"Oh my god how did this happen to me?" Tony groaned, sprawled out on the couch.

"It was pretty cold yesterday. Some studies say that cold weather can weaken the immune system. You probably caught a bug while you were out." Bruce said as he brought Tony a hot cup of tea. Tony sat up, groaning and taking the cup in one hand while pointing angrily at Clint.

"How come he's not sick then?" Tony said. He took a small sip of the tea and made a face. It was too hot and he didn't like it. He placed the cup down gently on the coffee table and glared at Clint. His nose felt stuffed fully, his head hurt, his throat hurt every time he swallowed, spoke, or tried to breathe, and he had a fever. Natasha was making him lay out on the couch for the day, which usually he would enjoy but now he felt trapped.

"I drink a lot of orange juice." Clint said. He and Steve had just gotten back from buying a futon and were building it in the living room so there would be more places to sit and an extra place to sleep in case Thor made it back from London before they moved to a bigger place. Dummy was helping, holding their tools when they weren't using them. Tony groaned and threw his pillow at him. "I understand you're feeling sicky but now you're acting childish. Are you fifteen or five?"

"Meh." Tony grumbled as the pillow was thrown back at him.

"Tony, are you fifteen or five?" Clint said in a mock serious tone. Tony ignored him, rolling over onto his stomach. Clint jumped up off the ground and perched up onto the back of couch near Tony. "My poor baby. He's all sicky sick with the sniffles and the coughing and the sneezing." Clint said, patting Tony's back.

"You're mocking me." Tony said. He turned his head to the side. "I hate you and I will cough on all of your bows." Clint made an offended gasp causing Tony to laugh more and sending a spark of pain down his throat.

Tony grabbed his blankets and pulled them up over his head. He felt like he was dying. He couldn't breathe through his nose at all and breathing through his mouth made his throat hurt. He was a bit relieved, thinking that this was his punishment for all the terrible things he had done. Hopefully now he could calm down and work on getting better. He buried his head in his pillow and inhaled deeply.

Then he heard the door open and was immediately jumped on by Lucky. Dummy wheeled over excitedly, reaching out its metal arm to pet the dog. Lucky laid down on top of Tony's back, much to his displeasure, and began licking at the robot.

"Clint, remember when you brought home a dog and you said I wouldn't have to do anything, it would be all you and Tony?" Natasha said as she started folding up the leash, glaring at the man. "Well, Tony's sick and has to rest and you're busy putting together a couch so guess who walked your dog. It was me. I had to pick up after it too."

Tony lifted his head to greet her, waving lazily. His whole body was aching slightly and after she smiled in return he plopped himself back down onto the pillow. She walked over and ran her hands through his hair, kissing at his head. Then she stood up to glare at Clint again.

"Look at you, not even building your new couch. Next time you take your dog out." She said.

"It's a futon. Not a couch." Clint said. Natasha looked over confused.

"Futons fold out into beds. It's awesome. Couches are couches." Tony muttered. Nat's glare at Clint hardened and she sighed in frustration. "In other news, I'm sick so let's all pay attention to me."

"Whatever it is, I walked your dog because you said you were too busy putting it together. Get back to it." She said as she picked up Tony's tea cup to hand it to him. He lifted his head and took a sip, made a face, and groaned. Having it cool certainly didn't help with the taste and he put it back on the table with his tongue sticking out. Clint leaned forward to pet Lucky and pat Tony's back gently. "How's my baby feeling?" Natasha asked.

"My throat is on fire, my head is going to explode, and I hurt everywhere." Tony whined. "I think I'm dying."

"No, it's just a cold. You'll be fine in a few days." Natasha said, pulling his blankets up over him further. Tony just continued to whine as the dog shifted on top of him. "Clint, finish the couch."

"I took a break. It's good for people to do that." Clint said quickly. "Also, our boy is sick so I'm comforting him." He smiled up at her. Tony just made a long whining sound and kicked his feet at where Clint was sitting on the back of the couch.

