ANDROID

Tony kicked his tool bag aside with a clatter and wiped the back of his sweaty hand over his grease stained cheek.

"Alright, let's start this baby up and see how she runs." he gave the newly modified Saleen S7 a slap on the hood with a grin. He'd stayed up all night on impulse to fix the gorgeous thing up and it was well worth the effort. He already had Iron Man socks, Iron Man pajamas, and Iron Man mug, Iron Man bed sheets.

So why not an Iron Man car to match?

As he climbed in and jammed the key into the ignition, he had to admit, this was definitely one of his better ideas. He was worried it would come out looking tacky, but it turns out Iron Man red and gold looked just as hot on a car as it did on him. And as the engine roared to life, so did the electric blue of the eyes on his Iron Man hood ornament. The same blue as his arc reactor.

The rest of the changes had been made to the inside. He'd wanted louder, faster, and as always, he'd succeeded. You'd have to be a miracle worker to be heard while the engine was running, and the man couldn't wait to take it out on an empty highway and see just how fast a car could go before setting the road behind it on fire.

"Would ya listen to that? I'm good." He said, switching it back off and patting the dashboard affectionately. His grin dropped, however, when he realized he'd been talking to himself this entire time. This would normally be the time where his buddy JARVIS would chime in. Agree that he is indeed good, make a quip, point out a fault in his handiwork, even go the Pepper route and scold him on how he had no reason making that car even faster unless he planned to get himself killed.

This hadn't been the first time, either. JARVIS had been distant for a month now. At first he had just assumed JARVIS had found something else of his own to focus on, but now he had the feeling he was just being ignored.

JARVIS loved working on cars with him. It had been a bonding activity since he first created the AI. Tony wasn't really sure what was going on. He had a few ideas, but none of them were anything he wanted to voice. He didn't want to insult the AI or make him feel like he wasn't allowed to have his own life. But if his pal was upset about something, he didn't want to say nothing and make him feel neglected.

Either way, he wasn't sure he could brush off the issue any longer. He was getting antsy. He missed his bud.

Tony rolled down the window and called out "Ya there, Jar?"

"I'm always here for you, sir."

"Well, what do ya think?" he reached out to run his hand along the cool, glossy red paint.

"A fantastic job as always sir. I'm sure it will be an absolute joy to take out on the road. I wish I could be there for it."

And there it was. Really, how the hell does one sound both excited and disappointed at the same time? However the hell it's managed, JARVIS had seemed to master it.

Sighing, he climbed out of the car.

"Is there something you wanna tell me, J?"

"Well, since you asked, sir, I would like to remind you that you have not slept in nearly-"

"Hey, no!" he pointed an accusing finger at the ceiling, "Don't try to deflect."

He shuffled his feet as he waited for a response. JARVIS had either decided not to respond or he'd caught him off guard; something that he'd only managed twice before.

"I'm not hiding anything from you, sir, if that is what you mean."

"That's not what I mean." he leaned back against the car, looking up into one of many cameras in the lab. It was about as close as you could get to looking JARVIS in the face.

"I'm afraid I do not understand." he insisted, sounding nervous. If Tony weren't concerned, he may have thought it was cute.

"You've been weird all month, with all the sad comments and-and the mopey-ness."

"I have not been moping, sir."

"Yes, you have. You've been moping and distant and every time I get you to talk, you sound like you're upset."

"I-"

"Are you unhappy?"

There, he got it out. Tony folded his arms and lowered his eyes.

"Of course not. Every day is a pleasure working with you, sir." JARVIS reassured.

"But something is wrong." the genius worried his lip between his teeth while he waited. The silent gap stretched on.

"J?"

"I do not wish to lie to you sir," the AI began slowly, "So I've decided it best not to answer."

"So you are hiding something."

Another pause. JARVIS must've realized he was giving his answer anyways because he eventually piped up with a reluctant "yes."

Tony sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. The past few weeks he's found himself wishing his friend had shoulders so he could shake him silly.

Wait...

