Five days later, Steve stood in front of the mirror, looking at the outfit Nat had laid out for him; casual, but nice enough to be serious. It also wasn't so form fitting that the two concealed carries he was wearing on either hip would print (since he couldn't exactly bring his shield into the restaurant without giving himself away), something that could be difficult to achieve given his muscular stature. The super spy did know a thing or two about clothing, and a thing or three about concealing weapons.
"I still can't believe you're helping me go out on a date with another girl," he muttered, turning to look at the redhead, who was stretched out across their bed watching him.
"Her favorite toppings are broccoli and sausage," she replied, as her eyes continued to rake up and down his body lustily. "I know you prefer beer with your pizza, but get a bottle of red wine to share with her. Compliment her dress, her hair—"
"Yes! I know how to take a girl out on a date, in case you've forgotten," interrupted Steve with a growl.
"Oh, I haven't forgotten," Nat smirked at him. "Although…" she added in mock thoughtfulness, "it has been an awful long time, I do seem to be beginning to forget..."
Steve rolled his eyes, as he sat down on the edge of the bed to put on his shoes. "Are you seriously asking me to take you out on a date while helping me get ready to take another girl out on a date?"
"I can multitask," she smirked, as she sidled up next to him, putting her hand on his cheek and turning his face towards her, giving him a soft kiss. "And I'll be in my room when you guys get back, in case you two need this room," she added with a wink, causing Steve to blush.
Then she stood up and walked to the door, and opening it, said, "Now out. You have a date to get to, keys are in my Corvette. And don't forget to tell her we're together, she needs to know."
Steve walked to the door, and giving Nat one last look, stepped out into the hallway. A few minutes later he found himself in front of Wanda Maximoff's door. Knocking lightly, the door was opened a few seconds later.
Wanda was wearing a simple red dress, that accentuated her figure beautifully. Steve could instantly tell that Nat had had a hand in helping Wanda pick it out.
Of course Nat had helped Wanda as well.
"Wanda, there's something I have to tell you."
Steve was on his fourth slice of pizza, while Wanda munched contentedly on her second, and there was a comfortable lull in the conversation. After the initial awkwardness of any first date, where neither of them could think of anything to say, they'd soon struck up a casual conversation.
"What is it? If it has to do with our age difference, I'm completely aware of that, and I don't have a problem with it," replied the young female earnestly.
"No, it's not that, although that is a legitimate concern," answered Steve. "No, it's something else. When you asked me out on a date, I assumed you were already aware of this, but Nat informed me later that you probably weren't." He paused and took a deep breath, before letting the cards fall where they would. "Natasha and I are together."
Wanda momentarily froze in shock. After a second, she collected herself, and addressed the bottle of wine that was sitting between them on the table. "As in romantically involved?"
But before Steve could reply, Wanda looked up at him in confusion. "Then why did Ms. Romanov help me pick out this dress, and help me do my hair and everything?"
Steve sighed, and rubbed his eyes with his hand. "Honestly? I don't have a clue. When I went into our room to get ready before meeting you, she had already laid this outfit out for me to wear. And when you asked me out on a date in the first place, she's the one that suggested it was a date you were trying to ask me out on. Then when she explained to me that you were meaning a romantic date, she simply made me promise to tell you about me and her. So I don't know why, but she really doesn't seem to have a problem with me going on a date with you."
Wanda looked at him for a few seconds, looking through him more than at him, absorbing everything he had said, before meeting his eyes again.
"Why did you agree to go out on a date with me if you're with Romanov?"
"When I first agreed to go on this date with you, I didn't realize you meant a romantic date, since I thought you knew Nat and I are together. But then after Nat informed me you did mean a romantic date, she seemed to think I should still take you out. As weird as it sounds, I actually think she hopes I'll start dating you. And no, Nat isn't breaking up with me, before you think she's trying to pass me along to you. I haven't worked up the courage to actually ask her, but I think she wants me to date both of you; if you still want to date me now that you've found out that her and I are already together, of course."
Wanda took her wine glass and swirled the contents for a few seconds, staring at the red liquid, before looking back up Steve.
