Long may you run (part 1)

On Sunday the 3rd, after the talk with Pepper and Rhodey, Tony finally feels relaxed enough to actually look around himself and take in what is really happening among the normal people. Nate doesn't have very close relationships with people around him – not yet, at least – but there is a handful of people he talks with sometimes or who recognize him and smile at his when he enters through the door.

It's nice. A change from before: no one wants to take pictures of Nate and it makes things easy and calm. It's been months and yet it still feels like a novelty some days.

Tony is too restless to just sit in his shop and work – and a bit too tired, being in the middle of radiation now, to spend another twelve hours hunched over his desk. He's been in contact with his S.H.I.E.L.D. team constantly, discussing the Tesseract until he was sick with the men's voices, and he's been working on a the new suit design, tweaking things here and there because the… intergalactic trip gave him a few new ideas that suddenly seem necessary.

He's not panicking, not really. He knows that, logically, an attack like that won't happen anytime soon, but he can't bear the thought of not being at least a bit more prepared than now.

'There's nothing good for dinner, boss,' Happy tells him after Tony's been staring at the news channel for fifteen minutes, his thought completely elsewhere. Tony knows it's a diversion tactic, aimed at making him relax and stop worrying – pretty impossible – but he doesn't mind. Happy knows him well.

'I'll go and get something,' he says as he gets up. He may just as well play along. 'Anything specific?'

'I'm in the mood for something classic – steak with fries?'

'If you cut the fries,' Tony replies, taking his wallet from the table and grabbing his tablet. There is a pocket inside his jacket where he places it, just the right size.

'Get things for the coleslaw, too,' Happy calls after him before Tony disappears on the stairs.

The trip to Wal-Mart was fun, but it's big and busy and confusing, one of those new experiences that Tony doesn't care about repeating.

The deli though, just down the street, is his favorite, with a big lovely selection of gourmet foods, and Tony loves to shop there. If they don't have something he needs, one of the women who work there is always eager to help him out and tell him what he can use instead; they keep asking what's he making and humming approvingly if they like the idea, and they call his name as soon as he walks through the door.

It's partially because he's – unique, and recognizable, given his disability, but mostly because he's always eager to talk back and offer them a smile. It's a matter of making casual friends in all around you that Tony's never been able to try. It didn't work well when the other side knew all the dirty gossip about him.

'Hello, Nate,' Matilda greets him from across the room. He smiles in response.

He used not to remember the names of girls he slept with, and now he remember the name of every nice person he keeps meeting. Who would have guessed.

Two nice steaks and a bag of Russet potatoes land in his basket, as well as a bottle of red wine and everything he needs for the salad. It only takes a few moments, Tony knows his way around the shop perfectly and designs the most efficient route between the shelves in his head as soon as he steps inside.

There are more people in the shop that he's expected, but maybe that shouldn't be a surprise. This part of the city was not directly attacked so everyone is acting pretty naturally: there's no rubble to avoid in the streets here, no damaged buildings, no no-entry zones guarded by the police and S.H.I.E.L.D. making sure the civilians won't have any contact with the Chitauri's bodies or tech.

When he's at the checkout, Matilda smiles at him and asks him how is he doing.

'Good,' he types quickly as she scans the bar codes. 'Everything is fine. No one was hurt – and you?'

'I know a few people who work near those damaged buildings, where those giant… things fell,' she replies, grimacing a bit. 'I heard someone is in hospital, but it's nothing grave, thank God. The police are doing a good job helping people.'

'They are,' Tony types, after he's packed the items into a shopping bag, and then hands Matilda his card. 'I hope the cleanup goes quickly,' he adds when she hands him the card back.

'Me too, me too, it's like – it's like 9/11 all over again, we need to rebuild so much. Make it better.'

He nods in agreement, and smiles at her before leaving; there are people waiting in a line and he doesn't want to keep them waiting.

That's good to hear, that no one was hurt – there were enough stories of missing people all over the news, in the internet, everywhere around the city. Tony feels like he's done good job as Iron Man when someone tells him his family is okay – and the heroes will do something more.

The next day the team is done with debriefs and S.H.I.E.L.D.. business, so they help with cleaning up the area as much as they can, working together with policemen and soldiers delegated to New York to help the civilians. Iron Man spends hours with his teammates, talking little and lifting heavy things, assuring whoever comes by to watch their heroes that everything is okay. It seems to mean so much to everyone and Tony can't keep a smile off his face underneath the helmet.

