It's a 5 + 1 challenge! Yay!

Okay: Asthma Tony!

Warning: +1 has a slightly Stony reference.

Tony always had Asthma.

As a young child his mother had him taken away to a small doctor, a nice man who had diagnosed his gasping and rasping as asthma.

Howard of course was not happy with such a development, and cared little for the times where Tony could scarcely breath, gasping for air and hunched over as his chest heaved.

'That's it? That's all you got? I could do better then you when I was an infant!'

No matter how much Tony tried, he could not help with such issues.

His first asthma attack was when he had scarcely reached past the age of ten. At that point, he had already reached the education level of Middle School, and although he was much smaller than the other boys, they were still ridiculously jealous.

"Let's get him!" They shouted, all six of the boys running like a pack of wolves hot on the trail of a wounded deer.

Tony sadly, was said deer.

He held no advantage, his thin yet small body held no more muscle mass than any others. Actually, the older boys were much faster, and much stronger than he ever would be.

What Tony could do, was vanish.

He was rather good at that, so as he ran he managed to worm his way through various thick brambles as they tugged at his hair and jacket.

The other boys were too large, they shouted angrily as they tried to force their way through the thickets, and by then Tony had scrambled up a pine tree, gasping for breath as he clung to the bark.

The boys shouted their frustration as they hurried on, thinking that Tony had simply run further.

Tony gasped, clinging with his chest heaving, breath raspy as his pupils grew bigger, desperate for air that he suddenly couldn't inhale.

He was hyperventilating, inhaling with such speed that his chest moved as quickly as a strong piston. His arms were trembling as his breathing was at a dangerous speed, coughing and gagging loudly as every breath was filled with a recognizable wheeze.

Eventually, he thought to himself 'I'm suffocating if I continue like this. I need to calm down."

He forced himself to slow down, to stop the hyperventilating as he closed his eyes, pressing his forehead against the rough bark of the pine tree.

It slowed, the impossible tightness slowly calming until he could breath again, the constricting feeling slowly fading as his fear diminished greatly.

He exhaled, still trembling in the shock and confusion over what had just occurred.

A few more seconds, and he climbed down the tree, trying not to pay attention to the tears in his clothing, or the thick amber sap which had congealed into messy clumps on his pants.

Shakily, he made his way home.

x-(X)-x

The second attack he had was once he was in University.

It was some drunk college night after the local football team won- they were drunk and passed out on several dorm rooms.

Tony wasn't exactly sure how it happened, but one moment he was stumbling around drunkenly, the next someone had hefted the window open and shoved him out with a drunken chant.

Their room was only on the first floor, so the fall was more awkward then painful.

What was bad with it, was the fact that it was late November and although there wasn't any snow on the ground yet, it was cold.

The sudden difference from the hot humid room of sweaty bodies and radiating heat was a huge difference to the dark and sharp cold night air.

And apparently, the difference was enough for Tony to start coughing.

Tony was smarter about the entire situation- he had googled it and already knew enough about the issue to prevent any close calls in the future. The last thing he needed was a surprise visit to the hospital due to a stupid attack.

Tony was intoxicated, much too drunk to locate any of the spare inhalers he had, not to mention actually get back inside the dorm room when his key card was on the other side of the glass.

He coughed, the fits slowly becoming more and more severe until his entire body was trembling and the coughing sounded something similar to pneumonia

He was obviously twitching, gagging and coughing wildly as his throat constricted. Luckily, two people were walking on the sidewalk nearby.

"Oh my gosh- is he okay?" The girl asked, looking to her other friend who with no hesitation, rushed over. They moved nearby him, ignoring the thick stench of alcohol on his person, and instead attempted to help him sit upright.

"What's wrong with him Sam? What's going on?" the blonde girl cried, looking desperate as Tony continued to cough, face more pale in the florescent lighting of the campus streetlights as very slowly his fingers and lips were turning blue.

"I'm calling the nurse." The other girl responded, whipping out her phone before dialing quickly both somewhat panicked about Tony's suffocating body.

The campus ambulance appeared in only minutes, quickly forcing an oxygen mask onto his face while the campus police arrived, quickly stopping the now out of control party and dismissing them.

Tony of course, was dismissed a few days later…everyone assumed it was from over drinking. None except for the two girls knew that it was suffocation- and they didn't even recognize him.

x-(X)-x

The third one was actually a disaster.

Tony had been…invited to dinner by a rather attractive woman.

