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The Most Interesting Thing

Title: The Most Interesting Thing Pairing: Steve Rogers x Recruit!Reader Word Count: 12.6k Warnings: Fluff and angst, language, skeevy character who gropes the reader’s butt, drinking, implied and referenced sexual assault (no graphic description) Summary: While Y/N is completing her final espionage trial to become a SHIELD agent, something goes wrong, and Steve is required to investigate. A/N: This was intended to be a schmoopy fluff piece about Steve and a new SHIELD agent, but instead it turned into whatever it is now. Either way, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy! Dividers by @firefly-graphics

If they were being poetic, the other Avengers would say that Steve looked at her like she was the most interesting thing in the room. If they weren’t, they would say he was staring. Steve knew that he had a problem when it came to Y/N. As soon as he realized she was nearby, no matter what he was doing, it came to an abrupt halt. She always had his full attention, even if she didn’t know it. He’d fallen hard and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.

When Y/N first arrived as a SHIELD recruit, she’d immediately put herself on his radar just by being the only recruit to hail from New York. Brooklyn, she’d corrected when a classmate had mistakenly said she was from Queens, and that had made Steve smile. He’d ducked his head and cleared his throat, pretending to be interested by the pages and pages of recruitment files clipped to the board in his hands. When he looked up, however, she’d been watching him with a knowing glint in her eye.

Us Brooklyn kids have to stick together, she’d told him the single time he mentioned the connection.

Then, as her training progressed, she’d easily become one of the top recruits in the class. Y/N far surpassed all past agents’ scores on every technological test they gave her, and her combat skills were quickly gaining on Natasha’s, so much so that Fury had asked to see her in action against Steve. He’d been excited to spar until the moment she’d laid him out on the mats, his chest heaving and his back aching from the fall. The other recruits had watched in utter shock as she pinned him with a knee to his chest. Y/N had grinned down at him as if it were a completely normal occurrence to sweep him off his feet. Then again, it was. It just wasn’t normally as physical as it was that day.

Almost a year after he first saw her in the line of recruits, he stood on the opposite side of the bulletproof, soundproof glass and watched the screens as she completed her last espionage trial. Wanda took care of many recruitment exams that required some kind of illusion or alternate reality. She enjoyed the challenge and the chance to test her powers, so the trainees were wired up with electrodes pressed to their temples and a pulse oximeter clipped to their index finger. Their vital signs were monitored while under the influence of her powers, though Wanda constantly reassured them there was nothing to be concerned about. There had never once been any issues with trainees in their espionage trials with her.

The Avengers that had been assigned to oversee the recruits’ tests during their free time could see everything the prospective agents saw on a transparent screen that took up the majority of the window. Steve’s heart had been in his throat since the moment he saw Y/N’s name on the roster for the day, despite the fact that the test was perfectly safe. Wanda had done it almost a thousand times before, and if there was anyone he trusted with Y/N, it was her. Natasha hadn’t said anything about his obvious nervousness, but she’d given him a warning look as she settled into her chair and pressed the button for the intercom, announcing that the scenario could begin.

Only two prospective agents were completing the trial today. The other recruit, a lithe woman named Emily whom Steve had spoken to a grand total of three times since she’d arrived, had volunteered to go first while Y/N hung back and watched from the short wooden bench against the far wall. Steve’s gaze landed on her and lingered there for several moments. She caught his eye and the corner of her lip twitched up in a smile before quickly falling. He knew she needed to focus just as much as he did. Turning away, he looked back at the screen, where the version of Emily inside of the false reality was sauntering up to the short, balding man who’d been identified as a HYDRA leader. The mission goal was simple—distract him long enough for your partner, an imitation Avenger or SHIELD agent created by Wanda’s powers, to slip through the hidden entrance to the base underneath the mansion. Steve had completed this mission many times himself with various partners and he knew that it was easier said than done. He’d almost been caught by the enemy the first time he’d asked Wanda to simulate the trial for him.

Y/N didn’t seem nervous as she watched Emily settle further back on the black leather chaise. She couldn’t see the simulation that was happening, but she could see Wanda’s eyes glowing red and the way her classmate’s hands and feet twitched as she moved in her head.

“Dear God,” Natasha murmured, and Steve turned to look at her after realizing he’d been staring at Y/N again. Nat’s eyes stayed focused on the screen and he followed her gaze.

Emily had been in the simulation for less than five minutes, but she’d already managed to screw up the mission. Her role had been to distract the HYDRA leader. The simulated version of herself had dressed in a revealing gown that would have left Steve wondering if there was any place to hide weapons if Nat hadn’t worn a similar dress a few months back. Nat had managed to hide plenty of weapons in the disguise. In the false reality, Emily had caused such a scene that the mission was already off the rails. Her partner was being held at gunpoint by the leader and the party was in chaos as the rest of the HYDRA agents pulled their own weapons out. The machines monitoring Emily’s vitals had gone haywire and Steve shot from his seat, reaching over Natasha to get to the intercom, then ordering Wanda to pull Emily out of the trial as quickly and gently as possible.

Though she remained silent, Y/N’s confusion hung in the air as she slowly stood and took Emily’s place on the leather chaise. Another agent had entered the simulation room to collect Emily, who seemed worse for wear as she let the older female lead her out into the hallway. Y/N’s eyes followed them, but she sat back in the chair and gave Wanda a tight smile.

“Are you ready?” Wanda asked, and Y/N nodded once, her expression melting into a more serious one. “Do you have any questions about what’s going to happen?” A shake of the head.

Wanda looked up and towards the window, waiting for confirmation from Steve and Natasha.

“Are you going to be okay watching this?” Natasha asked. She kept her voice low even though they were alone in the soundproof observation room.

He didn’t answer her. After a moment, Steve reached over her again and pressed the intercom. “Begin the simulation.”

Nodding, Wanda pressed the sticky electrodes to Y/N’s temples as Y/N clipped the oximeter on herself. Steve was glad he chose to wear a slim version of his tactical suit underneath his street clothes today. Otherwise, Wanda and Y/N would surely be able to hear the sound of his heart thundering in his chest. Thankfully, Natasha had the good sense to ignore the way he immediately started fidgeting in his seat as soon as he sat down again. She remained silent, watching Y/N through the glass, then focusing her attention on the images forming on the transparent screen in front of them.

The same dark-paneled hall appeared, lit dimly with cream pillar candles and low-hanging chandeliers, and the version of Y/N inside the simulation slipped into the room. Her dress, though much less revealing than Emily’s, still made Steve’s breath catch in his throat. It fit her perfectly, and he could barely tear his eyes away to glance at the machines monitoring Y/N’s health as she progressed. She was fine. Everything was steady. Steve exhaled and relaxed a tiny bit.

“Mr. Langston,” Y/N purred. She’d approached the man on his right, and with one hand she touched his upper arm. Her lips curled up in a gentle smile and he mirrored it almost immediately. The tuxedoed guards standing nearby shifted closer until Langston lifted a hand to pause them.

"I don’t think we’ve had the pleasure of meeting. I’m Amelia.”

The HYDRA leader smiled and his eyes trailed down the front of Y/N’s dress, lingering in all the places Steve didn’t want his gaze to stick.

It’s just a simulation, he reminded himself, uncurling a fist he hadn’t realized he’d made. He forced his palm flat against his thigh to try and calm himself.

