Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers

Warnings/Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Post-Avengers (2012), Canon Divergence - Post-Avengers (2012), Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, Domestic Fluff, Mother Hen Tony Stark, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Protective Tony Stark, Domestic Avengers, Team as Family, Tony Stark Is a Good Bro, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, Broken Bones, Illnesses, Creative License, Tony Stark Needs Sleep, Sleep Deprivation.

Cross-posted on my AO3 with a collage.

In every group, there is always the 'Mum' and that wasn't different for the Avengers. Steve, of course, seemed to be the logical choice; he was Captain America for crying out loud, why wouldn't he be the mum of the team? Yet he wasn't; in fact, the man was utterly hopeless.

The member of the team who could proudly hold the mantel of 'mum' wasn't someone anyone would believe to be fit for the role; no one would believe that Tony Stark was the team's mum. But he was. And he was the best at it. He was a natural.

He cooked for the team as often as he could; the days he forgot or couldn't, the team would almost always find meals in the fridge or freezer that simply needed to be heated up as Tony had prepared them in advance. When someone was injured, he nursed them back to health, making sure they were comfortable on the sofa or in their bed, that they had everything they needed from film choice to drink and food. It was the same if they were ill. Tony would even make sure he was free enough to be able to sit nearby, working on his StarkPad, in case he was needed. On the frequent occasion that someone had a nightmare or a bad day, he would comfort them; Tony knew exactly how to comfort them.

Natasha, she liked to go to the ballet and be treated to a nice dinner. Just a day of relaxation and joy. And Tony would always clear his schedule if she needed that and get them both the best seats at the first ballet performance he found.

Bruce could be comforted with his favourite blanket, a steaming cup of peppermint or chamomile tea and a good book whilst being in the company of someone he trusted, someone who would let him curl up and lean against them… all of which pointed to Tony.

Steve often freaked out if the weather dropped too much and could only be comforted by a day in bed, snuggled in a cocoon of warmth with a hot chocolate and an old movie whilst someone (Tony) hugged him, held him. Contact with another person kept him grounded.

Thor typically needed an open ear, someone who would sit beside him and let the god talk and talk about Loki or his mother or his father or his home in Asgard. Tony would comfort him by listening and wrapping a blanket around them as they sat outside on the patio and look up at the sky.

Clint liked to be up high, so when it came to comforting the archer, he liked to be in the air vents, in the larger space that Tony had made so that the man could have a nest of sorts. So on bad days, Tony would go up there and find him; nothing would be said as Tony would sneak under the blankets and simply hold the man. Sometimes Clint would talk, sometimes he wouldn't.

So Tony was always there, ready and armed to help comfort them if they needed it. He took on so many motherly roles and he never even realised.

Neither did the others and like many mothers, he was taken advantage of.

No one ever said please.

No one ever said thank you.

No one ever asked 'how are you?' or 'are you doing okay?'.

And no one ever helped him when he had a bad day or a nightmare.

But that was alright; Tony was used to people not caring about him or reciprocating his gestures. He didn't help them, comfort them, feed them or do anything motherly so that they'd care about him or do the same; he did all that because it was the type of person Tony was.

—LINE BREAK—

"Hey guys, I'll be gone for the next three weeks as I've got to oversee SI's newest branch over in London and make sure it's up to par," Tony announced one evening, he'd mentioned it to them a couple of weeks ago but he'd be leaving early in the morning so it was more to remind him; sadly no one seemed to pay attention, but that didn't deter the short man,

"There's about a week's worth of dinners in the fridge and another week's worth in the freezer, I recommend spreading the freezer dinners out over the last two weeks and ordering some takeaway for the missing days. J will do an online order when it looks like you need shopping, just tell him if there's anything specific you would like," no one turned towards him, all of them were immersed in the movie they were watching, Tony merely sighed, "you've got my number if anything happens and I've written down any information that may be useful. Right. See you." He murmured as he turned on his heel and headed to make sure everything was packed before going to bed -he had an early flight and decided that maybe trying to get to sleep early would be a smart option.

On the list, he had included a note about the fridge and freezer meals, everyone's favourite takeaway places and their numbers along with any emergency numbers they may need like his private phone number, the hotel's phone number and Pepper's phone number.

