You mentally curse yourself for not acting sooner. You bury your face into your hands as you lay on your stomach. You think of the events that led you to the hospital room you anxiously find yourself waiting in. You knew you should have gone as soon as you felt the pain; just like always, you had to be stubborn. You had to try and fight through it. Strike two came when you felt the bump on your lower back and still refused to go.
The pain got worse and you continued to put it off, until tonight. In fact, if it wasn’t for Natasha, you probably still wouldn’t have gone to the damn hospital. Natasha noticed how much pain you were in at dinner and forced you to go. You had put up a strong front but once the tears came, she knew you needed medical attention.
“Nat, please don’t make me do this. It’s so embarrassing. PLEASE-” you pleaded, unable to sit comfortably.
“You’re my best friend. You really think I want to see you twist around and cry out in pain? Look at you!”
“Fine, but why do we have to go to the hospital you work at? Isn’t there another hospital close by? Some shady back ally?”
“The one I work at is closest. Stop making a big deal out of nothing, I’m sure he doesn’t even remember what happened.”
“I remember what happened, Nat. I wish I had been drunk enough to forget, but I do remember what happened. Unfortunately.”
“Seriously y/n? You could have something seriously wrong with you, and you’re gonna risk your health just so you don’t have to face Sam at the hospital?”
“Exactly. I threw up on the man’s shoes, Nat. Me not wanting to see him isn’t unreasonable.”
“Yeah, but it was out of nerves for your little crush! It’s cute!” Nat giggled as you let out a frustrated and loud groan. “Is it getting worse?”
“This bump isn’t the only thing that’s currently being a pain in my ass.”
“Oh stop it.”
“Why can’t you do it?”
“I’m a pediatrician. While you’re currently acting like a child, you’re not one.”
“Dr. Rogers?”
“He’s out on a date with Peggy.”
“Dr. Banner?”
“Neurosurgery.”
“Oh for fucks sake, Dr. Odinson?”
“He works in plastics. Quit complaining, we’re here.”
“Please don’t make me do this.”
“Out of the car, now. I’m not letting something bad happen to you because you’re too embarrassed about your little crush” Nat snapped.
You cringe inwardly thinking about the last time you saw Sam. Natasha had dragged you along to a Christmas party that one of her bosses, Dr. Stark, was hosting and forgot to mention that Dr. Sam Wilson would be there. You knew she had good intentions but that didn’t stop you from wanting to choke the life out of her. How could she not understand your crush on the man? Did she never bother to look at him? His smooth brown skin, his perfectly cut hair, his smile that made your knees buckle, and his body. No, you hadn’t ever seen it, but you could tell. Underneath that white button down shirt was a chiseled chest you cut diamonds on. The man was gorgeous. You often wondered why he had joined the medical field when he could just as easily have been a model.
As close as you tried to stay to her that night, you two eventually got separated. You tried to calm your nerves with a few drinks, which would have been fine if you weren’t drinking what Dr. Odinson brought. Some special drink they make in his homeland, Norway. After two, you decided that it would be best to just stick to water and wait till it was time to leave. It’s not that you didn’t like her colleagues, you just aren’t a social bug. However, the more you thought on that night, the more you wished you would have waited outside.
As soon as you made yourself comfortable in the corner, Sam came over to you drink in hand, looking finer than anyone had the right to. You felt the heat rising in your body and looked for any possible exit, even though your body wouldn’t allow you to move. If there had been any time for Natasha to magically appear, it would have been then.
“Had enough of Dr. Stark’s party?” he smiled at you. How dare he! Could he not see that you were struggling to breathe as it was?
Unable to form a coherent thought, you just shook your head no and smiled, rubbing the back of your neck. Here was your shot to be fun and charming and you were blowing it.
“You’re Natasha’s friend, right? I’ve seen you two in the cafeteria at the hospital.”
“Yeah.”
“Your name’s Y/N, right?”
“Mhm” you nodded nervously. Come on! Don’t blow this! Think of something! Anything!
“Well, it’s nice to formally meet you, my name is-”
“Sam Wilson!” Dr. Stark exclaimed, a little drunk, wife by his side. “Having a good time?”
“As if you’d allow any of your guests to have anything else.”
“See? Now you’re getting it!!!…who are you?” he asked looking at you.
Your eyes grew big, how could you forget your own name? “This is Natasha’s friend, Y/N” Sam smiled, saving the day.
“Ahh, Dr. Romanoff is our best pediatrician! What is it that you do?”
You just stood there frozen. How was this happening? You work in media relations! It was literally your job to charm people and form sentences. “Um, I believe she works in public speaking of some sort?” Sam questioned, raising an eyebrow. “Dr. Romanoff told me she does something media related. Pitching shows, right?”
You could do this. You could talk to him. You could charm yourself into a date. That’s right! The words are coming to you now! Wait…those aren’t words…oh God, please no!
Before you could stop yourself, you were throwing up all over Sam’s shoes. While Dr. Stark threw his head back in laughter, which Mrs. Stark smacked him on the arm for, you just stayed slightly bent over and too mortified to look up. When you finally did meet Sam’s gaze, he looked more amused than disgusted.