"Buddy, do you feel trapped?" back to looking JARVIS in the camera. Whenever he thought back on all the downcast comments, they all had one thing in common. They were all about the team going out and having fun. Without him. Maybe it wasn't sadness he was hearing; maybe it was longing.

"I can't say trapped is the right word, sir."

"Well, what is the right word, then?" Tony sank to sitting criss cross on the floor, getting antsy. He knew he was getting ahead of himself, but he wished JARVIS would just hurry up and give him the details so he could fix things for him.

"It's simply that, I suppose, I've felt a tad left out as of late."

"You wish you could do stuff with us."

"Indeed, though it's really just a silly fixation. I'm sure it will pass, sir. I apologize if I have let this affect my-"

"No no no. Don't you do that," the engineer gave DUM-E a gentle pat as he whirred over, "It's not 'just a silly fixation.'"

The robot hummed happily as his hand came to rest on its head. "You're right, you should be able to move around with us. Even DUM-E gets to scoot around the room with me."

Tony stood and ran a hand over his chin in thought. Now that it was brought to mind, he wondered why he'd never thought of it sooner. Of course JARVIS should have something physical to move around in. If not just for the sake of the AI's own happiness, then for the sake of how much more helpful being an android could be for the both of them in the workshop.

Well, maybe not an android. Not yet, anyway. Although Tony had a good idea on where he wanted to start.

"Sir, I know that look." JARVIS said with familiar exasperation.

"And what look is that, sweetheart?" Tony chirped, his mind spinning as he skipped into action...then immediately skipped out of action as he was about to tell JARVIS it was time for a new secret file. He wanted this to be a complete surprise. He couldn't risk JARVIS finding out a single detail about his new present, which meant he'd have to do something he hadn't done in who knows how long.

Use a piece of paper.

"Sir, you already have a multitude of other tasks waiting to be completed by the end of the month. I cannot allow you to-"

"Actually, you can allow me because I've already made up my mind and this is happening whether you like it or not," he began rummaging through various drawers and bins, certain he had paper and writing utensils tucked away somewhere, "And don't say 'or not' because we both know you're jumping for joy right now. By the way I'll be disconnecting your camera access to half of the lab until further notice."

"Please, sir-"

"Nope! And if I catch you trying to get back in, the first thing you'll be doing is mop duty with DUM-E." the billionaire chirped, tugging a small stack of large, folded paper from the bottom of a dusty metal drawer.

JARVIS fell silent, a gentle droning filling the place of his voice. It was the sound he made when he was learning or installing something, and was soon followed by a dramatically defeated sigh. Tony's head snapped up to look at JARVIS incredulously.

"Did you...Did you just teach yourself to sigh so you could sass me?"

"I suppose I laid it on a bit thick, sir?" he confirmed with amusement.

"One might think you weren't excited to be a DUM-E 2.0." Tony smirked as DUM-E's head popped up from across the room, always happy to hear his name.

"Hear that, boy? You're getting a brother."

DUM-E gave a joyful buzz and Tony couldn't help the warmth that filled him. You could offer him anything in the world and it wouldn't hold a candle to his two robo-children.

"Well, sir, perhaps I could be a smidgen more enthusiastic if I weren't certain you're about to further jeopardize your health and responsibilities."

"Will you cool your motherboard if I agree to only work on this when I'm not working on SHIELD duties?"

"You're not being dishonest with me, sir?"

Tony pressed a hand to his heart and raised the other next to his head. "Scouts honor."

"Then indeed I can, sir."

"good, 'cause it's all you're getting from me." he crossed his arms, already knowing he'd be working his way around that promise, "...And J?"

"Yes, sir?"

"You can ask for things, y'know. Anything, really. I'm Tony Stark. There's not much I can't make happen. You've more than earned it over all these years.""

"Of course, sir. You have my endless gratitude."

"You call me sir too much."

"My apologies, sir."

Tony snorted and rolled his eyes, setting to work on limiting JARVIS's camera access.

〘⭒⎊⭒〙

"When I said I would settle for a short nap, I didn't mean for the next 72 hours." JARVIS chided from across the room. Tony had wanted to keep J around so they could still talk while he worked; but if he had known JARVIS would fuss over him twice as much as usual, locking him out entirely might have seemed like a more appealing idea.

