Fury

TWO YEARS AFTER THE CIVIL WAR

Tony was running numbers and bouncing a few ideas off Reed Richards in his lab when his phone went off. Excusing himself politely he brought out his phone in case it was Pepper or Eddie. It was from Eddie and the message left him worried.

'I need to speak to you.' was the only thing the message said, making his stomach sink. Those words never meant anything good.
"Stop being such a worry wort. I'm sure its nothing." Fury said inside his head. Tony said good bye to Reed anyway and left the lab, calling Eddie right away.

"Hey babe. I have some news and I wanted to tell you before you heard it from anyone else." Eddie said right away. Tony was screaming on the inside.
"Sure what is it?" he said as calmly as he could.
"Steve and his team have been pardoned. I was invited to the pardoning ceremony as part of the press." Tony was silent and Eddie got worried.
"Tony are you ok? I know this isn't ideal and you'd rather never see them again and we'll keep them away from you as much as we can..." Eddie stopped his rambling when he heard Tony sigh... in RELIEF.
"I thought it was something bad! I thought maybe you were breaking up with me or got caught cheating by one of those paparazzi! I knew about Steve and his team." Tony said.
"Told you it was nothing." Fury said smugly.
"I thought I was telling you something bad! Sorry for worrying about you." Eddie grumbled. Tony just chuckled and rubbed his forehead.
"Thank you sweetie but I knew. Pepper told me this could be happening weeks ago. Didn't think they would get it done so fast though." Tony said the last part mostly to himself. "They are even having a gala to welcome the new team back the evening of the ceremony. Which of course I'm supposed to go to."
"Well you have fun with that, Venom and I are going to stay home and eat." Eddie said jokingly.
"You aren't getting out that easily. Of course you are going as my plus one. Maybe you can make a few senators uncomfortable with your questions about mistresses or money or something."
"Alright alright I'll take you. Only because you are cute." Eddie said with a fake sigh. Tony rolled his eyes but he smiled.
"I'll see you at home tonight. I love you." Tony said.
"I love you too. And Venom says he loves Fury."
"I said no such thing." Venom growled.
"Tell him stop being a sap" Fury snapped.
"Fury loves Venom too." Tony hung up and left to go to a meeting he was now late for.

ONE WEEK LATER

Steve looked out the window of the private jet loaned to them by the president himself and couldn't help but feel lighter. They were finally on American soil and soon he could see Tony again. Beg for his forgiveness and maybe they could pick up where they left off. He missed the genius more than anything, as nice as having Bucky back was. Wanda and Sam were practically buzzing behind him and as always Natasha was next to him cool as a cucumber.

"This afternoon is the pardoning ceremony where you'll receive your official pardons and then answer some questions from the press. This evening is a gala thrown in your honor where you'll meet some powerful people who helped you get these pardons." A fancy lawyer they were given said from the front of the plane. Steve could never remember his name.
"Will Tony Stark be showing up?" Steve asked. The lawyer just looked over some papers.
"He is on the guest list for the gala but he is not on the list for the ceremony. He has been pretty busy with the new Earth's Defenders." Steve let out a breath through his nose. He would have to make sure he got control of that as quick as he could to make sure Tony wasn't doing anything dangerous. The last thing they needed on top of Thanos was another Ultron. For now he would smile and accept some papers and answer some questions for some press. At the gala he would find Tony and make him see that him becoming the team leader again was the wisest thing.
"When can we expect to return to the compound?" Wanda asked.
"Ah well... the compound is full with workers and team members of Earth's Defenders so the government will be housing you in a base not far from the compound. The commute is very reasonable." the lawyer said. Steve scowled.
"I'll talk to Tony about that." Steve said.
"Mr. Stark does not have control of the compound. Didn't you read the packet?" the lawyer asked, looking very put out. Steve only felt a little shamed. The lawyer just sighed.
"The compound and the surrounding land is owned by Stark Industries which is controlled by Ms. Pepper Potts. Employment and housing arrangements go through her. Team placement is decided by Ms. Carol Danvers also known as Captain Marvel. As it stands your placement or even involvement in Earth's Defenders is... undecided." Steve was about to argue about that when the plane landed and the doors opened. Time to put on his award winning smile and just get through these next few hours until he could see and speak to Tony again.