Title: Gold Rush
Pairing: CaptainAmerica-WinterSoldier-FemaleOC (poly)
First language isn't English, so please point out spelling or grammer mistakes. Be specific when pointing them out so I can correct them.
I'm not making any promises when the next chapter will be uploaded. Keeping my head in this story has proven rather difficult these last couple of months and the Witcher season 2 is coming out next week, so I'll be binging that shit.
Thank you to the people for listing this story as your favorite or on your alert list and for reviewing this story.
Your thoughts on the story are always welcomed.
Chapter 9 part 2
"Look what the cat dragged in," Natasha said with a sly smile hanging on her lips as Wanda and I walked into the kitchen. The redhead was sitting backwards on a chair, holding some cards in her hands, looking effortlessly stunning in her casual clothes. How can some people always look good no matter how they are dressed? Mister Stark also has that super power, even when he is covered in grease or just threw a tantrum. My eyes wondered down to my worn-out sneakers and oversized sweater and I felt like a potato sack. Sam and mister Barton walked into the adjoining den and came back carrying two chairs for Wanda and me. The table was covered in poker chips and cards and empty beer bottles laid forgotten on the kitchen counter. Natasha made room at the table and the Captain opened the fridge and asked us what we wanted to drink. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt and it was slightly too tight around his arms. I bite the inside of my cheek to stop the thoughts that were forming in my head.
"Wine for me," Wanda answered and took the chair Sam was carrying and sat down at the table. She pulled out her phone and showed Natasha some pictures from our trip. I met the Captain's eyes as he handed Wanda her wine. He sent me a cheeky smile as I asked for the same thing. His tooth gin mad ema smile back involuntary. God, he's just so… I was saved from my thoughts as mister Barton offered me a chair. I accepted it and held out my hand to introduce myself. We met before but we were never properly introduced: "Thank you, I'm Alex by the way."
"Clint, so you decided to come down that tower you work in and mingle among us commoners," the man joked as he pulled back his hand and we sat down. I was grateful for the chair and it felt good to sit down. My foot's still healing and our outing might have been a bit too much for it, especially crawling around the caves.
"More like a witch kidnapped me from my ivory tower," I joked and Wanda shoved me playfully. I stuck my tongue out at her as the Captain leaned down between us and placed a glass of wine in front of me. He pulled back slowly and whispered: "Need a knight to save you from the evil witch."
"No, not a knight," I said and leaned closer to his arm, that was still resting on the table next to me. I lowered my voice and was pleased the others were currently distracted: "But maybe a Captain."
The man sent me another cheeky smile and I was positive I was blushing. He stood up straight and his hand touched my shoulder and gave it a gently squeeze. He sat down next to me, closer than necessary but I didn't mind it. Sam and Clint joined us and Sam handed the other two men a cold beer bottle: "You guys want to play another game of poker?"
"Against Wanda? Hard pass?" Clint said with a cheeky smile and the woman waved her hand slightly. One of the dish towels smacked against his head and he choked on his drink, making a fool of himself. Sam reminded Wanda that she wasn't allowed to use her powers inside the house and a playful banter started between the woman and two men. I let my eyes wonder threw the kitchen. The cupboards had seen better days and the yellow paint looked very aged. The doorknobs had a gold shine to them, but the walls looked like they recently had a touchup with blue paint. Above the stove hung a spice rack, stocked with a lot more spices than I had in my kitchen. There were a few artworks of the Sam's nephews hanging around the room. I was glad Sam distracted me as I looked at the paintings: "Taylor, know any game we could play?"
He and Natasha were collecting everything from the poker game. I smirked and pulled out the deck of cards I had grabbed earlier and laid it on the table: "It's called bears versus babies. You have to build an army of monsters to kill the babies."
"That sounds horrible!" the Captain splutters after chocking on his drink, while Wanda grabs the cards and eyes them curiously: "That cannot be an actual game."
"Shockingly it is and the guys who made this game have a bunch more with weird themes," I say and lay out the cards with Wanda to explain what they do and how to play.
