END-GAME

“You need to take me back”.

“Like hell I do”,he raised both eyebrows at her, his stance showing nothing but a challenge for her to give him a reason.

A reason to argue, a reason to get in a fight.

Theo took a rather deep breath, putting in some good effort just to not completely lose her cool.

Natasha and Pietro – attracted by Theo and Tony's raised voices just like moths to a dim lamp, were eyeing them beneath their glasses.

“You just kicked my cane”,he spelled out. “If you wanna fly back home, you can do it the oldfashioned way and book a damned flight”.

Theo pumped her cheek. She couldn't exactly argue here. Of course, had she known she'd need his help, Theo wouldn't have kicked him. This was all but a really bad timing effect.

“Come on now Stark”,Thor opened his hands, trying to cool him down. “Be the better man, won't you?”

“What the hell are you talking about?”,he asked, turning to eye him, eyebrows knitted together. “Woman's crazy, if I give her the jet chances are I'll never see it again”.

“You have like a hundred of them”,she mumbled to herself.

Tony raised his cane and pointed at her; he'd clenched both jaw and mouth, his entire face stiff. Theo on the other hand let her shoulders drop. She starring intensely at him, waiting for Tony to have it his way for a while.

“You-damned-brat”,he spelled out,each word emphasized by a motion of his cane.

“C'me on big guy”, Pietro sighed, getting in between them.

He tried to push him a tad away from her, though his each touch showed concern, and not attack. Theo raised her chin; her teeth grunted and eyebrows' corners drawn down. Tony found that expression of hers quite interesting, if not surprising.

“You owe me”,she said firmly,her entire face looking rigid.

“Oh really? How the fuck come?”,he shouted at her.

Natasha massaged her temples, swirling around her stool only to turn and face the bar. She placed her elbows down and supported her face, looking forward. Those tantrums were nothing new, and if anything else, she had grown rather tired of witnessing them all.

Thor patted her back sympathetically, motioning his eyebrows.

Although, as it became evident from Theo's next words to come out, this one had a different outcome.

Theo let her hands down and tightened her fists. Taking in deep breaths from her nose, Tony could almost see the fuming rage; he knitted his eyebrows together, watching her motions cautiously.

She began walking towards him, her every step heavy against the ground. Pietro flinched at the last minute, went back in place only to find himself in between them again, now only inches away from Theo's face.

“Hey-hey,hey!”,he raised his palms in an attempt to calm her down.

But his words seemed to have not reached her at all, as if Pietro himself was not part of what Theo was seeing. Her eyes were glued on Tony's face, making him feel a rather uneasy knot forming on his stomach.

Something felt odd, incredibly wrong. For a moment, a pure nonexistent moment, Tony and Pietro both took notice, a faint glimpse of something in Theo's eyes; they saw despondency.

A distressingly so absent of color; of any hint of emotion. A blank stare that indicated nothing more than a soul-destroying void.

“Because..”,she whispered,her voice coming out entirely raw from under her teeth, “You knew what he was about to do, and you helped him anyway”.

Tony's lips parted. He felt that knot combing again and again,twisting his gut. He immediately lowered his gaze,embarrassment and guilt taking over him.

Theo's stare didn't move, her body didn't flinch at all. Pietro knitted his eyebrows together, and slowly turned to face Tony. Natasha mimicked him. She stood up,crossing her hands against her chest.

Thor opened his mouth slightly, choosing to wait and listen a bit more before acting.

“You owe me, Stark”,she spoke again, her tone never changing if not by a pitch. “Because you have been fighting by my side for tenfuckingyears...”

Her voice grew louder, her teeth even more clenched.

“And yet.. you showed no damned trouble, not even the slightest doubt when you helped rip away my entire life apart”.

Tony licked his teeth; his eyes were still down, glued on the ground. He slowly closed his eyelids, letting a huff of air escape his lips.

“It's not my fault that Steve chose to leave Theodora”,he said on a low, quiet tone.

Theo chuckled bitterly, her expression indicating that Tony would be better off not having talked at all. Thor stood up,eyeing him cautiously.

“Is this true, Stark? You knew..and yet you helped Rogers either way?”,he asked him, his eyebrows furrowed at him.

Tony gulped down, clenching his teeth. “It's not that simple, alright? He asked for a damned favor. I helped, that's all. You want a fucking jet?”,he turned to Theo again, “You'll get your damn jet. Happy?”

Theo went ahead and grabbed her purse from the bar, passing right through Natasha, not bothering to tell her anything,or even show that she acknowledged her presence there in any way.

She was about to leave, when she suddenly stopped mid way. She stopped, and let out a huffing chuckle before turning her head to the sight.

“Never did like you,Stark”,she stated in a low voice. “Never caredenough to hide it either. But..”,she chuckled again,

“I'd never do something like that to you. Not without at least warning you first. Even I, the so called rude,navy dog as you've made sure to name me in the past, would never let you feel this much heartache without warning you about what's to come. Wouldn't be able to bear so much guilt on my own..”

