CHAPTER NINETEEN

( TINDER )

QUINN HAS TAKEN notes from Steve with trying to blend into the crowd as she walks amongst the crowd of agents that walk along the concrete floor of sub-level eight. Black baseball cap hiding her face as she trains her eyes to look at the ground, only revealing her eyes every once in a while to see how far away she was from the gymnasium.

It had been almost a week since her last training session with Blair - Agent Norris. She would've stayed at home had she not gotten a text from the same mysterious number telling her to come in for another lesson. The bruise on her cheek has started to reduce in size significantly, it's about the size of a quarter now, smack dab in the middle of her cheek.

She nods her head a few times at agents who lock eyes with her, doing the same. She huffs out a sigh as she approaches the gymnasium where she last encountered Blair. She touches her bruised cheek as she hears the thumping of a spare coming from behind the doors. She sucks in a deep breath, dropping her hand from her cheek and pushing through the doors.

Unlike last time, Blair isn't alone in the gymnasium, nor does she have the black boxing gloves on as she did last time. She's sparring with another agent, someone who Quinn doesn't recognize to be any of the agents Fury instructed her to follow and abide by.

The agent towers over Blair, giving him an advantage, his jawline is sharp and his hair is dark. He looks like he can inflict damage upon her even if he were to just look at her.

She cautiously enters the gymnasium to get a better look at the spar as it progresses into further violence. In a blink of an eye Blair sweeps at the agents' feet, causing him to fall on his back with a loud thud, she stands above him victoriously with one foot planted on his chest.

Her eyes shoot up to see Quinn's figure idly standing nearby, a fragment of a smile placed on her face but it's hard to see. "Ah, rookie," Blair greets, throwing her foot off the agent's chest to pace towards her.

Quinn gives her a half attempt at a wave with a cracked smile before Blair turns her face to examine her bruise with curious eyes. She hums as she presses her thumb down on the purple mark, causing her trainee to hiss in pain. This makes Blair smirk.

"Looks like I didn't fracture your jaw after all," she hums out in an amused tone as she drops Quinn's face from her hands. "Sure felt like it," Quinn replies, rubbing the pain away from her bruise where Blair had irritated it.

Her eyes soon connect with the new agent as he approaches Blair's side, eyes guarded as gives her a once over. She quickly averts her gaze from his, hoping to fall off his radar but Blair places a hand on his shoulder to acknowledge him.

"This is Agent Ward, you may have heard that he's on a specially sanctioned team hand-picked by a high ranking S.O. but he won't spill the beans as to who it is,"

"It's not important," he responds icily, his eyes not leaving Quinn. She shifts awkwardly under his gaze. "Besides, I don't feel exactly comfortable releasing knowledge to someone who's not even a level one agent," he adds crossing his arms. "What makes you so special?"

Quinn purses her lips together, obviously he hadn't been informed of the training she was going through, nor was she technically allowed to tell him. She looks up at Blair with a pleading look, begging for help.

Thankfully she picks up on this and taps Agent Ward's arm, giving him a reassuring look to have him ease up. "Don't worry about Grant, he just thinks he's a hotshot because he's a level seven," she tries to assure Quinn, offending Agent Ward in the process of doing so.

"Agent Ward is here to help us with learning how to get out of any chokeholds. He's here because he's taller than me, he's bigger than me, and he's more threatening than me when it comes to choking someone,"

Somehow this doesn't settle the uneasiness residing in her stomach about Agent Ward. Perhaps it was the way he made her feel unwelcome or how distant he had acted towards her but she felt as though there was something deeper within that made her feel uncomfortable around him.

The thought of him alone made her feel uncomfortable but the thought of him putting his hands around her throat just for an exercise seemed to terrify her. Now she was wishing that Steve were here to witness her training, just in case something bad were to happen.

Like Agent Ward snapping her neck by accident. As much as she didn't trust him she obliges by Blair's dictation and steps onto the blue padded floor to face him.

"We're going to do a few exercises where if you're ever in a situation where your attacker has a stranglehold on you, you can potentially escape," Blair begins instructing. "We'll start with the simple standing, two hands around the neck, choke. Agent Ward whenever you're ready - and goes easy on her, she's delicate,"

Quinn watches with cautious eyes as Agent Ward cracks his shoulder and the latches his hands around her neck. It sends her into a panic at first, but then she realizes that he's not applying any pressure anywhere.

