S.H.I.E.L.D ACADEMY

9. A word please

One thing you'd never learned, is to say no – especially if the question came in a nice package of compliments. That is how you ended up in the academy bar all by yourself at 1 am with your laptop alone. Tony had appreciated your help the other day, so had a lot of the Avengers, but Steve had made it clear to Tony that you weren't here to help him, or them for that matter. Of course, the right thing to do then would be to stop helping Tony, but when did you or Tony for that matter ever do the 'right' thing? It just meant that you had to be working remotely out of your academy classes on Tony's stuff. Which were fine by you, as it was far more interesting than your studies anyway.

The only thing that kind of sucked, was the fact that you were losing out on so much of the social parts of the academy. The only friends you had were the two you had made the first day, James and Fatima. You had invited them over, but it didn't take long before they got bored of you staring into your computer screen. It was only fair, but it made you feel kind of guilty. You just wanted to work, but you also wanted a social life... Friends. Your field was very lonely.

"Hey, could I buy you a drink," a dark masculine voice asked.

"You'll probably be surprised by this, and I'm saying it without even looking at you – because I won't waste my time on strangers, especially not entitled men who think they can just buy a lady a drink to get into their pants. I'm going to spare you the time. I'm not interested in sleeping with you," you said lifting a finger up in the air, as you stared at the screen as you were reading codes.

The guy laughed.

"That hurt, you're exactly my type," he said.

You didn't need to look at him, you could feel his gaze on you.

"Life isn't fair, is it?" You said, tame.

"That was what I wanted to talk to you about. You see, a long time ago you worked on a case against me and my team...Eye-Spy ringing any bell?" Your body froze at the word of the man. You knew exactly who stood right in front of you.

"Thought I would personally come and congratulate the person who hacked into my glasses and guided me to a woman's bathroom, causing us to lose the case... I bet you earned a lot on it though," The man said lighthearted or as much light that dark tone could room.

He sat down with two glasses of beer, one for each of us. Something about his tone told you that he was enjoying this. He wasn't here out of bitterness, still you understood you had done a massive mistake in the way you greeted the man.

"So, you're right, life isn't fair, you worked for the bad guy, yet you sit here," he said as me smooch over at the seat in front of you.

Time to face the music.

"Agent Ward, I apologize for my tone earlier," you said looking up at him.

You had just made a fool of yourself in front of one of S.H.I.E.L.D best agents. Perhaps one of the best spies in the world. He was the kind of guy you wanted to work on missions for. He was young enough to understand the technology yet had enough experience to give you thrilling missions. Grant Ward was a name, a name everyone around here knew. It was safe to say that people were already looking at the two of you.

"Don't be, though it weren't my intentions tonight, it could've been," he said playfully.

You laughed, was Grant Ward, THE Grant Ward flirting with you? He was smiling, being cheerful and he said you were his type. Yet, you were still unsure if this was just his way of communicating, though you had heard from most that he was a cold guy. He wasn't the bubbly type exactly. You tilted your head and took a good sip of your beer.

"If it were, I wouldn't be as harsh as I said earlier, again..." you smiled, testing the water.

Grant smiled as he leaned back in his seat, simply taking the look of you in. You were a beautiful woman, no doubt. You were smart, and by the guess of how you greeted him, you were a lady with a great personality. Grant liked being around strong people, someone he could play ball with, who wouldn't rock for anything. He leaned forward, why not take a chance?

"What do you say, I'll take you out as a date here... for the celebration of one month at the academy? You owe me that much after sabotaging my mission," He asked, sneaking letting his hands touch yours.

You laughed.

"Listen, if it helps to know, I spent the money from that mission on saving trees in the Amazons," You said jokingly.

"You did?" Grant said surprised lifting his eyebrow.

"No, I probably used it to pay rent, or maybe some new clothes, lingerie," You laughed. He smirked as he looked up at you.

"Okay, take some of that lingerie on you for Thursday, I can't wait to see it," Grant said cheekily as he stood up and just left.

Oh my god. What the hell had just happened? You had been flirting with Grant Ward. A man, who without of doubt was one of the most attractive people on earth, and he flirted back – for god's sake, he took innovative! You stared into the empty seat in front of you, as your feet began to wiggle in happiness. In your head, you're already trying to figure out what you could wear. You wanted to impress him. You couldn't wait until tomorrow when you were meeting Fatima and tell her about it. She was probably going to freak out just as much as you.

This was insane.