"Y/N, what the hell is going on over there?" Steve questioned in a demanding tone upon hearing sounds of what he made out to be several explosions and gunshots. "You better not be injured or dying!"
"Watch your language, Cap!" you yelled into your comm and rolled your eyes, turning to fire your gun over your left shoulder and quickly ducking back around the corner afterwards. You nodded to yourself and sprinted out from your hiding spot once you heard the harrowing thud which indicated that the bullet had met its target.
"Look, I'm making my way over there," he informed you. "Send me your coordinates right now."
"I'm fine!" you snapped. "Look, you're talking to someone who knows how to kill a man in over a hundred different ways and that's only including without any weapons! I can take them on my own."
"I'm not going to risk anything, so I'm coming," he repeated in a stern voice. "Now just send the coordinates, Y/N! We don't have much time left."
You groaned and sent him your current location before returning to grab a HYDRA soldier by the throat and flinging him towards the concrete walls, not even flinching when you heard the sickening crunch of breaking bones and in the case when you dragged a knife across another one's abdomen, tearing flesh.
A familiar metallic clang sounding a few feet away from you indicated you of Steve's arrival, and you caught his shield in one hand when it came hurtling in your direction, flinging it back to him as soon as you did so.
"Like I said before, I know 150 different ways to kill a man without any weapons!" you shouted amongst the noise over to him, "You're perfectly aware of this fact yet you still insist on coming as backup? A woman knows how to handle herself, you know. We're not all sunshine and rainbows as most people may think."
"Better safe than sorry, Y/L/N!" he shouted back, grunting and slamming his shield into his attacker's back before swinging it back out. "I'm not gonna be the one who has to drag your lifeless corpse back to the jet!"
"You're Captain America, for god's sake! You can't handle just one body?"
Steve scoffed. "Look, Y/N, just try not to do anything stupid that'll get you killed. Try not to die."
"I could say the same for you, Spangles."
"Y/N!" he called out. "Three soldiers at six o'clock---"
"What? Where are---"
Your sentence was cut short when you felt something cold and hard hit your shoulder before tearing out through the other side, sending a burning pain that flared up your entire arm.
"Shit!"
"Y/N, that better not be your blood," he began in a warning tone.
"Whoops," you said sarcastically, briefly glancing down at your shoulder and seeing the flow of red that was trickling down like a stream, "guess it is."
You tried to ignore the coppery, metallic smell of blood that began to fill your nose squeezing your eyes shut for a moment to gather yourself before reloading your gun with shaky hands and firing at your approaching attackers once again.
"You need to head back," he ordered. "Get back to the Quinjet right now."
"I'm fine, Steve," you sighed. "Honestly, I'm fine. You need to stop worrying."
"No, you're not fine. You need to head back to the jet because we can't afford for anything worse to happen to you. I'm not taking any more chances with anything, nor am I willing to gamble with anyones' lives here. Now go."
You briefly saw a dark look flash in his eyes but then it faded as soon as you saw it appear and you shook your head, turning around on your heel and sprinting back towards where the Quinjet was stationed.
Maybe heading back into the jet wasn't such a bad idea, after all. You found that you could barely hold yourself upright on your feet now because you felt extremely dizzy and lightheaded, and your body was growing increasingly colder from all the blood loss.
Your vision blurred at the edges as you stumbled onto the jet and slumped down in your seat.
Then the world began spinning--- before everything went black.
...
Steve rested his head in his hands, the pain and anxiety brought from waiting for any news on your condition becoming too much for him to bear. The typical, plastic hospital chair in the waiting room was becoming rather uncomfortable and he'd give anything for something better, but if it meant waiting for the news if you were going to be okay or not, he could put up with it for one more day.
"Hey, Cap," Sam placed a hand on Steve's shoulder, "Helen's coming in a few minutes to operate on her, so you're gonna have to leave for this one. Do us all a favor, and go eat something, will ya? You haven't eaten all day."
"Do I have to leave?" he asked, glancing over at the Falcon with a completely dead look in his eyes. He'd be reprimanding himself for sounding childish but at the moment, couldn't care less.
Sam let out a sigh, "Sorry, man. As much as any of us want to stay, we need to step out on this part. Now come on, Bruce and the others are in the lounge. If you need something to drink, Wanda's gotcha. Coffee for that classic caffeine boost, or classic hot cocoa if you choose the latter."
Steve nodded numbly and fell into step besides his friend as they made their way to the lounge together, where the team was spread out across the couches, beanbag chairs, and in Peter's and Pietro's cases, snuggled up in thick blankets on the floor.
Judging by Steve's exhausted appearance, Bruce slid him a cup of steaming hot coffee and a plate filled with various pastries and breads, the steam from the drinkcurling up into the air in faint, white wisps. He silently accepted it, taking a long sip before finally setting it back down on the coffee table.