He had done what Agent Norris had asked of him. "Show me how you'd get out," Blair instructs, pacing in between her and Agent Ward. Quinn grabs on to Agent Ward's forearms and attempts to pay his hands off of her neck, earning hums of disapproval from him with each time she tries to pry him off her. It was starting to get annoying.

After a huff of aggravation, Quinn let's go of his arms and shrugs her shoulders in defeat. "You're battling me, strength for strength," Agent Ward speaks up, catching her attention.

"I'm trying to apply pressure inwards on your neck, while you're trying to apply pressure outwards on my arms. You're going to get tired because you're exerting more force and guess who's going to win," Agent Ward informs her with a nonchalant tone at the end.

"Well, can't I just go for the -" Quinn makes a lame attempt to jut her knee up towards Agent Ward's groin. "That's a good way to get choked a lot faster," he hums out a warning causing Quinn to look at him with wide, panicked eyes.

"He's right," she hears Blair murmur from beside them. "If your opponent has balls and you don't manage to inflict damage then you're only going to piss them off more,"

"Or you miss and you only have one second of oxygen left and you wasted it," Agent Ward adds. "Put your hands on my neck," Quinn follows the order and attempts to wrap her fingers around Agent Ward's neck, she can barely cover the circumference of it.

Just as she manages to place her fingers around his neck, he ducks and backs away. Quinn looks at him in question only to receive a blank face with a hint of disappointment.

"See what he did?" Blair beckons her attention, patting her arm. "He hit your weak point and was able to break free,"

Agent Ward steps in front of Quinn once again, Blair instructs her to try to place her hands on his neck once again. As she does, she orders her to pause. "Agent Ward will tell you how he got out," she informs her, hearing a grunt come from Agent Ward.

"Most people try to back out of a stranglehold, which is not what you want to do," he says as he begins pulling up on her hands with his neck. She can feel this is more sturdy than when he bowed out from before.

"You're going to want to, tuck your neck in as much as you can and bow out towards the thumbs because they're going to be the weakest point. Make sure your dominant leg is planted firmly behind you and lean on it for force when you bow out," he shows an example of this, slapping on his dominant leg to emphasize that this is the main thing to focus on.

Once again her thumbs are unable to hold him back as much as she tries. Unexpectedly, his hands wrap around her neck easily making her tense. She peers at him uneasily as he nods his head, waiting for her to test it out.

She bows out several times perfectly, a few times she accidentally hits his wrist causing his hands to grip her neck tighter and call out the word, "dead" to signify she'd be dead by now.

Every time the word "dead" was mentioned it made her roll her eyes and look to Blair who seemed to be taking a load off as she sat on a bench and carefully watched the two with a coy smirk.

The next strategy that Agent Ward announces he's going to teach her is how to get out of a chokehold. She turns her attention to Blair to see if this is okay with her but as she turns she feels Agent Ward's arm is coiling itself around her neck, making her feel uneasy once again as the flow of oxygen intake is harder to do now.

"Show me what you'd do," he demands. Her hands instantly claw up at his arm as she tries to yank it away from her neck. She tries several times, each time Agent Ward demands that she try harder until he's had enough.

On the last try, he begins to drag her away, leaving her feet to clamor and struggle to fight against the sudden movement. He releases her by dropping her down on her rear.

"Dead," he calls out, returning to his original position in the front of the gym. Quinn closes her eyes on defeat as she hears Blair begin chuckling from the front of the gym.

She wasn't cut out for this. She didn't like being punched or strangled at each lesson. She misses the days where a training drill just meant running or perhaps going to the shooting range. She wasn't used to this kind of training.

Blair calls for Quinn's attention, forcing her to open her eyes at the instructor who was now standing beside Agent Ward who stood almost a foot taller than her. "Watch and learn," Blair beckons with a smirk.

~BOOK ONE: WINTER SOLDIER~

THE SORENESS OF her neck ached, causing her throat to become dry. She rubs the sides of her neck, soothing the throbbing pain that her training had given her.