There are a lot of kids who ask him who he really is or who is Captain America. Tony tells them in his metallic voice that it's a secret and no one can know because he'd have to kidnap them and make sure they wouldn't tell anyone. The kids laugh at that openly – and that's a good sign.

If they can laugh, everything will be okay.

Around seven everyone finishes work. It's been a week since the attacks and there surely aren't any people trapped underneath the rubble in this area, so there is no much hurry; physical work for such a long time is exhausting for every normal human.

Tony can feel the strain on his body, even though the suit does most of this job, supporting the heavy lifting and helping him with the physical work – being in the middle of radiation doesn't help at all.

He's doing okay, though. Eating his food like a good boy and getting eight hours of sleep per night, with the help of some meds Doc pushed into his hand a few days earlier. Otherwise he wouldn't be able to slow down enough to sleep, he knows, despite being tired; every time Tony closes his eyes his brain is supporting him with a vision of visions of slow death amidst the void and endless unnamed stars.

Tony knows he's freaking out a bit because he will really die in a pretty short time. Compared to what could have been.

And he can't stop wondering if it'll be the same black and the same painful motionless feeling.

Doc's meds help enough to let him sleep without dreaming.

On Thursday, the second last day of this chemo round, after a full week of working ten hours straight, constantly in movement, Tony suddenly understands that he's been pushing himself too far. The team is just wrapping up half past seven when Tony feels a sudden wave of weakness in his limbs and he has to steady himself wrapping the suit's hand around a nearby street lamp, before JARVIS locks down the joints to make him steady.

'Sir? Are you okay? My sensors indicate elevated heartbeat –'

'I know, J,' Tony rasps out, closing his eyes and focusing on breathing, his body slumped inside the armor. 'Give me some more oxygen here.'

'Done, sir,' the A.I. replies promptly. 'I told you that it's not a good idea for you to work right now, and Mister Hogan said the same –'

'But I insisted, yeah, I know, my fault,' Tony cuts in, breathing deeply; the oxygen flowing inside the suit makes clearing his head easier. The dizziness goes away breath by breath. 'I know what you want to say so save it, baby, I'm finishing tomorrow and I'll be back here, working, on Monday –'

'If Doctor Eisen gives you his permission, sir.'

'I thought the suits were mine and I could use them as I wished –'

'As long as you're not endangering your life. I'm not going to let you hurt yourself, sir,' JARVIS adds a bit more softly. 'You might have overrides for my system, but I don't think you can persuade Mister Hogan in such way, especially not in you physical state.

'Seems like I don't have a choice –'

'Doctor Banner is approaching, sir,' JARVIS interrupts, his voice perfectly blank, but Tony can recognize the A.I.'s contempt anyway, the traitor.

'Iron Man? Are you okay?' Bruce asks with a small frown between his eyebrows. 'I thought I saw you –'

'I'm fine.

'– swaying,' Bruce finished, ignoring Tony's words. 'I know we're not supposed to talk about this because you don't like it, discussing yourself, but you've got me worried there. I might not be a real doctor, but I'm good enough to notice something is wrong –'

'I'm just tired,' Tony replies, Iron Man's voice conveying his words flatly. 'I've had a lot on my mind recently, so not enough time to rest properly.'

That's almost like the truth.

'Are you sure? I'm –'

'I'm sure,' Tony cuts in. 'It's nothing more than that.'

'If being tired always ends with swaying – which probably would lead to fainting – like it did now, then I'd be worried at your place. But it's not my thing to say,' Bruce replies, ruffling his hair almost unconsciously, his fingers catching his curls. 'Take tomorrow off. It's not a request, it's an order – I wish Phil could just tell you the same. I know he worries about you constantly and not knowing anything about the real you, inside the suit, makes him even more anxious – but… Anyway, that's an order. You don't want to find out what stressed Hulk can do when he's annoyed. And – I'll tell Steve, he'll be glad. He's been worried about you –'

'Has he?' Tony asks in wonder, because Cap didn't say anything like that to Iron Man.

'It's just that you come in later than we do,' true, Tony arrives after his radiation, around 1000 hrs, while everyone else starts working at 0800 hrs, 'It's not a complaint, mind you,' Bruce adds, 'it's just that we talk and all before we start working. And then you don't go with us anywhere we go to eat, so he can't really get to know you better.'

'… so he doesn't want me to be isolated from you?'

'You could say that,' Bruce admits, offering Tony a weak smile. 'You know how he is. He takes great care of his people.'

