Central Park, Steve Rogers

[redintheledger]

The glorious thing about New York is that if people recognize you, you are probably just another person they recognize and they pay you little heed.

Also, the footage from the battle had no close-ups and was blurry, so all the public know of Black Widow is a redhaired woman in a black catsuit. Natasha can live with that.

She can also live with the New York branch of SHIELD being annoyed at her for skipping out and taking a long lunch. It's not as if she's out of the country (this time), and she'll come back. Eventually.

For now, Natasha is sitting on a bench in Central Park sipping coffee, looking like any other office-worker out on her lunch break; dressy slacks with matching jacket, a stylish blouse, smart heels with a thick heel and a thick strap, a gun in a holster underneath her jacket-

Okay, maybe normal officer workers don't have guns.

Comments

[stark_spangled]

He's attentive to her. It's the forties in him oozing out again: the respect for a woman his mother instilled in him; the way Being a Man means being polite, minding your manners, and taking care of someone, like his father used to say. He seems interested in what Natasha has to say because he is interested, and not just for his own benefit.

He clasps his hands, one foot bouncing almost imperceptibly under the weight of his torso (like he's sitting on the sidelines waiting to be called into the game, needing to keep his muscles active, ready to spring). He smiles when she finishes, moving around the etch-a-sketch of his forehead to show bemusement instead of consternation.

"Can you imagine me sitting down with Stark for a flick? Or Banner?" he mutters lightly. It's the kind of lightly that says it could happen, maybe, someday that isn't right now. He wonders if making friends is what he's done with the Avengers. He'd trust them, her, with the city, the country, his life; but is this right now them being friends, or just a couple of teammates shooting the breeze?

It isn't a date. He feels the need to point that out to his subconscious.

[redintheledger]

Very much not a date - he's a kid, all early twenties and shiny with ideals.

Besides, she's married.

"Funnily enough, Stark and Banner aren't the only people in the world," she observes, slightly amused and slightly blank.

"You don't...spar with anyone from SHIELD? Never suggest going out for a few beers? Join a movie club? They are around."