Thank you for the favs, follows and especially the reviews.

There is not really much going on in here. Just to explain, the Prologue was just a taster of where I'm planning to take the story. This is where the actual storyline starts, so 'Chapter 1' can be ignored at the moment. I hope I didn't confuse you ;)

In response to what Inuyuke said about Bruce and Clint: yup, I totally see your point and I will keep it in mind when writing later chapters. Plus I am hoping that my choice will make more sense in the context of the situation ;)

There is not much really happening here, but in the next chapter we'll have a little tuning point, so stay tuned!

I hope you like it. Enjoy…

Natasha smiled despite herself, as she found Steve and Tony lingering on the sofa, playing Mario Bros on a console that Tony developed and laughing hysterically at something. It had been difficult to get these two to function side by side at first, but once Steve decided that flying through a wormhole into a different dimension to save Manhattan was not actually selfish, and Tony stopped bullying him about confusing Wi-Fi with radio waves, they became almost inseparable.

'Do you want to tell me what is so funny?' Natasha asked as she poured herself a glass of water. They just looked at her and started laughing again. She rewarded them with raised eyebrows and a questioning smirk, but decided to leave the question as it was.

The moment 'Game Over' appeared on the screen, Tony took off like a bullet and started heading in the direction of his workshop. Steve had no idea what just happened. True, the billionaire lost with a man who still had difficulties with turning on the console by himself, but he certainly wouldn't throw a tantrum just because of this, would he?

'Is he alright?' Natasha asked, as Steve was glued to his spot on the sofa, trying to figure out the reason for Tony's behaviour. He shook his head, in reply, wishing he could know the answer.

'Don't you think he's been acting a bit weird lately? Disappearing for days on end, running away like this? I don't think he's even called Pepper since she left for Hong Kong last week..' Steve was hoping that maybe the master spy would be able to notice some clues that he was not observant enough to see.

'Well, I wouldn't worry about disappearing in the workshop, he tends to do that. But Pepper…?' Natasha looked very thoughtful and then froze in her tracks on her way to the fridge. Steve looked at her questioningly, indicating that she should continue her train of thought.

'I'm not suggesting anything, but…the last time he tried to distance himself from Pepper was when he almost died of palladium poisoning,' she spat the words out at a speed of a machine gun, trying to avoid Steve's gaze. The moment she raised her eyes, the soldier looked as if somebody had just slapped him across the face. Hurt was painted all over his features. Natasha couldn't help but feel sorry for him. He missed the honesty and camaraderie he experienced back in his army times, but was still unlikely to find in a group made up of spies and mentally unstable scientists.

'Wouldn't he…tell us, if something was wrong?' Natasha couldn't help, but smile warmly at the almost childish trust he displayed. Especially towards the man that he perceived as something lesser than a cockroach not so long ago.

'No. Contrary to popular belief, the last time he kept quiet not to worry Pepper. He probably wouldn't want to bother us either.' The spy was right to suspect, that this piece of information would be a novelty for Steve. Stark and concern for others in one sentence? Steve still had some difficulty believing that it wasn't an oxymoron.

'I'll talk to him.' Steve took off without further due and followed in the footsteps of the genius.

'I would sit this one out if I were you Cap,' Natasha murmured, knowing that her words would go unnoticed. She rolled her eyes and murmured, 'guys'.

XXXXXXX

It wasn't uncommon for Steve to find Tony hunched over a project displayed on his desk, or lying buried under a car, tinkering with it. Never before had he found Tony on a couch, curled up in a ball, clutching his tablet hard in his hand. To Steve's surprise, Tony didn't even attempt to chase him out of the workshop. The soldier suspected that his friend simply didn't even notice his entrance.

'Tony?' Steve asked quietly . Tony's back was to him, and knowing how much he tended to wear himself out, Steve didn't want to wake him. For some reason, which was yet to be revealed to Steve, Tony jerked so hard when he heard his name, that he managed to roll off the sofa and land himself on the floor. He looked something like a deer in the headlights, trying to conceal the tablet from Steve's eyes and hid his face in his hands.

'Tony…? Are you…are you okay? You look a bit like…'

'What? Me? No, of course not! I'm fine. Can you like…leave maybe. Cause you see, I'm working and I forgot about something and I need to figure it out. Shoo! Out of here! Now!' Tony directed Steve towards the exit, as he raised himself from the floor. No matter how hard Tony was trying to conceal it, Steve couldn't help but notice, that Stark pushed his tablet in between the cushions on the sofa, so that anyone entering the room wouldn't be able to see the device. The moment that Steve was out of the room, Tony darkened all the windows and glass doors and secured all the entrances to the room. Despite himself Steve felt suspicious. What could Tony possibly be up to?