"No. He's being mean and making fun of me, mama. Make him go away." Tony said. The room had grown quiet. He looked up again to see everyone staring at him. A shocked expression had brushed across Natasha's face. She quickly pushed Clint off the back of the couch and moved to sit down, Tony lifting his legs to make room. "What?" He asked, still confused.

"You called me 'mama'." She said, looking down at him. Tony tried to roll over onto his back to look up at her, causing Lucky to jump off the couch. He hadn't noticed he'd done that. His heart rate started to pick slightly as he looked around at everyone else.

"I'm sorry. Did you not like that? It must have been the fever, I'm delusional. I'm probably going to start thinking Clint is cool or that the Icecap over here knows how to use a smartphone." Tony said quickly. She wasn't going to like that he said that. It was going to be awkward now and he didn't want that. He closed his fist tightly, digging his nails into his palm. He hoped she wouldn't assume he was comparing her to his mother, they were nothing alike. "I'm sorry."

"Tony, I don't mind. I like it. I think it suites me." She said, reaching out quickly to grab his hands, soothing out his fists. Bruce retreated to his room and Steve said he was going out to get more milk. Clint sat down on the floor and began working on the mostly finished futon, Lucky came over to rest his head on his lap. "Tell me what you're thinking." She said firmly, once they had a bit of privacy.

"I didn't mean to do that. I don't want you to be upset." Tony said, breathing in deeply. "You're not like my mom, at all. And I appreciate that."

"Tony, you calling me 'mom' or 'mama' will never make me upset. It means you love me and see me as your parent and that's the greatest thing in the world to me. We know you don't think of us as similar to them and will always treat you how you deserve to be treated. And that's with love and respect." She said, still holding his hands tightly.

"What if I do something wrong?" Tony muttered. Clint looked over as he was pushing the finished futon over into its spot.

"Then we'll probably ground you. I know you're already grounded, but we could take away your laptop or whatever." Clint said, sitting down onto the futon to test it out. "We're not going to treat you differently."

"But I deserve it." Tony said. Clint shook his head and Natasha moved one of her hands up to stroke his hair.

"No, you don't. You haven't done anything wrong. If you didn't do what you did you would be dead and that would be the worst thing in the world for us." Natasha said, running her fingers through Tony's tangled hair slowly. "You'll move past this one day and be happy. Until then, every time you start feeling guilty or that you don't deserve to be treated nicely you come straight to us. If you ever start feeling upset you can come to any of us and we'll be there for you." Tony nodded.

"Okay, I promise. You guys make me happy." Tony said after several minutes. "You guys are on the list."

"What list?" Clint asked, laying back onto the futon.

"List of things that make me happy. I'm supposed to have one so I go over it when I'm upset." Tony said, shrugging.

"Why don't you go over it with us?" Clint said, abandoning the futon to squeeze onto the couch next to Nat. "It'll be good."

"Dummy is really goofy and loveable and kind of an idiot, but it makes me happy. Lucky keeps laying on me and at first I was annoyed but now it makes me happy. When you guys bicker, I don't know I just find it comforting and funny. The Lord of the Rings movies, they make me very happy but I'll also cry watching them."

"We're putting them in." Clint said quickly. "I own all of them, and the first Hobbit movie. We'll watch it tonight, make you some soup, disinfect the place." Natasha leaned over to elbow him. Tony smiled, he was feeling better and he did like thinking about everything that made him happy. His head still felt like it was going to explode and his whole body ached but he was feeling fine.

"Soup would make me happy." He muttered. Tony moved to sit up, groaning loudly. "I like chicken and noodle, Clint."

"I have to make you soup?" Clint asked, smiling at him. Tony nodded, sneezing. "Fine, you're lucky you're sicky sick." He said, standing up and walking to the kitchen with Dummy following quickly to help.

"Thanks, dad." Tony said quietly. They heard a muffled banging sound followed by a cheerful 'you're welcome'.