Oh look! It's time for a new chapter. I hope you enjoy this one. We have a little bit more plot for you all. I'll see you at the end.
Once the rest of the team, with the exception of Steve, had left Tony's room, Bruce was quick to get on a group chat with Pepper Potts and Colonel James Rhodes. The others were all getting cleaned off so Bruce was happy that he didn't have to deal with everyone else making noise and trying to talk over each other while Bruce tried to type. He found that when he was texting he couldn't focus on his words.
Banner: Potts, Rhodes. You may want to come to the tower as soon as you can. Somethings happened to Tony.
Rhodes: What did the idiot do now?"
Banner: We got in a fight with Loki and he took a big hit.
Potts: Is he alright?
Banner: Physically more or less. He has some cuts and bruises and a mild concussion. It's the spell that Loki placed on him that's the problem.
Rhodey: What kind of spell are we talking about here?
Banner: Loki placed a permanent spell on him so now he's been turned back into an 18-year-old. He still has all his memories but he's also being overly emotional.
Rhodes: I'll be there in an hour if I take my suit.
Banner: Great. Ms. Potts, how soon can you make it?
Potts: I don't think I'll be able too for a good two weeks. I'm in Paris for a conference and I need to be here.
Banner: But what about Tony? You're his girlfriend. Shouldn't you be there for him?
Potts: Of course the idiot didn't tell anyone. Tony and I broke up a couple of weeks after the Battle of New York. We're still friends, but it's been a little bit awkward. I don't know if he'd want me there. I can work on running damage control but unless he says he wants me there I don't think that's a good idea.
Banner: Alright. I'll keep you posted. Rhodes, have JARVIS let us know when you get here. We'll all be down in medical.
With that Bruce put down his phone and went to go find everyone else. Clint and Natasha were just finishing getting dressed and Thor was in the living room. Loki was all locked up and nobody was particularly worried about him escaping. After about 10 minutes everyone with the exception of Steve and Tony were gathered together.
"Alright, here's what's happening. I talked to Rhodes and Ms. Potts. Rhodes is on his way and should be here in about an hour. He's known Tony the longest." Began Bruce once everyone was seated.
"And what about Pepper?" asked Natasha.
"Tony and Pepper broke up almost a years ago. She won't be coming unless absolutely necessary."
Well, that was news for everyone. And to be honest, they all felt pretty bad hearing it. The fact that they didn't know something pretty important was huge. Tony had probably been hurting because of the breakup and the poor man had, for the most part, been all by himself dealing with the fallout.
Everyone soon got up and went to go join Steve back down in medical with Tony. They filled Steve in on what new information they had learned and passed out a few snacks. From there it was just a waiting game. They sat there and did the mission debrief while that waited for Rhodey to arrive.
They were alerted to the Colonel's presence the second he arrived at the tower. It was only a couple of minutes before the man himself had joined the others in the room.
"What are you guys all doing here?" asked Rhodey and all eyes in the room turned to him.
"We didn't want him to be alone when he woke up." Was all Steve said and Rhodey just nodded.
That was when Tony started to wake up. It was like he heard his brother's voice and it brought the poor man out of his slumber. Everyone started to get out of the way so that Rhodey could get closer to Tony. Well, everyone but Steve. Steve stayed in his chair and nobody really had the heart to make him move.
"Hey there Tones. Looks like you got a touch of magic. That really sucks." Smiled Rhodey and Tony quickly sat up and hugged his friend.
"When did you get here? I thought you were getting ready for a mission." Mumbled Tony, his face smooshed into Rhodey's chest.
"Well, my best friend went and got himself turned back into an 18-year-old so I knew I had to be here. There are other pilots who can fly the scouting mission. There's only one of you Tones and I want to be here for you."
Tony smiled a bit in Rhodey's arms. It was a warm smile the lightened the atmosphere of the room. But, there was something deep and ugly rearing it's head inside Steve. He felt jealous. Tony was smiling because of Rhodey. Steve wanted Tony to smile because of him.
