villain | STEVE ROGERS 18+

t e n

The close contact hadn't seemed to phase Ember at all, but Steve found himself to be shifting about awkwardly in his seat as soon as he felt his pants tighten.

Had they— Had they always been like that? Surely not...

"You good, Cap?" She asked, her eyes now open and smirking at him, "You look a bit flustered."

Steve just ran his hand through his hair, trying to figure out how he ever managed to get himself into this position. Out of all the girls he could've fallen for, it had to be the most irritable one.

He was trying to convince himself he hadn't fallen for her, and it was just attraction — But he couldn't even tell right from left when he was around her, never mind what he felt.

No it was definitely attraction — Falling for her would mean spending time with her, and he didn't want that, right?

Yeah, attraction, it was attraction.

The longer she stayed with her legs resting on his lap, the more his mind wandered to what could happen if he just flipped over and crashed his mouth onto hers on this couch.

He hated the way his mind worked when he was around her.

"Captain Rogers." Someone greeted, snapping Steve out of his thoughts and his head turning towards the voice, "There's some files for Mr Stark, that need delivered to him — I don't have clearance for his floor, so is there any chance you could get these passed on his way, that would be great."

Embers head snapped up off of the couch to look at the SHIELD agent.

"I'll take them." She said, sliding her legs off of Steve's lap and walking over to the agent, taking the files out of his hand.

"Rose, you don't have clearance." Steve interrupted.

"Yes I do, asshole." She rolled her eyes, before turning her attention back to the agent. "Tony likes me better than everyone else, it probably took you all months to get clearance for his lab, it got it in a day."

"I don't think we've met," The agent said, holding out his hand. "I'm Ricky."

Ember tilted her head to the side, a smile forming on her face.

"Ember."

She lightly shook his hand.

"Ah, I heard a few Agents talking about you. You're the one with the cool fire powers that they don't trust enough to make you a proper Avenger, right?" He asked.

"Yeah, that's me."

"Well if it helps any, I'd make you an Avenger in a heartbeat."

"That sentence you just said makes you 100 times more hot than you already were."

Steve rolled his eyes, overhearing their conversation from the couch while he pretended to read a book.

The Agent — Ricky — Laughed at her comment.

"It's 10 extra minutes infront of the mirror, and a few hours of reading the dictionary a day that does it." He joked.

Ember laughed at his joke. Steve cringed.

"The dictionary is one of my favourites. Such a creative story. I'm always hooked every time I read it." She replied sarcastically, a chuckle emerging from Ricky.

"Maybe sometimes we should meet for coffee, talk some more about the dictionary." Ricky suggested, completely serious about the first part, joking about the latter.

"I'm not allowed out of the compound." She said sadly, "And the coffee here is shit so—"

"Yeah, yeah I understand." He laughed awkwardly. "If you see me around whenever you are allowed to y'know, see the outside world again, let me know — And we can see about that coffee."

"Yeah, yeah I'd like that." She smiled, "But, I mean if you're ever interested, my apartment number is—"

"Rose, are you going to take that file to Stark, or not?" Steve asked.

Ember turned around to glare at him. He was ruining her moment, but he didn't meet her eyes, he was too busy sending death stares to Ricky, his eyes dark.

"I'll let you go, Ember." Ricky said, "It was nice to meet you. Nice seeing you again, Captain Rogers."

Ember turned back around to Steve and walked over to him, still clutching the file Ricky gave her.

"I can't believe you—" She scoffed.

"I was only saving the man some heartbreak." He replied, looking down at his book, the book which he hadn't even turned a page since Ricky got here, he was too busy being utterly pissed off at every word which came out of his mouth. "You're not allowed to date."

"I already turned him down, Rogers. What's your problem?"

"You just invited a random guy into your bed. Maybe I'm worried about your safety."

"He's not random. He's a SHIELD agent. You've met him before, and he's probably had multiple background checks done."

"Doesn't change the fact you're not allowed to date."

"Sleeping with people and dating are two very different things — Not that I was actually going to sleep with him, it was just a joke, the flirting is just for fun."

"You flirt with everyone, how are they supposed to know if it's just for fun or not."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know, Rose, you tell me."

"You're insufferable."

"I could say the same thing about you."

Her mouth fell open and she let out a grown of frustration.

"Y'know, some people are right, Steve. You're nothing but a lab experiment — Underneath you're a complete selfish asshole."

"If I was selfish, I would've fought harder for you not to be here." He argued, his temper rising.

"Well sometimes I wish you did."

He let out a laugh to ridicule her and stood up, using his height to intimidate her, as he walked forwards. "You're only here because Tony thought you would be a good asset, nothing more. You've just used your wits, your charm and your looks to worm your way into people's hearts. If it were anyone else, you'd be on the raft."

Ember took slow steps backwards as Steve slowly came closer.

"We don't know anything about you, your file barley says anything, we can't trust you — So don't call me selfish when I'm saving you from a lifetime on the raft."

He knew it was low of him to mention the raft, it was like a trigger for any enhanced person. He could see her visibly stiffen when he spoke about it.

"You act like you could singlehandedly put me on the raft — But we both know that's not the case."

"Tony doesn't lead the Avengers, sweetheart, he just funds it. Technically I get the final call."