'Yeah, I know – I'll take tomorrow off, then. See you on Monday,' Tony adds and flies off, watching Bruce turns around and go in the vague direction of where the rest of the team went a few minutes before without looking up.

Maybe that's good. Nate has quite a few things on his plate, so additional few hours of work are very welcome, especially when he's not allowed to stay up at nights.

Friday does pass calmly; Tony feels only a bit guilty for not being out there helping all those amazing people with their work. Instead, he spends most of the day sitting in front of a computer in his workshop at the apartment, curled up in a soft armchair that he didn't know he had.

Well, he didn't have it a few days ago, so it was either Happy of Pepper. It's a really nice thought though, so he's not going to complain.

In the evening, after babysitting him for most of the day and conspiring with Scott – who is supposed to visit at the beginning of July – Happy leaves for a meeting with someone. He tells Tony all the details, but Tony is too occupied with his work on to remember them. That's what JARVIS is for.

Happy makes sure that Tony is done working for the day before he leaves. It's funny and Tony knows the man is joking a bit, but underneath that attitude there's genuine worry.

'I will make sure sir doesn't work anymore,' JARVIS assures Happy before the man leaves. Tony groans and makes a face, but it's more of a routine game than real annoyance.

He takes a long shower, puts on some fresh clothes and stops in the middle of the room, wondering what to do now.

Friday evening, 1900 hrs. Tony Stark would know exactly what to do – but it doesn't take Nate that long to decide, either.

There's this one place – Tony can't put any label on it, it's not a bar, not a restaurant, not a café – where he's starts going now and then after he's moved to Nate's apartment. Just a few blocks away. And the food is amazing.

So he ends up spending four hours over appetizers and soda water, since he doesn't feel like eating anything more, and talking with the people there. It's… nice. It's fun.

All of the staff know Nate by now, and most the guests – there are many regulars – so as soon as he walks in he's greeted by a cascade of voices.

'Good to see you on your feet,' Lawrence says, pouring him a glass of cold soda water. 'You haven't been in for three weeks. We were getting worries, especially with what's happened.'

'I was out of town,' Tony types, taking a sip of the cold drink. 'Everyone all right. You?'

'We're fine, too,' the man assures him, gesturing at the menu for today and giving Tony a meaningful glance. 'The staff is okay. We were lucky not to be in the area where most of the damage happened – by the way, that was totally amazing, no? Superheroes in New York? Have you seen that Captain America guy? He looks just like the genuine one.'

'Yeah, I've seen it – crazy. Crazy but cool ;) & just a plate of appetizers today.'

'Not hungry again, huh?' Lawrence comments, looking at the tablet's screen. 'Right away.'

Tony nods at him and nurses his drink, observing the crowd inside. Almost all of them are young people, some couples, a few kids playing in an area in the back, a few reading books from the library corner. That's one of the reasons Tony loves the place for – the selection of books you can read while eating is fantastic. If he had more time to spare, he'd certainly come over more often, if only to hang around.

'Do you have your favorite?' he hears a voice saying over his head a few minutes later.

'Fav ?' he types, smiling thankfully at the sight of his food.

It's funny, how smiles are the primary means of communication pretty often these days.

'Superhero.'

Tony takes a moment to reply, because he honestly hasn't thought about that: how do you judge your own friends, your teammates? He doesn't know them enough to have fixed opinions and he knows them well enough to distinguish people from their masks at the same time.

Well, besides Spider Man. That childish and crazy guy is still a mystery, but Tony knows he likes him.

'Captain,' he types finally, nodding to himself. It's be awkward to say Iron Man; Tony is damn proud of the persona, but he doesn't want to discuss himself in third person more than necessary. 'You?'

'You know I like big things and going wild, so I'd say Hulk. He's strong, he's dangerous, he's indestructible, too, it seems – it's really cool,' Lawrence adds solemnly and leaves Tony with the food to serve his other clients.

Tony can't wait to tell Bruce he's met a real Hulk fan.

Saturday is another occasion for Tony to play Nate: it's a Riverside day. Last week he didn't go there, given all the madness accompanying the attack; everything has calmed down a bit since then, so there is nothing to stop Tony.

It's refreshing to see that for the children hardly anything has changed because of the attack. The older ones understand the significance of what happened, but as it didn't touch them personally, it's easy to be immersed in simple everyday life. Riverside is pretty far away from the area of Manhattan that's been most damaged. The city seems to look perfectly normal around.

