Mercury River

Steve had been too busy choking on his beer to actually register that everyone’s eyes were on him, including yours. 

“ So you wouldn’t mind if I took Y/n out for a night around town?” Sam had teased.

“ O-of course not. I don’t see why not,” He coughed out, forcing a smile, saying it much louder than he had expected to as you gave him a small smile as if to ask if he was okay before turning back to your conversation with Nat and Peter. 

Yes, yes he would. He would mind. He definitely minded. If anything that would be the only thing on his mind. Bucky grinned at Steve, watching as he desperately spluttered reasons upon reasons why he would definitely be okay if Sam had taken you out on a date, giving suggestions on where he should take you, of course, not that he knew you super well, just that he had heard Nat bring it up in a conversation that you would enjoy going there or doing that. 

Bucky exchanged looks with Sam, both of them clearly enjoying making fun of Steve and making fun of him, watching him squirm. He was beginning to turn red quickly and Bucky hadn’t seen Steve like this since he had a crush on that girl he met at the movies one time. He was pretty sure if Sam and him kept this up any longer, super-serum or not Steve was going to drop dead with a heart attack right there. 

“ Alright, we get it, no one asks Y/n on a date-

“ I’m not saying that you can’t, o-or that you shouldn’t in fact you should!” Steve shrugged, but the furrow in the brow and the ridiculous fake smile he forced was a dead giveaway that he had no idea what the hell he was saying and was regretting every word he said.

“ Shut up for a sec bud,” Bucky clapped him on the shoulder and Steve sniffed before looking at his beer sheepishly, cheeks tinged red as he glanced back to you, watching you smile at something Nat said to Peter, who was looking extremely distressed in the situation. 

“ We won’t,” Bucky stressed with a pointed glare at Sam because he knew Sam would do anything to be a little shit. “ But you would make it much easier to make sure that no one will successfully ask her out if you just asked her yourself.” Sam snorted before arching an eyebrow at Bucky before the former assassin scowled at him. 

“ You really think Mr blushy here can ask Y/n out? He’s lucky he hasn’t gotten a restraining order slapped on his American ass yet with all the staring he does,” Sam sips his beer again and Bucky can’t help the little twitch at the corner of his lips. Steve groaned, resting his head against the edge of the table as he took a step back to cover his face.

“ Yes good idead show her your American ass,” Sam chuckled and Steve stood ramrod straight as blood rushed to his face and Bucky would have burst out laughing if he wasn’t mildly worried at how red Steve was getting. He placed a hand on Steve’s shoulder, giving him a comforting smile and before Steve could say anything, Bucky whispered a silent ‘good luck’ before shoving him straight toward your table. 

-

You blushed slightly as Nat tried to convince you that Steve did in fact have feelings for you at the dinner. You’ve been friends with Steve for a while now, helping the Avengers out with the whole Chitauri issue, being recruited by Fury himself, and trying to figure out the whole situation in Sokovia. When you were almost flung off the edge of the country, desperately holding on to the edge of the floating city trying to pull yourself up, he’d come to your rescue, and also had a small meltdown about it when you got home. That’s when he opened up to you about Bucky, telling you about how he felt like he had been stuck in the same position. How he had seen Bucky and he wasn’t sure whether he should look for Bucky and you’d been there for him. After that, the both of you had spent a lot of time together, and when Bucky came back, you tried being someone Bucky could talk to when he was trying to figure out whether Steve was still… well Steve he knew. So much had changed and he was lost in time, just like Steve was. It helped to know that you were around if Steve wasn’t and it was nice to confide in you because he still didn’t like Sam. 

One thing led to another with him, and the next thing you knew, you had developed feelings for him. Feelings you wanted to act on, but restrained yourself. You knew that if anything went wrong in this relationship, it was likely to hurt the team’s dynamics, and you didn’t want to risk that. Worst of all, it could hurt your friendship with Steve, especially if he you two broke up. You wanted to believe that you were definitely mature enough to separate your personal feelings from business, but that was never the case. It would be impossible not to have flawed or biased judgement after a break up, or a confession of unrequited feelings. 

“ Nat stop,” You hissed when Nat started whispering louder, worried that Steve would be able to hear her. She just grinned at you with that feline smile, peering up at you from under her lashes. She turned to Steve’s table again and you looked away, worried that Steve and Bucky would be able to hear you two talking about Steve and that she was being too obvious. You never doubted her skills as a master assassin and spy, but now she was craning her neck with them so obviously a toddler would probably be able to figure out what she was trying to do. You were about to tell her to stop again but she whipped back around before grinning.

“ Peter! Come here please?” She smiled. Peter had been sitting on the couch texting Ned throughout the party about his project. Considering it was a school night, Stark was letting Parker stay over. Peter beamed at the both of you as he shuffled over with his glass of orange juice. He really looked like a kid. He was about to stammer out his greetings before Nat abruptly shushed him, pulling him to stand on her left. 

“ Can you hear what Steve’s talking about?” She asked, peering at Steve again and your eyes widen as dread plummeted through your stomach. 

