#luckily I'm back in my regular work place again tomorrow so things will be better then

[cerise-on-top]

Hi! Love your writing sm, hope you're having a good day! 💗

How about an older veteran reader with Rudy, Price, Soap, and Alejandro? Just sharing war stories and offering a place for them to stay if they ever need it, a sprinkle of elderly advice here and there

Hello! Thank you, that's very kind of you! My day was somewhat rough, but at the very least I got to go home early!

Price, Soap, Alejandro and Rodolfo with an Older Veteran!Reader

Price: He’s talked to plenty of people, a few among them were war veterans as well. Price has great respect for those kinds of people. After all, you’d been in the same business as he is for a while and saw all the horrors, so it’s not particularly hard for him to relate to the things you say. He’s not as open to talking about his experiences during daytime, but if you catch him during the evening alone when he’s had a drink or two, then he’s far more willing to open up. Doesn’t matter what war you’ve fought in, some things stay the same. He’s a captain, so naturally he’s stressed out about a lot of things, such as every member of his Task Force dying while he can’t do anything but watch. He doesn’t like to show such, preferring to keep his cool, but it does occupy his mind every once in a while, regardless of how capable his boys are. Price isn’t immune to the night time melancholy, so he might confide in you. Tell him a few stories of your own, he’ll retaliate with some of the things he’s seen. Nothing confidential, naturally, but the awful horrors he’s encountered. How he’s seen his own comrades be tortured in front of him. How they were killed like bugs, as if they didn’t have a life of their own. You set the tone, really. Tell him a hopeful story and he’ll tell you one of his own. Tell him a funny story, you’ll hear about Soap’s and Ghost’s midnight shenanigans. You’re more than welcome to tell him about the old times, while you were training, he remembers those fondly and will smile while looking into his tequila. If you offer him a place to stay, he’ll be a bit torn: You seem nice enough, but does he really wanna put you in potential danger like that? You know best what comes with his profession. If there’s really no other way out, if he really is being hunted by the world and doesn’t have a place to stay, then he’ll come to you, but otherwise he’ll try to keep you safe as well. However, he has an open ear for any and all advice you could give him. He’s in his mid to late thirties, so while he has seen a few things here and there he still has much to learn. Price is someone who can appreciate some advice from someone who knows what they’re doing.

Soap: Ever since his cousin had shown him the SAS base he’s wanted to join the military, actively asking his relatives if they knew any veterans who could tell him some cool stories. There were a few, but no amount of stories told could ever satisfy him. Even now that he’s one of, if not the youngest to have passed the SAS selection, he’s still stoked to be part of it all. One day, he wants to be able to tell stories of his own. Once he figures out that you’re a veteran he’ll gravitate towards you and ask you all sorts of questions. Unlike Price, he’s more than willing to exchange stories at any point in time, you don’t need to get him tipsy and melancholic for that. If he can tell you’re okay with it, he’ll even start talking about how his training went, what he had to do in order to become a sergeant. Soap loves talking about himself in that regard, he’s very proud of what he has accomplished, but will stay quiet for some moments so you can tell him about your own career as well. He’s all ears as soon as you start talking, soaking up every word you say like a sponge. If one of your stories reminds him of something that has happened to him he’ll butt in a bit and tell a short anecdote, but other than that he’s quiet. You can tell him anything and he’ll be happy to listen. While he can be a bit of a rascal from time to time, he does take your advice to heart and listens to it. His memory is pretty good so he’ll likely remember what you said for a long time as well, especially in the right moments. Despite him being in his mid twenties, he’ll also give you some advice. Soap just really wants to seem like a cool person in your eyes. Depending on what side you fought, you might even become a hero of sorts to him. Either way, he’s all too chipper to be spending time with you. If you offer him a place to stay then you can be certain he’ll take you up on your offer. He thinks you’re the coolest person out there, so sometimes he might just ask you if he could stay with you for a night just so he could talk with you over some drinks. So, it really doesn’t need to be an emergency for him to come knocking on your door. However, he’s more willing to stay with you during an emergency than Price, fully aware that you could likely defend yourself anyway if it came down to it.

