Chapter 2
“No.”
Steve sighs, “Tony.”
“No! Cap, you can’t be serious! I’ve never needed one of those…even with all my shit, and we’re fine!”
“We’re not.”
“We fight because we’re a bunch of assholes. It doesn’t have anything to do with our dynamic.”
“You’re probably right,” Steve has a small smirk on his face before he can control it. “You are an asshole.”
Tony opens his mouth like he’s in shock and wants to dwell in the echo of Captain America calling him names that are not ‘jerk’ or ‘swigger’ (which, thanks on that one Cap, alcoholism is great).
After a second, he’s back to being angry about the situation. “We don’t need this.”
Steve just shrugs.
“You know I’m right! The Avengers do not need a fucking Soother. We should just refuse it and move on.”
“We can’t.”
“The hell we can’t! We just tell Agent whatever her name is to fuck off and -”
Steve interrupts him, “You know we can’t, or you wouldn’t be this angry."
Normally, he’s not a big supporter of things being dictated to the Avengers about their ‘safety.’ After the second time SHIELD had made very explicit commands on mission organization and the consequences of going against the standard, Steve had stood in front of an injured and exhausted team knowing that SHIELD was wrong about the mission and probably others. Steve had decided right then that he didn’t care much for the organization’s policies when it came to the Avengers.
But this wasn’t SHIELD. This was the actual United States government. Refusing would be an offense while also making the relationship between the Avengers and the government appear unstable. It wasn’t an option.
Tony makes a sound like he's groaning behind his teeth.