a/n; this chapter basically deal with the team take on the falling relationship. a bonus chapter, you can say.
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The team had of course noticed, it was impossible not to.
If the absence of the handmade breakfast wasn't enough on one day to ring bells, the next day apparently was. Steve was the first one to notice. He had become used to entering the common room that would be filled with the smell of cinnamon and pancakes, after his morning run. That day though, it was the same and different in a hundred ways.
The breakfast was as delicious as ever, there was no doubt in it, but it lacked her touch. The small details by how she would arrange the plates making each one of them a masterpiece, how she would garnish the food, or even the small smile she would serve it with.
All of that seems broken, just like her eyes.
She was hunched over the kitchen counter when he approached her, her red rimmed emerald eyes staring at the cup of black coffee in her hands, like it held the answer to the questions that were tearing her apart.
"Nora, are you okay?" he softly said, she flinched as if being pulled out of an agonizing grip for some moments there was no movement before her eyes met his, forcing a small smile.
"I am okay, just had a rough...night,"
It was a lie. They both knew that.
"Is it about Tony-"
"Steve don't," she interrupted him, gulping the lump that had seemed to form in her throat. Her voice was like a delicate whisper, as if speaking a little loud would shatter something, "please don't."
His eyes softened immediately, his voice hesitant, "Well, if you need to talk...or anything,"
"Thanks," she whispered, she seemed to be hanging on by a thread and he knew pushing any further might just break it.
It was difficult, to say the least, seeing her like that. Seeing the light from her eyes burn out–not even vanishing, it was as if her every reason to be happy was stolen away. It was even more difficult when he remembered the evenings they had spent painting easels, her efforts amateur but consistent, her voice a soft whisper when she would tease him about Natasha.
God, he hadn't realized when she had become like a little sister to him.
Bruce was not that worried when the door to their lab wouldn't open the next day, it was normal for Tony to seek refuge in his lab when his emotions became too much for him to handle. Though there had been no instances like that since Nora came, he convinced himself that it might just be a normal disagreement between them that would resolve soon.
After all, he had seen the look in Tony's eyes when he look at her, the adoration, the love, possessiveness all mixed into an otherworldly shine that filled his eyes, lips tilting up into that smile of his automatically. He had noticed the way he talk about her- how most of the time now he only talk about her- with such love and care that it made Bruce doubt sometime that, if it was the real Tony Stark standing in front of him.
