WHAT: Kate and Steve get to know each other better and she definitely does not have an ulterior motive at all WHERE: Black Widow House WHEN: Today! WARNINGS: Nah STATUS: Complete
When Steve had last been in Vallo, Kate’s life had looked very different. She’d been taken under Mobius’ wing the day she arrived, settled into the guest room of the cottage he shared with Loki in New Asgard, and not long after that, she’d started pursuing Elsa and her new world was centered and all-consumed.
So much had changed, just for her personally, since then. She, Natasha, and Yelena were closer than ever, helped along by Yelena receiving memories of their time together back home. They’d all started becoming closer then, and Kate savored every moment of it. She’d always been an only child, so it was fair to say she got attached easily, but they had been there for her when everything changed: Mobius and Elsa disappeared the same day, the very first day of August, leaving her feeling heartsick and alone. That was the day she really felt they’d become her sisters.
Over three months later, they’d all settled comfortably in what had once been Natasha and Yelena’s childhood home, brought here by Vallo and its mysterious ways. Kate had been a bit hesitant around here for the first week or so, but it had worn off quickly. They’d worked to make the house homey for all three of them, and she could say with confidence that it was more home to her than her apartment back in their universe ever had been.
Now, Steve was back, months and months after his disappearance. It was a big deal, not just for the Avengers contingent here but specifically, for James and for Natasha, two of the people Kate loved most in this world. That made him a priority in Kate’s life, too, no question about it. She’d met with him when she’d first arrived – they’d had coffee and chatted about home – but they hadn’t really established a close bond.
Which was fine! But it was something she needed to rectify now. And she’d started to, inviting him to dinners, insisting he join her training with Nat every once in a while. Today, however, was about one-on-one time. She’d ordered in lunch – burgers, fries, and probably seasonally-inappropriate milkshakes, but she figured there was no going wrong with All-American – and shoved Natasha out the door, insisting she wasn’t going to scare him off. She just wanted to get to know him properly. She knew all about the original Captain America’s story, but she was only just getting to know Steve.
They were currently seated across from each other at Black Widow House’s dining room table. Kate’s hair was pulled back into a lazy bun, and she was cozy in leggings and an oversized sweatshirt. Her feet twined around the legs of the chair as she sucked on her milkshake straw for a moment, evaluating her companion across from her.
“So,” she began, “tell me something about you I wouldn’t know. Liiiiiike, any guilty pleasures?” Her eyebrows rose expectantly as she grabbed a fry to dip it in ketchup.
Steve was largely amused that he'd arrived for lunch with the two of them, only for Natasha to be escorted out the door by Kate. They'd had eye contact for the briefest of moments that communicated almost an entire conversation. 'Don't have too much fun. Good luck.' being the general theme. It was fine, though. Really.
He figured this was kind of a fun reverse on the getting the okay from the parents routine and was okay with it. Kate had a great sense of humor and, unlike Tony's references, he actually understood most of hers. As for the question, though, he actually had to think about it. Did he have any guilty pleasures? He certainly had personal hobbies, but he didn't think he felt guilty about them. Oh wait, there was one thing.
"Yeah, actually. I'm really into watching The Great British Bake Off. There's a lot of seasons to catch up on and I've found myself putting off chores to enjoy it. Which is where the guilt comes in. And I guess Captain America enjoying a British show has some comedy value?"
“Oh my God, you’re a cinnamon roll,” Kate replied with a laugh. That was one of the sweetest, most innocent answers she could possibly imagine, but she approved. It made her think of James, and even though this Steve wasn’t technically his Steve, the more she looked at him, the more she could see the resemblance. “I’ll give you the comedy value, that’s a good point. Cooking and baking shows bore me to tears, but I’ve heard that one can be pretty soothing. I appreciate a good British accent.”
