Happy holidays to all! This was supposed to be out before Christmas, but life. It's shorter than I liked, and Sam doesn't really fit his usual personality but what can a say? I got a story out.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Marvel franchise. This is purely for entertainment purposes and I do NOT make any money off of this.

Word Six: Illness

The rain was pouring down when the tired Avengers stumbled into the tower, soaking wet and exhausted.

Steve wiped his forehead and sighed. "Whew, that rain is coming down in buckets!"

Tony snorted, "More like bathtubs." Sam shot a glare at Tony and the hanger went uncomfortably quiet. Clint broke the silence with a loud ahhhh and walked off, drying his hair with a towel as he did so.

Natasha sighed and walked off after him, looking at both Steve and Tony and shaking her head.

"Come on guys, I wasn't meaning to be a wet blanket! I'm just a wet Iron Man!"

Bruce wiped his glasses on his shirt and placed a hand in Tony's shoulder, steering him towards the hanger exit. "It's fine, let's just go dry off and eat."

Tony dutifully followed for a change, leaving Sam alone in the steel gray hanger, wet and pissed off.

-o-

A day later, and everyone was still moody. Tension hung over the team like a stormcloud and sooner or later, the cloud was going to burst.

It was mid-afternoon and Sam was in the kitchen making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Steve and Nat ware chatting and Tony was holed up in his lab. Minutes later, the eccentric inventor showed his face, and sauntered into the kitchen, only to open the fridge and grab a Coke. Pointing it in Sam's direction, Tony pulled a face.

"You know, I can never understand why people like peanut butter and jelly."

Sam annoyed scowled back. "Well how 'bout I shove it down your throat? We'll see how much you like it then." Steve tried to intervene, but the argument had already picked up speed. Tony took a step towards Sam, shoulders back, as if he was asserting his dominance.

"Yeah? I'd like to see you try that. All I make is a simple comment and you threaten to choke me? This is exactly why you can't work with us as a team." As he said that, Tony jabbed Sam in the chest none too gently.

Dead silence. Nobody was sure what was going to happen next.

And with a loud sneeze, Sam sprayed spit and snot on Tony Stark's face.

Stark sputtered and stumbled away from the offencive sneezer.

"Gosh, why the hell did you do that?!"

Sam waved his hands, exasperated. "You think I did that on purpose?"

Tony sighed and aggressively wiped his face in his shirt. "Okay, no… but you still sneezed on my face!"

The other avengers watched amused and Clint was laughing outright. Bruce had snuck in right before the sneeze, and though unsure what was going on, he still had a slight smile on his face. Whatever had made Tony flustered was sure to be funny.

A few more moments of glaring and Stark turned on his heel, stomping back off to his workshop, coke swinging back and forth in his clenched fist.

The kitchen was silent. A few minutes later, they heard a loud stream of curses and a slamming. Tony's soda had exploded, spraying carbonated sugar water all over his newest project. Bruce hurried to check on him, grabbing a roll of paper towels as an afterthought.

Sam shook his head and slumped down on a stool. "How is he mad at me? It was a sneeze, an accident!" Steve chuckled and patted the steaming Avenger on the back.

"It's fine, he'll calm down soon. Just let him tinker in that lab of his for a few hours and all will be forgotten."

All was not forgotten.

For the rest of the week, Tony gave everyone except Bruce the stink eye, especially Sam. Unfortunately for the young bird brain, the sneeze was not the extent of his maladies. Sam had caught a full blown cold, which morphed into the flu a couple days later. Steve had taken over the role of the "mom friend" forcing his friend to drink countless bowls of chicken soup and cups of ginger ale.

Sam didn't ming the ginger ale bit as much.

Insisting he was fine, the sick superhero tried to live normally, but Steve resisted like a brick wall. It seemed like every argument ended up with Sam on the couch, pouting and covered in a blanket.

But soon, to the dismay of Tony, his enemy had started to use the illness as a reason for special treatment.

Stomach ache? "Yeah, here's some soda and gummy bears."

Sore throat? "I'll make you some tea."

Stuffy nose? Maybe one of those newfangled steam machines will help! (that was Steve. Nobody else in the tower used words like "newfangled")

Headache? "Have some pop tarts!" Come on, how do pop tarts help with a headache?

Tony's jealousy grew and grew. It was bad enough that Sam sneezed on his face, but now he was getting special treatment? The injustice of it all!

Truth be told, It wasn't just Tony that was tired of Sam's antics. The rest of the team were fed up as well. Sam acted like an annoying puppy dog, begging for food and attention. His complaints and requests were beginning to be ignored and soon, Sam wasn't sick anymore.

-o-

Nobody had seen Tony for days, his lab door was locked and Jarvis wouldn't let anybody in. The only message he gave was- "I'm not coming out until somebody apologizes."

It was pretty clear who that certain somebody was.

-o-

"What!? I am not apologizing! It was an accident!" Nat frowned.

"We have a mission tomorrow. On that we need Tony's suit for. Just man up and apologize already."

"But I-"

"You sneezed in his face."

-o-

The mission went as well as it could, with a smug Ironman and a Falcon with broken pride. The team stumbled back into the hangar and started to put away gear. The quiet movement was broken with and explosive sound in Tony's direction.

"ACHOO!"

A collective sigh was emitted throughout the room. Not again.

Well, what do you guys think? I'm not sure if I'll be able to update soon, but I'll try. Reviews and constructive criticism are welcome, practically begged for!

Have a wonderful rest of the year!

- Chaos