Tony hated migraines. Actually, no, strike that. He hated everything even remotely related with migraines. he’s been having them since he was a teen, and frankly speaking, he wasn’t a fan. not at all. Even though tony hated migraines with a passion, they seemed to absolutely love him, which was why he was now currently sitting hunched over his toilet bowl, spitting his guts out. he’d been busy the last night, tinkering with suit and had promptly missed his small window take the meds when it would actually work. he’d only noticed his splitting headache when the aura had almost taken over his vision, and all he’d managed to accomplish after that was to get back to his blissfully dark room (courtesy of Jarvis), and collapse beside the toilet.
“Sir, captain rogers want me to inform you that you are supposed to be present at the team meeting about your previous battle in five minutes. he has also expressed his concern about not seeing you in the breakfast today. would you like me to inform him about your current condition?”
“Now, J. He’ll just-they’ll think ‘m weak-just tells him that ‘m indisposed.” Howard had drilled into his head that having migraines was exposing your vulnerability to everyone, and men who are made of iron aren’t vulnerable. Better to just drown in his hole of misery and hope it passes soon.
He didn’t know how much time he was sitting there. his head hurt. A lot. kind of felt like someone was hammering continuously on it while squeezing it from inside. the nausea didn’t help matters either. and of course, that was exactly when the universe had to add on his suffering. his phone rang and the caller ID showed ‘mad eye moody’.
“fan-fucking-tastic,” tony cursed. this was a call he couldn’t ignore.
“What do want, Nicholas?” he tried to keep his voice level, but the brightness of his screen and fury’s loud voice made it incredibly hard to do so.”
“Stark. Where are those updates to the security firewalls you promised? you didn’t decide to not do the codes that protects the safety of the entire earth, did you?”
“Pop a chill pill, old man. I’ll have ‘me ready by the weekend.”
“Alright then. I expect to get them by Sunday 12.00 a.m. sharp. Don’t be late.”
“‘be late’ my ass!” tony hissed viciously. He stood up angrily, intending to try and reach a computer to open the codes, but even that single movement jarred his sensitive head and the world erupted into waves of agony. Tony’s knees went weak and he half fell half sat down again , and that in turn added to the fire that was coursing through his brain .
“mke it stop, J……………”
The cold tiles under his feet gave him some comfort and he leaned into it, vaguely wondering how blissful it would be to just collapse on his soft, welcoming bed and shut the rest of the world away. he had Advil in his bedside table, maybe they would give him some (minute, but some) relief.
Tony crawled on all fours towards his bed, but made only as far as the bathroom door. He had no more strength left, he was panting, completely spent, and had no intention of getting up from his position ever again. tony accepted that this was it.
At some point, his world turned into static. vaguely, he could hear someone yelling his name and banging his door. the noise drilled into his mind and he winced. even through the haze in his brain, he could understand it was Steve who was there. made sense. only captain spangles would bang on a door instead of asking Jarvis. tony almost chuckled, but stopped himself right before; smiling would only bring fresh pain. Other voices were now there too, yelling, banging, and tony wanted to scream at them to stop, at the world to just stop revolving and end this torture. then he distinctly heard the door swinging open, and he could feel vibrations of the footsteps rushing towards him, and God were they loud. tony felt like every car in New York city had decided to honk right beside his ear at once.
Only some garbled words reached pass the ringing in his ears. words that almost made sense.
“Tony-?” someone asked. “Jarvis –what-wrong-him-?”
“Move-Steve-he-okay-stop yelling!”
he recognized the first voice as Steve and second one as Bruce.
“Move-bed-he needs-what-med-tony-hear-me?”
“Steve-carry him-pillows-migraine-be quiet.”
Oh look, clint and Natasha was there too ………
And then he was suddenly weightless. strong, warm hands appeared under his chest and legs and he suddenly realized that this was what he had wanted to avoid all along.” guys, lemma – ‘m fine- “he tried to say, tried to explain to them that he wasn’t weak and pathetic and it was just a headache, nothing serious, they should just leave him be, but forming words were beyond him. then someone dropped a wet cloth over his forehead and he knew no more.
Steve was suddenly very glad that thor was in asgard and not the tower. the sky god’s presence often led to loud bangs, yells, and roars of pleasures. he was sure that was the last thing tony needed.
Steve often got migraines when he was a scrawny kid from Brooklyn. he wouldn’t wish that kind of hell to his deepest enemies.
Steve recalled Tony’s whines and whimpers when he had carried him to bed . he had tried to be gentle, of course, but even the slightest motion left tony moan into his chest.” mke it stop,” he had mumbled and didn’t that just broke Steve’s heart.
he also remembered tony telling them about all the times pepper had to cancel meetings and stay with bed with him because he wasn’t coherent enough to even get up by himself. he watched as Bruce periodically dipped a cloth into cold water and gently press it against Tonys face. it was clear none of them were leaving, so he settles down on one of the couches. the others followed him. Steve felt bad for tony – he had yelled outside his door for at least five minutes before entering. that had to have make things worse. for a moment, he had wondered if tony had been poisoned – that’s how bad he looked. face pale, beard unshaved, messy hair, sweating and clammy, his head locking on his chest, stark looked like he was on the brink of death from his position on the floor.
he softly asked Jarvis to cancel all their day’s plans, and then picked up a piece of paper and a pen from Tony’s table to sketch. it was going to be a long time to spend pass. but they were going to be here no matter what, because they had understood what tony had tried to tell them, that they shouldn’t bother about him and leave him alone to suffer.
it was about time tony learned the meaning of having people who has his back.