"No way, nope. Not gonna happen. Bye, see ya!"
"Shut it, Stark. This is mandatory for everyone, and to remain on this team, you must complete it." Fury was getting more and more annoyed by the second. He expected protests, but Stark was arguing far longer than he imagined. A half hour had past when Tony stood up to leave the conference room, only to be stopped by two huge men in SHIELD uniforms.
"Technically, I'm still a consultant. So I wasn't even on the team in the first place! Fury, I'm not doing this."
"Stark, stop being dramatic! It's literally a test to see how fit we are! They're not gonna judge you based on how outta shape you are compared to us," Clint was smiling, and clasped his hands behind his head. "And besides, you won't last long so you'll be able to head home early."
Tony glared at Clint, and looked around at the rest of the group. They all seemed annoyed at Tony's lack of cooperation, but they were also chuckling along with Clint and his snarky comments.
"Why does everyone think I'm out of shape? I make it a habit to go to the gym each other day! How else would I be able to maneuver in the suit?"
Natasha mumbled something only super-soldiers with super-hearing abilities could hear, "Each other day my ass…"
Steve gave out laugh that caught Tony's attention, "What are you laughing at old man?"
"Tony, you're literally acting like a two year old. C'mon, it won't be that bad." Steve loved working out. He was always the first one up and enjoyed the morning air brushing across his face on his early runs. He was able to explore a new part of New York every morning and always stopped at a cafe near the tower to get some eggs and orange juice. He loved sparring with the rest of the team, and took advantage of Tony's state-of-the-art gym.
"Says the one who works out five times a day…" Tony sat down in the chair he recently vacated, and stuffed out his lower lip to pout - only proving the Captain's point that Tony was indeed, acting like a child. But Stark finally gave in, "Fine, whatever, but I hope everyone realizes that I'm not gonna put in any effort whatsoever."
The fitness exam was the next day. Fury thought it was necessary for the team to get tested to ensure that they wouldn't be a complete mess if there happened to be another alien invasion. He would not only test them on their physical capabilities, but their mental state and their ability to work together as a team. The only Avenger that was excused was Banner, seeing as raising his blood pressure could trigger the Hulk to come out. However, he would participate in the final simulation battle.
Coulson had rounded up the new class of SHIELD trainees who signed up to work - directly or indirectly - with the superheroes. He wanted to show them that the job was not as fun as they seemed to think, and realize that Coulson wanted to strangle every team member to some degree. He thought that maybe a few would drop out of the class…
"Ok everyone, we are here to observe the Avengers who are about to take an examination to test their physical, mental, and social states. And hopefully you all will realize that this is not an easy job…" He mumbled the last part to himself, but earned a few looks from his trainees.
He was leading the group to the huge gymnasium located in the helicarrier, already preparing himself upon hearing the team inside. Upon walking into the room, four members of the team were stretching, while one was still complaining about 'how this was stupid and a waste of time.' Coulson rolled his eyes, but could hear his group behind him giddy up with excitement.
"Hey Coulson! Can you tell Fury how stupid this is, and how it's a waste of time? Thanks, you're a doll."
"Tony, if you don't stretch out you're gonna regret it later," Steve was sitting on the floor with one leg out to the side, and his fingertips were grabbing his toes.
"Don't tell me what to do, Spangles," he turned to Fury who was talking to some agents - presumably the ones who were running the test. "Can we please just start and get this over with?"
Coulson turned to his group, and led them to bleachers nearby. He soon got up and walked over to Fury who was addressing the team, "Ok, so first up we're going to test your physical state. You're gonna start with normal exercises such as push ups, pull ups, crunches, planks, squats, and some cardio to finish it off." The team nodded and made their way over to the mats located in the center of the gym.
When a whistle was blown, all Avengers started doing as many push ups as they could in a minute. When the whistle blew again, everyone stopped. Clint and Nat fist bumped each other, Steve and Thor looked like they haven't even worked out, and Tony laid face first into the mats. Clint made his way over to the man and patted him on the back, "Nice job, Stark. You lasted longer than I thought you would." Tony mumbled something into the mat, and flipped the bird to Clint. He just chuckled alongside his other teammates.
