So this one is loooonng. It's like two chapters worth of stuff. There is a reason for that. I'm trying to get this done before things really start to happen here at school, three weeks in and not tests in sight, yes good time to finish up. So you get two for the price of one! How super for you! And I guess this is a little more vulgar, I don't know, I don't even know what vulgar means.
Tony groaned as he slowly crawled back to consciousness. He rolled to his side, ignoring the throbbing pain as he put his full weight on his sore shoulder and leg. Scrunching his face Tony slowly opened his eyes, squinting when bright sunlight greeted him.
He was facing his window so he had a pretty good view of the beach and ocean beyond. The few dots that were surfers were having a terrible time staying on their boards Tony recognized, he had watched too many men and women tumble into the distant waves not to distinguish the difference between crash and fall. With that thought Tony shook his head, just thinking about it made him sound like some sort of creeper. Tony pushed himself up slowly, wincing when the action pulled on his leg. Propping his back up on the headboard Tony squinted towards the window again, his eyes watering as the sunlight tortured his retinas.
"Jarvis kill the sun would you?" Jarvis did so without speaking, which was weird because usually this was when Jarvis took it upon himself to entice Tony out of bed; and when that failed Jarvis called Pepper. "Jarvis?" Tony called out. No answer.
"I think he's mad at you." Tony jumped at the soft voice behind him. Bruce was sitting in the chair beside Tony's bed – a chair that Tony was sure had not been there the last time he had been in his bedroom – a magazine in his hand. He rubbed his eyes and shook his head, trying to relieve himself of the grogginess he felt.
"Jarvis can't get mad." Tony said as he continued to rub his eyes.
"None the less I believe he is mad at you."
Tony didn't respond, he noticed the glass of water on the bedside table next to him, he gestured with his hand. "That for me or do I have to go get my own?"
Bruce just grunted, Tony took it as a yes and grabbed the glass before taking a gulp. He turned back to the window, admiring the view. As he was watching the surfers continue to crash into the distant waves a realization dawned on Tony that it was morning and he was sitting in his bed.
"Have I been asleep all night?"
Bruce glanced up before turning back to his magazine, "Yes. Why?"
Tony shook his head, "Nothing, I just don't remember having any…" Tony drifted off when he realized that his mouth was working faster than his brain.
"Dreams? Yes I know, I've been sitting up all night. Those sleeping pills Rhodey gave you worked wonders." Tony paused in mid-action of bringing the glass of water back up to his lips. He looked at it warily, Bruce shook his head. "Nothing's in the water Tony. I promise."
Tony nodded and after another bit of hesitation he quickly drained the cup. "Did you really stay up all night?"
Bruce nodded, "They joined me around midnight." He jerked his thumb behind him where – to Tony's surprise – sat a couch – which he sure as hell knew had not been there before – and several more chairs. Each piece of furniture was occupied by at least one person, Pepper and Natasha with the couch, and the rest in the chairs. Except for Barton, who – Tony realized – was actually camped out on top of Tony's dresser.
"Where's Rhodey?" Was all Tony asked.
"He had to go back to Base this morning. He's requesting some time off. A week I think."
"What? Why?"
Bruce flicked his eyes back up and then down. "Because last night he had to forcibly drug his best friend just to get him to sleep."
"…oh."
"Yeah oh." Bruce didn't talk further, instead choosing to seek companionship with the magazine in his hand. Tony watched him for a moment, his mind still fuzzy and foggy. This was why he didn't like being drugged, his mind was clouded and he couldn't think properly, it was horrible. Later Tony would blame that very reason on why it took him ten minutes to realize that Bruce hadn't turned a single page of his magazine since Tony had woken up, and why he hadn't noticed the clench of Bruce's jaw until now. Tony swallowed, he knew he had nothing to worry about, Bruce wouldn't be in here if he thought he couldn't handle it, but Tony still proceeded with caution.
"Bruce," Tony stopped, making sure Bruce had heard him, "Are… are you okay?"
Bruce snapped his eyes up towards Tony. He wasn't angry Tony realized, no, Bruce was scared. How a man who could turn into the strongest broccoli stock in history could be scared was beyond Tony, but the facts were staring at him in the face, literally.
"No. No Tony I am not okay." Bruce dropped the magazine to the floor and leaned forward so he was closer to Tony. "Last night was fun. The most fun any of us have had in a while now. It was the first time your recovery and your continuation of alienating yourself wasn't at the forefront of our minds. You should have seen Pepper, I haven't seen her smile like that in a long time." Bruce paused, allowing Tony to take in what he just said, "Now imagine having to be told by Happy that not only are you not taking your prescriptions – something that will help you recover by the way – but you also dumped them down a garbage disposal without telling anyone. We got home expecting to see you downstairs on the floor unable to get up. But instead we see you in the living room sleeping on the couch. I thought 'Oh good, he's finally getting some sleep.' But no, I learn that Rhodey had to drug you. Look at me Tony!" Tony jumped, he had turned his head away in attempt to block out Bruce's voice which had gotten steadily louder from the whisper he had started with. Bruce's face softened though when he saw Tony's wide eyes, "Tony, we're all grownups, we can take care of ourselves, and we don't need you to protect us."
Tony looked away again and Bruce let him.
"Is Tony up?" Both Brue and Tony glanced over at Steve who was stretching from his seated position on one of Tony's movie room chairs.
"Yes, Tony is up."
"Has he taken his pills yet?"
"No, not yet."
Tony looked disgruntled as the two men continued to talk about him as if he wasn't in the room.
"How often is he supposed to take them?"
"He is sitting right here and can hear every word you are saying." Tony huffed irritable. He regretted his decision to speak up though when Steve turned his attention on him, his eyebrows up and skewed in a way that reminded Tony far too much of his father. "Don't look at me like that." Tony snapped.
"Why not? You're acting like a child."
Tony clenched his jaw and looked away. It was far too early in the morning for this shit. All Tony really wanted to do was crawl back into bed, pull up the covers, and sleep the day away. That surprised him, because Tony was almost positive that last night he had been terrified of the back of his own eyelids. But now that he had actually had a decent amount of sleep all he wanted to do was sleep, ughh that was irritating.
He grabbed at the sheets that had pooled onto his lap and threw them off his body. It was then that Tony realized that while someone had relieved him of his socks, shoes, and shirt; they had actually left him in his jeans. Tony scrunched his face and looked up at Bruce who pointed at Steve.
"I had to put you to bed Tony," Steve explained, "I wasn't going further than that."
Feeling slightly disturbed that Steve had nearly completely undressed him, Tony swung his legs carefully over the side of the bed and prepared himself to stand.
He was stopped by angry protests.
"What are you doing?" Bruce demanded, he was standing up now, shoulder to shoulder to Steve. Both were looming over Tony, something that was actually becoming extremely uncomfortable for him.
Tony's mind flashed back to the night before at his reaction to Rhodey grabbing hold of his wrist. Tony felt a similar bubble of fear build up inside him as he took in the two men's identical stance. Swallowing Tony fought back his rising terror and reached out to use the night stand as a crutch and hauled himself up off the bed, ignoring the two scowling men.
Steve shifted his stance so that he could block any escape root Tony had had in mind, but in doing so he made a temporary gap between the two men, Tony didn't hesitate as he thrusted his shoulder through the gap.
Breathing through his nose to calm down his heart after the brief contact he had had Tony limped towards the door of his bedroom.
Bruce jumped around him blocking his path and reaching out a hand to stop him. Tony leaned away from it, not missing the flash of realization in Banner's eyes. Tony bit his lip, but he stayed where he was, his weight fully on his right leg.
"Where are you going Tony?" Bruce said.
"To the shop. I was kind of in the middle of something when Rhodey rudely interrupted me last night."
"You can't go into the shop Tony."
"Bullshit. Whatever commands you've given Jarvis I can override them. It's the perk of being his Daddy."
"No I mean seriously you can't get into it. No one can." Bruce said.
Tony blinked, "What do you mean no one can get in? You all have access codes, you have access codes to the whole goddamn house. If Fort Knox was in this house you could get in."