—LINE BREAK—

The first week went by alright without Tony, nothing bad happened, but by the start of the second week the fridge had nothing but an old apple and an empty carton of orange juice in it, whilst the freezer was empty. The food that had been supposed to last them until the third week was all gone.

That meant someone had to do the grocery shopping; fortunately, Tony had prepared for this and on his instructions/information page he'd left the team, it said to talk to JARVIS because he had a list of necessities ready to be sent off to the supermarket and anything specific that the team wanted could be added. Unfortunately, no one knew this as no one had read the piece of paper and it had gotten misplaced and possibly binned.

This led to Clint and Thor going to the supermarket. Nothing more needs to be said except for the store, surprisingly, didn't sue or burn to the ground and the team had nothing healthy to eat nor anything that could actually be made into a meal.

Of course, the idea of calling Tony for help didn't cross anyone's mind.

—LINE BREAK—

Halfway through the second week was when things really went downhill.

Natasha had been having a bad day; a night full of nightmares tended to do that to her. But with no Tony to take her out for the day and comfort her, she turned to anger and foolishly Clint agreed to do some training with her.

In this case, 'training' meant 'beating someone to a pulp'; that someone was a battered, broken and bruised Clint, who came out with varying colours of bruises across his body along with a broken wrist. Fortunately, Natasha seemed to be in a better mood. Unfortunately, Clint was hurt, which meant he was painfully whiney and with no Tony about to coddle him, the whining reached new annoying levels to the point where Bruce couldn't be in the same room without flashing green eyes and Steve, the calmest of them all, was ready to curse up a storm.

But that wasn't all. Week two was the downfall for the Avengers minus Tony, from then on, nothing went right.

—LINE BREAK—

With Tony away and Clint out of commission thanks to Natasha, the team was a little empty and sod's law, they ended up being called out thanks to the newest villain. It was an easy fight, just some mad scientist, who caused minimal damage. But he managed to get a shot at Steve and injected him with a strange liquid. Their resident scientist found out that it was specifically designed for a super-soldier and as such he didn't know how long the effects of it would last. Being a super-soldier, Steve no longer got ill, but the liquid that their villain had injected him with seemed to take away his ability to block such illness as his immune system all but collapsed.

He was weak and bedridden with flu-like symptoms that drained any ounce of energy he had. Steve didn't leave his room, he couldn't, it was such a draining task merely going to the bathroom let alone making his way out of his bedroom.

Like before, with no Tony about no one knew what to do to comfort Steve; Bruce made him soup but when it tasted vile, they had to order it in from the deli he liked, other than that and coming up to talk to him, no one interacted with Steve. He felt ungrounded and lost. Through feverous hallucinations, Steve lost sense of where he was and what year it was; had the resident short genius been there, the blond wouldn't have been so enslaved in his feverous tricks.

—LINE BREAK—

Bruce, who had been trying to find out more about the injection, began to forget to sleep. Often Tony would be the one to push him to bed when it became clear that the man was neglecting sleep, which was ironic because Tony was the king of neglecting sleep, but without him there to hassle Bruce, the man quickly became too exhausted to do much as several days passed and he grew ill from the lack of sleep.

—LINE BREAK—

Once again, Clint and Natasha decided to do some training with each other, both were in bad moods, which had spurred from the poor atmosphere in the tower, their own bad days, nightmares and lack of sleep and the lack of Tony.

So in an attempt to get it out of their systems, they fought despite Clint having a broken wrist.

Natasha came away with a broken leg and thumb amongst bruises and cuts; Clint came away in a similar condition, the healing of his broken wrist was set back by several weeks, his middle finger was somehow broken on his other hand and his body was also littered with cuts and bruises.

—LINE BREAK—

Then there was Thor, heartbroken by his breakup with Jane, he had no one to comfort him; with Tony gone, the god found himself in a depressed mood, snacking away at the many boxes of Pop-Tarts that he and Clint had bought from the supermarket as he lazes on the sofa in the living room, which had quickly become messy and littered with rubbish.

