Tony stark//one shots

Breathless

Summary: In hindsight Tony probably should have used those extra two hours to sleep instead of working on his cars, all of them, at the same time. He probably should have only kept one car running at a time, but his state of chronic exhaustion caused his judgement to falter.

Steve should have known something was wrong, he knew Tony. He should have noticed his change in attitude quicker.

TW: Vomiting

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Tony was exhausted, but when is he not these days. What with the endless projects from Fury and SHIELD, the renovations of the tower, the upgrades he needs to make to Barton's arrows, Natasha's knives, Cap wants an art studio, Bruce needs some Hulk proof pants. As well as the multiple upgrades his suit needs before the next battle, the thrusters on the boots were flickering mid battle and he nearly crashed into a building.

So, despite his exhaustion he needed to keep working. But then Fury pulled one of the projects, putting it off for the time being. Tony didn't know why, he was just glad. He could use those two hours to fix his cars, he wanted to upgrade them so he could go even faster.

Any normal person would use those two hours to sleep, but not Tony Stark. He finished Clint's arrows and dragged himself out of his seat. His vision spun and he leaned forward, arms on his desk. He took shallow breaths, he hadn't taken a deep breath since before Afghanistan the cylinder in his chest constricting his lungs.

When he finally regained some strength he pushed away from the desk and grabbed the new arrows. He would usually just tell JARVIS to call Clint down to his lab. But he wasn't thinking, and maybe he could grab a drink in the kitchen. He made his way to the elevator, his head pounding with every step. He always seemed to have a migraine now-a-days, probably from the lack of sleep.

"Hey JARVIS, when was the last time I slept" He asked the AI as the elevator shot up to the shared floor.

"You slept for approximately and hour and a half 27 hours ago and your last sleep before that was over 48 hours ago. Sir, I strongly advise that you use the two hours break you have been given to sleep"

"No can do JARVIS, I want to feel the speed I feel in the suit but in my cars" The elevator doors opened and he stepped out of them and into the living room. "Barton, arrows"

"Hey, well lookie here. We have a wild Tony Stark, in a habitat other than his lab" Clint mocked, "But thanks Stark" The group chuckled.

Steve looked over at the billionaire and noticed the dark circles under his eyes. How had he never seen them before, thats right Stark never left his lab.

"Stark you ok?" Steve asked, hoping the man would open up.

"I'm fine Cap, don't worry your little ass about it" And with that he turned and left, leaving the captain with even more questions.

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"JARVIS, Play my tunes" The room filled with AC/DC and ironically it took away his headache. Allowing his mind to clear for a moment before filling with plans to upgrade his cars. He got to work, starting the engines and fixing a part before moving to the next car.

He had worked on about five cars, leaving them running at the time being. At one point he thought he may have heard JARVIS speaking but it must not have been important because no alarm went off. He was too wrapped up in fixing his cars to notice the small blinking on one of the screens in the corner. He was too rapped up to notice the Carbon Monoxide levels start to climb in the lab. He wheeled out from under the car cursing when he noticed that his headache was back, not in a sharp stabbing way which was good but in a more of a dull headache.

He stood up and suddenly a wave of nausea hit him, as well as the sudden dizziness. This isn't normal he thought. He took more short breaths and clenched his eyes shut trying to push back the vomit. This is weird, he's never experienced this before. Oh well he may as well move onto the next car.

"Sir, I apologize for pausing the music but Steve Rogers is requesting your presence at movie night"

"Ugh, can I say no?" He hoped he could get out of this, the nausea wasn't settling down and he didn't want to puke in front of the Avengers, they would think he's weak.

"I'm afraid not sir, and I do recommend that you leave the lab, I need to put the air scrubbers on there appears to be an unsafe amount of Carbon Monoxide in the air."

"What, did you say Carbon Monoxide" Just then his cars all shut off simultaneously. "Damn it, I left them running. I'm so stupid"

"You are very smart sir, but I recommend you leave the Lab now" Ok he would do that, leave. He stepped into the elevator and subconsciously told JARVIS to bring him to the Living room. Halfway up he fell against the wall of the elevator still fighting the nausea and dizziness. He felt so weak, but he had to pretend to be ok, he had to put on his award winning smile and converse with the Avengers.

He took as deep a breath as he could and righted himself. The doors opened again and he stepped out, he was immediately greeted with the smell of pizza. It made him even more nauseous.

"Tony! I didn't think you'd actually come. We're gonna watch Starwars" Steve greeted uncharacteristically.

"Yup" he said popping the 'p'. He couldn't manage to say anything else, he was afraid that if he did he would throw up.

"Are you sure you're doing ok, you don't look too good" Steve said as he walked towards Tony.

Tony thought about lying and saying, 'Yeah i'm doing great lets watch the movie' But in his sick weak state he thought just for a moment what would happen if he told the truth. When he opened his mouth the words that came out surprised him. "N-no" He stumbled forwards into the strong arms of the super soldier. He marveled at the warmth the arms provided.

Tony's answer surprised Steve, he knew that Tony wasn't fine but he didn't know that he would actually admit it. He saw the genius stumble forward and rushed to catch him. The man was cold, he pulled the man up and carried him bridal style to the couch that bruce had quickly vacated. He played him down and grabbed a blanket.

"Wha' 're you doin' "Tony asked deliriously.

"Whats going on JARVIS?" Clint asked the AI.

"Sir, seems to be suffering from Carbon Monoxide poisoning"

"WHAT, ok, ok what do we need to do" Steve freaked.

"I'm going to go get an oxygen mask and tank Nat come help" Bruce announced leaving the room followed by Natasha.

"Hey, Tones. Baby its ok come here" Clint pulled Tony onto his lap and threaded his fingers in his hair. While a shocked Steve stared mouth in a comical 'O' shape.

"What- Since when" Steve tried to ask.

"A few weeks ago, Tony called me down to find the arrows and well when I walked in he was so tired that he fell over on his way to give them to me and I helped him to his room and stayed with him until he fell asleep. I also calmed him when he had a nightmare and panic attack and after all that we just decided." Clint finished with a quick peck to his partners forehead. "We were keeping it a secret for the time being but I guess it's out now"

"I got the mask" Bruce ran in holding an oxygen mask, Natasha following close behind holding the tank. They placed the oxygen onto Tony's face and secured the straps around his head. Tony took a deep breath and his eyes fluttered open. After a few more breaths he managed to speak.

"What happened" He asked his words slurring.

"Carbon Monoxide poisoning, you should have taken those two hours to sleep. That's what Fury gave them to you for, he figured that you could use the sleep but without him telling youth's what it was for you ignored him" Steve clarified.

"Mmmm, not very smart of me huh?" He mumbled before his eyelids fluttered shut and he fell asleep.

Tony Stark finally got a good nights rest, even if it had taken a sometimes fatal condition to make him do it. But thanks to his friends- no, family he was alive and sleeping peacefully with them all sitting close to him

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