AN: So italics means that whatever was said was signed and single quotations means it was signed ONLY, whereas regular quotes means it was signed and spoken.

Tony was pacing, gripping his hair, in the process of having a panic attack when Natasha and Bruce made their way into the lab. Jarvis almost hadn't let them go down because of his orders from Tony not to let anyone down, but upon observing his creators concerning distress, he was able to override said orders due to energy protocol.

"Tony? What's going on?" Bruce asked carefully, slowly stepping off the elevator. Tony either didn't notice them or was deliberately ignoring them because he kept panicking.

"Дурака?" Natasha called him by his nickname and placed a gentle, tentative hand on his shoulder. He flew backward onto the ground and squawked, a protective hand landing on his chest over the arc reactor. "Watch me. Watch me. You have to calm down. What's wrong? Why are you so upset?" She signed as she spoke, hoping to reach him one way or another.

'Bad! Bad!' He signed in jerky movements, 'Sorry.'

"What is bad?" She tried again.

'I talked. I'm not supposed to talk.' Then his eyes went wide, 'Don't tell dad. Please, you can't tell dad.'

"Okay, okay. I won't. I promise." She cradled the youngest avenger in her arms as he slowly calmed down and began to come back to the present.

'Tash? What are you doing here?' He asked eventually.

"Tony, can you tell us what's wrong? That was a pretty bad panic attack you had." Bruce tried, signing and speaking softly.

'I'm fine.' He told them and struggled to get out of Natasha's arms. Eventually, his attempts proved futile and he slumped into her hold.

"Tony." Natasha scolded pointedly.

'Can we not?!'

"Дурака, if this is about what happened during the mission, no one is upset," Natasha assured him. At this, he grunted and shook his head frantically.

'Liar. Steve and Clint are.' Bruce knew very well what Tony was referring to. Thanks to dedicated and complicated meditation, he no longer forgot everything that happened whilst he was the hulk.

"Tony, you know Clint didn't mean any harm. He was shocked is all, he never intended to get your feelings. And Steve is notorious for overreacting, don't worry about him. We all have your back." Tony simply replied with a small, jerky, unconvincing nod when Bruce said this, "You look exhausted. You need to sleep."

After checking over Tony for injuries and taking care of them, he and Natasha led the genius up to his room where they waited until he fell asleep to leave. Bruce sighed heavily as they got into the elevator,

"So Tony is selectively mute."

"And it has something to do with Howard Stark." Natasha continued.

"And whatever progress led to him talking orally has just been eradicated," Bruce barked, closing his eyes to calm himself and stop the Hulk from coming out. Natasha rubbed her boyfriend's back and got off on her floor,

"Come on. Let's go get some sleep."

It was a few days after the mission where Tony spoke when disaster struck. Well less disaster, more a complete misunderstanding and a complete overreaction by Steve. He had given Tony instructions to help Clint and instead he continued to pursue the "villain of the day"'s minions and save a bus load of people. He may have done a good job, but he still ignored direct orders and this to time his suit was too damaged for him to just fly off.

"You disobeyed direct orders and because of you, Clint is injured and it could have been prevented!" Steve yelled.

"I'm fine. It's barely a sprained ankle," Clint assured them.

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!" Steve protested and Tony, who had been watching him closely, flinched, clenched his eyes tight and ripped out his com.

'I told you, it's broken.' Tony signed lazily and let his hand fall to his side when he was done.

"That's not good enough. And we all know that you can talk, so just do so." Their leader commanded to a quite ill looking Tony, who was now only watching him with one eye open and his head lolled to the side.

"That's enough! Be quiet Captain... and everyone else for that matter. I have to check Tony over for a concussion." Bruce announced, stepping forward with the small medical kit that they kept on the Quinjet. When he walked over and gently placed a hand on Tony's shoulder, the other man flinched and slammed his head into to wall behind him. His eyes then snapped open and he looked around in a panic, like he was being attacked, "You're okay, you're okay. I'm just checking you for a head injury."

'Fine,' was all he was able to sign before passing out.

"Shit, well it doesn't look like a concussion. If anything I think he may have a severe migraine and exhaustion. But we'll have to monitor him closely."

Later in his room, Tony woke up to see that he was being watched by Clint, who was perched atop an armchair in the corner of his room,

"Hey, feeling any better now?" He received a small nod, "Can I ask you something?" Another nod, this one was hesitant, but still a nod. The two had been flirting and suiting each other for months, but neither wanted to make the first move. That's to say, they'd formed a special bond that was closer to romantic than platonic and was based on a lot of trust, 'Were you ever planning on telling me that you are Deaf?" At this question, Tony just about lost his mind. He was thrown into one of the worst panic attacks he'd had in a while and Clint rushed forward to help, cursing under his breath. He carefully approached Tony and tried to help him calm down, but when it became clear that he wouldn't be any help, he just sat down next to him and waited for Natasha and Bruce to arrive, and seconds later, they did.

"What happened? How is he?" Bruce asked in both concerned doctor mode and upset best friend mode.

"He's having a panic attack." Clint clarified, moving out of the way.

"Obviously!" Bruce spat, "What triggered it?"

"I... I asked him about his Deafness." Clint told the pair, who shared a look, then got to work comforting the small man and pulling him out of his mind. When he was finally calm enough, Tony shakily began to explain,

'I began losing my hearing when I was little, and Howard hated it. He said I'd be useless Deaf, but didn't want me getting a cochlear implant, so he just had his scientists get to work on making me amplified, extra-small hearing aids. I never lost all my hearing, so they were able to correct it and I could hear just fine... But as you heard the other day my voice sounds stupid so he made me pretend to be mute in public. Then he would hit me if I spoke at home, so I just stopped talking altogether.'

"And today, whatever was able to do such extreme damage your suit, broke your hearing aids." Bruce clarified. Tony nodded,

'All technology that goes in my ears, coms, my translators, Bluetooths are also hearing aids. When it broke my com, it broke everything. I'm really sorry about that by the way, Clint.' (AN: Just so you know, this would not be impossible to do. I have friends who are hard of hearing and their hearing aids allow them to connect to devices via Bluetooth and listen to audio)

'I don't blame you, you know. You made the better decision and saved more people.' Clint told him.

'But you're hurt.'

'I'm fine... And you know Tony... I quite like your voice.' Tony gave Clint a small involuntary smile at this. He still looked unsure, like Clint might be lying to him, but the fact that the comment had done wonders to improve Tony's mood spoke volumes. Natasha and Bruce shared a look, then backed out of the room. Clint could handle this.