better than your dreams//tony stark

♡thirty♡

"There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart."

Jane Austen

Five years. It's been five years since Thanos wiped half of all living things out of existence. Five years since I had the chance to bring them all back and failed.

I don't think the world has truly recovered from the Snap. I don't think it ever truly can. People are trying to piece together their lives, but they can only do so much. Nothing we do can make the world the same now as it was before the Snap.

Steve has taken to holding a support group for people that need it. Rhodey, Carol, Rocket, Nebula, and Natasha are all scattered around the globe lending a helping hand where they can. In five years we haven't heard from Clint. Thor is biding his time in New Asgard. And Tony keeps to himself. He couldn't face everyone after what happened.

I make myself a peanut butter sandwich as I listen to Rhodey, Carol, Rocket, Nebula, Nat, and Okoye fill me in on what they have been doing. They are holograms in the middle of my office.

"Yeah, we boarded that highly suspect warship Danvers pinged," Rocket tells us.

"It was an infectious garbage scowl," Nebula adds.

Rocket turns to Carol. "So, thanks for the hot tip."

Carol smirks at him. "Well, you were closer."

"Yeah. And now we smell like garbage," Rocket argues.

I look to Okoye. "You get a reading on those tremors?"

"It was a mild subduction under the African plate," Okoye explains.

"Do we have a visual? How are we handling it?" I ask.

"Addi, it's an earthquake under the ocean. We handle it by not handling it," Okoye tells me.

I turn to Carol. "Carol, are we seeing you here next month?"

Carol shakes her head. "Not likely."

"What, you gonna get another haircut?" Rocket teases.

"Listen fur-face, I'm covering a lot of territory. The things that are happening on Earth, are happening everywhere, on thousands of planets," Carol tells us.

Rocket murmurs to himself, "All right, all right, that's a good point. That's a good point."

"So you might not see me for a long time," Carol states.

"Alright. Uh, well. This channel is always active. So, if anything goes sideways... anyone's making trouble where they shouldn't... comes through me," I tell them.

I hear a chorus of okays.

I nod my head. "Alright."

The Avengers cut off their calls one by one.

Carol turns to Rhodey. "Good luck."

The only one left is Rhodey. I sigh as I sit down in my desk chair, exhausted. "Where are you?"

"Mexico. Where I'm supposed to be. Where are you?" Rhodey asks.

I give him a look. "Someone needs to handle all of this. I have to make sure that the world keeps spinning and the people that need help get it."

Rhodey nods. "I get it, Addi, but I also know you have a family that needs you."

I nod my head. "I know. I just can't let go. If I let this go I'm letting everyone down."

"You can't please everyone, Addi. Now go home," Rhodey tells me.

I smile slightly, "Okay."

I close my eyes for a moment, composing myself.