Secret Santa for Sophie83540 - "A Weary Winter Soldier" - Avengers (Steve, Bruce)

[sapphiremint]

Title: A Weary Winter Soldier

Fandom: Avengers

Characters: Steve, Bruce (sorry no Bucky, a bit out of my comfort zone at the moment)

Disclaimer: I don't own or make $ from the characters, plots, quotes, etc

A/N: Sorry it’s a bit late, though I made a promise to myself to submit it before the new year (my time at least). It took a bit to get started as I’m not used to writing anyone but sick!Tony. I really enjoyed writing something different, it’s inspired me to expand my character writing. I hope you like it!

The snowy winter weather brought the Avengers back to New York, seeking the warmth of the newly reconstructed tower. Although Natasha and Clint were gone within the hour, saying something about dealing with Budapest.

Bruce and Steve were lounging in the kitchen as Tony and Pepper were making their final preparations for their trip to Florida. Tony couldn’t handle the freezing temperatures of New England.

“Alright, have fun you two.” Tony called out as he walked out the door.

“Don’t break the building, big guy,” he added.

Pepper shook her head, smiling, giving the two a hug before following Tony out the door.

Steve chuckled and went back to sipping his coffee while perusing the daily paper.

Bruce turned to Steve, opening his mouth to say something, but snapped it shut. He didn’t know what to say, they never really talked much prior to this. He wracked his brains, trying to think of a good starting point.

“Er, so, uh, Steve, what did you want to do? I could uh, show you around the city. Quite a bit has changed since you were uh last here,” Bruce asked abruptly. Steve looked up in surprise.

“Uh yeah sure, that sounds great. I wouldn’t mind that. Give me 5 minutes to get ready.”

10 minutes past. Then 20. Then half an hour. Bruce started to get concerned, surely Steve didn’t get lost. He took

the elevator up to Steve’s room, knocking softly on his door.

“Steve,” he called out, “are you okay?”

Hearing no response, he opened the door to find Steve knocked out on his bed, snoring softly.

Bruce smiled to himself, guess Steve needed more sleep that he thought he did or he was finally becoming accustomed to the hustle and bustle of the 21st century.

He looked around the room for a blanket, before leaving the room in search of one.

When he returned laden with a thick fluffy blanket, he stopped suddenly, hearing an odd sound coming from Steve’s room. He opened the door to find Steve’s face buried in a handkerchief, and his body doubled over in a fit at the

edge of the bed.

“‘Kktshshsh! Hktshooo! Eitchoo!”

“Bless you,” Bruce said, his eyes full of concern, placing the blanket on top of the bed.

Steve looked up, a watery-eyed mess, flushing with embarrassment.

“Thangks,” he replied awkwardly before sniffling thickly. Sensing his hesitance to blow his nose, Bruce shook his head.

“It’s okay, I don’t mind,” Bruce said nodding to his handkerchief.

Steve smiled sheepishly before softly blowing his nose into the soft fabric.

“I guess the sightseeing is off,” Bruce joked lightly before sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Sorry, I thought this stuff wouldn’t happen, because of the serum.”

Bruce shrugged, “I guess the serum doesn’t provide immunity to all the new viruses and diseases of our time.”

Noticing Steve’s flushed cheeks, Bruce instinctively place the back of his hand to Steve’s uncomfortably warm forehead.

“You’ve got a fever,” he frowned.

Steve’s nose twitched and he quickly buried his face into the handkerchief, pitching forward with the force of the fit.

“Ksshhtt! Hetchoo! Hurreshhht! Heh’ishhh!”

Bruce winced at the harshness of his sneezes, they sounded painful. Steve sighed, blowing his nose in the now soaking handkerchief, throwing his embarrassment out the window.

Bruce patted Steve gingerly on the back, “Bless you.”

Steve opened his mouth to respond but broke off in a coughing fit. Bruce’s brows furrowed in worry, he wasn’t the best caretaker but Steve was clearly miserable.

“I’ll be right back.”

Less than 10 minutes later, Bruce was back with a plethora of items, including a steaming mug of tea and a bottle of pills.

Handing Steve the mug and the bottle, he said, “It’s lemon-ginger tea with honey. It’s soothing and should help in loosening the congestion a bit. Take the pills with it to lower your fever.”

While Steve sipped the tea, Bruce placed a box of tissues and humidifier on the nightstand. Steve watched at him with an expression of bemusement. Seeing Steve’s puzzled look, he clarified, “Tissues are like one-use handkerchiefs, but more sanitary. The humidifier will help your sinuses.”

“Huh, everything’s cobe so far, we didn’t have all this back in my day. Thangks.”

Bruce clasped his hands together, unsure of what to do next.

“We could uh, catch you up on some movies.”

“Thad sounds great.” Steve agreed.

Bruce cleared his throat, “Er, Jarvis, where does Tony keep the DVDs and such?”

“Sir has on-demand movies and television shows available through any TV monitor.” Jarvis embodied voice

responded.

“Right, thanks Jarvis.”

Did he really expect any less from Tony? Luckily they wouldn’t have to relocate to the living room as the room was equipped with basically everything, including a TV.

Bruce flipped on the television and turned to Steve to ask him what he preferred only to see Steve’s face screwed up in a pre-sneeze expression holding his handkerchief inches from his nose.

“Bless you,” Bruce said expectantly.

After a moment, Steve lowered the handkerchief in disappointment.

“Lost it,” he said sniffling thickly.

“So what do you--”

Steve had spoken only too soon as the tickle came back with a vengeance, barely giving him enough time to turn into his elbow.

“Heptshhh! Hur’esssht! Hetshhh!”

“What do--”

Steve held up a finger, which was soon followed by a sharp intake of breath, letting Bruce know the fit was not over.

“Heh-heh-hehhetsh! Hatshoo! Heh’ishhh!”

Covering his nose, he looked around for his handkerchief, when the box of tissues was lightly pressed into his hand. He nodded gratefully towards Bruce, before defeatedly blowing his nose into the incredibly soft paper. Crumpling up the used tissue, he tossed it into the wastebin by the bedside, which he assumed Bruce brought over as it wasn’t there a minute before.

Clearing his throat he said, “In answer to your question, you pick. Anything is fine.”

Bruce thought for a minute before choosing a classic and one of his personal favorites Back to the Future.

Steve scooted over to one side of the bed and motioned for Bruce to sit on the other. Halfway through the movie,

Bruce noticed Steve’s head dipping every so often. Turning off the movie, he placed the blanket over Steve and tiptoed out of the room.

Looking out the frosted window he noticed that it had begun to snow again. He, smiled, making his way back to the living room and flipped the television on to their stopping point, before dozing off on the couch.

[Vintagedarling]

Awesome!!!! Super cute detail when Steve held up his finger to Bruce, in the classic 'Hold on, it's coming,' motion.

[darkness-is-the-light]

Oh my god. This was wonderful! Thank you so so much! Believe me, it was cute as all hell and you did everything right. This was all I could've asked for. Thank you for this wonderful piece of work.

[beatlelover22]

Oh, I loved this! There's not often a lot of Bruce and Steve fics, and this one was just fantastic! Poor Steve, I just want to give him a big hug!!