Enemies or friends?

14. Worried for Steve

Sam's point of view

It was a almost a month since Bruce told us about Steve's illness. He said that he wasn't feeling well for almost a month. We were all worried and the worst part is that Bruce couldn't find a reason for his sickness. He said he will investigate it more, but he prohibited Steve - much to his disagreement - from going on any missions until his sickness stops. At first I wasn't sure why this was so necessary, but as soon as I found out how ill Steve actually was, I understood Bruce's decision. 

Steve was still trying to hide that he wasn't feeling well, but now that all team was paying attention to this, we could notice that he was clearly not fine. Soon I noticed the patern. 

The thing is, Steve had three types of days.

On his good days he feels pretty well. It's actually like he's not even ill. He comes on all meetings, meals, trainings and other events. He laughes at our jokes and tries to convince us to let him on mission. We always say no, of course. 

Then there are his bad days. On his bad days he sometimes doesn't even show to breakfast or other meals and if he does he doesn't eat anything. That was before we realised, that is better if we just let him choose what he wants to eat and not to serve him our usuall take-out food. So now he eats at least some soup or crackers. These are the days when Steve suddenly storms out the room and we know we'll found him throwing up in the bathroom. Sometimes he doesn't even come there soon enough. That's how I found out that he actually had some sick backs for cases like this in his pockets at all times. You know how weird experience is to walk down the hall and see a assasin with a metal arm supporting Captain America while he's throwing up into the plastic bag, because the bathroom is on the other end of the house? No, you probbably don't and I don't think you wish to. On days like this the whole team usually gatheres in the living room with mugs of tea and binge watches TV if we don't have a mission to complete.

The most rare, but by far the worst are Steve's terrible days. On this days he can't keep down anything, not even water or meds. Even strong light and certain smells or sounds make him sick. Those were days when he experience a teribble head and stomache ache that makes him dizzy. At first he still tried to hang out with us and pretend he's fine, but when Nat realised that he wince everytime he moves she said that she's going to arm-wrestle him into bed if necessary. After that he stayed in his room most of the time on days like that. We were so worried that if we went on a mission somebody always stayed with him. Mostly it was Bucky the one who stayed behind, because if he went on a mission with us, he called Steve at least every half hour to check how he's doing. 

Anyway, today was Steve's terrible day. After the mission I took a quick shover and went to see how he's doing. I knocked on his doors and heard a quiet: ˝Come in!˝. Inside the room it was darker, the curtains were covering the windows. Bucky was sitting on Steve's bed, while Steve was lying next to him. There was a damp cloth on his forehead, covering his eyes. Bucky was massaging his stomach. 

˝How's he?˝ I asked. Steve and Bucky both answered at the same time. 

˝He's not fine.˝  ˝I'm fine˝  Steve sounded a little sleepy. Bucky rolled his eyes. 

˝I swear, he could break every bone in his body and still insisted he's fine˝ I looked at sweaty, exhausted Steve who was in obvious pain. I shooked my head.

˝I still found it unbelievable that you could fight like that. I mean, if I would felt like that I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be even able to get up from the bed.˝ 

˝I believe he had to use every drop of willpower he owns. Sometimes I get a feeling that he runs on that thing,˝ Bucky said, while Steve's breathing slowed. He looked at his friend. 

˝Oh, he's asleep. I tried to convince him to try to sleep for hours, but he said he need to stay awake in case you guys need a back-up,˝ Bucky explained and sighed. ˝He can be such an idiot sometimes.˝

 I nooded. ˝Bucky, maybe you can go to eat something while he's asleep and rest a bit. You will overworked yourself. I will watch him, while he sleeps.˝ 

˝You are right. And I need to talk to Tony. Thanks,˝ he said and left the room. I sat on Steve's bed and opened my book, deciding to read while he sleeps.