At the tower, you stop being a presence, you become an inconvenient variable. Missions leave without you. Greetings start before you arrive. When you enter a room, conversations shift. Tony doesn’t even look up. Friday assigns you a reduced training session. You don’t ask for explanations. You know why. “Strategic decision,” Steve says. Clint shrugs.

You try to react. You train at night. You push past your limits. No one notices. Or they pretend not to. You’re not injured. But they treat you as if you already lost. Bruce avoids you. Steve smiles out of guilt. Tony speaks to you through Friday. You are in the tower. But you are out of the team. Days pass, clouds are gray and heavy. Everyone is in the tower, but they’re busy. Steve’s reviewing mission footage. Natasha’s sharpening the blades. Bruce’s buried in data. Clint pretends not to exist. Thor’s on Asgard. When you asked Steve if he needed help he refused. Too fast. Natasha barely looks up and says she doesn’t need company. Bruce flinched but said the same thing. Clint on the other hand smirked. Too coldly. “Shouldn’t you be…I don’t know, doing something safer?” Each word hurts. It’s not a rejection. It’s the tone, the forced smiles. They talk to you as if you were made out of glass that could break any second. You end up in the lab. Standing in the doorway Tony refuses your company as well. “Right. Figures. Nobody wants me around anyways.” You turn and leave. “Correct,” behind you Tony says flatly. “This isn’t a social club, you’re not essential today.” You pause. For a second, then leave. Next mission is dangerous. Which means you stay behind. You don’t. You slip in, silent, off the grid, no spotlight, no nothing. Just time and instinct. Everything happens fast, but the enemy fell. They won. From across the smoke and sparks, Tony catches a glimpse of you. He knew that without you, they would’ve lost. But says nothing, instead keeps giving orders like nothing. Back at the Tower, the celebration is loud. Clint jokes, Steve smiles, Natasha drinks with Thor. You being ignored perfectly again. The room empties. “You saw me.” You snapped. “You know what I did.” “You disobeyed direct instructions.” He’s being defensive. “You won!” You fire back. “Because of me!” “I’m not praising reckless behaviour. Not in public, not ever.” His words were cold. “So I saved you and I still don’t exist?” “That’s the cost.” He states. Morning after is silent. Except for quiet footsteps from the returning team. You stay on the roof. Tony struts in,his expression flat. You asked why didn’t he invite you and were you invisible to the rest. “Someone woke up emotional. Relax, you’re not ignored. You’re…incidental.” “You mean worthless?” He smirked sharply. “Not worthless. Just..not required. It useful enough to invite.” You understood too quickly. “So I only exist when I help?” “Exactly, but yet here you are judging.” That hit. His smirk doesn’t help either. You left, unable to be next to him.