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19 | it's not like we've been fondue-ing

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it's not like we've been fondue-ing

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"No."

"What?" Steve stared at Cara, unsure of what she'd meant.

"I'm not going to be Thor's warrior princess. Don't he have plenty of those in Asgard?" She crossed her arms, refusing to start out her quest of finding her purpose by being humiliated by the worthy king-to-be. She'd already tried lifting that damned hammer of his, and look how that turned out. So what was the point of trying to fight like him?

Steve squeezed her hand. "You don't have to be. All I'm saying is that you should broaden your horizons. I mean, it seems like even you don't know what your strengths are."

"Uh, not true," she held up a finger, pressing it against his lips. "I can make a very valid argument as to why my sarcasm is a strength of mine," she said seriously.

Steve smiled. "I'm sure," he replied, "but you said yourself that that's not the only thing you want to be known for. Remember?"

"Yeah," she grumbled. "But it's not starting out well for me. I basically died earlier trying to do your gymnastics-y combat thing," she made a few flourishes with her hands to prove her point.

"It's not going to be easy," he reasoned with her, "it's going to be hard. It's supposed to be."

"Great, that makes me feel better," she punched his arm lightly. "You're supposed to be talking all of this up to me, not telling me 'oh, yeah, you'll probably fail,'" she crossed her arms, adjusting her position on the couch. Her ribs were feeling better, though they'd been bruised pretty badly. Oh, and the ice cream? That had been eaten by the both of them, but mostly Cara, who would proudly admit it.

"I never said that," Steve gave her a hard look, "I never said that you'd fail. If I thought that to be true, do you think I'd be sitting her trying to help you?"

She ducked her head. She was acting like a spoiled teenager again. Damn it, I need to stop doing that. "No," she mumbled, and then looked up. "Thank you," she added, and leaned forward to leave a chaste kiss on his lips. She pulled away, about to suggest who else could help her find her place in this tower of superheroes, when Steve didn't let her get away from him.

He belted his arms around her waist, pulling her back onto his lap. The space between them was diminishing quickly, and then Cara placed a hand on either side of his face, taking her time to touch his lips with hers.

It was a gentle kiss, yet somehow firm at the same time. Cara enjoyed every second of it, breathing him in--just Steve--the way his hands stayed on her hips, squeezing softly every so often. Everything he did was purely him, purely Steve. And she loved it.

"You know, we all really should have seen this coming."

Cara tore her lips off Steve's and jerked her head up to see Tony standing right behind the couch, his hands on his hips. His smirk was wide and made Steve blush, though he hadn't moved.

"Already pouring the drinks," Clint said from the bar, seven glasses set out in a line, of which six were short, stemless wine glasses, and the last was a pink plastic cup. He looked up at Cara and grinned. "Sorry, Cara, it seems that since you're underage, you're gonna have to drink water." He held up her cup. "I had to go out and buy this, but I hope you like it, because there's about nine more where it came from. I couldn't buy them individually."

Cara rolled her eyes. "Don't you guys have, like, soda around here?" She got up from Steve's lap as soon as she realized that all of the Avengers team(minus Thor) was in the living room, most likely having witnessed their kiss. She fought to keep the embarrassment at bay, although she felt the hot blush creeping up on her cheeks, coloring them crimson.

Nat shook her head. "Nope, all the boys keep here is anything alcoholic." She grimaced. "Are you sure ninety-eight year olds are your type, kid?"

Cara was too embarrassed to think of a good enough insult, and just went with sticking her tongue out immaturely at the fiery redhead.

"Wow, nice one," Nat rolled her eyes. "Rogers' taste in women has really changed over the years. From strong and empowered to childish and immature." She clapped her hands slowly, staring the teen down the whole time.

"How rude," Cara retorted angrily, "I am so totally strong and empowered. And for the record, I don't like you either, so maybe we can just call it even and agree to stay away from each other."

Nat flashed a wicked smile. "Oh, sure," she replied, "I'd love that."

Bruce, who was standing next to her, put his hand on her wrist. "Nat, we've talked about this," he said softly.

"Yeah, well, it doesn't change my feelings about her." She stormed out, with Bruce in tow.

Just then, the Norse God of Voluminous Hair entered the room, his hammer swinging lightly on his wrist. "What has happened? Is my presence needed?"

Cara rolled her eyes. "Slow your roll, Goldilocks."

"Um, I think I'm just going to leave. I don't see any reason for me to be here, so--" Steve had stood up, trying to scoot his way out.

"Hold it, Captain Little Ass," Tony held out a hand, and Steve's eyes widened as he received the nickname. Obviously it was a new one.

And Cara loved it. "I approve," she said, high-fiving her friend. "It's totally true, I--"

"Well, you would know," Clint cut into the conversation again and held up a glass filled with a dark liquid. "You've been up close and personal with it." He smirked and sipped out of his glass.

"Oh my god, will you guys just drop it?" Cara said, exasperated. She carded her fingers through her hair, sighing. "We've only kissed twice, it's not like we've been--"

"Fondue-ing?" Tony smirked widely, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Well, what do you say, Tony?" Clint handed out the rest of the glasses to the remaining people in the room(Thor took two, claiming something about Asgardians being able to hold their booze like no one else). Then he handed Cara her plastic glass of water. Raising a glass, he toasted, "To love and, uh, good fortune."

Tony drank his in one sip, Thor downed his two glasses in two seconds, and Clint proceeded to pour more for himself, chuckling to himself. As for Steve, he just stared at his drink, and carefully set it down on the coffee table.

Cara, who was itching to get even, walked straight up to Clint and shoved the glass in his face, causing the water to splash out, colliding with his unsuspecting face. A string of obscenities left his mouth, leaving her satisfied.

"Alright, if any of you do anything like that ever again, I'm going to--I'm going to--"

"You're going to what?" Tony asked, eyes wide with mock curiosity.

"I'm going to wring your necks," Cara finished her threat and shot the three men with a deadly glare.

"Well," Tony clapped his hands together, breaking the silence that had followed, "I think I'll take you first for this whole 'finding your purpose' experiment."

"How'd you--"

"You see, while sarcasm is your special talent, eavesdropping is mine."

Cara chased the short man out of the room, shouting curses his way. Steve couldn't react quick enough to stop her, so just let her run. He knew that after a few minutes, she'd get tired and give up.

Which she did, stopping just outside Tony's lab.

"So, you ready to find your secret talent?" Tony swung open the door. "This is where it'll be, I can assure you."

Cara rolled her eyes and walked in.