"Well, this just got awkward..."

Standard SHIELD vehicle - En route to Quinjet. Day. Daphne

Daphne was sitting in a SHIELD vehicle the next morning, on her way to the Quinjet which would transport them to the Helicarrier. She had to admit that SHIELD agents had a very impressive blank-faced façade, she would know after-all. She had tried, for the majority of the journey, to make the two agents in front of her to at least smile. She attemped normal conversational questions, jokes, funny faces, and even went so far to make sexual innuendos. They didn't react in the slightest. So she was stuck, for the remainder of the time, singing songs obnoxiously loud.

"... When I walk in the spot, this is what I see."

The two SHIELD agents glanced at eachother in disbelief. It was obvious that they knew who she was, but they refused to acknowledge her verbally.

"Everybody stops and they're staring at me, I got passion in my pants and I ain't afraid to show it, show it, show it, show it."

"I'm sexy and I know it
I'm sexy and I know it."

She was bobbing her head to the tune inside her head, eyes closed, until they had finally reached their destination.

"Miss Collins, we have arrived," one of the agents informed her.

"Finally," the other one stressed.

She grinned wildly, knowing that she had managed to annoy them to the point where they wished her gone.

"Ahah! I did it! You spoke!" She exclaimed happily.

They turned away from her, rolling their eyes at the young woman exasperatedly.

Still beaming, she strode towards the Quinjet where she was met by Phil. She quickly assembled a scowl on her face, still not forgiving him for the dress and not telling her about recruiting the Captain beforehand.

"Daphne," he greeted.

"Coulson," she replied tersely, concealing the smirk that was threatening to appear.

He sighed. "Come on, it wasn't that bad."

She answered with silence and one of her famous glares.

'You've done worse to me," he whined, crossing his arms while pouting slightly.

She snorted with laughter, remembering the incident he was referring to.

》》3 months ago. Helicarrier

Daphne was in the Helicarrier's kitchen, making some chocolate cake as a surprise to Coulson when the idea struck her. She grinned wickedly as she took the cake out of the oven and carried it to her room, to allow it to cool. She then ran back to the kitchens to make a second batch, the plan forming in her head.

- 1 hour later -

She sighed happily after successfully booby trapping the oven, jogging over to the Bridge, knowing Phil would be there.

"Hey Philly, I was wondering if you wanted any cake," she said innocently. She noticed how he faltered, debating with himself, internally. "It's chocolate." She laughed in a sing-song voice, knowing he would take the bait.

"Umm, yeah, okay," he answered, trying to hide how eager he was. Her chocolate cakes were to die for.

"Brilliant."

She led him back to the kitchen and he sat on a high stool, behind a counter. After a few minutes, she looked at the clock and feined worry.

"Oh damn, I forgot something. Please check on the cake for me, Phil. It's in the oven."

"Sure," he replied helpfully as she sprinted out of the room.

She could barely contain her laughter as she watched him, through the gap in the doorway, walk over to the oven and slowly open it.

BANG!

"ARGHHH!"

Phil stood up, covered head-to-toe in chocolate cake, where it had exploded from her sabotaging. He slipped on the offending, gooey mixture, sprawling over onto the floor in a big heap. That's when Daphne lost it. She started giggling which soon turned into massive bawls of laughter. He span, still lying on the floor, to face the source of the sudden howling, seeing Daphne, clutching her stomach, crying tears of pure amusement.

"You're f-face!" Howl. "You-you should have-". More laughter. "Seen it!"

He did not speak to her for the rest of the day.

》》Present day

"Hey, it's not my fault you're so easy to wind up," she defended, chuckling. "You're the perfect target."

He muttered words that could never be said in a church, plotting unpleasant ways to torture her while she just hummed cheerfully, stepping onto the Quinjet.

She glanced around the inside, eyes resting on a familiar attractive figure which soon she recognised as Steve Rogers. Well, this should be interesting...

》》》》》》

Quinjet. Day. Steve

Steve Rogers looked up at the sound of talking, coming from outside the Quinjet. One voice was distinctively female and a burst of recognition coursed through him. He knew that voice, had heard it before. He scoured his mind for when he may have heard it and suddenly remembered that woman he had encountered the night before. She hadn't looked or acted the way he expected a SHIELD agent to be. Most agents would have probably acted as if he were SHIELD's weapon, whereas she treated him like a person. Not just Captain America. Steve felt like he could trust her. He wasn't sure whether that was a good thing, yet, or a bad thing.

