Steve was trying not to take the silence in the car personally. He really was.

Natasha had been quiet—until she wasn't, and it was a startling contrast when you weren't expecting it—and she'd been mad at him. He thought she had been anyway. He still wasn't entirely sure if it had been him or his driving or just that she was already upset because she was injured and that tended to make her a little cranky on principle.

He just knew that the last time he'd driven her had been unpleasant and that she hadn't asked him for or accepted an offer of a ride since. She was polite to him in the tower, but he still felt like…

He sighed and his companion for this trip shifted uneasily.

Great. Now he was upsetting Bruce.

He searched for a topic of conversation, but what came out was a sort of rushed, "You're very quiet today."

Bruce's head turned in his peripheral vision and he winced.

"I'm usually quiet," Bruce said. "Is that a problem?"

"No!" Steve said. "Not at all! I just…" He shrugged. "I don't know. Everyone else has had opinions on my driving."

"Oh, uh… Do you want my opinion on your driving?"

"Sure. I mean, if you want to share it. You don't have to. I'm just…" He grimaced.

He heard a huff and glanced over to see Bruce smiling slightly.

"I take it not all the opinions have been complimentary?" he asked gently.

"No, I mean… Well… Clint seems to think I follow the rules a little too closely? Thor thinks it's boring. Natasha…" He shook his head. "She really doesn't like my driving. Anything about it. At all."

"And Tony?" Bruce asked.

Steve laughed. "Tony doesn't let me drive. Probably because he already knows he'd hate it. I know I drive too slow, too careful, too… everything for Tony."

Bruce laughed. "Yeah, I can see that."

Steve slowed and signaled for their turn, waiting for the crosswalk to empty and trying to resist glancing at Bruce's face every three seconds to see how he was reacting to the decision.

He seemed calm enough, but then he always did and by his own admission he was actually always angry.

Well he wasn't turning green, so that had to be a good sign, right?

He finished the turn and then merged over into the next lane. Despite Natasha's obvious disagreement, he used the proper technique.

He thought about asking Bruce again for his opinion, but then their left turn came up and he decided that was an excellent reason to delay for the moment.

"I think you're doing fine," Bruce said, before he'd worked up the nerve after the turn. "I like your driving. It's much less… stressful than some of the others."

Steve gave him a crooked smile and said, "Really? You won't hurt my feelings if you have a criticism."

"No, no, it's good. Very smooth and unhurried. Careful, but not…" He scrunched up his face. "Not like you're trying to be careful, if that makes sense."

"I think so," Steve said.

"I am curious though," Bruce said after another turn.

"About what?"

"Is this how you always drive?"

When he wasn't trying to outpace a Hydra caravan ahead of a snowstorm in the Black Forest? "Yes," Steve said, after a moment to change lanes.

"Oh," Bruce said, smiling. "Good. That's good." Steve thought he saw the doctor's shoulders relax a little.

"Why do you ask? If you don't mind," he added quickly.

Bruce shrugged and pulled his glasses off to clean them. "People just tend to be overcareful when dealing with me." He smiled wryly. "You know, because of the Other Guy. And I'm not saying they shouldn't be careful, it's just… nice sometimes when it's not about me." He winced. "That probably sounds really arrogant—"

"No," Steve assured him. "No, I think I understand what you mean." He smiled and Bruce smiled back.

There was more silence for a few blocks but it was far less uncomfortable this time. Enough so that Steve felt brave enough to follow Thor's example and ask, "Would you say that you and I are… friends, Dr. Banner?"

Bruce snorted. "Well, if we are that's probably going to end badly for you. 'Colleagues' is a safer term." His face twisted and then he said, "Then again... acquaintances is probably the best classification. Yeah." He made a polite sort of smile. "We're acquaintances, Captain."

Steve swallowed down the disappointment and forced his own smile. "Well, I definitely prefer it to enemies."

Bruce's smile widened. "Yeah, me too."