Keeping Up With the Avengers

Fire Crackers and Actual Crackers

James Buchanan Barnes woke up in a cold sweat with a stuffy nose and a sore throat.  He thought to himself:  I'm fine.  Totally fine.  Just morning allergies.  I will wake up, take a shower, eat breakfast, and I'll be fine.

All of those things happened.  Guess what? He was not fine, even though he would not admit it.  He was also certain that this very day was important in some way.  He couldn't remember. 

Steve Rogers woke up to a screeching bird.

Wait what.  A bird.  I don't have a bird.

He rolled over in his bed to see a bald eagle perched on his dresser.  He remembered what day it was. Independence day.  4th of July.  The day most Americans had a barbecue and got drunk.  This holiday was similar to him in many ways, but with one added aspect: the avengers, mostly Natasha, made fun of him in every way possible. 

He walked into the kitchen to the tune of The Star Spangled Banner playing from Natasha's phone. 

"Hilarious, I wonder how long it took you to come up with that one."  He grabbed an Eggo from the toaster and sat at the breakfast counter.  He noticed while sipping his coffee, that his best friend wasn't there.  Bucky usually never missed a chance to make fun of him.  He chugged his coffee, scarfed down his waffle, and went to look for his metal armed friend.

He found Bucky laying in his bed with a laptop.

"What's up Buck?" he asked.  Steve knew something must have been wrong.  He glanced at the computer screen, only to see WebMD symptom checker pulled up.  Bucky was obviously in denial about being sick.

"Good morning Steve, not much is up, just checking email."  Steve quickly put a hand to Bucky's forehead.

"Actually, something is up, your fever." Steve said, slightly concerned, "You're sick."

Bucky immediately protested.  "I'm not sick Steve.  I promise." he stated trying not to sound nasally.

"Well considering it's the 4th of July and you missed the team mocking me in every possible way they they could think of, I think you aren't feeling well."  Steve said with slight annoyance to his team members.

"Crap, I forgot that was today.  I was the one that thought of the eagle." Bucky seemed sad for once. Then all of a sudden his face was struck with surprise. "Steve, the internet says I'm dying."  Steve felt bad and made up his mind to take care of his sick friend for the day. 

"Bucky, I promise you, you aren't dying and I'm gonna take care of you today."

"No Steve.  It's probably just a little cold.  Go enjoy your 4th of July." Bucky said.  He didn't want to ruin Steve's day.

"Bucky, I hate this holiday.  Not the premise behind it, but what it has become.  I also don't exactly enjoy becoming a parody for the day.  This gives me a good excuse to hide away for an entire afternoon."

"Well, if you need me as an excuse, I will pretend to be sick for a day." Bucky said.

"But you are sick.  And thank you for being my excuse.  I'm gonna go warm up some soup and crackers for you."

"Thank you." said Bucky.

Steve went away and came back shortly with some chicken soup and crackers.  Bucky looked worse than he did thirty minutes before.  He was pale, clammy, and dry heaving into a trashcan.

"Steve, I think I'm dying." Bucky said in all seriousness.

Steve sat the crackers on the nightstand but withheld the soup.  "Well considering you were just dry heaving into a can, I think crackers will be the only thing you eat for a while, and no, you are not dying.  When was the last time you were sick?"

"Mid 1930's I think."

"Well I guess it's been awhile.  This is called being sick.  You probably have a cold or a stomach flu.  Both are not serious, and both are treatable with symptom depressors.  In conclusion, you will not die." Steve said with sarcasm, trying to comfort his pathetic, sickly friend.

He sat the plate of crackers and sat next to Bucky on the bed.  Steve flipped on the TV to some documentary about crayons and forced some Pepto into Bucky.  Bucky managed to keep the crackers and some water down and he eventually drifted to sleep. 

Steve watched the documentary with utter concentration and eventually zoned from the world around him.  Suddenly, two hours later, Bucky snapped awake and started vomiting into the trash can.  He collapsed onto Steve's lap shivering.  "I'm actually dying Steve.  Everything hurts."

Before Steve could protest, his phone rang, surprising them both, he looked down to see Natasha was the one calling him.

"Hello?"

"Steve, where have you been all afternoon?  The fireworks are about to start." asked Natasha.

"I have a feverish assassin on my lap and I'm trying to convince him that he isn't dying."

"Well, tell him to pop a few ibuprofens and get out here."

"Okay.  I'll try." Steve hung up and shook Bucky who was beginning to doze again.

"Dude take some ibuprofen and get up for a few minutes.  Natasha wants us at the fireworks show."

"But I-" Bucky began to say.

"Nope, you are getting up.  It wont be very long.  Just some fireworks."

Eventually Bucky got up, trudged to the bathroom and came out shortly with fresh pajamas on and brushed teeth.  "Let's go," he said, with an obvious lack of enthusiasm.

They walked to the balcony, joining the other avengers.  Thor was very excited, Loki seemed unimpressed, Sam was sipping beer and talking to Wanda and Vision, Tony was having an 'intense' discussion with Rhodey and Fury while Pepper stood in the circle looking the same as Loki.

Natasha walked up to both of the supersoldiers and gave them drinks.

"I hope you are feeling better, Bucky." said Natasha.

"Not much, but Steve promised I wasn't dying."

"Well.... that's great Buck, and how is my star spangled man with a plan?"

"If you call me that again, I will strap you to a firework."

Soon the fireworks started and everyone was amazed.  Even Loki seemed to admire them. 

The night ended with Tony getting drunk and threatening Thor.  Bucky threw up.  Clint shot some cool firecracker arrows.  Bruce had to sedate Tony, and Steve went to bed happily, knowing that the dreaded holiday was over.