Steve Rogers came to the realization that falling in love in the 21st century was quite easy. Or maybe falling in love with Charlotte was easy? He wasn't too sure, as she was the first woman he had truly been in love with. Of course, there had been Peggy, strong, beautiful Peggy from the '40's, when Steve was another man, and time did not allow for the slow process of truly falling in love, rather, it only allowed time for crushes and failed dates. It did not allot time to the sluggish pace of falling in love.
Because that is what it truly was. Falling in love was easy, but slow, Steve concluded. Except it was sort of different than slow. It was slow, painstakingly so, at first, and then it was there. Sort of like falling asleep with a racing mind. Lightning fast at first, with a head full of thoughts, some rational, some completely irrational. And then, sleep. Just suddenly, out of nowhere, love was there, the kind that was happy and sometimes painful, but oh so worth it.
Their first date wasn't the night that Charlotte was fired. In fact, it was not the night after, nor the week after. It took a whole month before Steve was able to properly take Charlotte out on a date. The first night, the Avengers had been called into action to fight something or another (really, all these mad scientists and their havoc wreaking experiments were blurring at this point from the sheer amount of them). Thankfully, Charlotte had given him her number so that he could call if a change of plans took place. And when he'd called, she'd merely laughed, an easy-going kind of laugh, and told him she'd wait for him and to have fun-
"um. Safe. Not fun. I meant, be safe. I' pretty sure what you're going to do is not going to be fun, although if you wanted to make it fun, I'm not judging."
And Steve had laughed and told her he'd have fun and that he would stay safe, and that he'd called when he got back.
Only, when he got back, he'd probably had an hour before he was asked to travel with Natasha to Finland on a mission that, to be honest, he didn't even know what it entailed. It seemed Natasha knew so too, since she'd told him to just fight when the time came. And he did.
That had taken a week to take care of, with another two spent in Russia in what Natasha had called a "diplomatic mission. No big deal," but had actually turned out to be the sort of mission where Steve used his shield and the gun Natasha had given to him at the beginning far too many times. They'd come out alive, with only minor scrapes and a deep set exhaustion that provided Steve with a full 48 hours of continuous sleep.
So when he'd finally gotten around to calling Charlotte about a date (and, yes, Steve knew how to use a phone, thank you), Steve was expecting rejection, a full on refusal to sharing a life with a man that postponed dates until further notice, and was in the line of fire one hundred percent of the time.
"You're not dead! I figured I'd hear if you were, anyway-in the news or something," was the first thing she said when he called, and, man, was he rendered completely speechless.
"uh, you still there, Steve?" She'd asked when he hadn't responded for a while.
"Yes. Yeah. I'm not dead. I'm sorry about the not calling, I was a bit busy," and there. He'd ruined it, because he was pretty sure that he was not supposed to say that he was too busy to call a girl, and God, did he feel like melting into the sidewalk.
"It's fine. Busy is good. I've been busy too, what with midterms and all that. And, oh! I got a job. Finally! Still waitressing, but I don't mind. I like meeting people," Steve could picture her smiling, and he smiled in turn.
"I'll have to relocate my breakfast place, then." He almost punched himself. Really? Follow her like a stalker. Because that is what Charlotte was thinking, Steve was sure. He was a stalker, and he could not backpedal on that one.
But Charlotte laughed, and said, "I'll give you that address when I see you next…I mean, you still want to do dinner with me, right? Because if you don't, that's completely fine, I'll just-"
"No! Of course I want to still have dinner with you. How about tonight?"
"Yeah, sure! I-uh-yeah. Where? I can maybe meet you there?"
And Steve refused to meet her, because he was a gentleman, and this was a date, and he would pick her up and walk her back home and be completely gentlemanly like his mother had raised him, thank-you-very-much.
So the plans were set, and she'd given him directions to the small apartment she rented with two other people, and he was going on a date. His first date ever, since Bucky's poor attempts at setting him up always left him as a chaperon, not a date, and would he need a chaperon? Did people still do that?
"What are you, twelve? No!" And he realized asking Tony Stark had been a bad idea but Natasha was out of town on a mission somewhere with Clint, Bruce was in India again doing doctor stuff, Thor was pretty unreachable in another realm, and Steve was not going to ask Nick Fury about 21st century dating protocols.
"What you do is this, Cap, and listen well, because Tony Stark doesn't give love advice for free-" and Steve refused to listen to the rest, quickly tuning the man out before he'd hear too much.