"Not the first time I've been called that," answered Steve, popping a fry into his mouth. "We didn't have huge action movies when I was a kid and I've lived enough on my own, so I guess the relaxing and wholesome ah… vibe? really works for me. I tried another one, the guy keeps yelling at the chefs? Not for me." Honestly, his time in the military had less yelling and belittling, so it felt like it was more of a literal show about yelling at people and he wasn't sure why it was popular.
"You're not wrong, though. But then again, nearly everything sounds exotic to my Brooklyn ears. Anyway, my turn, right? What's something about you I haven't learned yet?" With that, he took a bite out of his burger and was surprised to find it so tasty. He might've gotten used to diner burgers. He was going to have to ask where she got them from - when his mouth wasn't full.
Kate snickered around another fry, knowing exactly what he was referring to. Her friend, Blair, back in school had a thing for Gordon Ramsay and watched every show he was in – which, unfortunately, was quite a few. Kate would humor her and watch some of it, but she had to agree with Steve. It was a lot of yelling, and there was only so much appeal to that before it started getting annoying.
His question had her humming thoughtfully. They were going for wholesome here; he didn’t need to hear any of the first things that popped to her mind – the Chitauri Invasion, the Tracksuit Mafia, her mother being a murderer, all far too depressing for this occasion.
“Are we still talking guilty pleasures? Because that’s an easy one. Twilight.” She grabbed her shake for a sip before realizing that might require further explanation. “The movies. I don’t know if you’ve seen any of them? They’re the worst, and the first one especially is filmed in this weird blue light. It’s pretty clear nobody in that cast wanted to be there, but that’s what makes it so fun.”
"Never heard of it. But you enjoy it because it's so bad?" Steve chuckled and picked up his shake as well. Not a sip yet, but he pointed a finger with the same hand. "That, Kate, explains why you get along with Clint." He was inwardly pleased that both of their guilty pleasures were essentially the same kind of media, so somehow that made him feel a bit more included. Or approved of?
"All right, I guess it's your turn again. Same topic? Something new?" He raised his eyebrows while also taking a big draw on his shake. It… probably looked funny, but he wasn't here to show off.
There really wasn’t much higher compliment Kate could receive than being compared to Clint, and she beamed in response to it. She had still been getting to know him on a more personal front when she got here, but they’d gelled well during their time together, and she did know about the hate-watching tendencies they shared. Maybe, someday, James would manifest him here like he’d manifested Steve and Francis, and they could all hate-watch it together.
“I’ll let you pick,” she decided. She was the one who had orchestrated this lunch, promising both herself and Nat only to promptly banish her sister from the house and steal her boyfriend away. It was only fair he got to steer some of the conversation, too. “Blow me away, Mr. Rogers.”
"All right." Steve slurped his shake a bit more, thinking of what kind of topic he could bring to the conversation. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that he was much better at joining and participating in conversations that he was starting them - unless of course it was work-related, so to speak.
After a few thoughtful moments, he set his shake down and looked across the table. "Okay, Ms. Bishop, outside of archery, do you have any hobbies that you actively pursue? For me, I love to sit in outdoor cafes and sketch things I see. Or things I'm thinking about. Usually with a cup of coffee. It relaxes me, keeps my mind and eyes sharp, and it's a good creative outlet."
Ms. Bishop listened to him attentively while she worked on her burger, a smile curling her lips as he went on to answer his own question with reasons to back it up. She had always liked Captain America – all of the Avengers, really – but she was starting to see what Nat saw in Steve, as a person. He was oddly peaceful and sweet for a man who was on the front line of wars of both the human and non-human kind more often than not.
“Does getting drunk and singing at karaoke nights count?” That was the best she had, and boy, that was kind of sad, wasn’t it? But she loved her training. Her initial pursuit might have come from a protective place, but she was a fantastic archer (and fencer and martial artist). Even when Nat teased her and got her on her back with a heel jammed into her ankle, she loved every second. It was an adrenaline rush, and she lived for it. They may be ‘work’, but she counted them as hobbies, too.