Alejandro: Out of all the people on this list, he’s the oldest one, not counting you, of course, so he has quite some experience himself. He’s a colonel, he leads people on the daily, needs to make sure everything goes well and all. He knows what he’s doing. However, he’s also a pretty social guy, so he wouldn’t hesitate to chat with you for a bit, regardless of how busy he might be. If it’s clear you’ll be talking to each other for a longer time, then he might invite you to a bar or cafe for a drink or two. Alejandro is always more than happy to hear from fellow soldiers, regardless of whether they’re on duty, or not. You’re always more than welcome to seek him out for a chat or two, he’s a good man. Tell him stories of yours first, he, too, is more than happy to tell you some of his own. He has plenty to tell himself, having been a soldier for most of his lif. Although he’d prefer to start off easy with a funny anecdote or two before diving into something rougher. Being in the military can be wild, after all. Not all of it is bad, even if a good portion of it ends up being heartbreaking. Although he won’t confide in you immediately upon meeting you for the first time, he’ll open up some more if you seek each other out from time to time. Eventually he’ll tell you about his regrets as well as the things he loves. Not as melancholic as Price, but there’s still some sadness in his tone as he speaks. If you give him some advice he’ll laugh a bit. Yes, he knows you’re older than him by quite a bit, but he’s not really the youngest anymore either, so he has some advice up his sleeve himself. Doesn’t mean he can’t appreciate it, though. Just for retaliation purposes, he’ll crack a joke about your age, but it’s not ill intentioned. You can offer him a place to stay, but he won’t take you up on it during an emergency. He’s a highly sought after man, with El Sin Nombre being out for his head as well whenever she can, Alejandro knows that things won’t end well for you if he spends too much time with you when things are bleak, but he’s more than happy to come visit you when he has time, chat with you over a drink or two. Depending on how far away you live, he might stay with you for a night or two, though. He does like getting to spend time with you.

Rodolfo: While he may not actively seek out elders just to chat with them about what he sees on the daily, he doesn’t mind hearing about it either. If a good conversation starts, then he can convince himself to stay for a bit longer just to listen to you talk about your time in the military. Rodolfo doesn’t love being in the military as much as Soap or Alejandro do. Don’t get me wrong, he still likes his profession, but the spark that used to be there when he first started has since dimmed quite a bit. While you likely can’t reignite that spark, you can give him some respite. A break would do him good. He may try to not think about work too much when he can, but if you start talking about the good old times, then he’ll grow a bit sentimental and tell you about how he first started and what it was like back then. Rodolfo has always liked Alejandro, even looked up to him a bit since he was sort of just unkillable, no matter what happened. And yes, when he starts talking about this he loses track of time and himself and will simply ramble on and on about what it used be like. Don’t worry, though, you’ll get your turn to speak once he realizes just how much he’d been talking. Apologizes about this afterwards. That would be a good time to tell him about your own training back then. The good, the bad and the ugly. It’s not often that someone gets to see it, but if you reminisce together, you might even get to see a somber smile from the guy as well. Once he’s mellowed out a bit like that, you can give him just about any advice and he’ll listen. If it’s something silly, he might chuckle a bit, but will take it to heart. Who is he to deny an elderly person their right to give him some advice? You know what you’re talking about, after all. Always more than happy to be given such, he likes knowing what he has to do in the right situations. It’s not always easy, after all. Offer him a place to stay and he’ll actually take you up on it. Whether he needs some more advice or just wants a good chat, you’ll see him come up to your home every once in a while, always with a gift such as an expensive bottle of wine. If he’s in an especially precarious situation and nearby, he’ll actually come to you, knowing that he’ll be in good hands. Please take good care of him, Rodolfo could always, and I mean always, use someone like you.

