A little language

"Okay, so this is the locker room, there's the gym, and down the hall is the entrance to the hangar bay where we came in. Down one floor is the lab, infirmary, and library. Two floors down is the kitchen and dining room, and another down is the lounge and common room. All of our living quarters are on the floors above. Any questions?"

"Yeah," you sighed with a deep breath, looking around as Steve waited but his attention was drawn to the tablet in his hands, "what color are my eyes?"

"Excuse me?" he startled, finally looking up at you.

"You haven't taken your eyes off that damn tablet since I got here. I might as well have found my way around on my own. Tell me, is that how you run everything around here, Captain? Because I'm not sure how confident I'll feel going on a mission with a half-assed leader."

Steve stood silently with his mouth agape and at a complete loss for words. He reached down and grabbed your pack from the floor and handed it to you slowly, pausing with a hard swallow and casting his gaze away in embarrassment. "My apologies, (Y/N). Can I...um...show you to your floor?"

"I've got it, thanks. You clearly have more important things to tend to."

~~~

Natasha stopped her workout to watch Steve work with the punching bag, unable to concentrate with the incessant grunts and mumbling under his breath as he hit. He had gone through three bags so far, with five more lined up on the floor to take his punishment, and she knew that there was no way that she would be able to put up with this for that much longer.

"What the hell's gotten into you? Whose face are you imagining on that bag?"

"Have you met the new recruit yet?" he panted, not breaking his rhythm.

A slight smirk curled at the edges of her lips and she nodded in understanding, beginning to unwrap her hands at the realization that she wouldn't get anymore work done now. "Yes, I've met her. She's...different than what you're used to, am I right?"

"She called me 'half-assed'."

"Ah. You know, I think that this is gonna be good for you, Steve."

He stopped abruptly and grabbed the bag as it swung back at him, reaching up to push away the sweaty hairs that were sticking to his forehead. He squared his stance and turned to her, crossing his arms over his chest, "what is that supposed to mean?"

"Don't give me your 'Captain America' pose, you know it doesn't work with me," she chuckled, taking a seat at a bench next to him and tapping her hand for him to join her, though he didn't right away. "You haven't had a good challenge in a while. Someone to shake things up around here. Maybe put you in your place a bit, hmm?"

"I don't know what you could be thinking," he mumbled, turning back to the bag and resuming his attack, knowing full well that he knew exactly what she meant. He was always so immersed in his work that he often forgot to see the world going on around him. He forgot that there was more in life than that.

"Yeah, you know, you're just acting like you don't." Nat grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder, watching him for another minute before finally turning to leave. "This is gonna be fun," she said quietly to herself with a smile, giving him a small wave before the door closed behind her.

"I heard that," he groaned, stopping the bag again to rest his head against it, finally exhausted and no clearer about what to do than he was when he started. Sure, he had doubted his abilities to lead more times than he cared to admit, but now it was being thrown back in his face and he didn't know how to deal with it because it wasn't just him seeing it.

"Fun, my ass."

~~~

"What part of limited casualties didn't you understand?!" Steve snapped, following you into the quinjet, nearly stepping on your heels and so close that you could feel his breath on your neck. "When I set out a plan I expect it to be followed!"

"It was a shit plan!" you retorted with equal fervor. "In case you hadn't noticed, Captain, there are limited casualties. The whole team is here, alive, rather than carrying Tony's dead body home!"

Steve shook his head and ripped off his gloves in frustration, throwing them aside carelessly. Deep down, he knew you were right and that the team was in one piece because of your actions, but that didn't mean they were the only way to get the job done and he wasn't ready to concede. "I don't know how you did things before you joined us, (Y/N), but you need to understand how we work here."

"Oh, I know exactly how we work here. We follow Steve Rogers like good little soldiers. Silent and obedient."

"Oh my God," Clint whispered to Natasha, the two of them watching motionless other than their eyes darting back and forth with your conversation, their mouths hanging open. "He's gonna flip out."

