Title: Coffee, Tea, or Me?
Rating: PG/K+
Originally posted: September 2013
Originally written for: a challenge at Avland on Livejournal
Characters/Pairings: Steve/OFC, Tony, The Avengers
Notes: none

Apparently, the girl at the coffee shop liked him. Steve Rogers hadn't been so sure about that, until the day she literally came out and told him.

Tony liked his coffee, so did Pepper. Bruce could never be coerced and they all understood why, but the other members of the team (who were now all living at Stark Tower) happily put in their order each morning. Steve offered to go because he enjoyed the walk down to the shop on the corner, the simple and easy interaction with the baristas. Of course it had been a whole new world that first day. In Steve's time, coffee was just coffee. Your choices were limited to black or white, with or without sugar, and that was that. Now there was Espresso Macchiato, Caffe Mocha, and Iced Skinny Latte. Drinks with ice, cream, or sprinkles, he had never seen such things in his life. When asked for his own order, Steve hadn't a clue what to say and dumbly picked the first thing off the list - it didn't taste that great.

Each day that followed, he followed a methodical pattern, ordering the next item down on the menu. It was almost two weeks after his first visit that Sarah, the barista that seemed to serve him most days, realised what he was doing. When he opened his mouth to give his order, she rattled off his teams usual preferences for him.

"And..." she said, turning away just a moment to count seven items down from the top of the board, "one Caramel Macchiato for you. Am I right?"

"Yes," he nodded once, and smiled that charming genuine smile that made many a young woman swoon. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Sarah smiled on back before moving away to prepare his order.

Steve watched her work. She was quite pretty, though he really hadn't noticed before. He guessed he hadn't really looked.

"Here we go," she said at last, putting all the drinks into the cardboard carrier for him.

Steve handed the money over without ever asking how much, since he knew what it ought to be. He tried to tip her a dollar, but she refused, making him frown.

"I can't take your money, not if you're gonna ask me out. That'd be a little too iPretty Woman/i," she told him, trying not to blush as she handed the coin back to him. "I mean, you were gonna ask, right?"

The next morning when the team started giving him their coffee orders, Steve shook his head.

"You guys are on your own today," he told them, turning to walk away.

"You're not going to the coffee shop?" Nat frowned, wondering who the sudden change of routine, why the overly wide smile.

"No, I am," he replied, looking back at her.

"Oooh, Captain Smurf Tights has himself a coffee date!" Tony grinned too widely.

Steve didn't answer that, though his lack of response was all anyone needed to know Stark was right. Honestly, they couldn't be mad about Rogers leaving them decaffeinated. After all, one day without coffee was bearable, but almost seventy years without any action? His need was far greater!