Bruce shook his head, "I tried getting in last night, so did Pepper. Nobody's access code worked."
Tony looked at him as if a slug was crawling out of his mouth, before he briefly shoved past him using the walls and doorways for support as he moved. Bruce groaned before following him, calling after him the whole time, Steve at his heals.
"Tony come on! You can't walk yet! Tony!" Tony didn't turn around, his pace surprisingly fast for someone in his condition.
When Tony started to hop down the stairs Steve gave a cry of anger, but Tony ignored him, his hand holding the rail against the wall firmly as he continued his descent.
When the two men finally caught up to Tony they were fuming, well Steve was fuming, Bruce just looked irritated.
"Tony!" Tony ignored him as he looked sternly at the panel on the glass. He tapped his code into the door but nothing happened.
"Jarvis what's wrong with the door?"
"I am not detecting any problems."
"Then why won't it fucking open." Jarvis didn't answer.
Tony huffed, "What is the current status of the processing unit circuitry?"
"Up to date and all in order."
"Are you detecting any glitches or outside interference?"
"There have been no security breaches."
"Then what the hell is wrong with the door?" Again Jarvis did not answer, Tony looked up at the ceiling, "Jarvis?" He said sternly, he didn't answer. "Jarvis open the comms." Tony waited a second before tapping the glass, "Hey, Butterfingers!" The robot closest to the glass door lazily turned its "head" towards them, "Manual override, over there. No, not there, two feet over." Butterfingers turned towards the small metal door centered in the wall, it laid its hand on the handle before letting go and turning back to look towards the door and at Tony. Butterfingers chirped before rolling away from the door and back to his previous spot and started picking through the box of tools by Tony's desk.
Tony looked stunned before he cleared his throat and spoke up again, "You!" A second robot popped its head out from behind one of Tony's cars. Tony waved and pointed towards the small door. You turned its head towards the direction and started rolling over towards it, but stopped when it got near Tony's desk, pausing for a moment You reached out and grabbed something from on top of it and rolled over to the door and laid the item on the floor on the other side of the door in front of Tony's feet. Tony blanched at the small ball that was sitting there, the same ball that Tony sometimes threw across the lab to get rid of the hovering robot, on rare occasions it turned into a game of catch between Tony and the three bots.
Tony shook his head before trying his oldest AI robot, "Dummy!" the third and final robot arm slightly inclined its head and looked towards Tony on the other side of the door and almost seemed to look right through him. Tony blinked, he could feel the sadness leaking from the gaze, Tony opened his mouth but closed it again when Dummy looked away again.
"What the hell." Tony turned around shoved past the two silent men behind him.
"Tony wait!" Steve reached out and grabbed Tony, not missing the way Tony froze at the touch. "Maybe you should take the elevator."
Tony turned slowly around and carefully pulled Steve's hand from his upper arm, "To use the elevator I would have to get through those doors. But I can't because every fucking AI in this house has gone crazy."
"Then what about your crutches, you shouldn't be walking." Bruce nodded his agreement with Steve's statement. Tony didn't answer just pointed, Steve looked through the glass door to the workshop and wasn't surprised when he saw the two aluminum crutches leaning up against the couch. Steve turned back to Tony, he hesitated for a fraction of a second before he swiftly scooped Tony up into his arms. Tony gave a cry of alarm, his hands automatically clinging to Steve's shirt.
"What the hell Rogers!"
"You're not supposed to be walking on your leg Tony."
"I don't give a fuck, just put me down!" Tony's knuckles whitened as he clutched Steve's shirt tighter. His heart was pounding, and he felt his breath getting shorter as panic took hold of his rational mind. But he didn't try shoving himself away from Steve, as much as the contact terrified him Tony really didn't want to do a Jack and Jill down his staircase. That didn't mean Tony didn't fling himself away from Steve as soon as they reached the main floor.
Tony tumbled to the ground before he quickly scrambled up again not giving either man a chance to help him up. He backed up as best he could until his legs hit the coffee table, his right arm raised half way as if he expected to ward off a blow.
Steve and Bruce looked slightly stunned at Tony's reaction, he didn't give a fuck. Right now he didn't care that his wide and wild eyes were showing each man just how terrified Tony had felt every waking moment for the past week, he didn't care that his actions were going to be held against him later, and he sure as hell didn't care that both Natasha and Clint were witnessing this from the bottom of the stairs. What Tony really wanted was for the handsy grabbiness that had started up in the household to stop.
"Don't… touch me." Tony said. He fisted his hand over his throbbing leg before spinning around and limping heavily intending to leave the room.
"Tony wait!"
Tony whirled around, his anger, irritation, and exhaustion finally winning over, "What!? What do want Banner, tell me right now, because I have problems to fix!" Bruce looked momentarily stunned at Tony's outburst, "In case you haven't noticed I have four AI's that won't listen to orders, a possible glitching mainframe, and a houseful of irritating, ill-concerned, and unwanted houseguests."
Clint's irritated voice spoke up, "If you don't want us here Tony then why don't you just say so and we'll leave."
Tony turned towards him, "Maybe I will, I don't recall inviting anyone into my private home."
"They invited themselves Tony, and I agreed." Pepper stood just behind Clint and Natasha with Thor just behind her.
Tony shifted his gaze towards her, "Why? I'm fine, I don't need this many babysitters, I'm a big boy."
Pepper stepped passed the two people in front of her, she shook her head as she walked up to Tony, "No, you're not fine Tony. You're going through a rough time, and we're here to help."
Tony shook his head, "No! I don't need any help." Pepper took a step forward causing Tony to take an involuntary step back, his right arm half rising again, hurt flashed momentarily in Pepper's eyes, Tony caught it. "I'm telling you this as your boss Miss Potts."
"That's not going to work Tony, not with me." She reached out so that she could lay her hand comfortingly on Tony's shoulder, Tony saw it and his eyes bulged.
"No!" Tony cried as he nearly tripped over the coffee table while trying to dodge her hand, he spun past the chair next and didn't stop his retreat until his back slammed into the wall driving the breath from his lungs.
It was while he was taking in gasps of air that Tony's lucid mind finally woke for the day. He choked on a breath as he looked up and examined the people in the room, his eyes fell on Pepper and he felt sick when a tear track down her right cheek. Tony groaned and allowed himself to slide slowly down the wall to the floor.
He sat there with his left leg outstretched and his right bent. Resting his head on his knee Tony fisted his hands in his hair as he forced himself to calm down. There was stunned silence; however, no one made a move to come over and comfort him – something he was extremely grateful for – and Tony was allowed to sit there as he fought the burning in his throat and the sting of unshed tears.
He was not going to break down, no way. He was Tony fucking Stark.
But he also just ran away from his girlfriend. Tony would never have reacted the way he had, not with Pepper. But with Bruce's talk, Steve carrying him up the stairs, and the continued third degree Tony was starting to feel jumpy and edgy. Edgy enough to run away from the people who were trying to help him.
Pepper's soft voice was in front of him causing Tony to flinch unnoticeably, "Tony." By the tone of her voice Tony could tell she wanted him to look up at her. Tony just squeezed his eyes tighter, inwardly groaning when two tears escaped from behind his eyelids. "Tony please just look at me."
At first Tony didn't move, but after half a minute of silence he slowly uncurled his whitened fingers from his hair and raised his head, hoping desperately that she would ignore his reddened eyes.
Pepper looked directly into Tony's eyes, taking in all the hurt, fear, and guilt lingering in the dark irises. She smiled gently, not in sympathy – that was something Tony would not appreciate – but in understanding. Slowly reaching out Pepper placed her hand on Tony's still bent knee, secretly pleased when all Tony did was flick his eyes toward it.
They sat there for several minutes, until Tony finally slumped his tense form and dropped his knee. Pepper took that as her cue and reached out and brought Tony into her embrace, Tony fell into it, shuddering and shaking as he fought the sobs ebbing at the back of his throat.
