The First Time
Count On Me series : Chapter 1
Chapter Summery: Diana is pissed that she has to go into work on her day off because SOMEONE doesn’t know how to find a simple file
warnings: None? Some yelling, Diana being mad, the team are all idiots.
word count : 2477
Diana was pissed.
This was her first day off in over 2 weeks. Meaning she spent 14 days straight waking up early, commuting to the tower, and dealing with all the missions and reports and coffee that needed to be handled.
She was meeting with Sarah for brunch, brunch that had already needed to be pushed back from breakfast because Diana had overslept for the first time in at least 2 months, and that, if she couldn’t handle this stupid issue of theirs as quickly as she could, would have to be moved to lunch, which meant she wasn’t getting her damn waffles she’d been dreaming of since they’d made these plans over a week ago.
Diana was more than pissed.
“Stupid, idiots. Can’t follow simple instructions. It’s in a drawer. There’s a fucking super comuter in there and they can’t find it? None of them can function without me there, are you KIDDING me? ” Diana had been mumbling to herself as she made her way through the tower, punching in her code and scanning her ID badge more aggressively the closer she got to the main level.
She’d gotten the call from Steve 20 minutes ago. They needed information for a previous mission they’d gone on that week. One of their HYDRA base tracking and infiltrating missions. The report had been done and printed, but there were hand written notes, an equation or a piece of a puzzle they might need. The report had been put in a drawer in one of the higher levels of the tower, and no matter how many times Diana told Steve, then Tony, then Steve AGAIN, no one could figure out where she had put it. She’d finally given up on them and told them (perhaps in a more aggressive tone than she had ever used while in her professional setting) that she was on her way and would find it herself.
She got in an elevator and pressed the button hard enough to hurt her finger from the force, not that she cared in the moment.
“ Good morning Miss Sousa. Shall I alert the team you’ve arrived?” Jarvis’ voice broke through the space as the elevator began to rise.
“No, Jarvis. Let them figure it out themselves.” Diana shook her head, then mumbled to herself, “Actual idiots. And one of them’s a God!”
The doors opened to the main floor, and she made a direct line for the office. She climbed the stairs to Tony and Bruce’s workshop where several members of the team were (not including Natasha, who was in DC for the week on an assignment for Fury, and definitely would have been able to find this damn file if she were here), and walked right through, not sparing anyone a glance.
Thor turned towards her as if to say something, but before he could Diana held up a hand, let out a sharp, “Don’t,” without looking, and just kept walking.
When she made it to the office, Steve was already there, going through other drawers and cabinets around the room, papers scattered across the desk. The wrong desk.
He looked up when she came in, though she barely glanced his way. “Oh hey. Sorry about all this, we tried-”
She dug into the middle drawer in the desk on the other side of the room, the one with nothing on or scattered around it, and pulled out the file they had been looking for.
“Ah, there…” he murmured with a bashful look- as bashful as a super soldier could look- as she made her way back to him. She handed him the file- well it was more like a shove- before taking a step back.
“ Thank you, I don’t know what we would have done-”
“I shouldn’t have had to come all the way here for this,” she exclaimed, making her way out of the room and back down towards the elevator.
Steve followed her out of the room, “I know, I’m really sorry about that-”
He took in her appearance; a dark green hoodie that “ ESU” embroidered on the front, loose comfy pants and sneakers. A basic enough outfit he’d seen a million times around the city, just not for Diana. This must be the most relaxed he’s ever seen her- besides the growing agitation he could see forming near her shoulders. Her hair, which was always pulled back into some tight, straight style, was in a loose braid with a few strands falling onto her face. He could see a few ridges in her hair, a gentle wave she would have never allowed to stay on any other day.
“Hey, I’ll give you a ride back home.” he offered as they neared the end of the hallway.
She let out an aggravated sigh as she went down the last flight of stairs that brought them to the workshop level. She cut right through it, Steve hot on her heels. “ I’m not going home. Well I am going home first-” Steve could see Tony’s eyebrows raise, mouth opening as if to make some comment, but Steve just shoved the file into his hands and continued after Diana, who had not stopped rambling despite the audience, right through the door on the other end of the workshop. “ And of course, I had to come all the way down here on a Saturday, so the subways were packed with all the stupid tourists. Then I had to catch the shuttle, the one I ran for because it was about to leave! And now I have to do it AGAIN. And I’m already late-”
“ So let me give you a ride, wherever you're going.” She didn’t look back at him reaching for the elevator. “Diana.” he added, slightly firmer than he had originally intended.
Diana paused, her hand hovering over the button. “Fine.” she relented, pushing the button to call the elevator. She walked through the doors when they opened a few seconds later, Steve following close, a small unintentional smile gracing his face.
He pushed the button for the garage, which was located on the basement level. The elevator began to descend, Diana crossed her arms and started taking some deep breaths to regain her calm that definitely sounded like overly dramatic sighs.
Steve stole a glance at her, then another. With 10 more seconds in their elevator ride, he decided to break the silence. “ They used to have music,” he said, eyes facing towards the ceiling while keeping her in his periphery.
She nodded her head, looking directly ahead. “ That must have made rides slightly less awkward with someone singing at you.”
He let out a soft laugh at her remark, one that hit her right in the chest. She fought the tug at her mouth with all the will and annoyance she still had, but still needed to turn her head to the right so he wouldn’t see it break through her resolve.
The doors opened to the dim concrete that housed much of the transportation the team used, both for personal and mission use. She knew every vehicle in here since she had been responsible for logging them, keeping their access codes up to date.
“Where are we headed?” Steve asked, leading the way through them toward the left side of the garage.
“West 79th and Columbus.”
“So you an uptown girl.”
“Sure, Cap.”
She shouldn’t have been surprised when Steve led her to his motorcycle instead of any of the cars that surrounded them.
