Tony woke up in a cold sweat. It wasn't even so much a nightmare, but memories. Almost every night he woke up after flying into the wormhole or seeing Yensin's bullet-ridden body stare up at him with glassy eyes.
His anxiety was getting worse, and he knew it. He just didn't want to admit it. It was a matter of time before he had one in in front of the team. They were all living in his tower.
He sat up looking down and seeing the familiar blue glow of the arc reactor. His mind shot back to when Obi- no Stane- stole the reactor. He tapped the small metal circle, convincing himself that it was still there. Tony looked sadly at the spot where Pepper usually slept. She was gone for a week-long meeting in Japan.
"What time is it J?" He inquired of the AI.
"It is currently 6:53 AM, sir." Jarvis replied smoothly. "Captain Rogers and Ms. Romanoff have just returned from their morning jog and are making breakfast in the kitchen, Mr. Odinson is still sleeping, Mr. Barton is in the shooting range, and Dr. Banner is meditating on his floor."
"Why would you willingly get up that early?" He asked rhetorically.
"The answer escapes me, sir." Jarvis answered. Tony stood up and walked to the bathroom to take a shower.
After he took a long refreshing shower, he got dressed and headed down to the communal kitchen. AC/DC was softly playing in the elevator as he rode to the communal floor. He entered the large floor and made his way to the coffee machine.
"Good morning. Do you want some eggs?" Steve greeted.
"Coffee." He said in answer. Tony started a pot of coffee. Steve put a large portion of eggs on a plate and slid it over to Tony, who was crouched over the table next to Natasha.
Clint dropped down from the vents making Tony jump. "Any left?" He asked pointing to Tony's plate. Steve nodded before grabbing another plate and doling out another large portion of eggs. He bounced over to where Steve was holding his plate of eggs and grabbed the salt and pepper.
"How are you so happy in the morning?" Tony growled, looking disgusted. He walked to coffee maker and got himself a fresh cup of coffee.
Not everyone is a grouch like you, Iron ass." Clint said climbing onto the fridge.
"Clint, what are you doing on the fridge?" Bruce asked exiting the elevator.
"I like to be up high." He replied through a mouthful of eggs.
Bruce grabbed a plate and helped himself the the rest of the eggs. He walked over to the coffee pot and poured himself some coffee into the Hulk mug that Tony had gotten him. He sat down next across from Tony.
"You look like crap." Bruce said quietly, noticing the dark circles under Tony's eyes and his overall paleness.
"I bet you get all the ladies." Tony joked, taking a sip of coffee.
"Did you get any sleep last night or were you up playing with your robots again?" Bruce asked with a smirk.
"I do not play with my robots." Tony said indignantly.
"You're deflecting the question." Bruce sang.
"I'm fine Green Bean." Tony replied shortly. He ate some of his eggs, trying to deflect the conversation from himself. The eggs were bland. He reached for the salt and pepper that Clint had left.
"Why are there no baths in this entire tower? Or pools?" Clint added as an afterthought. Tony stiffened ever so slightly. He had filled in all the pools and made all of the baths into showers. He did this because the thought of being submerged in water still haunted him in his nightmares after Afghanistan.
"I never thought that you would be one for pink bubbles and rubber duckys." Tony said.
"I was wondering the same thing, actually." Bruce stated, a questioning look directed at Tony. "Why aren't there any baths? It's not like you don't have the money."
"I just don't really like them. They get dirty. Especially jacuzzis, mold gets in there and it's just gross." He lied. He grabbed his coffee. "I'll be in my lab. I have to go do some work for SI." He walked as quickly as he could to the elevator without looking suspicious.
"Lab, JARVIS." The elevator went down. "Can you give me video and audio of what's happening in the kitchen now?"
"Of course." JARVIS responded, immediately pulling up the video and audio to the communal kitchen.
"What a load of bullshit." Clint said from the top of the fridge.
"Glad to know I wasn't the only one that noticed it." Natasha said.
"What are you talking about?" Steve asked, confused. Tony watched in apprehension.
"I'm not totally sure. " Stated Clint.
"JARVIS, why aren't there any baths or pools in the tower?" Bruce asked.
"I swear, if you tell them I will make you talk in nothing other than Harry Potter quotes for the rest of the year." Tony said violently, watching everything from the small screen.
"Always." JARVIS quoted, sarcastically. The AI addressed the kitchen. "That information is classified, Dr. Banner."
"Why would it be classified? He wouldn't have classified it if there wasn't something he wanted kept secret." Bruce looked worried.
"We can't be a team if we don't know important things like this about each other." Steve spoke.
"Well why don't you go ask him? That'll go well." Clint stated.
