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The house had been suspiciously quiet, Harry noticed, and following the observation he also realised that he hadn’t seen Paige or Tony all day either. When it was mentioned to the other two, they agreed with him that it was incredibly strange.
It was just after two in the afternoon, Tony would’ve made himself coffee and gotten everyone up- Which he did, but nothing else in his usual schedule, no check-ins, no threatening aura about them wasting time.
Robin didn’t want to get involved, telling Harry not to push their luck and maybe the Concepts living with them might’ve already killed each other in a rare draw today. It was past midday after all. Manny adamantly shook his head when Harry decided he was going to check the rooms, just in case. It wasn’t the smartest decision, and of course he knew that; But it was best to be aware anyway.
Even if it’ll kill him.
Harry cautiously walked up the stairs to the bedrooms and immediately noted that Tony’s door was closed, while Paige’s room door was slightly cracked open. His brows furrowed as he did his best to be quiet and peek into the room after he heard a sharp inhale of pain. Though his eyes widened at the scene he’d caught sight of.
Paige was covering her eyes with her arms, laying on the floor while Tony slowly moved her right leg, moving her heel to her thigh in order to bend her leg at the knee as carefully as he could. Paige’s hands clutched at her hair as a sob left her lips, followed by an agonised sentence.
“I’m going to kill you if you do that again…” Which caused Tony to frown harder than he already was, and kiss the top of her knee when he let her leg stay bent completely for a few moments.
“I’m sorry, love. Just trying to help.” Paige nodded, even after her threat. She knew he was only doing his best to help her, and she let him lower her leg back down straight on the ground as she clenched her jaw and tensed her shoulders and gripped onto her hair tighter, trying to fight back the shuddering exhale that left her as he did.
The red haired man lightly knocked on the door, unsure of what he could do, and he flinched when Tony’s gaze snapped up to the door even if he could see it now. It was Paige who spoke.
“What?”
“It’s me… Just, wondering if you needed anything?” Harry heard Tony get up after a mumbled ‘Mhm’ from Paige, who was glad she wore shorts and a shirt today instead of her dress. “I suppose some tea would be appreciated, and quiet.” Tony grumbled as he opened the door only slightly to let himself be seen.
“Is everything alright?” Despite knowing better, he really just wanted to ask if he could help.
It wasn’t every day when one of them would be hurting enough to cry without an outright injury, and Paige wasn’t one to cry easily even when injured as well. So it was a little unnerving. “We’re handling it, just find the ginger tea and bring it up when it’s done.” Harry took that as the warning it was and nodded before heading back downstairs to find the ginger tea that was apparently wanted.
“What’s going on, Harry?” Manny asked once he’d returned uninjured, and Harry just shrugged. “No clue, Paige is in pain for some reason and Tony’s helping her? Dunno. Gonna make her some ginger tea.”
“That’s very strange.” Robin’s shrill voice was the next to respond, and all three flinched when Tony yelled down the stairs.
“Quiet would be very much appreciated, you lot!”
As quickly as he could, Harry found the tea and brewed it the correct way as the others stayed silent, watching whatever was on the TV as quietly as they could get away with while also being able to hear it. Once the tea was done, Harry carried it back up to Paige’s room and again knocked on the door.
Again Tony was the one to stand and collect the tea from him with a very quiet grumble that was usually a ‘thank you’ in his own way without using the words, before closing the door properly this time.
The moment he was sure Harry had left, Tony sat beside Paige as they took a small break in the exercises and he let her recover some before gently stroking her upper arm to encourage her to look at him. “Tea’s done, let’s try sitting up now so you can drink it.” And he frowned again when Paige shook her head with another whimper. It’d been a very painful morning for her, and she’d only barely been able to move enough to lie on the floor like this so that they could go through some exercises once Tony realised what was going on.
“Come now, darling, I know you can handle it. I’ll help you up, here.” Despite the harsh exterior and act he put on, once he was alone with Paige and knew she wasn’t doing great, did he dare to let this side of him show.
Paige reluctantly moved her arms to look at him with dark blue, tear filled eyes and she huffed through her nose as she closed them, but she did push herself up with her hands. Pain was written across her face as she did and the tears spilled down her cheeks at the effort, and Tony quickly moved to sit behind her to support her back against his chest after he saw her arms shaking as well. “I’ve got you, it’s okay. Here, just rest against me, have the cup.”
Tony felt her entire weight against his chest when they settled there, and Paige held the cup in shaking hands. “… I feel pathetic…” Paige whimpered, half hiding her face against his shirt when she turned her head, and Tony brushed back almost black locks of straight hair.
“You’re anything but, my love… You’re just in pain, but I’m here to help you. Everything’s going to be okay.” Tony kissed her head and Paige sighed heavily as she further relaxed into the body behind her, keeping her eyes closed and she moved her feet a little before stopping as pain shot up her legs.
So she just took the much needed break and slowly sipped on the tea, letting Tony support her as they sat there.
Though, Tony broke the silence after a minute or two.
“We can stop for today if it doesn’t seem like it’s going to get better, it’s been a couple of hours anyway. Would you like me to stay with you today?” Tony’s face was half buried into her hair when he spoke, and Paige had to think about it before coming to an answer. “Yes please… Heavens knows I can’t do anything myself today… It doesn’t feel any better.” A sigh left her at that, and Tony pressed another kiss to her temple. “I’ll get you anything you need me to get you, it’s alright.”
That finally got a small smile on her face, even though her knees were still in utter agony. “Thank you, sweetie.”
Both of the Concepts stayed like that for a while, with Tony supporting Paige as she got through the tea she’d needed, before Paige was ready to have him pick her up so that she didn’t need to stand and face more crippling agony.
It was something only they knew about her, ever since Creativity had chosen Karlie to be her human half. Poor girl had an awful case of chronic knee pain after a sports accident in school, and today was one of the extremely painful flare-ups she occasionally got every couple of months.
It was something not even Gods could heal, deep rooted in the woman’s biology. The only thing any of them could go was wait it out and help where possible, and limit how many people knew about such an ailment. Though of course, Tony could be trusted to keep a secret.
The Concept of Time be a damned hypocrite and she’d never let him live it down if the word got out thanks to him vocalising it.
A well deserved death too, in her opinion, one that'd mimic the pain she was faced with. It was something he didn’t want to gamble with, so he kept his mouth shut and offered support wherever possible. The rest of the day was mostly them laying together on her bed while she sketched and did little drawings, Tony occasionally getting them both drinks and food when needed or asked for and the trio staying out of his way.
One of the rare quiet days where no-one died, and no blood was drawn.
And it still unnerved the entire house, apart from the two strongest beings in the building, who thoroughly enjoyed everyone else finding it uncomfortable. Moreso than when they were fighting.
How odd was that, when fights become the norm, peace becomes eerie?