Pepper spoke softly into his ear as his forehead rested on her shoulder, she rubbed comforting circles on his bare back. She looked pointedly at Steve and then the blanket that had been discarded to the floor last night. Steve quickly grabbed the blanket and handed it to Pepper before hastily retreating back to a comfortable distance.
Tony made a small noise of protest that only Pepper could hear when she let go of him. But her arms were back around him as soon as he was wrapped in the blanket. Tony sank deeper into her arms as she shifted so that her back was rested upon the wall and Tony was half in her lap.
Pepper continued to speak calmly to Tony as he continued to relax, she tightened her arms around him when he spoke.
"I don't know what to do." He spoke softly, but his voice still carried to the other occupants of the spacious living room.
Pepper rested her cheek against the top of his head, "I'm going to tell you what to do Tony." Tony chuckled against her chest. "First you're going to take your prescription medicine, then you're going to sleep. After you've slept we'll sit down and talk." Tony stiffened momentarily in her arms, "You need to talk Tony. I know you're scared, I'm scared to. Every time I let you out of my sight I feel like something is going to happen to you, or maybe even me, but then I remember that I have a group of some of the best damn bodyguards in the whole world. And one of them wears a red and gold suit."
Tony sat up slightly so he could look at her, shaking his head, "I can't even ride in the damn elevator Pepper. How am I going to wear a giant metal suit that's designed to be snug?"
"You've been in the elevator with me."
Tony shook his head again, "That's different. It's you. If I could shove you in the suit then we'd be good to go, but with you, Jarvis, and me we would be defeating the purpose of bringing you along." Pepper quirked a smile happy to hear some Tony sarcasm in the comment.
"I think Jarvis could come up with a solution."
"If Jarvis ever speaks to me again." Tony leaned back so that his back was against the wall but his shoulder was still within contact with Pepper's.
"Hmm, I think he's mad at you."
Tony looked at her, "What is with you people? Jarvis can't get mad."
"I don't think you give Jarvis enough credit." Pepper shifted so that she could stand up, Tony made a noise of protest in the back of his throat.
Tony didn't want Pepper to leave, Pepper – he realized – he could handle. He could stand her touch, her gentle support, and her soft shoulder. The others he was still wary of.
Pepper patted his leg, "I'll be right back." She stood and headed towards the stairs, intending to get inside the shop.
Tony sat there on the floor in the awkward silence. He pulled the blanket still around his shoulders tighter, keeping his eyes downward. When he did risk a glance up Tony noticed that both Natasha and Clint had taken up position on his brown couch – he was sure that that had been white last time he saw it – and were both pointedly ignoring him as they read magazines from his glass coffee table – hadn't that been wooden just last week? Thor at one point must have wandered into the kitchen, and Bruce and Steve were standing in a corner murmuring to each other; based on their frequent glances towards him Tony made a safe bet that the subject of the conversation was him.
They all stayed that way until Pepper came trotting up the stairs, a small triumphant grin on her face and Tony's crutches in her hands.
"How did you do that?" Tony said as she approached him.
"I asked Jarvis Tony, nicely." Tony remained speechless as she beckoned Bruce over. Tony watched him approach, slightly annoyed when he realized Bruce was approaching cautiously.
"I know you're not gonna bite Banner." Tony said warily. He bit his lip as Bruce slowly helped him stand.
Leaning against the wall Tony reached out and grabbed the crutches from Pepper and fit them snugly underneath his arms. He was painfully aware that his actions were being scrutinized by everyone in the room, Tony made a point of keeping the foot of his injured leg three inches from the floor. Swinging himself forward Tony started making his way towards the small stairs leading up to the rooms, still ignoring the people as he passed.
With only a slight heart stopping stumble on the top stair Tony made it up with relative ease. Not bad for a man who hadn't actually been using them, Tony thought as he mentally patted himself on the back.
Pepper followed him to his room where she helped him change into actual pajama bottoms – thankfully alone – and then helped sit him on the side of the bed. Tony grabbed her wrist when she turned to go grab something off the nightstand, she turned and looked at him.
"Pepper, I…" whether he was going to apologize or tell her he didn't want to sleep, Tony didn't know and he didn't finish. Instead he dropped her hand again and found the color of his sheets to be extremely fascinating.
"Tony," Tony glanced at her before returning his gaze to his bed sheets, Pepper gently turned his eyes back to her and cupped his cheek with her hand, "Tony, it's alright. There's nothing to be afraid of. I'll stay with you if it will make you feel better." Tony grabbed her hand and held it tightly against his face, closing his eyes and allowing himself to get lost in the scent that made Pepper, Pepper.
After a minute she poked Tony in the arm, he opened an eye and noticed a new glass of water with two white pills on the nightstand. Somewhat embarrassed that their moment had been witnessed Tony accepted the offerings and quickly downed the two pills before he quickly finished off the water.
Pepper helped him lie down in the bed. Whatever kind of magic shit was in those pills Tony was very grateful, he could already feel the pull of sleep. His hand tightened around Pepper's, she squeezed his hand comfortingly, gently stroking his forehead with her other hand.
Tony gave a small tug and Pepper gingerly crawled into bed with him, lying on her side so that she and Tony lay face to face. Tony, eyes closed, smiled slightly. He could deal with sleep like this.
This was alright.
AVENGERS
Pepper stared bug-eyed at the object in front of her.
It had been several hours since Tony had gone up to sleep, and Pepper had had every intention of remaining up there with him. That is until Bruce came up telling her there was a situation downstairs she had to deal with.
She had sighed thinking it was another broken couch and untangled her hand from Tony's – quietly comforting him when he frowned and stirred restlessly – and left him in Bruce's silent care. He sort of gave her a apologetic smile when she passed, yes, probably the couch.
She hadn't expected this.
Pepper looked at Steve, who looked at Clint, who was glaring at Thor. Thor himself was smiling, beaming really, oblivious to the growing headache that Pepper was sure could only come from Tony.
"Whose idea was this?" She again looked at Steve, who frightfully looked at Clint, he immediately pointed at Thor.
"That man! Right there, that's who you want! I didn't do anything!" Clint said as he unashamedly sold out his teammate. But damn, Pepper got scary when she was mad.
However, his utter lack of judgment just made him the center of attention in the room. He tried backtracking.
"I was just the driver."
"You drove him?"
"….Yeah."
"Why? Why would you do that?"
"I had no idea what he was going to do! We were just watching the television and all of a sudden he wanted to go to the store! He was going to go with or without me!"
"Why would you let him buy it?"
"He walked out of the store with it in his hands. I had to go in and buy it." Clint sucked in a breath, that had not been the best thing to say. If Clint would squint he would have sworn he saw a vein identical to Fury's pulsing on Pepper's temple.
She pinched the bridge of her nose and squeezed her eyes shut, "Please tell me you didn't use Tony's credit card?" She peeped an eye out and caught Clint's guilty expression, Pepper groaned. "Why would you do that?"
Clint hesitated, "Thor said it was for Tony. I sure as hell wasn't going to buy it. I don't technically exist, so I can't technically have a credit score."
Pepper turned to Thor who had not dropped his smile for their entire conversation, "Thor," Thor looked at her with a wide grin, "Why, would you want Tony to have one of….these?" Pepper gestured to the discussion topic on the floor that had surprisingly stayed in the general vicinity.
"It is to help the Man of Iron in his recovery!" Thor thundered.
"How is this going to help Tony!?"
"How is what going to help Tony?" Pepper turned around, as Tony appeared at the top of the small set of chairs, he started to descend as he continued, "Because if it is something that can help me manually override….. What the hell is that!?"
At Tony's voice the small big pawed German Shephard puppy spun around from its inspection of Steve's shield and started yapping and leaping towards Tony.
Tony had pulled to a stop at the bottom of the stairs with Bruce right behind him. He looked better than he had in ages. His hair was combed he wore a clean shirt, a pair of loose fitting sweats, and sneakers. His crutches were tucked underneath his arms and he looked well rested and relaxed.
