Avengers Stories //Oneshots//

Overworked Tony

(Buckle up! I think this may be my longest oneshot yet! I hope y'all enjoy!)

Tony felt like he could sleep for a week.

Well maybe that was an exaggeration. But he would have slept for a while, would have - except the avengers alarm went off.

He flung himself out of the bed he'd barely just gotten into, ignoring Jarvi's worried " Sir, you haven't slept in 75 hours and are developing a small fever. It would be in your best health to let me inform the team-"

Tony cut him off, "No, Jarvis." He then realized how harsh he might've sounded to his son. "Sorry, J. But I can't. I'll sleep when I get back, okay?"

"Promise?"

"Promise."

The battle was a long one. Tony had already been exhausted, but now it was a miracle he was keeping his eyes open. Once he got the armor off - he didn't trust himself to pilot the armor in this state and Jarvis was still learning full control - he slumped into his seat on his jet, pulling on his sunglasses so no one could see how tired he really was.

As the rest of the team filed back from the showers and changing into normal clothes, he heard Steve say: "We need to head for the quinjet."

Tony folded his hands behind his head and closed his eyes tiredly. "Nope," he declared, popping the 'p' loudly.

He could practically feel the irritation waves coming from the Captain. "Tony-"

"No. My plane-"

"Jet," Clint interjected, his voice a little more far away. He was most likely piloting the jet with J.

"Whatever." The billionaire cleared his throat to keep from coughing. "My jet. My destination. Home, Jarvis."

"Quinjet." Natasha said.

"Nerp. Home. Avengers tower." My bed, he thought to himself silently. He knew he had a tempature even without Jarvis reading off his vitals in his ear every five-minutes-but-feels-like-ten-seconds.

He leaned further into the cushioned seat even as he continued to argue with Cap for the next few minutes. He just wanted to get home.

Ugh. Now he has a headache.

The argument was settled only when Coulson called and said the debriefing would be put off till tomorrow because the Director was tied up with something. Tony didn't know what as he has tuned out the rest of the conversation.

He buckled up in his seat robotically as the others did the same. He felt the engine whirr beneath his feet and he was very tempted to take off his socks and shoes to feel the vibrations better. That always calmed him down. But it would have rose questions from the others, so he kept his shoes on.

Tony dozed a little throughout the hour ride across the globe. No one asked any questions, but that was probably because he had long ago trained himself to seem awake when sleeping. It was handy sometimes.

"Yo, shellhead," Natasha said after he'd woken up for the seventh time. They were only three minutes from the tower by Jarvis's estimation (which was always right)

The genius hummed, "Yeah, Ms. Romanoff?"

"Do you know any good food places?"

"Ask the internet."

"I'm asking you."

"Alright, are you craving anything specific." He asked, sitting up straighter and rolling his shoulders. There was a dull ache in his back, a side effect of sleeping in a non-adjustable chair. He didn't feel anymore awake, maybe even more tired, but his headache was a dull roar in the back of his mind.