#rhodeytonypepper

“Ms. Potts has a low-grade fever of a hundred point one. Mr. Rhodes has a fever of a hundred and two.” 

“I feel fine,” Rhodey said. His hands were shaking, his grip strength was weak. Why was he still working? Why was Pepper still working? They were sick, they needed to rest to get better and they weren’t going to get better if they kept trying to keep busy. They were going to get worse, Pepper had already been sick for three days and Rhodey for two, if they didn’t rest-

“There,” Rhodey said to himself. Oh, good, he’d finished doing the laundry, maybe he would lay down and go to sleep for a bit. Tony stepped forward and picked up the blankets that he’d folded on his first load, ready to put them to use. Rhodey picked up a stack of pants, shifted to the edge of his seat, and eyed Tony warily.

“No,” Tony said. Were his hands tingling? Why were his hands tingling?

“Tony,” Rhodey sighed. Pepper made a vaguely annoyed and agreeing noise.

“You’re sick,” he said again. “I can put those away.”

“I can’t just sit here.”

“Why not?”

“Do you want help?” Pepper asked, looking over to him. Rhodey opened his mouth to reply, looking like he was going to say yes, and-

“Just let me take care of you! Why are you so stubborn?” Tony burst out. His spouses both paused and looked at him, startled. “God! And you call me a workaholic, really. Un-fucking-believable.” He dropped the blankets between them with a huff, then stepped back and pointed at Rhodey, who was looking at him with a mixture of alarm and amusement, and he did not appreciate it. He was not in the mood to be laughed at, not for this. “You! You have a fever of a hundred and two. You’re acting like you’re not graying out every time that you get up to get the laundry or do the dishes, and I know that you are because the last time you tried to walk through it I saw you almost collide with the kitchen counter. So sit down and stay there. I can do the dishes, I can put the laundry away.” His voice cracked.

“...yeah, okay,” Rhodey said, his amusement gone and concern evident in his expression. He sat back. “Read you loud and clear.”

Tony didn’t acknowledge his response. He turned to Pepper. She had turned the tablet off and was watching him with her head cocked to the side and eyebrows knitted together. “And you are going to work yourself into an early grave. You got sick in the first place because you’ve been working non-stop for three weeks,” he waved a hand, “thank you for that, you are a brilliant CEO and I’m so glad that you’re running SI, but you aren’t going to get better unless you take a break and rest. I know that neither of you like inactivity. I get that, I do, you’re both brilliant and I love you very much and I want you to get better.” He took a step back and crossed his arms tightly. He took a deep breath. “Please.”

“Oh, honey,” Pepper murmured.

“Tones,” Rhodey said softly, like he was talking to a spooked animal, which made Tony want to snap at him but he didn’t because he was sick, his face was ashy with exhaustion and nausea, probably, and should Tony have yelled at him? Well, he hadn’t yelled, he wouldn’t do that, but he had been speaking pretty forcefully and what if he was going to stress them both out and they’d get even more sick, he was going to make it worse and they would take longer to get better and what if-

“Hey. Hey, nope, don’t check out on us now,” Rhodey said firmly. Tony snapped back to reality, where there wasn’t just static and constant, unending regret. “Tony.” He pulled a blanket off of the stack and spread it over his lap, and Pepper did the same, still watching him with soft eyes. “Sit.” 

He blinked again.

“Tony,” Pepper murmured. “Sit. Just for a second.”

Tony sat. Rhodey turned to him and took his hands in his too-warm ones. Pepper pressed her shoulder against his back and leaned her head on the back of his shoulder. “Listen to me. I’m about to drop a truth bomb on you, okay? You ready?”

“Sorry,” Tony said, and he shook his head. 

“We’re not upset with you,” Pepper said. “We needed to hear that, and we’re going to listen,” Tony relaxed a little, relieved, “but you need to listen to us for a moment, too.”

“...okay,” he said.

Rhodey’s expression was serious, and concerned, and Tony saw understanding there, too. “Hey.” He squeezed his hands. “Out of the three of us, you have the worst immune system.” Pepper nodded against his back. “It’s bad when you get sick. You don’t bounce back easily, you always end up bedridden, and you have to be hospitalized more often than not.” He smiled wearily. “But neither I nor Pepper have reduced lung capacity like you do. Neither of us have a history of getting pneumonia or bronchitis from a cold, or even the flu. Even if it’s bad, we don’t get as sick as you do and we will get better. Okay?”