Of course, she had already checked that her roommate would not be there, everything had been set up with precise planning for that one day.

Of course, she had never mentioned that she had snuck in a cat.

The moment his back touched her bed, he could instantly feel the cough and the constricting of his throat. His eyes widened as he forced his head away from hers, already letting out a flurry of the tight gasping breaths.

"Tony?" She asked in alarm, sitting upright as she quickly took in his appearance in alarm. "Tony, do you have asthma?"

He only gasped, giving a slight nod as he continued to choke and his breath spluttering as his arms trembled from the lack of air.

She sat up, getting off from her position before darting towards the attached bathroom, turning on the shower instantly in which Tony glared at her amidst his coughing,

'Is now really the best time to be taking a shower? Dear god- she's a germ freak.' He thought as his throat tightened slightly more, his deep coughs rising a crescendo into something similar to a chair scraping on tile.

"Come on." She said, attempting to lift him as she returned, partway dragging him towards the room, and from inside, she shut the door.

Tony continued coughing, until eventually the thick humidity in the room due to the shower (and the obviously Cherry scented bath soap) helped, the coughs fading and leaving behind a sore throat and slightly bleary eyes.

She looked at him awkwardly before shifting her weight, turning off the shower and conversationally stating, "My little brother had asthma…sucks, doesn't it?" She said, giving a small awkward laugh as the two stood inside the small bathroom.

"Yeah." Tony spoke, his voice hoarse as she hesitated, opening the door with a sigh.

"I…I think you should go…" She stated, casting him an almost pitying look.

"…Yeah." He sighed, rising and grabbing his coat from where it was crumpled on the floor.

She never called back.

x-(X)-x

The fourth time was quite possibly the most memorable.

Not only was it the most dangerous, but it was the most…unpleasant, given the circumstances.

After his initial asthma attacks, he had quickly looked into the main triggers of such attacks.

Many he was able to avoid- animal hair, sudden changes in temperature, cold air, pollen, even exercise.

What the hardest thing to not to encounter, was the dust issue.

What held dust to a painful degree, was sand. You know where sand was located?

In the middle of a cave in freaking Afghanistan.

It was bad, to the point where they were actually tying him down, not understanding what was wrong with him as he coughed and trembled, breathing with such panic that it was enough to alert the guards.

Yinsen was at first confused, but the moment that he had caught sight of Tony's gradually paling complexion and the blue tips on his fingers, he had an idea.

He shouted out something In the guttural language, apparently something he said was enough that the guards moved, bringing in a somewhat sterile looking box.

Yinsen hurried through it as Tony's gasping breath turned into full on suffocation- never had it been this bad.

'I'm going to die this time. I'm going to suffocate!' His mind shouted as he exhaled, not finding the strength to inhale once more.

"I apologize." Yinsen said, holding something vaguely transparent which Tony struggled to focus on.

'Is that a pipe? Wait- wha-' His mind as shut off as something pried his mouth open, and jammed the clear piping down the cartilage rigged pipe of his trachea.

He gagged, a muffled screaming as his eyes shot wide open at the intrusion- surely he would suffocate.

Tony wasn't completely aware of what was happening after that, mostly that the piping was searing pain against the inside of his throat. They had jammed something inside his mouth for him to bite on- long since had his mouth gone numb from the excruciating cramps.

Even odder, the noises he was able to gag out, the slimy wet sounds as even more shouting occurred nearby, eyes too unfocused to actually realize what was happening.

He felt his diaphragm expand, then expel as he was pressed on, still tied to the chair. He thrashed, and they held him still as once more they repeated the process, again and again.

Minutes, perhaps close to even an hour and Tony was completely limp, eyes unfocused as the tube continued to burn in his throat.

He had forgotten when he had gone limp in the grasp and simply let the piping do the breathing for him.

He had also forgotten when the tears had started, and where they ended.

x-(X)-x

The fifth time was the smoothest by far.

It was a mistake on Pepper's fault actually.

Not many people knew that he had asthma, thus he wasn't very angry with her after one specific day where he was sporting a rather brutal headache from the charity event before.

(It wasn't actually the charity event which caused him to drink. He had come back home only after two hours, he raided his own bar after one rather stubborn idiot at the event commented on how much better Obbie had been at running the company).

He was tired, exhausted, and in rather bad pain from the pulsing in his head.

"Here." Pepper sighed, passing the small medicine to Tony who swallowed it dry, long since learning the ways to dry swallow.

