Rajesh Ramayan Koothrappali (yummy_caramel) wrote in freedomtownic, @ 2019-02-19 20:14:00 |
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Entry tags: | maria hill (agent_mariahill), raj koothrappali (yummy_caramel) |
Can We Just Agree That This is ADORABLE?
Who: Raj and Maria
Where: Verdant, Star City
When: Backdated to August 4th, following these messages
What: Their first date
Rating: I'd say low
Status: Closed; Complete
Note: We actually finished this back in January, but sadly I neglected to post it.
"Okay, try not to panic," Raj muttered to himself as he walked into Verdant. The club was on the busy side but not so much so that he and Maria had to shout to talk to each other, so that was good. He'd agonized over what to wear all afternooon. He eventually decided on gray pants, a sky blue collared shirt (without a tie) and a dark blue blazer. He'd showered, shaved and only put on a smidge of aftershave. God forbid he overpower her with that stench. Living with Penny as long as he had he'd become more confident with talking to women but that didn't stop him from falling into old habits and heading to the bar to get himself a (light) beer. He sipped at it as he looked around for Maria. He'd arrived a good twenty minutes before they'd arranged and wouldn't begrudge her if she was late (or didn't show up at all - knowing his track record). Still, he was just bubbling with nervous excitement. This was the first date that he'd been on in a while and he wanted more than anything to make a good impression.
Maria was actually feeling a bit nervous herself, but not for the same reasons. This was apparently the father of her child. She understood that it was a future that could possibly not happen, but she'd always wanted to have at least one child. She'd had such a terrible relationship with her own father that a part of her wanted to make up for his past mistakes as a parent. The fact that Gabe turned out to be a normal, functioning person? That made her really want to meet the person who helped raise him and get to know him better. So yeah, she was nervous, too.
She'd debated inwardly with herself for a bit before finally deciding on a black dress to wear, walking into the bar and looking around for Raj. Finally spotting him at the bar, she gave him a small smile before making her way over.
'Oh my various gods, she looks amazing' Raj thought, closely followed by 'How did we ever have a child together?' 'What could she possibly see in me?' He gave her a nervous smile and waved. Raj always stumbled when it came to women. The first questions that came to his mind were always the ones that you'd ask after several months of dating, not on the first date. He set his drink aside and straightened out his attire as she approached. Once Maria was within talking distance the first words out of his mouth were: "You look... absolutely breathtaking. Literally breathtaking." 'And you're here to see me!' He couldn't hide his nervous excitement no matter how much he tried. "Can I--" he took a breath and started again. "Would you like something to drink? Anything you'd like. Name it and it's yours."
"You don't look so bad yourself," Maria replied. Despite the outward cool, inside she was wondering if she should greet him with a hug or something. He was the father of her child, after all! She was much better at dealing with work than social situations. She had friends, but there was a reason she didn't really date. She was just better at hiding her nervousness than most. "A beer would be great, actually."
"Thank you," Raj replied with a beaming grin. At least his effort didn't go unnoticed! He waved to get the bartenders attention. His first instinct was to click his fingers and say something suave like from a Bond movie -- but again, he'd learned a lot from living with Penny (and to a lesser extent Young!Sheldon). No one wanted to be clicked at and it certainly didn't leave a good impression on the person that he was with! "A beer for the lovely lady. Whatever she'd like." Okay, so he was still putting it on thick. Still, points for trying, right?
He was laying it on really thick, but Maria just found it kind of amusing. She told the bartender what beer she wanted and, soon enough, it was hers. She took a sip, giving Raj a smile. "Thanks," she said. "So, what exactly is it that you do for a living, Raj?" For being the father of her son, she really didn't know a thing about him.
"I'm an astrophysicist," Raj replied with a swelling enthusiasm. He might not be proud of a lot of things in his life, but it was clear that he loved what he did. "You know, before I came here most of my work was theoretical. But I can now say without any doubt that time travel and the multiverse exists, so that's very exciting. I still don't know how it all comes together, but it's still very exciting!" He beamed. "I just love that there's still so much to learn. That we haven't even scratched the surface of what's really out there, you know?" He finally took a breath and a sip of his beer. He could talk about his work all night if he had a mind to. "What about you? What keeps you going?"
"Yeah, I guess coming here would pretty much prove that time travel and the multiverse theory were true, wouldn't it?" she said with a laugh. "Must be nice to learn that there's intelligent life out there in the universe, too." Her first experience with it hadn't been that great, due to the New York invasion, but she'd quickly realized that not all aliens were bad. Just like how not all humans were. "I guess my work keeps me going, too. You get to see all sorts of things working for SHIELD that you wouldn't otherwise." She had been recruited from the military like most SHIELD agents, but she saw and did things that she never would have by just staying in the army. It had opened up a whole different world for her.
"Oh, don't even get me started about intelligent life in the universe," Raj replied with that same beaming grin. "What would you say is your favorite experience about working with SHIELD?" He asked, before suggesting that they find somewhere else in the club to talk. It was starting to get busy around the bar. "I mean," he continued to say once they'd found a quieter place, "what's the one thing that drives you more than anything else?"
