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Chris was running up and down the stairs, grabbing things left and right. He needed to be on set in 20 minutes and he knew he was running late. While taking a bite from his breakfast, he realised that he’d left his phone on the nightstand beside his bed. So with some toast in his hand, he ran up the stairs again to go grab the device. Once he had it, he turned around and raced down the stairs – again.
You were unhooking Dodger’s leash after entering the house through the back door. The two of you had just taken a nice long morning walk. Chris had still been sleeping when you left. You didn’t have the heart to wake him, because you knew he ‘d been hard at work for the last couple of weeks filming fight scenes for the new Avengers movie. So you decided to give him just a little more time to rest, before another day of filming would ensue.
As soon as you unclipped Dodger’s leash, Dodger was off running to the stairs to greet Chris who you could hear hurrying down the steps.
While rushing down, Chris’s mind was running a mile a minute and he didn’t hear you and Dodger entering the house. He was only focusing on the fact that he was all but ready to leave. All he needed were his car keys that he’d left on the kitchen counter earlier. But before he could properly turn the corner at the bottom of the stairs, Dodger was running up to him. Chris was going so fast that he couldn’t stop himself from tripping over Dodger. The both of them were going down in a sprawl of limbs and paws.
You heard a crash coming from the hallway followed by a groan. You quickly made your way to hallway, seeing Chris lying face forward on the floor with Dodger trying to wiggle out from under his legs. At first you were worried that Dodger might be hurt, but when you took another look at your boyfriend and noticed his pale face and heavy breathing you realised you should actually be more worried about Chris. Dodger had freed himself and was slowly making his way to you.
You kneeled down next to Chris and tried to get him to sit up. “Chris … Chris, are you alright?” You reached for his right arm to help him up, but let go as soon as Chris actually moaned in pain. “Sorry,” you immediately apologised.
Chris slowly rolled over and sat down leaning his back against the wall. He was cradling his right arm against his chest and his face was still white. He seemed to be in quite a bit of pain. Dodger came a little closer and cautiously leaned his head on Chris’s legs as if he was aware that Chris was in need of some comfort.
“Chris, are you okay?” As soon as the words left your mouth you knew it was a stupid question. “Sorry, just take a moment. Is it your arm? Did you hurt anything else? Are you feeling nauseous?” You were trying to see if he had hurt anything else. Chris seemed to be struggling to breathe through the pain. His face was creased into a grimace.
Slowly his eyes locked with yours and he swallowed. “Just my arm, I think.” He looked down at Dodger. “Are you okay, boy?” Dodger snuggled closer to Chris’s side in reply.
“You want a glass of water?”
Chris nodded and you quickly stood up to grab a glass of water.
When you returned you found Chris still sitting down with his right arm limply lying in his lap and with his left stroking Dodger’s head.
You crouched down in front of Chris and handed him the glass. He took a couple of sips.
“Better?”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
Some of the pallor had receded a little and his breathing seemed to be returning to normal, but he was still not using his arm.
“Can you move your arm?” you asked when you took the glass from Chris.
He looked down at his arm and slowly raised it a little. Tentatively moving his fingers a little. Then his wrist. He whimpered and cradled his arm against his chest again.
“Okay, what about the elbow?”
Keeping his wrist as still as possible he stretched his arm little by little. He could only stretch it a little before he felt the pain returning. “It is a little stiff, but it’s not as bad as the wrist.”
“Okay, let’s just go to the hospital and get it checked. I think your wrist looks swollen.”
You stood up, returned to the kitchen and grabbed your phone. While you poked your head back in the hallway you said, “let me just call Joe and Antony to let them know your not coming in today until we’ve got your arm checked. You just stay where you are for a moment.”
You left Chris with Dodger in the hallway and were grabbing the car keys and your purse while your phone was ringing.
Two minutes later you ended the call and carefully helped Chris stand up. He let out a heavy sigh. “You okay?”
“Yeah, just a little dizzy.” You draped your arm around his waist, just to make sure he was steady. A moment later you were shuffling him to the car and getting him in the passenger’s seat.
Once you sat down on the driver’s side, you noticed he was fumbling with his seatbelt and helped him fasten it. Chris groaned. “God, look at me. I can’t even get my own seatbelt on.”
You laughed. “Let’s hope it’s not broken, because getting your seatbelt on will be the least of your worries then.”
---
“Mr Evans?” a doctor called.
You and Chris stood up and followed the doctor into the little examination room. Chris told the doctor what happened and you chipped in when you felt Chris forgot to mention something.
The doctor took Chris’s arm in his hands and started asking questions about how each movement felt. You could tell some movements hurt quite a bit, because the grimace had returned and some of the colour had drained from his face.
You put a comforting hand on Chris’s leg to distract him from the pain. You hoped the injury wasn’t too bad and the doctor would finish the examination quickly, because you felt bad for Chris and it made your heart hurt to see him in pain.
The doctor was putting pressure on different parts of Chris’s elbow and making him stretch and bend it to try and see how bad the damage was. Every now and then Chris winced when the doctor hit a sore spot. Slowly the doctor was making his way to Chris’s wrist. When he took Chris’s hand and tried to rotate his wrist, there was a sharp intake of breath and Chris squeezed his eyes shut.
“I suspect the wrist is broken, but we will do some x-rays to make sure. The elbow seems a little better, but I don’t want to run any risks, so we will x-ray that as well,” the doctor said.
