Secret Santa for CaptainCarol: Captain Marvel (The Avengers, F, Cold)

[Arc Reactor]

Hi @Captain Carol! I'm your secret santa this year! I hope you enjoy this

I don't really know much about Captain Marvel, but I did some research and I hope this is accurate enough. 

Happy Holidays!

 

“You can’t keep doing this Carol.”

Carol Danvers glanced upwards from her place at the bar table to meet the eyes of Tony Stark, who was sporting a disappointed look on his face. He quickly dismissed the bartender who came up to him asking if he would like to order something before turning his attention back towards the blonde woman who had her eyes closed as she massaged at her temples, hoping that the billionaire would just disappear.

She wasn’t in the mood to be reminded of her failures. Not today, when she felt so tired and groggy and the only thing keeping her from shivering incessantly was the glass of whiskey she had cradled in her hands.

Carol sniffed and rubbed at her itchy, red nose before turning to the side, feeling the prickling sensations of an upcoming sneeze. Her hand shot up to her nose.

Heh’EHTsheuw!

“Bless you.” She heard Tony say a little wearily before she felt his hand rest on her shoulder. Carol stayed in the same position, twisted to the side, waiting out the next one. She was never lucky enough to get away with just one.

II’TSCHoo!

“Snf. Ugh.” She was guided upwards gently, one arm at her shoulder and one on her back. The whiskey was left forgotten.

“Let’s go Carol. You’re sick.”

Suddenly, the emotions she had been pushing away, the emotions she had been trying to numb with the alcohol, came surging back and she hiccuped at the patheticness of her situation. Her powers were depleting, she was pretty sure Captain America hated her, and the world was crumbling around her.

The man leading her outside pulled her in for a hug. Carol hadn’t even noticed that she was shivering until the warmth from Tony’s radiating heat came upon her in waves. She buried her flushed face in his chest as he stroked her back.

“I’m going to sign you up for AA meetings, okay?” She heard as she weeped. Everything was so hard. She was trying. She was trying to be a part of the team, she was trying to be a hero.

But one thing kept leading to another and one failure kept leading to more failures and…

She was so tired.

Carol knew what the Avengers were discussing right at this moment. Sans Ironman of course, because he was here, dragging her out of a bar once again, where she had made her home after another catastrophic failure.

Hawkeye almost died today because of her. She should have listened to Captain America when he told her through the coms to stand down, to let Ironman take care of the collapsing building.

She had been so determined to prove herself. She couldn’t even remember what she was thinking when she had flown up anyway, pushing at the sides of the building to keep it steady, not knowing that the foundation had already gone to hell and the reason Ironman was the one supposed to take care of the situation was because he needed to stabilize the structure first from underneath.

And her depleting powers had caused her to stutter.

The building had toppled. Hawkeye had been trapped underneath. Carol had flown off, willing her powers to not fail her as she escaped, unable to meet the eyes of the Avengers as Hawkeye was pulled out of the rubble, badly hurt, but still breathing.

She didn’t know when exactly she ended up in a bar, drowning her guilt in a bottle of Jack.

And to top it all off, the tiny sniffle she had marched into battle with had become a full-fledged monster of a cold and everything about her was aching.

“Is he okay?” She blubbered and slurred a little, pulling away from the billionaire who looked at her with soft, pitying eyes.

“He’s going to be fine.” A pause. “No one blames you, Carol. In fact, we were all worried about you. No one could find you after you flew off.”  

Carol wiped at her eyes and her streaming nose. God, her headache was getting worse.

Hh… She whirled to the side and sneezed openly, the cold air catching her spray. Heh’ESSCHew! EZZSCHeuw!

“Bless you.”

Carol leaned against Tony’s car to steady herself after the bout of dizziness which came from the forceful sneezes.

Her hand shot up to her nose once more, the prickling tickle still sending waves of irritation up her flushed nostrils.

Ah’TSSHoo!

She felt a hand at her shoulder and she turned slowly, wiping at her watering eyes.

Tony held his handkerchief out with a gentle small. “Bless you,” he said. She accepted it with a small sniff before blowing her nose. He held the door open for her and she entered his car gingerly.

“JARVIS, warm up the car please.” Tony said briskly before closing the door and walking around to the driver’s side. Carol moaned as a blast of heat bathed her chill body.

“I’ll do better.” She mumbled as he entered.

They sat in silence for a bit.

“Carol, I know what it feels like. I… I’ve had to fight this same battle. Alcohol, it… it almost ruined me. I don’t want to sit back and watch it ruin you.”

“Tony, I…”

“We care about you. So I’m going to ask you to take some time off, okay?”

The words brought tears to her eyes.

“Not because we want you off the team.” He continued hastily, putting a hand on her knee. “But because we want you to get better. You deserve a chance to get better.”

“I’m so sorry.” She whimpered, her headache pounding through her temples.

“Hey. It’s okay. I get it. I’ve been down this road, Carol. But I picked myself up. I fought. Sometimes superheroes have to save the world and sometimes… sometimes we have to save ourselves. You can get through this. You’re strong, you’re intelligent, you’re better than this. I know you are. Just…” He sighed. “Just promise me that you’ll go to the meetings.”

Carol stayed silent for a long time before she whispered a meek, “okay.”

Tony squeezed her knee and offered a smile. “Now let’s get you home so you can rest, alright?”

“Yeah.” She tried to smile back. “Thanks, Tony.”

“I believe in you, Carol,” was all he said before they began to drive back to the Avengers mansion.    

[Captain Carol]

THIS IS WONDERFUL! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!