Irondad Prompts #76: ironmadlad

Sick!Tony: Pepper, I can't stay in bed all day! I have things to do!

Pepper: I thought you might say that. Would you rest if someone stayed with you? Misery loves company after all.

Tony: ?

Sick!Peter: Hi Mr. Stark. Ms. Potts said you're not feeling well and wanted my company. Which, I'm not sure I'll be any entertainment because I'm also not feeling well, but-

Sick Day Strategist

Tony Stark was really bad at being sick. He'd never been good at sitting still, and was crap at being restful in general. Usually he preferred to just push through whatever it was, hiding out in his workshop and building stuff until his body basically passed out. Unfortunately for him, these days he had several people in his life who refused to let him engage in most of his favorite self-destructive behaviors.

Tony had a terrible case of strep throat, and hadn't given in and gone to medical to get it checked out until his fever was pushing 103 and he almost couldn't swallow anymore because of the fire in his throat. The antibiotics were working, but because he had waited so long, he wasn't bouncing back very fast. Pepper had stayed home yesterday to make sure he had plenty to eat and drink, and mostly so he stayed down and rested. Dr. Nakamura down in Medbay was fairly new, and didn't know what he was asking when he'd told Tony that he should probably stay down for at least 2-3 days to recover. "You're not in your 30's anymore, you know, Mr. Stark. These things take time."

Pepper had important meetings today though, and she couldn't afford to stay home and babysit her fiancé. Fortunately, she had someone else in mind, who promised to be much more effective than her trying to nag Tony into resting.

"Pepper, I'll still rest, I'm just going to work on a few things while you're gone. I have stuff I need to do," Tony argued, his arms folded stubbornly, very much resembling a toddler at the moment with his grumpy face and crazy bedhead.

She set down a tray with a big hydroflask of water, a mug of soup, some painkillers, various supplements, and his morning dose of antibiotics.

"Tony, I don't trust you any further than I can throw you when it comes to this," she said lightly.

Just then the elevator dinged.

"Thankfully, I do have a job for you today," she said with a far-too-cheerful smile. She left the room, and was back almost immediately with a sheepish teenager in tow.

Peter Parker didn't look much better than Tony. He had matching bedhead, and had a quilt wrapped around his shoulders, nearly dragging the ground. He came prepared with his own water bottle, and with what looked like a prescription.

"Hey, Mr. Stark," the teenager said, his voice sounding dry. "Since I can't go to school today, Miss Potts asked if I could come take care of you and make sure you rest, so you can get to feeling better."

Tony gave Pepper a flat look, and she smiled back smugly.

"I don't know how much help I'm going to be though, since I'm not feeling that well myself," he said, wincing as he swallowed.

"Why can't you go to school today, bud?" Tony asked, fairly certain he already knew the answer.

"I've had a sore throat since yesterday, and I was just going to go anyway, cause I have stuff to do, but I had a fever this morning, so May took me to urgent care. Apparently I have strep throat." His dismay and discomfort were both apparent.

"Poor kid; I wonder where you could possibly have gotten that from," Pepper said dryly. Tony tried to ignore her, but the guilt had already settled firmly, and he knew exactly how he'd be spending his day.

So I can't go back until I've been on antibiotics for at least 24 hours," the kid grumbled. "May's working, so I thought I might get a little patrolling in instead, but then she said you guys needed my help today?" He coughed a little bit, then winced again. "So here I am. What can I do for you? Can I get you something to eat?" he asked, with just a shadow of his usual energy, but with a full dose of the usual selfless eagerness to serve.

Tony took a break from looking at his poor, miserable kid for a moment to glare at Pepper. "Well-played," he said.

"Huh?" Peter looked thoroughly confused.

"Hey, Pete? I'm kind of cold. Think we can cuddle up together with that blanket you brought with you? I've kind of been wanting to watch Rogue One."

Peter's eyes brightened just a little bit. "Oh, man, really Mr. Stark? That's one of my favorites! And yeah, I mean, if you need me to…"

Within about twenty seconds he had a mildly feverish Spiderkid snuggled firmly into his side, arms wrapped around his middle. Pepper smiled serenely at him as she left the room, and came back with another mug of soup for Peter.

"Drink water, Tony, and eat your soup. Lunch will be delivered in a few hours. Peter?"

"Yeah, Ms. Potts?"

"Make sure Tony eats and drinks plenty today, will you?" She knew very well that Tony would be making sure Peter did the same.

"Oh, yeah, of course," he said earnestly, looking up from where he was laying, "keeping Tony warm."

From the heavy look in Peter's eyes, Tony gave it 20-30 minutes before the kid was fast asleep, probably in his lap. It looked like the only place Tony Stark would be going today was the couch.

Well-played, indeed. He didn't make her the CEO of his company for nothing. The woman was brilliant.