"LISTEN, NICK, WE'VE BEEN HAVING A GOOD THING GOING ON AND, YOU KNOW, I THINK WE SHOULD JUST STAY FRIENDS."

Tony snickered as he watched Nicky jolt, waking up from where he was sprawled out on his chair, button up shirt open, desperately trying to cool in the uncharacteristically scorching room. The younger man furiously tried to button up his shirt while stumbling over excuses and explanations as he rose to his feet, only to fall back down, panting.

"So hot..." he whined, raising his head towards the ceiling, "God, I can't take it."

"While I'm flattered by your interest in me, Nick, I just don't think it's gonna work out," he continued, though he couldn't help but feel the heat choking him as well, and he looked around, "What's wrong with the AC?"

"It's broken," Nicky drawled, "And I can't fix it because that'd be too suspicious. God, I can't stand this heat, I'm really sorry, this is so unprofessional, sit down, what's been going on?"

Tony jerked his thumb behind him, raising an eyebrow. "I thought you said we were going to do an exercise today? Something about taking me to a coffee shop and sitting at random people's tables without asking?"

Nicky frowned for a moment before perking up, nodding and rubbing at his face. "Yeah. Yeah, uh, not exactly, that's what I do for people with anxiety, try to get them to, you know, not worry so much about what other people think, social anxiety. But for you, we're heading to the park."

Tony raised an eyebrow, raising a hand towards his sunglasses that were dangling from his collar. "What's the plan?"

Nicky sighed as he rose to his feet, swaying. "You'll see. For now, just follow me. It's colder outside anyways."

The two made their way out of the building, Nicky sighing with relief at the blast of cold, his jacket left inside his office. Tony tried to pull on his sunglasses, but the younger man grabbed his arm, shaking his head.

"There's no sun out, keep them off."

Agreeing, the two made their way to the subway, and Tony was not comfortable in the slightest. As they descended down the stairs, Nicky handing him a metro card, the older man couldn't help but fidget, adjusting his clothes, unsure of whether to be glad he was wearing plain civilian clothes.

Nicky sighed as the two found their right stop, standing around and waiting, Nicky smiling and nodding towards the many people who were looking over at them, most glaring and glowering, mumbling softly amongst themselves.

"I hate this," Tony said, his skin crawling underneath the scrutiny that he had no leverage over.

"It'll be okay," Nicky said, reaching over and rubbing his back, "Look, when this is all said and done, you can put your glasses back on, just not right now, okay?"

Tony tried to school his features, fingers tapping against his leg, and he wished that Nicky wasn't looking at him the way he was, taking in everything he was doing, like he was an experiment. He knew he was doing his job, but he hated not having any control over the situation, he needed something to be able to use.

The two climbed onto the first train they needed to take to get to Manhattan, Nicky and Tony standing towards the center, all eyes trained on them immediately, some people staring at him with mild concern, others with quiet disapproval, and the occasional grumble from the more extroverted of people.

"Didn't think Tony Stark knew what a subway was," a man called out from where he was standing in the corner of the car, raising his chin defiantly.

Tony sighed softly, trying to ignore him, and Nicky shifted, not quite trying to seem taller, but acknowledging what the man was saying, which wasn't the best course of action. The two inwardly cursed at the movement, preparing for an altercation.

"You know," the man continued, "I lost my father during 9/11. Then my mother during The Incident. I lost everything."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Nicky said, glancing over at him briefly before turning back to staring up towards the electronic sign letting him know their stop wasn't for a few more turns.

"Yeah?" the man spat, moving towards them, gesturing harshly towards Tony who had his back turned towards him, "Is he?"

Tony sighed softly, his resolve breaking ever so slightly. "Of course I am."

"Then why'd you kill her?" the man whispered, now standing right behind Tony, breathing down his neck. "Huh!" he screamed, causing Tony to jump.

The man breathed out a laugh, backing away. "You see that? This coward can't even look me in the eye. You killed my mother—"

"How was he supposed to know?" another man shouted, from the other side of the car, adjusting his glasses and grip on his suitcase. "How was he supposed to know your mother was there? There were aliens falling from the sky, a maniac who wanted to kill us all. He's the reason we're all still alive."

"Yeah?" the man scoffed, "Tell that to my mother."

"I can't," the other man said, still deadly calm, and Nicky had to commend his bravery, "Because she's dead. That's the thing about us humans. We all die."

The man stalked towards him, pausing when the older man held up a hand, stopping him in his tracks. "You don't get to say that. You don't get to say that when she didn't deserve to die!"

"No one deserves to die, but we still do," the older man replied.

"But it wasn't her time," the younger man hissed, close to tears, "It wasn't her time."

The older man shook his head, the train coming to stop. "You don't know that. No one knows that. Let it go."

He pushed past the younger man, making his way to the doors, but not before turning to Tony and saying, "I'm not on your side, Mr. Stark. I don't support you in the slightest. But I'm not going to blame you for something that wasn't your fault."

Tony watched him go, still staring when the doors slid closed, filling the subway car with a tense silence that no one was willing to break.

By the time the two finally reached their exit, having hopped onto another line, dealing with a few more grumbles and other angry people, this time without another civilian to have their back, Tony was sufficiently shaken and desperately wanted to reach for his glasses, either one of them, he didn't care.

"Just wait," Nicky said, though it was clear that he didn't like having to keep Tony from his safety, eyeing the therapy glasses that were in his inside pocket, "Don't use those. Please."

"Why did you bring me out here?" Tony demanded, too exhausted to even be fully angry, his skin crawling as he felt eyes on him, though most people weren't even looking.

