The ice is getting closer. He's not really aware of what he's saying but he knows he's talking to Peggy. His could hear the blood pumping in his head. He can feel his body shaking. He can't move his eyes; they are stuck on the view in front of him. The massive expanse of ice growing closer and closer as every second ticks by; he can't have many seconds left. Just about to crash, to die, the ice so close to his face and suddenly nothing.
Steve shoots up into a sitting position in bed. His body is shaking and covered in sweat. He can hardly think; his mind still living in the nightmare, the memory. With no idea what time it is, his brain doesn't register the light shining through the blinds signalling the fact its morning. He sits there, shaking and sweating, sweating and shaking, trying to keep his incoming panic attack at bay.
"Steve! Meeting with Fury! Come on, get u- What's wrong?" Tony came bounding into the room, bouncing off the walls after clearly having too much caffeine. The minute he looks at Steve though, he becomes much more subdued, trying to figure out what's wrong with his friend.
Steve doesn't reply. He doesn't even react; just stays sitting there, staring at the same spot on his bed, still shaking and sweating. Tony instantly realises that something is seriously wrong with Steve. He crosses the room in 3 quick steps, sitting down next to Steve on his bed and putting his hand on his shoulder.
"Steve, talk to me. What's wrong?" Tony asked; his voice calm and quiet, his eyes gentle and searching, looking for clues as to what could be wrong.
"C-C-Cold" is all Steve manages to say in response. As he speaks his body begins to shake worse, almost as if he's having a fit. Tony instantly knows what's wrong; he's a genius after all, and he suffers from nightmares himself, he knows Steve is bound to as well. The only problem is he doesn't know how to make Steve feel better. Many ideas zoomed through his head as Tony desperately tried to figure out what to do.
Deciding what he was going to do, Tony asked Steve if he could stand. Steve didn't reply but began to move towards the edge of the bed. He was very shaky on his feet so Tony supported most of his body weight; he would have carried the super soldier if he could but he probably would've needed the suit for that.
He directed Steve towards the bathroom without saying a word to him. After setting Steve down on the toilet seat while he waited, Tony ran a warm bath for Steve. He was pretty sure he was going to have to bath Steve himself as Steve was in no condition to do so and Tony was worried he might accidently drown himself if left alone in the water. He decided against having bubbles, Steve wasn't a child and this was a pretty serious situation.
"Can you – erm – take your clothes off by your-yourself?" Tony glanced at Steve as he asked and Steve mumbled back saying "I think so" and began to take his t-shirt off. Tony looked back down at the bath as it continued to fill, watching the water rise, until he heard a crash. Looking up, he saw Steve had stumbled when he stood up to take his joggers off. Tony walked forward and took hold of him, keeping Steve upright as the latter slid his joggers down his legs and onto the floor. Steve was now stood in front of him wearing only a pair of tatty boxers. Tony felt his face flush as he looked away while Steve took his boxer off too.
Ignoring his growing embarrassment, Tony helped Steve towards the tub. Tony couldn't help but notice how little Steve cared that he was totally naked in front of his teammate. Tony was sure his face was glowing red as he helped Steve into the tub; the poor man was still shaking. He was beginning to wish he had put some bubbles in the bath, that way they might preserve Steve's dignity a little longer.
Steve sank his body down into the water, bending his legs at the knees, his eyes shut tight. Both men sat still for a minute; Steve with his eyes tight shut and Tony with his eyes watching Steve's abdomen. Slowly, Steve's body began to shake less and less as he warmed up, his face seemed to relax a bit more, even though his eyes still stayed tight shut. Tony let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding; seeing Steve begin to relax made him relax too.
Without really thinking about it, Tony reached across Steve and took a bottle of shampoo, squirting some onto his hand. Steve's eyes flickered open as Tony began to massage the shampoo into his hair. The look in his eyes was fear or surprise or shook though; it was content. Steve was happy to just lie there and let tony look after him. After a few minutes he rinsed the shampoo out of Steve's hair and touched the skin on his arm; Steve was much warmer now. Tony quickly left the room, mumbling something about fresh clothes and came back with a fresh pair of joggers, a t shirt and a pair of boxers in his hands. He helped Steve up out of the bath as he was still shaking a bit and dried him off, before helping him into his dry clothes. All of the earlier embarrassment seemed to have gone, now that Tony had spent some time around Steve naked.
Tony guided Steve out of the bathroom and back into his room, towards his bed. Pulling the covers back, he helped Steve into bed so he was nice and warm beneath the covers. After a moment's indecision, Tony climbed in after Steve, pulling the covers around them both. The second Tony lay down Steve turned to him and cuddled into his chest. The both lay there in silence for a few minutes until Steve finally broke it.
"Thank you" he whispered, barely audible. Tony didn't reply; instead he smiled and pulled Steve closer towards him. Tony couldn't help but think how annoyed Fury was going to be that they missed the meeting, but Steve was worth it. He didn't regret a single thing that had happened so far today. They both drifted off into sleep, wrapped in each other's arms.