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Steve Rogers knew he didn’t have much, if any, experience with women. He was utterly and completely aware of his ineptitude when it came to flirting, or even just talking with the fairer sex. He wanted to give dating a try anyway.
Only, it wasn’t really going that well…
He thought it had been going alright with Lucy. She was smart, funny, and had a great smile. They’d met at the coffee shop he liked in town near the compound. He finally got up the courage to flirt with her and she seemed to like him!
But then, he’d stepped away for a moment to go to the men’s room. He was only gone for a minute, maybe two at the most, and when he came back to Lucy, everything had changed.
“Sorry about that, thanks for waiting.” He said with a smile as he sidled back up to her. She wasn’t smiling back. In fact, she looked downright disgusted.
“You’re an ass.” She snapped and then slapped him across the face before she stormed off. All he could do was stare after her, slack jawed and baffled.
Natasha had convinced him Karina in Medical would absolutely say yes to a date if he asked. She was very nice and had always given him these looks when he came in after a mission to be patched up.
So, he marched himself down there and straight up to her.
“Hi Karina, how are you?” The brunette glanced up from her work.
“Hello Captain Rogers, what can I do for you today?” Her greeting was sort of…cold? Steve just shrugged it off and pressed on.
“I was, um, wondering if I could buy you lunch, or a cup of coffee sometime?”
She looked up at him, her brown eyes boring into his, and scoffed, “No.”
After a moment, when he didn’t move from his confused statue-like position, she sighed.
“Was there something else?”
He shook himself out of his stupor and shook his head, “No, sorry.”
So he left. And if he was a little extra careful on missions for a couple weeks, avoiding Medical…no one had to know why.
For weeks things continued like this. Julie, Emma, Denise, Kari, Kayla, Claire, Jasmine, Victoria, Alana, Isobel, and Bonnie from Accounting. Each encounter had ended in rejection, or some sort of physical attack on his person.
Bonnie had been the tipping point for him, his date with her had been, well, rough. She had actually agreed to a date, and it had been going very well. Only, it ended halfway through with a hard slap and her drink thrown in his face before she got up and stomped out.
“What the hell…?” He seriously needed some help here.
That’s how he found himself in the gym with Bucky and Sam, begging them to come out with him.
“I just don’t understand what I’m doing wrong!” He griped, hitting the punching bag a little extra hard.
“Sometimes it just takes time, man.” Sam shrugged before going back to his bicep curls. Steve looked to Bucky who threw his hands up.
“Don’t look at me, I haven’t dated in seventy years either.”
“But you’ve always been better with women, Buck. I need help!”
“Stevie, I was great with women back then. I don’t understand them now, any better than you do.”
“What am I going to do?” Behind him, Sam chuckled and stood up.
“Why don’t we all go out to a bar tonight and Bucky & I can watch you in action? See if we can spot what you’re doing wrong?”
“Thank you!” The super soldier pulled Sam into a one armed hug, his eyes tearing up in gratefulness.
That evening they headed out of the compound into town. For awhile, they just sat together in a booth at the bar, all three of them nursing a beer. Steve was grateful the bartender wasn’t Victoria tonight. The bruise from her right hook had taken almost three days to heal…even with the serum.
“How about her?” Sam asked, pointing to a cute blonde alone at the bar.
“Alright,’ Steve chugged the remainder of his beer and stood, ‘wish me luck.”
“You’ve got this.”
“Just be yourself.”
Bucky and Sam watched their friend closely, looking for any sign of a misstep on Steve’s part. But, after almost fifteen minutes, things were looking great! Steve had bought her a drink, and she had her hand on his forearm. She even laughed at something he said, making the blonde super soldier blush.
Then she excused herself to the bathroom. Steve scurried back to their table.
“I think I’m doing okay!”
“Looking great, man!” Sam patted him on the back. Buck was about to say something encouraging when he spotted something over Steve’s shoulder. A red head, who looked suspiciously like Natasha went into the bathroom, and a moment later another woman followed. Was that Gadget?
Bucky’s eyes narrowed and he excused himself as well. He stood just inside the men’s room with the door cracked, waiting to see who came out of the other restroom. Sure enough, it WAS Natasha and Gadget exiting right before the blonde from the bar.
Bucky snuck out and watched from the hall as the blonde stormed over to Steve, slapped him, and left. His eyes went wide, searching for the two women in the bar. But they were nowhere to be seen now. Had they left?
As he walked back to the table he kept his eyes open and his face neutral. If either woman was watching, he didn’t want to give anything away.
“Did you see that Buck? She just slapped me and left!”
“Yeah punk, I did. What happened before she went to the bathroom?”
“Nothing! We were just chatting about art, she works for the gallery down on main.”
“Can we just go back? I give up.”
After they got back to the compound, Steve sulked off to his room, but Bucky signaled Sam to stay in the kitchen with him.
“I think something weird is going on.”
“What do you mean?”
“I saw the blonde go into the women’s room, but almost right after, Natasha & Gadget went in after her.”
“What?!?! You’re kidding! What were they doing there?”
“Think about it Sam, things were going fine for Steve before she went to the bathroom. She goes in, Nat & Gadget follow her in. They all come out and the blonde storms over to Steve and slaps him.” Bucky crossed him arms and leaned against the stove.
“You think they sabotaged him?”
“I mean, that’s what it looks like.”
Sam considered it carefully, “Why would they do that though?”
The two men just stood there, staring at each other, thinking it over. It didn’t make any sense why they would do it, but the evidence was pretty damn clear that they were in fact sabotaging all of Steve’s dates.
Sam opened his mouth to say something, before shaking his head and stopping himself. He thought about it again before tilting his head and sighing.
