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6 • Ring Ring

Annie was with the Avengers again, listening to Bucky and Sam bicker about God knows what. They had mostly avoided talk of Julian that past week to take her mind off the panic she was facing with the 'Julian Predicament' as they called it.

But then her phone rang, and everyone turned to her. She held her breath for a moment, the entire room silent when she showed everyone the caller ID.

Julian.

"Well, go on, answer it." Natasha urged, and Annie bit her lip nervously before hastily pressing the green button and pulling the speaker up to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Ah, Annabelle. I'm so glad you picked up. How...uhm, how are you?" Julian asked awkwardly.

"I'm fine. What's this about?" Annie asked.

"Uh, well-- OW!" Julian shouted out in pain and Annie's eyes widened in shock and concern as she heard water rushing on Julian's end.

"Oh my god, are you okay?!"

"Fine, perfectly fine. Thank you for your concern but it's just Juniper and Noah. They're making popcorn and I touched the stove. Juno has something against microwaves." Julian said.

"It's rational, I swear! Hi Annie!" Juno yelled from a distance, and Annie could tell she was smiling just from her voice.

"Hi, Annie," Noah added, a little more drearily but she could tell he was being nice.

"Oh, uh, hi?" Annie replied, laughing a little.

"She said hi back! Sorry about that." Julian grinned.

"No, that's fine. How do they know my name or who you're calling?" Annie asked.

"Oh! Uhm... they saw your contact and asked about you, that's all." Julian said.

"Oh, okay. So, why're you calling, Julian?" Annie asked.

"I can't call the most wonderful person I know without a reason?" Julian grinned charmingly and Annie giggled at the compliment.

"Ha ha, Jules. What's the real reason?" Annie asked.

"Well...I wanted to see you. But seeing as it's quite late, I thought I'd call you and invite you out instead." Julian asked.

"Oh, that's nice. Where to, The Rabbit Hole?" Annie asked.

"We always go there. Tell you what, I'll take you to dinner at a nice place, and then if you want, a friend of mine actually owns a drive-in movie theatre so we could go there and I could pull a few strings to get an actually good movie playing." Julian said.

"As a date?" Annie asked, and the Avengers eyes all widened, as Natasha gave her a thumbs up while Bruce gave a her a "what the hell?" sort of look.

"Do you want to go on a date with me that bad? Alright, your wish is my command." Julian flirted and Annie giggled before speaking.

"Julian," She said.

"Alright, yes, as a date. What do you say?" Julian asked.

"Are you serious? Yes! When?" Annie asked, smiling wider than ever.

"Anytime you're free," Julian said.

"Uhm...okay, maybe...dammit Jules, you know I'm indecisive. Okay, fine, Saturday." Annie said.

"How does 7:30 pm sound? Too early for dinner? Too late? Too both?" Julian asked nervously.

"No, no, 7:30's fine." Annie said, squishing her head to her shoulder to hold her phone while she grabbed a conveniently placed marker and wrote '7:30, Saturday!' on the back of her hand. She capped the marker and placed it back on the table before grabbing the phone again.

"Then it's settled. I'll see you Saturday." Julian said.

"Yeah. I'll see you Saturday. Night, Julian."

"Goodnight, Annie."

The call ended and Annie put her phone back into her pocket, letting out an uncontrollable smile.

"You're going on a date with him?" Bruce asked, crossing his arms and giving her a stern but not scolding look. He looked just about as fatherly as he could get at that point, making Natasha smile a little and chuckle quietly.

"I know, Bruce. Trust me, I know that I shouldn't be going on a date with a guy I'm friends with and accidentally slept with but I haven't talked to him in a week. As terribly desperate I'm going to sound when I say this, I...miss him." Annie said, reasoning not only with her uncle but with herself. Is she sure she wants to do this?

"You're latching onto him, Annie. I don't want you to get hurt." Bruce sighed.

"He's a got a point. Running back into Julian's arms right after everything? You don't wanna have to need him." Clint said.

"I don't need Julian. I'm not dependent or anything, I just...well he's nice and I kinda don't have any friends here except for you guys. Anyone who actually liked me dropped me when I moved closer to the school." Annie said, and she received a few pitying looks.

"Okay, I'm not trying to say that I'm lonely and miserable. I value Julian. I respect him, I care about him, and--"

"And you like him. That's what you were gonna say, right?" Steve asked.

"Yeah," Annie said, before looking up and widening her eyes.

"Wait, no. No! No, not like that!" She desperately tried to save herself.

"I like him, yes, but I don't fancy him, y'know?"

"But aren't you going on a date? Saturday, 7:30?" Thor asked with a smirk, and Annie thought over what she was about to say before speaking.

"I'm still figuring it out, okay? I have never had a crush on anyone so if I like Julian, I wouldn't even know." Annie said.

"Wait, never?" Natasha asked with a grin.

"Not once. I haven't had to deal with anything like this until now." Bruce sighed.

"Bruce, I'm sorry, okay? I know you don't like this whole situation and--"

"Annie, I'm not angry at you or this Julian guy for what happened or for this date or anything. I just want you to be careful and...don't get carried away. You have a life outside romance." Bruce said, and Annie beamed.

"Thanks, Bruce. But, I thought you're always angry." She smiled, and Bruce smiled back, rolling his eyes.

"You are too, mini-me."

"Do not call me that."