~Iron Family~

Furyous

"You did WHAT?"

"It was an honest mistake!" Tony asserted. Fury pinched the bridge of his nose and slowly paced back and forth.

"An honest mistake...losing to a child tights."

"They weren't exactly tights," Tony argued. "He had more like of a sweatshirt and high socks. Clearly homemade."

"He was super strong!" Steve supplied. "And--stickyyy!" He yanked one of many lollipops out of his hair. Clint had given them to him after raiding Tony's 'Kids-Only Reward Closet.'

"You practically let him get away!" Fury snapped. "Disobeying a direct order."

"We didn't let him go," Tony snorted. "He was just..."

"Too quick for you old men?" Clint laughed. Tony sent him a death glare.

"Oh, my apologies," Fury said sarcastically. "Let me just send out some of our more capable assets."

He gestured to Bucky, who had one of his feet braced against Steve's shoulder as he tried to yank out the lolipops, and Clint, who was spinning around and around in his chair so fast he was a blur. Bruce was knitting what appeared to be a circus tent in a corner.

"I'm sorry," Tony sighed. "It won't happen again. I'll use more firepower."

"What?" Fury shrieked. "Firepower? You best be joking, Stark! This is exactly what I didn't want! Now there's no way he'll come in peacefully!"

"My bad."

"I will give you two more chances," Fury hissed through clenched teeth. "After that, you're off the job."

"Whatever," Tony sniffed. "Not like we get paid or anything."

Clint slowly raised his hand, but Fury slapped it away.

"You are all dismissed."

***

"You get paid? Really?"

"Yeah, to feed my family," Clint said with an eye roll. "Come on, Tony. You're a billionaire. You own Stark Industries. You don't need S.H.I.E.L.D's precious paychecks."

Tony grumbled to himself, but obliged. They were in the Avengers breakroom, just hanging out like regular people.

If regular people practiced backflips on pool tables like Natasha, ripped out their friend's hair attempting to free lollipops like Bucky, or did harmful-looking science experiments in the kitchen section like Bruce. Sam sprinted by Clint and Tony, holding what appeared to be a bowl tray of freshly baked cookies in his bare hands.

"Hothothothothothothot!!" he yelped as he ran from the kitchen to the table in the corner of the room. He plonked the sheet down with a crash and started stuffing his face with a few cookies, which apparently wasn't a good idea, as he soon stood to get a cold drink in tears.

"It barned mah mouf," he choked. Tony sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose like Fury did.

"Guys, focus," he grumbled.

"Wow! That's a first!" Natasha yelled, jumping down from the pool table. Tony stuck out his tongue at her.

"Oh, shut it, Romanoff! How are we gonna catch Spider-Man?"

"It doesn't take that much thinking," Clint shrugged. "We're the Avengers, Tony. We'll catch him, stop worrying about it."

Tony sighed and shook his tense shoulders. "Yeah...yeah, you're right. We took on Loki and Ultron. We can do this. Right?"

No one responded, as they were preoccupied with their other activities, and it wasn't very inspiring. Tony rolled his eyes and walked out of the room in a huff, determined to figure out a way to catch Spider-Man.

***

The next few days were beyond crazy.

Tony probably only got three hours of sleep in total, including his two hour nap after they loaded all the boxes into their private jet.

Happy had planned on--get this--sending the plane without a single person on board. He wanted it to be on autopilot with no guards. Tony had snorted so much he'd sounded like a pig. 

Like he would trust all those expensive toys and equipment in an unmanned plane. Yeah, right.

They had over 200 boxes just for their personal things. It was official: they needed a Goodwill run.

When it came time to get in the car and leave for real, Tony found he didn't want to.

He stood hesitantly in the now-dark and empty penthouse, marveling at how spacious it was now. Without the insanely long couch (for Avengers movie nights), four or five cars could easily park bumper-to-bumper in just the living room area.

He glanced out the huge windowed wall, looking down at all the flashing lights standing out against the dark sky. He would miss this view.

Running his hand along the counter, he reminisced the good times in this kitchen. Making Christmas cookies with Morgan, playing cards with Harley, staying up late with Pepper and making jokes into the night.

Bringing baby Morgan home from the hospital. Bringing Harley home from the children's center.

They had both been so small and so quiet. It had taken about two hours for Morgan to find her voice, but for Harley it was around two weeks before he said anything that wasn't simply an answer to a question.

"Tony?" Harley's voice called from the living room. Tony turned, seeing his son standing hesitantly by the door. He had his baseball cap pulled over his head and his backpack slung over his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Tony took in a shaky breath and wiped his eyes. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay."

"You thinkin'?" Harley asked, walking over to the kitchen and seating himself on the counter. Tony nodded. "Whatcha thinkin' about?"

Tony hesitated. "Just...bringing you and Morgan home. All the good times."

Harley leaned in and gave Tony a hug. "It'll be okay, Tony. We'll make new memories at the compound."

Tony tried not to choke up at Harley's tender act of compassion. He slowly stroked his wavy blond hair and squeezed him tightly.

"I know, bud. I know. It's not the place that holds the memories--it's you."

"Yeah," Harley stepped away and gave Tony a bright smile, smearing his nose on his sleeve. Tony wrinkled his nose.

"You want a tissue for that?"

"Nope!" Harley bounded off towards the door, leaving Tony to catch up.

They piled into one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. cars, this one driven by Happy, of course. He adjusted the rearview mirror and gave Tony a thumbs-up.

"Y'all ready?"

"As we'll ever be," Pepper grumbled to herself from the front seat. "It's not exactly easy to pack up a skyscraper."

Tony was sitting in between Harley and Morgan, who had just about a thousand bags each. Tony helped buckle Morgan into her bright pink carseat and looked over his shoulder at the tower. This was it. They were about to drive away. Next time he went by, a different logo would be displayed on the front.

"Alright everybody, say 'bye house!'" he called, thinking maybe a Toy Story reference would make everyone feel better.

"Bye, house!" Morgan shouted cheerfully.

"Bye, house," Harley called.

"Good riddance," Pepper muttered.

Happy nodded. "I'm with ya. This compound will be so much better--more out of the way, more space, not to mention the woods in the back."

"Forest fairies!" Morgan cheered.

"And room for baseball!" Harley cheered. "We won't have to go to a park anymore! We'll have room right in our backyard!"

With his family sitting by him, Tony was able to let go of his heart's hold on the tower. This was all he needed.