Disclaimer: No I still don't own theses characters. I just have delved into their minds and twisted them for my own amusement.

Tony sat in his workshop tinkering with his suit. He can't help but think how empty the tower is. The Avengers were only there for a couple days to get everything straightened out, then they scattered to the wind.

Tony's hand slips and he lets out an expletive as he sticks his smarting finger in his mouth. He threw his tools down on the workbench and made his way out of the workshop. He sees evidence of the members of the Avengers everywhere.

The hole Hulk make with Loki is still present, and Tony wants to keep it, but knows Bruce will hate it, so he decides to have it cut out and preserved, but to be kept in storage. Maybe he'll give it to Hulk one day.

There are a few arrows from Clint left lying around, and Tony starts to tinker with them to make them better. He doesn't know how well he's done on them, but the balance is almost perfect and the tips are interchangeable. And Tony starts to draw up a design for a new bow, but needs more information from Clint to make it perfect.

This makes Tony want to examine Natasha's Widow's Bite. He knows he can make that better and more efficient, but again needs Natasha's input. All Tony knows is Natasha will kill him if he screws this up.

Tony looks over the footage from the battle and wants to make Bruce pants that will be able to change size with him. Tony knows he will have to make calls he doesn't want to but will for Bruce's sake.

Tony can't find much information on Thor. He's found the myths and legends, but he doesn't know how accurate they are. All Tony really knows is that he can create lightning, fly, and has an unhealthy obsession with pop tarts. So Tony stocks a cupboard full of the breakfast pastry, even if Tony will never touch the stuff.

Tony lets his head fall against the wall as his mind drifts to Steve. Growing up Tony heard all about Steve Rogers and how he was Captain America. Howard was always comparing Tony to Steve, and Tony was always found wanting. Tony had come to hate the man for it. He wasn't sure exactly who the hate was directed toward, but it ate at him. So Tony tried to be everything Steve wasn't. He succeeded in a spectacular fashion, but at the same time Tony feels he's failed.

Then Tony met the man behind the ridiculous costume, and he was not what Tony was expecting. Steve was able to take Tony's snark and give back as good as he got. He wasn't perfect, he wasn't larger than life (maybe a little bit), he was human. And Tony is finally able to reconcile that image with the hero worship he had as a kid. Tony knows he needs to apologize but he's never had to really before, and doesn't know where to begin.

So he offered the Tower as a place to stay for everyone, but they left. He wallows, and Pepper gets on his case. Finally snapping she tells him to go find them, if he's really that worried. Tony tries to deny it, but he knows it's useless, Pepper can read him in ways no one else can, even if they are no longer together. And he truly is worried about them, Steve knowing next to nothing about the 21st century, Clint and Natasha back to taking missions for SHIELD, Thor off on Asgard where none of them can watch his back, and Bruce off in some third world country hiding.

And Tony tracks them down.

First Steve, and while things are a little awkward at first they do come to an agreement. Tony does eventually steal, frame and hang the picture Steve was drawing when he found him. Because it will become an accurate representation of the Tower life. Living with Steve, Tony realizes that he actually likes the man out of time, something he hates to admit because it means agreeing with his father, but Tony can live with that, because, like the Howling Commandos, Tony will follow Steve no matter what. So will the rest of them, come to think of it.

Thor finds his own way back. And Tony thinks he might recruit Jane Foster to work for him, so that Thor will lose the kicked puppy look whenever she's brought up. But between Steve's ignorance and Thor being trigger happy with the lightning Tony is at his wit's end. He's had to replace most of the electronics in the Tower, but it isn't the money that's the issue. Tony knows he tends to speak above the average person and needs someone to keep him in check and help dumb the language down. He realizes this after the sixth microwave Thor toasts, literally.

Tony convinces Fury it would be best to have all the Avengers living in one place. Is it a good idea, probably not. Does it happen, yes. Tony can see the hesitation in both Clint and Natasha. He knows it's because of their pasts, and Tony wonders if it will work. But they settle in fairly quickly. Even if Tony has to get used to Clint crawling in the air ducts. And Natasha being trigger happy in the lightning storms caused by Thor unintentionally.

Finding Bruce was harder than Tony initially thought. But with Natasha's help, they manage. It comes as a surprise when they find out that Hulk is an ally in their quest to bring Bruce home, but they'll take what they can get.

Tony finally feels like he has a family. They have their ups and downs, they fight, they curse each other, they become siblings. And Tony knows that is the reason they put up with him after all this time. Because they have all realized that all they have is each other. They truly are a family born of circumstance.

And none of them would trade it for the world.

Okay, this is the end. Unless I get a lot of people wanting me to write more on this, in which I may do one shots of various scenes. I have some vague ideas at this point but who knows.

It's kind of strange to think that I started this as a stress reliever for school and it's done but school's not. Oh well. Hope you've all enjoyed the trip through the minds of the Avengers.