I hadn't really planned on writing this since I have another story on the go, but the idea came and I figured it might work out okay. It ended up with much more plot than I expected! Thank you (in advance) for reading and comments and reviews would be wonderful if you have the time.
At first when Tony made fun of him for not having a gal. Or for being a virgin. He didn't believe him when Steve told the avengers about the girl he was dating, though, the rest of the avengers didn't seem to believe him either. At least the rest of them were polite enough to not snort and say in a patronising tone, "sure you are, Capsicle. Sure."
Her name was Kammy and in Steve's opinion she was the best girl around. They'd been dating since just before the Tesseract incident and even though he had stood her up when he went off with Agent Coulson to fight, she had just rolled her eyes when he told her he couldn't even explain where he had been. "You think I don't recognise you when you've got a mask on, Steve?" She had said in a mildly exasperated voice. "I'm just glad you're alright."
It was one of the things he loved about her - she accepted he couldn't tell her everything and was intelligent enough to work most of it out herself. She was slowly helping him get used to the 21st century and whenever she made a reference that he didn't get she would write it down so she could tell him all about it later.
After a few months of dating Kammy had managed to convince him to stay over. Now he couldn't sleep properly when she wasn't there and spent more and more time at her apartment. The other avengers noticed, of course, but he didn't tell where he went all the time - he was still pretty annoyed that they thought he would lie to them about dating someone. To stop them pestering him, Steve decided to sleep at Avengers/Stark tower for a little while. In all honesty, he was planning on buying Kammy a ring and making her officially his and he needed time to think about it and then, in all probability, buy a ring. But of course, on his first night back in the tower disaster struck.
The doctor called him at about 1am. He hadn't slept yet, he missed feeling her beside him. Kammy didn't have any living family and had put him down as her next of kin. There was a fire, the doctor told him, second degree burns... significant pain... scarring. Steve couldn't keep up with what he was being told he just jumped on his bike and headed to the hospital.
She just made him angry about the whole thing - she was so cavalier. Didn't she value her own life? Steve was ashamed to say he shouted at her even though she looked so frail on the hospital bed, her dark hair making her look even worse. She knew it was just because he was worried and her face softened her blue eyes glistening, "I'm sorry for worrying you," she whispered.
Steve's anger left him and he grabbed her hand (the non-burned one) and asked, "stay with me? Come to the tower with me and stay there so you won't be hurt again."
She looked at him in her steady considering way, "I would love to come and live with you. I will however have to leave sometimes to work and such, I can't take sick pay forever after all."
Steve felt happy and sad at the same time, more happy than sad to be sure - his best girl was coming to stay with him, he wouldn't have to wake up without her beside him and he wouldn't miss the rare times he got to hear her sing to herself in the shower and he could see her whenever he wanted. He just wished she wasn't so breakable.
Steve had, of course, asked Tony permission for Kammy to stay. It was his building afterall. Tony had agreed but as he had been in the lab at the time, Steve doubted the scientist had even heard him. When he mentioned it to Pepper, she told him that if Tony had said it was okay then it was fine with her, but she looked a little unsure about the fact he had someone that would share a room with him. Sometimes he wondered if they really saw him as that unlovable, that no one would want to be in a relationship with him. He quickly pushed those thoughts aside however, they were his friends and either way someone did love him - his heart fluttered at the thought.
After about a week of recuperating, first at the hospital, the tower Kammy was feeling significantly better. She would have scars on her stomach, back, one of her legs and one of her arms. Even her face didn't escape the flames, a burn travelled up her neck and onto her cheek. Part of her hair probably wouldn't grow back - she told him about a hairstyle called a 'mohawk' and promptly showed him pictures if how she would have it. She could do what's be wanted with her hair, she would always be beautiful to him. When he said those words to her she started crying and informed him that she had never been so happy than she was now with him.
It was 3am two weeks after Kammy had been hurt and he'd gotten up to get them both water. He wandered to the kitchen in sweatpants, not bothering with a shirt - he realised his mistake when he heard the unmistakable sounds of a movie night in the open common area that housed the kitchen but there was no point in going back to his room now.
He received the predictable comments from Tony about his state of undress before he heard a gasp, "Is that a hicky?" Steve's hand went to his neck self consciously. Whoops.
Kammy was lying in bed wondering what was taking Steve so long. She stretched, enjoying the pleasant pull of her muscles that she only got after sex. (Steve still wasnt sure they should be sleeping together before they were married but she had quickly pointed out that neither of them were making moves to call it off, did they really need a piece of paper to do something that meant so much to both of them?) Deciding to go and find him, she pulled on his shirt and headed out the door. She hadn't been around the tower very much, nor had she met any of its inhabitants. At first she'd been too weak - not that she'd ever admit that out loud - and now she still wasn't used to her injuries and the idea of the scars that would eventually form in their place. She was nervous about the opinions of the superheroes that inhabited this tower (she wouldn't admit that out loud either).
She knew the floor plan well enough to find the common area and was surprised to hear lots of talking from within. Either there were a lot of people or everyone was talking over everyone else. The latter turned out to be the case. Steve was standing facing most of the people she would recognise as avengers while they shouted questions at him. Two people were still sitting on he couches in front of the tv so Kammy headed over to them.
The red haired woman she knew to be Natasha Romanov had looked at her as soon as she'd stepped in the room, and though her face was pretty neutral, there was a spark of amusement in her eyes. The man with curly brown hair startled when Kammy stole the bowl if popcorn off of his lap and curled up on a corner of the sofa.
"Hey!" He said indignantly, though his voice was soft and he seemed amused.
Kammy just shrugged and nodded her head to the inquisition taking place on the other side of the room. "How long has this been going on?"
Natasha looked at her watch, "a little over four minutes and Steve has yet to get a word in." That was definitely amusement Kammy heard in the other woman's voice.
"I take it you're the reason he was in such a foul mood a couple of weeks ago? Those burns look about that old." So this was Doctor Bruce Banner then.
"Got it in one Doc." Kammy replied before turning her attention back to the scene in front of her. Her topless captain had managed to keep the group quiet and was explaining that, yes he had told them all about her, yes she was the one he had mentioned that time and yes he had been serious when he had asked Tony if she could stay for a while. He glanced over their heads and saw her sitting in his shirt. Smiling he made his way over with the drink he'd been sent to get in the first place.
She gave him a kiss in thanks and then asked with a smirk, "how'd they finally work out you weren't lying?"
He gave he a pointed look in return, "you marked me, babe."
She snorted and pulled his hand to her neck, "I think it was my turn." He looked where she had placed his hand and blushed when he saw a scattering of bruises and some pretty distinctive teeth marks. She squeezed his hand and stood up.
"Maybe I'll meet you all in the morning when, you know, I'm wearing more dignified clothes and I haven't been listening to you desperately trying to find out about my sex life for the last ten minutes." With that she left the room, pulling a smirking Steve behind her.
The living area was left in relatively stunned silence before Bruce and Natasha said, almost in unison, "I like her."
The tension broke and Tony gave a long sigh, "I take it her being hurt made Capsicle flip out that week?"
"Apparently," Bruce said dryly, "though I don't think you talking about how unattractive you thought burn scars were helped much."
"I just meant in comparison to other types of scar," Tony yelped as Pepper slapped him in the back of the head.
"Well tomorrows first job is apologising for being an insensitive bastard," Pepper said with a sigh. "It's been a while since I had to make you do that, I had hope that you'd grown out of it."
The rest of the group laughed and some of them in particular looked forward to finding more about the girl who had thawed out the Captain's heart.