Each time that you performed a magic trick for a passerby on the busy New York sidewalk you would hear the gasps of amazement followed minor applause and the sound of coins dropping into your collection jar. If you were lucky, and if it was a day for generosity, you would be handed bills rather than spare change. For a long time, you tried to refuse their offerings, but once you realized that your spectators wouldn't take 'no' for an answer, you reluctantly began to accept them.
You didn't need the cash, and you weren't performing for it; the truth was simply that you were bored and needed an outlet for your magic. They weren't really tricks in the entertainment sense, but rather outlets for your enhancement that could easily pass as street magic to the common citizen.
It didn't take you long to notice that one particular spectator had become somewhat of a regular, stopping by to watch every day at noon, observing from across the street. At first you were nervous about his intentions, but as each day passed he merely watched while keeping his distance.
"Mommy, look! She turned my ribbon into a flower!"
The girl's mother pulled a bill from her purse and handed it to you, laughing along with her daughter at the trick but giving you a slightly suspicious look. They quickly moved along, and as you put the bill away another spectator stood in front of you to request another performance.
"What can you turn this into?"
You looked up to see the man who had been watching every day, finally working up the courage to approach you. Was it courage? Or was there a plan that he had in mind for you like several of the other intrigued spectators had in the past.
"What would you like me to turn it into?" you asked, keeping a cautious eye on him. "I've seen you standing over there every day for the past week. What is it that made you finally cross the street?"
"I feel like there's some bad 'why did the chicken cross the road' joke in there somewhere," he laughed with what you felt to be a genuine sound, and his smile was welcoming. He didn't seem like he should be considered a threat. "I've been watching you because you intrigue me."
"The last time that I intrigued someone, they tried to recruit me into their super secret organization."
"Let me guess. HYDRA?"
"SHIELD," you sighed. "Which one are you?"
"Neither, exactly. I'm Sam Wilson, from the Avengers." He knelt down in front of you and held out his hand for you to take, but you paused to regard him for a moment. He was still smiling and held back just enough to not feel like he was trying to intimidate you.
"Nice to meet you, Sam, finally. I'm (Y/N)."
"So," he said, handing you a small action figure. "Can you turn this into someone else?"
You took the small toy from his hand and turned it over a few times, laughing at his choice in character. "Captain America? What, did he piss you off or something? Are you gonna get rid of all of your toys now?"
"Nah, nothing like that. I just haven't been around long enough to have my own. Hoping maybe you could change that?"
"So you're jealous?" you smirked, "Not getting enough attention at home?"
"You're a bit of a ball-buster aren't ya?"
You held your hands up and shook your head, "hey, just calling it like I see it, Sam." It would be easy enough for you to make the change he wanted, but being on a busy sidewalk would likely draw unwanted attention. "So, what does your superhero costume look like anyway? Can't say that I've seen your work."
"That hurts, (Y/N). That truly hurts me," he joked, pulling out his phone. He scrolled through several pages worth of pictures until he finally came to the one he was looking for. "Okay, here. That's me in my gear." He held out the phone to you, so you slowly took it and studied the picture, looking back at him skeptically.
"This is you and the Captain. You look so happy," you mocked, "what would he say if he could see you now? Wouldn't he be hurt too, knowing that you were about to deface his action figure?" Handing him his phone back, you shook your head slowly and sighed, "I don't know, Sam. The male ego is pretty fragile, and this feels a little selfish."
Sam pursed his lips slightly and sat quietly for a moment, unsure of what to say. You weren't what he expected, and he didn't know why he was suddenly so attracted. He slid his phone back into his pocket, looking away for only a few seconds. When he turned back you were holding out the small figure, now a near exact replica of the picture you had just seen.
"Holy shit!"
"Hey, you wanna maybe keep it down? I'm trying to keep a low profile here," you whispered, looking around cautiously for anyone who may have been watching.