“I think, and I might be wrong here, but maybe, maybe Gadget has feelings for Steve.”
Bucky’s eyes went as wide as they could, his breath caught in his throat, and his heart broke into about a million pieces. Gadget? Likes Steve? That was his worst nightmare come true. HE had feelings for Gadget. True, he was being a chicken shit about telling her, but, to see her with his best friend…. Bucky blew out a long, slow, breath.
“What…why…?”
“I was talking with Nat and Wanda the other day, and Gadget came in mumbling about something, all flushed and frazzled. Nat cat called her, asking about Gadget’s ‘soldier boy’. So, if, their sabotaging Steve’s dates…”
“Steve is her ‘soldier boy.” Bucky was devastated. He had fallen for her the moment she joined the team and showed off her powers. She had taken control of FRIDAY for an hour, not letting the AI answer Tony’s commands at all. It was her laugh that did it, and her smile.
“Yeah, that’s what it looks like man. I’m sorry, I know how you-.”
Bucky’s head snapped up, “It’s fine.”
Three days later, Bucky had a plan. Steve was his best friend. He wanted the both of you to be happy. So, he would help get you together. Maybe save Steve’s face in the process?
He sets up a romantic picnic for them up on the roof one night, and texts them both to meet him there. A little cliche, but he thinks it will work. After he’s sure they’re both up there, he closes the door to the roof and locks it. He’ll come back for them in a couple of hours…
Meanwhile…
“Bucky texted you too?” Steve looked over to her.
“Yup.”
“Any idea why?”
“Nope.”
“Gadget, come on, you’re not still mad about the thing are you?” She turned and glared at him.
“Yup.”
“I said I was sorry!” But she just leveled him with another glare.
That’s when they heard the soft music…and the candles.
“What in the…” Gadget looked around for Bucky, but the former assassin wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
“Buck?” No response. Steve tried calling him, he didn’t answer. When he texted his best friend he got no response.
“I don’t understand?”
“I think Bucky’s trying to get us to make up.”
“With candles? And roses Steve?” She said, pointing down at the spread laid out for them.
“Yeah, that’s a little weird. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he was trying to set us up.”
They both broke out into laughter. Until, they both looked at the spread again…and ran back to the door. It was locked.
“Oh for the love of…” Gadget couldn’t believe this. “Why would Bucky be trying to set us up?”
Steve dropped his head back and groaned, “Because I took him and Sam to the bar with me a few days ago and they saw me strike out. He probably thinks that because we’re friends, I might have better luck with you.”
Gadget choked on air and looked anywhere but at Steve.
The next morning Steve confronted Bucky in his rooms.
“Bucky, what was that last night?”
Bucky tried to play dumb, “Don’t know what you mean, punk, you’ll have to be more specific.”
“Why did you lock Gadget and me on the roof, with a romantic picnic dinner? I mean, I know I asked for help, but that was a little much don’t you think?”
Bucky sighed and ran a hand down his face.
“She has feelings for you, but wasn’t saying anything. So I thought I would help.”
Bucky was not expecting Steve to double over laughing.
“Gadget? With feelings for me?”
“Yeah, Sam had this theory after hearing Nat ask Gadget about her ‘soldier boy’, had to be you.”
“Oh Buck. And I thought I was bad… Gadget does not have feelings for me. She’s like the sister I never had.”
“Then I don’t understand. Why would she and Nat be sabotaging all your dates?”
“What?”
“Yeah, the other day, I saw both of them follow that blonde into the women’s room. And-.”
“And after she came out, she hit me, and left… Ohhhhh, that is low Gadget. That is real low.” Steve turned and hustled from Bucky’s room, muttering about vengeful women.
“Wait, Steve, then who the hell is ‘soldier boy?” But the blonde was gone.
“FRIDAY, where did Steve run off to?”
“He’s in the common room, with Agent Romanov.”
“Thank you FRIDAY.”
“Anytime Sergeant Barnes.”
When he got to the common room, Steve was whisper yelling at Natasha.
“I know she’s pissed at me Nat, but sabotaging my dates?! And you’re helping her?”
“She told me what you said. Besides, none of those women are right for you.”
“What have you been telling them?” Steve was practically shrieking. Natasha just smirked at him.
“Wouldn’t you like to know. Take it up with Gadget.” Steve raised his arms and held them up, considering if choking the red head would be worth it. It wasn’t.
“FRIDAY!”
“Miss Gadget is currently in the training room Captain Rogers.” And he was gone.
“Barnes.” She didn’t even look at him.
“Who’s Gadget’s soldier boy?”
She just closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose between her fingers, muttering in Russian about clueless idiots.
“Nat?” She looked at him carefully.
“Who do you think it is?”
“Well, Sam and I thought Steve, but Steve just-.” He was cut off by her soft laughter.
“My god, the two of you. No, it’s definitely not Rogers. Think about it Barnes.” And she stared at him.
He looked back at her, just as confused as before. His brain couldn’t connect the dots. After a moment the former Russian spy walked up to Bucky and slapped him upside the head.
“Get it together, soldier boy.” And she stalked off, leaving Bucky rubbing the back of his head.
It took him much longer than he would EVER admit to realize what she had just called him.
“…me?”
“YES DUMBASS!” Came a voice from the air vent above him. “You think we all haven’t noticed YOU BOTH pining after each other. And Laura says I’m dense sometimes…”
Bucky’s face lit up, it was him. Gadget had feelings for HIM.
“FRIDAY?”
“Miss Gadget is still in the training room Sergeant Barnes, with Captain Rogers.”
“Thank you FRIDAY.” And he was off, jogging for the elevator.
Up in the air vent, Clint called after him,
“GO GET HER BARNES! They’re going to make a great couple. Finally…”