Thanks for the request for an additional part to Hot Stuff, Summerlove2627! You are one of my favorite Marvel writers, for sure - so I'm honored to write the third part of this story at your request!

I do not own these characters, I just write them as a way to love and care for them.

This story has the Steve Rogers LANGUAGE WARNING.

SummerLove2627

HOT STUFF - PART 3

I rolled over, still stuck in my bed sheets, grinning as I remembered the events that had unfolded the day before. There was a lot to remember but there was one thing in particular on my mind. As the sun tried to break through my window blinds, I almost giggled out loud at the butterflies in my stomach... the ones that were there because of Steve.

...And the kiss.

Uhhhhhhhh, Steve kissed me and it was amazing.

To wake up and know that he's had feelings for me... I honestly just didn't know where to begin thinking about it. It was a dream come true. It was exactly the news I'd wanted to hear for the longest time. There was so much feeling in that kiss, it almost knocked me—

KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.

"Y/N - wake up!" Nat called from outside my door. The tone of her voice left me panicked. I sprung up from the bed and unlocked the door. She was already pushing her way in with Steve standing in the hallway behind her, looking unsure what to say... and maybe he looked a little worried.

Nat held a folded newspaper in her hand. "Okay, now, Y/N, we just wanted you to know about this so you're not blindsided. It's really not a big deal... it's not not a big deal but it's... well—"

She opened the newspaper to page 6 where there was a large headline and a photo of Steve smiling and signing kids autographs at an event and one of me which was distinctly less flattering, taken in a street battle I believe. I looked like I was mid-growl. My eyes raced around the page, not knowing where to focus after that until I saw it...

CAPTAIN AMERICA, HEATWAVE HOT & HEAVY: America's Faithful Hero and Young Hot Head Team Up on the Streets and in the Sheets

My mouth fell open.

"Byline by Sadie Sennett," I nodded my head in disgust. I reached up and covered my eyes with my hand, suddenly feeling a rush of stress. That was followed by the realization Steve was standing in my room while I was standing there with bed-head, morning breath, and pajamas still on. "Holy fuck," I whispered.

"It's not so bad," Natasha tried to be comforting.

I glanced up at Steve who had a pensive look on his face. "You're not a hot head... I don't know why she'd say that..." At that point, he must've remembered what the rest of the headline said because he didn't know what else to say and his cheeks got pink.

Nat handed me the newspaper. "Don't worry, no one's even going to give it a second thought." She excused herself so Steve and I could talk.

I tossed the newspaper onto the bed and walked away disgustedly. "Steve, just give me a second to brush my teeth, okay?" He dipped his head at me quickly and I escaped to the bathroom where I proceeded to freak out internally during the time it took me to brush my teeth. They always say you're supposed to brush for the same length of time as it would take to sing Happy Birthday but, come on. No one ever does that. But I did that morning.

When I walked out of the bathroom, Steve rose up from the bed, looking like a puppy who'd just peed on the floor. But of course, this wasn't his fault. He bridged the gap between us and looked down at me so sweetly to say "Good morning."

"Good morning," I said, a smile finally overtaking me. I slipped my arms around his waist and gave him a comforting squeeze. "I'm sorry."

"Y/N, you didn't want or deserve this anymore than I did," he said as he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. His aftershave smelled wonderful and I was instantly intoxicated.

"This isn't so great for your image," I sighed.

He chuckled, "I'm not that squeaky clean, am I?" He pulled me back towards the bed and we sat down. "But you've never had any bad press. So I feel like that's on me," he sighed.

"It'll blow over, I'm sure," I gave him a smile.

Steve wasn't at our normal team sparring and workout that morning. I knew he had a phone call with Coulson scheduled to go over the horrifically botched mission Sam and I went on yesterday... which I single handedly screwed up. Don't mean to brag or anything but... all me.

I had to make myself laugh about it, otherwise, I would have felt so bad I'd cry. I knew I made his life harder by messing up and I knew mine was about to get harder too.

"I heard about your newfound fame," Sam raised an eyebrow at me as he sat down on the weight machine across from mine.

