Comfortember Day Twenty-Four: Family

People said that Tony Stark wasn't a family man. Or rather, people said that he didn't have the mentality to have a family. They especially thought this after the Civil War and the Avengers went rogue. If he couldn't hold a team together, how could he apparently have any kind of family? According to the public, he couldn't.

Tony wanted to prove them wrong.

It turned out he didn't have to.

XXX

Pepper was a saint.

She just finished making Tony a delicious looking breakfast and she had a meeting to get ready for in an hour. Tony tried to tell her that he could just order something in but Pepper wasn't having it. Apparently she also wanted to try out some new recipes. Tony wondered if that was actually true or not.

Either way, the breakfast tasted as amazing as it looked. Just about everything melted in his mouth and he couldn't help but moan. Pepper gave him a triumphant smile that Tony didn't know what to do with. He decided to just wink at her.

"By the way," Pepper said, cleaning up. "You're going to help me change."

Tony smirked and licked his lips.

And so after breakfast was done and Tony did his dishes, he helped Pepper pick out what to wear for her meeting. Along with planting in some kisses here and there, he wasn't going to miss out on those opportunities.

Tony wasn't much of a hair stylist but he somehow managed to tie Pepper's hair up into something that actually looked good. Pepper turned to face him with one of her award winning smiles that he was grateful he got to look at so often.

"Thank you for your assistance, Mister Stark."

Tony wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his forehead on hers.

"You're welcome, Miss Potts."

Pepper gave him a quick kiss on his lips and pulled back.

"I'll see you in a few hours," she said, heading for the room's exit.

"See you," Tony said.

Before Pepper completely disappeared, Tony called out, "Hey, Pep!"

Pepper turned.

"Thanks for the breakfast," Tony said with a genuine smile.

Pepper smiled and continued her way out.

XXX

Later that week Tony got hit with some kind of bug and found it hard to get out of bed. Pepper was away on a business trip so he couldn't rely on her to give him a hand, not that he'd want her to. He didn't want to get her sick. So, Tony spent most of his days in bed, barely managing to get up to eat (it barely stayed down) and drink and use the bathroom.

To keep anyone he cared about safe from whatever this bug was, he put the Tower on lock-down. No one could get in unless he allowed it and he was not going to allow it until he got better. He'd be damned if anyone got sick because of him.

So imagine his surprise when James Rhodes waltzed into his bedroom with grocery bags hanging by his strong arms.

"What are you doing here?" Tony grumbled, attempting to glare.

"FRIDAY called me," Rhodey said. He put the grocery bags down on Tony's nightstand. "She said you were sick and alone."

"So?"

"So I took that information and did something about it," Rhodey responded, dryly.

Tony watched as Rhodey unloaded bottles of medicine, cheese and crackers, sparkly water, one of those heater pillows that wraps around your neck, and some chocolate.

"For when you get better," Rhodey said in response to Tony's curious gaze at the chocolate.

Tony sighed. "You know, you didn't have to do this."

"Yeah, I did."

"No," Tony said, stubbornly.

"I did," Rhodey said, sterner this time. "I've been taking care of you since our college years. What makes you think I'd stop now?"

Tony shrugged. "To get back at me for all that?"

Rhodey bopped him on the top of his head. Tony huffed and burrowed further in his blankets. Meanwhile, Rhodey lifted his head and put the heater under his neck and turned it on low. It was actually kind of nice.

"Listen, Tones," Rhodey started softly. "You fall, I catch you. That's the deal."

Tony smiled a bit languidly. Rhodey had told him that a couple of times in the past. It always warmed his heart. The world could be ending and Tony knew that James Rhodes would be there for him if no one else was.

He was lucky to have him.

XXX

"Mister Stark!"

That was all the warning Tony got before a young Spiderling slammed into him and wrapped his arms around his waist. Tony patted the kid's back and smiled. Of course the first thing that would happen when he stepped out of his Audi to pick Peter up from school was a hug.

"Nice to see you too, kiddo."

Peter pulled back. "I was worried when you got sick and wouldn't let anyone see you."

Tony shrugged. "I didn't want anyone else getting sick."

And miraculously enough, Rhodey somehow did not get sick. So Tony didn't have anything to feel guilty about.

"Mister Stark, I could've come by. I haven't gotten sick since my bite."

"Eh. I didn't want to take any chances."

Peter placed his hands on his hips. "Well, because it's been so long we can spend the whole weekend catching up."

Tony raised a brow. "Kid, it was only four days."

"Four days with nothing but short texts," Peter said, shaking his head. "That's not the same at all."

Tony nodded. The kid was right. And he did miss him, a lot actually. Peter was a ray of sunshine and things were weird without him around. Not that Tony would outright admit that to anyone.

"Let's get a move on then."

With that they got in the car and headed back to the Tower. All the while, Peter was filling Tony in on his days in extensive detail. He even mentioned something about a date with that MJ girl he's talked about a few times. He gave him a look of amusement when the kid blushed as he talked about her.

Oh, young love.

Tony had no idea how Peter managed to keep talking all the way back to the Tower and all the way up to the kitchen. It took Tony shoving a piece of garlic bread in Peter's mouth to quiet him down. Maybe now the kid could take a chance to catch his breath.

"Mmnk mm," Peter mumbled around his bread.

"Kid, no talking with your mouth full," Tony scolded, bopping him on the head.

Peter swallowed hard. "Oh, come on! My mouth was closed, you couldn't see anything."

Tony sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Not the point, Spider-baby."

Peter shrugged and continued munching on his bread. Tony got him some orange juice and instead of talking, Peter gave him a nod of thanks.

"I'm guessing you'll want to watch Star Wars for the millionth time?" Tony asked, leaning against the counter.

Peter swallowed. "Yeah! And then Harry Potter."

"Sounds good to me."

Peter smiled and finished his bread. He took a long drink of his orange juice and then wiped his hands with a napkin. He tossed it in the trash can and looked back at Tony.

"Aunt May and Pepper apparently planned out some kind of dinner for all of us and Happy so we have that to go to tomorrow, I think."

"Pepper never told me anything about that. And she says I'm a sneak."

Peter chuckled. "Well, it's kinda like a celebration for you getting better!"

"Kid...I really wasn't sick that long."

"But we were all worried about you and if it wasn't for Rhodey dropping by, you'd be sick for much longer," Peter said, stubbornly. He crossed his arms. "If he didn't have to go back overseas he'd be invited too. It's a shame but at least the rest of us are here."

The more the kid talked, the more Tony felt a strange warmth spread through him. It was weird and he didn't know how to explain it. It did feel nice, though. Very nice.

He thought back to what the public said about him not having a family or him not deserving a family or whatever. Well. They were absolutely wrong.

Tony Stark had a family and he couldn't be happier.

Author's Note: I liked writing this one and was looking forward to this day for a while.

Also "You fall, I catch you. That's the deal." is one of my favourite quotes Rhodey has said to Tony.

That's all for now. I'll see ya'll in the next chapter.

Thanks for reading!

~Kurosaki