Holy shit, I just realized the day before I put chapter 11 up that I didn't update this one last week... i put it into my docs on the site, then apparently, my mind said good enough. sooooo sorry, you guys, did NOT mean to do that... my bad, really.
First of all, happy fourth of July this week, hope you all enjoyed yourself. This past week I really fell off my schedule for writing this and just started on the fourth, a Thursday... meaning this needs to go up tomorrow(Thus it being shorter than last chapter, I try not to do that). Hopefully, I won't have to skip sleeping to make that happen... and I just managed to dump half a cup of cold coffee onto my lap, somehow. Awesome.
Split PoV again, sorry, can't focus enough to write single PoV chapter right now, so much easier to split it up.
"I think I'm ready, I think I've got it, 'cuz too much thinking is bad for my health." We Are One~ Thousand Foot Krutch
Tony tried not to let it show that he enjoyed having the others around as much as he did. Sure, they were messy and loud, but having people around him so constantly was a situation he'd never gotten to experience before. Even in college, he had been younger than everyone around him had been years older. Sure, he still went to the parties and managed to piss people off by having a teenager drink the older students under the table without pause, but that didn't exactly help gain him any favors, there. And, he could admit now, neither had his sharp tongue. That had always made him believe that he hated being around other people and that the feeling was mutual.
That didn't seem to be the case, this time. They didn't seem to mind his muttering to himself, or the occasional situation that just begged for music to be blasted through the shop or even his insane hours. They kept coming back. Bruce would work with him from time to time when he wasn't messing with something of a more mechanical nature. When he got bored, Clint, Thor and not so surprisingly Natasha could keep up with him drinking then didn't really mind when he kicked their ass at video games. Best of all, Steve started coming over to watch him work. He wasn't sure when the man had had a change of heart when it came to being near him, and he didn't want to question it.
Really, the only problem was the disapproving looks that Coulson kept shooting at him whenever they were in the same room. Sure, he was used to that kind of shit, and it wasn't hard to put up with, but it was still slightly annoying. Having Steve around more than made up for it, seeing as every time they were next to one another, Coulson's face couldn't seem to land on an expression. At first, the others seemed to think it was odd, too, but being them, didn't say anything. At least, not to him.
It was really more tense than anything, but it was tension that he was willing to go through. He was pretty sure that the only reason Steve was alright with being close to him was because he was lonely... homesick, probably. And Steve had been there for Tony when he was going through something similar, so it was the least he could do to do the same for the man, even if he couldn't really comfort him in any way. At least Steve didn't expect him to do anything, so it didn't make him feel as bad as it would have otherwise. He still wished that he could do more. Oh well, good enough.
Another thing was, Coulson was starting not to want to be entertained. Sure, at first, he would put up with it, and he would pretend not to know what was going on, but now, every time they switched off, he was looking more and more irritated and started spending more time alone without trying to come down into the shop. Tony was sure it was eating at him to, but he appreciated that he still trusted
him enough to stay back. Or, hell, maybe it was the fact that Tony was always down there that made him avoid the place... He wouldn't be surprised.
Over the course of three days since they'd found Amora, they had all slowly stopped actively watching the trace, and just let Jarvis deal with it... Tony was a little surprised-happily, of course- that they had warmed up to him as quickly as he had. The others were most astounded that Steve got along with the AI so well, but Tony just laughed it off... he did have the unfair advantage of knowing the other man pretty well, after all.
Probably the most convenient part of it all was that Fury wasn't checking in and watching them like Tony had suspected he would. The Director probably trusted Coulson to do a good enough job of that, of course, but it was still nice that every day when he did a scan to look for bugs, there was nothing to be found. If he had been anyone else, he would have been suspicious, and tried to look harder, manually even, but that was part of being Tony Stark: he was the best at what he did, so there was no need to waste the time.
