Long may you run (part 3)

'You look terrible,' Scott tells Tony, without bothering with a hello, and brushes some dust off Tony's lapel.

'Same old, same old,' Tony sighs, pulling the man into a short hug. 'You, on the other hand, look perfect.'

'As always, Mister S.'

'You're such a British gentleman,' Tony comments, keeping his face straight and gesturing at Scott to follow. He has no luggage besides his small briefcase, so maneuvering through the thick crowd is easy.

'Again, as always,' Scott replies, keeping close. A few minutes later they are in the car and Happy greets Scott with a suspiciously large grin before starting the engine.

They keep silent for the rest of the ride, swinging by a Spanish place that Scott likes a lot to get some food – they don't do deliveries when you are someone other than Tony Stark – and when they are at home they settle in the kitchen.

'I trust you to keep boss in check,' Happy says, grabbing a bag from under the table and leaving the room. The door closes loudly a moment later. Tony looks around, blinks a few times, and folds his arms.

'He needs some time to rest,' Scott comments before Tony can open his mouth.

'Et tu, Brute?' Tony murmurs, glancing at the front door. 'So, why all the conspiracy?'

'No reason,' Scott replies promptly, taking out a few of Tony's china plates. He's too much of an elegant man to eat supper out of Styrofoam boxes. 'You sit,' he adds, pointing one finger at Tony while grabbing cutlery with his other hand. 'I'll get things done.'

'I'm not an invalid, you know –'

'You look tired.'

'An alien invasion does that do a man –'

'I have to admit, I am worried about your wellbeing,' Scott cuts in again, placing the final element of the setup, crystal glasses, on the table. Then he offers Tony an embroidered napkin and sits down.

'J, have Dummy bring us some wine.'

'Tony –' Scott starts, giving the man a warning look, but this time JARVIS interrupts him.

'Sir is cleared for two glasses of wine, Mister Jarvis,' the A.I. says, sounding slightly amused while saying the name, as always, but also remotely offended. 'I would not let him consume any if he wasn't.'

'Have trust in J,' Tony laughs at Scott's surprised face. 'And yes, he's been very bossy lately. You can imagine what I have to live through every single day, between him and Happy and now Pepper.'

'A tragedy indeed,' Scott comments drily. 'So, you and him –'

'I've been teaching JARVIS independence,' Tony says quietly, putting some stuffed green olives on his plate and licking the olive oil off his fingers as he pops one into his mouth. Scott rolls his eyes at that, but he knows better than to try to make Tony use cutlery when Tony's having fun.

Scott gives Tony a long look and then glances at the ceiling, where most of JARVIS' sensors and cameras are, giving them both a sharp nod. No further explanation needed.

Dummy rolls into the room happily, holding a bottle of an impeccable dry Merlot, and comes up to Tony to offer him the wine.

'Good, good boy,' Tony pats him on the arm and then nudges, pointing at the workshop door. 'Thank you very much. Now go to your baby brothers and make sure they are fine.'

Dummy, being the good boy he sometimes is, goes back obediently, his camera focused between Scott and Tony's hands opening the wine. He's not used to having visitors outside of Tony's very small circle of friends around. Scott visited Tony in the US maybe five times before this year, and it was always the other way 'round, so Dummy is now understandably wary.

'And them – the bots?' Scott asks, taking the glass, now filled with wine, into his hand and swirling it inside, eyes on the flickering burgundy color.

'Don't know,' Tony admits. 'I've had a few ideas, but – no rush. We need to work things out.'

'That you do,' Scott nods, takes a sip of the wine and grabs a piece of tortilla de patatas. 'Bon appetit.'

'Bon appetit,' Tony replies, sticking to his olives. They feel particularly yummy today so he goes with it; he's been having these likes and no-likes since the radiation started and so far, the best way to deal with them is just to roll with it. Plus, stuffed olives are great.

'You're not coming with me,' Tony says when he gets up to get himself some juice and finds Scott, fully dressed in his expensive soft shirt and suit trousers, in the kitchen, making scrambled eggs for both of them.

'I am.'

'There is absolutely no need for you to come with me,' Tony insists, pouring himself a glass of passionfruit juice and mixing it with some sparkling water.