This is how the rest of the strength exercises went: Steve and Thor were trying to outdo each other, Clint and Natasha were playfully trying to sabotage each other and Tony looked/acted like he was gonna die.
Next was the cardio aspect of the exam. Steve was anxiously bouncing around, obviously ready to go on a run. He was stretching again while Fury was talking to the agents about the data they collected thus far. Many of the young trainees' eyes laid upon the Captain, waiting for him to do something spectacular. "You are exceeding my expectations, Captain. But I will be victorious in this race, and I shall prove who is in fact, the mightiest on the team!" Thor clapped the man on the back, and walked away. Steve could only watch as his teammate strolled away and he chuckled to himself, knowing that Thor's competitiveness was rubbing off on him.
Fury clapped his hands and Tony gave out a low, but very audible groan from his place on the bench. He got up and reluctantly made his way over to stand in front of Fury with his team.
"Next up is the two mile run. So that's eight laps around the track, an agent will let you know when you're halfway done, and when you're on your last lap. Line up on that line and wait for the whistle." The group made their way over to the line Fury was pointing to and prepared to start running.
The whistle blew and the Captain and Thor sprinted off, leaving everyone in the dust behind them. Nat tripped Clint, which led to Tony jumping over his body as if he was a hurdle. Clint got up and had a huge red mark across his legs, "OW Tash! That's just dirty!" Natasha just laughed and stormed off at a faster pace. Coulson just rolled his eyes at the two assassins. Why do two of the most dangerous people in the world act like children all the time?
Steve took the lead from Thor, who was losing his breath rather quickly. He didn't really run too much, but rather focused on strength training whenever he worked out. Steve was already done with his first lap, and looked back to see where everyone else was at. Clint had caught up to Natasha, who had another corner to turn before finishing her first lap, Thor was on the same straightaway as him, and Tony was on the straightaway on the opposite side. Steve just sped up, determined to lap his teammates.
Tony had tried to get out of the cardio, and he had a legitimate reason. The arc reactor was too big, and to make space, they had to cut out some of his lungs. JARVIS calculated that Tony only had 70% lung efficiency, and it was harder for him to catch his breath thus making it difficult to complete this task. He was on his second lap when he started to have a hard time breathing, but Cap and Thor both lapped him and he was determined not to get lapped by Clint or Nat. So he kept pushing. On his third lap, he began to slow down when he started seeing stars.
"C'mon Stark! Not even halfway ther-" Fury's face flushed as he saw the man collapse. He rushed his way over with some water and a towel. The others noticed and started to run towards all the commotion.
"Haha, I knew he would give up soon enou- shit! Is he ok?" Clint rushed over and squatted next to Fury, who was dabbing the towel with the water and placing it on the man's forehead. He was whispering to him, trying to get him to slow his breathing, but had no luck.
"He's hyperventilating. We need a medic over here, now!" Everyone's eyes went from joking around to seriousness in a matter of seconds. Tony had mentioned that he had a problem with his lungs because of the arc reactor, but everyone thought he was just trying to get out of the exam. The team moved out of the way for two doctors, who kneeled over his shaky body. They handed him a bag and instructed him to breathe in and out of it.
After about a minute of Tony breathing somewhat normally, the doctors helped him stand up and led him to a nearby bench. One of the doctors took his blood pressure and heart rate and informed Fury that he should not continue in the physical part of the examination. "Damn, I wish we started off with this then…" Tony huffed from the bench, and the team made his way over to him.
"Dude, what the hell was that?"
"Remember what I told you before, Birdbrain? About my lungs? Yeah, well now you have proof that I wasn't lying back there…" The team looked down at their feet, ashamed that they didn't believe it was actually painful for their teammate to go through this. Fury was making his way over to the group, with a bunch of agents. "Ok, show's over. Everyone except Stark make their way to the line. We're doing a couple sprints and then you all have an hour break until the mental test."
Clint gave out a huff of annoyed air while a huge smile broke loose across Tony's face despite almost passing out a few minutes before, "Haha, have fun guys."
"Shut it, Stark. Or you will find yourself cleaning up the entire gymnasium with nothing but a toothbrush and dish soap after the examination is over." Fury pointed his finger at Stark, who placed his hands over his head surrendering.
