more of styles!reader introducing joe to british things?
omg i really tried my best!! i’m not english but i lived in london for a couple of years so i tried to pull from memory. hope u enjoy :)))
જ⁀➴ all things english
joe keery x styles!reader
a part of my styles!reader au!
“percy pig?” joe stood in a marks and spencer’s aisle, staring at the pack of gummies.
“you’ve never tried them?” you asked, incredulous.
“no?”
“your life is about to be changed.” you said surely, grabbing a pack and putting it in your shopping basket.
you didn’t even wait until you got home; the second you stepped out of the store, the pack was opened.
you held a piece to his mouth, which he gratefully took.
joe’s eye widened as he took the first bite. “oh, this is delicious.”
“can’t believe you went all this time without it!” you scoffed. “you’ve got an english girlfriend and you’ve never tried a thing of percy pigs before. unbelievable.”
joe shrugged, reaching in to grab a handful.
the first time you saw joe trying to microwave water you shoved him out of the way.
“you do not get to do that in my kitchen, d’you understand?” you muttered angrily, pointing a finger at him as you stood in his kitchen.
joe was definitely shaken up. you two had only been dating for a couple of months, and while he knew you had a fiery personality, he definitely hadn’t expected you to react this passionately over a microwaved mug of water.
“absolutely unacceptable.” you mumbled to yourself, taking the mug out. “knob.”
“what’s wrong with it?”
“microwaving water?”
“no—the doorknob.”
“what?” you turned your body away from the stove to face him.
an amused smile painted his face once you said his favorite word. he’s always been a sucker for your accent.
“dunno. you said something about a knob?”
he saw the realization dawn on you.
you waved him off. “another lesson for another day. today, i teach you how to make a proper cuppa.”
the third time he visited you in london it slowly dawned on you that you never took him out to eat fish n chips and you’re positive it wasn’t an experience he tried on his own.
“like fish and chips? like lays?”
“no, love, chips as in fries.” you shook your head, walking to your destination.
“how much longer?” he huffed. “we’ve been walking for a long time.”
“joe, we’ve only been walking for 10 minutes.” you sighed.
“that’s like 7 minutes too much!”
“you’ve got to get used to it joe. the tube isn’t much better—bakerloo lost its aircon for good, i think.”
“bakerloo.” he muttered, blinking.
“the brown line, love.” you jumpstarted his memory.
“oh, yes! with the dingy cabin?”
“yes.” you nodded. “you’re learning so fast.”
he gave you a proud smile that made your heart flutter.
when the platter of fish n chips arrived before him, he was wary.
“i know it doesn’t look appetizing, but try it. you’ll love it.” you reassured, already diving in.
he reluctantly took a bite and his eye went wide, nodding passionately. “brilliant.” he managed to mumble with a mouth full of food.
joe keery, american actor and singer just referred to fish n chips as brilliant. wikipedia just might have to change his nationality.
Masterlist
British!Reader is feeling homesick without celebrating Bonfire night. After confiding in Ahkmenrah, he seeks help from the others to make sure they don't miss out on their favourite holiday (WC: 2334)
AN: I wrote this in basically a day so apologies if it's not super polished.
Y/N had been working as a night guard for the museum of natural history for a little over six months now. They’d moved to New York from the UK a year ago to attend NYU studying archeology. So when they were desperate for money and they found out the local museum had an open position, they happily took it.
The job did take some adjusting, especially when on their first night they came face to face with a moving t-rex skeleton, but thankfully, with the help of Larry and the other exhibits, they slowly became apart of their mismatched family.
It was notable that over the last six months Y/N had grown closest to Ahkmenrah. Not only due to their closeness in age but also their shared interest in history. Most nights Y/N could be found walking with Ahkmenrah, either listening to his stories or catching him up on recent history.
It was now November, Halloween had just passed, and Y/N was feeling unusually more homesick than usual. Instead of listening emotively to Ahkmenrah’s stories, they simply hummed in acknowledgement. They’re so caught up in their homesick melancholy that they fails to notice that he’s stopped speaking.
"Y/N, are you alright?” He nudged them gently as he asked. “You seem distant this evening?”
"Sorry, it’s silly, really.”
"Are you sure? You don't seem alright," he says quietly, his crystal eyes watching them. "You never ignore me."
“Oh Ahkmen, I’m so sorry!” Their face suddenly filled with emotion. “I didn’t mean to ignore you.”
He shook his head at their apologies and stepped forward to hold their hand. "No, it’s fine, Y/N, but what’s wrong?”
“I’m just missing the UK this time of year.”
Ahkmenrah's eyes soften as he takes their hand. "I understand. It is okay to miss your home." He says quietly. He looks up at them, and he can tell that the homesickness that they’re feeling is a very heavy thing.
He gently squeezes their hand. "Do you talk to your family back in England?" He gives a thoughtful glance before looking back up at them.
“It’s not that; I spoke to them just this morning, but..." Y/N pauses for a moment before continuing, “I kinda miss the fireworks.”
His brows furrow slightly in confusion. “Fireworks?”
“Every year in the UK we set off fireworks and make bonfires on the Fifth of November.” They begin to explain, “We call it Bonfire or Guy Fawkes night.”
The confusion is now replaced with wide-eyed curiosity; his eyes sparkle with interest as he speaks, “That sounds wonderful, so you celebrate with fireworks?”
Y/N nodded, happy with Akhmenrah’s genuine interest. “Um yeah, it’s a way to commemorate when Guy Fawkes failed to blow up parliament in 1605.”
Ahkmenrah raises his eyebrows. He seems more intrigued than ever at this point. "A failed attack on a government.. so you celebrate?" he says, almost in awe at the idea. "How exciting!"
“Yeah, although like most holidays we mainly use it as an excuse to get stinking drunk.” They laughed quietly at their own joke, “But my parents and I used to always go see a fireworks show every year.”
“Did you do anything else?” He asked, still curious, to which Y/N’s asked sparkled before they spoke. The two then spent the rest of the night talking about different traditions and foods that bonfire night often had. They also discussed different holidays Akhmenrah would celebrate during his life in Ancient Egypt.
Eventually, the sun began to rise and the two had to part, but not before Y/N escorted him back to his tomb. “I’ll see you tonight, Akhmen.”
“See you tonight, Y/N.” He replied, but he looked as if he wanted to keep talking, making Y/N confused, but they didn’t have time to reply as the sarcophagus closed and the tablet glowed once more.
Y/N sighed before gently tapping on the sarcophagus and whispered the one thing they could never say during the night, “I love you...” before stepping away and heading back home.
The next night, Larry greeted them with a favour: "Listen, could you just keep an eye on the minis tonight? They’ve been whispering, and I got a feeling they're planning something.”
“Sure, no worries.” They ended up spending their whole night with Jedediah and Octavius. Y/N took them to the projection room and let them pick any movies to watch; they ended up picking The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
By the time Sunrise was close, they had only just finished the second film, and with a promise to watch the third movie, the two let Y/N carry them back to their exhibits. Once they had finished closing their assigned exhibits, Y/N made their way to the museum lobby.
As they walked down the stairs, Y/N paused as they spotted Ahkmenrah and Larry talking in hushed tones and looked at something on Larry’s laptop. The two hadn’t noticed Y/N as they slowly walked closer to the two.
“What are you boys whispering about?” They asked, causing the two men to jump slightly at the sudden voice. Larry quickly shut the laptop, looking incredibly awkward at being caught.
“Ah, Y/N. We were just... discussing some work stuff. Nothing important.” The older nightguard spoke rapidly, not sounding convincing at all. He glanced at the young pharaoh to back him up, who proceeded to nod while smiling a bit too widely.
“Uh Huh…” Y/N spoke with their arms crossed, clearly not believing them. “You guys are keeping something from me, and I’m gonna find out, but it’s close to sunrise, so it can wait.”
Ahkmenrah squirms a little under thier scrutinising gaze. Larry, still looking sheepish, scratches the back of his neck. "Right. Yes. Sunrise." He agrees quickly. "Everything can wait." After a moment, he nudges Ahkmenrah, who hasn't spoken yet.
The Egyptian Pharaoh coughs and composes himself quickly. "Yes, yes. Sunrise," he said as his face went back to the usual cool and calm look.
Y/N smiled at the Ahkmenrah fondly before gently grabbing his arm and saying, “Come on, I’ll get you settled back in your room.”
Ahkmenrah doesn't look so tense anymore after seeing their smile. Once they grab his arm, he lets out a quiet breath and relaxes a little. "Thank you," he mumbles under his breath and lets Y/N lead him back to his exhibit.
As they led him, Y/N started to talk. There's no specific topic to their rambling, but it helps distract Akhmenrah from the inevitability that soon he’ll be in the sarcophagus once again. When they arrive in front of his exhibit, Y/N feels him tense next to them and gently guides him towards the sarcophagus.
“It’s okay, we’ll be right here for you when you wake up,” they try to comfort him as he lowers himself into his tomb.
He lays down in his sarcophagus and gives them a small nod, a silent thank you. "I trust that you will," he murmurs as his chest rises and falls with calm breaths.
As Y/N looks at him, their mind runs on autopilot and, without thinking, reaches down and places a soft kiss on his forehead. Realising what they’ve done, Y/N pulls away wide-eyed, "Sorry, I don’t know why I did that.”
Ahkmenrah is still stunned for a moment, his face red. "I-" he stutters slightly, trying to organise his thoughts. "No, it's alright," he manages, his voice trembling a little from the unexpected gesture.
Before they could reply, they spotted the tablet begin to slowly glow. With a sigh, they turned back to Ahkmenrah and said, "Sorry, it’s sunrise; I need to close this.”
Ahkmenrah reluctantly nods, his face still a little flustered from the kiss. The tablet's glow grows brighter as the sun rises. "Yes, of course," he mumbles, his voice slightly hushed.
He takes a deep breath before speaking again, trying to hide the hint of disappointment in his voice. "I'll see you tonight then."
“See you tonight.” With that, Y/N pushed the sarcophagus closed and waited until the glowing ended before heading home. As they walked down New York Street, Y/N couldn’t help but wonder exactly what Larry and Ahkmenrah were whispering about; they made a mental note to ask on their next shift.
Yet when they arrived the next evening, Y/N was confused to find the main lobby entirely empty, even despite the fact they’d arrived over thirty minutes late.
“Hello?” They called out as their voice echoed around the museum, “Where is everyone?”
Still no response, causing Y/N to sigh slightly. Suddenly the sounds of footsteps approaching caused them to tense as possibility spread through their head, What if there thrives in the museum? What if they’d stolen the tablet?
As the footsteps grew closer, Y/N hid behind the desk while clutching their torch like a weapon, ready to strike. They heard the person stop in front of the desk, causing Y/N to jump up and swing. Only to be stopped by an outstretched hand and a loud voice yelling their name.
“Atilla?” Y/N’s eyes were wide as they realised who they’d nearly attacked. “I’m sorry, I thought you were an intruder.”
He replied in Hun and a small pat on their left shoulder to indicate no harm was done before holding his hand out. Y/N took his hand and allowed him to take them to the new planetarium that had been built a month ago. They stood outside for a moment before the doors swung open.
