Charlotte woke to the whispered cheering of somebody directly in front of her face, and she quickly opened her eyes to see Howard Stark standing before her with a huge grin on his face. It was still dark, but the inventor held one of Charlotte's flashlights in his hand.
"Charlie, I need you to come and help me," he whispered. "We have some last-minute things to do to Rogers's motorbike- the wiring is faulty."
Charlotte nodded, looking up at Steve, who held her close to him while he was asleep.
"I don't want to wake him," she murmured, and Howard helped her extricate herself from the super soldier's tight grip, Steve's arm tightening around Charlotte's waist as she slowly stood and she wriggled free. She kissed his forehead gently as she slipped away from the fire with Howard in tow.
"So, have you two finally addressed your feelings for each other?" Howard asked slyly as they entered their technician's tent that Phillips had set up specifically for them to repair and adjust weaponry.
"What do you mean?" Charlotte asked, feigning ignorance as she picked up a screwdriver and began to remove the panel containing the circuitry and began fiddling with some of the wiring, which looked like a mess.
She sighed. "I really must have been half-asleep when I was doing all of this."
"You were probably thinking about your soldier," Howard teased, making kissy faces at Charlotte- who responded by throwing a nearby spanner at him. He ducked, chuckling as she glared over the bike in his direction.
"Your soldier?" Peggy inquired as she walked into the tent and over to where the two technicians stood, dodging the spanner deftly as she gave the two of them a disapproving look. She was holding two mugs- one with a tea bag in it, the other introducing the nutty aroma of coffee to the tent. She raised an eyebrow at Charlotte, who blushed deeply. "You and Rogers finally had a talk?"
Charlotte gratefully accepted the mug full of coffee that Peggy offered her, and took a sip. "Ah... maybe?"
"I found them by the fire by their tents," Howard answered from where he was adjusting the buttons on the handles of the motorbikes. "All cuddled up to each other, asleep."
Peggy grinned, leaning back against the table in the middle of the tent that she had been using for her intelligence work while simultaneously supervising Charlotte and Howard. "Tell us."
"I told him I love him," Charlotte mumbled into her mug, Peggy stilling with her mug halfway to her lips.
Howard laughed loudly. "And?"
"And then we kissed," Charlotte muttered, setting down her coffee.
"Well, it's about bloody time!" Peggy stated, her expression joyous but her tone exasperated. "We were wondering when you two would finally do something about all the chemistry."
"I'm sorry, what?" Charlotte asked in disbelief, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Oh yeah, Barnes even had a bet going. I suppose he won," Howard added.
"You all bet on my love life?" Charlotte screeched, her eyes flashing briefly.
"We did," Peggy confirmed. "But that's not important. What happened? Did he make it official? Did he ask to take you on a date?"
"Yes," Charlotte replied with a small smile. "He promised to take me on a date when we get back to London."
"Good," Peggy responded. "Now, the real question: is he a good kisser?"
Charlotte turned a deep shade of red, and Howard snorted. "That good, huh Charlie?"
She threw the screwdriver at him, Peggy laughing as Howard dodged it.
YOU ARE READING
Coffee, Courage and a Captain
FanfictionCharlotte Red is eccentric at best, unconventional at worst. Working as the head technician of Stark Industries' R&D Department since she was sixteen, and with two PhD's under her belt already sets her apart from most other nineteen-year-olds- not...