I closed my eyes tightly and sighed, smiling ever so slightly. "You mean the fake news story?"

"Mmmmhmmm," he hummed. "Fake..."

"You sure give me a lot of credit," I laugh. "What kind of moves do you think I put on him in the short amount of time since I saw you last?" I had to remind him we'd been on our mission just the night before. Even though it felt like three weeks ago to me.

"Miss Priss sure must not've liked you—" Sam started to say, but we were interrupted by Tony walking up to my weight bench.

"Got a second, Hottie McHotpants?" Tony smirked. "I should say Hottie McKeep-It-In-Your-Pants."

"Oh, God," I mutter as I stand up next to him. "Watch it, Short Circuit."

Tony threw his head back in a surprise laugh. "I think that's the first time you've ever zinged me. I like it. I'm revising the name to Hottie McFeistyPants."

If I weren't so distracted by everything that had happened in the last 24 hours, I would have been very proud that Tony found my insulting nickname funny. It was the first time I ever had the balls to make fun of him.

In the privacy of the hallway outside the gym, Tony pulled me into a dark corner and pursed his lips at me. "How you holdin' up, kid?"

I laughed to myself quietly. "Too soon to tell. It's all... really weird."

"First time you've really had a news story - right?" he verifies.

"Yeah, I don't know how you deal with it all the time."

"Gets easier," he says gently. "You need to talk, I'm always here. 'Kay?"

"Thanks, Tony. I appreciate it."

"Okay, go hit the showers, Feisty. Loverboy wants to see you upstairs." Tony walks off with a smirk and leaves my head rheeling. That's just like him to be sweet and sour in the same breath. Like a real life Sour Patch Kid.

Anyway, I got the sense the request from Steve was somewhat official and not personal so I started getting my game face on.

Freshly showered and smelling decent - or at least better than when I'd seen him earlier that morning, I knocked on the door frame of Steve's room. He already knew I was coming, I guess that good hearing really comes in handy for him. He breathed out, "Hang on," while he finished typing something. Leaning on the door frame, I waited for him until he stood up and gave me a soft smile. "You up for a little trip?"

"Uhhh, yeah... I guess so. Why?"

"We have to go see Coulson," he sighed. "You need to grab anything?"

"Oh... Oh God," I uttered quietly. "How bad is it?"

His hands were on my arms in a gesture of comfort before I could even say anything more. "Whatever it is he wants to say... we'll get through it."

In a matter of minutes, I was sitting in the quinjet next to Steve, taking off from the tower. Looking down at my dark-wash, tight jeans and black boots with my favorite black sweater, I begin to be even more nervous about going to see Coulson. I wasn't even sure if I was dressed appropriately. Steve had on a button down shirt and a pair of khakis, so he seemed like he looked okay, no matter what. It was too late anyway.

Steve laughed to himself before giving me a charming grin, "You must be tired, 'cause you've been running through my mind all day."

"Who taught you a cheesy line like that?" I giggle.

"Oh, that's an old one from Bucky - but it's completely true. You were on my mind all night." Once it's left his lips, he seems much more somber. I wanted to assume it was talking about Bucky but I'd have been wrong about that. "You know, there's a chance... he'll keep us apart." He gave me a glance, wearing a little frown.

"I guess you're right."

It got extremely quiet as I prepared myself for that proclamation from Coulson and started to try to let myself down easy. I mean, it was just a little kissing, a little... confession of feelings.

My heart sank to the pit of my stomach.

I'd never go against Coulson.

So I realized this could be over before we even got off the ground. It suddenly felt a lot like the awkward helicopter ride from the night before. At least Steve wasn't mad at me this time.

"That's not what I want, you know that right?" His voice is firm and floats out there for a second until I latch on to what he's actually said.

"Me, either."

Thankfully, it was a quick trip. The guilt radiating off Steve could only be matched by my own. Neither of us knew what to say. No one wanted to chance even a kiss or any more words of romance lest we were about to find out it could never happen.

Walking into Coulson's office, I had to concentrate on my breathing. Steve was in front of me when I suddenly noticed his posture straighten and his head tilt. "Fury?" he said in a glad tone. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I might be dead, Rogers, but I like to stay active," he grinned as he shook Steve's hand. "Good to see you."