"You'll see," Nicky promised, still trying to sound optimistic despite all that they had been through in the short amount of time he had subjected Tony to his own kind of torture.

The two men made their way towards the park, Nicky placing a comforting hand on the small of Tony's back, because the older man couldn't even try to hide the fact that all the words had gotten to him, shaking ever so slightly.

"We're just gonna sit, okay?" Nicky said, motioning towards a bench that was underneath a tree, facing a large field where a group of kids were running around and playing, some waving over towards Nicky who waved goofily, pulling attention away from Tony before the kids went back to ignoring them.

Tony raised an eyebrow, desperately trying to make a joke. "Nicky, I know you're young, but in this society, you're considered an adult, and these are children—"

"Just watch," Nicky said, dead serious, "Look, it's like clockwork, give it ten minutes. Just watch."

Tony sighed and settled into his seat, watching with slight disinterest as the children played. He zoned out for the start of it, not quite thinking of anything, though it was short lived as a particularly loud shout from one of the children, sending him back into the harsh reality where he could never quite stop thinking, no matter how hard he wanted to.

"Come on, Cap!"

He jolted at the name, turning to find a small boy jumping onto a slightly taller boy's back, the two roaring and running around, taking down one of the kids who was laughing and barreling towards them.

"Come on, the bomb is gonna explode!" a little girl shouted, grabbing the two boys and pulling them towards where all the others were huddled in a corner, pretending to cower from something, all of them shouting and mimicking the explosion.

"We saved the world!" another kid cheered, and they all whooped and hollered, running around and spinning before tumbling down onto the grass.

"When I grow up, I'm gonna fight Nazis just like Captain America," the boy who had been playing the superhero said, eyes bright and excitable.

"There aren't any Nazis anymore," one of the other kids said, and the kid simply scoffed, shaking his head.

"There shouldn't be," he said, "But my dad's seen the rallies, and they're really scary. They wanna get rid of people like me. Like a lot of us."

"We won't let that happen," the small boy said, and all the others nodded, reaching out and placing comforting hands on his shoulders and arms, "And the Avengers won't either."

"Yeah!" they all chorused.

"The Avengers are dead!"

The kids and Tony all turned their attention towards a trio of middle schoolers, all of them laughing harshly at the kids, rolling their eyes as they walked along the sidewalk. It was clear the kids had dealt with them before as they all glared and fisted their hands, trying to seem as menacing as possible.

The middle schoolers merely taunted them, laughing amongst themselves, and Tony realized that Remy was right, these kids were awful, dressed in their band shirts and looking as if they were much more superior than anyone else their age.

The pre-teens continued to shout about how the Avengers had broken up and weren't the good guys, about how these kids were cringey for playing their game and needed to open their eyes to the real world, things that had Tony balling his hands into fists.

They were children. Let them be children.

It had reached the point where, when the older kids finally left, one of the boys started to tear up. One of the girls immediately rushed over to comfort him, telling him that they're just being stupid and that her older sister told her that everyone that age is dumb, but they get over it, and they're always wrong, reminding him that the Avengers were the good guys and would always be good, even if they weren't always together, even if they had been fighting, and especially even if bad stuff had happened.

"But we'll always be friends," she finished, looking over at the others, "Right?"

"Yeah!" the small boy cheered, "Just like Iron Man and Cap."

"But they were fighting," the boy pointed out, sniffing slightly, "My dad says that the Avengers aren't the same anymore, and they hurt a lotta people."

"We fight all the time," the small boy said, motioning to the boy who had been playing Captain America, "We all do. But we're all still best friends, and we're gonna be best friends forever, no matter what. Even when we're adults. And my parents say adults make a lotta mistakes, but they always try their best, and so do the Avengers. And we're gonna be just like them."

Tony raised a hand to his eyes, biting his lip as the kids fell into a massive group hug, all of them shouting about how much they loved each other, and Nicky placed a hand on his knee, squeezing softly.

"Wanna go talk to them?" the younger man asked, and he shook his head, sniffing.

"I can't talk to them without Steve, or the others, it's just not right," he said, desperately trying to swallow the lump in his throat, "Let's just go, okay?"

Nicky nodded. "Okay."

º º º

"Do you get why I brought you out here?"

Tony and Nicky were standing, sipping their coffee with sunglasses perched on their noses, Tony's therapy glasses still tucked away. The man had calmed himself down, with help of the safety of his glasses, but he couldn't help but think of all the words he had heard.

"People hate me," he said, "And some kids are still good enough to see the light in the world, even if no one else will."

Nicky opened his mouth to try and explain, but was interrupted by a woman making her way towards them cautiously.

"E-excuse me, are-are you Tony Stark?" she asked, holding onto her purse, giving him a shy smile.

Tony nodded, taking off his sunglasses slowly. "I am. Can I help you?"

"No," she said, then shook her head, laughing to herself, "I'm sorry, I mean—my name is Denise Wincox. I-I know you must get this all the time, but...I wanted to thank you. For everything you've done. My family and I were out of town during The Incident and we were nowhere near Sokovia when that all happened, but I wanted to thank you for keeping us safe."

Tony could only stare at her and she just smiled, reaching out to touch his shoulder, and he could see the tears in her eyes. Before he could say a word, she was gone, fading back into the crowd, going on about her day, as if nothing had happened.

Nicky was so happy he couldn't even smile. He caught Tony's eye, inclining his head. "Do you get why I brought you out here?"

Tony just adjusted his sunglasses. "I think I'm starting to."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Tony Stark deserves better and he hates himself more than any of these people do, and that is the worst part. He tries to hide it behind this uncaring facade, but that's all a front for a broken man who cares more about other people than he does himself, and he just tries to do what he believes to be the right thing.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!