"Steve...?" Peter asked tenatively, "are you okay?"
"Oh, I'm alright," he reassured the teenager as he took a bite out of his bagel, "don't worry about me."
"Isn't that exactly what Y/N said to you when that bullet ripped through her arm?" Pietro jumped in as he sat up, raising his eyebrows.
"How'd you hear that?"
"We all have comms, Cap." The speedster gestured to his ear, "And I overhear eeeeeeeverything."
"Weirdo," Wanda muttered under her breath which earned her a smack to the arm from her brother.
The team heard footsteps approaching and Tony walked into the lounge with his hands behind his back, and the fact that his face didn't show any emotion at all only made Steve feel more nervous about what he was going to say.
"She was just moved to her room from the ER right now," he informed everyone, "and Helen explained that you can see her in about half an hour."
Steve let out a long sigh that he didn't know he'd been holding in and his shoulders sagged heavily in relief, relieving himself of the tension in his muscles.
"Thank god."
"Awww, cute. He cares about her because he's in love!" Pietro and Peter squealed.
"I am not in love with---"
"Cut the BS, Cap," Sam scoffed, "you're so in love with her. It's a well-known fact."
...
"Y/N?" Steve asked quietly as he stepped into your room, carefully making his way over and sitting down next to you, watching as you sat curled up on the sofa with a book in hand. You looked rather peaceful---asides from the healing cuts and scrapes on your face and the thick bandage wrapped around your torso.
"Oh, hey, Cap," you waved and set your book down, sitting up but wincing when you did so. "O-kay, bad decision. Ow."
"Are you alright?"
"Other than having a bullet rip through my shoulder, three fractured ribs, and a twisted ankle, I'm fine," you smiled. "I'm alive although not exactly...well."
"Do you realize how much you worried us out there?" he questioned, lowering his voice and you could feel chills running down your spine from the slightly stern edge to his tone.
"At least I woke up," you defended yourself.
"You could've closed your eyes...and never opened them again," he gave you a 'look'. "None of us could afford for that to happen to you, Y/N."
"I'm sorry I worried you, Cap...?" you offered, shrugging and trying to look innocent.
He let out a sigh and pressed his fingers to his temples before letting his hands fall back at his sides. "We were all just really worried. Look, it was wrong of me to take all my anger out on you like that the other day, it was just chaotic, given the situation that we were in, and---"
"Hey," you said gently, taking his hand in yours and squeezing tight, "it's okay. I get it. We all screw up. Even Tony. But we know he screws up a lot, so that's fine, too."
Steve suddenly smiled and shook his head, and you gave him a confused glance in return.
"What? Is there something on my face or?"
Steve had to bite back a chuckle when he heard your heart monitor speed up. You rolled your eyes when you noticed as well, trying to ignore your slowly reddening cheeks.
"What's that all about?" he questioned, a hint of a smile in his tone.
"Nothing," you lied, rolling your eyes. "I just have random heart palpitations from time to time."
"No, you don't."
You could now see that even his cheeks were tinged slightly red as well, though he too was trying to hide it but failed at doing so.
"Never thought that I'd live to see the day where Captain America got flustered," you chuckled lightly to yourself.
"You never will, Y/N," he raised an eyebrow at you, "because that is never going to happen."
But when your hand brushed against his accidentally in that moment and your heart monitor picked up speed once again, his cheeks flushed an even deeper shade of scarlet.
Then as quickly as it happened, the spark suddenly fizzled out and it was back to normal, well, more like an awkward silence settling its way between the two of you.
"I---I just wanted to ask," you finally began after moments of silence, "why exactly were you so worked up over all of this, Steve? At least you're not the one who had a bullet tear through their shoulder. Be thankful."
"How can I be thankful when you almost died, Y/N?" he responded calmly, but you could hear the note of concern in his tone. "I couldn't do that."
"It's just a bullet wound, Steve, I can handle it," you reassured him. "Stop worrying."
"I can't stop worrying, when something happens to someone I care too much about."
You sucked in a sharp breath and took his hand in yours again. "I'm sorry, I really am...I didn't mean to worry you like that---"
"As long as you're alive," he finally spoke after several moments, "that's all that matters."
You sighed in response and rested your head on his shoulder, closing your eyes and listening to the steady beeping of the heart monitor as his arm carefully wound its way around part of your torso to pull you into his side.
Just as you'd dozed off, he pressed a soft kiss to your forehead and smoothed your hair back, watching as your chest rose and fell with each breath that you took.
"So, can we go in yet?" Peter whispered.
"Not yet," Sam hissed, "the two are having a moment. Let them be."
"Aw, darn it! I wanted to walk in and yell out all the ship names that Dr. Banner and I created along with Mr. Stark."
"We all do, kid," Clint placed a hand on his shoulder. "We all do."