[pbandjesse]

Today was such a nice day. I feel really nice right now. I'm tired but I don't feel exhausted. I don't feel sick for once. James isn't here but I'm still having a nice night. Just trying to relax. All of my doctors are telling me I'm doing too much. So I'm trying very hard to take breaks.

Can I start a not great though. Because at about 4 in the morning I was jolted out of a deep sleep by screaming. There was someone outside just absolutely screaming. And I sat up and I wasn't sure if it was real. And then it happened again. It was a girl. And I sat there and I said to myself that it happens again I'm going to call 911.. And then it did. She not only screamed she said get away from me. And I was so upset. And I jumped out of bed and tripped on James but I couldn't figure out where she was. I called nine-one-one and recorded it. I hope she's okay. I wasn't able to fall back asleep for an hour but I didn't hear her again. It was not a fun way to wake up.

I did get a little bit more sleep. I woke up at 7 because my body was ready for it because of daylight saving. I dozed until 8 and then got it for real. James made me a sandwich and I packed a banana because I'm trying to be better about eating fruits and vegetables on the regular and then I left for work.

And today was great. I had a really nice bike ride downtown. I used my new headphones and they work very well. Didn't really have any problems at all except I'm not good at pausing them and I pause the by accident all time. Just got to get used to it. And then I stopped at McDonald's for hash brown.

The museum was great though. It was a free day so we weren't sure how busy it would be. They were having a talk with the photographer artist that we have the special exhibit on. And nobody came for the first half hour. I was mostly hanging out talking to Gabby. I had my breakfast. And then someone finally showed up. And they were so nice. She was writing a Blog about travel. Like she runs a Blog about travel. But she was doing one specifically about Baltimore. And so I gave her like an hour 45 minutes or about the museum. She took lots of pictures and had lots of questions and I just had a great time talking to her.

And I took a little break and then gave my next door. There was a lot more people in the museum at that point. Because the lecture series was starting and things were going on. But because there was an event I didn't know if anyone would actually come to my door. But then two people that and it was a a couple and they were really nice.

Halfway through the tour I gained two more people. And then during my garment off to talk I gave three more. And they told me that they were there because someone who is at the PD I was at yesterday told them to come because of me. And that was really cool. And so I finished my tour and while I was in The Print Lab with everyone I told the last story and she started crying. Just like saw them because she thought the story was so nice. And then we ended up all talking for like 25 minutes and I got hugs and they took a picture with me. So nice. I think one of them also followed me on Instagram.

I ran into them a couple more times over the next hour and showed some stuff. Was able to get my Pharmacy talk as well as my machine talk to them and other people. And it was just a really nice day.

I also got talk to the artist photographer. And he was really cool. We talked about union rights and workers and all of that stuff for a while. He's like a real journalist and is traveling around to different countries to photograph their steel production place is as well and I told him about some of the nonsense over it ships and the Nazi stuff and he told me that if something like that happens again to give him a call because he has a lot of connections and could make a big thing of it. So that was cool.

I just had a lot of really nice people today. Lot of people really interested in workers rights and unions. People who had more information about things that allowed me to expand on my door. People that were just really excited to be there. It was great. I had a really nice day.

I finished up the day with some partial tours. Walking around turning on machines and talking to people. Even if it wasn't the full hour it was still nice to be able to show people things. And I got to leave right at 4. My throat hurt from talking so much but I had a really nice day.

James texted me and asked what I wanted for dinner and I asked if we could have frozen pizza and green beans. Kind of forgetting we were recreating the meals we used to have on Taney overnight. Very nostalgic.

I biked home and I had a little bit of trouble getting up the hill but my stamina is getting better. James had told me to just ring the doorbell and you will help me bring my bike out since I'm usually so exhausted by the time I get back. And he did and that was great. Stamina is still not wonderful even if it is starting to get better.

He made us dinner and we sat in the kitchen and talked for a while. Eventually I moved over to the couch and I was really cold. Are he was supposed to come on on the first and it was on for a little bit it doesn't seem to be on anymore. So I'm using the space heaters. And we need to put curtains up still to keep the heat in. So that's a project for this week.

