"Hey, Tony, come and watch the movie with us." Tony gets pulled out of his thoughts. He diverts his attention from getting coffee to see his teammates on the couch. That's new.

"We've got a movie on. Come join us. Call it team bonding," Steve says from his reclined position on the couch. Tony doesn't know what to say. He's never seen some of the most deadly people reclined on the couch in sweats. It's almost surreal. And he's not sure if he likes it. All he wanted to do was get coffee and then return to his lab.

"Uh, sure," Tony ends up replying as he sits on the couch next to Steve, abandoning his want for coffee. Guess his latest project will just have to wait.

"I'll get the lights," Bruce says, getting up. With the shades on the windows and the lack of artificial lighting, the room is quite dark. Except for the blue glow from Tony's chest that beautifully illuminates the room.

"Dude, why do you keep the suit battery on?" Clint asks.

Tony stops in his tracks. Does Clint really not know?

"We're not in battle. It finished a while ago, so you won't be needing the suit. I can't imagine the battery is comfortable to wear," Clint explains without joking. Tony, once again, is stunned. Tony looks around the room, hoping to find others on his team who know the truth. It's not like it's a secret. But Tony comes up with nothing. Every single one of them has a curious expression, directed at Tony. Well, all except Natasha, but she doesn't seem to be in the mood to correct Clint.

"Uh, no it's not comfortable." How would you like to have a metal tube in your chest. Do you know how hard it makes breathing? Or how painful hiccups are?

"So take it off. You don't need to be worried right now, Stark. The rest of us aren't in gear either," Cap says. Tony can't believe they don't know. His shocked expression moves from Steve to Bruce to Thor to Natasha and finally to Clint. Each one of them not backing down.

"I can only take it off for about one or two minutes tops. But I'd prefer not to."

"Wait, what'll happen if you take it off?" Clint asks. Tony really doesn't want to be doing this. Nope, he'd much rather be back in his lab with the coffee that he meant to get.

"Do you guys seriously not know? It's not like it's a secret. I mean, it's probably on my SHIELD file." Tony only gets shaking heads in response. He sighs and scrubs his face with his hands to prepare himself for the task ahead. "Well, the arc reactor's main purpose is as an electromagnet, basically. It is protecting my heart."

"From what?" Steve asks disbelieving.

"From shrapnel." The team's eyes go wide, except for Natasha's. She seems to be torn between listening and distracting herself.

"Why do you have shrapnel trying to enter your heart?" Steve asks.

"From a missile." The team's incredulous stares become more prominent. "Alright. How about I just give you guys the whole story."

"Back when Stark Industries was selling weapons, I went to a missile demonstration in Afghanistan. We were in Kunar Province and I was trying to get hot shots to buy the Jericho. Which, went pretty well if I may add, until we were set to leave back to base. The jeeps were attacked. There was an explosion and the soldiers with me were shot dead. The jeeps were being shot at. There was fire and a barrage of bullets. I had to get out. So I ran to the side of the road, took cover behind some rocks.

"That's when they sent a missile, literally with my name on it. And of course I knew what it could do, so I tried to run but... I was too late. The blast sent shrapnel through my bullet proof vest and I uh - blacked out."

Tony looks back at his team after staring a hole through the floor.

"So you still have the shrapnel trying to kill you at any moment?" Bruce asks.

"Yea. But I say it's more likely I'll get shot here by Legolas before I die of the shrapnel." The joke is lost on his still shocked teammates.

"So when did you get the arc reactor?" Clint asks. Wow. Did none of them read the briefings on each other?

"Actually, a - uh, a friend of mine created the first makeshift one out of a car battery. It was maybe a day or a few later once I woke up that I saw it hooked up in me."

"Wait. It's IN you?" Steve asks.

"Yea," Tony lifts up his t-shirt to see the arc reactor.

"The hell, Stark..." Clint says in awe. "That's in you 24/7?"

"Yep. One step closer towards being the Tin Man. It's really simple. There's a metal cylinder that's in my chest to wall in the reactor," Tony grabs the reactor and twists it out just a bit so that the wires can be seen. "And the reactor sits in it just like this," Tony says as he lowers the reactor and twists it back in. When he looks up with his shirt pulled down again, his team almost looks horrified.

"Don't - don't do that again," Steve says, shaken that Tony so carelessly pulled it out.

"Don't worry Capsicle, it wouldn't have been bad until a couple minutes time. Then we'd be in a pickle."

"Alright Stark, I retract what I said. Keep the thing in. I don't want to have to watch you die as shrapnel penetrates your heart." Tony's shocked by Clint's statement. No one, well, besides Pepper, has cared enough about his life like that. He almost didn't trust anyone after what Obie did. Tony shivers at the thought and lays his hand across the reactor. As if that alone will protect it from being stolen.

"Aww, glad to know you care Legolas. But let's watch the movie."

"I agree with the man of iron," Thor chimes in, finally coming to himself once again. "Let us watch the movie."

So the team spends half their time watching the movie and the other half glancing at Tony, still shocked at what they had learned. And Tony lets them do so. They need some reassurance that he really isn't going to drop dead at any moment. And that alone makes him feel loved.

Hey guys. I had this idea the other day that the team (pre-Ultron) doesn't know that much about Tony and just happen to learn some things along the way. I have a feeling I'll expand this into a few more chapters (a. Tony's time in Afghanistan, b. dying of palladium, c. Howard, d. Aunt Peggy, e. Jarvis, etc.), but know that this will be on the back burner to "A Special Spider".
Nevertheless, let me know what you think. Your comments make my day!

Love,
Dopamine Lover