#honestly i'd rather have a bunch more character quests for the ones we've already recruited than recruit more

[irish-urn]

A drabble from a dream

Captain America was standing by the main doors of Shield HQ, his arms crossed over his chest and an odd expression on his face. It was a thoughtful expression - and if Tony was a more vindictive person, he might have said that was the oddity about it - but it was the furrow in his brow that made it odd, as if the captain was actually feeling upset about whatever he was feeling. Which might have made sense if they hadn’t just defeated Ultron - or reprogrammed him, but semantics, semantics - but actually, life was pretty quiet at the moment. So what was his deal?

Tony waltzed on over across the quad, ducking when a trapped Hulkling’s wings exploded out of his back again. Seriously, man, get those under control. He made his way to Captain America’s side and tried to sling an arm over his shoulder, found the super student was too tall - like, seriously? - and instead leaned into his left side. It was a strong side, a solid side. Kind of like a padded wall.

“Y’know, Cap,” Tony said, leaning more of his weight onto him. “You’re kinda like a padded wall, what with your crazy muscles and stuff.”

“Am I protecting the world from your insanity, then?” Cap asked, voice dry as his voice usually was when he wasn’t being ridiculously patriotic. He didn’t even seem bothered by Tony’s weight, which would have been insulting if it wasn’t just a fact of life.

Tony grinned. “Not bad, Cap, not bad. I was almost insulted.”

“Missed the mark there then.”

Tony’s grin grew more. “Okay, but seriously, I walked all the way across the quad - and let me tell you, that place is getting more and more crowded every week - to ask you a very serious question.”

“Hm?” Cap hadn’t even looked down at him, instead still staring at the guy wrapped in crazy pink magic from Krag the Wannabe.

“Yeah. What’s with the long face?”

Now was when Cap finally glanced down at him. “Tony. This is just my face.” 

Tony rolled his eyes and straightened up so he could elbow Cap in the ribs. The guy barely moved. “C’mon, Rogers. It’s me. I mean, maybe I’m not Wilson or Carter - either of them -” and sometimes he felt like he should apologize for that, putting Cap in some weird time-travel romance circle - “but you can still talk to me. I’ll listen.”

Cap just looked at him, one eyebrow raised.

Tony squinted back at him. It was difficult to be intimidating without his suit on. “Tell me.”

Cap rolled his eyes and looked back at the kid hovering fifty feet above the ground, right outside the Academy’s fence.

Tony’s glare grew. He poked Cap’s shoulder. “Tell me.” He poked again. “Tell me.” Poked again, harder. “Tell me.” He pushed his finger hard into Cap’s shoulder, trying to drill a hole there. “Telllllllllllllllll me.”

Cap sighed very heavily. “It’s uncharitable,” he admitted finally.

Tony dropped his hand. “You mean, you’re thinking mean thoughts?” he translated.

Cap’s mouth twitched, his shoulders did a weird, abridged motion, and then he stiffly nodded. “Yes.”

Tony gasped over-dramatically, inspired by his inner-Wasp. “Oh my God. Sound the alarms; Captain America is human.”

Cap’s shoulders slumped as he rolled his eyes in that huffy way he had. Tony had to admit it: that was one of his favourite Cap expressions. It was his own inner-Wasp expression. “I knew you wouldn’t understand,” he said, staring back across the grounds.

Tony frowned. “Hey.” He poked Cap’s shoulder again. “Hey,” he repeated with sincerity. Cap glanced back at him. “I get it,” Tony said. “I think mean things all the time. Doesn’t mean I’m not a, y’know, halfways decent individual.”

Cap’s mouth twitched at the corners, and then he smiled. “You’re a good man, Tony,” he stated. “Just not always considerate of your actions.”

Tony rolled his eyes. He was secretly pleased though, no lie. It was hard not to be pleased when Captain America thought you were a good person. “Yeah yeah, whatever,” he said with a hand wave. “This isn’t about me. This is about you and your ‘uncharitable’ thoughts.” He poked Cap’s meaty shoulder again. “Tell me.”