And the younger kids, Tony has learned so far – because he was an unusual child and had a strange childhood – don't understand things like that, not really; what distresses them is the reactions of other people around. Tony was here for ten minutes only last Saturday, checking up on everyone, but it was enough to see that the caretakers were doing their job really professionally.

Most of the afternoon is playing board games and building things out of Legos. It's as pleasant for the kids as it is for Nate; he's had little time for creative work recently, focusing on what was needed, not what he had in mind, and building a Lego submarine is almost like doing a tricky experiment in the depths of his workshop, with only Dummy and his fire extinguisher and JARVIS to supervise.

Annik tells him about the young people who come to help out as volunteers, trying to fill the all the free time with interesting activities. There are no money to send all the kids on camps; Tony makes a swear to himself that the next year – hopefully much calmer – he'll help them out financially with that, too. If he will still be around. And if not, he'll make sure someone does that for him.

After he says goodbye to everyone and steps out of the building, he finds one of the older boys, Marcel, sitting on the stairs, clearly waiting for him.

'Hey, Nate,' he says, addressing to Tony the way Tony wanted, even the youngest kids call him by his name only, without mister or sir. 'You're a computer specialist, right? IT and stuff?'

Tony sits down next to the boy, nodding, and then takes out his tablet, waiting for another question.

'I was wondering if you could help me out a bit,' Marcel says after a brief pause.

'You're going to high school now, right?'

'Yes. I want to – I want to go to MIT. It's the best school around and I want to do things – if something happens. I want to be able to protect people. But I'll only get a scholarship if I have the best grades.'

'Why not just go somewhere else?'

'Why go somewhere that's not the best?' Marcel replies, making Tony grin. That's the spirit.

'Tell me what you can do & what you want to do & what to help you with next Sat :)'

'Okay,' Marcel replies with a smile, relaxing finally. Of course everything depends on how good Marcel is, Tony doesn't know that yet, but if he deserves it, Tony will make sure the boy makes use of his talents. The world could always use more people to keep it safe.

On Sunday, to make a perfect finish for the week, the Avengers are having an overdue training session; last week's one was cancelled to give everyone time to breathe and heal a bit, but they do need to work to keep the good performance up. Half of their success with the Chitauri was practice. The other half was talent mixed with obvious insanity, but that's not exactly trainable.

The sparring is less intense than they are used too – still too many bruises and pulled muscles in the 100% human part of the team – and the dynamics is different since Thor is not present, but everything goes as smoothly as one could hope. Tony is testing the newest suit, with upgraded repulsors. So far they're a great success, no performance issues notes, efficiency on the level of the previous design, while they hardly make any noise or emit light,

It's going to be the summer of flying, Tony knows. Finally no one will notice the suit while it's in stealth mode.

Spider Man disappears as soon as the training is over, before Tony can ask him if everything is all right; the man doesn't seem stressed, but he's been joking around much less lately and, in his case, that might mean something.

'I talked to him, he's okay,' Bruce tells Tony when he notices Tony following the man with his sight. Helmet, whatever. 'Said someone he knows lives in the area and he's helping them out with cleaning the place up.'

'Thank you,' Iron Man says, inclining his head a little. Brice waves at him and walks away, but before Tony can move towards the roof, Captain comes in sight.

Or Steve, since he's not in the uniform.

'Are you doing anything now?' Steve asks and Tony takes a moment to look at the schedule JARVIS is displaying for him on the helmet's HUD.

There isn't anything that important; no meeting for Nate, no appointments. There's some work Nate is supposed to do for his independent projects, but it can wait, and Steve looks like he needs someone to take his hand and lead him. Somewhere.

'No, I'm free,' Iron Man's metallic voice says. Steve's face lightens up with a smile; he probably isn't aware of that, but it makes Tony smile behind the faceplate. Cap, despite all his was experiences, is so pure and genuine. 'Do you want to do something?'

'I don't know – I… It's tense at HQ,' Steve admits, looking somehow self-conscious. 'Phil's still in a bad shape, despite healing slowly, Clint and Natasha are always with him or worrying, not sleeping nights… And Bruce is always in his lab. Which is good, but I thought – I wanted to talk to someone.'

'Sure thing – anything in particular?'

'No, not really, just talk,' Steve replies with a sight, running a hand through his hair in a gesture similar to the one Tony still makes sometimes, out of habit. 'Sorry if it's bad time –'

'How about we go get a burger?'