Well, at least he had been. Until a fucking puppy came running at him. Not really in any condition to run away and hide behind Pepper – because he would so have done that – Tony stood rigidly where he was as the small dog slid to a halt right at his feet and started inspecting the new member of the room. The dog circled him several times before stopping and at his feet again and rising on its hunches and batting its paws at Tony's knee. Tony responded by leaning away, a grimace stretching across his face.
"It likes you Tony."
Tony glanced up at Steve's smirking face, "I don't care if it likes the Hulk. What the hell is it doing here?"
Thor spoke up, "It is a gift! This beast has magical properties and shall aid you in your recovery."
"….What?"
Natasha spoke up before Thor could say anything else, "He saw a pet adoption commercial."
"…So he bought a dog? No, wait! How did he buy a dog? He didn't steal it did he?"
"No, Tony. The dog is bought and paid for."
"It is True Man of Iron! This dog is a gift that I bestow on you!"
Tony stared at the dog that was still at his feet. Tony cocked his head, the dog copied him. "You… bought me a dog?"
Clint cleared his throat, "Well, technically you bought it, it was your card."
"You mean my card that I gave to you for emergencies?"
"This was an emergency.
"How was this an emergency!?"
"He just walked out with it man! He said he would be a minute. And he walked out with a fucking dog! You're lucky the store clerk didn't call the police, the phone was in his hand when I walked in!"
"You should have just taken the damn thing back in Barton! There is a reason I do not have a dog!"
Steve spoke up again, "What's wrong with you having a dog Tony? Didn't you have one when you were a kid?"
Tony shook his head, "No! No I didn't and there were two reasons for that. One, the only time my old man bought me anything was when it suited him. And two, I have allergies Rogers!"
Steve blinked, "Really? The great Tony Stark gets the sniffles from dogs?" Steve sounded far too amused for Tony's liking.
"Dog hair actually." That was Pepper, Tony shot her a glare that clearly read 'Don't say another damn word.' Pepper ignored him. "Long haired dogs are a problem, short hair with little shedding is fine."
"Well than this dog should be fine. Short hair."
Tony looked at the dog again, taking in the small pointed ears and the tongue that flopped out of its mouth causing Tony to make a face of aversion, it fell when the dog finally flopped to the floor with a huff, its head landing on Tony's right toe.
Tony shook his head again, surprise flickering in his gaze. Thor stepped forward and grabbed the young dog from the ground in front of him, he held it in such a way that reminded Tony somewhat of Lion King. "I bestow this beast upon you Man of Iron. Together you shall bond, and become the best of friends like the spirit box says."
Taken by surprise Tony reached out and grabbed the dog from Thor's hands, the young pup's feet kicking out lightly catching Tony's shirt. Tony held the dog further from him. Causing his crutches to slip out from beneath his arms and crash to the floor. Tony opened his mouth and closed it again.
"He's uh, he's cute."
"It's a girl Tony." Bruce said behind him, Tony's eyes traveled slightly lower.
"Ah, right, I see that now."
"You're not keeping the dog Tony." Pepper again.
"Yuhuh." Tony continued to stand awkwardly
"Sir, Colonel Rhodes is at the door."
"Huh?" Tony's eyes were still taking in the dog.
"Rhodes, it is good to see you!" Thor's booming voice nearly caused Tony to drop the dog, but it did bring him to realize that his arms were actually getting tired. Not truly sure what to do Tony tucked the small dog against his chest, allowing her to rest her head against the crook of his arm.
Thor was still speaking to Rhodey, "Come you must meet the new member of the home. She is Lady of Iron!"
Tony blinked, not really realizing that his dog had already been named. He looked up at Rhodey when he heard a sigh of relief.
Rhodey stood beside the still scowling Pepper, a smile on his face. "You have no idea how happy I am that he meant a dog."
AVENGERS
"Why do I need an in-home Physical Therapist?"
Tony was sitting on the couch with his leg propped up on the table. He was somewhat distracted by Lady – Lady of Iron was way too long of a name – playing with one of his sneakers he had shucked off and tossed at her ten minutes earlier.
After the initial surprise Tony realized that he actually felt quite touched that Thor had done this. Granted he was a little peeved that Barton had used his credit card to buy the eight hundred dollar sneaker eater, but genuinely touched. And really, he had never had a dog before. He had wanted one as a kid, but then there were his allergies and his father had said there were better things to do than take care of a dog.
Pepper had told him that he couldn't keep the dog, but one look at Thor's radiant expression and Tony didn't have the heart to take the dog back. After ten minutes of calm – well Tony was calm, Pepper hadn't been – discussion Tony had won – which was a first. So instead of having Happy take the dog back Tony had instead told Jarvis to order up dog tags – Lady of Iron was to be printed on them – food, dishes, and all the essentials.
He would have to design some sort of tracker. There was probably something out there, but he would trust his own design better than something you could buy off the internet. It would have to go under the skin as well, and Tony would have to configure Jarvis so that he would always have her known location.
Something landed on the couch next to him causing Tony to jump. It was Lady, she had grown tired of eating at Tony's sneaker and had gotten onto the couch, she did a few circles before lying down with another huff and setting her head across Tony's propped leg. Tony absently scratched her behind the ears.
Feeling a poke at his shoulder Tony looked over to Pepper. She had on one of her looks. With her pinched lips and squenched eyes. Tony knew that look, she gave it to him whenever he did something that she was not particularly fond of - which was all the time really. But she wasn't looking at Tony, instead her gaze was lower, on Lady. She looked up at Tony clearly trying to tell him silently that the dog was not allowed on the couch.
Tony picked up the small dog and placed her on his lap, he looked at Pepper. "Happy?" he asked, smirking slightly when she just rolled her eyes.
"So why do I need an in-home therapist again?" Tony asked again, because seriously, when Tony Stark asks a question that means you should probably answer it.
Pepper said something, but Tony didn't here. She huffed annoyed, "What?" Tony asked.
"You've asked that three times now Tony. And I have answered you each time. Pay attention!"
Oops.
Tony continued to scratch the smallish dog on his lap, he smiled when she thumped her tail, "So why?"
Pepper looked at him, Tony made sure to make eye contact to show that he was indeed listening this time. When she was satisfied that he would hear every word she said, "Because, you were supposed to go to the Physical Therapist's office. But, you missed every single one of your appointments since we got home. So Dr. Chase is sending someone here instead. They are very discreet Tony." She added at Tony's face. Because Tony didn't enjoy having strangers in his home, not unless he was throwing a kick ass party, or he was having some girl over, but he hadn't done any of those things in a very long time.
"We need you to start Physical Therapy Tony." Tony twisted his head so that he could see Bruce, "If what Jarvis says is true than you've probably done some sort of damage to you leg with all the walking and hopping you've been doing." Tony looked away guiltily.
But something in that statement caught Tony's attention, "When did you talk to Jarvis?"
"You were asleep for four hours Tony. I had time."
"No I mean, you talked to him, and he talked back?"
"Yes Tony, he did."
Tony looked up at the ceiling. "Jarvis, Two A.M. soundtrack." Nothing. Tony scowled.
"I told you Tony. I think he's mad at you."
"Jarvis can't get mad!"
Pepper spoke up, "You programmed him to learn Tony. It wouldn't hurt for you to say please, and to apologize."
Tony looked at her as if she was crazy, "You want me to apologize to my AI?"
Pepper nodded, "Yes, and I believe Dummy, You, and Butterfingers deserve one as well." Tony didn't say anything, Pepper gave him the look that she had previously held on Lady. Tony took it as a sign she wanted him to apologize now.
"Uh, Jarvis, I'm uh sorry I've been acting like such a douche." Tony stopped and looked at Pepper who raised an eyebrow, "I should have listened to you when you said it was a bad idea to get up and walk every five minutes." Jarvis didn't answer, but Tony felt the temperature in the house lower to a degree that Tony preferred. Tony smiled.
"Now, try asking him something Tony. And don't forget to say please."
Tony eyed Pepper before he addressed Jarvis again, "Jarvis, Two A.M. soundtrack…. please." Tony added.
