A/N: So, playing off some old tropes of the trade here, the "normal girl who falls for an Avenger". You know you'd act like this if you saw Steve Rogers randomly somewhere.

Oh, and the Avengers, all associated characters and aliases involved belong to Marvel and Stan Lee and all them cool folks: NOT ME. I claim ZERO ownership to those guys.


"How about that cutie right over there?" Tia indicated subtly with a nod of the head.

Dawn giggled. He was cute, and somehow looked perfectly in place sitting at the soda bar of the old-fashioned diner-style burger place. Blonde hair swept up and back, a well-worn brown leather jacket shrugged on casually- he looked like a GQ model.

"I wonder who he is," she mused, munching on another French fry.

"Go talk to him!" Tia urged.

"What?" Dawn cried, "No way! That'd be too weird!"

"Oooh! He's right by the bathroom, just walk by and… drop something!"

"Drop something," Dawn repeated flatly, "Seriously? He's just some guy, let's not go crazy here."

"Oh, come on, Dawn! You've been dreaming of 'the one' for- how long have we known each other? Three, four years? He could be it and you'd never know!"

She hesitated.

"Oh come on! It's a big city anyways, even if you screw it up, you'll never see him again."

"You think it'll work?"

"Of course! How did you think I met Tommy?"

A huge, goofy, Cheshire-cat grin widened on Dawn's lips, "Alright, I'm- I'm gonna do it!" she announced, standing up.

"You go girl!" Tia cheered.

Taking a deep breath, she made her way past the counter lined with the cherry red barstools. Just as she reached the corner, occupied by the cutie himself, his phone went off, playing a cheery, patriotic 'Star-Spangled Banner' and vibrating noisily against the counter's surface.

Picking it up immediately, he answered, "Go for Steve Rogers."

Dawn hesitated.

Go big or go home, I suppose, she muttered internally.

As if reaching to adjust a strap, the bag slipped from her shoulder and to the black-and-white tiled floor with a clatter and without so much as a twitch, she kept walking.

Just as she was positive he hadn't noticed, he piped up, "Hang on a sec, Tony- Miss, I think you dropped your purse!" he called.

Steeling herself with another breath, Dawn turned around, looking as innocent as possible. "Did I? Whoops! Clumsy me!"

He gave a noncommittal nod and turned back to the phone.


"Steve Rogers," Tia narrated as she typed the name into Google, "Let's see what we have."

"And he said the guy on the phone was named 'Tony'. Although, that could be anyone," Dawn added as she paced the small living room floor.

"I know one 'Tony' I'd like to know!" Tia smiled, "That yummy Iron Man!"

Dawn stopped short, "What if it was him?"

"Iron Man? Really? I don't think so," Tia shook her head, "And what would'ja know, Steve the Cute has a Facebook."

"He does?"

"Yeah, but it he has only like 20 friends. It also looks like he hasn't done anything in almost six months except for liking the fanpages of every one of the Avengers."

"Ohmigod, he's so one of them then!"

"Hang on, let's see if Stark's twitter says anything," Tia suggested.

"You Follow Tony Stark?"

"Uhh, duh. So do like 3 million other people. Oh. My. God."

"WHAT?" Dawn cried.

"'Hash-Sumptown w/ Steve'," Tia read aloud, "Hashtag 'good coffee' and 'I heart New York'."

"Sumptown like Sumptown Coffee? That's a block away from here!"

"Let's go investigate!"


"Don't look now, but I think those girls are following me," Steve said lowly over his coffee, indicating with his eyes at the pair of giggling girls at the ordering counter.

Tony spun around to get a good look.

"I said don't look!"

"Do you think they're trying to figure out your identity or something?"

"Yes? No? Maybe? I don't know! I just saw them earlier-" Steve's voice dropped to a whisper as they passed by, "I saw them at the burger place and the blonde one dropped her purse in front of me."

"It's probably just a coincidence," Tony shrugged.

The girls obviously thought Tony and Steve couldn't hear them giggling on the other side of the shop window, "Ohmigod that was so him! That was Iron Man!"

Tony sighed, "She's onto you."

"Great. This is just great."

"While I might not care personally about the whole 'secret identity' thing, you need to keep in mind what it might do to you- and the others."

Steve nodded shamefully. "I guess you're right."

"And let's not forget what Mr. Fury would do to you if he found out."

All of the color drained from Captain America's face, his eyes wide with panic, "Those girls can never find out!"


They found each other again at Steve's newest favorite bagel place. In fact, this time she was right behind him and he nearly didn't hold the door.

"Hey, can I talk to you?" Steve asked, grabbing her by the shoulder.

"That's funny, I wanted to talk to you too!" she smiled cheerfully, "I've been seeing you everywhere, huh?"

"Yeah, you need to stop following me. It's for everyone's good. Bad… things happen to people who hang around me."

"Oh, that's okay," the girl replied, "I can keep a secret. I know who you are."

"Wh-what? You do? How?" he sputtered.

"Let's just say I have my ways," she winked, "You're Thor, right? The hammer guy!"

Steve was speechless, blinking hard with disbelief.


"And you told her you were Thor?" Natasha demanded.

Clint snickered.

"Now she'll just follow you more than ever! It's bad enough he has his own army of crazed groupies as-is!"

Steve shook his head, "Nah, I just told her that dating mortals is dangerous and that I'd be on my home planet all the time."

"Yeah, what happens when he gets back?" Bruce asked as Tony made his way over with a heaping bowl of popcorn, flopping unceremoniously into the empty seat.

"He's in Asgard," Clint reminded them.

"He's coming back, he has a lady-friend in New Mexico," Tony assured them matter-of-factly, grabbing a handful of popcorn.

"Which- I might add- is nowhere near New York," Bruce replied, reaching to take the bowl.

"Girls love New York, there's shopping, theater, some alone-time away from that all-seeing father of his," Tony listed.

"What do you think will happen when he finds out?" Steve asked nervously.

Bruce cringed, "I would not want to find out."

"I've seen him in the gym," Tony added, "It will not be pretty."

Steve gulped audibly as the whole room fell silent.

"Welp, I'm off to the training room, Professor X wanted me to test out a few things. Why don't you come with, Bow-Boy, we can check out that aim of yours."

Clint shrugged, getting up.

As soon as they were out of earshot, he turned to Tony.

"Should we tell him it was all just a training exercise?"

Tony craned his head to get a better look down the hall at the Captain who seemed utterly beside himself. "Nah. He'll find out soon enough."


A/N: Oh, Tony, you are a terrible, amazing person. You boys need to be way more careful!

The coffee place is real, too, it's in Midtown (Google to the rescue!)

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