpacking the car in about 10 minutes, then looked through some of the grocery bags to see what they could use for dinner.
Team Sneaky was only in the woods for a few minutes before problems arose. Natasha kept coming up behind them and scaring them, obviously thrilled with the facts that they were in creepy woods and was going to use that to her full advantage, Every once and awhile a yell from either Peter or Clint would echo through the forest. They eventually had a system where Peter and Natasha would go and find wood while they walked and bring it back to Clint, who would carry it. It was going well until Clint dared Peter to climb up a tree and he got stuck.
"Peter, just jump down. You're spider man, it's not like you'll get hurt!" Clint tried when they finally reached the tree the kid had been yelling from.
"No! Now you jinxed it!" He clenched the outward stuck branch he was hanging from even tighter. He had his arms and legs wrapped around the thick limb.
"Just let go. Nothing will happen. You've jumped off buildings before, you jumped off one just last week and it was fine." Natasha reasoned calmly.
"Yeah, and if you remember correctly I broke my ankle and my arm!" He cried pitifully.
"But you healed in, like, 2 hours." Peter slipped a little off the branch and his legs came down, leaving him dangling from just his arms, which were wrapped in almost a hug around it.
"Oh my gosh, I'm going to die! I'm going to flipping die!" He called out.
"Stop, Peter! You're not going to die!" Clint screamed at him. "You are literally a human spider! Can't you use your sticky hands or your webs or something?!" Peter sighed loudly.
"No, I don't have my web shooters, and how do you think I'm holding on right now?! I can only squeeze this branch for so long!"
"Well, what do you want us to do?!" He yelled back. He eyed the distance Peter was hanging from. He was actually up pretty high, about 50 feet up. Clint sighed dramatically. "I guess I can climb up…?!" Peter shook his head and slipped a little more, relying now on just his sticky hands to stay.
"Oh shoot!.." He took a deep breath, "Yeah, and once you get up here what will you do?! You'll get stuck up here too and then we'll both die!"
"So what do you want us to do?!" Natasha asked.
"Get Steve and Thor, or Tony, he's smart! He'll think of something! Just get everyone, anyone, don't let me die!" Just then, Bruce and Tony ran into the clearing surrounding the tree, alarmed when they heard yelling.
"What's going on?" Tony asked and then looked up at Peter. "Oh, hey Petey!"
"Clint dared Peter to climb the tree and now he's stuck and refuses to jump down. I guess I'm going to get Steve and Thor." She sighed and ran off back to the camp.
"Tony, save me!" Peter cried desperately.
"Peter, you're fine, okay?! Just hang on!" Clint reassured him, but he only laughed a sad and scared scoff.
"What else am I supposed to do?! I'm going to die! Tell Jarvis I love him! Tell Thor I'm the one who ate the poptarts! I'm sorry, they were really good!" He cried out to no one in particular. He was hysterical at this point.
"When Thor gets here, can't he use Mjolnir to fly up and get him?" Bruce asked and Tony sighed annoyed.
"No, Fury says that if you Hulk out, Thor uses his hammer, I use my tech, or the assassins assassinate then we're all fired, which I'm pretty sure he can't do, but he might send us on another one of these. And that would be worth than death." He pointed out disgusted.
"What are you saying?! Peter yelled down.
"We're just planning a way to get you down! Calm yourself kid!" Clint told him.
"Easy for you to say! You're not the one who's going to die! Maybe I'll purposely land on you when I fall to my death." Luckily, they weren't far out from the camp and the three members of the rescue team could all run pretty fast, so soon Natasha was back with Steve and Thor.
"Peter, why are you in a tree?!" Steve asked him.
"Oh, you know, just hanging out! I'm dying here!" Steve sighed and made his way over to the trunk of the large tree.
"You're not going to die! Just… wait there, I'll be up in a little!" Peter shook his head and held on as tight as he could. Steve grabbed the lowest branch and started to climb. It took about ten minutes for him to get half the distance to where Peter was.
"Hurry up!" Peter yelled as one of his hands slipped. "Oh gosh! I'm going to die!" Clint actually panicked a little. He changed his mind, if Peter fell this would not end well. Steve climbed higher and higher and eventually made it to the base of the branch Pete was on. He crawled along the top of it, glad that it was thick enough for him, and reached out for Peter.
