Concerned
“Where the fuck is Vision?” Rhodey shouted. He had spent the last several hours sitting at Tony’s bedside while the man screamed and fidgeted in pain. They were past the point where Tony could get out words, he could only communicate through garbled sentences that no one could understand. They tried giving him pain pills, sleeping pills, and sedatives, but none of it could help Tony escape from the magic that was holding his brain in a tight fist.
They resorted back to using Tony’s oxygen machine because of the billionaire’s tendency to hold his breath as the worst shocks of pain traveled through him. Rhodey and Sam had been taking turns watching over Tony and the kids who both needed round-the-clock observation.
“He’s MIA. His tracker is either off or just...not connecting. There’s no way to contact him until he comes back online,” Sam said solemnly. He had just put Harley and Sarah to bed after endless questions about Tony’s wellbeing.
“Fuck,” Rhodey cursed.
“Hnngghh,” Tony whined at the loud noise. His arms started twitching and his head pressed further into the pillow.
“Sorry, Tones,” Rhodey said softly, running soft fingers through his best friend's hair. He was trying to fight off the memories of when Tony had first woken up after the accident, just as hurting and uncommunicative.
The only difference was instead of Tony’s body being limp like before, his limbs were pulled tight in a constant tense state. Rhodey and Sam had tried to get his body to relax, but his limbs wouldn’t release themselves, choosing instead to tightly tremble. They knew Tony had no control over his body at this point, but it was becoming obvious the longer he was under Wanda’s spell, it was not just hurting him, it was damaging him, and Rhodey prayed to everything that it wouldn’t be anything permanent. That Tony wouldn’t remain this vegetable for the rest of his life all because some bitchy witch had an attitude about something that didn’t even involve her.
“How is he?” Sam asks, moving closer to the bed.
“He’s getting a bit of a fever. None of the pain medicine is working,” Rhodey said. He took Tony’s hand that sat stiff on the bed and pressed his thumbs into it, massaging lightly. “How are the kids?”
“Concerned,” Sam sighed. “Harley’s been….angsty.”
“Can’t blame them. We all feel really helpless right now. I’m just hoping Vision shows up sometime soon,” Rhodey sighed.
_______________________
“We can’t go after them, Wanda,” Steve said firmly. “We have no idea where they are going. If we follow them we might play right into Tony’s hands. I know Bucky wouldn’t say anything, but we need to get far away from here before Scott tells someone where we are.”
“So?” Clint said tiredly. “What happens if they find us? We didn’t do anything. That was all Wanda.”
Wanda growled and marched towards the archer. “I did nothing .”
Clint gulped, forced to stare at the red wisps of magic swirling in her eyes. Finally, he nodded. When Wanda turned back towards Steve, Clint shared a look with Natasha. Suddenly, the archer wished Bucky and Scott had invited him along.
“So where are we going?” Wanda asked Steve in her heavy accent.
Steve bit his lip, looking around. “There’s a small town a few miles out, I was hoping to contact T’Challa once we get there.”
“T’Challa?” Natasha repeated incredulously.
“Yes, he is very understanding,” Steve said confidently. Wanda nodded along with him and they continued walking.
Clint and Natasha gave each other another look before following the pair a few feet behind.
_________________________
“Are you sure this is the way?” Scott asked for the billionth time.
Bucky rolled his eyes, “Yes, Scott. Believe it or not, i’m very aware of my surroundings.”
Scott huffed, almost tripping on a rock. “But we’ve been walking foreverrrrrr,” he whined.
“And we have forever more to go, so keep going,” Bucky huffed.
Scott let out a cry and shuffled his feet after the supersoldier.
They had no idea that above, an android was watching them with a critical eye.
_______________________
Rhodey wanted to cry in joy when Tony woke up and his severe migraine had decreased to a bad headache. Rhodey was both happy and anxious that Wanda’s mood had improved.
They sat Tony up on a bunch of pillows and tried to get him to eat. The man’s headache was better, but his body still trembled and his words still slurred. His eyes were squinted, despite the room’s light being dimmed, and he couldn’t hold anything in his weak grip.