Steve just kept those thoughts to himself. This wasn't the time to dwell on things that would ultimately lead to fighting. He took the initiative to lead the others out of the room so that Tony and Rhodey could talk. Bruce was the only one who stayed behind and that was for medical reasons.
Steve, Thor, Clint, and Natasha made their way up to the common room. It was easier to sit there and grab a few snacks then to mill around outside medical. None of them had any idea how long things would take so they agreed to all stay in one place until they got some answers.
About an hour after Rhodey arrived, he and Bruce were back upstairs with the rest of the team.
"How's Tony doing?" asked Steve once he saw the other men entering the room.
"He's sleeping for now. He's scared, but that was expected. Who wouldn't be scared in his situation." Responded Rhodey as he took a seat along with everyone else. "Bruce is going to get him on a new medication schedule. No doubt that this whole thing has messed that up royally."
"Wait… Stark's on medication? Medication for what?" asked Clint and everyone nodded.
"Yeah. He had meds for chronic pain, depression, and anxiety. How did you guys not know this? I thought you were supposed to be a team." Asked a skeptical Rhodey and the Avengers felt guilty. Steve especially.
"We don't really see him that much. He mostly kept to himself in his lab." Muttered Steve and he just knew that Rhodey was going to get mad at them. He could feel it.
"Guys, Tony has depression. You can't just leave him alone. If he's left alone for too long he gets self-destructive. It's been even worse since he and Pepper broke up. He may come across as an asshole but that's not who he is." Shouted Rhodey and everyone looked down in shame.
"Look, guys. Tony's had a really hard life. You may think it's been all sunshine and daisies but it hasn't. I'm not going to tell you what's all happened. That's Tony's decision on whether or not he wants to say anything. All I want from you guys is to treat him with care. With everything that's just happened with Loki, it may feel like you're dealing with a whole different person. The Tony you're going to be working with is the Tony's I've known for ages, not the man covered in masks and lies. He's going to cry more. He's going to try to hide how much pain he's in. He's going to get clingy. Now, I can't be here for him all the time so I need to know that none of you are going to fuck my little brother up any further." Explained Rhodey and everyone just sort of sat there in shock.
It was odd, learning that the Tony that they and the public saw wasn't really the real Tony Stark. The man they'd gotten to know had so many layers of masks and trauma that even the Black Widow herself wasn't able to get an accurate read on him when she was putting together the personality profile back when he was dying of palladium poisoning. They would all be working harder going forward to actually get to know their teammate to better protect each other.
Rhodey soon took his leave to go be with Tony. Everyone else just sort of scattered. Thor and Clint went to go make sure that Loki was secured, Bruce went to go meditate, and Natasha went to go work out. Steve, well he wasn't too sure what to do. He was feeling all these conflicting emotions about Tony that he knew he needed to work through.
Steve ended up just going back to his room. It was quiet there with a nice view of the city. When Tony had designed the personal floors for the Avengers, he'd put tonnes of thought into every last detail. Steve had thanked Tony when he'd seen his space. Of course, he had. He was raised right after all. He wouldn't want to disappoint his mama. But looking at the space now, after learning the things he knew now, it made everything different. The large window was placed just perfectly to get the best view and the best shading at every part of the day. The art supplies Steve had were top of the line and always in great condition. The bed wasn't too soft like Tony knew that after the army Steve wouldn't want a super soft bed. Every little detail was meticulous.
And Steve had begun to take it all for granted.
Steve knew he had to fix things with Tony. He knew he had to help where he could. Rhodey couldn't stick around forever and Steve was more than willing to step up to the plate to help. He was the team leader. He should have realized that there was something wrong with Tony months ago. He needed to rectify this. ALL of this.
Rhodey stuck around for a couple more days after he arrived. He'd mostly stuck to staying with Tony in medical. The poor man wasn't allowed to leave yet because of the concussion and cuts. They needed to make sure all the medication he was on was working well enough so that Tony could focus on healing.
When Rhodey left because he got called back to base, however, that was when shit went down.