"Grab my hand." Peter reached out and clasped his hand tightly.
"Don't drop me!" Steve laughed.
"Don't worry, I won't." Everyone held their breath as Peter let go with his other hand, leaving him to swing loosely by Steve's arm. He was quickly pulled up, and they made their way down. They finally reached the bottom of the tree and Peter kneeled on the ground, kissing the dirt and leaves.
"I missed you ground! I promise I will never leave you again..unless I'm swinging hundreds of feet by a thin rope over new york." He was obviously shaken by the whole thing. "Can we go home now?"
"Sorry, no. We've only been here for an hour." They all groaned.
"But one of us almost died! That has to count as an excuse for us to leave, right?" Tony complained, Steve just turned and started to walk back to the camp, leaving them all to shuffle along after him sulking. They travelled through the woods and by the time this whole thing was done, it was getting dark and time to eat. Unfortunately, Team Strongies had to cut the planning short to go save Peter, so there was no dinner.
"Seriously? Ugh, have I told you people how much I hate camping. I'll say it again. I. Hate. Camping." Tony whinned as they ate a mixture of saltines and beans from a can. It had taken them almost no time to get the fire started, Tony was really good at it surprisingly. He really had nothing to complain about though. They were pretty much luxury camping, each tent was really big and had two cots in them.
"C'est Bete." (this is dumb) Peter mumbled, who took french in school and frequently spoke it with Tony.
"Oui, il en est de Steve." (yeah, so is Steve) The genius agreed. Cap heard his name and became paranoid.
"Stop talking about me!"
"Steve est bete. Campin est bete. Tout est bete! Traiter avec elle." (Steve is dumb. Camping is dumb. Everything is dumb! Deal with it) Natasha told them, shoving a cracker in her mouth. Clint sighed.
"Can you guys speak english!" It was silent for awhile. Eventually, one by one, they went to their tents- Steve first, then Bruce, then Clint and Peter, then Natasha, and after 6 packets of crackers, Thor. Tony sat by the fire, watching the embers die out as the night grew ever darker. And that is how Clint found him at 4 in the morning, when he got up to go to the bathroom.
"Uuum, Tony? What are you doing?" He said groggily walking over to the genius who was drawing in the dirt with a stick. Tony looked up at him and smiled a tired grin.
"Hey birdie. Go back to sleep."
"No, why are you out here? You go to sleep." He replied, waking up a little more. Tony shook his head and looked back at the ground, drawing another line with the stick. Clint looked over his shoulder at the pattern he was drawing, realising it was a design of another ironman suit.
"You just couldn't help yourself, could you? Can you go a day without working?" Tony waved a dismissive hand in his direction.
"Sure I can, now go away."
"No Tony, go to your tent and go to sleep."
"No."
"Yes."
"I can't."
"Why?"
"Because I can't, now go back to sleep." He still hadn't looked up. Clint shifted and finally turned back to his tent.
"Whatever, be a weirdo genius insomniac. Like I care."
The next morning, well, technically it was the same day as when Clint had come out, Steve walked tiredly out of his tent, yawning. He did a double take when Tony was seated by the fire, drawing in the ground a complicated design with a stick. The billionaire looked up.
"Hey Capsicle, you get a good night's sleep?" Steve nodded and walked over to him.
"Yup, you?" Tony nodded also.
"Yeah, slept like a baby."
"Why are you up so early?" Tony ignored him.
"I made breakfast." He gestured to the pot over the fire and Steve looked in to see oatmeal.
"Oh, thanks." Tony nodded.
"No problem." He was still drawing.
"What are you doing?" He finally looked up with a goofy grin.
"I had a great idea. This is a design for an environmentally friendly gasoline. The catch- it never runs out! An unlimited supply of energy. Imagine it Cap." The look of pure awe and hope in his eyes made Steve smile.
"It sounds great Tony." He dished them both out bowls of the oatmeal. As he sat down, Thor came out.
"Hello friends. What does camping have in store for us today?"