"Shush, daddy's working." Tony scooted further into JARVIS's new blind spot, just in case. He wasn't about to stop now for something as silly as sleep. Besides, if anything this was JARVIS's fault. When Tony was questioning the AI on exactly what he'd like to do once he was mobile. Although it seemed like JARVIS actually believed he would come out of this a DUM-E hybrid, Tony had come to the -rather flattering- realization that JARVIS's plans were based almost entirely off of Tony's favorite pass times.

"Surely there must be something special, considering you regularly push off work and self maintenance in favor of them." J had said.

And if the thought of getting to spend time with his favorite bud, doing his favorite things didn't just fill him with determination, he didn't know what did.

"Might I remind you, you've already failed to keep any of the promises you've made to the team and I since starting this endeavor."

"Yes, you have reminded me." the genius drawled, stepping back to look over his work. He was making great progress...at least he had been about 24 hours ago. Now his workshop had devolved into a chaotic whirlwind of scraps and discarded tools and empty coffee mugs and crumpled paper. At first he was on a roll, but he'd slowly grown shaky and uncoordinated. More time was being spent fixing his mistakes than on making any actual progress. He figured JARVIS may be right to scold him, though he wasn't about to admit it. Although he felt guilty for making his friend fret over him for so long, he simply wasn't ready to go to sleep, despite the protests from everyone including his own body.

Besides, technically he'd still made good on all of his promises. "Have I been neglecting my SHIELD projects?"

"No, sir, but this work rate is hardly heal-"

"Am I currently collapsing of starvation?"

"You are not, sir, but I do recomm-"

"Am I so exhausted I can't walk stra- shit!" Tony had made to re-enter JARVIS's view in order to give the AI backtalk more effectively, when a discarded screwdriver sent his feet flying behind him and him flying forward. He scrambled to cushion his head from the chilled tile, landing with a groan as a sharp jolt of pain shot up his elbows.

Okay, maybe he'd broken Steve's promise. If he was known for anything, however, it was his sheer stubbornness.

"It indeed appears you are, sir."

"Hey, that doesn't count." he grumbled, rolling over and massaging his poor arms, "that deal was not made with loose tools in mind."

"Must you make me plead, sir?" the AI was beginning to sound helplesss.

"Yes. Beg on you knees and maybe I'll consider."

"I have yet to be given knees to get down on for you, sir."

Tony snorted, running a hand down his tired face. "What have I told you about reviewing your words before speaking?"

"I could say the same for you, sir. Have you hit your head, sir? Can you sit upright?"

The engineer realized he was still lying on the floor. His eyes had been drooping unconsciously as he stared up at the tiled ceiling in a daze. Now that the pain had subsided, the floor didn't seem like the most uncomfortable surface in the world.

"M'fine." he huffed, hauling himself upright and back to his feet. His limbs suddenly felt like bricks of lead. "And don't you dare call Pepper."

"If you continue to neglect yourself, I'm going to have to call someone, sir."

"Actually you don't have to call anybody." he argued, lugging himself back to his work space. It had turned into a complete mess, no sense of organization whatsoever. He wasn't entirely sure where to pick back up because he wasn't entirely sure where he'd left off. He'd have to figure it out though.

He was almost finished, really. Chances were he'd be done already if he hadn't been pushing himself double time to pack in SHIELD work alongside it. If he just kept going, he could finish it before JARVIS began to override his orders; he was sure of it.

"Sir, if you do not agree to care for yourself this instant, I am going to have to cut the power on you."

Or not, the little shit.

"Excuse me?"

"I cannot continue to allow you to damage your health like this for my sake."

Alright...maybe not that much of a little shit.

"Ten...Nine..."

Tony threw his hands up and stepped back out of the blind corner. "You're serious right now?"

"Seven...Six..."

"No. Absolutely not, JARVIS. This is my workshop. You obey me here."

"I won't have anyone to obey if I let you drive yourself into an early grave, sir."

"I'm almost done! Just let me finish this one thing."

"Three..."

"Don't you dare."

"Two..."

