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Tony taps his fingers against the arc reactor, before wincing and sticking them in his pocket. It sucks when his pain flares and means he can’t fidget, because his train of thought gets interrupted every three seconds . And it’s not like he could go take more medicine, he’s already taken what he’s supposed to each day for the pain. Stephen would kill him if he even thought about double dosing, and Tony would prefer not to have to call poison control.
It’s times like these when he considers moving to the desert. Maybe some place like Arizona, where it’s hot and dry and the change in pressure doesn’t make him want to rip his lungs out.
Unfortunately, he’d miss New York too much to stay long. And so would Stephen. And he has other issues with deserts that would send him right back here anyways.
Actually, with Stephen as the master of the New York Sanctum, can he even move to another state? Where even are the other Sanctums?
Wait, what was Steve talking about? Something to do with evacuation procedures, Tony probably should have been paying closer attention to that.
“-and then once the perimeter is set up-” though this would be better as a list of written instructions, Tony has mentioned that before to Steve, plus it looks like Bruce is just as checked out as he is, so it can’t be that bad.
Tony feels something poke his side, and looks down to see that the Cloak is trying to get his attention. He glances at Stephen and winces in sympathy at how he’s holding his wrists and the slight grimace on his face that he can’t fully hide. Rainy days like today truly suck, for both of them.
Stupid pressure changes and stupid chronic pain and stupid pointless meetings that don’t do anything to distract them from the pain.
At least when he’s working in the lab and Stephen is astral projecting they can block out the pain, but Steve always takes the opportunity of everyone being trapped in one place to give boring lectures. Or go over procedures that aren’t even their job or business. Evacuations should be left to the professionals who have better training than an afternoon of talking about it. At least that’s what he thinks.
Tony feels another stab of pain in his knees and chest, and he barely holds back a groan. Seriously, heavy rain sucks, for the both of them. Levi pats his knees in sympathy, and Tony has the one thought you should never think as an Avenger. Like an idiot.
At least the Avengers Alarm hasn’t gone off; it would be miserable fighting in this rain .
And just like that, the alarm goes off.
It’s a mad scramble for the door, though Tony hangs back with Stephen. Benefits of a nanotech suit and a sorcerer boyfriend is that he doesn’t have to take the long route with everyone else.
“FRIDAY, location please,” Stephen sighs, casting a spell to change into his sorcerer’s outfit and slips his sling ring on with a wince.
“Oh come on, really? Another C-list villain? Who even is this guy?” Tony groans when he sees the wannabe villain in Central Park. “At least the costume is well-made; he’s either got some sense of style or has copied someone else.”
“I’m going to go with he copied someone else’s OC design,” Stephen glares at the image. “Think we can get away with not showing up?”
“The press will just make theories about us having a lovers spat or thinking we’re too good to fight in the rain, and I’d rather not deal with that,” Tony activates his suit and starts reading the information FRIDAY projects for him. “Looks like we’ve got a twenty-something who stole from his professor’s lab because ‘she’s a bitch who hates men and wants him to fail,’ because she won’t let him take credit for his lab partner’s achievements."
Stephen roles his eyes. “What an idiot. Let’s get this over with.” He makes a portal, and they step through into the cold autumn rain.
Thankfully, the battle is short, but not short enough. They are able to get the college student into custody before he causes any real damage, but not before the others are soaked through and Stephen’s hands are clearly feeling the effects of being out in the cold rain. The waterproofing spell and gloves he wears can only do so much to help, just like Tony’s suit can only help him so much too. Man his chest hurts. And his knees.
“That sucked, he sucked, Stephen is opening one portal back to the tower and then we are leaving and not going to be seen again for several hours,” Tony snarls, rubbing at his chest, which doesn’t help . Stephen’s hands are visibly shaking, and Tony just wants to put the warming compressors he made for Stephen on him and them burrito themselves in a heated blanket before continuing their rewatch of Deep Space Nine .
“He did indeed suck, and we can leave the debrief for when no one is going to catch a cold,” Steve agrees, using his shield as an umbrella. “Let’s get out of here, if I have to here him blame a single other person for his own shortcomings, I’m going to lose it.”
Natasha just glares in the man’s direction while everyone else grumbles their agreement. Stephen opens a portal to the main floor with a wince and quickly let’s it close once everyone is through.
Bruce glances up from where he’s wrapped in a blanket on the couch with a book (he was able to argue that the Hulk would cause more damage than solve problems, lucky man), raises an eyebrow at how everyone is dripping water on the floor and says “I’ll put in an order for pizza, go change before you ruin Tony’s floors.”
“Thanks Brucie Bear, just send ours upstairs,” Tony waves his concerned look off, gilding Stephen to the elevator.
“Next time, I think I’d rather the bad press,” Stephen mutters as he slowly takes off his day gloves while Tony fetches him the special extra-pain-day ones. “Honestly, I think the police could have handled it by themselves.”
“Yeah, but at least this way I can ensure Dr. Kolenda-Mason gets her tech back, the government can’t seize what it doesn’t have,” Tony helps Stephen put his fancy gloves on, before padding over to the kitchen to get some warm beverages for them both.
“FRIDAY sweetheart, can you- oh, thanks darling,” Tony smiles down at the premade drinks, adding sugar to Stepthen’s tea and creamer to his coffee.
“You’re welcome Boss,” FRIDAY says cheerily.
Tony walks back to the living room, where Stephen has already wrapped himself up in a heated blanket. “Get over here so we can cuddle, I’m tired and sore. Plus, this is one of my favorite episodes.”
Tony grins and hurries over. The rain may suck and make both of their pain worse, but at least they have each other.