Jack Wild and The Floating Academy

The Exhaustion

"How do you do this all the time?" Jack complained quietly as he and Natasha walked back to his room. "Everything hurts. I don't think I'll be able to move tomorrow."

"You'd better. You'll be training nightly for a week."

"A week?" Jack stared at her. "Natasha, that's going to kill me!"

"It won't." She rolled her eyes. "You'll just be in hell all week. You get used to it."

Jack groaned. "I'm not going to survive this."

"Suck it up and ask Tony to borrow his ice packs. I'll see you tomorrow." She flipped her hair off her shoulder and walked away, leaving Jack standing in front of his bedroom door.

He chewed his lip, looking at the closed door. Natasha had told him early on that no one knew Bucky was down there so he couldn't tell anyone, but he knew Steve was missing his best friend. Would it hurt to just make a comment on the side?

He shook his head. Natasha would probably kill him if she found out he told someone, even if that someone was Bucky's own best friend.

Jack took a deep breath and walked inside, flopping on his bed and groaning loudly. "Tony, you've got ice packs, right?"

Tony was already to his mini-fridge, pulling some out of the tiny freezer compartment. "I've got four, so take two and you can alternate as they get warm and as different places hurt more."

"You're the best, man." Jack grunted, rolling onto his stomach and closing his eyes. His roommate put two frozen packs on his thighs. "That feels so amazing."

"Try not to fall asleep while you ice. It won't help." Tony patted the top of his head. "Do you want anything to eat?"

"I think that if I tried I'd throw up." Jack mumbled, grabbing his pillow.

"Good point, wait a little while." 

The mechanic puttered around the other side of the room for a few minutes, then walked back over and tossed a blanket over the top of him. Jack smiled softly and reached over to grab his phone.

He scrolled through memes for about twenty minutes before Tony was over by his bed again. 

"You're such a mom, y'know that?"

"My specialty. Sit up for a second."

Jack whined, pulling his pillow over his head. "I don't want to."

"Jack, c'mon, sit up for a minute."

He huffed loudly and slowly shifted into a sitting position, looking up at Tony.

His roommate was holding a bottle, grinning.

"What is that?" Jack asked curiously.

"Just a little muscle loosener."

Jack snorted. "I'm not old enough to drink."

"Not that kind of muscle loosener you little brat." Tony smacked his forehead lightly. "It's an actual muscle loosener. Bruce and I have been working on it for a while, and it's finally at a stage where it's safe to use."

"Have you tested it?" Jack asked skeptically.

"Yep, loads of times. On myself, mostly."

He nodded and reached for the bottle. Tony handed it over and Jack took a couple swigs.

"Ugh, that's awful!"

"Yeah, it always is." Tony shrugged. "We haven't had the chance to fix that yet, if we try to it negates the proper effects for some reason."

"Huh. Weird." Jack could already feel the potion working. "Is it supposed to tingle like that?"

"Yep. Nothing detrimental in the end, just a funky feeling for a couple minutes." Tony took the bottle and capped it again, tossing it end over end in the air and sliding it into his apron pocket. "Let that kick in and then change and move your ice-packs, and set a timer to do it again later. I'm gonna go work on my senior project."

"Thanks, old man." Jack grinned and got up, limping to the other side of the room to switch out the other two ice packs. 

"Keep calling me that, I won't share my special potions." Tony patted the pocket.

"Stark if you're giving the kid alcohol I swear...." Steve muttered from his bed, clearly still half-asleep.

"I'm not, I'm not!" Tony rolled his eyes. "Go back to bed, Cap."

Their roommate grunted and rolled over, snoring loudly as he fell asleep again.

"Wake him up if he's not up by ten." Tony advised. "Otherwise he'll be upset with all of us and with himself." 

Jack nodded and glanced at the time. It was barely eight in the morning. "I will. And I'll keep changing my ice packs."

"Good kid. See ya." Tony darted out of the room.