"I'd say that the one thing that drives me more than anything is getting to learn about things that, normally, I'd have no chance to learn about," she admitted, thinking on it for a moment as they moved to a quieter spot. "I love getting to protect people from outside threats, but I gotta admit it: I get something of a thrill learning something amazing that only a few people know about." Getting to know more about what was going on around her had been what had driven her to push up through the ranks of SHIELD. She always respected the chain of command and didn't push against it unless she saw it as absolutely necessary, but her need to know about everything had been part of what pushed her to climb to near the top of said chain.
"Well, the next time that there's a threat in this universe I expect you to protect me, because frankly? I can't punch my way out of a wet paper bag." While he said it in a joking tone it was entirely true. Raj was just the worst when it came to anything physical. He scooted a little closer to her. He was glad that they shared that common interest about the state of things, but wondered about her personally. "Do you have any interests outside of work? Are there any movies that you like? Any music?"
"Not that I mind protecting you, but I can help train you if you'd like. Especially here, everyone should have some type of self defense." As she talked to Gabe more, she'd learned that she had apparently trained him to take care of himself as well. That had actually been an interesting tidbit to learn, but it sounded like something she would do. "I tend to like mysteries, as far as movies go, but I'll watch anything if I'm in the right mood." She laughed a little before taking a sip of her beer. "My favorite band is AC/DC. What about you? What are your favorites?" Most people didn't really know her interests. Stark had only learned they shared similar tastes in music while she worked for him and he'd caught her singing along to something he was blasting in his lab one day, to his eternal amusement. Maria was just naturally kind of a private person, but she felt like opening up more to Raj.
"You'd really teach me how to defend myself?" Raj asked, sounding hopeful. "I hope that you don't think less of me if I scream a lot." Which seemed likely. He gave Maria a little shrug, accepting that he had faults that he still had to work on. He nodded as he listened to her speak. "You're an AC/DC fan? I wouldn't have guessed!" It was probably that he wouldn't guess a lot about her. "I like John Grisham novels, Bridget Jones's Diary and Beyonce. I defy you to listen to Single Ladies and not song along. It can't be done."
"I'd be happy to teach you. Let me share a little secret: everybody screams some when they're learning. Don't let the big stoic ones tell you otherwise," she said with a hint of a smile. She'd seen many a tough soldier whine like a little kid after training. She was prepared for basically anything. "I'm pretty sure that, no matter your musical taste, everybody has at least one Beyonce song that they like." That was similar to everyone having at least one Michael Jackson song they liked.
She has a lovely smile, Raj thought. He hoped to bring it out of her more often. "Well, that's a kindness," he replied, smiling in return. He set his drink aside, trying not to rely on it too much while he was in her company. "I think that I'd really appreciate it. I know that I'm no... Clark Kent or Peter Parker or to a lesser extent Arthur Curry. I have no delusions about my physical abilities so you never have to worry about that. Although I have every respect for people who are capable!" He was quick to add. "Every respect. I'm just not going to be running into burning buildings anytime soon."
He probably didn't realize it, but Raj was really engaging when he relaxed a bit and talked about things that interested him. Maria actually found herself leaning forward on the table a bit as he spoke. "Well, you really shouldn't be running into burning buildings if you can help it. People either train to do it with the least amount of damage possible, or are literal superheroes. There's nothing wrong with being neither of those." It was her job to protect people so that they could do their own jobs, like finding amazing scientific discoveries. She took that job very seriously.
Raj smiled again, more out of gratefulness than sheer nerves this time. "You strike me as the kind of person who'd think of others before herself. That's an admirable trait." He was honestly still trying to understand Maria and hoped he wasn't injecting his own impression of her onto who she actually was. Still, there was something guarded about her that he couldn't quite place. Maybe it was just the nature of her work. He paused. He didn't want to fall back on any of his old lines. He genuinely liked Maria. He should be himself. "Thank you for coming out with me tonight. I don't know that many people here. I'm pretty sure that you probably don't either. And while I'm also sure that we both have our reasons, I consider myself very privileged to be spending tonight in your company." Okay, so it turns out that even when he was genuine he still laid it on thick.
She smiled, pushing a bit of hair behind her ear. "I just like helping people," she said. True, helping people was part of her job description at SHIELD, but she was just like that by nature, too. Maybe it came from not getting to have a caring direct parent growing up (her grandfather had done his best, but her father had been a disaster), but she had a need to help others. "I'm really only close to a couple of people here," she admitted. She knew a lot of people from her world, but she really only let a few people in. "I'm enjoying my evening with you, too, Raj. Anyone would be lucky to spend time with you."
Raj ducked his head briefly and blushed. "I know that I might be stepping on your toes a little here, but would you like to try another date sometime soon? I feel like we should do something or go somewhere that you like." His first instinct was to suggest karaoke, but that was what he liked and wasn't entirely sure that she was prepared for that! He almost suggested laser tag as well but again that was what he liked (and he wasn't entirely sure that she'd be keen on shooting at people for fun, either). "Freedomtown Park is a gorgeous place for a walk," he suggested. It was something simple and certainly quieter than where they currently were.
She smiled. "I'd like that, actually." She knew that they were initially meeting to see if they even got along, get to know each other better for their son's sake, but she found that she was really enjoying her time with him. Plus, once they got to know each other a little more, he'd find out that she'd be just fine going and doing karaoke or playing laser tag. Small steps, though. "I think we should make it a date."