Adopted. (child tony, stucky)

Poorly Tony,

Tony had been distant since the pool incident, the couple were gutted by this due to them being so close to making Tony properly comfortable, and how far their relationship with him had advanced. Though a few days later, while the couple are sat at the kitchen table, breakfast set with hot beverages prepared, the only thing they were missing was Tony.

"Is he still asleep?" Steve asked, raising an eyebrow.

"He doesn't sleep in this late." Bucky confirmed, which wasn't wrong. Usually Tony would of woken up two, maybe three hours ago. They had even postponed breakfast a little later encase he wanted a lie in. "I'll go check, he's probably just drawing."

"Alright." Steve agreed, refilling his coffee mug.

Bucky headed up the stairs, practically tiptoeing down the hallway to make minimal noise if Tony was asleep. He placed a gentle knock on the door, though received no answer. He didn't want to intrude, so he cracked the door open, still unable to see inside and softly spoke, "Tony?" There wasn't an response. Slowly he creaked the door open and saw Tony's messy curls creeping out of the duvet, though his whole body was covered. The curtains remained shut, leaving the room in darkness and the boy was heavily breathing. It wasn't enough to be a nightmare, as he appeared to be sound asleep apart from that. Bucky moved beside him, sitting on the edge of the bed and pulling the blanket off his face, Tony's nose was a bright red, and drops of sweat we're built up on his forehead. Bucky placed his palm onto his forehead, immediately tensing when he realised Tony was burning up. Tony groaned, his eyes squeezing before opening, having a blink a few times before anything focussed. "You feeling okay, Tony?" The boy shook his head in return, sitting up with a sniffle. "Sick?"

"s' think.. don't get too close.." The boy shuffled away, suppressing a cough.

"Tony, come here." The boy shook his head, beginning to pick at his nails. "Tony." Bucky's voice was a little more stern this time, but not anything that could be feared. Tony edged closer, before getting wrapped under Bucky's arm. "You're okay, let's get you downstairs. Okay?"

"Okay." Tony received a warm rub on his arm before Bucky knelt down with his back facing Tony on the floor. "What?" The boy asked in confusion.

"Piggy back, hop on."

It took a little convincing, though soon enough Tony was comfortably holding onto Bucky, though leaving a snot patch on his shirt from his runny nose, the solider didn't seem to care much though.

"He's awake!" Steve cried jokingly with a large grin, leaning in the doorway.

"Though will be on sofa-rest." Bucky added, placing Tony down on the sofa facing the TV.

"Is be okay? Tony are you alright?" Steve quickly protested for an answer, leaving the kitchen doorway.

"s'fine. Just a little ill." He groaned, twitching his nose in discomfort as he noticed he couldn't breathe through it.

"Plate some food up, stuff that won't taste bad when cold." Bucky requested to Steve, getting a blanket to cover Tony with.

"Bucky.. stop getting so close, m' gonna make you sick." Tony squirmed away at Bucky trying to get him comfortable.

"Tony, a bug won't bother me. I'm more worried 'bout you. okay?" There was a pause. "Okay?"

"Okay.."

Bucky resumed getting the boy comfortable, than grabbed the remote and a box of tissues to place in arms reach of Tony, and soon Steve came in with foot neatly plated up, none touching the other and all in small chewable portions.

"Thank you." Tony smiled lazily before curling back up under the blanket, it reminded him of when he was sick and Jarvis would take care of him, Jarvis would tuck him in, give him a hot water bottle and let him watch documentaries all day, he even went as far as lying to Howard saying Tony was studying! Tony reached for the remote and started flicking through the channels, Steve had sat down at his painting stool, being close enough to Tony if he needed anything though far enough to be able to concentrate on his work. Bucky was sat at the other end of the sofa eating his own breakfast. "Are you okay with a documentary?" Tony sniffled, having to awkwardly swallow in discomfort.

"Anything you want, Tony," Bucky insisted, wiping his mouth on his sleeve.

"You sure? I don't want to bore you."

"There is not a single thing you could do to bore me."  Bucky swiftly responded, leaning back on the sofa. He didn't realise this, but those few worlds made Tony's heart rejoice, for the first time in who knows how long he felt wanted. Maybe it was the illness talking, or he felt deprived of love, which was more than definitely the case. Though Tony wanted to feel this relaxed for as long as he can, he wanted to feel safe for as long as he could.

—

Within the first hour of the show Tony was asleep, his limbs lazily spread out over the sofa with the documentary still playing in the background. Bucky was messaging somebody , more than likely Pepper or Bruce about how Tony was ill, and if their kids were. Steve was painting a landscape, one Bucky and himself had hiked to previously. It was all done in a comfortable silence, each one of them in their own world though still so close to the other. Bucky wasn't exactly sure if what happened next happened in Tony's sleep, or in a brief moment of being awake. Tony had shifted himself close to Bucky, His head nuzzling his side as he leant comfortably against the man, using his for support. There was no way the position could be comfortable the more James thought about it, instead he placed a pillow on his lap and ever so slowly placed Tony's head down so his neck wouldn't have a crook in it by the time he woke up. Luckily enough the boy didn't wake up, and seemed content with the small changes.

Tony wanted this to be his forever home.