Y/N gasped as they saw how the room was decorated with various streamers and balloons and spotted the rest of the museum happily partying with each other. Everyone is having a great time, and the room is filled with music and laughter. Larry, among the others, is near the centre holding up a drink. He sees you and waves.
"Ah, Y/N!" Larry calls out. "There you are! Was starting to worry you weren't coming." He gestures to the surroundings. "What do you think? Pretty neat, huh?”
They approach him slowly, still taking in the surroundings. “Larry? What on earth is going on?”
“We’re celebrating bonfire night!” He exclaimed excitedly while handing them a drink, “I think we got most of it right but added our own American twist, you know?”
“How did you even know about this?” Y/N asked, to which Larry simply pointed to a corner where they could see Ahkmenrah talking to Sacagawea and Teddy.
They left Larry at the bar with a polite wave and made their way over to the trio. Ahkmenrah’s eyes instantly locked onto them when he saw them approaching. “Y/N! You finally made it!”
“Did you do all this for me?” They asked while smiling brightly.
"Yes! Yes, I did," he replies enthusiastically. "Larry and the others helped, of course. But I wanted tonight to be special for you."
His eyes sparkle as he looks at you, happy to see your reaction to his efforts. "Do you like it?"
“Like it?” Y/N began while looking around again in wonder, "Ahkmen, I love it!”
“You do?” He asked, to which Y/N nodded, "Well, there’s more to come still; in fact, it should be starting in just a minute.”
“What’s starting?”
Instead, he grabbed their hand and led them to a specific spot. “It’s a surprise, but follow me; I know the perfect spot to watch.”
Before Y/N could ask another question, the main lights dimmed, leaving them in darkness. They looked up as the constellations began to move, gently dancing for a moment before one of them exploded into a dazzling display of colours.
Y/N’s eyes widened in recognition before they looked at Ahkmenrah and whispered, “Fireworks...”
“Larry said we couldn’t get real ones, but I thought this would be a good alternative.” He explained, watching as they smiled brightly, their face illuminated by the beautiful light show.
Feeling incredibly proud, he takes Y/N’s hand and stands beside them, watching the animated sky with them. "I'm glad you're enjoying it." He mumbled quietly and squeezed their hand.
Y/N continued to watch the fireworks, but as the display neared its end, they turned toward the young pharaoh. “Could I do something a little crazy?”
Ahkmenrah tilts his head a little and smiles, intrigued and curious about their question. "Of course, Y/N, what is it?"
Instead of answering, Y/N slowly reached a hand out to caress his cheek. They looked into his eyes for a moment before reaching forward and gently placing their lips on his. Ahkmenrah freezes for a moment, stunned by their action, but then he slowly blinks and closes his eyes.
In the dim light of the planetarium, he gently returns the kiss, his lips moving gently against theirs. After a moment, he hesitantly wraps his arms around them to pull them closer, his fingers lightly tracing along their back.
The two only pull away once a cacophony of cheers and clapping surrounds them. Y/N quickly hides their blushing face in Ahkmenrah's chest when they turn and see all their friends congratulating them for finally taking the next step.
Y/N feels his chest move as he chuckles softly before pulling them closer. “Thank you, my friends, but I think we should get back to the party.”
With his kind but commanding words, the rest of them quickly began to party once more, but not without a suggestive whistle from a certain cowboy.
They pull away from his chest slightly before speaking, “Thank you, Ahkmen, for all of this.”
"I wanted to make this special for you, and it was worth the wait," he says softly and gives their forehead a light kiss. “Shall we get back to the party?”
“Lead the way.” Y/N replied, allowing him to lead them by the waist to join their friends on the dance floor.
In that moment, finally being with the person they cared about most as their friends danced around them, Y/N realised they hadn’t thought of home once. Even if for a moment, Akhmenrah had healed their homesickness, and they couldn’t be happioer.
Hey gorgeous, I was thinking about a storyline where y/n is a trained shooter from England who got the nickname bunny after almost killing all the rabbits in the country for shooting practice, and J recruited her as an assassin. Wouldn't that be so cool I imagine her in the hideout in like PJ's holding a coffee mug in one hand a riffel on her shoulder in the next.
Also I literally worship your work and I hope this finds you in good health 😘😘😘.
Hi hi @i-t--g-i-r-l 🖤✨
Please do not murder me!!! I made you wait since September 😭😭🫣
I wrote this with a severe headache and it turned into a short head canon? Think piece? I dunno!! I couldn’t think of how to extend it further so I kept it as is. Please don’t hate me!
Chaos loves you! If you hate it, I can try again 😞
No one understood why the Boss called in a random mandatory meeting so late in the night. Rules were rules so everyone piled into the commons room to wait for whatever the crazy clown had to say.
The loyal three were already seated in the front in various stages of restlessness. Frost had his arms crossed, already aware of what this meeting was about.
Mac was busy on his phone, reading the latest stock market info while checking his emails. Which left Neo half playing attention as he played a mobile game.
He really wanted to beat this level before Joker came, but that’s wasn’t looking very plausible.
The ‘game over’ screen pulled an annoyed groan from the marksman right as his boss walked into the room. Everyone’s attention turned to J in trepidation.
He could be announcing anything from a random execution to free doughnuts in the kitchen.
“Good evening, uhh gentle..men. I have a big ann-ounce-ment! I’ve ah heard your complaints. We need a new recruit to help lighT-en the load for our dear Neo. Sooooooo, I hired the best assassin I could find!”
Now that got everyone’s attention, including Neo’s.
Another expert assassin? This would be his partner in the field and he wouldn’t accept just anyone. J's choice would be interesting.
It was only natural that Neo became star struck when a beautiful woman shuffled into the meeting room holding a, “I’m not yelling, I’m British” mug with a polished riffle slung over her shoulder.
You ignored the shocked expressions in the room in favor of the kitchenette in the corner.
You took your sweet time looking around but you came up short of what you wanted. They had an impressive coffee machine, but no kettle. It was only then did you glance up and acknowledge your new Boss and all the men staring at you.
Joker knew what was coming when you arched an eyebrow. “Where’s the bloody tea? You wangle me ‘ere an’ skim on my essentials?”
The room was silent. Your thick English accent and appearance had everyone speechless.
You were a sight for sore eyes at 1am. Your fuzzy pjs had cute bunnies on them and you completed the look with matching slippers, all the while going off about tea in a room full of criminals. This was straight out of a fever dream.
Joker didn’t seem bothered. “Hehe, gentleman, I’d like you to meet our newest recruit, Bunny!”
Someone in the back coughed. Mac shook his head and continued scrolling on his phone, whereas Neo was still too awestruck to speak.
How did Joker managed to get you stateside, much less on his payroll? You refused to work for anyone so the rumors went.
You didn’t like being ignored and tipped your riffle to point it at Joker. The entire room gasped at your audacity. “Are you gormless, mate?”
Before Joker could figure out what you were saying, Neo finally came to his senses. He rushed forward, putting himself in between you and an angry Joker.
“Sup, it’s nice to meet you in person, Y/n. I studied all of your kills.”
Now that got Mac’s attention from the stocks. Neo being respectful? Mac and Frost shared a look. You seeing this?
You were rather impressed yourself. “You must be that Neo lad J spat on ‘bout.”
You set your mug down and offered him your hand. “My reputation crossed the pond eh?” You asked. Neo was cheeky and kissed your offered hand instead of shaking it.
“You kiddin'? You're practically famous! You single-handedly almost drove the bunny population to extinction in York. Your range is sick! And your confirmed kill list? D__n, Ma. I’m more than a fan.”
warnings: fluffy, first meeting, alcohol mentions + drinking, cursing, + i hope you like plaid shirts.......
a/n: i mentioned british!reader, but those parts could probably be ignored, there's only some british spelled words like 'sofa' etc, haha. also, this is only my second full imagine for jj - be gentle :) also, the title is pretty crappy i think... sorry about that
You stumble over to the party, already slightly buzzed. Being your second night living in the Outer Banks, you wanted to celebrate, have some fun, and get a little tipsy. Sand is kicked through the air behind you in small clouds as you jog over to the bonfire ahead. As you get closer, you can see an enormous mass of men and women around your age dancing, singing, and drinking to their heart's content. A group of them create a semi-circle around the fire, arms linked as they sway together. Another herd of teens take it in turns to show off their best dance moves while the people around them clap and cheer, some of them with their phones out, recording the event.
You stop when you get to a long, lone log, plopping down onto it as you reach into your pocket for a hair tie. You pull your messy, windswept hair into a ponytail and then, one at a time, flick off your black, sparkly sandals. You wiggle your toes around in the sand, enjoying the feeling that didn't come often back in England; your now -old home. Back there, visiting the seaside was a rare occasion. This luxury only happened a couple of times a year if you were lucky.
A few minutes later, a blonde, fluffy-haired boy wearing a red cap practically bounds over to you, just as you are pushing off your favourite plaid shirt. Laying it beside you, you reveal the pretty, *colour choice* bikini top underneath.
"Hey!" You laugh as you watch him skid to a halt, eyes widening as he spills some drink out of the two cups in his hands. "What's up!?"
"Hi! Need help?"
"Nah, I'm good." He offers one of the cups to you. "Want a beer?"
You lift your brows and tilt your head slightly to the side. "Sure it's not laced with anything?"
"Swear on my life. Look." He makes a show of it as he downs one of them in mere seconds, squishing the cup and throwing it to the ground afterwards. He then holds up a finger, waits a few seconds, and then grins. "See, I'm all good."
Taking the half-full one, you sniff it and smiles. "Thank you." You take a couple of gulps, "I'm Y/N. And I hope you're going to pick up your rubbish there, weirdo."
"Oh. Um..." The boy bends down to pick up the plastic cup, then awkwardly puts out his hand for you to shake. "JJ."
You giggle. "How formal. A handshake."
He chuckles nervously and then points to the log, asking, "Can I sit with you?"
"Yeah, of course."
JJ sits with one leg on either side of the log, facing you. "So, your accent it's... British?"
"Congratulations. Ten points to JJ."
You joke, nodding and clapping your free hand against your bare knee. "Yeah, I just moved here, actually."
"Oh, nice." JJ shuffles, and you could swear he's trying to get closer. "You're, um... just... fucking gorgeous, by the way."
"Oh- wow. Th- thank you." You feel the heat against your cheeks as you turn away from him to look up at the bright, shining moon. "You've gone and made me blush."
"Hm. Well, that's a good thing, right?" He raises his brows, and yes, this time, you know he is trying to get closer to you. He purposefully gets close enough that his knee connects with yours, causing you to look back at him. "And I just had to say it. I saw you running over, and I told John B that I just had to come over and offer you a beer."
"That's... sweet."
He looks you up and down a couple of times before stopping at your lips for a few seconds and then flickering up to your eyes. You stare right back, shuffling as you start to feel hot, the tiny hairs on your arms and legs standing at attention. You chuckle nervously and then turn your head away again, feeling suddenly very shy.
When you do, JJ uses two delicate fingers to brush a few stray hairs behind your ear, and he gets a quick look at the silver hoop earring dangling from it. It's real silver with three tiny crystals attached to it. His eyes widen, and then he looks over your once more, taking in the matching necklace and pricey looking watch on your wrist as well. "Oh."