She was thankful that Agent Ward hadn't pressed down hard enough to create any new bruises that she would have to hide. She didn't know if she could hide any from Jo if the collar of her shirt brushed up against it. Then her cover would be blown.

Thankfully it wasn't blown quite yet, although she had a small fear that Jo would soon discover that she worked for S.H.I.E.L.D.

Her phone vibrates against the wood of her dresser, startling her from looking at her neck in the mirror. She paces over to see Steve's name pop up from a text message.

He had gotten a lot better at texting but, he could never hold an actual conversation. Usually, his texts meant he couldn't make it to a lesson or he was on his way to her and occasionally he'd ask her what she wanted to eat.

The text just read that he was just getting to the loft. She must've been out of it, usually, she can hear the motorcycle's engine from within.

She shuffles her way out from her room, peeking in on Jo in the process. Half of her hair is twisted into a top knot while half of it dangles off her shoulders curled. She catches Quinn's quick glance and gives her a wink as she continues to primp herself for her date.

Quinn scoffs as she makes her way up towards the living room to catch Steve as he approaches the front door. Hesitation runs through her veins as nears the door where he's tapping at. She rubs at her neck once more before slightly opening the door for him to get through, Rudolph already clamoring to get to him.

His chuckle fills the loft with warmth, making it seem fuller than usual, something that had been absent for a while now in Quinn's life. The feeling of being surrounded by the people she cared for, knowing they felt the same about her.

Well, at least she knew that's how Jo felt, Steve was a little bit more unpredictable with how he felt towards her.

Even though they purely started off as just acquaintances they grew a rather fast friendship given how much time they had spent together alone.

By now, any girl would have tried to pull a move on him but, she remained off on the sidelines with Romanoff and Norris, rooting for him to get a date with someone. Although, she never personally expressed it as much as they did.

Steve's small, apathetic smile makes her heart clench a bit in her chest as she turns to gaze at him after he had picked up the retriever. "What's the plan for tonight, Miss Cruise?" he questions just as Jo calls for help from her.

Quinn presses her lips into a firm line as she pauses for a moment to hear Jo's command asking him to hold on for a moment as 'duty calls'.

He finds himself alone for a moment, listening to Quinn and Jo bicker from the other room about the zipper of a dress and if Jo looked good enough for her date tonight. He turns on his heel to mosey his way over to the couch, patting Rudolph's head in the process.

This caused the dogs tail to thump against the hardwood floor. Steve places himself on the couch, leaning forward to pet Rudolph more. As he leans forward he feels something hard from underneath where he's sitting.

He reaches down to pull out Quinn's phone, the screen still illuminated. She hadn't locked it. He narrows his eyes in confusion as he looks at what Quinn is doing on her phone.

He lets out a soft hum as he looks at the phone screen with a man displayed in the center of it, smiling as he appeared to be flexing with a wink. He quizzically taps the green checkmark underneath the photo and it instantly went away to reveal another man.

Realizing his mistake, he tosses the phone down and places his hands in his pocket as he listened to the soft padding of Quinn's footsteps draws near. "So we could continue to watch Lost or we can watch Forrest Gump which is a really deep movie," Quinn stops abruptly as she sees Steve's lips pressed in a cold hard line, his face looks to be in a confused train of thought.

"What's wrong?" She questions. He taps his foot as he looks up at her, concern spreading across her face. He waits in silence for a moment as he thinks of the best way to approach what he saw on the phone, or at least come up with a good cover-up that he wasn't on her phone. He pushes the option of lying away, it wasn't technically in his morals.

He glances up at her blue eyes once again before sighing as he pulls out her phone, displaying a man with a red cross and a green checkmark under it. "What is Tinder?" He blurts out catching her off guard.

Quinn's breath hitches in her throat as she saw her phone screen displayed with a half-naked man. She was torn between shocked and irritated. Shocked that he actually wanted to know what Tinder was and that she was going to have to explain it to him but irritated that he went through her phone. "Oh bless it..." She whispers out under her breath.

As the question left Steve's mouth it drew the attention of Jo who laughs cold-heartedly from her room, loud enough so the pair could hear. "I saw the thing pop up on the screen, and Nat and Blair said I should start using it...I was curious...and your phone wasn't locked," He tries to explain, to which Quinn sticks her index finger up to indicate to give her a moment as she compiles the best answer to give to him.

