AUTHORS NOTE: Well, since I have nothing to say... read on! Oh yeah, and I hope you enjoy! ANNNNDDD I haven't abandoned I Trust You (don't make me regret it) I swear!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters you see here. Marvel owns them all. I am merely taking them for play!
SILENCE IS A VIRTUE
When he says he's leaving for a week, everyone (though it's mostly Clint) looks relieved. It's not like Tony doesn't notice it, either, because hey! He is totally not called a genius for nothing. Anyway. He totally expects the relief and whatever, since he knows that out of all the Avengers, he's the least-loved of them all. And we're not going by the public's general consensus here, 'cause then Tony would beat them all hands down - half the kids of today don't even know Captain America except for old comic books that their parents might've kept.
"So, a week being... Friday, right?" Clint asks, flipping an egg over on the saucepan and doing a little jig (it's kind of a little butt shimmy, with added in hand waving) when it lands the right way up.
"Duh." Says Tony.
"Huh." Nat says thoughtfully. "Don't those SI tours usually last a fortnight?"
"Yea-ah?" Tony raises his eyebrows. "But I said I had to get back earlier. I have other commitments now." He gestures at them all as he speaks.
"It's cool." Says Steve, flicking the page of his newspaper. He'd been adamant on getting the paper the 'Old Way' and not online as Tony had suggested. Even the added 'save the trees' speech that Tony had thrown in was not enough to sway the Captain. "I'm sure we can manage a little longer. You didn't have to do that for us."
"Indeed, Friend Stark." Says Thor, just to add his voice in the mix, probably.
"Well, I wanted to." Tony is stubborn as ever.
"I'll miss you." Says Banner, totally truthfully. Because, Science Bros and all that.
Tony manages a rare smile.
It's lunch the next day, after Tony has left, when Steve notices something is wrong.
"Do we usually have the radio on or something?" He asks, curiously wondering what the lack of noise is from. Because this is really, really weird.
"No." Says Banner. "Not at lunch. Remember how Nat got pissed when Tony tried to play his AC/DC on full blast last time she tried to eat an omelette in peace?"
"It was a good omelette." Natasha defends, stabbing at her pasta bake violently with her fork. Clint manages a grunt of agreement with his mouth stuffed to the brim. Even Thor looks appreciative of Banner's cooking.
"Oh yeah," says Steve, acting like Nat hasn't said anything. "Then what...?"
"I believe that we aren't being forced to endure the Science Speak of Friend Stark this time. That may be why you find the silence odd." Thor nods slowly.
"Does he usually...?" Steve looks confused.
"All the time." Clint grumbles. "Last week it was; so I had to miniaturise the reactor blah, blah, blah, prosthesis blah, blah, Pi blah, reasoning blah, blah, elements, blah, Starkanium was the only substitute for Badassium blah, blah."
"Oh." Says Steve, and that's the last that is said on the matter. The rest of lunch is a rather miserable and quiet affair.
It's movie night. Usually a night where all the Avengers huddle up on one couch, while Tony spreads across the other with Pepper lying across his chest. Tonight though, everyone is uncomfortably... comfortable.
"I pick Life of Pi." Says Clint, instantly. "And no, Stark, you don't get to pick Star Wars again... wait..."
"He's not here." Says Natasha, sighing.
"No arguments." Says Steve, in a tone that probably would be relieved if he wasn't feeling so troubled about it.
"Huh." Says Clint. He puts a disk in the DVD player, and nobody comments when Star Wars starts rolling on the screen.
Bruce comes back from the lab the next day looking more than a little dejected. Not that anyone knows quite why, because his hair isn't singed and his eyes don't look Hulk-Green for once - which totally has to be a plus, right?
Apparently, wrong.
"That was weird." He says, settling in at the dinner table.
Everyone looks at his unnaturally pristine stature and knows instantly what he's talking about.
"You betcha." Says Clint. "What even is the deal with that shit? You look tidy."
"No explosions today." Says Bruce.
There's a long moment where everyone looks at the unnaturally silent head of the table where Tony would usually be sat pissing himself about some Fury-orientated pirate joke.
Dinner is eaten in silence.
"I have come to a conclusion." Says Thor, the next morning.
"Enlighten us." Says Natasha, in a grouchier tone than usual.
"We miss Friend Stark."
