<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'"><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ffffff">Tony went silent on his end. He had imagined Steve would say something, babble something about some 'thing' that was going on 'somewhere' and he'd just say 'no thanks, buh-bye.' and hang up the phone. Then throw it across the room so that it couldn't ring ever again and he wouldn't come out of his room ever again. Not even to work. He was done working. Even his machines betrayed him now, but was it really betrayal? His machines were smart, smart like him because he had made them that way; therefore, it could follow that they also knew what a loser he was and that they didn't really betray him, they just...<br/>
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His mind was wandering off at a bazillion miles a minute and he brought it to a screeching halt. Steve was still just sitting there on the other end of the line waiting; breathing. Tony wasn't sure how long he'd gone quiet for, only that he had. He really had lost it this time, didn't they know that? Didn't they get it? He was dead too, dead but still breathing, decaying away in his billion dollar tomb, slowly, tormented by his own mind.<br/>
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More silence.<br/>
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Dammit, why wouldn't Cap just hang up???<br/>
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"Listen." Tony said, his hands animated with the conversation though no one was around to see it. He rolled out of bed and began to pace. "I don't know what you're all on about about, but listen. Listen closely. <i>They're dead.</i> Vision, Wanda, the Wakandans, Bucky, that tree thing and the other space people, but I'm happy that one space guy is dead. You know why? This is an easy one. I am happy as happy can be that he's dead because we had the battle won and he. Fucked. It. Up. Hard core. Flipped the table when the strategy was working. And you know what else? Because he did that. <i>Peter is dead.</i> Peter. Yeah, Peter Parker who would be eighteen years old today if I hadn't screwed everything up. I should have left better alone. Left him in the friendly neighborhood to be friendly. He'd be safe. he'd be alive. But I killed him. he's dead because of me. They're just...."<br/>
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Tony was starting to talk himself into circles that came up with illogical ends in a spiral he couldn't seem to break. He just kept going, forgetting he was even on the phone, feeding one thought into another that always came back to the common thread that everyone was dead and that was Star Lord's fault, except Peter Parker who was dead because it was his own fault. It seemed the genius had fried an internal circuit and couldn't move beyond the events of six months ago to even think about another possibility. Tony didn't say that he wouldn't come, but he couldn't even entertain the notion of it with the deafening mind noise that assaulted and paralyzed him in that moment. He would be going nowhere because he couldn't unless Steve made good on his threat.<br/>
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Thor and Wong could hear some of the conversation and Thor looked concerned. He'd never heard Tony like this. Yes, the earth man talked a lot, and made little sense much of the time, but this was a darker nonsense, like madness.<br/>
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Wong still looked disinterested and all he offered was, "He needs a calming tea."<br/>
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Honeybuns? Of course he knew what Honeybuns were. Was his name buddy that much of a goof? Then it hit Quill like a ton of Nerf bricks just how much, or little, he had really said about himself. He reached over and bonked PeteyP softly on the head. "Of course I know what grocery stares and Honeybuns are. I'm Terran, errmm...I was born on earth, ya dork," he laughed. "Where I grew up in Missouri there was this little store called Mack's. It was one of those gas station corner stores that sold beer, ice cream, and fishing bait. You know the kind. Or maybe not, since you're a big city guy. But they had those Hostess Cupcakes. Those were my favorite. And the Flav-O-Ice! Do they still have those?" Peter smiled wide and fondly at the memories of his childhood. Sure, he had all the fancy space guy stuff like rocket boots, and laser zap guns, but it was some of those simple things he missed most. Maybe it was just all because they were memories wrapped around his mom and how she'd only let him get those things if he'd been good; which was a toss up. He had been a handful even back then, but she handled it well from what he could remember. She didn't even have to threaten to eat him to bring him back in line.<br/>
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He took up the offered bun and tried a bite. "You're right, it's kind of gritty, like Ravager rations..." He stuck out his tongue as he pushed the gluey like cake around his palate. "...or Malt-O-Meal. Do they still have that? This tastes a lot better than those, though," he admitted. "I have to say, I'd give my left right now for some good old fashioned Xandarian Pot Mix. My Ravager mom used to make it all the time. It's hot, spicy, but damn it hits the spot!"<br/>
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He took a few moments to navigate and eat the sticky bun. It was <i>really</i> sitcky, and like PeteyP, he ended up having to lick the honey from his fingers. "Can you imagine Strange with one of these?" He laughed hard and wiggled his fingers in wizard spell casting motions. "I wonder if that'd mess him up. Hmmmm..." he plotted. "Maybe we should leave one by his door, and when he eats it, we make a break for our stuff! I mean, you want your suit back, right? And I totally want my Zune and rocket boots back. Who's he to take those anyway? I'm Star Lord and you're Spiderman, PeteyQ and PeteyP, he's got no right." </span></span>