2

A few days later the tiredness seems settled in Tony's bones for good and, as if it wasn't enough, he catches a nasty cold. It's fundamentally wrong because Tony Stark never comes down with something as prosaic as a cold, especially in the middle of summer, come on, it's ridiculous – but it still happens.

His head is pounding, throat sore and sinuses feel like exploding.

'I've got cold,' Tony tells Pepper over the phone when she calls to scold him for not coming in for his consulting hours. 'I'm gonna die,' he adds and he can see Pepper rolling her eyes.

'You actually do sound congested,' she declares, sounding somehow surprised. 'Okay, I won't be mad at you today, but I'm going to have JARVIS update me on you and if he tells me you're out of bed or drinking I'll make you attend every single board meeting for the next six months. I.Will.'

'Okay, okay, I get it,' Tony mumbles. He is actually feeling miserable enough to stay in bed which is saying something. 'See you tomorrow,' he adds and hangs up.

There are, surprisingly – thanks heaven for Pepper's foresight – various medicines in a cabinet in the bathroom, so Tony swallows some vitamins and painkillers and finds an endless supply of tissues. The tablet is always nearby so Tony takes it out from the desk and crawls back under the warm blankets on his gigantic bed.

'Captain Rogers is asking if you will be joining the team for lunch,' JARVIS announces a few minutes after midday. Tony feels remotely nauseous at the thought of eating, so he just shakes his head for a no. There are juices and some fruit in his personal mini-fridge in the room and he'll be perfectly fine.

'No, J, tell them the usual, or – I might be re-running that experiment from the other day. Yeah. One extended lie is easier to remember than several different ones.'

'Wouldn't it be easier to just tell the team that you are in fact ill, sir?' JARVIS asks with his perfect innocent voice; Tony laughs and it makes his throat throb.

'Are you sure you are JARVIS and not some A.I. programmed by Pepper?' he questions and shakes his head. 'It's not really their business. Whatever. I don't need to explain myself to anyone in my own house.'

'Of course not, sir,' JARVIS replies obediently and goes silent.

Tony looks back at the tablet and frowns a bit, browsing through the latest R&D projects he is supposed to look at and approve –

– and the next thing he remembers is waking up to a half-dark room, completely silent, an orange glow visible over the city.

'J, time?' he asks groggily, trying to find a packet of tissues to blow his nose. Ugh. Disgusting.

'Half past eight, sir,' JARVIS replies promptly. Half past what?

'Did I just sleep like seven hours in the middle of the day?' Tony disbelievingly asks himself, or maybe JARVIS, because things like that don't happen.

'Seven hours and twenty one minutes, sir. I believe it's your organism's natural need while it's fighting an apparent infection –'

'Thanks for the obvious, J,' Tony mumbles, sitting up slowly and trying not to make his head spin. 'And before you try to advise me seeing a doctor let me tell you no, a cold is not a big deal, even I know that. I already feel better,' he adds, even if that's not completely true. But he doesn't feel worse, so it's something.

He doesn't feel like eating anything so he just stays in bed, working on some designs until he falls asleep again with JARVIS playing his favorite loud playlist in the background.

Pepper's voice wakes Tony up.

'Good boy,' she laughs, staring at the suits in Tony's wardrobe, obviously trying to decide which one will be the best. 'I'm glad you actually did listen to be for once.'

Tony just grumbles something incomprehensible and drags himself to the bathroom. When he's cleaned up and ready to face the world – metaphorically, because he can't remember the last time when he felt like going out of his safe space – and walks back to the bedroom, there is a dark green suit waiting for him on the bed, with cream shirt and a pair of lovely matching cream leather shoes. This means a public meeting or an interview and Tony honestly can't remember which is it this time.

He puts the suit on and notices – for the first time notices and not hears it said by someone else – that the clothes are too loose. It's not a big difference and no one will be able to notice, but Tony does; it's obvious that the shirt is not as slim-fitted as it used to be and he needs to find another belt because the current one is too loose. Huh.

But then he does realize that he hasn't been eating enough recently, he just never expected it to be so… visible. Right word. Not like he's going to tell anyone that they were right.

When Tony walks into the kitchen he sees Pepper, eating her breakfast salad, and Bruce, cooking something on the stove. It probably should have some nice aroma, but Tony can't really feel any smells now through his congested nose.

'Have some soup,' Bruce says with a small grin before Tony can even greet him, not like he would, he usually goes straight to the coffee machine before attempting to speak to anyone, but this time he feels rested. Not sleepy. Not exhausted. Imagine.

'You traitor,' he looks at Pepper accusingly, because Bruce feeding him hot soup for breakfast of all things means she told him. Pepper looks at Tony, completely unmoved, and frowns slightly.

'I'll have to put some make up on that red nose of yours, Mister Stark, for the meeting we have about the arc reactor-powered tower in Chicago,' she states before going back to staring at her phone. A-ha. So it's not an interview. That makes the day a tiny bit better.