"No he's not," she whispered back. When Steve closed his eyes and took a deep breath, tightly pinching the bridge of his nose, she changed her tune. "Yeah, maybe his is."

"You're grounded."

"I beg your pardon? I'm...grounded?"

"Not like that," he sighed angrily, "you're suspended until further notice. Effective immediately."

"Steve," Tony jumped in from the cot at the center of the jet, pushing Bruce away from his injuries so he could sit up to face you both with a wince of pain, "come on. She did the right thing. It doesn't mean you were wrong. It was just another option."

"No, it's fine," you replied with an empty smile, waving Tony down, "the way I go about things isn't for everyone. Maybe this isn't such a good fit after all. I'm not much for following someone just because I'm told that I should. I haven't seen anything to prove that 'Captain America' is anything more than just a catchy title."

"Oh...my...God..." Clint repeated, sucking in a harsh breath and looking away in pure fear now, grabbing Nat's hand.

It was the worst embodiment of checkmate that Steve had encountered; for everything he said, you came back with something that only made him more enraged, and you didn't look like it was bothering you in the least. He had never felt such frustration with another person, and yet he found it upsettingly attractive to have someone so blatantly stand up to him and his bullshit.

That made him angrier than anything else.

"Fine. I'll help you pack," he spat, taking a step closer to you, but you didn't budge.

"No thanks. I don't need you barking orders at me on how to fold my underwear."

"I'm sure the Captain has many helpful notes on the benefits of the Army's efficient packing methods," Vision deadpanned as if it were a welcome suggestion and none the wiser to his error.

"I'll be out within an hour," you huffed, dropping into your seat to close yourself off, though Steve was slow to take his own place. He watched you for a moment before looking away, but Natasha caught him stealing glances throughout the rest of the flight. When he caught her eye, he straightened in his seat and shook his head, looking guilty as if he were found in a lie.

"Shut up," he mouthed silently, leaning back to close his eyes for the rest of the most uncomfortable flight the team had ever been on.

~~~

Once back at the tower, you couldn't pack fast enough, throwing your belongings into your suitcase carelessly with your phone balancing tenuously on your shoulder and pressed against your ear. The conversation wasn't going how you wanted, and your clothes were taking the brunt of your anger.

"I'm leaving, Nick. You can't keep me here."

"I can and I am," he replied flatly. "You're there for a reason, (Y/N)."

"What, to get bossed around by Captain Know-It-All? Because as much fun as that is, I'm really not the type to take to it very well."

"And that's exactly why you're there. If anyone can get your attitude in check, it's Steve." Nick paused for a moment to receive your inevitably infuriated response, but it never came. "Your skills are unmatched in many ways, (Y/N). We need you, but you have to learn how to work with a team, and this is how we're going to do it."

A loud knock on your door made you nearly drop your phone as you jumped, but you quickly realized who it was without a word. "Nick, I'll call you back." You heard him saying something in reply but you closed the line and threw your phone haphazardly onto your bed, sighing before opening your door to the last person on Earth that you wanted to see.

"What?"

"I'm here to pack. Like I said."

"I've got it, thanks," you hissed, pushing the door closed in his face but turning back with a startle as his foot thrust forward to hold it open. "Excuse me? This is still my room for another fifteen minutes."

"Okay, listen. I'm not here to help you pack," he sighed. "You can't leave."

"That's twice that I've heard that in less than five minutes. What's your reason to keep me here?" You finally gave in and released the door, allowing him to follow you inside and close it behind him as you resumed your packing.

"I have orders to not let you leave."

You threw down the shirt in your hand with an angry snap and turned to him with a fire in your eyes that actually made him take a small step back. "You mean to tell me that there's someone who can order the great Captain around? You actually follow orders from someone else? I never thought I'd see the day."

"What is it with you?" he snapped, closing the gap between you with a few long steps. "Why do you press buttons like that with everything I say? It's infuriating!"

"Because someone needs to knock you down a few pegs, Cap. You honestly think that you're the only one with a secret mission here?" You pushed a step forward, now standing only inches from him and almost touching. "Word around the company is that your ego is getting a bit too big, and I've been sent to take a little wind out of those sails. Is it working?"

"Like you wouldn't believe," he growled, thrusting himself forward to crush his lips against yours with a kiss that was full of rage and all of the frustration that had build over the past week together. His fingers dug deeply into your skin as he pulled you in, moving his hands into your hair to pull your head back and expose your neck to him, paying no attention to the small tremble of pain in your voice.

"You know, angry sex never ends well, Captain," you moaned as he bit at your neck and ripped your shirt away, both of you now hurrying to make short work of the rest of your clothes. He pushed your suitcase to the ground with a force that crashed it against the wall and threw you onto your bed, leaning over you with a look that was dark and ominous, and you felt a flash of genuine fear now when he spoke again.

"Do I look like I care?"

