[not-game-related] Steve, a few months post-Avengers

[redintheledger]

Natasha might have been off field-duty for the foreseeable future (barring, of course, Strike Team Delta summons), but all this meant was more time in the office. And in conferences. And in offices doing conferences, and meetings, and plannings, and -

Well, there is Rogers exiting a room, looking even less thrilled to be in SHIELD's HQ than she is. She'd argue that misery loves company, but in all honesty, she's been meaning to catch him to see how he was anyway.

You fight aliens together, that means something. Or it should.

"Rogers!"

(She's looking altogether more polished than even the last time he saw her; no yellow leather jacket with her wavy-curls all over the place, but her red hair is darker than before and pinned up to neatness, and she's wearing grey suit pants. Still, the blouse is a deep pink that matches her heels, and from her ears dangle two delicate pistol earrings.

Natasha Romanoff is making no attempt to blend into the background of suits.)

Comments

[redintheledger]

Her smile is fond, and a little sad. "My first husband was like that. But welcome to the twenty-first century, you can meet girls all kinds of places now. Courting isn't nearly as formal as it was."

[stark_spangled]

He clears his throat, and glances at his shoes.

"That's what I've heard. But, to be honest, I'm not good with talking to women, as I'm sure you've noticed."

He smiles to cover hesitation this time, like there's something else he wants to add but he loses his nerve; a quick sadness in his eyes, and the way he looks away to hide it.

[redintheledger]

She cants her head a little in agreement.

"I notice a lot of things. But I think girls on non-professional terms can wait. Unless there is a bookclub. A bookclub might do you good. Friends."

[stark_spangled]

"A ... book club?" he grins. It's crooked, but no less charming. "So you're telling me I need hobbies, too?"

There's none of the anger or frustration from earlier; it's amusement, and after a beat he even nods in agreement. "I always did like to read. I liked drawing more, but I don't suppose there are any drawing clubs around?"

[redintheledger]

"A drawing club...that I'm not sure of. But I'm pretty sure there are adult drawing classes, or you could do part-time at a school somewhere."

She smiles a little ruefully.

"I've....lost everything more than once. So, yes, I'm saying a hobby might be helpful. Just from my own experience."

[stark_spangled]

He squares his jaw.

He didn't intend to upset Agent Romanoff. Rome. Romy. He knows it comes with the territory, but he's still figuring everything out.

"Yeah," he says lamely, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah, that's what they've been saying. I, uh. I just haven't figured out what to do first, you know? A week before we met, I was in the middle of World War II. It's been a long time since I've done anything just because, you know. I wanted to."

[redintheledger]

"You're coping better than I would have, if I'd been taken from the war."

The war, as if there was only ever one of that level of importance.

"Sadly, I think you're gonna have to fight them for some spare time. But I recommend a class just as a start. Hell, a cooking one, even. It's some structure to your week that's not SHIELD. And going 'hey, I've got a class I paid for' is easier to fight for than 'fuck off, I want to be alone', you know?"

[stark_spangled]

"I wasn't taken from the war, ma'am. I made a choice," he says, brow still beetled.

She's seen his file. He's not happy about a lot of things, leaving the fight included, but more than anything else he didn't really expect he'd be alive. Their train arrives as she's speaking, the noise muffling his laugh.

"Yeah, I notice things, too. To be honest, I'm used to people trying to manage every minute of my time, down to the last second. When someone thinks they have rights to you, your wants are handled as secondary." He hesitates, smiling sheepishly in response to the profanity. "I don't think I'd be any good at a cooking class, though."

[redintheledger]

She's seen pieces of his file, oh yes. Enough.

But part of her is very, very old, and the question of choice when in those circumstances...

She smiles faintly.

"Cooking is independence, and you get to eat your assignments. Win/win."

As Sophie Loren once said, everything you see, I owe to pasta. Or words to that effect; Natasha forgets the exact wording. But eating enough to give her figure would be a pain in the ass if she didn't enjoy cooking. Still, she gives Steve a quick grin, and makes her way onto the train.

[stark_spangled]

Independence, huh? He makes a so-so motion with his head, sort of a half-shrug from side to side. That doesn't sound so bad.

"Watch your step," he says on automatic once the doors open, unconsciously reaching a hand out for the small of her back. He doesn't touch her, though. His hand hovers about eight inches away. "It's only win/win if you're good at cooking, Rome. I made great toast growing up in Brooklyn."

He sends a quick grin right back.

[redintheledger]

"Hence the lessons," she points out, managing to score herself a seat. "I-"

Deliberate pause.

"Hold that thought 'til we're not on a train."

She knows how to cover better than that; it's an opening she's leaving herself.

"Read any good books?

[stark_spangled]

His mouth twists. She doesn't hold her punches, and Steve ... well, he likes that. She reminds him of Peggy.