'You want to –' Steve starts, sounding pretty shocked, and Tony laughs, his voice transmitted into a soft artificial sound that can't be heard often.

'No, I'm good, I won't eat – sorry to give you a false impression. But we've been training for three hours and I knows you well enough to be aware that you're famished.'

'I guess I am,' Steve replies with a shy smile, and starts heading towards the door. Another great thing about Tony's new suit: it's much quieter when it moves. There's still a metallic rustle, but it's soft and pleasant, at least to Tony. 'You know a place?'

'Indeed. Nearby,' Tony says and leads to the tiny joint just two blocks away. People do follow Iron Man and a handsome blond man with their eyes and camera phones; Steve seems very conscious about that and pretty stressed out, but he relaxes when Tony laughs again and reminds him that none of these people know that he is Captain America – just a handsome tall man eating a burger.

'It's still difficult for me to remember that none of these people know me, just like I do not know them,' Steve offers a few minutes later, when they're sitting on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s HQ roof; it's much calmer up there, and much quieter. The air feels almost light and fresh, compared to down in the streets, even coming through the armor's filters.

'No surprise, you've been such a big public figure for quite some time before –'

'Before my plane went down,' Cap finishes and puts the last piece of the first burger into his mouth. Tony grins at the man's appetite; it's nice to see how messy he eats, too, like a young man he really is, spilling the ketchup all over his hands and the concrete floor, wiping his face with a rough paper napkin.

'How are you holding up with the aliens becoming real?' Iron Man asks when Cap is half through his second burger. It might sound insensitive, to ask about such matter, but Steve didn't' have to verbalize anything for Tony to know what's eating him.

'Red Skull was pretty much an alien, at the end,' Steve offers, squinting in the sun, then turns around to let the sunshine smother his back instead. His face must be reflected strangely in Tony's helmet's shiny surface. 'But I do hate magic. So much. The Tesseract… they should have left it in the ice. Really. None of this would have happened.'

'It would have happened eventually,' Tony points out, knowing exactly where wishful thinking leads. 'It would. And maybe something worse would have happened – think about it that way. We did great. There were causalities, that's true and very unfortunate, but there weren't as many as you'd expect from all the destruction,' he vaguely waves his hand at the New York buildings around them. 'You did amazing as our commander.'

'I did little,' Steve argues, finishing the second burger and trying to wipe his hands clean from the mustard and ketchup. 'I wouldn't have –'

'I could play this game all night, Steve, but I'd get bored, you don't want to see me bored. Acknowledge that you did great. Learn to accept compliments. Those didn't disappear back in 60s, they are just much less obvious these days. Most of the time.'

There is a moment of thick silence. Tony waits.

'… you are a great friend, Iron Man,' Steve states finally, watching Tony intently. 'Sorry for sounding like Thor, but you really are – I wish I knew the person that's inside. I know – I know that's something you want to keep separate,' Steve adds before Tony can say a word, 'but you must be someone great.'

'Thank you,' it's Tony's turns to say the two magical words. 'Hug?'

Steve's hear jerks up and he blinks, as if he couldn't understand what he's hearing. It's cute, but it's also sad because Tony knows Steve used to have amazing friends in his commandos, other than Bucky; they were like brothers. There is nothing shameful between brothers, not even wanting a hug.

Iron Man walks up to Steve, who is sitting cross-legged on the roof, kneels behind the blond man and wraps his metal-encased arms around Captain's firm muscle figure. It's about as awkward as the first time, Tony still has hard time guessing if he's putting too much strength into the hug or not, but he figures it's all right if Steve doesn't complain.

Back at home, Tony spends the rest of the evening working and watching a movie with Happy, dividing his attention in a perfectly balanced way. It's quickly destroyed when JARVIS says that someone is calling the number Iron Man left for S.H.I.E.L.D. to contact him.

'Patch it through, J,' Tony tells the A.I., saving the project he's working on and swallowing the string cheese he's been munching on.

'Evening, Iron Man,' he hears Clint's slightly distorted voice over the line.

'Evening, Clint – what can I do for you?'

'Phil's cleared for visitors. Well, the ones that aren't me or Tasha or Fury, So I was wondering if you'd like to come sometime, he'd like that –'

'Of course,' Tony says eagerly. JARVIS is modulating his voice the way it sounds like Iron Man's, even when he's not wearing the helmet, so the emotions are lost on Clint. 'When?'

'Anytime?'

'What about tomorrow?'