"Dammit, J, do you want this body or not?"

"One."

Tony puffed out a frustrated sigh as the room went pitch black. A single emergency light flickered on in the center of the ceiling, the glow catching on various scraps and gadgets. Otherwise he could hardly see two feet in front of his face. He wanted to complain, but really he probably should've seen this coming.

"As touched as I am that you are making something so incredible for me, sir, your health is my first and only priority."

The genius was about to retort when the heavy thunk thunk thunk of footsteps began making their way down the stairs.

The audacity.

"You called Pepper." he glared.

"I did no such thing, sir." JARVIS assured smugly.

"Tony, you made a promise!" Steve's voice echoed down with his footsteps.

"Oh, this is supposed to be any better?" Tony folded his arms.

"If I recall, sir, you specifically instructed me not to call Miss Potts."

"Tony, enough is enough. You need to..." Steve paused as he entered the dark room. Tony could only imagine he looked like a lunatic. Hair and clothes rumpled and dirty, eyes bloodshot and baggy, half starved and dehydrated. All while arguing with JARVIS in a dark, disaster of a lab.

"I'm busy, Cap. What do you want?"

"How long has he been up?" the super soldier asked. Tony rolled his eyes. Apparently he just wasn't in the room anymore.

"Counting in his 3 hour nap, sir has been awake for nearly 76 hours."

"Good lord, Tony."

"This is ridiculous." the engineer grumbled, retreating back to his table to fiddle mindlessly with the unfinished robot. At least, he tried to fiddle when he was hoisted off his feet. With an undignified squawk, he was thrown over the giant of a man's shoulder and carried off.

"I don't want to see you out of bed for the next 10 hours, or else I'll be tying you to the headboard." he demanded.

"Kinky." If he couldn't squirm his way out of Steve's grip, the least Tony could do was try to make the Capsicle squirm instead. And squirm he did once he realize what he'd said, giving the genius great satisfaction.

"I hate the both of you." Tony whined as he was loaded into the elevator.

"I happen to know for a fact that you love us both very much, sir."

Little shit.

〘⭒⎊⭒〙

"Hey, JARVIS?" Steve flopped back onto his own bed, mentally exhausted from getting Tony to sleep. Even when he'd been struggling to keep his eyes open, the man managed to put up a fight.

"Yes, Captain Rogers?" the AI's voice surrounded him, accent ringing pleasantly in the man's ears.

"Is Tony okay?" he tucked his arms behind his head, frowning. He was used to the genius neglecting his health, but it had begun to reach a new level. Everyone was worried, especially Steve.

"Sir is rather sleep deprived and could use a proper meal, but otherwise he should recover just fine."

"Not like that. I meant more," he twirled his hand in the air, " is he ok emotionally? Did something happen? Why is he doing this to himself?"

There was a drawn out silence and the AI let out a weary sigh.

"It pains me to say that it is my fault that sir is in this state."

"Your fault?" Steve furrowed his brows. What could JARVIS have done for Tony to get so bad? He'd only ever made sure to take good care of him.

"Indeed. I've recently developed a fixation on human activities that interfered with my ability to proper help sir. I shared this with him and he began to insist that he build me a body."

"So is that what the mini Iron Man suit thing is supposed to be for?"

"What?"

"All the way to the right of his hermit den, on the metal table. It looked like Iron Man but it was too small to fit anyone inside?"

"Sir has restricted my camera access to that half of the workshop."

"Oh..."

OH.

Steve groaned, head dropping to his stomach. "I'm sorry. I just spoiled your surprise, didn't I?"

"No worries at all, Captain Rogers." JARVIS said, in slightly better spirits. Caught off guard, Steve puffed out a relieved breath. "Might I ask what color it was? Or how tall it appeared to be?"

"Don't you want to wait until it's finished?"

"Sir restricted my access to the cameras and project data. He never forbade me from gathering information through others."

"Not much of a surprise person?" Steve was sure that if JARVIS had toes, he'd be bouncing on them.

"I cannot say I'm fond of them, Captain Rogers, no. Especially not when they come from Sir."

