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Spring is Coming

Chapter 5

Notes:

Ok, I know I said this fic was finished. But I recently had to buy a new computer, and so this epilogue is sort of my thank you to everyone who donated to help me get it. And also, more salt is always a good thing.

Chapter Text

"I don't like it."

"Believe me, no one likes it," Tony said, leaning back in his chair and putting his hands behind his head. Out of sight, he rubbed at the base of his neck. The tension building up there was unbelievable, but, considering what was going to happen, he supposed that he was fortunate that was all he was dealing with.

Rhodey's frown deepened, and he crossed his arms. "I don't want you near them."

"I have to be. I am still an Avenger, technically," Tony pointed out. He heaved a sigh as he looked around the room. The meeting wasn't supposed to take place for another hour, but sometimes there was something to be said for being the first one to arrive. In this case, he, Rhodey, Peter, Nebula and Winter had the chance to get more comfortable in the space before anyone else got here.

It had been about five weeks since Thanos was officially defeated. As Tony had expected, Rogers and his crew had been offered pardons for their work in taking Thanos down. However, things hadn't been all sunshine and roses for them. Tony had been keeping an eye on social media outlets in particular, and the general opinion of the Avengers right now was overwhelmingly negative. Steve Rogers should never have been allowed to make that announcement, Tony thought for the millionth time. The public had not taken very well to Rogers proclaiming that everyone had been saved, only for it gradually come to light that several people had remained dead.

Someone must've taken hold of Rogers's reins after that, because in the ensuing weeks Tony hadn't seen any more of Rogers or the others on television. In a way, that had almost hurt them more: it made them look like cowards for not responding to the backlash. But Tony was well aware of how completely clueless Rogers could be when it came to talking to other people. It was entirely possibly that anything more Rogers said or did would be taken in the wrong way. Whoever had put the kibosh on any more public appearances must have been aware of that. Tony suspected it was probably Romanov.

Life sucked, apparently, when you didn't have someone like Tony funding a full public relations team for you.

The Accords Council had requested a meeting of the Avengers once Rogers and his crew got back on US soil. On the one hand, Tony was very tempted to tell them all to fuck off. On the other hand, he could admit to be a morbid sense of curiosity. In spite of himself, he wanted to see what they'd been up to since beating Thanos. But there was another reason too, one that Tony hadn't shared with anyone. Since he'd returned to Earth, and taking up living with Winter and Nebula, his feelings towards the Avengers had changed. Simply put, Tony just... didn't care anymore. He wanted to make sure that was still the case when he was face to face with them.

"I don't like it," Rhodey repeated stubbornly, drawing Tony's attention back to him.

"Okay, you sound like Peter," Tony said.

"Who sounds like me?" Spider-Man asked, walking into the room with Nebula and Winter on his heels. Of them all, he was the only one who was wearing his suit. His identity was still a secret, and Tony saw no reason for anyone to know who he was.

"Rhodey does," Tony said.

"I'm guessing that's not a compliment," said Winter, moving over to sit beside Tony. He looked amazing in a tailored grey suit; the suit had strands of light blue woven into it, which matched the light blue tie Winter had on. Paired with a white shirt and polished black shoes, the combination brought out his eyes and the blue streaks in his shoulder-length hair. He was wearing his hair in a low ponytail today, clasped neatly at the base of his neck. It was Tony's very professional opinion that Winter looked like a million bucks.

"It's not," Nebula confirmed. She had opted to wear the uniform Tony had designed for her, which was very similar in look to what she'd been wearing when she landed on Earth but was very different in design and practice. Her suit had been designed for agility, and Tony almosy hoped he'd get the chance to see her in action against Romanov or Barton.

"Hey," Spider-Man said, and Tony knew without being able to see his face that he was pouting.

"It's okay, kid. You're way more mature than Rhodey is," Tony said.

"Watch it, Stark," Rhodey growled, waving a mock-threatening fist at him, and Tony chuckled.

They sat and chatted for several minutes before Nebula stiffened suddenly. "FRIDAY says they're here."

"Ugh," Tony muttered, grateful for the hand Winter laid on his arm. "Let's get this over with." He stood up, and so did his friends.

Approximately one minute and twenty-eight seconds later, the door opened again to reveal Steve Rogers. Rogers blinked at the sight of them, clearly not having expected them to be here already, but recovered quickly and stepped inside. Right behind him were Barnes, Wilson, Romanov, Barton, Lang, Maximoff and Vision. Tony felt a tiny sting at the sight of Vision; that was the last part of JARVIS that he had, but this whole thing had forced him to come to terms with the fact that Vision was definitely not JARVIS and never would be.

"Tony, you're okay," Rogers said earnestly, looking right at Tony.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Tony asked.