The team lined up on the line, and were informed that they were going to complete ten sets of sprints. Natasha wasn't as annoyed as the others. She was small and agile, allowing her to move fast. She had been in situations where she was being chased, and her speed was what kept her alive. The men were not too pleased, including Steve. Steve liked running long distances. Yeah, he could sprint, but prefered not to. Thor's bulkiness was what held him back, and it was difficult to pick up speed. And it seemed as if Clint was filling in for Stark, and he started to complain about everything.
The whistle blew, and everyone was taking off down the straightaway. Natasha was leading, followed by Steve, Clint and Thor. Tony was cheering on the sidelines in a sarcastic manner, "Let's go Nat, Let's go Steve, Let's go Thor, I hate Clint!" Fury shot him an annoyed looked, which he not-so-subtly ignored.
As the group walked back together to the start line, Natasha was keeping her cool as Steve was making it known to Thor that he beat him. Everyone was surprised at the Captain, and didn't know he was that competitive.
"Nice job, Romanoff. Only nine more to go!" Coulson yelled to the group, who all shot him 'yeah-we-know' glances. After said sprints were finished, Fury sent the group off for their break, and started to prepare the mental test.
After an hour of bickering about who was the most physically fit, the team - including Stark - made their way back out to the gymnasium. What they saw took them by surprise, as the entire floor was littered with pieces of scrap metal and a few tools. "This is the mental portion of the examination. This is going to test your adaptability to new surroundings, and how you would individually ward off enemies with nothing but your brain and own two hands." Tony fistbumped the air as all the others looked dumbfounded, "Finally! Time to wipe the floor with you cocky sons of bi-" Natasha jabbed him in the side with her elbow - an efficient way to shut him up.
Fury glanced over the group. He knew Stark would succeed, seeing as he already did this once and became the superhero he was today because of his smarts. He expected Clint and Natasha to do well, they were SHIELD agents after all, and had to go through training that put them in environments with nothing but a box of scraps and a letter telling them to 'figure it out.' He was anxious to see how Steve would do. And he couldn't wait to sit back and watch Thor figure out the difference between a screwdriver and wrench.
"Here's what's going to happen: you will use the scraps in front of you to create anything you want, whether it's a weapon or used for mere protection. You will demonstrate how each of your creations work in front of me and other agents, who will give you a score based on how effective said creation is. You have two hours. Go."
Everyone except Steve bolted to the scraps strewn across the floor. Each had an armful of metal by the time the Captain started to pick up pieces of scraps. He had no idea what he was doing, but he knew that he would not be able to construct something fancy, so he settled for a simple version of a shield. He remembered watching Tony in his workshop and quickly grabbed the welder to mend pieces of metal together.
Natasha seemed to be making a pair of spiky nunchucks, and Clint was attempting to build a bow and some arrows, but was failing miserably. Thor was smashing pieces together like a three year old would smash blocks together, and Tony was making something that nobody could make out, but it involved circuitry.
About thirty minutes were left, and Natasha had an array of knives aligned beside her, as well as her nunchucks. It looked like she was sharpening some of the ninja stars she constructed. Clint had given up on his bow and arrow, and constructed a spear similar to Loki's scepter. Cap and Thor both had poorly welded clunks of metal sitting in front of them, having united their brains ten minutes in and finished shortly after. They were watching Tony from a distance, who created a pair of gauntlets that, from what they observed, could shoot out repulsor blasts and missiles, had a flamethrower, and he made it so that whatever came in contact with them was electrocuted.
"I guess that'll do…" Tony picked up his gauntlets and made his way over to Steve and Thor, "What'cha guys make?"
"A shield," Steve picked up the pathetic piece of metal, and Tony gave out a belly-laugh, "That's, um, very impressive Cap. Like wow, my mind is blown!"
"Shut up Tony, not all of us are engineers and spend entire days locked up in a workshop." Steve shot a dirty look at said engineer, who was on his back laughing. Steve looked at his shield and was kinda proud of it. It was the first thing he actually built, and yeah, it wasn't anything compared to Tony's creations, but still.
Fury blew the whistle and everyone dropped what they were doing and made their way over to the panel of 'judges'. Steve looked around at everyone else's creations, and saw that the only one he could have a chance at outdoing was Thor's, which was a crappier version of his shield and a 'hammer' that was destined to break after one hit. Fury also noticed this and you could see the man mentally facepalm. Tony was strapping into his gauntlets and Natasha was stashing knives on her body.
