Surprise (Steve x reader)

Excitement and a small amount of nervousness radiated off you as you glanced back at the clock for the fifth time this minute. With only a few more minutes until Steve was expected to arrive you were beginning to have doubts about throwing a 1940's themed birthday party for your crush best friend.

"Hey (y/n), you look sexy." Tony declared while his eye scanned your body from head to toe. You tugged your brown skirt down, even though it was already to your knees, and checked to make sure your simple white button up was in fact buttoned up. Tony gave you a weird look but you just rolled your eyes at what you thought to be a ridiculous tone of voice and predatory eyes.

"Thanks. I would say you look handsome but you didn't even attempt to dress right so I won't." you said coolly. You were Tony's favorite conquest at the moment, mostly because you showed zero interest in him, and you hated it. Your mild rudeness didn't seem to faze him in the least though and so with a smile still stretched across his lips he continued to chat your ear off about science-y things.

"Come here, I need your help." Natasha stated while she pulled you away from the overzealous billionaire by the arm.

"I owe you one Tash." you told your cousin gratefully as she led you into the kitchen.

"Never host another dress up party and we'll call it even." Natasha muttered as she gestured to her navy blue dress.

"I was talking more along the lines of hooking you and Clint up."

Natasha sent you a glare but it soon morphed into a smile as you sent your own glare back. You glare got interrupted though when the alarm on your watch alerted you that Steve should be coming in less than a minute but you let Natasha order everybody to get into their spots while you made sure to stand beside the door.

"Surprise!" you shouted along with everybody else, but you were the only one to do it while you wrapped your arms around Steve's chest since you couldn't quite reach his neck.

"What's going on?" Steve cried out in astonishment as he instinctively pulled you closer to him as he glanced around at the room full of people.

"We're here to celebrate your day of birth!" Thor answered from the opposite side of the room, beer already spilled on his brown suit.

"Oh well thank everybody." he smiled at his friends and co-workers but seeing as you were still pretty much draped across him you could feel the tense muscles under his shirt. You pulled away, albeit a tad grudgingly, and gestured for Clint to play some of Steve's favorite CD's.

"Sorry about the party." you whispered under the cover of music. Steve stared back at you with an unreadable expression but quickly de-truthed your statement, " Don't be sorry, I love it. Although seeing Fury in a blue suit is a little strange."

"Should've seen him in the green one." you giggled and once the mental image set in Steve chuckled along with you.

"Do you want to dance?" Steve asked you seemingly out of the blue and it took you a moment to get air back into your lungs so you could answer him.

"I don't really know how to dance." you murmured.

"The foxtrot is easy to learn."  Steve suggested and with the hope in his eyes you couldn't keep from nodding your head.

~~~one teaching lesson and a lot of Steve's feet getting crushed~~~

"Why do you keep staring at me like that?" you asked once you felt confident enough to not watch your footing the entire time.

"You, uh, remind me of someone." he stammered out, red covering his cheeks and neck as he suddenly grew interested in his feet.

"Who?" you questioned with a sinking feeling in your heart.

"Peggy." Steve replied softly and everything clicked together. Peggy, Steve's old flame, and you reminded him of her. You knew the evening had been to good to be true. Steve wasn't dancing with you he was dancing with Peggy.

"What did she look like?" you asked even though you really didn't want the answer, you really didn't want to start comparing yourself to a ghost.

"She was rather pale and has brown hair and eyes." awkwardness lined Steve's voice as he made a vague description of the person you were currently hating. You nodded your head anyway and attempted to keep the bitter expression off you face until the song ended.

"Sorry Steve but I need to go check on something in the kitchen." you excused yourself as nicely as you could before you practically sprinted into the safety of the kitchen.  Well what you thought would be safety but Steve followed you with the unmistakable expression of worry.

"What's wrong?" he inquired as searched your face for an answer with his eyes.

"Nothing." you responded almost to cheerfully.

"Well then why are you acting weird?"

"I'm not the one acting weird, you are." you replied while you looked up at him with doe eyes.

"I- yeah I am. It's just I like you and I was going to tell you tonight but I didn't have the guts to say anything in front of everybody." Steve admitted and it was like a blow to the stomach or a sucker punch in the face. Those were the words you had longed to hear coming out of Steve's mouth since nearly a year ago, but with your recent discovery you knew it wasn't you he was seeing. So you hesitantly placed a hand on his chest and pushed him away from you.

"Steve you think I'm just a substitute for Peggy." you whispered as your gaze fell away from his. If he was going to break your heart you'd rather not let him see the tears.

"(y/n) it's true that sometimes when I look at you I can see so much of Peggy in you." Steve paused to grab your arm and force to sit next to him again, "but that's only because you are strong, pretty, brave, amazing and that's the kind of women I like. I promise you're not just a substitute for Peggy. To be honest if she was here right now I'd still choose you."

Tears welled up in your eyes but you didn't care, although with Steve's hand cupping your jaw you couldn't hide them anyway, and without any hesitation you leaned in the few inches and a jolt of electricity shot through your entire body leaving a wonderful tingling sensation as you slowly moved your mouth against Steve's.