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You sighed at the results in your hands. If you were going to be honest, you already knew before they got into your hands.
The pains all over your body and the symptoms weren’t that hard to identify, and you were just waiting for a solid proof, hoping for something better.
Rheumatoid Arthritis. That was what the paper said.
It wasn’t the worse thing that could happen to you, not by far, but it wasn’t the best either. You would need to retire, officially. For a while now, you - an avenger - weren’t going to missions, and the diagnosis only assured you that you wouldn’t be back in the fields anymore.
You drove back to the tower in silence. You knew you could have used one of the doctors available for you in there, but you didn’t want the team to know it before you did yourself.
You pondered with yourself where you should go first, but it wasn’t even a choice. You needed to tell Steve. Your boyfriend - the only one that knew where you were and what was happening, had the right to know the test results before anyone else did.
You pushed the button to the floor you two shared, and waited patiently for the elevator to bring you there. As soon as your feet touched the ground, Steve was already in front of you.
“So?”
“Rheumatoid Arthritis.” You confirmed. “Just like we suspected.”
Steve’s face fell for a moment.
“Babe…” He sighed and hugged you close and tight, exactly how you needed him to do. “It is okay. We are gonna figure out what to do.”
You leaned your head on his chest, listening to his heart beating. Steve had always had a strong heartbeat.
“Is there something I can do?” He inquired. “Anything?”
You shrugged.
“I need to retire. And… Medication. I don’t think there’s anything else to do.”
Steve kissed your temple.
“Go lay down.” He whispered.
“But I need…”
“I do it.” He interrupted you. “Go lay down.”
You cried that night. You cried and sobbed like your life depended on it, and Steve held you tight in his arms, whispering how he loved you and how strong you were. He assured you you were going to manage this together, and you truest him. This repeated for a long time, and there wasn’t a night when you wouln’t cry.
But time passed, and you slowly got used to what your life would be. You cried less, and you both had developed your own system to deal with your disease and its effects on your life. You can’t say Steve didn’t make things easier for you. He always made sure everything was perfect for you. When you two told the team about the news, they all gave you all the support you needed, and you knew they would be by your side whenever you wanted.
You sighed and let out a small sound of pain when you turned to leave the bed. It was morning, and you just knew it would be a quite bad day.
“Here.” Steve appeared in front of you out of nowhere and helped you on your feet.
“Where did you come from? I didn’t even see you move.” You joked, trying to make things sound better than they actually were.
“I’m always around. Never know when a damsel needs help, huh?” He gave you one of his kind/sexy smirks.
You didn’t even think of correcting him while chuckling.
God, how you loved him.
“Bruce and Tony said they need to talk to you.” He told you.
You frowned.
“Is there something wrong?”
Steve shrugged.
“I don’t know. Are you okay going up there or do you want just to stay in bed?”
“It is okay, Steve.” You rolled your eyes. “I just need to shower.”
“Let me get you some painkillers first, okay? Then your steroids.”
You nodded. Painkillers didn’t work, not really. They weren’t strong enough for you most of the times, and Steve knew it. Because RA made your immune system attack itself, the steroids weakened it, so you took it with a lot of precaution.
Your boyfriend was an angel for you, and you couldn’t thank him enough. He was always kind and patient.
When you left the shower and finished dressing, he made the motion of caring you. In specially bad days - the ones when you couldn’t leave bed or finish some tasks because of the pain - he carried you to the kitchen or the living room, and cuddled you for as long as he could. If he was to leave for missions, Bucky was there to help, but other members of the team also did it when they were needed.
But, against Steve’s protests, you always carried on doing everything you would do if there wasn’t pain. You may have slowed down, but you never stopped, and were proud of yourself for that.
“Come on.” You held his hand.
Together, you went to the laboratory. You were worried, what would they want to show you?
“Y/N.” Tony opened his arms.”You are here. Bruce, she’s here.”
Banner smiled when you entered the space, and pointed to a chair.
“What is wrong?” You frowned.
“Well, sweetheart, we’ve been studying.” Tony stated. “And we came up with something that could help you.”
You tilted your head to the side for a moment.
“What kind of something?”
“A super medication.” Bruce explained. “It is designed to bring your system back to its normal state and you would have to take it once a month.”
You looked up at him, surprised.
“Are you serious?” You exclaimed.
It was… It was amazing.
“Of course. What do you think?”
“Yes.” You stood up. “Yes, yes.”
You looked at Steve and your boyfriend smiled openly to you.
“Steve…”
“Surprise.” He said with a blush on his cheeks.
You eyes widened.
“You are involved in this?!”
He chuckled and cupped your cheek, rubbing his thumb up and down your skin.
“Of course I am. You are my girl.” He reminded you. “I want your best.”
Tony cleaned his throat and you both looked at him.
“Y/N, you need to know we still need to finish ans test it.” He told you. “It won’t be ready for at least another year or so, but we decided to tell you.”
You felt the tears falling down your cheeks and Steve dropped to his knees in front of you.
“Babe…”
“I can’t…” You sobbed. “You guys…”
Your boyfriend hugged you tight.
“Thank you so much.” You cried.
Tony smiled and reached out to touch you when Steve let you go.
Surprising the Stark, you just pulled him to a tight hug.
“Thank you.” You whispered, and released him to do the same with Bruce.
Both of them blushed when you moved away, and Steve circled your shoulder with his arm.
You couldn’t put down into words how thankful you were.
“It was actually Steve’s idea.” Banner looked at your boyfriend. “Thank him.”
You looked up at the captain your side, and he smiled.
“I love you.” You whispered to him. “I love you so much.”
He leaned down and kissed your forehead.
“I love you too.”