XXXXXXX

The surprises didn't end there. At dinner time Tony just barged into the living room with a few boxes of pizza and his tablet in hand.

'So, what are we watching? Action? Comedy? Drama?' he asked in a voice far too cheerful for a man who seemed to have experienced something akin to a mental breakdown only hours ago. He set the boxes down on the table and took his usual seat on the sofa, lodging himself between Bruce and the armrest. 'What?' he asked, as everyone in the room looked at him questioningly, waiting for an explanation of his erratic behaviour. 'Did somebody die or what?' he laughed at his own joke, only to be rewarded by a few accusing glances. 'Is it the pizza? I thought you liked it, but we can always just go for Chinese takeaway!' Still, nobody replied. Even Bruce tried to avoid his gaze. It was something very uncommon, after they started appreciating each other as friends, rather than just lab partners.

'Ok, fine. Whatever it is, I'll go and put on something more comfy than this, and you can pick the movie.' He left the room, leaving them all staring. Of course Steve told them about the weird 'conversation' they shared in Tony's workshop earlier. Of course, they were worried that he wouldn't tell them what happened. But now it was more than just worry. It was this weird, unfamiliar feeling in his gut, that something wasn't right and that there was more to Tony's refusal to explain himself than just his introvert personality.

'What on Earth is wrong with him?' Steve asked, starting to get annoyed. He only just thought that he managed to somehow understand Stark and now he was acting so weirdly again! That was simply not fair. 'Is he dying again?'

'Just let him be. You know what he's like. Maybe he just couldn't work out an equation or something earlier and got all upset about it,' Bruce murmured, too focused on the nice smell of pizza to even look at Steve, after two long days of constant, uninterrupted research in his lab.

'How can we just let it be? What if he's hiding something important like…'

'Like what? Oh I need to tell you something guys, I'm pregnant. or I know this will be difficult for you to swallow, but I decided to become a ballet dancer.' Clint spoke for the first time, mocking Steve's last remark and only aggravating his worry. 'Chillax and let's pick a movie Cap.' Clint put a reassuring hand on Steve's shoulder and walked towards the pile of DVDs lying in a neat pile next to the TV.

Steve remained unmoved and slightly hurt by the spy's comment. He didn't care about the film. He just wanted to know that they were alright as a team. He wanted to shift his position on the sofa, and in order to do that, he picked up Tony's abandoned tablet so that he could move it to the table.

'What the hell do you think you're doing with that Rogers? Didn't your parents teach you not to take other people's stuff?' Everyone's heads snapped towards Tony, surprised at his offensive tone.

'I'm sorry. I didn't…'

'You didn't what? Mean to? As you didn't mean to spy on me earlier?' At this point Bruce's mouth was wide open. He closed it, just so it could fall open again, when the Captain tried to grab Tony's arm and make him explain himself, causing the billionaire to stumble backwards, trip on his own shoelaces and land on the panelled floor with a loud thud.

'Tony, you know as well as we do, that this isn't normal! What's wrong? We can help, but you've gotta let us.' This time it was Natasha who realised that things might be far worse than Stark was actually making out to be, and if Stark was in some sort of trouble, all of the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. might have a problem as well.

''m just having a bad day. May I please have my tablet back, Steve? I need to go to bed,' Stark mumbled pushing himself up from the floor and outstretching his hand toward the device that Steve was holding.

'Well, this bad day has been going on for a while and a few minutes ago you wanted to watch a movie, not sleep. Do you want to tell us what really is wrong?' Natasha knew that they had to push it to get the truth out of him.

'I'm sorry, but it's none of your business. And maybe I do wish I could tell someone, but I simply can't.' With that, he turned on his heel and walked away. They stared at his back in silence until he disappeared from the room. Steve was even more confused than he was before, Natasha was strictly speaking annoyed, Bruce still couldn't ignore the smell of the pizza and Clint sincerely wished that he could just turn the whole situation into a joke. Four different people with four different perspectives. Perspectives that wouldn't be the same, had they know that as Tony was walking away under their scrutinising gaze, he was fighting hard to suppress tears that were threatening to roll down his cheeks.

Sorry that it wasn't the most exciting of chapters, but I needed to get the story going somehow and this seemed appropriate. I hope it wasn't too bad.

PLEASE REVIEW, if you want to see more, because there is nothing that motivates me as much as your support :DDD