"Ok, who would like to go first?" Everyone looked at Stark, anxious to see what his weapon could actually do in action. He shook his head, "I thought we were saving the best for last? C'mon Thor, let's see what your hunk of scraps can do." Thor stepped forward and waved his creation around, "You all underestimate me, the all-mighty!" Thor walked over to an open area in the gymnasium, holding his shield in one hand and the hammer in the other. He waited as a few robots emerged from the other side of the gym and made their way over to the god.
As expected, when Thor swung the hammer, it fell apart instantly. The team just bent over laughing, and the bleachers full of trainees erupted in laughter. Coulson sent them all a look, and they all shut up faster than Thor's hammer shattered. He sent one towards the team, hopeful that they all would do the same, but did not prevail. He could only shake his head. While the team was too busy laughing, Thor left his shield behind and began fighting the robots hand-to-hand. This time, Fury actually facepalmed.
"Thor, the whole point of this was to use what you built."
"But, that was to no prevail! It is much simpler to destroy these creatures with my muscles and power!" Steve rolled his eyes. The robots were all in pieces scattered among the floor and Thor was not-to-subtly flexing in front of the Captain. Steve just made his way out to the open area after some agents moved all the robot scraps to the side. He hoisted his shield up across his arms, preparing for the battle.
The shield actually held up, but it took longer for Steve to destroy all the robots than Thor did. However, he knew he would be ranked higher because he actually used his creation. Natasha and Clint both destroyed the robots within a matter of minutes. Natasha's nunchucks were the most used weapon she made, and destroyed about 80% of the robots with just those. Clint's spear was bending with each blow, and by the time it was rendered useless, he threw some knives around to bring down the rest of the robots.
It was evident that everyone was awaiting Tony's performance, as most of Coulson's class was on the edge of their seats and the team looked at him with curious eyes. Tony just gave out a satisfied huff of air, and made way to the middle of the gym. As soon as the first robot emerged, Tony sent a missile directly at it, blowing it to smithereens. Robots began coming at him from all angles, so he clicked a button and the flamethrower roared to life. He spun around while the flames engulfed the robots, causing a spontaneous combustion. After a few more rounds of robots, he was successful in destroying them all in the least amount of time. Everyone in the room had their jaws dropped to the floor, and Tony just shot a smirk at his team.
"Jeez, Stark. That was insane…"
"I know. Certified genius over here. Makes you wish that you were less physically fit than mentally, huh?" Clint just glared at him, his eyebrows raised to his hairline. "Shut up."
Fury clapped his hands, successfully pulling the two men away from their staring contest. "Alright, knock it off you two. Next up is the team challenge, where you will be put in a simulation to test how well you work together." Steve shot a look at Stark, who was standing there with his arms crossed obviously bored. Steve knew that Stark - and sometimes Clint - was stubborn on missions and insisted that they do things his way. This led to many disputes and arguments between the two. He had a gut feeling that Tony was going to give him a hard time with this next challenge.
The trainees were on the edge of their seats in the viewing room as the Avengers made their way to the middle of the simulation room. Coulson and Fury sat in the front row, anxiously waiting for the simulation to start. They had to admit, they were proud of the team. Watching them get closer together had been a highlight of their career, and being able to influence them to become more than a team had been a privilege. The team was chatting away in the middle.
"$100 I kill more bots than you," Stark whispered to Clint, who just smiled greedily. "It's on." The two shook hands, aware that none of their other teammates caught on to their little bet. Once Bruce transformed into his alter ego, Steve addressed the group, "Ok, everyone. Please take this seriously, unless we want to do this whole process over again." Tony couldn't help but think that the Captain directed that statement at him.
The entire room was scanned, and in a matter of seconds was transformed to the New York City landscape. For the first few minutes, the team thought Fury was messing with them as nothing appeared to be happening. But all of sudden, a huge blue ray was shot up from the middle of the group. The team stumbled back from the ray and looked up and saw the infamous wormhole open up.
"Fuck, why are we going through this again…" Stark was already tensing up, the wormhole being responsible for the majority of the nightmares he's been having - but the team didn't need to know that. He just kept telling himself over and over that this was a simulation.
