The first twenty-four hours after what the media is calling The Battle of New York is spent in a SHIELD hospital.

"I don't even wanna know," Tony says as he's getting checked out, because falling unconscious then going for shawarma after spending several seconds in space is apparently a big no-no. Who knew?

"Know what?" Thor asks, faltering when he sees something over Tony's shoulder. Romanoff is sitting quietly with both hands in her lap when Tony looks over, and he glares at her because he'd seen her making the 'cut it out' motion through the reflection of the glass wall in front of him.

"How SHIELD took over a whole hospital," Tony replies. "I mean, Jesus, did they recruit the doctors already here or did they slowly but surely weed out everyone who wasn't already on their payroll?"

Thor looks unsure how to answer, but Tony just goes on talking, even when the doctor (the spy-doctor, oh that was good, he was totally going to say that next) asked him to open his mouth and stick out his tongue.

"—an' theriouthly," he adds just as the doctor pulls the stick out, "are you all spy-doctors? Like spies who had to research how to be a doctor? Or are you actual spies with medical degrees? Because how does that work? Do you," he pauses and smiles at his next witty words, "operate stealthily?"

Loki groans, Bruce and Barton facepalm, and Natashalie growls, "Take him off the damn morphine and get me the hell out of here. And not in that order."

It's when Steve himself snickers, much to everyone else's chagrin, that Tony grins wide, completely and shamelessly proud of his drug-induced accomplishments.

Steve pokes his head in the room and sees that while the curtains have been drawn, there were no other feet peeking from the lower, exposed part. Taking this as a good sign, he walks in and shuts the door. "Tony?" he says.

"Wrong room," Barton's irritated voice filters out from the curtains.

"Oh," Steve says, already backing up. "Sorry." Then he stops. "Um. Just so you know, the doctor says we can all be discharged once Thor's done getting patched up," he adds as his fingers grasp the doorknob.

"Okay, thanks." He paused with his hand on the handle, because that voice was far too feminine to belong to Barton, and takes another peep at the curtains.

Still no feet there.

…oh.

"Right. Sure thing." Clearing his throat, he opens the door and walks out. He closes the once-opened door after a moment's hesitation, then heads into the next room. "Tony?" he asks again, though this time, the curtains aren't shut, revealing the bedridden genius billionaire playboy philanthropist. "Oh, sorry," Steve says when he sees Dr. Banner at Tony's bedside. "I didn't think you'd have company."

Tony stills Dr. Banner's attempt to excuse himself by raising a hand. "Whatever you want to say to me, you can say to Bruce."

Good Lord, was he really that obvious?

"I wasn't going to ask him to leave," he admits, glancing at Dr. Banner and giving the man a polite smile as he shut the door. "I was actually planning to speak to him after I spoke to you."

"What about?" Dr. Banner asks, looking curious.

"Director Fury," Steve replies. "SHIELD." He sighs. "You have to understand: it's not that I held them in high esteem, but they were the only allies I knew after I…woke up," he euphemizes. "They caught me up as much as I allowed them to, they helped me find an apartment in Brooklyn when I wanted to go back home—I owed them a lot. So when you came in, bringing all your distrust for SHIELD," he shrugs, "I was indignant for them. I felt that you were being unfair, that you didn't know them like I did."

"But Fury did something to break you trust," Tony guesses, and Steve nods.

"After the attack on the ship, I expressed my plan to Fury about speaking with you and making amends. He wanted to know why, but I didn't want to tell him everything and I think he picked up on that, because after I left, he radioed Agent Hill and said he wanted the audio feed from your room."

"Ah," Tony nods, "yeah, Fury's a bastard like that. But," he shrugs, "what do you want me to do about it?"

"Uh, nothing," Steve replies, a little taken aback. "I just…wanted to apologize."

"We already did that dance," Tony points out.

"That's different," Steve shakes his head. "That was about how I wanted you to be like Howard. This is about how I treated you in regards to SHIELD."

This only seems to amuse Tony. "Steve-o, seriously," he says, "if you apologize for every infraction you think you made, we'll be here for ages. Like I said, it's okay. And seriously? Forget about it. We're good."

Steve smiles, feeling a weight lift off his shoulders. "Good," he nods. One down, another to go. "I also wanted to apologize to you, Doctor Banner."

The other man looked surprised. "Me?" he says. "Why?"

"Because I followed SHIELD's lead and treated you with kid gloves," Steve explains. "I… SHIELD showed me what you could be, and I kept that in mind whenever you were nearby. I focused on your capacity for destruction instead of your humanity, and for that I'm so sorry. I hope you can forgive me for that, and I promise to never treat you like that again."

Dr. Banner stares at him, mouth agape until Tony reaches out and pushes his chin up. Shaking his head and clearing his throat, Dr. Banner says, "Steve…" he paused, then gives a small smile. "You can call me Bruce."

Steve smiles again, relieved that his meeting with Tony and Dr. Banner—Bruce—went well. "Bruce," he echoes, shaking the hand that the doctor extends to him. "Thank you."

"No, thank you," Bruce says. "You don't know how nice it is to," he shrugs, "to be treated normally."

Tony jabs his side. "Hey!" he says in an affronted tone as Bruce jumps, eyes turning green briefly. "What am I, chopped— Hey!" Tony repeats as the green fades, raising a fist into the air. "I did it."

Bruce sighs. "Tony, that's not funny."

"Tony," Steve frowns, relaxing when he sees that the doctor has a handle on himself, "you really need to stop doing that."

"Oh please," Tony waves a hand. "Hulkie-poo loves me. Doesn't he, big guy?"

Bruce sighs again.

"I assure you, Healer, this is quite unnecessary," Thor booms in protest, wincing as the needle pushes through his skin once more.

"Hush, Thor," Loki tells him, head bent to peer at the mortal's work. "This is fascinating, truly. I always thought that you'd be indestructible here, having been born of Earth, but no! This Midgardian metal can pierce your skin."

"The metal's not from Earth," the healer says, hands working steadily to sew Thor's only battle wound shut as she answers. "This is made of Vibranium, which we got from the alloys found in a meteorite that fell from space."

"Oh," Loki says and straightens up, looking disappointed. "I'll be going now."

"Brother," Thor growls, but Loki only waves and walks away. Thor huffs. "Oh, how he vexes me so."

"Mm," the healer nods in empathic commiseration. "I have a little brother too. They can be so annoying."

"Aye."