"Sorry, sorry," he whispered back, standing again and turning the figure over in his hands as he continued to inspect it, completely in awe of your work. "Will you come to the tower with me? Meet everyone? I think you have skills that we-"
You knew it was too good to be true, he was too friendly. Before he finished his thoughts, you clapped your hands together gently and disappeared.
"Wow," he sighed, staring down at the spot that held you only seconds ago, "that was pretty damn cool."
~~~
"That was so stupid," you mumbled to yourself, walking up the stairs to your apartment. "Why did I do that? So stupid." It was a guarantee that he would be looking for you now, seeing that you could teleport along with the transformations you could do. You really weren't the best at hiding, but you knew that you didn't want to be known, especially on such a high profile team as the Avengers.
Fumbling with your keys for a moment, you stopped, closed your eyes and took a deep breath to regain your center. Letting it out slowly, you leaned back against the door and opened your eyes, only to see Sam standing there. You were just about to put your hands together again to leave, but he quickly protested.
"Please, don't! Just hang on a minute," he pleaded, both of his hands in the air and very slowly walking towards you. "I just want to talk to you, I promise. No tricks, no talk of Avengers, or SHIELD, or HYDRA, or any of that, okay? Just you and me."
"Okay, so talk."
He looked around the hallway and back to you, "out here?"
"You seem like a really nice guy, Sam. You really do, but I don't let just anyone into my apartment. I've had...trouble with that in the past. It's taken me a long time to reinvent myself after the last time I trusted someone."
"That group that we aren't supposed to talk about?"
"Yeah," you sighed. "So why are you here? I must say you found me in record time. That was, what? Twenty minutes?"
Sam laughed quietly, looking down at the floor as he began to walk closer to you, slowly approaching as if he were still worried that you would disappear again. "I have a pretty resourceful team that helped me. I can't take all the credit."
"Well, that's just fantastic. I suppose I'll have to start over. Again."
"Why?" he asked, now standing directly in front of you, your bodies almost touching. "Why do that? I told you that I won't pressure you, and I meant it. I'd just like to get to know you better, really. The real you, though."
It had been a long time since you allowed yourself to be this close to someone, both physically and now on the verge of letting your real self show. Your hands began to tremble as he pushed forward even more, the proximity making you nervous. "I think...I think that would be...nice."
Sam reached up and put a hand on the door, leaning over you. He was so close now that you swore you could hear his heartbeat pounding in his chest. He looked to be almost as nervous as you felt.
"Are you gonna just stand there, are you gonna kiss me-"
Your words were cut off by the answer, his lips meeting with yours as he held you against the door. It was a sensation that you hadn't allowed yourself to feel in forever, and you didn't want it to stop any time soon. You reached forward and grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling him closer to close the gap between you. Not wanting to be open to display in the hallway any longer, you kicked your leg back and forced your door open, surprising Sam enough to pull back with a grin.
"Well, that's one way to do it," he laughed, pushing you through and slamming it shut behind him.
~~~
"Here you go sweetie," you said with a smile, handing a transformed doll to a little girl as her mom looked on with an expression of total shock. When they walked away you looked towards the Avengers tower and wondered if Sam was there, fighting the urge to contact him. He had promised not to talk to you about joining them anymore, but you hadn't decided if you could fully trust him yet, kiss or no kiss.
Another family approached you but before you could greet them you heard a loud explosion from the direction of the tower. You stood quickly and saw something fly through one of the top floor windows. It was Sam, and he was without his wings.
"I've gotta go!" you barked out to the family and clapped your hands together, disappearing before their eyes; it was something you swore that you would never do, but this was completely worth the risk.
You materialized at the bottom of the tower only seconds before Sam reached the hard concrete that would have surely killed him. Planting your feet and getting your balance, you reached out and caught him, knocking you only slightly off from your footing. Once the shock of falling out of one of the highest buildings in Manhattan passed, he looked at you with disbelief through eyes that were nearly exploding from his head.