"Probably dying. Again." They looked over to see Peter coming out of his tent. Tony only nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, let's not do that again." Steve pleaded.
"It wasn't my fault, it was Clint's! He's the one who dared me!" Clint stumbled lazily out of the tent.
"What's my fault?" He noticed Tony. "Tony, please tell me you went to bed?" Tony pretended to look offended.
"Of course I did Legolas!"
"Yeah, whatever. I smell food."
"Tony made oatmeal." Steve said, putting another spoonful in his mouth. Clint and Peter looked at him disgusted.
"And you're eating it?" Clint said. Thor scooped some for himself.
"Yeah, it's good." Steve replied simply. Both received a bowl themselves as Natasha came out, shortly followed by Bruce. They took in the sight. Around the fire there were four wooden logs, perfect for sitting. Thor and Peter were sitting together on one, Clint on another, and Steve and Tony on the final one, their backs to the tents. Tony had put down the stick and was eating the oatmeal, deep in thought.
"Hey guys, want some oatmeal?" Peter asked seeing them first. They both went and sat down together on the final empty log after getting some of the mushy breakfast. They sat for a minute eating. Finally, they finished and Steve decided to share the plan for the day, or, the lack of plans.
"So, what do you guys want to do today?" He asked nervously.
"Can we go down to the lake? I saw it from the tree." Peter suggested, but Tony shook his head.
"No." He said simply.
"Why not? I think that's a great idea. You all packed bathing suits right?" Steve said.
"No, I didn't because I'm not going swimming." Tony replied stubbornly. Steve just smiled.
"Well then, it's a good thing I packed extras. Okay guys, let's go to the lake." Tony sighed as Peter yelled "race you there!" And Steve, Clint, Peter, and Natasha ran off, leaving Bruce and Tony to walk behind them.
"Why don't you want to go swimming?" Bruce asked once they got into the woods, following the yells of their team.
"Because." He snapped back, obviously not going to go into detail.
"Whatever." Bruce muttered. By the time they got there everyone was already in their bathing suits, and as soon as Steve saw them walk into the spacious area by the side of the lake he threw a suit at Tony. He and Bruce went into the trees to change and soon came out. They apparently were all wearing SHIELD issued avengers bathing suits because Steve's was blue, red and white, Clint's was purple, Bruce's was green, Thor's was red, Natasha's was black, Peter's was red and blue, and Tony's was red and gold.
"Let's all jump in together!" Peter yelled.
"Let's not!" Tony yelled back mimicking Peter's excitement. Steve glared at him.
"We're all going to jump in. Team bonding, remember?" He said through a forced smile. Tony glared right back.
"I'm. Not. Going. In. The. Water."
"Yes, you are."
"Not." Steve sighed angrily.
"I swear Tony, get into the water on the count of three with us."
"No." Steve walked over to him and scooped him up.
"One"
"No! Steve! Put me down!"
"Two"
"I swear to God, Steve! I'm not joking!" He pleaded, and Steve almost let him go.
"Three!" It was only Tony's broken scream that signaled the team that something was wrong. As they plunged into the water, Tony wrathed around in Steve's arms until he let him go. They both surfaced and Tony scrambled over to the edge of the water as fast as possible and threw himself out. He glanced back at the team staring questionably at him from the water then bolted through the woods, grabbing his clothes on the way out.
"Should we go check on him?" Peter asked worriedly.
"I don't know. What was wrong with him, do you think he doesn't know how to swim?" Clint asked.
"Maybe." Steve said, feeling a little guilty.
"I think we should just leave him alone." Bruce suggested. They all nodded, and continued to have a fun day at the lake. They came back about 2 hours later, soaking wet, to find Tony drawing in the dirt again with the stick. He glanced up at them and nodded his head to a plate on the log next to him.
"I made sandwiches." They each grabbed one… well, Steve, Peter, and Thor grabbed 3 or 4 each. It was a good thing Tony knew their eating habits and made extras. He smiled a little at his team because they were starting to look at him weird. "I think this is going to work. Brucie and Peter, come look." He pointed to the scratches in the ground. They talked about it for about half an hour, and by then, everyone was bored. They finally stopped talking and Steve decided to tell some war stories, provoking the rest of the team to join in sharing funny stories. After a couple of hours, however, everyone grew bored again. Tony looked around, noticing.