"Well, we did it once, we can do it again. They seem to have been programmed to act the same as the Chitauri, so just do what you did last time," Cap gave out the respective orders to his teammates as the notorious aliens poured out of the opening in the sky. They all went to work destroying the Chitauri robots. Stark and Clint were both secretly keeping track of how many robots they destroyed.
On the other side of the wall looking into the room, Fury and Coulson were both watching attentively. They noticed that the fighting patterns of the Avengers were the same as the actual fight that happened 5 months ago.
"Are you sure you want to send it? I'm not sure how he'll handle it." Coulson leaned to whisper to Fury, who was adamant about his decision. The Director was curious on how much the team was mentally affected by the battle, and if they have overcome their new-founded fears.
"I need to know how the team will approach the situation." Fury nodded his head to an operator, who pressed a button warily.
"Ha! I've got 78 down Shellhead. You really gonna allow a guy with a bow and arrow to beat ya?"
"Shut up, I've been taking care of this giant space worm. I personally think this should count more than your puny alien friends," Stark was racing through the fake buildings, attracting the giant robot away from all the commotion happening in the center of the city. That's when he saw it, coming from across the water. His heart dropped down to his stomach, and panic began to settle in.
His breathing became more rapid, thus making it loud enough for his teammates to hear. "Stark, what's wrong?" Steve was taking down a whole bunch of the fake Chitauri when he pieced the parts of the puzzle together. There was one thing that was missing from the battle, and 5 months ago, that was the most important aspect of the battle. It was the thing that ended the battle. The thing that saved the world. The thing that broke an unbreakable man.
The other members of the team seemed to realize this at the same time. Thor's lightning stopped abruptly, Natasha looked up from where she was decapitating an alien - dismissing the other dozen robots coming straight for her, Clint stopped shooting arrows, and Hulk stopped smashing everything in sight.
They all looked up to their resident billionaire - their friend - their eyes filled with worry. They knew that Tony was affected the most by the 'Battle of New York' because of that damn missile. They knew Tony suffered from nightmares - it was hard to keep that a secret from trained assassins. He would whimper in his sleep and unknowingly mumble about the Chitauri and wormhole. Pepper approached Bruce about the problem, but he said if Tony refused to go to therapy, there was nothing that they could do except be there and comfort him.
"Fury! Stop this now!" Clint yelled from his perch, "Stark, this isn't real. You're in the helicarrier, not in New York. Fury's being an ass. Fury, I mean it, if you don't stop this now, I will rip you a new one." Clint's words were filled with frustration, worry, and anger - a deadly mix.
Stark didn't hear a single thing his team was saying, putting all his concentration on his breathing. He landed at the base of Stark Tower, where the rest of the team started to congregate. When they reached him, he was kneeling down with his head in his hands. Even through the suit, they could see he was shaking and they could hear through the coms that he was still breathing too fast.
The simulation was ended just as the missile was overhead. The landscape disappeared to reveal the huge room's blank grey walls. Stark now retreated to the fetal position on the ground, making himself look as small as possible. Bruce, now small again, made his way over to the man, holding up his now too large pants.
"C'mon Tony, deep breaths. It wasn't real. It was a simulation, remember? Remember the fitness test? That's all that was, nothing more, ok? Please, Tony looked up at me." Tony's faceplate was still snapped shut, he was too embarrassed to open it and reveal the tears streaking down his face. He was trying to control his breathing, listening to Bruce. He looked up and saw through blurry tear-filled eyes that his team was all kneeling down next to him. As much as he wanted to feel comforted, he couldn't because he was ashamed.
He sniffled and tried to stand up, only to be caught by Thor when the force of gravity defeated him, "Careful, Son of Stark. It was not of reality." Tony shrugged out of Thor's grip and opened his faceplate. The team saw the look of utter panic and the tears that stung their friend's eyes. "I'm, um, sorry. I gotta go." Tony shook his head and kept his head down as he quickly made his way out of the room. Clint attempted to follow him, but Natasha put her hand on his shoulder.
"No, not yet. He's clearly embarrassed - which he shouldn't be. But we need to give him some space. In the meantime, I think I'm gonna have a nice little chat with the Director." She shot a glare at the window, hoping that Fury saw her disappointment and anger.
