From Sicktember 2022 prompt #1: 'Do You Know How to Take Care of a Sick Person?'

Tony Stark had been having a pretty crappy day. He'd woken with a tickle in his throat and a headache. Pepper had only been home for two days that week before she got called to some kind of crisis at Stark Industries-Malibu, so he'd been alone since yesterday morning. His fancy coffee maker had randomly broken, and the new one wouldn't be there until late that afternoon (because it was coming in from France). And now his AI was giving him all kinds of pushback.

"Boss, you really should rest. Your biometrics suggest that-"

"Mute, FRIDAY," he growled.

If she would just leave him alone, he was sure he could figure out what was wrong with the coding in the newest StarkPad. Of course he could do it faster if she would help him instead of stonewalling him in the name of some imagined illness. He turned to grab a different tool and bumped into DUM-E's arm. Even his bots were hovering today. Couldn't everyone just leave him alone and let him do his thing?

Tony pushed ahead for an hour or two, (three?) drinking substandard coffee and eating what was left of the kid's Red Vines and Doritos. He nearly jumped out of his skin when there was a sudden voice behind him.

"Mr. Stark?"

"Aaauuggh!" he yelled, throwing his pen in the air in a full-body startle, and nearly having it hit him in the face on its way down.

"What the actual…" He rubbed blearily at his watery eyes. "Kid? What are you doing here? FRIDAY? Why didn't you tell me he was here?"

"Um, it's Friday, like the day, Mr. Stark, so I'm here for lab time?" The kid's head was cocked to the side as he took in Tony's appearance. An uncertain, worried look appeared on his face.

"FRIDAY? Why?"

"You put me on 'mute,' Boss." His AI sounded offended, if that was possible. Who was he kidding? This wouldn't be the first time he offended her.

"You should still tell me when someone's here."

"There is no protocol for alerting you when I am on mute and it is someone who has access to the lab." Now she was just smug. And frosty.

"Sheesh," he wiped his hand down the front of his face, trying to clear his vision, and shook his tense shoulders out. Why did everything hurt? "Sorry, Underoos, I'm not feeling on top of my game, and I have a deadline on debugging this StarkPad before the soft release. I probably should have canceled on you. I'll call Happy to take you home."

"Mr. Stark, are you sick?" The kid stepped further into the room, ignoring his obvious dismissal.

"No, of course not. What a ridiculous idea," he growled, turning back to his work.

"FRIDAY," the boy said tentatively, "what is Mr. Stark's temperature, please?"

"Don't answer th-"

"102.7º F, Mr. Parker."

"Mr. Stark!" he exclaimed, dropping his backpack with a thump, "you're burning up! Why aren't you in bed?"

"I'm too busy to be in bed. Gonna fix this, then maybe I'll go to bed early later."

Peter sidled up to the work bench. "What's wrong with it?"

Tony briefly explained the issue it was having. Why wouldn't his eyes focus anymore?

"So you do admit that you're sick, right? What are you doing to take care of yourself?"

"'M not sick."

"Oh, pretty sure you are," the kid answered back. "Perfectly healthy people don't go around with a 102 temperature, sir." At this point, the "sir" was more of a blatant sass than actual respect.

Tony glared at the kid, and started to open his mouth, but the boy interrupted.

"Maybe a fresh set of eyes will help. Let me look at it, and I'll call Ned, too. If I can't find the problem, you know he's good at this stuff."

"You really want to remind me about you and Ted hacking a multi-million dollar suit right now?" he groused.

"Fair point. You're already super grumpy," the boy critically, surveying all the wrappers and coffee cups on the desk.

"Mr. Stark, have you been eating candy all day? Have you had real food? And just coffee?" He sounded personally offended. "You need water, lots, and herbal tea, and, I dunno… good-for-you stuff." He swept the wrappers into the trash, and was carrying cups over to the sink. "You know that sugar suppresses your immune system, right? It's a scientific fact. And have you rested at all today? Do you even know how to take care of yourself when you're sick?"

The boy's voice and body language had gotten more intense as he continued his tirade, and Tony listened in fascination. Other than when they'd had the big blow up about the ferry, he had never raised his voice at Tony quite like that. His head was super foggy, but still realized the kid was feeling really passionate about this. But why? Why didn't he just go home and leave Tony to deal with it himself? That's what he'd always done before - ignore it, or just deal with it.

Well, not always. At many points in his life, getting sick was just an excuse to drink until he finally passed out. If he did it enough times in a row, sometimes he'd finally wake up being past the virus, even if he had a killer hangover. Occasionally Rhodey or Pepper interfered, if they figured out he was sick, and sent him to bed at least, or to the hospital once when it got really bad, but no one else ever even knew, much less cared.