'Tomorrow?' Clint sounds surprised and pleased. 'Yeah, that'd work. Around noon?'

'No problem. Where can I –'

'I'll send you an email with the hospital details, Fury cleared it, you can land on the roof and then I'll walk you downstairs. Sounds all right?'

'Yes, perfect.'

'Thanks –'

'And Clint?' Tony cuts in before Clint can hang up.

'Yes?'

'I'm glad you're both doing better.'

There is a moment of pause before Clint speaks up again.

'That we are,' he admits. Tony smiles at the ceiling. 'See you,' Clint adds and then the connection's gone.

Tony wonders briefly about the hospital Clint sent him the address, it's a military one. Makes sense. It's a bit surprising that they'd let in someone wearing a metal suit, not really sterile – but when it's about a world-wide hero it's probably easier to pull strings.

At noon sharp Tony is at the hospital. He enjoyed a late wake-up, after the two-week course of getting up at 0600 hrs to get to the hospital on time.

It seems that this Monday has been declared a work-free day for the team: Steve is just leaving when Clint and Iron Man approach Phil's room, Natasha is sitting on the corridor, wearing a set of comfy clothes and drinking coffee from a Starbucks cup – surely it was Cap to think of those little things. Bruce, Tony guesses, is in his lab as always.

'He says he'll come over when he stops feeling so, you know, emotional about the whole thing. Or angry more than emotional. It wouldn't end well, in here.'

'Sure it wouldn't,' Tony agrees, waving at Steve. 'What are you up to today?' he asks Cap; they don't have a fixed date for a meeting, it's two friends' talk and not a business appointment, but Tony would like to know Steve won't be left all alone again.

'I'm at S.H.I.E.L.D. talking to the guys who supervise that house we're going to use for Avengers HQ. We need to discuss a few things and hopefully they'll let me in and give me the keys, so that we could start the renovation works.'

'Glad to hear that,' Iron Man says, putting a hand on Steve's shoulder and squeezing him reassuringly. 'I'll see you.'

'Soon, I hope,' Steve replies, smiling, and then goes to catch an elevator downstairs, like all normal people do.

'Thanks for being a good friend for Captain,' Clint says before opening the door. 'I know we've been shitty recently, but with this – I just can't focus on anything but helping Phil get better. I hope you understand.'

'I do, and Steve certainly does, too,' Tony assures Clint. He doesn't elaborate and Clint doesn't ask any questions, just opens the door, letting Tony in. He seems happy and exhausted at the very same time.

'Phil,' Iron Man greets the man who's half-lying on the only bed in the middle of the room, propped up on a small mountain of pillows. He looks ghostly pale and tired, with dark bags under his eyes and chapped lips, but that's only to be expected after what he's been through. A heart and lung surgery – will heal nicely, but will take time, too. And with an injury like that the risk of something unexpected happening, especially with magical artifacts involved, was pretty big.

'Iron Man. Good to see you.'

No one asks Tony to sit down, they know by now that he's very comfortable standing while he's in the suit. Clint gets across the room in three graceful leaps though and seats himself in the end of Phil's bed, next to the man's legs.

'I was very happy that I didn't have to produce an artificial heart for you. You know they'd have asked me, given that it's have to be a neat piece of engineering ASAP,' Tony says lightly, JARVIS conveys that in the voice he synthesizes.

Tony loves when the A.I. does amazing things like that, reading in Tony's mind.

'I have an utmost trust in your work, but I must say I prefer being stitched up everywhere inside and that's all. Enough for me.'

'Right.'

'I heard you saved Manhattan,' Phil adds quickly, looking proud of Tony, of all things. As if he were – a father figure. Of sorts. In a different way than Scott or Doc are sometimes.

It gives Tony a warm feeling in his gut. Howard – he'd never genuinely praise his son. Tony Stark learned not to expect people to notice when he does something that might be considered nice. Unless it's helping orphans or something like that, very big and very public.

This, being part of the team, part of this little world, it is – different.

'Well, you could say so,' Iron Man agrees, nodding delicately.

'When I heard about that, I really wanted to punch you for that but – well. It turned out well in the end. So thank you.'

'Someone else would have done it, if it wasn't me,' Tony adds solemnly and decides to stir the conversation away from dead bodies of people and aliens, because it's giving him nightmares at night and he doesn't need the visions by day.

'Do you know anything about when you'll be released?'

'In three weeks, if everything goes perfect, but four to five is more likely.'

