Work Text:
Everything starts when Pepper finds something in her bed.
Or, rather, an absence of something.
Pepper opens her eyes, waking up from what should be a full eight hours of sleep, to find half of the bed completely empty. This in itself isn’t so usual, because bends tend to be a little roomy at times, except this isn’t some hotel bed she’s sleeping in whenever she’s traveling.
This is the bed she and Tony regularly share, and Tony has promised he’ll be in it.
Pepper reaches for her phone and checks the time- it’s two A.M.
Pepper has just gotten back from a meeting in Japan- which went quite well. The meeting had lasted about two days, and the flight back one. All in all, she’s been away from Tony for three days, which was considerably short if you took into account how long she was normally gone.
Tony has been working on some designs for the newest StarkPhone. When Pepper last talked to him- four hours ago, and over the phone, seeing as she was still flying- he promised he’d be in bed by twelve at the very latest, just so he could finish up a few sketches and such.
And Pepper, knowing how stupidly stubborn her fiance can be, had agreed to this.
And now it’s three.
Pepper pulls on her silk robe- of course Tony insists on silk, because he considers cotton too basic- and makes her way to the lab- she can already hear the AC/DC blasting as she walks- where, sure enough, Tony’s hunched over his desk, surrounded by several papers.
“Tony,” Pepper says. It’s already a bad sign when Tony takes at least a solid three minutes to look towards her, and Jesus christ, he looks worse than she expected.
Not in the “my-partner-usually-looks-bad” way, but more like a, “I’ve-been-gone-for-three-days-why-do-you-look-like-hell-” way.
There are bags under his eyes, so heavy and dark it’s actually shocking. His hair is all messed up, sticking up at the back, and he looks sort of pale, like he hasn’t seen the light of day for years.
“Pep! You’re, uh, back.” Tony says, and it’s clear he’s trying to sound way more awake and alert than he is.
“Yes, Tony, I’m back. You said you’d be in bed by twelve.” Pepper crossed her arms and leans against the doorframe, taking in the messy state the lab is in.
Tony raises an eyebrow. “It was eleven, last I checked.”
“It’s actually two in the morning, Tony. What on earth are you still doing awake?” Pepper chastises, and Tony gives her a sheepish grin.
“Pepper, love of my life, extremely capable and sexy angel-” he begins, walking towards her, and leans in to give her a kiss.
Once Pepper smells his breath, she immediately pulls away from his embrace. “Tony, when was the last time you brushed your teeth?”
There’s a silence, and that silence says it all.
“Tony, you haven’t slept for three days?! Why- how- I honestly wish I could say that I’m shocked, but this is so you that I just-” Pepper groans, covering her face with her hands.
“Oh, come on, Pep. Give me some credit. I’ve worked my ass off with these new designs, and they’re pretty damn amazing, if I do say so myself. Want to see?” Tony’s about to pick up some of the scattered papers on his desk when Pepper grabs him by the shoulder.
“Tony. To bed. Now.”
Tony shakes his head. “No can do, Pep. I’m almost done with these, and if I stop now, I’ll be off of my rhythm. You don’t want me to be off my rhythm, do you? Because you know how I am when I’m on my rhythm-” Tony waggles his eyebrows, and Pepper just rolls her eyes.
“I swear you’re three. Listen, if you’re not in bed in five minutes-”
“And I won’t be.” Tony replies with that cocky little tone of his, much to Pepper’s annoyance.
“You need to sleep, Tony! Please. It cannot be good for you to be up for this long. Do you know how bad you’re going to feel once you’re done with this workload?” Pepper argues.
“Come on, Pepper, let’s be honest. I’ve been through worse. It’s only been three days.” Tony goes to sit in his chair again, and completely misses, falling to the floor with a hard thud.
“Tony-! Only three days, oh, that is so-” Pepper gripes as she helps him up. “Do you see how out of it you are?”
Suddenly, the sound of the door opening calls both of their attention. Rhodey walks in, in his pajamas, looking extremely tired.
“What’s with all the noise in here?”
“Tony hasn’t slept for three days.” Pepper says, and she and Rhodey share a look, the “god-Tony-has-no-sense-of-self-preservation-whatsoever” look.
“Heeey, honey-bear. Come to join the party?” Tony quips.
“Oh, please. We all know you’ve had enough parties for a lifetime.” Rhodey snorts. “Come on, Tones. Get your ass to bed.”
“Can’t. Working.” Tony shrugs. Dum-E’s claw reaches over to Tony, a cup of coffee in it’s grip.
“Tony, you’d better not drink that,” Pepper crossed her arms, and Tony rolls his eyes.
“Please. Knowing Dum-E, this is probably motor oil- and if it is, I swear I won’t hesitate to sell you for parts.” Tony adds this last part with a glare directed towards Dum-E- Dum-E makes an offended little beep- and goes to take a sip.
