A/N: Samtember Day 6 Prompt- "On your left- This doesn't have to be Sam x Steve. Just show us a 1st meeting!"

On Your Left - Steph/Sam (and Sam & Steve platonic)

Sam's POV

I had two soulmates- one platonic, and one romantic. It wasn't an uncommon situation, in fact, a lot of people I knew had multiple soulmates. Hell, some even had multiple romantic soulmates.

What was odd though was that the two sets of words were the same words. The only differences were the handwriting and the fact that one was in grey and one was in black.

When I met my platonic, none other than Captain America while out on a run, the words made sense. Of course, he was a bit of a punk about how much faster he was than me, so it took me a little while to recognize them.

Obviously he'd picked up on it immediately because as soon as he walked over to make sure he was okay, he offered me his hand with my response to him written in grey upon it. I nodded my head in recognition, and stuck out my hand to let him help me to my feet, and flashing his words to him in the process.

I hadn't really thought about the implications of it, just invited him to the VA when he had to leave on a mission right away. It did impress the lady at the front desk when he showed up later to observe the end of a session and say hi.

Who knows how things would have gone if HYDRA hadn't been embedded in SHIELD, but they were. So when Steve showed up at my door, covered in dirt and with an equally filthy Natasha, aka Black Widow, I'd let them in, fed them, and then agreed to help.

The way I figured it, Steve was my platonic, and that made it my job to make sure he didn't die. Even when he almost dislocated my shoulder grabbing onto my hand and making me catch his heavy ass while jumping off a helicarrier. But I also kind of thought if I was going to meet another person, like Steve, who was so fast she was also going to be playing the same "on your left" game, my odds would increase if I stuck around Cap.

Not to mention he was so messed up over Bucky that it was abundantly clear he still needed my help.

When I actually met my romantic soulmate, there was running involved, but that was where the similarities ended. The team was in Trenton, NJ investigating reports that a local gang had managed to acquire a supply of HYDRA weapons.

Normally, gangs weren't a matter for the Avengers. But large gangs in populated series that had weapons no police department had any chance of being able to fight were another matter. We were also hoping that if we were able to bring one of the gang bangers, they would give up the source of the weapons. While HYDRA recruits had a history of taking the cyanide pill way out when we captured them, we figured the gang members would not be so loyal- especially when we informed them that the people they worked for were basically Nazis.

Rhodey was a little too old to really pass for a banger, and so was I for that matter, but I was younger and voted the least likely to stick out like a sore thumb. Really, I thought there was a case to be made for Bucky being a better bet, but that argument had fallen on deaf ears.

Just as I'd told the team would be the case, it hadn't worked at all. I'd failed to fit in, but I did think I might have identified one or two kids who I could possibly be able to get to talk to me. If I could get them alone.

With that in mind, I followed the most promising lead when I heard the squeal of tires behind me. I knew I had Bucky, Clint, and Natasha all trailing me in the shadows, watching my back, but it still made me a little twitchy.

I turned to see a battered SUV that had definitely seen much better days, even before whatever had happened to it happened. From what I could see, it was completely out of control and also appeared to be on fire. At least if the smoke coming out the back of it was any indication, it was at least a little bit on fire.

A woman was hanging out the driver's side window, honking her horn at me and yelling, "on your left!"

Cap was rubbing off on me, so I liked to think that even if she hadn't chosen those words, I would have run over and helped her out. Still, knowing that she was almost certainly my soulmate, I started running to give myself more time, then I crossed in front of the car, barely clearing it in time to make it to the other side safely.

Thankfully it was an SUV with a step on the outside of the doors, so as it passed me, I jumped onto the step and grabbed the window to make sure I didn't fall off.

"What are you doing?" She shrieked. "Someone cut the brakes, tied me to this, AND lit it on fire. I'm toast; save yourself!"

Looking inside I saw that her right arm was, in fact, tied to the steering wheel. With my left hand, I held onto the wheel, and with my right, I reached into my pocket for my knife. I looked up and saw that we were about to run out of road, so I took a calming breath, reached behind and around her so that as soon as I cut the ties, I had a better grip on her. My left hand came up and grabbed onto her as well and I used all those muscles that I'd been working out so I actually could catch Cap more easily to pull her free of the car.

Together we hit the road, with a thud that knocked my breath out of me. Still, I managed to hold onto her in order to take the brunt of the fall, then tangled together we rolled to a stop. We ended up facing away from the car and with me on top of the woman. I couldn't take my eyes off her, even when the explosion in the direction of the SUV happened. She picked her head up enough to look wide eyed over my shoulder, then flopped back, panting.

Finally, she looked up at me and asked, "what do you have some kind of death wish or something? I mean thanks, but that was kind of stupid."

"Yeah, well, I prefer my soulmates not burned to a crisp," her eyes widened, and I felt myself relax in relief to have finally met her.

"Those are my words," she said.

"Imagine that," I retorted. Knowing we really couldn't just lay in the middle of the street, I reluctantly stood and held my hand out to her to help her out while also introducing myself, "Sam Wilson, and I make a living doing slightly stupid things."

"Stephanie Plum," she replied taking my proffered hand. "I make a living pissing people off, many of whom try to kill me."

I thought about my platonic match, Steve, and all the trouble into which he tended to get. I just shook my head before I smiled to take the sting off and with a laugh said, "yeah, that sounds about right."