Two Avengers drabbles: "Hot Water, a melancholy," (PG)

[hsavinien]

Title: Hot Water, a melancholy

Author: H. Savinien
Rating: PG
Word count: 100 and 100
Summary: Two drabbles on Steve's life regarding the properties of hot water.

***

When Steve is young, on icy January Sunday nights, his mother uses some precious coal to heat the kettle and fills their largest bowl, the pain of it like pleasure as their feet nestle together in the not-quite-scalding water. He gets bad colds and her joints started aching a few years after his father died in France and it's the only way they can thaw well enough to get a really good night's sleep to start the week.

When his mother dies, it's January again. Bucky boils water and washes Steve's hands and feet for him after he stops shaking.

***

Steve turns his back on the showerhead and ignores the sting as his skin flashes pink from the steaming water. Tony explained that the Tower's water is all purified and reused and the power is barely a blip for the arc reactor so Steve convinces himself not to feel guilty spending almost an hour under the spray. Steve likes the shower as much as (more than) he likes online art galleries and non-military-ration food. He's not cold now. (His brain just thinks he is, tricked by sense memory.) The hot water's a pleasure like pain and he soaks it in.