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#and then everyone freaked out about how that apparently meant he couldn't be blonde anymore
punemy-spotted · 3 years
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In Which Love is a Leap of Faith
Chapter 1: Merman
Summary: You thought a man was drowning in the lake. He wasn't.
Pairing: Steve Rogers x You
Warnings: Eventual Smut, Alcohol Mentions, PLEASE DON'T JUST DIVE INTO LAKES IN YOUR BRA AND PANTIES THAT'S WHAT EMERGENCY SERVICES ARE FOR YOU DO NOT WANT TO DROWN, Don't Try This At Home, 18+ ONLY, MINORS DNI
Notes: Pacing meant I couldn't shoehorn being absolutely railed by Steve Rogers into Chapter 1 but Chapter 2 is starting with a bang. Will this be an ongoing series? Probably. Inspired by This Reddit Post
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Did you know? Did you know the Avengers sometimes came out to your little mountain hideaway? Well. Not exactly yours, but you’ve lived here your whole life and you know it best. This is your sanctuary, the space you feel safest and yet you had no idea. Of course you didn’t, because if you did? You wouldn’t have just stripped down to your bra and panties and taken a running leap of faith off a cliff right into the mountain-spring lake below.
So how did you get here, making that perfect arc with your body, arms outstretched before you the way you remembered from swim practice all those years ago?
Easy.
You were jogging, like you always do in the mornings before work — your parents’ bar, where you wait tables and balance the books and keep the family business alive — when you saw him. Floating, almost limp in the water, just bobbing along in the emptiness. The lake had a reputation — there was always some barely corroborated story about a friend-of-a-friend who nearly drowned or a tourist who quite possibly did — and you, having occasionally been the person putting MISSING posters up, didn’t want the loved ones of the man in the water coming to town wondering.
If you could save one person from the torment of the unknown, wouldn’t it have been worth it?
So you yelled, Hey! Hang on just a little longer, I’m coming! and threw your clothes off and to the side before throwing yourself off and into the water. You’d swam here plenty of times, knew the exact angle to hit the cold surface, knew just where the shore was from here, knew the right path to take to get to your clothes, thrown haphazardly over a rock somewhere. This was your sanctuary, and you weren’t going to let it turn into someone else’s grave.
Except then you actually reach the man in the water and the blue-eyed surprise spread all over his face Are you okay?
Yes? Are you?
See that? That’s a regulator hanging from the side of his mask.
Now isn’t that convenient?
What the Hell are you doing out here?
What are you doing out here?
I thought you were drowning! Who the fu—CHRIST!
You’re not alone with the blond man in the water — you know his face now, of course you do, as you tread water and try not to glare at Captain fucking America, Steve Rogers, the Man With A Plan, cuz you sure as hell ain’t the gal with one, not anymore — and the clearing throat about three feet away from you sends you into a kicking frenzy, screaming in surprise and face-to-face with a very bemused (and also very concerned) Sam Wilson.
There really is no justice left in the world for you, because they’re both laughing so hard you think Captain America might actually keel over right here and now.
And there’s more.
There’s always freaking more, isn’t there? Yeah, that’s the rest of the fucking Avengers, popping up out of the water and looking like you’re the best comedy act they’ve seen all week.
You’re treading water so fast you think your legs and arms might give out here and now and oh fuck you don’t want to end up the friend-of-a-friend in those cautionary ta— Steve Rogers to the rescue once again. He’s so gentle when he puts his hands on your waist and holds you still Hey, hey, I’ve got you. You okay? You’ll float, just relax, just relax.
You have the good sense not to glare at him for patronizing you. He has the good sense not to tease you for swearing up down and sideways.
You good?
Yeah.
Good.
You’re so red you might in fact have turned into the sun from the force of your embarrassment and the smirks on everyone’s faces don’t exactly help but here you are. I thought you were drowning so I— you can’t even finish your explanation it sounds so ridiculous surrounded by the Avengers in dive suits and regulators.
The smirk on Steve Rogers's face? Absolutely illegal, you should kiss it off do something about it.
You’re still thinking about the what you should do when he speaks up again, steady and warm and it’s honestly hard to be mad when he’s holding you up and keeping you steady, You wanna escort me back to shore?
It’s nice of him to be the one to glare at Sam when the Falcon bursts into laughter at the ridiculousness of the offer, but you know what? Still rude.
Yeah, I can. Hard to flounce when you’re still treading water, even harder to flounce when you’re wearing nothing but a bra and panties and Steve Rogers is pressed against you.
You’re a good swimmer and he’s a good complimenter, handing you a towel and trying not to look at you in soaking wet skivvies. You briefly consider how you might have preferred him being unconscious — least he wouldn’t see the heat rising to your cheeks or the way you’re avoiding looking at him in the dive suit does it have to look so good?
Yeah, thanks. Learned to swim in the lake while you towel off and glance up the path where the rest of your clothes are waiting. You’re going to have to explain this to your family and they’re absolutely going to be weird about it, aren’t they?
Hey he startles you again, why does he keep doing that and you’ve got eyes on him, big and round you did the right thing back there. Thanks.
What?
Jumping into the water. Trying to help. It was the right thing to do.
You… didn’t need any help though.
Yeah, but you didn’t know that.
Okay we— he does that thing, the glare you’ve heard he’s famous for you watch the news and you just. Shut up, faster than you expected. Oh. So that’s how it feels.
Look. We shouldn’t have laughed — and I’m sorry about that. I’ll talk with the rest of them later. There’s not enough people who go diving into lakes and try to do the right thing, and even if I didn’t need it, you did it because you wanted to do the right thing, and that’s what matters.
If you weren’t red before, you’re redder now, about to open your mouth to say thanks and then—
But that was also incredibly dangerous, what if you’d gotten hurt in the dive? How good are emergency services out here — you can always call them before you start stripping down — water’s too cold for that anyway.
You know what, being scolded by Captain America sucks.
Better focus on the praise.
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You invited him to the bar.
Well. Technically you invited all of them to the bar — something about overpriced beer and endless pool, you can’t remember you were too busy rambling in your underwear. Bottom line, you invited the Avengers — who, if you recall, apparently come out to your little mountain hideaway for dive training — to your family’s bar and your mother (bless her) didn’t kill you for not giving her advance warning so she could clean the place up.
They’re not gonna show, c’mon, it’s the Avengers. They’ve got better things to do than humor the dumb bitch who jumped into a lake wearing nothing but a sports bra and some briefs.
You’re too busy dealing with the dinner crowd to be disappointed, and trying not to think about how everyone in town is asking you about your encounter with Captain America and The Avengers was he nice what was Thor like were they polite did you really meet them in your underwear what are you, Ariel?
Did your mother have to be the town gossip?
You’re busy and frazzled and the dinner crowd gives way to the lakeside drinkers and still no one shows, proving you right as you clean glasses and try to steer gossip to something less exciting.
You don’t actually notice when the room goes quiet.
Not until you hear Hi, we’re looking for…
You could almost say you didn’t recognize him in clothes, but Captain America? Looks really good in a leather jacket and a button-down, determinedly trying not to jam his hands into his pockets like some sort of dork, hair dry and combed and even a little sheepish as he scans the room until he sees you.
Hey. That offer for drinks still open?
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