And luckily enough I have a pretty nice week. Tomorrow I have the BMI in the morning and then I have off in the afternoon. And then I have two days of just teaching and them one day with both jobs and I have Friday off. And Saturday. So I think it will be a very nice week.

After me and James had dinner he left to go to a football game with his family and some friends. And I took one of the space heaters into the bathroom and took a bath. Space heater helped a lot with keeping the bathroom not like an icebox. I washed my hair and eventually got out. I got dressed and I've been watching some videos and I made outfits for the week. But I'm really just trying to take a break. There's things I could be working on I could vacuum I could do some cleaning but the doctors are right I am kind of working myself really hard. I'm going to burn out. If I'm not already doing so. There are things I'm going to accomplish this month. But it doesn't all have to happen right now and I need to stop stressing myself out so much over it. I know it's true.

I'm going to just rest though. Enjoy the rest of my night. James will be home before midnight. And I have work tomorrow. It's going to be a nice day and I hope you guys are enjoying it as well. Sleep good. Stay warm. Take care of each other. Goodnight

[dukereviewstv]

Duke Reviews TV: Smallville 1x07 Craving

Hi Everyone, I'm Andrew Leduc And Welcome To Duke Reviews TV Where Today We Are Continuing Our Look At Smallville By Talking About Episode 7 Of Season 1, Craving...

This Episode Is About A Girl Named Jodi Melville (Played By The DCEU'S Future Lois Lane, Amy Adams) Who Is A Overweight Teen Obsessed With Losing Weight Who Begins A Diet Plan Of Vegetable Shakes (A Solid Regimen, Right) But What If I Told You That These Vegetables Were Grown In Meteor Rock Contaminated Soil?

That's What I Thought...

Anyway These Contaminated Vegetables Are Causing Her To Lose So Much Weight That Regular Food Isn't Satisfying Her Anymore But Unfortunately The Fat Of Other People's Are. Meanwhile, Lex Becomes Interested In Chloe's Wall Of Weird Theory That He Begins Funding The Research Of A Controversial Mineralogist (Played By Terminator 2's Joe Morton)

So, Let's Dive Into Craving To See If Clark Can Stop This Fat Sucking Vampire?

The Episode Starts At The Melville House As We See Jodie (Played By Amy Adams) Picking Vegetables That Are In Meteor Rock Soil While Her Father Talks About Dinner That Night But Jodie Has No Interest On Eating Anything That He's Eating As She Wants To Lose Weight By Eating Just Vegetables...

Watching Jodie Place Her Head On A Bunch Of Magazine Supermodels Chloe And Pete Talk With Jodie About Helping Them With Algebra As Clark Is Busy Helping Lana With Her Party Accepting Despite Them Offering To Buy Her Lunch They're A Little Grossed Out By What She's Drinking...

But Then 2 Jocks Come By To Ask Pete To Join Their Game While Making Fun Of Jodie...

Oh, I Get It Her Name's Melville And Herman Melville Wrote Moby Dick, Ha Ha Ha When Did Bullying Become A History Lesson?

With Pete Telling The One Jock Dustin To Back Off, Dustin Ends Up Throwing His Ball Into Jodie's Drink Which Goes All Over Her Shirt...

Embarrassed About What Happened At School, Jodie Continues To Drink Vegetable Shakes Despite Her Father Telling Her That She's Beautiful The Way She Is But All Jodie Cares About Is Losing Weight And Nothing Else...

Going To The Bathroom, Jodie Goes On The Scale To See That She Has Lost Some Weight And Her Body Is Getting Thinner Then She Looks In The Mirror To See Her Face Get Thinner, Getting On The Scale We See She's Lost A Little Bit More Weight...

Meeting With A Doctor, Lex Discovers That He Has A Highly Elevated White Blood Cell Count But Lex Says That That's Not Possible As He Doesn't Get Sick, Asking Him Various Questions (If He's On Any Medication, If He Has Any Allergies, Any Childhood Illnesses To Which He Says Asthma)...

