Happy

The sun was just starting to rise over the horizon, sparking warm colors to start swirling across the sky. Grace was making her way to her normal spot, her book tucked under her arm and her coffee thermos tucked into her messenger bag. Although it was far enough into the summer that even the mornings were warm, she couldn’t go without her coffee. Strolling down the path, she smiled at the joggers that passed her, and returned the greetings that she received.

She was just starting up a small incline that lead to her favorite reading nook, when she heard a man’s voice murmur,

“On your left.”

Jolting slightly as she hadn’t passed anyone for some time, her hand flew to her throat. Brown eyes following the body that the voice had come from, she smiled when the man turned and started back pedaling,

“Sorry Ma’am didn’t mean to startle you. Have a good morning!” Flashing a bright smile, the man nodded towards her and then turned back around and worked up to the pace he had been at before he had scared her. Grace giggled to herself, tucking a wisp of hair back behind her ear as she watched his figure crest the second hill. Narrowing her eyes, she tried to figure out why he looked familiar to her. Shrugging, she found her favorite bench and let out a satisfied breath as she plopped down onto it, pulling her coffee out of her bag and her book from under her arm, turning up the page she had dog-eared to continue where she had left off.

They seemed to run into one another almost every morning after that. So much so that Grace began to be able to distinguish his footfalls from those other the other regular joggers. Most mornings she received an “On your left.” But on some mornings when she would beat him to her nook, he greeted her with a “Good Morning, Ma’am.” Most mornings she let the ‘ma’am’ slide, but on one particular morning, when she was feeling extra fiery, she shouted after him,

“You don’t have to call me Ma’am! That makes me feel like my Grandmother!”

She grinned when she saw him come to a halt, biting her lip she contemplated for a moment before adding, “Grace! My name is Grace…so if you’re going to add anything to the ‘good morning’ from now on, I’d appreciate if it would be that.”

He was standing a few feet away from her, his hands on his hips as he took a few steadying breaths, a smile tugging on his lips all the while. She watched his feet shuffle, “Grace. Got it. Steve.” He called back; brow furrowing after he’d blurted it out, “Uh, my name. My name is Steve. Not that I was calling you Steve…” He stopped talking then, scratching the back of his head.

“I got what you meant, Steve.” She giggled, pulling her book onto her lap and looking down at it for a quick moment before back up at him. “It’s nice to finally put a name to a face.”

“Yeah,” He smiled gently, nodding, “yeah, it sure is.” Sending a wave her way, he started up his jog once more, a smile was still tugging at the corners of his mouth when he came side to side with Sam Wilson, and slowed his pace so that the other man could keep up.

“What’s got you grinning this morning, there Cap?” He asked, smiling at the Super Solider, looking over when Cap shook his head, Sam shoved him lightly, “Aw c’mon now, man. Haven’t seen you all smiley like this in months.”

“Just a good morning, Sam…just a good morning.”

Falcon narrowed his eyes at the Captain, knowing something was up but not pressing into the matter. Even if every fiber in his being was itching to do so…

A few days later, the morning was quite a bit more humid and hot compared to most of the others that had passed. Grace piled her hair up off of her neck and pulled on one of her favorite sundresses.

Not wanting to wear anything that was too warm as it was only going to get hotter as the sun came up. Sliding her feet into her sandals, she forwent the coffee and grabbed water instead, grabbing her keys off of the table, she headed for the front door. Stopping, she back tracked to her fridge and pulled out a few more waters. Once she was satisfied, she headed for the park.

She was a chapter and a half into her book when she heard the familiar footfalls heading her way. Without even losing her place in her book, she dug around in her bag and held out the water for that certain jogger to snatch on his way passed if he felt like it. Peaking up when the water was removed from her hand much more gently than she had anticipated, she smiled.

“Morning,” She murmured, squinting against the sun that was leaking around Steve’s frame.

“Morning Grace,” He returned, lifting his blue orbs from the bottle of water he now held, to meet her eyes, he smiled softly, “thank you.”

“You’re welcome, figured you could use it. It’s pretty warm this morning.” She could tell he was nervous about something. He lifted a hand to scratch the back of his neck and he was shifting his weight from foot to foot. “You’re welcome to take a seat if you’d like… So long as you don’t stink, that is.”

“Oh, thanks I—stink? I don’t stink.” He chuckled, plopping down next to her and cracking open the water she’d had waiting for him. Taking a long pull from the bottle, he recapped it and turned to look at her. Her eyes were turned downward towards her book once more. “Whatcha reading?” He asked softly, smiling when her eyes met his and she smiled as well.

“The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks.” She murmured, “It’s one of my favorites.”