Steve stepped aside and gave me a warm smile. "Nick Fury, this is Y/N Y/L/N."

"I've heard a lot about you, it's nice to meet you," I shook his hand.

"Ahh, the famous Heatwave." He smiled kindly and nodded as I assume he was eyeing me up - he is a spy, after all. He's never met me before so he has no reason to trust me. "I guess you're getting a taste of the anti-heroic side of being an Avenger this week?"

I gave Fury a little smile as Coulson moved around his desk to shake Steve's hand and then mine.

"Director Coulson, I want to apologize for what happened yesterday. I didn't use my best judgement. Captain Rogers trained me so well, it was a slip up on my part and I hope this doesn't reflect on him or Sam Wilson."

"Yesterday was unfortunate, and... unintentional, I hear." Director Coulson's pretty nice but I'd never been in the hot seat before so I had no idea where this was all going. "Have a seat, you two."

As we all sat down, I felt like I should wait for someone else to speak first... and set the mood. But no one spoke for what felt like hours. I'm pretty sure it wasn't even five seconds but nevertheless...

"We read the report," Fury shifted in his chair, picking up a mug from the table next to him. He glanced quickly at Coulson. "You got in over your head."

I nodded in agreement.

"That does happen," Coulson confirmed, "and although things could have gone better and the plan was basically foiled..." he looked to Fury.

"We realize you don't have a lot of espionage experience," Fury chimed in. "You didn't panic though and that's a pretty big deal, I'd say. Maybe you shouldn't have even been there in the first place...?" He spoke out loud as if the jury was still out on that one. Fury looked to Steve but he didn't look upset. "I'm guessing maybe you sent her out on the mission so it doesn't look like you're going easy on her?" When Steve didn't immediately respond, a smile grew on Fury's face. "I'm right, aren't I? How long's this been going on?"

"Since yesterday," Steve and I responded in unison. It looked like we'd practiced it. Like a couple of dorks.

(That part's true though. The dorks. That's really an understatement about us as individuals and as a pair.)

"Just yesterday?" Coulson asked. "I don't understand..."

"Director Coulson, we were apparently... both feeling the same thing for a while," Steve said firmly. I'd only thought of what this meeting would be like for me but now I can see this is probably one of the most awkward meetings Steve has ever had. Just then, he looked over at me and pressed his lips, "When I didn't know if she was safe inside that building, it finally came to the surface for me."

Oh, God, he looked so sweet when he said that. I just wanted to throw my arms around him. In some weird way, it felt like he was defending my honor.

"I see," Coulson said, sitting back in his chair more. I couldn't get a read on him initially. He looked at Fury, "We feel your lives are... hard as it is..."

"A shit show," Fury leaned forward to say, casually.

"Right," Coulson nodded, "we don't want to take away something that you both deserve." He paused for a brief second before adding, "As long as it doesn't interfere with the job."

My face wanted to smile but I tried so hard to play it cool.

"I brought Nick in because I trust his opinion on this," Coulson said. "He has a couple of ideas."

Our heads turned to Fury like two little dogs, sitting waiting for a treat.

"Well, for starters, congratulations," Fury smiled, sitting his mug down again. "Although I don't know Miss Y/L/N well, I do know you, Rogers. I feel like you can be trusted with this - that you won't let it get in the way of the important stuff. Hell, I know you well enough to know you'll always do what you feel is the right thing in the circumstance." He turned to me, "I will also say, I've been told that you're pretty on the ball - so I guess what I'm saying is it sounds like you'll be able to handle it, too. Now I was going to suggest putting Romanoff in charge of Y/N but now that I know this all just started up," he looked at Coulson, "that may not be necessary just yet. We can wait on that one a while if you two want to... see how this is going."

"Nick," Steve said firmly, "I think letting Romanoff have the reigns would be prudent."

Fury's eyebrows shot up. "Really? Well... yeah, okay. We can make that happen."

"I'll inform Agent Romanoff," Coulson jumped in. "In the meantime, we suggest more training for surveillance which Romanoff would be perfect for anyway."