"Let's play manhunt." He suggested. It was starting to get dark enough.
"Yeah, sure." Clint said and Peter nodded in agreement. They split up into teams, trying to make it as fair as possible. The teams wound up being Tony, Peter, and Bruce versus Steve, Natasha, Clint and Thor. Team Skillz (Steve's team) decided to hide first. Steve climbed up the tree that Peter had gotten stuck in the other day, hoping no one would think he would go there. Natasha found a tree that was split at the bottom, making a perfect hole in the trunk where she could burrow and cover with leaves. Thor and Clint stuck together, sitting in low branches of two pine trees that sat next to each other. They were found almost immediately by Peter and Tony, Clint just giving up and not trying to outrun the teen. Thor sprinted almost 12 yards before Peter caught up with him, using his gracefulness to his advantage They brought them back to jail where Bruce was keeping guard. They went back out and found Steve, but Peter refused to climb the tree, so Tony had to try. Steve gave in, knowing Tony would wind up hurting himself. Besided, this would make it up to him for the lake incident. They brought him back to base too. They finally went back to get Natasha, but couldn't find her anywhere, and there were only 2 minutes in the round left, so they headed back to jail, happy at just getting 3 members. As they approached the camp they heard yelling and they ran back into the clearing just in time for them to see Natasha run up behind Bruce and get all her teammates out of jail. They yelled and Bruce began to chase them, but Tony sighed and signalled him to stop, looking at his watch.
"Time." He frowned. Team Skillz high fived each other and Team Science headed out. They all decided to stick together in the beginning and just keep on moving closer and closer to the camp as the game progressed so they could get a jailbreak at the end like Natasha. Eventually, Peter found a cave and was trying to convince Tony to go in.
"Nope. One word. Afghanistan. Cave's are no no's. Sorry." Peter sighed.
"Fine everyone choose a tree and try and get between as many leaves and branches as you can." They all went to climb a tree in the area. Peter climbed the highest, and just never stopped. He could see everything from there, about 80 feet up. Tony went about 30 feet up before his foot got stuck in a notch and he decided to just stay there for the game. Bruce went about 10 feet up, but covered himself well enough that even Natasha wouldn't be able to see them.
"Okay, they're starting to come out, I can see-" He cut off as a giant bird flew into his face. "What the heck!" He got knocked over and started to fall down the tree hitting branches on his way down. One of those branches was intertwined with the tree next to it, the one Tony was on. The branches rubbed against each other and Tony was wobbled until he slipped, his foot still stuck in the crevice in the tree.
"Ow! Oh shoot!" He cried as his foot twisted and he was left hanging by it from the tree. Peter eventually made it to the bottom of the tree, ending in a free fall of about 20 feet. He groaned from the ground
"Ow, oh man."
"Are you okay?" Bruce yelled over, climbing down his own tree.
"No! I'm stuck. Ow!"
"I hate birds." Peter mumbled from the ground, his face buried in the dirt. Bruce made it down and ran over to Tony to help him down, but he just waved to Peter.
"Help him first!" He called from his position. He slid a little more, twisting his probably broken ankle even more. Bruce went over to the kid and helped him sit up. He had scratches on his face and arms, but other than that he looked fine.
"Peter, what hurts?"
"Everything. My wrist." Bruce looked at it. Luckily, it just looked sprained.
"Okay, hold tight, I'm going to help Tony now." He nodded. Tony tried to wiggle free a little more, but just cried out in pain.
"Oh shoot! God! Brucie, get the other team! You won't be able to get up here!" Brucie shouted back in agreeal, then ran off.
"Steve! Steve!? Clint! Nat! Thor!" He ran around the woods, hoping someone would hear him. "Guys! Team Skillz! Truce! We need help!" Clint ran into the clearing where Bruce was shouting from.
"Is this a trick?" He looked skeptically. Bruce shook his head violently, panicking.
"No, we were in the trees and a bird came and knocked Peter out of the tree and as he fell he knocked over Tony, who is stuck by his foot right now in the tree and they need help!" He said all in one breath. Steve ran up with Thor.