"Clint does have a point, Steve. We can't just go up and ask him. We have to think about this carefully." Natasha pointed out.
"Well, how would you do it then?" Steve asked, obviously unsure.
"I'll figure something out." She said and walked over to the elevator. Tony rushed out of the elevator as it started to close and go back up to meet Natasha.
Tony had heard enough. He didn't want Natasha prying into his life again. It was bad enough the first time. Why couldn't they just leave him alone?
The team had mostly forgotten about it, or so he thought. It was about 120° outside. The air conditioning was down because Clint had broken one of his chloroform arrows in one of the air ducts. Tony would have gotten it squared away quickly but the man that did all of the air conditioning, was out sick.
The entire team was miserable. Tony was going up to the communal floor to refill his coffee mug. After making a fresh pot of coffee, he walked over to the living room.
"Tony, are you sure you don't have a swimming pool?" Clint asked. "I mean, I'm boiling."
"It's your fault for getting us in this mess to begin with." Tony shot at him.
"Do you have a pool or not?" Natasha asked, her body was draped over one of the many couches.
"I have a few at my other houses." He answered.
"Take me to this fine pool of swimming." Thor boomed.
"No, there isn't a lot of room there." Tony responded.
"Honestly, I don't care if it's the size of a closet as long as there is a pool outside." Steve spoke from an armchair. "Where's the closest one?"
"That would be the mansion." Tony said, his tone was hard.
"Take me there now." Natasha commanded.
"None of you have swimsuits." Tony tried.
"SHIELD gave us some," Clint pointed to himself and Natasha, "And Bruce can borrow one of your's. Cap can figure out something."
"SHIELD gave me one too." Steve spoke up.
"What makes you think I have any swimsuits?" Tony asked.
"If you have a swimming pool you have swimsuits." Natasha replied.
Despite much complaining from Tony, the Avengers were in a car headed to Tony's mansion. Tony was not happy about this in the slightest. He had to go to the mansion that he grew up in. He didn't have many happy memories there. All of the happy ones he did have reminded him of people who he was unable to see. Namely, Jarvis his old butler and his Aunt Peggy, who had dementia and thought he was Howard whenever he saw her. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel as he remembered this. The others were sitting in the back chatting. Bruce was next to him reading quietly.
"I didn't know you had a mansion." Bruce stated looking up from his book.
"I'm not a fan of it." Tony replied shortly.
"Why wouldn't you be?" Bruce asked. At this point Tony thought Bruce was just trying to make conversation.
"It was the house that I grew up in." Tony would normally never be so open with anyone, not even Pepper, but Bruce seemed to have an aura around him that made you want to open up to him.
"So?" Bruce questioned. He was either not getting the fact that Tony didn't want to talk or he was just ignoring it.
"I didn't have a very happy childhood." Tony said, stopping at the stoplight.
"What, were you not spoiled enough as a child?" Clint jokes from one of the back seats.
"Look, I don't really want to talk about it. Okay?" Tony saw the light turn green and pressed the pedal a bit harder than he would have normally done.
"No, I'm curious to why the 'Great Tony Stark' didn't have a happy childhood." Clint insisted. Tony looked at Bruce, hoping for him to tell Clint to drop it. No such luck as Bruce too held a hint of curiosity in his brown eyes.
"Come on. Do you really want me to go over my entire crappy childhood?" Tony asked, trying to get them to drop it. Instead they just nodded eagerly.
"Fine. I don't like the mansion because it's too small." Tony lied. He really didn't want to go down that road.
"That's a load of bullshit." Natasha said, not looking up from her magazine.
"Look, can't you just accept that I don't want to talk about it." Tony exclaimed.
"I just can't wait to see little Tony's bedroom." Clint mocked.
"No. Absolutely no going in my room." Tony had idolized Captain America when he was younger. It was hard not to when that was the only thing his dad would talk to him about. He had action figures and everything. If Clint found out about that, he would never hear the end of it.
"Oh, now even I'm curious." Natasha stated from her spot next to Clint. "You can't have anything that bad in there."
"Just stay out of my room." Tony was at his wits ends. He turned into the long driveway that he remembered so well. They stopped next to the huge building.
"This is where you grew up?" Steve asked incredulously, putting his book down. They all clambered out of the large car. God, Tony hated this place.
"Go down this first hallway, then turn right, then right again. The door's labeled 'Pool' so, you can't miss it. I'll go get the swimsuits." He grumbled.
"I'll go with you." Bruce offered. "I want to see more of where you grew up anyways."
"Fine." Tony muttered. He took the stairs up to the nest level. He stiffened when he saw his father's old office, but ignored it. He walked down the hallway, Bruce on his heels.
