You stood outside on the cold Manhattan sidewalk, pulling at the hem of your midnight blue dress, second guessing everything from how your hair looked to the black heels you wore. You knew standing out here by yourself much longer in a dress that barely reached midthigh wasn't going to go well for you, but you were hesitant.
Glancing up at the tower you scowled at every time you passed by, which wasn't a whole lot, you felt almost intimidated by it. As if breaching this invisible threshold would throw out everything you stood for, all the pain you've gone through and seen others go through would be deemed unimportant. The stories you heard people tell, the scars on their bodies, the broken look they gave you when they withheld the whole story, and the pure agony you had to have gone through to trade everything just to be able to-
"Screw this." You mumbled to yourself, pulling your phone out to find another Uber.
"Y/n?" A man's voice called, and you spun around to face the source just as he added, "I knew I recognized those legs."
"Excuse me?" You cringed in disgust and he shook his head, waving his hands in front of himself to stop you.
"No, no, no! I meant because at the club you were...I'm sorry," He sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets, "I realize how creepy that sounded."
"What're you even doing out here, Barnes?" You glanced away, clutching your jacket closer as the wind picked up, and the soldier smirked, gesturing towards the building.
"Kinda live here, doll," He shrugged guiltily with a smile, "Question is...are you stalking me?"
"Not here for you."
"Anyone I know?" He smiled knowingly and you side glanced him with narrowed eyes, pursing your lips, "Because dressed like that, whoever it is, I hope they know how lucky they are."
"Yeah, well, guess they'll never know." You told him pointedly, some bite to your words, and you turned to walk down the sidewalk, trying to find an Uber on your phone again.
"She's going to be so pissed," He called after you, "Last time you snubbed her, she bit everyone's heads off that tried to talk to her about anything."
"Don't know what you're talking about, Barnes!" You shouted back before turning a corner.
The sun had long since fallen and the streets were pretty bare in this area, mostly businesses around here, so you hastily moved until you found a car that could pick you up in less than ten minutes.
You knew how you looked, literally standing on a street corner dressed to the nines, but you were too naïve to think even in this area of Manhattan, less than a hundred feet from the avengers' tower, something bad could happen to you.
Dead wrong.
Like, dead, dead wrong.
"What's in your pockets?"
You let your head lull back, eyes squeezed shut as you cursed yourself with a tight-lipped frown.
"I don't know," You patted your pocketless dress down, knowing you were holding your phone and had a couple of cards in your tights' strap while a tube of lipstick was in the middle of your bra, undetectable, "Air?"
"Not funny, bitch."
"Bitch?" You spat back in disbelief, finally turning to face the person, and then raising your hands with wide eyes when you noticed what he was holding, "You uh, you have a gun, okay, so I don't have any cash."
"Phone." He demanded.
"Screw it, yeah, okay." You held out your phone and just as he took a step closer to take it, he was shoved off to the side by a blur of red hair and all black.
You covered your mouth with a hand, muffling your gasp, as you watched the assassin take the guy down easily, knocking him out cold moments after disarming him with a few, quick moves.
"Holy crap." You breathed out as she got up, dusting her hands off, and leaving the now bruised man next to a pile of garbage after taking his gun.
"Standing me up?" She huffed, taking a moment to give you a slow once over, raking her eyes up and down your figure, "Looking like that?"
You shot her a look, trying to gather that she was actually asking those questions after just saving your life, and when you realized she was waiting for an answer, not planning to move until you gave her one, you crossed your arms.
"Yes."
"Always good to be honest."
"Is he dead?" You pointed to the man whose chest failed to rise with air going into his lungs and she grabbed your arm, leading you back to the tower a little roughly, "Let me go and answer the question!"
She would've released you from her grasp if you sounded at all sincere or made a move to get out of her hold, but you didn't, so she continued down the way, leading you into the lobby after her hand slipped down to link with yours and neither of you mentioned it.
When she stopped at the elevator, reaching out to click the button, you yanked your hand from hers, and looked away stubbornly, not giving her the satisfaction of thinking you actually wanted to be there.
Because even just voluntarily being in this place's lobby, not here with the goal of getting some park remodeled or whatever convinced you to come last time, was making you uneasy, and she seemed to pick up on it.
"It's just dinner." She assured and you rolled your eyes, stepping onto the elevator when the doors dinged open.
"Why?" You asked as soon as they shut and she pushed the floor's number, trapping you both in this metal box, "Why did you want to have dinner with me?"
She paused, trying to choose her words wisely, and you took the opportunity to check her out without moving a muscle, hoping she wouldn't notice. She was wearing an off the shoulder red top that hugged her curves perfectly, dark high waisted jeans, and white heels with a black coat that covered most of the outfit. Her hair was curled, and her eyeliner was skillfully applied, making you notice the effort she had put into you coming by.
"Don't know." She shrugged with a small smile she tried to hide by biting her lip ever so slightly.
"Liar." You mumbled under your breath, facing the doors that opened again, and your breath caught in your throat when you noticed the elegant table set for two with candles.
But that wasn't what really stopped you in your tracks, no matter how sweet or thoughtful it might've been.
It was the fact that you hadn't noticed she was bringing you all the way up to the top floor that had a massive skylight, surrounded by floor to ceiling windows that gave you a dream view of the city down below.
