The problem is it's very hard to tell when a superhero is recklessly endangering himself versus when he's accepting the very real dangers of the job. Tony, who is the embodiment of reckless on a good day, doesn't know if Captain America is throwing himself into his work because it's his work, or because secretly he wishes he were dead.

It scares him. And the fact that it scares him also scares him. Tony is used to being a shallow jerk; he's very good at it. Caring about Steve to the point that he worries if the guy goes off his own personal radar for more than an hour is seriously fucking with him.

"Oh, excellent," Xavier said earnestly. He looked like a delighted teenager. "I- oh, I'm sorry. Do you have jet lag? It's night in, in Germany, isn't it? You can go sleep. You can start tomorrow morning."

Erik stared at him. It just hit him, like that, that he had a job. He remembered his plan to walk back to the nearest village. Take buses until his money ran out. See the Statue of Liberty (towering metal HIGH distant). Jump off a bridge or a dock.

Xavier's eyes had gone a little wide. Erik wondered what he was getting. Just vaguely pleasant surprise, he supposed. Thank god he was only a low-level empath. "I'll show you to your room," he was saying. "It's next to the library. It's an adjoining room, actually. I'm always in the library. So it'll be more efficient like that, I suppose. I hope you like it here."

"Thank you, Mr. Xavier," said Erik, more intensely than he'd intended.

Xavier touched the back of his hand gently. "Charles. It's Charles."

That had been the reason he was drinking, Tony remembered suddenly. The Avengers had answered a call at Daytona, and then stuck around to relax. "Tony Stark" hadn't been there, and Iron Man couldn't take off the armor to swim, obviously, but he'd watched Steve being swarmed by beautiful women. They were all out of costume, but the ladies still surrounded him, even without knowing who he was. Steve, who was honest and kind and a real hero and probably the most heterosexual man since God created Adam. When they'd gotten back, Iron Man had vanished, and Tony had started trying to do the same.