"I'd like that," I said. "She's perfect for the job."

Everyone breathed in what seemed like a sigh of relief before Fury started chuckling. "So you two had a rough morning, I'd imagine?"

"Yeah," we laughed.

"It'll all blow over," he assured, "I'd stay out of the public eye for a little while if I were you."

Coulson piped up, "I'm also implementing new guest security measures at the tower. Stark has already agreed to it. So no more visitors in private areas - public areas only. He's even willing to make sure those two areas stay separate of one another."

"Stark actually felt bad about this, believe it or not," Fury teased. "He felt bad that you two got caught up in something that could have been stopped. He said it was his fault."

"Well," Steve held back a grin, "I guess we could've been a little more careful as well."

"But we definitely weren't doing... what she said we were doing..." I added.

When we finished up talking, Coulson immediately grabbed Steve to walk him out. I'd heard about Coulson's apparent man-crush on Steve but this was the first time it was clear as crystal to me. Steve seems to be a pretty good sport about it. Fury shook my hand again and kindly told me, "Take care of him, he's a good man — better than me, in fact." His genuine laugh put me at ease as we caught up to Steve and Coulson.

After playing it cool the entire way through the building and situating ourselves in the quinjet again, Steve and I looked at each other. His sweet face made my heart race with the light that was catching his eyes. He leaned over towards me a bit and I did the same as we just looked into each other's eyes for a second.

"Kind of want to kiss you now," he said teasingly.

I pushed myself closer to him again, "Kinda want you to."

He didn't hesitate and when his lips were softly pressed on mine, it felt like they'd been missing for a long time. It was 14 of the longest hours of my life. His hand moved to my jaw and he held me tenderly for a moment before we turned the jet around to go home.

"I always thought Fury would be scary," I sighed contentedly, "but... I like him."

"Fury's got different ways of getting things done but he's basically a good guy. He means well," Steve shook his head with a little chuckle, "It was sure nice to have him in our corner today."

"He thinks a lot of you," I assured him. I sat there and looked at the tiny houses below before remembering something. "So how come you gave me away to Nat so quickly? He was going to give us time to see where... this is going."

Steve was struggling with what to say, it was easy to see. It looked like he had a little something he wasn't sure he wanted to say.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to put you on the spot, it's okay," I said.

"No... no, that's..." he smiled at me, before shaking his head with a little laugh. "It's just that I don't need time." He looked at me to see if he'd scared me off.

"You don't?"

"I don't. I've had feelings for you a long time." He made a nervous face and then he contorted his features, "Is this too much?"

I shook my head.

"—Because if it's too much too fast..."

"No, Steve. It's fine."

He took a deep breath before turning his eyes back to me. "I've had feelings for you for a long time and I ...I just don't need time to decide. Now I know this just sounds crazy and maybe you're not on the same page —and that's totally fine—" he held his palms up for me to see, "but I'm kind of... all in, so..."

"Steve," his name slipped out of my mouth as a cracked whisper.

But he was wrapped up in his own thoughts, maybe nervously. "What I mean is..."

When his eyes met mine, his thoughts seemed to clear up.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm not a halfway in kind of guy." That little hint of a smirk had my heart racing again.

I couldn't help but smile fully. "I know, Steve. I know. It's kind of your personality. I wouldn't expect you to be a... casual dater."

His shoulders started to shake and a deep chuckle followed. "I see you're on to me."

"Steven Rogers: big teddy bear," I smiled.

With an enormous grin, he leaned back into the seat and put his head the whole way back, exhaling every last breath in him. "I wish I could just take you out to lunch right now. I guess that's out of the question?"

"I would love that but... you know, I don't think that it was just a strong suggestion to stay out of the public eye," I giggled softly.

If I didn't know better, I'd say he was looking at me longingly after that. "I know," he sighed.

"I'm not going to change my mind and run away, you know," I said. "I've waited a while already, what's a little while longer?"

Well, I'm feeling long-winded so this is TWO additional CHAPTERS. Read along for number two! If you liked this, don't forget to vote! Comments are always welcome because I enjoy talking with all of you!