The unfortunate part in it all was that since the others were always there, taking turns to even sleep in the small cot that Bruce had set up, it didn't give Tony much of a chance to test out anything that would potentially make him look like a complete moron... meaning the new armour he had been working on, armour that would come to him and form itself around him without the use of the slick metal bracelets he never took off. Once he finished it, of course he would look like a complete badass and everything, but until he got it right... well. He might trust the assholes, but they did not need to see that, and he learned he enjoyed having the company too much to send them out... of course, he convinced himself that it was because it gave him a chance to work on other armour in the downtime, but deep down, he knew better.
As much as they ended up distracting him, on and off through the day, he still got a lot of work done... and he knew it was just nervous, busy-work. If they were about to be in another fight with aliens, he was going to make damn sure that he was prepared this time... he'd hate to die when he could see a way not to. So, you know. Deep space suit: necessary.
Well, that's what it started as, at least. It was slowly morphing itself into a Hulk take-down suit... just in case it ever became necessary. And it wasn't like he thought it would, but at Bruce's prodding, he was left with no choice. It would have helped if the rest of the group had actually heard that conversation, so they would stop giving him odd looks every time the specs came up, though. Eventually he just quit and named it Igor to put a stop to that. Steve was always close enough to see through that. Thankfully, he always just gave it what he was sure was supposed to be a disapproving glare, but the spark in the back of his eyes told a different story.
As much as they all hated it, it was better to have the fail-safe, especially in Hulk's case.
Steve seemed to be doing a bit better today, thankfully. On the other hand, it meant that he was sitting over with the others on the couch, trying to play Minecraft... the Soldier actually wasn't doing badly. Hell, it's not like he could, it was a pretty easy game and there weren't a lot of ways Clint could fuck with the other man if he was being smart about it... and seeing as Steve was all about strategy and careful planning. The worst he got was Creepers blowing him to hell when he stepped outside.
He pulled himself away from watching the group back to Igor, and pushed the headache that had been threatening him away from his attention. It didn't work, and he ended up having to bury his head in his hands and focus on breathing until the stab of pain ebbed away. Uhg, he hadn't gotten a headache like this from staring at a computer screen since his college days. He was still getting ridiculously sick of headaches, though. Far too many since the attack.
He waited for his vision to clear before he pulled his face away from his palms and blinked heavily until the black edged itself away from his sight. He pushed the holograms away, compacting them down to a small file and sent the away before looking back over to the couch. Clint was staring at him, almost concerned, and Steves spot was empty. It took him far too long to realize it was because the other man was halfway across the room. His mouth was moving, but Tony couldn't hear anything other than a steady buzzing... that wasn't normal.
He could feel his lungs working again, but his throat wasn't allowing it, his heart beating painfully against the metal of his reactor. He needed to get up, get to his suit, get outside, anything, but he couldn't get his legs to move. His vision was starting to cloud again, and he felt himself groan in frustration... he wasn't sure if it actually made it out or not. Steve vanished again, and he forced himself to keep trying to breathe.
There was something warm grabbing his arm, but it didn't matter, it didn't feel real. The air around him vibrated as someone started talking to him. He wasn't sure how he knew that's what it was, it was instinct.
"Breath deep. Come on... one breath. Not that hard. You've done it all of your life, doing so right now should not be that hard. One breath...please, just one. One, and your lungs will figure it out."
The voice prodded at the edge of his mind, and no matter how he tried, he couldn't catch hold of it. But he needed to... he knew that. No, instead, his vision grew more blurred, his throat clenched itself shut and his chest heaved, every inch of his body gasping and struggling for a simple breath that refused to come. He wondered absently if this was how fish felt when they were pulled from the water. If so, fish were a lot more badass than he'd ever given them credit for being. Took a lot to die this way.
Then, as suddenly as it had come on, something clicked together and he managed to take a shaky breath. He blinked and looked up to see Bruce hovering over him, quite frantic looking. It really would have made him nervous if he'd been able to process that. Instead, he let out a slightly raspy laugh.
