Avengers Angst

Inconvinence

Word count: 2198

• Tony Stark

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It was so, so cold.

Tony knew it was just him, of course. The fever wasn't so bad that he'd completely lost track of what was happening around him, let alone the fact that he was ill. But that didn't change the fact that he felt like he was freezing, nor the fact that he couldn't stop shivering miserably.

He swallowed back another whimper, aware it wouldn't help anyways. He hated being sick, hated feeling like this, but sometimes there just wasn't anything to do except ride it out.

Despite the fact that he knew he should reach out and take at least some sips from the glass of water that DUM-E had procured for him, he couldn't bring himself to remove his arm from under the pile of blankets and out into the cold. Not to mention he knew the glass would hurt to touch due to the temperature difference and possibly make him feel even colder.

Most he could do was simply breathe through it all and tell himself it'd pass - it always did, just always took longer than he wanted it to as well. But he could get through this, on his own, as he always did.

Neither of his parents had been very interested in him when he was ill. One of his earliest memories was lying in bed, feverish and asking for his mother, only for her to pull up her nose as he had to throw up. She'd called for Jarvis and then left again, and as far as he could recall, she hadn't come to see him again until he was well.

Jarvis had been better, there to help and support him, but he could never spend much time with him when he was ill. He had plenty to do, after all, and couldn't simply spend his day by Tony's bedside just because he wasn't feeling great.

In all, Tony had learned pretty quickly that being ill was an inconvenience, made him an inconvenience, and whenever it was impossible to hide that he was sick, it was usually best to isolate himself and wait it all out.

Even years later, it was something he fell back on. It was unpleasant, no denying it, but overall, he felt it was a better option than annoying other people even more than he usually did. They had their own lives to live, after all, and Tony knew better than to hope that they'd take time out of their busy lives to spend time with him when he was utterly and completely useless.

Another shiver ran through his body, and he clenched his eyes and mouth shut against the miserable whine that wanted to escape him. He was not that pathetic, he wasn't.

Turning again, curling up even tighter in hopes it would help him warm up a little, he couldn't help but sigh a little at the feel of the sweater he was wearing.

While most things felt too rough on his skin, the sweater he'd 'borrowed' from Bucky was wonderfully soft, and its scent helped to soothe him as well. Ever since he'd come in from the cold, the former Winter Soldier actually preferred the comfiest of clothing whenever they weren't out in the field, and even before they'd gotten together, Tony had been more than happy to provide.

It had been a few weeks since he'd taken the sweater, but whenever Tony's nose wasn't clogged up, he could still smell Bucky on it. He'd started it a while ago, and while he suspected that his partner was well-aware he had a tendency of holding some of his comfiest sweaters hostage until they stopped smelling like Bucky, the other man had never said a word. So either he knew and didn't mind, or he didn't notice and therefore couldn't mind. In all, Tony took it as acceptance.

Which he was incredibly happy about, because right now it was just about one of the only things he could bear touching his skin. The only other thing he was wearing was a pair of the softest socks ever that he faintly recalled Natasha giving to him, in a hopeless effort to warm up his feet.