~~~

You opened your eyes the next morning to a harsh sunlight and no sign of Steve. The only reminder that he had been there was the fact that almost every muscle in your body ached and your vivid memory of every minute that he had spent with you. "Oh, bad idea, (Y/N), so bad..." you mumbled to yourself, slowly standing with a groan. Your stomach growled loud enough to echo in your room, and the time had come to face the others; you couldn't deny how much you needed to eat, and it likely meant running into Steve.

After a quick shower and a half-hearted attempt at dressing appropriately in sweats and a tank top with mismatched socks, you grabbed your phone to see several texts from Nick and one from Steve. Hesitantly, you opened your phone to read Nick's first, finding nothing but his continued insistence that you stay. You closed your eyes and took a deep breath, opening them to read Steve's message with trepidation.

I thought that ended very well.

Your fingers hovered over the keys to reply, but the emergency alarm sounded and your room glowed red. You gathered your uniform and pack and ran from your room, deciding to change on the jet to make a few extra seconds time to grab a snack from the kitchen on your way to the hangar. Even with the stop for food, you were only the third one there.

"I take it you guys aren't morning people?" you smiled to Tony, taking your seat across from him and shoving the corner of your protein bar in your mouth. "Where is everybody?"

"Don't talk with your mouth full," he smirked, reaching out to tear a piece of your breakfast away and shoving it into his own mouth. "It's rude."

"I can see that."

"It's just you, me, Barton and Steve today. Not sure what's holding Steve up though?" he questioned to himself, leaning forward to peek from the back of the jet. "Hey FRIDAY? You got a location on Cap?"

"I'm here! I'm here!" Steve called out, running into the jet and flopping himself loudly into the seat next to Tony. "Sorry, overslept."

"It's almost nine, Cap," Clint smirked from the pilot seat as he set the coordinates. "Not many things could make you oversleep, as far as I can guess."

Your eyes darted to Steve and then to Tony coyly before looking to your pack to begin to change into your uniform, doing your best to ignore the conversation that was about to happen.

"You guys..." Tony gasped, pointing back and forth between you and Steve. "No! You didn't!"

"We didn't," you mumbled, in unison with Steve's "so what if we did."

"You know guys, angry sex never ends well."

