Reality in Motion

a hard left

Getting him to talk about his love life was like pulling teeth. His face was a permanent shade of red and he refused to look at her. His fingers idly played with the edge of his shirt as she tried to pull anything out of him regarding his thoughts on romance or relationships.

"But you like Kate, right?" she asked, circling back to her main point. She had been trying to get him to admit it for the past half an hour.

After seeing the way they interacted, it was painfully obvious that he had a small crush on Sharon. When her assignment first started, she didn't feel bad about lying to him about Sharon; she was doing her job - keeping both of them safe against any threats that may come about. But now that him and Sharon were getting closer, she felt a little twinge of guilt every time she saw or heard about their interactions. So she did was she did best: pushed past it and shoved it down deep, ignoring it and playing along with him.

"You already know I do." he sighed out, shoulders slumping down as he lifted his head up. He was tiring of the conversation too, but she wasn't done yet.

"Romantically?" she immediately followed up, perking her eyebrows up. He held her gaze for a moment before his head fell back down to look at his lap.

"I guess." he mumbled out, finally telling her what she wanted to hear. Stifling her excitement, she recrossed her ankles, leaning forward a bit in her chair,

"So what's stopping you from asking her out?" she asked, eyebrows still raised. He picked his head back up to look at her, brows knitting in confusion.

"Ask her out?" he repeated her as if he didn't understand the concept.

"On...a date...?" she explained carefully, squinting at him a little; she figured he knew that much. He rolled his eyes slightly before looking back at her,

"I know what you meant." he responded. She lifted her hands up at him, defending herself,

"Okay, alright, just seemed like you didn't." she widened her eyes and adapted a dramatic look. He looked unamused by her answer and she took in a breath, hands dropping down to rest on her notepad, "Why don't you pursue that relationship?" she asked. He raised his eyebrows up and let out a self deprecating laugh,

"Kinda hard to when you're me." he answered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, keeping her reaction - the surprise by his answer, muted. His gaze broke from hers, glancing off to the side as he took in a breath, then shook his head - not giving her an explanation. Sitting back in her seat, she jotted down his answer to her previous question along with a comment of her own, starring it as a way to remind herself to circle back to it, "Maybe you don't need to get into a relationship with her. You could just keep it casual." she shrugged, making a face at him before grinning at him, "I think any girl would jump at the chance to bang one out with Captain America." she joked, trying to diffuse the tension that was beginning to cloud over them.

"Bang one out?" he repeated her again - she couldn't tell if he truly didn't know what she meant or not, so again, she decided to put it plainly,

"Have sex with." she locked eyes with him, watching as the redness on his face returned. His Adam's apple bobbed up and down and - at his reaction, the corner of her mouth twitched up in a small smile. Over the past forty-five minutes, every time she brought up sex, he would turn red with embarrassment.

"Why do you get so red every time I mention s-e-x?" she spelled it out for him, deciding to ask him about his reaction.

"Because I'm not really used to talking about it." he answered, shifting on the couch uncomfortably. She rolled her eyes at him,