Secret Santa for Bruyere (Avengers, Captain America)

[IcyFlame]

Hi Bruyere! I'm Icy and I was your Secret Santa! I apologize beforehand for being so inexperienced (literally joined a year and eight days ago) and the fact that I, being the hermit that lives under a rock, had absolutely no prior knowledge of any fandom other than MCU. However, since I felt bad about not knowing anything that you would've liked better I spent a full week planning this so I could at least make it an interesting read for you, even if it isn't something youd like more. So, hopefully, you'll enjoy this even though it may have not been your first choice. At this point Merry Christmas is pretty much irrelevant so I shall wish you a very Happy New Year!

-°-

Author's Note: This is set post-Avengers and pre -Winter Soldier.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or any of its characters. Also there is one swear word if you even care about that kinda stuff.

Word Count: 2,233

-°-

Steve Rogers; Captain America, the Supersoldier, the perfect gentleman, the perfect human...had come down with a virus. It had all started after the defeat of the Chitauri, steadily growing worse and worse until it wasn't ignorable anymore. He's suspected something was up when he'd developed a headache a couple days after the battle, but he figured it was just post-fight exhaustion.

He had never been so wrong. Slowly, his condition deteriorated as he acquired new symptoms. Now, on top of the headache, he had a sore throat, impossibly stuffed nose, and he felt drowsy and off-balance. He hadn't been performing as well as he could've over the past few weeks and was hoping and praying that the rest of his team didn't notice. So far he couldn't tell, but he was sure they'd find out. Which was why he'd been avoiding them.

It wasn't that he disliked being around other people when he was ill, it was just that he was the captain, the leader! He should be the one taking care of the others, not vice versa! He should have the strongest mentality, alert and in top condition at all times, taking hold of the situation and giving orders. Protecting his friends! He didn't have time to be sick. His team needed him and by God he'd be there, come hell or high water. He'd...he'd...

"Hh...HE'NGXT! HNGXT! Ow..."

He was jarred out of his thoughts by the urgent need to sneeze and hadn't the time to think about how much pain it would cause him to stifle. Or the fact he didn't need to stifle because he wasn't in public.

He had just returned from a small mission, the seventh mission about one and a half days, where they had captured a Hydra experiment that had gotten out of it's cell in one of their facilities. It was very tasking on the entire team because the particular creature that had escaped was extremely intelligent and extremely quick, and for him it was even more difficult because, well, have you ever tried running laps with a stuffy nose and a burning throat? Yeah. It was like that. Only he didn't have the choice to stop.

Well, since the last mission was recent, maybe he wouldn't be called in for a day or two. That would be nice. He really just needed to rest up and kick the virus to the curb so to speak. Little did he know, his luck just ran out.

He groaned as his new phone started blasting his ringtone, Back in Black; a choice that was made against his will by Tony Stark that he couldn't do anything about because...because technology okay. It wasn't like he actually knew how to use it, just how to use the flashlight, make and take calls, and text (somewhat). He picked the smart phone up and looked at the caller ID. Nick Fury...

Wary as ever, with crossed fingers (in the hopes he'd press the right button this time) he answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Cap, it's time to Assemble. Be at the S.H.I.E.L.D. base in twenty."

"Yessir."

"See you then Soldier."

And with that, Fury hung up. Steve silently thanked the lord above for the briefness of the call as he swung his legs over the side of his bed, where he'd been laying down in the hopes of being able to sleep soon. Well at least he still had his suit on. He steadied himself once he'd gotten to his feet and prayed that he could make it through the meeting. He was battling through a spell of dizziness as he walked out to his motorcycle, through his foggy mind he wondered whether or not he was well enough to drive it without crashing.

-°-

"Glad you all could make it. I believe we have a bit of a situation on our hands." Nick Fury addressed the general room as he took a seat at the head of the table.

The meeting amongst the Avengers had been called to discuss the disappearance of three of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s field agents. The missing agents had been on a case involving the same organization and facility that they had literally been at two hours ago; Hydra.

