Chapter Text
"Can I- Can I try?" You asked, almost inaudible, but they were close enough to hear. You felt a small part of your walls crumbling down, showing more of the real you to the team.
Tony turned to you, mumbling a quick 'now things are getting interesting'. Steve and Bruce stared at you, not sure of what to say.
"Please." You pleaded sadly.
"You are not stable, (y/n)." Bruce noted slowly.
"I'm not. But I need a distraction, otherwise this building will end up in debris." You explained.
"This is a serious training, I don't want to hurt you." Steve said.
You stretched your arms and neck and heard Tony wolf whistling. Without even casting a glance you moved you wrist, twitching his insides without enough strength to break anything. He bent over his stomach, grunting and you smiled satisfactorily.
"You won't hurt me." You said, smiling softly. "I just... Need this."
"Are you sure?"
"Very much."
He sighed, but motioned for you to follow him to the middle of the room.
"Give me your best shot." You ordered playfully and, as you extended your arms in an invitation, you knew for a fact that you had finally broken out of your shell. You were exposed, vulnerable. It was a demonstration of your trust. Something you had never once done in your life, not even with Luke.
You weren't sure any of them understood the gesture until you glanced at the rest of the team. Natasha easily recognized what you were doing. Her eyes widened and then softened as a small smile made its way onto her face.
"Unless you have a healing factor or other powers we are not aware of-" Steve brought your attention back to him.
"Trust me, I survived worse." You cut him off forcefully.
"(Y/n)..." He tried to argue.
"No. I won't take any other answer, I've been fighting my entire life, this is no different." You shushed him hurriedly. "But I'm warning you: I won't take it easy on you, Captain."
The corner of his lip twitched up and he lifted a brow in mock challenge. "Is that so?"
You nodded, your own challenging look spurring him own.
"Fine, let's see what you got then."
You grinned widely and moved towards him, fists ready. He was prepared, but so were you. In the last second, instead of hitting him like you had led him to believe, you swiftly twisted out of the way, making him stumble forward.
"Oops." You said in a singsong tone, playfully. Steve regained his balance and turned back around surprised, than a dangerous smile slowly spread on his lips.
"Oh, you're so going down." He threatened. You giggled and shrugged.
Your next move was calculated, but he couldn't know, going with it just as you thought he would.
You tried to punch him with your right arm, he simply deflected and held your wrist, then you tried to do the same with your left one. He repeated the former act with his spare hand.
You smirked and Steve was too slow to respond. In one second, you had joined your legs and slid forward in between his own, tightly grasping his wrists when he let go of yours and pulling him down onto the mat. You victoriously got up and sat over his stomach securely holding his arms above his head. You smirked.
"Ready to surrender?" You asked smugly. Steve grinned.
"I could do this all day, doll."
He got you by surprise as he thrust his hips up, disturbing your balance and easily shoving you down.
You cursed and kicked his side before he could pin you like you had done to him, he groaned as he fell back down and you rolled back before getting up.
Steve bent his body backwards and used his arms and own weight to pull himself back up. It was mesmerizing to watch his muscles moving under the layers of skin and clothing.
"Now, that's what I'm talking about! I knew you were holding yourself back." You accused matter-of-factly.
That's when the fight really began. You saw when his control broke, of course, he still aimed not to kill you, but he was actually moving faster and hitting harder.
It was hard to even spot you as you moved, as you danced around Steve, avoiding most of his efforts of hitting you. Once in a while he would manage to hit you, you felt a small pang in your stomach and you know he had also kicked your side fairly brutally, nothing you couldn't handle, of course.
No matter how many times you managed to get him down, he would always get back up, which annoyed you to no end.
Eventually he won, beating you with his unlimited stamina. You were absolutely exhausted and sported a few bruises all over your body besides a small cut on your lower lip.
Steve chuckled lightly, he was also tired, but in a much better shape than yours. He offered you his hand, which you gladly took, letting him help you up from the mat. You wiped the sweat of your forehead and sighed.
"Well... That was fun!" You said with an unusual grin. It wasn't especially hard to put a smile on your face, but they were usually small, or not real. It was easy to tell when you were really happy, your entire face joined your quirked lips and your eyes lit up with joy.
Tony laughed whole heartedly and your smile grew bigger with the sound. Bruce seemed rather shocked, while Natasha looked proud and Thor and Clint were absolutely amazed.
"It was very entertaining. You fought like true warriors!" Thor beamed as you and Steve approached the group and patted your shoulder with more strength than you expected, making you wince.
"Thanks, bud. Just be gentle with me, alright?" You hissed, rubbing your sore shoulder.
"Why? Are you feeling beaten up, sweetheart?" Tony questioned, his laughter never quite ceasing.
"I'm sure Steve got the worse of it." You joked and winked towards said man, but he only furrowed his eyebrows at you. "What?" You asked, your chill exterior dying away.
He sighed. "You should have told me to stop." Steve stated sternly. You frowned.
"Why would I do that?" You questioned truthfully. He stepped closer and touched the side of your face lightly, but enough for you to feel a tiny sting. His touch slid down until his thumb touched the cut in your lower lip.
"Because of this." Steve spoke quietly. You gapped at him, surprised in a good way by his sweet touch. "I said I didn't want to hurt you."
You took his hand from your face and engulfed it between both of yours. "You didn't hurt me, Steve. I meant it when I said it was fun. I feel much better now. Trust me."
He shook his head, incredulous, but smiled nonetheless. "You really are something, (y/n)."
You giggled. "I'll take that as a compliment."
"You should." Clint chimed in, draping his arm over your shoulders and affectively pulling you against his side. You leaned against him, easily accepting his embrace, something you would have avoided was it only a few days earlier. "If I knew you were that good I would have spared with you myself."
"Lost your chance, birdman." Tony said.
Clint wasn't exactly happy about the nickname Tony used, but he didn't had the chance to make a comeback as the socialization was cut short by the slow clapping reverberating in the room. Everybody instinctively turned towards the sound. Nick Fury had a small grin on his face, his non-patched eye fixed on you.
"Impressive." He commented blankly.
"Thank you." You replied, subconsciously straightening your posture.
"It seems agent Barton was correct about your value to the team." Your lips parted and you deadpanned at him, not sure you'd heard it correctly. "I'm sure you will be a great addition to the Avengers Initiative."
"I-I will?"
"As long as you maintain your powers at bay..." He agreed.
You tried to contain any reaction at his words. "I'll do my best, sir."
He nodded once and walked out of the room. As soon as he was out of your view, everybody rushed to congratulate you, Thor was the first. His bear hug was enough to leave you breathless and to make your feet leave the ground. You laughed happily and lightly smacked his chest so he would drop you.
The others were ready when he let go of you, hugging you and congratulating you.
You had never felt happier, for the first time you felt you had a place and you hoped that it would never change.