Steve grinned to himself but kept his eyes down, pulling on his gloves and securing the straps over his boots to keep from looking up at you. "I don't know who came up with that ridiculous idea."

~~~

When the mission ended a few short hours later, Clint and Tony arrived back at the jet first, followed by Steve...but no sign of you. They waited a few minutes, and you weren't answering your comm, making Steve immediately panicked. "Who saw her last?"

"We were clearing a building a few hundred yards north before you called us back," Clint replied, stopping and returning his bow to his back to prepare to go out again. "She was making a final sweep and told me to go."

"Why do you think we always go in pairs, Barton?" Steve hissed, grabbing his shield and running from the jet towards where you were last seen. "(Y/N)?" he tried the comm again, "(Y/N) come in." When there was still no reply, his pace quickened as he called out openly to you. "(Y/N), come on, give me something! Where are you?" He stopped abruptly and spun around, hearing just a hint of your voice from inside a toppled building nearby. "Barton, have the jet ready to fly. Call the tower to be ready to receive injuries."

Steve pulled heavy beams away and remains of broken bricks from where he had heard you, finally seeing a hint of your uniform peeking out from under a large chunk of wall. "(Y/N), I see you! Hold on!"

"This building...is kinda...heavy..." you groaned, trying to breathe through the pain you were feeling everywhere. With each piece that he threw aside, the light from outside became brighter and you finally felt hope that he might actually reach you. "Took you...long...enough."

"Don't talk."

When he came to the final beam that held you down, he began to lift but it shifted something beneath you, sending a shock wave of pain through your chest. "Stop!"

"Okay. Okay..." he panted, crawling into the deep hole next to you to see where you were pinned, finding a piece of metal bar impaled into your side. "Shit," he mumbled, not knowing what to do and feeling his heart begin to race with building anxiety and fear that he was only going to hurt you more. "Okay, we can do this. (Y/N), listen to me. I can get this beam off of you, but it's gonna hurt like hell. It's the only way I can get you out." He reached into his belt pack and pulled out an anesthetic injection, pressing it firmly into your neck. "It's all I have, I'm sorry."

"Just get...it done...Steve. I trust you."

"It takes being crushed by a building for you to finally trust me?" he chuckled, though his voice was filled with panic and his hands were beginning to shake. "We should've done this sooner."

"Shut up."

Steve wrapped his hands around the beam and looked down at you one more time, locking his gaze with yours and trying to distance himself from how he felt so that he could hurt you now that he had no choice; he tried to prepare himself for the screams he was about to hear, but it was all too much. He let go and quickly knelt down, taking your face in his hands for a gentle kiss, much the opposite from the last time you had felt his lips on yours. "I'm so sorry for this."

A few hundred yards away in the quinjet, Tony jumped to his feet and ran from the door at the sounds of your voice, screaming with a piercing volume that shook him to his core. He was about to join Steve to help when he saw the Captain running towards the jet with you draped limply over his arms.

~~~

"Here," Natasha whispered, holding out a fresh cup of coffee for Steve, entering your room as quietly as she could. "What's the word?"

"She woke up a while ago," he smiled weakly, bringing the cup to his lips and blowing gently over the steam that billowed from it. "We talked a bit, but I told her to rest. They said she'll be okay." He took a quick drink from his cup and sucked in a sharp breath, pulling it away. "Holy hot. You couldn't cool this down a little first?"

"It comes from a machine, Steve. What did you expect me to do?"

"Blow on it?"

"Not your mommy," she whispered in a sing-song tone, easily drinking from her own cup. "Not my fault that you're a baby." When he sat quietly, gingerly holding his cup and attempting to drink, she watched him silently, seeing him stop to look at you and then to your monitors, as if he had done the same thing methodically over the past several hours. "You like her."

"Don't know what you're talking about. Can't stand her."

"Steve..."

"Yeah...I like her, okay?" he sighed, setting his cup on the floor next to him, giving up on being able to drink it yet. "She still pisses me off, and drives me crazy, but yeah, I think I like her quite a bit, actually."

Natasha handed him her cup of cooled-down coffee so that he could finish it, giving him a supportive pat on his shoulder. "Alright, I'll be back. I owe Fury a hundred bucks and he'll expect me to pay up now that we have confirmation."

"For what?"

"For proving that he really is a better matchmaker than I am," she huffed, turning to leave. "He wanted to do this months ago."

"Woah, hold up," Steve jumped from his chair and took her arm to spin her towards him, "so this wasn't about my ego being too big? He just wanted us together?"

Natasha gave him a complacent smile and reached up to gently tap his cheek, "Oh honey, no. Your ego is ridiculous. This is just a happy perk for everyone."