'I am worried about you.'

'Scott –'

'Tony,' Scott interrupts with a small humorless grin. 'I've seen you going through a lot of messes and I've been fine with the stunt you're doing right now, fooling the whole bloody world – and I know that you've been refusing to have anyone come with you.'

'But?' Tony prompts, sitting down and placing the glass on the table with a muffled clink.

'But I know you want to talk to your doctor and Doctor Eisen isn't around today to be there with you, neither is Happy. Or Pepper –'

'You've been –' Tony starts, shaking his head and staring up at the ceiling; it always means the same thing.

'Yes, we've been talking and I know you've been feeling a bit worse than before and in your condition, that's always a reason for worry –'

'I hate it when you say in your condition,' Tony states flatly, tapping his fingers at the table quickly. 'Jarvis and JARVIS, the most annoying team in the whole wide world.'

'You were not going to tell anything to anyone,' JARVIS offers softly and Tony can't help but smile a little bit. JARVIS is such a worrier. 'I know you, sir.'

'Because something like this would happen,' Tony sighs. Maybe it won't be so bad to have someone there, especially since Tony doesn't think Levy will have a surprise waiting for him; Tony knows almost for sure what's wrong. 'Okay, Scottie, honey. You're coming. But you've got to hold my hand and all the stuff.'

'I wouldn't expect anything less,' Scott replies sharply and puts a heaping helping of food on Tony's plate. 'Now, eat up for as long as you can.'

'JARVIS.' Tony rolls his eyes and digs in. He'll have words with the A.I. later – this is not the kind of independence he was thinking about, even though he knows JARVIS is only scared.

Scott does come to the clinic and waits just outside the room while Tony is in radiation. All that is such a routine now that he doesn't even think about it, just follows with the sequence of movements and actions practiced for months. The few minutes under the machine pass like a blur and as soon as Tony is dressed, he goes outside, gestures at Scott to follow and leads him to Levy's office.

'Hello, Nate,' she greets him with a smile and then nods at Scott. 'You must be the British friend.'

'I asked JARVIS to call,' Tony explains, sitting down and offering Scott a wry smile. Everyone who hasn't met JARVIS is person thinks he's some kind of an assistant or a secretary.

'I was told already what your symptoms are, care to confirm?' Levy asks, taking out Tony's document and opening the folder. She never uses his real name, just like Tony asked her to those few months ago.

'You know all of that by now, but it's been – I've been tired. More than usual, more than I should be even with everything that's been going on,' Tony pauses for a moment, adjusts his glasses and gives Scott a small smile. 'Ugh, headaches and occasional dizziness, but that's rarely – and then there's been this last time –'

'Irregular and rapid heartbeat after physical activity.'

'Yes,' Tony confirms, looking up to meet Levy's eye. 'I probably shouldn't have –'

'Running makes the body exhausted more quickly, compared to some other sports,' Levy comments, making a note in her magical notebook. 'That was the first time?'

'Yeah, that's why I'm here, you said if anything out of the ordinary –'

'You should come to me. I'm glad you're taking those words seriously, from Doctor Eisen's stories, I wouldn't be so sure – I see you know this perfectly,' Levy turns to Scott, who is nodding slightly.

'I had my blood tests done yesterday. Low RBC.'

'Anemia,' Levy murmurs to herself and scribbles some more. 'I want to do some more tests – it's not that uncommon for patients with radiation to abdomen areas. Between that and the trinket in your chest, we'll need to figure out the right treatment, when I have all the test results I need.'

'And that would be?'

'Blood transfusion is the easiest thing, medicine if needed, but it might be a bit tricky with the reactor, so we'll leave that out for as long as we can. RBC would probably be back to normal if we stopped radiation – but for now, it has more advantages than disadvantages, so we'll stick to it. You're responding to it as well as can be expected.'

'Yeah, I know, I'm lucky like that,' Tony sighs.

'You're taking your vitamins?'

'Sure thing. Just like I was instructed.'

'Good,' Levy nods again, closes the folder and wraps her arms around it. 'Now we go steal some of your blood. You can come too, Mister…'

'Jarvis,' Scott supplies, bowing a little. Tony rolls his eyes; Scott is always the same.

