When Tony woke up this morning the last thing he expected was to end up trapped in a cave with Steve sticking his hand inside his chest cavity.
But then again, he had planned on just staying in bed so getting as far as the arctic really was a surprise for him.
Tony had woken up that morning with a familiar tightness to his chest that always came before a cold.
Ever since getting the arc reactor Tony lost his ability to just power through illness and continue his work. The one time he tried it resulted in being hospitalised for two months and a very angry Pepper.
Now soon as JARVIS detects the starting symptoms ‘Sick Day’ protocol is initialised, which mainly consists of a constant stream of Disney movies, Dummy bringing in soup and medicine, and of course a text message sent to Bruce to keep the other Avengers away.
This had worked the last five times he had been sick and was usually up and healthy in a week tops.
So Tony was content to doze to the sounds of Mary Poppins and allow the healing magic of Julie Andrews to do its stuff.
Then a certain captain used a certain emergency override to get into the locked penthouse.
“Tony? Come on it’s just a little cold I need your help.” Steve called as he opened the door.
In all honesty, Tony wasn’t that bad. Just a tight chest and a light case of the sniffles.
“With what exactly? Tony asked as he ignored Dummy’s concerned beeps.
“They think that the wreckage I was pulled out of broke up before I hit the ice and a Hydra weapon was being held on there.
Well, that certainly got his attention.
Tony sat up straight as he scrutinised Steve for a moment “and what do you think cap?”
Steve shook his head “ I don’t remember it breaking up but… Look the thought of it being out there is… “
“You just want to be sure their wrong otherwise it won’t stop bugging you which will mean I won’t be able to sleep since I put that kicked puppy look on your face.” Tony sighed as he stood up. “I’ll meet you in the quinjet in five. We can sweep the area we found you and see what comes up.”
Steve smiled “thanks, Tony. Really.
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever Capsicle now let’s get this over with. Hopefully, this will be quick and simple.”
Tony wasn’t sure what went wrong exactly.
Just that one moment their in the air and the next their falling towards the ground at an alarming rate.
He barely had time to register the fact that he had left his suit at the tower before Steve had tackled him out of the open door and held onto him as the chute opened.
Tony wished his face was pressed into the chest of Captain America at that moment so he might be able to get a look at their surroundings before they hit the ground, but no such luck. Go figure being in the position that almost every human on earth would kill for could be the very thing that leads to their death.
Tony wasn’t prepared for the cold of hitting the ground.
They fell into the snow and were governed in the freezing substance.
Steve had the benefit of his uniform, Tony, however, was just wearing a shirt and jeans that were now soaked.
“Tony? You ok?” Steve asked as he pulled the shivering genius from the snow.
Tony tried to answer but he was shivering too much.
That was all the information Steve needed, a quiet Tony Stark tended to be the kind that needed help the most.
Without second thought Steve scooped him up and began to jog through the snow.
If you asked Tony he would have said they spent hours wandering aimlessly in the wilderness. Steve, however, would say that he spent about twenty minutes getting them to a cave that he spotted from the air.
It was thankfully a deep cave that doglegged back on itself creating a perfect little nook for the two to escape the cold.
Steve settle down next to Tony on the cold floor, without any supplies all they could do was sit and wait for someone to follow the tracker that Tony had put on Steve.
“D-don’t s-suppose you h-have any f-fire w-wood in there?” Tony asked shivering as he nodded at Steve’s pouches.
Steve shook his head “no, but i have the next best thing.” he pulled out a small parcel that he opened up to reveal a foil blanket that he wrapped around the two of them hoping his super soldier body heat would warm Tony up a bit.
“Let me guess you were a boy scout?”
“Eagle scout actually, me and Buck earned all the badges.”
Tony hummed in response as he rested his head against the wall of the cave.
He was glad it was so cold, a cold cave was a safe cave, like the kind he would go and explore as a kid.
The hot ones were the bad caves…
They were the ones filled with nothing but memories of pain, loss and betrayal.
“I’m sure the others will come soon as they realise the jets been destroyed.” Steve seemed to be talking just to fill the silence.
It was unnatural to be the one carrying a conversation when sitting next to Tony.
He’s so filled with life and energy that he could turn anything into an hour long rant. It was a quality Steve found most endearing and reminded him so much of Howard.