"Is this from the guy's who made Exploding Kittens?" Natasha asked me and I nodded. It's one of my favorite games. Brooklyn bought it as a housewarming present when I moved into my apartment and we play it almost every time we get together to play games.
"Exploding kittens? For some reason I'm afraid to ask what that's about," the Captain asked and eyed the cards with a very skeptical look. I wonder what he's thinking right now. Judging by the way his eyebrows are arching up, it can't be anything good. I was really glad I didn't bring Exploding Kittens with me if this game is already turning out to be too much for the man. I was surprised though that Natasha knew the game. She winked at me and told me that she, Clint and his wife Laura like to play the naughty version of the game. It sounds fitting for some reason.
"Always interesting when your youngest kid finds the game and asks you what a vibrator is," Clint mentioned, making everyone look at him confused, while I laughed: "What did you tell him?"
"What do you think? We told him it's a toy his auntie Nat likes to play with," Clint said with a very cheeky glint in his eyes.
"You did not?" Wanda asked shocked and I snorted into my drink: "Oh God, that's embarrassing."
"That's why he asked me what a vibrator was! I thought he went into your goody draw or something," Natasha mentioned casually. The Captain quickly asked how to play the game, making the others laugh because he was clearly out of his comfort zone.
"What does the naughty version of that game imply?" Sam asked as he checked out the cards, a sly smile hanging on his lips. I could tell he was hoping on embarrassing Clint, but Natasha quickly clarified that it was just cats with vibrators, flipping you off and having like ten boobs.
"What kind of games do you people play?" the Captain asked and we laughed at his very confused face.
"You didn't bring that game with you on any change, did you?" Natasha asked me, but I shook my head: "No, I thought it would be a bit much to bring my game about cats and vibrators along on my first visit."
"Can we stop talking about vibrators and play the game?" the Captain pleaded with us. I could tell his friends wanted to embarrass him some more, so I saved him by starting to explain the game. I felt him push his leg against mine as he sent me a grateful smile.
Natasha and Clint were clearly used to playing games like this so they understood the rules quickly. They were already planning how to use their cards while Sam, Wanda and the Captain needed time to read what their cards even meant. It was funny to see the Captain struggle with the weirdness of the game.
"How can a bear have a dolphin body that's pregnant and have a chainsaw arm?"
"Babies shouldn't be called fat or stupid."
"What is a Japperwocky?"
"I think you actually managed to break Steve's mind," Natasha told me as she eyed the man with merriment in her eyes. The Captain kicked her under the table but she was quick to avoid him and looked smugly at him. After two rounds everyone seemed to understand the game and we somehow started talking about foreign accents and what women found the most attractive one's. Natasha, Wanda and I simultaneously agreed on the English accent being the sexiest one.
"But why?" Sam asked and played a card that allowed him to swap two heads on the playing field. He swapped one of his heads with one of Clint's, making his monster stronger. Clint crushed, telling me he probably didn't have any good cards. He eyed the field and decided to draw a card, but it was a wild provoke card, meaning he had to declare war on one of the baby armies. Sam had the strongest monster at the moment, so he defiantly was going to win all the points. Clint chose the red army, knowing it had the least points and was pleased to get back at Sam for stealing his monster's head.
"Because it sounds sophisticated and smart," I explained and took another sip from my wine. I had to keep my cards close to me because Wanda was prawn to leaning back in her chair to look into mine or Natasha's cards. The red head leaned closer to Wanda and Clint every now and then to whisper something, but I could see here eyes slip down as she spoke and look at their cards.
"And intriguing," the Captain chipped in his two cents, earning a curious look from me, Natasha and Wanda, but Sam quickly pulled the attention back to himself while the Captain ended his turn: "Okay fine, the Brits win as always. Who comes after that?"
I was holding two good cards and my monsters were strong at the moment. Maybe I should provoke, but Wanda also had a strong monster. I decided to take care of that first by playing a dismember card and removed the head of her strongest monster.
