Curiosity Killed the Cat

Chapter 15: Sick

"What?!"

"Loki-"

"Absolutely not!"

"It's not that bad."

"Stark-" Loki coughed violently into his elbow.

"Your going to the hospital. No arguments."

Peter sighed from the corner of the room.

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That morning they had all just sat down for breakfast when he noticed a reddish area on Loki's forehead that he was trying to cover with his hoodie. Upon closer inspection, his eyes were also red and he had a similar splotch on his left hand.

"Loki?"

He didn't answer.

"Loki?" He asked a bit louder this time. The trickster turned his head a bit towards Peter, enough for him to see it was much worse when you looked at it head-on. All the while, an old memory came back to haunt him.

"You haven't ever had the measles have you?"

Loki shook his head a bit.

Bruce heard the word "measles" and went into full doctor mode. "Who has the measles?"

"I think Loki does."

Bruce grabbed Loki gently by the arm and led him into the med bay while Peter waited anxiously with the rest of the avengers.

About ten minutes later Bruce came out and confirmed that somehow Loki, did in fact, have the measles.

They kept him in the med bay so FRIDAY could keep an eye on him.

Throughout the day it got progressively worse, to the point where Loki was now throwing up into a small bucket next to the cot he was sitting on. His fever was too high and he was achy all over.

"I'm not going to a hospital, I'm- cough -fine."

And that is how Tony , Nat, Peter, Shuri and Loki found themselves in an ER waiting room.

Loki had to wear sunglasses because the light was starting to hurt his eyes and increase his headache. They waited there for over half an hour before the doctor saw him.

They had to explain a lot when the doctor was convinced that the thermometer and weight scale were broken. They had to explain even more when Loki had to take his hoodie off.

It's not every day you have to explain to a doctor about torture.

After re-confirming the measles diagnosis, the doctor informed them that it wasn't too severe, however it did call for a short stay in a quarantined area of the hospital.

Fortunately, everyone in the compound had the measles at some point so they were all in the clear.

Unfortunately for Loki though, a hospital stay was easier said than done. Peter felt his stomach drop when they brought in an IV cart. He remembered all too well the feeling of having a tube coming out of your arm. One look at Loki's face told him that he didn't have the best memories with the thing either.

Nat and Shuri had already gone back to the compound to get some of Loki's things for his stay. So it was just Tony and Peter left to help him.

His breathing was labored and his eyes became wet when he saw the needle. Tony gently turned Loki's gaze away from it and towards himself. Peter held his hand and squeezed it reassuringly.

Loki squeezed his eyes shut and gripped Peter's hand as soon as he felt it go in. They all stayed this way for a while, even after the doctor left for a minute.

Tony made soft comforting gestures and quietly shushed the poor god. Little known thing about Tony stark: he also hated the hospital. Everything reeked of rubbing alcohol and after the whole Afghanistan thing, he didn't really trust doctors.

"Mr. Stark, may I see you for a moment?"

Tony nodded and quietly left Peter with Loki. Once they were outside the room, the doctor looked at his clipboard for a second before turning to the billionaire. "Mr. Stark, is that Loki?"

"Yes, why?"

"Well sir... um..." the doctor fidgeted a bit. "Some of the nurses figured out as mush as well and they are quite frightened of his presence."

"He's not gonna do anything to them, he has the measles for one thing, and he was also tortured into doing what he did in New York."

"I understand that but... technically speaking he is still a criminal and a lot of our staff feel uncomfortable with him being unrestrained."

"I don't care. Get over it. Without a good reason you are NOT restraining him."

As if the universe itself was watching that conversation and decided to throw a wrench in it, a small "Mr. Stark" came from Loki's room.

Tony looked in and saw Loki trying to pull out the IV. He rushed over and gently took Loki's hand and got it off of the line.

"It's uncomfortable, I don't want it." Loki's voice was raspy and pleading. Tony felt awful for bringing him here but they just didn't have the correct means to treat him in the compound.

"I know. It's just helping you get better and we wanna make sure you can be ready to kick Clint's ass in game night next weekend."

Loki softly nodded and closed his eyes. The poor kid looked exhausted and almost immediately fell asleep after that.

The doctor gave Tony a look. Great. Now he had a reason.

"I'll be back in a few minutes."

Sure enough, a few minutes later the doctor was back with some soft restraints for his wrists and ankles.

Peter mumbled a confused "what" as the doctor started restraining the unconscious god. He was gentle enough and made sure they weren't too tight. It was still enough that Tony practically threw the doctor out after he had finished.

This was gonna be a long few days.