“JARVIS is gonna kill you when we get back” Tony mumbled resting his head on Steve’s shoulder “I’m really not supposed to be out of the Tower today.”
“Sorry about this, I never imagined this could happen.”
Tony shrugged as his eyes slipped shut “not your fault big guy… now shhh, I’m tired.”
With that, Tony fell asleep and shortly after Steve followed suit.
Steve woke up to an assaulting heat. One so unbearable that his first thought was that they were under attack.
Then he looked over to Tony and felt his heart drop.
His skin was an ashen grey that really caused the bright red flush to stand out all the more. His breath came in short wet gasps that caused a worrying crackling noise right in the bottom of his lungs.
Steve knew Tony was sick but not like this.
“Tony?” Steve tried as he shook him slightly causing the blanket to fall down. That was when the second piece of bad news was delivered like a punch to the gut.
The arc reactor, that should be a steady blue glow was flickering.
Steve wasn’t sure what he was doing as he pulled Tony’s shirt off, but he was glad he did.
The skin around the casing was swollen and hot to the touch. Whatever Tony was down with was much more than a little head cold.
“Tony! Come on Tony I need you to wake up” Steve shook him harder this time desperate for any response.
He received none.
Desperate Steve ran outside and loaded his shield up with snow before returning and dumping the contents over his teammate.
The response wasn’t as instantaneous as he had hoped.
Slowly. Painfully slowly, Tony opened his eyes and looked around.
“Steve?” he mumbled before letting out a series of harsh coughs.
“Tony thank god. Listen there something wrong with your reactor.” Steve watched as Tony looked down in confusion and poked the only thing keeping him alive like a curious child with a new toy.
“That's not good.”
“Yeah, no shit” Steve laughed despite himself.
“It needs… to come out” Tony murmured his eyes drooping like the effort of staying awake was too much for him.
“Out?” Steve paled, he was clearly delirious if he was asking for that.
Tony nodded as he tapped the glass “ its… too hot… it will… shut down. You gotta… take it out… and put some…. Snow in.”
Steve felt like he was going to throw up.
Here his friend was lying in the middle of nowhere burning with fever and asking him to stick snow into his chest.
“Tony… are you sure?”
“I may be sick… but I’m still me.”
Steve took a shaky breath before he prepared for what he had to do.
First, he gathered snow on his shield again, then he removed his gloves, then came the hard part.
He knew how to take the arc reactor out.
Every Avenger at one point or another have had to change it to an undamaged one to save Tony’s life, but it’s different to not be doing it in a clean lab with medical equipment and a helpful AI to make sure you didn’t do anything wrong.
But without another choice, Steve removed the reactor and carefully took a handful of snow and lowered into the cavity.
Steve tried not to think about just how deep it was or what kind of damage this was doing to his friend’s lung… or how much it must have hurt to have it put in.
He ended up unable to put his hand in much past his wrist and was forced to drop the clump of snow.
He didn’t expect the scream that was torn from Tony’s throat.
Or how he thrashed around like he was being held under water.
In a panic, Steve replaced the actor and grabbed hold of Tony and held him.
He held him close until his pain was replaced by exhaustion and he fell into a fitful sleep.
With not much else to do Steve filled his glove with snow and placed it on Tony’s forehead and waited until help came.
Tony woke up in the hospital about a month later.
He had been placed into a coma to help his body recover. Apparently, his cold had turned into a serious lung infection that was able to take hold so quickly thanks to his close call with hypothermia.
Steve told him about how Clint had managed to find them and he was rushed to the hospital.
They drained the fluid from his lungs and pumped him full of antibiotics but it still was touch and go for a while.
Rhodey had nearly killed Steve when he found out what happened but over the course of the month his rage simmered down from ‘i will kill you and string up your body as a warning’ to ‘ i will steal all your socks’.
Tony was stuck in the hospital for a further two week recovering and then when he was finally allowed to return home he was put on bed rest for at least 6 more.
During that time Tony made an amendoim to his ‘Sick Day’ protocol and that was not even in an emergency can he be disturbed because at the end of the day Tony Stark is a hero and if one of his friends ask for his help he will be there.
Even if he’s only supposed to stay in bed and watch Disney movies.