Chapter 2
15/7/2016 3:57pm
Pain
That's all Tony Stark felt, and he hated it.
He had originally thought that he was fine, but obviously not. It hadn't been this bad before, the worst it had been was blacking out about a month ago. He hoped with all that he had that that didn't happen today.
"You okay boss?"
Tony snapped his head away from the plane window to see Happy.
"Yeah Hap, just motion sickness, you know?"
Happy nodded in agreement and silently walked away. He often did that, just checking in with Tony. He found it nice, having someone regularly check up on you to make sure you weren't dying.
Although Tony sort of thought he was.
Before long, Tony found himself in Massachusetts, backstage and prepping for his MIT lecture. But of course, just as he was about to step into the spotlight, the nausea hit again. It was even worse than that morning on the jet, a dull ache in his stomach that threatened to sideline him. But there was no turning back now.
"Mr Stark, you're on."
Tony nodded and slipped on his glasses. It was go time.
Tony strutted slowly onto the stage; thousands of struggling college students sat watching intently. He started his presentation strong, putting on a small performance about how he had wished his last interaction with his late parents should have gone. He never did get to properly say goodbye.
"The challenges facing you are the greatest that mankind has ever known."
He stared out across the crowd of intrigued students.
"Plus, most of you are broke."
That earned a slight laugh from the crowd, further agitating the nausea that still plagued his body. He needed to keep going.
That was when it all went south.
He finished his sentence, but as the words left his mouth, a wave of dizziness hit him hard. His vision blurred, dark spots flickering in and out of sight. His body felt like it was betraying him, shutting down piece by piece.
The world tilted, and before he could react, everything went black. The last thing he felt was the cold floor beneath him as his body collapsed, his head smashing against the ground.
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15/7/2016 6:46pm
The next time he opened his eyes, he was met with a familiar face.
"Bruce? I thought you were back in New York?"
"Happy said you wouldn't have wanted anyone else to help treat you, so he called me in."
Tony tried to assess his surroundings, quickly realizing he was in a hospital room. He couldn’t recall how he ended up there. The only thing that stood out in his mind was the sharp pain of hard wood slamming into his skull.
"What happened?"
"You passed out on stage, paramedics were rushed to you while they contacted me, so I flew down here and conducted some tests on you."
"So?...."
A weird look fell onto Bruce's face, as if he didn't know what to say.
"That's the thing Tony, your blood test came back completely normal, as did every single other test I did."
"That's not right..."
"Exactly."
"I've been like this for months Bruce, I need to know what's wrong with me."
Bruce paused and stared at him; he appeared to be studying him intensely.
"Wait, months?"
"Yeah, I just assumed it was the flu or something."
Bruce dropped his head into his hands and sighed. Earning a confused "what?" From Tony.
"So, you've been feeling like this for months straight and you decided not to check in with me, or even a doctor?"
Tony nodded slowly, wondering if he had made a mistake somewhere along the road.
"You are remarkably stupid for a genius"
Bruce stood up from his seat, half laughing at Tony's stupidity and half concerned with his friend's ability to care for himself.
"Are there any tests you haven't done yet?"
Tony’s eyes tracked Bruce as he moved around the room, picking up a strange mix of items.
"I need to do a Urine test but I had to wait for you to wake up so we may as well do that now."
Bruce assisted Tony in getting off the hard hospital bed, handing him a small container before returning to his seat at the desk. After a minute or two, Tony came back, gave the container to Bruce, and settled back onto the bed. It took a few moments to process the sample, but eventually, Bruce turned around, his face filled with clear concern.
"Okay so, I have two options for what's wrong with you, one is probably biologically impossible for you, and the other is extremely concerning."
Tony immediately started to panic, he straightened his posture and stared at Bruce.
"So, to put it bluntly, you're either pregnant or you have cancer."
"But that's biologically impossible-"
"Not completely. Very rare yes, but not impossible considering you and Steve's genes. His serum and the chemicals from the arc reactor could possibly be interfering with your body."
Tony sat there in disbelief, staring daggers at Bruce. He hoped this was just some sick joke, that any second now he was going to laugh and tell him he was kidding, after a few seconds of silence he realised that Bruce wasn't joking around.
"We can't be completely sure unless we do an ultrasound but if my calculations are correct and you are actually pregnant, you would be 18 weeks, around four and a half months along already."
That hit him like a train, just the thought of a child growing inside of him scared him, it being actually big enough to be seen scared him more.
"Do you want to do it now or wait a bit-?"
"No, it's fine, do it now"
Tony removed his shirt and laid down on the hospital room bed while Bruce prepared everything he needed. Pouring the extremely cold gel onto Tony's belly without warning, which warranted anger from the brunette.
Bruce began searching, he ran the ultrasound machine down his stomach, until he stopped in a specific area.
"What the fuck?"
Bruce stared at the screen, a puzzled look plastering his face.
"What is it?"
"Somehow, your body has managed to create an area similar to a womb, that is capable of containing a child, and I was right. You are pregnant."
Pregnant? Tony wasn't ready for that, no man on this earth could be ready for that. He couldn't be a father, he never thought of himself as father material, and he definitely never thought himself capable of actually carrying a child. He refused to be like his dad, he didn't want to be an awful father. However, he still didn't fully believe that he was actually pregnant.
"Well."
"What?"
"Are you going to keep it?"
Slowly, tears began to form in Tony's eyes. Bruce quickly took notice and ran over, wrapping his arms around the smaller man. Tony would always compare hugs from Bruce like a big bear hug. He stared blankly at the white walls of the hospital room, salty tears quickly running down his cheeks and off his chin. This wasn't happening. He was still convinced that this was all just a prank, a sick joke made up to scare him. However, as Tony sat there, eyes glued to the wall, he began to realise that this was nowhere near a joke, nobody was going to run in and laugh, bringing out the hidden cameras.
No. He was actually pregnant.