Rhodey hadn't even been gone for an entire day when Loki somehow managed to break out of his containment. One minute he was there and the next he was gone. There wasn't a sign of him anywhere. Everyone was frantically looking for him and Steve was making sure to command his team so that the work was done efficiently. It was hard working without Tony, but he was still on bed rest and Steve wasn't about to jeopardize his health even further.
About five hours after Loki disappeared into the wind the team had hit a dead end. Thor was out looking and there was only so much everyone else could do. So, Steve dismissed the team to go clean up before the debrief when Thor got back. In that time, Steve took the opportunity to go check up on Tony down in medical.
What he saw when he entered the room surprised him.
Tony was there on his bed with multiple tablets looking frantic as fuck. There was a manic look in his eyes as he muttered to himself and switched between tablets. His movements were shaky and Tony honestly looked both scared and utterly exhausted.
"Tony, what are you doing? You should be resting." Spoke Steve as he walked over and plucked one of the tablets out of Tony's hands.
"Hey! Give that back! I've got work to do!" Shouted Tony, but Steve shook his head.
"You should be resting."
"I can rest when I'm dead. I've got to figure out this Loki situation so if we get him again he can't get out. I've got work I need to do for SI because we have a product launch in a week, and Clint needs new arrows and Nat broke her widow bites so I need to make new ones. It doesn't matter how tired I am. The work needs to be done." Huffed Tony as he reached for another tablet and began frantically typing something that looked like Greek to Steve's eyes.
"Tony. Your health matters. You need rest until your concussion heals." Reprimanded Steve as he took a seat on the bed next to Tony.
"No, it doesn't matter. There's work that needs to be done and there's no time for me to be weak and selfish about this." Steve looked appalled at what Tony had just said. The words seemed so rehearsed that it was definitely something that he had learned young.
"Tony… do you think that taking time to heal after a traumatic experience is selfish? Because it's not. Tony, you need to rest. This isn't the first time Loki has broken out of containment and it won't be the last. We can learn from our mistakes and move forward. For you, that means resting and recuperating." Spoke Steve in a commanding yet soothing Tony. He didn't want to freak Tony out when it was obvious that he was already running on nothing but spite.
"But… but… I need… I need to finish. I have to finish. Bad things happen if I don't finish." Stuttered Tony as his hands shook even more and tears began to fall.
Steve proceeded to move all the tablets to a bedside table and pull Tony into a hug. That was when Tony really started crying. It broke Steve's heart. All the things Tony had just said, those were things he'd learned young. Who in their right mind had made Tony think that? Was it this Stane guy that Steve had read in Tony's file? Was is an old teacher? Was it maybe… Howard Stark? Steve didn't want to make any assumptions, but the thought that Tony constantly overworked himself because he thought bad things would happen if he took a break was just horrible. That explained a whole lot why Tony hardly ever socialized and was always working in his lab. That behaviour would need to be fixed. It just wasn't healthy.
After about a half-hour of crying, Tony eventually cried himself to sleep. Steve had just held him the whole time. He wasn't going to leave Tony when he was needed. The whole time Steve just ran soothing hands up and down Tony's back and tried his best to make soothing noises in an effort to get Tony to calm down and rest. And it had worked.
As Steve gently laid Tony down he made sure that he was nice and warm underneath the blankets. Medical was cold and he didn't want Tony getting sick when he was already down. Steve watched Tony for a moment and thought back to what Rhodey had said. About how Tony shouldn't be left alone for too long and how he'd need the support of his team. He wasn't going to break his word. Tony was an Avenger and the more Steve talked to him he started falling just a little bit more every time. He was going to help Tony. He was going to keep him healthy and safe when they weren't in battle. They were going to get closer as a team and Steve was going to fix all of this. And, looking at the tears glistening on Tony's long lashes, Steve knew he was moving in the right direction. A direction of healing… for everyone.
So… what do you think. I quite like this chapter. Tony and Steve are slowly getting closer, Rhodey is the best bro, and the road to healing is beginning. Also, no shade to Pepper. I love her to bits. She's the first lady of the MCU after all. It's just with the breakup and all the tension she didn't feel like this was her place. If you've ever been in a breakup like this you'll get it. Well, I'll see you soon! -Shadows