Cap looked at him for another minute and then sighed, looking away. For a moment, Tony thought he was about to be dismissed when- “You remember what this place was like a year ago?”

Tony blinked, then followed Cap’s gaze across the quad. He looked at the multitude of buildings, the receding time fog, and the dozens of students/heroes that wandered the campus. He thought of when it was just him, and Pepper, and ole’ Nick Fury. Thought about how quiet it was. Thought about how quickly things changed.

“Yeah,” he said quietly, glancing over at Cap. He probably wouldn’t ever say it out loud, but he was grateful that Cap was one of the first things they’d pulled out of the time fog. He really helped make the campus a better place.

“I just feel...” and Cap drifted off in a rather uncharacteristic Captain America-way. “We used to get breaks, you know? Even in the war, we weren’t go go go all the time. We could stop. Breathe for a minute. Breathe for a week. And now...” he waved a hand at the chaos of Avengers Academy.

“I never knew there were so many heroes,” he said quietly.

Tony looked at him, thought for a moment of all the people they hadn’t been able to recruit, including one Winter Soldier who had been on the run for months. He wondered if Cap had wanted to find him and just hadn’t had the chance because of all the craziness of the last few months.

“Well, I mean,” Tony began, “they are all kinda drawn here because of that crazy time fog thing.” He paused. “Which we still don’t understand.”

“I was trapped in it, and I don’t understand it,” Cap said, which meant he wasn’t upset about their lack of progress on researching it. “I just sometimes wish things would settle down. Just for a week or so, you know?”

Tony nodded. “Yeah. I get that. I’d love to spend a week upgrading Pep and Rhodey’s suits, and not feel rushed about getting them done before someone tries to blast them outta the sky. Or go shopping with Jan and Vis. Or...” he shrugged. “Yeah, Cap. I get that.”

Cap nodded. “But see, then I think, ‘What if we just... didn’t bother this time? What if Krag just... leaves on his own? Maybe we don’t have to do anything at all and the world won’t implode.’”

Tony frowned. “Hey. Wait. You’re not actually doing anything this time-”

“And that’s why it’s uncharitable,” Steve finished, nodding to himself. He looked over and smiled a strange smile before clapping his hand on Tony’s shoulder. “No one does more here than you, Tony,” he said quietly. “So the fact that I’m complaining to you? Makes me feel like a real twit.”

Tony blinked at him and then focused on the most important part of that speech. “Twit?” he repeated. “Did you really just say ‘twit’?”

Steve sighed, dropped his hand, and rolled his eyes again. “Forget it, Tony.”

And then, feeling like a right ‘twit’, Tony reached out and caught Steve’s bicep in his hand. “Hey,” he said, waiting until the blond turned to look at him. “Thanks,” he said quietly, looking somewhere at Steve’s collarbone. It was perfect, just like the rest of him. “For noticing. I mean, I know half of the chaos here is my fault, but I mean I’m-”

“You’re trying, Tony. That’s what’s important,” Steve interrupted, his voice earnest.

Tony stopped, breathed for a second, and then said, “Yeah. I am. And so are you.” He looked up into Steve’s serious face and said, “Sometimes I want a break too. A chance to get to know all these people. But then, this academy is here for a purpose, so... I guess Pepper would say it’s our duty to help them. Or something.” He looked away, felt his face heat up. “Wow, I think that’s my limit of serious talk. Would you look at that sky, gosh what a nice shade of pink that is!”

There was a hand on his shoulder that slid across both shoulders and then cupped the opposite one in its palm. Steve tugged Tony into his side. “Thanks, Iron Man,” he said. Tony very purposefully kept his eyes trained on that pink leash around the floating kid. “Good talk.” Then he was squeezed again, released, and then left feeling unbalanced on the front grounds of Shield HQ, watching Captain Steve America Rogers walk across the quad.

“Yeah,” Tony said quietly, rubbing at his shoulder. “Good talk.” Now, back to work. He had more time spheres to collect.