They All Tried (Coming On to Her)
It took a few days before Toni saw Steve again. Rhodey had wanted her to come with him to the museum to look at the new WWII exhibit and she begrudgingly allowed him to drag her along.
“You’re so lucky I’m tired. I could be using this time to do something productive like working on Dummy. That little gremlin needs to stop trying to feed me shit, he might kill me. Or maybe even sleep, you tell me I don’t do that enough. Who knows, I could’ve gotten a full 8 hours today.”
Rhodey rolled his eyes. “You and I both know that the only way you’ll get a full 8 hours is if I knock you over the head and put you in a coma myself. And stop drinking whatever your kid puts in a cup, you’re the idiot for not checking. Just fix him.”
She huffed as they walked up the steps to the door. “He’s a learning bot, I can’t just program him to know it, he has to figure it out for himself. Considering how smart I am I thought he’d at least know the difference between oil and coffee but he might be a couple bolts short of a circuit board. And don’t insult him!” She pointed at him as he paid the fee and thanked the clerk before they walked in the doors. “He’s my baby! The only one allowed to grumble about him is me!”
“Mmhmm, whatever you say Ms. Stank.”
“The audacity! The absolute sheer rudeness that I’m hearing is unforgivable. I can’t believe I’m allowing myself to be subjected to this.”
Rhodey laughed as they walked around a corner to head into a particular hallway. “Damn, Malfoy, relax or you might get hexed.”
She flipped her short hair as she snorted out a laugh. “You know blonde isn’t my color, I’m more of a Ron instead. Maybe Ginny cause I like the bat bogey hex she throws around.”
Rhodey coughed out something that sounded like ‘nerd’ which made Toni glare at him.
“So, why are we here anyway? What else could we possibly learn that wasn’t here before?”
Rhodey looked and sounded excited as he stopped in front of a large cardboard cutout of a tall man wearing a red and blue uniform and cowl, and holding a large shield. “You’ve heard about the hero Captain America, right? No one’s ever known much about him but he’s amazing. He single-handedly destroyed multiple concentration camps and freed the prisoners. No one knew his real identity and they still don’t. The military has even said that he’s a government secret so there’s nothing in the databanks that people can find.”
Toni perused the pictures and information boards, “There’s no such thing as nothing. If it’s in a computer I can find it.”
Rhodey glanced at her. “Dude, do you want to get thrown in a government cell and never see the light of day again?”
Toni laughed. “I like challenges, it’s in my nature.”
“That kind of a challenge might be pretty tough though, you shouldn’t hurt that pretty face of yours.”
The two of them turned around and saw a young man dressed as a security guard. He was devilishly handsome with a toothy grin, and looked quite strong. Rhodey’s fingertips danced along her elbow, grounding her so she wouldn’t make a scene. She stood there, looked the man up and down and quirked her eyebrow, arms crossing while she cocked her hip.
“Pray tell, why do you think I’d get hurt from the challenge? Think I can’t do it?”
He held up his hands in a placating manner, grin changing into a smooth smile. “Never said that, just worried that you think you’re a bit smarter than you think you are. According to your friend there trying to hack into government records could land you in a jail cell. And believe me, not seeing you again could make any man cry.”
Rhodey snorted loudly into his fist, coughing to try and cover it up. The man’s eyes glanced at him and then turned back to Toni who just looked unimpressed. “Look Rambo,” Rhodey laughed for real this time, “I’m not interested. You’re definitely not my type.”
“You sure? Ya know, people call me Bucky the Bronco. I could show you why if you want a demonstration?” He waggled his eyebrows at her.
She could agree that he was quite handsome and she might have agreed to spend the night at his apartment, but that was before a few days ago. Sure maybe it was dumb, but she still couldn’t forget blue eyes and blond hair and had kept looking around, trying to find him. She didn’t want to waste any time with this brick of a man who couldn’t take a hint.
“Look man, I have a boyfriend, and I’m no cheater so it ain’t happening.”
“What?”
“Who?”
Both the guy and Rhodey said at the same time, and then looked at each other. The man (Bucky apparently) quirked his eyebrow as he looked back at her while she sighed. “It’s not Rhodey, that’s just icky, he’s like my brother from another mother, gross.”
