14383/Two Tickets

Two Tickets
Date of Scene:	13 May 2022
Location:	Dining Hall, Avengers Mansion
Synopsis:	The Avengers Musical is in town and Cap was kind enough to give Jen two tickets.
Cast of Characters:	Captain America, She-Hulk

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Captain America has posed:
    It's hard to keep up with group of active people, to ever get them focused in one place at one time. For some the mansion wasn't even where they lived normally. It was just a place where they went to when there was a social obligation, or when a meeting was called. Perhaps it wasn't a place where they would orbit too near at times, yet in some ways it was still a place that drew them. Though they all had their lives, the mansion remained near.
    For Steve Rogers it really was his home in a lot of ways. The apartment he rented served for when he wanted to crash near the Triskelion or when he was on assignment there. His quarters in the Avengers mansion was for when he was wanting to be social and to occasionally have a smile and a face near at hand. And he had been spending more time there since his last attempt at getting out there in the world had ended when she had wandered back to England. But such was the way of their lives.
    This morning, however, it was still a bit too early for others to be awake. Even if they were in residence. Not too early for Cap, of course. His morning run had taken him out and about the park, a nice enjoyable trip several times around before heading back to the mansion. It was then that he had jogged into the kitchen to find the coffee on the warmer, smiling to himself as he fished around in the cabinet for a mug.
    "Thanks for the coffee, Jarvis."

She-Hulk has posed:
It's a few minutes later that he might see the bumper of a car appear at the kitchen window. Only, it was at the top of the window. The lower edge. Front tire. Then a moment later there was Shulkie walking past and mystery of the flying car was resolved. She had it held up on her shoulder as she walked on past. Rear tire then finally rear bumper. The chrome was a bright polished silver. The car itself was pink. A nice soft pink.

Then there would be the sound of the car being placed on the ground. Metal shifting, squeaking sounds, then a little final thud as it was dropped the last half inch.

A moment later, the back door opened and in strode the green skinned amazonian woman. She was dressed casually in a white tank top, now with a few oil stains on it, and a pair of blue denim, cutoff shorts. Ankle socks and sneakers on her feet. Despite it being a bit cool outside, she obviously had no issue with the temperature change.

"Oh!" She hadn't figured anyone would be there and self-consciously rubbed at one of those oily spots on the stomach of her shirt as though that would make it disappear. "Didn't realize you were here. But I'll take some of that coffee cause this morning is starting out pretty rough." She moved to wash her hands first then would find a coffee cup and pour some coffee. To which was added an obscene amount of sugar and cream.

"Do we have a toolbox around here?"

Captain America has posed:
    Finishing a drink of his coffee, Cap answers, "Mm," Then adds as he gestures with the mug. "Out in the garden shed. Next to the lawn mower."
    Steve, for his part, was wearing his usual jogging clothes which were standard issue grey athletic sweat pants, white Nike sneakers, and a white t-shirt that just had the logo of the United States Army across his broad chest. He was looking down as he mentioned the location of the tools even as he was sorting through the mail in hand.
    After a few moments he looked up and smiled that easy-going smile, "I didn't know you were around, Jen. Good to see you."

She-Hulk has posed:
"Wouldn't have been but my car broke down a couple of blocks away. I'll see if I can figure out what happened."

Shulkie reached for one of the reinforced chairs. They had learned long ago to have a few of them on hand for their density challenged members. She sat down and stretched her legs out under the table, making sure to angle away from Steve so she didn't bump him in the process. "But first coffee." She sipped carefully from her coffee as though it might be hot when it likely wouldn't scald her tongue even if it were. With the libral amount of milk in it, there was no fear of it being more than warm. "Mmm. That's better." Yet she reached out to add one more dribble of milk and stirred it in with the spoon still sitting in the cup.

"Haven't seen you in ages. How's tricks?"

Captain America has posed:
    "Oh you know how it is," Cap says in that way one has of being on auto-pilot while something else has their attention. What it is becomes evident as he peers with furrowed brow at an envelope that he rips open with one hand, drawing apart the end of it with the sound of tearing paper.
    Then he remembers his manners and smiles a little, looking up from the mail. "A few projects up in the air at the moment. Trying to keep busy, keep my hand in." Since for the most part the world has slowed down a bit. Not quite as much madness out there as there was a few years ago. Fewer super villains. But still enough to go around.
    And then there was the space exploration. Though he doesn't mention that.
    "How are you holding up? You're looking good, Jen." Said in a nice tone as he nods, then looks again at the envelope he was opening.

She-Hulk has posed:
With anyone else, she'd wonder if they were being fascetious about her looking good. After all, her shirt was stained by automative gunk. Her hair was probably escaping from the ponytail she had it pulled back in. Yet this was Steve. With him, she had no doubt he meant it.

"Thanks! I try. I mean, wasn't a work day so no suit but I think this is casual cute." Moreso the shorts with the little fraying at the edges of the legs, in her opinion. There was a reason Janet had issues with Shulkie's lack of fashion sense.

She cradled the cup and took another sip, apparently happy with the balance now. She sort of slumped in her chair and just held the cup as she watched him opening mail. "Lots of fan mail and death threats?" Those were the two most common things they seemed to get at the Mansion.

