It was 9:00 a.m., which is terribly early to wake up on a Saturday morning. But not for Bruce. He was always up with before sunrise, except the times he actually slept in because of previous transformations. And today, he slept in and woke up ten minutes after nine in the morning with a terrible headache. His usual headaches always followed in the aftermath of his transformation, but this one was entirely different. Also, he felt too cold. It made him want to sleep more, snuggled with the pillow by his side, but since he was an early man, he forced himself to get up. He walked towards the bathroom and washed away the sleep from his tired looking eyes.
He looked himself in the mirror. His golden tanned skin was extremely pale, he looked like he had risen from the dead. And if it wasn't enough for his miserable looking state, he had some pretty ugly bags under his eyes. He shrugged, maybe it was just a bug or the fact that he went to sleep at two in the morning. He shocked his head forgetting about his current state and decided to start his day.
"Where's my toothbrush?" He asked to himself, unaware that his toothbrush was lying in its usual spot.
Oh, Bruce…
OOO
"Where the hell is he?" Tony asked while eating his blueberry waffles. No matter how much he disliked Steve or made him look ridiculous at times, Tony could not resist a Captain America Waffle Special as the Avengers had named the glorious blueberry waffles made by Steve's own hand. Turns out Steve had a knack for modern cooking. Go figure. They were delicious, but Tony was NEVER going to admit that. Still, he was pretty sure his teammates knew of his secret love for waffles.
"Don't know. He's usually up first than any of us except for Steve since he makes us breakfast. Too bad he refuses to make lunch or dinner." Clint said and turned to Tony who was sitting across from him. "Enjoying those waffles, Stark?"
Tony looked at him while munching away his food. "No?"
The table exploded in laughter while Tony blushed from embarrassment. Pepper, who was sitting by his side, chuckled at Tony's face. "Stop denying, Tony." She turned to the rest of the group. "Steve could make this to any enemy and make them bow to him just for a bite."
The laughter did not ceased and Natasha's closest thing to laughter was a slight smile. Steve on the other hand, rolled his eyes and smiled. "If the waffle machine existed back in the 40's, I would have taken down Hydra in no time."
This time, Thor's laughter stood out from the group. He obviously did not know what Hydra was, but he was smart enough to know it was an enemy.
Suddenly, the doors to the kitchen opened revealing a really pale Bruce. The laughter and the sound of utensils stopped. He was wearing his usual jeans but he had a t-shirt that was worthy for using a cleaning towel. Probably the shirt he slept with.
"Dude. You look like you saw Loki taking a shower in your bathroom… Must have been a horrible sight. I'm surprised you're not blind." Tony said while sipping some apple juice through his throat. Thor glared at the billionaire and he just shrugged. He was giving him the 'Loki might be crazy but he's from Asgard. And he's my brother… adopted brother' look.
"Are you ok, doc?" Steve asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just woke up from the wrong side of the bed, that's all." Bruce said while making way to the empty chair between Clint and Steve. He grabbed a plate and served himself some fruit and two delicious looking waffles. Since Bruce was serving himself a good amount of food, the team dismissed his sick looking status which was fine with Bruce. All he needed was some waffles and he'll be as good as new.
"Any one knows that prank the newbie agents made on Hill?" Clint asked all of the sudden to make some conversation.
Natasha rolled her eyes while Tony chuckled. "You mean Hardass Hill, right? The mice prank in the bathroom?" Everybody gave him a look. Of course Tony knew about it, he was constantly hacking S.H.I.E.L.D's computers.
"Yes. Fury send them to four months of desk duty. Nobody messes with the Heir of the Fury." Natasha replied.
"The Heir of the Fury? What does that mean?" Steve asked, clearly clueless.
"It's Hill's new second nickname after Hardass Hill. It means that when Fury retires, which won't happen anytime soon, she will take over as director." Clint informed.
"Shit. Not Maria Hill. I mean, she's nice but she lives up to her nickname, Hardass Hill." Tony replied while poking at his last waffle. "Also, if she's to be the next director, she'll have to wear eye patches."
"How many waffles did you ate?" Pepper asked.
Tony looked around, feeling every single pair of eyes on him. "I don't know… seven. I think…"
Thor laughed again. "Oh, man of iron, you do eat like a true Asgardian when it comes to breakfast."