"I don't know if I'd count the drinking part as a hobby," answered Steve, offering a friendly but kind of an 'are you okay?' expression. "But if it's something you enjoy, there's no shame in it." It wasn't his fault, Steve had somehow completely missed the whole 'getting drunk and having fun' era. And there were still plenty of things he hadn't caught up on, especially since he couldn't get drunk. Which meant that his mind automatically went to 'getting drunk to forget or ignore things.'
"You're going to have to introduce me to karaoke, though. Sam has threatened, but we've never gotten around to it." He popped another fry in his mouth. "And I guess that makes it your turn for a question."
She did enjoy it, Kate could safely confirm that. She’d spent many a night drinking with friends in school, and she was a solid singer, so even at her most blasted, she sounded good. It wasn’t a nightly thing, but letting loose and going out for drinks was fun sometimes was a good time. She’d been a college kid back home, drinking was a big part of the culture.
“We’ll make karaoke happen,” she assured him. She hadn’t gone in a while – probably since Elsa had been around – but she would be honored to be responsible for Steve’s first karaoke experience. They’d make it a whole Avengers Family event, if she had her way. And really, what better time for karaoke was there than Christmastime? Everyone knew at least one Christmas song by heart.
From there, it was a half-hour long blur of back-and-forth questions, most of them light and funny, mixed with eating. At one point, Steve had looked so pleased with the burger that Kate had changed course to tell him about the gourmet restaurant where she’d found it, pulling up the link to their website and texting it to him for future reference.
By the time they’d polished off their food, leaving just a few of the crispy fry leftovers behind, Kate turned more serious. While she wanted to get to know Steve better – that was absolutely genuine – she’d had an ulterior motive here, and she wasn’t the type to reel back and change course too often. So, she forged ahead.
“Look,” she began, meeting his gaze and crossing her arms on the table in front of her, “I know you probably already know part of why I wanted to do this since Nat says I’m about as subtle as a sledgehammer, but I’m gonna say it, anyway. She’s really, really important to me. I know you’ve known her ten times as long, but she’s my sister, and she’d been hurting a lot before you came back. Even after, really.” They both knew what she was referencing there – Carol. That seemed to have started to clear up, but she’d seen the way it had affected Natasha, and she hadn’t liked it one bit. “I don’t want to see that happen again. I’m not gonna ask you to promise you’re going to stay because I know that’s not something anyone can promise. Just…take care of her, okay? And promise me you won’t hurt her.”
In Steve's timeline, he hadn't met Yelena (yet?) or Kate. Natasha, from his timeline, had mentioned Yelena because they'd looked into finding her during the Blip, but she had either been too well hidden or one of the victims. So seeing and meeting her sister and finding that Natasha had adopted another one… it was huge and lifted his spirits, too. After all, the Natasha here was so much like the one he'd known for years that he honestly kept forgetting they weren't the same.
In response to Kate's request, Steve put his palms on the table and gazed across at her. "Let me tell you about the version of home that I come from. It's. Well, it's a little different than yours and most everyone else's, it seems." He paused for a second, looking for the words. Did he need to explain their time together during the Blip? No, probably not, unless it came up in further conversation. Instead, he decided to focus on the more important part.
"Like what seems to be the more common timeline, Nat sacrificed herself to get one of the stones we needed to stop Thanos. And we all mourned that loss. I mourned her. And when it was over, once we stopped Thanos, I returned the stone. Except I used the opportunity to return it before she sacrificed herself. The stone was still collected and then I had dual memories of that final fight. One without her, one with her. You can imagine which I preferred." He smiled softly at that, neglecting to mention that he didn't retire, either.
"So in answer. Yes, I'll take care of her and I won't hurt her."
