"Captain, I would ask you a question."
Steve checked his blind spot and then moved into the next lane. "Sure thing, Thor. What's on your mind?"
Thor hesitated, and Steve glanced over to see his brow was furrowed.
"You know I won't make fun of you, right? I mean, I may have been born on Earth, but so much has changed since my day that it sometimes feels like I woke up on another planet."
Thor smiled. "This I know, Steve. You are most patient with me and I appreciate your consideration. It is why when JARVIS cannot answer my queries, I would ask you before the others."
Steve frowned, slowing down for the stoplight. "Are they giving you a hard time?"
"No more than usual," Thor assured him. "And it does not offend me, but it can distract them from answering the question." He shrugged. "It is just simpler to seek you out if possible."
"Oh. Well, okay then." He lightly pressed the pedal and sped up, though well behind the other cars at the light. One or two from his lane jumped over to others to go around when it was clear he wasn't going to go racing off like it was a starting line instead of an intersection. They honked as they went past and one threw him the bird, but Steve just repressed the instinct to wave and smile in favor of ignoring them.
"I do not understand Midgardian naming customs."
Steve frowned. "How so?"
"Natasha seems to have many names, but not everyone is permitted use all of them."
"Well, does everyone call you Thor all the time on Asgard?" Steve asked as he slowed down for another light.
"Except on rare occasions, yes. I do know that one may answer to different names. My father is called Odin or the Allfather. Once he was called Son of Bors. But there are so many more variations on Midgard. To you Natasha is Agent Romanoff when working with SHIELD and Natasha at home. Miss Potts calls her Natalie Rushman at times, and Tony…has a seemingly endless list of things he may use for her name."
Steve snorted and flipped on his signal, then slid over to the right in preparation to turn. "That's not a usual Midgardian custom, that's just Tony."
Thor smiled. "Indeed, I have suspected that to be the case. But while I thought that such differences were a way to tell what relationship two people might have, I have since found that not to be the case. Or if it is, Midgardian relationships are far more complex than Asgardian."
"I see. Well, relationships can be pretty complex. I call her Natasha at home because she told me to, but it's professional courtesy when we're in a work environment—like SHIELD—for me to use her rank or title." His brow furrowed. "I'm not actually sure which 'agent' is. Maybe both," he decided with a shrug as he turned.
"As she told me," Thor agreed. "And yet Clint calls her 'Nat' or 'Tasha'."
"Oh, well, yeah, they're really good friends." Steve frowned. "Possibly more than friends, I'm not quite sure."
"I see," Thor said, but his tone said he didn't really. "But are we not also her friends?"
Steve blew out a breath and scrubbed a hand back through his hair. "Well, we're…" He sighed. "You're right, it is complicated."
He tried to find the best way to explain and Thor was, thankfully patient enough to wait.
"I don't want to make assumptions about what kind of relationship you and she have, but I don't think she and I are really friends."
"Does sharing battle not create the bonds of friendship?"
"Well, it can. I mean mostly, I think it does, but—"
"Do you consider us to be friends?" Thor said, and Steve had never heard him sound more uncertain.
"No! I mean, of course, we are, Thor. But not everyone… I was really good friends with the other Howling Commandos—the guys I fought in the war with, before the ice, you know. But I know other guys who didn't get along so well with their units." He shrugged again. "It kind of depends on the person, I guess. But we are. I mean, I consider you a friend so…"
Thor smiled broadly and clapped his shoulder. "I am glad to hear that."
There was a companionable silence for a few minutes as Steve navigated the streets of Brooklyn, and then Thor said, "Having a friend such as you to converse with is the only thing that makes such an interminably dull journey tolerable. I do not understand why your people gave up horses as a means of transport or why you do not allow races with your fellow travelers."
Steve laughed in surprise. "Aren't you learning to drive with Darcy?"
"I am," Thor said, sighing, "but there are many rules, most of which seem to be designed to take all the skill and pleasure out of it."
"I'm going to tell Tony you said that and he'll take you to the Grand Prix in Monaco."
"This Grand Prix is a place you can drive without all these restrictions?"
"Eh, something like that, yeah. It's a race, but not on a track, it's through the city."
Thor's expression grew thoughtful. "This intrigues me. And you will join us?"
"Yeah," Steve said. "I'd like that."
