In all of your years together, you and Tony had rarely argued; it was a point of pride in your relationship. A full-on fight was so rare, in fact, that you couldn't remember the last time it had happened. Of course, that only made it so much worse when the time had come to give it a try again; with your invitation to Steve and Bucky without so much as asking Tony first, you had ensured that this fight now would stick for a while. Only very few words were thrown back and forth in anger, but they were sharp daggers that hit with skilled accuracy, leaving scars behind that wouldn't soon fade. You both knew exactly where to aim.

When day after day of silence came along with it, you understood that the only thing that would fix this was time apart, and to let Tony work through it without pressure. You kept your distance, though you were still together; you slept in the same bed and shared meals for the most part, but his days were spent immersed in work while yours were achingly long as you were kept in limbo. You had brought it on yourself, but he wasn't without blame, either.

Natasha had returned to Wakanda as planned, but you had yet to hear about how her meeting with Bucky had gone, or if she had even followed through. To make matters worse, you hadn't connected to Bucky at all since he had come out of cryo, and you weren't sure if that meant that he was purposefully blocking it, or if something within him had changed during the process to affect you both. After a full month had passed without word from either of them, or from Steve, you decided to make the first move and test the situation with a simple text.

How are you?

Then you waited. You waited nearly two days for a response that lacked the enthusiasm that you were hoping for, but in hindsight, you had likely built your expectations up to an unreachable goal just to make yourself feel better. It was almost painfully pedestrian.

Good. How are you?

Honestly? Not great, but I've been through worse. You were there so there's no need for me to elaborate.

No, I remember very well.

You stared down at the phone, exasperated, wanting to call him and scream out your frustration, and to just vent out all of the pain and anger that had been building for the last month, but you had the strange sense that it would be inappropriate. Somehow, something had shifted, and the closeness that you had just barely begun to find with Bucky had cooled.

I just wanted to make sure that you were okay. I'm sorry if I'm intruding.

No, (Y/N), you're never intruding. I'm sorry that I haven't contacted you, but trust me, it's not because of anything you've done. It's all on me, okay?

Okay.

(Y/N), I don't need to hear you to know that tone. I'll call you soon. There's just a lot going on.

I understand, Buck. I'll be here when you're ready.

And that was it. It would be almost another month before you had done enough waiting.

~~~

The day that your wait had come to an end was like any other lately, with Tony either in the lab or at Stark HQ, while you and Rhodes worked on team business, even when there wasn't really a team to do the work. You still held out hope that Tony, Steve, and Bucky would come around and agree to meet, and that maybe Natasha would help you get through to them. The world still needed the Avengers, no matter what personal problems you were all dealing with, and you wanted to be as ready as possible when that day came to get back to the business of saving the world.

"I need to give my eyes a rest," Rhodey sighed, dropping his tablet on the table with a heavy thud, "and I just realized that haven't peed all day."

"Okay, seriously, what is it that makes guys need to pee around me?" you laughed. "Is it something that I'm doing?"

"Yeah, you work us like dogs and never give us a break."

"I think you're confusing me with Tony."

"Eh," he shrugged, "same difference. Excuse me."

With Rhodey taking a break and the work that you were doing being nothing urgent, you set your tablet down too and leaned back in your chair, allowing yourself to feel the extent of your fatigue. It wasn't just your body that was tired, but your soul ached with every muscle and joint as you moved. Your heart had been hurting, and you had felt alone even when you weren't. Closing your eyes, you took a few deep breaths to calm the building of your heartbeat as you let the emotions take over, but all it did was make it easier for you to hear Tony's music coming from the lab just a floor above. The heavy beats were reverberating through the walls, and reminiscence of it was drawing you in; your body moved to follow as if in autopilot until you were at the door watching him.

"FRIDAY, can you cut the music please?"

"Yes, ma'am."

The room fell silent, making Tony take notice even more than just your presence there had. Looking up from his work, he thoughtfully removed his glasses and set them on the workstation, straightening to look at you with questions toying with his mind, but they weren't given the chance to find their sound. You hurried across the room and reached out to him, pulling him into a hold and a desperate kiss that almost broke you at the contact you had been starving for.

Tony didn't push away or try to stop you, instead gripping you so strongly that you could barely breathe between his hold and the hunger that left you dizzy but unable to break apart. He had been missing you and this just as much as you had needed him, but you were both too proud or too stubborn to be the first one to admit it.

"Oh, my god, I've missed you," he hummed softly against your lips, when even that much disconnect was nearly too much for him.

"I'm so sorry," you finally broke down, and pushed gently away, "I never meant to hurt you with any of this. I don't deserve you, and I'm so sorry-"

"No, I've hurt you, and I promised that I would never hurt you, and I'm the one who's sorry. I've been an ass, and I know that it's not really anything new-"

"Fine, we agree, we're a couple of sorry asses," you laughed, taking his shirt in a tight hold and pulling him in again. "We can work out the details later. FRIDAY, kill the lights and lock the door."

~~~

"So, I've been thinking."

"Am I ready for this? Good or bad?" you smiled up at Tony, your head rested against his bare chest. You were lying on your own clothes to protect your skin from the cold of the floor, but it was his hand gently moving up and down your arm as he held you that was giving you shivers. Even still, you barely noticed as you watched him smile back.

"Good, I think. At least I hope so," he sighed. "I've had plenty of time to myself lately...again, sorry...but it let me work out a few things, and I had a chance to lay things out in a bigger picture, you know?"

"Maybe?"

"I've decided that if Steve and...Barnes..." he stumbled, the name clearly still hurting him, "if they agree to meet and talk things through, then I'll do it."

"Really?" you pushed up on your elbow to face him. "Are you sure? Tony, I don't want to push you into something if you don't want to. I know how much this is hurting you, and if you're not ready, then...we'll-" But you couldn't finish, your words cut off abruptly in the familiar wash of connection to Bucky. It had been so long that you had almost forgotten what it felt like. You had to lay back down, pressing your hands to your eyes to steady yourself, leaving Tony in an immediate panic until he recognized it for himself and began to feel the shift as well.

"Oh, shit," he groaned, "I'll never get better at this. Dammit, Romanoff, why now?"

"Bucky," you tried, calling out to him, "are you listening?" You waited for a moment, but no reply came. Instead, your vision shifted and darkened slightly, until all you could see in front of you was Natasha. Her face took up the entirety of your sight, and she was getting closer. Much, much, closer. "Oh, come on...you guys could have warned us..."

"No," Tony joined in with a yelp, sitting up startled as he realized what he was seeing, and a little bit paler in his face, "no, no, no, I don't want to watch this! (Y/N), how do I make it go away?"

"I don't know, Tony, but I don't want to see this, either. I had no idea that they were...there already. Maybe that's why I haven't heard from him in so long."

"Ugh, all I've got is Barnes looking at me with that stupid face of his," he answered. He pushed himself up to stand and hurried to dress, tossing your clothes to you just as quickly. "Come on, I'm drinking until I pass out to get this out of my sight and burn it out of my memory. You with me?"

"Hell yes, right behind you."