Starvation Pt2
Seeing Tony so frail was jarring for Steve. Every time he looked at Tony so tiny in the hospital bed, his ribs on display through his cellophane skin was a reminder of his failure. It took him incredibly long to dig out Tony and Natasha and they suffered for it.
It took a few days for Steve to understand that they couldn’t just feed Tony food to make him gain weight.
Tony had been admitted to the hospital as soon as they recovered him and the doctor had diagnosed him with a bunch of large words Steve couldn’t understand. From the few things he was able to grasp, Tony was dehydrated, needed something called electrolytes, and had refeeding syndrome. He used his phone to look up what that meant and he didn’t like what he found.
By the time they had let Steve see Tony, it was several hours after they had recovered him and Tony was resting. There was only one visitor allowed so Steve went to Tony’s room by himself.
Tony was covered in a bunch of wires and tubes that snaked below the blankets and connected to the multitude of machines above his husband. Steve took the chair next to the bed and got comfortable, knowing he would be there for a while. He took Tony’s bony hand and cradled it gently, afraid it would break in his larger one.
Steve woke up around 3 am to whimpers. Tony’s heart monitor was beeping slightly faster than usual, and Steve could see his body twitching slightly under the covers. He stood and focused on Tony’s face which was pressed into the pillow. He gently rubbed Tony’s cheek. “You okay, baby?” He asked softly.
Tony turned to look at him and his eyes squinted in the low light. Steve noticed the sheen of sweat on the man and the pained look on his face. “Hurts,” Tony rasped.
When Steve noticed Tony’s hands fidgeting under the blanket, he pulled it back and froze. Steve reached over Tony and pushed the nurse call button frantically before taking Tony’s hands in his, pressing shaking kisses onto them.
Tony’s stomach was large and swollen, looking pregnant. He kept whimpering and clenching the sheets in pain. Steve only had a second to move back before Tony was throwing up all over the sheets. He vomited continuously and even when his stomach was empty of the liquid nutrients they had shoved through his nose, his body was reduced to dry heaves.
A doctor and two nurses rushed in, taking in the scene with wide eyes. The doctor quickly pulled away the sheet and started applying pressure at different spots on Tony’s swollen stomach, causing the sickly man to grunt in pain. She pulled out a stethoscope, listening to his stomach and frowned. She turned to the nurses, “There’s a blockage in his intestines.”
That was all Steve heard before they were whisking Tony off for a bunch of tests. A few hours later, they finally rolled Tony back into the room and confirmed their diagnosis. Because of Tony’s starvation they didn’t want to treat it how they usually would- by telling patients to stop eating for 1-3 days- so they decided to try different methods.
Steve sat on the bed sitting Tony against his chest as the doctors tried different things. First, Steve had to hold Tony down as they fed a tube through his nose and into his intestine. Tears leaked from Tony’s eyes as he fidgeted in pain. The tube took forever to get down and he could feel it touching his throat- it was horrible. Finally he had to sit still as they tried to suction his insides to help the bloating and relax pressure.
After that, they attached patches to Tony’s lower stomach and sent electronic pulses to help stimulate movement in the intestines.
After hours of doing different things, they finally hooked an IV of electrolytes up to Tony and let him sleep. Steve cradled him as Tony dozed, rubbing his swollen stomach softly.
The electrolytes helped a bit and Tony’s swollen stomach did shrink, but he was still very constipated. Steve spent hours by Tony’s side as the man sat crying on the toilet. The nurses didn’t want him to move until he pooped, but besides loud gurgles, his stomach did not want to move.
It was hours until Tony could even fart. Steve had been taught how to properly massage Tony’s stomach to encourage movement. When Tony’s backside was in pain from sitting on the toilet for so long, Steve dragged him off, pulling him into his arms, and worked his fingers around his husband’s hard tummy. Tony wailed as his insides gurgled and moaned, laying limp against Steve’s chest.
It all came to a head that night when Steve woke to Tony’s crying. He jumped up quickly and saw his husband curled on the hospital bed covered in vomit. He seemed to have been sick for a decent amount of time because underneath the new vomit was quickly drying vomit and it was so much that it was starting to drip onto the floor.
There was sick on Tony’s gown, and because he could barely lift his head, it was on his cheek, and a bit in his hair. Steve stared, frozen, at his husband who lay weak on the bed continuously vomiting. When Tony used a break between heaving to whisper “Stevie”, the supersoldier jumped out of his shock and pressed the nurse call button.
He ran to Tony’s side, sitting the man up against the pillow and placing a basin underneath him. Tony was beyond throwing up all the liquid food he’d been given, and was now heaving a clear liquid.
Just as Steve went to lift Tony out of the bed, his husband suddenly froze, his eyes rolling to the back of his head. “Tones-” Suddenly, Tony’s body jerked, spasming and shaking. Steve quickly lowered him down and moved away the vomit-covered sheets. Grunts escaped from Tony’s mouth and his limbs twitched wildly.
Nurses rushed in, pushing Steve back, and turned Tony onto his side. Steve made his way back to Tony’s side and rubbed the man’s hair. “You’re okay, Tones. You’re okay,” he chanted. A nurse squeezed a liquid into Tony’s IV and his twitching slowed. When Tony’s body was still the nurses moved into action, stripping the sheets and moving Tony around. In his shock of the moment, Steve didn’t realize one of the nurses was guiding him out of the room until he was staring at the closed door.
Steve stared sadly before making his way upstairs toward the residential part of the tower. As if knowing she was being sought out, Natasha was waiting for him on the couch.
“How’s he doing?” Nat asked as he sat down heavily.
Steve’s lips flattened and he kept his gaze on the blank television. Natasha took in his reaction and sighed. “I would never have let him-”
“I don’t blame you,” Steve said firmly, looking Natasha in the eye. “I just,” Steve huffed, running anxious hands through his hair. “I just wish he wasn’t a sacrificial idiot. But I know I would have done the same in his position, so I can’t be mad.”
Nat looked down at her hands and nodded in agreement. “Is there any way he can come home, I mean, up here? With us?”
Steve stared straight, dazed. He shook his head. “You should see him, Nat. I thought they could just fill him up with food and he’d be okay… If I could just take away his pain.”
He didn’t realize he was crying until Natasha wiped at his cheek and snuggled into his side. “He’ll be okay, I know it.”
Steve didn’t believe her, but two months later, Tony was out of the hospital for good. After the doctor got his refeeding syndrome under control, he was on a feeding tube 24/7. He was also given a strict diet until eventually, the feeding tube was able to come out.
Tony had gained some weight, but was still nowhere near the size he was before the mission. Steve constantly feared he would break Tony with how thin his arms were and how prominently his ribs stuck out.
At least twice a week Tony would be stuck in the bathroom, vomiting violently after a meal, but with his new medication, and his team looking out for him, things were finally getting better.