---
Three hours, five x-rays and another doctor later, Chris’s right arm was in a cast from his knuckles to just below his arm pit. His arm was held at a ninety-degree angle by the cast and the sling around his neck. They’d given him a mild painkiller to make him a little more comfortable before putting his arm in a cast.
Since Chris had gotten texts from almost all his friends on set asking how he was, the two of you had decided to pay a quick visit to all of them. Apparently, it hadn’t taken long before the entire cast had heard the story from Antony and Joe and they’d been texting him asking him for details about what happened and how bad the injury was. So a quick visit it was.
While the two of you were walking towards the set, Chris was fumbling with the sling trying to find a comfortable position for his arm that kept the weight of the cast off of his neck. He sighed when he couldn’t quite find a position that worked. He was already fed up with wearing it.
“At least this cast is only for a week,” you commented.
“Sure and then another 5 with a cast immobilising my wrist,” he returned dryly.
“It could have been worse. They could have made you wear this one for 6 weeks if the elbow was broken instead of just sprained.”
“True,” he said, “but this still sucks.”
“Well, just try to enjoy the time off. I promise I will take good care of you,” you said with a cheeky smile and a wink.
At least that put a small smile on your boyfriend’s face. “Oh, do tell me how you are planning to pamper me?”
But before you could answer, you ran into the RDJ, Sebastian and Scarlet. “Oh jeez, Chris, we heard you fell at home. That must have been quite the fall,” Robert said. As soon as the word got round that Chris was there, Mackie, Chris and Mark also came over to come and see how he was.
Before Chris knew it they were teasing him for tripping over Dodger and Sebastian was jokingly saying that if he wanted to feel what it was like playing the Winter Soldier and try on his metal arm so desperately he should have just asked. Soon even more of the Avengers arrived and were doodling on Chris’s cast. In the end there was something representing all of them. Once they were all done, you decided to add a tiny Captain America shield to it all so there was one for Chris’s own character too.
Before heading back home, you snapped a quick picture of Chris and his arm and posted it on his Twitter. You wrote “Being a superhero on set is easy, being one at home is a little harder. #Dodger #TripHazard #AvengersArtwork”
Mackie was looking over your shoulder while you were typing your tweet. With an evil smirk, he said “Aren’t you missing a hashtag?”
“Uh?”
“#CaptainCast.”
“Hell no,” Chris said, while the others burst out laughing. Even you laughed at Mackie’s suggestion. It was just so ridiculous.
“Just saying, it fits perfectly.”
Scarlett comfortingly patted Chris’s shoulder. “It’s only for a few weeks. You will get used to it.”
“For a moment there, I thought you were on my side. What happened to Team Cap? Huh?” Chris said with a fake hurt expression on his face. “Come on, Y/N. We’re leaving. These guys will never get any work done with us distracting them.”
“Sure, Captain Cast,” you reply while saluting him.
He groaned. “Oh no, not you too.”
The others laughed again and then said goodbye to you and Chris.
You put your arm around his waist and pecked him on the cheek. “Just teasing you a little.”
---
At the end of the day, Chris was sitting on the edge of the bed struggling to take his shirt off. You laughed softly when you found him with his shirt lifted up to his neck, exposing his abdomen and chest, but unable to lift it above his head with just one hand.
Chris groaned while you helped him out of his shirt. “I didn’t think it would be this tiring and annoying to have to do everything with one hand.”
You smiled and softly kissed him on his lips. You let your hands slide through his hair and deepened the kiss.
Once you pulled apart, you grabbed a loose fitting shirt from the closet and helped him put that on. Then you hooked your fingers through the loops of his jeans and pulled him up so you could unbutton them. Chris nudged his nose against your neck and softly kissed you there.
You pulled his jeans down and Chris stepped out of them. You picked them up and put them in laundry basket in the bathroom. You tossed him a pair of loose fitting pyjama bottoms, before leaving the bedroom.
“Where are you going?”
You popped your head back around the corner of the door. “Don’t worry. Just getting an extra pillow from the spare bedroom to support your arm.”
You disappeared again to go get the pillow. In the meantime, Chris juggled with getting the pyjama bottoms on with one hand, but after a moment he managed to do it. He sat back down on the edge of the bed. He was kneading his right shoulder with his left hand to get some of the stiffness to loosen up.
“Here, let me.” You put the extra pillow on the bed and you set down a glass of water and a painkiller on the nightstand, before carefully sliding behind Chris’s back and putting your hands on his shoulder. Chris winced at the contact.
“Sorry, my hands are a little cold.” You lift your hands, blow some warm air on them and rub them together, before putting them back on Chris’s shoulder. You slowly move your hands over his shoulder looking for tight knots, gently massaging them to make him more comfortable. After a couple of minutes you feel the muscles relax and Chris sigh softly. You continue your ministrations for a little longer until you notice Chris’s breathing deepening.
You reach for the glass of water and the painkiller and offer them to Chris. He takes them and downs the medication with a few sips of water. When you guide him down on his back, he yawns and you smile at him. You pop the pillow underneath his elbow and then crawl into bed next to him. You reach for the covers and tuck them in around the both of you.
You put your arm on Chris’s stomach. He turns a little to face you. He looks tired and you hope he will be able to sleep well tonight. You doubt it though, because the cast is preventing him from lying comfortably in bed and you are pretty sure that the break in his wrist is making him feel a constant dull throbbing pain.
“Stop worrying. I’m fine.”
“You know me so well.”
“Yeah, of course I do. You are my girl and I love you.”
“I love you too,” you whisper. And then teasingly add, “Captain Cast,” when you put a quick goodnight kiss on his cheek.