'Is Nate's assistant your family?' Levy asks curiously, opening the door and letting Tony and Scott leave before she does.

'Something like that,' Scott chuckles softly and gives Tony an amused look.

The blood results are ready the next morning, confirming everything that Levy and Tony discussed. Since the numbers are not very bad, just slightly below normal, there is no big rush and the transfusion will take place the Monday after Tony's done with radiation. For now, all he has to do is rest.

He swears he will try – he really will try.

It's good to know that it's not something more serious.

The rest of Scott's stay is filled with good food, long walks and even longer discussions. Pepper comes over one evening and they play board games, just like they used to when Pepper started to work for Tony, over ten years earlier. It brings back so many memories that Tony gets completely lost in them; he guesses that's what Scott and Pepper want.

They talk even more than they stroll around and Scott makes sure Tony gets all the rest he might need.

It's another nice thing, as long as Tony doesn't think about whys.

'There is a call for you, sir,' JARVIS says through the workshop music on Friday evening, just as Tony is finishing his work on installing an update to the interface of the newest suit he has at home, in the small workshop. 'Captain Rogers.'

Tony nods and waves at JARVIS, which means go on, without looking away from the helmet's HUD.

'How is the work going at the HQ?' Tony asks without waiting for a hello from Steve, and he can almost hear Captain's smile over the phone, just as expected.

'Very well. If we continue like that, we should have the rooms and common spaces ready in two weeks, and the rest of the place in a month. And thanks for the food, I don't know how –'

'– you're going to repay me, I know, you said that already, Steve,' Tony finishes for the other man, nodding to himself as the progress bar hits 100%, and takes off the helmet. 'And I told you there is no need for that at all. Yet you insist.'

'I do.'

'I'll come up with something you can do for me, as a favor you owe me,' Tony offers, walking up to the sink and washing his hands and face quickly and efficiently.

'Iron Man?'

'I'm here. Why are you really calling then?' Tony asks. He waves at You and then points at the mini fridge when the bot is focused on him. You will understand.

'Director Fury asked for our assistance with collecting stray pieces of Chitauri tech from all over New York, from several places that have been under S.H.I.E.L.D.'s supervision. They want to move all of the tech to one place and start trying to make it work, as per Director's words.'

'Ah,' Tony sighs, taking the smoothie from You and patting his arm. 'Now go back,' he murmurs at the bot who rolls away immediately. 'When and where should I be then?'

'Meet me in front of the new HQ tomorrow morning. Nine in the morning work for you?'

'If it works for you,' Tony replies with the best of Iron Man's courtesy, even though the voice doesn't express emotions.

'I'll see you then,' Steve says before disconnecting and Tony is left with the ringing silence.

'JARVIS?'

'I'll call Riverside and inform them that you won't be there, sir.'

'Yeah, it's probably gonna take a few hours, moving from place to place with that band of misfits – Bruce?'

'Doctor Banner and Captain Rogers will be with you. Spider Man won't be there; apparently his previous arrangements don't allow him to attend the hunt.'

'The hunt, J?' Tony asks with amusement, then finishes the smoothie and walks up to the kitchenette to drop the glass into the sink.

'That, at least, sounds somewhat exciting. Sir.'

'You know me too well –'

'Are you sure you feel up to it?'

'– or not. Yes. I do. We discussed that and I plan to stick to my promises.'

'Of course, sir,' JARVIS says with slight disbelief clear in his voice. 'Do you want me to show you the progress I've made on the security system?'

'Oh, just drop it and call him your kid, J, old man,' Tony replies with a wide grin and walks up to the main holographic projector where the mansion schematics appears immediately, and they are lost in conversation.

Recovering the Chitauri tech is much more boring than Tony would have thought, although there is one thrilling advantage: Steve is driving the S.H.I.E.L.D.-issued Mercedes and he's not driving like a man who hadn't seen a proper traffic in his times. He's cutting the corners and speeding whenever he can, visibly excited with the thrill of adventure and the ease of driving the great car; Tony can only imagine how much of a change that must be from the clunky automobiles of the forties, even if they don't fly like Howard promised all those years ago.