AC/DC started blasting the speakers at eardrum shattering levels. Everyone jumped, Lady flew off Tony's lap and darted underneath the table, her eyes locked on nothing in particular.
"Off, Please!" Tony yelled. The music stopped. Tony had the good grace to at least look sheepish, "Oops."
He slid to the ground, ignoring the angry protests as he put his full weight on both his knees. Holding out his hand Tony reached out and lightly scratched the slightly quivering dog. Gently he coaxed her out from underneath the coffee table and back up onto the couch. Beside him this time because as much as he enjoyed the warmth across his lap, she was still a German Shephard and she was heavy.
Tony smiled fondly at her. When he noticed the silence Tony glanced up, he blinked surprised when the entire group of people in the room sat staring at him in surprise and amusement.
"What?"
Clint snickered, "Someone's in love. Looks like you have some competition Pepper."
Pepper ignored him, her face souring as the dog continued to lie on the couch. She turned back to her Blackberry, reading off the message from one of Tony's doctors. "Adam Baker is scheduled to get here at ten o'clock every Tuesday and Thursday. I expect you to be ready and decent every time Tony." She glared at him, he waved it off as he continued to inspect the paw sitting on his leg. Something wacked across his knuckles, he glanced up in surprise, Pepper looked at him.
"What? I'm paying attention."
"No, you're too busy playing with the dog Tony. Pay attention or I'm going to take it from you."
Tony opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted, "Well isn't this a beautiful little party."
Fury stood in front of them his hands on his hips, he glared across the room, his one eye inspecting each one and finally landing on the small furry object by Tony's leg.
"When did you get a dog Stark?"
Lady growled, her throat rumbling against Tony's leg. Fury stepped forward, Lady raised her head and barked. It wasn't very ferocious but it got the message across. Fury took a step back and Lady laid her head back down but continued to growl.
Tony beamed and turned to Pepper. "Oh yeah! She's a keeper."
*/*
So Fury's news had been somewhat anticlimactic. Actually all he had needed was Natasha and Clint for some super secret spy thing that none of the other's had been invited to.
Not that that would have mattered to Tony because he wasn't allowed out of the house without supervision.
So the rest of the motley gang spent the day lounging outside next to the pool deck – Tony sat in a pool chair several more feet away from the edge than the others – and watched as Tony threw a ball into the pool while Lady leapt through the air to retrieve it.
They spent the day that way until the sun was well below the horizon, Pepper ordered some late night pizzas and they all crashed in Tony's movie room with the thick padded chairs and Cinema size movie screen dominating one wall.
It had been a fun night, the best that Tony had had in a long time. He spent most of his time with one hand interlocked with Pepper's fingers and the other stroking the soft head of the young dog on his lap.
When Clint and Natasha returned several hours before dawn bruised and exhausted Pepper ordered everyone to bed. Tony couldn't help but smile as she watched the men all three times her size get up and shuffle up to their rooms.
Pepper crawled into bed with Tony that night, their positions copying that of earlier. Tony had almost fallen asleep when he felt something jump up onto the bed. A cold nose prodded the back of his neck, twisting slightly to turn his head Tony received a face full of hot dog breath. Tony reached over as far as he could with his right hand and patted the soft dog head by his ear. She gave a lick and turned a few circles and curled up against Tony's back.
Tony twisted back fully onto his right side, Yes, he thought, definitely a keeper.
AVENGERS
The group settled into a routine. Pepper – who had been taking care of Stark Industries in Tony's absence – eventually had to return to work and that left Tony in the care of the five others, and the occasional Rhodey. Tony was rather annoyed with the whole lot of them as they continued to plan his whole day, even when and how long he got into the lab. That was something that Tony definitely did not enjoy, he went to the lab when an idea and inspiration hit him. Tony Stark didn't rely on a schedule for that sort of thing. But one attempt at entering the lab outside of Pepper and Bruce's predetermined schedule and Jarvis shut down all together. Tony had yet to fix that.
Tony was also forced into two hours of physical therapy every Tuesday and Thursday – with the occasional Wednesday – with some scrawny ass freckled Adam Baker straight out of college. And Tony just loved screwing with the kid.
Tony's happiest moment was when Adam ran out of Tony's small gym screaming for an ambulance as Tony pretended to have a heart attack, because yes Pepper had made him tell freckle boy about the Arc Reactor, with all non-disclosure papers signed.
Oddly Tony had been the only one who had found that funny.
Tony himself began to feel compelled to attend all of Steve's clichéd team building activities, some of which included taking walks along the beach. Tony drew the line there.
It was three weeks after Tony's breakdown – according to Clint – that Freckle Boy announced that Tony could switch out his two aluminum crutches for a single cane.
"Your leg is getting better Mr. Stark, and Doctor Chase is very optimistic, but your delay into physical therapy will have its consequences."
"How long will he need to use it?" Pepper was sitting next to him asking the questions as per usual. Tony wasn't really paying attention, because really he expected this, his luck this past month and-a-half had been shaky as is, still, he couldn't help but feel his heart quicken at Pepper's question.
Freckle Boy shook his head, "That would be a better question for Doctor Chase; however, based on the progress Mr. Stark has shown these past few weeks I would say a few months, and maybe only when he really needs it. Really that is quite impressive given the nature of Mr. Stark's injury." Tony still felt his heart drop.
"Will I still be able to use the suit?"
Freckly Boy blinked, Tony had not spoken throughout their meeting, preferring Pepper to handle the exhausting task of questioning.
"Uh, again, I would ask Doctor Chase. I'm not quite qualified for that."
Tony nodded before standing and holding out his hand, "Well, thanks for everything Freckle Boy. I'm sure we'll be seeing each other again in the future." Freckle Boy took his hand surprised and shook it before quickly gathering his things and leaving.
Tony stood there in silence for a moment. Just letting the news soak in.
Pepper stood and placed a hand on Tony's shoulder. Tony turned to her, slightly surprised to see her eyes glistening with tears.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Wrong thing to say apparently because Pepper slapped him somewhat hard and glared at him, "What?"
"You did hear what he said Tony right?"
Tony nodded dumbly, "Yeah, kinda hard not to."
Pepper stared at him in disbelief, "And you're….okay with this? You? You're okay with walking around, with a cane?"
"Of course not. But I'm not exactly surprised either. He may be recommended by Doctor Chase himself because he's the best but he must suck at poker, because by the looks I was getting from him these past few weeks I thought I was going to lose my leg."
Pepper continued to stare at him, so Tony changed the subject, "When do you leave?" His eyes flicked to the pile of luggage sitting in a corner. Pepper was going to New York for a week, there was some paper work to be signed, benefits to attend, and some politicians to kiss ass to.
Pepper rubbed at her eyes, "One hour. Happy should be here any minute. Are you sure you're going to be alright."
Tony nodded, not answering. Because yes, he was going to be alright. It was only a week, and it was not like he was going to be alone, he had the team – who were being annoyingly clingy – and of course Lady. Plus there was Jarvis as well.
He was still having nightmares, but they were not as chokingly frightening as they had been. Not with Pepper by his side and the warm ball of fur warming his back. He was getting better with the whole not able to touch people thing, but then again that was with the people he had daily contact with, he hadn't actually been out in public for almost two months now. But he was working on it.
So yes, he was going to be alright. Or at least he hoped. He wasn't completely one hundred percent sure, but he was ninety-five point seven percent sure. And that was pretty sure. It was sure enough that he was going to put on a brave face for Pepper and let her go do her job, well his job, but her job all the same.
A throat was cleared and Tony's thoughts were interrupted. Happy stood by Pepper's luggage.
"I got the text Pepper." In his hand there was an aluminum cane. Tony made a face. The constant clack of the aluminum crutches had nearly driven him crazy. Click-clack, click-clack. He hated it.
Lucky for him and his accurate guess work Jarvis was downstairs working on something much more fashionable than the silver plastic looking thing in Happy's hand.
Tony limped over to him, "Thanks Happy, appreciate it." Grabbing the cane Tony practiced walking in circles before he came to a stop at Pepper's side.
