Only a peek. That is all Y/N needs to know. A small peek through the slit of the not all closed door into the bedroom and onto the blonde mop of hair. She can hear his breathing, his usually cute little snores, and a bit of tossing. What makes her frown though are the little sounds of rasping and the few little coughs that slip through in his sleep. Steve doesn’t cough, not while sleeping and not while being awake so it’s strange that he’s starting now. She quickly retreats back into the living room, nervously debating what to do. She could lie down next to him and listen closely to see if he sounds funny all the time while sleeping. She could also prepare something like tea and something light to eat in case he is sick, could call Bucky and ask him if something happened on the latest mission if he noticed something strange, or she could give Bruce a call and ask him to check on Steve which Steve probably would be mad about later on since it’s just embarrassing and, what he would say most likely, unnecessary. So, she decides to shoot Bucky a text, asking about the mission and walks into the kitchen to start boiling some water for a few cups of tea. She will let Steve get all the rest he needs. She knows he’d come home pretty late and it had taken him very long to finally fall asleep. He squirmed a lot, threw the cover off only to pull them back up again. Everything while not trying to wake her up which frankly didn’t work since she woke the moment the front door opened. She had managed to calm him down by acting to turn around, after he finally pulled the blanket back up, and throw her arm around him. He told her she does it sometimes while sleeping and so she had used it shamelessly to stop him from further squirming and tossing to settle down. It had worked and she actually had fallen back asleep quickly after. She’s not sure how long he actually was awake afterward but it must have been a while since he’s still fast asleep. At 10.30 am.
Chewing a little on her lower lip, she stares out of the kitchen window down on the busy street. Cars are passing by and honking at each other, people walking slowly or hurrying around on the sidewalks. She can see a stray dog walk around and sniffing on several empty cans and trash bags. The poor little fella seems pretty young. She had seen him for a few days now and if her landlord would allow animals, she would have tried to console the small guy to follow her so she could take care of it, possibly even take it in. Steve would love to have a dog around, she knows. The beeping of the rips her out of her thoughts and she turns around to grab the biggest mug she finds to put some sugar and the tea bag in it and fill the hot water on top. She curses silently as she slips and pours some of the boiling wet over her hand, nearly letting the whole kettle fall to the ground. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.” Cursing, she puts everything down, shakes her hand to cool it before shoving it under the lukewarm water of the tap. The relief is immediate and she sighs, looking through the doorway into the living room to make sure that there’s no half-asleep Steve to be seen. He’s not so she guesses she didn’t wake him with her cursing, which is odd since he usually wakes by any tiny sound she makes. But she takes it as it is and considers herself lucky today. Turning the tap off, depositing the mug with hot tea onto a tray, and grabbing some crackers for a light breakfast she makes her way back to the bedroom. Before she manages to cross the whole living room her phone beeps with an incoming call. Grateful that she remembered to put her phone on silent she put the tray down to grab the device. “Hello?”
“Y/N? Why are you whispering?” Bucky’s voice sounds through the speaker with some strange noises in the background. “Because Steve’s still asleep. Where the hell are you? Is that a punching noise in the background?”
“Yeah, just finished in the gym. What do you mean he’s still asleep? We came back by three. He usually is up by nine, then.”
“I know. He had trouble falling asleep though. And I noticed that he sounds a little off, so I was asking you if something happened.”
“On the mission? Not that I know. We separated for a while though but he didn’t tell me something and he didn’t act differently.” Y/N can practically see him shrugging on the line. The noses in the background fade away so she assumes he left the gym. “Where would he have picked it up then?” She’s more asking herself than Bucky but the brunette still answers. “Dunno. What’s even off?”
“Well, his breathing sounds a little raspy, I feel like his snores are louder, possibly even a little stuffy? Oh, and he’s coughing in his sleep which is strange since he never coughs.” Bucky hums on the other side of the phone but Y/N guesses he’s still not sure where his best friend could have possibly picked something up. “Well. As far as I know, nothing happened. But I have the report on my laptop and read it though. Knowing him, he wrote his report on the flight back while other people try to sleep. Maybe he mentioned something. I’ll call you back if he did, alright?”
“Yeah, thanks, Buck.”
“You call me if he tells you soothing?”
“Sure.” Y/N smiles a little, able to hear Bucky’s concern all way through the phone. She can picture him frowning, having the slight scowl on his face that he usually wears if somethings not like he would like. They say their goodbyes quickly and just as she slips her phone into her pocket, she hears some harsh coughs from the bedroom. As fast as she can she picks up the tray and hurries into the bedroom, only to see Steve upright in bed, hunched over a little and coughing into his fist. The tray is quickly repositioned on the next free surface which happens to be the chair next to the dresser with all the dirty clothes from the last two days. She makes sure the mug doesn’t fall over before she hurries over to Steve and starts patting his back. “Hey, that sounds rough.” Steve only nods while still hacking but it only takes a few little moments until his coughing subdues. He lumps back against the headboard with a deep sigh and some throat clearing. “Better?”