“ Oh my god Nat please don’t-

“ Shut up he can’t hear!”

“ Miss Black Wi- Ms Widow uh- Miss I don’t think I should-

“ Don’t worry Parker, if they find out just say I asked. If Tony finds out say Y/n asked.”

“ Natasha!” You whined and Natasha merely grinned at you, unwilling to be lectured by Tony for turning his ward into a spy. 

“ Uh- Ms Romanoff I can hear them. I don’t really have advanced hearing. I- I just have good senses like- a-

“ A tingle, yes Happy told us. You can hear them though right?” She smiled. Peter pressed his lips into a straight line, looking a bit like a troubled puppy as he looked to you before looking to Natasha again. He definitely was more afraid of her than he was of you. 

“ I think they’re talking about Ms L/n,” He blushed and your eyes widened as you looked up at Nat who was already grinning at you. You felt your stomach flip as your mind went racing, wondering why they were talking about you, and what about you they were discussing. There was no way they figured out that you `She was just about to say something when Steve started choking and spluttering and you turned to stare at him in shock. He was turning so red you actually considered needing to give him the Heimlich just in case. Sam on the other hand was looking absolutely pleased with himself as he watched Steve coughing as he sipped on his beer and Bucky was smiling, so Steve was probably okay. 

When Steve turned to glance around the room at the people who were staring at him, he caught you watching at him and you blinked, shocked for a second before shooting him a small smile, slightly worried at what could possibly make a super soldier choke. You looked back to Natasha who was bugging Peter to tell her what happened. 

“ Uh- Mr Wilson? Sam? He asked if uh Ms L/n would go out with him,” Peter was almost as red as Steve at this point, awkwardly fidgeting with his fingers. 

“ You can cool it with the Misters and Misses,” Nat waved a hand at him but he stood rooted to the ground, his cheeks flushed before he peered up to you. You smiled apologetically at him before glaring at Natasha. 

“ You’re going to traumatise him,” You said in a low tone and Peter furrowed his eyebrows before looking at you, mumbling something about how he wasn’t a kid. 

“ What else are they saying?” Natasha whispered as she nudged Peter again and you groaned as you realised that Natasha was probably going to ignore you for the remainder of your ‘conversation’, and you were shocked when Peter started to shift further from your table slightly, straining to hear what Bucky was saying. 

“ He’s telling uh- Steve to y’know? Ask you out?” He said softly, avoiding looking at you shyly even though he was smiling. You felt blood rush to your cheeks and your heart stuttered for a second as you glanced back to Steve, his wheat gold locks combed neatly, the way he squared his shoulders without meaning to, and even the way he moved was mesmerising, fluid and smooth, strong yet elegant without ever meaning to be, the way he was all connected, how moving one arm always led to the rest of his body moving. Natasha chortled and you blinked, realising that Steve had bent down to rest his head against the table and that you had in fact been staring at him, and could be misunderstood to stare at his butt.

“ Don’t you think you shouldn’t be objectifying your captain,” Natasha winked and you turned beet red, almost shattering the drink in your hand and Peter desperately wanted to leave the table. You were about to tell Peter to leave so you could start scolding Natasha with language Tony would not approve of when you heard someone stumble to you and you spun around to find yourself face to face, well face to chest in front of Steve. He looked down at you with wide eyes and you matched his wide-eyed stare before you give him a nervous smile. You couldn’t stop thinking about what Peter said they were saying. You were sure Peter wouldn’t lie to you, but what if he misheard? Or what if it was just a joke? 

“ Hi Steve,” Nat smiled at him and you gave him a small smile as well before shifting along the table, making space for him to stand by the table as well. He smiled back at you, shifting over to fill the space next to you. “ Heya Mr America- sir.” Peter ended up bowing and you snorted, shaking your head before ruffling his hair gently. 

“ You can go if you want now Peter. Don’t worry about it,” You smile and he thanks you quietly before hurrying back to the couch to pick up his stuff and heading off to hide in his room. 

“ What’s up Steve?” You smile at him and he smiles back before shrugging.

“ Nothing much,” He glances back to Bucky and you see him grinning at his best friend as Sam hands him some money grumpily, making you chuckle. He places his beer on the table and you barely notice Natasha slip away as you smile at Steve softly. The both of you were standing awfully close to each other even though the rest of the table was now empty, but if Steve was really going to ask you out, you didn’t want to discourage him. It would make it a lot easier for you to avoid becoming a stumbling mess in front of him. 

“ Then what are you doing here?” You chuckle, lightly trying to tease the information out of him. “ You ditched your best friends for a conversation between me and Nata, and you know how conversations with me and Nat are so I would guess something was definitely wrong on your end.” He chuckles and you smile at the deep sounds that rumble from his chest, like the kind of quiet thunder that makes you rethink whether you actually heard it or not. Usually when you had a conversation with Nat, and Steve tried to join in, she’d try her best to ‘pimp you out to Steve’ as you so eloquently put it once. 

“ I just wanted to see how you are,” He cleared his throat. “ Bucky told me to check up on you.” He shrugged his massive shoulders again and you rolled your eyes.