“Amelia,” Mr. Langston repeated, his voice low. “The pleasure is mine. What’s a pretty girl like you doing without an escort?”

Y/N shrugged and her smile widened appreciatively when the man plucked two flutes of champagne from a passing waiter and handed the second to her. She took a small sip and hummed softly.

“I suppose I came here without one in the hopes that I’d find someone appropriate, but you caught my attention first.” Chuckling, Mr. Langston took a sip of his own flute and smacked his lips. Natasha let out a small noise of disgust and sat back in her seat. Outside of Wanda and those in the observation room, no one could hear the words that were being exchanged in the simulation. For that, Steve was thankful. If anyone heard the sultry words that Y/N whispered into the HYDRA leader’s ear, and then Steve’s own muttered “I can’t do this” in response, he would have been eternally embarrassed. It was a miracle Natasha hadn’t heard him. If she had, she was ignoring it, at least for now.

The simulation continued as Y/N commanded the attention of every person in the party, whether they knew it or not. Steve was just as captivated by her now as he was in real life, and his mouth grew dry as he watched Mr. Langston slip his hand down from the center of her back to rest on her ass. The low growl that slipped from Steve’s lips was entirely out of his control.

That time, Natasha glanced over at him, her eyebrows drawn together. “You okay?”

He exhaled sharply and forced his shoulders to relax and fall. “I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine,” she replied. A quick glance at the screen told her that Y/N’s virtual mission partner had successfully breached the base and the mission had ended.

As Wanda began to ease Y/N from the simulation, all the while monitoring her heart rate and brainwaves, Steve stood from his seat. Natasha mirrored his movements.

“Steve, you have to talk to her.”

“About what?” he asked, though he already knew the answer. One look at Nat’s face, one look at the arched eyebrow, pursed lips, and eyes that had gotten some of the most secretive men in the world to spill all their secrets, and Steve knew the answer.

He groaned. “I’m not going to talk to her, Nat. She has other things she needs to focus on, and besides, I could practically be—”

Natasha had grabbed the tablet and was scoring Y/N’s trial as she spoke, keeping her head down. “Yeah, yeah, you could practically be her great grandfather. But you don’t look like her great grandfather and that didn’t stop you from going out on a date with what’s-her-face.” She gestured dismissively with one hand. “The girl from ballistics.”

Everyone knew that Natasha Romanoff never forgot names. She’d purposely left the woman’s name out of the conversation, and though his skin had prickled with irritation that Natasha wouldn’t drop the topic, Steve let out a quiet sigh of relief. His last date hadn’t gone well. Yolanda was a great girl. She’d kept up her end of the conversation, made him laugh, and had given her honest opinion on which celebrities he could cross off his list of people to research. She was perfect. She just wasn’t Y/N.

“I’d say she passed,” Steve replied, hoping to steer the conversation towards something more relevant.

Another arched eyebrow, and then Nat was looking back at the tablet. She scribbled her signature with one finger and then held it out. Steve didn’t even bother reading it over before he signed at the bottom and pressed the button to submit the report. He handed it back to her without a word.

“You gonna stick around after this year’s induction ceremony? The receptions normally aren’t too shabby,” Natasha said.

“When is it again?”

The door to the hallway hissed open for them as the report finished sending. On the other side of the glass, the door from the simulation room to the hallway also hissed open, and the light in the hallway turned green, letting everyone know that there were no active simulations.

Y/N sat up in the seat, but stilled again as Wanda peeled the electrodes off her forehead. She looked over towards Steve, peering blearily at him through the glass. He froze for a moment and gave her a brief smile. She returned it and then looked towards the door, where her commanding officer was entering. When Y/N moved to stand at attention, he gestured for her to sit back down again, and Steve’s stomach churned with anxiety.

“What’s going on?” Steve asked.

Natasha stopped, glancing through the window at Y/N and Wanda. She frowned. “I don’t know.”

After a moment, Steve headed back towards the command center and held down the intercom button. “Everything alright, Sergeant?”

The officer turned towards the glass and, after a brief pause, shook his head. “Sir, we’d like Y/N to run the trial again.”

Y/N inhaled sharply. She was fiddling with the oximeter, which she hadn’t yet taken off her finger, but she sat deathly still otherwise.

“That’s not a good idea,” Wanda interjected. She stepped around the machines, still holding the wired electrodes in one hand. “The simulation is powerful, even in its simplest form, and a human brain can only handle so much in one day. Y/N is strong, but I can’t fully predict what might happen. I don’t want to—”

“I’ll do it,” Y/N interrupted. “It’s okay, Wanda.”

All three Avengers present hesitated, but when Y/N placed a hand on Wanda’s arm, then gave her a firm nod, the most vital was swayed.

As Wanda got Y/N situated back in the leather chair, Y/N’s commanding officer exited the simulation room and joined Steve and Natasha. They waited, watching him expectantly as the door behind him slid into the opening and hissed shut.

“We think that she interfered with Miss Maximoff’s powers somehow,” the officer replied once the door was secure.

Steve frowned and glanced towards Y/N, who was talking quietly with Wanda. Whatever they were discussing looked worrisome, but the accusation of the officer had to take precedence.

“What are you saying?” Natasha questioned. She set the tablet down on the command center’s counter and tilted her chin up. Steve could practically see the wheels turning in her head as she reviewed her mental record of Y/N and her skills. Nothing that the recruit had done so far would point to her being enhanced or having any kind of ability that would allow her to interfere with Wanda’s powers. Prospective recruits were required to state if they were enhanced or had any suspicions of being enhanced on their applications and entry paperwork, and Y/N had admitted to neither of those things.

The officer sighed. “I’m saying that we think Recruit Y/L/N has been falsifying her assessment records and that she somehow has the ability to interfere with simulations and other tests in real time without being detected. There was a breach in her vital signs. If you pull up the records, you’ll—”

“Here.” Nat was shoving the tablet in Steve’s face before the officer could even finish his sentence.

Frowning, Steve took the device and silently scrolled through the real-time record of Y/N’s vital signs during her last simulation. Sure enough, there was a blip in the middle of the test, as if she’d been completely disconnected for several seconds or as if the machines had gone completely offline before rebooting and instantly getting back to work.

“How do we know that this wasn’t a glitch? Even with Tony’s tech, things happen,” Steve responded, looking back at the officer. He knew he should stay impartial, but it was Y/N. She had the particular skills of driving him crazy and making his life difficult in the best possible way, all without even knowing it. Natasha chuckled at the criticizing glare he sent the officer, but quickly covered it up with a cough.

“This isn’t the first time this has happened, Captain,” the man replied. He held his hand out for the tablet and Steve handed it over, watching as he searched through the trainee records downloaded onto the device. Finally, after several long moments, he offered it back.

The records for every single one of Y/N’s various tests were identical. A blip in each one, directly in the middle of the log, and each one made the lump in Steve’s throat feel bigger.

“What are you suggesting, Sergeant? If every test log is identical, why would you make her do it again the same way? Won’t that just provide another identical result?” Natasha asked.

Taking back the device, the sergeant locked the screen and held it at his side with one hand. He glanced over at the observation room, where Wanda was almost finished reattaching the electrodes to Y/N’s temples.

“I’d like to suggest some alterations to the simulation, Captain, but I need your approval before I can request Miss Maximoff to follow through with them,” the officer replied.

Steve raised an eyebrow. “What kind of alterations?”