Rhodey and Sam had brought the kids into the bedroom after they had badgered asking about Tony. Immediately as they entered, Sam had to catch Sarah who tried to dive onto the bed. After another speech about being gentle around Tony, they settled onto the bed, curling around the genius.
When Rhodey brought some soft food for Tony to attempt to eat, the kids took turns feeding him, which Tony was not too happy about at first. After seeing how excited they were to help though, Tony grew more comfortable with their assistance.
“C-can you c-c-c-call Peterrr?” Tony stuttered that night as Rhodey and Sam were giving him a sponge bath.
The men froze, looking up to where Tony was melted against the pillows. “You think that’s a good idea, Tones?” Rhodey asked wearily.
Tony’s head jerked in a nod. “N-need to,” he paused to take a deep breath. “-t-t-talk. Him and Harl-l-ley.” Tony groaned as Sam shifted him onto his side to wash his back. His body was extremely sore from the tense state it had held for hours.
“Almost done, Tones,” Sam said when Tony cried as he washed a sore spot.
“V-Viz?”
Rhodey sighed and shook his head. “No contact.”
Tony went quiet in thought for several minutes, his brow furrowed. “Hope he’s ‘k-kay.”
“Me too.”
______________________
The next morning, Tony was feeling a bit better. Sam spent the morning washing him up and getting him dressed while Rhodey made breakfast.
The three planned to sort through a few things about Harley and Sarah today while they waited for any sign of Vision. Peter was due to come over late afternoon after school.
It only took an hour before Sam was lifting Tony into the hot rod red electric chair that was delivered yesterday. Tony had gotten so thin that it only took one of them to lift and carry him easily. His skin was sucked to the bone, and all the muscles they had built up during PT were gone.
Sam and Rhodey had been forcing the orthotics onto his legs whenever they could remember, but still they were floppy, shaking, toothpicks. They would have to bring in a professional soon, but there was simply too much going on.
Sam lifted Tony’s legs onto the footrest and slid soft socks onto his feet. The genius’ eyes were closed and Sam knew it was because of the dull throbbing in his brain that was constant. He took a throw blanket from the edge of the bed and tucked it into Tony’s lap when he saw the man shivering. “Thanks, Sam,” Tony muttered.
Sam nodded and moved Tony’s shaking hand to the wheelchair’s joystick. They both made their way to the common room where Rhodey was cooking in the kitchen. Upon seeing Tony, the man put down the spatula he was holding and walked over. “Hey, Tones,” he smiled.
Tony’s smile was a bit dim, but his eyes shined bright at seeing his best friend. “Hey honey-bear.” Rhodey smiled brighter at hearing his clear voice.
Rhodey stopped in front of Tony and felt his forehead, frowning at the slight fever. Tony leaned forward and rested his head on Rhodey’s stomach. “You sure you feel okay, Tones?” Rhodey said a bit worriedly.
Tony hummed, breathing in the fresh scent of Rhodey’s shirt. Rhodey’s hand ran through Tony’s hair and the genius closed his eyes in bliss. “You need a haircut,” Rhodey said, causing them all to laugh. They separated and Tony made his way to the kitchen island.
Sam lifted him in one motion, placing him onto the taller chair. It was a nice core workout for Tony by keeping himself from falling off, though Sam kept an eye on him.
“Where are the kiddos?” Tony asked as Sam took the blanket off his chair and wrapped it around his shoulders.
“Probably still sleeping, they were up pretty late,” Rhodey said, flipping a pancake. Sam opened up the folder that sat in front of Tony and remembered not to hand it to him.
“I think the first thing we should focus on is getting custody of the kids. We can’t enroll them in school, or even keep them here technically, until we get the rights to them,” Sam said.
“That shouldn’t be too hard, I doubt their real father is interested in keeping them anyway. We just need to bring up enough evidence against him,” Tony said.
“Yeah, you’re right, that shouldn’t be too hard. But I think we also need to decide who should hold their guardianship,” Rhodey said. Everyone stilled and looked up at each other.