“ Is this because he managed to pin me during training today? I swear I got mad at him once and it becomes a whole thing for the rest of my life,” You grumble. Bucky had a running count of how many times he could pin you. When he first started to get comfortable with using strength around you and pinning you down, you’d gotten irritated and accidentally yelled at him for a solid 5 minutes. It was just a bad day. However, your cheeks still flushed at the memory and Steve chuckled, shaking his head. A comfortable silence fell over the both of you as you glanced around the room. Tony was already drunk, Pepper was making her rounds while keeping an eye out for her drunk husband. Natasha, Clint and Wanda were huddled in a corner with Vision, probably gossiping about you already because what are friends for?

You looked up at Steve again when he sighed, the lights illuminating his face making his eyes glimmer when the light caught the blue, his hair a warm amber and you wanted nothing more than to lean against him and just stare at the party together.

“ I don’t think I can ever get used to this whole… thing,” He gestured vaguely to the room full of guests that Tony was busy socialising with. The whole ‘oh my god it’s captain america!’ had died down earlier in the party, and this was a ‘small’ (according to Tony) party so Steve got enough time to be a bit more quiet and hang out with Bucky and Steve.

“ I know what you mean. It’s all very…” You trailed off, trying to look for the right word.

“ Tony?” Steve finished and you arched an eyebrow at him before chuckling. He turned to watch you stare at the room and he smiled at the way you watched the room with that gentle smile, as if you knew everyone in the room and held them dear to your heart. Like you still believed in the good of mankind, despite everything you’ve seen. Watching you could probably convince Steve that there wasn’t a bad bone in any one in the world. You were always filled with hope, and the determination to make things right, eager to help as much as you could. That’s what Steve loved about you, the kindness in your voice when you spoke to someone, your lighthearted and teasing nature. From the moment you’d taken the first step to talking to Bucky, Steve knew that you had to be the one. Even when that first step turned into a full-fledged sprint to see who could bring up the most embarassing or stupid thing Steve had done, he knew that he loved you, with the entirety of his heart.

When you turned to face him, he continued to gaze at you, steeling his resolve to continue looking at you. He traced your features with his eyes, the curve of your nose, the crinkles at the corner of your eyes, the way your lips turned as you smiled at him, the little spark in your eye as if you had something funny to say. Bucky was right. If he didn’t like the idea of anyone asking you out, and he wasn’t doing anything about it, he was a fool. You had a life too, and if he wanted something, he couldn’t just hope and pray every day that you would miraculously jump into his arms and profess your love for him. He needed to actually ask and find out if there was even a chance that would happen. The question was; how was he should he ask you on a date while making his feelings known/

“ I really like you Y/n.” The words unfurled from his mouth in a single breath, like the whisper of a passing breeze and he watched as if in slow motion as your eyes widened and the curl of your lips loosened as your expression transformed from an endearing gaze to something resembling shock.

That’s one fucking way to do it. He groaned internally. He didn’t even ask you on a date. In that five-word sentence, not one thing hinted at the fact that maybe there would be a gradual falling in love situation. This was going to go terrible. Oh shit. However, he felt as though a weight had been lifted off his chest, and he’d put everything on the line here. Your friendship, your cooperation as a team member, his relationship with the team. Everything. But you were worth it. Yet Steve could feel the nerves creeping up on him, raking its spiny claws against his spine, as though his own nerved could grab him by the shoulders and mould him back into the slip of a man he used to be, skinny and short, smaller than everything in the world, sickly and weak. 

But this wasn’t the same kind of shock that those girls looked at him with when he asked them on a date, or when he offered to help them with something. You looked like you were star struck, that spark never leaving your eyes as you continued to stare up at him. But maybe you didn’t feel the same way. Maybe it was a friendly spark? What the hell was a friendly spark? He flinched slightly when you looked down at your hands and he watched as the tips of your ears started to turn red and he felt like he had to swallow to keep his heart from leaping out of his throat. Was it a good blush? The type of blush that meant ‘I would love to say yes and I can’t believe I’m being so vulnerable with my emotions’? Or the kind of blush that meant ‘holy shit I’m about to embarrass Steve in front of his friends and colleagues and even myself’?

When you whipped your head up, a shy smile plastered on your face as you looked up at Steve with the kind of warmth and adoration Steve had rarely ever seen from you Steve almost started choking again because he was definitely too busy taking a mental picture of your smile to remember to breathe and swallow his heart down. You opened your mouth to say something before closing it with an embarrassed smile. You carefully placed your drink down on the table before you looked straight at his chest and gently rested your forehead against it, and Steve felt warmth radiate from his chest where your head touched him and he couldn’t help the pleased smile that curled his lips as he flashed his pearly whites to no one in particular, blinking as though he was still trying to realise that you were in fact very close to him before he carefully wrapped his arm around your shoulders. You didn’t really have to say anything. Steve just knew, but he didn’t really mind a confirmation anyway. 

“ I really like you too.”

-

Tags: @navispalace @crist1216