Back in the other room, Coulson gave out a long sigh. It was always difficult to see someone on his team in such distress. The trainees looked at each other in shock, and Coulson could only assume that they thought the Avengers were an unbreakable bunch. Fury was absently looking at the team as they watched their teammate walk out the doors.
Fury didn't know how to feel. Of course he felt guilty, but he hoped that this would all be for the greater good. He hoped that the team would become even more close. Little did he know that they already considered each other family…
He caught a glimpse of Natasha, who was glaring into the room with cold eyes. He knew that the team and him were going to have a long talk. He could feel Coulson staring at him as well. He wouldn't admit that he was wrong, but he should have known better. Coulson is the team's handler, he would know their limits. Fury started to stand up, "Well, I think I'm needed elsewhere."
"What made you think that THAT was a good idea?!"
"I know that you thought that this training exercise was gonna help, but now… He was a mess the first time, it took him a long time to get over it - actually, I don't think he got over it!"
"That was indeed a cruel task you bestowed upon a good man."
"I just can't believe you Fury…" Clint was looking to the side and making it noticed that he was not going to look at Fury's face. The archer did this when he was disgusted with people. Fury looked around at the team, and the same emotion was splayed across each face: worry. Even though their words showed their anger, their faces proved that they needed to find Tony. They needed to comfort him.
"Look, I understand where you all are coming from. However, this just proves that Stark may not be capable of fighting in extreme situations. If that simulation was real, that missile would have destroyed the entire city. I'm currently looking for therapists and outside help for Stark, but as of right now. No. He cannot go out and fight with you." Everyone took in Fury's words, unable to speak.
"Are you fucking kidding me." Everyone looked over at Steve, who hadn't said a single word the entire time until now. It was rare that Steve ever swore, and that he only used such words when he felt passionate about something.
"Tony is the most brave out of all of us. Everyday is a challenge for him to get through, but he is able to conquer the day with confidence. He flew a goddamn missile through a portal! Of course he's gonna be a little scared! He almost died! What you did today was wrong on so many levels. You brought back so many memories that haunted him for months. I'm just disappointed in you, Fury. I thought you cared." Steve pushed back his chair, and Fury opened his mouth to say something but was cut off, "Now, if you'll excuse me. I have to go check on someone who just went to Hell and back."
As Steve left, the others followed suit and got up without saying a word to Fury. Coulson was standing in the corner, and let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He sat down in one of the vacated seats. "I really screwed up, Phil."
Coulson looked up at Fury, who was just staring at his hands. "I'm gonna go check on them. Look, they'll be fine. They have each other and Stark is strong. He's been through this before and he's always recovered into his old, snarky self." Coulson patted Fury on the shoulder as he made his way out to go check on his team.
Tony locked himself in his workshop on the helicarrier. The Avengers knew that the workshop was his safeplace. There were no other people, and the only things to comfort him were his own creations. He built them so he knew that they would never betray him, unlike real people.
"Sir, it seems Miss Romanoff is at the door. She is requesting entrance."
Tony gave a quick wave of his hand and JARVIS opened the door. Natasha walked into the workshop slowly, not wanting to startle the man. "Hey, Tony."
Tony sat up straight in his chair and glanced at the woman before looking back at his hands, "Hi, Nat."
"Are you alright? Everyone is upstairs. We're worried."
"Nothin' to be worried about. I'm fine." Tony refused to look up from his hands. Natasha took in a deep breath.
"Children."
"What?"
"Children."
"Yeah, I know. What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"When I was younger, I wasn't raised like any other normal child. I was taken from my family when I was a week old. My sole purpose in the world was to perform the dirty jobs nobody else had to guts to do. I was trained to be the assassin I am today and attended a special academy that train these chosen children. At the 'graduation' the final step was to rid the one thing that might be more important than a mission. I was sterilized." Stark wasn't looking at his hands anymore, but rather Natasha as her eyes began to swell up with tears.
"I'm sorry, Nat. I didn't know that…" Natasha looked at him and a single tear fell from her eye. She rubbed the back of her hand across her cheek. "It haunts me everyday. I see one child with their parents and I can't help but wonder if that could've been my life. I have nightmares too. Of the academy, and of the children I can never have.