Your eyes were closed, enjoying the boy's soft fingertips against your skin, so when he suddenly stops, your eyes go big, and you shuffle back again. "What?"
"I... just figured it out. Are you moving into the empty house next to the Cameron family?"
"Uh- yeah. How did you-?"
JJ nods. "So that means you and your family must be the new Kooks I've heard whispers about tonight."
You frown, confused by choice of wording. "What the hell is a 'Kook'?"
"Oh, it's just-"
Your eyes grow wider. "Oh my God! Is that some kind of dumbass slang word... for the female anatomy? That's so gross; what the hell!?"
JJ stiffens as you get up, sliding your shoes back on and pausing for a second. He looks up and is met with the rest of your beer being thrown in his face. You tut at him, shaking your head. "Gross."
You storm off, heading for home. Along your way, you remember that you left your favourite plaid shirt back there on the log. You consider going back to get it but then decide to let it go, not wanting to face JJ and his disgusting words again.
-
"Ugh!" You shut the front door behind you and head straight for the living room. You join your Mum on the sofa and lay your head on her shoulder.
"Hey, hun. How was your walk?" She asks, taking off her reading glasses and closing her book to give you her full attention.
"It was alright... until I wound up at that party." You sigh.
"What happened? Was it a boy? A girl? Did no one offer you a drink? Did you get pushed in the water? What?"
"No! Mum!" You giggle at your Mum's typical string of jokes. "Do I look like I fell in the water?"
"Tell me then. Before I get bored and just go off to bed."
"Just this guy. He was cute, funny. And then he offered me a beer and called me gorgeous..."
Your Mum cuts you off, frowning. "I'm struggling to see the issue here, babes."
"God, stop. Let me finish. It was fine... and I reckon I would have snogged his face off until he called me a 'Kook'."
"Again... the problem?"
You sit upright, crossing your legs on the sofa. "Didn't you hear me?"
"Yes, but what's wrong with that? It's just what they call us."
"Wait, what?"
"What?" Your Mum closes her eyes, pinches the bridge of her nose, and laughs. "Do you even know what that word means? Kook?"
"I... dunno. It just sounded like some disgusting word for our, you know... bits... right?"
"Oh, babes. It's just their word for us wealthier people in the OBX. We're called the Kooks, and then there are others who they call Pogues. You get it now, you twit?"
"Oh. Oh... shit." You cover your face with your hands and scream for a moment. "Ugh!"
You flop dramatically onto the wooden flooring, embarrassed. Your Mum shuffles to the edge of her seat and quirks a brow. "What now?"
"I- shit, I chucked my beer at him."
"Oh, wow. First, well done; that would've been a good move if this boy actually had done something bad to you. Second... you should probably apologise. With some luck, he'll forgive you, and you can ask him out."
"Mum!"
"What?" She shrugs, grinning. "You're a gorgeous girl, sweetie, and you need to make some friends... or perhaps a boy or girlfriend." She nudges your arm a couple of times, winking. You roll your eyes. "Hopefully, this will be our forever home now, hm? So you gotta get out there and socialise."
"Yeah... okay." You sigh, shuffling your feet against the floor and then wincing when you get a splinter. "Ow."
"Oh, and you should probably wear shoes in here too; some guys are coming tomorrow to fit the new carpet."
"Hm. And then maybe you can meet some people, huh?"
"Ooh. You're quite right. Let's hope these guys are fitties then." She waggles her brows, and you groan before laughing together.
-
You decide to go back to the party only half an hour later to apologise. You aren't sure when you may see JJ again, and you have a feeling he may still be there. Just as you open your front door, he is stood right there, on your doorstep, hand balled up into a fist like he was about to knock.
"JJ! Uh- what the hell? What're you doing here? How did you even know where I lived?"
He waggles his finger around as he reminds you, "I guessed... remember?"
"Oh, right, yeah."
"Yeah... right before I got a beer in my face."
"Shit, yeah. I was um..." Your eyes widen, and you step down from the entryway, gesturing for JJ to follow you. You sit down together on a bench in your front garden. "I was about to come and find you so I could say sorry. So...sorry. I didn't realise you guys had your own language going on."
"Nah, it's cool." JJ shrugs it off a lot more quickly and easily than you would have expected. "It's happened a few times, gotta be honest."
"Oh. Well... I'm sorry for those as well."
"No biggie, but I would rather drink my beer than wear it, y'know? It doesn't make the best shampoo." He runs his fingers through his unruly, slightly damp hair. He huffs, shoulders slumping. "See. What a waste of perfectly good booze."
You frown but laugh along with his jokes anyway, half convinced that he is dead serious too. "Right. Well, I'll buy you one back some time to make up for it, yeah?"
"Are you asking me out? How brazen of you."
"No! Shit. No, I'm just saying-"
"Yo, chill." JJ laughs a little too loudly, considering it is almost midnight. "I was playin'. And anyway, I wanted to be the one who asked you out."
"Really?" JJ nods as you look up at him, a brow quirked. "Uh... okay. Yeah, I'd like that."
"Well then, I gotta run, but first..." JJ stands up suddenly, and you follow without really noticing. He turns around in front of you so that you are frowning in the direction of his back. After a few awkward seconds, he points to the piece of checkered material that is tucking into the waistband on his jeans, dangling down. "Your shirt. You left it earlier."
"Thank you!" You gasp as you take it, and he turns back around again. "I thought someone would've taken it or thrown it or something. Thanks so much, JJ!"
Without thinking, you lean over and kiss his cheek. He looks slightly taken aback but smiles. "A big thank you just for bringing your shirt back..."
You pull off the jacket you're currently wearing, throwing it onto the bench before pulling on the plaid button-up. "My favourite shirt."
"Ah, I see. Well... um, I'll come and knock for you, Friday night?"
You smile, trying to suppress the giddiness you can feel building up inside. "Sure."
"Mm-kay Y/N Y/L/N. Night!"
"Goodnight!"
You watch JJ run down your driveway, through the gate, and back out onto the road. You wait until he is entirely out of sight before you clench your fists and tap your feet around excitedly. You let out a squeal, throwing a hand to your mouth and laughing at yourself after you hear it.
Your little freak out ceases when someone clears their throat. You turn around to see your Mum standing in the doorway, arms folded and shaking her head. "Wow. Really?"
"Shut up!" You huff, rushing past her and running up the staircase, slightly embarrassed and very much red-faced. "Ugh."
“Oh, you mean when you left me to die because someone told you to kill me but you decided to show mercy for the first time in your life? That time?”
“You talk as if I was the bad guy, as always.”
“Come on Arthur, you knew our job was shaddy, and you knew that they’d been lying. You enjoyed it. And when I started questionning the meaning of our cause, then you decided to take care of it.”
“And I couldn’t resolve myself to lose you for this. That’s why I let you live.”
“That’s why I shot you. Now please, let’s think about what we have to do for this mission before we do something stupid again.”
Description: An elusive Hydra criminal finally comes out of hiding after months. Bringing Steve, Tony, Bucky and Sam to an exclusive weapons expo in London, alongside a rather interesting Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) agent. Masterlist HERE.
Word Count: 11,700 ish. Bloody hell! This one got away from me just a bit...this is basically a mini series in a one shot.
Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader.
Rating: PG. Warnings: Curse words. Accounts and moments of violence. Mentions of dying and dead Hydra henchmen. And I think that’s it.
Requested: Yes, by the lovely @thedarklightwithinus who wanted a one shot with a British reader. So here it is, I truly hope you enjoy it! And sorry it’s so dang long, I just got super into it and couldn’t stop! ♥️♥️♥️ A/N: I sadly don’t own any of these characters. And no beta reader, so I do proudly own all the errors and this story, so there’s that.
Fury enters the large meeting room, a brown manila folder gripped tightly in his hand, as he makes his way to the front of the massive table. All the available Avengers already sitting around it, wondering why they are here, and what this impromptu meeting is all about.
Steve glances around the room, seeing only Sam, Bucky and Tony present. As Nat, Wanda, Clint, and Vis are all off in random places in the world, on different missions. And Thor is off—well, off doing Thor things probably, no one really knows where he goes, somewhere far out in space no doubt. And Bruce is in his lab, tinkering away on some project Steve would never be able to understand. So that just leaves the 4 guys in the tower, attempting to enjoy their off time—well as much as they can, knowing that at any given moment they could be called into a briefing and shipped out. Much like right now, he assumes.
Fury drops the heavy folder on the table with a thud and clears his throat, drawing all the attention to him. He flips the folder open and grabs a few pieces of paper, effortlessly sliding a few small, stapled stacks across the tables smooth surface, one to each man. All of them picking the packets up and briefly skimming over the few pages of information. Forgoing a greeting, in classic Fury fashion, he just begins to explain why they are all here. Not wanting to waste anyone's time, but mainly his own. “We finally got some intel on Surkov,” he starts and Steve instantly perks up at the mentioned name.
Nikolai Surkov has been a thorn in Steve's side for months now. He’d first encountered Surkov—or rather, first learned his name—while in Russia taking out a large Hydro facility that was testing, and producing, animal warfare. Taking regular animals and changing them into bloodthirsty killing machines. Steve was disgusted, to say the least, and it had left him with a few new haunting images to fill his regular nightly nightmares.
They’d gone in full force and had successfully managed to take control of the entire location within 20 minutes. Along with also managing to keep all the animals safe, up until the specialists and scientists were sent in and took over. The animals were all successfully extracted and then brought to safer locations. Locations where the specialists could begin humanely attempting to undo the damage done to them, and look at relocating them all to more permanent, safe sanctuaries. Where all the animals could live out their days, peacefully. But even with that facility being permanently shut down, they knew it was only a matter of time before a new one popped up, and took over where this one had left off. And to make matters worse, Surkov had managed to escape undetected during the melee. Slipping away into the night right before they could capture him for questioning, as he was the one in charge of the whole facility. And they knew he’d be valuable for intel moving forward, being that he was rather high up in Hydra’s organization.
After they’d cleared out the whole facility, they’d then spent weeks searching for Nikolai, taking out a few more, smaller Hydra bases along the way. But he’d basically vanished, and had clearly gone deep underground. So deep that even Nat couldn’t track him, though she had tried, but it always ended up in the same place. Either just missing him, or having not even been close to him to begin with.
So, 7 months later, and they still haven’t been able to locate him. Not even so much as a single clue as to his current whereabouts, or even a hint as to which country he may be residing in. And to make matters worse, the Avengers aren’t the only ones looking out for him. A few international government organizations are searching as well, but there hasn’t been a single hit on him. Anywhere. He had basically dropped off the face of the earth. But now, now they might finally be getting somewhere. Or at least Steve desperately hopes that they are.
“Our sources believe he will be coming out of hiding to attend a large weapons expo in London. But he’ll most likely be going under an alias, and in a disguise of some sort. It is a private, and heavily guarded event, and attendance is by invite only,” Fury looks to Tony, “and since you are Tony Stark, you got one of the elusive invitations. But before you go getting too excited about that, Steve is your plus one.”
Tony glances at Steve, smirk plastered on his face, “how do you look in a dress, Capsicle?”