“You don’t get as sick as I do,” Tony repeated, slowly, because he hadn’t thought of that at all. Of course they didn’t. They were healthy, they could- they could breathe when they got sick. Tony couldn’t. He’d forgotten that that wasn’t normal.

Rhodey nodded. Pepper hummed in agreement and rubbed her face against his shoulder like a cat.

“We understand why you’re scared, and it’s a good reason to be,” she said, “but we’re gonna be okay.”

“I’m not scared,” he objected, more for show than anything. It was weak. Rhodey rolled his eyes. It made him feel a little better.

“You are.” Her tone was blunt. “It makes sense. We don’t fault you for it, and we understand why you’re mother-henning us-”

“I’m not-”

“You are. It’s okay, we don’t really mind it, but you can’t get yourself so worked up about this, honey.” She turned to press her chest against his back, and she circled her arms around his waist. Her forehead pressed against the back of his neck, she was warmer than she had been before this, and he made himself take a deep breath. “It’s not healthy. You’re not going to make us more sick if you sit down and tell us that you’re really worried. I’m sorry that I didn’t notice you were so upset.”

“Me too. Tell us before it gets to this point and you give yourself a minor heart attack,” Rhodey said, and his warm tone didn’t match his teasing words. He was still holding his hands. Tony didn’t consider pulling away. “Okay?”

Tony ducked his head. “Yeah, okay,” he said. 

“And you’re right.” Pepper’s voice was muffled against his back. She sounded tired. “I shouldn’t be working, it’s just gonna stress me out more. I have people who can do my job for a couple of days- you might have to do some paperwork.”

“Done,” Tony said. He felt her smile. 

“I get restless,” Rhodey said, “but you’re right, I almost passed out last time I got up.”

“Don’t do that,” Tony said, a little helplessly. “I can find something easy for you to do, or you can tell me to get you a- a puzzle or a Rubik’s cube or something.”

“A Rubik’s cube,” Rhodey repeated, a smile growing on his stupidly cute face. “Because I’m how old, again?”

“Oh, shut up, I’ll get a couple of the six-by-six ones and race you.” Rhodey’s eyes brightened with interest. Nerd. 

“Could he beat you?” Pepper asked, sounding genuinely curious. Tony paused, considering.

“Say no,” Rhodey said.

“No,” he repeated obediently. She snorted. Rhodey tilted his chin up in challenge. Tony didn’t really know why everyone thought he was the cocky bastard when Rhodey was right there. 

Tony turned away from him and he slumped against the back of the couch, still smiling, still cocky, but tired. Pepper leaned back to let him move, and then when he was also sitting with his back to the couch, draped herself over his lap. Her head rested on Rhodey’s thigh, and he threaded his fingers through her hair.

“Got any instructions for me, Mr. Stark?” She asked in a very, very poor imitation of her usual businesslike tone. Her face was fever-flushed. Tony bumped his shoulder into Rhodey’s with a hum.

“Well, Ms. Potts, I think you should take some time off,” he said, nailing his own usual I’m the boss tone, thank you very much. “I have other people who can do your job, you know.”

“‘re you replacing me, Mr. Stark?” She slurred. He huffed and rubbed at her back. He was going to get them both a cold compress, and some headache medication, because he recognized the tightness around Rhodey’s eyes and the way that Pepper pressed her temple against his thigh. He pressed his palm to the nape of her neck for a moment to test her fever- a little too warm for comfort in his opinion, and she relaxed a little bit more. Rhodey put his arm around Tony’s shoulders and leaned against him.

It’s when Rhodey goes there that he realizes that Tony is doing about fifteen things every day. He’s drafting new inventions, sending out patents, and working on things for Stark Industries. 

“This is what you’re doing all day?” Rhodey asks. 

Tony nods. 

“Gotta get ahead of demand when I turn twenty-one,” Tony says, smile dim. 

Rhodey knows he’s lying. Knows that this isn’t Tony working as a means of “saving up” designs. He’s seen Tony’s face and how stressed it is when he gets off the phone with Obie. 

