Keeping to himself had seemed like the safest course of action after yesterday. There's a lingering headache that Tony can't seem to get rid of hammering the back of his head, and he had woken up with the worst mood in the world, so focusing on work had been the safest course of action. Reading through the chat log amused him to some extent, but even that had managed to grate at his nerves to the point that he ended up shutting off the PDC until a few hours later. He just wasn't in the mood, he was cranky, and he really didn't fucking care who knew about it.
Except, when Natasha's message comes through, Tony doesn't ignore it. Hell, he even manages to forget about his crankiness for a bit. Saying that he's okay isn't a lie - he really is as okay as he can be - but it's also not an absolute true. It's really not surprising at all that Natasha knows he's bullshitting her, and it's also not a surprise that she's ready to hunt him down if necessary, so he just cuts to the chase and admits where he's at. The way he sees it, he has already given Natasha enough reasons to be irritated with him, he really doesn't want to give her another one.
Besides, Natasha isn't the only one that had come to see things different after the bombing. He knows damn well that he has made a lot of mistakes, he knows that he has screwed up a whole lot of things and relationships since the Accords came up, and while he's still trying to figure out how to fix them...he just doesn't want that to be how things end between him and his friends. He hates the cliche of being that person that has 'seen the light,' in a way, after almost dying, but a lot of shit had gone through his head while laying in the rubble. He had also gotten a lot of time to think in the hospital, and after screwing up for so long, he just wants to at least get something right again.
When the door opens to the lab, Tony had been sorting through some scrap pieces of metal that he had dug out of his hiding spot this morning, and he glances over his shoulder when she speaks. "No, no peg leg. Although, who knows, maybe they did and I just wasn't told." Which wouldn't surprise him, really. Leaving what he had been working aside, he turns to face her, the glow of the arc reactor perfectly visible under the jumpsuit. He doesn't even think that this might be a surprise for her, figuring that maybe she has found out through Clint or Steve, which is why he doesn't exactly bring it up. "...and was it my imagination, or did you actually call me Anthony?"
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Except, when Natasha's message comes through, Tony doesn't ignore it. Hell, he even manages to forget about his crankiness for a bit. Saying that he's okay isn't a lie - he really is as okay as he can be - but it's also not an absolute true. It's really not surprising at all that Natasha knows he's bullshitting her, and it's also not a surprise that she's ready to hunt him down if necessary, so he just cuts to the chase and admits where he's at. The way he sees it, he has already given Natasha enough reasons to be irritated with him, he really doesn't want to give her another one.
Besides, Natasha isn't the only one that had come to see things different after the bombing. He knows damn well that he has made a lot of mistakes, he knows that he has screwed up a whole lot of things and relationships since the Accords came up, and while he's still trying to figure out how to fix them...he just doesn't want that to be how things end between him and his friends. He hates the cliche of being that person that has 'seen the light,' in a way, after almost dying, but a lot of shit had gone through his head while laying in the rubble. He had also gotten a lot of time to think in the hospital, and after screwing up for so long, he just wants to at least get something right again.
When the door opens to the lab, Tony had been sorting through some scrap pieces of metal that he had dug out of his hiding spot this morning, and he glances over his shoulder when she speaks. "No, no peg leg. Although, who knows, maybe they did and I just wasn't told." Which wouldn't surprise him, really. Leaving what he had been working aside, he turns to face her, the glow of the arc reactor perfectly visible under the jumpsuit. He doesn't even think that this might be a surprise for her, figuring that maybe she has found out through Clint or Steve, which is why he doesn't exactly bring it up. "...and was it my imagination, or did you actually call me Anthony?"