Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel or Avengers! (I wish I did...) I just own this story which is loosely inspired by a song by Nevertheless.

"They say time is a healer, but it's more like a concealer for scars."

"When I'm Alone" by Nevertheless

It was not really cold in the tower, but she felt rather cozy in her oversized sweater. There seemed to be no one around which was no surprise really. The Avengers did not always live at Tony's tower. Most of them had their respective places where they could stay. Natasha was one of those, but she found herself coming back to the tower for some much needed rest. The tower had decent security thanks to Tony, so she felt rather safe staying here. She was pleased that her floor had remained untouched. But then again, Tony feared and respected her enough to know that she wouldn't like him making any adjustments to her floor.

She found herself quite content to sit in the main kitchen with a warm cup of coffee. It was lonely and quiet, but it was the pleasant sort of loneliness and quietness. It was a rather rare treat to be truly alone at the tower.

Usually, the tower was full of activity. Tony would be either wandering around playfully teasing his fellow Avengers or locked up in his lab creating quite the ruckus as he created "science." Banner would be around somewhere, probably meditating and trying to keep things as peaceful as possible. Thor would be as jovial as always and loudly declaring his love for poptarts. Steve would be helping Banner keep the peace or enjoying some quiet time reading a book. And Clint? Well he would be exploring the vents of the tower or enjoying a playful banter with Natasha. Those were nice times, she thought as she absentmindedly rubbed her torso.

Time. Much time had passed. She thought back to all the moments she had spent with her newfound team. Some were pleasant memories, and some… not so pleasant.

Yet, despite all this time that had passed, she did not feel like she had changed. She still bore those ugly scars: physically and mentally. Sometimes, she wondered if she really eradicated the red off her ledger.

Time… it hadn't made much of a healer, she thought. She had just used time to hide her pain.

Asgard was a lovely place, but somehow he couldn't enjoy all the beauties to behold in that wonderful place. He had too many thoughts on his mind. Much had happened over such a short period of time. He had made several friends down on Midgard and a few enemies as well. He had even defeated his own brother with his newfound friends.

Perhaps that was the reason why he could not enjoy the things around him at this time. He was bearing the weight of this new scar: defeating his brother. He should have felt happy and victorious after defeating such an evil. But, he just could not bring himself to be truly happy with this victory. After all, Loki was his brother. How could one be happy knowing that he had just crushed and defeated his own brother?

Thor certainly could not forgive himself for this, even though he knew it needed to be done. It hurt him so that he was forbidden to see his brother. He could not ask for the forgiveness he knew he would never receive yet needed so desperately.

It was a scar that he felt not even time could heal. Time was merely concealing his pain.

Somewhere in the distance, chickens could be heard cackling and squawking. A dog could also be heard barking loudly at something. Not that he was really registering all this noise. All these sounds were quite normal. So normal, that he zoned them out (okay, maybe just maybe he had turned down the sound on his hearing aids, but just maybe now).

There wasn't much to do today anyways. He could stay in bed a little longer. Barney could take care of everything that needed to be taken care of. Though, knowing Barney, he probably would come up to his room and demand that he wake up and get things done around the farm.

He probably should get up and do something. Being lazy was not going to help him become a better Avenger. He needed to get things done so he could somehow erase the bad things he had done.

Though, Clint didn't feel like anything he did would ever make up for all the things he did. He would never be able to make it up to the Avengers or even his brother for that matter.

But maybe if he kept working at it, he would at least ease the guilt some. He knew everyone had said he had already been forgiven, but deep down inside, he knew he had a long way to go before he truly earned their forgiveness for all the things he had done.

After all, people hold grudges. Clint knew this all too well. Forgiveness was not something that could be given easily. It took a lot of time and patience.

But could time truly heal their scar and perhaps his as well?

Clint could only hope that time would heal things, but at this point, he felt like time was just covering up the scars.

There was nothing better than soaking up some California sun. Okay, perhaps there were some better things to do than sit in the sun, but right now? Tony felt nothing could be better than lying in his backyard and enjoying the wonderful sunshine. New York had been a bit too crisp for his taste, so he decided to pack up his bags and head off to Malibu with Pepper.

He had invited her to join him in the backyard, but she had politely refused. Apparently, there was some work that had to be done. Well… work that he should be doing that she would get done for him because it simply had to get done.

