Classic New York City Pastimes - Episode Three - An Urban Motorcycle Ride

[iam_ironwoman]

Toni stared at the phone book entry in her smartphone as she sat on the front step of the restaurant.

If she'd been less of a mess she'd have sent for the Maiden, but letting her wet hair drip all over the inside of her trillion dollar baby was simply not acceptable.

Had Happy and Pepper not been spending their evening off with each other she would have called one of them, but as it was she didn't want to be the person to break up their alone time. Neither would forgive her for it for weeks, most likely, and this night had been rotten enough without making her most favorite and essential employees mad at her on top of everything else.

That left just one more person nearby to call who might not laugh at her situation openly...

With a sigh she tapped Steve's number and held the phone carefully away from her wet ear as it rang, wincing some as she heard his sleepy voice come over the line. Oh right, it was past midnight...

"Steve? Hey, it's Toni. Sorry to wake you."

Comments

[themanoutoftime]

Steve didn't want to admit it, but he'd tried his hardest to stay up until Toni got back from her date. It was stupid, he knew, but he just wanted to make sure she was okay afterward and be there. Besides, he liked her company, and most everyone else was gone, so he didn't have anyone to talk to.

Of course, he forgot that Toni can stay up much later than him, and even though she'd left for dinner around eight, she probably wouldn't be back until at least one in the morning. (Or not at all, if what he'd heard about hte future was true. But he didn't like to think about Toni and that guy, the baseball player, doing that.)

So, unfortunately, he conked out around eleven on the couch in the living room, watching The Goonies on television. The call gave him a fright when it woke him, and he nearly rolled off the couch.

"Hello?" His voice was deep and scratchy. He was having some sort of dream about Toni and chocolates. Weird.

"Toni?" Steve sat up, more awake. "No, it's fine. Are you alright? What happened? Is there an emergency?" Vaguely Steve knew t hat if there were an emergency, it wouldn't be Toni calling.

[iam_ironwoman]

"Woah woah, calm down big guy. I just... I'm fine, but I could really use a ride."

She sounded as sheepish and miserable as she felt, in her estimation.

"I don't suppose you could give me a lift home?"

[themanoutoftime]

A ride?? Why on Earth would Toni need a ride?

"Uh, sure. Are you-- where are you? Where should I pick you up?"

[iam_ironwoman]

"Delia's, I'll text you the address if you don't know it. I'm sorry to ask, just... Greg drove and I am NOT getting in a car with him after tonight...

Happy and Pepper have the night off. A cab is just asking for more media attention than I've already gotten tonight.

I'd really owe you."

[themanoutoftime]

"No, no, I know it. It's fine, Toni, really. It's not a problem. I'll be there soon." He hung up the phone to change into his jacket and grab two helmets before zipping over to the restaurant on his motorcycle. He would've taken a car, but they're all Toni's, and the last time he drove her car, she kind of freaked out. So.

He pulled up to the restaurant, stopping the bike and removing his helmet. "Someone call for a lift?"

[iam_ironwoman]

"That was quick."

Toni cracked a smile for the first time in a few hours as the stepped down from the shade of the restaurant's porch, her hair damp and pulled back haphazardly, clothes clinging to her.

"Thanks, you're a life saver, Steve." she declared, taking the spare helmet to pull on and swinging a leg over the bike seat behind him.

"Sorry if I get your coat wet."

[themanoutoftime]

Once Toni steps into the light and he takes in her appearance, Steve's eyes widen, and he blinks.

"What happened to you?"

[iam_ironwoman]

"Long story short, I had wine poured over my head ."

Toni sighed, slipping kind of damp arms around his waist.

"I'll give you the rundown once I've had a shower, if you want to stay up to hear the whole story."

[themanoutoftime]

Steve didn't say anything else, just put his helmet back on and rode back to the tower, trying to ignore the weight of Toni behind him. It wouldn't be good if he got distracted while driving.

He pulled into the garage in the tower, parking carefully and letting Toni get off first. "Are you sure you're alright?" he asked, running a hand through his hair.

[iam_ironwoman]

"I will be. Not the first bad date I've had, though this one was unusually dramatic."

Toni smiled wanly as she pulled off her own helmet, making a mental note to get it cleaned properly for him before her wet hair smell took root.

"Apparently mister flirty baseball player is engaged. Things I'd like to have known before I met his fiancee this evening." she explained, prying off her heels first - three inches shorter in a flash - and starting across the garage to the stairs.

[themanoutoftime]

Steve watched her go, too dumbstruck by the information to do anything else. A fiancee? What kind of person takes a woman out when they have a fiancee? How rude of him.

"That's awful," Steve said, brain kicking in and he caught up with her in three long strides. "And he didn't tell you? He just took you out on dates?"