Happy watched him for a minute before turning to Pepper, "Ready to go?" He grabbed Pepper's suitcase and extra bag. Tony reached down and grabbed the last bag that he knew contained her laptop and other essential electronics. Walking out behind them Tony placed the bag just inside the door on the backseat. He turned to Pepper before she got in.
She hugged him, whispering in his ear, "Call me if you need anything. Senator Stern be damned."
Tony smiled, thanked her and kissed her on the temple. She stepped back and cleared her throat.
"Um, just remember that Lady needs to take her meds every day at four. Don't let Bruce or Rhodey forget that she also needs to get her rabies shot on Thursday. And don't you forget that Jarvis has explicit orders from me that if you so much as step one toe out of line you are out of the lab until after I get back." Tony nodded, smiling at her ever increasing serious face. She paused again, "Please, call me Tony. If anything is wrong. I don't care if you're unable to sleep. Just call."
Tony hugged her to him again, bending his head so he could whisper in her ear, "I will Pep. Don't worry." He started to laugh.
Pepper leaned back to look into his eyes, "What?"
Tony shook his head, still laughing. "Nothing. I just keep thinking that this is some cliché scene from some Disney movie." Pepper smiled. Tony kissed her forehead, "I'll be fine Pepper. Bruce is here, Steve is here, and scary ass Natasha is here. I'll be okay."
"Alright. I'll call you when I land." She got into the backseat of the car and Tony closed it behind her.
His hand still resting on the car he turned to Happy who was watching him. "You going to be okay? I can always have Jimmy go with Pepper and I could stay here."
Tony shook his head, "No, I feel better with you there with her." Tony smiled, "Besides, I have enough babysitters."
Tony stood there, leaning on his cane, and watched them as they drove off. He continued to watch until they passed the security gate and continued down the drive.
Something wet touched his leg, looking down Tony realized that Lady was sitting next to him. "Hey there girl. You been out here this whole time?" Lady responded by scratching at her red and gold collar, her Ironman dog tags jangling. Jarvis truly did have a sense of humor.
Tony turned and headed back for the door, Lady taking the lead and reaching it first. She pawed at the door, waiting for it to open. Hmm, Tony could fix that.
He led her into the living room where he grabbed his discarded cell phone and she trotted over to her small dog bed in the corner of the room.
"Alright, you can come out now. I know you're there." Tony didn't bother to turn around as five people appeared one by one into the living room from various hiding places. His favorite was Clint's who had dropped from the ceiling air vent. Tony raised an eyebrow at him, "You know Jarvis probably doesn't appreciate that."
Clint shrugged before flopping down on the couch.
"So how did it go?" Tony rolled his eyes as Steve.
"You tell me since you heard the whole damn thing."
"We're just concerned Tony." Bruce said as he joined Clint on the couch.
"Yeah, I know. Annoyingly so."
"Come on Tony-" Tony waved his hand to stop Bruce from saying anything else.
"It's fine Banner." It's not but Tony wasn't going to say that. They already knew.
Tony twirled the cane in his hands between his fingers, watching Thor and Steve follow it around and around and around. Tony stopped the twirling, it was making him dizzy.
"Well," Tony coughed to clear his throat, "If that is all, it has been a very long day. I think I'm going to turn in early."
Steve looked out the window, "Its four o'clock Tony."
"Is it really? See what I mean, long day." Tony's attempt at the dramatic exit failed with the click-clack of the cane in his hand. He winced, definitely designing a new one.
But, he made it to his bedroom without anyone stopping him. The door closed behind him and Tony flopped to his back on the bed. He stayed there as the minutes ticked by.
He had suspected something like this was going to happen, even he wasn't that lucky when it came to exceeding expectations. But Tony could tell by the way everyone looked at him, Pepper, Steve, Bruce, even Happy. They had been expecting him to beat the odds, and to be able to walk properly again.
And it wasn't like he had nothing to look forward to. Granted it was a few months away, but Tony was sure that after those few months were gone the cane would become obsolete. At least that's what he hoped.
Something was pawing at his door. Lifting his head Tony stared over at it while the whining and scratching continued for several minutes before Tony got up and limped over to the door.
Lady came trotting in happily. Jumping up onto the bed and curling up on what usually was designated as Pepper's spot.
Tony shook his head, "Not even gone five minutes and you're trying to boot Pepper out. Well not gonna happen, go on scoot!" He pushed against her until she finally gave in and moved the side closest to the window. Sitting next to her Tony held out his hand, smiling when she nudged at it.
Head back against the headboard Tony listened to the silent house. There was a soft murmur of voices just outside his door, but he ignored that, preferring just to sit there in silence with nothing but a snoring dog to keep him company.
Yep, with nothing but a snoring dog.
*/*
"Lady come here."
Tony twirled in his rolling desk chair, watching as Lady continued to play with the ecstatic Butterfingers. He rolled his eyes when she positioned herself directly behind him, making sure to twist as Butterfingers tried to find her.
"Hey, Lady." The dog snapped her head up, tongue falling out of her mouth as she leaped around several boxes, Tony winced when a box of tools tumbled down to the ground after her tail caught it.
"There we go." Tony wrapped his left arm around her neck and curled his hand around so that he could pinch at a flab of skin at the base of her neck. "Prepare yourself, this might sting."
Tony held up the small metal object in his hand – looks almost like a small dart gun, Tony's mind supplied at the last minute – pressing the small trigger Tony's hold tightened around the dog as she gave a yelp and tried jumping away from him.
The rapid heartbeat flurried wildly against Tony's forearm. He rubbed at the sore injection spot, before he let the poor creature go. She slunk back to Butterfingers, shaking herself as she continued to try to alleviate herself of what Tony could only guess was the slight tingling sensation of the new tracker he had just implanted underneath her skin.
It was a simple enough design, he hadn't done anything different with this than with what was probably in any other tracker. Except he had built this, and his designs usually were, you know, better. That and with this Jarvis could track her within one inch of her location while also keeping track of all vital signs. Plus there was one more special feature that Tony had added.
Tony pushed off so that he could roll across the room, standing up he opened the door and stepped out, closing it behind him. Sitting himself on the bottom stair Tony had Jarvis open the comms into the workshop.
"Lady, come!" Again she whipped around and came trotting over to the door. When she was within the three foot radius Tony had set up in Jarvis' scanners the door to the workshop beeped – a picture of the dog coming up on the display screen – and swung open. Tony smiled, "Good girl! Look at that, you can open up the door all by yourself now."
And not just this door, but all the doors, including the bedroom, because Tony was getting really tired of getting up every night at Three A.M. to let her out to take a dump. He had ignored her once and that had not made Pepper happy at all.
Standing and sitting back up onto his rolling desk chair Tony shoved himself back over to his desk, "Jarvis, what is Lady of Iron's location?"
"Lady of Iron is in the bottom level of 5064 West East Highway, Malibu, California. Residence of Anthony Edward Stark."
Tony nodded before saying, "Jarvis run diagnostics to make sure that doesn't cause any health problems."
"Will do sir."
Finally finishing with that project Tony turned to his desk. An elegant red cane with a golden handle lay across it. The sweeping bend of the handle curved into a slight hump for a hand to rest easily and comfortably upon.
Reaching for the notch hidden on the outer edge of the handle Tony flicked it open and pressed the fingerprint sensitive button. There was a serious of clicks and whirs before up along the sides of the rod several panels opened for a full view of the inside.
Wires criss-crossed around beneath the surface with a glow that copied the Arc Reactors, it pulsed slightly when Tony jostled it with his hand. Tony poked a finger inside before taking a small screw driver and twisting at places here and there. Switching to a small pair of tweezers Tony carefully pulled a wire from a certain plug, half the cane went dark, but it brightened again when he switched another wire with it before plugging the whole thing back together again. Pressing the hidden button again Tony watched satisfied when the panels along the side closed, a soft hum coming from the cane.