In the end, Steve decided to just take her out to dinner to a small Italian restaurant he and the rest of the Avengers had ventured into once after battling killer robots. The food was good, Steve knew, and it was small enough to be private, and cozy. They could talk and maybe he would not make a complete fool out of himself.
Steve stood at her door at exactly 7:00 pm that Thursday night , dressed in a pair of khaki slacks and a navy button down shirt, his leather jacket pulling it all together. He'd briefly played with the idea of wearing his army uniform, but he'd reminded himself that this was the 21st century and, no, people probably didn't dress like that on the first date.
She'd open the door quickly enough, with an excited smile and a breathless, "hello," before she grabbed his hand, closed the door behind her and led him back down the stairs of the apartment complex.
Once outside, she'd let go of his hand and tuned to him.
"Sorry, my roommates were having an intense game of ping pong on our dining table, and I figured that'd be too much for you to witness on a first date."
But Steve was still speechless, because, yes, she'd held his hand, and wasn't that just one of the greatest feeling he'd ever had?
"You're left completely speechless that easy, huh?" she smiled, and Steve slapped himself internally. He finally took a good look at her, and noticed that her hair was down, the first time he'd seen it that way, in a wild mess of brown waves. She was wearing a simple, knee length navy blue dress, a black leather jacket on top, and a pair of worn looking brown ankle boots, and Steve didn't think he'd seen a more beautiful woman ever.
"Sorry, I was running a bit late and my hair gives a whole new definition to the word stubborn. I hope I'm not under dressed?" She was blushing and Steve realized he'd been staring for too long.
"You look beautiful." He'd said sincerely, and the shy smile and red cheeks that greeted his compliment did not allow him to berate himself for saying such a bold thing.
"You do too," she turned a darker shade of red and Steve smiled in amusement, "Not beautiful, handsome. You look handsome. Although, I mean, you can be beautiful if you prefer…I'll be shutting up now."
Steve laughed and told her he hoped she wouldn't and led her over to his motorcycle.
"I hope you don't mind riding a motorcycle. I don't exactly know how to drive a car," and she was wearing a dress, and good going Steve, she's going to think you're trying to pull something. "If you wanted to change into pants…"
"What? No, I have shorts underneath, see?" She lifted her dress to show him a pair of black spandex shorts and the world suddenly turned into the Sahara Desert, and it was hot, so hot-why was it hot?
Charlotte seemed to notice this and quickly smoothed down her dress and made a funny sort of noise that Steve wasn't sure was not despair incarnated.
"Oh, God, I'm so sorry. I'm just-it's just. Sorry. I'm awkward." She finished and looked at him as if doing so would explain what she just did.
"It's fine." Was all he said because, well, he was awkward too but he didn't think he could quite voice it out like she could.
But dinner had been better. After they settled down, Charlotte had not hesitated in telling him that she'd have to call her mother and tell her she'd gotten on a motorcycle, and that the woman would probably have a heart attack. Steve had tried to apologize, but Charlotte had laughed in her own sort of way, the kind that made Steve feel like it really all was alright and her mother having a heart attack was no big deal.
"I'm just letting you know, I'm not a salad kind of girl," she'd told him when the menus had arrived.
Steve smiled. "I guess I'll let you know that I eat the equivalent of a week's worth of food in one sitting."
"Surprisingly, that's not impressive. I have two younger brothers, both of whom are about your size. It'll take a lot to impress me, Steve."
And talking was made easy with Charlotte. One minute they were talking about her brothers, both in college, although she was due to graduate that May while they were barely starting. Then, she was talking about old literature classics, and Steve was able to follow because what else was there to do when he spent most of his childhood indoors? And she loved Dickens, and he didn't, but that was fine because he loved Shakespeare and she was not a big fan of him. And then she was talking about politics and sounding smart, and, well, Steve was barely keeping up with the conversation at that point, but she was patient and explained everything she said.
"Half the people I meet, including my family, never follow along when I talk politics. I've just learned to explain as I talk," she'd told him before she'd asked him about his drawings.
And that had been his turn to begin talking about his favorite painters, and she'd smiled while he talked and asked questions about his favorite painters and the kind of drawings he did.
"People, mostly. I haven't had much time for sight-seeing lately, which is usually what gives me inspiration."
"I love people watching! Do you do that to get ideas for drawing people?"
How was he supposed to explain that, no, he did not people watch? In fact, he just watched her, and pictured her countless times in his head and drew her from memory.