[iam_ironwoman]

"Yep, just sent me flowers and took me to a show and all that. I guess she was in Europe for a few weeks and he thought he'd mess around and she's never know or something, the dumbass."

Toni led the way up the stairs, almost amused at Steve's shock. Not that it wasn't a completely appropriate reaction to the whole situation, but the look on his face was something special and was almost adorable enough to improve her mood a little...

"Anyway, she was out with her friends for a drink and saw him come in with me. To her credit she kept her cool and didn't march over assuming things until she saw him lean over and actually kiss me. About that point she decided all bets were off, stormed over with a tray of glasses she lifted off of the waiter, and dropped a bottle and some worth of red wine and a few fancy beers all over the both of us."

[themanoutoftime]

All Steve could do was listen in horror to her story as they went up the stairs. What kind of person did that? He'd known his fair share of men in the forties who were playboys, but it'd never been this casual. The future was just too strange for Steve, sometimes.

"I'm so sorry," Steve said, not that it was his fault. (And he'd never tell Toni, but he was a little glad the baseball player had turned out to be a jerk.) "Did you get to eat, at least?"

[iam_ironwoman]

"Not even an appetizer." she groused, as they emerged into the ground floor of the main tower and the elevators there.

Once they were on their way up to the penthouse floor she looked toward Steve with a wry smile.

"I'm ordering in cheeseburgers once I get cleaned up. You want any?"

[themanoutoftime]

"Uh." On the one hand, Steve was always hungry. Always. On the other....was it entirely appropriate to eat with a woman in her apartment alone at one in the morning? They were friends. It wasn't inappropriate if they were friends. Which they were.

"Sure, sounds good. You can tell me more about your date."

[iam_ironwoman]

She laughed as the elevator doors opened, heading off down the hall way toward the bathroom.

"I'll give you all the sordid details, promise. Just tell Jarvis what you want on your burgers, I'll only be a few minutes."


True to her word it only took Toni about five minutes to shower and change - efficiency was part of her genetics, she figured. She padded back to the living room in bare feet, yoga pants and tank top, going straight for the bar to fix herself a drink.

"So, can I make you a drink to pair with the story of the rest of my date?" She offered to Steve, winding the elastic around her wrist into place around her ponytail instead as she surveyed the available ingredients. Perhaps a Mai Tai...

[themanoutoftime]

Steve nodded as she left and told Jarvis what he liked. It was almost right as he finished that Toni came back, all clean and looking much more comfortable. Normally, he'd probably make a comment about her having a drink, but he figured after the night she had, she probably needed it.

"Sure," he said, shrugging. A drink obviously couldn't hurt him, and he didn't want her to feel weird if she was the only one drinking. "Whatever you're having is fine."

[iam_ironwoman]

"You got it."

She started pulling bottles out from the shelf and assembling their drinks as she talked.

"So, anyway, this date. This fiancee of his seemed nice enough, really. When she found out I hadn't known she felt like a heel for dousing me in wine but what was done was done."

"She pretty much just stood there next to the table and tore into him for a good ten minutes while her friends nodded and I just sat there with my arms crossed being all wet and annoyed until she started the storm-off and I could leave too. Of course the whole thing is probably on you tube by now because everyone and their mom took a picture when she grabbed the drink tray..."

"Long story short, he's in enough shit with her I don't think there's much else I could do to him that would be worth the effort. Well, short of leaving him with the bill for all the drinks she spilled of course. I think I'm just going to not speak to him again if I can help it. I mean, that's fair, right?"

[themanoutoftime]

"You could ruin his credit score," Steve suggested with a shrug. That seemed like something Toni was capable of doing with all her computer know-how, and besides, if Steve had been there to see this happen, well, Mr. Baseball player probably would have gotten a black eye to go with all that wine.

"And not speaking to him ever again seems fair too."

[iam_ironwoman]

"Ooh, that's a good idea too." Toni murmured, grinning at the credit score idea as she poured, coming around the bar and settling next to Steve on the couch. She passed him a glass garnished with a little umbrella and settled back.

"Cold shoulder and financial ruin, excellent combo." she clinked her glass against his. "To friends that rescue me from being photographed at a cab stand covered in wine."

[themanoutoftime]

Steve smiled at her, ducking his head a little. He totally wasn't blushing. He wasn't!

"Any time you need me Toni, really."

[iam_ironwoman]

"You're a peach." Toni sipped from her drink, watching his reaction with a hint of amusement.

"You know, when I heard the legends about Captain America as a kid you were really not what I pictured. I think I expected you to be a lot more of a hard ass in person."

[themanoutoftime]

Steve shrugged, scratching the back of his neck. "I had to be different then, I guess. And you know the only thing that ever gets passed down is blown out of proportion."

He paused, eyes narrowing. "Did you just call me a peach?"