He appreciated her thoroughness in work and willingness to put up with him. Though, he wished for once she would just take the day off like he did. She definitely deserved a vacation. But ah, faithful Pepper would not rest until all the work was done.

He probably should start taking after her, but well, that wasn't his style. He did things his own way and was quite stubborn about it too. Maybe that was why he always felt so alone.

But no one needed to know that the great Tony Stark felt lonely. No, no, no. Tony could handle himself quite fine, thank you.

But if he was honest? He knew he really couldn't handle things. The arc reactor glowing softly on his chest only proved it. He just hid behind his iron armor and pretended like things were just peachy.

They were not really that peachy, though. Tony hid it well. He had learned that over a long period of time, you could hide your ugly scars. It was time that helped him cover up those unpleasant memories for a brief moment.

Time was just a concealer for a little while. Sooner or later, the concealer would be wiped away like a dirty spot on a window.

But for now, Tony knew time would be kind to him and hide his scars for a little longer. Yet… a part of Tony wished that time would heal them instead over hide them.

A soft whistling of the tea pot signaled to him that his peppermint tea was ready. On a rainy day like this, tea was just the thing. Though, Banner had to admit it was a little sad that there was no one to share the pot of tea with. Tony wasn't one for tea, so he was out of the question. Besides, Tony was over in California, and Banner was still in New York. Natasha probably wouldn't mind sharing a cup of tea, but she was off on mission most likely. Clint was probably doing the same. Thor, well, Banner was not sure how he would contact him for a cup of tea. There was Steve of course, but Banner felt that he shouldn't disturb the man for just a cup of tea.

But at least things were quiet, he thought to himself as he poured himself some tea. It was nice not being needed. He hated having to bring out the Hulk. It was… exhausting both mentally and physically. It was quite a burden to be Hulk.

At times, he felt that people (mostly SHIELDs) forgot that he existed and only thought of him as the Hulk. It hurt to be honest… but then it was his fault that he became Hulk. It really wasn't the most brilliant idea to work with radiation. He should have been more careful. But that was all in the past now… and he could not take it back no matter how hard he wished he could.

He sipped his tea and gazed out at the pouring rain. This sort of weather always made him rather pensive.

Time would heal things, he thought as he sipped his tea once more.

He just needed time to adjust to his constantly changing life, and time would heal the pain and confusion. He just needed to be patient. (But being the Hulk made that difficult at times.)

Little did he realize, time was merely hiding his scars not healing them.

He had heard that having a pet could cure loneliness. This just may be the reason why Steve Rogers found himself signing some papers at a local pet shelter. He hadn't really been planning on adopting a pet, but somehow he found himself doing exactly that. Well, who could blame him? The puppy was adorable… and Steve was lonely.

Sure, he had friends, but it just wasn't the same. They didn't understand him. Things were much much different back then, and they just couldn't wrap their minds around it. Not that he could blame them. They were great friends to be sure, but he wanted more than that.

Though, he was not sure what exactly he wanted. He had so much taken away from him that he scarcely dared to hope for something again. The past had left its scars on him, something that his Avenger friends did not know or understand.

He thought time would heal those scars, but time didn't really seem to want to help him out. It never did. Look where he was now: alive in the 21st century with crazy gadgets that everyone (especially Tony) seemed quite glued to. And seeing Bucky again definitely did not help the healing process. It had ripped open the old scars that had seemed to have finally begun to heal.

Steve realized that perhaps time had just been giving him the illusion that his scars had healed. This whole time… he had been deceiving himself. The scars hadn't healed. He had merely forgotten about that for a brief moment.

Time certainly had not been extremely good to any of them. They all still bore scars. And not all were visible to the naked eye.

Yet, somehow, the Avengers discovered that even though time did not cure their hurt or guilt or loneliness, time did give them much wisdom.

Perhaps, one day they would all open up to each other and discover that none of them were on their own. They all shared similar scars, and they could all help each other heal.

Note: I apologize for Thor's section being so short. He is a bit difficult to write. And as for Clint, I really really hate ClintxLaura so that is why he is just living at a farm with his brother. This is a fanfiction so I don't necessarily have to be fully canon. ;) Since I don't ship, ClintxLaura, I hope you guys would figure that I don't ship BannerxNatasha. They are merely good friends! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this one-shot. I had to fight writer's block somehow. XD