"Well, when I heard the Winter Soldier was with you..." Rogers trailed off, turning his head slightly to take in Winter. There was a beat of silence while the two men silently sized each other up. Tony thought he could see surprise in Rogers's eyes, and couldn't contain a smirk.

"But I told you that Winter wasn't dangerous. In fact, he and I have been very happy together," Tony said, impulsively linking his arms through Winter's.

"And here I thought you couldn't stoop any lower, Stark," Romanov said.

"You say that as though Winter isn't a good person," Nebula said, folding her arms.

Romanov frowned, looking at her. "He's a dangerous assassin."

"Do you know that for a fact?" Nebula wanted to know, cocking her head. "From what I understand, there were two minds inhabiting that body. Seems pretty stupid of you to immediately assume that Winter is the one who is dangerous."

Rogers swelled, eyes flashing. "Bucky isn't dangerous! None of that was his fault!" he shouted.

Tony rolled his eyes towards the ceiling. It hadn't even been five minutes and already Rogers was falling back on his oft-repeated rhetoric. He had to wonder how many more times he'd be forced to listen to that bullshit. Rogers could say whatever he wanted: Barnes was dangerous. Even before he'd been kidnapped by Hydra, Barnes had been a sharpshooter in the war. He'd killed a lot of people. He'd also killed people even after escaping Hydra's control. He was not the angel that Rogers seemed so determined to make him out to be.

“Yeah, okay, let’s not start that again,” Rhodey said, seemingly thinking along the same lines as Tony. “Sit down, Rogers, and let’s get this over with.”

One by one, the others sat down. Maximoff scowled at Tony, who met her glare evenly. He’d never cared about Maximoff, and he wasn’t about to start now. But as his eyes scanned the room, taking in the familiar faces of his former teammates, he realized that held true for all of them: the fear, the concern, the worry, all that baggage that used to weigh him down when it came to the Avengers was really gone.

He didn’t care what happened to them. He really didn’t.

The door opened again and three representatives of the Council entered. One of them, a petite, dark-skinned woman wearing a tailored cream suit, moved to the front of the room. She waited for the general chatter to die down, which took a few minutes: Tony was amused when one of the other representatives finally had to shush Barton and Lang to stop them from talking.

“Good morning. My name is Kayla and I am here to guide you through what’s going to happen next,” she said. “Our first order of business is making sure that everyone in this room still wants to be an Avenger.”

“Of course we all do,” Rogers said.

“Well, some of us were never actually Avengers to start with,” Winter pointed out, indicating Nebula and himself.

“Someone will talk to you privately after the meeting if you’re interested. If you’re not, you can go,” Kayla said.

Winter and Nebula both glanced at Tony. He shook his head slightly. He wasn’t sure yet where this was going, but he wasn’t ready to throw in the towel on the Avengers just yet. He had some vague thoughts about forming their own team – him, Nebula, Winter, Rhodey, and Spider-Man – but was putting that on the backburner until he saw what kind of rules were going to be imposed on the Avengers.

Okay, that was a lie. He was waiting to throw that out there until the right moment when it would cause Rogers the most panic.

Then, unexpectedly, Barnes stood up. “I’ll just go, then.”

“What?!” Rogers exclaimed, shooting to his feet. “Bucky, no! Don’t let Tony’s actions throw you off. You deserve this!” He threw Tony a nasty glare, as though Tony had said or done something in the five minutes since Barnes had walked into the room.

Barnes shook his head. “It has nothing to do with Stark. I just don’t want this, Stevie.”

Tony snuck a quick look around the room, curious. Judging by the surprised looks on every face, no one had seen this coming. Not even Romanov, and he knew how much she hated that. Tony smirked at her. She glowered back at him.

“Buck, how can you not want this? This was our dream!” Rogers said passionately, flinging a hand out to indicate the room at large. “We can keep Tony under control, I swear.”

Tony bristled. Yeah, that idle thought about a separate team was now a full-fledged, definitely-going-to-happen thought. There was no way he was ever working with these pricks again. The Council wouldn’t be able to turn him down, either. Not if they were willing to accept the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and the Defenders as their own individual teams, and he already knew they had.

“Excuse me?” Winter said dangerously. “Tony hasn’t done anything, and you will not be doing anything to him.”

Nebula, beside him, looked equally livid. She was quiet, but she was also fingering a dagger with an expression that suggested she was calculating the best way to tear out Rogers’ throat with only one well-aimed throw.

“Listen, you –” Maximoff began.

“Enough!” Barnes shouted. “I’m not enhanced anymore.”

Everyone went quiet. Then, weakly, Rogers whispered, “What?”

