Of course this would happen to you. Out of the 10 million people in the city, you were the one to find yourself with Captain America crashed into the windshield of your car. When you woke up this morning you thought you would have a normal day at work, maybe hit the gym if there was no one else there, and maybe grab some take-out for dinner before a night alone with a few movies. Never once did you think that you would be caught in the midst of a battle of superheroes through the streets of Seoul.

"English?"

All you could do was nod at the man, completely lost for words both at the shock of his landing on your car, but also by the sparkle in his eyes even as he fought.

"Great! Do you think you could catch up to that truck?"

"Yeah," you whispered, again with a nod in agreement as you gripped the wheel tightly and sped forward. You worried at first that he might fall as you accelerated, but that feeling was quickly gone when he stood up on the hood with perfect balance and seconds later leapt onto the roof of the truck next to you.

In your periphery you saw a red haired woman speed past on a motorcycle, watching the Captain, but the robot he was fighting shot the ground in front of her. You put your hand to the window and willed the ground to settle just as she reached it, hoping she would be able to stop in time. You sighed with relief to see her stop and redirect her bike before it was too late.

As the two of them sped away, you pulled your car to the side and took a moment to process what had just happened. It took barely a minute to happen but it felt as if hours had passed and time was stopped. Something was happening; something was changing and you could feel it around you. You had yet to realize that it is was you who were doing the changing.

~~~

Every time that you drove to work after that day, you were anxious and hyper-vigilant about watching everything around you, waiting for another surprise to strike. Each day that went by in its usual manner did nothing to diminish that feeling, and the world just looked different now. It had been a week since the battle in your city, but the memory of that brief interaction with the Captain replayed over and over in your mind every day.

After another long but uneventful day, you sat at home and continued to study about Captain America and the other Avengers, wanting to know who they were and what they stood for. How did they come to fight here, and would they ever find their way back? A knock at the door jolted you from the computer screen, bringing a quick wave of anxiety about who it could possibly be on the other side. You hesitantly stood and crossed the room, taking a deep breath to calm yourself before you opened the door.

"Hello, ma'am. I'm not sure if you remember me, I'm Steve Rogers."

Your mouth opened but no sound came out; you couldn't find a single word in your mind that made any sense.

"I was the guy who landed on your car?"

"I...I know who you are," you whispered, though barely audible to anyone other a man with enhanced senses like his. "What are you doing here?

Steve shifted a little, looking past you into your apartment as if he was hoping to enter but waiting like a gentleman and not asking. "Well, I...we...wanted to repay you for your assistance last week." He held out his hand to produce a set of car keys, but you couldn't bring yourself to take them. "Please, it's the least we could do."

"You didn't have to do that. I was glad to help."

"Do you mind if I..." he paused, holding his hand out to ask for permission to come in. "I would really like to talk to you for a few minutes, if you don't mind."

You stepped back and allowed him into your home, shaking your head in disbelief as he passed by and took a seat in your living room. You closed the door and leaned back against it, still watching him. "What could you possibly want to talk to me about? I don't think I have anything to say that would interest you."

"You have a great deal that interests me, (Y/N)."

Oh my god, he knows your name. Never once had you given it to him, meaning that he was researching you just as you were researching him. "How do you know that? My name?" You paused and slowly walked to the couch to sit across from him, but your posture was guarded and uncertain. "Why would you want to know it? You of all people?"

"What does that mean, me of all people?" He sat up straighter in his chair now, sensing that you were uncomfortable and that he might be intimidating you. "Is this too much for me to be here?"

"I just can't imagine that I would have anything to offer or that I could be of any use to you, Captain. I'm anything but important enough to catch your attention if you hadn't landed on me."

"That's not true, (Y/N)," he stood now, moving to sit next to you on the couch, "both Natasha and I saw what you did."

His proximity was too close and his words shocked you, so you quickly moved to the chair that he had just vacated. "I don't use that unless I have to. I just didn't want her to get hurt." You could feel your heart pounding in your chest as your worry built, unsure of what he would want or what he would be asking of you. Your powers were something you chose to keep hidden, preferring to not draw attention to yourself from people exactly like him. "So what exactly do you want from me, sir?"

"Please, call me Steve. I would like to ask you to come back to New York with me, to our new training facility. See if there's something that we can offer you, help you hone your skills." Once again he stood, moving to stand before you, glancing back over his shoulder to look at your computer. "So, (Y/N), tell me how much you know about the Avengers Initiative."

~~~

"You've done amazingly well in such a short time, (Y/N). Look at what you can do already." Natasha led you to a window just off the training room to point outside, overlooking a landscape of water, hills, trees and gardens that you had created in your practice sessions. Before you had arrived it was nothing more than a large field of grass and emptiness. "Dr. Selvig said that your level of terrakinesis is really rare. You should be proud of yourself."

"I'm pretty damn proud of her," Steve called from behind you. "What do you think, (Y/N)? How are you feeling?"

You were apprehensive about telling Steve how good it felt to finally use your abilities after years of hiding them, and how thankful you were that the two of them had seen you that day. The apprehension wasn't because then they would ask you to stay, but because you still didn't believe that you were worth their efforts to do this for you. You did want to stay, and you did want to become strong enough in your skill to be a part of the team, but you just couldn't get yourself to say it out loud.

"I feel like my powers are something good, and I've never felt that before. So, thank you for this. For all of it."

"Will you stay?"

There is was; the question you didn't know how to answer. "Steve, I'm not sure if that's such a good idea. I feel like I would be more work for you than any kind of help."

Steve let out a long sigh, furrowing his brow at what he had heard. "Nat, could you give us a minute?" he asked, waiting to speak again until his teammate was out of earshot. "Okay, (Y/N), I want to know where this is coming from; this lack of confidence in yourself, and the lack of worth. Do you really not see yourself like the rest of us do?"

"Steve..."

"No, we need to talk about this."

"No, I don't see myself that way. I never have, okay? I've spent my entire life hiding...this," you huffed as you waved your hand at the landscape out the window. "I got used to thinking that if I wasn't good enough to use my own abilities, then I wasn't good enough for pretty much anything else. It sticks after a while."

The Captain sighed and crossed his arms, watching you with a look of deep concentration on his face. "Then I definitely want you to stay, even more than before."

You now crossed your arms too, mimicking his stance with a skeptical expression, "you're never going to take 'no' for an answer, are you?"

"Not my style."

"Since when are you all about style?" you smirked, quickly passing by him to leave with the best air of confidence that you could muster, knowing it would catch him off guard.

It did exactly that, leaving Steve to look down at his uniform, unsure of what you were talking about. He spun around to see that you were just to the door and hurried to catch you. "Okay, that's not the kind of confidence I was talking about..."