You were peacefully sitting on your bed and reading another one of your books when you heard loud, obnoxious pounding on the door to your bedroom. Upon looking at your digital clock on your nightstand, you saw that it was past midnight, meaning one of two things: Steve was here to
a) annoy you
or
b) sleep.
"Y/N?" you heard Steve's voice ask from behind your door.
"Hm?" You set your book down and went over to open the door, revealing an exhausting-looking Steve with dark circles lining his bloodshot eyes. "What...what happened to you? Are you alright?'
He stumbled past you, tiredly flopping onto your bed and crawling in, pulling the blankets up to his chin. "I'm sleeping in here," he announced.
"O-kay..." you looked at him quizzically, closing the door behind you. This wasn't the first time that your best friend had barged into your room late at night because he wanted to bug you or just pass out cold on the floor or in your bed, so you didn't question it.
You returned to your spot on the bed and clicked on your phone, making sure that it was on low brightness, scrolling through your camera roll and social media for a bit until you felt your eyelids droop heavily from fatigue.
"You're tired," Steve mumbled, moving his head so it was resting on your lap, his legs now entangled with yours. "You should get some sleep, too."
"Mhm," you hummed, absentmindedly playing with his hair as you cleaned out your camera roll. "Just a sec."
"It's getting late, get some sleep," he begged, looking up at you innocently.
"It's not that late..." you looked back at the clock and your eyes widened when you saw the blinking red numbers read 1:30 a.m.
"...oh."
You reached up to turn the light off and laid back in bed, pulling the covers up past your arms and snuggling into the pillows.
He leaned over to check the time and as he did so, you could feel his breath falling against your neck and a blush spread across your face as a result. You tried to cover it up but failed, as the blush had now spread to your ears.
"You're blushing," he smirked before sliding back under the covers.
"Nope. And even if I was, you wouldn't be able to see, because it's pitch black in here."
"In case you're forgetting, the super serum gave me enhanced vision," he wiggled his eyebrows up and down. "I saw you blushing."
"Shut up," you smacked him lightly on the shoulder, turning away from him so that you faced the other side of your room.
He pulled you against his back and his arms snaked their way around your waist as he rested his chin on top of your head, causing your heart to skip a beat.
"Steve."
"Hmm?"
"Shouldn't you be back in your own room and sleeping in your own bed instead of invading my space like this?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Your bed is more comfortable. Tony spent more time choosing out your bedsheets than mine," he replied sleepily. "because he favors you over me."
"I thought we had the same beds?"
"Nope," he nuzzled his cheek into your hair, his grip around you tightening. "Now go to sleep."
"Goodnight," he murmured once you'd fallen asleep, softly pressing his lips to your forehead. "Sleep tight."
...
You woke up and blinked, rubbing your eyes to see the dawn's rays peeking through your blinds and felt a weight pressing down on your waist. Turning over, you saw Steve with his cheek still nuzzled into your hair, snoring softly. You smiled to yourself before removing his arm from around your torso and getting up, stretching your arms up in the air. It surprised you, how warm and comfortable being in his arms were, and you wished it happened more often---
What am I thinking? you scolded yourself, shaking those thoughts off.
He stirred slightly but didn't wake up, so you softly closed the door behind you and went to the kitchen to get breakfast.
"What?" You looked around in confusion at the team, who were giving you smirks. Tony and Clint were wiggling their eyebrows up and down, and Bucky whispered "Fondueeeeee..." in an eerie tone along with Sam.
"Fondue..."
"Dude," you rolled your eyes at the taunting pair. "That died a long time ago."
"When can I be expecting a grandchild?" Tony joked. "I'd like to have them test out some of my suits when they grow older."
"Tony," you shot him a warning glare.
"I hope you used protection," Sam joked, causing you to walk over to him and smack him upside his head. "Ow!"
Right at that moment, Steve walked into the kitchen, hair slightly messed up and yawning, stretching his muscular arms high up in the air. His face remained calm when he made eye contact with you---but you swore you saw a slight pink tinge his cheeks.