"What's going on?" Bruce started to run off back to the trees while Clint, Natasha, Steve, and Thor followed him.
Meanwhile, Peter was trying to comfort Tony.
"Hey, it's okay man! The others are coming and they'll get you down! How's your foot?!" He yelled up to him.
"Well, I'm pretty sure it's broken, and so is my ankle! It hurts, like, really bad, and I really don't appreciate it!"
"Just calm down, dude! You'll be down here in no time! Hey, let's have s'mores when we get out of here! I love s'mores!" Tony laughed a little then yelped.
"Yeah, sounds great!" The others ran in and saw Peter bloody on the ground holding a hand to his chest and looked up to see Tony, grimacing in pain, hanging in a painful position by his foot. "Finally, you're here! Get me down!" Clint laughed.
"So, you weren't joking!" Tony yelled out in pain as his foot slipped more.
"Oh, shoot! It's not funny Katniss! God, I hate you! Get me down!" Steve looked up the tree and told Bruce to keep an eye on Peter while he started climb the tree. He reached Tony in no time, but couldn't figure out a safe way to get him down.
"Clint! I need your help up here!" Clint, being the spy and avid climber he was, got up there fast. "Okay, get under him and hold his arms and chest while I get his foot out."
"Please be careful." Tony asked as Clint got in position. He wrapped his arms under Tony's and prepared to hold his weight. Steve tried to gently push his foot out, but after Tony tensed up and stifled a yell he tried to do it differently. Eventually, he had to painfully pull it up and twist for it to come out, causing Tony to fall back on Clint while Steve grabbed him under the knee to hold him more steadily. He gently lowered Tony's lower side to the branch where Clint was so he could sort of stand. He wobbled a bit but Clint still held him.
"Woah, headrush." Next, they had to figure out how to get the dizzy and hurt billionaire out of the tree. This trip was a mess. Peter sat at the bottom of the tree, asleep and hurt, Bruce was obviously stressed, Clint seemed to be the only one who was enjoying himself, who knew what Natasha was feeling, but Steve knew that Tony was done with this whole thing, and so was he.
"That's it. Thor! Get Mjolnir and help Tony down!" Thor seemed to think in doubt for a moment before he sighed and summoned the hammer, which arrived in about 2 minutes. He flew up and threw Tony over his shoulder, who protested, but eventually accepted that he needed help. They went down carefully and Clint and Steve started to climb down. That was until Clint slipped, falling into Steve and knocking them both down and out of the tree. Clint attempted to land, but he was to tired and startled, so he wound up landing on his side, no doubt bruising or cracking his ribs. Steve landed face down, a rock cutting his cheek and another lodging into his hand. He got up fast and pulled the rock out and wiped the blood from his face.
"We're going home tomorrow." Tony, who leaning heavily on Thor, sighed in relief.
"Yeah, thanks. That's great. Now let's go back to camp. Petey promised me s'mores." Peter looked up groggily at hearing his name.
"Wha'? Oh, yeah. S'mores. Les do that." Steve went over to him and offered him a piggy back ride, which he gratefully accepted. Natasha wrapped an arm around Clint and helped him walk back to camp while Bruce helped on the other side. They all hobled and limped back to camp, everyone either injured or helping the injured. When they got to the camp, Tony took off his shoe (springing a line of curses) and Bruce looked at his foot and ankle. Luckily, they had brought a first aid kit, knowing that the Avengers couldn't have gone an entire week without getting hurt. They really should have brought him and Clint to a hospital, but it was really late and everyone was tired, so they just wrapped up Tony's foot, Clint's ribs, Peter's wrist, and Steve's hand the best they could and sat by the fire eating the promised s'mores. Peter fell asleep first, being already half asleep since the second incident of the tree. He laid against Steve, who had a protective arm wrapped around him. Bruce was next, sitting on the ground with his back against the log that Natasha and Thor were on. Steve fell asleep while holding Peter, and Tony wished he a camera to take of picture of it. Natasha slowly went over to the open bench and laid down, looking at the stars while Thor pointed out constellations and the apparently true stories behind them. Tony scoffed and said they were just myths, but Clint pointed out that Thor had once been a myth, and the Black Widow fell asleep surrounded by her team thinking about what her life had become that a mythical god sat across from her. Thor threw himself across the log, just as Natasha had and drifted off still telling stories of his home and friends that rested in the blinking lights in the sky. All that remained was Tony and Clint who resided on the final bench. Silence was louder than the cracking and fading embers of the fire.
