"Steeeve," you whined. "I don't know how much longer I can keep this up." It was currently 7:00am and you were in the training room with Steve. Tony decided to give you the day off once he heard Steve had offered to give you some lessons in self-defense. It was nice of him to give you the day off, but you wished Steve would have agreed to start training a little later in the day. It was far too early for you to be doing any physical activity.

"Y/N," he laughed, "we've only been in here for 30 minutes."

You scoffed. It felt like you had been training for hours with all the ridiculous things he was asking you to do: stretches, pushups, crunches, and running laps. The latter was what you were currently doing. You stopped in place and hunched over, putting your hands on your knees. "I," you wheezed, "I think that's enough laps for now."

"You haven't even finished two laps yet," he said trying to keep a straight face.

"Well," you stood up straight, "I'm not an Avenger so I am very out of shape."

"Really?" he gasped. "I couldn't tell," he smirked. You rolled your eyes.

"This isn't what I had in mind when you said 'self-defense training'. This feels more like boot camp."

"I can assure you, boot camp is much worse."

You raised your eyebrows in agreement, "Oh, I don't doubt that." You walked over to the bench where your water bottle was and sat down. You took a long swig of water and sat the water bottle next to you. You rested your elbows on your knees and let out a long sigh. Steve sat down next to you.

"I guess we could stop with the warm up and get straight to the self-defense."

"But first, break," you panted.

"Alright," he grinned.

You moved closer to him and rested your head on his shoulder. You felt him jump at the sudden contact, but then he eased into your touch. You closed your eyes, enjoying the comfortable silence between the two of you. He rested his head on top of yours and you felt face flush. Your stomach fluttered at the closeness of the two of you.

You enjoyed little moments like this with him. They were rare since he was always so busy, but maybe that was why you cherished them so much. Knowing that he was at peace made you feel at peace, too. Steve was always carrying around too much weight on his shoulders. Being the captain had is pros, but it definitely had its cons. He often blamed himself when missions went awry like if the enemy escaped, there were civilian casualties, or someone on the team got injured. You wished he wasn't so hard on himself. You hoped moments like these helped him escape that burden.

You thought back to yesterday's conversation. 'I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you' played over and over again in your mind. Why was he so concerned about you? You felt like this situation was making your relationship shift, but you couldn't tell which direction it was going. The one thing you were certain of was this was causing him a lot of anxiety. If something bad happened to you on this date, you knew he would blame himself for it, even if there was nothing he could've done differently. You knew it would eat him up inside. You hadn't even gone on the date yet, and you could tell he was stressed. You felt absolutely awful that you were causing him unease and dread.

"I'm sorry," you muttered.

"For what?" he hummed.

"For making you worry so much," you uttered. He lifted his head off yours and looked at you with furrowed brows.

"Y/N, you're not-"

"Steve," you warned as you straightened up to look at him. "We've known each other for years now. I can tell when something is bothering you, and something obviously is. You carry such a heavy burden and I sure as hell don't want to add to that. If you don't want me to go through with this, then say the word and I won't. I'm sure you guys can think of another way to catch this guy." He sighed and shook his head.

"No," he looked down at his hands, "I'm just being irrational. I'm letting my feelings get the best of me." You're body stiffened. Did he just say what you think he said?

"Feelings?" you breathed.

"Uh, yeah. Of friendship, of course," he turned to you with closed eyes and a small smile. You looked away from him.

"Right, friendship," you mumbled, feeling slightly defeated.

"Like you said before," he placed a hand on your knee, giving it a slight squeeze, "you'll be in good hands." You nodded, not looking at him. "Now let's get back to that self-defense training, huh?" Steve stood up.

"Yes, sir," you stood up and walked over towards the mat area of the training room. You stood facing Steve, arms folded across your chest.

"Alright, first thing's first," he began, "the main goal is escape. If this guy gets physical, don't worry if he gets away. Your life matters way more than his." You could tell he was slipping into his Captain voice. It felt weird for him to use it towards you, but you didn't mind all that much. If you were going to be honest, you kind of liked it.

"If he does attack, the best places for you to hit him are in the eyes, throat, groin, or shins. It's important to observe your surroundings and find objects that might help you. But most of the time, your hands, feet, and elbows will be your greatest weapons." You nodded.