"Oh, hey," he waved nonchalantly, sliding into the spare chair at the island and grabbing a bagel. "You sleep okay?"
"You took up most of the space when you slept, leaving me with only a quarter of the bed, but yes, I slept fine," you chuckled, rolling your eyes. "I almost fell off."
"But you didn't," he raised an eyebrow at you.
"It's because they cuddled!" Peter and Wanda squealed, gripping each other's shoulders tightly while giggling like teenage girls.
...
You were with Natasha and Wanda, sitting around on Wanda's bed, gossiping and talking about anything. That's when the topic of what happened between you and Steve last night came up---and you were a stuttering mess, to say the least.
"So, Y/N...it sounds like you and a certain super-soldier got pretty cozy the other night..." Natasha smirked at you, nudging your shoulder.
"Shut up," you mumbled, feeling your face heat up from embarrassment. "T-that's...that was nothing..."
"Sure it was," Wanda grinned at you. "I mean, he comes into your room, announces that he's sleeping in your bed, then crawls under the covers and cuddles you. Is that what typical best friends do? No."
"Wandaaaaaa..." you whined, looking up at the ceiling. "We're just friends. And I don't even know why I'm so in love with him because I doubt he feels the same way about me."
"You sure about that?" a deep voice said as someone pushed the door open, and you jumped about ten feet into the air.
"Uh...nice chat, ladies," you spluttered quickly. "Bye Steve!" With that, you sprinted out the door, out the front doors to the front parking area of the compound, leaning against the wall and panting heavily.
Of course, being the fast runner he was, Steve was quick to sprint after you. You heard his footsteps before his voice and let out a sigh.
"I'm assuming you heard all that," you groaned, smacking a palm to your forehead.
"I didn't know you felt that way," he put his hands in his pockets and gazed at you with such intensity that it sent chills down your spine.
"I didn't mean to say that...out loud."
Steve took another step towards you, that hard, blazing look still in his piercing blue eyes.
He lowered his voice to a whisper. "How long?"
"What?" you croaked out.
"How long have you been in love with...me?"
"Four years," you said quietly.
He stepped closer to you again, making it so that you were backed up against the wall. You involuntarily let out a gasp, your heart suddenly beating at a thousand miles per minute. Why---
"I beat you," he stated, placing his hands on either side of your body.
"What do you mean?"
"Five years," he murmured. "Those five years were hell for me, Y/N. Do you know how much it hurt, being unable to do anything about it---"
"I didn't know," you whispered, looking down at your hands.
"Now you do."
He bit his lip anxiously, something you rarely ever saw him do unless he was genuinely terrified or nervous, looking as if he was in pain of some sort. And maybe he was, maybe he just couldn't help himself because he stepped forward to close the space between the two of you so that your lips met.
Although the kiss didn't last very long, you made sure to take in every detail. His lips were so soft and warm, you could feel one of his hands on the small of your back as he pulled your closer, the other resting just below your shoulder blades, and you could feel the butterflies going wild in your stomach. Your heart was beating a million miles per hour, it seemed, and the sparks.
"How?" you questioned once you broke apart, grinning like fools. "I thought that was only your second kiss since '45. I was assuming that since Fury keeps sending us off on missions that you never got to practice being a---"
He silenced you by pulling you in for another kiss.
"THIS ROMANCE! I LIKE IT! GIVE ME MORE!" Thor boomed.
You quickly moved away from each other, wiping your expressions clean from your faces, but the color on your cheeks was still there.
"I SEE THAT BLUSH, YOU IDIOT!" Bucky yelled, pointing at his best friend.
"Go Cap!" Peter applauded Steve.
You gripped Steve's hand and squeezed it tight,
giving him a reassuring smile.
"You get all the humiliation for us now being in a relationship," you said quickly.
"Ah ah ah, this has to be fair. TONY!"
"I know. I was watching from the balcony above you," the billionaire smirked as he made his way down.
"Those five years were way too long," Clint crosses his arms. "Five agonizing years of waiting for you guys to FINALLY admit how you feel for one another!"