No one helped Thor because they all had their own issues to deal with, it wasn't them being malicious, but Bruce was dead on his feet, Steve was bedridden and terribly ill, Clint had escaped to his vent nest, refusing to come out until he was healed, and Natasha was in a similar state only she had locked herself up in her room.

—LINE BREAK—

With everyone in horrendous and unbearable moods, the tower almost seemed to have a grey cloud hanging over it thanks to the dreadful atmosphere (although, it was probable that Thor was the reason for the actual grey cloud and the occasional shot of lightning that flickered around it). No one thought about Tony, but everyone had a feeling that they were missing something. That there was something that helped them when they were usually in such bad moods. But for the life of them, no one could think of what it was.

—LINE BREAK—

He was happy to be back, three weeks away from home and his team was certainly a pain; especially when he had to go away for work and not leisure. Tony didn't expect to walk in on Thor moping on the sofa and no one else in sight.

"JARVIS… what have I missed?" Tony asked his AI quietly not wanting to get the god's attention until he knew what was going on; quickly and quietly, the AI filled him in on everything that had happened over the past few weeks.

"…and now Dr Banner is in his laboratory running on approximately ten hours of sleep that he's managed to get over the past seven days, Captain Rogers is in his bed with a high fever, Miss Romanov is, for lack of a better word, stropping about in her room. Mr Barton is up in his nest is a grump and as you have seen, Thor is depressed on the sofa."

"Thank you, J," murmured Tony as he rubbed his forehead, he walked back into the elevator and went up to his floor to change out of his suit and think about how he was going to tackle the many problems he had come home to.

All Tony had wanted was to come home and laze in front of the TV with his friends, was that too much to ask for?

—LINE BREAK—

In cosy, slobby clothing (jogging bottoms and an old AC/DC top), Tony made his way to Steve, deciding to deal with the ill one first.

"Hey Steve," he murmured entering the room, bleary blue eyes blinked up at him,

"Tony?" Came the mumbled response, "you here?"

"Yes, I'm here," he placed a hand on the man's forehead, "can't leave you lot alone can I? Let's get you sorted out," Tony gently fluffed his pillows, allowing Steve to have a bit more of an incline with his head, he pulled the blanket and duvet up to the man's neck to keep him warm before wandering off into the bathroom and coming back with a cold and wet flannel, placing it on his burning forehead, "do you think you can eat anything?"

"No,"

"Okay, well I'll make you some soup for when you can eat and I'll grab you some of your pain relief tablets, have you had any recently?" He got another mumbled 'no', "alright, I'll be back as soon as I can, I've got to go sort out the others, but I'll be back with soup, some warm soothing lemon and honey water and some tablets, that sound alright?"

"Yeah… th'nk 'ou," Steve mumbled shuffling slightly in his bed,

"Want me to put a movie on?"

"No,"

"Okay, you try and get some sleep."

—LINE BREAK—

One down, four to go. Next, he made his way to Bruce. The minute Tony saw the scientist, concern wrapped around him; the man looked like the walking dead, he was pale and the bags under his eyes were black almost like he'd been punched. Wrapping an arm around Bruce, Tony began to lead him away and into the elevator.

"Tony?"

"Yeah, it's me Brucie Bear, time for bed, yeah?"

"Gotta-"

"No you don't; you've spent enough time trying to work out Steve's illness and you won't be figuring anything out by being dead on your feet,"

"But-"

"I'll take a look at it, okay? For all we know, it's simply like the flu and he'll be better sometime in the next week." By this point, Tony had taken Bruce's shoes off and tucked him into bed, the man had made a sound of the agreement before quickly falling into a deep and much-needed sleep, Tony took his glasses off and placed them on the bedside table before leaving to find Natasha.

—LINE BREAK—

The redhead was in her small living room, her broken leg placed on the coffee table whilst she watched TV.

"Hey Nat, how's the leg?"

"Oh your back," she stated looking over at him briefly,

"Yep. The leg?"