Steve scoffs and crosses his large arms over his broad chest, “you’d probably look better in the dress.”
Tony nods, “true, I probably would. I look good in everything.”
Steve shakes his head then turns to focus on Fury, having a few questions bouncing around in his head. “So we don’t know for sure if he’ll even be there?”
“We don’t.”
“Do we at least know why he is coming out of hiding now, and for an expo of all things?”
“We don’t, but we can assume it has something to do with the world's top weapons distributors and manufacturers all being in one place at the same time,” Fury shuffles some papers around on the table. “The risks of him attending this event are high, but there is too much potential money at stake for him to not attend. He will either be there to make illegal sales of his own weapons, or he will be there to illegally buy weapons. And both options aren’t particularly favourable to any of us, so we have to take him down before he accomplishes either.”
Steve nods in agreement, having a Hydra high up in possession of major modern warfare does not sound appealing at all. Especially if that higher up is Surkov. He focuses back on the packet of paper in his hands, one section standing out to him. “We will be working with SIS agents on this?”
“A SIS agent,” Fury corrects Steve.
“Wait, MI6!?” Sam interjects, as he sits up straighter, and glances around at the other guys, “I thought they were only allowed to handle matters outside of the UK?”
“That’s correct, MI5 usually handles everything within the UK, but MI6 has been hunting Surkov for months, just like us. So I’m assuming they have a bone to pick with him, as they aren’t usually too pleased with criminals outsmarting them. And I’m guessing in their eyes, what MI5 doesn’t know, won’t kill them. So they have chosen to quietly lend us one of their top agents to help facilitate things.”
“Meaning they want us to have a babysitter while we’re there,” Tony comments.
“Essentially,” Fury nods. “Their agent needs to stay out of the limelight on this though, so once Surkov is in custody they will disappear as if they were never there.” The men all nod, understanding that the agent will basically be a ghost to anyone but them. There to oversee and assist, but gone before anyone even notices they were in attendance to begin with.
“So what’s the plan then?” Bucky asks, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.
“Tony and Steve will attend the function, same with the MI6 agent. While Sam and Bucky will be on the roof, watching the doors.”
“Okay, and when do we leave?” Steve questions. Fury closes the folder then picks it back up, “in 3 hours, so pack your suits boys, your going to London.”
Steve steps off the Quinjet, raising his hand to block the blinding sunlight as he looks around. Bucky, Sam and Tony joining him on the tarmac as their eyes also start to adjust to the bright light.
“Enjoy it while you can lads, the sun doesn’t come out too often,” a sweet accented feminine voice rings out in the air. Steve instantly goes searching for the source of the voice, feeling Bucky elbow him in the side as he makes a low whistle sound, just before Steves eyes lock onto a petite form.
The woman is standing about 20 feet away from them, in a simple grey pants suit, with a white blouse. Nothing too fancy, but it’s not the clothes Steve is looking at. She is absolutely breathtaking, and even in the misleading pant-suit Steve can tell she has curves in all the right places. And he instantly chastised himself for checking her out, they are here to do a mission, not gawk at the agent. A mission that could easily end badly, though hopefully it will end with a very connected, and very dangerous, man behind bars. So no, now is not the time to be ogling their liaison, no matter how beautiful she may be.
“That’s the MI6 agent?” Sam mumbles so only the guys will hear him.
“I call dibs,” Bucky whispers with a chuckle.
“Like hell you do, Tin-Man,” Sam scoffs. “Plus you’re far too old for her.”
“And you’re far too dumb,” Bucky retorts, childishly. Steve shoots both guys a stern warning glare, telling them to zip it and behave.
“You both don’t even stand a chance,” Tony chuckles as he shakes his head and makes his way towards the agent. Sam and Bucky hurrying to catch up to him. Steve just sighs deeply and slings his bag over his shoulder, following the guys towards where she currently stands beside an all black Mercedes GLS—But Steve only knows that because the back of the large SUV is currently facing him, and he can read the chrome decals with the model name on it.
You arrived to the airstrip 20 minutes before the Avengers were due to land. And to say you were excited to meet the legendary heroes was a bit of an understatement. You’d admired them all for years, maybe even longer, reading countless articles on them and their accomplishments. Even occasionally watching the odd news release on them, if you could find the time, that is.
When this opportunity was offered to you, you’d had to reign in your excitement level. Not wanting to look daft in front of your superiors. So you’d just given them a stiff nod, replying professionally that you’d accept, and then listened intently as they finished briefing you on the operation, before promptly exited the room once they had finished. And then the second you were out of eye shot you’d done a little happy dance, allowing your utter internal glee out for just a moment. Before you’d promptly reigned it back in and continued on with your day.
So now, 2 days later, here you are standing on the tarmac waiting for their aircraft to land. And desperately trying to calm your rising nerves and racing heart. You quickly wipe your clammy hands down the front of your pants, as you hear the first sounds of a descending aircraft. Then do a silent prayer to the heavens that you don’t make an arse of yourself in front of them.
You are a distinguished agent, one who has spent your whole life honing your skills and climbing the proverbial ladder. You are a top MI6 agent for a reason, you didn’t just fall into this position, you earned it. You can’t let 4 men—superheroes or not—get to you like this. You’ve done countless missions. Saved, rescued and killed many, many people. This should be a piece of cake for you. So then why are you still so bloody nervous?
As the ramp lowers, you shift your weight anxiously from foot to foot. But then quickly reprimand yourself, and force yourself to stand tall and steady. You watch as the four men start to walk off the aeroplane, you smile as they all start to squint or raise their hands to shield their eyes from the sun. It was a beautiful day out, the sun was out and shinning, which wasn’t a regular occurrence in this part of the world. But you weren’t complaining in the slightest.
Your eyes glance over each of them, pausing for a little longer on a certain blonde super soldier. You’d assumed he’d be rather dashing from the photos you’d seen, but you never expected him to be this insanely fit. Like drool all over yourself attractive. He was a dishy for sure. You giggle quietly to yourself then loudly say, “enjoy it while you can lads, the sun doesn’t come out too often.”
You watch as their eyes all search for you, each of them finding you rather quickly. You have to bite your lip to hide your grin when you watch Sergeant Barnes promptly elbow Captain Rogers. Then the guys all exchange a few words that you can’t make out over the general noise of the airstrip, but you can assume what they are chatting about. You.
Mr. Shark is the first one to make his way towards you, and you stand tall—as tall as you can, at least—and focus your full attention on him. But you are always aware of your surroundings, so you note that Mr. Wilson and Sergeant Barnes are only a few steps behind him, while Captain Rogers is still near the end of the ramp. And just as Mr. Stark reaches you, you stick your right hand out to him, “Mr. Stark, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Harper.”
He playfully grimaces, “please, call me Tony, no need for the formalities. And it’s nice to meet you also, Harper,” he says the name suspiciously as he shakes your hand, a smirk playing on his lips. “Though I am curious if that is your real name or not.”
You smirk right back, “it is today.” Which is true, that isn’t actually your name, but you have to be a ghost here. And using real names makes that rather difficult to accomplish. So as far as these lads are concerned, you are Harper.
He playfully narrows his eyes at you, “I tried to look you up, couldn’t find any mention of you anywhere though.”
“I should think not,” you wink at him then turn your focus to the other two men, sticking your right hand out once again, “Sergeant Barnes and Mr. Wilson, I presume?”
Sergeant Barnes shakes your hand first, sending you a handsome smile, “just Bucky is fine, Doll.”
Mr. Wilson scoffs loudly at Bucky’s use of the pet name, and you almost burst out laughing at that. Being utterly thankful he drew the attention to him, and away from the flush most likely now on your face. You offer your hand to Mr. Wilson, who shakes it and also corrects his name, “everyone just calls me Sam.”
“Sam it is then,” you smile and nod.
“Okay, I gotta know,” Sam starts, leaning in slightly to whisper, “how did you end up in MI6? I heard it’s extremely hard to get hired with them.” He leans back and gives you a once over, but not in a creepy way. More of an assessment. “And you can’t be much older then what? Mid twenties, max?”
“Yes,” Tony pipes in, eyeing you up as well, “I’m also curious about that.”
“Guys,” a deep voice sighs, exasperatedly, from your left, “you all know she can’t give us any information on herself.”
You glance over to see Captain Rogers now standing near you. Finding yourself instantly and utterly gobsmacked by the ridiculously tall and insanely attractive super soldier. Your mouth promptly dries and your heart starts to race. He is even more of a dish up close. You tear your eyes away from the solid tower of a man, forcing them back to the three others. Not wanting to just awkwardly ogle him any longer, for fear he may think you daft, or worse, a slapper. You internally cringe at the thought and externally nod to the men, “yes, Captain Rogers is correct. As far as you all are concerned, I’m just Harper, your hired tourist guide, and nothing more.”
They don’t look too pleased with your response, but you can’t risk your true identity getting out. The fact that they already know what you look like, and that you are MI6, is already too far out of your comfort zone. You shake off your worry and then turn to face the tower again, extending your hand for the final time today, “Captain Rogers, it’s truly an honour to meet you, sir. Welcome to London.”
And once again, you internally cringe, but this time it’s at how eager and utterly star-stuck your voice sounded just now. Barely even registering in your ears as your own voice. You want to face palm, instantly. Your eyes catch the movement as the corners of his lips twitched up just slightly, instantly confirming that he had picked up on your flustered tone as well. Though luckily for you, he doesn’t draw any attention to it, and instead just grasps your hand firmly. And the moment his large, warm hand engulfs yours, you want to melt into a puddle. You never expected to have this sort of instantaneous reaction to a man, let alone Steve Rogers AKA Captain America. However, in your defence, you never actually expected to ever meet the man, let alone shake his hand.
“Please, just Steve,” he smiles, “and it’s an honour to meet you too, Harper.”
How did he...? Right, super soldier with crazy intense hearing. You’d need to remember that for the future. You smile in return, reluctantly extracting your hand from his, then gesture towards the SUV. “Well, now that the introductions are all out of the way, shall we be off?”
They all nod and then move towards the vehicle. Tony, Sam and Bucky all bickering about seating placement as they hop into the back. And you make your way to the right side to get into the driver's seat. Rounding the back to the car you see Steve going to pull open the door and you giggle at that, “you planning to drive us?”
He turns to you, his brow furrowed in confusion, “I’m sorry?”
You smirk, leaning in to whisper, “we do things on the opposite sides here.”
He quickly turns to look in the window, most likely now seeing the steering wheel, then chuckles and rubs the back of his neck as he looks back to you, “I’m still not entirely used to that. Clearly.” He pulls open the door for you, stepping back slightly so you can get in.
“I figured,” you smile sweetly, as you climb into the car. “And thank you.” He nods and closes your door then makes his way to the left side of the car.
“He forgot you guys do things weirdly over here, didn’t he?” Tony pipes up from the back and you glance over your shoulder as you click in your seatbelt, and just as Steve opens the passenger door you speak.
“No, I believe he was just being a gentleman,” you reply nonchalantly as you look up at Steve, who gives you a thankful nod as he takes his seat.