“For one, she wouldn’t be alone in the simulation. Someone would go with her and monitor from the inside. Secondly, I would like her to be restrained as if she is enhanced, since that’s the assumption we have at present.”

It was only because of his PR training and Nat’s hand on his shoulder that Steve didn’t lash out at the sergeant.

He wants to restrain Y/N? He wants to treat her like some kind of criminal?

“Those seem like reasonable alterations, given the magnitude of the circumstances,” Natasha replied, her voice even. “If she does have abilities that we’re unaware of, it’s our responsibility to help her discover them and utilize them in a safe, beneficial way. Right, Steve?”

“Right,” Steve ground out. He forced himself to relax his clenched fist and look away from the officer standing in front of them. The gray walls of the observation room had never been so interesting.

“I’m sure Tony can bring down some of the handcuffs he had made for events like these. While we wait for those, we can get someone hooked up in the simulation room. I assume you will be the one going into the simulation with Y/N, Sergeant?”

The man coughed in surprise and shook his head. “No, no. It’s much better if I stay here and observe.”

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that the commanding officer was actually afraid of Y/N and her supposed abilities. Steve rolled his shoulders back, forcing Natasha’s hand away.

“I’ll do it,” he said, and Nat raised an eyebrow at him in warning. Steve looked over at the window, where Y/N lay prone on the chair. She stared up at the ceiling while Wanda stood nearby in silence. “Y/N trusts me and I can handle myself if anything were to happen. Plus, I’ve done the simulation several times myself.”

“You do seem like the best option we’ve got here, Captain. Do you have any objections, Agent Romanoff?” the sergeant asked.

Steve could feel Natasha’s eyes on him as he watched Y/N smooth down her shirt and clasp her hands over her stomach.

After several achingly long moments, Nat agreed, “No, I have no objections. Sergeant, you can take Steve’s seat and I’ll give Tony a call while Wanda hooks him up to the machines.”

Both men traded places and Steve headed out into the hallway, then into the simulation room. Y/N lifted her head and Wanda turned to look at him when he entered, clearly surprised.

“Is everything okay?” Wanda asked, her voice hushed as Steve pulled her aside.

Steve cast a glance in Y/N’s direction. “They suspect she’s enhanced. I’m going to go into the simulation with her to monitor from the inside. They also want her cuffed.” He couldn’t help the way his teeth ground together at the end of that sentence, which Wanda noticed right away.

“Enhanced? I haven’t sensed anything,” she said.

“None of us have, but the test results are showing some kind of glitch. It happens at the same point in every test she’s taken from the start of her training till now. I’m not sure how we missed it, whatever it is.”

Wanda glanced back at Y/N and placed her hand on Steve’s arm. For a moment, she pressed her lips together in careful thought. “What do they think she’s able to do?”

“They’re not sure,” Steve replied. “It’s up to us to figure that out.”

Y/N fidgeted on the chaise, her eyes locked on the ceiling once more. Anyone could tell that she was trying to politely stay out of his and Wanda’s conversation, though Steve knew better. All SHIELD agents listened to every conversation they could, especially in situations like these. As if feeling his and Wanda’s eyes on her, Y/N turned her head, then sat up a little. Immediately, the sergeant’s voice rang out over the intercom.

“Lay back, Recruit Y/L/N,” he ordered, and she complied immediately, her eyes focused intently on the dark gray ceiling. On the screen beside her, Y/N’s heart rate spiked for a moment, and Steve’s heart clenched in turn. He stayed quiet and she took several deep breaths, exhaling slowly to calm herself.

“Are we waiting on something?” she finally asked. She tilted her head to look between the window several feet above her on the right, then back at Steve and Wanda.

He nodded, carefully moving closer as Wanda returned to her previous position behind Y/N’s head. “We need you to redo the simulation,” he began.

Y/N nodded back, shifting so she was a little higher up on the seat. “Right. I already agreed to that, but was there a—”

“And we need to handcuff you while you complete it,” Steve finished.

Y/N froze, her face twisted in confusion. “What?”

Stay professional, Steve warned himself. His hands itched to smooth out the worry lines on her face and to hold her hand, to comfort her and let her know that all would be okay soon.

“I will be entering the simulation with you to monitor you from the inside, but you’ll proceed as if I’m not there.”

Steve grabbed the rolling chair from nearby and pushed it until he was in the empty space between Wanda and the machines monitoring Y/N’s brain activity. He straddled it and rested his arms on the backrest, both feet planted firmly on the tile floor. Silently, Wanda began to stick the electrodes to his temples, gently brushing his hair out of the way. When that was finished, she took his hand in hers and slid the oximeter onto the tip of his finger. She stayed focused on her task, not even looking over at Y/N or catching Steve’s eye as he spoke.

“I don’t understand,” Y/N replied. He’d seen her face a myriad of challenges since she’d first arrived for the program, but she’d never seemed so unsure and—dare he say it—afraid, as she did now. “Did I do something wrong?”

Exhaling slowly, he tried hard to keep his voice and face impartial. “That’s all I’m allowed to say at this time, Recruit Y/L/N.”

Y/N flinched. Steve had never called her anything but her first name, and the coldness of the prefix became a brick wall between the two of them. She quickly schooled her features and though he knew he shouldn’t, Steve cleared his throat, glanced up at the window, and quietly murmured,

“Everything’s going to be okay.”

The simulation room fell silent then, and Y/N turned away from him, continuing to inhale and exhale with slow, steady repetition. She kept herself calm that way, Steve had learned, and as she smoothed her hands down her front and adjusted her clothing, he wondered if maybe he should’ve let Natasha do this.

“You okay?” Wanda whispered in his ear, her voice barely audible over the beeping of the heart rate monitor to his left.

Steve nodded. The door to the hallway slid open a moment later. Tony stepped inside and the door closed behind him immediately. In his hands was a hunk of metal shaped into a figure eight. The handcuffs were all one piece and meant to keep whoever they contained from moving very much at all. They were for criminals or dangerous enhanced individuals, not for Y/N.

“Heard you needed something?” Tony asked, and Steve nodded again. He stood and reached a hand out for the cuffs, but Tony shook his head in response.

“Special key,” he replied, coming closer. “I’ll cuff her.”

Jaw clenched, Steve watched as Tony cuffed Y/N’s hands in front of her, his face and body language impartial. He whispered no comfort to her, and though his touch was gentle, it was laden with the implication that a single wrong move on her part would mean otherwise.

The cuffs glowed purple on the inside, illuminating the skin around her wrists. If Y/N had any powers now, they’d be useless to her until Tony uncuffed her.

Tony nodded at Steve, then Wanda, before walking out the way he’d come. After a moment, Steve saw him enter the viewing room. He stood behind Natasha with his arms crossed over his chest and a calculating look in his eyes.

“Begin the simulation,” Natasha said. She leaned back and nodded at Steve when he met her gaze. She showed no emotion on her face, and Steve was so focused on trying to figure out what she was thinking that he almost didn’t notice Wanda stepping away from him and closing her eyes to center herself.

He shifted on the chair as her eyes began to glow red, he took one last look at Y/N. She laid with her eyes closed and elbows bent so her cuffed wrists could rest on her chest. The monitors beeped steadily, but he didn’t get a chance to watch them for long, because the simulation room disappeared in the blink of an eye. It was replaced with the dim hallway he recognized from his many times under Wanda’s careful influence.

