Chapter Text
The walk to Bruce’s lab is more like a walk of shame. Steve is more conscious of his surroundings now, and he can’t help his hands wringing nervously in front of his midsection. Maybe it was to subconsciously protect what he didn’t think was there but had a possibility of being there.
It’s all Natasha’s fault. She brought the idea to him and now he can’t stop thinking about it. He is so making this known to her the next time he catches her alone and he won’t stop complaining about it for weeks to come.
It was more outlandish than aliens and all the other bullshit he’s had to deal with over the years that’s for sure. Yeah, a portal can open and almost lead to Earth’s ruin but a baby? Pish posh. And no, the idea isn’t growing on him. He’s fine, in the terms of having Bruce confirm that he is wrong which ultimately means Natasha is wrong. And oh god, she’s only ever wrong like once every blue moon. Not even in rock, paper, scissors is she wrong! It’s cow dung, and he’s slightly theorizing she made a bet with some deity for all knowing powers.
So he’s a little salty about losing twenty times in a row one game. Technically, half of those were draws but still!
It’s his sole mission not to bump into anyone on the way to the lab, except his nerves are being wracked again and he feels like he’s scouring a H.Y.D.R.A base with each turn worse than the last. Bruce’s lab. Bruce’s lab. He knows where that is. In the West Wing of the compound with all the science based rooms. It’s where Tony’s new lab was.
If he bumped into Tony, Steve was certain he might spontaneously die. Yes, as in his heart will stop and he’d wake up in some green grass with a beachside house just some dozen feet away. Maybe some easels and all the paints in the world with no having to fight or worry about anything.
It’s a little unfair when he’s crashing back down to Earth, standing in one of the halls of the Compound and obviously spaced out. Anyone could stumble upon him just...standing there. Embarrassing.
So he continues on his trek, walking further and hoping to speed his pace up in hopes of catching Bruce in his lab. But what if Bruce wasn’t even there? He could be anywhere. Hell, he probably wasn’t in the Compound right now. And Steve doesn’t know if he has the will to wait for answers. If he needed to go buy more tests, then…
He slows to a stop once more. “Friday, where’s Bruce?”
‘Dr. Banner is currently in the common area with Mr. Stark and Mr. Odinson.”
Shit, so that idea was out of the window. And asking Friday to relay a message would only raise suspicion. So he figures that there’s no other way to go about it then buy more tests. He could always go out and buy them himself, so he’ll do that.
Turning back around to his room with a renewed passion, Steve retrieves a baseball cap, shades, a sweatshirt and jogging pants along with his wallet and Starkphone. Changing into his “civilian” wear, Steve makes sure he looks somewhat decent and unrecognizable despite his large frame. And oh yeah, that’s still a thing - his physique. He’s not petit or small or dainty that’s for sure. And what would happen if a baby were to grow...in there?
Not that he was obsessed with his abs but he’d get soft.
And that’s a weird thing to process: Your innards making way for a growing baby. If he was pregnant. Which he wasn’t.
Please, please, let Natasha be wrong this one time.
Steve can already hear the laughter of the deities.
So he treks out, deciding it would be better to take a less flashy car like the ones Tony usually provided them with. And not something old timey that he owned that stuck out like a sore thumb either...Something subtle.
He’s just going to take a quick trip to the pharmacy in town, easy peasy. Then there was taking them, and if one stick can hardly go unnoticed, what about more?
Nothing to panic about, of course. Steven Grant “I can do this all day” Rogers didn’t panic despite the panicking he’s been doing and was doing quite ten minutes ago.
When he pulls into the CVS parking lot, he feels the empty ache of nausea setting in once more. And it’s strange considering he hasn’t really eaten anything and doesn’t have anything left to give up to the porcelain thrones. His hands are getting sweaty just from the anxiety of buying tests.
Walking in is no better.
Steve feels like he’d be recognized. Captain America buying pregnancy tests? The media would have not only a field day, but a field month. The Avengers would never live it down, no matter how scary Miss Potts is with getting the media to bend to her will everytime. It’s just something he couldn’t risk. So should he turn back?
The blond is already standing outside of the sliding doors, frozen at the spot for a couple seconds before pushing forward. He should’ve sent Natasha - she would’ve been a whole lot better than he is at not drawing attention to himself. She blends in so effortlessly. Anyone looking for him could check the cams.