Of course, Tony is so out of it, his lip misses the coffee cup, and when he goes to tilt it towards him, it spills on his face.
Tony doesn’t even react, despite the fact the coffee is scalding hot.
“Where’s- where’s the coffee?” Tony mumbles in confusion, and Rhodey sighs.
“It’s on you, Tony. The coffee is on you.”
It takes Tony a moment to get this, in his drowsy state. “Ah. Shit.”
“Tony, man, this isn’t college. You’ve gotta go to bed, man.” Rhodey says, and starts walking around the lab. “You keep any baby wipes in here? First things first, we need to get that mess off you.”
“Tony, I-” Pepper sighs, and is interrupted by yet another entrance.
It’s Happy, in a blue cotton robe- Happy doesn’t like silk, apparently.
“What’s going on in here?”
“Oh, look, Happy’s here too.” Tony rubs at his eyes. “Think you could get me some more coffee? Maybe a few Red Bulls while you’re at it?”
Rhodey sighs. “Tony, I swear to god-”
“Not my fault you can’t stomach it, sour-patch.”
Rhodey throws his hands up in the air in exasperation. “It’s not about stomaching it! I mean, who the hell mixes-”
“Ignore Tony, Happy. He hasn’t slept in three days.” Pepper sighs.
“Boss, you still haven’t slept?” Happy looks at Tony in disbelief.
“Not true. I closed my eyes for about five minutes an hour ago, which I and many others consider as sleep. Did you know the longest an average human can stay awake for is ten days?”
This results in a resounding, “Tony, no!” from everyone in the room.
“Why is there coffee on his face?” Happy asks.
“He spilled it on himself.” Rhodey says.
“Jesus, you all make me sound like I’m five. It’s only three days-”
Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy all look at each other and nod.
“Grab his arms.” Pepper mouths, and Rhodey and Happy comply.
“You guys can’t seriously be doing this.” Tony snorts, clearly not believing in their ability to actually force him to his bed.
“Oh, we are.” Rhodey grunts, as Pepper grabs his legs.
“God, you’re sticky.” Happy mumbles, and just as they’re all attempting to drag him to the door, it opens by itself.
It’s Peter.
“Guys? What’re you doing?” Peter asks, looking in confusion at the ridiculous scene in front of him.
“Kid?” Tony lifts his head up as much as he can from his current position.
“Peter, hi.” Pepper tries to smile at him, because honestly, she doesn’t want to worry the boy. Apparently he was staying over too, though?
“Why are you dragging Mr. Stark towards the door? Is he hurt?” Peter’s voice is growing increasingly worried.
“He’s hurting himself.” Rhodey mumbles under his breath.
Peter’s eyes widen. “Mr. Stark, that’s never the answer! If you’re going through something-”
“He’s not hurting himself like that, kid!” Happy groans.
“Oh. Hey, I like your robe.” Peter says, and the statement is genuine, which just makes it cuter when Happy mumbles under his breath something about teenagers- everyone knows he has a soft spot for Peter, even if he won’t admit it.
“So, uh, why are you doing this again?” Peter questions, tilting his head ever so slightly.
“They’re trying to stop me from working.” Tony says at the same time that everyone else says, “He hasn’t slept for three days.”
Peter’s eyes widen once more. “Three days?! That’s, like, seventy-two hours, Mr. Stark!”
“That’s right, Pete. Gold star for you. Now, what I want to know is, why are you up? Don’t growing spider-babies need their rest?” Tony asks, using what everyone else has dubbed his dad-voice.
Peter looks down at the ground for a moment, and when he looks up, his eyes are full of tears. Immediately, everyone else in the room softens.
“I, uh, had a nightmare, and I went to go get you, Mr. Stark, but you weren’t there, so…” Peter sniffles, and it’s honestly so sad yet adorable, Pepper feels her heart break. Like a crying puppy.
“Oh, kid…” Tony sighs, and opens his arms. Peter rushes into them, and they wrap their arms around each other.
“I-It was so scary, Mr. Stark. Can you sleep with me tonight?” Peter whimpers.
“Of course, kid.” Tony strokes Peter’s hair, and carries Peter in such a matter that Peter’s legs are wrapped around Tony’s waist. Tony gets up, and starts to walk out of the room.
Pepper is genuinely concerned for Peter- was his nightmare that bad?- until she sees Peter’s face, resting on Tony’s shoulder, tucked away from his view.
Peter’s smirking.
“You’re welcome,” Peter mouths, as he and Tony exit the room.
Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy all stare at each other in disbelief.
“I- how did- Tony doesn’t know-” Happy sputters.
There’s a silence.
“Oh, that kid is good.” Rhodey says.
Pepper can’t help but agree, because there’s nothing like a crying spider-baby to get you to go to bed.