She ignored his remark of “rude” when she turned her head to the side, feeling exasperated beyond belief. She didn’t want to deal with this lug, was bored coming to the museum, and wanted to blame everything on Rhodey because if he hadn’t dragged her to this damn place then she wouldn’t have dealt with…
Wait, was that…?
“Steve?”
The head turned to look in their direction. It actually was Steve. He was wearing a museum uniform, and he smiled as he walked over. “Toni! How are you?”
She smiled as she got an idea. “Steve! I was just talking about you!” He looked confused and she grabbed his hand, lacing their fingers together. Turning to the security guard she grinned widely. “This is my boyfriend, Steve, so like I said I can’t take you up on that date.”
Rhodey stood there, confused beyond belief, but Bucky’s reaction confused her the most. He looked equal parts embarrassed, proud and like he was about to laugh.
Steve’s face was bright red as he babbled out nonsense when Bucky walked over and slapped him on the back. “Damn, man! Why didn’t you tell me you had a girlfriend! Never introduced me, never even said anything! You scored!”
Toni’s smile froze on her face, “Ha ha… honey, how come you never told me about Mr. Bronco here?”
Steve cleared his throat, and then squeaked out, “Uhh… it… never came up?”
Bucky raised a brow. “You never told your girlfriend about your childhood friend? That’s just rude man.”
“Ahh…,” Steve struggled to find something to say, “it’s new. We haven’t been together long yet.”
Bucky smirked at the two of them. “Hmm, if you say so. But, we should hang out! I can’t wait to meet the lady that finally won my boy! You gotta be something if you agreed to go out with this reckless dumbass.”
“Oh!” They all turned to look at Rhodey. “This is the guy who told off Howard! I remember you gushing about him when you got home that night.”
Toni turned bright red while Steve got a goofy grin. “You gushed about me?”
Toni glared at Rhodey. “I see you still don’t understand the meaning of ‘in confidence’.” She turned to look at Steve. “Well, maybe I did. I’m quite picky with the people I spend my time with.” She gave a haughty look but Steve just smiled at her. “Hush!” She snapped at him, eyes looking elsewhere but blush still stuck on her face.
“Well, as sickeningly cute as this is,” Bucky drawled causing everyone to look at him, “Stevie and I have to go back to work. The manager might get pissy and I don’t wanna threaten the man again.”
Steve rolled his eyes. “Don’t threaten our boss, we need the money.”
Bucky grinned sharply. “Don’t threaten me with a good time.”
Steve turned to Toni after Bucky walked away. “So,” he said quietly, “we’re dating?”
Toni turned to glare at Rhodey who grinned and held up his hands as he walked backwards away from them. “Um, well, I guess? If you’re uh,” she looked at her feet then back up at him, looking unnaturally shy, “if you’re free and available. I’m kind of a bitch but I’m not a homewrecker.”
He quickly shook his head. “Free and available, promise. Scouts honor.” He held up his hand with said gesture which drew a sharp laugh out of her that she quickly smothered. “Can I, um, get your number then? If you’re ok with that?”
“Sure! Gimme your phone!” She made gimme hands and he gave her his phone so she could add her number. She passed it back to him and let her fingers rest on his for a few seconds too long which gained her a bright blush on his face that she grinned devilishly at. “That’s gonna be fun.”
He scowled at her. “Yeah, yeah.” He glanced up at a new group of people walking in. “Is it ok if I call you?”
She winced. “I’m not the best at answering. If I’m not in class I’m normally arms deep in my projects. You can if you want though, I just don’t want you to think I’m ignoring you. Texts are definitely easier for me to respond to but if you’re ok with me calling back like a day later then that’s fine.” She snapped her fingers. “Ooh wait! I can set an alarm for when you call that I can’t ignore!” She looked stuck in her thoughts which made him smile.
“I have to go back to work.” She looked back up at him as if realizing where she was. “I’ll try calling and if you don’t answer I’ll text. Don’t worry about taking too long to call me back, I’ll be happy to hear back from you.” He ran his fingers faintly over the back of her hand before rushing off to answer any questions the people behind them might have.
Rhodey popped up behind her. “So,” he drawled out in a sassy tone, “boyfriend huh?”
She frowned and smacked him on the arm. “Shut up, Rhodey!”
“You better tell Pepper, she’s gonna want to investigate him.”
“Oh my god! Don’t tell her anything! I don’t want Steve to disappear!”