Pepper settled down across from him, sighing as she pulled up a tablet and flicked through the reports quickly.

Tony reclined back, closing his eyes as the couch proved itself rather comfortable in his current situation.

He was nearly at the point of sleeping- when he felt it.

He reached up, loosening the collar of his shirt, before his eyes opened with a delayed reaction.

He wasn't wearing a collar.

He cleared his throat, exhaling with a slight rasp as Pepper looked up with a sigh.

"Tony-"

"What did you give me?" He asked, inhaling with the heaving of his chest, causing Pepper to pause and look at his appearance.

"Tony, what are you talking ab-"

"Pepper. This is important, what did you give me?" He asked, finishing the sentence with a rather tight cough as he paused.

"I- Advil. Why?" She asked, confused as he froze in understanding.

Advil was a freaking trigger.

"Jarvis." He gasped out, already feeling the tightness to the point of his coughs rising in pitch to the loud scraping noises.

"Already set sir. The Nebulizer has been activated in your bedroom." Jarvis responded, and Tony jerked to his feet, hunching over as he coughed even more, breathing with a concerning whistle.

"A Nebulizer? What- Tony!" Pepper shouted, jumping to her feet, tablet forgotten as she followed him.

He stumbled down the hallway, forcing open his room with more force than he needed, the gas already clouding up the air rather thickly as he inhaled.

The chemicals in the air instantly soothed the tightness, yet it caused Pepper to choke and cough as she stepped in, waving a hand in front of her face.

"Tony! What's going on?" She asked, watching as he grabbed the disconnected mask and slipped it over his mouth and nose, the wispy gas medicine already working wonders on his trachea.

"Allergic." He coughed out, succumbing to the urge as Pepper frowned, about to say something before grunting in frustration and storming out, throwing her hands into the air as she ranted about 'not telling her anything'.

Tony had to start keeping an inhaler on him.

x-(X)-x

The sixth time…

Well, there wasn't a sixth time.

He collided, his armor having been blown off by an impressively yet annoying EMP blast.

He was running, avoiding mechanical arms as he jumped, feeling more like he belonging in a James Bond movie.

He was fairly certain that Steve would be arriving rather quickly, mostly due to the fact that the other man was nearly freaked out with his constant vanishing.

He could feel his breathing growing strained as the arms continued to reach for him, and as he reached a collapsed wall that blocked his path, the breathing became too much.

He slumped down, slightly dizzy as the lumbering machine drew closer to him, arms extending outwards to grab him and crush him.

A shield slammed out, severing the mechanical arm before a strong kick caused it to collapse into a pile of rubble.

"Tony!" Steve shouted, concern in his eyes as he raced over, dropping to his knees and grasping Tony's head, noting the labored breathing.

Tony didn't even say anything before Steve's eyes cleared, understanding what the confusion was all about.

"Asthma?" Steve asked, slightly in surprise before reaching into one of the pockets SHIELD had constructed along with the new suit, normally used for holding ammunition. "Here."

Tony looked down, and spotted a slightly dinged up, white inhaler.

He looked at Steve with one arched brow but snatched it without word, inhaling sharply with the puffing medication as Steve blushed slightly.

"I- force of habit?" Steve asked, blushing lightly as he looked Tony over for any cuts or bruises.

"Steve, I'm fine!" Tony gasped, his breathing coming under control as Steve continued to look him over.

"Still- if you have asthma you should have told me! Something serious could have happened Tony!" Steve rushed, causing Tony to give a dismissive hand flip.

"Yeah well, you'll do that for me. Right, Sugar Bear?" Tony gasped, Steve blushing even further at the ridiculous nickname.

"I-"

"Besides. I didn't have an Asthma attack. Because you're there. Right?" Tony asked, stumbling to his feet while Steve blinked, still concerned and gently holding the other man.

"But-"

"Honey, I'm not going anywhere. So- let's finish this fight, and then go home. I want to sleep." Tony yawned, stumbling his way past the battered and broken chunks of machinery that decorated the alley where he had been trapped in.

"Tony!" Steve called over his shoulder, Tony rolling his head before giving a rather...promising wink.

"Don't worry! You'll fit in my bed too!"

Okay- i suck at romance.

I'm sorry if you wanted more fluff for the last bit, but i found that it was safer this way for my audience. Sorry.

I hope i did okay!

REVIEW!

~Oceanbreez7