Actually Asthmatic
Living in a dorm was an interesting thing. You had a room, kitchen and bathroom to yourself, but it was lonely.
You knew you were in for a rough time when your lab partner came to a lecture sick. Not only that, but they were coughing … a lot. You knew no matter how hard you tried you were bound to get sick and mentally you resigned yourself to your new fate.
Lo and behold the next day your throat hurt, but it was manageable. Another day passes and your head had begun to feel like it was stuffed with cotton. A truely lovely experience. To make matters even better, you had three classes and work today. Your shift at stark industries was something you couldn’t miss even if you wanted to.
Pepper was coming to check on your branch of the company and you needed to be able to show her the numbers at the meeting you were both attending. You needed to prove it hasn’t been a mistake to hire a collage student with crippling debt and insomnia to run a branch of what was probably the most successful company in New York if not the world.
You flipped the page on your textbook and bit back a sigh. There was still an hour left of class and the world seemed to be against you, time was moving slower, and it felt rather personal.
You rested your head on the table and tried to block out the droning of your collage professor, he was a great guy, but your head felt like it was being run over by a bus and your cheeks were warm and your fingers cold.
You must have drifted off at some point because before you knew it someone was nudging you. You groggily sat up and squinted into the light, a frown marring your face.
“Y/n/n, get up. Class is over.” It was one of your friends, you gave a half grunt and looked around.
The lecture hall was quickly emptying out and so you grabbed your bag and textbook and stood, swaying slightly.
“Whoa. You good?” Your friend asked and you nodded mumbling something about standing up too fast before beelining for the door.
You bid goodbye to your friend at the train station and boarded the tube that would take you to work.
It was about a five-minute walk from the train to stark industries, but the cold weather that threatened your lungs working in tandem with your asthma and what you were now beginning to think was the start of a nasty chest infection, made it seem like hours of hiking through the amazon after dark.
You adjusted the backpack on your shoulder and waited for the train to slow, the next stop was yours and despite it being the quiet carriage there was still the loud sound of train tracks passing under making your head feel like a drum being beaten by a tone-deaf monkey on steroids.
The train almost had pity on you as it slowed just as you thought the monkey had found an amp to make his music ‘better.’
You stumbled off the platform and hurried up the steps to the footpath. The crowd jostled you and you felt more than desire to just let the ocean of people sweep you out with the tide.
But you forged on. So did the monkey.
You must have looked like death incarnate by the time you arrived at the lobby. You were flushed at the very least and you could hear the wheezing in your breath as you took in air by the lungful.
You scanned your keycard once you had located it in the mess that was your backpack. Stepping into the clean white walls of stark industries made you feel like a racoon in an upper-class neighbourhood.
You made your way to the elevator that would take you to the board room and finally paused to catch your breath which was now just a string of wheezes. You knew that because the look the lady at the reception shot you was one that was a mix of concern, confusion and pity.
Your throat was raw, and your face was congested as well as your chest. You sounded like you swallowed a frog, and the frog was also now sick and subsequently congested.
When the lift arrived you thanked Stark, who was your own personal god that there was nobody else in it. You stepped in and lent against the railing after thumbing the button for your floor with what was probably more force than necessary.
You sat back against the cool metal bar and watched the numbers climb higher and higher as you approached the master board room which was also the same floor as peppers office. A place you rarely visited except when you had the quarterly board meeting like today.
As the lift pinged and the doors slide open smoothly you stepped off and gathered your bearings.
You caught sight of a door at the end of the hall with peppers name on it and smiled. She was also one of your own personal heroes. She worked like a horse and kicked ass like an avenger all while wearing heels and a smile that said, ‘don’t fuck with me before I’ve had my coffee’.
You navigated your way to the board room and cracked the door a bit. So far there were a few people in there and it was still early. You smiled at the unfamiliar faces and sat down.
You didn’t know any of them yet and so you kept to yourself as you and the others waited for pepper and the rest of the companies branch managers and board members to come in.
After a bit pepper entered looking as swauve and elegant as ever. She took her seat at the head of the table and took note of the empty chairs with a small frown.
“It seems some people are still absent, so we’ll wait for a bit until the numbers are more … concrete.” She said with a smile drawing a few laughs from around the room.
You kept your head down, but your eyes kept straying back to pepper.
After a few minutes of you being sat there doodling in your notepad, the meeting started.
You paid attention to most things but once you had presented your numbers you had more or less zoned out. At one point you caught pepper looking at you closely and decided to try and pay attention again.
But the meeting droned on and soon your chest felt tighter and tighter. Your face flushed with the effort of suppressing a cough. The wheeze that had left you in the elevator had seemingly returned and you were doing your best to keep it quiet.
Your eyes looked around the room for an escape and you caught pepper looking at you again. She looked worried.
‘Are you ok?’ She mouthed and you nodded but she looked unsure.
You decided to leave, just to step out for a moment to get some air and let your lungs do their thing.
You waited until all eyes were back on the man presenting before slipping out the door.
You beelined for the bathroom which were luckily empty with everyone currently on the floor in the meeting.
You braced yourself by placing your hands either side of the sink and let out a string of deep chesty coughs. The wheeze got worse, and you cursed yourself for leaving your asthma inhaler in your backpack in the board room.