Footsteps tore him out of his reverie and he saw the woman, Daphne, he remembered, coming into the Quinjet. She stopped upon seeing him, and gave him a small smile. He watched as she sat down on the bench across from him, fiddling with a chain on her neck.

She was wearing much more casual clothes this time, sporting a red and blue flannel shirt with a pair of slightly ripped navy jeans. She was also wearing black, lace-up boots and her auburn locks cascaded down her back in soft curls.

Steve noticed she looked comfortable with what she was wearing, despite the nervous gesture of fidgeting. He had thought that most of SHILED's employees would prefer to wear professional clothing. That was another thing that probably set her aside from other agents; her preference to wear casual clothes. He wondered why she was so different.

Phil Coulson soon boarded the Quinjet and gave Steve a laptop to show him the people he would be working with, and the files on them. He soon tore his attention towards the technology and away from the intriguing woman across from him.

》》》》》》

Daphne

Daphne sat tense on the bench in the jet, idly twirling her necklace around. It was the last connection to her deceased parents and helped her feel close to them again. She grimaced internally, stopping those thoughts before they consumed her completely. She felt someone's intense gaze on her and looked up to find Steve Rogers almost scrutinising her. She shifted, suddenly feeling inadequate, absent-mindedly touching her scar, which was ridiculous really. She always had confidence that others could get annoyed of easily, so why was she feeling this now?

Probably because he's a freaking war hero, and you're just an average girl. Well, an average mutant girl who can kick some serious ass, but still, definitely not on the same level. Definitely not because he's very attractive... No, of course not.

She had been perfectly fine when she met him last night, so what was different? Well, for one, she had been incredibly tired and didn't filter what came out of her mouth, and two, she was hyped up on her home-made brownies. Tired yet hyper... Yep, sounds about right.

Phil came aboard then and she resisted the urge to make some sarcastic remark towards him. He handed the Captain a laptop, and she soon heard a video playing from it. She decided to move across the jet to sit next to him, too interested in what he was watching to see him glance up at her in surprise. The video was of the Hulk attacking an army at Culver University.

She whistled. "Remind me not to get on his bad side," she stated, wincing at the damage on the screen.

She heard a low chuckle from Steve, next to her.

"We're about forty minutes from base, sir," the pilot informed Coulson. Phil stood from where he was sat and walked over to Steve and Daphne.

"So, this Doctor Banner was trying to replicate the serum that was used on me?" The Captain questioned Agent Coulson.

"A lot of people were. You were the world's first superhero. Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine's original formula," he quickly filled in.

"Didn't really go his way, did it?" Steve noticed, watching as the Hulk roared while tearing a Jeep apart.

"Not so much," Phil started. "But when he's not that thing though, guy's like a Stephen Hawking."

Steve looked at Coulson, confusion clear on his face.

"Like Albert Einstein smart," Daphne explained, much to the Captain's relief. He smiled in thanks, understanding.

"I gotta say, it's an honour to meet you, officially." Daph hid her giggle behind her hand, anticipating what was coming next. Steve, however, was oblivious to Phil's fangirling moment and simply smiled at him.

This, of course, encouraged Coulson to carry on. "I sort of met you, I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping." Rogers looked down, suddenly disturbed and quickly stood up, setting the laptop on the seat, and walked over to the side of the Quinjet. Coulson rushed to join him, attempting to smooth over the layer of awkwardness he had just added.

Daphne was having trouble breathing normally, trying to hold in her bursts of laughter, face going red with the effort.

"I mean, I was... I was present while you were unconscious from the ice. You know, it's really, it's just a... just a huge honour to have you on board," Phil gushed, having problems forming coherent sentences.

Daphne coughed loudly. "This just got awkward..." she sang cheerfully, still giggling. Agent Coulson gave her a death glare. She made a gesture of zipping up her mouth and throwing away the key, innocently grinning.

"Well, I hope I'm the man for the job," Steve replied stiffly, not knowing how to respond to the admissions Coulson had let out.

"Oh, you are. Absolutely. Uh... We've made some modifications to the uniform. I had a little design input," he babbled on, seeming proud.

"The uniform?" Phil nodded. "Aren't the stars and stripes a little... old fashioned?" Steve questioned, apprehensive.

Daphne cut in there, afraid Coulson would start blabbering again, embarrassing himself and everyone around him, and assured sincerely. "With everything that's happening, the things that are about to come to light, people might just need a little old fashioned."

Steve turned to look at her, silently taking in her sentiment, and nodded slightly.

I hope you all like it so far. Please feel free to give advice on how to help me improve. I could really use it to be honest

Love you all
-Jess xo