"(Y/N), what the hell just happened?!"
"Oh, did I forget to mention this?" you said coyly, still holding him just above the ground, "I'm kinda strong too."
He jostled from your grip and stood, shaking and clearly in awe of what you had just done. "You see?" he gasped, "It's stuff like this that keeps me from getting my own action figure."
Part 2
"Are you really that nervous about meeting them?" Sam asked, giving your hand a reassuring squeeze as you looked up at the massive tower before you, your nerves now near a panic at the idea that the Avengers wanted to see you after you had saved one of their own.
"No. Yes. Ugh, I don't know, Sam," you sighed with a reluctant shake of your head, "They're going to try to recruit me, right? Just tell me now before we go in so I can prepare my declination speech ahead of time."
He released your hand and took your arms in his grip to turn you to face him, and when you cast your gaze to the ground, he gently lifted your chin to force you to look at him. "I told you that I wouldn't pressure you, and I meant it. But yes, they're going to ask you. You can say no, alright? No matter how much Tony tries to smooth talk you, or how many times Bucky gives you that sideways grin that the ladies love, or if you get lost in the sparkle of Steve's blue eyes..."
"Wow, Sam. Do you need a minute? I can step over there for a bit if you need some privacy..."
"Shut up," he chuckled, "just you watch, (Y/N). You're gonna be an Avenger by the end of the night and you won't even realize what happened. Those boys know what they're doing."
You weren't sure if Sam's prediction would be realized or not, but one thing was for certain; you wanted to find out exactly what those boys did to make Sam join so readily.
~~~
The first of Sam's teammates to meet you was Clint, waiting at the door to be sure that he saw you before anyone else did. "(Y/N), hi, I'm Clint. Sam's told me way too much about you."
"Clint, so nice to meet you," you smiled, releasing Sam and taking Clint's arm to allow him to lead you to the group. "Please, tell me every single thing that he's said. Details." You glanced back over your shoulder at Sam, who was eagerly giving chase and now looking completely worried.
"Woah, hold up. (Y/N), everything he's gonna tell you is a lie. Unless it's good, then that was all me, baby."
"Wait just a minute," you smirked, stopping cold and turning to fully face him with Clint still holding on, "'unless it's good' implies that you've said things that were not so good too. Samuel Thomas Wilson, what have you said about me? I want it from you so I can look you in the eye and see you squirm."
"Oh, she's perfect for you, man."
You could see that Sam was beginning to get uncomfortable and starting to shuffle his feet just a bit as his nerves began to build. You didn't think that he had really said anything bad about you, but he probably thought that even the most innocent comment could be misconstrued as something bad and the last thing he would ever do is say anything off-putting. He was actually getting scared that he may have screwed up, and now you were beginning to feel sorry for him.
"Steve!" he suddenly hollered out, making you jump slightly at the surprise.
"What the hell? He's in the kitchen," Clint replied with a start, "he won't hear you."
"STEVE!"
"Sam, are you seriously calling in Steve for back-up?" you scoffed, sighing in complete exasperation when the Captain came into your vision and hurried to Sam's side.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
"I wanted to introduce you to (Y/N)," Sam quickly lied.
Steve extended his hand to you with a small step closer, his height over you commanding but not intimidating though his muscular build and chiseled features could easily be seen that way. You took his hand with a steady grip, but his eyes held your attention, just as Sam said they would. "You're pretty," you gasped in a whisper that quickly faded into embarrassment when you realized what you had just said.
"Thank you?" Steve chuckled, glancing between Sam and Clint in amusement. "You're pretty too."
"Hey, man, step back," Sam warned with a small push against him, stepping forward to finally take your arm from Clint and leading you away from the two men with a renewed confidence. "You're already Captain America. Go get your own."
~~~
"So exactly how strong are you? Can you lift..." Tony paused, scanning the room, "oh! How about Thor! Can you lift him?"