Captain America has posed:
    Holding up the envelope he opened without looking at her, Cap says. "Is this a thing we should go to?" He gestures with it, though his attention is still on the rest of the mail as he goes through it. But what he's holding up isn't entirely easy to see. Looks like a letter with some smaller pieces of paper with gold highlights on it sticking out of the end of it.
    Then he sets the rest of the mail down and focuses on the one he had gestured with, pulling those small slips of paper out of the side of it and pondering as he reads over what they say within. "Got two tickets to the Avengers Musical when it comes back to Broadway, but the person I was going to go with she headed back to England." Which made it unlikely they could make it.
    Only then did he look up at her, brow furrowed. "But you think it's alright for... an Avenger to go to an Avengers play?"

She-Hulk has posed:
And this is how misunderstandings happen.

Shulkie glanced over at his question, trying to get a look at the paper and slips. It looked sort of like tickets for something. But what was this we? It was two tickets. So it wasn't an Avengers we because there would be more than two. So that led her to wonder why we was him and her.

Which then got even more confusing when he admitted he was planned on taking someone else but she had to go out of town. Which sounded suspiciously like a date. Wait. Was Captain America asking her out on a date?! No, this had to be just a friend thing, right? But how was she supposed to know.

At the final question, she grinned as she tried to slow down the train of thoughts screaming through her brain. "Hell---ooooo Kitty!" It took all her willpower not to facepalm. She hadn't wanted to say hell yes like originally planned cause--well, Cap! So she had shifted to the first thing she thought of with the same starting letters.

"Sorry. Musical makes me think Cats," she added to smooth if over like that was nothing. "But yeah, seems like something that would be fun if you don't take yourself too seriously. I mean, I think someone like Tony might be bothered."

Captain America has posed:
    "I don't know," Steve says, and perhaps he missed the cavalcade of facial expressions that must have run across her face. Or perhaps he was being polite. "It feels... arrogant. In some ways. Like holding court in front of a lot of people to hear praises sung about yourself."
    Which if he viewed things like that, then it's understandable why he might not be entirely comfortable. Then he smiled, "Would you like them? You could give them to one of your clients as like... I don't know. Thanks for being good clients?" He steps toward her and extends the to her, setting them on the table beside her even as she's so sprawled out and comfy at this point.
    "Or you could take... Wyatt?" He asks, trying to perhaps remember the name of the last young man he knew that she had spent time with.

She-Hulk has posed:
Now she was feeling idiotic. Of /course/ Captain America wasn't asking her out. Why would he ever ask her out? She wasn't quite up to the standards needed to be able to date the iconic hero.

"Wyatt and I broke up a while back. Different goals in life. And probably had enough of the crazy that is my life. It was fun while it lasted," Shulkie stated as she pulled over the tickets to look at them curiously. Taking note of the date and running through her mental calendar to see if she had it open.

"If I don't find someone to go, I'll definitely give them away." Client. Charity. Someone would make good use of them certainly. If she didn't find a date. Which was and wasn't a challenge, depending how one looked at it. Most people that wanted to go out with her were doing to for either celebrity or novelty. After all, not a lot of six and a half foot green strong women in the world. For all she knew, she was the only one. Other strong women, yes. Green ones, not so much. So, she rarely had anyone she felt like wanted to go out with her for her.

Captain America has posed:
    Maybe catching up to her mood, seeing her reflecting on matters like that... it's enough to get Steve to smile a little, a hint of sadness touching his features as she mentions Wyatt and her deciding to break up. Different goals in life. He's heard that before as well.
    "Hey..." Steve says, "I know how that can sting. Can be tough to dip your toe into the whole dating thing." And she likely knows how rare that is for Cap, considering the things that Natasha likely tells her that have happened. Or that she /did/ to poor Steve.
    For a moment he rests a hand on her shoulder and gives a small squeeze before he turns and starts walking across the way, still sipping his coffee as he goes. Turning back around to walk backwards a little he adds with that easy smile of his, "Any red-blooded guy would be very happy to go with you to that play, Jennifer. Especially right now, you're looking very... cute." He says, as if not used to using those words.
    Then he lifts his mug, "And if you don't find anyone, I'll go with you. Alright?" There that should make her feel a little better. And, to be fair, Jennifer Walters was a beautiful woman.

She-Hulk has posed:
She knew that Natasha had been trying to setup Cap with someone in the past. She'd heard tale of the dating apps. Honestly, it was hilarious. Though she could see where that could be annoying from his point of view. Still funny.

When he said any red-blooded man would want to go out with her, Shulkie smiled a bit and sipped her coffee. That wasn't really the problem. The problem was someone wanting to go out with her for genuine reasons and not for what she was. Instead of who. It was a challenge to say the least.

But when Cap said she was looking cute today, her immediate response was to quip. "I knew it! Eat that, Janet. These shorts show off my legs like nobody's business." But even as she was saying it, she realized that /he/ had just complimented her. and her cheeks darkened a bit as she blushed. Which was /not/ something Shulkie did.

"Deal. I don't find someone that I feel like wants to go with me for the right reasons, you and I have a date."

Captain America has posed:
    At the door with his back partially pressing it open, Steve laughs a little and takes another sip of coffee. Then his eyes drift along that long line of those... really rather stunning legs and he shakes his head, "They do. They do at that."
    Turning around he's out in the hall and just before the door slowly swings shut she'll hear him yell back, "You have yourself a deal, Miss Walters." And then he disappears from view.