"It aches a bit," she muttered not being one to talk about her injuries,

"Maybe if you have it up on the sofa with you, it might help. Come on, twist around, have your back against the arm, there we go," he gently lifted the casted leg and placed a few cushions under it, "how's that?" She blushed,

"Perfect, thank you,"

"No worries, anything I can do for you?" He asked sincerely with a kind smile,

"Hot chocolate?" Natasha asked, somewhat hesitant,

"Of course, I'll bring it up to you in a bit, if that's alright? I've got to go and check on the others," she nodded in agreement and he threw the blanket over her legs and stomach before telling JARVIS to put on one of Natasha's favourite movie, which brought out a smile on her slightly bruised cheeks.

—LINE BREAK—

He pulled himself into the vent and quickly located Clint, who was curled up amongst a bunch of pillows and blankets, pouting like the world was against him as he watched some Disney movies. Tony slipped under the blankets behind the man.

"How are you, Clint?"

"When'd you get back?"

"About twenty minutes ago; now answer my question."

"I'm achy and sore,"

"I can tell," Tony stated as he looked at the black eyes and cut lip before his eyes drifted to the cast on his wrist and splinted middle finger, "what can I do?"

"Cuddle?"

"Okay; can I come back in a bit? I need to check on Thor, get Nat her hot chocolate and get Steve to eat something." Clint was silent for a few minutes,

"Okay."

"I'll order you a pizza and bring it up," that made the man brighten up a bit,

"Deal."

—LINE BREAK—

Wandering into the communal living room after making a call to the local pizza takeaway shop, Tony sighed at the state Thor was in.

"Alright, Big Guy, here's what you're going to do," he stated as he sat down next to the miserable god, "you're going to clean up this mess and go have a shower, whilst you do that I'm going to check in with the others and then I'm going to sit with you and let you get everything off your chest, okay?" Thor looked startled at Tony's sudden appearance and quick words,

"I…" Thor went to protest but Tony merely stared at him with raised eyebrows and he relented, "okay," he muttered not at all happy but willing.

"Good. I'll be down here in an hour or so and you better have cleaned up this mess," Tony stated before standing and clapping the god on his shoulder.

Some may have thought it harsh, the way he spoke to Thor, but Tony knew that the god often needed straightforward and direct words to get him to do something he didn't want to. Tony would be kind and gentle once he got the blond talking about his woes.

—LINE BREAK—

He set to completing the few tasks he'd made; the soup for Steve was simmering and would be ready in about twenty minutes, so he left it and delivered a lovely Bailey's hot chocolate complete with the special mini marshmallows he kept hidden for such treats, whipped cream and a sprinkling of grated chocolate on top to Natasha. The redhead was incredibly happy to see her treat and promptly thanked Tony, telling him that she didn't need anything else when he asked.

Bruce was still fast asleep when Tony checked on him so he went back to check on Steve's soup, which was ready for the sick man. With a bowl of steaming soup, a spoon, a warm honey and lemon water and a couple of Steve's pain meds set on a tray, Tony headed back to the ill supersoldier and despite his protests that he could feed himself, Tony fed him a few spoonfuls of soup as the man could barely lift his arms and the shakes he had were terrible, so if he even tried, none of the soup would end up in his mouth. Shortly, the blond was protesting that he couldn't stomach anymore.

"That's fine, I'll leave it in your microwave so that when I come back later we can see if you want anymore. Can you take your tablets?" Steve nodded, taking them and the glass of water with shaking hands, Tony stayed long enough to watch his eyelids close.

JARVIS told him that the pizza for Clint had arrived as he headed to the elevator, so he swiftly climbed up to the archer's nest and gave him it after retrieving it; he stole a slice for himself and received a mock-glare for doing so, which prompted a chuckle out of Tony and then Clint. He snuggled with the man for a bit before saying he had to go and talk with Thor, once again the archer was put out about it, but Tony promised that he'd be back.

—LINE BREAK—

Tony and Thor sat out on the balcony's swinging chair that was large enough for them both to be comfortable.

"Tell me what's going on, Pointbreak, why are you so upset?" Tony asked, "and what can I do to make it better?"

"Jane broke up with me," he muttered solemnly, "and I have never dealt with such agony…" Tony was silent as Thor continued to talk about how he was feeling, butting in here and there with his own comments.

"Want to know what I think?"