"Damn, calm down, man. Shit's fine."
"Tony, 'shit' is not fine. You just stopped breathing, this could be serious..." despite his words, the doctor did relax, of only a little bit. Tony sighed and leaned into the hand that was still grabbing his shoulder in a death grip. Any other time, he might have complained that it hurt, but at that moment, he'd prefer if it didn't leave... actually, both of Bruce's hands were in his line of sight, clenched and pale...
He shifted his eyes to the side and met Steves terrified blue eyes with his own and without thinking smiled up to the man, leaning into the grip even more. Steve didn't relax.
"Of course it's fine, used to get this all the time back in my teens, just need some air. You know how it gets sometimes, being cooped up." Technically, that was a lie... he used to get very similar attacks, sure... but those, he could always breath, and he was comfortable categorizing those as heat stroke or dehydration... this hadn't felt like heat stroke. Maybe if he'd been alone, or if Jarvis hadn't been making sure that the temperature in the shop was reasonable, he might have been willing to accept that... but good as he was at ignoring the heat, the others weren't... they would have changed it long before his body reacted like that.
No... this would need some looking into, but not with the others around, still staring, still panicking. So it was best just to downplay this. His bracelets would transfer anything to Jarvis anyway, so if it was important he could just have the AI analyze it later, when he could get his heart to beat normally again.
Bruce frowned as Clint went back to his game unconcerned.
"You sure you're good?" he smiled lightly and nodded.
"Yeah. Come on, it feels like we've been down here far too long, let's go grab pizza or something.
S
Steve couldn't keep his heart from racing. To be fair, he didn't really put ,much effort into trying, but that wasn't the point. He wasn't sure why he was reacting so much to this... sure, Tony's panicked eyes all but dragged you in, even if he seemed to be trying to hide the fear from him and Bruce now that he was breathing again, but that was no reason for Steve to be having a stroke over it.
Actually, if Steve hadn't happened to look away from the blocky figures on his screen over to the other man, it was all too likely that none of them would have even noticed it.
Something about his posture screamed that something was wrong and Steve had called over to make sure everything was alright... he was sure the man was tired, he hadn't stopped to sleep for days and Steve was starting to get a little worried.
But when Tony hadn't so much as reacted to his voice, Bruce had sprinted over to the scientist and before he noticed, he was running halfway across the room as well. He couldn't remember ever being so panicked. Which was, of course, ridiculous. Even if Tony hadn't been all but proved to be unkillable, he shouldn't have been so worked up about him, even if he was a teammate.
He couldn't be sure at what point he'd started considering the other man impossible to kill, sometime between plummeting from space only to snap away, thinking of nothing but food, or when he hadn't been murdered by Fury the other day like Steve was sure he would have been, but the thought that maybe he wasn't... that was too frightening Which, again, was ridiculous.
Last week he could barely stand the man and was only now starting to think that they could become friends... he had no right to be so invested. He couldn't help it, but it didn't make him feel any better about it.
Oddly, Bruce couldn't seem to notice the panic still in the mans eyes, as clear as it was. He frowned. Maybe the man was a little hard to read, but as long as you read the eyes... maybe Bruce just wasn't used having to read people like that. But, again, his face was completely relaxed, calm, posture relaxed, so it wasn't likely that the other man wasn't trying to look past that.
It was only when he felt a gentle pressure pressing back against his hand and he realized that he was clutching the mans shoulder, and how hard... he was probably leaving bruises, but it was helping with his heart-rate, and Tony certainly didn't seem to mind. Actually, based on the way Tony's pulse was slowly slowing, it was helping him too. Still, he forced his grip to loosen... he'd hate to hurt the guy, after all. It would be all too easy, Tony didn't have any super-powers that would prevent it, just his mind.