She turned her head again, although before taking the first step, she spoke once more.

“We'll meet on the jet in ten. Anyone in need of a ride is welcome to come along. And.. tell Loki this was a hell of a party”.

Tony tightened his grip on his cane,lowering his gaze again,not wanting to watch her walk away. It was a fuck up, it was bad enough as it was. But, knowing that she'd figured out his assistance on Steve's stunt from the beginning, yet Theo chose to not give him a hard time-

Her choosing not to lash at him, not to hurt him at all, and only saying that now because she had no other choice-

This one did it for Tony. It was enough.

“You..”,he sighed, “You heard the woman. If you want to have a first class flight you better come now. Otherwise, I heard that they have some really classy boats you can all use on your way back”.

He started walking away,his head down and eyebrows still furrowed. He looked rather lost, if nothing else. But Pietro put his hand on his arm, holding him back.

“Did you really do that?”,he asked,no color whatsoever in his voice.

Tony didn't turn his head to face him, nor did he change his expression.

“I helped my friend. That's all...”

“She was your friend too”,Natasha stated quietly.

Tony clenched his jaw and pulled his lips to a thin line.

He knew what Steve had done, and he also knew his reasons behind such a decision.

Agreeing with him had nothing to do with it. Tony was aware that telling the truth to any of them would only cause Theo more ache. It would compromise Steve's actions entirely, and would only do harm. It would crash her even more than now.

And so, he remained silent. He simply walked off,until he was no longer visible to them.

“I've been meaning to ask you”,Natasha pursed her lips,making herself more comfortable on the leather seat. “How come Pepper didn't come too?”

Tony made a grimace with his lips. He scratched the back of his head and reached for his margarita,placed on the table. Theo was sitting across their seats, alone on a cornered chair. She'd been reading a book,while wearing her earphones, as it seemed.

“Well”,he said as he stretched to get his glass, “ Morgan came with a fever the last minute. Now, it wasn't all that high, but me being the man I am, I chose to stay home and help out. But Pepper...”

Natasha smirked. “She kicked you out”.

Tony's smile disappeared, now looking at her with an unamused expression on his face.

“What'd she tell you Romanoff?”

“That you became insufferable. You were about to take Morgan to the emergency room just because she had a mere cold, so she made you come to the party just so she could get some peace and quiet..”,she chuckled.

He took a sip of his drink and chose to not drag this conversation any longer.

Pietro didn't laugh either.

He stood up, his every movement showing nothing but a passive aggression as he went ahead and sat across Theo. She raised her eyes,looking at him with a confused look. He simply waved at her, and let her continue her reading.

“What's his deal?”,Wanda asked, bewilderment shown in her voice.

“Wouldn't press it if I were you..”,Natasha hummed.

Tony turned his gaze away, choosing to look out the window instead of speaking. Nobody talked of what had happened in the party, and nobody planned on doing so. Thor had asked Natasha to keep an eye out for Theo, but didn't go and greet her goodbye.

Wanda on her end could feel the extreme tension in the atmosphere, but chose to believe that it was caused by Theo's father arriving in her place.

“I'm staring to fear that he might actually be developing a crush on her..”,she mumbled,the corner of her eye watching them both.

“Now, that would be interesting”,Tony hummed.

Wanda laughed and shook her head. Catastrophic, she thought to herself, would be the only thing this could be.

“It's...understandable,Theo”,Natasha tried her hardest to sound sincere, although her tone didn't help all that much.

Theo herself was running up and down the pavement, biting her nails. She began tapping her foot down maniacally, causing a sound which highly annoyed Pietro.

“What the fuck am I even supposed to tell him- Shit. Shit,shit,shit!”,she shouted all on her own, not minding anyone else at first.

Pietro sighed and threw his head behind,as he was leaning against the wall of a building. The roads were full, and finding a cab so early in the morning would most certainly be a challenge.

Tony himself was standing a few feet away, eyeing his watch. It was already 8 am by then.

All of a sudden, Theo stopped moving. She turned her head to eye each one of them. She arched her eyebrow.

“It may be thanks to the fact that I'm drunk to the point of almost not seeing straight”,she moved her finger, “but tell me again, why are you all here? I only asked Romanoff, the rest of you can go home”.

Wanda pulled her lips to a grimace,motioning her brows. She crossed her arms against her chest, eyeing Pietro as to signal him to keep his mouth shut.

“Well Theo, you looked really upset so.. Where's the harm in some good morning coffee with your dad? It'll make it all the less awkward, don't you think?”

Theo opened her mouth, though no sound came out. Pietro was actually surprised to see how this alone was enough for Theo. She curved her lips,then nodded to herself.

“You're right. A distraction, that'll do.. Yes,good job Maximoff”,she mumbled. “But Stark can go”.

Tony pursed his lips, “Nah, it's alright. I'll even buy us breakfast “,he smirked awkwardly.

“Yeah. Bribing your way in, sounds about right”,she murmured.