He nods without another word, moving to a pole near her seat, putting the conversation on hold. "Not recently. Magazines and manuals, mostly. Uh, articles of interest, you know?"

Articles, strangely, about him. And not just about Captain America, or what they did as a team to save New York; articles about his fashion sense, and where he eats dinner, and whether or not he's got a girl. Weird stuff he wants to pretend doesn't exist, and can't stop looking for all the same.

[redintheledger]

"They can be fun," she says lightly. "....sometimes infuriating, but a lot of fun once you get some good ones."

She watches him for a moment.

"Read any Sherlock Holmes?"

[stark_spangled]

"I'll be sure to look out for the good ones," he says wryly.

He blinks, somewhat struck, and shakes his head with a dry chuckle. "I'd just finished the third novel, before ... " He inclines his head. "Don't spoil the last one."

Looking beyond her neat copper up-do, he catches a flash of red, white, and blue. There's a kid, maybe six, wriggling uncomfortably a few seats down, holding a plastic Captain America shield. He's obviously seen Steve, and when their eyes connect he shrinks against his mother's side. Steve smiles, saluting, and the boy lets off a gap-toothed grin as he tugs his mother's blouse in excitement.

[redintheledger]

She presses her finger to lips, and then zips them shut.

No spoilers.

As he salutes, Natasha raises her eyebrows.

"Should I be worried?" she asks, not turning around. Turning around would mean during attention, and she's a redhaired woman hanging out with Captain America.

No attention would be nice.

[stark_spangled]

"Sorry," he says, on automatic. "No, no threat. It's, uh. You know, kids carried around facsimiles of the shield after the first few movies came out, but it's strange seeing them now. Mass-produced and kind of realistic."

This kid is looking a little too meek to come rushing up to either of them anyway, but after a few more minutes of excited tugging and wriggling he does manage to return the salute. Steve cocks a grin.

"You were saying? About Sherlock Holmes," he says, glancing at Natasha. "Oh. That was probably a conversation starter, wasn't it?"

[redintheledger]

At the mention of the 'kid' and shield, something in her posture eases.

Then her smile turns rueful.

"It was. They are some of my favourite stories, since I was a little girl." The smile shades from rueful to a remembered fondness. "And the hardback version came in useful a few times."

[stark_spangled]

He whispers laughter, eyebrows arching. He can imagine all the ways a hardback volume might come in handy for a woman like Natasha.

"Yeah, I'm -- I sometimes have trouble picking up on cues," he admits, returning her ruefulness. "They're some of my favorites, too. I like a good mystery, or adventure. Science fiction's good, too. I've gotta admit, I was hoping to meet H.G. Wells someday."

He dusts his hand through his hair, a nervous back-and-forth brushing, and barely sways when the train pulls to its first stop. "I'm a couple decades too late for that now. Unless SHIELD knows something I don't."

[redintheledger]

"On the subject of H.G. Wells, I can be honest when I say my bosses don't have any special knowledge," she says, smile small and entertained.

"I never got to meet Arthur C. Clarke, and that'd been my hope for...decades." Her choice of words was very, very deliberate.

"Actually, I think you might like his work."

[stark_spangled]

"Too bad. Of all the people who could get frozen and sent to the future, you'd think he'd be the most likely," Steve jokes.

The name sounds vaguely familiar, but as hard as he thinks on it he can't connect any dots. Shaking his head, he says, "I don't think I know who he is. What did he write?"

[redintheledger]

"Sci-fi. But it's the kind of science-fiction that inspired people to make it reality. Not everything," she adds. "Sadly, we don't have colonies on the Moon yet. But his first novel was published in 1948. He was...amazingly inspirational."

[stark_spangled]

It's ... nice, seeing Agent Romanoff so enthusiastic about something. Well, something other than breaking bad guys' faces (which Steve admits is satisfying, but you can only punch Hitler so many times before your hobbies get skewed). He grins, watching her speak, infected by her excitement.

"Colonies on the moon are about my speed," he nods. "I'm just catching up on over fifty years of the space program. As if I didn't have enough to catch up on with this planet, damn. Watching the moon landing brought tears to my eyes."

[redintheledger]

"It...it was incredible," Nat says, and she could stop that soft smile on her face, but she's not going to.

"They caught you up with the Soviet side, too, right?"

[stark_spangled]

"As far as the Race for Space goes," he says, with no small amount of wryness. It doesn't strike him until a few seconds later why she'd be asking. "I haven't seen any of the videos or reports, other than the spacewalk and a picture of the Russian space station. It's ... "

He stops short, laughing.

"I almost said it's 'out of this world'. It's incredible."

[redintheledger]

She laughs a little in return.

"Still a good description. But you should at least hear Sputnik. Sputnik changed...the world. And for ultimately for the good, I think."