AN: A quick ficlet for the tumblr anon who prompted 'Steve/Jemma - flowers'
Steve gripped the bouquet a little tighter and knocked on the door. As he waited, he told the butterflies in his stomach to quit it. Every time it came to asking a girl out, he was 5 foot 6 again.
Jemma opened the door. "Captain!" she smiled. "What a pleasant surprise."
"Ms Simmons," he nodded. Just the sight of her pretty smile was enough to make his chest feel like it was bursting. He forced his right foot to cease its nervous toe-tapping.
"Lilium longiflorum," Jemma commented, and Steve was very confused, until he realised she was referring to the bunch of flowers in his hand. "Endemic to Japan, and a rich source of steroidal glycosides," she continued, like this was a perfectly normal topic of conversation.
He didn't know what sort of flowers were, he'd just picked them because they smelled nice. "They're for you," he said, feeling more than a little awkward as he handed them to her.
Her eyebrows rose in surprise. "Oh!"
She held the bouquet to her nose and inhaled deeply. "They're beautiful, thank you." That heart-stopping smile again.
She looked at him expectantly and he realised it was his turn to speak. "I came here intending to ask you to dinner, but maybe I should take you to the botanical gardens instead," he said with a rueful smile.
"Either would be lovely—or both!" she grinned. Then she stopped. "Ooh, that was presumptuous, wasn't it?" she backpedalled, wrinkling her nose.
Steve smiled and put his hands in his pockets. "Both sounds great."