Venus | James B. Barnes✔️

xxvii. 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚓𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚎𝚢

Evelyn walked back a bit, leaving Natasha and Steve to argue. She found a man she had never met before. "Hey," she whispered. "There's a man that has been following me for almost ten minutes now. Can you just... walk with me down the escalator?"

The man nodded, a frown on his face. "I'm George," he greeted, throwing an arm around her. "Where is he?"

Evelyn acted surprised. "He has friends," she whispered. "I already called a friend of mine to come and pick me up."

"I'll walk you outside," George promised. Steve turned as he placed a hesitant arm around Natasha. He eyed Evelyn. She gave him a look to keep going.

Once on the escalator, she noticed Rumlow going up as they were going down. Ahead of her, she almost laughed evilly as Natasha pulled Steve in for a kiss. She turned to George, "He's right there." She hurried and hugged the man, hiding her face in his neck. Once they were off the escalator, she smiled at the man. "Thanks for this," she called quickly, kissing George's cheek in thanks as she ran away from him to reach Steve and Natasha.

"You're welcome!" he called after her.

In a random truck that Steve found, Evelyn laid on the backseat. She had been on her phone, texting Tony to ask him how he and Pepper were. Natasha sat in the passenger seat with her feet resting on the dashboard while Steve drove with white knuckles. She knew he was frustrated with kissing Natasha due to his loyalty to Peggy. Evelyn could not say anything as she had felt dirty for kissing George's cheek, only seeing Bucky in her head—angry at her for doing so.

"Where did Captain America learn how to steal a car?" Natasha teased.

"Nazi Germany," Steve said with a small smirk as Natasha hummed. "And we're borrowing. Take your feet off the dash."

Natasha did as he asked, grinning mischievously as suddenly had a random thought. She let her head fall to look at Steve. "I have a question for you, oh, which you do not have to answer. I feel like if you don't answer it though, you're kind of answering it, you know?"

"What?" Steve asked exasperatedly.

"Was that your first kiss since 1945?"

Steve cringed slightly. "That bad, huh?"

"I didn't say that."

"Well, it kind of sounds like that's what you're saying."

"No, I didn't. I just wondered how much practice you've had," Natasha said honestly.

Steve scoffed. "You don't need practice."

"Everybody needs practice."

"It was not my first kiss since 1945. I'm ninety-five, I'm not dead," Steve said as Evelyn snorted a laugh, grinning at the ceiling of the car. "I don't want to hear it from you, Stark."

Evelyn laughed loudly. "I said nothing, Rogers."

Natasha turned to look at her with curiosity pooling in her eyes. "Right. Ms. Too Committed, right? I love the whole commitment to your dead fiancé thing, but you can't want to live the rest of your life alone, right?"

Evelyn shrugged, not finding offense to what she said. It was a genuine question—blunt, but genuine. "There's still that stupid part of me that wonders if he could still be alive."

Steve and Natasha grew quiet. Natasha's eyes were sad. "Evelyn, he died in the 40s."

Evelyn smiled peacefully, admitting what she thought in her head. "Maybe not. Maybe he got to live his life. Maybe he was saved by someone. Maybe he's on an island, old and wrinkly and watching the sunset right now."

Steve smiled. "It's a nice sentiment."

"It's the only way I can live."

Natasha nodded before shifting her gaze to Steve. "Nobody special, though?" Steve chuckled quietly.

"Believe it or not, it's kind of hard to find someone with shared life experience. Evelyn does not count," he added when Natasha opened her mouth. She closed it with a laugh. Evelyn grinned as well, never once thinking she and Steve could ever open that door. It would be too weird.

Natasha shrugged. "Well, that's alright, you just make something up."

"What, like you?"

"I don't know. The truth is a matter of circumstances, it's not all things to all people all the time. And neither am I."

"That's a tough way to live," Evelyn commented, sitting up properly.

"It's a good way not to die, though."

Steve glanced at her once. "You know, it's kind of hard to trust someone when you don't know who that someone really is."

"Yeah. Who do you want me to be?" she asked softly.

"How about a friend?"

"Well, there's a chance you might be in the wrong business, Rogers."