Things faded in and out of focus for Steve, the biting chill to the air making everything sluggish and grotesque in view. The mountains blurred in a mess of white with pinpricks of oozing red haze. Meanwhile, his mind blurred between the past and the present, red and gold exchanged for gray and black. A void of colors because of his color blindness and the general atmosphere usually curled around him at any given time? The scratchy blankets hardly kept out the cold and the whooping cough chased away any dreams of sleep and comfort. His body only shook, blurry eyes trying to latch onto something, anything to keep him grounded and from floating away. Would this be the illness to sweep him up to his ma for once and for all? Sometimes, he dreamt about it - an end to the never ending pain but he couldn't leave Bucky.

He had to fight.

Focus. Focus.

Slowly, his heavy eyes managed to open but he didn't feel the pain from before, in fact, he felt nothing at all. A sort of numbness he ever experienced before, especially with the serum usually kicking in to fix his most foolhardy moves. Kind eyes met his, not Bucky's but just as devastating and consuming. "Hmmm," he managed, fighting to comfort Tony but unable to form any actual words at the moment.

His eyes slid closed again and his mind drifted back to Bucky curling around him after one of his dates to keep him warm. To save him from the mind numbing panic always clawing at him about dying.