“I’m not… I’m just a normal human. I’m not any stronger.” Barnes punched the table. Nothing happened, except that he grimaced and shook his hand out after. Tony stared at the table, stunned. If Rogers had punched it – if Winter had punched it…

“Because Bucky Barnes was never enhanced,” Tony said slowly in realization. “The Winter Solider was.” He looked at Winter, who looked as shocked as Tony felt.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Rogers said, stunned.

“I tried. You never let me talk. You were always going on about what ‘we’ wanted.” Barnes sighed and rubbed a hand through his shorn hair. “I don’t want this. I’m so sick of all the fighting. I don’t – can I leave?” He looked over at Kayla.

“Of course,” Kayla said gently. “Siobhan, would you please escort Mr. Barnes out of the room and take him somewhere quiet where he can wait? Perhaps the meeting room down the hall.”

“Absolutely.” A red-haired woman got up and came around the table, skirting the area where the Avengers sat, and smiled tentatively at Barnes. “Right this way, Mr. Barnes.”

“Bucky, no!” Rogers leapt up and grabbed for Barnes’ arm. Barnes, surprisingly, jerked away.

“No!” he growled. “I don’t want this. I’m tired.” He looked, for a moment, like he might cry.

“Mr. Rogers, control yourself or I’ll call security,” Kayla snapped.

“I volunteer to take him out if you need me to,” Nebula said.

“Oh, me too!” Winter said with a smirk.

“You don’t touch him,” Maximoff hissed, her eyes flashing red.

“Wanda,” Vision said quietly.

Winter’s smirk cooled, gaze turning positively glacial in a way Tony was too familiar with. “I’d be careful who you threaten, Witch,” he hissed. “I remember exactly what you did at the hands of Hydra, and next time you’ll be lucky to walk away with just a broken arm.”

Maximoff recoiled, and Romanov leaned over in front of her. “Who’s the dangerous one now?” she hissed at Nebula.

That was all it took for arguments to break out all over the room. The only people who weren’t yelling were Rogers, who was staring at the door with a dumbstruck look on his face, Tony, Wilson, Lang, Vision, and the Council members. Kayla had facepalmed and was shaking her head. Vision refused to meet Tony’s gaze, staring fixedly at the table. Tony was a little surprised to see that Wilson and Lang weren’t joining in on defending Rogers and Barnes, but Lang in particular just seemed fed up.

Fair. Tony was fed up too.

He stood, which had the remarkable effect of making the whole room go silent. “I think it’s obvious that this is not going to work,” he said to Kayla. “With all due respect, my team will be taking our leave now. We’ll be in touch later with the proper paperwork.”

“Running away again, Stark?” Barton spat.

“Not that it’s any of your business, Barton,” Tony replied, “but no. I just don’t see the point in wasting anyone’s time. I have better things to do than sit here and be insulted.”

Barton snorted, but it was Romanov who spoke. “You know if you leave now you’ll never be an Avenger again.”

That wasn’t her call to make, but Tony was past the point of pointing that out. He just shook his head. “What makes you think I want to be one?”

It was satisfying to watch her go silent, clearly not knowing what to say to that; he wondered, torn between amusement and resignation, if she’d really thought he would throw himself before them on bended knee and plead to be allowed back onto the team. Knowing them? Probably. They always did think highly of themselves. And who knows, at one point Tony might have done just that.

But not anymore.

Again, he spoke to Kayla. “Thank you for your time.”

Kayla nodded. “A member of my office will be in touch, Mr. Stark. Louis, would you please escort Mr. Stark and his team out of the building?”

Louis stood and gestured to the door. “Right this way, Mr. Stark.”

“Tony!” Rogers suddenly seemed to jolt out of his stupor. “Don’t go.”

“Why would I stay?” Tony asked, genuinely curious.

“We can fix this,” Rogers said. “We can make things go back to how it was before.”

Tony raised his eyebrows because wow, there was a lot he could’ve said to that. But he realized then that it wasn’t necessary. Rogers was never going to change; he couldn’t even see that there had been anything wrong before. He couldn’t see that Tony would rather die than go back to how things had been before, when he was burning himself out for scraps of attention and was stuck with a team that hated and mocked and lied to him.

“No,” he said simply. “We can’t.”

Rogers began to argue, but Tony tuned him out as he strolled out of the room. He could hear Spider-Man and Rhodey snickering to each other as they went down the hall, and Nebula muttering about Romanov. But what had happened today didn’t irk Tony nearly as much, mostly because it was exactly what he had to come to expect from the Avengers. If anything, as he walked into the elevator, he realized that he felt free.

“Alright?” Winter asked, pressing up against him. The elevator wasn’t that small, but Tony welcomed the contact.

“You know what, I really am,” Tony said. He looked around at his team – they’d need a name, but they’d worry about that later – and smiled. “I really am.”

Notes:

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