Moving through the aisles, he notes all of the various products he sees and tries to look more browsing than he does on a mission. Beauty products, bath products, feminine products...ah! Pregnancy tests. That was relatively easy. Steve lets out a silent sigh and looks up and down the aisle to ensure he was alone. The CVS was pretty much empty except for the cashier, so he didn’t need much to worry.
Why were there so many tests?! Didn’t they do the same thing??
Steve is overwhelmed, that much is true. Hell, he’s punched nazis and yet beautifully decorated boxes scared him. 99% effective, quick results… So he just grabs three boxes of two each. Six should be good, and that was more than enough to give him a certain answer. At least until further notice.
He takes the three boxes up to the front. He had half a mind to through some nausea medicine in there, he didn’t know if it would affect him given the serum and all. But then again, the serum isn’t really doing all of its job now.
There’s no line, so Steve just walks up to the bored cashier and sets the boxes down, ducking his head so the cap could better cover his face despite the sunglasses. Thankfully, the cashier doesn’t say anything related to it as she grabs the boxes, scanning them and lazily repeating his amount to him. “$25.87.”
He doesn’t waste any time pulling his wallet out, and handing over the right amount of change. Hopefully she can’t see his hands are trembling, and Steve cannot wait to get back to the Compound.
The cashier finalizes the purchase and bags the boxes, sliding them over and going back to scrolling on her phone. Steve would say thank you, but he’s too paranoid that she’ll recognize his voice, only giving a curt nod, taking the bag and rushing out.
“Hey, sir!”
Steve freezes, feeling it go down his spine like lightning.
“Congrats to you and the miss.”
He resists the urge to bolt, smiling and nodding once more before walking out of the CVS. The bag is heavy in his hand and wow, it’s a bit liberating that he actually did it. Natasha would be so proud of him.
Eventually, Steve just decides that there was no point in taking them now since he didn’t necessarily have to use the restroom yet. With a groan? Steve slides into the driver's seat and dumps the bag onto the passenger side, not removing his articles of clothing until he’s good and away from the CVS. The windows were semi tinted, but he was taking no chances.
If he could just keep to himself for the rest of the day, that would be great.
He makes it to hour three in self imposed isolation.
Pretty impressive, considering he never sees any of the other Avengers when he’s trying to but when he isn’t? Everyone spontaneously pops up everywhere. Steve should’ve stayed in his room, but he wanted to grab more water bottles to down like he’s been doing the past couple hours. He’s desperate and wants to finish the tests as soon as possible. It would probably be better to go to Bruce, but he already bought them so what was the point?
So there he is, standing with about twelve water bottles in his arms when he turns and comes face to face with Bucky. Shit.
The brunet doesn’t react to the strange sight of Steve holding so many water bottles, eyes boring into him without betraying even an ounce of emotion. He’s seen stranger with Steve. And the blond feels the stare wear down on him, shuffling awkwardly in his place. “Uh...hey.” Steve starts, and oh god, he could possibly be carrying his Bucky’s baby. Or Tony’s. Or Bucky’s.
“Hey,” Bucky repeats, a bit softer than Steve’s nervous edge. His gaze flicks down once, before coming back up in suspicion. “What’s been up with you lately?”
It’s directed to his bizarre behavior, Steve knows it. And the argument, god the argument. And maybe Bucky is still up and ready to drill right through Steve’s wall of “hiding my antics until it’s too late”. That could not happen.
“Been feeling pretty...ill.”
“Are you compromised?”
“I don’t know,” Steve rushes to admit, trying his best to give a half puppy face half pleading to let him go because he’s fine look. But Bucky isn’t budging. He hasn’t even twitched. “Buck, I swear I’m fine-”
“Are you?” Bucky challenges, mouth setting in a hard pressed line. It’s guilt tripping Steve, and if he stays any longer he’s going to spill.
“No, I’m,” Steve has to quickly think of an excuse. “I’m going to Bruce about it later today.” Shit! “So he can check it out and what not.”
“Bruce ain’t a doctor.”
“No, he isn’t but it’s just a first opinion so I can know whether or not to get further...tested.”