Saying That If This Was Anywhere Else, He'd Order Of Battery Of Tests, Wanting To Know Why Not, The Doctor Tells Lex That Some People Believe That The Luthorcorp Plant Is Poisoning The Environment...

Meanwhile At Lana's House, Lana And Clark Talk While Nell Works On Her Birthday Party Which Is Going To Be At The Luthor Mansion, But Lana Says That It Stopped Being Her Birthday Party A Long Ago And That If She Had It Her Way It Would Be Just Pizza And Loud Music With Her Friends...

Well, It's Your Birthday, Why Don't You Tell Nell This Instead Of Clark, I'm Sure She'd Understand...

But Turns Out Lana Is Giving Nell This Because They've Been Through A Lot In The Past Few Months, Which Is In This Reviewer's Opinion The Most Poorest Reason Ever...

Anyway, Whitney Comes By With Some Good News Turns Out He Has An Audition For Kansas State, Bad News Is He'll Have To Miss Lana's Party But Of Course, She's Fine With It...

Talking With Chloe And Pete, Pete Sees Whitney Being Gone As Clark's Opening With Lana But As They Continue Talking Jodie Says Hi To Pete Which Is When They Notice How Much Weight She's Lost...

Saying That She Looks Great, Jodie Thanks Pete For Sticking Up For Her Yesterday And Asks Him Out To Lana's Party To Which Clark Says Yes For Pete As He's Speechless But Chloe Is A Little Confused On How Jodi Lost All That Weight...

Stopping By The Kent Farm After School, Lana Gives Jonathan And Martha The Produce Order For The Party Saying That Nell's Planning This Like A Royal Wedding...

Well, If She Is Then Does Make You Meghan Markle, Because If You Are Boy, Do I Have A Few Things To Say To You...

Start Following The Royal Way Of Life Instead Of Doing Things Your Way...

Stop Acting Like A Disney Princess

Come Up With Better Baby Names...

Coming In With 2 Things Of Apples, Clark Talks With Lana Who Tells Him That All This Attention Is A Little Unnerving Which Leads Clark To Ask If He Could Be Her Escort On Saturday To Fend Off Her Fans So To Speak To Which Lana Says That She'd Like That But He Wants Him To Promise Her That This Time He'll Make It To Which He Does...

Making Another Vegetable Shake, Jodie Tells Her Dad About Her Date With Pete To Which He's Thrilled However He Wants Her To Eat A Little More Than Those Vegetable Shake Which She Does However Despite Eating Everything In Her Fridge Including Chicken, Hot Dogs, Chocolate Cake Etc... Nothing Satisfies Her...

Going To Pick Up Food, Jodi Accidentally Hits A Deer, Which She....

I Didn't Know Giselle From Enchanted Was A Cannibal....

Actually, She Didn't Eat The Deer, She Just Sucked The Fat Out Of Him But Still It's Scary Enough To The Point I Nearly Crapped My Pants...

Clark Watches Lana And Whitney As Whitney Gives Lana Her Birthday Gift But Chloe Interrupts To That Authorities Found The Deer That Jodi Hit Last Night, But Worried About More Important Things Than Deer Carcasses Chloe Says If She Helps Her She'll Him With His Lana Gift Dilemma...

Agreeing Clark Gets Chloe In To Which Clark Says Looks Like Jerky But The Report Says That The Deer Lost About 80% Of It's Body Fat...

Back At The Luthor Mansion, Lex Looks At The Smallville Torch Website While Jodi's Father Talks To Her Saying That He Has To Leave Town For A Few Days To Talk To A Client And Wants To See Jodi Before He Goes But Saying That He Can't As She's Indecent Has Him Worried That His Daughter May Need Professional Help...

But Turns Out The Reason He Can't Enter Is Because There's Food On The Floor That Didn't Satisfy Her...

Visiting The Torch, Lex Sees Chloe's Wall Of Weird Which Clark Explains To Him. Believing That It's An Interesting Theory Lex Talks With Clark About The Meteor Shower And What Happened All Those Years Ago With His Father...