He picked it up off the desk and brought it around to face him. Sitting in the joint of the handle and the rod of the cane sat a miniaturized miniaturized Arc Reactor. The reactor itself was just bigger than that of a dollar coin, the thickened portion of the handle joint accommodating for the bulkiness of the Arc Reactor.
Tony turned towards the far wall – a direction that had very few of his more valuable projects – and raised the cane by the handle. He frowned when he had to grab the middle of the rod with his other hand.
"Note the equilibrium is off, put that in the schematics for Mark II."
"Yes, sir."
Holding the cane up again Tony pressed his finger against the trigger just underneath the handle.
There was a whine and then a repulsor blast shot out from the end of the cane. The backwards force created sent Tony – still seated in the rolling chair – flying backwards. He didn't stop until he crashed into You, tumbling over into the small pile of boxes there.
Tony laughed as he disentangled himself from the pile of cardboard. He inspected the cane in his hand, laughing in satisfaction again when he found no sign of damage. Looking up Tony smiled when he saw You staring at him.
"Hey, give a man a hand would you?" Tony grabbed hold of the joint behind You's 'head' and hauled himself up. He gave You an inspection to make sure he hadn't been damaged – not that he thought he would have happened – and put his weight on the cane and walked for several minutes. Taking notes on the performance.
The absence of the click-clack was a relief. Which really was what he had been going for. The whole make the cane into an Ironman gun was just for fun. Plus Pepper had said he couldn't integrate Jarvis into the cane, she had said nothing about powering it with an Arc Reactor. Still, he wasn't sure how happy she would be when she noticed the large chunk missing from his workshop wall.
AVENGERS
The desert was choking him. The heat and sand making his skin sweaty and gritty. Tony swallowed past his dry throat and forcing himself to move on.
He had to keep moving. Because if he stopped then they would catch him, and Yinsen would be dead for nothing.
Yinsen.
Just the thought of the now dead man made his heart ache and the reactor to burn. Tony shook his head, bringing his right arm up to squeeze at his injury to make himself forget.
He had to keep moving.
The sands were endless, stretching out as far as he could see.
He heard a noise behind him. Elation and relief coursing through him, surely that was help, someone to take him home. Maybe it was Rhodey, if anyone was going to take him from this hell he hoped it would be Rhodey, he would prefer it to be Rhodey. The sound of the vehicle pulling up behind him caused him to turn.
Panic seized him. It was them, with their Stark guns and dirty hands. They were piling out of the trucks like ants. More and more coming. Tony turned and tried to run through the sands.
It was no use. He had grown up in places like New York and Malibu. He had only run on the familiar hard surfaces of the concrete sidewalks. The men chasing him had no such aversion. They reached him and seized him, pulling him back to the cars several yards away. He was bundled into the back, his hands behind his back and face pressed against the floorboards.
A laugh sounded above him, turning his head Tony found himself staring into the face of Baqi, he leaned forward so his breath passed across Tony's face.
"I told you we do not make the same mistakes twice Mr. Stark."
And now they were back in the cave, and Tony was being held by two men. Looking up Tony started to struggle as a gun was raised, and pointed at Steve's head. A shot went off and Steve's face whipped to the side, half of it gone.
No! It didn't happen like that. It didn't happen! Steve wasn't dead, Steve was alive!
But here he was, dead with no hope of being wrong. Not like last time.
Tony screamed when he was grabbed again and flung around. He was in a different room, and he was standing in the middle of it, surrounded by dead bodies.
Natasha, Bruce, Clint, Thor. Tony turned and fell to his knees with a sob. Dead Pepper, Rhodey and Happy lay before him.
Tony tried crawling towards Pepper, just so he could hold her and will her back to life. But he was stopped, something tugging at his chest. Looking down Tony gave another cry to see the two wires connecting a glowing Arc Reactor to a car battery.
No! It wasn't happening, it wasn't happening!
"I told you Mr. Stark." Baqi stood over him, hands on his hips, "We do not make the same mistake twice."
He reached down and pulled a glowing Arc Reactor – wires and all – out of Tony's chest.
Tony couldn't move, he couldn't breathe! He reached out, trying to grab hold of something, anything. But he couldn't reach. He was slowly sliding away. From the room, the glowing reactor on the floor, and Pepper.
He continued to fall, until he was surrounded by nothing.
He still couldn't breathe.
"You tried Tony. Tried to rid the world of weapons, and you gave it its best one ever. Your father would be proud!" Obadiah Stane stood over him, smirking as Tony lay there.
He couldn't breathe.
"NO!"
Tony's body shot upright, his hands scrambling for purchase, clawing at the metal rimming his glowing reactor.
He stopped, his reactor. Slowly feeling the metal Tony felt his heart slow to a roughly normal state. He groaned as he tossed the blankets away from him and placed his bare feet on the ground, he leaned over so he could put his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands.
This was why he didn't want to sleep. At least with Pepper here she would have been able to calm him down enough to go back to sleep before he had fully woken. Without her he had no way of calming himself enough to even doze.
Grabbing the cane resting against the nightstand Tony hobbled his way out of his bedroom and down the stairs. He made his way towards the kitchen, listening to the silent house.
Fury had called upon them that afternoon. Some scary ass aliens were attacking New York – again – and he needed their help.
Tony – who had no choice but to stay behind – had to convince Bruce to go. Pepper was due back the next day around noon and he was sure Jarvis would have been able to keep him under control until then. He hadn't waited to see them off, having gone immediately down stairs where he had been working on the compressions of the Hot Rod.
So when Tony walked into the kitchen he didn't expect to see Steve fucking-Rogers sitting at the island sipping on a glass of orange juice.
"Jesus Christ!" Tony hit the wall of the kitchen, his heart hammering against his ribs.
Steve looked at him wide eyed and slightly startled, "You alright Tony?"
Tony took a moment to catch his breath, "No, what the hell are you doing here?"
Steve looked down at the orange juice in his hand, "Drinking orange juice." He supplied.
"I can see that. What I mean is what are you doing here instead of on the other side of the country with the rest of the Brady Bunch?"
Steve crinkled his nose in confusion at the analogy. After a moment he decided he didn't care and answered, "Bruce suggested I stay behind. Fury was inclined to agree."
"Bullshit, the only thing Fury is inclined to do is leer at innocent people with his eye patch." Tony inspected Steve for a minute. "You pretended to be sick didn't you."
"What? No!"
"Admit it Rogers you pretended to have a tickle and you're playing hooky." Tony grinned at Steve's reddening face.
"No, Tony. Bruce said for me to stay behind to watch you. Natasha offered to take the reins for the time being. Fury didn't argue." Tony scowled.
"I don't need a babysitter. Pepper is going to be back tomorrow."
"Today."
Tony blinked, "What?"
"Today, it's One A.M. Tony."
"…oh."
Steve looked around, "Where's Lady?"
Tony blinked, "Uh, Jarvis what is Lady of Iron's location."
"Lady of Iron is currently traveling along the outer edge of the residence sir."
"What's she doing?"
"I would rather not say sir." Steve wrinkled his nose.
"Call her in would you." Jarvis didn't answer, and Tony turned back to Steve. He stood there for a minute, only somewhat realizing that this was the first time he was alone with someone without Pepper by his side for the first time in several weeks. "Um," Tony started awkwardly, "Well this was fun, but I'm just going to grab a cup of coffee. Maybe head down to the shop." Tony turned to the coffee maker, blinking when he realized it wasn't there. "What the hell happened to the coffee maker?"
Steve paused, a guilty look crossed his face, "Uh, Thor broke it." Tony stared at him waiting for him to explain, "He grabbed it when the coffee was still warm, so he threw the whole thing against the wall." Tony's eyes traveled to the wall that Steve had motioned to, if he squinted he was pretty sure he could still see the dark brown stain on the wall, but that just might be his exhausted imagination playing tricks on him.
"Great, swell, another thing to replace. You guys are going to be the death of me." Tony turned to leave. No coffee, super, this day was already promising to be a bad one.
