Echo

Chapter 12

Quinn's POV 9:30 PM

Steve's confession to Quinn earlier about this being his first mission like the one they were currently doing was surprising, but then again not really. Steve Rogers was more of a bust down the door, smash and grab kind of guy. While she's done these kinds of missions a lot before and after her time with the Avengers. Which is one of the reasons why Tony had picked her, but still Quinn was surprised he paired her with Steve. It made sense not to pair her with Bucky since he's so well known with any former Hydra agent and well, Tony was Tony, so it wouldn't work with him. Quinn could have gone with Clint or Sam. That brought her back around to why Steve?

She decided that they would stay in tonight since their target wasn't scheduled to check in until tomorrow morning and it helped further the ploy they were going with as sex crazed honeymooners. Going over all of the plans yet again while eating dinner they had talked about their game plan for approaching the target when the time was right. After, Quinn gave Steve pointers on how to not look so much like a soldier which was basically to relax and try to pull that yardstick out of his ass. They didn't want to catch the attention of the target's security right off the bat because he couldn't loose up. While still being all tense he made sure to listen to everything she had to say without complaint.

It was strange being here with him like this after avoiding him back home as much as possible. Last night at dinner with Bucky and Emily, Quinn had briefly thought that this could actually be sort of fun since she'd finally seen a lighter side to Steve. Then he had to go and open his mouth and ruin it all. Hearing what he really thought about her had hurt more than Quinn expected it to. She knew he was trying to banter with her, but the way he said it she could tell he seriously thought she was reckless. It had pissed her off and made her want to prove to him that just because there had been times on other missions where things got out of control and it looked like she'd messed things up or wasn't taking it seriously, that that's not how she really did her job. That's why she decided behind closed doors to be strictly professional.

On the other hand, outside their door to this room everything was fair game and Quinn did love to play. Steve seemed to have softened towards her and was taking her lead. Something she knew he had a hard time with seeing as how he was usually the mission leader. Trying to cut the tension Quinn told him that she would call truce as long as he could. "I don't think we're ever going to be really friends, but we can at least be friendly for the sake of our jobs and for Bucky. Us not getting along has been really hard on him."

Eagerly nodding his head in agreement Steve gave her a small smile. "I think I can work with that. Maybe we can start by getting to know each other a little bit better." Quinn shifted on the couch to face him.

"What did you have in mind?" She asked as she settled into a comfortable position to better be able to see him while they talked. "You want to know my favorite color? Am I team Backstreet Boys or NSYNC?" Steve chuckled at her playfulness and surprised her by answering the first question without batting an eye.

"I already know your favorite color is French blue, but I don't know what either of those other things are." Impressed that he knew the specific shade of blue she loved most, she covered it by gasping in mock indignation at his lack of knowledge of 90s boy bands.

How was it possible for someone who'd spent the time since he'd been defrosted getting to know the world to not know the most beloved boy bands of the 90s? Only slightly outraged by his lack of knowledge she tossed a throw pillow at his head. "I knew you were on ice at the time, but come on everyone knows who the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC are!"

He laughed having caught the pillow and then tossed it back to her with a cute little half grin that made butterflies take off in her stomach. "I swear I have no idea who you're talking about."