AN: Another young Avengers fic, Tony is mute.
Tony never really spoke to the Avengers, or anyone for that matter. He couldn't speak or wouldn't and communicated through ASL, as he had through his childhood. When he did want to speak (and he usually did), he had JARVIS translate what he would say for him using a small, hardly visible, earpiece. The coms were specially made so that anything he wanted to say would easily be translated, in a different, but similar, way to his earpiece. While it was JARVIS translating, the voice that came through was not his, but a voice unique to Tony. It could actually be any voice he chose, which of course, he used to his advantage when imitating the others.
Though, he didn't always use his translator. Sometimes Clint and Natasha would speak to him in ASL and wouldn't mention the tiny, genuine smile that only the most observant of people could notice. Bruce would also use it, but not often, seeing as when they were in the lab it was not as easy as just speaking. Then there was Thor, who would try but Tony assured him he didn't have to and Steve didn't really seem to try at all. He explained that he had never been good at learning languages and that it was nothing personal, but as he and Tony became closer, well less like enemies, Steve began to learn some basic ASL.
One day in particular, the two were arguing and Tony was using ASL for he was still getting over a small ear infection and Bruce refused to allow him to wear his translator. He was absolutely furious, signing almost too fast and sharp for Steve to understand. At some point, he reached over to the stove next to him to pick up a pot and slammed it back down onto the stove in his attempt to be as loud as possible and make any noise akin to yelling. This, along with Steve's startled gasp, alarmed the others, who had been ignoring them. Apparently, the electric stove that he'd assumed was off, was on and the pot with only a little bit of liquid in it had some quite warm oil in it. An infuriated Tony barely paid attention to his now burned hands, but the others decided that it was worth their time (they were bleeding, peeling and blistered after all).
"Oh Tony, what'd you do that for?" Bruce asked, taking his hands gingerly. Tony just gave him a pointed look that couldn't have said, "You know why." and "You can't possibly expect me to answer that while you're holding my hands." better if he'd verbalized it.
"Oh stop that," he scolded, cleaning the wounds, "Who left the stove on?"
"My bad," Clint admitted guiltily. When Bruce finished cleaning Tony's hands, they were discovered to not be as bad as they could've been. Merely mild burns that barely crossed the line from first to second degree, that would probably leave some small scarring but wouldn't really do any serious damage.
The next day, the Avengers were called in for a mission. They were in the middle of battling the robot minions of the latest villain when a robot began approaching Steve from behind, which went unnoticed by all except Tony. It would take just a second too long to use the keyboard to type a message for JARVIS to relay (AN: Tony is currently using the same type of technology that has been used with paralyzed individuals. You use your eyes to move across a keyboard and it types the letters you look at. Also, he can hear them because JARVIS us relaying the message, no com needed).
"Cap, watch behind you! " Tony shouted. His voice was similar to the one that was relayed by the device that he usually used, the only difference being the fact that his words seemed to smoosh together and his voice was slightly throaty from disuse.
"HOLY SHIT! You can talk." Clint gasped. Obviously, this was not an appreciated reaction, seeing as Tony didn't say(well type) another word that wasn't completely necessary for the rest of the fight, not even to make jokes. He sat through the debriefing, making a multitude of on snide comments trying to seem normal in a shoddy attempt that was obviously fake only to the redheaded spy and the man who could sometimes turn into a large, green rage monster. It was a boring, unextraordinary debriefing. Then Steve, who couldn't even find himself to have the decency not to mention the most unexpected event of the day, turned slightly and glanced at Tony with a look that showed just how miffed he was,
"Oh! And apparently Stark here can speak!"
"Is that so," the director asked, sounding unfazed, sounding as humorless as usual, "Well if that's all, you may be dismissed."
"What? All due respect sir, you can't be serious. He's been lying to us this whole time," Steve protested.
"Rogers, I have another meeting to get to and seeing as this is not a pressing matter, I see no reason why it should take up any more of my time."
Tony left in the Iron Man suit, rather than joining his teammates on the quinjet where Steve was still complaining about the other man,
"I can't believe him! He's convinced us all that he can't speak and he CAN!" No one said anything until Thor broke the silence,
"I do not believe it to be that simple."
"It is that though Thor; he can speak. You heard him." Thor just so his head and calmly responded,
"If you say so Captain." The comment lacked all harsh or offensive tones but managed to sound exceedingly patronizing to those who were listening closely enough. The rest of the short flight was met with silence.