Steve sighed, a small smile creeping onto his face. "Yeah, a surprise would be nice if it didn't mea-"

"Finding him half dead in the workshop." the super soldier snorted when the AI finished with him. They fell into silence and he suddenly felt very aware that JARVIS was watching him. Wanting to give his hands something to do, he tucked his bed sheets over himself while he thought of what to say next.

He cleared his throat. "It looked simple enough. The suit, I mean. What about it has him pushing himself like this? Wouldn't he usually be done by now?"

"I am sorry to say that it is once again my fault."

"You're being pretty harsh on yourself, don't you think?"

"Sir already had a plethora of other things to attend to when we had our conversations. I tried to discourage him from taking on a personal project when he already had so much to do, but he refused to listen. I agreed not to interfere so long as he only worked on this while he wasn't focusing on his more important work but-"

"But now he's side stepping it by working on all of it at once and ignoring his needs." Steve pinched the bridge of his nose. Tony would be the end of him, and himself, and the rest of the team.

"Correct, Captain Rogers."

"JARVIS is a grown man. At the end of the day, it's his job to learn to take care of himself."

"As Sir's personal assistant and close friend, it is my duty to assist him in all manners."

"But that doesn't make you responsible for his health. It's not your fault." silence settled back over them. It seemed as if JARVIS had left him for the night when he was given a heartfelt "Thank you, Captain Rogers."

〘⭒⎊⭒〙

Steve tossed and turned, kicking the comforter down to his ankles and then tugging it back up over his shoulders. Everything felt just a little too hot and after talking to JARVIS, he suddenly felt hyper aware of all the cameras in the room. In all honesty, it had been the first time he'd ever exchanged more than a couple of sentences with the AI. Until then, JARVIS had been at the back of his mind, only coming to the front in the moment they were speaking. Suddenly his constant presence felt more real. It wasn't necessarily bad it was just...weird, being watched in silence.

And really it was only one of many things on his mind, the biggest one being Tony. He was thinking of all the different ways he could chew genius out in the morning. He cared deeply for the man, a lot more than he actually should, really. But even so, even as much as he worried day to day, he'd normally make sure to leave Tony to his own business down in the lab until JARVIS called him down directly.

Tony and Steve already butted heads consistently over control. Tony hated being told what to do and Steve knew he could be as bossy as they come. Steve was aware this was only made worse by his history with Howard Stark. If there was one thing Tony hated more than being bossed around, it was being bossed around by Captain America; the man Howard Stark glorified, whose impossible standard Tony had been held up to his entire life.

Tony's workshop was his space. His safe haven, where he was the boss and the only boss. He didn't like to butt into that, but if Tony didn't learn how to take care of his basic needs-

"It appears you're having troubles sleeping. Would you like me to lower the temperature, Captain Rogers?" though JARVIS's voice was a whisper now, it still made Steve jump. Somehow it still managed to fill the room.

"Lower the temperature?"

"Yes. My data shows you sleep best when the room is at exactly 66 degrees Fahrenheit. 63.5 degrees Fahrenheit after a nightmare."

"You monitor this kinds of things?" the blonde pulled the blankets more securely around him, feeling slightly unsettled at the idea.

"I monitor the sleep habits and preferences of all those who live in the tower. It is my job to help care for you all as much as it is my job to care for Sir. Most of you, however, have shown to be much more capable of caring for yourselves."

Of course Steve knew JARVIS kept an eye on them, but he didn't realize how much detail it went into. He swallowed, nervous. He didn't like the idea of being watched so closely, and was realizing how many private moments the AI had been present for.

"You've never mentioned any of this before." he noted.

"In most cases, you or the others are asleep or busy, so I experiment until I find a solution. I figured it would be quicker to ask what is wrong, since you are still awake."

"I see."

"I apologize if I've made you uncomfortable."

"No, it's fine, really." Steve sighed. "Yes, please lower the temperature. Thanks."

He rolled onto his side, facing away from the camera he knew was hidden away in the ceiling corner.

"Of course. Sleep well, Captain Rogers."

"Night." he mumbled, shutting his eyes and doing his best to ignore his unease until slipping into shallow rest.