Steve glanced down at himself. His khakis and the button-up he’d chosen that morning had been replaced with a black tuxedo, but he could still feel the familiar fit of his stealth suit underneath.

Silently, he looked up and down the hallway and through the double-door entrance that led into the grand dining room. All around him, people lingered and chatted, sipping their drinks in clothes equally as fine as his, but there was no sign of Y/N or the HYDRA boss anywhere. His heart sped up a little in his chest as he slowly made his way away from the dining room and toward the library, where he knew there would be plenty of liquor at his disposal. If he was going to blend in, he needed a drink. Plus, it would give him a chance to further scope out the simulation. He had to find Y/N before the timing of the glitch.

A quick glance at the silver watch on his wrist told Steve that he only had about four minutes before whatever Y/N had been doing in previous simulations. If nothing seemed amiss, he could count this as a blip in the trial and they could workshop it. If Y/N changed her tactics, he would know that she was enhanced. He hoped it wasn’t the latter.

The library was livelier than the hallway, and Steve had to squeeze his way through the crowds of men smoking cigars and the ladies gathered together with drinks in hand. Dark wooden bookcases lined all four walls before they melted into the panels of the hallway, and as he passed by, Steve recognized a handful first-edition books and displayed weapons he was sure should be in a museum of some kind, or at least tucked deep within the SHIELD armory.

The host of the false reality party, Mr. Langston, was richer than even Tony, if Steve had to guess, and though he couldn’t actually drink in the simulation, Steve still ordered the finest whiskey he could. It was while he waited at the bar for his drink that he noticed Y/N for the first time. Her dress was the same, but there was a silver pendant resting against her collarbone. It glowed faintly in an eerie purple, reminiscent of the cuffs Tony had invented to keep a wide variety of powers at bay.

Steve followed her from a distance. She proceeded the same way she had in the first simulation, and he had the same reaction as she flirted with Mr. Langston. When he grabbed her ass to pull her close, Steve felt like he’d been punched in the gut. All the air left his lungs. He downed the whiskey and placed the glass on a passing tray.

“Would you excuse me? I need to go powder my nose,” Y/N crooned. She leaned in close to Langston’s ear and murmured something that not even Steve could hear, but judging by the way the HYDRA boss reacted, it wasn’t something he wanted to think about.

Once she was free from his grasp, Y/N doubled back and headed toward the library again. People had started to make their way to the dining room, and though many had already taken their seats, the hallway had still grown more crowded. To get by, Y/N had to squeeze along the side of the hallway where Steve was standing.

“Pardon me,” she said, her champagne flute still in hand as she stepped through the small gap between him and the closest group of partygoers. Y/N’s eyes met his and she held his gaze as she slid past. Her front brushed against his chest when the men jostled her from behind and Steve had to steel himself against a flood of completely unprofessional thoughts. An image of himself grabbing her and pulling her in for a kiss flashed through his mind and he cleared his throat, giving her a strained smile as he reached out to grab a champagne of his own.

Y/N continued down the hall and after a moment, Steve followed. He didn’t drink from the flute, but he held onto it as he stepped back into the library. Haze from the cigars lingered in the air and the few remaining women lounged on the couch, sipping martinis as the bartender wiped down the counter. Though Steve spotted two of Langston’s men tracking her every move from across the room, Y/N didn’t stop at the short hallway that led to the bathroom. Instead, she turned and disappeared through a slim opening between two sets of shelves. Steve hadn’t noticed it before, not in her simulation or in any of his own, and he frowned. He discarded the champagne on a shelf as he passed by, and his fingers itched for his shield. He didn’t have it here, however, and though he knew it was only a simulation, his mind immediately jumped to the worst possible conclusions. When a muffled shout came from the crack just as he neared it, his heart leapt into his throat.

Before he could charge in, all his instincts on high alert, a woman crashed through, clearly frightened. Her dress was pulled down, revealing her shoulder, and she clutched it against herself. Steve turned to look at her as she pushed past him toward the bathroom, and the zipper on the back of the dress had been broken. A bruise was forming on the back of her spine.

“If I ever see you touch another woman like that, I promise that I will find you and I will make your life a living hell. Do you understand me?”

A man’s responding whimper was frail, but Steve could still hear it as he turned at the sound of Y/N’s voice. Carefully, he crept forward to peer through the gap. The alcove was no bigger than the king size mattress Steve normally slept on, and the only light came from the crack between the two shelves and the LED lighting around the base of the walls. Dark wood panels lined all four sides, just like in the hallway, but there were no plush sofas or shelves like in the library. It was completely empty, save for Y/N and a shaking man who stared at her in utter fear.

Y/N stood with a long dagger positioned under the man’s chin. The point had drawn blood and it dribbled down the edge of the golden blade as she growled at him, her teeth grit and fire in her eyes.

“You will not speak of me to anyone, nor will you approach any of the guards once you leave the mansion. You will go straight home,” she spat.

“Okay. Okay!” the man cried. “I’ll leave!”

She glared at him for several long moments, watching as the man trembled under her gaze, before she finally stepped away and dropped the dagger from his neck. Immediately, the man scrambled to gather his jacket and bowtie from the floor. He staggered toward the opening and Steve stepped out of the way to let him through before turning back to look at Y/N.

The dagger in her hand was one he knew well—it was the golden stiletto that she’d chosen on the first day of their blade training. Most of the recruits had gone for the flashier knives and daggers, but she’d chosen a simple one that had gone overlooked by several rounds of trainees. Steve wasn’t exactly sure where it had originally come from, but it was one of two recovered from an 084 site in northern Europe. The other laid in a red velvet-lined case in his room. Something about the dagger immediately drew him in. As soon as the blades had been deemed safe by Bruce and Tony, he’d requested them for his own arsenal. They’d only given him one, claiming that he didn’t need both, as he didn’t typically fight with blades of any kind. Steve hadn’t known how to argue with that, so he’d agreed. Seeing Y/N choose its twin had solidified his belief that she was something special, even if only to him.

Steve blinked and the gray tiled walls of the simulation room replaced the dark alcove. He had to blink a few more times to adjust to the sudden change, and once his vision was focused again, he carefully took in his surroundings.

On the other side of the window, Natasha, Tony, and the sergeant were looking at something on the tablet. All three of them seemed confused, and when one of them pointed at Wanda, the knots in Steve’s stomach relaxed.

So it’s not Y/N. It’s the simulation, he thought.

“Are we done?” Y/N murmured. Her voice was hoarse and Steve looked down at her from where he was leaning against the back of the chair. She was shivering and Wanda quickly covered her up with the thick wool blanket they kept on hand for situations like this. While it wasn’t procedure for anyone to do the trial more than once, there had been plenty of instances where trainees had come out in a mild state of shock. Wanda tried to make the transition in and out of the simulation as smooth as possible, but it was inevitable that trainees would have to be pulled faster than normal, depending on what was happening in the false reality.

Wanda started removing the electrodes from her forehead as Steve pulled off his own, and nobody spoke. Once they were both disconnected from the machines, the only noise was the chattering of Y/N’s teeth.

“Captain Rogers, Miss Maximoff, could you please join us?” the officer asked.

Steve nodded and stood, then rolled the chair back to its original place. A moment later, the light above the exit turned green and Sam entered.

“I’ve got her,” he told Wanda, nodding at Y/N. “I’ll take her up to see Helen.”

