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."

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[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.