Chapter 2
Meanwhile, outside the bathroom, Tony, Bruce, and Natasha collectively wince as they hear the sounds of Bucky puking.
"One of us should go in and make sure he's okay," Bruce says. He and Tony look at Natasha.
"Why are you guys looking at me?" Natasha asks.
"You're probably the only other person besides Cap that he feels comfortable with," Tony says. "Besides, I don't do puke."
"Okay," Natasha sighs, knocking softly on the door. "Hey, James, it's Natasha. May I come in?"
The trio hear a sniffle, followed by a toilet flush before Bucky replies, "Okay."
Natasha enters the small bathroom and is thankful that it doesn't smell too horrible. She sees a very pale Bucky sitting next to the toilet looking absolutely miserable.
"Hey, you okay?" she asks. Stupid question, he just threw up, he's obviously not okay.
Bucky shakes his head weakly before covering his mouth and throwing up again into the toilet. Natasha awkwardly sits down next to him and rubs his back, hoping that this will help. When it seems as if Bucky has finished puking, she tears off a piece of toilet paper from the roll and hands it to him. He quietly thanks her and wipes his mouth and nose, before throwing it in the toilet and flushing.
"Do you think you're okay to stand up?" Natasha asks. "So you can rinse your mouth."
"I feel a bit dizzy," Bucky says softly, closing his eyes and rubbing his forehead. "I think I'm okay now."
Natasha still helps him stand up, to make sure he doesn't fall over, and once she's sure he's fine, she lets go of his arm. Bucky cups some water in his hands and rinses his mouth before splashing some water on his face. He's thankful when Natasha hands him a paper towel to dry off his face. He looks at himself in the mirror and sees that he still looks pale, and he has dark circles under his eyes, which are red from throwing up. He then puts down the toilet seat and sits on top of it, rubbing his forehead since throwing up gave him a headache.
"Do you think you're ready to go back outside?" Natasha asks him softly. It was weird for him to see Natasha being all gentle with someone who wasn't Clint; even though she thinks she hides this tenderness she shows Clint from the other Avengers.
"I don't know," Bucky replies. He then adds softly, "I feel embarrassed."
"Hey, no need to feel embarrassed," she says, rubbing his shoulder. "They won't say anything; they were really worried about you. But if you want to stay in here, we can."
"I think I'll just go outside," Bucky says, slowly standing up from the seat. Natasha smiles at him and opens the door. She expects to see Tony and Bruce still standing there, but she's relieved for Bucky's sake that they aren't; that probably would have embarrassed him.
They walk back to the main area of the jet and see that Bruce and Tony are sitting in their seats, looking as if nothing had happened, but Natasha notices the bucket and ginger ale that had been placed next to Bucky's seat, which even had a blanket and pillow next to it. Natasha quickly realized that they had put this stuff in her seat so Bucky could lie down, but it didn't bother her, since she could just sit next to Tony on the other side.
"Hey Barnes, glad you could join us," Tony says lightly, hoping that humor could help Bucky feel a bit better and not embarrassed. Thankfully, it works as Bucky cracks a small smile and laughs lightly. "Um, Banner and I set up a little area for you, nothing huge, just some ginger ale and a bucket if you feel bad again. Oh and some blankets and a pillow. Nothing much, just something for you for about another hour and a half until we get back to New York."
"What happened to the training?" Bucky asks as he lies down and wraps himself in the nice, fluffy blanket.
"Oh, um it got cancelled, so we're going back to the tower," Bruce says, looking up from his phone, appearing to be hiding something.
"Okay, so what's actually going on?" Bucky asks. "And don't just say Fury just cancelled it, because that's not his style."
"Oh, um no that's what he-" Bruce starts, but Tony interrupts him.
"Okay, so Cap may or may not have called, and I accidentally let it slip that you got sick," Tony says. "Now, I'm not sure what he did, but five minutes later, Coulson called and said the training was cancelled and to come back to New York."
"Dammit, Steve I can take care of myself," Bucky sighs, earning a laugh from the others.
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They get back to New York without Bucky getting sick again, although he did come pretty close whenever they hit some turbulence and when they landed. The ride back to the tower is pretty uneventful, except for the fact that Tony wanted to show Bucky his music by blasting it in the car and singing along.
However, as soon as they got back to the tower, Bucky was barely through the door before Steve came running up to him and hugging him, before saying, "Oh my god, Buck are you okay? I was so worried about you flying without me and then I call Tony and find out you had gotten sick; I immediately called Fury and made him cancel. I don't want you training if you're not feeling good, baby."
"Stevie, thank you for you concern," Bucky says, laughing at how worried his boyfriend gets, "but I can take care of myself. No need to call Fury and make him cancel a training exercise. It was probably just some airsickness, or maybe Nat's sandwich just didn't agree with me. I'm fine Stevie. Baby, don't worry so much, you'll get wrinkles, old man."
"Buck, you're literally older than me," Steve sighs, rolling his eyes. "I just worry about you, baby, because I love you and I'm scared of losing you again. Today we're not going to do anything, we're just going to watch some movies and I made you some soup. I found the recipe for the soup your ma used to make. It's not as good as hers, but I tried and it's pretty good. Oh, and I also made you some ginger tea."
Steve goes to kiss Bucky, but Bucky stops him, "Easy, Rogers, might I remind you that I puked an hour ago and I still haven't been able to brush my teeth."
Steve wrinkles his nose and settles for kissing Bucky on the cheek before leading him to the kitchen to have some soup. Steve fills about half of a bowl with the soup and hands it to Bucky. "I only gave you half a bowl, so we can make sure it doesn't upset your stomach. Here's some tea."
"Thanks, Stevie, it's amazing," Bucky says as he swallows a large spoonful of soup. "Babe, you don't need to worry, I feel fine. It was probably just motion sickness or something I just needed to get out of my system like I said before; nothing serious."
"I knew that you didn't look too good this morning, I should have said something sooner," Steve says. Oh great. Bucky thinks, rolling his eyes. The worried rambling starts. "You looked pretty pale this morning, and you didn't even want the breakfast I made. Oh my god, let me check your forehead."
Bucky sulks as Steve touches his forehead and cheek before pulling a thermometer out of nowhere and sticking it in his mouth, while an amused Sam watches while Tony snickers.
"Okay, so your temperature is normal, that's good," Steve says. "Does anything else hurt you? "
"My head is starting to hurt from all this worrying you're doing," Bucky replies, sipping his tea. Steve sighs before kissing Bucky on the forehead.