"Very much so, my friend,"

"I think you've spent a week and a half mourning your breakup and now you should show her that you're fine. No more mindless, depressive eating on the sofa, now you get back into your old routine and style of life before the breakup."

"I suppose I could…"

"No supposing, Thor, you are getting over her. It hurts, I know it does, but life moves on and you can't spend the rest of your days lying on a couch eating your pain away because as much as you want it to overthrow the pain, it doesn't." Tony could see a spark of determination in the god's eyes and was pleased; his words had sunk in.

"Thank you, Tony,"

"Anytime, Big Guy."

—LINE BREAK—

The genius didn't sleep that night.

Or the night after.

Nor the night after that and so on.

He spent his days and nights checking on the team and making sure they were all okay. He would sit by Steve's bed with a wet washcloth and try and get his fever down; he had to do the same with Bruce, who ended up coming down with the same illness as Steve, Tony thought it might be because his immune system was affected by his lack of sleep and because he'd been messing -scientifically speaking, of course- with the liquid Steve had got in his system; considering that the Hulk was made from a failed version of the super-soldier serum, it was plausible that it could infect Bruce too. So he was up all night with Bruce and Steve, both of who were on separate floors, which meant he was racing backwards and forwards.

He was still dealing with Natasha's broken leg; helping her move about or getting her stuff. It was the same with Clint, only the archer remained in his nest and Tony didn't need to help him move about.

Thankfully Thor was no longer in a depressed mood, however, he wasn't helping Tony with the others because he had decided to go home and visit his mother (and father).

—LINE BREAK—

Fortunately, the team seemed to get better quickly, almost as though Tony's very presence was the source of their healing. Unfortunately, Tony had quickly become ill because in taking care of the team, he'd neglected himself. He'd been awake for too long, he'd been stressed over the others and after three weeks of exhausting meetings and work, he hadn't been prepared to take on a bunch of problems. So he was dead on his feet and full of whatever the most current virus that was making its way around the city.

When he ended up collapsing from it all, the team seemed to realise just what Tony was to them and just how they had treated him. Tony was like their mother and they hadn't been respectful of him; they never thanked him or said please. So when Tony woke up later that day in his bed all snuggled up with the Avengers loitering around him holding tissues, water and soup (that he had made).

"Wha's goin' on?" He mumbled through sleepy eyes as he stared up at the team confused,

"Well you always help us out and we thought -realised that it's about time we help you out,"

"No need to," Tony muttered briefly waving his hand at them before letting the limb flop down on the bed, "my job… you guys," despite his inability to form sentences, they understood what he meant,

"But who takes care of you?" Steve asked with a sad expression across his face,

"No one, fine by 'self."

"No, Tony, it's our job to take care of you," Bruce murmured with a gentle smile, but Tony merely shook his head,

"You may act and more or less be our mother, Tony, but even mums have to be taken care of," Natasha smiled from where she was sitting down,

"Yeah, Mother Tony, we love you and we're sorry for being the worst children in the world, so let us take care of you and thank you profusely for putting up with our temper tantrums and lack of manners," Clint stated bluntly in his typical manner, but a smile pulled across Tony's sweaty and pale cheeks,

"Love you guys too," he mumbled, "thank you,"

"You just get some sleep, Tony, we'll talk to you in the morning," Thor announced gently, speaking up for the first time as he grinned down at his small and ill friend; Tony didn't respond though because he'd already drifted off to sleep as Bruce placed a wet flannel on his forehead.

—LINE BREAK—

When he was better; so was the team. They'd all realised just how important Tony was and how much he did for them -how much he didn't need to do but still did. They felt no shame admitting that they had all fallen a little bit more in love with the mother of their band of broken strays; but they were ashamed of how they had treated him as disposable, so they constantly made sure Tony knew how much he was wanted and loved. Soon enough it became debatable on whether the team was reassuring Tony that they loved him or reassuring themselves that Tony knew.

But he knew.

And he loved them all the more.

Here's my Tumblr if you're interested, it also has the story collages: anxious- - -soul (no spaces between the dashes, this site sucks and wouldn't allow them without spaces).

Anyway,
Thank you for reading,
Hope you enjoyed this,
Please review,
No hate -don't like, don't read

Bye~