"I guess. I haven't sat and just watched people in a while, if that's what you're saying," he said, because he was not going to tell her he had a sketchbook full of her face.
"You haven't lived! It's the best. You just sit there and watch. I guess it's not so great, but it's fun when you have some time in your hands," she said, and then asked, "you'll have to show me your drawings sometime, maybe?"
And he'd agreed because she'd looked so hopeful, and maybe he'd have to spend some time drawing other people before he showed her anything.
It was not until they were sitting with small cups of strong coffee and two pieces of cheesecake between them that Captain America came up.
"So, I didn't want to ask before because of privacy, but now I just feel rude for not even mentioning it, but, anyway. How…did-was everything fine this last month? You don't have to answer if you don't want to. I'm on a date with Steve Rogers, after all." She'd asked over the brim of her small coffee mug.
Steve smiled because she was on a date with him, and not Captain America, and that was the first time she'd mentioned him that night. So he launched into the story of his month, without revealing information that could potentially get her in trouble, but enough to keep her eyes wide and impressed. He'd be a liar of he didn't admit he kind of enjoyed seeing the amazement in her eyes when he retold his month.
After dinner turned into a rather long process. She was adamant about paying since she'd asked him for dinner a month ago in the first place, "remember?" and he refused to let her pay because he was a gentleman and gentlemen paid for the meal at the end. Except he didn't say that because he didn't think saying he was a gentleman out loud would actually be a gentlemanly thing to do, so he settled for reminding her that this was a date, and he would like to pay, "please." She'd sighed and let him hand the waiter the bill (which he hadn't let her see in the first place) with the little plastic card SHIELD had assured him was now a form of currency. She'd gone without protest after that, smiling at the waiter and thanking him on the way out, and if she noticed that Steve noticed when she placed a few bills on the table before leaving, she didn't comment on it.
They had stood at the front of her apartment door, where Steve could hear a man and a woman arguing loudly over what he could only assume was the ping pong match Charlotte had mentioned before when Steve realized that he had successfully gone through his first real date.
"Ping pong is taken very seriously in our apartment." Charlotte told him as she smiled sheepishly up at him.
He smiled back because sparring matches turned ugly at SHIELD when any of the Avengers were involved, and he could relate.
"Can I see you again?" He asked after a moment.
"Of course. I thought we had established I'm seeing that sketchbook of yours," she smiled a teasing smile and Steve laughed because he was happy. "You mentioned you've never been to the MET. We could go? I went there my freshman year because of a school assignment, but I honestly didn't pay much attention."
Steve agreed and they had a second date. There was no kiss on their first date, just a hug that Steve cherished to a near embarrassing level, but he was beyond happy.
Steve found out the way love worked on their seventh date. He'd liked Charlotte a lot on their first six dates, finding it easy to make her laugh by just being himself and he found himself doing a lot of laughing and smiling himself. He could not think of any other time in his life, even pre-freezing, that he'd been so truly, and utterly happy.
So he'd established that he liked her. A lot. And she's told him that she liked him a lot too.
And then the seventh date came around. They'd been walking around central park, holding hands, for half an hour now, as this was Charlotte's first morning off in a while and she insisted on going outside even with the brisk November air, when Iron Man had landed in front of the pair seemingly out of nowhere.
"Killer robots. Again. Honestly, you'd think they'd get that this is getting old fast. We need you Cap." He'd said and all Steve could do was turn to Charlotte to ask if it was alright if he left in the middle of their date when she'd frowned at him.
"I swear, Steve, if you ask, I might have to punch you. Go. I'll be fine. Call me when you can?" She looked him straight in the eye, daring him to say no to her.
Distantly, Steve heard an inappropriate whipping sound coming from what he could only assume was Iron Man, but he chose to ignore it in favor of looking at Charlotte.
"Ok. I'll get somebody to pick you up-"
"I'll be fine. I'll get on the subway-no, don't frown-and go back home. I have homework, anyway. Go." She urged again. "And stay safe. You too, Mr. Stark."
Before Tony could come up with witty retort to her heed, a small explosion was heard in the distance. "Time to go, Cap."
"Go." Charlotte said again, hugging him briefly, and kissing his cheek. Steve smiled and let Tony grab him by the middle, flinching only briefly at the feeling of free falling before he was stabilized in midair.
The battle was easy enough since killer robots had become a regular opponent as of lately, so there were no wounds to tend to after the battle, and only minimal clean-up.
"Rogers. In the van. Now." Nick Fury's voice came through the small communication device in his ear.
