Imagining Steve

Call Me Steve

"Captain Rogers?" I was packing up my gear from the mission, it had all been stashed in various places in the Quinjet.

"Agent Barnes?" He replied after a moment. He was flying the jet, and under normal circumstances I'd excuse his slow answer for focusing on his job. But I knew that he was actually just scared of talking to me, or didn't want to.

"Can we cut the title crap? Because we'll be working together a lot and I'd appreciate being on a more friendly note." I didn't know much about his character, so I didn't know how he'd react to my approach. Hopefully he liked straight forward people.

To my surprise, he laughed. I'd been his partner for 2 weeks and I'd never heard the sound. I couldn't help being shocked, he was normally quiet and reserved, kinda like he was hiding behind his thoughts.

"Call me Steve," he said after a brief moment of self indulgent laughter.

I blinked, and put my bag on the nearest bench. I slowly walked up to the copilot seat, and after a moment I sat.

"Call me Elsie," I leaned back in the chair, trying to relax. I was still somewhat surprised at his positive reaction. Maybe I'd finally cracked through the ice. No pun intended.

After that our silence wasn't awkward, it was much more companionable. It was comfortable, I didn't even feel the need to speak.

"You know, it's embarrassing to ask this, but what's takeout? Or McDonald's?" He had a small embarrassed smile when he glanced over at me.

"Wait, you mean to tell me that you don't know what McDonald's is?!" I felt my jaw drop, he didn't even know what McDonald's was.

He just looked at me, waiting for an answer.

"It's a fast food place, you get burgers and fries and chicken nuggets." I explained while trying not to laugh.

"Chicken nuggets?"

"You know, pieces of chicken dipped in batter and fried?"

"I guess that makes sense," he mused, his turquoise eyes thoughtful.

"As soon as we get back I'm taking you out to McDonald's, that was the first thing you should've been shown. I mean the food is really unhealthy, but it's McDonald's! You've got to go once."

A good bonding experience for two partners, yeah, that would be the excuse I told myself. I didn't want to admit to even myself that I liked him.

It wasn't just because he was amazing, funny, smart, handsome. I mean, he hardly talked to me and I already thought he was awesome. There was just something about him that had caught my attention.

"Like a date?" He asked with a smirk, glancing down at me from the corner of his eyes.

"I don't know what century you're from Capsicle, but here in the 21st century McDonald's isn't exactly a date worthy restaurant."

"I'll keep that in mind," his voice was amused, and he shook his head, trying not to laugh to himself.

I hesitated, feeling completely insane, "Do you want to make it a date anyways? I have heard that you're something of an old soul," I offered.

His eyes flashed with surprise, and he stutter nervously. "If you'd, if you'd like going out I guess, Uh, sure."

I grinned to myself, was I making him stutter? This was too good to be true. "A date it is," I marveled at the thought of going on a date with Steve Rogers.