I'm terribly sorry that it has taken so extremely long for me to post this chapter, but I just haven't had the inspiration. I wrote the first chapter in the car on my way to a burial (it might seem weird but I always have better inspiration when my emotions are stirred) and then I just haven't been able write this. But then I watched Iron Man 3 and got my inspiration back! (It's an amazing movie by the way) So here is now the second chapter, I hope it is better than the first even thought it doesn't happen so much. Hopefully the action will kick in for the next one!

I am so grateful for the reviews and I hope everyone will enjoy this chapter as well, it's a little bit longer that the last. Happy reading and stay nerdy!

I don't own this. (but I think it's really silly that you have to put in a disclaimer. I mean, this is a website for FANfiction so why would I own anything? Weird.)


Not a Hero, chapter two

It had been a rough day and everyone was happy to hear the Captain call it a day over the open comm's. Tony flew straight home in his Iron Man suit while Clint picked up the others and flew the helicopter to the roof of Stark tower. When they got in Tony had already removed his suit and lay sprawled over the couch with a glass of scotch in his hand. Clint walked straight in just to collapse on the other couch and Natasha followed but sat down in a much more dignified way. Bruce sat down quietly in an armchair and immediately started reading the book he had left there in the morning. Thor turned on the TV and started watching some silly series but Steve lingered in the doorway to the kitchen.

"Pass me a drink, Stark" Clint spoke after taking a few deep breaths.
"No way, feathers. You'll have to get one yourself, I'm dead beat tired." Tony answered and took a sip on his own drink. Clint let out an annoyed huff but Steve cut in before he could talk back.
"Stop whining, Stark, you can't really be tired, 'cause the suit does all the work." That remark took Tony by surprise and for a moment he felt a complete loss of words but he didn't let that show. Instead he gave a dry smile, perfect after years practice, and passed back as if it was only a joke.
"Are you jealous for not having your own super suit of armor?"
"Hardly" Steve answered and his voice confused Tony jet again, was the Cap pulling his leg? He would have thought so if it had been anyone else than Rogers, because the man really didn't have any humor.
"I'm taking a shower", Steve then announced before leaving the room and heading for his own floor.

When Tony heard the elevator door close he immediately relaxed, which was weird because he hadn't even realized that he'd been tense, and when he locked up he saw the strange gazes that the rest of the Avengers were giving him. Apparently he hadn't been the only one to notice Steve's jab.
"So, is the soldier finally trying to make some jokes? Because if he is, I think he might need a few lessons." Tony was desperate to ease up the pressure in the room, because their gazes were really starting to disturb him. Luckily it seemed to work because Thor and Natasha looked back at the TV without questions.

"A lot of lessons", Clint mumbled and shook his head before he too turned to the TV. Bruce was the only one not to look away and his gaze seemed to search for answers in Tony's expressionless face. Eventually he gave up and returned to his book. Tony stayed in the room long enough to soothe out any suspicions of him fleeing before he did just that.

He fled down to his lab and it wasn't until the bright lights and humming from computers surrounded him that he allowed himself to relax. Ever since he had been old enough to sit up on his own he had enjoyed building things, and after he had built his first circuit board at the age of four he had only grown better at it. Just to be in his workshop and tinker with something made him calm down, but if the issue was larger, like the fact that Captain America had openly shown dislike for Tony, he needed something more complicating to distract himself with. So that's why the billionaire went straight to the blueprints for the latest suit upgrade.

After the battle with Loki and his unfortunate trip into outer space and quick fall back down Tony had started to consider the benefits of making the suit space-safe. This was, just as he'd known it would be, really hard. The problem was the atmosphere, because even if he had an oxygen tank, which he already did, the immense heat that builds up while flying through it would severely damage the suit, not to mention the person flying it. Sure, it wasn't a problem if he flew through a wormhole into another dimension, but for some reason Tony didn't suspect that to be the standard case. So he had to find a way to make the suit more heat and pressure resistant.

After almost an hour of considering this problem without much success, because he didn't want to make the suit much thicker or bigger than it already was, Tony's thoughts began to drift. The second they fell on the subject of Steve and he couldn't chase the thoughts away he stopped working on the suit, because he really didn't want to work on his baby with the Captain in mind. Instead he went over to the engine of the car he had started to build after the attack on New York. Perhaps it was stupid to start working on something as complex as a car when the city still was in ruins but he really needed the distraction of something easy to work with his hands on. He had just started with the cylinders when Bruce knocked on the door. Tony let him in but didn't look up from his work.
"Need any help?" Bruce asked even thought he probably knew the answer, because when Tony was working on mechanics he never wanted help and he rarely needed it. The few times he did need help he preferred to have the help of Dummy, Butterfingers or any other of his own creations. Therefore Bruce was not surprised by his answer.
"Nope, not right now, I'm just doing some easy stuff on this car. No need to get you all dirty and covered in oil", Bruce nodded in response but he didn't leave and soon Tony found himself to have abandoned the car and started on the research he and Bruce did together on the alien slime from the resent attack. Just because Tony preferred to do mechanics on his own it didn't mean that he didn't love to have Bruce's help and company while working on anything else.

The hours slipped away when they worked but it wasn't until Bruce dozed off over the microscope that Tony realized just how late it was. For himself the time wasn't a problem, he was used to work through the nights, but he knew that Bruce needed the sleep.
"Hey, Brucy-boy?" Tony whispered as he shook the doctor. The scientist awoke with a start and stared frantically around himself until he spotted Tony and relaxed.
"What time is it?" He asked with a bleary voice as he pushed the microscope away and started to rise.
"Two fifteen" Tony answered with a voice way to brisk for the time of night.
"Oh boy", Bruce muttered as he scratched his head, "For how long have I been out?"
"Not so long, forty minutes tops." Tony made his way back over to the car engine as he spoke, with all intentions of reoccupy himself with it.
"Forty minutes?!" The doctor exclaimed before he just shook his head in dismay. "You should have woken me earlier"
"Nah, you looked so peaceful, snoring and drooling all over the samples." Tony smiled playfully at the doctors aghast expression.
"Well I'm going to sleep and so are you." These words effectively wiped the smile from the genius face, he didn't want to sleep. Not at all. He told his friend as much but Bruce didn't care about his feelings as he dragged Tony out from the lab and to the elevator. Sure, Tony could probably have resisted him if he really wanted, as long as Bruce didn't hulk out, but the scientist cheated. He used that stern and slightly disapproving look that Tony just couldn't say no to. Pepper had used it for years but it was a real pain in the ass that Bruce now had copied it and then adapted it to his own version.

When Bruce left Tony in his room he considered sneaking back down to the lab but when he remembered Bruce's face he changed his mind. A few minutes later Tony lay in his bed but sleep just didn't want to come. He suspected sleep hated him, even thought he couldn't imagine why. Time continued to pass by and Tony started missing Pepper more and more. After a quick visit straight after the fight she had had to return to Malibu for Stark Industries business. At first she didn't want to go but Tony had convinced her that she should, since they both knew that she had to. He knew that she was worried about him and didn't want to leave him alone after such a challenging experience as death, but Tony had brushed her worries away. He regretted that decision now because he missed her so damn much. He had missed her from the second she left but each day it had only gotten worse. When he lay alone in bed at night he missed her so much it almost physically hurt, but since it was nothing he could do about it so he pushed the feelings away and tried to force himself to sleep. Eventually it worked, but that's when the nightmares kicked in.