Just in Time for Tea

Steve

Kim was just turning off the kettle when she heard a knock at the door. She checked her phone; no one had texted her. She walked to the door and opened it.

"Hi Steve." Well, that explains why there wasn't a text.

Steve Rodgers smiled at her, but something was off. He looked tense, like something was on his mind. "Hello Kim. I was wondering if I could come over for a little bit. I needed to get out of stark Tower."

Kim smiled back and stepped out of the way to let him in. "Of course you can, you're always welcomed here. Lucky for you, you are just in time for tea."

Steve smiled and walked into her tiny apartment. He sat down at the small kitchen table as Kim finished with the tea.

"How are things in Stark Tower?" Kim asked as she placed a cup of tea and some chocolate chip cookies in front of her guest.

Steve rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Stark is annoying. He thinks he's some big shot just because his daddy is rich and he is famous. He doesn't respect anyone, especially if they have authority over him. He never listens to me and tries to counter my plans with reckless ones, even though I've had proper training in leading people to war. I don't know what to do with him. Also, he follows me around Stark Tower after missions. He's always showing off that he knows technology more than I do. I don't know what to do anymore." Steve sighed and angrily bit into a cookie. "Amazing cookie as always." He tried to give her a smile. "I just... what should I do? It's not that don't like Tony, it's just.... when he gets like this," Steve sighed again, "I don't know what to do."

Kim though about it for a second as she placed the tea tray down on the table then sat down across from Steve. "Well, to me it sounds as if he has a crush on you."

Steve almost dropped the teapot that he had grabbed and scoffed at Kim's idea.

"No, hear me out on this. I think he does that stuff to get your attention. And with the 'showing he's better with technology', maybe he is really just trying to help. It is his area of expertise. We both know Tony is not good with emotions. He's almost as bad as Sherlock."

Steve nodded as he sipped his tea. "It's really weird. Back in the day, we didn't do the whole gay thing. It wasn't brought up. Sure, there were some gay guys, I knew some. But it, I don't know, things were different back then."

"I know. Things are different now. And that's okay. So do you like him?"

Steve blushed. "What? Like Tony? That's crazy. No, I-" Steve stopped when Kim gave him a look. He sighed and looked down at his hands.

"Okay, so I do like him. A little bit. " Steve muttered.

"Aww, that's so cute. You should tell him."

Steve looked up. "No, I can't. Tony cannot know how I feel about him. He must never know."

Kim nodded, taking a bite of her cookie. "I won't tell him. But how do you know what he'll say unless you tell him?"

"I guess you're right. But I'm not going to tell him right now."

"Of course. Tell him when you are ready."

Steve nodded and stood up.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For listening to me and giving me some advice, I really needed it."

Kim smiled and hugged Steve. " I'll always be here whenever you need to talk to someone."

They walked to the door.

"And thanks for the tea and your amazing cookies."

"No problem. Tell me when you tell him."

"I will."

Steve smiled and left.

Kim cleaned up their tea. She hoped that Tony would be nice to Steve even if he didn't reciprocate his feelings.