She cringes. It was like trying to explain this to her own grandfather. She sucks in a deep breath before approaching him and plucking her phone out of his hand. "Tinder is a dating application on your phone where it will try to match you up with the right person and you can go on dates and stuff like that," She waves her hand as a gesture as it being no big deal.

She felt a surge of confidence. She thought she had explained it fairly well. "It's primarily used for sex though!" Jo shouts from her room, instantly deflating Quinn's confidence. She didn't want to give him the wrong idea, especially if he wanted to use it.

"No!" She shouts abruptly, startling them both by how loud and defensive her voice had gotten. She clears her throat to start over. She looks into his eyes that were as wide and curious as a puppy's. "I mean, no, it doesn't have to be used for sex. It's not intended for that," She covers up, just as Jo had marched out of her room wearing a cocktail dress with matching black pumps.

"But a lot of people use it for one night stands," Jo informs him, gaining more of his attention than Quinn was. "It wasn't designed-" Her roommate tries to argue but she blatantly ignores her. "I've had quite a few matches and each have ended up in disaster," Jo continues, eluding to some crude visuals.

Quinn lightly nudges Jo in the shoulder for being too honest with Steve who was basically a child when it came to new aged dating. She mouths the words, "What is wrong with you?" before looking over towards Steve once again who was looking back and forth between the two women. Suddenly Quinn's face felt hot with embarrassment. She must've looked like crap compared to Jo, who was getting ready for a night out while she was in her pajamas ready for movie night.

She shook her head and crosses the living room to sit next to him on the couch. She places a firm and reassuring hand in his shoulder as a way to comfort him. "Yeah, so, maybe people use it more for hookups. But that's not for its intended purpose. You can go on it and try to find the one, Cap. No one is stopping you or pressuring you into having...relations...the first date," She encourages, earning a small smile in return.

Something felt weird in her chest as if it were going to burst open with butterflies. She quickly suppressed the feeling with doubt. "Except maybe your date," Jo adds on.

Quinn rolls her eyes and leans her head back on the couch to glare at her roommate who was standing in the kitchen, shoving Reese Pieces in her mouth. "Jo you are not helping," She hisses out annoyed. Jo nonchalantly shrugs her shoulders before turning her attention to answer her buzzing phone. Quinn turns back around and reached for the remote, pulling up the movie playlist she had preset for them called "Steve's Must Watch".

"What happened to old fashion dating?" Steve asks.

She felt a hot blush creep up on her cheeks. "You mean where you know someone and you end up liking them and you take them on a date? That still exists. It's the preferred method of finding 'the one'," She explains, haphazardly clicking between the two movie titles they were going to watch, trying to take her mind off the fact she was possibly showing she was blushing.

"Like how Quinn met Maddox while being a part of that stupid running group," Jo playfully urges, knowing it would annoy Quinn. It does. Thoroughly. Her hand balls up into a tight fist before letting out a harsh sigh. "And now they're going on a second date," she adds, causing Quinn to throw her a glare as she heads towards the door. Out of the corner of her eye she can see Steve's jaw clench at the mention of her date. Just like that, Quinn's moment of slight romantic interest disappears.

"But she's rusty on dating because she never used her Tinder," Jo banters, jingling her keys in the process. "I'll be back at two," She informs her roommate. Quinn frowns at her remark. She didn't need Steve thinking she was out of her game. "I don't like online dating and I fail to see how I have a date fits in here!" She shouts after Jo who was walking out the door.

Quinn let's out a huff of air in frustration as she flips on Forrest Gump. She didn't like to talk about her relationships to people especially when she didn't know where she stood with Steve. Were they friends? Did he have feelings for her? He must've if he tried to pull a move on her. Although he has apologized for it since then. Perhaps it was a mistake.

As the movie began it's slow monotonous, peaceful music, she glances over at him from the corner of her eye. She could feel her cheeks start to heat up just by the sight of him. He may have not felt anything towards her but it was definite to her that she was starting to develop unwanted feelings towards him.

A/N: Hello lovelies, stay tuned for chapter twenty next Friday because that's going to bring out Protective!Steve. Or if you wanted to get ahead and read chapter twenty it's up on Wattpad :)