“Yeah.” His voice breaks a little but he looks relieved at her. A small smile breaks free on his lips and his hands come around Y/N’s hips to pull her close. “I’ve missed you.” Her face softens and she lets him pull her onto the mattress. “I’ve missed you too.” She presses a soft kiss to his forehead but quickly breaks it with a frown. Her hand shoots up to place itself on the sot she just kissed. The skin is unusually warm and a bit clammy. “What?”
“You’re warm. And coughing.” She adds as Steve’s body is shaking again with a deeply dry-sounding cough. “Jesus, Stevie. What happened on this mission?” Steve continues coughing but shakes his head to tell her that nothing happened. “N-nothing.” He breathes out while trying to catch his breath. “Nothing? You’re coughing your lungs out and you sound a little stuffy but nothing happened?” Stee nods and pulls her a little closer again. “Mission was fine. Just didn’t feel that great on the plane.” He shrugs a little and buries his face in Y/N’s shoulder. “Maybe caught something before we left. The whole plane was coughing and sneezing.”
“But Bucky’s fine.” Her frown deepens, her hand settling on his neck. The heat’s still coming off him so Y/N is sure that it’s not occurring from being in bed for so long. “Lucky bastard,” Steve mutters into her shoulder. “Language, Captain.” She giggles a little while patting his hair. “You feel fine, though?” another shrug but he does od lightly. “I made tea.” The groan indicates that he already guesses which one she made. Y/N uses to buy teas for all sorts of stuff. Bad cold, bad coughing, sleepless night, trouble with sore throats, and for the female portion for the team, something for trouble with cramps at the one time of the month. She could compare her stock with Bruce’s and Steve’s not sure who the bigger one would own. “Come on, baby. It might taste bad but it does help. She places a soft kiss on his head before carefully extracting herself to get the tray over. “Noo… don’t go.” Steve whines and makes actual grabby hands at her. “Just getting the tray.”
“No, come back.” She ignores him, grabs the tray, and walks back to him, puts it down but holds on to the mug to give it to Steve. “Here.” His pout is still there as he eyes the mug but he does take it. The first sip seems to be okay but after the second he grimaces and the mug lands banned on the nightstand. “Don’t like it.” His arms find their way back to her hips and his face gets instantly buries in her thigh after scooching down the bed. “Come on you big baby. It's just some tea.” He shakes his head and his arms tighten. Y/N is only left to sigh and her hands find their way into blonde messy hair. “Want to lie on the couch with me? Peppers coming soon to pick me up.”
“Where are you going?”
“Shopping, remember? I told you on Monday before you left.”
“Nooo…” Rolling her eyes, she detangles his arms from her, ignoring his constant whining. She takes the mug and tray with her but stops at the door. “Meet me in the living room, yeah?” She doesn’t wait, though. She knows he won’t stay in bed alone but follow her. She hadn’t even taken more than six steps out as she hears Steve cough again and scrambles up to get to her. “Y/N.” he’s still coughing but flops down on the couch beside her, taking one of the pillows to hug to his chest and squeeze while coughing.”
“Baby, I need to get ready. You need anything?”
“You.”
“Anything but me?” She smiles at him, her hand stroking through his hair again. His eyes close slowly. He doesn’t answer but hums a bit in pleasure. “Hey, she crouches to be on his eye level. “I’ll try to be quick and then I can sit with you until Pepper knocks, yeah?” Steve nods eyes still closed. Y/N presses a kiss to his forehead before she goes back to the bedroom. She hurries through her clothing choices until she finds something and is quick to put her hair into a neat ponytail. It can’t have taken more than maybe ten minutes but the time’s enough for Steve to have a few more coughing sessions which Y/N doesn’t like one bit. She hurries back to him and frowns. Steve’s limp on the couch, eyes closed, pillow hugged to his chest. His head turns slightly as she sits down beside his hip and cards her fingers through his hair. “You asleep?”
“No…” His voice is soft but has a rough edge to it. “Aw… my poor man. How did you get yourself so sick, hm?” Steve shrugs miserably but he breathes deeply and settles a bit more. Y/N cards her fingers through his hair for a while. His features are relaxed but he’s shaking with a few mean coughs. He doesn’t look pale, still warm though. His breathing evens out a bit, so she continues running her finger through blonde hair until it knocks. Then she gently gets up, careful to not wake him, practically runs to the door and opens it. “Hey, Pep. Come in. Steve’s sleeping. I just want to put some things on the table for him.” She whispers, motions the redhead in, and is gone again to find her way to the bathroom. She picks out some meds for sore throats, coughing and fever goes back to the couch, and places it on the table, next to the mug. Then she grabs the blanket from the basket next to the couch and covers Steve gently. “Baby?” Steve mutters sleepily, his eyes not quite opening as a few dry coughs come through. “Yeah, go back to sleep, handsome. I’ve put some things on the table and go now. Buck knows you’re sick, so call him if you need anything.”
“Hm…” Y/N smiles at him and places a gentle kiss on his forehead, running her finger the last time through his hair as the man drifts off again. “Okay. We can go now.” She straightens up and looks at Pepper with a smile, though she turns to Steve for the last time before leaving.