"I beg your pardon? Me? Are you asking the lady to lift me for sport?"
"Not sport. Science."
Natasha had taken a seat next to you in the lounge on one of the smaller couches and leaned in close with a hand on your arm as she spoke, surprising you with her quick comfort next to you. "You don't have to do this. If you start with one thing, they'll just keep adding to it to see how far you can go. They do this to each other all the time and it gets more childish every time they try."
"I'm sure I could lift him, yeah," you agreed eagerly as if Natasha hadn't said a word. She leaned the other direction to Bruce and rested her slightly inebriated and sleepy head on his shoulder.
"Am I invisible?"
"The voice of reason usually is, Nat," he replied, looking slightly uncomfortable at the contact but not making any effort to move her as he watched you with a scientific anticipation, much like what Tony had been merely claiming to do.
Thor shrugged and stood before you, reaching down for your hand to help you rise from the couch, with Sam staying put and his phone in hand ready to capture it all. "Give 'em hell, baby. You've got this."
"Thor, pleasure to meet you," you smiled, realizing that you hadn't even been formally introduced to the god. "You seem bigger close up."
"Do you wish to decline?"
"Sit," you commanded, pointing to the chair near him. "It should be easier that way since I'm just slightly smaller than you."
"Very well," he agreed, sitting quickly and opening his mouth to say something, but he found himself in the air before he could utter another word.
"Satisfied?" you smiled, holding him with only one arm. "You all remember that I caught Sam falling from the top of this very building, right? The science bros here should have had that impact force calculated several times by now and realize that I can lift just about anything."
"Sweetheart, it's my job to find out the 'just about' part," Tony smiled with a small clap of his hands, rubbing them together excitedly. "So what's next? Hulk?"
"No," Bruce interjected quickly, "never going to happen, Tony. Drop it."
"Party pooper."
"You know there's more than just strength, right? I thought you said you told them everything?" you asked Sam. "You didn't talk about the transformations or teleporting?"
"Well, I think you just did."
Tony's interest was growing stronger than ever now, wanting to see and test everything that you could do. "Okay, so do you transform things, or yourself, or other people..." he paused, his mouth hanging open when he was suddenly looking at himself as you took on his form. "Woah, I didn't say that was okay..."
"Then please excuse us, we'll just be on our way then," you nodded curtly, grabbing Sam's hand and disappearing from view. The group sat silent for a moment, in awe and waiting to see if you would return, but you did not. Finally, Tony broke the silence with a wide grin and a giddiness in his tone.
"That settles it. I want one."
Part 3
From the very first mission, during your first week there, you knew that joining the Avengers was one of the best decisions that you had ever made. You were working with Sam, which was always fun even in the midst of danger, and you were working to make a difference in the world, which was a welcome change from street magic and dodging Hydra recruitment. You were still dodging Hydra, of course, but now you had a team of superheroes around you who were just as determined to keep them as far away as possible.
The first year as an Avenger was great; you had learned skills that you never imagined that you would master, and your powers were sharper than ever. Your relationship with Sam was going strong, and you had made fast friends with everyone in the group; Steve was vying for the role of your best friend just behind Tony, and just as the competition was getting interesting, they found themselves in the ultimate position to win once and for all.
"Sam, I think you should keep it traditional," Steve argued, glancing at Tony in challenge, "romantic dinner at her favorite restaurant, candles, on one knee-"
"Of course you'd think that," Tony scoffed, "you don't know anything other than traditional, which is just code for boring."
"Okay, what do you think he should do then?"
Tony smiled widely and clapped his hands with excitement, a glimmer in his eyes as he began. "Get this. First, sure, do the dinner like Cap said, because you don't want to scare the girl and have her pass out because she's starving, but do something on the roof here. We can set it up to be all romantic and crap."
"Touching," Sam snorted, laughing at Steve when he threw his hands up in disbelief that his idea was being stolen as if it were something new.