He didn’t say anything about the cuffs, which Steve was thankful for. He hated that he couldn’t remove them, but if Y/N was as upset as he was, she didn’t show it. She just let Sam help her out of the chair, then walked with him out of the room. The blanket stayed wrapped around her shoulders. It was big enough that it covered the cuffs even as they walked, and Steve wondered if that was on purpose or if it was just a lucky coincidence. Either way, he was grateful that the way up to the infirmary from the simulation room was in a less crowded area of the compound. He didn’t want anyone speculating or spreading rumors about why Y/N was cuffed. She didn’t deserve that.

“Steve?” Wanda called, placing a hand on his arm. He looked over at her, surprised to see her looking at him with such obvious concern. “Are you coming?”

Nodding, Steve followed her out of the room and up the flight of stairs that led to the viewing area. FRIDAY scanned their retinas and unlocked the door, and once it was shut again, Nat activated the tinting on the windows so that no one could see in.

“The room is now secure,” FRIDAY reported.

“This is confidential?” Steve asked, crossing his arms over his chest. He needed to seem unconcerned with the results, even though he was very much the opposite.

“Did you figure out if Y/N is enhanced?” Wanda asked. She reached for the tablet, which Tony handed over, then frowned. “What is this?”

“Those are the results of the trial, Miss Maximoff,” the officer replied. She shook her head and looked at him, then at Tony and Natasha. “This isn’t my simulation.”

“Isn’t it?” Tony asked. He was too blasé about the whole thing, which made Steve want to punch something. “It’s the same one I’ve seen you do a billion times for the recruits. Only, it was different this time, wasn’t it?”

Steve froze, suddenly realizing why Y/N had seemed so frazzled. “The alcove with the man,” he said. “I’d never seen that before. What was she doing there? I got there after she’d already started to interact with the man and the woman, and though I have an idea of what was happening…”

“She stopped an assault in progress,” Natasha answered. She took the tablet from Wanda’s hands and set it aside, crossing her arms over her chest to mirror Steve’s posture. “Which is not something that’s part of the trial itself. How is that possible? How was she able to change the simulation?”

Wanda grew quiet for a long moment before finally replying, “She didn’t. There are lots of things happening in the mansion during the party, and there are lots of ways to interact with the people there. The goal is to infiltrate the HYDRA base inside and distract Mr. Langston, but there are many ways to do that.”

“I’ve completed the simulation dozens of times, Wanda,” Steve replied. “And I’ve seen it completed even more than that, but I’ve never seen anyone interact with that man and woman. I’ve never even noticed that alcove before.”

She shook her head. “I don’t have an explanation for this, Steve.”

“She seemed to know exactly what she was doing when she left Langston in the hallway, but she hadn’t completed the mission when she left. Her partner was still two and a half minutes away from getting through the security systems. She risked being found out by stopping the assault.”

“How did she even know about it?” Tony asked. “She didn’t do that last time.”

“There's only one way to find out,” replied the sergeant. “We’ll have to interrogate her.”

That’s where Steve put his foot down. The man seemed all too eager to do something other than manage the current trainees, and he wasn’t going to let Y/N become a novelty to a bored SHIELD officer.

“As of right now, she’s done nothing wrong, and Recruit Y/L/N will not be treated as a criminal. She is currently in the infirmary recovering from completing two simulations in one day—an incredibly taxing thing to do. With all due respect, Sergeant, you will not be questioning her. If anyone is going to talk with her about the results of her most recent trial, it will be one of us.” Steve nodded towards the rest of his team, and the officer had the decency to look ashamed at his suggestion.

“We’ll get back to you after we have a little chat,” Tony butted in. He clapped a hand on the officer’s shoulder and gestured with the other toward the door, and his half-smile made the escort seem a lot friendlier than Steve felt it should be. “FRIDAY, please inform the trainees that any further trials today have been canceled.”

“Right away, Mr. Stark,” the AI answered.

The door slid open as the officer approached it, and once he’d left, Tony turned to face Steve, his expression serious once more. “Figure out what’s going on with her before he gets antsy and starts looking into it himself. I’d say you’ve got about two hours.”

Steve headed immediately to the infirmary on the floor below, his heart pounding in his chest. His brain kept conjuring images of Y/N lying on the leather chaise, shivering underneath the blanket as Wanda removed the electrodes. He knew that Helen and her team would take good care of her, but he couldn’t stop thinking about all the things that could have gone wrong in the time since she’d left the simulation room.

The infirmary floor was minimalistic, with four glass walls forming a massive square in the middle and a hallway that went around all four sides. The glass was frosted and ran all the way up to the ceiling. Tony had taken a lot of design suggestions from the medical team to make sure that the floor had everything they needed; the glass square was separated into a handful of rooms, including an ICU unit, a surgical suite and a recovery room, a clinic, and the room that housed the cradle. There was probably a storage closet somewhere too, but Steve had never seen it. Most of his time on the infirmary floor was spent getting stitched up and scolded.

Steve strode down the first hallway, listening for Helen, Y/N, or even Sam. When he rounded the corner, he found his friend leaning against the center glass wall. One of Helen’s newer team members—the on-call pharmacist, if Steve remembered correctly—was in front of him, and as Steve walked closer, she laughed at something Sam said, then pulled her phone out of her pocket. She was reaching out to hand it to him when Steve was within earshot.

Y/N could be having a medical emergency and Sam’s flirting, Steve thought, gritting his teeth.

“Sam!” he barked, and his friend immediately looked up from the girl.

Sam lifted his chin in greeting, but his expression became stern. “Where is she?”

Frowning, the pharmacist turned and looked at Steve over her shoulder, then quickly straightened up. “Captain Rogers! What are you doing here? Is everything okay?”

He gave her a polite nod, before looking back at Sam. “She’s in with Helen?” he asked, glancing at the closed glass doors that led into the clinic.

Sam crossed his arms over his chest. “Yeah. Something goin’ on?”

“I have to ask her something,” he answered. “It’s urgent.”

“Anything I need to know about?” Sam placed a hand on Steve’s shoulder, stopping him when he tried to step closer to the doors. They stared at each other for a moment. Steve didn’t know how to explain what was going on without revealing classified info to the woman, but he also didn’t know how to put into words how badly he wanted to see her, how badly he wanted to make sure that she was okay. Y/N had been through so much in just a single day, and he wasn’t sure he’d be able to get on with the rest of his responsibilities if he didn’t check on her. Plus, he needed to figure out if she was truly enhanced before her CO got too antsy.

Finally, Sam dropped his hand and stepped back. He glanced at the pharmacist, who was watching them with obvious confusion.

“You wanna grab a coffee? I think Cap’s got this one covered.” When she smiled, Sam gestured for her to lead the way to the elevator, and he fell into step beside her after one more warning look at Steve.

As the elevator bell chimed down the hall, Steve pushed open the clinic door and stepped inside. Y/N sat on the edge of the table, her legs dangling a few inches above the floor. Her cuffed wrists rested against her thighs and her face looked cleaner than before; Helen must’ve helped her wipe off the sweat and the remaining adhesive from the electrodes. They’d discarded the blanket onto the clinic desk, and though she ultimately looked worse for wear, Y/N lifted her head to meet his eyes.

“Captain Rogers,” greeted Helen, and he tore his gaze away from Y/N to look over at her. She’d turned from her spot at the counter and was giving him a look so reproachful that he immediately wanted to turn and walk right back out the door. “Can I help you with something? I’m with a patient.”

