Reality in Motion

it takes two to trust tango

There was some sort of rattling in the kitchen. He picked up his shield - which he had started keeping at his apartment after his first mission. Shifting into defensive mode, he crept around the corner only to immediately let the shield drop at the sight of Dawson rummaging through his cabinets. He let out a deep sigh, getting Dawson's attention and the SHIELD agent whirled around, giving him an easy smile.

"Hey, dude." he greeted Steve, "You really gotta start locking your door." he said as if it was Steve's fault that he was in his apartment. Steve placed his shield against the wall and stepped over to him. Dawson held his hand out for their handshake which Steve responded to, getting a proud grin from the SHIELD agent.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, relieved that it wasn't a threat but confused as to why Dawson was in his apartment.

"Uh, didn't you get Q's text?" Dawson asked back, brows furrowing. He didn't respond; he hadn't gotten her text. Or maybe he had. He hadn't checked his phone since he woke up.

He had finished his run to find Natasha waiting for him at the curb, citing something about how she was taking him to training. He figured he would meet Q there, but she hadn't shown up - which worried him until Natasha landed a hard gut punch to get him to focus. Then once he got back to his apartment, he showered and was just about to check his phone when he heard the front door open. He had automatically assumed it was Q, not Dawson, until he heard a man's voice let out a frustrated curse. Thus, the reason why he crept out of his bedroom in defensive mode.

"She had some sort of emergency. Told me to keep an eye on you for today." Dawson's explanation shook him out of his thoughts. Steve's brows furrowed as he watched him walk to the couch, flopping onto it with his hand digging into the box of Lucky Charms he kept in the cabinets for Q.

"An emergency?" Steve asked, hands on his hips, "Is she okay?"

"Yeah, it wasn't anything crucial. She's not dying or anything." he answered through a mouthful of cereal. Steve took in a breath and shook his head. He had a feeling he knew what it was about.

"I knew she was upset about Rumlow." he muttered under his breath, thinking Dawson couldn't hear him. He was wrong.

"What?" Dawson picked his head up from where he was resting on the couch so he could look over at Steve, "Woah, woah, woah-" he rolled himself off the couch, landing with a thump before quickly jumping to his feet, his hair flying out behind him, "Did you just say Rumlow? What happened with Rumlow?" he asked, hands up and out in front of him as he walked over to Steve. His brow furrowed; surely Dawson knew about Rumlow and Q's relationship. The two were friends.

"They broke up." he said as if Dawson should know such a thing - which he thought he did. But instead of reacting as Steve thought he would, Dawson went the complete opposite. His brow furrowed, like he was confused,

"Broke up? What do you mean: broke up?" he asked, not giving Steve time to respond as he answered his own question, "Like they were together? Were they together? No...Q would've told me...unless..." Steve watched as he looked away, staring at a spot in the ground as he mentally worked his way to the right answer he was looking for. Then he let out a sharp gasp, "They were fucking." Steve's skin started to heat up at the implication of the word, but before he could say anything else, Dawson stepped closer to him, "Oh my God, they were doing it in secret. Except you knew!" he pointed at him, "Fuck, you knew!" he laughed at him as if that was the best news he had heard all day, "Oh, Jesus." he ran his hand over his scruff, the laughter suddenly fading as he became serious.

"Did you not?" Steve asked, eyebrows raising as he sort of came to the conclusion that Dawson may have not known about Q and Rumlow.

"No!" Dawson laughed out almost incredulously, "Holy shit..." he trailed off, shaking his head, "Goddamnit. You know, we've been friends for almost ten years and there's still so much I don't know about her." Steve thought that was odd - she and Dawson came across as such close friends, but Dawson didn't even know everything about her. It seemed nobody really knew her, except herself.