"Ooh. Someone's in trouble." Came Tony's voice soon after.
"You too, Stark. Everyone, in the van." Was Nick Fury's response.
It was not until he was watching Charlotte having a stare down with Agent Maria Hill through a one way window that he realized that he was not about to be debriefed.
"I'm going to ask again, are you dating Captain America?" Steve heard the agent ask with her signature glare.
"Nope. I already said so, Ms. Hill, I am dating Steve Rogers." Charlotte answered with a glare herself.
"So you're dating Steve Rogers?"
"Yes…?" Charlotte responded, making it sound like a question, although irritation was clearly shown on her face.
"And are you aware that Steve Rogers and Captain America are the same person?"
"Well, if I didn't before, I do now, don't I?" Charlotte answered, and Tony snorted from beside Steve.
"What is she doing here? Get her out, she has nothing to do with anything," Steve tried opening the door to the room, finding it locked. "You have three seconds to open that door before I rip it open myself." Steve glared at Nick Fury, who looked furious with the situation.
"You will do no such thing, Captain. She is being interrogated-"
"Why?" Steve asked, voice hard as steel.
"She knows too much, and she is now of interest to SHIELD-"
"Because she's dating me. With all due respect, sir, that is a bunch of bologna. I have made sure she knows nothing other than the fact that I am Captain America. This is none of SHEILD's business-"
"Everything you do, Captain, is our business," Nick Fury's one eye glared at Steve, but the effect was lost with the background yelling of Charlotte.
"Look it here, lady! You've confiscated my bag, I'm pretty sure illegally, and have kept me in a room for the last five hours asking the same exact questions, and getting the exact same answers. I've asked for a lawyer and you've denied me one-again, illegal. I am two seconds from peeing my pants because I had to go, like, yesterday, and you're glaring is getting real old, real fast. Let. Me. Go." Charlotte's glare intensified with the raising of her voice, a deep flush covering her face.
And Steve had had enough, because Charlotte was not supposed to be here, and really, a one eyed glare was not as effective as it should be, so he rammed his shoulder into the door, effectively opening it with a loud bang. Charlotte's startled gaze met his, and something akin to relief showed in her face, before she turned to Maria Hill and glared again, saying, "Excuse me," as she began walking towards Steve.
This was where she would break up with him, Steve was sure, because who wanted to be bullied by a secret organization just for dating him? No one, Steve was sure was the answer, and he'd be lying if he didn't feel that he was already heartbroken even before Charlotte reached his side.
But, like just about everything Charlotte did and said that confused Steve, he was dumbfounded when she took him by the hand when she reached him and began pulling him out the door and into the hallway where the rest of the Avengers and Nick Fury stood. She stopped dead when she saw the bunch, visibly inching closer to Steve's side, and her hand squeezing his harder, when he stopped beside her. Nick Fury's glare pointed directly at her probably wasn't helping, so he pulled a glare of his own, daring the director to say anything.
Just as Steve was getting ready to lay it on the Director about how he had no say on Steve's personal life and the people in it (which really was not going to be as dramatic as it sounded, rather, it would have been rather anticlimactic, with Steve storming off with Charlotte in tow), he heard Charlotte sigh from his side. She was the first to speak.
"That was kind of rude. Actually, that was super rude and a total dick move. I don't really appreciate being kidnapped on the way to the subway. Or on my way to anything, really. Also, I'd like to get my bag back," After a pause, where no one said anything, she said, "and I'd like to know where the nearest restroom is…please." She added as an afterthought to the group. Her voice sounded tired, and worn, but with a hint in it that warned anyone that she was not about to put up with more trouble.
"I'll take you." Natasha, as expected, was the first one to respond, gracefully walking past the dumbfounded men, leading Charlotte past the Director, who had let go of Steve's with a relieved smile and a quiet, "thank you," to Natasha.
"I like her," piped Tony as soon as the women turned the corner. That seemed to wake everyone up.
"Ten bucks says she breaks up with Cap by tomorrow." Clint said next, grinning widely, but without malice.
"Oh, come on! Have some faith," Tony grinned back, "I give it a month."
Bruce groaned and sent an apologetic look at Steve, "Tony-"
But Steve cut him off, saying, "she stays out of this, Fury," and stalked off in the direction the women went, giving no time for anyone to argue.
He caught up with them as Charlotte was exiting the restroom, Natasha right behind her. Charlotte smiled when she saw him and turned to Natasha, "thank you…for bringing me to the restroom, I mean."