[iam_ironwoman]

"I did." she replied, chin propped in her hand. "Would you rather I not?"

[themanoutoftime]

"Toni," he said, looking very serious. "That's sexual harassment."

[iam_ironwoman]

She blinked, slowly, just a bit stunned. She hadn't seemed to mind her calling him honey, all the other little nicknames she attached to 90% of the men in her life...

The shock wore off and the sting of that grave look of displeasure on his face sunk in enough to jar a word out of her.

"I... sorry. I hadn't gotten the impression that you minded the nicknames."

[themanoutoftime]

Steve was about to laugh, he really was, but then Toni's face got all hurt and stunned and that wasn't what he wanted. "No, Toni, it was a joke. Don't-- don't apologize, I'm sorry. It's not sexual harassment."

Christ, he was such a dick.

[iam_ironwoman]

Her mouth dropped open and she reached across to give him a mock-punch in the bicep with her small fist, bursting into a laugh before she'd finished the swing.

"You jerk! You looked so stone-faced serious! Don't DO that to me!" she scolded through her chuckling, more than eager to accept an explanation that meant she hadn't done anything she had to apologize for!

She took a big swallow from her glass and shook her head at him.

"I am no good at telling when you're kidding, jeez!"

[themanoutoftime]

He laughed when she did, pretending to be hurt by her punch.

"I forget that people aren't really used to my sense of humor." Nevermind the fact that most people were fairly certain that he didn't have a sense of humor. He took a swig of his own drink, humming at the taste. It was nice.

[iam_ironwoman]

She made a scoffing irritated noise at him but let it lie at that, smiling as she worked on her own drink.

"I just gotta be around you in more situations that allow for joking. Alien invasion wasn't really conductive to sharing our best wit."

[themanoutoftime]

"You know the electricity thing was a joke, right?" Steve just had to ask. He needed to know that at least that translated correctly.

[iam_ironwoman]

She snickered, remembering that bit MORE than clearly.

"Oh yes, I knew THAT was a joke. I'd have laughed at the time if I wasn't trying to get the Hellcarrier back in the sky."

She opened her mouth to elaborate but the ding of the elevator and their arriving food cut her off - "Just a sec, Steve, Hey Tito!" - but it only took her a minute to make the exchange of money for goods with her favorite burger delivery person and settle back onto the couch, passing the larger of the two bags of food to her evening's rescuer.

"So, I had a thought while I was in the shower." Toni said as she unpacked her food. "Do you like formal parties much?" she paused. "Actually scratch that, have you ever BEEN to a black tie affair before?"

[themanoutoftime]

"Before I was an actual Captain, I worked for Senator Brandt." Steve paused, opened the bag and smelled it. Christ, the best thing about the future was the food. Definitely.

"So, yes, I've been to formal parties." He didn't think about why she was thinking about him in the shower, because that was-- well, he didn't want to think about her in the shower. It'd be rude. "Why?"

[iam_ironwoman]

"Cause I've got a black tie fundraiser to go to in a week and now, thanks to mister fiancee dodger I am out one famous date to bring along."

She raised a curious brow in his direction.

"There would be delicious food. And it's for charity."

[themanoutoftime]

Steve looked down at his burger, trying to feign nonchalance. "Uh, sure. Since you don't have anyone else, why not." She was just asking him because they were friends, of course. And he was reliable and dependable. Steve would never think it'd be any other reason than that. (Because there wouldn't be. Right?)

"I think that'd be nice." Wait...did he even have a tux?

[iam_ironwoman]

"Great! I can get Pepper to pick you up a suit if you need, though I imagine army formals would be just as appropriate if you have those."

She grinned, delighted to what was probably a slightly irrational degree, but fuck it. The idea of showing up at a formal event with Captain America - the man, the legend - on her arm was doing a lot to improve her previous crappy mood.

She dug into the first bite of her cheeseburger with a happy sigh.

[themanoutoftime]

"They're about seventy years old, I could probably do with a new suit," Steve said, unwrapping a burger. He also didn't want to show up in full Army dress; people tended to stare at that.

"I can get my own suit though, you don't need to worry about it." He knew that Toni liked to spend her money on people, and that was fine, he didn't have any right to say how she spent her own money, but he definitely could buy his own suit. He wanted to, in fact. "You could..help me pick it out, though."

[iam_ironwoman]

"Sure, I could totally do that!"

The way she was smiling should probably have tipped Steve off that he might be in trouble.

"Party'is next Saturday night. Shopping Thursday?"

[themanoutoftime]

Steve couldn't tell a dangerous smile from a regular one, unfortunately, so he just took a bite of his burger instead, nodding along with her.

"Sure. Thursday sounds great." He tried to ignore the nervous feeling that was slowly tightening into a ball in his chest.