As Fury was going into the details of the case, Steve began to nod off, that is, until he heard his name and felt an elbow nudge to his ribs by the person in the chair next to him; Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow. As he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, she shot him a look- a weird mixture of sympathy and concern that was very out of character for her. He dazedly wondered if she could see through his rouse and gave her a reassuring smile that she returned, and mouthed a "thanks". Although she didn't bug him again, he still got the feeling that she was sneaking glances at him every now and again.

The meeting was almost over when it happened. He had been so close, there were only a couple minutes left and he blew it. Before he could do anything to prevent it, a sneeze crept up on him and ignited a full-blown fit.

"Hh-HEKSSHhoo! EKSHhuh! HIINXxxt! HNGXt! HNxk!Gnxt!HNGxt!...ugh..."

The first ones had snuck up on him but he managed to stifle the rest of them. He blushed bright red with embarrassment as he realized that everyone in the room was looking at him completely dumbstruck. He saw Tony and Bruce exchange glances and Clint whispered something to Natasha. Thor studied him, making Steve feel slightly uncomfortable under his calculating stare. Everyone kept a good poker face, but he had a feeling they had caught on. He blushed even harder when Tony offered him a muttered blessing. He felt really awful about the interruption, then made himself promise he'd try harder next time.

He made it through the last few minutes and was the first one out the door. He didn't want to waste any more resting time, and he definitely didn't want anyone asking him any questions. It was embarrassing enough as it was. At least he didn't have to speak during the meeting.

He almost crashed into a lamppost after falling asleep on a side road as he struggled to make it back to the Stark tower in one piece. When he finally got there, he went inside and all but collapsed on his bed. He glanced at his clock. 9:57 pm. Well, usually he'd do push-ups or go to the gym in the event he had extra time, but it felt like his muscles were on fire and he was tired anyway. So he decided to favor sleep.

After all, they did have a mission tomorrow.

-°-

"Hh-hhah-ahh-AKSHhiew! HAHTShhiew! HETCHhiew! HhhhuhhuhHHUDCHhiew! Ugh...Oh gread..."

The next morning he woke up sneezing and, grabbing a tissue from the box he placed on his nightstand the night before, once again thanked God for this foresight as he tried to relieve himself of some of the pressure from behind his eyes.

He noticed it was even more difficult to breathe than it had been the previous day. His head pounded against his skull and his body ached with exhaustion. His throat screamed in protest as he swallowed, and his head felt like it was full of cement. And on top of all that, he was freezing cold. Seriously?!? He didn't have time for this!!!

He absolutely no business getting out of bed, and definitely wouldn't have if he had nothing more to do. But, lucky him, he had a mission today. He glanced over at his nightstand clock.

7:32?!?! Had he slept through his alarm?!? He was going to be late! What kind of leader was late for a mission?!? Okay. Okay. He could still make it. He still had a little over 25 minutes to get ready. He took a quick shower, got dressed, said a quick prayer, and tried to pull himself together. He had a long day ahead of him.

Wait, there was one more thing he had to check.

"Good bordig."

He winced at the obvious and thick congestion in his raspy, worn voice. Oh this was going to be fun.

-°-

"Ogkay, the plad is as follows. The objegctive is to fidd the bmissig agedts ad ndeutralize ady ad all threats withid the facility. Tody, I wadt you to do a scad ad figure out where everythig is to give us a better success percedtage."

Tony gave a slight nod, giving the others a look that said something, but Steve couldn't figure out what exactly that was. He, in all honesty, was just focused on getting back to bed. He just needed to sleep this off

"Steve..."

He knew just from the tone that it was Thor, and it was thick with concern. Panic bubbled up inside him, or maybe that was just his stomach trying to rebel. He really hoped it wasn't the latter. What if they believed he wasn't good enough anymore? What if they didn't want him as captain anymore because he'd gotten himself ill and they needed someone stronger? He had tried his very best to hide it, was all of that for nothing? For some reason, he got angry; he had absolutely nothing making him mad or provoking him.

"Listed. We are here od a mbissiod ad by God were goig to cobplete it. I will be fide, I just dneed to sleep whed we get back, thed I'll be right as raid. So id the bmeadtibe, just focus od the mbissiod okgay?!?"