“Dr. Cho.” He nodded politely and straightened his posture, reminding himself of why he’d come. “I need to ask Recruit Y/L/N some questions.”

“You’re not asking her anything until I’ve deemed she’s fit to leave this clinic. No one is allowed to intrude on my patients’ privacy without my permission, superhero or otherwise. You can wait in the hallway with Mr. Wilson.” Helen set her tablet down and rested one hand on the counter. The other braced her hip as she stared him down.

“It’s urgent,” he replied, but she didn’t budge.

“It’s alright, Helen,” Y/N said. Both he and Helen looked over at her, and she nodded at the latter. “He can ask me whatever he wants. I feel okay now.”

A beat passed before Helen sighed, clearly irritated. She picked up her tablet and turned back to the counter, tapping away on the screen. Steve knew she wouldn’t leave the room, not while she was waiting for Y/N to be fully recovered, so he moved closer to the bed to create a semblance of privacy for their conversation.

“Did I pass?” asked Y/N.

Steve pulled over the rolling chair from Helen’s unused desk. He sat on it forward this time, unlike he had in the simulation room. “Technically, yes.” “Technically?”

“How did you know about the assault happening in the alcove?”

She frowned and sat up a little. Her feet bumped against the side of the table. “What do you mean?”

“It’s not part of the main trial, and no one ever said anything to you about it. How did you know about it?”

“I don’t understand,” she replied. By the counter, Helen set aside her tablet and started pulling things down from some of the upper cabinets. “Why are you asking me this now?”

“What do you mean?” Steve asked, repeating her question from earlier.

“I stop the assault every time I do that simulation. I have since my first training round. What makes this time so special? Is it because I didn’t get there as fast? I’m not sure how that happened, I figured it was just something Wanda changed on her end to see if I’d be able to do both things under more pressure.”

Steve sighed and got to his feet, bracing his hands against his hips. Every time he learned something new about Y/N and her work as a trainee, it shattered every theory he’d started to form about her. He watched for a moment as a shadow passed on the other side of the frosted glass. Sam was back; Steve could hear him talking, but not to the woman from before. He was alone, which only meant he’d taken a phone call. Judging by the tone of voice, he wasn’t happy with whoever was on the other end of the line. It only took a second of listening to the conversation before Steve caught Tony’s name, then Y/N’s.

He must’ve called someone to get filled in on Y/N’s situation.

He turned to look at Y/N again. “We have no record of you or anyone else ever stopping an assault in the simulation, Y/N. Not even I knew it was there, and I’ve seen dozens of recruits do that trial. I’ve even done it myself a handful of times.”

She shifted on the edge of the table and glanced over at Helen, who was trying hard to seem disinterested. Y/N seemed to shrink in on herself, and she pulled her cuffed wrists closer to her body.

“I don’t understand what’s going on, Steve,” she murmured. For a moment, she looked around the room, searching for an answer that she wouldn’t find. When her eyes finally met his, they were wide and fearful, and his heart clenched in his chest. He wanted to reassure her, but he didn’t know how. He didn’t even know how to reassure himself right now.

“I know.” He sighed and ran a hand over his face, muttering a curse as he dropped his other hand down to his side. “I don’t think that you’re doing anything on purpose, but something’s not adding up. If it’s alright with Helen, I’d like to see if we can take you down to run another simulation.”

Y/N tensed. Helen turned to him with fire in her eyes.

“Absolutely not.”

“Helen—” Steve began, but she leveled her gaze and he suddenly wondered when Dr. Cho had time to become so frightening. It reminded him of the time his mom had caught him and Bucky trying to sneak out while he was still recovering from the flu.

“Recruit Y/L/N needs to rest,” she argued. “She absolutely will not, under any circumstances, be doing another simulation today.”

Rolling the chair back to the desk, Steve readied himself to explain the situation in its entirety to her, classified info be damned, but Y/N slid off the table and caught both his and Helen’s attention first.

“I’m checking myself out,” she said.

Helen stepped closer to her. “You need to rest. It’s not safe for you to do another simulation. Tomorrow morning would be a better—”

“While I appreciate your concern,” began Y/N, already walking to the frosted glass door, “there’s clearly something going on that only I’m going to be able to help solve, and if that involves doing another trial with Wanda, then I’m going to do another trial.”

She pulled open the door and successfully maneuvered herself out of the clinic with minimal struggle, which was impressive given the oversized cuffs still around her wrists. Steve hurried after her before he could get yelled at again by Helen.

“I know I was the one that suggested it, but are you sure you’re up for this?” he asked as he caught up with her.

“Where are we going?” asked Sam, falling into step on Y/N’s other side.

“I’m sure, Steve.” She turned to face Sam as Steve pressed the button for the elevator. “We’re going to take another simulation. Apparently there’s something going on. Do you have any idea what the issue was the first time?”

Over her shoulder, Steve minutely shook his head at Sam. Y/N couldn’t know what was going on or that she was suspected to be enhanced. It could interfere with her actions in the trial, and he didn’t want her freaking out, either. He remembered having a hard enough time adjusting to his new strength when he knew that it was coming, and if she truly did have powers, it surely wasn’t something she’d been anticipating.

“No clue,” Sam lied. He eyed Steve for a minute before guiding her into the elevator once the doors were open. “I’m sure it’ll get figured out.”

When they arrived at the simulation room, the rest of the team was waiting for them. Helen had called after they’d left the clinic, probably with the intent of chewing them out for forcing Y/N to go through another trial, but Tony dismissed all her concerns with the promise that Helen herself could be present in the simulation room, should the need for medical attention arrive. She showed up just as Wanda was placing the electrodes on their heads again.

This time, Steve chose to lay on the second chaise, just within arm’s reach of Y/N. She was taking everything in stride, and while he was a little worried about what she was thinking, he was more concerned with how he was going to get an explanation for the weird glitch in the tests and her claims that she’d stopped the assault every single time. He was inwardly scrambling for some kind of solution that wouldn’t require divulging too much information and compromising the results.

“I’m going to be watching the monitors carefully,” explained Wanda. “If anything looks even slightly wrong, or if Dr. Cho has immediate concerns, we’ll pull you out as quickly as we can.”

Y/N nodded and closed her eyes. Her arms were bent at an uncomfortable angle as she tried to rest her cuffed wrists on her stomach. Steve watched as she fidgeted for a moment. Eventually, she dragged them up to rest on her chest with a sigh, just as she’d done the last simulation.

What if we never figure this out? What if Y/N never gets answers to why we’re making her redo the test? What’s going to happen if we can’t figure out the reason—

Tony’s voice cut through on the speaker’s overhead. “Are you ready, Y/N?”

If she was surprised at his use of her first name, rather than her last, as was procedure for the recruit program, Y/N didn’t let it show. She opened her eyes and looked over at him, then set her jaw and nodded.

“Wait,” Steve said, sitting up on the chaise. He swung his legs over the side so he could look up at his teammates properly. “Take the cuffs off this time.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Behind the window, Fury stepped into view. If Steve wasn’t so preoccupied with Y/N’s current situation, Steve would’ve made a mental note to send a text in the group chat about the director’s penchant for dramatic entrances, but now he could only think about all the reasons Fury had come down from his office.