Tony wishes he still had access to his car collection and could take Steve for a spin in the Acura or the Bentley with upgrades he did for Happy, or at least one of the fancy Jaguar convertibles – but it's another of the things that can be only be done in dreams.

There isn't much bonding between the three of them in the car; Iron Man and Doctor Banner are on the level of mutual worry about the other's well-being while Iron Man and Steve are… not exactly keeping their friendship secret, but they definitely feel more at ease when they are on their own. Also, being in the suit doesn't help with forming interpersonal bonds, even if it's the second newest one, which is smaller and lighter than all the others – not as good for battles but okay for hanging out with people.

Most of the conversation is about the HQ, a hot topic these days, because there's always something to add. Between stops one and two, Steve gives a report of this week's progress. From two to four, Bruce recounts Clint and Natasha's reactions. Four to seven, Steve tells them about the plans for the next two weeks. Seven to ten Tony talks with them about the progress Nate has been making on the A.I. security system.

Place eleven is the last stop before getting the stack of boxes they now have in the back of the van to the final destination several miles outside of the city.

There is one stop at a gas station with coffee and sandwiches for the normal people, and an hour later the van pulls up in front of a tall concrete wall that remotely reminds Tony of the Black Gate of Mordor.

'Is there anything special we need to do inside the facility?' Tony asks, getting out of the car and finally standing straight.

'Someone should meet us in a minute,' Steve explains, getting to the back of the car and opening the van's door. The pieces of Chitauri tech are packed in neatly labeled black boxes and tightly tucked in the back. 'We need to report to Deputy Director Hill. Bruce will be staying here for a few days and we can go back after we've signed the paperwork.'

'Okay,' Iron Man agrees drily as Tony smirks behind the helmet. He was wondering why couldn't it be other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents recovering the tech; the job isn't that dangerous. Steve just wants some time alone with Iron Man and he can do something useful at the same time, so it's perfect. Exactly what Tony would expect from Captain.

Bruce grabs a small duffel bag from the backseat and throws it over his shoulder.

'There she is,' he comments, gesturing at a lean dark-haired figure approaching them from the big staircase.

'Good to see you, three sevenths of the Avengers,' she greets them and nods at them to follow. 'I'm glad you decided to come onboard, Doctor Banner,' she adds. She doesn't sound glad at all, her voice is perfectly controlled and doesn't reveal a single emotion. Tony met her a few times before, as both Iron Man and Nate, but Maria Hill is still a fascinating mystery, even if she fits perfectly into Tony's idea of a Deputy Director.

Bruce disappears somewhere as soon as they enter the building, as if he knew the facility well enough to find his way around it – possible – so Steve and Iron Man follow Hill into an office at the end of the corridor. It's bright inside; the rooms have no windows so white artificial light fills the spaces. JARVIS filters it through the helmet's electronically controlled panel; Tony's always hated the fake light. It makes his eyes hurt.

Both Steve and Iron Man sign the transfer papers. Hill collects them, places them into a thick folder and stands straight, hands behind her back.

'That's all I need from you two,' she says, slowly glancing between them. 'You're free to go.'

'Thank you, Deputy Director,' Steve says. Iron Man just nods and exits behind Steve, leaving Hill alone in the big room.

Bruce is nowhere to be seen, apparently he doesn't feel like exchanging goodbyes.

'Sit with me in the front,' Steve tells Iron Man when they get to the car. Tony nods again and does as he's told. This is going to be fun, observing Steve driving like the slightly self-conscious speeder he totally is.

'You drive well for someone who must still be used to the old fashioned cars,' Tony says because he can't stop himself, he'd fancy making a snarkier comment, but that would be too out-of-character.

'I can't say I'm not enjoying the speed,' Steve laughs lightly and starts the car. 'This is one of those many things we were dreaming of, back in forties. Everything was so limited back then – but this kind of progress we had in our heads all the time. Men in black suits, fast cars, women wearing pearls – you've read The Great Gatsby, right? We wanted to bring all that to the next level. After the war. We – I never got to. And now… most things are so different from what we wanted from the future, beyond our imagination. Having fast cars is one of those things that fulfills those old dreams. But I'm rambling –'

'I like hearing your perspective on things,' Tony cuts in. That's the truth: Tony thinks in a different way than most people, but he knows exactly how they think. Steve is a blank page and Tony loves to learn about his mentality; it's his scientist's instinct to get to know more and more and more, always more.