"Stark, I know what you're going through. And I can guarantee that all those people in the living room go through the same thing. We want to help. Please let us help." She stood up and walked over to Tony. She wrapped her petite - but muscular - arms around his broad shoulders. She felt him tense up, but relax after a few seconds. She also felt the slight nod against her chin. He patted her hands and she let go, allowing him the mobility to stand up. She noticed his eyes were starting to gloss over with new tears.
"Okay."
Later that day, the group discussed the situation briefly. They didn't want to push the situation somewhere that could send Tony into another panic attack. But they did make it known that they want to be there to help, and that Tony can trust them.
When they made their way back to the bridge, Coulson approached the team. "The scores for the exam have been posted. Meet in the debriefing room." The billionaire gave a quick glance at Coulson before looking back to the ground and heading to said room with Natasha protectively at his side. Steve was the last to exit. "So, how's he doing."
"He's alright considering everything. Still a little jumpy, but we all talked to him and I think he's willing to accept our help." Steve looked down and back up to Coulson, "Did you… try to stop Fury?"
Coulson looked at the man and gave out a huff of air, "I didn't agree with his actions, but no. I didn't try to stop him. And I really regret it."
Steve just nodded slowly before patting the smaller man on the back. He followed his team down the hall to the debriefing room. Fury sat at the head of the table and everyone took their normal spots. Everyone but Tony were sending the Director death stares, and Stark was looking down in his lap. Steve took his spot across from Tony, and crossed his hands in front of him.
"Obviously none of you want to be here right now, so I'll cut right to it. Your scores for each part of the exam are listed right here." Fury slid three clipboards out to the team. None of them took it.
"Fuck your exam," Clint began to stand up when Coulson spoke from his spot in the corner. "Just look."
The team looked at Coulson with suspicious eyes before looking at the results. As expected, Steve did the best in the physical exam, and Tony the mental. However, what was not expected was the score that the team got for the simulation.
"How? We didn't even finish it?" Bruce looked up over the clipboard to peer at Fury.
"You didn't have to. What I saw out there was something else. You proved that you all work together as one unit and care about each other's wellbeings. You came so far as a team, and it is relieving to know that you treat each other like family."
When the clipboard made it's way to Tony, he eyed Fury and then at the score. They got a perfect score.
"Sta- Tony, I'm truly sorry for what happened. But I think that it opened all of your eyes. I think that you all appreciate each other just a tad more, and I think it made you, especially, realize that you don't have to handle these situations on your own." Fury gestured to Tony, who was still looking at the clipboard. Tony looked up and gave a slight nod at the Director, who in turn got up to leave so the team could talk about the results in private.
After the door slammed shut, everyone was silent for a few seconds. Steve was thinking about the words he had said to Stark on the helicarrier when they first met, 'Big man in a suit of armour. Take that off, what are you?' After the Chitauri, Steve instantly regretted those words, and what he saw before him was a vulnerable, but strong man. This man in front of him risked his life for them all, and it broke his heart when he saw the confident mask fall to reveal the true feelings hidden beneath.
"Tony, I just wanted to let you know that you are a hero. You are someone that people should look up to, because I know for a fact that I do. We are all here for you, and I want you to know that you are not alone. We are a team, and we look out for each other."
Stark looked up from where he was playing with the hem of his shirt, "Guys… I don't know how to say this, but thank you all… for everything. You gave me a sense of belonging, and for once… I feel appreciated. Plus, you're all super cool and I can brag about you guys so that's good." He gave out a puff of air to replace a laugh, but the rest of the team chuckled but looked at their friend with sincere compassion. A look Tony only received from the constants in his life: Pepper and Rhodey. Tony started blushing.
"Aww, I can't sit here anymore," Clint immediately got up and startled Tony after jumping across the table and bringing the man into his arms.
"Um, ok… Can't really breathe, but whatever. Guess I like you back, Legolas." Tony wrapped his arms around the man's torso. He felt other hands wrap around him and looked to see his team - even Natasha - engulfed in a group hug.
In another room, Fury and Coulson watched their rag-tag team of heroes with the help of a security camera. "Coulson, we did good."
"Yes Sir, indeed."