The right partner (Steve x Reader) - Part 1

‘So,’ colonel James Rhodes finished, for at least the tenth time this evening, ‘I drop the box in front of his house and say: ‘Are you looking for this?’”

The crowd around him erupted in a melodic laughter and you smiled, slowly shaking your head. You had heard the story so many times that often you even dreamed about it. You thought it was rather funny. Not the story, but the content look on his face every time someone who hadn’t heard it before laughed.

You looked around the room, trying to spot any of the other Avengers. It had been hard to recover after everything that had happened with Ultron. Especially now that the government didn’t seem pleased with you after you had again left nothing but ash and dust trying to safe the world. That you had actually succeeded in saving everyone, was something easily forgotten. The party they were giving in your honor now, was more something mandatory than an actual celebration. You didn’t really care, as long as you could drink your sorrows away, totally free of charge.

You sighed, seeing everyone scattered across the room, even Clint, Tony and Thor were here, even though they had pretty much left the team. But as Thor said: they couldn’t miss ‘good, old revels’. It made you smile, seeing them with their arms around their most precious possessions: Laura, Pepper and Jane. You swallowed hard, knowing you had once had that too, but you had been on your own for so long, that you almost couldn’t remember what it felt like anymore.
 
It was then you noticed Steve standing by the bar, sipping from his glass of whiskey. Your eyes locked with his and a small smile curled his lips. He waved shortly at you, rolling his eyes – telling you he was as lost at things like this as you were. You nodded, gesturing you would come over to him.

You and Steve had always been good friends. You had met right after he had woken from the ice and when he needed someone he could trust, he’d always call you (and so he had, numerous of times). Even when Fury had told him no one could be trusted during the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D, he had confided in you.

‘Having fun?’ Steve asked, once you had joined him at the bar.

‘Oh, yeah,’ you nodded. ‘Best. Time. Ever.’

He laughed softly, agreeing with your sarcasm. ‘Can I get you a drink? You look like you need one…’

You sighed. ‘Am I that obvious?’

‘You are to me,’ he smiled, asking the bartender for two more glasses of whiskey with ice.

You waited until he placed the drinks in front of you, smiling at the man that joined you at the bar. You had never seen him before, but that wasn’t really surprising, since you hadn’t seen most of the people at the party. You were only here for two reasons – well, maybe three. One: Fury had forced you to go, because ‘it would be good to show your faces to the public’. Two: free drinks, and three: Steve.

‘Trying to get me drunk, Captain?’ you asked Steve, when the bartender tapped your shoulder, telling you your drinks were still on the counter (making sure you didn't forget about them).

‘I’d sure like to see that,’ he smiled, but shortly after shaking his head, ‘but you know I’m not that kind of guy. I would never purposely get a lady drunk.’

‘Lady, you say?’ you snorted. ‘And I thought you knew me so well?’

Steve nodded. ‘I’d like to think I do. To me, you are a lady.’

You laughed. ‘What, because I have boobs and I’m wearing a dress? Steve, please. We both know better!’

Steve almost choked on his drink and laughed loudly. ‘Why must you always say things like that?’ he sighed, once you were both done laughing.

‘Like what? I’m only stating the obvious…’
 
Steve smiled sadly. ‘Like you’re less than you are. If you could see what I see when I look at you, you’d…’ he stopped, swallowing hard and staring at the glass in his hands.

‘I’d what?’ you frowned, a small smile curling your lips, thinking he was still joking around. When he sighed and looked up at you with his beautiful deep blue eyes, you knew you could no longer pretend you didn’t have any feelings for him. You had slowly, but surely fallen in love with him over the past few years and you quickly evaded your eyes from him, emptying your glass in one large sip. ‘Up for another?’ you smiled, asking the bartender for another two.

Steve licked his lips, grateful that you had changed the subject. He wasn’t ready to tell you how he felt about you yet. ‘Are you?’

‘I can handle myself,’ you winked. ‘Now, to what shall we toast?’

‘How about friendship? I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you…’

‘And neither would I, if it weren’t for you,’ you smiled, remembering all the times Steve had saved you from certain death. As a biochemist, you had always been in the research division of S.H.I.E.L.D and it wasn’t until Loki had attack the headquarters, that you had needed to fight. As it turned out, you were quite proficient at it.

Your glasses collided, a little harder than you both intended, the whiskey, spilling over the sides. You both laughed, realizing at least one of you was getting drunk tonight (and that one was going to be you, since Steve couldn’t get drunk).

A few hours later, you both wobbled on your feet, while you were talking to some people you had already forgotten the names of. You had no idea how much you had had to drink (thinking it had only been two or three glasses) but even Steve seemed a little flustered, his cheeks a soft red.

‘So, that’s when I saved his ass,’ you spoke loudly, already laughing because of the funny part that would come at the end of the story. You wiped the tears from your face and leaned against Steve. ‘Dragged him all the way out of the water, crying like an idiot because I thought he was dead…’ you swallowed hard at that part of the story.

Steve looked down on you, a big smile plastered on his face. His arms found a way around your waist and you felt his warm hand rub your side, his fingers fiddling with the seam of your dress.