Steve is one of the few things in the world that can surprise Tony easily and effortlessly – even more than an alien army. That had to happen at some point – but okay. Better not to think about that too much.

'I have something for you in the back,' Steve informs Iron Man, grinning a little bit deviously, with subtle impression of self-satisfaction. Now, that gets Tony curious. 'But I'll give it to you when we're back in NY.'

'Tease,' Tony replies, resting his hands on his knees and looking at the highway they're driving down. 'So, why did you want me to ride back to NY? Because I assume the collecting job could have been done by anyone, and yet you requested it and asked me to come with you.'

'Ah, yes,' Steve murmurs to himself and puts on a pair of sunglasses. 'I know we are both too busy to get away from the Avengers business and our real lives right now, so I'll have to put my big plans away in time, but I thought that we could have a… mini road-trip of sorts? You'd show me some music?'

'Someone was reading fifties' literature, huh?' Tony asks, laughing internally. Steve is just so cute sometimes.

'Can't say no,' Steve admits, staring straight ahead at the road, but Tony can see a mischievous gleam in Cap's eyes. Good that Tony's been informed better than most people, and he never expected Steve to be a perfect law-abiding citizen.

'Okay,' Tony nods to himself and shifts slightly to make it easier for him to reach Steve's smartphone, which is connected to the van's audio system – Tony wonders why it would even have one, but S.H.I.E.L.D. can't always be explained rationally – and quickly finds Hotel California and turns the volume up a bit. His last road trip took place… sometime in the nineties, so he's going to make the two hours the true essence of the experience.

The next week is slow.

It starts with Tony unpacking the magical box Steve gave him at the end of the road trip – it's filled with homemade chocolate chip cookies. Tony eats them for breakfast before radiation with a glass of cold almond milk, and it's perfect. Steve told him that even if he can't see Iron Man being a normal human, he might enjoy the Cap-made cookies in the privacy of his own home, without anyone looming over his shoulder and trying to guess his identity. Tony laughed, thanked Steve and decided to use the cookies as a good day charm during the second week of radiation.

Tony sleeps a lot and rests as much as he can allow himself to between everything he's still trying to accomplish: finishing two independent projects that Nate is doing charitably, supervising JARVIS creating the security A.I. – which is going very quickly – and cooperating with the S.H.I.E.L.D. team on the Tesseract work. The Cube might not be around anymore, but there's a lot of data that needs to be analyzed that could be helpful with the future, in case something happened.

And anything could happen.

Nate visits Mrs. Linz and spends Wednesday evening on a small soiree at his neighbors from two floors down, eating authentic Brazilian food and watching people dancing. Nate doesn't dance and for once no one has any problem with that. They make it into a competition and Tony is the referee, even though he knows next to nothing about Latin dances.

Iron Man visits Phil in the hospital again and learns the man should be released home within a week. Most of the HQ's rooms are ready, already equipped with the wires and other devices Nate said were necessary for the A.I. to be able to function. The walls are painted and everything is clean; they're just waiting for all the furnishings to arrive.

Nate goes on a trip to the park with Annik and the three youngest kids on Friday and when he walks them back to Riverside, he meets Bruce, who is leaving the place after his meeting with Marcel. They only exchange hellos though, as Bruce is in hurry and Tony has Pepper coming over for the night and he needs to get supplies for dinner before he goes home. He's been taking a different antiemetic since last week and it's working better than the previous one, so he can eat easily even during the radiation days.

All those small mundane things feel like a blessing.

They eat clam chowder and drink root beer; Happy has the weekend off and he's out of state, visiting his second cousin or something like that – JARVIS knows. When they're done with dinner there's movie time and Tony falls asleep in Pepper's lap before half of the movie passes. Her presence seems to calm him; there are no nightmares at night, and when he wakes up JARVIS states it's eight in the morning.

'I can't believe I slept that long,' Tony murmurs to himself, sneaking out of the warm nest of the soft blanket, and cleans himself up in the bathroom. When he walks into the kitchen, Pepper is sitting by the table, reading one of the magazines from Happy's Tony Stark collection and snickering quietly.