“I can tell,” He nodded towards the books spine, and noted how worn it was, “It looks like it’s been read a few times over.”

Grace snorted quite loudly, and then covered her face with her hands in embarrassment. “Oh god, that wasn’t attractive.”

Steve laughed then, a full blown belly laugh that had him leaning back against the bench for a moment, “I’m sorry,” He apologized when he caught his breath a moment later, “I’m not laughing at you, I swear.” His blue orbs danced with mirth as he looked over at her once more. He looked down and noticed the ink that danced over her right foot, his eyebrows winging up in surprise. “Tattoos?”

“What?” Grace asked, and then followed his gaze to the anchor and roses that were imprinted onto the skin on the top of her right foot, “Oh, yes. It’s for my Grandfather, he was in the Navy.” Lifting her foot so that Steve could get a better look at it, she smiled kindly.

“Did it hurt?” Steve asked softly, taking in the details of the tattoo before turning his gaze back to her,

“It did, but it actually wasn’t as painful as I thought it was going to be. Although my foot was swollen like a damned softball for almost a week after it was finished. I couldn’t even put a shoe on for the first three days.”

Steve let out a low whistle, shaking his head softly. “It looks lovely, though.”

“Thanks, Steve.” Grace smile, tucking some loose hair back behind her ear and closing her book. “Do you have any?”

“Tattoos?” The blond haired man shook his head, “Oh no, they’re not for me. I can appreciate them, though.” He fiddled with his water bottle for a moment, twisting and untwisting the cap before he met Grace’s soft gaze. “Say, Grace, would you like to, uh, maybe get a bite to eat or something sometime?” He could feel the heat rising to his cheeks and ears, and knew that without a doubt that they were red. He heard her giggle and looked over to her, smiling at the sound.

“Yes, Steve, I think I’d like that.”

Grace gave him her cellphone number, writing it on the palm of his hand as neither of them had any spare paper, “Try not to sweat it off there, Mr. Marathon Man, alright?” She giggled when he shot her a look, “But I’ll bring some paper with me the next time I come down to read, just in case.”

Steve grinned, pulling himself into a standing position off of the bench, and tossed his now empty water bottle into the trash. He nodded towards Grace, murmuring that he’d talk to her soon. With one more look over his shoulder, he continued on with his morning jog, not being able to wipe the stupid grin from his face the rest of the time.

It was around ten o’clock am, when Grace’s phone rang. She happened to be just starting her first pot of coffee, and stumbled into her bedroom, still half asleep, to answer the ringing contraption.

“Hello?” She murmured, rubbing at her eyes as she made her way back to the coffee pot, swinging open the cupboard to grab a mug.

“Grace?” A soft toned male voice echoed from the other end, and Grace instantly smile,

“Morning, Steve.”

“How are you?”

“Good, I’ll be even better once this coffee finishes brewing.”

“Oh,” He paused, “I didn’t wake you up, did I?”

“No, Steve, you’re fine. I’ve been up for a minute. Slept in this morning.” She replied, chuckling softly as she poured her coffee into her mug, mixing in her half and half and teaspoon of sugar. “How are you? I bet you have your morning jog in already, huh?”

“I do,” He chuckled, and Grace could hear rustling on the other end of the phone for a moment before Steve continued, “I was just calling to see if you were free this evening?”

Grace thought for a moment, “In fact I am, as it so happens.”

“Great!” Steve exclaimed, “Would you like to grab something to eat and then maybe head down to the park? They’re having fireworks tonight, because of the Summer Festival.”

“That sounds nice, I’d love to.”

They spent the next few minutes exchanging details, and hung up shortly after that. Grace finished off her second cup of coffee before her eyes widened. She had to figure out what she was going to wear…

It was ten minutes to six, meaning that Steve would be on Grace’s front step any minute now. She smoothed down the dress that she’d decided to wear, another light summer dress, but this one was royal blue in color and flared out lightly around her legs. She paired it with a pair of wedges, and let her hair fall in its natural waves, pinning some of it back to keep it out of her eyes. She’d left her makeup light, not wanting to end up having it come off due to the heat. Except for her lips, she’d covered them with a stunning red color, which made their plumpness pop. Tucking her small clutch under her arm, Grace did one final once over in the mirror. Checking her teeth to be sure that there was no lipstick on them, she nodded to herself.

Shortly after that, there was a soft knock on her door. Grinning, she smoothed a hand over her hair and moved to swing the door open. Her eyes flitted over Steve, taking in his plaid button up that he had rolled the sleeves to his elbows, his fitted jeans, and finally the brown boots that covered his feet. Grinning she looked up to meet his eyes,

“Hey Grace, how—wow, you look great.”