Bruce smiled at Tony red flushed face. He knew Tony adored those waffles but the man had an ego too big to admit it. He was already going through half of his plate when suddenly, he felt a strong wave of nausea hit him. Hard. He felt something rise through his throat. He covered his mouth. He frantically looked around for the nearest trash can, which was at the far corner of the kitchen. He ran towards it and spilled his insides on the trash can.
"Shit…" Clint was the first to get up, followed by the rest of the team. He kneeled beside his good friend and started to slowly hit his back.
"That's it. Just let it all go."
Tony approached the trash can. He made a disgusted face. "See Natasha? That's why I don't like it when you make dinner. You made people sick. Look, that's the chicken you cooked last night." That comment granted him a slap in the face, curtesy of the Black Widow. Tony rubbed his right cheek in annoyance.
"Not now, Stark." Steve said while handing a napkin to Bruce so he could clean his face. After Bruce cleaned himself, he deposited the napkin in the trash can and leaned against the wall with his eyes closed. He took a deep breath and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"Like I said, woke up from the wrong side of the bed." He mumbled.
"Bruce, just say it. Say it was Natasha's cooking. Admit it." Tony said as he was slapped again by the agent. "I'll shut up now." He turned to Bruce. "How are you feeling, science buddy?"
"…Like hell…" Bruce groaned.
"You know, I thought you never got sick since you survived a gamma radiation explosion and you can also turn into a big green monster."
"Shut up, Tony." Clint snapped as he tried to help Bruce stand up. But once he made contact with his arm, he quickly snatch it back. "Dude, you're burning."
"Of course he burns. If he didn't transform himself into the Other Guy every time he loses his temper, he would have millions of fan girls waiting to slap his ass."
"Tony, I'm serious. He's burning with a fever." Clint said. "We need to take him to the med bay."
OOO
He didn't know when he passed out. He didn't know how he ended up in the medical wing of the tower. Thor probably carried him there. He didn't know what was going on or why was the Other Guy unusually quiet. He groaned and turned to his side, instantly grabbing the pillow and snuggled against it. It was a few minutes later that he noticed a presence behind him. Well, presences.
"Dude. You snuggle with your pillow? That's so damn cute."
Bruce eyes snapped open for a minute than he groaned closing his eyes again and buried his head on the pillow. "What happened?" He moaned.
"You got the green fever."
Bruce turned around to face Tony. "The what?"
"Well, you got some random virus with some stupid name, but we like to call it the green fever. To honor the Other Guy." Clint said from the background.
Bruce rolled his eyes. "Thanks. That's a really nice sentiment…" He coughed.
There was an awkward silence for a few minutes until Tony spoke up again. "We been watching you sleep."
Bruce raised a tired eyebrow.
"Did you know you suck on your thumb?" Tony chuckled.
"Tony…" The doctor groaned.
"What brother Stark is trying to say is that we been watching over you while you were asleep." Thor said. Bruce smiled.
"Steve is making chicken soup for you. Well, for all of us, but especially for you." Natasha said. "We are eating here."
"Wait, what time is it?" Bruce said as he sat up straight.
"One in the afternoon. Lunch time." Steve said as he brought a casserole with soup and Pepper brought plates and spoons.
Thor helped Bruce sit down. After handling bowls of chicken soup for everyone, they all stayed in the med bay in case Bruce needed their help. Or if he had to spill his guts out again, which surprisingly, did not happened. They also handed him some medicine to ease up the symptoms.
Tony could not live down the fact that Bruce liked to snuggle with his pillow while he was asleep. He just rolled his tired eyes in annoyance. Tony might be the most sarcastic, most annoying person in the world, but he had a good heart and good intentions even if he deny it in the name of Loki.
He quietly watched as his friends, his family, laughed at some random joke. Well, Natasha didn't laugh, she just smiled.
Bruce rested his chin on his hand. He was so glad he had a home where he was taken care off and be loved. He wasn't sure when, but he fell into a deep slumber. But he was sure that someone slipped a blanket to cover him up.
I wrote this because there not so many fanfics out there about Bruce getting sick or hurt because he was the Hulk. I realized, he's just as human as any of the Avengers (except for Thor). Anyway, thank you for stopping by and read. You can also check out my other Avengers one shots if you like. And no, there won't be a one shot about the mice prank on Maria Hill.