‘Anyway,’ you smiled back at Steve, ‘once he finally woke up, all he could say was: ‘What took you so long!’’

You both started laughing, even though at the time it wasn’t anything funny. It still wasn’t, but for some reason you just couldn’t stop laughing, your jaw and stomach hurting more every second you still thought it was.

‘Maybe it’s best if you go home,’ Tony suddenly spoke, laying his hands on both your shoulders.

‘Tony!’ you blurted out. ‘Have I ever told you, you smell funny?’

Steve bit his lip, trying not to laugh again, but the weird sound coming from his throat told you that he wasn’t really doing a good job.

‘Yeah, yeah,’ Tony nodded, turning to Steve. ‘I expected this from her, but what’s the matter with you? Finally found your funny bone, huh?’

‘Sorry,’ Steve tried to sound serious, but so many thoughts were running through his mind, that he had a hard time focusing. What the hell was in that whiskey? ‘I’ll take her… us, back to headquarters.’

‘You do that,’ Tony sighed, looking back at you, shaking his head, ‘before you make an even bigger fool out of yourselves.’

He let go of you and walked back to Pepper, who looked at the both of you with an amused, but worried look on her face. ‘Are they going to be alright?’ she asked Tony, but you were too busy with yourself to hear Tony’s answer.

‘Come on,’ Steve told you, getting you by the hand and pulling you away from the people you had been talking to for the last five minutes. The seemed very pleased you were finally leaving.

‘You’re going to let Tony tell you what to do? I thought I knew you better Steven Grant Rogers. I’m not leaving…’ you said, pulling your hand from his grasp and crossing your arms.

A cheeky smile curled Steve’s lips and you let out a tiny scream when he lifted you from the ground and threw you over his shoulder.

‘The hell you are!’ he cried out, walking you to the exit and holding on to you tightly.

‘Language, Steve!’ you laughed, pulling your dress down, hoping no one had seen your underwear.

You tried to wiggle yourself from his grasp, but he was too strong. You started kicking and punching him fiercely, all the while feeling yourself laugh like a madman again. When you were finally outside, Steve tripped over the stairs and you both fell to the ground.

You were still laughing as your body hit the cold, hard stone and Steve only barely prevented himself from falling on top of you. He pushed himself up slowly, his face only inches away from yours. A smile curled his lips as he looked at you, tears streaming down your cheeks. He slowly wiped them away, making you open your eyes.

You swallowed hard, looking into his deep blue eyes. His hand rested on your cheek, his eyes taking you in completely and he sighed, as if seeing you for the first time. You felt your heart beat violently in your chest.

‘We should get home,’ he whispered, caressing the side of your face with his thumb.

You nodded slowly, feeling his lips linger on yours, his hot breath caressing your cheek. 'We should …’

Steve pulled you up with him and called for a taxi. You spent the ride back to headquarters in silence, both wondering what had just almost happened. When you arrived back at the new Avengers headquarters (where both of you had a room), you didn’t know anymore if it had actually happened or not. You had lost most of the rest of the night already.

‘[Name],’ Steve whispered, while walking you up to your room. ‘I never felt anything like this before.’

You laughed softly. ‘Neither have I…’

‘That’s not what I mean, although I do feel strange… What I mean is…’

‘I know,’ you smiled, pressing your finger against his lips, ‘but let’s discuss this tomorrow, when we’re normal again…’

Steve nodded, taking your hands into his and lifting them up. He pressed a kiss on your fingers and wished you a good night, before walking away from you, making his way towards his own room.

You quickly opened your door and slipped inside your room, your heart still beating uncontrollably in your chest. You were sure Steve had wanted to kiss you back at the party and a part of you wished he had. The other part knew it was better that he hadn’t. If he really cared about you as more than just a friend, you’d want him to kiss you sober, not drunk. You didn’t know how you had both gotten this drunk (you would realize later that couldn’t have been possible) in the first place, but you didn’t put much thought into it. You were extremely tired, your jaw and stomach still hurting.

You let yourself drop onto your bed and didn’t even bother to get undressed. The second your head hit the soft pillows of your bed, you fell asleep. You wouldn’t have woken up for at least a whole day, if it wasn’t for the forceful knock on the door a few hours later.

You lifted your head from the pillow, opening one eye, thinking you had imagined the knock. When there was another, you yawned, wiping the sleep from your eyes.

‘Who’s there…’ you mumbled, slowly pushing yourself from your bed, your heart throbbing violently in your ear. You reached for your head, feeling a shot of pain go though your brain. You groaned, letting yourself slide from the bed.

‘It’s me, Steve,’ you heard from the other side. His voice was soft, but you could hear the panic.

‘What’s wrong,’ you asked, quickly looking at yourself in the mirror and sighing, because you were a complete mess.

You walked over to the door and opened it. You gasped, putting your hands in front of your mouth, trying not to scream. Right before you stood Steve, but it wasn’t the same Steve you had watched walked back to his room. That was super soldier Steve. This… This was small, skinny Steve. The guy he had left behind in the 1940’s to become the hero that he was today (the guy that still wanted stability and a family).

What the hell had happened last night?

Steve swallowed hard, looking up at you, his boney little fingers tabbing against the wall.

‘I need your help...'




TO BE CONTINUED