Tony Stark One-shots

Hiding

It wasn't so much that Tony was avoiding the team. No, absolutely not avoiding anyone. It was more like he always realized that he needed to finish a project for S.I. or remembered that the kid was coming over that week and needed to prepare some science stuff for them to do. Once, Tony decided to give the cleaning service a week off and scrubbed down the tower by himself. (Jarvis would have been so proud, his dad on the other hand...)

The point was, Tony was not avoiding the team.

He was just conveniently busy since they came back.

Of course, Steve wasn't too happy about Tony's hectic schedule, but he hadn't made any comments about it to keep the peace in the tower. Not that it was going to last much longer considering every time Tony left, the captain's face was getting tenser by the second.

It happened on a Tuesday because why not. No one really likes Tuesdays. They were like Monday's but less there.

Tony had gone upstairs to the common floor after running out of his coffee beans and that decaf instant crap the kid likes to torture himself with, not the Peter knows he switched it to decaf. Point was, he just wanted his unhealthy dose of caffeine.

So, when the inventor exited the elevator looking like he was a second away from greeting death because of lack of sleep, Steve took it as an ideal time to coerce Tony into eating with everyone.

It wouldn't have been too bad. It was considerate that the captain wanted to get some food into the genius. Tony could admit that he was overworking and not feeding himself correctly. It was almost like old times.

Almost.

But not completely.

There was a time where Tony would have let the man put his hand on his shoulder or arm and lean into it because it was safe.

That was the time where Tony would have let himself be gently guided into a seat at the table and had let someone on the team fill a plate while he was hazy from a work binge. He would have let someone, Natasha most likely, although Steve tended to do so as well, run fingers through his messy hair while Tony buried his face into that person's neck. He would let Clint's caring parental voice talk him into taking a few bites of food because it would have been the same tone Jarvis used on him when he was a child. Thor would have tried to actively control his voice volume because Tony acted scarily like Loki when he was beyond exhausted and would begin to treat him like Rhodey had in college, a soft hair tug or a rub on his back. Bruce would have filled a mug with some chamomile tea and told him that he doesn't need to work so hard by himself, to remember to ask for some help because Bruce may not be an inventor like him, but he has steady hands and is great at following instructions. Sam would just silently put his foot next to his, still unsure how to interact because he was new and didn't want to force himself into Tony's space.

Tony would have let himself be comforted by them.

That time passed, however. He couldn't let himself relax easily with the witch so close to him in his space before the Accords. Not with Thor, who fucking choked him with his alien god-like strength and then decided to leave. Bruce was gone, he hadn't made any contact and it seriously scared the shit out of Tony cause his friend wasn't there and he doesn't know if he's safe or even alive. Clint had spat poison about Rhodey's accident and Natasha had decided Tony's trust wasn't worth it. He couldn't really hold anything against Wilson since he was closer to Steve to begin with, but the man could have tried to read the Accords at the least. As for the captain...

Well, Tony thinks his reaction was justified after the man decided to smash his Arc Reactor into his already fragile chest with his shield. He may also be a bit petty that Steve kept his parents murder from him. Really, it wouldn't have been so bad if he said, 'Sorry, I never told you that my best friend murdered your mom and dad while he was brainwashed. I should have but I wasn't sure how to bring it up.'