A/N: I. Um. Sorry. I have no excuses why this took me so long.
Tony had been back in the Tower for five days, but Steve could count the number of times he had seen the man on one hand and still have enough fingers left over to hold a pair of chopsticks.
When he relayed this to Clint, all the archer had said was, "Who holds chopsticks with their pinky out?"
They had shared a laugh, but not much else.
Natasha had come back the day before. It was Steve who told her what had happened to Tony. She was initially furious with Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. for not informing her what had happened.
"Top-Secret mission or not, they relayed plenty of information to me! Did they not think this was important?"
Ultimately, though, she concluded that the Avengers were only Fury's priority, and it would not be the first time he had slighted Tony.
"Slighted Tony?" Steve had asked.
"He may pretend he doesn't care, but he is not fooling the rest of us," was all the explanation she had given before disappearing to her room.
Steve had not seen much of Thor since Tony's return, either. Bruce had not made a reappearance, and Steve figured no one had told him, either.
Tony's accident had been bad publicity both for the Avengers and for his company. He supposed whoever was in charge of things – who ever was pulling the strings without telling them – did not want to risk Bruce having an "incident."
That alone perturbed him. Bruce was a friend and a colleague, not a threat to keep in the shadows while the truth milled about just out of his reach.
But more than that, Steve was angry with the fact the media had been referring to it as an "accident." He knew it wasn't. The darkness in Clint's eyes when he'd brought it up told him Clint knew otherwise. He had not yet brought it up to Thor or Natasha, but he did not expect their reactions to be any different.
"An accident?" Steve had nearly choked on his coffee the first time he heard the newscaster refer to it as such.
"What was she supposed to call it?" Clint had asked, not looking up from the counter he was cleaning. Clint had been cleaning everything since he returned from California. Whether is was therapeutic or avoidance, Steve couldn't tell.
"Something less pretty," Steve muttered, regretting his words the instant they came out.
"Be careful what you wish for, Steve," Clint turned around, the dark stare threatening nothing in particular.
"Yeah, I will, thanks," was all Steve could manage. The words seemed bitter, but his tone took the edge off and turned them into defeated words with actual thanks hiding in them.
They kept the news on in the Tower all the time now. There were no more movie nights, no more group meals. It seemed that the team feel they had so precariously settled among them had left somewhere in the chaos. No warning, no proverbial note. No literal note, either, in the case of Tony.
Steve couldn't understand why the man broke like he did. Tony had always been the one to have an action plan, even it was more action and less actual plan. He had always been ready to prove himself right; ready to be the one on top once the dust settled.
But now? Now Tony was healing from a major car accident in a place where even he was not recognized.
Pepper had fought to bring him home. They weren't married, and the hospital staff had trouble believing it was indeed Tony Stark they had been caring for. But money talked loudly, and Pepper had brought him home that day.
The waiting was the worst part, Steve told himself. Waiting for news regarding Tony. Waiting to hear from Bruce. Waiting for Clint or Natasha to stop brooding over the entire situation for their own reasons. Waiting for Thor to come back around, where ever he was going.
It wasn't until that evening when Steve felt something change.
Clint and Natasha had been eating dinner together in the living room. It smelled like Chinese take-out.
Steve was passing through the living room to get dinner for himself when the smell hit him.
"Steve, come join us!" Clint called, waving him down.
It took Steve half a step longer to stop than it would have barely three weeks before.
"You sure?" Steve asked, trying to keep his voice neutral.
"There's more than enough for three," Clint assured him. Steve changed his path and walked over to the two of them.
"Thank you," Steve grinned, the muscles on his face glad for a reprieve from all the tense frowning he had been doing.
The television set was on in the background, the volume high enough to be heard but low enough to intrude on any conversation that might be going on.
Steve helped himself to some rice and sweet and sour pork and grabbed a can of Coke before sitting down on the couch next to the other two.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, half paying attention to the news.
"It's nice to eat together again," Natasha finally said.
"That it is," Steve agreed. Clint nodded, his mouth full, but Steve swore the other man was smiling a little.
Silence settled back over the room again, but it was a comfortable silence this time.
"Guys, the news!" Natasha broke the silence again. "JARVIS, please turn the television up!"
"Of course, miss," the AI obliged.
"We are here tonight with Pepper Potts of Stark Industries…" the reporter began. The three on the couch in the tower had put down their plates and soda cans to lean in closer, as if doing so would prove they were not imagining things.
"The building Tony suggested!" Steve marveled. It seemed like a different world when Tony had promised to donated the disused building for the memorials to those lost in the attacks Loki had brought down upon the city.
"Tony Stark donated a building several days ago to the city of New York as an indoor memorial to those lost in the alien attacks on the city. Although Mister Stark could not be with us tonight, Miss Potts has stepped in his place for the opening night," the reporter continued.
"Is that Thor?" Clint asked out loud, the path of his eyes indicating a blond man in a plain, faded blue t-shirt and fairly beat-up Levi's.
"Well, I'll be darned," Steve shook his head. 'Well, that explains where Thor has been.'
Words, pictures, and emotions blurred for Steve as the reported followed Pepper and 'Thomas' around the building. The people who Thor had helped while building the memorial shelters were interviewed, and there were numerous panoramic shots of those waiting in line to walk through the building's newly renovated maze-like interior, and perhaps add a memorial of their own.
'Maybe things will be alright,' Steve thought to himself as he resumed eating his dinner.
A/N: Well, that was a bit shorter than usual. I hope y'all liked it, anyways~