Road trip with the avengers // Ft. angsty Tony

V

Tony's breathing had remained slightly off balance for the twenty minutes he was out of the car. he felt the warmth of Steve's chest against his back and tried to focus on that. Tried to let the warmth wash away the thoughts that plagued his mind.

Nick would be there soon, he was on his way on the jet.

wait.

on the jet?

"Steve?" he asked as he started to feel his heartbeat speed up.

"Yeah tony?" The man inquired, running a strong hand up and down Tony's arm. In a gesture meant to be comforting.

"did Fury say he was coming here on the jet?"

"Yeah he should be here any second now" Steve tried to reassure him. Not realizing the confirmation of events would set Tony over the edge.

"but he. he said flying was too dangerous because-because of the hackers. and it's been twenty minutes already. he-he's never late Steve" He struggled to breath and felt the man behind him tense up.

"i'm sure he's okay," Steve said, but even his normally steady voice wavered in fear.

"oh gods, what if he crashed" Tony cried, hands digging into his thighs. "I can't lose anyone else Steve I can't" Sobs were ripping though his chest and they were making it almost impossible to breathe.

Steve didn't reply. He was too busy speaking rapidly on the phone to someone.

Tony's world blurred and he felt his body going numb. his eyes completely unfocused as he slipped into a dissociative state. It was a feeling he was awfully familiar with, as he was prone to dissociation following his kidnapping.

It hadn't happened in a while though.

when he came back to himself he saw Bruce's face right in front of his own. He was saying something but Tony couldn't hear him through the flood in his ears.

"fine!...he's go....slight dela..."

"he's alive"

That was the one that broke through the fog. Bruce was telling him that Nick was okay. He was alive. The plane didn't crash. There was just a slight delay in take off.

"but how-how did they not hack it?"  He heard himself say.

"they took all unnecessary equipment and systems off the jet. There's no autopilot, no comms connection and a very rudimentary version of GPS"

"oh" He replied. It was all he could say as the panic he had just experienced had drained what little energy he had left. His body slumped back against Steve, hand loosening their hold on his thighs. His eyelids fluttered and eventually shut.

The next time he came around someone else was in front of him.

"kid? you with me?" Fury's voice cut through the fog sharper than Bruce's did. He felt his mind hurtling back into his body and the man only had a second to think before he threw himself forward into the arms of his uncle. "woah woah, it's okay i'm here. the team told me what happened, i'm so sorry I didn't tell you about the jet. We could have used it for the mission but we had only just gotten it stripped of tech they could hack."

"it's oka-y Nick" Tony hummed.

"hmm, I'm taking you home with me." He turned his attention to the captain who was still sitting on the grass. "I'm not sure how you're going to finish the mission without Tony? I might be able to send a few Shield certified hackers?" He thought aloud.

"no" Something about Nick sending untrained civilians into a fight with god knows what bad guy woke Tony up. "I can go. I have to go in fact, Nick you know that sending those hackers in would just be feeding the enemy"

Nick remained silent as he knew Tony was right. As much as he cared for the man and wanted to take him home to rest, he was needed for this mission. More than the others.

"okay, but I'm coming with you. And we're taking the jet. Now that it's offline there's no reason not to" He compromised.

"Steve? Are you okay with that?" Tony asked, pushing himself out of Fury's arms and to his feet.

"of course, I'll get the others" He stood up and turned back towards the car. The others were standing outside of it trying to make it look like they weren't watching. Clint trying to act 'natural' when Steve walked over made Tony smile.

"Tones?" Nick placed a hand on Tony's shoulder, "don't think i'm going to ignore the fact you're coming down with something"

Tony sighed, "it's probably just-"

"psychosomatic? I've been with you through many psychosomatic colds. This one is worse, I can practically see the heat coming off you in waves"

Tony's shoulders slumped, "yeah I suppose you're right. I just hate being sick, I thought I could convince my body I was imagining it" He pressed his palms into his eyes.

"Steve," Fury called out, and when the captain turned he said, "Grab Tony's stuff too will you?"

"Sure thing" Steve responded and turned back towards the car.

"lets get you laying down" Fury carefully guided Tony onto the jet, and coaxed him into laying down. "after you finish this mission we are going on a vacation, the other Avengers can handle threats for a while."

Tony smiled and nodded at his unofficial uncle. He felt his body relax. He allowed the hum of the jet and the faint voices of his family to lull him to sleep.

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Hey lovelies! This chapter is very late and I apologize. To be completely honest I lost interest in fanfic writing for a while then when I finally started getting interested again I had too much to do. As always have a wonderful day/night and I'll see you all in the next one!