Capsicle: Avengers (M)

[Mercury]

A/N: This was written for a prompt at avengerkink, which pretty much wanted the Cap to be miserable with a cold, with possible hints of Steve/Tony. Hopefully I delivered, but if not then I stuck some sneeze-spellings in and delivered it to you guys. So Enjoy

Capsicle

Tony didn’t exactly know what he was expecting when he picked the lock of Steve’s apartment. The furniture looked like it was 5th hand, and there were barely any electronics in the main room. It was clearly incomparable to the luxury of Tony’s penthouse. Hell, even S.H.I.E.L.D bunking rooms had more personality. Which begged the question; Why would steve return here?

Captain America had disappeared several days prior; retreating back into his previous dwelling. If Tony thought it possible, he would have worried he was being dumped.

“Honey, I’m home!” he called through the apartment. “and I know you’re here, so you can quit hiding.”

He stepped further into the small room. The kitchen, he noticed, looked unused and the cushions on the couch were undisturbed. There was also a fine layer of dust over the bookshelf and benches. Really, it didn’t look lived in at all, but Steve had to be there. He wasn’t anywhere else.

Tony looked around the dead apartment and contemplated the likely-hood that Captain America had relocated to Mexico, but his musings were interrupted by a startling, muffled sound from beyond a closed door.

“Heshhmmphh!”

“Steve?” he crossed the living room in a few sharp strides and pushed the door open. It took a moment for the billionaire to realize that, yes, someone was actually in the bedroom, albeit hidden underneath a mound of blankets and such. Spread across the bed was also a variety of different balled up papers. Some Tony recognized as tissues, others were paper towels and a few snotty balls of two-ply toilet paper.

“You in there somewhere, big guy?”

The bed groaned as the lump moved as far away from the door, and noise, as possible. “Dow, dod't cobe id you'll get sig.”

Tony ignored the protest that he suspected may not have been English, and sauntered over to the superhuman. He tried to peel back the layers of blankets but it was ineffective, as the man buried beneath them seemed to burrow deeper in and further away from the billionaire.

“What are you doing?”

“I dod't wadt you to see be either.”

Tony crawled onto the bed. “Why not?”

“Because I'b sig”

“Yeah, I got that. Genius; remember.”

Tony collapsed onto the lump which stopped squirming for a moment to shiver and create three thunderous and horribly wet sounding sneezes. “Heh’Ekchhhhtt! Hishhushhh! Hutshhhttt!”

The billionaire recoiled from the shape in both disgust and vague amusement. He had studied the enhancement that Steven underwent and even with the evolved resilience of modern viruses, his body should have been able to fight any sort of bug that was suicidal enough to attempt to invade Captain America.

Yet, Steve, being the self-sacrificing jerk that he was, had probably run himself down after the latest fight. While the others had been rotating shifts, allowing time to stop and rehydrate or bandage themselves up, he claimed that he didn’t need any down-time. Which, clearly, was bullshit.

Two more muffled sneezes came from beneath the blankets before an unproductive yet wet sounding cough.

“I don’t care what you look like, Cap. You sound like shit, but that’s all the more reason to make sure you’re okay.”

There was a low groan and slowly Steve emerged from the blankets. He blinked owlishly at Tony, his blonde hair was dishevelled and his normally handsome face looked much worse than how he sounded, which was something Tony thought was an impressive feat. Although he was trying to look put together with his chin raised and jaw set, he was avoiding Tony’s gaze with as much dignity as he could muster.

“Tell Dr. Tony what’s wrong.”

“By head hurts ad by throat hurts ad by dose wod't stop sdeezigg... ad it hurts too.”

Reaching over, Tony put the back of his hand against Steve’s forehead, frowning at the heat he found there. Steve always ran a little hotter than normal, so he wasn’t sure how concerned he should be. “Have you taken any medicine?”

Steve shook his blonde head and reached for a roll of toilet paper, pulling off the last few squares and blowing his nose thickly. The sound made Tony wince in sympathy, but at least when the superman answered his question his voice was clear “I went to the drug store but didn't get anything. There's a lot more types than there used to be and I didn't know what to get. I don't know what they all do anymore.” The super-soldier’s gaze flicked up to Tony, revealing frustrated tears shining in his eyes as he bit his chapped bottom lip.

His frame shivered and then seemed to blush under Tony’s quizzical gaze.

“They’re perfectly safe, Steve.”

The big blue eyes looked up at him pleadingly for a moment, before the face ducked back down beneath the covers to release a few more sneezes in privacy before resurfacing.

“Heh’Etshhhh! Hit’Ishhhh! Heh... Eshhhhhh! Cad you pass be that roll of toilet paper, please?”

“And why didn’t you buy more tissues while you were out getting confused by cold meds?”

Steve shrugged and Tony tried not to laugh and instead put on some sort of facsimile of concern and patted the sickly captain on the head. “There, there. I can find you some handkerchiefs, and make you some tea with lemon and, somehow, find eucalyptus oil if you insist on old-school remedies.” He shifted from the bed, moving to head to the door when he heard Steve shift to sit up more.

“No, don’t.” Steve looked concerned, “I-I don’t want to put you out. You’re probably busy, and I should have called and told you where I was instead of making you worry. Look, I promise I’ll go get some medicine, you should go back to the tower in case they need you.”

