Steve/Reader - Everything Changes But You

OPTIONS THAT MAY APPEAR:

Y/N - Your name

Y/L/N - Your last name

Y/F/N - Your full name

Y/A/N - Your Avengers name

Y/E/C - Your eye colour

Y/H/C - Your hair colour

IMAGINE: You watch Steve get injected with the super soldier serum and are petrified of anything happening to him. When he emerges from the chamber a changed man, you are so distracted by the sight in front of you that it's too late to get out of the way when all hell breaks loose.

"Steve, are you sure you wanna do this? I mean what if it doesn't work? What if it goes wrong?"

I couldn't help but worry about him. He was my best friend. Always has been, always will be. Steve, Bucky and I were inseparable when we were growing up in Brooklyn. When Bucky went off to war I was devastated, a part of me was gone. Just the thought of this not working shook me to the core.

Steve had been promised a new lease of life. He'd be fit, healthy, super-human. It sounded perfect, just what he'd been dreaming of his whole life. He was going to be the world's first super soldier.

I just wanted everything to stay the same. I didn't want him to change. Yes, he was small. Yes, he had health problems. Yes, he'd been beaten down more times than I could count. I didn't look at any of that though. Didn't see that. When I look at Steve Rogers, I see the strongest person I know. The kindest person I've ever met, and the person I love more than anything else in the world.

Steve had requested that I be here when it happened. I was literally picked up from my home, out of the blue, greeted by Steve and an English lady, and then whisked away to this lab we now found ourselves in. It scared the wits out of me. What were they going to do to him? Steve tried to explain it all to me in the car. All the positives, the possible side effects, why he'd been chosen. It sounded like a dream come true. The strong, amazing guy that was on the inside might finally have a chance to break free. I should be happy, I should be excited for him. Why then was I so afraid?

"(Y/N) everything's going to be ok. I promise. I've thought about this a lot, and it's the right choice. I can help. I can fight like everyone else. I can be the best version of me." Steve said with a sincere smile, reaching up and placing his palm on my cheek.

"You're already the best version of you."

"You have to say that, because you're my best friend," he laughed.

"I don't think it because you're my best friend Steve," I started. If this was really going to happen, if I was really going to stand by and let him get injected with god knows what, then it was now or never. Time for the truth to come out. If I didn't say anything and he didn't make it out of this, then I would never forgive myself.

"What do you mean (Y/N)?"

"What I mean is, Steve I..."

"Ladies and gentlemen, today we take not another step towards annihilation, but the first step on the path to peace." The Doctor in charge of today's proceedings, interrupted loudly and half way through my admission.

"Hold that thought," I told Steve with a nervous shrug, turning us both to face the Doctor.

"We begin with a series of micro injections into the subjects major muscle groups. The serum infusion will cause immediate cellular change. And then to stimulate growth, the subject will be saturated with vita rays."

As the Doctor continued, Steve was ushered away, told to take his top off and then placed on some kind of mechanical stretcher, tubes and canisters attached on either side of it. This was it. They weren't wasting any time. I didn't even get a chance to tell him. To tell him the truth.

Vials of a bright blue liquid were placed into the machine that Steve was now attached to. They hadn't been administered yet though. I'm guessing this is the infamous serum.

Slowly I walked over to Steve's side, wanting to be near him for as long as possible. This is the last time I'd ever be with this version of him, this Steve. My Steve. Various people in lab coats were trying to stop me from getting too close, but the Doctor shooed them away. I think it was pretty clear how anxious I was and he wanted to put my mind at rest. I'd have to thank him for that later.

"That wasn't so bad," Steve remarked when the tiniest needle you'd ever seen was pierced into his thin arm.

"That was penicillin," the Doctor answered with a tight smile. For the first time Steve looked nervous, anxious.

Before another word could be spoken, the machine that Steve was lying on suddenly clamped down on to his body and the blue liquid released into his bloodstream. His eyes widened, his breath hitched and his hands clutched at his sides.

This was it.

Mr Stark pulled a lever and the machine jerked upwards until Steve was face to face with the rest of us. I ran in front of him, wanting to catch my last glimpse of him. My whole body seemed to freeze. I didn't know what to say, didn't know what to do.

Metals barriers slowly encased him, until it got to the point where he could no longer be seen. Next time my eyes would meet his, would be when this is all over. If it worked that is.

The Doctor walked up to the chamber and went to tap on it, not getting the chance when my body finally decided to start working again, sprinting over and then pushing my way in front.

"STEVE? STEVE? CAN YOU HEAR ME?" I shouted with unshed tears, banging on the metal casing as I did so.

"I hear you," he calmly replied. How could he be so laid back about this?

"Steve, what I was trying to say earlier..."

"(Y/N) can this wait? I'm kind of in the middle of something right now," he yelled loudly, the strain in his voice proving that he was in great discomfort.

"NO! This can't wait. If I don't do this now, I don't know that I ever will. I might not get the chance."

"What is it?"

"I LOVE YOU..."

"WHAT? (Y/N) WHAT DID YOU SAY?"

"I LOVE YOU, YOU IDIOT."

For a second there was silence, just the muffled sound of Steve groaning and moaning in pain. Did he not hear me? What if he didn't know what to say? What if I've ruined everything?

"I LOVE YOU TOO..."

The next couple of minutes had me experiencing a wide range of emotions. Not only had my best friend told me he loved me, but now I was listening to him scream in agony, scream to the point where his voice was starting to break. This thing was killing him.