Natasha nodded with a small smirk, caught Steve's eyes and nodded again before telling Charlotte that she would get her bag as she walked away.
"I'm sorry. You should not have been brought into this." And, yes, he knew that he looked and sounded pathetic, and desperate, but he wanted this relationship. He wanted Charlotte, and, darn it, he deserved to be selfish once in a while, was he not? He knew the minute he was enlisted into the army and injected with the serum that turned Steve Rogers into Captain America that he would have to sacrifice everything. And he had, had he not? He'd given up his life, and even a budding relationship with Peggy. If he gave up 70 years of his life, why could he not have just one thing? Why could he not just have Charlotte?
Charlotte's eyes softened, and she gave him the small, almost sad, smile that he had come to understand was her way of telling him she understood. He'd received that smile every time he had to cut a date short, or cancel on her because Captain America was needed. "It's not your fault. I mean, yeah, but it's not like I didn't know who you are before I went on that first date with you. If anything, this was more of a small inconvenience, and I now get the privilege of saying I have been interrogated by a government agency. Honestly, I'm a political science major. This is sort of a dream come true, knowing that the government has secrets. It's probably supposed to be a big secret, I know, but I didn't sign anything," Charlotte smiled and interlaced her hand with his, her brown eyes telling Steve that she was teasing about speaking up, "Anyway, I don't scare easily. And I don't let go of people easily. You're stuck with me for a while, I'm afraid."
And Steve fell over the precipice, into a deep, warm, and comfortable sleep, and just like that, he was in love.
"Be my girl." Was what came out of his mouth, and was instantly horrified. Firstly, he was pretty sure (actually, he was one hundred percent sure) that he was supposed to ask, not demand. Secondly, did she even want to go steady with him? Was that how it worked these days? They'd only gone on seven dates, and had not shared anything more than hugs and kisses on the cheek. Maybe it was too early? She'd told him she didn't mind a slow pace when he'd told her the sort of slow pace his time period had ingrained in him. Thirdly, wow, he was impressed with himself for not saying that he was in love, because even he knew he had to wait more time before he said such powerful words. Lastly, he would not be surprised if she slapped him. Because she'd made sure that he knew that he was independent and her own person, and, God, he'd just demanded that he be her owner-or at least he thought that would be how she would take it.
Charlotte raised her eyebrows, and smiled teasingly, "is that a 40's thing?"
Steve could only nod.
Charlotte laughed, and looked at him with the brightest smile and bright eyes that told him she was not making fun of him, or the idea, but rather, that she was happy. So he let go of the breath he had been holding since he had blurted out his demand, and smiled shyly at her.
"And you'll be my boy?" Steve nodded. "Ok. I'll be your girl."
And Charlotte was suddenly shrieking in laughter when Steve took her in his arms and spun her above him, her feet lifted off the ground and everything. He couldn't help himself, then, and brought her down, looking down at her for a few seconds as her laughter subsided into a gentle smile, before his hands moved of their own accord, one gently grabbing the back of her neck, and the other cupping her cheek, a thumb tracing her lower lip, before he tipped his head down and met her lips.
There were no explosions. No fireworks. Just a feeling of not being lonely, of being loved, and a warmth that he had not experienced since he'd been frozen. The kiss was soft, and tentative, just the touching of two shy lips. The kiss was home.
And it was rudely interrupted by a clearing of a throat, and, "I've got your bag."
Steve and Charlotte stepped away from each other slowly, Charlotte sighing, and Steve a cross between embarrassed (he knew he'd turned an unhealthy shade of red) and anger at his time being cut short.
"Thank you, um…"
"Natasha Romanov." The assassin extended her hand for a shake, and Steve had to raise an eyebrow because that meant a lot coming from Natasha.
"Charlotte Owens." She smiled at Natasha, and shook her hand.
"I know," Natasha smirked in an almost threatening way before turning to Steve. "I'll take care of the debriefing. Take her home." And she was gone as silently as she came.
Her nose scrunched up. "Should I be scared?"
"No. I think she likes you." Steve smiled and took her hand, leading her towards the locker rooms so that he could change out of his uniform.
She bumped her shoulders to his. "I like you."
And Steve smiled, because, yes, he very much loved her, but he's tone it down because he wanted to keep her around and not scare her off. He gently bumped her shoulders back, squeezing her hand a little tighter in his. "I like you too."
This will probably just be a collection of little events in Charlotte's and Steve's lives. It'll remain under a completed status, as I never really know when I will write again.