"Tony wait!" Tony paused and turned back to Steve. He took in the dark shadows below his eyes and the ragged mop of hair on his head. For the first time since he had entered the kitchen Tony wondered what Steve was doing up.
"Why are you up? I know with your super soldier status you don't need to sleep, but one in the morning seems kinda early even for you."
Steve looked down into his cup muttering, "Couldn't sleep."
"Ah," Tony turned around fully and walked over to him. Raising his cane he rapped it on the counter by Steve's hand, Steve looked up, "You want to talk about it?" Steve quirked an eyebrow and started to silently laugh. "What?"
"You want to talk to me, but you won't let anyone talk to you. It's just ironic, that's all." Tony huffed, yes well he wasn't the one sitting at the kitchen counter drinking orange juice at one o'clock in the morning. Granted he had been about to go sulk downstairs in his lab with a cup of coffee, but he did that on a daily basis.
"Tell you what Tony," Tony turned back to Steve, "I'll talk to you if you talk to me."
Tony made a face, okay this conversation was definitely not how he had planned it to go. So he shook his head, "No, I'm good. You look good too so I think I'm going to leave you to your sulking." He was almost halfway back to the door when Steve called out.
"I've been having nightmares," Tony froze, not turning around, "It's always the same. We're in the cave, you're all dead, you're eyes are open, and you're looking right at me." Tony felt that he wasn't talking about a group anymore, "Sometimes it's different. Your Arc Reactor has gone out, or you're attached to the battery again. Sometimes you're dead because you bled out from a gunshot wound to the leg." Tony turned around slowly, noticing that Steve's eyes were locked on the cane in Tony's hand. "But you're talking, always talking. Blaming me, for everything and how it was my job to get you all out unhurt, and how I failed."
Steve raised his eyes so that he looked into Tony's, "It's worse because it's true."
Tony stood there, looking into the anguished filled eyes of Captain America, realizing for the first time that he blamed himself for Tony's injury, "What? Steve, this isn't your fault."
"Yes it is Tony, that bullet that crippled your leg was meant for me. I'm the one that it was aimed at and I'm the one who shifted it off course."
Tony shook his head, "Okay one, my leg isn't crippled, it's fine, and it's healing, just slowly. And two, how in the hell is a bullet in your brain better than a bullet in my leg." Steve didn't answer, "Come on Cap, tell me. How is you being dead better than me being 'crippled' as you so put it. And thanks for the vote of confidence by the way, nice to know my team Captain thinks I won't make a full recovery."
"That's not what I meant Tony."
"Are you sure, because it sounded like it."
"Damn it Tony, this is not what this conversation is about."
Choosing to ignore the colorful word that just left the Boy Scout's mouth Tony pressed on, "Then what is it about. Because I'm confused."
"You're not talking to anyone. You're getting better, you're getting out and socializing more but you're not talking. You're bottling it all up again, we can tell. You brushed off being subjected to the use of a cane like it was no big deal. That's why Bruce didn't want you to be left alone tonight."
Tony found that he didn't have anything to say to that. So he instead chose to sit down at the island with Steve, reaching over he snatched Steve's glass and drained the rest of the juice inside. He set the glass back down in front of a disgruntled looking Steve, he would have preferred a scotch instead.
They sat in silence for several minutes, just listening to the silent hum of the house. Until, "I can't stand to be touched."
Steve blinked, he had been waiting for a declaration, but not this, "I already knew that Tony. But you're getting better, you let Thor hug you the other day remember."
Tony shook his head, "No, that's with you guys. I interact with you guys on a daily basis, I'm used to you. I almost chewed my damn lip off every time Freckle Boy came by." Tony shook his head, "I haven't left the house in weeks Cap."
Steve paused, "That's alright Tony."
Tony shook his head again, frustrated that Steve wasn't getting the idea, "You don't understand. Every time, every time someone pats me, hugs me, or even grabs my hand, all I can see is the cave, with men grabbing me to hold me underwater, or to hold me down as they shot you in the head. It's all I can think about. I keep my cool with you guys because it's you. You saw Peppers' face when I ran away from her that day.
"It's not even just that, when I go to sleep at night the dreams always start the same, I'm in the desert and I've gotten away, but they find me and haul me back. I'm always going back and I can't get away. Sometimes I'm alone, and sometimes I'm not. Either way it always ends with everyone around me dead."
Tony sat there as Steve watched him, waiting to hear his reply, "Tony-" he was interrupted as Tony exploded up and out of his seat, leaving the cane behind.
"I thought you were dead Cap! They carried me away from what I thought was your dead body." Tony had his back to Steve, his hands rising to fist in his hair, "I thought you were dead, and you know what I did with that? I gave up, I gave up fighting. I would have let them take me to hell because I didn't care anymore. If Clint and Thor hadn't come and gotten me I would still be with them right now." Tony turned and leaned against the wall, slowly sliding down so that he could lay his head on his bent knees. He sat like that for a minute, then he raised his head, his eyes wet with unshed tears. "When I woke up the second time, after they took out my Arc Reactor, I told myself that I would get everyone out this time, get you all out alive. So that we could come back and get yelled at by Fury, so we could get Agent Hill to run from the tower screaming, or even get Thor to play Mario Bros on the Wii, you weren't supposed to join Coulson, singing up there with the angels.
"But I thought you did. I thought I had lost someone who meant something to me, someone who actually gave a damn about my life. I thought they had taken something from me, again, and I thought the others would be next.
"And I was fine, at the hospital I was fine. I knew we were going to be okay, not because we were with S.H.E.I.L.D. but because we safe, we were together, and we were away from them. But then fucking Fury had a 'security leak' and then we weren't safe." Tony paused running his hand through his hair and taking a shuddering breath, "I thought that when we got far enough away then I would feel better, that my heart would stop racing every time someone came through the door. But we're not. Someone is out there, biding their time, and it's driving me insane when he is going to take someone else from me."
Steve sat in stunned silence, his mouth slightly opened. Tony had unbent his legs and was sitting there with his head leaned back against the wall, his eyes closed. He stood, and moved his way carefully over to Tony before he sat down next to him, copying his position.
"Tony," Steve started calmly, Tony tensed somewhat beside him but Steve plowed on, "I know you're going through a tough time right now." Steve stopped when Tony started to laugh.
"Spare me the homily Cap. I only take those from Pepper." Tony joked but he was grateful that Steve was here. He smiled at the Cap to show his appreciation, Steve smiled back.
Again they sat there for several minutes in silence, Tony nearly nodding back off to sleep when Jarvis spoke.
"Sir," Tony jerked awake with a quiet "I'm up Pepper.", he looked around trying to find the source of the voice. Steve poked him and pointed to the ceiling, Tony looked up.
"Yeah Jarvis?"
"Security box Alpha four-one is…." Jarvis' voice deepened and slunk away, not unlike the time when Tony walked in on Fury in his living room. Tony's heart quickened.
Without taking his eyes off of the kitchen doorway Tony spoke quietly to Steve, "Cap, I need you to get me my cane."
"What?"
"I need my cane, right now, go on." Alarmed at the growing fear in Tony's voice Steve quickly got up and grabbed Tony's discarded cane, giving a curse when he realized that his shield currently lay on his bed in his room. He handed the cane to Tony who quickly used that to haul himself up.
He flicked open the panel on the underside of the handle, allowing the repulsor trigger to be readily available.
"Tony what's going on?"
Tony turned to him, "You know how I just said I was getting tired of waiting."
"...Yeah."
"Well, I think that time is now." Right as he said that every light in the house went dark.
I have no idea if Tony Stark is allergic to dogs. But I'm going to say he is for the benefit of the story. And yes I know German Shephards - Sheppard? Shephard? I don't know the internet said one thing and spell check said another - don't have really short hair, but they are one of the most intelligent breed of dogs, they're extremely loyal, and they can be very overprotective. Sure beats my dog, she's the laziest, most unintelligent beagle I've ever seen. And they look bettern than Dalmatians, my first choice - nothing against Dalmatians, had one once, not a great choice for an in-town dog. Anyway, I would guess about two more chapters. Hurrah.