“They’ll survive without out me,” Tony reassured, “you, however, might not.”

“I will so.” came the insistence, which would have been more efficient if it wasn’t followed by a harsh sneeze directed into a ball of toilet-paper. “I do’t deed sob’body to look after be. I dever have.”

Tony looked at Steve, who shivered now that he was outside his cocoon of blankets and coughed deeply into his fist before blowing his nose again, deepening its already deep pink colour.

“I didn’t think you did.”

“And just because I don’t understand all this modern medication and technology it doesn’t mean that I’m stupid or weak.”

Smiling, Tony moved to sit back down on the bed, keeping eye contact with the other man. “I know that, Steve. I have never thought you were weak or stupid, I promise. We’re just team-mates, and team-mates worry and care about each other... Or so I’ve heard.”

The anger, or whatever it was that Steve’s vulnerability and sickness had caused, bled from him and he slumped back into the pillows. He looked tired, of more than just sickness, and he curled in on himself, burring himself under the blankets until he was the same indistinguishable lump that he’d been when Tony had entered the bedroom.

“Thank you.” He mumbled. “And I’m sorry, ‘m just tired.”

“I know, Cap.” Tony patted the lump, “I’ll go get that tea.”

[Jorm]

Aw Poor Capsicle XD Poor adorable, delicious, hot, sneezy Capsicle I'd crawl into bed with him too if I were Tony.

This was lovely, I love the use of Cap not being familiar with modern day stuff and getting confused by all the many varieties of cold medicine. I totally needed this today, so thank you!

[SapphireSong]

GAAAAHHH!!!!! asjkdflajsfksdfj this is friggin' ADORABLE!!! I'm not usually even interested in anything leaning toward slash... but this is SOO GOOD!! I LOVE Cap... he's probably my favorite Avenger This is AWESOME, thank you SO much for writing this :'D Are you going to continue it?

ooh, I also liked the whole thing about him being confused about modern medicines and such - it's so cute and so very him! ^^

[Renny]

EEEEEEEEEEEEEK IT'S PERFECT~ It's exactly what I needed to continue living....thank you so much!~

And the confused Steve...is just precious. I'm melting, seriously. Tony/Steve is just so adorable and makes me feel like

Especially the way you portrayed them. Thank you so much~!

[Garnet]

Ooooh yes more Avengerfic >8D *grabbyhands* Man Cap isn't my favorite but he's so damned precious here (and so fiiiiine~ otherwise) that I may have to rearrange my priorities a little. I too loved his frustration over modern medicine and culture in general. Poor guy :c <3 Thank you for sharing!

[Dusty15]

This is adorable! I'm all about more Avengers fics! :-D Thanks for sharing!

[ID2006]

So perfectly in character and yummy sickness

[Dye]

gjkfjjgkajkjfsd;gkaaa ridiculously hot

please, don't mind this puddle on the floor

she'll just be here

waiting

for more.

[ichixshiro14]

^What she said lol. This is adorableeeee!!!

[Zwee]

Oh sweet lord. Captain America is my favorite FAVORITE, and... Chris Evans makes me want to cry with happiness. Also, this was possibly the best thing ever. You're too good. So in-character, and the spellings were cuuuute, and I loved the dynamic of this whole story. Thank you so much!

[serotonin]

Seeing more Avengers fic makes me a happy happy girl, but Cap fic?! Ohhh you make me so happy. I love me some Cap and I was desperately hoping some Cap fic would turn up. I love that he sequesters himself away so the others won't get sick -- so Steve. Also with the wet sneezes and owlish blinking and dishevelled hair unnnghf I died. So much spot-hittting. Thank you for sharing! <3

[ThatSneezyGirl]

I saw this movie the other day and sad to say it wasn't my favorite, but the guy who plays Captain America is super cute! I like this this story. Pleas continue

[Sitruuna]

Do I die now or right away to his hotness..? Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww~

...now I want to get to watch and read a bunch of superhero stuff. xD

...I can't die to his hotness... B| Because then I'd miss all that might come someday.

But seriously this fic. ______

[queenie]

Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes.

[Renny]

Unnghh I just read it again.... these two are just so perfect together. I decree, this pairing is called Stony. And shippers are called Stoners. Who's with me? xDDD

[Dye]

*officially a Stoner*

XDDD That sounds terrible, but so true.

Not the drugs, I mean.

Man, the shipper name is so awkward.

[Vongola Undicesimo]

YESSSSS!!!!!!!!!! God, it's stories like these that got me into this pairing the first place. But finally! I've been waiting for someone to do this and you did it sooooo perfectly~ Those two, d'awww....

[shingetsu]

Excuse me while I go to the corner and silently SCREAM at the sheer PERFECTION of this!!

"Dr Tony" lol <3

Also Steve is just so adooorable when he's sick and miserable and sneezing!

[Meala]

Dr. Tony YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM <3

[dw124]

Just found this fic, and it is all kinds of adorable! I need more sneezy Cap in my life.

[Rook]

I shamelessly ship I shamelessly ship STEVE ahhhhhhhh so cute

[RemedyBane]

Aww this is so cute!! I love it!

[cara]

please continue! I love this! Steve is soooo cute