With Chloe Returning, Lex Says He Likes Her Theory And Asks If She's The Only One Who Believes That The Meteors Are Behind Everything And Not The Luthorcorp Plant As Everyone Else Believes Which Leads Chloe To Suggest For A Mr. Hamilton..

Running Into Jodi In The Hallway, Pete Asks Why She Wasn't In Class With Her Saying That She Had Stomach Flu But She'll Be Fine. With Pete Telling Jodi If She's Not Up For Tomorrow He'll Understand, Jodi Tells Him That There's No Way In The World She Would Miss It...

Feeling Hungry Again, Jodi Runs Into Dustin Who Made Fun Of Her Earlier And Decides To Use Him To Slate Her Hunger...

Running Into Lana At The Football Field, She Tells Clark That She Told Nell To Make The Final Decisions Without Her Which Leads Clark To Ask If She's Ever Had A Happy Birthday Which Leads Her To Talk About One Time She Went To A Drive In With Her Parents...

Hearing A Noise After Talking To Lana, Clark Uses His X-Ray Vision To See Jodi Feeding On Dustin But By The Time Clark Gets There Jodi Is Gone And The Only Thing He Finds Is Dustin Barely Alive...

Finding This Mr. Hamilton (Played By T2's Joe Morton) Lex Talks With Hamilton About His Latest Condition And On How It May Be Connected To The Meteors And How He Would Like To Fund His Research But He Has No Intention Of Working For Lex Saying That His Research Is Private However, Lex Leaves The Door Open If He Wants To Change His Mind..

Back At School Chloe Tells Clark That Dustin Is In A Coma Which Leads Them To Come Back To The Idea Of A Fat Sucking Vampire, Sitting Down With Jodi For Their Study Group They Notice Her Eating A Lot But Just Says That She's Starving. With Chloe Thinking What They Saw Was Weird, Clark Takes Off To Deal With Lana's Birthday Gift...

Meanwhile At The Luthor Mansion, Set Up For Lana's Party Is Underway But Lex Knows That It's Not Her In Anyway While Also Giving The Hint That He May Have Set Up The Kansas State Audition For Whitney...

But As Clark Gets Ready For The Party, Chloe Comes In Saying That It Was Jodi's Car That Hit The Deer And What's Worse Her House Is Built Near One Of The Meteors Hit...

Getting Dressed For The Party It Seems Like A Fairy Tale...

But Then Jodie Gets Hungry, And Decides To Back Off Because She Doesn't Want To Hurt Pete...

(Start At 0:08, End At 0:13)

Finding Jodi In The Kitchen, She Attacks Pete And Tries To Suck His Fat But Luckily Clark Arrives Causing Her To Run It Into The Greenhouse...

With Clark Weakened By The Meteor Rocks, Jodi Attacks Clark With A Shovel Which Leads To A Fight Between The Two. But Looking At Her Reflection, Jodi Realizes What She's Become And Decides To End It..

With The Greenhouse Blown Up, Clark Saves Jodi As Pete Wakes Up...

Meanwhile At Her Party, Lana Feels Like This...

But A Talk With Lex About His Experience At Luthor Christmas Parties Which Makes Everything All Right?

Returning To The Kent Farm, Clark Tells Jonathan And Martha That Besides Pete Having A Headache, Jodi's On Her Way To Metropolis To Be With Her Father But None Of That Matters Right Now As Clark Is Too Upset Over Missing His Date With Lana. But He Realizes That Not Everthing Is Ruined...

Meanwhile At The Luthor Mansion, Lex Finds Out That He Has A Clean Bill Of Health And Decides To Tell Hamilton About It But He's Like Do I Give A Damn About Your Health? Finding Out Why Hamiton Was So Resistant To Him, He Tells Lex To Get Out But Still He Gives Him A Check To Fund His Research...

Oh, Wait He's Not Carrying A Stereo, My Bad...