'We're eating scrambled eggs,' she says as soon as she hears Tony's soft footsteps. 'These are amusing. I keep up with what they say about you – about Stark – in more serious papers, but honestly, these are so bad that it's almost funny.'

'Glad to know you think so, too,' Tony snickers and props himself up the counter next to the stove, ignoring Pepper's disapproving looks saying really, Tony?

He's missed it.

'Juice?'

'Yes please,' Tony replies, swinging his legs. 'So what did you do yesterday when I dozed off? And how did I find myself in my bed?'

'I helped you there. Thought you would remember, genius,' she teases, handing him the glass of juice. 'I spent half of the night with the bots. Believe me or not, but I've missed them, and I couldn't fall asleep –'

'So you played virtual basketball with them?' Tony asks, raising one eyebrow. Pepper would always claim the bots were unruly and annoying like spoiled children, but in the end she's always been totally smitten with them. Who wouldn't?

'Might have been not so virtual.'

Tony laughs, imagining Pepper running around in her Louboutins, and feels Pepper's eyes on him.

'What?'

'Nothing,' she replies, walking up to him and wrapping her hands around his arms. 'It's just good to see you laughing – are you happy, Tony?'

He chuckles drily. 'You know me well, Pep. You know I've never been the one for happy or unhappy –'

'Tony.'

'– but despite everything, I can tell you I am happier. Satisfied?'

'Very,' she murmurs, kissing his cheek and pulling away. 'Now, I'm going to make you eat,' she adds, grabbing an egg carton from the table. Tony can't wait.

Riverside time passes quickly, as always. The weather is lovely again so they spend the whole afternoon outside, with the children playing with water and Nate staying away from the swimming pool with a few kids that don't feel like getting wet. Water is not a problem, but Tony doesn't particularly enjoy it, and while he can hide the reactor in his chest perfectly underneath his clothes, it wouldn't be that easy if they were clinging to his body. And kids ask all kinds of questions he'd prefer not to answer.

Tony spends the evening in his favorite bar, exchanging local gossip with Lawrence and a few other acquaintances over ginger ale and club sandwiches.

When he's back home, after nine, the sun is already down but the sly is still colored blue, purple and pink in the west, bathing the city's glass buildings in endless colorful reflections. The view from this house is nowhere near as good as from the city's highest buildings – Tony's been in all of them, really – and he can't exactly see a lot of the ocean from the windows, so he takes a few deep breaths and decides that such a beautiful night is the perfect one for taking his newest suit flying.

It's equipped with the best reflection panels in the world, as well as a set of no-light repulsors, so the only part of the armor that is visible is the arc reactor – which, from afar, will perfectly resemble a quickly moving star.

'Get the Mark ready while I put on the undersuit,' Tony asks JARVIS, walking to his bedroom to get changed. He's really excited, like a young kid before a first date, with his arms covered in goose bumps and a shy smile on his lips. 'This is gonna be fun.'

'I don't doubt, sir,' JARVIS replies, walking the suit into the big room from the workshop, Tony can see it out of the corner of his eye.

'Excited, J?'

'Not as much as you, sir,' JARVIS says, apparently amused. 'Everything is ready.'

'You are a miracle worker, J,' Tony murmurs, taking a few big steps and then letting the suit wrap around him like a soft warm cocoon. A moment later he flies out of an open window – that feels pretty crazy – and he's above the city. The view is incredible: there's a sea of colors and light under his feet and a clear dark sky above, tinted orange from all the artificial lights of street lamps and ads; there are no stars, but the moon is shining brightly first quarter moon . For the first few minutes Tony is half-worried that someone will spot him, no matter how unlikely that is, but then he realizes that in New York no one looks up at the sky; there isn't anything more interesting there than the city all around.

Flying is something that finally feels like freedom, and with the city cloaked in darkness Tony can't see the gigantic scars in the city's tissue left from the attack almost two months ago – it's difficult to believe it's been that long.

A/N: This part was beta-ed by amazing dri-dri93 :)

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the interactions here, many of you wanted more Nate & Iron Man dynamics with the team and here you have some and there's more to come :) Let me know what you think!