Hold On Soldier ✔️ | marvel

33. First Kiss

"First rule of going on the run is, don't run, walk." Nat informs and I nod.

"Nothing is more suspicious than fleeing in a sprint." I agree.

"If I run in these shoes, they're gonna fall off." Steve jokes as we go to a Mac store to use one of their computers to dive into this flash drive.

"The drive has a Level Six homing program, so as soon as we boot up SHIELD will know exactly where we are." Nat tells making me get goosebumps.

Steve gets serious, "How much time do we have?"

"Uh...about nine minutes from..." Nat pops the flash drive into a MacBook Pro. "Now."

"Fury was right about that ship, somebody's trying to hide something. This drive is protected by some sort of AI, it keeps rewriting itself to counter my commands." Nat tells.

I ask determined, "Can you override it?"

Natasha informs, "The person who developed this is slightly smarter than me. Slightly." She grins before continuing, "I'm gonna try running a tracer. This is a program that S.H.I.E.L.D developed to track hostile malware, so if we can't read the file, maybe we can find out where it came from."

But an Apple Employee surprises us, "Can I help you guys with anything?" He asks making us jump. He came out of nowhere.

Nat only smiles, "Oh, no. My sister and her fiancé were just looking for some honeymoon destinations."

"Right! We're getting married." Steve blushes.

I kick Nat as I smile, "My sister is the only one good with computers." I chuckle and gently nudge my head. I stick my tongue out pretending I'm clueless. I get comfortable and side hug Nat to seal the deal.

"Congratulations. Where do you guys thinking about going?" The man smiles dumbly. Steve looks at the monitor and sees the signal traced to somewhere in New Jersey.

Steve tells, "New Jersey." Great improve.

The employee simply responds, "Oh." Then he looks at Steve for a moment making my stomach twist. "I have the exact same glasses."

Nat smirks, "Wow, you two are practically twins."

The worker just laughs, "Yeah, I wish. Specimen. Uh...if you guys need anything, I've been Aaron." He gestures to his name tag.

I smile genuinely and with relief, "Thank you." I tell the worker.

"You said nine minutes, come on." Steve pressures as he's now relaxed. Or maybe back to tenseness. At least now he's not acting.

"Shh, relax. Got it." Nat ignores the hurry and I notice the computers signal saying it is coming from Wheaton, NJ.

I recognize the furrowed brow Steve gains and ask, "You know it?"

"I used to. Let's go." Steve admits quietly. He pulls the flash drive from the computer and we walk out of the store urgently. "Standard tac-team. Two behind, to across, two coming straight at us. If they make us, I'll engage, you hit the south escalator to the metro.

"Shut up and put your arm around me, laugh at something I said." Nat suddenly growls out.

"What?" Me and Steve say not noticing the agents walking toward us.

Nat presses, "Do it!" I nod as I finally understand and quickly put my arm around Natasha. We laugh girly while Steve pretends to be on the phone a little behind us. When they pass we all sigh and return to our earlier postures. Nat winks after explaining she'll meet us at the car. Nat tells us she's going to leave so we three don't look as suspicious and that she'll meet up with us later. Three does spot out more than two. So now me and Steve are alone. I start to wonder if that was Nats plan from the beginning. We glide to the escalators. As we are going down them I spot Rumlow on the one next to us going up. He's going the opposite way but this way he'll definitely find us.

"Kiss me." I say quickly.

Steve stammers as we look at each other, "What?"

"Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable." My words are serious and fast. Under this amount of stress I guess I can't tell how crazy this idea really is. Maybe I'll regret this later.

"Yes, they do." He replies agreeing PDA isn't a nice sight. I ignore him and pull down Steve's head. I'm careful as our lips touch and I can feel the tension slide off my shoulders. When I know it's clear I pull away. I can feel Steve desire more during the split second of exit. Our lips are apart but the fluster is still among us.

"You still uncomfortable?" I whisper.

Steve stares into my eyes, "it's not exactly the word I would use." And with that my heart leaps out of my chest.

We keep walking around the mall till we see the car parked in the distance. Steve unexpectedly grabs my arm before we get out to the parking lot. I gasp a little even though he's very gentle, "What are we waiting for?"

"Are we just not gonna talk about what happened?" Steve seems boggled.

"First kisses aren't a big deal! Let's go already." I tell impatiently.

"First kiss?!" Steve shouts and I pull my arm from his long grasp. I forgot that Steve had a whole life without me in it. He had different experiences and lived in an entire different time. I couldn't believe I admitted something so pathetic to him. And so easily too. I could feel the heat in my cheeks but thankfully Nat runs up from behind us urgently.

Nat shouts unknowing of the situation, "Ok kids, hustle!!"