Tony frowned. “What is there to decide?” The genius’ eyes narrowed.
Rhodey sighed. “Tony.”
“Harley is mine . I will be their guardian.”
“Tony,” this time it was Sam. “You know the courts won’t grant you guardianship when you’re…”
“When i’m what? Crippled? Useless?” Tony spit out.
“Come on, Tones. Don;t be like that,” Rhodey said softly. “Of course you’ll be their guardian, but I think on paper…”
“Fine, fine,” Tony huffed.
“Rhodes, I think you are our best bet considering I was...a criminal, at one point. I know the pardon and everything, but I still think you’d be the best chance,” Sam said after a long moment of silence.
Rhodey nodded. “We will all have a hand in raising them, of course.”
The other two nodded, though Tony still didn’t look happy.
“Now that that’s out of the way,” Rhodey said, putting the pancakes on plates. “I think we should consider putting Harley in therapy. Even Sarah too- she might benefit from having someone to talk to.”
“No.”
“Tony.”
“No,” the genius said firmly. “We shouldn’t shove the kids off to other people. They can come to us, we can help them.”
“I don’t think we can handle the certain...mental illness Harley has,” Sam said slowly.
Tony slammed the bowl on the table. “There’s nothing wrong with him! He just needs help. I can help, we can help.”
“Tones-”
“Oy! What’s all the noise for?” Harley said, shuffling into the kitchen with his sister on his tales.
“Nothing, Harls. How’d you sleep?” Sam said.
Harley looked at them weirdly, his eyes lingering on Tony who was breathing heavy through his frown and narrowd eyes. “Fine.” He helped his sister onto the stool and sat next to Tony.
“Blueberry or chocolate chip?” Rhodey asked, holding the pan in front of the children. Sam cut Tony’s pancake into small pieces while the genius stared blankly at the plate.
“Chocolate chip,” they kids said at the same time. Rhodey smiled and placed three pancakes on each of their plates.
Sam watched Tony carefully as the man brought the shaking fork to his mouth with a piece of pancake. A bit of syrup dripped onto Tony’s shirt so Sam tucked a napkin under his chin while Tony worked on stabbing another piece.
“Can we go to the park today?” Sarah asked suddenly.
Rhodey and Sam exchanged a look. “How about I take you to the park later while your brother talks with Tony?” Rhodey said.
“Yes! We can have a picnic! Harley hates those,” Sarah said, taking another bite.
“I don’t hate…” Harley huffed.
“Well before we do that, I think we should implement a nap time for Mr. Stank,” Rhodey said, rubbing Tony’s hair.
The genius pouted, glaring. “I’m a grown man, I don’t need a nap.”
“I think Mr. Stank is a bit cranky. And when babies are cranky, that means they need a nap. Isn’t that right Sarah?” Rhodey smirked.
“Yes!” The little girl said excitedly. “My baby dollies have nap time!”
“See Tones? Her baby dollies have nap time too.” Rhodey was forced to duck as he was almost incapacitated by a thrown fork.
Despite the teasing, Tony did end up taking a nap to everyone’s amusement and Tony’s frustration.
A few hours later, Rhodey was helping Sarah button up her sweater, while Sam was settling Tony on the couch. He had switched Tony’s syrup-stained shirt for his favorite AC/DC tee, which now hung off him, and put a matching grey beanie on when the billionaire complained of being cold. Tony yawned, rubbing his eyes, as Sam fluffed the pillows behind him.
Harley sat on the couch across from him, flipping through the channels mind-lessly.
“We’re out,” Rhodey called as he and Sarah walked into the elevator.
“Have fun,” Sam called.
The door closed, and the room was silent, except for the low sounds of the tv as it switched through the channels. “Why do I have to talk to him?” Harley asked suddenly.
“Because I think if you guys actually got to know each other, you could be good friends,” Tony replied. Sam sat next to the man and nodded. Harley sighed and focused his eyes back on the tv.
A few minutes later, the elevator dinged and a teenage boy shuffled into the room hesitantly.