"Give her a bunch of her favorite flowers, take her dancing, all that stuff. Then bring her back here and shut down any idea that she might be having that you're going to propose. Just act like it's any other night and head to bed."
"How is that going to work?" Steve interrupted. "When is he supposed to ask her? After she falls asleep?"
"Yep."
"Hold on...what?"
"Stark, this is stupid," Sam huffed, waving him off. "I'm going with Steve's plan. Keepin' it simple."
"No, see, what you do is slip the ring on her finger while she's asleep, so when she wakes up in the morning, she thinks she said yes and won't ask you because how embarrassing would that be to forget, right? And that way you don't have to be all nervous about the actual asking and her saying no because she was asleep the whole time."
All Sam and Steve could do was stare at Tony in complete shock, mortified at his idea that coercion would be an acceptable way to get engaged. He looked back at the pair for a positive reaction, but when all he got was their blank replies, he huffed and waved them off in defeat. "Fine, go traditional," he relented, "but I'm telling ya, my way is guaranteed."
"Yeah, thanks," Sam muttered, still standing motionless, "I'll take my chances."
~~~
"You're nervous."
"I'm not," Sam smiled, glancing at his watch and looking around the restaurant, seemingly anywhere other than directly at you. "I'm just hungry."
"Hmm, okay. Well then, what do we have planned after this? It's not often that I get to see you in a suit, Mr. Wilson. I must say, I do like it."
The compliment finally jarred him from whatever it was that had occupied his mind so fully, turning to you with a lopsided grin and a twinkle in his eyes, "you do, huh?" He sat back in his chair and straightened his lapels, smoothing his hands over the material slowly. "Can't say that I blame you, sweetheart. I look good."
"Yes, you do," you agreed with a small laugh, reaching out to extend your hand across the table so that he could take it. "But seriously, Sam, are you okay? Is there something going on?"
"Yeah, there is. Um...okay..." he stopped, taking a deep breath to try to center his nerves, but it only came across as shaky and uncertain. "Listen, (Y/N)...you and I-"
His words were interrupted before they barely had a chance to begin, the sound of his phone breaking into his speech. Sam's expression dropped for only a second, but then it came to life again with a strange smile crossing his lips, almost as if he were relieved to have been stopped. He pulled out his phone to see a message from Tony, telling Sam to contact him urgently.
"Excuse me, it's Stark. I'll be back in a sec," Sam explained, standing quickly to step away and onto the sidewalk so that he could talk freely. He dialed almost frantically, waiting for the line to connect as the cool winter air began to sting at his cheeks and his fingers started to feel the beginning tingles of numbness. "Stark, what the hell? You know I'm with (Y/N)?"
"You're going to screw this up."
"I am not, and thank you so much for the vote of confidence."
"I'm telling you, just follow my plan. It's foolproof."
As the two men continued to argue outside, you sat quietly and waited, watching Sam's movements become more pronounced as the conversation went on. You could see his breath in the cold air around him, and the slight shake in his body as he stood in place, leaving you worried that he was in the subzero temperature too long. When your eyes inevitably drifted towards the coat that was resting on his vacated chair, the unmistakable outline of a small box in one of the pockets took your breath from your chest in surprise. This had to be why he had been acting so nervous; he was going to propose. You panicked and grabbed your phone, hurrying to dial Steve before Sam could return.
"Hey, kid, what's up-"
"Steve, I need you to be honest with me, is Sam going to propose tonight?"
"I don't...um...I don't know what you're talking about...(Y/N)."
"That's a yes. Oh, god..." you panted, feeling your heart begin to pound so forcefully that it was filling your hearing too.
"(Y/N), just breathe. He's already really nervous, and if you're gonna panic, then he's gonna panic-"
"I need to get out of here."
"No, (Y/N), stay there," he warned, his voice growing urgent. "Don't leave-"
"Tell him that I'm sorry," you answered abruptly, closing the line and giving Sam one last look as he turned towards you before clapping your hands together frantically, teleporting yourself away and to the first place that you could think to go.