Bruce turned away and made his way to the shop door while Tony stood carefully. Steve refused to remove his hand. Oh, right. Pizza. Well, pizza was actually sounding like a good idea... it would get them out of the shop, for one, meaning it would get Tony to stop working and maybe relax a little. He was probably just over-worked.
But if he said it was alright, well, they were a team, and Steve needed to trust him. He didn't like it, but Tony was smart enough to know if it was something really dangerous and life-threatening, he would have to let the team know. Well, he hoped that Tony understood that, at least. He might have to talk to him about it, actually... but later. When they weren't so worked up about it. Then again, that might make him come off as preachy. And Stark was the kind of stubborn that as soon as they were told not to do something, it was a safe bet to guess that's exactly what they would do, first chance they got.
Not that he was different, really... but at least he knew it. He doubted the other man put much effort into thinking about it.
They made their way up the stairs quickly, Tony's stride not so much as wavering even with Steve still clutching his shoulder. He was calm, relaxed... Steve could see why he was so good with reporters. It was almost enough for him to wish that he had the ability to act so well... it would have made life so much easier back when he'd first become Captain America and was completely useless.
At the time, that part of his life had seemed almost unbearable, but looking back at it, now... it felt comforting, somehow. He'd always had friends at his side, even if he couldn't remember their names, now. All he knew was that, back then, it was effortless to be around them. He frowned. He wasn't the type to just forget something like a friends name... but again, it hadn't been a great part of his life. He couldn't really blame himself for repressing it. He hoped that his friends back in the show went on to have good lives. Even if he could remember who they were, now, they were probably all long dead, of old age or something else.
He forced himself not to think about it before he could feel the twinge of pain that was certain to come, and concentrated on the steps in front of him and stepped out into the kitchen behind the rest of the team.
Coulson looked up from where he was sitting at the table with Natasha and gave Steve and Tony a strange look before shrugging it off and going back to his coffee.
"Anything I should know, yet?" despite not looking at them, it was obvious who his question was aimed at, seeing that Tony let out a quick laugh.
"Na, we just came to grab some pizza... I guess you could join us, you know, if you're not too busy doing a crossword or something." A hint of a smile threatened the agents face, and Steve could feel Tony relax under his fingers.
"It's Sudoku, actually. And I just finished... I am supposed to keep an eye on you lot, so I don't see why I can't take a little time to grab some pizza. Let's not take too long, I have some paperwork back in my room I want to get done..." Natasha raised an eyebrow at the man.
"Oh, please. You've been complaining non-stop that there's no food in this house since you got here. And you haven't done anything that would need paperwork completed lately. Let's just go eat. Honestly, you're worse than Stark..." Tony frowned at her.
"Hey, I resent that." she smirked back.
"What, mad that I made him worse or just that I compared you at all?" The man shrugged one shoulder.
"Well, he couldn't be worse, I'm the best at being me, I obviously would win at being worse at accepting things. Clearly." Steve could almost see the amusement sparkling just under the surface of his eyes and smiled. Maybe Stark was a little bit more self aware than anyone gave him credit for being. And if he was joking, then whatever that was back in the lab wasn't very serious, after all. He let his hand slowly slip away from the other mans shoulder, and smiled lightly down at him when Tony turned with a confused look on his face. Tony opened his mouth to say something else, but Jarvis cut him off.
"Sir, I think there's something you all should see, if you'd please return to the lab... Agent Coulson will be needed as well." they all froze for a quarter of a second before darting back for the stairs, Coulson somehow managing to be the first one down them. They all froze in front of the large projector screen to just stare. Well, pizza was going to have to wait. It felt like it was about to be a very long night.
Ahhh, the hectic one night chapters that I can't figure out what are actually going to be about. Always fun stuff. Hope you guys enjoy, and thank you all for reviews, follows and favorites.
And at last, more plot development. Didn't see that coming when I started to write this, but hopefully it will make me be more willing to write next chapter before the night before I post. Also, just to clarify, not sure why I want to, but J's calling them back has nothing to do with Tony's panic attack.