Concussions Suck
The mission had been going well. The team had easily destroyed a majority of the bots that were released in New York City, only a few stragglers to take care of. Cap and Peter were on crowd control while Tony, Natasha, and Bruce worked on destroying the remaining bots.
The bots weren’t exactly fantastic, at least by Tony’s standards. It was clear that a pro had built them, with their drone attachments and lasers that could cut through stone, but their ability to change directions quickly was lacking, which made them a good target for teasing, and eventually causing their own demise.
Tony surveyed the scene, noticing his teammates in their current positions. Natasha was perched on a building that had been mostly destroyed by the bots, their lasers cutting through most of the metal leaving holes and giant cracks. Peter was swinging dangerously close to the ground in a way that made the ark reactor want to give out. Cap was on the ground fighting off bots as screaming civilians fled around him. Tony flew above, observing the bots and trying to figure out if there was a commanding bot, or a weak point at the very least.
“Natasha,” Peter said through the coms, “my spider sense is picking up on something around you.” In a moment Natasha whipped around, the bot being electrocuted by her batons in the process.
“Tony, I need more support over here.” Tony flew to where Cap stood, taking over with the fighting of one bot so that Steve could herd the people to safety. The bots seemed to be getting faster, but with that their movements got more erratic and unpredictable.
“Natasha, watch out.” Peter said, his voice more urgent than it had been before.
“I’m going to need you to be more specific Peter.” Natasha was clearly getting annoyed with Peter’s poor communication skills. She looked around, but there was no imminent danger besides the now swarming bots.
“Natasha, WATCH OUT!” Peter uncharacteristically shouted. In a moment, the building beneath Natasha crumbled, causing her to free-fall.
“Shit!” Tony reacted quickly, blasting off and heading to Natasha before she hit the ground.
To her credit, she tried to grab on to anything that could slow her fall, but nothing seemed to grasp. Tony quickly calculated that going straight at her would do more harm than good, most likely slamming her into the collapsing wall if he didn’t turn in time. He could not change her direction fast enough unless she wanted some serious whiplash. In a split second decision, he veered right before making a sharp turn and diving under her. He grabbed on to her back and threw himself downward to match her speed. He slowed down as best as he could, but it clearly wasn’t fast enough. People were yelling in the comms, Natasha included.
“Tony, stop!”
“Mr. Stark!”
“Tony, pull up!”
He ignored them as he quickly did a math equation. Based on the speed he was falling, and the amount of feet from the ground (42 he guessed), he decided the best course of action was just to slow as much as possible and land on his back.
“JARVIS should I pull up?” He asked, unsure as to whether this was the right decision.
“Calculating your current position the safest course of action would be to-“
Slam.
Tony let out a grunt at the impact, a sharp pain blasting into his head.
“Shit, Tony!” Natasha struggled to be released from his arms, him taking a majority of the impact and the iron in his suit absorbing the energy from landing rather than passing it to her.
He sat up before immediately falling back down. The world spun in and out of view, and he watched the drones flying above him in a daze.
“Tony? Can you hear me?” Who was that? Maybe Pepper?
“‘M fine Pepper.” He slurred.
“Shit!” Pepper cursed.
“Lang’ge.” He mumbled with a smile, remembering how Peter always told him not to curse.
“Cap, something’s wrong with Tony. I think he has a concussion, or something. He’s not making sense.”
“I don’t h’ve a c’ncussion I’m Iron M’n.” Tony helpfully pointed out, before promptly passing out.
————————————
He had a concussion.
Six days later and he was sitting over a toilet vomiting for the sixth time in six days. His head spun and a dull throbbing occurred with every dry heave. He finally finished, leaning back and trying to catch his breath.
“Christ, I thought you would never finish.” Bruce said with a pitiful smirk. Tony appreciated him trying to keep it light despite the fact that his stomach just tried to expel itself.
“Me too.” Tony stood up shakily, turning on the sink to rinse out his mouth and wash his hands.
“How long has this been going on?”Bruce asked.
“How long has it been since my brain did a 180?” He brushed past Bruce and reentered the kitchen where they had been drinking coffee together. Bruce followed him and watched Tony take another sip, wince, then dump the coffee down the sink.
“And apparently I still can’t have coffee.” He leaned on the counter, head in his hands. Bruce felt a pang of pity for Tony, watching his arrogant, overconfident friend be unable to do anything “Tony-like”.
“It can’t be all bad.” Bruce tried to help. Tony looked up at him, glaring pointedly.
“I’ve been dizzy, nauseous, angry, and unable to drink coffee or look at screens for six days. I can’t work on any of my projects because I can’t focus on something that small without feeling sick, and I can’t look at a screen or read which means I can’t make or do anything. Hate to break it to you Brucey, but it is all that bad.”
Tony went back to putting his head on the table. There was a moment of silence before Tony’s muffled voice continued.
“If I actually had any superpowers then this wouldn’t have lasted this long, or it wouldn’t have happened in the first place, but I don’t because no matter how many suits I make I’m still fucking human.”
“Tony-“ Bruce started, but was cut off.
“I’m sorry Bruce, but I can’t drink coffee, so technically I can’t participate in this coffee and chatting or whatever. I’m also pretty sure I’m going to vomit again in the next few hours, and you’ve already seen me do that once today, so I think you should just go.” Bruce nodded, knowing Tony was too stubborn to change his mind.
————————————
When Tony woke up he was alone and laying on the couch. Pepper had left for a business trip three days ago, a trip he was supposed to go on before the concussion. Peter and the rest of the Avengers kept their distance, and he had cancelled all of Peter’s lab days until he could handle lights and sounds without feeling like he was dying. Bruce had left hours ago, leaving him completely alone. He groaned and rolled over.
“Boss, Mr. Banner has asked me to tell you when you wake up that he wants you upstairs.” FRIDAY chimed, her voice slightly lowered from its usual volume. Tony couldn’t help but smile at the fact that his AI was seemingly showing concern and appropriately lowered her own voice for his head injury.
He stood up and walked to the bathroom, staring at his reflection for a moment before deciding that there was no use in even attempting to fix his appearance. He walked to the elevator, watching the door close as FRIDAY inferred that he was going to the Avengers apartment upstairs.
————————————
When the doors reopened, he was surprised to find everyone sitting in the kitchen, all preparing a meal of some sorts. The avengers ate together often, but they rarely cooked together, and not all at once.
“Hello?” He said, unable to come up with a witty comment.
“Tony! Come on in.” Bruce said with a smile as he continued to chop vegetables.
“What’s going on?” Tony asked apprehensively as he stepped into the apartment.
“Well Bruce here thought that some bonding would be a good idea, and we found something that you can do.” Steve said from the stove where he was boiling water.
Peter walked over with a mug in his hands, and handed it to Tony. Tony looked at him questioning, and he smiled as though he had single handedly solved world hunger.
“We’re all having decaffeinated tea tonight.”
“Thanks kiddo.”
And they did. They spent the night laughing and making food and drinking tea, and afterwards they decided Monopoly would be better than movie night. Tony decided that he may be a human surrounded by super-humans, but they’re also his friends.