"Jesus!" Tony exclaimed, nearly falling from the bar stool when you appeared from nowhere in front of him. "What the hell, (Y/N)?! Aren't you supposed to be on a date with Wilson and not trying to give me a heart attack?"
"Tony, what do I do?" you asked in a full panic now. "I just left Sam there alone and didn't tell him I was leaving...and he has a ring and he's acting all weird...and I want to say yes but I'm freaking out..."
"Go to bed," he offered eagerly, taking your arms gently in his hands, rubbing them slowly to try to help you settle. "Just go to bed and try to calm down. I'll call him and explain everything and be up to see you in a minute."
"Really?"
"Hey, I've got this. I'm the man with a plan."
"Isn't that Steve? I'm pretty sure you're just quoting his theme song."
"Hey, do you want me to help or not?" he replied with an eyebrow raised, waiting for you to take the accusation back.
"Yes, I do. I definitely do," you answered without hesitation, "thanks, Tony. You're the best." With a chaste kiss on his cheek, you turned and left the lounge, heading towards your room quickly, your nerves still so active that you felt slightly off balance even with walking. He watched until you were in the elevator and on your way upstairs before he took his phone in hand and plugged in Sam's number again.
"That's right," he mumbled to himself, "I am the best."
~~~
You weren't sure what time it was when Sam came home, but it was pitch black in your room and all you could make out were the sounds of him shuffling from the door and towards the bed, not even stopping to change out of his suit before taking his place next to you. He sat on the edge of the bed for a moment, kicking off his shoes and setting his phone on the bedside table before swinging his legs up to lie at your side. He rolled over towards you but he didn't put his arm around you like he would on any other night; he didn't make any move to get closer to you at all.
You wanted to say something, but anything that came to mind just sounded wrong and insincere when you thought about what you had done. Saying sorry wouldn't be enough, but Tony had reassured you that Sam understood after he talked to him; still, you didn't want to take the chance and waited for the sounds of his slumber to take over before finding your own way to sleep.
The next morning when the sun rose and filled your room with its soft glow, Sam was still facing you and his suit was now wrinkled from spending the night in it as he slept. He began to stir when the warmth spreading out from the windows began to affect him, until he finally woke fully and tore his suit coat away with a heavy toss of it onto the floor.
"Hey," he whispered, running a gentle hand along your arm until you opened your eyes to see him, "you scared me."
"I'm sorry, Sam," you replied with a sleepy voice, "I panicked. I don't know why."
"It's okay, I was a little panicked...too..." he stopped, his eyes widening at the sight of his ring on your left hand. "Hold on...how...when...?" He rolled to his other side quickly and grabbed the ring box from his table, opening the lid as if he would find anything other than it being empty.
"I woke up with it on, but I don't remember saying yes."
"I don't remember asking."
"That's weird. Do you think we did this in our sleep?"
Sam closed his eyes and concentrated on every second that he could remember from the time he had gotten home until now, finding only broken moments and nothing of significance that would make him believe that the two of you had a conversation in the middle of the night. He opened his mouth to reply, but stopped; with a disbelieving shake of his head, he groaned and pushed himself up, standing to extend his hand so that you would join him. "I think I know exactly what happened. Come on."
When he led you into the kitchen, Tony and Steve were sitting at the table perfectly poised to receive your news, as if they fully expected an announcement to take place. "Stark," Sam began, "fess up. Did you sneak in last night and do this?"
"I don't know what you mean?"
Sam lifted your left hand up in front of him with an expectant expression, refusing to elaborate and waiting for Tony to offer up his admission of guilt willingly.
"You're engaged, right?"
You looked at Sam when he didn't reply to Tony right away, giving him an affirming nod when he offered the same, leaving Stark with a wider smile than either of you at his victory.
"I told you, Wilson. My plan was foolproof."