"Now we'll go through some different holds and I'll teach you how to get out of them." He motioned for you to come closer. You obliged, now mere inches away from him. He spoke up again, "This first one is if he grabs you at your waist from behind." He walked behind you so he was no longer facing you. "Now, I'm going to put my arms around you. If at any time you need me to stop, you tell me."

"Okay," you nodded. Your heart started beat a little faster than you would've liked at the thought of him being so close to you in a matter of seconds. You hoped to God he wouldn't be able to hear your heart beating out of your chest.

He wrapped his arms around your waist, his chest flesh against your back. Your breath hitched at the sudden contact, even though you knew it was coming. You were thankful you weren't facing him, because you could feel your face turn ten shades darker.

"If he grabs you around the waist and your arms are free, step one foot out to get your balance and use your elbow to strike his face," he explained easily. He helped direct your legs to get in a better stance. He took hold of one of your arms and bent it so your elbow would hit him in the face if you swung it back. He then tightened his grip around your waist. How was he so nonchalant about all this? Was his heart not racing at how close you were, too?

"You'll want to use your entire upper body when you strike so your hits have more power. Take it slow and twist your body with your elbow raised towards my face," he continued. You followed his instructions and twisted your body so your elbow almost met his face.

"Good," he stated. "Let's do it again, but a little faster. Try to get some momentum going." You nodded and twisted a little faster.

"Again."

You twisted faster, but hesitated at the end, because you didn't want to hit him in the face. Steve noticed your hesitation and spoke up.

"You can hit me in the face, Y/N."

"I don't want to hurt you," you replied.

"I'm not too worried about that," he chuckled. You turned your head and looked at him with narrow eyes, a glint of amusement shining in them.

"What? You don't think I'm strong enough?" you smirked.

"That's not what I-I didn't mean-"

"Yeah, yeah. Save it, Rogers. Now I know what you really think of me," you teased. Now it was his turn to turn red. You smiled slightly at how tainted you made his cheeks. "Shall we?" you inquired. He nodded and tightened his grip. You turned your body back around.

"Just imagine I'm that creep. Don't hesitate," he added.

You took a deep breath and closed your eyes. You pictured Will in your head. His pointed nose. His callous face. His slimy, greasy, slicked back hair. His rancid breath against your neck, whispering malice and deceit in your ear. His filthy arms around you. His wicked smile growing bigger as you gasp for air. Squeezing you tighter and tighter and tighter and-

Smack!

You heard an 'oomph' as the arms around you loosened. You opened your eyes with heavy breaths. You turned around and saw Steve holding his nose. Your eyes widened.

"Oh, shit! Steve, are you okay?" you asked frantically.

"Yeah," he nodded. "I'm sorry I underestimated you," he smiled. You smiled back at him, but your smile fell when you saw blood start to drip from his nose.

"Damn it, Steve, you're bleeding," you blurted. He removed his hand from his nose and looked down at his now crimson fingers.

"You really know how to pack a punch. Where did you learn that?" he asked, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly.

"Now's not the time for flattery. Let's go get you cleaned up." You guided him towards the bench and sat him down. "Keep clenching your nose shut and I'll go get some tissues," you instructed. He nodded. You made you way to the locker room and grabbed a handful of tissues. You quickly walked back to the bench where Steve was sitting and sat next to him.

"Here," you handed him a couple. He took them and placed them at the base of his nose.

"Thank you," he replied with a nasally voice.

"I am so sorry, Steve. I didn't think I was capable of hitting that hard."

"It's okay, really. I've had many nosebleeds in my day. I'll recover in no time," he gave you a reassuring smile. You smiled back.

"What is going on in here?" Tony bellowed from across the room. You looked away from Steve and watched Tony walk towards the two of you.

"Self-defense lessons," you responded.

"I thought Steve was teaching you?" Tony asked.

"He is."

"You sure? He looks like he's the one who needs self-defense lessons," Tony snickered. You and Steve both rolled your eyes.

"Get out of here, Tony, or you're next," you warned with a smile. He raised his hands in defeat and turned towards the door.

"Okay, okay. Just clean up Steve's blood when you're done. I don't need this entire place to get contaminated." You laughed and Steve shook his head.

"Alright, should we get back to it?" Steve asked.

"Yes, sir," you nodded.