“We’re taking your bike?” she asked, eyebrows furrowed.
He handed her the helmet that had been resting on one of the handles. “ It's faster than a car, ” he said as he sat. “ And you said you were late. Ever ridden on one of these before?” he asked. She shook her head no before putting the helmet on.
She put the helmet on then moved closer to the bike to sit. Before she could, he reached out to tighten the buckle under her jaw murmuring, “ Need to tighten this,” before dropping his hands. “ Good?” he asked, completely oblivious that one of his hands had brushed her neck as they’d lowered, and she was now fighting to find her voice. Having no luck with that, she nodded before taking her spot behind him.
And of course it was an accident. He couldn't have their assistant dying on his watch, so of course the helmet needed to be tightened and of course it's not unusual to "accidently" touch when adjusting the buckle
“ Ever ridden on one of these before?” he asked, turning his head to catch her response. When she shook her head no, he reached for one of her arms to pull her front closer to his back. “You’ll feel safer with a tighter grip.” Which was true. He definitely hadn't pulled her closer than necessary on the bike. Absolutely not. It was for her safety, for HER comfort. It's not like he wanted her arms around him for any other reason.
This man made it impossible to keep her professionalism intact. Not that she’d had much luck with that today. She could see the white of his t-shirt collar peaking out from his black sweater. Which she needed to look away from. Just because she was close enough to stare didn’t mean she should let herself.
Thank god for the helmet and the fact his back was turned so he couldn’t see her blush. And luckily, when he started the engine, it had enough vibrations he couldn’t feel her heart beat pick up.
Or so she thought. She couldn’t see the hint of a smile that had made it onto Steve’s face.
He twisted a knob on the handlebars and pushed down on the clutch , jolting forward into motion. Her grip tightened even more as they zoomed up the ramp and out of the garage, the doors to the street automatically opening and closing for them.
It was one of the first fall days in the city, so while the sun was out and shining, the temperature had dropped from mid 70s down to low 50s. Which would have been fine, if they weren’t going 20 over the speed limit. But conveniently Steve was a heater.
She tightened her grip as they went, tightened it even more on turns. And in the end, Steve was right. It was faster. They made it through the park and up 30 blocks in under 10 minutes. Partially due to some legal immunity the Avengers had from their relationship with SHIELD.
He turned onto her block, slowing to a stop in front of her building. Diana let out the breath she’d been holding onto since they left the tower, finally letting go of Steve’s waist. She stood on shaky legs, unbuckling the helmet before taking it off.
She turned back to him and held out the helmet.“ Thank you for the ride,” she said, trying to put her professionalism back in place (or just in place, since she basically hadn’t had it IN place the entire morning)
He took it from her, inclining his head slightly with a bashful look. “ Yeah, well. It's the least I could do after interrupting your morning for a file.”
Some of her earlier annoyance came back at the reminder. Her jaw clenched, just enough he almost caught it. “Right.”
“ I’m sorry about that. Again. That was…”
“Yeah. It was.”
“Well, I’ll leave you to your day. You need a ride where you're going?”
“ Oh, no. We're walking. ”
“Who’s we?”
Behind her, the door to her building opened, both turning their heads at the sound. Sarah Coulson walked out, already beaming at them.
She wore a similar outfit to Diana’s; grey sweatpants, a white long sleeve with “ESU School of Medicine” printed on the chest, and a dark blue zip up on top. A pair of sunglasses sat on her head, keeping her dark hair out of her face, and another tucked into the top of her shirt. She held two purses, one black, the other red.
She had a sly smile on her face, like she knew something neither of them did.“Hello there, Captain. I see you brought Di back in one piece.”
Steve crossed his arms with a playful look. “I had to. Who knows how we’d survive without her.”
Exactly. At least one of them said it. Even if it was just Steve entertaining Sarah, Diana felt a bit validated.
Sarah and Steve had met soon after the battle of New York, some months before Diana had gotten the job as the team’s assistant. When her father Agent Phil Coulson had died, Steve, along with a few other members of the team, had gone to the funeral to pay their respects. It was there they had been introduced, and since had kept a bit in contact, a few check-ins here and there.
“How’d you know I was back?” Diana asked as Sarah handed her the black purse.
“ I was watching the window when you pulled up,” she replied with a shrug.
Steve looked back and forth between the two. “I didn’t know you two knew each other. ”
Diana flinched as Sarah put the pair of sunglasses that were hanging from her top onto Diana's face, crooked and nearly hitting an eye. “Yeah, I babysit her too.” she responded, side eyeing Sarah as she adjusted the glasses. Despite the sarcasm, Steve could see the tension leave her almost completely now that Sarah was there, breathing with ease instead of the precision she used on the job.
“ Only she does it for free because she likes me so much more than you.” The unexpected chuckle she got from him only made Sarah beam more. “ You should have seen her when she got the call. She kicked the-”
“ Okay, we’re leaving,” Diana nearly shouted, dragging Sarah by the arm away from the curb. “ Thanks again for the ride.”
“And this morning I couldn’t wake her, she was practically dead. Poor thing. You guys run her ragged.” Sarah continued, undeterred from being dragged away and talked over.
“See you on Monday!”
“Bye Steve!” Sarah waved, then turned so she walked side by side with Diana.
He watched them walk off together, smiling to himself. That was probably the most expressive he’d ever seen Diana. He put the helmet Diana had been wearing on, then pushed down on the clutch while holding the break. He watched them walk down the block for a few more seconds before pushing off the curb.
“ Why do you hate me?” Diana murmured when they reached the stop light. She turned her head just enough to see back down the block, where Steve was just turning his bike around and taking back off toward the tower.
Sarah just gave her an innocent smile. “I don’t know what you're talking about.” she said, linking their arms.