/no shit./ Everyone thinks dully.
"Huh." Says Clint.
"Yeah, maybe." Says Steve.
"You think?" Natasha comments dryly.
"Indeed." Thor nods slowly.
"I said we would." Banner announces instantly, and the everyone looks slightly amused at that.
Tentatively, Clint puts up a hand. "Everyone who votes that we don't tell Tony, say 'I'."
Naturally, everybody says 'I' instantly.
A couple days later, everyone is sitting in the lounge room when the elevator dings. Five pairs of eyes glance toward the door, and then the ghost of a smile flickers across each of their faces when Tony stumbles out of the elevator with dark shades over his eyes. Pepper comes out behind him, an exasperated look on her face as he moans something about alcohol.
"He has a hangover from hell," Pepper announces, clapping a hand over his eyes. "It's disturbing his feng shui."
"I couldn't listen to the board members!" Tony whines. "They were messing up my wa. You can't honestly tell me that you sat there and took in every single word that they came up with?"
"No." Agrees Pepper. "But meditation helped. If you just sort of sit there and drift off..."
"I don't have that sort of zen, Pep. I can't just do that."
Suffice to say, everyone is greatly amused.
Everyone shows Tony how pleased they are to have him back in their own unique way.
When he wakes up because of Steve's paper delivery, Tony stumbles to the kitchen. He heads straight for the fridge, grabs a bottle of beer and then swaggers lazily to the couch. Amazingly, Clint is already there. He's sitting on the smooth leather; on the actual seat.
Tony stares. He blinks a few times, and then gapes visibly. "Bird brain isn't sitting on top of the fridge for once?" He mutters. "Holy shit; have I died and gone to Heaven?"
Clint glares and flicks him the middle finger.
Thor is... Well, the most he does is pass Tony a packet of pop-tarts. There's a smile on his face as he does so, and Tony glares suspiciously at him.
"What are you doing?"
"Sharing!" Says Thor. "I am sharing these delicious popped tarts of mine. Can I not do that for a friend?"
"When your name is Thor?" Tony queries snappishly. "No, you can't. Thor doesn't share his pop-tarts, okay?"
"Hey, um, Tony?" Steve comes up to Tony warily. He pats the genius tentatively on his shoulder and raises his eyebrows expectantly.
"Yo, Steveo?"
"I, um, was wondering...?"
"You want your newspaper digitally for once?" Tony demands. "Sorry Steve, but I can't keep getting woken up by the paper guy at five every morning because you spent time as a..."
Steve flushes and cuts in. "Yeah, actually. That's actually what I was wondering."
Tony stares at him in shock. "Okay. Come off it. You guys are all being way to nice to me right now. Tell me right now what is going on, or I'm going to call bullshit and get Loki to come over here and reverse his magical shit."
Steve shrugs. "I have no idea what you're talking about." He begins to walk off, smirking to himself. "Oh, and Tony?" He pauses on the way to his door. "I'm expecting digital news from tomorrow morning onward!"
"Stark!" Natasha snaps. "Why the fuck didn't you tell me that Fury had you working so much? He can't give you all that work!"
Tony shrugs. "I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't want to." He says. Natasha knows it is true, but she also knows how much he wants to be an Avenger and not merely a consultant.
She scowls. "I just think that you're deserving of a break. Just... just take a load off for a minute, 'kay?"
Tony rolls his eyes, but there's something in his face that shows how grateful he is that she's thinking of him.
She smiles back loosely and then turns on her heel and disappears. "I'll be telling Fury about this, by the way!" She throws casually over her shoulder.
Bruce doesn't change much.
He's more chatty in the lab, and he's shut up about getting rid of the Hulk for a while.
Not that Tony notice's much. He's a little more preoccupied with the unnatural kindness that has been circulating him ever since he got back.
"Everyone missed me. Is that it?" He demands.
"Nope." Bruce says quickly. "We rather enjoyed the quiet."
Tony scowls. "Okay. Then you all found out about Maria and I?"
"Maria? Hill?"
"Joking. It's cool. Chill." Tony waves a hand in the air. "My man-whore status was earned, got just given to me. I didn't get it by hooking up with people like her. I mean, that leather is just creepy shit."
Bruce shoots him a look.
Tony turns back to his work, a small smirk on his face.
Yeah. They missed me.