It came out much harsher than previously planned and caused him to start coughing. When the fit ended, the rest of them pretended not to notice as Tony got back and touched down next to the rest of them. Steve, looking up and seeing Tony, gave the order to move out.

When they got inside the team split up; Natasha with Clint, Thor and the Hulk, Tony and Steve. Tony gave them directions to different rooms then turned to Steve, taking in his now shivering form. Tony, for the first time, noticed the dark circles under Steves eyes and the slumped, less than perfect stance.

"So where are we goig?"

"Were going back to the tower. Right now."

All the remaining color drained from Steve's face; Tony knew this was going to be difficult to tell him, but he hadn't expected him to look like a kicked puppy.

"Whad?"

"You're crazy if you think youre in any shape to fight, I mean look at you! You look worse than I did that one time I didn't sleep for a week because of an experiment I refused to put on hold! And that's saying something!"

"But I cad't go back, dot yet. Y-you dneed bme, I'mb supposed to be here. IIIHGtchiew! EXSshiew! HINgtchiew! *snf* I didd't wadt to let adyode down...whad leader ab I if I cad't eved protect mby teabbates?"

"Cap..."

Something in Tonys voice made him look up. Tony actually lookedgenuinely concerned.

"Everyone gets sick every now and again. You can't really blame yourself for being sick, I mean, you could've told us right off the bat and I'm not sure what you thought we'd say, but I know I wouldn't have been mad. Like you said we're your teammates. We care about you, and the last thing any of us wants is to lose you in battle because you decided to fight when you were sick."

Tony felt like he was talking to a child. Steve just looked so young. He wasnt complaining, he wasn't saying or doing anything, he just looked tired...tired and prone. Steve nodded, head still down and replied with a small "okay". Tony picked him up bridal style and when Steve didn't even verbally protest, he asked Jarvis what his temperature was.

"103.7° Fahrenheit. 39.8° Celsius."

"Aw shit hang in there Cap..."

Tony Stark had never flown home faster in his life.

-°-

Steve didn't remember getting back to the tower, or even falling asleep. But he had just woken up, so he must've fallen asleep at some point. He was in his bed...no...he was in the tower's med bay. Tony was sitting in a chair next to the bed, reading some book on neuroscience. He looked up and noticed Steve was awake.

"He lives!" he exclaimed with a smile, not out of character for him, but the smile was a little too genuine for his liking.

"How ya feeling?"

"Better...sobewhat...how logg did I sleep?"

"Um...about a day give or take. We took two hour shifts so you weren't ever alone...you scared us there for a bit. Once we got back I gave you NyQuil for your fever and you were out like a light. Sorry, but we figured you needed the sleep. Oh and Cap?"

Steve nodded a yes.

"Next time you need help, don't wait. We don't care that you're not always one hundred percent and we'd still trust you if you weren't. You need to trust us more though."

"Okay. How'd the bmissiod go?"

"Oh yeah! It went fine. No casualties, no injuries. Thing is, it was only a training session apparently. So if it makes you feel any better you didn't miss a thing. "

"...thagk you so buch for persuadig mbe to cobe back to the tower because if you hadd't I'd be really bmad right dnow."

"Don't mention it!"

(If enough people want it, I'll do a continuation!)

Edited January 4, 2016 by IcyFlame

[Arty]

Aww!!! Ya gotta love Steve and Tony.

[Bruyere]

Ah, thank you so much! I just wanted to let you know that I have seen it and loved reading it. There can never be enough 'Steve running himself ragged and getting sick' fic out there in the world. I will be back later on in the week to leave a more detailed reply but I didn't want to leave you hanging and wondering until then!

[darkness-is-the-light]

You've done a wonderful job, IcyFlame! There is definitely the proper characterization for Steve and Tony, as well as the others briefly mentioned. Although, the only criticism I have is that there are no quotation marks around the dialogue which unfortunately makes the story difficult to read when dialogue is recurring. Otherwise, I would love to have this story continued.

[IcyFlame]

OH

MY

GOD.