'I put ginger and lemon in it,' Bruce tells Tony, gesturing at the bowl. 'It should help a bit.'

'Thanks, Brucie,' Tony says earnestly and sits down to eat the soup since he knows no amount of I'm not hungry and I don't wanna and I prefer pancakes will help him if those two have teamed up. It's completely unfair. Bruce can be surprisingly fierce and stubborn for such a mellow-looking person, and Pepper… Tony's had enough time to learn about Pepper. Pepper is something else.

Tony feels like he spends half of the day blowing his nose and swallowing pills, but that's okay because in the evening he feels a little better, and the next morning the headache and the pressure in his sinuses is almost gone.

The infection is back the same month and Tony is starting to get slightly annoyed. Pepper frowns at him and forbids him to leave the bed for at least three days.

'You know I will die of boredom before the second day is done,' Tony whines, but Pepper is acting too much like a mother – not Tony's mother, but a real one – to be persuaded to give in to him.

'You have five other people living in the tower, anyone can come over to entertain you, or you can work – from your bed, not physically – or watch movies. Or whatever. As long as you let yourself really recuperate this time, without pushing yourself.'

'But I've got a project for S.H.I.E.L.D. I should –' Tony tries, but she just glares.

'I'll tell Phil you are indisposed for a few days, they're getting enough of your toys anyway.'

'Yeah, that's what I need, Agent laughing at Iron Man in bed because of a cold –'

'Yeah, imagine his surprise at the thought that you are actually human underneath the asshole act you insist on all the time,' she says and disappears before Tony can reply.

'Okay, I get it, I'll stick to talking to myself now,' Tony murmurs but does stay in bed. There is a possibility that his door are locked and he wouldn't be able to open them, but he doesn't exactly feel like checking.

Steve, being his perfect self, comes by a few hours later. Tony is sure he has the best intentions, but he only ends up being a painful reminder of the fact that he cannot be sick. That makes Tony slightly more miserable and it adds up so he can't help himself from being snappish and annoying. Not that it's something new.

It takes Steve longer to leave than Tony would expect.

'I'm supposed to spar with Thor in a few minutes,' Steve says tightly and Tony wants to smack himself for shell-shocking the poor man with his vocabulary, but come on, Tony Stark is above apologies. They usually get along all right, but Tony is too annoyed with the whole cold deal to keep himself at bay. 'Is that okay?...'

'If you leave me alone? Yeah, go on. I've got some work to do anyway,' Tony replies, blowing his nose loudly. 'I'll have J play some music that your poor sensitive ears wouldn't bear and stuff.'

'Okay,' Steve says, standing up and smoothing his trousers and taking a step towards the door.

'… don't take it personally, Capsicle,' Tony blurts out before Steve walks out, making him turn around and look at Tony with yet another frown. 'I'm just bored out of my mind. And,' Tony stops to sneeze, 'you see. Ugh.'

'I get it,' Steve says, nodding. 'I used to get sick a lot,' he adds and disappears. Tony has no doubts that Steve was an angel even on his worst days, polite and saying sorry for being a problem to anyone around; that's just the way Cap is.

'I heard you made Steve run away,' Tony hears not much later and his head spans up, giving him a wave of strong headache because of the sudden movement. Bruce raises one eyebrow and closes the door behind himself with his leg. His hands are busy holding a tray with food.

'Did he tell you that?'

'I assumed as much,' Bruce offers, sitting down next to Tony on the bed and placing the tray in his lap. 'Put the tablet away. Now.'

Tony obeys and lets the man push a warm bowl into his now empty hands.

'Chicken noodle?' Tony asks, glancing at the contents, more appetizing than most things recently. Bruce nods. 'You didn't have to –'

'I wanted,' Bruce interrupts, moving a bit to sit cross-legged on the top of the blankets. 'You insist after missions that I'm a proper substitution for S.H.I.E.L.D. medical, so I might as well play my part. Since no one else is going to take care of you. And, barring Pepper and Rhodey, you are a strangely lonely person for a brilliant millionaire,' he adds lightly, but Tony doesn't buy it.

'Billionaire,' he just corrects automatically, fixing his eyes on the soup, and starts eating. He's fine with his two friends and a group of crazy superheroes somewhere in his house. He doesn't need anyone else.

'How about we play chess? I dare you to win, mister genius billionaire,' Bruce says when Tony is finished with the food; yes, finished, Tony congratulates himself for the effort put into not losing any more weight.

'Sounds good,' he decides, smiling at Bruce and letting JARVIS instruct the doctor where to find a chess set.

Okay, so Tony doesn't mind Bruce being here in the room and not somewhere in the tower because Bruce is too nice for his own good and he understands Tony on a level most people don't. Maybe the three days of obligatory bed rest won't be so bad in the end.

A/N: Thanks to everyone who faved/followed or left a review! I'm very happy to know you liked it and that someone is interested in this little story. I'll be very glad if you tell me what you think about this chapter :)