Visiting Lana, Clark Apologizes For Missing The Party But He Wants To Make It Up To Her By Giving Her Her Birthday Gift Which Turns Out To Be A Drive In Movie...

However It Turns Out That They Were Shrunk By Ant-Man And The Wasp!

No, Just Kidding But Still Wouldn't It Be Funny If That Actually Happened But That's Craving And It's All Right...

The Entire Episode Is All Right I Don't Really Have A Problem With The Episode In General. However I Do Have A Problem With The Villain, Jodi, When She's In Movies I Like, I Love Amy Adams However Though I Didn't Mind The Character Of Jodi It Just Felt Like The Writers Were Walking On A Deadly Tightrope When Writing This Character Cause In The Wrong Hands The Character Could Definitely Send A Bad Message But Despite My Logical Implications On Sending A Good Or Bad Message I Say See It...

Till Next Time, This Is Duke, Signing Off...

[skippyjo94]

Not My Kisses!

Steve had gone down to the lab to visit his very recently established partner, and possibly seduce him into coming to bed rather than continuing whatever admittedly impressive project he had going today. And for the last couple days. Without pause. Yeah, he needed a break. And seduction was probably the best route. Tony doesn't like to be told what to do. If he is tempted properly...that has a more pleasant outcome. Generally speaking.

He wasn't, however, planning on seeing Tony sitting on a stool, hunched over his work space, wrapped in a blanket, still seeming to be shivering, and surrounded by used tissues. Well, that changed things.

Steve knocked against the door frame to introduce himself before entering Tony's sacred space. PTSD had touched all of their lives one way or another and it definitely showed. Particularly when they were focused, as being suddenly interrupted in a place one views as safe could make anyone jumpy. Always better not to risk it.

Once inside, Steve headed straight for his man, reaching out a hand to rest on Tony's shoulder, warm and gentle in his intentions. Shame, he had planned the touching part to be much more...exciting. Oh well. That could certainly wait.

Tony turned towards the contact. Steve didn't like what he saw. The usually bright eyes had a haze to them that was concerning on its own. Add to that the sheen of sweat along Tony's brow, the lack of color in his cheeks, and the sheer amount of red coloring his nose, any residual hope for his original plan went out the window.

"Hey there sweetheart. What are you still doing down here?" Steve tried his best to keep his tone gentle, allowing only a touch of scolding to be heard in his words.

"Working on an update to-" Whatever lecture he had been preparing to launch into was cut off by a sudden coughing fit.

Steve looked around and found the water bottle of whatever it was Tony was using to stay "nourished and hydrated" on the far corner of his desk. He grabbed it and held it out for Tony who took it gratefully, taking a sip to calm his spasming throat and lungs.

"Okay, well whatever update it is, how about you put it on hold? We need to get you up to bed now. Come on, hon. Let's go." Steve said, placing a hand on Tony's shoulder blade, applying the slightest bit of pressure in a subtle attempt to get him to turn away from the work and allow himself to be ushered out of the lab.

"Nope! This is time sensitive, I have to finish this bit. You can't pull me away now. It would be disastrous. In the worst kind of way! And I know you're not really up with all these things yet but trust me when I say it will be revolutionary." Tony's protests came right on cue.

Luckily, Steve had been dealing with this man long before they ever tried being involved with each other. He was ready.

"Oh I have no doubt it is well beyond me. You would need years just to explain the concept, I'm sure. My little brain is no match for that super processor you've got up here." Steve stroked his hand down Tony's face from temple to jaw, smirking as he watched his words flow through said processor. "You'll just have to start explaining it to me so I can, maybe, just possibly, be able to watch you work on it and actually have a prayer at following the extent of your genius master engineering hands do their work. You do know how much I enjoy watching your hands at work."

"No, it's really not that complicated, these are just-" Tony cut off when Steve pressed a finger against Tony's lips.

Tony looked up with a confused expression on his face, eyebrows scrunched together adorably trying to keep up. He waited for whatever Steve was going to do next.

