Just a quick Coronavirus PSA! Obviously we're all trying to avoid catching it, but since the risk is there (just from going shopping!), it's good to keep your immune system in tip-top shape. Which means getting good sleep, nutrition, hydration, and regular exercise, plus reducing stress (if you can). And apparently sunlight helps charge up your t-cells, hence its inclusion. I hope this fic will help keep these factors more memorable!

Tony had been arguing with JARVIS for about twenty minutes when Pepper finally stormed in.

"Pepper!" Tony cried. "What did you do to JARVIS? He won't even let me in my lab! Says it's some 'Corona Protocol', but that doesn't make any sense, because it seems like the best time for me to stay cooped up in my lab is when there's a pandemic at large!"

"Tony, have you even eaten in the past forty-eight hours?"

"What, are you worried about my nutrition again? The lab's stocked with dried fruit and nuts. Everything I need to keep me going when I'm working on a project."

"Have you slept?"

"In the middle of a project? C'mon, Pepper, you know I can go four or five days without sleep when the mood strikes me. Just need enough energy drinks, and I've got plenty of those."

"That's the reason for the protocol," Pepper said, taking his arm. "I am not letting you run yourself ragged when it'll put you at this much risk."

"What?" Tony protested. "I can't believe you! I'm doing my absolute best to stay away from other humans right now, and you sabotage my greatest pleasure because I'm low on sleep?"

"JARVIS, when's the last time Tony drank anything that wasn't alcoholic or an energy drink?"

"Six days ago, Miss Potts," JARVIS replied.

"C'mon, Tony," Pepper cajoled, dragging him away from the lab and toward the kitchen. "A good meal, some actual water, a bit of exercise, and a good night's rest. Is that too much to ask?"

"It might be," Tony groused. "Anyway, why worry about it now? All the fundraisers have been canceled or moved online. Stark Industries sent home ninety percent of its workforce; Natasha and Wanda are holed up with Clint's family, Scott and Peter are staying at their respective homes, and the rest of the team can't even get sick, so there's nobody around to infect me. This place is fully stocked with everything I might need, and I've got my own bar and entertainment center; I'm perfectly happy just staying here for the whole crisis. What more do you want?"

"Tony… you're a first responder."

"Huh?"

"If this crisis gets any worse—or if some other threat shows up right now—you're going to be out there in the thick of it. And you might live in an environmental suit, but I know you: You'll take your faceplate off at a moment's notice. Or it might get damaged in a fight. As much as I'd like you to stay home and safe and isolated, it's just not realistic, not for you."

"Pepper…" Tony swallowed, noticing for the first time that Pepper seemed to be on the edge of crying. "Okay, so maybe I can't avoid it, but… come on, it's just a virus. Preys on the weak, the elderly. Probably just gonna feel like the flu for a while and then I'll be over it." He gave a weak smile and thumbed her cheek.

"'Preys on the weak,'" Pepper echoed. "People with weak immune systems. Like, oh, I don't know… how about a guy pushing fifty years old, who's chronically stressed, chronically low on sleep, doesn't watch his nutrition or hydration, drinks far too much alcohol to be healthy, can go for weeks without sunlight or any serious exercise—"

"—because my knees hurt," Tony protested—

"—oh, and has a gaping hole in his chest," she concluded.

Tony slumped. "All right," he said finally. "All right, you win. But only if you join me."

"Join you?"

"Dinner and non-alcoholic drinks. Exercise, some calming meditation, and proper rest. I'll do everything you ask of me, if you're here to do it with me."

Pepper studied him. "For the full six weeks?"

Tony winced. "Six weeks is a long time, Pep. But sure, yeah, I can take it."

"All right," she allowed. "I think I can do everything I need to do online, for at least that long."

Holding out his arms for a hug, Tony hesitated. "Is it safe to kiss you?"

"Well, if it's not, you're gonna catch it from me in the next six weeks anyway. So why not?"

Grinning softly, Tony pulled her into his arms and kissed the side of her head.

Epilogue:

"So who all's allowed up here, anyway?"

"Well, Thor's not human, and we have yet to see him so much as get the sniffles. That super-soldier stuff made Steve and Bucky pretty much immune to anything we can throw at them. Bruce can get rid of a virus simply by hulking out, which he does—in a careful and controlled manner—in between every point of contagion, so he never brings anything with him. Oh, and Vision's an android."

"So that's our gaming group, huh?"

"Yup. Want to join me in teaching Steve that board games have evolved a bit beyond Monopoly? I've got Pandemic, Doctor Panic, and Too Many Bones!"