Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel comics or characters or movies, and am making no money off of this fic.
AN: Written for the October 29th Whumptober prompt: seizure.
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Setback by luvsanime02
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The sudden onset of seizures is completely unexpected, and Steve Rogers wonders if he's suffering from some sort of setback. Wonders if the serum isn't perfect, after all. This fear's been a whisper of a thought in the back of his mind for years, and while he knows that doesn't make sense logically, that you can't change someone so fundamentally and then expect them to revert back to the way that they were before, the fear hasn't ever gone away completely.
Because what if it's like cancer? What if Steve's only been in remission this whole time, and is now relapsing? The idea won't leave him alone. Especially now, when once again Steve is waking up to stare at his ceiling, and he realizes with dread that he blacked out.
It was yet another seizure, he knows. Steve's been having them often for the past week or so, and he tries to clamp down on his rising panic, but he doesn't know what's causing them. They're getting worse, though, and Steve finally has to admit to himself that he needs to tell someone.
There's going to be a lot of tests. He's going to be in a hospital bed again, and Steve's hands clench into fists at the knowledge. He really thought that he was done with all of this years ago. Still, he's hidden from this situation for long enough. Time to let the doctors check him out again and find out what's wrong, even if it does end up being some kind of a relapse and Steve goes back to being sick all of the time again.
What if they can't figure out what's wrong with him at all, and these seizures just keep on happening? Steve's not stupid. He knows that seizures are very dangerous. He knows that any one of them could kill him.
He really wishes that Bucky was around right now. He always used to visit Steve when he was in the hospital. Briefly, Steve thinks about getting in touch with him somehow. He's sure that Natasha could figure out how to contact him, if she doesn't already know. That would include telling Bucky about what's happening to him, though, and what is Steve supposed to say?
I know that you feel like you need to step back from everything and just disappear for awhile, but I think I might be dying, so is there any chance that you could come sit by my bed while they're running tests to see what's wrong, and maybe read out loud to me from some boring book that fascinates you like you used to do years ago?
He would, is the thing. Steve feels sure that Bucky would come, but not because he really wanted to. He'd come out of a sense of guilt, or duty, and Steve doesn't want that. He wants Bucky to want to visit him.
So, Steve isn't going to call him. He really does need to get up off of his floor right now, though, and call someone. Possibly Tony. This is exactly the kind of situation that his scientists are going to want to handle for themselves, and as quietly as possible. News getting out of Captain America being sick in a hospital would cause a scandal, probably.
Steve gets one leg under him, heaves himself upright, staggers until his balance settles and the dizziness fades, and then goes to make the call. No sense in putting all of this off for any longer.
It just figures, doesn't it? That he's Captain America, and he still has something physically wrong with him. Steve doesn't know why he ever expected anything else different, really.