Chapter Text
The sizzling sound of bacon and eggs fried filled the room in the communal kitchen at Avengers tower at 8 in the morning. It was a sunny day and the light was gently flowing through Jarvis's tightly regulated windows. Steve whistled as he made enough breakfast to feed a whole army. Between Steve's metabolism, Banner eating for two and well Thor, they went through a lot of food. The other Avengers always filed into the kitchen at some point at this time in the morning for breakfast.
Steve, is usually the first one up and always made breakfast. He enjoyed cooking in peaceful silence, surrounded by the smells and sounds of food cooking until his groggy teammates filed in, each of them looking more asleep than the next. It had been a busy few weeks filled with missions and random attacks, most of them hadn't caught up on their sleep yet.
First was Bruce, who immediately grabbed his tea. Coffee was too much of a stimulant for the hulk, but teas caffeine level was fine. Clint and Natasha appeared out of thin air, draped over each other and snatched their coffee cups up possessively then proceeded to take up half of each other's chairs. Clint winced while Natasha showed no reaction, as Thor came in with his booming morning greeting, making everyone wake up more. Demigods had no issues waking up from mortal slumber, but off-duty spies did.
Steve just smiled at his team's antics as Clint yelled at Thor to be quieter and Thor boomed with laughter. Steve proceeded to put food on the table and take a seat himself as Clint dived to grab some waffles from the collection before his ravenous teammates ate them all.
It was a pleasant enough morning, everyone relaxed and enjoyed the atmosphere until Pepper stormed in. Her hair was as always styled and neat, with light makeup on, bright eyes furious. Something or more likely someone had made her very angry. “Where is Tony?” Pepper asked in an eerily sweet voice, despite her body language looks like she was about to snap someone's neck.
Steve looked over at the empty seat that Tony usually called his. Steve hadn't taken much notice of the empty chair, but it was a common occurrence that Tony didn't come to breakfast, so he hadn't worried too much. The man had likely got lost in one of his experiments again.
“I haven't seen him this morning yet,” Pepper's face looked murderous for a second. “If you see him tell him I am looking for him," she said darkly. She stormed off back in the direction of the elevator, a hand reaching up to wipe her face. Whatever Tony had done this time it had hurt the woman as much as anger, it seemed.
Bruce took off his glasses and wiped them with his shirt, feeling uncomfortable with what he had just seen. “I didn't see him in the lab last night either,” he mused idly, his eyes looking upwards at the ceiling. Steves brow furrowed, as concern filled him before he could move to hunt down the man in question, the devil stumbled in.
Sunglasses on and suit wrinkled, as Tony walked past them the scent of alcohol and cologne filled Steve's nose making him wrinkle it. It was clear Tony had just got in from the night before. He made a B-line for the coffee, ignoring them all together despite their eyes all being on him. The man inhaled his first cup in two gulps and then poured himself some more. Clint was the one to break the silence first.
“Good morning sunshine, I can tell somebody had fun last night,” Clint teased with a grin on his face. Tony flipped him off; coffee cup still held up to his face. A bad sign when he wasn't talking or even really looking at Clint, Tony was usually just as bad at throwing comebacks. “Pepper is looking for you,” Steve commented gently. Tony did not respond to Steve. He just moaned from behind the coffee and stumbled out of the room again. The smell of heavy partying disappearing with him.
Bruce sighed pushing back up his glasses. “He is doing it again,” he murmured, looking visibly concerned. Bruce shot Natasha a glance. She just sighed and continued to eat her breakfast. Steve looked back and forth between them, feeling like he was missing something from the interaction.
Halfway through eating his plate, Bruce stood up mumbling about looking into today's tabloids. They resumed their quiet conversation and ate the rest of their meals, through the atmosphere was not quite the same anymore. Each Avenger was unable to avoid thinking the thing which was going through all of their minds. Tony and Pepper weren’t going to last much longer, and Tony was sure to fall back into his old self-destructive habits without the woman. He already was, it seemed.
Later on, when the kitchen was empty, save for him and Natasha, Steve debated bringing the issue up with the woman who took more notice than most realized when it came to the psychological health of the team. They were washing and drying the dishes in companionable silence, everyone took turns with the household chores, and it was their day. Steve’s thoughts kept going back to Tony, however. Every time Steve saw Tony, the man looked thinner and always forced a smile on his face.
Tony’s relationship with Pepper had been very rocky ever since he joined the Avengers. At first, she had been supportive, but their duties had cut more and more into their personal life and Steve had heard them arguing the other day about the number of things Tony had been unable to do or attend because of the hero job. Not just Stark industry stuff but personal stuff like dates, anniversary dinners, birthday parties. Tony falling back into his old habits of drinking and partying was not helping matters either. There was no doubt in Steve’s mind that the relationship was in its last few days.
Natasha sighed abruptly, turning to Steve with serious eyes. “Steve, you have to talk to Tony,” she said in Russian, making Steve stand a little straighter with the seriousness in her eyes.
“Why me? He barely listens to me on a good day,” Steve replied, a little disbelievingly that she thought he could do anything. Natasha gave him a sharp look.
“You know he respects you the most,” she said with an almost icy tone, not one to put up with Steve’s modesty unlike some. Steve gave her a ‘are you crazy’ look. It was a credit to her respect for Steve that she didn’t try to kill him for that alone. “Just try, Pepper isn't able to take care of him right now,” she murmured, her voice turning a touch softer. It wasn’t an enjoyable thing to watch a relationship go from good to bad in front of your eyes for anyone.
“I’ll try, but I don't think it will work,” Steve said as he massaged his temples with his fingers, feeling an intense headache coming on. There was only really one way he could think of for dealing with Tony’s behavior, and he had never been the one selling that method out before.
“That's all we can ask for,” Natasha smiled, looking almost pleased.