w00t w00t booyah

Hope you like it -

No Captain Left Behind (7793 words) by kyburg
Chapters: 1/10
Fandom: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Captain America (Movies)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark, Bruce Banner & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers & Bruce Banner, Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov, Thor - Relationship, Nick Fury - Relationship, Happy Hogan - Relationship, Pepper Potts & Natasha Romanov
Characters: Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Steve Rogers, Nick Fury, Pepper Potts, Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton, Thor, Happy Hogan
Additional Tags: Iron Man Three Compliant, PTSD, Science Bros, filling in the blanks, what spackle won't patch, moving forward, wicked girls saving themselves, Deep Breath Before Winter Soldier, Deep Breath beforer Dark World, Steve is a BAMF, So is Bruce, Tony the facilitator, Pepper is a BAMF, and a den mother, Clint is An Asshole, Some days Natasha IS Stark Industries, Tony Stark Has Issues, Steve Rogers Has Issues, Clint Barton has more Issues than the Library of Congress, Stark Tower has a Starbucks, Tony Stark Does Not Have to Put Up with Your Shit, Romance is more than Sex Done Well, Love comes in many flavors, So do anxiety disorders, Natasha is not a robot, Grieving, Pepperony, Clintasha
Summary:

Post IM3. Returning to New York after settling the second Stark Tower in Eureka, Tony Stark is called to an informal conference, an 'information exchange' at an office near the UN, that also includes Nick Fury, Steve Rogers and Dr. Bruce Banner.

What he finds going into the meeting (he's fashionably late, of course - contractor!) leaves him wondering just what has been going on in New York in his absence; Steve Rogers is dismissed as incompetent, Dr. Bruce Banner unsafe without specific escorts (and he keeps falling asleep), Clint Barton is at the Tower but still on the off duty roster (crazy doesn't begin to describe it) and Natasha Romanov is even scarier (and harder to read) than usual. Nick Fury isn't saying much, except fix it - to which Bruce says - sure! It sounds like a reasonable plan - tutor Steve Rogers into the 21st Century, and who better to do it than the 'science twins?' It'll be fun!

Team building, anxiety disorders, homework and field trips. Welcome to Stark Tower, New York. Welcome home.

Thanks for putting up with the Twitter consolidations - right now, that is where I am most prolific, largely because it's a real 'hit and done' environment. Now, to collect those for later perusal?

This is still the best place for that. August 29th was the last time I actually wrote a post here, huh? Okay.

Sis's divorce isn't final, but the house has been sold and the family split into two rental properties - only one of which I have contact information for. (Guess.) I still listen to crazy on a regular basis. But after throwing up my hands and giving in to simply being sad for a period of weeks (and if depression showed up to keep it company, well it did), I no longer want to end the world in fire (okay, just my sister) every time the subject comes up.

The sad arrived after I found out what the holidays were going to look like this year.

Nobody is coming. Nobody is going. There will be nothing. Even when Dad died, there was Christmas. Even when the house burned down. Went to Switzerland. Cliff almost died. Always.

Nope. Not coming to your house. (Even though I'm still opening the house on Christmas Eve. Bite me, you're not taking that from me.) Too far, too much work, lalala. Not for Thanksgiving (though that's not a real shock, neither lil' bro or Mom eats as a social occasion anymore, the diets they're on don't allow for much of it), but not for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years - nope. Not worth the work.

I was willing to put them up, entertain, do whatever was necessary - nope.

That smarts. And yes, I got very sad. I got better, but I had to stay there and really grok it for a while.

But that's it.

Family and I are getting on a train and going north for Thanksgiving. Christmas Eve is at my house, and if Christmas Day is spent at Disneyland? I can think of worse. Letting the simple indifference ruin me more is wrong. Nobody is trying to do me harm, they just don't care. (Didn't they say neglect was worse than abuse?)

Sis started sending text messages over the weekend - called me at work (I pushed it to VM) Friday - being chatty and buddy-buddy and I am *totally* creeped out. Well then - now that you've made sure nobody can hold you accountable in person (ex-BIL needs to notify her in writing before he even picks up kid, shared custody agreement notwithstanding, I said the crazy continues), I guess it's time to see if I'm going to accept the DNA card for more charges on account.

Nope. That account is overlimit, overdrawn and closed. Done. At some point, she is going to get her opportunity to tell me - perhaps - what the fuck she thought this was all about, but I have a heavy list of my own to levy as well. I seriously doubt the little tatters that are left will survive contact with it.

I'll do what I can for Mom, as I am able. The brothers - can find their own way, do not care anymore. When Mom is gone, so I am. So very done. Do I think any of them will notice? If they do, it'll smart a little - about as much as if I had actually died, perhaps. (Suicidal ideation happens around here when trying to find a way to pay bills. For attention? You're kidding, right?) Mom plaints about 'what happened?' and none of us will say - nobody wants her to know the work she did with Sis in high school didn't take.

My mother married twice; my mother was bankrupted by each of those men and has filed for protection twice. In spite of that, she raised four kids by herself, and between the four of us there are three bachelor degrees, two masters and a doctorate. And all of us work. (Except for Sis, at this point she claims to be self-employed except she doesn't work 15 hours a week, the documentation is there as part of court process.) All of us raised children, with various levels of success depending on the kid. Only one of us ended up in jail, and that was once and done and lil' bro has been in recovery ever since. When you remove the antagonist, we're resilient folks.

But second-best is out of here, guys. I'm not waiting anymore.

There are a couple of other places you can find me - tumblr has me in its passive-agressive paws, same name as here. You can also find me at turntable.fm in the I <3 70's room (last place I expected to land) during daylight hours. Facebook, tumblr with the ability to talk back to your insulter - the modern version of the slambook, pretty pictures and all. Ironically, Tumblr may have kicked me in the head hard enough to go back to writing anything - I'm seriously considering NanoWriMo this year (hell, there's no reason - NOTHING going on).

So, we'll see.

So. How about those Avengers?