A life together

Fake

They were back on the road, both horrified by what they had found out about AIM, Killian, and the subjects they experimented on.

"Harley, tell me what's happening. Give me a full report," spoke the engineer.

"Yeah, I'm still eating that candy. Do you want me to keep eating it?"

"Absolutely not," Loki replied. "How much have you already had?"

"Two or three bowls," the kid told him, making the god do a face-palm.

"Can you still see straight?"

"Sort of."

"That means you're fine," Tony said, earning a smack on the head. "Jesus, can you stop hitting me? Anyway, give me JARVIS. J, how are we?"

"It is totally fine, sir. I seem to do quite well for a stretch, and then at the end of the sentence I say the wrong cranberry," he announced sounding a little weird and high-pitched. "And, sir, you were right. Once I factored in available AIM downlink facilities I was able to pinpoint the Mandarin's broadcast signal."

"What are we talking? Far East, Europe, North Africa, Iran, Pakistan, Syria? Where is it?"

"Actually, sir, it is in Miami."

They both fell silent, frowning at the cell phone in Loki's hands. "Okay, kid, I'm gonna have to walk you through rebooting JARVIS's speech drive, but not right now. Harley, where is he really? Just look on the screen and tell me where it is."

"Um, it does say Miami, Florida," he said carefully.

"Okay, first things first, I need the armor. Where are we at with it?"

"Uh, it's not charging."

Tony suddenly pulled over to the side of the road as his breathing rose.

Knowing what was coming, Loki immediately unbuckled his seat belt and got out of the car to open the driver's door and take one of his husband's hands. "Actually, sir, it is charging, but the power source is questionable. It may not succeed in revitalizing the Mark 42," said JARVIS.

"Anthony?"

"What's questionable about electricity? All right? It's my suit, and I can't- I'm not gonna- I do not wanna-," he found it harder and harder to breathe, "Oh, God, not again."

Tony got out of the car and sat in the snow, Loki sat next to him and brought their joined hands to his chest, making him feel his heartbeat. "Darling, I need you to focus on matching my breathing. Can you do that, love?"

He nodded at the same time Harley's voice said, "Tony? Are you having another attack? I didn't even mention New York."

"Right, and then you just said it by name while denying having said it."

"Okay, um, uh..."

"Stop being so mean, he is trying to help. Now, concentrate on controlling your breathing."

"God, what am I gonna do?" he asked, panting. Loki's hand squeezed his, helping him to not get lost in his thoughts.

The boy, clearly worried, said, "Just breathe. Really, just breathe. You're a mechanic, right?"

"Right."

"You said so."

"Yes, I did."

"Why don't you just build something?"

Tony's eyes lit up and his breathing calmed down little by little. "Okay. Thanks, kid."

"That was very smart, Harley. Thank you," Loki told him with a fond smile as he ran his fingers through the other man's hair.