"I like the Italian accent," Natasha said while Wanda eyed me angrily for taking out her monster. I smiled sweetly at her as she pulled a card. It made her smile, what I didn't like. She had a card on the field that allowed her an extra turn, so she laid down two cards, making her monster stronger than mine. Damn it!
"I'm more of a Spanish fan, I love watching telenovela's," Wanda said and grinned at me, making me kick her under the table.
"What about you?" the Captain asked me and I thought about it because I was frankly a fan of a lot of accents: "French always sounds sexy and sophisticated. They can basically insult you and make it look like they are flirting with you."
"Oh really?" Sam asked me and I smirked at him. I learned French at university and was very pleased at my ability to not sound like an American while speaking French: "Parler en français rend tout plus sophistiqué, mais Sam, tu as l'air d'une merde."
The Captain laughed at my words and Natasha grinned into her drink, while Sam looked confused at me. He clearly didn't speak or understand French and he knew his friends weren't going to translate for him: "Yeah well…back at you."
The Captain was quick to defend me, but everyone's attention got caught by Natasha, who snorted into her drink and needed a minute to compose herself: "That's your respond? Back at you? How old are you? Ten?"
"Anyone can call someone names in a language they don't speak," Sam defended himself and told Clint to make a move so the game could continue.
"I'm guessing you speak French?" I asked the Captain, who noted: "I understand it most of the time and I can speak enough to save myself. Where did you learn it?"
"At university," I answered and eyed the Captain as he made him move.
"You studied arachnology right?" Wanda asked me and I noted before she continued: "Do you speak any other languages?"
"I was studying ancient Greek and Latin but I also learned Russian and German after school hours," I summed up and impressed the others. I learned Russian and German from Kai and his family, because they were Russian and they mostly communicated in their mother language: "I was also interested in learning ancient Arabic and Māori."
"That's a lot of languages," Clint mentioned while the Captain asked me where they spoke Māori: "It's the native language of New-Zealand."
"I'm good at learning languages, less good with numbers," I explained. Traveling through Europe had spiked my interested in learning more, but it had to wait. Maybe I'll pick it up again once…huh…I actually don't know how to finish that sentence.
"Still, very impressive," the Captain told me and I asked how it came to be that he learned French: "I learned during the war from an army buddy. Seemed useful to speak the languages of fellow comrades."
"You speak more languages?" I asked surprised and smiled proudly at me. He was so handsome when he felt confident: "German, Russian, Spanish, Italian and even a bit of Japanese."
The others laughed while Sam pretended to cough: "Not bragging at all."
"You okay Sam?" the Captain asked the man, making him grin: "Perfectly."
"Good, because you can drop the mask and then give me the head of your monster," the Captain said confident. Sam cursed as the Captain played his cards.
"I have also been a fan of the Northern English accent," I said before Sam could come up with a comeback.
"Which one is that again?" Clint asked as I contemplated my next move. I had a strong monster, but Wanda had one wearing a mask, so maybe it was stronger than mine: "Sean Bean from Game of Thrones has a Northern accent."
I decided to provoke the baby armies. Wanda had to remove the mask her monster was wearing and I was pleased to see my monster was stronger in the end. I smiled smugly at her, who shoved me for besting her in the game, again. She didn't seem to be good at playing these games.
"So, Jon Snow's accent?" Sam asked and I pointed out that he did but didn't sound sexy at all. Wanda looked shocked at me: "Are you telling me you weren't team Jon Snow?"
"Hell no! Team Jaime all the way," I said as Natasha played a card that allowed her to shuffle the deck: "I was more team Khal Drogo."
"I hated that he died at the end of season one," I said and Wanda said the man was way to hairy for her taste, what made Sam chuckle: "Are you telling us you like your man clean shaved?"
"Or with no hair at all?" Clint added and the witch glared at him. He must be referring to the Vision, but no one said his name. Sam was quick to change the direction of the conversation: "I was team Tyrell. That woman was sexy!"
"Weren't we all team Margery?" Natasha joked and Sam cursed as his monster army was killed again by Clint, who provoked the remaining baby army. Natasha grinned at him as he shook his head. The redhead the first two games and Sam had vowed he was going to beat her this time. Guess not.