The coughing still hadn’t ceased, and it seemed the attack was making it harder to catch your breath than normal.
You barely registered the door to the bathrooms being opened and the sound of high heels click across the floor in hurried steps.
You felt a hand press between your shoulder blades as someone drew slow circles on your back. Someone was telling you to breathe and you recognised the voice.
Pepper.
You felt something being pressed into your hands and looked down to find a glass of water.
You gratefully took a sip and found it soothed your throat pretty well.
After a second, the fit ended and you just had the wheeze to worry about.
“Are you alright?” Pepper asked looking worried and trying not to fuss over you.
You shot her a weak smile.
“I’m ok.” You grinned unconvincingly. She gave you a look you assumed tony often received and caved. “I’m sick.” You rasped.
“I’d have never guessed.” Pepper joked rolling her eyes and guided you by the shoulders out the door.
“Where are we going?” You asked still holding the water.
“Well, you need to rest, and the board can handle the rest of the meeting. I want you to get that cough looked at and i have some emails to check. So, we are going to my office, you are going to lie down and I’m going to get some work done.” Pepper said with a smile, and you looked at her like she had hung the stars in the sky.
“Thank you.” You mumbled.
“That’s quite alright honey.” She smiled and then her brow crinkled as if she just noticed your wheezing. Which spoiler alert… she had.
You avoided her eyes as she scrutinised you closely. After a second her pace slowed and yours matched it before she stepped in front of you and placed a hand on your chin. She tilted your head back to look at her and met your gaze with a motherly worried expression.
“You’re wheezing.” She noted.
“And you’re pepper potts.” You said back looking nervous.
“Yes.” She deadpanned in response. “Y/n, are you … asthmatic?” She asked and you looked away.
That was enough of a response for her as she sighed. “Wheres your puffer sweetie?”
“Back in my backpack in the meeting room.” You mumbled.
“Alright here’s what we are going to do. I’m going to get you set up in my office and then go and get your bag for you.” She said and resumed her pace to her office.
When she arrived, she scanned her keycard and opened the door. It was an amazing office. Floor to ceiling windows in a corner room made the whole space perfectly lit with natural light.
You stepped inside in awe, and she guided you over to an expensive looking blue couch with a fond smile.
“You stay here, I’ll be right back.” She said and you grinned and nodded still star struck.
You could see the New York skyline from up here, the city bustling below.
You had barely blinked by the time pepper had returned.
She handed you your bag which you took and thanked her again.
“Now take whatever you need to and try to get some rest, I’ll be at my desk just there if you need anything.” She said with a smile, lingering to make sure you took your inhaler.
After you had uncapped the small blue device and administered the medicine, she gave you a curt nod and headed to her desk.
Almost as soon as your head hit the soft fluffy throw pillows on the couch you were out.
The next few hours were spent toeing the line between sleep and wakefulness. At one point as you dozed you heard pepper talking to someone on the phone before you returned to sleep.
Pepper had sat down to get some work done but had barely typed out one email before her eyes were back on you. You seemed so small in this moment. Just a young adult, you reminded her of peter. She wanted to make sure you were ok and the small wheeze coming from your lips made her worried.
Your face was slightly flushed, and pepper was sure nobody had been messing with the room temperature controls. Feeling maternal, she picked up her phone and punched in the number for Bruce’s lab. Better safe than sorry.
After a short conversation with Bruce in which she relayed your symptoms, he decided he wanted to see you to run further tests and rule out pneumonia. Pepper had looked over at you and agreed, you had been sleeping for nearly four hours now and seemingly weren’t doing much better, and including your asthma she didn’t want to risk anything.
Bruce and pepper agreed to bring you to the avengers' tower to check your lungs and maybe put you on a nebuliser to be safe as the wheeze was still lingering.
When the phone call ended pepper stood from her desk and walked over to the couch, gently she sat down beside you and nudged your shoulder. You groaned and rolled over trying to escape.
Stifling a giggle pepper placed her hand on your arm, frowning when she felt heat radiating off you. She paused and then lifted her hand to your face, laying the backside of her palm to your forehead and feeling for a fever.
Finding what she was looking for, pepper gently rubbed your arm again.
“Y/n? Honey, you have to get up. We’re going to the doctor sweetie.” She said softly and you whined and buried your face in the couch.
“Tired and don’t wanna move.” You mumbled into the cushions.
“You can lean on me the whole way to the car, alright?” Pepper said carding her hands through your hair.
“Okay.” You mumbled and blinked your eyes open to look at her. The haze of fever was settled in and the pink hue of your cheeks made you look both dazed and cute.
With peppers help you stand up and lean into her side. She had already called happy to bring the car around and he was going to meet you both out front.
With your bag slung over one shoulder and you curled into her other side, pepper slowly began the trek back to the lift. The board meeting had ended hours ago so it was just the two of you left on the whole floor.
After a slow and sleepy trip down to the car pepper got settled into the backseat with you so she could keep an eye on how you were fairing.
Your cheeks had darkened slightly, and she felt your forehead again as happy peeled out of the car park. Your fever had definitely risen, and she frowned as the glossy look in your eyes was increased ten-fold.
Part two coming soon :)