You didn’t even give him a chance to speak: you just ran out of the house, furiously texting Natasha that it was time to go.
That was 5 months ago.
Now, you were about to be back in his presence for another completely embarrassing reason. You have a pilonidal cyst. If you hadn’t wanted to be so tough before, you could have had it drained and called it a day. But now, since the damn thing had gotten so big, they decided it would be best to have it surgically removed. As if it wasn’t bad enough that this thing was right above your ass, you had researched it while you were waiting, and came to the conclusion that all of this could have been spared if you hadn’t spent the last month staying late at work and sitting on your ass.
“Ah Miss Y/N! We meet again!” Sam smiles, making his way into the operating room with Natasha and a nurse following right behind. “I hear you have a very painful pilonidal cyst. You’ve had it for a while?”
“I noticed the pain a few weeks ago” you mutter, looking anywhere except at him.
“Why didn’t you get it looked at then?”
“The pain wasn’t that bad, I figured it go away on its own.”
“I see, well next time, I’d have it looked at before it gets to this point. Nothing to be embarrassed about though. It’s very common, especially among young men. We see these more often than you think” he smiles reassuringly.
While you know he’s trying to make you feel better, the fact that it’s found mostly in men only added to your embarrassment. When you hear Natasha stifle a laugh, you shoot her a death glare and flip her off. Nothing about what was happening was funny. Well, it wasn’t funny to you.
“Nurse Maximoff is just going to give you some morphine and a small dose of Oxycodone. Dr. Romanoff said not to put you to sleep, cause the procedure is small and you’d make a fuss about it when you see the bill.”
“She’s not wrong” you mutter, sighing in resignation over what was about to happen. ‘Worse things have happened to better people’ you tell yourself, feeling the needle prick your skin.
In almost an instant, everything went from being terrifyingly embarrassing to extremely funny. What was funny? You had no clue but whatever it was, it’s the funniest thing you had no knowledge of.
“Okay, I think she’s ready” Sam chuckles, as Nurse Maximoff giggles softly and nods.
Everything was hilarious until you felt a stinging pain. “Hey! Stop that!” you whine, trying to turn and see what they’re doing.
“No no Miss Y/L/N,” Sam chides, trying to keep a straight face “you can’t turn around. I need you to face forward.”
“But you’re stinging me! It stings! Stop that!”
“It won’t last long, I promise.”
“Nat! You’re a doctor! Make him stop stinging me!”
“I’m a doctor, not a cop, sweetie-” she laughs.
“You know, just because you’re attractive as all hell and make me stupid doesn’t mean you can go around poking me with things that hurt!” you snap at him, pouting like a child before hissing again.
“Glad to hear you think I’m attractive.”
“Like you didn’t know that already. You think I go around puking on- OWWWWWW! THAT HURT!!” you wail.
At this point, Natasha is bellowed over in laughter and you simply flip her off. Muttering something about how it wouldn’t be so funny if she were stuck in your position with Dr. Banner. After a few more fussy movements and loud proclamations of pain from you, the procedure was over. You reach your hand back to try and touch it as they dress it, but Sam softly grabs your hand and places it to your side. You look at him ready to say something sassy, but his soft brown eyes make you soft and warm on the inside. Well, it was either that or whatever sedative Nurse Maximoff gave you.
Once you had permission to lay on your back (and you had help), you kept your eyes on Dr. Wilson as he spoke with Natasha in the corner.
“Psst!” you call over to Nurse Maximoff.
“Yes dear?” she questions, a gentle smile playing on her lips.
“Is he single? I mean single single. Like, he’s not talking to anyone.”
“Dr. Wilson is very single, honey.”
“Think I have a shot?”
“You never know if you don’t try” she shrugs, before resuming her task of cleaning up.
“Well, Miss Y/L/N” Sam smiles making his way over to your bedside “looks like you’ll be sleeping this off here and leaving tomorrow.”
“What? Nat! Why are you doing this? I wanna go home!” you whine, slapping the bed.
“It’s already late, I have work I can get an early start on, and you’re already in bed.”
“Blah blah blah, I wanna go HOME!” you whine, kicking your foot at nothing.
“I promise, tomorrow I will take you home as soon as I can.”
“Fine, but I think it’s only fair that you know I’m not happy with you right now. Our friendship will recover, but I’m unhappy.”
“Can I make it up with breakfast in the morning?”
“I guess that’s a start,” you mutter, looking at your finger nails. Sam started to follow out after Nat, but you weren’t about to miss your shot again. “Dr. Wilson, you’re clearly very good with your hands and you’ve already seen my butt. Would you like to get married tomorrow?” you ask, eyebrow raised.
You could hear Nat laughing loudly in the hallway, but rolled your eyes. It’s not like you’ve ever seen Nat make a real move on Dr. Banner.
“Lets see how you feel in the morning” Sam smiles while Nurse Maximoff looks everywhere but at you, trying to not laugh at you in your current drugged up state.
“Well, I would advise you to get a suit and all that stuff ready. I will be ready and would like for you to be on time. Please tell that traitor in the hallway that she’s my maid of honor, so she better have her shit ready.”