"I may not know American culture very well, but I'm pretty sure that dating two women is as unusual here as it is where I'm from." Then trying to lighten the serious mood, she added with a shy smirk, "And I certainly wouldn't have expected 'Captain America' to be into that kind of thing; then again, you are dating a Russian Spy…."
At this, Steve let out a little chuckle, making the young brunette smile as well. "Russia was still an ally when I went down, and the Cold War was long over by the time I came out of the ice, so I missed the whole Russia thing. As for dating two girls at the same time, one of whom is a fifth my age, that certainly isn't common here, and I would have thought them crazy if anyone had ever told me I'd be entertaining the idea, yet here I am."
They were quiet for a few seconds after he finished, before something he'd said stuck out to her.
"You just said I'm a fifth your age, like Romanov isn't much younger than you as well. I know Romanov looks younger than she really is, and deceivingly so in order to have the reputation built up that she has, but isn't she still like a third of your age or something?"
"No...She wants everyone to think she's thirty, prevents a lot of awkward questions about her past, but she's only eight years younger than me," replied Steve. Then he added with a chuckle, "She's a major case of 'never ask a girl her age'."
"How!?" exclaimed Wanda in shock at this revelation.
"Super serum. Not the same as mine, not as strong, but it keeps her young, and helps her fight faster and stronger than she normally could. She also heals faster than normal, just not quite at the same rate I do."
Wanda nodded her head, taking in everything Steve was telling her. Taking a sip of her wine, she asked, "So now what?"
Steve drummed the stem of his glass for a few seconds before saying slowly, "Well...I suppose that's mostly up to you, whether you still want to date me or not; assuming that was your original intention for asking me out on a date. If you do, this could probably work somehow; I never looked at you when you got here because I was already with Nat, and even if I hadn't been you're a fifth my age, but I do like you as a person, from the interactions we have had around the compound." Then he added with a chuckle, "Of course, this is all assuming Nat doesn't kill one or both of us while we're sleeping."
Wanda let out a laugh at this as well; the redhead's reputation certainly preceded her, but Wanda trusted Steve enough to know he wasn't being serious.
"Yes, I suppose this is going to require a conversation between all three of us," she said after a few seconds, taking another sip of her wine.
They lapsed back into a contemplative silence, before a minute later Wanda mumbled into her wine mostly to herself, "Well, I suppose sleeping with you tonight is out of the question..."
Steve cocked an eyebrow at her. "Its only the first date. Even if I wasn't dating someone else already, isn't that usually something that doesn't happen until around the third date?"
"Did Ms. Romanov wait until the third date to jump you?" asked Wanda slightly sulkily, before her eyes immediately widened and she hastily apologized, "Sorry! I shouldn't have asked that! It's none of my business!"
"It's fine, it's fine" reassured Steve, reaching across the table and resting his hand over hers, using his thumb to rub light circles over her fingers. "First off, you can just call her Natasha, you don't need to call her Romanov. And secondly, Nat jumped me months before we started dating. It was the getting her to admit that she liked me, and keeping her from running away when I did ask her out on a date that was the hard part with her. Our relationship started out with her just using me as a stress relief after tough missions, and took a long time to get to the dating stage." With a wry smile he added, "She's not exactly the dating type, after everything she went through in the Red Room."
Wanda nodded, continuing to nurse her drink for a several seconds, before muttering quietly to herself, forgetting that Steve had enhanced hearing, "See, you're already sleeping with one person, it shouldn't be that hard to sleep with me once."
Steve sighed, causing Wanda to look up wide-eyed, realizing he had heard her. But before she could come up with anything to say, Steve said, "I feel like I'm bringing my girlfriend up a little too often considering this is a date, but I think Nat might have expected that to be the end result of our date. Right before I left she said, 'I'll be in my room when you guys get back, just in case you two need this room,' which I'm no expert in girl talk, but that sounds an awful lot like she at least thinks its possible that I might invite you back to my room for 'coffee', as I believe the saying goes.
"But at the same time, if I do have sex with you, I don't want it to just be sex. You deserve better than that. Which means if I'm going to sleep with you, it has to be serious, and not just doing it to do it."
Wanda nodded in understanding. He might be bending his morals some, but he was still Steve Rogers; he still had morals.
