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Humans needed to sleep when they were sick.
That was a basic fact. Illness and lack of sleep didn't mix well. It was proven science, and Tony was a man who knew science. He lived and breathed science. Science had never failed him before. It saved his life more than once. He followed proven science, tested the theoretical, and made the supposed impossible into possible. No, Tony rarely disagreed with science, and the times he did, he was right.
And it wasn't that he necessarily disagreed that sleep helped illness, it was that he couldn't do it.
He'd tried, he really had, but his sleep wasn't simply darkness or weird dreams fueled by fever. He had nightmares on the regular, and sickness just made them worse, blending memories with false endings that had him waking up in sweat, coughing and wheezing as he tried to get a grasp on reality.
It had been four days of fever. He'd actually broken down after the first day and went to his personal physician, getting the diagnosis of the flu. Unfortunately, that meant all he could really do was rest until it ran its course.
He didn't tell Pepper how bad it was. She was at a two week conference in Germany - an extremely stressful conference that she'd prepared months for. The last thing he wanted was to worry her. He couldn't hide that he was sick, not when they video called every day, but he made sure not to show exactly how bone-deep exhausted he was.
Because it wasn't just not being able to sleep. He couldn't stop himself from working. The nightmares left him with increased paranoia. No matter how much he tried to follow JARVIS's urgings to stay on the couch or in bed, he always ended up back in the lab, shivers crawling up his spine as his weak hands worked on another suit, a Widow's Bite, Clint's arrows-
The only mercy was that he currently wasn't at Avengers Tower. As good as he was, he wasn't sure he would have been able to hide it from them. Three days before he got sick, he'd headed to California to handle some business there. It wasn't hard to lie about extending his stay for more SI stuff.
Currently, he was in the lab at two in the morning, fiddling with the left boot of his most recent suit model. He wore his beloved MIT hoodie that he'd practically lived in since the fever started, his hair a mess and darkness under his eyes that he didn't bother to try and hide. Shivers kept running through him and his hands trembled so much that he kept dropping the small wires. He would have been frustrated if he had the energy.
"Well, this is a poor sight."
Tony startled, eyes jerking up to see Rhodey, leaned against the wall near the stairs with his arms crossed. When he blinked and his friend didn't disappear as some fever driven mirage, he asked, "What are you doing here?"
Rhodey pushed off the wall, walking toward him. "Little birdie told me what was going on."
It took Tony's brain an extra few seconds to process that. When he did, he glared at the ceiling. "JARVIS, I'm donating you to a city college!"
"Sir, your words were not to inform Miss Potts or the Avengers. You said nothing about Colonel Rhodes." His AI replied, a smug smile in his voice. "When your condition continued to worsen, I made the decision to call. I don't believe I violated any orders."
"Smart-aleck AI." Tony mumbled.
Rhodey stopped by his work table, eyes full of obvious concern. "And I'm glad he did tell me. You look terrible."
"Gee, thanks." He rolled his eyes - and instantly regretted it when his headache spiked.
"C'mon, you're going to bed. There's no getting out of it." He tugged Tony up with a hand under his bicep, ignoring the genius's rather weak protests. He pulled him over to the elevator, JARVIS wordlessly opening the doors. When they were inside, Rhodey pressed his hand to Tony's forehead. He winced. "Gosh, you really are burning up. Have you taken anything?"
"Tylenol-"
JARVIS interrupted. "Sir, that was eight hours ago. You need to take another dose, as well as take the flu medicine."
Rhodey leveled him with an unimpressed look as the elevator opened. "You're taking your medicine and going to sleep."
"Yes, mom." He groaned, ignoring how his heart jumped at the idea of sleeping. He was pulled to his room, where Rhodey practically pushed him down onto the bed. While he took his shoes off (because that was the one element of self preservation he did have when going into the lab), Rhodey grabbed his medicine tablets and a glass of water.
"Here," he passed them to him and watched while he took the meds. Tony had half a mind to crack another joke, but he was too tired to come up with one. Sitting up in bed, he could feel the exhaustion hitting him full force, his body begging for rest.
