She recognized the man who walked into the coffee shop on New Year's Eve, not because of his appearance, but because of his aura of sheer and unmistakeable cool.
Eva did not want to be working, not on a day when all sane people should be out partying on the streets. But if she wanted to avoid alcohol, this was the only option, even if it did mean sharing her company with Guy-In-Your-MFA type people who thought celebrations were for the shallow-minded.
Well, that and the eyepatch man. He'd been in there a few times before, she remembered, and was one of those customers.
"D'you know," she said, ringing up his order in advance, "you ain't even the first supposedly-dead secret agent I've had in here this year."
"Got in just in time, then," he said, "and I'm not a secret agent."
"No?"
"I'm the secret agent," he told her, and she detected a faint note of pride.
"If you say so," she said, and he glared at her. Pissing off supers was her favorite hobby. "Back in town for the fireworks?"
"Something like that," he said. "I hear you're a semi-permanent fixture at the new HQ, coffee girl."
"Who told you that?" she asked, and he just smiled coolly. "Well, I wouldn't go quite as far as semi-permanent. The atmosphere's a bit… intense."
"That would be because it's a working military base, Miss Kresk."
She didn't even bat an eyelid at people knowing her name anymore. "On the house," she said, handing him the cup, "seasonal goodwill, and all."
"And a happy new year to you too," he said. "Although working isn't the way I'd spend it."
"And yet here you are," she said, "you don't strike me as the type for celebrations, Mr Fury. I hope whatever super-secret mission you're on goes well."
The second time round, his smile was somewhat more genuine. "You're a lot smarter than you let on, girl. And thank you, by the way. I actually don't get that a lot."
"I try my best," she said. "Have a nice night, sir."
"You too." He walked out the shop, all swagger and pirate-ness. Although maybe that was because of the eyepatch.
A/N normal service, ie Friday updates, has been resumed. In other news, I've been thinking about doing an anthology-type-thing of one shots and short fics that are along the same lines as The Civilian Chronicles, ie it's about normal people in the MCU who are just trying to get on with their lives, as opposed to heroes and villains- except, obviously, the heroes and villains keep turning up and interfering. Would y'all be interested? The first one is actually a reader-insert oneshot, about 700 words, involving Captain America. I'm thinking of publishing it as a taster, but only if people are interested. Let me know!