A/N: IT'S BEEN HELLA LONNGGGGGG BUT I JUST GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL SO I'M ON SUMMER BREAK SO I WANNA WRITE MORE FOR THIS FIC AGAIN FAM SO I'M GONNA TRYYYY here's nat and steve on kinda a second first date since their first date ended up being the events of catws ;)))

Prompt 11: Name

Steve watched Natasha shrink down in her seat with as much subtlety as she could muster, her eyes darting back and forth to examine her surroundings. After catching sight of a few passers-by looking at her, scrutinizing her with furrowed brows and narrowed eyes, she cast her heavy eyes downward to her black take-out bowl.

"Nat, we can just take our food to go," Steve finally said, trying to break through the slightly frantic shade of green in her eyes. He glanced around at the people who'd stop to stare, frowning at their accusatory glares. "Let's just do that."

"No, it's okay," Natasha quickly insisted, tapping her fingers against the plastic utensils beside her the black bowl of chow mein and orange chicken. "Food from a mall food court is never as good when you take it to go. Trust me, I've lived in this century longer than you."

Her attempt at humor fell flat, as the soft snark she'd tried to inject in her tone did not meet her eyes, which continued to focus on the table beneath her hands. Steve sighed, trying hard not to pity Natasha (who hated pity in any and every form).

In the months since S.H.I.E.L.D.'s fall and Natasha leaking previously private files all over the Internet, anyone associated with the former organization, which had been revealed to be housing HYDRA for decades, had been under scrutiny from the public eye. Steve would argue he had walked away from the incident the least wounded (though Natasha would disagree, as she would pull out his hospital records from his post-Winter Soldier encounter trip to the doctors as evidence), as his identity as Captain America had ultimately protected him from the worst of it.

Many previous agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. faded quietly into the general population, looking elsewhere for new jobs that could utilize their skill sets. Maria Hill moved to New York to work with Tony and Pepper. Nick Fury remained "dead" to the world, sneaking away to Europe before people could figure it out. As everyone went their separate ways into hiding, that left Natasha, standing alone in the rubble of the Triskelion and decades of S.H.I.E.L.D. history, to protect herself and the reputations of all of the good agents within S.H.I.E.L.D. who had never been a part of this HYDRA mess.

Through interviews and trials and constant challenges, Natasha had to stand firm, as her own past and secrets had been included in the information leaked to the public. Everyone could easily recognize her as the Black Widow who'd fought with the Avengers in the Battle of New York, but now also acknowledged her past missions and mistakes.

(Which, because he would rather Natasha tell him her stories herself, Steve had yet to know the full extent or details of, but from the way every person who walked by their table in the food court looked at her, it seemed pretty bad.)

For Steve, the most painful part of it was Natasha's submission to it all. She allowed people to look at her as a villain, even treat her as such, without even meeting their eyes. It was almost as if she thought…

"I deserve it."

Natasha's quiet words cut through Steve's reflective thoughts, as he looked back to her. She didn't meet his eyes, instead choosing to look downward and off to the side; her posture suggested defeat, and she nervously played with her chopsticks in her right hand.

"Natasha," Steve scolded, hardening his gaze.

"I'm surprised you haven't Googled my name yet," Natasha said dryly, a self-deprecating smile playing at her lips. "Really. What are you waiting for?"

Steve maintained his steady demeanor. "I already told you. I want to learn about you from you, not by reading some leaked files. I trust you to tell me in your own time."

"You shouldn't trust me," Natasha murmured to herself, maintaining that same grin.

"You shouldn't hurt yourself like this," Steve shot back, looking around at the people observing them, watching Natasha, as if waiting for her to make a move to endanger them all. "This doesn't solve anything."

"I'm not going to hide from the truth," Natasha argued, finally meeting Steve's eyes with her now fiery gaze. "I can't just pretend I'm innocent and deserve praise, because I don't."

"You're an Avenger, a hero," Steve reminded.

"I wasn't always," Natasha replied coolly, catching sight of more bystanders in her peripheral vision and looking down at her food once more.

"This won't undo anything," Steve said.

"But maybe it will prevent something," Natasha said softly, finally breaking her chopsticks up. She picked up a piece of orange chicken.

Steve glanced down at his own take-out bowl, which was a mirror of Natasha's, as he'd had no clue what to order from this "Panda Express" place. It was all new to him, so Natasha had ordered for him (earning some curious gazes from even the workers at Panda Express, who had also apparently read up on her files). He, however, grabbed a plastic fork, which he now picked up and used to gather some of the noodles.

"Look," Steve said, looking at Natasha through the noodles dangling from his fork, "the Avengers - your friends - we're all here to look out for you and keep you in check. We wouldn't let you do something bad again, just like we know you wouldn't let any of us lose control like that."

"Lucky me," Natasha said sarcastically, eating her orange chicken. She swallowed, then stabbed the noodles with a bit more force than Steve believed necessary.

"Seriously, Nat, we're here for you, with whatever you need," Steve said earnestly.

"Just shut up and eat your chow mein," Natasha said lightly, gathering some chow mein on her own fork. He knew she'd still heard and understood what he'd just said, but didn't want to dwell on the subject any longer. "It tastes better while it's still hot."

Steve smiled, glad to have brought some of Natasha's old spunk back for the moment, and took a bite of his chow mein. It was...pretty good! He quickly gathered more on his fork, nodding at Natasha. "You were right, I do like this Panda place."

"It's unhealthy as hell, but it's so good," Natasha agreed, smiling a bit. "I love dragging you farther down in the levels of fast food hell."

"I can't wait to reach the ninth level, then," Steve joked, trying the orange chicken, which he also found to be quite enjoyable.

"Wait until you try Popeye's," Natasha said mischievously. "They have great fried chicken and French fries."

"I'm excited."

Now that the conversation had lightened up and become jovial, Steve noticed some of the tension leaving Natasha's shoulders. Each time she looked up at him, she raised her chin just a bit higher, and her eyes held more and more of her teasing light. Steve couldn't help but smile.

As Natasha was finishing up her last few bites of chow mein, her eyes held a certain curiosity, and she looked to Steve inquisitively. "So...is this, like, our second first date?"

Steve jumped slightly at the question, halting his motion to place his final piece of orange chicken in his mouth. "I mean...would you say it's going better than our first first date?"

"Well, so far, there haven't been any missions, assassinations, or conspiracy theories proven to be true, so that's nice," Natasha said. "Although, eating Panda Express in the food court of a mall isn't really high quality romantic content, either."

"It's less stressful, so I think it counts," Steve said, raising his plastic cup of water. "Cheers?"

Natasha grabbed her cup, tapping it to Steve's. "Cheers. I'll drink to that."

As they each drank their respective cups of water, Steve found himself struggling to contain the forming smile on his lips. This was a date. Their date. Just him and Natasha.

"Does this mean our next date will officially be our second date?" Natasha questioned when she finished drinking.

"I have no protests to that," Steve said, feeling a surge of pure joy rush through him. Everything about Natasha just excited him to spend time with her and get to know her. "I'm looking forward to it."

(It almost felt like he loved her.)

"Our second date will be Popeye's, then," Natasha decided. She anxiously glanced around herself one final time, before giving Steve a sheepish grin. "I guess we can get it to go next time."

"I'd prefer it that way," he replied warmly.

(He wondered if she felt the same.)