“Thank you,” She blushed softly, smiling at him once again. “You look nice, too.”

Steve grinned bashfully, reaching back to smooth his hand over the back of his head. “Thank you,” He paused before offering her his arm, “Are you ready?”

“I am,” Grace nodded, shutting her door and locking it before taking his arm, letting him lead her down the stairs and to the sidewalk, where he tucked her into the inner side of the walk, his old fashioned ways showing as he didn’t allow her to walk next to the road in case of a car going by and splashing water, or something along those lines. “How was your day?” The brunette asked softly looking up at Steve, there was quite a bit of distance between the two of them, even with Grace wearing wedges.

“It was pretty good…better now, though.” He smiled, and they continued talking softly as they worked their way towards the small Italian diner that Steve had suggested earlier that morning. They were seated outside, away from the other people in the restaurant. Grace didn’t mind though, as it was still really nice outside and the sun was just starting to sink lower in the horizon. The duo ordered their food and drinks, and Grace settled back in her seat. Gaze meeting Steve’s when his voice drifted towards her, “Have you lived in DC long?”

“How did you know I’m not from here?” She laughed, raising an eyebrow at him, “You don’t have to say it, I know. The accent, it gives it away. But, personally I think ya’ll have the accents, and I don’t think you’re from here either, you’ve got a little twang in your voice.” Grace paused, giggling lightly,

“But I’ve been here for about three years now, moved from Ohio. What about you?”

“Brooklyn, I’m from Brooklyn originally…I moved here to be closer to work.” Steve explained and was glad that Grace didn’t want to dive into what he did for a living.

“Brooklyn, wow,” She muttered, “So you’ve always been a city boy then, huh?”

“If that’s what you want to call it,” Steve chuckled, thanking their waiter when he brought them their drinks. “How do you like DC compared to Ohio?”

“It’s definitely a change of pace…things are a lot more relaxed in Ohio. People aren’t so ornery, and we just, I don’t know. It was almost like culture shock.” She murmured, sipping on her wine lightly.

‘Culture shock…you’re telling me.’ Steve thought to himself with a chuckle. But he nodded along, happy that the conversation was flowing easily between the two of them, and that things weren’t awkward between them. Thinking about the last date that Natasha had set him up on, and how awkward that had been.

Perking up a few moments later when he spotted the waiter heading their way with the food they had ordered, Steve murmured, “I hope you’re hungry.” Chuckling at the small gasp that Grace let out when their plates were put in front of them, he laughed even harder when she muttered,

“Holy shit…” Grace winced once it had slipped passed her lips, “Sorry, I have a bit of a sailors mouth, also thanks to my Grandfather.”

“No worries,” Steve chuckled, picking up his fork and spinning some of his noodles around it. “What did your Grandfather do in the Navy?”

Grace smiled softly, lost in thought for a moment, “He was one of the men that would dive down and fix the ship if something happened to it, and under water welder, is what he called it.”

“Really?” Steve murmured softly, eyes widening, “That must have been crazy.”

“Oh, he’s got a few stories he can tell you.” Grace giggled, digging into her own meal as the conversation flowed easily between Steve and herself. They continued to talk, even after their meal was finished, as they waited for the sun to set enough to head to the park that the fireworks were being held at. Steve shot her a look when she pulled her clutch onto her lap, digging inside to find a few bills to put towards the tab.

“What do you think you’re doing?” He questioned, eyeing her as she continued to fiddle in her clutch. He lifted his hips and pulled his wallet from his back pocket, pulling enough money out to cover the bill and a tip and settled it onto the table.

“I was just going to give you some money—.”

“I don’t think so.” Steve rumbled, cutting her off. “I asked you out, I pay for the bill, put that nonsense away.”

“But—.”

“Grace, c’mon. It’s a date, the guy is supposed to pay.”

“Okay.” She sighed, defeated, “But I’ll pay for ice cream or something later.”

“We’ll see about that.” The blond man muttered playfully, standing and offering her his arm once she had stood as well, “Are you ready to head down to the park?”

“I am, if you are.”

“Well, let’s go then.” Steve smiled, nodding towards the waiter as they exited the patio and found the sidewalk once more.

“Thank you, for dinner, Steve. It was excellent.”

“Thank you for agreeing to come out with me tonight.” He returned smiling as a blush worked its way up his neck and ears when she slid her hand down his arm and intertwined their fingers together. He looked down at their hands and couldn’t help but notice how much smaller her hand looked compared to his. Not saying anything about it, he just gave her hand a small squeeze and grinned even wider when she returned the gesture.