You may not know Tony Stark well—or rather, at all currently—but you can already tell that he’d be someone to hold something, even as small as this, over Steve for days. Where as it’s common knowledge that the super soldiers are gentleman, being from the 40’s and all. You glance back at Tony, who looks ridiculous currently sandwiched between Bucky and Sam, having refused to let them sit next to each other.
“And we do things the right way over here. Hence why the driver is located on the right,” you gesture to yourself then turn to face forward. Starting up the car, and driving off the tarmac, heading off towards the hotel where you’ll all be staying for the next week.
The first 3 days flew by, spending most of that time touring the guys around London, showing them all the sights, and keeping up the rouse that they were just here on vacation, and to attend the expo as guests. You wore a full disguise and acted as their ‘hired tourist guide’, when in actuality you were all out hunting down information on Surkov. Trying to learn if he was for sure going to be in attendance at the expo.
By the 4th day of reaching out to informants and your lads in the underground, you managed to figure out that he was in fact going to be there. And that he would be going by the alias, Dmitry Kalashnik.
Then the 5th day, was spent huddled in Tony’s room studying Surkov’s photos, going over the floor plans, and finalizing everything else. Making sure you were all on the same page, and everyone knew where to be, who they were looking for, and what their assignments were.
And now being the 6th day, also known as expo day, you were currently getting ready for the show. But you hadn’t seen much of the guys all day, everyone taking the morning to themselves to prep and prepare for the mission. Just as you’d done as well.
However, it was finally time to start getting ready, and even though this was a weapons expo, the dress code was posh as shite. You’d had to purchase a formal gown for the event, but luckily because this was technically a mission, SIS had covered the cost of the dress. So all you really had to do was pick one out that you liked.
The dress you’d ended up choosing was a nude Gemeli Power creation, that was form fitting and had somewhat sturdy wrap around straps. Though you’d partially chosen this dress mainly for the fact it would be impossible to fight in, and as you weren’t supposed to even be in the UK. Let alone working a job for MI6. You figured having on a dress that restricted your abilities and that you risked ripping apart at the seams in a melee, was a smart choice. Mainly just to help keep you in line, and remind you that you couldn’t blow your ghost cover.
Though you had originally been looking at a red dress, but figured red would stand out too much. So you went with a flattering nude colour, it accented your skin tone perfectly and didn’t draw too much attention to you. You couldn’t be remembered by anyone tonight, but you still needed to look pretty enough to actually entice Surkov enough to chat you up.
You’re assignment was only to track Surkov down and distract him, while Tony slipped a sedative into his drink and Steve watched everything play out from afar, handling any interferences. Then when he started to feel the effects of the sedative, you’d be a caring stranger and help lead him outside for some fresh air, where Bucky and Sam would be waiting to collect him. And once that was all said and done, you’d slip silently away into the night.
You’d showered quickly, deciding to leave your hair down, and styling it minimally, then applied your makeup and gotten dressed. The final touch being a beautiful pearl ring, that held a teensy tiny secret, and that you never left for a mission without. And now all that was left to do was to make your way to the expo, as you’d be showing up alone. Instead of with the lads, as that would—once again—draw too much attention to you. You needed to pretend like you had no clue who they were, like you were just there on behalf of your company.
A company that was entirely made up by MI6, but that they used as a front for things exactly like this. In the eyes of the public, Ingenx Inc was a fully functional and operational legal weapons wholesaler and manufacturer. Yet in actuality, it was just an empty warehouse in the middle of nowhere, with the only staff members being the security guards that watched over the site. You’d never even been there before, yet you supposedly headed up the companies entire ‘acquisitions and procurement’ department.
As the hired car pulled up outside the venue, you quickly slipped in your ear piece, switching it on and then climbed out of the car. Adjusting your dress so it fell on your body smoothly and then made your way into the large venue.
Showing your invite to security once you approached, and giving them your Ingenx alias of Kelly Hartley. And then once they had found your name on the list, they ushered you through the doors and you entered into a grand lobby. Finding lots of poshly dressed people standing around in small groups, mingling and sipping drinks. You continued on ahead into the first of three massive ballrooms that were housing the expo tonight, with only one thought on your mind as you entered the massive room, lined with booths along all the walls and two rows down the middle. The game is afoot.
Steve wandered around in the second ballroom, keeping his eye out for Surkov as he went. But stopping every few booths when something caught his eye, to check out the weapons and ask pointless questions as to keep up the front that he was only here to scope out products for the Avengers.
Harper—as she claimed—was going by Kelly tonight and was in charge of searching ballroom one. Steve was in charge of ballroom two, and Tony had the third ballroom. Whoever located Surkov first would inform the others over the comms, and they would all convene to that ballroom and then the plan would be put into action. Steve raises a hand to pretend to scratch his ear and then inserts the comms device, turning it on once it was in place. Then he murmurs a quick, “can everyone hear me?”
“Aye aye, Captain,” comes Tony’s quick response. Followed closely by a, “you betcha, Pal,” from Buck. Then a, “loud and clear,” from Sam. But Harper is silent, so Steve speaks quietly again, “Harper, you out there?”
A moment later she finally speaks up, and Steve releases the breath he’d been holding. Worried that something might have already happened to her. “Yes, I’m here. My apologizes, I got stuck chatting up a smarmy git who refused to put a sock in it,” she huffs. And Steve has to attempt to not laugh out loud, as he isn’t currently talking to anyone, and that would only draw unwanted attention to him. “A what now?” Sam asks confused and Steve hears Bucky laughing loudly in the background. “And put a sock where, exactly?” Tony adds, through a chuckle.
A loud sigh rings out over the comms, and Steve figures that she is slowly becoming more used to the guys constantly asking what her British slang means. Her sigh is followed closely by her soft, slightly irritated, accented voice, “a smarmy git is like a,” she pauses. “I duno, like a greasy, unpleasant person, I guess? And the sock would have been for his gob.” Another pause, “you remember what a gob is, yeah?”
Tony chuckles, “that we do.” And Steve internally agrees with him, they had learned a bunch of new words over the last week, gob being just one of many.
During one of their ‘touring’ days, as she called them. Harper had been cut off by another car and had made some strange hand signal and yelled, “you tosser!” out the window at the other driver. Sam had promptly asked what a tosser was, and she’d just sighed and then explained that it meant ‘a wanker’. And even though Steve knew that the guys understood what she meant by that, Tony, being Tony, still questioned it further. Causing her to shoot him a playful glare but then explained that in some cases, much like being cut off, it meant an idiot with a total lack of regard for others.
Then, the next day she accidentally turned the wrong way down a one way street, and uttered a, “bloody hell!” when she noticed. That time, the guys didn’t need to ask what she meant by that, but yet in classic Tony form, he had said ‘language!’ and then, because she obviously didn’t know the context behind that phrase. Nor would Tony clearly ever let Steve live that down, he explained exactly where ‘language’ came from. Causing Harper to giggle uncontrollably but then, surprisingly, she hasn’t brought it up or joked about it since. Which did not go unnoticed by Steve.
“Anyone have eyes on him yet?” Steve asks over the comms. “Negative Capsicle,” Tony answers. “Nothing yet,” Harper replies, “though I have searched the entire room and he isn’t here. What would you like me to do now, Steve?”
“Stay there for now, Harper. If he isn’t here yet, the first ballroom will most likely be where he goes once he arrives. Tony, is your ballroom clear?”
“Yeah, he isn’t in this one either.”
“Alright, then let’s all convene in the first ballroom to wait it out,” Steve answers as he makes his way out of the second ballroom and heads towards the first.
“I just have to see a man about a dog, and then I’ll be there,” Tony replies, cheekily.
A snort followed by an angelic giggle plays through the comms, causing an involuntary smile to break out on Steve’s lips as he enters into the first ballroom. He was growing pretty fond of the sounds of her laughs. Or rather, just her in general. More fond than he should be after only a week around her. And with every passing day, the realization that he’ll have to leave soon sinks in more and more. Leaving him completely clueless as to what he is going to do about that. But for now he has to focus on the mission, focus on finding Surko—
His eyes instantly land on her as he enters into the first ballroom, and he is positive his jaw is actually laying on the floor now. He is speechless. Or gobsmacked, as she’d put it. He hadn’t gotten a chance to see her all day, let alone since she’s been in that dress. She’d been wearing loose fitting clothes all week, in an attempt to help mask her identity. He’ll admit, even in the ill fitting clothes she was absolutely stunning.
But like this?! This dress, the way it hugs her like a glove, and shows off just enough skin but also leaves some to the imagination. He can barely contain the urge to go to her, scoop her up and take her away from all of this. Somewhere he can keep her forever, and do everything in his power to make her happy, safe and carefree. He shakes his head, clearing the thoughts, and forces his eyes to move away from the goddess in front of him. He is supposed to be a stranger to her, and vice versa. He can’t blow her cover, nor his own. He has to get a handle on his emotions, his thoughts, and his eyes.
You’re standing in front of a booth that has a display of long range missile launchers. Listening to the vender explain all the features and you’re not going to lie, you want one. Badly. Maybe you could buy one for yourself? But would you really ever use it? Would you ever need to? Who are you kidding, of course you would, you’d honestly find any reason to use it. But what if you lose it in a melee? Best to get 3 of them, just to be safe—
Something large and royal blue catches your eye, and you glance over to see Steve, slowly making his way down the row of booths towards you. And your heart skips a beat as you take in just how utterly handsome he looks in his suit. So handsome it should probably be illegal. You’d write a letter to parliament later about that.
You glance around the room, noticing a few female eyes lingering on the ridiculously fit super soldier. But honestly, you’d have expected way more eyes to be on him. How are some women, and men, not even paying attention to their surroundings enough to notice him?! Who could not want to just stare longing at the tower of a man. He was utter perfection.
You shake your head, suppressing a laugh at your ridiculous thoughts, and then attempt to focus back on the man going over the missile launchers you so desperately wanted just 4 minutes ago. But now, now you don’t want 3 of them anymore. You just want 1 Steve. Bullocks! You sigh deeply, then thank the vender for the presentation as you step away from the booth. You need a drink now, or maybe 5.
And just as you turn, you collide with a wall of muscle, and know instantly who it is, without a shadow of a doubt. You glance up at the piercing blue eyes that you’ve grown so enchanted with over the last week. Then your eyes drop down to his lips, as the corners of them twitch slightly. Clearly he is suppressing a smirk right now. Cheeky bugger. Your eyes snap back up to his just as he starts to speak, “my apologizes, ma’am. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.”
You force your face to stay neutral, “that’s alright, neither was I. No harm done.”
“How’s about I buy you a drink to make up for it?”
You furrow your brows at him momentarily, you both were supposed to be steering clear of each other. You weren’t supposed to even chat him up, let alone get a drink with him. What is he doing? In your peripherals you notice people watching you both, realizing that if you decline the offer it may seem more odd then if you just accept the drink offer. Because honestly, who would turn down a drink with Steve Rogers? No one, that’s who. And if you do turn him down, people may question as to why you did. You nod, “that sounds like a splendid idea.”
He offers you his right hand, “I’m Steve Rogers.”
You shake it, “Kelly Hartley.”
“It’s truly an honour to meet you, Kelly,” he smirks at you, offering you his arm and reciting the flustered line you had originally used when you both first met. You have to bite your lip to prevent yourself from laughing at this big beautiful bugger.
