Work Text:
The Avengers sat in a circle around you as your eyelids fluttered shut. You were beside Clint as he spun an arrow around in his fingers. You were close enough to him that you could feel the heat from his body; you’d thought you were cold from using your power so much—creating so many fields often left you icy—but even Agent Hill had stolen Captain America’s brown leather jacket for warmth. Your eyes opened as your head jutted forward.
“It’s a trick,” Clint declared. You glanced around a little frantic. You let out a breath, glad that nobody seemed to have noticed your little nap. But fatigue and the cold grip of something you couldn’t comprehend held you back and your eyes drooped shut. The next thing you knew there was a loud cheer and you had to whip your head up again.
“Your turn, Y/N,” Clint said, elbowing you in the ribs.
You scrunched your nose and shook your head, unaware of what you were denying. You gave a couple of slow blinks before you stood. “I think I need to go lay down.”
Everyone boo’d at you, Agent Hill and Clint being particularly loud. When you hesitated they all stopped and Captain America stood. “Y/N’s not used to our schedule just yet,” he said. Only then you realized he was the only one that hadn’t boo’d at you. He gave you a sympathetic smile. “I’ll walk with you.”
There wasn’t much you had in common with Captain America himself, and you hadn’t been given much time to really get to know him. But you could feel the energy draining from you faster and faster with each and every second that ticked by. So many people in one area had never been easy; each person had their own magnetic field that you could feel and each person seemed to take a piece of you with them when they left. You nodded at the Captain, accepting his help. After all, you might fall over just trying to find your room.
You shuffled your feet as the group said quick goodnights and returned to attempting to lift Thor’s hammer. Rhodey and Tony had even gotten out the gloves from their suits. This time when you approached the elevator the doors opened immediately and you stepped inside with Captain America.
You leaned against the side, your vision blurry. Your eyes shut and for a brief moment you forgot he was even in the elevator with you. It wasn’t until he said, “You did good today,” that you realized he was there. You opened your eyes, straightening as the elevator began to drop down.
“What?”
Captain America was standing ramrod beside you, his face tilted up as he watched the numbers descend. Slowly his blue eyes slid towards you and he gave you a small smile. “It was your first mission, and a success. You did good.”
You resisted rolling your eyes. “I didn’t do much.”
“You went out there without much training,” he told you, “and you faced the enemy head on.” His head turned to face you. “That’s impressive.”
Your cheeks began to redden, the only source of warmth for you now. You gave a meek shrug. The elevator stopped and you let out a small breath, grateful. As much as you appreciated the compliment you couldn’t even muster up enough strength to say thanks. “I can get to my room alone.”
“I don’t have anywhere to be,” Captain America said. He walked the rest of the way to your room in silence, but as you gave him a nod he said, “You can call me Steve.”
You nodded. “Goodnight…Steve.”
“Goodnight Y/N,” he replied.
You had expected him to tell you about what a good job you’d done again. But all he did was wait for you to shut the door, and once you did you listened as his footsteps echoed down the hall. You rested your head on the back of your door and slid down, letting the exhaustion take you over.
“Y/N you gotta wake up, kid,” someone said. You furrowed your brow, hating that they’d called you kid. But only one person did that, and when you felt a hand over yours you tried to open your eyes. Your lids were so heavy they barely even fluttered.
“They’re waking up,” another person said. A woman. Your fingers twitched to life.
“Y/N,” Tony repeated. This time when you tried to force your eyelids up they moved, and you saw blurry figures above you. You were lying on your back, bright lights surrounding you. Your mouth opened slightly as you tried to speak, throat parched. You coughed and rolled onto your side, realizing you were in a bed. Fumbling, you threw an arm forward and gripped Tony’s shirt.
“Get her some water,” Agent Romanoff ordered. Steve was already on it though as he wandered out of sight, which was only about two feet from you. His broad shoulders were a blur in the distance, but he quickly returned with a bottle.
You greedily grabbed it and downed what you could, sputtering and coughing again. When you sucked in a breath you asked, “What is it?”
Tony arched a brow at you. “We were a little worried when you wouldn’t wake up.”
You shook your head. “What?” The lights began to dim and you realized it was because they were already set to low. Those blinding orbs you’d seen before were fading now as you eyes adjusted.
“You’ve been asleep for two days,” Agent Romanoff told you. “You were barely breathing but we couldn’t get near you.”
When you just shook your head again Steve added, “You had a field around the room—we couldn’t get in. If it wasn’t for JARVIS monitoring your vitals we would have thought you were in trouble.”
“Have you done this before?” Roman asked. “Used your powers in your sleep.”
“I don’t think so,” you croaked. You sat up, Tony’s hand on your back to help. He kept it there even as you swung your legs over the edge of the bed. “Two days?”
Tony nodded. “You’ll have to show me that trick sometime. But for now we’ve got bigger things to deal with.”
“Like?”
“Like a psychotic AI that’s recruited a set of superpowered twins and is set on killing us all,” Romanoff stated.
Your eyes widened.
“Can you move?” Steve asked, his tone serious. He was in work mode, you noticed, and you were caught off guard by it after just waking up. You nodded and stood, giving Tony a nudge. He frowned but stepped away, earning a strange hardened look from Romanoff and Steve.
“Then we’ll explain on the jet,” Steve declared.