“Positive, sir,” replied Steve. “I’ll be inside the simulation to monitor, and Tony can stay down here in case of emergency.”

There was a moment of silence as Fury thought, then turned to talk to Tony. While the soundproofing on the viewing room prevented anyone in the simulation room from hearing the conversation, his decision was clear when Tony exited.

After he’d uncuffed Y/N, Tony stood beside Helen against the far wall. Steve glanced over at Wanda as he reclined on the chaise again. Slowly, her eyes gained their red glow, and in the blink of an eye, he was back at the mansion.

He spotted Y/N sooner than the first time he’d gone in with her. She’d chosen a different dress this time. When he looked down at himself to adjust the button on his jacket, Steve realized that the velvet was the exact same shade as the fabric of her dress. The thought that it matched her new dress perfectly flit through his head only for a moment, but he quickly pushed it aside before he could dwell on the how and the why too long. Usually his tux was just a regular one, though he had no objections to the change.

Out of the corner of his eye, Steve caught a flash of a familiar color. He turned just in time to see Y/N disappear into the crowd in the library. This time, her dress was the same as it normally was. Frowning, he looked back over his shoulder to see Y/N still flirting with Mr. Langston.

There’s two of her, he realized. As subtly and as quickly as possible, he wove his way through the people in the hallway. He arrived in the library, but Y/N had already gone into the alcove.

To the untrained ear, there was nothing amiss about the slight gap between the shelves, but the serum amplified Steve’s hearing just enough. Y/N’s voice was just barely audible as he made his way across the room, picking up a champagne flute on the way.

“You will not speak of me to anyone, nor will you approach any of the guards once you leave the mansion. You will go straight home,” she spat.

“Okay. Okay!” the man cried. “I’ll leave!”

The assaulter burst through the opening and Steve stepped back. When he rounded the corner and slipped in to meet Y/N, she caught him off guard. The dagger sent a chill through his body as she shoved him against the back of the shelves, hard enough that he heard things rattle on the other side. After a second, however, she dropped the knife from his throat and heaved a sigh of relief.

“Steve. Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he replied. “What are you doing here?” He knew the answer already, he just wanted to see what she’d say.

Y/N frowned at him. “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m stopping that douchebag.” She gestured with the blade before turning so she could tuck it into the sheath strapped to her thigh.

“And distracting Langston,” Steve finished.

“Well, yeah. That’s the whole point of this, isn’t it? I’m surprised Wanda hasn’t ended it. It’s been— What? Four minutes since I finished?” She glanced at the delicate watch around her wrist.

Steve straightened and glanced out the alcove’s entrance. The library doors opened up into the hallway at just the right angle for him to monitor the other Y/N as she flirted with Langston. He’d seen the routine the first time she completed the test—it would be another 45 seconds or so before Wanda pulled them out. It certainly hadn’t been four minutes since she’d finished. He turned back to the Y/N standing a few feet away, who now had her arms crossed over her chest as she stared at him.

“Why are you acting so weird?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.

Silently, he gestured for her to come stand by him. When she was close enough, he carefully placed both of his hands on her upper arms so he could position her in front of him.

“What are you do—”

He could tell that she’d spotted herself. Y/N stood a little taller and tensed under his grip. They both stared in silence, and when he blinked and suddenly found himself staring at the ceiling of the simulation room again, Steve inhaled deeply. The sudden absence of Y/N in his personal space made it feel like the world was spinning violently around him, and he gripped the side of the chaise for a second, closing his eyes as he tried to reorient himself.

“Are you okay?” Wanda’s voice in his ear made him flinch, and he nodded. She placed a hand on his shoulder. “Your heart’s beating faster than normal. Helen?”

Steve quickly pulled off the oximeter and held up a hand to stop Helen once he heard her footsteps coming closer. “I’m alright. Just… A little startled.”

When he opened his eyes, Y/N was already sitting up. She had her legs swung over the side and she stared at Steve as if she’d just seen a ghost. He sat up too, but he waited for her to speak.

“Steve…” Her voice was hoarse and she licked her lips, then met his eyes. She searched his face desperately for an explanation, but he didn’t have one. “That was planned, right?” This time, she looked at Wanda, but there was no answer there, either.

The intercom whined and Steve looked up at Y/N’s commanding officer. He leaned into the glass as he said, “Captain Rogers, Mr. Stark, Ms. Maximoff, if you could make your way up here, I’d appreciate it.”

Y/N twisted on the chaise to look up at the viewing room. “When do I find out if I’ve passed the trial? You’ve had me take it three times already, I know something’s not right! I—” She faltered, glancing back at Steve for a moment before turning back to look eyes with her CO. “With all due respect, sir, I deserve to know what’s going on.”

“Recruit Y/L/N—”

“She’s right,” Steve cut in as he got to his feet. The world felt more stable now, and he took the few steps that separated the two chaises so that he could stand at Y/N’s side. “She deserves to know.” He directed his attention to Fury and set his jaw, staring at him with all the power he could muster.

Finally, Fury stepped forward. The sergeant immediately backed out of his way.

“My office,” Fury ordered. “Now.”

Everyone scrambled into action as Fury left, but Steve spared a second to look up at Nat. She nodded her head toward the hallway outside the two rooms and he nodded back.

“Wanda, you’ll escort Y/N, right?”

Y/N’s eyes grew wide for a second, but Wanda placed a gentle hand on her upper arm. “We’ll meet you up there,” she answered, and Steve nodded in thanks.

He left as quickly as he could, and when he made it out of the simulation room, Natasha was already leaning up against the wall with the tablet in hand.

“Did you figure it out?” she asked, and Steve nodded again.

“Duplication. She had a copy of herself that was almost identical except for the dress, and she was able to do both the assigned mission and stop the assault at the same time.”

“And why did she look so freaked?” Natasha asked. She handed the tablet over for him to sign off on the trial. His signature fit neatly at the bottom, right underneath hers and the rest of the teams’. He hit submit once he was finished, then handed it back.

“Because I pointed it out to her. She doesn’t know, or she didn’t until now.”

Natasha raised an eyebrow at him just as Y/N came through the door, her arm linked with Wanda’s. She still looked upset, but she gave Steve a weak smile as Wanda guided her toward the elevator with Tony and Helen in tow. Y/N’s commanding officer was nowhere to be found.

They rode the elevator in silence, and the quiet turned uncomfortably tense as they entered Fury’s office. He stood behind his desk, staring down at an open file, and he didn’t look up even when Y/N sat in the single chair across from him. Steve, Nat, Wanda, Sam, Helen, and Tony stood shoulder-to-shoulder behind her. Steve itched to do something, anything, but he stood with his arms crossed instead, waiting for Fury to give his verdict.

Finally, Fury closed the folder and looked up. He met Steve’s eyes first, then glanced at the rest of the team before he sat down in his seat to be level with Y/N. She stayed deathly still as she waited for him to speak first.

“You’re a promising recruit, Miss Y/L/N,” he began.

She nodded once. “Thank you, Director Fury.”

“And I’d love to have you on our team, but I’m a little hung up on something. Maybe you can clarify.”

“I’m going to need a bit more detail than that, sir.”

“How long have you had powers?”

She frowned at him. “I’m sorry, sir?”

“How long have you had powers?” Fury repeated, firmer this time.