“Likewise,” you say as you place your hand in the crook of his arm, then he leads you towards the bar.
Tony’s voice rings out in your ear, “Cap, did you miss the part where we weren’t supposed to interact with,” he pauses for effect then continues on to say your name slowly, drawing attention to it. “Harper.” And just like every other time he has used your name, over the last few days, he always says it slowly and with a sarcastic emphasis on it. Making you well aware that he knows it’s not your real name, and that he desperately wants to know what your actual name is. But that is one bit of information that Tony Stark will not be getting his hands on. And that thought makes you grin, knowing that you are frustrating thee Tony Stark makes you proud.
You and Steve reach the bar and you reluctantly remove your hand from his arm, turning to him as he speaks, “what would you like to drink?”
“Surprise me, I’m easy,” you smirk up at him and he chuckles softly, then turns to the waiting bartender and orders you both a drink.
Turning to face you again once he’s finished. “So, Kelly, what is it that brings you to a weapons expo?”
“Same reasons as you, I presume,” you smile, and it’s slightly cheeky, “here to check out the merchandise, and possibly leave with some. If one catches my eye, that is.”
The twinkle in his eye tells you he caught your double entendres, like always. “Have any?” he pauses, then adds, “caught your eye yet, I mean.”
You glance around the room, nonchalantly, “a few,” then you lock eyes with him again, “one in particular.” Then you see the bartender put your drinks on the counter beside you and you pick yours up, taking a deliberately slow sip. But keeping your eyes locked with his the whole time.
“Oh?” He says, intrigued, also picking up his drink, “and which one was that?”
“A rather large, rather robust,” you lick your lower lip, your eyes flicking down to his plump lips before snapping back up to his eyes. “Long range missile launcher,” you finish, watching as his cheeks flush slightly, and you almost want to pat yourself on the back. Over the last week, Steve and you have had a very interesting friendship. You both had clicked instantly and within a day, you were curious just how proper America’s golden boy really was.
So you tested the waters, starting with a few small and slightly flirty innuendos. And you were not disappointed by his responses, at all. Yes, he’d blush like a schoolgirl, but he would play into them and respond in kind. It quickly became a game to you both, seeing just how far you could take the double entendres or innuendos, before one of you caved and either laughed or forfeited.
You were pleasantly surprised by just how quick on his feet he was—and you aren’t talking about his fighting skills. The games score was basically tied up at this point, you both being pretty evenly matched in the wits department. But there was one secret part to the game, one Steve was gormless too. And that was that you were also seeing if you could make him blush. And each time you did, you’d get a sweet. Looks like you owe yourself a sweetie now.
“Is Cap blushing?” Tony’s voice cut into your mind once more, “you two are playing that game again, aren’t you?” You bite your lip, and nod, knowing wherever Tony is, he’ll see your subtle reply. Then you glance around and catch sight of him off to your left, near a booth for miniature grenades, but your eyes don’t pause on him and instead continue on around the room. “And you didn’t invite me to join?” He gasps playfully, then continues on in the worst English accent you’ve ever heard, “I am completely and utterly appalled.”
You snort and Steve subtly shakes his head, then continues on with the charade, “I don’t believe I’ve seen those yet. I’ll have to thoroughly check them out before I leave.”
“Oh yes, you simply must,” you nod.
“Guys, I got eyes on Surkov,” Sam’s voice rings in your ear now, and both Steve and yourself tense up slightly, “he is entering the building now.”
And just like that, the game is over. We’ll just call this one a drawn. You hold up your glass in front of you, “thank you for the drink, Steve. But I must be off, though I do so hope you thoroughly enjoy checking the weapons out.”
He smirks, “same to you, Kelly.” Then you move away from the bar, and the insanely fit super soldier, and start to make your way around the ballroom. Heading towards the entrance as to position yourself where you may be able to catch Surkov's eye.
And just as you reach the booth closest to the door, you see him entering the ballroom. You position yourself so that your bum and exposed back are facing towards him, and then you glance over your shoulder as if looking for someone. But then you pause your ‘search’ when your eyes lock on to his, before giving him a very obvious, and very played up, once over ending it all off with a coy smirk as your eyes meet his once again. And once that is competed you promptly turn back around, continuing to look at the wide selection of artillery attachments, before picking up an advanced clip on thermal scope. Pretending to be ridiculously interested in it and all its features.
After a moment you feel a presence right next to you, closer than proper society would allow, and you glance over to see Surkov standing there. Checking out the accessories as well. And you almost laugh at just how easy it was to catch his attention. “Can you believe just how far weapons accessories have come,” you start, stepping a little closer to him as he glances down at you. “I could probably fit that sniper rifle stand in my handbag, but I’d wager 100 pounds that she could easily support the weight of a rather large,” you eye him up and down again, licking your lower lip, “man. If need be.”
He smirks at you, giving you a full up and down as well, “easily, you say?”
“Oh yes,” you nod, “very easily. Care to wager against me?”
“No,” he shakes his head and chuckles, “I only bet on sure things. Not against them.”
“Well darn,” you sigh, playfully. “I was rather looking forward to taking your money,” you smirk up at him, “seems you are too smart for my tricks.”
“So it would seem. Care to join me for a drink..?” He trails off, prompting you for your name.
“Kelly,” you stick your right hand out to him, “Kelly Hartley.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Kelly,” he clasps your hand and brings it to his lips, kissing your knuckles. “I’m Dmitry Kalashnik.”
You deliberately think of Steve being the one kissing your hand—and maybe other places as well, you dirty birdie—the images causing an instant flush to take over your cheeks. Helping to play up your act of being interested in Surkov. “You, as well.”
He grins and then leads you both off to the bar, and once you get there he orders for you both. Not even asking what you’d like, but you already figured that’s what he’d do. He seems like the type to need constant control in every situation. So you’d play to his ego and give him exactly that.
You spend the next 20 minutes listening ‘intently’ to everything he says, answering the odd questions he asks here and there, and absentmindedly playing with the pearl ring on your finger. Spinning it round and round as a distraction.
You are still on your first drink, but he is now on his third. You’ve caught eyes with Steve a few times when he’d check in over the comms, letting him know with your eyes that you were okay. But other then that, every one stayed away and quiet, allowing you the peace to continue pretending to be focused on Surkov. You catch movement behind him, and hear Tony quietly say over the comms, “I’m ready when you are.”
Your eyes flick momentarily passed Surkov and lock with Tony’s, giving him the signal, before focusing back on the large Russian. He is yakking on about his homeland or something, you aren’t really sure anymore. You tuned out a while ago, but continued to nod every once in a while. Seemingly very interested in whatever he was saying.
And then your celly chirps from with in your small handbag, and you open the snap and go to grab your phone. But just as you reach your hand inside the clutch, it falls out of your hands and crashes to the floor. The contents scattering all over the place. “Oh bullocks,” you mumble and then quickly crouch down to collect up your scattered things.
Surkov places his drink down on the bar, then crouches down to help you pick everything up. His hands instantly finding the 3 condom packages you’d strategically placed in you handbag for this exact reason. He lifts them up between his fingers, a smirk playing on his lips and one eyebrow raised.
You instantly force yourself—though you’re not going to lie, it honestly doesn’t take much effort at all—to think of a certain blonde tower, possibly using those rubber johnny’s with you. And once again you flush, instantly.
Making you realize right away that using images of Steve to help you fake being flustered works surprisingly well, and you plan to exploit that new little trick further in the future. It could definitely come in handle in situations just like this. As long as the images themselves don’t kill you on there own—that being a very real possibility for sure. But is exploiting your attraction to Steve like this, creepy? Probably. Are you going to let that stop you from fantasizing about the man in the buff? Not bloody likely.
You internally shake yourself, forcing yourself to focus, and decide to play it up by coyly bowing your head, pretending to be embarrassed. You gather up the last of your things, placing them back in your handbag and then take the condoms from Surkov, making sure to graze your fingers along his as you do. “Better to be safe, I always say,” you place them in your bag as well, then stand back up. Instantly noticing that Tony is now gone.
“All clear,” Tony’s voice comes over the comms again, and then he chuckles out a, “and the condoms were a fantastic touch, by the way.”
You bite your lip to suppress the smirk that wants to form, as your eyes flick instantly over to Steve’s, seeing him raise a brow at you. The expression almost causing you to blush even more. You glance back to Surkov, who has a smug smirk on his lips as he replies. “that it is.” He picks his drink back up and takes a generous gulp. Just like you hoped he would.
You both continue to chat, Surkov finishing off his drink and ordering another. And then after 10 minutes he starts to sway slightly on his feet, slurring his words and looking a little flushed.
“Are you alright?” You inquire, feigning concern. He just nods erratically in response, but doesn’t offer any verbal reply. “Do you need to go take some air?” You ask, as you tentatively take a step towards him. “You’re looking a little off colour.” He just silently nods again and you offer him your arm, giving him what little balance support you can, and then lead him towards the back exit. Which leads to a set of stairs and then some hallways and finally into a large courtyard, where Bucky and Sam will be waiting for you.
You throw Steve a look with a slight nod as you pass him, telling him to inform the guys that you’re on the way outside. And he nods back once, in confirmation.
You exit the ballroom into a long corridor, hearing Steve’s voice in your ear, “Buck, Sam, Harper is making her way to you both.” You smile to yourself at the sound of his deep voice, hearing Buck and Sam’s acknowledgement of his words shortly after. You go down the hall a bit then through a door that leads to a set of stairs. You caustiously and carefully help Surkov down them and then through another door, making a left once through. And then heading down another long hallway, towards the final doors that will lead you both outside.
But as you are slowly making your way, finding it rather hard to maneuver the giant half asleep man, you feel his hand shift on your arm. And then all of a sudden your back is slammed into the wall, his large right hand on your throat, firmly pining you in place. You were caught completely off guard, which isn’t like you, at all. You are usually always alert, always vigilant. And you normally never underestimate your opponents. But, unfortunately, this time you had. “Who do you work for?” He growls directly in your face.
You put both hands up in front of you, trying to show you aren’t a threat. “I-Ingenx I-Inc,” you stutter out, playing up Kelly’s fear. While Y/N devises a plan.
“Bullshit!” He yells, yanking you forward then promptly slamming you back into the wall. You quickly clasp your hands together, covertly removing the ring off your finger. “I’ll only ask one more time, who do you work for?”
And just as he finishes the words, you secretly slip your ring into my suit jacket pocket, and then turn your body quickly to the left, as your right hand comes up and your palm slams into his wrist. Knocking his hand off your throat and then you promptly elbow him in the neck, with your already lifted and primed right arm. And before he can even comprehend what is going on, you bend down, yanking up the bottom of your dress, and remove the small handgun you have strapped to your right ankle. Then aim it directly at his head. “I work for a very interested party, who wants nothing more then to see a disgusting prick like you behind bars,” you click off the safety, “now get on your knees and put your hands on your head. Nice and slow, Surkov.”
He glares at you and is just about to lower himself down, when a door near the end of the hall opens and a few rather large and unfriendly looking chaps emerge. Guns drawn and raised in their hands. And then they all take aim at you and begin to fire, you spin and quickly throw yourself into a small door alcove. Gun clasped tightly in both hands in front of your face, posed and ready to fire should any of them come for you.