'And then –'

'Then a few good months of PT and office jobs – and we'll see later. The doctors like the you'll never do this or that speech, but they are proven wrong so often. I'd like to prove them wrong.'

'If you don't, I can't imagine who would,' Tony offers, nodding to himself. He knows a thing or two about doctors now, and about miracles. He can't expect one, but it's okay. It's okay.

Phil will prove them wrong and that will be enough –

'– Man?'

'Sorry,' Tony says apologetically, but that doesn't convey well through Iron Man's voice protocols. 'What were you saying?'

'I was asking you how you were healing up, you brave fool,' Phil says, his voice warm. Tony's always noticed that Phil seems to have a soft spot for him – for Iron Man – and it's nice. And very very strange.

'I'm perfect,' Tony says before he can think and both Phil and Clint's faces show the same disbelieving grin. Oh yes. Taking a day off on Friday wasn't such a good idea if he was going to pretend everything is perfectly fine.

They don't ask though, respecting his wish of privacy, and Tony is very thankful for that.

Tony leaves over an hour later, after a heated discussion about how the local authorities should act now, in response to a threat that's unbelievable but perfectly real. Each of them has slightly different ideas, but they do reach a compromise over a coffee – and tea, in Phil's case – that Clint brings over from the cafeteria.

The rest of the week is relatively slow. The Avengers still help out with the clean-up, Clint and Natasha finally acting more relaxed, not trying to work themselves to death. Tony feels much better now, after a few days' rest after the radiation, so the situation with dizziness doesn't happen again.

Nate keeps visiting his usual places, talking to people and smiling more with each person that tells him that everyone is fine; he visits the local library and his new favorite bookshop, another few shops and even, on Wednesday evening, he spends a nice few hours with an old lady from the floor below who keeps insisting that he looks sickly and pale – true, most people just assume that it's natural for Nate – and asks him if everything is all right about five time a day.

So Tony buys a bottle of port wine and a cake from the nearby bakery and pays the Mrs. Linz a visit. Most of those two hours is drinking wine and showing her how the tablet works; after two hours she asks him to buy her one and puts a roll of dollars into his hand. Tony swears to do it the next morning.

'I'll be checking up on you without having to wait by the door until you come by; you have a very distinctive footsteps, my boy,' she answers to Tony's question as for why she suddenly wants something that modern, and confirming his suspicions about how she knows things exactly. 'And you say that I can watch all the good old TV series there, right? That sounds marvelous,' she adds, her voice high and cheeks painted in pink.

Tony has never had a possibility of spending time with old people, not really, unless he'd call his father old, and it turns out, they have the most fascinating stories to tell – Mrs. Linz could probably talk for hours and hours, if someone listened, and Tony likes that easy communication.

On Friday afternoon Steve disappears from the cleaning site for an hour and comes back grinning. Everyone knows he wouldn't do that for no important reason, so they all await whatever news he might have eagerly.

It's good to see him smiling like that, Tony decides.

'I've got everything cleared for our new HQ,' Cap states, waving a set of keys – how old-fashioned – in front of Iron Man's helmet. 'Everything S.H.I.E.L.D. needed was taken away and we have a free access to the space. They will cover all costs, unless it's something completely crazy, citing Agent Hill. I – I want to go there tomorrow. Anyone with me?'

'I'm sorry,' Tony says, shaking his head.

'Won't do,' Spider Man states at the same time.

'You go, Clint – I'll stay with Phil –'

'You know more about interior decorating, Nat –' Clint starts with a small smile, but she cuts him off.

'If you're trying to imply what I'm hearing –'

'I mean secret places for weapons, at least one in reach in three seconds, everywhere you are in the house. You did that in all of our quarters – don't look at me like that. The team will know anyway.'

'You need a break from the hospital,' Natasha points out, silently assessing Clint's tired face. He's much better than he was before, but he refuses to go home to sleep. Staying in the hospital for two weeks hasn't given him a chance to relax properly.

'How about you both go and I stay with Phil? I haven't seen him enough, there's been all the work in the lab –'

'Thanks, Bruce,' Clint grins, giving Natasha a look as if he won a game that was never on. That's what they do, Tony has learned. They make everything into a game and that way they have endless reasons to celebrate.

'Just don't forget you need enough good roof access for both me and Thor,' Tony reminds them, patting Steve's back. Cap grins widely.

'Sure I won't. But I really want to use all of the resources we can get, since S.H.I.E.L.D. is offering – so, everyone, please think what you'd like the training rooms to be like, or any common areas for that matter. I'd like to see what kinds of toys does twenty-first century have.'