“You are coming with me,” Rhodey announces, dragging Tony out of the lab. 

After that, Rhodey moderates lab hours because a.) Tony shouldn’t be working this long in college and b.) Rhodey does what he wants. 

This isn’t the perfect solution. Tony still stresses about not living up to expectations, having Obie give him the “don’t you want to be better than Howard?” talk that he dreads. 

“Fuck him,” Rhodey says with a snort. “You put out two new designs on pistols and a better technology for computer processing. What did Howard do in six months? Make a handgun? Okay.” 

Obie actually lays off of him. 

It’s not the be-all solution, but it’s close. Tony smiles at Rhodey when they go grocery shopping and Rhodey is complaining about his brand of coffee raising in price by fifty cents. 

“Who does that?” he whines. 

“Don’t worry about it, sugar plum,” Tony says, deftly putting it in the cart. “You know it’s too good to pass up.” 

“Unfortunately.” 

Rhodey goes away to the army. 

Slowly, slowly but surely, Obie breaks Tony back down to being guilt-ridden by not being as productive. 

Pepper walks--scratch that--she storms into his life as his PA and demands he goes home. 

“I don’t go home until you go home because I like to be on top of things, but I swear to god if you don’t go home at a reasonable time I’m carrying you out myself. This is ridiculous, you need rest at some point.” 

“I’ll rest when I’m dead.” 

“Well I have a list of people to haunt, so I’m making you rest now.” 

Tony’s interested in who Pepper haunts. She tells him that when he actually goes home and rests, she’ll tell him. 

She is firm on her plan for Tony to go home at scheduled times. 

She crosses her arms when Obadiah comes into her office and asks that she “eases” her restrictions. 

“Tony needs to be as creative as possible,” he says. “I can arrange for someone else to stay late hours.” 

“If he stays up like he does, you’ll have your favorite inventor dead by thirty,” Pepper says flatly. “And he’s twenty-seven right now, so imagine when he’s gone and there’s no one else like him to replace him.” 

He lays off, and never really likes her after that. But he gives her the creeps and she doesn’t like how he treats Tony like a robot, so that’s fine with her. 

And then, of course, the crowning moment: 

Realizing all of this was for terrible reasons and he’s been killing people. 

Tony remembers when he was a small child, Mama used to take him to church and to confession. She would be talking quietly and telling him that he would need to confess and atone for his sins. 

The same concept can be applied without religion. 

Still, he remembers the dark red of the curtain, the gold etching on the statues he used to stare at while his mother spoke softly. 

“Throw a little hot red in there, J.” 

He stays in a metal suit and he destroys his weapons in the hands of people and he feels good. 

But he has to keep doing it. There are so many wrongs. So many things he has to fix. 

Tony Stark can do some of it. But Tony Stark is...Tony Stark. 

Iron Man can be better, is better. He much prefers looking at his reflection and seeing a mask reflect. Better not to see who you are and better to see who you could be. Who you should attain to be. 

(He doesn’t tell Rhodey or Pepper that, he’s not crazy. For some reason, they seem to think he’s himself and that’s the best thing possible. He’s tried arguing it, but gets nowhere.) 

Iron Man is out all the time. Late at night, early in the morning. 

People don’t see the man behind the mask blinking, struggling to wake up. But he has to. He has to do everything, or it won’t--it won’t matter. 

Rhodey and Pepper meet him at the launch pad. Rhodey holds out a hand. 

“Shower. I got you food. Then we are all sleeping, because you need it.” 

“I’m fine,” Tony says. 

“No, you’re not,” Pepper argues. “And you can tell me that all you want but a Fine, Normal Person wouldn’t make a flight to Syria in a suit of armor. So.” 

“Not every Fine, Normal Person has a flying suit of armor,” Tony argues. 

“No Fine, Normal Person would make a suit of armor,” Rhodey retorts. “Get going, man. I convinced Pepper to let us watch Seinfeld.” 

Tony showers. Gets on comfy clothes that aren’t the ones from the day(s) before. 

Pepper and Rhodey make a space for him in between them on the bed. Pepper has given up her favorite pillow. 

“Come on honey,” she murmurs. “Rhodey has your plate. Let’s relax for a little bit. You deserve it. You’re off saving the world.” 

Tony doesn’t believe that.