France at Dusk
It's kind of ridiculous, really, but in a way that she can hardly keep herself from smiling. Because he might be the best since Romanoff ninety-nine percent of times, but with her? He's like an open book.
They're parking the Bus in western France for the night, near some little town that looks like it was pulled straight from a postcard. It's charming and lovely and she just wants to see it and breathe in the fresh air and walk among buildings that might be older than her country and forget all her worries for a little while.
Ward catches her just as she is about to walk down the cargo bay ramp.
"Where are you off to?" he asks, standing up on the catwalk, with the slightest of smiles on his lips.
To the bookshop, she almost answers, because it just seems fitting, but then she says, "Just out for a walk in town. No particular destination."
"Mind if I join you?"
She doesn't; so they leave together.
And it's just simply… ridiculous. And cute, too, in a way. Because they walk side-by-side, close enough to touch (to hold hands), yet they don't, and they talk about silly things, and he laughs when she makes lame jokes. They trade stories and have dinner in a little café, where he pays because don't worry about it, and then continue walking around town, even though the sun is slowly setting, and the whole situation is a tangle of romantic clichés.
Not that it's a date.
Of course it isn't.
(That would be highly unprofessional.)
It's not a date until they don't call it a date.
Finally, they end up in some storybook-like park, with old oaks and a pond with ducks, and it's just lovely, so she aims for the closest bench and sits down there. He follows her without a word, taking seat a proper distance from her, then putting his arms on the backrest of the bench and letting his head fall back (she watches him closely as he does this; there's some puzzling grace about how he moves, and she wants to figure it all out).
Once he's settled, she scoots closer to him, turning towards him and pulling one of her legs up, so her knee almost touches his thigh. She smirks.
"So…" she starts, drawing out the word, waiting until he looks at her. "It's a really beautiful place."
He exhales at her words, and smiles just a little bit brighter than before. "It is."
"You bring me to such nice places, Agent Ward."
He snickers. "I didn't really bring you here."
She slides a bit closer, until her knee is digging into his thigh; he doesn't move. "Still. I had a great time."
He closes his eyes for a moment. "Yeah, me to," he says when he glances at her again, looking almost shy.
"So…" She lightly bits into her lower lip. "Only one question remains."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah." She leans closer to him than what would be appropriate. "Why haven't you kissed me yet?"
He freezes. Then closes his eyes and grins. And the he laughs.
And he is just too adorable for her not to kiss him.