You take a moment to try to steady your breathing, while bullets loudly embed into the walls surrounding you. Then with a deep breath in, you drop down to a crouch and lean out from your hiding place to return fire, managing to take out two of Surkov’s henchmen and then tuck back into the alcove to stand. Knowing that trick would only work once, you try to come up with any sort of plan to escape. You only have so many bullets on you, and at this rate you are going to use them all in no time flat.
You startle when you hear Bucky’s voice over the comms, having almost completely forgotten about your ear piece, “Harper, are you okay?”
“Is she not there yet?” Steve asks, concern laced in his voice.
You release one hand on the gun and raise it to your ear piece, “I’m okay, but I seem to have gotten myself into a bit of a jam.”
“Where are you? What happened?” Steve quickly asks, already sounding like he is in motion.
“In the lower hallway to the courtyard, the sedatives didn’t work, and he brought back up,” you rattle off then pause, leaning out again to return fire momentarily, so you can count the henchmen. And thanks to your stellar marksmanship skills, you manage to take a third henchman out while at it.
“How many?” Tony asks hastily, while you are in the midst of figuring that out.
Once tucked back into the alcove you continue, “there are only 7 of the buggers left, and all with truly appalling aim,” you scoff. “Though best be careful when you enter the hall, they do have full control of it at the moment.”
“Where are you, exactly?” Steve questions.
“Tucked into an alcove about half way down.”
“Good, stay there, we’re coming for you.”
You barely even have time to release a relieved sigh when a door, down near where you had originally entered the hall, bursts open, followed by the sound of another door bursting open at the other end. Then as if seeing land for the first time after weeks at sea, you catch sight of the iconic shield coming down the hall towards you. Watching as bullets ping and ricochet off it as if they were mere balls of paper.
And in no time at all, Steve is sliding into the already cramped alcove with you. “I heard someone needed some assistance,” he says playfully through a grin, though you can see the worry deeply etched into his face and eyes. He raises his shield to block you both from the hall, in case a bullet ricochets off a nearby wall.
The shield basically makes a small enclosed space for you both, causing you to become acutely aware of just how close you are to each other. Steve is almost the same width as the alcove and damn near just as tall, so there isn’t much room to work with currently. But you aren’t about to complain about having the handsome super soldier pressed up against you. Though you will complain that you wish it was due to more personal reasons, preferably ones that involve less clothes, and less of a potential for death.
“Splendid timing,” you smile up at him. Just then all the gun firing and commotion stops, and you hear Tony call from down the hall, “all clear you two.” Steve lowers the shield and you both step out of your hiding place and into the open hallway, the henchmen’s bodies all lying in various places along the hall.
“Is Surkov one of these?” Steve asks as you both make your way towards Tony, stepping over the bodies and checking for your guy as you do.
“No, he wasn’t in the hall when we arrived,” Tony responds and you glance up to notice him in his full Iron Man get up, minus the face piece.
Steve quickly lifts his hand to his comms, “Sam, Buck, please tell me you guys have Surkov?”
The comms channel opens up, and gunshots can be heard in the background along with Sam’s breathy voice, “we almost had him Cap, but the asshole brought heavy back up. If you guys don’t have anything better to do in there, we could really use a hand out here.”
Upon hearing the gun fire, you sigh deeply, knowing the smart thing to do right now would be to leave this to the Avengers. You really should head back to the expo and leave out the front. You aren’t even supposed to be here, and getting into a melee outside and in public isn’t a smart move. At all. But one glance up at Steve, and you know you can’t just walk away now. You owe it to them to help, and you also owe it to yourself to put Surkov behind bars. He has seen your face, if he gets away now you will have to forever be looking over your shoulder. And that’s not something you’re even remotely interested in.
So it’s settled then, you will see this through till the end. You bend down and quickly removed your heels, knowing they will only hinder you. Then you shed an internal tear for what you are about to do. “Bugger, I was really looking forward to wearing this again,” you mumble as you remove the hidden knife that’s attached to your left ankle, and then cut a vertical slit into the bottom of your beautiful, and expensive gown, then with both hands you pull apart. Tearing it to midway up your left thigh, instantly allowing you a way better range of motion.
You tuck the knife back away, grab your clutch off the floor then stand back up. Quickly retrieving your phone, then discarding the handbag, full of fake personal items, back on the ground. It was just a prop to distract Surkov, nothing in the handbag is of any value, or can help anyone locate you. Once that is done you glance up at Steve, who is just watching you, brows furrowed in confusion. “Like I’m going to let you chaps have all the fun,” you sass with a grin, tucking your phone into Steves pants pocket. “Hold on to that for me, would ya? It may come in handy later.”
Steve chuckles, “will do,” then he raises his hand once again and says, “on our way, guys,” as he starts to run towards the exit doors. Tony right in front of him and you hot on his heels.
Tony’s face piece forms back in place as the three of you burst out the doors, Steve's shield blocking you both as Tony thrusts up into the air. You glance up momentarily to watch him, and notice Sam up there as well. The guys clearly came fully prepared.
You focus back on the mission at hand, and start shooting any henchmen foolish enough to get in front of you. And as you are taking out a rather stupid henchman, you see Surkov hopping into a car. You reach up to click the comms button, “he’s getting away.”
“We got him,” Tony replies as he takes off at full speed to chase the car, Sam hot on his trail.
You, Steve and Bucky make quick work of the remaining henchmen and then are left in complete silence, no sight of Tony or Sam anywhere.
“What do we do now, Cap?” Bucky asks as he approaches you both, a massive assault rifle in his flesh hand. Steve is just about to click his comms device, most likely to ask where the two others are. But you halt him, then without breaking eye contact with him, you reach into his pocket and pull out your phone.
Receiving a curious look from Steve and then you glance at Bucky and see him shake his head, a smirk on his lips. “I believe now is the time that this,” you wiggle the phone, “will come in handy.” You quickly unlock it and then open the tracking app, bring up a map with a little red blinking light on a location a few blocks away. “I might have slipped my tracking device into his pocket,” you smile smugly at the lads, as you show them your phone screen.
“Can we keep her?” Bucky whispers through a laugh. And Steve only chuckles at his friends question, but doesn’t answer as he takes your phone to look more closely at it.
“They are 2 blocks over,” Steve comments as he hands it back to you, a smirk on his lips, “looks like we’ll have to leg it.” You giggle at his British term and then you all ‘leg it’ to the location where Surkov is.
And just as you reach the spot, you find his car crashed and on it’s roof, while Tony and Sam have him out of it and laying face down and cuffed on the ground—Which is a little anticlimactic and a bit of a piss off, if you’re being honest. You were really looking forward to catching the prick yourself, but he is apprehended nonetheless. So all and all, you are pleased. Sort of.
But now that they have him, your mission here is done. You slowly move away from the commotion and see a taxi nearing you. You lift a hand to flag it down, and just as you open the door you turn and lock eyes with Steve. Giving him a smirk and a small nod as you get into the taxi to leave.
This wasn’t exactly how you envisioned this night playing out, but you were happy it was all over with. And now you can go back to the hotel, pack up your things and then go home for a while. Or at least until you are debriefed and shipped off to the next mission location. But just as the taxi is pulling away you hear Tony’s voice ring in your ear, one last time, “hey kid, if you ever find yourself in New York, look us up.”
“That will probably be sooner, rather than later,” you giggle, then continue, “as I’ll need to trade this posh little comms device for my pearl ring. Keep it safe for me, will ya?”
“Pearl ring?” Tony asks, confused.
“Which pocket is it in?” Steve questions. And you reply, “his left jacket pocket. I’d be rather unhappy to lose it, it’s quite important to me.”
“Got it,” Steve replied after a moment, “and don’t worry, I’ll keep it safe for ya.”
“Thank you, Steve. Stay safe lads.” “You too,” Steve replies.
Tony, Bucky and Sam all say their goodbyes, and then with that you turn the comms device off and pull it out of your ear. And just as the taxi slips away into the night, one thought floats through your mind. You’re really going to miss those lads. But especially Steve.
3 MONTHS LATER - IN AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION.
You are running down a corridor, gun in hand, and chest heaving from the exertion. You are currently hot on the heels of yet another smarmy prick. One who thought it would be fun to attempt to plot world domination. These utter pillocks will just never learn.
You come to a corner, and halt, knowing to check before you go any further. You aren’t interested in gaining any new ventilation holes today. You raise your gun and peek around the corner, seeing the bloody idiot still running down the hall. You take a second to calm yourself then aim and shoot, hitting him in the upper leg, and knocking him down to the ground in a mess of limbs and curse words. You step out from behind the corner, and hastily make your way towards him, kicking the gun away from his reach once you get there.
“Good try, chap,” you say as you pat his shoulder, pressing your right knee down onto the middle of his upper back, “but you were a tad bit slow on the exit.”
He says some rather unpleasant things back to that, but you just ignore him and quickly cuff his hands behind his back, just as another person rounds the corner. You glance over your shoulder and see Tony, in his full Iron Man get up, and smile smugly at him. “Got him.”
“I can see that,” he replies through a laugh. “Well done, Harper,” he says the name sarcastically, just like before, which causes you to giggle.
You stand up, and pull the prick up with you as you do, then start to make your way back to the exit. “Ya know,” you drawl, as you hand the prick off to Tony, “you don’t actually have to call me that anymore.”
He smirks, “it’s sort of grown on me now.”
“Of course it has,” you shake your head. “So, how did I do?”
“Consider yourself hired,” he smiles and starts to pull the imbecile down the hall towards the exit, yelling over his shoulder as he goes, “that is, if you’re still interested.”
You grin widely, and once Tony is out of eye shot you do a little happy dance in the middle of the empty hallway. Then reign in your excitement level and make your way to the exit as well. Now you have to go home and pack!
1 WEEK LATER.
You walk into the posh lobby of the Avengers Tower, still not even able to comprehend that you now work here. You are now an Avenger, and you haven’t been able to wipe the grin off your face all week. You shake your head in disbelief as you make your way towards the front desk, Tony had informed you just to give them your name and they’ll set you up with a clearance pass.
You reach the desk and give the gorgeous woman your name, she quickly looks it up and then smiles up at you as she hands you your pass, pointing to the lifts off to the side and telling you the floor number. You thank her and then head for them.
The lift doors open up on the correct floor and you are just about to step off, when a body pushes you back in and enters the lift with you. And you are just about to show this prick why it isn’t smart to sneak up on an ex MI6 agent/current Avenger, when you realize it’s Tony. And he has a massive smirk on his lips, as if he knew you were just about to kick his ass into next week.
“You wanted your eye to match your suit colours, didn’t you?” You grin at him.
“I do always like to colour coordinate,” he chuckles and clicks a new floor button. “Welcome to New York, kid. How was the trip over the pond?”
“Long and uneventful,” you nod once.
“Everyone is gathered in the living space, he still has no clue that you are even here. Let alone that you now work with us,” Tony smirks wickedly at you.