Maybe that was why it took him a second to realize Rhodey was getting into bed on his free side, gently pulling on Tony's arm again until he was leaning over to be wrapped in a hug.
"We aren't in college anymore," Tony mumbled into his shoulder, though he didn't make a move to pull away. His friend was solid and warm, the latter of which Tony hadn't been in days.
"Who said I had to stop hugging my younger brother?" He gave him a gentle squeeze for good measure. "Let yourself rest, buddy. You'll feel better in a while. JARVIS, cut the lights, please."
The room dimmed, not going completely dark. It was something Tony couldn't handle anymore, not without the arc reactor. It was still an adjustment to not having it. If Rhodey thought it was weird, he didn't say a word. He just pulled the blankets closer, increasing the warmth and comfort.
Honestly, it was enough to get Tony trying to sleep, trying to trust that it would be enough to chase away the nightmares. He let his eyes shut, breathing even, attempting to let himself fall-
Yet every time he got to the edge of sleep, he was yanked back by a little trill of fear going through his chest, through his heart. He didn't want to go back to the nightmares. Reality was good. Reality wasn't scary. Reality wasn't trying to kill him-
"Why aren't you sleeping, Tones?" Rhodey asked quietly after what might have been half an hour. Tony wasn't exactly sure how he knew, considering his friend couldn't see his face.
He pulled in a breath. "I can't sleep." Try as he might to hide it, the fear and desperation seeped through his tone.
Rhodey paused and Tony could almost sense him putting together the double meaning. He started rubbing Tony's back, his other hand gently carding through his hair until Tony was subconsciously moving closer, pressing his face into his brother's chest as if that would hide him from the terrors of his mind. "I will stay right here with you, I promise."
And somehow, that was all it took. A few breaths later, he finally slipped into the sleep his body desperately craved.
It wasn't all peaceful. Memories of Afghanistan blended with what he'd seen in the portal, his heart racing whenever he woke up, blood thumping with panic and adrenaline, his rational mind caught in a whirlwind of fear-
But then Rhodey would be there, murmuring words he couldn't always make out, hugging him through the terror until he managed to calm down enough to fall back asleep. Eventually, his mind seemed to get the hint that nightmares couldn't haunt him while Rhodey was there, and he got to slip into sweet oblivion.
He didn't know how long it had been when he woke up next, mind emerging slowly from sleep, his body so heavy that he didn't bother opening his eyes. He was warm, so incredibly warm that he'd finally stopped shivering. There were muffled sounds that slowly cleared until he could make out familiar voices talking.
"I've got him, Pepper, I promise." Rhodey said. His hand swept across Tony's forehead, pushing back hair, and Tony recognized his head was propped on his friend's chest, his heartbeat a distant sound in his left ear. "See, he's sleeping like the angel he definitely isn't."
Pepper laughed softly. "I see. Believe it or not, he can be sweet sometimes."
"I have yet to see it." Rhodey's chest rumbled with his laughter and it was all Tony could do not to react.
"Just please call me if something happens. I don't care what time it is over here. I knew he wasn't telling me everything, but I couldn't-"
"It's not your fault. He's stubborn. Too stubborn. I'll keep an eye on him until you get back."
"I trust you to keep my boyfriend alive."
"I've done it for nearly thirty years. I think I can do it for another week."
"Thank you, Rhodey."
"Anytime."
Tony waited until they said goodbye before forcing his eyes open, shifting his head to glare at Rhodey without any real heat. "That was mean." He complained, rubbing his eyes with his hoodie sleeve.
"Telling on you to your girlfriend?" Rhodey raised a brow. "You deserved it. Go back to sleep. We'll try some chicken noodle soup in a bit."
"Don't like chicken noodle soup." He replied, burying his face in Rhodey's chest again.
"Tomato with grilled cheese?"
"Fine."
Rhodey laughed lightly, arm resting around him in a hug. "Sleep well, Tones. I've gotcha."
Tony believed him. Sleep came easier, wrapping around him like a long lost friend. As he fell into its embrace, his last thought was that he could never have a brother better than Rhodey.