"Stay here." He requested. He opened the door to his old bedroom and just as luck would have it, a Captain America poster fell into the hallway.
"C'est des connenes!" He swore. Tony could speak only two languages (English and Spanish), but he knew how to swear in almost eighteen different languages.
"So, you were a big fan of Captain America when you were younger. No wonder you didn't want Clint to see your room." Bruce chuckled slightly.
"It was the only thing Howard talked to me about that didn't end with an argument or him getting drunk." Tony grunted angrily.
Bruce nodded, an understanding look across his face. He moved quietly into the room, looking at the old decor in interest. He picked up a fallen action figure and placed it carefully on the dresser. Tony walked into the walk-in closet looking into the drawers for the swimsuits. It had been a long time since he had swam but he had stopped growing in his early twenties so the swimsuits would still fit. Damn it. He grabbed two pairs and handed the first to Bruce.
They walked out to the pool, Tony dreading every step of the way. They stopped at the bathroom to change. Bruce went in first. After Bruce was done, Tony went in. He kept his T-shirt firmly on. He still wasn't comfortable with the team seeing his arc reactor.
They walked out together and out to the Olympic sized swimming pool. Steve, Clint and Thor were already in the pool. Natasha was reclined on a chair next to the pool reading a magazine. Tony went to sit in the seat next to her. Bruce went to go join in.
"Come on in! The water's perfect." Steve called over to the two. Natasha looked up. She read the last page of her magazine and stood up. She walked over and gracefully slid into the pool. Now he was alone.
"Come on Tony. Get in here." Clint yelled over the sound of a splashing war between Bruce and Thor. He waved them off.
"You are missing these magnificent waters, friend. Come and join us." Thor boomed, golden locks soaked.
"Nah, I'd rather watch you guys." Tony tried. He grabbed Natasha's abandoned magazine and pretended to read it.
Clint looked mischievously at the place where Tony was sitting. He swam over to Thor. He whispered his plan into the demigod's ear. The two of them swam over to the side of the pool and climbed out. The rest of the Avengers stopped to watch.
Suddenly, Tony was being hoisted in the air. "Hey, guys this isn't funny." He shouted. "Put me down now." His voice was getting a bit of a panicked edge. The two holding him threw him into the water.
He was back in the cave. There were arms holding him under. The car battery wires were sparking. He couldn't breathe. He held his breath, trying as hard as he could to not breathe the dirty water. The harsh language he remembered went through his ears once again. He struggled against the arms that he felt. He kicked out, hitting something solid.
Strong arms wrapped around his body, pulling him up. He felt himself break the surface. He scrambled out of the water and collapsed on the ground, shivering.
He felt someone close to him. Two hands caught his, as he lashed out again. The vice-like hands that were clenched around his let go.
"Tony, Tony! It's me, Bruce. You need to breath." Tony heard through his panicked state. Soft, gentle arms wrapped around him. Wait- Bruce? Why was Bruce here? He looked up and saw the damp curls of his friend. The memories of what happened flooded into his head.
He leaned into the warm body gasping for air. "That's it, just breathe." The soft voice whispered above him. He grasped the arc reactor, assuring himself that he wasn't hooked up to wires anymore. Tony stayed in Bruce's arms for what felt like hours.
Once he had calmed enough, he saw the rest of the team, huddled around him. He glanced at Bruce and backed out of his reassuring arms. "Sorry." He muttered.
"What would you be sorry for? I'm the one that made you go in. I should be the one that's sorry." Clint apologised.
"I too am very sorry." Thor looked down in shame.
"I'd just like to know why that happened." Steve said. Bruce glared at him for his lack of tact.
"Afghanistan." He clipped. "There was a terrorist organization called The Ten Rings. They wanted me to make a bomb." He had never told anyone about 'the incident' as he called it.
Steve looked at him in confusion. "What does that have to do with water?"
"Waterboarding." Natasha answered shortly. Bruce helped him off the ground and grabbed a towel. The others took it as a sign that the conversation was done. Bruce and Tony headed back to the bathroom so they could change.
"Tony, why didn't you tell us?" Bruce asked once they were back in the car.
"Why would I?" He shot back. He can't believe that he broken down in front of his team.
"It's okay to not be fine." Clint spoke in a matter-of-fact tone. 'Stark men are made of iron' went through Tony's head. He had been taught from a very young age that emotions were for the weak, that he should cover them up at all costs.
They drove the rest of the way back to the tower in silence. He made his way to the workshop immediately. He patted DUM-E on his touch sensor as he offered a smoothie. He thought that maybe, just maybe, he could trust this band of superheros.
I do not own the Avengers. If any of this is wrong please tell me. Please review.