About 2 months after the weapons expo in London, you’d gone to New York for a mission and had stopped off to exchange the comms device for your ring. Tony had secretly approached you and offered you a job with them, and you’d agreed to interview for it. Except, when it came to becoming a superhero, a regular, stuffy boardroom interview just wouldn’t cut it. So you’d finally had to cave and tell Tony your real name, plus give him all your actual contact information, and then he said he’d be in touch doon. So then 3 weeks later, he called you up about a small, simple mission that he would be doing alone. Hunting down a prick who was attempting world domination—Yeah, that guy you shot in the leg.
You had agreed almost immediately to do the mission with Tony as your interview. And holy shite! You might be an Avenger soon! But more importantly, you had managed to not squeal like an idiot at the offer! Though you’d only managed to hold it in until you hung up the phone. But that’s neither here, nor there.
The other Avengers all knew a new agent named Y/N was being interviewed, but not where the agent had come from. But it’s not like most of them would even know who you were, if they did know. However, Sam and Bucky both knew who you were, and were sworn to secrecy weeks ago by Tony, as he wanted to surprise Steve. That or they all just wanted to mess with him some more. With these lads it could be either or, really.
So he had no clue you’d even been offered a job, let alone taken it, passed with flying colours and had been hired on the spot. Nor was he currently aware you were even here. In the United States. In New York. In the tower. In the bloody lift, for crying out loud!
And now here you are, riding up with thee Tony Stark, AKA Iron Man, AKA your new boss. On your way to surprise Steve. And bloody hell! Can this lift not go any faster! You just want to get there already. “I can’t wait to see his face,” you smirk back just as the doors open up into a large, posh living area. Seeing all the Avengers lounging around, chatting and relaxing.
You smile as you see Bucky and Sam, both with knowing grins on their faces. You nod to them and then your excited eyes meet Steves curious blue ones, and you almost want to burst out laughing or bounce in place, because you are THAT excited to see him. You and Steve had kept in touch over the last 3 months, talking damn near daily either via text or over voice calls, when you both had the time for them that is. So you’d grow very close with the handsome super soldier, you’d even go as far as to say you were good friends now. Maybe even more.
He is just about to stand up when Tony loudly clears his throat next to you, “alright, as all of you know,” he glances at Steve, “well everyone, except Capsicle. This is our newest member,” he turns to you, “I’ll let her introduce herself, as her accent is much cooler than mine.” He smiles and gestures for you to go.
“Hello everyone, my name is Y/N Y/L/N,” you wave, “and I’m so utterly thrilled to be here.” Everyone comes over and introduces themselves, chatting you up a bit before they leave the room, heading off to go do whatever it is they do in their spare time. The last few to greet you are Sam and Bucky, both hugging you tightly and giving you a warm welcome then leaving as well. So now the only two left in the room are Steve and you. He comes over to you and you grin widely up at him, “hiya Steve.”
He chuckles, “hey Y/N.“ And the sound of your actual name falling from his lips, for the first time in person, makes butterflies instantly erupt in your tummy. “So, I was the only one who didn’t know, huh? And more importantly, when did this all come together?” He asks as he gestures around the room.
“Are you asking when this room was built?” You glance around, then continue to reply cheekily, “now that I’m not too sure about, you’d have to ask Tony.”
He shakes his head, but smiles at your horrible joke nonetheless, “I mean, when did Tony approach you about joining the team? And why didn’t you tell me?”
“Don’t look at me, it was Tony’s idea to keep it a secret from you, and we all know what Tony wants, he gets,” you giggle. “But you remember when I visited last month, yeah?” You ask and he nods, so you continue on, “well during my visit Tony offered me a job. Then a week ago I did my interview and now here we are.”
“So you did well on the interview, I take it?” He smirks.
You scoff playfully, “of course I did. Have we not met?” You laugh and stick your right hand out, “Hello, I’m Y/N,” you jokingly introduce yourself.
He chuckles and shakes your hand—and of course you have the same reaction as the first time he did. The instant need to melt into a puddle. “Steve. And it’s truly an honour to meet you, Y/N.”
You giggle at the use of that darn line again, but before you can say a word back, Steve speaks up again. “If you don’t have any other plans, would you like to go grab a coffee with me?” He rubs the back of his neck, sheepishly then adds, “ya know, like a date.”
“‘Like’ a date?” You repeat, raising a questioning brow at him.
“Is a date,” he clarifies.
You smile up at this big beautiful tower of a man, and nod, “then that sounds like a splendid idea, Steve.”
He smiles widely and offers you his arm, which you instantly accept and then you both head for the lift. Off to enjoy your first date with Steve—a date for which you hope there are many, many more to follow. But as long as you have any say in the matter, there will be. Because you’d have to be off your damn trolley if you ever let this wonderful man get away now.
And If London Should Ring, looking for you to return, you’ll just tell them that you’re busy, from now until forever.
this literally took me ages to write omg i’m losing my spark 🥀🥀🥀🥀 hope u enjoyed!!
જ⁀➴ london girl
joe keery x styles!reader
a part of my styles!reader au!
cw: not proofread, joe being a huge simp, missing london hours, reader being a local
while harry lived in northern london, you lived in central london.
you were around 35 minutes away from him via the tube. to him, it didn’t seem like a long commute, but to you? it was painful. you were used to everything being a ten minute walk away! that’s why he came down more often than you went up.
siblings and their compromises.
you didn’t need to do much convincing to bring joe over to uk, much less london. he had always seen pictures of london online, but he never really had a reason to come. that is until you asked and he was already booking the first flight there.
he only arrived at 2 in the morning and you would’ve loved to pick him up from the airport but you were absolutely knackered.
when he got to your apartment, you were sleeping on the couch waiting for him to arrive.
he was exhausted and tired, and he could feel how weak his bones were, but the mere sight of you instantly rejuvenated him.
he left his bags near the door—a problem for tomorrow—and trudged over to you.
he picked you up bridal style after pressing a chaste kiss to your forehead.
you stirred and murmured and he whispered sweet nothings into your ear to lull you back to sleep.
your body recognized him. his voice, his smell, his embrace.
your fingers curled around the front of his shirt and you dug the side of your face deeper into his arm. you let out a content sigh which sounded a lot like ‘joe’.
“i’m here, baby.” he murmured, setting you on your side of the bed. he ripped off his clothes and slid into bed next to you.
your body instantly rolled and your face landed directly on his chest. you brought your hand up to rest right beside your face, fingers getting lost in the jungle you refused to let him tame.
he smiled at you and brushed the hair out of your face, taking his time to look at you. he hadn’t seen much, but from what he had seen, he could tell you were a little bit more you in london.
when you woke up right in joe’s arms you felt your heart do a backflip.
your favorite person in your favorite place.
you pressed a soft kiss to his sternum as to not wake him and quickly got ready for the day.
you showered and grabbed the first two articles of clothing you could find, which just so happened to be some worn boyshorts you bought years ago and some band tee you stole from harry that still smelled like him.
having both a brother and a boyfriend with good sense of style had its perks; your closet could barely even count as your own anymore.
the ends of your hair were curling in, deep brown strands resembling your brothers, and a soft frizz was forming. you didn’t care though. how could you when your joe was laying down in your bed.
the second you stepped into the kitchen, you prepared for war. cute, sugary, delicious war.
alexa started playing some old tunes—paul anka, elvis presley, and the such.
you whipped out a pan in the shape of mickey-mouse and cracked two eggs, humming while the eggs sizzled. another pan was sizzling with your famous pancake batter. a third pan was sporting two pieces of toast stuffed with an ungodly amount of cheese.
you were so immersed in your 6-course breakfast, you hadn’t heard joe wake up and walk towards you.
when he snaked his arms around your waist you yelped. you hit him with the spatula you were about to flip the pancake with. “joe!”
he hummed, resting his cheek on your shoulder. “smells nice.”
“i’m not done—go sit in the living room until i call you over.” you ordered, craning your neck as to press a kiss to his cheek.
he raised an amused eyebrow. “i was talking about harry’s shirt.”
“joe!”
“fine, fine!” he held his hands up defensively. “i’ll go.”
he unwrapped his hands from you and pressed a kiss to your cheek. “love you.”
you turned around a pressed a long kiss to his lips. “love you too. now go, you’re distracting me!”
you quickly turned back around, flipping the pancake before it burns.
you plated everything perfectly. the pancakes even had powdered sugar and blueberries on top.
you set everything on the table and sighed satisfactorily.
you walked to the living room and stood in front of joe, “you can come now.” you held out your hand for him to take.
he kissed your jaw then licked you.
“joe, what-”
“powdered sugar?” he hummed, leaning in for seconds.
“why don’t you go find out?” you pushed him away by his chest and towards the dining table.
his eyes widened upon seeing the absolute feast you prepared for him and the bowl of cereal you prepared for yourself.
“are you inviting people over, cause this can’t be all for me.”
“yes it is, my love.” you squeezed him from the back. “you need to eat well, we have a whole day’s of walking ahead of us.”
he sat down with wide eyes and you could hear the gears turning in his head as he pondered over which platter to dive into first.
“eggs, darling.” you pushed the plate towards him. “don’t want to eat them cold.”
he looked up at you with a huge smile on his face. “say that again.”
your eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “what, don’t want to eat the eggs cold?”
“no,” he shook his head, “before that.”
“what? oh- darling?” a grin made its way onto your face upon your realization.
“darling.” he repeated in what you guessed to be an imitation of your british accent.
you snorted. “eat your eggs, joe.”
your bowl of cereal was getting soggy as you watched him scarf down the food you made him. in all honestly, you didn’t think he’d be able to even finish half of it.
“they haven’t been feeding you well on set?” he smiled at your genuine concern before shaking he head.
“they don’t cook as good as you.”
“nothing tops generational recipes.”
“grilled cheese is a generational recipe?” he questioned, raising an amused eyebrow.
“only the most prized family heirloom!” you joked.
after you two ate your breakfast and got ready for the day, you were determined to show him around london.
you took him to camden market first. your first stop was at blank street, your favorite matcha place. you got a cookies n cream matcha which joe kept stealing sips from.
you got the famous chocolate covered strawberries and shared a cup. you got nutella right below your lips and he swiped it off with his thumb, then proceeded to lick it off. you rolled your eyes at his antics with a huge smile on your face as you ignored the butterflies that erupted in your stomach.
you stopped at a store that sold artist-inspired articles and almost pissed yourselves laughing as you found a discombobulated finelinerry on a tote bag. it goes without saying that you immediately bought it.
you took him to shepherds bush, claiming you needed new nightgowns. you negotiated with an old arab guy that manned the kiosk and managed to knock off 7 entire pounds. your new personal best.
“how’d you even find this place?” he asked.
you completely disregarded his question, too excited to realize he had asked anything in the first place. “they sell the best falafel right around the corner—you have to try!”
you gave the falafel guy a huge grin as he smirked and said, “two of your usual?”
“yes, please, bossman.”
joe’s falafel went completely abandoned as he watched you in your element. you waved at little kids passing by, joked around with who joe learned to be ‘bossman’, and chatted up elderly people who had gotten used to your trips without company. you introduced joe as your boyfriend and he fell in love with the simplicity.
no one bombarded him for pictures or ogled at him. it was almost like he was normal again. dare he say a nobody.
“i like it here.” he announced, finally taking a bite out of his falafel.