Beside him, Nat shifted ever so slightly, and then he felt her hand on his arm, steadying him. He glanced over, but she didn’t tear her eyes away from the desk.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t have powers,” Y/N answered. She shook her head. “I would have told you if I did, sir. It was on the paperwork. We’ve been asked multiple times in interrogation trials if we’re enhanced. I— You would have known by now if I had any kind of powers at all.”

“And yet,” Fury paused, glancing up at Steve, “we didn’t.”

“What?” Her voice falters, and she turns to look back at Wanda. “It wasn’t a glitch?”

Reluctantly, Wanda shook her head. “No. It wasn’t a glitch, and it wasn’t planned. You have powers, Y/N.”

“I don’t understand. How could they just show up now?” She turned to Helen next as her voice turned desperate. “Powers don’t just appear like that, right?”

“I’m not sure, I’d have to do intensive study and interview—”

“Which you will not be doing,” Director Fury said. He slapped his hand down on the file and Y/N jumped, spinning in her seat to face him again.

“As of right now, Miss Y/L/N, you are no longer a SHIELD recruit and you are stripped of all rights and privileges afforded to you by that status. You will be evaluated by Dr. Banner as soon as he is available and you will work with the rest of our team to control your abilities, after which you will be sent home. You will be monitored 24/7 and should you feel the need to ever use your powers, you will be eliminated.”

The room fell silent for a beat, and Y/N let out a ragged exhale in its wake. “I don’t— Director Fury, I can assure you that I would never use my powers for anything bad. I don’t even know how to use them. I don’t even know what they are!”

“There were two of you in the simulation,” Steve finally explained. She turned in her seat to look at him, one hand holding the back in a white-knuckled grip. “You were identical, except for your dress. You handled the assault the same way in both simulations I was in, and you handled Mr. Lanston the same all three times. The only difference I could see was that when you were handcuffed, you had to take care of Mr. Langston first before stopping the assault because you couldn’t be in two places at once.” He looked up at Fury, who was watching him with an unreadable expression. “Sir, I don’t think that kicking Y/N out is the best solution. She didn’t lie—she just didn’t know she was enhanced. With our help, she can learn how to control her abilities and stay here, if that’s what she wants. If she wants to help and she proves that she can be trusted, which I believe that she can, she deserves the chance to do what she came here to do, even if it’s in a different capacity.”

“I won’t be able to convince anyone else that having an enhanced SHIELD agent is a good decision, Captain.”

“Unless she’s an Avenger,” Tony said, and everyone’s head swiveled to look at him. He popped a peanut M&M into his mouth, seemingly unfazed by everyone’s sudden attention. “Don’t act like you weren’t all thinking it. It’s the simplest solution.”

“Me? An Avenger?” Y/N gawked at him.

Natasha crossed her arms over her chest and stepped out of line, turning to face him. “You’re proposing that Y/N joins our team? That’s incredibly dangerous. She doesn’t have the same level of training as we do.”

“Then who better to get her up to speed?” Tony argued. He crumpled the empty candy wrapper into a ball before shoving it into his pocket. “She’s miles above the rest of her classmates and she’s even knocked Capsicle here flat on his ass. I don’t see why she wasn’t an immediate candidate as soon as we suspected she had powers. FRIDAY, pull up Y/N’s records, will you?”

“Right away, boss,” FRIDAY replied.

The blue holographic screen appeared to the left of the line, and everyone shifted slightly to get a better look. Glowing graphs charted Y/N’s progress throughout the program, and a running tally of the records she’d broken appeared in the top right hand corner. Steve knew her abilities were far above the mark, but he had no idea just how skilled Y/N truly was. When he looked over at her, she’s staring at her hands in her lap. He can’t see her face to see if she’s embarrassed by her scores being so brazenly posted, but when Steve cleared his throat, she jumped a little and lifted her head to look at him.

“I agree,” Steve said. He nodded at the screen before turning his attention back to Fury. “I think her scores speak for themselves, sir. Y/N is the best candidate for the Avengers that we’ve had in a while, and we’d already be working with her to further explore and control her abilities. If she’s already going to be doing the training and her other skills stay up to par, I see no reason for her not to join us.”

Fury didn’t move a muscle as he stared back at Steve. “Alright then,” he finally replied. He stood, grabbing the file off the desk and holding it out for Helen. “Take this to the lab, Dr. Cho. Recruit Y/L/N will see you at 0700 for the start of her probationary period. Keep me informed on any anomalies you find. Captain, I trust that you’ll work with Agent Romanoff on a suitable training regimen?”

Both Steve and Natasha nodded. Fury nodded back and gestured for the door. Everyone shuffled out, with Y/N bringing up the tail of the group.

“Are you okay?” Steve asked. He lingered in the hallway as Y/N closed the door behind her. Everyone else had already started making their way down the hallway, though he knew they were walking slower than normal so they could eavesdrop.

“I think so,” Y/N replied. “Today’s been…” She trailed off and shook her head, at a loss for words.

“Can I walk you back to your room?”

Y/N nodded and offered him a small smile. She started walking to the elevator and he fell into step beside her. They walked side by side for a moment, but she slowed her pace as the rest of the team crowded onto the elevator at the end of the hall. Wanda was holding the doors for them. Steve shook his head and she let the doors close with a knowing look.

“I’m glad that you’ll get to stay,” Steve said as he pressed the button to call another elevator car. “I’d miss you if you were gone.”

She looked up at him then, both eyebrows raised. “You would?”

He shoved his hands in his jacket pockets, clearing his throat. The sudden image of her in the second simulation dress floated through his head and he had to look away. His ears were most definitely red now, and he could feel the heat in his cheeks as his face flushed.

“Yeah. I mean, I know we haven’t talked much, but us Brooklyn kids have to stay together, right?”

A slow smile grew on her face when he risked a glance in her direction. She looked at the number above the elevator, watching as it changed and sparing him any further embarrassment.

They rode the elevator together in silence, then walked together to her room. Y/N dug the key out of the pocket of her SHIELD-issued pants and gestured to the door.

“This is me,” she said, an awkward chuckle tacked on at the end. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other as she looked up at him.

Steve nodded, hoping he wasn’t making her uncomfortable. It had been a long time since he’d spent time with anyone he liked, and he wasn’t sure how to interact with her after everything that had happened today. He’d seen enough flirting to last him a lifetime, but seeing was different than actually doing.

“Right. Um, we usually have a team dinner on Thursday nights, so… tonight,” he said. He inwardly cringed. He hadn’t needed to clarify the date for her, but she didn’t say anything as she gave him space to continue. “You should come. It’s at seven. I’ll make sure your clearance level is updated so that FRIDAY can take you to the right floor.”

She nodded back and smiled. “That sounds fun. I’ll be there.”

After a few seconds, Y/N turned to unlock her door and Steve started heading back the way they’d come. He had only made it a few feet before Y/N called his name. She had the door open now, and she smiled wider when he turned and met her gaze.

“I know we’re having dinner later tonight, but do you want to get lunch sometime? Now that I’m not a recruit, that is,” she added, laughing a little.

He smiled back. “I’d like that, Y/N.”

So yeah, Steve was head over heels for her. When he looked at her, when he watched her wrestle the TV remote from Clint after her official Avengers welcome dinner that night, he was finally seeing her for who she was in her entirety, not just the small part of her he’d gotten to know over her months of training. In the end, at least to Steve, it didn’t matter if she had powers or not. To him, Y/N didn’t just look like she was the most interesting thing in the room—she actually was.

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