*AUDIBLY FACEPALMS*

I posted on mobile, and that has a tendency to screw everything up so I think that's why there weren't any quotation marks in the story. And if that is what happened, why is only half the story affected? TECHNOLOGY WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?!?

Well that's my life for ya. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Edited January 4, 2016 by IcyFlame

[IcyFlame]

Fixed it! So sorry for the mistakes, honestly I didn't think it would do that, but I should've known because it's done that before. I noticed while going through it that all the contractions were missing apostrophes and all the '...' thingies had been removed as well so I fixed that too. Once again sorry for the mistakes, it's fixed now. Hopefully.

[darkness-is-the-light]

Fixed it! So sorry for the mistakes, honestly I didn't think it would do that, but I should've known because it's done that before. I noticed while going through it that all the contractions were missing apostrophes and all the '...' thingies had been removed as well so I fixed that too. Once again sorry for the mistakes, it's fixed now. Hopefully.

It is absolutely perfect now. I didn't mean to bother you or embarrass you, I just noticed the mistake and figured it was a technological issue. Thank you for taking your time out, though. It is greatly appreciated.

[IcyFlame]

It is absolutely perfect now. I didn't mean to bother you or embarrass you, I just noticed the mistake and figured it was a technological issue. Thank you for taking your time out, though. It is greatly appreciated.

I dont want you to get the wrong idea, trust me, I LOVE constructive criticism! It's the best way authors can improve upon their work, so I'm not complaining! I was bothered and embarrassed by the fact that happened in the first place! I loathe it when my phone does that, and if something I wrote is hard to read, 10/10 times I'll go back to fix it. And I can't thank you enough for pointing it out because even though you noticed, I sure didn't! XD

[levinelover]

THIS IS SO GOOD!!!!! Please continue!

[Rook]

DEFO[QERFNKGRE[PB3T '[GI4[P[ MY CHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILD EPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP ERIFWERPF[VIWRE3FHVERGU'2F3403JEPF FEER[' FLAILS INSANLY THANK YOU

[silentdreamer789]

Amazing! Pleasepleaseplease write more!

[Bruyere]

I'm sorry there's been such a delay on me posting on this. I really enjoyed this and you captured that need to hide illness from others perfectly.

It wasn't that he disliked being around other people when he was ill, it was just that he was the captain, the leader! He should be the one taking care of the others, not vice versa! He should have the strongest mentality, alert and in top condition at all times, taking hold of the situation and giving orders. Protecting his friends! He didn't have time to be sick. His team needed him and by God he'd be there, come hell or high water. He'd...he'd...
"Hh...HE'NGXT! HNGXT! Ow..."

Hee! I love the 'I need to be okay' thing being undercut straight away by sneezes. And I have a real soft spot for people being run ragged (especially when it's world-saving stuff) and then getting sick as a result.

Wait, there was one more thing he had to check.
"Good bordig."
He winced at the obvious and thick congestion in his raspy, worn voice. Oh this was going to be fun.

Aww, poor Steve.

I loved Tony stepping in and taking care of him and talking some common sense into him at the end.

This was a really fun read, thanks!

[IcyFlame]

Okay, wow! This was /way/ more positive feedback than I expected.

First off, I'm so glad you liked it Bruyere! To be perfectly honest, writing strong characters being taken down by trifling colds is my forté. I love it to pieces. So I was more than enthusiastic to write something along those lines, not gonna lie.

Also, I am happy to report I am going to continue it!

As for plot I have a few tricks up my sleeve, and as for characters I'm probably going to go through the entire Avenger's team (Including Natasha! I think I'm ready to try my hand at female writing but a little later on probably) and I'm going to start with Tony (I'm going to torture Steve a little bit more first though).

The only direct roadblock I see is that I have finals this week, but I'm not even worried because right now I have straight A's even in my honors courses so I'm not scared at all. I'll probably brainstorm with the extra time and have another installment by...let's say...Saturday. Don't quote me on that though, I'm not a miracle worker! (Although I can probably make it happen. ) Anyway, you have that to look forward to, and I'll keep you guys posted!

[Rook]

YAAAAAY *hugs icy flame"