To Warm A Lonely Night - Moon Knight (Steven Grant x Reader)

Part II

The first session with the company that hired me for the next few days went well. I was doing a series of portraits for an article written by a well-known journalist in the city. I only had to be there for a couple hours each day, which luckily left lots of time for exploring. I kind of felt bad for lying to the blonde woman at the gallery about my 'busy' schedule, but I couldn't stop thinking about the awful way she treated Steven, who was so sweet.

Maybe I'll work for them. I'm sure the gallery would pay well. It would probably only take up an afternoon.

I tried to get it out of my mind as I once again traversed the streets of London, this time with my phone and camera both fully charged. It was dark, but in the distance I could see lots of moving colourful lights. As I got closer, I could also hear upbeat music, then people laughing and talking, I couldn't help but get excited.

Oh this sounds like a lot fun!

As I made my way into the square I became entranced by bouncing fountain lights, talented strangers playing with fire, and people dancing to the music, so carefree.

This is a dream. I thought, quickly pulling out my camera and adjusting the settings to begin capturing the liveliness in front of me.

I scanned the crowds, and as I peaked through the viewfinder, my eye landed on a man dressed completely in gold. Even his skin was glimmering with the rich colour, and he stayed so perfectly still like a statue. I snapped a few photos from a far before walking up to the frozen man to give him a tip for being such a cooperative subject.

As the coins fell from my hand and clinked together a man sitting beside the gentleman in gold said "Cheers.", waving slightly and barely lifting his head, but he quickly did a double take.

I'd recognize that curly hair and soft expression anywhere.

"Steven!"

His eyes widened and he stood up in a fast but clumsy matter.

"H-hello." He stuttered with a shy smile. "What are you doing here? Following me?" He joked, sounding unsure of himself.

I smiled back, "I'm attracted to interesting places, I guess you just always happen to be there already."

His face lit up as he let out a small, huffy laugh. "I-I don't believe I caught your name earlier."

He looked at me so intently, like I could say anything in the world and it would be the most interesting thing he has ever heard.

"(Y/N)."

"(Y/N)..." He repeated back to me, almost in a whisper. It sent a chill through my body. "That's absolutely lovely."

All I could do was stare into his eyes, as if I didn't have the control to do anything else, at least not until the music in the square changed and we both looked over to the source. An older, upbeat song started playing, I recognized it.

"Fly Me To The Moon." Steven said in a similar whisper he had just graced my name with moments ago.

"Sinatra." I replied. "It's a beautiful song."

We smiled at eachother once again.

"I was about to leave," he started.

"In other words, hold my hand." The song played.

"Maybe I could..." He continued.

"In other words, baby, kiss me."

"...walk with you? Keep you company. Unless of course you were planning to stay longer, not trying to rush you by any means, it's just dark and you mentioned you're traveling, and I just-"

"I'd like that, Steven." I said, interrupting him as he seemed to be breaking into a nervous ramble. I gently touched his arm in an attempt of comfort, like at the gallery earlier, and offered a smile. It seemed to work and he was able to quickly compose himself.

"Alright." He grinned, picking up his bag and also leaving a tip for the gold man. "Laters!" he waved to him. I waved as well, half expecting the man to wave back, but he didn't move a muscle.

"I hope I'm not taking you too far out of your way home." I said as we walked side by side down a quiet street.

"Oh no, no, I'm alright. More worried about you getting back alright!"

That made me melt a little bit. I had dated guys before who didn't care as much as Steven, who was almost a stranger to me.

"I'm going to be doing some work at the gallery." I told him. "Monday evening."

I had confirmed it with the blonde lady, Donna, before setting off on my adventure tonight.

He looked over at me a bit surprised. "Work?"

I held up my camera.

"You're a photographer? Professionally?" He asked.

"Yes. Donna asked me to do photos for the gallery before I left today." I paused on the sidewalk and waited for Steven to look back at me.

"I could use someone with knowledge of Egypt to help me out, give me a tour."

"Well there are lots of great tour guides at the gallery, I could recommend someone for you, yeah?"

I just laughed and continued our stroll. "I was talking about you, Steven."

"Oh!"

It was too hard to tell in the dark, but I was sure by the sound of his voice that his cheeks were getting a bit flushed now.

"I don't think Donna would like that, unfortunately." He said sounding a little sad.

"I can make it happen." I told him with confidence. I knew with how desperately Donna wanted me to work for them she'd give in to my request. "Trust me."

Steven seemed confused at my vague comment, probably unsure of what power I had over his boss, but just happily replied "Alright! Monday evening it is."

Eventually we made it to an intersection, and I could see my hotel about two blocks to the right.

"Well, this is me." I said, gesturing to the building. "I can make it from here, I don't want to take you any further from home, it's quite late."

"Quite the fancy place." He said, sounding impressed.

"Yeah, it's beautiful. If it wasn't for the time I'd invite you in, but I'm sure you have work tomorrow?"

Steven seemed to be caught off guard by my almost-invitation.

"Y-yeah," He stuttered, "I should probably jog on. Monday, then?"

"Monday." I smiled. "You can tell me how your date went then, too."

"Yes, right, will do." He replied, seemingly getting a bit nervous again.

"Thank you for the walk, Steven. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, (Y/N)." He replied, lifting his hand. I was beginning to become attached to that little wave of his, despite it meaning us parting. "Stay safe, yeah?"

I just smiled once more, pausing a second to take in his features under the glow of the streetlights, then reluctantly turning to go back to my hotel.

...

I sat in my bed, editing photos on my laptop - or, trying to at least. I enjoyed making friends and connections when I traveled for work, and unavoidably ran into people who caught my attention in a more romantic way, but I never let myself get too attached due to the nature of my job. This felt different though, like I couldn't resist the emotional temptation to get close to Steven like I've done with others in the past.

Ugh.

I closed my laptop and put it aside.

I'll be gone in less than a week and I'll just have to forget about it.

...

The next day, I spent supper by myself in a restaurant, wondering how Steven's date was going.