Kate hadn’t known any of that before. At this point, hearing he was from a slightly different timeline didn’t shock her, although it was news to her. She and James had spoken about Steve a couple of times as they’d gotten closer, but they’d never gone into great detail. She knew it made him sad that Steve had disappeared, and the last thing she ever wanted to do was make James sad. Even Nat, though she’d missed him, hadn’t spent any great amount of time talking about him, but Kate knew now that was just how she dealt.
As she listened to even the barest of details laid out of what he’d experienced, the different choices he’d made, she wished that was how it had gone in hers. Natasha deserved that chance. Why hadn’t their Steve or Clint or Ant-Man or someone thought of that? It was disappointing, but she didn’t dwell in it.
She knew even before he parrotted her words back at her that the deal was sealed. She knew enough about him as a person even prior to this sneak-attack lunch that she hadn’t truly been worried, but she still felt like she wanted to say it. She wanted to make sure Natasha had everything she could ever want or need because she loved her, and her sister had done the same for her for so long.
“Good,” was her response, reaching over to give his hands a squeeze. “That’s good to hear. Just remember I’m not afraid to kick an old man’s ass.” She grinned at him, that devilish tilt of her lips that always made her sisters roll their eyes. No way she was taking a super soldier down anytime soon, but the sentiment behind it was clear.
"That old man would deserve it, I'm sure," he answered, turning his hands over to return the squeeze.
The meal was done, the questions were answered, and so far it seemed like everything was going well. Freeing his hands, he stood up to start collecting the trash and dishes from their lunch, intent on taking them to the sink to wash them. Before he headed towards the kitchen, though, he paused and looked over at Kate with the kind of a deadpan serious look he normally reserved for Bucky.
"So, did I pass?"
Kate rose up to pick up her own trash and looked Steve up and down. “Yeah, alright, you pass,” she replied. She narrowed her eyes at him playfully. “For now. I reserve the right to change my mind at any point.”
They headed back toward the kitchen, Kate leading the way since she’d been sitting closer to the door, and she nearly jumped out of her skin when her eyes fell on Natasha leaning against the kitchen counter. “Jesus,” she hissed, pressing her hand, clutching wadded up food wrappers, to her chest to calm her jumping heart. “How long have you been here?!” They had been working on her being more aware of her surroundings as part of their training, but clearly, there was still room for improvement.
But, with that said, she tossed her garbage and draped herself around Nat’s shoulders. “I’ve decided you can keep him, eavesdropper.” As if her permission was needed and, in fact, important.
Natasha gave an overly-exaggerated slurp from the straw in her own milkshake when Kate finally noticed her. She didn’t hide her amusement at Kate’s reaction either. “You’ll never know.”
She set the cup down on the counter and straightened up in time for Kate to sling an arm around her. Her permission may not have been needed, but the approval still meant something to Natasha, and she gave a genuine smile. She dropped her head to lean against Kate’s before looking over to Steve. “You hear that, Rogers? I can keep you.”
"It's a good thing, I think my return window expired sometime in the 60s," joked Steve, putting away his own dishes and trash. He enjoyed seeing Natasha buddying up with people, living casually and in a way that made her smile. There was no surprise on his face when they encountered Natasha in the kitchen, he knew she was probably listening in. And it was certainly better than her planting a bug of some kind under the burgers.
"Is it time for me to clear out so that you two can talk about the results, or are there more plans I should be aware of?" All this was said with a smile plastered against a quizzical look, with Steve looking forward to whatever came next.
“Oh no, you’re staying,” Kate piped up quickly. She plastered a playful kiss on Natasha’s cheek, then straightened up to pull her weight off her sister and smirk up at Steve. “I’m gonna call James, and we’re all gonna sit here and watch Twilight together. I made Nat and Yelena sit through it when we moved in here, now it’s your turn, Cap. Can’t have any uninitiated around here.”
“I’m going to need a stronger milkshake.” Nat’s reply was immediate and completely deadpan. The entire series was awful, and Kate had managed to talk her into watching every single film when they’d first moved in together. “Much, much stronger.”