Oh. Now the kid was leading him by the arm over to the (admittedly comfortable) couch in the corner of his lab. "If you won't go to bed, at least come lay down, and I'll work on the coding. I can ask you questions if I need to, and if you're feeling better, you can take over again, okay?"

He didn't know what to say, so he did as the kid asked and sat down on the couch. Peter handed him a bottle of water. "Drink this, the whole thing." He obediently unscrewed the lid and started to sip it.

"FRIDAY, does he have any herbal tea down here?"

"There's some in the cabinet on the back wall, far right, top shelf."

Peter rummaged around in the sink area until he produced a clean beaker, and set it on a Bunsen burner to boil some water. Then he found a sandwich in the fridge and shoved it at Tony as well. "No more junk food, Mr. Stark. It will only make you feel worse. Do you want any Advil or anything?"

Bemused, the engineer opened it and took a few bites, shaking his head at the offer of medication. Peter went back and hopped effortlessly up on the counter to reach the top cabinet, rummaging around until he produced some herbal tea packets.

"FRI, there are some blankets in here somewhere, right? And a pillow?" The kid should know, since Tony had sent him to the couch for a nap once or twice before already.

FRIDAY directed him to where Pepper had, indeed, stashed some bedding, hoping to convince him that a few hours of rest on the couch, though not as good as actually coming to bed, might improve his productivity.

Peter came over to inspect the sandwich he'd half eaten. "Can you eat more?"

"Not really that hungry."

"Okay, I'll put it in the fridge for later. Why don't you lay back for a bit while your tea steeps, and if you're awa- I mean, when it's done you can take back over on the project, okay?" He took the sandwich from Tony and gestured expectantly at the pillow. What in the world was happening here? Tony was too bleary to resist though, and he lay back on the couch.

"I don't know why you think you can tell me what to do, Parker. I'm only going to lay down for a minute, and then-"

But the kid was gently tucking the blanket around him, and he found he couldn't remember what he was going to say next. He didn't think anyone had tucked him in since he was a kid with strep throat, and his mom had-" Well, best not think about that.

"FRIDAY, lights to 40%," the kid said softly. And why was FRIDAY listening to him instead of to Tony? What kind of mutiny was going on here?

"Ocean noises, please?" A soft static filled the room. Tony watched the kid go over to the StarkPad and laptop and start going through the code. Maybe he'd just close his eyes for a second so they would focus better. The last thing he remembered in the fog was a quiet, "Hey, Ned? Question." followed by some typing noises.

When Tony woke again, he was startled to find he was in his own room. He was still in his jeans and t-shirt, but his shoes were missing, and he was covered with the blanket from his workshop. There was a strange noise, and when he turned his head towards it, he saw a humidifier happily shooting out cold vapor. What the… Did he even own a humidifier?

"FRIDAY?" He was surprised how gravelly his voice was.

"Yes, Boss?" the AI answered at reduced volume.

"How long have I been asleep?" He sat up gingerly, still feeling a little light-headed, but better than he remembered from before. Before. Peter?

"Approximately 16 hours, Boss."

"Whoa!" His eyes snapped open. "Have I ever slept that long before?"

"Not since I've been around, sir. Would you like me to access JARVIS' records?"

Tony winced at the mention of his lost friend. "No, no, that's okay. When did the kid go home?"

"He is currently sleeping on the couch in your living room. He was up much of the night working on the StarkPad. He asked me to wake him if you needed anything. Do you need anything?"

"What? No! No, don't wake him."

You will find water, hot chicken soup in a thermos, immunity-boosting supplements, and medication on your nightstand if you feel any of that might be useful."

"Well, dang." What had been worrying him before? Oh. "FRIDAY, did he figure out the coding?"

"He did, with a few tips from Mr. Leeds. The programming is functioning perfectly now, and ready for release."

"No kidding."

Tony lay back on the bed, his head still not appreciating being upright.

"FRI?" He said tentatively, "What is my temperature?"

"97.9º, Boss." So the fever must have broken then. That's why his head was clearer. That, and more sleep than he'd had in a decade. That was faster than usual. Maybe all the stuff the kid pushed on him had actually helped. Maybe. But why had he…

He'd have to get up and check on the kid in a while. Hopefully he'd cleared it with his aunt, or Tony might be in for another "discussion." He winced at the thought, but then as he thought of the soup, the tea, sleeping in his own bed… Wait.

"FRI, how did I get here?"

"I directed Mr. Parker to your quarters, and he carried you, of course."

Tony shook his head slightly in disbelief, as a warm feeling settled in his chest that had nothing to do with an elevated temperature.