"SHUT IT DOWN" I yelled over and over in terror. I couldn't lose him, not now.

"Kill the reactor, Mr Stark. Kill the reactor." Dr Erskine gave up, admitting with his last words that it hadn't worked. That a normal person couldn't withstand having their body put through that.

"NO! DON'T! I CAN DO THIS!" Steve burst suddenly from behind his casing. He was determined to see this through. Determined to finish what they'd all started. That was one of the reasons I loved him so much. He never gave up. He never quit.

A few moments later, and before any of us had time to react, all of the machinery within the lab began to spark, and then proceed in shutting itself down altogether. It was over. No more screaming. No more pain. Please be ok Steve. Please be ok.

Everyone waited with baited breath, the atmosphere unlike anything I've felt before. Nothing had happened, no movement, no sign of life. I was about to completely crumble, completely lose it, when suddenly...the chamber opened.

The sight that greeted me surpassed any expectation I could have dreamed up. Gone was the weak, frail boy that I grew up with. Now, stood slouched in front of me was the epitome of perfection. He was tall, he was muscular, and he was...wow.

Mr Stark and Dr Erskine helped him out of the machine, both grinning ear to ear when they realised it had worked. Slowly and struggling for breathe Steve stumbled his way over to me, my eyes not leaving his body as I stood frozen to the spot.

"(Y/N)? Say something?" Steve begged. Even his voice sounded different. It was deeper, smoother.

Who was this person? This wasn't Steve. Not my Steve.

Tearing my eyes away from his chest, I forced myself to look up at his face, to his now dazzling blue eyes. Taking in his features I couldn't help but let a huge smile take over my lips. There he was. Everything had changed, everything except his face.

"You're still you right?" I trembled, now not able to take my eyes from his.

"I'm still me. I promise," Steve reaching down and grabbing my hand in his now very large one.

"Did you mean it? What you said?" He asked. He'd gone through all these changes, had all his dreams come true, and the only thing he could focus on was me. What I'd said. What I'd felt. He was still him.

"If you're talking about when I said I love you, then I meant every word."

"Me too," he grinned, looking down at me and then out of nowhere tenderly placing his lips upon mine. A whole room of people not fazing him in any way. It was amazing. It was everything I'd ever wanted. I've been waiting for this moment for so long. I just didn't think it would happen in a lab, or that I'd be the one having to reach up to meet him. That was going to take some getting used to.

"How do you feel?" Howard Stark asked him when we'd eventually pulled apart, our eyes still glued on one another.

"Taller."

"You look taller," I giggled.

Suddenly and without warning an explosive light filled the room, bringing destruction and terror in its wake. It was a bomb of some kind, it had to be.

Everybody threw themselves to the floor as debris rained down around from the mezzanine level above, no doubt the epicentre of the explosion. Steve didn't leave my side, shielding my body with his newly acquired super-human one.

Once it had calmed down, we all got back to our feet, not really knowing what was going on. As we stood there, taking in our surroundings, I spotted someone ahead of us. Someone with a gun pointed right in our direction.

There was no time to react, no time to do anything. He lifted the gun up to his eye level and then pulled the trigger, bullets flying through the air in quick succession.

Dr Erskine was hit multiple times, Steve spotting what had happened and throwing himself at the Doctor in a sign of protection. My eyes didn't leave the assassin. I was transfixed by attempting to work out what he was trying to do.

Taking a break from firing he ran over to a case holding the vials of blue serum, grabbed the last one and then made a run for it. Just as he was about to make his exit, he turned back and must have spotted me and others staring back at him, not hesitating to start firing his gun for a second and final time.

At first I didn't know what had happened. It was like the whole world just stopped. It was only when I felt a hot, searing pain in my side that I realised. I'd been shot. He'd got me.

I looked over at Steve, as everything started to move again in slow motion. The crazy atmosphere meant that nobody had spotted my predicament. Even Steve's attention was captured. Dr Erskine, lay still on the floor, multiple bullet holes scattered over his torso. He wasn't going to make it.

Pointing at Steve's heart with a pale finger it was only a few seconds before the Doctor took his final breathe. Now it was my turn.

"Steve?" I whispered with a shaky voice, my hands clutching at my side as I struggled to keep focus.

As soon as he turned to me, I could tell he knew something was wrong.

"(Y/N)?" He trembled, stepping towards me with hesitance and looking down at the blood which was now starting to seep through my fingers.

"I don't feel so good."

The next thing I knew I was falling to the floor, strong arms catching me before I did so.

"(Y/N) look at me? Keep your eyes on me?" Why was he crying?

"You've got to go and catch him Steve," I mumbled as my vision went in and out of focus.

"I'm not leaving you (Y/N). Not for a second."

"I'm fine. It's just a scratch. There's loads of people to look after me. You have to go."

"No. I can't...I can't leave you. I won't."

"He killed the Doctor. He was your friend. He's got the serum." I shook, struggling to stay awake as Steve cradled me in his muscular arms.

"I'll look after her Rogers. We'll not lose anybody else today. I promise," Stark said from the side of us, reaching down to take me off of Steve.

"I can't lose you (Y/N)," Steve argued, reluctant to hand me over.

"You'll never lose me. I love you."

"I love you too."

I hope you liked it. Remember if you have any imagine requests then please PM with a brief outline of what you want and I'll get working on it.