A single eyebrow is raised, and Steve has to smile in order to keep up his defenses. “Bucky, I promise. I’ll update you, okay?” He shouldn’t promise the other anything beyond that, and it doesn’t ease Bucky’s tense look. To the normal eye, he would look relaxed but Steve knew otherwise. He knew him. “Do you want to come with me then? You know I wouldn’t do anything without you, jerk.”
That does garner a twitch of Bucky’s mouth, a suppressed defeated smile before the sniper sighs and ducks his head. “Punk.”
“I’ll let you know when I go.”
“You better.”
So he’s fucked it up a bit more, but this was okay! This was fine. He could work with this. Steve never specified when he was going to Bruce so he could take the test, probably go beforehand, and then beg Bruce for a favor. But if it came out negative, he could semi relax and get to the bottom of the actual problem.
Steve tightens his hold on the water bottles and moves to brush past Bucky, except the metal arm is coming up to gently grab him by the shoulder. “You’re not completely off the hook, Steve.”
“Don’t expect myself to be.” Steve quirks right back, because it was the truth, but at least he’s got himself a bit more time. Steve then continues back to his room. He’s going to down all the water bottles if Friday says it won’t harm any potential...fetus. Baby? Clump of cells...Mini him. Wow. He’s attaching himself to something that might not even be there. Does he want something to be there?
It’s impossible to tell at this point. He didn’t know what he was going to do.
He begins downing them all one by one, not too much to make himself completely nauseated and only enough to kind of speed up the process. Ish. And water was good for replenishing what was lost through vomiting so win win!
It only takes him about another hour and he’s good to use all six tests to himself. Each takes five minutes, thankfully.
Five positive, one negative.
The sight of all those positives sends an anvil down his throat and on his heart, sinking in to the bottom of his stomach. He hasn’t felt this anxious since he heard Bucky was found and this threw a wrench into basically everything.
Not focusing on the fact that he got one negative yet, all freaking positive?? If that’s not enough to basically show him blaring signs then he doesn’t know what. Did that mean that Steven Grant Rogers found himself knocked up?!
And if so, what did the negative mean?!
“Friday, call for Natasha.” Steve whispers, yet loud enough for the A.I to hear. He couldn’t bear being alone anymore and he simply couldn’t take the overwhelming pressure of it all. The blond sat on the floor of his bathroom, staring at each of the tests laid on in front of him. There was nothing more than what he wanted to do at the moment: sink into the ground and become one with dust.
So? What now? Steve didn’t know how to process it, and he’s pretty much grateful when he hears his door near burst open and Natasha makes her way to the bathroom. That was quick. Or maybe he was just losing the track of time. “Steve?!” She calls out in a barely suppressed panic, before she appears in the bathroom doorway. The redhead pauses upon seeing Steve’s state, and the super soldier gets a strange sense of deja vu from the whole situation.
“Oh, Steve,” She whispers, spotting the sticks and Steve brings his hands up to cover his face, knot deepening in his stomach.
“I don’t know what to do.” He admits, muffled by his hands as Natasha grimaces. She approaches, crouching down near his form and taking in each test.
“Well...I think this confirms that we need to go get you a blood test just to be sure but Steve…” Natasha sounded really hesitant, as if she were treading very lightly on how she was proceeding. “I think you’re pregnant. No, you are pregnant.”
Shit, how did he mess up this badly? Maybe it’s the hormones, or the events of the day but he’s just so...tired. The blond presses the heel of his hands into his eyes until it hurts just to prevent himself from bawling out on the bathroom floor. “What if- what if this is some kind of illness that bypassed the serum - it’s why I’ve been going through this.”
Natasha gives an exasperated sigh. “Pregnancy tests detect a hormone that spikes in pregnant women. And I doubt you have testicular cancer, so I don’t think there’s another option.”
“So then what does the negative mean?”
“False positive?”
Steve is at his wit’s end. He physically can’t think of something to do next, and it feels as if every thought he tries to push forward is only cut short by the gravity of the situation. “Should I…go to Bruce with it?” It seemed like it was the only option left. Get a blood test. “I’ll go to Bruce.”
“Do you want me to come with?” Natasha asks.
“Yeah, yeah probably.” He just needed someone there, someone he knew and trusted. Maybe in another parallel universe where this wasn’t odd and unwanted, and he would be glad to tell Bucky or Tony. Maybe actually raise a kid. But not here and not now.
Right now, he could only hope for some relief. Or some answers.