"As much as I loved seeing Margery take on Cersei, I was always team Cersei," I said and finished my glass. Clint asked me why I liked Cersei and I explained that as horrible as her actions were, she was just doing what everyone else was doing which was playing the game and securing her crown.
"Am I the only one who doesn't understand what you are talking about?" the Captain asked and his friends gave him a hard time on still not having seen the show. For some reason I don't picture him as a Game of Thrones fan.
"Alright, alright, I'll check it out some time," the man sighed and I took out his monster, making him throw his cards on the table and curse at me: "Damn you women!"
"Nice knowing you Steve," Natasha said and I waved at him, making him bump his knee against mine under the table. I grinned at the man and bumped my knee back against his. The Captain leaned back in his chair and laid his arm behind me, letting it rest on my chair. I didn't mind it and ignored Wanda's gleeful eyes.
"And I win again," Nat finishes the game with a grin as we count our points and she came out the clear victor. Damn it, I knew I should have kept a closer eye on her. We had played six games and she had won four so far. Me and Sam won the other two games. The red head smiled smugly at us: "You guys are awful at this game. Does anyone want to try again?"
We unanimously said no and Wanda stood up, getting everyone a last drink. I looked up and was surprised to see the time. We said we would stay for half an hour, but the game had made us forget the time. I was a little surprised that I would feel this comfortable around these people. I leaned back and felt my back touch the Captain's arm. His hand touched my arm and his fingers gently caressed my skin. I turned my head to meet his eyes. He sent me a slight smirk and reached forward to grab his beer from the table. When he leaned back, I moved closer to him and he squeezed my upper arm and flashed me his million-dollar smile, that would have made my knees buckle had I been standing up. My previous nervous feelings were all gone and I felt completely at ease as I sipped my wine and listened to Clint talk about his children's, with the Captains arm laying around my body.
"Nathaniel is acting up again," Clint told us and Natasha rolled her eyes while grabbing a bag of chips from the counter. She opened it and laid it on the table for everyone. I took a handful and as I leaned back again, I noticed the Captain pull me closer, right into his side. I offered him some of my chips and he took one, as his other hand slide down to my side.
"Again?" Wanda asked curiously and I had a though time paying attention to the conversation, being so close to the captain, so casual…and in front of his friends. No one was making a big deal out of it, for which I was glad. Wanda kept her gleeful eyes to herself, but I was positive she would ask me about it later when we would be alone.
"He has this imaginary friend, who he claims is real but…" Clint sighed and Wanda interrupted him by saying how adorable it was that his son had an imaginary friend. Clint didn't agree with that: "No, I assure you it's not adorable. It's a freaking nightmare. He keeps threatening us that his special friend will call back one day and tell him how to prank us to show us that he wasn't lying."
"His special friend?" I asked and the Captain handed me my glass of wine. Our fingers brushed against each other for a moment and I had to keep my eyes adverted or I was sure I would turn into a living tomato. The Captain cleared his throat: "I think we need more information, Clint."
"It started a couple of months ago. Nate said some woman called to the house and asked for Laura but she was in the garden. He was angry at Nat and apparently this woman told him how to get even with her and he did it," Clint explained. Wait a minute, this is sounding a bit too familiar. Miss Pots made me call someone a couple of months ago, but I ended up on the phone with a kid. When my boss realized I was calling with the wrong person, she made me hung up and forget about it. I was curious for a long time who the kid was, but I respected my boss her slightly threatening tone when she told me to never talk about that phone call to anyone.
"What did he do?" Sam asked and Clint received a very dirty look from Natasha as he explained his son had rigged a bucket in a doorway at their house and soaked Natasha to the bone with water. The others laughed at the Clint's story but I looked surprised at the man as it clicked that I had indeed been calling with Nathaniel Barton that day. Clint noticed my look and before he could ask me about it I asked if there was washing detergent in the water.
"Yeah, how did you know that?" Clint asked me and Natasha eyed me curious, well everyone eyed me curiously to be exact.