Tony wants to say that's my boy or you just want to see Fury's face when he sees the bill but he doesn't speak up; it's not an Iron Man thing to say. At all.

When they part Tony gets to his workshop to leave the suit there for minor upgrades and then gets home by metro. Pepper is waiting for him in the kitchen when he leaves the shower.

'Hi Pep,' he greets her, putting on a t-shirt and ignoring her eyes fixed on his thin body, so different from how she last saw him. 'Didn't know you were coming –'

'Am I supposed to make appointments now, Mister Stark?'

'I'd have had something nice to eat, I think there are only some leftovers from yesterday, the grocery day is tomorrow – on Monday everyone needs to buys food after the weekend gluttony or something like that –'

'Amazing Tony Stark buying cold meats in a local store?' Pepper asks with a grin. Tony walks up to the fridge and looks inside: there isn't a lot more than eggs, juice and leftovers from yesterday. The other things don't work well before noon, at least: Happy really loves beer and Tony always keeps a bottle of good chilled vodka in case Doc came by.

Surprisingly, it feels natural not to drink alcohol – Tony does have a glass of wine now and then, but it's nothing compared to what he used to drink before.

Maybe it was easy to stop because there wasn't really any other option.

'How about we go out – okay,' Pepper stops, understanding Tony's stare. 'I get it. That would be too suspicious if you and me –'

'I don't want to, you know, give anyone any possibility of making a connection, I know it's probably a bit paranoid, but well, I made this big spectacle and I wouldn't want any doubt to be present.'

'Got it, Tony – why are you smiling?'

'Hardly anyone calls me that now,' Tony explains, pouring himself some juice. Pepper shakes her head for now before he can offer some to her. 'Happy calls me boss although I'm not really his boss anymore, not technically, JARVIS calls me sir, Doc calls me kid, you know he does, and everyone else – yeah. They use the other two names. But I'm used to it.'

'It sounds crazy, from the outside.'

'It feels crazy, but much less than it used to,' Tony admits. 'I've had almost half a year of the game, so it's becoming pretty natural.'

'That's good. I think.'

'It is,' he assures her, drinking the lasts of the juice and walking up to Pepper to give her a kiss on the forehead. 'You can't imagine how glad I am to have you and Rhodey back. I was such an ass, not telling you –'

'We've been over this,' Pepper cuts in firmly. 'Right?'

'Right. Okay,' Tony chuckles lightly. 'No more guilt talk, JARVIS, you hear me? I'll be a nice guiltless person. There. What are you in the mood for?'

'Huh?'

'Food. Let's order something, since we can't go out –'

'How about pizza?'

'You don't like pizza.'

'I don't like pizza when it's the only food in the house for weeks. I love good pepperoni – don't you laugh, Stark,' she adds threateningly, but it's laced with amusement. Tony rolls his eyes and looks up at the ceiling.

'You hear the lady, J, get us what we need. And blueberry soda – did you know something like blueberry soda existed?' Tony asks, watching Pepper rolling her eyes. It's so easy to fall back into a familiar pattern of being around each other. They spent over ten years working together, before Tony disappeared, and it's natural like breathing.

Tony knows that Rhodey was called away for a few weeks to train young soldiers, some kind of special initiative as a response to the attack, so he can't exactly come over. That one-to-one has to wait.

'So, was there any special reason of you coming here, or was it just a social call?'

'I want you to tell me everything I need to know about –' Pepper stops there, bites her lip and takes a breath. 'About what's going to happen. What I should be prepared for. I know this is hard, I did some reading, but that's only general and each case is different, right? I didn't want to talk to Doctor Eisen behind your back –'

'Pep, you can do anything you want, anything, and I would never be mad at you.'

She smiles. It's weak and almost sad, but it's Pepper's smile. Tony has missed it so much.

Then she walks up to him and hugs him tightly.

'Please, tell me.'

Tony talks.

A/N: It's been a long time, sorry for the delay. I've had a couple of crazy weeks and I couldn't focus enough to write this piece. Thanks for everyone who supported me, especially for all the amazing reviews you left me. That was my only motivation to write at some point, so really, thank you.

This part should have 4 parts, so suit up :)

I hope you enjoyed this piece. I'd love to hear your opinions, as always!

(Also, I'm looking for a beta for this, so if any of you is feeling up to it, send me a message or contact via tumblr, the address is in my profile^^)