He would not tell anyone.
Tony clambered from his suit. He ran towards the bathroom, before heaving his lunch over.
Steve shouted to deaf ears in the comlink. Tony took it out before he could hear the retching.
Tony flushed away the bile and fell face first in the bed.
The rest of the avengers fought the doombots alone.
Tony changed rhe palladium core. Jarvis would advise not to use the suit.
"the world needs iron man, j." tony muttered,his voice casual.
The world needed iron man, not the man inside it.
Steve came home, threw his shield at the corner and dashed towards the lab.
It was empty.
"jarvis where is stark?" steve raised his head up towards the ceiling.
"captain rogers , I would advise against-
"just guide me where he is damnit!" steve changed his voice dramatically.
Steve ran as jarvis prompted the directions.
He opened the door, to see Tony asleep.
Steve, fuming, pulled the blanket and threw it on the floor.
This woke Tony up.
He sat up on the face was flushed and eyes looked red, not like Steve cared.
"what happened rogers?" tony asked meekly.
"what the hell is wrong with you?!" steve raised his voice making tony flinch. steve normally had a good control over anger like bruce, but injustice and recklessness made him bolder than a bobcat in cat reserve.
Tony was shaken with this tone of Steve. He got down from the bed.
"Natasha has fractured her leg because mr. Stark here wouldn't help her. Was it so important to sleep? Why? Does staying in the battlefield and helping friends cramp your style?"
Tony clenched his fists and eyes and steve continued.
" you never listen to anyone! Can we even trust you?"
Tony felt his nails dig into his skin.
"I don't even know how howard put up with a guy who can abandon his teammates !"
Enough.
Tony ran out of the room.
Steve felt satisfaction and he retreated to the common floor.
Xxx
Tony ran through the cold hallways of the tower, towards his lab.
The lab smelt of oil and machines. Dum-e ran towards Tony. Tony smiled and patted him.
"jarvis?"
"online sir."
"do you think I should not be on the team?"
"sir, you are a team do not let mr. Rogers affect you."
" I wish I could hug you. " Tony muttered before settling on the sofa and falling asleep.
Dum-e retreated to his charging station.
An iron man armour silently came and hugged Tony, to his surprise.
"I can still hug you sir."
Tony felt tears come to his eyes.
Xxx
Steve went red whenever he saw Natasha limping.
Clint was passed out on the sofa, frowning.
Thor was eying his hammer, and Bruce , still pallid, was passed out on another couch.
The t.v was on . A news reporter was blabbering between layers of mascara.
To Steve, it didn't matter. All he could see , hear and feel was anger.
Raw anger.
Xxx
Tony started working. There would be something except palladium.
Natasha came skipping down the workshop. Not like tony noticed her.
" any luck?"
"no actually... Hey!" he glared at Natasha. And then her plaster cast. It had spiders on it, courtesy of Clint.
Tony felt downright ashamed.
The black widow was limping because of him.
"tony?"
"yeah?"
"its not your mistake."
Tony dropped the screwdriver on the table. Natasha continued.
"i know why you ran. The core was depleted, right?"
Tony nodded. Natasha smiled.
"come on, we ordered pizza." Natasha said warmly.
"no, actually i have work..."
" it is Steve isn't it?"
"how do you know?" tony snapped his full attention towards Natasha.
"his com was on." Natasha rolled her eyes.
Tony shook his head. His heart felt heavy. Even if Natasha accepted that it was not his mistake, tony would always feel heavy hearted. No, tony wont go. Not when Steve was near. Steve would chew his head off. Nonononono. Never.
"tony?"
"no." tony snapped, twirling his thumbs.
"why?"
"i have work to do."
" i will be waiting." Natasha twirled around carefully and limped her way out of the lab.
Tony trailed his eyes before her and sighed. He went to his armour .
"j, lets go for a few rounds."
Xxxx
Natasha limped in the common room. Steve immediately ran to her assistance. Natasha swatted him away with a dark expression. strange.
"i don't need your help."
"everyone needs help sometime, tasha."
"funny who is speaking this isn't it." Natasha snapped 's face scrunched up in confusion.
" you heard?"
" com link."
"tasha," Steve said ," he needed that, running out like that."
" maybe you didn't ask him why, you wouldn't understand."
Natasha limped away from Steve and adjusted herself nearby Clint . Clint smiled, taking the red sketch pen from the table and drawing more spiders on her cast.
Steve hung his head in shame before running towards tony's lab.
Xxx
Of course, the lab was empty.
The robots were arranged in their charging stations. Jarvis brightened the lights. The lab looked devastated.
Steve was actually astonished by a iron man hologram, which was left on the table.(how come?) he was jerking and convulsing.
"Jarvis , what is wrong with this hologram?"
"this hologram was being tested by an alternative core for the palladium reactor.
" why would he do that?"
"that information is classified."
Steve nodded . He tried to settle the hologram resulting failure, thus exiting the lab.
Xxx
Clint woke up to a sunny morning in his room, ( who carried him?). He smiled at the birds outside. He took a minute to polish his bow . He opened the door and Natasha nearly knocked at his head.
" mr. Sleepyhead finally woke up."
Clint rolled his eyes. "yup. Who is making breakfast today?"
"bruce."
"why did you take so long to tell me?!" clint exclaimed. He ran towards the elevator , to the kitchen. Natasha slapped her head. Sometimes, the hawk can be such a kid.