“I’ll relay the message,” he laughs “goodnight Miss Y/L/N.”
“Mrs. Wilson. You need to practice for tomorrow.”
“Will do, Mrs. Wilson. Sleep well-” he smiles before walking out and Nurse Maximoff follows, closing the door behind her.
With your wedding settled and the drugs coursing through your system kicking in hard, you decide you’ve done enough and deserve some rest. As sleep quickly consumes you, you smile knowing that your strong and awkward crush was worth all the humiliation you put yourself through. Who knew that throwing up on someone’s shoes and a painful cyst right above your ass could lead to a marriage?
**
You woke with a groan and a very slight headache. Memories of last night slowly flood your brain, but it all just feels like a dream. However, what you were very sure of was that Nat said she’d get you breakfast and take you home. Checking the time, you see that it’s 7:30am and can’t help but feel a little irritation with yourself for not sleeping in. You groan in frustration at the slight pain in your lower backside.
“Ah, you’re awake Miss Y/L/N,” Dr. Rogers smiles, looking over your chart “how did you sleep?”
“Like a baby. Not to be rude Doc, but can I please go home?”
“Not rude at all, especially after the night you had. I heard about it when it was all done.”
“You were here?”
“Yeah, my shift ends in about two hours.”
I’m going to kill Nat. I’m going to kill her a thousand times.
“Can I sign myself out or does Nat?”
“I’m afraid it’s gonna have to be Nat. You’re gonna have to take one of these soon,” he sighed as he shook a small bottle of Oxycodone “it won’t work as fast as the liquid form, but it will work quick enough. We can’t let you take yourself home.”
“Ugh, do I have to take those?”
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want,” Dr. Rogers teases, “but I would advise you to at least take them today. The pain is gonna be a bit much since it’s the day after. It’s up to you. Either way, you can’t sign yourself out.”
“Oh, I’ll get Nat to sign me out” you mutter “thank you, Dr. Rogers. I’ll go see Nat and I’ll think about what you said about taking them,” you smile, forcing yourself to sit up even though it hurts like hell.
Dr. Rogers gives a soft smile before putting the prescription bottle down and exiting the room. You get out of bed as quick as you can before rushing to get dressed. Putting on your bottoms with extra care, you quickly comb your hair and make your way two levels up to Natasha’s office.
When you get to an empty office you take a seat at her desk, spinning around in her chair to pass the time.
“Someone’s up early” Natasha grins, making her way into her office.
“I thought Dr. Rogers was taking Peggy on a date-” you snarl.
“Don’t be mad, okay? I was only trying to help. I had no clue you’d propose to the man,” Natasha laughs.
“I did WHAT?!” you yell, standing a lot faster than you meant to. The pain in your lower back had you stagger back a bit, but not enough that you lost your ground.
“How do you not remember that?”
“I THOUGHT IT WAS A DREAM!”
“Patients can hear you, stop screaming,” Natasha laughs. “You told him how attractive you think he is, that you want to get married, and that I’m supposed to be your maid of honor. Oh! Also, your reason for proposing was he’s good with his hands and he’s seen your butt.”
“Nat….I’m not gonna murder you, but I’m going to fucking murder you. Please tell me he’s still here.”
“Yeah, he’s on call for the next….20 minutes,” she smirks after checking her watch.
You flip her off before rushing out of her office and making her way to the nearest elevator. You’d go to Sam’s office, apologize for proposing and for throwing up on his shoe, then go home and die. No big deal.
When you finally reach Sam’s office, you feel yourself getting sick. How hard could it be to apologize to a man who you’ve proposed to? He knew you were under the influence and would be more than kind. No, you didn’t know much about him, but Dr. Sam had never come off as a harsh man. That was part of your attraction.
Taking a deep breath, you knock on the open door while looking down at your feet.
“Ah, Mrs. Wilson-” he grins, looking up from a file, “how are we feeling today?”
“A little pain and like a major dumbass” you laugh awkwardly, making your way inside the nicely furnished office.
The man has good taste.
“I’m so sorry about last night. Nat told me about it and-”
“Please don’t worry about it” he smiles, standing and walking to the front of the counter, sitting on it. “However, I do have to admit that I’ve never been so forcefully proposed to before. In fact, I’ve never been proposed to.”
“Oh God,” you groan as you face palm yourself, “lets just call it a fever dream and leave it at that, please?”
“We can, but I’d be really upset if we did.”
“Wait…what?”
“I’m not ready to get married or anything, and I didn’t do as you told me to last night and get a suit ready, but I’d really like to take you out sometime.”
“You wanna take me…out? Like…on a date?”
“That’s usually what one means when they ask someone out” he laughs softly.
“For the love of God!” Natasha’s voice comes from the other side of the wall “Say yes!”
“Um yes! I’d love to go out. What time works for you?”
Sam quickly glances at his watch before smiling at you. “How about now?”
Unable to say the word ‘yes’, you just smile and nod enthusiastically, silently thanking your stubborn self that you waited so long to get a damn bump looked at.