"Tomorrow." Steve said it with a finality that even Tony couldn't argue with. Not that he really wanted to considering how miserable he was feeling.

Still, he put on a pout to keep up appearances. Can't have Steve thinking he's that easy.

"Come on," Steve tried. "The sooner we get you up to bed and get some food and meds in you, the sooner you'll start to feel better. Which means the sooner you can get back here to your...geniusing."

Tony looked less than impressed.

Steve tried again. "And the sooner we can get back to-how does one put this nicely-'other mutually enjoyable activities?'" Steve leaned in, placing his hands on the desk on either side of Tony, close enough to run his nose along Tony's neck. He would rather enjoy the slight shiver that ran up the other man's spine, if he hadn't been convinced it was due more to the fever than any real sense of desire or attraction.

"Now that is reasoning I can get behind. Or you can get behind. Details. We can figure them out later. Just have to get to bed, you said?"

Now how had Steve not figured that seduction would still be what Tony would respond to the best? The man never had much sense when it came to doing things that benefited his health. Why should this be any different?

Steve pulled back to rest his forehead against Tony's. He waited until Tony made eye contact before starting again.

"Sweetheart, you're sick." Pouty Tony is really unfairly cute. "You need to rest and get yourself healthy again before we even think about doing anything like that."

"But you can't get sick. Super immunity and all that jazz. So why not?" Of course Tony was going to fight this. Steve pulled back, frowning.

"I know I can't get sick, hon. The point is that you could get sicker." More sick? Sicker. "And we definitely don't want that, now do we?" Of course Steve loved a stubborn idiot who doesn't bother taking care of himself. This must be payback for all the shit he put Bucky through when he had the same cavalier attitude about his own health and safety.

He left his hands on the desk, kept his arms around Tony, bracketing him in.

"Oookaaay, no sex." Steve could hear the gears grinding in Tony's mind. A good indicator of exactly the kind of state he was in considering Tony's mind is normally a well oiled machine. "What about heavy petting?" His face lit up, proud at having come up with what he considered an acceptable compromise.

Steve almost didn't want to say no. But, "No can do sweetheart. You know how quickly you get worked up. No exerting yourself when you're like this. That includes keeping yourself from being too tempted." And from tempting me, Steve wanted to say, but thought it best not to give Tony any more ammunition than he certainly already had.

"Oh come on, it's not like you can't do all the work. Hell, you enjoy doing the work!" Tony was really going for it if he was offering to let Steve win their ever present battle for dominance that, either fortunately or unfortunately, depending on the day, extended into the bedroom on a regular basis.

Time to break out the big guns. "Do you think that, the way your nose is looking, you could even breathe well enough for 'heavy petting?'" Steve was still in Tony's personal space, leaning his weight against the desk. He was close enough to hear Tony mouth breathing. Though he probably didn't have to be that close. It wasn't exactly quiet.

Tony's mouth snapped shut. Audibly. Steve knew he had it in the bag then. Tony was no doubt going to complain further, but Steve stopped him with a kiss. He kept it chaste, not wanting to lose ground when he was so close to sealing his victory.

He pulled away before Tony could really respond, saying "Had to get one last one in."

The look of shock from Tony was almost too much. "Wait, no, don't take kisses away from me!" Tony pouted rather cutely again. "It's just kisses. Surely that's okay still! You already took the real fun..."

"Just giving you a little extra incentive to get yourself better. As fast as you can, preferably. You're not the only one who's going to miss the kisses." Steve smirked at the outrage on Tony's face.

One more peck on the lips for good measure and Steve pulled Tony up, keeping the blanket tight around him and pulling him along, supporting most of his weight as they moved towards the elevator.

"Come on, I'll make you some soup while you shower, and then I'll tuck you in and everything."

Tony couldn't actually deny that sounded pretty wonderful.

"Fine." If that was the end of the pouting, Steve must be getting good at this.

"...Or you could always join me in the shower, you know." Of course that wasn't the end.

Damn, this was going to be a long next couple of days.