"You gonna go to sleep?" Tony asked Clint, who still looked at the stars as though they held a path or an untold story.
"You?" He answered turning to the clearly exhausted man, who shook his head. Clint lent back a little, placing his arms behind him, his hands on the log, and looked up once again.
"Then neither am I." They were quiet for another moment. "Why?" Clint asked. Tony looked at him confused.
"Why what?" The archer laughed a little.
"I dunno man. There are so many things I could ask you 'why' about. No, what I want to know is why you aren't going to sleep. Why you never fall asleep during movie nights, or when you're in medical you rarely even go to sleep unless you haven't in a long time or you're in a lot of pain and hyped up on drugs. Why?" Tony shifted a little and put his arms on the log behind him, leaning back like Clint was.
"I can't sleep in strange, unfamiliar places. It was always hard for me. Did you know I'm a medically identified insomniac." Clint hid his surprise and kept a straight face, nodding his head no. "No, well, a lot of people don't. It wasn't as bad before, just a couple times a week, about 3 to 5 times a month, I just wouldn't sleep. Then, after Afghanistan, I couldn't sleep anywhere. Not in my bed, my lab, my sofa. I tried a hotel. I tried everything. The world record for not sleeping is almost 11 days. 246 hours. I stayed awake for 9 and a half days before. That's 230 hours. 13,800 minutes of torture where no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't slip away. I couldn't get away. That was when I first came back. After those 230 hours, I finally passed out in the lab. I woke up 30 minutes later from a nightmare. It went on like that for a while. I would stay awake for so long until my mind finally let go, only to be jolted awake a little while later from a cave in the desert that took me too long to figure out was just a dream. Eventually, I could sleep in my bed, but only if Pepper was there. We would go on business trips, and I would never sleep. I would get so bored, so antsy, and there was nothing I could do about it. When I got really tired, I would have nothing to think about, so I would think about everything. Literally everything, Clint. Do you know what it's like to have a thousand thought racing through your head, and have time to analyse every single one of them? It's a curse, my brilliance. My genius. It haunts me. All those thoughts, how can I sleep? Eventually, it got better though. I would sleep in the lab. On the sofa every once in awhile. Then, my friend, my father figure, he came to me and ripped my heart out, leaving me to die on the sofa. So, I got all new thoughts to think of. I'd go through everything in my mind, having no choice but to think of Afghanistan and Obadiah. And things just kept happening." He paused for a while, looking at the stars. "That's why I built all the Iron Man suits. Not the first one. No, I built that one so I could escape. But that's what they have always been about. To escape. I had so many reasons to build Iron Man. A new thought, one that brought hope instead of dread and remorse. A way of revenge. A way to dignify and redeem myself A way to out think the thoughts. A glimpse that maybe, just maybe, if I became some kind of superhero, if I faced enough danger, one day I would make a mistake and the thoughts would go away...it was a glimpse that one day I would sleep and not have to worry about not being able to again." He turned to face Clint, sitting up straight. "But it's not that anymore. I'm better. Believe it or not, I've changed. Except for one thing, One thing that I'm going to be cursed with no matter what. My brilliance. My genius. The thoughts. I can't sleep unless I feel perfectly and absolutely safe, in a hope that the greater and more comfortable I feel...it will scare away the dreams." And with that final thought, he slid down the log, resting on the ground with his back to it, and leaned his head back, drifting off to sleep. Clint smiled. There were still so many why's he would like to ask Tony Stark. Why did he act like an uncaring jerk when in reality, he cared to much. Why wouldn't he get help? Why was he always the one giving help? Clint looked at the sketches and designs still in the ground from earlier. Tony was trying to build an energy source that was everlasting. He slid down next to Tony on the ground, copying his position. He eyes slid shut. Tony Stark, the man who would make everything and everyone in this world everlasting, doing himself last.