"Funny story, I ended up on the phone with a kid a few months ago who kept going on about his friend being a bully. And I might have given him a few ideas on how to stand up for himself," I explained and Natasha was quick to ask what other ideas I gave the kid: "Eum, I think I mentioned a few food pranks and replacing liquid soap with syrup…"
"That's why he gave me shampoo for Christmas!" Natasha nearly yelled and Clint started laughing uncontrollably as he tried to tell us how Nate had gotten a surprise present for Natasha for Christmas: "We thought he was just trying to be mean and tell her she smelled funny."
"It took me hours to get that stuff out of my hair! It's not funny Clint!" the red head punched the man hard, judging by him grabbing his arm: "Oh come on it was funny as hell Nat."
"Are those the only two he did?" I asked and one red eyebrow went up slowly in a very threatening way. It would have sent a chill down my spine, but the fact that a kid was pranking Natasha Romanov, the Black Widow, was just too damn funny to take her threat serious.
"What else did you tell him?" Natasha asked me and I felt the Captain's hand tighten his grip on my upper arm. I couldn't help but laugh at her attempt to try and scare me: "Oh a lot more, you should watch your back for a while. Wait does that make me his invisible friend?"
"Yip," Clint said and Sam finished the last bag of chips. All the glasses and bottles were empty, signaling we would be calling it a night. I was far too comfortable in my seat, with the Captain's arm around my body. I didn't really want it to end yet: "I think I should be insulted."
"And you thought your house was haunted by a female ghost," Natasha said and stood up, stretching her arms above her head: "I'd watch your back this weekend Taylor because I'm getting back at you."
"Show me what you got Romanov," I replied teasingly and Clint stood up as well and laid his arm around the red heads shoulder: "You are going to dream about getting revenge, aren't you?"
"And what sweet dreams they will be. See you all in the morning," Natasha said with a smug smile and she sent me a wink, that made me grin. I was curious as to what she would try and confused by the look she sent to Clint before walking upstairs.
"I can't believe I didn't sleep properly for a week because of you," Clint told me and I grinned at the man, while I gathered all the cards of my game: "You really thought your house was haunted?"
"Laura and I were wondering if we needed to hire a shrink because he kept going on about his imaginary friend," Clint sighed and helped Sam place all the dishes in the dishwaters, while the Captain cleared the table and Wanda brought her chair back to the den.
"Whoopsie?" I feigned innocently and the man rolled his eyes at me: "That's the best you got? I'm going to enjoy seeing Nat get even with you." Clint followed the red hair upstairs. How many guest rooms does Sarah have? Wanda and I are bunking together, but there wasn't a third bed for Natasha, so where is she sleeping tonight? And isn't the Sergeant joining us tomorrow? Where is everyone sleeping tonight? Wanda went upstairs ahead of me, but I didn't mind. I helped Sam clean up while the Captain brought my chairs back to the den.
"I'm taking AJ and Cass fishing in the morning, so I'll see you guys at lunch," Sam said and walked to the back of the house, where there was an extra bathroom apparently.
"So, about that saving?" the Captain asked and surprised me by pulling my body against his broad frame. My heart fluttered as his arms slid around my waist and the smell of his cologne hit my nostrils. I couldn't stop myself from blushing and it made the Captain smile even more. I had to clear my voice before speaking: "The wicked witch is calling it a night so I think I'll be fine for now Captain."
"Meet me outside for breakfast at eight, before the others are up," the man asked me out as one hand cupped my cheek. I felt like jelly in his arms and was glad he was holding me because else I was sure my knees would have buckled: "You owe me a really good hot chocolate if you want me to get up that early Captain."
"Don't be late," the Captain told me and I liked his commanding tone. He leaned down and kissed my cheek slowly. I almost pulled him in for a kiss, but I managed to restrain myself. This tango of flirting we were doing was enough, for now.
When I walked into the bedroom, I was sharing with Wanda she had her laptop out and I could hear the intro of Veronica Mars playing: "If you people keep referring to me as the wicked witch, we're going to have a problem."
